Ephesians 2:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Elsewhere he calls Christ the foundation: "For no one can lay another foundation," he says, "than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 3:11).

"On whom" (en ho), he says, "the whole building, being joined together." Here he sets it forth still more clearly and shows that one cannot become a temple of God except by conducting one's life with all attentiveness.

In the words of the Apostle Paul under discussion, a clear distinction is made. On the one hand, there is the growth of the holy temple, the Church, fitly joined together (v. 21).

On the other hand, there is the building of God's dwelling in individual believers, the readers of the present epistle: "and you also are being built into a dwelling place of God" (v. 22).

Indeed, there is one cornerstone, Christ. On Him it is proper that not many separate temples or houses of God should be built, but one house of God, which is the Church.

Only afterward, by likeness to this house and according to their belonging to it, do its individual members become dwellings of the Godhead (cf. Jn 14:23).

Where is the unity of the Church revealed, if not in common prayers and sacred rites? And where is this unity celebrated, if not in the sacred places of Christian assemblies?

Thus temples made by hands are both signs and means of the union of individual believers with the Church. Only through this union can they be built into God's dwelling.

That is, you are saved by the same apostolic and prophetic faith. You have the same founder and ruler, Jesus Christ, from whom all believers receive power and sanctification, all the mysteries and gifts of the Holy Spirit, and grow into a temple and dwelling place of God.

It is fitting to note here that if Christ is the cornerstone on which the Church is built, it would be a great error to proclaim any other persons to be such a stone. This is what Roman Catholics do, for example, with regard to the person of the holy Apostle Peter.

He speaks of this more directly in another epistle: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Cor 3:16-17). The gathering of all Christians into the one spiritual temple of God’s glory shows their kinship with one another. It also shows their nearness to God, beyond which nothing greater can be imagined.

Together with the greatness of this spiritual image, its practical application is also very important. It stands over against the majestic Ephesian temple of the goddess Artemis, which did not elevate the spirit of its worshipers, but lowered it. They were full of enmity and every evil feeling.

According to the explanation of blessed Theophylact, the Apostle uses three comparisons to define the nearness of Christians to God. They are near as fellow citizens, as members of one family, and as parts of a building in relation to one another.

"We have become fellow citizens not simply of the Jews, but of men great in holiness, such as Abraham, Moses, and Elijah. See into what city we have been enrolled. See where we shall one day appear," says Saint John Chrysostom.

Elsewhere the Apostle says that the builder and maker of this city is God (Heb 11:10). "Believers have one Master, and wherever they live, all are fellow citizens" (Ambrosiaster).

"The thought of household members led to the thought of a house. In both the Old and the New Testament, the Church of God is presented under the image of a building, a house, or a temple. The Church is the temple of faith.

The Apostles are nearer to us and saw the truth tangibly. The prophets are farther away and saw the truth from afar, in images. Therefore the Apostles are placed first. The Apostles with the prophets, by the hand of preaching, take souls and peoples.

They place them into the building of the Church and join them to it. Thus stone is laid upon stone, and the building rises. The Apostles and prophets are laid as the foundation, and you complete the rest of the building" (Bishop Theophan).

"The Apostle added, ‘being the cornerstone,’ to show that Christ holds all things together. The cornerstone is what supports both the walls and the foundation, and on it the whole building is established. He bears all things upon Himself and holds all things together."

Whatever you point to, whether the roof, the walls, or anything else, He holds all things together and bears all things in Himself. "This temple, in which God dwells as in a body, is each one of you and all of you together."

Blessed Jerome writes: "If every building, fitly joined together, grows into a holy Church in the Lord, then we must spare no labor. We must strive to become living stones, hewn, cleansed, and polished on every side. Then we shall be built into a temple and shall be a dwelling for God."

