This is Spoken Gospel.

We are dedicated to seeing 
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s 
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

The church at Ephesus is filled with both Jews and
Gentiles, natives of pagan cultures who now follow Jesus.

The cultural differences between 
these two groups are profound.

But more significantly, Jews believe only their laws and
their temple give them access to God. So, Paul implores
his church to remember their unity in Jesus.

Yes, Gentiles are sinners and dead in 
their transgressions, but so are Jews.

Everyone, Jews included, have disqualified
themselves from access to God by their disobedience.

But God, in his great mercy, 
has made us alive by his grace.

The Jews can’t boast about their 
historic connection to God,  

any more than the Gentiles
can boast about their good deeds.

They are all one—one in death, but
also one in Christ and one in resurrection.

For Paul, the Gospel levels the ground
between all mankind.

Jews had built literal walls in their temple 
and made laws to keep the Gentiles out.

But Jesus is a new temple and 
has knocked the old walls down.

By his body we have access to God 
and by his cross he has made us one.

We can, regardless of bloodline, be 
citizens of his Kingdom through faith.

And better yet, Jesus has made us temples, and the
Spirit who once rested behind a wall now lives in us!

Paul says this plan for Jews and Gentiles 
to be God’s united temple and Kingdom

has been a mystery hidden
since the Old Testament.

And unpacking this mystery and preaching 
it to the Gentiles who had once been excluded,  

is now his life’s mission
regardless of the cost.

Paul says his imprisonment and suffering are 
worth it if God’s Church is united in the process.

Paul then interrupts his letter with another prayer to
the common Father of every family on earth.

He prays that the Spirit will strengthen 
the Ephesians' faith in Jesus.

And that the Spirit will open 
their eyes to see the intense,  

expansive, and unknowably
deep love of God for all people.

[music]

In the Old Testament, the presence of God’s Spirit 
is what set apart God’s people from the Gentiles.

The temple in Jerusalem and the ark 
of the covenant were both symbols of  

God’s abiding presence and Israel’s 
privileged place among the nations.

In some ways, nothing’s changed.

God’s Spirit still sets apart God’s people today.

Only now, God doesn’t live in a temple
made by man, but is within His own creation.

God lives in you and me! This is good news because
God’s people and presence are no longer 
bound by a location or nation.

God’s new family is no longer marked by a physical 
or ethnic border but is marked by faith alone.

Wherever we go we can proclaim the deep mystery that God is
our common Father and has saved all people through his Son!

In a world filled with divisions in class, race, and
gender, Paul points us to God’s mysterious plan for unity.

While the world wants to divide its people, 
the Spirit in Christ unifies all people.

In Christ, there is only 
one nation, without borders,  

consisting of people from every
tribe, tongue, and language.

All people, whether slave or free, male or female, Jew or
Gentile, are unified into one household under one Father of all.

And by God’s Spirit the power to unite
a divided world now lives in us.

As Paul says elsewhere, we are 
now ministers of reconciliation.

We are Spirit-empowered
agents of unity in a world divided.

In Christ, God has brought salvation to all, and 
now we’re filled with that same reconciling power,  

partnering with God to see 
the world united under him.

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes 
to see the God who offers salvation to all people.

And may you see Jesus as the one who has died 
to break down our divisions and unite us to him.