One Building in Christ: The Structure

The Apostle Paul paints a third picture in Ephesians 2:19-22. Not only are true believers “fellowcitizens with the saints” and “of the household of God,” but they are also parts of one building (vs. 20-22). Here is a truly amazing analogy. We clearly see three very foundational concepts, the first of which is The Structure, which in turn has three parts.

First, Christ is the corner stone, a term rooted in ancient architecture. The Greek here (akrogoniaios) is a compound word made up of akron (“top” or “tip”) and gonia (“an angle or corner”). The literal idea of this word then is, as one commentator puts it, “At the tip of the angle” and refers to “the stone set at the corner of a wall so that its outer angle becomes important.” It was this stone, then, that became the basis for every measurement in the building. It governed every line and angle. It provided no more support to the structure than any other stone; rather its entire value lay in its outer angle.

This is the picture Paul is giving of Christ. In all respects He was the perfect corner stone, strong, perfect in character, and exact in measurement. We, therefore, are to conform to Him in every de­tail, for as we’ll see later, we too are part of the building. What if we do not conform to the corner stone? What if we are not measured according to that standard? What if our placement is not according to that absolute? In answer to that, just think of how noticeable peeling paint is on a house or how an improperly laid brick or stone sticks out. Any such flaw either weakens, or at the very least, disfigures the build­ing. Likewise, we are to conform to Christ lest we weaken or disfigure the building.

Second, the apostles and prophets are part of the foundation. An “Apostle” was one who was personally commissioned by the Lord Jesus and saw Him in His resurrection body. A “Prophet” (as the Greek prophētēs clearly indicates) is one who speaks immediately of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s point, then, is that the apostles and prophets laid the foundation of the Church. A building is only as good as its foundation. It must be horizontally level, vertically plumb, and made of the best materials. This foundation is absolutely essential. A builder can erect the most beautiful edifice in the world, but if it is not a good foundation, it will eventually crumble. That is why God used the apostles and prophets; they were the only adequate foundation.

But what was the foundation that they laid? The answer is most important in light of our day. One expositor rightly answers this question by writing: “Since both the apostles and prophets had a teaching role, the foundation is teaching. Thus the foundation of the new temple is God’s Word, especially the New Testament Scriptures. The Church stands or falls in its regard for the New Testament Scriptures. If we tamper with the foundation, the temple will crumble. That is why Paul ordered Timothy to “preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:2).” How imperative it is that we understand that Truth! God used these men to build a foundation based on doctrine. If we alter that foundation, if we tamper with it, we will destroy the structure.

Third, individual believers are the remaining parts of the structure. This is a marvelous picture! Verse 19 speaks of individual believers; verse 20 then says that these are built upon the foundation. I Corinthians 12 describes the Church as one Body which is made up of many members. When we consider the individual cells that make up a physical body, we soon realize that there are countless millions of members in the body. So, whether we speak of an arm, a leg, an eye, a finger, “a little toe of the body,” as someone wrote to me once in reference to his position, or just one cell, it matters not because each is equally important, and none is useful by itself.

Likewise, the Church is one Building with countless pieces and parts. Dear Christian, you are useful to the building. Perhaps you are a 4x8 sheet of plywood flooring, a 2x4 stud in a wall, a shingle on the roof, or simply a small finishing nail in a piece baseboard. No matter what piece each of us is, we each have a purpose, a meaning, and a responsibility. The human tendency is to think that a beautiful bay window is more important than a single nail used in the window casing. And we do the same in the church, thinking one member is more important than another. But this is prideful and humanistic. Every part of the building is there for the benefit of the whole. Yes, that bay window is beautiful, but it is there only to compliment the building, and without the window casing and the nails that hold it in, that window would topple out and disfigure the whole structure. Likewise, no Christian is more important than another because each one edifies the whole.

One Household in Christ

In the first part of Ephesians 1:19, the Apostle Paul speaks of the fact that true believers are no longer “strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints.” In his wonderful way, Paul changes his metaphor in the latter part of the verse, and this one is even more significant, that they are of the household of God. There is a much greater intimacy in speaking of membership in a family than in citizenship in a nation. This in no way discounts our heavenly citizen­ship (Phil. 3:20), but even deeper and more personal is the fact that we are now in God’s family.

