Eph. 2:1-3 gives us a picture of our condition by nature. In this message we need to see that verses Eph. 2:11-12 portray our position according to our status. Because of our sinful nature, we were in a condition of death; according to our status, we were far off from God, Christ, God’s kingdom, God’s blessings, God’s promise, and everything related to God.
The first point concerning our status is that we were the nations in the flesh (v. 11). The Greek word translated “nations” also means “Gentiles.” Hence, according to our status, we were the Gentiles in the flesh.
The man 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. When the evil nature of Satan entered into man, it firstly caused man’s body to become the flesh, full of lusts, and eventually caused the whole being of man to become the flesh. In a very real sense, God created only the body of man, not the flesh. But when sin came into man’s body, the body was changed in nature and became the flesh. The body was the pure vessel created by God; the flesh is the corrupted body. God did not create the lusts in man’s body. The lusts came from sin. According to the Bible, eventually fallen man in his entirety became the flesh. Fallen people live according to the flesh, not according to the spirit, the conscience, or reason. Because in the eyes of God fallen man has become flesh, the Bible says, “By the works of law no flesh shall be justified before Him” (Rom. 3:20). The word “flesh” in this verse denotes a fallen person who lives according to the flesh and has become flesh.
Because his whole being had become the flesh, man was damaged and thus prevented from fulfilling God’s purpose. Since mankind as a whole could not fulfill His purpose, God came in to call out of fallen mankind a race — Abraham and his descendants — for the accomplishment of His purpose. God then commanded Abraham and his descendants to be circumcised, that is, to put away the flesh. Thus, circumcision indicates that God’s chosen people must put aside their flesh. The fact that the called race was circumcised 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. They are called the circumcision, those who are separated from the fallen situation. The rest of mankind are called the uncircumcision, those who remain in the fallen condition. Because Abraham and his descendants, the called race, were circumcised, those who remained in the fallen estate became the nations in the flesh, the Gentiles. We were in this category before we were in Christ.
Verse 11 says that the nations in the flesh were “called uncircumcision by those who are called circumcision in the flesh made by hand.” The words “uncircumcision” and “circumcision” in this verse both apply to people; they do not refer to actions. The circumcision are those who are circumcised, and the uncircumcision are those who are not circumcised.
Verse 12 says that we “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.” The “commonwealth” here refers to the citizenship, the civil rights, of God’s chosen people, including God’s ruling, blessing, and presence. Through the fall, mankind lost all the rights which God intended for man in his creation. By calling Abraham, God brought His chosen people back to all these rights through circumcision. But we, as uncircumcised Gentiles, still remained alienated from them.
According to verse 12, we were also “strangers from the covenants of the promise.” God’s covenants are His promises. His promise is His word that He will freely do certain things for His chosen people. Such a word of promise is not a demand, a requirement, or a rebuke. The basic thought regarding God’s promise is that it is His word. Apart from the word, there is no promise.
Eventually, God’s promise became the binding covenant because it had been legalized by the necessary procedures. Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament God’s words of promise have been legalized to become a binding covenant. You may wonder what procedure was necessary to legalize God’s promise into a covenant. The best illustration concerns the death of the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. The Lord promised that He would shed His blood on the cross so that we might receive the forgiveness of sins. The promise of forgiveness was legalized by the shedding of His blood. Through this procedure, His promise became a covenant.
No promise binds a person as much as a covenant does. Men can make promises without being bound very much by them. But once we pay the price for that promise to become a covenant, we are bound by the covenant we have made. The price is the procedure necessary to make the promise a covenant.
All the words God spoke to His chosen people, from Abraham to Malachi, are His promises legalized to be His covenants. These words cover all the Old Testament from Genesis 12 to the end of the book of Malachi. Because these words have been legalized to be God’s covenant, the Old Testament is called a testament, which is another term for covenant. The whole Bible is a covenant, and the Old Testament is the old covenant.
Before we believed in Christ, we, the Gentiles, were not only alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, but also strangers from these covenants of God’s promise. We have seen that the promise is God’s word, that the promise has become a binding covenant, and that all the words spoken by God to His people were legalized by Him into a covenant. Before we were saved, we were strangers from the covenant of God’s promise.
According to our status before we were saved, we had no hope. All God’s blessings are contained in Christ; all the civil rights are related to the nation of Israel; and all good things are promised in God’s covenants. Since we were apart from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of God’s promise, we had no hope whatever.
As Gentiles in the flesh, we also were without God (v. 12). 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.
Verse 12 also points out that we were “in the world.” The world, which is the system of Satan, is in contrast to the commonwealth of Israel. The commonwealth of Israel was the kingdom of God, whereas the world is the kingdom of Satan. Before we were saved, we lived in the world, where we had no hope, no expectation, and no God for our enjoyment. That was the reason we pursued worldly entertainments. The worldly people today hunger after entertainment because they do not have God as their enjoyment. But now that we are in Christ, we have God as our enjoyment. How satisfying this enjoyment is!
