You asked

what was the 'middle wall of partition' paul was referencing in a physical and cultural sense?

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

Ephesians 2:14

“For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition, the enmity.”

Paul is writing to the Christians in Ephesus, a significant city in Asia Minor, likely in the mid-1st century CE. He's explaining how, through Jesus, formerly separated groups—Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews)—have been brought together into one new community.

What divisions in our current world might this ancient idea of a 'broken wall' speak to?

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

Galatians 3:28
This verse also speaks to the dismantling of social and religious distinctions in Christ.
Acts 10:28
Peter's vision and visit to Cornelius illustrate the breaking down of purity laws separating Jews and Gentiles.
Isaiah 56:7
Prophetic vision of God's house being a 'house of prayer for all peoples,' foreshadowing inclusion.

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