For the next few “Day in the Word” meetings, I would like to spend out time together going over Ephesians chapter 1.
Ephesians 1:1 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:
God of course, is using the apostle Paul and moving him to write this epistle addressing the saints at Ephesus. The first thing we notice is Paul’s apostleship. What exactly is an apostle? Well, the word “apostle” is Strong’s #G652. As we look up this number, we can see that the word “apostle” is also translated as “messenger” and also as “he that is sent”.
John 13:16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he thatis sent (apostle) greater than he that sent him.
An apostle is someone who is sent. But just as there are true apostles of Christ, there are also false apostles which come in the name of Christ but are actually messengers of Satan.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
The difference between a true apostle of Christ and a false apostle that comes in the name of Christ, is who has done the work of transformation. If we recall in Ephesians 1:1, Paul was made an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, but every false apostle, as we read in 2 Corinthians 11:15, transformed themselves into the apostles of Christ. This of course harmonizes with everything we know to be true about election unto salvation being solely by the will and work of God and not by man’s own will.
John 1:12-13 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born (that is, born again), not of blood (meaning that your lineage or your bloodline, played no role in your salvation), nor of the will of the flesh (meaning that no one’s physical desire for salvation could ever result in salvation), nor of the will of man, but of God.
In other words, God is making it abundantly clear that salvation, which is what being born again is, never had anything to do with man’s desire or will. Salvation was always through the will of God alone. Therefore, to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, means that, like Paul, one has been sentby Jesus Christ to bear His name and perform His will. Let’s turn back to Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:1 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:
At first glance, it almost seems that Paul is addressing two groups of people, his address is “to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:”. He’s actually addressing the same group of people. The King James Bible has added a few additional words in this verse. It should read this way, “to the saints which are at Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:”.
Also, the word God uses here as “saints” helps us to know that the earthly churches are not the ones being addressed here but rather a specific group of people. The word “saints” is Strong’s #G40, and it’s also translated as “holy”. So, we can re-read verse 1 this way, “to the holy which are at Ephesus”. And this word “holy” is a word that God uses to describe his elect and himself.
1 Peter 1:15-16 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. The word “faithful”, in Ephesians 1:1, also helps us to confirm who’s being addressed in this verse. The word “faithful” is Strong’s #G4103, and it’s also translated as “believing” and also as “true”. And just as this word is used by God to describe his elect, this also is a word which God uses to describe himself.
2 Corinthians 1:18 But as God is true (faithful), our word toward you was not yea and nay.
So, in Ephesians 1:1, God (through Paul) is historically addressing those that are holy and true, but spiritually, He’s addressing the elect throughout the world,
because that’s what the city of Ephesus represents. And to know this, we need to take a look at the word “Ephesus” a little closer.
When we look up the word “Ephesus” or “Ephesians”, which is what those who live in Ephesus are called, we see that the word “Ephesus” is Strong’s #2181 and the word “Ephesians” is Strong’s #2180, so for all intents and purposes, they’re the same word. When we look up these words, we learn that the city of Ephesus was predominantly a worshipper of many false gods.
As we know, Paul in his letter, is addressing the saints at Ephesus, but Ephesus, like every other nation, including Israel, were predominantly inhabited by unsaved people, and had few living within it, who were actually saved.
Acts 19:1-8 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spakewith tongues, and prophesied.
7 And all the men were about twelve.
8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Verse 21-37
21 After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
22 So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.
23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.
24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;
25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.
26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.
28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.
30 And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.
31 And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.
32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused: and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.
33 And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people.
34 But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
35 And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?
36 Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.
37 For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.
What we learn here is that the city of Ephesus, like every other nation of the world, is a worshipper of false god’s. And it’s interesting that in verse 27 we read that not only the city of Ephesus, which was a city in Asia, was worshiping false gods, but also all of Asia was included.
And not only was all of Asia included, but the world itself. In other words, God is using Ephesus, which was a heathen nation, to typify the world itself.
Therefore, when God is addressing the saints at Ephesus, it can be understood that God is spiritually addressing the saints, or the elect, throughout the world.
Ok, let’s continue with Ephesians 1:2.
Ephesians 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 2 is continuing the greeting of those being addressed, the elect. And it’s only unto the elect that grace has been bestowed. The word grace is Strong’s #G5485, this word is also translated as “favor”. In other words, to have the grace of God bestowed upon you, is to have the favor of God.
Luke 1:26-30 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour (or grace) with God.
By this language, we can be sure Mary was among the elect of God as each child of God is highly favored of God, but what exactly does that mean? Well the word “highly favored” is Strong’s #G5487, and it only appears one other time in Ephesians 1:6 as “made accepted”.
Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
So to be “highly favored” is to be “made accepted”, and to have found “favor” is to have found “grace”, and neither of which, we had anything to do with.
Ephesians 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to spend some time looking at this word “peace” so we can better understand that this word is not intended to only give the illusion of a simple greeting, but it is intended to mean so much more. The word “peace” is Strong’s #G1515. And in Luke 10:6 we find this word used twice, once to describe Christ as the Son of piece and once to describe Christ within his elect.
Luke 10:6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.
I think it’s important to understand that the letter to the Ephesians was a letter to those who historically did not outwardly identify with the physical Nation of Israel, but were Gentiles, therefore the greeting of “grace” and peace”, as we read in Ephesians 1:2, was a desire for salvation to those who before time did not outwardly identify with the people of God, but were elect nonetheless.
Ephesians 2:11-19 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
12 That at that time ye were without Christ (we could also understand this to say, “That at that time ye were without the Word of God”), being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14 For he is our peace (and this is the same word “peace” we find in Ephesians 1:2), who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (this again is our word).
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
17 And came and preached peace (and here’s our word again) to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Before the cross, and in the period of the Old Testament, the nation of Israel were the stewards of the gospel and the outward representatives of the people of God. The rest of the nations of the world, as nations, for the most part, were alienated from this blessing. This means that God’s word was being given to no other nation at that time, and the nation of Israel was the only nationwhich was recognized as the people of God.
But at the time of the cross, in 33 AD, Christ had done away with the nation of Israel as the stewards of the gospel and as the outward representatives of the people of God.
33 AD marked the time where God’s salvation plan would be officially and outwardly extended to include all the nations of the world, even though God was already saving Jews as well as Gentiles from the beginning. The word “Gentiles” means “nations”, and it also means “heathen”. And that’s what the Gentiles historically represented, nations without God.
Therefore, the greeting of “grace and peace”, is a desire for salvation unto all those whom God has chosen from the nations of the world.
Romans 8:1-6 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Here again is our word “peace”).
To have peace is to be made free from the law of sin and of death. That is why we read in verse 1 of Romans 8 that “There is no condemnation to them which are IN Christ Jesus”. So, to have the peace of God, is to be IN Christ Jesus.
Another way we can look at the greeting of “grace and peace” is as a desire that someone who is already a child of God will continue to grow in grace and in the Spirit, and continue to bear much fruit, because “peace” happens to be one of the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-25 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let’s also take a look at 2 Peter 3:18.
2 Peter 3:18 But GROW in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
So to have “peace” is to have salvation, but “peace” doesn’t end there, it’s also something that develops as spiritual fruit. And to find “grace” is to find favor with God, but grace also doesn’t end there. Grace is something that continues to develop within the child of God all the days of his life.
I think it’s also important to note that having this peace doesn’t mean that we will not have trouble in this world. As a matter of fact, the opposite is true. The true child of God, even though he has the peace which comes from God, shall have, according to the Bible, much tribulation in this world.
Romans 5:1-5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
2 Peter 3:13-14 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
Peace, therefore, has everything to do spiritually with our salvation, therefore we also knew that one day this peace would be taken way from the earth. That means that one day the possibility of salvation would be taken away, and it was.
Revelation 6:1-4 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
By now, I’m sure we all understand the importance of paying attention to every word in every verse, because every word, in its original language, has been placed there by God. Therefore, when we take the time to study each word, each line and each precept, we can learn so much from God’s Word as he sees fit to open up our understanding.
Ok, now let’s go back to Ephesians 1 verse 2.
Ephesians 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
The word “our”, in “God OUR Father”, is Strong’s #G2257 and is also translated as “US”. Literally, the text reads, “Grace and peace to you from God the Father of US”. So, what does that mean? Well, since it’s only the elect that are being addressed, God is emphasizing who he is the Father of. In other words, God is not the Father of the world, but of the elect only.
The world, including the churches, for the most part, would like nothing more than to believe that we’re all God’s children, as one popular Christmas song subtlely includes that message in their lyrics. But you see, it’s always been through subtlety that the enemy seeks to lead astray, but God’s Word is clear that He does in fact make a distinction between those that are his and those that are not.
Exodus 11:6-7 And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.
7 But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that JEHOVAH doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.
So, the Bible declares that God is the Father of the elect, THEY are his children, and the devil is the father of the rest of the world.
1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
While this truth doesn’t ring as pleasant in the ears of the world, including the churches, we must be faithful in all that we declare from God’s Word. God’s children aren’t worried about their reputation, and we know that rejection, from those who are not God’s children, is to be expected. Let’s continue with Ephesians 1:2.
Ephesians 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
The word “and” is the Greek word “kai”. This word appears so many times that in JP Green’s interlinear, I don’t think it’s given a Strong’s number, but it does have one. The word translated as “and” is Strong’s #2532 and it appears more than 9,000 times in the New Testament alone.
There are people who look at this verse as proof that Jesus and God the Father are not the same person. These are they that reject the deity of Christ as the almighty God. They see a greeting here from two separate persons, “from God our Father AND the Lord Jesus Christ”.
Often times in eBible fellowship’s Muslim group, we contend with such remarks that state that Jesus and God are not the same. One of the phrases which they have been taught to memorize states that “God neither begets nor is begotten”.
Of course, the only problem they have is that they are forced to ignore most of the scriptures that teach against their own doctrines, and they do this by claiming corruption of the biblical text. Sounds simple enough, if they find something that doesn’t agree with their doctrine, then it must be an error in the Biblical text. Of course, I’m being sarcastic, but this goes on pretty consistently.
The fact is that the Word of God simply cannot be understood by those who do not have eyes to see, nor ears to hear. And to try and convince someone of the truth now, is like trying to give sight to the blind in a time of complete spiritual darkness. It’s not going to happen.
So, the word translated as “and” in Ephesians 1:2, is indeed a conjunction, but not of two separate deities, but of one God in three persons, the Father, the Son AND the Holy Ghost.
1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word (which is the Son), AND the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
So again, when it comes to the deity of Christ, God is using this verse to identify each of the Godhead and using the same conjunction translated as “AND” that we find in Ephesians 1:2 which also speaks of the Godhead as God our Father AND the Lord Jesus. And we can be sure that they are one God.
Ok, let’s continue with verse 3 of Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:3 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 word “blessed” is Strong’s #2128, it only appears eight times and it’s always translated as “blessed”. If you take the time to look up each reference, you’ll notice that it’s always used to refer to God himself. But this word comes from a related word that’s also translated as “blessed”, it’s Strong’s #2127, and this word is used to describe BOTH God and his children.
Luke 1:41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
But what exactly does it mean for God and his elect to be blessed? Well, the word “blessed” (Strong’s #2127) helps us some, as it is also translated once as “praised”.
Luke 1:62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelledall.
64 And his (meaning Zacharias’) mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised (or blessed) God.
The word “blessed” comes from a compound of two other Greek words, one of which is translated as “well” or “good” which is Strong’s #G2095, and the other word is translated as “word” which is Strong’s #3056. So, from these two words, we can see why the word “blessed” would also be translated as “praised”, because both are done by speaking and doing the good words of God.
And so when the Bible speaks of “praising” or “blessing”, we have to always understand that it’s to be done in accordance with the Word of God itself. Let’s take a look at an example:
Psalm 34:1 I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
One way of blessing God is by having his praise or his Word continually in our mouth and we do this by proclaiming the truth. It’s also important to note that God is blessed by his people, not only in word but also in deed, and both according to the Word of God.
