Ephesians 1:11-23
11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory. 15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. 20 God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. 22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
The theme of Ephesians 1:11-23 includes verses 11-14 as the end of a discussion of the plan of God for the salvation of humanity that began in verse 3 and verses 15-23, a prayer focusing upon the supremacy of Christ.
We now come to the third benefit of life in Christ. Ephesians 1:11-12 praises God for a redemption that brings with it an inheritance, continuing a reflection on the work of the Son. 11In Christ (enw), we have also obtained an inheritance (ἐκληρώθημεν), suggesting a special status. These days we think of an inheritance as simply money we unexpectedly receive or some property that one can turn into money. We could talk about the Christian hope of heaven at this point. God has no desire to spend eternity without us. Yet, the vision Paul has at this point is more than simply our personal destiny. Our inheritance is the renewed heaven and earth promised in Christ in verse 10. The moment will come when earth will do the will of God even as heaven already does it. We are to act now as those who possess the inheritance. All of this may seem like too much. G. K. Chesterton, with a wisdom contrary that of Mark Twain offered above, said, “If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?” In Christ, Paul sides with Chesterton. Having been destined (προορισθέντες) according to the purpose of himwhom accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, stressing that God is the one who destines. 12So that we who were first to set our hope on Christ, which seems to refer to the Jewish origin of the church, and thus, to those Jews who saw their long-expected dream of a Messiah fulfilled in Jesus. If such hope depends upon our vitality or ability, it is perishable. Christian hope has its source, not within us, but outside us, in Christ.[1] The point is that all of us, Jew and Gentile alike, might live for the praise of the glory we find in Christ.
We come to the fourth and final benefit of life in Christ. Ephesians 1:13-14 praises God for a redemption that the Holy Spirit seals or assures to us. He shifts his attention to the work of the Spirit. The point is the imparted Spirit guarantees believers a share in the future consummation.[2] Participation in this redemption is not dependent on genealogy but rather on a series of three steps. Thus, 13 in him (enw) you Gentiles also, when you, first, had heard the word of truth, identifying word and truth. Paul valued the word of the messengers of Christ more than speculation. “Truth” (Hebrew 'emeth) is also the root for faithfulness. Hosea will take his wife “in faithfulness” (Hosea 2:20). God is faithful and without deceit (Deuteronomy 32:4). Truth is a way of living. Something is true when someone enacts it in life. Philosophy in Greece developed an abstract and intellectual concept of truth. Walking in Christ is the way Christians enact the truth. Such faithful living began in the Jewish community, embraced the Gentile world, and eventually embraced creation. He further defines the word of truth as the gospel of your salvation. Thus, we learn that participation in this redemption depends upon hearing the word of truth, the gospel of salvation. Further, second, they believed in Christ. Participation in this redemption involves, after hearing, a response of believing the message. The third step says Christ is the one who marked them with the seal (ἐσφραγίσθητε) of the promised Holy Spirit, probably a reference to baptism. It refers to the gift of the Spirit at baptism, meaning an opening of hearts and lips of the saints to render testimony. The sealing began in baptism but it still continues. As a third step in participating in this redemption, all believers enjoy the full of measure of the gifts of the Spirit. He furthers identifies the Spirit as 14 the pledge of our inheritance. The Spirit must be a pledge, for all of us have felt separation and estrangement. Have you not had the experience of being lonely in the midst of a social event? Surrounded by noise and talk, we realize how strange we are to each other. We realize how estranged life is from life. Technical progress keeps removing the physical distance between us, but the walls of distance and estrangements remain in our hearts.[3] Yet, the presence of this Spirit is a sure sign of the full inheritance of redemption that all who live within the faith community share in common. Such a pledge is a promise, but one that one already receives a tangible down payment. The Spirit is part of our reality. A portion of the plan of God for cosmic unity resides in our lives. We are to bring that plan into the world that so desperately needs a vision of unity. The pledge of our inheritance is toward redemption as the people of God, to the praise of his glory. All peoples can now celebrate their common redemption as the people of God. Beginning in verse 3 with offering a blessing to God, Paul ends the segment with saying all of this action of God is to our praise of divine glory. Prosperity causes amnesia. Great blessings of God tend to cause forgetting. Present benefits of faith appear self-generated, making gratitude rare. Having no one to thank for our lives, there is no one to whom we must hold accountable our lives. Poor thankfulness, bad doxology, leads to bad living and poor ethics.
