The Spirit and Access (Ephesians 2:18)

We are familiar with the search for peace during a conflict. There are conferences taking place today trying to solve conflicts between various factions within countries as well as those between countries. Often when we read about such dialogues we have a great deal of scepticism about the outcome and we suspect that the aftermath will not involve a real change of circumstances for those affected by it. Paul and the Ephesians lived in an empire which claimed to have brought worldwide peace. The Roman empire was proud of its pax romana which had been forced on to all the subjects of the empire. Yet it was resented because it was a deprivation of liberty and many attempts were made to escape from the grip of the empire.

Biblical peace

No doubt Paul was very thankful that he could speak about the provision of real peace which had been brought about by Jesus, the accomplisher and the announcer of peace. In this section of his letter, Paul deals with the two conflicts that had affected his readers previously. One of the conflicts existed between God and his creatures, which began in Eden after Adam fell, and the other conflict was the ongoing divide between Jews and Gentiles.

Jesus came to reconcile those affected by both conflicts, which he did by his work on the cross. When he paid the penalty for sin, he provided the basis for sinners coming into a relationship of peace with God. The barrier to peace was our sins and God as Judge demanded that the penalty against such expressions of rebellion should be paid and determined that they would be paid. In amazing grace, he arranged for his own Son to pay the penalty and meet the demand of his justice. Calvary was the location of the greatest peace transaction that ever occurred and ever will occur, and we can go there and experience peace with God.

Yet sinners did not receive the benefit automatically. Instead they had to be told about it and they had to respond to the message in a particular way. Who told the Ephesians about the possibility of peace? Paul says in this passage that Jesus did so, although what Paul means is that Jesus was speaking through his servants when they passed on the gospel. Yet the fact that Jesus is described as declaring peace tells us about the eagerness of Jesus to do so. We can imagine an important diplomat sending his staff to discuss peace and wishing that he himself was there to help them with all the potential issues that might arise. In contrast, when Jesus sends his agents he comes with them in the person of the Holy Spirit.

One outcome of the state of peace with God was that all the Jews and all the Gentiles who had believed in Jesus now found themselves at peace with one another. This state of peace was expressed in two ways. First, God created a new community or a new man. It would be a real solution to all the conflicts between people if those trying to sort out the problem simply created a new country or a new people, which would mean that the old hostilities were no longer relevant. That is what God has done in the church – the church, believe it or not, is God’s answer to the conflicts of humanity. By the church we do not mean denominations – they usually create more conflicts. Instead the church of Christ is what is often called the invisible church, those who have trusted in Jesus and received pardon from God.

Second, God gave the Holy Spirit to each member of the new community. We noticed last week when thinking about Paul’s prayer in Ephesians one that the Holy Spirit can enable believers to grasp the incredible hope that they share, to enjoy the heavenly inheritance even now that they share, and the power that is available to all of them. It is impossible for the Holy Spirit to lead any of his people to act contrary to those petitions, to suggest that one or more of them should pray otherwise. Instead their petitions should display the harmony that marks the new community.

The Spirit and the new community

But what is life like in the community of peace? Many answers could be given to this question, and one is given by Paul in verse 18: ‘For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.’ This probably connected to the words that Paul uses in verse 13: ‘now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.’ But verse 18 brings another perspective on the situation and in it Paul reminds his readers of the importance of having a Trinitarian perspective. It is likely that his readers would have grasped the inference – the persons of the Trinity work in harmony, therefore those they have saved should also work together in harmony.

Probably our response to this verse is to say that Paul is describing the experience of prayer. There is a well-known story of Robert Bruce, a leading Scottish minister during the reign of James VI. A fellow minister John Livingstone with a friend called one day to see Bruce. Livingstone recorded of this visit: ‘When we called on him at eight o’clock in the morning, he told us he was not for any company; and when we urged him to tell us the cause, he answered, that when he went to bed he had a good measure of the Lord’s presence, and that he had wrestled with Him about an hour or two before we came in, and had not yet got access; and so we left him.’ I have no idea whether or not Bruce was alluding to this verse. Yet we can easily see that he is describing an aspect of prayer, such as that described by Jesus when he told his disciples to keep on knocking, and if they did so the door would be opened to them.

Is this statement in Ephesians 2:18 describing prayer or special times of communion? It all depends on what the access refers to. Paul’s description indicates that this is a common privilege of all believers and his words also seem to say that it is a constant privilege of all believers because it is the opposite of the state of war and conflict that existed before. In the previous way of life, they were barred from the Father because there was enmity between them. Now the state of war is over and the peace treaty has taken place. It looks to me as if Paul in this verse is describing the result of the peace treaty, which is that all believers experience the ongoing work of the Trinity. No doubt, prayer is an aspect of this new relationship, but there is more to it than prayer.

We should observe that Paul teaches here that they have access as a community. In his situation, the aspect he stresses is that Jewish and Gentile believers have access together into his presence. In later verses, he mentions that they are a new temple. In the old temple in Jerusalem, Jews and Gentiles were kept separate and could not go to God together. But now, if they believed in Jesus, they were together. Of course, it was Jesus who had brought them together. And we should remember how large this gathering is, and that it is increasing whenever there are converts throughout the world.

