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POSTED
01 JUNE, 2010
The Message of Ephesians
by
J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net
The Epistle of
Ephesians is often one of the most appreciated
letters of the Apostolic Scriptures for today’s
Messianic community, even though there are
probably various themes and issues seen within
Ephesians which have not been explored
thoroughly enough. Whether one is a part of a
Messianic Jewish or some kind of independent
Messianic congregation, you have heard
references to the Commonwealth of Israel
(2:11-12) and Jewish and non-Jewish Believers
being fellow heirs and citizens with one another
(3:6). You have heard about some kind of “one
new man” (2:15) that God is supposed to create
from the Jews and the nations. What you have
likely not heard that much about is what the
letter of Ephesians meant to the First Century
people who originally received it.
One of the most
frequently unknown issues, among standard Bible
readers, regarding Ephesians, appears in its
opening verse. While the Apostle Paul extends
opening greetings to be sure—“Paul, an apostle
of Messiah Yeshua by the will of God...Grace and
peace to you from God our Father and the Lord
Yeshua the Messiah” (1:1a, 2)—there is
sufficient manuscript evidence to support the
view that the Ephesians did not originally
receive this letter. The Revised Standard
Version notably rendered Ephesians 1:1 with, “ To
the saints who are also faithful in Christ
Jesus,” as the designation “in Ephesus” does not
appear in the oldest textual witnesses.[1]
And there is certainly good cause for us to
consider why the Ephesians are not specifically
addressed in this letter: for one who spent a
total of three years in Ephesus (Acts 20:31),
the tenor of this letter does not seem to be
written by someone who was that personally
familiar with its recipients. What does this
mean to readers of “Ephesians”?
There is excellent
cause for us to think that instead of originally
being written to the Ephesians, that this
epistle was actually a circular letter written
by Paul for
Tychicus (6:21)
to take to a group of assemblies in Asia Minor.
In all likelihood, the rather ambiguous letter
that Paul claimed to have written to the
Laodiceans (Colossians 4:16) is the circular
epistle we now call “Ephesians.” In some ancient
witnesses of Ephesians there is actually a blank
space where one would expect an audience to be
named. When this circular letter eventually made
its way to Ephesus, the third most important
city for the early Believers after Jerusalem and
Antioch, the reference
en Ephesō was
likely transcribed. For readers of the Epistle
of Ephesians, what this means is that unlike
some other Pauline letters that were written for
a specific audience—and where we might have a
visit recorded in Acts—a general knowledge of
Asia Minor and the relationship of Greco-Roman
religion in general to Judaism, is only really
necessary as background material. In describing
the audience of “Ephesians,” it is best to
classify them as a group of Believers in Asia
Minor. “Ephesians” would surely affect the
Ephesians, but also notable groups like the
Laodiceans or the Colossians, in the broad
geographical area.
There is no doubting
that when one reads through Ephesians, it is
written in a very upbeat and positive tone,
almost as though it is composed as a homily. The
Lord is praised, and the salvation available to
all in Messiah Yeshua is exclaimed. God the
Father “has blessed us in the heavenly realm
with every spiritual blessing in Messiah. For he
chose us in him before the creation of the world
to be holy and blameless in his sight” (1:3-4).
In so being adopted (1:5-6), it is in Yeshua
that “we have redemption though his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the
riches of God’s grace that he lavished upon us
with all wisdom and understanding” (1:7-8). Not
only has eternal salvation and great blessing
been granted to Believers, but Paul also tells
his audience “he made known to us the mystery of
his will according to his good pleasure, which
he purposed in Messiah, to be put into effect
when the times will have reached their
fulfillment” (1:9-10a). The Father’s plan is
that all of Creation be ruled by His Son
(1:10b), something which is to be most
especially understood by those who have
experienced the power of the gospel.
Paul expresses the
great honor it is to be a part of the first
generation of Messiah followers (1:11-12), and
how his audience in Asia Minor too has been able
to be “included in Messiah when you heard the
word of truth...Having believed, you were marked
in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit”
(1:13). The Holy Spirit has been granted to
Believers as “a deposit guaranteeing our
inheritance” (1:14), giving them the
confirmation every day that more is to occur in
God’s most awesome plan of salvation history
(cf. Romans 8:23; Hebrews 9:28).
