Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:11-22 ESV)
Once we were separated, not a part of the covenant. The original covenant was for God’s chosen people the Israelites. And that covenant is still intact, but there is not a new covenant.
Gentiles, which most of us are, were not a part of the covenant, and were left separated from God. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”
But has hostility ended? Are we not still saying that this group does not belong and that group does not belong. We are now working through the inclusion/exclusion of those who are called sinful by some as leaders in the church. Does not this passage of scripture say that Jesus came and made us all near to God through his sacrifice of His own body on the cross to break down the walls of hostility? There should be no exclusion by any of us from the body of Christ. Exclusion and judgment is only for God to do.
Paul tells the Gentiles and us and all people, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” We are not outsiders but insiders, all of us, and that means we should set our hostility aside, for if we are part of the body here together, then we will be a part of the body in the feast that is to come together.
aSacredRebel 