1972 Ephesians Enhanced Notes

from R. B. Thieme, Jr.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                             Lesson #1

1 08/10/1972 Ephesians 1:1 PROTHESIS; doctrine of apostleship

Chapter 1

The literal translation of the first six verses of this chapter:

Verse 1 — Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through God’s purpose, will and design, to those being saints and faithful in Christ Jesus:

Verse 2 — Grace to you and peace, from the ultimate source of God our Father, and Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 3 — Worthy of praise and glorification the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one having provided us benefits by every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ:

Verse 4 — Even as he has chosen us for himself in him before the beginning of the world, that we keep on being saints and blameless in the presence of him:

Verse 5 — In love having pre designed us with the result of the appointment of adult sons for himself through Jesus Christ, according to the benevolent purpose from his will,

Verse 6 — Resulting in recognition of glory from the source of his grace, from which he has pursued us with grace in the one having been loved.

The whole objective of the epistle is to demonstrate how God pursues the super-grace believer with grace. The subject of the chapter is the prothesis of God — God’s pre designed plan.

The Pauline epistles fall into four general categories: a) The second missionary journey; b) The third missionary journey; c) The first Roman imprisonment; d) After the first Roman imprisonment. During the second missionary journey Paul wrote 1Thessalonians from Corinth in 52 AD. He wrote 2Thessalonians from Corinth in 53 AD. So it was about 52 AD that Paul began writing. Then during the third missionary journey he wrote four epistles: Galatians, written from Ephesus in 55 AD; 1Corinthians, written from Ephesus in 55 AD; 2Corinthians, written from Philippi in 57 AD; Romans, written from Corinth just before Paul left for Jerusalem in 58 AD. From 58 AD we have a silence from Paul for four years. He went into reversionism by going to Jerusalem. When Paul wrote Romans he should have carried the epistle himself to Rome, he should have gone to Rome from Corinth. He got out of the geographical will of God by going to Jerusalem. After his recovery he wrote possibly the four most important things he ever wrote: Ephesians from Rome in 62 AD, Philippians from Rome in 63 AD, Colossians from Rome in 62 AD, Philemon from Rome in 62 AD. Then we have Paul’s release, a fourth missionary journey and a second imprisonment. During the fourth missionary journey he wrote 1Timothy from Macedonia in 65 AD; Titus from Macedonia in 66 AD; 2Timothy from Rome in 67 AD. Paul began writing in 52 AD and he died in 67 AD.

The true destination of Ephesians. The stated destination in Ephesians 1:1, “at Ephesus,” is not found in the original text. This phrase is not found in any of the better MSS. Basil the Great testifies that it was never found in any of the ancient MSS. The absence of a personal greeting plus the fact that Paul does not call the believers “Beloved brethren” indicates that this epistle was a circular letter rather than written to one church. Actually it is a circular letter to the churches in the Roman province of Asia, the seven churches of Revelation 2 & 3. The fact that the benedictions of this epistle are in the third person rather than the second person also indicates that this is a circular letter. There is also a patristic evidence which favours a circular letter to the Roman province of Asia coming from Tertullian and Origen. So there is no question about the fact that this was addressed to a number of churches. This also explains why the content varies a little bit from Colossians which was addressed to one church only.

By way of background information, this letter was written by Paul from Roman imprisonment in 62 AD. Both Ephesians and Colossians were delivered by Tychicus. Onesimus was the bearer of Philemon. Ephesians was designed to correct reversionism in the Roman province of Asia. And not only to correct reversionism but to erect edification complexes and to ultimately move the believers into the super-grace life.

Again, the first chapter is the prothesis of God or the predetermined plan of God. The last chapter relates to the angelic conflict. The word prothesis is taken from the Greek. Qhsij is taken from tiqhmi which means to appoint, to plan; pro means beforehand. So it means a predetermined plan. In this case the predetermined plan and purpose of God. It also means a way of thinking.

The outline of chapter one

The salutation of the epistle: Verses 1 & 2.

The long sentence, or the relationship of the Trinity to the prothesis: Verses 3-14.

The first apostolic prayer, or the dynamics of prothesis: Verses 15-23.

Verse 1 & 2, the salutation of the epistle.

Verse 1 — “Paul.” Pauloj, a proper noun meaning “little.” His name was originally Saul of Tarsus but at the point of salvation he took on the name of Paul — Acts 13:9. This is his adopted name of grace orientation.

“apostle” — a)postoloj without the definite article. It does not mean “one sent.” A)postoloj from the fifth century BC to the present time means admiral of the fleet. The reason this word became the word for the highest rank in the church is because some of the admirals were getting rich. The Spartans had a lot of money and were bribing them to throw the battle. So a plan was devised whereby the admiral would be selected from a group just before a battle, after which he was escorted all the way to the harbour, put on the ship, and he was the one sent by the rulers of Athens to command the fleet. As the word is used in Christianity it represents absolute dictatorship. Paul was in command of all the churches. Peter was in command of all the churches.

The gift of apostleship not only carried this great authority but it had along with it communication. This was a temporary gift, it did not exist beyond the canon of scripture. The writers of the New Testament were all apostles or (in two cases) one associated with an apostle. Mark associated with Peter; Luke associated with Paul.

One other point of syntax. All nouns have quality and identity. Identity is indicated by the definite article; quality is indicated by omission of the definite article. There is no definite article with “apostle” and therefore the quality of the gift is emphasised.

The doctrine of apostleship

1. Apostleship is the highest spiritual gift ever to exist in the church. It is sovereignly bestowed by the Holy Spirit to certain individual — 1Corinthians 12:11, 28; Ephesians 4:11.

2. Apostleship was a temporary gift designed to carry the church until the canon of scripture was completed. It had the authority of dictatorship because such and authority did not exist until the completion of the New Testament. Now the absolute dictatorship is the New Testament. The gift carried absolute authority in both written and verbal communication of doctrine.

3. The time of appointment. The apostles were appointed after the resurrection of Jesus Christ — Ephesians 4:8,11. Hence, they must be distinguished from the apostles to Israel in Matthew 10:2ff.

4. The extent of the gift. This spiritual gift exercised authority over all the local churches. Once the canon was completed the gift was removed. Today all local churches are autonomous with authority vested in the canon and the local pastor-teacher.

5. The qualification of apostles. Apostles had to be eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Christ. This qualified the eleven and Paul was qualified on the Damascus road — Acts 1:22; 1Corinthians 9:1; 15:8,9.

6. The authority of the apostles was established by the possession of a certain temporary gift which went with it. Every apostle also had the gift of miracles, healing, and tongues. These were spectacular type gifts which he had to use to establish his authority when he went to certain places. These gifts do not exist today. Acts 5:15; 16:16-18; 28:8,9. Once the apostle’s authority was established in an area he didn’t use these gifts any more and eventually when the apostles’ authority were all established these gifts were removed.

7. The roster of apostles. We have the eleven minus Judas Iscariot. Matthias was elected but he was not an apostle. Man cannot superimpose his will on God’s will ever. The twelfth apostle is Paul — 1Corinthians 15:7-10. He is the one whom God appointed to replace Judas Iscariot.

8. There were others who had delegated authority from apostles and therefore in a sense exercised from apostolic authority when they were sent on apostolic missions. They include Barnabas — Acts 14:14; Galatians 2:9; James, the Lord’s half-brother — 1Corinthians 15:7; Galatians 1:19; Apollos — 1 Corinthian 4:6,9; Sylvanus and Timothy — 1Thessalonians 1:1; 2:6.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                             Lesson #2

2 08/17/1972 Ephesians 1:1b–2 Doc/sanctification; function of Trinity in prothesis/God

“of Jesus Christ” — as an apostle of Jesus Christ Paul belongs to Him. Xristou I)hsou, two genitives. Paul is talking about his authority and his authority is in Xristou which means “appointed” by God, commissioned by God. “Jesus” [I)hsou] is the name for His humanity but Xristoj is not a name, it is a title — anointed one, appointed one. The Father appointed Jesus, Jesus appointed Paul. Both words occur in the genitive case which is a case of definition and description. Here we have both the genitive of description and the genitive of possession. Paul belongs to Jesus Christ and we have the description of his appointment, the source of his appointment.

“by the will of God” is literally, “through the will of God,” dia plus the genitive singular of qelhma which means will, purpose, design. All three words are pertinent here. Plus the genitive of possession of qeoj. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through God’s will, purpose, and design.” Notice again the absence of the definite article. This places qualitative emphasis on the noun rather than its mere identity. This draws attention to the quality of the will, design, and purpose as well as the essence of God — qeoj. Since God is perfect His will, His design, and His purpose are perfect.

Summary

1. It was the purpose of God in eternity past to take the worst sinner who ever lived and make him the greatest saint who ever lived — 1Timothy 1:12-16. This is grace.

2. In grace everything depends on who and what God is, what is His plan, His purpose, and His design.

3. God is perfect, the absence of the definite article emphasises the quality of God [perfection].

4. Since God is perfect His plan, His purpose, His design is perfect. It is impossible to have an imperfect plan, purpose, and design coming from a perfect God.

5. In reality Paul was the twelfth apostle appointed by God to replace Judas Iscariot.

6. The election of Acts 1:15-26 was a farce.

7. Peter was out of line by suggesting it. Matthias was elected by men but apostles are appointed by God.

“to the saints” — the dative plural from a(gioj. The dative case is used here for the indirect object to indicate the ones in whose interest the epistle was written. This epistle was written on your behalf and in your interest. It is a dative plural. Every believer is a saint, and because he is in union with Christ, not because he is good. This is also a dative of advantage. It is to your advantage to have this information.

“which are” — there is no “which”. There is the definite article plus the dative plural present active participle from e)imi. That means you are alive! It should be translated “to those being saints.” This is for believers, for those who are born again. Present tense, linear aktionsart: once saved, always saved.

“to the faithful” — the word for “faithful” is again a dative plural from pistoj. It is correctly translated “faithful.” It is used of God in certain passages such as 1Corinthians 1:9; 10:13; 1Thessalonians 5:24; Hebrews 10:23; 1Peter 4:19; 1John 1:9. So the noun is used for God and whenever it is it indicates His immutability. This word is also used for believers in the technical sense of those who are responding to doctrine, positive toward doctrine, growing up spiritually, building an ECS, and moving toward the super-grace life. It does not refer to believers who are either spiritual morons or in some stage of reversionism. The dative case is again used as the indirect object and it is used to indicate the ones in whose interest the letter is written, and that refers to all believers who study this epistle. It is of no benefit to those who do not study it. Ephesians is an epistle for those who are positive toward doctrine.

“in Christ Jesus” — the preposition e)n plus the locative of I)hsouj, the proper name for the Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity, and Xristoj which has to do with His commission, His appointment.

The doctrine of sanctification

1. The word “saints” is a(gioj which means two things. Sometimes it means “saints” and sometimes “holy.” The same word is used for both, and adjective and a noun. The noun is “saint,” the adjective is “holy.”

There are a number of words taken out of the same root:

a(giothj which means holiness and refers in many of the passages of the NT to our relationship with God. Our relationship at the point of salvation is holiness because we are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

a(giosunh means sanctification and has to do with one of the 36 things we receive at the point of salvation — entrance into union with the person of Christ. This is where we are first of all sanctified.

a(giasmoj — means holiness, and there is a verb, a(giazw, which means to set apart, to sanctify, and so on.

2. Basically all words for sanctification connote some form of separation into, therefore a relationship with.

3. The agency of sanctification. a) The Son of God, Jesus Christ — Hebrews 10:10, 14. ; b) The Holy Spirit — Romans 15:16; 2Thessalonians 2:13; c) The Word of God — John 17:17; Ephesians 5:26.

4. Phase one of sanctification: positional truth. God’s plan is divided into three parts.

5. Phase two sanctification is the super-grace life. It is the combination of a maximum amount of time logged in the filling of the Spirit, as per 2Thessalonians 2:13, and the daily function of GAP, John 17:17. By the daily function of GAP over a prolonged period of time the entrance into the super-grace life is accomplished. That is the area of experiential or phase two sanctification.

6. Phase three sanctification is the believer in his resurrection body. This is often called ultimate sanctification — Romans 8:29; 1Corinthians 1:8; Philippians 3:21; 1Thessalonians 5:23; 1John 3:1,2.

7. There are some other words that are connect with ultimate sanctification, beside resurrection. Many of these are words which indicate some of the results of resurrection.

No old sin nature

The removal of all of the human good which the individual has accomplished in his lifetime.

In Jude 24, “He has done exceedingly abundantly,” we have two words that indicate ultimate sanctification.

8. The principle of experiential sanctification in phase two. Experiential sanctification has several objectives.

It is to carry the believer during the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. In this intensification every believer is an ambassador for Christ and every believer is a priest, therefore in full time Christian service. This fact from the moment of salvation onward plus the intensification of the angelic conflict demands experiential sanctification and/or the entrance into the super-grace life.

Secondly, the objective of experiential sanctification is to establish divine viewpoint in the devil’s world and to provide capacity for every believer to be the rapid beneficiary of grace under all circumstances and situations.

Thirdly, the objective of experiential sanctification is to provide from the capacity for love in super-grace maximum occupation with the person of Christ. One of the great objectives of the Christian life is to appreciate who and what Jesus Christ is right now on this earth, not waiting until we get to heaven. This can only be accomplished through Bible doctrine.

The fourth objective is to glorify God through the establishment of the ECS. The ECS is reflected glory. We glorify God through the structure in the soul from which all bona fide function and all divine good must emanate.

The fifth objective is the production of triple-compound divine good. When it is it falls into the category of gold, silver, precious stones and it mean that we have accomplished something in this life that will glorify God forever. All rewards in the future do not glorify the individual who receives them, they glorify God’s grace who made them possible.

Translation: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, through God’s purpose, will and design, to those being saints, and faithful in Christ Jesus:”

In this salutation everything that is connected with our relationship with God at the point of salvation is mentioned or suggested. At the moment of salvation we receive 36 things which can never be improved. For example, the baptism of the Spirit, regeneration, the sealing of the Spirit, the spiritual gifts, and so on. These things received at the point of salvation are non-improvable. Our capacity to appreciate them and our capacity for blessing is going to come out of our spiritual growth but spiritual growth does not mean improving positional truth or the things we received at salvation.

Verse 2 — the principle behind all of this. “Grace” — the noun xarij is without the definite article. It means everything that God has done for us. Xarij depends on who and what God is. It is the name of the plan of God, the principle of the plan of God, and the only word that explains the concept that God is perfect and therefore His plan has to be perfect. The absence of the definite article calls attention to the quality of the noun in the Greek language. This focuses attention on the concept that everything depends on who and what God is, nothing depends on us.

“to you” — the dative plural from the personal pronoun su, and it includes not only the original recipients but all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The dative is used as the indirect object to emphasise the ones in whose interest the epistle is written. This epistle is written in your personal interest.

“and peace” — the noun e)irhnh. It means benefit, welfare, tranquillity, and prosperity. In other words, it is simply a synonym for blessing. Here it connotes prosperity. The believer becomes prosperous through the intake of Bible doctrine. It denotes benefit. The believer is benefited by the intake of Bible doctrine. It denotes welfare in the true biblical sense, not in the communist sense! Therefore the believer’s welfare is directly related to the amount of doctrine which he absorbs into his soul. Also, when you have the first three meanings you have tranquillity. Tranquillity of soul is based upon Bible doctrine. So we have benefits accruing through the daily function of GAP and this is in effect the subject of the epistle.

“from God” — the preposition a)po plus the ablative singular of qeoj referring to God the Father. God the Father has a marvelous plan for all believers.

“our Father” — the ablative of pathr is added so that we will know the planner is involved here.

“and our Lord Jesus Christ” — also in the ablative and refers to the second person in the Trinity and the one by whom we understand God and everything related to God. If there is any key to grace it is in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ — first His incarnation and then His work upon the cross. “Lord” — the ablative of kurioj is used for the deity of Christ.

We now have in verses 3 through 14 the longest sentence of connected discourse in any language in history. While the English text has a period at the end of verse 6, the end of verse 12, and the end of verse 14, there are no periods in the Greek. This is all one sentence. This sentence describes the function of the Trinity under the divine plan, operation grace.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                             Lesson #3

3 08/24/1972 Ephesians 1:3 Doctrine of positional truth

In verses 3-6 we have the function of God the Father in the prothesis.

Verse 3 begins with a verbal adjective, e)uloghtoj. This is used only of deity in the New Testament. In other forms where the Koine Greek is used you will fond it for people but in the New Testament the word is used only for deity, as in Luke 1:68. This is actually taken from the participle e)ulogew. This is a verb which looks very similar which means to praise. Since e)uloghtoj is a verbalised adjective it means “worthy of praise and glorification.” The verb means to praise. It is broken down from two words, e)u = good or well; legw = to speak. It is a technical word, one of the high words of praise used only for God, along with another one, e)peinoj which is “super praise.” [e)inoj = praise; e)peinoj = over praise] This word is going to occur several times in this passage. To be ready for this verbal adjective one must have completed at least part of his ECS, and especially the fourth floor where you have capacity for love, category #1 directed toward God. Once you have this capacity you begin to appreciate the fact that the members of the Trinity are worthy of praise and glorification and that the capacity for this comes from what the Father has provided by way of spiritual food. Food is converted into energy in the human body; spiritual food is converted into energy of the soul, the ability to truly appreciate who and what God is. When you realise that people can appreciate who and what God is, this in itself is almost miraculous inasmuch as God is invisible, God is a great distance away as far as the residence of heaven is concerned, God cannot be understood where spiritual death is concerned and we were born spiritually dead (therefore no fellowship, no relationship, no ability to comprehend God). Therefore it is a miracle of grace that we in our souls as believer priests have as the highest function of our priesthood e)uloghtoj, the ability to appreciate God. E)u is a part of e)uquj which is used for straight speaking, it means straight to God, worthy of praise and glorification. You cannot glorify God or praise God or appreciate God or have capacity to love God apart from Bible doctrine.

“the God” — o( qeoj. This time we have the definite article to indicate the identity of the noun, “God.”

“and Father” — we have pathr again, mentioned this time to indicate once again the first person of the Trinity who is invisible and unknowable apart from Bible doctrine, and the key to knowing Him is the Lord Jesus Christ. With this we have the ascensive use of kai, it indicates apposition but closer than apposition. It means talking about the same person. God and Father aren’t really apposition, they are the same person. We have no definite article with pathr to call attention to the quality He is, the Father is the absolute authority. The first person of the Trinity is the author of the divine plan, the ultimate source of grace, and not only the absolute authority but the basis of order and freedom and function within His own plan.

