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<h2><a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'all');">Eph 2</a> - God's Way of Reconciliation</h2>
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<p>A. The need for reconciliation.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,1);">1</a>) Christians are alive from the dead.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>And you <i>He made alive,</i> who were dead in trespasses and sins,</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">And you He made alive</span></b>: The words <b><span class="c3">He made alive</span></b> are in italics, which indicates that they are added to the text but implied from the context. Paul wrote to believers who were <b><span class="c3">made alive</span></b> by God's work.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Paul ended the last chapter by considering that the ultimate example of God's power was the resurrection of Jesus. Now Paul considers what the implications of Jesus' resurrection power are for our life.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Who were dead in trespasses and sins</span></b>: Though Christians are now <b><span class="c3">alive</span></b>, they must never forget where they came <i>from</i>. They were <b><span class="c3">dead in trespasses and sins</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. There are many kinds of life: vegetable life, animal life, mental life, moral life, and spiritual life. A being might be alive in one sense but dead in another. To be spiritually dead does not mean that we are physically dead, socially dead, or psychologically dead. Yet it is a real death, a dead death nonetheless. "The most vital part of man's personality - the spirit - is dead to the most important factor in life - God." (Wood) <span>"Not in a moral sense, nor a mental sense, but in a spiritual sense, poor humanity is dead, and so the word of God again and again most positively describes it." (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c5">ii. This touches on one of the most controversial areas in theology - in what manner, and to what extent, is a person <b><span class="c3">dead</span></b> before conversion? Must a person be converted <i>before</i> they can believe, or can there be a prior work of God to instill faith that is still short of conversion? Those who argue that man must be regenerated <i>before</i> he can believe like to say that a dead man cannot believe. This takes this particular description further than intended, to say that unredeemed man is <i>exactly like</i> a dead man, because a dead man also <i>cannot sin</i>.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. We err if we think that <b><span class="c3">dead in trespasses and sins</span></b> says <i>everything</i> about man's lost condition. It is an error because the Bible uses many different pictures to describe the state of the unsaved man, saying he is:</p><ul class="c6"><li>Blind (<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',4,'3-4');">2Cr 4:3-4</a>)</li><li>A slave to sin (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',6,17);">Rom 6:17</a>)</li><li>A lover of darkness (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',3,'19-20');">Jhn 3:19-20</a>)</li><li>Sick (<a onclick="return mV('Mar',2,17);">Mar 2:17</a>)</li><li>Lost (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',15,'all');">Luk 15</a>)</li><li>An alien, a stranger, a foreigner (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,12);">Eph 2:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,19);">2:19</a>)</li><li>A child of wrath (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,3);">Eph 2:3</a>)</li><li>Under the power of darkness (<a onclick="return mV('Col',1,13);">Col 1:13</a>)</li></ul>
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<p class="c5">iv. Therefore, in some ways the unregenerate man is dead; in other ways he is not. Therefore, it is valid to <i>appeal to all men to believe</i>. We need not look for evidence of regeneration before we tell men to believe and be saved. As the Puritan John Trapp wrote, "Howbeit, the natural man, though he be theologically dead, yet is ethically alive, being to be wrought upon by arguments; hence <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',11,4);">Hsa 11:4</a>, "I drew them by the cords of a man," that is, by reason and motives of love, befitting the nature of a man. So the Spirit and Word work upon us still as men by rational motives, setting before us life and good, death and evil."</p>
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<p class="c5"><span>v. "A rock which is in nobody's way may stand where it is. He that believes in Jesus is born again. These two things are equally true: there must be a work of the Spirit within, yet he that believeth in the Lord Jesus hath everlasting life." (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">In trespasses and sins</span></b>: The idea behind the word <b><span class="c3">trespasses</span></b> is that we have crossed a line, challenging God's boundaries. The idea behind the word <b><span class="c3">sins</span></b> is that we have missed a mark, the perfect standards of God.</p>
