057 Ephesians 2:11-22 - Jew and Gentile reconciled through Christ

Last time: Ephesians 2:1-10 Made alive in Christ

What you WERE and why (1-3)

We were dead in our transgressions and sins (1, 5)

We were by nature deserving of wrath (3)

Why?

We followed the ways of the world (2)

We lived in sin (2) because we lived among sinners (the disobedient)(3)

We followed the ways of the Devil (2)

We followed the desires and thoughts of the flesh (3)

We were by nature deserving  (children) of wrath

Why were we ‘deserving of wrath’? (Greek: children of wrath)

By nature, but because we followed our nature

However, 2 Peter 1:3-4

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

 What you ARE and why (4-10)

What we are:

alive with Christ (5)

saved (5, 8)

seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (6)

God’s handiwork (10)

Why?

Cause

God’s love, mercy, grace and kindness     Our response of faith (not works)

Purpose

Now

v 10 ...created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

in the future.

7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Now we turn to:

Ephesians 2:11-22

The main purpose of these verses is to show how, through the death of Jesus, the enmity and barrier between Jews and Gentiles has been broken down and that, through the new humanity created by this, God is building a holy temple in which God lives by his Spirit.

Let’s read it together:

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth (in the flesh) and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands) –

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

15 by setting aside (abolishing) in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,

16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

1 This passage is mainly addressed to Christians with a Gentile background

 

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth...

Note the use of you in verses 11, 12, 13, 17, 19

(Not we because Paul was a Jew)

2 The condition of the Gentiles before they came to Christ

They were ‘uncircumcised’

Circumcision was the sign of the covenant made between God and Abraham

To be uncircumcised was to have no covenant relationship with God

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth (in the flesh) and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands) –

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

To be separate from Christ is to be:

excluded from citizenship in Israel

foreigners to the covenants of the promise

without hope

without God.

Citizenship in Israel conveyed many blessings.

However, as Paul makes clear in Romans,

true circumcision is of the heart

as distinct from circumcision ‘which is done in the body by human hands’ (v11)

Romans 2:25-29 NIV

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a law-breaker. A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

Galatians 3:27-29 NIV

...for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

3 The condition of the Gentiles after they came to Christ

This can best be summarised as ‘United with the true Israel’

(Reminder: Jews are only part of the true Israel if they have believed as Abraham believed.

Gentiles who believe are as much part of the true Israel as Jews who believe.)

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility

 This is a clear reference to the stone wall in the Jewish temple which divided the Court of the Gentiles from the temple proper.

It carried an inscription in both Latin and Greek which ‘forbade any foreigner to go in under pain of death.’

This inscription was discovered by the French archaeologist, M. Clermont Ganneau, in 1871 (Foulkes, F., Ephesians, London, IVP, 1963, p.81).  Cf. Acts 21:29ff.  But now, through Christ, both Jew and Gentile have access to the Father by the Holy Spirit (v 18).

 The blessings that result from this are made clear throughout vv. 13-19.

13 brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 he has made the two groups one

and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

 15 he has abolished the law with its commands and regulations.

He has created one new humanity out of the two

16 he has reconciled both of them to God through the cross

17 He has preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18 we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household

NEXT TIME

The church as the new temple God is building.