Eph 2:18-22 | KingComments | STEP | . For the third time in this chapter peace is spoken about. The first time is in . There is the Person of Christ Himself peace. Then in , where peace is the result of the work of Christ on the cross. Here in it is about the preaching of peace. Also this preaching is ascribed to Christ. Yet “and He came” cannot refer to His life on earth. Then He indeed preached peace to His own, “those who were near” ( ), but never to Gentiles, “you who were far away”. He did not come to earth for the latter (cf. ). Now, however, the Lord Jesus has, as you have seen in the previous verse, brought reconciliation through the cross, followed by His return to heaven. From there He preached this peace to everyone, through His apostles and disciples. What His representatives are doing on earth in preaching His peace to Jew and Gentile – as there is no distinction anymore – is His work. Here you see again the unity there is between Christ in heaven and His own on earth. Through this that peace has also come to us , and you and I have also become partakers of it. . After all previous magnificent results of the work of Christ, we now come to the highlight of our spiritual privileges: our access to the Father. You can be perfectly happy and at home with Him, without desiring anything else. This access is for “both”, Jew and Gentile, “through Him”, that is Christ. He has opened the way through the cross. He has made it possible that you can come to the Father, without any inward hesitation and without any outward mediation of others apart from yourself. You personally can go directly to the Father. He, Who enables you to do this, Who gives you the power to do this, is “one Spirit”. For the fourth time we find the word ‘one’ (see also the ). Each previous unity is worked by this one Spirit. Every distinction is gone. The Spirit does not give a different access to the Jew than to the Gentile. There always is free access to the Father for every ‘son’. God is not hidden anymore behind a veil as when He dwelled among Israel in the tabernacle and in the temple. The relationship with God is not being ruled anymore by law, but by liberty. Every restriction of that liberty by introducing again something of the law, means an obstacle of the free access. That is a shortage to the child of God, but a greater shortage still to the Father Who loves to have His children near Him. It is not so much of what you do with Him. Surely, you can praise Him, you can also ask Him things. But the greatest desire He has is that you are with Him; that He sees that you search for Him because of Who He is: the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are with Him as somebody who is made one with the Lord Jesus. To be with the Father is actually enjoying all what the Lord Jesus is to the Father and to be aware that that relationship also is yours, for you are united with Him. Then you can only worship. . From this great privilege yet other privileges follow. The words “so then” indicate that. Where you live and where you are at home, you are not a stranger and alien. On earth we still are indeed ‘strangers and foreigners’ ( ), but with the Father we are at home, together with other “fellow citizens with the saints”. Not citizens of an earthly land with the same nationality, but of a heavenly land (cf. ) where all dwell who have the ‘nationality’ of heaven. Besides the relation with each other, we may live near to God and be “God’s household”. It is His house, a house that is characterized by fellowship with Him and with each other. As said it is God’s house, the house where He dwells. That is the step to the last verses of this chapter. There you see how this house is built. . It is a good thing to notice that until now the church has continuously been brought before us in the picture of a body. Now Paul is going to use another picture for the church and that is that of a house. That is necessary, because herewith things can be made clear that have to do with building. In this way you can view the church in the Bible as a building that is built by God, but also as a building that is built by men. Because the latter here is not the subject, I will pay attention to it. Here it is about the building of the house by God. In Matthew 16 you find the same thought. There the Lord Jesus says that He will build His church ( ). The building of the church by God and the Lord Jesus takes place on “the foundation of the apostles and prophets”. You could say that they are the foundation in two respects. They are themselves the foundation, the first stones of the building, on which other “living stones” ( ) are built. Next to that they have shown by their teachings how the building has to go. It is clear that the prophets, who together with the apostles are the foundation, cannot be the prophets from the Old Testament. From Ephesians 3 it is clear that it is about something that was unknown in the past ( ). Also the order – first ‘apostles’ are mentioned and after that the ‘prophets’– makes it clear that it is about prophets of the New Testament. But the foundation of this house is not the most important. The whole house, including the foundation, rests on the cornerstone, “Christ Jesus Himself”. The whole house draws its value from Him. The character of the cornerstone confirms the character of the building. . This character is expressed in “in Whom”. From Him, in connection to Him, “the whole building” is “being fitted together”. The whole is being fitted together and built in the right way, without any chance of cracks. In Him this building is growing by a continuous addition of new, living stones. This growing, or building, continues until the last stone is added and the building is finished. That is the moment when the Lord Jesus comes to take the church to Him. In the view of the building, the church will perfectly serve the purpose to which she is grown and that is “into a holy temple in the Lord”. In the Old Testament the temple is the place where God dwelt and where also the priests dwelt. When the Lord Jesus in John 14 says of the Father’s house “in My Father’s house are many dwelling places” ( ), He seems to be referring to the temple. In the house of the Father we eternally will live with the Father and the Son and we will worship Them. . Yet God will not wait until the building is finished. That’s why the last verse speaks of the church as a building, a place where God already dwells now. This building is being made up of all believers who live now on earth. That is a building of which stones disappear, which happens when a believer dies, but to which also stones are added, which happens when somebody converts. It is a great joy to God to have a house on earth in which He can dwell, through His Spirit. To this purpose the original Gentile Ephesians (“you also”) were also being built. To this end, you and I, who didn’t have any part in anything, or right to anything, are being built. What a grace! Now read Ephesians 2:17-22 again. Reflection: How and when do you make use of the access to the Father?

‏ Ephesians 2:18-22

Our Access to the Father

Eph 2:17. For the third time in this chapter peace is spoken about. The first time is in Eph 2:14. There is the Person of Christ Himself peace. Then in Eph 2:15, where peace is the result of the work of Christ on the cross. Here in Eph 2:17 it is about the preaching of peace. Also this preaching is ascribed to Christ.

