15. Rather, make "enmity" an apposition to "the middle wall of
partition"; "Hath broken down the middle wall of partition
(not merely as English Version, 'between us,' but also
between all men and God), to wit, the enmity
(Ro 8:7)
by His flesh" (compare
Eph 2:16;
Ro 8:3).
the law of commandments contained in--Greek, "the law of the
commandments (consisting) in ordinances." This law was "the partition"
or "fence," which embodied the expression of the "enmity" (the "wrath"
of God against our sin, and our enmity to Him,
Eph 2:3)
(Ro 4:15; 5:20; 7:10, 11; 8:7).
Christ has in, or by, His crucified flesh, abolished it, so far as its
condemning and enmity-creating power is concerned
(Col 2:14),
substituting for it the law of love, which is the everlasting spirit of
the law, and which flows from the realization in the soul of His love
in His death for us. Translate what follows, "that He might make the
two (Jews and Gentiles) into one new man." Not that He might merely
reconcile the two to each other, but incorporate the two, reconciled in
Him to God, into one new man; the old man to which both belonged, the
enemy of God, having been slain in His flesh on the cross. Observe,
too, ONE new man; we are all in God's sight but one in Christ, as we
are but one in Adam [ALFORD].
making peace--primarily between all and God, secondarily between Jews
and Gentiles; He being "our peace." This "peace-making" precedes its
publication
(Eph 2:17).
JFB.
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