Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (12.4)

The Epistle to the Ephesians

Ephesians 2:11-22 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

Our Wealth Displayed

Having understood our possessions, power and our position in Christ, Paul reminds us of the privilege of being part of Christ’s body called the church. One of the amazing treasures of the church is it’s potential for unity. When a person puts faith in Christ, they are immediately immersed into the body of Christ and we all become one. For centuries the Jews stood opposed to the Gentiles, but when Christ came He removed the alienation and brought reconciliation and unification.

The Alienation of Jew and Gentile (v.11-12).

Since the time of Abraham, God made a difference between the circumcision (Jews) and the uncircucision (Gentiles). He made this difference not that the Jews might boast, but that they would be a blessing and a help to the Gentiles. God set the nation of Israel apart that He might use them to be a channel for His revelation to the heathen nation. The Gentiles were separated from the nation of Israel in five ways.

They were without Christ (v.12a).

That at that time ye were without Christ. For thousands of years the Jews had the hope and Biblical prophecies of the coming Christ, but not the Gentiles. They knew nothing of Christ and as a result worshipped the pagan deities of the day.

They were aliens to the commonwealth of Israel (v.12b).

Israel was a nation under God, they were a theocracy and God had committed himself to them to be there leader and Lord, but God had made no such promise to the Gentiles.

They were strangers from the covenants of promise (v.12c).

God did not make any promises and covenants to the Gentile nations like He did to the nation of Israel. The Gentile nations were to God strangers and aliens.

They were without hope (v.12d).

The Gentiles were hopeless, although God had planned and promised to help the Gentiles they did not know it and therefore had no hope to sustain them. Many are like this today, they are without Christ, thus not part of God’s kingdom and unaware of God’s promise to them, As a result there lives are empty and hopeless. It is upto us who know the true and living God to the knowledge of God to them. This the Israelite failed to do.

They were without God (v.12e).

The Gentiles had plenty of gods, but they were without the true and living God. The Gentiles were without God due to their own wilful choice. Paul said in Romans 1:18-23,  that the Gentiles knew of the true and living God but refused to honour Him.  Human history begins with the one true and living God not with many god’s. The testimony of scripture is that man deliberately turned away from Him. When many turned from God they were alienated from God and Israel who had this knowledge.

The Reconciliation of Jew and Gentile (v.13-18).

The But now speaks of the gracious intervention of God on behalf of the lost sinner. God intervened by sending Jesus Christ who made piece on the cross, reconciling both the sinner and God, providing hope and salvation  and reconciling both Jew and Gentile.

Jesus Christ Himself is our peace (v.13-14).

Jesus Christ is not only our peace maker, but he is our peace. When we make peace with God (salvation) then we can be at peace with one another. That is why Paul says, For He is our peace, who hath made both one. Our peace with God is the bases for having peace one with another.  

Jesus Christ made peace (v.14b-16).

Jesus made peace through His death on the cross. When He died He broke down the middle wall of partition between us (14a). Jesus removed the barriers that separated man from God and people from one another. Jesus death on the cross made the Jewish temple, the ceremonial law, sacrifices, feast, offerings and any other thing that separated man from God and Jew from Gentile as obsolete. His death made us one new man (v.15), His death reconciled both (Jew and Gentile) unto God in one body (v.16), His death removed the hostility (enmity) that has for thousands of years separated man from man. Jesus Christ has reconciled those who were alienated.

The Unification of Jew and Gentile (v.19-22).

Having been reconciled by the cross of Christ, we as a body of believers, we as the church of Jesus Christ are one. Four times in these few verses we are referred to as one: made both one (v.14), one new man (v.15), one body (v.16), one Spirit (v.18). Jesus Christ made us one and this oneness is the bases of the church.

We are one family (v.19).

Christians are all part of the same family, we are all brothers and sisters in one family, no matter the racial, national, or physical distinctions we may possess. We are all fellow citizens and we are all  part of the household of God.

We are one Holy Temple (v.20-21).

Every religion has it’s temple, the Ephesians had the temple of Diana, the Jews had there temple in Jerusalem. Christians also have there temple, but our temple is not made with the hands of man, but we are the temple of God. The foundation of our temple is the instruction of the Apostles and Prophets, our foundation, that which we stand upon and that which the temple is built upon is the Word of God. The chief stone in this building is Christ. A cornerstone was the most important stone in the building. The cornerstone holds the building steady, it also set it and keeps it in line. It is Jesus Christ who keeps the Church together and as we turn our focus to Christ He will keep the unity of the Church and together we will grow unto a holy temple in the Lord. 

We are the dwelling place of God (v.22).

God must have a dwelling place on earth as well as in heaven. Where his family is there He must be. During this age of grace God has chosen to take up residence in the church and in the Christian. We are the visible part of God on earth. This makes unity so very important, our disunity upsets this oneness that Christ purchased with His own blood (Eph. 2:13-22), it violates our Lords High priestly prayer of John 17:11, where the Lord prayed that we would be one as He and the father are one. Dis-unity is also one of the marks of carnality (I Cor. 1:10-17, 3:1-9). Lets live in unity as a habitation of God through the Spirit.