I think it fitting to offer a brief reflection on praise. Like the truths of music and art, we apprehend religious truths at a deeper level than we comprehend them. Feelings being treacherous, the mind must play a critical role in the religious life, but the mind alone cannot discover God. It may well be, then, that God is not too hard to believe in, simply too good to believe in, we being strangers to such truth, goodness, and beauty.[4]
Often, we link praise with music. I am not a singer or musician. We often feel like the praise we offer is weak, hesitant, and sporadic. Yet, we have the faith that God can take our feeble response of praise and turn it into beautiful music. I share a well-known story I have shared often in my ministry. A mother wished to encourage her young son's progress in playing the piano. She bought tickets for a concert by Ignace Paderewski. The seats were near the front. It was not long until the mother was talking with a friend. The boy slipped away. At 8:00 pm the lights went out and the spotlight shown on the stage where the Steinway piano was. It was only then that people noticed the boy on the bench, innocently picking out, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." The mother was embarrassed. She started up to the stage to get him. Just then, the master pianist appeared on stage. "Do not quit, keep playing,” he whispered to the boy. Leaning over, Mr. Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.[5]
Praise is the main business of Christians, both in church on Sunday morning and through the week in our words and deeds. Think of our lives as Christians as thanksgiving to God. We are the only song to God that many may ever hear. Make it a good song, a song worth singing, a song with so catchy a tune that others may pick up the beat and sing it as well. At some point, I hope we hear the question. We may not even know who put it or when we heard it. We may not remember answering. Yet, at some moment, we say Yes to the meaningful quality of our lives. Our lives have a goal. We do not look back. We are not overly anxious about tomorrow. We have the assurance of that our lives are part of something grand.[6] For people of Christian faith, Jesus belongs to no age, race, or creed. When we look into his face, we see in it the glory of our possibilities as individuals and as the human race. We utter a heart-felt “Thank you” to God.[7] We are mortal,and we desire to praise. We are only a small part of creation. Yet, God prompts us to praise and delight in offering praise, for God has made us for this relationship with the one who has made us, and we are restless until we find our rest in that relationship.[8] We offer our praise with our whole lives, with attitude and action, word and deed.
Ephesians 1:15-23 is a prayer focusing upon the supremacy of Christ. The segment is one long sentence in Greek. It includes thanksgiving, intercession, praise of the resurrection, and a description of the church, of which God, the Spirit, and Christ are the primary agents. The prayer mentions the apostles, saints, and church.
The prayer in Ephesians 1:15-16 with giving thanks to God, similar to what we also find in Colossians 1:3-4 and Philemon 4-5. 15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints. For some scholars, why must he hear of their faith and love since he founded the congregation. He would know of these virtues by personal experience. However, others think he is writing specifically to newly baptized gentiles, in which case this reference would make sense. More importantly, we see what Christian tradition would call the theological virtues become an important part of this prayer. Paul will commend congregations for their faith and love. He commends the church in Thessalonica for the faith they have and of which others have told him (I Thessalonians 1:6-10). He does not praise a general quality of faith, but faith in Lord Jesus. He does not praise a general quality of love for humanity, but love focused on its expression to other Christians. Whenever Paul speaks of saints, he is talking about members of the church, a group of people God has chosen and set apart to the work of God in the world. They are holy people because they are the people of God who have the mission in life to witness in word and deed to the work of God in Christ. He will describe this faith later in the letter. Faith is part of the means of salvation “by grace” (2:8), and it is also through faith that we have “access to God” though Christ, who sits at God’s right hand (3:12; 1:20) but who, through faith, dwells in our hearts as well (3:17). Additionally, the author continues to emphasize the importance of love in the community. Their love has its foundation in Christ’s love (2:4-5; 3:19) and is necessary for the “building up” of the body of Christ (4:16) as he exhorts the whole congregation to “live in love, as Christ loved us” (5:2). Further, for this reason, their faith and love, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. Paul was aware of people's sin and weakness, but he refused to get involved in flaming indictments of his congregations. Rather, he begins with expressions of thanks. At the same time, he usually shares intercession with them related to the conditions prevailing in them. A pattern in Pauline letters is that he will begin with a prayer of thanksgiving for the congregation. Paul adopted the pattern common in the Greco-Romans letters of his time. We see the pattern in I Thessalonians 1:2-10, Romans 1:8-17, and I Corinthians 1:4-9. The offering of thanks will also foreshadow some of the themes of the rest of the letter. Beginning in this way focuses on the positive dimension of their congregational life.
Paul is offering two signs of sainthood.
