August 12, 1961. The tension between East and West had grown
to such intensity East German authorities built a wall overnight to divide the
city of Berlin in an attempt to control the flow of those trying to escape from
the communist sector of the city to the West.
That wall came to symbolize the divide between freedom and servitude.
Then, in 1989, we saw pictures of
German young people--some who hadn’t been born when the wall was built—waiting
for machines to begin tearing down the wall.
They grew impatient and began tearing apart to hated wall by hand. It was exciting to see their enthusiasm when
that wall came down.
The Berlin Wall is down but our
world is still filled with walls, walls separating people who do not share the
same skin color, the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated. For some, a wall exists between themselves
and God.
In this passage (Ephesians
2:11-18), Paul is coming very close to the heart of this letter’s message. Remember it’s theme: Through Christ a gracious God has created one new people to have
fellowship with him and with each other as they live for him and work for him
in the real world.
Christ has opened the way to new
heavenly and earthly relationships.
As he did at the beginning of the
chapter, Paul invites his readers to look back…
Alienation Apart from Christ
Therefore, remember
that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called
"uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the
circumcision" (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at
that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel
and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in
the world. (2:11-12)
A deep antagonism existed between
Jews and Gentiles. Anti-Semitism
existed, with its disdain for all things Jewish. But the Jews also had little regard for the
non-Jewish peoples. A verse in the
Talmud said, “It is forbidden to give good advice to Gentiles.” There was a sign in the Temple courtyard
warning, “No foreigner may enter…the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have
himself to blame for his ensuing death.”
Beyond this, there is a spiritual
issue. Being “separate from Christ” they
were also “excluded from citizenship in Israel—foreigners to the covenants of
the promise.” As Gentiles, they had no
claim the great promises made to the Jews.
Moreover, they were “without hope and without God in the world.” In saying they were “without hope,” Paul
likely means they had no foundation for hope beyond the grave. Though they might have convinced themselves
they did, that foundation was but shifting sand. Certainly they could place no hope in their
own goodness, they had none. (Just as
Paul made clear the Jews had no hope in their own goodness.)
And what does it mean to say they
were “without God?” Now, let me begin by
saying I don’t believe Paul means God never showed common grace or sometimes
even special grace to any non-Jew. There
are hints suggesting he did in both the Old and New Testaments. Paul may be saying their faulty conception of
God or gods, amounted to no knowledge at all.
Again, a point that is not absolutely clear in the Scripture. In light of what Paul said earlier in the
chapter (vs. 2), the phrase certainly suggests living with no acknowledgement
of God.
The crucial point is that the
Gentiles were “separate from Christ.”
Paul’s pre-conversion perspective on the Messiah would have said the
Messiah brought nothing for the Gentiles except judgment. Now he knew better. Christ came not just to bless one people—but
the bless the Gentiles. In fact, Christ
did something far more remarkable than just blessing two peoples.
To understand this we need to
look at the
Abolishing Act of Christ
But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far
away from God are brought near through the blood of Christ’s death. Christ himself is our peace. He made both
Jewish people and those who are not Jews one people. They were separated as if
there were a wall between them, but Christ broke down that wall of hate by
giving his own body. The Jewish law had
many commands and rules, but Christ ended that law. His purpose was to make the
two groups of people become one new people in him and in this way make
peace. It was also Christ’s purpose to end the hatred between the two
groups, to make them into one body, and to bring them back to God. Christ did
all this with his death on the cross.
(2:13-16)
Now things have changed. The outsiders have become insiders. Those who were distant are now near.
This is the work of Jesus
Christ. Paul even says, “Christ is our
peace.” He brings the reconciliation we
need to overcome the alienation and estrangement resulting from the fall. Teachers of an earlier age used to illustrate
this point using the cross:
It is a simple lesson but an
important one. The cross has a vertical
beam pointing us upward, (é)
reminding us of its power to affect our relationship with God. The cross has a horizontal beam pointing
around us (ç è),
reminding us of its power to affect our relationships with one another. Because of Christ’s death, believing Jews and
Gentiles are able to join together “inside the circle of God’s love.” (J.B.
