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Daily Devotions

Ephesians

Ephesians 
Day 
Day 91

"Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace."

Text: Ephesians 2:15

 

A CLOSER LOOK AT “THE WALL OF SEPARATION”

A wall that can separate Jews and Gentiles must be examined in even greater detail. In this revealing text, Paul makes some startling observations.

“The Enmity”

The word “enmity” (“echthran”) suggests the idea of “hostility”. Jews and Gentiles were actually hostile to each other. The task of the Lord Jesus was to bring about peace between two hostile groups.

“The law of commandments contained in ordinances”

Wherein lay the hostility? Paul’s suggestion was accurate, even if it is a little difficult to fathom. How could “the law of commandments” end up becoming the wall of separation between Jews and Gentile?

1. Was there something wrong with “the law of commandments?

Of course not! The psalmist David was right when he penned these words,

“The law of the LORD is perfect,
converting the soul”
PSALM 19:7

2. Expressions of “the law”

The clue may be found in the phrase Paul employed, “The law of commandments contained in ordinances.” Three things stand out:-

a) The idea of “the law” (“nomos”)

The Scriptures are very clear about how God gave “the law” to Israel through the hand of Moses (Cf. Exodus 20).

b) The idea of “commandments” (“entole”)

The law that God gave to Moses contained what is commonly called “The Ten Commandment”. These laws were the essence of all the laws God gave to the nation of Israel.

c) The idea of “ordinance” (“dogma”)

The commandments of God were communicated through “ordinances”. These ordinances covered many and very different aspects of faith and life.

3. Wherein lay the problem?

The problem does not lie with God giving His commandments. The difficulty lay in the way the Jews understood and interpreted the laws of God.

a) The Jews were capable of being very “dogmatic” in their application of the ordinances.
b) They were capable of being totally insensitive and rude to Gentiles who did not know their ordinances.

The end result was that “the ordinances” became “a middle wall of separation”.