The first sign of a saint is faith in the Lord Jesus. What does it mean to have faith in the Lord Jesus? It means trusting the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. The word “truth” among the Greek philosophers could be a quite abstract and intellectual matter. For the Hebrews, truth is that which is endurable and reliable, that which stands the test of time. You can place your trust in this word, that Jesus is the way to God. It will be the journey of a lifetime. You are not to just be a member of this congregation. You are to make this the journey of your life, in which Jesus becomes the center of your life. That is what saints do, plain and simple — they follow Jesus on the way to God.
The second sign of sainthood is their love toward the saints. In my experience, saints are best known through seemingly small, earthly gestures, deeds of love and mercy made all the more holy because they are so earthly. In the first days of the church, the saints were part of a community of love and concern, one in which acts of practical service demonstrated such love. One of the first things the early Christians did was to organize a diaconate to make certain that widows and the needy got some relief (Acts 6:1-7). “Contribute to the needs of the saints,” wrote Paul to the Romans; “extend hospitality to strangers” (Romans 12:13). We find widows commended in the Christian community for showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, and helping the afflicted (1 Timothy 5:10). Paul spearheaded a collection for the church in Jerusalem and described it as a special “ministry to the saints” (II Corinthians 8:4). Today, as in the earliest days of the church, love needs to be more than a word, more than an emotion — it needs to be an act of practical service.
In Ephesians 1:17-19, Paul next moves toward an intercession for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who will reveal hope, riches, and power from God. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, beginning with identifying who God is. The word glory may actually refer back to Jesus, in which case we should translate as “Glory.” His prayer is that this God will give them a new human spirit of wisdom (σοφίας)that will guide them in how to live and revelation (ἀποκαλύψεως) or special insight into the gospel. Such persons remain fallible, of course. All the saints receive such guidance and inspiration. He makes the goal of this new human spirit clear in saying as you come to know him (God, Christ, or both), the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of Glory. Such guidance and inspiration suggest growth, so God will continue to give to them this Spirit. The goal of the giving of such a new human spirit of wisdom and revelation is 18 so that, in a unique phrase, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, suggesting such enlightenment or illumination is a continuous process throughout life rather than just a moment. The emphasis is the creative function of the human spirit. Biblical literature will use the eyes and heart as metaphors for comprehension and understanding. Thus, those who worship idols do not know or comprehend, for they have shut their eyes and minds so that they cannot understand (Isaiah 44:18). God created humanity in the image of God, giving them eyes and a mind for thinking, filling them with knowledge and understanding (Sirach 17:6-7). Further, having already referred to their faith and love, the goal is that they may know what is the hope, rounding out the theological virtues. Most readers of Paul recognize that Ephesians does not put as much emphasis upon the future consummation of Christian hope as do other letters. Paul can stress the importance of waiting for the Son from heaven (I Thessalonians 1:10). He can stress that while we grieve over those who have died, we do so with hope, for the dead in Christ will rise first, so that all faithful will be with their Lord forever (I Thessalonians 4:13-18). The content of that hope will conclude the prayer. Such hope refers to the future and the thing for which they hope.He further refers to the hope as that to which he, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of Glory, has called you. The instrument of the calling is the gospel that invites us to enter into a new relationship. The hope to which God calls them finds further definition in that they will know the riches of the glorious inheritance among the saints, stressing the unity that forward-looking hope brings to the people.
A third sign of sainthood is knowing the hope to which called us. We can enjoy this quality right now. People who are saints in this life assume that God is always ahead of them, not stuck behind them, and they are constantly seeking to learn what God is revealing to them. We need the spirit of wisdom and revelation in order to see the hope that is already present. A generation ago, entertainer Gracie Allen said, “Never put a period where God has placed a comma.” There is a lot of truth in it because it reminds us that God is leading us into a future of new wisdom, new revelations, new understandings, new insights. Don’t put a period where God has placed a comma — saints take this seriously as they look for new revelations every day. This spirit of wisdom and revelation knows the hope to which God has called us, the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and the immeasurable greatness of his power. We do not have to die and go to heaven before we can have this wisdom
Certain segments of the church in the world today will emphasize this Other-sidedness or Yonder orientation of the New Testament. Some will do so while expressing little concern for This-sidedness or Here orientation that we also find in the New Testament. When people are hungry, it does not show materialism. It shows they are hungry. Yet, one could make a good case today that the focus of the modern western church is a passionate anxiety about economics and political organizations. The problem with this approach is perspective. It treats Here and This-sidedness as if eternal. I grant the element of truth in the saying that some people are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly good. The opposite is also true. Some people are so earthly minded they are of no heavenly good. Time is no judge of eternity. Rather, eternity is the judge and tester of time. Eternity is present within us and around us as a spiritual presence. Eternity is the creative root of time. Eternity embraces time. Thus, we need to learn to live our lives at two levels simultaneously. We live at the level of time that eternity embraces. Sometimes, we are aware of the glory of eternity, even while also aware of our daily temporal routine. Sometimes the clouds settle low and we are chiefly aware of the world of time. Yet, the hint of the eternal, the divine presence, remains with us, even if at the margins of our consciousness.[9] In addition to this hope, his intercession includes their present experience of 19 the immeasurable greatness of his power for those who believe, according to the working (ἐνέργειαν) of his great(κράτους) power (ἰσχύος). Paul will further connect the power that we may presently have with the resurrection of Christ and the enthronement of Christ over all powers.
