GOD’S
HERITAGE
The
opening blessing (Eph.1:3) extols the Father who blessed us "with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenlies," referring to our portion "in
Christ." Verses 4-5 express God’s eschatological purpose in
taking us for His own, "that we
should be holy and unblemished before Him.
In love predestining us to adoption as sons to Himself." Like so many teachings in the Bible, God’s
plans for us and gifts to us are not mutually exclusive (“I am His [Christ’s] and He is mine”). While continuing to speak of God’s grace to
us in Christ in verses 6-10, Paul not only specifies some of our benefits (one
of which is making known to us the mystery of His will), but stresses God’s
attitude (good pleasure) and motive (purpose) for so doing.
In
verses 11-14, Paul intimates by the use of “we” and “you” that believing Jews
and Gentiles are both to receive God’s gifts and be incorporated in His plans,
as he elaborates in chapter 2. In verse
11 the verb for "inherit" [to assign a
portion] is passive. It either conveys the idea that we had a
portion assigned to us, as commonly translated "obtained an inheritance," or that we were the designated portion,
meant to be “to the praise of His
glory.”(v.12) The language of the
latter is consistent with God’s words to
The
Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of
‘…For they are Your
people and Your heritage, whom You brought out by Your great power and by
Your outstretched arm.’ Dt.9:29, Moses
recounting how he prayed when the people rebelled
‘…But the Lord’s portion
is His people, Jacob His allotted heritage.’ Dt.32:9, the song Moses spoke to close His
review of their history
The idea of the Gentiles
being God’s allotment is also consistent with their [Gentiles] being sealed “with the Holy Spirit of
promise who is a down payment of our [Jews as
well] inheritance.” It reminds us
of Joel’s prophecy that Peter quoted in Acts 2 about the last days in which God
would pour out His Spirit on all people and that everyone who
called on the name of the Lord would be saved.
Remember the great difficulty the believing Jews had in accepting the
Gentile converts into their company (Acts 10-11). Hence the careful treatment of this subject
in Eph.2 & 3 is appropriate.
Prior to this study, I
had accepted the popular translation that the Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing
that we will eventually take possession of our inheritance (Eph.1:14). Now it seems likely that the Spirit is
keeping us until God takes possession of us, His heritage [lit. “until redemption of the possession,” see 4:30]. Verse 18 speaks to this, “that you should know what is the hope of His calling, what are the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
The series of purpose
statements reveal God’s intent to display the glory of His grace by exhibition
of His glorified people.* We who
were in such bad shape [see paragraph 3 Approaching
the Bible with Prejudice http://pop.eradman.com],
will be to the glory of His name.
God’s stewardship of the fullness of the times is to head up all
things, in the heavens and on earth, in Christ.
1:10
God…raised us and seated us
in the heavenlies with Christ in order that He might show forth in the
coming ages the excelling riches of His grace. 2:4-7
To bring to light what is
the stewardship of the mystery hidden for ages in God…in order that now the
manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the church to the
rulers and authorities in the heavenlies.
3:9-10
Christ loved the church and
gave Himself up on behalf of it in order that He might sanctify it…that He
might present to Himself the church glorious, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such things, but rather that it might be holy and unblemished. 5:25-27
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* Paul reflects God’s
attitude in his desire to present believers that he has helped to Christ. “Therefore
my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the
Lord, my beloved.” (Phil.4:1) “For what
is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before the Lord Jesus at His coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.” (1 Thes.2:19-20)
What does the phrase "a kingdom
of priests" mean? Being an astute student of the Bible, you will no doubt be
reminded of 1 Pt.2. Peter opened that letter
speaking of "the sanctification of the Spirit" (1:2). He then addresses
God's use of trials to refine and purify the believer's faith (1:6-7).
He continues with an exhortation to holiness stressing that we have
eternal life because God's word lives and abides in us in contrast to all
natural life under the curse. We are
compared to "living stones…built up as a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood, to offer spiritual
sacrifices…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
people for His own possession, that you
may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light…you are God's people" (2:5, 9-10).
[Here the temptation is to say,
"The Greek word for 'people' is the one used by the Septuagint referring
to
The passage is really the fulfillment
of a number of Old Testament promises. For example, in Ex.19:5-6,
the promise is "you shall be My treasured possession among all peoples…and
you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Moses was given this promise on
In Ex.,
the promise was conditional, "if
you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant" (19:5). We are children of
God by covenant which Christ established forever (permanently, "once for
all") by His obedience and applied to us "for sprinkling with His
blood" (1 Pt.1:2).
It was at Sinai that that God
established a priesthood from among the Levites who were substitutes for
the nation. God took the Levites as His
own by right of His ransoming the firstborn males of Israel at the last plague
upon Egypt (Passover) which finally released them from slavery/captivity (Num.3:11-13). They were set apart to minister to the Lord
with respect to the shadows (Heb.)
of spiritual realities. The sons of
Aaron were the only ones who could approach God through sacrifices and
administer atonement for the people. [Their appointment (Lev.8)
differs from that of the rest of the Levites (Num.8:5-26): Priests
were made holy, Levites - clean; priests
were anointed and washed, Levites - sprinkled; priests were given new garments, Levites - washed theirs;
blood was applied to the priests, it
was waived over the Levites]
Rev.1:5b-6 is a doxology to Jesus, "To Him who loves us and has freed us
from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His
God and Father." Rev.5:9-10 is a doxology to the Lamb,
"Worthy are You to take the scroll [contains
God's plan and destiny of the world] and open
its seals [opening it represents the conclusion
and accomplishment of all things], For You
were slain and by Your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and
language and people and nation, and You have made them a kingdom and priests
to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." Rev.20:6
is a conclusion, "Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the
first resurrection! Over such the second
death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and
they will reign with Him…"
There are so many associations that
can be made from these passages and others (ie., Zech.3), I'll leave it to your meditation to explore them.