Ephesians This is Your Life ~ Part 2 Ephesians 2:11-22 One commonality of all humanity is the absence of peace. There is no peace between nations. There is no peace between groups, between individuals, between husbands and wives, between parents and children. At a time of peace on earth, there is none to be found. Wiersbe opens this section by talking about the call for and lack of peace. Peace in our time! Peace with honor! Some of us still remember those words of British Prime Minister, Sir Neville Chamberlain, when he returned from conferences in Germany in September 1938. He was sure that he had stopped Adolf Hitler. Yet one year later, Hitler invaded Poland, and on September 3, 1939, Great Britain declared war on Germany. Chamberlain s great peace mission had failed. It seems that most peace missions fail. I read somewhere that from 1500 B.C. to A.D. 850 there were 7,500 eternal covenants agreed on among various nations with the hope of bringing peace, but that no covenant had lasted longer than two years. 1 In a desire for peace, Prime Minister Sharon has given up more and more of Israel s territory and was the end result any kind of peace? well as Elwood McQuair notes: The oft-repeated adage, The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, hs never been more evident than in the Palestinian reaction to Israel s hug sacrifice in giving up it s legitimate rights in the Gaza Strip and parts of northern Samaria. Rather than a simple thank you and show of determination to turn the slum that is most of Gaza into a productive, functioning society, there came an outburst of belligerence that would have made Yasser Arafat proud. Even before Israelis began their traumatic evacuation, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas was issuing a battle cry to the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah. First he called the withdrawal from Gaza simply a preface to further Israeli retreats. Then he claimed Jerusalem as the capital of the new Palestine. 2 But as Wiersbe concludes: The only eternal covenant that has lasted and that will last is the one made by the eternal God, sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is Christ s peace mission that Paul explains in this section, and three very important words summarize this great work: separation, reconciliation, and unification. 3 But there is a question to be asked: Do our lives reflect this peace and the resultant unity? I Introduction II Who The Gentiles Were Verses 11-12 III Who The Church Is Verses 13-18 IV Who The Church Should Be Verses 19-22 IV Conclusion 1 Wiersbe, Warren W., The Bible Exposition Commentary, New Testament ~ Volume 2, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1971, p. 22. 2 McQuair, Elwood, Israel My Glory, Never Miss an Opportunity, November/December 2005, p. 8 3 Wiersbe
Introduction: When we finished up our last session a number of weeks ago, I suggested we focus on all the ways the Lord has blessed us, both with positive and negative circumstances. Remember, the negative also provides blessings by causing us to be dependent on the Lord and consequently to grow in our spiritual maturity. I ended Part 1 of this study on Chapter 2, speaking of the holiday season, by noting: I can t think of a better time to focus on who we were and who we are, thanks to the love, grace, and mercy of God. Make this a daily exercise, and when we start up in at the first of the year, we will return to seeing in light of who we were, and who we are. Now to recap what we have already seen in this chapter. The focus of the first 10 verses was primarily on the Jewish believer. But the truths here really apply to all people. That is prior to accepting Christ, all are sinners totally undeserving of God s intervention in their lives. This of course would have been highly offensive to the Jew because he believed he was in relationship to God as a consequence of being descended from Abraham. Abraham is our father, they answered. If you were Abraham s children, said Jesus, then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does. (John 8:39-41). But Paul makes it abundantly clear that no one has any merit which deserves a relationship with God. Instead, it is God s loving mercy that provides the way for a relationship with Him. And through this relationship come many blessings beyond our salvation and eternal security in God through Christ s work on the cross. Having dealt primarily with the Jewish believers, Paul moves on to the Gentiles, with a similar formula; what you were, and what you are. Within this context he also points out the unity of believers within the church. (We ll talk about this in greater depth in a later study.) Within the body of Christ there are no positional distinctions. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor 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 (Galatians 26-29). As an aside, this passage should not be used as a proof text that God no longer recognizes Israel as a people of promise. This passage speaks specifically to the positional equality of all believers. But clearly there are differences between men and women, even organizationally within the body. And in Paul s day, being a believer didn t free one from slavery. Verses 11-12: God had promised that one day the way to Him would be open to the Gentiles. The distinctive of being descended from Abraham would no longer be the factor that created a unique relationship with Him. The New Covenant would be established through the shed blood of Christ. This Covenant would be open to a peoples. ) 72 (
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:3). In Verse 12 Paul starts with a therefore. He is tying the Gentile s condition back to the general circumstances of all people before they accept Christ. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3). But there was more to the problem that this. There is a second question unique to the Gentile. Who were the Gentiles? Well, according to the Jew, the Gentiles were the uncircumcised. While circumcision didn t save anyone, it was a sign of being part of a covenantal people and therefore having access to God s Law and the sacrificial system. This separation was impenetrable and appeared to be one which would never end. At least that is the way most Jews would have seen it. The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery expresses it with the following: This division climaxes in the central image of a dividing wall (mesotoichon) that symbolizes the hostility between these two partitions of humanity, an enmity sharpened by the law with its commandments and ordinances. We may visualize the Herodian temple and the wall that divided the Court of the Gentiles from the inner courts of Israel. In the microcosm of the temple, this wall represented the Jewish vision of the world and its nations, where the law served as an impenetrable fence and iron wall separating Israel from the nations (Letter of Aristeas 139). 4 Being part of Israel was the only way to have a relationship to God, and so the Gentile was cut off from having the opportunity for that relationship. He was lost and without hope. (This obviously is a general statement because Gentiles did become proselytes within Judaism and were circumcised.) Verses 13-18: But something has changed. Christ has come and for those Gentiles who turn to Him, their place has changed. Where once they were far, now they are close. There are two aspects to this closeness. First, and most important, they are not close to God. They are no longer cut off from Him. But they are also closer to the Jews. They are now joint spiritual descendents of Abraham. The walls between Jew and Gentile have been broken down within the body of Christ. They are now one in Him. Just as Christ brought peace between individuals and the Father, He has also given the opportunity to experience peace between all peoples within the unity of His body, the Church. Having just come through the season which has been marketed as one of peace and good will to all, we see here is the real opportunity for that peace. But for now the only opportunity to experience true peace and goodwill is between believers. 4 Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1998. ) 73 (
