So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;
Show the surrounding paragraph
Ephesians 2:19-20 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision” (in the flesh, made by hands), that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility through it. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
Parallel Translations
-
So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God,
being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;
-
Now therfore ye are no moare straugers and foreners: but citesyns with the saynctes and of the housholde of god:
and are bilt apon the foundacion of the apostles and prophetes Iesus Christ beynge the heed corner stone
Show all 3 translations
-
Nowe therefore ye are no more strangers and forreiners: but citizens with the Saintes, and of the houshold of God,
And are built vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Iesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone,
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (26)
- Philippians 3:20 (v19) For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
- 1 Peter 2:4-5 (v20) coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious. You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual…
- 1 John 3:1 (v19) See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us,…
- Isaiah 28:16 (v20) Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure…
- Galatians 6:10 (v19) So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.
Show all 26 cross-references
- Galatians 3:26-28 (v19) For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There…
- 1 Peter 2:7-8 (v20) For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief…
- Psalms 118:22 (v20) The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- Matthew 16:18 (v20) I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
- Ephesians 4:11-13 (v20) He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints,…
- Ephesians 2:12 (v19) that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the…
- Ephesians 3:6 (v19) that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good…
- Hebrews 11:13 (v19) These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they…
- Acts 4:11-12 (v20) He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’ There is salvation in no…
- Revelation 21:14 (v20) The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
- 1 Corinthians 3:9-11 (v20) For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise…
- Hebrews 12:22-24 (v19) But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, to the…
- Mark 12:10-11 (v20) Haven’t you even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is…
- Revelation 21:12-26 (v19) having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the…
- Matthew 21:42 (v20) Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the head of the corner. This was…
- Luke 20:17-18 (v20) But he looked at them and said, “Then what is this that is written, ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the chief cornerstone?’…
- 1 Corinthians 12:28 (v20) God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps,…
- Galatians 2:9 (v20) and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, those who were reputed to be pillars, gave to Barnabas…
- Galatians 4:26-31 (v19) But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out…
- Ephesians 3:15 (v19) from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
- Matthew 10:25 (v19) It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (25 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv19–20 19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers. The…
19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers. The Ephesians are now exclusively addressed. They were formerly strangers from the covenants of promise, but their condition was now changed. They were foreigners, but God had made them citizens of his church. The high value of that honor which God had been pleased to bestow upon them, is expressed in a variety of language. They are first called fellow-citizens with the saints, — next, of the household of God, — and lastly, stones properly fitted into the building of the temple of the Lord. The first appellation is taken from the comparison of the church to a state, which occurs very frequently in Scripture. Those who were formerly profane, and utterly unworthy to associate with godly persons, have been raised to distinguished honor in being admitted to be members of the same community with Abraham, — with all the holy patriarchs, and prophets, and kings, — nay, with the angels themselves. To be of the household of God, which is the second comparison, suggests equally exalted views of their present condition. God has admitted them into his own family; for the church is God’s house.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv19–20 The conclusion: The Gentiles are taken into the fellowship…
The conclusion: The Gentiles are taken into the fellowship of salvation. And he describeth the excellency of the Church, calling it the city and house of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv19–20 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and…
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Ver. 19. Fellow citizens with the saints] Paul, as a citizen of Rome, escaped whipping, Act 22:6; we, as citizens with the saints, escape hell tortures and torments.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv19–20 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners;…
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners; such are they that may dwell in a city, but are not free of it. He means the same as Eph 3:12, they were not now aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, &c. But fellow citizens with the saints; members of the same spiritual society or corporation with other saints, patriarchs, prophets, &c. The church of God is compared to a city, of which every saint is a member or free-man, Phi 3:20.
And of the household of God: the church is here compared to a house, as 1Ti 3:15. They are said to be of the household that belong to it, but especially the children. Among men, servants are counted domestics; but with God, none but his children.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v19 Our apostle began this chapter with setting before the…
Our apostle began this chapter with setting before the Ephesians the horror and dread of the heathenish state before converted to Christianity: here he closes the chapter with an account of that glorious and blessed state, which the Christian religion, embraced by them, had translated them into: Now ye are no more strangers, but fellow-citizens, & c.
Where observe, 1. Their present happy condition is set forth both negatively and positively:
Read full note →
negatively, by showing what they were not, neither strangers nor foreigners, but freemen and fellow-citizens, & c. Where it must be remembered, that all the nations of the world, except the Jews, were called strangers to the God of Israel; but the Jews were called propinqui, his neighbours, or near ones: but, says the apostle, there is now no such difference; for the believing Gentiles are equally admitted with the believing Jews to the privileges of the new Jerusalem, and are fellow-citizens with one another; they are no longer aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, but free men.
Observe, 2. The apostle sets forth their happy condition positively, under a three-fold similitude; namely, that of a city, that of an household or family, and that of an edifice or building.
Note, 1. Our apostle compares the Christian church (of which the Ephesians now were members) to a city; and shows, that themselves, as believing Gentiles, had a right to all the privileges and immunities of that city, as well; as the Jews, who accounted themselves the only free members of it. Ye are fellow-citizens with the saints; that is, the patriarchs and prophets, and all other members of the church of the Jews; ye are free denizens, burgesses, and infranchized citizens, with the rest of that holy society; ye are all members of the holy catholic church.
Note, 2. Our apostle compares the Christian church to an household or family: Ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Now, this metaphor intimates a greater degree of nearness to, and communion with, the church, than what the former metaphor did imply, there being a straiter tie of familiarity and friendship between the members of a city.
Whence we learn, That the church of Christ under the gospel, is God’s great household or family, in a peculiar manner admitted to an intimate communion with him, in a special way provided and cared for by him; and every sincere Christian becomes a member of this blessed family, and enjoys all the privileges thereof: Ye are all fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
Note, 3. St. Paul proceeds yet farther, and compares the church of Christ to an edifice or stately building: Ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, & c. Now this similitude holds forth unto us a still farther degree of nearness to, and communion with, God and his church, than the former. What can be more closely united, and more strictly joined together, than stones in a building? And our apostle calling the church an holy temple, seems to allude to Solomon’s temple, which was a type of the Christian church, as the tabernacle was of the Jewish church. The tabernacle was ambulatory and changeable, made of decaying and corruptible materials, and so fitly typified the Jewish dispensation, which was temporary and transient; but the temple was made of durable rich materials, and thereby a proper type of the Christian church, which is called a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
But observe further, How our apostle doth describe this stately edifice, this spiritual building, the Christian church, these several ways:
1. By its foundation which it stands upon, namely, the apostles and prophets; that is, upon the doctrine of the prophets and apostles, not upon their persons: Christ himself being the personal foundation and chief corner-stone.
Learn, That though Christ himself be the builder of, and the chief corner-stone in, his church, yet he employs his ministers now, as he did the prophets and apostles of old, to lay the foundation, and carry on the superstructure, and no one apostle had a privilege in this above another; and therefore for the pope, as St. Peter’s successor, to style himself, "the foundation of the Catholic church," is an impudent presumption; for no more is here said of Peter, than is said of all the apostles and prophets.
2. The church as a spiritual building or temple, is here described by the unity and compactness of its parts: in whom all the building fitly framed together; that is, all the members of the church are by faith firmly joined to Christ as the foundation, and to one another by love, and their unity is both their strength and their beauty.
3. This building is described by its worth and perpetual increase, it groweth unto an holy temple. The church groweth two ways, by an addition of new and particular converts, and by an addition of new graces in every particular convert.
Where remark, how this spiritual edifice, the church of Christ, differs from all other buildings; both the whole of it, and all the individual parts of it, are endued with life, a life flowing from Christ the foundation, a life far from a state of perfection, in whom all the building groweth; all a Christian’s life and spiritual growth flow from his union and communion with Christ; in him all the building groweth.
4. This building, namely, the Christian church, consisting both of Jews and Gentiles, is here described by the end and design of Christ in erecting this growing edifice; namely, to be an holy temple unto God, wherein now (as in the material temple of old) he may manifest his gracious presence, and be perpetually worshipped, glorified, and served. The whole church, or collective body of believers jointly, and each believer severally and apart, are a spiritual and holy temple unto the Lord, in and by whom all spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise are offered up, and all the duties of new and sincere obedience acceptably performed.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv19–20 Now therefore ye are no more strangers..... Alluding to…
Now therefore ye are no more strangers..... Alluding to the name "a stranger", by which the Jews called the Gentiles; meaning that they were not now strangers to God, to the grace of God, the love of God, and communion with him, nor to the throne of his grace; nor to Christ, to his person, his work and office, to his righteousness, to his voice, and to believing in him; nor to the Holy Spirit, as an enlightener, a comforter, the spirit of adoption, and as a seal and earnest of future glory; nor to their own hearts, the corruption and deceitfulness of them; nor to the devices of Satan; nor to the covenant of grace, its blessings and promises:
and foreigners: in the commonwealth of Israel, in the church of God;
Read full note →
but fellow citizens with the saints: the city they belong to is either the church below, which is the city of God, of his building, and where he dwells, of which Christ is the foundation, which is strongly fortified with the walls and bulwarks of salvation, is delightfully situated by the river of divine love, and is endowed with various privileges; or heaven above, which is a city of God's preparing and building also, and where he has his residence, and which is the habitation of angels and saints; of this city in either sense saints are citizens; such who are saints by separation, who are set apart by the Father's grace, and by imputation, or through Christ's being made sanctification to them, and by the regenerating grace of the blessed Spirit; and these, as they have a right to a name and a place in the church on earth, have also their citizenship in heaven; and which they have not by birth, nor by purchase, but by the free grace of God, which gives them both a right and a meetness; and believing Gentiles are upon equal foot of grace and privilege with believing Jews:
and of the household of God: and which is sometimes called the household of faith, the church of God consisting of believers, the family in heaven and in earth named of Christ; in which family or household God is the Father, Christ is the firstborn, ministers are stewards; and here are saints of various growth and size, some fathers, some young men, some children: and to this family all believers belong, whether Gentiles or Jews; and which they come into, not by birth, nor by merit, but by adopting grace; and happy are they that belong to this city and house! they are freed from all servitude and bondage; they can never be arrested, or come into condemnation; they have liberty of access to God, and share in the fulness of grace in Christ; they are well taken care of; they are richly clothed, and have plenty of provisions; and will never be turned out, and are heirs of a never fading inheritance.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv19–20 Therefore ye are no longer strangers, but citizens of…
Therefore ye are no longer strangers, but citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem; no longer foreigners, but received into the very family of God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv19–20 Verse 19. Ye are no more strangers] In this…
Verse 19. Ye are no more strangers] In this chapter the Church of God is compared to a city, which, has a variety of privileges, rights, c., founded on regular charters and grants. The Gentiles, having believed in Christ, are all incorporated with the believing Jews in this holy city. Formerly, when any of them came to Jerusalem, being ξενοι, strangers, they had no kind of rights whatever nor could they, as mere heathens, settle among them. Again, if any of them, convinced of the errors of the Gentiles, acknowledged the God of Israel, but did not receive circumcision, he might dwell in the land, but he had no right to the blessings of the covenant; such might be called παροικοι, sojourners-persons who have no property in the land, and may only rent a house for the time being.
Fellow citizens with the saints] Called to the enjoyment of equal privileges with the Jews themselves, who, by profession, were a holy people; who were bound to be holy, and therefore are often called saints, or holy persons, when both their hearts and conduct were far from being right in the sight of God. But the saints spoken of here are the converted or Christianized Jews.
