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No.53.
The Living Room (2: -19 - 22).
The Living Room (2: 21).
pp. 121 - 125
Our last article was devoted largely to the concept that a tabernacle or a temple, in
spite of the ritual associated with them, were `dwelling places' of the Most High among
men. We must now turn our attention to Eph. 2: 19-22 where both `temple' and
`dwelling place' are the theme. We have already set out the six compounds of oikos
`house' that are found in these four verses, and must now consider the section in further
detail.
The first thing that demands attention is the obvious correspondence of this section
with Eph. 4: 7-19, for the word translated `fitly framed together' of Eph. 2: 21, "all the
building fitly framed together groweth", is repeated in chapter 4::
"From whom the whole body fitly joined together . . . . . maketh increase" (Eph. 4: 16).
It is no new doctrine that `the Body' is `a Temple', this truth being enunciated by the
Lord concerning Himself (John 2: 21), and of the believer of I Cor. 6: 19, but the
references in Ephesians speak not only of the individual believer, but of the complete
church of the Mystery. There are three Greek words translated `temple' in the N.T. that
need to be discriminated, the one oikos `house' is found once, namely in Luke 11: 51
`between the altar and the temple'.
Hieron. This word indicates the temple as a whole, the sacred precincts, the courts
and colonnade, but naos, the other word used, denotes the innermost shrine, the Holy of
Holies. Hieron is used in Matt. 4: 5 `a pinnacle of the temple', and it was in the sacred
precincts, not in the Holy of Holies that the money changers sat (Matt. 21: 12). Naos is
used in Matt. 23: 16, and in verse 35, where in Luke 11: 51 the Evangelist uses house
oikos, Matthew uses `temple' naos of the same event, namely the shedding of the blood
of Zacharias in the temple. It is the naos that is referred to in Matt. 27: 51 `The veil
of the temple (the innermost shrine) was rent in twain'. While John 2: 14, 15 speaks of
the hieron, John 2: 19 uses the word naos. It was here that the ark was placed, and seen
when the temple of God naos was opened in heaven (Rev. 11: 19).
The Church, which is the Body of Christ, is not looked upon as the whole temple, with
its courts and colonnades, but as the innermost sanctuary, the Holy of Holies. We have,
in No.33 of this series, shown that the word translated `saint' is not necessarily restricted
to a believer; it is used of a holy place as well as of a holy person. The inheritance of the
saints (Eph. 1: 18) is the inheritance of the `heavenly holiest of all' where Christ sits at the
right hand of God or in other words `in heavenly places'. So here in Eph. 2: 19 we read
of `fellow citizens with the saints', and as the A.V. stands, no difficulty is presented.
When, however, we are made aware that the literal rendering of this passage is
`fellow citizens OF the saints' we are conscious of a difficulty. How can one saint