“For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility”
In plain words: Jesus Himself is the one who brings us peace. He took two groups of people who were enemies, made them one, and broke down the wall of anger that kept them apart.
What Ephesians 2:14 means.
Paul says Jesus Himself is our peace. He tears down the walls that divide.
Common questions about Ephesians 2:14
Who are 'the two' Paul is talking about?
Paul was writing to a church made up of Jews and Gentiles. Gentiles are people who are not Jewish. For a long time these two groups kept apart. The Jews had received God's law and promises, and many Gentiles were treated like outsiders. There was real distrust and anger between them. Paul says Jesus took these two groups and made them one people (Ephesians 2:11-14). The message reaches us today too: no one is an outsider to Jesus.
Apply it today: Think of one person or group you usually see as not like you, and pray for them by name today.
What is the 'dividing wall of hostility'?
Paul is using a picture. Many Bible teachers think he has in mind the stone wall in the Jerusalem temple that kept non-Jewish visitors out of the inner courts. Whether or not that is the exact picture, the meaning is clear. Hostility, which means anger and hatred, had built a wall between people. Paul says Jesus Himself removed what kept them apart (Ephesians 2:14-15). Walls like this still show up today between families, neighbors, races and nations.
Apply it today: Name one wall in your life, like a grudge or a habit of avoiding someone, and ask Jesus to help you take one step toward taking it down.
How does Jesus tear the wall down?
Through the cross. Paul says Jesus brought both groups back to God in one body by His death, and that the hostility between them was put to death there (Ephesians 2:16). When we all come to God forgiven because of what Jesus did, no one stands higher than anyone else. We are all saved by grace, which means a gift we could never earn (Ephesians 2:8). Peace with God then opens the way for peace with each other, because everyone comes to the Father the same way (Ephesians 2:18).
Apply it today: Thank Jesus today for making peace with God possible, then reach out kindly to someone you have felt distant from.
Ask anything about it.
Every question gets a clear answer in seconds, and a way to live it today.
Live it today.
Ask Jesus to tear down one wall in your life today, inside you or between you and someone else.
Pray it back.
Jesus, You are my peace. Tear down what divides.
Carry it all day.
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