CHAD RICHARD BRESSON
Jew and Gentile: What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
Chad Richard Bresson
What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. That simple statement from Christ about marriage in Matthew 19 is recounted for us in every Christian wedding. It is a statement Christ gave in the context of divorce, yet speaks beyond the matter to the "foreverness" of matrimony. It is a statement joining heaven and earth. What has been bound in heaven is to be bound on earth, an idea that is also part of the Matthew 19 context regarding the church (see Matthew 18:18). There are many parallels between the church discipline passage of Matthew 18 and the divorce passage of Matthew 19. Those parallels speak to a larger symbolism and typology going on between marriage and the church. The parallel that appears in Matthew is more explicitly stated in Ephesians, where Paul says marriage is an earthly copy of the heavenly reality of the marriage between Christ and the bride, the church.
Just this past week, for the first time, I heard the simple declaration we hear at weddings used in the context of Ephesians 2. And for the first time, I perceived the marriage language being employed in a larger "Jew and Gentile" argument being made. The language appears in Ephesians 2:21. While the immediate context is certainly speaking to Jew and Gentile being joined together as a "building", i.e. the temple, Paul, as is his habit, pushes the temple language into the arena of marriage as well, with a simple use of the phrase. So tightly bound up are Jew and Gentile in the building of this new structure, a New Covenant temple, the binding is cast in terms of that call to mind the joining in marriage. And given the larger argument being made in Ephesians 2, Paul's use of the phrase calls to mind Christ s simple statement: The Jew and Gentile whom God has joined together as one new man, being built as one new building, let not man separate.
This "joining" speaks to a broader, overarching reality being brought to bear on the Jew-Gentile question. Paul s point, in using the marriage language, is that there is common identity, not simply common salvation, between Jew and Gentile. Just as a husband and wife no longer are identified separately, so too Jew and Gentile. Just as husband and wife have been united as one person, so too Jew and Gentile. Just as there is "foreverness" in the joining of husband and wife (my wife Emily, though a Baird by birth, will leave this life a Bresson), so too Jew and Gentile. The anthropological and sociological nature of the husband and wife union speaks to the new reality of Jew and Gentile united as one Person in Jesus.
Elsewhere in Paul's writings, Paul speaks in the same breath with "Jews" and "Gentiles" as "male" and "female" (Galatians 3:28), appearing in a list of those things which have undergone transformation as a result of Christ's life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. While there remain some unique differences between the husband and wife, both as to gender and role, the union of the two produces a new identity. The male and the female, the husband and wife who are in Christ share more than simply a common sinner's prayer or a common regeneration in salvation. Contra both extreme complementarian and egalitarian positions... the male and female "identity" have been united in Christ. In fact, Christ becomes the primary source for identification in salvation. So much so, there's no "marriage" in heaven. My spouse is, first and foremost, my sister in Christ. That's an identity reality. There's still a difference in role, but not identity.
Men and women enjoy all the same eschatological and soteriological benefits. Peter speaks of men and women as "joint heirs" (1 Peter 3:7), not simply employing the anthropological language, but the socio-politico and eschatological language. This is the same kind of new identity found in union with Christ which is being applied to Jew and Gentile in Ephesians 2. The one new man of Ephesians 2 is a new person, a new temple, "joined together" (notice the marriage language). Just as there will never be any "union in Christ" benefits men and women enjoy separately, so too Jew and Gentile are sharing and will share the same benefits in Christ.
It s precisely these kinds of eschatological/soteriological benefits are precisely that are promised Israel in the OT. Israel will enjoy no advantage in the reception of any union in Christ blessings in the future. Both Jew and Gentile are "one new man" (notice Paul uses anthropological language, when he just as easily could have said "Jews and Gentiles are saved the same way"; he didn't, and he didn't because that's not his point). "Man" or "person" is an allusion to the original creation; in Christ, Jew and Gentile have been made a new creation, a new humanity. This new humanity, transforming Jew and Gentile, is what some have called "the third race" (notice it isn't simply "one new man", but "one new man *in place of the two*").
