Ephesians

Ephesians 2:21

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Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:21. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 2:21

… in whom [ie Christ] the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

Christ is the cornerstone (v.20) of the temple or household that is being built. It is in him that this household is held together.

Paul uses this word “in” twice to refer to our relationship with Christ. Given the building illustration, this seems odd. A structure rests on the cornerstone, which in some ways shapes it and directs it, but the structure is never “in” the cornerstone.

Paul is trying to remind us that, despite the metaphor of the church that he is using here, our connection with Christ is relational. In a building not every brick rests directly on the cornerstone. Indeed a particular brick maybe some distance from the cornerstone. The church, however, is an organic product. it is “in Christ”, and every member of the church also is “in Christ.” This is relational language not structural language.

Christ is not just the foundation stone, he is the mortar that holds the structure together. He is not in the corner of the building. He is the glue that holds the building together.

As individuals come to know Jesus and seek to serve him, They will also love their fellow Christians. ”A new commandment I give you that you love one another” (John 13:34). Love for Jesus translates into love for one another. So the church is built on Jesus’ love.

The church grows as it grows in Christ. if we love him, and relate to him, and obey him, the world will know that we are his followers. They, or at least some of them, will be attracted to the Good News and will want to be a part of this household.

The growth happens regardless of any church growth or evangelism programs. iI happens because the church is ”in Christ.” it is our relationship with Jesus that gives the power to make disciples, not any human plan. This is not to deny that believers need training and encouragement in evangelism. But real church growth is based in our knowledge of Jesus, not in our activity for him.

Here is a mystery. The household grows into a temple. When the church is in Christ what seems small and unremarkable grows into something that is prominent and central.

A Temple is:

  • A focal point for worship in the city
  • The place where God’s presence is specifically located
  • A place dedicated to God for his purpose, that is, holy
  • Replace for sacrifice
  • A place to encounter God

So the household of God, a small unit of believers, grows into something that is visible to all and recognised by all.

When the church remains in Christ, He builds the temple according to his plan and purpose.

The word “grow” suggests this is an ongoing process. Builders know when the project is completed. They look at the plans, maybe consult with the owner, and conclude that it is finished.

This growth into the temple in Christ is not finished. It cannot be, at least on this side of eternity.

There will always be more people to reach. There will always be a need to turn believers into disciples, passive Christians into active co-workers .

And so the church grows and will continue to grow until Jesus returns, and the mission is completed.

Key points in this verse:

  • God is building a structure on Christ the cornerstone. and on the prophets and apostles.
  • We must remain in Christ
  • It is Christ who determines what the shape of the church is
  • The growth of the church is organic growth
  • The growth and the mission of the church continue. It is a work in progress.

Ephesians 2:20

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Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:20. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 2:20

… built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

The church, the household of God, is built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, but Jesus himself is the cornerstone.

If the foundation is the most important part of a building, in ancient times the cornerstone was the most vital part of the foundation. In a community where mass production of building materials is not possible, there is variation in every part. So the cornerstone was chosen to be the anchor point. It sets the direction for the whole building.

The cornerstone had to be straight, all its edges level, and its corners exactly at right angles. If it was not true then the building could not be constructed to the specifications. Worse still, the walls may lean outwards or inwards as construction proceeded.

If we use the analogy of a building to describe the community of faith called the church, then Jesus is the cornerstone for the building. All of our life depends on him- our lives together and as individuals. Our behaviour and our belief must reflect the person and the ministry of our Lord.

Any so-called church which deviates from the teachings of Jesus revealed in the scriptures ceases to be a church. This is true whether we’re talking about core issues such as judgement and salvation, or important but less spiritual issues such as sexuality.

IF we remove the cornerstone, that is Jesus, then the building collapses.

The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

In one sense, this relates to the teachings of the Bible. The prophets refer to the Old Testament looking forward to the coming of Jesus the Messiah. The apostles refer to the New Testament in which the original apostles gave their testimony (in various forms) to the teaching and ministry of Jesus which culminated in his death on the cross .This opened the way to eternal salvation for all who put their trust in him.

