Exegesis Paper: The New Humanity in Christ · · 2011-05-25Exegesis Paper: The New Humanity in...

Potomac Presbytery

Credentials Committee

Exegesis Paper:

The New Humanity in Christ

Ephesians 2:11-22

Brian M. Sandifer

February 16, 2011

The New Humanity in Christ (Eph 2:11-22) Brian M. Sandifer

Potomac Presbytery, Credentials Committee i 2/16/2011

Table of Contents

1 Outline of Ephesians ............................................................................................................... 1

2 Clausal Layout of Ephesians 2:11-22 ..................................................................................... 2

3 Author’s Translation of Ephesians 2:11-22............................................................................. 4

4 Exegetical Outline of Ephesians 2:11-22................................................................................ 6

5 Commentary on Ephesians 2:11-22 ........................................................................................ 7

5.1 Prolegomena ................................................................................................................... 7

5.2 Contextual Introduction to Ephesians 2:11-22.............................................................. 10

5.3 Gentiles Now United to Christ and His People (vv. 11-13).......................................... 10

5.4 The New Humanity: At Peace With God and Each Other Through Christ (vv. 14-18) 14

5.5 The New Humanity: Members of God’s House (vv. 19-22)......................................... 21

5.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 25

6 Suggestions for Application of Ephesians 2:11-22 ............................................................... 26

7 Annotated Bibliography........................................................................................................ 28


Potomac Presbytery, Credentials Committee 1 2/16/2011

1 Outline of Ephesians

I. Salutation (1:1-2)

II. Thanksgiving (1:3-14), God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ

a. God’s eternal plan to bless us in Christ (1:3-6)

b. God blessed us in Christ in the fullness of time (1:7-13)

c. God guarantees to finish blessing us in Christ (1:14)

III. Letter Body (1:15-6:20)

a. Body Opening (1:15-23)

b. Body Middle (2:1-6:9)

i. Teaching Section (2:1-3:21)

1. From dead in sins to life in Christ (2:1-10)

2. Gentiles now join Jews united in Christ (2:11-22)

3. Paul brings the mystery of the gospel to the Gentiles (3:1-13)

a. God revealed the mystery to Paul by revelation (3:1-6)

b. God made Paul a minister of the mystery of the gospel (3:7-13)

4. Paul prays for the Ephesian believers the know Christ and his benefits (3:14-

21)

ii. Situational Application (4:1-6:9)

1. God has unified the Body of Christ, the Church (4:1-16)

2. Put off the old self and put on the new self (4:17-24)

3. Instructions for how to put off the old self and to put on the new self (4:25-

6:9)

a. How a Christian should treat others (4:25-32)

b. How a Christian should not treat others (5:1-14)

c. How to be filled with the Spirit (5:15-6:9)

i. General Instructions (5:15-21)

ii. Submit to one another, household code (5:22-6:9)

1. The new life for husbands and wives (5:22-33)

2. The new life for children (6:1-4)

3. The new life for slaves and masters (6:5-9)

c. Body Closing (6:10-20), Put on the whole armor of God

i. Stand against the devil (6:10-18a)

ii. Persevere in prayer for the saints and for Paul that the gospel may be proclaimed

(6:18b-20)

IV. Letter Closing (6:21-24)



2 Clausal Layout of Ephesians 2:11-22

11 Di o .Di o .Di o .Di o . m n hm o ne u,e t e o [t io [t io [t io [t i p o te . um ei/j t a. e ;qn h e vn sa rki,( o i l e go ,m en o i avkro b ust i ,a up o. t h/j l e gom e,n hj pe ri t om h/j e vn sa rki. ce i ro p oi h,t o u(

12 o [t io [t io [t io [t i h=t e t w/| ka i rw/| e vke i,n w| cwri .j Cri st o u/( a vp hl lo t ri wm e,n o i th/j p o li te i,a j t o u/ VIsra h.l ka i. xe ,n o i t w/n d ia qhkw/n t h/j evp a ggel i,a j ( e vl pi ,d a m h. e ;co n t e j ka i. a ;qe o i evn t w/| ko ,sm w|Å

13 n un i. d en un i. d en un i. d en un i. d e . e vn Cri st w/| VIhso u/ um e i/j o i [ p ot e o;n t ej m a kra.n evge n h,qht e evggu.j e vn t w/| a i [m at i t o u/ Cri st o u/Å

14 Auvt o .j ga ,rga ,rga ,rga ,r e vst in h e i vrh,n h hm w/n ( o p o i h,sa j ta . avm f o,t e ra e ]n

ka i. t o . m e so,t o i co n t o u/ f ra gm o u/ l u,sa j ( t h.n e;cqra n e vn t h/| sa rki. a uvt o u/(

15 t o.n n o ,m o n t w/n evn t o l w/n e vn d o,gm a sin ka ta rgh,sa j ( i [n ai [n ai [n ai [n a t o u.j d u,o kt i,sh| e vn a uvt w/| e ivj e [n a kai n o.n a;n qr wp o n

p o i w/n e ivrh,n hn

16 ka i. a vp o ka t al l a,xh| t o u.j a vm f ot e,ro uj e vn e n i. sw,m a t i t w/| qe w/| d i a. t o u/ st a uro u/(

a vp o kte i,n a j t h.n e ;cqra n evn a uvt w/|Å

17 ka i . e vl qw.n e uvhgge li ,sa t o eivrh,n hn um i/n t oi/j m a kra .n ka i. e i vrh,n hn t o i/j e vggu,j \

18 o [t io [t io [t io [t i di V a uvt o u/ e ;co m en t h.n p ro sa gwgh.n o i a vm f o ,t e roi evn en i. p n e u,m a t i p ro .j t o.n p at e,ra Å

19 : A ra: A ra: A ra: A ra o u=n o uvke ,t i evst e . xe ,n o i ka i. p a ,ro i koi a vl l a.a vl l a.a vl l a.a vl l a. e vst e . sum p ol i/t a i tw/n a gi,wn



ka i. o i vke i/o i t o u/ qe o u/(

20 e vp o i ko d om hqe,n t e j evp i. t w/| qe m e li,w| t w/n a vp o st o,l wn ka i. p ro f ht w/n (

o ;n t o j avkro gwn i a i,o u a uvto u/ Cri st o u/ VIhso u/(

21 e vn w-| p a/sa o ivko d o m h. sun a rm o lo go ume,n h a u;xe i ei vj n a o.n a[gi o n evn kuri,w|(

22 e vn w-| ka i . um e i/j sun o i ko d om ei/sqe e i vj ka t o ikht h,ri o n to u/ qe o u/ e vn p n e u,m a ti Å



3 Author’s Translation of Ephesians 2:11-22

11 ¶ D i o . m n h m o ne u,e t e o[t i p ot e. um e i/j t a. e ;qn h e vn sa rki,( o i l e g o,m e n oi a vkro b ust i,a up o . t h/j l e g o me,n h j p e ri t om h/j e vn sa rki . ce i rop o i h,t o u( 11 Therefore remember that formerly you Gentiles in the flesh, being called uncircumcision by

what is called circumcision in the flesh made by hand,

12 o [t i h=t e t w/| k a i rw/| evk e i,n w| cwri .j Cri st o u /( avp h l l o t ri wm e,n o i t h/j p o lit e i,a j to u / VIsr a h .l k a i. xe ,n o i t w/n di a qh kw/n t h/j e vp a g ge l i,a j ( evl p i,d a m h. e ;co n t ej k a i. a;qe o i evn t w/| ko ,sm w|Å 12 that you were at that appointed time apart from Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel

and strangers of the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13 n un i . d e . e vn Cri st w/| V Ih so u / um e i /j o i[ p o t e o;n te j m a kr a.n evg e n h ,qh t e evg g u .j e vn t w/| a i[m a ti t o u/ Cri st o u/Å 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly far away have been moved near by the blood

of Christ.

