8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,  that we should walk in them.

11-12 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands - remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

14-16 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in  ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. Ephesians 2:8-16 English Standard Version

Paul has often stressed something in the opening two chapters of Ephesians which we see again today in vs 8-10. What is it that he has laid so much emphasis on?

He has been stressing the point that the salvation of God they had received was not due to any good deeds on their part, but solely due to the kindness and mercy of God. In fact, they have been made anew by God so that they could now begin to do the sort of deeds that are pleasing to Him. What phrase in vs 8-10 gives us a clue as to why Paul stressed God's grace, and do you think that has anything to do with what he then says in vs 11-12?

If God took the initiative to save us by His grace, and it was not dependent on things we did to impress Him, then we have no grounds to boast about ourselves and look down on others. But that is exactly what the situation was like in the times that Paul was alive. Many of his fellow Jews looked down on the non-Jewish people. And most of the people who weren't Jewish knew very little, if anything at all, about God's promises of a Messiah. They served idols and did not know and serve the true God of Israel. As Paul says, they were living without any true hope. But what did God step in and do through His well beloved Son, Jesus Christ? (vs 13)

God reached out to people who were very far from Him - and graciously drew them them near to Himself. He made it possible for them to become part of His family through the blood Jesus shed on the cross. What is the hallmark of this special family of God – and how did God make it possible for saved Jews and saved Gentiles to find common ground? (vs 14-16)

The hallmark of God's family is peace. The peace He brought them into with Himself (because their sins have been atoned for) – and the peace He brought them into between themselves. The laws that God had given Israel through Moses had been like a huge wall that separated Jews from Gentiles. But through the gospel God revealed that it was not the Law that saves people, but only His mercy, and the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus Christ made at Calvary. So Jews and Gentiles were on level ground. Jews who put their faith in Jesus were saved in the same way as Gentiles who put their faith in Jesus. They were now one family of God - saved through mercy alone. No room for anyone to boast of their own deeds.

In another letter Paul put it this way: “In this new life there is no difference between Greeks and Jews, those who are circumcised and those who are not circumcised; or people who are foreigners, or Scythians. There's no difference between slaves and free people. But Christ is in all believers, and Christ is all that is important.” Colossians 3:11 (New Century Version) Grace leaves no room for boasting, so that Christ may be all to all.