Ephesians 2:17

Note

The second half of Ephesians 2 says that the wall between Gentile and Jew has come down at the cross. At the end of it Paul writes that Christ Himself came and brought the good news of peace to both.

Paul reminds his Gentile readers that they were once "separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise" (Ephesians 2:12). But now "you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13). Christ "Himself is our peace" (Ephesians 2:14): He has made the two one, torn down the dividing wall of hostility, created one new man out of the two, and reconciled both to God in one body through the cross (2:14–16). Verse 17 turns that work into news. The peace that was made is now announced.

The verb is euangelizomai, here euēngelisato, an aorist middle in the third person singular: "He brought good news." Its object is eirēnēn, "peace." The good news Christ brought has peace for its content. Two passages of Isaiah sound in the line. The Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, uses this same verb for the herald of Isaiah 52:7, whose feet are beautiful on the mountains as he brings the news of peace, and Isaiah 57:19 says, "Peace, peace to those far and near" (Isaiah 57:19). Paul reads the far as the Gentiles and the near as Israel. Verse 18 gives the fruit of the news: "through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit" (Ephesians 2:18).

The BSB repeats the word: "peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near." The KJV has it once: "preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh." The older manuscripts behind the BSB have the second "peace"; the Textus Receptus behind the KJV does not. The repetition echoes Isaiah's own double "Peace, peace."

The English versions also differ over the verb. The KJV and the BSB say "preached," which in English today can sound like a sermon more than an announcement. The LSV gives the Greek its full weight: "He proclaimed good news—peace to you—the far-off and the near." Here Christ is the evangelist, and peace is the gospel.

When did He come and preach? Wesley answers, "After his resurrection," and says He preached "By his ministers and his Spirit" Wesley. Others think of His earthly ministry, or take the whole work of the cross as itself the proclamation. On any reading the one who brings the peace is not the apostle but Christ. Matthew Henry calls Christ "the author, centre, and substance of their being at peace with God, and of their union with the Jewish believers in one church" Matthew Henry, and on verse 18 he adds, "the Spirit gives a heart to come, and strength to come" Matthew Henry.

In the Jerusalem temple a stone balustrade divided the outer court, open to Gentiles, from the inner courts, and notices in Greek stood along it: no foreigner was to pass within, and whoever was caught would have himself to blame for his death. One of them was found in 1871 the temple warning inscription. Paul himself was seized on the suspicion that he had brought Trophimus the Ephesian inside (Acts 21:29). Many readers hear that barrier in the dividing wall of verse 14.

In this verse the gospel first says what it is: peace. Whoever counts themselves far off and whoever counts themselves near receive the same news from the same Lord.