Psalm 103:20 Bless the Lord, ye his angels (or messengers), that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
You see, we bless the God by our obedience as well as our praise.
Ok, let’s continue with Ephesians 1:3, at this rate, it looks like we’re going to be on chapter 1 for quite some time.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
If we recall back to verse 2, it says that God is our father and here in verse 3, it says that God is the God and father of Jesus Christ. And there’s nothing wrong with either statement, as a matter of fact, both are true.
John 20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
I can’t understand how God is the God of God himself, so I won’t even attempt to explain it. Let’s continue with verse 3 of Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:3 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 words “who hath blessed” is translated from one Greek word that is literally translated as “having blessed”, so both the KJV and the interlinear correctly translate this blessing as being in the past tense.
The next word is the word “us”, once again pinpointing exactly who is in view with regards to being blessed of God. “who hath blessed US with all spiritual blessings”.
Well, the word “spiritual” is Strong’s #4152 and it comes from the word “Spirit” as in the Holy Spirit, which is Strong’s #4151. In other words, the spiritual blessings spoken of here, come from the Spirit of God.
And what are the blessings that the Spirit of God has blessed us with? Well this word “blessings” in verse 3, is translated as a plural word in the KJV, but it’s actually a singular word and should be translated altogether as, “who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing”.
This word “blessing” is yet another Greek word, with another Strong’s number, but it’s also closely related to our other previous words translated as “blessed”. This word “blessing” is Strong’s #2129 and it carries the same meaning we discussed earlier, plus it also helps us further understand that every spiritual blessing by which we are blessed is pointing to salvation through the gospel of Christ.
Romans 15:29 And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.
Galatians 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; (and in the second half of this verse we are told what that blessing is) that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Let’s take a look at the last portion of Ephesians 1:3.
Ephesians 1:3 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 first thing I want to point out is that the word “places” is not in the original text, so the KJV has correctly italicized this word but possibly inserted it for clarity. They did however incorrectly translate the word “heavenly” as a singular word when it’s in fact a plural word and should be translated as “heavenlies”.
The KJV has also omitted the word “the” in between the word “in” and the word “heavenlies”. So, let’s read this portion of the verse once more after making these corrections, “…who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ”.
How can we understand what the phrase “in the heavenlies” means? Well, the word “heavenlies” is Strong’s #2032. And as with many other words, Strong’s has given the same number to a word that is sometimes used as a singular word or as a plural word. But we can understand that just as the spiritual blessings that we were blessed with, are referring to salvation, the phrase “in the heavenlies” has to do with being seated in heaven with Christ.
Ephesians 2:4-6 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places (again, here it should be translated, “in the heavenlies”) IN (which can also be translated as “with”) Christ Jesus:
Ephesians 1, Part 2
From E Bible Fellowship’s Day in the Word – March 25, 2018
Ephesians 1:1-4 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:
2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
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:
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:
Last month we established that the blessing, wherewith God’s people have been blessed, is salvation. Verse four continues by telling us that this blessing was the result of being chosen before the foundation of the world, and so God’s people were chosen to be holy and blameless before God. So, we’re going to take a look at verse 4 a little closer to get a better understanding of what God is saying here.
The word “chosen” means just that, it means to be chosen or to make choice. And if we look closely at verse 4, we can see who is choosing who, “4 According as HE HATH CHOSEN US in him…”. This seems to be a sticking point for those who hold to a free will gospel. One of those reasons is because of the way God has written the Bible.
God has carefully placed apparent contradictions in the Bible that the churches just can’t resolve by holding onto their professed doctrines. And so, a common response they may put forth is, “the secret things belong to God”, as if though that gave them a way out of having to harmonize all the verses that disagree with them.
So what happens is that the Pentecostals remain Pentecostals, and the Baptists remain Baptists, and the Presbyterians remain Presbyterians, and so on. And so the religions of the world never felt the need to change nor make doctrinal corrections because what they’ve been handed from those before them, by way of doctrine or tradition, was and is believed to be doctrinally sound.
In other words, if someone believes in free will, were to go to a Bible teacher who believes the same thing, and ask him about the meaning of Ephesians 1:4, the Bible teacher would say something along the lines of, “well, yes, God chose us, but only because he knew we would choose him first, after all, we’re not robots”. And if this Bible teacher wanted to use some scripture to support his view, he may even take the one asking the question to Romans 8:29.
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
And so, the Bible teacher would say, “you see, there it is. God predestinated us because (and he’s about to define the word foreknow) he knew ahead of time who would choose him and so based on that, God predestinated them in eternity past”. And so, the one who came forth with the question to begin with, is satisfied with the answer because it seems to make logical sense and goes on his way. So this person’s question was satisfied with a nothing more than a convincing answer.
But is this how God has instructed us to gain understanding of the scriptures? No, not at all.God’s people know that everything they listen to is to be examined with the scriptures to ensure that it’s accurate and that it harmonizes with the rest of the Bible.
And I’m happy to say that I know many in the eBible circle do this relentlessly. It happens to me more times than I’d like to admit, that shortly after I’ve posted a study on Facebook, people have sent me private messages saying, “Eddie, you got this Bible reference wrong….Oh, and by the way, you misspelled all these words”.
And believe me, I appreciate it because it shows me that people are taking the time to not just read, but also examine against the scriptures the things are being said. Which is exactly what we’ve been called to do.
Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
So searching the scriptures daily is commended by the Word of God, and each one of us has that responsibility. Ok, now before we go back to Ephesians, let’s take a minute to make sure we understand Romans 8:29.
Romans 8:28-30 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
When we look up the word “foreknow” we see that it’s Strong’s #4267 and that it’s only used 5 times. Now this word does in fact literally mean to “know before”. But for someone to assume that this means that God knew before who would choose him, not only is it a huge stretch, but it’s also not taught anywhere in the scriptures. As a matter of fact, let’s take a look at what God does see when he looks upon mankind.
Psalm 14:1-3 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
And who is the fool in the Bible? He which is unsaved, which was the natural condition of every single human being that came from the loins of Adam.
2 The JEHOVAH looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were anythat did understand, and seek God.
So, this really should be the next go to passage for those who believe that God looks upon man to see who would choose him, and based on what he sees, God makes choice according to this foreknowledge. The only problem is what God sees when he looks upon mankind.
3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
So, then the word “foreknow” has nothing to do with God choosing us based on what God sees when he looks upon mankind. Rather, the word “foreknow” has everything to do with Christ loving his elect by dying for them from the foundation of the world, in that he knew beforehand who he would atone for, and it was through this love that He predestinated us unto salvation. Now if we turn back to Ephesians 1:4&5, we’ll be able to confirm this.
Ephesians 1:4-5 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: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
In order for me to finish explaining Romans 8:29, I need to jump ahead a little in these verses. Now, when I do verse studies, I like to look at and compare the KJV with JP Greens Interlinear and 2 online interlinears. And everywhere I looked, I noticed that all the interlinears divide verse 4 & 5 of Ephesians 1 the same way, but they divide it differently that the KJV does.
And the more I looked at it, the more I’m conviced that the KJV ended verse 4 in the wrong part of the sentence, and since we know that the original text was never divided by verses, the translators may have, on more than one occasion, made this mistake. So, I’d like to re-read verse 4 & 5 the way the interlinears have divided the sentences, and in doing so, I believe it will help us understand more about God’s predestination. So, I’m going to read it again.
Ephesians 1:4-5 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: 5. In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Do you see the difference? The predestination of God’s elect was done in love, or through love. This word “love” is Strong’s #G26, it’s the word “agape”, and it comes from Strong’s #G25which is “agapo”. So, this word is just a different part of speech of the same word. The reason I bring that up is because the Bible tells us who loved who first.
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
So, when we put this together, we can see that God’s sacrificial love is directly tied into his predestination. And since God predestined those he foreknew, his foreknowledge could not possibly be based on anything that was done on our part first. We love him, because he first loved us.
Jeremiah 1:4-5 Then the word of JEHOVAH came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Ephesians 1:4 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.
So, when did God make choice? Verse 4 tells us, before the foundation of the world.
And what were we chosen for? Let’s read it, “that we should be holy and without blame before him”.
So out of everyone in this world that would ever come into existence, God made choice among certain individuals before the foundation of the world. He chose them to be holy and without blame before him.
The word “holy” as we learned earlier is also translated as the word “saint”. And the word “without blame” is Strong’s #299 and is also translated as “without blemish” and “faultless”.
Ephesians 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (without blame)
Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless(without blame) before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
But what had to take place before anyone could be made holy and be without blame? Their sins had to be paid for. And that takes us back to verse 5 of Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:5 5. In love (remember, this is the word agape), having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
God’s love is the action or it’s the work by which his elect have been predestinated. This we learn also from John 3:16.
John 3:16 For God so (or “For God in this manner”) loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
God’s love was the giving of his Son to be the lamb slain on behalf of his chosen people. Therefore, his love and his predestination all occurred from the foundation of the world. The word “predestinated” is Strong’s #4309, and it’s also translated as “determined before”. This helps us understand that our predestination is that which was determined before by God.
Acts 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to dowhatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before (or predestined) to be done.
Let’s continue with Ephesians 1:5
Ephesians 1:5 5. In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
The word “children” was added here for clarity, it should read, “In love, having predestinated us unto adoption by Jesus Christ to himself”. God’s elect were predestinated through the work of Christ. But why does God use the language of adoption? Well, God uses many ways to illustrate to us the spiritual condition of the elect before salvation, and one of the things we’re considered to be is fatherless.
To help us understand WHY God describes the unsaved as fatherless, it may help to know that the fatherless are often used in the same verse as the widow. Let’s take a look at a few examples.
Deuteronomy 10:18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
Literally, this verse reads, “He doth execute justice for the fatherless and widow”.
Deuteronomy 16:14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
And there’s many more passages that speak of the fatherless and the widow. Now what does someone who is fatherless and someone who is a widow have in common? What’s missing? A man. The man is not present, or we could say, the head is not there.
God gives us an example of what it means to be fatherless and a widow. Let’s turn to Exodus 22:22. Please notice that God here is specifically addressing men.
Exodus 22:22-24 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.
23 If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;
24 And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
So to be fatherless and a widow is to be without the head. This head of course is none other than Christ. This we learn from Ephesians 5:23.
Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
When Christ laid down his life for our sins from the foundation of the world, he also predestinated us unto adoption. And until God made the application of salvation in the life of each elect, they were considered to be fatherless and widows. Once the application was made, the fatherless now had an eternal father and the widow now had a husband.
This is why in the book of James, the gospel was to be preached to the fatherless and the widows.
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
The word “visit” is Strong’s # G1980 and it has to do with the preaching of the gospel. Alright, let’s continue with Ephesians 1:5.
Ephesians 1:5 5. In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Remember when we spoke about this word predestination? And we came to the conclusion that predestination was not based on God knowing beforehand who would choose him first, but rather it was based on God’s will alone.
Well, the amazing thing about any doctrine is that when any doctrine is put forth and held to be true and faithful, it will always still be subject to correction by the Word of God.
So, when further search is made throughout the scriptures, God’s word will either contradict a specific doctrine or it will continue to harmonize with it. This is how we can be sure whether we’re under a proper understanding of any particular doctrine or if we need to make correction.
Well, we’ve already concluded that predestination was based on God’s will alone. And so when we get to the last part of Ephesians 1:5, we are given further confirmation that we are on the right track, as God gives us the reason and the basis for his predestination. It was according to the good pleasure of his will.
The words “good pleasure” are translated from one Greek word and it’s Strong’s #G2107. But Strong’s has assigned another number to this same word, which is used a slightly different way, it’s Strong’s #2106 and it’s also translated as “good pleasure”. As we look at some of these verses, we’ll see that when it’s God’s good pleasure to do something, it has to do with God exercising his own will and not with God bending to our will.
Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure (Strong’s #2106) to give you the kingdom.
Matthew 11:25-26 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good (Strong’s #2107) in thy sight.
In other words, it was God’s good pleasure to conceal truth from the wise and prudent, and it was God’s good pleasure to reveal truth unto his people.
Galatians 1:13-16 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
15 But when it pleased (Strong’s #2106) God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
God’s people were predestined in love, or we could say that God’s people were predestined through the death of Christ, from the foundation of the world. Not by what God would see among men, nor by anything we would have done, good or bad, but only by God’s good pleasure. God works in the lives of each of his elect to will and to do of his good pleasure. Let’s jump ahead for a moment and turn to Ephesians 1:12.
Ephesians 1:12
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:
We can’t get away from the overwhelming fact that God continues to drive this point home, salvation was based on the good pleasure of God’s own will and for his own purposes, we had nothing to do with the process of election and much less with the process of salvation.
Alright, let’s move onto verse 6 of Ephesians 1. Verse 6 can’t really be read apart from continuing the flow of verse 5, as the end of verse 5 leads right into verse 6, so we’ll re-read verse 5 into verse 6.
Ephesians 1:5 5. In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
The first word in verse 6 is the word “To” (T O) and it’s Strong’s #1519, but this word is more often translated as “into”, which allows us to better understand the first sentence of verse 6. Let’s read it again and make the substitution.
Ephesians 1:5 5. In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 into the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
In other words, God’s elect have been predestined to be children that have been adopted intoGod’s grace. We read of similar passages elsewhere that teach us the same thing, let’s turn to Romans 5:2.
Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
God’s elect have been adopted into the grace of God, now let’s continue in Ephesians 1:6 to see what this adoption has enabled for us.
Ephesians 1:6 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
So being adopted into the grace of God has enabled us to accept Christ. Is that what it says? NO, being adopted into the grace of God has enabled US to be made accepted in Christ. And that’s what the second part of Ephesians 1:6 is teaching us. Last month, we went over what it meant to be made accepted and we found, that the only other place this word is used, is to speak of the virgin Mary who was highly favoured of God. And to be highly favoured is to be made accepted.
The last part of verse 6 tells us that we were made accepted “in the beloved”, and of course this can only be reference to the Lord Jesus Christ as we’ll see in verse 7. This word “beloved” is the word “agape”, which is Strong’s #G25.
This word appears a total of 142 times. 135 times it’s translated as “love”. And only seven times is it translated as “beloved”, possibly because it’s related word is Strong’s #G27 pronounced “agapetos”, which is just a slight variation of the same word, and this word is mostly translated as “beloved”, and this word is used to describe both Christ and his elect.
Matthew 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
1 Corinthians 4:14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
I said that the “beloved” mentioned in Ephesians 1:6 is a reference to Christ and not to the elect because of what we read in verse 7. Let’s again, re-read the last part of verse 6, into verse 7.
Ephesians 1:6-7 ….wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
So everything in this verse is a reference to Christ, as the beloved and his work of redemption. The first part of verse 7 says, “In whom we have redemption through his blood”. The word “redemption” is Strong’s #629 and it’s only used 10 times, 9 times as redemption and 1 time as “deliverance”.
Hebrews 11:32-35 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.
34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance (or not accepting redemption); that they might obtain a better resurrection:
By this passage we are able to conclude that the meaning of redemption, it’s to be delivered from our sins.
Colossians 1:12-14 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption (or deliverance) through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
If you noticed, Colossians 1:14 and Ephesians 1:7 are saying the same thing, as they both read, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins”. And the deliverance that we’ve been given, as we just read, is the forgiveness of sins. Let’s continue with verse 7 of Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:7 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Let’s take a look at the words, “through his blood”. For centuries, it has been engrained into Christianity that redemption took place at the cross. That’s when we have always recognized that forgiveness of sins took place. Until God opened up the understanding of his people. And without getting completely side tracked on when atonement took place, I’d like to at least examine the atonement in light of the language of verse 7.
Verse 7 says that we have redemption, or forgiveness of sins, through his blood. Now, for most Christians of the world that’s proof enough, they say, we have a historical record in the Word of God where Christ literally shed his blood and died, it was on the cross.
You know, for the past few weeks, this topic has really been the topic of discussion on Facebook. More and more people who at least followed along for a while, have decided now to voice their direct opposition to this new doctrine. And in all honesty, while no one likes opposition, we have to be able to sympathize with those who strongly disagree with this or any other true doctrine from the Bible. Why? Because those that can see, did nothing to deserve God’s mercy.
So, of course there’s going to be opposition to the truth. And from the point of view of those who are in opposition, it’s us who have fallen away from truth, and they of course want to offer correction. But this is the way God has designed blindness to work, and we have no better example than when Christ was continually confronted by the Pharisees and Sadducees.
You see, the Pharisees couldn’t understand how this man, who calls himself the Christ, could take a passage of the law of God and change it’s meaning by redefining it. Let’s take a look at one example of many where Christ did this.
Leviticus 24:19-20 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him;
20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.
The law of God stated that if a man caused a blemish to his neighbor, that the same thing shall be done to the man who caused it. But what does Christ say?
Matthew 5:38-39 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
So, I think a fair question to ask is, why did God write the Bible this way? Why was the Bible written one way in the Old Testament only to be redefined in the New Testament? The answer is because doctrine is how God separates people.
The nation of Israel were given the Word of God and they were expected to follow it and live by it, but when the time came, God would open up the meaning of the Old Testament scriptures, and use the prophets of the New Testament to explain portions of the Old Testament, the nation of Israel, although they were sure they had proper understanding of God’s word, fell away because they could not agree with this new doctrine.
Now what I just described is what took place at the point of transition between the Old and New Testament, but it also perfectly describes the transition that took place at the time of the end, because what God did to the stewards of the gospel of the Old Testament, he did it again to the stewards of the gospel of the New Testament. But he didn’t stop once the churches fell awaybecause all those that left the churches of the world, also identified with the true people of God.
When I think back on the tract trips before May 21, 2011, I can remember meeting thousands of people on the east coast that heeded the call to leave their church and proclaim the message of judgment. Were they all elect? Sadly, NO.
We would later learn by going back to the scriptures, the parable of the Exodus from Egypt. We learned that just because a great number of people physically left Egypt doesn’t mean they were all saved. Similarly, just because a great number of people left their church and proclaimed the message of judgment until May 21, 2011, doesn’t mean that they were saved either.
We knew very little, early on, about what we were to expect during this time of judgment, and so when we saw people going back to church, or leaving altogether, or even directly opposing the truth they once preached, we were shocked.
We would then come to find out that this time period would be a time of severe testing by the Word of God, then the falling away began to make more sense. We should never forget that those of us who can still hear and follow the truth, can only do so by the grace of God.
Remembering this ought to cause great humility when we decide to have discussions with those who are in opposition to true doctrine. So, I think we would do well to remember that we’re hereonly by grace.
So the fact that God has opened up the scriptures again, in the time of the end, is not understoodnow by the unsaved because it wasn’t understood the first time it happened in the days of Christ. And because new doctrines were rejected then, do we really think we should expect any less? Of course not. Alright, getting back to Ephesians 1:7.
Ephesians 1:7 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
In order to understand what “through his blood” is referring to, we have to rule out some obvious mistakes made by many readers. Too much emphasis is placed on the physical blood of Christ, as if it was the actual blood that made payment for sins. If that was the case then sins could have been paid for when they drove in the first nail, if we don’t count the scourging that took place before that, or the crown of thorns placed on his head.
The fact is that Jesus continued until the point of death, why? Because the physical blood is not what made atonement. The phrase, “through his blood”, is therefore a reference to something else. It’s a reference to the giving of his life.
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood (or the life) that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Through his blood, therefore means through his death. So according to Ephesians 1:7, what was accomplished through the death of Christ? The forgiveness of sins.
And this harmonizes perfectly with the requirement of the law of God found in Hebrews 9:22.
Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
The word “remission” is Strong’s #859, and it’s also translated as “forgiveness, deliverance and liberty”. So we could say, that without the requirement of death being satisfied, there is no forgiveness, there is no deliverance, or there is no liberty.
Yet forgiveness of sins was indeed possible before Christ gave up his life at the cross, because there are many scriptures that can attest to that. Can you believe that what we didn’t understand before, is now as clear for us to understand as the statement Christ made to his disciples about his crucifixion, which none of them understood till the proper time.
Forgiveness of sins was indeed achieved through the death of Christ, but it wasn’t at the cross. This is what we can now see which we couldn’t see before, even though God’s word never changed. We can pick this up next month.
Ephesians 1, Part 3
From E Bible Fellowship’s Day in the Word – April 22, 2018
Last month I believe we left off in the second half of verse 7 of Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:7 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Just to recap the first half of this verse, God’s elect have received deliverance from the penalty of their sin by the blood (or death) of Christ at the point of the world’s foundation. I want to look at the next part of the verse which says, “the forgiveness of sins”.
When we talk about forgiveness of sins, I think it’s important to understand just what that means. To have your sins forgiven means that the penalty required by the law of God will no longer be imputed to anyone who has been chosen by God. But because God is a just God, he couldn’t simply forgive someone without the requirement of the law being met, and that requirement of course is death.
God’s justice still demanded payment for the sins of those God chose to forgive, so Christ was appointed to take their place and accepted the punishment that the law required, and so Christ died in the stead of all those he chose to save. The elect therefore have been forgiven of their debt because someone else took their place.
Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.
Ok, so Christ took the place of those he chose to redeem from the curse of the law, now, we have to make sure we understand the extent of Christ’s work of redemption. In other words, yes, Christ took the place of his elect and satisfied the requirement of God’s law, but to what extent?
When does God draw the line and say, “enough is enough. I forgave you once before but you just keep breaking every law I have established (because remember according to James 2:10 if we break one law, we have broken them all)”. When does Christ’s substitution for our sins expire? Fortunately for us, it never does.
Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all (every) trespasses;
If we turn to Psalm 103, we are given further scriptures that comfort us regarding the extent of Christ’s payment for sin on behalf of his elect.
Psalm 103:1-4 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
(8-17) 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;
If Christ’s atonement was not all encompassing and was not from everlasting to everlasting, then payment for sins would have to take place daily as they did in the Old Testament period, because it is daily that we fall short in our fallen human nature. But God has given us an abundance of scriptures that confirm to us that the payment provided by Christ on behalf of his elect, was offered once forever.
Hebrews 10:11-12 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
So forgiveness of sins is an everlasting forgiveness. Ok, let’s turn back to Ephesians 1:7.
Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
The word “riches” here in verse 7, is Strong’s #4149 and it’s always translated as “riches”. And while verse 8 will explain to us what encompasses the riches of his grace, God’s use of this word, also teaches what the riches of his grace does not encompass.
Matthew 13:22 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 the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Whenever we see this word “riches” being used to speak of earthly riches, it’s always in a negative connotation. This teaches us that the riches of God’s grace are not riches that are physical in nature, but they are spiritual in nature.
Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
The riches of God’s grace are the riches of his wisdom and knowledge. This is the type of treasure God’s people ought to search for. You know, the way of the world teaches us that we are to spend our time working hard to acquire the things we want or need, and at a certain point in time, we should be able to retire and enjoy the fruits of our labors.
This of course is earthly wisdom, but spiritual wisdom teaches us that we are to place more of an effort to attain spiritual riches than we do to attain earthly riches.
Proverbs 2:1-6 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
The analogy God uses in verse 4 of Proverbs 2 is very interesting because he knows the greed of our sinful nature, He knows that if we somehow found out that there was a treasure chest buried in our backyard, that we would be tempted to start digging, and not only would we start digging, but we wouldn’t even ask our neighbor for help because then we would have to share it. And the closer we got to digging out this treasure chest the more exited we would be, and the more we would be satisfying the desires of our flesh.
