Ephesians 2:22

The Holy Spirit indwells the church universal. He, of course, also indwells ever believer individually (John 14:17; Romans 5:5; Romans 8:9; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 2:12; Galatians 3:2; Galatians 4:6; 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:13). Paul compared the individual believer to a temple of God elsewhere (1 Corinthians 6:19). He also referred to the local Christian congregation as a temple (1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16). However here he revealed that all Christians are part of one great temple, the church universal.

"Now His presence is dispersed, not localized. Now His presence is incarnated, instead of confined behind a veil." [Note: Bock, "A Theology . . .," p. 314.]

"What a fellowship rivets our gaze in the communion of saints! Where shall we find its like? Gathered from east and west, from patriarchs of the prior and laggards of the last times, from the courts of kings and the cabins of beggars, from babes-in-arms and centenarians, right honourables and ragamuffins, from the ranks of the learned and the ignorant, the pharisee and the publican, the sharp-witted and the feeble-minded, the respectable and the criminal classes-what a divine power must be put forth to mould all these incongruous elements into one consentient [united in opinion] whole, stamped with one regenerate likeness for evermore, the radiant image of the ’Alpha and Omega,’ God’s Yokefellow and theirs, coequally David’s Son and David’s Lord!" [Note: Simpson, p. 68.]

God’s plan for believers included the building of a new entity after Jesus Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension (cf. Matthew 16:18). It was to be the church. The church is not just a continuation and modernization of Israel under a new name but a new creation (Ephesians 2:15). In it Jewish and Gentile believers stand with equal rights and privileges before God. Membership in this new body is one of the great blessings of believers in the present age along with our individual blessings (Ephesians 2:1-10). Paul glorified God for that blessing in this section of Ephesians.

"I wonder if anything is more urgent today, for the honour of Christ and for the spread of the gospel, than that the church should be, and should be seen to be, what by God’s purpose and Christ’s achievement it already is-a single new humanity, a model of human community, a family of reconciled brothers and sisters who love their Father and love each other, the evident dwelling place of God by his Spirit. Only then will the world believe in Christ as Peacemaker. Only then will God receive the glory due to his name." [Note: Stott, pp. 111-12.]