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New Testament Reading - One people in Christ

¹³But now you belong to Christ Jesus, and though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought very near to him because of what Jesus Christ has done for you with his blood.

¹⁴For Christ himself is our way of peace. He has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one family,^a breaking down the wall of contempt* that used to separate us. ¹⁵By his death he ended the angry resentment between us, caused by the Jewish laws that favored the Jews and excluded the Gentiles, for he died to annul that whole system of Jewish laws. Then he took the two groups that had been opposed to each other and made them parts of himself; thus he fused us together to become one new person, and at last there was peace. ¹⁶As parts of the same body, our anger against each other has disappeared, for both of us have been reconciled to God. And so the feud ended at last at the cross. ¹⁷And he has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were very far away from him, and to us Jews who were near. ¹⁸Now all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, may come to God the Father with the Holy Spirit’s help because of what Christ has done for us.

1. Literally, “by making us one.” breaking down the wall of contempt, implied.