Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 2:19
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
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 rgime.
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.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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 – xenoi – means foreigners in state, as opposed to citizens. The word rendered foreigners – 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 Potters 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.
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eph 2:19
Fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
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.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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 , 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 , 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.
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 , 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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. Now, thereforerather, “Sothen” [ALFORD].
foreignersrather,”sojourners”; opposed to “members of the household,”as “strangers” is to “fellow citizens.” Phi 3:19;Phi 3:20, “conversation,”Greek, “citizenship.”
butThe oldestmanuscripts add, “are.”
with the saints“thecommonwealth of (spiritual) Israel” (Eph2:12).
of GodTHEFATHER; as JESUSCHRIST appears in Eph2:20, and THE SPIRITin Eph 2:22.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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;
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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
So then ( ). Two inferential particles (accordingly therefore).
No more (). No longer.
Sojourners (). Old word for dweller by (near by, but not in). So Acts 7:6; Acts 7:29; 1Pet 2:11 (only other N.T. examples). Dwellers just outside the house or family of God.
Fellow-citizens (, old, but rare word, here only in N.T.), members now of the of Israel (verse 12), the opposite of .
Of the household of God ( ). Old word from (house, household), but in N.T. only here, Gal 6:10; 1Tim 5:8. Gentiles now in the family of God (Ro 8:29).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Foreigners [] . See on Luk 24:18. Rev., better, sojourners. Without rights of citizenship.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE CHURCH AS A TEMPLE OF WORSHIP AND SERVICE
1) “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners” (ara oun ouketi este ksenoi kai paroikoi) “Therefore then ye all are no longer strangers and sojourners, such as could not partake of the Jewish Passover sacrifice without being circumcised or come nigh unto the assembly to worship in the inner court to sing praises to Jehovah, Exo 12:43-49.
2) “But fellowcitizens with the saints” (alla -este sumpolitai ton hagion) “But you all (Gentiles in the flesh) are compatriots, fellowcitizens, or associates of the saints,” referring to the church at Jerusalem, the New Testament body of Christ at Jerusalem. For from them the first missionaries in Asia had been sent out, as well as from the Antioch church, Act 1:8; Act 8:1-4; Act 13:1-5.
3) “And of the household of God” (kai oikeioi tou theou) “And of the household of God,” refers to the church that Jesus established, which He called His house, which He left when He returned to heaven, Mar 13:34-35. To it He shall one day return and require an accounting of every member. Paul called the “house of God” the church of the living God, the pillar (support) and the ground of the truth, 1Ti 3:15.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
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 Fathers house we must interpret of the family circle of God.
Eph. 2:20. Being built upon the foundation.From the figure of a household St. Paul passes easily to the structure, based on the Churchs 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 stonesteachers 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 prophetsteachers in the apostolic timeslaid 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-stoneChrist 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 architects design. Such an edifice was the apostolic Churchone but of many partsin 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 Gods habitationthat is self-evidentbut 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 instrumentsthe choir, the swell, the pedal, the great; and many stopsthe diapason, the flute, the trumpet; and yet it is one. And the Church of God is one. One Spiritone breath of wind turned on by one living Handmakes 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 Fatherin 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 souls 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 Gods kingdom, for God is his Father.
2. That prayer of the individual soul must lead to the united worship of Gods 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 dont feel their individuality, we dobut 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 citizenshipthe 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 days 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 Zions government.
2. They are fellow-citizens with the saints.
(1) They have intercourseholy.
(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 others welfare?
(2) Is our intercourse the communion of saints?
(3) Are we careful of each others 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 Gods subjects.
2. As belonging to Gods household they are His children.
3. As in Gods 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 HimHis 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.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(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 strangerthat is, alienseems to be opposed to fellowcitizen; the word foreignerthat is, half-aliento members of the household: for the resident aliens stood opposed to the houses, the families or clans, of the citizensthe 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.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(2 c.) Eph. 2:19-22 sum up the two-fold idea of this chapterunion of the Gentiles, with God and with Gods chosen peoplein 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.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘So then you are no more strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God.’
Paul could not make clearer that all believers now form the new Israel. Previously they were ‘alienated from the commonwealth of Israel’, now they are fellow-citizens with ‘the saints’ (an Old Testament word for the true Israel). Previously they were strangers to the covenants of promise, now they are no longer ‘strangers and sojourners’. Previously they were ‘without God’, now they are ‘of the household of God’. Previously they were separate from Christ, now they are ‘in Christ’ (Eph 2:14) and joined into God’s Temple with Christ as the chief cornerstone (Eph 2:20). Thus they have been made a part of the new Israel, the ‘Israel of God’ (Gal 6:16).
‘Strangers and sojourners.’ The ‘strangers’ were those who passed through Israel making only a temporary stay, possibly also having in mind ‘God-fearers’ (Gentiles interested in Jewish teaching but unwilling to be circumcised), while the sojourners were more permanent, but in the later period were never accepted fully as true Jews (unless they were circumcised and entered into the covenant by becoming proselytes). It possibly also indicate these proselytes (Gentiles willing to be circumcised and become ‘Jews’) who, while theoretically accepted as full Jews, never felt themselves as fully accepted in practise. Basically it represents all who have a sense of being separated from the people of God.
‘Fellow-citizens with the saints.’ They now have total equality with, and the same standing as, the Old Testament saints, the people of believing Israel (Deu 33:3; 1Sa 2:9; 2Ch 6:41; Psa 16:3 and often in the Psalms; Daniel 7 often). As fellow-citizens (sunpolitai) they are members of the commonwealth (politeia) of Israel.
‘And of the household of God.’ They now belong especially to God’s own household (compare Caesar’s household (Php 4:22) which was large and widespread), and therefore especially and recognisably His. Thus they now have an intimate knowledge of God in contrast with being ‘without God’. They are as close as anyone can be.
So the believing Gentiles are now joined with Christ, are members of the new commonwealth of Israel, are partakers in the covenants of the promise, have much hope, and have access into God’s presence through the Spirit. They are His people (compare 2Co 6:17-18).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
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;
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.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Eph 2:19. Strangers and foreigners, If there be any distinction between these two words, and , the latter signifies something more than the former, and seems plainly to allude to the case of sojourning strangers among the Jews, who were not incorporated by complete proselytism into the body of the Jewish people, and made, as such proselytes were, fellow-citizens, with equal privileges: and perhaps, when , domestics of God, is added, it may have some relation to that peculiar nearness to God, in which the Jewish priests stood, 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 also 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 boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus; Heb 10:19.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eph 2:19 . ] draws the inference from Eph 2:14-18 ; and this inference is the same in its tenor with what was said at Eph 2:13 , but is carried out in more detail; for this is just what was to be proved Eph 2:14 ff. ( quod erat demonstrandum ).
] i.e. such as are not included as belonging to the theocracy , but are related towards it as strangers , who belong to another state; the opposite is . Comp. Eph 2:12 . The same is indicated by : inquilini , [157] i.e. those who, coming from elsewhere, sojourn in a land or city without having the right of citizenship (Act 7:6 ; Act 7:29 ; 1Pe 2:11 ). See, in general, Wetstein, ad Luc. xxiv. 18; Gesen. Thes. s.v. . It is the same as is expressed in classic Greek by (Wolf, prol. Dem. Lept . p. Ixvi. ff.; Hermann, Staatsalterth. 115), in contradistinction to the or (Plat. Pol . viii. p. 563 A, al. ). The Gentiles are in the commonwealth of God only inguilini, sojourners , not citizens; they have no therein; although they are ruled by God (Rom 3:29 ) and included in the Messianic promise (Rom 4:12 f.), they are so in the second place (Rom 1:16 ), and without participating in the time-hallowed peculiar prerogatives of the Israelites (Rom 3:1 ; Rom 9:4 ff.). The referring of to the conception of a household (persons pertaining to the house, members of the family) is not to be made good by linguistic usage (not even by Lev 22:10 ), and is not demanded by the antithesis of (in opposition to Bengel, Koppe, Flatt, Meier, Harless, Olshausen, Schenkel), inasmuch as sustains a climactic relation to the preceding . , and the two together form the contrast to and . The reference to the proselytes (Anselm, Whitby, Cornelius a Lapide, Calixtus, Baumgarten) is quite at variance with the context (Eph 2:11-13 ).
] emphatic repetition of the verb after . Comp. Rom 8:15 ; 1Co 2:8 ; Heb 12:18 ff.
] belongs to the inferior Greek; Lucian, Soloec . 5; Ael. V. H . iii. 44; Joseph. Antt. xix. 2. 2. See Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 172.
] i.e. of those who constitute the people of God. These were formerly the Jews (Eph 2:12 ), into whose place, however, the Christians have entered as the (Gal 6:16 ), as the true descendants of Abraham (Rom 4:10 ff.) and God’s people (Rom 9:5 ff.), acquired as His property by the work of Christ (see on Eph 1:14 ). The Ephesians have thus, by becoming Christians, attained to the fellow-citizenship with the saints, which saints the Christians were, so that does not embrace either the Jews (Vorstius, Hammond, Bengel, Morus) or the patriarchs (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, and others; Theodoret: , ), with whom even the angels have been associated (Calvin, Flatt).
] members of God’s household . The theocracy is thought of as a family , dwelling in a house, of which God is the . 1Ti 3:15 ; Heb 3:2 ; Heb 3:5-6 ; Heb 10:21 ; 1Pe 4:17 . Comp. , Num 12:7 ; Hos 8:1 . Harless: belonging to the house of God, as the building-stones of the house, in which God dwells . But thus the following figure is anticipated , and that in a way contrary to the meaning of ; and an incongruous contrast is afforded to the .
[157] Among Greek writers has not this signification, but is equivalent to neighbour ; it has it, however, in the LXX. (Exo 12:45 ; Lev 25:6-23 ). Comp. , Act 13:17 , and in the LXX.; Clem. Cor. Eph 2:5 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2102
THE EXALTED PRIVILEGES OF TRUE CHRISTIANS
Eph 2:19-22. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
IT is well for Christians to contemplate their high privileges. But, in order to estimate them aright, it is necessary that they should bear in mind the state in which they were, previous to their embracing the Gospel. The difference between the Jews and Gentiles was great; yet scarcely greater than that between the nominal and the real Christian. The nominal Christian, though possessed of many external advantages, is, with respect to the spiritual enjoyment of them, on a level with the heathen; or rather, I should say, below the heathen, inasmuch as his abuse of those advantages has entailed upon him the deeper guilt. We may therefore apply to the unconverted Christians what St. Paul speaks of the Ephesians in their unconverted state; They are without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world [Note: ver. 12.]. From this state however they are delivered, as soon as they truly believe in Christ. They are then, as my text expresses it, no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. The exalted state to which they are brought is represented by the Apostle under two distinct metaphors: they are made,
I.
