Chapter 2:11-3:21.

With the eleventh verse of the second chapter we reach a new division in this Epistle. The great Mystery of the Masterpiece of God, the church, is next revealed by the Holy Spirit. We saw in the first chapter of this wonderful Epistle how God planned His Masterpiece and the work of the Godhead. Then we learned in the first ten verses of the second chapter how God deals with us individually and fashions lost sinners, who trust in Christ, into His Masterpiece. And now we are led higher, and the fact is made known that all believers are united into one body. This truth was briefly mentioned at the close of the preceding chapter (i:22, 23).

1. The Condition of the Gentiles. Verses 11-12.

A. The Uncircumcision. Verse 11.

“Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called the Circumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands.”

The Gentiles are to remember first of all what they were in time past. What Gentiles were morally we have learned from the opening verses of this chapter. The same condition is also that of the Jews, “for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. iii:22-23). But while there was no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles morally (Rom. iii:9), there was a difference dispensationally. “What advantage, then, hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way; chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Rom. iii:l-2). God had revealed Himself to Israel, the seed of Abraham, while the Gentiles were permitted to go their own way. Even so the Lord reminded Israel of this fact: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” (Amos iii:2). Circumcision in the flesh made by hands was the covenant sign and the characteristic mark of separation from the other nations. Gentiles possessed no such divinely made covenant, and the reproach of “Uncircumcision” rested upon them.

B. What Gentiles were. Verse 12.

“That at that time ye were 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.”

Four things are given to picture the desperate condition of the Gentile world.

a. Without Christ.

b. Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.

c. Strangers from the covenants.

d. Without Hope and without God.

The picture indeed is dark; but it only brings out the marvellous beauty of God’s Masterpiece, and His Grace in putting such wanderers, without hope and without God, as members into that blessed body, winch is the fulness and glory of Christ, who filleth all in all. Dispensationally, the great Gentile world was “without Christ”; they knew nothing about Christ; no promise had been given to them. But Israel possessed the promises. Prophet after prophet had spoken and announced to Israel the coming One and His work. Everything in their God-given institutions fore-shadowed Christ, and when He came in the fulness of time He declared “Salvation is of the Jews” (John iv:22). Though the Syro-Phoenician woman cried after Him and addressed Him as “Son of David,” He answered her not a word; as a Gentile she had no claim' on Him. Gentiles had no part in the promised Messiah. Only after His own had rejected Him and delivered Him into the hands of wicked men, was the Gospel sent to the Gentiles. By their fall salvation came to the Gentiles (Rom. xi:11). They were “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel” and “strangers from the covenants of promise.” Because they were as Gentiles so completely excluded from the commonwealth and the covenants of promises, they were without Christ. The Gentiles were “the dogs”; poor, wandering outcasts, far off, as we read later in this chapter. Yet, beautiful it is to see God anticipated the salvation of the Gentiles, and some Gentiles were received into the congregation of Israel. We mention but “Ruth,” the Moabitess, upon whom the curse of the law rested in a special manner, and whose name is found in the genealogy of our Lord.

And the result of having no promise of Christ, separated from Israel and God’s covenants, as well as the commonwealth of Israel, the kingdom of priests, the result of all was— “without hope and without God in the world.” No ray of hope enlightened the dark night of the Gentiles. The Gentiles had indeed possessed light and had known God, but had turned their backs upon God. Therefore being left alone, they had no hope. Different was Israel’s condition. Israel along with the promises and the covenants had hope. The hope of Israel is the Messiah; and though they are wanderers now, yet there is hope, which some day will be gloriously realized in the conversion of the remnant of Israel and the fulfillment of all their promises. But the Gentiles knew no hope. They were “without God in the world.” God, of course, knew the Gentiles. His dealings with them was not unrighteous, but according to His own sovereign will. He did not make Himself known to the Gentiles because they had turned away from the light and therefore He gave them up. The first chapter in Romans is an enlargement of the brief description of what Gentiles are morally and dispensationally. They knew God (Rom. i:21) and glorified Him not. They became vain and were darkened. They thought themselves wise and became fools. After they became idolatrous, God gave them up in their bodies (Rom. i:24), in their souls (verses 26-27) and in their spirits (verse 28).