“of our Lord Jesus Christ” — tou kuriou h(mwn I)hsou Xristou. This phrase presents the focal point of the Father’s plan and at the same time emphasises that the only celebrity of the Christian life is Jesus Christ. The definite article tou indicates the quality of every one of these words. Every one of these words is a genitive of relationship. Tou is the genitive of the definite article, it gives us the key. Tou kuriou is genitive of relationship and it is a relationship between the Son and the Father. The Son has the same essence as the Father — essence box. “Lord” is deity. Then we have I)hsou in the genitive, the humanity of Christ. At this point, when we get to the word “Jesus,” we now see something of the uniqueness of Christ. He is coequal with God the Father but He is different from the Father because He is true humanity. The Xristoj indicates that His humanity was sent through the sovereign decision and plan of the Father. The humanity of Christ was sent to the world. So man comes into contact with Jesus Christ, and when he does he learns about the Father; first of all by receiving as his saviour the living Word — phase one, Christ on the cross; then phase two, the written Word — the Bible, the canon of scripture, doctrine — and then he learns about both Christ and the Father and the whole plan. So each one of these is a genitive of relationship. The verbal adjective indicates that God the Father is the author of the plan — operation grace. He is the object of all worship, praise, glorification, homage, adoration, and thanksgiving. Jesus Christ is both the revelation of the Godhead and the first phase of the plan of God. As the Father of Jesus Christ the first person of the Trinity sent the Son as the grace entrance into the Father’s plan. Christ said, “I am the door.” The work of the Son on the cross not only excludes but it precludes all human works for salvation. Since Christ is the only saviour the Lord is the entrance into the Father’s plan, there is no other way.

“who” is not found in the original manuscript. Instead there is a pre-positive definite article o(, usually translated “the one.” It always refers to the person in context about whom everything is being said: “the one” — God the Father.

“hath blessed” — literally, “the one having blessed.” This is the aorist active participle from e)ulogew. God the Father is the subject of the participle. A pre-positive definite article has a participle, it means this article is the subject of the participle. This is a gnomic aorist tense, one in which a doctrine is regarded as an absolute. It is to be taught as an absolute thing. This verb really means to provide benefits. It is an absolute in this universe of relatives that the God provides the benefits. There is a very close relationship between the gnomic aorist and the culminative aorist. Sometimes they cannot be distinguished. There is a sense in which this is culminative in that all blessing must ultimately come from God. This means any blessing that comes from sin does not come from God and therefore it means that that is not blessing in the absolute sense, in the grace sense. So it is important to understand the gnomic aorist. This is an absolute. The active voice: God the Father produces the action, He provides the benefits, does all the work, there is no place for human ability, human talent, human personality, human ingenuity. This is a participle. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb: “he hath chosen us,” found in verse 4. First of all He provided benefits and then He chose us. Notice what comes first. The blessing comes before the person. Before He chose us He provided the blessing first because the blessing was based upon His perfect essence.

“us” — the accusative plural of the personal pronoun e)gw refers to believers of the Church Age. Therefore the phrase reads. “the one having provided us benefits.”

Summary

1. Since aorist means occurrence the aorist tense can be an occurrence in eternity past. The aorist tense is not related to time, it has no temporal significance and therefore it can be an occurrence in eternity past. God the Father provided benefits for us in eternity past, long before we existed.

2. In eternity past God the Father provided benefits for us, grace benefits which we could neither earn nor deserve nor gain by our function in time.

3. While people can be a blessing to us in time only God can be a blessing to us in eternity past before we existed.

4. Here is the perfection of the divine plan compatible with God’s character. He provided us the benefits and then He provided us.

5. God is perfect, therefore His plan inevitable must be perfect.

6. But the plan would not be perfect if anything depended upon man — and nothing does.

7. Grace blessing preexisted all believers.

8. The blessing came first, therefore you had nothing to do with the blessing, you were just there; it preexisted you.

9. Since the blessing of the believer existed before the believer it is impossible for such blessing to be based on human merit or human ability.

10. Therefore under the aorist active participle of e)ulogew God blesses or provides benefit on the basis of who and what He is, never who and what we are.

11. Remember the accusative plural of e)gw, the object of the participle. As the object of the participle the inference is obvious. Grace blessing in eternity past was designed for believers in time.

12. Such blessing becomes a reality through cognisance and inculcation of Bible doctrine.

The concept

1. Since the aorist tense represents occurrence not related to time God the Father blessed us or provided benefits for us in eternity past before we were born, before man existed, before angels existed.

2. In eternity past God the Father provided grace benefits for us which we could not earn or deserve, and these are benefits that belong to us on the basis of who and what He is.

3. While people can be a blessing to us in time only God can be a blessing to us before time existed in eternity past.

4. This is the perfection and the superiority of the divine plan which is compatible with the superiority and perfection of His person.

5. God is perfect, His plan is perfect. God is superior, His plan is ultimately superior. It is the only plan.

6. If man could do anything to earn or deserve in God’s plan then the plan is no stronger than man. If anything depended upon man (and nothing does) then all grace blessing is gone.

7. Grace blessing preexisted all grace recipients, all believers. The blessing of grace was provided before the beneficiary of grace.

8. The blessing came first, therefore you had nothing to do with the blessing, either salvation or anything after salvation.

9. Since the blessing of the believer existed before the believer it is impossible for such blessing to be based on human merit or human ability.

E)ulogew: God provides benefits for you on the basis of who and what He is and who and what He was in eternity past, and He is the same today as He ever was, there never was a time when He was different. This blessing only becomes a reality to us by inculcation, cognisance, GAPing it daily.

“with all spiritual blessings” — materialistic things and things that produce happiness in life are secondary to spiritual blessings. There must be a stabiliser for what we have in life or what we do not have and spiritual blessing is the stabiliser. We have the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of paj [all] plus e)ulogia [blessing, benevolence] plus pneutatikoj [indicates a category of blessing]. This is a long prepositional phrase. It should be translated “by means of every spiritual benefit.” The provision of grace covers many facets of life, but since God is a spirit benefits which come from God must be spiritual. God is a spirit, God is perfect, what He gives you is spiritual. It might be a right man or a right woman who is flesh and blood but the fact that you have right man or right woman is a spiritual blessing because of the source. So pneumatikoj is not used here in the sense of anything that is respectable or religious or legalistic. It refers to the very character of God, not only His essence. His character is spiritual. Anything that comes from God is pneumatikoj. Pneumatikoj is used for spiritual gifts. God the Holy Spirit sovereignly bestows the gifts. So a materialistic thing can be spiritual or not spiritual, it all depends on the source. If the source is God then it is spiritual.

“in heavenly places” — spiritual benefits include Bible doctrine. Your salvation is a spiritual benefit. But so is everything that you have which is materialistic that is from God. This is e)n plus the locative plural of e)pouranioj which is “upon the heavens.” This is best translated “in the heavenlies,” that is the place where God dwells. This anticipates the next preposition phrase which describes positional truth. In effect, “in the heavenlies” is going to relate all blessings that you have to your position in Christ. Your position in Christ, then, is the source of all your blessings and it is the same concept — pneumatikoj. When God provides a woman, money, a house, a car, or whatever, that is spiritual. The benefit is from God therefore it is spiritual. That doesn’t describe the essence of the benefit, that describes the essence of the giver. Spiritual describes the essence of the giver. Pneumatikoj combines the essence of God, the character of God into one principle. You can’t see God the Father. He is real, He is spiritual, therefore anything that comes from Him is a spiritual gift.

The preposition e)n plus the locative plural of e)pouranioj occurs five times in Ephesians. It is generally translated “in heavenly places” and that is not bad, but we can shorten it up to “in the heavenlies.”

The five use:

a) The sphere and source of divine blessing — Ephesians 1:3.

b) The sphere of Christ’s power — Ephesians 1:20.

c) The sphere of the Christian life — Ephesians 2:6.

d) The sphere of angelic activity — Ephesians 3:10.

e) The sphere of spiritual conflict — Ephesians 6:12.

“in Christ” — e)n plus the locative of Xristoj for positional truth. There is no definite article here. The absence of the definite article emphasises the quality. The quality is perfect, Christ. The quality is resurrected, ascended, and seated Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father. His humanity is in the place of highest glorification. His deity always possesses glorification. As the God-Man seated at the right hand of the Father in hypostatic union He is absolutely unique.

Translation: “Worthy of praise and glorification the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one having provided us benefits by every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.”

The doctrine of positional truth [“in Christ”]

1. The mechanics of positional truth are found in Acts 1:5; 1Corinthians 12:13 [mechanics]; Ephesians 4:5 [principle]. In other words, at the point of salvation every believer receives 36 things. Five of these are directly accomplished by God the Holy Spirit, one of which is the baptism of the Spirit whereby He takes us an enters us into union with Jesus Christ.

2. Positional truth belongs to the carnal as well as the spiritual believer, to the super-grace believer and the reversionist — 1Corinthians 1:2, 30.

3. Positional truth protects the believer from divine judgment in eternity. Being in union with Christ means that we share His life [eternal], His righteousness [+R, which means it is impossible for us to be judged at the great white throne], His sonship, His heirship, His priesthood, His election, His destiny, His kingship. Romans 8:1.

4. Positional sanctification qualifies the believer to live with God forever. If you are going to live with God forever there are certain things you must have: eternal life, +R — 1John 5:11,12; 2Corinthians 5:21. The believer enters into union with Christ, he shares the life of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, therefore he is qualified to live with God forever, he has the same kind of life that God has, the same kind of righteousness that God has.

5. Positional truth explains both election and predestination. The principle is that in eternity past Jesus Christ was elected by God the Father, so Christ is elected. In electing Christ He also gave Him a destiny. When we enter into union with Christ we share the election of Christ, we share the destiny of Christ; therefore we are pre designed, foreordained by virtue of union with Christ. Remember that Christianity is a relationship: union with Christ, not a religion.

6. Positional truth produces a new creature in Christ — 2Corinthians 5:17.

7. Positional truth guarantees the eternal security of the believer — Romans 8:38,39.

8. Positional truth exists in two categories: retroactive and current. When Jesus Christ died on the cross the sins of the old sin nature were poured out on Him and judged, human good was rejected. When we accept Christ as saviour we enter into union with Christ as He is seated at the right hand of the Father. But we also enter into union with Christ as He was upon the cross. We are identified with Christ in His death, we are identified with Christ in His resurrection and ascension. Retroactive positional truth is identification with Christ in His death — Romans 6; Colossians 2:12; 3:3. Current positional truth is identification with Christ in His resurrection.

9. The implications of current positional truth. They all have to do with the fact that we share what Christ has. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, we share everything that Christ has and is.

a) Christ is eternal life — 1John 5:11,12.

b) Christ is absolute righteousness — 2Corinthians 5:21.

c) Christ is elected, we share His election — Ephesians 1:4.

d) Christ has a destiny, we share His destiny — Ephesians 1:5.

e) Christ is the Son, we are in union with Christ, we share His sonship — 2Timothy 2:1.

f) Christ is the heir, we share His heirship — Romans 8:16,17.

g) Christ is sanctified, we share His sanctification — 1Corinthians 1:2.

h) Christ is a King, we share His kingdom — 2Peter 1:11.

i) Christ is a high priest, we share His priesthood —Hebrews 10:10-14.

10. The characteristics of positional truth.

a) It is not an experience, it is neither emotional nor ecstatics.

b) It is not progressive, it cannot be improved in time or eternity.

c) It is not related to human merit or human good. Grace escalates divine good and excludes human good.

d) Positional truth is eternal in nature, it will last forever.

e) Positional truth is known only to the Word of God.

f) Positional truth is obtained en toto at the moment of salvation. It is accomplished by means of the baptism of the Spirit, one of the 36 things we receive at the point of salvation.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                             Lesson #4

4 08/27/1972 Ephesians 1:4 Doctrine of election

Verse 4 — “According as” is the compound verb kaqwj, made up of the preposition kata = norm or standard; the adverb o(j = as, just as, like. When put together it is used here is a causal sense, especially as a conjunction beginning a sentence. God is the cause of election. He is the cause of His own plan. He is perfect, therefore His plan is perfect. The fact that He has caused a plan means that there is in this world one perfect plan, the origin is God the Father. This is the meaning of the compound adverb at this stage. The planner came before the plan. We translate it, “Even as.”

“he that chosen us” — the aorist middle indicative of the verb e)klegw. The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist, it is designed to state something which is axiomatic, something which is completely and totally absolute without equivocation. It is very similar to the culminative aorist in which the event is reviewed in its entirety but regarded from the viewpoint of existing results. Here we have an absolute state. The Father’s perfection is revealed in the fact that he has chosen us, we have not chosen Him. Not only has He chosen us but He has chosen us within a sphere, within a principle: the principle of grace so that at no time in all of our existence will anything ever depend on us and everything will depend on Him. The middle voice: the subject, God the Father, acts toward participating in the outcome. While the active voice stresses the action the middle voice stresses the agent. God the Father is the agent. Hence, the middle voice relates the action more intimately to the subject. So in the middle voice this verb is very intimately united to the subject as the source. God the Father is the source of election. This is also known in Greek syntax as a direct middle in which the verb carries a reflexive connotation. This relates the action of the verb to the subject. The reflexive middle here emphasises the sovereignty, the perfection of God — His ability, His sovereignty, everything. God has all ability to provide for us. We are related to the God of the universe, the first person of the Trinity, who has no limitation in His ability in any way. The indicative mood is the reality of God the Father having selected or elected us for Himself — “Even as he has elected [chosen] us for himself.”

“us” refers to all believers; “in him” is e)n plus the locative of the pronoun a)utoj, a basic reflexive pronoun. It refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. The pronoun emphasises a subject already known to the readers. It is also intensive, isolating the person of Jesus Christ from everything else and indicating that God the Father intends that for us as believers there is only one celebrity in the universe, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father has sent us and has given us the only celebrity. Principle: In Christianity there can be many heroes but only one celebrity, the God-Man, the unique person of the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ. The prepositional phrase here refers to positional truth. E)n plus the locative refers to being in union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

“before the foundation of the world’ — pro katabolhj kosmou. Pro plus the genitive indicates before something began. Kosmou indicates the order of things that came from God in this world. So literally, “before the beginning of the world.” Kosmoj means order. It originally has to do with God creating this world. Kosmoj today is used for the devil’s kingdom.

The word “chosen” is the key to the doctrine of election.

The doctrine of election

1. All members of the human race are potentially elected to the plan of God by the doctrine of unlimited atonement — 2Timothy 2:10.

2. Christ was elected from eternity past — Isaiah 42:1; 1Peter 2:4,6. If there is going to be a plan the plan must centre on a person, and the person in the plan is the unique person of the universe, Jesus Christ. A plan must involve a key person. Election for the believer means to share the election of Jesus Christ, even as predestination means to share the destiny of Christ. In eternity past Jesus Christ was elected by God the Father. The Father is perfect, He elects the Son. Through the cross where Christ died for us we enter into union with Jesus Christ. Christ is elected; we share His election. Christ is predestined; we share His predestination.

3. This election of Christ which we now possess occurred in the doctrine of divine decrees and/or the eternal life conference in eternity past — John 15:16; Ephesians 1:4; 2Thessalonians 2:13; 1Peter 1:2.

4. Every believer shares the election of Christ through the mechanics of positional sanctification — 1Corinthians 1:2, 30; Romans 8:28-32; Ephesians 1:4.

5. Election is the present as well as the future possession of every believer. Therefore election is both temporal as well as the eternal possession of the believer — John 15:16; Colossians 3:12.

6. This election occurs at the moment of salvation — 1Thessalonians 1:4; 2Thessalonians 2:13; 2Timothy 1:9.

7. Election is the foundation of the Church. We are members of the body of Christ, the Church, and election is the basis of the foundation of the Church — 1Thessalonians 1:4. The foundation of the Church universal is the plan — election; the foundation of the church local is Bible doctrine.

8. Orientation to election comes through doctrine in the right lobe and in the super-grace life.

9. Regenerate Jews of the previous dispensation, the Age of Israel, also had an election as a part of the plan of God — Romans 11:1-7.

“that” is not found in the original manuscript. However, it is bona fide as a word in the translation because the infinitive often denotes purpose. “That” is a device in the English to connote purpose, so it is used here to translate the infinitive with the accusative of general reference.

“we should be” — “we” is the accusative plural of the personal pronoun e)gw, and in the plural it should be translated “we,” referring to all believers under the concept “he has chosen us.” Notice that “we” is the subject of the verb “should be.” But “we” is in the accusative and it is called the accusative of general reference, whereby when you want to emphasise something and have run out of superlatives you go to a grammatical change. In the sense of etymology we have now run out of superlatives, therefore we go to a device in the Greek. Take an accusative (in this case an accusative plural. It is always the object of the verb) and turn it into a subject. When you turn it into a subject you can’t use an ordinary verb, you have to use an infinitive. So the infinitive should be the present active infinitive of e)imi, the absolute status quo verb. We have present tense, linear aktionsart. The active voice: all believers. The accusative plural of e)gw, the subject. The infinitive: this is God’s purpose. Therefore it should be translated, “that we keep on being.” Then we have another accusative, the object of the verb, but the problem is that the verb is e)imi which doesn’t take the accusative case. So once more we have a very strange construction, an accusative of general reference followed by an accusative. This in itself is a very strong way in the Greek of underlining something.

“saints” — a(gioj. The principle of the phrase, “that we keep on being saints” is to indicate that the purpose of grace is to make each believer of the Church Age exactly like the celebrity, like Christ. The Father is going to accomplish this in three stages and all three stages come under the word a(gioj.

The word “saints” has to do with positional sanctification, i.e. every believer in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saints because Christ was set apart to God the Father in eternity past. Christ was set apart in time because of His uniqueness. The uniqueness of Christ leads to the fact that He is sanctified or set apart. Christ is the original saint, we are in union with Christ, we share His set-apartness. Positionally we are set apart, experientially: super-grace life, and ultimately in resurrection body we will have a body exactly like that of the Son of God.

“and without blame” — the ascensive use of kai which sets it up in apposition, and it should be “even unblemished or blameless.” Anomoj is an adjective and it means “blameless” or “unblemished.” It connotes the absence of defects. This is accomplished at present through union with Christ. In phase three the resurrection body is exactly like Him. The fact that we are saints now and the fact that we were saints at salvation means that we will always be saints. Because the believer is in union with Christ he is blameless — Romans 8:1. Because he is going to have a resurrection body exactly like Christ, he is blameless. What he is experientially is beside the point. The point is he is in the plan of God and it doesn’t depend on the believer.

“before him” is an adverb, katenwpion, which has a dual connotation. It means first of all “in the sight of.” This refers to phase two sanctification which as to do with super-grace life. It also means “in the presence of” which refers to phase three sanctification based on having a resurrection body. We are in union with Christ, therefore we are in the sight of God right now. We are also going to be in the presence of God in a resurrection body. We translate this “in the presence of him.” This includes the fact that we are in His sight now, we will be in His presence in the future.

“before him [of him]” is a genitive singular of a)utoj referring to God the Father. This is a genitive of reference.

“in love” goes with the next verse.

Translation: “Even as he has chosen us for himself in him [Christ] before the beginning of the world, that we keep on being saints and blameless in the presence of him.”

1972 Ephesians                                                                                             Lesson #5

5 09/03/1972 Ephesians 1:5 Doctrines of predestination, adoption

Verse 5 — the words “in love” at the end of verse 4 in the KJV are actually the beginning of this verse. So the verses actually starts, “In love having predestinated.” “In love” is the preposition e)n plus the locative of a)gaph. A)gaph is a mental love, a love which has no emotional connotation. It is the absence of mental attitude sins and is the concept and the dynamics of love from the standpoint of thinking. Here it refers to the love of God the Father as the motivator in His plan. Love must not be compromised and therefore we have the concept of propitiation whereby God enters into relationship with us.

“having predestinated” is the aorist active participle of the compound verb proorizw which means to predesign or to predetermine.

The doctrine of predestination

1. The doctrine of predestination deals with the believer only. There is no such thing as the unbeliever being predestined to hell. The believer has a destiny, the unbeliever goes to hell by his own decision — John 3:18, 36.

