Charles Ellicott Commentary Ephesians 2:20

"being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone;" — Ephesians 2:20 (ASV)

Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.—In spite of much ancient and valuable authority, it seems impossible to take “the prophets” of this verse to be the prophets of the Old Testament. The order of the two words and the comparison of Ephesians 3:5 and Ephesians 4:11 appear to be decisive—to say nothing of the emphasis on the present, in contrast with the past, which runs through the whole chapter.

But it is more difficult to determine in what sense “the foundation of the apostles and prophets” is used. Of the three possible senses, the first, which makes it equivalent to “the foundation on which apostles and prophets are built,” namely, Jesus Christ Himself, may be dismissed as taking away any special force from the passage, and as unsuitable to the next clause.

The second sense, “the foundation laid by apostles and prophets”—still, of course, Jesus Christ Himself—is rather forced, and equally fails to accord with the next clause, in which our Lord is not the foundation, but the corner-stone.

The third and most natural interpretation, followed by most ancient authorities, makes the apostles and prophets to be themselves “the foundation.” This view has been put aside by modern commentators from the true feeling that ultimately there is but “one foundation” (1 Corinthians 3:11), and from a consequent reluctance to apply that name to any but Him.

But it is clear that in this passage St. Paul deliberately varies the metaphor in relation to our Lord, making Him not the foundation, or both foundation and corner-stone, but simply the corner-stone, “binding together,” according to Chrysostom’s instructive remark, “both the walls and the foundations.” Hence the word “foundation” seems to be applied, in a true, although secondary sense, to the apostles and prophets, just as in the celebrated passage (Matthew 16:18) our Lord must be held at any rate to connect St. Peter with the foundation on which the Church is built, and as in Revelation 21:14, the foundations bear the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

It is true that in this last passage we have the plural instead of the singular, and that the passage itself is not, as this is, a dogmatic passage. But these considerations are insufficient to destroy the analogy. The essential character therefore of this passage itself, supported by the other related passages, leads us to what may be granted to be an unexpected but a perfectly intelligible expression. The apostles and prophets are the foundation; yet, of course, only as setting forth in word and grace Him, who is the corner-stone.

Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.—The metaphor is drawn, of course, from Psalms 118:22 (applied by our Lord to Himself in Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17, and by St. Peter to Him in Acts 4:11), or from Isaiah 28:16 (quoted with the other passage in 1 Peter 2:6–7). In this last it may be noted that both the metaphors are united, and the tried corner-stone is also the sure foundation.

In itself it does not convey so obvious an idea of uniqueness and importance as that suggested by the “key-stone” of an arch, or the “apex-stone” of a pyramid. But it appears to mean a massive corner-stone, in which the two lines of the wall at their foundation met, by which they were bonded together, and on the perfect squareness of which the true direction of the whole walls depended, since the slightest imperfection in the corner-stone would be indefinitely multiplied along the course of the walls.

The doctrine which, if taken alone, it would convey, is simply the acceptance of our Lord’s perfect teaching and life, as the one determining influence both of the teaching and institutions, which are the basis of the Church, and of the superstructure in the actual life of the members of the Church itself. By such acceptance both assume symmetry and “stand four-square to all the winds that blow.” (See Revelation 21:16.) That this is not the whole truth seems to be implied by the variation from the metaphor in the next verse.

On verses 20-22:

In these verses there is a sudden change from a political to a physical metaphor, possibly suggested by the word “household.” The metaphor itself, of the Church as “a building of God”—frequently used in the New Testament—reaches its full perfection in this passage.

1. It starts, of course, from the words of our Lord (Matthew 16:18), On this rock I will build my Church; but in the use of it sometimes the prominent idea is of the growth by addition of individual stones, sometimes of the complex unity of the building as a whole.

2. The former idea naturally occurs first, connecting itself, indeed, with the still more personal application of the metaphor to the “edification” of the individual to be a temple of God (found, for example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:11; 1 Corinthians 8:1; 1 Corinthians 10:23; 1 Corinthians 14:4; 2 Corinthians 5:1; 2 Corinthians 10:8). Thus in 1 Corinthians 3:9, from ye are God’s building, St. Paul passes at once to the building of individual character on the one foundation. In 1 Corinthians 14:4–5, 1 Corinthians 14:12, and 1 Corinthians 14:26, the edification of the Church has reference to the effect of prophecy on individual souls. In 1 Peter 2:5, the emphasis is still on the building up of living stones upon a living stone. (Compare Acts 20:32.)

3. In this Epistle the other idea—the idea of unity—is always prominent, though not exclusive of the other (as here and in Ephesians 4:12-16).

   But this conception of unity is less absolute than that conveyed by the metaphor of the body. This will be seen by noting that it differs from it in three respects:

   First, it carries with it the notion of a more distinct individuality in each stone.

   Next, it conveys (as in the graffing in of Romans 11:17) the idea of continual growth by accretion of individual souls drawn to Christ.

   Lastly, it depicts the Church as having more completely a distinct, though not a separate, existence from Him who dwells in it. (On this last point compare the metaphor of the spouse of Christ in Ephesians 5:25-33.)

   Hence it is naturally worked out with greater completeness in an Epistle that has so especially for its object the evolution of the doctrine of “the one Holy Catholic Church.”