Ephesians 2:14

For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2 b.) Ephesians 2:14-18 pass on from the description of the call of the heathen to personal union with God in Christ, to dwell on the perfect unity and equality of Jew and Gentile with each other in Him, and the access of both to the Father.

(14) He (Himself) is our peace.—There is clearly allusion, as to the many promises in the Old Testament of the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:5-6, et al.), so still more to the “Peace of Earth” of the angelic song of Bethlehem, and to the repeated declarations of our Lord, such as, “Peace I leave with you: My peace I give unto you.” Here, however, only is our Lord called not the giver of peace, but the peace itself—His own nature being the actual tie of unity between God and mankind, and between man and man. Through the whole passage thus introduced there runs a double meaning, a declaration of peace in Christ between Jew and Gentile, and between both and God; though it is not always easy to tell of any particular expression, whether it belongs to this or that branch of the meaning, or to both. It is well to compare it with the obvious parallel in Colossians 2:13-14, where (in accordance with the whole genius of that Epistle) there is found only the latter branch of the meaning, the union of all with the Head, not the unity of the various members of the Body.

Who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.—In this verse the former subject is begun. The reunion of Jew and Gentile is described in close connection with the breaking down of “the middle wall of the partition” (or, hedge). The words “between us” are not in the original, and Chrysostom interprets the partition as being, not between Jew and Gentile, but between both and God. But the former idea seems at any rate to predominate in this clause. Whether “the middle wall of the hedge” refers to the wall separating the court of the Gentiles from the Temple proper (Jos. Ant. xv. § 5), and by an inscription denouncing death to any alien who passed it (see Lewin’s St. Paul, vol. ii., p. 133), or to the “hedge” set about the vineyard of the Lord (Isaiah 5:2; comp. Matthew 22:33)—to which probably the Jewish doctors alluded when they called their ceremonial and legal subtleties “the hedge” of the Law—has been disputed. It may, however, be noted that the charge of bringing Trophimus, an Ephesian, beyond that Temple wall had been the cause of St. Paul’s apprehension at Jerusalem (Acts 21:29), and nearly of his death. Hence the Asiatic churches might well be familiar with its existence. It is also notable that this Temple-partition suits perfectly the double sense of this passage: for, while it was primarily a separation between Jew and Gentile, it was also the first of many partitions—of which the “veil of the Temple” was the last—cutting all men off from the immediate presence of God. At our Lord’s death the last of these partitions was rent in twain; how much more may that death be described as breaking down the first!

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:14-18 Jesus Christ made peace by the sacrifice of himself; in every sense Christ was their Peace, the author, centre, and substance of their being at peace with God, and of their union with the Jewish believers in one church. Through the person, sacrifice, and mediation of Christ, sinners are allowed to draw near to God as a Father, and are brought with acceptance into his presence, with their worship and services, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, as one with the Father and the Son. Christ purchased leave for us to come to God; and the Spirit gives a heart to come, and strength to come, and then grace to serve God acceptably.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For he is our peace - There is evident allusion here to Isaiah 57:19. See the notes at that verse. The "peace" here referred to is that by which a "union" in worship and in feeling has been produced between the Jews and the Gentiles Formerly they were alienated and separate. They had different objects of worship; different religious rites; different views and feelings. The Jews regarded the Gentiles with hatred, and the Gentiles the Jews with scorn. Now, says the apostle, they are at peace. They worship the same God. They have the same Saviour. They depend on the same atonement. They have the same hope. They look forward to the same heaven. They belong to the same redeemed family. Reconciliation has not only taken place with God, but with each other. "The best way to produce peace between alienated minds is to bring them to the same Saviour." That will do more to silence contentions, and to heal alienations, than any or all other means. Bring people around the same cross; fill them with love to the same Redeemer, and give them the same hope of heaven, and you put a period to alienation and strife. The love at Christ is so absorbing, and the dependence in his blood so entire, that they will lay aside these alienations, and cease their contentions. The work of the atonement is thus designed not only to produce peace with God, but peace between alienated and contending minds. The feeling that we are redeemed by the same blood, and that we have the same Saviour, will unite the rich and the poor, the bond and the free, the high and the low, in the ties of brotherhood, and make them feel that they are one. This great work of the atonement is thus designed to produce peace in alienated minds every where, and to diffuse abroad the feeling of universal brotherhood.

