Sermon Tone Analysis

Background

For Paul the unity between Jew and Gentile in Christ was the prime witness to the unity which God intended for all creation.

In 2:11–22 he developed this theme from a salvation-historical perspective.

Looked at from this vantage point, the Gentiles were formerly not among God’s people.

Now, in Christ all that has changed, and the Gentiles have equal access to God.

In this passage, which continues the discussion of Eph 2:1–10, Paul presents the broader scope of God’s reconciliation—one new humanity saved in Christ, composed of both Jews and non-Jews alike.

Paul first describes Christ’s destruction of the barrier that previously separated people (vv.

13–16), and then he highlights the work of the Spirit, who joins believers together as one family and temple of God (vv.

18–22).

Background

Let’s start with

Who were “the circumcision” and why do you think Paul made it a point to say “which is done in the body by human hands”?

The Jewish nation had forfeited their special position with God, because, while they were physically circumcised, their heart attitude was not one of submission to God.

So Paul says the Jews were called to circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands.

He implies that, while they were physically circumcised, their heart was not, as it were, circumcised (submissive to God).

The Ephesian church seems to have experienced friction between Jewish and Gentile Christians.

That would explain why Paul goes into a discussion of the relationship between those two groups at this point.

Circumcision was a source of pride for the Jews.

It was a visible sign of their historic relationship with God.

Therefore, it was a term of derision—a religious slur, if you will—for the Jews to call the Gentiles uncircumcised.

God’s plan of salvation in the Old Testament came through the Jewish nation.

That still didn’t mean that all Jews were truly redeemed.

It only meant that the message of redemption came through the Jewish nation.

Relates to

Reconciliation in Paul

What were the “covenants of the promise”?

2:11 Paul urges the Gentile believers to recall their life before Christ, just as the Israelites were often told to remember what God had done for them (see Exod 13:3).

Circumcision was a source of pride for the Jews.

It was a visible sign of their historic relationship with God.

Therefore, it was a term of derision—a religious slur, if you will—for the Jews to call the Gentiles uncircumcised.

A derogatory term emphasizing that non-Jewish people are outsiders in relation to God’s covenant with Israel.

This category includes most members of the churches planted or empowered by Paul.

The Greek word used here, cheiropoiētos, portrays circumcision as a human rite.

In the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the ot), this word is used to refer to idols (e.g., Lev 26:1; Isa 2:18; 10:11; Dan 5:4).

God’s plan of salvation in the Old Testament came through the Jewish nation.

That still didn’t mean that all Jews were truly redeemed.

It only meant that the message of redemption came through the Jewish nation.

Ver.

11.

Wherefore remember, that ye, etc.—All that follows in the verse serves to define the “ye,” the verb following in ver.

12 after the repeated “ye”—“ye were without Christ.”

“Called Uncircumcision … called the Circumcision.”

As much rancour lies in these words as generally is carried by terms of arrogance on the part of those only nominally religious, and the scornful epithets flung in return.

They can be matched by our modern use of “The world” and “Other-worldliness.”

Verses 11–12 depict the former state of the Gentiles: they were the uncircumcised.

Since circumcision was viewed as the external mark of membership in God’s covenant people, this meant that Gentiles were outsiders.

They were “foreigners,” totally alienated from the people of God.

They were “separate from Christ,” that is, they had no share in the messianic salvation.

Though they had many gods of their own, they were without the one and only true God.

All that had changed with Jesus Christ.

The Gentiles who were once so far from the divine promises, so without hope of salvation, now have “come near” in Christ.

Refers to the covenants between God and His people in the ot.

2:12 Refers to Gentiles (see Eph 1:11 and note).

Paul may be emphasizing the Gentiles’ lack of knowledge or relationship with Christ.

Alternatively, he may be comparing the Gentiles to the Jews, whom God entrusted with the promises about the Messiah.

Gentiles were separate from Israel; they were without the law and without God.

Despite this separation, God revealed Himself to them through Christ and called them to Himself.

In addition, Paul was made a minister to them (see 3:1, 8; Acts 9:15; Rom 11:13; Gal 2:9).

Refers to the covenants between God and His people in the ot.

Paul probably is referring to the covenants God made with Abraham (; ), Isaac (), Jacob (), Moses (), and David ().

Each of these covenants involved a promise from God.

Paul emphasizes that the Gentiles were:

• separate from Christ

• excluded from citizenship in Israel

• foreigners to the covenants of the promise

• without hope

• without God in the world

True Gentiles were utterly without hope even with their many religions and many gods.

The one God did not acknowledge them because they did not acknowledge him.

True Gentiles were utterly without hope even with their many religions and many gods.

The one God did not acknowledge them because they did not acknowledge him.

Let’s move to

2:13.

God, because of his mercy and love, did not leave them in this hopeless condition.

Christ abolished the distinction between Jew and Gentile.

All people are now considered the same before God.

His death on the cross made this wonderful thing possible.

.

At verse 13 Paul alluded to the text of Isaiah 57:19, which spoke of peace coming both to those who were far off and those who were near.

Paul developed a homily on this text in verses 14–18, quoting it explicitly in verse 17.

In the context, the “near” were the original Jewish members of God’s covenant people, the “far” were the Gentiles.

Christ is described as the means of bringing peace between the alienated Jews and Gentiles.

He destroyed the wall of hostility that separated them.

Did Paul have a particular wall in mind?

Some think he may have intended the wall of Gnostic speculation, which was believed to separate the spiritual world from the terrestrial world, However, there is nothing in the immediate context to indicate this sort of cosmological thought.

Others have suggested Paul may have been thinking of the oral law, which the rabbis described as a “fence” around the Torah, but the rabbinic traditions would have had little meaning for the Gentile recipients of Ephesians.

More likely is the suggestion that Paul was talking about the written Torah itself, whose provisions in many ways separated Jews from Gentiles.

Verse 14 would indicate that this was indeed the dividing point Paul had in mind.

But does the picture of the law as a “wall” have a more specific reference?

If it does, the most likely candidate would be the stone barrier around the sanctuary in Jerusalem that warned Gentiles to proceed no farther.

Paul had been mobbed in the temple square under the false accusation that he had violated that sanction.

It was the reason he now lay in Roman custody.

Would Gentiles have known of the temple barrier?

Probably.

The temple was the most well-known landmark in Israel.

Had they not already known of it, the Pauline coworker who circulated the epistle would surely have shared with them the story of Paul’s arrest.

2:14 Paul echoes Isaiah’s description of God’s Messiah as the “Prince of Peace” (see Isa 9:6).

Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would end hostility and establish an era of well-being.

Christ produces this peace; He is the essence of it.

He brings harmony and wholeness to people’s relationship with God and one another, a theme that fits with Paul’s purpose of unifying Jews and Gentiles.

The external distinctions between Jews and Gentiles are no longer grounds for hostility and division (compare Eph 3:6).

This is the core message of the letter.

Probably a figurative reference to the law (see v. 15).

Alternatively (or perhaps additionally), this phrase might refer to the wall in the Jerusalem temple that divided the Court of the Gentiles from the Jewish areas.