Ephesians 2.22a-Church Age Believers Are Being Built Together Into God's Dwelling Place
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday February 20, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 2:22a-Church Age Believers Are Being Built Together Into God’s Dwelling Place
Lesson # 129
Ephesians 2:22 In other words, by appropriating by faith your union and identification with Him, all of you without exception are being built together into God’s dwelling place by means of the omnipotence of the Spirit. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 2:22 is composed of an epexegetical statement kai hymeis synoikodomeisthe eis katoikētērion tou theou (καὶ ὑμεῖς συνοικοδομεῖσθε εἰς κατοικητήριον τοῦ θεοῦ), “in other words, all of you without exception are being built together into God’s dwelling place.”
It is modified by two prepositional phrases, which serve as bookends for this epexegetical statement.
The first en hō (ἐν ᾧ), “by appropriating by faith union and identification with Him” fronts this epexegetical clause while the latter en pneumati (ἐν πνεύματι), “by means of the omnipotence of the Spirit” completes this epexegetical statement.
Now, Ephesians 2:22 is an epexegetical statement, which means that it is defining for the reader Paul’s assertion in Ephesians 2:21.
It asserts that Gentile church age believers are being built together into a dwelling place of God by appropriating by faith their union and identification with the Lord, which appropriates the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.
On the other hand, in Ephesians 2:21 Paul asserts that on the basis of these Gentile church age believers being continually fitted inextricably together by means of justification by faith in Christ and union and identification with Him, like a building they are growing into a holy temple by means of fellowship with the Lord.
Therefore, this assertion in Ephesians 2:22 explains in greater detail the one in Ephesians 2:21 because it is defining what this holy temple is, namely a dwelling place of God.
The referent of the nominative second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) is of course the recipients of this epistle who Paul describes in Ephesians 2:11 as Gentile Christians.
The word not only refers to these Gentile Christians living in the various Christians community throughout the Roman province of Asia as a corporate unit but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
The use of this personal pronoun su (σύ) is unnecessary in Greek since the form of a finite verb in this language indicates the person, number and gender of the subject and this is what makes Greek an “inflectional” language.
When the personal pronoun is used therefore, it may serve to clarify the subject or contrast the subject with someone else or for emphasis and here in Ephesians 2:22 it is used for emphasis and contrast.
First, is used to emphasize that these Gentile church age believers are being built together into a dwelling place of God by appropriating by faith their union and identification with the Jesus Christ, which appropriates the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, it serves to contrast these Gentile church age believers with Jewish church age believers who they have been inextricably joined together through the baptism of the Spirit, which took place at their justification, and like these Jewish Christians, identified them with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
The verb synoikodomoumai (συνοικοδομοῦμαι) pertains to a building undergoing construction along with another and specifically, it pertains to building an edifice or constructing one from various parts.
Therefore, this verb is used in a metaphorical or figurative sense of the Gentile Christian community being built together into a dwelling place of God.
The means by which this is accomplished is by experiencing fellowship with the Lord by appropriating by faith their union and identification with Him, which in turn appropriates the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.
The noun theos (θεός) refers to the Father and the articular construction of the word expresses the idea that there were many gods in the world, but the God Jewish and Gentile Christians worshipped was the one and only true God in contrast to unregenerate humanity which worshipped the pantheon of Graeco-Roman gods.
The noun katoikētērion (κατοικητήριον) refers to the place in which God the Father dwells, which is the souls and bodies of these Gentile church age believers and is the object of the preposition eis (εἰς), which functions a marker of a change of state or condition.
Therefore, it marks the members of the Gentile Christian community as a group of individuals whose character is being transformed from the state of unregenerate sinners enslaved to the sin nature and Satan and his cosmic system to those whom God the Father indwells.
The noun theos (θεός) functions as a genitive of possession, which expresses the idea that this dwelling place, which is the souls and bodies of these Gentile Christians, “belong to” God the Father or in other words, they are His possession.
This harkens back to Paul’s statements in Ephesians 1:11 and 14.
The former asserts that the church age believer have been claimed by God as His possession because He predestinated them in eternity past to adoption as His sons according to His predetermined plan.
The latter asserts that the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in church age believers is the down payment of their inheritance until the Father redeems them who are His possession at the rapture of the church.
The present tense of this verb synoikodomoumai (συνοικοδομοῦμαι) is a customary or stative present which is used to signal an ongoing state.
Therefore, the customary present tense of this verb expresses the idea that these Gentile church age believers “continually exist in the state or condition of” being built together with each other and with members of the Jewish Christian community into a dwelling place of God the Father.
In other words, like the present tense of the verb of the verb synarmologeō (συναρμολογέω) in Ephesians 2:21, the present tense of synoikodomoumai (συνοικοδομοῦμαι) in Ephesians 2:22 indicates than this spiritual building process or construction is presently underway and continuing to its completion at the rapture.
However, the present tense of the former indicates that the church is a work in progress in the sense that it is growing every day as a result of sinners exercising faith in Jesus Christ.
This results in the Father imputing His Son’s righteousness to them with the result that He declares them justified.
Simultaneously, the Father through the work of the Spirit in baptism places these justified sinners in union with His Son and identifies them with His Son in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
This is supported by the fact that synarmologeō (συναρμολογέω) in Ephesians 2:21 functions syntactically as a causal participle, which as we noted presents “the reason why” or “the basis upon which” the members of the Christian community exist in the state of growing into a holy temple in the Lord.
Thus, it expresses the idea that “on the basis of” the members of the Christian community existing in the state of being continually fitted inextricably together as a corporate unit by means of justification by faith and union and identification with Christ, they are growing into a holy temple by means of fellowship with the Lord.
On the other hand of the latter indicates that the church is a work in progress in the sense of the individual members of the Christian community growing up spiritually and as a corporate unit.
This is indicated by the fact that Ephesians 2:22 associates the growth of the dwelling place of God with appropriating by faith one’s union and identification with Jesus Christ.
This post-justification faith is the responsibility of those who are already children of God through justification by faith in Jesus Christ and union and identification with Him.
The passive voice of this verb synoikodomoumai (συνοικοδομοῦμαι) here in Ephesians 2:22 indicates the subject receives the action of the verb by an expressed or unexpressed agency.
There are two expressed agencies, which are inextricably linked together.
The first is the prepositional phrase en hō (ἐν ᾧ), which contains the figure of metonymy, which indicates that the person of the Christ is put for these Gentile church age believers appropriating by faith their identification with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
The second is the prepositional phrase en pneumati (ἐν πνεύματι), which also contains the figure of metonymy, which indicates that the person of the Holy Spirit is put for the exercise of His omnipotence on behalf of these Gentile church age believer when they appropriate by faith their union and identification with Christ.
This post-justification faith appropriates the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, which thus enables the Spirit to accomplish this task of building them into a dwelling place, which belongs to the Father.
Therefore, the passive voice of the verb synoikodomoumai (συνοικοδομοῦμαι) indicates that these Gentile church age believers as the subject of this verb receive the action of being built together with each other and with members of the Jewish Christian community into God’s dwelling place.
This we noted is accomplished by these Gentile church age believers appropriating by faith their union and identification with Him.
This post-justification faith in turn appropriates the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit and enables the Spirit to accomplish this task of building them into a dwelling place, which belongs to the Father.