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Are you happy with the current state of the world? Do you wish things could change? Do you want the world to improve? Do you want to fix the world? In this study of Ephesians 3:8-13, we discover Paul’s solution for how to fix the world. It’s a shocking, challenging proposal, but it is the plan that God has put in place since the beginning of time, and it is the only plan that God has. There is no Plan B.

Before we consider God’s Plan for How to Fix the World, we consider a question from a reader about Pentecostalism.

Question from a Reader

A new member of my discipleship group named John Redic recently sent in the following question.

What is your analysis of Pentecostalism? How should the Azusa Street Revival and Movement be assessed and interpreted?

I am not a fan of Pentecostalism.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Pentecostals. I love their passion for Jesus and their desire to see God move in their life in a meaningful and powerful way. We all want this, and I love how Pentecostals are calling for people to have a REAL experience of God in their life, rather than the dead and stiff religiosity that is so common in some forms of Christianity.

However, there is great danger in the Pentecostalism that forms the foundational theology of many Pentecostals.

I’m not going to get into the history of Pentecostalism, which the Azuza Street revivals and some of the subsequent revivals, except to say that these revivals did happen, and as with any historical revival, there was some good and some bad that came from them, but the worst thing we can do is put them on a pedestal as an experience that we should try to copy or replicate today. Whenever we try to emulate, replicate, or copy a past, historical movement of God, we end up ignoring and even missing what fresh thing God is trying to do in our own day.

But if you are not familiar with the Azuza Street revivals or Pentecostalism in general, let me just say that they were attempts by some Christians to restore to the church the powerful and supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit to the everyday lives of Christians. They wanted to experience all that the Holy Spirit has to offer.

And this is a good thing. We should all want everything that the Holy Spirit wants for us, including the knowledge and experience of all the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit has given to us. However, I think that many dangers and problems have come along with Pentecostalism.

(#AmazonAdLink) While I do believe that all the spiritual gifts are in use today (I have an online course available on the Spiritual Gifts if you want to learn more about my views on this … and (#AmazonAdLink) a book as well), I think that many Pentecostals put a higher degree of authority on personal experience than on careful study and explanation of Scripture. This is quite dangerous.

And while I can never deny the validity of someone’s experience, we must recognize that ecstatic experiences are not exclusive to Christianity. Many people in many other religious have similar ecstatic experiences when they are worshipping their own god(s). If Christian ecstatic experiences “prove” that the ecstatic experiences come directly from Jesus through the Holy Spirit, then what do the non-Christian ecstatic experiences prove?

So I place a great emphasis on the careful and prayerful study of Scripture as interpreted through the lens of Jesus Christ, and place all other forms of revelation beneath the authority of this study of Scripture. Any other approach makes divine revelation highly subjective, which leads to all sorts of problems.

How to Fix the World (Ephesians 3:8-13)

Ephesians 3:8-13 is a continuation of Paul’s point in Ephesians 3:1-7, which in turn is a follow-up point from everything Paul wrote in Ephesians 2.

In Ephesians 2, Paul encouraged the Ephesians Christians to live in peace with each other so that they might show the world how to live in peace. Jesus showed us this way to peace when He died on the cross for His enemies and, rather than exacting revenge upon them, He forgave them. So Paul tells the Ephesian Christians to do the same thing, to love and forgive and be at peace with those who used to be our enemies.

This is, of course, much easier said than done. So in Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul is showing the Ephesian Christians that he lives by example. Paul is in prison because he chose peace rather than violence. And while in prison, Paul continues to work toward peace with those who are his captors. In this way, Paul is an example to the Ephesian Christians about how to live in peace with others, and what the consequences might be.

But the cost is worth it, for, as Paul now explains in Ephesians 3:8-13, the powers and rulers of this world are watching, and if Christians can show this world a better way to live, then they might follow our example as well.

We pick back up with this idea in Ephesians 3:8.

Ephesians 3:8. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given,

In Ephesians 3:7, Paul said he was a minister, a servant running through the dust. Here, he says that he is the least of all the saints. The term least could also be translated very small, quite unimportant, or insignificant.[3] The best translation is exactly what we have here in the NKJV. It is not just that he was the least of all the saints, but he was less than the least.

He wasn’t just saying this; this wasn’t false humility. Paul really believed it. In 1 Timothy 1:15 he states a similar idea when he calls himself the chief of all sinners. In 1 Corinthians 15:9, he is the least of the apostles.

I don’t think Paul was one of those who was proud of his humility. He wasn’t the type to brag about his humility. He said things like this, because he was convinced of how great a sinner he was. He remembered all that he had done to persecute and destroy the church in his former years, and it weighed on him. Yes, he knew that he was forgiven and that all of his sins were washed away, but he knew that he didn’t deserve it.

A lot of Christians think that the more mature you become and the closer to God you get, the less you sin. While this is true, it seems to me that the closer we get to God, the more aware we become of how sinful we really are. It’s like light – since God is light. The closer you get to a light, the brighter the light becomes, and the more flaws the light reveals.

This is why assurance of salvation should never and can never be based on your works. Assurance of salvation is based on Christ and what He has done for us, not on ourselves and what we have to do. If you are basing assurance on your works, you will never have it because as you mature in your Christian walk, if you are honest, you will only think you are getting more and more sinful. This is what we see with Paul here. He calls himself the least of all the saints – because he is convinced of his sinfulness.

Nevertheless, Paul accomplished quite a bit, didn’t he? So what separates us from Paul? In my opinion, nothing except willingness. You know, if the truth were to be known, I think Christians today have greater opportunity and greater possibility to serve God than Paul did. I have heard some Christians, when confronted with their lack of activity and dedication say, “Well, I’m not Paul.” That’s exactly right. You’re not Paul. The difference between him and you is that you have more opportunities and more resources than he ever had.

The reason God used Paul so much is because Paul was willing to do what he could. He says he was the least of the saints and the chief of sinners, but we see how God used him anyway. If God can use Paul, God can definitely use you – if you are only willing and ready. The rest of Ephesians 3:8 and on into Ephesians 3:9 tells us what ministry God gave Paul.

Ephesians 3:8-9. … that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery,

Paul’s God given task was to preach. These verses show the two things he was to preach. First in Ephesians 3:8, he was to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. This is the truth found in chapter 1 of Ephesians. Second, in Ephesians 3:9, he was to preach about the fellowship of the mystery which is the truth found in Ephesians 2. So this statement by Paul is a brief summary of Ephesians 1-2.

The word unsearchable means that these riches of Christ are so great that they cannot adequately be explained or even understood. They are beyond finding out. They are without explanation or definition. You cannot fully explore them. You cannot delineate them. They are beyond description. They are beyond enumeration. You cannot catalog them. You cannot create in inventory list.

Let me put it another way. How many waves are on the ocean? The answer is that there are an infinite number of waves, because they just keep on coming. It is the same with the riches that we have in Christ. We cannot number them because they just keep on coming. You think the Duracell battery never stops? Just think about the riches in Christ. They truly are without end.

Paul mentioned some of the riches we have in Christ in Ephesians 1, but when compared with what Christ still has for us, Ephesians 1 is like a single snowflake in comparison to all the snowflakes that have ever fallen and ever will fall.

The unsearchable riches of Christ was the first thing he preached, the second, as we saw in Ephesians 3:9 is the fellowship of the mystery.

Remember Ephesians 2? Even though we were sinners and separated from God and each other, Christ came and brought us all together into one unified body. This is what Paul preached.

Since Paul preached it, does this mean that Paul made it up? No. The rest of Ephesians 3:9 says that this message originated with God when He created the universe.

Ephesians 3:9. … which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

Remember, according to Ephesians 3:5, this mystery was hidden for ages and generations, but was made known by the Holy Spirit to God’s apostles and prophets. Paul here in Ephesians 3:9, wants to make sure that we realize that this mystery was NOT an invention of Paul’s, nor was it a sudden decision by God. It was God’s plan from the very beginning of the ages. It was hidden in God, meaning we didn’t know it, but God had it planned from creation.[4]

Many things are for God to know and his creatures to find out (Prov 25:2). But when he does reveal things to us, as he did here to Paul, it is our responsibility to shout them from the rooftops, to share it with all who will hear. This is how the Gospel message should be for us. God did not give us the Gospel of Salvation so we could hoard it and hide it, but so that we could share it and shout it.

That is what Paul did here with the mystery revealed to him. Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, was revealed the plan of the mystery and as a result he preached about this mystery to all. Paul’s God-given task was to preach to the Gentiles the mystery revealed to him in Christ.

And what was this mystery? We have discussed this before. The mystery is that all people are welcome into God’s family, the church, regardless of race, background, morality, sex, age, or anything else that tends to divide humans. With God there is no “inner group.” No favorites. No “us vs. them.” With God, all are “in.” All are accepted. All are forgiven. All are welcome.

And God has formed His new people into the church. This is the mystery that God has known, and been seeking to reveal since the beginning, and which the prophets and apostles wrote about in Scripture, but which few really understood until Jesus fully revealed the truth of mystery through His ministry, life, death, and resurrection. And now Paul has become a messenger of this mystery, making it known to the rest of the world.

Now why did God do this? What is the purpose of bringing diverse groups of people into one body, the church? Paul explains why in Ephesians 3:10-11.

The Purpose of the Mystery (Ephesians 3:10-11)

Ephesians 3:10-11. to the intent (another word for intent is purpose, so here we have the purpose of the mystery) that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places …

What does that mean? Well first, we need to know who or what the principalities and powers in the heavenly places are. A lot of people think that the terms “principalities and powers” refer to angels and demons. But this is not true.

Principalities is the Greek word archais, and it means rulers, princes, or chiefs. We briefly discussed this term in Ephesians 1:21 and will look at it in greater detail in Ephesians 6:12 (cf. also Col 1:16; 2:10, 15; 1 Cor 15:24; Rom 8:38).

The word for powers is not dunamis, the power of God which we saw in Ephesians 3:7. Here, the Greek word is exousias. It also refers to rulers and authorities (Eph 1:21; Col 1:16; 2:10, 15; 1 Pet 3:22; 1 Cor 15:24). Together, the terms refer to earthly rulers, nations, institutions, and powers that dominate this world (cf. Dan 4:35, 10:13). Yes, there is a spiritual dimension behind these earthly powers, but this spiritual dimension reveals itself through earthly rulers, powers, and authorities that seek to control, dominate, and bring tyranny upon this world. We are seeing the powers at work right now as those in authority seek to use their positions to enrich themselves and control everybody else through tyranny.

