MAY 11, 2014
A CHANGED RELATIONSHIP
INTRODUCTION:
1. In the preceding passage (Verses 1-10) we have set forth the great contrast between the former and present states of these Ephesian believers, and how the change was to be accounted for; and to what main purpose.
a) Their natural state was one of spiritual death, corruption and bondage to sin. (Verses 1-3)
b) Their present state is one of spiritual life, renewal and exaltation, owing in its entirety to the love, grace, and power of God. (Verses 4-6)
c) This change is designed to show now and forever the exceeding riches of God’s saving and sanctifying grace. (Verses 7-10)
2. In our present passage (Verses 11-22) is set forth the corresponding change respecting the Ephesian converts’ new relationship to the church and to God.
a) The Apostle shows what their former relations were, being foreigners and aliens. (Verses 11, 12)
b) He declares the change, and shows the means by which their alienation had been removed. (Verses 13-18)
c) He shows the consequences of their reconciliation in their intimate relationship to God and His people. (Vrs. 19-22)
I. THE FORMER RELATIONSHIP TO GOD AND HIS CHURCH. (VERSES 11, 12)
A. THEY WERE ALIENATED FROM GOD AND HIS PEOPLE, BEING “GENTILES IN THE FLESH.” (V. 11)
1. “Gentiles in the flesh” speaks of the corruption of their nature in which they lived, and of their being destitute of the outward sign of an interest in the covenant of grace.
a) For this they were upbraided by the Jews who called them “the uncircumcision.”
b) Hypocritical professors value themselves chiefly on externals, and despise others on the same basis. Outward signs mean nothing where there is no spiritual reality. Circumcision was originally instituted a seal of the righteousness of faith, which Abraham had before he was circumcised. (Rom. 4:10, 11)
2. In truth, “the circumcision” was spiritually no better off than the Gentiles, if all they had was that “circumcision in the flesh made with hands.” (Rom. 2:28, 29; 3:30; Gal. 5:6; 6:15; Col. 2:11; Phil. 3:3)
B. THE DEPLORABLE MISERY OF THEIR CASE AS STRANGERS TO GRACE IS DESCRIBED. (VERSE. 12)
1. As Gentiles and unconverted, they were ‘without Christ.”
a) This is the root of all miseries.
b) They were without the knowledge of Messiah.
c) They were without the Redeemer.
d) They were without a Mediator.
2. They, as “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,” had no part in Christ’s church.
a) As Gentiles, they were not of the favored nation, that people whom God had chosen for Himself.
b) As unconverted Gentiles, they had no part in Christ’s church, which is made up of those in whom His Spirit dwells.
c) It was to Israel that God revealed Himself (Gen. 32:28), and it is to the true Israel, the Israel of God, the church that He has made Himself known as their Redeemer, their God, and their Mediator.
3. As aliens from Christ’s church, they were therefore estranged form the covenants of promise, which are fulfilled in Christ. (Acts 13:32; Rom. 4:4; Gal. 3:16)
4. Such deplorable deprivals leave one “without hope,” literally “not having hope.”
a) They had nothing in which to hope, being alienated form the covenants of promise, i.e. the Gospel.
b) The only hope for sinners is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
5. They were, in fact, “without God;” the Greek is atheoi, that is, atheists.
a) They were practical atheists in that they were destitute of the knowledge of God, and served those who were no gods.
b) This also includes the idea that they were forsaken of God, and left in the world. “Without God in the world.”
c) This is the practical designation of all who are without Christ, and alienated from the church, which is the custodian of the covenants of promise (the Gospel). They are “without God in the world.”
II. THE HAPPY CHANGE AND THE MEANS BY WHICH THE ALIENATION HAD BEEN REMOVED.
A. THE ALIENATION AND ESTRANGEMENT AND SEPARATION WAS REMOVED. “Ye who sometimes (formerly, in times past) were far off are made nigh.”
1. Under the old economy, the Jews were near the place of worship and communion, while the Gentiles were removed from God’s people, having no access.
2. Yet the distance here intended is not so much physical, but rather spiritual.
3. Whether the speaker is Isaiah, or Peter, or Paul, the estrangement and alienation was seen as being caused by their spiritual removal. (Compare Isa. 49:1, 12; Acts 2:39; Eph. 2:17)
4. In the very same congregation may be found some who are nigh while others sitting by them are far off. In the same household, there can exist the same spiritual separation. Some may be brought nigh to God and things holy by the Gospels, while others having the same opportunity remain far from God and dead in sin.