In Ephesians 1:20-21, Paul refers to the resurrection of Christ land the enthronement of Christ over all powers. The same power at work in believers is the power that raised Christ from the dead. He will express these thoughts in what appears to be a hymn that praises the resurrection and exaltation of Christ to the right hand of God. Such exaltation by God explains the role of Christ in the present. The church needs to know what Christ’s role is in the present, not just what his position will be in the future (e.g., eschatological judge). The background for the hymn is two psalms. In Psalm 110:1, we find a phrase that receives other multiple references in the New Testament, “The Lord says to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’” We also find references in Hebrews 1:13, Mark 12:36, and I Corinthians 15:24. The other psalm is Psalm 8:6, “he has put all things under his feet.” Using such psalms helps him to describe a picture of the current exaltation of Christ in which one has no question of the victory of Christ. Thus, 20 God put this power to work in Christ first, when God raised him for the dead and second, when God seated him at the right hand of God in the heavenly places. He further stresses the finality and completeness of this exaltation by saying that the exalted Christ is 21 far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion. These angelic beings reside in the heavens. The list is not exhaustive. He recognizes them as real powers. This enumeration helps to make clear the extent of Christ's victory and rule. All powers are under the control of God. It would include the demons expelled by Jesus and the princes of the nations in Daniel. Paul has in mind those institutions and structures that administer earthly matters and invisible realms and without which human life is impossible: life/death; nature; law; tradition, customs; political structures, ideologies, prejudices, authority, parenthood. Thus, this is not superstition. Ephesians focuses on a community rather than personal piety. Here, it deals not only with that community but also with the structures within the world. Terrestrial power does not limit the power of Christ. Further, God has also exalted Christ above every name that anyone could name, not only in this age but also in the age to come. Time does not limit the power of Christ. The point is that even the cosmic powers, often discussed in Jewish apocalyptic literature, is under the dominion of the exalted Christ. The enumeration makes clear the extent of the victory and rule of the exalted Christ. Paul has in mind those institutions and structures that administer earthly matters and invisible realms, without which human life is impossible. It refers to life and death, nature, torah, tradition, customs, political structures, ideologies and authorities. Angels, for example, are not so much personal figures as they represent forces, such as the principalities and powers we find here, which, as strong as these forces are, God has set them under the dominion of Christ.[10]
Ephesians 1:22-23 concludes the prayer with Christ as head of all things, but especially the church. God has put all things,[11] referring to the structures of powerful institutions like governments and authorities, but necessarily identifying them as evil, under the feet of Christ. These angelic beings reside in the heavens. The list is not exhaustive. He recognizes them as real powers. This enumeration helps to make clear the extent of Christ's victory and rule. All powers are under the control of God. God 22 has made him the head[12]over all things for the church. Christ is the head in a way that sums up, renews, and is the source of the universe. The image thus denotes Christ's authority over the church, power exerted in the church, presence to the church, unity of the church, and the coordination of its members. He makes it clear that the divine plan of redemption includes the entire creation. Until the consummation of the age to come, hostile powers will exert their influence. Yet, we can begin to experience the power of that consummation now. The new age is a present reality. We no longer have to live under the influence of the old order. God has not revealed to the cosmos this already completed reality.[13] The reference to the church hints at the catholicity of the church in a qualified way as the fullness of the eschatological consummation of the church. It will manifest itself at any given historical moment in the openness of the actual fellowship of the church, of transcending any particularity, to the fullness of Christ that will fully come only in the eschaton. True catholicity will always recognize the provisional nature of this affirmation of the church, rather than seek to identify the true church with any particular church.[14] Further, only Christ is the head of the church. This means that referring to any pastor or to the Bishop of Rome with the same terminology causes justifiable offense. Byzantium was quite right to reject the claim of the Bishop of Rome based upon this passage.[15] Christ is head over all things and the head of the church. He further identifies the church as 23 his body.[16] Here is an effect of the resurrection and exaltation of Christ. The church is the embodiment of Christ and maybe even an extension of the Incarnation and is therefore an expansion of the fullness of Christ. The church is the manifestation of Christ to the world. The church has a cosmic role. As such, Christ is the fullness[17] of him who fills all in all.[18] Christ has a role in the present, in making the power of God available today, but in a way that provides movement toward the unifying hope of the future. Nothing is outside the power of Christ.