Read full note →
Of the household of God] The house of God is the temple; the temple was a type of the Christian Church; this is now become God's house; all genuine believers are considered as being οικειοι, domestics, of this house, the children and servants of God Almighty, having all equal rights, privileges, and advantages; as all, through one Spirit, by the sacred head of the family, had equal access to God, and each might receive as much grace and as much glory as his soul could possibly contain.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v19 Eph 2:19-22. Now, therefore — Being thus reconciled; ye…
Eph 2:19-22. Now, therefore — Being thus reconciled; ye — Believing Gentiles; are no more strangers and foreigners — If it be necessary to make any distinction as to the signification of these two words, in the former, (ζενοι,) the apostle may refer to persons of a different country; and in the latter, (παροικοι,) to those of a different family. The following clause evidently leads to this sense. But fellow-citizens with the saints — The Church of God is here spoken of under the emblem of a city, as it is also Isa 26:1-2; Isa 60:1, &c.; Isa 62:12; Php 3:20, (where the original expression signifies, our citizenship in heaven,) as also Heb 12:22; Rev 21:10-27, and in many other places of the Old and New Testaments. Of this city, the believers at Ephesus are here represented as genuine citizens, entitled to all the glorious immunities and privileges of it; and of the household of God — Members of his family, his servants, yea, his sons and daughters. As if he had said, God not only stands related to you as a king to his people, or the chief magistrate of a city to the citizens; but as a father to his children, who are under his peculiar protection and care, have the nearest access to him, and most intimate communion with him. “Perhaps,” says Doddridge, “this latter clause, οικειοι του Θεου, domestics of God, may have some relation to that peculiar nearness to God in which the Jewish priests were, and refer to that great intimacy of unrestrained converse with God, to which we, as Christians, are admitted; in which respect our privileges seem to resemble, not only those of the people praying in the common court of Israel, but those of the priests, worshipping in the house itself. Nay, it is elsewhere added, by a figure, which seems beautifully to rise even on this, that we have confidence to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” And are built — Here the apostle alludes to a building, particularly to the temple at Jerusalem, to which he compares God’s visible church, as is evident from the subsequent verse; and he represents the believers at Ephesus as constituent parts of this building; upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets — the fundamental doctrines declared by them, on which the faith and hope of all true believers are built. God laid the foundation of his church by them. Thus the city of the living God, the new Jerusalem, which is the church of God, in its most perfect state in the world to come, is said (Rev 21:14) to be built on the foundation of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The Jewish prophets are also said, not improperly, to be the foundation of God’s church, because they bore testimony, though some of them in an obscure manner, to most of the doctrines of the gospel. Perhaps, however, as the prophets are here mentioned after the apostles, the Christian prophets may be meant; to whom, by a peculiar inspiration, the true meaning of the writings of Moses and the prophets was made known. Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone — Namely, of the foundation, holding the several parts of the building together, and supporting the chief weight of the edifice. It is true, this stone may be considered as placed either at the top or at the bottom of the building; but the latter seems here to be meant; because, in the following verse, the building is said to be fifty joined together by this stone, and to grow into a holy temple for the Lord. Elsewhere, Christ is termed the foundation itself, 1Co 3:11, where see the note. The Lord Jesus, however, is also the head of the corner — The top corner-stone; for so he terms himself Mat 21:42. In — Or on; whom all the building — The whole fabric of the universal church, with all its members, and the doctrines which they believe, the precepts which they obey, and the promises which they embrace, and in which they confide; yea, with all the blessings enjoyed in time, and expected in eternity; fitly framed together — Harmoniously joined in its several parts, and compacted so as to add beauty, strength, and unity to the whole; groweth — Riseth up like a large pile of living materials, namely, by the continual accession of new converts, and the advancing graces of those already converted; unto a holy temple in the Lord — Fitly dedicated to the Lord Christ, as being raised and supported by him; a temple in which God displays his presence, yea, dwells, and is worshipped in spirit and in truth. What is the temple of Diana of the Ephesians, whom ye formerly worshipped, compared to this? See note on 1Pe 2:4-5. In whom ye also — At Ephesus, believing in Christ, and placing your confidence in him as the foundation and high- priest of this temple; are builded together — With other believers, whether Jews or Gentiles; for a habitation of God — That God may dwell among you, as a holy and harmonious society, and in you as individuals, your bodies and souls being also his temples, (1Co 3:16; 1Co 6:19; 2Co 6:16,) through the Spirit — Of truth and grace, of power, purity, and consolation; of holiness and happiness, which God hath promised to all that believe in his Son, Joh 7:38-39; Act 2:39.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv19–20 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners…
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners - You are reckoned with the people of God. You are entitled to their privileges, and are not to be regarded as outcasts and aliens. The meaning is, that they belonged to the same community - the same family - as the people of God. The word rendered “strangers” - ξένοι xenoi - means “foreigners in state,” as opposed to citizens. The word rendered “foreigners” - πάροικοι paroikoi - means “guests in a private family,” as opposed to the members of the family. “Rosenmuller.” Strangers and such as proposed to reside for a short time in Athens, were permitted to reside in the city, and to pursue their business undisturbed, but they could perform no public duty; they had no voice in the public deliberations, and they had no part in the management of the state. They could only look on as spectators, without mingling in the scenes of state, or interfering in any way in the affairs of the government.
They were bound humbly to submit to all the enactments of the citizens, and observe all the laws and usages of the republic. It was not even allowed them to transact any business in their own name, but they were bound to choose from among the citizens one to whose care they committed themselves as a patron, and whose duty it was to guard them against all injustice and wrong Potter’s Greek Ant. i. 55. Proselytes, who united themselves to the Jews, were also called in the Jewish writings, “strangers.” All foreigners were regarded as “strangers,” and Jews only were supposed to have near access to God. But now, says the apostle, this distinction is taken away, and the believing pagan, as well as the Jew, has the right of citizenship in the New Jerusalem, and one, as well as another, is a member of the family of God. “Burder,” Ros. Alt. u. neu. Morgertland, in loc. The meaning here is, that they had not come to sojourn merely as guests or foreigners, but were a part of the family itself, and entitled to all the privileges and hopes which others had.
Read full note →
But fellow-citizens with the saints - Belonging to the same community with the people of God.
And of the household of God - Of the same family. Entitled to the same privileges, and regarded by him as his children; see Eph 3:15.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv19–20 You are no longer strangers with regard to God…
You are no longer strangers with regard to God and his holy alliance. You are no longer travellers and vagabonds, without a God, as you were before your conversion; not knowing to whom you belonged, nor finding in paganism either solid foundation or truth, neither hopes for this nor consolation for future life. But now you are become citizens of the same city as the saints, and domestics of the house of God. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv19–20 Now, therefore--rather, "So then" [ALFORD].
Now, therefore--rather, "So then" [ALFORD].
foreigners--rather, "sojourners"; opposed to "members of the household," as "strangers" is to "fellow citizens." Phi 3:19-20, "conversation," Greek, "citizenship."
Read full note →
but--The oldest manuscripts add, "are."
with the saints--"the commonwealth of (spiritual) Israel" (Eph 2:12).
of God--THE FATHER; as JESUS CHRIST appears in Eph 2:20, and THE SPIRIT in Eph 2:22.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv19–20 19. Fellow citizens—The bright reverse of the alienation and…
19. Fellow citizens—The bright reverse of the alienation and exile pictured in Eph_2:11-12.
Household—God is father of the family; the saints are its members; and both Jew and Gentile are a unit in this filial saintship.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv19–20 19. Now therefore ye] He now turns direct to…
19. Now therefore ye] He now turns direct to the Gentile believers, and rejoicingly recounts to them the actual grandeur of their privileges in grace.
no more] as you once were. See on Eph_2:12 above. The finished work of Christ, realized by accepting faith, has entirely broken for them the old régime.
Read full note →
strangers] “to the covenants of the Promise;” Eph_2:12.
foreigners] In secular matters, the word would mean a resident alien, a non-naturalized foreigner; liable to legal removal at any moment, e.g. on outbreak of war. If such a word were true of Gentile Christians, they would be merely tolerated sojourners, as it were, in the “city” of Messianic light and mercy, without any claim to abide. The glorious contrary was the case. “If they were Christ’s, they were Abraham’s seed, and heirs [of the Gospel Canaan] according to Promise” (Gal_3:29).
but] Insert, with MSS., ye are, after this word; an additional emphasis of assertion.
fellowcitizens] Cp. Gal_4:26; Php_3:20 (Greek); Heb_11:10; Heb_11:16; Rev_3:12, &c.
the saints] “Not angels, nor Jews, nor Christians then alive merely, but the saints of God in the widest sense—all members of the mystical body of Christ” (Alford). See further on the word, note on Eph_1:1.
of the household] Members of the family, kinsfolk. So the word always means in N. T. (Gal_6:10; 1Ti_5:8; here;) and LXX. The idea is not of domestic service, but of the “child at home.” In the deepest sense the Gentile believer, once “far off” in both position and condition, is now at home with his Living Father in Christ.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv19–20 (19) Strangers and foreigners.—Here the word rendered “stranger” means…
(19) Strangers and foreigners.—Here the word rendered “stranger” means properly an alien, or foreigner; while the word translated “foreigners” signifies the resident aliens of an ancient city, who were but half-aliens, having free intercourse with the citizens, although no rights of citizenship. The latter word is used literally in Act_7:6; Act_7:29 (there rendered “sojourner”), and often in the LXX. version; perhaps metaphorically in 1Pe_2:11. Such a sojourner, though in some sense less an absolute alien than the mere “stranger,” was one on whom by daily contrast the sense of being an alien, excluded from power and privilege, was more forcibly impressed.
Fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.—In sense this double expression preserves the double idea running through the whole chapter. The phrase “fellowcitizens of the saints” is applied to the Gentiles, as now united with the Israel of God in one “commonwealth.” (See above, Eph_2:12.) “Members of the household of God” refers rather to the union with God, restored by the blood of Jesus Christ. (See Eph_2:13.) As to the metaphor, the word “stranger”—that is, alien—seems to be opposed to “fellowcitizen”; the word “foreigner”—that is, half-alien—to members of the household: for the resident aliens stood opposed to the “houses,” the families or clans, of the citizens—the unit in ancient law being always the family, and not the individual. The Gentiles were now brought into a “household,” and that household the household of God Himself.
Read full note →
(2 c.) Eph_2:19-22 sum up the two-fold idea of this chapter—union of the Gentiles, with God and with God’s chosen people—in the metaphor of the One Temple, of which Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone, and which, both collectively and in the individuality of each part, grows into a habitation of God.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv19–20 So then ye are no more strangers and foreigners.…
So then ye are no more strangers and foreigners. "Sojourners" is nearer paroikoi than "foreigners;" it denotes persons dwelling in a place, but without citizen rights and privileges; but as such persons are usually foreigners, it is immaterial which term is used. But ye are fellow-citizens with the saints. The saints are the chosen ones of all time. (comp. Heb_12:22, "But ye are come unto Mount Zion," etc.) "Their names are engraven on the same civic roll with all whom "the Lord shall count when be reckoneth up the people." It is as if they who had dwelt in the waste and howling wilderness, scattered defenseless and in melancholy isolation, had been transplanted, not only into Palestine, but had been appointed to domiciles on Mount Zion, and were located in the metropolis, not to admire its architecture, or gaze upon its battlements, or envy the tribes who had come up to worship in the city which is compact together; but to claim its municipal immunities, experience its protection, obey its laws, live and love in its happy society, and hold communion with its glorious Founder and Guardian" (Eadie). And (members) of the household of God. A nearer relation to God and a higher privilege is denoted here. You are not guests or occasional visitors, but permanent dwellers in the house and members of the family. Compare the Queen of Sheba"s words to Solomon. (1Ki_10:8)
The Church a city.
Read full note →
The Gentiles were now no longer strangers, but fellow-citizens with the saints.
I THE CITY MAY BE REGARDED EITHER AS THE CHURCH ON EARTH OR THE CHURCH IN HEAVEN. They are equally the city of God "which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." It is a city strongly fortified with the walls and bulwarks of salvation, and is surrounded by a river of love, which ministers to the wants of its citizens. There God dwells in the midst of them. It is a city possessing glorious franchises and ordered government. It is not limited, like the Jewish theocracy, to one nation; it is not bounded by the frontiers of any land; it is the kingdom which is not of this world, and destined ultimately to triumph over all other kingdoms.