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<p class="c5"><b><span class="c3"><br> </span></b>i. <b><span class="c3">Trespasses</span></b> speaks of man as a rebel, <b><span class="c3">sins</span></b> speaks of man as a failure. "Before God we are both rebels and failures." (Stott)</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'2-3');">2-3</a>) The life of death.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">In which you once walked</span></b>: At one time we lived in <i>trespasses and sins</i>, <b><span class="c3">according to the course of this world</span></b>, which is orchestrated by Satan. Satan (<b><span class="c3">the prince of the power of the air</span></b>) is still very much active among those in rebellion against God - <b><span class="c3">the sons of disobedience</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">You once walked</span></b>: The self that <b><span class="c3">once walked</span></b> is the old man, now crucified with Jesus at the time of conversion. The sin nature inherited from Adam influences the old man, but the world system and Satan do also.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. <b><span class="c3">Once walked</span></b> means it should be different for those what are made alive by Jesus Christ. A dead man feels comfortable in his coffin; but if he were to be made alive again, he would instantly feel suffocated and uncomfortable. There would be a strong urge to escape the coffin and leave it behind. In the same way, when were spiritually dead we felt comfortable in trespasses and sins; but having come to new life we feel we must escape that coffin and leave it behind.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Who now works in the sons of disobedience</span></b>: In sin we respond to Satan's "guidance." The same ancient Greek verb is used in <a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,2);">Eph 2:2</a> for the work of Satan in unbelievers as is used in <a onclick="return mV('Eph',3,20);">Eph 3:20</a> for the power of God that works in believers.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">The prince of the power of the air</span></b>: This unique title for Satan speaks of his authority (<b><span class="c3">prince</span></b>) and his realm (<b><span class="c3">the air</span></b>, a way of referring to Satan's "environment").</p>
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<p class="c5">i. "The <i>domain of the air</i>, in fact, is another way of indicating the <i>heavenly realm</i>, which, according to <a onclick="return mV('Eph',6,12);">Eph 6:12</a>, is the abode of those principalities and powers, <i>world-rulers of this darkness</i> and <i>spiritual forces of wickedness</i> against which the people of Christ wage war." (Bruce)</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Satan is not the ultimate ruler, but he is a prince in the sense that "Evil men set him up for their sovereign, and are wholly at his beck and obedience." (Trapp)</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">We all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh</span></b>: We once we among the <i>sons of disobedience</i>, proven by our conduct. We embraced <b><span class="c3">the lusts of the flesh</span></b>, which are primarily perversions of the legitimate desires of human nature.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. "The converts are to be reminded what they have been delivered from, as well as what they have been lifted into. They must be led to look down again into the pit, into the grave, from which grace called them out and set them free." (Moule)</p>
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<p class="c4">f. <b><span class="c3">And were by nature children of wrath</span></b>: Because of our surrender to the old man, the world, and the devil, we <b><span class="c3">were by nature children of wrath</span></b>. We rightfully deserved God's wrath, and deserved it because of who we are by our heritage.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. The Bible knows nothing of the idea that all men are "children of God," except in the sense that He is our common creator (<a onclick="return mV('Act',17,28);">Act 17:28</a>). Here Paul says that there is a "family" of wrath that has its children, and Jesus called the Pharisees "a family of snakes" (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',3,7);">Mat 3:7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',12,34);">12:34</a>; and <a onclick="return mV('Mat',23,33);">23:33</a>) and said that their father was the Devil (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',8,44);">Jhn 8:44</a>).</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. We must take seriously the idea that the <b><span class="c3">children of wrath</span></b> <i>rightly</i> deserve God's wrath. They are not "victims" at all. Instead, they are just targets of God's justice.</p>
