Kent Anthony Mayeux
Jun 23, 2020·3 min read
Have you ever examined Ephesians with the distinction of Jew vs gentile in mind? The “saints” Paul addresses in the first chapter are the converted Jews for Christ, chosen “in Christ, before the foundation of the world.” The Jews were the chosen race of God, chosen by the Word at creation. The Jews were the chosen race per the Old Testament. God made covenants with the Jews. God chose the Jews to bring salvation to the gentiles in due time (during His history of the world). The saints in Ephesus and around the Mediterranean were the Jewish apostles and disciples of Christ, those Jews who accepted Christ as their savior. Then Paul distinguished the gentile Ephesians “13 in him you too were called, when you listened to the preaching of the truth, that gospel which is your salvation.” Christ first called the Jews and the Jews called the gentiles. Belief in the gospel and acceptance of the Holy Spirit was the salvation offered to the gentiles. The Jews were always “saved” yet the ones who do not believe in Christ are the remnant. The Holy Spirit was a pledged inheritance of the Jews from the beginning to time. The Jews redeemed their inheritance (Holy Spirit and salvation) by the conversion of the gentiles (the heathens in this world at that time in history.)
Ephesians 2 starts by saying that Christ found the gentiles as dead men, worshiping the devil. Paul says the Jews were also in the company of the evil one “bounded by natural appetites” with a disregard to their birthright i.e. the salvation that God had promised them. Paul acknowledges that God’s gift of Christ offered salvation to Jew and gentile alike. “It is his grace that has saved you; 6 raised us up too.” Paul continues to make distinctions between “us” and “you” i.e. Jew and Gentile. “11 Remember, then, what you once were, the Gentiles.” Before the appearance of Christ, the gentiles were “outlaws from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to every covenant 12.” Christ “is our bond of peace; he has made the two nations one, breaking down the wall that was a barrier between us.” Christ brought all of humanity into the fold of their creator, God. Both gentile and Jew now have access to God through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 3 starts with Paul confessing that Christ Himself revealed this plan of salvation by God to Paul. In 4:17 Paul gives his message to the believing Gentiles “I call upon you in the Lord’s name not to live like the Gentiles, who make vain fancies their rule of life. 18 Their minds are clouded with darkness; the hardness of their hearts breeds in them an ignorance, which estranges them from the divine life;… 23 There must be a renewal in the inner life of your minds; 24 you must be clothed in the new self, which is created in God’s image, justified and sanctified through the truth.” “As for debauchery, and impurity of every kind, and covetousness, there must be no whisper of it among you;… no indecent behavior, no ribaldry or smartness in talk;” Paul finishes Ephesians with a command of love between husband and wife and between parents and children through the strength that the Spirit of God provides. Paul does not distinguish between the Jew and gentile of the love God has for them or the love that they must share among themselves.
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