Ephesians 2:20Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

By presenting this under the image of a building, the Apostle expresses the union of Gentiles and Jews much more precisely than if he had presented it under the image of grafting.

Then the Apostle adds: "Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone." He shows that Christ holds all things together, for that is called the cornerstone which supports both the walls and the foundations.

And note this: sometimes he says that He contains all things from above, and in that case calls Him the head. Sometimes he says that He bears the whole building from below, like a cornerstone. At other times he calls Him the foundation itself.

This passage has the greatest force against those who try to preserve the doctrine of two peoples. How did foreigners become fellow dwellers with the saints? How did those who were once alienated from the commonwealth of Israel become near to God, if nature cannot be changed either for the worse or for the better?

The words that follow, "built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets," agree more with the first interpretation than with the second. Above, we said in the second interpretation that before Christ’s coming Israel was near and the Gentiles were far off.

We may use this testimony also against Marcion, and against the other ancient heretics who proclaim that the God of the Law is one and the God of the Gospel another. For if they are no longer foreigners or sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints and near to God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself as the final cornerstone, then one God is over one building and temple.

On Him the whole building, fitly raised, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. On Him the Ephesians also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Thus one God belongs to one building and temple, raised upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets.

Therefore, if the whole building, fitly raised in the Lord, grows into a holy temple, we must strive with all our strength to be those stones of which it is written: "Holy stones move swiftly upon the face of the earth" (Zech 9:16). When we become living stones, hewn on every side, light, carefully smoothed, and without any roughness, then we shall be turned into the building of the temple and shall be a dwelling for God.

The covenant of the ark will be established in us, the guardian of God’s law, and the Cherubim, that is, the multitude of knowledge. The innermost part of our heart will be called by a new name. We shall be called dabir, which we may call an oracle or answer.

To speak more accurately and closer to the letters, we shall be called λαλητήρίον, that is, the place where speech is uttered. Thus we cry out with the Apostle: "Or do you seek proof of Christ who speaks in me?" (2 Cor 13:3).

Yet every building raised upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets may signify not only us, but also the heavenly powers. In this way all alike become a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

For, they say, it would be unfitting that a building composed and ordered from men should grow in the Lord into a holy temple and be a dwelling of God in the Spirit, while angels and certain blessed powers who serve God in heaven were excluded from such happiness.

The final cornerstone, which supports both peoples, or, according to another interpretation, joins earthly and heavenly things, is Christ our Lord. He was cut from the mountain without hands. The Psalmist bears witness of Him in these words: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This was from the Lord" (Ps 117:22).

He was rejected by the Pharisees, who seemed to have knowledge of the Law and to be building God’s temple on the commandments of the Law. Yet He was received by God as the cornerstone, so that He might have the two enclosures in the middle, and so that through Him both peoples might have access to God.

This cornerstone is, for unbelievers, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Whoever falls on Him will be broken. On whomever He Himself falls, He will crush him (Lk 20).

By the saints you may understand the Patriarchs who lived before the Law and under the Law, and, after the appearing of evangelical grace, the Apostles and the other saints.

Yet the apostolic word applies especially to that city of God which the streams of the river make glad, that is, to the Church of Christ. There all who believe in Christ are saints, since they have been sanctified by faith, divine Baptism, and the doing of works pleasing to God.

Why, then, did the Apostle put the Apostles before the Prophets, who foretold Jesus Christ? Because through the Apostles the nations learned faith in Christ. Moreover, the Apostles had greater grace from God than the Prophets, according to the word: "Behold, something greater than Jonah is here" (Mt 12:41).

Why also does he elsewhere call Christ the foundation, elsewhere the head, and here the cornerstone? Because Christ truly is the foundation of the true faith and the head of the body of the Church (1 Cor 3:11).

Here he called Him the cornerstone because he said above that He united two peoples and made them one. For a cornerstone, placed at the corner of a house, joins the two walls of the house into one.

Hear, then, the explanation of all the apostolic words before us. They were written to the Ephesians, but they apply to all who have believed from among the Gentiles.

Thus he says: O Ephesians, since you have believed in Christ, you are no longer strangers to God, nor wanderers in the instability of idolatry. Having entered the house of God, you have become sharers in the citizenship and gifts of the faithful, and true friends of God.

You now have a firm dwelling, the Church of Christ, established on the foundation of the faith proclaimed by the Apostles and foretold by the Prophets. This dwelling has Christ as its cornerstone, who united the two peoples into one. He is the cornerstone:

They had been cast far away, like stones lying at a distance. Now they have been taken, shaped, and placed into the structure of the house. The Church of God, both in the Old and in the New Testament, is represented under the image of a building, a house or temple. The Church is the temple of faith.

The apostles founded and established the faith on earth, resting upon the prophets. The apostles are nearer to us and tangibly saw the truth. The prophets are farther away and saw the truth from afar, in images that represented the truth well, but also covered it with themselves. Thus they left room for conjecture even among the prophets themselves, as to how and when all that was indicated would come to pass.

