Ephesians 2:17–22

Bible Studies for Life 
Samford University and Brookwood Baptist Church, Mountain Brook

Connected in Christ

Ephesians 2:17–22

We All Have Access to God Through Christ (17–18)

Verse 17 alludes to Isaiah 57:19 and 52:7 in which peace is preached to both those near and far off. Access to this peace is available to all, both Jew and Gentile. In Paul’s day the expression “we gain access” was used by persons who are fortunate enough to be admitted to the presence of the emperor. Whether ambassadors or individuals, the purpose of such an audience was to press a request for benefits. Readers in cities of Asia Minor would be familiar with efforts to gain access to the governor as he made his rounds of his province.

Christ offers us access to God and leads us out of our hostility into the peace of God’s presence. What an amazing privilege to be offered this access. One saint observed that a realization of the believer’s privileges would solve every problem in Christian life.

Jesus Brings All Believers Into God’s Family, the Church (19)

Through Christ we are no longer strangers and foreigners. Paul takes the backward glance and reminds us of what we used to be. The words include all whom by territorial distance or by absence of civic privileges are not citizens. The word “foreigner” refers to a person who dwells in a state but does not have the rights of citizenship. It could refer to those who lived outside the city walls but not in the city. In the Old Testament it spoke of one like Ruth, halfway between an alien and a native. With reference to God’s kingdom, everyone began as an outsider. To receive a share in the civic privileges of the city of God is a grace gift to everyone. There are, in reality, no pioneers or latecomers in God’s kingdom. We are here by grace, not by status or performance.

The concept of a commonwealth as a community has as its background “the commonwealth of Israel” (Eph. 2:12), an idea that excluded Gentiles. Now the strangers and sojourners have become kinsmen and kinswomen in the family of God. Clans such as “the house of David” and “the house of Habsburg” pass away, but “the house of God” goes on forever.

The Church is Built on Christ, the Foundation and Cornerstone (20–22)

In the Book of Genesis, God “walked” with His people (Gen. 5:22–24). In Exodus, He determined to “dwell” with His people (Ex. 25:8). God first dwelt in the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34–38) and then later dwelt in the temple (1 Kings 8:1–11). With the Incarnation, God’s dwelling place became the body of Christ (John 1:14). Today through His Spirit, God dwells in the church, the temple of God. As prophesied in the Old Testament (Ps. 118:22; Isa. 8:14), Christ became the foundation and the Chief Cornerstone of the church. The cornerstone binds the structure together and Jesus Christ has united Jews and Gentiles in the church. This reference to the temple would be meaningful to both Jews and Gentiles in the church at Ephesus. The Jews would think of Herod’s temple in Jerusalem, and the Gentiles would think of the great temple of Diana. Both temples are destined for ruin, but the temple of Jesus Christ will last forever.

Much as we do not wish to admit it, some in the American church still suffer acutely from an “edifice complex.” Too often we forget that medieval cathedrals and contemporary megachurches were no part of primitive Christianity. For 300 years, until the era of Constantine, Christ-followers worshipped in catacombs, houses or a converted synagogue. The church was the people of God, and buildings were merely where the actual church met. Today we need to be reminded of this as we carry out our mission, recalling Paul’s words to the Athenians as he stood in the middle of the Areopagus: “The Lord who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man” (Acts 17:24).