Exegetical Report

Greek III
Brooke T.
9.26.07

Text:
Ephesians 2:19 “…so then no longer are you a stranger and alien, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…”

Words like ‘but’ and ‘no longer’ signify a difference to what was previously, a negation of past comments or a past state of being. It does the same here, indicating, obviously, that this is how it is, but it wasn’t always this way.

Through the last chapter, Paul has been setting forth the facts of our dire state. In the immediate context of verse 19, this has been centered around our alienation to Israel – we weren’t any where in that picture - “…estranged from the commonwealth of Israel and strange to the covenant of the promises having no hope and without God in the world…” – could it state any clearer the mess we were in? Burst forth then the glorious words of vs. 13 “BUT GOD.” From that point until here, Paul explains how Jesus broke down the separation between Israel and we the godless Gentiles. We are no longer stranger, for Jesus through His amazing act of grace and love took us from our hopeless state, right into the very household of God.


For me personally, being very familiar with the Jesus’ saving work on the cross, it is extremely easy for me to forget what my position was like before the before the ‘no longer’. Hopeless, godless, alone, and alienated. God had no obligation to free us from that state. There was nothing special in the very least about us that should be particularly attractive to Him: after all, we were His enemies. But He took us to Himself just the same. That is the awesomeness of God’s love: not that He loved us because we were special but that He loved us because He chose to - for His glory and spectacular plan. May God help me never to cease remembering that He saved me from an impossible condition, and that I am in that condition no longer.

Lafayette, Hero of the American Revolution

"Born of wealthy aristocracy in France, Lafayette seemed like an unlikely candidate for honor in a republican revolution. Lafayette's father, a soldier, died in battle when his son was only tow. Young Lafayette read widely, especially military books, and he too became an officer in the French army. When he was eighteen, Lafayette attended a dinner where the American War for Independence was discussed . For some reason the American cause fired his imagination. When an American Representative came to France in 1776 seeking officers for the Continental army, Lafayette enthusiastically volunteered...When General Washington learned of that he was receiving a nineteen-year-old major general in his command, he was cool to the idea. On meeting the young officer, however, Washington's doubts melted. Lafayette was gracious, humble, and eager bother to learn and to serve. A strong affection grew between the American commander and the young French nobleman. For Washington Lafayette became the son he had never had. For Lafayette, Washington became the father he had never known. Lafayette served bravely with the Continental army. On his education as a soldier he wrote, "I read, I study, I examine, I listen, I think, and out of all that I try to form an idea into which I put as much common sense as I can." Despite his studious nature, Lafayette was no armchair soldier; he was always in the thick of the fighting. He was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, and a small force under his command constantly harassed Cornwallis and the British in Virginia. At Yorktown, he led an attack on a major British fortification. When he returned to France after the war, Lafayette left behind him a large group of veterans who had been impressed with the young man's unflagging cheerfulness and unquestioned courage."
Excerpt from "United States History" BJU press.