On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall, which was built in 1961, came down, and people could now cross from East to West Berlin and do it freely. The entire wall was demolished in 1990, signaling the end of the Cold War.
In Ephesians 2:15, Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” The allusion is to the “wall of partition” which separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place in Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 6:31, 35).
The Lord removed that wall of separation between Jew and Gentile so that souls from all races and nations may come into the kingdom and be one in Christ. In other words, that wall was destroyed or demolished. This barrier no longer exists. Christ provided a great commonness for all mankind. All men have the same God, the same Christ, the same salvation and the same hope (Ephesians 4:4-6).
Many first century churches were affected by ethnic issues (Acts 15; Galatians 2:11-21; Romans 3:20-31; Colossians 2:11-17; Philippians 3:2-11; 1 Timothy 2:3-7). It is true that Israel was the chosen nation through whom the Savior was to come, and therefore, its people were at an advantage due to special providence and revelation in connection with promises. God had chosen Abraham’s seed, because of Abraham’s faith, to be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6; Acts 13:47; 26:23).
The demand of Scripture is that all who find themselves followers of Christ must rise above any thought of exclusion or differentiation regarding spiritual fellowship with one another. Before God, all who are in Christ are one. In the church, Jew or Gentile, Japanese or American, red, yellow, black or white make no difference.
