EPHESIANS: LIVING IN ALIGNMENT WITH OUR HIGH CALLING

Part I: Our High Calling In Christ, Ephesians 1:1-3:21

F. God's Gracious Provision Of The Spiritual Unity Of The Church Body

(Ephesians 2:11-22)

I. Introduction

A. The believer's high calling of God in Christ is a wonderfully gracious calling, for in that calling, the Lord has provided for the spiritual unity of the Church body as explained in Ephesians 2:11-22.

B. At the present time when the coronavirus pandemic is causing many church services in many places to be cancelled while believers self-quarantine for the sake of health, this provision becomes very meaningful.

C. We thus view Ephesians 2:11-22 for our insight and edification (as follows):

II. God's Gracious Provision Of The Spiritual Unity Of The Church Body, Ephesians 2:11-22.

A. In addressing mainly Gentile believers in this epistle, Paul noted that before salvation, his Gentile readers had been tragically separated and alienated from the people of God in Israel, Ephesians 2:11-12 (as follows):

1. Addressing Gentile believers (Ephesians 2:11), Paul noted that before their salvation in Christ, they had been called the "uncircumcised" by Hebrews who were "circumcised," strong terms that signified a "great social and spiritual boundary" between Jew and Gentile, Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 625.

2. That division was very great as explained by Paul in Ephesians 2:12 (as follows):

a. First, "uncircumcised" lost Gentiles were separate from "Christ," Christos in the Greek Testament, the term for "Anointed One; Messiah" (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 667; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 895) what is true unsaved Gentiles and Jews, Ephesians 2:12a. They had no national hope of the Messiah, no hope of ever entering a Messianic Age of abundant blessing; Ibid., B. K. C., N. T.

b. Second, "uncircumcised" lost Gentiles were excluded from the theocratic state of Israel with its blessings as a state under God's provisions, Ephesians 2:12b; Ibid.

c. Third, "uncircumcised" lost Gentiles were foreigners to the covenants of the promise, "deprived of direct participation in God's covenants and thus had no hope of future glory and blessing," Eph. 2:12c; Ibid.

d. Fourth, "uncircumcised" lost Gentiles were without hope, having "no expectation of a personal Messiah-Deliverer and the Messianic Age," Ephesians 2:12d; Ibid.

e. Fifth, "uncircumcised" lost Gentiles were without God in the world, without meaning, hope, purpose or direction in life, Ephesians 2:12e; Ibid.

B. However, now in Christ Jesus, Paul's Gentile readers who once were far away from God and the Jews had been brought near to them both by the blood of Christ, by the atonement of the cross of Christ, Eph. 2:13.

C. Indeed, Christ is the peace between Jew and Gentile, for He has made both one in spiritual unity, having broken down the middle wall of partition between them, abolishing the Law that separated them to make of the two one "new or fresh in character or quality (kainon)" man (Ibid., p. 626), making peace, Eph. 2:14-15.

D. What resulted was a reconciliation of the Jew and Gentile into one spiritual body through the cross, destroying the enmity that had before existed between the two parties, Ephesians 2:16.

E. Through the apostles, then, Christ preached peace both to the Gentiles who were far and the Jews who were near since both had access to God the Father through Christ's cross by the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 2:17-18.

F. In the end, every believer is spiritually interconnected to one another and to God, Ephesians 2:19-22:

1. Instead of being foreigners and aliens, Gentile believers are fellow citizens with God's Hebrew people and members of God's household, Ephesians 2:19; Ibid., p. 627.

2. They are now built upon the foundation of the apostles and New Testament prophets, Christ Himself being the Chief Corner Stone, being a part of the spiritual structure of the Church, Ephesians 2:20; Ibid.

3. That whole spiritual structure of the Church universal (and local) is joined together and "continually grows [pres. tense] into" a holy temple in the Lord, Ephesians 2:21; Ibid.

4. That structure becomes a dwelling place in which God lives by His Spirit, Eph. 2:22; Ibid., p. 627-628.

Lesson: Through the cross of Christ, every believer is a full partaker of God's salvation blessings, and God has interconnected him with every other believer and with God Himself in the spiritual Church as His dwelling place.

Application: Since regardless what physical, racial, cultural or linguistic divisions that occur do to separate believers from each other in the physical realm, in the spiritual realm, every believer and God are interconnected with each other and with God, may we rejoice in that spiritual unity and confidently function in its stability.