II THE GENTILES ARE NO LONGER STRANGERS IN IT, like those who have no home, no property, no privileges, no interests, in common with its inhabitants. They are now naturalized citizens of the Christian commonwealth, living on terms of perfect equality with all the other members, as to privilege, protection, and government. They are thus brought into relation, not with the Jews either of the present or the past, but with saints of all dispensations and all times; for the Church of God which Jesus "purchased with his own blood" does not date from the day of Pentecost, but covers the whole period of human history since the beginning of time. The abrogation of old theocratic distinctions leaves a new community in which there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncircumcision.
III THE HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP HAS IMPORTANT ETHICAL BEARINGS. Those whose "citizenship is in heaven" are not to "mind earthly things", (Php_3:20) but to think of the Savior who is to be revealed with transforming power in the final resurrection. The laws of heaven are to be our guide on earth. Our calling is, therefore, a "high calling. T.C.
The Church a family.
The Gentiles were no longer mere inmates of the family without domestic rights, like the guests of the priests in ancient times, (Lev_22:10) but "members of the household of God.
I THE CHURCH IS OFTEN LIKENED TO A FAMILY OR HOUSE, which is a much more intimate brotherhood than the city with all its precious franchises. The Church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth, is the house of God; (2Ti_3:15) we are Christ"s house, (Heb_3:6) and it is at this house of God that judgment often begins in the dispensations of Divine providence. (1Pe_4:17) This is the house of which Moses was a servant; (Heb_3:5) therefore it was in existence before Pentecost. This is the true "household of faith". (Gal_6:5)
1. It has God for a Father. This relation is more tender than that of a civil ruler. And therefore we are more than fellow-citizens of the saints; we are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Gal_3:26)
2. Christ is the Firstborn and eider Brother, "a brother born for adversity," allied to us by the dearest ties of sacrifice and sympathy.
3. It is a large family, for it includes "the whole family in heaven and in earth" (Eph_3:15) saints old and young, of all lands, of all times.
4. We enter this family, not by birth, but by adopting grace.
5. It is a separated family, its members divided by time and space, opinion and feeling; but all the members will be at last brought home to the house of many mansions," the holy place not made with hands," which our Savior has gone before to prepare.
II THE GENTILES ARE NO LONGER SOJOURNERS, BUT MEMBERS OF THIS HOUSEHOLD OF GOD. They are not like guests, abiding for a time, but eventually going forth again. The blessing of Abraham "having come upon the Gentiles", (Gal_3:14) they have been born again; they have become children of God by faith; (Gal_3:26) they have become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; they are "clothed with the beautiful garments of salvation;" they shall go no more out, for they have received an eternal inheritance.
III THIS POSITION OF PRIVILEGE ought to make us jealous of our Father"s honor, mindful of our Father"s guidance, loving in all our relations to the members of the great household, and studiously careful to promote its harmony and prosperity. T.C.
Vers. 19-22.
The Christian temple.
The pride of Ephesus was her world-famed temple, in which the religion, the art, and even the commerce of the city centered and flourished. What the temple of Diana was materially in its visible romp and power, the Church of Christ is to be spiritually, but with a higher splendor and a wider influence. More than once has St. Paul described the Church as a temple. The truths shadowed forth by this name press upon us with weighty importance.
I THE MATERIALS WITH WHICH THE TEMPLE IS BUILT.
1. The foundation. "The foundation of the apostles and prophets" must be the work of the earliest and leading Christian teachers who laid the first stones of the Church. They preached the fundamental truths on which the Church stands primarily Christ crucified, for Christ is the real Foundation and they gathered in the first converts. The Church receives its Divine recognition in being apostolic and. in being founded by inspired men
2. The stones. These are the men and women who compose the Church. A building cannot be all foundation. The Church must be the union of individual Christians. It is not the teachers and authorities, but the several members who constitute the Church. These, therefore, are the rich gifts and the honorable mission of the Church. All classes are here united, and those who were once furthest from God publicans, Samaritans, Gentiles, heathen, corrupt judicials, the neglected, the ignorant, and the base are brought in.
3. The Cornerstone. Christ crucified is the foundation laid by apostles and prophets in their preaching; Christ glorified is the crowning completion of the whole structure. We begin with Christ; we end in Christ. The temple starts with Christ, and as it rises tier by tier it is growing up to Christ. Christ, the Head of the body and the chief Cornerstone of the Church, is both the supreme authority and the perfect glory of his people.
II THE PLAN ON WHICH THE TEMPLE IS DESIGNED.
1. The adjustment of a variety of separate parts. "Each several building" is "fitly framed together." It is as though the vast temple were begun in several distinct centers, and, as the building progressed, these approached one another till they met and combined in one vast harmonious structure. There is variety all through, for the "frozen music," architecture, is a blending of many different notes. In the Church there are necessary differences. The hot imagination of the South must produce a different type of Christianity from that molded by the cool, practical temperament of the North. All parts of the temple are not for the same ends. One is to take a lowly place in the monotonous run of stones in a wall; another, to be carved into the delicate grace of a capital, conspicuous to all eyes. But every one has its place, and the union is dependent on variety. There is no unity in a heap of cannon-balls. The fitting together of the various parts of an elaborate structure constitutes the highest unity.
2. Ultimate unity. To this the harmonizing of the several parts is tending. Do we not see the work progressing now in the cooling of ancient ecclesiastical feuds side by side with an enlarging liberty of thought? The true unity will be oneness of sympathy, brotherly love, and mutual helpfulness. Every Christian should strive to realize his share of this and beware of the selfishness of individualism. Christianity begins with individual faith, but it grows into an enlarged brotherhood and the formation of one temple.
III THE USE TO WHICH THE TEMPLE IS DEDICATED. A temple is a house in which a god dwells. The spiritual temple is a habitation of God." "God dwelleth not in temples made with hands." He inhabits the humble and contrite spirit. The real presence of God is in the Church. He does not only bless his children, he visits them and abides with them. He does not confine his presence to a select few inspired prophets, ordained priests, etc. He fills the whole Church with his presence as the incense spreads through every quarter of the temple.
1. Herein is the true glory of the Church not in outward magnificence, but in the spiritual presence.
2. From this arises the responsibility of the Church, not to defile the temple of the Holy Ghost, but to let the glory of God shine out through every door and window unsullied by any cloud of sin. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv19–20 Fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household…
Eph_2:19
Fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
Read full note →
The communion of saints
The Church at Ephesus was a mixed community of Jewish and Gentile converts. The old feuds between them had not passed away. The Jew refused to let go the claim of his nation to some religious superiority over the Gentile, and thought the latter ought to stand afar off and worship in some outer court. But the great design of Christianity, argues the apostle, is to abolish these enmities, to break down these partition walls, to bring these separated worshippers both nigh to each other, and nigh to God. Christ, he declares, is both our peace and our peacemaker. In Himself, and by Himself, He made of the twain one new man and one new society; not strangers one to another, still less enemies one to another, but one large family, joined together in the ties of spiritual brotherhood, fellow citizens with the saints, and members of the household of God.
I. There is the communion of saints with the holy trinity (1Jn_1:3; Joh_17:21-23; 2Pe_1:4). Deity is in some sense grafted into the stock of our regenerate and renewed humanity. Between God and the souls of His elect there is as much of oneness and communion as there is between a vine and its branches, or a body and its members, or a temple and the stones of which it is composed. The tabernacle of God is with men. The incarnation of Christ has made our nature an ennobled thing; the power of the Holy Ghost makes it a spiritual and sanctified thing; and the two together make the communion perfect. There is bestowed upon us a new moral nature, and in virtue of this God may speak with man, walk with man, dwell with man, may suffer to flow towards man the rich tide of His beneficent sympathies, and conclude with man the terms of a holy and everlasting friendship.
II. The communion of saints with the whole body of the Church militant here on earth.
1. The communion of spiritual life. The saints of God, however scattered, have the same Word to guide, the same sacraments to refresh, the same essential doctrines as their ground of trust, and the same Holy Spirit to uphold their souls in life. Born under the same curse, inheritors of a common feebleness, and exposed to like temptations, they look forward to the same bright consummation of glory and honour and immortality (1Co_12:12-13).
2. Communion of aim and object and united interest.
3. Communion of help and sympathy and fellow feeling with one anothers trials (Gal_6:2).
4. Communion in prayer. Mutual intercession is the life of the Church (1Ti_2:1; Php_1:19).
III. Communion of saints on earth with saints in paradise--the Church militant with the Church expectant. Death makes no difference in the mystical union which is betwixt Christ and His Church; i.e., makes no difference in the nature of that union. It will give a demonstration to its evidence, a lustre to its glory, an elevation to its bliss; but the union itself is just what it was in life--a joining of the soul to the Lord by one Spirit. Our communion with departed saints is--
1. A communion of hope.
2. A communion of esteem.
3. A communion of imitation.
We walk in the same light, we live by the same Spirit, we are looking forward to the same peaceful blessedness which they enjoy who are fallen asleep.
IV. Communion with the angels that stand around the throne. They are our fellow servants, and our fellow citizens. Conclusion: What a field of high and ennobling thought does this subject open up! Into what boundless relations does the human spirit branch out; how mysterious is the tie which binds it with all being, with all intelligence, with all worlds! We say unto corruption, thou art my father; to the worm, thou art my mother and my sister; and yet, notwithstanding this, we are one with all the society of the blessed; with the martyrs, a noble army; with the prophets, a goodly fellowship; with the apostles, a glorious company; with the angels, a radiant host. Nay, this bond of saintly sympathy rests not here; it is interlinked with things divine--with the sanctities of the Spirit, with the glorified humanity of Christ, with the covenant love of God. How important the question for us all--How shall these glorious ties be preserved unbroken, and wherein lies this great strength? The strength of this union of saints lies in their separation from all sinful thoughts and sympathies. We have a name, a character, a calling, and we must be consistent therewith. The world and the Church must have an intelligible partition somewhere. The life of saintship must be saintliness of life. Communion, whether with Divine or created natures, must have its foundation in similarity of moral character. To see God we must be like Him. (Daniel Moore, M. A.)
Saintly citizenship
1. Believers are fellow citizens.
(1) Bound to seek each others good.
(2) Bound to conform to the customs of their city.
(3) This teaches us our happiness when we are brought to believe, and should stimulate our faith.
(4) Citizens of Bethel must not communicate with Babylon.
2. Believers are conjoined as members of one family. This is a stricter bond than the former, and should serve to increase love. We being confined within one family, a common roof under which we all live and board, we must be all of one heart, at peace and unity; and the God of love and peace will be with us.
3. It is Gods family.
(1) Therefore we must live to Him. The household is bound to obey its master.
(2) How dishonouring to God are the sins of those who profess to be His!
(3) The Lord will make due provision for His household.
(4) Those who have servants under them, should learn from this to be kind and just to them; for they and we are all fellow servants in the family of God. (Paul Bayne.)
Fellow citizens
It is not good for man to be alone. There are few things more terrible than to be utterly friendless and alone in the world. One of the most awful forms of punishment is solitary confinement, and many a poor prisoner has grown gray and old in a few years, or has gone mad, because he was not allowed to see, or speak to, a fellow creature. In days gone by, we read that one of these unhappy captives actually made friends with a spider, finding the company of an insect better than absolute solitude; and that another captive devoted all his thought and affection on a prison flower. Quite lately I read of a prisoner in one of our gaols who had tamed a rat as a companion, and who became almost mad when his only friend was taken from him. We have all heard of the sufferings of those who have been cast away in shipwreck upon lonely islands, with no companion to share their exile. But let Christs servant be where he will, on lonely island, in solitary prison, among crowds of strangers, he is never alone, because he believes in the communion of saints.
I. Fellowship with the martyrs. We need not die for Christ in order to be His martyrs. St. Paul would have been a martyr if he had died quietly in his bed, and never felt the sword of the Roman headsman. His years of patient suffering in Christs service, his bold preaching in the face of persecution and death, made him the faithful martyr of Jesus. And so now, those of us who are trying to do their duty where God has put them, doing what is right at any cost, bearing loss, trouble, insult, it may be, rather than commit sin, they are Christs martyrs, no matter how lowly and obscure their lives may be.