The Bible, then, is the foundation for the church, the constitution on which the life and witness of the church is established. Just as the constitution of Australia describes how the nation is governed, the Bible describes how the church, the household of God, should order its life together.

Over recent decades there has been a re-discovery in the church of the ministry gifts of apostles and prophets. We are now in a time in which we have contemporaneous prophets and apostles, as was the case when Paul wrote this letter .

Space prohibits a full exploration of these ministries here, but a quick summary will help.

Apostles are men and women who are called by God and equipped by the Holy Spirit to provide covering and oversight of the church at a trans-local level. It is important to see that this is different to being appointed by an organisation. These apostles carry authority as a gift from the Holy Spirit, and other ministers willingly submit to their authority. This is not an institutional arrangement, but a spiritual ordering of ministry.

Many apostles see themselves as fathers to other people in ministry. This is a relational term, an analogy for the style of authority exercised. It is similar to the relationship that a father might have with an adult son.

Prophets are men and women who hear the voice of God in some detail. They are often described as the heart of God in the church , as they have the ability to discern God’s will in specific situations that are not always clearly spelt out in scriptures.

Often churches are planted by human organisations out of a strategy or corporate action plan with no apostolic authority or prophetic mandate. The church planters think a congregation of their brand might flourish in a town or city, so they start it, the same way that a fast food franchise might start.

If there is no prophetic or apostolic foundation for a congregation, then it will struggle because it is built on a foundation that is not Christ’s foundation.

They may preach great sermons, care for the poor, draw in thousands of people. But if the foundation is wrong the building will ultimately fail .

Those of us who called pastors and ministers in the church, together with all of Gods people, must make sure that anything we try to do carries the apostolic and prophetic mandate. It must be built on the right foundation.

Jesus must always be the cornerstone in all that we do.

Key points in this verse

  • The true church is built on a foundation laid by Jesus himself.
  • We must build with Jesus as the cornerstone.
  • Apostles and prophets, together with Jesus, form the foundation the church.
  • Any church which is built on a false foundation will fail

Ephesians 2:19

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Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:19. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 2:19

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people [saints] and members of God’s household.”

Because of Christ we are no longer foreigners and aliens.

Before we came to Christ, we were outside of the people of God. We had no access to God’s throne. We had no fellowship with God, because because we were not Jews.

Now we are no longer foreigners and aliens. We no longer stand outside of God’s family. We once were seen as outsiders or foreigners. We were the ones with the bad customs and bad habits- commonly called sin. We lived lives that were marked by sin, controlled by our old sinful nature, and were opposite in so many ways to those of the saints, the people dedicated to God.

Because of Christ’s death on the cross, we who were far off are now in the family of God.

We are now citizens in God’s Kingdom . A citizen is a person who has full membership, all the common rights and responsibilities of a nation. If you are a migrant to Australia, you can be removed at any time by the government. You have no rights to vote, limited access to Social Security and health cover.

But once you are a citizen, nobody can force you to leave. You belong! As citizens of God’s holy nation, we who were once non-citizens, aliens with no rights, are taken in and given all the rights of God’s people.

Nothing now can separate us from God and his people (Romans 8:25-39). We belong!

We are fellow-citizens. We are not just nameless people in an impersonal society. We belong to each other- to all the other citizens. Nobody is higher or lower. No one lives remote from the others. We are in this together, building God’s Kingdom, God’s household in a common enterprise directed by God.

The word translate as “God’s people” is really the word for saints. In Grteek the word is hagios the holy ones. Holy does not necessarily mean to be righteous or heavenly minded. To be holy is to be set apart for God’s purposes.

God’s people, then, are those who have responded to God’s call to repentance, but now, having been cleansed by the blood of Christ, are seet apart for God. We no longer live for ourselves, but for God who makes us holy.

