Letter to Ephesus – Chapter Two

Ephesians Chapter Two :1-3 ¶ And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Those who walk in disobedience to Yahwey, desiring in their own flesh and mind that they will live according to their own will are dead in their trespasses and sins because they are walking according to the will and desire of the prince and power of the air, rather than the will that Yahwey has set before humankind. Lust of the flesh is a natural thing in the children of wrath. Those who walk in obedience to Yahwey’s will are the folks that He is not angry with. We all used to walk in this path until we were quickened by Him. We no longer walk according to the course of this world. There are two spirits. The One Spirit that is given to the children of obedience to help guide them all the days of their life should they repent when they step out of Yah’s will. There is also a spirit that works in the children of disobedience, as it is written in the above passage.

Many people believe that they are safe and sound through the stripes on Yahushua’s back and the blood that He shed, that once they are saved, they are saved once and for all but this is a fallacy and can be proved by a simple passage in scripture.

Exodus 32:33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book.

We cannot continue in sin once our sin has been found out and exposed to us. What did Yahushua say to the woman that had been caught in adultery after there were no more witnesses to hold her accountable before Him? “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” Normally, under the law, she would have been stoned to death should she be found guilty on the exposition of two witnesses. Yahushua did not say that she was not guilty. He could not condemn her because there were no longer any witnesses to her crime. He had not yet died to save her from the penalty of the death that held her bound to the law for the crime that she had committed. He did not acquit her, for He did not make void the law of Yahwey; nor did He condemn her. He was neither a witness in the case, nor yet a judge to whom such judgments belonged. He only spoke to her as a mediator and savior of man.

When He told her to go and sin no more, she still had reason to fear the greater judgment of Yahwey if she continued in the course of sin. He did not tell her to stop committing adultery. He told her to stop all sin. A repentant heart that hopes for any mercy of Yahwey is a wholly repentant heart, leaving off all sin. If Yahushua felt that she could look to the future to skate free of sin because He would shed His own blood, He would never have told her to sin no more. He might have said something like, “Ah’ no matter… don’t worry I will die to cover your sin.”

Sin is the transgression of the law. We know that Yahwey only wrote one law. If we love Him, we keep His commandments. We don’t throw away His law or pretend that Yahushua died for nothing. If Yahushua is Yahwey in the flesh, Emanuel with us, then Emanuel with us still intends for us to ‘sin no more’ and show our love to Him by keeping His commandments.

1^st John 3: 4 ¶ Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

4-10 ¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

All of us at one time did what we wanted to do until we either heard Yahushua calling us out from Babylon or just knew that Yahushua had gotten hold of us in some way. Nevertheless, we were all in the same sinking ship. Yahwey could have just lost His temper and done away with us but instead, He embraced us right there in the whole of our messy lives. He picked us up out of the miry clay and set our feet on some solid ground so that we could begin to see what He has to offer us. He has done this all on His own with no help from us. In this world and the next, we can learn of His mercy as He showers us with His loving kindness through His Son, Yahushua. All we gotta do is trust in the Giver and the gift that Yahwey has given us from start to finish.

Through the joining of Jew and Gentile, we all can work our way unto salvation by fear and trembling because we are unified through Yahushua whom has shown us the way. Just as He is sitting at the right hand of the throne of Yahwey, we sit at His right hand learning from His example. Yahwey’s grace is not anything that we earn or deserve. What we do deserve is absolutely NOTHING, yet Yahwey has chosen to use us in His mighty plan.

Yahwey even bestows upon us the faith needed to fulfill our own duty through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is only by His loving kindness that we have been saved by the faith that He gave us in measure, so that we would believe in Him. Yahwey has seen to it that we are fully equipped to follow Him all the days of our life doing the good work that He has prepared for us to bring honor and power and glory to His name and not our own. Faith without works is dead. On the other hand, works without faith cannot save the one who does them. Our work is only rewarding to us when we trust wholly in Yahushua Who has shown us that keeping the commandments (That apply to us), can be done.

The crowds in Galilee asked Yahushua “What shall we do in order to perform the works of Yahwey?” His reply was “Trust in the One He sent.” The key to doing the works of Elohim are written in Torah. Our boasting is in Elohim Who has given us His Torah so that we could walk in His way that He has purposed that we should walk in. This is the charter of the believer’s faith, yet most folks who claim to believe, are obviously not walking in the way that Yahwey desires them too. They, for the most part believe that Yahushua did it all and that He did away with His Father’s law by nailing His instructions to the cross. He did do it all. If Yahushua had not fulfilled all of the law, He would not be called the Son of Elohim.