14 Au vt o .j g a ,r e vst i n h e i vr h ,n h h m w/n ( o p o i h,sa j t a . a vm f o,t e r a e]n k a i. t o . m e so ,t o i co n to u / f r a g m o u/ l u ,sa j ( t h.n e;cqr a n e vn t h/| sa rki . a uvt o u /( 14 For he is our peace, who made both one and abolished the enmity, in his flesh, of the dividing

wall of partition,

15 t o .n n o ,m o n t w/n e vn t ol w/n e vn d o,g m a si n k at a rg h ,sa j ( i[n a t o u .j d u,o kt i ,sh | e vn a u vt w/| e i vj e [na k a i n o.n a;n qrwp o n p oi w/n e ivr h ,n h n 15 abolishing the law of the commandments by ordinances, in order that the two might be created

by him into one new man making peace

16 k a i. avp o k a ta l la,xh | t o u.j avm f ot e,ro uj evn en i . sw,m a ti t w/| qe w/| d i a. t o u/ sta uro u /( avp o kt ei,n a j t h.n e ;cqr a n e vn a uvt w/|Å 16 and that he might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, killing the enmity in

him.

17 k a i . evl qw.n e u vh g g e l i,sa t o ei vr h ,n h n um i/n t o i/j m akr a .n k a i. e ivr h ,n h n t oi/j e vg g u ,j \ 17 And he came and preached peace to you to those far away and peace to those near,

18 o [t i di V a uvt o u / e ;co m en t h .n p ro sa g wg h .n o i avm f o,t e ro i evn e n i. p n e u,m a ti pro .j t o.n p a te,r a Å 18 that through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

19 : Ar a o u =n o u vk e ,t i e vst e. xe ,n o i k a i. p a,ro i ko i avl l a . e vst e. sum p o l i/t a i t w/n a g i,wn k a i . o i vk e i/o i t o u/ qe o u /( 19 Therefore you are now no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow-citizens of the saints

and members of the household of God,

20 e vp o i ko d om h qe,n t e j evp i. t w/| qe m e l i,w| t w/n a vp o st o,l wn k a i . p ro f ht w/n ( o ;n t o j a vkro g wn i a i,o u a u vt o u/ Cri st o u/ VIh so u /( 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the

cornerstone,



21 e vn w-| p a/sa o i vko d om h.1 s un a rm o lo g o ume,n h a u ;xe i ei vj n a o.n a[g i o n evn kuri,w|( 21 in whom the whole building being fit together causes to grow into a holy temple in the Lord,

22 e vn w-| k a i. um e i/j sun o iko d o me i/sqe e ivj k a t o i k hth ,ri o n to u / qe o u / evn p n e u,m a t i Å 22 and in which you are being built up together into a dwelling-place of God in the Spirit.

1 Some manuscripts read pa /s a h oivk od omh. Without the definite article, the text would literally read “every

building.” Translators do not render the text this way because the sense of the context is corporate unity, hence the

common translation “the whole building.” The presence of the definite article is best explained as a later scribal

insertion to make a literal reading consistent with the obvious theological context of the passage.



4 Exegetical Outline of Ephesians 2:11-22

Exegetical Proposition: Through the death of Christ, Gentiles are no longer separated from God

and Israel in hostility, but are now united with believing Jews as a new people of God, and now

are at peace with God and each other in God’s new household.

I. Although Gentiles were formerly alienated from God and his chosen people Israel, Paul

reminds the Ephesian believers that through the death of Christ they are now united to

Christ and his people Israel (vv. 11-13).

a. V 11. Paul reminds the Gentile Ephesian believers that they were once considered unholy

by the circumcised Jews.

b. V 12. Paul reminds the Gentile Ephesian believers that they were once separated from

Christ, Israel, and God.

c. V 13. Because of Christ’s death on the cross, Paul reminds the Gentile Ephesian believers

that they have been united to Christ, Israel, and God.

II. Paul, just as Christ preached, declares to the Ephesian believers that Christ himself has

become peace between Jews and Gentiles (and between them and God) by making of

the two peoples a unified new humanity in him through the abolishing of the legal

barriers separating them from God and each other and granting them equal access to

God (vv. 14-18).

a. V 14. Paul states that Christ has now become peace for Jewish and Gentile believers by

removing the hostile barrier between them and uniting them in his body.

b. V 15a. Paul explains that the method Christ employed to become peace for the two was

to abolish the ordinances of the law.

i. V 15b. The first result of Christ’s work of making peace is that he made a unified

new humanity of Jews and Gentiles.

ii. V 16. The second result of Christ’s work of making peace is that both Jews and

Gentiles are no longer hostile toward each other because they are now accepted by

God through the cross as a unified new humanity.

c. V 17. Paul declares that this accomplished peace was preached by Christ in the same way

to both Gentiles and Jews.

d. V 18. Paul explains that in the triune plan of God, Jews and Gentiles now have equal

access to the Father in one Spirit through the Son.

III. Paul concludes that Jewish and Gentile believers now have equal rights in God’s house

(which is founded on Christ and his apostles and prophets) and the Spirit is actually

using the Ephesian believers to build on its foundation (vv. 19-22).

a. V 19. Paul concludes that Gentiles are no longer separated from Jews, but have equal

rights with Jewish believers in God’s house.

i. V 20. Paul’s first description of God’s house is that it is built on the foundation of

the New Covenant apostles and prophets, with Christ being the foundational

cornerstone.

ii. V 21. Paul’s second description of God’s house is that the structure on this

foundation grows into a holy temple as its pieces are united and joined to Christ.

b. V 22. Paul explains to the Ephesian believers that the Spirit is also building them together

into God’s house.