The Apostle Paul is
most diligent in the prayers he offers for his
audience (1:15-16), especially in that they be
granted more of the power of the Holy Spirit “so
that you may know him better” (1:17). He prays
most importantly “that the eyes of your heart
may be enlightened in order that you may know
the hope to which he has called you, the riches
of his glorious inheritance in the saints”
(1:18)—an indication that God strongly values
His redeemed people! If Believers wish to be
truly mature, they will value their fellow
brothers and sisters who have been saved by
the Lord Yeshua. The power which raised Yeshua
from the dead is currently at work in His
exaltation in Heaven (1:19-20), where the
Messiah sits “far above all rule and authority,
power and dominion, and every title that can be
given, not only in the present age but also in
the one to come” (1:21). Yeshua has been placed
by His Father as Supreme Ruler, under which are
all things (1:22). Yeshua’s body on Earth is the
ekklēsia, filled by Him (1:23), and is to
serve as a tangible representative of what is to
occur in the cosmos one day when He truly
returns to take up His throne from Jerusalem!
Paul informs his
audience how great a transformation they have
received in coming to faith in Yeshua: “As for
you, you were dead in your transgressions and
sins, in which you used to live when you
followed the ways of the world” (2:1-2a), and
they knew nothing but the power of the Devil
(2:2b). This is a sorry state that all people
have once had to suffer from, including Paul
himself, his Jewish brethren, and all who are
without the Messiah (2:3). Paul can only
declare, “But because of his great love for us,
God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with
Messiah even when we were dead in
transgressions” (2:4-5a). Paul is quite
insistent to assert “it is by grace you have
been saved” (2:5b), a significant result of
which is being “seated with [Messiah] in the
heavenly realms “ (2:6). In the future or
“coming ages” those redeemed by Yeshua will be
fully shown “the incomparable riches of his
grace, expressed in his kindness” (2:7). Even
though individuals today might have a strong
feeling as to what this involves—just try to
imagine the revelation of being able to
completely see how God’s hand has worked
throughout history guiding people toward
Himself.
In the meantime, Believers are to know that “it
is by grace you have been saved, through faith”
(2:8a), as salvation is not a human action via
works (2:8b-9). It is only because of the sheer
grace of the Creator that any one of us can
possess redemption. Yet every Believer has a
great responsibility in being saved by the Lord,
because “we are God’s workmanship, created in
Messiah Yeshua to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us” (2:10). It is only
by a life which faithfully demonstrates actions
becoming of those who have been saved, that we
can truly be readied for all of what is to come
in eternity.
Salvation does not come to
Believers by works or human effort, but
Believers do come to salvation and as a result
are to manifest good works. Such
works begin by manifesting a diligent love of
God and neighbor![2]
The significant
majority of Paul’s audience in Asia Minor was
not Jewish, and they were regularly criticized
by many Jews for being “uncircumcised,”
something which Paul observed could lead to
significant and ungodly pride (2:11). No matter,
he says, because “formerly you who are Gentiles
by birth...were at that time separate from
Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel and
foreigners to the covenants of promise, without
hope and without God in the world” (2:11a, 12).
Without the Messiah and without the One True
God, these non-Jews had no hope of salvation.
They were “alienated from the commonwealth of
Israel” (2:12, RSV). Yet such a status has now
been reversed! “[N]ow in Messiah Yeshua you who
once were far way have been brought near through
the blood of Messiah” (2:13). Yeshua’s sacrifice
on behalf of all of humanity has brought
redeemed, non-Jewish people “near” and into the
Commonwealth of Israel (cf. Deuteronomy 4:7;
Isaiah 56:3; Psalm 148:14). They possess a
citizenship which their trespasses and sins once
barred them from having.
