Foundation Text

Ephesians 2:19-22

Greek Key Terms

• συμπολῖται (sympolitai) - "fellow citizens" - shared citizenship (2:19)
• οἰκεῖοι (oikeioi) - "members of household" - family belonging (2:19)
• ἐποικοδομηθέντες (epoikodomēthentes) - "built on" - constructed upon foundation (2:20)
• ἀκρογωνιαῖος (akrogōniaios) - "cornerstone" - foundational stone determining alignment (2:20)
• ναὸν (naon) - "temple" - sanctuary, holy dwelling (2:21)
• κατοικητήριον (katoikētērion) - "dwelling place" - permanent residence (2:22)

Context: Gentile inclusion section (Ephesians 2:11-22). Previously "strangers and foreigners" (2:19; cf. 2:12), now brought near through Christ's blood (2:13). Christ is "our peace" breaking down dividing wall (2:14-18). Follows broader argument about salvation by grace (2:1-10). Part of prison epistle (3:1; 4:1; 6:20).

Connections

• TO:
  • Exodus 19:5-6 - kingdom of priests, holy nation
  • 1 Kings 8:27 - will God indeed dwell on earth?
  • Psalm 118:22 - stone that builders rejected has become cornerstone
• FROM OT:
  • Isaiah 28:16 - behold, I am laying in Zion for foundation a stone, tested stone, precious cornerstone
  • Zechariah 4:7 - bring forward top stone - headstone
• FROM NT:
  • Matthew 16:18 - on this rock I will build my church
  • 1 Corinthians 3:9-11 - you are God's building; no one can lay foundation other than Jesus Christ
  • 1 Peter 2:4-8 - living stone, living stones built into spiritual house
  • Revelation 21:14 - twelve foundations with names of twelve apostles of Lamb

Christological Connection: Church as living temple fulfills OT temple trajectory through union with Christ. Escalation: Solomon's temple = physical building, localized in Jerusalem; church = global community, present wherever believers gather. OT temple required pilgrimage to Jerusalem; NT temple is portable - Spirit indwells believers everywhere (1 Corinthians 6:19). OT temple excluded Gentiles beyond outer court; NT temple incorporates Gentiles as "fellow heirs, fellow members of the body" (Ephesians 3:6). Christ as cornerstone (2:20): Isaiah 28:16 promised God would lay cornerstone in Zion; Peter applies to Christ (1 Peter 2:6-7). Rejected stone (Psalm 118:22, crucifixion) becomes chief cornerstone (resurrection/exaltation). Trajectory: Tabernacle (Exodus 40) → Solomon's temple (1 Kings 8) → destroyed (586 BC) → Second Temple (Ezra 6) → Christ as living temple (John 2:19-21) → church as spiritual temple (Ephesians 2:21-22) → New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:22). Already/not yet: Church is presently "being built" (2:22, ongoing) but not yet complete. Consummation: Revelation 21:14 - New Jerusalem's wall has "twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" - apostolic foundation eternalized in eschatological city. From foundation to fulfillment: Ephesians 2:20 - apostles/prophets are foundation in present age; Revelation 21:22 - "But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple" - building imagery transcended because entire reality sanctified. Dwelling place (Ephesians 2:22): presently Spirit dwells in church; ultimately "the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them" (Revelation 21:3) - corporate temple consummated in cosmic dwelling. From living stones being assembled → to glorified temple-city where "the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp" (Revelation 21:23). Christ is cornerstone now (determining church's alignment); Christ is temple then (filling New Jerusalem with presence). Church's temple-identity anticipates New Jerusalem's temple-reality.

Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme (primary) — the church as living temple with Christ as cornerstone is the already/not-yet stage of the canon-wide temple-and-presence thread, running from tabernacle through Solomon's temple to Christ's body and on to the New Jerusalem. Anti-default check applied: within TT 109 typology is held tertiary and narrow, restricted to two correspondences (Eden → restored paradise; the Most Holy Place → the cube-city), so the church-as-temple is not billed as a third; Paul states an identity ("In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord"), not a type-antitype escalation. (The church-as-temple development itself is owned by TT 158 — Temple Ecclesiology; TT 109 cites it rather than annexing it.)

Trajectory Table: 109 - New Jerusalem (Ultimate Temple-City)