eph 2:11-18

D. Remember What Life Has Been Like Since Christ Came: Reconciliation and Peace, 2:11–18

in verses 11–18 Paul wants the reader to grasp what God has done for man from three points of view.

1. From an historical view. Before Christ, God dealt with man through the Jewish nation. Since Christ, God has been moving on a world-wide scale to include both Jews and Gentiles who are willing to follow Christ. God takes both Jew and Gentile believers and He makes them the citizens of His new race, His new nation, His new creation

2. From an individual view. The Jewish nation was made up of individual Jews, and the Gentile nations are made up of individual Gentiles. Therefore, God deals with each single person even as He deals with the Jewish nation and with the ALL nations of the Gentile world (1 Co. 10:32; Ep. 2:10).

3. From a new creation view. God is no longer dealing with earthly divisions of nations. He is dealing with a new nationality of people, a new body of people who make up the true citizens of His Kingdom. These citizens are individuals from all the nations of the world who now approach God through the Lord Jesus Christ. God promises to spiritually recreate any person who approaches Him through Christ. God causes that person to be born again; He makes a new man out of him. God further promises the new man that he will become a member of God’s new body and new nation of people—His true church (1 Co. 10:32). It is these believers—those who believe in Christ—who are to make up, be part of the whole true family of God and to inhabit the new heavens and earth which God is to create in the future (2 Pe. 3:10–13; Re. 21:1f).

The present passage of Scripture is to help us remember what life is like since Christ came: reconciliation and peace.

1. We were far off and separated from God (vv. 11–13).

2. Christ brings us near to God (v. 13).

3. Christ brings us peace (vv. 14–15).

4. Christ brings us reconciliation (vv. 16–17).

5. Christ brings us access to God (v. 18).

Lets pray

1 (2:11–12) Division—Separation—Man, State of: we were far off and separated from God. Note that Paul addresses the second person here, “you.” He is referring to Gentiles, that is, to everyone who was not a Jew. Glance at the words “far off” in verse 13. There was a time when all of us who are Gentiles were “far off” and separated from God, a time when great division separated us from heaven. When? Before Christ. Before Christ there was a great gulf, a great distance that separated most of the world from God. This is the discussion of these two verses.

a. We were barricaded from God by the Jews. God Himself had caused the Jewish nation to be born of Abraham. He had challenged the Jews to be the missionary force to the world, proclaiming that He and He alone was the only true and living God, and that He was going to send the Messiah to save the world. But the Jews failed in their mission. They became exclusive, super-spiritual, prideful, and boastful in their religion and failed to reach out to the other people of the world.

⇒ They took their own name, Jews, and called themselves by that name, but they classified everyone else in a package by the name of Gentile.

⇒ They took the major ritual of their religion, circumcision, and called themselves by that name, but they classified everyone else as the uncircumcised.

The point is that we as Gentiles were barricaded from God by religion, a religion that had known the truth but had allowed itself to become corrupted.

Thought 1. Religion can keep a man from God—a corrupted religion. We must be on guard to protect the truth of Jesus Christ from corruption.

b. We were “without Christ.” This means that we as Gentiles neither knew nor expected the Messiah, that is, the anointed One of God. As Gentiles we had no hope of the coming Saviour for the world.

c. We were “aliens” from God’s people, that is, from Israel. This means that we as Gentiles were not citizens of God’s people—the nation of people being built by God for Himself.

d. We were “strangers from the covenant and promises of God.” This means that we as Gentiles were not the covenant people of God. God did not approach the Gentiles directly with the covenant relationship. The Jews alone had a covenant relationship with God.

e. We had “no hope.” This means that we as Gentiles lived in all the fears and the anxieties of life and in constant doom and gloom of death. We had no hope of a life beyond this world beyond human existence.

f. We were “without God in the world.” This means that we as Gentiles stood alone in this world. We had no source of strength or hope beyond that which we ourselves could gather or which others like us could provide. There was nothing to which we could look beyond ourselves. We had “gods many, and lords many” (1 Co. 8:5), but we were alienated from the only living and true God.

2 (2:13) The blood of Jesus Christ which brings us near to God. The words “but now” are catastrophic, a forceful contrast. Christ Jesus has now come into the world. There was a time when He had not entered the world, a time when men were divided and separated from God and from each other, but now Christ has come to bring all men to God and to each other. How does Christ bring us near God? Note how clearly and unmistakably Scripture declares: “By the blood.” It is by the blood of Christ that men are brought near God. But why blood? Why was it necessary for Christ to die in order to bring us near God? There are at least two reasons.

a. Man was estranged from God: he had rejected and rebelled against God, committing high treason against Him. Man was working all kinds of evil and injustice in the world—all against the will and law of God. And, even as the case is among men, the penalty for high treason and insurrection is exile and separation or death.

Now note: there was only one way man could ever be brought back to God—if God loved him enough to forgive his transgression and rebellion. The glorious gospel is that God did love man that much. God was willing to forgive man. However, there was one problem. The judgment of exile or death had already been pronounced, and the Lord’s Word could not be revoked. What could God do? Only one thing: God had to provide a Perfect, Ideal Man for men, a Man who could stand as the Pattern for all men. If He could provide the Ideal Man, then He could die for man and His death would stand for the death of all men.

