For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
He himself is the peace of his people, who by his suffering, death, cross and blood broke down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles and made both one. That wall was both the literal partition in the Jerusalem temple that barred Gentiles on pain of death and the high human wall the Jews themselves raised by pride, seclusion, jealousy and customs used to maintain separation. Its breaking brought the system of types and shadows and the ceremonial law to an end so it must not be imposed on Gentile converts, while the moral law remains unchanged in dignity and force. With the barrier removed his mercy and love are offered without restriction of nationality, race, caste, rank or creed, opening a gospel work to all nations, tongues and people. Those thus united must therefore not rebuild division by separate companies for nationality or language, by caste between rich and poor, or by excluding colored believers from worship and membership, but stand as one brotherhood equal before God.
The Wall Described
The verse points to a literal partition in the Jerusalem temple that divided the outer court Gentiles might enter from the inner enclosure lawful only for Jews. A Samaritan or Gentile passing that boundary desecrated the temple and paid with his life. Jesus is the foundation and originator of that temple, whose services and ceremonies were only a type of His great sacrifice pointing to Him as Son of God. His kindness toward Samaritans and welcome of Gentiles through human sympathy challenged Jewish prejudice and taught pity and sympathy in place of contempt and hatred.
It also points to a high wall of separation the Jews themselves had raised by rigid social and religious seclusion from every other nation, making themselves a little world to themselves. That human wall was built of pride and self-sufficiency, jealousy, conceit and selfish seclusion, and of Jewish customs and traditions used to maintain separation and impose arbitrary controls. By calling all others heathen and dogs they became despised by every other people, while efforts to preserve those customs kept believers in bondage and hindered the gospel among the Gentiles. Through His death people from all nations can be gathered to Him and become part of the family of believers.
That dividing wall was not placed there by God. God never withdrew His care and love from the rest of mankind to center them upon Israel alone, but His heart of infinite love reaches out toward all inhabitants of the earth, and though they rejected Him He constantly seeks to reveal Himself to them and make them partakers of His love and grace. He granted His blessing to the chosen people so that they might bless others, and God had blessed them so they could bless others and share His promises and love. Israel turned God's restrictions against intermarriage and idolatrous practices, meant to prevent adopting heathen practices and not to keep the nations from His mercy, into a barrier separating them from all other nations. This misuse shut others out from mercy and blessing and from what God had commissioned Israel to share with the world, reflecting jealousy lest God show mercy to the Gentiles. In that union the unbelieving Gentile is united with the believing Jew without crowding the Jew out of his original position but becoming a partaker with him of his blessings.
The two sides made one are those far off and those near. Gentiles had been kept in heathenism or, as it were, in the temple's outer courts, while Jews were near, and through faith in Christ people of every nation may come to Him and receive life. The Greeks kept from the temple court where Jesus sat picture the Gentiles who would receive the gospel after Israel rejected Him. Through His death and resurrection salvation was opened to all nations and believers gathered into a harvest of eternal life.
At the time of Christ's death that wall between Jew and Gentile was tottering and ready to fall. It was about to fall through His death, when He bore the guilt of fallen humanity. His death opened the way of life to both Jews and Gentiles and to all nations.
Christ Breaks Division
He himself is the peace of his people, making divided sides one by breaking down the separation between them. Through him those far off and those near are made one, their enmity removed and both brought together to God in one body, with access to the Father through one Spirit as fellow members of God's household built together as a holy temple. That peace is unity and love established among believers by the working of the Holy Spirit in answer to earnest prayer and living faith, calling workers who are not in harmony to cease strife and division. He is also the believer's own peace with God, received by accepting him rather than achieved by human effort, for by bearing sin's curse and ending sin's controlling power he frees believers from the law's curse and condemnation, while the Holy Spirit delivers from pollution and fits for heaven, opening access to God's glory, cancelling dividing ordinances, and bringing those who accept him into fellowship with God and to share the living bread.
He broke down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles by his suffering, death, cross, and blood, making both one. His death brought Gentiles into the full privileges of the gospel, yet the removal did not immediately make every believing Jew understand clearly what had been abolished. At his crucifixion type met antitype because the great Sacrifice to whom all sacrifices pointed had been offered, so the ceremonies of Jewish worship were no longer needed and the law of types and shadows, the ceremonial law, was brought to an end, while the moral law remains unchanged in dignity and force. Sinless and above law, he took the form of a servant and suffered without the gates of Jerusalem, signifying that he died not for Israel only but for all the world with all human iniquities laid upon him, inviting all nations, tongues, and people to partake of salvation purchased at great cost.