The depth of this is seen in the Greek for household, oikeios, which means “belonging to the house, member of the household.” The word from which it is derived, oikos (house, dwelling place), is truly ancient. It’s found as early as the Mycenaean period of Greek history (1600-1200 BC). It was also used in the metaphorical sense to denote “the family, the property, and other similar concepts connected with the house itself.”

This word is used exactly the same way in the New Testament. In the literal sense, we find it, for example, in Matthew 2:11, “And when [the wise men] were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him.” We also find it several times in the metaphorical sense, as when Jesus said, “A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house” (Matt. 13:57) and when Paul wrote that he had “baptized also the household of Stephanas” (I Cor. 1:16).

This etymology makes Paul’s point in our text marvelously clear—the Christian is a member of the household of God, His family, and enjoys the full fellowship of His house. As we saw in 2:6, we are already “[sitting] together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” This is why our Lord said to His disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you;” our place is already made and spiritually we are already there.

As Paul told the Galatian believers, “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6). But may we submit, there is something to be careful of here. As most Christians have heard at one time or another, “Abba” is the Aramaic word for “father,” or as commonly viewed as “Papa” or “Daddy.” There has, therefore, been the tendency to regard this word too flippantly, the result being an over familiarity with God where He in essence answers to us.

But “Abba” more precisely means, “My father,” “Father, my Father” or, “Dear Father.” The ancient Syriac Version of the New Testament (early second century) translates this term, “By which we call the Father our Father.” One writer well sums up: “At one time it was thought that since children used this term to address their fathers, the nearest equivalent would be the English term “Daddy.” More recently, however, it has been pointed out that Abba was a term not only that small children used to address their fathers; it was also a term that older children and adults used. As a result it is best to understand Abba as the equivalent of “Father” rather than “Daddy” (Robert H. Stein in Baker Theological Dictionary of the Bible, p. 247).

The point then is that intimacy is clearly there, but so is respect for Who the Father is. This was, of course, the expression the Lord Jesus used as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:36), so both intimacy and respect are present. Yes, our Lord had an intimate relationship with the Father and made request of Him, but there was still respect and reverence as He came into submission to the Father’s will. This challenges us to be very careful not to barge into God’s presence demanding our desires. Some disagree with this principle and quickly quote Hebrews 4:16 (“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”), but “boldly” does not mean “presumptuously.” The literal idea of the Greek for “come boldly” (meta parresias) is “draw near with confidence [or] freedom of speech.” What does it mean to come boldly? It means to draw near with the confidence that God will listen, to come to Him and speak freely of our needs and desires, but it never means presumption or demand.

One Citizenship in Christ

As we’ve seen, the nations were divided, and still are, because of their wrong relationship and response to God. Paul mentions this again in Ephesians 2:19—Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints—by using two terms, strangers and foreigners, and there is a true gem of truth in understanding them. While the words are synonymous, there is subtle distinction between them. The word strangers translates the Greek xenos, which in Classical Greek referred to a foreigner who did not belong to the community and was in direct contrast to words such as polites (a “citizen” of the country). It could even refer to a wanderer or a refugee. To the Greeks, a xenos was the same thing as a barbarian. This is, of course, where we get out English word “xenophobia”—a fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign.

Foreigners then is the Greek paroikos, a compound word made up of para (by or along side) and oikos (house), so therefore, “by the house,” “next to the house,” or “one who has a house along side others.” The idea conveyed by this term was a foreigner who lived beside the people of a country, that is, one who was a neighbor that enjoyed the protection of the community (the natives) but one who had no citizen rights because his citizenship was elsewhere. He was a “resident alien,” a licensed sojourner, one who paid an “alien tax” to live in the area without being naturalized.

Being a Roman citizen and one who had traveled over much of the ancient world, Paul would certainly have understood this subtlety. He was therefore telling the Ephesians that they were no longer either xenos or paroikos, neither passing strangers nor licensed immigrants. Rather he calls them fellowcitizens. The Greek here is sumpolitēs. The root politēs referred to a citizen, an inhabitant of a city, a freeman who had the rights of a citizen. Adding the prefix sum (“together with”) yields the idea of a citizenship with others.