This God has done. God has loved man with a perfect love—a love so strong that He was willing to substitute His Son for man. Only God and God’s Son could love that much. This is the first reason Christ had to die, to shed His blood for man.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

1 Peter 1:18–19 “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

b. God wanted to show just how much He loves the world. No “greater love can a man give than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13). However, God has gone much farther than just giving His life for His friends. But note the point: we were not friends of God. We were enemies, in rebellion against Him, rejecting Him and every righteous law of His. Therefore, when Christ died, He died for men who were …

Romans 5:6 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Romans 5:8–10 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

3 (2:14–15) Peace—Unity—New Man: Christ brings us peace. Note that Jesus Christ Himself is our peace.

⇒ Christ brings us peace when we realize that He died for us and offers us deliverance from the bondage of sin and death and to a life of eternity with God.

⇒ Christ brings a deeper sense of peace when we realize that He gives the daily power to overcome the aggravating and terrible weight of anguish and guilt and loneliness and emptiness and fear.

⇒ Christ brings a still deeper sense of peace when we realize that He has brought perfect love and unity to the world—that He has eliminated all divisions and barriers and differences between God and man and between men.

Christ is man’s peace because He does four things for man.

a. Christ brings peace by bringing men together as one (v. 14). Note that He has made “both one,” that is, Jew and Gentile. There are two ways that Christ makes men as one.

1) All men now approach God on the same basis, on an equal footing: by the blood of Jesus Christ. There is no other way. Therefore, when a man comes to the cross, he comes with everyone else who is standing at the feet of Jesus. He stands as one with them—all on an equal basis: sinners who need a Savior. Standing there he is not accepted by God because he is better, healthier, wealthier, more intelligent, more capable, and more religious than anyone else. He is acceptable to God because He acknowledges his unworthiness and nothingness—his desperate need—to be saved by the blood of Christ. He is acceptable to God because he acknowledges that he is as all other men—lost and needful—and he comes as one with all other men to confess Christ as his Savior.

John 14:27 ““Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

Romans 14:17 “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

2) All men who come to Christ for salvation receive a common love and purpose and work.

⇒ First, there is the common love. Every believer who comes to Jesus Christ loves Him, and that common love among believers stirs a common love between believers. Love for Jesus Christ stirs love for all those whom Christ loves—which is everyone. Christ leads men to love one another.

⇒ Second, there is the common purpose and work: that of living righteously and bearing testimony to the glorious message of salvation and to life eternal.

Ephesians 4:12–13 “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

1 John 1:7 “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

b. Christ brings peace by breaking down all barriers (v. 14). This is a picture taken from the temple. The temple was surrounded by a series of courts. Each court had a high wall separating it from the preceding court. As one approached the temple, he entered first of all the outer Court of the Gentiles. This is where the buying and selling of animals and the exchanging of money for foreign worshippers took place (see note—Mk. 11:15). Then there was the Court of the Women. A Jewish woman was limited to this court unless she had come to make a sacrifice. The next court was the Court of the Israelites. This is where the whole congregation gathered on the great feast days and where sacrifices were handed over to the priests. The Court of the Priests was next. This court was in the temple proper where the temple itself stood. This area was considered sacred and was accessible only to the services of the priests. Finally, within the very heart of the temple stood the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place where the very presence of God was to dwell. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy Place and he could enter only once a year—at the great Day of Atonement.

Partition after partition separated people from the presence of God. Tablets hung around the wall of the Gentile Court announcing that if any Gentile walked into any other court, he was to be put to death. The picture is that of Jesus Christ breaking down all barriers and walls that separate man from God. All men can now approach God equally through the death of Jesus Christ. Men build all kinds of barriers and prejudices against other men. Society is plagued with barriers and prejudices built around such things as …

• race

• color

• religion

• organizations

• wealth

• position

• morality

• dress

• appearance

• health

• commitment

• ability

But Christ has now done away with all barriers and prejudices. He has broken them all down by the blood of His cross. All men now approach God and become worthy on the same basis: by bowing before the cross and surrendering their lives to God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 10:28 “And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.”

Romans 10:12 “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;”

Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Proverbs 22:2 “The rich and the poor have a common bond, The Lord is the maker of them all.”

c. Christ brings peace by wiping out the friction of the law against us. Before Christ, man had to approach God through law. However, man discovered something: the law did not make him acceptable to God: it condemned him and showed him how far away from God be really was—totally depraved. Every time he broke the law, the law cried out “guilty” and pronounced the penalty of being imperfect and unworthy and unacceptable to God. Man discovered that the law was against him—at enmity, friction, hostility with him. But now, Christ has done away with the enmity and condemnation of the law.

⇒ He has lived a sinless life, fulfilling the law perfectly; and thereby He has secured the Perfect and Ideal Righteousness.

⇒ He has also paid the penalty for man’s having broken the law. As the Ideal and Perfect Man He could do this. When He died on the cross, He bore our condemnation and punishment for us.

