The theme continues to be uniting Hebrew and Gentile Christians. The previous chapter emphasized our unity as a single nation rooted in Heaven, pointing out how the Lord designed it on three levels: cosmic, global and individual. Here, the emphasis begins again with the global, recalling the former distinction made between Israel and Gentile nations.
Before Christ, the Gentile nations were all captives of the Devil. He was demoted and confined to this world, and this became his domain under God’s authority. The elohim for the most part aligned with the Devil and his agenda, so all the nations assigned to them were by default captives of the Devil. Paul says it was a form of spiritual death; no connection or awareness of Eternity. All we had was the flesh and what it could perceive, and it was wide open to the influence and temptations of the Devil. We were born children of God’s wrath. Paul intentionally writes those first few verses as a single incomplete sentence, leaving us all hanging.
And then, in verse 4 begins the resolution. God was fabulously wealthy and generous in terms of mercy and love. Despite our being dead to Him, He chose us to be resurrected with His Son. That is, when Christ rose from the grave, He was the center of a new realm, and we were in raised up into that new realm. It was all by grace; there is nothing we could have done, nor could be even have known to want it. We now have an eternal identity. The whole point is that we are the proof of God’s case against the Devil and the rebellious elohim council members. He will use us to prove that He was right in demanding all glory for Himself. Again, it was all by grace — the initiative was His alone. There is not a thing we could have done; we were utterly hopeless. Giving Him glory should be our reflex.
And not just that, but with that citizenship comes a vast wealth of gifts in this life. You see, the works of obedience are His gift to us, a very high privilege that marks us eternal beings. He plucked us from our graves, gave us life, clothed us, taught us manners and sent us back into the world as His own elite ambassadors. Our rich vestments are obedience to Him. He had this all worked out before He even got around to creating us.
Before the Messiah came, Gentiles were not permitted any of that high privilege, nor even the awareness of it. Israel by law was not allowed to be friends with Gentiles. They had to remain aloof and avoid unnecessary contact in the flesh. They were granted the high privilege of ambassadorship among the Gentile nations. But Jesus opened up the Covenant citizenship. His blood covers us and makes us fit to become citizens of His domain. And He welcomed some Jews, as well! Now, we who were formerly two distinct groups on the earth are now joined in His Covenant as a new kind of human, something never seen before. We all have His Spirit inside of us, not something He had previously offered.
He is building us into a massive edifice for His living Temple. Christ is the cornerstone, the foundation is the prophets and apostles, and we will be the stones to make His home. It’s a massive building project, the likes of which no man or men could ever dream, much less have they seen it before. There is no Jew or Gentile in Him, only Christians.
