KAJIAN TENTANG EFESUS 2:15
Andre Widodo
© ORI
Shalom,
PEMBUKAAN
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Efe 2:15 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
sebab dengan mati-Nya sebagai manusia Ia telah membatalkan hukum Taurat dengan segala perintah dan ketentuannya, untuk menciptakan keduanya menjadi satu manusia baru di dalam diri-Nya, dan dengan itu mengadakan damai sejahtera,
Ayat dalam Efesus 2:15 ini sering dijadikan sebagai justifikasi bahwa TORAH telah dibatalkan. Ayat ini dituliskan oleh Rav Sha’ul (Rasul Paulus).
Sedangkan, jika kita melihat ke Lukas 16:17, MESIAS mengatakan:
Luk 16:17 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Lebih mudah langit dan bumi lenyap dari pada satu titik dari hukum Taurat batal.
Sehingga kita menemukan 2 ayat di dalam KITAB SUCI yang saling kontradiksi. MESIAS mengatakan TORAH tidak batal. Tetapi RASUL mengatakan TORAH sudah dibatalkan oleh kematian MESIAS.
Manakah yang benar?
Apakah mungkin KITAB SUCI saling kontradiksi?
KAJIAN
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Di atas kita melihat adanya kontradiksi antara perkataan MESIAS vs perkataan RASUL. Jika terjadi kontradiksi seperti ini, manakah yang harus lebih dulu kita utamakan?
Apakah perkataan MESIAS?
Atau perkataan RASUL?
Sesuai dengan metode intepretasi KITAB SUCI, tentu saja perkataan MESIAS yang harus lebih diutamakan dari pada perkataan RASUL.
Karena itu, kita melakukan start dari perkataan MESIAS di Lukas 16:17.
Luk 16:17 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Lebih mudah langit dan bumi lenyap dari pada satu titik dari hukum Taurat batal.
Terhadap perkataan MESIAS dalam Lukas 16:17, tentu kita semua mengatakan “AMIN”! Tidak ada perbantahan terhadap perkataan MESIAS. Kita tahu, bahwa TORAH tidak batal, bahkan satu titik-pun, tidak! Karena TORAH dari Ha’Shem (BAPA) bersifat DIVINE. FIRMAN-Nya kekal untuk selamanya. TORAH-Nya KEKAL UNTUK SELAMANYA.
Mzm 119:160 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Dasar firman-Mu adalah kebenaran dan segala HUKUM-HUKUM-Mu yang adil adalah UNTUK SELAMA-LAMANYA.
Lalu, jika DIVINE TORAH adalah KEKAL dan TIDAK DAPAT DIBATALKAN, maka ketika RASUL Paulus menulis Efesus 2:15, tentu sudah dapat dipastikan bahwa yang dimaksud Paulus dengan BATAL adalah bukan DIVINE TORAH-Nya, tetapi adalah TORAH yang lain.
TORAH yang lain? Apakah itu TORAH yang lain?
Di dalam JUDAISME dikenal ada 2 TORAH, yaitu:
1.)
DIVINE TORAH
Yaitu TORAH yang dibuat, diperintahkan langsung dari Ha’Shem untuk umat-Nya. Para nabi hanyalah sebagai penyampai pesan, yaitu penyambung lidah. Tidak ada tambahan dan tidak ada pengurangan!
2.)
ORAL TORAH
Yaitu TORAH yang dibuat oleh para rabbi untuk menjadi PAGAR agar jangan sampai terjadi pelanggaran terhadap DIVINE TORAH. ORAL TORAH ini sering juga disebut sebagai TRADISI RABBINIKAL, atau TORAH RABBINIKAL.
Salah satu contoh dari ORAL TORAH adalah:
Neh 13:19 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Kalau sudah remang-remang di pintu-pintu gerbang Yerusalem menjelang hari Sabat, KUSURUH tutup pintu-pintu dan kuperintahkan supaya jangan dibuka sampai lewat hari Sabat. Dan aku tempatkan beberapa orang dari anak buahku di pintu-pintu gerbang, supaya tidak ada muatan yang masuk pada hari Sabat.
Kita lihat di sini bahwa DIVINE TORAH mengatakan:
Kel 20:8 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Ingatlah dan kuduskanlah hari Sabat
Kel 20:10 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
tetapi hari ketujuh adalah hari Sabat ADONAI, Elohim-mu; maka jangan melakukan sesuatu pekerjaan, engkau atau anakmu laki-laki, atau anakmu perempuan, atau hambamu laki-laki, atau hambamu perempuan, atau hewanmu atau orang asing yang di tempat kediamanmu.
