the several parts one with another, so as to constitute a well compacted whole. This union, as appears from the nature of the building, is not external and visible, as a worldly kingdom under one visible head, but spiritual.
“Groweth unto a holy temple,” αὔξει εἰς ναὸν ἅγιον, i. e. increases so as to become a holy temple. A temple is a building in which God dwells. Such a temple is holy, as sacred to him. It belongs to him, is conse- crated to his use, and can neither be appropriated by any other, nor used for any thing but his service, with- out profanation. This is true of the church as a whole, and of all its constituent members. The money- changers of the world cannot, with impunity, make the church a place of traffic, or employ it in any way to answer their sordid or secular ends. The church does not belong to the state, and cannot lawfully be con- trolled by it. It is “sacred,” set apart for God. It is his house in which he alone has any authority.
The words ἐν Κυρίῳ, in the Lord, at the end of this verse, admit of different constructions. They may be connected with the word temple immediately preceding, and be taken as equivalent to the genitive ‘Temple in the Lord,’ for ‘Temple of the Lord’ But as the word Lord must refer to Christ, and as the temple is the house of God, this explanation produces confusion. They may be connected with the word holy; ‘holy in the Lord,’ i. e. holy in virtue of union with the Lord, which gives a very good sense. Or they may be re- ferred to the verb, ‘Grows by,’ or better, ‘in union
CHAP. Il. VER. 22. 153
with the Lord.’ This has in its favour the parallel passage, 4,16. The church compacted together in him, grows in him, in virtue of that union, into a holy temple.
YV. 22. What was said of the whole body of be- lievers, is here affirmed of the Ephesian Christians. “ἢ whom ye also are builded together for an habita- tion of God through the Spirit.” Budlded together, συνοικοδομεῖσθε, may mean either, ‘you together with
other believers ;’
or, ‘you severally are all united in this building. The former appears more consistent with the context. Habitation of God, κατοικητήριον τοῦ Seod, is only an equivalent. expression to the phrase “holy temple” of the preceding verse. There seems to be no sufficient reason, for considering that the κατ- οἰκητήριον of this verse refers to individual believers, and ναὸς ἅγιος in the preceding, to the united body. So that the sense were, ‘God, by dwelling in each of you by his Spirit, makes you collectively his temple.’ This confuses the whole figure. The two verses are parallel. The whole building grows to a holy temple. And you Ephesians are builded together with other believers so as to form with them this habitation of God.
The words ἐν πνεύματι, at the end of the verse, are variously explained. Some make them qualify adjec- tively the preceding word. ‘ Habitation in the Spirit,’ for ‘Spiritual habitation.’ Others express the sense paraphrastically, thus: ‘ Habitation of God in virtue of the indwelling of the Spirit.’ This is in accordance