Concrete/Spiritual Conundrum—The Big Change

http://users.bible.org/articles/concretespiritual_conundrum%E2%80%94_big_change

published May 22, 2012

 Concrete/Spiritual Conundrum—The Big Change

By Christina Wilson

May 21, 2012

Overview of Article: Three examples from scripture highlight “The Big Change” from the Old Testament to the New—God and Christ inaugurate Spirit, where before there was only concrete.

I. Semantics.

The word “literal” has mixed meanings, depending upon who is using the word. In some minds, “literal” means concrete, as opposed to figurative. For example, if you receive a birthday card with a picture of a cake on it, or a picture of a $100 bill on it, those would be figurative gifts, as opposed to literal gifts. Often, as in the above example, the word “literal” becomes synonymous with “truthful”, as opposed to false. Frequently, the word “literal” is seen to be in opposition with “spiritual”, as when “spiritual” is equated with “figurative” or “metaphorical”.

“Literal” then, takes on positive values when used as in the above paragraph, and spiritual, when equated with “figurative”, takes on negative values. “Literal” is seen to be real and truthful, whereas “spiritual” receives connotations of “metaphorical”, and is therefore seen to be false, as with the cake on the birthday card example.

How does scripture use the word “spirit”?

“Spirit”, as used in scripture, is a very real, and a very “literal” word, when “literal” is used as meaning “truthful”. Spirit, however, is not concrete—it is spirit. Spirit is, however, literal. I prefer using the word “literalistic” to indicate “concrete”, when concrete is meant to be contrasted with “spiritual”. As I use the words, “literal” means true, and “literalistic” means concrete.

II. The Big Change—Example One: the Household of Cornelius

A. The condition of mankind in the Old Testament was literalistic, in the sense of being concrete. People died to God spiritually in the Fall in the Garden. Their spirits died within them; they had no communication with God internally, by means of His Spirit. God is Spirit and truth. When humankind was excluded from the Garden, people no longer had spiritual communication with God. Communication with God became concrete.

B. How did God communicate with people? God communicated with people as He wished and when He wished through visible manifestations of messengers (Genesis 18—the three men who visited Abraham by the oaks of Mamre), through concrete manifestations of Spirit (Exodus 3—Moses and the burning bush; Exodus 13:21—the cloud and pillar of fire), through visibly concrete miracles (parting of the Red Sea, water gushing from a rock), and through prophecy (Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah).

C. People communicated with God through obeying His commands, sacrifice, prayer, payment of vows, and by sending requests to God through the prophets. The Holy Spirit did not for the most part indwell the hearts of Old Testament saints.

D. Prophecy was often very concrete in the Old Testament. Ezekiel and Hosea, for instance, frequently acted out messages from the Lord as He directed them. Ezekiel, for example, would wear certain clothes or present his body in a certain way, he would perform actions specified by God, and then use words to explain the meaning.

I believe it would be fair to say that Old Testament understanding of God and His message was quite a bit different for saints (believers, those who feared God) and for nonbelievers alike (one who perhaps was an ethnic Israelite but whose heart was not sincere towards God) without the Holy Spirit as we know Him today.

E. The Holy Spirit Prophesied

The prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Joel promised the coming of the Holy Spirit.

^NET  Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on the parched ground and cause streams to flow on the dry land. I will pour my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your children.

^NET  Jeremiah 31:33 "But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land," says the LORD. "I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people.

^NET  Ezekiel 39:29 “I will no longer hide my face from them, when I pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the sovereign LORD."

^NET  Joel 2:28 After all of this I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; your young men will see prophetic visions. ²⁹ Even on male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

F. The Prophecies Fulfilled…but Wait!—God Included Gentiles in Their Fulfillment

Were Gentile nations or the church mentioned in the above prophecies? No. Was the church thereby excluded? No. The New Testament clearly shows that God’s Holy Spirit was poured upon the Gentiles.

^NET  Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the message. ⁴⁵ The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were greatly astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, ⁴⁶ for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, ⁴⁷ "No one can withhold the water for these people to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?"

Israelite believers were the first group to receive the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and shortly afterward. In the above scripture, the “circumcised believers…were greatly astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles”.

Does the fact that the “circumcised believers” did not exclusively receive the gift of the Holy Spirit negate the validity of fulfillment of the Old Testament promises of God’s Spirit for the nation of Israel? No. Those prophecies were literalistically and literally fulfilled. The fact that God chose to extend the gift to Gentiles and “the church” did not in any way invalidate or negate fulfillment of the promises to the nation of Israel.

Would anyone at all dare say that in order to consider the promises of the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled literally, concretely, and fully—that is, the specific Old Testament promises of God that he would send His Holy Spirit upon those people’s “offspring”, “children”, “house of Israel”, “sons and daughters”, “elderly”, and so forth—that the promises needed to be fulfilled in a way that did not include the church?

We saw in Acts 10:45 above, that indeed the expectation had been that these were promises God had made exclusively to “circumcised” believers, not Gentiles. The text says that those with Peter were “greatly astonished” to see the extension of the prophecy to Gentiles. And clearly, it was God who had done so, not the Gentiles claiming the gift for themselves.

In view of the above scriptures, would anyone today dare insist that there must come a future time for Israel to receive the Holy Spirit when the church would no longer be present on earth and the Old Testament “house of Israel” would be purely alone, in order to consider the promises literally and completely fulfilled? I have never heard anyone say that.

Is God’s sovereignty permitted to extend to Gentiles the fulfillment of a promise He made to ethnic Israel only?

Peter in Acts 10:46-47 said yes, God’s sovereignty is allowed to do that—“then Peter said, ⁴⁷ ‘No one can withhold the water for these people to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?’”

G. Greater to the Lesser

When Peter in Acts 10 above requested the baptism with water of the Gentile believers, in his mind, which was the greater of the two events—the receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit or the physical baptism in water? Peter’s statement reveals his reasoning to be the following: if God Himself gave the greater gift of Himself in the giving of the Holy Spirit to these Gentiles, how can we, His servants, refuse to give the lesser action of a physical baptism in physical water?

H. Conclusions

From the above discussion involving the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the giving of the Holy Spirit, we have seen certain facts.

1) The prophesies had been made specifically to the “house of Israel” (Ezekiel 39:29).

2) In fulfillment of them, God had extended the blessing to the Gentiles.

3) No one present in the Acts 10 example protested, although they were “greatly astonished” (vs 45).

4) No one to my knowledge has ever claimed that the extension of the blessing to the Gentiles caused the original promise to be considered as not having been fulfilled and as still awaiting fulfillment.

5) Peter realized that God’s action in giving the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles was a greater action than physical water baptism applied by men.

I. Questions

Given that 1) the promise of the Holy Spirit was specifically given to ethnic Israelites,  2) that the promise as fulfilled by God was extended by Him to Gentiles, and 3) no gift can ever be greater than the gift of God Himself—then, why would a promise of land to Abraham be considered as different from the promise of the Holy Spirit? Especially when the entire New Testament is a message of inclusion of the Gentiles into the people of Israel? ¹

Is the land promise considered differently than the promise of the Holy Spirit? and in what way?

Many Christians will say that Gentiles, i.e., the church, are specifically excluded from the land promise simply because they were not specifically included in it. Yet, we have seen that Gentiles were not specifically included in the promise of the Holy Spirit, yet they were not excluded from fulfillment of the promise, nor does anyone complain. So, that is a different response in a similar circumstance.

The promise of the Holy Spirit was given to ethnic Israelites, yet Gentiles were included in its fulfillment. The land promise, likewise, was given to ethnic Israelites, yet many Gentiles (Christians) themselves insist that they are and should be excluded from fulfillment of the promise, the grounds being that they were not specifically named in it. This is not consistent. It is a split hermeneutic.

Someone might try to explain away the inconsistency by saying that the two promises were completely different—one was spiritual to begin with (the Holy Spirit) and the other concrete (land). That doesn’t explain, however. It merely states. Why should the lesser—concrete, physical, material, created things (land)—be given a tighter standard of fulfillment than the greater—non-created, eternal, godly things (the Holy Spirit—God Himself)?

III. Jesus Explains The Big Change—Example Two: Nicodemus

Jesus challenged two people in John’s gospel to make the change in their understanding from the concrete of the Old Testament way of thinking to the spiritual way of thinking characteristic of the New.

First, how do we know that Jesus intended such a change? The answer is that He talked about change.

^NET  Luke 5:36 He also told them a parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old garment. If he does, he will have torn the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸ Instead new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹ No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is good enough.'"

Background to Nicodemus (Example Two) and The Woman at the Well (Example Three)

Nicodemus represented the best of Israel. We can assume his morals were great, his education the best, and his pedigree pure. Jesus did not confront Nicodemus in the areas of moral virtue or the purity of his ethnicity, but he did confront Nicodemus in the area of his religious learning and thought.

The Samaritan woman at the well, on the other hand, represented the worst. She lacked moral virtue, as a woman she presumably had no education, and her ethnicity was mixed, containing pagan elements, as did that of all Samaritans. While Jesus did comment on her lack of moral character and upon her lack of education (“You people worship what you do not know”), he never suggested she lacked intelligence or an ability to understand. He accepted her questions at face value and engaged in serious conversation with her, revealing Himself to her in a surprisingly direct and complete way.

