One New Man: Christ-made Peace

Text: Ephesians 2:14–18 ESV

Ryan preached last week on 2:11–13, and today we are going to be focusing on 14–18. You might have noticed the repetition of the  word peace throughout this passage. Today we are going to see that Jesus has secured peace between the Jews and Gentiles and then between us and God. 

This peace bought by Jesus is no small matter. Generation after generation people have been longing for peace. We see cries for peace in the Old Testament. In fact, just this Sunday the youth are talking about when peace was absent as God’s people were kicked out of the land by the Assyrians. 

Karl Max popularized the term alienation, as he sparked a revolution for the oppressed worker who longed for peace. John Lennon and Yoko Ono memorialize the riot-crowds chants of “All we are saying . . . . is give peace a chance.” 

To all those generations, and to all those who are longing for peace today, I want to say, peace has come. You long for it, and this text tells you exactly where to find it. But instead of looking for peace in Christ, people go everywhere else to try and find it. But peace has one origin story. Peace has one place where you can be sure to find its fullness. Peace belongs to anyone who comes to Christ. 

Today, we are going to see that Jesus is our peace. Specifically, we are going to see he creates peace between Jews and Gentiles (and then by extension the whole world). And he creates peace between people and God. 

Harmony Everywhere

Before we look at our text, let’s back up a minute and look at Ephesians 1:9–10. 

“Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Ephesians 1:9–10 ESV)

God’s plan of sending his Son to earth has an end goal. According to this text, that end goal is to unite or to unify all things under Christ. What this means is that Christ came into a world full of division. Not only were people hostile toward each other, they also were living in rebellion against God himself. Christ’s mission: fix the brokenness so that all things unite in him. 

Ryan spent last week hammering over and over from different directions this separation. He said his “task was to remind you of this first part of Paul’s argument—your separateness.” 

“At the core, if you were raised outside of Israel (in Paul’s day) or outside the church (today), then you were raised without hope. Not that nobody has a general hope and dreams of their future. . . . [But you] likely felt the emptiness and reality of your separateness from God and had no expectation that there is a solution. Even worse, you were without God.”

You can feel the separation we have from the people of God, Israel, and even more so our direct separation from God himself. So with this promise of Christ uniting all things in him and the tension that Ryan painted of separation, we come to these glorious words in Ephesians 2:14: 

“For he himself is our peace.” (Ephesians 2:14a ESV)

If you write in your Bible, you can circle those words and write next to them: thesis of this section. This is almost like a title to what Paul is getting at here. Jesus is not a smart teacher, a friendly fella, or our homeboy. No this was God’s own Messiah who brought peace. 

The answer to our separation between Jews and Gentiles is Jesus. The answer to our separation between us and God is Jesus. 

Our passage is first going to focus on the separation between Jews and Gentiles and then it will focus on the separation between us and God. Let’s first get into the details of the separation between Jews and Gentiles.

Peace Between Jew and Gentile

This is point one: Jesus is our peace who secures peace between Jews and Gentiles 

Look at the second half of verse 14: 

“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14 ESV)

Now, I know this might seem like a strange place to start. Most of you probably feel little to no division between yourself and the people of Israel, the Jews. But although this division is something you may not feel, this was as obvious as the separation between slaves and the free man during the unfortunate height of chattel slavery. 

Listen to the language of the text: “Christ has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” This was not a casual dislike like name calling or not playing with each other during recess. There was deep separation—a dividing wall—between these groups. Here is a glimpse into this division in Paul’s day. It comes from a scholar named William Barclay: 

The Jew had an immense contempt for the Gentile. The Gentiles, said the Jews, were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell. God, they said, loves only Israel of all the nations that he had made … It was not even lawful to render help to a Gentile mother in her hour of sorest need, for that would simply be to bring another Gentile into the world. Until Christ came, the Gentiles were an object of contempt to the Jews. The barrier between them was absolute. If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl, or if a Jewish girl married a Gentile boy, the funeral of that Jewish boy or girl was carried out. Such contact with a Gentile was the equivalent of death. [Barclay, p. 125 as cited in John, Stott The Message of Ephesians, The Bible Speaks Today (Inter-Varsity Illinois: Downers Grove, 1973).]

And just so we are clear, the Gentiles were not innocent in this division. They contributed to the division. 

Our text goes on in verse 15 to fill out what this wall of division was made of. The bricks and mortar of this wall was the law that separated the Jews and Gentiles. Look at the beginning of verse 15: 

“Broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances.” (Ephesians 2:14–15 ESV)

The law, made up of at least 613 rules and regulation, built this barrier between Jews and the rest of the world.  On one side of the wall were the Jews who followed the Mosaic law. On the other side of the wall was everyone else. They were not circumcised, didn’t keep the Passover, had no regard for the Sabbath, and on and on. The Jews could literally look at the Gentiles and their lifestyle and say, “They are not like us. They are not of us.”