This, of course, is not a new problem. It has always been a problem. This is why Paul was writing about it in his day. The Roman Empire sought to dominate and control as well.

And Christians who desire freedom, liberty, and peace, have always wondered what to do about it.

Paul’s answer here is as shocking today as it was then.

Paul is saying that the mystery of the gospel directly challenges the powers of this world, and even seeks to correct the abuses of the powers by showing them a different and better way to live.

In other words, the church is God’s solution to the problem of abusive earthly powers.

Why does the church exist? Why did God decided to unite Jews and Gentiles into one body in Christ? The reason, according to Ephesians 3:10 is to teach and correct the principalities and powers of this world.

And this is not a new plan of God. Ephesians 3:11 shows that this has always been God’s plan.

Ephesians 3:11. … according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,

In Ephesians 3:9, God’s plan of the mystery was from the beginning of the ages, that is, from the beginning of time, or from the beginning of creation. Here in Ephesians 3:11, God’s plan to teach the earthly powers was according to the eternal purpose of God.

Do you want to know what this means? This verse tells us that the church is the central goal of history. The church is the eternal purpose of God for human history. The church is the reason the universe was created![9] Think about that. What level of importance do you place on the church? If you were to make a list of your top ten priorities for this week, where would church come in on the list? Would church even be on your list?

On God’s list of priorities, the church is number 1. God’s reason for creating the universe was to create the church – the mystery kept hidden for ages and generations. And the purpose of the church was to teach the world how to behave.

When we see the world falling part, and we complain about all the problems in the world, guess whose fault it is? It’s the fault of the church. When the world falls apart, it is because the church is doing a poor job of showing the world how to behave. Jesus showed us how to behave so we can show the world how to behave. This is Paul’s point in Ephesians 3:12-13.

Ephesians 3:12. … in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

I know it sound challenging. We have to show the world how to properly live? Well, guess what? We’re not doing it alone. Jesus is leading the way. Jesus has led the way. All we have to do is follow His example. Paul is following the example of Jesus, and so should we.

And since we have the perfect example in Jesus (Ephesians 2), and since we have access to the riches and power of Jesus (Ephesians 1), we can follow Jesus with boldness. We can access our riches and inheritance with confidence through faith in Him.

In Ephesians 3:13 Paul says this is what he has done, and so this is what the Ephesians Christians can do as well.

Ephesians 3:13. Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

Remember, he began in Ephesians 3:1 by talking about how he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ for the sake of the Gentiles. That might be a troubling thought for them, so he has spent several verses assuring them that what he is going through is not a bad thing, but it is exactly what God wants.

Therefore, Paul asks them not to lose heart because of his tribulations, his trials, his troubles, because, he says, they are for your glory. He’s saying, “Yes, I am a prisoner, but I am a prisoner because I did what God wanted me to do – namely, share the Gospel with you.” And though Paul doesn’t say it here, Paul’s goal is to also share the gospel with the people in Rome, and potentially even to the greatest human power of all, Caesar.

All of us who follow Jesus want the world to change for the better. But few of us understand how to change the world. Yes, we can vote, and contact politicians, and support causes and organizations we believe in, but according to Paul, the best way to fix the world is to follow the example of Jesus by living in peace with one another. As Christians live in peace with each other, we give an example to the world of how peace can be achieved.

Jesus is the perfect example to us of how this works, and Paul was an example to the Ephesian Christians, and now we can follow their example and live in peace with one another as well. Indeed, this is the exact point Paul goes on to make in the rest of Ephesians 3. We will pick up with Ephesians 3:14 next time.

Footnotes for the Study on Ephesians 3:8-13

[3] McCalley, 30.

[4] This is an excellent verse in defense of Molinism (The Middle Knowledge of God). This verse does not say that this was God’s plan from before creation, it just says that it was God’s plan from creation. Prior to creation, there were innumerable worlds which God could have created. He scanned the possibilities, picked one he liked, and created it. It is this moment of picking to the logical next step of creating that verse 9 is talking about. See The Only Wise God by William Lane Craig.

[9] Stott, 129.

A Prisoner for Peace (Ephesians 3:1-7)

By Jeremy Myers

Question from a Reader

Hi, Jeremy! I would just like to ask because I still get anxiety over hell. What are we to do with testimonies about hell? Sometimes I think that it may be from God redirecting us. But I also believe that there might be no hell. The only thing stopping me from holding that view are the testimonies and books saying it’s divine revelation.

I have written a book about hell titled (#AmazonAdLink) “What is Hell?” and in it, I challenge the three main views about hell and show what the Bible actually teaches regarding the doctrine of hell. It’s a shocking and surprising book, and I encourage you to read it.

Regarding the various testimonies and visions of hell that some people claim to have, I tend to be very skeptical about them, for three reasons.

First, we must always be skeptical of any vision, dream, or testimony that is not found specifically in Scripture. Scripture is the ultimate written revelation from God, and so all other forms of revelation must be filtered through the lens of Scripture. In my understanding of Scripture, there are no direct visions or revelations of hell as a place of suffering torture and everlasting burning, and so any dream or vision that a person today has which claims to have seen hell as such a place is suspect by default, for it contradicts the Bible.

Second, the human mind is quite susceptible to the power of suggestion. This is also true of dreams. I am sure you have noticed that quite often, your dreams somewhat follow the events or experiences or worries that have been most at the forefront of your mind during the previous few days. If you are worried about a test at school, or presentation at work, or some situation with your spouse, you are likely to have some dreams about these things.

I often find that when I am studying a particular text of Scripture and am struggling with it, I will have dreams about the text. If I am working on a problem with my car, I might have dreams about fixing my car. If I am preparing for a trip, I might have dreams about the upcoming trip.

The same thing happens with dreams about hell. I have found that when people have dreams about hell, it is usually because they have been thinking a lot about hell in the previous days and weeks. Maybe they have been reading and studying a lot about it. Maybe they have heard some pastors preach or teach about it. Maybe they have been extremely worried about it. Maybe a loved one passed away and they are afraid that their loved one is in hell. And so then they have dreams about hell. And since the concept of hell as a place of burning torture is so common, the dreams of hell as a place of torture are quite vivid. The more vivid your dreams are, the more you remember them. So people dream about hell, and the dreams are quite vivid, and so people will often tell others about these dreams. They might even write books about them.

But note that that the fact that they had these dreams does not prove that the dreams show what hell is really like. All it shows is that they were thinking or worried about hell, and so had a dream which helped their mind sort through and deal with some of the thoughts and worries that were on their mind. That is where most of these dreams seem to come from … not necessarily from God.

Third, and somewhat in support of the second point, any human can have these sorts of dreams and visions. I have frequently encountered non-Christian people who tell stories about visions or dreams of a place of suffering and torture in the afterlife. Muslims have these. Pagans (as in people who follow Norse mythology such as that of Odin and Thor) have these sorts of stories. The ancient Egyptians had these sorts of stories.

(#AmazonAdLink) This doesn’t mean that all such dreams and visions are correct or incorrect. It just means that stories of a place of burning and suffering after this life are not unique to Christianity, and so we have to wonder about the spiritual source of all such dreams and visions. And who is more likely to want people to live in fear about the after life? God or Satan?

Second Timothy 1:7 says that God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. God is a God of peace; not of fear, punishment, and torture.

So in my view, any human testimony about a dream or vision of hell which leads people to live in fear of God or fear for the after life is not something that comes from God. Therefore, I do not give any credibility to these visions of hell that some people claim to have. God does not threaten us into a relationship with Him, but woos us with love and promises of peace and safety.

This concept of God as a God of peace helps transition into our study of Ephesians 3:1-7.

A Prisoner for Jesus (Ephesians 3:1-7)

So far in Ephesians, Paul has explained the riches and inheritance that is ours in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1) and how Jesus revealed the way to live in peace with those people we used to hate (Ephesians 2). Now, in Ephesians 3, Paul goes on to encourage the Ephesians Christians to follow the example of Jesus and live in peace with each other also, so the world can learn from us and begin to live in peace with each other as well.

I want to remind you that many people read Paul’s letter to the Ephesians quite differently than this. As a result, they often don’t really know what to do with Ephesians 3:1-13 since these verses don’t really seem to fit with what they think Paul is saying. So when you read most commentaries or listen to pastors teach Ephesians 3:1-13, they often refer to it as an “aside.” It is thought to be one of Paul’s famous “rabbit trails” where he goes off onto some tangent that doesn’t really have much to do with anything else he is saying, and then finally returns to his main point in Ephesians 2:14.

One of the primary reasons people think this is because of those repeated words in Ephesians 3:1 and 3:14, “For this reason.” It is thought that Paul begins a point in Ephesians 3:1 by saying “For this reason” but then gets sidetracked to talk about being in prison and how the church is a mystery, until he finally returns to this main point in Ephesians 3:14 by repeating the phrase “For this reason.”

When I first taught Ephesians about twenty years ago, this is how I taught it.

But I have since come to a completely different understanding of the message of Ephesians, and in my new understanding, Paul’s words in Ephesians 3:1-14 are not a tangent, not a rabbit trail, but are rather a perfectly logical follow-up point from what Paul has written so far in this letter.

Paul’s primary point in Ephesians can be summarized in one word: “Peace!” Through Jesus, there is peace with God, peace with one another, and together, all of us are working toward universal peace (which includes bringing the principalities and powers back into their proper place).

So Paul’s point in Ephesians 3 is that he wants the Ephesian Christians to live at peace with each other. This follows naturally from what Paul has just written in Ephesians 2 about how Jesus showed us the way to live in peace with each other.

The reason we are to leave in peace with one another is because the world doesn’t know how to attain peace, and if we live at peace with each other, the world will learn how to live in peace by watching us and learning from us.

And Paul knows that before he can ask the Ephesian Christians to live in peace with each other, he needs to show them how he himself is following the example of Jesus. This is what Paul explains in Ephesians 3:1-13, how he himself is following the example of Jesus is seeking peace with others.

I am not going to be able to cover this entire section in this one study, so we will split it up into two, looking at Ephesians 3:1-7 this time, and Ephesians 3:8-13 next time.

Ephesians 3:1. For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles …

Paul begins by pointing out that his attempt to follow Jesus into the way of peace ended up with him in prison. As Paul writes this letter to the Ephesians, he is sitting in a prison in Rome.