Well may we remember in the dreadful days of apostasy, which are upon us, that Gentiles, who have had the Gospel preached unto them, are turning once more from the light, yea, from God’s best. Christendom in denying Christ is rapidly waning, and must eventually plunge into a greater darkness than the darkness of the Gentile world before the cross. Without Christ, without hope, and without God! Fearful and solemn words these are! When Christ is given up. His Deity and His Blood rejected, when men deliberately turn away from Him, and deny His Person and His Glory, they rush into the outer and eternal darkness “without hope and without God.”

2. But Now in Christ Jesus. Verses 13-18.

A. Made nigh by the Blood of Christ. Verse 14.

“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”

Blessed are the two little words that stand at the beginning of this sublime verse — ^But! Now! It is the second “but” in this Epistle. It corresponds to the “but” in verse 4 of this chapter. The Holy Spirit describes, in the beginning of this second chapter, as we have seen, the desperate moral condition of Jews and Gentiles, showing that all are by nature the children of wrath. Then the triumphant declaration comes in — “But God who is rich in mercy, for the great love, wherewith He has loved us.” And here, after it is shown that the Gentiles were dispensationally without Christ, without hope and without God in the world, so very far off, we meet the other “but.” God in His mighty power, in His infinite grace, makes the far off Gentiles nigh. “But now.” This dispensation of Grace in which He makes known the mystery, which in other ages was not made known, that the Gentiles, once without Christ and without God, should be fellow-heirs and of the same body, is the “now” in which the surpassing riches of God’s Grace are made known. Now, after Israel rejected the King and the Saviour, now, when He is upon the Father’s throne, now, when the Holy Spirit is on earth to do His appointed work, now, during the present age, God makes fully known what He had planned before the foundation of the world. He is producing His Masterpiece, taking the material from Israel, and reaching out with His mighty power after the Gentiles, to put them into one body. The poor, miserable, naked beggar upon the dunghill, the Gentile, is taken up to sit among princes and inherit the throne of Glory.

“But now in Christ Jesus.” Here again we are obliged to halt. “In Christ Jesus.” This is the place of blessing; this is the One in whom the purposes of eternity are carried out. Not for what they have done, or would do, but “in Christ Jesus.” Oh! that blessed Name, above every other name! How prominent this precious Name is in these unsearchable revelations on the threshold of this rich Epistle! Review them once more. Five times His Name is given in the first three verses of Ephesians. Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ, and the Saints are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace and Peace is from the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ we possess every spiritual blessing. In Him we are chosen. By Jesus Christ we have the son-place. In the Beloved we are accepted. In Him we have redemption. All things are to be gathered in Christ in the coming dispensation. In Him we have an inheritance. And thus we could continue and cover the same blessed ground once more. It is Christ, and Christ only, throughout these marvellous revelations.

In Him, who came from Heaven’s glory and went to the cross, where He gave Himself and shed His blood, believing Gentiles are made nigh. Oh! blessed words! Made nigh by the Blood of Christ! What comfort this brings to us poor sinners of the Gentiles, once so far off, such outcasts in such a fearful, immeasurable distance from God! What a blessing that not our works, our service, our sacrifice, our sufferings or anything else have anything whatever to do with “being made nigh.” Nor, blessed be God! have our works anything to do with keeping us nigh. The Blood has made us nigh; the Blood will ever keep each true believer nigh, and unfaithfulness can never put him back into the place where he once was. The Blood of Christ has justified us; by the Blood we have forgiveness of sins: it cleanses us from all sin. By the blood of Christ we enter the Holiest. And who can tell us how nigh the Blood has made believing Gentiles? We are as near to God as Christ is. We are as dear to Him as He is, who was our substitute on the cross. Oh! for faith to enter into this and to enjoy it, And as we enjoy in faith our nearness to God in Christ, our blessed and eternal portion, we shall find that we shall indeed live and walk no longer as the other Gentiles do, but “unto the praise of the glory of His Grace.”