Roman citizenship (Latin civitas) was a much-coveted thing, much like American citizenship is coveted today. It gave rights and privileges that were unobtainable in any other way. A Roman citizen, for example, could own land, could vote, had the right to enter a legal contract, had the right of military service, and was eligible to hold public office (although some of these rights were restricted by property qualifications). Also, a Roman citizen could never be scourged, much less crucified, unless he committed treason.

Putting all this together, Paul tells the Ephesians that they all have a common citizenship in Christ. This would have made a deep impression in their minds. Their thoughts might well have gone something like this, “If a Roman citizen has great privileges, what greater ones we must have in Christ! Indeed, we are citizens of a far greater country than Rome.” May this make a deep impression on us as well.

What a challenge and encouragement this is to the Christian! As wonderful as life is, as blessed as American citizenship is, it all pales to insignificance in light of the fact that we are only temporary residents of this earth. We’re just passing through. Our citizenship is in the Heavenly City. Many preachers today don’t emphasize this truth enough, preferring to put their emphasis on political reform and social change, but thank God for those like seventeenth-century English Churchman Jeremy Taylor, who put it so well: “Faith is the Christian’s foundation, hope is his anchor, death is his harbor, Christ is his pilot, and heaven is his country.” I’ve mentioned it in this study already, but Vance Havener’s words bear repeating: “We are not citizens of this world trying to get to heaven; rather we are citizens of heaven just trying to get through this world.” 

Access to God

Ephesians 2:18—For through him [i.e., Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father—we see an astounding result of the peace God has established through Christ. The Greek word behind access (prosagoge) and is found only in two other places (Eph. 3:12; Rom. 5:2). It literally means “to open a way of access.” A similar word was used in ancient times to describe a person who gave someone else admittance to see the King. Therefore, our text declares that we actually have no “right” to come before God but rather have been granted the “privilege” of doing so knowing we will be welcome. There is a word in French that exactly translates this word—entree, meaning “admission or admittance.” This is the picture in our text; we have been granted “admittance” into the Father’s Presence.” We could also translate the word as “introduction;” we have been properly introduced to the Father by the Word of Christ.

We emphasize this truth for an important reason. Many believers have the mistaken idea that they have a right to come before God. Some theologians even teach that Christ’s blood now gives us this right. This is dreadfully wrong! We do not have a right to come before God; how arrogant to think that we do! Rather, we have been granted the privilege to come before the God of the universe. Oh, how often we take prayer for granted and rush into God’s presence thinking we have a right to be there, demanding this, that, and the other thing. Dear Christian, may we forever cease! May we see that we have no right but a gracious privilege. May we never again rush before Him, but rather may we quietly and humbly come before His throne.

I read one story that beautifully illustrates how we have access to the Father. One day a little boy named Willie stood wistfully at the gates of Buckingham Palace. He longed to go in and see the king. Between him and the king, however, were iron gates, rigid protocol, armed soldiers, and watchful police. What he wanted was quite out of the question. A policeman who was ordering the lad to leave suddenly stiffened and sprang to attention as a well-dressed, confident man approached. A brusque nod from the man and the policeman unlocked the gates and stood aside. “Come with me, sonny,” said the man, taking the little boy’s hand. “We’re going in to see the king.” Into the palace they went. Inside were forty housemaids, fifty footmen (including one man who did nothing but wind clocks all day), and six hundred rooms. Willie and the man walked on and on—to the north wing, up stairs, along endless passages, to the king’s corridor on the main floor, and into the master suite. (They were a quarter of a mile away from the kitchens!) The man seemed to know the way and chatted about the rooms they passed: the magnificent ballroom that contained two majestic thrones on a raised dais; the stamp rooms that housed the world’s most valuable collection; the Belgian suite with its forty-four rooms for the use of state visitors; the royal wardrobe; the music room; the dining room with a table as large as a skating rink; the dazzling green drawing room. Finally they arrived in the king’s presence, and the man spoke. “Hello, Father. Here’s a little boy who wants to meet you. Meet my friend Willie. Willie, this is the king.” The little boy had taken the hand of Edward, Prince of Wales, the king’s son. Through him, Willie gained access to the king. We too have taken the hand—the nail-printed hand—of the King’s Son, the Prince of Peace. Through Him and Him alone, Jews and Gentiles alike have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Reconciled to God

