(11) В¶ 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. (14) В¶ For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; (15) Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (16) And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: (17) And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. (18) For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
I cannot sufficiently admire, neither sufficiently recommend, to myself, and Reader, the blessedness of this sweet advice of the Apostle's. Apostle's, did I say, nay, it is God the Holy Ghost, which so tenderly, and affectionately recommends the Church, to remember her former state, when in unregeneracy, and her present state, when brought nigh, by the blood of Christ. And, therefore, blessed Spirit of all grace, give me grace, to keep in remembrance this precious teaching of thine?
First: the Lord bids the Church to remember, what they once were, when in a state of unawakened nature, and dead in trespasses and sins. The Church at Ephesus, Paul reminds them, were Gentiles, not as a nation only, for in this sense they were Gentiles still; but when without Christ, and strangers to the Covenants of promise. In short, as far remote from any apprehension of the nature and being of God, as the brute that perisheth. Reader! pause over this account. Nothing serves more to magnify the riches of God's grace, than when the Lord displays it, on such characters. And may not you, and I, take to ourselves, in the recollection of the days of our unregeneracy, what Paul once said to the Corinthian Church, when speaking of the same things ? And such (said he) were some of you! And, oh! how blessed, if to us may be said, what followed. But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified; in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11
Reader! let you and I take to ourselves what is commanded. It will be always profitable, to remember, the wormwood, and the gall, of a state of unregenerated nature. To look to the rock whence we were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence we were digged. Isaiah 51:1. Oh! what a stranger was I to God, and to Christ, all the long time of my unregeneracy ? Stranger to the word of his grace, to the sweet sound of salvation yea, a stranger to my own heart; unconscious of the want of Christ; ignorant of the love of God; and, like this Church of Ephesus, when first Paul came among them, I had never so much as heard, as to any saving knowledge in the soul, whether there was any Holy Ghost. Acts 19:2. Reader! what are your views of these things?
But, secondly. Paul sweetly adds: but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace! I pray the Reader to mark, with suitable observation, the whole cause of the Church's recovery. All in Christ. All by Christ: and wholly for Christ's sake. Here Paul evidently runs back, to the first, and original thought, with which he opened this Epistle. Chosen in Christ: adopted, and predestinated, to a son-ship in Christ to himself: and accepted in Christ: and all to the praise of the glory of his grace. And, what I pray the Reader not to lose sight of is the very sweet close of this paragraph: that through Him, that is, Christ, we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father! There is not, as far as I recollect, a verse in the Bible, so short as this, where the office-characters of the Three glorious Persons of the Godhead, are so sweetly joined together, and brought within so narrow a compass. And yet, what can more fully show, the constant access the children of God have always to the throne, in, and through Christ, when God the Spirit leads, and directs the heart into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ?
Reader! do not dismiss this blessed portion of the chapter, before that you have gathered one or two sweet improvements, which, under the Lord's teaching, it brings with it.
First. The remembrance of our former state of unawakened nature, while it tends to keep our souls low in the dust before God, will always at the same time, heighten our views of the divine mercy: The one acts in opposition to the other. That I, who, as Paul said of himself, was once a blasphemer, persecutor, injurious; should obtain mercy! Oh! what sweet encouragement to all that hear of it!
Secondly. And, while it acts as a motive to encourage others, what strength it brings with it to all future acts of faith in ourselves? If I found grace, the poor sinner may say, when dead in trespasses and sins, what may I not hope for now, amidst all my own dying frames, and circumstances ? It was nothing but grace then; and why not grace now ? If when dead I was quickened; now when brought low, will not the Lord help me?
Thirdly. Nothing will more powerfully tend, under the Lord's blessing, to hide all pharisaical pride from the eyes, and to keep open a constant spring of true humbleness and sorrow, than the remembrance of what we once were, and what through grace we now are. Oh! when our mercies, and especially our spiritual mercies, are traced to their source, and the free, unmerited, unlooked for, yet untaught of love of God, is seen, in all our path along, from first to last; how low the child of God lays before God; how small his own attainments, and how high he values divine mercies in Christ!
And, lastly, to mention no more; (though many more might be added:) what views will the child of God have, of the Person, love, grace, blood-shedding, and righteousness, of Jesus Christ, who unceasingly remembers his former ruined, and undone state, out of Christ; and his present everlastingly blessed; and secure state, in Christ? Oh! the preciousness of Jesus, when the daily sense, of a daily need of Jesus, is felt in the soul.