The passage
Ephesians2:11–13
11 “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
12 That at that time ye 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 ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
Observation
Start hereThe passage is full of signposts.
We often hurry toward the larger doctrinal words and step right over the little ones. But the little words tell us how the passage moves.
Who is being addressed? Verse 11 answers plainly: Gentiles in the flesh. Pronouns have addresses. Find out who lives there.
When was this condition true? These Gentiles had been without Christ, outside Israel’s covenants, without hope, and without God in the world.
God repeats the time marker. He does not want the reader to drag the old condition forward as though nothing changed.
Here is the hinge. The passage turns from what they were to what they are in Christ Jesus.
Comparison
Then & nowIn time past
Far off
- Without Christ
- Aliens from Israel
- Strangers from the covenants
- Having no hope
- Without God
But now
Made nigh
- In Christ Jesus
- No longer defined by distance
- Brought near by His blood
- A new standing
- A finished provision
Conclusion
Let it formThe passage supplies its own conclusion.
God did not tell these Gentile believers to work their way nearer. He told them to remember what they had been and recognize what had changed. Their distance belonged to time past. Their nearness belonged to but now.
The change was not produced by their religion, their effort, or their heritage. They were made nigh “by the blood of Christ.”
Observation comes first. Conclusion comes last. When we follow the pronouns and the time words, the conclusion does not have to be forced. It rises naturally from the passage.
Application
Carry it homeRead slowly enough to let every word do its work.
The next time you study a passage, mark the pronouns. Circle the time words. Ask who, when, and what changed. Do not move a verse out of its time, and do not steal somebody else’s mail.
Look again: What words describe their former condition?
Look again: What two words turn the passage?
Look again: What made them nigh?