He began breaking down that partition at the very beginning of his ministry by refusing to conform to Jewish customs and prejudices against Gentiles, rebuking conceit and selfish seclusion, and preaching salvation to the world. He mingled freely with the despised Samaritans with kindness and courtesy, accepting their hospitality, sleeping under their roofs, eating food prepared by their hands, teaching in their streets, welcoming Gentiles through human sympathy, and encircling them with his human arm of sympathy and association while with his divine arm of grace and power bringing the salvation the Jews refused. Jewish pride had built the barrier so high that even his disciples lacked sympathy for those outside Israel, but his example of kindness toward Samaritans challenged that prejudice and taught replacement of contempt and hatred with pity and sympathy, for he intended those barriers to be broken down. He foreshowed the unrestricted gospel by showing mercy to one of a despised people on the coast of Tyre and Sidon, as in the healing of the afflicted Canaanite woman, to relieve her and to leave the disciples an example opening their minds to coming labor among the Gentiles, which afterward directed his representatives to labor among Gentiles and others besides their own people when the Jews turned from them for declaring him Saviour of the world.
Through him those who were far off are brought near by his blood, and both are reconciled to God in one body through the cross. He preached that peace to those far off and those near, so that both have access by one Spirit to the Father. They are therefore no longer strangers but fellow citizens and members of God's household, joined together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as chief cornerstone, growing into a holy temple and a dwelling place for God through the Spirit. Because he thus unites believers they must not draw apart but belong together as God's household built into one temple.
By that breaking, heathen and Gentile nations are made partakers equally with Jews and with the believing Jew of the full privileges, blessings, and promises of the gospel as fellow heirs with Israel and with the Israel of God. Those who accepted the gospel were to stand on equal terms with Jewish believers without having to be circumcised. No outward privilege secures the covenant and no outward disability debars whoever complies with its conditions, and this does not crowd the Jew out of his original position, fulfilling the promise that in Abraham all families of the earth would be blessed. At his first advent both were made one so that Jew and Gentile alike became partakers not only of blessings promised under the old covenant but also of spiritual and heavenly truths revealed through him, through a new and fuller manifestation of the Divine Presence and of the knowledge and infinite love and benevolence of God's character than had ever been enjoyed before.
Law Sacrifice and Priesthood
The broken wall means the law of types and shadows was brought to an end. The ceremonial law and the system abolished by the Son of God ended at Christ's death and must not be made obligatory for Gentile converts or used to rank them as farther from God. Though sinless and above law, he took the form of a servant and suffered without the gates of Jerusalem, signifying that he died not for Israel only but for all the world with all human iniquities laid upon him. At his crucifixion type met antitype, for the great Sacrifice to whom all sacrifices pointed had been offered and the ceremonies of Jewish worship were no longer needed. All nations, tongues, and people are now invited to partake of the salvation purchased at great cost and to share the full privileges of the gospel, for he is not the Saviour of the Hebrews alone and Gentiles do not need circumcision to enter the church or receive its privileges, since in Christ circumcision and uncircumcision are nothing. The moral law remains unchanged in dignity and force.
When the temple veil was torn at his death, type met antitype because the great Sacrifice to whom all sacrifices pointed had been offered. That rending signified that God would no longer accept the priests' sacrifices and ordinances in the temple as the way to approach him. Jesus offered himself for both Jews and Gentiles, and salvation for either depends on believing in him as the only offering for sin and the Saviour of the world.
By his suffering and death on the cross as sin-bearer of the human race he broke down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile so that separation no longer exists. His rent flesh and his sacrifice for sin opened a new and living way. By that death he entered upon his priestly office forever and stands as the true High Priest for the whole world, having entered the holy place to represent all humanity in the heavenly courts. His death cancels the ordinances that divided Jew and Gentile, opens access to God's glory, brings those who accept him into fellowship with God to share in the living bread, and brought his work of atonement to completion.
He did not come to create separating barriers nor to constantly thrust upon the Jews the fact that they were wrong. He did not come to destroy the old dispensation but to develop the Jewish economy in accordance with the truth. This union is part of his mission of reconciliation between God and man, accomplished by exalting the Father's law and paying with his own life the penalty for its transgression. The division is ended so Jew and Gentile are no longer kept in separate rooms, and the unbelieving Gentile is united with the believing Jew without crowding the Jew out of his original position but becoming a partaker with him of his blessings. The verse's image of a separating wall is also applied to the Sabbath as the wall separating true Israel from unbelievers while also uniting the hearts of God's waiting saints.
Gospel to All Nations
He is peace because he demolishes every dividing barrier and offers mercy and love without restriction to all, making no distinction on account of nationality, race, caste, rank, or creed. As Maker of all mankind all are of one family by creation and all are made one through redemption, joined in a common brotherhood equal before God whether Jew or Gentile, Jew or Greek, bond or free. That love is as free and universal as air, light, and rain, throwing open every compartment of the temple courts so that every soul has free access to God. It is so broad and deep and full that it penetrates everywhere, lifts out of Satan's influence those deluded by his deceptions, and places them within reach of the throne of God encircled by the rainbow of promise. His followers therefore are to answer the needs of suffering people across religious differences, since loving practical service breaks down prejudice and leads souls to God.
