Crossing Boundaries
Ephesians 2:11-22
Our passage opens up with the ways in which the community is divided. This division is about identity as Gentiles and Jews, “the uncircumcision” and “the circumcision”. So, each group represents initially a different relationship to God. We, as modern readers, are a part of the Gentile community. But in Christ, the relationship changes and is no longer about two different groups. The two become one. This part of the letter contains three movements. The first movement is the recognition of the division that no longer exists in Christ (v. 11-13). The second section (v. 14-18) describes how the next move is accomplished in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The final move (v. 19-22) reiterates the first but with a noticeable incorporation of building language. We are now members of God’s household that is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself the cornerstone” (v. 20). The role that Jesus Christ plays in this whole structure is to tie it all together. Without him, none of this would be possible.
The first part of chapter 2 of this letter highlights a world torn in two. There is conflict and hostility, death and life, sin and grace. Ephesians 2:11-22 offers the answer to this challenge and an encouragement for the early Christians in Ephesus to remember how Christ Jesus brings all of the pieces together and holds it all together in the process. Without him, this unity is not possible. In Jesus, though, God makes unity a reality and declares the divine intentions and what God is working towards. The divine intention is reconciliation. Jesus came and “proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near” (v. 17). Peace in scripture is not simply the absence of conflict, or the cessation of war, or an end to hatred. Peace in scripture constitutes the wholeness of God intended for creation. In Christ Jesus, this peace is the reconciliation and dissolution of all divisions. In Christ, there is no longer us and them, or you (plural) and we. In Christ, we are one body.
It is no easy thing to be one body. It was no easy thing for Jew and Gentile to come together. The divisions between these two groups was real and filled with antagonism and hostility. Each side imagined the other to be atheos, in Greek it means to be without God. The Jews imagined the Greeks to be without their God, and the Greeks imagined the Jews to be without their gods. Karen Chakoian points out when reflection on this passage, “The irony of our time is that so many battles are being fought between those who think their rivals are atheos” (Feasting B, vol. 3, 256). When we look around at the world, it is difficult to see unity. More often we see division and fighting. Barriers built between nations and barriers built between neighbors.
The author who penned this letter to Ephesus does not tell us simply to tear down the walls and get along. Instead, she describes what God is doing and invites us to see the present, and make sense of the present, by shining upon it the light of God’s actions in Jesus Christ.
Reflection Questions:
How do you feel about diversity in the church?
What can we do in our daily lives to express our unity in Christ?
If Jewish and Gentile Christians can be reconciled “in one body through the cross,” what does that mean for our situation of Christian division today?