the body of Christ; the Gentile believer who becomes a member of this newly called

church, he too becomes at the same time a member of the Body of Christ, and in that

new unity Christ Himself is the bond of peace.

"Both one." Who are the `both'? A superficial reading of this passage sees no more

in it than another presentation of the glorious truth of the believer's acceptance with God,

but the middle wall of partition separated one believer from another, and the words `both'

and `twain' here are preceded by the article `the'. "The both" are made one; "the twain"

are created one new man; "the both" are reconciled in one body, and "the both" have

access in one Spirit. We might have thought that the Apostle should have used the words

"the both" four times, thus:

But this is not so. "The both" are made one, are reconciled and have access, but "the

twain" are created in Himself into one new man. We shall discover there is a reason for

this that is of dispensational importance. The middle wall is said to have been `broken

down'; the enmity which this middle wall symbolized is said to have been abolished.

The word translated `broken down' is the Greek luo `to loose'. When used of a temple it

is translated `destroy' (John 2: 19). When used of a congregation it is translated `to be

broken up' (Acts 13: 43), where the context emphasizes the difference that existed

between the Jewish and the Gentile hearers of the Apostle (Acts 13: 42-48). While the

idea of `breaking down' a wall or a building is a common one in the O.T., there does not

seem to be a passage where the LXX have adopted this particular word luo to translate

the Hebrew terms used.

Apart from John 2: 19, there does not appear to be any other instance in the

Scriptures where luo is so translated. This being the case, some reason must have

prompted the choice of this word. Luo is the root from which such terms as lutroo

`redeem', lutron `ransom', lutrosis and apolutrosis `redemption' are derived, and the

Apostle seems to have blended the physical idea of the breaking down of a wall with the

liberation that followed the setting aside of the condition that this middle wall typified.

The `chain' of Eph. 6: 20 is halusis, and it is not beyond possibility that the Apostle

already envisaged the `bond' of peace, a most blessed exchange for the fetters which

were dissolved with the breaking down of the middle wall. The parallel expression is the

word `abolished' of 2: 15, a rendering of the Greek katargeo. This word is used of

making anything `void' or of `none effect' (Rom. 3: 3, 31) and is used of the veil in

II Cor. 3: 14.  The word katargeo is a compound of kata `down' and erg `work', and

literally means to put anything out of working order, to render inoperative, to abrogate.

What was abrogated or rendered powerless, was `the enmity which was contained in

ordinances'. These ordinances, we have already seen, were the decrees issued by the

council of Jerusalem as recorded in Acts 15: which, while solving an immediate

problem, only intensified another. This, together with the whole system of ceremonials