5 Commentary on Ephesians 2:11-22

5.1 Prolegomena

Authorship. For much of church history, the NT epistle called “Ephesians” had been

universally recognized as the product of the Apostle Paul. The first century Church, operating

without the benefits of modern communication or a centralized magisterium, universally

accepted Ephesians as both authentically Pauline (i.e., not pseudonymously written) and

authoritative (belonging to the accepted canon of received apostolic revelation). Recognizing

authentic and authoritative documents was a humble yet critical process from the very beginning

of the Church. The Ante-Nicene Fathers were suspicious of the common practice of publishing

pseudonymous writings, and were vigilant to identify and set aside inauthentic writings that

regularly circulated among Christ’s gathered people. Such writings, although sometimes

admitted to be possibly useful and doctrinally sound, were not allowed a place alongside

authentic apostolic writings.

Although Pauline authorship of Ephesians is the traditional consensus, it is widely

questioned in modern scholarship. The arguments offered by those skeptical of Pauline

authorship may be grouped as such:

1. Vocabulary and style of Ephesians compared to the undisputed Pauline epistles

2. Similarities to and possible dependence on Colossians

3. Literary and historical relationships to other written works outside of the lifetime of

Paul

4. Theological distinctions in comparison with the undisputed Pauline corpus2

2 Markus Barth, Ephesians: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary on Chapters 1-3 (AB; Garden City, N.Y.:

Doubleday & Company, 1974), 38.



Hence modern biblical critics propose four possible options to explain who wrote

Ephesians: (1) Paul, (2) a secretary or amanuensis of Paul, (3) someone other than Paul writing

independently or without oversight of Paul, and (4) inconclusive authorship. Most critical

commentators opt for an unnamed disciple of Paul living after his death, although a few venture

to theorize on the identity behind the author’s pen.3

In their discussion of Ephesians’ disputed authorship, Carson and Moo (both conservative

evangelical scholars) argue that the evidence against Paul as author is exaggerated and that the

burden of proof lies in the lap of the critic. They offer several reasons why Paul is likely the

author, and demonstrate how the common arguments made against Pauline authorship suffer

from speculation, special pleading, proving too much, contradiction, and arriving at a conclusion

simply to refrain from being undecided.4 While many vexing problems of authorship remain for

Ephesians, it is clear from a comparison of critical and evangelical scholarship that such

outstanding issues do not tip the balance in favor of an author other than Paul. The weight of

evidence seems to clearly favor the traditional position of Pauline authorship.

Date and Provenance. Paul probably composed this epistle and had it delivered at or

near the same time he wrote Colossians. The text of Ephesians (3:1; 4:1) indicates that Paul was

3 Ibid., 39-40, describes the elaborate, plausible (yet ultimately unconvincing) theory of Goodspeed that Philemon’s

runaway slave Onesimus wrote Ephesians. Goodspeed’s theory possesses the benefits of answering many

difficulties surrounding not only the authorship question of Ephesians, but also the origin of the unified collection of

Paul’s canonical writings. “Indeed this story of the genesis of Ephesians is rich with emotional undertones, and it

offers solutions to many questions that were often considered unanswerable. Not only a plausible Sitz im Leben, a

motivation, a location, and a date for Ephesians are presented, but, in addition, the origin of the Pauline corpus and

the interrelation between Ephesians, Acts, Revelation, and John are all ‘explained.’ But the beauty and

comprehensiveness of the theory are not sufficient to demonstrate its validity.” Barth continues by cross-examining

the theory with the facts, taking Goodspeed’s hypothesis apart piece by piece. 4 D.A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005),

480-486. Their arguments for Pauline authorship and against the critical position of non-Pauline authorship are

substantive (i.e., they transcend the simplified discussion of the issues found in many evangelical Study Bibles, they

accurately portray the critical position, they offer thoughtful questions designed to bring to light overlooked/ignored

details, and they refrain from dogmatism by admitting that the best answers available may not quell remaining

questions.



in prison when it wrote it. For those who accept Pauline authorship, this is taken as his Roman

imprisonment in the early 60s. Those who reject Paul as author date the letter in the years 70-90

since that is the accepted timeframe when the Pauline corpus was gathered into a single

collection. In his own letter dated c. A.D. 96, Clement of Rome seems to refer to Ephesians5, so

regardless of who wrote Ephesians it could not have been composed later than the last decade of

the first century.

Destination. The intended audience of Ephesians is also in question. One of the few

significant textual uncertainties in the entire letter is in the epistolary salutation. Some of the

best manuscripts do not contain the words “in Ephesus” in 1:1. This, coupled with the lack of

intimate personal language and knowledge which one would expect in any correspondence

between Paul and his close partners in ministry in the Ephesian church, amounts to a difficult

situation in determining the letter’s original audience. Several theories are proposed to explain

these difficulties, including: (1) Ephesians as a circular letter, with the church in Ephesus holding

the surviving copy and thus assumed to be the original recipient; (2) Ephesians as the mysterious

Laodicean letter (cf. Col 4:16); and (3) Ephesians as a theological and ethical introduction to the

Pauline corpus written later by a disciple of Paul in Ephesus. Unfortunately, none of the

proposed theories satisfy all the questions surrounding the epistle and its intended audience. It is

probably best to conclude that the weight of historical and textual evidence suggests the church

in Ephesus was most likely Paul’s original audience, although achieving certainty (or at least

reasonable consensus) would require more information.6

5 Some allusions in 1 Clement to Ephesians include: 1 Clem 64 || Eph 1:3ff; 1 Clem 38 || Eph 5:21ff; 1 Clem 36 ||

Eph 4:18ff; 1 Clem 59 || Eph 1:18; 4:18. 6 See Carson, Introduction to the New Testament, 488-490, for a discussion of the problems associated with the

competing theories on the original destination of Ephesians.



5.2 Contextual Introduction to Ephesians 2:11-22

“If Ephesians is the crown of Paul’s theological writing, 2:11-22 is perhaps the central

jewel; but like a beautifully cut gem it has a depth and subtlety that is not easily summarized.”7

God’s gospel of reconciliation and forgiveness is the very heart of Christianity. This good news,

that God is reconciling the world to himself through Christ, is the central theme of this passage.

A redemptive-historical framework undergirds Paul’s logic as he repeatedly compares and

contrasts the “then” and “now” effects for his Gentile readers that flow from the work of the

cross. God’s sovereign plan for all of history, formerly shrouded in the mysterious types and

shadows of the old covenant, has now been accomplished and proclaimed through Christ’s

entrance into history to decisively win the cosmic battle that has raged since the dawn of

creation. Ephesians 2:11-22 contains an exposition of the results of the work of Christ. Through

his death, Gentiles are no longer separated from God and Israel in hostility, but are now united

with believing Jews as a new people of God, and are now at peace with God and each other in

God’s new household.

5.3 Gentiles Now United to Christ and His People (vv. 11-13)

V. 11 Paul begins a new section of argumentation with the conjunction D i o . which signals

that what follows is a conclusion to the previous pericope in 2:1-10.

