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Lesson 7: Jesus Fulfilled the Law; The Middle Wall of Partition

Published in The Jesus Study

We have seen how Paul walked an interesting line in his ministry. Though Paul defended the liberty of the believing Gentiles and declared that they would not be justified by the works of the Law, he continued to keep the Law. Paul did not support the division of the church, but he believed that both Jewish Christians who kept the Law and Gentile Christians who did not keep the Law could be of the same church and body of Christ. He believed a Jew who kept all the Jewish festivals, circumcised their children, and abstained from pork could be in the same church as the Gentile who simply believed, received the Holy Ghost, and was baptized.

Paul eventually writes to the Ephesians and says:

“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; 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: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by 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: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” (Ephesians 2:11–18)

Discussion:
  1. What do you think Paul means when he says that the Ephesians were once “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world”?
  2. Paul says, “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” What was that middle wall between Paul (a Jew) and the Ephesians (Gentiles)?

The Jews Reject God

A key theme in Scripture, and part of the reason the Gentiles could be introduced into the church, was that the Jews would reject God. Because they would reject God, God would open up His arms to a people who did not seek Him (Gentiles) to provoke the Jews to jealousy.

Six hundred years before God would open the door of salvation to the Gentiles, Isaiah writes:

“I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.” (Isaiah 65:1)

And even before this, Moses writes in Deuteronomy 32:21:

“They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God;
they have provoked me to anger with their vanities:
and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.”

Because the Jews would reject God and provoke Him to jealousy, God would provoke the Jews to jealousy through the inclusion of the Gentiles, and this is precisely what God does.

Discussion:
  1. Think about the past few Jesus Studies. Have we seen the Jews being provoked to jealousy when Paul would leave the Jews and go to the Gentiles?
  2. Why do you think God chose to use jealousy to provoke the Jews to obey Him?

Provoking the Jews to Jealousy

Something we see happen throughout the book of Acts is that the favor toward the Jews begins to decrease, and history tells us that Christianity had a part to play in this. In Acts 18:2, when Paul came to Corinth, he found a Jewish married couple named Aquila and Priscilla who had recently been driven out of Rome by Claudius. When looking at sources outside of the Bible, we find mention of this moment from the Roman historian Suetonius:

“Since the Jews were constantly rioting under the leadership of Chrestus, he [Claudius] expelled them from Rome.” — Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars (Claudius 25.4)

Some scholars believe “Chrestus” was a misspelling of “Christos,” or “Christ.”

Apparently, in Rome, believing Jews and non-believing Jews were constantly causing riots and issues over Christ, so Claudius cast all Jews out of Rome around A.D. 49, leaving only Gentile Christians in Rome for a few years. This distaste toward the Jews was not isolated to Rome, but we see additional times in Scripture where the unbelieving Jews bring Paul before Roman courts to accuse him, and the rulers refuse to hear them.

Here is an example of this in Acts 18:12–17:

“And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.”

Instead of the Jews getting Gallio to punish Paul, the Greeks end up punishing the one who accused Paul, and Gallio doesn’t do anything about it. So, the Roman government is becoming less patient when it comes to matters such as these. Before, the Jews were able to compel rulers to condemn innocent men, like in the case of Jesus. Now, it is as if the Roman government won’t even hear their issues regarding their Law. We see another example in Acts 19:33–34, when the people refuse to hear a man named Alexander because he was a Jew.

As you can imagine, this would intensify the hatred that the Jews would have carried toward Christianity.

Paul’s Re-entry into Jerusalem

On Paul’s third missionary journey, he is going from city to city, and while he is traveling, he continues to hear the Spirit tell him something unsettling: “bonds and afflictions abide” you (Acts 20:23). Not only this, but believers begin to approach him while he is heading back to Jerusalem, telling him not to go. Eventually, even Agabus, a prophet, comes to tell him that the Jews will capture him and deliver him to the Gentiles. All of Paul’s companions tell him not to go, but when Paul can’t be persuaded, they say, “The will of the Lord be done.” (Acts 21:14)

Paul finally gets to Jerusalem and meets James and all the elders who were currently present at Jerusalem. Paul declares all the things that God had done through his ministry to the Gentiles, and they glorified God.

James then informs Paul of the state of Jerusalem. He says that there are thousands of believing Jews who are all “zealous of the law,” and they had all been informed that Paul was teaching the Jews who were among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, “saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.” (Acts 21:21)

James is concerned for Paul because he is planning to come before the multitude, and they will know who he is. So James has a plan. He wants to help Paul show that he does keep the Law and walk orderly, by having him ceremonially purified with certain Jews.
James continues to say in Acts 21:25:

“As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.”

But as Paul is doing this, he is recognized by some Jews from Asia, and they cry out:

“This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.”

This is when Paul is taken by the Jews and beaten, but eventually saved by Roman soldiers who saw the commotion break out. These Jews desired to have Paul tried and killed because he seemed to be the one spearheading this effort to reach the Gentile world.

The Bringing Down of the Middle Wall of Partition

The cross did something that the Jews couldn’t recognize. It brought down the wall that once divided Jews and Gentiles and created a place of peace between them. The Jews were trying to hold onto their Law without believing that it had been fulfilled through Jesus, and now both Jews and Gentiles had access to the Father through one Spirit.

One thing we see in Scripture is that God wanted both the Jews and Gentiles to be saved. He didn’t forsake the Jews, but rather, He opened up His covenants to the whole world in effort to turn the Jews back to God.

Paul explains this well in Romans 11:11–12:

“I say then, Have they [Jews] stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?”
Paul uses this to say that God had not forsaken the Jews but rather to provoke them to jealousy.

Discussion:
  1. Why do you think it was so difficult for many Jewish believers to accept that Gentiles could have equal access to God without keeping the Law of Moses?
  2. What does it mean for us today that both Jews and Gentiles have “access by one Spirit unto the Father”?