Let's start today by rereading Ephesians, beginning at Ephesians 2:1:
And (it was) you--
the ones being dead in your wrongdoing and sins,
in which you formerly walked
according to the age of this world,
according to the ruler of the authority of the air-- the one now working in the sons of disobedience--
in which we also all lived formerly in the desires of our flesh,
doing the will of the flesh and of the mind,
and we were children by nature for wrath as also the rest of them--
Now, God,
being rich in mercy,
because of his great love
with which he loved us--and us being dead in our wrongdoing--
he made us alive together in/by Christ--by grace you are saved--
and he seated us together in the heavenly places in/by Jesus Christ,
in order that he might show in the coming ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness upon us in/by Christ Jesus.
For by grace you are saved through faith,
and this not from yourselves,
of/from God (it is) the gift,
not from works,
in order that no one can boast.
For FOR HIM we are a made thing,
created in King Jesus for good works,
which God prepared before hand,
in order that in them we would walk.
Therefore , remember that formerly you--
the nations in/by the flesh,
the ones being called uncircumcision by the ones being called circumcision in the flesh made by hands--,
that you were at that time apart from Christ,
having been alienated from the citizenship of Israel
and strangers to the covenants of the promise,
not having hope
and without God in the world.
Now, in Christ Jesus you--the ones formerly being far away--
have become near by the blood of the King.
For he is our peace,
the one making both one,
and the dividing wall of the partition breaking-- the enmity by his flesh--
the law of the commandments in ordinances abolishing,
in order that:
the two he might create in/by himself into one new person,
making peace.
and he might reconcile both by one body to God through the cross,
killing the enmity in himself.
and coming, he proclaimed the good news of peace to you-- to the far -- (Gentiles)
and peace to the ones near, (Jews)
because through him we have access-- we both -- by/in one Spirit to the Father.
Therefore , consequently, no longer you are strangers and foreigners,
but you are fellow citizens of the holy ones and household members
of God,
being built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,
being the cornerstone of King Jesus himself,
in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the
Lord,
in whom also y'all are being built up together into a dwelling place for God in the
Spirit.
Last week, I taught on Ephesians 2:1-10. The flow of the argument there goes something like this:
(1) You Gentiles, and we Jews, were dead in our wrongdoing and sins (vs. 1-3).
(2) God loved all of us so much that he sent Jesus to die for us. God made all of us-- Jew and Gentile-- alive in Christ. He seated all of us--Jew and Gentile--in the heavenlies in Christ. (vs. 4-7)
(3) The bottom line is that we are saved in/by Christ-- this is what means when Paul says we are saved by grace-- through allegiance to Jesus. God's grace-- his favor, kindness, and help-- were given through Jesus (vs. 8-9).
(4) We are NOT saved through Moses, or the Mosaic covenant. This is what Paul means when he says "not by works" (vs. 8-9).
(5) We are saved FOR good works. God made all of us a new creation so that we could live FOR GOD. So that we would walk in the good works God prepared ahead of us to do. (vs. 10)
In truth, if there was one thing I hoped to do last week, it was to help you see that faith and good works are not two different things. Faith really means something like allegiance, trust, and commitment. If you join the U.S. army, they ask you to pledge allegiance to this country above everything else right? They are asking for your faith-- for your allegiance.
The Ephesian church is made up of Gentile Christians. They have pledged their allegiance to King Jesus. They have done this-- they have pledged allegiance-- but they have this nagging fear that Jesus isn't enough. Do they need to become Jews to be made alive? Are they second-class Christians because they are Gentiles? Does the Mosaic covenant have something extra to offer them if they become Jews? Are they missing out on some of God's blessings?
I think we can look at verses 1-10 and probably decide we don't-- but it'd be nice is if someone would sum up the argument and help explain how these verses relate to us as Gentiles.
