HE IS (EACH OF) OUR PEACE (ONGOING) EPHESIANS 2:14
“He is our peace who has broken down every wall of partition, to make us both one.” Ephesians 2:14
“But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” James 3:8
(C)2015 Taveau D’Arcy All copyrights reserved
APOSTLE PAUL’S CHURCH OF EPHESIANS LETTER
EPHESIANS 2:14 originally addressed the need for COMMON UNITY back the First Church Days, when there was great DIVISIONS and FACTIONS among the two basic subgroups of humans alive on planet Earth: the born again Jews and the born again Gentiles.
APOSTOLIC CULTURE IN THE ASIA MINOR FIRST EPHESIANS CHURCHMANY TRADITIONS and passed down BELIEFS still remained in the new Believer’s (primarily UNRENEWED), often legalistic, subculture prejudiced minds.
REGARDING THE JEWS
THE JEWS were descendants of the 12 Hebrew Tribes, the nation of Israel, while the GENTILES were “everybody else.” Among these were temple leaders: some being fresh out from sitting under, even being named among, the notorious Pharisees and Sadducees. MOST ASSUREDLY, not all Jews were Old Testament Legalists who were Pharisees and Sadducees. Among the many different Jewish common, lay persons, were true seekers, persons who were spiritually open and not overly mentally tough, mainly the ones who genuinely waited for the coming of the accepting, non accuser, ISAIAH 11:1-3 aforementioned authentic “ORGANIC” Messiah.
ISAIAH 11:1-3
“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears”:
REGARDING THE GENTILES
Among the GENTILES (just citing a few examples, and main sub-people groups which occupied the Asian, Turkey Church of EPHESUS very multicultural, pluralistic, PRE CHRISTIAN, richly DIVERSE “church planting turf” in which God was planting an ORGANIC CHRIST FOLLOWING SUBCULTURE)…were these, to give but a few examples:
**THE OCCUPYING ROMANS
**THE GREEKS (well known for Gnostic, (human) secular wisdom, reasoning)
**THE TEMPLE OF DIANA /BAAL/MANY OTHER IDOL WORSHIPPING PRACTICING, GENUINE DEVOTEES
** “NORMAL” seeking, hurting people
**SYTHIANS
** SAMARIANS and SAMARITANS
**ROVING DEMONIACS
**AND VARIOUS SUBGROUPS: Example TRADESPERSONS coming through Asia Minor on the trade roots, merchants, business persons, etc…
***AND among all of these were different GENTILE RACES: From AFRICA, soon to be EUROPE, THE MEDITERRANEAN, THE MIDDLE EAST
THE START OF DIVISION/ WAR: ACCUSING, JUDGING, BITTER GRIEVANCE MINDSETS EVENTUALLY MAKE WARRING HUMAN BEINGS
SOON the warring, often tribal, mindsets of the NEWLY REDEEMED genuine Christ followers surfaced due to
1) the worldly natural human thinking
2) the human accusative all wise self important biased flesh
3) there was not New Testament Bible to study (as they were the future writers of it) and had to DEPEND ON what the 12 CHIEF APOSTLES got (heard as coming from the Lord) in very much “prayer and fasting.”
REMINDER: While there was great Book of Acts (ISAIAH 11:2 7 flaming Holy Spirits of the Living God) Holy Spirit supernatural life giving, healing, reviving /miracle (dunamis) POWER…it was (meaning way back then) chiefly experiential, very spontaneous with it LATER being written down, described in letters by chief Apostles MATTHEW,MARK, LUKE, JOHN, PAUL (who wrote 2/3 of the New Testament).
NO, the First New Testament racially /worship culturally DIVERSE CHURCH had to OVERCOME mindsets, bias, mentalities, vast amounts of idolatry, spiritual wickedness amongst “God’s TRUTH”, many appearing to be similar yet FALSE DOCTRINES, and accuser legalisms, wisdom that was not grounded in the foundational freedom coming from the Messiah: JESUS CHRIST, and the slave mentality regarding nations, races, differing religious beliefs and men and women, etc.
IT WAS INTO THIS DIVERSE,CONFUSED SUFFERING MIXTURE that GOD chose to begin a tiny, barely discernible , but ORGANIC “FIRST HOUSE TO HOUSE NONBIASED CHURCH.”
THE APOSTLE PAUL writes about the big need for (much more) ONGOING RELATIONSHIP… as the primary source for needed FRESH ONGOING SUPERNATURAL HOLY SPIRIT WISDOM and (downloaded Holy Spirit, ongoing) REVELATION…meaning via RELATIONSHIPS between FATHER IN HEAVEN with those who PRAYED and faithfully ABIDED with Him.
APOSTLE PAUL set an example (even a modern today one) by (in EPHESIANS 1:17) persistently praying for those in the CHURCH to “have the spirit of wisdom and revelation IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM” (note; the knowledge OF HIM…(implying abiding First Love RELATIONSHIP) as opposed to (only) hearing /surface KNOWING “ABOUT” Him (God, Jesus Christ).
AND by the time we read EPHESIANS 2:14, the differing factions in the First Church had started to surface, therefore causing Apostle Paul to see a need to address such.
