“For He himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (NIV)
The verse says, by beginning with ‘for’ (greek;gar) , that the reason the ones who were far away have been brought near is Jesus, who is pointed out emphatically, by the use of ‘he, himself’, stressing that it is attention to Jesus that we should be paying, because He is our peace.
How is a person our peace? The verb tense for ‘is’ indicates that he is becoming our peace while the main action is occuring, which is the ‘breaking down’ of the dividing wall. The key action that is attributed to Christ in Ephesians is the Cross followed by the Resurrection Enthronement, and we have a new insight into this action as we see it as breaking what divides the Gentile and Jewish world, an action which makes Jesus to be peace for the Jew and for the Gentile.
I resist the idea sometimes put forward that all of Ephesians is about the present oneness of the Jewish and Gentile believers. This oneness is presented however, as a strong evidence of the decisive work that was done in the Cross and in the Resurection Enthronement, (2:6) which we participate in.
The central theme of Ephesians is that those previously dead in transgressions have been raised with Christ. This includes those dead because they could not fulfill the law of moses, and also those who, as gentiles were just as dead in trangressions and sins.
It was interesting to study this passage while I was reading in Acts 10 & 11, about the conversion opf Cornelious. Peter is well aware that both Jew and gentile are equally dead in the sinful nature, but the Gentile might easily be said to be in a more desperate case of morbidity, because they have also been removed far from hope. (Ephesians 2:12). They have not even a testimony to refer to of a God that saves the diusobedient.
So what should Peter say to the Gentile? The Gentiles would be vexed, like our own non-believing neighbors, with many problems, many ethical dilemmas, and many theologiocal conundrums, none of which amounted ton the Jew’s problem of “How to fulfill ther Law of Moses”.
Peter realizes that he is to say to the Gentile, Jesus. Jesus is peace, and in his crucifixtion and resurection and enthronement, He makes us all heirs to life in Him.
In Jesus,
Pastor Harley
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