On Second Thought · November 14, 2026
“And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:22, NIV)
At a church supper, you can learn a great deal by watching where people sit. Most of us look for a familiar face, and there’s real comfort in being known well enough for someone to save you a seat. I wonder, though, how it feels to come through the door when nobody knows your name. You may be welcomed warmly at the entrance and still spend the meal wondering where you fit. I think of that moment when Paul tells the Gentile believers in Ephesus that they are fellow citizens and members of God’s household. They had once stood outside the covenant promises he describes. Now they belonged at the table. How the people already seated made room for them would say something about how well they understood what Christ had done.
Paul begins Ephesians 2 with the grace that makes us alive with Christ. Then he shows what that same grace does among us. Jesus brings Jews and Gentiles together through the cross, and both have access to the Father by one Spirit. New Testament scholar Holly Hearon points out that the two groups together become the household in which God dwells. Think how much that asks of people who have spent a lifetime learning who is near and who is far away. They bring their histories, languages, and customs with them, and they learn to live as family because they have been brought near by the same Lord. The grace that makes me alive in Christ also gives me brothers and sisters I might never have chosen for myself.
Paul moves from a household to a building and calls Jesus the chief cornerstone. I find it helpful to picture a mason checking the line of a wall. Every stone has to fit in relation to the cornerstone and to the stones beside it. The Greek word synoikodomeisthe means “you are being built together.” The verb describes work still underway, and the “you” is plural. I need that reminder when I’m discouraged by how slowly I’m learning to love someone, or when I’m tempted to think I’ve already learned all I need to know about them. Christ is still at work in both of us. The brother or sister whose habits I find difficult may be the very person through whom the Spirit teaches me patience.
That has a bearing on whom I call, whom I pray for by name, and whose account I’m willing to hear when something goes wrong. It has a bearing on whether a person’s income or education affects how seriously I take their judgment. Sometimes repentance is as specific as admitting I’ve dismissed a sister’s idea several times, then praised it when someone I knew better said much the same thing. I can go back, tell her what I did, and give her the credit she deserved. The unity Christ has given us becomes visible when we give one another the attention and honor that belong to members of the same household.
Ephesians 2:11–22 describes Christian unity as the work of Jesus Christ, who reconciles people to God and to one another through the cross. Jesus is the cornerstone, and the Holy Spirit makes the people being built together God’s dwelling. The passage gives us a way to examine our congregational life by asking whether people Christ has brought near experience the welcome of His household.
Holly Hearon’s commentary on Ephesians 2:11–22 at Working Preacher
On Second Thought
I usually imagine making someone feel at home by offering them something. I can show them where to sit, bring a plate, or introduce them to a friend. Sometimes the relationship deepens when I’m willing to receive something from them. Suppose a woman who has only recently begun coming to church offers to pray with me after a difficult week. I could thank her and assure her I’m managing. Or I could tell her what has been hard and let her pray. The person I thought I was welcoming has helped carry my burden. In that moment we begin to know each other as members of the same family.
I think the same thing can happen when someone sees our congregation from a different angle and cares enough to tell us what they see. My first instinct may be to explain why we’ve always done things a certain way. It takes reverence to pause and consider whether Christ is using their words to show me something I’ve missed. The Spirit may begin His work in a church through a person who has yet to learn everybody’s name. I’m grateful for the quiet devotion you already practice. Let it be visible today in the way you receive someone’s help or give their words time to reach you.
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