His death broke the partition between Jew and Gentile and opened a gospel work unrestricted by custom or nationality to all nations, tongues, and people. He foreshowed this by showing mercy to a despised people on the coast of Tyre and Sidon, healing the afflicted Canaanite woman to relieve her and to lead the disciples away from Jewish exclusiveness toward labor for others besides their own people. The coming of the Greeks seeking him signaled that same breaking, belonging to his completed mission as Redeemer who by dying defeated Satan, made salvation freely available, and freed people from the power of evil. When the Jews turned persistently from the disciples for declaring Jesus to be Saviour of the world, that lesson directed the representatives of Christ to declare him to all peoples and to labor among the Gentiles.
Although the barrier was removed by his death, it still stood in the minds of the apostles, and its removal was not at once clearly understood by every believing Jew, who could not see distinctly what the Son of God had abolished. They restricted preaching to Jews and regarded Gentiles as an unclean race excluded from the promises of God and from the privileges of the gospel. Peter's vision of the sheet let down from heaven with all manner of beasts and the command to kill and eat was given as an illustration of the truth to reprove his prejudice and to lead him to comprehend the worldwide extent of God's plan, not as a removal of God's prohibition of unclean flesh for food. The conversion of Cornelius was thus the first work of importance among the Gentiles, opening the blessings of salvation to them as fellow heirs equally with the Jews, after which contending Jews questioned Peter until he rehearsed his experience.
The apostles appointed to lead vigorous proclamation among the Gentiles taught this breaking down as part of their message, and the church was strengthened by a great ingathering of souls. That same teaching exposed them to suspicion, prejudice, and jealousy, naturally subjecting them to the charge of heresy from many zealous believing Jews who questioned their authority as ministers of the gospel. Because God foresaw these difficulties He instructed the church by revelation to set them apart publicly to the ministry, so their work of bearing the glad tidings to the Gentiles would be placed above challenge. Paul carried out that breaking by preaching Christ and Him crucified and by receiving Gentiles into the church without circumcision on the ground that circumcision or uncircumcision is nothing, since His work embraces the whole world and not the Hebrews alone, while Judaizing teachers who required Gentiles to receive circumcision before sharing the privileges of the church opposed him and charged him as an apostate bent upon destroying the separation God had established between Israel and the world.
The gospel is a message of peace, for it was his mission to reconcile men to God and thus to one another, and Christianity received and obeyed would spread peace, harmony, happiness, and close brotherhood throughout the earth in harmony with the promise of the Prince of Peace and the angels' announcement of peace on earth. This does not contradict his word about bringing a sword, since the gospel is called a sword only because its exalted truths and principles of life are wholly at variance with the habits and desires of a world under Satan's control. Those who hate the purity that reveals and condemns their sins rise in rebellion and persecute and destroy the faithful.
Oneness in Church Life
He is the peace of his people who has made both sides one and broken down the middle wall of partition between them, and through his cross those who believe are reconciled to God in one body, with those who were far off brought near to belong together as God's household built into one temple. Those so united in him must not draw apart but must cease strife and division and become one in Christ. Believers are to reject barriers between nationalities, follow his example, and seek unity in Jesus by sharing one foundation of truth, one Spirit, and the common work of salvation, coming into harmony with one purpose and one judgment as they work for others' salvation. The cross is fully able to accomplish that miracle of perfect union so that members act as one and blend together, making the church a living, active missionary agency moved and controlled by the Holy Spirit for the good of an unbelieving world.
Differences in nationality and language are not grounds for forming separate companies or organizations, for such separation narrows ideas, weakens influence, hinders spiritual growth, builds walls that would later require removal, and rebuilds the wall of partition that Christ broke down. Believers are instead to work together as brethren, breaking down such divisions, sharing one foundation of truth, one Spirit, and one common work, and blending their varied talents harmoniously. He is the center of Christian unity who removes divisions and makes people one with him and with one another, so no partition walls or party strife belong in God's family. Each person's well-being is bound to the well-being of all, and this unity joined by love obligates believers to serve one another.
His life established a religion without caste or distinctions of nationality, status, or creed, in which Jews and Gentiles, free and enslaved, neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies are joined in a common brotherhood and are equal before God. The gospel harmonizes the sinful race so that the rich and the poor are brought together at the feet of Jesus. He joins Jew and Gentile, black and white, free and bond together as equals in God's sight in one brotherhood. No one has license to exclude colored people from places of worship, for they are Christ's property just as much as white people and are to hold membership in the church together with white brethren, with every effort made to wipe out the terrible wrong done to them by placing missionary work for them on the ground of principle and educating those who accept the truth to be Bible Christians working according to Christ's order. The plan of redemption embraces every soul God has created, and when the true missionary spirit enters the heart the walls of sectarianism and caste and race fall down and prejudice is melted away by the love of God, for both the Ethiopian and the white race are God's purchased possession. Therefore messengers must work for both white and black without partiality and without hypocrisy, setting forth the truth in plain and simple language easy for both to understand and laboring together with God to save the souls of both.
