thinking bible.

You asked

how does this idea of 'one new humanity' relate to old testament prophecies about gentile inclusion?

The passage, plainly, with room to sit with it.

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, making peace; and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.

Paul, writing from prison to Christian communities in Ephesus (a major Roman city in Asia Minor, now Turkey) around the first century CE, is explaining how Jesus' work has brought together Jews and non-Jews (Gentiles) into a single new community, previously separated by religious law and cultural divides.

How does this idea of a new humanity challenge or reshape our understanding of differences that seem fundamental or unbridgeable?

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

  • Isaiah 49:6

    Prophecies about God's servant being a 'light for the nations' to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

  • Galatians 3:28

    Declares that in Christ, distinctions like Jew/Gentile, slave/free, male/female lose their divisive power.

  • Romans 15:8-12

    Cites several Old Testament passages to affirm that Christ came to confirm God's promises to Israel and for Gentiles to glorify God.

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