EPHESIANS: ETERNALLY ENCLOSED IN GOD’S PLAN

Part VI: Appreciating God’s Unification Of Us

(Ephesians 2:11-13)

I. Introduction

A. Paul wrote Ephesians to encourage believers of God’s work to edify the Church regardless what happened to Paul in his imprisonment (Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, 1978, p. 1672: “Intro. to the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians”).

B. Ephesians 2:11-13 thus offers edifying insight on God’s gracious unification of as believers in Christ:

II. Appreciating God’s Unification Of Us, Ephesians 2:11-13.

A. Were it not for the salvation that is available to us Gentiles in Jesus Christ, we would be completely alienated from God and from any of His spiritual blessings, and to explain this truth, Paul began his discussion on the disunion we Gentiles had as unbelievers from God and God’s people of Israel with “the strongest inferential particle (dio, therefore),” Ephesians 2:11 NIV; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 625.

B. Accordingly, before our salvation, we Gentiles were by birth called “uncircumcised” by the Hebrew people, Ephesians 2:11b. This physical difference between Jews and Gentiles affected every area of our lives. A great social and spiritual boundary existed between us, Ibid.

C. In the spiritual perspective, we Gentiles in our pre-salvation state lacked five great privileges that God had given to the people of Israel (as follows), Ephesians 2:12-13:

1. First, in our unsaved condition, we Gentiles were without Christ, separated from the Messiah in that we had no personal hope of God’s blessing and no national hope of a Kingdom as did Israel, Ephesians 2:12a.

2. Second, in our unsaved condition, we Gentiles were “excluded from citizenship in Israel,” Eph. 2:12b NIV; Ibid. “The word “excluded” is apellotriomenoi, “alienated” or “estranged,” and though “some Gentiles were admitted into Judaism as proselytes, Gentiles as a whole were excluded . . . alienated,” Ibid.

3. Third, in our unsaved condition, we Gentiles were “foreigners to the covenants of the promise (cf. Eph. 3:6),” Ibid.; Ephesians 2:12c. “Israel’s ‘covenants’ include the Abrahamic (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:18-21; 17:1-8), the Palestinian (Deut. 28-30), the Davidic (2 Sam. 7:16; Ps. 89:1-4), and the New (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:24-30). These covenants – all pointing to ‘the promise’ of the Messiah and the blessings through Him – assured Israel of a national existence, a land, a King, and spiritual blessings,” Ibid.; Ephesians 2:12c.

4. Fourth, in our unsaved condition, all of us Gentiles were without hope. Unlike the Hebrew people, we had no expectation of a personal Messiah-Deliverer and the Messianic Age, Ibid.; Ephesians 2:12d.

5. Fifth, in our unsaved condition, all of us Gentiles were “without God (atheoi, ‘apart from God’) in the world. We Gentiles were in a desperate condition, having no meaning, no hope, no purpose and no direction in life, Ibid.; Ephesians 2:12e.

D. However, our unsaved spiritual condition as Gentiles was greatly altered by Christ’s salvation, Eph. 2:13:

a. Verse 13 is introduced by the words nuni de, rendered “But now,” an emphatic antithesis to what is stated in Ephesians 2:11-12 (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 667; Theol. Dict. of the N. T., vol. IV, p. 1106, ftn. 2).

b. Since nuni means “now” as an “adverb of time” (Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 548) and pote means “formerly” in Ephesians 2:11 to describe the Gentiles’ condition prior to salvation (loc. cit., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; op. cit., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 701-702), Paul contrasted our pre-salvation condition as unsaved Gentiles in verses 11-12 with our post-salvation condition in Christ in verse 13!

c. Thus, in sharp contrast to the condition of having been far away “from both God and the Jews (v. 12),” we justified Gentiles “have been brought near through the blood of Christ (cf. 1:7),” having “come near to God and to the Jews by means of Christ’s sacrificial death. Sin separates people from God and only Christ’s atonement can remove that sin barrier” (loc. cit., Bible Know. Com., N. T.).

d. This does not mean that we saved Gentiles become Jews, for Paul states in Ephesians 2:15 that Christ in Himself abolished the enmity between Jews and Gentiles to create of the two one “new” man, a Christian, but saved Gentile and Hebrew believers are both brought into a rich spiritual union in the Lord!

Lesson: Prior to our salvation in Christ, we Gentiles were separated from Hebrews, separated from the Hebrew Messiah with no personal or national hope of blessing, alienated from the Hebrew people, foreigners to God’s promises in Israel’s covenants, without hope and without God. However, after salvation through Christ, we Gentiles have been brought nigh to saved Hebrews and to God with a rich spiritual heritage in Christ Jesus!

Application: May we saved Gentiles thank God for bringing us nigh to His rich spiritual blessings in Jesus Christ.