'When you go through the cloisters, into the second temple there was a

Partition made of stone all round, whose height was three cubits; its

construction was very elegant, upon it stood pillars, at equal

distances from one another, declaring the law of purity, some in Greek

and some in Roman letters, that "No foreigner should go within the

(Josephus Wars, V. 5.2).

This middle wall the apostle likens to the law of commandments

contained in 'ordinances'.  Here again we must exercise care.  It has become

common among Christians to refer to baptism and the Lord's Supper as

'ordinances'; the note in the Oxford Dictionary 1830 reads, 'applied

especially to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper'.  It is extremely unlikely

that, when the translators of the A.V. used the word 'ordinance', such an

application of the term would have entered their minds.  The Greek word

translated 'ordinance' is dogma, a word having nothing in common with the

ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, but meaning 'that which appears

good or right to one' (Lloyds Encyclopaedic Dictionary).  Dogma must not be

confounded with doctrine.  Crabb discriminates between dogma and doctrine

'A doctrine rests upon the authority of the individual by whom it is

framed; a dogma on the authority of the body by whom it is maintained'.

Dr. Bullinger in his Lexicon says:

Dogma, that which seems true to one, an opinion, especially of

philosophic dogmas: a public resolution, decree (see Luke 2:1; Acts

16:4; 17:7).

We have this word employed for 'the decrees' of Caesar, for 'the

decrees' delivered to the church, and this reference takes us to Acts 15,

where we shall find a decree resting on the authority of a body by whom it

was maintained, to quote Crabb, and 'that which appears

good and right to one', as already quoted from Lloyds Encyclopaedic

Dictionary.  The council met at Jerusalem to decide what measures could be

taken to solve the problems that arose out of the coming into the church of

Gentiles, whose whole upbringing, feeding and habits rendered them obnoxious

to their Jewish fellows.  To quote this time from the ordinance itself given

in Acts 15, 'It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord ... to

lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things' (Acts 15:25 -28),

and with this the Holy Spirit concurred (verse 28).  While there were four

items of conduct prescribed for the Gentiles, the added comment, 'for Moses

of old time hath in every city them that preach him' (Acts 15:21), suggests

that the Jewish believer would continue to observe the full ceremonial law.

This difference between the two companies of believers set up in effect a

middle wall of partition, making membership of a joint -Body during the Acts

impossible.  It is this 'decree' which is the ordinance referred to in

Ephesians 2:15.  This has now been abolished.

This word 'abolished' translates the Greek katargeo which means rather

'to render inoperative', as can be seen in such passages as Romans 7:2,

'loosed from the law', 'done away' (2 Cor. 3:7,11,13,14) and 'to make of

none effect' (Gal. 3:17; 5:4).  The temporary measures introduced by the

Council at Jerusalem were abrogated when the truth for the present

dispensation was revealed, and this abrogation was seen to have been

accomplished, even as access into the true Tabernacle had been accomplished,