#DailyDevotion You Are Individually & Collectively The Temple Of God
Eph. 2:17-21 17And He came with the good news of peace to you who were far away and to those who were near, 18since by one Spirit he enables both of us to come to the Father. 19Then you are no longer foreigners or strangers but fellow citizens with the holy people and members of His household. 20You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and Christ Jesus Himself is the Cornerstone. 21In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows to be a holy temple in the Lord. 22In Him you, too, are built up with the others to be God’s home in the Spirit.
Jesus is not only the Peace between Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews aka Goy) but he is the Peace for both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus came with this good news of peace proclaimed by the Christmas angels. Jesus by the message of the cross removed the hatred of God toward us because we all were law breakers. Strangely, while there was hatred toward us in God because of our wickedness, the Father sends Jesus because he loves us. Probably one of the biggest things we cannot wrap our minds around here. It is a great mystery. God hates sinners (Psalm 5). God loves sinners. (John 3:16) But the enmity or hatred toward us is removed in Christ. By and through Jesus’ blood (which means his suffering and death), God the Father is appeased. He is at peace with us, both Jew and Gentile. He has given us his Spirit so we may believe this and have a clear and a clean conscience concerning our sins and our sinfulness. With pure and clean consciences we can boldly and confidently come to the Father and receive from him every good and perfect gift.
Through Jesus good news of peace there is no longer Jews or Gentiles in Christ. There is only Jesus who is Israel. Through faith in Jesus and baptism into Jesus we are made one with him with one Spirit. We are “no longer foreigners or strangers but fellow citizens with the holy people and members of His household.” The Church doesn’t replace Israel. The Church is Israel and always has been. It is the Israel of faith who receives all of God’s promises and to whom all of God’s promised are fulfilled. There is not a Jewish/Messianic Church and a Christian Church. There is only one Church, the Church of Jesus Christ (not saying a denomination needs this name to be the true Church). There is only Jesus’ body and Jesus Temple and Jesus’ household. No one is before or after the other here. Jesus is our head and we are his body.
The body is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and Christ Jesus Himself is the Cornerstone.” Again this is why we confess in the creeds one holy catholic and apostolic Church. The Church’s foundation is the teachings of Jesus’ apostles and those have been written for us in the New Testament, which is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. There isn’t one set of rules for one people and another set for a different people. We all have the same Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself is the chief cornerstone. The cornerstone directs all the lines of the building. The building is shaped by it. Jesus therefore is he who shapes and guides the building of his body, his temple, the Church. Not only are we collectively the body and temple of Christ, we are also individually God’s home in the Spirit. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all reside in your heart (the center of your being), your body being their Temple. Yet, we are never only individual Christians but Christians who are members of a greater whole which is Christ’s body.
Heavenly Father, grant us faith in the good news of Jesus that we may approach your throne with boldness and confidence and give us your Spirit so we may be your holy temple now and forevermore. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.