EPHESIANS: ETERNALLY ENCLOSED IN GOD’S PLAN

Part VII: Explaining God’s Union Of Us

(Ephesians 2:14-22)

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 2:14-22 thus explains God’s union of us believers in Christ for our edification (as follows):

II. Explaining God’s Union Of Us In Christ, Ephesians 2:14-22.

A. After Paul stated how we Gentiles before salvation were excluded from God’s blessings for the Hebrew people in Ephesians 2:11-13, he asserted that now that we Gentiles have trusted in Christ to be spiritually positioned in Him, Christ has become the Source of peace between us and Hebrew believers, Ephesians 2:14a.

B. This peace was achieved by the cross of Christ Who broke down the “wall” of enmity between Hebrews and Gentiles in Christ, making both parties into one (Ephesians 2:14b; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 626).

C. Paul then described the spiritual logistics of Christ’s destruction of that wall of enmity in Ephesians 2:15-16:

1. By Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross, “He rendered the Law ‘inoperative’ (katargesas) in believers’ lives. Jews and Gentiles were enemies because the former sought to keep the Law with its commandments and regulations (cf. Col. 2:14, 21-23), whereas Gentiles were unconcerned about them. This difference was like a barrier between them. But now that the Law is inoperative (‘Christ is the end of the Law’ [Rom. 10:4]), Jewish-Gentile hostility is gone,” Ephesians 2:15a; Ibid.

2. One purpose Christ had in ending this enmity between Hebrews and Gentiles was to create in Himself one new man, a “Christian,” thus making peace between them, Ephesians 2:15b with Acts 11:26b; Ibid.

3. The other purpose Christ had in ending this enmity was to reconcile both Hebrew and Gentile believers to Himself in one body, what was accomplished when Christ on the cross put to death that enmity, Eph. 2:16.

D. Consequently, through the ministry of the apostles and the Church, Christ now ministers to proclaim through the Gospel of Christ’s salvation peace to both believing Hebrews and formerly estranged but now believing Gentiles, for through Him we both have access to God the Father by the indwelling Holy Spirit, Eph. 2:17-18.

E. Furthermore, Gentile believers have become fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, “part of the company of the redeemed of all ages beginning with Adam” (Ibid., p. 627; Eph. 2:19). This is not to say that Christian Gentiles become part of Israel or that they replace Israel as in Amillennialism, for Christ made of the two – Hebrews and Gentiles – one “new” man, a “Christian” (Ephesians 2:15b).

F. Describing the new unity of Hebrews and Gentiles in the body of Christ, the Church, Paul added that we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and New Testament prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Corner Stone, Ephesians 2:20, Ibid.

G. In spiritual position in Christ, the entire building of saved Hebrew and Gentile believers in the Church building is “joined together,” the Greek verb being sunarmologoumene, what “denotes that the various parts of the building are skillfully fitted to each other, not haphazardly thrown together.” (Eph. 2:21a; Ibid.)

H. This structure grows into a holy temple of the Lord, a structure in which the Lord Himself dwells, Eph. 2:21b. The word for “temple” in verse 21b is not hieron that includes the entire temple area with its open courts, but naos, the “sanctuary within the physical structure in Jerusalem,” the holy dwelling place of God, Ibid.

I. Paul summed that his readers were being built together, believing Hebrew and believing Gentile alike, for a holy dwelling place of God through the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 2:22; Ibid., p. 627-628.

Lesson: Through His death on the cross, Christ rendered the Law inoperative in the lives of Christian believers, thus ending the cause of enmity between Hebrews and Gentiles, for the Law had been kept by the Hebrew people where the Gentiles did not observe it. Thus, Christ abolished the enmity between Hebrew and Gentile believers, creating of the two one new man, a “Christian,” and He is now constructing by them a carefully planned spiritual structure, the Church, which is a holy dwelling place and temple in which God indwells by the Holy Spirit.

Application: (1) May we accept every OTHER believer in Christ as belonging to the spiritual body of Christ regardless of any human differences each may have by way of race, ethnicity, gender, language, nationality or personality. (2) May we view OURSELVES as part of the divinely, carefully constructed spiritual structure of the Church and minister with the spiritual gift God gave us to edify other believers with no inferiority! (3) Since a Holy God indwells us as His sanctuary, may we depart from sin and live holy lives in the power of the Holy Spirit.