Nicodemus

^NET  John 3:1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council,  ² came to Jesus at night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him."

Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night, wanted to know the source of Jesus’ ability to do miracles. (Could this man possibly be Messiah?)

That Nicodemus was thinking about Messiah is acknowledged by Jesus’ reply—

^NET  John 3:3 Jesus replied, "I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." ²

Wasn’t Nicodemus a Pharisee, a member of the “Jewish ruling council”? As such, he would surely know that the “kingdom of God” was a concrete kingdom with a concrete king, concrete land, and concrete boundaries, wouldn’t he? So then, why did Jesus say that a person must be “born from above” to see the kingdom of God? That intimates at the very least a spiritual aspect to the kingdom, doesn’t it?

But Nicodemus’ understanding was firmly rooted and grounded in the concrete, and he could not grasp the spiritual content of Jesus’ statement. To our ear, his second question seems ridiculous, due to its being pinned to the concrete—

^NET  John 3:4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother's womb and be born a second time, can he?"

Jesus expanded the spiritual elements in His second reply to Nicodemus’ very concrete question.

^NET  John 3:5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must all be born from above.' ⁸ The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Jesus directly distinguished that a difference exists between flesh and spirit: “flesh is flesh” and “Spirit is spirit.” Already, “The Big Change” has arrived and is bearing down upon Nicodemus, who has no equipment with which to understand what Jesus is talking about. To understand what Nicodemus must have been feeling at that moment in terms of frustration, remember that he went to Jesus with a concern about His perhaps being Messiah and that perhaps the long awaited kingdom was about to arrive. And, from his point of view, Jesus began talking about what could only appear to Nicodemus as nonsense.

^NET  John 3:9 Nicodemus replied, "How can these things be?"

It appears that next Jesus scolded Nicodemus soundly for his inability to understand—

^NET  John 3:10 Jesus answered, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don't understand these things? ¹¹ I tell you the solemn truth, we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I have told you people about earthly things and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

Notice that Jesus again distinguished between “earthly things” and “heavenly things”. Jesus named “belie[ve]f” as the issue at hand. It was a matter of accepting Jesus’ testimony. Jesus named two groups: “us” and “you”. The “you” that Nicodemus belonged to, according to Jesus, refused to believe the testimony of “us”, which at that time was limited to earthly things but in the future would include heavenly things as well.

^NET  John 3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven– the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

Nicodemus went to Jesus with very concrete concerns on his mind—visible, material miracles, Messiah, and the kingdom. Jesus replied using an exclusively spiritual vocabulary. Even something as concrete as Moses lifting up a metallic, sculpted snake on a literalistic pole in the wilderness received at the very least a metaphorical meaning that Nicodemus at that time could not possibly have understood. Jesus then mentioned “eternal life”. What does eternal life have to do with Messiah and the inauguration of an earthly kingdom?

This was how Jesus, the King, answered Nicodemus, an Old Testament thinker, when he went to Jesus and asked a concrete question about the kingdom. Had there been a big change of which Nicodemus had no clue?

IV. Jesus Explains The Big Change—Example Three: Woman at the Well

^NET  John 4:4 But he [Jesus] had to pass through Samaria. ⁵ Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon. ⁷ A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me some water to drink." ⁸ (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.) ⁹ So the Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you– a Jew– ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?" (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)

Notice all the concrete details John has given in this narrative; it is as though John included all these physically concrete details with a purpose in mind. The details are literalistically real, historical, and contextually rooted in Old Testament scriptural history: “Sychar”, “the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph”, “Jacob’s well”, “sat right down beside the well”, “about noon”, “Samaritan woman”, “draw water”, “Give me some water to drink”, “his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies”, “you—a Jew…me, a Samaritan woman”, “water to drink”.

The woman’s question to Jesus was as literalistically historical and contextually concrete as one could possibly hope for, “How can you—a Jew—ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?” John’s comment was also literalistically historical and contextual—“(For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans)”.

^NET  John 4:10 “Jesus answered her, ‘If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, “Give me some water to drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Had it been Nicodemus to whom Jesus spoke these words, he would have replied, “Huh?” But the woman, to her credit, was quick on the uptake and shot right back at Jesus—

^NET  John 4:11 "Sir," the woman said to him, "you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water? ¹² Surely you're not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock."

Notice, however, that the woman has not left her concrete mindset. She accepted Jesus’ enigmatic proclamation of “living water” without question, apparently not even stopping to consider what kind of water that might be. Her mind remained rooted in the historical, contextual, concrete fact of her ancestor Jacob, who physically drank from the well himself, along with his sons and livestock (this is so concrete we can almost hear the goats bleat and breathe the dust in our nostrils that their hooves kicked up). Further, Jacob has passed the well down through his progeny to her own people. That is also historically very literal and contextual.

Jesus’ next reply is very similar to a childhood fairytale, These are magic beans that will grow up into the sky when you plant them.

^NET  John 4:13 Jesus replied, "Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. ¹⁴ But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life."

I find it fascinating that Jesus, as a teacher, never left the plane of the woman’s concrete thinking, but persisted in using His own spiritual vocabulary, introducing new terms and concepts each time He spoke, expanding His spiritual meaning without contradicting her concrete level of understanding. We, as New Testament Christian readers, know exactly what He was talking about without having to stretch at all (having gone to Sunday school and countless Bible studies in which the teacher “told us the answers”), but the woman received simply and completely what Jesus spoke in her own concrete way.³

^NET  John 4:15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water."

At this point, Jesus performed the miracle of supernatural perception of the woman’s past. She, for her part, realizing that He was a prophet, asked a question one would ask of a prophet.

^NET  John 4:19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."

Notice that the woman’s question was still entirely concrete, rooted in the contextual, historical aspect of religious worship—“our fathers worshiped”, “this mountain”, “you people”, and “Jerusalem”.

Jesus, for His part, gave the woman a concrete, historically contextual response in keeping with her question—but, He then extended His answer and taught her directly some new vocabulary and concepts that left the concrete and entered into spirit.

^NET  John 4:21 Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You people worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But a time is coming– and now is here– when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. ²⁴ God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Jesus made several noteworthy points:

i) “a time is coming” (there will be a change)

ii) “and now is here” (the change has arrived)

iii) “when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” (the change would be complete—neither of the only two forms of worship then in practice would be continued)

iv) “you do not know…we know” (there was a right and a wrong)

v) “true worshipers” (false worshipers are implied as an alternative)

vi) “will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (the change, which “now is here” is specified)

vii) “the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers” (the change is willed and named by God)

viii) “the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (there will be a correct way to worship God, no exceptions)

The woman had described the then current situation of worship—which was rooted in literal, historical, concrete facts—“this mountain” and “in Jerusalem”. Jesus changed all that. He set up a contrast between the literal, historical, and concrete and the new, the big change—to…“spirit and truth”.

Was Jesus “spiritualizing”? Yes. But Jesus is God. He can and did do that. Was He speaking figuratively? No. Jesus was speaking literally, as indicated by His saying, “…the people who worship Him must worship in…truth”. Very truthfully, Jesus was announcing a truthfully literal change from the concrete to the spiritual.

The conversation closed with a literal, absolutely historical statement of a concrete fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy—

^NET  John 4:25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (the one called Christ); "whenever he comes, he will tell us everything."

^NET  John 4:26 Jesus said to her, "I, the one speaking to you, am he."

Recap: What had the literal, concretely contextual and historical Messiah said? “"…a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…a time is…now…here– when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. ²⁴ God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

From concrete to spiritual in an entirely concrete, literal, historical, contextual conversation between a woman and the Son of God, Messiah.

V. More Questions and Conclusion

We’ve seen three solidly biblical examples of how concrete Old Testament expectations were changed by God in the New Testament. They were 1) the previously unknown and unannounced gift of the Holy Spirit to Gentile believers, contrary to Old Testament expectations, 2) the necessity of a spiritual rebirth to see the kingdom of God, completely unknown to Old Testament believers such as Nicodemus was, and 3) the necessity of a change of worship, in order to be acceptable to God, from physical actions in a physically concrete, historically contextual location to a worship entirely in spirit, having no physical location as a marker at all.

All three of these changes were made by God Himself.

Question: in view of the above, how could it possibly be considered unreasonable for believers to question whether or not other features of Old Testament understanding need to be re-examined in light of New Testament revelation previously unknown? ⁴

God “greatly astonished” Peter’s Israelite companions by giving the Holy Spirit to Gentiles, an event completely unknown in Old Testament promise and prophecy. Nicodemus, a traditional Old Testament religious ruler and teacher, was at a complete loss to comprehend the nature and necessity of a spiritual rebirth in order to “see the kingdom of God." And, Jesus completely toppled Old Testament worship when He made “The Big Change” from the physically concrete, literal, and historical mode of Old Testament worship to “spirit and truth”.