Breaking down the dividing wall between white and black does not mean throwing down every distinction or boundary, and it does not require teaching or practicing intermarriage. Teaching or practicing intermarriage is carrying things to extremes and running into fanaticism, and is not the right thing. Believers themselves are the temple of the living God, so even the most splendid temple or house of worship amounts to nothing if hearts are not right. The greatest concern and anxiety must therefore be over spiritual condition, with reverence in coming into God's presence and careful teaching of children that God meets with his people and directing their thoughts heavenward.
Partition walls divide strength and separate interests that should be closely united, and raising such walls between sister conferences comes from selfish, sectional interest and from letting me and mine control, diverting means entrusted to be wisely invested for advancing his cause into expense merely to indulge division. Confining believers to creeds rebuilds partition, but partition walls will be broken down so that everyone who hears the message and believes the truth will no longer be confined and bound to creeds but will take the Bible as guide, as the very creed of life, as the waters of salvation. The intensity of the light shining from heaven in these last days makes those who have accepted the truth and emerged into the light into messengers of truth and salvation who cannot hold their peace. Christ gives peace through the gospel, which is the means ordained by God to restore his moral image in man, to stem the tide of hostility against his law, to remedy universal disorganization, and to draw men together in unity. As people work in his service, territorial boundaries and human-made distinctions give way, widening their concern to include suffering people everywhere.
Peace in Personal Experience
The verse is full of instruction for one with depressed spirit and must be read carefully as never before. Christ dwelling in the heart by faith means contemplating him, beholding him, and ever cherishing the dear Saviour as the very best and honored Friend, so as not in any action to grieve and offend him. By grace are saved through faith, and that not of self, it is the gift of God. The hellish shadow of Satan will always be cast athwart the pathway to obstruct faith and eclipse the light from the presence of Jesus the Sun of Righteousness, so faith must not stagger in feeling but cleave through that shadow in truth. Believers are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself the chief cornerstone, the church built for a habitation of God through the Spirit, and if rooted and grounded in love able to comprehend with all saints the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of God which passes knowledge. In the human heart cleansed from all moral impurity dwells the precious Saviour, ennobling and sanctifying the whole nature and making the person a temple for the Holy Spirit.
Christ himself is the believer's peace, and peace with God is received by accepting Christ, not achieved by human effort. Through his bearing sin's curse and ending sin's controlling power, believers are freed from the law's curse and condemnation, while the Holy Spirit delivers them from sin's pollution and fits them for heaven. His sacrifice makes it possible for sinners to return to allegiance to God's commandments, and seeing him as the propitiation for sin leads the sinner to hate sin and keep a contrite heart before him.
Sin broke connection with God and separated the world from heaven by a deep and impassable gulf, but Christ with his own body bridged that gulf to provide a way for fallen people to be united with heaven again. He supplies the means of salvation humans lack, being made to them wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. To every soul that desires to cross that gulf he gives help and strength, so that exiles are made prisoners of hope and placed on probation.
Men in high positions of trust and influence in this world need the efficacy of his blood, for however exalted their position they are in sin and under condemnation of God's law unless they accept him, in bondage to Satan and enmity against him. By his blood those afar off are made nigh and enemies are reconciled. To follow him by faith is their only path to true greatness and true honor.
When Christ abides in the heart he brings unity and harmony to the powers of the whole person, so that reason and the affections each know how to act their part and labor together unitedly, with reason ruling the working machinery like a king upon his throne. He himself is peace who makes divided people one by breaking down separation between them, and the peace promised is unity in place of dissension among believers, established by God in answer to earnest prayer and living faith. Through him both have access to the Father by one Spirit, and they are no longer strangers but fellow citizens and members of God's household, joined together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as chief cornerstone, growing into a holy temple and dwelling place for God through the Spirit. He joins people to himself, to God, and to one another, making them one family in which people of every class are adopted as sons and daughters of God and share the Saviour's power and redeeming love, while true sanctified judgment builds no wall of separation and pride, partiality, and exclusion are contrary to this unity. God's children through him as peace-giver are at peace with one another and act well their part.
Converted souls who have been quickened from death in trespasses and sins must do his work by personal effort to bring other valuable souls dead in sin to a knowledge of the truth, for he preached that peace to those far off and those near so that both have access by one Spirit to the Father as fellow citizens and members of God's household. He removes prejudice based on nationality and artificial social distinctions, teaching his followers to regard every needy person as brother or sister and the whole world as their field of service. He breaks down barriers between nations, races, castes, and religious groups, making people one through redemption and giving every soul free access to God, so that distinctions such as Jew and Greek or enslaved and free do not prevent people from being brought near by his blood. His followers should answer the needs of suffering people across religious differences, for loving service can break down prejudice and lead people to God. He did not exclude people because of creed or church but helped all who needed help, showing that true religion is not confined to special times or places or to withdrawal from ordinary life but is expressed through loving concern and practical help for people. In his Sermon on the Mount he taught love for enemies and care for neighbors of every race and condition, showing that his kingdom embraces all people without distinction and removing divisions caused by national prejudice.
