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What does the verse say? "But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were sinners
are now saved"? No, it says, "but now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were FAR OFF
are made nigh by the blood of Christ". The blood of Christ which effected our
redemption has also cancelled the dispensational disability and made us nigh. If the
reader will glance over the verse following this statement, he will see that the glorious
change is indeed one of privilege and access, not of salvation and forgiveness. Cornelius
was saved, as recorded in Acts 10:, but in comparison with the position of the saved
Gentile in Ephesians he was "far off". This glorious "but now" deals with "peace",
"the middle wall of partition", the abolition of the enmity and the fullest expression of the
reconciliation. It gives those who were strangers and aliens a citizenship; it makes those
who were denied access to the temple on earth the very temple of the Lord, a temple not
made with hands but an habitation of God in spirit. It is clear that the whole section is
dispensational in character. The section Eph. 2: 11-13 is divided into two parts, as
follows:--
A |
"Once."
B
| In flesh, aliens, strangers, hopeless, godless, without citizenship.
A |
"Now."
B
| In Christ, nigh, reconciled, fellow-citizens, a holy temple.
Look at the suggestive parallel:--
"Gentiles in the flesh," &100:
"Far off made nigh in Christ Jesus."
To be a Gentile in the flesh was to be far off; to be in Christ Jesus was to be made
nigh. Notice the "now" in connection with Paul's special ministry of the mystery and
with the subjects related to it, Eph. 3: 5-10, Col. 1: 21-26. The grand dispensational
change introduced by these words "but now" constitutes a unique revelation. As we
proceed we shall see that the present interval, the "now" of these passages, is the
dispensation of the mystery, a dispensation where all distinctions of nationality cease, yet
at the same time a dispensation where peculiar blessings are directed towards the
Gentiles. None of these blessings can reach the Gentile while "in the flesh", they are all
"spiritual". None of them can reach the Gentile while he is "in the world" in the sense of
Eph. 2: 12; these blessings are all "in the heavenlies", and more than that, they are all "in
Christ".
The expressions "in Christ" and in "Christ Jesus" are limited in Ephesians to the
doctrinal portion (1: - 3:). It may be worth while to note them:--
All spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, in Christ.
1: 3.
The gathering together in one, all things, in Christ.
1: 10.
Members of the One Body have a prior hope, in Christ.
1: 12.
The Gentiles are joint-partakers of His promise, in Christ Jesus.
3: 6.
They have been made to sit together in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus.
2: 6.
They have been created, in Christ Jesus.
2: 10.
They have been made nigh, in Christ Jesus.
2: 13.
The purpose of the ages was made, in Christ Jesus.
3: 11.