Before Christ’s coming, Gentiles and Jews kept apart from one another. Jews considered Gentiles beyond God’s saving power and therefore without hope.

Gentiles resented Jewish claims of their position of superiority based on their heritage. Christ revealed the total sinfulness of both Jews and Gentiles, and then he offered his salvation to both. Only Christ breaks down the walls of prejudice, reconciles all believers to God, and unifies us in one body.

History shows that most peace missions fail. According to some sources, from 1500 BC to AD 850, there were 7,500 “eternal covenants” agreed upon by various nations in the hope of bringing peace, but no covenant lasted longer than two years.

The only “eternal covenant” that has lasted—and that will last—is the one made by the eternal God, sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

It is Christ’s peace mission that Paul explains in this section, and three very important words summarize this great work: separation, reconciliation, and unification.

Separation: What The Gentiles Were (Eph. 2:11-12). In the first ten verses of Ephesians 2, Paul has discussed the salvation of sinners in general, but now he turns to the work of Christ for Gentiles in particular.

Most of the converts in the Ephesian church were Gentiles, and they knew that much of God’s program in the Old Testament involved the Jews.

The Jews had the privilege of being God’s chosen nation to whom he had given his covenant promises (Deuteronomy 7:6).

For centuries, the “circumcision” (Jews) had looked down on the “uncircumcision” (Gentiles) with an attitude that God had never intended them to display. The fact that a Jew had received the physical mark of the covenant was no proof he was a man of faith (Rom. 2:25-29; Gal. 5:6; 6:15).

Those who have trusted Christ have received a spiritual circumcision “made without hands” (Col. 2:11).

But since the hour that God called Abraham, God made a difference between Jews and Gentiles. He made this difference, not that the Jews might boast, but that they might be a blessing and a help to the Gentiles.

God set them apart that He might use them to be a channel of His revelation and goodness to the heathen nations.  Sad to say, Israel kept this difference nationally and ritually, but not morally. Israel became like the lost nations around her.

For this reason, God often had to discipline the Jews because they would not maintain their spiritual separation and minister to the nations in the name of the true God.

The one word that best describes the Gentiles is without. They were “outside” in several respects.

One of the signs of his covenant was circumcision. God required circumcision:

• As a sign of obedience to him.
• As a sign of belonging to his covenant people, because once circumcised, the man would be identified as a Jew forever.
• As a symbol of “cutting off” the old life of sin, purifying one’s heart, and dedicating oneself to God.

More than any other practice, circumcision separated God’s people from their Egyptian and Canaanite neighbors. Pious Jews (“the circumcision”) considered all non-Jews (the “uncircumcised”) to be ceremonially unclean. The Jews erred in believing that circumcision (that done in the body by the hands of men) was sufficient to make them godly without the necessity of inner renewal.

2:12 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. The Jews considered the Gentiles little better than animals, and the Gentiles resented the Jews for their smug religious superiority. But here in Ephesians, Paul told the Gentile Christians to remember what it felt like to be treated that way, to be seen as unworthy outsiders … and he told them not to return the favor.

He called on them to remember where (and what) they were when God found them: separated from Christ, excluded from his promises, without hope and without God. A bleak picture indeed—but God changed all that by his mercy.

Compared to the Jews, the Gentiles had five distinct disadvantages:

1. They were separate from Christ, having had no expectation of a Messiah to save them.
2. They were excluded from citizenship in Israel. Gentiles could never fully partake of the spiritual privileges promised to Israel, God’s chosen people. While Gentiles could become Jews after an extensive training period, followed by circumcision and baptism, the sense of “exclusion” was never fully removed. Gentiles could never truly be citizens of Israel.
3. They were foreigners to the covenants of the promise. For Paul, the covenant promises were the basis for Israel’s distinctive. The plural (“covenants”) makes the word comprehensive—all of God’s promises to his people, all the distinctive privileges that made them his people. To these, the Gentiles were “foreigners,” meaning that they had no share or part in the promises. Many of the Pharisees would pray daily, “O God, I give thanks that I am a Jew, not a Gentile.”
4. They were without hope. There was no hope for the Gentiles to find the one true God or to obtain anything beyond physical life in this world. The pagan philosophers’ theories about life after death were at best vague and supplied no way to atone for evil committed during a person’s life. They had no “divine promise” and, thus, no basis for hope.
5. They were without God in the world. The Gentiles had many gods, but they were without the one true God. They lived entirely and only in this evil world. Without God, the world was all they had.

