The Abolishing of Hostility

The first thought in Ephesians 2:15—Having abolished in his flesh the enmity—continues the thought of verse 14, which declares that Christ has “broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” The Greek for enmity (echthros) speaks of “the fixed idea of irreconcilable, deep‑rooted ha­tred.” That is strong, indeed, and that hatred had to be destroyed if a body was ever to exist; a body cannot function if the members are at war with each other.

Christ, therefore, has abolished this enmity. The Greek behind abolished is katargeō, “to render inactive, useless, ineffective; to destroy, do away with.” Paul uses this same word in II Timothy 1:10 to refer to the Lord Jesus “who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” as well as in II Thessalonians 2:8 to refer to the Antichrist, who the Lord will “destroy with the brightness of his [second] coming.”

Racial bigotry is one of the most difficult things in the world to destroy. Among the ancients, Cicero wrote, “As the Greeks say, all men are divided into two classes—Greeks and barbarians.” Aristotle spoke of the “remote tribes of barbarians belonging to the bestial class.” In other words, non-Greeks were animals. Most of us recall Adolf Hitler’s obsession with what he called the “Master Race.” In Mein Kamph, he wrote, “The constructive principle of Aryan humanity is thus displaced by the destructive principle of the Jews. They become the ‘ferment of decomposition’ among nations and races and, in a broad sense, the wreckers of human civilization.” But not only did he hate Jews, but also Negroes, Gypsies, and other groups who also were slated for extermination after the “Jewish Question” was answered.

Other examples of prejudice and bigotry are legion. At one time or another, we have all been guilty of it to one degree or anther. One illustration brings a smile but no less displays the ugliness of this innate problem. Australian Anglican Bishop John Reed recounts one day when he was driving a school bus that carried whites and aborigines. Tired of all the squabbling, when far out in the country he pulled over to the side of the road and said to the white boys, “What color are you?” “White,” they replied. “No,” he said, “you are green; anyone who rides in my bus is green. Now, what color are you?” The white boys replied, “Green.” Then he turned to the aborigines and asked, “What color are you?” “Black,” was the reply. “No,” he said again, “you are green; anyone who rides on my bus is green.” All the aborigines answered that they were green. The situation seemed resolved until, several miles down the road, he heard a boy in the back of the bus announce, “All right, light green on this side, dark green on that side.”

Reed had the right idea. What was needed was a new race, “the greens,” but could he pull it off? No! In himself, man will always be a bigot and no amount of reasoning will change that. Jesus is the only one who could change it.

The crippling result of such prejudice can be seen in an analogy. We see today tragic neuromuscular diseases as well as paraplegia and quadriplegia caused by spinal injuries. In each of these we see that the body will no longer obey the brain. The Church today is tragically in a state of “spiritual paraplegia,” even “quadriplegia;” she is in a state of paraly­sis; she will not do as the “brain” (Christ) instructs. Christ has abolished the enmity, creating instead, as we’ll see next time, “a new race,” but many today are building it back up.