Wouldn’t it behoove us to walk humbly  in our assertions concerning things concretely literalistic, our claims concerning what the sovereignty of God may and may not do, and our demands that because God “said it” in such-and-such a concretely Old Testament way, that He therefore must perform exactly according to our literally concrete, physical, Old Testament understanding?

I do not claim to know the answers to the Old Testament land promises, but I do know that those promises need to be prayerfully examined in the light of The Big Change which Jesus Himself and God Himself inaugurated in Jesus’ first advent to earth, the big change from concrete flesh only to “spirit and truth”.

__________

­­

1 See “Overview of Paul in Ephesians 1 through 3—One Election or Two?”, Christina Wilson, Appendix, and http://users.bible.org/articles/overview_paul_ephesians_1_through_3%E2%80%94one_election_or_two

2 For a complete discussion of the biblical meanings of “kingdom” of God and Christ, see George Eldon Ladd, “What is the Kingdom of God?”, from The Gospel of the Kingdom, Grand Rapids, MI, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., © 1959, as reproduced in http://gospelpedlar.com/articles/Last%20Things/kogladd.html 

3 Herein lay a great difference between this woman and Nicodemus. Jesus had said to Nicodemus, “I have told you people about earthly things and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”. The woman, on the other hand, readily believed every word that Jesus spoke to her, even though her understanding remained entirely concrete. In her mind, she believed that Jesus could offer her water that, once in her stomach, would continuously flow in a physically concrete way, to the extent that she would not have to go to the well to draw water again. The fruit of this woman’s belief came to include an entire town; whereas scripture gives us no indication of Nicodemus’ having born any fruit at all outside his own heart. She believed; Nicodemus didn’t.

4 See “Part IV: Ephesians Chapter 3—The Mystery” in “Overview of Paul in Ephesians 1 through 3—One Election or Two?”, Christina Wilson, Appendix, and http://users.bible.org/articles/overview_paul_ephesians_1_through_3%E2%80%94one_election_or_two

Overview of Paul in Ephesians 1 through 3--One Election or Two?

Overview of Paul in Ephesians 1 through 3—One Election or Two? ¹

By Christina Wilson

May 17, 2012

Overview of Article

An exegetical crawl through Ephesians 1-3 reveals the principles of one eternal election and the need to interpret Old Testament prophecy in the light of revelation given in the New.

Introduction

Paul in the Letter to the Ephesians addresses the whole man. Mankind in the Garden was created from the dust of the earth, but God also created him in his own image. God is Spirit (John 4:24). God gave man a spirit alive unto God, capable of comprehending God and communicating with Him. God also gave men physical bodies.

The spirit of men died in the sin of the Fall; their bodies lived on, though in a changed, corruptible, fallen state that would experience death. Jesus Christ restored what God had first created—a spiritual being alive unto God who is also made of flesh. Jesus is the God-man, Spirit and flesh in one person. In Christ, believers are also alive to God in spirit, yet made of flesh.

Oneness in Christ is one of Paul’s main themes in the letter to the Ephesians. Paul presents the theme of oneness through consideration of three contrasts: 1) spirit and flesh, 2) heaven and earth, and 3) Israelite and Gentile. He is careful to show that within the realm of flesh, what used to apply only to Israelites now applies to Gentile believers as well. Spirit and flesh correspond to two locations in Paul’s thought: heaven and earth. In chapter 1, Paul develops the theme of spirit in heaven. In chapter 2, Paul develops the theme of flesh on earth. One election of Israelite and Gentile believers prevails throughout.

A. Spirit and Flesh

Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.

^NET  Colossians 2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form,

God is spirit (John 4:24); Christ is Spirit and flesh. Paul in Ephesians addresses both aspects of the Gentiles’ new life in Christ.

^NET  Ephesians 1:9 He did this when he revealed to us the secret of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰ toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ– the things in heaven and the things on earth.

B. Heaven and Earth

Jesus lived on earth and ascended into heaven. Believers live on earth and are spiritually alive in Christ in heaven.

^NET  Ephesians 1:10 “…the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ– the things in heaven and the things on earth.”

C. Gentiles and Israelites

Ephesians is a letter which Paul did not address to “mankind” in general, nor to “sinners” in general, but to a particular subset—Gentiles.

^NET  Ephesians 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh– who are called "uncircumcision" by the so-called "circumcision" that is performed on the body by human hands– 

(See also Eph 3:1, 6, 8; 4:17)

Paul further mentions his own specific ministry to Gentiles.

^NET  Ephesians 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles–

^NET  Ephesians 3:8 To me– less than the least of all the saints– this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

Paul’s purpose is to show Gentile believers their relationship both to God and to God’s people, the Israelites. Gentile believers and Israelites are now one in Christ. He speaks directly of both groups.

^NET  Ephesians 1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory.

^RSV  Ephesians 1:13 In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

^NET  Ephesians 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh– who are called "uncircumcision" by the so-called "circumcision" that is performed on the body by human hands–… But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Just as in Christ spirit and flesh are one, so in the new man there is a union composed of spirit and flesh. As both groups now are united as one in Christ, there is a heavenly, spiritual side to the union (chapter 1 and 2:18), and there is an earthly, of-the-flesh side, as well (2:14f; 3:6).

D. Whom is Paul Addressing in Chapter One?

Notes on we, you, Israelites, and Gentiles in Chapter 1—

i) Although Paul does not specifically mention Gentiles until chapter two and beyond, it is clear from that chapter that Paul has been talking to Gentiles throughout his letter to them (Eph 1:22-23; 2:1, 11, 19; 3:1, 6, 8; 4:17). Is this a letter specifically about Gentile/Israelite relations? According to chapters 2 and 3, yes, most definitely. Keeping those chapters in mind as one reads chapter 1 gives more information to the reader than if one were to read as though Paul were writing to generic “sinners” or mankind generally. Writers tend to have an idea of the content of an entire piece before they begin the first word. Paul in chapters 2 and 3 addresses Gentiles so directly and specifically that it is important for us as readers to bear this in mind as we read through chapter 1, as Paul certainly did.

ii) Paul uses first person plural from 1:1 through 1:11. In 1:12-13, Paul separates out the two specific groups for the first time. (He doesn’t name them, however, until 2:11, where he says, “you Gentiles”, called such by the “circumcision”.)

^NET  Ephesians 1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)– when you believed in Christ– you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit,

Who are “we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ”? The Christian Standard Bible translates this way—

^CSB  Ephesians 1:12 so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring praise to His glory.

One could interpret “the first to set our hope on Christ” in two ways. 1) In order of time. In this interpretation, Jesus’ disciples would have been first. Those who heard the gospel on Pentecost would be next, and so forth. It does not seem likely that Paul would be using “first to set our hope on Christ” in this manner. 2) According to the two groups of which Paul speaks in chapter 2. In this interpretation, the group of Israelite believers, of which Paul is one, would have been the first to believe, and the group of Gentile believers, whom Paul specifically addresses in this letter, would be next. This seems the likelier interpretation for several reasons: a) Paul discusses these two groups overtly in chapter 2, and b) it falls in place neatly with Paul’s theme of oneness in Christ present throughout the first 4 chapters.

It follows then that “you” in, “when you heard the word of truth” and “when you believed in Christ” (vs 13), refers to Gentile believers.

iii) Paul began speaking to the Gentile believers specifically in verse 13 and continues, for the most part—verses 14 and17 have exceptions—through verse 18. (Verses 15 and 16 are to the local body of Gentile believers.)

iv) In verse 19, where Paul writes, “the immeasurable greatness of his power in us”, he has switched back to the united group of believers, as in verses 3 through 10. This is verified by the descriptor he adds, “his power in us who believe”, i.e., all believers.

Summary: the two groups in chapter one are “we…” (Israelites) who were the first to believe in Messiah Christ and “you” (Gentiles) who believed when you heard. In other verses, however, Paul intends “we” to include both groups. This interpretation is derived from the clearly stated facts in chapter 2 and is verified in chapter 3. Once the reader becomes aware that Paul in chapter 1 has two groups in mind, it is not difficult to distinguish the verses in which “we” refers to the group of Israelite believers from the ones in which “we” refers to the united group of believers from both groups.

Note on “To the saints”—

 ^RSV  Ephesians 1:1 …To the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus: ²

I. Paul Begins with Spirit and Heaven

A. Spiritual Blessings in Heaven

In chapter 1 of Ephesians, Paul sets out to show the spiritual aspect of new life in Christ. He locates the spiritual blessings in heaven. In this regard, he uses “us” in verse 3, which according to the discussion above, includes both Gentile and Israelite believers.

^NET  Ephesians 1:3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.

B. Gentiles Included

Paul shows that Gentile believers have always been included in God’s eternal plan in Christ.

^NET  Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love.

^NET  Ephesians 1:5 He did this by predestining us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will–

C. Spiritual Blessings Named

Spiritual blessings in Christ include redemption, forgiveness, and wisdom and insight into His will (Eph 1: 7-8).

D. In Christ

Christ is the location of union of all things, both in heaven and on earth (i.e., both spirit and flesh).

