Harmony? Nope, hostility.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. (Ephesians 2:14-16–ESV)
How well do you think God’s tunnel to nearness worked out? When we come to this passage, we may easily presume too much. Paul writes of harmony between the Jew and the Gentile in these verses. Is that what we know in the modern world? Was that what Luke recorded in what has become known as the book of Acts in the New Testament?
Since hostility is all too evident we need to allow God to dismantle our presumptions and rebuild them more correctly. The 15th verse can help: “by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances”. The law God gave the Jews was the cornerstone in the wall of hostility. It was this cornerstone which God broke down.
Neither Paul’s writing nor God’s doing forced humanity’s believing. The Jews had their laws and ordinances. God had given these things, but the religious leaders had gone much further. With layer upon layer the Pharisees had put burden upon burden on the backs of the Jews. Observation of the extra instructions took on its own proportion. Enculturated these things would never be easily discarded.
So, while God destroyed the dividing wall of hostility the Jews had to come to a place where they accepted God’s new paradigm. The Jews did not accept the reconstructive teachings of Christ before his death. As it would turn out they were not friendly to the radical shift brought by his death. Christ’s death converted large swaths of their belief systems into the symbolic. His death said, “your spiritual heritage was pointing to me. I am its fulfillment.” To the religious leaders, that revelation was noxious in the extreme; it was anathema.
Help, but no compromises
While the Jewish nation was not keen on this transformation their keenness was not the point. God’s purposes were. Jewish traditionalism had mutated from godliness to toxicity which of necessity would have to be wiped out. An ecumenical acceptance was not legitimate. God will never be flexible on eternal, foundational points.
While he will not compromise with the truth, he also will not just jump in and establish a spiritual police state. “Thou shalt,” cannot be equated to, “I shall make you.” No God offers salvation. He offers a rescue and a help. Verse 14 says he, that is Jesus, himself is our peace. God came personally abolishing the toxicity in his flesh.
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