And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Ephesians 2:22

“You too.”  Paul is writing to all the believers in Ephesus, an unusual assortment of people and cultures. They lived in the same city, Ephesus, the prosperous and influential city located on the crossroads connecting Europe, Africa and Asia, held together by a desire to be involved in international trade.  Among them a church, the body of Christ, is being formed, made up of people from a bewildering assortment of backgrounds.

Paul refers to these believers who lived in Ephesus as a building in which God lives by his Spirit.  It has nothing to do with nation, tribe, language or class.  It is a spiritual unity that is created by the Holy Spirit of God, a new thing on the face of the earth!

Paul lived in that world, understood it and participated in it wholeheartedly.  He spent three years there in Ephesus!  He loved the Jewish believers, the believers of a variety of cultures – all who were in that sprawling city.  He loved them because the Spirit of the Lord that was alive in him, a Jew, and was also alive in them, Gentiles of all kinds.  That is a unity that the world does not understand and, while they may appreciate it, cannot even imagine how mighty it is. Nor how real and consequential it is.

Paul reminds his readers that they, too, are God’s dwelling place now and forever.  They are new creatures, bonded to Jesus Christ!  His house!

Am I as excited about this as I should be?  Hardly, because I am sort of used to it.  The believers in Ephesus were part of a new thing, a building in which God is at home!  I need to recover the newness of this body and live in it as one out of all tribes and cultures who loves Jesus.  This is my new identity, and it marks me forever.