Of course, even though he is a prisoner in Rome, Paul does not consider himself a prisoner of Rome. Paul says that he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus. Paul knows that he is right where Jesus wants him to be.

Indeed, prison is the natural and normal consequence for someone who seeks peace in a world filled with violence.

When Jesus sought peace, He ended up on a cross. So also, Paul’s quest for peace led him to prison, where he himself might die.

Yet when peace is the goal, imprisonment and possible death is better than violence and bloodshed. And in a world that is ruled and dominated by violence, those who seek peace are viewed as the enemies, who must be silenced, imprisoned, or killed.

So Paul is is prison because he followed Jesus into the way of peace.

Finally, Paul writes that he is a prisoner for you Gentiles. This does not mean that Paul was a prisoner because of the Gentiles. He is not blaming the Gentiles, especially not the Gentile Christians in Ephesus. Instead, Paul is saying that he is a prisoner “as an example” for the Gentiles, or as a way to reach the Gentiles with the truth that they too are now accepted into the family of God.

Paul is saying, “I’m in prison for your sake, to help you, to show you how this whole ‘peace’ thing works.”

We know this is what Paul means because he goes on in Ephesians 3:2-13 to explain how peace works.

Ephesians 3:2. … if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you …

The word dispensation is a word we don’t use very much anymore. We saw it previously though in Ephesians 1:10. The Greek word is oikonomia. Oiko means house, and nomia means law, so oikonomia means “law of the house.” It is the rules by which a house or business is governed. Synonyms could be “management, stewardship, or an orderly arrangement.”

In Ephesians 3:2, Paul says that a dispensation was given to him, and so we could say, as some of your translations do, that he was given a stewardship—he was made a steward or a manager over a certain task or responsibility. Paul was given specific guidelines from God by which he should live and function.

What were these guidelines? Well, the verse says that he was a steward of the grace of God which was given to me for you. Paul was sent by God to declare peace to the Gentiles. To declare that there are not more outsiders and insiders, but that all are “insiders” with God.

As the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul was the person God chose to take the message of peace to the Gentiles.

Ephesians 3:3-4. … how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ),

This message of peace to the Gentiles was something unknown to Jewish people prior to the ministry of Jesus and apostleship of Paul. Most Jews thought that God could accept Gentiles into His family, but only if they first became Jewish and kept the Mosaic Law. But Paul was showing that Jesus opened the door for all people, Jew and Gentile alike, to join the family of God. Everybody was on equal footing before God.

Now Paul says he already wrote to them about this, which he did in two places already: Ephesians 1:9-10 and Ephesians 2:11-22. We discussed this mystery there as well, so we can now move on.

Ephesians 3:5. … which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:

The reason Paul refers to this truth as a mystery is because few people saw or understood the truth of it until Jesus revealed it and Paul proclaimed it.

The idea that all people were on equal footing with God was a shocking idea for most people in Paul’s day (cf. Acts 10-15; Galatians). The idea that God wanted to love and accept all people is definitely taught all over the place in the Hebrew Scripture, but it was such a challenging idea, most Jewish people didn’t understand it or believe it. It was a hidden truth. It was a mystery to them.

In previous ages, humans have always operated under the “us vs. them” principle, which was a principle of rivalry, violence, and death (cf. Ephesians 2:1-3). But now we have a new revelation by the Spirit through the prophets and apostles, that all of us are one, and our struggle is not against each other (cf. Ephesians 6:12).

But Jesus revealed the truth of God’s love for all, and Paul has learned this truth as well, and so is now declaring it to the world. Jews and Gentiles can now live in peace with each other because both are equal footing before God. This is what Paul writes in Ephesians 3:6.

Ephesians 3:6. … that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel …

So instead of division, strife, and rivalry, we are all one family, fellow heirs of God, recipients of the promises (Ephesians 1:3-14; 2:11-22).

Previously, only the Jews were heirs. Only the Jews had promises and covenants from God. Only the Jews were allowed near to God. Only the Jews had forgiveness of sins from God.

But now they are being allowed in. Now they are being grafted into the body. Now they can partake—or share—in the promise of God! This is the mystery. It seems clear to us, but that is because it has been revealed to us.

Jews who lived prior to Paul did not see this clearly. “No one knew the full meaning of God’s promise to Abraham that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:3) until Paul wrote, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations shall be blessed in you’” (Gal 3:8).

In Ephesians 3:7, Paul states that he effectively carried out this task of revealing the mysterious message of peace to the Gentiles.

Ephesians 3:7. … of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

The word minister comes from the Greek word diakonos, which could also be translated as deacon. Many churches have deacons. This is where that title comes from. A deacon is someone who serves in the church. They are those men and women who have the God given ability to see what needs to be done and do it – no matter how menial. They are wonderful people to have in a church – deacons and deaconesses. That is Paul’s picture of himself in Ephesians 3:7. He calls himself a diakonos, a minister. He was a minister.

Paul is just saying that this ministry was a gift given to him by God. The term effective working is the Greek word energion from which we get our word energy, and the word power us the Greek word dunamis from which we get our word dynamite. God was working in Paul with energy like dynamite to carry out the task given to him.

And all of this divine energy and power to perform a ministry to the Gentiles led Paul directly into prison. A lot of times we think that when we have divine power and energy to perform our God-given ministry, we will be led into popularity and fame. But when Jesus followed God, He ended up on the cross. When Paul followed his calling, he ended up in prison.

Now, Paul is not done with this point about why he is in prison for following Jesus into the way of peace. He explains more in Ephesians 3:8-13, which we will cover next time. We will see that as a result of preaching peace to the Gentiles, this threatened the principalities and powers of this world, and so they put Paul in prison. However, by not fighting violence with violence, Paul was able to show the church, the world, and even the fallen powers of this world, that there was a better way to peace.

In Ephesians 2, Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians (and therefore to us as well), that we, as the church, are to lead the world into the way of peace by being an example to them of how to live in peace with people who used to be our enemies. But Paul knows that this is easier said than done, and so in the first part of Ephesians 3, Paul is showing the church how he himself is an example to them about how to live in peace with others.

Paul is in prison as a result of his stand for peace, but Paul knows that this will only serve to prove the truth of what he is teaching. Paul leads by example, just as we, the church, are to be an example to the world. This is what we have begun to learn in this study of Ephesians 3:1-7, and we will pick back with Paul’s point next time in Ephesians 3:8-13.

How Homeless Aliens Change the World (Ephesians 2:18-22)

By Jeremy Myers

Question from a Reader

I’m 63 and I grew up in church. I used to do small things in the church. I would give out tracts and talk to people. I believe Jesus is the son of the living God and became human. I used to read my Bible all the time. But recently, I don’t get any spiritual understanding when I read the Bible. The Holy Spirit does not witness to me. I cry out to God to save me and change me, but I don’t get answers. Can you help me?

Take heart! What you are describing is a very common experience for all Christians. Ancient Christian teachers called it “The Dark Night of the Soul,” but I prefer to call it “the spiritual winter.” Either way, the idea is the same.

It is very helpful to think of your life with God as a cycle or pattern that imitates the daily pattern of day and night, or the yearly pattern of four seasons: spring, summer, fall, winter.

When you feel that God is close, that your prayers are answered, that you are being fed and sustained through Scripture, and that the Spirit is actively at work in your life, these are the spiritual days, or, the spiritual spring and summer. Life is good. Joy abounds. There is sunshine and chirping birds and gentle breezes that carry hints of summer flowers.

But such times do not last forever. Day always gives way to the night, and summer gives way to fall and winter. In the night, everything is dark. It is hard to see. It gets cold and sometimes scary. The same is true for the fall and winter. Trees and grass whither. The snows and ice fall and everything dies. God is silent. Prayers go unanswered. The Bible seems dead and uninteresting.

But guess what? Morning is coming. Spring is coming! The cycle of light and growth will come again.

So when you find yourself in the dark night of the soul, or in the spiritual wasteland of a bleak winter, just be patient. Have faith. Persevere. Because this season too shall pass.

Now why does God do this to us? Why do we go through these seasons? Because this is how true growth occurs. It is in the dark night and the bleak winter that our convictions are tested, our faith is solidified, and our roots grow deep down into the soil. We need these times in order to prepare for the next stage of growth and abundance. These nights and winters are the times God provides so we can practice what we have learned in the bright days of summer.

So keep doing what you are doing. Keep patient. Keep the faith. Dawn is near. Spring is coming.

How Homeless Aliens Change the World (Ephesians 2:18-22)

Strife, division, and hostility are not new in our day. They have been present since the beginning of the world when Cain killed Abel, or even before that when Adam blamed Eve for why he ate the forbidden fruit. Blame, accusation, violence, and death are the foundational characteristics of our culture.

But it does not need to be that way, and this is not what God wants.

God calls us to live differently in this world, and Jesus showed us how this could be done. In Ephesians 2, Paul explains how Jesus showed this to us and how we should live in light of what Jesus showed us.

One of the primary areas of division in Paul’s day was the religious/political division between Jews and Gentiles. If you took all the religious, racial, economic, cultural, and political strife of our day, that is what you have with the Jew and Gentile strife of Paul’s day.

And in Ephesians 2:18-22 he tells them, and therefore us, how to live in peace and unity with each other. These verses show us that if we want to live in peace and unity with those who would normally be our enemies, we need to change our mindset about who we are and who other people are.

You see, division and strife occurs when we focus on the things that make us different. But as followers of Jesus, there are several key truths about all of us that help unite us together, despite our differences. If we are able to focus on the things that unite us, then the things that make us different will no longer divide us because we will see that they are insignificant compared to who we are and what we have in Jesus Christ.

Let’s begin with Ephesians 2:18.

Ephesians 2:18. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

We talked about this some in our study of Ephesians 2:13-17, where we saw that in the days of Jesus and Paul, Gentiles and Jewish women did not have the same access to God in the temple as Jewish men did. But Jesus broke down all these barriers and dividing walls of hostility, so that now everyone has the exact same access to God.

There is no hierarchy. There are no favorites. There are no classes of people who have a special “in” with God. Paul is saying, “All have access. Both Jews and Gentiles have access. Both men and women. There is no privileged race or person or sex. There is no privileged class or position.”