2. The biblical concept of predestination does not conflict with human volition but emphasises it.

3. The purpose of the doctrine of predestination is to relate the believer permanently to the plan of God through positional truth — Ephesians 1:5.

4. There are five Greek words used to communicate the biblical doctrine of predestination.

a) Proorizw, a verb meaning to predesign — Romans 8:28,29; Ephesians 1:5, 11.

b) Protiqhmi, a verb meaning to predetermine (proorizw and protiqhmi are really synonyms with slight changes of meaning) — Romans 3:25; Ephesians 1:9. These words are occasionally used for man.

c) Proqesij, a noun meaning a predetermined plan — the subject of Ephesians 1. It is so used in Romans 8:28, “ … according to his proqesij.” Also used in Romans 9:11; Ephesians 1:11; 3:11; 2Timothy 1:9.

d) Proginwskw, a verb meaning to foreordain or preordain when God is the subject — 1Peter 1:20; Romans 8:29; 11:2.

e) Prognwsij, the cognate of proginwskw, which means foreknowledge or a predetermined purpose — Acts 2:23; 1Peter 1:2.

5. The crucifixion of Christ is related to the divine decree and predetermined purpose of God — Acts 2:23, “Him [Jesus Christ], being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” The word “counsel” is the word boulh, “decree.” The word “foreknowledge” is prognwsij but it should be predetermined purpose.” So Jesus Christ was delivered by the predetermined purpose of God the Father. Predestination inevitably involves the person of Jesus Christ, and therefore it is related to the doctrine of divine decrees, the plan of God designed in eternity past. It centres and focuses around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It does not conflict with human volition, it anticipates human volition. It anticipates human volition involved in the first sin. It anticipates human volition in believing in Christ. It anticipates human volition in rejecting Christ. But here we have it related to the person of Christ, and prognwsij is mistranslated “foreknowledge” in Acts 2:23. It does not mean foreknowledge, it is stronger than that. It means predetermined purpose. So Jesus Christ was delivered by the thoughtful decree and the predetermined purpose of God the Father.

6. All believers’ suffering is related to the predetermined plan of God — Romans 8:28 where we have the word proqesij. “ … according to his predetermined plan.” Because of divine provision in eternity past all suffering in phase two works together with grace resulting in divine good.

7. In grace God in eternity past thought about us and predesigned provision for us. This is what predestination is all about. This includes provision for both time and eternity — Romans 8:29,30. “ … he also predesigned [proorizw].”

8. God the Father predetermined the grace concept of propitiation — Romans 3:25, “ … through the forbearance of God.” The word forbearance is protqhmi, “the predetermined plan of God.”

9. The predetermined plan of God takes care of the believer before his birth — Romans 9:11, proqesij.

10. Both proqesij and proorizw combine in Ephesians 1:11 to define the divine decrees and relate them to predestination: “In whom also we have received a destiny, having been predesigned according to a predetermined plan, from the one [God the Father] putting into operation the all things according to the decree from his will and purpose.”

11. The born again Jew of the previous dispensation is a part of the preordained plan of God under the unconditional covenants to Israel. Therefore the born again Jew of the Old Testament is not a castaway — Romans 11:2. Therefore there is a definite relationship between predestination and eternal security. Predestination gives the basis for eternal security.

12. The Father through perfect expression of His thinking predesigned His perfect plan in Christ. Predestination is related to Jesus Christ, therefore predestination inevitably is related to the only celebrity of the Christian life, Jesus Christ — Ephesians 1:9; 1Peter 1:2, 20; 2Timothy 1:9.

“having predestinated” is the aorist active participle of the compound verb proorizw which means to predesign or to predetermine. Aorist comes from the Greek word a)oristoj which means unlimited. Aorist means that we have an indefinite tense without essential temporal significance. The aorist does not signify completeness but an action as already attained. It states the fact of the action, the event, without regard to its duration. The aorist states a past action without reference to its duration simply as a thing attained. The aorist, then, expresses a simple occurrence of the action in past time, although some of them anticipate the future and some are related to the present. We have a constative aorist here which contemplates the action in its entirety. In other words, it takes everything designed in the divine decrees in eternity past and gathers it up into one whole or one entirety. When the aorist participle here says “having predesigned” it means that in eternity past everything that would be needed for you personally was provided then — salvation and everything after it in phase two. So the constative aorist here takes into view everything that you would ever need. God will never be taken by surprise at any disaster in the believer’s life and in eternity past He had already made provision in grace. We also have the active voice of this participle: God the Father did the work. In the active voice the subject produces the action and God the Father is the subject producing the action. This is also an aorist participle. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, the main verb: “he has chosen us for himself.” He also did that in eternity past, and this is to show logical progression in eternity past. In eternity past, after He had provided everything the believer needed, He chose him.

“us” is the accusative plural from e)gw — “In love having predesigned us.”

What is “us”?

1. Omniscience anticipates human volition but never coerces it. Human volition is still free to operate on positive or negative signals.

2. Since God the Father had the good sense to know in eternity past who would believe in Christ, having predesigned us He chose us for Himself in Christ. He knew who would believe in Christ; He knew who would not. So He said the plan would apply to those who believe. Those who do not are outside of the plan.

3. Predesigned in eternity past are 36 things received by every believer at the point of salvation.

4. Predesigned in eternity past is everything the believer will ever need for the super-grace life.

5. However, this passage emphasises the salvation provision of eternity past. Other passages emphasise what God has provided to get the believer into super-grace.

6. The present Calvinistic doctrine of predestination is based on the Hegelian fallacy that for every thesis there must be an antithesis. However, if the Bible does not state the antithesis it does not exist.

7. The Bible states the destiny of the believer as heaven. While the believer is predestined to heaven in a resurrection body the unbeliever is not predestined to hell. The unbeliever goes to hell by his own decision, not by the plan of God. The plan of God made provision for everyone to stay out of hell — unlimited atonement.

8. God’s plan calls for the unbeliever to go to heaven but rejection of Christ from his own free will places him forever in the lake of fire. However, it is not God’s predesigned plan for that unbeliever to go to hell but it is the unbeliever’s own volition.

9. Out of this a principle: God has designed beforehand a plan, not the person. The person enters the plan by faith in Christ. God knew beforehand who would enter His plan and who would not.

10. Therefore God predesigned that all who believe would be taken by God by the Holy Spirit and entered into union with Christ.

“unto the adoption” — the preposition e)ij plus the accusative of u(ioqesia [u(io = adult son; qesij = placing]. This is a Roman custom, the recognition of maturity. Adoption means recognition of maturity, it does not mean to adopt someone outside the family. The words “of children” are not found in the original. It should read, “In love having predesigned us with the result of the appointment of adult sons.” E)ij, the preposition, is used in the concept of result.

The doctrine of adoption

1. Isagogics: the Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written. The noun u(ioqesia refers to a Roman custom in Paul’s time. In the Roman empire the son was placed under slaves and teachers during his minority. At around age 14 he had graduated from a system of intensive training and discipline which was administered by slaves, those who taught him. He was then recognised as an adult member of the family. The ceremony was called u(ioseqia, the word “adoption” in our passage. The basic concept of the ceremony was freedom to function as an adult citizen in the Roman world. This custom is taken by Paul. There is no concept here of adopting someone outside the family, it is recognition of someone inside the family, that they have now grown up.

2. We must relate the etymology to the isagogics. The word u(ioseqia comes from the Greek word u(ioj which means adult son, and qesia come from tiqhmi which means to appoint or place. U(ioseqia means, then, to be appointed an adult son as a member of the family. It refers to one of the 36 things that every believer receives at the moment of salvation, and it has to do with the believer’s freedom. At the moment you believe in Christ spiritually you are brefoj, a child on mother’s breast. But you are at the same time in union with Christ who is the Son of God, u(ioj, and being in union with Him positionally you are u(ioj. You are a child spiritually, experientially, but positionally you are an adult son. This indicates that every believer, no matter how he fails, is still another u(ioj of God; he is in union with Christ.

3. The mechanics of adoption. Positional truth in Ephesians 1:4,5 gives us the mechanics. By means of the baptism of the Holy Spirit every believer enters into union with Christ. Positional truth is the mechanics of adoption. The word tiqhmi, the verb from qesij, is fulfilled by the baptism of the spirit — 1Corinthians 12:13. At the moment of salvation every believer is an adult son.

4. The time of adoption is the point of salvation — John 3:3,7; 1:12; Galatians 3:26; Titus 3:5.

5. The implications of adoption are freedom to have relationship with God and serve Him — Galatians 4:5. Remember that adoption as well as salvation in general gives us freedom toward God, not freedom in the human race. Therefore full time Christian service is nothing more or less than the believer free to have relationship with God — Romans 8:15.

6. There is also a future aspect of adoption — Romans 8:23, the resurrection body, minus the old sin nature, minus human good. In other words, the future aspect of adoption is ultimate sanctification.

“by Jesus Christ” — dia plus the genitive which is “through Jesus Christ.” Union with Christ makes the adoption reality.

“to himself” is e)ij plus autoj and it means that the direction of the baptism of the Spirit, union with Christ and adoption, is toward God Himself.

“according to the good pleasure” — kata plus the accusative of e)udokia which means benevolent purpose.

“of his will” — we have to be careful here because the word is qelhma and it is in the ablative. It means “from the source of his will.” This is what is called the objective use of qelhma which means what is willed, what one wishes to bring about by his own action. Since God by His own action has undertaken to do what He has willed this refers to His plan and His purpose. It is a benevolent purpose of God which He has undertaken to adopt every believer at the point of salvation as an adult son. This is a benevolent purpose compatible with grace.

Translation: “In love having predesigned us with the result of the appointment of adult sons for himself through Jesus Christ, according to the benevolent purpose from his will.”

Principle: Positional truth was designed to make every believer at salvation an adult son, whether he is carnal or spiritual, whether he is in reversionism or super-grace. Therefore positional truth was predesigned to give every believer eternal security regardless of his experiential status in phase two.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                             Lesson #6

6 09/10/1972 Ephesians 1:6–7a Doctrine of grace

Verse 6 — “To the praise” is a prepositional praise, e)ij plus the accusative singular from the compound noun e)painoj [e)inoj = praise; e)painoj = over-praise] which can be translated applause, recognition, or approval. Literally then, “resulting in recognition.” The preposition e)ij plus the accusative here indicates a result. This is the believer’s response to the plan of God. You cannot begin to appreciate who and what God is, or His plan, until you recognise its ultimate parts. The fact of over-praise recognition indicates the response of a believer with an ECS and this is really super-grace recognition. Ephesians 1:6, like James 4:6, is not dealing with grace in the ordinary sense but it is referring to the function of the super-grace life. So this is tantamount to occupation with Christ as the fourth floor of the ECS plus the capacity for loving Jesus Christ under the super-grace life. A more detailed response is presented in Psalm 32.

“of the glory” — the genitive singular doca is without the definite article. This word refers to the quality of God. Glory is used here in that sense because of the absence of the definite article, calling attention to the quality of the noun. The specific part of God which is being described is His plan so we have “the glory of …

“his grace” — the ablative singular of xarij which is source here, “glory from the source of his grace.”

“wherein” — an ablative from the relative pronoun o(j and should be translated “from which [grace].” Grace is the antecedent of the relative pronoun. In other words, it is the grace of God which has made us “accepted in the beloved.”

“he hath made us accepted” is an aorist active indicative of xaritow which does not mean to be accepted. Xarij means grace, and xaritew here means to pursue with grace or to grace out — “he has pursued us with grace.” The aorist tense is a dramatic aorist stating a present reality with the certitude of a past event. The past event is the doctrine of divine decrees or God’s decision in eternity past to treat mankind in grace. Therefore, since man is hard to catch this verb recognises man as a believer being pursued by grace. The dramatic aorist is often used for a status which has just been realised, and the whole objective of Ephesians 1:6 is to become aware of with the result that you enter into the super-grace life. Paul in reversion recovery has come to realise the fact that ever since the moment he was saved he has been pursued by grace. The active voice produces the action of the verb. In this case God the Father is the subject and He does the pursuing. It is the plan of God the Father that pursues us from the point of salvation to the point that we depart from this earth. The indicative mood is the reality of the super-grace believer being pursued by God’s grace.

“us” is the accusative plural of the personal pronoun e)gw. This personal pronoun means that any believer who is positive toward doctrine is under this principle. It is a question of whether you are going to be disciplined by grace or pursued by grace. If you as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ are negative toward doctrine it is inevitable that you will be disciplined by grace. But if you as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ are positive toward doctrine it is also inevitable that you will be pursued by grace.

“in the beloved” — the perfect passive participle of a)gapaw. A)gapaw is used for mental attitude love. In the case of God it is right from His essence. The perfect tense is the permanent fact that God loves us. He loves us because He first of all loved His Son. The perfect tense is used to first of all indicate there was a permanent love always between the Father and the Son. We are “in” — e)n plus the locative form of the perfect passive participle which refers to the fact that since we are in union with the one who has always been loved we now share being the object of that permanent love. God the Father loves God the Son with a permanent love; God the Father loves every believer with a permanent love. The passive voice indicates that we receive this love without earning it or deserving it or working for it. You do not work for the love of God, it is maximum at the point of salvation, and God’s love for you from the point of salvation on never is improved. Every believer is in union with the one having been loved. Therefore we are the objects of maximum love from the start and it never changes. Since the believer is in union with Christ the Father can only love us with the same capacity of love that He has for the Son. Consequently we are “the ones having been loved.” This is taught in Colossians 3:12; 1Timothy 6:2; Hebrews 6:9; 2Peter 3:1; 1John 3:2.

Translation: “Resulting in the recognition of glory from the source of his grace, from which he has pursued us with grace in the one having been loved.”

The doctrine of grace

The plan of God, operation grace, was provided for man before man was created. Therefore man cannot earn and cannot deserve this grace. Under grace God does the work and man is only the beneficiary. Under super-grace God does the pursuing and man does the benefiting.

1. Grace is all that God is free to do for man on the basis of the cross. God is free to express His love through grace and He does this without jeopardising His essence. No one can truly give apart from freedom and God gives out of total freedom because of the cross to us. Grace is the work and the plan of God on behalf of man beginning at the cross. It is God’s plan and God’s policy for mankind. It is a plan, a policy, a function, a mechanic, a divine modus operandi, a divine modus vivendi.

2. Under the principle of concept grace depends upon the essence of God, therefore grace depends on who and what God is. Grace is what God can do for man and still be consistent with His own character.

3. The believer must sort out the difference between grace and legalism. Legalism is man’s ability and works intruding upon the plan of God. Man’s works cannot coexist with God’s works. Such an implied coexistence is blasphemy. Grace excludes human works.

4. Grace, sanctification, and the angelic conflict all meet in the plan of God. The greatest thing God can do for a believer is to make him exactly like His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only celebrity of the Church Age. Ultimately it is the objective of God’s plan to make everyone like His Son. Man was created to resolve the angelic conflict and since man was given free will it is inevitable that he would fail. Adam through his free will sinned. Jesus Christ had to become a human being and not an angel in order to resolve the angelic conflict — Hebrews 2;14-16. In other words, the first Adam lost the victory through the fall and the last Adam wins the victory through the cross — Colossians 2:14. Grace found a way to take man created inferior to angels and make him superior, and this is accomplished in all three stages of the plan of God for mankind.

Stage one is positional sanctification in which the believer enters into union with the glorified Jesus Christ. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, this is an application of current positional truth. Every believer is in union with the Lord Jesus Christ therefore believers are positionally higher than angels. When Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father in His humanity He is higher than angels, we are in union with the God-Man, Jesus Christ, and we are now positionally superior to angels.

Stage two is our life on this earth and under the construction of the edification complex of the soul and the entrance into the super-grace life it is possible for our experience to represent in an effective way what was provided for us at the point of salvation. In other words, the super-grace life is the only normal Christian life which expresses the priesthood of the believer. Believers who do not grow up never live the normal Christian life. So stage two is designed through grace whereby God can tale a believer living in the devil’s world in the intensified stage of the angelic conflict and make it possible for this individual to adequately represent the Lord Jesus Christ.

Stage three is comparable to phase three in which the believer receives a resurrection body exactly like that of the Son of God, minus the old sin nature, minus human good. As a result he is exactly like the Son of God fulfilling Philippians 3:21, and this is the ultimate.

5. Every believer has tasted the grace of God at least once — Hebrews 6:4; 1Peter 2:3. At the moment of salvation every believer receives from God 36 things and he never loses these things. This grace package of salvation cannot be cancelled or destroyed either by God Himself, by angels, or by mankind. Among the 36 things received by grace at salvation we have the principle of propitiation in 1John 2:2 whereby the believer regardless of spiritual status is always under maximum love from God. But grace can only find a place to lodge where there is capacity for grace and capacity for grace only comes through the super-grace life.

6. The occupational hazard for believers is disorientation to grace in the field of reversionism. Under these conditions, in Galatians 5:4, reversionism is called “falling from grace,” and in Hebrews 12:15 it is called “missing grace.” So reversionism is a great danger after one has erected an ECS.

7. The divine attitude in grace: God is constantly waiting to pour out His grace to every believer in phase two — Isaiah 30:18,19.

8. Grace in phase two is found in such passages as Psalm 103:8-12; Romans 3:23,24; 4:4; 5:20; Ephesians 2:8,9; Hebrews 2:9.

9. Grace in phase two is the believer in time.

a) The prayer of the super-grace life — Hebrews 4:16. You will use prayer to the maximum once you enter the super-grace life.

b) Grace is suffering — 2Corinthians 12:9,10. Super-grace suffering is designed for greatest possible blessing.

c) Grace in growth — 2Peter 3:18.

d) Grace in stability in phase two — 1Peter 5:12; Hebrews 13:9.

e) Grace as the modus vivendi — 2Corinthians 1:2; Hebrews 12:28.

f) Grace in the production of divine good — 1Corinthians 15:10; 2Corinthians 6:1.

10. Grace and giving — 2Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 4:14-18. Grace orientation is the bona fide motivation for the thought pattern involved in giving.

11. Grace in suffering — 2Corinthians 12:7-10.

12. Some axioms concerning grace.

a) God is perfect; His plan is perfect.

b) A perfect plan can only originate and function from a perfect God.

c) If man can do anything meritorious in the plan of God it is no longer perfect.

d) A plan is no stronger than its weakest link. For this reason grace excludes all human merit, all human ability. Grace also excludes any form of human good.

e) Legalism and human good is always the enemy of grace.

f) Therefore works of human righteousness have no place in the plan of God.

g) All human good is associated with the greatest mental attitude sin of pride. Reversionism is characterised by pride, jealousy, and other mental attitude sins.

13. There are four areas of pride which reject God’s grace. This explains Satan’s pride, human pride, why pride is the worst and most devastating of mental attitude sins.

a) The pride of the believer who rejects the doctrine of eternal security. To say that you can commit a sin that is greater than the plan of God is blasphemous. Hebrews 12:28.

b) The pride of the believer who succumbs to pressure and adversity. He thinks his pressure and suffering is greater than the grace provision of God — 2Corinthians 12:8-10.

c) The pride of pseudo spirituality, the believer who thinks his human systems of spirituality are greater than the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. These systems usually include some system of personality imitation, observation of taboos, confusing the means and the result, assuming that witnessing to 10 people a day is the filling of the Spirit whereas in reality the filling of the Spirit results in effective witnessing, relativity which says in affect “My sins are more refined than your sin, therefore when I compare myself with you I’m spiritual and you are carnal,” the operation of the holy roller who thinks that their pseudo tongues somehow has spiritual content.

d) The pride of the believer in emotional revolt of the soul who assumes that his feelings and his emotions and his experiences are more important than Bible doctrine — 2Corinthians 6:11,12.

