Commentary - Ephesians 2:11-22

Bird's-eye view

In this magnificent passage, Paul takes the glorious truths of individual salvation he just outlined in the first part of the chapter and applies them corporately. It is not enough that isolated individuals are saved out of the muck of their sin. God is doing something far grander. He is building a people, a new humanity. He is taking two hostile groups, Jew and Gentile, and forging them into one body in Christ. This is not a political merger or a negotiated truce, but a supernatural creation accomplished by the blood of Christ. Paul begins by reminding the Gentile believers of their former state of utter alienation, a five-fold description of hopelessness. Then he pivots with that glorious phrase, "But now," showing how the work of Christ on the cross has not only brought them near to God but has also demolished the very wall that separated them from the people of God, creating one new man where there had been two warring factions. This new creation is the household of God, a holy temple, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Himself as the chief cornerstone, a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 11 Therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands,

Paul begins with a "therefore," linking what he is about to say with the glorious reality of salvation by grace he just described. Because you have been saved by grace, you must now remember. Gratitude is rooted in memory. He wants the Ephesian believers, who were Gentiles, to remember what they were. Not so they could wallow in it, but so they could magnify the grace that pulled them out of it. They were "Gentiles in the flesh," the outsiders. They were on the receiving end of a playground taunt, "Uncircumcision." Paul points out the irony here. This name-calling came from the "so-called Circumcision," and he immediately qualifies it as something done "in the flesh by human hands." He is demoting the source of their pride. The Jews were proud of a mark in the flesh, but true circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not the letter. Paul is setting the stage to show that external, fleshly distinctions are null and void in Christ.

v. 12 remember that you were at that time without Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Here is the bleak inventory of their former condition. Paul lays it out in five stark phrases. First, they were "without Christ." This is the root of all the other problems. To be without Christ is to be without everything that matters. Second, they were "alienated from the citizenship of Israel." They were not part of the commonwealth, the covenant nation. They were political and spiritual foreigners. Third, they were "strangers to the covenants of promise." All the great promises made to Abraham, Moses, and David were not addressed to them. They were listening to someone else's mail being read. Fourth, as a consequence of all this, they were "having no hope." Without Christ, without citizenship, without the covenants, what is there to hope for? Nothing. Their pagan religions offered no sure and certain hope of resurrection or eternal life. And fifth, the capstone of it all, they were "without God in the world." The Greek is even starker, they were "atheists" in the world. This does not mean they denied the existence of deities; they had plenty of those. It means they were without the true and living God. They were adrift in a cosmos with no Father, no anchor, no ultimate meaning.

v. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

These are two of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture: "But now." This is the great reversal. This is the hinge upon which all of history turns. The entire condition described in the previous verse is gloriously overturned. How? "In Christ Jesus." The sphere of this new reality is union with Christ. Those who were "far off," a spatial metaphor for their alienation from God and His people, have now been "brought near." And what was the vehicle of this transport? What paid the fare? It was "the blood of Christ." Not good intentions, not moral improvement, not cultural assimilation. It was a bloody sacrifice. Peace was made through violence, the righteous violence of God against His own Son on the cross. The distance was infinite, and so the price was infinite. The blood of Christ bridged the chasm.

v. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition

Christ did not just make peace; He is our peace. Peace is not a treaty; it is a Person. He has not just brokered a deal between two warring factions, Jew and Gentile. He has embodied the peace. He has "made both groups one." This is not the language of federation, but of fusion. He took two distinct entities and made them one new thing. To do this, He had to demolish something. He "broke down the dividing wall of the partition." This refers to the barrier in the Jerusalem temple that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the inner courts, a physical wall that symbolized the spiritual separation. Gentiles who passed it faced the penalty of death. Christ, through His death, tore down that wall. The hostility was not just between man and God, but between man and man, and Christ's work addresses both.

v. 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might create the two into one new man, making peace,

