United as one, through Christ.
Notes
Transcript
The New International Version (Chapter 2)
11 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)—
12 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.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,
16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
THE GREAT PEACE MISSION
Ephesians 2:11– 12
Intro:
Peace in our time! Peace with honor!”
Some of us still remember those words of British Prime Minister, Sir Neville Chamberlain, when he returned from conferences in Germany in September 1938. He was sure that he had stopped Adolf Hitler. Yet one year later, Hitler invaded Poland, and on September 3, 1939, Great Britain declared war on Germany. Chamberlain’s great peace mission had failed.
It seems that most peace missions fail. I read somewhere that from 1500 B.C. to A.D. 850 there were 7,500 “eternal covenants” agreed on among various nations with the hope of bringing peace, but that no covenant had lasted longer than two years. The only “eternal covenant” that has lasted—and that will last—is the one made by the eternal God, sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is Christ’s peace mission that Paul explains in this section, and three very important words summarize this great work:
separation,
reconciliation, and
unification.
Today we will look at separation, how we where separated for the Jews and how God never meant for it to be like that. He prepared a way for all to come to the throne, not just Israel. God just chose them to be the light to the world, to all nations. It was through them that He would send the Messiah.
The HCSB study notes said this about the wall of separation in vs. 14-15.
By “dividing wall” Paul likely had in mind the area in the Jerusalem temple that separated the court of the Gentiles from the temple. The temple was constructed on an elevated platform. Around it was the court of priests. East of this was the court of Israel. Farther east was the court of women. These three courts were all on the same elevation as the temple. From here a walled platform was five steps away. Fourteen steps away was another wall, which was the outer court of the Gentiles. There was an inscription on this wall warning Gentiles of their ensuing death if they entered the enclosure around the temple. In Christ this dividing wall was broken down, thus banishing the specific commandments that separated Jews from Gentiles because Gentiles did not observe the Jewish law. The burden of the commandments was taken away at the cross in our Lord’s crucified body.
Jeremy Royal Howard, ed., HCSB Study Bible: God’s Word for Life (B&H, 2010), Eph 2:14–16.
Separation: What the Gentiles Were (Eph. 2:11–12)
In the first ten verses of Ephesians 2, Paul has discussed the salvation of sinners in general, but now he turns to the work of Christ for Gentiles in particular. Most of the converts in the Ephesian church were Gentiles, and they knew that much of God’s program in the Old Testament involved the Jews.
1. For centuries, the “circumcision” (Jews) had looked down on the “uncircumcision” (Gentiles) with an attitude that God had never intended them to display.
a. The fact that a Jew had received the physical mark of the covenant was no proof he was a man of faith (Rom. 2:25–29; Gal. 5:6; 6:15). Those who have trusted Christ have received a spiritual circumcision “made without hands” (Col. 2:11).
2. But since the hour that God called Abraham, God made a difference between Jews and Gentiles. He made this difference, not that the Jews might boast, but that they might be a blessing and a help to the Gentiles.
a. God set them apart that He might use them to be a channel of His revelation and goodness to the heathen nations.
b. It’s sad to say, Israel kept this difference nationally and ritually, but not morally.
c. Israel became like the lost nations around her. For this reason, God often had to discipline the Jews because they would not maintain their spiritual separation and minister to the nations in the name of the true God.
3. The one word that best describes the Gentiles is without. They were “outside” in several respects.
Without Christ. The Ephesians worshiped the goddess, Diana, and, before the coming of the Gospel, knew nothing about Christ. Those who claim that pagan religions are just as acceptable to God as the Christian faith will have a problem here, for Paul cites the Ephesians’ Christless state as a definite tragedy. But then, keep in mind that every unsaved person, Jew or Gentile, is “outside Christ” and that means condemnation.
Without citizenship. God called the Jews and built them into a nation. He gave them His laws and His blessings. A Gentile could enter the nation as a proselyte, but he was not born into that very special nation. Israel was God’s nation, in a way that was not true of any Gentile nation.
Without covenants. While the blessing of the Gentiles is included in God’s covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3), God did not make any covenants with the Gentile nations. The Gentiles were “aliens” and “strangers”—and the Jews never let them forget it. Many of the Pharisees would pray daily, “O God, I give thanks that I am a Jew, not a Gentile.”
Genesis 12:3 (CSB)
3 I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.,
Without hope. Historians tell us that a great cloud of hopelessness covered the ancient world. Philosophies were empty; traditions were disappearing; religions were powerless to help men face either life or death. People longed to pierce the veil and get some message of hope from the other side, but there was none (1 Thes. 4:13–18).
Without God. The heathen had gods aplenty, as Paul discovered in Athens (Acts 17:16–23). Someone in that day said that it was easier to find a god than a man in Athens. “There be gods many and lords many,” wrote Paul (1 Cor. 8:5). But the pagan, no matter how religious or moral he might have been, did not know the true God. The writer of Psalm 115 contrasted the true God with the idols of the heathen.
4. It is worth noting that the spiritual plight of the Gentiles was caused not by God but by their own willful sin.
a. Paul said the Gentiles knew the true God but deliberately refused to honor Him (Rom. 1:18–23).
Romans 1:18–23 (CSB)
18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
b. Religious history is not a record of man starting with many gods (idolatry) and gradually discovering the one true God.
i. Rather, it is the sad story of man knowing the truth about God and deliberately turning away from it!
ii. It is a story of devolution, not evolution!
c. The first eleven chapters of Genesis give the story of the decline of the Gentiles; and from Genesis 12 on (the call of Abraham), it is the story of the Jews. God separated the Jews from the Gentiles that He might be able to save the Gentiles also. “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).
John 4:22 (CSB)
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.
d. God called the Jews, beginning with Abraham, that through them He might reveal Himself as the one true God.
i. With the Jews He deposited His Word, and through the Jews He gave the world the Saviour (Rom. 9:1–5).
Romans 9:1–5 (CSB)
1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit—2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises. 5 The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever.,Amen.
ii. Israel was to be a light to the Gentiles that they too might be saved. But sad to say, Israel became like the Gentiles, and the light burned but dimly.
iii. This reminds me of what Christ said to John on the island of Patmos,
e. This fact is a warning to the church today. When the church is least like the world, it does the most for the world.
Christ tells John in Revelation 3:14–16 (CSB)
THE LETTER TO LAODICEA
14 “Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea: Thus says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator, of God’s creation: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.
5. As the church we need to be about Christs business and not about the worlds.
a. Just a few more verses in vs. 20; Christ says to John.
Revelation 3:20 (CSB)
20 See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
This is an invitation from Christ to us. If we respond to His knock on the door of our hearts He will come into our lives and fellowship with us.
1. In the last 11 words of Matthew Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:20 (CSB) ” I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
2. Moses told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 31:6 before he died.
Deuteronomy 31:6 (CSB)
6 Be strong and courageous; don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For the Lord your God is the one who will go with you; he will not leave you or abandon you.”
Next week we are going to look at Vs, 13-18” the enmity between Jews and Gentiles.” And how God reconciled us.