One New Man: Separated
Text: Ephesians 2:11–13 ESV
I remember when my family moved when I was in the fifth grade. It was an arduous journey—four miles down the road, further out into what, in those days, were the farm fields of rural west Boise. My family had the opportunity to move out of my childhood home and into a house that my dad had built and my mom had designed. It was an exciting time for me because that little three bedroom house on Sunburst Lane was all I had known growing up. As farm fields began to disappear, the city was planning a new freeway interchange called “the Y,” right behind our house, and the brand new Boise Towne Square Mall was finally built and attracting a larger commercial presence to our little neighborhood, it was time to find another home.
While the distance means that much didn’t change—we still lived in Boise, my grandparents were still nearby, we still shopped at Albertsons and Butreys, my experiences did change. We were now at a new school. Now, one wouldn’t think that would always be a big deal, but for a fifth grader it was. At my old school we played soccer or “camel’s back fights” during every recess; at my new school, football was all anyone wanted to play. I didn’t know how to play football, no one had ever taught me at that point. Somehow, all the kids there had learned how to “peg” their pants over the summer, and I showed up like dork with my normal pant legs swinging in the breeze. There was even another Ryan in my class. This seemed to cause all sorts of problems. He had always been the only Ryan in that class for years. The rest of the kids acted like they weren’t sure what they were going to call me, as though maybe calling me “Jim” was a better option.
I am sure all of you have had this type of experience. The “outsider” experience. Maybe it happened in your starting college, maybe your parents remarried and a new “family” was created, perhaps it has been in a job shift or a move of your own. Most of us have had the sense of being outside, other, or separated at one point or another in our life. Some of us feel that way quite often, feeling like the one perpetually left out of the conversation. Some are probably even feeling that way today.
Review & Connect
There is a shift that occurs here in Ephesians 2:11–22 that is a little different than what just happened in Ephesians 2:1–10. Previously in Ephesians 2:1–10, Paul has been reminding believers—Jews and Gentiles alike—of the changes that God wrought (or caused) in them in Jesus Christ. It was a change of kind or type. Before Jesus in our lives we were all dead, we followed Satan, and we were an enemy of God. In Jesus, through love and in grace we were changed quantifiably. We were made alive, raised up with Jesus, and given an inheritance with him. This is a change of kind, or a change of type. In Jesus we are something completely different. We don’t see the whole change yet, that won’t come until we are with him again in the new heavens and the new earth, but the trajectory is set and we are assured by God’s Holy Spirit in our life that we will be that completely different person that Christ promises he is changing us into one day (Ephesians 1:14).
As we start in our section at Ephesians 2:11 this morning we see an important phrase: “therefore remember”. Knowing that in Jesus you now have a new identity in Jesus, knowing that you have been irrevocably changed by God in grace, knowing that you are not saved by good works but that you have definitely been saved for good works, Paul wants you to “remember” something else. Not only have you been changed in type and kind, but your position to God and others has changed. One change is talking about your internal make-up: wants, desires, passions, life or death. The other is talking about where you stand in relationship to God and where you stand in relationship to others. Your orientation in this world.
This is important for us, because it can be easy to view our salvation outside of history and outside of the very people of God that he is saving us into. As Paul is calling us to walk in the good works prepared beforehand in Jesus Christ, he wants us to remember the positional shift that has happened to us as well as the internal, life-giving change that happened to us in Christ Jesus.
What Paul does here in Ephesians 2:11–22 is very similar to what he does in Ephesians 2:1–10. Previously, Paul reminded us first of our situation, one of death and sin in Ephesians 2:1–3. Then, in Ephesians 2:4–7 he reminds us of the amazing truth of what Jesus has done for us in making us alive. And finally, in Ephesians 2:8–10 he brings us the application of those statements—walking out a life of good works prepared for us in Jesus. Here, Paul follows a very similar pattern. In Ephesians 2:11–13 he reminds us of our sad state outside of Jesus: we were separated. Separated from God and his people and his ways. At the end of our section and moving into Ephesians 2:14–17 we see the way God has provided for unity, between God and all his people, is now found in Jesus Christ. Not in the old nation of Israel, not in the law and commandments, but in himself—Jesus. And in Ephesians 2:18–22 we see again that Paul takes us to the outworking of this great truth and a life that we are now called to live alongside other believers—Jews and Gentiles—as the very house of God and co-citizens of the kingdom of heaven with one another.
My task this morning is to remind you of this first part of Paul’s argument—your separateness. You should feel a longing at the end of this section to move on and be united in Jesus Christ, but you should also marvel at the grace of God that not only changed you, but moved you into a position of relationship with him and with his people.