Continuing his thoughts on how God has brought about true in Christ, the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2:16 that he [i.e., Christ] might reconcile both [Jew and Gentile] unto God in one body by the cross. The term reconciled is truly marvelous! The Greek is apokatallasso. The simple verb is katallasso, which means “to change or exchange as coins for others of equal value.” So, the idea is to ex­change hostility for friendship. In three New Testament references, however, the prefix apo is added (Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:20, 21). This Greek preposition adds the idea of “back.” Therefore, apokatallasso means “to bring back to a former state of harmony.” Let us be clear on the fact that Jew and Gentile have not always been divided; before Abraham the human race was all one with no distinctions. So, this reconciliation is a “changing back” to the time of no variance, no distinction.

Even deeper, there was a time when there was no variance between God and man. Think of it! There was a time when there was no enmity, no warfare between us. When was that time? It was, of course, in the Garden of Eden. But sin created a barrier; it brought variance and division. The very moment sin entered, they immediately realized they were naked, immediately tried to hide from God, immediately tired to shift the blame to someone else, and immediately denied responsibility. In that one moment, that one act, variance was introduced. But it was then the blood of Christ “reconciled” us; it was a “changing back” to that time of no variance. What a truth this is! As a believer, each of us is no longer at variance with God; we have returned to that time of walking with Him “in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8), communing with Him in heart and mind.

It is truly fascinating that apokatallassō is not found in Classical Greek. In fact, even the simple verb katallassō was never used in ancient pagan worship. Why? Because the pagans were never reconciled to their gods; they had no concept of a god with whom they could have no variance. The gods of the ancient pagan religions were always angry, always demanding appeasement. Only in the New Testament Epistle do we find this meaning, for never before has man been brought back to a time of no variance. Only the blood of Christ could accomplish that. Even the Old Testament sacrifices were inadequate; they were only an “atonement,” that is, a covering of sin. Only by Christ’s blood could we be reconciled.

All this is intensified when we see that man is not only separated from God, but men are also separated from each other. Men can’t get along with other men, much less with God. Why can’t men get along with each other? Because they can’t get along with God; their response to God and His Word has been negative.

But may we go even further in this picture by seeing that this is also true of the emotional and psychological problems of individuals. Barring physical causes, most, if not all, of these problems are caused by a wrong response to God. And may we be so bold to say that most, if not all, of the psychologists and psychiatrists of to­day would have to look for another line of work if everyone would respond properly to God. Pick any problem, and you will be able to trace it back to a wrong response to God and His revealed Truth. We say all this because recon­ciliation brings us back to the time of no variance, no warfare, no “class struggle.” We now have peace with God, peace with other men, and peace with ourselves. This leads to a second principle.

Creating a New Race

Ephesians 2:15c declares, to make in himself [i.e., Christ] of twain one new man, so making peace. Here is what Paul has been building toward, the beautiful summary of his previous thoughts. The words to make are not the Greek poieō (“to make, form, produce”) but the stronger word ktizō (also used in verse 10), which is the word often used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew word bara, “to create from nothing” (Gen. l:l). Paul again emphasizes that God created the believer from nothing.

Further, the word new is kainos and is also extremely important. This word is distinct from another word for “new,” neos, which means “new in time.” An example of neos in our society is when we speak of a new car; a new car is only new in time; it’s not unique since it is just like thousands of others that came off the assembly line. But kainos means “new in nature” and implies that which is “better.” More specifically, it is something that is new in its own way, something unique, never having existed before. Chrysostom, famous preacher of the early Church, says that it is as if one should melt down a statue of silver and a statue of lead, and the two should come out gold. What a picture! Two entirely different things, two things that could not be more different in nature, but God made them one.

That is the picture Paul is painting here. Again, it’s not that the Gentile becomes a Jew or that the Jew becomes a Gentile, but rather both become something unique—A CHRISTIAN. This distinction, this title has never before existed; it is some­thing totally new. We would never say, for example, “Moses was such a good Christian.” No, because there was at that time no such thing as a Christian. A Christian is something new, something totally unique to this age.