14. Grace is related to the divine assets of John 1:12,16,17; 1Corinthians 1:4,5; Ephesians 1:6,7.

15. The principle of super-grace is taught in James 4:6 were it is called “greater grace.”

a) The super-grace of the Lord Jesus Christ — John 1:14,16,17.

b) The super-grace of the believer in phase two — Philippians 4; James 4; Ephesians 3:19,20, 2Corinthians 12:8-10.

Notice a progression of grace in our context. In Ephesians 1:6 we have “his grace.” In verse 7, “the ruches of his grace.” In 2:7, “the exceeding riches of his grace.” There is a principle involved here. Once grace starts pursuing you you go from grace to the riches of His grace to the exceeding riches of His grace.

7 09/17/1972 Ephesians 1:7–8; Lev. 17:10–14 Doctrine of the blood (extensive explanation); doctrine of redemption

1972 Ephesians                                                                                             Lesson #7

Verses 7-12, the work of the Son related to the plan of the Father.

Verse 7 — the function of the Lord Jesus Christ in harmonising God’s love with God’s holiness. “In whom” — the preposition e)n plus the locative of the relative pronoun o(j. The relative pronoun must always have an antecedent. Here it is the Lord Jesus Christ — “the one having been loved.”

“we have” — present active indicative of e)xw which means to have and to hold. The present tense is linear aktionsart which means unchanged. We will always have, hold, redemption through His blood. Here is the basis by which God can pursue us with grace after salvation because His righteousness and justice are not compromised by His love. Propitiation, redemption, reconciliation, imputation, justification all combine so that God is able to bless us to the maximum in time without compromising His divine character. We are pursued by grace at the point of entering the super-grace life. Long before we were pursued by grace we had the basis for it, we had it at the moment of our salvation.

“redemption” — the accusative singular from a)polutrwsij, the strongest word for being purchased from slavery. It means a deliverance from slavery by payment. A)polutrwisij means the slave was purchased and released as a free person.

The slave is free but he has no capacity for freedom. He has to learn a great many things before he can begin to appreciate, to enjoy, or to utilise his freedom. He has to learn things, he has to know things. You and I at the point of salvation are freed from the slavemarket of sin but just because we are born again, just because we are children of God, just because we have eternal life, it doesn’t mean that we have any capacity for the freedom which God has provided through redemption, through grace. Therefore it takes the learning of Bible doctrine to have capacity for freedom and one of the first characteristics of the super-grace life is capacity for freedom. You have to learn doctrine after you are saved, that is the whole objective. Capacity for freedom is in the soul, not in the body.

Verse 7 — we enter into the function of the Son as it relates to the plan of the Father. Since God demands that justice and righteousness [His own] must be harmonised with His love the next section, verses 7-12, deal with the work of the Son. This is the only way that God can be consistent with His own essence.

Verse 7 begins with the preposition e)n plus the locative of the relative pronoun o(j. The antecedent for the relative pronoun is the Lord Jesus Christ who is said to be in the English “beloved,” but it is a perfect passive participle, “the one having been loved.” “In whom [Christ].”

“we have” — present active indicative of the verb e)xw which means to have and to hold; “redemption” — here is the principle, the blood will give us the mechanics. The doctrine of redemption is used to illustrate the principle at this point. Under the doctrine of redemption we have the noun in the accusative singular, the object of the verb, a)polutrwsij which is the strongest of all Greek words for this. Lutrwsij means to purchase; a)po means from an ultimate source. When put together it means to purchase a slave, not to be used as a slave but to purchase a slave and to give him his freedom. So it connotes not only freedom from the slavemarket of sin but it also indicates that the person is no longer a slave. He is delivered from shackles and bondage and is considered a free man. “In whom we have been purchased to freedom.”

The doctrine of redemption

1. The principle of redemption is found in John 8:31-36 in which the Pharisees challenged the Lord Jesus Christ. They said, “Why do you say that we as a nation are slaves? We have never been in slavery to anyone.” At the time that they spoke they were in slavery to the Roman empire, they were in slavery to the Pharisees, they were in slavery to religionism and legalism, and in addition to that they were born slaves in the slavemarket of sin, i.e. born with old sin natures. But the Lord Jesus Christ made an issue only out of the old sin nature.

2. Christ paid the ransom for sin on the cross. In other words, Christ purchased redemption — Psalm 34:22; Galatians 3:13; 1Peter 1:18,19.

3. Redemption is a doctrine which the believer can apply in time of pressure or catastrophe and find both blessing and happiness — Job 19:25,26.

4. Redemption results in the biblical doctrine of adoption — Galatians 4:4-6.

5. The doctrine of redemption was communicated in the Old Testament sacrifices by the shedding of animal blood — Hebrews 9:22.

6. Redemption provides the basis for the believer’s eternal inheritance — Hebrews 9:15.

7. The blood of Christ is the ransom money or the purchase price of redemption — Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; 1John 1:7; 1Peter 1:18,19. The blood depicts the spiritual death of Christ.

8. Redemption includes the forgiveness of sins — Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14.

9. Redemption provides the basis for justification — Romans 3:24.

“through his blood” — dia plus the genitive of a(ima. The issue is found in the blood. Never in human history has one principle, one doctrine, been so abused in the scripture. The blood of Jesus Christ is mentioned quite frequently in the New Testament and its counterpart, the representation of it, the blood of animal sacrifices in the Old Testament. With regard to the doctrine of the blood there are several things that must be kept in mind. First of all, Jesus Christ did not bleed to death. Nor does His physical death have anything to do with salvation, except to indicate the fact that it was finished. Salvation was completed while Christ was alive on the cross.

The Blood of Christ

1. The blood of Christ is represented by animal blood in the Old Testament. Blood is said to be the seat of animal life: “The life of the flesh is in the blood” — Leviticus 17:10-14. This is not talking about people, it is talking about animals. The life of mankind is in the soul, not the blood. The animal does not have a soul.

2. Animal blood was used in the Old Testament sacrifices to represent the spiritual death of Christ on the cross — Leviticus chapters 1-3. Therefore we have a representative analogy between the blood of animals in the Old Testament and the spiritual death of Christ on the cross, so that in the New Testament whenever the blood of Christ is mentioned it is referring to His spiritual death just as the animals refers to that in the Old Testament. Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 10:19; 13:20; 1Peter 1:2.

3. The doctrine of redemption was communicated in the Old Testament by means of animal sacrifices — Hebrews 9:22.

4. Christ did not die physically on the cross by bleeding to death — John 19:30,33,34. The physical death of Christ occurred as an act of His own volition, not by bleeding — John 10:18. After His work of salvation was completed Jesus Christ dismissed His spirit into the presence of the Father — Luke 23:46; Matthew 27:50. When Christ died physically His blood was still in His body — John 19:34.

5. Therefore the blood of Christ is a part of a representative analogy between the physical death of the animal in the Old Testament sacrifice and the spiritual death of Christ on the cross bearing our sins — 2Corinthians 5:21; 1Peter 2:24.

6. The blood of Christ depicts four doctrines of soteriology: a) Expiation — Revelation 1:5. Expiation means that Christ paid the penalty of sin and blood of the animal dying physically represents Christ dying spiritually for our sins; b) Redemption — Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; 1Peter 1:18,19; c) Justification — Romans 5:9 where we are said to be justified by His blood; d) Sanctification — Hebrews 13:12, we are sanctified by His blood. All of these refer to the spiritual death of Christ on the cross making it possible for us to be free from the penalty of sin [expiation], liberated from the slavemarket of sin [redemption], receive the righteousness of God imputed [justification], and set apart unto God forever [sanctification].

7. The blood of Christ is also the basis for the rebound technique — Leviticus chapters 4 and 5; cf. 1John 1:7 with 1John 1:9.

The blood is now actually defined: “the forgiveness of sins.” The word for “forgiveness” is a)fesij which means forgiveness, remission, pardon. Basically the noun connotes the cancellation of an obligation. It also connotes punishment or forgiveness of guilt. All of these were accomplished on the cross when Christ was bearing our sins. Remember that forgiveness of sins is in apposition to blood. The word “sins” is paraptwma and is not usually the word used. It is used for sins against God, sins in the sense of being all against God. When this word is in the singular it refers to Adams original sins, as in Romans 5:15, but the plural indicates the sins of the entire human race, as in Romans 4:25; 5:16; 2Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 2:13. Ephesians 1:7; James 5:16. So it should be translated “the cancellation of sins.” Our sins were canceled when Christ bore them on the cross and God the Father judged them on the cross in Christ.

“according to the riches” — kata plus the accusative plural of ploutoj plus the definite article. Ploutoj means riches or wealth, it also means abundance.

“of his grace” — genitive singular of xarij to describe the plan of God. The principle: Unlimited divine resources are thrown into God’s plan under the concept of grace. The whole character of God, the power of God, the ingenuity of God, the faithfulness of God, all meet in providing a perfect plan for you and me. The wealth of grace is a description, then, of that perfect plan. The wealth or the abundance of grace is the source of cancellation of our sins on the cross. The pattern is set in salvation and there is no blessing in time or in eternity apart from this principle — God’s grace. Under grace everything depends on who and what God is.

Translation: “In whom [in Christ] we keep on having the redemption through his blood, the cancellation of sins, according to the wealth of his grace.”

Christ bearing our sins in His own body on the cross is the blood, is the coin of the realm, is the payment for our release from the slavemarket of sin.

Verses 8-10, how the Father’s plan centres around the Son.

Verse 8 — the Father’s plan is focused in the Son. “Wherein” is an ablative singular from the relative pronoun o(j. It should be translated “From which.” The antecedent of this relative pronoun is grace, and therefore we can translate it “From which grace.”

“he hath abounded” is the aorist active indicative of perisseuw which means to have over and above, to superabound. This is a culminative aorist in which the event is presented in its entirety but regarded from the standpoint of existing results. The existing results: we are liberated from the slavemarket of sin. God the Father planned in eternity past everything we would ever need in grace. Therefore from this grace God the Father has caused to superabound toward us these things through the daily function of GAP. The active voice: God the Father is the subject of the verb and therefore He produces the action. God the Father centres His plan around the only celebrity for phase two, the Lord Jesus Christ. So this Father picks up the work of the Father, delineated what He has planned for the believer priest through the person of Jesus Christ. The indicative mood is the reality of grace superabounding to the believer through the daily function of GAP.

“toward us” — the preposition e)ij plus the accusative plural of e)gw. Toward all super-grace believers.

“in all wisdom” — the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of two words, paj, and sofia which means spiritual insight into things through knowledge of doctrine — technical here for Bible doctrine in the right lobe or the heart of the believer, accomplished through the function of GAP. This should be translated “by means of all doctrine.”

“and prudence” — also an instrumental singular and also an object of the same preposition e)n. This word is fronhsij and it means objective thinking. It is used actually for Bible doctrine on the launching pad of the right lobe. it is the divine viewpoint of life, it is the fulfillment of 2Corinthians 10:4,5 — “bring every thought into captivity for Christ.”

Translation: “From which grace he [God the Father] has caused to superabound toward us [super-grace believers] by mans of all doctrine [in the right lobe] and divine viewpoint [doctrine on the launching pad].”

1972 Ephesians                                                                                             Lesson #8

8 09/24/1972 Ephesians 1:9–10a Outline of dispensations; doc/the mystery; divine decrees

Verse 9 — “Having made known” is the aorist active participle of the verb gnwrizw which means to make known or to reveal. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist which becomes a gnomic aorist used for a truth which must be regarded as an absolute. The active voice: God the Father has made known His plan and His grace through doctrine contained in the canon of scripture and through no other source. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, “he cause to superabound to us.” The believer had to function daily under GAP for a long time before God the Father superabounded toward him. In other words, in super-grace God superabounds toward us. Therefore superabounding has to come from a knowledge and a continuous knowledge of Bible doctrine and this requires the daily function of GAP. There is no substitute for the daily feeding upon the Word of God.

“unto us” is the dative plural of the pronoun e)gw used here as an indirect object. The dative of indirect object is one in which the person in whose interest the action is being performed is emphasised. Out of the indirect object we have the dative of advantage. So we are receiving great advantage for having known these things.

“the mystery” — musthrion is a technical word in the New Testament epistles. It has a definite article with it. The noun was originally used to depict the doctrines and the secrets of the Greek fraternities of the ancient world. Here it refers to the classification of doctrine known as Church Age truth. This classification was hidden from the Old Testament saints and communicators but is now revealed through the Church Age apostles, as per Ephesians 3:1-5.

The doctrine of the mystery

1. The word musthrion is derived from an Attic Greek word musthj which was a person being initiated into a Greek fraternity in the ancient world. There is a verb that goes with it, also from the Attic Greek, muew, which means to initiate or to instruct in the basic doctrines of the fraternity. Therefore the doctrines or the secrets of the fraternity are known only to those who have been initiated and not to the outsiders. Jesus used this meaning with the disciples in Matthew 13:11; Mark 4:10,11.

2. In the epistles of the New Testament the word “mystery” refers to some aspect of Church Age doctrine — Ephesians 3:2-6.

3. Mystery doctrine of the Church Age was not revealed in the Old Testament — Romans 16:25,26; Colossians 1:26,27.

4. Part of the mystery doctrine, including the blindness or hardness of Israel during the Church Age, is also a part of the fifth cycle of discipline — Romans 11:25.

5. The mystery as Church Age doctrine was a part of the divine decrees in eternity past — 1Corinthians 2:7.

6. The pastor or minister is responsible for communicating Church Age doctrine. This is called the stewardship of the mysteries — 1Corinthians 4:1.

7. The Rapture of the Church is a part of the mystery doctrine — 1Corinthians 15:51. This means that the Rapture of the Church was not revealed in Old Testament times.

8. Mystery doctrine is always related to the dispensation of the Church and only to the Church Age — Ephesians 1:9; 3:2.

9. Mystery doctrine is understood through the function of GAP — Colossians 2:2; 1Timothy 3:9.

“of his will” — the genitive singular of qelhma which qualifies the word “mystery” in this passage. It means will, purpose, or design. The will, the purpose, and the design of God are part of the doctrine of divine decrees, they were known in eternity past but not revealed until the Church Age.

The doctrine of divine decrees

1. The divine decrees is the sum total of God’s plan designed in eternity past.

2. The plan centres around the person of Jesus Christ, as revealed from the commands of 1John 3:23; Ephesians 1:4-6.

3. Entrance into the plan of God is based on the principle of grace whereby the sovereignty of God and the free will of man meet at the cross — and they meet without any merit on man’s part. Man is never benefited under God’s plan by his talent, his works, his thoughts, or his plans. Man is blessed on the basis of who and what God is and what God has provided through grace.

4. God’s plan was so designed in eternity past so as to include all events, actions, related to their causes and conditions as a part of an indivisible system, every link being a part of the integrity of the whole. The theological definition of the doctrine of divine decrees: The decree of God is His eternal, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be, in their causes, conditions, successions and relationships, and determining their certain futurition.

5. Without interfering with human volition in any way God has designed a plan so perfect that it includes cause and effect, directive, provision, preservation and function for all believers.

6. Under His plan God has decreed to do some things directly and some things through the agency of Israel and the Church, and some through individuals.

7. Therefore there are primary, secondary and tertiary functions within the plan of God, but all these constitute one great all-comprehensive plan, perfect, eternal, unchangeable, without loss of integrity.

8. The plan of God is consistent with human freedom. God does not limit or coerce human freedom, however a distinction should be made between what God causes, like the cross, and what God permits, like sin. God created man with free will, He permits human volition to function. This is how Adam sinned. God is not the author of sin, man’s volition is the source of sin in the human race. God cannot tempt or in any way authorise sin.

9. This demonstrates that man has free will. God never condones or causes sin in the human race, and in the perfect environment of the garden God warned man against sin and its consequences.

10. Distinction should be made between the divine decrees which are related to the plan of God in both design and action and divine laws which regulate human conduct and function in the universe. Divine laws include laws of nature, laws of divine establishment, laws of function for blessing in a national entity.

11. As a principle of logic God’s decrees do not arise from His foreknowledge. The foreknowledge of God makes nothing certain, it merely perceives in eternity past the things that are certain.

12. There is a difference between foreknowledge and foreordination. The decrees made certain, foreordination established certainty while foreknowledge does not. Nothing can be known until it is decreed — 1Peter 1:2; Romans 8:29; Acts 2:23.

13. Therefore the elect are foreknown and the foreknown are elect. In other words, God knew ahead of time which way every free will would decide at any given point in history. This does not imply divine coercion. God’s plan, however, anticipates every decision of history. As free will decides so God decrees — John 3:36; 1John 3:23.

14. Since God cannot contradict His own essence He plans the best for the believer. God is perfect, His plan and provision are perfect.

15. The cross was decreed in eternity past but the human volition of Christ decided for the cross at Gethsemane — Matthew 26:39, 42. God has provided salvation for you through the cross but it must be your free will choice in time — John 3:36.

16. No decree in itself opposes human freedom, but once a choice is made from your free will then your entrance into the plan of God by faith in Jesus Christ means that the function of the decrees does limit your human freedom while at the same time giving you your volition, your freedom to serve God. A believer, to have inner happiness, must choose to function under GAP. Malfunction under GAP means misery for him. Once you believe in Christ the divine decrees do limit you. They limit you to a life of taking in spiritual food, manna from heaven, Bible doctrine. And the more concentrated your intake the sooner you reach super-grace. The sooner you reach super-grace the sooner God is free to benefit you to the maximum. The super-grace life frees God to give you maximum blessing.

“according to his good pleasure” — the preposition kata plus the accusative of e)udokia [e)u = good; dokia = taken from dokew for objective thinking] which means a norm or a standard. So it is “according to the standard of his good thinking.”

“which” — the ablative singular of the relative pronoun o(j, “from which.”

“he hath purposed” — the aorist middle indicative of protiqhmi which means to predetermine [pro = before; tiqhmi = appoint, design]. God planned it all in eternity past. The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist, used for a doctrine regarded as being an absolute.

The middle voice:

a) In the middle the subject participates in the results of the action. The subject is God the Father. It is God the Father who predetermined and predesigned.

b) The middle voice stresses the subject as the agent. God the Father did the thinking and therefore becomes the agent of the divine plan.

c) The middle voice relates the action of the verb more intimately to the subject, and through His predesigned plan God the Father is intimately related to us as believers. This intimate relationship is described under the family analogy. He is the Father, we are the children.

d) We have in this case an indirect middle in which the agent produces the action. God the Father is emphasised.

We also have in this verb the indicative mood. It is the reality of the predesigned and predetermined plan of God.

“in himself” is a prepositional phrase, e)n plus the locative of a)utoj, a reflexive pronoun. This is the principle of union with Christ. The mechanics of the baptism of the Spirit are unique to the Church Age. it is a part of the doctrine of the mystery. God’s plan for the Church Age is related to positional sanctification. In this way, the Father’s plan centres around the Son and because of this all believers at the point of salvation are entered into union with Christ.

