Ephesians 2:11-23

Read Ephesians 2:11-23

Helpful Background Information: 

• In our sermon passage this week, Jesus uses the Scriptures to elevate the authority and significance of the Messiah. In doing so, He points to a coming day when all people are subjected to His lordship. By implication, this means that, as Messiah, Jesus is not just Lord of the Jews but of the Gentiles also. If He is Lord of both Jews and Gentiles, both have access to God’s covenant blessings in Him. 

• Paul stresses this new reality over and over in his letters to various churches. When he wrote to the Ephesians, he reminded them that (apart from the Messiah) they were hopelessly excluded from God’s promises (2:12). “But now,” he says, “in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (2:13). Paul goes on to say that, “through him, we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household” (2:18-19). 

• Throughout Mark’s Gospel, Jesus has been dropping hints about the coming reality that Paul would later describe in Ephesians. Surely, as Jesus indicated in Mark 12:35-37, the Messiah would be far greater than king David. In part, as Paul says, because He would not merely be Savior and Lord of the Jews but of the Gentiles as well.

Reflection Questions: 

• There are a lot of words we associate with Jesus. When you hear a reference to Jesus as “Lord,” what comes to your mind? Describe.

• In Jesus’ day, it was commonly but wrongly assumed that the Messiah would favor the Jews at the expense of the non-Jews. How and why might that misguided assumption have formed over time?

• Close by praying and ask God to clarify your vision of who Jesus is and what He came to do, according to Scripture. In your own words, thank God for what He’s done in and through Jesus.