Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh—called “uncircumcised” by those called “circumcised” (which is done in the body by human hands)—were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, by which He put the hostility to death.
He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
So then, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.
Notes
This section unveils the New Covenant miracle: the complete inclusion of Gentiles and the formation of one unified people in Christ. Paul calls the Gentile believers to remember their former status: separated from the Messiah, cut off from Israel’s blessings, and alienated from the covenants of promise. They had no hope and no God, not because God was absent, but because they were outside His covenant mercy.
But now—in Christ Jesus—the distance has been abolished. Gentiles have been brought near not by Torah, circumcision, or temple ritual, but by the blood of Christ. His cross is the fulfillment of Passover, sacrifice, and peace offering. It is the end of hostility—not only between man and God, but between man and man
(cf. Isaiah 57:19; Colossians 1:20–22).
The dividing wall of hostility—symbolized both physically in the Jerusalem temple and spiritually through the Law—has been torn down. Christ abolished the law of commandments and decrees not by violating it but by fulfilling it in His flesh. The New Covenant does not renovate the Old; it replaces it with one new man in Christ
(cf. Hebrews 8:13; Romans 10:4).
Now, through Christ, both Jew and Gentile have access to the Father by one Spirit. The curtain has been torn. The barriers are down. The Spirit is not restricted to the temple—He now builds His dwelling in the Church. No longer outsiders, Gentile believers are now fellow citizens, family members, and living stones in a growing temple. Christ is the cornerstone, and the apostles and prophets—bearers of the New Covenant message—form the foundation
(cf. 1 Peter 2:4–5; 1 Corinthians 3:16–17).
This is not a religion. This is a new creation, a living temple, a household of God filled with the Spirit. The dwelling place of God is no longer a building but a people—redeemed, reconciled, united, and indwelt.
This is the peace Christ purchased: one new humanity, one reconciled body, one holy temple. All of it made possible not by effort but by the cross, not by ritual but by the Spirit, not by Sinai but by Zion.
Moe Bergeron 
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