Brought Near By the Blood
EPHESIANS 2:11-13
OUR PASSAGE THIS WEEK MAY NOT BE ON THE SAME EXALTED LEVEL AS a number of our recent passages from Ephesians have been. Ephesians 2:11-13 may indeed not be a “Beethoven 5th” passage but, as I think you will see, it is nevertheless miraculous…
THE BRINGING TOGETHER OF THE JEW AND THE GENTILE IN CHRIST – when all circumstances are considered – is indeed miraculous…
NAS Ephesians 2:11-13 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– 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ
TO FULLY APPRECIATE THE WONDER OF THIS PASSAGE WE MUST REMIND ourselves of the traditional and long-standing animosity between the Jews and the Gentiles of the first century. Quite simply, the Jews hated anyone who was not a Jew. And in turn, the Gentiles despised, envied, and feared the Jews. Think of Gentile as meaning non-Jew in this context; the Jew might term the Gentile a pagan, or even a dog. Ask either a Jew or a Gentile if he could ever foresee a union between the two distinct cultures, and the answer would surely have been something along the lines of “Impossible!” or “Never!”…
ONE COMMENTATOR TITLED THIS PASSAGE “STRANGERS IN DARKNESS.” Another commentator called this passage “Statement of the Union,” the union between Jew and Gentile, a union that is accomplished only in Christ. No other being, no other force, could ever accomplish such a seeming impossibility…
IT WOULD BE SIMILAR TO GOD BRINGING MUSLIMS AND JEWS TOGETHER TODAY. Impossible! It will never happen!…
“BEFORE THE EPHESIANS TRUSTED CHRIST, THEY HAD BEEN ALIENATED from God. They were dead to Him and much alive to sin.” – Garner…
NAS Ephesians 2:1-3 And you (Gentiles) were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too (Jews) all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
HOWEVER, GOD HAD SAVED THEM BY HIS GRACE THROUGH THEIR FAITH”…
NAS Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.
THROUGH THE SUPERNATURAL POWER OF GRACE – God’s undeserved favor – God had brought both Gentile and Jew into right relationship with Him. “Before they had become believers, Jews and Gentiles had lived in hostility to one another. God’s saving grace also changed all of those seemingly permanent negative relationships.” – Garner…
“THIS UNION OF JEWISH AND NON-JEWISH BELIEVERS INTO ONE BODY FORMS the basis for Paul’s discussion for the rest of the book of Ephesians.” – Hoehner/TAR…
THE GENTILES WERE THE ONES CALLED “UNCIRCUMCISION” AND THE JEWS were the ones Paul calls “Circumcision.” As you probably know, the sign of the covenant, the distinguishing mark, for the Jew was circumcision…
NAS Genesis 17:10 “This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
“CIRCUMCISION, AS I’M SURE YOU KNOW, IS THE SURGICAL REMOVAL OF the foreskin from the male sex organ. Circumcision is very important in the Scriptures. It is referred to throughout both the Old and New Testaments. The practice began with Abraham, who circumcised his son Isaac at God’s command.” – Steadman…
NAS Genesis 21:4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
“THIS CIRCUMCISION SIGNIFIED A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP TO GOD. The Gentiles did not circumcise. The Jews are the circumcised people. Circumcision marked the Jews as a special people, uniquely belong to God. ” – Steadman…
“THIS PHYSICAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JEWS AND GENTILES affected every area of their lives. A great social and spiritual boundary existed between them.” – Hoehner (B.K.C.)…
“WHY DO YOU THINK GOD WOULD CHOOSE THIS PARTICULAR PART of the body as a sign that the Jewish people were specially chosen by God? The answer is that our sexuality is a basic part of our humanity. The Scriptures teach this very plainly. The church has often been squeamish about teaching the plain biblical truth of our sexuality. But sex and sexuality are not unmentionable to God
MIRACULOUSLY, THESE TWO SEEMINGLY DIFFERENT CULTURES – which when properly understood include the whole world – were “Brought Near by the Blood”… The blood of Christ shed for the salvation of all who would come to Him by faith is the unifying factor for the entire world…
NAS Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