Who hath made both one - Both Gentiles and Jews. He has united them in one society.

And hath broken down the middle wall - There is an allusion here undoubtedly to the wall of partition in the temple by which the court of the Gentiles was separated from that of the Jews; see the notes and the plan of the temple, in Matthew 21:12. The idea here is, that that was now broken down, and that the Gentiles had the same access to the temple as the Jews. The sense is, that in virtue of the sacrifice of the Redeemer they were admitted to the same privileges and hopes.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. he—Greek, "Himself" alone, pre-eminently, and none else. Emphatical.

our peace—not merely "Peacemaker," but "Himself" the price of our (Jews' and Gentiles' alike) peace with God, and so the bond of union between "both" in God. He took both into Himself, and reconciled them, united, to God, by His assuming our nature and our penal and legal liabilities (Eph 2:15; Isa 9:5, 6; 53:5; Mic 5:5; Col 1:20). His title, "Shiloh," means the same (Ge 49:10).

the middle wall of partition—Greek, "… of the partition" or "fence"; the middle wall which parted Jew and Gentile. There was a balustrade of stone which separated the court of the Gentiles from the holy place, which it was death for a Gentile to pass. But this, though incidentally alluded to, was but a symbol of the partition itself, namely, "the enmity" between "both" and God (Eph 2:15), the real cause of separation from God, and so the mediate cause of their separation from one another. Hence there was a twofold wall of partition, one the inner wall, severing the Jewish people from entrance to the holy part of the temple where the priests officiated, the other the outer wall, separating the Gentile proselytes from access to the court of the Jews (compare Eze 44:7; Ac 21:28). Thus this twofold wall represented the Sinaitic law, which both severed all men, even the Jews, from access to God (through sin, which is the violation of the law), and also separated the Gentiles from the Jews. As the term "wall" implies the strength of the partition, so "fence" implies that it was easily removed by God when the due time came.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For he is our peace; i.e. Peace-maker, or Mediator of peace, both between God and man, and between Jew and Gentile. He is called

our peace, as elsewhere our righteousness, redemption, salvation. God is said to reconcile us, 2 Corinthians 5:19, but Christ only to be our peace.

Who hath made both one; i.e. one body, or one people, or one new man, Ephesians 3:15.

And hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having taken away the ceremonial law, which was as a wall of separation between Jew and Gentile, as appears in the next verse. It seems to be an allusion to that wall of the temple which parted between the court of the people into which the Jews came, and the outmost court, that of the Gentiles, who, when they came to worship, might not come into the other court, and were excluded by this wall.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For he is our peace,.... The author of peace between Jew and Gentile: there was a great enmity of the Jew against the Gentile, and of the Gentile against the Jew; and chiefly on account of circumcision, the one being without it, and the other insisting on it, and branding one another with nicknames on account of it; but Christ has made peace between them by abrogating the ceremonial law, which was the occasion of the difference, and by sending the Gospel of peace to them both, by converting some of each, and by granting the like privileges to them all, as may be observed in the following verses: and Christ is the author of peace between God and his people; there is naturally in man an enmity to God; sin has separated chief friends; nor can man make his peace with God; what he does, or can do, will not do it; and what will, he cannot do; Christ is the only fit and proper person for this work, being a middle person between both, and is only able to effect it, being God as well as man; and so could draw nigh to God, and treat with him about terms of peace, and agree to them, and perform them; and which he has brought about by his blood, his sufferings and death; and which is made on honourable terms, by a full satisfaction to the law and justice of God; and so is a lasting one, and attended with a train of blessings: moreover, Christ is the donor of peace, of external peace in his churches, and of internal peace of conscience, and of eternal peace in heaven: this is one of the names of the Messiah with the Jews (b);