And that’s how much effort and how much desire God wants us to place on His Word which is full of treasures, but not the kind of treasure that satisfies the flesh. As a matter of fact, this kind of treasure is a weariness to the flesh, because it goes against it’s very nature and desire. But if we are a true child of God, then these types of spiritual riches bring great satisfaction to our soul, we just have to force our fleshly nature to do what it doesn’t want to do, we have to bring it into subjection. Let’s take a look at one last passage before continuing in Ephesians.
Ecclesiastes 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Some people read this verse and conclude that God is instructing us not to study too much so we don’t become weary. And that is the complete opposite of what this verse is teaching. God wants us to study as much as possible for the purpose of causing weariness in the flesh, because it’s the desires of the flesh that seek to lead us astray, from the things of God.
Ok, let’s turn back to Ephesians 1:7. We’ll read verse seven into verse eight.
Ephesians 1:7-8 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
The word “prudence” is Strong’s #5428 and it only appears 2 times, once as “prudence” and once as “wisdom”. But this word comes from Strong’s #5426 which also comes from Strong’s #5424. These are all just different parts of speech of the same word which are translated as “think” or as “understanding”.
So here God is telling us that the riches of his grace have been abundantly given to his elect in the form of wisdom and understanding by having made known unto us the mystery of his will. And we can read that in verse 9.
Ephesians 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
The words “having made known” come from one Greek word which is Strong’s #1107, and in this verse, while it seems to be written in the past tense, it’s actually written in the present tense and probably better translated as “making known unto us the mystery of his will”. The word making known is also translated as “give to understand”.
1 Corinthians 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand (or make known), that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
So if we take this other use of the same word back to Ephesians 1:9, we can see that God isgiving us to understand (present tense) the mystery of his will. In other words, it was being given to the saints at the beginning of the church age as well as now. Let’s continue with Ephesians 1:9.
Ephesians 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will,….
Again, it’s very important that we continue to recognize and keep in mind who the “us” is being spoken of here. It’s the saints, the elect. It’s unto the saints that God has always given understanding, in His time, to make known the mystery of his will.
The next word we notice in Ephesians 1:9 is the word “mystery”. This is Strong’s #3466 and it’s always translated as “mystery”, so the best way to obtain a definition for this word is to examine the passages in which God chose to use this word, when we do this, we discover that there are many things that encompass this word mystery.
The mystery of the kingdom of God.
The mystery of the wisdom of God.
The mystery of the resurrection of the saints.
The mystery of Christ and His church, and so on.
But what these all have in common is that is that all of these mysteries are found in the Word of God. That is why God spoke His Word in a mystery
1 Corinthians 2:6-14 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 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.
So the word “mystery” can also be understood to mean “hidden wisdom”. And we can take that definition back to Ephesians 1:9.
Ephesians 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery (or the hidden wisdom) of his will,….
And of course we find his will throughout His Word. So we can put this together and understand it to say that God is giving us to understand the hidden wisdom of his word. And that agrees with what we read in Matthew 13:11.
Matthew 13:9-11 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries (or to know the hidden wisdom) of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Another thing we learn as we search out this word “mystery” is that God’s mystery (or God’s hidden wisdom) requires revelation by God.
Ephesians 3:1-6 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
This passage teaches us many important things, but just to point out 3 of those things, we can see and confirm that the mystery requires revelation, and that revelation comes by way of reading(as was mentioned in verse 4) and by the Spirit of God (as mentioned in verse 5). So throughout the ages, God has been revealing his hidden wisdom to his saints in His proper time. Even now, in this time of judgment, God continues to reveal his hidden wisdom.
Romans 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Alright, let’s continue with verse 9 of Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
This word “good pleasure” is the same word we came across last month in verse 5 of this chapter in reference to his predestination. So not only was God’s predestination done in accordance with his good pleasure, but also the revelation of his hidden wisdom which he hath purposed in himself. This means that no other person in this world was ever responsible for determining when and where God had purposed to reveal knowledge.
Mr. Camping studied the scriptures diligently every day for many many years, yet God never revealed unto him what that which wasn’t time for God’s people to know yet. I’ve been listening to many of his past studies, even after he understood that the church age had ended, he was still oblivious to the fact that hell was not a place of eternal punishment, and when he preached about man’s punishment, it was still eternal suffering.
You see, the timing of God’s revelation was and still is in accordance with his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. Let’s continue with verse 10 of Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:10 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:
Verse 10 is a little more difficult to understand because of the words that the KJV uses. The word “dispensation” is Strong’s #3622, and while I’ve read this word before, I never really put much thought as to what it might mean. This word appears 7 times in the new Testament and is translated 4 times in the King James as “dispensation” and 3 times as “stewardship”. Let’s take a look at a few passages to see if we can define this word better.
Luke 16:1-4 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship (or of thy dispensation); for thou mayest be no longer steward.
3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.
4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?
6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.
8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
Now the word “stewardship” and the word “steward” are different parts of speech of the same word. The word “stewardship”, as we already went over, is Strong’s #3622 and the word “steward” is Strong’s #3621.
A steward is someone who has been placed in charge of something by someone else. And in this parable, there was a person who was placed in the position of stewardship by a certain rich man. The steward was therefore in charge of handling the rich man’s goods.
I think it would help to mention that the transliteration of the word “stewardship” is “oikonomia” which is probably where we get our English word “economy”. I say that because it sounds a lot like the Spanish word for economy.
This steward was handling his lord’s money and his goods. This will help us understand that the word “dispensation” is the act of dispensing, and in the case of this parable, it is a person, a steward who’s in charge of dispensing his lord’s goods.
But this steward was guilty of improperly dispensing that which was entrusted to him, and so he is rightly called an unjust steward. Spiritually, this steward points to those who only want tooutwardly identify as children of God but are unfaithful even when entrusted with the smallest of things.
But Paul, by contrast, is used as an example of what a faithful steward should be.
Ephesians 3:1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
2 If ye have heard of the dispensation (or stewardship) of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward.
3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preachamong the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
One thing we know about Paul is that he is used by God as a pattern to them which should come to believe. Therefore the stewardship (or the dispensation) of the gospel is given to every true child of God to be a minister of the word of God.
So God, who is our Lord, has entrusted his stewards to properly dispense of his goods. In other words, God’s people have been entrusted to preach the word of God faithfully.
Now that we understand what the word “dispensation” means, we can go back to Ephesians 1:10.
Ephesians 1:10 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:
What we have to understand is that in this verse, Christ is the steward, but this verse is not directly talking about being a steward of the gospel, rather Christ, in this verse, is the steward of time. Time is and always has been at his dispensation.
So, the dispensation of the fullness of time came, that means that since the day this world was created, Christ was orchestrating the time of events in which anything and everything according to his will would take place.
And at this point in time, in the New Testament period, the time came to gather together in oneall things. In other words, the time came for the gospel to be preached into all the world and not just within the nation of Israel anymore.
The words, “he might gather together in one” are all translated from one Greek word. It’s Strong’s #346 and it’s literally translated as “sum up”. This word only appears 2 times, once in Ephesians 1:10 and the other time in Romans 13:9.
Romans 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended (or it is summed up) in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
In J.P Greens interlinear, Romans 13:9 is correctly translated as “summed up”. So when the dispensation of the fulness of time came, Christ would gather together, in one all things in himself. Now even though the word “summed up” is the correct translation, this is not what the translators decided to use here.
You see, God does have other Greek words which are clearly translated as “gathered” or “gathered together”, but that’s not the word Christ decided to use here. Let’s take a look at similar passages that use the actual word for “gather together”.
John 11:50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;
52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
Now let’s go back and compare this with the language of Ephesians 1:10.
Ephesians 1:10 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:
The word translated as “gather together” in John 11:52 is in fact almost always translated as “gathered” or “gathered together”.
So while both verses are speaking of the same thing, God is using an entirely different word in Ephesians 1:10, he is using the word “summed up”. I think what God is teaching us here is that when we are gathered together, we are essentially also being summed up into one body, the body of Christ.
If we turn to Galatians 3:28, we can see that if we are indeed in Christ, then we are one.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if we turn back over to Ephesians 1:10, we can see that if we are in Christ, then we are indeed one.
Ephesians 1:10 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:
So even though the Greek word translated as “he might gather together in one” isn’t properly translated, it is conveying the same idea. Now what is being summed up, according to Ephesians 1:10, are “all things”. The word translated as “all things” is Strong’s #3956 and it’s most commonly translated as “all”, then as “all things”. But either translation I think is acceptable here, as this is primarily a reference to his elect, but it can also be a reference to his entire creation.
Romans 8:19-23 For the earnest expectation of the creature (and the word creature in these verses is the same word translated here as creation) For the earnest expectation of the creationwaiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature (or the creation) was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature (or the creation) itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
The next thing we read in Ephesians 1:10 is that the “all things” that are being gathered together in Christ, are both which are in heaven and on earth. Let’s take a look at a passage with similar language.
Colossians 1:19-21 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.
Let’s also take a look at Mark 13:24.
Mark 13:24-27 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
So we can see the consistent language of being gathered into one “from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven”.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been under the assumption that we (as the messengers) were only able to gather the elect who were here on earth, but here we just read that those on earth and those in heaven are in view. Well, if we turn to Ephesians 3:15, I believe that we’ll gain some insight regarding how this can be possible.
Ephesians 3:13-15 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
It all comes back to being one in Christ. As God’s elect were being gathered here on earth, the gathering has always been a gathering together with those in heaven also. The children of God are of one whole family, whether they are in heaven or still here on earth. Ok, let’s see how much of Ephesians 1:11 I can cover with the time I have left.
Ephesians 1:11 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:
The words “in whom also” is still a reference to Christ that’s being carried over from verse 10. The next Greek word that appears in this sentence has been translated as “we have obtained an inheritance”. This is Strong’s #2820 and it only appears once, here in this verse. It does, however come from it’s related word Strong’s #2819 which is translated as “lot”, “part” or “inheritance”.
So, we could better understand this part of Ephesians 1:11 to say, “In Christ we have obtained a lot” or “In Christ we have obtained a part or a portion”. In other words, Strong’s 2820 is the verb form of Strong’s 2819.
The word “lot” really deserves a whole study of its own in order to fully understand it, but basically, the lot was the means by which each man’s portion was established, whether good or bad.
And while we can turn to many passages in the scriptures to show that it was men who casted lots to determine an outcome, who has always been in charge of determining every man’s portion? God.
Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of JEHOVAH.
Ephesians 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, (and how was our portion determined? Well, let’s continue reading) being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
And we already went over, in verse 5 of this chapter, that our predestination is that which was determined before by God. And here we are told that our portion was determined before according to God’s purpose.
The word “purpose” here is Strong’s #4286, and when it’s not coupled with any other words, it’s always translated as “purpose”, but in order to have a good understanding of what this word means, we have to look its related word. This word “purpose” comes from Strong’s #4388 which is translated 2 times as “purpose” and 1 time as “set forth”, and that’s the verse we want to look up.
Romans 3:24-25 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
God hath purposed, or God hath set forth Christ to be the means by which his elect would be redeemed. So the word “purpose” means to be “set forth”.
Ephesians 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him (or the setting forth of Christ) who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
And what does it mean? Well, let’s take a look at a few passages to see.
Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
And so this is what it means for God to work all things after the counsel of his own will. You see, Gods sovereignty always reigns supreme
Ephesians 1, Part 4
From E Bible Fellowship’s Day in the Word – May 27, 2018
I would like you to turn to Ephesians 1, verse 12. Actually, let’s start reading verse 11 into verse 12.
Ephesians 1:11-12 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:
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
What does it mean “That we should be to the praise of his glory”? Well, this is speaking about those who were chosen to receive salvation. Upon salvation, God’s elect became partakers not only of the sufferings of Christ, but also of his glory.
Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1 Peter 5:1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
A little later in this study we’re going to come across the same phrase “the praise of his glory” and we’ll go over it in more detail.
Let’s return to Ephesians 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
In order to understand who Paul is referring to as being those “who first trusted in Christ”, we need to also read verse 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,
As we look at these passages, we’ll notice that Paul is making a distinction between a people in verse 12, from those in verse 13. In other words, verse 12 is speaking about the Jew first, then in verse 13 we see that he then includes the saints at Ephesus, which represent the rest of the elect throughout the world.
Romans 2:10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.
In Ephesians 1:12, Paul is referring to the Jews as the ones who first trusted in Christ because it was unto them that the gospel was first entrusted. Of course, he’s not speaking about every Jew, but only those Jews who were chosen for salvation, because it’s those who first trusted in Christ. Let’s take a look at an example.
Luke 2:25-32 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
The word “consolation” in verse 25 of Luke 2 is Strong’s #3874 and it’s also translated as “comfort”. And in verse 25 of Luke 2, this word “consolation” is a reference to Christ. Simeon was waiting to see the Lord’s Christ. Let’s take a look at 2 Corinthians 1:4-5.
2 Corinthians 1:4-5 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation (which is the word comfort) also aboundeth by Christ.
The name “Simeon” in Luke 2, comes from the Jewish name for Simeon. We can see that as we look up the word “Simeon” and notice that this same name is used to describe the Old Testament son of Judah.
Luke 3:30 Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim,
So, we can be sure that the man named Simeon who waited to see the Lord’s Christ, was a Jew. Not only him, but other Jews as well, like his disciples, John the Baptist and other people from the nation of Israel, all the way back to Abraham, because Christ told the Pharisees that Abraham rejoiced to see his day (just like Simeon) and he saw it and was glad. And so, it was because the Jews were the first to be the stewards the gospel, that they were those who first trusted in Christ.
The word “trusted” is Strong’s #1679, and it also translated as hope. In other words, the hope we have in Christ is based on the trust we’ve placed on the Word of God. Let’s go back to Ephesians 1:12 and move into verse 13.
Ephesians 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 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,
Just to reiterate, the opening phrase that says, “In whom ye also trusted”, is a reference to the Gentiles. Because historically, the letter to the Ephesians was a letter to Gentiles. The Jews trusted first, then the nations of the world once God made the transition at the time of the cross. That’s what Christ’s earthly ministry began to teach us, that the salvation of God was for all chosen people, whether Jew or Gentile.
And this marked the point of transition where there was no longer any historical differencebetween both Jews and Gentiles. But Spiritually, there was never any difference between a Jew or Gentile, as we can go to the Old Testament and point to various people who were saved before the nation of Israel even existed, and many people who were not of the physical seed of Abraham like Rahab the Canaanite or the people of Nineveh, and yet they were recipients of the grace of God.
Now, the word “trusted” in Ephesians 1:13, is actually not in the original text, but the translators probably inserted it because it’s definitely implied from verse 12. The Jews trusted first, then the Gentiles trusted.
The next part of Ephesians 1:13 says, “after that ye heard the word of truth” this seems to imply that one action took place before the other, hearing came first and then trusting, and that’s true. The words translated as “after that ye heard” are translated from one Greek word, it’s Strong’s #G191 and it’s written in what’s known as the aorist tense, which means it’s written in the past tense.
When we look up this word, in the same tense as it’s found in verse 13, we can confirm that the hearing of a matter came before the reaction to the hearing.
Matthew 2:8-9 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard… (this is the same word translated in Ephesians 1:13 as “after that ye heard) …when they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
Let’s take a look at another passage.
Luke 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
So, we can see that the use of this same word in Ephesians 1:13 is consistently translated in a way that leads us to conclude that the hearing of the word of Truth came before the act of trusting. So Ephesians 1:13 is better translated as “having heard the word of truth” and this is how it’s translated in JP Green’s interlinear. Let’s read Ephesians 1:13 again.
Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of yoursalvation: ….
Now, the reason I emphasized this point was because the second half of this verse is written the same way. The only difference is that the second half of this verse replaces the word “heard” with the word “believed”, but it uses the same exact type of language, with the same exact tense of the word, the aorist tense. Let’s take a look.
….in whom also after that ye believed (and the words “after ye believed” are also better translated as, “having believed”), ….in whom also having believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
And this is where we have to be careful because this is where many veer off the tracks and conclude that based on this verse, believing is the first step toward salvation once the gospel is heard. This is one of the reasons why the gospel of believing unto salvation is the most widely accepted gospel in the world. They conclude that first you believe and then you are saved and sealed. But this is what the Bible refers to as a snare.
Before trusting, before believing and before being sealed, what must take place first? HEARING. Let’s read verse 13 one more time.
Ephesians 1:13 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,
When we speak of salvation, the first thing that had to happen was the HEARING of the word. Now (and this is where the misunderstanding comes in), this is not speaking of physically hearing someone preach the gospel and then deciding to believe, although this is the very foundation of the free will gospel.
The hearing spoken of in Ephesians 1:13 is speaking of spiritual hearing through the preaching of the gospel. In other words, if we look to the life of Paul the apostle as an example, we can see a man who was brought up under the hearing of the Word of God and yet when Christ was manifest, he was among those who rejected Christ because he could not hear the word of truth.
The word “heard” in Ephesians 1:13 is Strong’s #191 and it’s also translated as “hear”, and its related word is Strong’s #189 which is also translated as “hearing”. Now these words are usedinterchangebly throughout the New Testament to speak of both physical hearing and spiritual hearing. Let’s take a look at a few examples.
Matthew 2:3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. (The word “heard” here is Strong’s #191 and it’s speaking about the physical hearingof the news of the birth of Christ).
Now let’s turn to John 8:43….. And every time you see the word “hear” or “heareth” in this passage, it’s going to be the same Strong’s #191, only this time, it’s being used to describe a spiritual hearing.
John 8:43-47 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
We know that the Pharisees could physically hear the words of Christ, yet Christ tells them that they could not hear his words. And so by comparing scripture with scripture we can conclude that this time, the word “hear” is to be understood as spiritual hearing.
And this is why verses like Ephesians 1:13 are referred to as snares, because God wrote them to seem so plain and simple to read and understand, that the casual reader feels that an immediate conclusion can be made regarding that verse and fails to compare this scripture with other scriptures and so they become ensnared.
Ephesians 1:13 teaches us that believing (and this word believe is the same word for faith) believing comes after the word of God is heard. And that’s where people are ensnared. The churches believe that it’s the physical hearing of the gospel that allows a person to make the decision to believe and so be saved. But we understand that the physical preaching of the gospel, is what brought about salvation, resulting in spiritual hearing first, and then belief of the truth.
So let’s turn to Romans 10:14 to look at a similar passage.
Romans 10:14-17 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
So just to reiterate, the way the churches interpret hearing then believing, is by physically hearing the gospel, then choosing to believe and then becoming saved. But the way the bible teaches salvation is that God had to spiritually open your ears to cause you to spiritually hearthe word of truth being preached, thereby causing you to believe, this means that he first had to make you spiritually alive, then you could believe. And this was accomplished through the preaching of the word of God.
And this is what verse 17 of Romans 10 is teaching where it says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”.
Faith, we know is a fruit of the spirit, or we could say, faith is a RESULT OF HAVING THE spirit. It is impossible for this faith to come by the physical hearing of the gospel only, because virtually everyone has physically heard some form or other of the word of God. Furthermore, did you know God gives us an example of what happens when someone decides to believe based only on the physical hearing of the word of God? His name was Simon the sorcerer. Let’s turn to Acts 8:9.
Acts 8:9-23 It’s important to note that the 2 words translated as “believe” in this passage, is the same word translated as “having believed” in Ephesians 1:13.
But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
We can see that Simon heard the preaching of the Word of God and decided to believe and be baptized. Again, this is the very foundation of the free will gospel. Yet we can also see that this did nothing for his spiritual condition as he remained spiritually dead.
This is only one proof of many provided by the scriptures which confirm for us that believing (or our faith) does not result in salvation but rather believing (or faith) is a result of salvation or it’s a result of already having been saved.
In other words, regeneration, which means being born again, had to take place first, then comes faith. Simon, of his own free will decided to believe, yet we know his heart was not right. This is another indicator God uses to teach us that to believe is a far more complicated word than many think it is, because in order to truly believe, the heart must first be pure.
Romans 10:9-11 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
So the question is, with which heart does man believe unto righteousness? With the heart of stone that we have before salvation or with the heart of flesh that’s given to us after we’ve been made spiritually alive?
Ezekiel 36:25-27 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you (and this, by the way, is what it truly means to be baptized). A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Walking in God’s statutes and keeping his judgments is referring to obedience of the Word of God. This is why we continually teach that a true believer has an ongoing desire to do the will of God. God says I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in obedience and keep my commandments, and one of those commandments is the commandment to believe. This always took place after salvation.
1 John 3:23 And this is his 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.
And that’s the same thing Ezekiel 36 is speaking about, God giving of his spirit to each one of his elect to keep his commandments, like believing.
And I briefly want to touch on the word “whosoever” that we read in Romans 10:11, (which was in the context of believing), is also another word that’s greatly misunderstood.
I say this because we recently read that Simon himself believed and was baptized, and according to the free will gospel, “whosoever” includes anyone and everyone who wants to believe, and so according to their doctrine, Simon certainly must have been among the “whosoever”, yet his decision was of no effect.
You know, the amazing thing about the Bible is that you can start in one place and on one topic and end up in so many different places, talking about so many different topics, so I’m going to try to get back on track. Let’s turn back to Ephesians 1:13 and we’ll read into verse 14.
Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard (or having heard) the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed (or having believed), ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
So, first God opens up our spiritual ears to truly hear and follow the truth of his word being preached. And if we have been given spiritual ears to hear then that means we have been given spiritual life, then we can trust and then we can believe and are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Alright, let’s talk about what it means to be sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise. Verse 14 helps shed some light on this as it tells us that the seal of the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, but it doesn’t really help us clarify what the seal itself means. So when we look up the word “seal” we can see that it’s Strong’s #4972, and it’s actually another word in the context in which this word is used that will help us understand what the seal actually represents.
Matthew 27:62-67 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
The word “sealing” is the word we’re studying, it’s Strong’s #4972 and when we read that word in this context of the stone which covered Christ’s tomb, we can see that sealing the stone was the Pharisees way of making it “sure”. This word “sure” is Strong’s #805. It appears 3 times as “sure” in the passage we just read and once as “fast” in acts 16 (and we don’t have to turn there) but it talks about the jailors task to keep watch on Paul and Silas and so he makes their feet fast (or sure) in the stocks.
Now, reading it from the KJV still makes it somewhat difficult to see how the word “sure” or “fast” relates to being sealed, but when we read it from JP Green’s interlinear, the words “sure” and “fast” are always translated as “secure”. In other words, Christ’s tombstone was made secure by the seal placed upon it. This is what the seal of the Holy Spirit represents because when we’re sealed we’re secured until or into eternity.
Ok, let’s turn back to Ephesians 1:13, we want to look at the last word of the phrase, “ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise”. The word “promise” is Strong’s #1860 and it’s translated a total of 53 times. 52 of those times it’s translated as “promise” and once as “message”. Let’s take a look at Acts 7:17.
Acts 7:17-18 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
By this passage, we can see that a promise is simply that which is declared, and when God makes a promise, where does he declare it? In his word. This is why God has allowed the word “promise” to also be translated as “message”, because it directly relates to someone’s word.