The people of God, amongst whom he dwells
They are fellow-citizens with the saints
[Bodies that are incorporated, whether in cities, boroughs, or societies of any kind, have their peculiar privileges, to which others who belong not to them are not entitled. Thus it is with the saints, who are formed into one body in Christ, and have the most distinguished privileges confirmed to them by a charter from the court of heaven. That charter is the Gospel, in which all their immunities and all their claims are fully described. What externally belonged to the Jewish nation at large, is internally and spiritually made over to them: to them belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God and the promises [Note: Rom 9:4.]: yes, all that God has revealed in his Gospel, all that he has promised to his believing people, all that he has engaged to them in his everlasting covenant, all that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob enjoyed on earth, and all that they now possess in heaven, all without exception is theirs; All things are theirs when they are Christs. They are citizens of no mean city, seeing that they are come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God [Note: Heb 12:22.]:? and whatever pertains to that is the lot of their inheritance.]
They are also of the household of God
[As in the days of old there was an outer court for the Gentiles, and an inner court into which the native servants and children of Jehovah were privileged to enter, so now believers have access to God as his more immediate children and servants. They go in and out before him with a liberty unknown to the natural man; they hear his voice; they enjoy his protection; they subsist from day to day by the provision which he assigns them: the family to which they belong comprehends an innumerable company of angels, and the general assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven, together with myriads who are yet on their way to Zion: but all regard him as their common Head, their Lord, their Master, their Father and their Friend.]
Exalted as this privilege is, it is far surpassed by that which is contained under that other metaphor,
II.
The temple wherein he dwells
The whole body of true believers is the temple of the living God
[Their foundation properly is Christ. But, in the text, the Church is said to be built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, because they with one voice testified of Christ; and on their testimony the Church is built. This is the import of what our Saviour said to Peter; Thou art Peter, and on this rock will I build ray Church: he did not mean, that he would build it on the person of Peter, but on the testimony of Peter just before delivered, namely, that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God [Note: Mat 16:16-18.]. Of the Church Christ is also the chief corner-stone, which, whilst it supports the building, connects the parts of it together, and gives it stability through the whole remaining superstructure.
The building raised on this foundation consists of living stones [Note: 1Pe 2:4-5.], all selected by sovereign grace, and with unerring wisdom fitly framed together, so as mutually to confirm and strengthen one another, and collectively to constitute an edifice for the Lord. Various degrees of labour are bestowed on these, according to the situation they are to occupy. Some, which are designed for a more conspicuous place in that building, have many strokes: others, which have a less honourable place assigned them, are sooner and more easily brought to the measure of perfection which is necessary for them.
But, in all, this work is carried on silently, and in a way unnoticed by the world around them. As in the temple of Solomon, every stone was made ready before it was brought thither, so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house while it was in building [Note: 1Ki 6:7.]; so it is in this spiritual building: every stone is fitted in secret: the work is carried on in each, without attracting the notice and observation of men: but all will at last be found so precisely fitted for their respective stations, as to demonstrate the infinite skill and unerring wisdom of the Divine Architect.]
The end for which this structure is raised, is, the inhabitation of the Deity
[For this end fresh converts are added to the Church daily, even such as shall be saved. For this end the work is carried on and perfected in the heart of every individual believer. For this end all the means of grace, like the scaffolding, are continued, till the whole shall have received its final completion. For this end the Holy Spirit is imparted to all, so that all are compacted together, standing firm on the one foundation, and united to each other by indissoluble bonds. And at last the Deity shall take possession of it, as he did in the days of Solomon, when by the bright cloud he filled the house, so that the priest could no longer stand to minister before him [Note: 1Ki 8:10-11.].
In all this honour every saint partakes. Every one, even in his individual capacity, is a temple of the Lord [Note: 1Co 6:19.], and has the Spirit of God dwelling in him [Note: Joh 14:17; Joh 14:23.]. In his heart Christ dwells by faith [Note: Eph 3:17.]: and, through the effectual operation of the Holy Spirit, he grows continually, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Yes, this honour has the Church at large; and this honour have all the saints of every successive age.]
Reflections
1.
How thankful should we be for such inestimable privileges!
[Believers, whoever ye are, ye were once lying in the quarry, as insensible as any that are still there. It was not by any agency of yours, no, nor for any superior goodness in you, that ye were taken thence; but purely by Gods power, for the praise of the glory of his own grace. He it is that has made the difference between you and others, between you also and your former selves. O! look unto the rock, whence ye have been hewn, and to the hole of the pit, whence ye have been digged. Never forget what ye once were, or what ye would still have continued to be, if God, of his own good pleasure, had not brought you thence, and made you what ye now are.
Be thankful also for the means which God, of his own infinite mercy, is yet using with you, to carry on and perfect his work in your souls. If ye have many strokes of the hammer, complain not of it: you have not one too many, not one that could be spared, if you are to occupy aright the place ordained for you. Lie meekly and submissively before your God; and let him perfect his work in his own way.
And contemplate the end for which you are destined, even to be an habitation of God, through the Spirit, to all eternity! Shall not this prospect make you joyful in all your tribulation? Shall so much as an hour pass, and you not give praise and thanksgiving to your God? Look forward to the end, even to this grace that shall be given you at the appearing of Jesus Christ; and beg of your God and Saviour not to intermit his work one single moment, till you are rendered completely meet for the station you are to hold, and the honour you are to enjoy in the eternal world.]
2.
How studious should we be to walk worthy of them!
[This improvement of our privileges we should never overlook: it is the use which the inspired writers continually teach us to make of them. Are we the temples of the Holy Ghost? we must be far removed from all connexion with ungodly men [Note: 2Co 6:16-17.] and from all hateful and polluting passions [Note: 1Co 3:16-17.] And in us must be offered up continually the sacrifices of prayer and praise [Note: 1Pe 2:4-5.]; from which God will smell a sweet odour, and by which he will eternally be glorified. Surely holiness becomes Gods house for ever; and this is the law of the house, that every part of it, and its very precincts, even to its utmost limits, should be holy [Note: Eze 43:12.]. Labour then for this. Consider what manner of persons ye ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness: and, as every vessel of the sanctuary was holy, so let your every action, your every word, your every thought, be such as becometh your high calling and your heavenly destination.]
EPHESIANS, III. 8.
See Sermons on 1Ti 1:11. where it forms the second Sermon of a series.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(19) Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (20) And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (21) In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (22) In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Let the Reader observe, how delightfully the Apostle calls off the attention of the Church, from what they once was, to what they now are. No more strangers, but friends: no more foreigners, but fellow-citizens; made free of that city whose builder and maker is God. Oh! what trouble, and vexation, men of this world have, in their freedom as they call it, of the perishing cities of the earth. Here is an inheritance, in the citizenship of heaven, yea, the household of God. And all such are in sweet communion and fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. No strangers to the love of God, to the Person, glory, and grace, of Christ; nor to the regenerating, renewing influences, of God the Holy Ghost. Oh ! the felicity, even now, of an heir of heaven ! Oh! the glory, that soon shall be revealed!
But the Apostle proceeds. Ye are built (saith he) upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. Yes ! built upon the same foundation, as the Apostles and Prophets. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, Jesus Christ. 1Co 3:11 . God the Father laid this foundation-stone in Zion. Isa 28:16 . And, both the Prophets of the Old Testament, and the Apostles of the New, acted only as servants in building the Church, on this Rock of Ages. Neither the persons, nor the doctrines, of the Apostles, and Prophets, are the foundation; but Christ in their doctrines: and, therefore, said to be their foundation.
I beg the Reader to observe with me, how blessedly Paul introduceth the whole Three Persons of the Godhead, as concerned, and engaged, in this building. God the Father layeth the foundation. Christ is the foundation, and the Chief Corner Stone, to knit together the whole building. And the building is, for an habitation of God, through the Spirit.
It is probable, I think, that while Paul makes use of such a beautiful similitude, as that of a Temple, to teach the Church the blessedness, of the Lord’s people forming one grand body, of a spiritual nature, as hereafter to be completed in heaven; he had in view, the magnificent building the Ephesians had erected, to the honor of their dunghill idol, Diana: which, we are told, was, in point of splendor, one of the world’s wonders. It is, therefore, as if he had said: behold that superb structure! See how it is desecrated, to a mere idol! Then turn your thoughts, and contemplate that temple, which is founded on Christ, for an habitation of God, through the Spirit! And think, what unknown glories must result, from such an inhabitation, here in grace, and hereafter in glory ! 1Co 6:19-20 .
If the Reader will indulge me but a few moments longer, on this sweet subject, I will venture, under the hope of divine grace, to touch at the outlines of it, with reverence, and godly fear. More than the out lines, I cannot propose. We must be favored, both Writer and Reader of this Poor Man’s Commentary, with the vision John had, and see what he saw, and hear what he heard, before we can go further into the subject. H e saw (he tells us) the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband. And, he heard a great voice out of heaven, saying: behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. Rev 21:2-3 . But, though we neither hear, nor see, in visions, as John did; we derive instructions, under God the Spirit’s teaching, from what he saw, and heard, for he was directed, to make known the revelation to the Churches. And the Lord Jesus, who sent his servant, pronounced a blessedness on those, who read, and hear, the words of his prophecy. Rev 1:3Rev 1:3 .
The first, and great, and ultimate object, which I beg the Reader. everlastingly to keep in view, as he ponders this beautiful similitude of the Apostle, is, that the glorious structure is the joint result of the Holy Three in One, as hath been before noticed. How blessedly doth Jehovah, in his Personalities, endear himself to the hearts of his people, by such united views, of his love, and grace and favor, towards the Church in Christ! Surely it is, that his people might have somewhat in their apprehensions, to lean upon, in their drawing nigh to the Lord, for communion in, and with, and by, Christ. Without this, in discovering the special acts of grace, from each glorious Person in the Godhead, the soul would be overwhelmed, and lost, in the contemplation of the divine essence!
When the Reader hath duly pondered these things, I would beg him to, consider also, the proposed object of this spiritual building, which is said to be for an habitation of God through the Spirit. And, as the whole efficiency of the work, is now with the Spirit; we are here plainly taught, that it is to his Almighty agency, the whole structure is committed; and from his sovereignty in the communications of grace, from first to last, the whole building must be formed. If the Church of God, in the present day, was more alive to the apprehension of the Person, and Godhead, and work, and offices of God the Holy Ghost; how would the minds, both of ministers and people, be waiting for his directions, in all the several means of grace, that they might hear, before they entered upon them, and as they passed through them, what the Spirit saith unto the Churches!