Translation: “Having made known to us the mystery of his will [purpose, design], according to the standard of his good thinking from which he predesigned in him [in Christ].”

Verse 10 — “That.” We have a prepositional phrase here, e)ij plus the accusative which means “With reference to.”

“the dispensation of the fullness of times.” The Church Age is not the dispensation of the fullness of times, that is the Millennium. The Millennium is used as an illustration.

The doctrine of dispensations

A. DEFINITION.

1. A dispensation is a period of human history expressed in terms of divine revelation.

2. Dispensations are the divine categories of human history or the divine outline of human history.

3. In effect, dispensations are God’s interpretation of human history as well as the divine plan for man related to time.

4. The believer’s orientation to time is vitally necessary to understand God’s plan, and therefore understanding God’s plan he understands God’s purpose.

5. In every age or dispensation the plan of God operates through a specific agency. The last one was Israel, now is the Church. In the Millennium Christ is the ruler.

6. Salvation is always the same in every dispensation: personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as He is revealed in that dispensation.

B. GREEK WORDS TO PORTRAY THE DISPENSATIONAL CONCEPT IN THE NT.

1. Xronoj — time as a succession of events. Most frequently this word is used to portray history, the events of history in chronological order. Xronoj used technically in the dispensational concept is found in 1Thessalonians 5:1.

2. Kairoj — time in the concept of an epoch or a period. It is used for the dispensations or the organisation of events in categories — 1Thessalonians 5:1.

3. O)ikonomoj — is the Greek word usually translated “dispensations.” A word that goes with it is o)ikonomia. It was used originally for the administration of an estate or a household. It refers to God’s administration of believers for both blessing and judgment plus God’s handling of the human race during the angelic conflict. In each dispensation God appoints a stewardship or an administration. He appointed Israel in the last dispensation, the Church in this dispensation, and Christ in the Millennium. Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:25.

4. A)ion, translated by the word “ages” in the English. It is a period of time, a divine category of human history, an era or an age. It is used in this way in Ephesians 3:5; Colossians 1:26.

B. THE AGE OF THE GENTILES — Genesis 1-11.

This age is divided into three parts: a) The period of innocence, really the period of positive volition; b) Conscience is the period of negative volition; c) The period of the development of the laws of divine establishment.

The ultimate in the development of the laws of divine establishment, in order to protect the human race during the angelic conflict and keep it from destruction, is the provision of nationalism. Internationalism is an attack, nationalism is the basis for the survival of the human race giving a maximum freedom to individuals. Nationalism gives maximum freedom, internationalism is just as much slavery as any system of slavery that has ever existed.

Under the Age of the Gentiles we have one language, one race. We have the development of and the attack upon the four basic concepts in the laws of divine establishment. The skeleton for the laws of divine establishment are the divine institutions: positive volition or freedom which was attacked in Genesis 3; marriage and the family was attacked in Genesis 6; nationalism was attacked in Genesis 11. This particular age goes from Adam to Babel. There was no canon of scripture, all divine revelation was given verbally through dreams or visions, and so on. Salvation was by faith in Jesus Christ, and during that dispensation there was no missionary agency.

C. THE AGE OF ISRAEL.

It, too, is divided into three parts; a) The period of the patriarchs from Abraham to Moses; b) The period of the law from Moses to Christ. Then we have an interruption of the Jewish Age in which the Church Age is inserted, and with the Rapture of the Church we have the end of the Jewish Age which is the Tribulation — from the Rapture to the second advent of Jesus Christ. During this period there are many languages in order to avoid any further internationalism that would destroy the human race. There are many races. The missionary agency is Israel. Security for regenerate Israel was found under four unconditional covenants: Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New Covenants to Israel. Israel had as the administrator of the dispensation a specific discipline for failure — the fifth cycle of discipline. It was administered to the northern kingdom once, to the southern kingdom twice. This dispensation terminates with the second advent, it was interrupted by the cross. Salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ as illustrated by Abraham who believed in the Lord and it was credited to his account for righteousness — Genesis 15:6. Spirituality for the dispensation of Israel was the function of the faith-rest technique.

D. THE CHURCH AGE.

This is found in the New Testament epistles and in John chapters 14-17. The Church Age is divided into two parts. a) The pre-Canon period from 30 AD to about 96 AD; b) The post-Canon period which continues to the Rapture. This is the period of the completed canon of scripture. In this dispensation are a number of characteristics: the uniqueness of the believer; the baptism of the Spirit whereby every believer enters into union with Christ; the universal indwelling of Christ; the universal indwelling of the Holy Spirit; the universal priesthood of the believer; a completed canon of scripture; every believer in full time Christian service as an ambassador; every believer’s life having meaning and purpose and definition regardless of who he is; we have one celebrity in Jesus Christ and many heroes. Any believer who enters the super-grace life and remains there is a super-grace hero.

E. THE AGE OF CHRIST (THE MILLENNIUM).

This is the period that begins at the second advent and Jesus Christ will rule the world for 1000 years. This is the time of perfect environment on the earth. There will be no religion. The father of religion, Satan, is removed from the world — Revelation 20:1-3. For the first time in history the ministry of God the Holy Spirit includes ecstatics — Joel 2:28,29. Israel is restored as a nation. For the first time in human history, under the reign of Jesus Christ, there will be universal peace. There will also be universal prosperity — Psalm 72:7,16. There will be a universal knowledge of God — Isaiah 11:9. There will be perfect world government — Zechariah 14:9; Isaiah 11:1,2; Psalm 72. There will be radical changes in nature, creation will be loosened from the bondage of sin — Romans 8:19-22. Animals will lose their ferocity — Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:25. Plant life will abound — Isaiah 35:1,2,7. At the beginning of the millennium there will be only believers, the survivors of the Tribulation. As the Millennium continues under perfect environment there will be a great number of unbelievers, and there will be a revolt which terminates the Millennium. However, life is extended and during the Millennium death takes a holiday except for the administration of capital punishment as part of the administration of justice. Justice will be available to all, according to Isaiah 11:3-5; Psalm 72:12-14. There will be a great revolt at the end of the Millennium and after it is put down there will be the destruction of the earth, the last judgment and the beginning of the new heavens, the new earth, the new Jerusalem forever and ever.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                             Lesson #9

9 10/01/1972 Ephesians 1:10–11 Doctrine of the Millennium

Verse 10 — “of the fullness of times” is a genitive of description of the noun plhrwma in the singular. With it is the word “time” in the plural. The word is xairoj which is time as an epoch and it is used for dispensations or a succession of events in a category. So it should be translated, “of the full measure of times.” The full measure of epochs or dispensations is a reference to the Millennium, both the last and the full measure of all the dispensations. The Millennium is mentioned at this point to show the objective of time as far as God’s plan is concerned. We live in the Church Age, a dispensation which is not associated with the Millennium in any way.

What can be expected from the Millennium?

1. We have perfect environment because Satan is bound and because there is no religion on the earth — Revelation 20:1-3. Remember that Jesus Christ supersedes Satan as the ruler of this world at the second advent. As long as Satan is the ruler of this world religion will exist.

2. There will be an optimum spirituality upon the earth — Joel 2:28,29; Isaiah 65:24; Zechariah 14:16,17. The filling of the Spirit is not ecstatics today.

3. In the Millennium we will finally have the peace of Jerusalem. The peace of Jerusalem can be a matter of prayer when the Tribulation begins because it will be fulfilled by the second advent. Israel is out under the fifth cycle of discipline until Christ returns. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who will finally deliver and regather Israel — Isaiah 5:26-30; 10:19-23; 11:11-16; 65:19; Joel 2:16ff; Zechariah 8:20-23; 10:6-12.

4. The fulfillment of the unconditional covenants to Israel — Daniel 9:24.

5. The nations will enjoy for the first time since Adam’s innocence perfect environment under the reign of Christ. This perfect environment is described in many ways. a) Universal peace — Isaiah 2:4; Hosea 2:18; Psalm 46:9; Micah 4:3; b) Universal prosperity — Psalm 72:7,16; c) Perfect world government because the government is run by the Lord Jesus Christ — Isaiah 11:1,2; Zechariah 14:9; d) Everyone will understand Bible doctrine in those days. They may not accept it or agree but there will be a universal knowledge of God — Isaiah 11:9; e) Perfect environment will exist in nature — Romans 8:19-22; animals will lose their ferocity — Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:25; plant life will abound — Isaiah 35:1,27;

6. The longevity of the human race — Isaiah 65:20, death will be abolished except in cases of capital punishment.

7. Perfect objectivity in justice — Isaiah 11:3-5; Psalm 72:12-14.

8. The Millennium begins with a population composed of believers only. The baptism of fire at the second advent removes all unbelievers from the earth’s population. Jewish unbelievers are removed in Ezekiel 20:34-38; Gentile unbelievers are removed in Matthew 25:31-46. So the beginning of the Millennium begins with believers only but this will change as the population increases.

9. The place of the millennium in scripture should be very clearly delineated. Wherever you find Old Testament passages dealing with the Millennium these are all prophecies. None of them are fulfilled on Old testament times. Whenever you find Millennial passage sin the Gospels they are still prophecy, but like the sermon on the mount the Millennium was offered with the reign of Christ. Christ offered Himself to the Jews as their King. The sermon on the mount is the platform for the Millennium, it is not for the present. There are certain paragraphs in the sermon on the mount which have application today but only application and the application comes through reiteration in parallel passages dealing with the Church Age. The Millennium is proclaimed in the Gospels — “at hand.” It is postponed in the epistles. Due to the rejection of Christ the Millennium is not a reality in the Church Age.

10. In the Tribulation the Millennium is plagiarised — Matthew 13, we have Satan trying to set up a pseudo Millennium. He does this in Israel, he tries to attract the believers who have fled to come out of their caves and mountains and come down because he has such a beautiful setup for them, “the millennium is here.”

11. At the second advent the millennium is presented.

12. The Millennium is a time of population expansion. As the millennium continues then believers will exist in greater numbers.

13. At the end of the millennium Satan will be released and there will be a revolution. It will be very brief — Revelation 20:7-10. This revolution indicates that perfect environment is not the solution to man’s problems. This will be the final demonstration of the Millennium.

“he might gather together” — aorist middle infinitive of a)nakefalaiow [a)na = step by step or again; kefalaion = the head, the sum, the total] which means to sum up, to complete, to total, to bring together several things into one total. it means “that he might bring together under one total or one head.” This is the aorist middle infinitive, this is the culminative aorist. The second advent is the end of many things and so we have the culminative aorist here. The middle voice is reflexive and therefore we must translate this “that he might bring together for himself under one head.” The infinitive denotes purpose. The word “that” introduces the concept of a purpose clause, the infinitive here acts as a purpose clause. It is a purpose clause because it is a middle infinitive.

“all things” — the accusative plural of paj plus the definite article which is literally “the all things,” referring to the Old Testament saints, the Church Age believers, the Tribulational believers.

“in Christ” — here is where the preposition is followed by the instrumental rather than the locative: e)n plus the instrumental of Xristoj. It is “by means of Christ,” not “in Christ.” Christ at the second advent in the means of bringing all these things under one person. It is a reference to the second advent which resolves both the angelic and human conflicts.

“which” is not found in the original.

“are in heaven” — e)pi plus the locative plural of o)uranoj, referring to the Old Testament saints, Church Age believers, Tribulational martyrs; and e)pi plus the locative means “in the heavens.”

“and which are on earth” — e)pi plus the genitive. The preposition for its meaning depends on the case of the object. O)ouranoj is locative, so that means “in the heavens.” E)pi plus the genitive means “upon.” So we have “in the heavens and upon the earth.” The object of e)pi the second time is the genitive of gh which is the word for earth. These are the Tribulational saints who are alive at the second advent.

“in him” is e)n plus the locative of a)utoj. Those who have a relationship with Christ, both dead and alive, are involved.

Translation: “With reference to the dispensation of the full measure of the times to bring together for himself [God the Father] under one head [Christ] the all things [dead and alive believers] by means of the Christ, those in the heavens [those who have died], those upon the earth [living believers] in him.”

Summary

1. Those in heaven include the Old Testament saints, Church Age believers, Tribulational martyrs.

2. By the second advent all these categories will be in resurrection bodies, including the Old Testament saints and Tribulational martyrs at the second advent.

3. Those on the earth are Tribulational believers alive and delivered on the earth at the second advent.

4. They become the basis of a Millennial population and they will not receive resurrection bodies until the end of the Millennium, along with Millennial saints.

Verses 11-12, a continuation of the function of the Son at the present time. We go back to the dispensation in which we live.

Verse 11 — “In whom is the preposition e)n plus the locative of the relative pronoun o(j, referring to Christ.

“also” is the adjunctive use of kai.

“we have obtained an inheritance” — aorist passive indicative from klhrow. The aorist tense is gnomic, used to present a doctrine which is an absolute and axiomatic in its character. Therefore it is described as something that has actually occurred. “In whom also we have received a destiny” is what it means in the gnomic aorist. The passive voice: the believer receives the action of the verb. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that once you believe in Jesus Christ, though you may live on the earth a long time and have many discouraging things, you are in the plan of God.

“being predestinated” — aorist passive participle of proorizw [pro = before; orizw = to design or to mark out] which means “having been predesigned.” The aorist tense is a culminative aorist in which an event is presented in its entirety but regarded from the standpoint of its existing results. God the Father predesigned everything we would ever need. The destiny was predesigned, our heritage was predesigned. Therefore the Father predesigned in eternity past every need we would ever have in time or for all eternity. The passive voice: the believer receives the action of the verb, namely everything he will ever need, in eternity past. This is a participle. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb: “we have received a destiny.” God provided everything we would ever need before he provided us a destiny.

“according to the purpose” — prepositional phrase, kata plus the accusative of proqesij which means a predetermined plan. There is no definite article. The absence of the definite article calls special attention to the character of the verb. It should be translated “according to the predetermined plan and purpose of God.”

“of him” is not found in the original.

“who worketh” should be translated “from the one who worketh” because this is an ablative singular definite article plus the ablative singular present active participle of e)nergew. It should be translated “from the one putting into operation the all things.” It refers to all creatures of the universe as well as all the laws of the universe.

“after the counsel” — kata plus the accusative of boulh which is the word for decree.

“of his own will” — the ablative singular of qelhma which refers to the will, the purpose, or the design “from himself.”

Translation: “In whom also we have received the destiny, having been predesigned according to a predetermined plan from the one [God the Father] putting into operation the all things according to the decree from his will [purpose and design].”

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #10

10 10/08/1972 Ephesians 1:12 Doctrine of glory

Verse 12 — “That” is not found in the original. Instead we have the preposition e)ij plus the present active infinitive of e)imi. This is an unusual prepositional phrase because the object of the preposition is an infinitive instead of a noun. E)ij here connotes result with the infinitive. With it is a pronoun in the accusative of general reference and so it should be translated “With the result that we should be.” We have E)ij plus e)imi plus the accusative plural of e)gw. The personal e)gw is used as the subject rather than as an object. Everything that we have had in the first eleven verses explains some of the principles of provision. It doesn’t explain the details of our provision, it explains the principles by which God keeps His own character intact and provides for us in eternity past and makes the same provision available in time. At this point now we see why.

“to the praise” — a second prepositional phrase, this time e)ij plus a noun in the accusative, e)peinoj [e)pi = super; einoj = praise] which means “super praise, over praise, maximum praise” — “for the purpose of maximum praise.”

“of his glory” — genitive singular of doca which refers to the glory of God the Father. So, “With the result that we should be for the purpose of maximum praise of his glory.”

Summary

1. The believer continues on earth after salvation as a definite part of the Father’s predetermined plan and provision of grace. It is the Father’s plan for us to continue on the earth after salvation for X amount of time. The believer continues on earth after salvation as a part of the Father’s predetermined plan and provision of grace. There are certain things that the Father can provide now in time that He could never provide in eternity. Time presents its own provision because time is the only time that believers will ever suffer, will ever have problems or difficulties, or be involved in a great conflict, the angelic conflict. So the believer continues on earth after salvation as a part of the Father’s predetermined plan.

2. The provision of grace demonstrates the Father’s ability to protect, to preserve, to bless the believer in Satan’s domain of cosmos diabolicus; and in this dispensation to bless under maximum pressure.

3. The ultimate in living on this earth as a believer is the function of the super-grace life in which the believer under super-grace provision exists to the super praise of the Father’s glory.

4. The Father is glorified to the maximum by the super-grace believer functioning under super-grace provision. 5. Since God provides for maximum blessing in the super-grace life God receives the super praise of His glory.

The doctrine of glory

1. Glory is used in a number of ways in the scripture. The first way it is used is connected with the essence of God. The essence box is the glory of God. Since His essence is perfect glory is used for the entire essence box. E.g. Romans 3:23, “… all have come short of the glory [essence box] of God.” Ephesians 1:17; Deuteronomy 5:24; Psalm 21:5 are used as illustrations of where the word “glory” is used for the essence of God. Since God has an inherent glory one of the objectives of Bible doctrine is the realisation of this inherent glory and provision.

2. Glory is used for the edification complex of the soul. The first objective of the Christian way of life is the ECS. Ephesians 3:21; Colossians 1:27; 1Peter 1:8; 2Thessalonians 2:14.

3. The right woman is the glory of the right man — 1Corinthians 11:7,15. When right woman finds her right man she so responds to him as to become his glory. The woman’s long hair is the sign of her glory but her soul’s function is the actual glory. Just as the ECS reflects the glory of God when a man finds his right woman she reflects his glory.

4. The grace of God is also described as glory — Ephesians 1:6. That is another way in which the believer demonstrates the glory of God with his capacity for grace in the super-grace life. In the super-grace life grace pursues him. The pursuit of grace means living by grace and living by grace glorifies God.

5. The provision of God’s grace is also called wealth — “the riches of his glory,” Ephesians 1:18; 3:16; Philippians 4:19.

6. There is a glory in the future which is beyond human cognisance. This is called the glory of eternity. Heaven and eternal life are described as glory in 1Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:10; 1Peter 5:10; 2Peter 1:3.7. There is

another rather negative use of the word glory in scripture. Human glamour is described as glory in 1Peter 1:24; Philippians 3:19. This is a limited use of the word.

8. Glory is used to describe the wonders of the universe — 1Corinthians 15:40,41.

9. Glory is used to describe the resurrection body of the believer — 1Corinthians 15:43; 2Thessalonians 3:14.

10. Glory is associated with operation footstool and the presentation of the Church as the bride of Christ at the second advent — Hebrews 2:10.

“who” is not found in the original, there is no relative pronoun here. Instead we have a participle under the phrase, “first trusted.” This is a perfect active participle of a compound verb proelpizw [pro = before; elpizw = in the present tense means to hope. In the present tense, the imperfect, and also the aorist it means also to trust] which in the perfect tense means to have confidence in something. It should be “having previously placed our confidence in Christ.” The objective of this verb is to bring out the principle that the believer’s soul was saved at the point of belief in Christ. At that point God gave him immediately 36 things, a guarantee you could never lose your salvation. The point is that if the believer had confidence in Him for salvation [believed], which required a minimum of faith and he was saved, what are the potentialities of phase two with a little more than no faith at all? The whole objective here is to show that he started out by believing in Christ with practically no faith at all, and if he started out that way, what is keeping him from going all the way to super-grace?

Summary

1. Before anyone enters the proqesij [plan of God designed in eternity past] of God he must first of all believe in Jesus Christ. We can’t be in the plan of God until we believe — salvation.

