In the section of Ephesians 1 beginning at verse 11, we are confronted with a special and challenging task: Paul’s thought is dense, and so many themes in the Old Testament and the New Testament converge here, that one can scarcely hope to exhaust all the riches of his teaching. Much could be added to what follows.
In verse 11, we need first of all to take note of the RV, which says the believers are God’s heritage, and not as the KJV renders the verse: “in whom also we have obtained an inheritance”. The “we” here is meaningful for Paul is now speaking of his own people, a conclusion confirmed in the following verse. The Apostle thus shows he was fully acquainted with the divine purpose as it initially embraced Israel. God chose in His wisdom and foreknowledge to work especially in the history of one nation, a truth many will not acknowledge. (However, this was no unconditional favouritism, for all the divine blessings are attended by that significant word “if”: note especially in this connection the “if” in Exodus 19:5.) As for the word “heritage”, we recall the song which Moses uttered towards the end of his taxing stewardship with the Israelites:
“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
When he separated the children of men,
He set the bounds of the people
According to the number of the children of Israel.
For the LORD’s portion is his people;
Jacob is the lot of his inheritance” (Deut. 32:8,9).
But this is only one place where, in his final words to the nation he had led, Moses stresses the special blessings God had bestowed upon them as God’s heritage among the nations; it is a subject to which he returns (see Deut. 4:20; 9:29). In this repeated emphasis he seems to be anticipating what Paul says to those who have an inheritance in the Lord Jesus. Circumcision was the seal God imposed upon all Israelites but, lest they should glory in this, he solemnly bids them to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts and to be no longer stiff-necked (Deut. 10:16), an exhortation repeated by Jeremiah (see 4:4), and echoed by Paul in Romans 2:28,29.
It may seem strange for the One who made the heavens and the earth and to whom all belongs (see, for example, Psa. 50:10-12) to work for so long through one people. At the same time they were answerable for their blessings, and if they fell into the trap of thinking the land belonged inalienably to them, they needed to be reminded by their God, “The land is mine” (Lev. 25:23).
Scripture makes it clear that Israel was only a part of God’s purpose and the selection of Abraham, the father of the nation, was accompanied by this declaration:
“In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). Here we find the very first mention of blessing in Scripture and we note it is associated with the call of Abraham. Furthermore, it was not restricted to the physical descendants of Abraham; rather, it was to embrace all mankind. Centuries later, the Jews who boasted of their descent from Abraham were engaged in a lively altercation with Jesus. In the discussion the Lord affirmed that the authentic posterity of Abraham were those who did “the works of Abraham” (John 8:39). The other attribute required in the true posterity of Abraham was faith, as the Lord declared when he was moved by the Roman centurion’s faith (see Matt. 8:8-13).
In Romans 3:1,2 Paul emphasizes the special privileges bestowed upon his people, but he was also well aware of their many failures. However, let us not forget there were happy periods in Israel too: Jeremiah, so much involved in denouncing his contemporaries, looked back to a time when Israel was holiness to the LORD, “the firstfruits of his increase” (Jer. 2:3). Then we think of the contribution made to our understanding of the Almighty by Moses, David and the prophets; the Lord Jesus was often guided by his unique insight into the Old Testament. The Psalms in themselves are a priceless treasury. Briefly then, it was only those Jews among Paul’s contemporaries who recognized the need to emulate Abraham both in their works and their faith who constituted a true and worthy part of God’s heritage. This is true for believers in all ages.
But if Israel enjoyed special privileges, it was incumbent upon them to contribute to God’s glory, a responsibility which they too often failed to discharge. It was finally their failure to revere God’s Son which led to the eventual loss of their special place in God’s purpose (see Matt. 21:33-43, especially v. 43), although in due time they will be restored (see Zech. 12:10; Rom. 11:1,22-24).
