Built Together Upon the Prophets and the Apostles: A Pentecost Meditation on Ephesians 2

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.

 

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.

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.

 

St. Paul, in his address to the Christians in the city of Ephesus, maked a strong appeal to unity between Gentile and Jewish followers of Jesus which is sorely needed in our day.  Not because we have the same specific social dynamics of the ancient church in Ephesus, hybrid together from Jews in the local synagogue with their Hebrew culture and converted pagans with their Greek patrimony, but because the principle which unites pagans and Hebrews is the same principle that unites every person under the sun.  Paul makes the universal claim that everyone is naturally under the burden and judgment of God by virtue of their own fallen nature—not only of their peculiar acts of evil they physically do or have done, but also of the hearts they carry which are constantly inclined toward all sorts of evil they never get around to acting out.  In this common tragedy Hebrews and Gentiles were united, even if many pagans were less aware of the nuance of their situation, having leaned more upon their darkened intellect, traditions, or intuition, than the Word of God.

 

And of course, even though the Hebrews had inherited that Word of God through the Prophets, they were also the ones who persecuted and murdered the Prophets repeatedly throughout their history, often ignoring that Word and inviting calamity upon themselves.  The Hebrews were beloved of God and a special people because of the Covenant which God had made with their forefathers, not because they were any better in nature than the pagan cultures which surrounded them.  It was the Hebrews, after all, who murdered Jesus through intrigue, plots, and deceptions in partnership with the occupying pagan Roman authorities.  The people born of Abraham were of the same fallen nature as those born by patriarchs in other cultures and other lands, because eventually they were all descended of Adam and Eve’s corrupted parentage, inheriting the same darkened hearts and minds which were inclined toward evil.  This is the universal plight of man, and somewhere deep in the recesses of every world culture is a knowledge that everyone stands before their Creator as inferior and corrupted creatures destined for an inescapable judgement and death.  The universal judgement of God upon the fallen human race is death, and deep in every human heart is the knowledge that we are worthy of this condemnation by the twisted nature we find inside ourselves.

 

And so, as a humanity united in our common Fall and judgment, we are in need of a common Savior and a universal grace.  Paul is clear that Jesus came not just to save fallen Jews, but fallen pagans, as well—a message the ancient Prophets declared hundreds of years before Jesus’ Advent.  The fallen Hebrews of antiquity who lived by grace through faith in God’s Word looked forward through history to the day in which God would reconcile the world to Himself through His Messiah, even as many pagan cultures floundered in the darkness of their fallen intellect to find hope in their lives relative to their Creator.  Pagan cultures devised numerous systems of religious ritual and philosophy to explain the corruption within themselves, their destiny to die, and their perception of virtue before God in a Natural Law which they could never fully achieve.  So when Jesus finally came to be the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the whole world, He gave to His Apostles a universal grace and salvation that was for Jew and Gentile alike—for relatively faithful and faithless Hebrews, and for relatively noble or evil minded pagans.  The curse of sin and death was the same for all, as was the promise of salvation made open to all through the Blood of Christ.  Jesus came to save all sinners, no matter where they came from, their parentage, their patrimony, or their culture.

 

This is the faith which is built upon the Word of God handed down by His Prophets and Apostles, of whom Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone.  It is not a system of philosophy, a cultural morality, or a ritualistic practice.  It is not the product of human reason, or of political actors, or of celebrity endorsement.  It is not a fiction of poets modern or ancient, nor a tale told around campfires to keep the shadows at bay.  This Word of God which framed the universe has been with mankind from our beginning, calling us to faith and repentance that we might find life instead of death, grace instead of judgement, reconciliation instead of war, and communion instead of alienation.  This is the Word which comes in the power of His Holy Spirit to create faith in the hearts of those who hear it, to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, and to begin the transformation of a fallen nature back into harmony with the Divine Nature.  It is not a Word which is contradictory to logic or reason, but a Word which fulfills and surpasses all human attempts to find God on our own—a Word born of the Supreme Rational Being who once gave to mankind a rational nature in His image, which we twisted and marred through our own evil intent, and who in love beyond fathoming reached down to rescue us all from our self-induced depravity that we might be restored to His eternal fellowship.

 

This is how the walls which separate and divide mankind are pulled down, not by the powers of man but by the grace of God.  We are built together not by philosophy or culture or ritual, but by our common salvation in Jesus Christ, declared to the whole world through His Word given to His Prophets and Apostles, empowered by His Spirit to accomplish the task for which it is sent, to the eternal glory of God the Father.  It is a household of faith composed of every tribe and tongue under heaven, of refined intellectuals and roughneck pragmatists, of engineers and farmers, of masters and apprentices, of captains of industry and craftsmen of endless variety.  It is a household composed of young and old, of saints and sinners, all with a common malady and a common salvation.  Here, in this eternal household, we are built together in the Word and Promise of God, where the best of humanity’s thoughts, words, and deeds find their fullness, and the lesser works of mankind are set aside.  Here our Good Shepherd leads His people into green pastures, through the valley of the shadow of death, securely past every evil foe, and into life everlasting in a blessed fellowship with all the saints from the beginning of time, unto time without end.  Glory be to God on high, and peace, good will toward men.  Amen.