Ephesians 2:14-18

Two Sundays ago, we learned fromEph 2:1-10 that all of us were born in a hopeless condition, dead towards Godand destined for wrath because of our sin. Last Sunday we discovered fiveadditional factors from Eph 2:11-13 that place us hopelessly far, far away fromGod.

To solve our hopelesscondition, we needed salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christalone. Christ alone can save us from our sins and give us a relationship withGod that lasts forever.

But our hopeless condition hasanother aspect to it. Before we believed on Christ for salvation from sin, we wereseparated from God. Thiswas our vertical problem – and it was our biggest problem by far.

Yet we also had a horizontalproblem – we were separated from other people due to ethnic pride, castesystems, racism, and social hatred of other kinds. People apart from Christ maytalk about these problems and try to solve them – sometimes. But they neverreally succeed. Their attempts and rhetoric only seem to make matters worse.

In Eph 2:14, Paul says, “For he himself is ourpeace.” This statement not only that Christ makes social reconciliation possible,but he himself – all by himself – is the only source of the peace we need.

The peace we all need comesfrom Christ – and Christ alone. Christ not only restores our relationship withGod, but he also restoresour relationship with other people with whom we were formerly at odds.Because of Christ, the church is where ethnic and social reconciliation happens.

Politicians can’t solve it.College classes can’t solve it. Money and programs can’t solve it. Charityorganizations and well-intended initiatives can’t solve it. Peace treaties can’tsolve it. Only Christ can solve it through the good news of his death andresurrection for our sins.

The cross restores our verticalrelationship with God, but it also restores our horizontal relationship withone another as people. Sin separated us from God and from one another,but the gospel is God’s solution for both problems – and it’s the only solution.

Together, let’s discover sixthings from Eph 2:14-18 that Jesus did to make social reconciliation possible notonly for the first-century world (in which Jews and non-Jews resented and even hatedeach other greatly) but also for our divided and bitter world today.

He tore down the wall.

Ephesians 2:14-18 says that Christ “has made both one and hasbroken down the middle wall of separation.” To be sure, not all walls are bad.We are thankful for the walls of our house that separate us from the outsideworld – especially in this pandemic. But not all walls are created equal. Thewall that Paul speaks about here was a bad one.

There are two ways tounderstand what Paul means by this “wall of separation.” The first way is moreliteral. You see, there was amassive wall in the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. This wall was built tokeep non-Jewish people from entering the inner section of the Temple wheresacrifices were offered and God revealed his presence.

Archaeologists have discoveredengravings fromaround this wall that said, “No foreigner is to enter within the forecourt andthe balustrade around the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will have himself toblame for his subsequent death.”

Sadly, God never gave instructionsto Israel to build a wall like this. Indeed, as we learned in our study of Eph2:11-13, he wanted Israel to be a light to the Gentiles so that they could worshiphim, too.

What makes this reference tothe wall even more interesting is that Paul wrote this letter to the church inEphesus from a prison cell in Rome. Why was he in prison? Because of the wallin the Temple. According to Acts 21:27-29, he had been taken into custody bythe Roman government because the Jews falsely accused him of violating theirrules about this wall. Here’s how Luke described this episode:

“Jews from Asia, seeing him inthe temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, ‘Menof Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against thepeople, the law, and this place; and furthermore, he also brought Greeks intothe temple and has defiled this holy place.’ (For they had [h]previously seenTrophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul hadbrought into the temple.”

This was the event that landedPaul in prison and eventually on a ship to prison in Rome for a trial beforeCaesar himself. So to Paul, this wall was a personal thing. He was an ethnicJew himself who knew what it meant to be prejudiced against the Gentiles. Butnow he was transformed by the gospel and had a desire to bring people from allnations to Christ. As far as he was concerned, the gospel had broken down thatwall of separation for good.

He canceled the law.

Christ not only broke down thewall, but he canceled the Mosaic law. This was the covenant law that God hadgiven to Israel at Sinai when they officially became a nation governed by God.

Some theologians andcommentators divide the Mosaic law into three categories: moral, ceremonial, and civil.