^NET  Ephesians 1:10 toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ– the things in heaven and the things on earth.

i) The union in Christ includes Israelites—

^NET  Ephesians 1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory.

ii) The union in Christ includes Gentiles—

^NET  Ephesians 1:13 And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)– when you believed in Christ– you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit,

E. Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit of “promise” is the seal, the proof, that Gentile believers are partakers of inheritance with those who “first hoped in Christ”, the Israelite believers.

^NET  Ephesians 1:12 …we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ…¹³ And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)– when you believed in Christ– you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the down payment of our inheritance…

The Holy Spirit carried weight in the Old Testament.

i) He was present at creation. (Gen 1:2).

ii) God promised the Holy Spirit to believers.

^NET  Galatians 3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.

^NET  Isaiah 59:21 "As for me, this is my promise to them," says the LORD. "My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward," says the LORD.

^NET  Jeremiah 31:31 "Indeed, a time is coming," says the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. ³² It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them," says the LORD. ³³ "But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land," says the LORD. "I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people. ³⁴ "People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me," says the LORD. "For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done."

^NET  Isaiah 11:2 The LORD's spirit will rest on him– a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the LORD.

^NIV  Isaiah 32:15 till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.

^NIV  Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

^NET  Isaiah 59:21 "As for me, this is my promise to them," says the LORD. "My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward," says the LORD.

^NET  Joel 2:28 After all of this I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; your young men will see prophetic visions. ²⁹ Even on male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

Receiving the Holy Spirit is a sign of having received the inheritance of God.

^NET  Ephesians 1:13 …you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.

In Galatians 3:14, in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham comes to believers first, in order that they could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. According to Paul, the Holy Spirit was a result of already having partaken of the blessing of Abraham. One can say that in Paul’s thinking, the blessing of the Holy Spirit is the greater blessing. ³

^NET  Galatians 3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.

F. Inheritance

i) Gentiles are included as recipients of the inheritance.

^NET  Ephesians 1:14 who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.

^NET  Ephesians 1:18 – since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened– so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

ii) The verses above do not specify whether the inheritance is spiritual, material, or both.

iii) The inheritance is indescribably magnificent (Eph 1:17-19).

iv) The inheritance is safe in the powerful Christ (Eph 1:19-22).

G. Conclusion to Part I

The Church—A Name and Definition

In many of the Ephesian verses in chapter 1, Paul speaks of all believers in Christ. In other verses, he specifies two particular groups, i) those who “first hoped in Christ” (v. 12) and ii) “you also” (v. 13). At the close of the chapter Paul gives a name to the united body of believers in Christ. He calls them “the church” (Eph 1:22), and he defines what the united body, the church, is (Eph 1:23).

^NET  Ephesians 1:22 And God put all things under Christ's feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things. ²³ Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Everything is under Christ’s feet, and Christ is head over all things. God gave Christ as head to the church. The church is the “body” (σῶμα) of Christ. The church, Christ’s body, is the fullness of Christ, who Himself fills all things. Christ is spirit and glorified flesh. His body then, having been sealed with the Spirit and recipient of the Spirit, is also spirit and flesh.

Key Points

1) Given the above statements by Paul, it is difficult to imagine any individual or any group having part in Christ, which would not also have part in the body of Christ. Christ is everything; He has been given to His body; His body is His fullness, and Christ fills all things. Where would any kind of partaking in Christ be located, if not in His body? Further, Paul has shown that Christ’s body includes both Israelite and Gentile believers.

2) Based upon Chapter 1 in Ephesians, the conclusion is that there is but one election in Christ.

^NET  Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world...

……….

A Look Behind and Ahead

^NET  Ephesians 1:10 toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ– the things in heaven and the things on earth.

Chapter 1 for the most part dealt with things in heaven. In Chapter 2, Paul continues in heaven but begins to turn his attention to things on earth.

II. Paul Continues with Spirit While Introducing Flesh on Earth

A. “We” and “You”

In the closing two verses of chapter one, Paul named and defined the body of Christ as the “church”. This designation included both the “we” expressed in “we who first hoped in Christ” in verse 12, and the “you also” of verse 13. We saw that this would indicate first, Israelite believers, and second, Gentile believers.

B. Sin and Salvation

^NET  Ephesians 2:1 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you formerly lived according to this world's present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, ³ among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…

i) Sin.

a) In Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul describes the sin condition of “you” (vss 1-2) and “we all” (vs 3).

b) Is Paul speaking of heaven or earth? Both.

c) “You”, the Gentiles, were dead in trespasses and sins in which “you” walked, “following the course of this world”—that walking in sin would occur on earth.

d) “…following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” has a spiritual element in it.

……….

^NET  Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ– by grace you are saved!– ⁶ and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

ii) Salvation.

a) Who? Both Groups. Paul in verses 4-5 includes both already delineated groups in “us” and “we”, but switches back to “you” specifically in “by grace you are saved!”

b) Where? On earth and in heaven. In order for the “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms” to occur, the beginning had to have been on earth, just as Christ died on earth, was buried, raised, and ascended into heaven. Believers are physically located on earth, they believe on earth, and their living spirits are with Christ in heaven—“made us alive together with Christ”—are “seated…with him in the heavenly realms”.

c) Blessings. Verses 7-10 describe the blessings of salvation now owned by both groups—the “we” group and the “you” group. Some of these blessings are “immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness…in Christ Jesus”, “gift of God” and “created in Christ Jesus for good works…prepared beforehand” that “we should walk in them”.

d) Where? Heaven and earth. Although believers have been made to “sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”, the “good works” must by nature be performed as believers “walk in them” on earth.

C. Conclusion to Part II

1) Reading through Ephesians 2:1-10, we see Paul’s awareness of two groups. He variably refers to these groups under what I give as the pronoun headings of “we” and “you”. But Paul’s use of these pronouns switches continuously back and forth, even being intermingled within a single sentence in verse 5. I do not think that Paul lost track of his writing, switching his subjects unknowingly as a young student, for instance, might, nor as one who is so excited that he writes in great haste, as it were, losing track of grammar. Rather, I think these switches, as already shown above in Part I and as will be clearly shown in Part III, indicate that in Paul’s thought there are two distinct groups of which he is writing. The group called “you” is the group to which Paul is writing.

2) As concerns election, the verses in Ephesians 2:1-10 indicate that there is but one election in Christ, an identical election which includes “we” and “you”.

……….

A Look Behind and Ahead

Looking behind we see one eternal election in Christ—

^NET  Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world…

Looking ahead towards the section beginning in Ephesians 2:11, we will see Paul bringing the discussion down to flesh on earth.

III. Gentile and Israelite

In contrast to the heavenly and spiritual that has dominated the letter to this point, in Ephesians 2:11, Paul introduces graphically concise vocabulary and definitions which bring the letter he is writing to his Gentile believing friends down to earth and down to flesh.

^NET  Ephesians 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh– who are called "uncircumcision" by the so-called "circumcision" that is performed on the body by human hands–

A. Two Fleshly Groups Defined on Earth

^NET  Ephesians 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh– who are called "uncircumcision" by the so-called "circumcision" that is performed on the body by human hands–

Paul in verse 11 very carefully defines his vocabulary, the terms he is using.

a) “…you, the Gentiles in the flesh” 

Paul is speaking directly to the Gentiles. What makes them Gentiles? Their flesh. Paul is not talking about the spirit here, but the physical bodies of men.

b) “…who are called ‘uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘circumcision’ that is performed on the body by human hands”

“...known by those whose bodies were circumcised as ‘the uncircumcised’” ⁴

Paul here is even more specific in spelling out what he is talking about. There are those who perform a physical circumcision on the physical bodies of men—Paul emphasizes that he is not talking about anything spiritual, but a wholly physical action done not by God but by men upon men. Those who have received this physical act of circumcision upon themselves are called the “circumcision”, and these same people call those who have not received this physical action upon their bodies the “uncircumcision”.

A. The Former Condition of Gentiles in the Flesh on Earth

^NET  Ephesians 2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Now Paul makes statements about the group, “you”, he has just defined as the “uncircumcision”.

i) “at that time”

At what time? The time mentioned in verse 11—i) “formerly”, ii) the time when formerly they were called “uncircumcision” by those called “circumcision”. When would that be? From a general knowledge of scripture, that would be throughout the age of the Old Testament from Abraham forward until the time that Paul is currently about to mention in verse 13, “now”.

In the phrase “at that time”, the reader is forewarned that Paul is about to speak of a contrast.

ii) “without the Messiah”

This is interesting. In the time just specified, the times from the Old Testament days of Abraham until near to the very present, the “uncircumcision” did not have “the Messiah”. It is interesting because the Messiah had not yet been manifested in the flesh, that is, Christ had not yet been born. So, in what sense did the circumcision have (implied) the Messiah?

The answer must be: prophetically. Paul is referring to the prophetic promise of the Old Testament concerning the coming of Messiah. Formerly, in those times when fleshly circumcision meant everything to the ones using those terms—that would be the “circumcision” of verse 11—the Gentiles did not have the promise of Messiah.  Messiah belonged to the circumcision. (^NET  Matthew 15:24 So he answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.")

iii) “alienated from the citizenship of Israel”

In addition to not having the Messiah, Gentiles formerly were shut out from the intimacy and fellowship of the citizenship of Israel, the community of Israel. There was a divide, a barrier. Gentiles were excluded from Israel.