Here Paul reminds the Gentile Ephesian believers that they were once considered unholy

by the circumcised Jews. The Jews looked upon the uncircumcised status of Gentiles with

derision and basically ostracized them for not having the mark of the Abrahamic covenant that

identified God’s specially chosen people. But Paul adds a clarifying comment: the

“circumcision” that the Jews possessed was made in the flesh by hands. This is the first hint in



this passage that the Jewish people are also in the flesh, just as the Gentiles once were. Paul

probably has in mind the contrast between the circumcision made with hands and that wrought in

Christ (Col 2:11). “This ‘man-made external circumcision’ he now depreciated; in one place he

dismisses it as no better than mutilation (Phil 3:2). What mattered in the sight of God was the

circumcision or cleansing of the heart of which Moses and the prophets spoke (Deut 10:16; 30:6;

Jer 4:4), the ‘circumcision not made with hands’ or ‘circumcision of Christ.”8 The term “flesh”

that Paul uses explicitly to describe the former condition of his Gentile audience and implicitly

of those who are called the “circumcision” probably means in the context that the distinction

between Jew and Gentile is no longer favorable in the sight of God. It “underlines that the writer

is making an ethnic distinction…based on a real physical difference, but also that from the

Christian perspective of the writer this no longer counts as religiously significant.”9

V. 12 This verse begins with the subordinating conjunction o [t i that has a parallel in the

previous verse and is therefore also coordinated with the verb “to remember” in verse 11.

Paul continues to urge his readers to remember that at one time their disadvantages were

threefold: they were separated from Christ, Israel, and God. Although they probably did not

perceive it, they were separated (or were far from) Christ. The Messiah of Israel did not seem to

offer any benefit to them because they had no part in the nation of Israel, including its political

body or its covenants with their God. Paul uses the noun p o l i te i,a to describe the nature of the

Jewish nation as “a sociopolitical unit or body of citizens, state, people, body politic.”10

Some

translations take the term to mean “citizenship” here. Either way, the verse’s meaning is not

7 Max Turner, “Ephesians,” in New Bible Commentary, 4th ed. (ed. G. J. Wenham, J. A. Motyer, D. A. Carson, R. T.

France: Downers Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1994), 1230. 8 F. F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans

Publishing, 1984), 293. 9 Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians (WBC 42; Dallas: Word Books, 1990), 135.



significantly altered. The Gentiles were formerly alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and

the rights that citizenship in it entailed. And because of their exclusion, they were strangers to

the covenants of promise God made with his people. What is this promise to which Paul refers?

Because of the preceding reference to the Messiah, the singular “promise” may point directly to the gift of the “one seed,” the Messiah (cf. Gal. 3:16). However, occasionally Paul also speaks of several promises [Gal. 3:16, 21; 2 Cor. 1:20; 7:1; Rom. 9:4]. The renewal of the covenant with Israel and Judah and the creation of “children of promise” among Jews and Gentiles [Gal. 4:28; Rom. 9:8] belong to the manifold specifications of God’s one “promise.”

11

Finally, Paul describes the Gentiles as once having no hope and without God (a ;qe o i, a

word that occurs only here in the Bible) in the world. Leon Morris comments on the world’s

hopelessness:

hope is a very important part of the Christian life as Paul understands it. People in lower classes in the first-century Roman Empire had little to hope for. Their present lot was circumscribed by the harsh conditions under which they lived, and they usually saw no prospect of a bettering of that lot. Indeed for people at large where was little hope. There was no widespread concept of a beautiful life beyond the grave, so there was little to look forward to in some future life. And the Greek cyclical view of history meant that the race as a whole was going nowhere. Where is there room for hope in such a philosophy?

12

Paul’s description of Gentiles as once a people who were without God may be loaded

with irony and double entendre. The primary meaning in the context describes those who did not

have a relationship to God. They were literally “without God.” “Where it is used in Greek

writings, it can denote either a person who does not believe in a deity, an impious person, or a

person forsaken by God or the gods.”13

But Paul could also be alluding to the fact that Gentile

sinners denied God in their lives and in their laws (Rom 1-2). They formerly lived life a-

theistically. Paul also could be employing language from the Greco-Roman culture in which

polytheists taunted and charged Christians with being atheists because they didn’t believe in “the

10

Frederick William Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature

(3d ed. (BDAG); Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000), pol itei,a. 11

Barth, Ephesians, 258. 12

Leon Morris, Expository Reflections on the Letter to the Ephesians (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994), 62.



gods.” Perhaps a little truthful name-calling was in order since the polytheists were the real

atheists compared to the Christians who worshiped the one true God!

V. 13 In his description of the Gentiles, Paul moves from the past to the present with the

words n un i . d e. (“but now”). The situation has now been reversed for the Gentiles who are in

Christ Jesus. John Stott notices that “such spatial language (‘far’ and ‘near’) was not uncommon

in the Old Testament. God and Israel were known to be ‘near’ one another, since God had

promised to be their God and to make them his people.”14

It is also important to note that this

verse is tightly connected thematically to the previous verses. The Gentiles, who were once “far

off,” were separated from the savior of sinners, the people of God, and God himself. But they

have now been “brought near” meaning they now have fellowship with God and his people

through the blood of the savior Jesus Christ. “As being far from God included both separation

from his people and spiritual distance or alienation from himself; to be brought nigh includes

both introduction into the Church and reconciliation with God. And both ideas are clearly

presented and intended by the apostle in these verses.”15

In this verse there are aspects of

historical and personal experience of redemption. Stott wisely says that the two must not be

divided.

For it states that our new nearness to God is both in Christ Jesus and in (or by) the blood of Christ. It is essential, if we are to be faithful to the apostle’s teaching, to hold onto these two expressions, and not to emphasize one at the expense of the other. For ‘the blood of Christ’ (as in 1:7) signifies his sacrificial death for our sins on the cross, by which he reconciled us to God and to each other, whereas ‘in Christ Jesus’ signified the personal union with Christ today through which the reconciliation he achieved is received and enjoyed. Thus the two expressions witness to the two stages by which those ‘far off’ are ‘brought near’. The first is the historical event of the cross, and the second Christian conversion, or the contemporary experience of union with Christ.

16

13

Lincoln, Ephesians, 138. 14

John R. W. Stott, The Message of Ephesians: God’s New Society (BST; Downers Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press,

1979), 97. 15

Charles Hodge, Ephesians (ed. Philip Hillyer; CNTC; New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991), 67. 16

Stott, Ephesians, 98. Italics original.



In this verse there is a hint of a significant interpretive difficulty in this passage. Verse 11

alluded to Israel also being in the flesh because that is the kind of circumcision they possessed

(as opposed to the circumcision made without hands [Col 2:11]), verse 12 described the Gentile

predicament being one of separation from Christ, Israel, and God, and now verse 13 explains that

Gentiles have been brought near to Israel and God. Are Gentiles who are now in Christ

considered Israelites? In Pauline theology, the answer is both yes (Rom 9-11) and no (Gal 3:23-

29). But Paul’s emphasis in Ephesians is on the discontinuity between Israel and the Church

(although there is also significant continuity between the two). The next section of verses in

Paul’s case will shed light on this tension. “In 2:14-15 this peace is first described as peace

between man and fellow man, i.e. between Jew and Gentile and only then as peace between God

and man (2:16-17)”17

5.4 The New Humanity: At Peace With God and Each Other Through Christ (vv. 14-18)

V. 14 Jesus himself is called “peace” in contrast to the hostility that existed between

those of Gentile and Jewish descent. This peace is not just the absence of hostility and conflict,

but it has more to do with the Jewish idea of shalom which is a state of well-being and blessing.

