14, 15 = an expansion of 11-13, of 13 especially. In Christ God is creating a new category of being, a new entity, a new identity. What are the indications of this new category? There are three of them; the first is:
A. The Cessation of Enmity 14-15A
1. The Personification Of Peace
14a For He Himself is our peace, .. Christ is 14a For he himself is our peace,
Christ is our peace, embodied, incarnate... a cogent expression of the relational character of His work. He is the Prince of Peace, Isa 9:6; He speaks peace to the nations, Zec 9:10. Not enough for Him to produce peace... although He does; or to promote peace... although He does; or to provide peace... although He does; or to preserve peace... although He does. This great God-ordained work required a Messiah to actually embody the very thing(s) He brought. The chasm of enmity was too wide. The division of conflict was too deep. The rift between the two races was too severe. The Messiah had to personally incorporate peace... Christ Himself!!
2. The Power of Peace
14b who has made us both one and has broken d 14b who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15a by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances,
Explication: Divine irony!!! Recall Mt 10:34. The entire process sounds like a divine demolition derby!!! Definitive terms driving home to our hearts the "once for all," complete, comprehensive, aspect of peace. He did not snip away at the old foundation; He did not clip away at the old formulations; He did not chip away at the old forms-- He ripped, destroyed, and demolished former customs. So in Christ we have:
a. the reconciliation of alienation
who has made us both one.
Robertson: One = neuter and hence signifies a new identity, oneness, unity.
b. the destruction of separation
and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
Reference here to the partition in the Jerusalem temple setting off the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple. It had an inscription forbidding a Gentile from going further (Josephus, Ant. VIII. 3, 2). Recall the uproar when Paul was accused of taking Trophimus beyond this wall, Acts 21:28.
In his flesh=in His body, His physical body impaled on the cross.
c. the abolition of aggression
15a by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances,
Friberg Lexicon: abolish = to make null and void; to cause to cease to exist; to put an end to, as in 1 Jn 3:8; 1 Cor 6:13; to cause to come to an end, Acts 5:38.
law of commandments= the law consisting of the commandments.
Summary: Hodge, 133: "Christ has freed us from the law as a covenant of works by being Himself made subject to it, Gal 4:4,5; by bearing its penalty, Gal 3:13; by his body, Rom 7:4; by the body of His flesh, Col 1:22; by His cross, Col 2:14. In this connection the expressions, by the blood of Christ, 13; by His flesh, 14; by His cross, all mean the same thing; they are different ways of expressing Christ's sacrificial, atoning death, by which the law was satisfied and reconciliation to God effected. By destroying these traditions, Jesus wiped out an artificial barrier between Jew and Gentile."
Application: We lapse into the Old Covenant thinking by devising new rules to protect ourselves from the world. More seriously, specific races within the church sin against the Head of the church, Jesus Christ, when they erect new walls of hostility and separation- customs, rules, regulations, preferences, restrictions, traditions, etc., against their brothers for whom Christ died. The church is not a club for the converted. It is not a secluded, segregated country club, separated from others by the Jim Crow of hardened hearts, by high walls of ignorance or metal fences of arrogance. It is not a sanctified playground for the privileged. It is the place in which peace reigns in the hearts of converted men, the place where no real or contrived barrier is allowed to raise itself among and against those bought by the blood of Christ. Racial hostility among Christians is in fact a theological and moreover, an ontological oxymoron. Racial hostility, indifference, etc., have no place in the body of Christ because His body cannot be divided.
Another indication of this new category is:
B. The Creation of a New Entity 15B-16
How is this newly created entity called the church identified?
1. By The Product
15b that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
Again, in Himself= by virtue of our union with Christ. See 13 above and 21 below.
Explication: The ground and guarantee of this new ethnicity is none other than our union with Christ. This created entity is new because it is not a hybrid fusion of Jew and Gentile but the creation of a substantially new creature, a new class, a new classification, a new category- the Christian, the church.
Here we have the appearance of a new ethnicity, Christian ethnics. It is an ongoing process because the term making peace is in the present participle,which means that the continuing destruction of all differences and distinctions between the two races, the wall which had debarred and disqualified the Gentiles, has been removed and the peace process is continued. There is now neither Jew nor Gentile for all earthly and human-made overriding distinctions between/among races have been removed, Gal 3:28.
Amplification: Christian Ethnics... Jesus Christ does what the OT promised. He fulfills the law and gives the cup of the new covenant in His blood to Jew and Gentile alike. He gathers in the scattered sheep of the nations with those of Israel, Isa 56:8; Jn 10:16. The Gentiles here are not converted to Judaism; they were not "made Jews." See vv 19- 22. In our culture, Christ does not make Blacks White, nor vice versa. The ground for this remarkable new relationship is the blood of Christ- His efficacious, sacrificial, atoning work of willingly surrendering His life on the cross for sinners. A NEW ENTITY OR CATEGORY IS CREATED: THE CHRIST-IAN.
Application: In Christ, we are no longer divided along ethnic, cultural, historical, and social lines. "God is not realizing his saving purpose on two tracks, but on one, defined by Jesus Christ alone (Gal 3:16). If you are in Christ, you are on track, wherever you are." This new ethnicity dissolves all historical differences between Jew and Gentile because a new oneness "is entailed in the very gospel itself." Ray Ortlund, Jr., "One Father, Many Sons", Tabletalk, Sep 2001, 55, Our emphasis.
2. The Process
16a and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross,
in one body = the church. So Hodge, 139; Lincoln,144-5.
3. The Permanence
16b thereby killing the hostility.
In context, hostility = that between God and man. It is permanently destroyed by Christ's work on the cross.
Application: The cross of Christ is the means of the twofold reconciliation with God with man and man with man. On the cross Jesus Christ propitiated, i.e., satisfied the demands of divine justice and turned away God's wrath, and made it possible that God the Father could be just as well as justify the ungodly, Rom 3:26; 4:5.
Richard Sibbes: Christ's satisfaction of the Father's wrath is the foundation of all comfort.
The final indication of this new category is seen by:
C. The Confirmation of a New Accessibility 17-18
17-18 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
1. The Proclamation
He came and preached peace = the proclamation of the gospel, the bold announcement of the goodness and favor of God, either by Christ Himself or through the apostles. The context prefers a post-resurrection preaching by the apostles since the place and process of the attainment of this peace was the cross. Having attained it, He now announces it. The gospel message declares that this reconciliation with God has been made available through Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross, to both Gentiles who were far off, and Jews who were near.
2. The Presentation
Access = not merely freedom of approach but mainly a continuous introduction. Christ introduces, ushers, or conducts the redeemed sinners into the presence of God the Father--see Rom 5:2; Eph 3:12 and also
1 Pe 3:18; Heb 4:16
So, a grand introduction, a royal accompaniment into the divine, majestic presence of the Father by the Son.
3. The Persons
Note the Trinitarian involvement in the entire scheme of redemption. God the Father is the One Who authors the whole process. God the Son is the One Who accomplishes redemption by His blood, His death, and by His cross. God the Spirit applies the truth of this redemption to the hearts and minds of believers. Among the Holy Spirit's responsibilities is the assurance and confirmation of our filial relationship with God, Rom 8:14-17
in one Spirit=controlled by the one Spirit, cf. 1 Cor 12:11, 12. Thus, the Holy Spirit brings Jew and Gentile into the presence of God as the new creation in God, as representatives of this new Christian ethnicity. All redeemed people come in this manner to God the Father– as His common children.
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