The Middle Wall of Division

The Middle Wall of Division

God took the Israelites out of Egypt and led them to Mt. Sinai. There He erected a wall of division between Israel and all the other nations by giving them the law. By these commandments and precepts He hedged Israel in and gave them a good and sound education as well as great promises and privileges.

This covenant with its promises which God established with Israel, who had been an enslaved nation in Egypt, made them the head of all the nations. The result was enmity. The Jews considered the Gentiles impure and did not even want to eat together with them, and the Gentiles were envious of the Jews. The Jews were inside the hedge and had access to God through the law and their worship services. The Gentiles were outside and did not have access to God unless they were circumcised and became Jews.

This was the old stewardship which Jesus abolished when He came and established a completely new covenant. The fact that Israel had to be hedged in actually proved that they were no better than the Gentiles, and they not infrequently broke through the hedge to become like the Gentiles around them. However, then they also became their slaves. They had to call on God to liberate them, and He helped them to become free so they could come inside the hedge again and keep their glory.

“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.” Vs. 14-16.

The law—the hedge—had to be there because of the flesh, and it became evident that the flesh of the Jews was no better than the flesh of the Gentiles. Therefore Jesus had to be born into mankind and partake of the same flesh. Thus He, too, was born under the law. Gal. 4:4. He broke down the middle wall of division in His flesh and abolished the law of commandments that was contained in ordinances. We read that He did this through the cross. It is through the cross of Christ that the flesh is put to death, and then the hedge becomes superfluous. Since the Jew and the Gentile had the same flesh, He could “reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross,” thus making peace.

The person who is in the flesh cannot please God. Rom. 8:8. Therefore Jesus reconciled both Jew and Gentile through the cross and reconciled them both to God. The person who is in the flesh cannot be reconciled to God because the flesh is at enmity with God. Therefore we have to hate ourselves according to the flesh—crucify the flesh with its passions and desires—if we are to belong to Christ. Gal. 5:24. It is in this body on the cross that we are reconciled with each other and with God. There we are created to be one new man regardless of who we are and how many we are.

Large crowds are united in praying to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, for healing, and for help in the day of need, etc., but the enmity is not abolished. This large crowd is divided into unfriendly camps, but Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ.” As many as are united with Christ on the cross become one and are created to be one new man. Gal. 2:20. They no longer know each other according to the flesh, for they are a new creation. 2 Cor. 5:14-17.

Jesus offered up Himself in the power of an eternal Spirit without spot to God. Heb. 9:14. We, too, cannot crucify the flesh in our own strength. However, we can be made one through the power of the Spirit, and it is in the power of this Spirit that Jesus crucified His flesh. This is the Spirit whom He sent to earth on the day of Pentecost. Therefore we read that we have been baptized by one Spirit to be one body, whether we are Jew or Gentile. 1 Cor. 12:13.

“But I am carnal, sold under sin.” “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells . . . .” Rom. 7:14, 18. This is the reason no one could keep the law. They were all under the curse of the law and could not earn God’s blessing through works of the law. But Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us so that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Gal. 3:3-14. “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” Eph. 2:18. Now the Spirit will do what was impossible for the law, and we receive the Spirit by the hearing of faith. Gal. 3:2. This pertains not only to the Jews but to all those who will—all those who hate themselves according to the flesh. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Rom. 8:14. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Gal. 5:16. “Against such there is no law.” V. 23.

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh . . . .” Rom. 8:5. Such people cannot receive the Spirit. They have to be hedged in by commandments and precepts. Col. 2:20-21. They have to be kept under guard by the law and chastened until they begin to hate themselves. Then they can come to faith in the work of Christ. Gal. 3:22-25. They accept the judgment that Jesus has brought over all mankind, and they are willing to be delivered into the death of Christ. Through the death of Christ they are released from the guardianship and the tutor, and instead of having the law as a hedge, they receive it by the Spirit writing it in their hearts and minds. Instead of being hedged in they are led into all truth.

This can only happen on a voluntary basis. Consequently, many of those who come to our meetings and hear what God’s will is for our life feel they are put under guard. They are in the flesh, and the commandments that Jesus gave to His apostles, and which Paul in all seriousness exhorted Timothy to keep pure and blameless until Jesus’ comes again, become a taskmaster for them instead of a help and guidance. Acts 1:2; 1 Tim. 6:13-14. Many such religious people, both preachers and others, have run out crying “Bondage!” “But those who live according to the Spirit, [desire] the things of the Spirit.” Rom. 8:5. They feel they have been set free by these laws and commandments and by all God’s will for their life, for it was by the Holy Spirit that He gave his commandments to the apostles. Consequently, the word of the cross gathers the upright, and it becomes the power of God unto salvation for them. 1 Cor. 1:18. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, poor or rich, talented or less talented. They are all baptized into one Spirit to be one body. They are built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Himself as the Chief Cornerstone. We, too, are built up together with the others to be a habitation of God in the Spirit.