`But take heed lest ... this liberty ... become a stumbling block' (1

Cor. 8:9).

`But let a man examine himself' (1 Cor. 11:28).

`But rather that ye may prophesy' (1 Cor. 14:1).

`Howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries' (1 Cor. 14:2).

`But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not

risen' (1 Cor. 15:13).

The context shows in each case that the word de must be taken

adversatively.  With this introduction we must be content.  No application of

the Selah in Paul's epistles can be made at the end of an article.  We trust

sufficient has been said to stimulate interest and to explain the way in

which the word Selah is to be used in this study.  May we all be compelled

many a time as we study the record of Divine grace together, to pause, think

and compare.

We now point out the use of this adversative in the epistle to the

It is noteworthy that the apostle found no occasion to introduce his

`Selah' when writing in Ephesians until he reaches the second chapter.  Such

was the sublime unfolding of the secret of the ages, that he does not and

cannot stop to speak of contrasts or to draw comparisons until he reaches

Ephesians 2:4.  Then he pauses, then he does say in effect `think of that,

then observe the difference'.  So far as the purpose of the Divine will was

concerned, the apostle could go back before age -times, before the overthrow

of the world, before man had sinned, before a member of the church had been

born or had done either good or evil, and there, `in Christ' see the

election, predestination and acceptance in the Beloved of every member of

that One Body.  He not only looks back to the redemption by blood, but

forward to redemption by power at the end (Eph. 1:19), and up to the Ascended

Christ far above all, seeing Him there, Head over all things to the Church

which is His Body, the Fulness of Him that filleth all in all.

When this goal of the ages and of this dispensation in particular has

been expressed, then for the first time (except for the momentary glance in

1:7), Paul allows his eye to rest upon the sinful character of those who

became recipients of such overwhelming grace, and in chapter 2 of this

Epistle we have two related apostolic `Selahs', the first doctrinal in

character, the second dispensational, and both of vital importance to every

member of the One Body.

The first adversative de used by the apostle in Ephesians is at 2:4

which we have called `The Selah of Quickening Love'.  The second adversative

de is found in 2:13, and this we have called `The Selah of Alienation and

Access'.  We have already seen that Selah says in effect `think of that, now

look at this', and this is indeed what we are called upon to do when we

consider what we were by nature and what we are by grace.  In The Berean

Expositor and in The Testimony of the Lord's Prisoner we have gone fairly

thoroughly into the translation of Ephesians 2:1, and have shown by actual

parallels in the A.V. itself that elsewhere the same words and the same

grammatical construction translate this passage `dead to sins' not `dead in

sins'.  Ephesians 2:1 speaks of the new state by grace, not the old state by

nature.  For arguments and parallels to prove this statement, the reader is