Ephesians
Chapter 1 – The Eternal Purposes of God
1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Paul. In the typical style of the day, the letter opens with the name of the author.
I wonder if Paul ever lost the marvel of receiving the call to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. He who had persecuted the early believers with such vehemence, and in his zeal for God had labored to eliminate the work of God, was now a messenger (apostle) for God. He referred to himself as the “least of the apostles” and the one who was “born out of due time,” yet the New Testament (NT) bears testimony to the impact that his life had on the early believers (1 Corinthians 15:8, 9). Who of us does not feel inadequate? Yet what a mighty work is possible through a life that has yielded to the Savior!
Paul leaves no doubt as to Whose Apostle he is: he is a messenger (apostle), a servant (doulos – slave) of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1).1 Jesus means “Savior” (Jehovah is salvation), even as the angel of the Lord conveyed the message to Joseph that His name was to be Jesus, “for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).2 Christ means “Anointed,” just like the Hebrew word Messiah.3 Paul is the messenger, or herald, of God’s anointed Savior for the world, the One Who died to open the way for us to the Father.
Paul identifies Who he is representing and the title that he has used to identify himself, now he clarifies by what authority he presents himself as an Apostle of Jesus Christ – by the will of God. Surely, Paul’s mind must have flashed back to that day on the road to Damascus when he met the Lord Jesus in a life-changing way. Paul had not sought the Lord out, but God found Paul and commissioned him for a very specific work. There was no room for pride in this, for Paul was a persecutor of the followers of Jesus when God shone a light on him that knocked him to the ground (Acts 9:3, 4). Paul was a man on a mission; he was determined to stamp out Christians wherever he could find them, and all in his zeal for God! Here was a man who had a tremendous understanding of things pertaining to God, yet he still walked in darkness. There comes no light to the soul through knowing about God; unless we come to know Him, we will remain in spiritual darkness for nothing less will lift us out of our sin. God shone His light on Paul and his life changed forever in that instant. When the light of God came into Paul’s life, the darkness could no longer hold him in its grip. Did Paul become perfect in this life? There are some who claim that we can experience perfect holiness in this life, yet that is not what we find in Paul. Romans 7 tells us that Paul was very aware of the conflict that raged within him, but that did not negate his challenge to live victoriously (Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17, 6:19, 20; Galatians 5:1; Hebrews 12:1-3).
The “will of God” is often considered to be an elusive thing for which we must diligently seek – that niche in life that, if we find it, will result in God being pleased with us. Yet here Paul openly and boldly declared that it was the will of God that he should be God’s messenger – there is no question about it, and no hesitancy in declaring it. It would seem, in our zeal to wax eloquently in spiritual things, that we have made a mystery out of something that is not one, we have created confusion where God has given us clear direction, and we have introduced gray where there is only black and white. We carry the Word of God, the Bible, about with us, yet we struggle to understand the will of God; we hold the declaration of the will of God in our hands, yet expect God to somehow show us what He wants us to do without having to open the Book to read it. The will of God is really nothing more than His commandments, His precepts or teachings, His desires and His pleasure. How can we know the will of God for ourselves? Read the Word of God; study it diligently with the promised leading, guidance, and illumination by the Spirit of God; if we have placed our faith in the finished work of Christ, then this wonderful promise is ours (John 16:13). Begin with a mind that is being continually renewed by the Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:23), resulting in a changed life (Romans 12:2); then simply walk in obedience to the commands that God has given. However, do not walk in superficiality, but from the heart, and with a renewed mind – that mind of Christ that dwells in you by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 2:16).
However, even though this might appear to be simple, it will not be easy. The purpose of the will of God in our lives is holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:3a), not only externally as the Pharisees thought to do, but completely (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Such a life will require endurance and perseverance (patience – hupomone includes both; Hebrews 10:36) along with the understanding that there will be opposition;4 indeed, suffering is an integral part of our new lives in Christ (2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Peter 3:17; 4:19). Some of the opposition may come from the ungodly, for we are told that our godly lives (lived according to the will of God) will be a testimony against them: for our well doing will put them to silence (1 Peter 2:15). However, even a cursory look at the life of Jesus confirms that His greatest opposition came from those who were religious – those who felt that their lives were in order and did not want to change. Do not be mystified if you face opposition and even persecution from those who profess to be Christians. For them, walking in the will of God is too narrow, and they call it legalism (a misdiagnosis of obedience), for they, too, will be condemned by your holiness of life. We have been promised eternal life if we do the will of God (1 John 2:17), but Jesus also told us that it is the one who remains faithful to Him through adversity who will one day be saved (Matthew 24:13). Some have used the phrase easy believism (pray a prayer and you’re cleared for heaven), but there is nothing like that here! Paul was an apostle by the will of God, yet he faced much hardship and persecution for the Lord; there is a cost to being a Christian – there is a cross that we are all called to bear!
Paul now identifies the primary and specific audience of this letter: the saints which are at Ephesus, and ... the faithful in Christ Jesus. It would appear that it was at Ephesus that Paul had a significant ministry – both in terms of effectiveness and length (Acts 19:1-20). However, the target audience is not limited to the Ephesian Christians, but everyone who is faithful in Christ Jesus may consider this epistle to have be written to them as well.
Faithful, within this context, does not carry what we would consider to be the usual sense of trustworthiness or fidelity, but rather those who are believing (a continuously applicable description) in the Lord Jesus.5 This letter was written to those who were firm in their faith – those who were truly, actively Christians. Perhaps because Paul was so long at Ephesus, his epistle to them is largely instructive in nature, rather than corrective. Unlike his letter to the Corinthians where he chides them for not being able to bear the food that he desired to feed them, it would seem that his letter to the Ephesians contains this nourishing food (1 Corinthians 3:1, 2).
2. Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace were both commonly used in salutations in NT times. Yet for the believer, grace carries with it the understanding of all of the mercies and favor of God; peace (a common greeting among the Hebrews as well) brings a sense of the believer being at peace with God through the finished work of Christ – a peace that the unrepentant sinner cannot appreciate. The Hebrew greeting (shalom) carries the thought of being complete, safe and at peace before Jehovah, something that finds spiritual fulfillment in Christ.6 For the early believers, even though these greetings may have been somewhat common, their new relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ would have infused them with a whole new and greater appreciation for grace and peace.
The Apostle does not wish these virtues on the Ephesians from anything that he had within himself, but rather he identified the source of this grace and peace as being God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Herein is a significant difference between the traditional greeting and what the Apostle uses – it is the Source! There are a couple of noteworthy items contained in Paul’s simple, yet profound greeting that we need to consider. 1) God is identified as being particularly our Father – the Father of all Christians or saints – not the Father of all of mankind as the New Agers and Mormons would have us to believe, but only of those who have been truly born again by the Spirit of God. There is no spark of God within us that we must diligently fan into flame so that it might make us into everything that God is; we were dead in our sins before being made alive by God (Ephesians 2:1, 5). As true believers, we have been brought into a unique relationship with the God of the universe through the completed work of Christ – we have been adopted into His family, and are His children (1 Peter 1:3-5). In this new and vitally unique relationship, we obtain an inheritance – something that only takes place with the children of a family. God is identified as “our Father” but it is not through anything that we have done – it is all of God: He purchased us out of a life of sin and death so that we might become His children. 2) In a very unassuming manner, the Apostle clearly demonstrates that God the Father and the Lord Jesus are equal, for each is looked to as being the Source of this grace and peace. In a day when the divinity of Christ is being called into questioned by so many, this is another indication that there was no such question in the mind of the Apostle.
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
The salutation is over, and Paul enters right into what he wants the Ephesians to learn about their faith and walk with God. He begins with praise to God for what He has done for us, but again uncovers, in a very unassuming way, significant truths about the Godhead. He ascribes blessing, or praise, to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; this word for blessed (eulogetos) is only applied to God, and acclaims God as being worthy of praise.7 On several occasions during His ministry, Jesus identified Himself as being I am (John 13:19) – the eternal One Who was so identified to Moses (Exodus 3:14). However, having taken on the flesh of man, He also spoke of God as being His Father, and of Himself as being the Way to the Father for everyone (John 14:6). As our Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5) Jesus holds a unique relationship with God (being both eternal God and Creator of all, and the sinless Man Who intercedes for us) and, while He carried out His earthly ministry, His relationship with the Father was even more unique. To Nicodemus Jesus said: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is [present tense] in heaven” (John 3:13);8 even as He spoke with Nicodemus, He was also in heaven with the Father – even while on earth, Jesus still held the omnipresence of God. Within the mystical union of the Godhead, there is God the Father and God the Son, Who is the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14, 16; 3:16; 1 John 4:9), and God the Holy Spirit. Can we comprehend the mystery of the triune God? Not too likely, nor should we desire to do so, for the ways of God cannot be understood by the mind of man (Isaiah 55:8-9) – the infinite is so beyond the finite.
1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Paul. In the typical style of the day, the letter opens with the name of the author.
I wonder if Paul ever lost the marvel of receiving the call to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. He who had persecuted the early believers with such vehemence, and in his zeal for God had labored to eliminate the work of God, was now a messenger (apostle) for God. He referred to himself as the “least of the apostles” and the one who was “born out of due time,” yet the New Testament (NT) bears testimony to the impact that his life had on the early believers (1 Corinthians 15:8, 9). Who of us does not feel inadequate? Yet what a mighty work is possible through a life that has yielded to the Savior!
Paul leaves no doubt as to Whose Apostle he is: he is a messenger (apostle), a servant (doulos – slave) of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1).1 Jesus means “Savior” (Jehovah is salvation), even as the angel of the Lord conveyed the message to Joseph that His name was to be Jesus, “for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).2 Christ means “Anointed,” just like the Hebrew word Messiah.3 Paul is the messenger, or herald, of God’s anointed Savior for the world, the One Who died to open the way for us to the Father.
Paul identifies Who he is representing and the title that he has used to identify himself, now he clarifies by what authority he presents himself as an Apostle of Jesus Christ – by the will of God. Surely, Paul’s mind must have flashed back to that day on the road to Damascus when he met the Lord Jesus in a life-changing way. Paul had not sought the Lord out, but God found Paul and commissioned him for a very specific work. There was no room for pride in this, for Paul was a persecutor of the followers of Jesus when God shone a light on him that knocked him to the ground (Acts 9:3, 4). Paul was a man on a mission; he was determined to stamp out Christians wherever he could find them, and all in his zeal for God! Here was a man who had a tremendous understanding of things pertaining to God, yet he still walked in darkness. There comes no light to the soul through knowing about God; unless we come to know Him, we will remain in spiritual darkness for nothing less will lift us out of our sin. God shone His light on Paul and his life changed forever in that instant. When the light of God came into Paul’s life, the darkness could no longer hold him in its grip. Did Paul become perfect in this life? There are some who claim that we can experience perfect holiness in this life, yet that is not what we find in Paul. Romans 7 tells us that Paul was very aware of the conflict that raged within him, but that did not negate his challenge to live victoriously (Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17, 6:19, 20; Galatians 5:1; Hebrews 12:1-3).
The “will of God” is often considered to be an elusive thing for which we must diligently seek – that niche in life that, if we find it, will result in God being pleased with us. Yet here Paul openly and boldly declared that it was the will of God that he should be God’s messenger – there is no question about it, and no hesitancy in declaring it. It would seem, in our zeal to wax eloquently in spiritual things, that we have made a mystery out of something that is not one, we have created confusion where God has given us clear direction, and we have introduced gray where there is only black and white. We carry the Word of God, the Bible, about with us, yet we struggle to understand the will of God; we hold the declaration of the will of God in our hands, yet expect God to somehow show us what He wants us to do without having to open the Book to read it. The will of God is really nothing more than His commandments, His precepts or teachings, His desires and His pleasure. How can we know the will of God for ourselves? Read the Word of God; study it diligently with the promised leading, guidance, and illumination by the Spirit of God; if we have placed our faith in the finished work of Christ, then this wonderful promise is ours (John 16:13). Begin with a mind that is being continually renewed by the Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:23), resulting in a changed life (Romans 12:2); then simply walk in obedience to the commands that God has given. However, do not walk in superficiality, but from the heart, and with a renewed mind – that mind of Christ that dwells in you by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 2:16).
However, even though this might appear to be simple, it will not be easy. The purpose of the will of God in our lives is holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:3a), not only externally as the Pharisees thought to do, but completely (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Such a life will require endurance and perseverance (patience – hupomone includes both; Hebrews 10:36) along with the understanding that there will be opposition;4 indeed, suffering is an integral part of our new lives in Christ (2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Peter 3:17; 4:19). Some of the opposition may come from the ungodly, for we are told that our godly lives (lived according to the will of God) will be a testimony against them: for our well doing will put them to silence (1 Peter 2:15). However, even a cursory look at the life of Jesus confirms that His greatest opposition came from those who were religious – those who felt that their lives were in order and did not want to change. Do not be mystified if you face opposition and even persecution from those who profess to be Christians. For them, walking in the will of God is too narrow, and they call it legalism (a misdiagnosis of obedience), for they, too, will be condemned by your holiness of life. We have been promised eternal life if we do the will of God (1 John 2:17), but Jesus also told us that it is the one who remains faithful to Him through adversity who will one day be saved (Matthew 24:13). Some have used the phrase easy believism (pray a prayer and you’re cleared for heaven), but there is nothing like that here! Paul was an apostle by the will of God, yet he faced much hardship and persecution for the Lord; there is a cost to being a Christian – there is a cross that we are all called to bear!
Paul now identifies the primary and specific audience of this letter: the saints which are at Ephesus, and ... the faithful in Christ Jesus. It would appear that it was at Ephesus that Paul had a significant ministry – both in terms of effectiveness and length (Acts 19:1-20). However, the target audience is not limited to the Ephesian Christians, but everyone who is faithful in Christ Jesus may consider this epistle to have be written to them as well.
Faithful, within this context, does not carry what we would consider to be the usual sense of trustworthiness or fidelity, but rather those who are believing (a continuously applicable description) in the Lord Jesus.5 This letter was written to those who were firm in their faith – those who were truly, actively Christians. Perhaps because Paul was so long at Ephesus, his epistle to them is largely instructive in nature, rather than corrective. Unlike his letter to the Corinthians where he chides them for not being able to bear the food that he desired to feed them, it would seem that his letter to the Ephesians contains this nourishing food (1 Corinthians 3:1, 2).
2. Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace were both commonly used in salutations in NT times. Yet for the believer, grace carries with it the understanding of all of the mercies and favor of God; peace (a common greeting among the Hebrews as well) brings a sense of the believer being at peace with God through the finished work of Christ – a peace that the unrepentant sinner cannot appreciate. The Hebrew greeting (shalom) carries the thought of being complete, safe and at peace before Jehovah, something that finds spiritual fulfillment in Christ.6 For the early believers, even though these greetings may have been somewhat common, their new relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ would have infused them with a whole new and greater appreciation for grace and peace.
The Apostle does not wish these virtues on the Ephesians from anything that he had within himself, but rather he identified the source of this grace and peace as being God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Herein is a significant difference between the traditional greeting and what the Apostle uses – it is the Source! There are a couple of noteworthy items contained in Paul’s simple, yet profound greeting that we need to consider. 1) God is identified as being particularly our Father – the Father of all Christians or saints – not the Father of all of mankind as the New Agers and Mormons would have us to believe, but only of those who have been truly born again by the Spirit of God. There is no spark of God within us that we must diligently fan into flame so that it might make us into everything that God is; we were dead in our sins before being made alive by God (Ephesians 2:1, 5). As true believers, we have been brought into a unique relationship with the God of the universe through the completed work of Christ – we have been adopted into His family, and are His children (1 Peter 1:3-5). In this new and vitally unique relationship, we obtain an inheritance – something that only takes place with the children of a family. God is identified as “our Father” but it is not through anything that we have done – it is all of God: He purchased us out of a life of sin and death so that we might become His children. 2) In a very unassuming manner, the Apostle clearly demonstrates that God the Father and the Lord Jesus are equal, for each is looked to as being the Source of this grace and peace. In a day when the divinity of Christ is being called into questioned by so many, this is another indication that there was no such question in the mind of the Apostle.
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
The salutation is over, and Paul enters right into what he wants the Ephesians to learn about their faith and walk with God. He begins with praise to God for what He has done for us, but again uncovers, in a very unassuming way, significant truths about the Godhead. He ascribes blessing, or praise, to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; this word for blessed (eulogetos) is only applied to God, and acclaims God as being worthy of praise.7 On several occasions during His ministry, Jesus identified Himself as being I am (John 13:19) – the eternal One Who was so identified to Moses (Exodus 3:14). However, having taken on the flesh of man, He also spoke of God as being His Father, and of Himself as being the Way to the Father for everyone (John 14:6). As our Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5) Jesus holds a unique relationship with God (being both eternal God and Creator of all, and the sinless Man Who intercedes for us) and, while He carried out His earthly ministry, His relationship with the Father was even more unique. To Nicodemus Jesus said: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is [present tense] in heaven” (John 3:13);8 even as He spoke with Nicodemus, He was also in heaven with the Father – even while on earth, Jesus still held the omnipresence of God. Within the mystical union of the Godhead, there is God the Father and God the Son, Who is the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14, 16; 3:16; 1 John 4:9), and God the Holy Spirit. Can we comprehend the mystery of the triune God? Not too likely, nor should we desire to do so, for the ways of God cannot be understood by the mind of man (Isaiah 55:8-9) – the infinite is so beyond the finite.
