11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

12 That at that time ye 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:

13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens, with the saints, and of the household of God;

20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord:

22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

At the beginning of this section of the Epistle (2:11-22), the Apostle again reminds the Ephesian believers of their former estate from which they were saved -- a most commendable consideration, indeed, for all children of God in any generation, and an exercise of mind which the Apostle himself often experienced. The problem of human depravity and failure is never solved by any plan or process which makes light of sin, or which underestimates the lost estate of man. It is rather solved by the discovery of the marvels of divine grace in Christ Jesus by Whom every need of a lost soul is perfectly met. There is slight need of a Savior if we are not wholly lost apart from Him. But, on the other hand, having acknowledged the hopeless condition in which grace found us, there is occasion for unceasing thanksgiving to Him Who saves to the uttermost.

In this section we are reminded of the original distinction between Jew and Gentile and here, also, the present union of these two lines of human life in Christ Jesus is set forth. The disclosure of the fact concerning the union between Jews and Gentiles forms the third major revelation in this Epistle regarding this heavenly people.

First, at the opening of Chapter 1, the Church is described as to her exalted position and heavenly blessing in Christ -- predestined, as she was, before the foundation of the world.

Second, at the close of the same Chapter, the Church is seen as that glorious company over which the risen and glorified Christ is now Head and which, in turn, is "the fulness of him that filleth all in all."

Third, while in the portion of the Epistle thus far considered, much important truth is added as to the purpose and grace of God toward the individual who believes, the section now under contemplation presents particularly the fact that the corporate Church is composed of a union of both Jews and Gentiles.

The Circumcision

The Jewish seal of circumcision forms the basis of distinction between the two branches of the human family. No doubt the Apostle from childhood had been familiar with this terminology which he here employs. He distinguishes the Jew as "the Circumcision" and the Gentile as "the Uncircumcision," and this circumcision referred to is that which is physical, typical, and wrought by hands; and it is a foreshadowing of the antitypical, spiritual circumcision which belongs to one and all who are in Christ. Thus the Apostle recognizes again the present threefold classification of the human family: the Uncircumcision, the Circumcision made by hands (2:11), and the Circumcision made without hands (Col 2:11). However, the immediate contrast is between the Gentile and the Jew, or "the Uncircumcision" and "the Circumcision made by hands."

After nearly two thousand years in which the privileges that constitute the distinction between Gentile and Jew have been divinely set aside, it is difficult in the present time for one to realize the difference which prevailed between these two peoples at the beginning of the present age. Two underlying facts should be observed:

First, God, while not releasing His power and sovereignty over the nations, had, nevertheless, declared His favor toward Israel alone, which people formed the acknowledged heritage of God. True, there was a welcome accorded to strangers who chose to ally themselves with Israel, but all were strangers who were not of Israel. There was no other nation or people who were the chosen of Jehovah (Deu 7:6-11), to whom He was married (Jer 3:14), whom alone He knew among the families of the earth (Amo 3:2 Amo 3:2), and whom He had redeemed from Egypt both by blood and by power (2Sa 7:23). Probably no passage of Scripture describes the peculiar estate of Israel before God more completely than Rom 9:4-5 Rom 9:4-5. We read,

"Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen."

Certainly Israel would have been reprehensible had she failed to acknowledge, or to respond to, this divine election. However, the distinction was national and provided no basis for that Pharisaism which came to prevail in the attitude of the Jews toward individual Gentiles.

Second, the prejudice of the Jew toward the Gentile, based upon divine favor, had come to be nothing less than hatred and contempt. To the Jew the Gentile was a "dog," and it was contrary to custom for a Jew to speak to a Gentile, let alone enter his house. Only divine command could persuade Peter to enter the house of Cornelius (Act 10:20).

Probably no other Scripture describes the actual estate of the Gentile before God more completely than Eph 2:12. While the lost estate of the individual has been disclosed in verses 1 to 3 of this Chapter, the national position of the Gentile, which was really true of the individual, is described in verse 12. We read: "That at that time ye 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."

