This is a little delayed, but as promised, here are my continued thoughts after studying Ephesians 1:1-14... I’ll attempt to share reflections in order of the verses, see the passage in my last blog post for the scriptural reference.
I love Paul’s greeting because he always exalts Christ without listing his qualifications. More importantly, this letter is addressed to the saints who are faithful. For me, this verse seems to emphasize “faithfulness”. The saints, particularly in Ephesus, were probably Gentiles. They knew what it was like to be excluded and outcasted, but here in this letter, they are commended for their faithfulness and encouraged to continue on in godly belief and practice. This letter is addressed to all who are faithful, but I need to question whether I would be included in that greeting? My social status doesn’t matter, but my commitment to the Lord does. My prayer is for grace to be a faithful saint, whatever that looks like in today’s crazy world.
Part of that grace is realizing that we have “Every spiritual blessing”... every gift of the Spirit, every fruit of the Spirit, every blessing in heavenly realms that we can’t even comprehend, every blessing is ours in Christ. This verse tends to steer people towards either a prosperity Gospel or a debate as to whether or not every person has every attribute on our spiritual gifts assessment. Personally, I think both viewpoints are wrong. “Spiritual blessing” means more than the temporal blessings of this world in a Jewish cultural setting; thus blessing in terms of prosperity is missing the point. Secondly, “spiritual blessing” here is a unique Jewish phrase, not a noun with a qualifying adjective pointing to the charismatic. Not to mention, even spiritual gifts are temporal; they are meant to glorify Jesus on this earth. The emphasis here is that the redemption of the world is complete in Christ. Colossians 2: 9-10 reads “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority”. We are made complete in Christ; through the Cross, we are restored to Shalom. We have the ability to overcome every power and authority in order to be the people that God created us to be- the Church. If this fact sunk in, how would it change Christianity? What would you do if you believed that you were complete in Christ and that you had all power, authority and blessing in Him? I don’t know about you, but if I understood this scripture half as well as I ought to, I would be a little more faithful. A little more radical. A little more like the Acts church. A little more like God intended me to be.
I pray for the grace to understand my completeness in Christ. Grace here refers to more than the mercy of a superior given to an inferior, but also to the faithfulness that God gives to his children to live how He created them to live. God created us as His beloved children and it is His pleasure to make the Church the vehicle through which He works. This continues to baffle me. Lots of things confuse me, but this scripture indicates that “all wisdom and understanding” are lavished upon us by God. The key is the next clause “through Christ”. If we want to understand what God intended His children to look like, we need to look at the example of Jesus. The “mystery of His will” is made known through studying the life of Jesus, having a relationship with Jesus, and continuing to follow Jesus as His Church. When everything on “heaven and earth is together under one head”- Jesus, then things will make a little more sense.
Until then, we need to trust that things will work according to God’s plan and “everything will work out to the conformity of his will”. We will know we are in His will by the seal of the Holy Spirit until the end of the age when everything in heaven and earth is once again brought together under Christ’s lordship.
I think one of the reasons this passage is so confusing is because it is so theocentric and it discusses two theological ideas that we can’t comprehend: the relationship between a Triune God and people, and the relationship between God's plan and worldly time. This passage discusses the plan of the Father, Son, and Spirit to redeem the world through the Church. The notion of the Trinity in and of itself is mind boggling, and then trying to comprehend how a God that awesome would choose to use people is beyond my understanding. Secondly, we are trying to understand the infinite plan of an infinite God with a finite mind. We don’t have a lens within our toolbox to even begin to analyze this, because we live in a world defined by time and the creator of this world lives outside the scope of time. And by the time we are living in the timeless Kingdom of Heaven, the notion of time and plans and all of this will be the last thing we ponder because we’ll have the infinite pleasure of worshiping God.
As hard as it is for my analytical mind to accept, I’m looking past the questions and focusing on the importance of my purpose: “to glorify God”. We'll finish up our studying of Ephesians 1 tonight in small group, so part three will come shortly.
