11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
We have often read this text when we are talking about our church’s vision of being a multicultural community. We want to embrace our differences as God brings us together through Christ. The theological roots for this part of our vision are here in Ephesians 2, so we we have turned to this text again and again for encouragement and inspiration.
But as far as I can remember, before today, we’ve never preached directly on this text. I expected to do some basic teaching and encouragement about being a multicultural community, breaking down cultural barriers and being one in Christ. But I kept getting stuck on the middle part of this passage.
- “... he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.” What was that wall of hostility? How did it separate us?
- “He did this by ending the system of the law with its commandments and regulations.” Wait, huh? How does ending the system of the law break down walls of hostility? What is the connection between law and hostility? And how does ending the system of the law make any difference in reconciliation or peace?
- “... by means of his death on the cross ... our hostility to each other was put to death.” The Greek here is that Jesus actually “killed the hostility” in his body on the cross. How does that work? How does Jesus’ death “kill” our hostility for each other?