Fortunately for us, we get a "therefore" in verse 11. Our passage this week directly builds on Ephesians 2:1-10, but it's like everything in our Bibles works together to keep us from seeing this. Verse 11 gets this enormous heading; it gets this big white space. And we get to this heading, and this white space, and we do two things. First, we stop reading. We tell ourselves, "Dude, I read my Bible for the day. I got to the white space." And we tell ourselves, "Dude, this section is new. It's not connected to what I just read. You can tell because it gets its own heading."
But verse 11 begins with DIO, "therefore." There are two Greek words translated as "therefore" in our English Bibles, but they don't mean the same thing. Depending on your translation, there's one in verse 11, and there's one in verse 19. But these are actually two different Greek words. Verse 11 is DIO. Verse 12 is OUN. Basically, the point of DIO in verse 11 is something like this: "Since all of verses 1-10 are true, this is the conclusion you should draw. So Paul is going to make things very easy for us-- as long as we ignore the white space in our Bibles and the extra heading.
Verses 11-12
Therefore, remember that formerly you (plural)--
the nations in/by the flesh,
the ones being called uncircumcision by the ones being called circumcision in the flesh made by hands--,
that you were at that time apart from Christ,
having been alienated from the citizenship of Israel
and strangers to the covenants of the promise,
not having hope
and without God in the world.
If verses 1-10 are true-- and they are-- what difference does it make? What should we do? The first thing Paul says we should do is (1) "Remember." Paul keeps trying to remind the Ephesians of what their lives looked like before they placed their faith in Jesus. "Y'all" were the nations according to the flesh-- according to human standards. "Y'all" were called "the uncircumcision" by the ones being called "the circumcision."
This is an awkward way to put it, right? Why doesn't Paul just say, "You were the uncircumcision, and Jews were the circumcision?"
Paul isn't willing to call you Gentiles the uncircumcision. The reason for this is found in Romans 2:25-29:
25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded[b] as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically[c] uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code[d] and circumcision but break the law. 28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
A Jew might call you uncircumcised, but the true circumcision is the circumcision of the heart, the one done by the Spirit. This is who you were-- the nations by the flesh, the ones being called uncircumcision. But you know, and Paul knows, that it would be wrong to simply call you uncircumcised. When you became Christians, you received a circumcision of the heart.
So, getting back from the rabbit trail...
What were you before you were joined to Christ? What does Paul want you to remember about that time?
Therefore, remember that formerly you--
the nations in/by the flesh,
the ones being called uncircumcision by the ones being called circumcision in the flesh made by hands--,
that you were at that time apart from Christ,
having been alienated from the citizenship of Israel
and strangers to the covenants of the promise,
not having hope
and without God in the world.
What does it look like to be apart from Christ?
If you notice in the translation I gave out, I have four things indented underneath "apart from Christ." Basically, these four things are an explanation of what it means to be apart from Christ. When you were apart from Christ, you (1) were alienated from citizenship in Israel, (2) strangers to the covenants of the promise, (3) not having hope, and (4) without God in the world.
When were those things true? When you were apart from Christ. Paul is making a bold claim here. If you asked a Jew how you, as a Gentile, could become part of Israel, how you could gain access to the promise the covenants offer, how you gain a relationship to God, they will tell you that it's very easy. You gain those things through Moses. You place yourself under the Mosaic covenant. A Jew would say, your problem is that you are a Gentile.
Your problem is that you're not a Jew.
But Paul says, whether or not you have these things depends on if you are in Christ. When you didn't have those things, it wasn't because you are Gentiles. The problem was, you didn't have Christ.
Verse 13-18
Now, in Christ Jesus you, the ones formerly being far away--
have become near by the blood of the Christ.
For he is our peace,
the one making both one,
and the dividing wall of the partition breaking-- the enmity by his flesh--
the law of the commandments in ordinances abolishing,
in order that:
the two he might create in/by himself into one new person,
making peace.
and he might reconcile both by one body to God through the cross,
killing the enmity in himself.
and coming, he proclaimed the good news of peace to you-- to the far--
and peace to the ones near.
because through him we have access-- we both-- by/in one Spirit to the Father.