And our text says this wall was no match for the blood of Christ. Centuries of division come undone as the wall meets the work of the cross. Look at verse 14–15 again, and hear what Christ did: 

“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,” (Ephesians 2:14–15 ESV)

Look at these words: broken down the dividing wall, abolished the law of commandments, created one new man, and peace. 

This dividing wall came down, and when it did Christ created a new humanity. No longer would the world be divided between Jew and Gentile. Christ has created one new man. He has made peace where there was formally no peace. 

Picture this: It’s 1987 and Reagan stands up and says, “"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" The Berlin wall divided the East and the West. Then in 1989 the wall came down. Admittedly, I was one-year old so my memory is a bit fuzzy on the event. But you get the visual. The dividing wall that separated came crashing down. 

In our text, Christ, our peace, broke down this dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles and didn’t simply put in end to something like East and West Berlin. No, he actually created a new humanity — one man in place of two. 

Now, I know a verse like verse 15 can trip people up because they want to unpack all the implication of the law because of Christ

“Has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances,” (Ephesians 2:14–15 ESV)

Many books have been written trying to understand what exactly is meant by the term “abolishing the law of commandments.” This is the kind of verse, and the kind of phrase, that makes a preacher feel like we could spend six weeks dividing into the details here and not get far enough. I could spend the next six minutes trying to show what I think the Bible has to say on that topic. But instead, I’m just going to spend the next 60 seconds talking about it. 

Because, for one, the elders did not ask me to preach a sermon on how the OT law should be read in light of the NT. Though that is an important topic, that is not the purpose of this sermon. 

Even more so, I think we would be remiss if we went down that rabbit trail too far because we would miss what Paul is getting at. He wants us to see the unity that Christ has bought by his blood. This dividing wall is no more. 

Let me just say these few remarks that I hope are clarifying. Clearly the text says that the way Christ solved this division was by dealing with the law. I don’t think we need to be scared of such a definitive word like “abolish” or “nullify.” Christ’s work on the cross rendered the law no longer binding. Christ fulfilled the entire law, so that Christians are no longer under the burdens of the Mosaic law. 

Let me say clearly what I’m not saying. I’m not saying the OT or the Mosaic law is not relevant for Christians, or that it ceases to exist in any form like the law of Christ. But the OT law is no longer the binding authority for Christians. 

“Perhaps it may help to say that what is abolished is the ‘law-covenant’, that is, the law as a whole conceived as a covenant” (Peter T. O’Brien, Ephesians, 199). Christ has replaced this by a new covenant for Jews and Gentiles. Of course, the rules and regulation of the Old Covenant, everything from the Ten Commandments to the rituals to ceremonies, change in light of the new covenant. But how we should relate to them in Christ still needs to be worked out. But this old law-covenant is gone. It no longer creates this barrier between Jews and Gentiles. 

Here how Romans puts it: 

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:4 ESV)

There is more to be said there. Much more. But let’s get this much straight, Christ has brought down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles. He abolished the dividing-wall of the law. Now, there is one new man in place of the two. 

Origins and Dinner Tables 

You might be wondering why that is relevant to you at all. Well, for one, if you are a Christian, you would do well to remember your origin. Most of us spend about 0.02 seconds thinking about how we are being grafted into a Jewish root. But this dividing wall mattered. Look at the genealogies, even in the New Testament. Almost every single person in that list is a Jew. These are literally Abraham’s offspring. And you know who’s names would have never been on those lists: ours (if you’re not a Jewish, which is most of us). It was never going to read Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, on and on, and Don Straka. I was outside. I was on the other side of the dividing wall. But Christ broke down that dividing wall. 

Now, this unity between Jews and Gentiles goes even further then realizing our history as Gentile Christians. That is an important part, but this reconciliation is just the first step in Christ reconciling all things under himself. Christ has not only bought peace between Jew and Gentile, but between everyone. Listen to how Galatians and Colossians apply this text.   

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28 ESV)

“Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:11 ESV)

This Gentile/Jew divide is just the beginning. The gospel has done much more. All boundaries are shattered. There is no division anywhere. You may be wondering how you live out the first part of this text. Should I go make friends with a Jewish family? Well that is fine. But, in fact, it goes much deeper than that, you should go make friends with all people, everywhere. 

Remember in the beginning how I was saying that almost everyone throughout every generation is yearning for peace. Well, Christians actually have peace secured by Christ. And we are called to display this peace to the world. We should be those who are displaying to the world one new man. We can be displaying that peace has come in Christ. Here is one really practical place to display that peace: your dining room table. 

What does your dinner table look like? Is there a dividing wall that says these people don’t sit at my table. May that not be. Here is a place where you can display this unity, this peace bought by Christ. Last year Jacque and I met a homeless man who had no place to be on New Year’s Day. Well, despite our fears and reservation, we invited him to sit at our table that day. We didn’t realize until we invited him in that we had unintentionally made a dividing wall. But he came. We shared a meal and no we declared to the world, there is no dividing wall because of Christ. 

I want to encourage you to press in here. Ask yourself, is there anyone—any race, gender, class, social status, or whomever who you would refuse? Is there anyone who you would not invite to sit with you because you have built up a dividing wall that Christ, with his work at the cross, bought down?