The Spirit’s role is to enable believers to live in the presence of the Father. And the Spirit will do this in connection with various aspects of the work of Jesus, because it is ‘through him in one Spirit we have access to the Father’. So we can say initially that Spirit will give awareness to every believer about what Jesus has done in order to bring his people to the Father. The Spirit’s work includes taking of the things of Christ and revealing them to us.

Seven aspects of access

The word that I have used to explain the first aspect is that the Spirit makes believers alive. Before the Spirit worked in their hearts they were spiritually dead, without any desire to know the Father, which was clear evidence that they did possess spiritual life. And it is the case that those who are spiritually dead cannot be in the presence of the Father. The evidence that we are spiritually alive is that we believe in Jesus. On one occasion Jesus said that he was the way, the truth and the life, and went on to say that no one came to the Father but by him. The Holy Spirit showed to sinners the beauty and suitability of Jesus as the sinbearer and they were led to Jesus and enabled by the Spirit to trust in Jesus. At that initial moment of faith, they were brought through Jesus in one Spirit to the Father and were joined to all the others who were experiencing that spiritual blessing.

The second word that explains this involvement of the Spirit is accepted. Another place where the idea of access is used by Paul is Romans 5:3 where he says that through Jesus, ‘we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.’

Apparently, one practice linked to the word ‘access’ occurred when an insignificant person wearing inappropriate clothing came to court for a meeting with the king. The insignificant person could not in his own right enter the king’s presence. Instead he needed to be introduced by one who had the king’s authority. Paul takes that practice and uses it to explain the doctrine of justification. Here we are as insignificant sinners wanting to speak to God or draw near to him. We cannot do so in our own right because we have no rights. Instead we need someone to introduce us who has God’s authority to do so. The one with such authority is God’s Son and the introduction he gives to sinners involves them having the spiritual attire of justification that he provided for them to wear in the Father’s presence.

On having received the introduction into the Father’s presence, there is no expectation that we should leave it again. This is where we will be as long as we are wearing the robe of justification. The work that Jesus performed in his life and death gives us access to the presence of the Father and the Spirit continually reminds his people of this wonderful reality.

So we have seen that through Jesus we have been made alive by the Spirit and received from Jesus the attire by which we are accepted into the Father’s presence. But more than those blessings is involved in this move into this place of blessing. When we were justified, we also were adopted by the Father, which means that living, justified sinners are immediately adopted by him and given the position of sons in his presence. This is an amazing exchange for those who once were slaves of sin. But having become at peace with God they also become members of his family.

Those three blessings – alive, accepted and adopted are common to all the people of God and they cannot be taken away from them. As far as those blessings are concerned, believers ‘through Christ in Spirit have access unto the Father.’ That is where they are for ever.

Yet there is more to say about this access and we can use another word to describe a fourth feature, which is awestruck. We could have used the word ‘astonished’ to describe this aspect as well. The feature I am thinking about here is linked to worship of the Father. In John 4, Jesus spoke to the woman of Samaria about the Spirit (living water), but he connected such an experience to worship of the Father. What do we mean by worship? It is not like seeing a sunset because in the worship of the Father we don’t see anything since he is invisible. Instead we grasp intellectually and affectionately the riches of his grace. And as we discover his eternal love and as we focus on his eternal plans and as we sense his wisdom and power to bring them about, we worship him. But we do so as we have access ‘through Christ in one Spirit to the Father.’

A fifth aspect of life in the presence of the Father is described by Jesus in the Sermon in the Mount when he refers to the practices of piety – almsgiving, prayer and fasting – that were common among the Jews and which he wanted his disciples to engage in regularly. His disciples were instructed by Jesus that the place where they should perform those acts of piety was in the secret place, the unseen location of the Father’s presence. As was very obvious at the time when he spoke, and as it is still obvious today, it is possible sadly to do those acts in the presence of men. Both audiences give their approval, but the only approval that matters is that of the heavenly Father, who will give an open reward to those who serve in this manner. Through Jesus, we in the Spirit engage in our acts of discipleship in the Father’s presence. He will reward those whose behaviour he approves.

There is a sixth consequence that happens to believers through Jesus in the Spirit in the presence of the Father. They experience alteration, or in more theological language they are sanctified. This process will involve chastisement, but whatever the chastisement is, it occurs in the presence of the Father because he chastises us. Elsewhere in the Bible, the Lord is likened to a metalworker who burns away the dross that mars his people. Whatever the burning involves, it takes place in the presence of the Father because the metalworker never takes his eye of the one he is changing.

A final aspect that we can think about as we experience this access is that it is a place of anticipation. Here we get insights into what is coming in the Father’s presence. After all, that is the eternal destination of the people of God. In his presence, through Jesus and in one Spirit, we focus on the kingdom that will yet be here. Surely, our response to this aspect, as well as with the other six, and with others that we have not mentioned, is to be thankful that we have access through Jesus and in one Spirit to the Father.