Bible Commentaries
Ephesians 2

Verse 1

Eph 2:1

Ephesians 2:1

And you did he make alive,—The apostle makes a sudden transition from the thought of that which God wrought in Christ himself to that which he wrought through Christ in men who were dead through trespasses and sins but now believe in Jesus Christ. So God raised, exalted, and glorified his Son Jesus Christ—and “you.” The same almighty power that was laid upon the body of the dead Christ and raised him from the dead to the highest seat at the right hand of God is now laid upon those who were dead in trespasses and sins to share by faith the glories of eternal life.

when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins,—They had been dead in sin, wholly separated from God, given over to idolatry. This associates the change that takes place in those dead through trespasses and sins with the stupendous power that raised Christ from the dead. There is a re-enactment in the dead sinner of the crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and ascension, when we realize through the power of faith that which was done for man­kind in him. It is “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16) that summons men to faith, challenging their confidence wherever this message goes and awakening the spiritual possi­bilities dominant in their nature. It is a supernatural force, then, which is at work within us through the word of God. It is a resurrection power, that turns death into life. It is the power of love which went out towards the slain and buried Jesus when the Father raised him from the dead, exerted over us as we lay dead in sin, and exerted itself with a might no less powerful to raise us from spiritual death to sit with him in the heavenly places.

Verse 2

Eph 2:2

Ephesians 2:2

wherein ye once walked—The Gentiles had walked in this rebellion and sin after the practices common to the people of this world, before they became Christians. [The idea of dead crea­tures walking is not altogether incongruous. It implies that a kind of life remained sufficient for walking; but not the true, full spiritual life.]

according to the course of this world,—This was the way marked out by the world. They thought it brought true good. The course was the gratification of the lusts and appetites of the flesh as a means of happiness. [The course of this world denotes the present system of things, as conducted by those who have regard only to things seen and temporal, and no regard to God or to the future life. When there is spiritual death there is insensi­bility to these things.]

according to the prince of the powers of the air,—The earth and the surrounding atmosphere constitute the world. Earth, air, water are the trinity of substances essential to the development and ministration of life—vegetable and animal. The evil spirits were supposed to inhabit the air and the devil who ruled over them was called the prince of the powers of the air. In this sense of the term the heavens and the earth were equally corrupted and perverted by man. Hence they must both be purged or purified by fire—pass away and give place to a new heaven and a new earth in which dwelleth righteousness. Hence it is said: “The day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Peter 3:10-13). This refers only to the firmament—the atmosphere. It is all sin-polluted and must be purified by fire. Purified, it will be a new heaven and a new earth in which no sin will enter. In that purified temple God will dwell.

of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience;—[That particular spirit, whose domain and work are in evil men. Sons of disobedience are those to whom disobedience is their very nature and essential character, who belong wholly to it. Once that spirit worked in all those addressed; now it works not in them indeed, but in those given over to disobedience to God’s will. So the lordship belonging to the prince of evil extends not only over all those malign powers whose seat is in the air, but also and more particularly over that spirit who operates as an energy of wickedness in the hearts of men opposed to God.]

Verse 3

Eph 2:3

Ephesians 2:3

among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh,—The we refers to the Jews. They among others had their course of life previously to becoming Christians. Notwithstanding they had the law of Moses, it did not prevent their following the rule of fleshly lusts. [The apostle here brings Jews and Gentiles to­gether. “We also,” as well as you—we were all in the same con­dition, all in a miserable plight, not merely occasionally dipping into sin, but spending our very lives in the lusts or desires of our flesh, living for noble ends, but in an end of carnal desire, as if there were nothing higher than to please the carnal nature.]

doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind,—[These two clauses illustrate very clearly the extended sense in which the word flesh is used by Paul, as may be seen by the following catalogue of the works of the flesh: “Now the works of the flesh are man­ifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.” (Galatians 5:19-21). In the text before us, “the flesh,” in the first clause, includes both “the flesh and the mind” of the second; that is, it includes both the appetites and the passions of our fleshly nature, and also the thoughts of the mind itself, so far as it is devoted to this visible world of sense, alienation from God, and therefore under the power of evil. In fact, in scrip­tural use the sins of “the flesh,” “the world,” and “the devil” are not different classes of sins, but different aspects of sin, and any one of the three great enemies is made at times to represent all.]

and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest:—Paul distinctly states that those who had become Christians were by nature formerly children of wrath, as well as those not Christians. [The Jewish Christians were once, when in a state of nature, the objects of God’s wrath, because they were in sin, just as the Gentiles were. The state of nature is the unconverted state.]