Some religions and cults teach that only priests and pastors have access to God. That is not true. Catholicism teaches that Mary, the mother of Jesus has privileged access to Christ. That is not true either. First Timothy 2:5 says there is one mediator between God and man—Christ Jesus. If you want to go to God to confess your sins, or to ask for a request, you can! You don’t have to go through Mary. You don’t have to go through a priest or a pastor. You don’t even need to go to a special building such as a church or temple. You have Top Level Access to God all the time, anywhere you are. Hebrews 4:16 says that now we ourselves can come boldly before the throne of grace.

And of course, Paul writes that this access to the Father is provided by the Spirit, which is the Holy Spirit.

Here’s how this helps us today.

Today, we all have the tendency to think that some of us are closer to God than others. Some of us think that pastors have a better chance of getting their prayers answered because they are closer to God. So when we have a prayer request, we ask our pastor to pray for us. But pastors are not any closer to God than anyone else. God hears and answers your prayers just as much as the prayers of a pastor or priest. We all have equal access.

Some people think that church attendance, or political views, or vaccination status, or educational degrees, or moral ability makes one person closer to God than someone else. But again, none of this is true. We all have equal access to God the Father through the Holy Spirit. There is no special class of people. And the minute you start thinking that you are on better spiritual footing than someone else is the minute you start dividing from them.

So when it comes to living in unity with others, the first step is to realize that all of us have equal access to God through the Holy Spirit. Nobody is first in line.

The second truth is similar, and is found in Ephesians 2:19.

Ephesians 2:19. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

The term strangers (xenos) is a word for a short time resident—a transient. In today’s terminology, we would say “homeless.”

The term alien or foreigner, (paroikos) is a word for a person who is living in a country other than the one they were born in. They have no inheritance rights, no secure protection under the law, no voting rights. In our day, we would call them illegal aliens.

These two terms together show how much we do not belong. These are repeated ideas from Ephesians 2:12.

We were strangers and foreigners. We were homeless aliens, without rights or protection.

But we no longer carry that description.

Rather, also in Ephesians 2:19, we are fellow citizens with the saints. We often think of saints as having special rights and privileges; special access to God. But Paul says we are fellow citizens with them. Whatever they have, we have. Whatever rights they own, we own. In fact, in Ephesians 1:1, Paul wrote that all believers are saints, and therefore, all believers are citizens.

Citizenship was a prized possession in the time of Paul. Men and women would work their whole lives and pay huge amounts of money in order to become citizens of Rome. But if being a citizen of Rome was special, imagine how great it is to be citizens with the saints? According to Ephesians 2:19, that is what we are.

But more than just citizens, we are also members of the household of God. Now think about it. What is better? Being a citizen of Rome, or being a heir to the throne of the Roman Empire? America is not a monarchy, so think of England. Which would you rather be? A citizen of England, or a prince or princess of England? Of course we would want to be the prince or princess! And Paul says here, that is what we are.

Our third title is that we are members of the household of God. Not only are we saints because we are citizens, we are princes and princesses because we are members of God’s household. These are the titles we have in Christ.

There are two ways that this helps us live peacefully in this world with others.

First of all, similar to what we saw in Ephesians 2:18, all followers of Jesus are on equal footing with each other in the kingdom of heaven. Yes, we are royalty as members of the household of God, but we are all royalty. That means that we are all on equal footing. Seeing other Christians as other princes and princesses in the family of God will help us live in peace and unity with them, even if we have areas of disagreement.

But here is the second thing to understand, and this second truth helps us live in peace and unity with the rest of the world … with those people who are not Christians. Since we are citizen of heaven and members of the household of God, this means that we now are aliens in this world. Although we were aliens and strangers to the kingdom of heaven, we are now aliens and strangers to the kingdom of this world. Since we are citizens of heaven, this makes us foreigners and strangers in this land, in this world.

So when we see the world doing things that are contrary to God’s will, or that we disagree with, we can now respond in two ways. Rather than condemn the world and create division and strife, we can first of all just shake our heads sadly and think to ourselves, “What a strange way of doing things … it seems backward and updside-down, but then, this is a different land I am in, and they do things quite differently here.” You see, when it comes to living in this world, it is we who are the strangers in a strange land. It is we who are aliens in a land not our own. And this world lives and operates quite differently than the kingdom of heaven, from which we come.

However … and here’s the key … it is true that the way this world operates is destructive and damaging. Why? Because it operates according to the principles of the kingdom of darkness. The ways of the kingdom of God truly are better.

But since we are aliens and strangers to this land, we do not have a voice here. We do not have rights here. So we cannot just go around accusing and condemning people for their backward ways. We are the foreigners and do not have the right to do that here.

Instead, what we can do is live in such a way amongst ourselves that the watching world sees how we live in love and unity with each other, and says to themselves, “Hey, I want that too!” When we live the rules of the kingdom of God before a watching world, they want what we have and will learn from our example to live in love and unity as well. We show the world by how we live that there is another way, a better way. A way of peace, love, grace, forgiveness.

Indeed, this is exactly how Jesus showed us the new way of living, and we are now expected to follow His example, and show the world this new way of living as well. This is exactly what Paul writes in Ephesians 2:20.

Ephesians 2:20. … having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,

The foundation of the apostles and prophets that Paul refers to here is the teachings of the apostles and prophets, which we now think of as the Old and New Testaments of Scripture.

The apostles were those who personally witnessed Christ and were taught directly by Him. There are no more apostles today. But the apostles left something for us—they left writings about Christ. We know these writings as the New Testament. Paul says here that the first foundation we have is the writings of the apostles which is the New Testament. The writings and teachings of the prophets are found in the Hebrew Scripture, which we call the Old Testament.

And as Paul points out in the last part of Ephesians 2:20, Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. In other words, Jesus Christ is the central truth of Scripture, to whom all Scripture points, and in whom all Scripture is fulfilled. Jesus is the scarlet thread on every page. He is the fulfillment of every law. He is the beginning and the end. He is what it is all about (John 5:39).

The cornerstone is the foundational stone of a building. When a building in ancient times was being constructed, the first and most important stone to be laid was the cornerstone. If it was prepared and laid correctly, the building would be square and strong. If it had imperfections and was laid poorly, the building would be flawed and weak (cf. Isa 28:16).

It is just like when you’re laying shingles on a house, or plowing rows in a field. The first shingle and the first row must be perfect, or all the rest will be out of place.

Paul is saying that Jesus, as the chief cornerstone, showed us how to live with one another in this world. Jesus did this by following, fulfilling, and even guiding and inspiring the teachings of the apostles and prophets. So when we follow the example of Jesus, we are also obeying and fulfilling the teachings of Scripture.

And when we do this, this is how we show the world a better way to live. A way guided by love and forgiveness, that results in peace and unity.

In fact, a focus on Jesus as the chief cornerstone will in itself create peace and unity. We humans so often get dived by how we identify ourselves.

Today, we are divided by who we follow: Moses, Mohammad, or Mahatma Gandhi. We are divided by our political persuasion: Democrat or Republican. We are divided by our vaccine status. We are even divided by our pronouns.

But what if we as followers of Jesus stopped identifying with these divisive things, and started instead to identify as a follower of Jesus. How do you identify? I identify as a follower of Jesus. That’s unifying, isn’t it?

When we live in these ways, this is when the church comes together as God wants, lives in this world as God desires, and therefore, shows the world a better way to live.

Ephesians 2:21-22. In whom the whole building, being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

There are two words in Greek for “temple.” The first, hieron, is used for the whole building and vicinity. It is used for the temple grounds. That is not the word used here.

The word used here is naos. It has in view just the part of the temple where God dwells.

During the time of Solomon’s temple, God’s presence was in the Holy of Holies—the most sacred part of the temple. That is what is in view here. But, as I mentioned, only the High priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and that only once a year.

But when Jesus died on the cross, the veil which separated man from God in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. This symbolized that the breach had been filled. The separation had been spanned. The wall had come down.

In A.D. 70, the temple was destroyed. Does that mean that God no longer has any temple? No! 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19 tells us that Christians are now the temple of God. We are each a temple individually, and we are also being built into one glorious temple for God. We are the new Holy of Holies.

And that is what Paul is saying here. When we follow the example of Jesus by living with love, grace, and forgiveness toward each other and toward the watching world, God forms and grows us into a temple for Himself, a dwelling place for God.

God does not dwell in a building made by human hands, but in the body of Christ, which is formed by the Spirit of God, and which goes forward into the world with the love of Jesus.

Only in this way will God’s temple in the world rise up, not as a temple built with human hands, but as a the people of God who follow Jesus into the world to love and serve whomever we meet.

This somewhat goes back the question from a reader we discussed above.

Many of us Christians want to see God more at work in our life and in this world. Well, that happens by loving and serving others in this world the way Jesus loved and served us. As we live and act like Jesus in this world, God forms His temple, His body, in our midst. As we live together in peace and harmony with one another, working to reveal Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to this world, God shows up among us, and people will say, “Truly, God is in their midst. Truly God is dwelling among them.”

This concludes our study of Ephesians 2.

Back at the end of Ephesians 1, in the study of Ephesians 1:20-23, I pointed out that God wants His way of life to become reality here on earth. We all want this as well. We want God to rule and reign on this earth. We want peace and justice and truth to become the norm.

But this world seems to be dominated by the opposite. Rather than peace and justice, we have hatred, violence, deception, and injustice.

So if God wants His way of life to rule and reign, how does this happen? How does it come about? Ephesians 2 was Paul’s answer to that question.

God wants to solve the problems of this world, and He did so by sending Jesus to create the church. While Jesus is the answer to all the problems of the world, the church is how Jesus lives and talks and acts in this world.

The church is how Jesus accomplishes changes in the world.

When the church steps up as the body of Christ, we, as the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus Christ, will fill everything in every way, and the power of God will flow through us to transform this world in ways that Jesus wants and desires.

Jesus is the head of the world and the head of the church, and as such, the church fills the world and transforms it into the ways of the Kingdom of God.

We have now seen in Ephesians 2 how the church as the body of Christ becomes the catalyst the creates love, peace, and unity in a world filled with hatred, violence, and division. We show the world a better way to live by following the example of Jesus through living in peace and unity with each other. As we live in peace and unity with other brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, the world takes notice, and learns from us how they too can live in peace and unity. In this way, the peace of God spreads over the earth.

Paul takes this theme and builds on it further in Ephesians 3, which is where we pick up next time.