1 John 1:5 This then is the message (or the promise) which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
I don’t know if it’s still practiced today, but it used to be that when you wanted to guarantee or promise something to someone, that you would give them your word. Well, the word “promise” as it’s used in Ephesians 1:13 is used the same way. God has promised us eternal life, and his promise is the Word of God itself. Ok, let’s move onto verse 14 of Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:14 And this again is speaking of the promise of the Holy Spirit, there we read:Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
We want to look at and make sure we understand what the word “earnest” means. The word “earnest” is Strong’s #G728 and it only appears 3 times, always translated as “earnest”. Twice it speaks about the earnest of the Spirit and once about the earnest of our inheritance, but it doesn’t really help us to define exactly what the word itself means.
But when we look at the pronunciation of this word in the Greek which is “arrabon”, we can see that it’s pronounced the same way as another word in Hebrew that’s translated as “pledge”. This Hebrew word is also pronounced as “arrabaun”, or very close to it. In other words, our Greek word for “earnest” comes from a Hebrew origin which is Strong’s #H6162. This word only appears 3 times and it’s always translated as “pledge”, all of which are found in the account of Judah and Tamar.
Genesis 38:15-20 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face. And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.
And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand: but he found her not.
What we can learn from this account is that a pledge was given to Tamar in order to guarantee delivery of a young goat from the flock. In other words, Judah’s signet, his bracelets and his staff were given to Tamar as a type of security “a pledge” or an “earnest” guaranteeing the delivery of something else.
And in the case of Ephesians 1:14, the Holy Spirit is given to the child of God as a pledge of security, guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. Now let’s turn to Mark 12:7 to examine this word “inheritance”.
Mark 12:7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.
The word inheritance and the word “heir” are words that are very closely related. This passage teaches us that to receive the promise of an inheritance means the children of God have been made heirs, but what exactly is our inheritance?
1 Peter 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
According to verse 4, the earnest of our inheritance is incorruptible and according to Ephesians 1:14, our inheritance is the redemption of the purchased possession. So, let’s turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 to get a better description of what this redemption consists of.
2 Corinthians 5:1-8 For we know that if our earthly house (in other words, this physical body) of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. (This phrase helps us to know that this passage is focusing on the same earnest of the Spirit spoken of in Ephesians 1:14) Let’s continue…
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body (meaning here in our physical body), we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
So, the redemption the Bible speaks of is when mortality is swallowed up of life. Let’s turn to one last place which will help put all this together. Let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 15:50.
1 Corinthians 15:50-54 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; (and this word inherit teaches us that this passage is in every way related to the inheritance we’re reading about in Ephesians 1) neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
And the phrase, “death is swallowed up in victory” is teaching the same thing as the phrase we read in 2 Corinthians 5 that says, “mortality (which is death or the ability to die) is swallowed up of life (that’s eternal life, or victory)”. This is how we can be sure that these passages are speaking of the same thing. This is what “the redemption of the purchased possession” is referring to in Ephesians 1:14. It’s when we receive our new resurrected immortal bodies.
Let’s turn back to Ephesians 1:14.
Ephesians 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
I think we all understand what the “purchased possession” is referring to, but just to be thorough, let’s take a look at this word. The words “purchased possession” are translated from one Greek word, this word is Strong’s #4047.
This word appears a total of 5 times and it’s also translated twice as “obtained”, once as “saving” and once as “peculiar”. But it’s not until we search a little further that we can see whythis word would be translated as “purchased possession”.
This Greek word comes from a related Greek word which is Strong’s #4046. This word is translated as “purchase”.
Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Let’s take a look at another passage that doesn’t use the word “purchase” or “purchased possession”, but it’s still conveying the same idea.
1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
God’s people are the purchased possession, they were bought at a price, and that price was paidby the death of Christ. The last part of verse 14 of Ephesians 1 says, “unto the praise of his glory”. Now, this is the third time since we began this study, that we’ve come across this phrase “the praise of his glory”. As a matter of fact, this phrase appears many times throughout the scriptures, and it does so for a reason.
We already know that every word which comes from the mouth of God is to be looked at with absolute importance. But even more so, when God repeats himself because he’s stressing the importance of whatever he’s repeating. Let’s re-read verses 11 & 12 of Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:11-12 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: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
In other words, God is stressing that the redemption of his elect, as well as every other aspect of their salvation, is completely the work of God for the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1, Part 5
From E Bible Fellowship’s Day in the Word – June 24, 2018
Ephesians 1:15-17 15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
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:
The opening of Ephesians 1:15 is describing the events in the verses before it regarding God’s complete work of salvation on behalf of his elect. So, the first word translated as “wherefore” is actually translated from 2 individual Greek words literally translated as “By this” or “Because of this”.
In other words, because God has done all the work of salvation”. So, I’m going to read it the way it’s written according to JP Green’s interlinear.
Ephesians 1:15-16 Because of this, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, I also Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
The way the KJV has it written, is still saying the same thing we just read, I just wanted to help clarify it a little better. So, we read that Paul heard of the faith of the people and of their loveunto all the saints. But how do you hear of someone’s faith or how do you hear of someone’s love towards others? Because both faith and love are works.
1 Thessalonians 1:1-3 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.
We also know that Christ demonstrated to us the very meaning of faith by the work he did in making payment for sins. Likewise, our “love” is demonstrated by our actions through obedience towards the Word of God. And it’s because of this that Paul states that he makes mention of the saints in his prayers. The word translated as “mention” is Strong’s #3417 and it’s also translated as “remembrance” because when you make mention of someone, you’re in effect remembering them.
And as we search out this word, we’ll see that Paul did this continually, and God recorded this in the Bible many times to use Paul as an example of what we ought to be doing for one another.
But as we read these next verses, even though we know that historically Paul wrote and sent these letters out to the saints in different areas, but we need to focus and remember who’s actually speaking here, it’s Christ speaking to his people.
Romans 1:9 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
Philippians 1:3-5 3 I thank my God upon every remembrance (and this is our word mention) upon every remembrance of you,
4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
2 Timothy 1:3 3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
So spiritually, we need to understand that Christ is the one who’s praying for the saints, because he’s the one who makes intercession for the saints.
Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Here we can see where it’s Christ who makes intercession to God for the saints. But let’s compare that with Romans 8:26.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
So, we can see that not only Christ but also the Holy Spirit makes intercession to God on behalf of the saints. In other words, both passages are teaching the same thing, that God prays to God on behalf of his saints. Let’s take a look at a passage where we have an example of this taking place. Let’s turn to John 17. Now this whole chapter is a prayer in which Christ is interceding for his elect, but I want to focus on verse 9.
John 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Luke 22:31-32 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
So I think God is very clear on this point, First and foremost, that he is the one who’s praying for his saints and secondly, when we pray, God also wants us to remember one another in our prayers. That’s what Ephesians 1:16 is teaching us. Let’s continue with verse 17 of Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:17-18 (and in these next verses, we’re going to read what the prayer is). 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:
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,
Now the phrase “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” has confused many people who deny the deity of Christ as the Almighty God. They look at a passage like this, which describes God as the God of Christ, and attempt to rationalize it based on their own extensive knowledge of God along with some common sense and conclude that if God is the God of Christ, then Christ cannot be God himself.
Yet these are the same people who refuse to compare scriptures with scriptures in order to find harmony. But the truth is that the only thing the creation can understand about the creator, is what the creator has chosen to reveal about himself. Not by using common sense or human logic, but only by using the Word of God as our guide for truth.
The word “Lord” incidentally, in verse 17, is also the word “master”, and we call Christ our Lord (or our master) because God’s people are his servants. Keep your finger here and let’s take a quick look at Matthew 10:24.
Matthew 10:24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant (and that’s what we are) above his lord.
Ok, back in Ephesians 1:17, let’s take a look at what exactly the prayer for God’s people is.
Ephesians 1:17-18 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:
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,
The prayer begins by making petition to God that he would give all the elect the spirit of wisdom, which is the Spirit of Christ because Christ is wisdom himself. So, this first part is a prayer for salvation, and remember, when Christ makes intercession to God for the saints, it’s so that the will of God be accomplished. And God has done exactly as he has prayed for, as he has finished giving the spirit of wisdom (which is salvation) to everyone he has chosen to receive it.
Next to salvation though, the most important thing that Christ intercedes for on behalf of his saints, as well as what the saints are to be praying for, both for themselves as well as for others, is that God may give them revelation in the knowledge of him.
The words “may give” are translated from one Greek word, it’s Strong’s #1325 and it’s also translated a “grant”. That God “may grant” unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: In this context, the word “grant” has to do with God’s sovereign will and his good pleasure.
You see, the greatest desire for any one who has become a true believer, is to know Godthrough his word. But even though the true believers have the Spirit of God, God has established boundaries and limitations on our understanding which he has reserved to be revealed at the times HE has appointed. We learned this long ago from the book of Daniel.
Daniel 12:8-10 And I heard, but I understood not: (You see, here’s a perfect example of what we’re learning in Ephesians. Here we have Daniel, a child of God, who has ears to hear, but has been kept by God from understanding what he’s hearing. And where’s Daniel turning to in order to understand that which he can’t? He’s turning to the only one who can grant understanding of his own words, he’s turning to God). Let’s continue.
then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
So, because God is the one who grants understanding, he’s the one we go to in prayer that he may grant understanding to his people according to his timing and perfect his will. Alright, let’s turn back to Ephesians 1:17.
Ephesians 1:17 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give (or may grant) unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
The word “wisdom” here is Strong’s #4678 and this word is always translated as “wisdom” as it’s used to speak about the wisdom of God, the wisdom of this world, and the wisdom of those who think they’re saved, but are not. But this word “wisdom” is also used as a synonym for the Word of God itself.
Luke 11:49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Literally, this verse reads, “Because of this also, the wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles…”. The wisdom of God speaks the Word of God because the wisdom of God is Christ himself. We know this because in the book of Proverbs, wisdom is speaking in the first person. Let’s take a look at what he says.
Proverbs 8:6-12 (remember, this is wisdom speaking) Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.
9 They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
So we can see that wisdom is speaking here because Christ is the very essence of wisdom. Let’s skip down to verse 22 & 23 just to confirm that this is in fact speaking of Christ.
22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
In verse 23, you’ll notice that wisdom says “I was set up from everlasting” And the word “set up” is Strong’s #5258 and it’s actually the word “poured out”, which is used in reference to an offering for sin. And the only offering for sin which was ever acceptable to God was the Lord Jesus Christ, which was set up or poured out (as we read), not at the cross, but from everlasting.
Let’s turn back to Ephesians 1:17.
Ephesians 1:17 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom (which as we already learned, was salvation) and revelation in the knowledge of him (and this is speaking about understanding):
This prayer is for salvation and understanding through the opening up of God’s word. The word “revelation” is Strong’s #602 and it’s the same word used in the book of revelation to convey the meaning of making something known which was not known before.
Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
This word revelation is also used in reference to making known that which has been kept secret or sealed up within the Word of God.
Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secretsince the world began,
The revelation of the mystery of the word of God is the same as the revelation of the knowledge of him which we read in Ephesians 1:17. And since God has answered the first part of his prayer, in that he has given to every one of his elect the spirit of wisdom (or salvation), what have we witnessed firsthand taking place since May 21, 2011 up to this very day?
That God is answering the second part of his prayer, in that he’s granting his elect revelation in the knowledge of him. Yes, God was granting salvation and knowledge even before May 21, 2011, but now more than ever, because we’re right up against the end of the world, God has reserved information, he has sealed up knowledge to be revealed at this time to ALL his elect.
Sadly, some people believe that the revelation which was kept till the time of the end ceased with the calendar which led up to May 21, 2011, and now all we have to do is sit and patiently wait for Christ to return on a day which God will no longer reveal.
But any child of God who has been spending time in His word can see that in these past seven years, God has revealed more information in such a short amount of time, when compared to the history of the world, that it’s almost like we’re reading the Bible for the first time, because the information which God is revealing to us was never before made known unto man.
That’s why when we proclaim the mystery of God, which God has kept secret until the time of the end, many look at us and speak evil of it. They simply can’t understand this information because it has not been given to them to understand, just like the Pharisees during Christ’s earthly ministry. Ok, let’s continue with Ephesians 1 and re-read verse 17 into verse 18.
