Jews and Gentiles are united into one church.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28). Paul says the same thing here to the Ephesians, “Through him [Christ] we both [Jews and Gentiles] have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
That insight has major implications for the relationship of Jews and Gentiles to one another in the Christian church. And the church, you will recall, is the central theme of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
By faith in Christ the gentile Christians in Ephesus and gentile believers in general have the same access to God as God’s covenant people enjoyed all along. This allows Paul to draw a conclusion. He opens this section with the introductory word “consequently.” It is as though he were saying that since you Ephesians have the same direct access to God as the covenant people always had, it follows that “you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.”
Recall that formerly when the Ephesian Gentiles were without Christ, they were “excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise” (verse 12). By faith in Christ all that has changed. Now they no longer lack a place in the kingdom of God. Now they are fellow citizens with God’s people.
They are not only citizens of the same kingdom, but they are even closer than that. They are members of the same family. God is, after all, their Father, and they have access to him just as the Jewish believers do.
So far Paul has tried to help his readers picture the close relationship in the church between gentile Christians and Jewish believers by directing their attention to such concepts as citizenship in a kingdom or membership in the same family. Now he switches to the picture of a building and has them think of the unity and coherence among the various structural members of a building: the foundation, the cornerstone, the walls rising to form the superstructure. He says the Ephesians are “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”
The firm foundation of the Ephesian congregation, Paul states, is the doctrine Christ gave them through his Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles. Throughout the ages there has been only one plan of salvation. Old Testament believers looked forward to the Messiah, or Savior, who was to come. New Testament believers look back to the Savior who has come. Hence the apostles and prophets, bearers of God’s Word about the Savior, can fairly be called the “foundation” of the Ephesian congregation, and the Christ they preached, its “cornerstone.”
But what is occurring in Ephesus is but one small example of what is going on all over the world wherever the gospel is preached. “In him [Christ]” the apostle declares, “the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.” The “temple” to which Paul is referring is the holy Christian church. It is the sum total of all believers, those who in past ages waited in faith for the Messiah to come and those who in the present trust in the merits of the Savior who has come. As the gospel progresses through the world, new believers are added daily to this church.
As carpenters and craftsmen add more and more component parts to a building as it proceeds toward completion, so too Christ is building his church—one believer at a time. Each believer is carefully fitted into his or her niche. All are known by name. All are important to the builder. All fulfill a purpose. (Recall the “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” in verse 10). Hence, Paul can give his readers this assurance: “In him [Christ] you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”