16<\/strong>. reconcile both unto God<\/em> ] The Gr. verb here rendered “reconcile” occurs elsewhere (in exactly the same form) only Col 1:20-21<\/span>; but a form nearly identical occurs e. g.<\/em> Rom 5:10<\/span>; 1Co 7:11<\/span>; 2Co 5:18-20<\/span>. The idea of the verb is on the whole that of the propitiation of an alienated superior, to whom offending inferiors are, with his consent, led back as accepted suppliants. God (2Co 5:19<\/span>) “reconciled the world unto Himself” by providing, in His Son, the Divine pacification of the Divine displeasure against the world. Christ “reconciles us to God” by being and effecting that pacification. Hence Reconciliation, in practice, nearly approaches to both the ideas, Atonement and Justification. The Lord, here, “ by the cross<\/em>,” reconciles the Church to God; effects its acceptance; secures the “non-imputation of trespasses” (2Co 5:19<\/span>).<\/p>\n “ Both<\/em> ” :<\/em> here in the masculine plural; both great groups<\/em>, Jewish and Gentile believers.<\/p>\n in one body<\/em> ] A phrase in contrast (see last note) to “both;” the two groups become the One Body, the One Man, of Eph 2:15<\/span>.<\/p>\n by the cross<\/em> ] The only mention of it in this Epistle. Observe here, as consistently in the N. T., the isolation of the Lord’s Death from His Life-work, where ideas of atonement are in view; a fact most suggestive of the doctrine that that Death was a true and proper propitiatory Sacrifice, an altar-work, and not only a supreme act of self-sacrificing sympathy with man’s need and God’s holiness. For on the latter view there is no clear line of demarcation between the Death and the self-sacrificing Life. Cp. the parallel, Col 1:20<\/span> (“the blood of the Cross”), and see above on Eph 1:7<\/span>.<\/p>\n having slain the enmity thereby<\/em> ] I.e. by the Cross, the Atoning Death. “ The enmity:<\/em> ” that spoken of Eph 2:15<\/span>; immediately, that between Jew and Gentile; ultimately (for this underlies the conditions of the existence of that other) that between man and God (Rom 8:7<\/span>). “ Slain:<\/em> ” a word chosen, instead of e. g.<\/em> “cancelled,” “abolished,” because the work was done through death<\/em>. What was really, in final effect, executed<\/em> at Calvary was the obstacle to peace; whether peace in the sense of the harmony of redeemed souls, or peace in the sense of reconciliation to God, the basis of the other. Cp. Col 2:14<\/span>.<\/p>\n And that he might reconcile both unto God – <\/B>This was another of the effects of the work of redemption, and indeed the main effect. It was not merely to make them harmonious, but it was that both, who had been alienated from God, should be reconciled to him. This was a different effect from that of producing peace between themselves, though in some sense the one grew out of the other. They who are reconciled to God will be at peace with each other. They will feel that they are of the same family, and are all brethren. On the subject of reconciliation, see the notes on 2Co 5:18<\/span>.<\/P> In one body – <\/B>One spiritual personage – the church; see the notes at Eph 1:23<\/span>.<\/P> By the cross – <\/B>By the atonement which he made on the cross; see Col 1:20<\/span>; compare the notes at Rom 3:25<\/span>. It is by the atonement only that men ever become reconciled to God.<\/P> Having slain the enmity – <\/B>Not only the enmity between Jews and Gentiles, but the enmity between the sinner and God. He has by that death removed all the obstacles to reconciliation on the part of God and on the part of man. It is made efficacious in removing the enmity of the sinner against God, and producing peace.<\/P> Thereby – <\/B>Margin, in himself. The meaning is, in his cross, or by means of his cross.<\/P> <\/p>\n Eph 2:16<\/span><\/p>\n And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Cross, having slain the enmity thereby. <\/em><\/p>\n Reconciliation<\/strong><\/p>\n 1<\/strong>. <\/em><\/strong>Our reconciliation itself.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The order of it.<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> Incorporate in Christ.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> Concorporate with His members.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>To whom.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>The cause.<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> More remote–Himself crucified.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> More immediate–the abolishing of hatred in Himself.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Note and bewail thy natural condition.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>To become Gods friend, become a new creature.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The removal of that which was hateful.