Kel 20:11 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Sebab enam hari lamanya ADONAI menjadikan langit dan bumi, laut dan segala isinya, dan Ia berhenti pada hari ketujuh; itulah sebabnya ADONAI memberkati hari Sabat dan menguduskannya.
Dan di dalam Nehemia 13:19, kita melihat salah satu bentuk dari ORAL TORAH, yaitu: PERINTAH MENUTUP PINTU-PINTU GERBANG pada hari Sabat dan tidak boleh dibuka sampai lewat hari Sabat.
PERINTAH MENUTUP PINTU-PINTU GERBANG di Yerusalem adalah ORAL TORAH yang dilakukan untuk mencegah terjadinya pelanggaran terhadap DIVINE TORAH.
INSTRUKSI dari manusia dibuat, agar tidak terjadi pelanggaran terhadap DIVINE TORAH, INSTRUKSI tersebut dikenal dengan nama ORAL TORAH, yaitu TORAH RABBINIKAL, yaitu TRADISI RABBINIKAL.
Kita kembali ke Efesus 2:15.
Efe 2:15 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
sebab dengan mati-Nya sebagai manusia Ia telah membatalkan hukum TAURAT DENGAN SEGALA PERINTAH DAN KETENTUANNYA, untuk menciptakan keduanya menjadi satu manusia baru di dalam diri-Nya, dan dengan itu mengadakan damai sejahtera,
Paulus mengatakan bahwa yang dibatalkan dengan kematian MESIAS adalah “TORAH DENGAN SEGALA PERINTAH DAN KETENTUANNYA”.
Di dalam terjemahan King James Version dituliskan: “THE LAW OF COMMANDMENTS CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES”.
Eph 2:15 - King James Version (KJV)
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the THE LAW OF COMMANDMENTS
CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making
peace;
Di dalam terjemahan Complete Jewish Bible dituliskan: “ITS COMMANDS SET
FORTH IN THE FORM OF ORDINANCES”.
Eph 2:15 - Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with ITS COMMANDS
SET FORTH IN THE FORM OF ORDINANCES. He did this in order to create in union with
himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom,
Dari perbandingan beberapa terjemahan KITAB SUCI, maka kita dapat melihat bahwa yang dibatalkan dengan kematian MESIAS adalah TORAH yang mengadakan PEMISAHAN; PERBEDAAN; PERMUSUHAN antara orang Yahudi dengan non-Yahudi.
Pertanyaannya sekarang:
Di manakah di dalam DIVINE TORAH yang membuat PEMISAHAN; PERBEDAAN; PERMUSUHAN antara orang Yahudi dan non-Yahudi?
Apakah DIVINE TORAH membedakan antara orang Yahudi dan non-Yahudi yang
menyembah HaShem?
Jawab: TIDAK ADA!
Bahkan sebaliknya, HaShem malah mengatakan bahwa DIVINE TORAH adalah untuk
orang Yahudi asli dan orang non-Yahudi yang menyembah HaShem.
Kel 12:49 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Satu hukum saja akan berlaku untuk orang asli dan untuk orang asing yang menetap di tengah-tengah kamu."
Ima 24:22 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Satu hukum berlaku bagi kamu, baik bagi orang asing maupun bagi orang Israel asli, sebab Akulah ADONAI, Elohim-mu."
Bil 15:16 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Satu hukum dan satu peraturan berlaku bagi kamu dan bagi orang asing yang tinggal padamu.
TIDAK ADA PERBEDAAN sama sekali untuk Yahudi asli dan non-Yahudi yang
menyembah HaShem. Semua sama di hadapan-Nya. Paulus mengulang lagi apa yang
dikatakan di dalam DIVINE TORAH di atas, dalam suratnya di:
Rom 10:12 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Sebab TIDAK ADA PERBEDAAN antara orang Yahudi dan orang Yunani. Karena, Elohim
yang satu itu adalah Tuhan dari semua orang, kaya bagi semua orang yang berseru
kepada-Nya.
Lalu, TORAH yang mana yang mengajarkan ada PERBEDAAN; PEMISAHAN antara
Yahudi dengan non-Yahudi?