That God the Holy Ghost is the Almighty Founder and Architect, of the whole spiritual building, is too plain a truth, to require arguments to establish. His is the whole Scripture, for the edification of the Church. His every dispensation in ordinances. His, the whole appointment of sacrifices. For when the High Priest went once every year with blood, into the holy place, we are told, that the Holy Ghost hereby signified his intentions by that service, See Heb 9:6-8 . And, as the several ordinances, and means of grace, are of his express appointment; so the blessed effects intended from them, in spiritual fruits, are wholly his gift. It is He which lays the foundation of the temple, in the hearts of the Lord’s people, by quickening, and regenerating the dead in trespasses and sins. He carries on the work, from grace to grace, in the soul. He it is which forms Christ in the heart, the hope of glory. In short, the Lord the Spirit is the founder, builder, and finisher, of the whole spiritual temple: and He, which enables the lively stones to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 1Pe 2:5 . All these worketh that one, and the self same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 1Co 12:11 . Reader! ponder well the vast subject. It is indeed, too vast, too sublime, for the perfect apprehension of our unripe faculties. But, when the Lord shall bring home his glorious Church, from earth, to heaven; and present it to himself, a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, nor any such thing, but to be holy, and without blemish; and the whole building is fully prepared, in body, soul, and spirit, for the everlasting glory of God in Christ: then will it be, indeed, for an habitation of God through the Spirit! Oh ! God the Holy Ghost! do thou build up thy people, in the Lord our righteousness. Make our bodies thy temple: and direct the hearts of all thy redeemed, into the love of God, and patient waiting for Christ!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
19 .] So then ( is said by Hermann (Viger, art. 292) not to be classical Greek. It is frequent in St. Paul, but confined to him: see reff. Cf. on Gal 6:10 ) ye no longer are strangers and sojourners (see ref. Acts, where certainly this is the sense. “ is here simply the same as the classic (a form which does not occur in the N. T., and only once, Jer 20:3 , in the LXX), and was probably its Alexandrian equivalent. It is used frequently in the LXX, in eleven passages as a translation of , and in nine of .” Ellicott. ‘Sojourners,’ as dwelling among the Jews, but not numbered with them. Bengel opposes to ‘cives’ and to ‘domestici,’ and so Harless: but this seems too artificial), but are fellow-citizens with the saints ( is blamed by Phrynichus (ed. Lob. p. 172: see Lobeck’s note) and the Atticists as a later word. But it occurs in Eur. Heraclid. 821, and the compound verb is found in pure Attic writers: see Palm and Rost’s Lex. would not here express the meaning of comrades, co-citizens , of the saints. are 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, the commonwealth of the spiritual Israel) and of the household ( , not as Harl., ‘stones of which the house is built,’ which is an unnatural anticipation here, where all is a political figure, of the material figure in the next verse: but, members of God’s family,’ in the usual sense of the word) of God, having been built (we cannot express the -: the ‘ superdificati ’ of the Vulg. gives it: we have the substantive ‘superstructure,’ but no verb corresponding. There is, though Harl. (see above) denies it, a transition from one image, a political and social, to another, a material) upon the foundation (dative as resting upon : in 1Co 3:12 , where we have , the idea of bringing and laying upon is prominent, and therefore the case of motion is used. Between the genitive and dative of rest with there is the distinction, that the genitive implies more partial overhanging, looser connexion, the dative, a connexion of close fitting attachment. So in Xen. we have, , partial, ‘ over ,’ , close, ‘ on :’ see Donaldson’s Greek Gr. 483) of the Apostles and Prophets (how is this genitive to be understood? Is it a genitive of apposition, so that the Apostles and Prophets themselves are the foundation? This has been supposed by numerous Commentators, from Chrys. to De Wette. But, not to mention the very many other objections which have been well and often urged against this view, this one is to my mind decisive, that it entirely destroys the imagery of the passage. The temple, into which these Gentiles were built, is the mystical body of the Son, in which the Father dwells by the Spirit, Eph 2:22 . The Apostles and Prophets (see below), yea, Jesus Christ Himself, as the great inclusive Head Corner Stone (see again below), are also built into this temple. (That He includes likewise the foundation , and IS the foundation, is true, and must be remembered, but is not prominent here.) Clearly then the Apostles and Prophets cannot be the foundation, being here spoken of as parts of the building, together with these Gentiles, and with Jesus Christ Himself. But again, does the genitive mean, the foundation which the Apostles and Prophets have laid? So also very many, from Ambrst., to Rck., Harl., Mey., Stier, Ellic., both edd. As clearly, not thus. To introduce them here as agents , is as inconsistent as the other. No agents are here spoken of, but merely the fact of the great building in its several parts being built up together. The only remaining interpretation then is, to regard the genitive as simply possessive: ‘ the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets ,’ = ‘ the Apostles’ and Prophets’ foundation ’ that upon which they as well as yourselves are built. This exegesis, which I find ascribed to Bucer only (in De W.), seems to me beyond question the right one. See more below.
But (2) who are ? They have commonly been taken, without enquiry, as the O. T. Prophets . And certainly, the sense, with some little straining, would admit of this view. They may be said to be built upon Christ, as belonging to that widest acceptation of His mystical body, in which it includes all the saints, O. T. as well as N. T. But there are several objections: first, formal: the order of the words has been urged against this view, in that . should have come first. I should not be inclined to lay much weight on this; the Apostles might naturally be spoken of first, as nearest, and the Prophets second ‘the Apostles, yea and of the Prophets also.’ A more serious formal objection is, the omission of the article before ., thereby casting . together as belonging to the same class. But weightier objections are behind. In ch. Eph 3:5 , we have , . , where unquestionably the are N. T. Prophets; and again ch. Eph 4:11 , , . And it is difficult to conceive that the Apostle should have used the two words conjoined here, in a different sense. Even stronger is the consideration arising from the whole sense of the passage. All here is strictly Christian, post-Judaic, consequent on Christ’s death, and triumph, and His coming preaching peace by the Spirit to the united family of man. So that we must decide for . being N. T. Prophets : those who ranked next to the Apostles in the government of the church: see Act 11:27 , note. They were not in every case distinct from the Apostles: the apostleship probably always including the gift of prophecy : so that all the Apostles themselves might likewise have been ), Christ Jesus Himself (the exalts the dignity of the temple, in that not only it has among its stones Apostles and prophets, but the Lord Himself is built into it. The attempt of Bengel, al., to render , ‘ its ,’ and refer it to , will be seen, by what has been said, to be foreign to the purpose. Besides, it would more naturally be . Bengel’s idea, that on our rendering, it must be , is refuted by such passages as , Luk 20:42 ) being the Head corner stone (see, besides reff., Ps. 117:22; Jer 28 (51):26; Mat 21:42 ; Act 4:11 . The reference here is clearly to that Headstone of the Corner, which is not only the most conspicuous but the most important in the building: “qui, in extremo angulo (fundamenti, but qu.?) positus, duos parietes ex diverso venientes conjungit et continet,” Est. Builders set up such a stone, or build such a pillar of brick, before getting up their walls, to rule and square them by. I must again repeat, that the fact of Jesus Christ being Himself the foundation , however it underlies the whole, is not to be brought in as interfering with this portion of the figure),
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Eph 2:19 . : So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners . At this point Paul brings to their conclusion the statements made in Eph 2:14-18 , and draws from them the natural, comforting inference. The conclusive is one of Paul’s favourable particles. In his writings and in the NT generally it is sometimes placed second in the sentence, and sometimes (contrary to classical use) first. The combination is peculiar to Paul, and takes the first place in the sentence. In this form it has less of the ratiocinative force and more of the collective; cf. Buttm., Gram. of N. T. Greek , p. 371; Blass, Gram. of N. T. Greek , p. 273. , a comprehensive expression, including “all who, whether by natural and territorial demarcation, or by the absence of civic privileges, were not citizens” (Ell.). The term in ordinary Greek means a neighbour . In the LXX it represents (nine times) or (eleven times). Here it stands for the classical , which never occurs in the NT, is found only once in the LXX (Jer 20:3 ) and means one who comes from one country or city and settles in another, but does not rank as a or having the right of citizenship ( cf. Act 7:6 ; Act 7:29 ; 1Pe 2:11 ). There is no reference to proselytes in particular (Baumg.). : but fellow-citizens with the saints . Most critical editors (LTTrWHRV) insert after , on the authority of [174] [175] [176] [177] [178] , etc. The form is preferred by Tisch., WH, Ell., Alf., etc. The word belongs mostly to late Greek. The is not to be restricted to Jews , the patriarchs , or OT believers , but is a comprehensive name for Christians , the whole community of believers in Christ without distinction of Jew and Gentile. The Jewish people were once “the saints” of God, and Gentiles stood outside having no part in their . Now all Gentile believers, like these Ephesians, form part of that greater “Israel of God (Gal 6:16 ) which consists of all Christians, and share in all the rights of such. : and of the household of God . So in Gal 6:10 , . In Greek writers of the later period is used frequently with the gens, of abstract nouns ( , , etc.) in the general sense of one closely connected with philosophy, etc., but without any specific reference either to the house of God, or to the as forming one family . With the present case, however, it is different. The phrase naturally suggests the idea of members of God’s household or family (Mey.); cf. 1Ti 3:15 ; Heb 3:2 ; Heb 3:5-6 ; Heb 10:21 ; 1Pe 4:17 .
[174] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.
[175] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.
[176] Codex Alexandrinus (sc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).
[177] Codex Ephraemi (sc. v.), the Paris palimpsest, edited by Tischendorf in 1843.
