Ephesians 2:13-18 meaning
Ephesians 2:13-18 explains how Jesus Christ reconciled those who were formerly far off to God and to one another through His blood, creating one new people and giving both Jews and Gentiles equal access to the Father through the Spirit. Paul's point is that there is no need for Gentiles to be circumcised because the Gentiles have already been made a part of God's family through faith.
In Ephesians 2, Paul explains how the Gospel delivers us from death. It is the "good news" (the meaning of "gospel") that God has provided a pathway to fully heal the death that entered the world through sin. The full span of this good news begins with new spiritual birth and ends with a new heaven and earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13). Ephesians 2 focuses on healing in this life, how Jesus has redeemed us from separation from Him as well as redeemed our purpose, and created a "job" for us to do in His kingdom.
He first explains the Gospel as it applies to everyone (Jew and Gentile) in Ephesians 2:1-10. Paul writes that everyone who receives the Gift of Eternal Life does so by grace through faith apart from works (Ephesians 2:8-9). He then explains that salvation from spiritual death to spiritual life is offered to everyone for the purpose of doing good works which fit into God's plan for us (Ephesians 2:10).
Now in Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul specifically explains to the Gentile believers of Ephesus (and by extension Gentile believers everywhere), what it means for Gentiles to be included in the Gospel.
Therefore, to understand Ephesians 2:13-18, it is critical to keep in mind that Paul is writing to Gentile believers in Jesus Christ.
The word "Gentiles" describes anyone who is not Jewish and who is, therefore, not a participant in the covenants God made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses and their descendants. Before Christ, Gentiles were outside the Messiah's kingdom. But the good news of Jesus, who is the Messiah, applies to Gentiles as well as Jews. In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul is unpacking what it means for the Gentile believers of Ephesus to be included in the Gospel of Christ.
There is no longer a separation between Jews and Gentiles because both are joined together in Christ. This reality overturns the argument many Jews were foisting on Gentiles that they had to be circumcised in order to be fully joined to God's family. Paul resisted this argument vigorously. This controversy is what gave us much of the New Testament, as Paul wrote letters to counter their opposition to his teaching of God's grace toward the Gentiles (Acts 15:11).
After explaining the Gospel in general terms, Paul exhorted his Gentile readers to remember who they were before they believed in Jesus (Ephesians 2:11-12). Paul called them to remember five specific things that described their spiritual separation and death from God and His good purposes for their lives. He called on them to "remember that you were at that time" (Ephesians 2:12):
- "separate from Christ"
(Ephesians 2:12a) - "excluded from the commonwealth of Israel"
(Ephesians 2:12b) - "strangers to the covenants of promise"
(Ephesians 2:12c) - "having no hope"
(Ephesians 2:12d) - "without God in the world"
(Ephesians 2:12e)
These five descriptions illuminate what it meant for Gentiles to be spiritually "dead in your trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). And it seems that the main purpose Paul had for exhorting his Gentile readers to remember these things was so that they could better understand their new identity in Christ and marvel at the wonders of God's grace toward them. And part of their new identity in Christ is that they already belong to Him apart from works such as circumcision.
While all of Ephesians 2:13-22 describes and contrasts the current and everlasting realities of Gentile believers who are in Christ with their former estrangement from God and eternal life, Ephesians 2:13-18 explicitly contrasts Paul’s first description of Ephesians 2:12a—about how believing Gentiles were formerly "separate from Christ"—with how they are now in Christ (v 13).
Paul begins this contrast with the declaration:
But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (v 13).
Broadly speaking, the declaration of verse 13 announces how none of the dreadful former things Paul shared in Ephesians 2:12 are true or apply to Gentile believers any longer because they are now in Christ.
The conjunction But signals the stark contrast between who the Ephesians were when they were separated from Christ and who they are now that they are in Christ Jesus.
The word now further contrasts the present and everlasting hope the Ephesians have in Christ Jesus with the hopelessness they formerly existed with at that time when they were separate from Christ (Ephesians 2:12).
