How Jesus Unites Humanity

Read Ephesians 2:11-18

In my last post, we learned through Paul's letter to the Ephesians who we are in Christ and that trying to "work" our way into heaven is futile, for our salvation is secured through faith and God's grace alone, not by works. 

Paul wants the Ephesians to understand who they were before Jesus and who they are now. He calls them Gentiles or the Uncircumcised. Which meant anyone who was not Jewish. By implication, they were a heathen or pagan nation that did not worship the one true God. Paul was sent to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. But, they had difficulty believing God would accept them without them doing something in return for their salvation. After Paul makes it clear they were saved through faith, he reminds them how Jews and Christians are now united because of Jesus.

Paul explains that the promises of the covenant God made with the Jews were also extended to Gentiles because of Jesus. But, while the Jews were seen as a holy nation, set apart by God as His prized possession (Exodus 19: 5-6), they still had the same problems the Gentiles had - they continually sinned against God. They also needed a Saviour! So Jesus became the mediator for both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus, as Paul says, broke the dividing wall between the two groups (Ephesians 2:14) so that the two would become one in Him. And it is through Jesus that we are made whole again, reconciled to God and have His Holy Spirit living within us. Through Jesus, we all have access to God. And because His Holy Spirit is available to all, we are united as we grow into a kingdom of priests for God. Imagine the possibilities! The world would actually know peace! This is why it is so important for those of us who know Jesus to share Him with as many people as possible. So that His kingdom will come. And we who believe and trust in Jesus Christ will become a holy nation dedicated in service to the one true God. Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22, NKJV).