11-13 ¶ Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

We know that this letter is to the Gentiles who believe in Yahushua. It is interesting that Paul says that they are Gentiles by birth and still Gentiles, without calling them ‘Christians’ even though they have come to believe in Messiah. Without Yahwey, no one has any hope in this world, neither Jew nor Gentile. Before these Gentiles came to the faith, they were aliens from the commonwealth, estranged from the national life of Israel. They were not yet part of the family of the God of Israel. Now that they are part of this family, they basically do the same as what Ruth did, claim these people to become their family and their God to become their God. The Jews do not become ‘Christian’s, they are still Jews. Gentile Christians should always keep in mind that they are no longer foreigners and strangers because now they are fellow-citizen’s implying they are obligated to join in to the unity of the family by cultivating themselves into it. Not vice versa. We are the wild olive branch grafted ‘in’. Now that the Gentile is graft in, they are they can embody all of the promises and gift’s that Yahwey bestows on His children. The Gentile ‘Christian’ is brought near by the blood shed sacrifice of Yahushua.

14-22 ¶ For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Not only does Yahushua broker the peace between the Jew and the Gentile, He is that peace.  Because He now lives in the human body of those who follow in His footsteps by way of the Spirit; this is what makes believing Jew and believing Gentile both one.  (In the flesh of Him) This middle wall of partition was broken down by Messiah.

Paul saw something that we have not.  The middle wall, the boundary fence that kept Jew and Gentile separate was mentioned because Paul knew that there was a sign on the wall that surrounded the temple which forbade any foreigner to go into the temple, on pain of death.  We know this because of the writings of Josephus titled ‘Antiquities of the Jews’.  This ‘sign’ was considered a boundary fence between Jew and Gentile as well.

At one point in Paul’s journey, he was falsely accused of bringing Trophimus beyond this barrier dividing the court of the Gentiles and the Court of the Jews which upset the crowds in the temple and led to his arrest there (Acts 21:27-32).  Paul did not teach against the people or against Torah or against the place (Temple); nor had he brought some Goyim (Jewish word for Gentile) into the Temple or defiled the holy place.  These five lies were brought in accusation towards Paul by UN-BELIEVING Jews from Asia whose soul intent was to stir up the crowd.  They did not believe that Yahushua was the Christ. Personally I see them as a tool of the enemy.

Paul’s point in the scripture quoted above (Ephesians 2:14-22) is that Gentiles are no longer separated but can now join the Jewish people through ‘faith’ in the Jewish Messiah. Before Yahushua, there was great enmity but now through His flesh, this enmity should no longer exist, although I see folks trying to build up that wall all the time. People seem to want to make Yahushua a Christian rather than excepting that He is still abiding and always will abide by the law given unto Moses.  The fact is that the enmity (separation) was destroyed in His body when He died to save us from the law of sin and death.

The enmity that existed and I believe still does exists was that Gentile’s envied the special status accorded by God to Israel in the Torah. Also the Jewish pride of being chosen and Gentiles resentment of that pride not to mention the mutual dislike of each other’s customs.

The sad truth is that what is overlooked (Perhaps, because of blindness) is that what some might call ‘the custom’s’ of the Jewish people; is merely their response to Torah with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances.  The Jewish nation did not understand that the Torah was originally intended for all people as we can read for ourselves in the Torah.

This is why Paul says that the enmity between the Jew and Gentile was occasioned by the Torah.  The peace that was preached to them that were far off and to them that were nigh was ALWAYS intended for all humankind.  The peace that we have or should have is that through Yahushua that Jew AND Gentile alike both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Now instead of being strangers (guests) and foreigners (sojourners), we are all a welcomed part of the same family. He destroyed the wall that kept us separated.  Now we are or at least have the capability of being one new man in union with Messiah that is produced from the two groups – joined as one single body.

Through this portion of Paul’s letter, we can clearly see that he is re-assuring the Gentiles that they are fully part of God’s family.   No barrier exists and Paul makes it perfectly clear that the Gentiles are NOT second class citizens but are one body, one family, not just spiritually but physically, through Messiah.  This is no different than when a child is adopted into a family, that child become part of the family that adopted them because the child that is adopted is given the family name and access to all that the family has, even the inheritance.  The child that is adopted comes into the family and lives under the same house rules that apply to the family that was birthed to the adopting parents.  We are all Israel because we are the children of the God of Israel.

We are all the object of Elohim’s undeserving grace, saved by Yahushua’s atoning death that saves us from the penalty of transgressing Elohim’s law because that is exactly what sin is.

1^st John 3:4 ¶ Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.