Martin Luther once wrote of Psalm 118: “This Psalm has been of special service to me. It has helped me out of many great troubles, when either Emperor nor kings nor wise men nor saints could help.” The more I have read and reflected on this psalm, the more I can appreciate Luther’s partiality. This psalm is full of hope, because it is full of promise—all because it is full of Christ.

The society in which we live is anything but peaceful—and in the very area that Paul addresses in Ephesians 2: hostility between peoples; conflict between people groups; angst over ethnicity. But, because Jesus is the Prince of Peace, we have opportunity, by means of the gospel of peace, to make a difference.

In this study, we return to Ephesians 2 with particular focus on vv. 14–18. Our goal is to gaze on the Prince of Peace in three of His peaceful capacities: Jesus as Peacemaker; Jesus as Peace-seeker; and Jesus as Peacekeeper.

Psalm 117 is the shortest of the Psalms and the shortest chapter in the Bible. It is also the middle chapter of the Bible. Remarkably, this chapter sums up the entire corpus of the 66 books of the Bible: praise to God for so great salvation.

Racism has long been, and ever is, a blight on humanity. John MacArthur correctly notes, “It is a part of sinful human nature to build barriers that shut out other people.” Paul reveals that these barriers can only be removed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:13). The blood of Jesus Christ is stronger than any and all barriers produced by sinful man.

Unfortunately, Christians, who should hold tenaciously to this truth and therefore who should be at the forefront of proclaiming, practising and promoting reconciliation often respond unhelpfully.

So what is the solution to ethnic disharmony, to the evil and ugly barriers that humanity, in sin, has constructed between people and between peoples? We find it in Ephesians 2:11–22.

Paul asserts that it is the blood of Jesus Christ that is able to cure the world of hostility. In the case of the cross of the Christ, blood is thicker than hatred. The blood of Christ is stronger than the sinful barriers of man.

If the church will grow in holiness, then each member must be lovingly involved in the pursuit of bearing burdens and restoring the fallen. This is the appeal of Galatians 6:1.

Sadly, division and disharmony—even hostility—is not confined to spheres outside of the church. Rather these very same ugly realities sometimes pervade the church and are sometimes pervasive within local churches. Such an attitude is inexcusable, unconscionable and ungodly. In fact, it may reveal an unregenerate heart. In Ephesians 2:11–22 Paul makes this very point as he emphasises that, in Christ, a whole new “race of man” has been formed.

Psalm 115 teaches us all that discussions and debates around the sanctity of human life are actually not about us at all. The great and gracious God who made us all is worthy of all our worship, wonder and work.

Being prolife is not merely an anti-abortion worldview. At least it should not be. Being prolife is a gospel issue, which informs our worldview on a wide range of sanctity of life issues: orphan care, caring for the marginalised, issues of human trafficking, racism, etc. If we are pro-gospel then we will necessarily be prolife.

The gospel is a sanctity of life message. After all, God sent His Son into the world to save sinners; human beings made in the image of God. That fact alone has much to say about the issue of the sanctity of life. Mark 5 has much to say to us in this regard.

Psalm 114 is one of Israel’s great celebration songs, stemming from the exodus. The goal was to remind them of the central act of God’s saving grace: the power that delivered them and the presence that kept them. We can likewise sing songs of celebratory remembrance as we remember God’s great deliverance for us.

Paul has exhorted believers in Galatians 5 to walk in the Spirit. The natural question arises, what does it look like to walk in the Spirit? Paul answers this question in 5:26–5:5 by showing that walking in the Spirit is manifested in the way in which we relate to one another in the community of faith.