Ephesians 2:14-18

Ephesians 2:14-18

For He Himself is our peace.  He who both made us one and after breaking down the dividing wall that separates us – the enmity in His flesh after abolishing the law of the commandments in ordinances – in order that while making peace He should create the two into one new man in Him and He should reconcile both to God in one body through the cross after killing the enmity in Him.  And after coming He proclaimed peace to you who were far away and peace to the ones who were near.  Because through Him we both have access to the Father in one Spirit.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Paul speaks fairly confusingly here about “both” and “two.”  We should know that these two people are the Gentiles and the Jews.  Paul is reminding the Ephesians that under the Law – that is, the commandments and ordinances – the Gentiles were looked down upon by the Jews as being “far away” from God.  There has always been an enmity between the Jews and the rest of the world.  The Jews lived a certain way and the Gentiles clearly didn’t.  The Jews not only believed differently than the rest of the world, but they lived differently as well.  The differences between the Jews and the Gentiles couldn’t be clearer.

Why might Paul make a big deal about the differences between Jews and Gentiles?  What does this tell us about Paul in that he was the apostle to the Gentiles after once being a very promising Pharisees himself?

Second Thought:

Paul does not leave the topic of the Jews and Gentiles in enmity.  He reminds us that there is peace through Jesus.  Through Jesus, the wall dividing the Jews and the Gentiles has been torn down.  The enmity has been cast aside.  Jews and Gentiles can come together to relationship with God through the cross of Christ.  The same tool of salvation applies to both peoples.  We are no longer two people, but one people underneath Christ.

What does this passage have to say about things that divide human beings?  What does this passage have to say about the power of the cross?

Third Thought:

Paul gives us a few more words on the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is our means of access to the Father.  We are bought by Christ’s blood, but we access the Father through the Spirit.  When we pray, it is the Spirit connecting us to the Father.  When we are moved, it is the Spirit connecting us to the Father.  When we repent, it is the Spirit calling us to the Father.  The Spirit is vitally important in our relationship to the Father.

How does the Spirit relate you to the Father?  How do you feel the Spirit within you?

Passage for Tomorrow: Ephesians 2:19-22