So we have joined the citizenry of the holy people, we are saints. We need to see our daily lives as holy times, always on God’s mission. This applies at work, at home, at sport, wherever we are. We are people who are called for God’s purpose, and every minute belongs to him.

We are not just citizens of a kingdom but members of God’s household . We are no longer homeless street dwellers with no place to call home. We have been adopted into God’s household, God’s family.

In the society of the Roman Empire, a household consisted of every member of the extended family, including slaves and servants. They were considered to belong together, and were in fact the units of society. Each household was ruled over by a patriarch whose job was to lead the family and to protect it.

A person’s standing in the culture was determined by the household they belonged to. If a household was shamed, every member bore the shame. Likewise, if the household was honoured, the standing of every member rose .

Now we are in God’s household. He is our patriarch- our leader and our protector. He is the one with the highest standing of any patriarch. This is the family into which we has been included!

All of this is by the death of Christ on the cross. It is more than being saved from our sins. We are people of honour and standing, citizens and members of the most honoured household of all.

Key points in this verse:

  • we were once foreigners and aliens
  • the cross of Christ has brought us into God’s Kingdom
  • we cannot be separated from God because we are citizens
  • we are saints, dedicated to God’s purposes
  • we are members of God’s household, directed and protected by him

Ephesians 2:17-18

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Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:17-18. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 2:17-18

And he [Jesus] came and preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Jesus came and preached peace to those who were far off (i.e. Gentiles) and to those who were near (i.e. Jews)

The word for preached is derived from the word for Gospel or the good news – euangelion. This is the word from which we get words like evangelism and evangelical.

Jesus came and he preached a message of peace. It was not any message of peace; it was the good news.

This message is that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The message of peace was firstly a message about peace with God.

Because Jesus paid for our sins on the cross, we are now able to come into God’s presence and enjoy relationship with him. The enmity that results in sin and rebellion against God has been dealt with.

Sin sets us against other people at a personal, community, and even international levels. We cannot have peace with others if we do not have peace with God first.

Paul views this as being exemplified as the division between Jew and non-Jew. The Jews had access to the Father through obedience to the Law. So now peace is possible because both parties can have peace with God in Christ.

It cannot be said often enough that the Jews are no longer separate from the Gentiles. They do not have a different path to Heaven. Paul says over and over that the Law was abolished in Christ and that there is no difference anymore between Jew and Gentile.

The destruction of the temple, never to be re-built, in 70 AD demonstrates that God has done away with the old covenant forever.

Through Christ (particularly His death on the cross) Jew and Gentile have access in the one Spirit to the Father.

The cross and the blood of Jesus wash away every sin. “God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God loves the people of this world and brings us all the opportunity to repent and receive salvation in Christ – Jews and Gentiles, people from every tongue and tribe and nation.

Through Jesus we have access to the Father. When we know that our sins are forgiven, and there is no penalty to be paid, and no punishment to be feared, then we can boldly approach the Father.

The Father is “Abba”. He is not a distant almighty fearful deity to be approached with much abasement and the strict following of protocols. No, to those who are redeemed he is Dad.

Because of Jesus we can know God , an intimate experiential knowledge of our Creator. We can talk to him about the concerns that we have, the desires of our heart, and the needs of others. We can also listen to his voice , reassuring us of his love and grace, that he is handling the issues on our heart.

This access to the Father comes through the Holy Spirit. When we first came to faith, the Holy Spirit entered into us. The Spirit leads us and directs us, equips us and enables us to do impossible things for Christ.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12, give us the miraculous powers of Christ, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5 give us the character of Christ. As we grow in maturity into the fullness of the Holy Spirit, we become true representatives of Christ in the world .