Paul then signals in verse 13 that he is pushing his argument forward. This is a new paragraph, a new thought.
You who used to be far, who used to be apart from Christ, are now near to God. How? It's through Jesus. HE is our peace. Paul emphasizes this by putting it first: HE is our peace. Jesus makes the two people-- Jew and Gentile-- one. Jesus tore down the dividing wall separating Jew from Gentile. Jesus abolished the Mosaic covenant.
Why? For two reasons: (1) in order that he might create one new person, Jew and Gentile together, making peace. It doesn't work for God to have two different groups of people who are in conflict with each other. This only works if the dividing wall of hostility is torn down, so that people can be at peace. The Mosaic covenant had to go. (2) In order that he might reconcile both by one body to God through the cross, killing the enmity in himself. God wants to be at peace with all people, reconciled to all people. This was only possible through Jesus.
So Jesus IS our peace. He is the one who made peace between Jew and Gentile by tearing down the dividing wall of the Mosaic covenant. He is the one who made peace between all people-- Jew and Gentile-- and God.
Jesus not only is our peace. Verse 17 says Jesus also PROCLAIMED the peace. He offered peace to us, to the Gentiles, who were far away from God. And he also offered peace to those who were near to God-- to the Jews. Jews had a head start; they began closer to God. They at least worshipped the one true God; they knew God's history with the world. We Gentiles were farther away, worshipping idols. But whether we are Jews or Gentiles, it is THROUGH JESUS that we have access-- both of us-- by one Spirit to the Father. Here again, "THROUGH JESUS" is given emphasis. Do you want access to God? Do you want to be able to approach God? You gain this THROUGH JESUS.
Verse 19-22:
Therefore , consequently, no longer you are strangers and foreigners,
but you are fellow citizens of the holy ones and household members of God,
being built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,
being the cornerstone of Christ Jesus himself,
in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the
Lord,
in whom also you are being built up together into a dwelling place for God in the
Spirit.
Probably the easiest way to understand this section is to picture a Jew holding a bunch of promises in his hands. A Jew will say, "Because I live within the Mosaic covenant, I'm a citizen of Israel. I'm part of God's family, built on the prophets. I worship in the temple where God lives. I have a ton of reasons to boast. I have massive advantages over you pagan Gentiles."
Now imagine Paul taking those promises from the Jew, and holding them out to you, and saying, "If you want these promises, place your allegiance in King Jesus. It's true that you were strangers and foreigners to God. You were far from him.
Now, though? Now, because you are in Jesus, you are fellow citizens, part of God's family, part of God's temple. If you were to walk by the temple in Jerusalem, you'd say, with a sense of wonder, "God used to live there." But now God lives in us. He moved. We are God's temple.
The bottom line is that there is no reason for you, as Gentile Christians, to feel inadequate. There's no reason to worry that you are second class citizens of God's kingdom, or that God has special blessings only for his people who are also Jewish. What else could God possibly offer you, more than what he's already done through Jesus? God has richly blessed you; he's loved you so much. He held out both hands to you, offering his beloved son. Do you think he has a third hand behind his back, with secret blessings for Jews? NO.
So let's make a checklist. Do you want:
1) to be part of God's nation?
2) to be part of God's family?
3) to be at peace with God?
4) access to God?
5) hope (of the inheritance; see 1:11)?
6) to be God's temple?
If you want what God offers through Jesus, you repent from your sins, and you submit to Jesus as King. You then pledge yourselves to him through baptism (1 Peter 3:21). And if you've done this, you can check off everything on this list. There's no second list. There's no secret Jewish blessings. God loves you, and accepts you, as Gentiles. And if you ever struggle with this, or doubt it, you need to remember what God did for you IN CHRIST.
So as you go through life, having given your allegiance to Jesus, having become part of God's one holy family through Jesus, be thankful. Praise God for what he has done. Praise God for his mercy, for his love. And live your life, out of this thankfulness.