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<p>B. The process of personal reconciliation to God.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,4);">4</a>) God's motive in reconciliation.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">But God...because of His great love</span></b>: With <b><span class="c3">but</span></b> and <b><span class="c3">because</span></b>, Paul explains God's reason behind reconciling man to Himself, and these reasons are found totally in God. The reasons are His rich <b><span class="c3">mercy</span></b> and <b><span class="c3">His great love</span></b>, which He focuses on <b><span class="c3">us</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. "As they were <i>corrupt</i> in their <i>nature</i>, and <i>sinful</i> in their <i>practice</i>, they could possess no <i>merit</i>, nor have any <i>claim</i> upon God; and it required much <i>mercy</i> to remove so much <i>misery</i>, and to pardon such transgressions." (Clarke)</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">With which He loved us</span></b>: We might imagine a God of rich <b><span class="c3">mercy</span></b> and <b><span class="c3">great love</span></b> who did not focus that mercy and love upon <i>us</i>. But behind the good news of God's salvation offered in Jesus is the fact that this mercy and love <i>is</i> extended to <b><span class="c3">us</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">His great love with which He loved us</span></b><span>: </span>Some warp the idea of God's great mercy and love into something that justifies our pride. Some imagine that God loves us <i>because we are so lovable</i>. Instead, God's love is so great that it extends even to the unlovely - to the <i>children of wrath</i> mentioned in the previous verse.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Every reason for God's mercy and love is found in Him. We give Him no <i>reason</i> to love us, yet in the greatness of His love, He loves us with that great love anyway.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Therefore, we must stop trying to make ourselves lovable to God, and simply receive His great love while recognizing that we are unworthy of it. This is the <i>grace secret</i> of the Christian life.</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'5-7');">5-7</a>) The past, present and future of God's work of individual reconciliation.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised <i>us</i> up together, and made <i>us</i> sit together in the heavenly <i>places</i> in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in <i>His</i> kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">When we were dead</span></b>: This is when God started loving us. He did not wait until we were lovable. He loved us even when we were <b><span class="c3">dead in trespasses</span></b>, providing nothing lovable to Him.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. This is the requirement for being saved. You must first be dead, dead to every attempt to justify yourself before God. <i>He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me...has passed from death into life</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',5,24);">Jhn 5:24</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Made alive together with Christ</span></b>: This is what God did to those dead in sin. He shared in our death that we could share in His resurrection life. The old man is crucified and we are new creations in Jesus with the old things passing away and all things becoming new.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. <b><span class="c3">By grace you have been saved</span></b>: Paul is compelled to add here that this is the work of God's <b><span class="c3">grace</span></b>, in no way involving man's merit. Our salvation - our rescue - from spiritual death is God's work done for the undeserving.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus</span></b>: This is the present position of the Christian. We have a new place for living, a new arena of existence - we are not <i>those who dwell on the earth</i> (as Revelation often calls them), but our <i>citizenship is in heaven</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Phl',3,20);">Phl 3:20</a>).</p>
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<p class="c5">i. We don't sit in the heavenly places <i>with</i> Christ Jesus, or at least not yet. Instead, we sit in the heavenly places <b><span class="c3">in Christ</span></b> Jesus. Since our life and identity is <b><span class="c3">in Christ</span></b>, as He sits in heavenly places, so do we.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. "And now we <i>sit in heavenly</i> places – we have a <i>right</i> to the kingdom of God, anticipate this glory, and are indescribably happy in the possession of this salvation, and in our fellowship with Christ Jesus." (Clarke)</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">In the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace</span></b>: <i>In the future</i>, God will continue to <b><span class="c3">show the exceeding riches of His grace</span></b> to us. God will never stop dealing with us on the basis of grace, and will forever continue to unfold its riches to us through eternity.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. <b><span class="c3">He might show</span></b>: "The original implies, that the exhibition is for His own purpose, for his own glory." (Alford) This work in us reflects infinitely more on the glory of <i>God</i> than on our <i>own</i> glory, and God will use His work in the Church to display His glory throughout the ages.