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What we believe and teach - The mystery of Christ - |
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We 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), were formerly
without Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the
covenants of the promise, without hope, far from God and without God in the
world. But it pleased God to bring us near to Him through the death of Jesus
Christ. For through the death of Jesus Christ the middle wall which separated
us from God and the Jews by birth was destroyed, because Jesus abolished in
His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in
ordinances. Therefore, by His death on the cross, Jesus reconciled us both
(Gentiles and Jews) to God in one body. We were reconciled to God by the
grace of God through faith in Christ. Now, therefore, we who are Gentiles in
Christ are fellow heirs with those Jews who are in Christ, we are members
together of one body, that is, the Church, and partakers of His promise in
Christ Jesus through the Gospel, that is, the promise of eternal life. We are
no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and
members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone of
this spiritual building which is a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.
This mystery was kept hidden in God for ages past, but in the fullness of the
time it was revealed to the saints of God, to the intent that now the
manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the Church to the
principalities and powers in the heavenly places. |
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Let us bear
in mind this: it was necessary that most of the Jews should disobey God, so
that we who are Gentiles might be forgiven by God (that is to say, so that
God might have mercy on us) and we might become His people; so we received
mercy through the disobedience of the Jews. As we know, in the days of Jesus and
in the days of the apostles, most of the Jews refused to accept Jesus as the
promised Messiah and thus they disobeyed God (most of the Jews all over the
world still refuse to accept Jesus as the Messiah). Then God, disgusted for
their disobedience, had the Gospel of grace preached to the Gentiles as well,
so that they might believe and obey Him; so that, through the believing
Gentiles, He might provoke the disobedient Jews to jealousy. The disobedience
of the Jews was predicted by God through His prophets of old, for God said in
various ways that He would harden the Jews to cause them to stumble. Therefore
they were predestined to stumble; on the contrary, we were predestined to
accept the Word of God. Therefore the hardening in part which |