As is well known, in the OT the notion of peace...involves more than the absence of war or cessation of hostilities. It denotes also positive well-being and salvation, and it is frequently seen as God’s gift and as a major element of eschatological expectation. In this context in Eph 2, peace does, however, stand primarily for the cessation of hostilities and the resulting situation of unity…It is neither peace with God (Rom 5:1) nor cosmic peace (Col 1:20) that is the focus of attention in v 14, although it becomes clear in vv 16-18 that the former is foundational for this writer also.

18

Christ has not just brought peace but is the very peace he preaches (v. 17), and this peace

accomplished the unity of Jew and Gentile. The dividing wall of hostility (e ;cq r a n) that once

separated the two ethnic groups has been abolished (l u ,sa j) by Jesus in his own body. This

17

Barth, Ephesians, 262.



“hostility” or “enmity” Paul elsewhere instructs Christians to put away (Gal 5:20) since Christ

has already decisively removed it. The verb Paul uses to describe the abolishing of this hostility

is the aorist participle l u , sa j which in the context means “to do away with, destroy, bring to an

end, abolish.”19

There is disagreement about what Paul meant by his reference to “the dividing wall.”

Some take it to be a reference to the physical dividing wall in the Jerusalem temple that

partitioned off Jew from Gentile. Archaeologists unearthed an inscription present on the temple

grounds that read, “No foreigner is to enter within the balustrade and embankment around the

sanctuary. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his death which follows.”20

If Paul

wrote the epistle to the Ephesians during his (presumably first) Roman imprisonment, this

physical wall of separation would have played a part in his accusers’ criminal charges against

him (cf. Acts 21:28-29 where Paul is supposed to have brought Trophimus the Ephesian with him

into the temple precinct). Others understand the dividing wall to be a reference to the spiritual

concept of the law. “If ‘having broken down the dividing wall, the fence’ is paralleled by

‘having abolished…the hostility, the law…,’ then it seems more likely that the fence is a

reference to the law. The notion of the oral tradition as providing a fence for Torah was a

familiar one…but Torah itself could be seen as providing a fence around Israel.”21

Another

option is to take the wall as a spiritual divide between heaven and earth, in other words, “the area

in mind may be the whole cosmos and the wall one dividing the supernatural realm from the

18


BDAG, l u,w. 20

James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998), 83. 21

Lincoln, Ephesians, 141.



earthly.”22

Some give up the search for a religious referent and simply read the dividing wall as

a metaphor for that which comes between those who disagree and are hostile to one another.23

It

is probably most reasonable to interpret the dividing wall from the immediate context:

It is the fact of separation between Israel and the nations; it has to do with the law and its statutes and interpretations; it is experienced in the enmity between Jews and Gentiles; it also consists of the enmity of both Jews and Gentiles against God. In every regard the essence of the wall can, if at all, be described only retrospectively. Unless it is understood as that which was “broken down by Christ, it cannot be comprehended at all.

24

V. 15 Paul continues his thought and sentence from verse 14 by further elaborating how

Christ tore down the dividing wall of hostility. Christ did this by abolishing the law of

commandments expressed in ordinances. This introduces another theological problem: in what

way did Christ abolish the law? Markus Barth outlines a number of options that commentators

have offered to understand the grammar of the first clause in verse 15. After reviewing several

possibilities, he concludes that the surrounding context of vv. 11-16 suggests that “the translation

‘the law [, that is, only] the commandments [expressed] in statutes,’ brings out the manifold

aspects of division just described, and yet shows that the law itself, along with its study and

fulfillment, has not been annulled by Jesus Christ. As a barrier between Jews and Gentiles it is

no longer valid; only its divisiveness was terminated when Jesus Christ died on the cross.”25

This is probably the best approximation of Paul’s intent, although it is certainly not meant to be a

summation of Paul’s doctrine of the law for the Christian; if it were an adequate summary then

Paul could not call the law righteous (Rom 7:12; 8:4) or say that Christians are not under law but

under grace (Rom 6:14-15).

22

Ernest Best, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Ephesians (ICC; Edinburgh, Scotland: T & T Clark, 1998)

254. Best critiques this view and rejects it as retaining Gnostic influence that would have been foreign to (or at least

contra) Pauline thought. 23

Ibid., 256. 24

Barth, Ephesians, 286-87. 25

Ibid., 291.



It is clear that the purpose Christ intended in abolishing the law is to peacefully reconcile

Jews and Gentiles by creating a unified “new man.” Paul does not mean Jews and Gentiles are

merely enabled by Christ to be friendly with one another. In that case reconciliation would be

achieved but nothing new would be created. The point of this verse is that Jews and Gentiles (as

religiously distinct and separated peoples) have now been replaced by the one newly created

people (e [n a k a i n o.n a;n qrwp o n), which the early Christians referred to as “the third race.”26

The purpose of Christ is ‘to create out of the two a single new humanity in himself’ (NEB). In Christ…there is a new humanity; and it is a single entity. God now deals with Jews and Gentiles as a single individual. Furthermore, Gentiles do not simply rise to the status of Jews, but both become something new and greater; and it is significant that the word for new here (kainos) means not simply new in point of time, but as Barclay puts it ‘new in the sense that it brings into the world a new kind of thing, a new quality of thing, which did not exist before.’

27

This third race is not just created like other earthly peoples, but is created “in himself.”

Stott reminds us that “what Paul is referring to, in fact, is not a ‘new man’ but a ‘new human

race’, united by Jesus Christ in himself. For although potentially the single new humanity was

created when Jesus abolished the divisive law on the cross, actually it comes into existence and

grows only by personal union with himself.”28

This is a vitally important feature throughout the

entire passage, for outside of Christ there remains hostility between the two races (Jew and

Gentile). It is only as individuals are experientially united to Christ and brought near to God that

peace is achieved and another person is added to this new redeemed human race.