"says R. Jose the Galilean, even the name of the Messiah is called "peace"; as it is said, Isaiah 9:6 "the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace";''

see Micah 5:5 where it is said, "and this man shall be the peace"; which the Jewish (c) writers understand of the Messiah:

who hath made both one; Jews and Gentiles, one people, one body, one church; he united them together, and caused them to agree in one, and made them to be of one mind and judgment by the above methods; as well as he gathered them together in one, in one head, himself, who represented them all:

and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; the ceremonial law, which was made up of many hard and intolerable commands, and distinguished, and divided, and kept up a division between Jews and Gentiles: so the Jews call the law a wall, "if she be a wall", Sol 8:9 , "this is the law", say they (d): and hence we read of , "the wall of the law" (e); and sometimes the phrase, a "partition wall", is used for a division or disagreement; so R. Benjamin says (f), that between the Karaites and Rabbanites, who were the disciples of the wise men, there was "a middle wall of partition"; a great difference and distance; and such there was between the Jew and Gentile, by reason of the ceremonial law; but Christ removed it, and made up the difference: the allusion seems to be to the wall which divided the court of Israel from the court of the Gentiles, in the temple, and which kept them at a distance in worship.

(b) Perek Shalom, fol. 20. 1. Baal Hatturim in Numbers 25.12. (c) Vid. Kimchi in loc. (d) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 87. 1.((e) Caphtor, fol. 95. 1. & 101. 1.((f) Itinerar. p. 28.

Geneva Study Bible

{12} For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

(12) As by the ceremonies and worship appointed by the Law, the Jews were divided from the Gentiles, so now Christ, having broken down the partition wall, joins them both together, both in himself, and between themselves, and to God. From which it follows, that whoever permanently establishes the ceremonies of the Law, makes the grace of Christ void and of no effect.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Ephesians 2:14.[148] Confirmatory elucidation to Ephesians 2:13, especially as to the element implied in the ἘΝ ΧΡΙΣΤῷ ἸΗΣΟῦ, and more precisely in the ἘΝ Τῷ ΑἽΜΑΤ. ΤΟῦ ΧΡΙΣΤΟῦ.

ΑὐΤΌς] ipse; as regards His own person, is not put in opposition to the thought of ourselves having made the peace (Hofmann), which is in fact quite foreign to the passage; but—and what a triumph of the certainty and completeness of the blessing obtained is therein implied!—“non modo pacificator, nam sui impensa pacem peperit et ipse vinculum est utrorumque,” Bengel. See what follows. Observe also the presence of the article in ἡ εἰρήνη, denoting the peace ΚΑΤʼ ἘΞΟΧΉΝ (Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 109 [E. T. 125]); He is for us the peace absolutely, the absolute contrast to the ἔχθρα, Ephesians 2:15. The Rabbinical passages, however, in which the Messiah (comp. Isaiah 9:6) is called שלום (Wetstein in loc.; Schöttgen, Horae, II. p. 18), do not bear on this passage, since in them the point spoken of is not, as here,[149] the peace between Jews and Gentiles.

ὁ ποιήσας κ.τ.λ.] quippe qui fecit, etc., now begins the more precise information, how Christ has become Himself our peace.

τὰ ἀμφότερα] the two [Germ. das Beides], i.e. the two existing parts, the Jews and Gentiles. The neuter expression corresponds to the following ἕν. Nothing is to be supplied (Grotius: γένη).

ἕν] not so, that one part assumed the nature of the other, but so that the separation of the two was done away with, and both were raised to a new unity. That was the union of the divine οἰκονομία. See the sequel. Comp. Colossians 3:11; Galatians 3:28; Romans 10:12; 1 Corinthians 12:13; John 10:16.

καὶ τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φρ. λύσας] is related to the foregoing as explicative of it (καί, see Winer, p. 388 [E. T. 546]; Fritzsche, Quaest. Luc. p. 9 f.). τοῦ φραγμοῦ is genitive of apposition: the partition-wall, which consisted in the (well-known) fence. What is meant by this, we are then told by means of the epexegetic τὴν ἔχθραν; hence Paul has not by the figurative τὸ μεσότ. τοῦ φραγμοῦ λύσας merely wished to express the (negative) conception that Christ has done away with the isolation of the O. T. commonwealth, as Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 375, holds, refining on τὸ μεσότ. τ. φρ., and connecting τὴν ἔχθραν with καταργήσας. De Wette censures the “extreme tameness” of the explanation, according to which τὸ μεσότ. κ.τ.λ. is taken not as a designation of the law, but as a preliminary designation of the ἔχθρα. But the twofold designation of the matter, describing it first figuratively and then properly, is in keeping with the importance of the idea, the direct expression of which produces after the previous figure an effect the more striking.

