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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
2:11-22 Unity and Peace of Christ. Paul continues the theme of the new creation which he introduced in v. 10. In the previous sections God had been the main subject of the action, but now the focus falls on Christ Jesus and his redemption. There are three subsections: vv. 11-15, 16-18, and 19-22.
2:11-15 Unity of Christ's People. Christ makes peace between Jew and Gentile to unify both in the church. There is only one unified people of God.
2:11 the circumcision. That is, the Jews. To be called "uncircumcised" was a Jewish term of derision (see 1 Sam. 17:26 and note on Acts 15:1) and signified that one was a Gentile, outside the covenant people of God.
2:12 separated. To be separated from OT Israel was to be separated from Christ, because "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22; Rom. 9:4-5). commonwealth. For "citizenship" and strangers, see note on Eph. 2:19. covenants of promise. God administered his OT redemption and promises by his oath-bound covenants (Luke 1:72-73), the chief of which were the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants. The new covenant fulfills all the divine promises (2 Cor. 1:20; Heb. 7:20-22; 8:6; 9:15). Note that Paul believed that all Gentiles apart from Christ were unsaved and without God.
2:13 in Christ Jesus. The old division of all people into two classifications, Jews or Gentiles (Acts 14:5; Rom. 3:29; 9:24; 1 Cor. 1:23), or Jews and Greeks (John 7:35; Acts 14:1; 18:4; Rom. 3:9; 1 Cor. 1:22, 24; etc.), has been transcended by a new entity in Christ: "the church of God" (1 Cor. 10:32). near. To be brought near means to have access to God (see Eph. 2:18). blood. Christ's substitutionary death. He died not only for the Jews but for all his sheep (John 10:16), even those who are far off (cf. Acts 2:39).
2:14 peace. This refers to the state of harmonious friendship with God and with one another in the church. made us both one. That is, Jews and Gentiles. The opposite of peace is the hostility that Christ has quenched. Christ created a unified new people from the old hostile camps (Col. 3:15; cf. John 17:20-21). in his flesh. This refers to Christ's bodily death on the cross (see Eph. 2:16). dividing wall. There was an inscription on the wall of the outer courtyard of the Jerusalem temple warning Gentiles that they would only have themselves to blame for their death if they passed beyond it into the inner courts. Paul may or may not be alluding to this wall, but it well illustrates Christ's reconciliation of all people into a new humanity (see v. 15).
2:15 law. The additional mention of commandments and ordinances identifies this as the Mosaic law, which included many commandments that served to separate Israel from the other nations. Thus the law was a "dividing wall" (v. 14) which Christ has abolished or rendered powerless both by fulfilling it and by removing believers from the law's condemnation (see Matt. 5:17; Rom. 8:1; Heb. 9:11-14; 10:1-10). The result is a new man, denoting a new human race under the second Adam (Christ), in whose image the Christian is re-created (1 Cor. 15:45, 49; see also Eph. 4:24).
