Ephesians 2:16
16 And [kai] that he might
reconcile [apokatallasso] both [amphoteros] unto God [theos] in [en] one [heis] body [soma] by [dia] the cross, [stauros] having slain [apokteino]
the enmity [echthra] thereby [en]: [autos] KJV-Interlinear
16 and
might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having
put to death the enmity. NASB
While the world sets out categories
of people, whether black or white, whether Jew or gentile, whether male or
female, whether smart of dumb, and so forth, all of these are irrelevant
through Christ, who has made all into one category, namely believers in Christ,
which we more commonly now call the Church, or the Royal Family, or the Bride
of Christ.
There is no distinction
between people as far as our relationship with God goes.
In one body, and that
body is the collective group known as the church, or all believers in Christ.
By the cross, refers to
the work of Christ in salvation, by which we receive eternal life through faith
in Him.
There is no other means
of eternal life. There is no other means
of continuing on in a future life, other than by Christ.
Man will not ascend
through works, or by accident or by some miracle light. Man will not assimilate into nature or the
universe. Man will not improve through a
sequence of lives.
There is only one life,
and that is now. There is only one future
life and that follows this life. Death
is not a revolving door by which we can do and re-do it all over again.
There exists an enmity, a
great gulf deep and wide, that separates man from God. Man is incapable of crossing that expanse,
just as we will never be able to travel across this universe.
By the cross, means just
that. There is only one method of
breaching the divide between man and God, and that is through the work of Christ. On the cross, Christ defeated that enmity,
the sin, the impurity, the flaws, the taints that separated us from God. And our only means of obtaining the benefit
of that defeat, is through faith in Christ.
Mans works are dead. Mans sincerity is dead. Mans effort is dead. Only faith, which carries no merit to man, is
recognized by God.
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