Vaccination Discrimination and Ephesians 2:13-17

By Jeremy Myers

7 Comments

Vaccinated or unvaccinated? Surprisingly, Ephesians 2:13-17 speaks to the issue. Sort of. In this study of Ephesians 2:13-17, we begin with a question from a reader about COVID vaccinations, and then turn to our ongoing study of Ephesians, where we discover that Jesus actually revealed to us what to do with people who have different views than we do, whether they are religious, political, social, or cultural differences, or even whether they are views about vaccination status. It’s going to be quite the study, so let’s dive in!

We begin with a question from a reader about vaccination.

Question from a Reader

My pastor says that wearing a mask and getting a vaccine is a way to follow the command of Jesus to love my neighbor. I have some serious misgivings about the vaccine, but I want to follow Jesus. What should I do?

I have heard the same arguments and read the same articles. I find the argument unconvincing for several reasons.

Let’s talk about masks first. I am convinced that masks are nothing more than a way for the government to teach us all to be compliant. Why do I say this? It is a scientific fact that masks do absolutely nothing to slow the spread the COVID virus. In fact, they may actually help it spread more. Dr. Fauci said that the typical drugstore mask does nothing to stop the virus from getting out into the air. Thinking that those blue surgical masks that people wear will stop the COVID virus is like thinking that a chain-link fence will stop a mosquito. This is even more true for the cloth masks and bandanas that people make in their home or buy from Amazon, but is even true for the N-95 masks that relatively few people wear.

But even worse is that the masks cause sicknesses and viruses, including COVID, to spread even more. The reason many people use the masks is because they have been told that since doctors and nurses use the surgical masks, they must work. But this is a huge logical fallacy and is scientifically untrue. Doctors and nurses do use surgical masks, but they have been specially trained on how to properly use them.

First, they only wear them in sterile areas where there is a higher concentration of oxygen to help cut down on the spread of viruses and bacteria.

Second, they only don a mask after they have put on sterile surgical gloves.

Third, they never touch their mask after it is on.

Fourth, they never re-use a mask, and will often replace it every 2-6 hours during surgery, because once the mask begins to have moisture build up on it, it becomes worthless.

Fifth, they know that the mask does absolutely nothing to stop the viruses from getting into the air. Surgical masks serve one purpose: to keep droplets of spittle from leaving the mouth and nose and getting into the open body of a surgical patient. Doctors know that viruses will still easily get through the surgical masks and into the air, and so doctors use post-surgical medicines to kill any viruses and bacteria that may have entered into the patient during surgery.

Sixth, because of all these things, if a doctor has any symptoms of any sort of sickness at all, the doctor will not operate on a patient. Why? Because masks do nothing to stop the spread of germs and viruses.

How much of this is true for the average person wearing a mask today? None of it. In fact, quite the opposite is true. People toss their masks onto counters and tabletops. They re-use masks. They stuff the masks into their pockets. They fiddle and re-adjust their masks hundreds of times each day. They wear their masks over and over again. As a result, these masks becomes absolutely filled with germs and bacteria, which causes more harm and damage to themselves, and to others they are around.

I went to a Subway sandwiches the other day, and the lady behind the counter making my sandwich touched her mask every 5-10 seconds during the three minutes she was making my sandwich. She might as well have just spit on my sandwich. But this behavior is normal for mask wearers. People walk up and down food aisles at Walmart touching their masks and then touching the macaroni or the apples or whatever they are buying, spreading germs around with every touch. The same is true with the checkout lanes. The plexiglass barrier is there between you and the checker, but what does that matter when the employee touches their germ-filled mask and then also touches all the food you are buying.

Besides the fact that the person wearing the masks is spending all day sucking in the germs, bacteria, and viruses that are breeding and growing on their mask all day. The mask is unhealthy for them as well. Which is partly why the places in the country and the world that have the highest percentage of people wearing masks also have the highest number of people getting sick. The masks don’t stop the virus; they spread it.

So would Jesus wear a mask? No, He would not. Nor would He put a guilt trip on people for not wearing a mask. He would not say “Wear a mask if you want to love your brother.” Jesus would know that the reason the government is trying to force everyone to wear a mask is because the government wants us afraid and compliant. The government wants us to submit so that they can control us. In Jesus’ day, the Roman government tried to get people to be compliant by forcing them to swear featly to Rome and declare that Caesar is Lord, that Caesar would protect them and provide for them. Jesus and all the apostles disagreed with this. The rallying cry of the early church was “Jesus is Lord,” implying that “Caesar is not.”

Today, masks are nothing more than a sign of submission to the government. They are equivalent to bowing down to Caesar and swearing fealty to Rome. So would Jesus tell us to wear a mask? No. Because Jesus alone is Lord; Caesar, or Biden, is not.

The vaccine mandate is nearly identical. The masks were the first step in getting everyone to comply and submit. The vaccine is the second step. Remember, early on, when Trump was president, all the Democrats, including Biden and Fauci, said that it would be wrong and unconstitutional for the government to force anyone to take the vaccine. And you know for a fact that if Trump was in office right now, and if he had issued a vaccine mandate, all the Democrats would be rioting and resisting such a mandate right now. But since the mandate came from Biden, they are complying.

But what about this claim that Jesus wants us to take the vaccine? Is this a way we can love our neighbor? No. For numerous reasons I disagree with this position.

The way these Christian leaders and pastors promote the vaccine is quite ironic. They first claim that Jesus wants us to take the vaccine, and then they issue a challenge to anyone who doesn’t want to take the vaccine to provide proof from Scripture that the vaccine is immoral or wrong. I read one article from a prominent Christian leader who essentially said, “Jesus wants you to get vaccinated, and if you disagree, I challenge you to find one verse in the Bible that says you shouldn’t.” He went on to say that anyone who claims religious exemption from vaccination is adding to the Word of God because the Bible never says that vaccinations are wrong.

Well, now, wait a second. I challenge this pastor to find one verse in the Bible that says we should get vaccinated. It doesn’t exist, because vaccines didn’t exist back then. So when he writes that Jesus wants us to get vaccinated, he himself is adding to Scripture.

But what about this claim that getting vaccinated in a way to love our neighbors?

Well, first, let’s be clear about what Jesus said. He didn’t say “Love your neighbor.” He said, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:39; Mark 12:31; Lev 19:18). So the ways in which we are supposed to love our neighbor are identical to the ways in which we love and take care of ourselves. The people who refuse to take the vaccine are convinced that the vaccine is bad for them. For a variety of moral, religious, ethical, political, scientific, spiritual, and personal reasons, they believe it would be personally harmful if they took the vaccine. In other words, one of the ways they love themselves is by not taking the vaccine.

So if Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself” and Christians who refuse the vaccine do so as a form of loving themselves, then taking the vaccine would also not be a way to love others, but would actually be a way of harming others. They refuse the vaccine out of an act of love for others.

If you received the vaccine, this might sound ridiculous, but it is true. I know it is true because I am someone who has not been vaccinated. I have refused the vaccine for a wide variety of moral, ethical, scientific, religious, political, and spiritual reasons. And I personally believe that getting the vaccine would be an act of hate against my own body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and an act of hate against worldwide humanity for me to get the vaccine. For me, refusing the vaccine is one way I seek to follow the command of Jesus to love my neighbor as myself.

And I know there may be a cost to this, as there always is with following Jesus. My place of employment is mandating the vaccine. I filed a religious exemption, but so far, it has not been approved. It may be that I will lose my job because of my conviction about what Jesus wants me to do. If that were to happen, I don’t know what will happen to myself or to my family. But it is a step I must take if I am going to stay true to my beliefs and my convictions.

Which raises the issue of the current situation where the government and corporations are firing people from their jobs for not getting vaccinated. Is this loving? Is it loving to stop people from being able to provide for themselves and their family? If the pro-vax Christian leaders are so concerned with loving their neighbors, they should be the first to stand up against terminating the employment of people who don’t get vaccinated. But they don’t. I have not yet heard a single pro-vax Christian leader stand against these moves by the government and various corporations to terminate the employment of people who don’t want to get vaccinated.

So much for loving others as themselves…

That was a long answer to a short questions.

By way of summary, here is my position: If you believe getting vaccinated is the right thing to do for yourself, then go ahead and get vaccinated. But at the same time, don’t try to put guilt trips on people who don’t want to get vaccinated. They are following their own God-given conscience for what they believe is the right thing to do. Don’t force people to eat meat sacrificed to idols.

Similarly, if you believe it is immoral or unhealthy to get vaccinated, don’t condemn or put guilt-trips on those who want to get vaccinated. They have their reasons for wanting to get vaccinated. They are not going to go to hell or lose their eternal life because they were vaccinated, and it is wrong to say so. Stay true to what you believe God has called you to do. To our own master, we stand or fall.

In either case, stand up for the rights of your brothers and sisters to make the choice that their research and conscience has led them to make, and stand up for their rights to keep their jobs, and live and function in society with everyone else. We truly are all in this together, and the most important thing through this all is that we all continue to protect the rights and freedoms and humanity of all people, regardless of what position they take on vaccines and masks. Don’t let the government divide us, as they are seeking to do.

To see what a Jewish Rabbi thinks of the vaccines, see this list of “31 Reasons Why I Won’t Take the Vaccine,” written by Rabbi Chananya Weissman.

Believe it or not, all of this fits right in with what we are studying today in Ephesians 2:13-17.

Ephesians 2:13-17

As we have seen in our study of Ephesians 2 so far, the chapter is all about how to end the hostility and violence that exists between various people groups in the world.

Paul described the problem of this hostility and enmity in Ephesians 2:1-3. He then explained the solution to the problem in Ephesians 2:4-10, by showing what Jesus did about it. Now, in Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul is showing us how we should live in this world now to bring the peace of Jesus to this world.

I want to look at Ephesians 2:13-17 today. This is a much longer section than I usually deal with in these studies, but I couldn’t break up the text into smaller units because it is all part of one whole thought. The following outline shows why:

A: What God Has Done: The Far brought Near (Ephesians 2:13)
B: Christ is Our Peace (Ephesians 2:14)
1: enmity (Ephesians 2:15)
2: in Himself (Ephesians 2:15)
3: two into one (v. 15)
B’: Christ Makes Peace (Ephesians 2:15)
3’: two into one (Ephesians 2:16)
2’: through the cross (Ephesians 2:16)
1’: enmity (Ephesians 2:16)
B”: Christ Proclaims Peace (Ephesians 2:17)
A’: What God Has Done: The Far brought Near (Ephesians 2:17)

I provided a longer explanation of this text in a sermon I preached several years back, and you can read the full manuscript here, so in this study, let me simply try to provide a summary of what these verses mean and how they can be applied to us today.

