God Is an Englishman by R.F. Delderfield

one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” In Chapter 4, he delights in the truth that, “There is one body and one Spirit.In Chapter 3, he explains, “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”.For he himself is our peace, who has made us both (Jew and Gentile) one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (italics mine).

In Chapter 2, he writes, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Here are just some of the things Paul says to the Ephesians:

Paul rejoiced in the truth that the gospel provides a superior unity. Indeed, Christian unity exists despite our array of temporal differences. Throughout Ephesians, Paul emphasized unity because Christians are in Christ together, not because they’re from the same earthly background. Week after week, unity has been the theme. Over the last three years, I have preached through Ephesians at my church. However, my forbearer’s apparent linking of “Englishness” and “Christianity” wasn’t just unbiblical but positively counter-biblical. Now I long for the church attendance, respect of the Bible, and gospel zeal of previous generations of my kinsmen according to the flesh.

Such sentiment, I fear, isn’t confined to the past or restricted to my nation. Moreover, they assume something about “the English” that requires God to be more for us than he is for others. Such words convey that nationality, not spirituality, is God’s highest priority. The hymn was written when religious fervor was rife in England many believed God “favored” our land. William Blake penned the poem as a riff on an apocryphal story about adolescent Jesus visiting England’s shores and finding it to be heaven on earth. Nowhere is this more evident than in the words of the hymn “Jerusalem.” Considered one of our most patriotic songs, the hymn also has the dubious honor of being the only one where every line can be answered in the negative:Īnd did those feet in ancient time walk upon England’s mountains green? Īnd did the Countenance Divine, Shine forth upon our clouded hills? Īnd was the holy Lamb of God on England’s pleasant pastures seen? Īnd was Jerusalem builded here among those dark satanic mills? Suffice it to say that my country’s relationship with God has a long and complicated history. We quote this phrase all the time in England. ” near the top is “Englishman” (just after “astronaut”-go figure!). If you type into a search engine, “God is a.

God Is an Englishman by R.F. Delderfield