V. 16 Paul continues the same thought and sentence in verse 16. Reconciliation to God

for the Jew and the Gentile only happens through the cross. Christ’s death is the instrumental

cause for this reconciliation, which kills the hostility between Jew and Gentile. But here another

26

Andrew T. Lincoln, “The Church and Israel in Ephesians 2,” CBQ 49 (1987): 605-624, esp. 612; Lincoln,

Ephesians, 144. 27

Francis Foulkes, The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary (TNTC; 1956; repr.,

Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1981), 83. Italics original. 28

Stott, Ephesians, 101. Italics original.



kind of reconciliation is introduced, not just between men, but also between God and men. This

reconciliation of men to God only occurs “in one body.” Does this “one body” (e vn e n i . sw,m at i)

refer to Jesus (the body of Christ on the cross) or the newly created human race (the body of

Christ as the Church)? Rudolf Schnackenburg argues convincingly that both are in view,

although first it refers grammatically and contextually to the Church, and second it refers

theologically to Christ as the Church is united to him. “The Church is already represented and

begins to be realized in the body of the Crucified…So close is the connection of the Church to

Christ that she already appears in the Cross as a New Creation, the one redeemed humanity.”29

Although the idea of exclusion for those not in Christ is present, there is an eschatological

dimension that should not be ignored.

Human hostility to God has to be overcome—“while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom. 5:10)—and hostility within the human family (and within creation as whole) must similarly be overcome. Both forms of hostility have been “put to death” by Christ through his own death on the cross. This is no doubt an ideal not yet fully realized in experience; but the insistence of this epistle is that the ideal will one day be seen as a worldwide reality, thanks to the completeness of Christ’s reconciling sacrifice.

30

The cross of Christ, first mentioned by name in verse 16, has been in the foreground of

this passage all along. Paul refers to the “blood of Christ” in verse 13, “his flesh” in verse 14,

and “through the cross” in verse 16. John Calvin argues that “the word cross is added, to point

out the propitiatory sacrifice. Sin is the cause of enmity between God and us; and, until it is

removed, we shall not be restored to the Divine favor. It has been blotted out by the death of

Christ, in which he offered himself to the Father as an expiatory victim.”31

William Hendriksen

adds,

29

Rudolf Schnackenburg, Ephesians: A Commentary (trans. Helen Heron; Edinburgh, Scotland: T & T Clark, 1991),

117. 30

Bruce, Ephesians, 300. 31

John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians (trans. William Pringle; vol. 21

of Calvin’s Commentaries; Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981), 239. Italics original.



Christ’s atoning death had achieved its purpose: the proper relation between the Ephesians and their God had been established. By grace those estranged from God, having heard and accepted the gospel, had laid aside their wicked alienation from God and had entered into the fruits of Christ’s perfect atonement. This miracle had been achieved “through the cross,” that very cross which to the Jews was a stumblingblock and to the Gentiles folly (1 Cor. 1:23).

32

V. 17 Christ achieved peace on the vertical and horizontal relational planes by becoming

peace in himself, and thereby preached peace to the Gentiles (those who were far off according

to verse 13) as he did to the Jews (those who were near). This message of peace is the same

message of reconciliation Paul has described in the previous verses. The adjectives “far off” and

“near” could carry a spatial or geographic meaning (Jesus lived in the vicinity of the Jews during

his earthly ministry), but they primarily refer to spiritual distance. This is clear from the flow of

Paul’s argument. The Gentiles were strangers and aliens to Christ, Israel, and God, whereas the

Jews were in the privileged position of being God’s chosen people (Eph 2:12; Rom 3:1-2; 9:4-5).

There is an interesting textual variant in verse 17 that bears attention (although it hardly

alters the meaning of the verse or the flow of the passage). A number of important manuscripts

are missing the second occurrence of the word peace (e i vr h ,n h n),33

although the weight of the

external manuscript evidence clearly suggests the second e i vr h ,n h n is original.34

Bruce Metzger

thinks it was omitted “because it seemed redundant and therefore superfluous”35

but sides with

its inclusion for both external and internal reasons. The dual occurrence of “peace” certainly

adds to the rhetorical force of Paul’s argument, although the main reason Paul included the word

for “peace” twice was probably because he was employing the language of Isaiah 57:19.

32

William Hendriksen, Exposition of Ephesians (NTC; Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1967), 135-36. 33

Û K L many minuscules syrp, h

al. 34

î46 a A B D F G P it

d, g vg cop

sa, bo goth arm eth al.

35 Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (2d ed.; D-Stuttgart: Deutsche

Bibelgesellschaft/German Bible Society, 1994), 534.



If verse 17 indeed contains a quotation from Isaiah, then another problem arises. Isaiah

57:19 in the LXX refers not to Gentiles and Jews but to Jews who are near (those who remain in

the land) and far (those outside the land in exile). Here Paul utilizes the apostolic hermeneutic

that reads the OT Christologically, thus expanding the original emphasis by reinterpreting its

fulfillment in the eschatological age of Christ and his Church. But Paul also purposefully adds a

section from Isaiah 52:7 to verse 17 in Ephesians, importing its language of “preaching peace” to

give content to the message that Christ proclaimed to those near and far off. Such apostolic

license when quoting the OT is difficult to reconcile with modern grammatical-historical rules of

exegesis, but this kind of typological interpretation is common in the NT. Regarding this

quotation of Isaiah in verse 17, Andrew Lincoln writes, “certainly this aspect of the servant

passages lent itself to Christological interpretation by the early Christians, and here such an

interpretation clearly enables the writer to link what he has said about Christ as the embodiment

of peace and about his work of reconciliation in vv 14-16 to the “peace to the far and near”

language of the Isa 57:19 citation.”36

V. 18 Paul then summarizes the unit of thought in verses 14-17, but not without

introducing a new idea. Up to this point in the passage, the Spirit is not mentioned in the

creation of the one new humanity who now has peace with God. In verse 18, the Son and the

Father are now joined by the Spirit in this divine work of reconciliation. Paul explains how this

salvation of peace is accomplished in the Trinitarian God: we as the new redeemed humanity

have access to the Father through the Son in one unified Spirit. In other words, the new

humanity is united in spirit in the Holy Spirit to approach the Father through the work of Christ’s

work on the cross that wrought peace for them. “Christ’s ministry as Mediator is thus carried on

36




and made effective in the ever-present Spirit which fills the Church and all her members.”37

Charles Hodge explains that this “access” is not just a door opened by Christ to the Father. That

is only the initial event, for Christ’s work is to introduce his people into the blessed presence of

God. Furthermore, “this access to the Father is by the Spirit. The inward change by which we

are made able to believe in Christ: the feelings of desire, reverence, filial confidence which are

essential to our communion with God, are the fruits of the Spirit.”38

5.5 The New Humanity: Members of God’s House (vv. 19-22)

V. 19 Paul begins the concluding section of this passage by declaring that Gentiles are no

longer separated from Jews, but have equal rights with Jewish believers in God’s house. This

final section of the pericope begins with a concluding particle and a temporal coordinating

conjunction (:Ar a o u =n) signaling the resulting conclusion of Paul’s flow of thought, yet again

not without further development. First, Paul recalls what the Gentiles were before the work of

Christ (strangers and aliens in relation to Israel and to God). He contrasts their sad former state

with their complete turnaround of status in Christ—they are now fellow citizens with the saints

and full members with all such rights in the household of God. There is some debate over the

identity of “the saints” (t w/n a g i,wn) with whom the Gentiles are now fellow citizens/compatriots.

