The Church as the New Creation

— Ephesians 2:11–3:11 — Andrew Fountain: June 18, 2015

• Now we come on the the end-goal of what God is doing:

Ephesians 2:11–22

^2:11 Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, those called “uncircumcision” by what is called “circumcision” in the flesh done by hands, ¹²that you were at that time without Christ alienated from the community of Israel and strangers of the covenants of the promise, not having hope and Godless in the world.

• ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have become near in the blood of the Christ. ¹⁴ For he is our peace, who made the both one, that is, he destroyed the dividing wall of partition, the hostility, in his flesh, ¹⁵abolishing the law of the commandments in decrees,
   
  • that the two he might create in himself
    • into one new person, making peace,
    • ¹⁶and that he might reconcile the both in one body to God through the cross,
  • killing the hostility in himself .
     
• ¹⁷And coming he preached peace to you who are far away and peace to those who are near, ¹⁸so that through him we both have the access in one Spirit before the Father.

¹⁹So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, ²⁰built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the capstone, ²¹in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a temple holy in the Lord, ²²in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

NET Bible

• A few words about the way it is structured
  • Many scholars suggest this semi-poetic structure is related to the fact it was to be read aloud
  • Certainly this way of writing was common in the ancient world
• Notice the direction he is going
  • All the promises that originally belonged to the ancient nation of Israel, now belong to this new person
• The “new person” in v.19 is literally “new human”, alluding to a “new Adam”
• The final goal of where he is going is v19–22
  • a new temple, a new body
• But what is this new Adam, this new body, this new temple
  • He says: “It’s a mystery!”

• Anne and I like watching detective mysteries.
  • Usually someone has been murdered and the question is “WhoDunnit?”
  • You have to try and work it out, but right at the end it is revealed
• What would you think if you got to the end of the movie and were never told who did it?
  • It was left uncertain!
  • For myself, I would not be happy!
• The mystery has been revealed by God to Paul, and he explains the two parts to it:

• We are hardly scratching the surface of what God intends us to be
  • Meeting once or twice a week is only the start
  • In our Christian culture we have lost so much
  • We need to consider one another as parts of our own body
• If the Old Creation was breathtaking, how much more is the New Creation?
  • The stars, mountains
  • Yet the New Creation is the pinacle of God’s work
  • The local church is the expression of this new creation
• You are amazing!
  • The people around you today are an amazing and beautiful new creation of Jesus
  • New life flows as love is expressed to one another

Updated on 2015-06-17 by Andrew Fountain - loveintruth.com/teaching