Search
Ephesians 2:11-22 unveils that Christ is the Creator of the new man.
Ephesians 2:11-13 shows that according to our status, we, the Gentiles, were far off from God, Christ, God’s kingdom, God’s blessings, God’s promise, and everything related to God. In particular, we, the alienated Gentiles, were separated from Israel, God’s chosen people, but Christ’s redemption brought us into God and Israel, making us one with God’s chosen people.
In Ephesians 2:11 Paul says, “Remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, those who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh made by hands.” This verse indicates that we were once the Gentiles in the flesh. The man whom God created to fulfill His purpose was pure, without sin or any kind of negative mixture. However, sin, the evil nature of Satan, entered into man through the fall. First, it caused man’s body to become the flesh, full of lusts, and eventually, it made the whole being of man the flesh. Hence, man was damaged and was thus prevented from fulfilling God’s purpose. Then God came in to call a race — Abraham and his descendants — out of fallen mankind. For the accomplishing of His purpose, God commanded them to be circumcised, that is, to put away their flesh. This meant that they were separated from fallen mankind and delivered out of the fallen condition. Circumcision made a tremendous distinction between them and the rest of mankind. The circumcised people were called “the circumcision,” those who were separated from the fallen situation. The rest of mankind was called “the uncircumcision,” those who remained in the fallen state. These were the Gentiles in the flesh. We were in this category before we were in Christ.
Verse 12 says “That you were at that time apart from Christ.” Christ, in whom all God’s blessings to His chosen people are embodied, came out of Israel, the circumcised people. Since we, the uncircumcised Gentiles, were separated from Israel, we were apart from Christ, having nothing to do with Christ.
Verse 12 also says that we were “alienated from the commonwealth of Israel.” Commonwealth here refers to the citizenship, the civil rights, of God’s chosen people, such as God’s ruling, blessing, and presence. Through the fall, mankind lost all the rights that God intended for man in His creation. God called Abraham and through circumcision brought His chosen people back to all these rights. We, as uncircumcised Gentiles, remained alienated from such rights.
Furthermore, verse 12 tells us that as Gentiles in the flesh, we were strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. God is in Christ, He rules and moves in the commonwealth of Israel, and He bestows His blessings according to His covenants. When we were apart from Christ, the commonwealth of Israel, and the covenants of God’s promise, we were without God; we did not have God as our enjoyment.
Ephesians 2:13 goes on to say, “But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have become near in the blood of Christ.” Here but now is a precious phrase, indicating that now in Christ we have hope and that we also have God. Once we were far off from Christ, from the commonwealth of Israel, and from the covenants of God’s promise. This equals being far off from God and all His blessings. But now in Christ, we who were once far off have been brought near to the things from which we were once far off. We were far off because we were fallen, but the redeeming blood of Christ brought us back (1:7; Col. 1:20). Hence, in His blood we have become near both to Israel and to God.
Ephesians 2:14-15 indicates that Christ’s death has abolished the law of commandments in ordinances, broken down the middle wall of partition, and slain the enmity to create the two in Himself into one new man. The problems between Israel, God’s chosen people, and us, the alienated Gentiles, are attributed to three main ordinances of Judaism: the practice of circumcision, the observance of dietary regulations, and the keeping of the Sabbath. These ordinances were obstacles that kept the Gentiles from God’s chosen people. Yet Christ annulled all these obstacles on the cross. When He was crucified, He brought all the ordinances to the cross; on the cross all these ordinances were crucified (Col. 2:14). In this way Christ broke down the middle wall of partition that consisted of the ordinances and thereby slew the enmity, which was created between the Jews and the Gentiles by the ordinances, in order to create the Jews and the Gentiles in Himself into one new man.
Christ broke down the middle wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles by abolishing the law of the commandments in ordinances. The middle wall of partition is the law of the commandments in ordinances, which was instituted because of man’s flesh. This middle wall of partition, which is the distinction (made mainly by circumcision) between the circumcision and the uncircumcision, became the enmity between the Jews and the Gentiles. Christ’s slaying the enmity was the breaking down of the middle wall of partition and the abolishing of the ordinances that brought in discord between the Jews and the Gentiles.
