Ephesians chapter 2: Predestination Racism Equality



 1: And you has he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins 2: Wherein in time past you walked according to the aion’s of this kosmos according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience 3: Among whom also we all conducted ourselves times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others 4: But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us [1]5: Even when we were dead in sins has made us alive together with Christ By grace you are saved 6: And has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus 7: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus 8: For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God 9: Not of works lest any should boast 10: For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good works which God has before ordained[2] that we should walk in them 11: Wherefore remember that you being in time past ethnos [non-Jewish] in the flesh who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands 12: 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 13: But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood of Christ 14: For he is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us 15: Having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to make in himself of two one new audawm so making peace 16: And that he might reconcile both [Jew and Gentile] to God in one body by the cross having slain the enmity (racial prejudice and discrimination)[3] thereby 17: And came and preached peace to you [ethnos] which were afar off and to them that were near [Jews] 18: For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father 19: Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God 20: And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone[4] 21: In whom all the building Psalm 144:12 fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord: 22: In whom you also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit[5]




[1] God does not love only those who belong to Him (the Elect). He loves every person ever born, whether they love him or not Colossians 1:20-23.
[2] We were before ordained to salvation, according to both God’s will and foreknowledge. It is not His will that any should perish. 1 Timothy 2:4-6 establishes that not only is it God’s will that every person be saved, but that Jesus shed his blood to save ALL people—not just for some people.   
[3] The Children of Israel were always commanded to share their faith and commonwealth with non-Jews—in other words, to evangelize. That is how Rahab, Ruth, and Uriah the Hittite were able to live among them and share in the commonwealth of Israel. But racial prejudice, discrimination, and institutionalized inequality, largely prevented them from doing so.
[4] A cornerstone is an angle. A chief cornerstone is a capstone. All structures have angles, which are critical to the building and stability of them. But only one structure has a chief cornerstone—a capstone—and that is a pyramid. Only a pyramid has a stone placed on the very top that connects to every single stone in the structure in an unbroken one-of-a-kind unity seen nowhere else on earth. The Body of Christ [holy Jerusalem] is shaped like a pyramid with the capstone  (Chief Cornerstone) laid first and the building built from the top down with God’s daughters as well as his sons set as cornerstones in the building built by Christ.   
[5] Women were the very first believers and preachers of the gospel [good news] of the risen Christ—the very first cornerstones laid by the Almighty in the structure he called his Church—his building made without hands, constructed of living stones. The Church of Jesus Christ has many cornerstones, and in Psalm 144:12, daughters are identified as cornerstones. The Hebrew word translated cornerstone in Psalm 144:12, zaviyth, is derived from another Hebrew word, ziv, meaning bright or prominent. Prominent persons among God’s people are generally considered leaders, and the Hebrew text (Ben Chayyim Masoretic Text) that underlies the King James Version identifies women as being included among prominent leaders (cornerstones) who contribute to the adding to, nourishing, edifying, and unifying of the living stones which comprise God’s building. The Counsel for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) teaches that the one of the criteria for disqualifying women from leadership is prominence, yet the Bible says women will be prominent and gives many examples of prominent Biblical women. http://www.cbmw.org/Journal/Vol-1-No-2/But-What-Should-Women-Do-In-The-Church [4/15/2010]
In critical and eclectic text Bible translations, (which are translated from different Hebrew texts from that which undergirds the Authorized Version) words are often used that obliterate the meaning of Psalm 144:12 by changing the word cornerstone to “pillar.” Pillar, is a word which aligns nicely with gender-biased-English-translation-helpmeet-theology and regulates women to strictly support positions within the home and church. But if Jesus’ position as capstone (kephale of the corner) has to do with the building (adding to), nourishing, edifying, and unifying of His Church—which it does—then every cornerstone (angle) in the building has the same function. But like the pyramid, which is the only structure on earth which has a primary angle (capstone), the foundation of God’s building is laid at the top with the primary angle—of which there can be only one—only one capstone, kephale [head] of the corner—and that is Jesus Christ Himself—the Chief Corner Stone.

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