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. "From <span>this verse it is clear that Paul fully expected the gospel of the grace of God to be preached in the ages to come. He had no notion of a temporary gospel to develop into a better, but he was assured that the same gospel would be preached to the end of the dispensation. Nor this alone; for as I take it, he looked to the perpetuity of the gospel, not only through the ages which have already elapsed since the first advent of our blessed Lord, but throughout the ages after he shall have come a second time. Eternity itself will not improve upon the gospel." (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c5">iii. "<span>When all the saints shall be gathered home they shall still talk and speak of the wonders of Jehovah's love in Christ Jesus, and in the golden streets they shall stand up and tell what the Lord has done for them to listening crowds of angels, and principalities, and powers." (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c5">iv. <b><span class="c3">The riches of His grace</span></b>: "<span>So is it with the grace of God: he has as much grace as you want, and he has a great deal more than that. The Lord has as much grace as a whole universe will require, but he has vastly more. He overflows: all the demands that can ever be made on the grace of' God will never impoverish him, or even diminish his store of mercy; there will remain an incalculably precious mine of mercy as fall as when he first began to bless the sons of men." (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c5">v. One way to see t<span>he greatness of the grace of God is to see how He <i>begs</i> man to receive it. When we offer a gift to someone and they refuse it, we are likely to allow them to refuse and leave them alone. God does not do this with us; even when we refuse His mercy He reaches into His storehouse of grace and persists with us, <i>begging</i> us to receive the free gift.</span></p>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'8-10');">8-10</a>) A summing up of God's work of individual reconciliation.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; <i>it is</i> the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">For by grace you have been saved</span></b>: Paul cannot speak of this glorious work God does without reminding us that it is a gift of <b><span class="c3">grace</span></b>, given to the undeserving. We are not even saved by our faith (though faith itself is not a work), but <b><span class="c3">by</span></b> grace <b><span class="c3">through</span></b> faith.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. We can think of water flowing through a hose. The water is the important part, but it is communicated through the hose. The hose does not quench your thirst; the water does. But the hose brings water to the place you can benefit from it.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. "The precise form of words here stresses two things. As consistently emphasized by Paul, it is entirely of His <i>grace</i>, His free, undeserved favour to mankind. Then also this salvation is presented as an accomplished fact." (Foulkes)</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God</span></b>: The work of salvation is God's gift. Paul's grammar here indicates that the words apply to the gift of <i>salvation</i> mentioned in <a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'4-8');">Eph 2:4-8</a>, and not directly to the <b><span class="c3">faith</span></b> mentioned in this verse. </p>
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<p class="c5">i. Clarke emphatically states that the original Greek is clear in noting that when it says <b><span class="c3">it is the gift of God</span></b>, the <b><span class="c3">it</span></b> referred to is <i>salvation</i>, not <i>faith.</i> The great Greek scholar Dean Alford also clearly pointed out that the <b><span class="c3">this not of yourselves</span></b> referred to <i>salvation</i>, not to <i>faith</i> in this passage.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Yet, even our faith is a <b><span class="c3">gift of God</span></b>. We <i>cannot</i> believe in Jesus unless God does a prior work in us, for we are blinded by our own deadness and by the god of this age (<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',4,4);">2Cr 4:4</a>).</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. "But it may be asked: Is not <i>faith</i> the <i>gift of God</i>? Yes, as to the <i>grace</i> by which it is produced; but the <i>grace</i> or <i>power</i> to believe, and the act of believing, are two different things. Without the <i>grace</i> or <i>power</i> to believe no man ever did or can believe; but with that <i>power</i> the <i>act of faith</i> is a man's own. God never believes <i>for</i> any man, no more than he <i>repents</i> for him; the penitent, through this grace enabling him, believes for himself." (Clarke)</p>
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<p class="c5">iv. This shows us the essential place of <i>prayer</i> in evangelism. Since God initiates salvation, we should begin our evangelism with asking God to do the initiating, and granting the ability to believe to those we want to see saved.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Not of works, lest anyone should boast</span></b>: God did it <b><span class="c3">not of works</span></b> simply so that no one could <b><span class="c3">boast</span></b>. If salvation was the accomplishment of man in any way, we could boast about it. But under God's plan of salvation, God alone receives the glory.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. "<span>I thought Napoleon did a good thing, when, on the day of his coronation, he took his crown, and put it on his own head. Why should he not take the symbol that was his due? And if you get to heaven, one half by grace and one half by works, you will say, 'Atonement profited me a little, but integrity profited me much more.'" (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">For we are His workmanship</span></b><span>: </span>God saves us not merely to save us from the wrath we rightly deserve, but also to make something beautiful of us. We are <b><span class="c3">His workmanship</span></b>, which translates the ancient Greek word <i>poiema</i>. The idea is that we are His beautiful poem. The Jerusalem Bible translates <b><span class="c3">workmanship</span></b> as "work of art."</p>
