Ephesians 2:19

The chapter opens with the state of every person, Jew and Gentile alike, “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1–3), and then with God’s mercy in making us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4–10), saved “by grace” and “through faith” (Ephesians 2:8–9). “Wherefore”, dió, ties what follows to that grace. Because God has saved them, Paul wants the Gentile believers to see what that salvation has done for them as Gentiles, and what it has done between them and the Jews.

He begins with a command to remember. The verb mnēmoneúō means to call to mind or to keep in mind, and Paul asks for more than recollection. He wants them to look back on where they once stood so that they grasp how great the grace was that brought them out, stay humble, and treasure their place among God’s people as a gift.

They were “Gentiles in the flesh”. The word éthnos comes from a word for a race or tribe, and in Scripture it means the nations other than Israel, who stood outside God’s covenant with his people. “In the flesh” (en, sárx) points to their bodily, outward state, the people they were by birth. “In time past”, poté, puts all of it behind them.

The words for “But now” are nyní and dé. The little word dé marks a contrast, “but”, and nyní is an emphatic “now”, “at this present time”. With them the hopeless picture of verse 12 gives way to what is true of the Gentiles today in Christ Jesus.

“Far off” is makrán, “at a distance”. Paul uses distance as a picture of estrangement from God, from his covenants, from his people Israel and from the hope of salvation. “Ye who sometimes were far off” speaks first to the Gentile readers of verses 11 and 12, and in a wider sense it fits every person whom sin has separated from God, whatever their background.

“Are made nigh” joins egenēthēte, a passive form of gínomai, “to become”, with engýs, “near”. Because the verb is passive, the drawing near is something God did to them, the same free gift Paul has just called salvation by grace through faith. It brought them into fellowship with God, access to his presence, and a full place among his people.

“In Christ Jesus” names where this new state is found, in a living union with the risen Lord, and “by the blood of Christ” names how it was won. Blood, haîma, stands in Scripture for a life given in sacrifice, for atonement and for sealing a covenant. The LORD told Israel that “the life of the flesh is in the blood” and that he had given it upon the altar “to make an atonement for your souls” (Leviticus 17:11), and Hebrews says that “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). The blood of Christ is his death on the cross, the perfect sacrifice offered once for all, which paid for sin and satisfied the justice of God. He is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). As our great High Priest he entered the heavenly holy place with his own blood and obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:11–12), so that we have boldness to enter the holiest by his blood (Hebrews 10:19–20). Through him God made “peace through the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20), and God commended his love toward us in that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8).

Since Jew and Gentile are brought to God by the same blood, they are also brought to each other. Paul later calls the Gentiles “fellowheirs, and of the same body” (Ephesians 3:6).

“He is our peace” says more than that Christ brings peace. He himself is the peace between God and man and between the peoples who were enemies, the Prince of Peace whom Isaiah foretold (Isaiah 9:6). The word eirḗnē probably comes from a verb meaning “to join”, and like the Hebrew shalom it speaks of wholeness, harmony and well-being. Being justified by faith, we have this peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1), and the same peace now holds between believers who were once divided.

“Who hath made both one” names the two, Jews and Gentiles, whose history had been one of separation and antagonism. The verb poiéō, to make or do, is a very common one, and here it describes a creative act: Christ has brought into being one people where there had been division. “Hath broken down” uses lýō, to loosen, destroy or dissolve. The wall has been taken down completely and for good.

“Having abolished” translates katargéō, to make entirely idle or useless, to put out of action. “In his flesh” means in his own body, given in death on the cross. What he put out of action is “the enmity”, échthra, a word for hostility and for the cause of a quarrel. This enmity is twofold: the bitter antagonism between Jew and Gentile, and behind it the estrangement of all people from God because of sin.

Paul names the source of the hostility between the peoples: “the law of commandments contained in ordinances”. The commandments are authoritative orders and the ordinances are decrees, the regulations of the Law of Moses such as circumcision, the food laws and the ceremonies. God gave them, and they set Israel apart for him, and they also divided Israel from the nations it counted unclean. Christ fulfilled the Law and so took away its power to divide and to condemn. He “blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us… nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2:14), and “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:4).

“And came and preached peace” uses érchomai, to come or go, for Christ’s own coming, and euangelízō, from words meaning “good” and “messenger”, for announcing good news. Christ came in person and proclaimed the gospel of peace himself, with authority and in public.

“To you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh” uses the same words as before, makrán and engýs. The far off are the Gentiles. The near are the Jews, who had the Law, the covenants and the temple, and they too needed the peace that Christ alone gives, because sin strained their relationship with God and enmity divided them from the Gentiles. Paul’s words echo the LORD’s promise through Isaiah: “Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 57:19).

The word for access, prosagōgḗ, means admission, and it was used of being brought into the presence of a king, usually through the introduction of someone of standing, which made a favourable welcome sure. In that world an audience with a king or emperor was hard to obtain and needed an influential go-between. Our access to God is granted by God himself and opened for us by Christ. “Through him” uses diá, the word for the channel through which something is done. Christ is the way, as he said: “no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). “By one Spirit” names the Holy Spirit, pneûma, who draws believers near, helps them pray and makes Jew and Gentile share the same access. “Unto the Father” names where it leads, into the presence of God as our Father.

So in one short sentence the verse names the Son, the Spirit and the Father. The Father is the one we come to, the Son the one through whom we come, and the Spirit the one by whom we come, each person of the one God working in harmony to bring us home.