It is interesting to note that the attack of Satan is so often against the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity. It was promised that, through the work of a coming Savior, Satan would be dealt a death-blow (Genesis 3:15). From the time of Christ, Satan has worked diligently to discredit Jesus, and to nullify His saving work in the minds of any who will give him heed. The Jehovah’s Witnesses will give Jesus god status (small “g”), but deny that He is equal with God the Father (He is not Almighty God9). The Mormons make Jesus a god among many gods, and hold Him up as an example of what we will become if we hold faithfully to the teachings of Joseph Smith.10 Although the Roman Catholic Church has not officially declared Mary, the mother of Jesus, to be Co-Redemptrix with Christ, this has been a title that has been held by some Catholics since the Middle Ages, and even today there is a conservative Catholic movement that is attempting to get the Church to include this in their dogma.11 Many religions will accept Jesus as a good teacher, perhaps even as a prophet, but they will deny Him His rightful place as God (e.g., Islam). Modern Evangelicals have denied that Jesus is the only way to God; the late Billy Graham said that “everybody who knows Christ, whether they are conscious of it or not … whether … Muslim … Buddhist … or … Christian … are “members of the Body of Christ, because they’ve been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus … I think they are saved, and that they are going to be in heaven with us.” (emphasis in original).12 The “pope of Evangelicalism” denied the words of Jesus in John 14:6; take heed, the evidence of Satan’s activity is all around us.
God, the Father of our Mediator, has bestowed a blessing upon us. Us can be identified as including the Apostle Paul and those to whom he has addressed this letter, namely the saints who are at Ephesus and those who are faithful in Christ Jesus. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (all and blessings are both singular in Greek);13 there isn’t one spiritual blessing that God has neglected to bestow upon us. God may bless us with good health, or with many of the good things in life, but these are only temporal in nature – spiritual blessings bear an eternal element. Herein we receive our cleansing from sin, our adoption into God’s family, and our inheritance of heaven itself. Our temporal blessings often come in a mixed manner: some enjoy good health, but have little in life; others may enjoy all the wealth that life can afford, but suffer from poor health. It is not like that with the spiritual blessings that God bestows on us – everyone who is in Christ will receive every spiritual blessing that God has to offer. The limiting factor is that we must be one of His saints (in Christ) and live in faithfulness to Him.
The word places, in our verse, has been supplied by the translators and does not appear in the original text. The seat of the spiritual blessings is the heavenlies, the dwelling place of God,14 and not the earth, nor is it from within the heart of man (we can discover no spiritual illumination or blessing by looking within, as is so popular today). These blessings are from the Lord in heaven and are available in Christ. This is a critically important phrase, for it identifies where we must be in order to know these blessings: in Christ. Jesus’ discourse on the vine and the branches finds a natural fit with this phrase (John 15:1-17); it is as we are abiding in Him (the Vine) and receiving of His nourishment that we are eligible for these many blessings. The spiritual blessings of God are available only in Christ; unless we are faithfully abiding in Him, we do not have any spiritual life so as to discern the blessings from God (1 John 2:4-6; 1 Corinthians 2:14).
4. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
This verse, and what follows, does not stand alone; it is tied to the previous verse that told us of every spiritual blessing that God has bestowed upon His faithful ones. The first two words (according as) connect the blessing of God to an eternal plan. Every spiritual blessing is being bestowed to the extent that God is unfolding what He has determined from eternity past. Every blessing that is conferred is not an afterthought, but is part of the eternal purposes of God. There is a surety here, a strong sense of security in what is being provided.
The word us can only refer to the saints who are at Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus, and to Paul (as outlined in verse one). Hath chosen (eklegomai) describes an action that is not set in time (i.e., it is neither past, present, nor future tense) and means to be called out for the One choosing, with the associated concept of showing favor or kindness.15 We read that God all men is willing to save and unto a complete knowledge of the truth to come (1 Timothy 2:4); this literal translation makes it very clear that God is willing to save everyone (all men).16 Yet Jesus made it equally clear that not everyone will be saved, even among those who think that they have done great things for Him: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Included within the idea of choosing is the necessity of making a distinction – a basis for making the choice; in this case, the determination is between those who qualify to be among the chosen and those who are not. Equally clear, from this phrase, is that it is God Who does the choosing, and so He has determined the basis for His choice. However, we must understand that this does not mean that God has arbitrarily selected some individuals for salvation and the rest for damnation, as the Calvinists would have us believe. It is their contention that Christ did not die for all of mankind but only for those whom God has pre-selected (the chosen). Their position fails the Biblical test on two counts: 1) they do not give proper credence to the phrase in him in our verse that serves to establish the basis for God’s selection, and 2) there is nothing in Scripture that would suggest that the elect have been chosen unto salvation. The basis for God’s choice is this: He has chosen all of those who are in Christ simply because Jesus is the only Mediator Who can reconcile man with God (1 Timothy 2:5). Those who are in Christ by faith (a presently active believing – John 3:16) have been “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). God has not chosen some to salvation and left the rest to damnation; rather, He has chosen those who are in Christ unto works of service for Him! What we must not miss is that we are chosen to live according to the life of service that God has prepared for us in Christ; it is a fabricated doctrine that contends that God foresaw someone named John Brown whom He pre-determined to save. Jesus made it abundantly clear that He is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one is coming to the Father except through Him (John 14:6), but He also said that whoever is desiring to come after Him must deny himself, take his cross and be following Him (Mark 8:34). Such an open invitation from the Savior must be skewed (denied) in order to make it fit into Calvinism; yet Jesus made it clear that it would be the one who follows Him faithfully through trials unto the end who will be saved (Matthew 10:22). To those who are in Christ by faith comes the necessity of living (serving Him) faithfully: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief [apistia – no belief, unfaithful], in departing [becoming apostate] from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).17 Contrary to Calvinism, God is patient toward us, not desiring anyone to perish but has made room for all in repentance (2 Peter 3:9).18
The basis for God’s choice was established before creation began (before the foundation of the world) – founded in the timeless, eternal purposes of God. Herein is one of the great mysteries of our faith: God has chosen us in Christ from before the act of creation! Can we comprehend such? Hardly. Nevertheless, this should motivate us to follow His Word so that we may be found to be in Christ, because if we are not in Him, then we are not among God’s chosen ones. John 3:16 tells us that everyone who is believing in Christ is not ruined but is having everlasting life (literal translation).19 Believing is in the active voice (which identifies this as something that everyone is responsible to do) and present tense (it must be presently active; a past belief does not count).20 This runs contrary to Calvinism – they hold tenaciously to the total depravity of man to the extent that man cannot even choose to be saved; yet the Scriptures are clear that fallen, sinful man still bears the image of God (Genesis 9:6; James 3:9) – the ability to think, reason, and make choices. Moses, as he addressed the children of Israel just before he died, laid before them their options before the Lord, and then declared, “Choose life!” (Deuteronomy 30:19) – Calvinism says that the Israelites were incapable of choosing life unless God first regenerated their spirits; yet Moses, who had communed with God more intimately than any Calvinist, made it clear that every Israelite could make that choice. However, this also runs contrary to average Evangelical thinking (those who are not Calvinistic); they contend that as long as someone has prayed a prayer for salvation at some time in their life, then he is saved no matter how he has lived since. Jesus made it very clear that it is the one who remains faithful to Him through the trials of life who will one day be saved (Matthew 24:13); faithfulness to the Lord can only be expressed through obedience! Jesus also said: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15); if we love the Lord (an indication of our faith in Him), then it is necessary that we observe to do His commands.21
We now come to the purpose for God’s selection (that we should be holy), and the reality of what it means for God to have chosen those who are in Christ for Himself. The KJV translators make this holiness to sound optional: we should be holy; for those who are in Christ this is far from the case. A more literal translation is: we, being holy and without blemish before Him, in love having foreordained us unto adoption through Jesus Christ ….22 The thought that Paul develops in our text runs into the next one without interruption (as we know, the verse markers were made by man for our convenience, yet they often break thoughts that should not be broken). From this, we can understand that holy and without blame (blemish) are not options, but are to characterize on a continuous basis who we are in Christ. This also places the condition of faithfulness upon the adoption that can be ours in Christ; yet if we are in Christ, then we are to have replaced our sin with His righteousness (the new man of Ephesians 4:24).
The whole purpose of God in selecting those who place themselves by faith under the atoning sacrifice of Christ, as our Mediator with God, is that they should then be holy before Him. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Paul’s desire was to “be found in him [that is, in Christ], not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 3:9). Being found in Christ demands a life-change; this is not just heaven someday, but a new life, distinct from the world, and set apart for the glory of God (holy).23 Clearly, Jesus had this in mind when He said that it would be by their actions, their fruits, that the false prophets would be identified (Matthew 7:15-20); yet, just as clearly, He went on to show that not everyone would be accepted who thought that he was among God’s chosen ones (Matthew 7:21-23). God saves us by His grace when we place our faith in the Lord Jesus, yet as James makes so clear, unless our faith leads to works in keeping with that faith (a life of obedience to the Lord) our faith is dead (James 2:17). Paul goes to great lengths in Romans 8:1-9 to clarify that if we have been born-again by the Spirit of God, then we no longer walk according to the flesh – not that the struggle against the flesh has been eliminated but, rather, it affirms that the Spirit of God has entered our lives. This is the reason that God rejected those mentioned in Matthew 7:21-23 – they were never known by Him and, therefore, the Spirit of God did not abide within them. Man is naturally a religious creature (the multitude of religions around the world is evidence of that); therefore, it is possible that there will be those who will feign Christianity by doing “Christian” things, but their actions will be the product of their own efforts without the guiding presence of the Spirit of God. According to Jesus’ words just before the passage to which we referred, we must pay careful attention to the fruit that is produced in the lives of those about us (Matthew 7:16). It seems that those who are operating as wolves in sheep’s clothing will show their wolfishness (they have a veneer of Christianity but are without the Spirit of God) – they will not be able to hide this from the spiritually discerning.
Combined with God choosing those who are in Christ and our life-calling to holy-living and service to the Lord, we find passages that make it abundantly clear that God is not willing that anyone should perish (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). The Spirit of God, abiding in the hearts of the Lord’s faithful ones, is convicting men of their sin (John 16:8-9), yet not everyone will yield to that conviction and place their faith in Christ. Once again, the ways of God are higher than ours; He has prepared a way for all of mankind, but not everyone will place his faith in the Way Who was prepared from before the foundation of the world. The last phrase, in love, tells us that all of this has been done in the love of God (1 John 4:9-10, 15-16). What is the love of God? It is that we should walk in obedience to His commands (John 15:10; 1 John 5:3).
5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Predestinated comes from a Greek word that means to define or mark out the boundaries or limits for, and then the concept of doing so before hand.24 In the Greek, the timeless form is used here (aorist); indeed, we have just seen that there are some things that God has established in eternity past.25 God, in His infinite wisdom, has destined us, the faithful in Christ Jesus (verse one), for a life that has been specifically defined or determined. Jesus said that if we are loving Him (an obvious prerequisite to being found in Him) then we must be living in obedience to His commands (John 14:15) – this is what God has pre-determined for us from eternity past (Romans 8:28-30; Ephesians 2:10; 2 Timothy 1:9). Lest we view this in terms of salvation (as the Calvinists), we must not lose sight of the fact that God’s choice is that we should be holy and blameless before Him, which can only accomplished through obedience to Him. The matter of critical significance throughout is the concept that all of this is possible only in Christ and the reciprocal truth that none of this is possible outside of Him – Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life ...” (John 14:6); there is no other way! We live in a day of exponential interest in spirituality, but none of that will hold any weight when standing before God, for it all lies outside of Christ.
Despite Paul’s strong emphasis on our being in Christ, there are Evangelicals today (like Billy Graham and Robert Schuller, for example) who have plainly stated that there are those who will enter heaven who have not known Christ; however, there is no room for such heresy here. There is only one Mediator between God (with Whom we all have to do) and man, and that is Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5); it’s not Buddha, or Mohammed, nor is there any other way to God but through Jesus (John 14:6). We must be wary and vigilant to identify, or mark, those who have departed from the narrow truth of the Scriptures (Romans 16:17), those who skulk about in sheep’s clothing appearing to be what they are not. Unfortunately, Evangelicals today have taken a positive-only approach and, at best, will only speak of the wolves in such obscure terms that it is virtually impossible to identify them, or, more likely, the subject is not open to discussion at all.
Paul goes on to identify that for which God has predestined us – adoption. Adoption is the process by which those who are not part of a family are brought into one, with the full benefits of natural children. However, in this case, not only were we not a part of God’s family, but we were also dead to Him (Ephesians 2:5); yet, in His vast grace and mercy, God predetermined that if we are found to be in Christ, then we are considered to be children in His family! Clearly, it is vitally important that we understand how we come to be in Christ and the Lord’s expectations of us when we are there.
In our relationship with God, there is no place for arrogance; we see that our adoption is by Jesus Christ to himself. The Lord Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection, completed all that was necessary for our adoption; it has nothing whatsoever to do with any personal merits or good works. Paul understood this very clearly, and warned against haughtiness regarding our position in Christ – we have been grafted into Christ by faith, but if that faith should fail through faithlessness, then we will be cut off (Romans 11:17-22; cp. Hebrews 3:12).
Underscoring the concept of having been chosen in Christ for Himself (v.4), it has been eternally determined that those, who by faith place their trust in the finished work of Christ and remain faithful to Him unto the end (Matthew 10:22), will be established as part of the family of God. Finding favor with God has never changed: it has always been by faith in what He would do to pay the price for sin; whether foreshadowed (in the OT) or realized (after Christ’s resurrection), all of mankind has looked to the Lamb of God Who was slain from the beginning of creation (Revelation 13:8). It is of those who remain faithfully in Christ that God has extended adoption as His children!
God, the Father of our Mediator, has bestowed a blessing upon us. Us can be identified as including the Apostle Paul and those to whom he has addressed this letter, namely the saints who are at Ephesus and those who are faithful in Christ Jesus. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (all and blessings are both singular in Greek);13 there isn’t one spiritual blessing that God has neglected to bestow upon us. God may bless us with good health, or with many of the good things in life, but these are only temporal in nature – spiritual blessings bear an eternal element. Herein we receive our cleansing from sin, our adoption into God’s family, and our inheritance of heaven itself. Our temporal blessings often come in a mixed manner: some enjoy good health, but have little in life; others may enjoy all the wealth that life can afford, but suffer from poor health. It is not like that with the spiritual blessings that God bestows on us – everyone who is in Christ will receive every spiritual blessing that God has to offer. The limiting factor is that we must be one of His saints (in Christ) and live in faithfulness to Him.
The word places, in our verse, has been supplied by the translators and does not appear in the original text. The seat of the spiritual blessings is the heavenlies, the dwelling place of God,14 and not the earth, nor is it from within the heart of man (we can discover no spiritual illumination or blessing by looking within, as is so popular today). These blessings are from the Lord in heaven and are available in Christ. This is a critically important phrase, for it identifies where we must be in order to know these blessings: in Christ. Jesus’ discourse on the vine and the branches finds a natural fit with this phrase (John 15:1-17); it is as we are abiding in Him (the Vine) and receiving of His nourishment that we are eligible for these many blessings. The spiritual blessings of God are available only in Christ; unless we are faithfully abiding in Him, we do not have any spiritual life so as to discern the blessings from God (1 John 2:4-6; 1 Corinthians 2:14).
4. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
This verse, and what follows, does not stand alone; it is tied to the previous verse that told us of every spiritual blessing that God has bestowed upon His faithful ones. The first two words (according as) connect the blessing of God to an eternal plan. Every spiritual blessing is being bestowed to the extent that God is unfolding what He has determined from eternity past. Every blessing that is conferred is not an afterthought, but is part of the eternal purposes of God. There is a surety here, a strong sense of security in what is being provided.