In Bishop Theophan’s view, "everything that we believe about the Church is said here. She is one, being established on the one cornerstone. She is holy, being built by the Holy Spirit. She is catholic, embracing all times and peoples (14). She is apostolic, being built upon the foundation of the Apostles (20)."

"In Him" means in the cornerstone, who is Jesus Christ, for in the Church everything is from Him, according to His plan, by His power and action. "Every building" more directly means the whole building as one whole, for the Apostle speaks of one building, not of many constructions.

"Being fitly joined together" means being harmonized. The materials that enter are not thrown in at random, but are set in place according to one plan. The building comes forth in good order, with each thing in its own place. "This points to the care, attention, and fidelity to the plan of the construction" (Oecumenius).

It also points to the different parts of the building, all of which are joined into one in the same cornerstone, Jesus Christ. "Whatever you point to, whether the roof, the walls, or anything else, He holds all things together and bears all things upon Himself" (Saint Chrysostom).

This is the same thing he says below without metaphor: "And He gave some to be Apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph 4:11).

Elsewhere the Apostle also distributes the saints, that is, the believers who make up the body of the building, as the various organs of the body are distributed among us. Each member has its own significance and its own work.

In the Church of God everything is harmonized, but she is diverse in her parts. It is impossible to say that in her all are as one, and each is as all. Where all are identical and equal, what harmony can there be?

Only under this condition, that the members in the Church are different and are brought into harmony, does she grow. She grows by being formed in ordered harmony. At first raw material enters, which in its natural condition is not fit for the building.

Therefore it is first remade and brought under the character of the building, and only then is it placed in the building itself. Through these additions the building grows. Individuals and whole peoples, called by preaching, are transformed by the grace of the Holy Spirit and thus are merged into the wholeness of the Church.

"It grows." In the time of the Apostles they said, "It grows." To this day one can speak no otherwise than, "It grows." Until the end of the age she will grow. The building is not yet finished. It will be finished at the end of the ages.

Those who have departed into the other life are in the Church, and those who live are in the Church. The Apostle does not set a division between them. The Church is one.

One may imagine only this: the earthly Church prepares the material, while the building itself, in its finished form, is built in heaven. Hermas saw the construction of a temple in a vision. Some brought material, while others built.

The builders received what was brought and examined whether it was suitable and where it was suitable. If it was suitable, they placed it in its proper place. If it was unsuitable, they threw it away. Though it lay nearby, it did not enter the building.

This is an exact image of what happens to those who depart from here. When the building is finished, all those stones lying around will be removed to another place. Until then, they are still nearby. Their lot has not been decided.

It grows into a holy church, into a holy temple. Everything tends toward this: that at last God may be all in all. But until then, is the Church not a whole building, lacking roof, windows, and doors? How can one dwell in such a building?

Yet God dwells in the Church, as He promised: "I will dwell in them and walk among them" (2 Cor 6:16). For this reason the Apostle used the word "grows," presenting the Church as a living building. She already has everything necessary for her existence and life.

A tree, for example, even when still very small, has everything necessary for life. Later it grows, not by acquiring new parts, but by increasing and expanding in each part it already has. So the Church now is a whole and habitable building, but she increases until she reaches the measure of the temple as God conceived it.

The Church is a holy temple because all her members are holy, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and zealous to be holy. She is also holy because the Holy God dwells in her.

"In the Lord": the temple is holy in the Lord, it grows in the Lord, and it is harmoniously joined in the Lord. In the Church everything, whatever you take, is in the Lord, as Saint Chrysostom said. Saint Paul also said at the beginning, "in Him," meaning the Lord, and at the end he added "in the Lord," so that our attention might remain fixed upon Him alone.

However beautiful the temple building may be, do not become absorbed in looking at it and forget the builder of the temple. For this reason he does not enlarge here on explaining the details of the temple’s construction.

His aim is to impress upon the Ephesians that they too are included in the common building, and for no other reason than faith in the Lord and fidelity to Him. They too have been brought near to all, but in the Lord.