Category Archives: Bible Study

Ephesians 2:19

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So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God

As a result of all that has been said, we Gentiles are no longer strangers and aliens.

I think part of what keeps us from grasping the immensity of this is the fact that we don’t understand how great was our distance from God. We were outside the promises. We had no hope and were without God. I’m not just speaking of the time in our life before we came to Christ. I mean in the whole history of the world prior to the coming of Christ, Gentiles were outside. There was no access to God for them. The covenants of promise said nothing to them until Christ came and the mystery of the Gospel was revealed.

So, we are no longer strangers and aliens, but 1) fellow citizens with the saints, and 2) members of the household of God. When we trust Christ by faith, we are in — we are citizens, not aliens. We are in the family!

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:38 AM November 17, 2020.

Ephesians 2:17-18

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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.

Let’s take a look now at verses 17 and 18 which continue the thought from the previous verses.

And he came. Jesus came and preached peace to you who were far off. He is speaking here of Gentiles who were outside the covenants of promise and without hope. Christ has preached peace to us. He has also preached peace to those who are near. To the Jews. He is still speaking of the fact that the barrier between the two has been broken down such that there is peace with God and peace between these two groups.

Verse 18 begins with “for.” Why is there peace? Because through Christ we both have access. Both Jews and Gentiles have access to the Father. How? Through the one Spirit. There is only one Spirit (Eph 4:4). And through that one Spirit, we, who were far off, have been given access to God the Father. Amazing!

Both Jews and Gentiles are saved the same way, just as Peter states in Acts 15:11: “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we [the Jews] shall be saved in the same manner as they [the Gentiles].”

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:57 AM November 16, 2020.

Ephesians 2:14-16

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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.

(We’ll include verse 15 and 16 in this post.) Jesus Christ is our peace. He is the one who is bringing Jews and Gentiles together to make one new man. Jesus has broken down the wall that separated the two.

Verse 15 says that the wall is the enmity. The wall is the thing that makes Jews and Gentiles natural enemies of one another. What is that wall? It is the law of commandments contained in ordinances. What Christ has done is to release all of us from the law so that whether Jew or Gentile, we are saved by faith in Christ the Messiah. He is creating one new man. Don’t minimize the importance of this. The one new man is the body of Christ. Each individual member, whether Jew or Gentile is baptized into that body and given gifts to function within the body of Christ and thus blessing the world and bringing glory to God.

Our passage tells us that in breaking down this barrier, Jesus is making peace.

Verse 16 goes on with this theme. By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, he created peace, but also reconciled both to God. Both of whom? Both Jew and Gentile. God has killed the hostility by bringing both Jew and Gentile together with one access to God, the access that comes from faith. The requirements of the law have been satisfied in Christ and therefore each one of us can come to God by faith in Him.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:38 PM November 10, 2020.

Ephesians 2:13

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But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

But now. It had been the case that Gentiles were excluded from the life of God. But now things are different. Those who trust Christ, who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross brought Jews and Gentiles together, and, as Paul will say in verse 16, God is making one new man in place of the two.

Make this personal. It’s more than just factual information. If you are a Gentile, and most of you are, you personally have been brought near by the blood of Christ. You now have access to God through the gospel.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:26 PM November 10, 2020.

Ephesians 2:11-12

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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.

Since God has prepared for the works that we should do, we are to remember something. Verse 11 begins with “therefore.”

Therefore remember. We should remember that at one time in history, before the good news came to the Gentiles, we were called uncircumcision by the Jews. In other words, we were excluded from the promises of God as he explains in verse 12. Look at the words he uses here: separated from Christ, Alienated from the people of God, strangers (excluded) from the covenants, having no hope and without God.

That is the dire situation Gentiles were in up until the time Christ came and His apostles announced that the mystery was being revealed that Gentiles were to be included in the covenants God was making with His people.

This had been an entirely hopeless situation. Without hope and without God! And remember, we are talking about the way things actually work in God’s plan. Before Christ, Gentiles all over the world were excluded, not just from attending some event. They were excluded from participating in the life of God’s people and enjoying the benefits of God’s promises, and without God. A few Gentiles became part of God’s people, but very few.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:42 AM November 9, 2020.

Ephesians 2:10

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For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Verse 10 begins with another “for.” He has just told us that our salvation is not of works, otherwise we would boast. Why is it not of works, Paul? Because we are His workmanship. The emphasis, I think, is on the word “His.” God is the master craftsman and we are His workmanship.

