He is Our Peace

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

HE IS OUR PEACE

Eph 2:14-22

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

NIV

Once again, we have a passage that is chock-full of theology that we may have to take in piecemeal. We want to jump right into the “consequently” but there are some other points we need to look at first. Number one is the fact that Jesus is our peace. Although Paul was making the point that Jesus made the two, Jews and Gentiles, one people in Christ, we are also at peace with God. There once was a barrier between God and his people, the curtain that separated the holy of holies in both the tabernacle and then the temple, from the rest of the temple. The place God dwelt with his people could not be entered, except on the one day of atonement, and then only one man, the priest could enter. Through Jesus, that barrier was torn in two, and we now have full access to God. We were once two, it was God and us, but now through Jesus, we are one with God. This peace with God, being one with Him, could never have been accomplished by obeying the law with its commandments and regulations. This is why Jesus abolished the law with his flesh on the cross. It is surprising how some believers want to put themselves under certain laws, commandments, and regulations in order to feel like they are obeying God. But having peace with God, being at peace because of being in Christ means our obedience is faithfulness, which is not works, but faith. We understand we were not saved by works, but by faith in Jesus, the grace of God. We were not saved from the commandments and regulations in order to put ourselves back in bondage. Our peace with God is solely through faith in Jesus and if in his flesh abolished all of those commandments and regulations, then they are abolished. How then can we reinstate them? Our access to the Father is not through any observance of the law, in any fashion, but it is through Jesus who sent the Spirit. If we are living in the Spirit then we are one with God, however, there is a sense that we are also to walk by the Spirit. That is we are to live under the influence of the Spirit, living in a manner that pleases God. Some would think works are a result of our love for God, but that question about what work God requires, the work that he prepared in advance for us to do, is to believe in the one he sent. Our life in Christ is about living with faith and being faithful in our believing in Jesus which truly brings us into being at peace with God, for He is our peace.