In this sentence we again have a strong statement about the Trinity. The word Trinity is never used in scripture, but it is always present. Through Christ we have access to the Father in the Holy Spirit. Our God is three persons in one God, a community of eternal love – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Key points in this verse:

  • Jesus brings the good news of peace.
  • Peace is firstly peace with God.
  • Jews as well as non Jews need the gospel and the salvation of Christ.
  • The blood of Jesus washes away every sin.
  • Through Christ we have access to the Father.
  • God the Father is not a stern disciplinarian but a loving Father.
  • The Holy Spirit seeks to make us more like Jesus

Ephesians 2:16

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Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:16. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 2:16

… and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end.

Christ has abolished in His flesh the Law so as to create one new man from the Jew and Gentile, making peace by reconciling us to God in one body.

God’s plan is to bring reconciliation of all people to Himself through Christ. This applies to Jews and Gentiles specifically, but to all people more generally.

If we are untied with Christ, then we must be one with each other. There can be no hostility between people who claim allegiance to Christ. That is the theory. The truth is that we are all still in the process of crucifying the old nature, and so we can find ways of developing and expressing hostility to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

If Jews and Gentiles are truly reconciled to God through Christ, the walls of hostility must come down.

It is not clear from the words whether Paul is referring to the physical body of Christ on the cross, or to the church as the body of Christ. Both explanations are possible.

Jews and Gentiles, all the people who are saved, are reconciled to God through the body of Christ crucified on the cross. There is no way to sugar coat this. The cross was horrible and offensive, and people still try to minimise it, but it is the body of Christ that brings people to God. The price is paid for us on the cross. Our sins are forgiven, and we are brought back into relationship with the Father.

The body is also a metaphor for the church, which Paul uses often. In the church we see people of every tongue and tribe worshipping together and fellowshipping together. People with Ph D’s and people who never finished high school, men and women, all can come to the Body of Christ and fond peace with God.

Whichever way we choose to interpret the “one body” it is the cross that is at the centre of it all. Without the cross there is no forgiveness of sins for anyone. Without the cross we are still in darkness and heading for hell. Without the cross there is still the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles.

It is the cross that changed things, that changes us.

Key points in this verse:

  • God wants to reconcile all people to Himself
  • We are reconcile in one body- Christ’s physical body or His metaphorical body, the church.
  • Without the cross there is no reconciliation.

Ephesians 2:15

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Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:15. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 2:15

“… by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one man in the place of two, so making peace.”

We are used to saying that Christ took our sins on his body on the cross, here Paul is saying something far more radical. Christ took the law with all of its commandments and regulations, and put it to death on the cross.

Jesus dealt with our guilt by destroying the power of the law to condemn us. If there is no law, there can be no transgression and no condemnation.

Every year politicians add more and more laws to our law books. There are so many now, some of them contradictory, so that it is impossible for any person to know all the laws that might apply to them, much less to know if they have broken the laws.

Just in driving a vehicle, the laws have become so many and so varied that most people break the law every day.

Paul says that in respect to the Jewish law, the law of God, Christ abolished the law in his flesh.

What freedom this brings to us, knowing that we are no longer bound by laws of sacrifice and diet. When we break those laws we are no longer under judgement because the laws are no longer in existence. Christ abolished them.

The early church had to wrestle with the question of whether the Gentiles who became Christians first had to become Jews. Did the uncircumcised have to belong to” the circumcision” to be acceptable to God? No,the Law had been abolished in Christ.

The result of the abolition of the law was the abolition of the distinction between Jews and Gentiles. If a Jew was the person who obeyed (or tried to obey) God’s law, then where there is no law there is no distinction between the two, other than perhaps cultural differences.

When it comes to salvation, when it comes to God, both Jews and Gentiles are in the same boat. They are “one new man.”

If the law has been abolished by Christ, Jewish people cannot be saved by the Law. Like Gentiles, they can only be saved by grace through faith in Christ. And many have been.

The” one new man” that Paul talks about here is the Christian Jews together with the Gentiles who follow Christ. Whether Jew or non-Jew, it is faith in Jesus that saves us, and it is faith in Jesus that unites us.

