(17) And came and preached peace.--The word "came" certainly carries back our thoughts to our Lord's own preaching, when, after the Resurrection, He came "and stood in the midst of them, and said, Peace be unto you" (Luke 24:36; John 20:19; John 20:21). But we note that at that very time He repeated the salutation "Peace be unto you," with the expressive addition, "As my Father hath sent Me, even so send I you," and with the charge, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," for the future mission "to remit or retain sins." In the same connection we have in John 14:25-28, the promise of the Comforter, and the words "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you. . . . I go away and come again to you." Hence we cannot limit His "coming" to the appearance after the Resurrection. At all times through the witness of the Holy Spirit, whether with or without the preaching of His servants (John 15:27), He "stands at the door and knocks" (Revelation 3:20) with the message of peace. For since the "peacemakers" are "called the children of God," He, the Son of God, must be emphatically the Peacemaker.
To you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.--As the enmity was the enmity with God, so the peace is peace with God; but still the Apostle, having the idea of reunion between Jew and Gentile present to his mind, cannot refrain from bringing out clearly the call of both to one peace, and therefore to unity with one another. The passage is a quotation from Isaiah 57:19.
Verse 17. - And having come, he preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to these that were nigh. The coming denoted by ἐλθὼν is subsequent to the transactions of the cross. It cannot denote what Christ did personally, but what he did by sending his Spirit to the apostles and other early preachers. It was only after the cross and after the resurrection that peace could be proclaimed on the footing of faith in a Savior who had died and was alive. And only in the sense of having sent his preachers and given them his Spirit could Jesus be said to have preached to the Ephesians. The repetition of the word "peace" in the R.V. is expressive; if the subject had been merely peace between the two classes of men, we should not have had the repetition; the repetition denotes peace between each of the two classes and a third party, viz. God. It is remarkable that the Gentiles, "those that were far off," are mentioned here before the Jews, "those that were nigh." In point of chronology, the Jews came first; but the order is here transposed, probably to emphasize the offer of the gospel to the Gentiles, and to show that spiritually they were as near as the Jews.
2:14-18 Jesus Christ made peace by the sacrifice of himself; in every sense Christ was their Peace, the author, centre, and substance of their being at peace with God, and of their union with the Jewish believers in one church. Through the person, sacrifice, and mediation of Christ, sinners are allowed to draw near to God as a Father, and are brought with acceptance into his presence, with their worship and services, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, as one with the Father and the Son. Christ purchased leave for us to come to God; and the Spirit gives a heart to come, and strength to come, and then grace to serve God acceptably.
And came and preached peace to you which were afar off,.... Which is to be understood not of Christ's coming in the flesh; for when he came in the flesh, he came only to the Jews that were nigh, and preached the Gospel in his own personal ministry to them, and not to the Gentiles, who are the persons afar off; Ephesians 2:12 but of his coming by his Spirit in the ministry of his apostles, to whom he gave a commission after he had made peace and reconciliation by the blood of his cross, to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the Gentiles in the furthest parts of the earth; and on whom he bestowed gifts, qualifying them for such service, and succeeded them in it by his power and grace: and the subject of their ministry was peace, Christ who is our peace, and peace made by his blood, and the Gospel of peace, which declares both these; and it is the means of making persons of peaceable dispositions; its doctrines and promises, when powerfully applied, give peace to distressed minds, and quiet to doubting saints; and it shows the way to eternal peace:
and to them that were nigh; to the Jews, to whom the Gospel of peace was preached in the first place, not only by Christ and his apostles, before his death; but by his apostles after his resurrection, and after the commission was given to preach it to the Gentiles; though they are mentioned last, because the apostle was speaking to Gentiles; and this also verifies what Christ says, the first shall be last, and the last first: the Alexandrian copy, some others, and the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, read "peace", in this clause, as in the former; the apostle seems to have respect to Isaiah 57:19 a like description and distinction of Jews and Gentiles may be observed in the writings of the Jews (h); so they say,
"the Israelites are near unto the holy King, and the rest of the nations are far from him.''
To you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.--As the enmity was the enmity with God, so the peace is peace with God; but still the Apostle, having the idea of reunion between Jew and Gentile present to his mind, cannot refrain from bringing out clearly the call of both to one peace, and therefore to unity with one another. The passage is a quotation from Isaiah 57:19.
and to them that were nigh; to the Jews, to whom the Gospel of peace was preached in the first place, not only by Christ and his apostles, before his death; but by his apostles after his resurrection, and after the commission was given to preach it to the Gentiles; though they are mentioned last, because the apostle was speaking to Gentiles; and this also verifies what Christ says, the first shall be last, and the last first: the Alexandrian copy, some others, and the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, read "peace", in this clause, as in the former; the apostle seems to have respect to Isaiah 57:19 a like description and distinction of Jews and Gentiles may be observed in the writings of the Jews (h); so they say,
"the Israelites are near unto the holy King, and the rest of the nations are far from him.''
(h) Zohar in Numb. fol. 89. 3.