The Journey

One in Christ-Ephesians 2

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

1. The Body of Christ has a common history- vs.11-12

History teaches us that man learns nothing from history.

Author unknown

-At 2:11 the writer’s focus shifts from what Christ has done in the individual’s life to what Christ has done to reconcile communities. His main point is that the estrangement of the Gentiles is now overcome, and thus Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians are being built into God’s house. While this reconciliation is treated as an accomplished fact, it would have been unnecessary to emphasize what was not problematic.

There is more than a little irony in the fact that the passage that affirms the full acceptance of the Gentiles by God relies on Hebrew traditions.

2. The Body of Christ has a common standing- vs 13-18

The writer of Ephesians used Colossians to frame his epistle, then 2:13–18 may be the exposition of Col 1:20, “and through him [Christ] to reconcile to himself all things … making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Is it not wonderful news to believe that salvation lies outside ourselves?

Martin Luther

Vs 14- Broken down- This same Christ has “broken down the dividing wall of hostility” (v. 14). The verb translated “broken down” (lysas) is used in the New Testament both to describe the destruction of the temple (Matt 24:2; 26:61, for example) and the setting aside of the law (Matt 5:17; John 5:18, for example). Although some commentators have suggested it is a reference to the Temple curtain that was torn at the crucifixion of Jesus, it is generally assumed that the wall the writer had in mind was that separating the Court of the Gentiles from the inner portions of the Temple that were open only to Jews. This is supported by the famous inscription found in 1871 (“No foreigner to pass the parapet and barrier round the precinct. Anyone caught will have himself to thank for his ensuing death”), which was posted, in Latin and Greek, on the inner side of the Court of the Gentiles in the Temple. Interestingly, phragmos is the word the LXX (Isa 5:2) and Mark (12:1) used for the protective hedge that God planted around the vineyard, Israel. The “wall,” then, is a metaphor for the separation between the nations and Israel which was maintained by means of the law and was experienced as enmity between Gentiles and Jews and between human beings and God.

3. The Body of Christ exists with purpose- vs 19-22

At v. 19 the metaphor shifts from royal courts to construction. No fewer than ten words that refer to building occur in vv. 19–22, which describe the “household of God.”

“Preachers are not salesmen, for they have nothing to sell. They are bearers of Good News.”

― Billy Graham

But the structure is not complete; it is still “growing” (synoikodomeisthe, present tense; v. 21). The mixed metaphor of building and growing, which is alluded to again at 3:17 and 4:16, is Pauline (cf. 1 Cor 3:5–17). For the Jews, the Temple was the place where God was uniquely present. Now, for Christians, be they Jews or Gentiles, God is uniquely present in the church, which owes its sanctity to Christ (the point at which all else is joined). Each believer is “built into” (v. 22) this temple; synoikodomeō literally means “built together with the others” and occurs only here in the New Testament. The implication is that, without other Christians, we cannot be “built.” It is in the church and in Christians that God is understood to dwell.