Tale of Two Citations

Many claim that Ephesians 2:15 and Colossians 2:14 do away with the laws of the Old Testament. Properly understood, these passages reveal critically important truths of New Covenant theology that uphold the law of God for New Testament Christians.

By Larry J. Walker

Incorrect interpretations of Ephesians 2:15 and Colossians 2:14

We can all relate to Peter’s statement in 2 Peter 3:16 that Paul’s epistles contain “some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”

Ephesians 2:15 and Colossians 2:14 are prime examples of passages that have been mistakenly used to claim that the laws of the Old Testament are obsolete and invalid for Christians living under the New Covenant.

As an article in the previous issue of the Quarterly explained, Colossians 2:14 means that our acknowledged debt of sin was blotted out and nailed to the cross, not any of God’s laws.

But what about Ephesians 2:15? This passage says Christ “abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.”

What “law” is this referring to? Many think it means “the Mosaic Law.” So the New Revised Standard Version renders this passage, “He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances.” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary offers this explanation for the terminology of this passage, “A somewhat cumbersome phrase (literally, "the law of the commandments in decrees") covers the Mosaic ordinances regarded as a statutory legal code.” The meaning of the passage it offers is, “The barrier between Jews and Gentiles was overthrown when Christ effectively disposed of the old law with its meticulously defined sanctions enshrined in its innumerable decrees.”

What is wrong with this explanation? For openers, it suggests that laws enacted by God are the source of hostility, which in effect blames God for the problem. Secondly, it concludes that Jesus “abolished” the law, which He plainly stated in Matthew 5:17 that He would not do.

So what “law” is Paul referring to in Ephesians 2:15?

Context of reconciliation in Ephesians 2:15

To answer this question correctly, we must determine the correct meaning of the key words in this verse in the light of the context of the passage.

In a word, reconciliation is the main topic of the entire chapter. Paul explains how Christ has reconciled Jews and Gentiles to God, not as two separate groups, but as one unified group. This involves tearing down the sources of hostility and division between the two groups.

Significance of “the middle wall of division”

Paul wrote this epistle and others, including Colossians, from prison. For this reason, they are often referred to as “the prison epistles.” This fact sheds an interesting light on this passage, especially regarding Paul’s reference to “the middle wall of division” in verse 14.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary explains, “Christ has thus removed the hostility (echthran) that existed between these deeply divided groups. The battlement created by hatred has been broken down forever.

This Paul describes as a "barrier" (phragmos) and as a "dividing wall" (mesotoichon). The first word means simply a "fence" or "railing." The second is much rarer and is literally a "middle wall" (KJV). Josephus used each of these terms separately with reference to the balustrade in the Jerusalem temple separating the court of the Gentiles from the temple proper. On it was an inscription that read: "No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death."

When Jerusalem fell in A.D. 70, this partition was demolished along with the temple itself. But Paul saw it as already destroyed by Christ at the cross. Ironically enough, he himself had been wrongfully accused of taking an Asian Gentile, Trophimus, past this checkpoint (Acts 21:29).”

In an article entitled “The Wall is Gone,” Craig McMahon offers a more thorough explanation of Paul’s reference to this “middle wall of division.”

“The most promising reference … identifies the ‘dividing wall’ with the temple wall that cordoned off the Outer Court of the Gentiles from the various inner courts of the Jews. Rhetorically speaking, this temple wall functions as a poignant metaphor of the social and spiritual exclusion of the Gentiles by the Jews.  No Gentile was allowed to pass beyond this five-foot high stone wall into the Jewish section of the temple…. Historically speaking, this same temple wall played a pivotal role in the course of Paul’s ministry. Acts 21:26-36 recounts the story of Paul having been seen in the exclusively Jewish area of the temple with some strangers, one of whom was assumed to be a Gentile, Trophimus of Ephesus. Jewish worshipers seized Paul, making the accusation that ‘he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place’ (v. 28). This allegation charged that Paul was guilty of aiding Gentiles in breaching the dividing wall…. If in fact Paul wrote Ephesians during this lengthy period of imprisonment … then the acknowledgement in Eph. 3:1 (‘I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles’) maybe an historical reminiscence of his arrest for allegedly violating the restrictions of the temple wall…. Paul’s mention of the dividing wall … fits the probable historical context of Ephesians and is also well-suited to the rhetorical purposes of this passage—namely, depicting the former separation between Jew and Gentile and the new order created in Christ” (Review and Expositor, Spring 1996, page 262).

