The Two Become One Series

Ephesians: Finding our Identity in Christ

Ephesians 2:11-22

Pastor Jeferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

March 15, 2026

Rivalries

When I moved to North Carolina, one of the questions people asked was, “North Carolina or Duke?” When I answered, “Well, I’m a Michael Jordan fan so North Carolina but I think Coach K is an amazing leader so I like Duke as well.”

This…was….unacceptable! Their heads would nearly explode. You either were a TarHeel or a Blue Devil. You couldn’t like both. It was a matter of life and death.

[AllState Commercial - Duke vs. NC - You Tube]

Rivalries are everywhere. Yankees vs Red Socks. Coke vs. Pepsi. Lakers vs. Celtics. Apple vs. Microsoft. Bears vs. Packers. Hatfields vs. McCoys. Alexander Hamilton vs. Aaron Burr.

We have sibling rivalries. There are political rivalries. Rap has its rivalries - Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar.

And in the church at Ephesus, there was a deep, complex, hostile rivalry between the Gentiles and the Jewish believers.

It was based on religion - Gentiles didn’t know the true God.

It was based on culture - Jewish people had rituals, feasts, and ceremonies.

It was based on race - The Jewish believers, who had the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob running through their veins looked down on the Gentiles.

There was a Jewish saying, “God created Gentiles to fuel the fires of hell.”

A daily prayer of a strict Jewish male was to thank God that he was neither a woman, a Samaritan, nor a Gentile.

If a Jewish person married a Gentile, the family would have a funeral for their Jewish relative and they would be considered dead.

There was so much hostility that the Gospel wasn’t preached to Gentiles until ten years after Jesus died and rose again.

Kent Hughes writes,

“The collision of Gentile/Jewish exclusiveness was monumental.”

In the context of this hatred and bitterness, God is up to something absolutely amazing!

Please turn with me to Ephesians 2.

Prayer.

Alienation

“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 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. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (V. 11-12)

When you see a “therefore” in the Scriptures, we need to ask “what is it there for?”

In the first eleven verses of chapter two, Paul paints a glorious picture of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. We were dead in our sins and God made us alive in Christ.

In the second portion of chapter two, Paul will show how that grace plays out horizontally between two very different groups in the church at Ephesus.

We see the first command in the book of Ephesians - remember, which means “too recall, to mark, to set aside.”

It’s not just recalling something, but it is designed to affect our behavior.

The majority of people in the church of Ephesus by this time were Gentiles. Paul calls these Gentile believers to remember what life was like before Jesus.

They were called the “uncircumcised” by Jewish people. This was a derogatory term, (literally - “foreskin”) used by Jewish people who believed they were right with God because of circumcision.

To the Jewish people, circumcision was more than a physical distinction: it was a mark of covenantal privilege, social standing, and spiritual purity.

But Paul makes clear in Romans:

“A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly [done in the body by human hands], 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.” (Romans 2:28-29)

Paul writes of these people in his letter to the Christians in Galatia:

“Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.” (Galatians 6:12-15)

Paul wants them to remember five very important aspects of their life before Jesus:

Separated from Christ

The Gentiles had no Messianic hope. They were Christ-less. It was promised that God would bless all nations, but that promise was made to Israel.