058 Ephesians 2:19-22 - God’s New Temple

(Apologies for missing fragments in the audio - this is due to a technical error at the recording stage)

Notes:

In our first talk in this series we said that the overall theme of Ephesians could best be summarised with Paul’s words in Chapter 5.

I am talking about Christ and his church.

This is particularly noticeable in our passage for today where Paul describes the church as a temple. But first let’s remind ourselves of what we said last time.

We started to look at Ephesians 2:11-22 and we saw that the main purpose of this passage is to show that through the death of Jesus:

The enmity and barrier between Jews and Gentiles has been broken down Whether we are Jew or Gentile, citizenship in the true Israel is dependent on being in Christ Through the new humanity created by this, God is building a holy temple in which God lives by his Spirit.

The first two points we dealt with last time, so it’s the final point we’ll be concentrating on today, but first let’s read the whole passage again together:

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth (in the flesh) and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands) – 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

15 by setting aside (abolishing) in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,

16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

God is building a new temple - it’s the church!

This is the first of four metaphors Paul uses for the church in Ephesians:

Building  (Ch.2) Body  (Ch.4) Bride (Ch.5) Batallion (Ch.6) God’s temple is no longer a physical building

God’s dwelling place is not a temple or cathedral made of stone.

By his Spirit he inhabits the company of the redeemed.

The ‘church’ is not the place we go to on Sundays,

but the company of people who gather there in Jesus’ name.

Membership of the church (being part of God’s true temple) is not dependent on ethnic or religious background, but simply on being ‘in Christ’

It is ‘in Christ’ that the Gentiles have been brought near (v 13).

It is ‘in him’ (v 21) that the different parts of God’s temple are joined together.

And it is in Christ Jesus that we have been created to do the works which God has prepared for us to do (v 10).

Whether we be Jew or Gentile it is only if we are ‘in Christ’ that we are part of his church.

The apostles and prophets are the foundation and Jesus himself is the chief cornerstone of the building v20

 At first sight this seems to contradict 1 Corinthians 3:11 where Paul says

No other foundation can anyone lay than that which has been laid - Christ Jesus.

 But it’s probably just a different handling of the same metaphor

Jesus here is the cornerstone against which the rest of the foundation must line up

Apostles and prophets both then and now only have authority as they square up to the teaching of Jesus.

Being part of the church is a very serious and yet a very wonderful thing

This ‘temple’ God is building is ‘holy’ (v 21), a place where God lives by his Spirit (v 22).

The temple must be holy if it is to be a place for God to dwell - and it is, because it’s made up of people who have been made holy!

This truth is reinforced by the choice of the Greek word Paul uses for ‘temple’ here.

In Greek there are two main words for ‘temple’.  One is hieron, the other is naos.

Hieron was usually used to signify the temple as a whole, including all its outer courts and precincts, whereas naos would generally refer to the innermost shrine

In a pagan temple this would be thought to be the dwelling place of the god to whom the temple was dedicated.  In the Jewish temple it would be the Holy of Holies.

The fact that Paul uses naos rather than hieron here to refer to the church as God’s temple may very well suggest that he sees the church as God’s Holy of Holies.

Not only may Christians have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19), but the church actually becomes the dwelling-place of God through the Spirit!

This most solemn and awesome thought is underlined by what Paul teaches the Corinthians:

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple (naos) and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

From this we learn that the local church - even a very imperfect local church like that of the Corinthians - is to be thought of as a holy temple in which the Spirit of God abides.

But this is no reason to be complacent. The fact that God dwells in his church is here used as a solemn warning to those who were destroying the church by their divisions.

When we gather in Jesus’ name the Spirit of God is present among us.  This should cause us on the one hand to be careful that our attitude and behaviour are pleasing to God, and on the other, to expect that the Spirit’s power will be manifest among us.  We are in the presence of God himself!

The importance of knowing our place in the building

21 In him the whole building is ( being ) joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

 

Note:

The importance of being together

The importance of being ‘fitly framed’ together (KJV)

Compare Paul’s metaphor of the church as a body in Ch. 4 where every part must do its work.

The building is not yet complete

We are being joined together (Present Participle)