Phillips trans.)
What happened at the cross was
far more than the execution of an innocent man.
Certainly, as Paul would tell the Romans, “our friendship with God was
restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies.” (Ro. 5:10
NLT) But as the apostle makes clear her,
that same cross makes possible our reconciliation with our fellow human beings.
Perhaps nothing symbolized the
separation of Jews from Gentiles more than “the system of law with its
commandments and regulations.”
Circumcision, diet, even hairstyles marked the Jews as different from
the Gentiles. Now, all that had been
abolished—a point he argues in-depth in Galatians. There, he will argue that these outward elements
no longer have any spiritual significance or merit.
Here he declares that “Christ has
reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our
hostility toward each other was put to death.”
One of the most shameful features of Christian history is recurrent
anti-Semitism justified with the charge that Jews killed Christ. This attitude has led Christians to believe
the most outrageous slanders against the Jewish people and been used to justify
pogroms leading to Jews being dispossessed and exiled from lands where they
lived peacefully for generations. That
behavior, that hypocrisy, often in the name of Christ, has sometimes caused
Christ to be hated. (cf. Ro. 2:24)
Because of the cross we now have
Access and Association Through Christ.
He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by
creating in himself one new people from the two groups….
He came and preached peace to you who were
far away and peace to those who were near.
For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
(2:15b,
117-18)
These verses weave together the
two aspects of reconciliation we have through Christ. First, let’s look at the heavenward
reconciliation. Christ “came and
preached peace” to the Gentile “who were far away” and to the Jews “who were near.”
The Gentiles were “far away” in
the sense they were not part of the people God had chosen as guardians of his
revelation to the world. (cf. Ro. 3:2)
The Jews were “near” because they
had that revelation and had been the historic witnesses to God’s activity in
the world.
But both needed to be reconciled
to God. Christ provided this
“peace.” Here the word is used to
describe the product of reconciliation; it involves peace of heart and mind but
it involves much more. It involves
access to God. No longer barred because
of sinful rebellion, we can approach God as Friend and Father.
The Trinity is involved in the
peace-work. Because the Son died for us,
the Spirit can bring us into the Father’s presence. This peace gives quiet to our souls in the
face of difficulty and challenge, confidence to our praying when we are
uncertain what to pray for, and certainty in our status as God’s children even
though we are much aware of our unworthiness to bear that title.
Of course, the two aspects of
peace are related.
F.F. Bruce commented on the
verse, “Those who enter into peace with God must have peace with one
another.” In fact, it seems those who
claim to have a right relationship with God but have broken relationships with
their fellow humans should seriously question the health of the former.
The imagery is powerful. Through Christ, God created “one new people.”
God has produced “one new Man,” “one new humanity,” or as The Message treats the verse, “Instead of continuing with two
groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created
a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.” One commentator
writes, “Jew and Gentile are joined in the body of Christ…to become, as it
were, a ‘third race’ fitted for life in the new creation.”
Paul set forth a vision for
Christians that was remarkable in his day and remains remarkable in ours.
Observations:
With that vision in mind, I’m
going to offer some observations.
1. God not only ones individuals reconciled to
him, he wants them reconciled to each other.
2. The gospel continues to enable formerly
antagonistic peoples to meet as one. In
Israel there are churches made up of believers who come from Jewish backgrounds
and believers who come from Arab backgrounds.
Only the power of the gospel can make that possible.
3. Honesty demands we recognize that cultural
dynamics sometime overrule the implications of the gospel allowing old
divisions, prejudices, and antagonisms to hold sway. Christians in too many places still allow
skin-color and ethnic background to keep them from worshipping with those who
confess the same faith and sing the same hymns.
4. Nevertheless, God has called his new people
to be agents of peace and reconciliation.
We must confess our failures and strive to bring people together.
Conclusion:
When the Berlin wall came down,
people around the world celebrated.
Through the power of the gospel we can celebrate as we see even more
formidable walls come down.
