For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” vs. 14
Ephesians 2:11-18
Humans love dualistic systems. We regularly speak of light and darkness, good and evil, heaven and hell–such pairs are a way to describe the universe and our various life experiences. One of the consequences of that dualistic thinking in religion has been the division of people into two basic groups, those who are in and those who are out, or more particularly, those who are saved and those who are not. Jesus encountered such thinkers in the course of his ministry–their division was succinct: people were either sinners or righteous! Jesus rejected such thinking by identifying with the sinners–his enemies agreed, and arranged to have him killed. Paul, convinced that in Christ dualism had died, preached a message of radical unity to the Galatians, “In Christ there are neither Jew nor Greek, male or female, slave or free.” That message is amplified in the letter to the Ephesians. No longer are there two groups, Jew or Gentile. Now there is only one Body and in that Body all our favorite distinctions are broken down. Unfortunately, even that solid testimony has been ignored by followers of Jesus. Through the centuries we’ve continued to think in binary terms–we just love to be the “in group” and think of others as the “unclean and unwashed.” It’s only in recent years that many have begun to adopt non-dualistic thinking–and what a blessing it has been!
Thought for the Day: What is non-dualistic thinking?
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