Ephesians 2:16–22

The Unity of the Body, Part 3

1911 March 19, 1978

Big Idea

Paul teaches that believers are one in Christ. In Ephesians 2:11–22 he explains (1) what we were—socially and spiritually alienated—and (2) what we are now—socially and spiritually united in Christ through his cross. The result is peace (with God and one another) and access (to the Father), forming one new humanity, one body, one temple.

Where This Fits in Ephesians

Chs. 1–3: Position/Identity—what is true of believers.

Chs. 4–6: Practice/Conduct—how we live because it’s true (note the “Therefore” in 4:1).

Our passage (2:11–22) anchors identity: because we are one, we must live as one.

The Human Problem: Sin Breeds Division

We know that the process of divorce is escalating in our country as people find it more and more difficult to commit themselves to any lasting and meaningful relationship to anybody. Now all of this stems from one basic problem. And that one basic problem is expressed in the Old Testament as well as the new. The prophet Jeremiah said the “heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” And Isaiah said “There is no peace to the wicked.”

In other words, built into wickedness is the impossibility of peace. Where you have sin, you have discord. And the reason is this, sin is basically by definition selfishness. And where there is selfishness, there can never be harmony. Where you’ve got everybody looking out for himself, you cannot have harmony. Where you’ve got everybody looking to get what he can get, no matter what it does to somebody else, you can’t have harmony. And so, as man is a sinner, man is selfish. And as man is selfish, man will never know peace. And the only place where peace occurs is where self dies.

And the only place where self really dies is at the cross of Jesus Christ. For therein does the apostle Paul say, “I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live; yet,” – What? – “not I, Christ lives in me.”

Man has always had these classes and stratus and categories of people that they fit them into. And men have always had this separation problem, this strife and conflict problem over all kinds of meaningless things. And that’s true in society, but in Christ it all comes together in a wonderful unity. And it’s illustrated here in this text by what happens between the Jew and the Gentile. Because in Paul’s day that was the greatest area of discord. That was the greatest place of bitterness and animosity and hatred and strife. And if God can do that with the Jew and Gentile and a Greek and a Barbarian and the bond and the free and the male and the female, He can do it with every category. And He does in Christ, because He makes us one.

Scripture diagnoses the root: “The heart is deceitful…desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9). “There is no peace…for the wicked” (Isa 48:22; 57:21). Sin is self-love curved inward (cf. Jas 4:1–3). So families fracture, churches split, peoples war. The ancient world was riddled with barriers—slave/free, male/female, Greek/“barbarian”, Jew/Gentile—and our world is no different (cf. Rom 1:14; Col 3:11; Gal 3:28).

Exposition: Ephesians 2:11–22

1) Our Past: Social and Spiritual Alienation (2:11–12)

Socially: Gentiles were derided as “uncircumcision” by those “called circumcision” (2:11; cf. 1 Sam 17:26).

Spiritually: Fivefold estrangement—“without Christ,” “alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,” “strangers to the covenants of promise,” “having no hope,” and “without God in the world” (2:12).

2) The Turning Point: “But now in Christ Jesus” (2:13)

Now, as we look at verses 13 to 22, the main thought here is that those who were socially and spiritually alienated had become socially and spiritually united. And there are two aspects of this. First of all, verses 13 to 15 speak of us being united with each other, one new man. Peace between Jew and Gentile. The second part of it is that we are not only reconciled to each other, but verses 16-18 tell us we are reconciled to God. Okay? So when you become a Christian, your position is you’re one with each other and you’re one with God. And this is just incredible truth.

To think of it, people, that God doesn’t just save us. God doesn’t just promise us certain things and keep us at arm’s length. He makes us one with Himself. Now listen, this is only possible because He puts in us His very life. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. The very eternal life of God is ours. We’ll find in chapter 3, verse 19, that he says, “We can be filled with all the fullness of God.” It’s a staggering thing. The life of God and the soul of man. We are one with God, the eternal God of the universe.

“You who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (2:13).

The cross addresses the root problem—sin—so the effects (hostility, division) can be removed (cf. Rom 3:22–26).

3) Horizontal Reconciliation: One New Man (2:14–15)

Did you know that there was enmity and still is between an unsaved man and God? They are enemies. That’s right. They are enemies. And I mean they are hot enemies. Christ in Revelation 1 is pictured with burnished, burning, blazing, white hot heat of molten brass with which He treads in judgment on those who are His enemies. And in Ephesians chapter 2, it says that the one who is without Christ is a child of wrath. The fury of God will be spent on such.

To be an enemy of God is a serious, serious thing. The eternal hell is designed to be occupied by the enemies of the eternal God. Man is separated. There is enmity. That just means there is an enemy thing there. That means there is animosity, there is hatred, there is antipathy, there is rebellion. And you know something. As a human being, you can’t do one thing about it to change it in your own strength.

