Paul continues to explain important truths about the "one new man" that God has created through reconciliation. The previous sermon from Ephesians showed how God destroyed the dividing law and annulled the commandments of the Mosaic covenant to reconcile Jewish and Gentile believers. Now he explains how this new group, the church, is reconciled to God. This is done through the cross. Believers are one corporate body as Jew and Gentile who have true peace with God.

Even though the corporate reality is important, people are reconciled to God and added to the church individually. Each person who hears the gospel and believes is made part of the church. The previous hostility was "killed" by the cross. This means that every human being was an enemy of God but also implies that the universal call of the gospel is for all whoever they were in their lost condition. Parts of Isaiah 52:7 and 57:19 are cited by Paul to show how Christ came and "evangelized" those far and near. Access to God is a key theological idea that Paul introduces in verse 18. Using Trinitarian terminology, Paul tells how reconciled sinners have access through Christ, in the Spirit to the Father. This access is a new status for all believers and is continual.

We do not need to learn any "secret" getting closer to God. We now have freedom of approach through Christ no matter what was previously true about us when we were lost and alienated from God. The blood of Christ makes it possible to draw near to God. 

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