By abolishing the law in his flesh, Jesus is made peace between the two factions. There can no longer be any debate, conflict or hostility between the two as we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

Where there is family, there is peace

Key points in this verse

  • Christ abolished the law in his flesh
  • Where there is no law there is no guilt
  • Jews and Gentiles alike are saved by faith in Christ, not by the law
  • Jews and Gentiles who are saved are part of one family, brothers and sisters in Christ
  • Where there is family there is piece

Ephesians 2:14

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Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:14. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 2:14

“For he is our peace, who is made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility”

Christ is our peace. He is the source of all peace in the world, just as satan is the source of all enmity.

Peace is a major idea in Hebrew thinking, in fact it is a desire in many human hearts. The Hebrew people, and their language, elevated peace to a highly desirable quality- in the same way that Western democracies emphasise freedom as a basic human right.

The Romans had their Pax Romana, a peace obtained across the Empire by military might. It could be said that while Roman citizens enjoyed peace, their subjects often did not.

We may think of peace as an absence of conflict or hostility, but peace is more than that.

the Hebrew word for peace is shalom, which at its heart understands peace as about harmony or fitting together.

To fond true peace, we need to have:

1. Harmony with God. We live in a world scarred by sin and alienated from God. There can be no peace in our lives until we are reconciled to the Father .
2. Harmony with others. We need to be fitting in well with our family, neighbours, village, and nation. Unless a group of people knows peace with God, there can be no peace for individuals within the group. Lawlessness is perhaps the biggest sign of disharmony within a community.
3. Harmony with creation. We need to recognise that we are a part of the created world, and that our our activities either help to improve the creation or they help to destroy the natural harmony within creation which God declared to be good.
4. Harmony within. We are complex beings with body, mind and spirit. Our sins and hurts from the past may tend to pull us in directions that displease God or which setup warring factions within our own being. We cannot function as peaceful people while we are facing internal battles.

Christ is our peace. He restores the situation that hostility and conflict steal away from us. It does this by firstly restoring our harmony with the Father, and then, over time, showing us areas in our lives that need to be healed or repented of. He also gives us the grace to be peace makers where needed.

Others may rely on military might, diplomatic skills, force of personality, or other human qualities, but Christ is our peace.

To know peace, true peace, we must stay close to the source of peace, that is Christ. We need to listen to him, obey him and walk closely to him in order to live in his peace .

Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles , making both one people. He did this on the cross, offering God’s forgiveness to all who receive it, and extending his kingdom to all nations.

The division between Jews and Gentiles is no longer relevant. The wall that had previously separated the two groups is now irrelevant in the light of the revelation of God’s grace.

Jews and Gentiles, at least those in each group who are being saved, are all children of the living God. It is therefore wrong for a Gentile believer to disrespect a Jewish believer. This would be dishonouring the Father of both, and saying that the sacrifice of Christ is not important.

We can apply this to every group that sets itself as superior to other groups. A white christian has a responsibility to love an aboriginal believer and vice versa. The sufferings of each group in conflict is nothing to the suffering of Christ. If he has forgiven, then so must we.

We are the people who walk-in shalom because Christ is our peace. Wherever there is a failure of shalom, it is a failure of us to see Christ in the other.

Key points in this verse

• Christ is our peace
• The peace that Christ brings is not just an absence of fighting. It is all encompassing.
• This peace can overcome deep hostility if only we will let Christ rule.
• We must not allow flights with Christian brothers and sisters to stand .
• As christians we are called to be peace carriers and peace makers .

Ephesians 2:13

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Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:13. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 2:13

“But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.”

We were once far off, alienated and strangers to the covenant of promise. We had no hope.

We Gentiles were out of the family because of our birth. This is in contrast to every Israelite who was in the covenant because of their birth.

But now in Christ Jesus, we who were once “far off” have been brought “near.” We were distant, out of reach, but now we are near to the family of God.

This could be interpreted as all christians, the saints to whom Paul is writing, are now near to Christ and His people. In fact so near that we are as close to God as any Jewish person ever was.