2. In the compound of the verb proelpizw the perfect tense always means to have confidence.

3. We must first have confidence in Christ before we fulfill the purpose of super praise to God’s glory.

4. The proqesij of God must have a beginning for those who enter in time — faith in Jesus Christ.

5. With this grace beginning and the permanent provision of doctrine in the canon there is no limit to the super praise of his glory. The only limitation is imposed by negative volition toward Bible doctrine.

6. The only limitation relates to neglect, rejection, or indifference to Bible doctrine resulting in becoming a spiritual moron or reversionist.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #11

11 10/15/1972 Ephesians 1:13–14 Doc. indwelling of Holy Spirit; 5 meanings of "seal"

Verse 13 — “In whom” is a preposition, e)n plus the locative of the relative pronoun o(j. The antecedent is the Lord Jesus Christ.

“ye also” — the adjunctive use of kai plus the nominative plural of the pronoun su meaning all believers.

“after that” does not occur in the original, it is just a clumsy attempt to translate an aorist participle. “Having heard” is the correct translation of the aorist active participle of a)kouw. You can’t get it without hearing it. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb is “you were sealed.” They actually heard the gospel before they were saved. The phrase here, “after you heard the word of truth,” refers to the expression of doctrine. “In whom also you all having the expression of doctrine.” There are many expressions of doctrine. “Word of truth” means expression of doctrine and the one that is pertinent here is the gospel. They heard the gospel before they were sealed.

“the gospel of your salvation” is a reference to the fact that everyone in order to be saved, to have eternal life, must have information on which to make a decision. The information on which to make a decision is called the gospel. The word e)uaggelion means “good news.” It is good news that Jesus Christ took our place and bore our sins in His own body on the tree. The word “salvation” here is the genitive of description. This is good news of salvation. So we should read, “In whom also you, having heard the expression of the doctrine, the good news of your salvation.” The word in the genitive of description is swthria. This describes the type of good news that is being presented.

“in whom also after that” should be “in whom having believed” — the aorist active participle, this time of pisteuw, the point of salvation. But before, we had a)kouw. You hear the gospel first. You hear the gospel first and then you respond by believing. Pisteuw is non-meritorious reception of the gospel. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, the result of having heard. The active voice: mankind produces the action of the verb at the point of salvation, he believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, the action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, the main verb is “ye were sealed.”

Faith

Faith is a non-meritorious system of thinking. It is bona fide thinking, it is the first thinking that you ever do. You must accept words as vocabulary, words as representing something, before you can put them together and think. The original understanding of anything comes to you through a perceptive system called faith.

Since faith is non-meritorious thinking there must be an object of faith which has the merit. Faith in salvation: the object of faith is the Lord Jesus Christ — Acts 18:27; Romans 4:16. There is no merit in believing, whatever merit there is always occurs in the object of faith. Therefore to believe is a transitive verb. A transitive verb always has a subject and always has an object. The subject may be implied or stated the object may be implied or stated, but a transitive verb has both. In other words, it is the transition from the subject to the object. The subject is anyone in the human race, the object is the Lord Jesus Christ and only the Lord Jesus Christ. The subject never has any merit because the subject is producing the action. The object always has the merit because the object is the basis for the subject action. Salvation is accomplished by the object, the subject merely puts his faith in the object, and placing one’s faith is thinking.

“ye were sealed” — the aorist passive indicative of sfragizw. The word means to be stamped with a seal. It is a culminative aorist. As a result of being saved we are stamped with a seal. The passive voice: the believer at the moment he is saved doesn’t earn or deserve or work for this. The indicative mood is used to indicate both the reality and the main verb for all the aorist participles.

The isagogics of a seal

1. In the ancient world a seal was a guarantee of transaction. Whenever a transaction was to be solemnised the individuals involved wearing rings with their crests or their signatures would put wax in the bottom of the scroll and then stamp the soft wax with the signet ring. Sealing is used for stamping a signature on something with a ring. That indicates eternal security. God the Holy Spirit does the stamping and that indicates that we have salvation forever.

2. It refers to identification of ownership. Seals were often put on things to indicate who owned it. God the Holy Spirit seals us at the moment of faith in Christ to indicate that God owns that believer forever.

3. Sealing is used for the authentication of invoices, contracts, laws, directives, and orders. This is analogous to the doctrine of divine decrees or the plan of God formulated for us in eternity past.

4. The preservation of tombs, libraries and treasuries was handled by the sealing of a king or someone who had great power. Again, this connotes the preservation of doctrine in the right lobe in the ECS.

5. The ratification of treaties. The sealing ministry of God the Holy Spirit is related to the super-grace life which is the expression between the believer and God. There is perfect peace because of His provision in salvation.

“with that holy Spirit of promise” — incorrect. It is “by means of the Spirit of promise.” Then we have “by means of the Holy Spirit” in the text, or “by means of the Spirit of promise, by means of the holy one.” This is the literal translation.

Translation: “In whom [Christ] you also having heard the expression of the doctrine, the good news of your salvation: in whom having believed, you have been stamped with a seal by means of the Spirit of promise, by means of the holy one [Spirit].”

Verse 14 — presents the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. This is a part of the proqesij of God the Father. “Which is” is the relative pronoun o(j referring to the Holy Spirit. Since pneuma is a neuter noun and it is used for the Holy Spirit the relative pronoun in also in the neuter, but since it refers the a person we translate it “who is.” God the Holy Spirit is the antecedent of the relative pronoun.

“the earnest” — nominative singular from the noun a)rabbon. The word is derived from a Hebrew word, erabon, and it is used in three ways: first installment, deposit, down payment. In that sense it becomes a monetary pledge. So God the Holy Spirit is a down payment. There is no definite article. The absence of the definite article calls attention to the quality of the down payment. The Holy Spirit is the down payment for phase two and for phase three. He is the down payment for phase two because He indwells every believer. He is a down payment for phase three because He is the one who provides for us the regeneration which reaches its peak in the resurrection body. God the Holy Spirit has a ministry in the resurrection body. The money must be put in deposit and God the Holy Spirit is not only the one who seals us but He is also a down payment. Therefore the down payment on the plan of God is the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. This is the Father’s pledge that we are in His plan.

The doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

1. We have the fact of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age presented in Romans 8:9; Galatians 3:2; 4:6; 1Corinthians 6:19-20.

2. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is called both unction — 1John 2:20 — and anointing — 1John 2:27.

3. The prophecy of the indwelling of the Spirit in the Church Age is found in John 7:37-39; 14:16,17.

4. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit must be distinguished from the indwelling of Christ. In the Church Age every believer is indwelt by Jesus Christ, every believer is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. Christ indwells the believer for the purpose of fellowship — Romans 8:10; 2Corinthians 13:5. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer for the purpose of function. He makes the Christian life function in the believer’s life. Maximum fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ comes through the ECS and the super-grace life — Ephesians 3:17.

5. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit must be distinguished from the filling of the Spirit. The indwelling occurs at the point of salvation and never changes. Filling is commanded — Ephesians 5:18, and lost through carnality — Ephesians 4:30. But whether the believer loses the filling of the Spirit or not he never loses the indwelling.

6. The function of the Holy Spirit under GAP is found in John 14:26; 16:12-15; 1Corinthians 2:9-16; 1John 2:27. This is the comprehension of doctrine, exhaling of doctrine, the cycling of doctrine, building the ECS with doctrine, the believer functioning under the super-grace life in doctrine.

7. The universal indwelling of the Spirit is necessary because of the intensification of the angelic conflict — John 7:37-39.

“of our inheritance” — the genitive singular from klhronomia. This is a genitive of possession. Therefore since God the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, regardless of the status on indwelling, the believer has an inheritance from God forever.

“until the redemption” is incorrect. It is e)ij plus the accusative a)polutrwsij which means the completed job of ransoming or payment and it should be translated “because of redemption.” This refers to phase three.Redemption of the body is receiving a resurrection body. This is actually the believer receiving a resurrection body in phase three. Redemption of the soul occurs at the point of believing.

“of the purchased possession” — or, “the redemption of the property.” The word is peripoihsij and it refers to property here — “because of the redemption of the property.” The believer is God’s property. And this is going to result in something …

“unto the praise” — e)ij plus the accusative, and this time it is directional, “toward the praise,” e)painoj which is super praise actually.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #12

12 11/14/1972 Ephesians 1:15–17 Relaxed mental attitude around other believers; doc/glory

Verse 15 — the first of two apostolic prayers. This apostolic prayer is for the dynamics of the proqesij. Here we have the good news from Asia. Paul has been teaching now for about 25 years and every now and then he hears about someone profiting from his ministry.

“Wherefore” is dia plus the accusative of the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj which refers to something which has immediately preceded. It should be translated “Because of this.” That is, because of the function of the Trinity in the proqesij — which means a predesigned plan.

“I also” — kai plus e)gw. E)gw is the first person singular personal pronoun and with kai it is put together as kagw. Paul doesn’t apologise for using the word “I.” He knows that he is alive!

“after” is not found in the original, it is a clumsy attempt to translate an aorist participle. The modern usage always uses the word “having” to translate the aorist participle.

“I heard” is an aorist active participle of a)kouw — “having heard.” The aorist tense is a constative aorist. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, the main verb is “cease not.”

“of your faith” — the preposition kata plus the accusative of pistij means “about your faith.” Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ indicates they are trusting the Lord for blessing, for everything in life.

“and love” — the accusative singular of a)gaph which means a relaxed mental attitude, and this means that the believers in the Roman province of Asia have started to construct the ECS. Because of this and because there are so many of them it has become a source of great encouragement to Paul.

“unto all the saints” — should be “toward all the saints.” This in itself is a source of great encouragement: the thought that all kinds of personalities can live in the same geographical area and have a relaxed mental attitude toward each other. What Paul is describing is something that is a fantastic blessing, it is a place where anyone would want to be regardless of the weather or any other set of circumstances, the place where RMAs exist.

What does he mean, “love toward all the saints”? A)gaph is a mental attitude love. It is directed in this case toward other believers called “saints.” It means no mental attitude sins toward other believers in their periphery. It also means recognition of privacy of other believers. It means, when necessary, friendliness toward other believers, courtesy, and + doctrine — constant intake. It also means respect for other people, and that means that you do not have to agree or disagree, that you have to make any kind of an overt showing. It means that you give other people the benefit of the doubt at all times.

The word for “all” is the accusative plural of paj plus a(gioj. The preposition e)ij is directional. It means that inevitably when a local church comes together people are going to be together. And being together means that in order for everyone to be blessed and for everyone to focus on the proper issue there must be courtesy, privacy, respect, etc. There must be a completely relaxed atmosphere so that people can take in Bible doctrine. God has provided equipment whereby no matter how different the personality the people are still saints.

Translation: “Because of this, I also when I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and the love toward all the saints.”

Verse 16 — here we have our main verb. Here is the proqesij takes cognisance of prayer and we have a stimulation to prayer.

“Cease not” — the present middle indicative of pauw which, plus the negative, means “I do not cease.”

“to give thanks” — this is the present active participle of e)uxaristew. It means to make a matter of thanksgiving.

“for you” is the preposition u(per plus the pronoun, and should be translated “on behalf of.”

“making mention” — the present middle participle from poiew which means to do, to produce, to work. The present tense is iterative present. When he thinks of them he prays for them. The middle voice emphasises the agent. Paul. doing the work. Plus the accusative singular of mneia. It means “producing memory.” The words “of you” are not found in the original.

“in my prayers” — the preposition e)pi plus the genitive plural of proseuxh means “by my prayers.” The preposition e)pi plus the genitive always emphasises contact. You can contact people who are thousands of miles away by prayer. Making memory under these conditions is prayer. What do you pray for when you love someone? Paul prayed that they would keep on GAPing. They can only be benefited by the daily function of GAP.

Verse 17 — “That” is i(na plus the optative, a most unusual purpose clause. I(na for a purpose clause always takes the subjunctive mood, but here it is i(na plus the optative because it is a prayer.

“the God” — o( qeoj refers to God the Father who is the author of the proqesij, the predesigned plan. In his prayer he recognises each phase of the Father’s plan. Phase one: “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” referring to Jesus Christ as the executor of phase one of the plan of God. This is the way by which all of us enter the plan of God, we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. “Lord” is deity; “Jesus: in humanity; “Christ” is divine commission. Christ merely means “anointed” and in the ancient world they didn’t give you a commission on paper, they put oil on your head.

“the Father of glory” — o( pathr thj dochj. The genitive of possession of doca. This indicates the purpose of phase two — glory.

The doctrine of glory

1. Glory is used for the essence of God. Many times when glory appears in the scripture it refers to who and what God is. Romans 3:23 — sin is failure to measure up to the character of God; Ephesians 1:17; Deuteronomy 5:24; Psalm 21:5.

2. Glory is also used for the edification complex of the soul [ECS] — Ephesians 3:21; Colossians 1:27; 1Peter 1:8; 2Thessalonians 2:14.

3. The right woman is the glory of the right man — 1Corinthians 11:7, 15.

4. The grace of God is described as glory — Ephesians 1:6.

5. The provision of God’s grace is called “the riches of glory” — Ephesians 3:16; 1:18; Philippians 4:19.

6. Heaven and eternal life are described as glory in 1Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:10; 1Peter 5:10; 2Peter 1:3.

7. Human glamour is described as glory in 1Peter 1:24; Philippians 3:19.

8. Glory is used to describe the wonders of the universe — 1Corinthians 15:40,41.

9 Glory is used to describe the resurrection body of the believer — 1Corinthians 15:43; 2Thessalonians 2:14.

10. Glory is related to the angelic conflict. It is associated with operation footstool and the presentation of the Church as the bride of Christ at the second advent — Hebrews 2:10.

“may give” — the petition for GAP, the aorist active optative from the common verb for giving, didomi. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action in its entirety, it takes an appearance and regardless of the extent or the duration gathers it into a single whole. GAPing it today, the next, the next, the next.… The active voice: the Father of glory in His matchless grace provides all of the ingredients for the function of GAP, the transfer of GAP from the mind of Christ to the page of the canon to the soul of the believer. The optative mood: it is the mood of strong contingency, the mood of possibility. It is used here to indicate the prayer. Generally the optative contains no anticipation of realisation but only presents an action as conceivable as desirable. It is one step further removed from reality than the subjunctive is and this is called the voluntative optative which is used to express a desire in prayer.

“unto you” — dative plural of advantage; “the spirit” — referring here to the human spirit; “of wisdom” — the possessive genitive of sofia. This refers to the accumulation of e)pignwsij Bible doctrine in the human spirit under the daily function of GAP. That is when doctrine begins to be usable. The absence of the definite article calls attention to the quality of the noun rather than its identity. The quality here is Bible doctrine in the soul.

“and revelation” — the ascensive use of kai plus the ablative singular of a)pokaluyij which means “from the source of the revelation.”

“in the knowledge” — e)n plus the instrumental of e)pignwsij which is “by means of e)pignwsij.

“of him” — the ablative singular of a)utoj means “from the source of him [God the Father].”

Translation: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom, even from the source of revelation by means of [e)pignwsij] knowledge from the source of him.”

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #13

13 11/21/1972 Ephesians 1:18 Doctrines of inheritance (heirship); GAP

Verse 18 — The word “eyes,” o)fqalmoj, is an accusative which introduces an anacoluthon in this prayer. An anacoluthon is a grammatical change of construction in the middle of a sentence. This sentence is a prayer, the eyes here are used in the sense of perception.

“of your understanding” — the Greek says “the eyes of your heart,” thj kardiaj u(mwn. Kardia here refers to the right lobe. The objective of Bible doctrine is to reach your right lobe; “being enlightened,” the perfect passive participle of fwtizw which means to be enlightened. In other words, to have doctrine photographed in your soul. The perfect tense emphasises the permanent results of having doctrine in your frame of reference, in your memory centre, in your vocabulary and categorical area, in your norms and standards, and in your launching pad. The passive voice: the subject, the believer, receives the action of the verb. The eyes of the right lobe receive doctrine through the function of GAP. The participle sets up a permanent law of God whereby doctrine recorded permanently in the scriptures is transferred into your right lobe through the function of GAP — “having become enlightened.”

“that ye may know” — e)ij plus the perfect active infinitive of o)ida, “for the purpose that you all may have permanent knowledge.” Permanent knowledge means that this doctrine is permanent which is permanent becomes permanent when it is in the right lobe. The only way doctrine can be permanent in your right lobe is for you to enter the super-grace bracket and stay there.

“knowing what is the hope” — ‘what is’ is the interrogative pronoun tij plus the present active of e)imi, what keeps on being. The interrogative pronoun indicates the content of the plan of God for your life; ‘the hope,’ o( elpij, refers to all doctrine in phase three. Hope is a bad translation due to the fact that hope has come to mean uncertainty. E)lpij in the Greek does not connote any uncertainty at all — “what is the confidence.”

“of his calling” — klhsij indicates the plan of God for phase three. You have two futures in your life. When you accept Christ as saviour you enter phase two of the plan of God, the believer in time. Phase one is salvation, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Phase two starts one second after you are saved and continues until you die, or the Rapture, whichever occurs first in your life. Your immediate future is the time you have left in phase two. For the moment we go to a technical word, e)lpij, which refers to your distant future, the future beyond the moment that you leave this world. The word means to have complete confidence beyond the grave. The confidence comes from understanding the doctrine of phase three now, not when we get to heaven. If you are ever going to have confidence in time it must be anchored to something which is infinite, something that is absolute, where there are no shades of grey, no basis for rationalisation. It is an absolute fact that your distant future includes perfect happiness, perfect environment, perfect conditions forever and ever. It is also a fact that the unbeliever’s distant future is one of the most excruciating agonies perpetuated forever without cessation. “The confidence of his calling.” It is His calling, not yours.”

“and what the riches of the glory” — the word ‘and’ is not there. We have instead “riches from the source of the glory,” an ablative of source, doca.

“of his inheritance” — genitive of description, klhronomia is the noun. Riches indicates unlimited resources.

The doctrine of inheritance (heirship)

1. As the victor in the angelic conflict and as a part of the doctrine of divine decrees Jesus Christ is the heir of all things — Hebrews 1:2.

2. Heirship is based on sonship. This is why Christ is called the Son of God. His title indicates that He is the heir of God the Father, as well as the focal point of the doctrine of divine decrees. John 1:12; Romans 8:16,17; Galatians 3:26. This is why to be heirs of God we have to become sons of God.

3. Heirship is also based on the death of another — Romans 5:8; 1Corinthians 15:3,4.

4. To inherit from God one must also possess the life of God — Titus 3:7; 1John 5:11,12.

5. Therefore salvation is the qualification for joint inheritance — Colossians 1:12.

6. Heirship is related to the doctrine of divine decrees in the sense of sharing the destiny of Christ — Ephesians 1:11.

7. Heirship is also related to the doctrine of election since the joint heirs share the election of Christ — Hebrews 9:15.

8. The principle of our inheritance is related to the eternal security of the believer — 1Peter 1:4,5.

9. Our heritage is provided on the basis if grace — Galatians 3:29.

10. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the down payment of our heritage — Ephesians 1:14.

11. Our heritage is located in the sphere of sainthood — Ephesians 1:18.

“in the saints” — the preposition e)n plus the locative of a(gioj, ‘in the sphere of the saints.’ In other words, you cannot be an heir unless you are a saint. You can’t be a saint unless you believe in Christ. The word ‘saint’ means set apart. You become a saint the moment you believe in Christ and the word saint applies to all believers.

