But now, in Christ Jesus - By the coming and atonement of the Lord Jesus, and by the gospel which he preached.

Ye who sometimes were afar off - Who were "formerly" - ποτὲ pote Tyndale translates it, "a whyle agoo." The phrase "afar off" - μακρὰν makran - means that they were formerly far off from God and his people. The expression is derived from the custom of speaking among the Hebrews. God was supposed to reside in the temple. It was a privilege to be near the temple. Those who were remote from Jerusalem and the temple were regarded as far off from God, and hence as especially irreligious and wicked; see the notes at Isaiah 57:19.

Are made nigh - Are admitted to the favor of God, and permitted to approach him as his worshippers.

By the blood of Christ - The Jews came near to the mercy seat on which the symbol of the divine presence rested (the notes at Romans 3:25), by the blood that was offered in sacrifice; that is, the high priest approached that mercy-seat with blood and sprinkled it before God. Now we are permitted to approach him with the blood of the atonement. The shedding of that blood has prepared the way by which Gentiles as well as Jews may approach God, and it is by that offering that we are led to seek God.

Ye who sometimes were far off - To be far off, and to be near, are sayings much in use among the Jews; and among them, to be near signifies,

1. To be in the approbation or favor of God; and to be far off signifies to be under his displeasure. So a wicked Jew might be said to be far off from God when he was exposed to his displeasure; and a holy man, or a genuine penitent, might be said to be nigh to God, because such persons are in his favor.

2. Every person who offered a sacrifice to God was considered as having access to him by the blood of that sacrifice: hence the priests, whose office it was to offer sacrifices, were considered as being nigh to God; and all who brought gifts to the altar were considered as approaching the Almighty.

3. Being far off, signified the state of the Gentiles as contradistinguished from the Jews, who were nigh. And these expressions were used in reference to the tabernacle, God's dwelling-place among the Israelites, and the sacrifices there offered. All those who had access to this tabernacle, or were nigh to it or encamped about it, were said to be nigh to God; those who had no access to it were said to be far off.

Hence the latter phrase is used to distinguish the Gentiles from the Jewish people; and this appears to be the meaning of the prophet, Isaiah 57:19 : I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; i.e. I give cause of praise and rejoicing to the Gentile as well as to the Jew. And to this scripture, and to this thing, the apostle seems here to allude. You Gentiles, who were unacquainted with God, and were even without God in the world, are brought to an acquaintance with him; and are now, through Christ Jesus, brought into the favor and fellowship of God. And as the Jews of old approached God by the blood of their sacrifices, so you approach him by the blood of Christ.

But now in Christ Jesus,.... Being openly and visibly in Christ, created in him, and become believers in him; as they were before secretly in him, as chosen and blessed in him before the foundation of the world:

ye who sometimes were far off; who in their state of unregeneracy were afar off from God, and from his law, and from any spiritual knowledge of him and fellowship with him; and from Jesus Christ, and from the knowledge of his righteousness, and the way of salvation by him; and from the Spirit, and any acquaintance with the things of the Spirit, and from minding them, and from walking after him; and from the saints and people of God, and from any love to them, and communion with them; and from any solid hopes of happiness, or real peace and comfort; which distance was owing both to Adam's sin and to their own transgressions: it is an observation of a Jewish writer (a) on Genesis 3:9 "where art thou?" he (God) knew where he was, but he said so to show him that he was "afar off from" God by his sin: see Isaiah 59:2, and yet

are made nigh by the blood of Christ: so as to have nearness of access to and communion with God, Father, Son, and Spirit, and the saints, in virtue of the blood of Christ; which gives boldness and speaks peace; by which their persons are justified, the pardon of their sins is procured, reconciliation is made, and their garments are washed, and made white; and so they draw nigh with confidence by the faith of him.

(a) R. Abraham Seba, Tzeror Hammor, fol. 7. 2.

Now in Christ Jesus

Now, in contrast with at that time. In Christ Jesus, in contrast with alienated from, etc. Jesus is added because the Christ who was the subject of promise, the Messiah, has come into the world under that personal name. The phrase includes the promised Messiah and the actual Savior.

{11} But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

(11) Christ is the only bond of the Jews and Gentiles, by whom they are reconciled to God.

2:13 Ye who sometimes were far off. Once so far off, separated from God, they have been brought nigh, and

the blood of Christ is the means that brought them.

2:13 Far off - From God and his people. Nigh - Intimately united to both.

13. now-in contrast to "at that time" (Eph 2:12).

in Christ Jesus-"Jesus" is here added, whereas the expression before (Eph 2:12) had been merely "Christ," to mark that they know Christ as the personal Saviour, "Jesus."

sometimes-Greek, "aforetime."

far off-the Jewish description of the Gentiles. Far off from God and from the people of God (Eph 2:17; Isa 57:19; Ac 2:39).

are-Greek, "have been."

by-Greek, "in." Thus "the blood of Christ" is made the seal of a covenant IN which their nearness to God consists. In Eph 1:7, where the blood is more directly spoken of as the instrument, it is "through His blood" [Alford].

2:11-13 Christ and his covenant are the foundation of all the Christian's hopes. A sad and terrible description is here; but who is able to remove himself out of it? Would that this were not a true description of many baptized in the name of Christ. Who can, without trembling, reflect upon the misery of a person, separated for ever from the people of God, cut off from the body of Christ, fallen from the covenant of promise, having no hope, no Saviour, and without any God but a God of vengeance, to all eternity? To have no part in Christ! What true Christian can hear this without horror? Salvation is far from the wicked; but God is a help at hand to his people; and this is by the sufferings and death of Christ.