Six disqualifying charges are here preferred. The Gentiles were "without Christ," not only personally Christless, as all unsaved are, but having no national Messianic hope; they were outside Israel's one divinely recognized commonwealth; they were "strangers from the covenants of promise." This does not deny but what God had predicted great earthly blessings for the Gentiles in the coming Kingdom Age (Dan 7:13-14; Mic 4:2); it asserts, rather, that He had entered into no covenant with them as He had with Israel: the Gentiles had "no hope" since no covenant promise had been accorded them; and they were without God in the world. They could make no claim to His purpose or favor, and they formed that portion of humanity which was under the curse and was doomed to destruction. The world today knows little of the godless and hopeless condition of human life among the Gentiles in the days to which reference is made. We are told that, at the highest state of Greek culture under Alexander the Great, it was commonly held that the best thing was not to be born at all, and next to that was to die; so fully did the experience of the human heart reflect the actual relation which is unknowingly sustained to God.

A New Divine Purpose

In the midst of these distinctions between Jew and Gentile which were set up by God, owned of God, and accentuated by human prejudice and hatred, a new divine purpose was introduced; made possible on the ground of the death and resurrection of Christ and the advent of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. That divine purpose is no less than the forming of a new body of heavenly people drawn from both Jews and Gentiles, each individual in that body perfected in Christ, and whole company to be to "the praise of the glory of his grace." Therefore, because it is to the glory of His grace, each individual in this company, whether Jew or Gentile, is called and saved upon that distinct principle of selection -- the sovereign grace of God, apart from all human merit.

As a basis for this exercise of sovereign grace apart from human merit, the most startling divine decree was announced; startling, indeed, because never before heard of in the world, and because it is so contrary to the hitherto divinely sanctioned exaltation of Israel over the Gentiles. That decree declares that now there is "no difference" between Jew and Gentile: they are all under sin (Rom 3:9). So, again, there is "no difference" between Jew and Gentile "for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him" (Rom 10:12). According to the first declaration, the former distinction between Jews and Gentiles disappears by the fact that both classes are now, regardless of former relationships to Jehovah, "under sin" (cf. Gen 3:22). According to the second declaration, the way into this highest heavenly glory is open to all who will believe. The estate "under sin" consists in the fact that God now refuses to accept any human merit, national or personal, as a credit or contribution toward that salvation which is offered the individual in and through Christ.

God thus strips each human being of all hope in himself and shuts him up to that perfect salvation alone which is in Christ and which provides the eternal and infinite perfection of Christ. It might seem unkind to take away what little merit one might be supposed to have before God, but in the end it is not unkind. It is rather, "that he might have mercy upon all" (Rom 11:32). The grace of God is not a thing which adjusts itself to the greater or less degree of human merit, it is a standard whole; that is, since all merit is excluded, it requires the same degree of grace to save one individual as it does to save another. And the result is not to the glory of man to the slightest degree: rather, it is all to the praise of the glory of His grace (1:6; 2:7-9). There was little for the Gentile to unlearn in connection with this new age-purpose and plan of salvation. He had no ground for hope before, and the Gospel of salvation by grace became to him as life from the dead. But the Jew stumbled over the way of salvation through the cross, and only a few, though their national preference is set aside for this age (Rom 11:1-36), have been able to abandon their assumed national standing with God and to accept the exceeding grace of God in Christ.

This somewhat lengthy re-statement of the present ground of salvation by grace for Jew and Gentile alike may clarify the verses which follow in this context.

A New Position

By the words "but now" at the beginning of verse 13, a sharp contrast is drawn between the former estate of these Ephesian Gentiles described in verse 12, and their new position in Christ. Here they are told that they, as Gentiles, who were at a previous time "far off" from God, were then, because of their new position in Christ, "made nigh," not by external ordinances or human virtue, but by the blood of Christ. To be nigh to God is one of the exalted positions into which each believer is brought at the moment he is saved. The perfection of this position is seen from the fact that one could not be nearer to God in time or eternity than he is when in Christ. So perfect is the efficacy of the blood of Christ in providing a righteous ground for divine grace that every desire on the part of God, though prompted by infinite love, can now be satisfied completely in behalf of those who believe on Christ!

Verse 13 is closely related to verse 17 (cf. Isa 59:17). In the former, only Gentiles are in view; but in the latter, both Jews and Gentiles are seen. The Gentiles are identified as those who, because of no former covenant relation to God, were "far off," while the Jews, because of their covenants, were "nigh"; but not nigh to the same degree in which the saved Jew and the saved Gentile are now, being in Christ and redeemed through His precious blood.

