Bite 41: He Came and Preached Peace in Ephesians 2:11-22

Sticking to the Order of Study

Like I said last time we met, we are going to be learning about this phrase and ones like it, he himself is our peace. I realize that Jesus is our peace specifically, but we can’t leap there immediately or we risk missing meaning that Paul has when he addresses his audience in Ephesians 2:11-22. Remember our order of study:

• Observation
• Interpretation
• Application

We will not put our application cart before our interpretation horse. Everything has potential to get goofy when we do that. I know it’s tempting to immediately start dancing around with giddy glee that Jesus is our peace too. But hang on, let’s do that dance together once we discover the meaning Paul had for his original audiences.

Recognizing our Experience Limitations

However, we made up for it the next year since airfare to Europe was significantly reduced from its normal rates. Flying for a week of vacation to England with a small jaunt over to Paris was our plan.

I’ve never been one to attend to news on a regular basis. Before children, I listened to Talk Radio with gusto and could tell you who was governor of what and who was representative from where. I was all in. After kids–nope. Not anymore. So it never crossed my mind that we were traveling to Europe from September 8-14. In case it doesn’t cross your mind either, it was the one year anniversary of 9/11.

Our itinerary included a Chunnel run over to Paris ON September 11. I thought we were going to die. (No, I don’t think I’m dramatic or an over-reacting person. Not even a little.) I knew that the terrorists were going to target the Chunnel and we would die a fiery and watery death. Just watched the news in our dank little London motel and it was obvious.

I never slept a wink but spent the night worrying about what would happen to our kids after Jeremy and I died in the fiery and watery death in the Chunnel. Was there ease of mind? Was there health and refreshment from sound rest? Was prosperity for the future, even an ember of hope in my being?

No, no, and no.

This is the closest to a state of not-peace I’ve ever experienced. And I realize it is laughable to someone who has experienced real not-peace. As we interpret our passage, we want to try to understand the state of not-peace Paul’s audience would have had as normative life, even while we try to understand the peace that Christ preached to them.

Remembering the Context

Hopefully you have your observation worksheet right there in front of you, but it is chopped up and not easy reading. Let’s read our passage together here, allowing what we’ve already learned to impact our reading comprehension.

¹¹ 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— ¹² 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. 

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵ 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, ¹⁶ and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 

¹⁷ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:11–22 (ESV)

Do you find it as much fun as I do to read through a section of scripture we’ve studied in part and allow some of the depth of meaning Paul intended to wash over you? Thinking about the audience, that they were counted as outsiders and without a sense of belonging. They didn’t know about the promises of God, had no hope and were without God. Thinking about what they used to be and that they were not left there, but instead were brought near…

How?

What happened to cause the eternal change in their position? We’ve begun the discussion in previous Bites, but today we will be earnest to interpret what it means that he himself is our peace.

Is this idea new or has it been long in coming, anticipated for centuries? If it’s been anticipated, how did the audience hear this word and surrounding supporting ideas? How did they understand it? Because Paul wrote it to them, we must first understand how they heard it before we can understand how we should hear it. Together, we will effort to learn what it means that Jesus himself was their peace.

What Did Peace Look Like?

As you read through the passage above, are you able to see some different phrases Paul used to try to explain what Christ did for them? Since peace is the repeated word through the passage, we will relate all the phrases to it. That will give us a concrete starting point. See if you can list how Paul defined peace on your own first, then look below and compare with what I find. Not a right/wrong situation, but comparing what we both see.

As I wrote out the list, I used the same language the translators did, writing in the second person, even though I wasn’t part of the original audience.

Keeping it in mind these two diverse groups that are now sharing a body, a race (as in a new human race/mankind), a household, if there isn’t unity within the body/race/household… Yikes, that could get a little nuts.

But wait, how would the original audience have heard this word peace?

Peace in the Middle Eastern Languages

Since I didn’t live in the Middle East in Bible times, or before, I need to ask some experts about how the residents of the region would have understood the word when Paul wrote it. Or even a little before: words come with baggage no matter your language.

Let’s start with the dictionary that is linked to my reverse interlinear ESV.

Louw Nida

22.42 εἰρήνη^a, ης f: a set of favorable circumstances involving peace and tranquility—‘peace, tranquility.’ εἰ ἔγνως ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ καὶ σὺ τὰ πρὸς εἰρήνην ‘if you knew in this day those things related to peace’ Lk 19:42; προπέμψατε δὲ αὐτὸν ἐν εἰρήνῃ ‘send him on his way in peace’ 1 Co 16:11. The meaning of ‘peace’ or ‘tranquility’ may be expressed in some languages in a negative form, for example, ‘to be without trouble’ or ‘to have no worries’ or ‘to sit down in one’s heart.’ ¹

As I read through some of my dictionaries, I wish we could sit together and pour over them on the same side of the table, marveling at all the nuances there are in such a powerful biblical term. We will have to make do, here is a screenshot of a page from Mounce’s dictionary (if you’re interested in digital format, click here).

Mounce

I’m not speaking to anyone who does know the horrors of war, because there are a few among us who do. Or those who have spent sacrificial time in other countries in our armed forces, close to enemies who would like nothing more than to decimate them. People who have gone to sleep at night not entirely sure there would be a morning for them, I’m not speaking to them. They already know what not-peace life is.

But the rest of us who have lived our lives insulated from the threat of wars, we don’t have experiences that would educate us in the meaning of peace leading up to Paul’s day. As we proceed, let’s try to slip our feet into the sandals of our brothers and sisters who lived in that timeframe. How would they have heard this? Let our spiritual imagination take over. What have we gathered so far?