“THE BIBLE CALLS THE GENTILE, PAGAN WORLD ‘UNCIRCUMCISED’ BECAUSE it was characterized by two elements: Sexual immorality and religious ignorance. Like the pagans in our own society, many of the pagans in Paul’s day were highly educated – what we would call ‘civilized.’ But, also just like America and the world today, mingled with their civilization was a terrible sexual degeneracy. When you visit the ancient ruins of the pagan would – like the ancient temples of Greece and Rome – you find a tremendous emphasis on sex symbols. Homosexuality was widespread and widely accepted, along with other degrading, unnatural sexual practices. So the pagan world of Paul’s day revealed its lack of understanding and respect for its own humanity by its degraded sexual practices.” – Steadman…
NO, THIS LITTLE PASSAGE MAY NOT SEEM AS DRAMATIC AS SOME of the miracles Christ performed in His earthly ministry, but when all factors are considered, bringing these two opposing cultures together in one faith was a supernatural event that could only be described as miraculous…
“IN CHRIST, THE EPHESIAN BELIEVERS, BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES, HAD BECOME a family of faith. Paul called then to remember the former great divide, a social and spiritual gulf so wide, so deep, that only God could bridge it.” – Garner…
SALVATION IS ALL OF GOD…
“WHAT WAS PAUL’S PURPOSE IN WRITING THIS PASSAGE under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration? Was it simply to encourage or was there something more, something else in his heart? Yes, he wrote to encourage the Ephesians, it is difficult to see this as his only motivation. Paul was overwhelmed with awe as he witnessed God’s mighty power at work. The living God had created something altogether new in the universe. God had reconciled both Gentiles and Jews into one body through the cross of Christ. That amazing unity is the result of divine creative power!” – Garner/TAR…
AND PAUL WANTED THEM ALL TO “REMEMBER” THIS. The verb form (imperative) in the Greek text is in the present tense, which denotes continuance and which may imply that the Gentiles were to continue to remember their former plight of their desperate situation of being separate from God…
ALTHOUGH THE JEWISH BELIEVERS IN CHRIST HAD AT ONE TIME ALSO BEEN separated from God, the Gentiles were worse off. “God had given Israel the revelation of the O.T. along with certain privileges which the Gentiles did not have.” – Hoehner…
NAS Romans 9:4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,
NAS Ephesians 2:11-12 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- 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
IN A WORD, THAT IS PAGANISM. “Paganism” is a word that covers a lot of ground. A pagan can be rightly defined as anyone who does not follow one of the three so-called monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, or Islam). “Heathen,” “sensual,” “infidel” are apt synonyms. A first-century Jew considered Gentiles pagans. America, it could rightly be said, over the last 50-60 years (depending on your view of our culture), has lapsed into paganism, its technological sophistication notwithstanding…
ESSENTIALLY, A PAGAN IS AN UNBELIEVER IN GOD, and that means the only true God, the God of the Bible. “The one thing that can be said of all pagans, no matter what their background, is that they are separated from Christ. If you haven’t yet come to Christ, you are a pagan. You may have been brought up in a religious home. You may be trained in civilized approaches to all situations in social life. You may be witty, intelligent, artistic, well-read, successful and urbane, and in every worldly aspect an admirable and enjoyable person. But the one great fact remains: you are separated from Christ.” – Steadman…
THAT’S HOW PAUL WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THE WORD…