Ephesians 1:17-18 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:
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,
What does revelation in the knowledge of him have to do with the eyes of our understanding being enlightened? Everything. Every time a child of God became saved, they learned how to walk by faith and not by sight. This means that a child of God learns how to trust what has been written in the Word of God, even if every physical evidence points to the contrary.
How many times have you heard that this world is millions of years old? Yet the Biblical evidence teaches us that this world is only a little over 13,000 years old. But because the world believes in the physical evidence over a spiritual book, they’re not able to see (with eyes of understanding), that God entire creation was created with the appearance of age.
And how many times have you heard that nothing happened on May 21, 2011? Probably more than once, but why? Again, because no one physically saw anything happen.
The world believes that seeing is believing, and not the world only, but as we saw many years ago, the churches believe that as well. Even though they believe in a God which they can’t see, they believe in a Holy Spirit which they can’t feel and most of the churches believe in a 6 day creation in which there were no eye witnesses to confirm the record in the word of God.
But these things, God, in his kindness has allowed mankind, both saved and unsaved, to accept regarding his Word.
But strong meat belongs to them that are perfect, In other words, this kindness of allowing mankind to believe without seeing only went so far. When the time of the end came, God spiritually weaned his true children from the milk of the word onto strong meat.
This means that they would now be able to see spiritual truths within the Word of God that even the churches could not, things like the end of the church age. But how were God’s children able to see this? Because the eyes of our understanding were enlightened.
God’s people were looking at the scriptures with spiritual eyes, in other words, the proof (or the evidence) of what God was teaching us regarding the end of the church age and the nature of May 21, 2011 was contained deep within the Word of God. And little by little, we were able to see this through eyes of faith.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
From having spent quite a few years in different churches, I became aware of the way the churches interpret the prophecies of the scriptures, and it’s nothing like it’s described in Hebrews 11:1. The churches position regarding the fulfilment of prophecy is based solely on the evidence of that which IS seen.
That’s why when we preached the end of the church age based solely on the evidence found in the Word of God, we were looked at by the churches as being crazy (and the word crazy is actually one of the more kinder words that was used to describe us).
According to the churches, attendance was great, more and more were responding to the call of the gospel and accepting Christ, larger churches were being built to accommodate their growth and more and more popular preachers were surfacing. So, of course they didn’t agree with what was being proclaimed, not with the end of the church age and much less with the shutting of the door to salvation upon the world on May 21, 2011.
And since then, God has continued to enlighten the eyes of our understanding to see truths which have been made known only to his children. Let’s continue with verse 18 of Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1:18 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,
The word “enlightened” has to do with the giving of the light of the gospel by God. When we look up this word, which is Strong’s #5461, we can see that enlightenment is something that was done for not only the true children of God, but also for the nation of Israel and the churches, as they were both stewards of the gospel.
Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
The nation of Israel and the earthly churches were once enlightened because externally they were used by God to accomplish his will and they outwardly identified with the people of God as God used them to be the stewards of his word.
And being stewards of the word of God, means that they had to handle and be involved with the Word of God in one form or another, and in doing so, God allowed them to be able to see some truth from his word, they were enlightened. But once God ended his use of them, Israel as a nation and the churches as an establishment, they would never again be granted repentance.
The word “enlightened” is also used in 1 Corinthians 4:5 to speak of what would take place during our time of judgment when God would use the light of the Word of God to reveal the true conditions of the heart.
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light (this is the word “enlighten”) the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
As we know, the Lord did indeed come, first upon the nation of Israel when he was manifest in the flesh and brought judgment upon them at the time of the cross, and then on May 21, 1988 when he brought judgment upon the churches. But on both accounts, the judgment God brought “enlightened” or “brought to light” or “revealed” the hidden things of darkness within the hearts of men.
Let’s continue with verse 18 of Ephesians 1.
So, in Ephesians 1:18, the enlightening of the eyes of the saints, has to do with God revealing more truth from his Word, which is reinforced by the next part of this verse.
Ephesians 1:18 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,
The fnext thing we read is, “that ye may know what is the hope of his calling”. The word “hope” is Strong’s #1680, and this word identifies with an expectation we have based on the trust we have placed on the declarations of the Word of God. This word appears a total of 54 times in the Greek. 53 of those times it’s translated as “hope” and once as “faith”, but it should really always be translated as “hope”.
Let’s take a look at the one instance where this word has been translated as “faith” in the KJV.
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith (this word faith is the word hope. It should read) Let us hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
The word “Faith” and the word “hope” are not the same words, they’re not even grammatically related, but spiritually, they go hand in hand.
Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
In other words, because of the faith of Christ, God’s elect are able to stand and rejoice in hopethat God will do what he said and bring this salvation to completion. This verse also teaches us that without the faith of Christ bestowed on behalf of an individual, there would be no hope. Let’s take a look at another example.
1 Peter 1:18-21 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
Again, here we can see that faith and hope go hand in hand. And “the hope of God’s calling” as we read in Ephesians 1:18, again has to do with the trust which those who have been called with a holy calling and saved, place in the Word of God.
2 Timothy 1:7-9 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
9 Who hath saved us, and 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,
Let’s continue with Ephesians 1:18.
Ephesians 1:18 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,
We know that when the Bible speaks of the riches of the glory of God, that earthly wealth is in no way in view. God’s riches go way beyond that which is temporal and corruptible. The riches of the glory of God have to do with salvation, but it also has to do with knowledge and underdstanding, which are also an integral part of our salvation.
Romans 11:29-36 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchableare his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
This passage has been used by some to declare that God’s ways are past finding out and that his judgments are unsearchable, therefore we need to stop looking for an end time date or more judgment day information.
What’s interesting though, is that this passage alone is in fact teaching that God’s judgments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out, because no man, of themselves has known or can know the mind of the Lord. But there’s more to this passage that isn’t stated in the immediate context.
The question stated in verse 34 that says, “who hath known the mind of the Lord?”, is asked two times in the scriptures, once here and once in 1 Corinthians 2 where the context is also speaking about no man knowing the things of God, except those who have been given the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2 (whole chapter) And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even sothe things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Now the passage we read in Romans 11 begins to have more clarity in that we’re beginning to understand that it’s true, that no man can understand the deep things of God apart from the Spirit of God which reveals to us the wisdom and judgments of God, things which would otherwise be unsearchable. Let’s continue here with verse 13..
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 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.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
You can see here that God is presenting two types of people, the natural man and the spiritual man. To the one, the natural man, the Word of God (or the mind of the Lord) is foolishness, but to the spiritual man, the mind of the Lord is knowledge. The last verse in this chapter, is where the same question we read in Romans 11 appears again, except this time, God answers the question.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? (and here’s the answer) but we have the mind of Christ.
So, no man, apart from those who have the mind of Christ, can of themselves understand the judgments of God or find out the ways of God. But God’s elect, through no merit of their own, can understand the judgments of the Lord and understand his ways, only because they have been given the mind of Christ himself and patiently wait for progressive revelation to come.
Now, the riches of God also describe the attributes of God. As we read in Romans 11, God uses the word “riches” to describe his wisdom and his knowledge, but he also uses the word “riches to describe his kindness, his toleration towards mankind and his patience.
Romans 2:2-4 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Also, in Ephesians 1:18, God is using the word “riches” to describe his glory, or the glory of his inheritance. The word “inheritance” is Strong’s #2817 and the word “heir” is a related word, it’s Strong’s #2818, so these are basically the same words.
God’s children have been given an inheritance through the Lord Jesus Christ, this means that we’ve been made heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
Romans 8:14-18 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Along with Christ interceding for his elect in order to accomplish his will, God also wants us to pray for one another, that each one of us may grow in wisdom and in the knowledge of the Word of God, because when we grow in our understanding, then we’re able to boldly proclaim, with humility, that which God continues to reveal. Let’s turn to our last passage, it’s in Ephesians chapter 6.
Ephesians 6:17-20 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for ALL saints;
19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
From E Bible Fellowship’s Day in the Word – August 26, 2018
Last month we finished going over verse 18 so today I’d like to continue with verse 19 and Lord willing, finish up with this chapter. But I’d like to re-read the context in which verse 19 is found, so let’s begin reading at verse 15.
Ephesians 1:15-19 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
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:
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, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of hismighty power,
This prayer which begins to be described in verse 17, continues into verse 19. The prayer is that God may give unto his children the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, so that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened, that they may know:
1. (And this is from verse 18) What is the hope of his calling…
2. What the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints are… AND
3. (This is from verse 19) What is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe…
Now that we understand the context of verse 19, I’d like to take a closer look at it.
The word translated as “exceeding”, is Strong’s #5235 and it conveys the meaning of surpassing, and because Ephesians 1:19 is speaking about the greatness of God’s power, we can be sure that his power and his work of love, surpasses any and all understanding.
Ephesians 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
And the word translated here, as “passeth”, is the same word we read in back Ephesians 1:19 translated as “exceeding”. But what exactly is “the greatness of his power” referring to in Ephesians 1:19? Well, according to the second half of the verse, the greatness of his power has to do with the working of his power. And of course that work can only be the work of salvation, because it’s directed “to us-ward or toward us who believe”.
The two words translated as “power” in Ephesians 1:19 are not the same words. The first word translated as “power” is Strong’s #1411 it’s the word “dunamis” and the second word translated as “power” is Strong’s #2904 and it’s the word “Kratis”.
The word “dunamis” is mostly translated as “power”, but it’s also correctly translated as “mighty work” because insofar as Ephesians 1:19 is concerned, it has to do with the gospel of salvation.
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power (or it is the mighty work) of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Let’s turn back to Ephesians 1:19.
Ephesians 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power (or of his mighty work) to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
The word translated as “working” is Strong’s #1753 and it again reinforces the fact that everything about salvation, from start to finish, is only the work of God through the faith of Christ.
Ephesians 3:7-8 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
Here, the word “working” is also referring to his power as in Ephesians 1:19, but here it’s been translated as “effectual working” because the work of salvation continues to work in the life of each child of God until the completion of our salvation.
Philippians 3:20-21 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working (and this is our word) whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Let’s also turn to Colossians chapter 2.
Colossians 2:9-14 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God (and the word “operation” is the word we’ve been following which is the word “working”. Let’s read it again.), Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the working of God who hath raised him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
And verse 12 is another passage that helps us understand that the faith of Christ has everythingto do with his work. Or to put it another way, as stated in the book of James, that faith must beaccompanied by works. This is how we’ve been sure for some time now that the faith by which the child of God was saved was never his own because it had to be accompanied by works.
The last word I want to look at in Ephesians 1:19 was the second word that was translated as “power”, and if you remember, this was Strong’s #2904 and it’s the word “Kratis”. This word “power” is also translated as “dominion” and as “strength”, and when we look up the verses that contain these words we see that on every occasion but one, the verses that use this Greek word “kratis” is speaking about God. The one time it isn’t speaking about God, it’s speaking of the power of the Devil, which was destroyed by Christ. But even the power that Satan had, was given to him by God. Let’s take a look at that example in Hebrews 2:14
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Let’s take a look at a few more verses where this word “power” or “dominion” is found.
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Jude verse 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Revelation 1:5-6 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominionfor ever and ever. Amen.
Alright, let’s turn back to Ephesians chapter 1. And to get the context of verse 20, let’s start re-reading from verse 17.
Ephesians 1:17-20 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:
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, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
The opening words of verse 20 are describing the mighty power that was wrought through Christ in verse 19. The “HE” being spoken of in verse 20, is speaking about God the fatherwhich was mentioned in verse 17. It says, God the Father wrought this power in (or through) Christ. The word translated as “wrought” is Strong’s #1754 and this is another word that’s mostly translated as “work”.