This new position in Christ, similar to other positions in Christ, has its corresponding experience in life. James said, "Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you" (4:8). However, the experimental aspect, which depends on human adjustment and yieldedness to God, does not bear any relation to the new position in Christ, which position depends only upon the eternal, immutable merit of Christ.

In verse 14, Christ is declared to be "our peace" and to have broken down the middle wall of partition between Gentile and Jew. The wall of separation, here said to be broken down, was set up by divine arrangement at the time when God entered into covenant relation with Abraham; but now a new thing is introduced ("new" as a declared testimony and actual undertaking, but, in purpose and promise, it is older than the created universe -- cf. 1:4). By saving both Jew and Gentile alike, upon the same condition, and into the same heavenly glory, Christ becomes in the fullest sense their Peace; and, by reconciling both to God, becomes thereby the most effective of reconciling agencies.

Every distinction is lost in this glorious oneness in Christ. Neither Jew nor Gentile can rightfully claim superiority over the other since they are both perfected forever in Christ (Heb 10:14). So, likewise, in addition to the fact that Christ establishes perfect peace between Jews and Gentiles, they being united to Him by faith, He breaks down the middle wall of partition between them. The revelation that Jews were under divine legislation not imposed on Gentiles -- a fact typified by the wall which separated the court of the Gentiles in the Temple from the restricted area reserved only for the Jews -- became a wall of separation between these people. By the death of Christ, the wall was broken down. The Gentiles were not elevated to the level of Jewish privilege; but the Jew was lowered to the level of the hopeless Gentile, from which position either Jew or Gentile might be saved through grace alone into a heavenly position and glory. In His flesh, Christ abolished the enmity, "even the law of commandments" (verse 15), and every aspect of law which might seem to provide, because of its meritorious character, a basis of man's responsibility to God. Thus placing the child of God, whether Jew or Gentile, upon a new obligation; not of striving to establish merit, but rather of living in all devotion to Him Whose perfect merit is vouchsafed to all who believe. This new obligation is elsewhere termed "the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2; cf. 1Co 9:21).

A Partition Removed

The removal of both the enmity and the partition between Jew and Gentile is divinely accomplished through the creation of "one new man"; not by renewing individual men, but by forming one new Body -- the Church -- of which Christ is the Head. Thus, in the Church (verse 16), He reconciles both Jew and Gentile "unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby"; separated, as they were, by the different relationships they sustained to God.

It is through Christ (verse 8) that we both -- Jew and Gentile -- have access by one Spirit unto the Father. This declaration provides indisputable evidence that we now have peace; and how marvelous is that peace when it is the portion of those who were not only at enmity among themselves with a divinely established partition dividing them, but who were enemies of God (Rom 5:9)!

We now approach (verses 19-22) the fourth major revelation concerning the Church, which revelation is that the Church is a building of living stones of which Christ is the Chief Corner Stone. However, before this truth is introduced, the Apostle reminds these believers from among the Gentiles that they are "no more strangers and foreigners [as it was asserted in verse 12 that they once were], but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God" -- a blessing which, it should be observed, is as much higher than the commonwealth and covenant privileges of Israel as heaven is higher than the earth. Though once excluded from the earthly Jerusalem, the Gentiles are now come with a gracious welcome to the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 12:22-24), in which city, the unregenerate Jew, with all his national preference and title to earthly Jerusalem, is an alien.

A New Foundation

The phrase, "fellow-citizens with the saints," must be received in its restricted meaning as also the fact that this spiritual structure is built on "the foundation of the apostles and [New Testament] prophets." God has had His saints in all dispensations, but they of the past ages have not formed any part of the Church. Saints are sanctified ones set apart unto God. That New Testament saints are advanced to a higher position of standing than the Old Testament saints (though not necessarily to more faith and piety), is revealed in Heb 10:10, where we read: "We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." This sanctification, or sainthood, could not be realized until Christ died and rose again, for it is characterized by position in Him, which position could be accorded only to those who are by the Spirit united to the risen Christ. It is true that all saints of all the ages will be gathered eventually before God in a new heaven and a new earth (Heb 11:38-40 Heb 12:22-24); but the Old Testament saints were not part of the New Creation in Christ, nor were they builded upon the foundation of the apostles and New Testament prophets. The more extended consideration of the peculiar character of the Corner Stone and the foundation of this building which "groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord" is reserved for consideration along with the opening portion of the following section.