To take the genitive in an adjectival sense, as equivalent to τὸ μεσότοιχον διαφράσσον (Vorstius, Grotius, Morus, Koppe, Rosenmüller, Meier, and others), is wrong, because the characteristic adjective notion is implied in τὸ μεσότοιχον (paries intergerinus, found elsewhere only in Eratosthenes quoted by Athen. vii. p. 281 D, in Hesychius under κατῆλιψ, and in the Fathers[150]), which has been felt also by Castalio and Beza, inasmuch as they erroneously translated it as though ΤῸΝ ΦΡΑΓΜῸΝ ΤΟῦ ΜΕΣΟΤΟΊΧΟΥ were used. A reference, we may add, to a definite φραγμός, which underlies the figurative expression, is not to be assumed, since the words furnish nothing of the sort, and any kind of fence serving as a partition-wall illustrates the ἔχθρα. Some have thought of the stone screen which in the temple-enclosure marked off the court of the Gentiles, and the inscription of which forbade every Gentile from farther advance (Josephus, Bell. v. 5. 2, vi. 2. 4; Antt. viii. 3. 2 f., xv. 11. 5, al.; Middoth, ii. 3). So Anselm, Ludov. Cappellus, Hammond, Bengel, Wetstein, Krebs, Bretschneider, Holzhausen, and others. But at most this could only be assumed, without arbitrariness, if that screen had statedly borne the name of φραγμός. Other references, still more foreign to the matter, which have been introduced, such as to the Jewish districts in large towns, which were marked off by a wall or otherwise (Schöttgen and others), may be seen in Wolf. Among the Rabbins, too, the figure of a fence is in very frequent use. See Buxtorf, s.v. סיג.

ΛΎΣΑς] in the sense of throwing down (Wetstein, ad Joh. ii. 19), belongs to the figure, and is not chosen on account of the ΤῊΝ ἜΧΘΡΑΝ which does not come in till afterwards, although it would be chosen suitably thereto (see Wetstein in loc.).

It has been wrongly designated as an un-Pauline idea, that Christ through His death should have united the Jews and Gentiles by means of the abolition of the law (see Schwegler, l.c. p. 389 f.). This union has in fact taken place as a raising of both into a higher unity, Ephesians 2:16; Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 2:21 f.; hence that doctrinal principle is sufficiently explained from the destination of Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles and his personal experience, and from his own elsewhere attested universalism, and need not have as a presupposition the post-apostolic process of development on the part of the church gradually gathering itself out of heterogeneous elements into a unity, so as to betray a later “catholicizing tendency” (Baur).

[148] “Ver. 14–18 ipso verborum Lenore et quasi rhythmo canticum imitatur,” Bengel.

[149] In opposition to Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 374, who, at variance with the context, understands εἰρήνη primarily in relation to God; similarly Calovius and others.

