V. Heaven’s New Community: One New Man (Ephesians 2:11-22)

V. Heaven’s New Community: One New Man (2:11-22)

The cross of Christ not only deals with our separation from God, but it also deals with our separation from one another. We are saved by grace “for good works” (2:10). And those works are to be lived out in the Christian dynamic called the church—heaven’s kingdom community. Having discussed grace, Paul now discusses race.

2:11-12 He reminds the Ephesians of their prior separation from the people of God. The Gentiles were called “the uncircumcised” by Jews—those called “the circumcised” (2:11). They had no access to the Jewish cov-enants of promise. They were without Christ . . . without hope . . . without God in the world (2:12). Their sin had separated them from their Creator.

2:13-16 But . . . in Christ Jesus they have been drawn close. The blood of Christ not only brings people near to God, it brings Jews and Gentiles near to one another (2:13). Christ’s atoning death tore down the dividing wall of hostility. A wall in the Jerusalem temple prevented Gentiles from entering, but the cross removes such barriers, granting Jews and Gentiles equal access to God. Jesus made both groups one (2:14). Why? So that he might create in himself one new man from the two (2:15). This new group—this “one new man”—that incorporates Jews and Gentiles is called the church. Heaven’s new community is a new race, reconciled to God in one body through the cross (2:16).

2:17 The reason we have racial, ethnic, gender, and class divisions in the church is because we have not fully and properly understood the cross. Christians divided along illegitimate lines don’t see themselves as part of the one new man. All barriers based on factors such as race and gender are obliterated by the cross. This doesn’t mean these distinctions don’t exist; instead, these legitimate distinctions are absorbed into something bigger. In terms of spiritual relationship and development, a white man has no advantage over a black man. A man has no spiritual advantage over a woman. We can embrace our differences with a common commitment to Christ because we are at peace with one another through our peace with God. We live in the good news of peace.

If you do not see yourself belonging to this new race, this one new man, you will follow the world’s agenda. You will say things like, “Races don’t mix, just like oil and water don’t mix.” But, you see, there is an exception. When you add an emulsifier, it allows two liquids to mix that normally don’t. The atoning death of Jesus is God’s emulsifier to bring into harmony those who wouldn’t otherwise mix. In the midst of hostility, Jesus not only brings peace, he is our peace (2:14).

2:18-19 Through Christ we have unity. Not uniformity. We’re not all the same. Unity is uniqueness working toward a common goal. This is possible because all Christians have access in one Spirit to the Father (2:18). Christian unity, then, is a spiritual issue. Where the Spirit is working, there is oneness. If there is disharmony and division for illegitimate criteria, the Spirit is not at work. Believers are no longer foreigners and strangers but have been made fellow citizens and members of God’s household (2:19). The church is a family.

2:20-22 Paul’s final illustration of unity is a building. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. They laid the foundation by recording and proclaiming the Word of God. And this building has Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone (2:20). When a building is constructed, its stones must be placed in alignment with the cornerstone. So, as God’s building, we Christians must be in alignment with Christ. Every one of us must be properly positioned. After all, in him the whole building . . . grows into a holy temple in the Lord (2:21). In the Old Testament, the glory of God was manifested in the temple. It was where God hung out. Today he’s in the new temple, the church. Together we believers are the temple of God, God’s dwelling in the Spirit (2:22), meant to display God’s glory. But that glory isn’t on display when we are not aligned with Christ.

God wants us to have a complete view of the cross. The cross that gets you to heaven is the same cross that led to the creation of something new on earth: the church, heaven’s community, a new race of people. The church is united in Jesus Christ in spite of believers’ individual differences. We are to practice the “one anothers” of Scripture (e.g., John 15:12; Gal 6:2; Eph 4:32; 1 Thess 5:11), developing spiritual relationships and growing spiritually together. The church is more than a corporate gathering on Sunday because when that corporate gathering is over, we as the church still march on.