He is our peace

Sometimes texts are perfectly suited to being misused. This is one of them:

“He is our peace!”
Eph 2:14

How can this text be misused? By quoting him like this, without context. Anyone who longs for peace will read here the confirmation that Christ is our peace. And peace means something like a warm feeling in your stomach. Christ gives me peace in my belly. Anyone who interprets the Bible in this way is guided by their own wishes and believes themselves to be at the center of everything that happens.

Feelings are important, but this is not about that feeling. It’s about a different context. There is nothing to be said against Christ giving you peace and relaxation in your feelings, but that is not the message of this passage. Being able to distinguish between your own feelings and the text is a prerequisite for a better and more honest understanding. In this you can recognize that you have your own feelings, but the Bible does not speak of your feelings everywhere.

Why is this section about?

But now, in Christ Jesus

This is the text:

“But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been made near through the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who has made the two one and has broken down the middle wall of strife (the enmity in His flesh) (by abolishing the law of commandments in decrees) to create the two in Himself into one new humanity (by making peace) and to reconcile the two in one body with God through the cross: thus killing the enmity in Him. With His coming, He proclaims the gospel: “Peace to you who are far away and peace to you who are near, because through Him we both have access to the Father in one Spirit.”
Eph 2:13-18

What happens here is immediately declared by Paul: in Christ Jesus two groups are made one. It is explained that this peace also comes about in Christ. In Christ does not mean “in us”. It is precisely “in Christ”. Paul uses this expression regularly in Ephesians when explaining how God’s action “in Christ” creates a new spiritual reality. This is not in us, but in Him. But we have a share in it (Eph 1:3).

This is about two groups within the community, namely Jews and non-Jews in the community. This was already mentioned in detail in the last article.

The two made one

“But now,
in Christ Jesus,
are you who were once far away,
become near ones through Christ’s blood.
For He is our peace,
who made the two one
and the center wall of the enclosure
(the enmity in His flesh)
has torn down.”
Eph 1:13-14

Paul is addressing a specific group to which he himself does not belong. He speaks of “you”. As explained in the last post, this is about the nation-believers. Although they were believers, they were not yet fully integrated. Although this was hinted at in earlier letters, it is only here, in this late letter to the Ephesians, that it is implemented and finally brought into line.

Paul relates the change to Christ. It is “through the blood of Christ”. Although there was an “enmity in His flesh”, this has now been resolved “in Christ”. The former enmity was “in the flesh”, made visible through circumcision or non-circumcision. Anyone who was circumcised was a Jew and had already received the sign of God’s covenant with Israel in the flesh. Non-circumcision was invited by God’s grace, but the position was not automatically better or equal to Israel’s position. Even if it was, there was obviously a need for Paul to explicitly address the changes. Here it is stated rivet and nail that something has changed: “But now, in Christ Jesus …”.

The reference to the “central wall of the enclosure” is a reference to the separation by the forecourt of the temple. This separation was a wall (Soreg) behind which people from the nations were not allowed to go. This wall existed at the time of Paul’s visit to the temple, which had not yet been destroyed. It is this wall of enclosure that was torn down “in Christ”. This reflects a spiritual reality. This made it possible for the first time for the believers from the nations to stand with the believers from Israel, united in spirit, in the same way to God.

It is a remarkable change. The enmity that existed “in the flesh” was torn down as if it were the Soreg that was torn down. What happened there? Believers from the community, both Jewish and non-Jewish, were brought into line. No one was more important than the other. The non-Jewish believers, who were once “far away”, became “near and dear”, i.e. on an equal footing with the Jewish believers. This was not “in the flesh”, but “in Christ”.

Has the law been repealed?

Paul then mentions that this change was possible because “He abolished the law of commandments into decrees” (Eph 2:15). Does this mean that Paul is throwing the law overboard? No way. The law was given to Israel. Paul does not abolish the law (Rom 3:31). With regard to the position of the nation-believers, however, the law was never given to them. The law with all its commandments and decrees was given to Israel alone. When Paul speaks here to the believers of the nations, he says:

“by abolishing the law of commandments in decrees, to create the two in Himself into one new humanity (by making peace) and to reconcile the two in one body to God through the cross: thus killing the enmity in Him.”
Eph 2:15-16

The aim of Paul’s statement is not to set the law aside across the board. He was concerned here with how “in Christ” now “the two in Himself” were created into a new humanity. The aim is to achieve equality between Jews and non-Jews within the community. That is the context. These are the people Paul is addressing here. He speaks exclusively about the believers in the church. They were created into a new humanity in Christ Jesus.

First, the apostle writes about the enmity that exists “in the flesh”. Here he talks about the “law of commandments in decrees” that he abolished. Both things happen “in Christ” and are therefore to be understood spiritually. It is not “in me”, nor “in the world and in the flesh”, but all in “in Christ” and “through His blood”.

In one body

The new humanity that Paul is talking about here is indeed new. New within his letters. New in church teaching. The expression is found in Ephesians (Eph 2:15; Eph 4:24) and in Colossians (Col 3:9). Both are letters of imprisonment, which he probably wrote in Rome.

If Paul writes here that they were “reconciled in one body to God through the cross: in him putting to death the enmity” (Eph 2:16), the emphasis is on the unity of the body. It was not a multi-tiered body in which some were better off, with more privileges, than others, but they were reconciled to God in a single body. Differences that might exist in society did not apply here. This was “in Christ” and it was God’s work through the cross.

Gospel of peace

“With His coming, He proclaims the gospel: peace to you who are far away and peace to you who are near, because through Him we both have access to the Father in one Spirit.”
Eph 2:17-18

This gospel says: Peace! Peace for all, namely for Jews and non-Jews in the community. Both, whether once far away or always close by carnal descent, may recognize peace in Christ. Both groups have access to the Father through Christ in one spirit. While this dividing wall (Soreg) was still there in the temple, this dividing wall between Jews and non-Jews was torn down in Christ. Both therefore have access to the Father in one and the same spirit.

Peace

Peace is mentioned several times in this section. Not as a feeling, but as a reconciled encounter that is possible in Christ. Paul points here to the direct consequences of the cross of Christ. That’s how he interprets it. Again and again, Paul takes the blood of Christ and the cross as an opportunity to think of God’s work in even greater and broader terms than before. Here in Ephesians, chapter 2, the differences between Jewish and non-Jewish believers are abolished. This happens in Christ, namely spiritually.

Does that give you a good feeling?