the typical and ritual economy of the Old Testament the people were brought externally nigh to God, by the blood of calves and goats, through which temporal redemption was effected and the theocratical covenant was ratified; so we are brought spiritually nigh to God by the blood of Christ, who has obtained eternal redemption for us, being once offered to bear the sins of many, and to ratify by his death the covenant of God with all his people, whether Jews or Gentiles.
Vs. 14.15. These verses contain a confirmation and illustration of what precedes. ‘Ye who were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. or he is our peace. He has effected the twofold reconciliation above referred to.’ This he has accomplished by abol- ishing the law. The law, however, is viewed in a twofold aspect in this connection. First, it was that original covenant of works, demanding perfect obe- dience, whose conditions must be satisfied in order to the reconciliation of men with God. Christ by being made under the law, Gal. 4, 4, and fulfilling all right- eousness, has redeemed those who were under the law. He delivered them from the obligation of fulfilling its demands as the condition of their justification before God. In this sense they are not under the law. Comp. Rom. 6, 14. 7,4. 6. Gal. 5,18. Col. 2,14. But sec- ondly, as Christ abolished the law as a covenant of works by fulfilling its conditions, so he abolished the Mosaic law by fulfilling all its types and shadows. He was the end of the law in both these aspects, and there- fore, it ceased to bind the people of God in either of
cHAP. 11. vs. 14, 15. 131
these forms. Of this doctrine the whole of the New Testament is full. The epistles especially are in large measure devoted to proving that believers are not under the law in either of these senses, but under grace. Thus it is that Christ is our peace. The aboli- tion of the law as a covenant of works reconciles us to God; the abolition of the Mosaic law removes the wall between the Jews and Gentiles. This is what is here taught. By abolishing the law of commandments, i. 6. the law in both its forms, the apostle says, Christ has, first, of the twain made one new man, y. 15; and secondly, he has reconciled both unto God in one body by the cross, v. 16.
Though the general sense of this passage is plain, there is no little diversity as to the details of the inter- pretation. The Greek is printed for the convenience of the reader. Advrtos γάρ ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν, ὁ ποιήσας τὰ ἀμφότερα ἕν, καὶ τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ λύσας, τὴν ἔχθραν, ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ͵ τὸν νόμον τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐν δόγμασι καταργήσας. Our translators, by assuming that ἔχθραν depends on καταργήσας, and of course that νόμον is in apposition with it, have in a great measure deter- mined thereby the interpretation of the whole passage. The words μεσότοιχον, ἔχθραν, and νόμον must all refer to the same thing. The sense would then be, ‘For he is our peace, having made the two one by having de- stroyed the middle wall of partition, that is, by having destroyed, by his flesh, the enmity, viz., the law of commandments with ordinances.’ The preferable con- struction is to make ἔχθραν depend on λύσας. It is