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God created the New Testament church with a distinct function and form. Its function was to facilitate shared life fellowship with mankind. Consequently, He provided the New Testament church with the form of a spiritual body. It followed and supported its function.
Form Follows Function Form provides shape and structure for created objects. It furnishes them with an identifiable appearance and facilitates the fulfillment of their divinely appointed function. Louis Sullivan is known for his architectural philosophy of form following function. He said, “It is the pervading law of all things organic, and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things super-human, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law.”1 Regarding architecture, Sullivan believed that the function of a building should dictate its design (form). For example, a hospital building exists to facilitate medical care. It would be significantly less effective to attempt medical care in a building designed to serve in a banking capacity. Sullivan understood that it is prudent to design a form or structure according to its intended function. In contrast, if function followed form, buildings would be designed not to serve their function but merely for artistic value. As a result, they would be attractive but dysfunctional. Of course, Sullivan did not create the fundamental philosophy of form following function. He merely popularized a preexisting concept. God created the original heavens and earth and later renovated them according to the simple but profound truth; form follows function. |
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Congruent with its divinely originated function and form, the eternal church is the church of the New Testament. Accommodative of divine life (zoe) on earth, it constitutes the embodiment of Christ, unadulterated by the religious traditions and organizational strategies of fallen man.
© 2023 James Hiatt |
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