Yet “and He came” cannot refer to His life on earth. Then He indeed preached peace to His own, “those who were near” (Jn 14:27 ; Jn 20:19-21), but never to Gentiles, “you who were far away”. He did not come to earth for the latter (cf. Mt 10:5-6). Now, however, the Lord Jesus has, as you have seen in the previous verse, brought reconciliation through the cross, followed by His return to heaven. From there He preached this peace to everyone, through His apostles and disciples.

What His representatives are doing on earth in preaching His peace to Jew and Gentile – as there is no distinction anymore – is His work. Here you see again the unity there is between Christ in heaven and His own on earth. Through this that peace has also come to us, and you and I have also become partakers of it.

Eph 2:18. After all previous magnificent results of the work of Christ, we now come to the highlight of our spiritual privileges: our access to the Father. You can be perfectly happy and at home with Him, without desiring anything else. This access is for “both”, Jew and Gentile, “through Him”, that is Christ. He has opened the way through the cross. He has made it possible that you can come to the Father, without any inward hesitation and without any outward mediation of others apart from yourself. You personally can go directly to the Father.

He, Who enables you to do this, Who gives you the power to do this, is “one Spirit”. For the fourth time we find the word ‘one’ (see also the Eph 2:14-16). Each previous unity is worked by this one Spirit. Every distinction is gone. The Spirit does not give a different access to the Jew than to the Gentile. There always is free access to the Father for every ‘son’. God is not hidden anymore behind a veil as when He dwelled among Israel in the tabernacle and in the temple.

The relationship with God is not being ruled anymore by law, but by liberty. Every restriction of that liberty by introducing again something of the law, means an obstacle of the free access. That is a shortage to the child of God, but a greater shortage still to the Father Who loves to have His children near Him.

It is not so much of what you do with Him. Surely, you can praise Him, you can also ask Him things. But the greatest desire He has is that you are with Him; that He sees that you search for Him because of Who He is: the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are with Him as somebody who is made one with the Lord Jesus. To be with the Father is actually enjoying all what the Lord Jesus is to the Father and to be aware that that relationship also is yours, for you are united with Him. Then you can only worship.

Eph 2:19. From this great privilege yet other privileges follow. The words “so then” indicate that. Where you live and where you are at home, you are not a stranger and alien. On earth we still are indeed ‘strangers and foreigners’ (1Pet 2:11), but with the Father we are at home, together with other “fellow citizens with the saints”. Not citizens of an earthly land with the same nationality, but of a heavenly land (cf. Phil 3:20) where all dwell who have the ‘nationality’ of heaven.

Besides the relation with each other, we may live near to God and be “God’s household”. It is His house, a house that is characterized by fellowship with Him and with each other. As said it is God’s house, the house where He dwells. That is the step to the last verses of this chapter. There you see how this house is built.

Eph 2:20. It is a good thing to notice that until now the church has continuously been brought before us in the picture of a body. Now Paul is going to use another picture for the church and that is that of a house. That is necessary, because herewith things can be made clear that have to do with building. In this way you can view the church in the Bible as a building that is built by God, but also as a building that is built by men. Because the latter here is not the subject, I will pay attention to it. Here it is about the building of the house by God. In Matthew 16 you find the same thought. There the Lord Jesus says that He will build His church (Mt 16:18).

The building of the church by God and the Lord Jesus takes place on “the foundation of the apostles and prophets”. You could say that they are the foundation in two respects. They are themselves the foundation, the first stones of the building, on which other “living stones” (1Pet 2:5) are built. Next to that they have shown by their teachings how the building has to go.

It is clear that the prophets, who together with the apostles are the foundation, cannot be the prophets from the Old Testament. From Ephesians 3 it is clear that it is about something that was unknown in the past (Eph 3:5). Also the order – first ‘apostles’ are mentioned and after that the ‘prophets’– makes it clear that it is about prophets of the New Testament.

But the foundation of this house is not the most important. The whole house, including the foundation, rests on the cornerstone, “Christ Jesus Himself”. The whole house draws its value from Him. The character of the cornerstone confirms the character of the building.

Eph 2:21. This character is expressed in “in Whom”. From Him, in connection to Him, “the whole building” is “being fitted together”. The whole is being fitted together and built in the right way, without any chance of cracks. In Him this building is growing by a continuous addition of new, living stones. This growing, or building, continues until the last stone is added and the building is finished. That is the moment when the Lord Jesus comes to take the church to Him. In the view of the building, the church will perfectly serve the purpose to which she is grown and that is “into a holy temple in the Lord”.

In the Old Testament the temple is the place where God dwelt and where also the priests dwelt. When the Lord Jesus in John 14 says of the Father’s house “in My Father’s house are many dwelling places” (Jn 14:2a), He seems to be referring to the temple. In the house of the Father we eternally will live with the Father and the Son and we will worship Them.

Eph 2:22. Yet God will not wait until the building is finished. That’s why the last verse speaks of the church as a building, a place where God already dwells now. This building is being made up of all believers who live now on earth. That is a building of which stones disappear, which happens when a believer dies, but to which also stones are added, which happens when somebody converts.

It is a great joy to God to have a house on earth in which He can dwell, through His Spirit. To this purpose the original Gentile Ephesians (“you also”) were also being built. To this end, you and I, who didn’t have any part in anything, or right to anything, are being built. What a grace!

Now read Ephesians 2:17-22 again.

Reflection: How and when do you make use of the access to the Father?