Various suggestions include (1) Israel or the Jews; (2) Jewish Christians; (3) the first Christians

seen as a golden generation; (4) all believers; and (5) the angels.39

It is difficult to determine

whether the second or fourth option is Paul’s intended meaning. The second option seems

plausible based on the grammatical parallel with verse 12 and the continuity that exists between

Israel and the Church. The fourth option is attractive because Paul writes of the ag i ,o i elsewhere

37

Schnackenburg, Ephesians, 118. 38

Hodge, Ephesians, 75-76. 39




in Ephesians and clearly means all believers (1:1, 15, 18; 3:8; 4:12; 5:3; 6:18). If the immediate

context is determinative, then the parallel with Israel in verse 12 would suggest that Jewish

Christians are the “saints” in this passage. Paul then proceeds from a political to a familial

metaphor. The Gentile believers are now God’s family members, literally “members of the

household of God.” But now Paul begins to include Jewish Christians into the argument. “[The

author of Ephesians] has thus passed in this verse beyond the consideration of the place of

Gentiles in the church and is working out the place of all, Gentile and Jewish, who form the one

church of God. Gentile Christians, once refugees, are now neither homeless nor stateless.”40

Insomuch as verse 19 is an introductory verse to the last section in the passage, it also

serves as a bridge to Paul’s next theological point.

Beginning with the next verse the imagery of a house will become so dominant that the transition made in 2:19-22 from “house” understood as a family or community, to “house” in the sense of a building is hardly felt. An important theological transition takes place at the same time. Those who have been received into God’s house are no longer described as its inhabitants in what follows; rather they are declared the building materials of a house in which God himself will dwell.

41

V. 20 Continuing the thought begun in verse 19, Paul describes the Gentile believers as

stones built upon the foundation of God’s house. This foundation that is being built upon is

actually the apostles and prophets (evp o i ko d om hqe ,n t e j evp i. t w/| qe m e li,w| t w/n avp o st o,l wn k a i.

p ro f ht w/n). Some interpreters see instead the foundation as that which is laid by the apostles and

prophets, perhaps wanting to harmonize Paul’s thought with 1 Corinthians 3 where the

foundation of Jesus Christ was laid by the apostles. But there is no need to harmonize that which

makes perfect sense in its context. “What we have here we may regard simply as a slightly

different handling of the same metaphor as that in 1 Corinthians 3. (Compare Rev. 21:14 for a

use that is different again but not contradictory.) There the apostle thought of himself and others

40

Best, Ephesians, 279.



as builders, here as stones in the building.”42

One question that has perplexed commentators is

the identity of the “prophets” alongside the apostles that serve as the foundation of God’s house.

Some understand them to be the prophets of the OT. Others identify them as the NT prophets

that are described in Acts 13:1, 15:32, and 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. Although it would be

theologically true to ascribe these foundational characteristics to the OT prophets, it is probably

best to take this as a reference to the NT prophets for the following reasons. First, they are listed

second after the apostles, which is clearly a NT-only office. It would be odd to list the earlier

established office after the apostles. Second, Paul refers to prophets again later in the same letter

(3:5 and 4:11) where NT prophets are clearly in view. What purpose and function did these

prophets and apostles serve?

The apostles and prophets are foundational in the sense of being primary and authoritative recipients and proclaimers of revelation. The apostles were those with special authority from their commissioning by the risen Lord, while the prophets were those with charismatic authority. Some apostles, like Paul, were also prophets, but not all apostles were prophets, and certainly not all prophets were apostles. The apostles provided a foundational link with the risen Christ and, together with the prophets, gave foundational interpretation of what God had done in Christ for the edification of the Church.

43

As important as the apostles and prophets were as the foundation of the building, the

whole foundation held together by the cornerstone, who is Jesus Christ. The cornerstone is the

primary foundation stone of a building, and all other stones are built and fitted to it. Christ is

aptly fit for such an image.

V. 21 Now that Paul has described the foundation and cornerstone of God’s house, he

then develops the metaphor further by outlining a structure that grows by design and perfect fit

into a holy temple in the Lord. God dwells not on a foundation, but in a house. All building

materials are united in the Lord (as Paul has labored to argue in verses 11-19) and grow up from

41

Barth, Ephesians, 270.



the foundation into the holiest building of all: a temple. Christ plays a central role in the growth

of God’s holy temple which is the Church in that all growth is “in him.” The relative clause “in

whom” (e vn w-|) is parallel in thought and grammar to verse 22, tying the thought of verses 21 and

22 closely together.

There is a textual variant in this verse that does not change the meaning of the passage if

interpreted in the context of God’s house being singular. The weight of the external evidence

points toward the reading of “the whole structure” (without the article, p a /sa o ivko d o m h.) but which

could be translated “every structure.”44

The variant reading includes the article (p a /sa h

o ivko d o m h) which is probably a scribal insertion to clarify the definite nature of the structure.

V. 22 Beginning in grammatically parallel fashion to verse 21 (e vn w-|), Paul comforts the

Ephesian Gentile Christians that the Spirit is also building them together into God’s house. What

was true in principle in verse 21 is applied directly to Paul’s readers here. They can be sure that

they are being built together into the holy temple of God because it is the Spirit himself who

performs the task. Ephesus was the location for the great temple of the goddess Artemis, a cultic

center where the whole world worshiped (Acts 19:27). Jerusalem was the location for the Lord’s

temple during the old covenant administration. But these temples cannot mean anything to the

Ephesian Gentile believers any longer.

Two temples, one pagan and the other Jewish, each designed by its devotees as a divine residence, but both empty of the living God. For now there is a new temple, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. It is his new society, his redeemed people scattered throughout the inhabited world. They are his home on earth. They will also be his home in heaven. For the building is not yet complete. It grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

42

Foulkes, Ephesians, 86. 43


a* B D G K Y 33 614 1739* Byz Lect Clement al. The UBS edition of The Greek New Testament ranks this

variant as a {B} (the second highest degree of relative certainty) and thus the reading without the definite article is

well attested and considered most likely the original reading. Incidently, UBS considers this variant the only one

worthy of inclusion in its critical apparatus. For a more comprehensive listing of textual variants in Ephesians 2:11-

22, see the apparatus in Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 27 ed. 506-507.