B. What the work of Christ has accomplished. Verses 14-15.

“For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, making peace.”

Made nigh by the Blood of Christ! This is the blessedness of believing Gentiles, who were once afar off, without Christ, without hope and without God in the world. But much more has been accomplished by the blessed work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Three things are stated in these two verses.

a. He is our peace; making both one.

b. Broken down the middle wall and abolished the law of commandments.

c. Making in Himself one new man.

It is a most precious truth that Christ Himself is our peace. Not what we have done, or what we do could make peace. It is wrong to speak, as it is so often done, of making our peace with God. God has done it in the blood of the Cross; and He who hath accomplished this for us, is our peace. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” However, this most comforting fact of peace with God, through and in Christ, is not at all before us in the fourteenth verse. The parties here, which are made one, are not a holy God and an unholy sinner. The Jews and the Gentiles are the two, who are made One in Christ. Between these two there stood a middle wall of partition, separating them. This middle wall of partition is the law. God Himself had put up this wall, separating His people Israel from the Gentiles. We read in Isaiah about the vineyard, which is Israel, that He had fenced it (Isaiah v:2); and our Lord, speaking of the same vineyard, said: “He hedged it round about” (Matt. xxi:33). The law of commandments in ordinances demanded from the Jews an entire separation from the Gentiles. For a Jew to eat with a Gentile was sin. Even Peter, when he had eaten with the Gentiles in Antioch, separated himself and withdrew; this shows how deeply rooted was this prejudice. The enmity and hatred between the Jews and Gentiles was great and can easily be traced in history. And now in the cross of Christ, God has broken down this middle wall of partition and made an end of this enmity, the law of commandments in ordinances. It has found its end in the cross. The Jews having rejected their Messiah had filled up the measure of their guilt as a nation and had become more guilty on account of it, than the Gentiles. The middle wall ceased existing. The Gentiles far off, in darkness, without Christ, without hope and without God, the Jews having rejected their promised Christ

98 God’s Masterpiece.

and nailed Him to a Cross, are the material which God forms into His great Masterpiece! He comes forth with the mystery He had not made known in former age. Jews and Gentiles believing, trusting in Christ, made nigh by His blood, are made both one and constitute one new man. This is what God has accomplished, taking believing Jews and believing Gentiles, gathering them into one. This is the Masterwork of God, He does during this age. When the Kingdom age comes the Jews will receive their place of blessing and glory in their land, and the Gentiles will be greatly blessed and enjoy righteousness and peace. Both Jews and Gentiles will be in the Kingdom then, but not as one body. In the present age a body is forming “where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumsion. Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all (Col. ii:11). This new man is the church, and Christ is the Head of that new man. Grace flowing from the cross of Christ, where peace was made in the blood, takes up Jews and Gentiles and makes them one. When our Lord prayed in His high priestly prayer that they may all be one as we are one He must have thought of this great truth,’ now hilly revealed in this Epistle by the Spirit of God.

C. The Reconciliation. Verse 16.

“And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.”

a. Both reconciled unto God in one body.

b. The enmity slain by the cross.

The two classes are still in view here and the “one new man” of the preceding verse is now called “one body.” That body is the church. Thus gradually the Holy Spirit leads up to that mystery, which in former ages was not made known unto the sons of men. How sublime are the unfoldings in this greatest of all Epistles! Taken back into the counsels of the Godhead; then down to where He finds us in our sin and shame; then out of death and up into glory. And now the Spirit of God begins to show us the mystery of the one body. In all this wonderful work, the cross and the work of the cross, is kept in fullest view. Apart from the cross and the blood, which was shed by the holy One, there can be no such reconciliation. A careful comparison should be made with Colossians i:20-21, inasmuch as the same word is used for “reconcile,” which is used in this verse. “And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled, in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight.” Here we find a double reconciliation. The reconciliation of all things and the reconciliation of believing sinners. These two reconciliations correspond to the two headships of Christ. He is the head of Creation (Col. i:15-17) and He is the head of the body, the Church (Col.^ i:18). The reconciliation of all things, that is, things in earth and things in heaven, is still future. When He comes again and takes the place over His creation and delivers groaning creation from its groans and from the curse, which rests upon it, then He will reconcile all things. All things in earth and in heaven will be brought into their right, their holy and glorious condition; of this the Old Testament prophetic Word bears abundant witness. The wicked dead, however, are not included in the “all things.”1