II. Fellowship with the prophets. But you may say, How can I do the work of a preacher or prophet like Elijah, or Jonah, or Ezekiel, or the rest? You need not be preachers as they were, yet you can be like them. They were not afraid to speak the truth, they were not too timid to rebuke vice wherever they saw it. They defended the honour of God and His Church at all times, and never thought of their own safety. Now you, my brothers, can be brave for Jesus; show that you are not ashamed of your Master, or your Christian calling.
III. Fellowship with the apostles. The name apostle means one who is sent forth; the first apostles of Jesus were sent to preach the gospel to every creature. We, as Christian men and women, are all, in one sense, apostles. The pure man, the honest man, the faithful man, is an apostle of Jesus; his life is a gospel, a sermon on purity, honesty, faith. The temperate man is a preacher; his example is the best lesson on self-control. (H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A.)
The relation of the members to the heed of the household
The phrase now before us, the household of God, is but a reflection of the ever-recurring reference in the teaching of Christ to God as the Father, both of Himself and of men. The idea of a household grows out of Christs idea of God as Father, just as the idea in the word citizen in the previous part of the verse grows out of Christs conception of the kingdom of God. It is to this idea of the Christian society as a household we now give our attention. In another place, regarding it, not in the light of its head, but of the spirit which binds us to this head, he calls it the household of faith. Now what are the essentials of a household? A household is a society marked by diversity in unity. It is like light, which is composed of the many colours of the spectrum, each colour having a character of its own, but when all are combined forming the pure white light by which we see and work. So a household is a combination--a unity of different characters under one head. And this is the true conception of the Christian society we call the Church. Without the diversity it would be as uninteresting as the grains of wheat in the garner--which are all alike; without the unity it would not be a society at all. Let us see what each involves:
I. Of the diversity.
1. A household is not an institution founded on identity of thought. Each member of it may have ideas of his own. Such diversity grows naturally out of the variety of character and mind of its members. It is only another side of the same truth to say--
2. in a household identity of experience as not essential. There is as great a variety of inward life as of mental thought in the members of a family, The differences of feeling are as great as those of intellect.
II. Of the unity of the household. In what does it consist? Unmistakably in loyalty to its head. Loyalty in a home is only another name for love. The children may have different conceptions of the head of the family; they may regard him in different ways; but if they be loyal, loving, they are a real part of the household. Within this limit there is room for almost endless diversity. One child may understand one part of his fathers character, and another may understand another part. The boys may appreciate best the business capacity of their father, and the girls may best discern the tenderer home side of that character. One may appreciate his intellectual qualities, and another his practical ability. But all belong to the household who look up to and trust him as the head. So it is in the household of God--one mind may be compelled by its very nature to grapple with the problems of the Divine Nature; another may be able to believe without attempting to prove. One may need definitions and theories, another may quietly rest in the Lord. But the central, essential thing is to be loyal to the Head. And closely connected with, yea, a part of such loyalty, is, obedience to the Head. Obedience is loyalty in action. Works are the fruit of faith. (W. G. Herder.)
The relation of the members of the household to one another
Sonship is one side of the home relationship, brotherhood is the other. No one can be a good son unless he be a good brother. The true parent cares as much for right feeling among his children as for right feeling to himself. It is perhaps more difficult to be loyal to our brethren than it is to be loyal to the head. Where the head is concerned the idea of authority comes in, but where the members are concerned the relationship must be even more spontaneous. The child may be afraid to offend his father, but that feeling does not arise in relation to those who are his brothers or sisters. The father will probably not put so severe a strain on the loyalty of his children as they may do one to another. Rivalry is not so likely to spring up between child and parent as between brothers and sisters. Age, which naturally wakens deference to the parent, is not present to the same degree to waken it between those whose years are more on an equality. For these, and many similar reasons, it is more difficult to keep unity in the household than between the household and its head. But the New Testament is quite as insistent on the one as on the other. There should be room for all diversities of character, that by contact and converse they may modify and balance one another, the solemn moderating the merry, the merry brightening the solemn, the poetic elevating the practical, the practical steadying the poetic, the guileless quickening faith in the calculating, the calculating preserving the guileless from being deceived. This is a part of the Divine method of education for our life. We are members one of another, so that no one may say to another: I have no need of thee. The peace of a family is gone if any one member seek to dominate the rest, and always have his own way. Many a household has been ruined by self-will. And more than aught beside, this has rent asunder the household of God. Closely connected with such--indeed, lying at the root of self-will--is the idea of infallibility. Such a confidence in our own opinions that all others are regarded as erroneous. The learned Dr. Thompson, late Master of Trinity College, once said None of us are infallible, not even the youngest. Nothing is more irritating--nothing is more likely to disturb the unity of the home or of the Church, than some one member who poses as an oracle. This is but the negative side of the matter. These are the things to be avoided. There is a positive side: things to be done. The true conception of a household is of a company in which the resources of each of the members are at the service of all the rest. It should be a ministering company. The joy of one should be the joy of all. The sorrow of one should be the sorrow of all. A company in which the strong bear the infirmities of the weak, and not please themselves. Those on the hilltop of faith moving down to those in the valley of doubt, to lead them to the height of vision. The glad and merry bearing some of the sunshine of their nature to the morbid and gloomy. In such ministries, prompted of love, the home consists, whether it be of man or of God. Indeed, the home is but the miniature of the greater household of God. A home is not made by those who live and eat and sleep under the same roof. It may be a hotel, it is not a home. The home does not begin to be until it is a place of mutual ministries, inspired of love. And the household of God is not constituted by men and women who hold the same creed, repeat the same prayers, join in the same sacraments--these are but the form, the letter; not until the spirit of love, reaching out to mutual help, arises, is it worthy of the name of a household of God. (W. G. Herder.)
Fellow citizens with the saints
In the text, St. Paul sets forth the privileges of the Gentile state, that is, of our state, by a very intelligible figure, by a figure especially understood in that day. The inhabitants, or rather I should say, the actual and acknowledged and free members, of particular cities, then enjoyed particular rights and benefits, to a greater extent than is usually found amongst us; and this was particularly the case with regard to the city of Rome, the then mistress of the world; of which city the apostle himself was a free-born citizen, and found the benefit of his birthright on several occasions. While strangers and foreigners then were disowned, and often unprotected and despised, the citizen was regarded and honoured and cherished wherever he went. And the Church of God is here compared, in this respect, to a city, of which the Israelites had formerly been the only true members, had alone enjoyed the blessings; the rest of mankind being in the situation of strangers and foreigners. But circumstances are now totally altered: the Gentile believers are no longer excluded from the privileges of the people of God; they are become fellow citizens of the spiritual and heavenly Jerusalem. Now, let us first inquire what is the nature and extent of this city, of which we are made the privileged members? what the family into which we are admitted? It is the whole body of Jehovahs accepted people throughout the universe: the whole family of the blest, wherever they are to be found. But it is not to the present race of mortals that our fellowship is confined: we have communion also with the saints at rest, with all that ever lived and died, from Adam to the present generation. The new dispensation is united with the old; they are both one; we may say one gospel; being parts of that same grand scheme of redemption, which was framed and declared from the beginning, for the recovery and salvation of mankind. But, indeed, we have not yet surveyed the length and breadth of that community, into which we have been received as members. The angels, the highest angels, form a part thereof; we are one with them; our city is theirs, and our Lord is theirs. Of the blessed Jesus, the whole family in heaven and earth is named. (J. Slade, M. A.)
The communion of saints
He that walks in communion with the saints, travels in company: he dwells in a city where one house sustains another, to which Jerusalem is compared. (H. G. Salter.)
The best fellowship
The Rev. James Owen, of Shrewsbury, being asked on his deathbed, whether he would have some of his friends sent for to keep him company, replied, My fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ; and he that is not satisfied with that company doth not deserve it.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v19 Chapter 11
Chapter 11
GODS TEMPLE IN HUMANITY
Read full note →
Eph_2:19-22
Now unfrequently it is the last word or phrase of the paragraph that gives us the clue to St. Pauls meaning and discloses the point at which he has aimed all along. So in this instance. "For a habitation of God in the Spirit": behold the goal of Gods ways with mankind! For this end the Divine grace has wrought through countless ages and has made its great sacrifice. For this end Jew and Gentile are being gathered into one and compacted into a new humanity.
I. The Church is a house built for an Occupant. Its quality and size, and the mode of its construction are determined by its destination. It is built to suit the great Inhabitant, who says concerning the new Zion as He said of the old in figure: "This is My rest forever! Here will I dwell, for I have desired it." God, who is spirit, cannot be satisfied with the fabric of material nature for His temple, nor does "the Most High dwell in houses made by mens hands." He seeks our spirit for His abode, and
"Doth prefer before all temples the upright heart and pure."
In the collective life and spirit of humanity God claims to reside, that He may fill it with His glory and His love. "Know you not," cries the apostle to the once debased Corinthians, "that you are Gods temple, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"
Nothing that is bestowed upon man terminates in himself. The deliverance of Jewish and Gentile believers from their personal sins, their reinstatement into the broken unity of mankind and the destruction in them of their old enmities, of the antipathies generated by their common rebellion against God-these great results of Christs sacrifice were means to a further end. "Hallowed be Thy name" is our first petition to the Father in heaven; "Glory to God in the highest" is the keynote of the angels song, that runs through all the harmonies of "peace on earth," through every strain of the melody of life. Religion is the mistress, not the handmaid, in human affairs. She will never consent to become a mere ethical discipline, an instrument and subordinate stage in social evolution, a ladder held for men to climb up into their self-sufficiency.
The old temptation of the Garden, "Ye shall be as gods," has come upon our age in a new and fascinating form. "You shall be as gods," it is whispered: "nay, you are God, and there is no other. The supernatural is a dream. The Christian story is a fable. There is none to fear or adore above yourselves!" Man is to worship his collective self, his own humanity. "I am the Lord thy God," the great idol says, "that brought thee up out of animalism and savagery, and me only shalt thou serve!-Love and faithful service to ones kind, a holy passion for the welfare of the race, for the relief of human ignorance and poverty and pain, this is the true religion; and you need no other. Its obligation is instinctive, its benefits immediate and palpable; and it gives a consecration to individual life that dignifies and chastens, while it calls into exercise all our faculties."
Yes, we willingly admit, such human service is "religion pure and undefiled, before our God and Father." If service is rendered to our kind as worship to the Father of men; if we reverence in each man the image of God and the shrine of His Spirit; if we are seeking to cleanse and adorn in men the temple where the Most High shall dwell, the humblest work done for our fellows good is done for Him. The best human charity is rendered for the love of God. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength." "This," said Jesus, "is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." On these two hangs the welfare of men and nations.
But the first commandment must come first. The second law of Jesus never has been or will be kept to purpose without the first. Humanitarian sentiments, dreams of universal brotherhood, projects of social reform, may seem for the moment to gain by their independence of religion a certain zest and emphasis; but they are without root and vitality. Their energy fails, or spends itself in revolt; their glow declines, their purity is stained. The leaders and first enthusiasts trained in the school of Christ, whose spirit, in vain repudiated, lives on in them, find themselves betrayed and alone. The coarse selfishness and materialism of the human heart win an easy triumph over a visionary altruism. "Without Me," says Jesus Christ, "ye can do nothing." In the light of Gods glory man learns to reverence his nature and understand the vocation of his race. The love of God touches the deep and enduring springs of human action. The kingdom of Christ and of God commands an absolute devotion; its service inspires unfaltering courage and invincible patience. There is a grandeur and a certainty, of which the noblest secular aims fall short, in the hopes of those who are striving together for the faith of the gospel, and who work to build human life into a dwelling-place for God.
II. Gods temple in the Church of Jesus Christ, while it is one, is also manifold. "In whom each several building [or every part of the building], while it is compacted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord."