[150] In Athen. l.c. it is masculine: τὸν τῆς ἡδονῆς καὶ ἀρετῆς μεσότοιχον.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Ephesians 2:14. αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν: for He is our Peace. As most commentators notice, the emphasis is on the αὐτός—“He and no other”. But there is probably more in it than that. The selection of the abstract εἰρήνη, instead of the simple εἰρηνοποιός, suggests that the point of the αὐτός is not only “He alone,” but “He in His own person”. It is not only that the peace was made by Christ and ranks as His achievement, but that it is so identified with Him that were He away it would also fail,—so dependent on Him that apart from Him we cannot have it. And He is thus for us “the Peace” (ἡ εἰρήνη), Peace in the absolute sense to the exclusion of all other. Peace, the peace of the Messianic age, the peace that is to come by Messiah, is a frequent note in OT prophecy (Isaiah 9:5-6; Isaiah 52:7; Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 57:19; Micah 5:5; Haggai 2:9; Zechariah 9:10). Here, as the next sentence shows, the peace especially in view is that between Jew and Gentile,—ὁ ποιήσας τὰ ἀμφότερα ἕν: who made both one. Not “hath made,” but “made,” with reference to the definite act of His death, as suggested by the ἐν τῷ αἵματι. The ἀμφότερα is the abstract neuter—the two parties or classes. The sing. neut. ἕν (= one thing, one organism) expresses the idea of the unity, the new unity which the two long separate and antagonistic parties became; cf. the ἕν used even of the relation between Christ and God in John 10:16, and for the unity here in view, cf. Romans 10:12; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11.—καὶ τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ λύσας: and broke down the middle wall of the partition. The former clause began the explanation of how Christ became our Peace. That explanation is continued in this clause and in the following. The καί, therefore, is epexegetic = to wit, or in that (cf. Win.-Moult., p. 545). The gen. φραγμοῦ is not a mere equivalent to an adject. or a partic., as if = τὸ μεσότοιχον διαφράσσον (Grot., Rosenm., etc.), nor is it the gen. of quality, = “the middle wall whose character it is to divide”; but either (a) the appos. gen. or gen. of identity, = “the middle wall that is (or, consists in) the partition,” or (b) the posses. gen., = “the wall pertaining to the partition”. On the latter view of the gen. the μεσότοιχον (a word found only this once in the NT and of rare occurrence elsewhere) becomes the more definite and specific term, the φραγμός the more general, the former being, indeed, a part of the latter. That is to say, the φραγμός is the whole system of things that kept Jew and Gentile apart, and the μεσότοιχον is the thing in the system that most conspicuously divided them, and that constituted the “enmity,” viz., the Law. It is best, however, to take the terms μεσότοιχον and φραγμός in the simple, literal sense of division and separation, which are not explained to be the Law till the νόμος is actually introduced in the subsequent clause; and, therefore, the former view of the gen. appears to be preferable. It is suggested that what Paul really expresses then is the fact that the legal system, which was meant primarily to protect the Jewish people against the corruption of heathen idolatry, became the bitter root of Jewish exclusiveness in relation to the Gentiles. This is to give the φραγμός here the sense of something that fences in or encloses, which it occasionally has (Soph., Œd. Tyr., 1387). But that is a rare sense, and the idea seems to be simpler. It is doubtful, too, whether Paul had in view here any material partition with which he was familiar. It could scarcely be the veil of the Temple that was rent at the Crucifixion; for that veil did not serve to separate the Gentile from the Jew. It might rather be (as Anselm, Bengel, and many more have thought) the wall or screen that divided the court of the Gentiles from the sanctuary proper, and of which Josephus tells us that it bore an inscription forbidding any Gentile from penetrating further (Jew. Wars, v., 5, 2; vi., 2, 4; Antiq., viii., 3, 2; xv., 11, 5). But even this is questionable, and all the more so as the wall was still standing at the time when this was written. For the use of λύσας cf. John 2:19.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. he is our peace] “He:”—the glorious living Person gives its essence to the sacrificial Work.

“Our peace:”—i.e., as the connexion indicates, the “peace” between the Tribes of the New Israel, the Gentile and Jewish believers; such peace that now, within the covenant, “there is neither Jew nor Greek” (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11). The special aspect of this truth here is the admission of the non-Jewish believer to the inmost fulness of spiritual privilege; but this is so stated as to imply the tender companion truth that he comes in not as a conquering intruder but as a brother, side by side with the Jewish believer, in equal and harmonious peace with God.

who hath made both one] Lit., Who made both things one thing. “Both” and “one” are neuters in the Gr. The idea is rather of positions and relations than of persons (Monod).—“One:”—“one thing,” one community, or rather, one organism. (By the same word is expressed the Unity of the Father and the Son, John 10:30.) In Galatians 3:28 (“ye are all one”) the Gr. has the masculine, “one [person],” “one [man],” as expressly in the next verse here.

hath broken down … partition] Lit., did undo the mid-wall of the fence, or hedge. The next verse makes it clear that this means the Law. In Divine intention the Law was a “hedge” (Isaiah 5:2) round the Old Israel, so long as their chief function was to maintain a position of seclusion. And it thus formed a “partition” between the Old Israel and the outer world, not only hindering but, for the time, forbidding such fusion as the new order brought in.

It is possible that the phrase was immediately suggested by the demarcation between the Court of the Gentiles and the inner area of the Temple.

