O2
13,14.
but now.
P2
q
14. He is our peace.
r 14. `The both' made one.
s
14. Middle wall broken.
Peace
t
15. Enmity in flesh.
s
15. Decrees abolished.
r 15. `The twain' created one new
Man
q
15. So making peace.
q
16. Reconciled to God.
r
16. `The both' in one Body.
s
16. Through the cross.
Reconciliation
t
16,17. Enmity slain Peace.
s
18. Through Him.
r
18. `The both' in one Spirit.
q
18. Access to the Father.
O3
19.
no longer.
P3
19. Strangers and foreigners.
Something of the position of the Gentile `without Christ' is seen in the
dealings of the Lord with the Syrophoenician woman (Matt. 15:21-28); the
attitude of the Lord being influenced not by the question of whether the woman
was a sinner or not, but that she was a Gentile; that the people of Israel were
`lords' (masters Greek); that she was in comparison a dog; and that all she
could expect at that time were `crumbs'. What a change has been wrought since
she learned the disability of being a Gentile! -- riches beyond expression, in
place of crumbs. Wealth that Israel never knew is now lavished upon them who
were classed among the dogs or the unclean. If only those detractors of
misunderstood terms would ponder the glory of Ephesians over against the
condition of the Gentile according to Matthew 15, we should hear less of the
false charge that those who teach dispensational truth rob the believer who
follows their teaching. Whoever was robbed by the substitution of wealth
undreamed of, for crumbs!
The Gentile had none of the privileges enumerated in Romans 9, for they
were Israel's `in the flesh', and in that sphere `all spiritual blessings' could
not exist. In the flesh, the Gentile has no place; his only hope of life and
blessing is `in the spirit', and that demanded a miracle for its accomplishment.
The condition of the Gentile `without Christ' is revealed by the words that
follow `being aliens ... and strangers'. The word translated `alien' is one of
many compounds of the Greek root all, which means `other', and which
necessitates, as we shall see, reconciliation, another word from the same root
to accomplish the cancellation of distance and enmity implied. There is so much
teaching associated with this family of words, that even though it holds up the
exposition of the passage before us for a while, the light which we shall
receive will more than compensate. Let us take a survey of this root and some
of its developments.
Alla. `But'. The disjunctive conjunction prevents the mind from coming
to a certain conclusion by the introduction of some other factor. For example,
Ephesians 2:3 ends with the words `children of wrath even as others'. Instead
of going on to the conclusion `therefore these children of wrath are of
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