Without Hope
Tuesday, September 3, 2013 at 11:49PM Continuing on in Ephesians 2. Other posts in this series are listed below.
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:11-12 ESV)
If we read the second chapter of Ephesians all in one piece, the parallels between the first three verses of the chapter and these two are hard to miss. Both are descriptions of what the Ephesians once were.
As individuals, they had been “dead in trespasses and sins,” a condition detailed in verses 1-3. This is the first of the their two “by birth” problems: they were by nature objects of God’s wrath.
In verses 11-12, Paul reminds them that as a group of Gentile people, they had also been alienated from the Jews, and worse, alienated from God. Their alienation from the Jews is seen in the Jewish term “uncircumcision” used to describe them. It was an insult, showing the contempt the Jews had for those who were outside of the covenant. What’s more, the Gentiles’ alienation from the Israel left them separated from Christ, and as a result they remained alienated from God. It was through Israel, after all, that Christ would come; it was Israel who received all the covenental promises fulfilled by the new covenant. This is the second of the Ephesians’ “by birth” problems: as an ethnic group they were cut off from God with no way back. They were, to sum up as one commentary does, “Christless, hopeless, and Godless.”
The word “therefore” that begins these verses ties the first half of the chapter to the last. The exact connection puzzled me at first, but I think I’ve got it now. If you read ahead, you’ll see the solution to this second “by birth” problem starting with the words “but now” in verse 13. From those who were previously alienated, Christ created one new body of people who are reconciled to each other and to God. In the first half of this chapter “but God” (verse 4) introduced the solution to individual spiritual death: God saved those born dead in trespasses by making them spiritually alive.
These are two views of God’s saving work. The first view (verses 1-10) is the close-up, focusing on the salvation of the individual believer, and the second (verses 11-22) is the wide view, revealing the implications of individual salvation for the corporate body of believers. The “therefore” that connects the two halves of the chapter, then, establishes that God’s big picture work of salvation reconciling “both [Jew and Gentile] to God in one body” follows from his saving work in each believing person.
Previous posts on Ephesians 2:
Reader Comments