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<p class="c5">i. God's love is a transforming love. It meets us right where we are at, but when we receive this love it always takes us where we should be going. The love of God that saves my soul will also change my life.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. We are <b><span class="c3">His workmanship</span></b>, His creation – something new He has made of us in Jesus Christ. "<span>The spiritual life cannot come to us by development from our old nature. I have heard a great deal about evolution and development, but I am afraid that if any one of us were to be developed to our utmost, apart from the grace of God, we should come out worse than before the development began." (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c5"><span>iii. "Our new life is as truly <i>created out of nothing</i> as were the first heavens, and the first earth. This ought to be particularly noticed, for there are some who think that the grace of God improves the old nature into the new. It does nothing of the sort." (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">Created in Christ Jesus for good works</span></b>: That beautiful thing God is making of us is active in <b><span class="c3">good works</span></b>. These are just as much a part of God's predestined plan as anything else is. These good works are valid evidence that someone is walking as one of God's chosen.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. "Works play no part at all in securing salvation. But afterwards Christians will prove their faith by their works. Here Paul shows himself at one with James." (Wood)</p>
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<p>C. The reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles in Jesus.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'11-12');">11-12</a>) The need for the reconciliation of Gentile and Jew.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh; who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands; that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">You, once Gentiles in the flesh</span></b>: God's work of reconciliation is not only between God and the individual, though it must begin there. It is also between groups of people that are at odds, such as Jews and Gentiles were in the days of Paul.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision</span></b>: Gentiles were in a desperate place, being <b><span class="c3">aliens</span></b>, <b><span class="c3">strangers</span></b>, <b><span class="c3">having no hope</span></b> and being <b><span class="c3">without God</span></b>. This shows that they were not only spiritually dead, but they also did not have the access to God that the Jews enjoyed.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Before coming to Jesus, Gentiles were "Christless, stateless, friendless, hopeless and Godless." (Stott quoting Hendriksen)</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. <b><span class="c3">Having no hope</span></b>: "The absence of hope in the face of death is amply attested in the literature and epigraphy of the Gaeco-Roman world of that day." (Bruce)</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. <b><span class="c3">Without God in the world</span></b>: Some people believe in God, but they believe He lives in heaven and has nothing to do with this <b><span class="c3">world</span></b>. In that way, a person can still believe in God and be <b><span class="c3">without God in the world</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Without Christ</span></b>: These are terrible words, and the implications of them sum of the woeful condition of the lost man or woman. To be <b><span class="c3">without Christ</span></b> means to be:</p><ul class="c6"><li>Without spiritual blessings</li><li>Without light</li><li>Without peace</li><li>Without rest</li><li>Without safety</li><li>Without hope</li><li>Without a Prophet, Priest, or King</li></ul>
