BUT NOW. Ephesians 2:11-13 The subject changes from the salvation of individuals to the reconciliation of two opposing groups of humanity – Jews and Gentiles. The sad place Gentiles had before Christ came is described because there was no personal connection with Gentile nations. From Adam to Abraham, there were only Gentiles for two thousand years. Individuals who had faith in God were blessed and saved by God. From the time God made a covenant with Abraham, there have been two distinct groups of people: Jews and Gentiles.
Since the time the Holy Spirit came after Christ died for our sins, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, a whole new generation of people has been formed. These people are neither Jews nor Gentiles but are the Church of God. They are people of both old groups who have been born again by the spirit of God when they trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. They have been made “partakers of the divine nature.” There is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles in this group; they are “one in Christ, one body in the Lord.”
The conflicts and separations between Jews and Gentiles that we see going on in the world today are nothing new. Right from the time God called Abraham to leave the Ur of the Chaldees and go to the land we call Israel today, there has been animosity between these two groups. Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers to describe why God had called them to be His workmanship with good works to others as evidence of God's present interest in all men. With that objective in mind, they needed to remember the past, who they were before God saved them, and to be challenged as to who they are now and where God had brought them. We need to remember what God has done for us in order for us to be conscious of the value of being "seated with Christ in heavenly places."
Writing to the Gentiles, Paul positions himself as a Jew, pointing at what Gentiles historically were considered by the Jews. Previously, Jews had advantages because God had adopted them as a chosen nation. They had experienced the presence of God with them for years, and covenants were made with them. They had special services for God, and He had intended them to be a kingdom of priests for the whole world. God had given them unique promises in relation to their future. He chose them, not because they deserved to be chosen, but because He had chosen to set His love upon them as a little insignificant nation, through which He would send His own Son to be the Savior of the world. Truly, blessing has come to the whole world through our Lord Jesus Christ coming as a Jew.
There are some things that are important to remember in relation to our past before we were saved. The Jews who remembered their past thought of themselves as "we are the people." To Jews, circumcision was an act that made them different and, therefore, acceptable to God as His people. There is a sense in which this was true. However, the physical act was not evidence of the true cutting off of the world and its ways. Circumcision of the heart was the intention of the physical act. The Jews were supposed to have been a kingdom of priests who would worship and serve the living God and His interests here on earth. They failed in this but still thought they were superior to all other people. Arrogance and smug self-satisfaction are still keeping people from God. He draws near to those who are "of a humble and contrite spirit and who tremble at (His) word."
The Gentiles Paul was writing to were without a promised Messiah who would bring peace on earth and reign in righteousness. Gentiles lived only for the moment of physical pleasure and any momentary gratification of the flesh. Jews then and now were looking for a Messiah who would rule the world with a rod of iron and establish them as the primary nation of the world. Because of that, they have missed the blessings of peace that come from love, mercy, and grace rather than heavy-handed control. The first kind of peace will last. The second is only as long as those in authority have bigger, better, and more weapons of war.
As those who didn't have the promises God gave the Jews, Gentiles were those who were outside looking in. Aliens may be in the same place as citizens but do not have a real part in the benefits and privileges of citizenship. Unsaved people may live alongside believers and wonder what makes them different. Some keep their identity obvious by the way they dress. Believers commit themselves to be modest and honorable. Honesty and unworthiness are outward expressions of what a person is like inside. An alien doesn't fit in with those who are citizens of the kingdom of God, and the reverse is true as well.
One who is a stranger doesn't know their way around in a place, nor does that person know the unique aspects of the culture into which they are looking. To not belong to a group is one of the most devastating things that can happen to children, teenagers, and young adults. They are often willing to compromise what they know is right to be accepted by their peers or a group of people with common interests. Some adults from a foreign country refuse to assimilate into the nation they want to come to and consequently live there as strangers for a lifetime. Christians are like "strangers and pilgrims" to the world system because they "shine as lights" in the darkness. The Gentile believers in Ephesus were without Christ; they had no Messiah. As aliens, they were without citizenship, which placed them in a position to claim the promises of God. As strangers from the covenants of promise and without any kind of a covenant with God, they were on their own as individuals and nations.
Hope is a great incentive to act in a certain way. When there is no hope in an individual, that person is usually unhappy, without any motivation to change for the better. That person will only live for the moment when they look ahead at the consequences that will follow that choice. Suicide is a response to hopelessness. Anger against others that leads to conflict is another response. Bitterness, envy, and malice are characteristics of hopelessness. Atheism and fatalism are two of the culprit deceivers that flourish when there is no hope.
That mindset is what has promoted idolatry and other forms of false worship among many people all over the world. The Ephesians made their own idol of Diana and worshipped images of their own imaginations to fill the void that is natural in man without God. When all of these missing things are without Christ, without being chosen people, without a covenant with promises, without hope, that is all summed up - without God. A godless people in an ungodly world among ungodly people is about as far away from the meaning of life as a person can get. That was where we were in our sins.
Before Christ came, there was a distance from God by the unbelieving Gentile nations that put them at a distance from God and at odds with the Jews. “But now” has changed that, and the barrier between Jews and Gentiles has changed from “that time” to “now;” and “from Christ” to “in Christ.” The “blood of Christ has removed the barrier. The divine intervention is summed up in these words, "But now in Christ Jesus." Everything has changed from separation and alienation to reconciliation and acceptance. A barrier has been removed by a power and authority far greater than a treaty between men and nations.
Many covenants have been made between nations and have all failed after a time. Any that have lasted for more than a few generations have been maintained by the power of armies and forces that overcome obstacles. The covenant made between Jewish and Gentile believers has been made by "the blood of Christ." The sacrifice of His life for us changes everything from the "them and us" mindset to making something entirely new in which both are a part. The past is over and done with. Jews and Gentiles who are "in Christ Jesus" are brought near to each other and to God. No longer are there divisions between those who are members of His body. There are differences but not divisions. The appreciation of every true believer in Christ is because the blood of Christ has brought us all onto new ground - "redemption ground, the ground of peace."
I am unsure how to say all it means when we say Christ paid the cost of peace with His own blood. This I do know: by His grace, barriers are removed. The price was paid in full when, on the cross, the righteous God laid on the Lord Jesus our sins and iniquities that had separated men from men and God from the men He created. One religious group is separated from another because willful men can't stay together unless they agree that there is one common Source of truth.
That challenges God's people to stay the course. Instead, each group wants to do their own thing in their own way. One group wants to play and sing rather than worship the Father in spirit and truth and give the Word of God the place of greatest importance. But “in Christ,” barriers are brought down when His word is obeyed, and Jesus Christ is owned as Lord overall, "God blessed forever." When that is the case, there is nothing to sever that which God joined together as one "new man." Each one responds as best they can to an unchangeable fact: God has stepped in and removed the barriers that are caused by sin.
True, we were once all far away like sheep that had gone astray and turned to our own way. Jews and Gentiles had both gone away from God and truth because of sinful hearts. They were both without Christ and aliens, strangers to the promises of God. “But now,” we've both been brought together as one, to the place God wants us. Once, we were without hope, but now, in Christ, we have been brought near and reconciled by blood; no longer do we fear separation from God and each other,