Only after the creation of the new heaven and the new earth will the voice from the throne declare with emphatic finality: ‘Behold, the dwelling of God is with men.’ [cf. Rev. 21:1-5]

45

5.6 Conclusion

This passage has much to teach us regarding the nature of the Church and God’s plan for

redeeming a people unto himself. The chosen people of God, whom God set his love on in the

OT, were a particular ethnic people: children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were called

and promised to be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth. Those peoples (the Gentiles) are

finally accepted into the people of God through the death of Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, and are

finally united to God’s chosen people and to his chosen one (Christ). It is he himself that has

reconciled the hostile parties (Jews and Gentiles, as well as God and Gentiles) by becoming their

reconciling peace, uniting them into a unified new human race through the abolition of that

which separated them (namely the law which revealed sin). This newly created unified people is

on equal footing regarding access and fellowship to God through Christ. “Gentiles who were

formerly without God and without hope are now fellow citizens with God’s people, members of

his household, so that together they have become a holy temple in the Lord and a dwelling in

which God lives by his Spirit. It is for reasons such as these that the paragraph [2:11-22] has

been regarded as ‘perhaps the most significant ecclesiological text in the New Testament’.”46

Gentiles and Jews in Christ have equal rights as members of God’s house which is the new

temple, and are in fact permanent additions to this holy household founded on Christ and his

apostles and prophets. The kingdom of God has now burst into history, and the gospel of the

kingdom has spread from Israel to the Gentiles. The promise to Abraham of blessing on the

nations (Gen 12:1-3) has been and is being fulfilled.

45

Stott, Ephesians, 109-10. Italics original.



6 Suggestions for Application of Ephesians 2:11-22

This passage is frequently misunderstood by many commentators of liberal and

ecumenical persuasion. They sense the cosmic dimensions and the glorious flavor of the

passage, but their prior theological commitments push them away from the true sense of its

meaning. Let us address two ways in which Ephesians 2:11-22 should not be applied, and then

offer (hopefully) constructive alternatives.

First, God reconciling sinners to each other and to himself touches the subject of modern

race relations, but it is not about race relations per se, especially relations between Jews (either

religious or irreligious) and Gentile Christians. In the wake of the twentieth century Holocaust,

the European Church’s felt guilt in somehow contributing to the theological environment that

justified genocidal atrocities has led to what some have labeled Post-Holocaust Exegesis. This

new method of reading Scriptural passages that expound Jew-Gentile relations filters texts

through the lens of the Holocaust so that in some cases these interpreters have vilified any kind

of evangelistic efforts to Jews because they do not need the gospel, being God’s ancient chosen

people. Others like Karl Barth take the other extreme and do not offer the hope of Christ’s

gospel to unbelieving Jews because they are deemed not worthy of the gospel. Ephesians 2:11-

22 addresses these two dangers. “What becomes an overwhelmingly Gentile church repeatedly

forgets or denies its roots in God’s promises to Israel, arrogating to itself exclusive ownership of

the household of God and sole rights to the covenants of promise…Acknowledging a spiritually

dead past opens doors to gratitude and thanksgiving in the present.”47

The Church must

remember that we were strangers and aliens to Israel and the covenants of promise, without

46

Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians (PNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1999), 183. Italics

original. O’Brien cites Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians (NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 123.



Christ, God or hope in this world. Only by remembering our past when we were dead in our

trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1, 5) can we humbly appreciate the marvelous grace given to us.

Christian humility is rooted in remembering our roots.

Second, the reconciliation that Christ accomplished and preached to both Jew and Gentile

is cosmic and universal in scope, but it does not lead to universal salvation. Many preachers

want a salvation that extends to all “good” people. Their message is that we are all God’s

creation and therefore we are all the Father’s children; that Christ has broken down the walls in

order to overlook our differences and make all people (regardless of religion or lack thereof)

acceptable to God; that Christ is the savior of every single individual. But this kind of preaching,

which is even prevalent in many so-called evangelical churches (“Smile, God loves you!”)

ignores Christ on the throne of God. Salvation is not just by Christ, it is also through Christ, and

through him alone. The Church (yes, even confessionally faithful churches!) would do well to

recover the exclusivity of the gospel message before claiming cosmic benefits of salvation that

will only become universal as the kingdom of God comes to fruition on the eschatological last

day. All peoples have been reconciled to God, but the unrepentant sinner who remains such will

find himself without membership in the household of God. Ecumenical dialogue with

representatives of other world religions can only be faithful to the gospel as long as the Church

retains its exclusive message of salvation through Christ alone without any pluralistic or

relativistic qualifications. This is the mandate from the Lord Jesus. The challenge is to remain

friendly and winsome in such dialogue, be it in official or neighborly forums.

47

Amy Plantinga Pauw, “Theological Meditations on Ephesians 2:11-22,” Theology Today 62, (2005): 78-83, esp.

79.



7 Annotated Bibliography

Aland, Barbara, Kurt Aland, Johannes, Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M.

Metzger. The Greek New Testament. 4 rev. ed. D-Stuttgart: United Bible Societies/

Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2001.

Barth, Markus. Ephesians: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary on Chapters 1-3. Anchor

Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, 1974. Critical, Roman Catholic.

Best, Ernest. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Ephesians. International Critical

Commentary. Edinburgh, Scotland: T & T Clark, 1998. Critical.

Boice, James Montgomery. Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker

Books, 1998. Reformed.

Bruce, F. F. The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians. New International

Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1984.

Evangelical.

Calvin, John. Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians. Translated

by William Pringle. Vol. 21 of Calvin’s Commentaries. Grand Rapids: Baker Book

House, 1981. Protestant/Reformed.

Carson, D.A. and Douglas J. Moo. An Introduction to the New Testament. 2d ed. Grand Rapids:

Zondervan, 2005. Evangelical.

Danker, Frederick William. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early

Christian Literature. 3d ed. (BDAG). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Foulkes, Francis. The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary.

Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. 1956. Repr., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans

Publishing, 1981. Evangelical.

Hendriksen, William. Exposition of Ephesians. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids:

Baker Books, 1967. Reformed.

Hodge, Charles. Ephesians. Edited by Philip Hillyer. Classic New Testament Commentary. New

York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991. Reformed.

Lincoln, Andrew T. Ephesians. Word Biblical Commentary 42. Dallas: Word Books, 1990.

Evangelical/critical.

________. “The Church and Israel in Ephesians 2.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 49 (1987): 605-

624. Evangelical/critical.

Metzger, Bruce M. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. 2d ed. D-Stuttgart:

Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft/German Bible Society, 1994.



Morris, Leon. Expository Reflections on the Letter to the Ephesians. Grand Rapids: Baker

Books, 1994. Evangelical.

Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece. 27 ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2001.

O’Brien, Peter T. The Letter to the Ephesians. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids:

Eerdmans Publishing, 1999. Evangelical.

Pauw, Amy Plantinga. “Theological Meditations on Ephesians 2:11-22.” Theology Today 62,

(2005): 78-83. Journalistic, mainline.

Schnackenburg, Rudolf. Ephesians: A Commentary. Translated by Helen Heron. Edinburgh,

Scotland: T & T Clark, 1991. Critical.

Stott, John R. W. The Message of Ephesians: God’s New Society. Bible Speaks Today. Downers

Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1979. Anglican/Reformed.

Turner, Max. “Ephesians.” Pages 1222-1244 in New Bible Commentary. 4th ed. Edited by G. J.

Wenham, J. A. Motyer, D. A. Carson, R. T. France. Downers Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity

Press, 1994. Evangelical.

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