Chapter one basically had two paragraphs. Remember the first paragraph was a blessing, second paragraph was a prayer. You remember that? Now we're in chapter two. How many paragraphs does it have on the ESV? Two! We already did chapter one. What was it about? You were dead in your trespasses and sins, but God Made you alive in Christ, that's what it was about, remember? Now we have this second paragraph. He calls his readers, you, in this paragraph. And there's another group he calls us. This paragraph is written to what ethnic group? Gentiles. That's the you. And when he says us, he means the Jews together with the Gentiles. So this second paragraph is written to the Gentile believers in the church in Ephesus. He wants them to remember something. He says twice he wants them to remember it. So let's read it and see what it is they're supposed to remember. That's gonna read it 11 through 22 11 through 22 says 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 and 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 and one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a drilling place for God by the Spirit." They're supposed to remember something. Some of you guys in those two rows there. We're Gentiles. What are we Gentiles supposed to remember? Okay, we used to be separated from Christ. But now, what? We're not. Okay. The question is, what was going on, what could have been going on in Ephesus to cause Paul to write this to the Gentile portion of the church and twice say, remember this. Now we don't know the answer for sure, we want to kind of brainstorm. Why did he feel the need, do you think, to tell them that They're now brought near, that they are now fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. What could have been going on that caused him to say that? To have to say that? Okay, maybe. Now we don't know the answer for sure, so there's probably no wrong answers except for maybe Denton. But he hasn't said anything yet. Maybe there's some hostility. If there was hostility, where would it come from? Okay, it could be from the Jews. Why would the Jews have hostility toward these Christian Gentiles? The Gentiles, they are infringing upon what was inherently the Jews, which is the law and the claim on having access to God. Y'all hear what he said? They might see these Gentiles as infringing on something that has been theirs for all these centuries. And who are these people coming in here taking over our church? Now, are we talking about believing Jews or unbelieving Jews? Probably believing Jews. You remember in the Jerusalem Council, they were saying the Gentiles have to be required to keep the Law of Moses. You had to go through the gate of Judaism. Could be. Could be that. Where else could hostility be coming from? Remember the Jews did sit at Gentiles' dogs and wouldn't eat with them? That's right. Jews and Jewish tradition. Think of another source. What was going on in Ephesus unique to that city? Artemis! Wow, that might have been hostility. Ok, you hear what he's saying? The Temple of Artemis was there. There were so many people becoming Christians that silversmiths trade was dropping off. We already know from Acts there was a huge riot in Ephesus. lasted for hours, and the government had to get involved and tell them to stop. So it could be the pagan population is bringing pressure to bear on these Christians, the Gentile Christians, because they had left worship of Artemis and were coming over to Jesus. So this could be a way of reassuring them of the good things that have happened to them in Christ. You'll see how that works. Now there's one other hostility source, maybe, and it's kind of the opposite of what we've talked about so far. Who said it, Al? through Jesus, he breaks down that dividing wall of hostility and allows us to be together with God again. I certainly agree with that, but the question would be then, why didn't he say it to the whole church? Why is he picking on the Gentiles? Why does he leave the Jews out of it, the Jewish believers? Keisha? I was wondering if it had something to do with maybe the Christians seeing the Jews as being responsible for Jesus' Okay, so maybe it's Gentile anti-Semitism. Now, maybe the Gentile believers are looking down on the Jews in general, or more specifically, even Jewish believers, so maybe it's hostility from Gentile to Jew. The Romans were very, they were anti-Semitic, that's the word. At one point in the empire, it became a capital offense to circumcise your kids. And you remember, Nero had run the Jews out of Rome, even we read about in the New Testament. The Gentiles didn't like the Jews. And so it could be that. We don't know. Maybe we can figure it out as we go on. But he's telling these Gentile Christians, now remember this, you used to be far off, now you've brought near. Near to what? Well, near to Christ, but more than just Christ. And that's what's interesting to what he says. Now the first word in this paragraph is what? Therefore. Now there is in the Greek too. And you have to ask, what's the therefore therefore? All right, this draws a conclusion. Okay, so there is some kind of link between that first paragraph that we studied already and this. What was the first paragraph about again? Well, you were dead in sin, and now you made life in Christ. He says you're totally dead, had nothing to do with salvation, it's totally by God's grace, you don't deserve to be here, but looky here. You are. God's done something good. Therefore, remember, through no credit of your own, you used to be far off, and now you're brought near. Okay, that seems to be the thought there. So I think that one of the questions I handed out was, why do you suppose Paul wrote first about God's grace and salvation and it being totally of God, and then wrote about the Gentile Jew thing being made into one? All right, Jews are the same way. They were lost in their sins, but God made them alive. The Gentiles were lost in their sins, but God made them alive. If it's Gentiles looking down on the Jews, he said there's no basis for that. And he says in Romans, he says, you know, natural branches were broken off, it's the Jews, so that you, the Gentiles, a wild branch might be grafted in. But he says, don't get arrogant. If he snapped them off, he'd snap you off. Remember that? There's no room for Gentiles to be arrogant toward the Jews, but there's no room for these Jewish Christians, if that was the problem, to be arrogant toward the Gentiles. And you might remember there's a situation with Peter where these Jewish Christians wouldn't even eat. But the Gentile Christians, remember that? So that could have been a problem. We know there was, a problem at first and then maybe he's just trying to head this off at the pass. It's not so much a problem today, because whereas then it was the mix of Jew and Gentile, now there's hardly any Jews in the church today, but we might have our own problems in other ways. Now, he calls his readers Gentiles, and then he says in verse 11 that they're Gentiles in the flesh. Why do you suppose he said that? Because spiritually they're not Gentiles anymore, because spiritually they're believers. But the key of the flesh thing is, spiritually, they're not Gentiles anymore. What does that make them? Believers. Spiritual Jews. But he contrasts them being Gentiles in the flesh with circumcision in the flesh. What's that? On the outside they look like a Jew, they walk and talk like a Jew, but they have no heart for God. He says, in the flesh, made by hands. What's the other kind of circumcision that's not made by hands? Circumcision of spirit in Christ of heart. And Paul said, a Jew is not a Jew outwardly, but one who is inwardly. And true circumcision is not of the flesh, it's of the spirit. So he's contrasting. He says, well, you might be a Gentile in the flesh, but there are circumcisions in the flesh, too. What matters is that you're spiritually a Jew, meaning you spiritually have the same faith as Abraham, just like you're spiritually circumcised. That's what really matters. What name did the Jews call the Gentiles? It wasn't a very nice name at this time in history. Uncircumcised. What's wrong with that? Okay. You're not in covenant. They didn't have a relationship with God. It implies what? Well, they're not Christians. No. Well, I mean, historically, what do they mean by that? You're separated from God. Remember David called Goliath that? Uncircumcised Philistine. That's what he said. So, it meant you're separated from the promises. You're a pagan. You're a foreigner. You're lost. Why did circumcision become the line of demarcation between Jew and Gentile? Why did it? What covenant? The Abrahamic Covenant. So God started that and He wanted the Jews to be separate so they didn't lose their faith and not to intermarry with the Canaanites, but they were supposed to be a witness at the same time. Well, they didn't do the witness part so good, but they did stay separate and then it became a big barrier in Christ. In verse 12, he tells the spiritual implications of being a Gentile in the flesh. So read verse 12 again. 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. He says now remember, there's that remember again, at that time, at what time? Before Jesus, Okay, what's the first thing that was true of Gentiles? They were what? Alright. Separated from Christ. What's the second thing? Alienated from what? Commonwealth to the economy. That's good. Of Israel. Okay. What's that? Strangers to the covenants of promise. Strangers to the covenants of promise. What else? Without hope. Without hope. What else? Without God. Without God. Is that all? That's what it used to be, obviously. The first one's easy, separated from Christ. What's wrong with that? You're dead in your trespasses and sins. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. That obviously is a problem. Somebody in this room asked me recently, what about all those people who never hear the gospel? What about them? They're separated from Christ. They go to heaven. Can't conclude that. Now what's a commonwealth? Somebody said citizenship. What did you say? Economy. Yeah, this whole sphere of all things related to Israel. The Bible says there's great advantage in being a Jew because to the Jews were given all these covenants and the promises, so it puts you close to hearing the gospel. It didn't make you a Christian, of course, but it puts you close to the things of God, unlike the Gentiles who are completely separated from that. It says they're strangers to the covenants of promise. What covenants? There's one of them is Abrahamic covenant. What promise? Yeah, the promise of the Messiah. There's several covenants, even the Sinai covenant was useful because it showed the Jews their sin, got them ready for the Messiah. But the three things God promised Abraham were land, seed, and blessing, which were all literally fulfilled in the Jewish nation, but the New Testament says there are nothing but types of something far greater. The land is a type of what? Well, we'll call it heaven, however you want to call it. The ultimate seed is who? Jesus, but who are the other seeds? Any believer, yes. Anybody who has faith, no matter what your ethnic background is. And the blessing was what? Justification by faith. That's what he says in Galatians. The Gentiles being brought into God's kingdom is the fulfillment of these promises, but they were apart from Christ, alienated from all that. It says next that at that time they were without hope. Without hope of what? Well, salvation. Yeah. And it says without God in the world. Now the Greeks were