{"id":4313,"date":"2019-02-27T14:06:19","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T20:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nafwb.org\/?p=4313"},"modified":"2019-02-27T14:06:19","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T20:06:19","slug":"one-new-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/one-new-man\/","title":{"rendered":"One New Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Garnett Reid<\/strong><\/p>\n

Face it, we\u2019re part of a world divided. Just name the issue and opinions differ. As I write today, war seems imminent. By the time you read this piece, the conflict may rage full-scale. Our nation parts ways over whether or not to go to war. Congress splits down the middle over legislative issues. Ethicists debate opposing sides of critical topics.<\/p>\n

Divisions filter down even to what we eat, drink and wear. Which is it for you, Campbell\u2019s or Progresso soup? Sprite or Sierra Mist? Here lately, I prefer suspenders to belts, thank you.<\/p>\n

In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul applies the great truth of individual salvation he\u2019s just explained (2:1-10) to the most divisive issue in the early church. Did Gentiles in Christ have an equal place with believing Jews? This question tore at the unity of Christ\u2019s body in the first century.<\/p>\n

The apostle explains that God has created an entirely new entity, one body to which all \u2013 Jew or Gentile \u2013 belong who are in Christ.<\/p>\n

A House Divided (2:11-12)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul insists that his readers \u201cremember\u201d their past (\u201cin time past,\u201d v. 11; \u201cat that time,\u201d v. 12). \u201cRemembrance\u201d is a vital concept in scripture. In the Old Testament, Israel built memorials to remind them of important events they dared not forget. Memory gives a sense of \u201croots\u201d and origins; it conveys knowledge gained from the past to influence behavior today and tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Paul says, Jews derided these Gentiles as \u201cuncircumcised,\u201d out-of-the-loop in terms of their ancestry. The Old Testament detailed God\u2019s plan to bring Christ into the world, and that plan focused on the line of Abraham in Israel. Non-Jews were on the outside looking in. They were \u201caliens,\u201d not citizens. The Old Testament covenants God made involved Israel exclusively at the outset.<\/p>\n

No wonder Paul describes Gentiles as having \u201cno hope.\u201d God\u2019s only plan of salvation led through Israel to the Messiah. Even though Gentiles in the Old Testament could come to faith (remember Job, Melchizedek, Rahab and others), by their very nature they were depraved and separated from God through sin (\u201cwithout God,\u201d v. 12). Of course, so were the Jews, but they didn\u2019t like to admit it.<\/p>\n

As Hendriksen summarizes, \u201cPaul portrays Gentiles as \u2018Christless, stateless, friendless, hopeless, and Godless\u2019 in verses 11-12.\u201d<\/p>\n

A House United (2:13-18)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBut now,\u201d Paul insists, things are different. Through Christ\u2019s blood those \u201cfar away\u201d Gentiles are \u201cnear\u201d (v. 13). He stresses \u201cpeace\u201d (vv. 14, 15, 17) because of the Savior who is Himself our peace. That \u201cmiddle wall\u201d dividing Jew from Gentile crumbled beneath the weight of the cross (vv. 14-15).<\/p>\n

This \u201cwall\u201d is a metaphor illustrating the role of the Mosaic law in the Old Covenant, according to v. 15. The law served to remind the Gentiles of Israel\u2019s favored status as God\u2019s covenant people. Yet the Jews also took offense to Gentile disregard for the law, and the predictable result was \u201cenmity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet Jesus \u201cabolished\u201d that enmity. Note that Paul does not dispute the continued relevance of the law since it expresses God\u2019s moral character for all times and people. What is different, however, is that the Old Covenant in the Mosaic law no longer defines the people of God.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne new man,\u201d Christ\u2019s body, the church, has emerged from the two. All who are reconciled to God through Christ, Jew or not, \u201chave access by one Spirit\u201d to the Father (v. 18). Don\u2019t miss the emphasis here on \u201cone\u201d (vv. 14, 15, 16, 18). Even as Jesus died on the cross, so, too, did the enmity separating all people willing to die with Him (v. 16b)<\/p>\n

A House Inhabited (2:19-22)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A great theme running throughout scripture emerges in these final verses of Ephesians 2. God lives with and in His people! We see it in Eden, in the tabernacle and temple, in Christ\u2019s incarnation, in the believer\u2019s indwelling by the Spirit, in the church, and, finally, in Heaven itself.<\/p>\n

No \u201cstrangers\u201d live in God\u2019s house. Instead, the church is a family (\u201chousehold,\u201d v. 19). Families are not uniform in their makeup; individuals differ at my house, as I\u2019m sure they do at yours. Unanimity seldom shows up at our place, either. That is, family members sometimes disagree. But the family unity we enjoy in God\u2019s household finds its support in the deep, durable foundation whose cornerstone is Christ Himself (v. 20).<\/p>\n

The structure growing out of this firm footing is \u201cfitly framed together.\u201d No part is less significant than any other part. Even though the church is a work in progress, it stands as a \u201ctemple\u201d for the Lord\u2019s glory. His Spirit lives there (vv. 21-22; see I Cor. 3:16-17), and it\u2019s your address, too, if you know Christ\u2019s reconciling love.<\/p>\n

In a day when the gospel is changing multitudes of people in China, Russia, Korea, Africa, Southeast Asia and across the world (just check out the International Fellowship of Free Will Baptists!), we must avoid a great pitfall. Our cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences must not impede our recognition that we are \u201cone new man\u201d in Christ. Despite our diversity, He calls us to celebrate the unity of His church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Garnett Reid Face it, we\u2019re part of a world divided. Just name the issue and opinions differ. As I write today, war seems imminent. By the time you read this piece, the conflict may rage full-scale. Our nation parts ways over whether or not to go to war. Congress splits down the middle over legislative issues. Ethicists debate opposing sides of critical topics. Divisions filter down even to what we eat, drink and wear. Which is it for you, Campbell\u2019s or Progresso soup? Sprite or Sierra Mist? Here lately, I prefer suspenders to belts, thank you. In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul applies the great truth of individual salvation he\u2019s just explained (2:1-10) to the most divisive issue in the early church. Did Gentiles in Christ have an equal place with believing Jews? This question tore at the unity of Christ\u2019s body in the first century. The apostle explains that God has created an entirely new entity, one body to which all \u2013 Jew or Gentile \u2013 belong who are in Christ. A House Divided (2:11-12) Paul insists that his readers \u201cremember\u201d their past (\u201cin time past,\u201d v. 11; \u201cat that time,\u201d v. 12). \u201cRemembrance\u201d is a vital concept in scripture. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4314,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313\/revisions\/4314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}