Question: this “citizenship of Israel”—was it a concrete nation and/or group of people being spoken of, or a spiritual? Rephrasing, in Old Testament days, the Gentiles—were they strangers to the spiritual citizenry of a spiritual Israel? Or to a concrete people with a concrete land, boundaries, kingly authority reigning over them, a concrete nation? One has to say the latter, concrete.

iv) “and strangers to the covenants of promise”

“you had no knowledge of, or right to, the promised agreements” ⁵

The Gentiles had no knowledge of and no stake in the covenants of promise. What are these? These would be the covenants that God made with Abraham and his descendants, the legal agreements God had made with Abraham when He initiated the rite of circumcision in the flesh. These covenants were God’s promise concerning certain things.

v) “having no hope and without God in the world”

“You had nothing to look forward to and no God to whom you could turn” ⁶

Paul ends his series of descriptors of the condition of the Gentiles in former times—no hope, no God, in the world (with all its trials and tribulations implied).

B. Present Condition of Gentiles in the Flesh on Earth—Ephesians 2:13

^NET  Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

i) “But now”

Here Paul introduces the contrast foretold in the previous verse, “at that time”.

ii) “…now” is a different time than “at that time”, or formerly. “Now” speaks of a current condition. There has been a movement from a former time to a present time. The “former” time no longer exists; it is “now”. Everything so far described was part of “at that time”. What Paul is about to describe is part of “now”.

iii) “But” indicates a contrast, a change. Something is different now. “Now” in and of itself does not mean change. Paul could have said, And now…nothing has really changed. He didn’t say that. Something has changed: “but”. What has changed?

iv) “in Christ Jesus”

None of my English translations say “in Messiah Jesus”, but they could have, for that is what Christ means. The first big change is that these Gentiles who in verse 12 were  “without the Messiah” or apart from Messiah, are now “in” Messiah Jesus.

Who else is “in” Messiah? The text doesn’t say, but the “circumcision” of verse 11 is strongly implied. ⁷

v) “you who used to be far away”

“…you who used to be far away” sums up the thought of verse 12, “alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world”.

vi) “…have been brought near” 

“…brought near” to what? “Brought near” is a contrast to “far away”. We saw that “far away” meant everything concerning Israel in the former time (vss 11, 12), which was the time of circumcision in the flesh (vs 11)—citizenship, covenants, promise, hope, God—before the advent of Messiah. The Gentiles used to be far away from all things concerning Israel, but now they have been brought near.

vii) “…by the blood of Christ.”

“…by the blood of” Messiah. Paul applies the blood of Messiah to the Gentiles, those who never had circumcision in the flesh and who were far away from everything concerning the nation and religion of Israel.

What was the basis of the Gentiles having been brought near? The blood of Messiah. I can think of nothing that would carry more weight than the blood of Messiah Himself. Messiah’s blood is very authoritative, belonging as it does to Messiah, who is the ultimate authority for the nation of Israel. ⁸

viii) “…through the blood of Christ…are with us inside the circle of God’s love in Christ Jesus”⁹

ix) “…by the blood of Christ.”

Paul had defined the Gentiles as those who had not received a physical circumcision in their flesh. In verse 11 he stated that those people who had received a physical circumcision were the ones who applied the name “uncircumcision” upon those people who had not received this fleshly operation upon their bodies.

Key Point

Paul’s message reveals a deep change to the status quo of the above two groups. The uncircumcised people, who once were far off, have now been brought near. How have they been brought near? Through the traditional, historic means of receiving the physical operation of circumcision? No, but by the blood of Christ, the Messiah. Do human hands have anything to do with the bringing near (the hands of priests, for instance)? No. The application of Christ’s blood is completely outside the scope of physical religious rites upon the flesh. It is outside the scope of the synagogue, there being no necessity for a non-physical application of the blood of Messiah to occur within its walls. Occurring through the blood of Messiah, the “bringing near” that Paul described is also outside the scope of authority of men, be they Israelite or not. Formerly, priests used to make proselytes by the action of circumcision, but now, application of the blood of Messiah (by necessity of the ascension having occurred, a spiritual application) is what makes proselytes. Thus, the “middle man” has been removed. Proselytes are no longer made by priests, but by God.

C. Present Condition of Gentiles in the Flesh on Earth—Ephesians 2:14-15a

^NET  Ephesians 2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, ¹⁵ when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees…

i) “For…”

Paul indicates in “for” that he is continuing and carrying forward the thought of his previous sentence, that thought being that the blood of Messiah brought the strangers and aliens near.

ii) “he”

Messiah

iii) “he is our peace”

Messiah is peace. Thayer’s Lexicon defines peace as “a state of national tranquility; exemption from the rage and havoc of war” and “armistice”. ¹⁰ What is the history contained in the Old Testament, if not a record of war after war after war, Israel against the uncircumcised nations, and vice versa? Now, in Christ and by the blood of Christ—in the benefits of the blood He shed on the cross—there is peace.

iv) “our peace”

Paul is not here in this context describing the peace that Gentile believers have with God, although they certainly do have peace with God (verse 16). Predominant in Paul’s thought in verse 14 is peace between Gentile believers and the other group he has been talking about all along—Israelites.

Again, “our peace” implies two parties formerly at war. In context, Paul has continuously, without interruption or change of topic,  been speaking of two groups of people—the “circumcision” and the “uncircumcision”. When he says “our peace”, he is speaking of the peace that now exists between these two groups. It is by means of their inclusion into Israel that Gentile believers find their peace with God. This statement is verified in verse 16, where Paul specifically introduces and speaks of the peace with God obtained by both groups in one united body.

v) “the one who made both groups into one”

The statements of “iv” are verified in the expansion Paul now makes. Christ is the “peace” who made “both groups into one”. Who are the “both groups”? The very ones Paul has been talking about all along—the two groups of “circumcision” and “uncircumcision”.

vi) “the one who made”

Once again, Paul states the authority of Messiah; it is Messiah who performed this act of making into one group the two highly disparate groups of people.

vii) “both groups into one” or “having made both one”

There can be no question concerning the meaning of this scripture. And, Paul is not speaking of a spiritual union as much as a concrete, physical union. In terms of the two groups of which he is speaking, Paul has labored to define his terms concretely, from a human vantage on earth, physically (circumcision made by hands).

Other translations verify these statements: ¹¹

“He made the two divisions of mankind one” –The Twentieth Century New Testament

“He who has made Jew and Gentile one” –The New Testament in Modern Speech (Richard Francis Weymouth)

“he has made the two nations one” –The New Testament in the Translation of Monsignor Ronald Knox

“He has made a unity of the conflicting elements of Jew and gentile” –(The New Testament in Modern English (J.B. Phillips)

“who made both groups into one” –The New American Standard Bible: New Testament

viii) “…who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility”

Paul adds to his previous statement by use of graphic words that describe the separation.

There had been a barrier, a fence, a wall right in the middle of relations between the two groups. This was a hostile separation, an enmity. Christ destroyed the barrier, broke it down, removed it.

Something had been separating the two groups which were called the circumcision and the uncircumcision. The physical condition of having been circumcised or not was the identifier between the two groups. The actual separation was itself something else; it was a wall, a fence, a hostile barrier. Christ broke that barrier down.

ix) “…made both groups into one” describes a positive action by Christ without reference to the manner in which He performed it.

x) “and” introduces a second action.

xi) “…who destroyed the middle wall of partition” describes the second action by Christ not identical to the first. The text does not say that the second action of destroying the wall accomplished the former.

xii) “the hostility” or “the enmity” is a restatement of “middle wall of partition”.

xiii) “having nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees” is the means by which actions one and two above were accomplished.

xiv) Grammar.

Christ accomplished the two previously named results—1) “made both groups into one”, and 2) “destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility”—as outcomes of the third action of having “nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees”. The nullification in His flesh of commandments and decrees is a distinct action by Christ, not identical to the other two.

Christ Himself is our peace “For He Himself is our peace”. Who is He Himself? What person specifically is He? (What more can be said about Him?) Answer: “the one who…”, “ὁ…”.

Christ performed three grammatically equivalent actions, all three of which are verb participles in the aorist active nominative masculine conjugation.

The one who is our peace: 1) “made” both groups one, and 2) “destroyed” the middle wall of enmity, [by means of] having 3) “abolished” or “brought to nothing” the law of commandments in decrees.

He is our peace…the one…having made both one…and…having broken the middle wall of partition (the enmity)…having abolished (in his flesh) the law of the commandments in decrees…in order that… ¹²

My Paraphrase: Christ abolished in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. By having done this, he made the two groups one and broke the middle wall of partition, which was the enmity.

xv) “in his flesh”

Christ abolished the law of commandments in decrees in His flesh.

D. Key Point—What Happened?

^NET  Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law."

^NET  Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (because it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree")

^NET  Ephesians 2:15 … he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees.

It seems from my eye that a great battle of destruction occurred in the flesh of Jesus Christ, in His body of flesh broken on the tree, a broken body which we memorialize in the breaking of the bread at communion.

