Ephesians 2:13,14 - You have been brought near

2:13

“But now ...” Once the Gentiles were “far away” or “far off”. Now, in Christ, we have been brought near by the blood of Christ. In Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew. There is a unity to humanity. We were all created by the same God, and live in the same universe, created by that God. We have all sinned, and all can be saved through faith in Christ. There is no difference. In Paul’s day the Jews found it hard to believe that there was no difference. Any group that considers itself to be in some way superior to another is deeply mistaken. Various white nations have considered themselves superior, the apartheid in South Africa was a most gregious example of this.  Today there are various ideologies which consider blacks to be superior to whites (many based on critical race theory), these are equally flawed.

2:14

“For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the buried, the dividing wall of hostility.” Note that Paul does not pretend that there wasn’t a division, nor that hostility did not exist. We take the focus off ourselves and put it on to Christ, we then look at ourselves in the light of Christ. When we do this we realise that we are sinners, so are no better than anyone else. We then also realise that we have received forgiveness and new life in Christ, and that anyone else, including the person we despise, can receive the same forgiveness and new life.