Verse 4

Eph 2:4

Ephesians 2:4

but God, being rich in mercy,—The preceding verses convey the idea of a rushing towards inevitable ruin, when all hope from man is hopeless. The but is very emphatic, and wonder­fully reverses the picture. The sovereignty is very apparent on its gracious side. It interposes to rescue those who would otherwise plunge irretrievably into ruin. God, who is wroth with sin, is also a God of grace. His disposition towards those who are dead by trespasses and sins is one of mercy, and this no stinted mercy, but a mercy that is rich, exhaustless.

for his great love wherewith he loved us,—If mercy is God’s attitude to sinful men, love is his motive in all that he does with them; and as the mercy is rich, so the love is great. With this great love God loved us when he chose us, and it is on account of that love that he acts with us as he does.

Verse 5

Eph 2:5

Ephesians 2:5

even when we were dead through our trespasses,—This is a repetition for vivid contrast with the foregoing description of God and his love; a close parallel with Romans 3:23, where for a similar contrast we have a like summary of foregoing teaching.

made us alive together with Christ—As in Colossians where the same word is explained by “having forgiven us all our tres­passes” (Colossians 2:13), it reverses all that is implied in the words “dead through our trespasses.” We were once in consequence of our sins a spiritual corpse, given up to corruption utter and helpless, from which nothing could save us except the life-giving power of God.

(by grace have ye been saved),—Paul adds this by way of explanation, lest they should think God partial in the love he showed for the Jews. By the favor or mercy of God provided through Jesus Christ, who is called the grace of God, he saved the Gentiles. [We are already saved from our past sins, but we must continue faithful till the end, for the Savior says: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10).]

Verse 6

Eph 2:6

Ephesians 2:6

and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him—He united all believing Jews and Gentiles in one body in Christ Jesus.

in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus:—He calls the church, its principles, services, promises, all of which are enjoyed in Christ, heavenly places. The church of God is the reign of heaven on earth. The truth, services, and hopes are all heavenly. The temper to be cultivated is heavenly.

Verse 7

Eph 2:7

Ephesians 2:7

that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us—That in the future state he may show us what rich blessings his grace has pro­vided for us.

in Christ Jesus:—All the blessings and joys of heaven come to us through Christ Jesus our Savior. Without his intervention, and without the help he gives the Christian in his struggle for a higher and better life, he could never be fitted to enjoy the heavenly home. Through all the eternal years of God, the re­deemed in heaven will give thanks and glory to his name.

Verse 8

Eph 2:8

Ephesians 2:8

for by grace have ye been saved through faith;—The Gen­tiles as well as the Jews are saved by grace, the favor and mercy of God. God puts no difference between Jew and Gentile, saving both by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is the medium through which all accept his salvation. On the part of God sal­vation is by grace; on the part of man it is through faith. God gives man the capacity to believe, reveals to him the things to believe, and ample testimony to produce the faith required. (John 20:30-31; Mark 16:15-16; Romans 1:16; Acts 11:14; Acts 16:14-15; Acts 16:30-33; Acts 18:8).

and that not of yourselves,—The salvation is not of man, neither was it prepared or earned by man.

it is the gift of God;—It was prepared and bestowed on man by God. It is obtained by entering into Christ according to the appointed directions.

Verse 9

Eph 2:9

Ephesians 2:9

not of works,—Not of the works of the Jewish law, or by any works of man’s invention or device.

that no man should glory.—The works that do not save are such as allow glorying. The works of man’s device allow glorying, but salvation does not come through such works. The term works is used in two senses. It is used to denote the in­ventions of men or devices of men and to denote the appointments of God. God appoints certain things to be done. Man must do them, but they are God’s works. When he does the things appointed by God, he does not do his own works, but God’s. Man is saved by walking in the way appointed by God, by doing the things commanded of God. He is saved in doing the works of God. He is not saved because of the merits of the works, but because he proves his faith by doing the things commanded by God. The works of the Jewish law, after that law was fulfilled and taken out of the way, ceased to be the works and appoint­ments of God, and became man’s works. This does not teach that man cannot be saved by walking in the works of God.

