But now in Christ Jesus, you, who some time were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
νυνι δε εν χριστω ιησου υμεις οι ποτε οντες μακραν εγγυς εγενηθητε εν τω αιματι του χριστου
12 Church Fathers comment on this verse
It is already important, says the Apostle, that we have come to the Jewish way of life. How so? He summed up all things in heaven and on earth, and are you still speaking about Israelites? Yes, he says, truly so. The former must be received by faith, but this must be justified by works. "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off," he says, "have become near" in life. For being far or near depends solely on freedom.
We were far from God, not in place, but in the disposition of the heart and in life. But now we have become near, not by life, for we contributed nothing from works, but in Christ Jesus and by His Blood. For by shedding His Blood and giving Himself for us, He freed us from the captivity that kept us far from Him and brought us near to Himself. You may also understand it this way: we were far from the Israelites, but now we have become near to them.
But now, since you have become Christ's through your faith, you who were far from Him have become near to Him in His Blood, which you receive.
God is everywhere, and everywhere wholly present; therefore who can withdraw from Him in Whom all things are contained? Yet He is said to be far from the ungodly (Prov 15:29). He from Whom the ungodly are distant is near to the saints.
Finally, although He was far from the Ephesians, through the blood of Jesus God became near to them.
"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near in the blood of Christ, for He is our peace." God is everywhere and everywhere wholly present; therefore who can withdraw from Him in Whom all things are?
He Himself says through the prophet: "I am a God near at hand, and not far off" (Jer 23:23). The Psalmist also bears witness: "If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there. If I descend into Hades, Thou art with me" (Ps 138:8).
Thus, although all things are in Him, He is nevertheless said to be far from the ungodly, according to the words of Scripture: "God is far from the ungodly" (Prov 15:29).
He from Whom the ungodly are distant is near to the saints. Finally, although He was far from the Ephesians, in the blood of Jesus He became near to them.
Yet we must attend still more carefully to this: without the blood of the Lord Jesus, no one draws near to God. For He Himself is our peace, as He says: "My peace I give to you; My peace I leave with you" (Jn 14:27).
As wisdom makes men wise, righteousness makes men righteous, sanctification makes men holy, and life makes men living, so peace itself makes us reconciled. Therefore we say, "With those who hated peace, I was at peace" (Ps 119:6).
If Christ is the peace of believers, then whoever lives without peace does not have Christ.
Paul reminds us that we have drawn near to God by the blood of Christ, in order to show how great God's disposition toward us is, for He allowed His Son to die for us. When we endure sufferings for faith in Him, we must not despair under any outcomes that befall us for faith in Christ. We know that He deserves from us more than our enemies can do to us.
For you, who lived far off and were separated from Israel, the Master Christ made His own. This is what the Apostle expressed with the words, "you became near."
"You who once were far off have become near." In contrast to the former state of paganism, the Apostle depicts the present state of the Ephesians and chiefly defines it by nearness to God and to the Jews.
According to the Apostle, the union of the Gentiles with Christ and His Church was accomplished by the Blood of Christ, "you were made near by the blood of Christ" (v. 13), by the Flesh of Christ, "having broken down the enmity in His flesh" (v. 15), and finally by the Cross, "that He might reconcile them by the Cross, having slain the enmity on it" (v. 16). Thus the action of the Flesh and Blood, or more precisely, of the death of Christ, is attributed to the Cross. Therefore veneration of the saving death must be joined with veneration of the Cross as its instrument and sign.
Then he explains how they became near. "But now in Christ Jesus" the Gentiles "have become near by the blood of Christ" (Eph 2:13). That is, in the Church of Christ they received equal rights with the Jews.
For Christ "made both one," uniting both in one Church and abolishing by His death the ceremonial law, which served as the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles.
Thus in Himself Christ, as it were, created humanity anew (Eph 2:14-15), "reconciling both, Jew and Gentile, to God through the Cross, killing the enmity on it." This means the enmity with God, which alienated both peoples from Him because of their sinfulness.
He proclaimed this peace "to those far off and to those near," that is, to Gentiles and Jews, so that both have access to the Father in one Spirit (Eph 2:17-18).
Further, he shows how near the Gentiles became. They became fellow citizens with the saints, members of God's household, and even more, a dwelling place of God. What greater nearness could one desire or expect? Bishop Theophan says this.
The Apostle uses three comparisons to explain how near the Gentiles have become, as the same bishop observes.
The apostolic words in this section deserve special attention: "Having abolished the enmity in His flesh, the law of commandments in teaching, that He might create in Himself one new man from the two, making peace" (Eph 2:15).
What law of commandments did the Lord abolish, and by what teaching? The Lord abolished the Old Testament law, with its many commandments, by His New Testament teaching concerning saving faith.
This abolition, however, must not be understood as destruction, for the Lord came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it. It means the replacement of that law by a higher and better law.