known as polytheists. What does that mean? Many gods. And you heard of the pantheon. So how can he say they were without gods when they had so many gods? The real God. The real God. That's right. According to verse 13, what brought them near? These once far off people were brought near by what according to verse 13? Blood of Christ. That's no surprise. Peter says, you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without spot or blemish. Now, these are the truths. Used to be that. That's bad. Back then. But now, it's a different story. Okay, look at verse 14 through 16. Look how he spins this thing. What happened once all this changed? In fact, before we got 14 through 16, look. If you used to be separated from Christ, what are believing Gentiles now? They're not separated from Christ. If they used to be alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, what are they now? But they're not alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. Citizens of what? The commonwealth of Israel. They used to be strangers to the covenant of promise, but not now. They're fulfillment of the covenant of promise. Okay, so now they have hope, now they have God, but I want to go back to this Israel thing. Is it the church and Israel, or is it the church is Israel? Yes. He's saying these Gentiles are brought into the true Israel. Believing Jews are in the true Israel. Where are unbelieving Jews? Well, they never were in it. Everybody's grafted in. Alright, so now look at this Jewish Gentile thing, 14 through 16, he says what happened to the divide, okay, 14 through 16. For he himself is our peace, who had made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing walls of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in the ordinances. that he might create in himself one new man in place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility." What's going on with the Jew-Gentile thing, and he says it over and over, what's the first result of that redemption? There's peace, not with God, but with each other. Now there is with God, but with each other. What's the next thing? In verse 14, both become one. What about in verse 14? What else happens? The dividing wall of, what's the word? Hostility has come down. And now, verse 15, what happens? Yeah, I'm going to throw that back on the number there again. What's the result of it being gone though? Okay, we got a new man in place of what? This is where you got 1 plus 1 equals 1. That's what he's saying. Now, verse 16, what's the effect? Both are what? Both are reconciled. Why is he spending so much time on this? This is what he's driving home. Why is he doing that? Either there was division or he knew there potentially could be and he's had an offer to pass. Overcoming the effects of history. Well said, Al. Thank you. Good. Now he mentions the word peace two different times. between 14 and 15. And you look at all those words in between the bookends, if you look at the word piece as a bookend, he kind of explains what that piece looks like. And it is that the two groups are now one. That's the peep. The Greek word for peace, Irenae, an English name comes from that. Irene, it's from the root word to bind together. You've got two things bound together, not like two cats bound together, but in peace and harmony. And that's the idea. So this wall of hostility has come down. What is he talking about? What are these ordinances and stuff? The law of Moses. Symbolic of the curtain being torn from top to bottom, no longer separated from God. What's that? Yeah, Al? Earlier you made the point that the church is Israel, yet in verse 16, Paul talks about reconciling us both to God in one body through the cross. Yeah, I did say that. Recognition that in his mind, at least, there were two entities. as making one new man in place of the two. So he's saying that there were two, and they were both reconciled to God through Christ, and now there's one. What's the name of the one? We saw that principle yesterday at marriage. as the other may become something new from what was before. Right. Well, and I think before you had two fleshly, or so you had the Jews in the flesh and you had the uncircumcised in the flesh, and now we're moving to something spiritual, and so there's the one. So, but the question is, I understand your original point, but you know, it says in Galatians, in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. But it also says there's neither male nor female, slave or free. Yet there's still many women and slaves and free people. So you still got physical Jews and Gentiles, but the question is, what do we call this new man? He never gives it a name. He's just got this new man, a new body. He doesn't give a name here. We call it the church. We could call it Christians, call it kingdom. But when you look at the overall big scripture, he seems to be saying for other passages that the big fulfillment of these promises to Abraham is that he has spiritual children. Actually, it sounds like you become his children. What do you call the children of Abraham? Well, the church. How's that? The true children of Abraham are the church. So in that sense, if they used to be alienated to Israel and now they're not, doesn't that make them spiritual, the true spiritual Israel? I don't know. That's a good question, but maybe not. Anyway, let's go back to this hostile wall that got torn down. It's The law. The Bible says, Romans 6.14, you are not under the law. Isn't that a surprise? Big revelation. Did you miss that? 6.15, ready? You are not under the law. Okay, 7.14, you have died to the law through the body of Christ. Romans 7.6, we are released from the law. Are you under the law? No. It's odd to me today there are Messianic Jewish congregations and they want to keep the law. What's odd is they're