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<p class="c5">i. "<span>Without Christ! If this be the description of some of you, we need not talk to you about the fires of hell; let this be enough to startle you, that you are in such a desperate state as to be without Christ. Oh! What terrible evils lie clustering thick within these two words!</span><span>" (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel</span></b>: This likely includes separated Jews as well as Gentiles. "For there were also Israelites who were outside the commonwealth, not only as foreigners but as lax Jews, and lost their part in the covenants, not as foreigners, but as unworthy." (Alford)</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,13);">13</a>) Gentiles brought near to God.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">But now in Christ Jesus</span></b>: Those Gentiles who are <b><span class="c3">now in Christ Jesus</span></b> are no longer <b><span class="c3">far off</span></b>. They are <b><span class="c3">made near</span></b> to the things of God, and the <b><span class="c3">blood of Christ</span></b> accomplishes this, by His sacrificial death.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. This coming near happens only <b><span class="c3">by the blood of Christ</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">Gentiles who are not <b><span class="c3">in Christ Jesus</span></b> are just as <b><span class="c3">far off</span></b> as they ever were. This reconciliation only happens in Jesus.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. It is important the Paul connects the ideas of the great love of Jesus and His sacrificial death. Many people think that preaching Christ crucified is all about a bloody, gory Jesus. But the point of Christ crucified is not gore, but love. Preaching Christ crucified means we preach Jesus full of love - sacrificial, giving, saving love.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">By the blood of Christ</span></b>: Many people suggest different ways to come <b><span class="c3">near</span></b> to God. Some think you can come by keeping the law, or by belonging to a group (such as Israel or even the church). But the only way to be <b><span class="c3">brought near</span></b> to God is <b><span class="c3">by the blood of Christ</span></b>. What Jesus did on the cross, suffering as a guilty sinner in the place of guilty sinners, brings us <b><span class="c3">near</span></b> to God.</p>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'14-16');">14-16</a>) Jew and Gentile brought together in the Church.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, <i>that is,</i> the law of commandments <i>contained</i> in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man <i>from</i> the two, <i>thus</i> making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">For He Himself is our peace</span></b>: Jesus Himself is our peace; He hasn't simply <i>made</i> peace between God and man and Jew and Gentile; He <b><i><span class="c3">is</span></i><span class="c3"> our peace</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation</span></b>: The work of Jesus on the cross is the common ground of salvation for both Jew and Gentile. Therefore there is no longer any dividing wall between Jew and Gentile. Jesus broke that wall down.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. In the temple, in between the court of the Gentiles and the court of the women, there was a physical barrier, an actual <b><span class="c3">wall of separation</span></b> between Jew and Gentile.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Paul was, at the time of this writing, under house arrest in Rome, awaiting trial because he was falsely accused by the Jews of taking a Gentile into the temple past the literal <b><span class="c3">wall of separation</span></b> dividing Jew and Gentile. Paul makes it clear that in Jesus, the wall is gone.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. The <b><span class="c3">wall of separation</span></b> is gone because the common Lordship is greater than any previous division. If the Lordship of Jesus Christ is not greater than any difference you have with others - be it political, racial, economic, language, geography or whatever, then you have not fully understood what it means to be under the Lordship of Jesus.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances</span></b>: The source of contention between Jew and Gentile was the fact that the Gentiles did not keep the law. But since Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf, and since He bore the penalty for our failure to keep the law, we are reconciled through His work on the cross - putting to death the <i>source</i> of contention.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. "The <i>enmity</i> of which the apostle speaks was reciprocal among the <i>Jews</i> and <i>Gentiles</i>. The <i>former</i> detested the <i>Gentiles</i>, and could hardly allow them the denomination of <i>men</i>; the <i>latter</i> had the <i>Jews</i> in the most sovereign contempt, because of the peculiarity of their religious rites and ceremonies, which were different from those of all the other nations of the earth." (Clarke)</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. "And the separation was intensified and emphasized by those institutions which were, in part, <i>designed</i> to isolate Israel from the world, until the fit time for the wider blessing. And He 'annulled' them by fulfilling them, in His sacrificial work; thus at once reconciling man to God and man to man." (Moule)</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. The law as a source of righteousness is no longer an issue. That source of <b><span class="c3">enmity</span></b> between Jew and Gentile is dead.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">That He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross</span></b><span>:</span> Gentiles and Jews are brought together into <b><span class="c3">one body</span></b>, the Church, where our unity in Jesus is far greater than our previous differences.