[178] Codex Claromontanus (sc. vi.), a Grco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Now therefore = So then.
no more = no longer. Greek. ouketi.
foreigners = sojourners. Greek. paroikos. See Act 7:6.
fellowcitizens. Greek. sumpolites. Only here. Whose seat of government (politeuma) is in heaven. See Php 1:3, Php 1:20.
household. Literally the domestics. Greek. oikeios. Only here; Gal 1:6, Gal 1:10. 1Ti 5:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
19.] So then ( is said by Hermann (Viger, art. 292) not to be classical Greek. It is frequent in St. Paul, but confined to him: see reff. Cf. on Gal 6:10) ye no longer are strangers and sojourners (see ref. Acts, where certainly this is the sense. is here simply the same as the classic (a form which does not occur in the N. T., and only once, Jer 20:3, in the LXX), and was probably its Alexandrian equivalent. It is used frequently in the LXX,-in eleven passages as a translation of , and in nine of . Ellicott. Sojourners, as dwelling among the Jews, but not numbered with them. Bengel opposes to cives and to domestici,-and so Harless: but this seems too artificial), but are fellow-citizens with the saints ( is blamed by Phrynichus (ed. Lob. p. 172: see Lobecks note) and the Atticists as a later word. But it occurs in Eur. Heraclid. 821, and the compound verb is found in pure Attic writers: see Palm and Rosts Lex. would not here express the meaning of comrades, co-citizens, of the saints. are 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,-the commonwealth of the spiritual Israel) and of the household (, not as Harl., stones of which the house is built, which is an unnatural anticipation here, where all is a political figure, of the material figure in the next verse: but, members of Gods family, in the usual sense of the word) of God,-having been built (we cannot express the -: the superdificati of the Vulg. gives it: we have the substantive superstructure, but no verb corresponding. There is, though Harl. (see above) denies it, a transition from one image, a political and social, to another, a material) upon the foundation (dative as resting upon: in 1Co 3:12, where we have , the idea of bringing and laying upon is prominent, and therefore the case of motion is used. Between the genitive and dative of rest with there is the distinction, that the genitive implies more partial overhanging, looser connexion,-the dative, a connexion of close fitting attachment. So in Xen. we have, , partial, over,- , close, on: see Donaldsons Greek Gr. 483) of the Apostles and Prophets (how is this genitive to be understood? Is it a genitive of apposition, so that the Apostles and Prophets themselves are the foundation? This has been supposed by numerous Commentators, from Chrys. to De Wette. But, not to mention the very many other objections which have been well and often urged against this view, this one is to my mind decisive,-that it entirely destroys the imagery of the passage. The temple, into which these Gentiles were built, is the mystical body of the Son, in which the Father dwells by the Spirit, Eph 2:22. The Apostles and Prophets (see below), yea, Jesus Christ Himself, as the great inclusive Head Corner Stone (see again below), are also built into this temple. (That He includes likewise the foundation, and IS the foundation, is true, and must be remembered, but is not prominent here.) Clearly then the Apostles and Prophets cannot be the foundation, being here spoken of as parts of the building, together with these Gentiles, and with Jesus Christ Himself. But again, does the genitive mean, the foundation which the Apostles and Prophets have laid? So also very many, from Ambrst., to Rck., Harl., Mey., Stier, Ellic., both edd. As clearly,-not thus. To introduce them here as agents, is as inconsistent as the other. No agents are here spoken of, but merely the fact of the great building in its several parts being built up together. The only remaining interpretation then is, to regard the genitive as simply possessive: the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, = the Apostles and Prophets foundation-that upon which they as well as yourselves are built. This exegesis, which I find ascribed to Bucer only (in De W.), seems to me beyond question the right one. See more below.
But (2) who are ? They have commonly been taken, without enquiry, as the O. T. Prophets. And certainly, the sense, with some little straining, would admit of this view. They may be said to be built upon Christ, as belonging to that widest acceptation of His mystical body, in which it includes all the saints, O. T. as well as N. T. But there are several objections: first, formal: the order of the words has been urged against this view, in that . should have come first. I should not be inclined to lay much weight on this; the Apostles might naturally be spoken of first, as nearest, and the Prophets second-the Apostles, yea and of the Prophets also. A more serious formal objection is, the omission of the article before ., thereby casting . together as belonging to the same class. But weightier objections are behind. In ch. Eph 3:5, we have , . , where unquestionably the are N. T. Prophets; and again ch. Eph 4:11, , . And it is difficult to conceive that the Apostle should have used the two words conjoined here, in a different sense. Even stronger is the consideration arising from the whole sense of the passage. All here is strictly Christian,-post-Judaic,-consequent on Christs death, and triumph, and His coming preaching peace by the Spirit to the united family of man. So that we must decide for . being N. T. Prophets: those who ranked next to the Apostles in the government of the church: see Act 11:27, note. They were not in every case distinct from the Apostles: the apostleship probably always including the gift of prophecy: so that all the Apostles themselves might likewise have been ), Christ Jesus Himself (the exalts the dignity of the temple, in that not only it has among its stones Apostles and prophets, but the Lord Himself is built into it. The attempt of Bengel, al., to render , its, and refer it to , will be seen, by what has been said, to be foreign to the purpose. Besides, it would more naturally be . Bengels idea, that on our rendering, it must be , is refuted by such passages as , Luk 20:42) being the Head corner stone (see, besides reff., Ps. 117:22; Jeremiah 28(51):26; Mat 21:42; Act 4:11. The reference here is clearly to that Headstone of the Corner, which is not only the most conspicuous but the most important in the building: qui, in extremo angulo (fundamenti, but qu.?) positus, duos parietes ex diverso venientes conjungit et continet, Est. Builders set up such a stone, or build such a pillar of brick, before getting up their walls, to rule and square them by. I must again repeat, that the fact of Jesus Christ being Himself the foundation, however it underlies the whole, is not to be brought in as interfering with this portion of the figure),
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Eph 2:19. , no longer) Antithetic to their former state.-, strangers) Its opposite is citizens, a metaphor derived from a city or state.-, foreigners [inquilini, sojourners in the city, from a foreign state]) Its opposite is, domestics [home-born members of the household]: the metaphor is taken from a house.- , of the saints) [the holy commonwealth] of Israel, Eph 2:12; comp. Eph 3:18.- , of God) Again the Holy Trinity is indicated, Eph 2:19 [God], 20 [Jesus Christ], 22 [the Spirit].
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Eph 2:19
Eph 2:19
So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens-Since the Spirit had guided them through Christ to God, and they had become partakers of the blessings of the children of God in Christ Jesus, they were no more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints.
with the saints,-This is a comprehensive name for Christians; the whole community of believers in Christ, without distinction of Jew and Gentile, are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. They were brought into the enjoyment of all the honors and privileges of the most honored sons of God.
and of the household of God,-Members of Gods family. The idea is that of a child at home. In the deepest sense the Gentile believer, once far off in both position and condition, is now at home with his loving Father. [The prominent characteristic of a family is mutual affection. A family is held together by love. There is the love of the father for each and all and there is the love for him and for each other. And so it is in the divine family. God is love; pure, infinite, and eternal love. This, as it is the glorious summary of his perfections, is the characteristic of every individual member of his spiritual family. We love, because he first loved us. . . . And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. (1Jn 4:19-21). That, however, which the apostle seems to have more particularly in view is the high privilege which attaches to this divine relationship.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Built Together for a Habitation of God (Eph 2:19-22)
Next we consider our relationship to the Holy Spirit, and find that we have been formed into a habitation in which God by the Holy Spirit dwells during our time on earth, and in which He will dwell throughout all the ages to come. Two different figures are used-the tabernacle as described in the book of Exodus, and the glorious temple as depicted for us in the books of Kings and Chronicles. The tabernacle represents the temporary condition, the temple the eternal condition that will abide forever.
We noticed earlier in our study that throughout this letter the apostle said ye when he was addressing Gentiles and we when he wrote of Jews. So in this verse he said, Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. We have seen that the Gentiles were strangers from the covenants of promise. They did not belong to that special elect nation of Israel, but sadly many in Israel failed to enter into their holy privilege, and so we are told elsewhere that they are not all Israel who are of Israel. However, God called out a remnant from Israel, and that remnant by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior was baptized into Jesus Christ and made living stones in the house of God. And now Gentiles who believe, though having no part nor lot in the covenant with Israel, are also brought in and are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints.
What do we mean by saints? Simply that we are now linked with Israel after the flesh? Not at all. The Israelites forfeited all rights from an earthly standpoint. It is those in Israel who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who are here called saints. So when he says we are fellow-citizens with the saints, he means that the Gentiles who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are as truly united to Christ now by the Spirit as our Jewish brethren who believe in the same Savior. A saint is a holy one, one set apart to God. But holiness is not a question primarily of experience. People often think of saints as those who have already attained to perfect holiness, but that is not the divine thought at all. Everyone who puts his trust in the Lord has been set apart to God in Christ, and thus is constituted a saint. But now having been made a saint, one is called to live in a saintly way. We do not become saints by holy living, but because God has designated us saints we are called to holy living.
So we read that we have been made fellow-citizens with the saints. What citizenship is that? It is a heavenly citizenship. We read in Philippians, Our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven. Philippi was what the Romans called a colony, but they used that term in a different sense from what we use it today. A Roman colony was a city that had been characterized by some special devotedness to the Roman imperial government. In order to reward the citizens of that place for their loyalty and faithfulness the title colonia was conferred on that city. That meant that from that time on every free-born person living in that place was considered a Roman citizen, and had just exactly the same rights and privileges as though he were born free in Rome.
Some years before Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians the Romans were in conflict with the people to the north and to the east of Macedonia. When the Roman legions reached Philippi they found the citizens of that place had already raised a great army to assist them, and had provided vast resources to meet the army. So delighted was the Roman general with their generosity and loyalty that he sent back to Rome a splendid report. The Senate then met and conferred on them the title colonia, which meant that every Philippian could then say, I am a Roman citizen. However, Philippi was in Macedonia, and of course the people had certain duties to that government, but Philippi was governed directly from Rome, and had a representative of the Roman government there. The apostle applied this same concept of citizenship in writing to the Ephesians. We are in this world sinners saved by grace and linked to our Lord Jesus Christ, though He is rejected by this world. And now God so appreciates devotion to His blessed Son in this day of His rejection, that He says, I am going to confer on everyone who trusts Him, on everyone who acknowledges His Lordship during this time when the world is spurning Him, citizenship in my colonia. They are heavenly citizens; they belong to Heaven. Though we are in the world, we are fellow-citizens with the saints. We have our duties, our responsibilities to the world in which we live, but our prime duty and responsibility is to Heaven because we are citizens of that blessed country and belong to the household of God.
Next Paul used the figure of a building, and said, And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. You remember this same figure is used in other places in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 we read of the building that God is erecting in the wonderful gospel days. You have it again in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 where we read of the temple of God, and also in 1 Peter chapter 2 where believers are likened to living stones built on the living Stone, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament when Solomons temple was erected on mount Moriah, in order that there might be a level platform on which the great superstructure could stand, large stones were brought and mortared into the solid rock, and then stones were fitted into that temple. At the end of seven years it was the most wonderful sanctuary that the world had ever known up to that time. But there was a peculiarity about the construction. It went up without the sound of a hammer, because the stones were quarried out elsewhere. They were also cut, shaped, and polished elsewhere, and then placed on that platform and cemented together without the use of a workmans hammer. So today no one can hear a sound as a living stone is fitted into the temple of God, but God by the Holy Ghost is quarrying out these living stones from the depths of sin. He is lifting them up by His mighty power and building them on Christ, the great foundation.
View the vast building, see it rise!
The work how great, the plan how wise!
Nor can that faith be overthrown
That rests upon the Living Stone.
Some day this temple will be completed, but it is now in the course of construction. Every believer is a living stone. In Africa, India, China, and the islands of the sea, God is finding these living stones and they are being built into this glorious structure. It will remain for eternity the glorious sanctuary in which God will display the riches of His grace to all people. What a wonderful thing to be a living stone in that temple! You see no man can make himself a living stone. Only the Spirit of God can do that, and therefore it is only those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ who are placed in this wonderful building.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. Does Paul mean that the apostles and prophets are the foundation? Not at all. He means Gods temple is built on the foundation that the apostles laid. What foundation did they lay? Paul wrote, Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1Co 3:11). So the apostles and the prophets proclaimed the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and on that foundation this glorious temple is being built.
You say, But what prophets was Paul speaking of? We have no difficulty with the apostles for we know they are the apostles of the new dispensation. Do the prophets include the Old Testament prophets? We answer, They preached Christ. Who preached a more glorious gospel than Isaiah? Listen to His wonderful words, He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (Isa 53:5). Listen to Jeremiah, This is his name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness (Jer 23:6). Listen to Zechariah, Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones (Zec 13:7). And so we might go on. In this sense the prophets of the Old Testament joined with the apostles of the New Testament in proclaiming the truth of a crucified and risen Savior. But if he had in mind these Old Testament prophets, we might expect him to say prophets and apostles, for these Old Testament prophets came long before the apostles did. But he reversed it and put the apostles first. Could it be that just as there were apostles in the New Testament dispensation, there were also prophets? We read, for instance, of certain prophets and teachers at Antioch (Act 13:1). Some of the writers of the New Testament, as Mark and Luke, were not apostles but were prophets. So I take it that we are to limit the apostles and prophets of Eph 2:20 to the New Testament workmen, those who were raised up of God at the beginning of the church age to lay the foundation-to preach Christ and proclaim the gospel. The temple of God has been building through the centuries on this glorious proclamation.
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Act 4:12). Christ is the one Mediator between God and man. Only those who put their trust in Him are built into this holy temple. Only those who have been saved through His death, His shed blood, and His glorious resurrection are members of His body. Only those who have rested their souls for eternity on the work that He accomplished at Calvary have been quickened together with Him and are thus brought into the family of God. These are our brethren. Others are our fellowmen, in whom we are deeply interested, over whom we yearn with the compassion of Christ. But we dare not take that sacred term of brethren and apply it to those who reject our Lord Jesus Christ and trample His blood under their feet, for it is on His work alone we rest.
We remember Christ said to Peter, Whom say ye that I am? and Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. This is the one foundation. It was laid in death when Jesus died on the tree and now in resurrection the Spirit is building this glorious temple on Christ.
But now, as we said, the temple is not yet finished. As long as there are still lost sinners to be brought in, the temple is not complete. If you should ask for my opinion as to how near we are to the finished temple, I would say that I think there are very few more stones to be put in, just one here and there in the roof, and then it will be complete.
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. That is, every one is fitted by the Holy Spirit into his or her exact place as a living stone. It is an ongoing process. And when it is all completed, what a dwelling place for God and the Lamb it will be. What a wonderful sanctuary through all the ages to come! When you think of being a living stone in that glorious building, does it not bring to your soul a sense of the importance of holy living and devotedness to Christ, of so behaving yourself that He will delight in dwelling in you?
In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and 2 Corinthians chapter 6 the temple of God is the entire church, but in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 the temple of the Holy Spirit is the individual. In 1Co 3:16 we read, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? And then speaking of the enemies outside, Paul continued, If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. In 2Co 6:16 we read, What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And it is because the church collectively comprises the temple of God that the command comes, Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you (2Co 6:17). But when we look back at 1Co 6:19 we find that Paul changed the figure to the individual. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? Here we find he used the singular form-your body, not your bodies. The individual is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in him. Addressing the whole company he said that collectively they form the temple of God but each individual believers body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. What godliness should characterize us, what piety and separation from the world: what faithfulness to Christ should mark us!
Coming back to Eph 2:20-21, the temple is spoken of, but in verse Eph 2:22 we have, I believe, the thought of the tabernacle. He has been speaking of the whole company of believers, and now he narrows his attention down to address a specific group of believers, like this church at Ephesus. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. That is a finished product right here on the earth, like the tabernacle that could be placed at a given place one day, taken down the next, and moved elsewhere. It was made of a number of boards that had been fitted together, covered with gold, and united by bands. Then on each board there were two tenons which went down into sockets of silver. Beautiful curtains covered the united framework. At one time those boards had been trees in the wilderness, as you and I were poor sinners having no hope in the world. Then we were cut down by the work of the Spirit of God, planed and fitted together by the Spirit and now made the abiding place of God. The boards were covered with gold-symbolic of the fact that we are made the righteousness of God in Christ. The curtains speak of all His perfections sheltering His own. This is the picture that is given to us in Ephesians. You as a company of Christians are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Do we realize this as much as we should? Any assembly or church of the living God (and I use this in the strictest New Testament sense, a company of called-out believers) is the habitation of God through the Spirit. That is why the church should be kept holy; that is why unsaved people should have no part in its fellowship, because they are not members of the true church. That is why Christians who are members of that church should be careful to avoid all worldliness and everything that would dishonor the Lord Jesus Christ. May God move us to live in such a way that we will glorify His name in this world.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
The Commonwealth of Christ
So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.Eph 2:19.
1. These words were addressed to Christians of Gentile birth who had been brought out of the darkness of paganism into Gospel light. The Apostle reminds them that in the days of their ignorance they had no part in Gods promises or in the hope of Israel. They were separated by a great wall from the elect people. The Jews were Gods household, and the Gentiles were outside. But now the cross of Jesus has broken down the dividing wall and brought Jew and Gentile together. The Heavenly light shines equally on the faces of both. Faith makes all races of one kin and kind. We are all alike fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God.
2. St. Paul had to labour strenuously and continuously against Jewish exclusiveness. The last thing that the Jews would think of was to admit the Gentiles to equal rights with themselves. One has smiled, rather sadly, to see men whose desperate eagerness to keep hold of some small privilege they had got was even exceeded by their desperate terror lest anybody else should get hold of anything like it. Now St. Paul set himself to put this selfish and jealous littleness down. So far, he has quite succeeded. For though human beings do yet try to keep worldly advantage and privilege to themselves, excluding others, it is ages since any professed Christian thought to keep Gods grace or Christs mercy so. Everybody knows that there is no more certain mark of really being within the Fold than the earnest desire that all we know and care for should be brought into it likewise. No Christian can even be imagined as desiring to keep this great possession to himself, or as grudging any human being his entrance. We have the believers feeling on this matter in memorable words once spoken by him who wrote this Epistlewords which, when and where they were said, combined well the grace which comes of high culture with the heartiness of Christian kindlinessI would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.
I heard Dr. Alexander Whyte, of Edinburgh, speak recently about the great Puritans John Owen and Thomas Goodwin. He bade us read them; he told us of his own debt to them. Thomas Goodwin and John Owen, and Richard Baxter and Matthew Henry, they are all upon my shelves. But not they alone! Side by side with the Puritans stand the works of great Catholics and great Anglicans. It is not with the Puritans alone I hold fellowship; I hold fellowship also with those other Christians between whom and the Puritans there seemed to be a great gulf fixed. I hold fellowship with Augustine, and pour out my soul in the words of his Confessions. I hold fellowship with Kempis, while he teaches me the Imitatio Christi. I hold fellowship with William Law while he addresses to me his Serious Call, and with Jeremy Taylor while he discourses about Holy Living and Holy Dying. I hold fellowship with Newman and with Robertson, as I read their sermonstwo men sundered far from each other, and both of them ecclesiastically separated from me. In my study every day of my life I enjoy the Communion of Saints. 1 [Note: J. D. Jones, Things Most Surely Believed, 178.]
I
The Disabilities of Aliens
1. The Gentiles hitherto had been in the position of strangers and sojourners. As aliens they had no rights of citizenship, and all they could look for was temporary hospitality. They had no real standing within the commonwealth. Gentiles and Jews stood apart in their agelong traditions and customs. The Apostle has expressed in strong, emphatic language the ancient separation between the two. He has spoken of the Greeks as alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,as those that once were far off,of the middle wall of partition to be broken down; and no words could picture too strongly the great gulf that had divided these families of men. The descendant of Abrahamconscious of the election of his race to stand alone among men, as the people of Jehovah; exulting in the noble train of lawgivers and prophets who had come forth from the secret place of God to proclaim the final glory of the Jew; trained to believe in one great Invisible, of whom there was no likeness in the heaven above or in the earth beneathhad learned to look with hatred or contempt on the outcast, lawless Gentile, with his image of God in every valley and on every hill. And the Greekliving as the free child of nature; having no law but the darkened light of conscience; feeling in heaven and earth to find the presence of an Infinite Beauty, whose Image he tried to carve in grace and majesty in snowy stonehad come to look with philosophic pride on the stern land of the Hebrew, and in philosophic scorn on his strange, exclusive loneliness. But not only were they at enmity with each other, they were both at enmity with God, and tried painfully by ceremony and sacrifice to avert His eternal wrath.
2. The chasm that divided the one from the other seemed almost impassable. There were deep and seemingly irreconcilable differences between them. Those differences did not vanish even when Jew and Gentile both turned Christian; they continued to subsist, as any reader of the New Testament may discover for himself. It is no exaggeration to say that there was, in the early days of Christianity, a Jewish Church and a Gentile Church. And yet in Christ the differences were solved, and Jew and Gentile might greet one another as brethren. So then, cries the Apostle, exulting in the effects of the reconciling work of Christ, ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
The alienation of Gentiles from the Divine covenant was represented in the structure of the temple at Jerusalem by a beautifully worked marble balustrade, separating the outer from the inner court, upon which stood columns at regular intervals, bearing inscriptions, some in Greek and some in Latin characters, to warn aliens not to enter the holy place. One of the Greek inscriptions was discovered a few years ago, and is now to be read in the Museum of Constantinople. It runs thus: No alien to pass within the balustrade round the temple and the enclosure. Whosoever shall be caught so doing must blame himself for the penalty of death which he will incur.1 [Note: C. Gore, The Epistle to the Ephesians, 104.]
II
The Widening of the Commonwealth
1. Every race had looked forward to some hoped-for better society.The Jews had for generations, often with the fiercest impatience, expected the coming of the Messianic kingdom. The Greeks had been encouraged by their teachers and philosophers to aim at creating the perfect city and perfect state. Plato himself had not only written his wonderful book on the ideal Commonwealth, but had for a time acted as Prime Minister to a despot who was willing to make such laws as the Athenian statesman might suggest. The Spartans, the Athenians, and the Macedonians had each in turn tried to build up the ideal state, and the bloody and treacherous history of the Greeks in general is not without nobility when we watch it as a tragic effort at making a really Godlike state. Far more impressive than the Greek history had been the Roman patriotism and the Roman imperialism. This forced itself upon the world as something gigantic and irresistible, that bound together nations and religions the most diverse in one mighty whole. Here in the Roman empire that Stoic doctrine of the brotherhood of man spread far and wide, and made many hope that better things were in store.