The law of commandments in ordinances is not the law of the moral commandments but the law of the ritual commandments, composed principally of the practice of circumcision, the observance of dietary regulations, and the keeping of the Sabbath. These ordinances were the main “columns” of Judaism. The moral commandments will never be abolished, but the ritual commandments were in force only during a particular time dispensationally and are therefore not permanent.
Ordinances are rituals, the forms or ways of living and worship, which create enmity and division. Every person has his own way of living. We need to be careful not to make our way of living or worship an ordinance. To practice the proper church life, all ordinances should be repudiated and dropped.
Concerning our way of life, we must all learn not to have any ordinances. We must learn to hate the differences that divide people. The worldly people regard cultural differences as a mark of prestige, but in Christ we have all lost this prestige. Now our only prestige is Christ and the genuine oneness. If we are willing to let go of our cultural pride, it will be possible for the Lord to have the proper church life.
The breaking down of the middle wall of partition is for the new man. If we keep our differences, it will be impossible to have the church life as the new man. The basic ordinances — those regarding circumcision, dietary regulations, and the Sabbath — had been ordained by God but were abolished by Christ on the cross. If the basic ordinances have been abolished, how much more should minor ones be abolished also? We should not keep any ordinances, and we should not create new ones. By the Lord’s grace, we must learn to drop all differences in order to enjoy the church life as the new man.
We need to pay careful attention to two phrases in verse 15: in His flesh and in Himself. In His flesh, Christ terminated all the negative things in the universe: Satan, sin, the flesh of fallen man, the world, the old creation represented by the old man, and the separating ordinances of the law (Heb. 2:14; Rom. 8:3; John 1:29; Gal. 5:24; John 12:31; Rom. 6:6; Eph. 2:15). In Himself as the sphere, element, and essence, Christ created the Jews and the Gentiles into one new man. We should declare, “First I was in Christ’s flesh; now I am in Christ Himself. In His flesh I was terminated on the cross, but in Christ Himself I was created as part of the new man.”
Christ did not stop with the termination of the negative things. Death is the threshold of resurrection; it ushers us into resurrection. Although Christ in the flesh was crucified, this death brought Him into resurrection. In resurrection He is no longer in the flesh; rather, He is the wonderful Spirit. It was in His flesh that we, the old man, were terminated, but it is in the wonderful Spirit that we have been created into the one new man. When our old man and our old nature were crucified, the ordinances related to our fallen nature were slain. Then in Christ’s resurrection and in His wonderful Spirit, we were created into one new man.
Christ is not only the Creator of the one new man, the church, but also the sphere in which and the means by which the one new man was created. He is the very element of the new man, making God’s divine nature one entity with humanity. The Greek word rendered “in” can also have an elemental significance, meaning also “with,” implying that the new man was created with Christ as its divine essence.
Christ created the one new man, the church, by working God’s nature into humanity. The working of the divine nature into humanity was something new. Hence, it was a creating. In the old creation God did not work His nature into any of His creatures, not even into man. In the creating of the one new man, however, God’s nature was wrought into man to make His divine nature one entity with humanity.
In the creating of the new man, first our natural man was crucified by Christ, and then through the crossing out of the old man, Christ imparted the divine element into us, causing us to become a new entity, a new invention of God (Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 5:17). The Jews and the Gentiles were separated to the uttermost by the separating ordinances, but both were created in Christ with the divine essence into one new entity, which is a corporate man, the church.
The church is not only the church of God, the Body of Christ (the fullness, the expression, of the all-filling One — Eph. 1:23), and the household or family, the house, the temple, and the dwelling place of God (2:19, 21-22). It is also the one new man, which is corporate and universal, created of two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles, and composed of all the believers, who, though they are many, are one new man in the universe.
God created man as a collective entity (Gen. 1:26), but the corporate man created by God was damaged through man’s fall. Hence, there was the need for God to produce a new man. This was accomplished through Christ’s abolishing in His flesh the ordinances and through His creating of the new man in Himself.