How did He break down the wall? By dealing with the root cause of the enmity. He abolished "in His flesh", that is, through His crucifixion, the enmity itself. And what was the fuel for this enmity? "The Law of commandments contained in ordinances." This does not mean the moral law of God, which is holy and good, was abolished. It refers to the ceremonial and civil aspects of the Mosaic code, the dietary laws, the feast days, the regulations that served to separate Israel from the Gentile nations. These were the boundary markers. Christ fulfilled them all, rendering them obsolete as a system of separation. The purpose of this abolition was profoundly creative. It was so that "in Himself He might create the two into one new man." Notice the language. This is a new creation. God is not just papering over the cracks. He is not making Gentiles into Jews, or Jews into Gentiles. He is making both into Christians. This is a new humanity, the "one new man," with Christ as its head.

v. 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having in Himself put to death the enmity.

The reconciliation has two dimensions. The horizontal reconciliation of Jew and Gentile is for the purpose of a vertical reconciliation to God. He reconciles them "both in one body to God." The church is this one body. There are not two bodies, a Jewish church and a Gentile church. There is one body. And the instrument of this reconciliation is "the cross." The cross is where the enmity was put to death. The hostility between Jew and Gentile died there, and the hostility between God and man died there. Christ absorbed all the hostility into Himself and killed it. The cross is therefore the place of ultimate peace, because it was the place of ultimate violence.

v. 17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED THE GOOD NEWS OF PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR;

Having accomplished peace on the cross, Christ then proclaimed it. This is a quotation from Isaiah 57. He came, through the preaching of the apostles and the work of the Spirit, and announced this peace. And who was the audience? "You who were far away", the Gentiles. And "peace to those who were near", the Jews. Both groups needed this peace preached to them. The Jews, though near in terms of covenant privilege, were still alienated by sin. The Gentiles were far off in every sense. The same gospel of peace is the only remedy for both. There is no separate gospel for the religiously privileged.

v. 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

This verse is a beautiful summary of Trinitarian salvation. Through Christ the Son, "we both", Jew and Gentile, have our "access" to God the Father. And this access is "in one Spirit." The Son purchases our access, and the Spirit applies it, ushering us into the very presence of the Father. This is not just a legal status; it is a lived reality. We can draw near. The veil is torn, the dividing wall is down, and the way into the holiest of all is now open for all who are in Christ.

v. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,

Paul now summarizes the new identity of these Gentile believers. He uses three metaphors. First, a political metaphor. You are "no longer strangers and sojourners." You are not resident aliens with limited rights. You are "fellow citizens with the saints." You have full citizenship in the kingdom of God, with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that come with it. Second, a family metaphor. You are "of God's household." You are not just citizens in a kingdom; you are sons and daughters in a family. You belong to the intimate, inner circle. You have a Father, and you have brothers and sisters.

v. 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,

The third metaphor is architectural. The household of God is a building. And this building has a solid foundation: "the apostles and prophets." This refers to the authoritative teaching of the apostles of the New Testament and the prophets of the Old, all of whom pointed to Christ. The foundation is the revelation of God in Scripture. And at the most crucial point of this foundation is the "corner stone," Christ Jesus Himself. The cornerstone was the stone that set the lines for the entire building. Everything had to be aligned with it. Christ is the one who determines the shape, integrity, and direction of the entire church.

v. 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord,

The building is not static. It is a living structure. "In whom", that is, in Christ, the whole building is "being joined together." This is a process of careful, divine construction. And it is "growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord." The church is the new temple. Where God once dwelt in a stone building in Jerusalem, He now dwells in His people. This temple is growing, expanding throughout the world and throughout history, as new living stones are added to it.

v. 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Paul brings this glorious reality down to the personal level. "You also", you Ephesian Gentiles who were once far off, "are being built together" into this structure. You are part of this. This is not just a grand, abstract theological concept. It is your identity. You are being fitted together with Jewish believers and all the saints into this one building. And what is the purpose of this building? It is to be "a dwelling of God in the Spirit." The ultimate goal is the manifest presence of the triune God among His people. The Father designs the house, the Son is the cornerstone, and the Spirit is the very atmosphere within it, the one who makes it a home for God.