“THE GENTILE’S LACK OF THE EXTERNAL SIGN OF CIRCUMCISION ALSO meant that they lacked five privileges that God had given the nation Israel. First, they were separate from (lit., ‘without’) Christ not only personally (true also of many Jews) but also in that they had no national hope of the Messiah. Second, they were excluded from citizenship in Israel. They did not belong to the theocratic state of Israel (cf. Rom. 9:4). The Greek word for ‘excluded’ (απαλλοτριοω [a-pal-la- tri-a-o]) means ‘alienated’ or ‘estranged.’ Though some Gentiles were admitted into Judaism as proselytes, Gentiles as a whole were excluded; they were thus alienated. Third, they were foreigners to the covenants of the promise (cf. Eph. 3:6). They were deprived of direct participation in God’s covenants and thus had no hope of future glory and blessing as Israel did. These covenants—all pointing to “the promise” of the Messiah and of blessings through Him—assured Israel of a national existence, a land, a King, and spiritual blessings. Fourth, the Gentiles were without hope. Unlike Israel they had no expectation of a personal Messiah-Deliverer and the Messianic Age. And fifth, they were without God (αθεοσ [a-the-os], cf. atheist, ‘apart from God’) in the world. The Gentiles were in a desperate situation. They had no meaning, hope, purpose, or direction in life.” – O’Brien…
SO, THAT IS A DESCRIPTION ALSO OF UNBELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY. Without a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no meaning, no hope, no purpose or direction in life…
THIS SHOULD CAUSE US NOT ONLY TO BE THANKFUL TO GOD BUT ALSO to feel sincere and continual compassion for all people who are not Christians. If you are one who likes the preacher to tell you the application of the passage he preaches on, This section of Ephesians would be a good candidate, i.e., compassion for the lost…
NAS Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
“BUT NOW”… This marks an abrupt and positive change, similar to the phrase “But God” in v. 4… NAS Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
“’BUT NOW IN CHRIST JESUS’ MARKS THE WONDERFUL CONTRAST that is both temporal – ‘formerly’ as opposed to ‘now’ – and positionally – ‘separated from Christ’ as opposed to ‘in Christ.’ The Gentiles who once were far away (cf. v. 17) from both God and the Jews (v. 12) have been brought near through the blood of Christ (cf. 1:7). They have come near to God and to the Jews by means of Christ’s sacrificial death. Sin separates people from God and only Christ’s atonement can remove that sin barrier. – B.K.C.
IN COLOSSIANS 1:27, PAUL SAID…
NKJ Colossians 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
“ONLY THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST AMONG THE GENTILES could produce that hope.” –O’Brien…
“BROUGHT NEAR BY THE BLOOD” CANNOT REFER TO ANYTHING ELSE BUT the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus on the Cross. Neither Jew nor Gentile could ever have hoped to achieve the privileged transformation of being in Christ or the union of being in the Body of Christ apart from the blood of Christ…
THE COST OF BEING BROUGHT NEAR WAS DEAR…
“THE BIBLE IS A BOOK OF BLOOD AND A BLOODY BOOK. When we are accused of preaching a Gospel of blood, we proudly plead guilty to the charge for the only thing that gives life to our teaching and power to the Word of God is the fact that it is the blood which is the very life and power of the Gospel.” – Martin De Hann
THE BIBLE IS INDEED A BOOK OF BLOOD AND A BLOODY BOOK… The word “blood” is found over 450 times in the Bible…
THE HEBREW WORD FOR BLOOD (דמ dahm) is used 360 times in the OT…
THE GREEK WORD FOR BLOOD (αἷμα hi-ma) is found 99 times in the NT…
PAUL SAID IN CHAPTER 1, V. 7…
NAS Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,
THE APOSTLE PETER SAID IN 1 PETER 1:18-19…
NAS 1 Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
NAS Colossians 1:20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
“BY THE BLOOD OF ISRAEL’S PROMISED MESSIAH, RECONCILIATION WAS accomplished. As the sacrificial death of Christ is the only means of redemption, so also is it the only means of reconciliation.” – Hoehner…
“THE SINS OF BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES CAN BE FORGIVEN BECAUSE OF Christ’s sacrificial death (re: His blood) and both can be brought near to God as never before, and so brought near to each other. Divisions even as severe as the one between Jew and Gentile are overcome, not by an approaching or a receiving on either side, but by Christ coming and making peace for both.”- Foulkes… And that is miraculous…
POLITICS, GOVERNMENTS, WARS CAN NEVER BRING LASTING PEACE. Only the Lord Jesus can bring true and permanent peace, He is our peace, as we shall learn next week…
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