Peace Between Us and God

Now, here is point 2: Jesus is our peace who secures peace between mankind and God.

Let’s look at the second half of our passage, because as important as it is that Christ secured peace between Jew and Gentiles this would pretty meaningless if that peace stopped there. The problem would be that though they would have peace with each other, they would lack peace in the most important way—with God himself. We have seen in the first few verses that Christ created a new humanity. But this humanity still needed to be reconciled to God. That’s where we are going next. Look first at verse 16: 

“And might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” (Ephesians 2:16 ESV)

This verse describes our peace with God in two ways. First positively “reconciling us to God.” And second in negative categories “killing the hostility.” 

Christ accomplished this all for us. 

• Every law of God that you broke, whether you knew it or not, Christ obeyed it on your behalf. 

  • You no longer need to sacrifice bulls and goats to appease God. Christ took care of it. He is the once-and-for all sacrifice (Hebrews 9:12).

  • You don’t have to keep track of special festivals or cleansing rituals. Christ completed it all for you (Colossians 2:11–23).

  • You don’t need to make a journey to a temple. Christ is the fullness of God incarnate (John 4:21–23). 

  • You no longer live under food laws (Mark 7:18–19)

• Every shortcoming you have, he fulfilled. 

• Every offense against God, he undid. 

The key here is that this is all done in Christ. You could not have created this unity. 

• All of Scripture has been pointing to Christ and him accomplishing this unity (Ephesian 1:9–10; John 5:39, 46)

• Jesus himself has fulfilled all the Scriptures had to say. (Luke 24:27)

• All that was written in the OT, he came to fulfill. He satisfied every part of God’s law (Matt 5:17–18)

• Every promise in the Bible is your in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Christ is your peace! Let me read that straight from verse 14: 

“For he himself is our peace.” (Ephesians 2:14a ESV)

I think the bridge diagram is such a perfect image of what is happening in this verse. The bridge diagram has you on one side of a cliff. And in between you and the second cliff is a huge gap. The second cliff is God and the joy of spending eternity with him. Well, the problem is that despite our best efforts, we cannot bridge that gap. 

If we try to jump, we don’t make it. If we try to keep all the rules and obey God, we quickly find out that we keep failing. Maybe we get a couple of steps built, but we are not even close to bridging the gap. On our own, we cannot be reconciled to God. 

But then in the diagram a cross comes and fills the gap. All the sudden, not because of what we did, not because of our obedience, not because of our faithfulness, but because of Christ’s, we get to God. Christ’s work on the cross reconciles us to God. Not only was fulfilling the law what was needed to make peace between Jew and Gentiles, it was also what was needed to make peace between them and God—between us and God. 

Our text goes on to show that this is not only how Gentiles get to God, this is also the way that Jews get there. Look at verse 17: 

“And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.” (Ephesians 2:17 ESV)

The Gentiles are those who are far off, and the Jews are the people who are near. But notice how Christ came and preached peace to both of them. Ryan mentioned in his sermon last week how verse 13 echos Isaiah 52 and 57. This verse does the same. Paul is quoting Isaiah as he declares that Christ is preached peace though him. 

We can, of course, think of some of Christ’s first words after his resurrection: “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19 ESV). He came and bought peace, he preached peace, he secured peace. 

Both Jews and Gentiles — now this new man, this new body — need to come to God through Christ. There are not two ways to heaven. But one way: through Christ. Listen to the clear statement in Galatians 2:15–16 

“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:15–16 ESV)

Jew, Gentile, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; they all come to God through Christ. Not through the law, not through anything else. But through Christ.

Here then is the climatic reality that Christ secured for all of us. Look at verse 18: 

“For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:18 ESV) 

Notice that small, but gloriously weighty word we. We, Gentiles and Jews, all have access in one Spirit to the Father. No law stands in the way. No dividing wall separates us. We all can come to the throne and worship the Father. 

This is why it is so important that the church have no division. The church declares this unity to a world that doesn’t have peace. We as the church need to say that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you came from, if you are in Christ, you are a part of this church. 

Ryan mentioned last week that today’s sermon was all about how Christ has accomplished this unity. He purposefully left us somewhat hanging in his sermon. He left us feeling the separation we had. But today we see that in Christ all the separation has been defeated. Peace has been bought by his blood. 

Last week we asked if you felt separated from God, and I want to return there again. If you feel separated from God because you have never come to him through Christ, wait no longer. God has sent the only peace offering that will come your way. If you would come to Christ, you would not only have peace between you and other people, you would have peace with the God of the universe. 

For those of you who came in here already Christians, we get to celebrate communion today. We get to celebrate it as a remembrance of the peace that Christ bought. 

Maybe for you today, you have been feeling a growing distance between you and God. Would you remember this morning, that Christ has done all that needs to be done for you to be reconciled to God. Today, right now, you can have that fullness. You can not only be near God, you have direct access to him through the Spirit.