Things to note in this passage regarding biblical, multi-ethnic community:

• I recommend that you read chapter 1 of Ephesians before reading this chapter.
• In verses 1-10 Paul gives a clear, concise, and beautiful description of the Gospel.  This section includes some of the most frequently quoted verses in the Bible.
• It is important to notice that in the midst of this very important summation of the Gospel Paul chooses to talk at length about how Christ has destroyed the “dividing wall of hostility” between various ethnic groups (verses 11-22).  Paul (through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) is making a forceful case that ethnic unity is an important part and out-growth of being “made alive in Christ”.  This is a good passage to refer to for those who may see ethnic unity as an “optional sidenote” to the Gospel as opposed to a central and important part of it.
• verse 13-14: Ethnic unity is only possible through the blood of Christ – without Christ’s blood the “dividing wall of hostility” remains – that is why secular attempts to build ethnic unity will always fail.
• verse 15: Christ’s purpose was not to help the two ethnic groups tolerate each other or learn to co-exist peacefully.  His purpose was to create a “new man out of the two, thus making peace” – that is what building biblical, multi-ethnic community is all about.
• verse 19: All who have been made alive in Christ are “fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” – this becomes our primary source of identity rather than the country that we are citizens of or our ethnicity.  Our shared citizenship and membership in God’s family becomes the core of our new, equal relationship with one another – regardless of our ethnicity, socio-economic status, etc.

Click here to learn the author, date, theme, etc. of the Book of Ephesians. Have a thought about this passage? Please add your comment at the bottom. Some sections which are especially significant when discussing biblical, multi-ethnic community have been highlighted in blue.

Ephesians 2

Made Alive in Christ

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

One in Christ

¹¹Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)— ¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Footnotes:

1. Ephesians 2:3 Or our flesh

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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of International Bible Society.

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