What is the context?
Paul now describes the new standing of the Gentile believers. They are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. The people once called strangers belong within the family.
The picture shifts from a household to a building. They are built on the foundation of apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. The whole structure is fitted together in Him and grows into a holy temple.
The Greek word for temple is ναός, naos (nah-OSS). Thayer’s lexicon uses it for the sanctuary and explains its use here for the community in which God’s Spirit dwells. Paul is describing the people themselves as God’s holy dwelling.
His final words again address the Gentile readers directly: they too are being built together into that dwelling place through the Spirit. The emphasis is shared belonging and shared life in God’s presence.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly understand Christ as central to the foundation and the believers together as the dwelling of God’s Spirit. Wesley’s notes on verses 19–21 connect the foundation with God’s word declared by the apostles and prophets. The USCCB notes on verses 19–22 also identify the people of God as the temple in which His presence dwells.
The identity of the prophets is read differently. In his commentary on verse 20, the Reformed teacher John Calvin includes the Old Testament prophets and emphasizes the harmony of their teaching with the apostles. The Catholic USCCB notes understand prophets serving in the early Christian community, also mentioned in Ephesians 3:5. These are the explanations of the named sources, rather than a claim that every member of either tradition reads the detail identically.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
1 Peter 2:4–10 gives a closely related picture. Christ is the chosen living stone, and those who come to Him are living stones being built into a spiritual house. The passage joins that house with a holy priesthood and offerings acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Peter also describes people called out of darkness to proclaim God’s virtues, once without belonging and now His people. That connection extends the building picture into the purpose of the gathered community: living in God’s presence, serving Him and making His goodness known.
What is our position?
Our study What Is the True Church?, in its section We Are the Temple, understands God’s dwelling as His Spirit living in His people. It draws the practical conclusion that His presence calls for holiness in our thoughts, conduct and relationships, with reverence for the life He is forming among us.