• Moral laws includethose timeless laws that reflect God’s holy nature directly, laws like “do notmurder” and “do not commit adultery.”
• Civil laws include thelaws that enabled Israel to function in an orderly way, such as laws abouttaxes, farm animals, and even the spread of diseases.
• Ceremonial laws includelaws about sacrifices in the Temple, the conduct of the priests, and so on.

People who teach this threefolddivision of the law claim that Paul is only referring to the ceremonial law whenhe says, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandmentscontained in ordinances” (Eph2:15).

The problem is that Paul does notmake this distinction. When Paul refers to the law, he refers to the whole law –moral, civil, and ceremonial – all of it as one big thing. That’s also how theJewish people understood the law.

The entire law served as theguidelines for the Mosaic covenant, a covenant for the nation of Israel thatwas governed by the law of Moses. But by living a righteous life, then dying asthe consequence for our sins (which the Mosaic law required) and rising again,Christ canceled the law’s authority as a law (2 Cor 3:7-13).

Today, the nation of Israel isnot governed by the Law of Moses and we do not need to become Israelites to besaved. Though the “ministry of death (the law) written and engraved on stone wasglorious” (which is a clear reference to the moral law, the Ten Commandments),the “ministry of the Spirit is far more glorious” today (2 Cor 3:7-8).

The point that Paul is makinghere is that just as the Jews had turned the rite of circumcision and Templeworship as a source of ethnic pride that pushed Gentile people away from God,so they had wrongly used the Law in the same way.

Though the law is no longer anauthority over our lives today, it serves a very important function. It showsus how bad we really are and how desperately we need Jesus to save us. The lawis a “tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Gal 3:24).

To anyone who objects that wemust still follow the moral law of Moses, I will point out that we do notfollow the moral law as a law today – Christ ended that role for the law.

However, this does not meanthat universal, moral expectations have ended. In fact, Eph 4-6 providesdetailed teaching about God’s continued moral will for believers today. We embracethese moral expectations because they reflect the character of Christ, bydepending on the Spirit, out of love for one another – not because of a law.

Christ has removed the law asa wall of separation between us and Israel – and most importantly, between us andGod.

He made a new group of people.

Christ did a third thing tomake true social reconciliation possible. During the Old Testament times, tobecome a follower of God, you had to abandon your ethnic identity to become aJewish citizen. As Ruth, the pagan Moabite woman, said to Naomi her Jewishmother-in-law, “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (Ruth 1:16).

For this to happen, men had tobe circumcised. And every Gentile convert had to follow the Mosaic Law likeevery other Israelite as a demonstration of their faith, including theceremonial and civil laws, not just the moral ones.

Today, Christ has broughttogether people from all ethnic backgrounds with no preference for oneethnicity or another. That’s the beauty of a multiethnic local church and theuniversal church around the world – not to mention the full church in heaven,too!

That’s what Paul means when hesays, “So as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, andthat he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross” (Eph 2:15-16).

Throughout history, Gentileshave killed Jews, Jews have killed Gentiles, and the cycle goes on and on. Butthere is one death alone that can end this vicious cycle – the death of Christ onthe cross.

Through his crucifixion,Christ “created … one new man from two.” Once again, we find Paul using “creation”language. Perhaps you recall Eph 2:10 when Paul says that we are God’s “workmanshipcreated in Christ Jesus.” He uses the same word here again for “create.”

Just as God created the worldsin the beginning, he created new life in us through Christ for us to be savedfrom your sin and have a restored relationship with God. But through the cross,God did not only create for us a new vertical relationship with him. He alsocreated a new horizontal relationship with people – a “new man.”

This new man is the “church”and Paul will speak about this more throughout the book of Ephesians. What weneed to understand today is that this new man, this body, this church is God’s brand-newcreation through Christ. What makes it extra-special is that it is not definedby one ethnicity or another. It blends all the ethnicities of the world as awhole new institution through which God is accomplishing his spiritual work inthe world today and receiving worship.

He put hatred to death.