The word us can only refer to the saints who are at Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus, and to Paul (as outlined in verse one). Hath chosen (eklegomai) describes an action that is not set in time (i.e., it is neither past, present, nor future tense) and means to be called out for the One choosing, with the associated concept of showing favor or kindness.15 We read that God all men is willing to save and unto a complete knowledge of the truth to come (1 Timothy 2:4); this literal translation makes it very clear that God is willing to save everyone (all men).16 Yet Jesus made it equally clear that not everyone will be saved, even among those who think that they have done great things for Him: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Included within the idea of choosing is the necessity of making a distinction – a basis for making the choice; in this case, the determination is between those who qualify to be among the chosen and those who are not. Equally clear, from this phrase, is that it is God Who does the choosing, and so He has determined the basis for His choice. However, we must understand that this does not mean that God has arbitrarily selected some individuals for salvation and the rest for damnation, as the Calvinists would have us believe. It is their contention that Christ did not die for all of mankind but only for those whom God has pre-selected (the chosen). Their position fails the Biblical test on two counts: 1) they do not give proper credence to the phrase in him in our verse that serves to establish the basis for God’s selection, and 2) there is nothing in Scripture that would suggest that the elect have been chosen unto salvation. The basis for God’s choice is this: He has chosen all of those who are in Christ simply because Jesus is the only Mediator Who can reconcile man with God (1 Timothy 2:5). Those who are in Christ by faith (a presently active believing – John 3:16) have been “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). God has not chosen some to salvation and left the rest to damnation; rather, He has chosen those who are in Christ unto works of service for Him! What we must not miss is that we are chosen to live according to the life of service that God has prepared for us in Christ; it is a fabricated doctrine that contends that God foresaw someone named John Brown whom He pre-determined to save. Jesus made it abundantly clear that He is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one is coming to the Father except through Him (John 14:6), but He also said that whoever is desiring to come after Him must deny himself, take his cross and be following Him (Mark 8:34). Such an open invitation from the Savior must be skewed (denied) in order to make it fit into Calvinism; yet Jesus made it clear that it would be the one who follows Him faithfully through trials unto the end who will be saved (Matthew 10:22). To those who are in Christ by faith comes the necessity of living (serving Him) faithfully: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief [apistia – no belief, unfaithful], in departing [becoming apostate] from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).17 Contrary to Calvinism, God is patient toward us, not desiring anyone to perish but has made room for all in repentance (2 Peter 3:9).18
The basis for God’s choice was established before creation began (before the foundation of the world) – founded in the timeless, eternal purposes of God. Herein is one of the great mysteries of our faith: God has chosen us in Christ from before the act of creation! Can we comprehend such? Hardly. Nevertheless, this should motivate us to follow His Word so that we may be found to be in Christ, because if we are not in Him, then we are not among God’s chosen ones. John 3:16 tells us that everyone who is believing in Christ is not ruined but is having everlasting life (literal translation).19 Believing is in the active voice (which identifies this as something that everyone is responsible to do) and present tense (it must be presently active; a past belief does not count).20 This runs contrary to Calvinism – they hold tenaciously to the total depravity of man to the extent that man cannot even choose to be saved; yet the Scriptures are clear that fallen, sinful man still bears the image of God (Genesis 9:6; James 3:9) – the ability to think, reason, and make choices. Moses, as he addressed the children of Israel just before he died, laid before them their options before the Lord, and then declared, “Choose life!” (Deuteronomy 30:19) – Calvinism says that the Israelites were incapable of choosing life unless God first regenerated their spirits; yet Moses, who had communed with God more intimately than any Calvinist, made it clear that every Israelite could make that choice. However, this also runs contrary to average Evangelical thinking (those who are not Calvinistic); they contend that as long as someone has prayed a prayer for salvation at some time in their life, then he is saved no matter how he has lived since. Jesus made it very clear that it is the one who remains faithful to Him through the trials of life who will one day be saved (Matthew 24:13); faithfulness to the Lord can only be expressed through obedience! Jesus also said: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15); if we love the Lord (an indication of our faith in Him), then it is necessary that we observe to do His commands.21
We now come to the purpose for God’s selection (that we should be holy), and the reality of what it means for God to have chosen those who are in Christ for Himself. The KJV translators make this holiness to sound optional: we should be holy; for those who are in Christ this is far from the case. A more literal translation is: we, being holy and without blemish before Him, in love having foreordained us unto adoption through Jesus Christ ….22 The thought that Paul develops in our text runs into the next one without interruption (as we know, the verse markers were made by man for our convenience, yet they often break thoughts that should not be broken). From this, we can understand that holy and without blame (blemish) are not options, but are to characterize on a continuous basis who we are in Christ. This also places the condition of faithfulness upon the adoption that can be ours in Christ; yet if we are in Christ, then we are to have replaced our sin with His righteousness (the new man of Ephesians 4:24).
The whole purpose of God in selecting those who place themselves by faith under the atoning sacrifice of Christ, as our Mediator with God, is that they should then be holy before Him. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Paul’s desire was to “be found in him [that is, in Christ], not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 3:9). Being found in Christ demands a life-change; this is not just heaven someday, but a new life, distinct from the world, and set apart for the glory of God (holy).23 Clearly, Jesus had this in mind when He said that it would be by their actions, their fruits, that the false prophets would be identified (Matthew 7:15-20); yet, just as clearly, He went on to show that not everyone would be accepted who thought that he was among God’s chosen ones (Matthew 7:21-23). God saves us by His grace when we place our faith in the Lord Jesus, yet as James makes so clear, unless our faith leads to works in keeping with that faith (a life of obedience to the Lord) our faith is dead (James 2:17). Paul goes to great lengths in Romans 8:1-9 to clarify that if we have been born-again by the Spirit of God, then we no longer walk according to the flesh – not that the struggle against the flesh has been eliminated but, rather, it affirms that the Spirit of God has entered our lives. This is the reason that God rejected those mentioned in Matthew 7:21-23 – they were never known by Him and, therefore, the Spirit of God did not abide within them. Man is naturally a religious creature (the multitude of religions around the world is evidence of that); therefore, it is possible that there will be those who will feign Christianity by doing “Christian” things, but their actions will be the product of their own efforts without the guiding presence of the Spirit of God. According to Jesus’ words just before the passage to which we referred, we must pay careful attention to the fruit that is produced in the lives of those about us (Matthew 7:16). It seems that those who are operating as wolves in sheep’s clothing will show their wolfishness (they have a veneer of Christianity but are without the Spirit of God) – they will not be able to hide this from the spiritually discerning.
Combined with God choosing those who are in Christ and our life-calling to holy-living and service to the Lord, we find passages that make it abundantly clear that God is not willing that anyone should perish (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). The Spirit of God, abiding in the hearts of the Lord’s faithful ones, is convicting men of their sin (John 16:8-9), yet not everyone will yield to that conviction and place their faith in Christ. Once again, the ways of God are higher than ours; He has prepared a way for all of mankind, but not everyone will place his faith in the Way Who was prepared from before the foundation of the world. The last phrase, in love, tells us that all of this has been done in the love of God (1 John 4:9-10, 15-16). What is the love of God? It is that we should walk in obedience to His commands (John 15:10; 1 John 5:3).
5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Predestinated comes from a Greek word that means to define or mark out the boundaries or limits for, and then the concept of doing so before hand.24 In the Greek, the timeless form is used here (aorist); indeed, we have just seen that there are some things that God has established in eternity past.25 God, in His infinite wisdom, has destined us, the faithful in Christ Jesus (verse one), for a life that has been specifically defined or determined. Jesus said that if we are loving Him (an obvious prerequisite to being found in Him) then we must be living in obedience to His commands (John 14:15) – this is what God has pre-determined for us from eternity past (Romans 8:28-30; Ephesians 2:10; 2 Timothy 1:9). Lest we view this in terms of salvation (as the Calvinists), we must not lose sight of the fact that God’s choice is that we should be holy and blameless before Him, which can only accomplished through obedience to Him. The matter of critical significance throughout is the concept that all of this is possible only in Christ and the reciprocal truth that none of this is possible outside of Him – Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life ...” (John 14:6); there is no other way! We live in a day of exponential interest in spirituality, but none of that will hold any weight when standing before God, for it all lies outside of Christ.
Despite Paul’s strong emphasis on our being in Christ, there are Evangelicals today (like Billy Graham and Robert Schuller, for example) who have plainly stated that there are those who will enter heaven who have not known Christ; however, there is no room for such heresy here. There is only one Mediator between God (with Whom we all have to do) and man, and that is Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5); it’s not Buddha, or Mohammed, nor is there any other way to God but through Jesus (John 14:6). We must be wary and vigilant to identify, or mark, those who have departed from the narrow truth of the Scriptures (Romans 16:17), those who skulk about in sheep’s clothing appearing to be what they are not. Unfortunately, Evangelicals today have taken a positive-only approach and, at best, will only speak of the wolves in such obscure terms that it is virtually impossible to identify them, or, more likely, the subject is not open to discussion at all.
Paul goes on to identify that for which God has predestined us – adoption. Adoption is the process by which those who are not part of a family are brought into one, with the full benefits of natural children. However, in this case, not only were we not a part of God’s family, but we were also dead to Him (Ephesians 2:5); yet, in His vast grace and mercy, God predetermined that if we are found to be in Christ, then we are considered to be children in His family! Clearly, it is vitally important that we understand how we come to be in Christ and the Lord’s expectations of us when we are there.
In our relationship with God, there is no place for arrogance; we see that our adoption is by Jesus Christ to himself. The Lord Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection, completed all that was necessary for our adoption; it has nothing whatsoever to do with any personal merits or good works. Paul understood this very clearly, and warned against haughtiness regarding our position in Christ – we have been grafted into Christ by faith, but if that faith should fail through faithlessness, then we will be cut off (Romans 11:17-22; cp. Hebrews 3:12).
Underscoring the concept of having been chosen in Christ for Himself (v.4), it has been eternally determined that those, who by faith place their trust in the finished work of Christ and remain faithful to Him unto the end (Matthew 10:22), will be established as part of the family of God. Finding favor with God has never changed: it has always been by faith in what He would do to pay the price for sin; whether foreshadowed (in the OT) or realized (after Christ’s resurrection), all of mankind has looked to the Lamb of God Who was slain from the beginning of creation (Revelation 13:8). It is of those who remain faithfully in Christ that God has extended adoption as His children!
Teresa of Calcutta
According to the good pleasure of his will – herein lies the reason for all of this; God did it out of sheer delight. He adopted us as His children through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His Son, and it was a pleasure for Him to do it for us. If anything tells us that God desires to have a relationship with those whom He created in His own image, this has to be it! Through all of this, His action (or His delight) was still in accordance with His will; there was a plan, and this was part of it. In a day when we are pressured by everything around us to be self-consumed, to “look out for number one,” sometimes it is difficult to realize that we, as individuals, are not the sole reason for God’s eternal purposes, and that His purposes are far higher than ours ever will be in this life. This fixation with “number one” even finds its expression within Evangelicalism; how many times have we heard variations of “Jesus would have died for one person, for one sinner,”26 where the intent is to show how important we are to God. Yes, God has demonstrated His love for man by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, but that does not provide us with license to swell with pride, and become arrogant in our sin. Teresa of Calcutta, who made the quoted statement, did not even believe that Jesus was the only way to God: “My own faith will lead me to God, ... So if they have believed in their god very strongly, if they have faith, surely they will be saved.”27 Within the reasoning of Teresa, Jesus did not have to die; salvation, for her, is through faith – faith in anything! Man has become so important in his own eyes that he can create his own way of salvation! Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Within the salvation that God has provided for mankind, there is no room for any pride in who we might think that we are. Through faith in Christ, we have been bought with a price, purchased out of the death camp of sin, and now our purpose must be to bring glory to God (1 Corinthians 6:20), and be holy before Him (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:16). Our focus, as we journey through life, must be on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2), and not on ourselves; the former will lead to a life that will bring glory to God, the latter to a preoccupation with who we are (or think that we are), which will ultimately lead to rejection by the Lord Whom we might still claim to serve (Matthew 7:21-23).
6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
The fact of God’s predetermination that we, in Christ, are adopted into His family as children, should incite in us joy and praise to the Lord. It is God’s grace that permits the full working of His mercy and justice in the saving of a sinner through the completed work of Jesus; His grace is glorious, beyond comprehension. His mercy desires that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9); His justice acknowledges that there is no one who is righteous (Romans 3:10); it is through His glorious grace that He can say that, if we abide in Jesus, then are we accepted by Him.
It is through this marvelous grace of God that we have been made acceptable to Him through the finished work of Christ. There is nothing within us that merits God’s grace; it is only through abiding in the Vine, through our faithful continuance in Christ, that we will be saved. We are accepted: honored with blessings, surrounded with favor.28 Once again, the critical phrase that we must never lose sight of is “in the beloved.” Nothing that we can do will ever serve to merit God’s favor – the work is complete in Christ, and in Him alone; we must simply depend upon Him (faith), and faithfully persevere in obedience to Him.
7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
When we think of redemption, its root, redeem, is what typically comes to mind, and, as a result, we arrive at the concept of buying something back.29 However, in this instance, the transaction is much more complex than we might first realize. When we are born, we are sinners; we are not sinners because of what we do, we sin because we are born with a sinful nature. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5); through Adam sin and death have entered into the world, and it is the destiny for all who are born (Romans 5:12). Nevertheless, God, in His mercy, as ascribed to mankind a time of innocence – a time when we do not know right from wrong. Jesus made it very clear that infants and small children are a part of His kingdom: “Suffer little children [paidion (pahee-dee’-on)], and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14). Upon birth, God writes our names into the Book of Life that He is keeping; this is in keeping with the little children being a part of His kingdom. However, the Lord is also very clear that the one who sins has his name removed from the Book of Life (Exodus 32:33), which means that this applies to everyone who enters the age of accountability (understanding) and remains unrepentant before God. The very young child can neither accept nor reject what the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross, for he has no ability to understand anything (hence, his innocence). However, once he comes to know right from wrong, then he stands in need of a Savior from sin. At that point, his name is removed from the Book of Life, and it will only be re-entered through personal faith in the blood of Christ to bring salvation – until we come to the Lord in faith, our names remain blotted out of the Book of Life.
Therefore, if we think in terms of redemption for the sinner (as in buying back), it must be within the terms of the sinner being purchased out of sin to become a little child of God. Jesus clarified this: “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted [literally, if you should not be turned around], and become as little children [paidion], ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).30 The only correct application of the word redemption, within salvation, is that in our innocence we belonged to the Lord, and now, through our active faith in the payment for sin that Jesus made, we are returned to that child-like position before Him. We are bought out of sin by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and our names are written into the Book of Life by that same faith. In ourselves, we can do nothing to have our names written into the Book of Life; “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) – being a sinner automatically carries a death sentence. The price that hangs over the head of every person on earth is death! However, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, that price has been paid; however, it is only applied to me when I, by faith, personally accept what He has done for all of mankind. In Christ, we have been ransomed out of sin; He paid the price (death) for our sin so that we are able to consider ourselves “to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11). Therefore, when we see the word redemption, within this context, we must understand all that it represents, and our obligation to live in faithfulness to the Lord. Jesus stated very plainly, “he that shall endure [hupomeno – to remain faithful through trials] unto the end, the same [an emphatic pronoun in the Greek that means “this one!”] shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).31 It is only as we remain faithful to the Lord that we will one day enjoy the splendors of heaven with Him. What we must not miss is that just as surely as faith in the Lord Jesus places us in Him, so becoming unfaithful will see that relationship broken. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief [unfaithfulness], in departing [to fall away, or become apostate] from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).32 We are warned; therefore, let us take heed!
Through His shed blood, Christ fulfilled forever the sacrificial practices so carefully prescribed in the Law of Moses.33 “... Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption [deliverance] for us” (Hebrews 9:12).34 The deliverance from sin that Christ paid for at the cross is eternal, unlike the OT sacrifices that could never completely bring freedom from the penalty of sin (death), which is the reason that they were required on a continual basis – they merely foreshadowed what the Lord would accomplish. Even though Christ can provide eternal salvation for everyone, it is only available through Him, and we must remain faithful to Him or we will lose it. Jesus said, “Abide in me” (John 15:4); the necessity of remaining in Christ cannot be over emphasized. “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel ...” (Colossians 1:21-23a). The Scriptures are so clear on this matter, yet so many professing Christians fail to comprehend this important truth. We have been reconciled to God by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross; as long as we continue to hold our faith in Christ, He will present us to God the Father as holy, unblameable, and unreproveable. “For we are made partakers of [we share in] Christ, if we hold [should keep a firm hold on] the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Hebrews 3:14).35 We will share eternity with Christ if we retain our position in Him unto the end, and we’ve already seen that to become faithless means to depart from God, and to become apostate (Hebrews 3:12).
