In whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto a holy temple in the Lord:
All Commentaries on Ephesians 2:21 Go To Ephesians 2
John Chrysostom
AD 407
* In whom each several building.
Mark, how he knits it all together, and represents Him at one time, as holding down the whole body from above, and welding it together; at another time, as supporting the building from below, and being, as it were, a root, or base. And whereas he had used the expression, He created in Himself of the two one new man; Ephesians 2:15 by this he clearly shows us, that by Himself Christ knits together the two walls: and again, that in Him it was created. And He is the first-born, says he, of all creation, that is, He Himself supports all things.
* In whom each several building, fitly framed together.
Whether you speak of the roof, or of the walls, or of any other part whatsoever, He it is supports the whole. Thus he elsewhere calls Him a foundation. For other foundations, says he, can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11 In whom each several building, he says, fitly framed together. Here he displays the perfectness of it, and indicates that one cannot otherwise have place in it, unless by living with great exactness. It grows says he into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also, he adds, are built together. He is speaking continuously: Into a holy temple, for a habitation of God in the Spirit. What then is the object of this building? It is that God may dwell in this temple. For each of you severally is a temple, and all of you together are a temple. And He dwells in you as in the body of Christ, and as in a Spiritual temple. He does not use the word which means our coming to God, (πρόσοδος) but which implies God's bringing us to Himself, (προσαγωγή) for we came not out of ourselves, but we were brought near by Him. No one, says Christ, comes unto the Father but by Me. And again, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. John 14:6
He joins them with the Saints and again returns to his former image, nowhere suffering them to be disunited from Christ. Doubtless then, this is a building that shall go on until His coming. Doubtless it was for this reason that Paul said, As a wise master builder, I laid a foundation. 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 And again that Christ is the foundation. What then means all this? You observe that the comparisons have all referred to the subject-matters, and that we must not expound them to the very letter. The Apostle speaks from analogy as Christ does, where He calls the Father an husbandman, John 15:1 and Himself a root. Revelation 22:16