The reconciliation of all who have believed is an accomplished fact. How the 20th and 21st verses of the first chapter of Colossians correspond with the second chapter of Ephesians needs no further explanation. But in the verse before us in Ephesians, the individual reconciliation is not in view. The two, believing Jews and Gentiles, are reconciled in one body unto God, and Christ is the head of that body. And by the cross the enmity was also slain. This again refers to the law. It is not the law which is slain, but it is that which is so fully developed in the Epistle to the Romans. All who are in the one body are dead to the law. “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to Him that was raised from the dead, that we should bring fruit unto God” (Romans vii:4).

D. The Peace and Reconciliation Preached. Verse 16.

“And He came and preached peace to you, who were afar off, and to them that were nigh/'

a. To those afar off (Gentiles).

b. To them that were nigh (Jews).

The two classes are again mentioned. We, as Gentiles, are afar off and the Jews are they who were nigh, though, morally, as far off as the Gentiles. It has been argued from this verse that the Lord Jesus Christ never preached in person, after His resurrection, this peace to these two classes. Inasmuch as it says “He came,” it is claimed that it means His “spiritual coming” in which this is accomplished. But He promised another comforter, who was to come and who came, the Holy Spirit. He has taken His place and through His Spirit He sends forth this blessed message to Gentiles and to Jews, “I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him, that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah lvii:19-21). This is an Old Testament anticipation of what was to come; a hint of what was in the mind of God and which is now fully revealed in this Epistle of the Masterpiece of God. When He comes again as the Prince of Peace, when His church, composed of all who were made nigh, is complete. He will speak peace to the nations, and they will learn war no more.

E. The gracious Result. Verse 18.

“For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

The Holy Spirit brings the message of peace and reconciliation to Gentiles and Jews. The believing sinner is put by the Spirit into the one body, and both, Gentiles and Jews, have by one Spirit access unto the Father. The Jew never knew anything whatever about “access unto the Father.” He had a tabernacle and the way into the Holiest was not yet made known. The Gentile was “without God” altogether. Something far more blessed is now made known. All believers are made nigh and born again, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they belong to the family of God and cry by the one Spirit, given to all, “Abba, Father.”

Our Lord spoke of this to the woman at the well of Samaria. “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him” (John iv:23). Made nigh by blood; worshipping in the Holiest; calling upon God as Father; a continued access into His presence by His own Spirit — these are blessed realities for all, who are in Christ, members of His body. But how little we enter into the full enjoyment of this!

We are led still higher. The last four verses form a climax. What Gentiles were without Christ, what Gentiles are in Christ, we have learned from the preceding verses. The middle wall, the law of commandments in ordinances, is broken down. The enmity was slain by the cross. Believing Gentiles are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Both Jews and Gentiles constitute in Christ one new man and both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. And now we hear more of that new man, the body of Christ, that is the church.

3. The Relationship of the Masterpiece.

A. The Changed Condition. Verse 19.

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.”

a. No more strangers and foreigners.

b. Fellow-citizens with the Saints.

c. Of the household of God.

“Now therefore” Gentiles are no longer that which they were without Christ. Then they were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the promises; but now, in Christ, they are fellow-citizens with the Saints, and of the household of God. A most blessed transformation! Fellow-citizens with the Saints does not mean that they have been brought into the commonwealth of Israel. The conception that the church, the body of Christ, is the commonwealth of Israel continued in a spiritual form, is incorrect. Grace has introduced both, believing Jews and believing Gentiles, into a higher sphere and into a far more precious fellowship. Their fellowship is with the Saints, which means fellowship with the whole company of the redeemed. This fellowship will some day find its blessed realization and consummation in the Kingdom to come, which the Saints receive and which cannot be moved (Heb. xii;28). Abraham, the father of the faithful, by faith, “looked for a city, which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. xi:10). And believing Gentiles, once without God and without hope, are brought into the same fellowship and look for the same heavenly city. “For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. iii:20). But more than that, they are of the “household of God,” members of the family of God by the new birth. But the words “household of God” are to be connected with the verse which follows. Believing Gentiles constitute, with believing Jews, the house of God. The masterpiece of God, the church, is therefore now described under the figure of a building.