What is the goal of His creative working? We were created in Christ Jesus for good works. Salvation comes ahead of the works. God prepared these good works ahead of time for us to walk in them. When we walk in faithful obedience to God, we know that any good works we do, He prepared before hand for us. He has gifted each believer to fit into the body where He wants us to function. He prepares the works that we should do in that part of the body. There is no need to be looking around at what other people do and what gifts they have. God has prepared our works for us personally that we would walk in them. And, by walking in them, or, in other words, living them out, we are helping to build up the body of Christ.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 8:48 PM November 4, 2020.

Ephesians 2:8-9

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For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Now that we have gone through the previous verses, you can see the context for verse 8 which many of us have memorized. The verse starts with “For.” It’s connected to what has gone before. We memorize it as a stand-alone or with verse 9, but it belongs with the previous verses. He is explaining the grace part of the previous several verses related to God’s purpose in demonstrating the glory of God.

It is by grace we have been rescued. God’s rescue of us and lifting us up out of the miry pit and placing us on the solid ground of salvation is totally and completely by grace.

God has extended favor toward us, and that favor and kindness are not related in any way to any good we think we may have done. It is not a reward or a benefit, or a response to our goodness. It is a totally unmerited blessing given from the generous hand of God by grace.

We receive this gift by faith. That means by believing. God has announced the good news of the gospel that Jesus came to pay the penalty for all of our sins when He died on the cross. Believing this and trusting God with His promise to save and forgive, is the way this grace is received. Salvation is not a reward for believing. It is freely offered, and the way we take advantage of it is by believing it.

And all of this is not of ourselves. It is not of our own doing. Our new birth is not by the will of man, but by the will of God (John 1:12-13). It is a gift. And you don’t work for a gift.

Verse 9 goes on to tell us it is not of works. Works give us an opportunity to boast: I was smarter than you in taking God’s offer of salvation; I was more faithful in obeying God; I went to church more; I paid more attention to my BIble reading than you; etc.

But salvation has nothing to do with any of that. It is a gift of God, period.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 8:43 PM November 4, 2020.

Ephesians 2:7

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so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Verse 7 gives us the reason for all of what has been said. God because of His mercy and love, saved us, made us alive, and seated us in heaven with Christ.

What is that reason? So that in the coming ages, God might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

He has done all that He has done to demonstrate the glory of His grace. He wants all the world to see what kind of God He is in His eagerness to pay for sin and forgive those who are in rebellion against Him. When we get to Ephesians 3:10 we find that this display will be made by the church. The recipients of this display of God’s grace will be not only to people, but to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. And this has been His plan for all eternity. It is basically the reason He created the world in the first place.

To put it simply, God’s plan was to display the glory of His grace, by forgiving and adopting people into His family as sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ. And don’t forget, grace means His doing this was totally unrelated to anything good we may have done, and indeed, in spite of our rebellion.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 3:19 PM October 28, 2020.

Ephesians 2:6

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and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Verse 6 continues the sentence and the thought from verse 5. By grace, God made us alive with Christ. What else did He do? He raised us up with Him. You see, because we as believers are in Christ, His history becomes our history. Our identity is in Him. So, when He died, we died. And when He was raised, we were raised.

Paul says in Colossians 3:1, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above.”

In Romans 6:10-11 Paul describes how Christ died to sin, but is alive to God. In verse 11 he tells us that we also must reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God IN Christ Jesus. There you have the same truth. IN Christ Jesus. We are in Him and thus we are on the resurrection side of things.

Back to Ephesians 2:6. We are also seated with him in the heavenly places. Christ is seated in heaven at the right hand of God the Father. And we also have been raised with Christ and are seated with Him in heaven. It’s as good as done as far as God is concerned. The church is the body of Christ, and believers are members of His body. Our identity is in Christ.

Look at Colossians 3:1-4 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Do you see how closely connected your life is with His? When He appears, you appear. If you are a believer, you are one with Christ.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 3:15 PM October 28, 2020.

Ephesians 2:4-5

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But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

But God! We were by nature the children of wrath. We once lived in the passions of our flesh. But God!

In the next couple of verses, Paul is going to describe what God has done for us in spite of our natural rebellion. But what will be the motive for what He does? First, He is rich in mercy. Mercy is the willingness to forgo the punishment that would normally be required. He pities us and has mercy on us. And, God is rich in mercy. There is no slack in God’s use of His mercy. It is bountiful and abundant.

And second, because He has loved us. He sent His only Son to pay the penalty that we should have been required to pay. Because of this tremendous, unmerited love, what did He do?

We’ll include verse 5 here.

He made us alive together with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. Verse 1 told us that we were dead. Even though we were dead and had no spiritual life in us, God made us alive together with Christ. Then he emphasizes the motive: By grace you have been saved.

We were dead sinners, hating God, having no life in us, not seeking after God, all our righteousness being as filthy rags. In that condition, God made us alive when He made Christ alive. We were given life together with Him. Let that sink in.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 3:10 PM October 28, 2020.