š¬š§ Glory be to Jesus Christ! ššš Dedicated to Emma Kok.
A difficult theological passage that needs explanation.
Ephesians II, 3 – āĪ·Ī¼ĪµĪ¹Ļā – āemeisā – āweā. āĪ·Ī¼ĻĪ½ā – āemonā – āusā (our). āĪ·Ī¼ĪµĪøĪ±ā – āemethaā – āwereā.
Similar thoughts to Ephesians II, 3 are found in Galatians V, 16,
which is cited by the following link (the same link is also cited for
the Gospel reading below, so it is doubly necessary):
19092023.html
The reading from chapter I suggests several important theological thoughts.
I will focus on the logic of the construction of two verses, and then the other points, which I will not dwell on, will be clearer.
In fact, verses 22-23 say that God the Father gave Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, to be the Head of the Church (compare this with what is said
in the work On the Trinity
at
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/Trinity.html
), and God (here the whole Trinity is meant, for the Father has willed
it, the Son has indeed incarnated and become a human being, and the Holy
Spirit continues to work in the Church, sanctifying it and indeed making
it the Body of the Son of God, in particular through the Sacraments,
especially the Eucharist) has made the Church the Body of Jesus
Christ.
These verses also mean that the Church has thus become fullness
(completeness, a kind of
final destinationā, the Son of God will never
leave her)ā of the Son of God through His human nature, in particular
the body, but also He as God gives everything fullness, meaning,
significance, fills everything with gifts, bestows everything with what
it is (i.e.Ā the nature of all creation is most closely, intimately
connected with the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and depends on Him), and
this is most of all not even in the creation and care of creation
(although this is prominent in the whole of Godās house-building)), but
in the Incarnation and salvation of the world.
In chapter II, Paul speaks of the state of creation and people before
union with Christ, the state of death, and the dominion of the devil
because of the impossibility of complete victory and the elimination of
sins. The place of residence of the evil spirits, together with their
leader, the devil, called prince
(princes
do not have full power),
is called air
(given that they do not live in the spiritual heaven,
being cast down from there; people also live surrounded by air,
i.e.Ā air
here is the environment of human life). The translation
according to the spirit
– the word according to
is not in the
original, and we can (I think also we should) simply read ā¦according to
the prince who rules in the air, {that is,} the spirit who works in the
sons of disobedienceā¦
.
Before the Son's of God Incarnation, the dominion of the devil, sin and death was not defeated, but the Lord Jesus Christ in His First Coming defeated the devil, sin and death, and as the Head of the Church headed (became the Leader and Lord) the fullness of the ultimate victory
that will come at His Second Coming and He leads people to it. He is the Saviour of the world. (This paragraph was added on 26/09/2023).
Verse 3 says that those who accepted Christ in adulthood had
previously lived like the Gentiles, in an environment with people and
demons (in fact, this confirms the idea that the air
is the
environment of not only demons but also people). In fact, the Church
here confronts this very environment of life (which can also be called
death) of both people and demons, in the air
.
Mark X, 51 – āĪøĪµĪ»ĪµĪ¹Ļā – ātheleisā – (you) ādesireā.
For more on will and desire and how this word can be used elsewhere, see
19092023.html
For a parallel passage in Matthew (Matthew XX, 29-34) and a
comparison with this reading, see the link and references cited there:
26082023.html
There is also a similar story in another parallel passage in Matthew
(Matthew IX, 27-31), which is referred to here:
23072023.html
To the Venerable Ephrosynia of Suzdal:
For more information about these frequent readings to the
Venerables, see the following links:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/
22052023.html
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!