You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
16 And[kai] that he might reconcile
[apokatallasso] both[amphoteros] unto God[theos] in[en] one[heis] body[soma] by[dia] the cross,[stauros] having slain[apokteino]
the enmity[echthra] thereby[en]:[autos] KJV-Interlinear
16 and
might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having
put to death the enmity. NASB
While the world sets out categories of people, whether black or white, whether Jew or gentile, whether male or female, whether smart of dumb, and so forth, all of these are irrelevant through Christ, who has made all into one category, namely believers in Christ, which we more commonly now call the Church, or the Royal Family, or the Bride of Christ.
There is no distinction between people as far as our relationship with God goes.
In one body, and that body is the collective group known as the church, or all believers in Christ.
By the cross, refers to the work of Christ in salvation, by which we receive eternal life through faith in Him.
There is no other means of eternal life. There is no other means of continuing on in a future life, other than by Christ.
Man will not ascend through works, or by accident or by some miracle light. Man will not assimilate into nature or the universe. Man will not improve through a sequence of lives.
There is only one life, and that is now. There is only one future life and that follows this life. Death is not a revolving door by which we can do and re-do it all over again.
There exists an enmity, a great gulf deep and wide, that separates man from God. Man is incapable of crossing that expanse, just as we will never be able to travel across this universe.
By the cross, means just that. There is only one method of breaching the divide between man and God, and that is through the work of Christ. On the cross, Christ defeated that enmity, the sin, the impurity, the flaws, the taints that separated us from God. And our only means of obtaining the benefit of that defeat, is through faith in Christ.
Mans works are dead. Mans sincerity is dead. Mans effort is dead. Only faith, which carries no merit to man, is recognized by God.