Verse 19 stated, “And what is the exceeding greatness of his mighty work to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power”, verse 20, “which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead”. See how God continues to reiterate his work of salvation, and this (according to verse 18) is what he wants us to know. Salvation is entirely and completely the work of God from beginning to end.
Let’s look at verse 20 again. It says, “Which he wrought (or which he worked) in Christ”. The word translated as “IN” is Strong’s #1722 and it’s also translated as “BY” and “WITH”. So, we could also properly read this verse as “Which he wrought BY Christ”, or “Which he wrought WITH Christ when he (meaning God) raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,”.
Now, the last part of this verse is very important to understand. The entire chapter, so far, has been focused on the salvation of the saints and the prayer for their understanding. God is telling us that all of this was wrought by Christ when God raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
Now, based on the information that God has recently revealed from the scriptures, we have to ask, which of the two times, that Christ was raised from the dead, is this speaking of? And this is a doctrine that many people have been snared by because they can only see the historical record at the time of the cross in 33 AD.
But we now know that God has much more to say regarding the death of Christ, namely that he was killed twice, and that he rose from the dead twice. But only one of those times, was it to pay for sins. Now we could venture off onto this subject alone and spend days on end going over it, but for the sake of moving along in Ephesians, I’d like to demonstrate which of the two resurrections this verse is looking at.
Now because verse 20 is in the very context of his predestination, election, and forgiveness of sins, we can be sure that the resurrection mentioned in verse 20, is focusing on the time when payment for sins took place and not when the demonstration took place. It was at this time, according to the second half of verse 20, that God set Christ at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Let’s finish reading the chapter.
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:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
So, the first question we want to seek to answer is when was Christ set at the right hand of God? At the time of the cross, or at the point of the world’s foundation? The answer is, it was at the time when he made payment for sins.
Hebrews 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Now, I want to try and answer one very important question at this point. When we look through the scriptures, why is it that there seems to be so much seemingly clear evidence that Christ sat down at the right hand of God after the cross in 33AD, just like there’s similar seemingly clear evidence that Christ paid for sins at the time of the cross?
In other words, God has placed this information to be so readily available and plainly laid out in the word of God, that logically, it doesn’t really make any sense that there would be a need for anyone to question it. But this is what the Bible refers to as a snare. So what exactly is the snare?
It’s the lack of searching for biblical harmony throughout the entire Bible. It’s thinking that what’s been plainly stated or that which has been clearly done to be the plain truth. But how many times did Christ make plain and simple statements in the Bible?
None of the times, because we know that Christ did not speak without parables. But those hearing his words, even his disciples at the beginning, made the incorrect assumption that when Christ made statements, that he was speaking plainly.
Leaven… Explained to disciples. (Mt 16:5-12)
Temple… Not explained to Pharisees. (John 2:13-21)
So, what God is teaching his children, is that the statements made by the Word of God, need to be explained by the Word of God, in order for them to be properly understood. And when we approach the scriptures with that in mind, we’ll be more cautious before taking any part of the scriptures at face value and we’ll be better prepared when looking for truth.
Let’s take a look at a few passages that seem to clearly speak of when Christ was seated at the right hand of God.
Matthew 26:63-64 But Jesus held his peace, And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Here we see Christ making the statement, “hereafter”, in other words, “from this moment onshall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power”. Many people reason that before this time, Christ was not seated at the right hand of God because he had not yet died and rose again.
After all, isn’t that what we read in Ephesians 1:20? That Christ was set on the right hand of God when he raised him from the dead? Let’s take a look at another seemingly clear passage.
Mark 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
These verses seem pretty clear, don’t they? You know, one of the things I remember Mr. Camping always saying, was that God wrote the Bible to foster unbelief, and it’s true. But God’s people know that everything Christ spoke (which is the entire word of God), is spoken in parables, or it’s spoken in a manner which conceals truth.
So, when we question any part of the Word of God, it’s because we’re always seeking to answer the same question, “Am I understanding this text correctly?”. And, of course, that leads us to begin comparing scripture with scripture.
Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
So, we can see in verse 2 of this chapter that Christ is being referenced as speaking to the saints in these last days, this is speaking about Christ’s earthly ministry. But then the same verse takes us all the way back to the beginning, and again focusing on Christ as the creator. Let’s continue with verse 3.
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
Ok, now this passage really holds the key that helps us understand when Christ paid for sins and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. The beginning of verse 3 begins by saying, “Who being the brightness of his glory…”, after this, two conjunctions are inserted before continuing the focus of the verse, which is redemption. So, I want to re-read this verse by leaving out the two conjunctions for now, to help us understand something about the glory of Christ.
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
In other words, Christ was in the brightness of his glory WHEN he died and rose again to make payment for sins. Now I want you to keep that in mind and turn to John chapter 17.
John 17:1-5 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
The word “glory” here in John 17 is Strong’s #1391. And it’s the same word “glory” that we read in Hebrews 1 verse 3. In other words, Christ was in the brightness of his glory when he had made payment for sins, and John 17 is teaching us that this glory Christ had before the world was. And this of course harmonizes with the fact that Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
But then what do we do with seemingly plain verses, like the one we read in Mark 16:19? That after Christ spoke to his disciples “he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God”. Well, we can also understand those passages in light of what we read in John 17.
Christ was praying to be glorified with the glory he had before the world was. That means that while he was on earth demonstrating (in a parable) how he paid for sins, that Christ emptied himself, but not of his deity or of his power, but of the glory which he had before the world was. Christ came to demonstrate what was already accomplished at the point of the world’s foundation, and in order to do this, he had to take on the likeness of sinful man and humble himself by becoming obedient to a death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
This passage is speaking about the birth and earthly ministry of Christ, who was before this time, already seated at the right hand of God, in the brightness of his glory, by the resurrection from the dead from the foundation of the world. But we read in verse 7, that he made himself of no reputation. The words translated as, “of no reputation” are one Greek word which is Strong’s #2758. This word is also translated as “make void” and also as “make of none effect”.
Romans 4:13-14 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith (or the work of Christ) is made void (this is our word) and the promise made of none effect:
1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
So, again, when Christ made himself of no reputation, parabolically, (meaning for the sake of his demonstration), he made himself of none effect by emptying himself of the glory which he once had. In other words, outwardly and for the purpose of the demonstration, Christ had to demonstrate everything that was already accomplished, because all this (in the form of a tableau) was taking place for the first time in the sight of men.
This is why we read such statements in the Bible that make it seem as though the atonement had not yet taken place. Let’s take a look at one.
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
So, when we understand and keep in mind that the demonstration was a parable, then we can see that the demonstration accomplished many things, it fulfilled the written Word of God, and it also served to hide the truth of the atonement and the glory of Christ from those who are outside the kingdom of God.
Mark 4:10-12 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
11 And he said unto them, 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:
If you notice, the word “these” is italicized because it’s not in the original text. So, it doesn’t say “all these things are done in parables” it says “all things are done in parables”. In other words, everything that was spoken and done, not only during Christ’s earthly ministry, but also throughout the entire Bible (because remember, the entire Bible came from the mouth of Christ) was done in parables.
Also, the next verse teaches us the same thing, that it wasn’t only what Christ spoke that was parabolic, but also the things he did.
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them
So, the statement that, “All things are done in parables” has to do with the things that were spoken, as well as the things that were done.
Also, (and after this we’ll get back on track), we notice throughout the four gospels, that Christ continually stated that this or that was done in order that the scriptures be fulfilled.
Matthew 26:51-56 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.
52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
55 In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.
56 But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
In other words, when something that was written about in the scriptures came to pass, then that which was written about, was fulfilled. The word translated as “done” in verse 56 of the passage we just read, is Strong’s #1096 and this is the same word which we read in Mark 4:11 which was also translated as “done”. And this word “done” is also correctly translated as “come to pass”. I’ll read verse 56 again.
56 But all this came to pass, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
I just want to stress this point one more time, when a particular scripture was fulfilled, then that scripture came to pass. The reason I point this out is because Christ’s demonstration of the atonement was written about in the scriptures and it came to pass.
And if we keep in mind what we read in Mark 4:11, that “all things are done in parables”. We can substitute the word “done” for the words “come to pass” and have absolute certainty that all things that came to pass in parables, and this includes, the cross.
Now I know at some point we got off track, so, let’s turn back to Ephesians 1:20. Let’s read verse 20 & 21.
Ephesians 1:20-21 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
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:
So, we established that God’s focus, in verse 20, is at the world’s foundation and not at the cross. Verse 21 continues by stating that Christ was set “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”.
The words translated as “far above” is Strong’s #5231 and it only appears 3 times. Let’s take a look at the other two times this word is used.
Ephesians 4:7-10 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above (there’s our word) all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Let’s take a look at the last verse where this word appears.
Hebrews 9:1-5 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.
2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.
3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
5 And over it (this is our word) the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
In this passage, we read the description of the Old Testament tabernacle and of the ark of the covenant which was located in holy of holies within the tabernacle. The holy of holies was where God chose to place his presence, and that’s what the arc of the covenant represented, the presence of God. But let’s turn to the book of Exodus to focus on these two cherubims.
Exodus 25:18-22 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
In other words, the cherubims were physically located above the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant. Well in Hebrews 9:5, we read pretty much the same thing, that the cherubims were over the mercy seat. But the word translated as “over” in Hebrews 9:5 is the word we’ve been following that’s translated as “far above”, in other words, Hebrews 9:5 is not speaking of a physical location but a position of authority.
Spiritually, the cherubims were far above the mercy seat or far above God himself. Now many theologians believe that the cherubims are angelic beings, but the Bible simply will not allow that given what we’ve just understood.
Since the cherubims were far above the mercy seat, the cherubims represent, the Word of God. We know this, because we read in the scriptures that God has exalted his word above all his name.
Psalm 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
And the word translated as “above” here in Psalm 138 is the same word we read in Exodus 25:22 that’s also translated as “above”, as in “above the mercy seat”. And of course, the fact that it is God’s Word that’s been exalted above all his name, ties back into what we read in Ephesians 1:21 which is speaking of Christ, the Word of God. So, if Christ, like the cherubims, have been set far above all that is God, then like we read in Ephesians 1:21, there is no principality, no might, no dominion and no other name, either in this world or the world to come, of which Christ is not above.
Philippians 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above EVERYname:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Ok, let’s turn back to Ephesians 1:21
Ephesians 1:21-22 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: 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
What does it mean that all things are placed under the feet of Christ? Well, it denotes the authority of the Word of God over all things, that’s why the second half of verse 22 tells us that Christ was given to be the head over all things. Let’s turn to Isaiah 66.
Isaiah 66:1-2 Thus saith JEHOVAH, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith JEHOVAH: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
So, we can see that because all things were placed under Christ’s feet, that he can speak of the earth (or of his creation) as his footstool. In other words, the Word of God is the ultimate authority over the entire creation, and we can say this is true from the foundation of the world because Christ IS that foundation. And we need to keep this in mind every time we approach the Word of God.
Let’s finish up with this chapter in Ephesians. Let’s read verse 22 & 23.
Ephesians 1:22-23 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Now this is not saying that Christ gave the church to be the head of all things, but that Christ is head of all things, including the church, which is his body, so we know that he’s speaking about the eternal church, of which Christ is the head.
Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of thechurch: and he is the saviour of the body.
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
We’ll stop here.
Now, the last phrase of Ephesians 1:23 that said, “the fulness of him that filleth all in all”. The word “fulness” there, has to do making something complete. In other words, Christ makes up the fulness, or completeness of the body. And when Christ saved the last of his elect, then the application of his salvation was all fulfilled and his body was complete.
And this is what the last phrase in Verse 23 of Ephesians 1 is referring to when it says, that Christ is the head of the body, “the fulness of him that filleth all in all”. The word “filleth” is the same word we looked at earlier, it’s the word “fulfill”, which of course has the Word of God in view. In other words, God’s people can fully trust that when the body was complete, then his salvation program was fulfilled.
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