Verse by Verse Commentary of the Letter to the Ephesians
Another aspect of our new identity has a direct impact on our relationship with other Christians. We once defined our relationships with others on the basis of the things that made us different, even as the Jew and Gentile were aware of the cultural and religious gap that not only separated them, but also made them enemies. But now in Christ the gap has been closed, and Jesus has made peace. From even such hostile elements God made “one body.” By being reconciled to God, we are at the same time reconciled to one another. (Bob Damon’s Ephesians Commentary, pg 5).
Christ Is Our Peace
11Therefore
remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called
Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh
by hands
12that
at that time you were without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the
covenants
of promise, having no
hope
and without God in the world.
- Since Abram, Jews had all the advantages, the blessing of knowing God:
Romans 9:4” who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises…”
- Whereas a Gentile was a foreigner to God, far off, and alien. Only proselytes of the Jewish faith had access to the teachings of God, and by association the blessing. Remember Jesus with the Canaanite woman in
Matthew 15:24-28:… “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
13But
now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near
by the blood of Christ.
14For
He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down
the middle wall of separation,
15having
abolished in His flesh the enmity, that
is,
the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from
the two, thus
making peace,
16and
that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the
cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
- This wall of separation is an allusion to the wall between the outer and inner court of the temple, where Gentiles were separated from Jews. Now, not only are Jews and Gentiles redeemed, but they are unified, no longer either Jew or Gentile (but all circumcised of the heart).
- This covenant is sealed with the blood of Christ.
Matthew 26:27-28 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Hebrews 7:22 by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.
- This new covenant is Spiritual, not physical. And all who are members of the church, are subject to this new covenant:
2 Corinthians 3:4And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
17And
He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who
were near.
18For
through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
- We as believers, are now all participants to and recipients of the blessing of the new covenant.
Galatians 3:26-29 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Application Questions
- What is the result of believing the message of Christ? Does God intend for believers to fellowship and worship together? Can a believer effectively grow without fellowship in the body of Christ?
- Why is it that within the church, dividing walls are erected that keep out people from different social and ethnic groups? How should a local church treat foreigners and believers of differing maturity or beliefs?
- In Christ, what is every believer’s relationship to other Christians? What is your role personally in helping your congregation build unity?
The New Covenant with Christ
What were the covenants between God and Noah, then Abram and now the Church? What does covenant mean? (from Strong’s H1285 pronounced ber-eeth') a compact (made by passing between pieces of flesh): confederacy, league.
God made a covenant with Noah to save him from the flood.
Genesis 9:12-17, And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations: I have placed my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature. The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the permanent covenant between God and all the living creatures on earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and every creature on earth.”
God established the Jewish nation through Abraham:
Genesis 17:4-8“…My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; … I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also, I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
While in bondage in Egypt, the Israelites did not know God, yet God remembered them. (A metaphor for the lost today?):
Exodus 2:23-24 Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
The Jews in Egypt didn’t do anything to deserve God’s grace:
Exodus 6:2-5 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.
A covenant is always sealed with blood.
Exodus 24:8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you ...”
Then after hundreds of years of unsuccessfully abiding by God’s laws, Israel was taken captive. Yet even then, God’s plan was unfolding, and the prophet Jeremiah spoke these words of God
Jeremiah 31:31-33 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel … I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people….For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
This is the glorious covenant under which we, Gentiles and Jews alike, can freely partake, and forever enjoy the peace and joy offered by the blood sacrificed by Jesus to seal this new, better covenant. There may yet be another covenant in the future, based on ones interpretation of Jeremiah’s prophecy in chapter 32:
Jeremiah 32:36-44 “Now therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me…and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’ “For thus says the LORD: ‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. And fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captives to return,’ says the LORD.”
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Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
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