The Law, the great centerpiece of the Israelite nation, died the day that Messiah died. The Law had become not a light to the Gentile nations to draw them to God but a source of enmity, a dividing wall of hostility right in the middle of everything, a great barrier separating the Gentile nations from the nation of Israel.

In His crucified flesh Messiah Jesus dissolved, brought to nothing, ended, destroyed, made of no avail, that Law. In His person He had fulfilled the purpose of the Law and brought it to an end.

^NET  Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.” ¹³

E. Results—Ephesians 2:15b

^NET  Ephesians 2:15 … He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace,

^ESV  Ephesians 2:15 … that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,

i) “might create” “κτίσῃ”

“Create” means what it suggests and is used in its traditional sense, as to bring something into existence from nothing, something that did not exist before.

ii) “in himself”

Where does the act occur? Where is the new thing located? “… in Himself”. In His flesh. The law was nullified in the flesh of Christ, and in that same flesh something new was created. The Greek text indicates that the created thing is in Christ.

iii) “in himself one new man in place of the two”

“in order to create, through union with himself, from Jew and Gentile, one New Man” –The Twentieth Century New Testament.

“His design was to unite the two sections of humanity in Himself so as to form one new man” –The New Testament in Modern Speech (Richard Francis Weymouth).

iv) “thus making peace”

The end result is the peace spoken of previously in verse 14, “For He is our peace”. The wall of the law has been removed, the enmity is gone, the two distinct groups are no longer two, but one.

^NET  Haggai 2:9 'The future splendor of this temple will be greater than that of former times,' the LORD who rules over all declares, 'and in this place I will give peace.'"

^NET  John 2:19 Jesus replied, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again." ²⁰ Then the Jewish leaders said to him, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and are you going to raise it up in three days?" ²¹ But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. ²² So after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the saying that Jesus had spoken.

E. Results—Ephesians 2:16

^NET  Ephesians 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.

i) “and”

Result one was peace through creating one new man in place of two (Eph 2:15b). Result two follows the “and”.

ii) “might reconcile”

“Reconcile” is a new word not used in previous verses in the Ephesians 2 context. It means “to reconcile completely” “to reconcile back again, bring back to a former state of harmony” ¹⁴

Both groups have been reconciled to God. Both have been reconciled in one body. This is the new creation just mentioned. If both have been reconciled to God, and both have been reconciled in one body, there is no escaping that the two in whom the enmity of a dividing wall used to exist have now been reconciled to each other. And, Paul does say that immediately following.

iii) “by which the hostility has been killed.”

“Killed”, (ἀποκτείνας), is a strong word that means what it says. There is not now nor any longer will be any hostility whatsoever based upon the law of commandments, signified by the outward rite of circumcision. Christ killed all such hostility in one fell swoop on the cross.

iv) Where was the reconciliation and the killing of the hostility accomplished? In Christ on the cross.

v) Where was the reconciliation and the killing of the hostility accomplished? In the flesh on earth. The hostility had been in the flesh on earth; the reconciliation was in the flesh on earth.

F. Peace—Fireworks and Explosion—The Big Change

^NET  Ephesians 2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, ¹⁸ so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

……….

^NET  Isaiah 57:19 I am the one who gives them reason to celebrate. Complete prosperity is available both to those who are far away and those who are nearby," says the LORD, "and I will heal them.

^BGT  Isaiah 57:19 εἰρήνην ἐπ᾽ εἰρήνην τοῖς μακρὰν καὶ τοῖς ἐγγὺς οὖσιν καὶ εἶπεν κύριος ἰάσομαι αὐτούς

^LXE  Isaiah 57:19 peace upon peace to them that are far off, and to them that are nigh: and the Lord has said, I will heal them.

^NAU  Isaiah 57:19 …Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near," Says the LORD, "and I will heal him."

……….

i) Some Grammar

a) “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near”

“Then he came and told both you who were far from God and us who were near that the war was over” –The New Testament in Modern English (J.B. Phillips)

Those “far off” were the Gentiles in the flesh, the uncircumcision, and those who were “near” were the Israelites, the circumcision in the flesh. Formerly, the hostility had been on earth, expressed in wars throughout the ages between the two groups.

b) “so that” or “for”, “because”

^NET “…so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father”

^CSB  Ephesians 2:18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Most English translations, like the one just above, say “for”, in the sense of “because”.

ii) The Significance of Paul’s Statement

But whether one translates “ὅτι” (pronounced otee) as “so that” (in order that) or as “for” (because), it’s a very telling little word. Paul has just summed up the biggest transition in the history of the Israelite nation since the institution of the Law under Moses, and he is about to make a statement concerning this almost inexpressible change.

What is the bottom line of this big change (the two becoming one)? The important thing in Paul’s mind, the only thing of importance in Paul’s mind, the one and only thing he mentions at all as the outcome of the big change, the new man, the new creation, the peace, the oneness of body, the tearing down of the wall of hostility, is access to the Father.

“…both have access in one Spirit to the Father”. ¹⁵

That is what is important to Paul, the reconciliation to the Father introduced in verse 16.

I just want to pause here and ask each of us to ask ourselves a question—What is most important to me?

Paul has been speaking since verse 11 on this one theme, and the end result of it all is access to the Father.

iv) “in Spirit” and “otee” (“ὅτι”) as “in order that” or “for”

Because most English translations say “for”, I will use that. It makes the most sense as placing the greater before the lesser.

v) What is this all about?

In Paul’s mind, as shown previously, the greatest thing is access to the Father, communion (fellowship) with the Father. This is what mankind lost in its fall from sin. Mankind died in their spirits to God. Christ did “reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross”. Christ had but one body, which He sacrificed on the cross. Both groups were reconciled to God in that one body of Christ which died upon the cross. This is what brought the hostility to an end (Ephesians 2:16).

The result of Christ’s death on the cross was that in so coming, He preached peace to the ones far off (Gentiles in the flesh) and peace to the ones near (those circumcised in the flesh) (Ephesians 2:17). This peace was made possible because of the access in one Spirit to the Father that Christ accomplished through His death on the cross. 

The Father is Spirit. Access to Him is in Spirit. In Paul’s thought in all of Ephesians so far, Spirit is in heaven. The access to the Father is spiritual, but the result is peace on earth, where the enmity was located.

The greater fact is communion with the Father restored in one Spirit. All humanity has unified access to the Father in the Spirit. There is only one access to the Father in Spirit—through Christ. Because there is but one access in Spirit, all who access the Father are one.

The fact of oneness begins in heaven in Spirit—the greater—and moves to earth in flesh—the lesser.

^NET  Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!"

^NET  Romans 8:32 Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all– how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?

Both verses above display movement from the greater to the lesser.

This is Paul’s thought in Ephesians 2:17-18.

^NET  Ephesians 2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, ¹⁸ so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

G. Is There One Election or Two in Ephesians 2:13-18?

The verses just above (Ephesians 2:13-18) proclaim one election. Paul verifies and expands this conclusion in the verses immediately following.

H. Description of the New Creation, the One New Man

A New Creation—History Rewritten, Verse 19

^NET  Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household,

i) “you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens”

a) “…you” refers to the uncircumcision introduced in verse 11 and maintained throughout the verses from there to this point

b) “…no longer” is a contrast with the “formerly” of verse 11.

c) “…foreigners and noncitizens” refers back to the Gentiles’ condition described in verse 12—“alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise”—but in reverse order. The word for “noncitizens” is not that used in verse 12, however, but is a word meaning “sojourners”, travelers, “πάροικοι”.

ii) “but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household,”

a) “…but” is a word displaying the glory of God at His best. This is the strong “but”—“ἀλλὰ”.

b) “…you are fellow citizens”

Citizens is the same root used in “citizenship” (verse 12), translated “commonwealth” in other English translations, and joined with a prefix meaning “with”. “Fellow citizens” is one word in Greek.

c) “…with the saints” in this context can only mean Israelite saints of the Old Testament. See footnote 2 for a discussion of why this is a proper meaning assigned to the use of “saints” in this verse.

d) “…and members of God's household”

“…members…household” is all one word meaning in its entirety “dwellers in a household”.

Thayer writes, “belonging to a house or family, domestic, intimate:  belonging to one's household, related by blood, kindred, 1 Tim. 5:8; οἰκεῖοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, belonging to God's household, i. e. to the theocracy, Eph. 2:19;”

iii) Where is the fellow citizenship with the saints and the members of God’s household located? In heaven or on earth?

The former verse (verse 18) dealt with heaven; this verse describes conditions on earth.

a) Just as the “foreigners and noncitizens” characterized the earthly condition of the uncircumcision in former times, so the fellow citizens and members of God’s household characterizes the earthly condition of the new creation in Christ, the one new body. (See Thayer’s definition in “ii d” just above).