He himself is the peace of his people, who by his suffering, death, cross and blood broke down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles and made both one. That wall was both the literal partition in the Jerusalem temple that barred Gentiles on pain of death and the high human wall the Jews themselves raised by pride, seclusion, jealousy and customs used to maintain separation. Its breaking brought the system of types and shadows and the ceremonial law to an end so it must not be imposed on Gentile converts, while the moral law remains unchanged in dignity and force. With the barrier removed his mercy and love are offered without restriction of nationality, race, caste, rank or creed, opening a gospel work to all nations, tongues and people. Those thus united must therefore not rebuild division by separate companies for nationality or language, by caste between rich and poor, or by excluding colored believers from worship and membership, but stand as one brotherhood equal before God.
The Wall Described
The verse points to a literal partition in the Jerusalem temple that divided the outer court Gentiles might enter from the inner enclosure lawful only for Jews. A Samaritan or Gentile passing that boundary desecrated the temple and paid with his life. Jesus is the foundation and originator of that temple, whose services and ceremonies were only a type of His great sacrifice pointing to Him as Son of God. His kindness toward Samaritans and welcome of Gentiles through human sympathy challenged Jewish prejudice and taught pity and sympathy in place of contempt and hatred.
It also points to a high wall of separation the Jews themselves had raised by rigid social and religious seclusion from every other nation, making themselves a little world to themselves. That human wall was built of pride and self-sufficiency, jealousy, conceit and selfish seclusion, and of Jewish customs and traditions used to maintain separation and impose arbitrary controls. By calling all others heathen and dogs they became despised by every other people, while efforts to preserve those customs kept believers in bondage and hindered the gospel among the Gentiles. Through His death people from all nations can be gathered to Him and become part of the family of believers.
That dividing wall was not placed there by God. God never withdrew His care and love from the rest of mankind to center them upon Israel alone, but His heart of infinite love reaches out toward all inhabitants of the earth, and though they rejected Him He constantly seeks to reveal Himself to them and make them partakers of His love and grace. He granted His blessing to the chosen people so that they might bless others, and God had blessed them so they could bless others and share His promises and love. Israel turned God's restrictions against intermarriage and idolatrous practices, meant to prevent adopting heathen practices and not to keep the nations from His mercy, into a barrier separating them from all other nations. This misuse shut others out from mercy and blessing and from what God had commissioned Israel to share with the world, reflecting jealousy lest God show mercy to the Gentiles. In that union the unbelieving Gentile is united with the believing Jew without crowding the Jew out of his original position but becoming a partaker with him of his blessings.
The two sides made one are those far off and those near. Gentiles had been kept in heathenism or, as it were, in the temple's outer courts, while Jews were near, and through faith in Christ people of every nation may come to Him and receive life. The Greeks kept from the temple court where Jesus sat picture the Gentiles who would receive the gospel after Israel rejected Him. Through His death and resurrection salvation was opened to all nations and believers gathered into a harvest of eternal life.
At the time of Christ's death that wall between Jew and Gentile was tottering and ready to fall. It was about to fall through His death, when He bore the guilt of fallen humanity. His death opened the way of life to both Jews and Gentiles and to all nations.
Christ Breaks Division
He himself is the peace of his people, making divided sides one by breaking down the separation between them. Through him those far off and those near are made one, their enmity removed and both brought together to God in one body, with access to the Father through one Spirit as fellow members of God's household built together as a holy temple. That peace is unity and love established among believers by the working of the Holy Spirit in answer to earnest prayer and living faith, calling workers who are not in harmony to cease strife and division. He is also the believer's own peace with God, received by accepting him rather than achieved by human effort, for by bearing sin's curse and ending sin's controlling power he frees believers from the law's curse and condemnation, while the Holy Spirit delivers from pollution and fits for heaven, opening access to God's glory, cancelling dividing ordinances, and bringing those who accept him into fellowship with God and to share the living bread.
He broke down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles by his suffering, death, cross, and blood, making both one. His death brought Gentiles into the full privileges of the gospel, yet the removal did not immediately make every believing Jew understand clearly what had been abolished. At his crucifixion type met antitype because the great Sacrifice to whom all sacrifices pointed had been offered, so the ceremonies of Jewish worship were no longer needed and the law of types and shadows, the ceremonial law, was brought to an end, while the moral law remains unchanged in dignity and force. Sinless and above law, he took the form of a servant and suffered without the gates of Jerusalem, signifying that he died not for Israel only but for all the world with all human iniquities laid upon him, inviting all nations, tongues, and people to partake of salvation purchased at great cost.