2. Christ came to found an ideal society.How did He do it? He selected a few men who had the faculty of believing. They were not men of great imagination, or talent, or culture. They were men who could believe in the unseen. These men He trained, until at last one of them uttered the faith that had been growing in the hearts of all, and said to Jesus, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Immediately Jesus saw that His long and arduous task was on the way to completion. He saw that He had in this little group of men the lever with which He would turn the world upside down. He was filled with exultation and delight. He was beginning already to see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, and He cried out, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. The great word was out now and the great idea launched upon the world. One confused fisherman, with a few men of like mind of whom he was the leader, formed the solitary rock in the midst of a world of shifting sand, and upon this rock Jesus would build His Churcha society embodying His spirit, living according to His laws, steadfastly administering His principles to the whole world, little by little leavening the lump, the society of the meek who should inherit the earth!
The Roman Empire had in Pauls 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 Christs hand, travelled farther than she. As Paul says in the context, the Ephesians had been strangers, alienated 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 that really made all peoples one, it was the weakest and most despised of her subject races.
What the early Christians felt when they embraced Christ and joined the little churches in their own cities, was that they had become members of a new race, a new and heavenly community, which was their proper and eternal home. Until now they had thought themselves mere human beings, born into a very strange and often cruel world, without any definite or trustworthy knowledge as to their destiny, plagued with toil and hardship, I disease and the fear of death. But now suddenly their whole perspective was altered. Instead of being citizens of this world they were citizens of heaven, and only sojourners and strangers in the earthly life. Instead of being units in a confused and wearisome life that soon went out into nothingness, they were members of a blessed and everlasting family of which God was the Father, and Jesus Christ the loving herald of His purposes.1 [Note: N. H. Marshall.]
Foremost and grandest amid the teachings of Christ were these two inseparable truthsThere is but one God; all men are the sons of God; and the promulgation of these two truths changed the face of the world, and enlarged the moral circle to the confines of the inhabited globe. To the duties of men towards the Family and Country were added duties towards Humanity. Man then learned that wheresoever there existed a human being, there existed a brother; a brother with a soul immortal as his own, destined like himself to ascend towards the Creator, and on whom he was bound to bestow love, a knowledge of the Faith, and help and counsel when needed.1 [Note: Mazzini.]
3. Salvation comes to the individual through society.The salvation in the Bible is supposed usually to reach the individual through the community. Gods dealings with us in redemption thus follow the lines of His dealings with us in our natural development. For man stands out in history as a social animal. His individual development, by a Divine law of his constitution, is rendered possible only because he is first of all a member of some society, tribe, or nation, or state. Through membership in such a society alone, and through the submissions and limitations of his personal liberty which such membership involves, does he become capable of any degree of free or high development as an individual. This law, then, of mans nature appears equally in the method of his redemption. Under the old covenant it was to members of the commonwealth of Israel that the blessings of the covenant belonged. Under the new covenant St. Paul still conceives of the same commonwealth as subsisting and as fulfilling no less than formerly the same religious functions. True, it has been fundamentally reconstituted and enlarged to include the believers of all nations, and not merely one nation; but it is still the same commonwealth, or polity, or church; and it is still through the Church that Gods covenant dealings reach the individual.
It is for this reason that St. Paul goes on to describe the state of the Asiatic Christians, before their conversion, as a state of alienation from the commonwealth of Israel. They were Gentiles in the flesh, that is by the physical fact that they were not Jews; and were contemptuously described as the uncircumcised by those who, as Jews, were circumcised by human hands. And he conceives this to be only another way of describing alienation from God and His manifold covenants of promise, and from the Messiah, the hope of Israel and of mankind. They were without the Christian society, and therefore presumably without God and without hope.
A lonely faith is an undeveloped, undiscovered, untested, unedified faith. Like a man cast on a desert island, it does not know what is in it; it cannot open out its natural germs. It is through the slowly realized recognition of its part in the manifold and multitudinous kingdom of which it has become a member that it discloses its increasing capacities.1 [Note: H. Scott Holland, Gods City, 35.]
The devout meditation of the isolated man, which flitted through his soul, like a transient tone of Love and Awe from unknown lands, acquires certainty, continuance, when it is shared-in by his brother men. Where two or three are gathered together in the name of the Highest then first does the Highest, as it is written, appear among them to bless them; then first does an Altar and act of united Worship open a way from Earth to Heaven; whereon, were it but a simple Jacobs-ladder, the heavenly Messengers will travel, with glad tidings and unspeakable gifts for men.2 [Note: Carlyle, Miscellanies, iv. 11.]
It is so easy in happy family life, in absorption in ones special work, to forget the duties of a citizen, to avoid the fret and stress, may-be the hardships and the danger, of politics and social duty. But it is not enough for men to be kind towards their friends, affectionate in their families, inoffensive towards the rest of the world. The true man knows that he may not decline responsibility for those whom God has made his fellow-citizens. And higher still, higher than family or country, stands Humanity; and no man may do or sanction aught for either, which will hurt the race. Ever before Mazzini stood the vision of the cross, Christ dying for all men, not from utilitarian calculation of the greatest number, but because love embraces all.3 [Note: Bolton King, Mazzini, 266.]
III
The Privileges of Citizens
1. They were now citizensno more strangers, that is, outside the Kingdom of God entirely; nor even sojourners, that is, resident foreigners, such as were found in most ancient States, enjoying some measure of protection and privilege, but not the full rights of citizens. Such was the position of proselytes in Israel. But now, Paul says to his Gentile readers, ye are no longer in any inferior position, but fellow-citizens with the saints, i.e. the people whom God has separated to Himself out of the world. Ye have all the privileges which these enjoy; nay, ye have them in common with them, so that there is absolutely no difference, since all alike now have these privileges on the same ground, that of the reconciling work of Christ. Ye have, through Him, an even more blessed position than the saints under the old covenant had, ye are of the household of Godnot merely citizens of the Kingdom of God, but children of His family. This flows from the access to God as Father asserted in Eph 2:18.
Roman citizenship was in many respects a unique thing. At least there is nothing in the modern world quite like it. When you speak of a citizen of Leicester or of London, you think of one who has either been born or has spent the best years of his life there, who has home, friends, and interests centred in its activities. Roman citizenship did not mean that. It was an imperial privilege rather than local. London indeed gives its freedom to a few honoured strangers, and that bears a faint resemblance to the Roman practice. The Roman citizenship was conferred upon a few persons all over the empire, persons who, had never set foot in the great city. It was given to them for some service they had done, and descended to their children. Paul did not see Rome until he was an old man, but he was all his life a Roman citizen. And it meant in brief three things:First, it was a grand Freemasonry. It brought a man into companionship and brotherhood with Romans everywhere. It gave him entrance to the best society. It made him one of a superior race, and put upon him a mark of nobility. Secondly, it conferred upon him certain legal rights. It was an aegis of protection over him. Roman law and all Romes power were behind him. He could not be tried, condemned, or punished save by Romans, and if ever he was wronged, misjudged, falsely accused, he had the privilege of carrying his cause to the highest court, and appealing to Csar himself. And thirdly, there was his responsibility. Wherever he lived, in Tarsus or Ephesus, he remembered that he was a Roman, that Roman manners were expected of him, that his conduct must be that of an imperial race, and that he must try to fashion the place of his abode and the things of daily life as far as possible after Romes best models.1 [Note: J. G. Greenhough, Christian Festivals and Anniversaries, 159.]
In the time of the Apostle when the mass of the population were slaves, the goods and chattels of their masters, lying at their absolute disposal for life or death, to be a Roman citizen was a distinction the value of which those who know nothing of slavery but the name can only very inadequately estimate. To be a citizen was to be a man, an integral part of a commonwealth. It was to be identified with its glory: it was to be shielded and armed with the majesty of its influence. In the very name there was a power that commanded the instant reverence of all that could not boast the privilege, and the sympathy of all that did. Hence the alarm of Lysias upon discovering that Paul was a Roman, and the deference which he, who had only purchased his freedom, could not help paying to the man who could declare himself freeborn. But what is mere civil freedom in comparison with spiritual freedomfreedom from the law of sin and death; freedom from the curse and tyranny of evil and the evil one; the freedom conferred by the perfect law of liberty; freedom to obey the instincts and impulses of our spiritual and immortal nature, and to enter into communion with the Invisible and the Eternal. He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, and all are slaves besides.2 [Note: J. H. Smith, Healing Leaves, 410.]
2. They now belong to the fellowship of the saints.They are citizens in the holy statethe commonwealth of the people consecrated to Godcitizens with full rights and no longer strangers or unenfranchised residents. The idea of the chosen people all through the Old Testament is that they are as a whole consecrated to God. Priests and kings appointed by God to their several offices may indeed fulfil special functions in the national life, yet the fundamental idea is never lost, that the entire nation is holy, a kingdom of priests. It is because this is true that the prophets can appeal as they do to the people in general, as well as to priests and rulers, as sharing altogether the responsibility of the national life. Now the whole of this idea is transferred, only deepened and intensified, to the Christian Church. That too has its divinely-ordained ministers, its differentiation of functions in the one body, but the whole body is priestly, and all are citizensnot merely residents but citizens, that is, intelligent participators in a common corporate life consecrated to God.
To the Apostle Paul every Christian was a saint. Turn to the inscriptions of his letters. This is the kind of address we find: Paul and Timothy, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae. Paul, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. It is quite obvious the references here are to living men and women, the men and women who formed the membership of these various churches. These were Pauls saints. And, further, he does not confine the term to a select few in each church, conspicuous for their special piety. The people whom Paul addresses as saints, we soon discover, were very far from being perfect people. They were, indeed, full of faults and imperfections and failings. Think of the people at Corinth with their quarrellings and excesses and sensualities! And yet Paul thinks and speaks of them as saints! It is not simply that in these faulty and imperfect Christians he sees the promise of the glorified saint, just as the naturalist may see the giant oak in the tiny acorn! Faults and all, these Christians were saints, in this sense, that they were consecrated to God, and had given themselves to Christ. For that is the New Testament meaning of the word saint; it means one dedicated, set apart, to the will of God. And, in spite of all their shortcomings and sins, these early Christians had given themselves to Christ; the deepest thing in them was the love they bore to Christ; the life they lived, they lived in the faith of Christ. And every one of whom that can be said, according to the Apostles teaching, is a saint.1 [Note: J. D. Jones, Things Most Surely Believed, 169.]
After being in China more than twenty years Griffith John said to young missionaries, Preach the Gospel, and take time to be holy as the preparation. In the Mission Conference in Shanghai, in 1877, he said, The missionary must above everything be a holy man; the Chinese expect it of him. I am persuaded that no minister can be a great spiritual power in whom this is not in good measure seen. He must be more than a good man; a man who takes time, not only to master the language and the literature of the people, but to be holy. Brethren, this is what we need if this empire is to be moved by us. To this end the throne of grace must be our refuge; the shadow of the Almighty must every day and every hour be our dwelling, we must take time to be filled with His power, we must take time to be holy.2 [Note: A. Murray, Aids to Devotion, 47.]