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The love of God is procured.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The fruits of His love are communicated.<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> Make sure of such reconcilement.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> Renew it after each breach.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>We see what we must look to, if the wrath of God stings us. Christ crucified is the propitiatory sacrifice.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>It confirms our faith, that the Lord Jesus will bring us to glory (Rom 5:10<\/span>).<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>A ground of exhortation to all, that they seek to be reconciled. We make the blood of Christ a vain thing, when we will not be reconciled to God. It is as if a traitor, in prison for treason, should still plot and practise more villainy; and when the prince has procured his pardon, should still conspire, and not listen to the benefit, nor set his heart to return into the kings favour. (Paul Bayne.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The power of the gospel to dissolve the enmity of the human heart against God<\/strong><\/p>\n Let us consider from this text, how it is that the gospel of Jesus Christ suits its application to the great moral disease of mans enmity to God. The necessity of some singular expedient for restoring the love of God to the alienated heart of man, will appear from the utter impossibility of bringing this about by any direct application of authority whatever. For, do you think, that the delivery of the law of love in his hearing, as a positive and indispensable enactment coming forth from the legislature of heaven, will do it? You may as well pass a law making it imperative upon him to delight in pain, and to feel comfort on a bed of torture. Or, do you think, that you will ever give a practical establishment to the law of love, by surrounding it with accumulated penalties? This may irritate or it may terrify; but for the purpose of begetting anything like attachment, one may as well think of lashing another into tender regard for him. Or, do you think, that the terrors of the coming vengeance will ever incline a human being to love the God who threatens him? Powerful as these terrors are in persuading man to turn from the evil of his ways; they most assuredly do not form the artillery by which the heart of man can be carried. They draw not forth a single affection, but the affection of fear. They never can charm the human bosom into a feeling of attachment to God. And it goes to prove the necessity of some singular expedient for restoring man to fellowship with his Maker, that the only obedience on which this fellowship can be perpetuated, is an obedience which no threatenings can force; to which no warnings of displeasure can reclaim; which all the solemn proclamations of law and justice cannot carry; and all the terrors and severities of a sovereignty resting on power as its only foundation can never subdue. This, then, is a case of difficulty; and, in the Bible, God is said to have lavished all the riches of His unsearchable wisdom on the business of managing it. No wonder that to His angels it appeared a mystery, and that they desired to look into it. It appears a matter of direct and obvious facility to intimidate man; and to bring his body into a forced subordination to all their requirements. But the great matter was how to attach man; how to work in him a liking to God and a relish for His character; or, in other words, how to communicate to human obedience that principle, without which it is no obedience at all; to make him serve God because he loved Him; and to run in the way of all His commandments, because this was the thing in which he greatly delighted himself. To lay upon us the demand of satisfaction for His violated law could not do it. To press home the claims of justice upon any sense of authority within us could not do it. To bring forward, in threatening array, the terrors of His judgment and of His power against us could not do it. To unveil the glories of that throne where He sitteth in equity, and manifest to His guilty creatures the awful inflexibilities of His truth and righteousness, could not do it. To look out from the cloud of vengeance, and trouble our darkened souls as He did those of the Egyptians of old, with the aspect of a menacing Deity, could not do it. To spread the field of an undone eternity before us; and tell us of those dreary abodes where each criminal hath his bed in hell, and the centuries of despair which pass over him are not counted, because there no seasons roll, and the unhappy victims of the tribulation, and the wrath, and the anguish, know, that for the mighty burden