Key Point

There is no reason to spiritualize the citizenship in this verse by moving it to heaven, as some have done. ¹⁷

b) Where is the citizenship of the “fellow citizens with” located? On earth—the citizens are the Israelite saints, whose capital city is Jerusalem. Where is the household of “members of God’s household” located? On earth—God’s household is that of the Israelite saints, whose religious family life centers in the temple. ¹⁷

A New Creation—History Rewritten, Verses 20-22

(Recap) ^NET  Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household,

^NET  Ephesians 2:20 because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

i) “because” is not present in the Greek text. “^CSB  Ephesians 2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone” is a more accurate translation.

ii) “…built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets” is a further description of the “you”, i.e., the Gentiles, who are no longer foreigners and noncitizens. They are now “fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household”. The saints and members of God’s household, i.e., those who formerly called themselves the “circumcision” (verse 11) were themselves built on the foundation of the apostles (New Testament believers) and prophets (Old Testament believers). The text does not say this about the Israelites, but our common knowledge and the context supplies this. Like them, the Gentiles also now are built on the same foundation of apostles and prophets.

iii) “…with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.”

“…with…” Messiah (“Χριστοῦ”) “Jesus himself as the cornerstone.”

Key Point—Replacement Theology?

^NET  Ephesians 2:21 In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,

i) “…the whole building”

“…the whole building” includes a) the foundation of apostles and prophets, b) the citizenship and household of God, which now includes both Israelites and Gentiles united as one body, and c) the cornerstone, who is Christ.

ii) “…being joined together”

The building is one perfectly seamed building.

iii) “…grows”

The building, being made of people and Christ, is alive and growing.

iv) “…into a holy temple in the Lord,”

Is this replacement theology? If so, then it is through His Holy Word that God Himself declares replacement.

^NET  John 4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." ²¹ Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You people worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But a time is coming– and now is here– when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers.

^NET  Ephesians 2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

i) “…in whom”

In Christ.

ii) “you also”

It would seem that Paul has added this last verse for emphasis, since the Gentiles had already been included in the “whole building” of verse 21. But, friend as he is to the Gentiles, Paul wishes to drive his point home that they are indeed included.

iii) “are being built together”

“Together” here and in verse 21 is a prefix added to the verb. As such, the togetherness of which the Gentiles are now a part is inseparable.

iv) “built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit”

Spiritualizing?

i) Does verse 22 spiritualize the new relationship between Gentile and Israelite believers? No. God is Spirit. Therefore, His dwelling place must be in Spirit.

^NET  Isaiah 66:1 This is what the LORD says: "The heavens are my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where then is the house you will build for me? Where is the place where I will rest?

ii) Again, does verse 22 spiritualize the new relationship between Gentile and Israelite believers? No. The body is physically located on earth among flesh and blood saints of God.

Conclusion to Part III: Gentile and Israelite

Is There One Election or Two in Ephesians 2:11-22?

Paul’s writing in Ephesians 2:11-22 is a single, continuously flowing whole. There is nothing in the entire context that could possibly be seen as an exception to Paul’s constantly reiterated theme of oneness in Christ.

Again, is there one election or two in Ephesians 2:11-22? There is but one election.

A Look Behind and Ahead

Looking behind, we see that everything in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians up until this point works together to show a single election in Christ.

Looking ahead, we will learn something of what “in Christ” entails.

Key Point

Is that phrase itself a qualifier to a single election? (I.e., does “in Christ” qualify an election in the church, as opposed to an election not in the church, for example, a separate and distinct election of ethnic Israelites only, who through unique circumstance may not be included in the church?) That question has already been satisfactorily answered negatively by Paul in Ephesians 1:22-23 (see the discussion of those verses above and the section titled “G. Conclusion to Part I”). However, Paul presents new information in chapter 3 which gives an additional answer to the question of election. There remains but one election.

Part IV: Ephesians Chapter 3—The Mystery

Foreword: It is interesting that in all of chapter 3, in which Paul discusses the mystery hidden for ages (i.e., hidden from Old Testament prophets) and in which he continues to present the eternal standing of Gentiles in Christ—that throughout this whole chapter he does not distinguish a separate election apart from the church in Christ, nor does he speak of any promise other than the promise of access to the Father. Paul quite simply does not have his mind fixed on land. Paul resembles Christ in this, and Paul is, above others, God’s chosen theologian of the New Testament.

A. Paul’s Special Relationship to the Gentiles

i) Paul became a prisoner for the Gentiles (Ephesians 3:1). The portions of scripture in Acts concerning Paul amply explain his statement here.

ii) Paul had a special stewardship of grace given him by God for the Gentiles (Acts 9:15).

B. The Mystery

i) Characteristics of the Mystery

a) Paul received knowledge of a “mystery” (Ephesians 3:3,4,9).

b) The knowledge was given him by revelation from God (Ephesians 3:3).

c) The mystery was “not disclosed to people in former generations” (Ephesians 3:5; Colossians 1:26).

d) The mystery, or secret (NET), “has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:5; Colossians 1:26).

e) The mystery “has been hidden for ages in God who has created all things” (Ephesians 3:9).

Key Point

Here is new knowledge that was not known to the prophets of Abraham’s day, nor of Isaac’s day, nor Jacob’s day, nor Moses’ day, nor even Isaiah’s day.

f) God alone is creator, owner, and manager of the mystery (Ephesians 3:9).

f) The mystery is “Christ” (Ephesians 3:4; Colossians 1:27; 2:2; Galatians 3:16,19).

ii) Statement of the Mystery

^NET  Ephesians 3:6 namely, that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

iv) Terms of the Mystery

a) It concerns the Gentiles.

b) Gentiles are:

i) fellow heirs (see Ephesians 1:14, 18)

ii) fellow members of the body (see Ephesians 1:23, 2:16)

iii) fellow partakers of the promise (see Ephesians 2:12-13)

c) The blessings are in Christ, just as the mystery is in Christ.

d) The “promise in Christ Jesus” is accessed “through the gospel”.

v) Did Paul Use Qualifiers?

Paul states no qualifiers to the three blessings given Gentiles (see iv-b just above).

Part V: Conclusion

A. Should Old Testament Prophecy Stand on Its Own, or Should Old Testament Prophecy Be Interpreted in the Light of the New Testament?

Based on all of the above, but especially based upon Ephesians 3:3-5 and 9 (see also Colossians 1:26-27 and 4:3), the answer can only be that God requires the Old Testament, including its prophecies, to be interpreted through the light God gave in the New Testament, as stated through His designated apostle Paul.

B. Did Paul’s Mystery (Ephesians 3:6) Raise Concern in Certain Quarters?

^NET  Ephesians 3:6 namely, that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

Yes. The leaders of the synagogue religion of Paul’s day were highly offended by Paul’s message. (The leaders of the synagogue religion in Jesus’ day were highly offended by His message as well.)

^NET  Ephesians 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles–

^NET  Ephesians 3:13 For this reason I ask you not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

^NET  Ephesians 4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord…

^NET  Ephesians 6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.

C. Does Paul’s Mystery Raise Concern Today?

Yes. It seems to me that some of the difficulties prevalent in Paul’s day are again becoming prevalent in our own. ¹⁸ Nevertheless, God’s gospel stands.

^NET  Ephesians 3:6 namely, that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

^NET  Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. Scripture does not say, "and to the descendants," referring to many, but "and to your descendant," referring to one, who is Christ.

^NET  2 Corinthians 1:20 For every one of God's promises are "Yes" in him…

D. Does Paul’s Mystery Raise Confusion Concerning the Meaning of Some Old Testament Prophecies as Now Seen in the Light of Revelation Given in the New?

Yes. But, the answers to the confusion must be searched out within the hermeneutic Paul uses in Ephesians. One cannot go outside scripture and demand that Old Testament promises not be considered in light of the New.

E. Does Paul in Ephesians Definitively Show That There Is One Election or Two?

According to Paul in Ephesians, there is but one election in Christ.

__________

1 I wrote this article as an Appendix to a larger article in progress. The thought expressed in this article is wholly my own (with the exception, of course, of God’s all-encompassing grace).

2 It seems that Paul uses the word “saints” in verse 1 to refer to all believers. Formerly, “saints” meant only Israelites; now in verse one “saints” includes both Israelites and Gentiles. In verse 19, Paul uses saints in the sense of Old Testament Israelite saints.

Paul wrote in Greek and frequently, as seen in all his writings, he quotes the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

Saints (ἅγιος) appears in the Old Testament LXX several times, most often as an adjective, but several times as a noun.

noun

a) ^NET  Psalm 16:3 As for God's chosen people who are in the land, and the leading officials I admired so much–

^BGT  Psalm 15:3 τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς ἐν τῇ γῇ αὐτοῦ ἐθαυμάστωσεν πάντα τὰ θελήματα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτοῖς

^LXE  Psalm 16:3 On behalf of the saints that are in his land, he has magnified all his pleasure in them.

^NAU  Psalm 16:3 As for the saints who are in the earth, They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.

b) ^NET  Isaiah 41:16 You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away; the wind will scatter them. You will rejoice in the LORD; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

^BGT  Isaiah 41:16 καὶ λικμήσεις καὶ ἄνεμος λήμψεται αὐτούς καὶ καταιγὶς διασπερεῖ αὐτούς σὺ δὲ εὐφρανθήσῃ ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις Ισραηλ καὶ ἀγαλλιάσονται

^LXE  Isaiah 41:16 and thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and a tempest shall scatter them: but thou shalt rejoice in the holy ones of Israel.

