Ephesians 2.22b-The Means By Which Church Age Believers Are Being Built Together Into God's Dwelling Place
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday February 22, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 2:22b-The Means By Which Church Age Believers Are Being Built Together Into God’s Dwelling Place
Lesson # 130
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.
Just as Paul employed the prepositional phrases en hō (ἐν ᾧ), “by means of justification by faith and union and identification with Him” and en kyriō (ἐν κυρίῳ), “by appropriating by faith union and identification with the Lord” in Ephesians 2:21 to serve as bookends for his assertion in this verse so he does the same with these two prepositional phrases here in Ephesians 2:22.
The prepositional phrases in Ephesians 2:21 serve to emphasize that the members of the Christian community are growing experientially into a holy temple by means of fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ because or on the basis that they are being continually fitted inextricably together by means of justification by faith and union and identification with Jesus Christ.
Thus, they ultimately serve to emphasize the spiritual principle that the church age believers fellowship with the Lord is based upon their union and identification with Him.
Without the latter, there could be no former.
Now, in the same manner, the prepositional phrases en hō (ἐν ᾧ), “by appropriating by faith union and identification with Him” and en pneumati (ἐν πνεύματι), “by means of the omnipotence of the Spirit” here in Ephesians 2:22 serve to emphasize Paul’s assertion in this verse.
Thus, they serve to emphasize 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.
So therefore, we can see that these prepositional phrases actually parallel each other.
In Ephesians 2:21, the prepositional phrases en hō (ἐν ᾧ), “by means of justification by faith and union and identification with Him” parallels the prepositional phrases en hō (ἐν ᾧ), “by appropriating by faith union and identification with Him” in Ephesians 2:22.
This is clearly indicated by the fact that both speak of appropriating by faith their union and identification with Jesus Christ.
The prepositional phrase en kyriō (ἐν κυρίῳ), “by appropriating by faith union and identification with the Lord” in Ephesians 2:21 also parallels the prepositional phrase en pneumati (ἐν πνεύματι), “by means of the omnipotence of the Spirit” in Ephesians 2:22.
This is clearly indicated by the fact that both also speak of appropriating by faith one’s union and identification with Jesus Christ, which appropriates the omnipotence of the Spirit which enables the church age believer to grow up spiritually into the image of Jesus Christ.
These parallel expressions serve to emphasize with Paul’s readers that the members of the body of Christ and in particular both Jewish and Gentile Christian communities which compose the body of Christ are inextricably tied to each other by their union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
It also emphasizes that their growth spiritually as individuals and as a corporate unit is inextricably tied to appropriating by faith this union and identification with Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, the expression hō pasa oikodomē (ᾧ πᾶσα οἰκοδομὴ), “the whole building,” and naon hagion (ναὸν ἅγιον), “holy temple” in Ephesians 2:21 parallels the expression katoikētērion tou theou (κατοικητήριον τοῦ θεοῦ), “God’s dwelling place” in Ephesians 2:22.
This is indicated by the fact that the referent of each of these metaphor is the Gentile church age believer.
Each of these parallel metaphorical expressions also serve to emphasize with Paul’s Gentile readers that they are not second class citizens in relation to the Jewish Christian community since both together form the church, which is the body of Jesus Christ and His bride.
The referent of the dative masculine singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) is Jesus Christ and contains the figure of metonymy.
This means that the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is put for the church age believer appropriating by faith their union and identification with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
In other words, the Lord is put for experiencing fellowship with Him as a result of appropriating by faith their union and identification with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
This interpretation is supported by the meaning of the verb synoikodomoumai (συνοικοδομοῦμαι), which like the verb auxō (αὔξω) in Ephesians 2:21 speaks of the spiritual growth of the members of the body of Christ as a result of appropriating by faith their union and identification with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
It is also supported by the present tense of this verb auxō (αὔξω), which like the verb auxō (αὔξω) in Ephesians 2:21, expresses a continual present state.
In other words, the church age believer grows up spiritually into Christ-likeness by experiencing fellowship with the Lord.
This is accomplished by appropriating by faith their union and identification with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
In fact, it is also accomplished by obeying the various Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions of Scripture with the greatest being the command to love one another as Christ has loved the believer (John 13:34; 15:12).
This relative pronoun hos (ὅς) is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which functions as a marker of means.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase en hō (ἐν ᾧ) indicates that it is “by means of” church age believers experiencing fellowship with the triune God by appropriating by faith their union and identification with the Lord in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father that they are being built together into dwelling place of God by means of the omnipotence of the Spirit.
The referent of the dative neuter singular form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα), “the Spirit” is of course the Holy Spirit, who is the third member of the Trinity.
This word also contains the figure of metonymy, which means that the person of the Holy Spirit is put for the exercise of His divine omnipotence on behalf of these Gentile church age believer when they experience fellowship with the Lord.
This is accomplished by appropriating by faith their union and identification with Him, which in turn appropriates the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.
Consequently, this post-justification faith enables the Spirit to accomplish this task of building these Gentile Christians into a dwelling place, which belongs to the Father.
The noun pneuma (πνεῦμα), “the Spirit” is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which functions as a marker of means, which means it marks this word as the means by which the action of the verb synoikodomoumai (συνοικοδομοῦμαι) is accomplished.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is the means by which the Gentile church age believer is being built together with Jewish church age believers into a dwelling place of God the Father.
The contents of Ephesians 2:11-22 should deeply affect the Gentile Christian community here in the twenty-first century in the sense that it should not only prompt them to offer up thanksgiving to the Father for what He has accomplished for them through both the work of His Son and the Spirit but also inspire worship of Him.
It should prompt them to offer thanksgiving to the Father for what He did for them at justification and through the baptism of the Spirit.
Psalm 9:1 I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. (NASB95)
Psalm 95:6, “Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. 7 For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.” (NASB95)