Alternatively it could mean that every Gentile, every person who is not Jewish, is brought close to the covenant promise. Not that they are “in” the promise already, but that the gulf that separated them from God has been closed up. In some ways it is just a line that needs to be stepped over to receive Christ and His forgiveness.

All this is God’s work. It is the gift which He has offered to us. The Jewish people, the people of the covenant, had allowed their favoured position to become a cause of pride and self-righteousness. As Gentiles “brought near”, we must never allow our status as saints to become a source of pride. God did it all.

We have been brought near in the blood of Christ. He has paid the price for our sins with His blood.

There is no other way to enter into God’s family. We must all be cleaned by the blood of the Lamb.

For some people, this is a stumbling block. They are offended by the cross, by the thought that God should suffer on their behalf.

That is just pride. They want to think that they can save themselves, or even that they are not sinners who need saving. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Therefore, to be saved we all need to come through the blood, through the cross. There is no other way.

This is a continuous process. We don’t get ”washed in the blood” just once, but many times. We come to God “in” the blood of Christ, not through the blood of Christ.

This means that repentance becomes a way of life. We don’t just say the sinner’s prayer and get saved. We need to be constantly on guard against sinning. When we fall, we need to repent (again and again), turning away from those sins that so easily entangle us.

This repentance and regular confession of sins keeps us “ in the blood”, in the place of humility before God.

However, we need to also ensure that this is not an obsessive preoccupation with our guilt.. That is a religious bondage, not the freedom of Christ.

As the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin, we ask Jesus to forgive us. We bring ourselves back in the blood and receive ongoing forgiveness and cleansing.

Key points in this verse


Salvation is always a gift not a reward

We were once far off but now we are near

The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin

Ephesians 2:11-12

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Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:11-12. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 2:11-12

“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men) – remember that at that time you were separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.”

We were once Gentiles, outside of God’s people. We were called uncircumcised by those who called themselves “ the circumcision.”

Those of us who were born outside of the Jewish tribal system were outside of God’s covenant people. The world was divided into two camps – the people of Israel and the Gentiles

Israel had been established by God to be a light to the nations ( literally to the Gentiles). This action was intended to show the world what a whole nation surrendered to God’s purposes could look like. Of course they failed in this, so much so that God allowed them to be conquered by multiple enemies, including lastly Rome.

Rather than being an open, inclusive, witnessing community, the Jewish people, at times, could be very exclusive. They would not mix with the Gentiles for fear of being made unclean.

They established a claim for their exclusivity calling themselves “ the circumcision”. They focused on a sign of the covenant rather than the covenant itself in order to feel better about themselves.

In doing this, they ignored their prophets who had spoken of the circumcision of the heart which was far more important. God wanted to change them from the inside and not just on the outside.

Human beings have an infinite capacity for looking at outward appearances, trusting in external rituals and behaviour. God looks at the heart, and it is the affections and thoughts He changes first, not just the outward signs.

We Gentiles were once far off from God. We were separated from Christ. There was a chasm that separated us because we were born as foreigners. We were outside the nation of Israel. Relationship with God could only be attained by birth in the faith community. We were born outside the people of God.

We were foreigners to the covenants of Promise. God promised wonderful things for His people Israel. but we were left out. How could we ever hope to experience God’s favour? How could we aspire to eternal life?

We were without hope because there was no way for us on the outside of grace to get inside. Yes there were ways to become a convert to J Judaism, but many did not know. They lived lives of quiet desperation.

We were far from God – “without God”. Unable to reach the one true God, the Gentiles invented their own lesser gods. Unable to see him, they bowed down to idols made by human hands.

In the joy of fellowshipping with God, it is easy to forget who we once were. We become complacent, even self-righteous and prone to judgmentalism.

We are in God because of God’s grace; He did it all for us. The cross was God’s idea. The desire to see all men and women saved was born from God’s love.

This was not our own doing – we just happen to have been smart enough to put out our hand to receive the gift of salvation.