It is worth noting that the spiritual plight of the Gentiles was caused not by God but by their own willful sin. Paul said the Gentiles knew the true God but deliberately refused to honor Him (Rom. 1:18-23).

Religious history is not a record of man starting with many gods (idolatry) and gradually discovering the one true God. Rather, it is the sad story of man knowing the truth about God and deliberately turning away from it!

The first eleven chapters of Genesis give the story of the decline of the Gentiles; and from Genesis 12 on (the call of Abraham), it is the story of the Jews. God separated the Jews from the Gentiles that He might be able to save the Gentiles also. “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).

God called the Jews, beginning with Abraham, that through them He might reveal Himself as the one true God. With the Jews He deposited His Word, and through the Jews He gave the world the Savior (Rom. 9:1-5).

Israel was to be a light to the Gentiles that they too might be saved. But sad to say, Israel became like the Gentiles, and the light burned but dimly. This fact is a warning to the church today. When the church is least like the world, it does the most for the world. This was a bleak description indeed. Fortunately, it does not end here, for God himself intervened.

Reconciliation: What God Did For The Gentiles (Eph. 2:13-18) The “but now” in Ephesians 2:13 parallels the “but God” in Ephesians 2:4. Both speak of the gracious intervention of God on behalf of lost sinners.

“Enmity” is the key word in this section (Eph. 2:15-16); and you will note that it is a twofold enmity: between Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:13-15) and between sinners and God (Eph. 2:16-18).

Paul describes here the greatest peace mission in history: Jesus Christ not only reconciled Jews and Gentiles, but He reconciled both to Himself in the one body, the church.

The word reconcile means “to bring together again.” A distraught husband wants to be reconciled to his wife who has left him; a worried mother longs to be reconciled to a wayward daughter; and the lost sinner needs to be reconciled to God.

Sin is the great separator in this world. It has been dividing people since the very beginning of human history.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they were separated from God.

Before long, their sons were separated from each other and Cain killed Abel. The earth was filled with violence (Gen. 6:5-13) and the only remedy seemed to be judgment.

But even after the Flood, men sinned against God and each other, and even tried to build their own unity without God’s help.

The result was another judgment that scattered the nations and confused the tongues. It was then that God called Abraham, and through the nation of Israel, Jesus Christ came to the world.

It was His work on the cross that abolished the enmity between Jew and Gentile and between sinners and God.

The enmity between Jews and Gentiles (vv. 13-15). God had put a difference between Jews and Gentiles so that His purposes in salvation might be accomplished. But once those purposes were accomplished, there was no more difference.

In fact, it was His purpose that these differences be erased forever, and they are erased through the work of Christ in reconciliation.

It was this lesson that was so difficult for the early church to understand. For centuries, the Jews had been different from the Gentiles—in religion, dress, diet, and laws. Until Peter was sent to the Gentiles (Acts 10), the church had no problems.

But with the salvation of the Gentiles on the same terms as the Jews, problems began to develop. The Jewish Christians reprimanded Peter for going to the Gentiles and eating with them (Acts 11), and representatives of the churches gathered for an important conference on the place of the Gentiles in the church (Acts 15). Must a Gentile become a Jew to become a Christian?

Their conclusion was, “No! Jews and Gentiles are saved the same way—by faith in Jesus Christ.” The enmity was gone!

The cause of that enmity was the Law, because the Law made a definite distinction between Jews and Gentiles.

The dietary laws reminded the Jews that God had put a difference between the clean and unclean (Lev. 11:44-47).

But the Gentiles did not obey these laws; therefore they were unclean.

The divine ordinances given by God to Israel stood as a wall between the Jews and the other nations. In fact, there was a wall in the Jewish temple, separating the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple areas.

