Useful Bible Studies > Ephesians Commentary > chapter 2
By his death, Christ removes those things that separate people from God. The effect is to remove also those things that formerly separated God’s people from each other.
In particular, Paul refers to the things that separated Jews from Gentiles. The Jews are the people who belong to Israel, God’s special holy nation. The Gentiles belong to the other nations, none of which served the true God at the time of Paul. God brings both Jews and Gentiles together into a right relationship with him because of Christ’s death. Paul describes this in a very impressive way: it is as if two different people have become one new man. Their love for God and for each other brings them together.
Paul wrote the Books of Ephesians and Colossians at the same time as each other. Ephesians 2:15 is similar to Colossians 2:14. Both verses use the Greek word DOGMA, which means a public declaration of the law. Christ by his death destroyed the declaration of the law that was against God’s people. In other words, he forgave their evil deeds when he himself accepted their punishment by his death. The result, in both verses, was to remove what separates people from God, and from each other. Christ has dealt with these matters.
The result is not to make Jews into Gentiles or Gentiles into Jews. God still has his special plans for both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 11:12 and 11:25-27). Rather, the result of Christ’s death is to make both Jews and Gentiles into God’s holy people (1 Peter 2:9-10). As Christians they should love each other with the kind of love that comes from God (1 Corinthians chapter 13; 1 John 3:11).
Next part: Christians should not be enemies of each other (Ephesians 2:16)
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© 2019, Keith Simons.