The image is that of an extensive pile of buildings, such as the ancient temples commonly were, in process of construction at different points over a wide area. The builders work in concert, upon a common plan. The several parts of the work are adjusted to each other; and the various operations in process are so harmonised, that the entire construction preserves the unity of the architects design. Such an edifice was the apostolic Church-one, but of many parts-in its diverse gifts and multiplied activities animated by one Spirit and directed towards one Divine purpose.
Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, -what a various scene of activity these centres of Christian life presented! The Churches founded in these great cities must have differed in many features. Even in the communities of his own province the apostle did not, so far as we can judge, impose a uniform administration. St. Peter and St. Paul carried out their plans independently, only maintaining a general understanding with each other. The apostolic founders, inspired by one and the self-same Spirit, could labour at a distance, upon material and by methods extremely various, with entire confidence in each other and with an assurance of the unity of result which their teaching and administration would exhibit. The many buildings rested on the one foundation of the apostles. "Whether it were I or they," says our apostle, "so we preach, and so you believed." Where there is the same Spirit and the same Lord, men do not need to be scrupulous about visible conformity. Elasticity and individual initiative admit of entire harmony of principle. The hand may do its work without irritating and obstructing the eye; and the foot run on its errands without mistrusting the ear.
Such was the catholicism of the apostolic age. The true reading of Eph_2:21, as it is restored by the Revisers, is an incidental witness to the date of the epistle. A churchman of the second century, writing under Pauls name in the interests of catholic unity as it was then understood, would scarcely have penned such a sentence without attaching to the subject the definite article: he must have written "all the building," as the copyists from whom the received text proceeds very naturally have done. From that time onwards, as the system of the ecclesiastical hierarchy was developed, external unity was more and more strictly imposed. The original "diversity of operations" became a rigid uniformity. The Church swallowed up the Churches. Finally, the spiritual bureaucracy of Rome gathered all ecclesiastical power into one centre, and placed the direction of Western Christendom in the hands of a single priest, whom it declared to be the Vicar of Jesus Christ and endowed with the Divine attribute of infallibility.
Had not Jerusalem been overthrown and its Church destroyed, the hierarchical movement would probably have made that city, rather than Rome, its centre. This was in fact the tendency, if not the express purpose, of the Judaistic party in the Church. St. Paul had vindicated in his earlier epistles the freedom of the Gentile Christian communities, and their right of non-conformity to Jewish usage. In the words "each several building, fitly framed together," there is an echo of this controversy. The Churches of his mission claim a standing side by side with those founded by other apostles. For himself and his Gentile brethren he seems to say, in the presence of the primitive Church and its leaders: "As they are Christs, so also are we."
The co-operation of the different parts of the body of Christ is essential to their collective growth. Let all Churches beware of crushing dissent. Blows aimed at our Christian neighbours recoil upon ourselves. Undermining their foundation, we shake our own. Next to positive corruption of doctrine and life, nothing hinders so greatly the progress of the kingdom of God as the claim to exclusive legitimacy made on behalf of ancient Church organisations. Their representatives would have every part of Gods temple framed upon one pattern. They refuse a place on the apostolic foundation to all Churches, however numerous, however rich in faith and good works, however strong the historical justification for their existence, however clear the marks they bear of the Spirits seal, which do not conform to the rule they themselves have received. Their rites and ministry, they assert, are those alone approved by Christ and authorised by His apostles, within a given area. They refuse the right hand of fellowship to men who are doing Christs work by their side; they isolate their flocks, as far as possible, from intercourse with the Christian communities around them.
This policy on the part of any Christian Church, or Church party, is contrary to the mind of Christ and to the example of His apostles. Those who hold aloof from the comity of the Churches and prevent the many buildings of Gods temple being fitly framed together, must bear their judgment, whosoever they be. They prefer conquest to peace, but that conquest they will never win; it would be fatal to themselves. Let the elder sister frankly allow the birthright of the younger sisters of Christs house in these lands, and be our example in justice and in charity. Great will be her honour; great the glory won for our common Lord.
"Every building fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord." The subject is distributive; the predicate collective. The parts give place to the whole in the writers mind. As each several piece of the structure, each cell or chapel in the temple, spreads out to join its companion buildings and adjusts itself to the parts around it, the edifice grows into a richer completeness and becomes more fit for its sacred purpose. The separate buildings, distant in place or historical character, approximate by extension, as they spread over the unoccupied ground between them and as the connecting links are multiplied. At last a point is reached at which they will become continuous. Growing into each other step by step and forming across the diminishing distance a web of mutual attachment constantly thickening, they will insensibly, by a natural and vital growth, become one in visible communion as they are one in their underlying faith.
When each organ of the body in its own degree is perfect and holds its place in keeping with the rest, we think no longer of their individual perfection, of the charm of this feature or of that; they are forgotten in the beauty of the perfect frame. So it will be in the body of Christ, when its several communions, cleansed and filled with His Spirit, each honouring the vocation of the others, shall in freedom and in love by a spontaneous movement be gathered into one. Their strength will then be no longer weakened and their spirit chafed by internal conflict. With united forces and irresistible energy, they will assail the kingdom of darkness and subjugate the world to Christ.
For this consummation our Saviour prayed in the last hours before His death: "that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that Thou didst send." {Joh_17:21} Did He fear that His little flock of the Twelve would be parted by dissensions? or did He not look onward to the future, and see the "offences that must come," the alienations and fierce conflicts that would arise amongst His people, and the blood that would be shed in His name? Yet beyond these divisions, on the horizon of the end of the age, He foresaw the day when the wounds of His Church would be healed, when the sword that He had brought on the earth would be sheathed, and through the unity of faith and love in His people all mankind would at last come to acknowledge Him and the Father who had sent Him.
III. To appearance, we are many rather than one who bear the name of Christ. But we are one notwithstanding, if below the variety of superstructure our faith rests upon the witness of the apostles, and the several buildings have Christ Jesus Himself for chief corner-stone. The one foundation and the one Spirit constitute the unity of Gods temple in the Church.
"The apostles and prophets" are named as a single body, the prophets…being doubtless, in this passage and in Eph_3:5 and Eph_4:11, the existing prophets of the apostolic Church, whose inspired teaching supplemented that of the apostles and helped to lay down the foundation of revealed truth. That foundation has been, through the providence of God, preserved for later ages in the Scriptures of the New Testament, on which the faith of Christians has rested ever since. Such a prophet Barnabas was in the first days, {Act_13:1} and such was the unknown, but deeply inspired writer of the epistle to the Hebrews; such prophets, again, were SS. Mark and Luke, the Evangelists. Prophecy was not a stated gift of office. Just as there were "teachers" in the early Church whose knowledge and eloquence did not entitle them to bear rule, so prophecy was frequently exercised by private persons and carried with it no such official authority as belonged in the highest degree to the apostles.
It is thought surprising that St. Paul should write thus, in so general and distant a fashion, of the order to which he belonged. {comp. Eph_3:5} This, it is said, is the language of a later generation, which looks back with reverence to the inspired Founders. But this letter is written, as we observed at the outset, from a peculiarly objective and impersonal standpoint. It differs in this respect from other epistles of St. Paul. He is addressing a number of Churches, with some of which his personal relations were slight and distant. He is contemplating the Church in its most general character. He is not the only founder of Churches; he is one of a band of colleagues, working in different regions. It is natural that he should use the plural here. He sets his successors an example of the recognition due to fellow-labourers whose work bears the seat of Christs Spirit.
These men have laid the foundation- Peter and Paul, John and James, Barnabas and Silas, and the rest. They are our spiritual progenitors, the fathers of our faith. We see Jesus Christ through their eyes; we read His teaching, and catch His Spirit in their words. Their testimony, in its essential facts, stands secure in the confidence of mankind. Nor was it their word alone, but the men themselves-their character, their life and work - laid for the Church its historical foundation. This "glorious company of the apostles" formed the first course in the new building, on whose firmness and strength the stability of the entire structure depends. Their virtues and their sufferings, as well as the revelations made through them, have guided the thoughts and shaped the life of countless multitudes of men, of the best and wisest men in all ages since. They have fixed the standard of Christian doctrine and the type of Christian character. At our best, we are but imitators of them as they were of Christ.
In regard to the chief part of their teaching, both as to its meaning and authority, the great bulk of Christians in all communions are agreed. The keen disputes which engage us upon certain points testify to the cardinal importance which is felt on all hands to attach to the words of Christs chosen apostles. Their living witness is in our midst. The self-same Spirit that wrought in them works amongst men and dwells in the communion of saints. He still reveals the things of Christ, and guides into truth the willing and obedient.
So "the firm foundation of God standeth"; though men, shaken themselves, seem to see it tremble. On that basis we may labour confidently and loyally, with those amongst whom the Master has placed us. Some of our fellow-workmen disown and would hinder us: that shall not prevent us from rejoicing in their good work, and admiring the gold and precious stones that they contribute to the fabric. The Lord of the temple will know how to use the labour of His many servants. He will forgive and compose their strife, who are jealous for His name. He will shape their narrow aims to His larger purposes. Out of their discords He will draw a finer harmony. As the great house grows to its dimensions, as the workmen by the extension of their labours come nearer to each other and their sectional plans merge in Christs great purpose, reproaches will cease and misunderstandings vanish. Over many who followed not with us and whom we counted but as "strangers and sojourners," as men whose place within the wails of Zion was doubtful and unauthorised, we shall hereafter rejoice with a joy not unmixed with selfupbraiding, to find them in the fullest right our fellow-citizens amongst the saints and of the household of God.
The Holy Spirit is the supreme Builder of the Church, as He is the supreme witness to Jesus Christ. {Joh_15:26-27} The words in the Spirit, closing the verse with solemn emphasis, denote not the mode of Gods habitation-that is self-evident-but the agency engaged in building this new house of God. With one "chief cornerstone" to rest upon and one Spirit to inspire and control them, the apostles and prophets laid their foundation and the Church was "builded together" for a habitation of God. Hence its unity. But for this sovereign influence the primitive founders of Christianity, like later Church leaders, would have fallen into fatal discord. Modern critics, reasoning upon natural grounds and not understanding the grace of the Holy Spirit, assume that they did thus quarrel and contend. Had this been so, no foundation could ever have been laid; the Church would have fallen to pieces at the very beginning.
In the hands of these faithful and wise stewards of Gods dispensation, "the stone which the builders rejected was made the head of the corner." Their work has been tried by fire and by flood; and it abides. The rock of Zion stands unworn by time, unshaken by the conflict of ages, - amidst the movements of history and the shifting currents of thought, the one foundation for the peace and true welfare of mankind.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv19–20 19–22. Therefore ye are no more strangers. Gentiles have…
19–22. Therefore ye are no more strangers. Gentiles have been brought nigh, and are fellow-citizens of the kingdom of God with the saints.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v19 Eph_2:19. So then.—Inference of Eph_2:14-18. Strangers and foreigners.—By the…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Eph_2:19. So then.—Inference of Eph_2:14-18. Strangers and foreigners.—By the latter word is meant those who temporarily abide in a place, but are without the privileges of it. There is a verb “to parish” in certain parts of England which shows how a word can entirely reverse its original meaning. It not only means “to adjoin,” but “to belong to.” Fellow-citizens with the saints.—Enjoying all civic liberties, and able to say, “This is my own, my native land,” when he finds “Mount Zion and the city of the living God” (cf. Heb_11:13-14). And of the household of God.—The association grows more intimate. The words might possibly mean “domestics of God” (Rev_22:3-4); but when we think of the “Father’s house” we must interpret “of the family circle of God.”
Read full note →
Eph_2:20. Being built upon the foundation.—From the figure of a household St. Paul passes easily to the structure, based on “the Church’s One Foundation.” The chief corner-stone.—“The historic Christ, to whom all Christian belief and life have reference, as necessarily conditions through Himself the existence and endurance of each Christian commonwealth, as the existence and steadiness of a building are dependent on the indispensable cornerstone, which upholds the whole structure” (Meyer). The difference between our passage and 1Co_3:11 is one of figure only.