Yeshua’s
accomplishment of bringing Jewish and non-Jewish
Believers together as one in Him, being “our
peace,” is most serious to the Apostle Paul
(2:14a). The way the Lord has done this is that
He “has destroyed the barrier, the diving wall
of hostility” (2:14b). In Second Temple times,
there was actually a barrier wall erected that
prohibited anyone who was not a Jew or proselyte
from entering into the inner sanctuary of the
Jerusalem Temple (Josephus Antiquities of the
Jews 15.417; Jewish War 5.194). Those
persons who were prohibited from crossing the
barrier faced immediate death if they did.
Spiritually, it symbolized how most of the
Jewish people of the First Century had hemmed
themselves in from the nations—hardly the
purpose that God’s Temple was to have, being a
House to which all of the world could come and
worship (1
Kings 8:41-43; Isaiah 56:6-7). This wall was not
specified in the Scriptures of Israel, and was
most contrary to the mission of Israel being a
light to the nations (Exodus 19:5-6; Isaiah
42:6). Yeshua rendered what such a wall
represented, completely inoperative by His
sacrifice on the cross.
The challenge that Bible readers should have is
that Yeshua has specifically, as the NIV renders
it, abolished “the law with its commandments and
regulations” (2:15b). If the Messiah actually
abolished the Torah of Moses, would this not
contradict His own perspective on the matter
(Matthew 5:17-19)? Likewise, why would Paul
appeal to the Fifth Commandment later in this
letter (6:2) if he considered the Law abolished?
Throughout much of historic Reformed/Calvinist
interpretation, Ephesians 2:15 is often
interpreted to only be the “ceremonial law” of
the Torah, but not at the “moral law” of the
Torah.[3]
More specifically though, the Greek
ton nomon
tōn entolōn en dogmasin should clue us in to
something else actually being abolished by the
work of the Messiah.
Nowhere
does the
Law of Moses ever say anything about erecting a
dividing wall in the Holy Place to keep people
out of God’s presence. Is it at all important
that dogma can mean “something
that is taught as an established tenet or
statement of belief, doctrine,
dogma”
(BDAG)?[4]
Consider how dogma is not used at all in
the Septuagint translation of the Pentateuchal
books to describe any category of commandments.
It principally appears in the Book of Daniel to
describe the decrees of the Babylonians and the
Persians (Daniel 2:13; 3:10, 12; 4:6; 6:9ff,
13f, 16, 27; cf. Acts 17:7), as it can certainly
be referring to “an imperial declaration” (BDAG).[5]
Such declarations could follow with a
prescription of death penalty.
Rather than Paul and
Yeshua being at odds with one another in
Ephesians 2:15, it seems proper to recognize
ton nomon tōn entolōn en dogmasin as not the
Torah of Moses—which specified no barrier
wall—but rather man-made decrees which
frequently passed themselves off as “law,” a “religious
Law of commandments in dogmas” (my translation).
Only in the Messiah’s example can we find a true
meaning of the Torah in action (cf. Matthew chs.
5-7); those who follow a “barrier wall” ideology
will at best skew the Torah’s original purpose
in guiding God’s people in holiness. A law of
human dogma will be more prone to keep people
out of God’s presence than welcome people into
it. While Yeshua emphasized loving one’s enemies
as quite important (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27,
35), sectarian instructions such as those of the
Qumran community actually emphasized hating
one’s enemies (1QS
1.9-11).[6]
To a strong degree, the barrier wall in the
Second Temple was a manifestation of Jewish
hatred for the nations—not at all a
manifestation of love and of spiritual concern.
By His sacrifice, Yeshua tore down this wall and
with it whatever human regulations placed
unnecessary barriers between people and the
Father. In so doing, Yeshua would be able to
bring Jewish people and those from the nations
together as kainon anthrōpon[7]
or “one new humanity” (2:15c, NRSV/CJB/TNIV) in
Him.
It is only at the foot
of Yeshua’s cross where redemption for all
people can be found, and reconciliation between
all people can be enacted (2:16). Paul asserts,
“For through him we both have access to the
Father by one Spirit” (2:18), as the true unity
that God desires among the redeemed can only be
found in the work of His Son. A significant
effect of this, which Paul explains to the
non-Jewish Believers of Asia Minor, is “you are
no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow
citizens with God’s people and members of God’s
household” (2:19).