In short this dividing wall in the temple served as poignant metaphor of the division between Jews and Gentiles, especially if Paul was writing to the Ephesians from prison as result of being accused of violating the restrictions connected with this wall. It is important to note that this wall did not originate from God but from Judaism. The tabernacle (after which the later temples were designed) had two veils: one separating the outer court from the holy place and the other separating holy place from the most holy place. But there was no biblical instruction to divide the outer court between Jews and Gentiles. This division originated with man, not God. This temple also had a separate court for women, another added feature that the Scriptures did not require.

Paul emphasizes in Ephesians 2 that God’s plan of reconciliation involves breaking down barriers that separated people based on nationality or gender or social status through manmade regulations. As he wrote to the Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Barriers of manmade rules, regulations and restrictions

How does this relate to the expression “the law of commandments contained in ordinances”?

The point is that prejudice and hostility and self-righteous discrimination are at the root of, and result from, many of the restrictions imposed by manmade religions. This is one of the main themes of the New Testament.

Jesus constantly butted heads with self-religious leaders whose beliefs and practices were based solely on what was and was not “lawful” according to the traditions of the Oral Torah, which Jesus referred to as “the commandments of men”(Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7).

Paul not only had to withstand persecution from Judaism but also to combat pressures from pagan religions. Gentile members were rebuffed by Jews over matters such as circumcision (Acts 15) and pressured by pagans to again submit to the “basic principles of the world” (Colossians 2:8, 16-20). The common denominator in both of these sources of division was a rigid, though distinct, code of regulations and restrictions that each group sought to impose.

Paul refers to these as “commandments contained in [or expressed by] ordinances.” The Greek word for “ordinances” is dogma, which means “formalized rule (or set of rules) prescribing what people must do”(Louw-Nida lexicon, BibleWorks softare).

Common ground between Ephesians and Colossians

This word occurs in both Ephesians 2:15 and Colossians 2:14. These two epistles are incredibly similar in content. Subjects briefly covered in Colossians also appear, often with more detail, in Ephesians.

So it would be logical to conclude that the meaning "ordinances" in both passages is the same. The problem in Colosse involved pagans criticizing Gentile members for eating and drinking in the celebration of "Jewish" Holy Days and pressuring them to return to the pagan ascetic ordinances instead (Colossians 2:16-21). He refers to the latter as "commandments [Greek entalma] and doctrines of men" (verse 22).

The verb in verse 20 is dogmatizo, which means, "put under obligation by rules or ordinances, obligate" or in the passive form in this verse, "submit to rules and regulations" (BDAG lexicon, BibleWorks software). Paul argues in verse 14 that following these pagan manmade "ordinances" (rules and regulations) is what resulted in the debt of sin that Christ has blotted out.

In Ephesians 2:15 Paul refers to “commandments” [Greek entole, which is related to entalma] contained in ordinances [Greek dogma]. ”Although the overwhelming majority of New Testament occurrences of entole refer to commandments of God, Titus 1:14 (“commandments of men”) offers a scriptural precedent for understanding the meaning of entole in Ephesians 2:15. This would also tie in with Colossians 2:22, where the similar term entalma is used in reference to “commandments … of men.”

Meaning of “the law” in Ephesians 2:15

The other Greek word in the expression “the law of commandments contained in ordinances” is nomos, which is translated “law.” This word does not appear in Colossians 2.

In most cases where nomos appears in the New Testament, the meaning is the Torah, either as a whole or in part. The combination of “the law” (nomos) and “commandments” in Ephesians 2:15 appears, at first glance, to offer strong evidence for nomos to mean the Torah in this case also. However, we have already presented the case for “commandments” to refer to manmade commandments expressed in formalized rules and regulations. So how does nomos fit in here?

