(11-12) The need for the reconciliation of Gentile and Jew.
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; that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
a. You, once Gentiles in the flesh: God’s work of reconciliation is not only between God and the individual, though it must begin there. It is also between groups of people that are at odds, such as Jews and Gentiles were in the days of Paul.
b. Who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision: Gentiles were in a desperate place, being aliens, strangers, having no hope and being without God. This shows that they were not only spiritually dead, but they also did not have the access to God that the Jews enjoyed.
i. Before coming to Jesus, Gentiles were “Christless, stateless, friendless, hopeless and Godless.” (Stott quoting Hendriksen)
ii. Having no hope: “The absence of hope in the face of death is amply attested in the literature and epigraphy of the Greco-Roman world of that day.” (Bruce)
iii. Without God in the world: Some people believe in God, but they believe He lives in heaven and has nothing to do with this world. In that way, a person can still believe in God and be without God in the world.
c. Without Christ: These are terrible words, and the implications of them are the sum of the woeful condition of the lost man or woman. To be without Christ means to be:
· Without spiritual blessings.
· Without light.
· Without peace.
· Without rest.
· Without safety.
· Without hope.
· Without a Prophet, Priest, or King.
i. “Without Christ! If this be the description of some of you, we need not talk to you about the fires of hell; let this be enough to startle you, that you are in such a desperate state as to be without Christ. Oh! What terrible evils lie clustering thick within these two words!” (Spurgeon)
d. Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel: This likely includes separated Jews as well as Gentiles. “For there were also Israelites who were outside the commonwealth, not only as foreigners but as lax Jews, and lost their part in the covenants, not as foreigners, but as unworthy.” (Alford)
2. (13) Gentiles brought near to God.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
a. But now in Christ Jesus: Those Gentiles who are now in Christ Jesus are no longer far off. They are made near to the things of God, and the blood of Christ accomplishes this, by His sacrificial death.
i. This coming near happens only by the blood of Christ. Gentiles who are not in Christ Jesus are just as far off as they ever were. This reconciliation only happens in Jesus.
ii. It is important that Paul connects the ideas of the great love of Jesus and His sacrificial death. Many people think that preaching Christ crucified is all about a bloody, gory Jesus. But the point of Christ crucified is not gore, but love. Preaching Christ crucified means we preach Jesus full of love – sacrificial, giving, saving love.
b. By the blood of Christ: Many people suggest different ways to come near to God. Some think you can come by keeping the law or by belonging to a group (such as Israel or even the church). But the only way to be brought near to God is by the blood of Christ. What Jesus did on the cross, suffering as if He were a guilty sinner in the place of guilty sinners, brings us near to God.
3. (14-16) Jew and Gentile brought together in the Church.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 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, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
a. For He Himself is our peace: Jesus Himself is our peace; He hasn’t simply made peace between God and man and Jew and Gentile; He is our peace.
b. Who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation: The work of Jesus on the cross is the common ground of salvation for both Jew and Gentile. Therefore, there is no longer any dividing wall between Jew and Gentile. Jesus broke that wall down.
i. In the temple, in between the court of the Gentiles and the court of the women, there was a physical barrier, an actual wall of separation between Jew and Gentile.
ii. Paul was, at the time of this writing, under house arrest in Rome, awaiting trial because he was falsely accused by the Jews of taking a Gentile into the temple past the literal wall of separation dividing Jew and Gentile. Paul made it clear that in Jesus, the wall is gone.
iii. The wall of separation is gone because the common Lordship is greater than any previous division. If the Lordship of Jesus Christ is not greater than any difference you have with others – be it political, racial, economic, language, geography or whatever, then you have not fully understood what it means to be under the Lordship of Jesus.
c. Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances: The source of contention between Jew and Gentile was the fact that the Gentiles did not keep the law. But since Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf, and since He bore the penalty for our failure to keep the law, we are reconciled through His work on the cross – putting to death the source of contention.
i. “The enmity of which the apostle speaks was reciprocal among the Jews and Gentiles. The former detested the Gentiles, and could hardly allow them the denomination of men; the latter had the Jews in the most sovereign contempt, because of the peculiarity of their religious rites and ceremonies, which were different from those of all the other nations of the earth.” (Clarke)
ii. “And the separation was intensified and emphasized by those institutions which were, in part, designed to isolate Israel from the world, until the fit time for the wider blessing. And He ‘annulled’ them by fulfilling them, in His sacrificial work; thus at once reconciling man to God and man to man.” (Moule)
iii. The law as a source of righteousness is no longer an issue. That source of enmity between Jew and Gentile is dead.
d. That He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross: Gentiles and Jews are brought together into one body, the Church, where our unity in Jesus is far greater than our previous differences.
i. So as to create in Himself one new man from the two: Early Christians called themselves a “third race” or a “new race.” Early Christians recognized that they were not Jews, not Gentiles, but one new man embracing all who are in Jesus.
ii. “As Chrysostom explained, it is not that Christ has brought one up to the level of the other, but that he has produced a greater: ‘as if one should melt down one statue of silver and another of lead, and the two together should come out gold.’ ” (Wood)
e. Through the cross: We see the emphasis Paul places on the work of Jesus on the cross. He repeats the idea several times: made near by the blood… having abolished in His flesh the enmity… in one body through the cross. This unity didn’t just happen, it was the hard-fought accomplishment of Jesus.
i. This means that Jesus’ prayer in John 17 (that they all may be one) wasn’t “just” a prayer. It was a prayer Jesus prayed knowing that His work of the cross would accomplish the answer, and a prayer He was willing to pray knowing that His agony would be used to answer.
ii. This bringing together of Jew and Gentile in Jesus is a partial fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose as stated in Ephesians 1:10: that… He might gather together in one all things in Christ. God uses the bringing together Jew and Gentile into the Church as a preview of His ultimate work of summing up all things into Jesus Christ. Since He can do this, He can also do that.
4. (17-18) How Jews and Gentiles are brought together.
And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
a. He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near: As they respond to the same gospel, the same peace that is preached to those afar off (Gentiles) and those near (Jews).
b. Through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father: They enjoy the same access to God, access that comes by one Spirit to the Father. Not only are Jews and Gentiles saved by the same gospel, but they also have the same essential walk with God and access to Him. One group does not have a greater access than the other does.
i. “Access is probably the best translation of prosagoge, though it could be ‘introduction.’ In oriental courts there was a prosagoges who brought a person into the presence of the king.” (Foulkes)
ii. When conflict arises among Christian groups of different backgrounds, you can be sure that they forget that they were saved by the same gospel and that they have the same access to God. One or both groups usually feel they have superior access to God.
iii. “This text is a plain proof of the holy Trinity. Jews and Gentiles are to be presented unto God the FATHER; the SPIRIT of God works in their hearts, and prepares them for this presentation; and JESUS CHRIST himself introduces them.” (Clarke)