You hath He quickened: The temple of God

Hello To All:

When Adam sinned, his spirit died; and his intimate communion with God was lost; rather then being God centered, he had become self-centered.  (Please see previous essays regarding the image of  God and the temple of God).  Adam's sin also corrupted his soul and his body; and sin and death entered into the world.  The image of God, as the perfect man, was lost to him.  God was not surprised by Adam's fall.  His plan for the redemption of the entire creation, including man, was in place and would be accomplished through His Son: Jesus of Nazareth, The Word who became flesh, the Perfect Man: The image of God.

If we are to worship God "in spirit and in truth;" then it follows that our spirit must be made alive, in order for us to worship God, in all of His fullness.  We find written at Ephesians 2:4-5, the following: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)..."  We find a similar text at Colossians 2:11-13: "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.  And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses..."

The phrase "hath quickened," from the Ephesians's text; and the phrase "hath he quickened," from the Colossians text, are both translated from the same Greek word in the original text of the New Testament. These are the only two occurrences of this Greek word, that I am aware of.  I am not a Greek scholar (I have enough trouble with my native language of English); thus my conclusions, regarding the number of appearances of "quickened," are based on reference works, that have proven themselves to be reliable.  Since quickened is unique to the above two texts; then, we must look to those texts for the meaning of the word. The King's Book, is always the best place to look for a right understanding of the Kings's Book.

In Christ Jesus, we have life. But, before our life in Jesus Christ, our status is very different.  The Ephesians text speaks of us as: "dead in sins."  The Collosians text speaks of us as: "dead in ... sins."  But, at the moment of our conversion to Jesus Christ, things change.  The Ephesians text speaks of this change as: "quickened us together with Christ."  The Colossians text speaks of this change as: "the operation of God, who hath raised him (Christ) from the dead...hath he quickened together with him."  As Christ was raised from the dead, so are we raised from the dead.  As Christ was made alive, so are we made alive. Thus, on the basis of the King's Book, we must conclude that to be "quickened," means to be made alive.

Since we have already come to recognize that we come into this world with a dead spirit; then we must also conclude that it is our spirit that is "quickened;" that is to say: it is our spirit that is made alive.  Can we say thank you Jesus of Nazareth.

With our spirit "quickened," the temple of God is now ready to be occupied.  Our quickened spirit becomes the holy place, not made with human hands; and the Lord our God moves in and establishes intimate communion between His Spirit and our spirit.  What was lost to Adam, has been restored through Jesus Christ.  Thus, we begin to have an understanding of the relationship between the temple of the people of Israel; and the temple of our bodies.

There is much ground to cover, but before we move on to our understanding of the relationship of our soul and body, to the temple of Israel, we must take some time to examine the language, typically used by the western church, to describe this event of being "quickened."

When we next meet, we shall ask the question: "Am I born again?"

Until next time, my beloved brethren, in Christ Jesus, I continue to be:

Your servant and your fellow pilgrim,
Elder Theophilus