The Cornerstone Is Christ Jesus

Meditations on the Book of Ephesians

May 22, 2020

The Cornerstone Is Christ Jesus

Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.

Ephesians 2:20

Read: Ephesians 2:17-22

In the previous passage, Paul emphasized that God, through faith in Jesus, has brought all people together. A line in a liturgy I use for weddings summarizes Paul’s teaching: “Where Christ is present there is surely equality as well as unity.” Paul takes this teaching even deeper in today’s reading, which reminds me of Jesus’ words in Matthew’s Gospel, “For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20).

Paul draws his inspiration from Psalm 118:22 which Jesus quoted in his parable of the Tenants, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone” (Mark 12:10). In Ephesians 2, Paul is showing us that together, the Body of Christ is the new Temple of God, “And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself” (Ephesians 2:20b).

My Takeaway: I don’t know when we will be able to gather again in sanctuaries for worship. But when we next are gathered with the church for worship, look around at all the people, and then take a few minutes to meditate on the truth that your gathering is a holy temple for the Lord. You are a “part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22b). How do you think our participation in worship may be impacted by our acute awareness that Jesus is actually present with us?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.