Eph_2:21. All the building.—R.V. “each several building.” Fitly-framed-together.—One word in the original, found again only in Eph_4:16 in this form.
Eph_2:22. For a habitation.—The word so translated is found again only in Rev_18:2, a sharp contrast to this verse.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Eph_2:19-22
The Church the Temple of God.
I. Enjoying special privileges.—
1. A saintly citizenship. “No more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints” (Eph_2:19). The apostle has spoken of the separation and enmity existing between Jew and Gentile. The Jew, trained to believe in the one invisible and only true God, who could not be imagined by any material form, learned to look with hatred and contempt on the outcast, lawless Gentile, with his idol deities in every valley and on every hill; and the intellectual Gentile looked with philosophic pride on the stern land of the Hebrew and in philosophic scorn on his strange, exclusive loneliness. They were not only at enmity with each other, but both were at enmity with God. Now the writer is showing that by the provisions of the gospel both Greek and Jew are united as citizens of one divine kingdom. They enjoy the same privileges, and are in actual fellowship with prophets and apostles and all holy souls in all ages, and are sanctified subjects of a kingdom that can never be moved.
2. A family life.—“And of the household of God” (Eph_2:19). The Church is a family having one Father in God, one Brother in Christ, one life in the Spirit, and one home in heaven. As in earthly families, there are diversities of character, tastes, gifts, tendencies, and manifestations, but all the members of the heavenly household are bound together by the one common bond of love to God and to each other.
II. Resting on a sure foundation (Eph_2:20).—The materials composing the foundation of the Church are living stones—teachers and confessors of the truth, “apostles and prophets”; but Christ, as the one foundation, is the “chief corner-stone.” The foundation of the Church is not so much in the witnesses of the truth as in the truth itself, and in propagating which truth the first teachers and confessors sacrificed their all. The truth which produced and sustained the martyrs is itself immovable. The apostles and prophets—teachers in the apostolic times—laid the first course in the foundation of the Church, and were careful to recognise and build only one foundation, united and held together by the one corner-stone—Christ Jesus. They fixed the pattern and standard of Christian doctrine and practice. The Christian Church is sure because the foundation is deep and broad, and can never be removed and replaced by any human structure.
III. Ever rising to a higher perfection (Eph_2:21).—The image is that of an extensive pile of buildings, such as the ancient temples commonly were, in process of construction at different points over a wide area. The builders work in concert upon a common plan. The several parts of the work are adjusted to each other, and the various operations in process are so harmonised that the entire construction preserves the unity of the architect’s design. Such an edifice was the apostolic Church—one but of many parts—in its diverse gifts and multiplied activities animated by one Spirit and directed towards one divine purpose (Findlay). Since the Day of Pentecost, when three thousand living stones were laid on the foundation, the Church has been growing in symmetry, beauty, and vastness, and it is constantly advancing towards perfection. The building, though apparently disjoined and working in separate parts, is growing into a final unity.
IV. Made by the Spirit His glorious dwelling-place (Eph_2:22).—The Holy Spirit is the supreme Builder as He is the supreme Witness to Jesus Christ (Joh_15:26-27). The words “in the Spirit” denote not the mode of God’s habitation—that is self-evident—but the agency engaged in building this new house of God. With one chief corner-stone to rest upon, and one Spirit to inspire and control them, the apostles and prophets laid their foundation, and the Church was builded together for a habitation of God. Hence its unity. But for this sovereign influence the primitive founders of Christianity, like later Church leaders, would have fallen into fatal discord (Findlay). The Church is a spiritual organisation, pervaded and made vital and progressive by the presence and operation of the Spirit of God. An organ is composed of several instruments—the choir, the swell, the pedal, the great; and many stops—the diapason, the flute, the trumpet; and yet it is one. And the Church of God is one. One Spirit—one breath of wind turned on by one living Hand—makes all the organ vocal.
Lessons.—
1. The Church is the depositary of great religious privileges.
2. God dwells in the Church by dwelling in the heart of every member of it.
3. The Church provides every facility for worship and service.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Eph_2:19-22. The Church of God a Spiritual Building.
I. The apostle represents the Church of God under the figure of a city and a household.—
1. A Church must resemble a family or city in respect of order and government; for without these a religious society can no more subsist than a civil community or a household.
2. In a city or household all the members have a mutual relation and partake in the common privileges; and though they are placed in different stations and conditions, they must all contribute to the general happiness.
3. In a city and also in a family there is a common interest.
4. In a well-ordered city or household there will be peace and unity; so there ought to be in a Christian Church.
II. The manner in which the Church is founded.—The mediation of Christ is the foundation of our faith and hope. The apostles and prophets are a foundation only as they describe and exhibit to us the doctrines and works, the atonement and intercession, of the Redeemer. In Him all the doctrines of the apostles and prophets meet and unite, as the stones in the foundation are fixed and bound together by the corner-stone.
III. The Church must be united with and framed into the foundation.—Thus it may stand secure. Christ is the chief corner-stone in which all the building is framed. That only is true faith in Christ which regards Him as the foundation of our present hope and final acceptance.
IV. As the Church must rest on the foundation, so the several parts of it must be framed and inserted into each other.—As it is faith which fixes the saints on Christ the foundation, so it is love which binds them together among themselves. If we would preserve the beauty, strength, and dignity of the spiritual house, we must be watchful to repair breaches as soon as they appear, and to remove those materials which are become too corrupt to be repaired, lest they communicate their own corruption to sounder parts.
V. The Church is to grow into a holy temple for God through the Spirit.—We must not content ourselves with having built on the true foundation, but must bring the structure to a more finished and beautiful condition. The Church may grow and make increase both by the progress of its present members in knowledge and holiness and by the addition of new members who become fellow-workers in the spiritual building. God dwells in His Church, not only by His word and ordinances, but also by the influence of His Spirit which He affords to assist His people in the duties of His worship and to open their hearts for the reception of His word.—Lathrop.
Eph_2:19. Christian Prayer a Witness of Christian Citizenship.
I. The foundation of the citizenship of the Christian.—In access to the Father—in the power of approaching Him in full, free, trustful prayer.
1. Christian prayer is the approach of the individual soul to God as its Father.—Until a man utterly believes in Christ he can never pray aright. There are veils around the unbelieving spirit which hinder this free, confiding approach. The touch of God startles memories, rouses ghosts of the past in the soul’s secret chambers; they flutter fearfully in the strange divine light, and the man shudders and dare not pray. A man bathed in the life of God in prayer feels he is no more a stranger and a foreigner, but has entered into God’s kingdom, for God is his Father.
2. That prayer of the individual soul must lead to the united worship of God’s Church.—We cannot always pray alone. The men who stand most aloof from social worship are not the men who manifest the highest spiritual life. Our highest prayers are our most universal. I do not say we don’t feel their individuality, we do—but in and through their universality.
II. The nature of Christian citizenship.—
1. Prayer a witness to our fellowship with the Church of all time. Realising the Fatherhood of God in the holy converse of prayer, we are nearer men. Our selfishness, our narrow, isolating peculiarities begin to fade. In our highest prayers we realise common wants.
2. Prayer a witness to our fellowship with the Church of eternity.—All emotions of eternity catch the tone of prayer. Sometimes in the evening, when the sounds of the world are still and the sense of eternity breaks in upon us, is not that feeling a prayer? We know that we are right, that in worship we have taken no earthly posture, but an attitude from higher regions.
Lessons.—
1. Live as members of the kingdom.
2. Expect the signs of citizenship—the crown of thorns, the cross.
3. Live in hope of the final ingathering.—E. L. Hull.
The Communion of Saints.
I. Society becomes possible only through religion.—Men might be gregarious without it, but not social. Instinct which unites them in detail prevents their wider combination. Intellect affords light to show the elements of union, but no heat to give them crystalline form. Self-will is prevailingly a repulsive power, and often disintegrates the most solid of human masses. Some sense of a divine Presence, some consciousness of a higher law, some pressure of a solemn necessity, will be found to have preceded the organisation of every human community and to have gone out and perished before its death.
II. Worship exhibits its uniting principle under the simplest form, in the sympathies it diffuses among the members of the same religious assembly.—There is, however, no necessary fellowship, as of saints, in the mere assembling of ourselves together; but only in the true and simple spirit of worship. Where a pure devotion really exists, the fellowship it produces spreads far beyond the separate circle of each Christian assembly. Surely it is a glorious thing to call up, while we worship, the wide image of Christendom this day. Could we be lifted up above this sphere and look down as it rolls beneath this day’s sun, and catch its murmurs as they rise, should we not behold land after land turned into a Christian shrine? In how many tongues, by what various voices, with what measureless intensity of love, is the name of Christ breathed forth to-day!
III. But our worship here brings us into yet nobler connections.—It unites us by a chain of closest sympathy with past generations. In our helps to faith and devotion we avail ourselves of the thought and piety of many extinct ages. Do not we, the living, take up in adoration and prayer the thoughts of the dead and find them divinely true? What an impressive testimony is this to the sameness of our nature through every age and the immortal perseverance of its holier affections!
IV. And soon we too shall drop the note of earthly aspiration and join that upper anthem of diviner love.—The communion of saints brings us to their conflict first, their blessings afterwards. Those who will not with much patience strive with the evil can have no dear fellowship with the good; we must weep their tears ere we can win their peace.—Martineau.
Characteristics of Believers.
I. Believers are here described as having been strangers and foreigners.—
1. There are relative expressions, meaning that natural men are strangers to the household of God and foreigners as respects the city of Zion.
2. Consider the natural man with reference to the city of Zion, and the truth of this representation will appear.
(1) He is a stranger and foreigner—(a) By a sentence of exile (Genesis 3). (b) By birth (Gen_5:3; Joh_3:6).
(2) He is proved to be a stranger and foreigner—(a) By features (Gal_5:19-21). (b) By manners (1Pe_4:3). (c) By language. As such he is under another ruler (Eph_2:2), he is at war (Gal_4:29).
3. Though “strangers and foreigners” in relation to Zion, yet men are naturalised in another country.
4. This does not imply living beyond the pale of the visible Church. The Parable of the Tares. An alien to the saints and a stranger to God may be in the visible Church. 5. That there are “strangers and foreigners” in the Church seems a calamity.
(1) They are thereby deceived.
(2) They injure Christians.
(3) They betray Christ.
II. Believers are described as being fellow-citizens with the saints.—
1. They are citizens.
(1) Their sentence of exile is cancelled (Eph_2:13).
(2) They are naturalised by birth (Joh_3:5).
(3) They are reconciled to God and believers.
(4) They are under Zion’s government.
2. They are “fellow-citizens with the saints.”
(1) They have intercourse—holy.
(2) They are united by mutual love.
(3) They have reciprocal duties.
(4) They have common rights and privileges.
(5) They have common honour and reputation.
(6) They have common prosperity and adversity.
(7) They have common enemies.
(8) They have common defence and safety.
(9) They have a common history.
3. As a congregation we are professedly a section of this peculiar and spiritual community.
(1) Do we seek each other’s welfare?
(2) Is our intercourse the communion of saints?
(3) Are we careful of each other’s reputation?
4. Are we as a congregation isolating ourselves from each other? Are we “fellow-citizens with the saints”?
5. The city is above.
III. Believers are here described as belonging to the household of God.—
1. Believers as citizens are God’s subjects.
2. As belonging to God’s household they are His children.
3. As in God’s household—
(1) They are like Him.
(2) They are near to Him.
(3) They see His face.
(4) They enjoy His fellowship.
(5) They are provided for by Him.
(6) They are under His protection.
(7) They serve Him.
(8) They worship Him—His house is a temple.
4. These are very tangible privileges, and belong to this present life.
5. Many may suppose that they are “fellow-citizens with the saints” whose experience does not prove that they are “of the household of God.”