Look at Romans chapter 5 for a minute. This – this factor of being at enmity with God – you know, people think – they think that if they’re just good, if they’re a good neighbor or work with their job fairly well or take care of their wife and kids, within reason, that God is really their friend and everything’s going to be fine. But that isn’t true. There are only two categories of human beings and Jesus put them this way. “He that is not with me is,” – What? – “against me.”

Humanity stands divided—either with Christ or against Him. To reject Christ is to oppose God, for no one can be for God apart from Christ. Without Christ, man is alienated, powerless to change his condition, ungodly, unrighteous, and an enemy of God. Romans 5 reveals this total inability: without strength, without merit, without righteousness. Yet, in that helpless state, God demonstrated His love—Christ died for the ungodly, sinners, and enemies. Through His death, He removed the barrier between God and man, achieving reconciliation and making peace possible, as further affirmed in Colossians 1:20. Salvation is entirely Christ’s work.

“He Himself is our peace” (2:14)—peace is not a feeling first; it’s a Person.

Christ “has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” by abolishing the ceremonial “law of commandments in ordinances,” creating “one new man” out of Jew and Gentile (2:14–15; cf. Acts 10–11; 15).

Moral law remains (love of God/neighbor: Matt 22:37–40); the ceremonial distinctives that divided are fulfilled in Christ (Rom 14; Col 2:16–17).

4) Vertical Reconciliation: Peace with God (2:16–18)

I mean just imagine if you were a little kid playing a game and you got first choice for your team and you said, “I take God.” And God said to you, “Good, I’m on your side and I will put all of my power at your disposal.” Well, that’s exactly what happens in the case of Christianity. When you become a Christian, you take God on your team. Look at Ephesians 6:15 for a minute. And we’ll get into this in great detail sometime in the future, when we get there.

But in Ephesians 6:15, it’s talking about the armor of the Christian and how you fight against Satan. And it says, “your feet are shod” – or prepared – “your feet are prepared with the gospel of peace.” The gospel of peace. I love that. Some places in the New Testament it’s called the gospel of grace. Romans 1, it’s called the gospel of God. Many places, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But here, it’s called the gospel of peace. And what it means is this, you’ve made peace with God, the war’s over.

In Acts 10:36, we hear the early church, and what do we imagine their message is going to be? Well, it’s simple. Acts 10:36 says, “they were preaching peace by Jesus Christ.” Peace was always the message. When you come to Christ, the animosity’s gone between you and God and between you and other people. And the church was a wonderful fellowship triangular. The life of God flowing out of Him through Jew and Gentile and between the two of them. A harmony of peace between man and man and man and God.

It’s kind of like the prodigal son who first came home and was reconciled to his father and then he was reconciled to his brother. The same thing is true in Christianity. We’re reconciled to God and then to each other. The apostle Paul in Romans said “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace.” And he said in Romans 14, “The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace.” The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace. 1 Corinthians 7:15, “God has called us to peace.”

“God is not the author of confusion,” – 1 Corinthians 14 – “but of peace.” It’s all over the place. The book of Hebrews climaxes in a great statement, “Now the God of peace that brought again our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do His will.” The God of peace. Beloved, we’re at peace with God and each other.

And in being reconciled to God, we have peace and access is the second, verse 18. “For through Him,” – that is through Christ and what He’s done – “we have access by one Spirit to the Father.” The whole Trinity’s in that verse incidentally. The Him is the Son, the Spirit is the Spirit, the Father, the Father. That’s a good verse to speak of the Trinity.

Christ “reconciled us both to God…thereby killing the hostility” (2:16).

He “came and preached peace” (2:17)—the gospel of peace (Eph 6:15; cf. Luke 2:14; John 14:27; Acts 10:36).

Access: “Through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (2:18). The whole Trinity participates: through the Son, by the Spirit, to the Father (cf. Rom 5:1–2; Heb 4:14–16; 10:19–22).

Think Introducer to the King: Christ is our access/door (John 10:7–9).

5) Three Pictures of Our New Identity (2:19–22)

First of all, the fellow citizens concept in verse 19. “Now therefore,” – therefore just coming off of all that he said, because we’re all one, because we’ve been made one in Christ, because we have access and peace with God – “we are no longer strangers.” And that word xenos, means somebody who’s an outcast, wretched, vial, rotten, keep them at a distance kind of person. And sojourner, and a sojourner is someone completely different. Paroikos means somebody who’s a friend. You bring them into the house. He’s not a part of the family. He’s not really a citizen of anything. You just let him be there as a guest. So he says you’re either a wretched outcast that you wouldn’t have in the house or you’re a houseguest with no rights.

But that’s no longer true. You now are fellow citizens with the saints. We’re all fellow citizens. There are no strangers in the family of God. There are no sojourners. There are no houseguests. We’re all citizens. We’re all members of the kingdom.

