Lesson 5: The Central Theological Claim (Ephesians 2:11-22)
This is the “key and high point of the whole epistle” (Barth, Ephesians, 1:275).
Though the gentiles were once foreigners and aliens from the commonwealth and strangers to the covenants of promise, through the cross the Messiah has made peace and killed the hostility between Jew and gentile by abolishing the law of commandments in ordinances. As a result, both Jew and gentile have access to the Father through the Messiah in the Spirit, and together they are being built into a holy temple (Jesus is the chief cornerstone) where the God dwells by the Spirit.
Salvation History: “The Uncircumcision” Through a Covenantal Lens
| “Then You Gentiles in the Flesh Were” | “But Now in the Messiah” |
| Without the Messiah | In the Messiah |
| Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel | Citizens with the saints; no longer aliens |
| Far Off | Brought near |
| Strangers to the Covenants of Promise | No longer strangers |
| No Hope | Access to the Father |
| Without God in the World | Members of God’s Household |
| Hostility | Peace |
The Effect: New Temple through New Creation
That he might create in himself one new human
by making peace (2:15), and
that he might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross (2:16),
by killing the hostility in/through him/it, and
having come, the Messiah proclaimed the good news of peace to you gentiles (2:17)
because both have access to the Father through Christ in the Spirit (2:18).
Therefore, both are members of God’s household (οἰκεῖοι),
built on the foundation of the apostles & prophets, the Messiah the cornerstone,
in whom the structure (οἰκοδομὴ) has become a holy temple in the Lord,
in whom you are built together (συνοικοδομεῖσθε)
into a divine habitation (κατοικητήριον) in the Spirit (3:5; 5:18; 6:18)
(Eph 2:19-21).
The Means: The Work of Christ (2:14-16)
Thesis: “brought near by the blood of Christ” (2:13)—given access (2:18).
Elaboration: “he is our peace” (2:14-15a).
In his flesh,
having made both groups into one, and
having broken down the dividing wall—the hostility (ἔχθραν) between us, by having abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances
(τὸν νόμον τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐν δόγμασιν καταργήσας)
Result (ἵνα): new creation and reconciliation (2:15b-16).
Messiah might create one new ἄνθρωπον out of two,
making peace and
might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross,
having put to death the hostility (ἔχθραν) in/through it/him (ἐν αὐτῷ
Did the Cross Abolish the Law?
The Messiah put to death the hostility between Jew and gentile and united them in one body—the new human. How did the Messiah put to death the hostility?
Three Primary Options
- The Messiah abolished the whole law and thus created something wholly new.
D.R. Dungan, Hermeneutics: A Text-book (1888), 131-32: “It would seem impossible to make a statement plainer than this. The Gentiles and Jews have lost all distinction; they are all on the same footing; the law which had served as a partition wall between them had been removed. They were not under the law, but had been brought together in Christ.”
2. The Messiah abolished the “ceremonial,” separatist boundary markers, or some specific aspects of the law and thus removed the barrier between Jew and gentile.
Jean Calvin, Commentary on Ephesians, cv. 2:15: “What had been metaphorically understood by the word wall is now more plainly expressed. The ceremonies, by which the distinction was declared, have been abolished through Christ. What were circumcision, sacrifices, washings, and abstaining from certain kinds of food, but symbols of sanctification, reminding the Jews that their lot was different from that of other nations. . . so that they no longer differ from each other, but that the mark of difference has been taken away; for ceremonies have been abolished.”
3. The Messiah enabled full access for gentiles in God’s new habitation and destroyed the balustrade that prevented gentiles from access to God in the Herodian temple.
Argument for the Third Option (cf. Windsor, Reading Ephesians and Colossians After Supersessionism, pp. 134-140).
- If Ephesians claims Jesus abolished (καταργήσας) the law, this stands in tension with Jesus (καταλῦσαι) in Matthew 5:17 and Paul (κατήργηται) in Romans 3:31. It does not easily comport with their use of the Torah in their ethical teaching (Matt 22:36, 40; 23:23; Rom13:8, 10) and even Ephesians itself (6:2).
- The law did create a distinction between the covenant people and uncovenanted people, but the Torah itself did not prescribe the sort of separation or hostility noted in Ephesians 2 (cf. Lev 19:33-34; 24:17-22; Num 15:11-16; Deut 16:11; 29:10-11; Ex 12:19).
- The phrase “of the commandments in ordinances” (τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐν δόγμασιν) qualifies the law (τὸν νόμον). This is the only appearance of “law” (νόμος) in Ephesians. This is not the whole law itself, but some aspect related to “the commandments in dogmas.”
- The use of “ordinances” (δόγμασιν) qualifies the commandments and suggests the specific reality Ephesians has in mind. The word typically refers to decrees/judgments that regulate behavior by an external authority (Luke 2:1; Acts 16:4; Acts 17:7). It may refer, then, to post-Torah regulations imposed by authorities such as the dividing wall at the temple.
- The abolition of “the law” in this qualified sense is how the dividing wall (2:14) is destroyed—the hostility between Jew and gentile.
- Some identify the dividing wall as a metaphor for the hostility or even the law itself.
- Windsor identifies the dividing wall as a concrete expression of the hostility or separation of Jew and gentile. This is the balustrade in the temple that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the Court of the Women. It symbolized and enforced sacred separation.
- A contextual clue in Ephesians is that now both Jew and gentile have access to the Father in the temple of the one body (2:18; cf. 3:12). The dividing wall no longer exists because that ordinance(s) has been deregulated (cf. Matt 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). The death of Jesus created peace through forgiveness and holiness in the temple of his body.