Itu terdapat di dalam ORAL TORAH, yaitu AVODAH ZARAH. AVODAH ZARAH adalah sebuah ORAL TORAH yang mengatur bagaimana hubungan antara orang Yahudi dan non-Yahudi. Di dalamnya termasuk juga PERATURAN-PERATURAN yang melarang interaski antara orang Yahudi dan non-Yahudi. Jika ORAL TORAH ini dilanggar maka konsekuensinya adalah AVODAH ZARAH (IDOLATRY), yaitu suatu dosa besar.
Praktek AVODAH ZARAH ini dapat kita lihat di Kisah 10:28
Kis 10:28 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Ia
berkata kepada mereka: "Kamu tahu, BETAPA KERASNYA LARANGAN BAGI SEORANG YAHUDI UNTUK BERGAUL DENGAN ORANG-ORANG YANG BUKAN YAHUDI atau
masuk ke rumah mereka. Tetapi Elohim telah menunjukkan kepadaku, bahwa
aku tidak boleh menyebut orang najis atau tidak tahir.
Kemudian Simon mengatakan:
Kisah 10:35 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Setiap orang dari bangsa manapun yang takut akan Dia dan yang mengamalkan KEBENARAN berkenan kepada-Nya.
Berdasarkan Mazmur 119:142, TORAH = KEBENARAN. TORAH = TRUTH
Psa 119:142 - Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
Your righteousness is eternal righteousness, and your TORAH is TRUTH.
Sekarang kita memiliki pemahaman yang jelas tentang Efesus 2:15. Sehingga dalam
bahasa yang mudah dimengerti ayat tersebut dapat dibaca seperti ini:
“sebab dengan mati-Nya sebagai manusia Ia telah membatalkan ORAL TORAH yang dibuat oleh para rabbi dengan segala perintah dan ketentuannya, untuk menciptakan keduanya menjadi satu manusia baru di dalam diri-Nya, dan dengan itu mengadakan damai sejahtera”
Sebagai perbandingan, saya akan mengutip apa yang dituliskan di dalam JEWISH NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY, oleh DR David H. Stern mengenai Efesus 2:15.
QUOTE:
Ephesians 2:15
The Messiah "has broken down the m'chitzah which divided us" (Eph 2:14) by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. Following is a literal translation of Eph 2:14-15; the commas in brackets appear in some of the manuscripts which have punctuation but not in all: For he is our peace, the [person] having made the both [things] one, and the middle wall of the fence having broken, the enmity[,] in the flesh of him[,] the Torah of the commandments in decrees[,] having abolished, in order that the two [persons] he might create in himself into one new person....
Two questions call for attention here.
First, some, considering the last two bracketed commas spurious, take "the enmity" as an explanation of what "the middle wall of the fence" is, so that Sha'ul is understood to be saying that Yeshua
(1) broke the middle wall which is the enmity between Jews and Gentiles, and
(2) abolished the Torah. However, many agree with me that "the enmity" goes not with "the middle wall" but with "the Torah."
Second, what is the grammatical significance of Sha'ul's placing "the Torah" in apposition with "the enmity"? If he means that the enmity is identical with the Torah, then when Yeshua abolished the enmity, he necessarily abolished the Torah too, in contradiction with his own statement at Mat 5:17. This makes little sense; and in fact, no one seriously considers the Torah to be enmity. My rendering offers another view, that since "the enmity" and "the Torah" are separated by the phrase, "in the flesh of him," the conceptual relationship is looser and requires more explicit specification-which I have provided in the words "occasioned by." The enmity is not the Torah. Nor did the Torah "cause" the enmity directly-see Rom 7:5-14 for Sha'ul's own refutation of the idea that the Torah causes sin of any kind, and enmity between Jews and Gentiles is certainly sin. Rather, that passage shows that although the Torah is itself "holy" (Rom 7:12), it occasions sin (in this case enmity between Jews and Gentiles) by stimulating people's sinful propensities (see Rom 5:12-21).
This enmity between Jews and Gentiles had four components:
(1) Gentile envy of the special status accorded by God to Israel in the Torah.
(2) Jewish pride at being chosen.
(3) Gentile resentment of that pride.
(4) Mutual dislike of each other's customs. This is a common cause of friction between cultures, but in this instance, Jewish customs are different for a unique reason. They did not merely evolve; rather, they were the Jewish people's response to the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances.
This is why it is appropriate to say that the enmity between Jews and Gentiles was occasioned by the Torah.