Ephesians 2:11–13, Separated
“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— (Ephesians 2:11 ESV)
Paul begins this section, even as he is calling the Gentiles of Ephesus to remember their situation, by highlighting one of the greatest divisions throughout Scripture: Jew and Gentile. He mentions the Jewish designation for the Gentiles as “the uncircumcision.” However familiar you might be with circumcision today, it was relatively unknown throughout most of history, with Israel being one of the only people groups to practice it as a national identity. The requirement that God gave Abraham in Genesis 17 of circumcising their young men on the eight day had continued on in Israel, and does, even to this day. Even in Paul’s day the Gentiles of Ephesus would have rarely encountered circumcision as an option or idea outside of Israel and the Jews, so it was an accurate identifier.
But even here, Paul is careful. He points out they were “Gentiles in the flesh” and notes that even the Jews were “called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands.” Paul has just finished reminding us in Ephesians 2:1–10 that our salvation was entirely from God—he changed us, he gave us faith, and we are so thankful for that grace. He wants to be clear that even though the Jews had the sign of circumcision, it only showed a physical separation between themselves and others in the world. It was meant to a be a picture for them. The real circumcision, the circumcision of the heart and ears and eyes talked about throughout Scripture (Deuteronomy 10:16, Jeremiah 4:4, Jeremiah 6:10) where God’s people were made soft to his word and his purposes. That could only happen through the Holy Spirit of God sent by the Father and Jesus through his death and resurrection (Deuteronomy 30:6). Paul’s whole argument in Ephesians 2:1–10 points to the same thing he says in Romans 2:29:
But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. (Romans 2:29 ESV)
And Galatians 5:6 (cf. Galatians 6:15, 1 Cor 7:19, Romans 2:25–29):
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (Galatians 5:6 ESV)
Paul wants to be sure that we do not for a minute think that the list he is about to give us actually created salvation for Israel even though it was meant to be beneficial for them. That is where Paul turns next. Our relationship to God as Gentiles means that we had a very real separation from God because we were not Jews. He continues by listing the ways in which the Gentiles were separated from God. Some count this as five ways we were separated, I count it as three main categories with two sub-points in two of those categories connected with an “and.” Here is what Paul says in Ephesians 2:12:
Remember that you were at that time
1. separated from Christ,
2. a) alienated from the commonwealth [citizenship] of Israel
b) and strangers to the covenants of promise,3. a) having no hope
b) and without God in the world.(Ephesians 2:12 ESV)
Separated from Christ
It may seem odd that Paul mentions that the Gentiles, you and me, were separated from Christ. For the readers in Ephesus, Christ had come and died within many of their lifetimes. Their hearing about him now, maybe a decade or two after Christ’s coming does not seem like a long time when there is no email or internet to spread the information. Things took time to hear about, especially from the backwater regions of the Roman Empire like Israel. Similarly, the Old Testament is about how Israel, the Jews, didn’t have Jesus yet. They were waiting, and waiting, and waiting. It’s not like they were “with” Christ throughout much of their history.
Yet, there is a very important way that Gentiles like you and me were separated from Christ then and even today. Paul is right to start with the phrase, separated from Christ. We have talked about this before, but the reason the Old Testament continues to track the lineage of families through the sons—they say “so-and-so, the son of so-and-so beget so-and-so”—is not a patriarchal preoccupation with men but rather a preoccupation with one man—Jesus. Sure, perhaps Gentiles could have a collective memory of Adam and Eve and their separation from God in the Garden of Eden, but it is the entire history of God’s people in Israel that forces them to keep asking the question, “Is this the one?” Every boy born brings with him the question, “Is this him?” And as the prophecies continue, as they get more and more specific, they continue the hunt for Jesus himself. Each king begs the question, each prophecy focusing the search more and more.
Gentiles, then and now, are generally blind to that constant search. And that leads directly to the next statements Paul.
Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise
It was an incredible gift of God to choose a people to reveal himself to. These people knew of God though his interaction with them: God led his people out of Egypt (Exodus 1–18; Exodus 20:1-3), he was with them in a pillar of fire and a cloud throughout their wandering in the dessert (Numbers 13–14), he gave them a land and a government (Joshua 1–24), he gave them a system of worship and festivals (2 Chronicles 8:13).