The point is this: when Christ fulfilled the law, He became the embodiment of the law. He is now the Way. A man is to approach God through Him, not the law. Therefore, there are no laws, no rules, and no decrees to keep men from God. There is only one thing that keeps a man away from God: refusing to come to God through His Son Jesus Christ.

Matthew 5:17 ““Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

Galatians 4:4–5 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

d. Christ brings peace by creating a “new man.” God planned and promised a “new creation”—the creation of a new man individually and corporately, a new man in whom Jesus Christ dwells (Col. 1:27).

Individually when a man turns to Christ, Christ causes the man to be born again. He recreates the man—creates the man all over again. The man has a new life; he begins life all over again. He has a new beginning, and this new beginning brings peace—peace of heart and mind. (See note, New Man—Ep. 2:10 for more discussion.)

Corporately in Jesus Christ all men who believe, both Jew and Gentile, make up one new body (Ep. 2:16), one new family (Ep. 2:19), one new building (Ep. 2:20–22), one new temple (Ep. 2:21), one new fellowship (Ep. 1:22).

4 (2:16–17) Reconciliation—Jesus Christ, Cross: Christ brings us reconciliation. The word reconcile (apokatallasso) means to change, to change thoroughly, to exchange, to change from hostility/friction to friendship, to bring together, to restore. The idea is that two persons who should have been together all along are brought together; two persons who had something between them are restored and reunited.

Five points should be noted about reconciliation.

a. The thing that broke the relationship between God and man was sin. Men are said to be enemies of God (Ro. 5:10), and the word “enemies” refers back to the sinners and the ungodly (Ro. 5:6, 8). The “enemies” of God are the sinners and ungodly of this world. This simply means that every man is an enemy of God, for every man is a sinner and ungodly. This may seem unkind and harsh, but it is exactly what Scripture is saying. The fact is clearly seen by thinking about the matter for a moment.

The sinner cannot be said to be a friend of God’s. He is opposing what God stands for. The sinner is …

• rebelling against God

• rejecting God

• cursing God

• ignoring God

• disobeying God

• fighting against God

• denying God

• refusing to live for God

When any of us sin, we work against God and promote evil by word and example.

⇒ When the sinner lives for himself, he becomes an enemy of God. Why? Because God does not live for Himself. God gave Himself up in the most supreme way possible: He gave His only Son to die for us.

⇒ When the sinner lives for the world and worldly things, he becomes an enemy of God. Why? Because he chooses the temporal, things which pass away, over God. Man chooses temporal things when God has provided eternal life for him through the death of His Son.

This is the point of God’s great love or reconciliation. He did not reconcile and save us when we were righteous and good. He reconciled and saved us when we were enemies, ignoring and rejecting Him. As stated above, it is because we are sinners and enemies that we need to be reconciled.

b. The way men are reconciled to God is by the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. Very simply stated, when a man believes that Jesus Christ died for him …

• God accepts the death of Jesus Christ for the death of the man

• God accepts the sins borne by Christ as the sins committed by the man

• God accepts the condemnation borne by Christ as the condemnation due to the man

Therefore, the man is freed from his sins and the punishment due his sins. Christ bore both the sins and the punishment for the man. The man who truly believes that God loves that much—enough to give His only begotten Son—becomes acceptable to God, reconciled forever and ever.

c. God is the One who reconciles, not men. Men do not reconcile themselves to God. They cannot do enough work or enough good to become acceptable to God. Reconciliation is entirely the act of God. God is the One who reaches out to men and reconciles them unto Himself. Men receive the reconciliation of God.

d. All men can be reconciled to one another, can be brought together, if they look up to God “through the Lord Jesus Christ.” Men who look up to Jesus Christ for reconciliation and peace with God are linked arm in arm under the same Lord.

e. Men learn about reconciliation by the preaching of Jesus Christ. Christ was the first to preach the message. His followers are to follow in His trail, for there is no other way men can ever know that they can be reconciled to God apart from preaching.

2 Corinthians 5:18 “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,”

Ephesians 1:6 “to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

Colossians 1:20 “and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”

5 (2:18) Access: Christ brings us access to God. The word access (prosagoge) means to bring to, to move to, to introduce, to present. The thought is that of being in a royal court and being presented and introduced to the King of kings. Jesus Christ is the One who throws open the door into God’s presence. He is the One who presents us to God, the Sovereign Majesty of the universe.

Extremely IMPORTANT Note that it is the Holy Spirit who guides/escorts us into God’s presence. The idea is that of daily access—hour by hour, moment by moment. The Holy Spirit keeps us in the presence of God.

⇒ The Holy Spirit is the Divine Nature of God within us that gives us permanent access into God’s presence. (Jn. 3:5; Ro. 8:11; 2 Pe. 1:4).

⇒ The Holy Spirit is the One who works in us and stirs us to move more and more into God’s presence (Ro. 8:14; Ga. 4:6–7).

⇒ The Holy Spirit is the constant companion with us, teaching us to live in God’s presence (Jn. 14:26; 1 Co. 2:12–13).

John 14:26 ““But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

⇒ The Holy Spirit is the One within us who bears witness that we are children of God and should approach God continually (Ro. 8:15–16; Ga. 4:4–6).