this, however, it is answered—1. That the connecting article is frequently omitted in cases where the qualify- ing word is intimately connected with the word to be qualified, so as to form one idea with it. See Eph. 2, 11. 2 Cor. 7,7. Col. 1,4. 2. That καταργήσας has its qualifying clause in the words ἐν τῇ σαρκί. It would be incongruous to say that Christ abolished the law by his death, by doctrine. 38. The word δόγμα never means doctrine in the New Testament, and therefore cannot have that meaning here. 4. And finally the sense is bad, contrary to the whole analogy of Scrip- ture. The law was not abolished by Christ as a teacher ; but by Christ as a sacrifice. It was not by his doctrine, but by his blood, his body, his death, his cross, that our deliverance from the law was effected. The doctrine of the passage, therefore, is that the mid- dle wall of partition between the Jews and Gentiles, consisting in their mutual enmity, has been removed by Christ’s having, through his death, abolished the law in all its forms, as a rule of justification, and thus, opening one new way of access to God, common to Jews and Gentiles.
The design of Christ in thus abolishing the law was two-fold. First, the union of the Jews and Gentiles in one holy, Catholic church. And, Secondly, the recon- ciliation of both to God. The former is expressed, by saying: “In order that he might create the two, in himself, one new man, making peace.” The two, τοὺς δύο, are of course the two spoken of above, the Jews and Gentiles. They were separate, hostile bodies, alike
CHAP. II. vs. 14, 15. 137
dead in trespasses and sins, equally the children of , wrath. They are created anew, so as to become one body of which Christ is the head. And, therefore, it is said, ἐν ἑαυτῷ, in himself,i. 6. In virtue of union with him. Union with Christ being the condition at once of their unity and of their holiness. They are created εἰς ἕνα καινὸν ἄνθρωπον. They are one, and they are new, i. e. renewed. Kavos means newly made, uninjured by decay or use; and in a moral sense renewed, pure. See 4, 24. 2 Cor. 5,17. Gal. 6. 15. Col. 3,10. aking peace, ποιῶν εἰρήνην. The present participle is here used, because the effect or operation is a continuous one. The union or peace which flows from the abrogation of the law by the death of Christ, is progressive, so far as it is inward or subjective. The outward work is done. The long feud in the human family is healed. The distinction between Jew and Gentile is abolished. All the exclusive privileges of the former are abrogated. The wall which had so long shut out the nations is removed. There is now one fold and one shepherd. Since the abrogation of the law there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for all believers are one in Christ Jesus. Gal. 3, 28.
V.16. The second part of Christ’s purpose is ex- pressed in this verse. It was that he might reconcile (ἀποκαταλλάξῃ) the two, united in one body, unto God, by means of the cross, having thereby slain the enmity. The end effected was reconciliation with God ;—the subjects of this reconciliation are the church, the one