The Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus was written to a body comprised of converted Gentiles.  In the first two chapters he reminded them of how far they had come since their days of spiritual Gentilism.  In 1:1 he called them saints (holy ones) who were faithful in Christ Jesus.  In verses two and three he reminded them that God was their spiritual Father and that Jesus was their Lord .  By using the word “our” Paul, a Benjamite, showed that he considered himself a fellow believer with them.  In 1:4 he noted that “we” must be holy and without blame because both he and they were predestined to that spiritual level by becoming children of God.  In verses six through 23 Paul reminds the Ephesus church of who they were at the time of his writing in 64 A.D.

In chapter two he reminds them of their spiritual condition prior to their conversions.  It is here that the title of this posting comes into focus.  In verse one Paul tells them that they had been “quickened” (brought to spiritual life from spiritual death) by the Holy Spirit.  Their death status had been caused by their sins–the wages of sin being spiritual death (Rom. 6:23).  In verse two he reminds them that in the past they had been slaves of Satan–the “prince of the powers of the air” who rules the lives of all sinners (including church sinners).  He notes that prior to conversion “we” were the recipients of God’s wrath, but had received mercy from Him due to His great love for “us.”  Clearly, Paul included himself with those Gentiles in their former sin-filled lives.  At one point Paul described himself in his previous life as the “chief among sinners.”

Beginning in verse 11 the apostle takes them back in time to their pre-converted days: “Remember that in times past you were Gentiles (living) in the flesh ….”  At that time they “were without Christ, being aliens from the COMMONWEALTH OF ISRAEL and strangers from the COVENANTS (OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS), having no hope and WITHOUT GOD in the world.”  Here Paul emphasizes in graphic terms the difference between those Gentiles past lives and their lives at the time of his writing.

In other places the Lord tells us that the Israelites who, like the Gentiles, were disobedient to Him and therefore like them in that they too were aliens from Him, from the commonwealth of obedient Israelites and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (2:12).  Being a biological Israelite did not nullify their need to obey God.

In verse 13 Paul writes: “But now you (biological Gentile converts), who were at one time ‘afar off’ from God (vs 17), have been made close to Him through the blood of Christ, Who had joined obedient Gentiles and obedient Israelites together into one body (vss 15,16).  Following conversion, obedient Gentiles and Israelites were “no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the other saints.”  All of them together made up “THE (one and only) household of God” which was (is) built upon the “foundation of the (writings of) the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone, in Whom (Jesus) all the building stones fit together creating “a (singular) holy temple, a habitation of God through the Holy Spirit” (vss 19-22).

We are told by the Prophet Amos that two cannot walk together unless they are in agreement (3:3).  What becomes obvious by studying the Scriptures is that the agreement is a one way construct–MAN MUST AGREE WITH GOD.  This pattern was established in the Garden of Eden.  God made the rules and man was to follow them.  Adam and Eve did not follow His rules and the rest is history.  God’s rules, which He calls His Law (commandments), are eternal.  Both Gentiles and Israelites must obey His Law in order to inherit His promises both in this life and throughout eternity.  Nowhere in Scripture are Gentile religious rules mentioned, except in a negative sense.  Everyone, without exception, must obey the Law of God.  In so doing they become spiritual Israelites.

God’s true church is an Israelite institution comprised totally of spiritual Israelites, some of whom are biological Gentiles.  The English word for Gentile is “heathen,” meaning anyone who is not Israelite.  All must come to the God of the Israelites and obey His Law in order to inherit eternal life.  This includes biological Israelites who practice iniquity (Gk.–Lawlessness).  THE FUTURE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE POPULATED BY PEOPLE FROM ALL RACES, RELIGIONS, ETHNICITIES AND NATIONALITIES WHO HAVE LEFT THEIR BIOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL BELIEFS AND ACTIONS BEHIND AND HAVE BECOME SPIRITUAL ISRAELITES BY OBEYING THE LAW OF GOD.  THESE PRECIOUS FEW ARE KNOWN TODAY AS GOD’S TRUE CHURCH. (Mat. 7:13,14).  L.J.