Peace

• He is himself our peace
• Made us both one
• Created one new man in place of two making peace
• Reconciled us both to God in one body
• Preached peace to you who were far off and those who were near
• Structure being built together
• A situation that results in the cessation of hostilities
• Order that allows for the possibility of prosperity

If we reach further back into history, the history of the cultures of Paul’s day, even into the cultures of the people called the circumcision, what do they hear? Let’s continue to learn from Bill Mounce (if you are interested in a paper format, click here).

The LXX translates Heb. šālôm 250× with eirēnē. Peace can, ironically, prevail internally even when the violence of war is at its peak externally. Conversely, inner spiritual turmoil can be raging out of control when peaceful conditions prevail in the land. In other words, “peace” is a state of being that lacks nothing and has no fear of being troubled in its tranquility; it is euphoria coupled with security. For more on the OT concept of peace, See šālôm.²

As you may already know, the LXX that Mounce refers to in this quote is the Greek translation of the Hebrew OT. Within that translation, there are 250 times that the Hebrew word šālôm (can you see a hint of shalom?) is translated into the Greek word eirēnē, where our English translators use the word peace. Now we’re into a translation of a translation. Being that this word has such a long history, can you see why understanding it from the perspective of Paul’s original audience could change its meaning for us today?

Reading a little further on in Mounce’s article, we arrive at our specific context in Ephesians 2:11-22:

Christ is a mediator of eirēnē. The NT depicts Jesus as achieving the highest form of peace for us through his reconciling death on the cross—the ultimate state of well-being (see Eph. 2:14–18).²

As we’ve time traveled, we have a better grasp on what a state of not-peace would’ve been for the recipients of the letter. When we put the final notes on our list about peace, I think they might have richer meaning for us.

Peace

• He is himself our peace
• Made us both one
• Created one new man in place of two making peace
• Reconciled us both to God in one body
• Preached peace to you who were far off and those who were near
• Structure being built together
• A situation that results in the cessation of hostilities
• Order that allows for the possibility of prosperity
• A state of being that lacks nothing
• A condition which has no fear of being troubled in its tranquility
• Through his reconciling death on the cross, Jesus provides the ultimate state of well-being

Reflection

With the Romans in power in their world, the recipients would have heard the comfort of peace with definitions vastly different than ours today. For most of us, peace might have to do with fireside easy chair, a nice glass of wine, and mood lighting to relax away the day.

Which, as a microcosm, is not wrong, it just isn’t vast, stark, life-sucking as what the churches in Asia Minor would have understood. The life-sucking fear of hostility toward them and their families is what we want to attempt to comprehend as the comparison with when Jesus came into their world.

Even our one European vacation on the anniversary of 9/11 doesn’t compare. Unnerving doesn’t cover the feeling of walking into a bank in London where the guard or policeman or whoever he was carried a machine gun. Right there next to us. Finger over the guard, on the ready. Not-peace. At least not for me.

Asian churches would be in the midst of wonder, “Will we be dragged from our houses to jail for our faith this week?” Between the hostility of the two groups Paul addresses and the hostility of the governmental rule over the region, there was anxiety on every front.

And yet, what Bill Mounce writes is true, “Peace can, ironically, prevail internally even when the violence of war is at its peak externally.”²

This is what Paul tells his audience is their current reality, in Christ. For he himself is our peace. Having an external world in turmoil for generations, and yet being created into one new man makes peace. Regardless of their circumcised state or their uncircumcised state, at least that hostility is killed.

Not only did people who had no God have access to God, those who previously needed the law of commandments expressed in ordinances can also access the one true God. One body through the cross. For he himself is their peace.

Wrap Up

Considering how the audience would’ve understood Paul’s message is our Bible Study Bite for today. If we read the English words without the investigative work of study, we can certainly arrive at a conclusion. But will it be as rich and vibrant? Would we necessarily known that Jesus as peace had nuances involving a state of being?

Or would our conclusion even have been an accurate interpretation, an interpretation that the original audience would have understood as Paul’s meaning for them?

Dr. Stein talks in his book about how to arrive at the meaning of the author. Included are lexicons or dictionaries, concordances, and then he also says this,

“We can come even closer to what Paul meant by asking how the writers of the Greek OT (the Septuagint, LXX) understood a term, for Paul thought more like them than like the Greek classical writers. In addition, since the Septuagint was the Bible of his churches, Paul tended to use his words in a manner similar to how they were used in his readers’ Bible. Even more helpful would be to understand how Paul’s contemporaries, who wrote the other books of the NT, understood the term he used. More helpful still would be to find how the same author uses this term elsewhere in his letters.³

Even though that is a lengthy quote, I think it’s important for us to notice some of the details Dr. Stein lays out for us. Did you see that Paul would think more like the writers of the LXX than he would classical Greek writers? That’s something to keep in mind since in our study we pondered how classical Greek writers would’ve used the word peace, too.

We could go much further in our study together, but I dearly desire for these Bites to be consumable. I want to walk a little distance with you in some study, and then for you to develop confidence to go even further on your own. That we would accumulate tools in our toolboxes that will serve us more and more as we get to know our God better and better.

1. Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 246). New York: United Bible Societies.
2. Mounce, W. D. (2006). Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (p. 503). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
3. Stein, R. H. (2011). A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing by the Rules (Second Edition, p. 195). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.