usually mostly Gentiles in there. Yes. Yeah, I didn't even get into that. You're talking about the Law of Moses. I'm talking about the Law of Moses. That's why I said, what law? Of Moses, thank you. The Law of Moses is what we're not under. We are under the Law of Christ. Thank you. There's a fad now for Torah-compliant Christianity. If it's a means of witnessing to Jewish people, that's fine. If you want to keep the Law just because, that's fine. Especially if you're Jewish. But if you start telling people they're supposed to keep the law, that's when all of a sudden you just run afoul of everything your testament says. And it's very clear, I just want you to see, it says, the reason Jew and Gentile can come together in church now is because Gentiles don't have to become Jews to do that. And the Jews don't have to keep the law. It's gone, it's a shadow. So look at the application. I usually say, so what? He says, so then, in verse 19. Look at verse 19. So then you, who's you? Believing Gentiles are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. So you're not a stranger, you're not an alien, you're a citizen. Of what? Kingdom of God, or Commonwealth of Israel, or the house of God. We call it the house of God. So, we're not having a big problem with this. None of us are tempted to reject Keith. Well, maybe you are. And there's not a lot of Jewish people here that are looking down on us. Now, we might apply this more dynamically. I was talking to the Anglican priest that I was with this weekend. And he used to be Baptist. He grew up Baptist. And he was in high school. And he was in this fundamentalist Baptist church in Memphis. That was about the time Martin Luther King got shot there in Memphis. And so his church was going through the same. Are we going to let black people in church? And no, there'll never be a black person in this church. And he stood up in the business meeting and said, this is not right. That's not what the scripture says. And this woman turned around and slapped him and told him to shut up and sit down. He was too young to have any opinion. Well, he never went back. And he went literally down the street. The next closest church to his house was Episcopal, and he's been one ever since. So we might not have a Jew-Gentile problem, but we've had other kind of racial problems, haven't we? You just got to get over it. If you apply it dynamically, I hope we are over it. You don't like it. You're going to be very uncomfortable in heaven. Well, I'll say it. Yeah. Thank you. If you get there. Let's talk about the household of God. What can we learn about the household of God from verses 20 and 21? I'm going to get Keith to read that, read that, 20 and 21. Built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit." So what I can learn about the household of God from what Keith read there? How does he describe it? Okay, so the church is built on a foundation. The cornerstone is Jesus. Yeah, I don't know how to draw this, but there's Jesus. He'd be the cornerstone. And then there's the rest of that foundation he calls the Apostles and Prophets. Oh, what's the rest of it? What's the superstructure, Belta, does he say? The whole building is joined together, which is us. And we become the Holy Temple. It goes to Romans 12.1. So somehow there's a holy temple here that's built on that foundation, which of course we know is the church. In other places he says, not he says, but other places in the Bible it says we are living stones fit together to be a spiritual temple. So whereas in the Old Testament economy there was a physical temple in Jerusalem, In the New Testament, He draws us, makes it a spiritual temple, us being living stones. And what did the Jewish rabbis call it when God's presence was manifested in the Holy of Holies? The Shekinah Glory. And what did they call it when the Shekinah Glory went out? There was a Hebrew word. Ichabod. Remember, y'all probably know Ichabod Crane from the novel, but Ichabod means the glory has departed. Well, guess what? The temple? The lights went out. Ezekiel, where did the spirit go? Into the church, which is not a building, it's a people. He's in each of us individually and in some way corporately as well. Most times the scripture talks about it that way. What purpose does a foundation serve to a building? It's support. Look, I didn't draw a column over here to the side. Why not? What's going to happen if I do? It's going to collapse. And usually in a building, except maybe some of these modern ones, everything is built vertically on top of the foundation. And once the foundation is laid, you don't go back and lay some more, it's done. So he says Jesus is the cornerstone. Now in a stone building, what function did the cornerstone serve? It's your reference, what'd you say? Well, that's the first stone, and that became the angles. I don't know if it did that. Maybe it did, but it was certainly what guided the walls and the other directions. I know who Jesus was. I know who the apostles are. Who are these prophets he's talking about? Well, the first thought I had was what Keith Elizabeth would say, well, maybe it's Old Testament prophets. But I later studied it, I don't think so. Because he talks two or three more times in this book about Apostles prophets, Apostle prophets, talking about New Testament prophets. For instance, Christ gave to the church. apostles, prophets, and pastor, teachers, and evangelists. And two, the Old Testament prophets came before the apostles. If he meant Old Testament prophets, you'd think he'd say prophets and apostles. But anyway, he keeps talking about apostles and prophets in this letter, clearly referring to New Testament prophets. Now, the point I'm getting at is, some of y'all are not going to like this, but I'm going to say it. Once the foundation