Ephesians 2:18 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Ephesians 2:18

Comments

Verse 18 is a perfect Trinitarian verse: all members of the Godhead are here. ‘Through him,’ that is through Christ who has been the subject of the passage up till now. ‘Through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.’ Father, Son and Holy Spirit.It is through Christ that we learn most about grace, about the atonement, and about free salvation. It is the message of Christ that opens our eyes. It is in the Old Testament too and how clearly it shines in the New. He came and he lived under astonishing provocation a most perfect spotless life. He was the God-man and his perfections are sufficient to be imputed to all his people, credited to them to earn heaven and eternal life for them. We remind ourselves that while we have the atoning death of Christ to take the punishment for all our sins so that we are not condemned, that still leaves us without the positive deserving of the heavenly hereafter. So Christ’s work was twofold. It was to atone for sin so that we should not be condemned, and it was to earn or deserve on our behalf the eternal blessings of the heavenly reward. His righteousness was offered up in his life and sacrifice on Calvary. The Old Testament contains all the symbolic sacrifices which were visual aids of what Christ would one day do, and when Christ came, he fulfilled all those sacrifices and secured our salvation. We need the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds and regenerate our hearts so that we turn to him and bow the knee to Jesus Christ. And we always extol and honour the Father; we address our prayers to him. You can address prayer to any member of the Godhead, but especially in public prayer, we address them to the Father in the name of the Son by the enabling life and power of the Holy Spirit.These words, ‘have access’, they don’t just mean that through him you have the opportunity of access, the facility to approach him. No, the word in the Greek is stronger than that. ‘Through him we have access.’ He has brought us into the presence of God; he has saved us and brought us into the family and given us communion with God. We do not merely have access to the facility, but by an act of God we have been brought right in. The Spirit of God does not simply open opportunities, but he gives us experiences of fellowship with God. And there is no difference: both Jews and Gentiles are illuminated by the Holy Spirit – brought to our senses, convicted of sin, regenerated by the power of the Spirit. This most familiar of privileges is given to both equally. It is exactly the same process and encounter with God, whether we are Jews with privileges, or Gentiles with none.

Application

We have intimate access to the Father. As we pray, we are assured that God hears us on high, and the more we pray from sincere hearts, the more we sense it. We call him Father. We never fail to name the name of Christ who secured this access for us. We come with great reverence. He is our Father – Abba Father, our familiar Father – but there is always reverence and great earnestness. We sometimes have emergency prayers, but we never take prayer lightly. The greatest treasure in our lives is to be able to call upon God.

Questions

Is there a difference between Jews and Gentiles in the kingdom of heaven? No, both Jew and Gentile have equal access. It is sad, but there are Christian people (and good Christian people and many good expositors too), who never fully grasp this. Their idea is that the Jew is the first-class citizen in the church of Christ, and the Gentile is the second-class citizen. They think there is still something very special about the Jew, even though the apostle says it over and over again through his epistles that there is no difference, indeed, the whole Bible does.

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Introduction

Ephesians 2:18 Commentary and Bible Study

Explain meaning of Ephesians 2:18