Ephesians 2:16

My Notes

What Does Ephesians 2:16 Mean?

Paul describes the cross's accomplishment: reconciling both Jews and Gentiles to God in one body. The cross doesn't just reconcile individuals. It reconciles groups. The two who were enemies (Jew and Gentile) become one body through the same cross. And the enmity between them is slain — killed by the same death that killed Jesus.

The phrase "having slain the enmity thereby" (or "in himself") means the cross killed the hostility. Not just covered it. Slain — apokteinō — put to death, executed, destroyed. The enmity between Jew and Gentile was executed on the cross alongside Jesus. The death that reconciled humans to God simultaneously reconciled humans to each other.

"In one body" is the result: the reconciliation produces unity. Not two bodies (one Jewish, one Gentile) reconciled separately. One body. The cross doesn't create parallel reconciliations. It creates one community — diverse in origin, unified in the cross, reconciled to God through the same death.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Does 'in one body' (Jews and Gentiles together) describe your actual church experience — or are the walls still standing?
• 2.How does the cross 'slaying' the enmity (not just covering it) describe more thorough reconciliation than you expected?
• 3.Where is the enmity between groups still alive in your community despite the cross's accomplishment?
• 4.Does the vertical-first reconciliation (both TO GOD) produce the horizontal reconciliation (both TO EACH OTHER) in your experience?

Devotional

The cross reconciled both to God. In one body. By killing the enmity between them.

Paul describes the cross's broadest accomplishment: not just personal salvation (though that's included). Communal reconciliation. The cross reconciled Jews and Gentiles — the two most divided groups in the ancient world — to God AND to each other. In one body. Through one death. By slaying the enmity that separated them.

"Both unto God" — the reconciliation is vertical first: both groups are reconciled TO GOD. Not to each other primarily (though that follows). To God. The broken relationship between Creator and creature is repaired. And the repair is singular: one cross, one body, both groups.

"In one body" — the result isn't two reconciled communities (Jewish church + Gentile church). It's one body. Unified. Diverse in origin but singular in destiny. The same cross that killed Jesus killed the wall between Jew and Gentile (verse 14: the middle wall of partition). What was two is now one. And the oneness is the point.

"Having slain the enmity" — apokteinō — put to death. The enmity was executed. The hostility between Jew and Gentile — centuries of mutual contempt, suspicion, and exclusion — was killed on the cross. Not suppressed. Not managed. Slain. The same death that reconciled humans to God simultaneously executed the hostility between the two groups.

The cross does three things in one action: reconciles individuals to God (vertical). Reconciles groups to each other (horizontal). And kills the enmity that separated them (the wall comes down). All three happen at the same cross, through the same body, in the same death.

The most divided relationship you have — the group you can't imagine being in the same body with — the cross killed the enmity. The wall that stands between you and them was demolished at Calvary. And the body that remains is one.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

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