B. The Church as the Building. Verse 20.

“And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.”

a. The foundation.

b. The chief cornerstone.

In the first chapter of this Epistle the church is called “His body.” In the second chapter the church is compared with a building, which groweth unto an holy temple and which is the habitation of God through the Spirit.

In the Old Testament God had a building in which He manifested His presence and His Glory. The tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple of Solomon were shadows of the church, which God is now building. The foundation upon which the church as the house is built, we find mentioned first. And it is of importance that we examine this foundation closely. One of the common mistakes concerning the foundation upon which the church is built, is that, which claims that the foundation are the prophets of the Old Testament. According to this view the Old Testament Saints belonged to the church, and the church itself was therefore in existence throughout the previous dispensations. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Moses and all who believed the promises of God are therefore taken to be members of the church. This view is often based upon the words we have under consideration, that the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Now if the prophets were mentioned before the apostles, there might be a possibility that the prophets of the Old Testament are meant. But it says “apostles and prophets.” They are the New Testament apostles and prophets. Chapter iii:5 gives positive evidence on this whole question. The church is called a mystery “which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” To this we may add the words of our Lord at Cesarea Philippi when He said to Peter “upon this rock I will build my church.” The church up to that time was not yet in existence, nor was it in process of building, during the days of the earthly ministry of our Lord, but the building of the church was still a matter of the future. When the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, the church began and subsequently the same Spirit revealed the mystery hidden in former ages.

Another error in connection with the foundation of the church is the conception that the apostles are the foundation. The Romish “church” teaches this, closely followed by ritualistic protestant “churches” which speak of apostolic succession. These claim that they possess the successors of the apostles and, therefore, their “churches” have a succession of foundations. A queer building that is! And other protestant sects trace their beginnings to some man who “founded” their church. All this is wrong and against what God has accomplished in His Masterpiece. In this way the enemy has marred and corrupted the Truth of God.

But what does it mean “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets?” Are they themselves, in their persons, Paul, Peter, James and others, the foundation upon which the church rests as a building? Not at all. It is true the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, “I have laid the foundation.” But that does not mean that he is the foundation. In connection with the same statement, Paul declares, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. iii:9-ll). He speaks of Christians as “God’s building,” the church. Paul and the other apostles are the foundation in what they taught and still teach in their epistles. The Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine of Christ, this is the foundation. This the apostles taught. It is their doctrine, given by the Holy Spirit come down from heaven. It is not the question of being the foundation, but building upon that foundation, as taught by the apostles and prophets.

When Peter had uttered his inspired confession “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” our Lord announced, as mentioned above, the future building of His church. “And I say also unto thee. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt, xvi: 18). Satan has invented the abominable lie, that Peter is the rock foundation of the church. But the rock is not Peter, but Christ Himself. The apostle Peter significantly received no messages to the church and his epistles give no revelation concerning the church. Only once does he touch upon the fact that believers are God’s building. And when he did, the Spirit of God guided his pen to answer the perversion of the truth as found in ritualistic Christendom. The Holy Spirit anticipated the fatal errors to come. Peter writes of the Lord Jesus as the living stone, and believers he calls “living stones’ ’ built up a spiritual house (1 Peter ii:4-5).

So it is Christ, and the doctrine of Christ, which is the foundation. “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.” But He likewise is the chief cornerstone. Of this also Peter testifies. “Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief comer stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded.” It is a quotation from Isaiah xxviii;16. But who can tell out the preciousness of this blessed One, upon whom everything rests! Another passage to be considered in connection with Christ as the chief cornerstone is Psalm cxviii:22, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.” Jewish tradition gives the story that, when Solomon’s temple was building, a stone was discovered hewn in a peculiar way. The builders refused that particular stone, only to discover later that it was fitted to be the cornerstone. This may be true. But we know from the Gospels and the book of Acts, that the rejected stone is Christ. “Jesus saith unto them. Did ye never read in the Scriptures, the stone, which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?” (Matt. xxi:42). “This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the comer” (Acts iv:11). It was after Israel rejected Christ, that He became the chief cornerstone, the sure, the precious foundation, upon which the building rests.

