thinking bible.

You asked

what current social or cultural 'walls' are most resistant to this kind of reconciliation?

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 the 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 letter, written by Paul to followers of Jesus in Ephesus around the first century CE, encourages them to live in unity. Paul reminds them that Jesus's actions brought together people who were previously deeply divided, specifically Jews and non-Jews, into one community.

How might seeking 'one new humanity' in our diverse societies challenge comfortable group identities?

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

  • Galatians 3:28

    Emphasizes that distinctions like ethnicity, social status, and gender do not negate unity in Christ.

  • Colossians 3:11

    States that in the new humanity, traditional social and ethnic labels lose their ultimate significance.

  • Isaiah 2:4

    A prophetic vision of a future where instruments of division are transformed into tools of unity and peace.

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