Ephesians, Week 5: One New Humanity (Ephesians 2:11-22)

The gospel doesn’t only reconcile sinners to God; it reconciles sinners to one another. Christianity, it turns out, is not merely a private spirituality. It is a public miracle, the creation of one new humanity in Christ.

Remember Who You Were (vv. 11–12)

Paul begins this section with an exercise in remembering: “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ” (Ephesians 2:11). He is addressing Gentile believers, asking them to look back at their former condition. He writes not to shame them, but to magnify the grace that rescued them.

Before Christ they were estranged from Him and excluded from the promises given to Israel. They were outsiders to the covenants, without the story or hope of redemption. Paul’s summary is devastating in its simplicity: they were “without hope and without God in the world” (v. 12).

It is a portrait of comprehensive alienation. They were cut off vertically from God and horizontally from His people. Yet this remembering serves a redemptive purpose. It cultivates the humility and gratitude that keep grace vivid. The gospel always begins by confronting how desperate our condition truly was. Reconciliation only begins where pride ends.

But Now in Christ (vv. 13–18)

Then comes the turning point: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (v. 13). These words echo the earlier “But God” of verse 4. The same divine mercy that raised us from spiritual death now collapses the distance between us and God, and between us and one another.

Christ Himself is our peace. He does not simply broker peace between hostile parties; He embodies it (v. 14). Peace is not merely what He gives; it is who He is. And that peace required demolition work. Paul likely alludes to the literal barrier in the Jerusalem temple that forbade Gentiles from entering the inner courts. At Golgotha, Jesus demolished more than the temple veil; He destroyed every wall that divided sacred from profane, insider from outsider.

But He did not stop at demolition. Having torn down the walls, Christ created “one new man in place of the two” (v. 15). He did not negotiate a truce between rival factions or craft a fragile ceasefire. He forged an entirely new humanity, united in Himself. And He reconciled both groups to God through the cross. Our peace with one another is not a separate achievement from our peace with God. It is the overflow of the same atonement. It involves the same blood, the same cross.

The gospel therefore moves in two directions at once. Every act of reconciliation begins at Calvary. The nearer we draw to Christ, the nearer we inevitably draw to each other.

A New Temple People (vv. 19–22)

This radical peace takes visible form in a new community. “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,” Paul writes, “but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (v. 19).

The metaphors deepen as they unfold. Once aliens, now fellow citizens. Our primary passport now reads Kingdom of Heaven. In this kingdom, ethnicity, class, and human pedigree confer no privilege. Once foreigners, now family—the church is not a voluntary association or a cause to support, but a family gathered around the Father’s table. We share not only beliefs but blood, the blood of Christ that bought us and binds us. Once excluded, now essential. God’s dwelling place is no longer a building of stone but a people indwelt by His Spirit.

Peter describes believers as “living stones… being built into a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:4–5). The foundation rests on the apostles and prophets; the cornerstone is Christ Himself (v. 20). The Spirit inhabits the whole structure, knitting us together into “a dwelling place for God” (v. 22). The dividing walls are gone. The presence of God has moved into the hearts of His reconciled people.

To belong to Christ is therefore to belong to this house. We are not merely forgiven individuals but part of the architecture of God’s eternal dwelling. Every gathering of believers, no matter how small or ordinary, participates in something cosmic: the God who once dwelt in the Holy of Holies now dwells in His people together.

Christ Our Peace

The structure of Ephesians 2 is deliberate. In verses 1–10, Paul proclaims that we were dead, but God made us alive. In verses 11–22, he declares that we were divided, but Christ made us one. The same grace that resurrects individuals unites communities. Reconciliation is not a pleasant byproduct of salvation; it lies at its very heart.

When Paul writes, “He himself is our peace” (v. 14), he reminds us that Christian unity is not an optional virtue for the unusually mature or temperamentally agreeable. It is intrinsic to who Christ is and what He accomplished. The peace Paul describes goes beyond the absence of conflict. It is shalom: a Hebrew word descriving wholeness, harmony, and right relationship in every direction. The church exists to embody that peace before a fractured world.

Our age, however, is defined by fragmentation. We divide by ethnicity, ideology, income, and generation. Hostility often simmers beneath polite surfaces. We sort ourselves into ever-smaller tribes, each convinced of its own righteousness and the other’s folly. Into this world Paul’s words still thunder: if Christ has reconciled us to God, we cannot live unreconciled to one another. The watching world does not need another tribe. It needs to see what one new humanity looks like.

What This Means for Us

The implications reach into the most ordinary corners of life. It informs how we speak about those who differ from us, how we listen across divides, how we love within the church.

We begin where Paul began: by remembering. Humility flourishes where gratitude is alive. Forgetting how far we were from God makes us quick to measure distance from others.

We continue by recognizing that Christ is our peace. Reconciliation is not peripheral to the gospel; it is central. To pursue Jesus while ignoring the walls between us and others is to misunderstand Him. We cannot draw near to the Prince of Peace while cherishing hostility toward those He died to reconcile.

Then comes obedience in the small and costly acts of love. We begin approaching those we have avoided, forgiving those who wounded us, listening before correcting. At the foot of the cross, the ground is level. No one is second-class; no one has a better seat at the table. In Christ, former foreigners become family, aliens gain citizenship, refugees are welcomed home.

Finally, we rejoice in belonging. We are citizens of heaven, members of God’s household, living stones in His temple. This is not future aspiration but present reality. If God dwells among His people, then the way we treat one another reveals how we honor His presence. Unity, humility, forgiveness, and hospitality are not optional virtues; they are evidence that the Spirit truly lives among us.

The dividing walls have fallen. Christ has done the demolition. What remains is for us to live as if we believe it: to embody the peace He purchased, to welcome those He has welcomed, and to refuse to rebuild what His cross has already torn down.

Recommended Resource

D. A. Carson, Love in Hard Places (Affiliate Link)
Carson explores biblical love where it is most costly—especially across ethnic, cultural, and personal hostilities. He treats Ephesians 2 and John 13 as twin portraits of gospel-shaped reconciliation, pressing readers toward unity grounded in the cross rather than sentimentality or social theory. Scholarly yet deeply pastoral, it helps believers love as Christ has loved them.

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These Sunday School summaries are solely intended for the personal devotional use of church members and friends. They are not transcripts or academic works and should not be reproduced or distributed without permission.

Originally prepared by Kevin Labby during his vocational service at First Evangelical Free Church of McKeesport. Used with permission. Copyright remains with the church. Please do not reproduce or distribute without written consent from both the church and the author.