WE MUST PUT together part of yesterday’s verse and a new one: “in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21–22). This portion makes clear who the center of the Christian faith is; it is not the apostles nor the prophets—“in whom [Christ] the whole structure is joined together”—in Christ, not in them. He holds together the whole structure—the church. When built on the apostles, it is divisive; when built on Jesus Christ, it is uniting—the whole structure is joined together. Out of Him it flies apart, the ages being witness. “The whole structure . . . grows into a holy temple in the Lord”—note: “in the Lord.” Out of Him—“in the apostles”—it grows into a holy tempest about apostolic succession.
Again “in whom [not in them] you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” When you are in Christ, you “are built into it”—the church. If you are not in Christ, but in yourself, then you are not in the church. The church is the society of those who are in Christ. Being in the apostles would not make you in the church. One would have to ask, Which apostle? When? “And they all forsook him, and fled” (Mark 14:50).
In Christ you are in God and the Spirit is in you—“a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” The dwelling place of God in the Spirit gives the sense of permanency—a dwelling place, not a temporary inn where guests come and go. The Spirit does not come and go with our emotions. He shall abide with you forever. When He comes in, He comes in to stay. The only way we can get Him out is to sin Him out. To sin Him out does not mean a temporary lapse—it means a permanent sin set of the will. This possibility of being a permanent dwelling place of God in the Spirit, individually and collectively, is the most beautiful thing imaginable.
O Jesus, when I have Thee I have God and I have the Spirit. What more can I have? When I have Thee I have everything—plus. I am rich—immeasurably rich. Help me to want nothing besides, for there is nothing besides. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I am the “dwelling place of God in the Spirit”—let that humble, embolden, and empower me.