A fourth thing Christ did forus as our peacemaker was put hatred to death. In Eph 2:16, Paul says, “Throughthe cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”

This is a fascinating way todescribe what Christ did. Why? Because the cross represents the violent, bloodydeath of Christ for our sins. Yet through his most cruel death, he put todeath the hostility between fighting people who hated one another.

There is a very ironic twistto all of this, too. Perhaps you recall how the cross of Christ united Jews andGentiles together in the most unusual way. Though the Romans and Jews despisedone another, they came together to crucify Christ.

Ironically, this unified actprovided the only way for these warring people to ever enjoy true unitytogether for real – forever. That unity would not happen at the foot of thecross. It would happen weeks after the cross when the good news of Christ’ssalvation spread to the nations of the world.

He offered peace to all.

By dying this way, Christ wasable to bring a genuine offer of true peace – not just with God alone, but withone another. Paul says that Jesus, “Came and preached peace to you who wereafar off and to those who were near” (Eph 2:17).

This wording echoes whatIsaiah said, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bringsgood news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, whoproclaims salvation” (Isa52:7).

This picture should bring tomind the news of a blood-stained, war-torn soldier boy running from the stenchof a long, violent battle with the news of victory. But this was not just abattle of people against God, it was a battle of people against people, nationagainst nation, ethnic group against ethnic group, caste against caste, and soon.

Christ stepped into thisbattle and die in the place of us all. But this was not the end of him – it wasthe end of our social hostilities. Three days later he emerged from the grave victorious,never to die again.

Today, a sinner from anynation of the world may come to Christ for salvation. When he does, he immediatelybecomes not only a child of God but a brother and sister to redeemed men andwomen, boys and girls from all the nations of the world.

How did Christ “preach peace”to Gentiles and Jews alike following his resurrection? He did not personally,but through the disciples, he trained and sent out for this purpose.

Jesus came and spoke to them,saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go thereforeand make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Fatherand of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things thatI have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’Amen” (Matt 28:18-20).

What’s more, he accomplishedthis through the people these men also reached, and this pattern continuestoday. We – as members of Faith Baptist Church – have the blessed privilege ofloving God and making disciples.

As you may know, our statedmission as a church is “todemonstrate our love for God in the Queens Borough, leading people of all agesto become joyful followers of Jesus.” Maybe we should add to “people ofall ages” “people of all nations” who used to hate each other’s guts!

Mark my words, and mark Paul’swords even more. Just as we cannot be saved from sin through good works, so wecannot bring about social reconciliation without Christ. Social reconciliation beginswith the gospel and happens because of the gospel. It does not and cannothappen in the world. But it can happen and does happen in the church. That’swhy the solution to social hostility is Christ – is the gospel of salvationthrough Christ alone.

He gave equal access to God.

Finally, Christ accomplishedone more thing to make this social reconciliation possible in the church. Heprovided people from all nations of the world with equal access to God. Comingto God is no longer a closely guarded experience that only the Jews get toenjoy. There is no wall between us and God besides our own personal sins.

Today, people from all nationsof the world have equal access to the Father through Christ in one Spirit. Thisincludes those who were far off (Eph 2:11-13) and even the Jews (Eph 2:1-10),all were destined for the wrath of God, but exhibited hostility to one another,too.

Do you long for social justice and reconciliation in the world? Areyou tired of the fighting, bickering, and violence that goes on in the name ofethnic pride and social superiority?

Let me be clear. The onlysolution to this is Jesus. There is no other way. Yet through Christ, thisdesire can be genuinely fulfilled.

The peace we all need comes fromChrist – and Christ alone. Christ not only restores our relationship with God,but he also restores our relationship with other people. Because of Christ, thechurch is where ethnic and social reconciliation happens.

I praise God for Faith BaptistChurch. I praise God for the way that he has brought into our fellowship fornearly 45 years people from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds, Jewish andotherwise. May this never change but may it only increase for God’s glory.

May we not believe theillusion that social programs and political parties will solve the problem ofsocial hostility. Instead, let us pour our prayers, our efforts, and ourresources into reaching our unbelieving family, friends, and neighbors with thegospel. Are you serious about social reconciliation? Then let’s be seriousabout spreading the gospel of peace to our neighbors, making a genuinedifference one person at a time.