The expression Christ Jesus refers to the office and person of Jesus Christ. Christ means Messiah, the anointed King of Israel. Jesus of Nazareth is the human who is the Christ.
Many Jews abstractly believed in the Christ but rejected Jesus as the Christ. Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ. And to be in Christ requires believing in the person of Jesus as the Christ. It is impossible to be "in Christ" without being in Christ Jesus. To not believe in Jesus is to miss the Christ, which is to say to miss the anointed King. And anyone who misses the King misses His kingdom and its blessings.
The expression in Christ is one of Paul's favorite ways of describing the believer's new identity and relationship with God.
To be in Christ Jesus means to be united with the Messiah and to share in His trials and blessings through faith in Him.
Throughout Ephesians, Paul describes believers as being "in Christ" as many as thirteen times (Ephesians 1:1, 3, 10, 12, 20, 2:6, 7, 10, 13, 3:6, 11, 21, 4:32).
The phrase in Christ Jesus therefore encapsulates Gentile believers' entire new reality. Everything the Ephesian believers once lacked while they were separate from Christ (Ephesians 2:12), they now possess because they are in Christ Jesus (v 13). The Ephesian Gentiles formerly had no part in the Messiah, but because of God's grace and their faith in Jesus, they now do have part in Him.
Specifically, the phrase now in Christ Jesus contrasts the phrase "separate from Christ" (Ephesians 2:12a). To be in Christ means to be included in Him. To be separate from Christ means to be excluded from Him. To be in Christ is to have life. To be separated from Christ is death.
To be in Christ Jesus is to be joined to Him and identified with Him and His nature instead of our fallen, sinful nature.
Adam served as the representative head of fallen humanity. All who are in Adam share in the consequences of his sin, but Jesus Christ is the representative head of a new, restored humanity (Romans 5:12-19).
"For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive."
(1 Corinthians 15:22)
When we were in Adam, "we were dead in our transgressions" (Ephesians 2:5). All who believe in Christ Jesus have been "made alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:5). To be in Christ Jesus means that His resurrection life has become our life. His death becomes the basis for our forgiveness. His resurrection becomes the source of our spiritual life. And His future kingdom becomes our inheritance.
When people are in Christ Jesus, God no longer relates to them according to who they formerly were when they were in Adam but according to their new identity in His beloved Son.
The Ephesian Gentiles' new reality of being in Christ Jesus also relates to Paul's comments about circumcision that "is performed in the flesh" (Ephesians 2:11).
Bodily circumcision was an outward sign of joining a covenant performed by human hands upon the body. But circumcision of the heart is an inward work of joining the new covenant that is performed by God's Spirit upon a person's inner being (Romans 2:28-29).
The believing Gentiles of Ephesus may have lacked the outward sign of physical circumcision, but because they were in Christ Jesus they possessed the far greater reality to which circumcision pointed. Through Christ, God had circumcised their hearts—this was a work of faith in God rather than a work of the self-righteous flesh. This is why Paul resisted so vigorously the idea that circumcision was necessary. To rely on circumcision is to diminish the finished work of Christ.
For believing Gentiles, their true identity is not found in what may or may not have been done to their body, but in the transforming work God had accomplished in their hearts through faith in His Son.
Paul's claim you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (v 13) specifically refers to the Gentiles' former condition when they were "excluded from the commonwealth of Israel" (Ephesians 2:12b).
The expression—you who formerly were far off (v 13)—refers to the Gentiles by their former condition, specifically who they formerly were before they knew Jesus. It describes how they were far away from God and from the Messiah and His blessings. The gap between their lived experience and God's perfect plan for their lives was vast. They were not a little off—they were far off.
Because death is separation, to be far off is another way of describing spiritual death. It is to be distant from God, disconnected from His promises, and alienated from the life He created us to enjoy. To be far off from Christ is to be far from Him and His kingdom.
The adverb formerly once again reminds Gentile believers that this condition of being far off and spiritually dead no longer describes their reality or who they now are in Christ.
The expression have been brought near by the blood of Christ (v 13) describes the reversal of their former condition. Those who were once far away have now been brought near to God, joined to His people, within the hope of His promises, and near to Christ.
