Day 6 - Change Your Life!

Day 6 - Change Your Life!

The Lord says, "Ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you." Have you asked Him? Have you sought His Voice? Did you know on the Door of your heart and find God waiting for you? The beauty of God is the simplicity with which He is there for us, waiting to wrap you in His loving arms...reach for Him now and rest your head, close your eyes and feel His love for you, Beloved.

1. Pray for revelation in the knowledge of Him
2. Read the book of Ephesians
3. Meditate on one verse that fills your heart and ask God to engraft it there for all eternity

Study Verses

One in Christ

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the
uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—

12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the
blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his
flesh the dividing wall of hostility

15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he
might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,

16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those
who were near.

18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,

21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple
in the Lord.

22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Study Questions:

1. Who is unified by Christ's sacrifice? What do you think about this? Do we act unified?

2. What does it mean to "be brought near" to God? Who does this apply to?

3. In the Old Testament, what happened to Gentiles if they passed through the temple gates into the inner court? Is that true today? Why or why not?

4. Why aren't we under the judgment of the Old Testament commandments? Does this mean we can violate those laws freely? Why or why not?

5. Who are we in Christ? What does that mean to us? What privileges do we have?

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Further Study Through Commentary by the ESV:

Eph. 2:11–22 Unity and Peace of Christ. Paul continues the theme of the new creation which he introduced in v. 10. In the previous sections God had been the main subject of the action, but now the focus falls on Christ Jesus and his redemption. There are three subsections: vv. 11–15, 16–18, and 19–22.

Eph. 2:11–15 Unity of Christ's People. Christ makes peace between Jew and Gentile to unify both in the church. There is only one unified people of God.

Eph. 2:11 the circumcision. That is, the Jews. To be called “uncircumcised” was a Jewish term of derision (see 1 Sam. 17:26 and note on Acts 15:1) and signified that one was a Gentile, outside the covenant people of God.

Eph. 2:12 separated. To be separated from OT Israel was to be separated from Christ, because “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22; Rom. 9:4–5). commonwealth. For “citizenship” and strangers, see note on Eph. 2:19. covenants of promise. God administered his OT redemption and promises by his oath-bound covenants (Luke 1:72–73), the chief of which were the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants. The new covenant fulfills all the divine promises (2 Cor. 1:20; Heb. 7:20–22; 8:6; 9:15). Note that Paul believed that all Gentiles apart from Christ were unsaved and without God.

Eph. 2:13 in Christ Jesus. The old division of all people into two classifications, Jews or Gentiles (Acts 14:5; Rom. 3:29; 9:24; 1 Cor. 1:23), or Jews and Greeks (John 7:35; Acts 14:1; 18:4; Rom. 3:9; 1 Cor. 1:22, 24; etc.), has been transcended by a new entity in Christ: “the church of God” (1 Cor. 10:32). near. To be brought near means to have access to God (see Eph. 2:18). blood. Christ's substitutionary death. He died not only for the Jews but for all his sheep (John 10:16), even those who are far off (cf. Acts 2:39).

Eph. 2:14 peace. This refers to the state of harmonious friendship with God and with one another in the church. made us both one. That is, Jews and Gentiles. The opposite of peace is the hostility that Christ has quenched. Christ created a unified new people from the old hostile camps (Col. 3:15; cf. John 17:20–21). in his flesh.

This refers to Christ's bodily death on the cross (see Eph. 2:16). dividing wall. There was an inscription on the wall of the outer courtyard of the Jerusalem temple warning Gentiles that they would only have themselves to blame for their death if they passed beyond it into the inner courts. Paul may or may not be alluding to this wall, but it well illustrates Christ's reconciliation of all people into a new humanity (see v. 15).

The additional mention of commandments and ordinances identifies this as the Mosaic law, which included many commandments that served to separate Israel from the other nations. Thus the law was a “dividing wall” (v. 14) which Christ has abolished or rendered powerless both by fulfilling it and by removing believers from the law's condemnation (see Matt. 5:17; Rom. 8:1; Heb. 9:11–14; 10:1–10). The result is a new man, denoting a new human race under the second Adam (Christ), in whose image the Christian is re-created (1 Cor. 15:45, 49; see also Eph. 4:24).

Eph. 2:16–18 Peace with God. On the cross, Christ put to death the hostility between Israel and the other nations. In this section the focus shifts to the new, unified group being brought near to God.

Eph. 2:16–17 reconcile. To bring two parties into peaceful relations, in this case, to satisfy God's wrath against his enemies (see Rom. 5:1–11). They are now friends (John 15:13–15) in one body, the church (see Eph. 4:4–5). Paul describes Christ's reconciliation very vividly as killing the hostility that stood in the way of peace with God. preached peace. Paul refers to Christ's messianic ministry to the whole world both far and near, alluding to Isa. 57:19.

Eph. 2:18 access. To draw near to God and to enjoy him forever in a new creation is both mankind's greatest good and the ultimate accomplishment of Christ's earthly work of redemption. one Spirit. See note on 4:4.

Eph. 2:19 So then. Christians have to know and be thoroughly convinced of who they are as saints and members of the household of God if they are to live accordingly. strangers. As in v. 12 (“commonwealth”), Paul employs a term that was common to political life in ancient cities like Ephesus. Strangers (also v. 12) were complete foreigners with no rights or privileges (see Acts 16:20–23); aliens were non-citizens who dwelt in the city and were accorded customary privileges as neighbors. Only citizens had full protections and rights in the city (see Acts 21:39).

Eph. 2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. There are several views about the apostles and prophets referred to here: (1) Some think that they were “foundational” because they proclaimed the very words of God, and some of their words became the books of the NT. Since a “foundation” is laid only once (i.e., at the beginning of the church) there are no more apostles or prophets today, but their function of speaking the words of God has been replaced by the written Bible, which is the foundation today. (2) Others argue that these “prophets” are very closely tied to apostles in the phrase “the apostles and prophets,” and that these prophets do not represent all who had a gift of prophecy in the early church (see note on 1 Cor. 12:10); they were a small group closely associated with the apostles (or else identical to the apostles) to whom God had revealed the mystery of the Gentile inclusion in the church (see Eph. 3:5, where the same phrase, “the apostles and prophets,” occurs). In this case ordinary Christians who had the gift of prophecy in Ephesus (4:11) and other churches (cf. Acts 11:27; 19:6; 21:9–10; Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:10; 1 Thess. 5:19–21; 1 Tim. 1:18; 4:14) were not part of the “foundation” but were part of the rest of the building that was being built (that is, the church) and would continue so throughout the church age. (3) Finally, some think the “prophets” here could be the OT prophets, though the same words in Eph. 3:5 point to prophets of the NT era. cornerstone. The critical stone in the corner of the foundation that ensures that a stone building is square and stable.

Eph. 2:21 joined together. Christians are the temple of God corporately; belonging to the visible church is not optional for followers of Christ. holy temple. Where God meets with his people in joyful worship and fellowship. Believers do not have to worship in Jerusalem today because they themselves have become the new temple of God (see John 4:21).

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We are not only the temple of the Holy Spirit, but TOGETHER we make up the "corporate", meaning body, of Christ's Bride, His Church. We must fellowship and worship together for the hand, the foot, the eye, the heart, the head, the nose, the leg and such need each other to stand rooted and grounded in His Word and against the forces of wickedness. Do not quarrel brothers and sisters--study the Word, know it for yourself and stand fast together in faith until the GLorious Appearing of our Savior from Heaven. Blessings to you all, Sister Lisa