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. <b><span class="c3">So as to create in Himself one new man from the two</span></b><span>: </span>Early Christians called themselves a "third race" or a "new race." Early Christians recognized that they were not Jews, not Gentiles, but <b><span class="c3">one new man</span></b> embracing all who are in Jesus.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. "As Chrysostom explained, it is not that Christ has brought one up to the level of the other, but that he has produced a greater: 'as if one should melt down one statue of silver and another of lead, and the two together should come out gold.'" (Wood)</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">Through the cross</span></b><span>: We see the </span>emphasis Paul places on the work of Jesus on the cross. He repeats the idea several times: <b><span class="c3">made near by the blood...having abolished in His flesh the enmity...in one body through the cross</span></b>. This unity did just happen, it was the hard-fought accomplishment of Jesus.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. This means that Jesus' prayer in <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',17,'all');">Jhn 17</a> (<i>that they all may be one</i>) wasn't "just" a prayer. It was a prayer Jesus prayed knowing that His work of the cross would <i>accomplish</i> and a prayer He was willing to pray knowing His <i>agony</i> would be used to answer.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. This bringing together of Jew and Gentile in Jesus is a partial fulfillment of God's eternal purpose as stated in <a onclick="return mV('Eph',1,10);">Eph 1:10</a>: <i>that...He might gather together in one all things in Christ</i>. God uses the bringing together Jew and Gentile into the Church as a preview of His ultimate work of summing up all things into Jesus Christ. Since He can do this, He can also do that.</p>
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<p class="c1">4. (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'17-18');">17-18</a>) How Jews and Gentiles are brought together.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near</span></b>: As they respond to the same gospel, the same <b><span class="c3">peace</span></b> that is <b><span class="c3">preached</span></b> to those <b><span class="c3">afar off</span></b> (Gentiles) and those <b><span class="c3">near</span></b> (Jews).</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father</span></b>: They enjoy the same <b><span class="c3">access</span></b> to God, access that comes <b><span class="c3">by one Spirit to the Father</span></b>. Not only are Jews and Gentiles saved by the same gospel, but they also have the same essential walk with God and <b><span class="c3">access</span></b> to Him. One group does not have a greater <b><span class="c3">access</span></b> than the other does.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. "<i>Access</i> is probably the best translation of <i>prosagoge</i>, though it could be 'introduction.' In oriental courts there was a <i>prosagoges</i> who brought a person into the presence of the king." (Foulkes)</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. When conflict arises among Christian groups of different backgrounds, you can be sure that they forget that they were saved by the same gospel and that they have the same access to God. One or both groups usually feel they have superior access to God.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. "This text is a plain proof of the <i>holy Trinity</i>. Jews and Gentiles are to be presented unto <i>God the</i> <span class="c6">Father</span>; the <span class="c6">Spirit</span> of God works in their hearts, and prepares them for this presentation; and <span class="c6">Jesus Christ</span> himself <i>introduces</i> them." (Clarke)</p>
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<p class="c1">5. (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'19-22');">19-22</a>) A picture of God's work of reconciliation, both individual and among groups.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner <i>stone</i></span>,<span> in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">You are no longer strangers and foreigners</span></b>: Paul refers to Christians of Gentile background. They should not regard themselves as "second-class citizens" in God's kingdom in any regard. They are not only full <b><span class="c3">citizens</span></b>, but also full and equal members of God's <b><span class="c3">household</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets</span></b>: Because we are one body and have the same access to God, it also follows that we are all built upon a common <b><span class="c3">foundation</span></b>. That foundation is the original <b><span class="c3">apostles and prophets</span></b>, and their enduring revelation, recorded in the New Testament. May no one ever lay any other foundation.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Though Chrysostom, Jerome, Calvin and others saw the <b><span class="c3">prophets</span></b> mentioned as Old Testament prophets, it is better to see them as New Testament prophets, perhaps New Testament authors who were not strictly members of the core apostolic group.