They are a part of Israel
the same as any natural born Jew, as a
direct result of their faith in Israel’s
Messiah. The assembly that the Messiah has
established has been built up by the faithful
work of both apostles and prophets, made to be
like the Jerusalem Temple—but one composed of
people filled with the Holy Spirit (2:20-22).
Paul is very serious
about his God-given mission to see that in the
Messiah Yeshua both Jews and those from the
nations can be one. He is after all, “the
prisoner of Messiah Yeshua for the sake of you
Gentiles” (3:1). Suffering in Rome for Believers
(3:3), he expresses how what he strives to see
present in the ekklēsia is something that
is a mystery which was revealed to him by God
(3:2). He desires those in Asia Minor to
“understand my insight into the mystery of
Messiah, which was not made known to men in
other generations as it has now been revealed by
the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets”
(3:4-5). While this mystery surely involves the
salvation accessible in Yeshua, what was not
shown to those who came before Paul is most
serious: “This mystery is that through the
gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with
Israel, members together of one body, and
sharers together in the promise in Messiah
Yeshua” (3:6). Because of their faith in
Israel’s Messiah, the nations are
sugklēronomos or “fellow heirs” (NASU, RSV)
with the Jewish people. They are to be
considered an equal part of Israel as any Jew.
Paul can only describe
how grand such a purpose is, as the
reconciliation of Jewish and non-Jewish
Believers in the Body of Messiah depicts
a
much grander redemption to come in eternity
(3:7-13). Realizing how significant his calling
is as a steward of such a mystery, Paul can only
kneel before the Father and pray with
intenseness (3:14-21). Paul’s position as a
prisoner should elicit an appropriate response
from his audience, as he says, “As a prisoner
for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life
worthy of the calling you have received. Be
completely humble and gentle; be patient,
bearing with one another in love” (4:1-2). Paul
is physically suffering for the Divine call upon
his ministry, which the Believers hearing his
message need to seriously respect.
Since the good Apostle
is quite concerned about bringing fellow
Believers together, it is no surprise why his
letter includes a major emphasis on “Make every
effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through
the bond of peace” (4:3). He specifies how there
are broad areas of agreement that the mixed
community of Messiah followers are to share:
“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you
were called to one hope when you were called—one
Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father
of all, who is over all and through all and in
all” (4:4-6). In spite of some differences that
may exist, Believers have more in things in
common which unite them together—as all have
sought the same salvation in Yeshua—than
what should separate them. What all Messiah
followers need to learn to appreciate is the
fact that “to each one of us grace has been
given” (4:7), because after Yeshua’s ascension
into Heaven He saw fit to see that specific
spiritual gifts were granted to Believers
(4:8-11). All of these important gifts are to
cause us “all [to] reach unity in the faith and
in the knowledge of the Son of God and become
mature, attaining to the whole measure of the
fullness of Messiah” (4:12-13). With such
spiritual maturity and wholeness, then the Body
of Messiah will not be able to be taken in by
false teachings and can properly work together
(4:14-16).
Writing to a broad,
largely non-Jewish audience in Asia Minor, Paul
admonishes, “So I tell you this, and insist on
it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as
the Gentiles do, in the futility of their
thinking” (4:17). Paul lists a number of
inappropriate sinful activities, how “They are
darkened in their understanding and separated
from the life of God” (4:18a), but these could
also be just as relevant for unredeemed Jews as
well. Paul desires that his hearers do not have
hardened hearts, giving themselves over to lust
and base human desires (4:18b-19). The way that
these Believers came to know the Messiah was to
put aside their old selves (4:20-22), and “to be
made new in the attitude of your minds; and to
put on the new self, created to be like God in
true righteousness and holiness” (4:23-24). Sins
such as lying, anger, and stealing have
absolutely no place in the life of a mature man
or woman of God (4:25-28). Those who have been
transformed by the Spirit are also to speak
properly, as words of malice or bitterness are
to be replaced by edifying words of kindness and
compassion (4:29-32).