Then the whole drift of Paul’s argument is to cut man off from all works and inventions devised by man, that allow glorying, and that produce only human righteousness, and tie him down as a lost and ruined sinner, dependent upon the works of God provided in the gospel and sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ for salvation. To these he must come by faith in Jesus Christ. He is not dissuading or discouraging men from doing in faith all that God through Christ has provided and commanded and sealed with his blood. He cuts him off from everything save these, and leaves him to walk in “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” as his only hope. In this walk he comes to the blood-sealed appointments of God, and is washed and cleansed by the blood of the Son of God. He did not discourage them from walking in that law. By so walking he does the works of God. He does the works without which faith is dead and by which James says (James 2:14-20) it is made perfect and by which we may be justified before God. The works of God, the works of faith, are included in the law of faith that makes faith perfect, excludes all glorying, and justifies man. Paul and James, so far from dis­agreeing, agree perfectly. Paul cuts man off from everything except the works contained in the law of faith, and James warns that no faith can justify that is not made perfect by works, included in the law of faith, and to which faith leads.

Verse 10

Eph 2:10

Ephesians 2:10

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,—Christians are the workmanship of God, be­gotten by him, perfected by his direction and guidance, and are created in order to perform the good works in which God has ordained us to walk. The things he has commanded us to do are those embraced in his commands to us. But is this a slavish system? This depends wholly on the spirit in which his com­mands are obeyed. If wholly from a sense of fear it is slavish, and becomes mechanical. But if it is done from a joyful trusting love of God and a desire to please him, it is not slavish. Christ’s service to God was not slavish. It was the joyful, loving service that a child renders to his father that he loves supremely—and the joy he found in doing the commandments of God was the measure of his love for him. To substitute anything else than obedience to God’s commandments for service is to displace the fear of God with the love of self—the wisdom of God with man’s sensual wisdom.

which God afore prepared—God prepared works in which his children should walk before he created them in Christ Jesus. He who fails to live that life fails to fulfill the ends for which he was created in Christ Jesus, and must fail of the rewards that are prepared for him in the world to come.

that we should walk in them.—The works in which Chris­tians are called to walk were prepared of God, not invented by man. So they are saved by the works of God, not of man, when sinners and after they become Christians.

[God’s purpose in the place which he gave to good works in his decree was that they should actually and habitually be done by Christians. His final object was to make good works the very element of their life, the domain in which their action should move. That this should be the nature of their walk is implied in their being his handiwork, made anew by him in Christ; that the good works which form the divine aim in their life shall be realized is implied in their being designed and made ready for them in God’s decree; and that they are of God’s originating, and not of their own action and merit, is implied in the fact that Christians themselves had to be made a new creation in Christ with a view to good works. The term walk here denotes the habitual tenor of life; it is to be spent in an atmosphere of good works. Here is one of the divine safe­guards against the abuse of the doctrine of salvation by grace. When men hear of salvation irrespective of works, they are apt to fancy that works are of little use, and do not need to be care­fully done. On the contrary, they are part of the divine decree, and if professed believers, are not living a life of good works, they have no reason to believe that they have been saved by grace. Beyond a doubt, all efforts to outgrow the necessity of carefully and watchfully obeying all the commandments of God, and of doing service to him because commanded by him, and seeking to do the things commanded by him because well-pleasing to him, have degenerated into low types of earthly sensualism and must continue to do so. The highest degree of spirituality possible to man can he found only in learning submission to his will and as his children doing from the heart his commandments, with a desire to please, honor, and obey him. To seek to go beyond this is presumption, Is to be wiser than God, and? is sin and folly of the darkest hue.]

