PODCAST
Created for Life Together
June 5th, 2013
Ephesians 2:11-22
“Like the rest” of humanity, we all “were dead in . . . transgressions and sins” and deserving of divine judgment (Ephesians 2:1-3). But God “raised us” and “made us alive with Christ” (2:4-6). He “rescued us from the dominion of darkness” so we might “share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:12-13). Despite our dark past, God has given us a bright future. But He did not recreate us to live new lives alone. We Gentiles have been incorporated into the ancient people of God with all of the promises, privileges, and peace that brings.
Once “far away,” Christ’s saving death has brought us near to God and to one another. Our unity is the work of Jesus Christ–“he himself is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14). Christ set aside the rules that once separated unclean Gentiles from Israel. He did this “to create in himself one new humanity . . . in one body” (2:15-16). He reconciled both groups to God “through the cross” and through it put to death the hostility between the two.
Author: George Lyons
