THE SUPREME MYSTERY – THE BODY OF CHRIST
ACT I: Foundations Of A Supreme Mystery – Identification
5. FROM SEPARATION – TO RECONCILIATION (Eph. 2:11-22)
Introduction:
My visits to the Berlin Wall and its downfall.
The Christmas season is upon is and we will once again hear the world proclaim ’peace on earth.’ Have they read the papers?! Do they not own a TV? Peace? Peace? Where is it? All I seem to see and hear about are hostilities. War. Terrorism. Slander. Gossip. Lies and corruption. And I’m not just referring to our churches. . .
Just what does it take to end all the hostility? To see “peace on earth”? Or, as Rodney King infamously insinuated, when will we all be able to “just get along”? How do we achieve unity amidst division and diversity?
Thanks be to God, these very questions are addressed in His Word! Let’s take a look . . .
A.) EXCLUDED STRANGERS (vv. 11-12)
* To appreciate what we have/now are, it is often important if not essential to first remember
where we came from and the disadvantages we once suffered.
1.) Background
* Remember that most of Paul’s converts were not Jews, but “God-fearing Gentiles” who attended
the synagogues with genuine searching and reverence for the God of Israel. There, they were
regularly taught that to truly be a worshiper of God and part of the family and nation of believers,
they would HAVE to not only convert to Jewish beliefs, but also Jewish customs, laws and
ordinances. Chief among these was circumcision (which most God-fearing Gentiles were, for
obvious reasons, not in a real hurry to enact). Without circumcision, they were not Jews, not
members of the synagogue, not protected or blessed by God and greatly restricted.
2.) Fivefold Alienation
* The reason for the Gentile’s alienation (status as excluded strangers) was not cultural or
social, but spiritual:
a.) Without Christ
b.) Without Identity in God’s Nation
c.) Without “the covenants of promise” - God’s Contractual Blessing & Protection
From the time of Abram, God chose from one man to make a covenant to bless the
multitudes. He then separated Israel from all other nations to be the people of His
covenant. By contrast, while God made many promises about the Gentiles, He never
made any to them! Through their covenant relationship the Jews remained near to
God while the Gentiles were ’far off’ and strangers to it.
d.) Without Hope
e.) Without God’s Activity in Their Lives
B.) INCLUDED & UNITED FAMILY (vv. 13-18)
The (Reconciling) Change Agent (v. 13)
* You see, the Jew’s previous nearness to God was contingent on their covenant relationship
which required their perfect obedience to the law. However, no one (not one) could keep the
law and so they too were far from God as their sin created an impenetrable wall between them
and their unholiness and God and His absolute holiness.
* But, now, “In Christ Jesus” the entire situation has been changed and transformed - from
exclusion to inclusion, isolation to intimacy, “far” to “near,” cursed to blessed.
* Not only is Christ’s sacrificial blood our means to redemption (1:7), but it is also the means of
our reconciliation to God.
2.) Breaking the Barriers (vv. 14-16)
* Jesus has reconciled us and become our peace in 2 ways: to Himself and to others.
* “He Himself” is emphatic! It is not a “message” or “truth” or “circumstance” that has
reconciled us, become our peace and broken barriers - but the person of Jesus the Christ!
* The reference is most certainly to the wall within the compound of Herod’s Temple which served
to separate the Court of the Gentiles from the rest of the Temple, with death threatened to any
violator.
* By His death and fulfillment of the requirements of the law on our behalf, Jesus nullified that
which truly and spiritually separated all people from God and the Jew from the Gentile - “the
law of the commandments in regulations.”
* In Christ, we are now free to come across the broken barrier in order to come near to God
and then each other as well (1 Jn. 1:3-4). In Christ, Jew and Gentile alike can come near to God
in only one way – as sinners for whom Christ died and forever destroyed and wall that separates
us from Him – and each other!
3.) The “New Man/Race” (vv. 15-16)
* Now that the “barrier” has been abolished, there is no need for the two peoples/communities to
remain separate. Jesus is peace and has replaced hostility with peace, separation with unity.
* Make no mistake the Christian is NOT a hybrid Jew-Gentile, nor an enlightened, or
“higher” Jew or Gentile; Christ did not Judaize the Gentiles or Christianize the Jews. A
Christian, according to the Lord, is an entirely new person, an entirely new creature, an
entirely new race (see also 2 Co. 5:17)!
* As John Chrysostom explained it in the early years of the church, it is “as if one should melt
down one statue of silver and another of lead, and the two together should come out gold.”
4.) … = Peace (vv. 15c-17)
* Jesus is our peace and is the answer and catalyst to our peace! In Him we are “one new man . .
in one body.” This (reconciliation to God and then others, re-created asa new humanity), IS
THE ANSWER to discord, conflict, alienation, prejudice, racism, hatred, and estrangement!
* The church, then, is to be the model, representative and agent of peace IN the world! We are
God’s peacemakers, through the reconciliation of His Son!
5.) Full & Direct Access (v. 18)
* There any now NO barriers to our access to the Father in prayer, cleansing, discernment and
worship!
