What we now are in Christ corporately
The world seeks for peace, for reconciliation between man and man, and nation and nation. There is, however, a huge problem in the way of such a noble attainment. There was enmity in the heart of man which separated him from God and his fellow man....not right with God, not right with man. The understanding of this is fundamental to Divine revelation. If there was to be reconciliation, the offending sin must be dealt with. This Christ did by His death, the three references to this are clear in the verses....."the blood of Christ"...."having abolished in His flesh the enmity"...."reconcile both to God by the cross"... all of which are speaking of His death. The principle of holy scripture is that sin brings death and only the death of another (Christ) will save us from a permanent state of separation from God, which is the biblical definition of death. At the cost of His own blood, in the body of His flesh, and on a shameful cross, He secured our reconciliation. Consider the results of Calvary:
- The bridging of the gulf between man and God verse 13 "But now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Far from God in moral degradation, far from God in judicial separation, but now made nigh, freed from our sins, freed from the sins of our fathers. This was done at infinite cost (the bible says that compared to the precious blood of Christ, silver and gold are corruptible things! 1 Peter 1v18), and God has accepted His sacrifice as a substitutionary payment of our debt. The unbridgeable gulf has been bridged. The dilemma of long ages has been solved..... the dilemma of Job "He is not a man as I am... that we should come together in judgment, neither is there any umpire between us that He should lay hands upon us both." Job 9v32-33; the dilemma of Habakkuk... how can a holy God justify sinful man? Habakkuk chapters 1-2. There are other allusions to this aspect of our condition before God, but the wonder of Calvary is that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them..." 2 Corinthians 5v19. All this only in Christ Jesus! This is not a blanket reconciliation, not a universal salvation, only to those "in Christ Jesus".
- The breaking down of the wall of partition The distance between man and God, because of sin, resulted in an enmity between human beings, of which the tensions in Jewish and Gentile groups were a prime example. The truth is expressed like this...."He is our peace" Peace with God and man is only in Christ. We are brought close to God in Christ, we are reconciled to our fellow man in Him. In the body of His flesh, it is recorded that He broke down the middle wall of partition, and He abolished the enmity. In the outer court of the temple in Jerusalem there was a wall beyond which Gentiles were not allowed to go on pain of death, no doubt Paul is referring to this as the symbol of world division. There was, however more than just a physical wall there was a whole raft of divisive issues that built huge, unseen, spiritual walls. These, he describes as "the law of commandments contained in ordinances." God gave ten commandments to control the behaviour of His people, but they had added to them to the extent there were 613 commandments laid down in the form of a dogma (which is the meaning of the word "ordinances"). 248 of these dogmatic rabbinical commandments were positive(thou shalt) and represented the number of bones and major organs in the human body; 365 were negative(thou shalt not) and represented every day of the year! Thus what had developed was a dogmatic control of the entire body for every day of our lives! The resultant barrier became "the commandments of men" or "the traditions of the fathers" as Jesus called them, leading to more and more ideological distance. At the cross He abolished them all and demolished the wall. The word abolished means "rendered useless". God no longer deals with us on the basis of law, He deals only in terms of grace which is in Christ. In Christ God has removed the barrier between Himself and man and between man and man.
- The bonding of warring factions by creating a new humanity A new creation, a new humanity, out of two diametrically opposed units, one new man. The on looking world with scepticism says "if only." God says it is true and the universe will see it. He has created the most powerful, the most unified, the most holy, the most loving, the most privileged entity, the church, the called of God, the saints, the glorified new creation that will dwell in fellowship with God forever! The principle on which He built it is universal harmony between God and man, and man and man, not on the dogmas of set rules, but in the dynamic power of Jesus Christ. He calls it peace, made by the prince of peace soon to become the King of peace. Only God can do this, and only in Christ, and He has done it, and we can all be part of it.....the question is, ARE WE?
- The blessing of all who experience the reconciliation This goes to how it works, how it becomes practical in our lives, how we can be part of this great blessing? Verse 16 tells us He did it by means of the cross. When man's sin plumbed it's lowest depth in the brutal, unlawful, execution of Christ, God answered in the greatest expression of Divine mercy, and reconciled man to Himself and bonded people so close to each other, they can only be described as members of a body, interdependent on each other, having the same loving care of one another. This He did at the cross, at the cross Jesus Christ made peace. Next verse 17 says He came preaching peace; this is world evangelism, not only did He accomplish peace, He announced it, and goes on announcing it, and for nearly 2000 years has continued to announce it to the Jew and the Gentile, and through all that time God has been proclaiming peace to the world. Verse 18 takes us to a new dimension, those who are reconciled now have access to God as Father, through the agency of the Spirit, we have spiritual contact with God! The word access is very revealing....it literally means "introduction" in the sense of being introduced to royalty in the royal palace. Such an introduction brings us within reach of sharing in the wealth, and the privilege and the power of the Divine resources. This is a priceless privilege, now the right of every member of the body of Christ. This word access occurs only three times in the new testament; Romans 5v2, here, and Ephesians 3v12. The French use this idea for the starter of a meal, they call it "entrée" and suggests the introduction to the meal with promise of greater to come. At the point of salvation we have access in this sense to God, with continuing and greater blessings to follow. Essentially we are on talking terms with God, and share in all He has.
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