6. For this “household” God has “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”—Stewart.
Eph_2:20-21. The Church a Divine Edifice.—
1. Though God Himself be the principal Author and Builder of this spiritual edifice, yet He employs His called ministers and servants as instruments, among whom He made special use of the prophets and apostles for laying the foundation in so far as they first did reveal and preach Jesus Christ, and commit to writings such truths concerning Him as are necessary for salvation, while other ministers are employed in preaching Christ to build up the elect on the foundation laid by them.
2. There is a sweet harmony and full agreement between the doctrines and writings of the prophets and apostles in holding forth Christ for a foundation and rock of salvation, the latter having taught and written nothing but what was prefigured in types and foretold in prophecies by the former.
3. As growth in grace is a privilege which appertains to all parts of this spiritual building who are yet on earth, so this growth of theirs flows from their union and communion with Christ; and the more their union is improved by daily extracting renewed influence from Him, they cannot choose but thrive the better in spiritual growth.—Fergusson.
Eph_2:22. The Church the Habitation of God.—
1. Jesus Christ differs from the foundation of other buildings in this, that every particular believer is not only laid upon Him and supported by Him as in material buildings, but they are also indented in Him, and hid, as it were, in the clefts of the rock by saving faith.
2. As all believers, however far soever removed by distance, are yet more strictly tied and joined together, so by taking band with Christ the foundation, they are fastened one to another as the stones of a building.
3. So inseparable is the union among the persons of the Trinity that the presence and indwelling of One is sufficient to prove the indwelling of all; for believers are a habitation to God the Father and Son, because the Spirit dwells in and sanctifies them.—Ibid.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v19 19,20. “Built upon the foundation of the apostle and…
ARGUMENT 11
THE CHURCH HOUSE OF THE HOLY GHOST
Read full note →
19,20. “Built upon the foundation of the apostle and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone.” These are the New Testament prophets; i.e., the fire-baptized preachers who, along with the apostles, under God became the custodians of the apostolic Church. As we are living in the New Testament dispensation, Old Testament symbolism, types, and shadows, all fulfilled in Christ, having evanesced, are superseded by the glorious spiritual entities and transcendent experimental holiness of the full-orbed gospel dispensation.
21. “In whom the whole house jointed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.
22. “In whom you also are built up into a habitation of God in the Spirit.” The Pauline eloquence here is sublime as he floats out on the wing of inspiration in his vivid and glorious description of the Divine Ekklesia; i.e., the gospel Church, built upon the inspired Word of the New Testament writers, Jesus Christ, the central pillar, supporting the grand superstructure, destined to tower forever, the admiration of angels and archangels, the inspiring theme of cherubim and seraphim, the contemplative glory of God, to the eternal bewilderment of the heavenly hierarchies. This is the glorified Church of the First Born, “without spot or wrinkle.”
The members of this Church are not joined in, but born into it by the supernatural intervention of the Holy Ghost.
This is none of your worldly Churches, as the very word for Church, Ekklesia, means the called out of the world; while hagiadzoo, sanctify, means to take the world out of you. Hence, all the members of the New Testament Church have a double reason for being unworldly; the one because they have come out of the world, and left it; and the other, because the world has been taken out of them. Hence, there is a double divorcement between them and the world. Good Lord, open your eyes to see the difference between the devil’s worldly Churches and God’s Church outside of the world, and the world all taken out of it. The ostensible and universal peculiarity of this Church is, as Paul here says: “It is the habitation of God in the Spirit; i.e., it is the house of the Holy Ghost, in which he constantly dwells. It is our privilege to enjoy that spiritual gift, denominated (1 Corinthians 12) “Discernment of spirits.” How awfully blind the masses of the Churches, and even preachers, at the present day! In these striking fulfillments of the latter-day prophecies, when the world is filled with fallen Churches, no honest soul enjoying spiritual discernment can fail to recognize the lamentable absence of the Holy Ghost in the Churches. No wonder; for he alone has a right to rule his own Church, his house, as you rule your own house. Hence, the rule is taken out of his hands when it is committed to a giggling choir and an unconverted Official Board, who insult God by refusing to bow the knee in his house.
Of course, amid those sad environments the Holy Ghost quietly retreats away, leaving the devil, whose servants they are, to run the machinery on the ad libium line of socials, frolics, festivals, and fandangoes. The children of God are horrified at the hollow hypocrisy, dead formality, and worldly flippancy of the so-called Churchism of the present day. When you go to a church, and do not find the Holy Ghost, by his mournful absence you know of a surety it is not the Church of God; from the simple fact here stated that the Church of God is his “habitation in the spirit.” If you are walking in the light of God, and the merest tyro in the kingdom, you can not fail to recognize his presence or his absence in these meetings. The holiness movement represents the Church of God on the earth at the present day, pursuant to the test of the spiritual presence and rulership as here specified in the infallible Word. It is beautiful to contemplate the universal Church of the Triune God, this day “girdling the globe with salvation and holiness unto the Lord.” I have traveled in forty States in the Union, and in Europe, Asia, and Africa, everywhere recognizing the beautiful identity of God’s Church, simple, spiritual, Scriptural, winning victories for Christ on her knees, and shouting the battle-cry. Satan’s counterfeit Churches exhibit an endless diversity of creeds, forms, and ceremonies. God’s Church is one and the same beneath every sky, from the icy poles to the equatorial deserts; everywhere recognizable for New Testament simplicity, and the presence of the Holy Ghost. Lord, shine on us from above, that we may ever discern between God’s genuine and Satan’s counterfeit!
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v20
EPHESIANS
‘THE CHIEF CORNER-STONE’
Read full note →
Eph 2:20
The Roman Empire had in Paul’s time gathered into a great unity the Asiatics of Ephesus, the Greeks of Corinth, the Jews of Palestine, and men of many another race, but grand and imposing as that great unity was, it was to Paul a poor thing compared with the oneness of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Asiatics of Ephesus, Greeks of Corinth, Jews of Palestine and members of many another race could say, ‘Our citizenship is in heaven.’ The Roman Eagle swept over wide regions in her flight, but the Dove of Peace, sent forth from Christ’s hand, travelled further than she. As Paul says in the context, the Ephesians had been strangers, ‘aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,’ wandering like the remnants of some ‘broken clans,’ but now they are gathered in. That narrow community of the Jewish nation has expanded its bounds and become the mother-country of believing souls, the true ‘island of saints.’ It was not Rome which really made all peoples one, but it was the weakest and most despised of her subject races. ‘Of Zion it shall be said,’ ‘Lo! this and that man was born in her.’
To emphasise the thought of the great unity of the Church, the Apostle uses here his often-repeated metaphor of a temple, of which the Ephesian Christians are the stones, apostles and prophets the builders, and Christ Himself the chief corner-stone. Of course the representation of the foundation, as being laid by apostles and prophets, refers to them as proclaiming the Gospel. The real laying of the foundation is the work of the divine power and love which gave us Christ, and it is the Divine Voice which proclaims, ‘Behold I lay in Zion a foundation!’ But that divine work has to be made known among men, and it is by the making of it known that the building rises course by course. There is no contradiction between the two statements, ‘I have laid the foundation’ and Paul’s ‘As a wise master-builder I have laid the foundation.’
A question may here rise as to the meaning of ‘prophets.’ Unquestionably the expression in other places of the Epistle does mean New Testament prophets, but seeing that here Jesus is designated as the foundation stone which, standing beneath two walls, has a face into each, and binds them strongly together, it is more natural to see in the prophets the representatives of the great teachers of the old dispensation as the apostles were of the new. The remarkable order in which these two classes are named, the apostles being first, and the prophets who were first in time being last in order of mention, confirms this explanation, for the two co-operating classes are named in the order in which they lie in the foundation. Digging down you come to the more recent first, to the earlier second, and deep and massive, beneath all, to the corner-stone on whom all rests, in whom all are united together. Following the Apostle’s order we may note the process of building; beneath that, the foundation on which the building rests; and beneath it, the corner-stone which underlies and unites the whole.
I. The process of building.
In the previous clauses the Apostle has represented the condition of the Ephesian Christians before their Christianity as being that of strangers and foreigners, lacking the rights of citizenship anywhere, a mob rather than in any sense a society. They had been like a confused heap of stones flung fortuitously together; they had become fellow-citizens with the saints. The stones had been piled up into an orderly building. He is not ignoring the facts of national, political, or civic relationships which existed independent of the new unity realised in a common faith. These relationships could not be ignored by one who had had Paul’s experience of their formidable character as antagonists of him and of his message, but they seemed to him, in contrast with the still deeper and far more perfect union, which was being brought about in Christ, of men of all nationalities and belonging to mutually hostile races, to be little better than the fortuitous union of a pile of stones huddled together on the roadside. Measured against the architecture of the Church, as Paul saw it in his lofty idealism, the aggregations of men in the world do not deserve the name of buildings. His point of view is the exact opposite of that which is common around us, and which, alas! finds but too much support in the present aspects of the so-called churches of this day.
It is to be observed that in our text these stones are, in accordance with the propriety of the metaphor, regarded as being built, that is, as in some sense the subjects of a force brought to bear upon them, which results in their being laid together in orderly fashion and according to a plan, but it is not to be forgotten that, according to the teaching, not of this epistle alone, but of all Paul’s letters, the living stones are active in the work of building, as well as beings subject to an influence. In another place of the New Testament we read the exhortation to ‘build up yourselves on your most holy faith,’ and the means of discharging that duty are set forth in the words which follow it; as being ‘Praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping yourselves in the love of God, and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Throughout the Pauline letters we have frequent references to edifying, a phrase which has been so vulgarised by much handling that its great meaning has been all but lost, but which still, rightly understood, presents the Christian life as one continuous effort after developing Christian character. Taking into view the whole of the apostolic references to this continuous process of building, we cannot but recognise that it all begins with the act of faith which brings men into immediate contact and vital union with Jesus Christ, and which is, if anything that a man does is, the act of his very inmost self passing out of its own isolation and resting itself on Jesus. It is by the vital and individual act of faith that any soul escapes from the dreary isolation of being a stranger and a foreigner, wandering, homeless and solitary, and finds through Jesus fellowship, an elder Brother, a Father, and a home populous with many brethren. But whilst faith is the condition of beginning the Christian life, which is the only real life, that life has to be continued and developed towards perfection by continuous effort. ‘Tis a life-long toil till the lump be leavened.’
One of the passages already referred to varies the metaphor of building, in so far as it seems to represent ‘your most holy faith’ as the foundation, and may be an instance of the doubtful New Testament usage of ‘faith,’ as meaning the believed Gospel, rather than the personal act of believing. But however that may be, context of the words clearly suggests the practical duties by which the Christian life is preserved and strengthened. They who build up themselves do so, mainly, by keeping themselves in the love of God with watchful oversight and continual preparedness for struggle against all foes who would drag them from that safe fortress, and subsidiarily, by like continuity in prayer, and in fixing their meek hope on the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. If Christian character is ever to be made more Christian, it must be by a firmer grasp and a more vivid realisation of Christ and His truth. The more we feel ourselves to be lapped in the love of God, the more shall we be builded up on our most holy faith. There is no mystery about the means of Christian progress. That which, at the beginning, made a man a Christian shapes his whole future course; the measure of our faith is the measure of our advance.
