in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
Christ is the Foundation, but Paul does not mean the church is begun by Him and completed by others; rather, all who are fitly joined together in Him form one temple of the Lord. Individual believers are temples, yes, but when united in faith and love, they become stones of a single temple where God dwells in holy unity.
AI summary
The building is all the saints, fitly framed together with exact symmetry, each part subservient to the whole, all centred in Christ the master builder and cornerstone. It grows by new souls being added and by the spiritual growth of those already laid in it, until it stands complete as a holy temple.
AI summary
The Church grows not like a mere building gaining bulk, but like a living organism, a growing branch. Christ holds the whole together as its inclusive Head, the very element in which the building has its being and its continual growth.
AI summary