Recap and Background

Welcome back to this fourth episode as we continue our journey through the book of Ephesians in Series 1. If you joined us in the earlier episodes, you will be aware of some of the themes that Paul is developing. There are a few things that are important to know as we get to this very important topic of a Church for all nations and all races.

Paul painted a big picture of the Church in the first two chapters. He explained the gospel, the process of salvation, the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and how God has invested so much in the Church. The Church will be at the centre of his purposes through time into eternity. In the last episode, we focussed on the exact nature of the gospel. In Ephesians 2: 1 - 10, we find Paul describing the state of darkness that we are in outside of Christ and the incredible glory of salvation. We can apply that to us as individuals but as Paul continues, he is not thinking so much about individuals, but about something else that happens through the gospel, something miraculous, wonderful and quite difficult to achieve, which is the gathering together of different races into one family. This is an amazing theme.

We live in a world which is often divided along the lines of racial groups and racial conflicts. Whatever part of the world you live in, this will be true for you. As I am recording this episode, I am looking at the world around me and am reminded of the terrible conflict that has taken place in recent years in Ethiopia between different tribal groups, of the considerable tribal tensions that produce much violence in Nigeria, of the war between Russia and Ukraine that is taking place as I record this episode, and of the ongoing racial conflicts between the Israelis and some of the Arabs, in their country and in the surrounding areas. We could have more and more examples if we continued to think about it. The world is divided, not just between countries, but also between ethnicities and races, and these can be some of the most difficult conflicts ever to resolve.

This is one of the results of sin. It was never God’s intention that there should be racial conflict. His desire was that as mankind developed from Adam and Eve and the first humans, into different racial groups living in different parts of the world, that there should be harmony between them - that there should be joy and excitement about sharing the variety of culture, language, music, food, traditions and clothing between all the different cultures of the world. That was God’s intention, and his intention will be fulfilled in the future, as we will see at the end of this episode. In the meantime, the power of sin divides people. One of the major divisions is along racial lines. Paul goes on to explore how the gospel changes all of this and gives us the opportunity, in different countries and in different racial groups, to come together, to be reconciled and to be a single family.

Racial Tension in Paul’s Day

The most important racial issue that the Early Church faced at the beginning, was the distinction and separation between Jews and non-Jews, or Gentiles. This was a profound social division. Paul was trying to bring the Jews and the Gentiles together in one Church, and here he explains the way in which this can happen, and the wonderful results that it can achieve.

“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who called themselves ‘the circumcision’, (which is done in the body by human hands) - remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh, the law, with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”

Ephesians 2:11-18, NIV

What was the fundamental distinction between Jews and Gentiles at the time when Paul began to preach the gospel? The Jews had a separate religion: a separate law, separate customs and traditions. They liked to keep themselves separate from other people. Some of the main points of division between them and others were, they practised male circumcision, which hardly anyone else did in those days and more importantly, they had very restrictive rules and laws about which foods that they could eat. Pork, shellfish, other fish, insects such as locusts and birds - many of these and other foods were forbidden to the Jews. Jewish people almost never invited Gentiles to share food with them; they ate separately. That created a big social division. They worshipped on the Saturday, or the Sabbath, and tried not to do any work on that day, whilst everybody else around them was working in a normal working day. They celebrated many religious feasts and festivals that no one around joined them in celebrating. So, the Jews were very distinct and even today if you meet traditional Orthodox Jews, you will notice that they are culturally quite separate from other people. They dress in a very different way to keep their traditions, and often like to keep themselves as a private social community rather than mixing freely with other people. This was the situation that Paul was facing. The Jews had reasons why they wanted to be separate. They knew that the God of Israel had spoken to their ancestors and had formed covenants with them - first with Abraham, then with Moses, and then with King David, and treated them as a special people in his purposes.

The ‘Dividing Wall of Hostility’

When Paul started founding churches, he tried to build everybody together into a single community but when the Jewish people believed in Jesus they were reluctant to join in with the non-Jewish people,. There was a racial separation between them. Paul spoke here about a ‘dividing wall of hostility’ - a barrier, in verse 14, between the Jewish people and the Gentiles. What he was probably referring to is an actual wall that existed in the Jewish Temple. The Jewish Temple was the central place of worship for the Jews in the city of Jerusalem at the time of Paul. It was a huge building, and at the centre there was a very sacred place called the Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest could enter in there, once a year; God’s presence was said to be in that place. Next to that, was an area which only the priests could be present in, where they carried out many of their religious ceremonies. In the next area, coming out a little further, was what was known as the Court of Men, where men could gather and watch the priests conducting worship. Then there was what was known as the Court of Women, where women, family members and children could be together. In the Temple, the central areas were separated, and different people were allowed in each one, but all of them had to be Jewish. When you came away from the Temple building, there was a large open area, a compound, and here hundreds and thousands of people could socialise freely as they were preparing to go up to the to the main Temple to worship. Jewish families and social groups gathered together. In this area, there was a 1.5m high wall which was a barrier. In relatively recent years, an inscription on that wall has been discovered through archeology and it said this: ‘No Gentile or stranger is to enter within the barrier around the Temple and the enclosure. Whoever is caught will be responsible for his death.’ If you were not a Jew and you wanted to come to the Temple to worship, you could only go a short distance from the outer gate before you came to this wall. On the other side there were Temple guards, who had instructions to attack you, even to kill you or to arrest you if you tried to get through.

