9
The middle wall abolished.
`For He is our peace, Who hath made the both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition' (Eph.
2:14).
It will be of service if we make clear to every reader what `the middle wall' really is. There has been discovered
at Jerusalem a slab of stone bearing an inscription, the translation of which is somewhat as follows:
No one being a foreigner may enter within the enclosure around the holy place. Whoever is apprehended
will himself be to blame for his death which will certainly follow.
The reader will remember the violent attempt made by the Jews upon Paul, because they believed he had taken
Trophimus, a Gentile, into the Court of Israel.
While that middle wall stood, the Jew was first. At the setting aside of Israel at Acts 28 the dispensational
superiority of the favoured nation ceased. In the risen and ascended Christ a new sphere was found, no longer in the
flesh, but in the spirit and in the super-heavenlies. The Gentiles `in the flesh' were `without hope' (Eph. 2:11,12).
The Jews `in the flesh' had the advantage (Rom. 9). In the Church of the One Body there is perfect equality (Eph.
3:6). In the new sphere all distinctions vanish, and one NEW MAN is created (Eph. 2:15).
The both one.
Notice the emphasis upon the unity here made:
`He is our peace, Who hath made THE BOTH ONE.
(Middle wall broken down).
(Jewish distinctive ordinances abolished).
To create in Himself of THE TWAIN ONE new man, so making peace:
And that He might reconcile THE BOTH unto God in ONE BODY
(Enmity slain).
(Peace preached).
Through Him we THE BOTH have access by one Spirit unto the Father' (Eph. 2:14-18).
Instead of being excluded from an earthly temple the Gentile believer is himself built together as a holy temple
in the Lord. Instead of the Jew having a prior place access now is for the both by one Spirit unto the Father.
The threefold equality.
The apostle sums up the new position in 3:6,7. Here the most important word is that which is expressed in
English by `Co' or `Joint'. It occurs three times:
`That the Gentiles should be -
(1)
Joint heirs, and a
(2)
Joint body, and
(3)
Joint partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof Paul was made a minister'.
Here is the charter of equality for every member of the One Body. It is higher and deeper than the covenant of
Abraham. It goes beyond the inheritance either of the promised land, or the New Jerusalem. It is essentially linked
with a new creation, a new man, a super-heavenly sphere, and a purpose antedating the foundation of the world.
This doctrine is a special revelation. It was a mystery hidden by God until the time came to make it known.
That time was after Acts 28, and during Paul's imprisonment at Rome. It is found with all teaching essential to it in
the four prison epistles, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and 2 Timothy, and these epistles become the standard
whereby the applicability of other Scriptures is tested. For example, some Scriptures teach the observation of the
Sabbath. Colossians 2:16 is the passage which decides this question for the member of the One Body. And so with
all questions.