Ephesians - One Body, One God and Father

When the New Testament was translated  from Greek into English, the word ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia) was translated "church". Below is a portion of the definition of "church"  according to Easton's Bible Dictionary:

Church—Derived probably from the Greek kuriakon (i.e., “the Lord’s house”), which was used by ancient authors for the place of worship.

In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word ecclesia, which is synonymous with the Hebrew kahal of the Old Testament, both words meaning simply an assembly, the character of which can only be known from the connection in which the word is found. There is no clear instance of its being used for a place of meeting or of worship, although in post-apostolic times it early received this meaning. Nor is this word ever used to denote the inhabitants of a country united in the same profession, as when we say the “Church of England,” the “Church of Scotland,” etc...

As we can see, the word translated as "church" in the New Testament, has a similar meaning as the word translated as "assembly" in the Old Testament, which was used to describe the Kingdom of Israel. Both words simply means an assembly of God's people. There is no distinction between the church in the New Testament and Old Testament Israel. Both are simply God’s people. 

With that in mind, we can see that Paul was including all of God's people, both Jew and Gentile, when he wrote Ephesians 1:22-23:

Ephesians 1:22–23 (NKJV):

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1:22–23 (Scrivener 1881):

22 καὶ πάντα ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ, καὶ αὐτὸν ἔδωκε κεφαλὴν ὑπὲρ πάντα τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ,

23 ἥτις ἐστὶ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ, τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ πάντα ἐν πᾶσι πληρουμένου. 

Paul wrote that Christ is the head of the ekklessia (the assembly of God's people), which is the body of Christ, in which there is no distinction between Jew or Gentile (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11). God put all things under the feet of Christ, which means that all authority has been given to Christ. The ekklessia has been given this same authority because it is Christ's body which He is the Head. The ekklessia is the fullness of God which fills all in all. 

Paul was sent by Jesus to be His witness to the Gentiles, to kings, and to the children of Israel (Acts 9:15). Paul traveled throughout Gentile regions of Asia-Minor, where he preached the risen Christ, and assemblies of believers were formed throughout the region - ten in all. Paul was later imprisoned in Rome for the Gospel and then martyred.

It is believed that Paul wrote four of his letters to the churches that are contained in the New Testament while he was incarcerated. These letters include Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians. It is not known for sure, but Ephesians was likely written as a general letter to the ten churches, which was passed from church to church, and possibly ended its circuit at the Church of Ephesus, hence the name "Ephesians".

Like all regions where Paul preached, the city of Ephesus contained a population which included Gentiles, as well as practitioners of Judaism. Like Jesus, Paul used the Jewish synagogue as a springboard to preach the Gospel, which led to many Jewish conversions. Jews who became followers of Jesus, were not called "Messianic Jews", as they are called by Christians today, but they were called "disciples", "Christians", or "the Way". These early Christians were the ekklessia; they were the church; they were God's people. 

Originally, these Jewish converts made up the majority of the ekklessia, but as the Gospel traveled to different lands and regions of the world, Gentiles became the predominant members of Christ 's body. Acts 11 says that after the ekklessia had scattered because of the persecution that began after the death of Stephen, that the word was preached to Jews to Hellenists (Gentiles) in Antioch, and a great number of them believed, and a church was planted. Paul and Barnabas went to Antioch and assembled with the church for an entire year to teach them. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. 

When Paul went to Ephesus, he found some disciples whom he baptized in the Holy Spirit, and then took into the synagogue, where he boldly reasoned and persuaded the Kingdom of God for three months. But some of them were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way to the multitude of people in Ephesus. So Paul stopped preaching in the synagogue, and he and his disciples reasoned daily in the school of Tyrannus, who was probably a philosopher. "And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." (Acts 19:10 NKJV).

God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul which became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. By this time, the ekklessia, which was started by Jesus and His twelve Jewish disciples, and had consisted primarily of Jews, had grown significantly, and was now comprised of both Jews and Gentiles just as God had planned from the beginning. 

Paul spends much time in his letters explaining that God has chosen Gentiles to be among His people along with the Jews. In Romans, he describes how Gentiles have been grafted into God's people, and in Galatians, he describes how it is not circumcision or ethnicity which makes one a Jew or an heir of God's promises, but faith like Abraham. In Ephesians Paul explains how the Gentiles have been predestined to be adopted as His sons through Christ Jesus, how they were chosen by God by having been predestined, how they were called to live as an heir of God's promises, and how they are included in Christ with the Jews to inherit the promises that God made to His people. 