Bengel's Gnomen

Ephesians 2:14. Αὐτὸς) He.[28] We have here Emphasis.[29]—ἡ εἰρήνη) peace, not merely, the peace-maker; for at the cost of Himself He procured peace, and He Himself is the bond of both (Israel and the Gentiles).—ὁ) Apposition: Peace; He who hath made, etc. A remarkable saying, Ephesians 2:14-18. He imitates poetry [canticum, a song of joy] by the very tenor of the words, and almost by the rhythm.—We have a description—(α.) the union of the Gentiles with Israel, Ephesians 2:14-15; and then (β.) the union of the Gentiles and Israel, as now one man, with God, Ephesians 2:15, middle of verse—Ephesians 2:18. The description of each is subdivided into two parts, so that the first may correspond to the first, concerning the enmity that has been taken away; the second to the second, concerning the ordinances of the Gospel.—τὰ ἀμφότερα, both) The neuter for the masculine, Ephesians 2:18 [οἱ ἀμφότεροι], properly, because ἓν, one [neuter], follows.—μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ, the partition wall of the fence [the middle wall of partition]) It is called τοῖχος, a wall, because the separating space between [Jews and Gentiles] was very strongly fortified; φραγμὸς, a fence, because it is easily removed at the proper time. The partition wall separates houses; the fence separates tracks of land; comp. Ephesians 2:19.[30] Therefore the distinction between circumcision and uncircumcision is hinted at. The very structure of the temple of Jerusalem was in conformity with it. The wall and the fence prevent an entrance; and the Gentiles were prevented from entering, inasmuch as they were not permitted to approach so near as the Israelites, even as those who were in the humblest rank.—λύσας, who hath broken down) Who hath broken down—who hath abolished, and not being repeated, very closely cohere. This short clause, and hath broken down, is explained in Ephesians 2:15, in the first half of the verse; He hath abolished the enmity in His flesh; comp. Ephesians 2:16, at the end. The law of commandments, which was properly adapted to the Israelites, He hath abolished, in the universal ordinances of grace;[31] comp. Ephesians 2:17, at the beginning of the verse.

[28] He alone and pre-eminently.—ED.

[29] See App. An addition to the ordinary meaning of a word, with the power of increasing its force on either side.

[30] Where ξένοι refers to the separation of countries by the fence, φραγμὸς: παροικοι to the separation of houses by the μεσοτοιχος, or partition wall; to which are opposed respectively συμπολῖται and οἰκεῖοι.—ED.

[31] But Engl. Vers. takes ἐν δόγμασιν with τῶν ἐντογῶν, “the law of commandments contained in ordinances.”—ED.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - For he is our peace. Explanatory of the preceding verse - of the way by which we are brought nigh. Christ is not only our Peacemaker, but our Peace, and that in the fullest sense, the very substance and living spring of it, establishing it at the beginning, keeping it up to the end; and the complex notion of peace is here not only peace between Jew and Gentile, but between God and both. Consult Old Testament predictions of peace in connection with Messiah (Isaiah 9:5, 6; Micah 5:5; Zechariah 9:10, etc.). Who made both one; literally, both things, both elements; so that there is now no ground for separating between a Jewish element and a Gentile; they are unified. And broke down the middle wall of the partition. The general idea is obvious; the particular allusion is less easily seen. Some think it is to the veil that separated the holy of holies from the holy place (Hebrews 10:20); but that could hardly be called a wall. Others the wall that separated the court of the Jew from that of the Gentiles; but that wall was literally standing when the apostle wrote, and besides, the Ephesians could not be supposed to be so familiar with it as to make it a suitable illustration for them. In the absence of any specific allusion, it is best to understand the words generally, "broke down that which served as a middle wall of partition" - what is mentioned immediately in the following verse. Ephesians 2:14

Vincent's Word Studies

Our peace (ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν)

Christ is similarly described in abstract terms in 1 Corinthians 1:30; wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. So Colossians 1:27, hope of glory. Christ is thus not merely our peace-maker, but our very peace itself.

Both (τὰ ἀμφότερα)

Lit., the both. The neuter gender shows that Jews and Gentiles are conceived by the writer merely as two facts. The masculine is used in Ephesians 2:15, Ephesians 2:16.

Hath broken down (λύσας)

Lit, loosened or dissolved. Rev., giving the force of the aorist tense, brake down. The participle has an explanatory force, in that He brake down.

The middle-wall of partition (τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ)

Lit., the middle wall of the fence or hedge. The wall which pertained to the fence; the fact of separation being emphasized in wall, and the instrument of separation in fence. The hedge was the whole Mosaic economy which separated Jew from Gentile. Some suppose a reference to the stone screen which bounded the court of the Gentiles in the temple.