3. More intimately still, they belong to the family or household of God.A household is a place where a family is provided for, where there is a regular and orderly supply of ordinary needs. And the Church is the Divine household, in which God has provided stewards to make regular spiritual provision for men, so that they shall feel and know themselves members of a family, understood, sympathized with, helped, encouraged, disciplined, fed. But there is another idea which, in St. Pauls mind, attaches itself strongly to the idea of the divine family. It is that in this household we are sons and not servantsthat is, intelligent co-operators with God, and not merely submissive slaves. It is noticeable how often he speaks with horror of Christians allowing themselves again to be subject to ordinances, or to the weak and beggarly rudiments, the alphabet of that earlier education when even children are treated as slaves under mere obedience. Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years. I am afraid of you. Why do ye subject yourselves to ordinances? Handle not, taste not, touch not. It is perfectly true to say that what St. Paul is deprecating is a return to Jewish or pagan observances. But this is not all. He demands, not a change of observance only, but a change of spirit.
The prominent characteristic of a family is mutual affection. A family is held together by love. There is the love of the father for each and all, and there is the love of all for him and for each other. And so it is in the Divine family. God is love; pure, infinite, eternal love. This, as it is the glorious summary of His perfections, the grand resultant expression of all His attributes, is the characteristic of every individual member of His spiritual family. We love him because he first loved us and This commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. That, however, which the Apostle seems to have had more particularly in view is the high privilege which attaches to this Divine relationship. Ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God: that isas children of God, born of His Spirit, and genuine members therefore of His spiritual family, you have a peculiar interest in His love and care. He, the Father of all men, is emphatically your Father. Others He regards indeed with the love of benevolence, but you He regards with the love of complacency. Others participate in His universal goodness, but you are the objects of His special solicitude. A child has a certain right to the consideration of his father which no stranger to the family possesses: and so you, as members of Gods family, have a claim upon His affection which none but His spiritual children can allege. Having received from Him not the spirit of bondage again to fear, not the spirit of a slave, which shuns His presence and quails before His eye, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, so He privileges and encourages you to come before Him lovingly and trustfully, with all the freedom and confidence of a child, casting all your care upon Him, and looking for all things in that boundless love which has pledged all His attributes and excellences, all His treasures of grace and glory, for your perfection and blessedness.
Sin brings separation from God. The word depart uttered to the workers of iniquity is not an arbitrary one. It voices a law of God that runs through all His moral realm. Sin pushes the prodigal away from his home and friends, his property, his pleasures, his reputation, his character, even his clothes and his food. The law of the word depart has driven him away from everything that was beautiful and of good report. Behold him in his rags and lonelinessfeeding swine. Think it not strange, if that man is driven from God and goodness who yields himself to sin. By a changeless law of moral repulsion, he is pushed away. Is it hopeless? Yes, as long as his back is turned toward God. But let him come to himself, let him feel his sin and degradation, let him long for home, for forgiveness, for his Fathers face, and the law of changeless love takes hold of him.1 [Note: M. D. Babcock, Thoughts for Every-Day Living, 77.]
4. The higher status involves a heavier responsibility.The enfranchised must do credit to their citizenship; they must live as becometh saints, and manifest the spirit, not of slaves, but of sons. Christian citizenship must begin with the thought of our individual life and purpose. The truly good citizen is made out of the truly good man. The common life is made of our individual lives, and the whole cannot be better than the constituent parts. If, then, our citizenship is to be a Christian citizenship, we must first of all be Christian men. The first thing that the Spirit of Christ does for every one who is in any real and vital sense a disciple, or, as we say in our modern phrase, a Christian man, is to lay hold of the spirit, breathing into it new aspirations, creating, as St. Paul would have said, the new man; and the new man in Christ thus born of the Spirit finds his heart aglow with new aims and new ambitions, new purposes and ideals of conduct. He is illuminated with new thought and with new conceptions of duty and of happiness.
God knows if I could in any way, by preaching that great part of the Communion of Saints, make men generally feel how they are living one in another, and how every single soul has his share of responsibility for his fellows, and every single soul his blessing from undertaking that responsibility, and how any single soul receives a blessing from the fellowship of his fellows in everything that he undertakesif I could impress that upon my countrymen generally, I would be content to do nothing more in all my life than to preach this greatest of all Christian doctrines.1 [Note: Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, ii. 312.]
As Paul waited in his Roman prison, he had all around him soldiers and civilians, high and low, men of various types and kinds, most of whom claimed, we may suppose, Roman citizenship, and, moreover, nearly all of whom were members of the household of Csar; and we can imagine the discussions of which these great texts in his letters are the echo. Yes, he says, you claim to be citizens of this great Empire of Rome, you are members of the household of Csar, and you are very proud of it all; but do you also remember that you have to think of your real calling as something deeper and broader and higher and more enduring than all of these, if you are to be in the best sense good citizens of the Roman Empire and good members of the Imperial household; why, then you must bear always in mind that you are called of God to live as members of the commonwealth of Christ, to remember in all circumstances that you are fellow-citizens with the saints and of Gods household.2 [Note: Bishop J. Percival.]
The Nation some time ago gave the story of a business man, the inheritor of an honoured name and honourable business traditions, who had a temptation put in his way to abandon the old methods of his firm, and join a great trust that cared more for its dividends than the welfare of its workmen. There was money in it, and the man was sorely tempted. But on the night in which the decision was to be taken, he fell into a reverie in front of his fire, and he seemed to behold his old father looking at him, with such concern in his eyes; and at the sight of his fathers face the temptation lost its power; he must act as his fathers Song of Solomon 3 [Note: J. D. Jones, Things Most Surely Believed, 184.]
The Commonwealth of Christ
Literature
Beeching (H. C.), The Apostles Creed, 83.
Bellett (J. C.), in Sermons for the People, i. 104.
Boyd (A. K. H.), Sermons and Stray Papers, 198.
Fleming (S. H.), Fifteen-Minute Sermons for the People, 122.
Greenhough (J. G.), Christian Festivals and Anniversaries, 158.
Hort (F. J. A.), Village Sermons in Outline, 102.
Jones (J. D.), Things Most Surely Believed, 166.
Pulsford (J.), Christ and His Seed, 81.
Smith (J. H.), Healing Leaves, 407.
Stuart (E. A.), in Sermons for the People, New Ser., i. 86.
Westcott (B. F.), Christian Aspects of Life, 102.
Christian World Pulpit, lxv. 397 (Percival).
Church of England Pulpit, xliii. 269 (Terry).
Churchmans Pulpit: St. Andrew, St. Thomas, xiv. 48; All Saints, xv. 410.
National Preacher, xl. 51 (Smith).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
strangers: Eph 2:12
but: Eph 3:6, Gal 3:26-28, Gal 4:26-31, Phi 3:20,*Gr: Heb 12:22-24, Rev 21:12-26
household: Eph 3:15, Mat 10:25, Gal 6:10, 1Jo 3:1
Reciprocal: Gen 9:27 – dwell Exo 12:46 – one house Exo 36:29 – coupled Num 3:10 – and the stranger Num 9:14 – General 1Ch 22:2 – the strangers Psa 148:14 – a people Son 8:8 – what Jer 12:16 – built Eze 37:22 – I will make Eze 47:22 – and to the strangers Zec 14:21 – in the Mat 16:18 – upon Rom 11:18 – thou bearest Rom 11:30 – as ye 1Co 12:13 – whether we be Jews Gal 2:12 – he did Eph 2:13 – were Phi 1:5 – General Col 1:21 – sometime Heb 10:21 – the house 1Pe 1:1 – the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
LIFE REALISED IN FELLOWSHIP
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow=citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
Eph 2:19
We maintain that the undenominational principle is wrong, from the standpoint not only of education, but also of religionnay, that it not only fails to interpret, but it reverses, the method of Christ Himself, the Divine Teacher. Was it His method to lay down certain truths and maxims, and to leave individuals to make of them what they pleased, and afterwards, according to their own taste and temperament, to join themselves with others who shared their opinions? We know that to the ordinary crowd of persons who listened to the teaching of Jesus He could not commit that deeper truth which was to be the salvation of the world. Before He could find an entry for that vital truth He must prepare a body in which it could live and act upon the world, and be preserved through all the fluctuating generations of men.
The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ was a compact body of men holding together in the midst of the world, and visible to the eyes of all; and it was through membership in this body that they were to realise the great gifts of union with Himself and fellowship with one another. There they were to be united to Him so that together they could share the merits of His atoning death, receive together the grace of His redeeming life, and work together in the one fellowship for the salvation of the world.
I. That great conceptionthat the Christian life can only be realised in fellowshipis the basis of all Apostolic teaching.From the isolation of merely individual life and opinion, from all the sundering forces of human distinctions of class and creed, men were to be gathered together into the one fellowship, regenerated by its life, fed by its holy food. They were to be no longer aliens and sojourners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Thus, my brethren, it would be true to say that the very object of Christs teaching of religionnay, of His very mission from the Fatherwas to attach men to a body. May we not even dare to sayyou will not misunderstand the wordsthat Christ came to make a man a Churchman?
II. Why is it that we find it so hard here in England to take to our living experience this essential truth of the Gospel?It is partly because of our national temperamentso dull to all ideas which make demands upon thought and imagination. But it is also partly due to the circumstances of our national and our religious history. We have exaggerated and misinterpreted the great Protestant conception that a mans religion is a matter of individual relationship between him and God. In the same way we have exaggerated and misinterpreted our great heritage of political freedom, so that an Englishman comes almost to think that his nation exists for the purpose of advancing his interests, protecting his commerce, and extending his resources. Thank God, we are beginning to outgrow the tendencies of this spirit. We are realising, and trying to teach in our schools, that a mans life is bound up with his nation, that as he shares its blood, so he must be equal to all the demands for sacrifice which it makes upon him.
III. Now, does religion stand apart from this great principle, that life can only be realised in fellowship?Nay, rather in religionin the Christian religionit is raised to its highest form and to its greatest power, so that we may say that the brotherhood of men with one another in the Churchwith one another and with Christis to become more and more, in a sense which it has not been in the past, a light set before the eyes of men, from which, in the whole sphere of national and common life, they may learn what brotherhood and fellowship mean. Is this, then, the time in which we can settle the religious education of our children on a principle which entirely neglects and passes over this great conception of the Christian lifewhich teaches that religion is an affair of mans own opinion, and that fellowship with Christ with other Christian men in the life of the body is only a matter of subsequent taste and temperament? Rather must we teach our children from the very first that they are related to God and to one another, because they are members of a great body knit together in a living fellowshipfellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Would God, indeed, that that conception could be realised through the life of one single all-embracing Church. So it was meant to be by the Lord Jesus, Who purchased His Church with His own Blood; but, alas! as it has passed down the ages it has been torn into many fragments, and the vision of one single Christian body is no longer what it was meant to bea living factbut only a distant hope. But is the principle itself in abeyance? Has it been withdrawn? Are we to take out great passages of the teaching of the New Testament? Has the principle been suspended until these distant hopes can be fulfilled? Nay, rather we are still called to act upon the principle that our Christian life is impossible without the reality of Christian fellowship.