Even as Paul affirms the eventual priority of his own people, he hastens to reassure his predominantly Gentile readers that they too had received “the word of the truth”, defined as the gospel of their salvation. This response by Gentiles to the proclamation of the Gospel was a great historical development which was gaining increasing momentum in the contemporary world, preeminently through the activities of Paul himself and co-workers like Barnabas, Silas, Timothy and Epaphras. There was a momentum about this which many orthodox Jews tried to arrest, but in vain.
As for the disciples in Colosse and the neighbouring ecclesias, the efficacy of their conversion lay in the fact that they had been “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”. A seal served to authenticate, and in this case it was a mark of divine approval. They had received the unique status, in the Lord Jesus, of God’s spiritual sons and daughters, a status which has been considered above. On the matter of sealing, J. Strahan comments: “The seal was used at all times for the purpose of safeguarding valuable possessions: wine jars were stopped and sealed, rolls folded and sealed, doors closed and sealed… Property, security, secrecy, finality are the ideas suggested by the act of solemnly attaching one’s seal to anything.” 1
Particularly interesting in this connection is the vision of the redeemed who have the name of the Lamb and his Father written upon their foreheads (Rev. 14:1).
When the high priest entered the Tabernacle he always bore upon his forehead a plate of pure gold inscribed with the words: “HOLY TO THE LORD” (Exod. 28:36). This speaks for itself, being rich in symbolism. When king Uzziah, not content with his royal position, forced his way into the Temple and endeavoured to usurp the function of high priest, leprosy broke out on his forehead (see 2 Chron. 26:16-20). Then Ezekiel, in one of his visions when he heard the LORD GOD pronouncing judgement upon Jerusalem, saw that those who were to be spared slaughter had a mark placed upon their foreheads (9:4-6).
Both Paul and the apostle John indicate the unique status of those who have accepted the word of salvation in the Lord Jesus and thus constitute God’s lot or portion among the nations. We first note John’s witness to this in John 1:12,13: “But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Surely this is a bold declaration that such have become true children of the Almighty, a great and precious truth which John confirms in his first letter: “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God: and such we are” (3:1).
On this same subject, Paul has much to say to the Colossians: “We have been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love” (1:13), “For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (3:3). Then to the Philippians Paul wrote: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (3:20). There is something awesome about these declarations; it is difficult for a Christian disciple to grasp their full meaning and to live by them. But he needs to ponder them constantly, for they have the power to transform our mundane lives.
Fundamental to this process is the individual’s response to the Word of God, a theme developed in Romans 10. There the Apostle shows with great clarity that it is not merely the enlightenment of the mind which counts, but the penetration of the heart: “Because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God 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” (vv. 9,10). It is then the response of the heart which matters for salvation.
The words of the Apostle echo in a most interesting way what Jeremiah had to say centuries before; he bore witness to Israel’s failure to fulfill the conditions of the covenant God made with the Israelites in the desert (see Exod. 24:3-8). This failure created the need for a new covenant, and it is of this that the prophet speaks in chapter 31: “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah… this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the LORD; I will put my laws in their inward parts, and in their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (vv. 31-33). This is surely an anticipation of Paul’s words for, alas, the enlightenment of the mind does not necessarily ensure a change of heart:
- Ananias and Sapphira had conceived deception in their hearts (see Acts 5:1 10), and
- The heart of Simon, who thought he could purchase the power to convey the Holy Spirit to others, was “not right before God” (Acts 8:21).
These reflections enable us to understand why later in Ephesians 1 Paul uses a curious expression, “the eyes of the heart” (v. 18).