Speaking of Christ, Ephesians 2:14 says, “He Himself is our peace.” The word our refers to both Jewish and Gentile believers. Through the blood of Christ we have been brought near both to God and to God’s people. Christ, who accomplished full redemption for both the Jewish and the Gentile believers, is Himself our peace, our harmony, making both the Jewish and Gentile believers one. Because of the fall of mankind and the calling of the chosen race, there was a separation between Israel and the Gentiles. Through Christ’s redemption this separation has been removed. Now, in the redeeming Christ, who is the bond of oneness, both are one.
Verse 15 tells us that Christ made peace. By Christ’s abolishing in His flesh the separating ordinances, that is, His slaying the enmity, and by His creating the Jewish and the Gentile believers into one new man, peace was made between all believers. There is a real peace among all the believers in Christ.
As the Creator of the new man, Christ has reconciled the Jews and the Gentiles in one Body to God in one Spirit. Verse 16 says that Christ “might reconcile both in one Body to God through the cross.” Both in this verse refers to the Jews and the Gentiles. Not only the uncircumcised Gentiles but also the circumcised Jews needed to be reconciled to God through the redemption of Christ, accomplished on His cross.
Verse 16 indicates that the Jews and the Gentiles have been reconciled in one Body. This one Body, the church (1:23), is the one new man mentioned in the previous verse. It was in this one Body that both the Jews and the Gentiles were reconciled to God through the cross. We, the believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, were reconciled not only for the Body of Christ but also in the Body of Christ. What a revelation here! We were reconciled to God; we were saved in the Body of Christ.
We usually regard reconciliation as an individual matter; we do not often think of corporate reconciliation. However, the proper and genuine reconciliation is in the Body. The Body is the instrument, the means, by which we were reconciled to God.
According to verse 16 of chapter 2, we were reconciled in one Body to God. Originally, we were without God and we had lost God (v. 12), but through the cross, with the blood of Christ, we have been brought back to God in the one Body. As long as we are in the Body, we are one with God, but if we are outside the Body, we are separated from Him.
In verse 18 Paul goes on to say, “For through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” Both the Jewish and the Gentile believers have access to the Father through Christ, who abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances, broke down the middle wall of partition, slew the enmity to reconcile the Gentiles to the Jews, and shed His blood to redeem the Jews and the Gentiles to God. This access is constituted of Christ’s cross and His blood (Heb. 10:19). On the one hand, the cross of Christ slew the enmity caused by the ordinances, which were instituted because of the flesh, and on the other hand, it redeemed us with the blood of Christ, which was shed upon it. It was through the cross that both the Jews and the Gentiles were reconciled in one Body to God.
As Ephesians 2:18 indicates, our access unto the Father is in one Spirit. First, both the Jewish and the Gentile believers were reconciled in one Body to God (v. 16). That was a positional matter. Then they both have access in one Spirit unto the Father. This is experiential. In order to enjoy experientially what we possess positionally, we need to be in the Spirit. If we have the cross without the Spirit, we have the fact without the experience. Hence, the Spirit is crucial.
Positionally, we were reconciled to God; experientially, we have access unto the Father. To be reconciled to God is to be saved; to have access unto the Father is to enjoy God, who, as the source of life, regenerated us to be His sons. Here the trinity of the Godhead is implied. Through God the Son, who is the Accomplisher, the means, and in God the Spirit, who is the Executor, the application, we have access unto God the Father, who is the Originator, the source of our enjoyment.
In Ephesians 2:20-22 Paul says, “Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone; in whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” These verses reveal that Christ Himself becomes the cornerstone of God’s dwelling place in our spirit.
The foundation of the church is Christ (1 Cor. 3:11). Because the mystery of Christ was revealed to the apostles (Eph. 3:4-5), the revelation they received is considered the foundation on which the church is built. This corresponds with the rock in Matthew 16:18, which is not only Christ but also the revelation concerning Christ, on which Christ will build His church. Therefore, the foundation of the apostles and prophets is the revelation they received for the building of the church.
