NT Text: Ephesians 2:20
OT Source(s):
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Typology
Significance: At 1 Kings 6:7 the temple is built "using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built" — the stones are shaped elsewhere and brought to the site already fitted for their place in the LORD's house. Paul describes the church as the eschatological temple "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone" (Eph 2:20), in whom "the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord" (2:21). The Connection Method is Typology working through the temple trajectory: Solomon's stone-built sanctuary is the historical type whose fulfillment is the living temple of God's people, where the believers are the dressed stones (cf. 1 Pet 2:5) and Christ the cornerstone that determines and unites the whole structure. The escalation is decisive — the former temple housed God's glory in a building of stone, while the antitype is "a dwelling place for God in His Spirit" (2:22), indwelt rather than merely visited. The detail of stones silently prepared away from the site fittingly pictures God forming His people now to be set, joined, and beautiful in the temple that is Christ's own body — the place where God is finally and forever to be enjoyed.