Chiasm in Ephesians 2:11-22

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

11

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised"
by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (which is done in the body by human hands)
12
remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel
and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of
Christ.
14

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed
the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its
commands and regulations.
His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus
making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the
cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
17

He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who
were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's
people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined
together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.22 And in him you too are being built
together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Eph. 2:11-22 NIV)

Actually I dont believe this Ephesians passage is that difficult to gather Pauls meaning. Seeing
a chiasm in it is a bit difficult. There are a lot of words used to express similar views. If a chiasm
is found then it helps us to better understand the meaning of the passage. Verse 15b-16 is the
center of this passage. The meaning emphasized throughout the chiasm is Jesus Christ came to
create ONE body of Gods people.
As Paul says one new humanity out of two. Thus Yeshua was not sent by God to eliminate the
Jews as Gods chosen people. Absolutely not, and Paul says this in several of his other letters.
Rather Jesus came to create a new chosen race which is the combination of Jew and Gentile.
The purpose of this combination was also to create a loving peace between people. All people
are a part of Gods chosen. Therefore no one can be left out.
This new humanity is built on Christ as the foundation block with the Apostles and the Prophets.
Therefore Christianity must never let go of their Hebraic roots for the prophetic writings are
Midrash of the Torah. Therefore the Torah, the Law of God is important to the new humanity
Yeshua was creating.
This harmony is a must for the church to seek out. However, after 135 CE the church deliberately
separated itself from Judaism and has waged war against Gods chosen people through antiSemitism. The height of anti-Semitism occurred at the beginning of the Reformation (1500s)
when Martin Luther declared that Yeshua was not Jewish! How absurd for the founder of the
Protestant movement to make such a declaration.

Throughout the years Christians have claimed that the Jews of Yeshuas day wanted to kill Him
and thus rejected Him. Therefore, they felt Christians had the right to hate Jews. The truth of the
matter is the Jewish leadership feared losing their power wanted Yeshua dead. One must also
remember there were other people calling themselves the Messiah in Yeshuas day who the
Sanhedrin also had eliminated.
Yeshua wanted the Jews and Gentiles to come together in a new human movement. At the
beginning of the movement this did occur. Jews and Gentiles formed churches all over the Roman
Empire. It is unfortunate that over the first 50 or so years of the church the Jews either left or may
have been prohibited from joining the church families. The movement Yeshua started for all of
Gods people did become an exclusive religious club.
This situation even exists today. The author became an ordain elder in the United Methodist
church and at several church appointments felt the wrath of anti-Semitism. It is sad when church
people act this way especially in light of Ephesians 2:11-22.
A last note is that some churches not only work to exclude Jews from coming to know Jesus but
also ethnic and social groups. To disallow anyone from joining the church or preventing anyone
from finding Christ is to deny Christ.