On Eph 2:14:
The dividing wall of the temple torn down in Christ’s
flesh points to a theme that will grow toward the end of the chapter, namely
the construction of a new temple. When Christ was crucified, the gospels record
that the curtain of the temple was torn top to bottom (Matt 27:51; Mark 15:38),
symbolizing that his death had unblocked access to the holy of holies. Jesus
also referred to his body as the temple that he would rebuild in three days
(John 2:19-21). Paul will go on in this passage to show that a new temple now
exists with Christ as the cornerstone, and with Jews and gentiles built into it
together as a dwelling place for God (2:19:22). The physical temple in
Jerusalem is no longer the exclusive place in which God’s presence is accessed,
with its attendant restrictions for gentile worship. Now in Christ, Jew and
gentile may worship freely with God’s presence mediated by the Spirit, free
from the restrictions of a physical location that discriminated against
non-Jews. Thus, the Jerusalem temple’s dividing wall is now rendered against
non-Jews. Thus, the Jerusalem temple’s dividing wall is now rendered irrelevant
and ineffectual; there is nothing to hinder Jewish and gentile worship of the
same God together. (Constantine R. Campbell, The Letter to the Ephesians [The
Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2023], 114)
On Eph 2:15:
2:15 The next
way in which “Christ is our peace” (2:14) is by having nullified the law with
its commands and regulations. This law, which is described literally as “the
law of commandments in regulations,” no doubt refers to the law of Moses, with
its 613 commandments (cf. Rom 10:4; Gal 3:23-26). Christ has nullified this law
“so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in
peace.” Thus it is implied that the law stood as a barrier between Jew and
gentile, reinforcing the distinctions between them. . . . the law, and the old
covenant to which it belonged, has been nullified since—through his
death—Christ sealed a new covenant about which Paul cites Jesus’s own words,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Cor 11:25; cf. Luke 22:20). (Constantine R. Campbell, The Letter to the
Ephesians [The Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Eerdmans, 2023], 114-15)
