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SECT. IV.

CHAP. II. 11—22.

CONTENTS.

FROM this doctrine of his, in the foregoing section, that God of his free grace, according to his purpose from the beginning, had quickened and raised the convert gentiles, together with Christ, and seated them with Christ, in his heavenly kingdom; St. Paul here, in this section, draws this inference, to keep them from judaizing, that, though they (as was the state of the heathen world) were heretofore, by being uncircumcised, 'shut out from the kingdom of God, strangers from the covenants of promise, without hope, and without God in the world; yet they were, by Christ, who had taken away the ceremonial law, that wall of partition, that kept them in that state of distance and opposition, now received, without any subjecting them to the law of Moses, to be the people of God, and had the same admittance into the kingdom of God, with the jews themselves, with whom they were now created into one new man, or body of men, so that they were no longer to look on themselves, any more, as aliens, or remoter from the kingdom of God, than the jews

themselves.

TEXT.

11 Wherefore, remember that ye being, in time past, gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision, by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh, made by hands;

PARAPHRASE.

11 Wherefore remember, that ye, who were heretofore gentiles, distinguished and separated from the jews, who are circumcised by a circumcision made with hands, in their flesh, by your not being circumcised in your flesh,

NOTE.

11 a This separation was so great, that, to a jew, the uncircumcised gentiles were counted so polluted and unclean, that they were not shut out, barely from their holy places and service; but from their tables and ordinary conversation

TEXT.

12 That, at that time, ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

13 But now in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes were far off, are made nigh, by the blood of Christ.

14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

15 Having abolished, in his flesh, the enmity, even the law of com

PARAPHRASE.

12 Were, at that time, without all knowledge of the Messiah, or any expectation of deliverance, or salvation, by him; aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, not having any hope of any such thing, and living in the world without having the true God for your God, or your being his 13 people. But now you, that were formerly remote and

at a distance, are, by Jesus Christ, brought near by his 14 death'. For it is he, that reconcileth us to the jews, and hath brought us and them, who were before at an irreconcileable distance, into unity one with another, by removing the middle wall of partition", that kept us at 15 a distance, Having taken away the cause of enmity', or

NOTES.

12 b That this is the meaning of being "without Christ," here, is evident from this, that what St. Paul says here, is to show the different state of the gentiles, from that of the jews, before the coming of our Saviour.

< Who were alone, then, the people of God.

d" Covenants." God, more than once, renewed his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the children of Israel, that, upon the conditions proposed, he would be their God, and they should be his people.

e It is in this sense, that the gentiles are called to; for there were few of them atheists, in our sense of the word, i. e. denying superiour powers; and many of them acknowledged one supreme, eternal God; but as St. Paul says, Rom. i. 21, "When they knew God, they glorified him not as God;" they owned not him alone, but turned away from him, the invisible God, to the worship of images, and the false gods of their countries.

13 f How this was done, the following words explain, and Col. ii. 14.

14 Hu, "our," in this verse, must signify persons in the same condition with those he speaks to, under the pronoun us, "ye," in the foregoing verse, or else the apostle's argument, here, would be wide, and not conclusive; but "ye," in the foregoing verse, incontestibly signifies the convert gentiles, and so therefore must nu in this verse.

h See Col. i. 20.

15 It was the ritual law of the jews, that kept them, and the gentiles, at an

PARAPHRASE.

distance, between us, by abolishing* that part of the law,

NOTES.

irreconcileable distance; so that they could come to no terms of a fair correspondence, the force whereof was so great, that even after Christ was come, and had put an end to the obligation of that law; yet it was almost impossible to bring them together; and this was that which, in the beginning, most obstructed the progress of the gospel, and disturbed the gentile converts.

