Brought into the Family of God:

As we begin to read the second the half of Ephesians chapter two, it can be a little difficult for us in today’s church to grasp what Paul is trying to tell us.  The reason for this is because for most of us we do not fully understand the history between the Jews and the Gentiles.  Most of us realize that the Jews considered that anyone who was not a Jew was consider a Gentile or as they would call them the Uncircumcised, the Jews would not allow the Gentiles to come into the Temple.  They had a spot on the far outer court that they were allowed to enter into, but it was made know if they enter into the temple they would die.  In verses 11-12 when Paul says, don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called “the uncircumcised ones” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.  In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God’s people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.”  Paul really means that we had no hope, without Christ coming and dying on the cross we would have no right to be in a relationship with God.

Paul goes on to tell us this in verse thirteen though, “But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ.”  This is the wonderful news of Christ that through His blood all mankind now has access to God, we no have a curtain or wall separating us from God.  Christ came so that all mankind can come to God and receive citizenship into Heaven.  When we read verses 14 through 18, Paul goes on to explain how Christ came fulfill the law to do away with the system that kept all mankind away from God.  When Paul talks about how the death of Christ “ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles.”(v15)  He’s  not saying that Christ came to get rid of the commandments and that we are able to go do whatever we please.  He’s saying that Christ got rid the laws and rituals that kept all man away from God’s love.  We are no longer dependent on the Jewish laws of sacrifice, that was what the cross was for. Christ was the final and prefect sacrifice.  Bringing us together with the Jews in peace through Christ. 

As we get to the end of chapter two Paul tells us how we are no longer strangers or foreigners but all citizens and a part of God’s family.  “When you come to Jesus Christ, you are not only brought into a body, but you are also brought into a place where you stand before God on a par with anybody. I stand with you and you stand with me on equal footing. So today there should never be a point of separation for believers on any basis at all. We have been made one in Christ. If you are a believer in Christ—it makes no difference who you are—you and I are going to be together throughout eternity. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for us to speak to each other every now and then down here, would it?

The contrast in the passage is really between the Jew and Gentile. The Lord Jesus Christ is the peace that has been made between them. The middle wall, the fence, or partition, the enmity between the two, has been broken down. He has made a new man. We have been put together in Christ, and He has made peace. It means that we now have peace with God, and we should also have peace with each other.

God’s reconciliation is already complete. He is ready to receive you if you are ready to come. Therefore, the message that goes out is “… be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). If you will be reconciled, you will be brought into a new body, a body of believers, and it doesn’t make any difference whether you are Jew or Gentile. The color of your skin makes no difference. White, brown, red, black—all are one in Christ. We have been made one, new men, and we should have peace.”