Paul wrote:

Ephesians 2:11-13 NIV

[11] Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— [12] remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Gentiles were once separated from God and excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now they have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ, and are in Christ. Through Christ's blood, a new covenant was made (Luke 22:20), which includes not only the descendants of Israel, as it did under the old covenant, but all people, just as the angels declared at the birth of Christ the Lord:

Luke 2:10-11 NKJV

[10] Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. [11] For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Through Christ's blood, all people have been given the ability to obtain God's promise of sonship and becoming children of God and heirs of the promise. Paul called this "the mystery of Christ which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the Gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members of one body, and shares together in the promise in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 3:4-6).

Paul goes on discussing the mystery of Christ, explaing that there is one body and one God who is Father of all: 

Ephesians 4:4-6 NKJV:

[4] There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism; [6] one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Paul said the same thing about Jews and Gentiles forming one body in his letter to the church of Corinth:

1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV

[13] For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 

There are no dividing lines between Jews and Gentiles, between individual Christians, or between churches. They are all one body, serving the same God, who is their Father, who lives in them all. This all ties in with what Paul wrote in his letters to the churches in Galatia and Colosse  - there is no Jew or Gentile in Christ Jesus, because there is no partiality with God. God has one people, one body, one church, one Israel. He does not have the geopolitical nation of Israel which is a secular nation as His primary people, and the church as His secondary people. There is no distinction between the two because there is no partiality with God. 

Despite their nationality, ethnicity, or race, God's people all have one thing in common: they are all in Christ because they have been redeemed by His blood. Five times in Ephesians 1:7-13 Paul used the phrases "in Him" or "in Christ" when speaking about the Gentiles being chosen and predestined according to God's plan to be included in His people:

Ephesians 1:7-13 NKJV

[7] In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

[8] that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, [9] he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, [10] to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. [11] In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, [12] in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. [13] And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

God's election of the Gentiles and their inclusion among His people, is His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ. It was always God's plan to include the Gentiles among His people, and when the invitation was made, and they heard the gospel of salvation and believed, the Holy Spirit came to live within them as a seal of being in Christ. This seal is similar to that of a king's signet ring, which he would use to stamp his letters and the things which he owned. Those who are in Christ are sealed with the Holy Spirit, showing that they belong to Christ. Only those who are in Christ are included in His people. 

Christ's purpose is to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under His authority. Paul said that this was God's good pleasure. In other words, unity and oneness in Christ and under Christ's authority is God's plan, and it gives Him good pleasure when He sees that His people are united as one. 

Conversely, this means that He is not pleased when He sees division among His people, or when His people draw dividing lines and show partiality between His people which are based on race, ethnicity, or nationality. This is outside of Christ's purpose of bringing everything under His authority in unity as one, and God is not pleased when His people are acting outside of Christ's authority. Christ holds all authority in heaven and on earth, He is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and God has given Him power over all dominions and principalities, and has put everything under His feet. 

2024 Americans are far removed from the early church of the first century that began in a Jewish culture and spread to pagan cities throughout the Roman Empire. We tend to forget, or maybe do not know, that the early church was established by Jews who had placed their faith in Jesus, the anointed King. It was their faith in Jesus that sealed them with a mark of being in Christ and belonging to Him. Their faith is what made it possible for them to be included among God's people.

Many Jews during that time were strongly opposed to Jesus and His followers because of their message that Gentiles were included among God's people. They viewed Gentiles as "dogs", so they persecuted the Christians, just like they did to the Lord Jesus whom the Christians followed. But God's plan could not be thwarted. The Gentiles heard and received the Gospel. They gathered together to be taught the teachings of the apostles, to pray, to remember the Lord’s death through the breaking of bread, to edify and encourage one another, and to entrust God's word with others who would be faithful to teach it to others. They held each other up through persecution by meeting together frequently. 

After a while, Jews fled and were scattered from Jerusalem when Rome beseiged it, and Christian persecution by the Jews gave way to persecution by the Romans. Christians also fled and were scattered. By this time, most of the apostles had been martyred, but the Gospel had gone out to parts of Asia, Africa and Europe. 

Today, the good news of Jesus the anointed King continues to be told around the world. The land which God's kingdom of Israel once inhabited, which was once occupied by many religious Jews, and in which God made a new covenant with His people, is now a secular nation. It contains a population comprised primarily of secular Jews, a small percentage of Jews who are religious or even consider religion to be important, Muslims, Druze, and a small population of Christians. Surrounding nations where the apostles and their disciples took the gospel, are now under the control of Islam. Though these nations are governed by antichrists, Christ still has authority over them, and His people, the ekklessia, are there among them, bringing Light to the darkness, conquering the land, building the Kingdom of God, and experiencing persecution as they do so. This will be the case until Christ's messengers take the Gospel of the Kingdom to the four winds of the earth so that all will hear, and Christ's purpose of one united body who is under His authority is fulfilled.