Ephesians 2.18a-Jewish and Gentile Christians Experience Access to the Father
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday January 30, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 2:18a-Jewish and Gentile Christians Experience Access to the Presence of the Father
Lesson # 120
Ephesians 2:11 Therefore, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of remembering that formerly each of you who belong to the Gentile race with respect to the human body, specifically, those who receive the designation “uncircumcision” by the those who receive the designation “circumcision” with respect to the human body performed by human hands, 12 each one of you used to be characterized as without a relationship with Christ. Each one of you used to be alienated from the nation of Israel’s citizenship. Specifically, each of you used to be strangers to the most important promise, which is the product of the covenants. Each of you used to not possess a confident expectation of blessing. Consequently, each one of you used to be without a relationship with God in the sphere of the cosmic world system. 13 However, because of your faith in and your union and identification with Christ Jesus each and every one of you as a corporate who formerly were far away have now been brought near by means of the blood belonging to this same Christ. 14 For He Himself personifies our peace. Namely, by causing both groups to be one. Specifically, by destroying the wall, which served as the barrier, that is, that which caused hostility (between the two). 15 In other words, by nullifying by means of His human nature the law composed of the commandments consisting of a written code of laws in order that He might cause the two to be created into one new humanity by means of faith in Himself at justification and union and identification with Himself through the baptism of the Spirit at justification. Thus, He caused peace to be established (between the two and God). 16 In other words, in order that He would reconcile both groups into one body to God (the Father) through His cross. Consequently, He put to death the hostility (between the two and the two with God) by means of faith in Himself at justification and union and identification with Himself through the baptism of the Spirit at justification. 17 Correspondingly, He as a result came proclaiming peace for the benefit of each and every one of you, namely, those who were far off likewise peace to those were near. 18 Consequently, through the personal intermediate agency of Himself each and every one of us as a corporate unit, namely, both groups are experiencing access by means of the omnipotence of the one Spirit to the presence of the Father. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 2:18 is a hoti (ὅτι) result clause, which presents the result of the previous declarative statement in Ephesians 2:17.
The statement which it introduces asserts that through the intermediate agency of Jesus Christ Himself both Jewish and Gentile Christians experience by means of the omnipotence of the one Spirit access to the presence of God the Father.
Specifically, it asserts that through Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father both Jewish and Gentile Christians experience access to the presence of God the Father by means of the omnipotence of the one Spirit.
Therefore, a comparison of these two statements indicates that Jesus Christ through His Spirit empowered communicators of the gospel came and proclaimed peace for the benefit of Jewish and Gentile church age believers “with the result that” through Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father both Jewish and Gentile Christians experience access by means of the omnipotence of the one Spirit to the presence of God the Father.
Some expositors argue that the conjunction hoti (ὅτι) in Ephesians 2:18 is casual, which would mean that the statement, which it introduces presents the reason for the statement in Ephesians 2:17.
This would express the idea that Jesus Christ came proclaiming peace for the benefit of the Gentiles and the Jews “because” through the personal intermediate agency of Jesus Christ Himself both Jewish and Gentile Christians experience access by means of the omnipotence of the one Spirit to the presence of the Father.
This obviously does not make sense.
Some like Thielman assert that the statement in verse 18 presents “the basis for, or proof of, the peace that Christ has been proclaimed and this proof comes in the form of the access that Christ has provided to God for both Jews and Gentiles.”
This view can be rejected on the basis of the customary present or stative present tense of the verb echō (ἔχω), which expresses the idea that both Jewish and Gentile Christians are “existing in the state of” experiencing access to the Father by means of the omnipotence of the Spirit.
Thus, how could the present access to the Father by both groups be the reason why the Lord through His apostles preached the gospel to them?
In other words, they are already experiencing access to the Father, thus why the need to proclaim the gospel to them, which speaks of this peace with each other and both groups with God through faith in Jesus Christ at justification and through the baptism of the Spirit at justification?