He began breaking down that partition at the very beginning of his ministry by refusing to conform to Jewish customs and prejudices against Gentiles, rebuking conceit and selfish seclusion, and preaching salvation to the world. He mingled freely with the despised Samaritans with kindness and courtesy, accepting their hospitality, sleeping under their roofs, eating food prepared by their hands, teaching in their streets, welcoming Gentiles through human sympathy, and encircling them with his human arm of sympathy and association while with his divine arm of grace and power bringing the salvation the Jews refused. Jewish pride had built the barrier so high that even his disciples lacked sympathy for those outside Israel, but his example of kindness toward Samaritans challenged that prejudice and taught replacement of contempt and hatred with pity and sympathy, for he intended those barriers to be broken down. He foreshowed the unrestricted gospel by showing mercy to one of a despised people on the coast of Tyre and Sidon, as in the healing of the afflicted Canaanite woman, to relieve her and to leave the disciples an example opening their minds to coming labor among the Gentiles, which afterward directed his representatives to labor among Gentiles and others besides their own people when the Jews turned from them for declaring him Saviour of the world.
Through him those who were far off are brought near by his blood, and both are reconciled to God in one body through the cross. He preached that peace to those far off and those near, so that both have access by one Spirit to the Father. They are therefore no longer strangers but fellow citizens and members of God's household, joined together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as chief cornerstone, growing into a holy temple and a dwelling place for God through the Spirit. Because he thus unites believers they must not draw apart but belong together as God's household built into one temple.
By that breaking, heathen and Gentile nations are made partakers equally with Jews and with the believing Jew of the full privileges, blessings, and promises of the gospel as fellow heirs with Israel and with the Israel of God. Those who accepted the gospel were to stand on equal terms with Jewish believers without having to be circumcised. No outward privilege secures the covenant and no outward disability debars whoever complies with its conditions, and this does not crowd the Jew out of his original position, fulfilling the promise that in Abraham all families of the earth would be blessed. At his first advent both were made one so that Jew and Gentile alike became partakers not only of blessings promised under the old covenant but also of spiritual and heavenly truths revealed through him, through a new and fuller manifestation of the Divine Presence and of the knowledge and infinite love and benevolence of God's character than had ever been enjoyed before.
Law Sacrifice and Priesthood
The broken wall means the law of types and shadows was brought to an end. The ceremonial law and the system abolished by the Son of God ended at Christ's death and must not be made obligatory for Gentile converts or used to rank them as farther from God. Though sinless and above law, he took the form of a servant and suffered without the gates of Jerusalem, signifying that he died not for Israel only but for all the world with all human iniquities laid upon him. At his crucifixion type met antitype, for the great Sacrifice to whom all sacrifices pointed had been offered and the ceremonies of Jewish worship were no longer needed. All nations, tongues, and people are now invited to partake of the salvation purchased at great cost and to share the full privileges of the gospel, for he is not the Saviour of the Hebrews alone and Gentiles do not need circumcision to enter the church or receive its privileges, since in Christ circumcision and uncircumcision are nothing. The moral law remains unchanged in dignity and force.
When the temple veil was torn at his death, type met antitype because the great Sacrifice to whom all sacrifices pointed had been offered. That rending signified that God would no longer accept the priests' sacrifices and ordinances in the temple as the way to approach him. Jesus offered himself for both Jews and Gentiles, and salvation for either depends on believing in him as the only offering for sin and the Saviour of the world.
By his suffering and death on the cross as sin-bearer of the human race he broke down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile so that separation no longer exists. His rent flesh and his sacrifice for sin opened a new and living way. By that death he entered upon his priestly office forever and stands as the true High Priest for the whole world, having entered the holy place to represent all humanity in the heavenly courts. His death cancels the ordinances that divided Jew and Gentile, opens access to God's glory, brings those who accept him into fellowship with God to share in the living bread, and brought his work of atonement to completion.
He did not come to create separating barriers nor to constantly thrust upon the Jews the fact that they were wrong. He did not come to destroy the old dispensation but to develop the Jewish economy in accordance with the truth. This union is part of his mission of reconciliation between God and man, accomplished by exalting the Father's law and paying with his own life the penalty for its transgression. The division is ended so Jew and Gentile are no longer kept in separate rooms, and the unbelieving Gentile is united with the believing Jew without crowding the Jew out of his original position but becoming a partaker with him of his blessings. The verse's image of a separating wall is also applied to the Sabbath as the wall separating true Israel from unbelievers while also uniting the hearts of God's waiting saints.
Gospel to All Nations
He is peace because he demolishes every dividing barrier and offers mercy and love without restriction to all, making no distinction on account of nationality, race, caste, rank, or creed. As Maker of all mankind all are of one family by creation and all are made one through redemption, joined in a common brotherhood equal before God whether Jew or Gentile, Jew or Greek, bond or free. That love is as free and universal as air, light, and rain, throwing open every compartment of the temple courts so that every soul has free access to God. It is so broad and deep and full that it penetrates everywhere, lifts out of Satan's influence those deluded by his deceptions, and places them within reach of the throne of God encircled by the rainbow of promise. His followers therefore are to answer the needs of suffering people across religious differences, since loving practical service breaks down prejudice and leads souls to God.
