Gods Way of Reconciliation: Studies in Ephesians 2 by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Author:D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones [Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion & Spirituality, Religion, Humanities, Bible Study, Bible Study & Reference, New Testament, General, Paul's Letters, Biblical Studies, Religious Studies, Christian Books & Bibles
ISBN: 9780801057953
Google: k4XWAAAAMAAJ
Amazon: 0801057957
Barnesnoble: 0801057957
Goodreads: 1594623
Publisher: Baker Books
Published: 1972-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

18

He is Our Peace

For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.

Ephesians 2:14–16

Here we have another of those great statements, majestic and all-inclusive, which we find so regularly and constantly as we work our way through this chapter. It is a part of the paragraph which begins at verse 11 and which runs on right into the third chapter. And again it is important, as we come to this fresh step which is taken by the apostle, that we should be bearing the general argument in our minds. You can never truly see the parts of the apostle’s argument unless you are carrying the whole in your mind at the same time. There is no meaning, there is no true existence to a part, apart from the whole. Let us, therefore, refresh our memories.

The apostle is demonstrating ‘the exceeding greatness of the power of God to us-ward who believe’. That is what he wants these Ephesians and all Christians to know. He prays that the eyes of their understanding may be enlightened in order that they may know this and grasp it. This is not ordinary human knowledge; this is not something that falls into the same category as history or philosophy, or something like that: is a special type and kind of knowledge. And it can only be grasped and apprehended as we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit. So the apostle has to start with that prayer. To a man whose mind is not enlightened by the Holy Spirit all this argument is quite irrelevant. And that is the position of the world and the attitude of all who are not Christian. They say they want something practical, something relevant. That is because of their blindness, for if they had eyes to see, they would see that this alone is relevant. But the apostle has prayed that they might know, in particular, ‘the exceeding greatness of God’s power to us-ward who believe’. And he demonstrates it, you remember, in two main ways. In the first he shows that they were dead in trespasses and sins; and nothing can raise the dead but the power of the Creator. It is God alone who can raise the dead—and He has raised these people out of spiritual death, with Christ, into newness of life; they are even seated with Him in the heavenly places.

But there was a second thing, and that was the division in the ancient world between Jews and Gentiles. Before people like these Ephesians who were Gentiles, pagans, could ever have become members of the Church, somehow or another God had to deal with that radical division. And what the apostle is dealing with in these verses, beginning with verse 11, is how God has done that.

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