of the sufferings which weigh upon them, there is no end and no mitigation; this prospect, appalling as it is, and coming home upon the belief, with all the characters of the most immutable certainty, could not do it. The affections of the inner man remain as unmoved as ever, under the successive and repeated influence of all these dreadful applications. How, then, is this regeneration to be wrought, if no threatenings can work it; if no terrors of judgment can soften the heart into that love of God which forms the chief feature of repentance; if all the direct applications of law and of righteous authority, and of its tremendous and immutable sanctions, so far from attaching man in tenderness to his God, have only the effect of impressing a violent recoil upon all his affections, and, by the hardening influence of despair, of stirring up in his bosom a more violent antipathy than ever? Will the high and solemn proclamations of a menacing Deity not do it? This is not the way in which the heart of man can be carried. He is so constituted, that the law of love can never, never be established within him by the engine of terror; and here is the barrier to this regeneration on the part of man. But if a threat of justice cannot do it, will an act of forgiveness do it? This, again, is not the way in which God can admit the guilty to acceptance. He is so constituted, that His truth cannot be trampled upon; and His government cannot be despoiled of its authority: and its sanctions cannot, with impunity, be defied; and every solemn utterance of the Deity cannot but find its accomplishment in such a way as may vindicate His glory, and make the whole creation He has formed stand in awe of its Almighty Sovereign. And here is another barrier on the part of God; and that economy of redemption in which a dead and undiscerning world see no skilfulness to admire, and no feature of graciousness to allure, was so planned, in the upper counsels of heaven, that it maketh known to principalities and powers the manifold wisdom of Him who devised it. The men of this infidel generation, whose every faculty is so bedimmed by the grossness of sense, that they cannot lay hold of the realities of faith and cannot appreciate them; to them the barriers we have now insisted on, which lie in the way of man taking God into his love, and of God taking man into His acceptance, may appear to be so many faint and shadowy considerations, of which they feel not the significancy; but, to the pure and intellectual eye of angels, they are substantial obstacles, and One mighty to save had to travail in the greatness of His strength, in order to move them away. The Son of God descended from heaven, and He took upon Him the nature of man, and He suffered in his stead, and He consented that the whole burden of offended justice should fall upon Him, and He bore in His own body on the tree the weight of all those accomplishments by which His Father behoved to be glorified; and after having magnified the law and made it honourable, by pouring out His soul unto the death for us, He went up on high, and, by an arm of everlasting strength, levelled that wall of partition which lay across the path of acceptance; and thus it is, that the barrier on the part of God is done away, and He, with untarnished glory, can dispense forgiveness over the whole extent of a guilty creation, because He can be just, while He is the justifier of them who believe in Jesus. And if the barrier, on the part of God, is thus moved aside, why not the barrier on the part of man? Does not the wisdom of redemption show itself here also? Does it not embrace some skilful contrivance by which it penetrates those mounds that beset the human heart, and ward the entrance of the principle of love away from it, and which all the direct applications of terror and authority, have only the effect of fixing more immovably upon their basis? Yes, it does; for it changes the aspect of the Deity towards man; and were men only to have faith in the announcements of the gospel, so as to see God with the eye of his mind under this new aspect–love to God would spring up in his heart as the unfailing consequence. Let man see God as He sets Himself forth in this wonderful revelation, and let him believe the reality of what he sees, and he cannot but love the Being he is employed in contemplating. And thus it is, that the goodness of God destroyeth the enmity of the human heart. When every other argument fails, this, if perceived by the eye of faith, finds its powerful and persuasive way through every barrier of resistance. Try to approach the heart of man by the instruments of terror and of authority, and it will disdainfully repel you. There is not one of you, skilled in the management of human nature, who does not perceive, that though this may be a way