16—18,
the two appear to be practically indis- tinguishable. As derivatives of ἀλλάσ- σειν they both convey the idea of a change, not primarily in feeling (which is expressed by ἱλάσκεσθαι and its com- pounds), but in relation, and in mutual relation, on the side of God to man and on the side of man to God (cf. Rom. v. 9-11; 2 Cor. v. 18-20).—év ἑνὶ σώματι διὰ τοῦ σταυροῦ: in one body through the cross. This cannot refer to Christ’s body (Chrys., Beng., Harl., Hofm.), as if the point were either the reconciliation of two parties by one body, or the one offering of Christ that needed no repe- tition (Heb. vii. 27, etc.), or, again, the one sacrifice as_ contrasted with the multitude of the Levitical oblations. These are ideas alien to the context, and they are the less appropriate because Christ Himself is the subject of the ἄπο- καταλλάξῃ. The reference is to the Jews and Gentiles now making one body; cf. the ἕν σῶμα in 1 Cor. x. 17; Eph. iv. 4; and especially in Col. ili. 15. His object was to bring the two long-sundered and antagonistic parties as one whole, one great body, into right relation to God by His cross. The διὰ τοῦ σταυροῦ be- longs rather to the ἀποκαταλλάξῃ than to the following ἀποκτείνας (von Soden). --ὠΟὠὀποκτείνας τὴν ἔχθραν ἐν αὐτῷ: having slain the enmity thereby. For ἐν αὐτῷ there is a variant reading ἐν ἑαυτῷ, slen- derly supported (F 115, etc.); and some propose ἐν αὑτῷ (von Soden). But this ἐν αὐτῷ refers to the σταυροῦ, and the idea is not that Christ slew the enmity in Himself, but that He did it “by the cross,’”’ or, as some take it (Alf., etc.), “on the cross”. The ἔχθρα here, again, is not the Law itself, nor the enmity of Jew and Gentile {ο God (though most take it so), butrather the ἔχθρα previously mentioned—the enmity between Jew and Gentile. Further, the ἀποκτείνας which might denote an action coincident with that denoted by the main verb, or might define the way in which ‘the latter was made good, seems to have its proper sense of priority— after He had killed”’. He had first to kill this enmity between the two before He could bring them both into right relations to God in the way indicated, viz., in one body, as one great, united whole.
Ver. 17. καὶ ἐλθὼν εὐηγγελίσατο εἰ- ρήνην ὑμῖν τοῖς μακρὰν καὶ εἰρήνην τοῖς ἐγγύς: and He came and preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to them that were nigh. The TR reads simply καὶ τοῖς ἐγγύς (with KL, the mass of cursives, the Syr., εἴς). The primary
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