A number of years ago some of my unsaved friends asked me why I did not indulge in certain gambling games. I told them that I was busy enjoying the Bible and had no time for nor interest in such games. When I was asked why I did not go to movies, I replied that I had a heavenly movie theater, the church life, where I saw the heavenly vision. Because I have such a full enjoyment of God, there is no room in me for worldly entertainments. Today we are no longer in the world; we are in Christ, in the Spirit, and in the heavenlies.
Now we have a clear picture of our status before we were saved. We were in the position of being the Gentiles in the flesh, the uncircumcision, who were apart from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise. We had no hope, and we were without God in the world. According to our nature, we were in death; and according to our status, we were aliens to God, Christ, God’s promise, God’s kingdom, and everything related to God. Because we were in such a position, we had no hope, and we did not have God as our enjoyment. In the world we pursued sinful entertainments in the attempt to find satisfaction. Nevertheless, the church has been brought forth out of such a deplorable condition and position. God has saved us out of that condition and has made us members of the Body of Christ. Now we are God’s masterpiece, and we have a new condition, a new position, a new nature, and a new status.
Ephesians 2:13 says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near in the blood of Christ.” Verse 4 begins with the words “But God,” whereas this verse begins with the words “But now.”
In Ephesians 2 the Apostle Paul presents two pictures: the picture of our condition according to our nature (vv. 1-3) and the picture of our position according to our status (vv. 11-12).
It was primarily because of our fallen nature that we were in such a low status. According to our nature, we were fallen; according to our status, we are far off from God, Christ, the commonwealth of Israel, and the covenants of promise. Ephesians 2 reveals that we need not only to be saved out of our condition by God’s grace, but also to be transferred out of our position by the redemption of Christ. When we are transferred out of our former position, we who once were far off are brought near.
God has saved us by working Himself into us to be our salvation. This is the saving grace that rescues us from the condition caused by our fallen nature. When life entered into us, we were saved from the condition of death. God also transferred us from our former position to a new position, where we have a new status.
In order to appreciate verse 13, we need to review the main points in verses 11 and 12. Before we were saved, we were the nations in the flesh, those who were called uncircumcision. The man whom God created to fulfill His purpose was pure, without sin or any negative mixture. However, sin, the evil nature of Satan, entered into man through the fall, firstly causing man’s body to become the flesh, full of lusts, and eventually causing man’s whole being to become the flesh. Hence, man was damaged and could not fulfill God’s purpose. Then God came in to call out of fallen mankind a race — Abraham and his descendants. For the accomplishment of His purpose, God commanded them to be circumcised, that is, to put away their flesh. This separated God’s people from fallen mankind and delivered them out of the fallen condition. Circumcision made a tremendous distinction between them and the rest of mankind, who were henceforth regarded as the uncircumcision, those who remain in the fallen condition. We were in that category before we were brought into Christ.
Because we were separated from Israel, out of which Christ came, we were separated from Christ and had nothing to do with Him. Furthermore, we were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise. Moreover, we had no hope, we were without God, and we were in the satanic system of the world. Because we were far off from Christ, from the commonwealth of Israel, and from the covenants of God’s promise, we were far off from God and all His blessings.
The precious words at the beginning of verse 13 — “But now” — indicate that now we have hope and we have God. We are no longer in the world; instead, we are in Christ Jesus. In Christ we have been brought near.
But to what, or to whom, have we been brought near? We have been brought near not only to God, but also to Christ, to Israel, and to God’s promise. This equals being near to God and all His blessings. Hence, in the redeeming blood of Christ we have been made near both to God and to Israel.
We have pointed out that 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 have been brought near to the very things from which we once were far off. We have been transferred out of our former status into Christ. Because our new position and status are in Christ, we are no longer far off.
Verse 13 specifically says that we have become near in the blood of Christ. This means that we are not only in the Messiah, but also in the redemption accomplished by the Messiah. The Jews are still expecting the Messiah to come; however, they do not realize how much they need Messiah’s redemption. The transfer from our former status to our new status in Christ actually was accomplished by the redemption of Christ. We were in a low status because we had fallen. When Christ shed His blood on the cross for our redemption, His blood brought us out of that low status. Now that we have been transferred by the blood of Christ, we are in Christ and in the heavenlies. Therefore, we are near to God. We are also near to Israel, to God’s promise, and to God’s blessings. In other words, in this heavenly position we are one with God, one with the proper Israel, one with God’s covenants, and one with God’s blessings. Because we have been transferred out of the former status and into a new status, we can participate in all that is of God. This is our portion in Christ.
We have been saved from our fallen condition by life, and we have been transferred out of our former status by the redemption of Christ. Now we enjoy salvation and we participate in all that is of God. Hallelujah, we have been saved and transferred! Chapter two presents a clear picture of how we have been saved from our miserable condition to be God’s masterpiece and of how we have been transferred from our former position and status to become the new man, the commonwealth of God, the household of God, and the dwelling place of God. This is the revelation in Ephesians 2.