of working on the other principles of our constitution–of working on the fears of man, or on his sense of interest, this is not the way of gaining by a single hairbreadth on the attachments of his heart. Such a way may force, or it may terrify, but it never can endear; and after all the threatening array of such an influence as this is brought to bear upon man, there is not one particle of service it can extort from him, but what is all rendered in the spirit of a painful and reluctant bondage. Now, this is not the service which prepares for heaven. This is not the service which assimilates men to angels. This is not the obedience of those glorified spirits, whose every affection harmonizes with their every performance; and the very essence of whose piety consists of delight in God, and the love they bear to Him. To bring up man to such an obedience as this, his heart behoved to be approached in a peculiar way; and no such way is to be found, but within the limits of the Christian revelation. There alone you see God, without injury to His other attributes, plying the heart of man with the irresistible argument of kindness. There alone do you see the great Lord of heaven and of earth, setting Himself forth to the most worthless and the most wandering of His children; putting forth His own hand to the work of healing the breach which sin hath made between them; telling him that His word could not be set aside, and His threatenings could not be mocked, and His justice could not be defied and trampled on, and that it was not possible for His perfections to receive the slightest taint in the eyes of the creation He had thrown around Him; but that all this was provided for, and not a single creature within the compass of the universe He had formed could now say, that forgiveness to man was degrading to the authority of God; and that by the very act of atonement, which poured a glory over all the high attributes of His character, His mercy might now burst forth without limit and without control upon a guilty world, and the broad flag of invitation be unfurled in the sight of all its families. (T. Chalmers, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Reconciliation through the Cross<\/strong><\/p>\n I do not know whether there is any truth in the statement of a correspondent that whatever part of the earth the lightning once strikes it never strikes again, but whether it be so or not, it is certain that wherever the lightning of Gods vengeance has once struck the sinners substitute it will not strike the sinner. The best preservative for the Israelites house was this–vengeance had struck there and could not strike again. There was the insurance mark, the blood streak. Death had been there, it had fallen upon a victim of Gods own appointment, and in His esteem it had fallen upon Christ, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. (C. H. Spurgeon.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Peace at the Cross<\/strong><\/p>\n When the Mohawk Indians desired to be on friendly terms with the white man once again, they sought an interview with the Governor of New York, and their spokesman began by saying, Where shall I seek the chair of peace? Where shall I find it but upon our path? and whither does our path lead us but unto this house? Is it not so that men come into the sanctuary and approach the throne of grace, desiring peace, asking peace, and feeling that peace is to be found nowhere else but there?<\/p>\n Christs Cross<\/strong><\/p>\n Krummacher describes the mysterious Cross as a rock, against which the very waves of the curse break: as a lightning conductor, by which the destroying, fluid descends, which would have otherwise destroyed the world with its fire. And Jesus, who mercifully engaged to direct the thunderbolt against Himself, does so while hanging yonder in profound darkness upon the Cross. There He is, as the connecting link between heaven and earth; His bleeding arms extending wide, stretched out to every sinner: hands pointed to the east and west, indicating the gathering in of the world of man to His fold. The Cross is directed to the sky, as the place of His final triumph of the work in redemption; and its foot fixed in the earth like a tree, from whose wondrous branches we gather the precious fruit of an eternal reconciliation to God and the Father. (Caughey.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 16. That he might reconcile both – in one body<\/B><\/I>] That the Jews and Gentiles, believing on the Lord Jesus, might lay aside all their causes of contention, and become one spiritual body<\/I>, or society<\/I> of men, influenced by the Spirit<\/I>, and acting according to the precepts<\/I> of the Gospel<\/I>.