Breaking Down the Wall of Partition
Ephesians 2:11-22 

Before Jesus came to save us, Jews and Gentiles were separated by what Paul calls a “wall of partition,” (verse 14).  This wall was the result of the law (verse 15).  Jews were circumcised according to the law while Gentiles were uncircumcised (verse 11).  Furthermore, promises were made to the Jews through God’s covenant with Abraham, and Gentiles were excluded from the promises of this covenant (verse 12).  The promises included such things as the land grant to the promised land, the hope of  the resurrection, the promise of national supremacy and protection, and so forth.  That left the Gentiles with no hope and without God in the world (verse 12).  It also left them without Jesus since “salvation is of the Jews,” (Jn 4:22).  Notice how Gentiles were initially excluded in Jesus’ ministry (Matt 15:24; Matt 10:5-6).

However, Jesus eventually made salvation available to Gentiles (Acts 10) and assigned Paul the responsibility to minister to them specifically (Gal 2:7-9).  Paul wrote to the Ephesians to let them know that “in Christ Jesus,” (verse 13) Jews and Gentiles were no longer separated by a wall of partition.  The wall had been broken down (verse 14).  They were together in Christ and as such they enjoyed some privileges that are unique to those in the body of Christ.  Neither the Jews nor the Gentiles had these privileges before Jesus had brought them together in his body.

Now that the wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles is down in Christ Jesus, we have:

Peace (verses 14, 17) – this peace is two-fold.  We have peace with God (Rom 5:1) and we have peace with each other (verse 15).  Jews and Gentiles through political negotiations will never have peace.  The peace they seek is only available “in Christ.”

Unity (verse 15) – in Christ, we are “one new man,” (verse 15) because we are member so fhis body and his body is one (1 Cor 12:12).  Therefore, we endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:3).

Reconciliation (verse 16) – We have both been reconciled to God through Christ (2 Cor 5:18-19).  That’s something that neither one of us had before Jesus died on the cross for our transgressions.

Access (verse 18) – Now that we are in Christ, at peace with God and reconciled to him, we have acces to him through the Spirit, from whom we had been separated by sin (Is 59:2, Eph 3:12, Heb 4:16).

Citizenship (verse 19) – We are no longer strangers and foreigners like we were before we were saved.  Now we are fellowcitizens with the saints and our citizenship is in heaven in New Jerusalem (Heb 11:8-10).  As the Jews have a promised land according to God’s covenant with Abraham, even so we have a promised home in mansions in the sky through God’s covenant with Jesus (Jn 14:1-6).

Permanence (verses 20-21) – built on the foundation of Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:11) we are on a solid rock (Matt 16) which can never be moved.  This building has been under construction for nearly 2000 years and has weathered every attempt to destroy it.

Fellowship (verse 22) – we are a habitation and temple for God with whom we enjoy continual fellowship (1 Jn 1:3-7).

 

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