The Wall of Division

The Wall of Division

“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.” Eph. 2:14-17.

The middle wall of division between Israel and the Gentiles was the law which came with regulations. The Gentiles were excluded from citizenship in Israel and were strangers to Israel’s covenants and promises. God saw that the weakness of the flesh hindered people from attaining righteousness, so He sent His Son to condemn sin in the flesh. But when sin was condemned, the law, which was established because of sinful flesh, had to be abolished. Stephen says that the Jews betrayed and murdered those who were righteous, and that they received the law by the direction of angels but did not keep it. Acts 7:52-53.

There is enmity in the flesh. Those who killed the Lord of glory thought that they were on a much higher level because they had received the laws and promises.

When Christ destroyed sin in the flesh in His own body, He rendered the law unnecessary and placed the Jews, who exalted themselves because they had received the law, on the same level as the Gentiles who had no law. He sent His Spirit to testify of the destruction of sin in the flesh, so both Jews and Gentiles, in the same Spirit, could overcome what the law did not have power to give victory over. He opened a new and living way for us through the veil, His flesh.

No one must think that Christ opened the way so that we can avoid it. If we are obedient to the Spirit, we learn that through obedience to the faith we must break though our own flesh to the Father—and to perfection. Jews and Greeks must go the same way. This is why Paul was appointed to bring about obedience to the faith among the Gentiles for His name’s sake. Rom. 1:5. Only the obedience of faith brings honor to God’s name. As we live, our faith grows—we go from faith to faith. In doing this, we do not only honor God once, we continually honor Him. If we honor God, He will glorify us, and hence we go from glory to glory.

Through the body of Christ, God destroyed the enmity between the Jews and Gentiles. When two Gentiles, even two so-called Christian Gentiles, live in enmity, it shows very plainly that there is no fellowship in His sufferings, and that the destruction of the flesh in Christ’s body by the Spirit is not at work. Unity in the same body and the common sufferings in the flesh, toward the same goal—the Father—is given only by the cross, where the enmity, with its many walls of division and parties, is destroyed.

Instead of enmity in the body, a church blossoms in that same body through the cross when everyone is of one mind, as far as they have come. It is a church filled with the knowledge of God, because all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are infused into the body of Christ through obedience. It is a church whose dispensation has been a mystery hidden in God from the beginning of time (Eph. 3:9), but which has now been revealed so that the manifold wisdom of God is made known through the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

Have you shared in Christ’s work of breaking down the flesh to the extent that you have tasted some of this spiritual fellowship and wisdom? Or do you think that the breaking down work that took place in Christ’s body was done so that you could get out of it? This is what all enemies of the cross of Christ teach, being ignorant—because of the enmity—of the word of truth. But from us—we who are experiencing the breaking down of this enmity—there will always be songs of praise for His everlasting riches of grace in the time of suffering, for comfort in sorrow and for refreshment in weariness.