<\/P> <\/P> Having slain the enmity thereby<\/B><\/I>] Having, by his death upon the cross, made reconciliation between God and man, and by his Spirit in their hearts removed the enmity<\/I> of their fallen, sinful nature. Dr. Macknight thinks that abolishing the enmity<\/I> is spoken of the removal of the hatred<\/I> which the Jews and Gentiles mutually bore to each other, because of the difference<\/I> of their respective<\/I> religious worship<\/I>; and that slaying<\/I> the enmity<\/I> refers to the removal<\/I> of evil lusts<\/I> and affections<\/I> from the heart of man, by the power of Divine grace. This is nearly the sense given above.<\/P><\/p>\n And that he might reconcile both unto God; <\/B>another end of Christs abolishing the ceremonial law, viz. that he might reconcile both Jew and Gentile (all the elect together) unto God: and in this respect especially he is our peace. <\/P> In one body; <\/B>either both people united as one mystical body, or rather this one body<\/I> here, is the body of Christ offered up to God as the means of reconciliation, Col 1:22<\/span>. <\/P> By the cross; <\/B>i.e. by the sacrifice of himself upon the cross. <\/P> Having slain the enmity thereby; <\/B>the enmity between God and man, by the expiation of sin, the cause of it. Of this enmity the ceremonial law was a witness, Col 2:14<\/span>, as well as a sign of that between Jew and Gentile. <\/P> <\/p>\n 16.<\/B> Translate, “mightaltogether reconcile them both in one body (the Church, Col3:15<\/span>) unto God through His cross.” The Greek<\/I> for”reconcile” (apocatalaxe<\/I>), found only here and inCol 1:20<\/span>, expresses not only areturn to favor with one (catallage<\/I>), but so to lay asideenmity that complete amity follows; to pass from<\/I> enmity tocomplete reconciliation<\/I> [TITTMANN].<\/P> slain the enmity<\/B>namely,that had been between man and God; and so that between Jew andGentile which had resulted from it. By His being slain,<\/I> Heslew<\/I> it (compare Heb 2:14<\/span>).<\/P> thereby<\/B>Greek,<\/I>“therein”; “in” or “by the cross,” thatis, His crucifixion (Col 2:15<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n And that he might reconcile both unto God<\/strong>,…. This is another end of the abrogation of the ceremonial law: the Jews had run up a long score against the ceremonial law, as well as against the moral law; and Christ by fulfilling it for them, and thereby abrogating it, reconciled them; and the Gentiles could not be reconciled together with them, without the abrogation of it: and this reconciliation of them is made to God, who was the person offended; and who yet first set on foot a reconciliation, in which his glory is greatly concerned; and reconciliation with others depends upon reconciliation with him: and this is made<\/p>\n in one body by the cross<\/strong>; by which “body” is meant, the human body of Christ, which the Father prepared for him, and he assumed, and that in order to make reconciliation for his people; and is said to be “one” body, because it was in one and the same body, which he reconciled both Jews and Gentiles unto God, and in or by one sacrifice of that body; reconciliation being so effectually made by it that there is no need of a reiteration: or the sense is, he reconciled them into “one body”; into one mystical body, the church, of which he is head; and this he did “by the cross”, that is, by his blood shed on the cross, or by his suffering the death of the cross; which shows that reconciliation is made in a way of satisfaction to the law and justice of God, by Christ’s bearing the penalty of the law, and suffering the strokes of justice on the cross; and expresses the efficacy of his blood and sacrifice, and the greatness of his condescension and love:<\/p>\n having slain the enmity thereby<\/strong>; the ceremonial law, as before; and the slaying it is the same with abolishing it; unless the enmity between God and man is meant, which was slain by removing the cause of it, sin; and which laid a foundation for the slaying of it in the hearts of his people in regeneration, when sin is made odious to them, and they are reconciled to God’s way of salvation; hence being slain in both senses, peace with God can never be broken.<\/p>\n And might reconcile <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). Final clause with <\/SPAN><\/span> understood of first aorist active subjunctive of <\/SPAN><\/span> for which see Col 1:20<\/span>; Col 1:22<\/span>.<\/P> Them both <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). “The both,” “the two” ( <\/SPAN><\/span>), Jew and Gentile.<\/P> In one body <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). The “one new man” of verse 15<\/span> of which Christ is Head (1:23<\/span>), the spiritual church. Paul piles up metaphors to express his idea of the Kingdom of God with Christ as King (the church, the body, the commonwealth of Israel, oneness, one new man in Christ, fellow-citizens, the family of God, the temple of God).