"By abolishing." I do not remember that the law of Moses, or any part of it, is, by an actual repeal, any where abrogated; and yet we are told here, and in other places of the New Testament, that it is abolished. The want of a right understanding of what this abolishing was, and how it was brought about, has, I suspect, given occasion to the misunderstanding of several texts of sacred scripture; I beg leave, therefore, to offer what the sacred scripture seems to me to suggest concerning this matter, till a more thorough inquiry, by some abler hand, shall be made into it. After the general revolt and apostacy of mankind, from the acknowledgment and worship of the one, only, true, invisible God, their maker, the children of Israel, by a voluntary submission to him, and acknowledgment of him to be their God and supreme Lord, came to be his people, and he, by a peculiar covenant, to be their King, and thus erected to himself a kingdom in this world, out of that people, to whom he gave a law by Moses, which was to be the law of the israelites, his people, with a purpose at the same time, that he would, in due season, transfer this his kingdom, in this world, into the hands of the Messiah, whom he intended to send into the world, to be the prince and ruler of his people, as he had foretold and promised to the jews. Into which kingdom of his, under his Son, he purposed also, and foretold, that he would admit and incorporate the other nations of the earth, as well as those of the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were to come into this his enlarged kingdom, upon new terms, that he should then propose: and that those, and those only, should from henceforth be his people. And thus it came to pass, that, though the law, which was given by Moses, to the israelites, was never re. pealed, and so ceased not to be the law of that nation; yet it ceased to be the law of the people and kingdom of God, in this world; because the jews, not receiving him to be their King, whom God had sent, to be the King, and sole ruler of his kingdom for the future, ceased to be the people of God, and the subjects of God's kingdom. And thus Jesus Christ, by his death, entering into his kingdom, having then fulfilled all, that was required of him, for the obtaining of it, put an end to the law of Moses, opening another way to all people, both jews and gentiles, into the kingdom of God, quite different from the law of ordinances, given by Moses, viz. faith in Jesus Christ, by which, and which alone, every one, that would, had now admittance into the kingdom of God, by the one plain, easy, and simple ceremony of baptism. This was that which, though it was also foretold, the jews understood not, having a very great opinion of themselves, because they were the chosen people of God; and of their law, because God was the author of it; and so concluded, that both they were to remain the people of God for ever, and also, that they were to remain so, under that same law, which was never to be altered; and so never understood what was foretold them, of the kingdom of the Messiah, in respect of the ceasing of their law of ordinances, and the admittance of the gentiles, upon the same terms with them, into the kingdom of the Messiah; which, therefore, St. Paul calls, over and over again, a mystery, and a mystery hidden from ages.

Now he, that will look a little farther into this kingdom of God, under these two different dispensations, of the law and the gospel, will find, that it was erected by God, and men were recalled into it, out of the general apostacy from

:

NOTE.

their Lord and maker, for the unspeakable good and benefit of those who, by entering into it, returned to their allegiance, that thereby they might be brought into a way and capacity of being restored to that happy state, of eternal life, which they had all lost in Adam; which it was impossible they could ever recover, whilst they remained worshippers and vassals of the devil, and so out-laws and enemies to God, in the kingdom, and under the dominion of Satan; since the most biassed and partial inclination of an intelligent being could never expect that God should reward rebellion and apostacy with eternal happiness, and take men, that were actually vassals and adorers of his arch-enemy the devil, and immediately give them eternal bliss, with the enjoyment of pleasures in his presence, and at his right hand for evermore. The kingdom of God, therefore, in this world, was, as it were, the entrance of the kingdom of God in the other world, and the receptacle and place of preparation of those, who aimed at a share in that eternal inheritance. And hence the people of the jews were called holy, chosen, and sons of God; as were afterwards the christians, called saints, elect, beloved, and children of God, &c. But there is this remarkable difference to be observed, in what is said of the subjects of this kingdom, under the two different dispensations of the law and the gospel, that the converts to christianity, and professors of the gospel, are often termed and spoken of, as saved, which I do not remember that the jews, or proselytes, members of the commonwealth, any where are the reason whereof is, that the conditions of that covenant, whereby they were made the people of God, under that constitution of God's kingdom, in this world, was, "do this, and live;" but "he, that continues not "in all these things to do them, shall die." But the condition of the covenant, whereby they became the people of God, in the constitution of his kingdom, under the Messiah, is, " believe, and repent, and thou shalt be saved, i. e. take "Christ for thy Lord, and do sincerely but what thou canst to keep his law, and "thou shalt be saved;" in the one of which, which is, therefore, called the covenant of works, those, who are actually in that kingdom, could not attain the everlasting inheritance: and in the other, called the covenant of grace, those, who, if they would but continue as they began, i. e. in the state of faith and repentance, i. e. in a submission to, and owning of Christ, and a steady, unrelenting resolution of not offending against his law, would not miss it, and so might truly be said to be saved, they being in an unerring way to salvation. And thus we see, how the law of Moses is, by Christ, abolished, under the gospel, not by any actual repeal of it: but is set aside, by ceasing to be the law of the kingdom of God, translated into the hands of the Messiah, and set up under him; which kingdom so erected contains all that God now does, or will own to be his people, in this world. This way of abolishing of the law, did not make those observ ances unlawful to those who, before their conversion to the gospel, were circumcised, and under the law; they were indifferent things, which the converted jews might, or might not observe, as they found convenient: that which was unlawful, and contrary to the gospel, was the making those ritual observances necessary to be joined with faith, in believers, for justification, as we see they did, who, Acts xv. taught the brethren, that, unless they were circumcised, after the manner of Moses, they could not be saved; so that the nailing of it to Christ's cross, Col. ii. 14, was the taking away, from thenceforth, all obligation for any one to be circumcised, and to put himself under the observances of the law, to become one of the people of God; but was no prohibition to any one, who was circumcised before conversion, to observe them. And accordingly we see, Gal. ii. 11, that what St. Paul blames in St. Peter, was "compelling the gentiles to "live as the jews do:" had not that been the case, he would no more have blamed his carriage at Antioch, than he did his observing the law at Jerusalem.