We have the forgiveness of sins in Christ; our deliverance from sin means that we have been forgiven. We, who were once dead in our sins, have been made alive, and the penalty for our sins has not only been paid, but our offenses have been forgiven! It is not that we are delivered from sin, and then must spend the rest of our days paying for the price of our deliverance (which we could never do since we cannot buy our freedom to begin with); we are forgiven the debt of sin that we could never pay. As we have already seen (v.4), we are to live lives that are holy and blameless before God (which means we must be in Christ); however, this cannot in any way be thought of as repaying God for the freedom from sin that He has accorded us – rather it is a life lived out in gratitude for the wondrous work that He has accomplished for us in Christ. Because of the deliverance and forgiveness that is ours, can we do any less than walk in obedience to the commandments of God? This is not legalism; this is heartfelt, life-changing gratitude for what God has done for us through the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. If we abide in Christ, our sins are forgiven, and we are seen by God as being holy – why would we consider anything other than obedience to His commands? Jesus said: “If ye love me, keep [to attend to carefully] my commandments” (John 14:15); the Apostle John declared: “And he that keepeth [to attend to carefully] his [God’s] commandments dwelleth [abideth] in him [God], and he in him” (1 John 3:24a). Obedience is critical to remaining in Christ – it the evidence of our faith in the Lord (James 2:17).
It is out of God’s rich storehouse of grace that He has brought our deliverance from sin and accorded us His forgiveness. There seems to be a sense in which these acts should not be considered as either extraordinary or surprising, but rather as a natural product, an expected end of God’s rich grace. The most significant act of redemption is the product of God’s equally significant grace.
8. Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
The grace that God has extended to mankind has been done so with liberality; His grace does not just barely provide for the plan of salvation for mankind, but rather it does so with full measure and more. Not only is this grace extended immeasurably, but it is also done according to a wise plan, which God has made. There is nothing haphazard about the grace that God extends to man, but His grace is in accordance with His wisdom, and is the product of His forethought. It is this grace, the perfect blend of God’s mercy and justice, that modern Evangelicals would seek to skew on the side of mercy through their unnatural overemphasis of His love for us; consequently, perhaps without realizing it, they have destroyed God’s grace altogether. There can be no room for easy-believism (i.e., believe, pray a prayer, and then claim eternity in heaven) without first raising the mercy of God above His justice. There is no other way to rationalize the inclusion of those who propagate error and blasphemy within the company of the saved. Such carelessness is only possible through a focus on the mercy of God while turning a blind eye to the demands of His justice. We cannot judge the heart of any man, but we are called to be discerning of his works – “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). Why are we to identify them? “Now I beseech [to call to one’s side, to summon] you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17).36 “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us” (2 Thessalonians 3:6). We must exercise discernment; we must judge the works of others according to the standard of the Word of God; if we fail in this, then we not only walk in disobedience to the exhortations of Scripture, but we place ourselves in jeopardy of being caught in the snare of error (2 Thessalonians 3:6). “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). We are not to place ourselves in proximity to error indefinitely, for Paul’s charge to Titus was that “A man that is an heretick [a follower of a false doctrine] after the first and second admonition reject [avoid]” (Titus 3:10);37 our priority must be to remain faithfully in Christ.
9. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
The word mystery, within our modern understanding, means knowledge withheld, but, within the context of Scripture, it means truth revealed.38 The Greek word comes from a root that means to shut the mouth.39 It carries less the concept of being incomprehensible, and more the idea of something that requires the touch of God in order to understand. Jesus told His disciples, “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables” (Mark 4:11). Elsewhere we read: “But the natural man receiveth [accepts] not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [come to understand] them, because they are spiritually [by the aid of the Spirit of God] discerned [judged]” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Greek word for discerned (anakrino) is in the passive voice – which means that we receive the discernment, it is not something that we derive through our own efforts; no wonder the natural man cannot understand the things of God, for he does not have the Spirit of God abiding within to guide him into all truth (John 16:13).
After expounding on the great grace of God, which is extended to man, Paul notes that through this, God has lifted the veil just a little more on what His will is. It was inconceivable to the Jewish mind of Paul’s day that God would extend deliverance from sins to the Gentiles; yet God’s infinite grace did that very thing. An error of the Jews was that they limited God’s grace to those under the Law of Moses – yet God’s grace was always been extended through faith alone (Romans 4). Throughout the Law of Moses, there was the expression of God’s grace and mercy to the faithful foreigner – “One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you” (Exodus 12:49). No differentiation was made between the Israelite and the Gentile who desired to know God. In His mercy, God was not willing that any man should perish – and this is fully demonstrated in the grace that He still extends to all of mankind. Today we accept, without question, the rich grace of God that is extended to those outside of the Jewish nation, to the point that Evangelicals and Liberals alike trample the grace of God underfoot in their zeal for unity. It appears that anything is acceptable except the narrow way that leads to life, a way that only a few will find (Matthew 7:14). It seems that God’s desire in the area of unity is being veiled; not that God is hiding what He has revealed, but, generally speaking, the eyes of men are growing dim toward the truths of God, and it is very evident in this area. There are those who speak loudly of the need for unity within their assembly, yet they seem to be blind to the Word of God, which shows that the unity of His design is realized only in Christ.
Again, we see God’s delight in the grace that He has extended to all of mankind, with an additional note that all of this lies within His eternal plan. God was not influenced by the plight of Adam and Eve after they had sinned; in His foreknowledge, He knew the choices that would be made – there was no outside aid in the development of His plan for mankind. The sinfulness of man did not catch God off guard, nor did it foil the plans that He had put into place from eternity past. We are not living with God’s Plan B today, but, rather, we are living in the wonder of the fulfillment of His perfect plan for us in Christ.
10. That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
We hear much of the “dispensation of grace,” yet God’s grace found expression in the Garden of Eden, and it will continue to the end of time. The word dispensation has to do with the management of things – normally applying to the management of household affairs.40 It includes administration or stewardship, basically the handling, or dispensing, of things needed to carry on a prescribed work. In this case, what is being administered, or handled, is the fullness of times. There will come a day when all things related to time will be wrapped up; time as we know it will someday be no more. God created us within the framework of time, and so we have great difficulty grasping what eternity will be like. However, at a specific point in the future, a time that has been set eternally in the foreknowledge of God, eternity will swallow time up. We’ve seen the plan of God for mankind stretching from before the foundations of the world were laid, and now we see that it is extended to the end of time itself – a future when all will be brought to completion within the plan of God. This is a concept that is well beyond our comprehension, for we are inextricably tied to time.
Here is foretold a gathering together, a summing up of everything both individually and collectively (nothing will be left out that should not be left out). Everything will be brought together in Christ; there will be complete unity one day. However, this has nothing to do with the unity movement that is so prevalent among Evangelicals today. This unity will be accomplished at the fullness of times, a future that is known only to God; a unity that will be accomplished by God, for He will do the gathering, not man! The word things is a neuter term in Greek, and so the all things refers to everything, not just people, or angels. Sin has impacted all things, not just mankind, and there is a sense here that all things will one day be restored in Christ. “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22).
6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
The fact of God’s predetermination that we, in Christ, are adopted into His family as children, should incite in us joy and praise to the Lord. It is God’s grace that permits the full working of His mercy and justice in the saving of a sinner through the completed work of Jesus; His grace is glorious, beyond comprehension. His mercy desires that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9); His justice acknowledges that there is no one who is righteous (Romans 3:10); it is through His glorious grace that He can say that, if we abide in Jesus, then are we accepted by Him.
It is through this marvelous grace of God that we have been made acceptable to Him through the finished work of Christ. There is nothing within us that merits God’s grace; it is only through abiding in the Vine, through our faithful continuance in Christ, that we will be saved. We are accepted: honored with blessings, surrounded with favor.28 Once again, the critical phrase that we must never lose sight of is “in the beloved.” Nothing that we can do will ever serve to merit God’s favor – the work is complete in Christ, and in Him alone; we must simply depend upon Him (faith), and faithfully persevere in obedience to Him.
7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
When we think of redemption, its root, redeem, is what typically comes to mind, and, as a result, we arrive at the concept of buying something back.29 However, in this instance, the transaction is much more complex than we might first realize. When we are born, we are sinners; we are not sinners because of what we do, we sin because we are born with a sinful nature. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5); through Adam sin and death have entered into the world, and it is the destiny for all who are born (Romans 5:12). Nevertheless, God, in His mercy, as ascribed to mankind a time of innocence – a time when we do not know right from wrong. Jesus made it very clear that infants and small children are a part of His kingdom: “Suffer little children [paidion (pahee-dee’-on)], and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14). Upon birth, God writes our names into the Book of Life that He is keeping; this is in keeping with the little children being a part of His kingdom. However, the Lord is also very clear that the one who sins has his name removed from the Book of Life (Exodus 32:33), which means that this applies to everyone who enters the age of accountability (understanding) and remains unrepentant before God. The very young child can neither accept nor reject what the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross, for he has no ability to understand anything (hence, his innocence). However, once he comes to know right from wrong, then he stands in need of a Savior from sin. At that point, his name is removed from the Book of Life, and it will only be re-entered through personal faith in the blood of Christ to bring salvation – until we come to the Lord in faith, our names remain blotted out of the Book of Life.
Therefore, if we think in terms of redemption for the sinner (as in buying back), it must be within the terms of the sinner being purchased out of sin to become a little child of God. Jesus clarified this: “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted [literally, if you should not be turned around], and become as little children [paidion], ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).30 The only correct application of the word redemption, within salvation, is that in our innocence we belonged to the Lord, and now, through our active faith in the payment for sin that Jesus made, we are returned to that child-like position before Him. We are bought out of sin by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and our names are written into the Book of Life by that same faith. In ourselves, we can do nothing to have our names written into the Book of Life; “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) – being a sinner automatically carries a death sentence. The price that hangs over the head of every person on earth is death! However, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, that price has been paid; however, it is only applied to me when I, by faith, personally accept what He has done for all of mankind. In Christ, we have been ransomed out of sin; He paid the price (death) for our sin so that we are able to consider ourselves “to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11). Therefore, when we see the word redemption, within this context, we must understand all that it represents, and our obligation to live in faithfulness to the Lord. Jesus stated very plainly, “he that shall endure [hupomeno – to remain faithful through trials] unto the end, the same [an emphatic pronoun in the Greek that means “this one!”] shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).31 It is only as we remain faithful to the Lord that we will one day enjoy the splendors of heaven with Him. What we must not miss is that just as surely as faith in the Lord Jesus places us in Him, so becoming unfaithful will see that relationship broken. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief [unfaithfulness], in departing [to fall away, or become apostate] from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).32 We are warned; therefore, let us take heed!
Through His shed blood, Christ fulfilled forever the sacrificial practices so carefully prescribed in the Law of Moses.33 “... Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption [deliverance] for us” (Hebrews 9:12).34 The deliverance from sin that Christ paid for at the cross is eternal, unlike the OT sacrifices that could never completely bring freedom from the penalty of sin (death), which is the reason that they were required on a continual basis – they merely foreshadowed what the Lord would accomplish. Even though Christ can provide eternal salvation for everyone, it is only available through Him, and we must remain faithful to Him or we will lose it. Jesus said, “Abide in me” (John 15:4); the necessity of remaining in Christ cannot be over emphasized. “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel ...” (Colossians 1:21-23a). The Scriptures are so clear on this matter, yet so many professing Christians fail to comprehend this important truth. We have been reconciled to God by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross; as long as we continue to hold our faith in Christ, He will present us to God the Father as holy, unblameable, and unreproveable. “For we are made partakers of [we share in] Christ, if we hold [should keep a firm hold on] the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Hebrews 3:14).35 We will share eternity with Christ if we retain our position in Him unto the end, and we’ve already seen that to become faithless means to depart from God, and to become apostate (Hebrews 3:12).
We have the forgiveness of sins in Christ; our deliverance from sin means that we have been forgiven. We, who were once dead in our sins, have been made alive, and the penalty for our sins has not only been paid, but our offenses have been forgiven! It is not that we are delivered from sin, and then must spend the rest of our days paying for the price of our deliverance (which we could never do since we cannot buy our freedom to begin with); we are forgiven the debt of sin that we could never pay. As we have already seen (v.4), we are to live lives that are holy and blameless before God (which means we must be in Christ); however, this cannot in any way be thought of as repaying God for the freedom from sin that He has accorded us – rather it is a life lived out in gratitude for the wondrous work that He has accomplished for us in Christ. Because of the deliverance and forgiveness that is ours, can we do any less than walk in obedience to the commandments of God? This is not legalism; this is heartfelt, life-changing gratitude for what God has done for us through the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. If we abide in Christ, our sins are forgiven, and we are seen by God as being holy – why would we consider anything other than obedience to His commands? Jesus said: “If ye love me, keep [to attend to carefully] my commandments” (John 14:15); the Apostle John declared: “And he that keepeth [to attend to carefully] his [God’s] commandments dwelleth [abideth] in him [God], and he in him” (1 John 3:24a). Obedience is critical to remaining in Christ – it the evidence of our faith in the Lord (James 2:17).
It is out of God’s rich storehouse of grace that He has brought our deliverance from sin and accorded us His forgiveness. There seems to be a sense in which these acts should not be considered as either extraordinary or surprising, but rather as a natural product, an expected end of God’s rich grace. The most significant act of redemption is the product of God’s equally significant grace.
8. Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
The grace that God has extended to mankind has been done so with liberality; His grace does not just barely provide for the plan of salvation for mankind, but rather it does so with full measure and more. Not only is this grace extended immeasurably, but it is also done according to a wise plan, which God has made. There is nothing haphazard about the grace that God extends to man, but His grace is in accordance with His wisdom, and is the product of His forethought. It is this grace, the perfect blend of God’s mercy and justice, that modern Evangelicals would seek to skew on the side of mercy through their unnatural overemphasis of His love for us; consequently, perhaps without realizing it, they have destroyed God’s grace altogether. There can be no room for easy-believism (i.e., believe, pray a prayer, and then claim eternity in heaven) without first raising the mercy of God above His justice. There is no other way to rationalize the inclusion of those who propagate error and blasphemy within the company of the saved. Such carelessness is only possible through a focus on the mercy of God while turning a blind eye to the demands of His justice. We cannot judge the heart of any man, but we are called to be discerning of his works – “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). Why are we to identify them? “Now I beseech [to call to one’s side, to summon] you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17).36 “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us” (2 Thessalonians 3:6). We must exercise discernment; we must judge the works of others according to the standard of the Word of God; if we fail in this, then we not only walk in disobedience to the exhortations of Scripture, but we place ourselves in jeopardy of being caught in the snare of error (2 Thessalonians 3:6). “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). We are not to place ourselves in proximity to error indefinitely, for Paul’s charge to Titus was that “A man that is an heretick [a follower of a false doctrine] after the first and second admonition reject [avoid]” (Titus 3:10);37 our priority must be to remain faithfully in Christ.
9. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
The word mystery, within our modern understanding, means knowledge withheld, but, within the context of Scripture, it means truth revealed.38 The Greek word comes from a root that means to shut the mouth.39 It carries less the concept of being incomprehensible, and more the idea of something that requires the touch of God in order to understand. Jesus told His disciples, “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables” (Mark 4:11). Elsewhere we read: “But the natural man receiveth [accepts] not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [come to understand] them, because they are spiritually [by the aid of the Spirit of God] discerned [judged]” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Greek word for discerned (anakrino) is in the passive voice – which means that we receive the discernment, it is not something that we derive through our own efforts; no wonder the natural man cannot understand the things of God, for he does not have the Spirit of God abiding within to guide him into all truth (John 16:13).
After expounding on the great grace of God, which is extended to man, Paul notes that through this, God has lifted the veil just a little more on what His will is. It was inconceivable to the Jewish mind of Paul’s day that God would extend deliverance from sins to the Gentiles; yet God’s infinite grace did that very thing. An error of the Jews was that they limited God’s grace to those under the Law of Moses – yet God’s grace was always been extended through faith alone (Romans 4). Throughout the Law of Moses, there was the expression of God’s grace and mercy to the faithful foreigner – “One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you” (Exodus 12:49). No differentiation was made between the Israelite and the Gentile who desired to know God. In His mercy, God was not willing that any man should perish – and this is fully demonstrated in the grace that He still extends to all of mankind. Today we accept, without question, the rich grace of God that is extended to those outside of the Jewish nation, to the point that Evangelicals and Liberals alike trample the grace of God underfoot in their zeal for unity. It appears that anything is acceptable except the narrow way that leads to life, a way that only a few will find (Matthew 7:14). It seems that God’s desire in the area of unity is being veiled; not that God is hiding what He has revealed, but, generally speaking, the eyes of men are growing dim toward the truths of God, and it is very evident in this area. There are those who speak loudly of the need for unity within their assembly, yet they seem to be blind to the Word of God, which shows that the unity of His design is realized only in Christ.
Again, we see God’s delight in the grace that He has extended to all of mankind, with an additional note that all of this lies within His eternal plan. God was not influenced by the plight of Adam and Eve after they had sinned; in His foreknowledge, He knew the choices that would be made – there was no outside aid in the development of His plan for mankind. The sinfulness of man did not catch God off guard, nor did it foil the plans that He had put into place from eternity past. We are not living with God’s Plan B today, but, rather, we are living in the wonder of the fulfillment of His perfect plan for us in Christ.