To live as one of the people of Israel meant your whole existence was oriented around God—Yahweh—and your dependence on him. You went to the tabernacle or temple and sacrificed animals for your sins, again, and again, and were meant to realize that the blood of animals would never suffice for the sin of your heart and that you needed some sort of permanent sacrifice to atone for you. You had regular festivals that were meant to point you to the goodness of God, but you would have realized that in between your heart was fickle. That you needed God to change your affections to want to pursue him all the time.
The Jews had a closeness to God and to one another through the nation of Israel. They had neighbors going through the exact same motions and experiences they were. They could encourage one another, exhort one another, and share one another’s burdens. This closeness to God and one another as a nation was a huge benefit, even with the drawback of nation of people with largely unchanged hearts.
Additionally, it was through the nation of Israel that God brought his covenants. The fact that this word is plural points to the many covenants of God through his people: his covenant to Abraham (Gen 15:7-21; 17:1-21), Isaac (Gen 26:2–5), Jacob (Gen 28:13–15), Israel (Exodus 24:1–8), and David (2 Sam 7). The idea that these are “covenants of promise” seems to point to God’s original covenant with Abraham that shows this was all to be through faith, never works. As Paul says in Romans 9:4 about Israel:
“They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”
(Romans 9:4–5 ESV)
Being a Gentile and being outside of these people, patterns, and promises meant they and you and I were without a very helpful picture embedded right in our very culture and habits. I can sympathize with the people who seem to want the US or another government to have a decidedly “Christian” culture to it. But the one thing we learned through Israel was that the benefit was never enough to change the actual hearts of people back to their God.
Hopeless and without God
When Paul says that the Gentiles are separate from God, he helps to define that more clearly by reminding them and us of all that God provided through the people of Israel and what we missed by not being raised in that nation and culture. We, like the Ephesians, missed many good things by being raised outside of the people of Israel (however, if you were raised in a Christian home then you likely got something even better). But I think Paul summarizes the outcome by this last statement:
3. a) having no hope
b) and without God in the world.(Ephesians 2:12b)
At the core, if you were raised outside of Israel (in Paul’s day) or outside the church (today), then you weren’t raised with any hope. Not that nobody has a general hope and dreams of their future, but you are not waiting for anything, rather, you are waiting for nothing in particular. You likely feel the emptiness and reality of your separateness from God and have no expectation that there is a solution. Even worse, you are without God.
When Paul goes to the Areopagus in Greece he addresses the men there and tells them about the “unknown God” to whom they have an altar to (Acts 17:22–31). You and I today outside of a Christian family and culture and the Gentiles of Paul’s day outside of Israel would be like those men didn’t even know to call on Yahweh as their only future hope.
Being with our God and being part of his people is one of the great positional changes in our life based upon his changing of our very being from those who were dead to those who are alive in Jesus Christ. And remembering that we were once not this way—that we were without hope and that we were without God—should remind us of the amazing work of God in Jesus Christ.
Now in Christ Jesus
As Paul says in Ephesians 2:13:
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13 ESV)
Paul is echoing here the prophecy of God himself in Isaiah 57:14–19. He is talking about his people here:
“And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made. Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal him.”
(Isaiah 57:14–19 ESV)
Peace, peace, to the far and to the near. In Jesus Christ God has been able to bring all his people—Jew and Gentile—to himself but also to one another and created peace and unity in Jesus Christ.
Application
Don gets the joy next week of explaining all the ways from Ephesians 2:14–17 that Christ has accomplished this unity, but today, this final statement pushes us to one specific questions for application:
Are you still living in separation?
Are you still living in separation? At a high level this is a question about faith. There may be some of you here this morning who are not yet reconciled to God relationally through Jesus Christ because you have not yet put your faith in Jesus. You know you are separated from God, but you need to put your faith in Jesus. Find that this morning! Put your faith in God himself—Jesus Christ—who not only died that you might live, but who lives in power today that you might be brought near to God in peace and unity and to find a life in joy with his people serving him.
For some of you, this question isn’t about your salvation, but you have forgotten to do what Paul is exhorting the Ephesians here—you are saved but you don’t realize you are no longer separate. You haven’t realized the relational position you now have. You are a son and daughter of God most high—you have a close, loving, and caring relationship with your God and father now. When times are hard do you remember that you can run to God now as your loving father with any care you have? When times are hard for you do you remember that God has also united you to a people in Jesus? A people who are there to encourage you, exhort you, and comfort you. People who have been changed themselves to help you find your joy in Jesus! You don’t need to live in separation anymore, that has all changed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
Remembering our own separation from God should make us so thankful for our unity to him in Jesus Christ and create a profound joy in our unity with our brothers and sisters, whether Jew or Gentile, in our joint worship of Jesus!