is laid, it's laid. Jesus was cornerstone. He left. The apostles were here. They laid the foundation. They left. They ain't been one cent. I'm going to suggest that there ain't no such thing, for the most part, as New Testament prophets. Why not? The foundation's laid. I think when the scripture was completed, the need for these two guys lessened. I don't mean to limit the Holy Spirit. I think certainly in places like China, on the mission field, where they don't have the scriptures, the Holy Spirit gives people more of this gift of prophecy. But I think the more you have the scriptures, the less that's going to be operated. Right. A New Testament apostle is equal in authority to an Old Testament prophet. But a New Testament prophet was way down the line in authority from an Old Testament prophet, because if you were wrong in the Old Testament, they'd stone you to death. In the New Testament, if you were wrong, they'd judge it and go, oh, well, sorry, Keith, that was last night's pizza. Better luck next time. And the Old Testament prophets wrote Scripture. The New Testament apostles wrote Scripture, not the New Testament prophets. Now, Al. In my understanding, an Old Testament prophet of Judaism, which was so opposed at times, truth of God, that they killed the prophets. So to me, the foundation of Christianity, the foundation of the church, is hard for me to understand that that would not include the generations of prophets that God kept sending to his people. in the Old Covenant dispensation? Logically, it certainly would. The question is, is that what Paul had in mind here? And the reasons I gave that he probably didn't is because he uses the same apostles and prophets phrasing several more times in this book clearly talking about the New Testament uses again. But that's fine. It doesn't change much. There we have it. Who? Well, Agabus was, for example. And who is it that had the four daughters that prophesied? Peter? Was that Peter? Philip. Yeah. So, I mean, you've got New Testament prophets around, and Corinthians talks about people who get the prophecy. I'm not going to say they don't exist, but I'm going to say, in the sense that they were active in the New Testament, I don't think it's the same, just because, I mean, if Jesus left, and the apostles are done, and it's a foundational ministry, I think you could argue that once the church is established and the scriptures are completed, that the need for them is lessened over time. Yes, Adam. I just wanted to point out, you know, going back to the meaning, I think last week or the week before you talked about that, you know, the word apostle really basically means missionary. So, in that sense, we still do have the apostles and the prophets, but the apostles are those that are going out, carrying the message to new areas, and the prophets are those that are bringing the message of God, and, you know, in our society today, We're not building a new foundation. We're drawing from the scripture and saying, okay, here's what I'm pointing out. Here's what God has to say about, you know, the things that are happening in the world today. And so in that sense, we still do. Yes, we do. That's right. They're just not laying a new foundation. That's well said. Last thing, you know, in the New Testament, for instance, you remember they blindfolded Jesus and they struck him and they said, prophesy who hit you? Were they asking him to tell the future? They were asking him to have insight into information he would not have known had God not told him. And Jesus saw the woman at the well and talked about all her husbands and she says, I perceive you're a prophet. He didn't tell her the future, what did he tell her? The past. He had divine insight into her life. And Corinthians talks about it. Somebody prophesies about sins and people's hearts are exposed and they fall on their face and worship God again. Prophecy doesn't tell the future. He's telling an individual person their sins. And so, certainly God could still use prophecy in that sin. And still does. Agabus, he predicted a famine. Now, he did tell the future. But, there's a famine coming. We need to do something. So, and they predicted Paul would be arrested. But see, those things weren't foundational in the sense of a doctrine. And so you're not going to have a Joseph Smith come along and say, I'm a new apostle and a new prophet, and here's a new covenant, another covenant, another testament. That's some new stuff you've got to do. That's not going to happen. The foundation's been poured. So you could say we have big A apostles and little a apostles. You could say you had big P prophets and little p prophets, so to speak. All right. The big application is everybody that's a believer is welcome. ought to be welcome in the church, right? Okay. And God doesn't see any difference between any of us. That's right. Spiritually. And then when we study the church's analogy of this living household, and we got the Shekinah glory radiating out of it, the fact that the Old Testament temple became Ichabod and now the spirits in the church, it's that tremendous shift from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. The truth of AD 70 shows just what God thought about what happened to the Old Temple worship and how it had become basically apostate. And of course, He wiped it out. Yeah, boy, I'm afraid they're latched in. This message was produced by the New Testament Reformation Fellowship, reforming today's church with New Testament church practice. Permission is hereby granted for you to reproduce this message. To learn more about New Testament church life, you can find us on the web at ntrf.org. God bless you as you seek to follow Him in obedience. May your faith in the Lord Jesus be strengthened and your daily walk with Him deepened. do do Okay.