Ephesians 2:20-22 - Homiletics

The Christian temple.

This the climax of the comparison between past and present pursued in this chapter. Temple of Diana at Ephesus may have suggested the figure. The three persons of the Godhead are concerned in this work of building.

The three are brought together in Ephesians 2:22 . Glorious threefold cord, securing the salvation and final glory of the Church! The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost are with her foreverse While all the three are connected with the building, Christ is so pre-eminently. This connection appears in five particulars.

1. Christ is the Foundation of the temple; his Name, the only name given under heaven whereby we must be saved; he the tried and sure Foundation-stone, elect , precious. Are we resting on him?

2. He is the chief Cornerstone , determines the lie and direction of other stones. We must be in harmony with Christ, our wills, notions, taste, habits. There may be secondary cornerstones; comp. Psalms 144:12 , "That our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace." Reference here to the high polish as well as true position of a temple cornerstone. Records of Christian Church present many such women. From the Marys of the Gospels, the Priscillas and Lydias of the Acts, the Phoebes and elect ladies of the Epistles, through all the trials and struggles of the Church, down to the present day, in all which none have shown more of the true polish of corner-stones, more sympathy for the lost, more zeal and self-denial and devotion to God and man, than earnest Christian women. Blessed ambition for all young women, to be placed in such a relation to Christ, and vital communion with him, as to help to square and polish others, and thus make their lives likewise beautiful and blessed!

3. In Christ, the whole building is fitly framed together . Every one gets stability and adaptation to his neighbors—angles rubbed off; each gets and gives support. Stones are not all alike; not a brick building. Different talents, gifts, and graces: some Christians excel as speakers, some in prayer, some in praise, others in visiting sick, or in teaching the young, or in collecting contributions, or in speaking to strangers; some can write books, others can translate; some can guide the Church at home, others go to the heathen. In Christ, all work together to a common end. Out of Christ, strifes and divisions arise, ending in schisms and ruptures. Let each try to ascertain his part, and patiently and conscientiously to fulfill it.

4. In the Lord, the building grows to a holy temple. Two ideas.

5. It is a habitation of God through the Spirit . Its collective qualities serve to indicate the presence of the living Spirit; it is a kind of incarnation. Historically this is a delightful view. Bring together all the holy qualities of the Church from first to last—the simple trust of the hundred and twenty in the upper chamber: the warm brotherly love of the Pentecostal converts; the missionary ardor of Paul and his companions; the faith and constancy of the noble army of the martyrs; the seraphic spirit of many a man and woman who has dwelt at the gate of heaven; the steadfast devotion of Waldenses and Culdees, of Lollards and Wickliffites and Hussites, of reformers and Huguenots and confessors of every clime; the consistent godliness of many a humble cottager; the brilliant service of the Christian philanthropists and the glorious struggles of all the champions of freedom who have fought the battle of the cross in evil times;—in all this we have a vision of the glory of the Church as the habitation of God through the Spirit. Alas! there have been so many corruptions that this glory has been sadly tarnished. Let each one resolve by God's grace to fulfill his part, and. so to live that, so far as his life and character are concerned, they may show the result of God dwelling in them through the Spirit.