Translation: “The eyes of your right lobe having been enlightened for the purpose that you all may have permanent knowledge; knowing what is the hope of his calling, what is the riches from the source of the glory of his inheritance in the sphere of the saints.”

The doctrine of GAP

1. GAP means grace apparatus for perception. Perception means to understand, to know, to be cognisant of doctrine. This is a system of grace inculcation. Therefore we must first of all recognise a fact: no two of us have the same amount of perspicacity, humanly speaking. Spiritual; IQ is the amount of Bible doctrine stored in the human spirit and in the right lobe. It’s stored under the noun in the Hebrew, chakmah, and by the Greek word e)pignwsij. The distinction between human and spiritual IQ is the subject of 1Corinthians chapter two.

2. Human IQ is never a factor in the function of GAP — other wise God would be unfair. In other words, low IQ is never a handicap in learning doctrine. For this reason every believer in the Church Age has received all the grace help necessary: a) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit; b) The activation of the human spirit at the point of salvation; c) A right pastor-teacher to communicate Bible doctrine.

3. The perceptive lobe, the left lobe, is called the mentality of the soul — nouj. It is generally translated “mind.” The left lobe is the process area for all types of knowledge, whether it is doctrine or any form of human knowledge. In our study of GAP it is the staging area for Bible doctrine. It is also area for all types of knowledge. This lobe is where you first hear doctrine. Remember that gnwsij means to understand or to record in your left lobe what is taught. It doesn’t mean you agree or disagree. It doesn’t mean anything except objective understanding. It is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to take what is taught and make it objective information in your left lobe. You don’t have to agree or disagree, you simply understand it. The danger is to let it hang there. Any doctrine that you understand and hangs in your left lobe can never be applied. Doctrine must be on the launching pad and the question is, how does it get there?

Volition must go into action with regard to this doctrine. Getting doctrine from the left to the right lobe is accomplished by positive volition [pistij, faith] which transfers that doctrine out of the left lobe and into the human spirit as e)pignwsij. But there must be doctrine in the frame of reference, and the doctrine in the frame of reference acts as a vacuum and sucks doctrine from the human spirit into the right lobe. The vacuum pump is constructed on the basis of doctrine. You build doctrine on doctrine, that is why you have to learn basic doctrines first. Once you get basic doctrine in the right lobe then the primer starts the vacuum pump, and the vacuum pump pulls the e)pignwsij into the right lobe. It only pulls up into the right lobe that for which you have a frame of reference. Once it does that, then it goes into your vocabulary. Then from vocabulary you begin to get concepts or categories, and your norms and standards begin to change and they comply with divine norms and standards. All of these feed into the launching pad and that is where you become a doer of the Word. A doer of the Word isn’t a worker, a doer of the Word is a believer with doctrine in the launching pad.

4. Therefore the grace provision for learning Bible doctrine.

a) The formation and the preservation of the canon of scripture. That takes up the doctrine of canonicity and the doctrine of inspiration.

b) A classroom for learning doctrine. The classroom is called the local church. The local church was not designed for raising money, strawberry festivals, and fellowship. The local church was designed to be a classroom, with one teacher and with students without portfolio.

c) The spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. This is a divinely authorised communicator, and there never was and there never will be a pastor who earned or deserved the right to speak. This gift is sovereignly bestowed to many different types of males. No woman ever had the gift and never will have, the pulpit belongs to certain born-again males.

d) The priesthood of the believer for privacy and reception. If you are really going to take in doctrine on an objective basis you must have privacy of the priesthood to do it.

e) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit for the function of GAP — 1Corinthians 2:9-16; 1John 2:27. However, the believer must be filled with the Spirit for this to occur — Ephesians 5:18.

f) Grace provision for the filling of the Spirit through the rebound technique.

g) The human spirit as the first target for GAP — Job 32:8; 1Corinthians 2:12.

h) The provision of the divine laws of establishment whereby the nation protects the freedom and the privacy of the local church.

i) The anatomy of grace whereby certain non-meritorious functions of the body make it possible to think and to concentrate.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #14

14 12/19/1972 Ephesians 1:19–20 Doctrine of resurrection

Verse 19 — “And” is a continuative kai, plus the interrogative pronoun ti, translated “what.”“the exceeding greatness” — present active participle of u(perballw which means here, “surpassing.” Every now and then the apostle Paul shows us that he had a phenomenal education. It is fitting that the greatest super-grace believer of all time in the field of Bible doctrine should have one of the most extensive and unusual vocabularies of anyone who has ever lived. What he lacked in vocabulary he coined words. Many words demonstrate a phenomenal academic background. The word for “greatness” is an Attic Greek word an entirely different language, the language of the fifth century BC — megeqoj which means “magnitude.” It is not meant here in the sense of size or stature, it is used in the sense of greatness in quality. “And what the surpassing magnitude.” Magnitude is speaking about God. We are talking about God’s plan.

“of his power” — the genitive of dunamij referring to the inherent power of God. The plan of God depends upon His inherent power, upon the character of God. The plan of God can be no greater than the character of God. Since the character of God is perfect the plan of God is perfect. Since the power of God is of unlimited magnitude the potentialities in the plan of God where your life is concerned are totally unlimited. The omnipotence is God’s ability to provide unlimited grace. Unlimited grace takes the believer into the realm of super-grace where God can give him all of the things that He desires to give him.

“to us-ward” — the prepositional phrase indicates this applies to you. God has a purpose for our lives. God wants to share His happiness, He wants to give to us. Grace demands that God does the giving and that we do the receiving. However, we are poor receivers until we reach super-grace. We have to have capacity to be a receiver. We have the preposition e)ij plus the accusative plural of the preposition e)gw.

“who” is not found in the original manuscript. Instead there is a present active participle from pisteuw which should be translated “the believing ones.” If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you are in the plan of God. The accusative plural of the participle is in apposition to the object of the preposition. Literally we have, “And what the surpassing magnitude of his inherent power upon us the believing ones.” If we have not experienced what is related in this stage of the proqesij of God the reason for it is quite simple: rejection, indifference to Bible doctrine. “according to the working” is incorrect. Kata plus the accusative of e)nergeia the second word for power in this passage means “according to the operational power.” God not only conceived of the plan but God has the ability to put the plan into operation. In the plan of God the operational power is generally associated with the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. He is the one who makes GAP function whereby we have the capacity to receive things from God.

“of his mighty power” — the genitive singular of kratoj which means “controlling power, ruling power.” But that doesn’t handle the word “power” in this phrase, the genitive singular of i)sxuj means “endowed power” or power as a faculty. Kratoj refers to doctrine in the canon of scripture. The Bible is the ruler. I)sxuj refers to doctrine in the right lobe. Doctrine is the function of the super-grace life.

Summary

There are four words for power in this passage.

a) Dunamij which refers to the inherent power of God. It refers to the ability of God as it existed in eternity past as a part of His plan.

b) E)nergeia refers to the operational power of God. God has the ability to put His plan into operation, excluding your ability, your talent, your thoughts, your plans, your strength, whatever it may be. E)nergeia is totally opposed to any form of legalism.

c) Kratoj is ruling power, Bible doctrine resident in the canon of scripture. It must be transferred and become endowed power.

d) I)sxuj is endowed power, Bible doctrine in the soul of the believer.

Translation: “And what the surpassing magnitude of his omnipotence [inherent power] upon us, the believing ones, according to the norm of the operational power of the ruling power of his inner power.”

This type of verse is a verse of great assurance. It says a number of things: a) That all believers are in the plan of God; b) God’s plan is not something cooked up for the moment, it has existed in eternity past. Not only has God’s plan existed but the provision existed in eternity past.

Verse 20 — “Which” is a relative pronoun, o(j, and the antecedent refers to operational power — e)nergeia. “he wrought” — perfect active indicative of the verb e)nergew, “had been operational.” The perfect tense: had been operational in eternity past. The active voice: the power was operational. The indicative mood is the reality of this operational power always existing.

“in Christ” is a locative plus the definite article and should be translated “in the Christ.” The whole plan of God centres in the person of Christ. The Father planned it, the Son executed it, the Spirit provides the energy for it.

“when” is not found in the original manuscript. It is really an old-time device for translating an aorist participle, a bad one. Aorist participles should be translated by the word “having.” So “when he raised” should be translated “having raised him.” The aorist active participle is from e)geirw and it refers to that which was absolutely necessary historically for the plan of God to reach its present operational function. E)geirw refers to the resurrection. Were it not for the resurrection of Jesus Christ we would not have the blessings of super-grace tomorrow. There would be no plan of God had there not been at one point in history the resurrection.

“from the dead” — e)k plus the ablative of nekroj, “is out from the source of the dead.” Nekroj indicates that Jesus Christ truly died. No resurrection, no super-grace blessing.

The doctrine of resurrection

1. The fact of resurrection is based upon the existence of the empty tomb, the competency of the witnesses. They knew Jesus Christ well and could not be deceived. They would die rather than change their testimony about the resurrection. This is historical accuracy and competency of witnesses. The subsequent change in the disciples after the resurrection also indicates the validity of the resurrection. Before His death they were afraid, despondent, and after His death the same thing continued. But after His resurrection they were joyous and fearless. The existence of the day of Pentecost and the first sermon ever preached in the Church Age was a sermon on resurrection. The observation of the first day of the week, called the Lord’s day, the resurrection day. The very existence of the Christian church logically depends upon the resurrection.

2. The nature of the resurrection. Jesus Christ in His resurrection body still had the scars from the nail prints in His hands and feet — Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10; John 20:25-29. He also retained the scars of the wound in His side — John 20:25-29. Christ was recognised by His disciples as the one who died and rose again. This was attested in 17 different appearances. Christ after resurrection, however, could eat — Luke 24:42.23 — although He did not depend upon food to sustain Him. Christ had a true body which could be felt — Matthew 28:9; Luke 24:39; John 20:17. His resurrection body could breathe — John 20:22. His resurrection body possessed flesh and bones — Luke 24:39,40. His resurrection body could walk through an open door but could also walk through a closed door — Luke 24:36; John 20:19. Jesus Christ appeared to His disciples many times during the short time he was on the earth after the resurrection. He also disappeared at will — Luke 24:17. His body could move horizontally or vertically.

3. The doctrine of the two resurrections is pertinent and important to us. There are two resurrections, not one — John 5:24-29; Daniel 12:2; Revelation 20:6,13. The first resurrection involves the Lord Jesus Christ and believers only. Confusion seems to come from the fact that the first resurrection is divided into four parts. This is comparable to a battalion review in 1Corinthians 15 — “every man in his own battalion”:

a) The resurrection of Jesus Christ, the firstfruits. He is resurrected and seated at the right hand of the Father — 1Corinthians 15:23; Romans 1:4; 1Thessalonians 1:10; 2Thessalonians 2:8; 1Peter 1:3.

b) Baker company is the Rapture of the Church — 1Corinthians 15:51-57; 1Thessalonians 4:16-18.

c) Charlie company is the Old Testament saints and Tribulational martyrs. They are resurrected at the end of the Tribulation — Daniel 12:13; Isaiah 26:19,20; Revelation 20:4.

d) Dog company is made up of the Millennial saints and those who survive the Tribulation to enter the Millennium in physical bodies.

This is the general first resurrection.

The second resurrection all occurs at one time — John 5:28,29; Revelation 20:12-15; 2Peter 3:9; Matthew 25:41 — at the end of the Millennium.

4. Living illustrations of the resurrection.

a) Abraham in a tent — Hebrews 11:9,10,13. To live in a tent in Abraham’s day was to invite disaster, it was not safe. The secret to Abraham’s tent life came from the fact that he trusted in the Lord. he had trusted in Christ for salvation, he had trusted the promises of God, but he also believed in the doctrine of God. Therefore he died in a tent knowing that God who had promised him a city would deliver that city. he knew that he would receive in resurrection. So the resurrection was vitally important to Abraham. The resurrection was a doctrine on which he built his whole life. Abraham was just as safe in a tent as you are in the greatest fortified system which ever existed. Abraham’s protection was Bible doctrine, specifically resurrection. The reason he died in a tent is because he said “God has promised me a city, so I will live in a tent until God gives me the city which he promised me.” The city that God promised Abraham will come, it is the new Jerusalem. He died in the tent without seeing the promise fulfilled in this life — Hebrews 11:13 — but he knew that in resurrection he would have his city — Revelation 21:2,10.

b) Isaac understood the concept of resurrection — Hebrews 11:17-19. Isaac was the fulfillment of the promise of Genesis 12:2. In Isaac Abraham’s seed was to be multiplied into a great nation. Yet, in Genesis 22 God ordered Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. But Abraham, again, had faith in resurrection and in Hebrews 11:17-19 he put Isaac on an altar and was going to sacrifice him knowing that God would raise Isaac from the dead. Isaac hadn’t found his right woman yet, he didn’t have a family. Therefore when Abraham put his son on the altar he knew that God would raise him right up again. To Abraham the most vital doctrine in the world was resurrection.

c) The same thing was true of Job — “I know that my redeemer liveth, and he shall stand in the latter day [resurrection]… yet in my flesh [resurrection] I shall see God.”

d) Joseph was a super-grace believer — Hebrews 11:22. The life of Joseph was filled with many acts of faith-rest, he demonstrated the function of super-grace. God prospered Joseph under the super-grace principle. Yet, when Joseph came to the time to die he did something greater than he had done in all of his lifetime. He commanded that he not be buried in Egypt but that his coffin be taken in the future and when the Jews returned to the land they must take the coffin with them. They must take Joseph’s bones because of the doctrine of resurrection. When Joseph was risen from the dead he wanted to be standing by his great grandfather Abraham, by his grandfather Isaac, by his father Jacob. And in the resurrection he will stand with them because he refused to be buried in Egypt. But that isn’t all. The Jews were slaves for 400 years and during those 400 years their hope of getting out of slavery was the coffin of JosEphesians Joseph therefore demonstrates the importance of the resurrection as a doctrine to the super-grace believer. The coffin of Joseph — Genesis 50:24-26; Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32.

e) There are two boys who died and both were brought to life by Elijah. They represent the beautiful illustration. The son of the widow of Zerapheth — 1 Kings 17:17-23; the son of the Shunammite woman — 2 Kings 4:18-36. These two incidents are exactly parallel. In each case a boy died. In each case a prophet — first Elijah, second Elisha — identified himself with the boy by stretching himself out over the dead person. Why? These prophets understood the doctrine of resurrection. To demonstrate their faith in the God of resurrection that He would also resuscitate these prophets did exactly the same thing. They stretched themselves out over the corpse and in each case the corpse came back to life. This again gives a picture of resurrection in the principle of identification or association.

“and set him” — the aorist active participle of kaqizw is “and having seated.” This refers to ascension of Jesus Christ and His session at the right hand.

“in the heavenly places” — literally “in the heavenlies.”

Translation: “Which [power] had been operational in Christ, having raised him up from the dead, and having seated him at his own right hand in the heavenlies.”

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #15

15 03/13/1973 Ephesians 1:21 Doctrine of the angelic conflict (pt.1–11 amplified)

Verse 21 — “Far above” is an adverbial preposition, u(peranw which with the ablative of comparison, paj, means “Over above.” It should be translated “Over above all.” The word “ablative” itself is taken from the Latin. It means “separated.” Here is the ablative of comparison which implies separation in degree. When it says that Jesus Christ is over above all and you have the ablative used it refers to some category which Jesus Christ is separate from and totally superior to. It refers to all categories of fallen angels. This is the story of Hebrews chapters one and two. So by using an adverbial preposition, u(peranw, and having the ablative of paj as the object of the preposition it means that Jesus Christ is separated and totally superior to all fallen angels.

“principalities” — the ablative of comparison from a)rxh. It refers here to the super demons or the leaders among the fallen angels. There is no equality in the angelic realm even as there is no equality in the human realm. The humanity of Christ at the right hand of the Father, as per the previous verse, is superior to all super demon leaders. In other words, the next two verses of this chapter say in effect that the proqesij, the plan of God the Father, takes congisance of the angelic conflict; and God the Father planned it, the Son executed it. Jesus Christ as a member of the human race seated at the right hand of the Father in His resurrection body is superior to all the fallen angels put together, and not only superior to them but separate in every way.

“and power” — the ablative of e)cousia which refers to the commissioned officers among the demons. This will be used in that sense once again in Ephesians 6:12.

“and might” also describes fallen angels — the ablative of dunamij refers to the inherent power in angels. The inherent power of demons means that they have fantastic abilities which are greater than anything in the human race.

“and dominion” — the ablative of kuriothj, used here for a special class of fallen angels or demons who are distinguished by exercising great authority. These are probably the demons who indwell the world rulers and influence their decisions and thinking with regard to Satanic strategy.

“and every name” — the ablative singular of paj plus the ablative singular of o)noma which generally means personality, here it refers to the rank and file demons.

“Over above all super demons, and commissioned demons, and gifted demons, and ruling demons, and all rank and file demons.”

“that is named” is the present passive participle of o)nomazw which means here to have a reputation — “who has a reputation.” Every demon who has a reputation of any kind. The present passive participle means during the course of angelic history they have received a reputation.

“not only in this world” is correctly translated “not only in this age,” the Church Age.

“but also in the one about to come,” literally, which is the Millennium. It refers actually to the Tribulation, second advent and the revolution at the end of the Millennium.

Literal translation: “Over above all principality, and authority, and power, and lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one about to come.”

But the interpretive translation is: “Over above all super demons, and commissioned demons, and gifted demons, and ruling demons, and all rank and file demons who have a reputation, not only in this Church Age but also in the dispensation about to come.”

In other words, in verse 21 the proqesij or plan of God takes cognisance of the intensification of the angelic conflict, beginning in the Church Age. The angelic conflict takes a very strange turn in the Tribulation. The intensification of the angelic conflict begins in the Church Age, continues into the Tribulation, reaches its climax in the second advent and operation footstool, and terminates with an anticlimax, a demon revolution at the end of the Millennium.

The doctrine of the angelic conflict

1. Many of the problems which disturb believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, many problems which appear to have no answer, are actually related to the angelic conflict. Many things which cannot be explained in terms of human activity are actually related to angelic activity. For example, the question is often asked: Why are we here? Why is man created? Why does man live on the earth? The reason we are here is to resolve the angelic conflict. That is a part of glorifying God. The angelic conflict is a revolt against God, and God is going to win it. The way He is going to win it is to create something lower than angels, weaker than angels, dumber than angels, and use that to win it. The fact that they do exist is verified by Psalm 8:4,5; Hebrews 2:6,7; 2Peter 2:11. They are created beings — Psalm 148:2-5.

There are two general categories of these unseen creatures: a) Saved or elect. They are called “holy” in Mark 8:38, and “elect” in 1Timothy 5:21. They are a category of angels who will live with God forever, they aresaved and they will never get into the lake of fire; b) The unsaved angels which fall into two categories. One category is in prison right now because they were all involved in the Genesis 6:1-9 fiasco, as explained by 2Peter 2:4; Jude 6. They are now in what is called Tartarus and there they are going to stay for a long time. The other category are the operative angels, i.e. demons — Mark 5; 1Corinthians 10:20,21. Their doctrines are mentioned in 1Timothy 4:1.

