Ephesians 2:22
In him you are also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Stop thinking about your body being a temple - the church body is a temple. The Holy Spirit does live inside you but this verse is talking about a people, a community, not a loosely affiliated collection of individuals.
The church is where God dwells - we no longer need the tabernacle or the temple because we've got the church - which, when you've been around churches for any length of time, seems like an anti-climax. From this verse we can learn 3 things about this group of people that is a dwelling place for God.
In Him - the church is a community of people drawn together because they are in him - that is the thing that defines them, all ages, races and classes should be alongside each other in Him.
Being built together - growth as a Christian is not an individual pursuit. We see it as something we do off by ourselves and then come back to the group to serve (or be served!). In reality, the growth happens with each other, in relationships where I can loved and be loved, in relationships where I need to forgive and be forgiven.
by the Spirit - the church is not a self-help group, teaching others strategies for improving their life. It is the work of the Holy Spirit - he's the one doing the real work.
Ephesians 2:19-21
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
Our status has changed from alien to citizen, we have been adopted into god's family, part of God's house.
The foundations of God's house, the church, are the prophets and apostles - specifically their teaching. The bible is the foundation of church. If we're not building on that foundation we're preparing for a fall.
Jesus is the cornerstone - he is the person that the Bible is designed to tell us about.
The church should be growing into a holy temple, that includes the people being joined together, but none of that will happen if the foundations are dodgy, or if the cornerstone is missing.
Ephesians 2:19
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.
from strangers and aliens to citizens and members of God's house. Integrated instead of isolated. Moved from the outside to the inside. Included not excluded.
Becoming a Christian isn't an isolated, individual transaction that clears a debt and obtains a ticket for heaven. It is entrance into a family, God's family.
Ephesians 2:18
For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father
We do not deserve access to the Father. Through our nature and choice, we have broken that relationship and do not deserve to have it restored. Gentiles don't deserve it, Jews don't deserve it. Blasphemers don't deserve it, churchy types don't deserve it. The only way we have that access is through Jesus. It's the same way in for everyone - One Spirit, one Saviour.