It is not difficult to
discern how many of the Believers who would have
received Paul’s letter were still rather young
in their faith, and wrestling with foundational
ethical issues. While Paul encourages them, “Be
imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved
children, and live a life of love, just as
Messiah loved us and gave himself up for us...”
(5:1-2)—he speaks strongly against sexual
immorality and foul talk about such things
(5:3-4). Those who are sexually immoral or
idolatrous have no place in the Kingdom of God
(5:5-6), and Believers are to separate
themselves from such sins and sinners (5:7). As
Paul says, “For you were once darkness, but now
you are light in the Lord. Live as children of
light...and find out what pleases the Lord”
(5:8, 10). The deeds of darkness are to be
exposed, even given the fact that they should
not really even be discussed (5:11-12). The
light of God’s truth exposes the futility of sin
(5:13-14), requiring that Messiah followers be
careful with how they live (5:15-17). Born again
Believers are to be “filled with the Spirit”
(5:18), and always have praises to God spoken
and exclaimed from their lips (5:19-20).
Perhaps the most
vigorously discussed area of Ephesians among
evangelical Christians today is 5:21-6:9, a
piece of instruction that regards ancient
household codes. It is unfortunate that many
Messianic readers do not make the strong effort
to read these instructions in light of the
cultural norms of the First Century
Mediterranean. A proper view of 5:21-33 is most
especially important for those of us who are
egalitarian, and who believe that in the Messiah
Yeshua husbands and wives are to be reckoned as
fully equal and as co-leaders of the home.
The concept of Biblical submission for the Body
of Messiah begins with the main admonition,
“Submit to one another out of reverence for
Messiah” (5:21). From this mutual submission to
one another, the wife is to submit to her
husband (5:22, 24). She is to respect her
husband because he is her kephalē
(“head”), correctly meaning her origin as Eve
came from Adam (5:23; cf. 1 Corinthians 11:3,
Grk.). Husbands demonstrate a submission to
their wives via a manifestation of the love
Yeshua Himself demonstrated, by dying for His
followers (5:25-27). Most significant and
subversive for the ancient period, is how
“husbands ought to love their wives as their own
bodies” (5:28), a testament to how woman came
from man as her head/source. Jewish and
classical history are both replete with examples
of how women were commonly treated as either the
significant inferiors of men, or sub-human to
some degree.[8]
Here, Paul expresses how “no one ever hated his
own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as
Messiah does the [assembly]” (5:29). A husband
is to treat his wife the same way he would
treat himself. The relationship and oneness
that husband and wife are to have together is to
teach Believers important things about the
relationship that the Messiah has to the
ekklēsia (5:30-32).
The First Century
setting of Paul’s instruction is quite obvious,
not necessarily in his instruction that children
obey their parents (6:1-3; cf. Deuteronomy 5:16)
or that fathers not “exasperate your children”
(6:4), but in what he says about slaves. Slavery
was an economic reality of the time, and
although there is no reference in the Pauline
letters that the good Apostle ever approved of
the practice, he nonetheless adjoins slaves to
act responsibly toward their masters as a kind
of service unto the Lord (6:5-9).
The closing vignette
of Paul’s letter to the Believers in Asia Minor
is one which has given great encouragement to
many generations since: “Finally, be strong in
the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the
full armor of God so that you can take your
stand against the devil’s schemes” (6:10-11).
Each man or woman of God is to wear a kind of
spiritual armor, emulating the Lord Himself who
fights as a warrior (Isaiah
11:1-5; 59:14-18; cf. Wisdom 5:17-20).
The necessity to be ready to fight a spiritual
battle is most evident: “For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world and against the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly realms” (6:12).
Believers are to “put on the full armor of God,
so that when the day of evil comes, you may be
able to stand your ground...” (6:13). The armor
is described in terms of the common elements of
a soldier: a belt of truth, breastplate of
righteousness, feet shod with the gospel, a
shield of faith, and a helmet of salvation
(6:14-17). As Believers prepare to take on the
Adversary, they are to “pray in the Spirit on
all occasions with all kinds of prayers and
requests” (6:18). Paul himself asks his audience
to pray for him, as he is an ambassador for the
gospel in chains (6:19-20).
