In this passage from Ephesians and elsewhere in the Bible, the Apostles are recognized as the foundations of the Church. Some Christians take great exception to this notion and affirm, sometimes rather contentiously, that only Jesus Christ is the foundation. This way of speaking takes the metaphor of a building too literally. It is true that a building must have a firm foundation, though we often, in fact, use the plural "foundations" in reference to buildings. Apart from the foundations, and depending on the style of the building, a good and well-placed "capstone" or "keystone" is necessary so that "the whole structure is fitted together and takes shape" as Ephesians says. The affirmation that Jesus is the "keystone" is firmly established in the New Testament and, though the keystone is not normally a part of the foundations of a building, the two doctrines do not contradict each other.

We honour the Apostles as the human "foundations" on which Jesus built his Church. There is no real Church unless there is an indisputable link with the Apostoles and so with their successors, the Pope and the Bishops who are ordained into union with him as the successor of Peter.