Verse 11

Eph 2:11

Ephesians 2:11

Wherefore remember, that once ye, the Gentiles in the flesh,—He again addresses the Gentile converts in Christ and reminds them of their former condition. [They were to remember the change between the past and the present—what they were by nature, and what they had become by grace. The contrast is indicated in various particulars, both of outward condition and of inward privilege and character. The great things done for them by God’s grace should incline them to think of the past from which they had been delivered, which would make them more thankful for their present privilege, and more careful to walk in the good works which God had in view for them.]

who are called Uncircumcision—[A further definition of what they were, suggestive of the regard in which they were held as members of that class. A name of contempt which was flung at them.]

by that which is called Circumcision,—[This is a description of those who were Jews outwardly, but who were destitute of the true circumcision, which was of the heart. They were “the con­cision.” (Philippians 3:2). The Jews were a striking illustration of the effect of ascribing to external rites objective power, and re­garding them as conveying grace and securing the favor of God, irrespective of the subject state of the recipient. This doctrine rendered them proud, self-righteous, malignant, and contemptuous, and led them to regard religion as an external service compatible of unholiness of heart and life. This doctrine the apostle every­where repudiates and denounces as fatal.]

in the flesh, made by hands;—This intimates that their cir­cumcision was only of the flesh, not of the heart, and that they were no better than those they called “Uncircumcision.”

Verse 12

Eph 2:12

Ephesians 2:12

that ye were at that time separate from Christ,—The condition of the Gentiles was deplorable. They had no knowl­edge of Christ, no interest in him, no life or blessing from him.

alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,—The Jews when out of Christ, before he came, were the citizens of the commonwealth of Israel.

and strangers from the covenants of the promise,—The Gen­tiles were separated from God, aliens, foreigners from the com­monwealth, strangers to the promises and covenants made with Abraham. (Genesis 12:2-3).

having no hope—The Gentiles could look forward with no hope beyond afflictions, sorrows, and sufferings of this present world, because they knew not God, and did not trust or honor him.

and without God in the world.—[They were unconnected with God; without any friendly and beneficial relation to him that would bring into their souls the fullness of God. The five­fold negative description of this verse has a cumulative effect; the situation becomes graver and more terrible, and the last clause is the climax.]

Verse 13

Eph 2:13

Ephesians 2:13

But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off sure made nigh in the blood of Christ.—But since the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached to them, and they had believed it, these Gentiles who were far from God, far from the people of God, have been made nigh by the blood of Christ. [Jesus Christ came to break down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile and to make peace between them. He came to bring all nigh to God and to one another. The way to unite people to one another is to unite them all to God. Jesus brought them to God by shedding his blood for them to reconcile them to God.] Jesus said: “I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:15-16). There were those among both Jews and Gentiles who would hear his voice, these he would call into the one fold by his bloodshed, his life laid down for them, that they might be one fold.

Verse 14

Eph 2:14

Ephesians 2:14

For he is our peace,—The personal Christ, whose blood was shed is our Peace, not simply our peacemaker; for in his person as God-man, the reconciliation took place. His own nature being the only tie of unity between God and mankind, and be­tween Jews and Gentiles. Through the whole passage thus intro­duced there runs a double meaning, a declaration of peace between Jew and Gentile, and between both and God. The latter is based upon the former, and the apostle gives prominence now to the one, and again to the other, but here necessarily includes both in the phrase, “our peace.”

who made both one,—[So there is no ground for separating between a Jewish element and a Gentile; in Christ they are unified. If all were really in Christ, war would disappear.]

and brake down the middle wall of partition,—The wall of partition was circumcision and the ordinances and observances of the Jewish law on the one side; on the other side were the worship of idols, the fleshly sins, and pollutions that accompany idolatry, and the lack of faith in God. Jesus removed these separating causes.

Verse 15

Eph 2:15

Ephesians 2:15

having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances;—Christ by his death abolished the law. This is the great truth Paul had to teach. We are “not under law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:14). We are not required to seek salvation on the ground of obedience to the law which says: “Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.” (Galatians 3:10). Christ has freed us from the law as a covenant of works, by himself being made subject to it (Galatians 4:5); by hearing its penalty (Galatians 3:13), “in the body of his flesh through death” (Colossians 1:22), “to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). The teaching of the passage, therefore, is that the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles consisting of their mutual enmity has been removed by Christ’s having through his death abolished the law in all its forms, as a rule of justification, and thus opening one new and living way of access to God, common to all Jews and Gentiles.

that he might create in himself of the two one new man, so making peace;—Christ took them out of the way so that he

could bring both into himself through faith, and of the two—Jew and Gentile—make one new man in Christ, so making peace. [The union or peace which flows from the abrogation of the law by the death of Christ is progressive so far as it is inward or sub­jective. The outward work is done. The long feud in the human family is healed. The distinction between Jew and Gentile is abolished. All the exclusive privileges of the former are abro­gated. The wall which had so long shut out the Gentiles is removed. There is now one fold and one shepherd. Since the abrogation of the law, “there can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus. And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:28-29).]

