Ephesians 2:18

Paul wrote his letter to the church in Ephesus, a diverse early Christian community that included both Jewish and Gentile (non-Jewish) believers — two groups with centuries of deep religious and cultural division between them. In this section, Paul is explaining what Jesus accomplished through his death: he didn't just save individuals, he tore down the wall of hostility between groups who had been spiritually separated. "Through him" refers to Jesus. "By one Spirit" refers to the Holy Spirit. Both groups — no matter how different their backgrounds — now have the same direct access to God the Father. All three persons of the Trinity appear in this single verse. The point is unity through shared access: one door, one Spirit, one Father, for everyone.

Father, thank you that the door is open — not cracked, not conditional on my performance, but open. Through Jesus I have access to you. Help me come boldly, and help me remember that the person beside me has that same access. Let that humble me and bind me to them. Amen.

Picture two groups who had centuries of mutual suspicion — people who genuinely believed God belonged more to them than to the other side, who had built elaborate theological arguments for why their access was more legitimate. Paul writes to both of them in the same church and says: same Father, same door, same Spirit. That was a genuinely shocking thing to read in the first century. It should still be shocking now. Because we are still very good at building invisible hierarchies of who has better access to God — the theologically educated over the questioning, the lifelong churchgoer over the one who showed up last week, the person with the tidy story over the one with the complicated past. Through him, you have access. Not through your performance, your family's faith, your years of church attendance, or how well you've managed to keep it together. Through him. That word "access" is worth sitting with — in the ancient world it described being ushered into the presence of a king. You have been admitted into the presence of the Father. Not because you earned an audience, but because the door was already opened for you. And the stranger sitting next to you, the one who came from a completely different world — they walked through the same door. That should change how you see them. It should also change how you walk in when you pray.