The apostle here tells us, what part of the mosaical law it was, that Christ put an end to, by his death, viz. rò séper táv inlehûr i, doluaci," the law of com

TEXT.

mandments, contained in ordinances, for to make in himself, of twain, one new man, so making peace;

PARAPHRASE.

which consisted in positive commands and ordinances, that so he might make', or frame the two, viz. jews and gentiles, into one new society, or body of God's people, in a new constitution, under himself", so making peace

NOTES.

"mandments in ordinances;" i. e. the positive injunctions of the law of Moses, concerning things in their own nature indifferent, which became obligatory, merely by virtue of a direct, positive command, and are called by St. Paul in the parallel place, Col. ii. 14, xpóypapor Tois douao," the hand-writing of "ordinances." There was, besides these, contained in the book of the law of Moses, the law of nature, or, as it is commonly called, the moral law; that unmovable rule of right, which is of perpetual obligation: this Jesus Christ is so far from abrogating, that he has promulgated it anew, under the gospel, fuller and clearer, than it was in the mosaical constitution, or any where else; and, by adding to its precepts the sanction of his own divine authority, has made the knowledge of that law more easy and certain, than it was before; so that the subjects of his kingdom, whereof this is now the law, can be at no doubt, or loss, about their duty, if they will but read and consider the rules of morality, which our Saviour and his apostles have delivered, in very plain words, in the holy scriptures of the New Testament.

15 "Make;" the greek word is lion, which does not always signify creation, in a strict sense.

m This, as I take it, being the meaning, it may not be amiss, perhaps, to look into the reason, why St. Paul expresses it in this more figurative manner, viz. "to make in himself, of twain, one new man," which, I humbly conceive, was more suitable to the ideas he had, and so were, in fewer words, more lively and

express to his purpose; he always has Jesus Christ in his mind, as the head of the

church, which was his body, from and by whom alone, by being united to him, the whole body, and every member of it, received life, vigour, and strength, and all the benefits of that state; which admirably well shows, that whoever were united to this head, must needs be united to one another; and also, that all the privileges and advantages they enjoyed were wholly owing to their union with, and adhering to, him their head; which were the two things, that he was here inculcating to the convert gentiles of Ephesus, to show them, that now under the gospel men became the people of God, merely by faith in Jesus Christ, and having him for their head, and not at all by keeping the ritual law of Moses, which Christ had abolished, and so had made way for the jews and gentiles to become one in Christ, since now faith in him alone united them into one body, under that head, with the observance of the law; which is the meaning of "so making "peace." I hope this single note, here, may lead ordinary readers into an understanding of St. Paul's style, and, by making them observe the reason, give them an easier entrance into the meaning of St. Paul's figurative expressions.

If the nation of the jews had owned and received Jesus the Messiah, they had continued on as the people of God; but after that they had nationally rejected him, and refused to have him rule over them, and put him to death, and so had revolted from their allegiance, and withdrawn themselves from the kingdom of

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