This nearness is the opposite of spiritual death. It is restored relationship, restored fellowship, and restored participation in the life and blessings of God. It is being re-connected with God. Being brought near to God is another way of saying what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:5 when he said God "made us alive together with Christ."
The verb brought near is in the passive voice, indicating that God is the One who accomplished this reconciliation on their behalf. The Ephesian believers did not bring themselves near through their works or efforts (Ephesians 2:9). God brought them near by His great mercy and grace (Ephesians 2:4, 8). And this was accomplished by the blood of Christ.
The phrase by the blood of Christ explains the means by which God brought these Gentiles (and all believers) near to Himself.
In the Bible, blood represents life given in sacrifice. Under the Old Covenant, the blood of sacrificial animals was offered as an atonement for sin (Leviticus 17:11). Atonement means to cover, cleanse, and remove the barrier that separates sinful people from a holy God. Sin brings death and separation from God (Romans 6:23). Sinful humanity could not remove this separation through works, religion, circumcision, or obedience to the Law.
Therefore, blood sacrifices had to be made to atone for the sin and pay the sin's penalty of death. They were offered annually, because they did not take away sins (Hebrews 10:1-2). They were, instead, a reminder of sins (Hebrews 10:3). But Jesus took away sins by the sacrifice of His own body, once for all (Hebrews 10:10, 14).
The Old Covenant called for animal sacrifice. Sacrificial animals had to meet standards. No diseased or lame animal was fit for sacrifice. Only healthy animals were to be used as sacrifices. These animal sacrifices pointed forward to Jesus, the perfect, sinless human, whose innocent blood was freely shed on the cross as the final and perfect sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 9:12-14, 10:11-14).
Seven-hundred and fifty years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah, in his second and fourth "Servant Songs" (respectively Isaiah 49:1-26 and Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12) predicted that the Messiah’s bloody sacrifice would redeem the nation of Israel and the Gentiles. The Passover sacrifice also predicted the ultimate sacrifice that would be made to save all who believe from death (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Through the Messiah's sacrifice—the blood of Christ—those who were once far off have been cleansed, forgiven, and brought near to God forever. The Gentile believers of Ephesus and everywhere else are now grafted into the commonwealth of Israel by the blood of Christ through their faith in Jesus.
Paul continues by explaining how the blood of Christ brought the Gentiles near to God and the Messiah and their blessings:
For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity (vv 14-16).
The word For connects the explanation of verses 14-16 to the claim of verse 13 (you have been brought near by the blood of Christ).
The expression He Himself refers to Christ Jesus, Himself. The person of Christ Jesus is our (the Gentiles') peace.
Our peace, means the peace believing Gentiles have between themselves and God. Our sin separated us from God, but through the blood of Jesus we can now have peace with God. As John wrote of Jesus Christ the righteous:
"He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."
(1 John 2:2)
So the phrase For He Himself is our peace means that as the Messiah, Jesus not only reconciles Israel to God, but He is a Messiah for all men reconciling the world to God. He is "a Light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel" (Luke 2:32). As "the Light of the world" (John 8:12) Jesus is the world-Messiah.
Paul elaborates on our peace that we have in Christ throughout the remainder of Ephesians 2:14-18. The peace Paul is describing includes:
- Reconciliation to God (v 16)
- Access to God the Holy Spirit and to God the Father (v 18)
- Reconciliation to the Law (v 15a)
- Unity between Jews and Gentiles (v 15b)
The cross of Christ is what makes this peace of unity and reconciliation. Through the cross, Christ reconciles sinners and the world to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). As Christ reconciles sinners into saints and the world to Himself, He also reconciles them to one another. His love reconciles people to people.
In Romans 5:1-11, Paul is primarily talking about the vertical peace and reconciliation sinners can have to God through Christ. But here in Ephesians 2:14-18, Paul is primarily talking about the horizontal peace Jewish and Gentile believers can enjoy together in Christ.
