The connection between Ephesians and Romans - the mystery we miss

Recently we've been reconsidering many of the things we thought we understood regarding doctrine and faith. We have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern. We have deemed this our “rethink.”

Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?

It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.

Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.

We should note that we are not Bible scholars, but we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to understand the Word of God.
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Ephesians is one of our favorite books of the Bible. There's a depth to it despite being short. Though we've read it many times we somehow missed its central theme, the mystery of Christ. This misunderstanding causes many Christians (including us) to misinterpret its application. It's really a key to understanding who is who, and how we fit in as contemporary Christians.

Which means we must skip ahead to chapter two before we are equipped to explore chapter one. And we also will need to take an occasional detour to Romans, where Paul expanded on the themes of Ephesians.

Paul was writing to a church in Ephesus made up of Gentiles, and his letter he makes a continual distinction between Jews and Gentiles that continues all the way into chapter four. We really need this context to be the basis of further explanation. 

It was important to Paul to show how the Gentiles are included in Christ by describing their former state:

Eph. 2:11-12 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men) — 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 

Gentiles were excluded. Foreigners. They were not part of the promise. They were without any hope at all. There was no chance for anyone not a Jew to gain salvation. 

Israel, as God's chosen people, had all the benefits by virtue of being the "children of the promise" (Rom. 9:8). Paul wrote to the Roman church: 

Rom. 9:4-5 Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ...

Paul distinguishes between Jews and Gentiles, and it's a substantial thing. Even in salvation the Jews were always first:

Rom. 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

Rom. 2:9-10 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

This is why in Ephesians 2 Paul explains the nonprivileged status of the gentiles in such detail: without hope and without God in the world. He's setting up the Ephesian church to understand its status. 

The next verse begins with a "but." A very important "but:"

Eph. 2:13-15 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.

God's wrath rested on the Gentiles. It was an uncross-able barrier that separated Jew from Gentile. That is, until Jesus shed His blood on the cross. Jesus' blood washes the sinner clean. 

But this barrier, this hostility was not between Jew and Gentile, is was God's hostility to the Gentile:

Rom. 9:22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath — prepared for destruction?

 

God was being patient regarding the Gentiles. He was patient with the objects of His wrath because He was waiting for the times to have their fulfillment:

Rom. 5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

But this perfect sacrifice did even more than wash away sin, it tore down the dividing wall which excluded the Gentiles. This wall was fundamentally the Hebrew Law. Jesus also took care of this, the requirements of the Law, by abolishing them in Himself.

Further, Paul had previously asserted that both the Jew and Gentile were condemned:

Eph. 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.

But beyond hostility and walls and the Law, Christ has eliminated every obstacle for both Jew and Gentile:

Eph. 2:18-19 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household...

These believers in the Ephesian church were now fellow citizens with the Jews. 

One would think Paul would stop here. But he tells us an even more astonishing thing, that he received revelation regarding a mystery: 

Eph. 3:1-3 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles — 2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation...

The mystery is that Gentiles are not just given access, they are not just added in as citizens, but they are fellow heirs, part of the one body, and enjoyers of the promise:

Eph. 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

Gentiles are grafted into the same royal root: 

Rom. 11:17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root...

This happened by faith, not through keeping the Law:

Ro. 11:19-20 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith.

 Ep. 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith...

It's critically important that we understand Paul's mystery about Jews and Gentiles, the Law versus faith, and the promise versus being excluded. Paul's statements spring from God revealing the mystery to him, and the revelation of the mystery was his motivating factor to take the Gospel to the Gentiles: 

Eph. 3:8 ...this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ...

Paul did something unthinkable for a Jew. Not only did he come into contact with Gentiles, he preached the Gospel to them and called them brothers. We really don't understand how controversial this was:

Acts 17:6 These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here...

Now we can go back to Ephesians chapter one. Now we see there is a continual emphasis on what was the separation of Jew from Gentile and how that is no longer the case because of the cross. 

So now, finally, we can gain understanding as to what Paul meant in these verses:

Eph. 1:11-13 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.

This is grievously misunderstood by many Christians, because they attempt to apply to Gentiles what belonged to Jews: Predestination. It took our journey into the later chapters and into Romans to see that from the very start Paul established two categories, the predestined Jews and the Gentiles. Israel, in particular the very first believing Jews, were the predestined ones, while the Gentiles (those who were not "the first to hope in Christ"), were included in Him when we believed.

It's really a point that Paul explained throughout Ephesians and in Romans, isn't it? Israel as the sole possessors of the Promise, predestined and chosen, with the Gentiles excluded and objects of wrath. But the mystery was revealed, that being the Gentiles have been grafted into the root because Jesus tore down the dividing wall. 

We were saved and included when we heard the Word of truth, marked with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of the inheritance once reserved for the Jews. Now we are co-heirs, a people of promise, one holy nation, indistinguishable from the predestined ones:

Ro. 10:12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile...

God has never forgot about His people. He has not abandoned His promises. He just made them bigger.