His death broke the partition between Jew and Gentile and opened a gospel work unrestricted by custom or nationality to all nations, tongues, and people. He foreshowed this by showing mercy to a despised people on the coast of Tyre and Sidon, healing the afflicted Canaanite woman to relieve her and to lead the disciples away from Jewish exclusiveness toward labor for others besides their own people. The coming of the Greeks seeking him signaled that same breaking, belonging to his completed mission as Redeemer who by dying defeated Satan, made salvation freely available, and freed people from the power of evil. When the Jews turned persistently from the disciples for declaring Jesus to be Saviour of the world, that lesson directed the representatives of Christ to declare him to all peoples and to labor among the Gentiles.
Although the barrier was removed by his death, it still stood in the minds of the apostles, and its removal was not at once clearly understood by every believing Jew, who could not see distinctly what the Son of God had abolished. They restricted preaching to Jews and regarded Gentiles as an unclean race excluded from the promises of God and from the privileges of the gospel. Peter's vision of the sheet let down from heaven with all manner of beasts and the command to kill and eat was given as an illustration of the truth to reprove his prejudice and to lead him to comprehend the worldwide extent of God's plan, not as a removal of God's prohibition of unclean flesh for food. The conversion of Cornelius was thus the first work of importance among the Gentiles, opening the blessings of salvation to them as fellow heirs equally with the Jews, after which contending Jews questioned Peter until he rehearsed his experience.
The apostles appointed to lead vigorous proclamation among the Gentiles taught this breaking down as part of their message, and the church was strengthened by a great ingathering of souls. That same teaching exposed them to suspicion, prejudice, and jealousy, naturally subjecting them to the charge of heresy from many zealous believing Jews who questioned their authority as ministers of the gospel. Because God foresaw these difficulties He instructed the church by revelation to set them apart publicly to the ministry, so their work of bearing the glad tidings to the Gentiles would be placed above challenge. Paul carried out that breaking by preaching Christ and Him crucified and by receiving Gentiles into the church without circumcision on the ground that circumcision or uncircumcision is nothing, since His work embraces the whole world and not the Hebrews alone, while Judaizing teachers who required Gentiles to receive circumcision before sharing the privileges of the church opposed him and charged him as an apostate bent upon destroying the separation God had established between Israel and the world.
The gospel is a message of peace, for it was his mission to reconcile men to God and thus to one another, and Christianity received and obeyed would spread peace, harmony, happiness, and close brotherhood throughout the earth in harmony with the promise of the Prince of Peace and the angels' announcement of peace on earth. This does not contradict his word about bringing a sword, since the gospel is called a sword only because its exalted truths and principles of life are wholly at variance with the habits and desires of a world under Satan's control. Those who hate the purity that reveals and condemns their sins rise in rebellion and persecute and destroy the faithful.
Oneness in Church Life
He is the peace of his people who has made both sides one and broken down the middle wall of partition between them, and through his cross those who believe are reconciled to God in one body, with those who were far off brought near to belong together as God's household built into one temple. Those so united in him must not draw apart but must cease strife and division and become one in Christ. Believers are to reject barriers between nationalities, follow his example, and seek unity in Jesus by sharing one foundation of truth, one Spirit, and the common work of salvation, coming into harmony with one purpose and one judgment as they work for others' salvation. The cross is fully able to accomplish that miracle of perfect union so that members act as one and blend together, making the church a living, active missionary agency moved and controlled by the Holy Spirit for the good of an unbelieving world.
Differences in nationality and language are not grounds for forming separate companies or organizations, for such separation narrows ideas, weakens influence, hinders spiritual growth, builds walls that would later require removal, and rebuilds the wall of partition that Christ broke down. Believers are instead to work together as brethren, breaking down such divisions, sharing one foundation of truth, one Spirit, and one common work, and blending their varied talents harmoniously. He is the center of Christian unity who removes divisions and makes people one with him and with one another, so no partition walls or party strife belong in God's family. Each person's well-being is bound to the well-being of all, and this unity joined by love obligates believers to serve one another.
His life established a religion without caste or distinctions of nationality, status, or creed, in which Jews and Gentiles, free and enslaved, neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies are joined in a common brotherhood and are equal before God. The gospel harmonizes the sinful race so that the rich and the poor are brought together at the feet of Jesus. He joins Jew and Gentile, black and white, free and bond together as equals in God's sight in one brotherhood. No one has license to exclude colored people from places of worship, for they are Christ's property just as much as white people and are to hold membership in the church together with white brethren, with every effort made to wipe out the terrible wrong done to them by placing missionary work for them on the ground of principle and educating those who accept the truth to be Bible Christians working according to Christ's order. The plan of redemption embraces every soul God has created, and when the true missionary spirit enters the heart the walls of sectarianism and caste and race fall down and prejudice is melted away by the love of God, for both the Ethiopian and the white race are God's purchased possession. Therefore messengers must work for both white and black without partiality and without hypocrisy, setting forth the truth in plain and simple language easy for both to understand and laboring together with God to save the souls of both.