While the disciple who holds the hope in his heart should rejoice in the privileges bestowed upon him, he knows he has received only an “earnest” of the full inheritance (Eph. 1:14). An earnest here means a preliminary payment but which in itself is a guarantee that the full sum will be paid; William Barclay makes these comments on the Greek term for “earnest”: “In classical Greek the word ‘arrabon’ regularly means the caution money that a purchaser had to deposit and pay down when a bargain was struck… It was the first installment which was the pledge and guarantee that the rest would follow in due course.” 2
The LORD God will most certainly honour His commitment to those who place their trust in Him. The redemption of our bodies, with its release from the present bondage of corruption, lies in the future when the Lord Jesus descends from heaven and changes our bodies into the likeness of his own glorious body (Phil. 3:21). However, we live now in the present with its limitations and temptations. We must accordingly draw upon the strength available to us in the Lord Jesus, in prayer and in the constant reading of God’s word. As already emphasized, what should exercise our minds is the awesome nature of the privileges we already enjoy in the Lord Jesus, and we should gladly and gratefully respond to them in love.
Paul knew full well how abysmal had been his own understanding of the divine purpose with mankind at large. Furthermore, when he had learned of developments in the Lycus valley, he was moved to pray for the disciples there. Epaphras had brought him news of the faithfulness of some (Eph. 1:15), a fact to which we referred at an earlier stage in these studies. These faithful ones were to be counted among the divine heritage; for them he did not cease to pray (v. 16).
It was Paul’s custom, as his own outlook was so positive, to give encouragement to all who were responding to God’s grace. At the same time, he possessed a sympathetic understanding of the difficulty any might have in appreciating the rich privileges they enjoyed in the Lord Jesus. He was moved, therefore, to ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, to grant them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. It is this, surely, which is so fundamental: “And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou dost send, even Jesus Christ” (John 17:3). In asking his God to grant them wisdom, he reminds us of James: “But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraided not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith…” (1:5,6).
When Paul speaks of “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ”, we are reminded of his monotheism. Then he proceeds to designate Him “the Father of glory”. A fine feature of Paul’s letters lies in the terms he employs to describe his God. This feature is prominent towards the end of Romans: thus in 15:5, he is “the God of patience and comfort”; in verse 13, He is “the God of hope”, and in verse 33 “the God of peace” (see also 2 Cor. 1:3). Here now, he speaks of the “Father of glory”, the One who is the single source of all (cf. Rom. 11:36).
There is special significance in the reference to God’s glory in the present context. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament that glory can be associated with those faithful to their God:
(a) When Caleb and Joshua tried to rally their fellows, the latter took stones to kill them but the LORD intervened: “The glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel” (Num. 14:10) and stopped the mutinous Israelites in their tracks.
(b) The divine glory was visibly associated with Caleb and Joshua and served at the same time to protect them.
(c) When the compassionate Moses intervened on behalf of his faithless people, the LORD did indeed forgive but He also declared that the earth would one day be filled with His glory (v. 21). This surely will be in the person of His Son and those associated with him.
(d) The glory of the LORD was associated with Moses and Aaron when Korah and his fellows rose against them (Num. 16:19).
(e) Stephen started his historic defense by referring to “the God of glory” (Acts 7:2) and as he was dying, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus himself standing on the right hand of God (v. 56).
A basic theme unites the Old and New Testaments, as is often the case. Indeed, the subject of glory is so fundamental in Scripture that it could be pursued at great length.
In Ephesians 1:18 Paul continues his prayer with what might appear at first an odd request on behalf of his readers: “that the eyes of their heart should be enlightened.” We have already seen how important it is that such enlightenment should reach the heart, our inmost being; our eyes are the medium of perception. We recall the Lord said to his disciples: “Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear” (Matt. 13:16). In the present case (in v. 18) Paul’s wish is that the readers should understand the hope they can cherish, the riches of God’s glory of the inheritance in the saints. Thus we are reminded that the basic theme of this section is the inheritance to which Christ calls believers.
In keeping with his efforts to bring his readers to an appreciation of what is even now available to them in the Lord Jesus, the Apostle invokes the thought of the “exceeding greatness of his power” (Eph. 1:19). Paul seems almost to be straining to find words adequate to open the eyes of his readers to a proper appreciation of the extent of their inheritance in the Lord Jesus. We hope to see in our next study how the supreme evidence of divine power lies in the resurrection and elevation of the Lord Jesus.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One