the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.” Now, it is evident from this Scripture, that not only is the cross the basis of peace for the soul, but it is the foundation also on which rests the “one body” that God is now making of Jew and Gentile before Himself. And we see this most plainly if we only look back to our Lord’s own presence upon earth. He forbids His disciples going into the way of the Gentiles—forbids their entering any city of the Samaritans. Need it be said that it was from no lack of love? It was not that His heart did not yearn over the most reprobate of Samaritans; it was not that He did not appreciate the faith of a Gentile—He had not seen “such faith, no, not in Israel.” Notwithstanding, they were to go only to the lost sheep of Israel, because to such only He was sent, and so were they too. Now, here we find at once, that while there was this perfectness of grace in Christ, there was the full maintenance of the holy order of God. There was a state of things essentially different from what we have described in Eph. ii. There was a positive barrier even during His lifetime, the very thing being formally prohibited, which, after He died and rose, was not merely a duty, but the delight of love, the
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