10. That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
We hear much of the “dispensation of grace,” yet God’s grace found expression in the Garden of Eden, and it will continue to the end of time. The word dispensation has to do with the management of things – normally applying to the management of household affairs.40 It includes administration or stewardship, basically the handling, or dispensing, of things needed to carry on a prescribed work. In this case, what is being administered, or handled, is the fullness of times. There will come a day when all things related to time will be wrapped up; time as we know it will someday be no more. God created us within the framework of time, and so we have great difficulty grasping what eternity will be like. However, at a specific point in the future, a time that has been set eternally in the foreknowledge of God, eternity will swallow time up. We’ve seen the plan of God for mankind stretching from before the foundations of the world were laid, and now we see that it is extended to the end of time itself – a future when all will be brought to completion within the plan of God. This is a concept that is well beyond our comprehension, for we are inextricably tied to time.
Here is foretold a gathering together, a summing up of everything both individually and collectively (nothing will be left out that should not be left out). Everything will be brought together in Christ; there will be complete unity one day. However, this has nothing to do with the unity movement that is so prevalent among Evangelicals today. This unity will be accomplished at the fullness of times, a future that is known only to God; a unity that will be accomplished by God, for He will do the gathering, not man! The word things is a neuter term in Greek, and so the all things refers to everything, not just people, or angels. Sin has impacted all things, not just mankind, and there is a sense here that all things will one day be restored in Christ. “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22).
Tony Campolo
We are given clarification as to what the all things really are – things which are in heaven, and which are on earth. There will be a unity of things in heaven and things on earth, a coming together of all things under the leadership of Christ. There is coming a day when the will of God will be done on earth, even as it is now done in heaven. As Albert Barnes points out, there is no mention of hell in this verse, and therefore, there is no place for universal salvation, for hell is not included in this gathering in Christ.41 Universal salvation, which sees everyone making it to the glories of heaven, is a concept that even those who are considered to be a part of the Evangelical community are accepting wholeheartedly – Robert Schuller, Billy Graham, C.S. Lewis, Chuck Colson and Tony Campolo, to name a few, have embraced this heresy to varying degrees. We must be on guard lest we succumb to the false teaching of those who really should know better.
Now comes the capstone to it all, emphasized twice in this verse alone – for all of this will be accomplished in Christ. When God is prepared to wrap up His dealings with mankind, when He is ready to gather all things into one perfect unity, He will do so in Christ. Christ will be the means, the reason, and the active ingredient in accomplishing all that God has planned at the end of the age. All of creation (angels, redeemed men, and nature) will be united in worship and praise to God, and Christ as their Head (Revelation 5:9-13).
11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
In whom, once again, refers to Christ, the One in Whom all things will one day be brought together. Paul underscores that it is in Christ that all of these things come to be: it is in Christ that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings (v.3), it is in Christ that we have been chosen from before the foundation of the world (v.4), it is by Christ that we are predestined for adoption (v.5), it is in the Beloved that we have been made accepted before God (v.6), it is in Christ that we have redemption (v.7), it is in Christ that we look forward to a day when all things will be gathered together in perfect unity (v.10), and, now, it is in Christ that we have an inheritance. The “abiding in the vine” of John 15 takes on greater significance in the light of this passage, and the depth of our dependency upon Christ is delineated, even as Jesus declared that without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).
Notice that we have already obtained the inheritance referred to here; it is a present possession. Young’s literal translation is, “in whom also we did obtain an inheritance”; for those of us who are the “faithful in Christ Jesus,” this is an accomplished fact! An earthly inheritance is generally thought of as that which is obtained upon the death of another. In reality, the same can be said of the spiritual inheritance that we have in Christ – it was through His death that our salvation was purchased, and so it is through appropriating the reality of what His death and resurrection accomplished, that we obtain this inheritance. If He had not died, we would have no inheritance for we would have no salvation. Do we realize the full benefit of this inheritance in this life? Clearly not, for we look forward to that day to come when He will gather all things together into perfect unity! John understood this when he said: “now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). It is because of this hope, which we have in Christ, that we will purify our lives in obedience to His commands.
We are reminded that all of this is done in accordance with the eternal purposes of God. It is God’s eternal purpose that all that we are and have is in Christ; apart from Him we are lost and without hope. This is why it is so vitally important that we continue to abide in Him; if we fail to remain in Him, then we will wither (spiritually), dry up, and be cast into the fire to be burned (John 15:6). However, if we remain in Christ, then our inheritance, the extent of which we cannot fathom in this life, has been determined in the mind of God before time began.
Here we catch a glimpse of the extent of God’s working – all things. Everything in the universe is subject to God’s orchestration; there is nothing of which God is not aware, nothing that is out of His control, and all of this is done in accordance with His will. God does not seek the counsel of man to determine His course of action; yet in the mystery and wisdom of God, He longs to respond to the petitions of His children (Psalm 145:18-19, Matthew 7:7-11). Even in this, we are called to ask in accordance with His will; our perspective of what is taking place around us is so limited that we must defer our requests to the far greater plan and wisdom of God, Who sees all things (John 15:7; 1 John 5:14-15).
12. That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
This is a difficult verse. The we to this point has always been the writer, the saints in Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus, and there would not seem to be anything to change that. However, the phrase first trusted is literally to hope before. Young’s Literal reads, “for our being to the praise of His glory, even those who did first hope in the Christ”; he supplies the word even to provide a cumulative effect, which I can’t find in the original text.
As just indicated, this must apply to all of us who hope in Christ; we are to give glory to God, and our very existence should be to bring glory to His name (Matthew 5:16). The whole thrust of our being is to declare the glory of God for all that He has accomplished on our behalf. The literal rendering of this latter phrase seems to draw special attention to those who first hoped in Christ, but not exclusively so. If ever there should be those who live to bring glory to God, it should be those who first hoped in Christ; i.e., those who were taught by Him directly. The Old Testament (OT) saints, who looked forward to His coming, could also be counted among those who first hoped in Christ.
13. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
After drawing special attention to those who first hoped in Christ, those who knew Him personally, and the OT saints who longed to see His day, it is clear that this is the same Christ in Whom the “saints” and “faithful” (v.1) have placed their hope. The difference is that we have heard about Christ but have not seen Him, not unlike the OT saints. The message that we have all heard is the Gospel, the good tidings, described as the “word of truth.” Romans 10:17 states, “so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The Lord lamented the rebellious heart of Israel to Ezekiel, and declared that they “have ears to hear, and hear not” (12:2). Jesus, on numerous occasions, called out “he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” The message that the Apostles took wherever they went, was one that had to be heard, it was declared, but more than that, it was the word of truth. Captured in the Bible is the message that is empowered by the Spirit of God, a message of truth – God’s Word that contains the truth for our salvation!
By its very nature, truth is an exclusive term. If something is true, then variations of it cannot be entirely true, and something that is completely different is not true at all. Herein lies the fallacy of much of modern thinking; modern philosophy would have us believe that truth is a very personal thing, a subjective reality that we cannot apply to anyone else. The first thing that becomes evident under this line of reasoning is that the Scriptures can no longer be considered to be the inerrant Word of God, Who is objective, omnipotent, and a holy Being with Whom we all have to do. God is no longer a God with thoughts that are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9), but, rather, He has become one of us, or, He is merely a product of our imaginations. This is the foundation of sand upon which the higher critics of the 18th and 19th centuries built their new understanding of the Bible; in their liberated thinking, the Bible could be handled like any other piece of ancient literature, and, thereby, they dismissed God’s inspiration and promised preservation of His Word.
Now comes the capstone to it all, emphasized twice in this verse alone – for all of this will be accomplished in Christ. When God is prepared to wrap up His dealings with mankind, when He is ready to gather all things into one perfect unity, He will do so in Christ. Christ will be the means, the reason, and the active ingredient in accomplishing all that God has planned at the end of the age. All of creation (angels, redeemed men, and nature) will be united in worship and praise to God, and Christ as their Head (Revelation 5:9-13).
11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
In whom, once again, refers to Christ, the One in Whom all things will one day be brought together. Paul underscores that it is in Christ that all of these things come to be: it is in Christ that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings (v.3), it is in Christ that we have been chosen from before the foundation of the world (v.4), it is by Christ that we are predestined for adoption (v.5), it is in the Beloved that we have been made accepted before God (v.6), it is in Christ that we have redemption (v.7), it is in Christ that we look forward to a day when all things will be gathered together in perfect unity (v.10), and, now, it is in Christ that we have an inheritance. The “abiding in the vine” of John 15 takes on greater significance in the light of this passage, and the depth of our dependency upon Christ is delineated, even as Jesus declared that without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).
Notice that we have already obtained the inheritance referred to here; it is a present possession. Young’s literal translation is, “in whom also we did obtain an inheritance”; for those of us who are the “faithful in Christ Jesus,” this is an accomplished fact! An earthly inheritance is generally thought of as that which is obtained upon the death of another. In reality, the same can be said of the spiritual inheritance that we have in Christ – it was through His death that our salvation was purchased, and so it is through appropriating the reality of what His death and resurrection accomplished, that we obtain this inheritance. If He had not died, we would have no inheritance for we would have no salvation. Do we realize the full benefit of this inheritance in this life? Clearly not, for we look forward to that day to come when He will gather all things together into perfect unity! John understood this when he said: “now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). It is because of this hope, which we have in Christ, that we will purify our lives in obedience to His commands.
We are reminded that all of this is done in accordance with the eternal purposes of God. It is God’s eternal purpose that all that we are and have is in Christ; apart from Him we are lost and without hope. This is why it is so vitally important that we continue to abide in Him; if we fail to remain in Him, then we will wither (spiritually), dry up, and be cast into the fire to be burned (John 15:6). However, if we remain in Christ, then our inheritance, the extent of which we cannot fathom in this life, has been determined in the mind of God before time began.
Here we catch a glimpse of the extent of God’s working – all things. Everything in the universe is subject to God’s orchestration; there is nothing of which God is not aware, nothing that is out of His control, and all of this is done in accordance with His will. God does not seek the counsel of man to determine His course of action; yet in the mystery and wisdom of God, He longs to respond to the petitions of His children (Psalm 145:18-19, Matthew 7:7-11). Even in this, we are called to ask in accordance with His will; our perspective of what is taking place around us is so limited that we must defer our requests to the far greater plan and wisdom of God, Who sees all things (John 15:7; 1 John 5:14-15).
12. That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
This is a difficult verse. The we to this point has always been the writer, the saints in Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus, and there would not seem to be anything to change that. However, the phrase first trusted is literally to hope before. Young’s Literal reads, “for our being to the praise of His glory, even those who did first hope in the Christ”; he supplies the word even to provide a cumulative effect, which I can’t find in the original text.
As just indicated, this must apply to all of us who hope in Christ; we are to give glory to God, and our very existence should be to bring glory to His name (Matthew 5:16). The whole thrust of our being is to declare the glory of God for all that He has accomplished on our behalf. The literal rendering of this latter phrase seems to draw special attention to those who first hoped in Christ, but not exclusively so. If ever there should be those who live to bring glory to God, it should be those who first hoped in Christ; i.e., those who were taught by Him directly. The Old Testament (OT) saints, who looked forward to His coming, could also be counted among those who first hoped in Christ.
13. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
After drawing special attention to those who first hoped in Christ, those who knew Him personally, and the OT saints who longed to see His day, it is clear that this is the same Christ in Whom the “saints” and “faithful” (v.1) have placed their hope. The difference is that we have heard about Christ but have not seen Him, not unlike the OT saints. The message that we have all heard is the Gospel, the good tidings, described as the “word of truth.” Romans 10:17 states, “so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The Lord lamented the rebellious heart of Israel to Ezekiel, and declared that they “have ears to hear, and hear not” (12:2). Jesus, on numerous occasions, called out “he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” The message that the Apostles took wherever they went, was one that had to be heard, it was declared, but more than that, it was the word of truth. Captured in the Bible is the message that is empowered by the Spirit of God, a message of truth – God’s Word that contains the truth for our salvation!
By its very nature, truth is an exclusive term. If something is true, then variations of it cannot be entirely true, and something that is completely different is not true at all. Herein lies the fallacy of much of modern thinking; modern philosophy would have us believe that truth is a very personal thing, a subjective reality that we cannot apply to anyone else. The first thing that becomes evident under this line of reasoning is that the Scriptures can no longer be considered to be the inerrant Word of God, Who is objective, omnipotent, and a holy Being with Whom we all have to do. God is no longer a God with thoughts that are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9), but, rather, He has become one of us, or, He is merely a product of our imaginations. This is the foundation of sand upon which the higher critics of the 18th and 19th centuries built their new understanding of the Bible; in their liberated thinking, the Bible could be handled like any other piece of ancient literature, and, thereby, they dismissed God’s inspiration and promised preservation of His Word.
Unfortunately, the edge of this philosophy has penetrated the thinking of Christians today so that the truth of the Word of God is no longer declared with power and conviction; there are various views of many doctrines, and the feeling is that we must be tolerant of them all. The foundation for this departure is the infusion of rationalism. Man is capable of rationalizing almost anything so as to ensure his own comfort of conscience. Hence, the Evangelical Free Church (EFC), in their founding days, could state: “if Scripture alone is the rule, and Scripture is open to various interpretations, and believers are free in conscience to interpret it as they feel ‘led’ by the Holy Spirit, it follows that they may be led to different views.”42 The flow of logic that the EFC has used (rationalism) has led them to the conclusion that the Holy Spirit is responsible for the doctrinal confusion that exists today. Can God have different meanings for the same Scripture? Did He speak ambiguously? Paul’s admonition to Timothy would seem to indicate otherwise, for he was to study to show himself approved unto God, “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15); from this we can conclude that an incorrect dividing, or interpretation, of the Word of God would result in God’s disapproval. In our own human frailty, we will not all arrive at the same understanding of the Scriptures concerning a given matter, but that is very different from laying the blame for differing interpretations at the feet of the Holy Spirit – God Himself!
In whom – once again, the means for what follows is “in Christ.” Here we have something else that is accomplished through faith in Christ: we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as promised (John 16:13). Notwithstanding the EFC’s understanding of the Spirit’s role in bringing confusion, Jesus said that the Spirit would “guide [us] into all truth”; this involves a process of leading and guiding us into rightly dividing the word of truth – not a one-time revelation, but a life-long process of instruction. We are sealed, or marked,43 by the Holy Spirit; therefore, the presence of the Spirit of God in our lives should be evident. The ancient seal was used to confirm the authenticity of an item, and to affirm its approval under the authority of the owner of the seal; even so, we have been given the Holy Spirit by God to affirm that we are His. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ [the Seal of God], he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).
Can the seal be removed? Is our eternal destiny eternally secured? In Romans 11:13-22 we read:
For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation [jealousy or envious rivalry] them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue [carries the possibility of not continuing] in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.44
We, who have placed our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have been grafted into the Root (Christ) by faith; this passage teaches that if we set this saving faith aside (which is unbelief), then we face the fate of being cut off. The admonition given here is that we must continue; we must steadfastly remain in Christ.
Hebrews 3:12-14 – “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God [which requires being in fellowship with Him first]. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened [to become stubborn; the purpose of exhortation is so that no one will become stubborn (a purpose clause)45] through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if [on the condition that] we hold [includes the possibility of not holding] the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end ….” This is proclaimed to brethren, those who were earlier called holy brethren (3:1), and stands as a warning to us that we must take heed to our hearts; “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
John 15:1-2 – “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” Jesus goes on to say, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are [literally, it is46] burned” (John 15:6). The final state of a broken-off branch is to be burned.
Matthew 10:22 (Mark 13:13) – “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved [will be saved].” Endureth, in the Greek, is an emphasized form of the word abide (hupomeno), as it is translated in Jesus’ words, “Abide in me” (John 15:4), and carries the idea of remaining faithful under difficult circumstances.47
Matthew 24:11-13 – “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” This is a reiteration of the thrust of Matthew 10:22.
Hebrews 3:6 – “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence [possibility, not certainty] and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” We are of Christ’s house IF we hold fast to the hope that we have in Him.
Matthew 13:19-23 – “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon [or immediately] with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by [or immediately, same Greek word translated as anon] he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke [to choke utterly] the word, and he becometh unfruitful (see John 15:1-2). But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”48 Too often, the fruit is thought to be the salvation of souls. However, consider this carefully. When a seed of wheat is planted, it grows into a plant; if all that it produced was a proliferation of more plants, we would be very disappointed – rather, it produces seed. The seed, in the parable, is the Word of God, and so when the fruit is evident, it will reflect the Word, which has taken root within us. In other words, it will be the fruit of the Spirit that will be evident in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23). If a branch of an apple tree simply produced more branches, we would prune it (cut it off); our expectation is that the branch will produce apples in keeping with the tree to which it is inextricably linked. In like manner, we will produce fruit in keeping with the Spirit of God abiding in us, and Christ into Whom we have been grafted by faith.