<\/P> Thereby <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). On the Cross where he slew the enmity (repeated here) between Jew and Gentile. <\/P> <\/p>\n Might reconcile [] <\/SPAN><\/span>. Only here and Col 1:20<\/span>, <\/P> Eph 2:2<\/span>1See on Col 1:20<\/span>. The new man precedes the reconciling in Paul ‘s statement, though, as a fact, the order is the reverse. The verb contains a hint of restoration to a primal unity. See on ver. 12. <\/P> Thereby [ <\/SPAN><\/span>] . Or upon it – the cross. <\/P> Eph 2:1<\/span>7You which were afar off. Gentiles. <\/P> Them that were nigh. Jews. See on Rom 3:30<\/span>. As children of the messianic covenant. See on ver. 12. Compare Isa 57:9<\/span>, where the Septuagint reads, peace upon peace to those who are far and to those who are near.<\/P> <\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n 1) “And that he might reconcile both”<\/strong> (kai apokatalakse tous amphoterous) “And in order that He might reconcile both,” Jews and Gentiles; in order that He might remove occasion for racial barriers to equality in worship in the one church body for Jews and Gentiles, 1Co 12:12-13<\/span>.<\/p>\n 2) “Unto God in one body”<\/strong> (en emi somati to theo) “To God in one body,” church body, assembly, congregation, temple or fellowship of worship. Reconciliation to God for the Jew and Gentile is effected by personal trust in Jesus Christ and reconciliation for their worship in one church body as baptized believers was also provided in the death of Christ, 1Co 12:27<\/span>.<\/p>\n 3) “By the cross”<\/strong> (dia tou staurou) “Through the cross. Reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles to God, as one in salvation, was through the cross body of Jesus Christ, in which He bore our sins in His body on the tree. In this death He also purchased and sealed the ownership of His church body as an earthly place of reconciliation in worship, without barriers.<\/p>\n 4) “Having slain the enmity thereby”<\/strong> (apokteinas ten echthran en auto) “Slaying or killing the enmity or bitterness in Himself,” through His death on the cross, Col 1:20-21<\/span>; 2Co 5:18-21<\/span>. Reconciliation to God from enmity and condemnation to love and justification comes through the cross body death of Jesus Christ to the sinner; and removal of enmity, division, friction, and resentment of Jews toward Gentiles in worship was also provided in the shedding of His blood, by which He not only saved lost men, but also purchased the church as an ,assembly body through which both Jews and Gentiles might worship without “inner” or “outer” courts or barriers, Eph 4:4<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n 16. And that he might reconcile both. The reconciliation between ourselves which has now been described is not the only advantage which we derive from Christ. We have been brought back into favor with God. The Jews are thus led to consider that they have not less need of a Mediator than the Gentiles. Without this, neither the Law, nor ceremonies, nor their descent from Abraham, nor all their dazzling prerogatives, would be of any avail. We are all sinners; and forgiveness of sins cannot be obtained but through the grace of Christ. He adds, in one body, to inform the Jews, that to cultivate union with the Gentiles will be well-pleasing in the sight of God. <\/p>\n By the cross. The word cross is added, to point out the propitiatory sacrifice. Sin is the cause of enmity between God and us; and, until it is removed, we shall not be restored to the Divine favor. It has been blotted out by the death of Christ, in which he offered himself to the Father as an expiatory victim. There is another reason, indeed, why the cross is mentioned here, as it is through the cross that all ceremonies have been abolished. Accordingly, he adds, slaying the enmity thereby. These words, which unquestionably relate to the cross, may admit of two senses, — either that Christ, by his death, has turned away from us the Father’s anger, or that, having redeemed both Jews and Gentiles, he has brought them back into one flock. The latter appears to be the more probable interpretation, as it agrees with a former clause, abolishing in his flesh the enmity. (Eph 2:15<\/span>.) <\/p>\n (16) And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body.