Since the prayer ends with the cosmic orientation of the church and its manifestation of Christ to the world, I share a brief image from Sam Shoemaker. He used to refer to certain long-established churches as “aquariums.” He would cite the teaching of Jesus that the disciples were to fish for people. Then he would point out that many followers of Jesus, in long-established churches, are more like “keepers of the aquarium” than “fishers of people.” An aquarium is a closed system. It is a beautiful thing to look at, but aquarium fish just swim around and around in that limited space, enjoying one another’s company (or so we presume). He thinks it far better, for the sake of the gospel, to be sailing out over the open ocean, encountering newcomers whom God has sent here. He wonders how much of today’s license-plate evangelism is little more than a conversation within the aquarium?
[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 174.
[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 98.
[3] --Paul Tillich, "You are accepted," The Shaking of the Foundations (Scribner, 1948). Who has not, at some time, been lonely in the midst of a social event? The feeling of our separation from the rest of life is most acute when we are surrounded by it in noise and talk. We realize then much more than in moments of solitude how strange we are to each other, how estranged life is from life. ... The walls of distance, in time and space, have been removed by technical progress; but the walls of estrangement between heart and heart have been incredibly strengthened.
[4] --William Sloane Coffin, interviewed in Tikkun magazine, March 2006, shortly before his death.
[5] (Leadership, Spring 1983, 92).
[6] The Oxford Book of Prayer, 1987, 265. Dag Hammarskjold I don't know who--or what--put the question. I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone--or Something--and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life in self-surrender, had a goal. From that moment I have known what it means 'not to look back' and 'to take no thought for the morrow.'
[7] Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, 112 Jesus belongs to no age, no race, no creed. When we look into his face, we see etched the glory of our own possibilities, and our hearts whisper, "Thank you and thank God.
[8] Augustine, in Confessions, has the prayer that in spite of our mortality, we desire to praise,
"Still the desires to praise thee, this man who is only a small part of thy creation. Thou has prompted him, that he should delight to praise thee, for thou has made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it come to rest in thee."
[9] Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (New York: Harper & Row, 1941) 90-92. We live our lives at two levels simultaneously, the level of time and the level of the Timeless. They form one sequence, with a fluctuating border between them. Sometimes the glorious Eternal is in the ascendancy, but still we are aware of our daily temporal routine. Sometimes the clouds settle low and we are chiefly in the world of time, yet we are haunted by a smaller sense of Presence, in the margin of consciousness. --Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (New York: Harper & Row, 1941) 91-92.
[10] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 105.
[11] I am following Markus Barth here. Others might follow the idea that the plural of pas may mean "all people" rather than "all things." Another possibility is to take it as an adverb, "all in all" or "altogether, wholly."
[12] "Head"--1) in Old Testament means chief, ruler, leader. 2) In Greek literature the whole universe is a body, but this pantheistic view is an unlikely source. 3) The medical knowledge of the day. I assume the last, with Markus Barth.
[13] Barth Church Dogmatics III.2 [45.3] 301.
[14] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 3, 407.
[15] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 3, 430, 466.
[16] "Body"--Paul always means a living body. Does he preach that in some sense the church is Christ an embodiment of the Logos, an extension of the incarnation, an expansion of his fullness? 1) Borrowed from the analogies of the unity of a State and the human body. 2) Parallels with Gnostics. 3) Old Testament concept of "corporate personality." Christ fulfilled the role of the patriarchs and kings in whom the Israelites experienced their own salvation. But the use of "body" is a stumbling block. 4) Sacramental or Eucharistic incorporation. 5) Going to 5:22-33, marriage symbolizes one body, so the union of Christ and church signify one body. 6) It expresses both the church's connection with Christ and its mission to the world. The church is the manifestation of Christ to the world. The value is the centrality of Christ, his self-manifestation, his mission, and the world.
[17] "Fullness"--1) Gnostics make big use of this term. 2) Associate with Old Testament concept of Shekina, which is glorious presence. It is a one sided movement, a gift of God's self-revelation, salvation, self-presentation.
[18] Philological facts: 1) fullness may either have active or passive sense. 2) In abstraction, it means to complete, carry out, sum up. If the verb is passive, the power is active, or if the verb is active the noun is passive.
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