Writing to a people who were primarily recent converts to Christ's Church, Paul characterized the Ephesians as being "no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19).
Paul then goes on to present some striking imagery:
"And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" (verse 20).
Paul's metaphor could be regarded, in modern parlance, as a structural system. There are a number of definitions that vary in technical complexity, but one source defines a structural system as "all the members of a structure considered as one integrated unit" (www.businessdirectory.com/definition/structural-system.html).
A fence, with its posts, rails and boards fastened together to make up the integrated whole, is a very simple example of a structural system.
In Paul's analogy, the structural system, appropriately, is a temple. Christ is analogous to the "chief corner stone," and Paul's extended metaphor seems to be an enlargement on an Old Testament passage that we understand pertains to the Messiah, "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner" (Psalm 118:22). That passage is quoted or alluded to in five New Testament passages, other than the one in Ephesians, with Christ applying it to Himself in three of those passages (see Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; and 1 Peter 2:7).
Anciently and, in some cases, today, the cornerstone is vital in masonry architecture, because all the other stones of the foundation are reckoned from it. Thus, the apostles and prophets serve under His leadership and revelation, forming the foundation that supports and sustains the Church as a structure.
Carrying forth his metaphor, Paul continues:
"In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
"In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Holy Spirit" (verses 21-22).
And so, under the leadership and direction of the apostles and prophets, who themselves are endowed with authority and keys and receive revelation from Christ, we each are part of this structural system, this integrated unit, this holy edifice that is God's habitation.
What a wonderful way to describe the unity that should and does prevail among the people of God!
Unity, in fact is a pervasive theme in Paul's epistle to the Ephesians and, indeed, the gospel itself. "There is one body, and one Spirit," he declared, "even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all, in you all" (Ephesians 4:4-6).
Earlier in Ephesians 2, Paul speaks of the former separation between the Ephesians, as Gentiles, from "the commonwealth of Israel" (verse 12).
"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
"For he is our peace, who had made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us" (verses 13-14).
This theme is consistent with Christ's intercessory prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, in which He petitions the Father regarding His disciples:
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
"And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
"I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me (John 17:20-23; see also Doctrine and Covenants 35:2).
Clearly, the Savior desires that we attain the unity that characterizes His Father and Him, who are one in purpose, glory and divinity.
Elsewhere in Ephesians, Paul applies the theme of unity to marital and family relationships. He quotes the passage in Genesis, "Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24; see also Ephesians 5:31).
Paul, of course, is not suggesting that a husband and wife should or will meld themselves into one physical entity; rather, that they be one, as Christ's disciples are unified and as He and the Father are unified, as expressed in John 17.
At general conference in October 1994, President Howard W. Hunter taught: "A man who holds the priesthood accepts his wife as a partner in the leadership of the home and family with full knowledge of and full participation in all decisions relating thereto. ... The Lord intended that the wife be a helpmeet for man (meet means equal) — that is, a companion equal and necessary in full partnership. Presiding in righteousness necessitates a shared responsibility between husband and wife; together you act with knowledge and participation in all family matters."
What is contemplated here, of course, is no manner of unrighteous dominion, but rather a unified desire and effort of husband and wife to obey God in all things and practice principles of righteousness, extending from the family to the Church as a whole and leading eventually to exaltation and eternal life with God and Christ.
Small wonder that, in our latter-day dispensation, He would give us this commandment: "I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine" (Doctrine and Covenants 38:27).
