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. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility (Ephesians 2:11-16).
Throughout the Bible we see that the greatest privilege a people can have is to be near to God (Ex. 19:4–6; Rev. 21:3) and the greatest curse is to be banished from his presence (Gen. 3:23; Hos. 1:9).
In these verses Paul announces the seemingly impossible: the Gentiles who were excluded from the promises of God have been brought near by the blood of Christ. More than that, the hostility between Jew and Gentile has been broken down. The “dividing wall” may have reference to the barrier separating the Court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple proper, but the most immediate allusion is to the abolition of the law. The ceremonies of circumcision, holy days, and kosher food which divided Jew from Gentile have been removed. The cross of Christ which brought together such disparate peoples can surely be the means of reconciliation for those presently divided by ethnicity, nationality, upbringing, economic status, or any other earthly distinctions that wrongly separate us.
Adapted from the Gospel Transformation Study Bible
No comments:
Post a Comment