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Ephesians 2:14
“For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition,”
The Apostle Paul, writing from prison, addresses Christians in Ephesus and Asia Minor. In this part of his letter, he reminds Gentile believers of their former exclusion from God's covenant people and celebrates how Christ has brought them into one new humanity with Jewish believers.
What old walls or new divisions in our communities might we be called to recognize and dismantle today?
Then — the setting
Paul wrote this letter around 60-62 CE from Roman imprisonment, addressing the diverse Christian communities in Ephesus and the broader Roman province of Asia. The 'middle wall of partition' likely refers to both the symbolic and literal barriers separating Jews and Gentiles. Literally, it could allude to the physical barrier in the Jerusalem Temple that separated the Court of the Gentiles from inner courts accessible only to Jews, with inscriptions warning Gentiles not to pass under penalty of death. Symbolically, it represented the Mosaic Law with its distinct customs and requirements that separated Jews from other nations.
Across the Testaments
This passage is from the New Testament. In the Old Testament, while Israel was often called to be distinct from surrounding nations (e.g., through dietary laws, circumcision, Sabbath), there were also prophecies (like Isaiah 2:2-4, 56:6-8) that foresaw a future ingathering of all nations to worship God. Paul argues that Christ's work fulfills and transcends the previous distinctions, creating a 'new humanity' where the old dividing lines are abolished, bringing the Gentile world into the covenant people of God in a way not fully realized before.
Keep thinking
Read alongside it
Paul's vision of unity transcending social distinctions like Jew/Gentile, slave/free, male/female.
Jesus' prayer for his followers' unity, mirroring the unity of the Father and Son.
An Old Testament prophecy about foreigners being brought to God's holy mountain, a house of prayer for all peoples.
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