Conduct Befitting

Psalms 15:1 KJV

A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

I tend to think Gill reads far too much of the New Testament Church into many parts of the Old Testament. Passages which clearly reference Israel are ascribed by Gill to the New Testament Church and damage the integrity of the prophetical message of those passages. But here Gill gets it right when he says the tabernacle is not a reference to the body of Jesus Christ or of heaven, "…but the church of God on earth, called a "tabernacle", in allusion to the tabernacle of Moses, where God granted his presence, sacrifices were offered up with acceptance, and the holy vessels were put; and which was mean without, but rich and glorious within…"

I fear it is too easy for us to read into this Psalm physical requirements (works) for salvation. Heaven comes to us by faith alone. Christians live by faith and walk by faith but we also are expected to behave in the house of God. We are saved by grace through faith but we are saved unto good works which God hath ordained that we should walk therein. This Psalm is a description of the sort of conduct befitting a member of a local New Testament Baptist Church.