Grace to YOU and peace from God our Father… · I do not cease to… mention YOU in my prayers: ·that… the glorious Father may give to YOU the Spirit of…revelation in fully knowing him: ·…towards knowing...the riches of his glorious inheritance…, ·and...the exceeding greatness of his power for us who believe…·which he exercised in the Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his own right hand among the celestial ones, ·far above every primal chiefdom, authority, power and lordship and every name that is named…in this age… ·He…has made him the head over all things to the church. (Ephesians 1:2,16-22 PH)

YOU were…dead from the offences and sins ·in which YOU once walked: in accord with the age this world is in—in accord with the principle leader, the authority of the air, the spirit of the one now at work in the sons of stubbornness. ·Among them we all once lived in the longings of the flesh too, acting on the inclinations and thoughts of the flesh; so by nature we were children under indignant anger even as the others. ·Yet God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love by which he loves us ·even when we were dead in our stumblings, has made us alive-together by the Messiah—as by grace YOU are saved— ·and in Christ Jesus, he has raised-us-together and seated-us-together among the celestial ones: ·so that in the coming ages he might show the exceeding riches of his grace…, ·And this gift of God is not from YOU, ·nor from performance, so that no one may boast. ·For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, toward the good works that God prepared beforehand, so that we might walk in them. (Eph.2:1-10)

Once YOU, the nations [Gr. ta ethne][i] 'in the flesh', were called "Foreskin"—beneath the one called "Circumcised", by an operation 'in the flesh'— ·because in that season YOU were…distant foreigners to citizenship in Israel and strangers to the covenants… ·But now in Christ Jesus, YOU… have become ‘close’ in the blood of the Messiah. ·For he is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing boundary wall..., ·abolishing the law of commandments in the form of human regulations so that in himself he might: create…one new humanity..., ·and reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, in it having put to death the enmity. ·And coming, he proclaimed good news of: “Peace to YOU, the ones far away, and peace to those close by” [Isa.57:19 LXX], ·for by him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ·Now YOU are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens among the holy ones, and members of God's household ·that is being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. ·In him every structure, fitly framed-together, is growing into a temple, holy in the Lord. ·In him YOU also are being built-together in the Spirit into God's dwelling place…·In Christ Jesus..., the nations [ta ethne] are heirs-together, of the same body-together and partakers-together of his promise. (Eph.2:11-22; 3:6)

Paul is grateful for the new life he sees in these believers through their faith in Christ. Yet old ethnic hierarchies and divisions are undermining their unity in the church. They need a revelation of the Father in order to see that Jesus didn't come to restore the social order to an Old Testament pattern. Instead, the resurrection power that the Father exerted in Christ ‘for us’ is about transforming all aspects human life, by placing the Church within societies as a new social creation.

Were you the favorite in your family? Or was someone else treated that way? Did you grow up as a ‘citizen’ of your country, or as a child of ‘foreign’ immigrants? The former often experience much easier social acceptance than the latter. In every human society there are status markers that give some people access to an in-group, but which leave others feeling excluded or kept at a distance. Many of these positive or negative status markers are physical, like circumcision, skin color, or a physical handicap. These and other divisions and hierarchies are often reinforced by ‘human regulations’ and demeaning names—like ‘Foreskin’, ‘illegal alien’, ‘ugly’, ‘retard’, etc. People use such names to bolster their own individual or group status, or to get back at ‘the other’ who has wounded them or who is seen as a social threat. Such names preserve the ‘enmity’ and ‘dividing boundary walls’ that characterize fallen human societies and religious groups. And as Paul's letter shows, such hierarchies and divisions can be maintained, consciously or unconsciously in the church.

Now Paul acknowledges that before Christ's coming, God had given Israel a preferred position (Med.#C). But through Jesus' death and through the power of his resurrection, the Father has created a ‘new humanity’ in which everyone now has equal access to him by the Spirit. To underscore this Paul affirms that he and his fellow Jews (‘we’) were just as ‘dead’ in their sins, and just as much in need of the Father's resurrection power in the Messiah as were those of other nations (‘YOU’). He then takes the same Greek words he had used to describe how Jesus was raised [Gr. egeiras] and seated [Gr. kathisas] above all current ‘chiefdoms, authorities, etc.’, and he applies them to us—emphasizing how ‘in Christ’, God has also co-raised [Gr. sun-eigeren] believers of all ethnic groups, and has co-seated [Gr. sun-kathisen] them ‘among the celestial ones’ as well. This new position and authority in Christ is part of the rich ‘deposit’ on the glorious inheritance that we already enjoy in the Spirit (Med.#8).

