- Overcomer Literature Trust
- Swindon
- Wiltshire
The Blessing of Unity Because of the Cross
By Mrs Jessie Penn-Lewis
“By setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the Cross, by which He put to death their hostility” (Ephesians 2 v15-16).
The Cross as the basis of unity between humans, as well as between humanity and God, is made clear in this passage. It reveals the Cross as the centre from which light and life radiate to the Church and to the world. This is an aspect of the purpose of the Cross which needs to be emphasised. He wanted to unite humanity when He, descended from the throne to become obedient to death on the Cross. All rivalry between believers and other humans is destroyed by the work of the Cross. The children of God need to understand this message of the Cross for their own blessing and deliverance.
In the mind of Paul, there were two sections of humanity. Firstly, the circumcised, having on their bodies the mark which set them apart from others as God’s chosen people, the covenant of promises and the privileges of Israel. Secondly, the uncircumcised, the Gentiles, meaning all the nations of the world outside the chosen people. But both sections of humanity were equally under the headship of the first Adam, and were equally fallen in his fall, and were equally needing a Saviour and Deliverer from sin.
The difference was mainly external, for the circumcision was "done in the body by human hands", and the Gentiles were "Gentiles by birth” (Ephesians 2 v11). The middle wall of partition between them was not, therefore, "inward and spiritual“, but the outward “law with its commands and regulations” (Ephesians 2 v15). The Son of God came into this division on earth with the purpose of uniting the two sections of humanity by creating in Himself a new humanity who would be neither Jew nor Gentile, but a new creation in Christ.
To understand what this uniting through the Cross means to the professing Christian we must see clearly that the dividing line between Jew and Gentile was not so much national or individual as religious. The "wall of partition“ lay in an outward sign ordained by God and obedience to commandments given by God Himself. It was a question of obedience to God's commands on the part of the Jews, yet the Gentiles had no knowledge of what they thought was important. In the flesh this meant irreconcilable division. But Christ’s aim was to unite, and the Cross was the place by which this union occurred. A new race was created under the Second Adam, the Son of God. A new creation was formed in His image, which was neither Jew nor Gentile but children of God through faith. On the Cross, in the Person of the Redeemer, Jew and Gentile were crucified, and so He would "create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace“ (Ephesians 2 v15) even as it is written, "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come” (2 Corinthians 5 v17). And "it is through Him that Jews and Gentiles alike have access through One Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2 v18).
These words of the apostle have much to say to us today. Now as then, the Cross is the one place of unity, and the children of God understand that the death of Christ reconciled them to God. Also, His Cross makes them a new creation, united to the Risen Lord and to all others who are joined to Him in new life. Thus by the Cross He defeated the conflict that exists between Jew and Gentile and also between Christian and Christian who still walk according to the flesh in their life. The old creation, in its form of Jew or Gentile, must die to make way for a new creation made in the image of God, where there cannot be "Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all" (Colossians 3 v11). Or, again, as Paul wrote to the Galatians, those baptised into Christ are, “neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3 v28).
In the face of these words we can see that the Cross is a stumbling-block, and its message is like a sword, for it cuts deep into the very core of human pride. God's cure for disunion and division is not a superficial one. Nothing but the Cross will bring about the unity He desires. By the Cross He destroys rivalry and conflict between Christians, who oppose other believers who do not use their rules.
To accept this as truth, and to live it out in practice, are two different things. We should not be hearers only, but doers of the Word, lest we come under the Lord's rebuke of the Pharisees when He said of them, "for they do not practice what they preach” (Matthew 23 v3). But we can see how in emphasising this aspect of the work on Calvary, the "offence of the Cross" will not cease. If we faithfully live out of the principles of the Cross, we will find out that others view the Cross as an offence.
This is all possible in Christ Jesus. Romans 6 verse 3 says we are "baptised into Christ”, and we clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him there are no distinctions, divisions or prejudices. How plainly the apostle urged this upon the believers of his day. By the Cross they are cut off from the world and its ways, ambitions, and plans. By the Cross they have escaped from the world's ideas of worship of God in human commands and teachings (Colossians 2 v22), by the Cross they cease to be Jew and Gentile in opposition to one another. And as much as we understand our planting into the death of the Cross, so too we will realise the power of the Cross to remove us from all these things.
This message should impact us today. It is an aspect of the finished work of Christ, in that the Spirit is at work in His Body, so that it is held together and ”grows as God causes it to grow” (Colossians 2 v19). This can only be brought about when we understand this aspect of the Cross, for as we yield to the power of the Cross division between the members of Christ will pass away. But what about the healing of the apparently irreconcilable positions of disunion among the true children of God?
Ephesians 2 is the answer from the spiritual standpoint. The Cross is the place of unity with a practical answer to dealing with these issues. The spirit of the Cross ends conflict and has a uniting power in the Risen Lord. The Word of God fully shows the life of Jesus to those who desire conformity to His death. By Jesus dying on the Cross, we see that His life can be given to us by the Spirit. It is, praying for those who despitefully use you, blessing those who curse you, doing good to those who hate you, loving your enemies, in fact, acting to others as Christ acted when He was a Lamb in the midst of wolves at Calvary.
This is the meaning of the Sermon on the Mount, for those who are in the Kingdom of Heaven. That you may be seen to be children of your Father in heaven. Children of God, who act as He acts to those who work evil and good. He loved the world that was against Him, and gave His best, His only begotten Son, to save the very worst, and you who are united to the Risen Lord must Love. Not tolerate, or endure, but love. Not ignore and flee from, but love those who hate you, and pray for them that persecute you. There may be division in other children of God who do not know the crucifying Cross, but it must not be rivalry. The Cross is the answer to everything. Others may call you an opponent, but the spirit of the Cross must triumph in you by not opening your mouth, and in patiently waiting for the work of God. "I once ran away from a difficult position but God showed me He would take me back, but those from whom I fled are still unreconciled, and I have failed to put things right,” someone once said. Yes, the Cross is the answer. There must be only love for those who will not be reconciled, and the faithful, patient, poured-out life day by day in the spirt of the Cross, until the “burning coals” (Romans 12 v20) have done their work to bring healing.
This again emphasises the fact that the finished work of Christ at Calvary must be worked out in our experiences every day. Not only by the inward spiritual yielding of the believer to the death of Christ, but also by submitting to the providence of God in misunderstandings and persecutions, this shows the inward acceptance of the Cross of Calvary in the believer. The spiritual is made a reality by practice, and we practice the spirit of the Cross if we are placed in circumstances which allow the Spirit of the Lamb to work. His design was to unite, the devil's design is to divide, and the Cross is the place of union. The uniting of the divided sections of humanity cost nothing less than the life of the Son of God. Let us enter into the desires of His heart, "that all of them may be one" He prayed (John 17 v21). He came to unite, so also we should make His prayer ours until we are fully drawn into such a beautiful union with Him that all conflicts pass away by the power of His death, and we love as He loved, and are ready to fill up the afflictions of Christ for His body's sake.
From ‘The Climax of the Risen Life’.