But the Apostle, in the immediately following words, goes on to pass beyond the bounds of his metaphor, and with complete indifference to the charge of mixing figures, speaks of the building as growing. That thought leads us into a higher region than that of effort. The process by which a great forest tree thickens its boles, expands the sweep of its branches and lifts them nearer the heavens, is very different from that by which a building rises slowly and toilsomely and with manifest incompleteness all the time, until the flag flies on the roof-tree. And if we had not this nobler thought of a possible advance by the increasing circulation within us of a mysterious life, there would be little gospel in a word which only enjoined effort as the condition of moral progress, and there would be little to choose between Paul and Plato. He goes on immediately to bring out more fully what he means by the growth of the building, when he says that if Christians are in Christ, they are ‘built up for an habitation of God in the Spirit.’ Union with Christ, and a consequent life in the Spirit, are sure to result in the growth of the individual soul and of the collective community. That divine Spirit dwells in and works through every believing soul, and while it is possible to grieve and to quench It, to resist and even to neutralise Its workings, these are the true sources of all our growth in grace and knowledge. The process of building may be and will be slow. Sometimes lurking enemies will pull down in a night what we have laboured at for many days. Often our hands will be slack and our hearts will droop. We shall often be tempted to think that our progress is so slow that it is doubtful if we have ever been on the foundation at all or have been building at all. But ‘the Spirit helpeth our infirmities,’ and the task is not ours alone but His in us. We have to recognise that effort is inseparable from building, but we have also to remember that growth depends on the free circulation of life, and that if we are, and abide in, Jesus, we cannot but be built ‘for an habitation of God in the Spirit.’ We may be sure that whatever may be the gaps and shortcomings in the structures that we rear here, none will be able to say of us at the last, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
II. The foundation on which the building rests.
In the Greek, as in our version, there is no definite article before ‘prophets,’ and its absence indicates that both sets of persons here mentioned come under the common vinculum of the one definite article preceding the first named. So that apostles and prophets belong to one class. It may be a question whether the foundation is theirs in the sense that they constitute it, an explanation in favour of which can be quoted the vision in the Apocalypse of the new Jerusalem, in the twelve foundations of which were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, or whether, as is more probable, the foundation is conceived of as laid by them. In like manner the Apostle speaks to the Corinthians of having ‘as a wise master-builder laid the foundation,’ and to the Romans of making it his aim to preach especially where Christ was not already named, that he might ‘not build upon another man’s foundation.’ Following these indications, it seems best to understand the preaching of the Gospel as being the laying of the foundation.
Further, the question may be raised whether the prophets here mentioned belong to the Old Testament or to the New. The latter alternative has been preferred on the ground that the apostles are named first, but, as we have already noticed, the order here begins at the top and goes downwards, what was last in order of time being first in order of mention. We need only recall Peter’s bold words that ‘all the prophets, as many as have spoken, have told of the days’ of Christ, or Paul’s sermon in the synagogue of Antioch in which he passionately insisted on the Jewish crime of condemning Christ as being the fulfilment of the voices of the prophets, and of the Resurrection of Jesus as being God’s fulfilment of the promise made unto the fathers to understand how here, as it were, beneath the foundation laid by the present preaching of the apostles, Paul rejoices to discern the ancient stones firmly laid by long dead hands.
The Apostle’s strongest conviction was that he himself had become more and not less of a Jew by becoming a Christian, and that the Gospel which he preached was nothing more than the perfecting of that Gospel before the Gospel, which had come from the lips of the prophets. We know a great deal more than he did as to the ways in which the progressive divine revelation was presented to Israel through the ages, and some of us are tempted to think that we know more than we do, but the true bearing of modern criticism, as applied to the Old Testament, is to confirm, even whilst it may to some extent modify, the conviction common to all the New Testament writers, and formulated by the last of the New Testament prophets, that ‘the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’ Whatever new light may shine on the questions of the origin and composition of the books of the Old Testament, it will never obscure the radiance of the majestic figure of the Messiah which shines from the prophetic page. The inner relation between the foundation of the apostles and that of the prophets is best set forth in the solemn colloquy on the Mount of Transfiguration between Moses and Elias and Jesus. They ‘were with Him’ as witnessing to Him to whom law and ritual and prophecy had pointed, and they ‘spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem’ as being the vital centre of all His work which the lambs slain according to ritual had foreshadowed, and the prophetic figure of the Servant of the Lord ‘wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities’ had more distinctly foretold.
III. The corner-stone which underlies and unites the whole.
Of course the corner-stone here is the foundation-stone and not ‘the head-stone of the corner.’ Jesus Christ is both. He is the first and the last; the Alpha and Omega. In accordance with the whole context, in which the prevailing idea is that which always fired Paul’s imagination, viz. that of reconciling Jew and Gentile in one new man, it is best to suppose a reference here to the union of Jew and Gentile. The stone laid beneath the two walls which diverge at right angles from each other binds both together and gives strength and cohesion to the whole. In the previous context the same idea is set forth that Christ ‘preached peace to them that were afar off {Gentiles} and to them that were nigh {Jews}.’ By His death He broke down another wall, the middle wall of partition between them, and did so by abolishing ‘the law of commandments contained in ordinances.’ The old distinction between Jew and Gentile, which was accentuated by the Jew’s rigid observance of ordinances and which often led to bitter hatred on both sides, was swept away in that strange new thing, a community of believers drawn together in Jesus Christ. The former antagonistic ‘twain’ had become one in a third order of man, the Christian man. The Jew Christian and the Gentile Christian became brethren because they had received one new life, and they who had common feelings of faith and love to the same Saviour, a common character drawn from Him, and a common destiny open to them by their common relation to Jesus, could never cherish the old emotions of racial hate.
When we, in this day, try to picture to ourselves that strange new thing, the love which bound the early Christians together and buried as beneath a rushing flood the formidable walls of separation between them, we may well penitently ask ourselves how it comes that Jesus seems to have so much less power to triumph over the divisive forces that part us from those who should be our hearts’ brothers. In our modern life there are no such gulfs of separation from one another as were filled up unconsciously in the experience of the first believers, but the narrower chinks seem to remain in their ugliness between those who profess a common faith in one Lord, and who are all ready to assert that they are built on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, and that Jesus Christ is from them the chief corner-stone.
If in reality He is so to us, and He is so if we have been builded upon Him through our faith, the metaphor of corner-stone and building will fail to express the reality of our relation to Him, for our corner-stone has in it an infinite vitality which rises up through all the courses of the living stones, and moulds each ‘into an immortal feature of loveliness and perfection.’ So it shall be for each individual, though here the appropriation of the perfect gift is imperfect. So it shall be in reference to the history of the world. Christ is its centre and foundation-stone, and as His coming makes the date from which the nations reckon, and all before it was in the deepest sense preparatory to His incarnation, all which is after it is in the deepest sense the appropriating of Him and the developing of His work. The multitudes which went before and that followed cried, saying, ‘Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v19 The Christians God’s living temple:
The Christians God’s living temple:
v. 19. Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God;
Read full note →
v. 20. and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Corner-stone;
v. 21. in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord;
v. 22. in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
The apostle here draws the conclusion from the foregoing statements, offering a summary of all that has been said: Accordingly, then, no more are you strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow-citizens of the saints and members of the household of God. Since all the points which the apostle has brought forward in the preceding section are so well established, it now follows that the Gentile Christians, who formerly occupied a station far from the citizenship of Israel, who were strangers or, at best, sojourners among the Jews, being suffered or tolerated rather than regarded as equals, are now citizens in the commonwealth of the Christian Church, with full participation and enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the Kingdom. Or, by changing the figure to some extent, the Christian Church is a large, holy family, in which God is the Housefather, the Head of the house, and all believers members of the family, with free access to the use of all the goods which are freely dispensed by the Father. There is no difference here: the Gentile Christians belong to the household of God like all other believers, they have the right of children, the right of inheritance.
Again the apostle changes the figure and the picture: Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the corner-stone being Christ Jesus Himself. The believers are not only members of God’s family, but they themselves constitute the house, the temple, of God; they are the lively stones in the sacred edifice of the Church. They rest upon by faith, they are built up upon, the foundation of the apostles. The apostles, as the teachers of the Church for all times, are the foundation course of this wonderful building, whose capstone will not be laid till the last day. Though they have died long ago, they still teach and preach through their writings. And the same thing holds true of the Old Testament prophets, for their writings are fundamental for the Church of all times, the apostles themselves continually referring to them, Rom 16:26. The books of the apostles in the New Testament and of the prophets in the Old Testament arc the Word of God, written by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the unshaken and unshakable foundation of the Church of Christ. Upon this foundation the Gentile Christians and all believers are built up; in it they rest, through it they receive the strength to stand in the face of all storms. This is all the surer, since Jesus Christ Himself is the Corner-stone, 1Pe 2:6. In the building of the Church foundation and corner-stone are not two separate things, but the one includes the other. Christ Jesus is the content of the prophetic and apostolic writings; Christ is found in and with His Word, and nowhere else. The invisible foundation of the Church and the visible and audible medium which establishes the connection between the believers and Christ are named together, in order to maintain the figure of the house that is in the course of erection. Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinful mankind, of whom the Word of the prophets and apostles bears witness, is the Foundation of faith and of the congregation of saints which is being gathered out of the world of sinners.
The edifice as such is now described: in whom the whole building, fitly joined together, grows to a holy temple in the Lord. Not every building, but the entire building, which is only one, for the apostle is speaking of the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, not of individual churches or congregations. The one great building of the Church, by the addition of the individual members, who are properly joined or fitted together with those that were members before, gradually grows; it goes forward toward completion, the end coming with the conversion of the last elect member. Thus the building of Christ’s Church everywhere shows symmetry and harmony. The members of the Church by love which is grounded in faith, preserve harmony; they submit to one another; they accommodate themselves to one another. Though of different nationalities and temperaments, Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish, they are at peace among one another, and that in Christ. The common faith in Christ brings about this effect. On the last day the holy temple in the Lord will stand before our astonished eyes in the beauty of its perfection.
Then, also, the purpose of the building will appear: In whom you also are being built together for an habitation of God in the Spirit. The direct address serves to emphasize the personal interest of every believer in this building, the construction of which is being carried forward day after day, sometimes with signal success, sometimes with great difficulties. Wherever and whenever the Word of the prophets and apostles is being proclaimed, there believers are gained for the growth of the Church. And so the end will present the complete, the perfect Church, the habitation of God, the place in which God elects to live, in the Spirit; for it is by the Spirit’s power that souls are gained for Christ, that new stones are added to this wonderful temple. Thus the Christian Church is a temple of the Triune God. The great God of heaven, who has revealed Himself in three persons, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, has his home in the midst of sinful mankind, in the Church of Christ. This wonderful glory and dignity of the Church is at present still hidden from the eyes of men. But on the last day the Church will appear before the eyes of an astonished world as a temple of beauty and magnificence, and the splendor and glory of the Lord mill shine forth from this singular structure. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God," Rev 21:3.
Summary
The apostle reminds the Christians that, when they were dead in sins, God quickened them and gave them the strength of a new spiritual, heavenly life in Christ Jesus; he cells to the remembrance of the Gentile Christians especially that they, who formerly were strange and distant, have now been brought into the kingdom of Christ and been made members of the Church of Christ.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v19 you Gentiles ... God's household
you Gentiles ... God's household
Paul is again speaking of the spiritual condition of Gentiles after they become believers as he would speak about foreigners becoming citizens of a different nation. (See: Metaphor)
Read full note →
You have been built on the foundation
Paul speaks of God's people as if they were a building. Christ is the cornerstone, the apostles are the foundation, and the believers are the structure. (See: Metaphor)
You have been built
This can be stated in the active tense. AT: "God has built you" (See: Active or Passive)
the whole building fits together and grows as a temple
Paul continues to speak of Christ's family as if it were a building. In the same way a builder fits stones together while building, so Christ is fitting us together. (See: Metaphor)
In him ... in the Lord ... in him
"In Christ ... in the Lord Jesus ... in Christ" These metaphors express the strongest kind of relationship possible between Christ and those who believe in him. (See: Metaphor)
you also are being built together as a dwelling place for God in the Spirit
This describes how believers are being put together to become a place where God will permanently live through the power of the Holy Spirit. (See: Metaphor)
you also are being built together
This can be stated as active. AT: "God is also building you together" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
Gentile
set apart
God
apostle
prophet
Christ
cornerstone
temple
in Christ
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv19–20 2:19 Gentiles who believe are no longer strangers and…
2:19 Gentiles who believe are no longer strangers and foreigners (2:11-12, 17). Through Christ, they are fully accepted into God’s family. They become children of God, just like believing Jews (see Rom 8:14-17).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.