Gentiles united in one body, i. e. the church—rods ἀμφοτέρους ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι. His death had not reference to one class to the exclusion of the other. It was de- signed to bring unto God, the whole number of the redeemed, whether Jews or Gentiles, as one living body, filled with his Spirit as well as washed in his blood.
Many commentators understand the words “ in one body” to refer to Christ’s own body, and the words ‘““by the cross,” at the close of the sentence, to be merely explanatory. The sense would then be, “That he might reconcile both unto God, by one body, i. e. by the one offering of himself, i. e. by his cross.” The obvious objection to this interpretation is, that “one body” cannot naturally be explained to mean “one offering of his body.” Besides this, the passage, vs. 13-16, would then repeat five times the idea: the sacri- fice of Christ reconciled us to God. The natural oppo- sition between “ the two” and “the one body,” favours the common interpretation. Christ created the two into one new man, and as thus united in one body, he reconciled both unto God.
The means by which this reconciliation was effected is the cross—because on it he slew the enmity which separated us from God. The latter clause of the verse is therefore explanatory of what precedes. ‘He recon- ciled both to God, having, by the cross, slain the enmity. Zhe enmity in this place, as in v. 15, many understand to be the enmity between the Jews and Gentiles, and make the apostle say: ‘Christ by his