^NAU  Isaiah 41:16 "You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, And the storm will scatter them; But you will rejoice in the LORD, You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

c) ^NET  Daniel 7:22 until the Ancient of Days arrived and judgment was rendered in favor of the holy ones of the Most High. Then the time came for the holy ones to take possession of the kingdom.

^BGT  Daniel 7:22 ἕως τοῦ ἐλθεῖν τὸν παλαιὸν ἡμερῶν καὶ τὴν κρίσιν ἔδωκε τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῦ ὑψίστου καὶ ὁ καιρὸς ἐδόθη καὶ τὸ βασίλειον κατέσχον οἱ ἅγιοι

^LXE  Daniel 7:22 until the Ancient of days came, and he gave judgment to the saints of the Most High; and the time came on, and the saints possessed the kingdom.

^NAU  Daniel 7:22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.

adjective

^NET  Exodus 22:31 "You will be holy people (ἄνδρες ἅγιοι) to me; you must not eat any meat torn by animals in the field. You must throw it to the dogs.

^NET  Deuteronomy 28:9 The LORD will designate you as his holy people (λαὸν ἅγιον)just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments and obey him.

^NET  Isaiah 62:12 They will be called, "The Holy People (λαὸν ἅγιον), the Ones Protected by the LORD." You will be called, "Sought After, City Not Abandoned."

^NET  Daniel 12:7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was over the waters of the river as he raised both his right and left hands to the sky and made an oath by the one who lives forever: "It is for a time, times, and half a time. Then, when the power of the one who shatters the holy people (λαοῦ ἁγίου) has been exhausted, all these things will be finished."

3 ^NET  Galatians 3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.

The order of events in this verse is interesting. The blessing of Abraham was to Jesus Christ, his Seed, singular (Gal 3:16). In Christ, the blessing of Abraham came to Gentiles as believers. The purpose, or result, of being included in the blessing of Abraham for Gentile believers is that they (“we”—Paul seems to identify himself with the Gentile believers) could receive the Spirit.

Why is this significant? This sentence demonstrates what is of paramount importance to Paul. Of all the blessings God gave Abraham, the only one of any significance to Paul (the one he most frequently mentions) is the blessing of communion with God Himself, by means of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This should be significant in any discussion of eschatology, because God chose Paul as His New Testament theologian.

4 J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Paul was a revolutionary. Is it any wonder that he most often was not welcome in the religious synagogues of his day? Could this same change from “without Messiah” to “in Messiah” also have something to do with why Christ was crucified?

8 To a religious Israelite ear, this statement by Paul must have seemed extremely radical. Once again, the persecution Paul received in bringing this message of Messiah to his own people in their synagogues indicates that Paul’s message did indeed appear extremely radical to them.

9 J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English

10 Joseph Henry Thayer, D. D. Thayer Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan Publishing House

11 The Word – The Bible From 26 Translations; Curtis Vaughan, Th.D., General Editor; Gulfport, MS, Mathis Publishers, Inc. © 1993

12 Based upon The R.S.V. Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Literal English Translation by The Reverend Alfred Marshall D.Litt., London, Regency Reference Library, Zondervan, © 1958 Samuel Bagster and Sons Ltd.

13 Word Study:

It appears that Paul said the opposite in Ephesians from what Jesus said in Matthew. Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law…”, and Paul said, “…by abolishing the law of commandments” (English Standard Version) “in his flesh”.

The word that Jesus used in Matthew 5:17 for “abolish” is “καταλῦσαι”, pronounced kataleesay, or, kataloosay. The word that Paul used in Ephesians for “nullified” is “καταργήσας”, pronounced katargeesas. The word that Jesus used is a stronger, more violent word than the one Paul used. Some synonyms given by lexicographers for Jesus’ word “καταλῦσαι” are destroy, abolish, throw down, do away, set at naught, annul. Synonyms for Paul’s word (καταργήσας) are to render idle, unemployed, inactive, inoperative, deprive of its strength, make barren.

How do we reconcile two seemingly opposite statements, that of Jesus and that of Paul, in one true Bible? By understanding the two Greek words, we see that they are not at variance. Jesus is saying that He is not destroying, as in condemning, the Law. He is not denying its goodness or holiness. Rather, He is accomplishing what God intended for it. In His own perfect life, He exemplified and achieved God’s every purpose in it.

Paul, on the other hand, focuses on mankind’s, and Israel’s in particular, failure with regards to the law. Paul’s use of the word envisions Christ’s having reduced the law to a whimper by the cross. Christ made the law hollow, ineffective, no longer powerful to separate nor cause division. Christ in Matthew claimed that He came to accomplish everything the law demanded, and Paul in Ephesians claimed that Christ destroyed the power of the law to have any effect upon either Gentile or Jew by the crucifixion of His flesh. As Paul said in Corinthians, by dying, Christ removed the sting, the power of death from the law.

^NET  1 Corinthians 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

Christ’s viewpoint was that of looking down upon the law as a victor, one who succeeded in meeting its every demand and purpose. Paul’s viewpoint was that of looking up at the law through the eyes of fallen humanity. Humanity failed to keep the law and were losers, vanquished, regarding it.

Everything the law represented to the nation of Israel in terms of its national identity, that which separated Israel from all other nations on earth, was removed, nullified, emptied, made powerless, in the death in the flesh of Jesus Christ, Messiah, on the cross. Who else but Messiah had authority to do such a thing?

I cannot help but ask, if I were a priest or Pharisee living in Jesus’ day, would I have accepted and received Jesus of Nazareth, this homeless person from Galilee, this leader of a ragamuffin group of fishermen, tax collectors, sinners, and women—would I have welcomed Him as Messiah? I think that because the consequences were so enormous, the radicalness of Jesus so great in terms of national tradition concerning all things Israelite, His positions on issues of national identity and Israelite and priestly lack of “specialness” with God so crystal clear, that many in Jesus’ day did not receive Him, as witnessed by the fact that they crucified Him.

14 Joseph Henry Thayer, D. D. Thayer Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan Publishing House

15 The access is “in spirit”. Greek writing does not use capitals for proper nouns, but I have not found even one translation that uses a small “s”, so all are agreed that it is the Holy Spirit of which Paul speaks.

16 Joseph Henry Thayer, D. D. Thayer Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan Publishing House

17 John MacArthur; The MacArthur Study Bible, New American Standard Bible Updated Edition; © 2006 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.; p 1775  “2:19 fellow citizens with the saints. God’s kingdom is made up of the people from all time who have trusted in Him. There are no strangers, foreigners, or second-class citizens there (cf Php 3:20). of God’s household. Redeemed sinners not only become heavenly citizens but also members of God’s own family. The Father bestows on believers the same infinite love He gives His Son. See note on 1:5;  cf. Heb 3:6”

Please note that the author of the above quotation incorrectly interprets and transfers the concept of “fellow citizens with the saints” into the phrase “God’s kingdom”. The Greek word Paul uses in “fellow citizens” refers to people, not a kingdom. Below is the lexicon definition for “fellow citizens” given by Joseph Henry Thayer, who is referenced in footnote 16 above:

“[Thayer] συμπολίτης

συμπολίτης (T WH συνπολιτης (cf. σύν, II. at the end)), συμπολιτου, ὁ (see συμμαθητής and references), possessing the same citizenship with others, a fellow-citizen: συμπολῖται τῶν ἁγίων, spoken of Gentiles as received into the communion of the saints i. e. of the people consecrated to God, opposed to ξένοι καί πάροικοι, Eph. 2:19. (Euripides, Heracl. 826; Josephus, Antiquities 19, 2, 2; Aelian v. h. 3, 44.)*”

Further, Moulton defines “πολίτης” as “a citizen”. [Harold K. Moulton, The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised, Grand Rapids, MI; The Zondervan Corporation, © 1978

There is no kingdom in sight in Ephesians 2:19, but only people, whom the context of the entire passage from verse 11 onward locates on earth.

The author of the notes of the study Bible noted in this footnote also writes, “of God’s household. Redeemed sinners not only become heavenly citizens but also members of God’s own family.”

This also is not accurate either to the Greek text or to the thought of Paul. The specifically Gentile “fellow citizens” living on earth with Israelites who also live on earth have been changed incorrectly by the author of the premillennialist notes into generic “redeemed sinners” who live in a “heavenly kingdom” of “God”. The statement that they are members of God’s own family is correct to the intent of the text, although the dwelling place of the family is on earth, not in heaven.

The text says, “^NET  Ephesians 2:19 So then you [“Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision”—verse 11 RSV] are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints [“what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands”—verse 11 RSV] and members of God's household,”

The premillennialist study Bible notes say, “God’s kingdom is made up of …Redeemed sinners…[who have become] heavenly citizens”.

Paul’s thought is quite and entirely different from that portrayed in the premillennialist study Bible notes cited at the beginning of this footnote (number 17).

18 “But there is a theology concerning Israel and the end times…that I believe does not get things right…This view demands that all the Old Testament promises to Israel be viewed through the lens of the New Testament…”

John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Luke 1-5, Chicago, IL; Moody Publishers; © 2009, page 126.