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PAUL PENS: “He is our peace, who has broken down every wall of partition to make us both one” in his letter (book) to the Church of Ephesus. 2:14
GIVING A SELAH INTERPRETATION:
“He is our peace” “while the WORLD won’t give us (ongoing, remaining, sustaining heart peace) nor will each our our own NATIONALITY, SKIN COLOR, PERSONALITY, TALENTS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTING and /or PEDIGREE, PEERS, FAMILY, LIFESTYLE, etc supply us with abiding true PEACE…..Messiah can and WILL through inviting MESSIAH, Jesus Christ, into our own willful heart..but then allowing HIM to sit upon the Heart Throne of OUR LIFE…rather than EGO, judging, superior , suspicious, accusing SELF.
…”who has broken down every wall of partition..”
….”HE (Jesus, the nonaccuser Isaiah 11:3 Messiah) is OUR peace(common ground, which gives us something to focus on other then each of “OUR SELVES” and “OUR OWN RIGHTS” and “OUR OWN (pet versions of) each of our OWN preferred versions of SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS”,etc)…
This “WALL OF PARTITION” was not(is not) a literal WALL which could be seen and hand touched, but instead this was the TRADITIONAL, PASSED DOWN MENTAL WALL of pet beliefs, religious pet doctrines, human and society, tribal, and ethnic “ethnos” BIGOTRY, RESENTMENT, WARRING PREJUDICES, and all FAMILY FEUDS, including MARITAL, GENERATIONAL, ALL human person to person, ANY racial group versus racial group, ALL religious/ many many OTHER types of warring BIGOTRY,ANIMOSITY, RIVALRY, and passed down, modern, present, future ACCUSATION, etc..
….. is the cause of WARS, ANGER, RETALIATION, BRUTALITY, DIVORCE, ABUSE, ACCUSATION ad infinitum.**
** WRITER refers to all of these as basic human “MIND FIELDS”…as they can cause a great EXPLOSION if not kept calm under HOly Spirit spiritual fruit of TEMPERANCE (self government)= “self control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
….”to make us ALL ONE”
This reminds the writer of Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:28 ” WHEN (if you choose to ) put on Christ, there is Old Testament Pharisee religious legalistic rules, so hence also ” no male, female, Jew, Greek, Bond or free” Paul in Galatians 3:28
SUMMARY
The ONLY means by which all of the human race can cease from accusing, fighting, and warring is by letting GO of all past personal, tribal, national, local, family PET “unforgiveness” ..”family feuds” “bitter grievances” “bad history” “personal /ministry/ bitter root judgements” etc….and to TAKE ON the LOVE coming up from within each of their HEARTS via “accepting JESUS CHRIST” as accepting, Savior, who then places NEW STRENGTH inside the human individual..
1) to speak to, and to reveal to each one of them a higher VISION OF PURPOSE, ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
2) to grant them LIFE SELF GOVERNING PERSONAL POWER by the “fruits of the Spirit”
3) the Holy Spirit yoke breaking anointing (Isaiah 10:27) which creates a NEW GOD PERSPECTIVE and allows deep FORGIVENESS for each and every former, past, current (even BIG) transgression, family, life failure and with God’s help, chooses to FORGIVE and to LET GO OF all past historic,even devilish, dark, demeaning subculture behavior.
NOW OF COURSE: that is the CHOICE of each and every HUMAN born under the sun.
AND it is akin to a TENNIS BALL of personal CHOICE tossed into each one of OUR (proverbial) COURTS from the LORD to US.
Q: WILL we choose to turn to the Lord for HIS HELP in forgiving, refraining from judging and for personal SELF GOVERNING SUPERNATURAL HOLY SPIRIT POWER ..personally, family, church, ministry,racially, etc
OR WILL WE choose to ignore it, “to neglect so great a (free) salvation” and thereby ignore, avoid or intentionally prefer to remain IGNORANT that by repenting, turning toward the things of the LORD, and running TOWARD HIM (Meaning: to receive MUCH MORE PERSONAL SELF GOVERNING, ABIDING, (way deep) FORGIVENESS supplied power)
AND IF WE INDEED choose the latter (to avoid, to remain ignorant, to choose to avoid appropriating this FREELY GIVEN GRACE GIFT)…then it will continue to perpetuate the Accuser Blame Shifting back over onto GOD for there being WAR, KILLINGS, MURDERS, MULTIPLIED HUMAN SUFFERING, etc..
…..when all the entire time GOD had set up terms whereby which we could AVOID doing all of that…FIRST by acknowledging that without another’s enlisted HELP we (meaning NONE OF US) can consistently SELF GOVERN what we SAY to any other, and even to our own SELF on any given less than perfect (frustrating) DAY.
DURING HER HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS days, the school choir sang a song titled, “LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH, BUT LET IT BEGIN WITH ME”
YET, even if each person WANTS to “let it begin with THEM”..despite their best intentions, each will fall short…due to eventually being proved to being unable to control what comes OUT OF their own LIPS.. (meaning: supply of words)
AND (so it appears) many similar persons are often unable to self govern what GOES INTO (IN BETWEEN) their own lips (tastey morsels)…
AND because the writer is truly human, it is due to her own temptations that she is turning toward the LORD to enlist more of HIS SUPPLY for her OWN “personal self government.” AND it is a persistent, ongoing, nearly every day “fall off of the horse then get back on”… work in progress…
REMINDER: REVELATION 12:11 “They overcame HIM (the accuser) by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death”
(C)2014 Taveau D’Arcy All copyrights reserved
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