The enmity was destroyed in the Messiah's body when he died for all sinners, Jews and Gentiles alike. Whoever catches a vision of himself as the undeserving object of God's grace, saved from eternally ongoing destruction by the Messiah's atoning death in his place, realizes that in comparison with this salvation the distinction between Jew and Gentile is insignificant. Isaiah, faced with a comparable display of God's holiness, said, "Woe is me, for I am undone!" (Isa 6:5). Jew and Gentile are equally undone before the Messiah; the Messiah destroys the enmity by showing Jew and Gentile equally needy at the foot of his execution-stake. This is what Sha'ul means by saying that in the Messiah "there is neither Jew nor Gentile" (Gal 3:28, Col 3:11).
Moreover, the cancelling of enmity between Jew and Gentile is not merely theoretical when both have been born again through trusting in Yeshua the Messiah. Inspiring examples can be found among Messianic Jews and truly believing Arab Christians in the Land of Israel today. Where the world expects hate or at best wary tolerance can be found a degree of trust and love from the Messiah that goes beyond politics; nothing testifies more eloquently to the truth of the Gospel. Arab and Jewish believers can express disagreement in dialogue over political issues while remaining united in the bond of the Messiah's love.
The Jerusalem Bible, prepared by Roman Catholics, is the one prominent English version that agrees with the Jewish New Testament on this passage. It translates Eph 2:14-15, "destroying in his own person the hostility caused by the rules and decrees of the Law." Unfortunately, its note on Eph 2:15 says that Jesus annulled the Law! And more unfortunately, the revised edition, the New Jerusalem Bible, reverts to a more traditional antisemitic rendering, "destroying in his own person the hostility, that is, the Law of commandments with its decrees."
Two other versions, Phillips and Moffatt, say that the Messiah destroyed the "hostility" or the "feud" of the Law, not the Law itself. Although these renderings express an unfriendly view toward the Law, at least they avoid asserting that the Law has been abolished.
But usually this verse is rendered so as to say that the Messiah did away with the Torah. Those who think so can give only lip service to Yeshua's own statement that he came not to destroy the Torah but to fill it up with its full meaning (Mat 5:17); only lip service to Yeshua's interpretations of specific commandments making them more stringent, not less so (Mat 5:21-48); only lip service to Sha'ul's assertion that "the Torah is holy; that is, the commandment is holy, just and good" (Rom 7:12); only lip service to his conclusion that the Gospel does not abolish Torah but confirms it (Rom 3:31). In order to arrive at such an opinion, other Pauline passages must be misconstrued as meaning that the Torah has been brought to an end (Gal 2:15-21 Gal 3:21-26; Rom. 9:30-Rom. 10:10 ).
The scholars who think this verse teaches that the Messiah abolished the Torah often offer arguments that either fail to convince or actually support the opposing view. By way of illustration, consider Francis Foulkes, The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, in the Tyndale Commentary series, pp. 82-83; my own responses are indented.
"The law of commandments contained in ordinances [had to be] abolished.... Peter was sent to Cornelius and bidden to regard no longer the distinction between ceremonial cleanness and uncleanness (Acts 10)."
Not true: kashrut was not abolished (see Gal 2:11-16), although the custom of regarding Gentile homes as unclean was indeed abolished; but the latter was not Torah anyhow (see Act 10:28).
"The Church in its council at Jerusalem had agreed that there was no longer to be a barrier because the Jews had circumcision and all the other ordinances of the law, and the Gentiles did not (Acts 15)."
This does not mean that the Torah was abolished at the Jerusalem council, only that Gentiles did not need to become Jews in order to become Yeshua's disciples.
"The Lord came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil (Mat 5:17)."
The last word means "fill up" (see Mat 5:17), but even rendering it "fulfil" gives no ground for thinking of the Torah as having been abolished when three words earlier in that verse Yeshua said he did not come to destroy the Law!
"Much of it (e.g. the sacrificial ritual) was preparation for, and foreshadowing of, the Christ, and so was fulfilled by what He did when He came."
This kind of "fulfilling" does not abolish; one may say it transforms the older practice (Heb 7:11-12) or gives new significance to it. For more on the sacrificial system see Messianic Jews 6-10 .
"The moral demands and principles of the law were not lightened by Jesus, but made fuller and more far-reaching (Mat 5:21-48)."
Also this is not abolishing! In fact, Foulkes' remark here supports my earlier point about Mat 5:17.
"In the discipline of obedience that its detailed regulations demanded, and as the revealer of right and wrong, it was intended to lead to Christ (Gal Eph 3:24)."
My rendering of that verse is: "The Torah functioned as a harsh disciplinarian until the Messiah came," not "The Law was a schoolmaster leading us to Christ" (see note there). Even so, being led to Christ does not mean the Law is abolished.
