Thoughts on Ephesians 3

Today’s reading: Ezekiel 27; Ephesians 3

It’s easy to think about the cross only in terms of personal salvation, but Paul reminds us in Ephesians 3 that, while we are certainly saved through the cross, so much more was happening there than merely our personal salvation.

Paul talks, in our chapter this morning, about the mystery of Gentile inclusion in the people of God, which ultimately takes us back to Babel (Genesis 11). Prior to Babel, all of humanity was God’s people. God created humanity in the Garden of Eden to be His human family, and even as they sinned and were cast out of the Garden, their status as His people didn’t change. As humanity grew increasingly rebellious, in part due to their own sinfulness, and in part being led to greater rebellion by the rebellious divine beings in Genesis 6, God eventually sent the flood that wiped out all humanity, bringing Noah and his family through to continue to be His people. Again though, after the flood, Noah’s descendants continued to rebel against God, with everything ultimately coming to a head at the Tower of Babel. At Babel was where God finally disowned humanity. Prior to Babel, though humanity was rebellious, they were still, collectively, God’s people, but at Babel, God divided the nations, mixing up their languages, and disowning them, giving them over to lesser gods (literally other elohim). Moses describes this happening in Deuteronomy 32, where he says that the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind according to the number of the sons of God, but calling out Israel as his inheritance.

So God created humanity with the desire that they would be His people, but eventually their continued rebellion led Him to disown humanity, giving them over to lesser divine beings to be their gods instead. But then, in the midst of that disowning, God calls Abram to be His new people. God promises to bless and grow Abram’s descendants until they number more than the stars in the sky, creating a new people for Himself in place of the rest of rebellious humanity, but He also promises, in the midst of that, that all the nations of te earth would be blessed through him. In context, with God having just divided and disowned the nations, and then turning around, selecting Abram, and declaring that all those disowned nations would be blessed through him, God was declaring that, through Abram, He would make a way back for the nations.

And this is ultimately what happened at the cross!

Yes, Jesus’ death pays for your sins and allows you to go to heaven, but it also accomplishes so much more than that! Jesus, being a Jew, was one of God’s people, and when we, through faith, are placed into Christ it means we are transplanted back into the people of God. The cross heals the rift that occurred at Babel, opening the door for all people from all nations to once again come back into the heritage of God. The cross also signals the ultimate spiritual defeat of the rebellion that led to Babel in te first place. This is why we are told in 1 Peter 3 that Jesus, after His death and resurrection, went and proclaimed to the imprisoned spirits who were long ago rebellious before the days of Noah. He was declaring His victory over those who had defied Him in Genesis 6, seeking to steal His people from Him. He declared to them that, despite all they had done to lead the people astray, He had won His people back from them decisively through His own death and resurrection.

Genesis tells us about the three great rebellions which led to humanity’s current state: The fall, where sin and death entered the world through Adam and Eve; the Genesis 6 descent of the divine beings, intermarrying with human women and teaching them secret/corrupting knowledge; and Babel, where the nations were ultimately disowned. The cross undid every rebellion. Through the cross, sin is payed for and death is defeated, allowing us to have eternal life with God. Through the cross, the corruption introduced by the rebellious spiritual beings is undone, and the alienation from God that it introduced is reversed. Through the cross the nations are reconciled to God, brought back into His family, and once again made to be His people.

And now God is allowing history to continue, postponing His final victory, where death and sin are not merely defeated, but are finally destroyed, biding His time so that more of the dispersed nations will return to His family through Christ. Personal salvation is an amazing and important part of the victory gained at the cross, but it’s only one part of that amazing victory that Jesus won.

Thank you, Lord, that through the cross, you did win the decisive victory, and have brought us back into your family, and given us a share in your ultimate victory that you will claim on the last day!