For this reason the apostles are placed first. The apostles offered the word in the name of the Lord, but at the same time they also referred to the prophetic word as something already well known. Now we rest by faith on the apostolic word, being strengthened also by the prophets.

"Built upon" means that they were added above, forming the body of the building. What do stonemasons do? They take a stone, hew it, and set it into the building, wherever and however it is fitting. So the apostles, together with the prophets, take souls and peoples by the hand of preaching. They shape them with the axe of the grace of the Spirit, bringing them into the character of the building. Then they set them into the building of the Church and join them to Her.

Thus stone after stone is laid, layer upon layer is added, and the building rises. Oecumenius writes: "Wishing to show the holy union of believers with the prophets and apostles, he says, 'built upon.' The apostles and prophets have been laid in the foundation, and you complete the rest of the building. This is what it means to be built above the apostles and prophets."

"Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets." "That is, upon the Old and New Testaments. What the apostles preached, the prophets foretold as something that would be. In the Epistle to the Corinthians he says, 'God has appointed in the Church first apostles, second prophets' (1 Cor 12:28). But there he means other prophets, because in that place the Apostle is discussing the order in which the Church stands. Here he is speaking about the foundation of the Church.

"The prophets prepared what was needed for the building and predisposed it, as though outlining the plan. The apostles laid the foundation and raised the building by drawing people to the faith. Therefore the Lord says to Peter, 'Upon this rock I will build My Church' (Mt 16:18). This means, upon this confession of the universal faith I will set and establish the faithful in life. So too David once prepared everything for the building of God's house and appointed the place where it was to be. Solomon founded it and built it" (Ambrosiaster).

"Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone." Not one corner only, but all the corners, both in the building and in the foundation, are Christ the Lord. He joins the prophets and the apostles. In Him the prophetic word is fulfilled, and He is also the content of the apostolic word. In this unity of the revealed word, from the beginning to the apostles, lies the strength of the foundation of faith.

In Him the walls of the building are also joined and have their strength. These walls are all believers. They are therefore said to be established upon the apostles and prophets because they believe in the Lord. They are introduced into the Church and joined to Her because they are joined to the Lord.

The Apostle's direct thought in calling the Lord the cornerstone is that everything in the Church is from the Lord, not excluding the apostles and prophets themselves. Thus Saint Chrysostom says: "The Apostle added, 'being the chief cornerstone,' to show that Christ holds everything together. For that is called the cornerstone which supports both the walls and the foundation, on which the whole building is established.

"Notice that the Apostle sometimes presents the Lord from above, holding and ruling the whole body, and sometimes from below, bearing the whole building upon Himself as the chief foundation. The Apostle said above, 'that He might create into one new man,' in order to show that in Him all have been recreated. 'The firstborn of all creation' is said of Him (Col 1:15). Thus He bears all things upon Himself, holds all things together, and builds all things."

Since the believers who formed the walls of the building then consisted of Jews and Gentiles, and since the Apostle explains their mutual approach in this epistle. It is not surprising that by the words "being the cornerstone" the Apostle wished to show how, through the Lord Jesus Christ, Jews and Gentiles were joined as two walls in the building of the Church.

Saint Chrysostom also says this among other things, as do all our commentators. Theodoret writes: "As the Apostle called the Lord the head of the body, so he also calls Him the cornerstone of the building, because He brings together the two walls and, like a corner, joins those who believed from the Jews and the Gentiles."

The Lord was called the cornerstone already in the Old Testament prophecies, which He Himself applied to Himself, while also foretelling what would happen to those who did not receive Him. Blessed Jerome depicts all this: "The chief cornerstone, which binds and holds together both peoples, and this may also be understood of the heavenly and the earthly, is Christ our Lord. He is the stone cut from the mountain without hands. The Psalmist also bears witness of Him, saying, 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes' (Ps 117:22-23).

"He was rejected by the Pharisees, who considered themselves experts in the Law and thought they could limit the building of a spiritual temple for God to elemental ordinances alone. Yet God received Him as the head of the corner, so that He might join and fasten together the two peoples as two walls, Himself standing in the midst, and so that through Him both peoples might have access to God.

"For unbelievers, this same cornerstone is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Whoever falls on Him will be broken, and on whomever He falls, He will crush him" (Lk 20:18).

Let us not pass over without attention Saint John of Damascus' observation concerning the further thought to which the word "stone" may lead. "By saying 'stone,' the Apostle also indicated His articulation with those being built upon Him, that is, His kinship with us through the birth in the flesh of the Only-begotten. 'Since the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same'" (Heb 2:14).

Without this He could not have been the cornerstone. In a building, the foundation, cornerstone, walls, and everything else are joined and form one whole. How fittingly, then, the Apostle chose this comparison in order to express the Gentiles' approach to the Jews, to God, and to the divine order.

"See," says Saint Chrysostom, "how the Apostle mingles everyone together: Gentiles, Jews, apostles, prophets, and Christ. To show the close bond among them all, he presents them all now as a body, now as a building."