Compare Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul’s earlier description of the Gentile past of the addressees, with Ephesians 2:11-12. What does he accent in his fresh description of their past?

Gentiles who were now believers in Christ and members of His “body,” the church, were once totally separated from Israel and the salvation God offered. Paul judges it important for them to “remember” (Ephesians 2:11) this past.

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They were then “without Christ,” the Anointed One, the Messiah of Israel. They were “aliens from the commonwealth [the state or people] of Israel.” And they were “strangers from the covenants of promise,” oblivious to the promises of salvation God had offered down through salvation history. The alienation from Israel and the salvation offered through it meant that they once had “no hope” and were “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12, NKJV).

Also, in their past existence, Gentiles were caught up in a grand feud between themselves and the Jews. Paul gives a sense of this entrenched hatred by referring to one symptom of it, name-calling. Jews referred to Gentiles with derision as “the uncircumcision” and Gentiles referred to Jews with equal disdain as “the circumcision” (Ephesians 2:11).

Ephesians 2:13, however, points to something radically different now. Paul wrote: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (NKJV).

When Paul describes Gentile believers as once “far off,” he borrows from Isaiah 57:19: “ ‘Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,’ says the LORD, ‘and I will heal him’ ” (ESV; compare Ephesians 2:17-18). In Christ and through His cross, Gentile believers had been brought near to all from which they were separated — God, hope, and their Jewish brothers and sisters. Here is the powerfully good news implied by Paul’s description: that the cross of Christ can heal the wide rift between Jews and Gentiles means that all of our feuds and divisions can be resolved there. This good news invites us to consider the divisions that exist in our own lives and in the church and to ponder the power of the cross to supersede them.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility … that he might … reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross” (Ephesians 2:14-16, ESV).

How does Paul describe the cross and the impact of Christ’s work there in each of these passages in Ephesians? How would you summarize what Paul says about the cross and how it transforms our relationships? (See Ephesians 1:7-8; Ephesians 4:32; Ephesians 2:13-14; Ephesians 2:16; Ephesians 5:2, Ephesians 5:25.)

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In the context of our passage for this week, Ephesians 2:11-22, the cross yields three great assets for believers: (1) Gentiles, who were “far” from God and His people, are “brought near” (Ephesians 2:13, ESV) to both, being now sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters of Jewish believers (Ephesians 2:19); (2) the “hostility” (Greek, echthran, “enmity,” related to echthros, “enemy”) between Jewish and Gentile believers is itself “put to death” (Ephesians 2:16, NASB). The cross of Christ removes what seemed to be the permanent state of hostility and war in which Jews and Gentiles were sworn enemies (Ephesians 2:17); (3) in the place of hostility comes reconciliation. It was Christ’s purpose to “reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross” (Ephesians 2:16, NKJV; compare Colossians 1:19-22).

What does reconciliation look like? How does it feel to be reconciled? Imagine severe estrangement between a mother and daughter, one that has settled in over a period of years. Imagine this rancor being dissolved in a wave of grace and forgiveness and the ensuing reunion between the two. That is reconciliation. Reconciliation is experienced in the moment when one church member lays aside whatever issue divides from another and acknowledges the other church member as a beloved brother or sister, who accepts what has been offered. Reconciliation is not a mechanical or legal term but an interpersonal one that celebrates the mending of broken relationships. Paul dares to imagine Christ’s powerful work on the cross as impacting the relationships, between not just individuals, but also people groups. He imagines it invading our lives and destroying our divisions, dissolving our quarrels, and renewing our fellowship with and understanding of each other.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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