🛡️WEB · Ephesians 2:16
What does Ephesians 2:16 mean?
"and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby."
— Ephesians 2:16 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.
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.
He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.
For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
Explanation
Ephesians 2:16 says that through the cross, Christ has brought two formerly divided groups together into one body and restored them both to a right relationship with God, putting to death the hatred and hostility that had separated them. In plain language, this verse describes a double reconciliation happening through one act: Christ's death on the cross not only reconciles people to God but simultaneously reconciles people to one another.
To understand the context, we need to back up a few verses. Paul is writing to the Ephesian church, a congregation made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers. In the ancient world, the divide between Jews and Gentiles was deep and often bitter. Jews had the Law, the covenants, the promises, and the temple; Gentiles were considered outsiders, "excluded from the commonwealth of Israel" as Paul says just a few verses earlier (2:12). This wasn't merely a cultural preference but a real wall of separation, reinforced by religious law and social custom. Paul, a Jewish apostle writing to a largely Gentile audience, is explaining how the gospel has fundamentally changed this situation. The "hostility" he mentions refers specifically to this Jew-Gentile enmity, though the language reaches into any deep-seated human division.
Theologically, this verse teaches that the cross accomplishes more than personal salvation from sin—it creates a new humanity. Verse 15 (which precedes it) speaks of Christ making "the two into one new man," and verse 16 explains how: through his sacrificial death, Christ absorbed the hostility it
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