Under the old covenant the way into God’s nearest presence was closely guarded, and only the high priest entered the holiest place, once a year and with blood (Hebrews 9:7). Now every believer may come. Through Christ “we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand” (Romans 5:2), and so we “come boldly unto the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). “We both” puts Jew and Gentile on the same footing before God.

“Now therefore” (oûn, ára) draws the conclusion from all that Christ has done, and “no more” (oukéti) marks a lasting change. “Strangers”, xénos, are foreigners from outside, with no native rights or ties. “Foreigners”, pároikos, are resident aliens, people living in a place for a time with limited rights and no lasting claim to it. Under Rome, citizenship brought legal rights, protection and standing, and the line between a citizen and these outsiders was sharp. For Jews, belonging to God’s people was bound up with the covenant and with descent from Abraham, so a Gentile was always on the outside.

“But” (allá) brings in the new state. The Gentile believers are “fellowcitizens”, sympolítēs, natives of the same city with the same rights in full. They are citizens “with the saints”, hágios, all God’s holy people, Jewish and Gentile, past and present. Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), and we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God (Hebrews 12:22–24). Peter tells believers that they are a holy nation, “which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God” (1 Peter 2:9–10).

“Of the household of God” goes further still. The word oikeîos means a member of the house, one of the family, and the house is that of God, theós. A citizen has rights, and a member of the household has a home and a Father, with his care, provision and inheritance. Believers have received “the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15), and as children they are heirs of God with Christ (Romans 8:15–17).

“Built upon”, epoikodoméō, means to build up on top of something already laid. The passive “are built” shows that God is the builder, and believers are the stones he adds, “lively stones” in Peter’s words (1 Peter 2:5). The church is God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:9), as Christ said: “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).

The foundation, themélios, is the groundwork put down first, on which the rest goes up. It is “the foundation of the apostles and prophets”, the inspired teaching and witness of the men Christ commissioned, centred on his person and work and on the mystery that Jew and Gentile are one body in him. These prophets are the prophets of the New Testament church, for Paul speaks of the mystery of Christ as “now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:5). The foundation is the truth they proclaimed and wrote down, which we have in Scripture, and its whole content is Christ. Paul says elsewhere, “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:10–11). God, who spoke in time past by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1–3). The holy city in Revelation has twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Revelation 21:14).

“Chief corner stone” translates akrogōniaîos, from ákron, the extreme or highest point, and gōnía, a corner. In ancient building this stone was often the first laid, cut exactly and set where two walls met, so that it fixed the line of both walls and bore great weight. Every other stone took its position from it. That is Christ’s place in the church. He is its most important stone, he joins the two walls of Jew and Gentile, he gives the whole building its strength, and every part finds its true place and purpose by lining up with him. The title comes from the Old Testament: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” (Psalm 118:22), and God says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation” (Isaiah 28:16). Peter applied these words to Jesus before the council (Acts 4:11) and again in his letter (1 Peter 2:6–8).

Ephesus was home to the Temple of Artemis, famed throughout all Asia, and for Jews the Temple in Jerusalem was the place of God’s presence, sacrifice and worship. To a church of former idolaters and devout Jews in that city, Paul says that God’s true temple is a people, and that his presence belongs to every nation that is in Christ.

“In whom” refers to Christ, the corner stone, and all the growth and unity of the building comes from him. “All the building”, oikodomḗ, is the whole structure, every believer, Jew and Gentile, whom Christ has brought near, and the same word can mean building up or edification. “Fitly framed together”, synarmologéō, means joined closely, compactly fitted, like stones cut to lie true against one another. Paul uses the same word for the body that is “fitly joined together” and builds itself up in love (Ephesians 4:16). Each believer has a place and a part, and the strength of the whole depends on how the parts are joined.

“Groweth”, auxánō, means to grow or enlarge, and a building that grows is a living one. The church grows in number as people come to Christ, and it grows in maturity as believers increase in faith, knowledge and likeness to Christ and build each other up through teaching and the use of their gifts. Paul prays for this growth for the Ephesians (Ephesians 3:16–19), and he speaks of the body growing up into Christ the head (Ephesians 4:15–16, Colossians 2:19).

It grows “unto an holy temple in the Lord”. The temple is holy because Christ gave himself for the church to sanctify and cleanse it (Ephesians 5:25–27), and it lives “in the Lord”, in union with him, by his power and for his glory. Paul asks the Corinthians, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16), and Peter speaks of believers as living stones built up into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:4–5). A calling like this asks for a life to match, and Paul goes on to urge believers to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Ephesians 4:1).

Paul’s command to remember is for us too. If you are in Christ, you were once far off, and whatever your background you were brought near by the same blood as every other believer. Remembering that keeps us thankful and humble, and it keeps pride from taking root, because none of us earned a place in God’s house.

Christ broke down the wall between Jew and Gentile, so the walls that pride raises in churches and hearts today stand against his work: racial prejudice, partiality toward the rich (James 2:1–4), party spirit, denominational pride and keeping to our own kind. Every believer you meet, from whatever people or class, is your fellowcitizen and a member of the same household, with the same access to the same Father. We are called to keep “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”, a peace Christ made at the cost of his blood.

You may come to the Father with confidence. The Son opened the way and the Spirit brings you in, so you can pray boldly, as a child of the house. And the message of peace is still going out to those who are far off. The hope God gave us in Christ is the hope we can offer to people who still live “without God in the world”.