Scholars often disagree about how to interpret the narrative description of Christ as a proclaimer of peace in Ephesians 2.17. Most understand Ephesians to be either referring to the earthly ministry of Jesus or attributing to him the work of later apostolic preaching. This article argues that none of the existing interpretations is adequate, and instead maintains that Ephesians is advancing a metaphorical depiction of Christ as a diplomatic peace herald (caduceator) commissioned to call for the cessation of hostilities between God and humanity, and consequently between Jews and Gentiles. The article explores the purposes and practices of Greco-Roman diplomacy, paying special attention to the contribution of peace heralds in times of interstate conflict and how they came to signify the entire peacemaking process. The article then analyzes how Ephesians 2.11–22 deploys terminology commonly used to convey sociopolitical rivalry as a way to portray the Jew-Gentile relationship as one of figurative warfare. It is in within this symbolic world of ethnic conflict and diplomacy that Ephesians casts Christ in the image of a peace herald, whose metaphorical proclamation of peace to those far and near signifies the totality and finality of Christ’s conciliatory work.
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