Hebrews 10:23-29 – “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” It is undeniable that the one who sins willfully was truly born again; he received the knowledge of the truth (i.e., a precise and correct knowledge), and he was sanctified (made holy) by the blood of Christ.49 Within the Evangelical community, it is commonly held that those who fall away, or become apostate, never truly believed – they only appeared to be Christians; the Scriptures do not support this comfortable error.
Those who hold to an eternal security, without the possibility of ever being lost, endeavor to wrest this teaching from the Scriptures. For example, in John 10:27-29 Jesus says: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” They appeal to the never perish and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand as the basis for being “once saved, always saved.” Never, in the Greek, is comprised of the two negatives ou and me; when these are used together with a subjunctive verb, rather than presenting a possibility (as would be normal for a subjunctive verb) they form a very strong negative.50 Therefore, this could be translated as will absolutely not perish; however, it needs to be understood to whom this is being addressed. The one who will never perish is the one who is hearing the Shepherd’s voice and is following Him (both verbs are in the present tense, which means that both are a continuous action); it is to these attentive and obedient ones that Jesus says that He is giving eternal life and they will never perish. The promise that no one will be able to pluck His sheep out of the hand of the Father is a wonderful assurance that we are secure from external attacks. No external force is able to snatch us out of His hand, but that does not exclude the possibility of our hearts being hardened through unbelief so that we turn our backs on the Lord (Hebrews 3:12-14). Passages like Romans 8:38-39 all deal with external forces coming against us, but we still carry about with us a heart that is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). There is nothing here to support eternal security, if one takes the time to look carefully.
14. Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
The Holy Spirit is the down payment or deposit (earnest) toward the day of our complete deliverance from sin, at which time we will enter into the fullness of our inheritance in Christ. He is the present assurance that God will complete what He has declared concerning our future with Him. A down payment, or deposit, does not confirm the completion of a transaction; it only confirms the intention to complete an agreed upon transaction. We are assured that it is God Who has accomplished this in us; “…God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest [same Greek word] of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). God has placed His Spirit within us to assure us that He is able to accomplish what He has declared. As much as it lies within God, our salvation will be completed one day; He has promised our protection from external foes (Romans 8:38-39); we must seek His enablement to guard against a heart of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12-14).
Until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. A literal translation of this reads: “... to the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory.”51 Here we have two purposes delineated for this Down Payment: the Spirit of God has been given 1) to assure us of God’s desire for our complete deliverance, and 2) to bring praise to the glory of God. We are a purchased, or acquired, possession (that’s an accomplished fact), but we still live in a fallen world, and strive against our fallen natures. However, there will come a day when God will deliver us from these, and we will be with Him forever; the Spirit has been given to us to confirm the potential for that future reality (since the Scriptures do not teach eternal security, it is necessary to say potential). The Spirit has also been given to bring praise to God; all is to the praise of the glory of God. He alone has made this possible; we are recipients of God’s merciful salvation – it is all of Him and nothing from us. It is our sin that was the reason that He sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die for us; as such, it is certain that we could have no part in our own redemption. As much as this conflicts with modern spirituality, so be it!
We’ve already noted that Jesus said that the Spirit would guide us into all truth (John 16:13; John 17:17 says, “Thy word is truth,” therefore we should not expect special revelation from the Holy Spirit, and we should be suspicious of those who say that they have received such). This Down Payment for our future salvation is our Guide into the truth of God’s Word; He is the alongside One, leading us in an ever-deepening understanding of Scripture. Coupled with this understanding will come obedience to the truth. “And this is his [God’s] commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us” (1 John 3:23-24). The abiding Spirit of God will let us know if we walk in obedience to God, or if we err – unless we give way to an evil heart of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12), at which point He will depart from us.
15. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
What follows now is specifically related to what has just been outlined; the wherefore is literally because of this.52 This is very common in Paul’s epistles, one thing builds upon that which has come before; there is a progression of thought. Paul specifically refers to the Ephesian Christians here, for he had evidently heard of how they were living out their faith after he had been with them. Their faith in Jesus was such that it was evident to those about them. How they lived must have obviously demonstrated their trust in the Lord.
And love unto all the saints is probably one of the ways that the faith of the Ephesians was so evident in their daily living – they demonstrated a love for all of the saints, or holy ones. Today we hear much about love; couched within the modern concept of love is the idea of acceptance. At one time, we called for tolerance of those who advocated a different faith from that declared in Scripture; we would permit others to hold their beliefs no matter how strange they were. Today, however, this is no longer enough. We are to accept all beliefs as equally tenable; there is no longer a concept of right and wrong, and all beliefs that are held as truth are to be given equal credence. In the name of “love,” truth has become subjective; it is whatever anyone determines it to be – and we are not to try to dissuade anyone from their error, for it is advocated that there is no real error, only differing shades of truth. The thin edge of this wedge has found its place within Evangelicalism as well; there has been a move toward positivism, with a comparable move away from anything that could even remotely appear to be negative or judgmental. In essence, we are to tolerate error within those who profess to be Christians, lest we demonstrate anything other than this pathetic form of love, which finds no voice in Scripture. Out of this mindset flows the movement toward ecumenical unity with its unbalanced emphasis on all that is positive, its acceptance of good in the midst of what is clearly evil, and its siren call for all flavors of faith to come together, while turning a blind eye to error. This mindset contravenes the Scriptures that call us to be those who are “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
In whom – once again, the means for what follows is “in Christ.” Here we have something else that is accomplished through faith in Christ: we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as promised (John 16:13). Notwithstanding the EFC’s understanding of the Spirit’s role in bringing confusion, Jesus said that the Spirit would “guide [us] into all truth”; this involves a process of leading and guiding us into rightly dividing the word of truth – not a one-time revelation, but a life-long process of instruction. We are sealed, or marked,43 by the Holy Spirit; therefore, the presence of the Spirit of God in our lives should be evident. The ancient seal was used to confirm the authenticity of an item, and to affirm its approval under the authority of the owner of the seal; even so, we have been given the Holy Spirit by God to affirm that we are His. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ [the Seal of God], he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).
Can the seal be removed? Is our eternal destiny eternally secured? In Romans 11:13-22 we read:
For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation [jealousy or envious rivalry] them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue [carries the possibility of not continuing] in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.44
We, who have placed our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have been grafted into the Root (Christ) by faith; this passage teaches that if we set this saving faith aside (which is unbelief), then we face the fate of being cut off. The admonition given here is that we must continue; we must steadfastly remain in Christ.
Hebrews 3:12-14 – “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God [which requires being in fellowship with Him first]. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened [to become stubborn; the purpose of exhortation is so that no one will become stubborn (a purpose clause)45] through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if [on the condition that] we hold [includes the possibility of not holding] the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end ….” This is proclaimed to brethren, those who were earlier called holy brethren (3:1), and stands as a warning to us that we must take heed to our hearts; “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
John 15:1-2 – “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” Jesus goes on to say, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are [literally, it is46] burned” (John 15:6). The final state of a broken-off branch is to be burned.
Matthew 10:22 (Mark 13:13) – “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved [will be saved].” Endureth, in the Greek, is an emphasized form of the word abide (hupomeno), as it is translated in Jesus’ words, “Abide in me” (John 15:4), and carries the idea of remaining faithful under difficult circumstances.47
Matthew 24:11-13 – “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” This is a reiteration of the thrust of Matthew 10:22.
Hebrews 3:6 – “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence [possibility, not certainty] and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” We are of Christ’s house IF we hold fast to the hope that we have in Him.
Matthew 13:19-23 – “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon [or immediately] with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by [or immediately, same Greek word translated as anon] he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke [to choke utterly] the word, and he becometh unfruitful (see John 15:1-2). But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”48 Too often, the fruit is thought to be the salvation of souls. However, consider this carefully. When a seed of wheat is planted, it grows into a plant; if all that it produced was a proliferation of more plants, we would be very disappointed – rather, it produces seed. The seed, in the parable, is the Word of God, and so when the fruit is evident, it will reflect the Word, which has taken root within us. In other words, it will be the fruit of the Spirit that will be evident in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23). If a branch of an apple tree simply produced more branches, we would prune it (cut it off); our expectation is that the branch will produce apples in keeping with the tree to which it is inextricably linked. In like manner, we will produce fruit in keeping with the Spirit of God abiding in us, and Christ into Whom we have been grafted by faith.
Hebrews 10:23-29 – “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” It is undeniable that the one who sins willfully was truly born again; he received the knowledge of the truth (i.e., a precise and correct knowledge), and he was sanctified (made holy) by the blood of Christ.49 Within the Evangelical community, it is commonly held that those who fall away, or become apostate, never truly believed – they only appeared to be Christians; the Scriptures do not support this comfortable error.
Those who hold to an eternal security, without the possibility of ever being lost, endeavor to wrest this teaching from the Scriptures. For example, in John 10:27-29 Jesus says: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” They appeal to the never perish and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand as the basis for being “once saved, always saved.” Never, in the Greek, is comprised of the two negatives ou and me; when these are used together with a subjunctive verb, rather than presenting a possibility (as would be normal for a subjunctive verb) they form a very strong negative.50 Therefore, this could be translated as will absolutely not perish; however, it needs to be understood to whom this is being addressed. The one who will never perish is the one who is hearing the Shepherd’s voice and is following Him (both verbs are in the present tense, which means that both are a continuous action); it is to these attentive and obedient ones that Jesus says that He is giving eternal life and they will never perish. The promise that no one will be able to pluck His sheep out of the hand of the Father is a wonderful assurance that we are secure from external attacks. No external force is able to snatch us out of His hand, but that does not exclude the possibility of our hearts being hardened through unbelief so that we turn our backs on the Lord (Hebrews 3:12-14). Passages like Romans 8:38-39 all deal with external forces coming against us, but we still carry about with us a heart that is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). There is nothing here to support eternal security, if one takes the time to look carefully.
14. Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
The Holy Spirit is the down payment or deposit (earnest) toward the day of our complete deliverance from sin, at which time we will enter into the fullness of our inheritance in Christ. He is the present assurance that God will complete what He has declared concerning our future with Him. A down payment, or deposit, does not confirm the completion of a transaction; it only confirms the intention to complete an agreed upon transaction. We are assured that it is God Who has accomplished this in us; “…God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest [same Greek word] of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). God has placed His Spirit within us to assure us that He is able to accomplish what He has declared. As much as it lies within God, our salvation will be completed one day; He has promised our protection from external foes (Romans 8:38-39); we must seek His enablement to guard against a heart of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12-14).
Until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. A literal translation of this reads: “... to the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory.”51 Here we have two purposes delineated for this Down Payment: the Spirit of God has been given 1) to assure us of God’s desire for our complete deliverance, and 2) to bring praise to the glory of God. We are a purchased, or acquired, possession (that’s an accomplished fact), but we still live in a fallen world, and strive against our fallen natures. However, there will come a day when God will deliver us from these, and we will be with Him forever; the Spirit has been given to us to confirm the potential for that future reality (since the Scriptures do not teach eternal security, it is necessary to say potential). The Spirit has also been given to bring praise to God; all is to the praise of the glory of God. He alone has made this possible; we are recipients of God’s merciful salvation – it is all of Him and nothing from us. It is our sin that was the reason that He sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die for us; as such, it is certain that we could have no part in our own redemption. As much as this conflicts with modern spirituality, so be it!
We’ve already noted that Jesus said that the Spirit would guide us into all truth (John 16:13; John 17:17 says, “Thy word is truth,” therefore we should not expect special revelation from the Holy Spirit, and we should be suspicious of those who say that they have received such). This Down Payment for our future salvation is our Guide into the truth of God’s Word; He is the alongside One, leading us in an ever-deepening understanding of Scripture. Coupled with this understanding will come obedience to the truth. “And this is his [God’s] commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us” (1 John 3:23-24). The abiding Spirit of God will let us know if we walk in obedience to God, or if we err – unless we give way to an evil heart of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12), at which point He will depart from us.
15. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
What follows now is specifically related to what has just been outlined; the wherefore is literally because of this.52 This is very common in Paul’s epistles, one thing builds upon that which has come before; there is a progression of thought. Paul specifically refers to the Ephesian Christians here, for he had evidently heard of how they were living out their faith after he had been with them. Their faith in Jesus was such that it was evident to those about them. How they lived must have obviously demonstrated their trust in the Lord.
And love unto all the saints is probably one of the ways that the faith of the Ephesians was so evident in their daily living – they demonstrated a love for all of the saints, or holy ones. Today we hear much about love; couched within the modern concept of love is the idea of acceptance. At one time, we called for tolerance of those who advocated a different faith from that declared in Scripture; we would permit others to hold their beliefs no matter how strange they were. Today, however, this is no longer enough. We are to accept all beliefs as equally tenable; there is no longer a concept of right and wrong, and all beliefs that are held as truth are to be given equal credence. In the name of “love,” truth has become subjective; it is whatever anyone determines it to be – and we are not to try to dissuade anyone from their error, for it is advocated that there is no real error, only differing shades of truth. The thin edge of this wedge has found its place within Evangelicalism as well; there has been a move toward positivism, with a comparable move away from anything that could even remotely appear to be negative or judgmental. In essence, we are to tolerate error within those who profess to be Christians, lest we demonstrate anything other than this pathetic form of love, which finds no voice in Scripture. Out of this mindset flows the movement toward ecumenical unity with its unbalanced emphasis on all that is positive, its acceptance of good in the midst of what is clearly evil, and its siren call for all flavors of faith to come together, while turning a blind eye to error. This mindset contravenes the Scriptures that call us to be those who are “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
A classic example of this today is Rick Warren. He “defines sin as acts of people ‘sabotaging their own success’”.53 He goes on to claim, “God won’t ask about your religious background or doctrinal views.”54 This is a fundamental principle for Rick Warren, for he has deliberately set sound doctrine aside for a philosophy of life and ministry that does not adhere to the Word of God. Richard Bennett quotes Warren, “‘The best use of your life is to serve God out of your shape. To do this you must discover your shape, learn to accept and enjoy it, and then develop it to its fullest potential’ (p. 249 [of The Purpose Driven Life]). This equates exactly with the Hinduism [sic] in its teaching, ‘By understanding your true Self, by coming to know one’s own undying soul, one then arrives at the knowledge of Brahman itself ….’”55 By failing to hold to sound doctrine, Warren, and the thousands who swallow his words without thinking, have wandered into territory that is under the guidance of Satan himself.
From those who advocate such things, you will never hear anything about holy living! In reality, then, they are not concerned about loving all those who are living holy lives before God (the “love unto all saints”), but rather loving all those who profess to know God (the profession becomes the standard for acceptance, even to the point where they can determine their own definition of Who God is). Yet, despite their best efforts to apply guilt to those who seek to live Biblically, those who advocate an ecumenical unity (which is synonymous with love, in their minds) as the primary focus for Christians, do so to their own peril, for they stand in opposition to the clear teaching of Scripture. God has called us to separate from that which is not of Him – “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you ...” (2 Corinthians 6:17); what could be more spiritually unclean than a perversion of the true Gospel? The Ephesians were known for their love for those who were abiding in Christ, for those who obeyed His commandments with joy, for those who demonstrated the presence of the Seal of God in their lives – the saints. There is no room for the acceptance of those who profess Christ but adhere to an aberration of the Gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). This was emphasized to the Israelites (and, hence, given as our example) “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (Deuteronomy 12:32). It is little wonder that Timothy was instructed so carefully to hold to the teachings that had been given to him by Paul (1 Timothy 1:3; 4:13, 16; 2 Timothy 1:13; 3:14-15; 4:2-4).
16. Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Paul is overjoyed at what he has heard about the Ephesians, he does not stop giving thanks for them; he would be like a new mom or dad who cannot stop glowing about their new baby. Here was a group of believers who were living out their faith in the Lord Jesus – a cause for Paul to be thankful for them.
Despite the joy and thankfulness that Paul had for the Ephesian saints, they were still in his prayers – making mention of you in my prayers. What comes to mind is Paul’s comment to the Corinthians, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Even though the Ephesians received Paul’s commendation for their living, he did not stop praying for them. How often I cease to pray (or don’t even begin to pray) for someone who has their act together, so to speak, only to discover later that their lives were falling apart. Perhaps, in a real sense, those who seem to be doing so well may need additional prayer, for they may be the specific targets of the enemy of our souls. Lord, help us to be more faithful in this area.
17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Paul is careful to tell the Ephesians to Whom he is addressing his prayer. He is petitioning the God of our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of glory for them. This brings together the tremendous omnipotence of God (Who raised Jesus to life) and God, our Father, Who desires to have a relationship with His created, sinful creatures.