The vertical peace we have with God through the cross is what makes the horizontal peace with fellow believers (Jews or Gentiles) possible. By removing our biggest obstacle to our peace—sin against God—Christ also removed our lesser obstacles to peace—sin against other men. Or as John explained in 1 John 4:19, "We love [one another], because He first loved us."
The peace of Christ's reconciliation between us and all men is true of individuals and it is true of people groups, such as Jews and Gentiles.
Immediately after writing He Himself is our peace, Paul goes onto describe Jesus Christ as the One who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.
The expression Both groups refers to Jews and Gentiles. This is evident from what Paul said about the "Uncircumcision" and the "Circumcision" back in Ephesians 2:11, and how those who are called "Uncircumcision" were "excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12).
Jesus the Messiah made both of these two groups of Jews and Gentiles into one single group. He united them in Himself. Jesus broke down the barrier of the dividing wall (v 14) between Jews and Gentiles. This barrier was signified by the physical sign of circumcision. But circumcision was only the sign. It was not the barrier itself. Because of Jesus, there is no barrier between Jews and Gentiles—both Jews and Gentiles can become part of God's family through Jesus, not circumcision.
The barrier between Jews and Gentiles was the enmity created by sin and pride.
The pride of Jews and Gentiles and the enmity between these two groups was based in twisted understanding of the Law of Moses. Paul says this enmity has its roots in the Law. He describes the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances (v 15). The Law is the covenant between God and His people. They entered into it at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:8).
There on Sinai the Jews agreed to keep God's statutes and God promised that He would bless them if they honored their vow by bringing positive consequences and curse them if they broke their vow and bring negative consequences. Many of the negative consequences were turning them over to their own passions. In the Old Testament, Gentiles had to be circumcised and become a part of the Jewish nation to participate in that covenant. Therefore, the Law, the covenant, was a barrier.
The Law of commandments is the Law of Moses. The expression the Law of commandments contained in ordinances may refer to the codified ordinances set down by the Law of Moses (the Torah) such as circumcision, dietary restrictions, sacrificial regulations, ceremonial washings, etc. or it may refer to the ordinances set forth in the Jewish oral traditions of the law (the Mishnah).
The Mishnah, also called "the tradition of the elders," were additional ordinances of the Torah's commandments that multiplied rules and specified what did or did not count as a violation of the Law. The Mishnah was man-made rules and interpretations of the Torah.
Jesus strongly denounced the Pharisees' use of the Mishnah to religiously abuse His people (Matthew 15:1-9, 23). The Pharisees developed a strong sense of moral superiority over anyone who did not follow their tradition and ordinances. The Pharisees' system was so elaborate that it justified them as morally superior (in their eyes) while they practiced the very evils forbidden in the actual Law (Matthew 23:23).
Enmity between the Jews and Gentiles may have arisen in part from the Pharisees' self-righteous hypocrisy. A similar enmity between Jews and Gentiles could also have arisen from either embracing the Torah or being unfamiliar and foreign to it.
Of course, the Law of Moses does not command us to be prideful or to have enmity toward anyone. The Law commands us to love and serve our countryman and our neighbor (Leviticus 19:17-18) and the Law of Moses commands us to love the stranger who resides with you as yourself (Leviticus 19:33-34). But each group, in their own selfish, sin nature, twisted the Law and took pride in how they thought the Law applied or did not apply to them, which fostered enmity toward the other group.
The Jews prided themselves on being God's covenant people and the ones He entrusted with His Law (Romans 3:1-2, 9:4-5). They often despised the godless Gentiles as unclean sinners and outsiders (Acts 10:28).
The Gentiles in turn prided themselves on their own cultures, philosophies, achievements, and way of life. They looked upon the Jews as strange, backward, and overly devoted to their ancestral traditions. The Gentiles often resented the Jews for their religious exclusivity, rigid aloofness, attitude of moral superiority, and peculiar customs.
This mutual suspicion, hostility, and enmity was a barrier or cultural wall dividing Jews from Gentiles.
Christ came to abolish this dividing wall of enmity between Jews and Gentiles. Before Jesus revealed Himself as the Christ to the Samaritan woman, He said to her:
"An hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth."
