Ephesians 2:13-15

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Ephesians 2:14

Verse 14 14.For he is our peace. He now includes Jews in the privilege of reconciliation, and shows that, through one Messiah, all are united to God. This consideration was fitted to repress the false confidence of the Jews, who, despising the grace of Christ, boasted that they were the holy people, and chosen inheritance, of God. If Christ is our peace, all who are out of him must be at variance with God. What a beautiful title is this which Christ possesses, — the peace between God and men!... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Ephesians 2:15

Verse 15 15.Having abolished in his flesh the enmity. The meaning of Paul’s words is now clear. The middle wall of partition hindered Christ from forming Jews and Gentiles into one body, and therefore the wall has been broken down. The reason why it is broken down is now added — to abolish the enmity, by the flesh of Christ. The Son of God, by assuming a nature common to all, has formed in his own body a perfect unity. Even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. What had been... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:11-13

Contrast between the past and the present. The Ephesians are here called to look back, to remember what they were; not, however, with the feeling of a man who has raised himself in the world , and whom such retrospect usually fills with pride, but with the feeling of those whom God has raised, a feeling that ought to produce the deepest humility and gratitude. I. THE PAST is presented under two aspects—one having respect chiefly to their outward condition, the other chiefly to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:11-22

CONTRAST BETWEEN PAST AND THE PRESENT . read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:11-22

The spiritual temple. In the apostle's prayer for the Ephesians the power of God to us-ward who believe was illustrated first in the experience of our risen and reigning Head, and secondly in the experience of us as risen and. reigning members of his mystical body. The unity of the members, however, has not been as fully brought out in the preceding verses as Paul desired, and so we have in the section now before us the subject amplified and completed mainly round the figure of a " ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:11-22

Union of Jews and Gentiles in the Christian Church. "Wherefore remember, that aforetime." The Ephesian Christians are reminded of what they were "aforetime," that is, before they received the gospel. It is a good exercise of memory for us all to go back on what we once were. For we did not all receive the gospel when it was first presented to us. Many of us who now believe were for years in a state of indifference; How well, then, does it become us to "remember" our former unconverted... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:11-22

Gospel reconciliation—its subjects, agency, and results. "Wherefore remember, that ye being in lime past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:13

But now ; antithesis to ποτὲ in Ephesians 2:11 , and τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ in Ephesians 2:12 . Another of the very powerful " buts " of this Epistle, completely reversing the picture going before (see Ephesians 2:4 ). In Christ Jesus. This expression is the pivot of the Epistle, denoting, not only that Christ Jesus is the Source of blessing, but also that we get the blessing, i.e. by vital union and fellowship with, him. The "without Christ" of Ephesians 2:12 contrasts... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:13

Nearness to God in the blood of Christ. This chapter speaks of a double alienation and of a double reconciliation: on the one hand, a deep alienation of mankind from God, dating from birth, subsisting along with a moral separation between Jews and Gentiles; on the other hand, it points to the historic fact of Christ's atone-merit as the divinely instituted method by which both alienations were to be extinguished, and man united to God and to man in a higher unity, so that the two separated... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 2:13-18

Christ our Peace. I. CHRIST MAKES PEACE . He was predicted as the Prince of peace. His birth was heralded by the good news, "On earth peace." 1. Peace between man and man . In Christ the enmity between Jew and Gentile ceases. Christianity forbids all envy, jealousy, hatred, and strife. It is cosmopolitan, and will not sanction national selfishness cloaked by the sacred name of patriotism. It is brotherly, and will not favor sectarian animosity sheltering under the mask of... read more

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