From those who advocate such things, you will never hear anything about holy living! In reality, then, they are not concerned about loving all those who are living holy lives before God (the “love unto all saints”), but rather loving all those who profess to know God (the profession becomes the standard for acceptance, even to the point where they can determine their own definition of Who God is). Yet, despite their best efforts to apply guilt to those who seek to live Biblically, those who advocate an ecumenical unity (which is synonymous with love, in their minds) as the primary focus for Christians, do so to their own peril, for they stand in opposition to the clear teaching of Scripture. God has called us to separate from that which is not of Him – “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you ...” (2 Corinthians 6:17); what could be more spiritually unclean than a perversion of the true Gospel? The Ephesians were known for their love for those who were abiding in Christ, for those who obeyed His commandments with joy, for those who demonstrated the presence of the Seal of God in their lives – the saints. There is no room for the acceptance of those who profess Christ but adhere to an aberration of the Gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). This was emphasized to the Israelites (and, hence, given as our example) “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (Deuteronomy 12:32). It is little wonder that Timothy was instructed so carefully to hold to the teachings that had been given to him by Paul (1 Timothy 1:3; 4:13, 16; 2 Timothy 1:13; 3:14-15; 4:2-4).
16. Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Paul is overjoyed at what he has heard about the Ephesians, he does not stop giving thanks for them; he would be like a new mom or dad who cannot stop glowing about their new baby. Here was a group of believers who were living out their faith in the Lord Jesus – a cause for Paul to be thankful for them.
Despite the joy and thankfulness that Paul had for the Ephesian saints, they were still in his prayers – making mention of you in my prayers. What comes to mind is Paul’s comment to the Corinthians, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Even though the Ephesians received Paul’s commendation for their living, he did not stop praying for them. How often I cease to pray (or don’t even begin to pray) for someone who has their act together, so to speak, only to discover later that their lives were falling apart. Perhaps, in a real sense, those who seem to be doing so well may need additional prayer, for they may be the specific targets of the enemy of our souls. Lord, help us to be more faithful in this area.
17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Paul is careful to tell the Ephesians to Whom he is addressing his prayer. He is petitioning the God of our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of glory for them. This brings together the tremendous omnipotence of God (Who raised Jesus to life) and God, our Father, Who desires to have a relationship with His created, sinful creatures.
Harold J. Ockenga
May give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him – this is an overview of Paul’s specific prayer for the Ephesians, something on which he is about to elaborate. Paul’s prayer is that God would, first of all, give to these holy ones of Ephesus a spirit of wisdom and revelation; our translation includes the word may, but the Greek construction does not support this: the intent of Paul’s prayer is that God will give them this wisdom and revelation.56 This has nothing to do with intellect, for God takes pleasure in reversing what we would consider to be the normal order of things: “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27). “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Luke 10:21). Clearly, the spirit of wisdom, that Paul petitions God to bestow upon the Ephesians, has nothing to do with an Ivy League degree or high scholastic achievements. Rather than simply intellect, this is a wisdom that comes from God: a “wisdom that is ... first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). New Evangelicalism is based upon (among other things) a “need” to increase the Evangelical intellectual standing in the eyes of the religious Liberals and the world at large. This was Harold Ockenga’s primary goal in helping to found Fuller Seminary,57 and as their intellectual standing rose, their adherence to the Word of God declined. Likewise, the revelation is not something that comes through applying our intellect, but, rather, it is God opening our eyes so that we can come to a better and fuller understanding of Who He is – that guidance into all truth (John 16:13). This is spiritual wisdom and spiritual revelation – a work of God’s Seal in the lives of His holy ones. As the Spirit of God has the freedom to mold us, instill His wisdom in us, and open His Word to us, we will become increasingly aware of God’s work in our lives, and our responsibility to Him.
Perhaps herein lies some of the danger that lurks within Evangelicalism today; much of what is formulated within the theological circles of the movement is based entirely upon man’s intellect and logic. What we fail to realize is that God’s ways are still higher than our ways, and His thoughts are still higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9) – even in this day of man’s astronomical advances in science. Man’s intellect will never bring him closer to understanding the ways of God; only the Spirit of God can do that. Yet theologians today, without hesitation, appeal to reason in delineating their theology. Clark Pinnock, an apostate Evangelical theologian (is that an oxymoron?), uses what has been termed the Wesleyan quadrilateral to describe his theology: the Bible, tradition, experience, and reason.58 However, it has become clear from his downward slide, that anytime you add reason to the mix, it will soon become the dominant factor. One of the pillars of the New Evangelical movement (which began in the late 1940’s) was participation in the theological dialogue of the day – a felt need to enhance their scholastic standing in the eyes of the world and Liberals. The result is a philosophy of Christianity that has become sterile, having lost the reality of Christ and gained the credence of human reason. Out of this has flowed a non-confrontational, positive-only hybrid of the Gospel: something that is really another gospel, and what Paul would unhesitatingly call anathema (Galatians 1:8-9). Hence, we have an even greater need today to measure what we hear against the Word of God, for it must remain exclusively our guide – the Standard against which man’s reasoning must be held.
The spirit of wisdom and revelation will find its framework in the knowledge of Him. The Greek word translated as knowledge is epignosis, a word that describes a precise and correct knowledge.59 The wisdom and revelation that God will provide is not instilled in a vacuum; it comes in a full knowledge of Who God is. Jesus said that when the Spirit of truth would come to abide within us, He would guide us into all truth (John 16:13); Jesus also said, “I am ... the truth” (John 14:6). It is as we permit the Spirit of God to transform our lives that we will grow in our understanding and knowledge of the One Who has paid the price for our sin (Romans 12:2; 2 Peter 3:18).
18. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
In broad terms, this is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians; it is that they would come to see, or understand, spiritual truths with eyes that have been opened, not by the efforts of man, but by the Spirit of God. This phrase (the eyes of your understanding being enlightened) is tied directly to what came before, that God would grant to them spiritual wisdom and a revelation of Himself. The enlightenment of our spiritual understanding will not come through our own efforts – it is only through the Spirit of God at work in us! We have been called from darkness into light (1 Peter 2:9): spiritual understanding, which is based on our intellect alone, is darkness, no matter how wonderful it may sound. Today, we hear much of being spiritual; ten to fifteen years ago, spirituality was left to the fanatics and crackpots, but today there is a form of spirituality that is very much in vogue. Oprah is a guru of this fad that has become a strange mixture of all religions, a potion that can be custom blended to meet the felt needs of anyone; it calls for a little of everything: some Bible, a little mysticism of any variety, and, frequently, a generous helping of psychology to hold the whole thing together. There are no rules as to how this blending takes place, and only one rule as to its effectiveness: we must all accept each person’s blend as valid and true, even if it is only true for them. Any concept that there is only one way that is right is regarded with scorn; there is no longer a place for objective truth. This serves to place the Bible on an equal standing with any other secular literature; however, this is nothing new. The very philosophy that saw the development of the modern Greek text of the New Testament, which underlies all modern translations, sprang from this falsehood. Society has succumbed to the mind-numbing opiate of relativism: truth is whatever we want it to be, and we are to consider all the different forms of “truth” that result as equally valid.
Consequently, the monotheistic faiths of the world (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) become the fly in the ointment; yet today we are seeing even these erode so that they, too, can be made to fit into this relativistic model. Ever since 9-11, there have been great efforts made to make Islam palatable to the western mind: Allah has been deemed to be the same as the God of the Bible (Schuller and the late Pope John Paul II both touted this lie), and Islam is being falsely portrayed as a religion of peace and tolerance. There is a gradual but definite eroding of the fundamentals of our faith within the minds of those who, at one time, knew better; could this be the falling away of which Paul spoke (2 Thessalonians 2:3)?
However, when the Spirit of God touches our spiritual eyes, we will come to understand things that are hidden from the worldly wise – “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). A dead person cannot see the things about him, and likewise, neither can a spiritually dead person perceive the spiritual truths of the living God; for until we are made alive by the Spirit of God, we are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Therefore, someone who is spiritually dead (no matter how religious they might be) will never be able to understand the Word of God.
That ye may know what is the hope of his calling. This is the first of three things, which Paul delineates, that form the core of his prayer for the Ephesians. First of all, what is the calling of God for the believer? In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul declared that God has “called you unto his kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12), and further, “called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:14). We have been called to one day participate in God’s kingdom, which He is preparing to last for eternity, and to enjoy the glory that has been bestowed on the risen Lord Jesus. Herein lies our hope, not just that the presence of God is with us throughout our lives here on earth, but that He is preparing a work for us to do in His eternal kingdom, which He will establish one day. Our hope in God is not limited to the here and now, but extends into eternity! The wonder of it all is that this is something that we do not merit on our own, but God has “called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Timothy 1:9). This is a holy calling given by a holy God to an unholy people who are made holy through the blood of Christ, and sealed with the Holy Spirit; there can be no doubt as to the centrality of holiness. We were called by God when He raised us from death unto life and sealed us with “that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13)! Even as His calling does not rest upon our efforts, so our hope is not in ourselves, but in God. Paul’s prayer is that, through the work of the Spirit of God in us, we would come to know, with great certainty, the tremendous hope that we have in God’s calling us to His eternal glory and His eternal kingdom.
The second thing that Paul would have the Ephesians (and us) to know is the infinite greatness of God’s glorious inheritance that He has in the saints. Here is something we do not hear much about: there is a double inheritance spoken of in the Bible; there is an inheritance that the saints of God have through Christ, and there is an inheritance that God has in the saints. Consider these passages, a mere sampling among many:
And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance (Exodus 34:8, 9).
Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his [Saul’s] head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the LORD hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance? (1 Samuel 10:1).
For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD (1 Kings 8:53).
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance (Psalm 33:12).
The Hebrew term translated as inheritance “refers to a ‘possession’ to which one has received the legal claim.”60 Although we typically think of an inheritance as coming through the will of someone who has died, the definition of the term also includes, “to receive as one’s portion.”61 We often hear of the saints as being the Body of Christ, but we hear little of them as being God’s inheritance. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Satan showed Him, in a moment of time, all of the kingdoms of the world, and declared, “All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it” (Luke 4:6). Jesus never disputed Satan’s claim that all of the kingdoms of the world were his; this is a reality because of Adam’s sin. First Peter 5:8 calls us to “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour;” even today, Satan has free rein to wander throughout the world, for it is still under his general control. The reality is that only a remnant of mankind will turn their hearts to God: consider the time of Noah, only eight people survived the judgment of God; Isaiah declared that only a remnant of Israel would return to God (Isaiah 10:20-22), and Paul likens the present remnant to those who did not bow to Baal in the time of Elijah (Romans 11:5). Therefore, passages like Ephesians 6:11-12 take on greater significance: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” All of the protection that we need against external attacks is available to us, yet we must also guard against a heart of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12), against that which the armor cannot protect. Jesus declared that it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man, for it is evidence of what is in the heart (Mark 7:20-23).
It was made clear in Ephesians 1:4 that we were a people chosen by God in Christ before the foundation of the world. As His people we: 1) have received an inheritance in Christ (v.11), and 2) become an inheritance to God (v.18). When we think of riches, it is generally in terms of wealth in this life; but when God speaks of riches in this context, it is far beyond our comprehension. His riches will be reflected through those who are chosen in Christ, His holy ones, His inheritance – those who are the beneficiaries of His grace! I say, “reflected,” for any glory that will come from the faithful in Christ Jesus will be a direct result of the work of Christ and our abiding faithfully in Him. Those who have had their debt of sin paid can take no credit for the payment that was made by Christ!
Perhaps herein lies some of the danger that lurks within Evangelicalism today; much of what is formulated within the theological circles of the movement is based entirely upon man’s intellect and logic. What we fail to realize is that God’s ways are still higher than our ways, and His thoughts are still higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9) – even in this day of man’s astronomical advances in science. Man’s intellect will never bring him closer to understanding the ways of God; only the Spirit of God can do that. Yet theologians today, without hesitation, appeal to reason in delineating their theology. Clark Pinnock, an apostate Evangelical theologian (is that an oxymoron?), uses what has been termed the Wesleyan quadrilateral to describe his theology: the Bible, tradition, experience, and reason.58 However, it has become clear from his downward slide, that anytime you add reason to the mix, it will soon become the dominant factor. One of the pillars of the New Evangelical movement (which began in the late 1940’s) was participation in the theological dialogue of the day – a felt need to enhance their scholastic standing in the eyes of the world and Liberals. The result is a philosophy of Christianity that has become sterile, having lost the reality of Christ and gained the credence of human reason. Out of this has flowed a non-confrontational, positive-only hybrid of the Gospel: something that is really another gospel, and what Paul would unhesitatingly call anathema (Galatians 1:8-9). Hence, we have an even greater need today to measure what we hear against the Word of God, for it must remain exclusively our guide – the Standard against which man’s reasoning must be held.
The spirit of wisdom and revelation will find its framework in the knowledge of Him. The Greek word translated as knowledge is epignosis, a word that describes a precise and correct knowledge.59 The wisdom and revelation that God will provide is not instilled in a vacuum; it comes in a full knowledge of Who God is. Jesus said that when the Spirit of truth would come to abide within us, He would guide us into all truth (John 16:13); Jesus also said, “I am ... the truth” (John 14:6). It is as we permit the Spirit of God to transform our lives that we will grow in our understanding and knowledge of the One Who has paid the price for our sin (Romans 12:2; 2 Peter 3:18).
18. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
In broad terms, this is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians; it is that they would come to see, or understand, spiritual truths with eyes that have been opened, not by the efforts of man, but by the Spirit of God. This phrase (the eyes of your understanding being enlightened) is tied directly to what came before, that God would grant to them spiritual wisdom and a revelation of Himself. The enlightenment of our spiritual understanding will not come through our own efforts – it is only through the Spirit of God at work in us! We have been called from darkness into light (1 Peter 2:9): spiritual understanding, which is based on our intellect alone, is darkness, no matter how wonderful it may sound. Today, we hear much of being spiritual; ten to fifteen years ago, spirituality was left to the fanatics and crackpots, but today there is a form of spirituality that is very much in vogue. Oprah is a guru of this fad that has become a strange mixture of all religions, a potion that can be custom blended to meet the felt needs of anyone; it calls for a little of everything: some Bible, a little mysticism of any variety, and, frequently, a generous helping of psychology to hold the whole thing together. There are no rules as to how this blending takes place, and only one rule as to its effectiveness: we must all accept each person’s blend as valid and true, even if it is only true for them. Any concept that there is only one way that is right is regarded with scorn; there is no longer a place for objective truth. This serves to place the Bible on an equal standing with any other secular literature; however, this is nothing new. The very philosophy that saw the development of the modern Greek text of the New Testament, which underlies all modern translations, sprang from this falsehood. Society has succumbed to the mind-numbing opiate of relativism: truth is whatever we want it to be, and we are to consider all the different forms of “truth” that result as equally valid.
Consequently, the monotheistic faiths of the world (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) become the fly in the ointment; yet today we are seeing even these erode so that they, too, can be made to fit into this relativistic model. Ever since 9-11, there have been great efforts made to make Islam palatable to the western mind: Allah has been deemed to be the same as the God of the Bible (Schuller and the late Pope John Paul II both touted this lie), and Islam is being falsely portrayed as a religion of peace and tolerance. There is a gradual but definite eroding of the fundamentals of our faith within the minds of those who, at one time, knew better; could this be the falling away of which Paul spoke (2 Thessalonians 2:3)?
However, when the Spirit of God touches our spiritual eyes, we will come to understand things that are hidden from the worldly wise – “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). A dead person cannot see the things about him, and likewise, neither can a spiritually dead person perceive the spiritual truths of the living God; for until we are made alive by the Spirit of God, we are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Therefore, someone who is spiritually dead (no matter how religious they might be) will never be able to understand the Word of God.
That ye may know what is the hope of his calling. This is the first of three things, which Paul delineates, that form the core of his prayer for the Ephesians. First of all, what is the calling of God for the believer? In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul declared that God has “called you unto his kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12), and further, “called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:14). We have been called to one day participate in God’s kingdom, which He is preparing to last for eternity, and to enjoy the glory that has been bestowed on the risen Lord Jesus. Herein lies our hope, not just that the presence of God is with us throughout our lives here on earth, but that He is preparing a work for us to do in His eternal kingdom, which He will establish one day. Our hope in God is not limited to the here and now, but extends into eternity! The wonder of it all is that this is something that we do not merit on our own, but God has “called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Timothy 1:9). This is a holy calling given by a holy God to an unholy people who are made holy through the blood of Christ, and sealed with the Holy Spirit; there can be no doubt as to the centrality of holiness. We were called by God when He raised us from death unto life and sealed us with “that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13)! Even as His calling does not rest upon our efforts, so our hope is not in ourselves, but in God. Paul’s prayer is that, through the work of the Spirit of God in us, we would come to know, with great certainty, the tremendous hope that we have in God’s calling us to His eternal glory and His eternal kingdom.
