3113.—Middle Wall of Partition
Will you please explain in the SIGNS what the middle wall of partition was that was broken down by Christ? Our correspondent doubtless refers to Eph. 2:14: "For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." Now who are the two?—Primarily it is God and man. God is one. Man has separated himself from God by sin. Isa. 59:2. He has built up a wall of sin between himself and God. This was true of Gentile, it was true also of the Jew. Christ came to be sin for us in order that we might be made righteousness. 2 Cor. 5:19-21. Between the individual sinner and Christ it is a very simple thing to yield to the Lord Jesus, and He takes away the sin. The Jews themselves had built that sin up into a veritable system of human "works" in which they endeavored to save themselves by their own righteousness. They had made certain laws, they had added to the laws which God Himself had given; and by those ceremonial observances they had built up a wall which separated them from the simple, undeserved grace of Jesus Christ. Christ came that the sin might be taken away; not only the simple sin of the sinner, but the great system by which sin was entrenched among the Jews. Jew and Gentile could come alike, and were made one in Christ Jesus. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." 1 Cor. 12:13. "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Rom. 10:12, 13. God's grace, through faith in Christ, breaks down the wall, and brings all together to Him; so that in that church built by Christ there are no strangers and foreigners, no Gentiles and Jews, but all are "fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God." The work of Christ Jesus broke down in His own flesh every barrier that separated the sinful man from God; and He did that in His own flesh in order that He might do it in the flesh of every other soul that would accept Him, whether Jew or Gentile. Therefore in accepting Him all distinction was broken down between parties in this world, so there should be no schism in the body.