There is one troubling passage here and that is Verse 15 which speaks of Christ s death, His flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and regulations. The NIV Study Bible Notes explains the verse this way: Since Mt 5:17 and Ro 3:31 teach that God s moral standard expressed in the OT law is not changed by the coming of Christ, what is abolished here is probably the effect of the specific commandments and regulations in separating Jews from Gentiles, whose nonobservance of the Jewish law renders them ritually unclean. 5 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law (Matthew 5:17; Romans 3:31). The Complete Jewish Bible paraphrases the verse as: For he himself is our shalom he has made us both one and has broken down the m chitzah which divided us by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances (vs. 14-15). The wall created by ceremonial law has ended. The wall between the court of the Gentiles and the inner court of the Israel has been pulled down. But the most important wall to be pulled down is the one between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, the wall that kept man separated from God. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). So the walls have come down, but it was the shed blood of Christ that brought down this wall. It was His sacrifice that paid the price for the sin of all, be they Jew or Gentile, and so the Church is made up of both. Christ shed His blood. He sent the message of peace to those who where near, the Jew and those who were far, the Gentile. He sent the Holy Spirit who seals all believers into His body the Church. And so now access is no longer through an earthly priesthood, for we are all priests, Jew and Gentile, male and female, and have direct access to the Father. This is all part and parcel of the New Covenant. Verses 19-22: So were once the Gentiles were not only fallen, sinners, living in the ways of a fallen world they were also separated and far from a God who only spoke to and through the Jew now they are saved and are one with the Jew in that new creation, the Church. This means the Gentile s position has changed. No longer a stranger he is considered part of the household of God, family, grafted in to the common vine, Christ. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from 5 NIV Study Bible Notes, Zondervan Interactive Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1999 ) 74 (
the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in. Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either (Romans 11:17-21). The Gentiles at Ephesus are particularly in mind here. citizens... household. Familiar imagery. The household in ancient times was what we today might call an extended family. 6 Paul then steps back and reminds both Jew and Gentile the basis for and the foundation of their salvation and their unity. He has already said they were saved through the work of Christ on the cross. Now Paul notes the foundation of the Church, the apostles and prophets. This encompasses both the scripture, which means Tanach/Old Testament, and the teachings and writings which would later become the New Testament. Out of this foundation arises a new entity, the Church, one which is made up of a unity of individuals. And don t forget the Church, the body of Christ is one body, be it Jew, Gentile, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Charismatic, IFCA, or whatever. Conclusion: With this peace comes an end to racism, segregation, provincialism, sexism, etc. or should. And this is the problem. Paul is presenting a truth that was fought against in his day in Christ we are one. Today this same truth, while acknowledged, is more absent that practiced in much of the Church. Believers are fighting among themselves over secondary issues. Churches are segregated. Some Jewish believers have returned to this concept of being Jewish first and Christian second. And of course within individual churches are battles over roles of men and women. There are fights between individuals. Gossip is rampant. What is God s truth. First we are one, we are one in the Spirit. Second, Christ came to bring peace between Himself and man, and with that peace is found peace between individuals. As we move into this new year a good goal for each of us as individuals would be to, in dependency on the Holy Spirit, Make every effort to live in peace with all men (Hebrews 12:14). There are two reasons we need to do this. First, because it makes for a healthy environment within the community itself. But second, we need to do this because for too long Christ has been put up to reticule by unbelievers for the way believers live. And this is important because it was Christ Himself who said: 6 Ibid. ) 75 (
Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:34-35). The practice of peace starts within the family, the individual families, and the families within the church. Then peace can be lived out between congregations within a community. Remember this peace is only available to believers, so when we talk about peace between congregations, this means there will be, must be agreement on primary issues, those which impact our understanding of God and salvation. Let us be willing to examine our own lives and seek to let peace begin with ourselves. Let us experience the reality of the peace we have between ourselves and God and live out that peace in our relationships with each other. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:15-17). My peace I give unto you; it s a peace that the world cannot give. It s a peace that the world cannot understand; peace to know, peace to live, My peace I give unto you. 7 77 Routledgte, Keith, Praise Chorus Book, My Peace, Maranatha Music, USA, 1990, #4. ) 76 (
Ephesians This is Your Life ~ Part 2 Ephesians 2:11-22 I Introduction II Who The Gentiles Were Verses 11-12 III Who The Church Is Verses 13-18 IV Who The Gentiles Are Verses 19-22 IV Conclusion I Introduction: (John 8:39-41; Galatians 3:26-29) II Who The Gentiles Were: (Genesis 12:3; Ephesians 2:1-3)
III Who The Church Is: (Matthew 5:17; Romans 3:31; Matthew 27:51) IV Who The Church Should Be: (Romans 11:17-21) Conclusion: (Hebrews 12:14; John 13:34-35; Colossians 3:15-17) Personal Application: Let us be willing to examine our own lives and seek to let peace begin with ourselves. Let us experience the reality of the peace with have between ourselves and God and live out that peace in our relationships with each other. Prayer for the Week: Lord, may Your Spirit of Peace help us to become ambassadors of that peace. In Jesus name, the Prince of Peace, Amen