Ephesians 2
Dear RTB’ers,
I read in one of my Study Bibles that unity is one of the themes of Paul’s writing in Ephesians. We see that played out in today’s reading. In the last paragraph of the first chapter Paul had written to “you”, presumably referring to all of God’s people in Ephesus. He continues with that “you” in the first paragraph of today’s reading, but then switches to “you Gentiles” in verse 11. He continues his message to them in the rest of this chapter. Verse 12 is one of my favorite verses to read in all of Paul’s epistles: …you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. I love this description of the Gentiles’ earlier situation – separated, alienated, strangers, having no hope, and without God. But then he ends this chapter with his unity message, that these Gentiles are …no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God… (v. 19)
One more comment on today’s reading. Verses 8 and 9 are often quoted by believers: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. The intent in quoting these verses is to point out that Jesus has done it all – that there is nothing that we can do to earn our salvation. But I like to point out that Paul is not discounting our “works”, as he makes clear in the next verse: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (v. 10) Yes, with our salvation already assured, we still have work to do.
Blessings!
See also: October 28 (2021) / Ephesians 2:1-22.