Note 7 at Eph. 2:14: Any time two opposing groups are joined together it is a great testimony of unity and peace. In the body of Christ (see note 14 at 1 Cor. 12:27, p. 934), it is Christ and Christ alone that has created this peace. He did this by breaking down the middle wall of partition which divided Jew and Gentile.

There was a physical wall of partition which symbolized this division in the Jerusalem temple. The Gentiles could come into a designated area of the temple known as the court of the Gentiles, but a wall of about five feet high made of stone allowed them to go no further. A sign standing before the wall stated, "No man of another nation is to enter, and whosoever is caught will have himself to blame for his death!"

Many regulations and rules had separated Jews and Gentiles for centuries (Acts 10:28). Christ's work on the cross abolished that separation by removing the law (see note 9 at v. 15, below) and thus the barrier between these two groups. Instead of making the Gentiles Jews or the Jews Gentiles, God did a brand new thing. It's like crossing a horse and a donkey. The result is not a horse or a donkey. You get a brand new animal, a mule.

In the New Testament church there is no such thing as Jew or Gentile, bond or free, for God has created something absolutely new. It's the "one new man," the new creation in Christ Jesus, the church, Christ's body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all (Eph. 1:23). The prejudice caused by racial and religious distinctions has been dissolved. Enmity, hostility, and hatred are over by the blood of His cross. We are now only Christians. Only man and religion want to rebuild what Christ has torn down.

Note 8 at Eph. 2:14: In context, Paul is speaking about the differences between Jew and Gentile being done away with in Christ. The thing that separated Jew and Gentile was the Old Testament law with all its laws and ceremonies. Jesus abolished these laws (see note 9 at v. 15, below) and thereby broke down this partition that was between Jew and Gentile. He further made all believers new creatures so that Jew and Gentile distinctions are no longer applicable. We are all new creations in Christ Jesus with heavenly citizenship.

This unity is not limited to Jew and Gentile, although that is the subject Paul is dealing with here. In Galatians 3:28, Paul said, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Therefore, not only are national and religious divisions gone, but social standings that divide (bond and free), as well as gender differences, are dissolved in Christ. All believers are united to each other regardless of race, sex, or social standing.