I have been teaching through the book of Ephesians recently. It has been a rich and satisfying study. One of the primary things I have discovered in researching and writing on Ephesians 2 is the role that Augustine (354-430) played in undermining orthodox Christian theology concerning the place of free will. He did this by mixing Gnostic determinism with his Christian theology. The result has been devastating as will be shown in this series of posts.

In Ephesians 2 Paul takes back up the subject of what Yahweh has done for us in Christ that he began earlier in this letter, and the result of Jesus’ willing sacrifice for us on Calvary. In returning to the subject of believers, Paul starts at the beginning in verse 1. He says rightly, that “you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” The KJV reads, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;” “hath he quickened” is in italics to indicate those words are not found in the majority text from which the KJV translators worked and were added to the text by the translators. Unfortunately, this addition has created a problem for us today.

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