We Are The Church: A Study in Ephesians
“A Call for Peace"
Ephesians 2: 11-22 (CSB)
- Key Truth: The local church is not a destination but a base of operation.
Main Question: What does it mean to be a part of the church and who makes up this community of faith?
1. We were once outside of community. (vs. 11-12)
Paul spells out their separation in four phrases:
a. “Excluded from the citizenship of Israel…"
b. “Foreigners to the covenants of promise…”
c. “Without hope…”
d. “Without God in the world…”
2. Christ brings us into community. (vs. 13-18)
Three actions:
a. “Made both groups one…” (vs. 14a)
b. “Tore down the dividing wall of hostility…” (vs. 14b)
c. “Made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations…” (vs. 15a)
Two results:
a. “Create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace…” (vs. 15b)
b. “Reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death…” (vs. 16)
3. Biblical community pursues the mission of God. (vs. 19-22)
After the Message:
Read Ephesians 2:11-22. What is the state of an unbeliever? What happened when God intervened through His Son, Jesus? How then are we to relate together as the new community of faith called the church.