"In an absolute sense it cannot be said to be made of no effect in Christ (Eph 3:31)."
This is yet another argument against the Torah's abolition by the Messiah, as noted in connection with Mat 5:21-48. Or, to make my point differently, if the Law is "in an absolute sense" not "of no effect," then (with the double negative removed) it is "in an absolute sense" of effect, effective, in force.
"But as a code 'specific, rigid, and outward, fulfilled in external ordinances' (Westcott), and so serving to separate Jews and Gentiles, it was abolished (cf. Col 2:20-22)."
First, this description of the Torah is wrong; Cranfield and Burton do a better job-see Gal 2:16, where these scholars are quoted. What Westcott characterizes is not Torah but legalism; and if anything is "abolished" in this verse, it is not Torah but legalism.
Second, Col 2:20-22 does not apply to Torah but to legalism; and the context is not Judaism but paganism, as implied by Sha'ul's use of the term, "elemental spirits," found in a similar context at Gal 4:1-11; see notes in both places and at Rom 14:1.
Elsewhere I have explained that while the Torah is not abolished, priorities within it are changed (Gal 6:2). Surely that is what is done here; we know already from Gal 2:11-14 that fellowship between Jews and Gentiles in the Messianic Community is a more important mitzvah than any of the commands intended to separate Jews from Gentiles, such as kashrut. In this sense, fellowship is what rabbinic Judaism calls a "weighty" command, while the kinds of commandments set forth in the form of ordinances referred to here are, by comparison, "light" ones. Re-prioritization is not abolition. Where Jewish believers can carry out the "lighter" mitzvot without compromising their own relationship to believing Gentiles or otherwise transgressing "the Torah's true meaning, which the Messiah upholds" (Gal 6:2), there is no reason not to do so-as Yeshua himself urged (Mat 23:23).
In this framework of thought one could understand the passage to be saying that for his Body, the Messianic Community, Yeshua abolished not the Torah in its entirety, but the takkanot (rabbinic ordinances) relating to the separation of Jews and Gentiles spiritually. The middle wall of the spiritual temple is done away with forever.
Ephesians 2:15-22
The ideas of Eph 2:14-15 are restated, with focus on the oneness. The basic oneness is union with himself; this produces from the two groups, Jews and Gentiles, a single new humanity which is a single body. That body is both the physical body of the Messiah, executed on a stake as a criminal (see Mat 10:38), and the Messianic Community (Eph 1:20-23). Through the Messiah (Rom 8:9-11; Joh 14:26, Joh 15:26) comes one Spirit (Eph 2:18), and the word "union" appears three times in Eph 2:21-22. The theme of oneness returns for its fullest expression at 4:4-6; compare Joh 17:20-26, 1Co 12:4-6.
In this entire passage Sha'ul is writing to Gentiles, and his object is to reassure them that they are fully God's people, that because of their faith in the Messiah and his work no barrier exists between them and Jews-Gentiles are not second-class citizens of the Kingdom. His purpose is not to downplay Jewish distinctives, but to "up-play" what God has now done for Gentiles. To find in these verses ground for opposing Messianic Judaism is simply to misappropriate them for a purpose Sha'ul never dreamed of.
END OF QUOTE
Jika kita melihat dengan cara pandang ini, maka kita melihat bahwa TIDAK ADA kontradiksi antara perkataan MESIAS dengan perkataan RASUL. Paulus malah sama-sama menegaskan bahwa semua tulisannya adalah MENEGUHKAN TORAH, bukan membatalkan TORAH.
Rom 3:31 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Jika demikian, adakah kami membatalkan hukum Taurat karena iman? SAMA SEKALI TIDAK! Sebaliknya, kami meneguhkannya.
Malah ajaran Paulus, yaitu Rav Sha’ul mengajarkan agar kita mengikuti HALAKHAH-nya seperti ia mengikuti HALAKHAH MESIAS.
1 Kor 11:1 - Terjemahan Baru (TB-LAI)
Jadilah pengikutku, sama seperti aku juga menjadi pengikut Kristus.
Yochanan mengatakan:
1 Yoh 2:6 - Terjemahan Baru - (TB-LAI)
Barangsiapa mengatakan, bahwa ia ada di dalam Dia, ia WAJIB hidup sama seperti Kristus telah hidup.
Jika MESIAS memelihara dan melakukan TORAH, maka kita WAJIB melakukan hal yang sama.
B’rachot v’ Shalom
