You asked

what tangible actions can individuals or groups take to build bridges in polarized communities?

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

The apostle Paul, writing to believers in Ephesus (a major city in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey) around the 60s CE, explains how Jesus has brought together Jewish and Gentile people into a single community. This letter emphasizes the unity found in Christ, despite previous deep-seated divisions.

How might we, as individuals and groups, intentionally identify and dismantle the 'middle walls' that separate people in our communities today?

Then — the setting

This passage is part of a letter written by Paul, likely from prison in Rome, to the church in Ephesus, a bustling Roman provincial capital. The audience was primarily Gentile Christians, with some Jewish Christians, who were grappling with what it meant to form a unified community despite their vastly different backgrounds. For centuries, Jewish people had maintained distinct cultural and religious practices, often creating a social 'wall' between themselves and Gentiles. The temple in Jerusalem even had a physical barrier, beyond which Gentiles could not pass, under penalty of death. Paul's message directly addresses this historical and social reality, proclaiming that Jesus's death had superseded these divisions, creating a new way for humanity to relate to God and each other.

Across the Testaments

The Old Testament often highlights the unique covenant relationship between God and Israel, setting Israel apart from other nations. This distinction was central to Israel's identity and worship, and sometimes led to a sense of separation or superiority. Ephesians 2:14-16, a New Testament text, reinterprets this separation not as an eternal boundary, but as a temporary phase that Jesus's life and death fulfilled. It argues that through Christ, the 'hostility' embodied in the Law, which previously distinguished Jew from Gentile, has been abolished. This doesn't negate the Old Testament's significance but recontextualizes it within a broader, more inclusive plan of salvation that extends to all humanity, transcending previous ethnic and religious divides to create a 'new humanity' in Christ.

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

Galatians 3:28
Paul states that in Christ, traditional social and religious distinctions like Jew/Gentile, slave/free, male/female lose their divisive power.
Colossians 3:11
This passage echoes the theme that in Christ, there is no distinction between various ethnic or social groups, only Christ who is in all.
John 17:20-21
Jesus prays for the unity of his followers, mirroring the desire for diverse people to become one.

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