The Church is One Body, Part 2 (Ephesians 2:11–22)

Focus Keywords: Christian unity, Jew and Gentile, Ephesians 2, Church is one body, God’s dwelling, John MacArthur, overcoming division, Christ’s peace, apostolic doctrine

This comprehensive summary and rewrite draws on John MacArthur’s message, “The Church is One Body, Part 2 (Ephesians 2:11–22),” focusing on the essential unity of the church, established by Christ’s sacrifice, and the identity of believers as the literal dwelling place of God. The message provides an overview of how Christ abolished millennia of hostility between Jew and Gentile, creating a single, holy sanctuary where God resides.

Christ: Head Over All and Dwelling in His Church

The foundation of Christian unity is the supremacy of Jesus Christ and His active presence within His people.

• Christ’s Authority: Christ is identified as the one who was raised from the dead, seated at the right hand of God, and is “far above all rule authority power dominion”. Everything has been subjected under His feet, and He is “head over all things to the church”.
• The Church as Christ’s Body: The church is Christ’s body and “the fullness of him who fills all in all”.
• The House of God: Collectively, believers are the “house of God” and are “being built together into a dwelling of God”. This union with Christ and with each other forms the sanctuary where God lives, confirming that “God lives in his people”.
• Spiritual Presence: Christ lives in individuals “by faith” (Ephesians 3:17), and those who lack the Spirit of Christ do not belong to Christ (Romans 8). While Solomon could not build a house to contain God, God astonishingly lives in His redeemed people, the church.

The spiritual consequence of this indwelling is profound: any believer who comes to you “brings Christ with him or her”. Therefore, how a believer treats another believer is how they treat Christ, and how they treat the church is how they treat Him.

The Mandate for Unity: Overcoming Millennia of Hostility

The core message of Ephesians 2:11–22 is the unity of the church, specifically the call for Jew and Gentile to come together as one. This was necessary because of “centuries and millennia of hostility”.

The Jewish Perspective of Gentiles (The Hostility)

Historically, Jews and Gentiles had a deep-seated hatred that was defined not ethnically, but religiously.

• Blasphemers and Violators: Jews viewed the Gentile world as “blasphemers” who rejected the true God and violated the first commandment and the Shema (that God is one).
• Missionary Failure: God had chosen Israel as a missionary nation, giving them His law, prophets, and blessings, not as an end in itself, but as a means to declare the true God to the world. However, instead of being compassionate, they were hateful and hostile toward the nations.
• The Epithet: The hostility reduced itself to the epithet “uncircumcision,” which Jews used to label Gentiles as a pejorative.

The Gentiles’ Former Alienation (The Pit)

Before Gentiles were tempted to be hostile toward Jewish believers, Paul instructed them in verse 11 to “remember the pit from which you were dug”. The very fact that they are in the church is the work of God.

Paul details the former state of alienation (verse 12), which he refers to as the “alienation”:

1. Christless: Gentiles were “separate from Christ” and out of paganism, meaning they had “no savior, no Messiah”. Unlike Jews, who lived in a linear history moving toward the Messiah, Gentiles lived in a “cyclical approach to life,” resembling a treadmill that never advanced.
2. Stateless: They were “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel,” making them basically stateless refugees. Israel was the chosen and blessed nation.
3. Covenantless: They were “strangers to the covenants of promise,” meaning they had no promises from God, such as the covenant given to Moses or David, or the promises of national salvation.
4. Hopeless: They had “no future hope” because hope is based on credible promises. Ancient Gentile belief held that the soul, at death, would go to Hades to “bemoan their existence without comfort”, leaving nothingness behind.
5. Godless: They had “lots of gods but not any true god”.

Paul’s argument is profound: before causing division or defacing the sanctuary of the living God, believers must remember the grace that picked them up from this state of alienation and brought them into His holy kingdom.

Christ’s Accomplishment: Peace Through the Cross

The great change is introduced in verse 13 with the divine conjunction: “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ”.

• The Proximity Change: Gentiles were referred to as “far off” (far from Jerusalem, the temple, and Israel), while Jews were “near”. Christ’s blood brought the far off near.
• Christ is Our Peace: Jesus Christ “himself is our peace”. He provided the sacrifice for sin that brought Jew and Gentile to Himself. When a Jew or Gentile believes, they lose their national or ethnic distinction, and “we’re all one in Christ”.
• Breaking the Barrier: Christ “made both into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall”. This barrier was symbolic of the separation in the Jewish temple, where Gentiles were only allowed in the outer Court of the Gentiles.
• Abolishing Enmity: Christ abolished the hatred (“enmity”) “in his flesh” by abolishing the “law of commandments contained in ordinances”. This abolition refers to the external rules and distinctions given to keep Israel separate from pagans to maintain an uncorrupted testimony. These external identifiers are gone, replaced by those “who were in Christ whether they are Jew or Gentile”.
• Reconciliation and Access: Christ established peace, made peace, and preached peace. He “reconciled both in one body to God through the cross”. Through Christ, both Jews and Gentiles “have our access in one spirit to the father”.

The New Identity and Practical Instructions

The result of Christ’s work is the creation of a “new humanity”.

• New Citizenship: Believers are “no longer strangers and aliens but you’re fellow citizens with the saints,” belonging to a kingdom and a family—God’s household.
• The Foundation: God’s house (the church) is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,” meaning the apostolic doctrine (divine truth revealed in Scripture), with Christ himself as the cornerstone.
• God’s Answer to Division: The cross is “God’s answer to racial discrimination,” segregation, apartheid, anti-Semitism, and all forms of strife and bigotry.
• Worthy Walk: Believers are implored to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling”. This practical instruction includes:
  • Humility and gentleness.
  • Patience and tolerance in love.
  • Diligence to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

The church is one body, with one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father who is “over all and through all and in all”. Believers must reflect Christ—being pure, holy, loving, and joyful—while clearly proclaiming the truth found only in God’s word, demonstrating the mission of light to a perishing world.