Breaking down the dividing wall between white and black does not mean throwing down every distinction or boundary, and it does not require teaching or practicing intermarriage. Teaching or practicing intermarriage is carrying things to extremes and running into fanaticism, and is not the right thing. Believers themselves are the temple of the living God, so even the most splendid temple or house of worship amounts to nothing if hearts are not right. The greatest concern and anxiety must therefore be over spiritual condition, with reverence in coming into God's presence and careful teaching of children that God meets with his people and directing their thoughts heavenward.
Partition walls divide strength and separate interests that should be closely united, and raising such walls between sister conferences comes from selfish, sectional interest and from letting me and mine control, diverting means entrusted to be wisely invested for advancing his cause into expense merely to indulge division. Confining believers to creeds rebuilds partition, but partition walls will be broken down so that everyone who hears the message and believes the truth will no longer be confined and bound to creeds but will take the Bible as guide, as the very creed of life, as the waters of salvation. The intensity of the light shining from heaven in these last days makes those who have accepted the truth and emerged into the light into messengers of truth and salvation who cannot hold their peace. Christ gives peace through the gospel, which is the means ordained by God to restore his moral image in man, to stem the tide of hostility against his law, to remedy universal disorganization, and to draw men together in unity. As people work in his service, territorial boundaries and human-made distinctions give way, widening their concern to include suffering people everywhere.
Peace in Personal Experience
The verse is full of instruction for one with depressed spirit and must be read carefully as never before. Christ dwelling in the heart by faith means contemplating him, beholding him, and ever cherishing the dear Saviour as the very best and honored Friend, so as not in any action to grieve and offend him. By grace are saved through faith, and that not of self, it is the gift of God. The hellish shadow of Satan will always be cast athwart the pathway to obstruct faith and eclipse the light from the presence of Jesus the Sun of Righteousness, so faith must not stagger in feeling but cleave through that shadow in truth. Believers are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself the chief cornerstone, the church built for a habitation of God through the Spirit, and if rooted and grounded in love able to comprehend with all saints the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of God which passes knowledge. In the human heart cleansed from all moral impurity dwells the precious Saviour, ennobling and sanctifying the whole nature and making the person a temple for the Holy Spirit.
Christ himself is the believer's peace, and peace with God is received by accepting Christ, not achieved by human effort. Through his bearing sin's curse and ending sin's controlling power, believers are freed from the law's curse and condemnation, while the Holy Spirit delivers them from sin's pollution and fits them for heaven. His sacrifice makes it possible for sinners to return to allegiance to God's commandments, and seeing him as the propitiation for sin leads the sinner to hate sin and keep a contrite heart before him.
Sin broke connection with God and separated the world from heaven by a deep and impassable gulf, but Christ with his own body bridged that gulf to provide a way for fallen people to be united with heaven again. He supplies the means of salvation humans lack, being made to them wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. To every soul that desires to cross that gulf he gives help and strength, so that exiles are made prisoners of hope and placed on probation.
Men in high positions of trust and influence in this world need the efficacy of his blood, for however exalted their position they are in sin and under condemnation of God's law unless they accept him, in bondage to Satan and enmity against him. By his blood those afar off are made nigh and enemies are reconciled. To follow him by faith is their only path to true greatness and true honor.
When Christ abides in the heart he brings unity and harmony to the powers of the whole person, so that reason and the affections each know how to act their part and labor together unitedly, with reason ruling the working machinery like a king upon his throne. He himself is peace who makes divided people one by breaking down separation between them, and the peace promised is unity in place of dissension among believers, established by God in answer to earnest prayer and living faith. Through him both have access to the Father by one Spirit, and they are no longer strangers but fellow citizens and members of God's household, joined together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as chief cornerstone, growing into a holy temple and dwelling place for God through the Spirit. He joins people to himself, to God, and to one another, making them one family in which people of every class are adopted as sons and daughters of God and share the Saviour's power and redeeming love, while true sanctified judgment builds no wall of separation and pride, partiality, and exclusion are contrary to this unity. God's children through him as peace-giver are at peace with one another and act well their part.
Converted souls who have been quickened from death in trespasses and sins must do his work by personal effort to bring other valuable souls dead in sin to a knowledge of the truth, for he preached that peace to those far off and those near so that both have access by one Spirit to the Father as fellow citizens and members of God's household. He removes prejudice based on nationality and artificial social distinctions, teaching his followers to regard every needy person as brother or sister and the whole world as their field of service. He breaks down barriers between nations, races, castes, and religious groups, making people one through redemption and giving every soul free access to God, so that distinctions such as Jew and Greek or enslaved and free do not prevent people from being brought near by his blood. His followers should answer the needs of suffering people across religious differences, for loving service can break down prejudice and lead people to God. He did not exclude people because of creed or church but helped all who needed help, showing that true religion is not confined to special times or places or to withdrawal from ordinary life but is expressed through loving concern and practical help for people. In his Sermon on the Mount he taught love for enemies and care for neighbors of every race and condition, showing that his kingdom embraces all people without distinction and removing divisions caused by national prejudice.