There was a literal dividing wall around the central Jewish place of worship, and the Gentiles could not go through that wall. If you are a Gentile like me, and you lived in those days, you simply could not go up to the Temple to worship. Paul is said that when Jesus came and died on the cross, he broke down that barrier. It is as if that wall crumbled down and now anyone can gain access to God - whatever race you are, you have got the same access to God as the Jewish people. The old Jewish laws have come to an end; now we have the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. The new covenant opens the way of access to the Gentiles.

We see this vividly described in Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew 27: 51 states that when Jesus died on the cross , and he died very near the Temple, “at that moment the curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom”. The curtain at the Temple hid the most holy part that only the High Priest could go in once a year. That huge curtain was miraculously and supernaturally torn in two as if the way is now opened, so that everybody can gain access to God. What was previously hidden is now revealed. By this image, we can also see that God has opened the way for everybody to have equal access to the gospel and an equal relationship with God.

Images of the Church

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ himself as the chief cornerstone. In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit”.

Ephesians 2:19-22, NIV

Paul used several images here to explain the church. First, a house. The cornerstone is the stone that you place in the corner of a building when you start to build. The cornerstone is very important; the first stone or brick that you put in a building must be placed exactly on the right level and exactly in the right place, for all the rest of the building to fit together. I recently had someone doing some building work for me. I remember when he was surveying the ground before he built, that he spent a long time measuring exactly, checking everything very carefully before starting. I was thinking, ‘Why don’t you start building? Why don’t you get on with it?’ He spent hours looking and measuring before he put down the first units for the building. The cornerstone upon which everything rests is Jesus Christ himself. This is the house that God is building, a house full of people.

We are also described here as a family, not just a house. The Jewish people and the Gentile people are joined together in one new humanity. Where there had been division with much conflict and racial tension between them, Paul said, now when they came into the church community, they were equal. They could join together on an equal basis. We join the family of God; we are adopted into the family of God. That was what happened to you when you became a believer. If you come from an ethnic or racial group which is considered inferior in your society, or you are persecuted or suffering, remember that when you come into God’s family, you come in on an equal basis as everyone else.

In my wider family, two children have been adopted into the family. They weren’t in the family before but now they have joined the family. I was with that family recently and there were many children playing together. I looked at the two children; they are all members of the same family now. As I looked at the two adopted children, I thought, they are exactly the same as everybody else. They are not biologically connected because they have been adopted, but they have the same relationship and the same status. They are part of the same community. We are part of the same community, whatever race we come from. In the modern world, many churches have a very large mixture of racial groups in their church communities. That is the way God wanted it to be. People come to my church from different countries, and we want them to feel as though they are brothers and sisters - that it is their family, even though they come from very different countries.

We are a house, a family and Paul also said, we are like a temple: human beings making up the stones or the bricks of the temple. The purpose of a temple is to be filled with the presence of God. As the different nations gather together, we can be a temple to God, which is filled with his presence and filled with people from all sorts of different racial backgrounds. This is the plan of God, and this is what Paul was building.

There were often tensions between different groups. The book of Galatians is a whole book dedicated to resolving the tensions between the Jews and the Gentiles in the Galatian churches. Tensions exist because different races sometimes look at issues differently; culturally, they have different expectations, dress codes, food, and ways of understanding worship. We must work hard to become a family together, but it is a high priority in the modern world where people are moving around from place to place in such large numbers. The Church should be the place that welcomes people from any ethnic group. One of the reasons for the success of the Church in the early days, the first few hundred years of the Church, was because it was the only organization in the Roman Empire that welcomed people from different ethnic groups. It is in the basic teaching of the Church that we are all absolutely equal before God. He values our racial background and our racial history, and he wants our story represented in the Church. That applies to you as much as it applies to me. Whatever your ethnic background is, whatever your nationality is, there is a place for you in God’s church. That was the heart of what Paul said in this particular passage.

Reflections

First, racial unity, although it is difficult to achieve right now, will be achieved in eternity. Revelation 7: 9 says: “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the lamb.” God’s purpose is to redeem people from all nations and bring them together and to value their differences, as we form part of an eternal community of the Church.

Church buildings are less important than the church community. Paul is passionate about the people in the church, and so we always need to give good attention to the quality of our church community.

As we reflect, I want to ask you, how welcoming is your church to people coming from different racial or tribal backgrounds? Is there a place for them in your church community? Is there somebody who understands their culture or speaks their language? Will they be honoured and respected in your church community? This can be hard because Christians are shaped by their cultural background, and sometimes there are other cultures we don’t like or we don’t trust, or with whom we have had conflict and wars in the past. There can be great tribal tensions but these need to be overcome in the Church. It is our task to build multi-cultural churches where different races are recognised and honoured, and there is no place for superiority. The Jews in the Early Church tended to feel superior to the others, because they had a long history of relationship with God in the Old Testament period, which the Gentiles didn’t have. Paul said, there was no place for that superiority for the Jews; they come equally alongside everybody else. That applies to us today.

Thank you for listening. Do join us again for the next episode in Series 1 in our Collection on Ephesians.