“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 equivalent of death.”—John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, p.91, quoting William Barclay
Since all believers have been made right with God through Christ’s death alone, there is no more room for judgmental competitiveness or divisions between us.
1. Remember how far we all once were from Christ (vv. 11-12).
2. But now, Christ has reconciled us to God and to one another (vv 13-18)
“Jesus certainly did not abolish the moral law as a standard of behaviour (it is still in force and binding on his followers); but he did abolish it as a way of salvation. Whenever the law is viewed in this light it is divisive.”—John Stott, p.100
3. All of us together are being built into a dwelling place for God (vv.19-22).