Paul’s Suffering is the Gentiles Glory

Paul introduces and closes this section with a reference to his being in prison specifically because of the Gentiles (v. 1 and 13). But he says that this imprisonment is good for them, it’s their “glory” (v. 13). How so?

The Mystery

The first three chapters of the book of Ephesians are packed tightly with a number of different images that Paul uses to describe our reconciliation with God. Paul describes this reconciliation as a mystery that was being unfolded (1:9-10). This means that throughout the OT this was being hinted at, but not directly said. And part of this mystery was the inclusion of the Gentiles (Eph. 3:4-6 and 9). It was clearly prophesied. And yet it was so incredible, so unthinkable that the Jews who poured over these prophecies still could not see this coming. In fact, we are told that even the angels didn’t see this coming (Eph. 3:10).

One Body

And the thing that they are brought into is one body (v. 6). Jews and Gentiles, heaven and earth, are brought together into one body. If you think about it for a moment then you start to realize that the “one body” might be more than just an image. It is actually, literally one body. It’s Jesus. Jesus is God become man, heaven reaching out to earth, life having the victory over death, sinners reconciled to God.

A Book of Mysteries

This ridiculously complex mystery was all wrapped up in this book. And you can read and read and study and study and you cannot exhaust the depth and profundity of this mystery.

A Future Mystery

The mystery that unfolded was still a mystery until it unfolded. And that means that though it was promised, it was utterly incomprehensible until that moment that it unfolded. The mystery of how God would achieve salvation through the incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection of his Son was once a mystery and is now a clear fact. But we live in the face of another mystery. Where do we go after we die? God has told us. He has made promises about it. And yet it is still a mystery. God record in the past should give us peace in trusting in this promise.

A Wall Broken-Down (v. 14-18)

Soreg – Paul has a very handy image that he can use to describe the inclusion of the Gentiles. He says that the middle wall of separation has been broken down. In the Jerusalem Temple, as you walked through the courtyard outside the Temple, you had pass through gate in a low wall the soreg. This wall was a picture of the barrier that separated sinful men (Gentiles) from God’s holiness (Jews).

Trophimus – In Acts 20, Paul leaves Ephesus right after the famous riot. And we are told that he takes seven companions with him on this trip. One of these companions was Trophimus (Acts 20:4, also mentioned in 2 Tim. 4:20). But in Acts 21:28-29, when Paul was arrested in the Temple, it was because they thought that he had brought Trophimus the Ephesian past the soreg.

Peace – Where there once was hostility, now there was to be peace (14, 17). Peace is literally completion, that sense of being brought together so that there is nothing lacking.

The Veil – However, on the night that Jesus died, what separation was removed? It wasn’t the soreg, it was the veil inside the Temple (Mat. 27:51). The soreg pointed to a more fundamental separation.

A Holy Temple (v. 19-22)

The Gentiles, who once were excluded from the Temple, are now, in Christ, being built into the Temple. Those who were once dead, aliens, strangers, hopeless, and far off have now been brought into that from which there were previously excluded.

There were two fundamental movements that are described here – being brought near and being brought up. Being brought near is just a picture of being brought up.

But look back at v. 11. “You who are called uncircumcision,” present tense. They are still currently treated as excluded by Jews. Jesus came as a stone, a stone that would be either a cornerstone on which we are built into a temple, or a stumbling stone on which we become offended.

What was the offense? The inclusion of the Gentiles was offensive because it necessarily implied the guilt of the Jews. The horizontal reconciliation that God requires of us is a way of underlining our need for vertical reconciliation. Rejecting the first will end with us rejecting the second.

The Church

Paul uses an assortment of images to help us understand the Church. It is a building, a temple, a man, a marriage, a family, a job, a kingdom, a mountain, a sea, a tree, a vine, etc. It is all of these things. And it is simply Jesus, who is our peace.

Death to Life

Last week we looked at how Paul understood that salvation is all wrapped up with the doctrine of resurrection. Because Jesus rose from the dead, and we are in him, we have risen from the dead. Salvation is a passing from death to life (2:1 and 2:5).

The Significance of Baptism

God taught the Israelites that if they wanted to be in fellowship with him, they had to be separated from the world of death. So God gave them a whole host of
rules and regulations that distinguished between Jews and Gentiles and made them live separately. And there was special care taken in any matter that dealt

directly with death or the dead. You washed everything that came in contact with the dead (Num. 19).

Baptism for the Dead

The Jews concluded that if you needed to be baptized when you have been touching something that is dead, then anyone who converted to being a Jew would need to be baptized, because Gentiles were all dead people.

This is why, in 1 Cor. 15, when Paul is confronting the people at Corinth who are denying the resurrection, he says to them, why do you then baptize for the dead (1 Cor. 15:29)? Paul isn’t talking about a separate special kind of baptism (as the Mormons teach). He is talking about the baptism that we all have received. All baptism is baptism for the dead. And Paul is saying, why would we go through this ceremony about separating ourselves from death if death if there is no resurrection?

Brought Near (2:11-13)

You who were once far off, who were once dead and excluded from this life, have now been brought near. Remember where God has taken you from. Maybe you don’t remember a moment of conversion. But surely you see what unbelief looks like. God has redeemed you from that. This is what you should talk to yourself about.

By Grace (2:8-10)

So conversion is about going from death to life. But if that is the case, then that says something about the very nature of conversion, doesn’t it? This means that it is totally, fully, solely, completely, accomplished by God alone and not with our contribution. “By grace you have been saved” (2:5). You see that connection? Because you were dead when God came for you, you contributed nothing.

Gratitude

This is why this is something that Paul is thanking God for. That’s what you do when something has been given to you. It is either gratitude or boasting (Luke
18:9-14).