Jew and Gentile, the makeup of the Ephesians church (see Acts 18:18-23, Acts 19:10,17,) are joined permanently with the gentlest into one temple, one building of God, one church (Eph.3 is the same argument), one body (language that invokes the "body" that was crucified to make peace between Jew and Gentile and to bring them together in a new identity)... Their identity in Christ, the point of Eph.1-3, is never again separate (the marriage meaning behind "joined together" language). Andrew Lincoln, from his commentary on Ephesians: "They have not just been brought into a mutual relationship, but have been made one in a unity where both are no longer what they previously were." The one new body and one new man point to one new identity. In fact, further along in the argument (3:7), Paul suggests that the Gentiles are the recipients of the same promise given to the Jews regarding their inclusion in the "wisdom" for the ages (3:10).
Yes, like male and female enjoying the same benefits, Gentiles now enjoy the same privileges which were once exclusive to the Jews, based on the same promises that had been given to Israel. In fact, the argument here in Ephesians is that whatever privilege Israel enjoyed before the Christ event is no longer exclusive of the Gentiles. The Gentiles have been "brought near", i.e. they now enter the same holy of holies as the Jew (see the temple language continued in 2:20-21). Further, the Gentiles have been included in a term which was once reserved for Israel, "the household of God", a term now applied to both Jew and Gentile in 2:19.
As "one new man", both Jew and Gentile belong to the same "commonwealth" (2:19), the same socio-politico state, along with every other believer. "One new man" now constitutes "one new citizenry" or "one new commonwealth", an idea that is picked up again in Eph. 3:6 and 3:10. (One interesting and subtle point from Paul is that even with the Jews being "near", having access to the one true God through the tabernacle, temple, covenant, and the sacrificial system, they were not reconciled to God until being made part of the "one new man" -- see 2:16).
So, it's not simply imposing an alien idea to suggest that this "one new man" moves far beyond the simply "one way of salvation" view that some have proposed. It simply won't do. In Ephesians 2:11-3:13, Paul hits on every major facet of Jewish life: family, tabernacle/temple, law, nation-state, covenant, posterity, religion. All of these facets are brought to bear on the "one new man", the new humanity with Jew and Gentile united to each other in being united to the death of Christ. What God has united together in the death and resurrection of Christ, let not man separate.
Chad Richard Bresson
What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. That simple statement from Christ about marriage in Matthew 19 is recounted for us in every Christian wedding. It is a statement Christ gave in the context of divorce, yet speaks beyond the matter to the "foreverness" of matrimony. It is a statement joining heaven and earth. What has been bound in heaven is to be bound on earth, an idea that is also part of the Matthew 19 context regarding the church (see Matthew 18:18). There are many parallels between the church discipline passage of Matthew 18 and the divorce passage of Matthew 19. Those parallels speak to a larger symbolism and typology going on between marriage and the church. The parallel that appears in Matthew is more explicitly stated in Ephesians, where Paul says marriage is an earthly copy of the heavenly reality of the marriage between Christ and the bride, the church.
Just this past week, for the first time, I heard the simple declaration we hear at weddings used in the context of Ephesians 2. And for the first time, I perceived the marriage language being employed in a larger "Jew and Gentile" argument being made. The language appears in Ephesians 2:21. While the immediate context is certainly speaking to Jew and Gentile being joined together as a "building", i.e. the temple, Paul, as is his habit, pushes the temple language into the arena of marriage as well, with a simple use of the phrase. So tightly bound up are Jew and Gentile in the building of this new structure, a New Covenant temple, the binding is cast in terms of that call to mind the joining in marriage. And given the larger argument being made in Ephesians 2, Paul's use of the phrase calls to mind Christ s simple statement: The Jew and Gentile whom God has joined together as one new man, being built as one new building, let not man separate.
This "joining" speaks to a broader, overarching reality being brought to bear on the Jew-Gentile question. Paul s point, in using the marriage language, is that there is common identity, not simply common salvation, between Jew and Gentile. Just as a husband and wife no longer are identified separately, so too Jew and Gentile. Just as husband and wife have been united as one person, so too Jew and Gentile. Just as there is "foreverness" in the joining of husband and wife (my wife Emily, though a Baird by birth, will leave this life a Bresson), so too Jew and Gentile. The anthropological and sociological nature of the husband and wife union speaks to the new reality of Jew and Gentile united as one Person in Jesus.
