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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