Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Ephesians 2:16

"and might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:" — Ephesians 2:16 (ASV)

“To reconcile” (GK 639) is a uniquely Pauline verb (cf. Colossians 1:20, 22) that involves the idea of restoration to a primitive unity (Ephesians 1:10). The purpose of Christ’s death was not simply that Jews and Gentiles should be reconciled to each other (v.15), but that both of them together should be reconciled to God. “This one body” is neither the crucified body nor the glorified body of Christ. Rather, it suggests that in addition to Jews and Gentiles, a third type of person has now appeared—Christians. This phrase therefore refers to the church (cf. 1:23; 3:6) as the place of peace (cf. Colossians 3:15). This reconciliation has been brought about “through the cross”; by it the death blow was dealt to the longstanding antipathy between Jew and Gentile and between human beings and God.