C. The Holy Temple. Verse 21.

“In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.”

a. Fitly framed together.

b. Growing unto an holy temple.

The building of God’s Masterpiece is fitly framed together, which means, that God puts it together in His own marvellous way. Believers are living stones. They possess the same life, which is in Christ, the living stone. Needless to say, that only those, who are born again, belong to that building. From the first chapter of this Epistle we learned that all those who belong to this elect body were known and chosen of God before the foundation of the world. The entire building is therefore planned by God and every stone has its proper place. This is a marvellous fact. Solomon’s temple gives a little illustration of this. When that temple was building hammer, axe and tools of iron were not heard. “And the house, when it was building, was built of stone 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 building.” Every stone was prepared before hand and fitted into the place where it belonged. How beautifully it illustrates the fitting together of the house, His church! He chooses and prepares the material and puts each in its proper place.2 What a contrast with man’s methods in trying to increase “church-membership!” The divine revelation is forgotten. Christendom has departed from the faith in these revelations concerning the one church and its architect. But all the confusion, the wrong conceptions and attending evils, ca'imot frustrate the purposes of the Lord. He is building His church. He takes the material and puts it as living stones in the place where it belongs. This is the work of His Spirit. And in the midst of all the confusion, the clamoring voices, the spurious revivals, the ecclesiastical-political hurry of world-reformation, the work goes on quietly, but steadily. The church is the temple of God. Some day that growing temple will be complete. The last stone will be put in and then the building, which was fitly framed together on earth, will become the holy temple of the Lord in glory. All this transcends everything which was revealed by the Old Testament prophets. The eternal destiny of this holy temple no saint can fully understand.

D. The Habitation of God in the Spirit. Verse 22.

“In whom ye also are being built in together an habitation of God in the Spirit."

This is still another climax in this rich Epistle of God’s greatest work. The third person of the Godhead is now mentioned. He dwells in the church, because He indwells every individual believer. This is a present fact. We are the habitation of God. As He dwelt of old in the tabernacle, so He dwells in the church through the Spirit. He does no longer dwell in an earthly house. The conception of a church building being a “holy place” which we must call “the house of the Lord” or “a temple” is absolutely wrong. It is the Jewish idea. God does no longer dwell in an earthly house and yet He has His habitation here. Wherever two or three are gathered together in His name, there He is in the midst; that is a church and the habitation of God through the Spirit. “Even now in the state of imperfection, by the Spirit dwelling in the hearts of believers, that God has His habitation in the church; and then when the growth and increase of that church shall be completed, it will be still in and by the Holy Spirit fully penetrating and possessing the whole glorified church, that the Father will dwell in it forever.”3 Alas! how this wonderful truth is not alone completely lost sight of, but rejected by men, who claim to be Christians. How great is the prostitution of the church! May we remember these great truths and individually walk in them, knowing that we are the habitation, the dwelling of God. Out of that consciousness flows both our blessedness and our responsibility. What influence this blessed revelation of the Masterpiece of God should have upon our life and conduct! Daily we ought to have it vividly before our hearts that we are the habitation of God. “What? know ye not that your: body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom ye have of God, and you are not your own” (1 Cor. vi:19). 

1 Compare with Phil. ii;9-ll. In Philippians, where Christ’s exaltation is described and the fact is revealed that every being must acknowledge Him as Lord (not as Saviour), a forced acknowledgment, as far as the lost are concerned, things under the earth are mentioned. But not so in Col. i:20. For things under the earth there is no reconciliation.

2 Read in connection with this 1 Cor, xii. The same truth is there revealed in connection with the teaching of the Church as the body of Christ.

3 Dean Alford in Greek New Testament.