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how does this idea of 'breaking down walls' resonate with or challenge old testament understandings of chosen people?

Adds the setting and its conversation across both testaments.

Ephesians 2:14-16

“For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, so making peace; and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.”

This passage is part of a letter written by the Apostle Paul, probably from prison, to Christian communities in Ephesus (modern-day Turkey) around 60-62 CE. He is reminding his audience, which included both Jewish and Gentile (non-Jewish) believers, of the profound unity they now share in Christ, specifically highlighting how their historical divisions have been overcome.

What divisions in our communities or lives today might this passage call us to re-examine or even actively dismantle?

Then — the setting

The letter to the Ephesians was written by Paul during his imprisonment, likely in Rome (c. 60-62 CE), to a diverse Christian community in the prominent Roman city of Ephesus. The specific phrase 'middle wall of partition' (τοῦ μεσοτοίχου τοῦ φραγμοῦ) is widely understood to refer to the physical barrier in the Jerusalem Temple that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the inner courts accessible only to Jews. This wall bore inscriptions warning Gentiles not to pass further, on pain of death. Beyond the physical, it symbolized the deeply entrenched religious, social, and cultural separation between Jews and Gentiles rooted in the Old Testament Law, which distinguished Israel as God's chosen people with unique covenant responsibilities and blessings. Paul's message is a radical reinterpretation of this separation in light of Christ's work.

Across the Testaments

The Old Testament established Israel as a 'chosen people' (Deuteronomy 7:6), set apart by God through covenant and law, distinct from surrounding nations. This distinction was central to their identity and served to preserve monotheism and the promise of a coming Messiah. This passage in Ephesians re-frames that distinctiveness not as an enduring wall, but as a temporary phase culminating in Christ. In the New Testament, particularly through Jesus' death and resurrection, the mechanism of salvation is broadened to include Gentiles without requiring them to become Jewish first. Paul argues that Christ himself is the embodiment of this new unity, creating 'one new man' out of Jew and Gentile, fulfilling Old Testament promises of blessing for all nations (e.g., Genesis 12:3) in a new way, through a shared identity in Christ rather than through ethnic or legal markers.

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

Isaiah 49:6
This Old Testament prophecy hints at Israel's role extending beyond itself to be a light to the Gentiles.
Acts 10:28
Peter's vision and subsequent interaction with Cornelius illustrate the practical breaking down of Jewish-Gentile barriers in early Christianity.
Galatians 3:28
Paul reiterates the radical equality and unity found in Christ, transcending traditional social and ethnic categories.

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