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.