“Now, therefore, . . .” (v. 19a)
* So far, Paul has made an astounding assertion in pointing to the reality of the cross, whereby humans are reconciled both to God and each other; where outsiders become insiders, strangers become intimates, alienated become integrated and there is no division. Now, he expands on this glorious and liberating truth, using three increasingly intimate and powerful images.
C.) HOLY ‘NATURALIZATION’ (v. 19a-b)
“you are no longer foreigners and strangers . . .”
* In the first century Roman Empire, one’s citizenship status was of utmost importance.
Citizenship was highly personal, a source of great pride, and one’s identity was wrapped up
in the identity and culture of their city.
“but fellow citizens with the saints . . .”
* If the community of faith were seen as a city, then Gentile Christians were absolutely full
citizens (not ’illegals’, ’aliens’, or simply ’residents’), in every way as the believing Jews!
* They were honored as “with all the saints.” That is, not only with all the followers of Jesus,
but with God’s set-apart people from throughout history.
* As such, they have all of the immense rights and privileges of citizens in God’s Kingdom.
* Believers in Christ “are a common people with a common language of the heart and
common allegiances, goals, and destination.”1
D.) ADOPTION (v. 19c)
“and members of God’s household . . .”
* If the faith community were compared to a household, then the Gentile believers would be
full members of that household!
* Not servants, guests, or occupants but sons and daughters in every way.
* As wonderful as it is to be a citizen of God’s Kingdom, how much greater and more intimate
still is it to be a full member of His family?!
* In God’s family, we are in deep, tender and meaningful relationship with our Father and with
each other (1 Timothy 5:1-2)!
* Family is also a place where each is accepted for who they are and encouraged to be who
God created them to be - celebrating the similarities and the differences in personalities,
abilities, gifts, and experiences.
E.) THE DIVINE BLUEPRINT (vv. 20-22)
“having been built . . .” (v. 20a)
* If the community of faith were a building, it would serve as “a holy temple of the Lord” -
and all believers would be integral parts of the structure.
* But now, in Christ, God has created a new “race,” a new people that transcends tribes,
biological succession, and geographical boundaries.
* A new temple is needed to reflect this, and the Lord has declared it to be encompassed by
the community of believers themselves. This new temple would be built upon three elements:
1.) The Foundation: “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,”
* The ministry of the New Testament apostles and prophets was to proclaim and teach
as inspired by God.
* Thus, the foundation of the new temple is this teaching - the New Testament Scriptures.
* If the Word is not taught, or if it is watered-down, distorted or neglected, the foundation will
crumble, and with it the whole building!
2.) The Cornerstone: “with Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone. . .”
* The “cornerstone” = the cap stone that holds the whole structure together.
* It determines the stability of the foundation and defines the entire building.
* All other stones had to be adjusted to the Cornerstone, thus it was also referred to as the “stone
of testing” or “testing stone” and determined the unity and symmetry of the whole structure.
3.) The Building Blocks: “The whole building is being fit together in Him and is growing . . .”
* The final components of the new Temple, the building blocks, are us committed disciples - us!
* We are not dead, inanimate stones, but living, growing stones.
“being fit together in Him. . .”
* It is always in relation to the Chief Cornerstone (in this case, Jesus) that all the other
stones and parts of the structure are given their proper place.
* In Roman construction, the laborers (often slaves) would painstakingly have to turn and
maneuver large blocks of stone until the appropriate ones fit together perfectly.
“growing”
* Paul (under the inspiration of the H.S.) astonishingly inserts an agricultural term into an
otherwise architectural process.
* This growth, then, is not simply the heightening of the structure until completion. It is a
living, organic growth and a continuing process!
4.) A Divine Dwelling: “into a holy temple in the Lord . . . a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
* Now that there is a new, living, growing, fluid, inclusive Temple, what is its purpose?
* It is to be the dwelling place of the Most High “in the Spirit.” In the same way that the Presence
of God, His Shekinah glory, once filled the wilderness Tabernacle in the days of Moses (Ex.
40:34-35) and later the Jerusalem Temple in the days of the Kings (1 Kgs. 8:10-11), so now He
builds a Temple for His Spirit.
* Only now, rather than dwell in a static structure, God chooses to make His redeemed people (in
Christ) to be an expansive, fluid, living dwelling place for His Spirit!
* The purpose of the church (local community of His disciples) is be the residence of God’s Spirit,
from which He works His will and shines forth His glory throughout the world!
* This new community of reconciliation (with God and toward others) is inclusive of all disciples
of Jesus and transcends any distinctions of race, ethnicity, language, culture, status or gender.
Q: What ramifications do these truths have for us as individuals and as a church?
Q: Have YOU been reconciled to Christ? Are you near to Him or is there yet a wall in between?
Q: In what relationships do you need to break down the wall of separation and join in
reconciliation through Christ?
Q: In what ways do our individual and community perspectives, purpose, priorities and/or
actions need to change?
1.
2.
3.