The former law knew only how to command and prescribe various commandments. The new law also communicates the gracious powers for fulfilling them (Chrysostom, Theophylact). Here one should recall the words of the Gospel: the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (Jn 1:17).
The drawing near to God of both Gentiles and Jews was accomplished alike by the work of God's mercy, namely by the blood of Christ, shed by Him on the Cross. By this, men were reconciled to God and united among themselves in the unity of Christ's Body.
That Body was given over to sufferings for all, according to infinite love, so that enmity would not reign and the yoke of the law would not dominate. Instead, the life-giving teaching of love would act in all.
This love was wholly manifested in Christ, as in the new Adam. According to His image, all who believe in Him must live in God's peace and love, forming a new humanity existing in the universal Church as the Body of Christ, of which He is the Head.
Enmity divided all men, but it was especially characteristic on religious ground, inwardly and spiritually, between Jews and Gentiles. Therefore the Apostle could have had this enmity in mind as especially important.
At the same time, he undoubtedly had particular reasons for speaking at length about the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles in Christianity. It is known how long this enmity persisted afterward, and how it continues to this day among unconverted Jews.
They would of course be changed at once if they became Christians, and with that became new men. Concerning this St. John Chrysostom said: "The Gentile did not become a Jew, but both came into a new condition.
He abolished the law not in order to transform one into the other, but to re-create both. 'That He might create both in Himself,' he says, first as though melting both down, that is, the Greek and the Jew.
He created one wondrous being, that is, the Christian, Himself becoming the first creation of this kind. This creation is far higher than the first creation.
'In Himself' may also mean that He first presented us with the pattern and example. He transformed both the Jew, who was circumcised and under the curse, and the Greek, who was outside the law, into one new man, higher than both Jew and Greek.
He made peace both in relation to God and in relation to one another. The Jew draws near to the Greek only when he becomes a believer."
We are not less saved, and they are not more saved. Both we and they have been counted worthy of one and the same grace, for Christ destroyed the enmity by His death and made us beloved to the Father through the Spirit.
His death killed, pierced through, and destroyed the enmity. He did not say "loosed," nor did he say "removed," but "killed," the strongest word. Thus that enmity will never rise again.
We can produce another enmity, but certainly not the first, which has been killed forever. But let us consider how terrible it is for us voluntarily to come again into enmity with God after He has done so much for our reconciliation.
This new enmity no longer awaits baptism, but Gehenna; not forgiveness, but punishment."
According to Blessed Jerome, "the creation of the new man will appear full and complete when heaven and earth are united, when there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Isa 65:17), when we shall drink the cup of Jesus new in the Kingdom of God (Mk 14:25), and sing a new song (Ps 97:1)."
"But now in Christ Jesus." This means: when the promised Christ came and ordered salvation for us, which before had only been awaited; when the gracious Kingdom was ordered by Christ the Lord and is preached to all. "Now" means in the New Testament divine economy of salvation.
"You who once were far off." You were alienated from the former, temporary, preparatory economy through alienation from the Jews, and thus stood far away. "You have become near." You are not alienated from the new economy, the true and final one.
Rather, you have been brought into participation in it on equal terms with the Jews, in whom and through whom it was prepared by the former mode of divine economy.
How have you become near? "By the blood of Christ." This is a brief but all-embracing answer. The whole following discourse, Eph 2:14-17, serves as its broader and fuller explanation.
Its essence may be expressed thus. The whole Old Testament institution was a shadow, but the body is Christ's. When the Lord came and offered Himself as a sacrifice through death on the Cross, everything that had only been a reflection of this sacrifice ceased.
It lost its meaning and power. All power now passed into the death on the Cross. Thus the blood of Christ, shed on the Cross, brought the Old Testament institution to an end and itself took its place: body instead of shadow, truth instead of its prefigurations.
That which destroyed the old itself became the new institution for salvation. But the Old Testament institutions were the wall that divided Jews and Gentiles. Therefore the blood of Christ, which ended the significance of the Old Testament institutions, also destroyed the wall separating Jews and Gentiles.
Since this same blood became the New Testament institution for salvation, it also became the center of unity for all who enter this newly opened path of salvation.
The Jews cast off the old and put on the new by the blood of Christ, which abolished all that was old. The Gentiles, directly anointed by the blood of Christ, put on all that is new.
Both find in the blood of Christ the center of mutual union. There they also find the means of communion in the gracious institution, through which, being most intimately joined to Christ, they draw near to God.
Both do so equally, without any longer having one advantage over the other.
"You who once were far off." Far from whom? Paul said this above: from Christ the Creator, from the commonwealth of Israel, from the covenants, from the hope of the promise, and from God Himself. Once they were such, but now in Christ the nations draw near to that from which they were then far.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 17 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS