Ephesians 2:16

2:14-18 Jesus Christ made peace by the sacrifice of himself; in every sense Christ was their Peace, the author, centre, and substance of their being at peace with God, and of their union with the Jewish believers in one church. Through the person, sacrifice, and mediation of Christ, sinners are allowed to draw near to God as a Father, and are brought with acceptance into his presence, with their worship and services, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, as one with the Father and the Son. Christ purchased leave for us to come to God; and the Spirit gives a heart to come, and strength to come, and then grace to serve God acceptably.

Might reconcile (ἀποκαταλλάξῃ) Only here and Colossians 1:20, Colossians 1:21. See on Colossians 1:20. 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 Ephesians 2:12. Thereby (ἐν αὐτῷ) Or upon it - the cross.

And that he might reconcile both unto God; another end of Christ’s 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. In one body; either both people united as one mystical body, or rather this one body here, is the body of Christ offered up to God as the means of reconciliation, Colossians 1:22 . By the cross; i.e. by the sacrifice of himself upon the cross. Having slain the enmity thereby; the enmity between God and man, by the expiation of sin, the cause of it. Of this enmity the ceremonial law was a witness, Colossians 2:14 , as well as a sign of that between Jew and Gentile.

Ephesians 2:16 . Ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι , in one body ) fixed to the cross. To this is to be referred in ( by ) one spirit , Ephesians 2:18 ; comp. Ephesians 4:4 .— ἀποκτείνας τὴν ἔχθραν , having slain the enmity ) By His death , He slew the enmity against God Himself.— ἐν αὐτῷ ) in Him , viz. in His body .[33] Comp. what goes before. [33] Engl. Vers. has thereby , seemingly referring to the cross; “by it.” But Ephesians 2:15 , “Having abolished the enmity in His flesh ” shows Bengel’s view to be correct.—ED.

16. Translate, "might altogether reconcile them both in one body (the Church, Col 3:15) unto God through His cross." The Greek for "reconcile" (apocatalaxe), found only here and in Col 1:20, expresses not only a return to favor with one (catallage), but so to lay aside enmity that complete amity follows; to pass from enmity to complete reconciliation [Tittmann]. slain the enmity—namely, that had been between man and God; and so that between Jew and Gentile which had resulted from it. By His being slain, He slew it (compare Heb 2:14). thereby—Greek, "therein"; "in" or "by the cross," that is, His crucifixion (Col 2:15).

Verse 16. - And that he might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross. Exegetical of preceding statements, and making emphatic the fact of reconciliation to God on the same footing and by the same means ; both were to be reconciled in , one body (see Ephesians 4:4 ) and by the cross . No preference was to be given to the Jew facilitating his union to Christ: the Gentile was to be taken into Christ's body as readily as the Jew. In reference to the sense in which reconciliation was effected by the cross of Jesus, some say it was only as the cross demonstrated to men the love of God and his willingness to bless them; while others maintain very strongly that it was as providing a satisfaction to God's justice for their guilt, and thus enabling him to receive and bless the sinner. Not only the analogy of other passages of Scripture as well as of this Epistle justifies the latter view, but preeminently the words, "by the cross." If Christ had only to proclaim God's friendship toward sinners, why should he have suffered on the cross? The cross as a mere pulpit is hideous; as an altar it is glorious. The love of God is ill revealed, if it subjected Jesus to unnecessary agony. The love of both Father and Son is indeed commended, if the agony was voluntarily borne by the Son, and permitted by the Father, as being indispensable for the pardon of the sinner. ' Αποκαταλλάξῃ denotes the whole process of reconciliation (see Eadie).

Having slain the enmity thereby (or, thereon ). "The enmity" is the same as at the beginning of ver. 15 - the enmity of man to God. The destruction of this enmity is one of the effects of the cross, though not the only effect; it is necessary to root out the enmity of the carnal mind. That this is the meaning here seems plain from Romans 5:10 , "If, when we were enemies , we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." The apostle there makes no allusion to the enmity of Jew and Gentile to each other, but to this wider fact - τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς ἔχθρα εἰς Θεόν . If any words can denote the result of a propitiatory sacrifice, it is surely "reconciled to God by the death of his Son." Ephesians 2:16

(16) And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body. —In this verse the latter subject opens—the reconciliation of all to God. On the reconciliation of man to God, see the great passage 2Corinthians 5:18-21 . But it should be noted that in the original the word used here and in Colossians 1:20-21 (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 passage—“having 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 body”—that is, as throughout, His mystical body, the Church—although 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 Colossians 1:21 . There is a similar connection of thought in 1Corinthians 10:16-17 , “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

For we are all one bread, and one body.” By the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.—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 (Romans 7:11). This is illustrated by the cognate, though different, metaphor of Colossians 2:14, 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.” Compare also, in Galatians 2:19-20, the connection of spiritual “death to the Law” with our partaking of our Lord’s crucifixion: “I, through the Law, am dead to the Law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. . . . by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” By His death Christ has both redeemed us from sin, and also “redeemed (properly, bought) us from the curse of the Law” (Galatians 3:13).

16 . reconcile both unto God ] The Gr. verb here rendered “reconcile” occurs elsewhere (in exactly the same form) only Colossians 1:20-21 ; but a form nearly identical occurs e. g. Romans 5:10 ; 1 Corinthians 7:11 ; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 . 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 ( 2 Corinthians 5:19 ) “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 ,” reconciles the Church to God; effects its acceptance; secures the “non-imputation of trespasses” ( 2 Corinthians 5:19 ). “ Both ” : —here in the masculine plural; both great groups , Jewish and Gentile believers. in one body ] A phrase in contrast (see last note) to “both;” the two groups become the One Body, the One Man, of Ephesians 2:15 . by the cross ] 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, Colossians 1:20 (“the blood of the Cross”), and see above on Ephesians 1:7 . having slain the enmity thereby ] I.e. by the Cross, the Atoning Death.—“ The enmity: ”—that spoken of Ephesians 2:15 ; immediately, that between Jew and Gentile; ultimately (for this underlies the conditions of the existence of that other) that between man and God ( Romans 8:7 ).—“ Slain: ”—a word chosen, instead of e. g. “cancelled,” “abolished,” because the work was done through death . What was really, in final effect, executed 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. Colossians 2:14 .