In Ephesians 2, Paul is primarily writing about the division and strife that existed between Jews and Gentiles in his day.

Now this division wasn’t just a racial division. It was also religious, political, and cultural. It would be like today, if you took the divisions that existed between different racial groups and combined it with the political divisions between conservatives and liberals, the religious differences between Christians and Muslims, and the cultural divisions between city dwellers and country farmers. And since we just talked about it, throw in the strife that currently exists between the vaccinated and unvaccinated. All of this combined is somewhat similar to the strife and enmity that existed in the days of Paul between Jews and Gentiles.

In Ephesians 2:13-17, Paul looks at these two groups of people and says, “Jesus wants you to live in peace with each other.”

Ephesians 2:13. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Paul writes that those who were once far off have been brought near. The far have been brought near.

What does it mean to be far off? Paul explained this in Ephesians 2:11-12 which we studied previously. Remember, Paul listed six ways in which they were far off. They were without respect, without Christ, without citizenship, without covenants, without hope and without God. As unbelieving Gentiles, they were far off.

A rabbinic writer tells of an incident that explains the common Jewish attitude toward Gentiles. He mentions that when Gentiles converted to Judaism, as they sometimes did, it was called “being brought near.” A certain Gentile woman came to Rabbi Eleazar, confessed that she was sinful, and told him that she wanted to become righteous. She wanted to be accepted into the Jewish faith because she had heard that the Jews were near to God. The rabbi is said to have responded, “No. You cannot come near,” and then shut the door in her face.

That is the way it used to be. But now, Paul says in Ephesians 2:13, in Christ Jesus, the Ephesian Gentiles, who were far off have been brought near.

And Paul says here that this bringing near was accomplished—not on their own merit, or because some of them were real likable people—no, it was accomplished by the blood of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ by which He gave up His life for others. It is by the blood of Christ that those who were far off have been brought near. And Paul doesn’t say here exactly what it means to be brought near, but we can assume that it means basically the opposite of what it means to be far off. Being brought near is the opposite of the six things listed in Ephesians 2:11-12.

Right now, Paul just wants to tell us how Jesus Christ brought us near.

Ephesians 2:14. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,

He Himself is our peace. The only way people can be at genuine peace with each other is in Christ. Paul’s choice of terms here is interesting as well. There is, in the Greek, a term for peacemaker, but Paul did not use it here. Jesus Christ did not come to bring peace and then to retire to the sidelines as a peacemaker does. He came to be our peace.

Paul says in the last part of Ephesians 2:14 that Jesus Christ has broken down the middle (or dividing) wall of separation.

This term is a reference to the temple at the time of Paul. There was, in the temple, an outer court called “The Court of the Gentiles.” It was as far into the Temple as the Jews would allow Gentiles to come. They could go no further. The Court of the Gentiles and the rest of the temple was divided by a middle wall of separation.

Archeologists have discovered an inscription from the temple at the time of Paul which was put between the court of the Jews and the court of the Gentiles, and it said this: “No foreigner may enter within this barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.”

“God had originally separated Jews from Gentiles (cf. Isa 5:1-7; Matt 21:33) for the purpose of redeeming both groups, not for saving the Jews alone. He placed the Court of the Gentiles in the Temple for the very purpose of winning Gentiles to Himself. It was meant to be a place for Jewish evangelism of Gentiles, a place for winning proselytes to Judaism and of thereby bringing them “near.” It was that court, however, that the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day used as “a robbers’ den” (Mark 11:17) rather than as a place of witness.” It was not being used as God intended. There was this middle or dividing wall of separation.

Paul uses this as a symbol for the racial hatred and hostility that many Israelites have for Gentiles, and many Gentiles have for Israelites. It is a wall between the two.

In fact, Paul had firsthand experience with this dividing wall of hostility. In Acts 21, this is the exact reason he was arrested in the first place. He was falsely accused of taking Trophimus, a Gentile from the city of Ephesus, past this barrier. This is probably why Paul mentions this barrier in his letter to the Ephesians, because they know that this is why he was arrested and is now in prison.

But, Paul says Jesus Christ has torn this wall down. Just like when He died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, showing that the dividing wall between God and man had been breached, Jesus Christ has also made it possible for all to come before God—Jew and Gentile alike. Christ is Our Peace.

Ephesians 2:15 tells us how Jesus Christ accomplished this.

Ephesians 2:15. having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,

Ephesians 2:15 contains the next four key lines. The first is the word enmity. Christ, when he came, abolished in His flesh the enmity that existed between Jews and Gentiles.

You might say, “Where did this enmity come from?” Well, look in the verse. It tells us that the enmity rose from the law of commandments contained in ordinances. In other words, much of the malice that is between Jews and Gentiles is a result of the Jewish law. We have seen previously that the law contained over 6000 rules and commands.

Among these, were laws stating that the Jew was to have nothing to do with Gentiles, was not to associate with them, or get involved in any of their practices. Needless to say, this created strife and division between Jews and Gentiles.

But Paul says here that Jesus abolished all of this enmity that was created by the law. Maybe some of recall Matthew 5:17 where Jesus says He did not come to abolish the law. How does that fit with what Paul says here?

The answer is found by carefully understanding what Paul says in Ephesians 2:14. According to Ephesians 2:14, Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to abolish the enmity that existed because of the law—the enmity created by the law.

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus did this by completely fulfilling the law. He is superior to the law, and proved it by fulfilling the law. This is exactly what Paul goes on to write. He says that Jesus created peace in Himself by fulfilling the law.

Jesus abolished the enmity that was created by the law. The law set up a system of rules and regulations which allowed people to feel superior than others and more righteous. Though the purpose of the law was love, most people used the law to judge, condemn, and accuse. So the law ended up causing the exact opposite of what it was intended for. It was used for hate instead of love. It created enmity instead of unity.

And this is what too much of an emphasis on the law does for people, even today. Those who are most zealous for their religious laws and commandments end up hating, judging, accusing, and condemning those who are not as zealous. A religious focus on law causes those who obey the law to look down their noses with scorn and division at those who do not obey it.

To see how this works, just look at the vaccination mandate of today. Look at the judgment, condemnation, and hatred that it breeds. Each side views the other as morally inferior. Each side condemns the other. This is what laws do. All laws are the opposite of love, and only create division and strife.

So Jesus came, says Paul, to do away with this enmity caused by the law, and in this way, bring together those who had been separated by the law. This is what Paul explains next in Ephesians 2:15. Jesus abolished the enmity of the law to make one new man from the two. He made the two into one. He made the Jew and the Gentile into one body—the body of Christ. Marriage is a wonderful picture of this—when the two become one flesh. Paul picks up on this picture later in Ephesians 5. We will deal with it then.

As you can see, peace is the central idea of Paul’s thought pattern here. Christ Makes Peace. Christ is our peace by abolishing the enmity in Himself and making the two into one. In this way, Christ makes Peace.

Now, the rest of this paragraph, as found in Ephesians 2:16-17, simply repeats in reverse order what Paul has already written. He began with talking about the peace of Christ, has worked his way into the central point, which is the peace of Christ, and now will work his way back out by repeating what he said, until we arrive finally, at the end, to the peace of Christ.

Ephesians 2:16. and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Ephesians 2:16 contains much of what Paul already wrote. Paul says that He might reconcile them both to God in one body. This is a repeat of the earlier statement that Jesus made the two into one, that He reconciled both to God in one body. It is the same idea, just phrased a bit differently.

And notice the minor difference—how Paul elaborates on what he said before. The goal was not just to have these two bodies be reconciled to each other, but to reconcile them both to God. The differences we have with each other cannot be worked out if we just sit down and talk them over. The differences we have with each other can only be reconciled with each other if we are first reconciled to God.

Second, Jesus Christ did this through the cross. In Ephesians 2:15, Christ did it in Himself, here Paul repeats himself again, but elaborates as well. It was not just in Himself, it was specifically in what He did on the cross.

Jesus Christ accomplished this through His death on the cross. On the cross, Jesus revealed what we humans have been doing from the beginning of time. Jesus went to the cross because the people who crucified Him thought that He was a blasphemer and sinner. They thought that He broke God’s law, profaned the religious temple, and undermined the priestly authority and the sacrificial system. So they looked down their religious noses at Jesus, and killed Him in God’s name.

But then, rather than retaliate from the cross, what did Jesus do? He asked God to forgive those who crucified Him (Luke 23:34). On the cross, Jesus revealed how to create peace where there is only enmity, blame, accusation, and strife. The way to peace, Jesus revealed, is to forgive. This is what Jesus did on the cross, and what He revealed to us through His death and resurrection, and is how He now calls us to live our lives as His followers.

This is the last idea in Ephesians 2:16, and a repeat of the point in Ephesians 2:15. There, Paul began by talking about the enmity that existed, and here in Ephesians 2:16, Paul concludes by talking about the enmity which was put to death in Jesus Christ on the cross. He showed us the way to peace and calls us to live in this way.

Ephesians 2:17 summarizes the entire message, much as Ephesians 2:13 did, by repeating the fact that Jesus brought peace.

Ephesians 2:17. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.

Christ came and preached peace. This is what Christ came preaching, isn’t it? By the way, this is a fulfillment of Isaiah 57:19, which says that the Lord will say “Peace, peace to those far and near.” (cf. also, Isa 9:6; 52:7; Mic 5:5; Zech 9:9-10).

What were the first words of the angels when they appeared in the hills proclaiming Christ’s birth? Luke 2:13-14 says, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

What did Jesus tell his troubled disciples in John 14:27? “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”

Christ came preaching peace—a peace such as the world had never seen. Peace.

At the end of Ephesians 2:17, Paul ends with what he started with: what God has done, he has brought peace to those who were afar off and to those who were near.

In Ephesians 2:11-12, we learned that our relationships are in shambles; we are at each other’s throats; we can’t get along; we are at animosity with each other.

The passage before us in the solution to this problem. And Paul has so arranged it so that we cannot miss it. What has God done for us? He has brought peace, Peace, PEACE!