Secondly, we go – he goes further than that; citizens also with the saints and the household of God. We're not only fellow citizens we’re family, we’re family. I believe that God loves us so much that he wouldn’t stand for just having us fellow citizens, He had to make us fellow sons, fellow heirs. Hebrews 3:6, I love it. It says this. “Christ as a son over His own house whose house we are.” Jesus says in Hebrews 2, “I’m not ashamed to call them brothers.” They’re joint heirs, sons of the Father, the family.If God can accept every one of us, then we ought to accept each other, right?

Thirdly, he says we’re built together as a holy temple. And the reason he follows in this sequence is because in each of these little sections the – the little root word oikos appears. It’s connected to the word sojourner. It’s connected to the word household, and it’s connected to the word building. And that’s the trigger in Paul’s mind that makes him use these three metaphors. That little word keeps triggering his thoughts. So he goes from being in the kingdom to being in the family to being a builder.

Citizenship: “No longer strangers and aliens…fellow citizens with the saints” (2:19; cf. Phil 3:20).

Family: “Members of the household of God” (2:19; cf. Heb 3:6; Rom 8:14–17).

Temple: Built “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,” the whole church is “a holy temple in the Lord…a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (2:20–22; cf. Isa 28:16; 1 Pet 2:4–6; 1 Cor 3:16–17).

Theological Keywords

Reconciliation: God’s work to restore enemies to friendship (Rom 5:6–11; Col 1:20–22).

Peace: Objective end of hostility with God (Rom 5:1) that overflows into relationships (Rom 14:17; Heb 13:20–21).

Access: Ongoing, Spirit-enabled approach to the Father through the Son (Eph 2:18; 3:12; Rom 5:2).

Practical Implications (Flowing from Identity)

Pursue unity you already have: “Maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3–6). Identity (ch. 1–3) fuels practice (ch. 4–6).

Drop old fences: Ethnic, cultural, class, gender, preference walls have no place “in Christ” (Col 3:11; Gal 3:28).

Live cruciform lives: Self dies at the cross (Gal 2:20), so relationships can flourish (Phil 2:1–5).

Use your access: Run toward God when you sin (Heb 4:16; 1 John 1:9), not away.

Key Cross-References (to cite as you teach)

And he says in 20 that his chief cornerstone of the building is Christ. You know the cornerstone was the major stone that was set down. It had to be so large to support the super structure. It had to be so accurate because the walls were all conformed to the angle of that stone. And every other block in the entire building fit into that stone. So the cornerstone was the thing that framed everything. It was the thing to which everything was adapted. The cornerstone was the support, the unifier, the connector, the strength giver. It was everything, and that is Jesus Christ.

And then notice it says that the foundation then is built of the apostles and prophets. Now, we could say then that the foundation is the apostles and prophets and that would be true in a sense, but I think more true than that is the fact that they laid the foundation. In Greek, for those Greek students who might be here, we would call it a subjective genitive. And we would say what it means is not so much that the apostles and the prophets are the foundation as that they laid it. The foundation of doctrine that they laid connected to the person of Christ is the foundation of this holy temple. And yet they’re there in a sense as part of that foundation.

And by the way, that verb, fitly framed together, is a rare, rare verb in the Greek language that means every single part fit snug. When God builds His church, it fits. Compact, firm, not loose and ill arranged masonry, unstable and ugly. Solid, cohesive, snug, firm. Every stone fitted perfectly into its place without defect. No stone out of place. And no stone broken.

The church, positionally, before God is perfect, perfect. If God is going to build a temple in which he will dwell by his spirit that’s going to be a perfect temple, right? Back in the book – back in the Old Testament, you’ll recall that when God saw the temple was imperfect, God wrote Ichabod, and his glory, what? Departed. God doesn’t dwell in an imperfect place. Now what I’m saying is this, if we are the temple of God, then, positionally, we are perfect. You see that? God’s spirit wouldn’t dwell in imperfection.

Alienation/Reconciliation: Rom 5:6–11; Col 1:20–22

Unity: John 17:20–23; 1 Cor 12:12–13; Col 3:11; Gal 3:28

Peace: Luke 2:14; John 14:27; 16:33; Acts 10:36; Rom 5:1; 14:17; Heb 13:20–21

Access: Rom 5:2; Eph 2:18; 3:12; Heb 10:19–22

Temple/Cornerstone: Isa 28:16; 1 Cor 3:16–17; 1 Pet 2:4–6

Choice Quotations to Emphasize

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Eph 2:13)

“He himself is our peace, who has made us both one.” (Eph 2:14)

“Through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Eph 2:18)

Teaching Outline (ready to preach/lead)

Remember Your Past (2:11–12): Alienated and hopeless.

Behold the Cross (2:13–15): Christ, our peace, makes one new humanity.

Rest in Peace with God (2:16–18): Hostility slain; access granted.

Live Your New Identity (2:19–22): Citizens, family, temple—so act like it (cf. 4:1–6).

References

https://www.gty.org/sermons/1911/the-unity-of-the-body-part-3