Friday: Further Thought ~ Horizontal Atonement: The Cross and the Church

Further Thought:

Study carefully the following preamble to the discussion questions listed below:

What is the specific context in which Paul writes Ephesians 2:11-22 as he describes the sweeping effects of the Cross on human relationships?

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

He is addressing the relationships between Jewish and Gentile believers who together are members of the church. He expresses an obvious concern that they understand and live their shared, reconciled status as fellow members of God’s household (Ephesians 2:19). However, in the context of the letter as a whole, Paul demonstrates a broad, far-reaching purpose. His theme is God’s grand, ultimate plan to unite all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10) and his scope includes “every family in heaven and on earth” (Ephesians 3:15, ESV).

More important, the unity of members within the church — the specific topic he addresses in Ephesians 2:11-22 — itself has a wider purpose that Paul discloses in Ephesians 3:10: “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God [in creating the church out of both Jews and Gentiles] might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (ESV). Through actualizing the unity Christ won on the cross, believers are to signal that God’s ultimate plan to unite all things in Christ is underway. Their reconciled relationships signal God’s plan for a universe unified in Christ. So it is appropriate to look to Ephesians 2:11-22, set in the context of Ephesians as a whole, for biblical principles concerning a topic of importance today, relationships among people groups or races.

Discussion Questions:

What biblical principles concerning ethnic relations are provided in Ephesians 2:11-22? How does the passage offer a distinctive, Christ-centered approach to the theme of how members of one ethnic group should relate to members of another?
Given God’s plan for the future of humankind (Ephesians 1:9-10; Ephesians 2:11-22), how important is it for the church to deal with its own internal issues and conflicts between races?
What simmering issues between ethnic groups, which all too often may be hidden and ignored, exist in your community? How might your church play a positive role in actualizing the unifying work Christ already has accomplished on the cross? How might you participate in that work?

<–Thursday

Amen!