(John 4:21, 23)
Christ made Himself our peace by abolishing not only the vertical enmity between us and the Father, but also by abolishing the horizontal enmity between Jews and Gentiles when He sacrificed Himself on the cross for our sins.
Jesus put to death and abolished this enmity between Jews and Gentiles through the sacrifice of His flesh on the cross in two ways.
One way that Jesus put to death the enmity (v 16b) between Jews and Gentiles was that He alone accomplished our salvation from spiritual death and opened the gates of the kingdom to everyone by His own righteousness. No one, neither Jew nor Gentile, had any part of bringing about their own salvation from being spiritually separated from God, much less the salvation of others. All have sinned and have fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). But because Jesus alone accomplished salvation for us, there is no room for boasting or pride (Ephesians 2:9).
Because, as James said at the council of Jerusalem, "we [the Apostles] believe that we [the Jews] are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they [the Gentiles] also are" (Acts 15:11), therefore we (Jews and Gentiles alike) are equally beggars before God. Jesus did it all for us, there is no room for boasting or pride (Ephesians 2:9), thus there is no longer a basis for enmity concerning who is more or less righteous between Jews and Gentiles.
A second way that Jesus abolished and put to death the enmity between Jews and Gentiles was that He died for us on the cross while we were still enemies to Him (Romans 5:8, Colossians 2:13-14). This gave us an example we should follow, and forgive one another.
As Jesus's parable of "the Unforgiving Steward" in Matthew 18:23-35 illustrates, it would be extremely petty for a believer to accept God's divine infinite forgiveness of our transgressions and not be willing to set aside the slights and grievances we have received from others. As we take into account and realize how much we have been forgiven by God, there is nothing for which we cannot or should not forgive.
Jesus abolished the enmity between both groups of Jews and Gentiles so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross (vv 15-16).
The phrase so that indicates Jesus's intent or purposes for breaking down the barrier between the two groups. His purposes were to unite both groups together, establish peace, reconcile both groups together to God, and destroy the enmity.
Because of Christ and because all believers are in Christ, Jews and Gentiles are no longer two groups but one group—one new man. The expression one new man describes a new humanity that God has created in Christ Jesus. All believers are, altogether, the Body of Christ. He is the Head, we are the members (Ephesians 5:23).
Paul is not saying that Gentiles become Jews or that Jews become Gentiles. Rather, through faith in Christ, both groups become something new. Their former identities, distinctions, hostilities, and sources of pride, enmity, etc. should no longer define their relationship with one another. In Christ, believing Jews and Gentiles are united together as one people, sharing the same Savior, the same Spirit, the same hope, and the same eternal inheritance (Ephesians 4:1-6). Or as Paul writes to the Galatians:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
(Galatians 3:28)
By uniting Jews and Gentiles in Himself, Jesus thus abolished their mutual enmity and established peace and harmony between them. Therefore, it should be for Jews and Gentiles to live out that peace as their experienced reality.
Jesus also reconciled both Jews and Gentiles to God as one body of believers through the cross. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross equally applied to Jews and Gentiles. And as has already been explained in this commentary, it was through His cross that the enmity between Jews and Gentiles was put to death.
And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near (v 17).
In verse 17, Paul elaborates on the peace which Gentiles and Jews have in Christ by paraphrasing the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah wrote how God will forgive sinners and reconcile them to Himself:
"I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,
Creating the praise of the lips.
Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,"
Says the LORD, "and I will heal him."
(Isaiah 57:18-19)
By using Isaiah's prophecy, Paul is saying that Jesus has fulfilled it when He came and reconciled Jews and Gentiles to God.
And He came refers to the advent of Jesus. Jesus is not only the Messiah—the Christ—He is the Son of God. In the person of Jesus, God came to earth in human form. Jesus was sent to earth as the Christ to reconcile all things to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-19a, Colossians 1:20).
The verbal phrase and preached peace means that Jesus preached and proclaimed the good news of our reconciliation to God. During His earthly ministry:
- Jesus preached the good news and taught many parables about His kingdom.
