Wednesday, October 22, 2008
For Bible Study on Thursday
EPHESIANS 2:11-22
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
The challenge of Jesus by Paul:
1. Jesus tears down barriers of hostility and division... Jesus IS that peace and that blood sacrifice on our behalf... he declared PEACE already... so why don't we live like that? How does our flawed and impotent understanding of peace play itself out in the church and in our own lives?
2. If our gospel is divided along racial or cultural lines than our grasp of the meaning of the death of Jesus is called into question... How is our church today divided and what role do we play in this division?
3. The physical has been made manifest in the spiritual. Symbolism no longer cuts it. We partake of the circumcision in our HEARTS. We as a collective church are the TEMPLE. We no longer perform merely ritualistic acts nor go to a particular location to be close to God. What differences must we, as the church, overcome in order to become the beautiful Temple that Jesus intended to point to God in this world?
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
The challenge of Jesus by Paul:
1. Jesus tears down barriers of hostility and division... Jesus IS that peace and that blood sacrifice on our behalf... he declared PEACE already... so why don't we live like that? How does our flawed and impotent understanding of peace play itself out in the church and in our own lives?
2. If our gospel is divided along racial or cultural lines than our grasp of the meaning of the death of Jesus is called into question... How is our church today divided and what role do we play in this division?
3. The physical has been made manifest in the spiritual. Symbolism no longer cuts it. We partake of the circumcision in our HEARTS. We as a collective church are the TEMPLE. We no longer perform merely ritualistic acts nor go to a particular location to be close to God. What differences must we, as the church, overcome in order to become the beautiful Temple that Jesus intended to point to God in this world?
# posted by ErinW @ 1:13 PM
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