Creating a New Race

Ephesians 2:15c declares, to make in himself [i.e., Christ] of twain one new man, so making peace. Here is what Paul has been building toward, the beautiful summary of his previous thoughts. The words to make are not the Greek poieō (“to make, form, produce”) but the stronger word ktizō (also used in verse 10), which is the word often used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew word bara, “to create from nothing” (Gen. l:l). Paul again emphasizes that God created the believer from nothing.

Further, the word new is kainos and is also extremely important. This word is distinct from another word for “new,” neos, which means “new in time.” An example of neos in our society is when we speak of a new car; a new car is only new in time; it’s not unique since it is just like thousands of others that came off the assembly line. But kainos means “new in nature” and implies that which is “better.” More specifically, it is something that is new in its own way, something unique, never having existed before. Chrysostom, famous preacher of the early Church, says that it is as if one should melt down a statue of silver and a statue of lead, and the two should come out gold. What a picture! Two entirely different things, two things that could not be more different in nature, but God made them one.

That is the picture Paul is painting here. Again, it’s not that the Gentile becomes a Jew or that the Jew becomes a Gentile, but rather both become something unique—A CHRISTIAN. This distinction, this title has never before existed; it is some­thing totally new. We would never say, for example, “Moses was such a good Christian.” No, because there was at that time no such thing as a Christian. A Christian is something new, something totally unique to this age.

Further still, and even more significant, is the word man. The Greek here is not anēr, “a male person,” rather anthropos, the word that speaks of man as a “species,” man as a race. We can, therefore, say that there is a “new humanity” that is in contrast to the “old humanity.” And what is this “new humanity?” It is the Church. While individuals are meant, for each separate Christian is needed to make up the whole, the deeper meaning is the Church. The Church is the new, the unique thing that has never before existed. Old titles, old distinc­tions are no longer important or even valid; all men have been united into one new humanity by the blood of Christ. When we received Christ as Savior, we were ushered into this new humanity.

How thrilling this is! There has never been a greater enmity in human history than the enmity between Jew and Gentile—nothing testifies to that more than the Holocaust or the continual warfare in the Middle East. But the cross has brought these two warring factions together. In fact, it was only the cross that could bring these together.

This challenges every Christian to treat every other Christian as exactly what he or she is—another part of the body. The cross of Christ has destroyed all barriers, and this challenges us not to build any new ones. There is no longer Jew or Gentile—or any other race for that matter, whether it be Negro, Hispanic, Oriental, or Caucasian. We are all something much better now—A CHRISTIAN. Shame on us if we ever make any brother or sister in Christ feel any different, for it is sin, plain and simple.