1. Back in chapter 1, Paul said that God "hath put all things" under Christ’s feet, "and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is His body…" (Eph.1:22,23).
2. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church. He is up in heaven at the Father’s right hand (Eph.1:20). So the Head is up in heaven directing the body, which is down here on earth (2:16).
3. As we move along in our study of Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, we see that the church is made up of both Jews and Gentiles, that only those who have been reconciled to God are in it, and that it is a body entirely distinct and different from Israel.

I. THE CHURCH INCLUDES BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES.

1. The church at Ephesus was made up mostly of Gentiles (2:11,12).
2. It is hard for us to imagine the barrier that existed between Jews and Gentiles before the church was established.
3. To the Jews, Gentiles were nothing but dogs (Mark 7:24-30).
4. They were considered unclean dogs, worthy of contempt – they were "called the Uncircumcision" (2:11). This was a term of derision (cf. I Sam.17:26,36).
5. But in their boastful pride they did not realize that it was the circumcision of heart that God really valued (cf. Rom.2:28,29).
6. The Jews enjoyed a position of great privilege before God (Rom.9:4,5).
7. But the Gentiles "were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise…" (2:12).
8. All of God’s covenants were with the Jews, not with the Gentiles (cf. Gen.12:1-3).
9. The Gentiles were "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise." If Gentiles wanted to worship the true God in the appointed way, they had to convert to Judaism (e.g. Rahab and Ruth).
10. The Jewish temple in Jerusalem was the only place on earth where God had placed His name and where men could approach Him. And Gentiles were forbidden to enter the inner temple courts.
11. The Gentiles "were without Christ" (2:12), i.e. they had no Messiah. It was to the nation of Israel that He was promised. Our Lord told the woman at the well, "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22).
12. Therefore, the Gentiles had no hope, and were "without God in the world" (2:12).

II. THE CHURCH IS ONLY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN RECONCILED TO GOD (2:13).

1. I love the old hymn that goes,

I praise Him for the cleansing blood, What a Wonderful Saviour!

That reconciled my soul to God; What a Wonderful Saviour!

2. These lost Ephesians, these ungodly heathens that had no hope and were without God, "who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ" (2:13).
3. This means they have been reconciled to God. God does not have to be reconciled to man, but man needs to be reconciled to God (2:13,16; II Cor.5:18-21; Col.1:20-22).
4. Before the cross, God divided up the world into two groups, Jew and Gentile, with a "wall of partition" between them (2:14).
5. But now this "middle wall" has been "broken down" and God has introduced a third group – the church of God (I Cor.10:32).
6. 700 years before the cross, the prophet Micah prophesied that "this man (referring to Christ) shall be the Peace" (Mic.5:5). Not just the Prince of Peace, but the Peace." Paul says, "For He is our peace" (2:14).
7. In vs. 14 Christ is our peace. In vs. 15 Christ made peace. And in vs. 17 He came and "preached peace."

III. THE CHURCH IS A "NEW MAN" ENTIRELY DISTINCT FROM ISRAEL (2:15b).

1. Some teach that the church goes back to Adam and Eve, or Abraham, etc. but this is unscriptural. Jesus said: "I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH…" (Matt.16:18).
2. Paul calls the church a "new man" (2:15b).
3. The NT church is not a continuation of the nation Israel. It is entirely distinct from Israel.
4. For example, Israel was under the law, the church is not. The law of Moses was "abolished" at the cross (2:15).
5. There was nothing wrong with the law (Rom.7:12). But man could never live by the law. The law pointed sinners to their need for salvation. Christ died on the cross to save sinners.
6. He died to pay the penalty of the law that had been broken. Therefore, He completely satisfied the righteous claims of God.
7. So now the law has been abolished for those who are in Christ. We are not under the law but under grace. This does not mean that we are lawless, but it means that we are not under the Mosaic system (e.g. keeping the Sabbath).
8. The law pronounced a curse and a condemnation on all who violated it. It was the Jews’ proud boast that they were custodians of the law, and they were. But they failed to realize that their failure to keep the law put them under the curse of God (Gal.3:10).

CONCLUSION:

1. The practical proof that the church is something entirely new is that we all have "access by one Spirit unto the Father" (2:18).
2. This is in sharp contrast to the OT economy, in which only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the place of God’s presence.
3. And the high priest could only enter there on one day of the year – the Day of Atonement.
4. Proper order for prayer: to the Father, by the Spirit, "through Christ," in Jesus’ name (2:18).