Introduction | Table of Contents | Chapter 5

The second chapter likewise speaks of the Constitution of the Church. It consists of those who "in the flesh" were Jews and Gentiles, all alike being "sons of disobedience," living "in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind," "by nature children of wrath," and spiritually "dead through our trespasses" (2:3-5). Of such materials Divine grace has designed that Christ should "create in Himself... one new man," reconciling believers both Jew and Gentile, "in one body unto God, through the Cross" (verses 15, 16). The "one new man" is the Body with the Head, viewed anticipatively, instinct with spiritual life derived from the Head, though the Body is actually in process of formation until the whole attains "unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (4:13).

Toward the close of the second chapter the metaphor is changed (to be resumed in the fourth chapter), and a threefold description is given. There is firstly the figure of a city, secondly that of a household, and thirdly that of a temple. Gentile believers are not raised to the level of Jewish believers; both are brought out of their former condition into the high privileges of fellowship and association with Christ.

A City and a Household

"So then" (i.e., because of this union in Christ and the common access by one Spirit unto the Father) "ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." The words rendered "strangers" (xenos) and "sojourners" (paroikos, lit., a by-dweller) and not infrequently found together in the Septuagint.

The stranger was an alien, tolerated, indeed, yet liable to be frowned on and debarred from rights and privileges which belonged to the nation into whose midst he had come to reside for the time being.

As a sojourner, if the Apostle was merely referring to conditions in Greek States, a sojourner was one who came from one city and settled in another but did not enjoy the rights of citizenship. If, however, he had in mind the Septuagint use of the word in the rendering of Leviticus 22:10; 25:23, etc., the reference would be to one who, while resident with a family or community, was excluded from its domestic rights and privileges, as, for instance, in the case of one who sojourned with a priest as his guest but was prohibited from eating the holy things. That this is the meaning is suggested by the contrasting context, which speaks of believers as "of the household of God." [9] [9] In Leviticus 22:10, the Septuagint has a different word for "stranger" (allogenos, one of another race). In Genesis 23:4, "sojourner" (Paroikos) is the first word. See also Leviticus 25:23, 35, 47. In the New Testament the terms are found only elsewhere in Acts 7:6, 29; cp. 1 Pet. 2:11.

How striking the change wrought by Divine grace! Instead of "strangers," "fellow-citizens with the saints!" Literally the phrase is "fellow-citizens of the saints," that is to say, the saints constitute a community of which all are fellow-citizens not that Gentile believers are now privileged with Jewish saints, as a distinct class, but that all saints (whether Jew or Gentile formerly) are together privileged as being possessed of heavenly citizenship. All enjoy the same government and protection, the same organization and fellowship, the same rights and liberties. Instead of "sojourners," they are members "of the household of God!" Not mere guests, here to day and gone tomorrow, but members of God's spiritual House, enjoying all the benefits of domestic life, in the most intimate relationship, as "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."

A Temple

As a Temple the saints are "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom each several building (more literally, 'every building') fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord."

As to the foundation, the word rendered "being built" (lit., "being built upon"), containing in itself the mention of a dwelling place, forms a transition from the figure of the household to the material of a building, that of a temple being in view. The foundation was laid by the Apostles and prophets (i.e., those whose testimony was contemporaneous with that of the Apostles); it consisted of the doctrines relating to Christ¹⁰. Their testimony was foundation work, Christ Jesus Himself, i.e., His own Person, being "the chief corner stone," the foundation stone placed at the corner. Cp. Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 28:16. Christ, the glories of His Person and work, form the foundation. The Apostles and prophets are again viewed in 4:12 as engaged in the work of "building up."

¹⁰Some regard the apostles and prophets as themselves the foundation. While this is possible, it is needful to remember that the genitive case in the original, represented by the preposition "of," frequently has an objective sense instead of the appositional. That is to say, in the present instance the meaning would be, not that the apostles and prophets were themselves the subjects, forming part of the foundation, but that the foundation was the object laid by their agency, and this is a fact. Revelation 21:14 affords no confirmation of the subjective or appositional view; that passage speaks of a city wall, a symbol of defence, not of God's Temple.

The phrase rendered "every building" (R.V. margin); "all the building," (A.V.); each is possible as a rendering signifies the structure in every part of it. The edifice in course of construction, in process of being "fitly framed together (or, more literally, 'jointed together')," grows "into a holy Temple in the Lord." This presents the process in its ultimate issue. All is viewed in its future state as complete and perfect, every stone fitting its appointed place, the whole being God's dwelling place, a place of absolute holiness, a structure of glory and beauty, a place of worship. There is no noise in the process, no outward display. The building is not set up on the earth it is a spiritual structure and this is consistent with and confirms all the teaching of the New Testament concerning the Church. Nothing can prevent its completion. The gates of Hades cannot prevail against it.

Introduction | Table of Contents | Chapter 5

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