The verb echō (ἔχω) means “to experience” a state or condition indicating that through the personal intermediate agency of Jesus Christ Himself both Jewish and Gentile Christians are “experiencing” access to the Father by means of the omnipotence of the one Spirit.
The referent of the first person plural of this verb is to both Paul and the recipients of the Ephesian epistle with himself representing the Jewish Christian community.
Thus, it specifically refers to both the Jewish and Gentile Christian communities.
As was the case in Ephesians 2:14 and 16, the articular nominative masculine plural form of the adjective amphoteroi (ἀμφότεροι) here in Ephesians 2:18 means “both groups” and in each of these verses the referents are both the Gentile and Jewish Christian communities.
The noun prosagōgē (προσαγωγή), “access” here in Ephesians 2:18 appears only in this verse and two other places in the Greek New Testament (Romans 5:2; Ephesians 3:12).
It means, “to lead someone into the presence of another” with the assistance of another and with the implication that the person doing the receiving is of higher status and in each instance, the word denotes “access to the presence” of the Father.
In these passages, the noun prosagōgē (προσαγωγή) is used in relation to God the Father, thus the word denotes the sinner being led into the presence of the Father through the intermediary agency of the Lord Jesus Christ in order to experience an eternal relationship and fellowship with the Father (cf. John 14:6).
The church age believer gains permanent access into the presence of the Father for an eternal relationship and fellowship through the Lord Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
When the Father declared the church age believer justified through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit placed them in union with His Son and under His federal headship and identified them with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
The church age believer’s identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death and burial is important because the Lord’s substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross propitiated the Father’s holiness that demanded that sin be judged (1 John 2:1; 4:10).
Through His finished work on the cross, the Lord opened the way for the sinner to approach God and gain access to the Father and which access is gained by the sinner through faith in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior.
The church age believer’s identification with Jesus Christ is important because it guarantees them a resurrection body, which will be minus the old indwelling Adamic sin nature.
Their identification with Him in His present session at the right hand of the Father is essential because it seats them positionally at the right hand of the Father and in a perfective sense when they receive their resurrection body at the rapture or resurrection of the church.
They experience this identification when they are experiencing fellowship with God by appropriating this union and identification with Jesus Christ by considering themselves to be crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Him in the Father’s presence at His right hand.
The articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun patēr (πατήρ) means “the Father” referring of course to the first member of the Trinity.
The articular construction of this word indicates that the Father is “in a class by himself” indicating the extreme of a particular class.
Thus, it indicates the extreme of those who are fathers.
Thus, the articular construction of this word indicates that there is only one Father worth mentioning as far as Jewish and Gentile Christians are concerned.
The noun patēr (πατήρ) is the object of the preposition pros (πρός), which means “face to face with, in the presence of” since it functions as a marker of close personal association with the implication of personal intimacy with someone and of an interrelationship or reciprocal relation.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase pros ton patera (πρὸς τὸν πατέρα) indicates that both Jewish and Gentile Christians are experiencing access to “the personal presence of the Father” through the personal intermediate agency of Jesus Christ and by means of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, in Ephesians 2:18, the noun prosagōgē (προσαγωγή) indicates that because Jewish and Gentile church age believers have permanent access to His presence in the sense that they always possess an eternal relationship with the Father.
The word also indicates the continuing availability of this access to the presence of the Father or in other words, it indicates the continued availability of approaching the Father for fellowship.
The noun prosagōgē (προσαγωγή) means, “access” and not simply “entrance” since the former accurately reflects the meaning of the word because it denotes not only entrance into the presence of the Father but also the continuing availability of that access to the presence of the Father.
The English word “access” denotes the ability or permission to approach, enter, speak with or use; admittance and is the state or quality of being approachable.
If we paraphrase this definition, we could say that the believer has the ability and permission to approach the Father and enter His presence in order to speak with Him in prayer through the personal intermediate agency of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This access was made possible through His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
It was also made possible through the believer’s identification with Jesus Christ in these events in His life through the baptism of the Spirit when the Father declared them justified.