From this passage it is clear what Paul is saying. We, who used to live at enmity with each other, and used to judge each other by our own moral standards and laws of conduct, we—whether we were far off from God or near to God, we can all, in Jesus Christ and through what He has done on the cross, we can live at peace with each other.

Why? Because we are no longer separated. In Christ, we have become one body. One flesh. One.

So, when members of Christ’s body fight among themselves, we are really only hurting ourselves. We are gouging our own eye. We are cutting off our own hands. We are shooting ourselves in our own foot (1 Cor 12:14ff).

I read a review of a move called “The Fight Club” recently. The movie came out a few years back. Apparently, it is a story of two men who decide that to become real men, they need to show it through aggression. So they start a club where men can come and fight each other—hence the name of the movie “The Fight Club.”

When they first come up with this idea, they are in a bar, so they decide to start right away, and they go out into the parking lot to fight each other. As they do, a crowd gathers and watches in utter amazement, not trying to stop the fight.

The end of the movie reveals that the two men are really just the two different personalities of a single schizophrenic man who somehow is able to be both personalities at once. And the movie does a flashback to that first fight in the parking lot of the bar to look at it through the eyes of the crowd.

To them, it is a comical yet confusing scene. From the crowd’s perspective, they see one man beating himself up. He’s throwing himself into cars, and punching himself in the face, and knocking himself to the ground. Somehow, he’s able to bite and kick himself. It is not a pretty sight seeing a man beat himself up.

But that is how much of the world views the church. Here we are, the body of Christ, we are supposed to be loving and unified. We are supposed to be living in the peace that Christ has provided and that the whole world wants. We are supposed to protect each other as we protect our own bodies.

But instead, we spend much of the time beating ourselves up just like that man in the movie. We have racial differences. We have political differences. We have class differences. We have theological differences. And if we let ourselves focus on these differences, we would spend all of our time beating each other up.

In fact, I came across this humorous fictional story recently:

I was walking across a bridge recently and spied a fellow who looked like he was going to commit suicide by jumping off. So, I thought I would try and stall him until the authorities showed up. “Don’t jump!” I yelled.

“Why not?” he asked. “Nobody loves me.”
“God loves you,” I said. “You believe in God, don’t you?”
“Yes, I believe in God,” he said.
“Good, Are you Christian, Jewish or Muslim?” I said.
“Christian,” he said.
“Me too! Protestant or Catholic?”
“Neither,” he said.
“What then?” I asked.
“Baptist,” he said.
“Me too!” I said. “Independent Baptist or Southern Baptist?”
“Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me too!” I said. “New Evangelical/Moderate Independent Baptist or Conservative Independent Baptist?”
“Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me too!” I said. “Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or Lose-Your-Salvation Arminian Conservative Independent Baptist?”
“Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me too!” I said. “Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or Historical Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist?”
“Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me too!” I said. “Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or For Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist?”
“Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me too!” I said. “Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or Strict Separation of Church and State Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist?”
“Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me too!” I said. “Pro-Disney Boycott Pro-Life Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or Anti-Disney Boycott Pro-Choice Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist?”
“Pro-Disney Boycott Pro-Life Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Me too!” I said. “King James Version only Pro-Disney Boycott Pro-Life Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist or Modern Versions Pro-Disney Boycott Pro-Life Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist?”
“MODERN VERSIONS Pro-Disney Boycott Pro-Life Unashamed Fundamentalist Against Women in Ministry Dispensational Premillennial Calvinistic Conservative Independent Baptist,” he said.
“Aaauuugghh!! You heretic!” I said. And I pushed him over.

It’s an old joke. If I were re-writing it today, I would include vaccinated or un-vaccinated into the mix.

And it’s a humorous story. But in many aspects, it is sadly true. There is probably not one Christian on the face of this earth that agrees 100% with all the beliefs of any other Christian. The truth of the matter is that if we dig deep enough, we will always find areas in which we disagree with each other. And if we let these disagreements separate us, we will be forever pushing each other off bridges, and dividing churches, and arguing with each other. Which is exactly what Satan wants, and what Jesus does not want.

Jesus wants us to live in peace with each other. This does not happen by forcing us all to live and act and believe the same thing, but by helping us learn to love each other and get along with each despite of our many differences.

How does peace occur? Jesus brings peace when we forget about what it between us, and focus instead on Who is Above Us—as Ephesians 2:13-17 encourages us to do. Peace occurs when we focus not on ourselves, but turn our eyes upon him,– all of these other things just fade into the background and it is then that we can live in peace with each other. Peace, that is what Jesus brought. Peace is what we can have … in Jesus Christ.

The Things that Divide Us (Ephesians 2:11-12)

By Jeremy Myers

Question from a Reader

I have read over your page on the difference between a believer and a disciple more than once. Recently I have started reading the Bible again after not reading it systematically for a long time-I tried being a disciple when I was about 18, I went to church for a few years, then I lost faith in God and quit. Now I’m 48 and my faith in God has returned … Your article says that if someone tries to be a disciple and fails then God will teach them, call them etc., so they can become a productive member of God’s family. Are you saying that if someone fails at discipleship, they have to become a disciple again? Or are you saying that God will simply try and make all believers productive in one way or the other?

You often hear pastors and Bible teachers talk about “the path of discipleship.” Thinking of discipleship as a path or a road is a helpful analogy.

I used to live in New York, but I now live in Oregon. When I moved from New York to Oregon, I drove on numerous roads and highways to get here. Now imagine if I stopped driving. I would no longer be making any progress on the road to Oregon. But I also wouldn’t necessarily have to start over in New York. I would just be stuck wherever I was.

At the same time, if I mistakenly or intentionally made a wrong turn, then I might actually be going backwards and headed back to New York, thereby, negating any progress I had made so far. Or maybe I would just be driving around in circles for a while, lost and confused.

But if I followed the map and the directions for getting from New York to Oregon, then I would eventually arrive at my destination. As I did.

This is the way it also works with discipleship. Yes, God wants all believers to become disciples and to make progress on the path of discipleship, and so God has provided in Scripture numerous instructions and directions for how to proceed as a follower of Jesus. If we follow these instructions, then we make progress. However, if we disobey, ignore, or even misunderstand the instructions, then we will stop making progress, and might actually go backwards a bit. But we don’t have to start all over.

And the best part about the path of discipleship is that we don’t have to travel it alone. God has not only given us Himself, Scripture, and the indwelling Holy Spirit to help us on our journey, but also provides us with fellow human travelers to encourage us and aid us on our way. Hopefully, I am someone who is helping you make progress on the path of discipleship as I show you where I have traveled and help you make better sense of the instructions God has provided in the Bible.

The Things that Divide Us (Ephesians 2:11-12)

“It is a part of sinful human nature to build barriers that shut out other people. In New Testament times one of the greatest barriers was between slaves and freemen, especially between slaves and their owners. Those who were free looked down on slaves as being inferior, slightly above animals. Many slaves looked on their masters with contempt and resentment. Consequently, one of the greatest problems of the early church was in getting Christian slave owners and Christian slaves to treat each other as spiritual equals.

“For the most part, women were also looked down on as inferior beings. Husbands often treated their wives little better than they did their slaves. When a wife became a Christian, her entire life, outlook, and value system changed. An unbelieving husband would likely divorce her simply because she had made such a radical decision without his consent.

“The Greeks were so proud of their culture and supposed racial superiority that they considered everyone else to be barbarians, a belief to which Paul alludes in Romans 1:14 and Colossians 3:11. The Greek language was considered to be the language of the gods. The Roman statesman Cicero wrote, ‘As the Greeks say, “All men are divided into two classes, Greeks and barbarians.”[1]

We must not forget as well, the constant animosity between Jews and Gentiles. From the very beginning with Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, this has been an issue. 4000 years later, the struggle has only become worse with nearly the whole world taking sides between Israel and Palestine and current affairs right now in the Middle East.

And of course, it is not just the religious, racial, and cultural issues that divide, but also political and scientific issues. Take the current vaccination battle that is being waged around the world. A person’s vaccination status is a great source of division and strife in the world right now. I hope that you are not a person who divides from someone else based on their vaccination status.

All of this division and strife between people is a result of sin. In fact, I argue elsewhere that division is the ultimate Christian heresy. Those who divide from other Christians are guilty of the greatest and most sinful Christian heresy.

But Jesus came to remove all of this division and strife. This is the overall message of Ephesians 2.

Summary of Ephesians 2:1-10

Most Christians think that Ephesians 2 is about how we humans were all sinners and so Jesus came to offer us eternal life. And while that could be a proper reading of Ephesians 2:1-10, that message does not fit with Ephesians 2:11-22. And since Ephesians 2:11-22 is the application section of Ephesians 2, this means that the entire chapter must fit together into one cohesive argument.

And since Ephesians 2:11-22 is all about how the church is supposed to lead the world out of division and strife and into a life of love and unity, this means that the message of Ephesians 2:1-10 is how God revealed to us the true nature of sin, and a better way to life in Jesus Christ.

Up to this point in Ephesians 2, Paul described the normal way of life in this world as one of being dead in our sins and dead to God. We lived in a state of blame, accusation, vengeance, violence, and retaliation (Ephesians 2:1-3). But God then stepped into this situation in Jesus Christ and showed us a whole new way to live (Ephesians 2:4-7). We were raised up to a life in Jesus Christ that is the the life God always wanted for us and which He had planned and prepared for us since the foundation of the world (Ephesians 2:8-10).

In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul now seeks to show us how to live differently, and also how to lead the world into a different way of living.

Six Sources for Strife (Ephesians 2:11-12)

We’re looking at Ephesians 2:11-12 today, where Paul begins by describing six of the differences between Jews and Gentiles. He describes six of the things that caused strife and division between these two people groups.

All of these damaged relationships are the result of sin. Now if Paul was writing today, he could have written about blacks vs whites, Republicans vs. Democrats, rich vs. poor, police vs. inner city residents, vaccinated vs. unvaccinated, or Christian vs. Muslim.

All of the racial, political, economic, religious, cultural, and health-related division that exist today existed in the days of Paul between Jews and Gentiles. In Ephesians 2:11-12, Paul commands them to remember six things in regard to their human relationships before they were saved. The first of these six is found in Ephesians 2:11.

Ephesians 2:11. Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—

So the first division is that they were Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—

Paul is talking here about the differences between the Jew and the Gentile. Prior to Abraham, there was no difference. But God, in choosing Abraham, created a difference. Now God created this difference so that His people could be a blessing to everyone else. The problem, however, was that many Jews saw this difference as a reason to boast and be proud and think that they were superior to the others.