Verse 16

Eph 2:16

Ephesians 2:16

and might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross,—Jesus died on the cross to reconcile roan to God, to redeem him, to rescue him from his sinful course and bring him back to God, “that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). He through the cross brought both Jew and Gentile into one body, into Christ, as Paul said: “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Man brought into Christ was brought into reconciliation with God.

having slain the enmity thereby:—Having slain the enmity between God and man, he slew the enmity between all that come to God. No man can be in union with God without being in union and fellowship with every other being in the universe in union with him. The Psalmist said: “I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that observe thy precepts.” (Psalms 119:63). Again, “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7).

Verse 17

Eph 2:17

Ephesians 2:17

and he came and preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to them that were nigh;—He proclaimed the same terms of peace both to the Gentiles who were far off and to the Jews who were nigh. Of the Gentiles, Peter said: “Brethren, ye know that a good while ago God made choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, who knoweth the heart, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us; and he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.” (Acts 15:7-9).

[The coming was subsequent to the transactions of the cross. It cannot denote what Christ did personally, but what he did by sending the Holy Spirit to the apostles and other early preachers of the gospel. It was only after the cross and after the resurrection that peace could be proclaimed on the footing of faith in a Savior who had died and that God had raised him from the dead. And only in the sense of having sent Paul and other proclaimers of the gospel could Jesus be said to have preached to the Ephesians.]

Verse 18

Eph 2:18

Ephesians 2:18

for through him we both have our access—The proof that peace has thus been obtained for Jew and Gentile is that both have equally free access to God through Christ and since Gentiles have as free access to God as Jews, and upon the same terms and in the same way, it follows that the peace procured by the death of Christ was designed for the Gentiles as well as for the Jews.

in one Spirit—The word of God is the seed of the king­dom. (Luke 8:11). The Spirit of God dwells in the word, as the germinal principle dwells within the seed. The epistles con­tain the teaching that the Holy Spirit gave, through the apostles, to Christians, teaching them how they should conduct themselves as individuals and as worshiping assemblies. All the teaching that the Holy Spirit gave is found in the word of God. It is the ministry of the Spirit to the church and the world; the word of God is the only teaching of the Spirit that the church has. When we follow the word of God, we are led by the Spirit of God; when we turn from the word of God, we refuse to be led by the Spirit; when we take the word of God into the heart, we receive the Spirit into our hearts, just as we place the germinal principle of the wheat in the soil. The Spirit of God never dwells in the heart that does not receive and cherish the word of God. When the word is cherished in the heart, the Spirit of God dwells there, spreads his influence abroad, and molds all the feelings, desires, and purposes of the heart in accordance with the will of God. When one reaches this stage he is in the one Spirit.

unto the Father.—[As the right is theirs only through Christ, so it is made theirs in actual experience in the one Spirit, and they have it alike because it is one and the same Spirit that works in both Jew and Gentile. So both have continuous access to God from whom once the Gentiles were far removed, to him, in the benign character of the Father whom they can approach without fear.]

Verse 19

Eph 2:19

Ephesians 2:19

So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens—Since the Spirit had guided them through Christ to God, and they had become partakers of the blessings of the children of God in Christ Jesus, they were no more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints.

with the saints,—This is a comprehensive name for Chris­tians; the whole community of believers in Christ, without distinction of Jew and Gentile, are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. They were brought into the enjoyment of all the honors and privileges of the most honored sons of God.

and of the household of God,—Members of God’s family. The idea is that of a child at home. In the deepest sense the Gentile believer, once “far off” in both position and condition, is now at home with his loving Father. [The prominent character­istic of a family is mutual affection. A family is held together by love. There is the love of the father for each and all and there is the love for him and for each other. And so it is in the divine family. “God is love”; pure, infinite, and eternal love. This, as it is the glorious summary of his perfections, is the characteristic of every individual member of his spiritual family. “We love, because he first loved us. . . . And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.” (1 John 4:19-21). That, however, which the apostle seems to have more particularly in view is the high privilege which attaches to this divine relationship.]