This “dividing wall” alludes to the wall in the Jewish temple that separated the court of the Gentiles from the temple proper, which only Jews could enter. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that on this wall was an inscription in Greek and Latin: “No foreigner may enter within the barricade that surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death” (see Acts 21:28–29).

In order for Jews and Gentiles to be reconciled, this wall had to be destroyed, and this Jesus did on the cross. The cost of destroying the enmity was the blood of Christ.

When He died, the veil in the temple was literally torn in two, and the wall of separation (figuratively) was torn down.

By fulfilling the demands of the Law in His righteous life, and by bearing the curse of the Law in His sacrificial death (Gal. 3:10-13),

Jesus removed the legal barrier that separated Jew from Gentile. For centuries, there was a difference between them. But today, “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:12-13).

In Jesus Christ, Jew and Gentile become one. “He is our peace” (Eph. 2:14). Through Christ, the far-off Gentile is made nigh (Eph. 2:13, 17), and both Jew and Gentile are made one.

The word abolish simply means “to nullify.” The Law no longer holds sway over either Jew or Gentile, since in Christ believers are not under Law but under grace.

Christ “is our peace” (Eph. 2:14) and He made “peace” (Eph. 2:15). That verb to make in Ephesians 2:15 means “to create.” The church, the body of Christ, is God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:15).

 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

The enmity between sinners and God (vv. 16-18).

Not only did the Gentiles need to be reconciled to the Jews, but both the Jews and the Gentiles needed to be reconciled to

Jesus Christ “is our peace” (Eph. 2:14). He “made peace” (Eph. 2:15), and He “preached peace” (Eph. 2:17).

Unification: What Jews And Gentiles Are In Christ (Eph. 2:19-22)

Because Christ broke down the dividing wall, believing Jews and Gentiles can have unity with one another in Christ. Because of Christ’s death, believers are one (2:14); we are reconciled to one another (2:16); we have access to the Father by the Holy Spirit (2:18); we are no longer foreigners or aliens to God (2:19); we are all being built into a holy temple with Christ as our chief cornerstone (2:20–21).

PEACEMAKERS: Christ brought the gospel to all races of people. Christianity is open to all, regardless of race, ethnic background, and economic status, so it shouldn’t surprise us if there are some adjustment problems in making all these different kinds of people into one body.

After all, Jews and Gentiles had spent centuries developing a deep animosity toward one another. It could hardly be expected to evaporate at once. In fact, you wouldn’t expect it to disappear at all—unless something other than human nature was at work. Something was, and is: the peace of God, which is far beyond human comprehension.

The Gentiles are no longer foreigners and aliens. These words describe people who live in a country other than their own without any of the rights of citizenship in that country. The Gentiles were “outsiders” in relation to the Jews, as well as to any hope (without Christ) for a relationship with God (2:12).

That was their old position. Because of Christ, however, the Gentiles became fellow citizens with all who have been called to be God’s people. Jews and Gentiles who put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior become members of God’s household, that is, God’s family. (See Philippians 3:20; Hebrews 3:2–6)

All believers are citizens of God’s kingdom and members of his household. Many barriers divide us from other Christians: age, appearance, intelligence, political persuasion, economic status, race, theological perspective.

One of the surest ways to stifle Christ’s love is to be friendly only with those people who are similar to us.

Fortunately, Christ has knocked down the barriers and has placed all believers into one family. His cross should be the focus of our unity. The Holy Spirit helps us look beyond the barriers to the unity we are called to enjoy. People can see that God is love and that Christ is Lord as we live in harmony with each other and in accordance with what God says in his Word.^[1]

The foundation for this church was laid by the Apostles and New Testament prophets. Jesus Christ is the Foundation (1 Cor. 3:11) and the Chief Cornerstone (Ps. 118:22; Isa. 8:14).

This leads to two practical applications as we close this study.

First, have you personally experienced the grace of God? Are you spiritually dead? Are you distant from God? Or have you trusted Christ and been immersed in water in order to have sins forgiven and received that eternal life that only He can give?

Second, if you are a believer in Christ, are you helping others to trust Him? Do you share this Good News of eternal life with others?

^[1] Bruce B. Barton and Philip Wesley Comfort, Ephesians, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1996), 55–56.