Ep. 325. Ephesians 1-2 | Two Into One

EPISODE 325

TWO INTO ONE: EPHESIANS 1-2

Too often, people, including myself, for the first twenty years of my ministry, proof text the Scripture. We get an idea about the Bible and find verses that help to support that belief system we hold to. I am convinced that most people avoid or embrace the first Chapter of Ephesians either because they have a distaste or an affection for the way those opening verses are typically taught. To put it bluntly, those who call themselves Calvinists often use these verses to speak to the particular nature of salvation, and those who dislike the teachings of Calvinism avoid these verses because of how they're used. Either way, the avoidance or adherence to these verses is usually shaped by a Calvinistic filter. What if, instead, we just let the context of Ephesians shape the text for us? If we did that, we would find, by the time we made it to Chapter Two, that Paul is addressing the common salvation (and also the experienced disunity) between the Jewish and Gentile believers.

By the time we hit Ephesians 2:11, and then through the end of the Chapter, we can see the context quite clearly. On the one hand, you have the Gentiles, the uncircumcision, those who were separated from Christ, strangers, and far off. On the other hand, you have the Jews, the circumcision, the predestined people of God, those who were near to the things of Christ through the prophets. Though there are two groups of people, there are not two means of salvation. There are not two saviors, nor are there two faiths. In Christ, those who were once strangers (Gentiles) are now fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (the Jews who believe).

This will become even more clear when we get to Chapter Four, but it should at least give us pause about approaching the first Chapter of Ephesians through the filter of Calvinism (from either the pro or con perspective), and should have us thinking more about the nature of salvation and those to whom it is extended. Salvation was offered to the Jews who were near to the teachings and things of God, as well as to the Gentiles who were far from the teachings and things of God. Now, by faith in Christ, those two people groups have been made into one man in Jesus. The dividing wall of hostility between the two is made void by the grace of God through his son.

ADDITIONAL READING: Romans 9:1-3; Romans 1:17; Acts 15; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Psalm 8; Romans 9:1-3; 1 Peter 2:4-5