Verse 20

Eph 2:20

Ephesians 2:20

being built upon the foundation of the apostles—The Gentiles were builded as stones—living stones—into the temple of God resting upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. “Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5). The gospel as preached by Paul and the other apostles is the foundation on which their converts were built into the spiritual temple—the church. Some expositors object to this interpretation, saying that those who are parts of the building could not act as agents in laying the founda­tion; but they rested on it even while they laid it.

and prophets,—The New Testament prophets were a dis­tinct class of inspired teachers to make known the will of God after it had been revealed through the apostles.

[It is fitting that the following should be said in reference to the apostles, as exercising authority, and entitled to be received in that representative character with which the Lord had endowed them. The promises of the Lord unto Peter certainly imply an apostolic office and function: “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19); and later on to the whole group of apostles, he said: “These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding with you. But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you” (John 14:25-26); on the day he ascended to heaven, he said: “Behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49); and the power came upon them on the day of Pentecost, following his resurrection when “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” It is, there­ fore, but the recognition of what had been thus appointed when for the apostles as a body, and for the prophets whose service bore such an intimate relation with their own, a place and func­tion so fundamental is indicated.]

Christ Jesus himself being the chief comer stone;—[The cornerstone is a massive stone in which the two lines of the wall at their foundation meet, by which they were bonded together, and on the perfect squareness of which the true direction of the whole walls depended, since the slightest imperfection in the cornerstone would be indefinitely multiplied along the course of the walls.]

Verse 21

Eph 2:21

Ephesians 2:21

in whom each several building, fitly framed together,—In Jesus Christ all the buildings formed of both Jews and Gentiles who enter Christ are builded or fitly framed or fitted together, not separated and divided. [This represents an action still going on, namely, that of fitting together the different parts. The growth is both outward and inward, extensive and intensive, in number and in grace.]

groweth into a holy temple in the Lord;—The church is one, the manifestations of it are many—the local bodies of Christ. The local bodies are manifestations of the Spirit dwelling in and controlling men in the flesh. They are the holy temples of God on earth; they are the dwelling places of God. They are the most sacred bodies on earth. More precious and sacred with God than was the fleshly body of his Son. It is the greatest of sacrilege to change, modify, or mutilate that body—strip it of its God-given functions and bestow them upon another body of human make. It is the highest of crimes to make it subserve human-made bodies.

Verse 22

Eph 2:22

Ephesians 2:22

in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.—Christians are builded together in Christ, for a habitation, a dwelling place of God on earth. He dwells in this holy habitation in the person of the Spirit. The church is a spiritual body, embracing all the spirits in harmony with God in heaven and on earth. It manifests on earth as the souls of men inhabiting earthly bodies are brought into spiritual oneness with God, and so separate their bodies from the corrupt ways and organizations of men into bodies controlled by the Spirit of God.

The New Testament clearly recognizes each separate congre­gation as the body of Christ. So that God through his Spirit dwells in each distinct and separate church. The church is the body of Christ in the community in which it is situated. It is not a foot in Corinth, an arm in Ephesus, an eye in Philippi, an ear in Antioch. But each was a complete integral body of Christ composed of all the different members needed to make up his body. Take the church at Jerusalem. It was in existence before any other church. Was it not the body of Christ when it was the only church on earth? Did the planting of another church take from it any of its parts, any of its functions, despoil it of its integralism and completeness as a body of Christ? Certainly not. What about the church? My conviction is that he possessed within himself all the elements of a church of Christ when no other churches were in reach of him, and the multiplication of the seed or the word of God in him would produce a church of God wherever he went, and the same is true of every child of God. A child of God in a strange land has only to worship God him­self, multiply the word of God in the hearts of others and the result is a church of the living God, complete in itself without reference to any other organization in the world. If you should ask: “Would it not be a monstrosity for Christ to be the head of so many different bodies?” Not more so than for God to be present in all places at one time.