But God did not choose Abraham so that the Jews would think they were superior to the Gentiles, but so that they might be a blessing and a help to the Gentiles.

And the aspect that Paul mentions here in Ephesians 2:11 about this difference between Jew and Gentile is circumcision. Since circumcision was the outward sign of the covenant with God, the Jews considered any uncircumcised male to be outside of God’s blessing and purpose. The Jews were proud of this outward sign of the covenant, and they despised anyone who was not circumcised.

In fact, “Jews said that the Gentiles were created by God to be fuel for the fires of Hell; that God loved only Israel of all the nations that he had made; that the best of the serpents crushed, the best of the Gentiles killed.

“It was not lawful to render help to a Gentile woman in childbirth, for that would be to bring another Gentile into the world. The barrier between Jew and Gentile was absolute. If a Jew married a Gentile, the funeral for the Jew was carried out. Such contact with a Gentile was the equivalent of death; even to go into a Gentile house rendered a Jew unclean.”[3]

When a Jew went on a journey and returned, before he stepped back into Israel, he would shake the dust off his feet because he didn’t want to bring Gentile dirt into the holy land.[4]

As we can see—the Jewish people at that time were arrogant, and despised Gentiles. But this was not always the case, and is not the case today either.

In Ephesians 2:11, Paul, although he was a Jew himself, mocks their arrogance by saying that the Jewish circumcision which they took so much pride in was nothing more than something done in the flesh by the hands of men. In Philippians 3:2, Paul calls them “mutilators of the flesh” and in Romans 2:29, he shows us that the real circumcision that God desires is not of the flesh by the hands of men, but of the heart, by the Holy Spirit. It is those who believe in Jesus alone and not in their own works of the flesh that are circumcised of the heart and not of the flesh.

So the first thing Paul wants them to remember is that they were Gentiles—despised by the Jews. The Jewish people thought they were superior to others because they had a covenant with God. They had special revelation. They had better morals. They had a piece of skin cut off their body.

Does any of this sound familiar today? It should.

There are some who think they are superior to others because of how they vote, or because of what religion they belong to, or have more money, fame, or power than others, or because they got a vaccine. And Paul is going to say “Stop dividing over such silly things! All such division is satanic.”

But Paul is not yet done describing the things that cause division. There are five more in Ephesians 2:12. The second is that at that time you were without Christ.

What Paul means is pretty obvious. They did not have Christ. The Ephesians lived under the same problem that the rest of the world live under. They still, just like everyone else, lived under a system of rivalry, violence, scapegoating, blame, slander, accusation, and victimization.

The Ephesians, for the most part, worshipped the goddess Diana, and before the coming of the Gospel, knew nothing of Jesus Christ. They were without Christ, and as such were under condemnation.

Now how did this cause division? Well, the word for Christ here is the Greek Christos, but is the Greek word for Messiah. The Messiah, or Meshiach in Hebrew, is one of the things that caused division between Jews and Gentiles. The Jews has prophecies that the Messiah would come through them. This gave them a sense of superiority over others. But the Gentiles didn’t have a Messiah.

And in fact, many Jews at that time thought that when the Messiah came, He would only be a Savior for the Jews, and everyone else would get destroyed by the Messiah. So yes, the aspect of a promised Messiah caused division.

The third source of division was that Gentiles were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.

Another way of saying this is that we were excluded from being a part of God’s people, or excluded from citizenship with Israel. They were without citizenship in Israel, and therefore, many Jews thought that God didn’t love or care for Gentiles either. Gentiles were separate from the special blessing, protection, love, covenants, priesthood, sacrifices, promises and guidance that God gave to Israel (Deut 32:9-14; 33:27-29; Isa 63:7-9; Amos 3:2).

Again, the issue of how to treat people from other countries is a divisive issue today. We currently have a major humanitarian crisis at our southern border, and there is a huge debate about the best way to care for the aliens … the immigrants … who are there. Everybody in our country wants to help the immigrants, but the question is how. Do we just let anyone and everyone come into our country who wants to? Or would it be better to seeks ways to improve the living conditions in the countries they come from so that the immigrants can stay in their home country and gain access to good opportunities there?

The issue of citizenship and alien immigrants is a huge divisive issue.

The fourth item from Ephesians 2:12 that causes division is that the Gentiles were strangers from the covenants of promise.

God never made any covenants with Gentile nations. Gentiles were included in the covenant with Abraham, and since Noah lived before Abraham, we could consider him as a Gentile, I suppose, but in broad terms, God did not make covenants with Gentile nations—only with the nation of Israel. Gentiles were considered strangers and aliens—and the Jews never let them forget it.

Many of the Jewish Pharisees would pray daily, “O God, I give thanks that I am a Jew, not a Gentile.”[7]

Why did they have this view? Because God had not made any covenants or promises with Gentile nations. Therefore, Jews believed that God did not love the Gentiles as much as He loved the Jews. Since God did not make any promises to them, this meant that God did not really have any plans for them.

Again, this perspective is sometimes found in various churches, where non-Christians are viewed as second-class humans from a divine perspective. I once spoke with a man who was a strong Calvinist (see my posts here for more about Calvinism) who said that due to his belief in divine election, he never shared the gospel with unbelievers because the Bible said to not cast pearls before swine. That’s an extreme view, even among Calvinists, but it is not uncommon for Christians to rarely interact with non-Christians. It’s not that we hate non-Christians, but we just sort of view them with a disdain and bit if disgust for how they live and what they believe. Once they become Christians, however, then we accept them with open arms … as long as they do what we say and believe what they are told.

You see? Being a stranger from the covenants of promise is a source of division.

Fifth, Gentiles were without hope.

This, of course, is from a Jewish perspective, for many Gentiles at that time did indeed have hope, just as today, almost everybody has hope of some kind for the future.

But Jews thought that Gentiles were hopeless. That they had not prospects. No real future. Gentiles were nobodies going nowhere.

Again, sometimes Christians today are guilty of viewing non-Christians in the same light.

And finally, and sort of as a summary of all the others, Gentiles were without God in the world.

The term here in the Greek is atheos from which we get our word “atheist.” Now, the fact that they were atheos doesn’t mean that they didn’t believe in God. Just the opposite in fact. Rather than being atheists the way we think of them today, most Gentiles in Paul’s day were polytheists. They believed in many gods.

Remember Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill in Athens? He talked about all the gods they had. So it was not an issue of them being without gods, it was that they did not know the one true God. They were without the God of the Bible.

But this was a source of contention between Jews and Gentiles. Jews looked down upon Gentiles for not worshipping the One True God, but instead worshipping many false, manmade gods.

And again, a similar strife is often found today between various religious groups. Nearly every religious group looks down upon all the other for worshipping a false god or gods.

So the six things Paul lists here as descriptive of some of the things that caused division and strife between Jews and Gentiles. All six things caused enmity and hatred and discord between Jews and Gentiles.

Why is Paul Reminding the Ephesians Christians Of This?

Paul is not simply trying to remind the Ephesians Christians of how they were once treated and viewed. I believe Paul was writing these things to them, and telling them to remember how they were treated, because the Ephesian Christians were starting to look down upon their non-Christian neighbors and friends with scorn and derision. They had started to feel superior, to feel smarter, to feel like God loved them more than anyone else.

So Paul comes along here and says, “Remember! As Gentiles, you used to be in a position where another group of people looked down upon you, and scorned you, and judged you, and thought that God hated you. You didn’t like that very much. So now that you are part of the family of God, make sure you don’t fall into the same trap. Don’t start treating your non-Christians neighbors the way your Jewish friends once treated you.”

This is a good reminder for us in the church today. Don’t forget your past. If you did not grow up in the church, then you might have had the experience of feeling judged, ridiculed, shamed, or even hated by certain groups of Christians. Some Christians look down upon non-Christians, condemning, criticizing, and accusing them of all sorts of things. Paul would say to you, “Do you remember what that felt like? Now that you are a Christian, make sure you don’t do the same thing.”

You were called to be part of God’s family for the same reason that Abraham was called and the Jewish people were called and all of God’s people are called … not to lord your position over others and think that you are smarter and more blessed than others, but rather to be a blessing and a help to them. To love them.

If you start to treat others with hate and derision, then you are still living in the way described by Paul in Ephesians 2:1-3. We used to live lives of rivalry, blame, accusation, scapegoating, slander, and violence, but now God has called us to live lives of love, forgiveness, grace, faith, and blessing. If we go back to blaming, accusing, scapegoating, and judging the world, then we have learned nothing about Jesus Christ or why He came.

Nevertheless, it is not uncommon for Christians and even pastors to revert back to the old way of living. For example, a certain pastor has said the following: “Scripture teaches … that God eternally hates some men; has immutably decreed their damnation; and has determined to withhold from them Christ, grace, faith, and salvation.”[9]

Here’s a hymn that used to be sung years ago in certain churches around the country: (I don’t know the tune, but the words go …)

“We are the Lord’s elected few,
Let all the rest be damned;
There’s room enough in hell for you,
We won’t have heaven crammed!”[10]

Are you as horrified as I am that certain Christians feel this way about the unsaved? We wonder how the Jews could have hated the Gentiles so, but then we look at some of our own brothers and sisters hating non-Christians in the exact same way!

None of us, I hope, feel this way about any non-Christian. None of us, I hope, despise our neighbor because they are not Christians. Rather, we love them, and are concerned for them, and want to share with them the love that Christ has for them so that they too may be saved. That is the Christians duty. That is our God given responsibility—to bring blessing, not cursing.

In Ephesians 2:13-22, we will begin to see how we can make sure we are a blessing to this world, rather than a source of hate, division, and strife.

Footnotes for the Study on Ephesians 2:11-12

[1] MacArthur, chapter 7, intro.

[3] Barclay, 107.

[4] MacArthur, chapter 7.

[7] Wiersbe, 22.

[9] David Engelsma, quoted in Vance, 293.

[10] In Vance, 300.

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The Purpose of the Mystery (Ephesians 3:10-11)

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The Things that Divide Us (Ephesians 2:11-12)

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The Things that Divide Us (Ephesians 2:11-12)

Summary of Ephesians 2:1-10

Six Sources for Strife (Ephesians 2:11-12)

Why is Paul Reminding the Ephesians Christians Of This?

Footnotes for the Study on Ephesians 2:11-12

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