The second thing that Paul would have the Ephesians (and us) to know is the infinite greatness of God’s glorious inheritance that He has in the saints. Here is something we do not hear much about: there is a double inheritance spoken of in the Bible; there is an inheritance that the saints of God have through Christ, and there is an inheritance that God has in the saints. Consider these passages, a mere sampling among many:
And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance (Exodus 34:8, 9).
Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his [Saul’s] head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the LORD hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance? (1 Samuel 10:1).
For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD (1 Kings 8:53).
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance (Psalm 33:12).
The Hebrew term translated as inheritance “refers to a ‘possession’ to which one has received the legal claim.”60 Although we typically think of an inheritance as coming through the will of someone who has died, the definition of the term also includes, “to receive as one’s portion.”61 We often hear of the saints as being the Body of Christ, but we hear little of them as being God’s inheritance. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Satan showed Him, in a moment of time, all of the kingdoms of the world, and declared, “All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it” (Luke 4:6). Jesus never disputed Satan’s claim that all of the kingdoms of the world were his; this is a reality because of Adam’s sin. First Peter 5:8 calls us to “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour;” even today, Satan has free rein to wander throughout the world, for it is still under his general control. The reality is that only a remnant of mankind will turn their hearts to God: consider the time of Noah, only eight people survived the judgment of God; Isaiah declared that only a remnant of Israel would return to God (Isaiah 10:20-22), and Paul likens the present remnant to those who did not bow to Baal in the time of Elijah (Romans 11:5). Therefore, passages like Ephesians 6:11-12 take on greater significance: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” All of the protection that we need against external attacks is available to us, yet we must also guard against a heart of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12), against that which the armor cannot protect. Jesus declared that it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man, for it is evidence of what is in the heart (Mark 7:20-23).
It was made clear in Ephesians 1:4 that we were a people chosen by God in Christ before the foundation of the world. As His people we: 1) have received an inheritance in Christ (v.11), and 2) become an inheritance to God (v.18). When we think of riches, it is generally in terms of wealth in this life; but when God speaks of riches in this context, it is far beyond our comprehension. His riches will be reflected through those who are chosen in Christ, His holy ones, His inheritance – those who are the beneficiaries of His grace! I say, “reflected,” for any glory that will come from the faithful in Christ Jesus will be a direct result of the work of Christ and our abiding faithfully in Him. Those who have had their debt of sin paid can take no credit for the payment that was made by Christ!
Bruce Wilkinson
19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Here is the third thing that Paul prays that we will come to know – the greatness of the power of God, which has been exercised toward us. We really have no idea of the power of God. Charismatics, like Benny Hinn, believe that God is a miracle-worker, and then they try to harness that power in a formula, or an evangelistic methodology, in order to call miracles down at their whim. Bruce Wilkinson, as well, is convinced that God can do anything, and he, too, seeks to place God’s miraculous abilities within the confines of the prayer of a little known OT man, Jabez. Evangelicals, on the other hand, seem to have reduced the power of God to a doctrine that can be compromised or rationalized into oblivion. Each of these fails to recognize, to any degree, all that God has done in bringing us to salvation, His great protection that assists us to walk faithfully with Him, and His omnipotence that will one day change our mortal into immortality, if we remain faithful to Him. The Christian life is really the power of God in action! Even though God will display His wondrous creative energies when He establishes a new heaven and a new earth, what He has done for us in providing salvation is by far the greatest example of His marvelous power. In six days, God spoke the universe into being (in all of its intricate uniqueness). Yet that pales in significance when compared to what He has done to take a sinner (who is dead in sin), make him alive in Christ, make him His own child (complete with an inheritance that is beyond description), and then call that child His own inheritance! For all that He has done, can we do anything other than bow before Him and walk in obedience to Him? How carefully we need to guard our hearts against a deadly root of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12)! What price could our obedience to Him possibly cost us that could even begin to compare with what He has done for us, and is prepared to do for us for all of eternity (Romans 8:18)?
Just in case we didn’t catch it the first time, Paul reiterates that this is according to the working of God’s almighty power. Once again, we realize that the magnitude of all that God has prepared for us does not depend upon anything that we can do – it is God Who has worked to open the way for man to fellowship with Him, and it is His gift to us!
20. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised
In the previous verse, Paul was underscoring the power of God that has been shown in the lives of believers. Now, coming back to one of the themes that he has been developing, Paul reminds us that this power has been evidenced through raising Christ from the dead; all that we enjoy as believers has come through Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection. God demonstrated His mighty power by physically raising His Son, Jesus Christ, from the dead, thereby gaining victory over the death that Satan had introduced into the world through Adam and Eve. The OT saints looked forward to the day when the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15), and deal him a fatal blow; they died, in faith, anticipating that day (Hebrews 11:13). Jesus’ death and resurrection completed what the OT saints had looked forward to: He is “the author [or chief leader] and finisher of our faith”62 (Hebrews 12:2), and their faith. Satan labored, from the promise that God made in Genesis 3 through to the work that Jesus finished on the cross, in an effort to avoid what God had promised him. Knowing that his destiny has been sealed, Satan now goes about like a roaring lion looking for those of mankind whom he might devour, or destroy (1 Peter 5:8). His work now is to blind, confuse, and otherwise keep mankind in the dark concerning what God has accomplished by the way of the cross. The warning, which Peter gives, is addressed to Christians; we must take heed that we do not fall prey to the wiles of Satan. As believers, we are not immune to his destructive activity, and perhaps one of the most destructive crafts of the devil is today’s push for tolerance and openness. Tolerance and acceptance is considered far more important than doctrine and truth; the former is inclusive and friendly, the latter is exclusive and narrow. Unfortunately, we are not speaking of the world here, but of those who would consider themselves to be Christians.
An associate editor of Christianity Today (Agnieszka Tennant) wrote an article in 2005 titled “How the Pope Turned Me into an Evangelical.”63 In it she says, “Before my conversion to the religion of Billy Graham … I had never been to a home that didn't display the retouched images of Poland's holy trinity. I'm talking, of course, about Mary (commonly referred to as the Queen of Poland), the fruit of her womb Jesus Christ, and a devoted follower of theirs, the pope.”64 She goes on to say:
I met Christ in an Evangelical way, and soon shed my devotion to Mary and the pope, forgetting how much I owed both of them.
But now I return to them.
I return to Mary as to a sister whose obedience I wish I had. And I return to the late pope, with a prayer of gratitude. …
And I thank God for [the pope’s] ecumenism, which gave me permission to explore the religion of Billy Graham …65
Here is an associate editor of a leading Evangelical magazine touting the fact that she has returned to Catholicism, yet still finds sanctuary within the confines of New Evangelicalism. The pope has a religion, Billy Graham has a religion – and clearly, there is no difference between the two; in that, there is much truth. Neither one adheres to the Word of God; both compromise the clear instruction of the Scriptures. Christianity Today, the voice of the New Evangelical movement, has made its compromise abundantly clear.
There have always been those who claim that Christ did not die, but simply swooned, or went into a coma; however, this verse leaves no doubt that when it says that Christ was raised from the dead, it means that He was dead, and that there was no physical life in Him. The root of the Greek word used for dead comes from the word for corpse – a body that has no life in it.66
The power of God not only raised Christ from the dead, but also brought Him up to heaven, and set Him at the right hand of the Father. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, is seated in His glorified body with God, the Father. Jesus, eternally with the Father and the Spirit, took on the physical form of man in order to pay the debt for sin that man owed, so that He might make salvation available to all of mankind by shedding His blood. Having taken on the body of a man, He will carry the scars of His sacrifice to eternity in His glorified body, even as He showed them to Thomas (John 20:27).
21. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Paul endeavors to get across to the reader just how exalted Jesus really is. God has taken Him to the pinnacle of all that is possible to consider or imagine. The Greek word for principality is most frequently translated as “beginning” and carries the concept of origin, or the active initial cause, and often refers to the supreme magistrate particularly in angelic or demonic realms.67 Clearly, Jesus is raised above the highest angel, which is not surprising since He is the Son of God. Power (exousia) speaks of “authority,” often related to the ability to make a choice, or the authority of government.68 Might is most often translated as “power”; the Greek word is dunamis (from which comes our word dynamite), and it refers to strength or inherent ability.69 Dominion is more of a governmental term, and speaks of lordship.70 When Satan tempted Jesus, he offered Him the kingdoms of the world in return for Jesus’ submission (Matthew 4:8-9); yet here we see that Jesus has been raised far above all that Satan offered to Him. He has been placed higher than any one else – any name that is named – no matter who it is, Jesus has been exalted higher; that’s not just those in this world, but it applies equally in the world that will come. He will be supreme in the new heaven and the new earth.
22. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Paul summarizes the position of Christ, Whom God has raised far above all things in this world and the next, by stating that ALL things have been put under His feet. When Adam sinned, he surrendered his God-given dominion over the earth to Satan (Genesis 1:28; Jesus did not dispute Satan’s right over all the kingdoms of the earth, Luke 4:6-8); through Christ’s sacrifice, He not only procured salvation for lost mankind, but He (as the perfect Man) also regained the right to rule over the earth. Christ’s exalted position has been emphasized over and over. Can there be any doubt as to the supremacy of Christ?
And gave him to be the head over all things to the church – we have just seen that God has placed Christ over all authorities and powers, and now it is clarified that He has also been placed as the Head of the called-out ones, His Body (1 Corinthians 12:27). This is a very interesting phrase; Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) renders it: “and did give him—head over all things to the assembly.”
The Greek word translated as church is ekklesia (ek-klay-see’-ah), and, literally, it means an assembly of called-out ones. The Greek word for church is kuriakon, which means a temple of God, or god, and comes from kuriakos meaning pertaining to a Lord.71 We often hear that “the church is the people,” and, within our modern context, that is true some of the time. However, the Greek word (ekklesia), which has been translated as church, speaks only of the people, and not of the building, nor of the system of doctrine or authority that today might define a “church.” Interestingly, the Greek word (kuriakon), which would have logically been translated as church, does not appear anywhere in the text of Scripture. Unfortunately, we often associate the word church with the building and/or the organizational structure that we have become accustomed to, rather than recognizing that it is really God’s called-out ones, with a very limited organization that Scripture outlines for us. I am convinced that we have inherited much from the Roman Catholic Church – an inheritance that has nothing at all to do with what God desires for His inheritance.
Christ is the protector of the saints; He will guard the spiritual welfare of those who are His. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 54:17). What is abundantly evident from Isaiah’s words is that the OT saints enjoyed this same spiritual protection. We are not invincible in and of ourselves, but, as we abide in the Vine, we are assured of His protection from every outside foe – not necessarily physically, but spiritually. Jesus’ words were that He would build His assembly of believers, and that the gates [or counsels] of hell would not prevail [be strong] against them (Matthew 16:18).72
23. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
The assembly of believers in Christ is described here, and in many other places in the NT, as being the body of Christ. Christ is the Head, and all believers make up His body.
This body of believers is, in a mysterious way, the fullness of Christ. Perhaps it is because, from eternity past, it has been in the foreknowledge of God that He would call out a people for Himself – a people who would be in a special relationship with Him, their Creator and Savior. YLT correctly does not place a period at the end of verse 23, but uses it as a bridge to what is, for us, the beginning of Chapter 2: “… head over all things to the assembly, which is his body, the fullness of Him who is filling the all in all, also you – being dead in the trespasses and the sins….” There is a clear sense of Christ filling the ALL of the assembly; the presence of Christ is in all things pertaining to the Body; He is omnipresent.
ENDNOTES:
1 Strong’s Online, (http://onlinebible.net/).
2 Ibid.
3 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon, Bibleworks 8.
4 Strong’s Online.
5 Friberg Lexicon.
6 Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB), Bibleworks 8.
7 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon; Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, “blessed.”
8 Strong’s Online.
9 https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/jehovah-witness-beliefs/
10 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/doctrine-and-covenants-student-manual-2017/chapter-51-doctrine-and-covenants-131-132-1-33?lang=eng; Doctrines and Covenants 132:20.
11 https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2021/03/once-again-pope-francis-says-mary-is-not-the-co-redemptrix/
12 Cathy Burns, Billy Graham and His Friends, p. 19.
13 Stephanus 1550 NT, Bibleworks 8.
14 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
15 Strong’s Online.
16 Stephanus 1550 NT.
17 Friberg Lexicon.
18 Stephanus 1550 NT.
19 Stephanus 1550 NT; https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-purpose.htm.
20 Strong’s Online.
21 Ibid.
22 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
23 Strong’s Online.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid.
26 Kathryn Spink, Mother Teresa, p. 87.
27 https://www.mmoutreach.org/aberrant/universalism/influence_of_universalism2.htm.
28 Strong’s Online.
29 Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 edition.
30 Friberg Lexicon.
31 Ibid.
32 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon.
33 To reduce confusion in my own mind, and to draw an important distinction that many people miss, I refer to the Ten Commandments (specifically written by God) as being the Law of God, and the other regulations for the sacrifices, the priesthood, daily living, etc. as the Law of Moses.
34 Strong’s Online.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid.
38 Vine’s “mystery.”
39 Strong’s Online.
40 Vine’s “dispensation.”
41 Barnes’ Notes, Ephesians 1:10.
42 David V. Martin, Trinity International University 1897-1997, (TIU, 1998), p. 19.
43 Strong’s Online.
44 Ibid.
45 https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-purpose.htm.
46 Stephanus 1550 NT.
47 Strong’s Online.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid.
50 https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-negation.htm.
51 Young’s Literal Translation.
52 Strong’s Online.
53 Richard Bennett, “The Adulation of Man in the Purpose Driven Life.”
54 Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, p. 34.
55 Bennett.
56 https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-purpose.htm.
57 Harold’s name is pronounced Ock-in-gay (http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/Ockenga.cfm).
58 David Wilkinson, Christian Eschatology and the Physical Universe, p. 173.
59 Strong’s Online.
60 Vine’s, “To Inherit.”
61 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inherit
62 Strong’s Online.
63 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/aprilweb-only/12.0.html
64 Agnieszka Tennant, “How the Pope Turned Me into an Evangelical,” http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct /2005/aprilweb-only/12.0.html
65 Ibid.
66 Strong’s Online.
67 Ibid.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid.
70 Ibid.
71 Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, “church.”
72 Strong’s Online.
1 Strong’s Online, (http://onlinebible.net/).
2 Ibid.
3 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon, Bibleworks 8.
4 Strong’s Online.
5 Friberg Lexicon.
6 Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB), Bibleworks 8.
7 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon; Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, “blessed.”
8 Strong’s Online.
9 https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/jehovah-witness-beliefs/
10 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/doctrine-and-covenants-student-manual-2017/chapter-51-doctrine-and-covenants-131-132-1-33?lang=eng; Doctrines and Covenants 132:20.
11 https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2021/03/once-again-pope-francis-says-mary-is-not-the-co-redemptrix/
12 Cathy Burns, Billy Graham and His Friends, p. 19.
13 Stephanus 1550 NT, Bibleworks 8.
14 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
15 Strong’s Online.
16 Stephanus 1550 NT.
17 Friberg Lexicon.
18 Stephanus 1550 NT.
19 Stephanus 1550 NT; https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-purpose.htm.
20 Strong’s Online.
21 Ibid.
22 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
23 Strong’s Online.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid.
26 Kathryn Spink, Mother Teresa, p. 87.
27 https://www.mmoutreach.org/aberrant/universalism/influence_of_universalism2.htm.
28 Strong’s Online.
29 Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 edition.
30 Friberg Lexicon.
31 Ibid.
32 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon.
33 To reduce confusion in my own mind, and to draw an important distinction that many people miss, I refer to the Ten Commandments (specifically written by God) as being the Law of God, and the other regulations for the sacrifices, the priesthood, daily living, etc. as the Law of Moses.
34 Strong’s Online.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid.
38 Vine’s “mystery.”
39 Strong’s Online.
40 Vine’s “dispensation.”
41 Barnes’ Notes, Ephesians 1:10.
42 David V. Martin, Trinity International University 1897-1997, (TIU, 1998), p. 19.
43 Strong’s Online.
44 Ibid.
45 https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-purpose.htm.
46 Stephanus 1550 NT.
47 Strong’s Online.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid.
50 https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-negation.htm.
51 Young’s Literal Translation.
52 Strong’s Online.
53 Richard Bennett, “The Adulation of Man in the Purpose Driven Life.”
54 Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, p. 34.
55 Bennett.
56 https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-purpose.htm.
57 Harold’s name is pronounced Ock-in-gay (http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/Ockenga.cfm).
58 David Wilkinson, Christian Eschatology and the Physical Universe, p. 173.
59 Strong’s Online.
60 Vine’s, “To Inherit.”
61 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inherit
62 Strong’s Online.
63 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/aprilweb-only/12.0.html
64 Agnieszka Tennant, “How the Pope Turned Me into an Evangelical,” http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct /2005/aprilweb-only/12.0.html
65 Ibid.
66 Strong’s Online.
67 Ibid.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid.
70 Ibid.
71 Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, “church.”
72 Strong’s Online.
