October 31 2025

Friday October 31

“Abolishing and Putting to Death the Enmity”

Ephesians 2:11-18

11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from 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 both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

First, I wanted to give an update on Mark’s bypass surgery this week. I was able to FaceTime with him yesterday for a few minutes and talk with him. He is still in intensive care. He's recovering. The surgery, as we have been told, went extremely well. But he has been in excruciating pain for the first few day afterwards.  In recovery he has been doing a little better each day. He hopes to go home on Monday or Tuesday if he continues to do well.

I also wanted to remind you of the grand opening tomorrow of the GO Center there in Bonsack, Virginia, right outside Roanoke, Virginia at 9:30am. You're more than welcome to attend this grand ribbon cutting ceremony opening up the GO Center. You can read more about this in my Pastor's Chat. Again, thank you so much for your prayers and being a part of this ministry with us at Pastor Mike Impact Ministries.

Today, we are continuing to look at Ephesians 2. We've been talking about how Paul here in verse 11 begins to address specifically the Gentiles in the church. An amazing thing took place when of course the Gentiles began to get saved. Before Acts 11, there was no conflict in the church at Jerusalem. The conflict, strife and contention, appears in the church when the Gentiles started getting saved in Acts chapter 10. This is when Peter went to speak to Cornelius the centurion and brought him to faith in Christ. It was then in Acts 11 we begin to see this conflict between the Jewish believers concerning circumcision and the Gentiles. Of course, even at the church at Ephesus, because there are both Jewish believers and Gentile believers, this conflict possibly was continuing. No doubt that is why here in Ephesians 2 Paul is writing about the greatest peace mission that has ever taken place on planet earth. That's the peace Jesus Christ came to make between us and God, and to make between us and others. Especially between other believers that we might be one.

As I was reading through these verses 11-22, the word one kept coming up. I circled it. It is important to note that God came to make us one with Himself through Christ and make us one with one another. Remember that was the prayer of Jesus in John 17. Now in Ephesians 2:11. Paul had reminds the Gentiles that before their salvation, they were without God. They were without hope. They were without Christ. They were alienated and strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, separated from the Jews.

Verse 13 begins with: “But now”.  This “But now” parallels the “But God” in verse 4, “Who is rich in mercy with His great love”. “But now in Christ, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ.” He goes on to write. We're going to read through verse 18. “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments contained in the ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. He came and preached peace to you who are far off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”

How powerful is that? So, we see a key word here is enmity. The word enmity means a deep-seated hatred between people or groups. It's often long-lasting. We see this enmity going on in America today between the left and the right in politics and the hatred that the left has for our president. We see this enmity. It's long-lasting. That there seems to be no reconciliation or peace. We see in this passage of scripture the enmity between the Jews and the Gentiles, between sinners and God. But thank God we see that Jesus Christ has come with the greatest peace mission in history, there is only reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles, between God and man through Jesus Christ.

Have you made peace with God through Jesus Christ? I trust that it will encourage you to know only through Christ you can receive reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

God bless!