Where Your Peace Comes From

The Story of You continues in this passage. The “you” of this passage would be any Gentile believer. If you are not a physical descendant of Abraham, then this is your story.

The great Apostle Paul addresses “you” as he starts a new paragraph. He wants us to remember something about our spiritual journey.

As a reporter for the newspaper I often ended up in unfamiliar territory—places where I had never been, seeing things I had never seen. I had trouble spelling the place names and surnames of this strange city—names like Boudreaux and Thibodeaux, Tchoupitoulas and Calliope. 

So I worked hard to get the facts right—the who, what, when, and where of my story. I was no ace reporter. I was simply the eyes and ears of the newsroom. When I got back to the newsroom the copy desk simply rewrote my story to put it in proper journalistic style and order.

I remember vividly the city editor, Vince Randazzo, coming to my desk with the mark up of my first story for the Times-Picayune. It was covered with red ink. I had everything backwards and upside-down. I had a journalism degree when I arrived, and I had won prizes for my writing as a teenager. But I actually learned how to write a story through the daily correction and instruction of editors and the copy desk. I learned how to put the lead at the top instead of burying it. I learned how to write simple sentences in short paragraphs.

And I learned to make sure I got the facts straight.

Look at the bones of this story.

The "Who" is You:

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ." — Ephesians 2:13 

This is the story of a great change that happened to you. 

Everything about our former condition—our tremendous distance from salvation—indicated that we were completely lost and would never be able to cover the distance between us and God.

We are and were Gentiles. That means that we were not children of Abraham by birth, not Jews or Israelites. God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants. That covenant did not include us.

The Who is You, on the outside looking in.

The "When" is Now:

“But now” here is parallel to the “But God” of Eph. 2:14.

God acted in his mercy because of his great love, to save us. This was the turning point of v1-10.

“But now” here is the fulcrum of contrast. The first chapter of your story would never suggest that you traveled to your second chapter. This is the surprising outcome of the mercy of God.

The story of you has a wonderful ending, a miraculous ending that you could never have pulled off on your own.

The "Where" is Near:

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near.” — Ephesians 2:13

Your method of transport was Jesus himself.

You once lived at an address Far, Far Away (v13). This is your story. Once upon a time you were far away.

• The world you lived in: Separate from Christ
• The nation you lived in: Excluded from citizenship
• The people you lived among: Foreigners to the Covenants of Promise
• Your spiritual condition: Without hope and without God in the world

Someone moved you: “brought near.” 

• Once again, the passive voice for the verb. Last week it was “made alive.” Today it is “brought near.” In each case we experienced an action that was done to us and for us. 
• You did not move yourself. You had no idea how to get from where you were to where you are now. You could not navigate this journey. You were not strong enough or smart enough or good enough to get from there to here.
  • Have you ever woke up in a bed that you did not crawl into? When I was a boy I fell asleep on the couch. I was completely out. I was maybe three years old. My father scooped me up in my sleep and carried me down the hall. I woke up for a second when he passed the water heater. I remember that snapshot—and only that moment—in my journey from the couch to my bed.
• Jesus is the One who carried us. He made a way for us when we could not make a way ourselves.
• We who were separated, excluded, without hope, and without God were carried to a new place spiritually by Jesus Christ himself, and him alone.

You have now arrived at a place where all the previous conditions have been reversed.

• Now joined with Christ, not separated.
• Now included, not excluded.
• No longer a foreigner but now an heir.
• No longer hopeless and godless, but full of hope.

The "How" is Christ:

"...you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ." — Ephesians 2:13

The blood of Christ:

• The blood signifies his death. It is the fluid which carries oxygen and nutrition to every cell in the body.
• The blood identifies us through type and DNA.
• Paul has visited this how already in chapter 1: "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace." (Ephesians 1:7).

His flesh: "by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations." (Ephesians 2:15). This is a reference to sacrifice of himself upon the cross.

His body: "in one body to reconcile both of them to God." (Ephesians 2:16)

• Jesus of Nazareth had a body. He cared for it just as you care for your body. You cannot imagine yourself without your body. You do not really have it. You are a body.
• Jesus said, “This is my body,” and he gave it up to his executioners. This is the sacrifice of himself.

His cross: "to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility." (Ephesians 2:16).

• The cross is the avenue through which he brought reconciliation to God. It refers to his death for our sin.

The "Why" is Peace:

"His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace." — Ephesians 2:15

The first peace referred to here is the peace between warring human factions, the Jews and the Gentiles. God wanted these two groups together in his church and in heaven. So the why of this story is this peace among men.

The second peace referred to here is peace with God. Jesus brought the two human groups together, and then he brought them both to God. He made peace on earth, and he made peace in heaven.

We have only one true peace on this planet. It is wrought by the Prince of Peace. It is Jesus himself. I wrote a song about this verse: 

“Jesus is our peace, breaking down the wall, spanning the great divide between us all.  Jesus is our peace, hostilities will cease, when he rules from the throne of every heart.”