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how might this 'one new humanity' inform our approach to modern social divisions?

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.

This passage is from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, written from prison around 60-62 CE. He is addressing a diverse community of believers in Ephesus, a major Roman city in Asia Minor, emphasizing that Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus are now united.

What divisions in our world today feel like insurmountable 'walls of partition,' and how might the spirit of this passage encourage us to engage with them?

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

  • Galatians 3:28

    Paul speaks here of a new identity in Christ that transcends societal distinctions like Jew/Gentile, slave/free, male/female.

  • Colossians 3:11

    This verse reinforces the idea that in Christ, traditional divisions no longer define a person's worth or place in the community.

  • Isaiah 19:23-25

    An Old Testament prophetic vision of a future where traditional enemies like Egypt and Assyria worship God together with Israel, prefiguring unity.

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