B. BY VIRTUE OF UNION WITH CHRIST, THOSE WHO WERE FAR OFF ARE MADE NIGH. “But now in Christ Jesus ye…are made nigh.”
1. The phrase “in Christ Jesus” is opposed to the phrase “in the world,” which immediately precedes it.
2. In this one Savior are gathered together all things. (Ch. 1:10) He brings together from the north, south, east, and west to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom. (Matt. 8:11; Luke 13:29)
III. THE BLESSED CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR RECONCILIATION. (VERSES 14-22)
A. CHRIST HAS MADE PEACE BETWEEN JEWS AND GENTILES. (VERSES 14, 15)
1. The former point is here proven, in that, the gap between Jews and Gentiles is here closed by spiritual reconciliation. “For He is our peace who hath made both one.”
2. Those who once would have reproached the Gentiles by calling them the uncircumcision now called them “our brothers.” (See Isa. 2:4)
3. Those who were aliens and strangers are now made fellow citizens.
4. The partition wall that separated the court of the Gentiles from that to which the Jews had access is here alluded to. “And hath broken down the middle wall of partition.”
a) Christ is the true temple.
b) In Him there is neither Jew nor Gentile, nor is there any other designation of separation. (Gal. 3:28)
5. The cross of Christ has abolished all of the ceremonial ordinances that separated the races. (Vs. 15; Col. 2:13, 14)
a) In His flesh, He has abolished the enmity. That is, by His death, He has removed that which was against us and was contrary to us.
b) He abolished…the enmity. Having removed the separation devices, He has made one church.
c) Thus, Christ died on the cross for to make in Himself of twain one new man (one body, one new society of believers, one people of God) so making peace.
B. CHRIST HAS MADE PEACE BETWEEN GOD AND SINNERS, WHETHER THEY BE JEWS OR GENTILES. (VERSES 16, 17)
1. The great end that was gained by the cross of Christ was man’s reconciliation with God. (Verses 16, 17)
2. The enmity that had to be slain was between God and man, and that enmity was man’s sin.
3. Both Jews and Gentiles needed to be reconciled. (Verse 16a) The circumcision saw the alienation of the uncircumcision, but their own formal religion blinded them to their own separation. (See Rom. 2:27, 28)
4. The cross of Christ is the only hope for mankind, for by it alone is the enmity removed.
5. The removal of enmity was accomplished in a most radical way. “By the cross.”
6. Because Christ has abolished the enmity between God and sinners by His death for sin, He now can proclaim peace to the “far off” (Gentiles) and to the “nigh” (Jews). (Verse 17)
C. BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES NOW HAVE ACCESS TO GOD. (VERSE 18; ROM. 5:1-5)
1. All access to God is through Him, by virtue of His sacrifice and also His mediation.
2. We both, that is, Jews and Gentiles, both now have access to God.
3. Christ not only purchased our right to come, but by the Holy Spirit, He gives us a heart to come.
4. The word access (Greek prosagoga) means to introduce. Christ does not simply make approach to God possible; He introduces us into the presence of God.
D. ANOTHER BLESSED CONSEQUENCE OF THIS RECONCILIATION IS CITIZENSHIP AMONG THE SAINTS, AND MEMBERSHIP IN THE CHURCH OF GOD. (VERSES 19-22)
1. The “commonwealth of Israel” (Verse 18) clearly speaks of the true Israel of God, the church, which is here called “the household of God.”
2. The church is God’s family. (Verse 19)
a) Household (oikeioi) means member of a family.
b) We are also the house of God (oikos). Paul passes from one figure to the other.
c) We are God’s house (His church; His habitation), and we are also members of His household.
3. Thus, the church is compared to a building, which is built upon the sure foundation of Christ the Living Word. (Verse 20)
4. This building is the true church, the true temple of God, built with living stones, that is, with Christ redeemed people of all races. (Verse 21; I Pet. 2:4, 5)
5. The church, made up of living stones, a spiritual house, is God’s dwelling place. (Verse 22)
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