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. "Those who ranked next to the Apostles in the government of the church...They were not in every case distinct from the Apostles: the apostleship probably always including the gift of <i>prophecy</i>: so that all the Apostles themselves might likewise have been <i>prophets</i>." (Alford)</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. In this sense of laying a foundation of supremely authoritative revelation for all God's people, there are no more <b><span class="c3">apostles</span></b> or <b><span class="c3">prophets</span></b> today. The foundation is already set. In a <i>lesser</i> sense there may be apostles and prophets today, but not in the sense Paul means here.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone</span></b>: This <b><span class="c3">corner stone</span></b> "literally means at the tip of the angle. It refers to the capstone or binding stone that holds the whole structure together...often the royal name was inscribed on it. In the East it was considered to be even more important than the foundation." (Wood)</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Salmond on <b><span class="c3">corner stone</span></b>: "It denotes the stone placed at the extreme corner, so as to bind the other stones in the building together - the most important stone in the structure, the one on which its stability depended."</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. "That structure and cohesion may have for its <i>scaffolding</i> the sacred order of the Church in her visible aspect. But the <i>cement</i> is not of these things; it is wholly divine; it is the Spirit, possessing each saint for God, and binding them all together by articulating them all to their Head." (Moule)</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">In whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord</span></b>: As we keep to our common foundation, the <b><span class="c3">whole building</span></b> of God's people grows together in a beautiful way, as a <b><span class="c3">holy temple</span></b> where God dwells in beauty and glory.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. This tells us that the Church is a <b><span class="c3">building</span></b>, perfectly designed by the Great Architect. It is not a haphazard pile of stones, randomly dumped in a field. God <i>arranges</i> the Church for His own glory and purposes.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. This tells us that the Church is a <b><span class="c3">dwelling place</span></b>, a place where God lives. It is never to be an empty house that is virtually a museum, with no one <i>living</i> inside. The Church is to be both the living place of God and His people.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. This tells us that the Church is a <b><span class="c3">temple</span></b>, holy and set apart to God. We serve there as priests, offering the spiritual sacrifices of our lips and hearts, our praises to God (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',13,15);">Hbr 13:15</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">You also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit</span></b>: When Solomon's temple was built, the stones were prepared at a place far from the temple building sight. They said that you couldn't hear the sound of a hammer or axe or other iron tools at the sight (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',6,7);">1Ki 6:7</a>). In the same way, God prepares us first, and then He fits us into His building.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. "The Father makes choice of this house, the Son purchaseth it, the Holy Ghost taketh possession of it." (Trapp)</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. "And the everlasting <span class="c6">Father</span> will perfectly reveal Himself, to all the watchers of all the regions of the eternal world, not anyhow but <i>thus</i> – in His glorified Church, in the Race, the Nature, once wrecked and ruined, but rebuilt into this splendour by His grace." (Moule)</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. Adam Clarke explained how God's work in the Church gave glory to the wisdom, power, and love of God. See all this, we should praise God for His glorious Church.</p><ul class="c6"><li>There is nothing as <i>noble</i> as the Church, seeing that it is the temple of God.</li><li>There is nothing so worthy of <i>reverence</i>, seeing God that <i>dwells</i> in it.</li><li>There is nothing so <i>ancient</i>, since the <i>patriarchs</i> and <i>prophets</i> worked to building it.</li><li>There is nothing so <i>solid</i>, since <i>Jesus Christ</i> is the <i>foundation</i> of it.</li><li>There is nothing so <i>high</i>, since it reaches as high as to the <i>heavenly places in Christ Jesus.</i></li><li>There is nothing so <i>perfect</i> and <i>well proportioned</i>, since the <i>Holy Spirit</i> is the <i>architect</i>.</li><li>There is nothing more <i>beautiful</i>, because it is adorned with building stones of every age, every place, every people; from the highest kings to the lowest peasants; with the most brilliant scientists and the simplest believers.</li><li>There is nothing more <i>spacious</i>, since it is spread over the whole earth, and takes in all who have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.</li><li>There is nothing so <i>Divine</i>, since it is a <i>living</i> building, <i>animated</i> and <i>inhabited</i> by the <i>Holy Spirit</i>.</li></ul>
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