In this section of Ephesians 1, Paul demonstrates the power of the Father in the exaltation of His Son, and proceeds to work out the theme of fullness.
We saw in our previous study how the Apostle was striving to bring home to his readers the greatness of the power which could work in them, if only they opened their hearts. Now (in 1:20,21) he proceeds to demonstrate one of the greatest exercises of divine power, in the resurrection and exaltation of the Son of His love.
The rising from the dead is the great historic truth which explains the rise and development of the early church. As Peter, who was in the forefront in the preaching of salvation, states so simply but eloquently: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). The truth of the resurrection of our Lord is the rock on which faith is built. The once runaway apostle, who thrice denied his Lord, stood firm in the presence of a menacing Sanhedrin, and said: “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20; see also 1 John 1:3).
Exalted to the Father’s right hand (Psalm 110)
After raising our Lord, the Father bestowed on him a unique privilege: He exalted His Son to His own right hand, there to sit, whereas even Gabriel stands in the presence of God (see Luke 1:19). There have been some differences of opinion concerning the interpretation of the word “joy” in Hebrews 12:2 — this was the joy set before Jesus as he faced the cross. But surely, it is Psalm 110:1 which provides the key: “The LORD saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” What else could this be but a promise of elevation to heaven, to a position second only to the LORD God Himself? There is convincing evidence that the Lord was familiar with Psalm 110, whereas it is clear even the apostles had no insight during the ministry into the relevance of this great psalm to their Lord.
We look again at a revealing passage in the final exchanges between the Lord and the eleven: “Some of his disciples therefore said one to another, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye behold me not; and again a little while and ye shall see me; and, Because I go to the Father?” (John 16:17; see also v. 18). Yet the Lord had spoken about his leaving them on more than one occasion; we take note especially of some words in the upper room: “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say unto you” (John 13:33). Jesus was sustained by the knowledge that his death would be followed not only by his resurrection to eternal life, but also by his ascension to his Father’s right hand.
Apart from the explicit mentions of his going to the Father, our Lord late in the ministry made use of Psalm 110 to confound his adversaries. After the latter had subjected the Lord to a battery of questions, to their own confusion, Jesus then presented them with a problem. Quoting Psalm 110:1, he asked this question, “If David then calleth him Lord, how is he his son?” (see Matt. 22:41-46, and parallel passages in Mark 12 and Luke 20). This hostile interrogation of their Lord and the way he confounded his interrogators would be an occasion the apostles would never forget.
Psalm 16 also
Hitherto, we have concentrated on Psalm 110, but there is an earlier psalm which deserves our attention, and that is Psalm 16. After an explicit prophecy of the resurrection (vv. 9,10), we read, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in thy presence is fullness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (v. 11). Our Lord would be as familiar with this psalm as he would be with Psalm 110; we especially observe the term “joy”, which so obviously has to be linked with Hebrews 12:2 (“the joy that was set before him”).
The way in which Scripture throws light on Scripture is in itself fascinating, but it also reveals that there is a mind behind it, a supreme mind. We have seen the gulf which separated the Lord from his apostles in the matter of insight into the Old Testament. However, after his resurrection, he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). He also promised his followers they would receive the Holy Spirit, which came to pass some ten days after his ascension. On the very day the Twelve (which included Matthias) were endowed with the Spirit, Peter preached the gospel of salvation.
Interestingly, the apostle now showed he understood the meaning and relevance of Old Testament passages into which he had previously possessed no insight. After mentioning the fact of the Lord’s resurrection, he quoted Psalm 16 (see Acts 2:25-28) and in so doing referred to verse 11. The RV uses “gladness” in Acts 2:28, but the NEB uses “joy”, thus providing a clear link with Psalm 16:11. Peter also speaks of the Lord’s ascension: “Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted…” (v. 33). In this connection, we must not forget Peter and the others had actually witnessed the Lord’s ascent to heaven (Acts 1:9).
Exalted above all authority and power
The great truth enshrined in Ephesians 1:20, to which we have given so much attention, is reinforced by verse 21. In his position at the Father’s right hand, the Lord is exalted “far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come”. Remembering the heresy troubling the Lycus ecclesias, we can see how this is a comprehensive rejection of the worship of angels. It indeed endorses the Lord’s own claim made before his ascension to heaven: “All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18).
There is an interesting difference here with a claim made during the ministry. When Jesus cured the man sick of the palsy, he declared: “Thy sins are forgiven” (Matt. 9:5), thus causing outrage to the scribes. He then reinforced his claim by actually curing the sick man — stressing that this established his authority on earth. However, after he has submitted to the cross and effected the reconciliation between God and man, he can assert that all power “in heaven” has been granted to him, and this before his actual ascension.
Paul in Ephesians 1:22 declares God has put “all things in subjection under his feet”. While indeed we cannot doubt the authority now exercised by our Lord, we know all things on earth have not yet been subjected to him, as Hebrews 2:8 rightly emphasizes.
Paul demonstrates as much in 1 Corinthians 15 — where he speaks not only of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but indicates also the scope of the work he is to undertake when he assumes his dominion over the earth: he is to exercise his power over mankind until all enemies are subjected and the consummation of this process will be the conquest of death itself (vv. 25,26). Then, when this has been achieved, the Lord Jesus will present his completed work to his Father, “that God may be all in all” (v. 28), thus fulfilling the promise made to Moses centuries before, that the earth shall be filled with God’s glory (Num. 14:21).
“New heavens and a new earth”
The Old Testament has much to say about the interim period during which the Lord Jesus with his associates, the glorified redeemed, will progressively subdue the earth. Such prophecies as Psalm 72 and many others come to mind, but Isaiah 65 is especially noteworthy: “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth” (v. 17). Despite the benefits of a righteous government, and the lengthening of human life, sin will not be absent (see v. 20) until eventually the last sinner will perish. Peter was familiar with this great prophecy, for he uses the very language of Isaiah 65: “But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13).