<\/strong>In this verse the latter subject opensthe reconciliation of all to God. On the reconciliation of man to God, see the great passage 2Co. 5:18-21<\/span>. But it should be noted that in the original the word used here and in Col. 1:20-21<\/span> (and nowhere else) is a compound signifying not simply to conciliate, but properly to reconcile,that is to reunite those who were originally united, but afterwards separated by the sin of man. This brings out the profound idea, which so especially characterises these Epistles, of a primeval unity of all created being in Christ, marred and broken by sin, and restored by His manifestation in human flesh. Note that the passage in the Colossians (on which see Notes) has a far wider scope than this passagehaving made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him (I say), whether they be things on earth or things in heaven. On the other hand, this passage characteristically still lays stress on the idea in one bodythat is, as throughout, His mystical body, the Churchalthough probably the phrase is suggested here by the thought of the natural body of the Lord offered on the cross, which is clearly referred to in Col. 1:21<\/span>. There is a similar connection of thought in 1Co. 10:16-17<\/span>, The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we are all one bread, and one body.<\/p>\n By the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.<\/strong>In this verse (in accordance with the context) the enmity, which by His death He slew, is the barrier between God and man, created by sin, but brought out by the Law, as hard and rigid law, in ordinances of which St. Paul does not hesitate to say that sin took occasion by it, and by it slew man (Rom. 7:11<\/span>). This is illustrated by the cognate, though different, metaphor of Col. 2:14<\/span>, where it is said of Christ that He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances which was against us, which was contrary unto us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.<\/em> Compare also, in Gal. 2:19-20<\/span>, the connection of spiritual death to the Law with our partaking of our Lords crucifixion: I, through the Law, am dead to the Law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ, <\/em>nevertheless I live. . . . by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.<\/em> By His death Christ has both redeemed us from sin, and also redeemed (properly, bought<\/em>) us from the curse of the Law (Gal. 3:13<\/span>).<\/p>\n 16<\/strong>. <\/strong> Reconcile<\/strong> The anticipation and commencement of the final reconciliation, (Col 1:20<\/span>,) which is identical with the gather together <\/strong> of Eph 1:10<\/span>. <\/p>\n In one body<\/strong> Threefold of Jew and Gentile in Christ. <\/p>\n Enmity<\/strong> As above. <\/p>\n Thereby<\/strong> By the cross<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Eph 2:16<\/span> . Continuation of the sentence expressive of the design. Christ has by His death done away with the law, in order to make the Jew and the Gentile into one new man (Eph 2:15<\/span> ), and<\/em> (and consequently) so to accomplish the reconciliation of both with God, that they should as one body be reconciled with God through the cross, after He has slain thereon the enmity which hitherto existed between them<\/em> .<\/p>\n ] is the and<\/em> of the sequence of thought; from what was before said resulted the way and manner<\/em> of the reconciliation of the two with God; hence also . is prefixed<\/em> .<\/p>\n , only here and Col 1:20<\/span> ; in the other Greek writings only is preserved, which is not<\/em> distinguished from (in opposition to Tittmann, Synon<\/em> . p. 101; see Fritzsche, ad Rom.<\/em> I. p. 276 ff.). The composition with may, after the analogy of other compounds with (comp. , , al.<\/em> ), denote again<\/em> (Calvin: “ reduxerit<\/em> in unum grogem,” also Harless), but it may also (comp. , , al.<\/em> ) strengthen<\/em> the notion of the reconciliation. The latter is better adapted to the context ( ; and see Eph 2:18<\/span> ). In opposition to Hofmann’s conversion of the notion into that of the restoration of fellowship with God, see on Col 1:20<\/span> . We may add that . does not apply to the mutual<\/em> reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles (Grotius, according to whom is then equivalent to ut Deo serviant!<\/em> ), but, as the express says ( Rom 5:10 ; 2Co 5:18<\/span> ; 2Co 5:20<\/span> ), to the reconciliation of both with God<\/em> , whose wrath, namely, against sinners Christ has by His changed into grace. Comp. on Col 1:21<\/span> ; 2Co 5:18<\/span> ; Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>By nature we are at enmity with God.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>In Christ is reconciliation made.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>We must be incorporated with Christ before we can be reconciled to God. This incorporation is in the Church, which is Christs body. Let us take care that we have it.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>Christ, by offering himself upon the cross, has made peace between God and us.<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n