I love Paul’s greeting because he always exalts Christ without listing his qualifications. More importantly, this letter is addressed to the saints who are faithful. For me, this verse seems to emphasize “faithfulness”. The saints, particularly in Ephesus, were probably Gentiles. They knew what it was like to be excluded and outcasted, but here in this letter, they are commended for their faithfulness and encouraged to continue on in godly belief and practice. This letter is addressed to all who are faithful, but I need to question whether I would be included in that greeting? My social status doesn’t matter, but my commitment to the Lord does. My prayer is for grace to be a faithful saint, whatever that looks like in today’s crazy world.
Part of that grace is realizing that we have “Every spiritual blessing”... every gift of the Spirit, every fruit of the Spirit, every blessing in heavenly realms that we can’t even comprehend, every blessing is ours in Christ. This verse tends to steer people towards either a prosperity Gospel or a debate as to whether or not every person has every attribute on our spiritual gifts assessment. Personally, I think both viewpoints are wrong. “Spiritual blessing” means more than the temporal blessings of this world in a Jewish cultural setting; thus blessing in terms of prosperity is missing the point. Secondly, “spiritual blessing” here is a unique Jewish phrase, not a noun with a qualifying adjective pointing to the charismatic. Not to mention, even spiritual gifts are temporal; they are meant to glorify Jesus on this earth. The emphasis here is that the redemption of the world is complete in Christ. Colossians 2: 9-10 reads “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority”. We are made complete in Christ; through the Cross, we are restored to Shalom. We have the ability to overcome every power and authority in order to be the people that God created us to be- the Church. If this fact sunk in, how would it change Christianity? What would you do if you believed that you were complete in Christ and that you had all power, authority and blessing in Him? I don’t know about you, but if I understood this scripture half as well as I ought to, I would be a little more faithful. A little more radical. A little more like the Acts church. A little more like God intended me to be.
I pray for the grace to understand my completeness in Christ. Grace here refers to more than the mercy of a superior given to an inferior, but also to the faithfulness that God gives to his children to live how He created them to live. God created us as His beloved children and it is His pleasure to make the Church the vehicle through which He works. This continues to baffle me. Lots of things confuse me, but this scripture indicates that “all wisdom and understanding” are lavished upon us by God. The key is the next clause “through Christ”. If we want to understand what God intended His children to look like, we need to look at the example of Jesus. The “mystery of His will” is made known through studying the life of Jesus, having a relationship with Jesus, and continuing to follow Jesus as His Church. When everything on “heaven and earth is together under one head”- Jesus, then things will make a little more sense.
Until then, we need to trust that things will work according to God’s plan and “everything will work out to the conformity of his will”. We will know we are in His will by the seal of the Holy Spirit until the end of the age when everything in heaven and earth is once again brought together under Christ’s lordship.
I think one of the reasons this passage is so confusing is because it is so theocentric and it discusses two theological ideas that we can’t comprehend: the relationship between a Triune God and people, and the relationship between God's plan and worldly time. This passage discusses the plan of the Father, Son, and Spirit to redeem the world through the Church. The notion of the Trinity in and of itself is mind boggling, and then trying to comprehend how a God that awesome would choose to use people is beyond my understanding. Secondly, we are trying to understand the infinite plan of an infinite God with a finite mind. We don’t have a lens within our toolbox to even begin to analyze this, because we live in a world defined by time and the creator of this world lives outside the scope of time. And by the time we are living in the timeless Kingdom of Heaven, the notion of time and plans and all of this will be the last thing we ponder because we’ll have the infinite pleasure of worshiping God.
As hard as it is for my analytical mind to accept, I’m looking past the questions and focusing on the importance of my purpose: “to glorify God”. We'll finish up our studying of Ephesians 1 tonight in small group, so part three will come shortly.
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