The Epistle of
Ephesians ends with a salutation from Paul as
his dear friend, and likely scribe Tychicus,
will be able to convey much more about his
condition in prison to those who receive it
(6:21-22). He issues peace and grace to the
congregations and fellowships in Asia Minor who
will hear his letter (6:23-24), which we know
eventually made its way to Ephesus (cf. 1:1).
Today’s broad
Messianic movement should be commended for
having an appreciation for the Epistle of
Ephesians, yet we are admittedly struggling with
what it means to truly implement much of what
the Apostle Paul emphasizes as “the mystery”
(3:3, 9). There are divergent views as to what
the Commonwealth of Israel is to be (2:11-12),
whether it is a singular entity of which all
Believers are a part, or a bilateral broad
entity made up of separate branches in the
ethnic Jewish people and “the Church.” Are
non-Jewish Believers still strangers and
sojourners, or not (2:19)? What does it mean for
them to be fellow heirs (3:6)? Is what the
Messiah has created to be understood in terms of
a “one new man” or a “one new
humanity” (2:15)? What does mutual submission
entail in both the home and wider assembly
(5:21)? And, most in today’s Messianic
community—regardless of which slice of the pie
you cut it—have not even heard the discussion
regarding kephalē/head meaning “source”
(5:23, 28), and how it regards woman coming from
man and not some kind of patriarchal authority.
I do not believe I am
alone in recognizing that as the Messianic
movement grows, with more Jewish people coming
to faith in Messiah Yeshua and more evangelical
Christians embracing their Hebraic Roots—that
our engagement level with Ephesians is bound to
improve and become more serious. Ephesians’
message of grand unity among all Messiah
followers, born again Believers actually
representing God’s “inheritance” (1:18), and
Jewish and non-Jewish Believers depicting a
greater redemption to come to the universe
(2:6-7; 3:10-11)—are all themes that we need to
consider more closely. Also extremely important
is how we need to learn to focus on the common
elements of faith which are to unite us with
other Messiah followers (4:3-6), and which bind
us all together—which could do wonders to stop
much of the current Messianic culture of
internal and external rivalry, resultant in much
division and controversy.
How will we learn to really plow into Ephesians for the spiritual
richness that it possesses? This will only occur
by making sure that each of us has truly put on
the new self (4:23), and that we strive to be
kind and courteous to one another (4:32). When
today’s Messianic movement is truly most
concerned with issuing words of edification for
the community of Believers (4:29),
then
we will be able to truly let Ephesians serve its
purpose of unifying us as one people in Messiah
Yeshua: mutually submitted and positioned to be
an example of the greater redemption to come in
eternity!
J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury
Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net)
and is a Messianic apologist.
He is a 2009
recipient of the Zondervan Biblical Languages
Award for Greek.
He is author of several books,
including: The New Testament Validates Torah, Torah In the
Balance, Volume I, and When Will the Messiah Return?
He has also written many articles on theological issues, and is presently focusing on Messianic
commentaries on various books of the Bible.
NOTES
[1]
Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual
Commentary on the Greek New Testament
(London and New York: United Bible
Societies, 1975), 601.
[2]
Cf. Matthew 19:19; Mark 12:31; Luke
10:27; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14;
James 2:8.
[3]
Cf. Derek Tidball,
The Message of the
Cross (Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity, 2001), 228.
[4]
Frederick William Danker, ed., et. al.,
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian
Literature,
third edition (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2000), 254.
[5]
Ibid.
[6]
He is to teach them both to love all the
Children of Light—each commensurate with
his rightful place in the council of
God—and to hate all the Children of
Darkness, each commensurate with his
guilt and the vengeance due him from
God” (Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, Jr.,
and Edward Cook, trans.,
The Dead Sea
Scrolls: A New Translation [San
Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996], 127).
[7]
Note how the term anēr or “male”
is not employed here, but the more
general term for humankind.
[8]
Cf. summary in Loren Cunningham and
David Joel Hamilton,
Why Not Women? A
Fresh Look at Scripture on Women in
Missions, Ministry, and Leadership
(Seattle: YWAM Publishing, 2000), pp
71-92, 101-109.
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