Elsewhere in Paul's writings, Paul speaks in the same breath with "Jews" and "Gentiles" as "male" and "female" (Galatians 3:28), appearing in a list of those things which have undergone transformation as a result of Christ's life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. While there remain some unique differences between the husband and wife, both as to gender and role, the union of the two produces a new identity. The male and the female, the husband and wife who are in Christ share more than simply a common sinner's prayer or a common regeneration in salvation. Contra both extreme complementarian and egalitarian positions... the male and female "identity" have been united in Christ. In fact, Christ becomes the primary source for identification in salvation. So much so, there's no "marriage" in heaven. My spouse is, first and foremost, my sister in Christ. That's an identity reality. There's still a difference in role, but not identity.
Men and women enjoy all the same eschatological and soteriological benefits. Peter speaks of men and women as "joint heirs" (1 Peter 3:7), not simply employing the anthropological language, but the socio-politico and eschatological language. This is the same kind of new identity found in union with Christ which is being applied to Jew and Gentile in Ephesians 2. The one new man of Ephesians 2 is a new person, a new temple, "joined together" (notice the marriage language). Just as there will never be any "union in Christ" benefits men and women enjoy separately, so too Jew and Gentile are sharing and will share the same benefits in Christ.
It s precisely these kinds of eschatological/soteriological benefits are precisely that are promised Israel in the OT. Israel will enjoy no advantage in the reception of any union in Christ blessings in the future. Both Jew and Gentile are "one new man" (notice Paul uses anthropological language, when he just as easily could have said "Jews and Gentiles are saved the same way"; he didn't, and he didn't because that's not his point). "Man" or "person" is an allusion to the original creation; in Christ, Jew and Gentile have been made a new creation, a new humanity. This new humanity, transforming Jew and Gentile, is what some have called "the third race" (notice it isn't simply "one new man", but "one new man *in place of the two*").
Jew and Gentile, the makeup of the Ephesians church (see Acts 18:18-23, Acts 19:10,17,) are joined permanently with the gentlest into one temple, one building of God, one church (Eph.3 is the same argument), one body (language that invokes the "body" that was crucified to make peace between Jew and Gentile and to bring them together in a new identity)... Their identity in Christ, the point of Eph.1-3, is never again separate (the marriage meaning behind "joined together" language). Andrew Lincoln, from his commentary on Ephesians: "They have not just been brought into a mutual relationship, but have been made one in a unity where both are no longer what they previously were." The one new body and one new man point to one new identity. In fact, further along in the argument (3:7), Paul suggests that the Gentiles are the recipients of the same promise given to the Jews regarding their inclusion in the "wisdom" for the ages (3:10).
Yes, like male and female enjoying the same benefits, Gentiles now enjoy the same privileges which were once exclusive to the Jews, based on the same promises that had been given to Israel. In fact, the argument here in Ephesians is that whatever privilege Israel enjoyed before the Christ event is no longer exclusive of the Gentiles. The Gentiles have been "brought near", i.e. they now enter the same holy of holies as the Jew (see the temple language continued in 2:20-21). Further, the Gentiles have been included in a term which was once reserved for Israel, "the household of God", a term now applied to both Jew and Gentile in 2:19.
As "one new man", both Jew and Gentile belong to the same "commonwealth" (2:19), the same socio-politico state, along with every other believer. "One new man" now constitutes "one new citizenry" or "one new commonwealth", an idea that is picked up again in Eph. 3:6 and 3:10. (One interesting and subtle point from Paul is that even with the Jews being "near", having access to the one true God through the tabernacle, temple, covenant, and the sacrificial system, they were not reconciled to God until being made part of the "one new man" -- see 2:16).
So, it's not simply imposing an alien idea to suggest that this "one new man" moves far beyond the simply "one way of salvation" view that some have proposed. It simply won't do. In Ephesians 2:11-3:13, Paul hits on every major facet of Jewish life: family, tabernacle/temple, law, nation-state, covenant, posterity, religion. All of these facets are brought to bear on the "one new man", the new humanity with Jew and Gentile united to each other in being united to the death of Christ. What God has united together in the death and resurrection of Christ, let not man separate.