🛡️WEB · Ephesians 2:17
What does Ephesians 2:17 mean?
"He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near."
— Ephesians 2:17 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition,
having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace;
and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.
He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.
For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;
Explanation
Ephesians 2:17 in the World English Bible reads: "He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near." In plain language, this verse says that Christ brought a message of peace to two groups of people: those who were "far off" (Gentiles, non-Jews, who were outside God's covenant people) and those who were "near" (Jews, who already had the law, the promises, and the covenant relationship with God). Paul is saying that Jesus' coming and his gospel message extended reconciliation to both groups equally.
To understand the context, we need to look at the passage surrounding this verse. Paul wrote Ephesians, likely while imprisoned in Rome, to the church at Ephesus, a congregation made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers. In the verses just before this one (Ephesians 2:11-16), Paul describes how Gentiles were once "separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (2:12). But he explains that through Christ's death on the cross, the "middle wall of partition" between Jews and Gentiles has been broken down (2:14), and Christ has made the two groups "one new man" (2:15), reconciling both to God through the cross (2:16). Verse 17 then summarizes this reconciling work: Christ came preaching peace to both groups.
Theologically, this verse emphasizes the universal reach of the gospel and the unity it creates. The peace mentioned here is not merely the absence of conflict but the resto
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