Please, browse the many free commentaries available on https://www.katrinapearls.com/blog
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it is said,
"When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people."
(When it says, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.
--------------------
This is the Epistle reading to be presented aloud on the tenth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 13], Year B, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. This will be preceded by one of the two pairing possibilities of Old Testament and Psalm readings. Track 1 places focus on Yahweh telling Nathan to tell David his fate for sinning. Track 2 places focus on the Israelites complaining about hunger, so Yahweh promised to send them manna from heaven. The two Psalms then support themes of lament and praise, in accompaniment. All will accompany the Gospel reading from John, where the people followed Jesus to Capernaum and wanted more free bread.
I wrote about this selection and published it publicly on my website. I welcome all to read what I had to say about this in 2018. Because the Epistles are designed to force a seeker to delve deeply into the meaning of what the Saints wrote, so much is possible to be seen that it requires more than a casual English translation to begin to unfold its truth. The Epistles are written in this way to prove a priests is indeed filled with the Spirit of truth; and, they are written in this manner to expose the truth to the true seekers, so seeing for oneself raises their souls to a state of faith. For that reason, I will simply analyze a portion of this Epistle selection, as an approach that differs from that taken in 2018. What I wrote then is still applicable, as what I add now only supports that meaning.
The New Testament is made up of writings produced by people after Jesus’ life on earth had ended. It becomes important to see the entire “new bible” as being the writings of men [and women too in apocrypha], who all had become the spiritual resurrections of Jesus. There is no need to canonize any book written by anyone less possessed spiritually. This means the New Testament is the fulfillment of the promise that was presented in the Old Testament, after Yahweh sent Moses to collect human being possessing souls and teach them to become possessed by Yahweh’s Spirit, which became the writings of those individuals who divinely knew that history, wrote divinely inspired songs and became the prophets who were the prototypes of Jesus resurrected [before his birth].
For anyone to believe anything in the Holy Bible is just a book of opinions, written by men who wanted to make a name for themselves, with that opinion possibly flawed [as seen when apparent contradictions seem to make human flaws stand out], there is no benefit to be found from reading Scripture. Holding that opinion means one cannot explain Scripture so others can be led to their souls marrying Yahweh, allowing Jesus to be resurrected within them, saving their souls from another wasted life in the flesh. Only those who see the divinity of every word written, as coming from the voice of Yahweh speaking through a divine author, can one be a continuation of the New Testament.
The Epistles are the test of one’s learning to see the truth of each word. The amazing power of that truth speaks loudly in many ways, which takes their discernment far above and beyond the limitations of normal syntax. It is now with that declaration of the Epistles being Yahweh speaking through Paul that I want to focus here on the capitalized words written in these sixteen selected verses from his letter to the true Christians of Ephesus. The extraction of only those words becomes a letter within a letter.
In these sixteen verses there are seventeen capitalized words.
“Parakalō” – “Invite” [“Advocate”]
“Kyriō” – “Lord”
“Pneumatos” – “of Spirit”
“Pneuma” – “Spirit”
“Kyrios” – “Lord”
“Theos” – “God”
“Patēr” – “Father”
“Heni” – “One”
“Christou” – “of Anointed one”
“Anabas” – “having Ascended”
“Anebē” – “he Ascended”
“Kai” – A marker word denoting importance to follow. [It begins verse 11.]
“Christou” – “of Anointed one”
“Huiou” – “of Son”
“Theou” – “of God”
“Christou” – “of Anointed one”
“Christos” – “the Anointed one”
Every capitalized word must be viewed as a divinely elevated statement, above and beyond the ordinary or normal meaning. For example, a “lord” or a “master” can be anything to which one is enslaved or in submission to, which can range from a job that pays the bills and an addiction that one cannot kick. The capitalization, however, makes the word take on the meaning of Yahweh’s presence within one’s soul-flesh, where “Lord” becomes a Spiritual “Master” that one’s soul has bowed down before. All of the capitalized words take on this heavenly association; and, this is the only reason the Apostles [Saints] ministered and then wrote to continue that ministry.
Without any of the other words written by Paul seen, simply take these capitalized words and read them as them making a most divinely elevated command. They form as: “Invite Lord of Spirit – Spirit Lord – God Father – One of Anointed one having Ascended – he Ascended * - of Anointed one of Son of God – of Anointed one the Anointed one.” If one struggles with hearing what Yahweh is saying through these words alone, then one is far away from salvation; and, more personal work must be done to open one’s soul to Receive the Spirit of understanding.
At the place where I placed an asterisk [*], this is where a capitalized “Kai” is written. The word “kai” should not be read as a word, but instead as a marker of importance to follow. In Ephesians 4 are found 26 uses of “kai,” with two capitalized. In these sixteen verses, there are fourteen of the twenty-six, with only the one capitalized. The capitalization comes at the beginning of verse eleven, which makes the first segment of words in that verse most important to grasp in a heavenly sense, with the whole of the verse maintaining that elevated sense of meaning. That means understanding verse eleven is most important to realize, as necessary information that goes along with this capitalized meaning found in these verses.
Verse 11 then states: “autos edōken tous men apostolous , tous de prophētas , tous de euangelistas , tous de poimenas kai didaskalous .” Translating to: “soul placed them truly messengers , them indeed prophets , them indeed missionary preachers , them indeed shepherds and teachers .” This becomes an important statement about all of the capitalized words stated prior. The primary elevated statement says the “selves” [“autos” means “self,” with a “self” elevated spiritually as a “soul”] are those “souls” that have listened to the “Urgency” for Spiritual marriage and allowed Yahweh’s “Spirit” to become their “Lord.” In those “souls” a divine union has made “God” their “Father,” as His “Son,” each “having Ascended” Spiritually to a state of “One.” Here, those “souls” are called “messengers” [“apostles” and also “elohim” in Hebrew], such that God’s creations become “prophets, evangelists, shepherds,” with this importantly noted to be “teachers” or “rabbis” [in Hebrew].
It is vital to realize these capitalized words can only be found in the Greek text [Hebrew has no capital letters in its alphabet] and not the English translations. Many English versions will take the liberty of taking a word like “autos” and capitalizing that as “He,” if they want the reader to follow their line of though [an agenda] that says the pronoun refers to Jesus. That misses the truth that a “soul” or a “self” is not elevated until it has married Yahweh and become His wife [a “Christ”].
In the quote stated by Paul: “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people,” it is important to realize this is parsed from Psalm 68:18. The NRSV states that verse fully as: “You ascended the high mount, leading captives in your train and receiving gifts from people, even from those who rebel against the Lord God’s abiding there.” In that, the truth is David did not write “the Lord God’s.” He wrote, “Yah elohim,” which must be understood to say, “Yahweh gods,” where “elohim” or “gods” are what these sixteen verses of Paul’s epistle are speaking of, in capitalized letters.
As an Epistle reading selected to be read aloud on the tenth Sunday after Pentecost, when one’s personal ministry to Yahweh should already be well underway, Paul is teaching what a true “messenger” of Yahweh is. It is a soul who has fully submitted itself to Him, to be the soul that will resurrect as His “Son” Jesus, as two souls that have become “Anointed one” in the same body of flesh, all “One” with “God.” If one’s “Lord” is not Jesus, through his divine rebirth within one’s being, then one is only pretending to be religious; and, that leads the flock away from Yahweh, which harms one’s soul as a false shepherd.