In Ephesians 2:20 Christ is referred to not as the foundation (Isa. 28:16) but as the cornerstone, because the main concern here is not the foundation but the cornerstone that joins together the two walls, one wall being the Jewish believers, and the other, the Gentile believers. Here, not Christ but the apostles and prophets who received the revelation concerning Christ are stressed as the foundation. When the Jewish builders rejected Christ, they rejected Him as the cornerstone (Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7), the One who would join the Gentiles to them for the building of God’s house.
In Matthew 21 the Lord Jesus indicated, in a figurative way, that the Pharisees would reject Him. Verse 42 says, “Have you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner. This was from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” By this word the Lord revealed that after His resurrection He would become the cornerstone to join the Jews and the Gentiles. Referring to Christ, Peter said to the religionists in Acts 4:11 and 12, “This is the stone which was considered as nothing by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner. And there is salvation in no other, for neither is there another name under heaven given among men in which we must be saved.” Peter’s word shows that salvation implies building. God’s intention in saving us is not to bring us into the heavens. Rather, it is to join us to the Jews so that He may have His building. Many unbelieving Jews despise the Lord Jesus because they do not want to be joined to the Gentiles. As long as a Jew does not believe in Christ, he may be separated from the Gentiles, but as soon as such a Jew believes in Him, he is joined by Christ, the cornerstone, to the Gentile believers. Whether we are Jews or Gentiles, we have been saved in order to be joined together in Christ for God’s building.
According to Ephesians 2:21, in Christ, who is the cornerstone, all the building, including both the Jewish and the Gentile believers, is fitted together and is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. Here being fitted together is to be made suitable for the condition and situation of the building (4:16). Moreover, since the building is living (1 Pet. 2:5), it is growing. It grows into a holy temple. The actual building of the church as the house of God is by the believers’ growth in life. The entire building of God’s house, God’s sanctuary, is in Christ the Lord. Such a building has the wonderful Christ as the joining cornerstone.
Ephesians 2:22 says, “In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” The spirit here refers to the believers’ human spirit, which is indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit is the Dweller, not the dwelling place. The dwelling place is the believers’ spirit. God’s Spirit dwells in our spirit. Therefore, the dwelling place of God is in our spirit. Verse 21 says that the holy temple is in the Lord, and this verse says that the dwelling place of God is in spirit. This indicates that for the building of God’s dwelling place, the Lord is one with our spirit, and our spirit is one with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). Our spirit is where the building of the church, the dwelling place of God, takes place. This indicates that not only are the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God in our spirit; the new man and God’s dwelling place also are in our spirit. The church as the new man today is in our spirit. Practically speaking, when we are out of our spirit, we are out of the church. For this reason, we must always turn to our spirit, exercise our spirit, and walk according to our spirit. We should not be out of our spirit or have our being apart from our spirit. We must walk, live, act, and have our being in our spirit. When we exercise our spirit in this way, we are in the church.
By His all-inclusive and wonderful death, Christ created both the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers into one new man. This one new man is not an organization but is an organism full of life. Through the cross He took away sin and sins, destroyed Satan, judged the world, abolished all the ritual laws contained in the ordinances, released His divine life into us, and created us into one new man as an organism constituted of the divine element by the dispensing of the divine life. Because Christ has abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances, and because we all have the divine life, we are one. Now both Jews and Gentiles are reconciled in one Body to God through the cross.
Although very few believers today enjoy Christ as the Creator of the new man, we should enjoy Him as such. We may dislike certain nations and people therein, but if we enjoy Christ as the Creator of the new man, who brings us into oneness with all the believers in Him, we will be able to meet, fellowship, and pray with the believers from any nation. In Christ as the Creator of the new man, we can be one with all the believers, regardless of their race, nationality, or culture, for Christ abolished all the ordinances that separate us from one another. Hence, the church is composed of all peoples, irrespective of their race, nationality, and ordinances, as long as they have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and regenerated by the life of Christ.
