Reunification in Jesus Christ

(Ephesians 2:14-16)

On November 10, 1989 the world saw one of the great symbols of peace occur when the Berlin wall came down. The nation of Germany, had been separated into East and West Germany effectively since the division of Germany after World War 2, and physically separated by the wall for nearly thirty years when the wall was built in 1961.

But while the removal of the wall was a great sign of peace as the two former halves of Germany reunified, it was not without significant challenges. The process of reunification was not a peaceful process as unemployment soared and the West German economy became strained having to support the deficiencies left behind from the former communist East German regime. Bitterness occurred between the peoples of both sides as the peace process proceeded and relations were often strained.

Breaking down the wall was a great sign of a coming peace, and likewise in the creation of one nation under God, there is a similar breaking down of walls. But unifying people under God is built upon a better process that is based on and leas to peace, firstly with God and then with each other. These scriptures show us the path.

Breaking Down Walls

In Jesus Christ we can have true peace between people. In my last post I described how Christians were becoming one nation under God. These few verses today explain how that goal is achieved.

It is not possible to be a single nation, united in mind and spirit, unless all of the barriers that exist between people are removed.

Here we see how God has achieved that goal, and the mechanism for creating one nation under God was achieved through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We see in the first of these verses today that Jesus has broken down the walls of hostility.

“14 For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14)

What are the hostilities that separate people? Hatred? Bias? Prejudice? Racial tensions? Jealousy and envy? All of these and more. In this section Paul also speaks about the separation of Jews and Gentiles, and that is simply a division based upon a form of racial hostility.

The Jews believed they were the chosen people by God and that God had rejected all other peoples. They had grown arrogant and proud in their belief and thus were often referred to as being a “stiff-necked people, hard of heart.” This was one of the ways that a division was established between peoples.

However, all of humanity, regardless of race, suffers from the same plague passed down through the generations from Adam and Eve. It is the plague of sin and sinfulness that separates man from God and stands between one man and his fellow man.

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all; for I have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:9-10)

Sin is the real dividing wall of hostility that separates us, and the law is the power of sin that constantly condemns us.

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” (1 Corinthians 15:56)

If sin could be dealt with, then the dividing wall that stands between man and God, as well as the things that divide people could be removed.

And they have been removed through Jesus Christ, as we see in the ensuing scriptures in this section today.

Peace in Jesus Christ

The next few verses explain how God has achieved this unification of all peoples to become one nation under God. In Jesus Christ He has broken down all of the walls of hostility, as will be seen.

15 by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. (Ephesians 2:15-16)

Look at what was achieved by the death of Jesus Christ.

In His death He abolished the law of commandments and ordinances. To abolish something is to remove it so that it no longer has any power.

What that means for us is that these laws have been taken away in Jesus Christ. When we enter into the death of Jesus Christ, taking His death as our own, we die to the laws of commandments and ordinances so that they no longer have any power over us. We are set free from the law.

Now this freedom is not just for Jews, but for Gentiles also, and that means everyone in the world has the opportunity to enter into the freedom offered by Jesus Christ. We do not “automatically” get this freedom, but must enter it through faith in Jesus Christ and by following the processes to receive His freedom, which I will discuss in a moment.

But as to breaking down the walls of hostility between peoples and nations, we are all born again and born from above in Jesus Christ. We are reborn as new creations in Jesus Christ. We have all become one in Jesus Christ, unified in Him and in His righteousness.

There is not a separate peace process for Jews and one for Gentiles. We are all created as ONE new man in Jesus Christ in place of the two, as this scripture says. And if we are one, then there is no opportunity for division or hostility because one man does not fight against himself. And so we have peace together because we all come together as one in Christ.

The Process of Reunification

I mentioned that the release from the law and the freedom possible in Jesus Christ does not happen automatically. The law still exists and the majority of people in the world are still under the law. We see Jesus mention this when He said:

17 “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. 18 For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18)

As this scripture shows from the words of Jesus Himself, the law will remain until all things have been accomplished. It is still in full effect today.

And you may wonder how this scripture reconciles with the words we are looking at today, for Jesus says He did not come to abolish the law, but the words in Ephesians 2:15 show us that He abolished the law of commandments and ordinances in His flesh, that is, His death. How can this be? How do we reconcile these two seemingly opposed positions?

It is quite simple really. Jesus provided an escape from the law for those who have faith and take on His death as their own. For those who do this the law has been effectively abolished because in His death we are set free from the law. We are separated from the law and no longer under it’s power by the faith we have in Jesus Christ.

But for those who do not have faith in Jesus Christ or have not yet taken His death as their own, they are still under the law in its full effect. The law still rules their lives and they will be judged by the law. For them, the law has not been abolished as they have not taken the escape offered by entering the death of Jesus Christ to become a new creation and to be set free from the law.

So the obvious question that arises is: What is the process by which we can be set free from law?

The answer is baptism in water.

Baptism in water is the symbolic death we go through to die with Jesus Christ. As we go down into the waters of baptism we symbolically die with Christ, and as we are lifted up from the waters of baptism we are resurrected with Him.

But it doesn’t end there with just the symbolism. It all depends on faith.

What we believe in faith about our baptism is crucial to the release we can receive from the law. We MUST believe that we have died with Christ and that His death is now OUR death. We have entered into His death and His resurrection, and by faith we take these as our own.

We must believe that we have died and been raised again as new creations through the process of baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we truly believe these things, then we are released from the law and are set free from sin. Then we are truly new creations in Jesus Christ, and then we become the children of God in faith.

Jesus died so that we could take His death as our own to be set free from sin and from the law. If we do not follow the process that He set forth for us, then we cannot expect to receive the things that He offers us. You cannot expect to be set free from sin and the law if you do not go through the baptism into Jesus Christ according to the processes defined in the bible.

And there are other things that we must do in accordance with the scripture to receive the blessings and promises of God. If we do not follow the instructions He provides, then we cannot expect to receive the promises.

Even Jesus Christ Himself showed that He had to follow the correct processes. Recall His conversation with John the Baptist when Jesus came for baptism.

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then he consented. (Matthew 3:13-15)

Jesus did not need to be baptised by John and John knew it and would have prevented Him. But the words of Jesus are quite telling. He showed that it was through the process of baptism that all the requirements of righteousness would be fulfilled, even though Jesus was righteous.

There was a process to follow and even Jesus had to follow it so as to do all that was required by God. And if Jesus had to do it, why would we be any different? How can anyone say today that baptism is unnecessary when Jesus showed clearly how important it was as part of the process of receiving righteousness.

And what is righteousness anyway? Righteousness is to be without sin.

In baptism we die to sin and God wipes away all of our past sins, AND as we see above, He also sets us free from the laws of commandments and ordinances by accepting the death of Jesus Christ as our own, which we do through baptism so that there can be no future sin, because sin is the breaking of the law. Consider these two scriptures as evidence of these things.

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4)

And;

4 Every one who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4)

This is how the dividing walls of hostility between man and God are broken down. This is how we are reconciled to God. It is through being baptised into Jesus Christ’s death and by faith taking His death as our own that we are released from sin and from the law.

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