(Matthew 4:17, 5-7, 13)
- He showed us God's heart.
(John 1:18, 14:9, Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3)
- He set an example of divine love for us to follow.
(John 13:15, 34, 15:12-13)
Jesus's message of peace with God was for Gentiles and Jews alike.
The expression you who were far away refers to Gentiles. Paul adds the second-person pronoun you because he is writing to Gentiles in Ephesus. The Gentile believers of Ephesus are part of the fulfillment of Isaiah 57:19.
The expression those who were near refers to Jews. Paul uses the third-person pronoun those because he is not writing to Jews in this letter, but he is talking about them.
Jesus preached a gospel of peace and reconciliation in Him to both Gentiles and Jews. During His earthly ministry Jesus predominantly focused on Israel, but He also taught and performed miracles for Gentile Romans (Luke 7:1-10), Syrophoenicians (Mark 7:24-30), and Greeks of the Decapolis (Mark 5:1-20, 7:31-37, 8:1-9). And in fulfillment of Isaiah 57:18-19, His Gospel-offer of healing and reconciliation applied to everyone.
In a prediction of what Paul is saying here in Ephesians 2:17, Jesus said He would unite Jews and Gentiles into a single flock:
"I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also... and they will become one flock with one shepherd."
(John 10:16)
For through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father (v 18).
Ephesians 1:18 summarizes the reconciliation and peace that Jesus Christ accomplished through His death on the cross.
Through Him—that is, through Jesus Christ—both Jews and Gentiles now have access to God. The barriers that once separated Gentiles from God's covenant blessings and the barriers that divided Jews and Gentiles from one another have been removed. Instead of being divided into two peoples, both groups now share the same access to the same God through the same Messiah. Because there is only one Savior and one way to God, there is also only one people of God.
This oneness or unity also anticipates Paul's later emphasis on unity in Ephesians 4.
Paul will exhort the Ephesian believers to be "diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3) because "there is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all" (Ephesians 4:4-6).
The unity believers share with one another is rooted in the unity they share in God Himself.
Ephesians 2:18 mentions all three members of the Trinity.
- Through Him refers to Jesus, the Son of God, whose death and resurrection reconciled sinners to God.
- In one Spirit refers to God, the Holy Spirit, who indwells believers, gives them spiritual life, and unites them into one body.
- To the Father refers to God, the Father, the source and goal of our reconciliation, adoption, and eternal inheritance.
- Salvation from death to life is therefore a work of the entire Godhead. The Father planned it, the Son accomplished it, and the Spirit applies it to believers.
The phrase through Him also reminds us that Jesus is the only mediator between God and humanity. Jesus said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6). It was on the cross that Jesus satisfied all requirements of the Law on our behalf (Colossians 2:14).
Because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins and reconciled us to God through His blood, believers now have direct access to the Father. We do not come to God through our works, religious rituals, ethnicity, or personal righteousness (Ephesians 2:9). We come to the Father through Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8).
The phrase in one Spirit describes the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers. Earlier in Ephesians, Paul explained that believers were "sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:13). He further described the Holy Spirit as a pledge or guarantee of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:14). The Spirit is God's present gift to believers and serves as the divine assurance that we belong to Him and will one day receive our full inheritance in Christ. Through the Spirit, believers experience God's presence, receive His empowerment, and enjoy fellowship with Him even now.
The reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles described throughout Ephesians 2:14-18 and all human harmony is made possible by God alone. Through Christ, our vertical enmity with God has been put to death. We who were once far off and "separate from Christ" (Ephesians 2:12) have been brought near. Jesus brought us near to God through His death. We are brought near to God through faith in Him and not our works. Our works such as circumcision have no value in bringing us near to God. Circumcision is not a sign that one is in God's family.
We who were once "without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12) now have access to the Father. And because Christ has reconciled us to God, He has also abolished the horizontal enmity that separated Jews and Gentiles from one another. Both groups now approach God on the same basis, through the same Savior, in the same Spirit, as members of the same family. This is the peace Christ established through the cross.