Further still, and even more significant, is the word man. The Greek here is not anēr, “a male person,” rather anthropos, the word that speaks of man as a “species,” man as a race. We can, therefore, say that there is a “new humanity” that is in contrast to the “old humanity.” And what is this “new humanity?” It is the Church. While individuals are meant, for each separate Christian is needed to make up the whole, the deeper meaning is the Church. The Church is the new, the unique thing that has never before existed. Old titles, old distinc­tions are no longer important or even valid; all men have been united into one new humanity by the blood of Christ. When we received Christ as Savior, we were ushered into this new humanity.

How thrilling this is! There has never been a greater enmity in human history than the enmity between Jew and Gentile—nothing testifies to that more than the Holocaust or the continual warfare in the Middle East. But the cross has brought these two warring factions together. In fact, it was only the cross that could bring these together.

This challenges every Christian to treat every other Christian as exactly what he or she is—another part of the body. The cross of Christ has destroyed all barriers, and this challenges us not to build any new ones. There is no longer Jew or Gentile—or any other race for that matter, whether it be Negro, Hispanic, Oriental, or Caucasian. We are all something much better now—A CHRISTIAN. Shame on us if we ever make any brother or sister in Christ feel any different, for it is sin, plain and simple.

The Abolishing of Hostility

The first thought in Ephesians 2:15—Having abolished in his flesh the enmity—continues the thought of verse 14, which declares that Christ has “broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” The Greek for enmity (echthros) speaks of “the fixed idea of irreconcilable, deep‑rooted ha­tred.” That is strong, indeed, and that hatred had to be destroyed if a body was ever to exist; a body cannot function if the members are at war with each other.

Christ, therefore, has abolished this enmity. The Greek behind abolished is katargeō, “to render inactive, useless, ineffective; to destroy, do away with.” Paul uses this same word in II Timothy 1:10 to refer to the Lord Jesus “who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” as well as in II Thessalonians 2:8 to refer to the Antichrist, who the Lord will “destroy with the brightness of his [second] coming.”

Racial bigotry is one of the most difficult things in the world to destroy. Among the ancients, Cicero wrote, “As the Greeks say, all men are divided into two classes—Greeks and barbarians.” Aristotle spoke of the “remote tribes of barbarians belonging to the bestial class.” In other words, non-Greeks were animals. Most of us recall Adolf Hitler’s obsession with what he called the “Master Race.” In Mein Kamph, he wrote, “The constructive principle of Aryan humanity is thus displaced by the destructive principle of the Jews. They become the ‘ferment of decomposition’ among nations and races and, in a broad sense, the wreckers of human civilization.” But not only did he hate Jews, but also Negroes, Gypsies, and other groups who also were slated for extermination after the “Jewish Question” was answered.

Other examples of prejudice and bigotry are legion. At one time or another, we have all been guilty of it to one degree or anther. One illustration brings a smile but no less displays the ugliness of this innate problem. Australian Anglican Bishop John Reed recounts one day when he was driving a school bus that carried whites and aborigines. Tired of all the squabbling, when far out in the country he pulled over to the side of the road and said to the white boys, “What color are you?” “White,” they replied. “No,” he said, “you are green; anyone who rides in my bus is green. Now, what color are you?” The white boys replied, “Green.” Then he turned to the aborigines and asked, “What color are you?” “Black,” was the reply. “No,” he said again, “you are green; anyone who rides on my bus is green.” All the aborigines answered that they were green. The situation seemed resolved until, several miles down the road, he heard a boy in the back of the bus announce, “All right, light green on this side, dark green on that side.”

Reed had the right idea. What was needed was a new race, “the greens,” but could he pull it off? No! In himself, man will always be a bigot and no amount of reasoning will change that. Jesus is the only one who could change it.

The crippling result of such prejudice can be seen in an analogy. We see today tragic neuromuscular diseases as well as paraplegia and quadriplegia caused by spinal injuries. In each of these we see that the body will no longer obey the brain. The Church today is tragically in a state of “spiritual paraplegia,” even “quadriplegia;” she is in a state of paraly­sis; she will not do as the “brain” (Christ) instructs. Christ has abolished the enmity, creating instead, as we’ll see next time, “a new race,” but many today are building it back up.