Nomos can also mean, “procedure or practice that has taken hold, a custom, rule, principle, norm” (BDAG lexicon, BibleWorks software). For example, Romans 3:27  “Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On the principle of works? No, but on the principle of faith” (RSV). Romans 7:21-8:2 also uses this meaning of nomos to refer to the principle of how human nature operates in opposition to the law of God and contrasts the principle of sin that leads to death with the principle of the Spirit that leads to life.

By supplying this meaning of nomos in Ephesians 2:15, the awkward expression “law of commandments contained in ordinances” now becomes “the principle [or custom] of commandments expressed in formalized rules and regulations.” In Colossians 2:14 Paul explains that Christ’s death “nailed to the cross” the debt of sin incurred by following manmade rules and regulations. In Ephesians 2:15, he says that Christ’s “flesh” (as a sacrificial offering for our sins) “abolished” the very principle or custom of formalized rules and regulations as a means of righteousness.

Meaning of “abolish”

The Greek word for “abolished”(katargeo can also mean “to cause someth[ing] to lose its power or effectiveness, invalidate, make powerless (BDAG lexicon, BibleWorks software). Friberg’s lexicon explains the meaning of “abolish” in this sense “as destruction by replacement abolish, destroy, cause to cease, put an end to.” Friberg further explains that “from the basic sense cause to be idle or useless, the term always denotes a nonphysical destruction by means of a superior force coming in to replace the force previously in effect, as, e.g. light destroys darkness”  (BibleWorks software).

Main point of Ephesians 2:15

Putting it all together, Paul explains in Ephesians 2 that the death of Jesus Christ paved the way for reconciliation of all people to God and to each other as a unified group. By making true righteousness available through the forgiveness of sin, He has invalidated every excuse for barriers of prejudice and hostility based on humanly devised and imposed rules, regulations and restrictions as an avenue to righteousness. All have sinned. All can be forgiven. All can be recipients of God’s righteousness through God’s grace.

God’s laws are timeless principles that encompass human activity for all times and cultures. But human regulations often are too restrictive and narrow-minded in scope. They tend to build walls between people, resulting in bigotry, strife and discord.

Ephesians 2:15, Colossians 2:14 and the New Covenant

Jesus is the Mediator of a New Covenant, which is unlike the Old Covenant in fundamental ways and far superior. The Old Covenant contained many detailed instructions and regulations written on stones to a people who didn’t have the heart to obey them (Deuteronomy 5:29). The New Covenant involves God “writing” his timeless, universal laws (the same laws that formed the foundation of the system of laws of the Old Covenant) into our minds and upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10, 10:16). This is a poetic way of expressing two fundamental things that God, by means of the Holy Spirit, accomplishes by means of the New Covenant. He conveys understanding to the mind regarding His laws (1 Corinthians 2:11-16) and how to apply them in our lives. He also changes the motivation of the heart from hostility to God and His laws (Romans 8:7) to a desire to obey His laws.

The third unique aspect of the New Covenant is forgiveness of sin (Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:12, 10:17), which Colossians 2:14 addresses.

So just as light “destroys” darkness, the New Covenant has made the Old Covenant obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). Like a newer version of a computer software program is superior to earlier versions, the New Covenant with its unique features of forgiveness and spiritual transformation of the mind and heart invalidates all other religious systems involving physical codes of righteousness. It supercedes even the Old Covenant and renders it, including its multitude of physical regulations, obsolete (Hebrews 8:13).

God’s working in us directly is the real means to true, godly righteousness, life and peace (Philippians 2:13, Romans 12:1-2), not through following elaborately constructed codes of do’s and don’ts, which method Paul condemns as people “seeking to establish their own righteousness” (Romans 10:3). It is also the key to true Christian freedom, in which each of us must choose to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us (Romans 8:18) in applying the principles of God’s law in our own lives without buckling to the criticism, pressure or rejection of others. Even the role of the elders is to be helpers of people’s joy, being careful not to “lord it over” or try to exercise “dominion over” their faith” (2 Corinthians 1:24).

Romans 14:22 tells us that faith is a private, personal matter between each individual and God. Spiritual unity originates with Christ. It cannot be achieved by imposing conformity to an elaborate system of restrictions and regulations. This is the message of Romans 14, Ephesians 2, and indeed the lesson of the entire Bible.