Then Paul goes on to use such ‘together’ words ten more times (!), to emphasize the corporate nature of this inheritance and of our new authority in Christ. God our Father, who has made us all alive-together ‘by Christ’, has also made us all, in him: ‘fellow-citizens’, ‘(adult) heirs-together’ and one ‘body-together’ (Med.#6)! Whatever our social position or ‘sinful past’, we are all now ‘partakers-together’ of the promise to Abraham. And having all been ‘framed-together’, we are all being ‘knit-together’ (4:16) and ‘built-together’ in the 'together-bond’ of peace (4:3) as a ‘holy temple’ where God lives—and where we experience the power of his Spirit ‘together’ (3:18). Whatever dysfunction we experienced in our families—however ‘near’ or ‘far away’ our parents or our siblings were to us—we all now have equal access to the Father, as members of his ‘household’. And whatever historical wounds I, or my people have experienced at the hands of another person or people group, Christ's death on the cross has broken down every ‘dividing boundary wall’. And he has become our peace by destroying ‘in his flesh’ any previous basis for ‘enmity’—between us and ‘others’.

After the genocide in Rwanda, Rhiannon Lloyd was led by God to set up three-day ‘cross workshops’ in that country. Participants included both perpetrators and the families of victims. On the first day she told her own story, about the injustices the Welsh have suffered at the hands of the English. Then she invited those who had suffered to tell their stories and pour out their pain. The next day she asked them to tell where they saw God in this midst of their suffering. Though surprised at first, people began remembering incidents that could only be explained by God's gracious presence. On the third day, they nailed their written-down stories to a large wooden cross, which was then burned. Jesus was taking their pain and breaking down the dividing walls and the enmity. Then Rhiannon talked about forgiving the English. And as a European she repented for the injustices done to Africans over the centuries, asking the Rwandans to forgive her as a representative-European. This opened the door for people with both Hutu and Tutsi identities to begin repenting and asking each other for forgiveness. And in every workshop, people from both groups wept in each other's arms as God did a deep, reconciling work.[ii]      

Are you living out the ‘resurrection power’ of this equal access to the Father—in Christ, by the Spirit—with all your brothers and sisters? …In your church or mission organization? …And in all your intercultural relationships: both locally, and during international vacations and mission journeys to other countries?

Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth derives its name, give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may know your resurrection power for us. Strengthen us with this power through your Spirit: that together we may know your love and, together in the church, we may display your fullness, your glory, your many sided wisdom, and the incomparable riches of your grace in Christ Jesus as a united new humanity. (Eph.3:14-15; 1:17,19; 3:16-19,21,10; 2:7,15) [iii]

Thank you for making me, and all of us together in Christ, a new creation! (Eph.2:6,10; Gal.6:15; 2 Cor.5:17)

[i] When this Greek word is translated as ‘Gentiles’ (which is merely an Anglicized form of the Latin word for ‘peoples’), it has maintained an Old Testament dichotomy that goes against the very revelation (Med.#6) that has led Paul to revise his former Jewish world-view—that believers of all nations, including his own, are now ‘fellow-citizens’ and ‘co heirs’. (NOTE: the words ‘with Israel’ in the NIV version of Eph.3:6 are not in the Greek!)

[ii] See Erik Spruyt, Rhiannon Lloyd, Renée Schudel, 'The Cross of Christ in Debriefing and Ethnic Reconciliation' in, Kelly O'Donnell, (ed.) Doing Member Care Well: Perspectives and Practices from Around the World, pp.505-509. See also Miroslav Wolf’s treatment of Ephesians 2 in: Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness and Reconciliation, Abingdon Press, 1996, pp.47-49.

[iii] Members can click on this link for a musical version of Paul’s Prayer (Ephesians 3:14-21)