The head of the body
While the early part of verse 22 presents no difficulty, what are we to make of the remainder of the verse? “And gave him to be head over all things to the church.” While the NIV has “for the church”, the preponderance of versions favour “to the church” (see RV, RSV, NEB, and NKJ). In any case, the thought here is clear. What has happened to the Lord concerns the church fundamentally, and the next verse explains why: the ecclesia is the body of Christ. The subject of the Lord’s relationship to his followers has many aspects: as he himself told the apostles, “Ye call me, Master, and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am” (John 13:13). This may seem at first sight to put a distance between the Lord and his followers but, as we shall see, what it implies is that Christ is the “head”.
Paul shows this when he mentions the only hierarchy which matters: “the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God” (1 Cor. 11:3). To this relationship between man and woman we hope to return; for the moment our concern is with the Lord as head. The figure of the body is dealt with by the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 12. There he stresses the contribution which each part of the body can make to the whole. This illustrates how the diversity of Spirit gifts can contribute to the harmonious functioning of an ecclesia. But while there is a difference, there is also relevance: after affirming that a body has many parts, Paul adds: “So also is Christ” (v. 12).
In the case of Ephesians 1:23, the ecclesia is declared to be the body of Christ, the organism through which he functions. The Apostle is here opening up a rich vein, and one which makes us think of Peter’s remark: in some of Paul’s letters there are “things hard to be understood” (2 Pet. 3:16). We certainly have a challenge to our understanding in Ephesians 1:23. But clearly implicit in the notion that the Lord is the head is the corollary that the church is his body; through this body the head achieves his fulness. Christ is the one who fills all things; this is to be realized in concert with his disciples. What they did, and still do faithfully in full submission to the head, the Lord himself is effectively achieving. This confers on his followers a priceless privilege and at the same time a tremendous responsibility. In acting thus his followers are thereby achieving unity in the Lord; but where there is division, there is effectively a departure from the ideal, as Paul so powerfully reminded the Corinthians (see 1 Cor. 1:10-13; note esp. v. 10). As members of his body (see Eph. 5:30) we should have the same mind, the mind of Christ.
Parallels with Colossians
Not surprisingly, these key concepts appear also in the letter to the Colossians. Without producing a separate commentary on this companion letter, we note the appearance in Colossians of some of the outstanding concepts which have come to our attention already:
- First, we observe that the Lord Jesus is “the firstborn of all creation”, by which we must manifestly understand the new creation, he being “the firstborn of the dead” (Col. 1:15,18; Rev. 1:5; see also Rev. 3:14).
- Then in Colossians 1:19, we learn “it was His good pleasure… that in [Christ] should all fullness dwell”, which underlines that the totality of the divine purpose is to be achieved in and through him, and through his body the church.
- In Colossians 1:24, we come across a concept which at first could startle us but which bears directly on the subject. The Lord Jesus achieves his fulness, the consummation of the divine purpose entrusted to him, through his followers. In that verse the Apostle Paul speaks of his sufferings (and how numerous they had proved to be), as filling up on his part what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ for the sake of the body which is the church. The kinship with the teaching in Ephesians 1:23 is clear beyond any doubt.
- Then in Colossians 2 we find another illuminating statement: “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in him ye are made full, who is the head of all principality and power” (vv. 9,10). The fullness belongs to Christ but, as his body, his followers share in it.
- Finally, in Colossians 3, we are reminded that through faith and baptism we have not only died but have also found a new life in our Lord.
The testimony of the Acts
To demonstrate historically that we have not been dealing with speculative ideas, but with realities, we can turn to the book of Acts. The Lord ascended to heaven and so was no longer acting as he was during his ministry upon earth. However, he commissioned his apostles to continue his work. This work had acquired a new dimension through his sacrifice on the cross, his resurrection and his elevation to heaven. He told his apostles in some of his final words, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father” (John 14:12).
After the descent of the Spirit upon the Twelve on the day of Pentecost, the first public proclamation of the Gospel by Peter led to the conversion of about 3,000 (Acts 2:41). The account of the establishment and irresistible spread of the Good News is an absorbing story but not one to be spelt out now. What it illustrates so wonderfully, however, is the contribution of the disciples to the “fullness” of the Lord, the head of the body. The disciples also shared in the sufferings of their Lord: Stephen was stoned (Acts 7:58-60), and James, one of the Twelve, was executed (Acts 12:1-2). The former persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, was converted to the service of his Lord; in the account of his conversion, there are two details of considerable significance for our present purpose:
- When the glorified Lord struck the persecutor blind, and Saul asked: “Who art thou, Lord?” then came the totally unexpected reply: “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” Thus the total identity of the Lord Jesus with his followers was established for the persecutor, and he never forgot it.
- When Ananias received the message to establish contact with Saul, he initially recoiled but was reassured, being told that the new convert would be shown what he was to suffer for the name of Jesus. This provides an unmistakable link with Colossians 1:24 (which see again).
Thus Saul was incorporated into the body of his Lord, labouring and suffering on his behalf. This is the call to all his followers; under the present dispensation, they are being prepared for the greater work of cooperating with their Lord in creating the new heavens and the new earth, when our Lord will return to rule in righteousness. As Peter expresses it, the Lord’s disciples are “an elect race, a royal priesthood, a people for God’s own possession” (1 Pet. 2:9). This theme can be further pursued in such passages as Revelation 1:6; 2:26,27; and so on, until eventually God’s great design will embrace all the earth, and God will be all in all.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One