Monday
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 - remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 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, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. - Ephesians 2:11-22
One of my favorite pastimes (although I don’t always find the time to do it!) is reading, and one of my favorite areas of reading is the biographies of godly men and women. I think I have gained more from reading Christian biographies than from any other type of reading. A well written story of someone else’s life makes you feel as if you know the person as a friend. I remember when I finished reading Ian Murray’s biography of Jonathan Edwards, I felt a sense of sadness as if an old friend had died. I felt the same way when I finished reading Eric Metaxes’ biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Ephesians 2 is a kind spiritual biography in brief, not of someone else, but of you and me, as followers of Christ and part of His body (the church). As we study it, it should call forth some deep feelings in us, feelings of gratitude and reverence, along with a sense of the responsibility that falls on us because of what God has done for us in Christ.
There is an interesting parallel between the first and second sections of Ephesians 2:
Our Position Individually
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Our Position Corporately
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Our past (2:1-3)
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Our past (2:11-12)
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Our present (2:4-9)
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Our present (2:13-18)
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The consequence (2:10)
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The consequence (2:19-22)
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While salvation is always and must be an intensely personal matter between the individual and God, it is also, at the same time, a corporate matter, and Paul here is giving our corporate biography. God does not save us to become an isolated bunch of holy hermits, having no contact with other believers. At the point of salvation, the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the one body of Christ, made up of all true believers
1 Corinthians 12:13 - For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.
The Christian experience is to be lived out in community with other members of Christ’s body, growing in practice into the positional unity that exists from the moment of salvation.
Three words here capture the progress of our corporate spiritual biography: Before Christ, we were alienated, both from God and from one another. In meeting Christ, we were reconciled, both to God and to one another. In walking with Christ, we are unified, both in our experience with the Lord and with one another.
Jeff Frazier
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