Ephesians 2:11-22 - Firmly Founded in Peace on Christ

Ephesians 2:11-22

Brought Near by His Blood

11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Christ Our Peace

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Christ Our Cornerstone

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

We who call ourselves Christians know from this passage of scripture that we are firmly and eternally founded on peace in Christ.  We have been called together in Him for peace with God (Romans 5:1), both out of the original chosen nation of Israel, which was the channel of God’s salvation, and out of the rest of the nations as promised to be added to Abraham long before Israel existed.  We were hopeless and godless outside of the promises entrusted to Israel and not included in the covenant of works, yet all from both inside and outside the nation of Israel were without Christ (save a few who anticipated the coming Messiah) until the hidden will of God was revealed (Galatians 4:3-5) when Immanuel walked among (John 1:14) us.  Now everyone who was far from God has been called to be drawn near at last to God through His Son by the working of His Spirit through the word of His gospel!  This was made possible by Jesus dying for us as a perfect sacrifice whose shed blood covers our sin once and for all and forever, never having to be repeated yearly (Hebrews 9:24-25, 27-28) by an imperfect high priest with imperfect sacrifices of animals which were a foreshadowing of the true sacrifice to reveal God’s mystery of Christ in us being made possible at last.  As our perfect sacrifice, Christ Jesus the Messiah became the foundation of the building of the church of God as its cornerstone that sets the position and purpose of all the added stones of whom we are (1 Peter 2:5-6, 9-10) in and on Him.  Jesus therefore is our peace as He brings us together as one people of one God founded on Christ and His work alone and not upon a Magisterium of man’s own imagined making as a hollow replacement for the foundation of the living Word of God (John 1:1) and His written words to us.  By dying on a tree of our cursing, Jesus fulfilled the Law which we cannot and substituted Himself and His life through death to offer us reconciliation and peace with God by that life given for us in His blood (Leviticus 17:11, John 6:53, Hebrews 9:14) as we are made clean in His righteousness in the circumcision (Romans 2:29) of our hearts.  He paid the price for our sin and offers permanent peace with Him through the work of the cross of sacrifice so that we can enter the holy place behind the forbidden veil (Hebrews 6:19-20, 10:19-22) of the most holy place of worship.  We now have direct access to God the Father through His Spirit living in us because of the work of the Son to purchase our salvation!  We need no priest to access God or His forgiveness of absolution anymore as some erroneously claim and demand, for we have direct access to the throne of grace because of the work of Christ (Hebrews 4:16).  These truths all point to the fact that we are all children of God in Christ alone as we are all in the righteousness of Christ and therefore called saints, not just people we elect and elevate to be called thus when we know God alone calls us His saints (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:2) based on His holiness and not our own.  We are founded by faith in Him and on Him as we align ourselves to the chief cornerstone and not man’s sandy foundation.  He is molding and building us together in Christ as His place of true worship (John 4:23) as we the universal hidden church consisting of all reborn believers are being constructed by God’s hand to make a holy place for Him to live forever!  We who are His have been firmly founded in peace on Christ alone and not on any human institution that attempts to usurp God’s work.