It is like riding a train. I did not build the tracks or the train. I do not know how to drive the train or how the signals work. How the train is powered is a mystery. But I know that if I get on to that train it will take me to the place I need to get to.

Jesus Christ is like the train. I don’t know how it works, but I know his death liberated me from sin and raised me to a new life in Him. It all comes as a gift from God to all who receive it.

Key points in this verse

  • We, the Gentiles, were called the uncircumcised.
  • It is common for people to devise names that make us feel superior.
  • Christians have no reason to be self-righteous
  • We were once without hope and without God, but He brought us into His kingdom.

Ephesians 2:10

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Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:10. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 2:10

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

In the previous verse, Paul stated unequivocally that we are not saved by good deeds, but now he tells us that we are saved for good deeds. Salvation comes first, then the good deeds, God’s deeds.

There is a certain strand of Christianity that constantly emphasises the sinfulness of people, even those who are born again. It is important that we recognise that even as followers of Jesus we can sin. The problem comes when we start to take on board the message that we are not good enough, that we will never make it.

Here is the amazingly good news. We are God’s workmanship. Literally the Greek term means a masterpiece. The word is poiema from which we get the word poem.

Before we were saved we were created in God’s image. We were knitted together inside our respective mothers. We are, just in terms of our physical construction, an amazing creation. Then add in our awesome mental capabilities and our ability to make wise decisions and our moral judgement- you are a work of art! Sin messed things up, like oil poured over a Rembrandt. But God has now cleaned that up and restored us to the original state.

Even better than that, God has restored you into a pre- sin state and marked you with His Holy Spirit. What an amazing work of art!

People speak of their awe at seeing the Sistine Chapel with all its art surrounding on every side. As a redeemed child of God, you are a work of art, a masterpiece of Gods creation.

We are Gods masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus. Being born again means that we are created anew. The part of us that was dead has come to life. the part of us that was stained by sin has been recreated. The overwhelming, never-failing grace of God, passed on by Jesus makes us a new creation.

We get to have a new start, a purpose in living that should galvanise us and put a spring in our step every day.

We are created in Christ for the good works that God has prepared for us.

it’s not about “pie in the sky when you die.” It’s not about basking in the glory until we are promoted to Heaven.

No, we have been born again for God’s good works. We are God’s workmanship created to do his work.

We are not created to do good works generally, although there is no harm in that. God has created us in Christ for His good works. We are created for a mission, for God’s mission.

Some people are activists who will support any cause that they think is a good thing. They run themselves ragged doing good works, but they may not be doing God’s good works.

Each disciple needs to ask God, “What is my purpose in being created and recreated in Christ?” He has a specific purpose for us. Everything else is just punching at the air .

Each of us has been created for good works that were prepared for us long ago. Before we were born, God had a plan of what He was wanting us to do. He moulded us and shaped us for these deeds.

We often get this the wrong way round. We think that there are things we can do, missions or community work that is already there. We were not created to fill a gap. There are deeds created for us to do, prepared before the beginning of time. Our job is to find these deeds, not volunteer to do good things.

God’s pre-prepared deeds give our life purpose. We must not get distracted by everybody else’s life purpose and so miss out on the thing God has prepared for us to do.

The idea of walking in these deeds suggests a long-term commitment. Each of us has a vocation or calling that determines our reason for being. When we find that vocation, we cannot do anything other than walk in it or stick with it.

Each of us has a different vocation. That is why the church is called a body. When everyone uses their spiritual gifts and their natural talents to fulfil the good deeds that God has created for them to do, then the church explodes with energy and vitality. Every member of the church is working together in their own mission in order to collectively fulfil the mission of the church.

Key points in this verse:

  • You are God’s masterpiece
  • We are saved for good deeds and not by good deeds
  • God has prepared a mission for each one of us
  • We are most fulfilled when we are walking in the mission God has called us to
  • When every believer walks in their calling together, the mission of the church becomes highly effective