Archbishop Lang.
Illustration
I have been the undenominational man. I know the attractions of its convenience, of its plausible liberalism, of its specious charity. But, thank God, I have come to know also how powerless it is to vitalise the religious aspirations of a mans soul or to strengthen his will; and, once into the life of the Christian there has come the vision of that great fellowship descending from our Lord Himself through all the ages and binding men together into one communion and fellowship with Himself and with the saints, then ever afterwards one of his passwords must be If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning. We cannot be disobedient to the heavenly vision; and therefore we cannot, without disloyalty to our Lord Jesus Christ and to His own method of teaching, come to any other principle than this: that the object of the religious teaching of our children in the schools must be to attach them to a religious denomination.
ST.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
(Eph 2:19.) -Now therefore, ye are no longer strangers and sojourners. The first two words are a favourite idiom of the apostle. Rom 5:18; Rom 7:3; Rom 7:25; Rom 8:12, etc.; Gal 6:10; 1Th 5:6. The formula is not used in Attic Greek, save in the case of the interrogative . Hermann, Vigerus, 292. The particle marks progress in the argument, as if equivalent to . Thucyd. 6.89; Donaldson’s New Cratylus, 192. The particle -allied to the substantive verb, and not to as Hartung wrongly supposes-has a stronger ratiocinative force than (Klotz-Devar. 2.717), and occurs far more frequently; and the combined use of both introduces a conclusion based on previous reasoning, equivalent to these things being so, or the well-known Ciceronian formula-quae cum ita sint. A double image is, or two pairs of figures are, employed by the writer-the one referring to civil franchise, and the other to domestic privilege. -strangers-they had been so while the old theocracy stood, the Jews being the children, but they miserable outcasts. Once, too, they were , literally by-dwellers, men who sojourn in a house without the rights of the resident family. This is the only instance in which the apostle uses the term, but it occurs Act 7:6; Act 7:29; also in many places in the Septuagint, as the representative of the Hebrew , H1731, and also of , H9369. The two words are found together many times, as in Leviticus 25, etc. It is natural here to view the of the last clause as the contrast of , so that the significations of the word usually given are too vague to sustain this antithesis. In Lev 22:10, the noun denotes an inmate of the family, but without its domestic rights; there signifies a guest with the priest, and stands along with -or a hired servant. Sir 29:26. The priest’s guest, though living in his house, was not to eat the holy things. May not the word bear such a meaning in this place, especially as we are pointed to it by the spiritual antagonism of ? De Wette will not allow it, and says that Koppe, Bengel, Flatt, Harless, and Olshausen unrichtig erklren. His idea is, that the two terms and express generally the thought nicht-brger-non-citizens. Ellicott and Alford hold a similar view, regarding as the same with , its classic equivalent-a form which occurs only once in the Septuagint. But it is natural to suppose that the apostle used it in the Septuagint sense-that most familiar to him. The pair of terms in the two clauses suggests also a double contrast. That there is any allusion in the epithet to the equivocal relation of proselytes, such as is contended for by Anselm, Whitby, Calixtus, Baumgarten, and Baumgarten-Crusius, is out of the question; for if the proselytes feared God, they could not be described as are those Ephesian Gentiles in the context. The theocracy excluded all but Israel from its pale-the world beyond it were foreigners. Under the idea of its being God’s house, it arrogated to itself a spiritual supremacy over all the nations, and so the heathen were regarded as simple sojourners on God’s world. But this character of tolerated aliens no longer marked out the Gentile converts in Ephesus. No longer were they strangers to be frowned on, or foreigners to be excluded from domestic privileges; they were now naturalized-
-but fellow-citizens with the saints. The spelling , instead of , has the authority of A, B1, C, D, E, F, G. Instead of the simple of the Received Text, the best MSS., such as A, B, C, D1, G, warrant the reading , which has been adopted by the editors Hahn, Lachmann, and Tischendorf. It gives a vivid solemnity to the contrast: the mind of the apostle dwells on the blessed and present reality of their spiritual state, which he is about to depict. , a word occurring both in AElian, Var. Hist. 3, 44, and Josephus, Antiq. 19, 2, 2, belongs chiefly, however, like other similar compound words, to the later and inferior Greek. Phrynichus, ed. Lobeck, p. 172, says, with characteristic affectation- , . In the declining period of a language, when its first freshness is gone, and its simple terms are not felt in their original power, compound words are brought into use without any proportionate increase of sense. These are God’s people; and there is no occasion to add, with Calvin-et cum ipsis angelis. The reader may turn to the first verse of the epistle for the meaning of . The & l dquo;saints are not the Jews as a race, as is supposed by Vorstius, Hammond, Morus, Bengel, and Adam Clarke; nor yet only contemporary Christians, as Harless and Meyer argue; nor yet simply saints of the Old Testament, as OEcumenius and Theodoret describe the alliance. Chrysostom exclaims- . These are viewed as forming a -a spiritual organization. It was so under the old law-it is so still; for the theocracy is only fully realized under Christianity. To take an illustration from Athenian citizenship-they live no longer, as foreigners did in many Greek states, in the , nor as the at Athens are they degraded by the symbolical , but they possess the coveted . With all, then, who belong to this , Christians are now fellow-citizens. They are under that form of government which specially belongs to the saints. These are, therefore, not saints of any time or any class, but saints of all times and all lands, of which the community then existing was the living representative; and in this commonwealth they were now enfranchised. Their names are engraven on the same civic roll with all whom the Lord shall count, when He writeth up the people. It is as if they who had dwelt in the waste and howling wilderness, scattered, defenceless, 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.
-and of the household of God. The church is often likened to a family or house. Num 12:7; Hos 8:1; 1Ti 3:15; Heb 3:2; Heb 3:5-6; 1Pe 4:17. When Harless thinks that Christians receive this designation, because they are stones in the house, the conclusion is not only a needless anticipation of the figure in the following verse, but is also contrary to the usual meaning of the term, and destructive of the contrast between the terms and . True, as Ellicott says under Gal 6:10, is often used with abstract nouns, as , etc., and in such cases the idea proper of family is dropped. But the contrasts in this paragraph are too vivid to allow any dilution of the term. These are God’s family; they form His household. They are not guests-here to-day and away to-morrow; treated with courtesy, but still kept without the hallowed circle of domestic sociality, and strangers as well to the paternal protection as to the brotherly harmony which the family enjoys. The members of that house which is the church of the living God, can call the their father; for they are begotten of God, and they have access to Him, enjoy His love, and hold daily and delightful fellowship not only with Him, but with one another-as heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Eph 2:19. Strangers and foreigners means the same as “aliens” and “strangers” as explained in verse 12. Fellowcitizens means they are all citizens of the same government. This government is composed of saints which means those who have been made righteous by obedience to the Gospel, and it is called a household because the group called the church is regarded as a great family of God and Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eph 2:19. So then. A favorite phrase in the writings of the Apostle. It sums up and infers.
Ye are no longer; in contrast with Eph 2:12, and in consequence of the saving facts detailed in Eph 2:13-18.
Strangers and sojourners. The same class is designated by both terms, which together form an antithesis to fellow citizens; strangers describing the Gentiles as belonging to another state; sojourners as not yet possessed of the right of citizens. Others, however, take the former alone as in contrast with fellow citizens, the latter being explained as the absence of domestic privileges, in contrast with of the family of God. But the term will scarcely bear this sense.
But ye are. The correct text emphasizes are.
Fellow citizens with the saints. The figure requires no explanation; comp. Eph 2:12. The saints here includes all the members of that spiritual community in which Jew and Gentile Christians were now united and incorporated, and to which the external theocracy formed a typical and preparatory institution (Ellicott). It is almost equivalent to the spiritual Israel. To refer it to angels, or even to include them, is unwarranted.
And of the household of God. Comp. Gal 6:10 (of the household of faith). This means those who belong to the house, to the family, whose Head and Father is God. To the right of citizen is added that of the house, of the child, of the heir (Braune). The new figure strengthens the idea of privilege, adding the intimate relation to God.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
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:
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.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
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, (,) the apostle may refer to persons of a different country; and in the latter, (,) 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, , 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 Gods 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 Gods 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.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
ARGUMENT 11
THE CHURCH HOUSE OF THE HOLY GHOST
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 devils worldly Churches and Gods 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 Gods Church, simple, spiritual, Scriptural, winning victories for Christ on her knees, and shouting the battle-cry. Satans counterfeit Churches exhibit an endless diversity of creeds, forms, and ceremonies. Gods 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 Gods genuine and Satans counterfeit!
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
The Gentiles in the Old Testament time that wished to unite with the Jewish people for a relationship with God were called strangers and sojourners – this seems to be a call back to those people. I often wondered why they were called thusly, instead of at some time in the process being called Jews. It would seem that there was always a distinction between them and the Jew.
The term “strangers” is used of anyone that is a person that does not normally belong in a land. God’s people were called strangers when they were in Egypt. Years ago I was able to make a trip to Ireland, where I automatically was a stranger. You couldn’t tell it till I opened my mouth and had no Irish accent, but I was indeed a stranger.
“Fellowcitizens” means one having the same citizenship as the others. There were some minor differences in the Old Testament sojourner/stranger and they were not full citizens of the house of God in an earthly sense, but were the same as the Jew spiritually. These Gentiles now are the same as the Jew in rights, in all aspects before God.
Lev 17:8 mentions these strangers, “…Whatsoever man [there be] of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you….”
The application in this text is that we are all fully God’s children, and that no matter what our looks, our talents or our possessions, we are equal before God – oh, yes, we ought to add, no matter what gender we happen to be – we are fully children of God. Not to say there are not differences in our function while here on earth.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
2:19 {14} Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
(14) The conclusion: the Gentiles are taken into the fellowship of salvation, and he describes the excellency of the Church, calling it the city and house of God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The consequences of Gentile believers’ union with Jewish believers 2:19-22
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Because of this union Christians are no longer strangers (foreigners) and aliens in relation to believers of former ages. They are fellow citizens with all the saints, namely, believers who lived before Pentecost. Elsewhere Paul spoke of the local church as a household (1Ti 3:15), but here the household in view is all believers of all ages. [Note: See Hoehner, Ephesians, pp. 395-96.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 11
GODS TEMPLE IN HUMANITY
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 prophetsbeing 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 self upbraiding, 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.