2. The point that is most important in the angelic conflict is the fact that all unsaved angels are sentence to the lake of fire forever and ever — Matthew 25:41 tells us that the lake if fire was created for this crowd.

3. During the course of human history we have the sentence under appeal. In eternity past God sentenced all angels to the lake of fire. However, Satan appealed the case and the course of human history is the period when the case is under appeal. The case will receive its final decision at the end of human history. So no angels at the present time are in the lake of fire. Except for the ones incarcerated the demons are all loose to day and they are definitely permitted under God to make certain attacks upon the human race because it is the volition of the human race that actually resolves the angelic conflict. It shows that Satan’s appeal is not valid.

Satan, as the chief of the unsaved angels, appealed the case at the time of the sentence to the lake of fire. In objecting to the sentence Satan made his appeal by impugning the character of God. He said the judge, God, was not fair. He said that the judge was inconsistent, and he also indicated that the judge was supposed to be love, and how can a loving God throw His creatures into the lake of fire? So in every way he impugned the character of God.

We know that Satan is the lawyer for the appeal because his Greek name is diaboloj. It means adversary, enemy, or slanderer. It also means a lawyer who takes the case. The same thing is true of Shatan (Hebrew) which means devil, enemy, adversary, so devil means a lawyer who has appealed the case. He is the enemy of God.

It is simple to see how all this worked out, it is a simple deduction based on elapse of time between the passing of the sentence before human history and the execution of the sentence at the end of human history.

The answer to this objection by Satan is found in the character of God in His essence box. God is not just love. God is sovereignty, absolute righteousness and justice; His love must be consistent with these. God cannot ignore the other characteristics, He is immutable. God has to be consistent. He .loves His creature but just because he loves them He still has to be fair, He has to be righteous and He has to be just. Because all of the fallen angels went along with Satan righteousness demands that God separate from them; justice demands that he sentence them. So the fallen angels are all talking about the love of God and ignoring the righteousness and justice of God. They are looking for God to be unfair for the first time and of God is unfair even once in all of human history, since human history is the appeal of the case, then Satan has won his case. But God throughout all of human history, and in dealing with billions and billions of people, has never been unfair even once, and having been consistent and being consistent throughout the entire course of human history the fallen angels are going to end up in the lake of fire. This is because God has never been unfair, unrighteous, unjust; He has always been consistent.

In order to demonstrate His fairness and His consistency in the human race there must be an issue — a big issue and a lot of subsidiary issues. The big issue is salvation, and from this come the subsidiary issues like after salvation, super-grace versus reversionism, carnality versus spirituality.

4. The pattern of angelic negative volition is expressed in two ways. Satan’s original sin of negative volition really gives the pattern. Isaiah 14:12-14. The angels also who took his side also reject God’s plan, whatever God’s plan called for.

5. The creation of man resolves the angelic conflict and answers Satan’s appeal. To resolve the angelic conflict an inferior creature, mankind, is placed on one planet possessing one thing in common with these superior creatures: free will, the bona fide function of a creature volition — Psalm 8:3-5; Hebrews 2:7.

6. Human volition is tested in exactly the same pattern as angelic volition. Angels began in innocence; mankind began in innocence. Angels sinned — negative volition of Satan and those who followed him; mankind sins — negative volition of Adam. God provided salvation or some way for angels to remain intact, so that they didn’t have to go with Satan. Many didn’t which is why there are the elect angels. God provided salvation for mankind. So they angels are divided into two categories: elect and fallen; mankind is divided into two categories — John 3:18,16, 36. The ones who believe in Christ are eternally saved. The ones who reject Christ are lost.

7. Two tests are instituted for man’s volition just as the same two types of status existed in angelic history — pre-human history. a) Innocence; b) Sinfulness. Innocence existed with free will but no sin nature. For the free will to be functioning and to have a test mankind is prohibited the use of one tree. That was the volitional test — Genesis 2:17. In the status of innocence man could only sin in one way — negative volition: eat of the forbidden tree. The penalty for going negative and eating of the forbidden truth was said to be death, but not physical death. In innocence there is no physical death — perfect environment. Man understood death as a penalty, as a condemnation, a judgment, and he understood it in its right context — separation from God. Adam died immediately when he ate of the forbidden fruit, but he was still alive and still breathing. Obviously it wasn’t physical death. He died spiritually. Christ died for our sins, but He didn’t die physically for our sins, He died spiritually for our sins. Romans 5:12; 6:23; Genesis 2:17 — spiritual death. The test in the garden was to parallel the test in the angelic realm, so we can only conclude that there was a similar test with the angels. Eventually all the angels were divided.

Sinfulness: After the fall salvation is promises so that you can still have the issue. The devil thought he had won a round when man went negative and ate of the forbidden fruit, but immediately Christ come sin the garden, promises salvation through Himself and immediately volition faces an issue. And the first parents went positive and believed in Jesus Christ. Now the issue in the human race, from the time of Adam and Eve right down to the end of the Millennium, is “what think ye of Christ?” Salvation. Before Christ came historically He was portrayed in many ways: in animal sacrifices, etc. The issue right through is volition, the function of free will with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ.

8. Man’s entrance into the plan of God through faith in Christ destroys the devil’s appeal, it resolves the angelic conflict. The issue: Will man, inferior to angels, equipped with the same free will as angels, choose for or against the plan of God — operation grace. The solution: If even one member of the human race in all of human history believes in the Lord Jesus Christ the angelic conflict is resolved — Hebrews 1:4-14; chapter 2; Colossians 2;14,15. Therefore the principle of operation footstool in Psalm 110:1; 1Corinthians 15:54, 24 ,25. Also Hebrews 1:3 relates the work of Christ on the cross to man’s expression of non-meritorious volition.

After the cross the next issue is this: Can God keep His character intact and bless you? There is the whole story of the super-grace life.

For this reason we have angelic observation. Why? Angels learn through the conversion of members of the human race that the free will of man does not necessarily choose against God as each demon did. The fallen angels before human history have already done this, now they see in the unbeliever a repetition of their own negative volition. This explains also the rejoicing of elect angels over one unbeliever who changes his attitude toward Christ — Luke 15:7,10. By comparing Colossians 2:15 in the Greek with Revelation 19:6-8; Zechariah 13:2; 1Thessalonians 3:13 it is concluded that the numbers of believers in the body of Christ will be equal to the number of demons operating under the command of Satan in the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. That is why the Church Age is going to last a long time.

9. The results of the angelic conflict.

Phase one: salvation results. Regenerate mankind is positionally higher than angels because of his union with Christ — Hebrews 1:4-14.

Phase two: Through suffering, regenerate mankind uses doctrine to the point of celebrityship with Christ, occupation with Christ. The maximum use of the faith-rest technique in suffering produces occupation with Christ — Romans 5:2-4; 1Peter 1:7.8. Also in phase two the blessing of the super-grace believer demonstrates the same thing. That is why the life of any believer who is worth his salt has alternate suffering and blessing.

Phase three: Regenerate mankind is going to be physically superior to angels because he is going to possess a resurrection body like that of Christ. In the resurrection and ascension Christ demonstrated the superiority of His resurrection body. We will have one like Him — Philippians 3:21; 1John 3:1,2; 1Corinthians 15:51-57.

10. Through the fall of man Satan gained control of the world but not necessarily control of mankind. This is because God instituted some divine laws. The laws of divine establishment began with human freedom. Human volition or free will makes man a free agent, and as a free agent in the devil’s world he can choose between the plan of God and the blessings that come from that plan or the plan of Satan and the things that Satan offers by way of bait. Salvation through faith in Christ frees mankind from Satan’s control — Galatians 5:1. After salvation the believer who GAPs it to super-grace learns the reality of this freedom. Until the second advent Satan will be the ruler of this world — 2Corinthians 4:4; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; Ephesians 2:2.

11. The doctrine of angelic observation. Angels are observing the human race. Angels observed the incarnate Christ during His incarnation — 1Timothy 3:16. Elect angels observe and rejoice over the conversion of any member of the human race — Luke 15:7. Fallen angels are organised under Satan’s command to resist and oppose all believers — Job 1:6; 2:1,3; Ephesians 6:12. Angels are watching all the human race, and especially believers — 1Corinthians 4:9; 6:3; 7:10; Ephesians 3:10; 1Timothy 5:21; 1Peter 1:12.

12. The angelic conflict, then, answers some basic questions about life. If you really want to understand what life is all about you have to understand why we are here. We are here to resolve the angelic conflict. We are here because Satan went to court and appealed the sentence passed upon the fallen angels. The sentence was the lake of fire forever and ever.

Man has volition even as Satan had volition and the first question that is answered by the angelic conflict is, Why man? Man is here to glorify God. Inside of man’s soul is volition and that volition can operate once and that resolves the angelic conflict. If just one person in the history of the human race has believed in Jesus Christ that would be all that was necessary to prove God’s point. But over the course of human history millions and millions of people have believed in Christ. So the cross is the beginning of a series of victories whereby God demonstrates His point to the fallen angels. This reaches its peak under the super-grace concept. God keeps pouring and pouring, and this glorifies God.

Another question is, Why sin? Sin resolves the issue of phase one in the plan of God. Man’s free will is the source of all sinfulness in the human race. Man was created without any sin. God is not the author of sin, God is not the creator of sin, God does not sponsor sin; but He did create in man something whereby man could choose to go into the hole deeper. Man did choose that and man becomes a sinner by an act of his own free will. Man’s free will created the old sin nature. God did not create the old sin nature, man did. At the cross all human sin is poured out upon Jesus Christ and judged, this removes the barrier between man and God and, at the same time, resolves the angelic conflict. So the fact that man went deeper into the hole does not in any way deter the angelic conflict, it merely shifts gears and goes into a new area.

Suffering is another problem in the human race. The answer to the suffering problem is, again, God permits the believer to suffer for the purpose of blessing. That is why suffering is designed to catch the believer in super-grace, and while all the other blessings are being poured in the cup to pour in some suffering. And when that suffering is poured in the believer is still blessed. The only difference is his happiness isn’t over on the ecstatic side.

The Church is also another question that often occurs. The Jewish Age is interrupted and we are now in the Church Age. The key to this is found in one of the angelic conflict passages — Colossians 2:10. Christ, the head of the Church, is absent from the earth as a part of operation footstool. So He has representation on the earth in the form of His body. Christ is the head of the Church, we are His body representing Him as ambassadors. We are a kingdom of priests, every believer is in full time Christian service and therefore the personal representative of Christ on the earth. So Christ appointed the Church as His full time representation.

Why chaos on the earth? Satan is the ruler of this world and he cannot improve his own kingdom. Divine laws of establishment keeps the human race from entering into this chaos. Therefore Satan is very frustrated trying to improve his kingdom and show God that he has a right to stay out of the lake of fire. But he never gets around to improving it. All of the improvements come from God and not from Satan. Therefore chaos is related to the angelic conflict.

There is the problem of spirituality, the filling of the Spirit. People often ask why it doesn’t have the characteristics that it will have in the Millennium where it will be associated with ecstatics. But there is no ecstatics related to the filling of the Spirit now. Why? The filling of the Spirit must be compatible with the absence of Jesus Christ from the earth. This is the whole concept of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age. Jesus Christ during the Church Age is at the right hand of the Father, and in His absence the ministry of God the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus Christ. In the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ the filling of the Holy Spirit does exactly that. It produces in the believer certain things which glorify Christ. Jesus Christ is absent; Jesus Christ must be glorified, therefore the whole ministry of the Holy Spirit is to bring doctrine from the page of the Word of God into the soul of the individual though GAP and for the individual to manifest some of the characteristics of Jesus Christ. Therefore neither emotion nor ecstatics are involved. The filling of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ and it is minus emotion, ecstatics. But in the millennium Jesus Christ is going to be present and the filling of the Spirit will change then to reflect that. Since Christ is present the objective is to worship Christ or to love Christ in the filling of the Spirit and therefore there will be emotion. In any case of true love there is always an emotional response to what you have by way of capacity for love in the right lobe. Joel 2:28,29. There will be an appreciation of Christ on the earth rather than glorifying the absent Christ.

13. Certain principles need to be applied from the angelic conflict. The angelic conflict explains the superiority of spirituality over the Mosaic law. The Mosaic law has an objective, i.e. to set up the laws of establishment, but spirituality has a higher objective to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why the Mosaic law was taught by elect angels in the days of Moses. Elect angels were most anxious for the winning of the angelic conflict and the Mosaic law is a summary of the laws of divine establishment. So angels taught the Exodus generation. Acts 7:38; Galatians 3:19; Psalm 68:7; Deuteronomy 33:2. Christ is superior to angels as He is resurrected and ascended, the believer is in union with Christ, and now we have a difference. Angels were the teachers of doctrine to the Old Testament saints, now angels are servants — Hebrews 1:13,14.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #16

16 04/10/1973 Ephesians 1:21–23 Doctrine of the angelic conflict (pt.12–13)

Verse 22 — the proqesij of God, the predesigned plan of God, takes cognisance of operation footstool and relates it to the Church Age. “And hath put” is the aorist active indicative of u(potassw which is a military word for subordination. The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist, it is an absolute. It is an absolute fact that all demons will be subordinated under a person who is the God-Man and they will be subordinated under His authority so that everything is reversed as a result of the incarnation. Because of the incarnation any member of the human race in a resurrection body will be superior to any and all angels. That is coming up in the future and the gnomic aorist recognises this as an eschatological absolute. In addition to that it is also a culminative aorist. The active voice refers to the proqesij of God the Father. The indicative mood is the reality of this fact. Once Jesus Christ in His humanity was seated at the right hand of the Father meant it was all over for the fallen angels and all angels are inferior to the resurrected Christ seated at the Father’s right hand.

“under his feet” — u(po plus the accusative plural of pouj. The aorist tense anticipates the future here and it also recognises the results which come from it. This is where we have operation footstool.

“and gave him” — the aorist active indicative of didomi. This is God the Father giving God the Son who is also true humanity. It is actually giving the true humanity of Christ something that humanity has not had since Adam was created and placed in the garden. The aorist tense has the same concept. It is an eschatological gnomic aorist and is referring to a doctrine which is an absolute, a doctrine that will occur. The Lord Jesus Christ is now and will be forever the absolute sovereign over the Church. The active voice: God the Father produces the action as a part of the proqesij, the predesigned plan. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that God the Father did this in that moment when He said, “Sit down at my right hand.”

“head” — kefalh is used for more than just the head. It means “head” sometimes but sometimes it means the absolute authority, the absolute sovereignty, and that is the meaning here.

“over all” — the preposition u(per which means over and above, “above all.”

“to the church” — dative of reference of e)kklhsia, “with reference to the church.” The dative of reference specifies not just advantage but it also sets the church aside as having a special mission. How is e)kklhsia used here? It refers to every believer, the church universal.

Verse 23 — the predesigned plan of God provides a bride for the last Adam. God provided a bride for the first Adam. The first Adam had his right woman. She was his rib. He fulfilled here; she completed him. God the Father said, “Not good that Adam should be alone.” The last Adam is Jesus Christ Himself, emphasising His humanity. So if the first Adam had a right woman, so should the last Adam. The right woman of the last Adam is the Church. The rib is union with Christ.

“Which” — the nominative feminine singular qualitative relative pronoun. The English does not define all of the characteristics here. It is feminine, and if we are not responders to God we are going to be responders to something else — in the soul. The nominative case tells us it is connected with the subject. The antecedent is the church — “the church which.” The singular indicates that the whole church is regarded as the bride of Christ. The feminine indicates the concept of the bride. The qualitative relative pronoun indicates that the bride has quality. So we have to translate this “Which is such a quality as to be his body.”

“is” is the present active indicative of e)imi which means always is and always will be [His body].

“his body” — to swma a)utou, “the body of [belonging to] him.” The first Adam was provided a woman by the Lord Jesus Christ. The last Adam is Jesus Christ and He was provided by God the Father a body. On the cross the last Adam was alone. The father says, “Not good that Adam should be alone.” Therefore the proqesij of God calls for one celebrity, the last Adam, to have a body on the earth, a bride. Our saviour is our only celebrity.

“the fullness” — plhrwma means “fullness” and it means “fulfillment.” The Greeks used this for a man fulfilling his right woman in sex. As he fulfilled here she completed him. So this word is now brought into a spiritual realm and becomes a part of the theology of the Church Age.

“of him” — definite article plus the genitive masculine singular of the relative pronoun, and it is translated “of the one.” “The one” is a title for Jesus Christ as out only celebrity.

“that filleth” — the passive voice of plhrow (present passive participle). The present tense is the process of enfillment. The passive voice: Christ is being fulfilled. Every time a person in the Church Age believes in Jesus Christ, the baptism of the Spirit which occurs at the moment of salvation does the fulfilling. The participle emphasises the process, whereby when the body of Christ is completed it will be removed from this earth. The body of Christ will be completed when the believers in the Church Age are equal in number to the demons operating under Satan in the angelic conflict. This is discovered by comparing Zechariah 13:2 with Colossians 2:15, with 1Corinthians 15:24,25. So this should be translated “the fullness of the one being filled.”

“The fullness of the one being filled”

1. Plhrow means to fill up a deficiency. The lack of a right woman for the last Adam is fulfilled by the Church. The whole purpose of the Church Age is to give the last Adam His right woman.

2. Plhrow means to fully possess. Jesus Christ as the right man fully possesses the Church which is His body, His bride.

3. Plhrow means to fully influence. Jesus Christ fully influences His body on earth through Bible doctrine. Jesus Christ makes love to the believer through Bible doctrine only. As a believer responds to doctrine he responds to the love of Jesus Christ.

4. Plhrow means to fill with a certain quality. Through Bible doctrine Christ fills the believer with the perfect quality of super-grace.

“all in all” — the accusative plural of paj is an accusative of reference. “All” means there are no exceptions among believers; plus e)n plus the instrumental plural of paj which means “by means of all [believers of the Church Age].” It takes all believers to make the body of Christ in the Church Age.

Translation: “Which is such a quality as to be his body, the fullness of the one being fulfilled with reference to all by means of all.”

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #17

17 04/24/1973 Ephesians 2:1 Doctrine of death (types)

Chapter 2

Outline of the chapter

Verses 1-10, the grace panorama.

Verses 11-17, grace and the barrier.

Verses 18-22, grace and the Church.

The subject of the first three verses is how grace found us: verse 1 — grace found us spiritually dead; verse 2 — grace found us under the control of Satan; verse 3 — grace found us under the control of the old sin nature.

Verse 1 — the first erroneous problem in this verse is that even in italics someone has put in “hath he quickened.” They thought it was legitimate to let us know that is was a long sentence, and this verb does occur in this sentence but it doesn’t occur just yet. It comes up a little later on in the passage — verse 5 which is still the same sentence.

“And” is the continuative use of the conjunction kai, and the continuative extends from the last two verses of the previous chapter. The concept of the church is picked up again in Ephesians 2:18 but we are not ready for it yet because to realise what a great thing it is to be a member of the body of Christ, to be a member of the universal church, to realise how really important it is, we need to stop and see what we were like before we joined the church. Joining the church is believing in Jesus Christ. The body of Christ is a synonym for the church, a synonym to indicate the church on the earth. There is also a synonym for the church in heaven — bride. Some day we will be a bride. In the meantime we are in the formation process and therefore a body. At the resurrection of the church we will become the bride of Christ. In this passage we are not dealing with the church local, we are dealing with the church universal, which began on the day of Pentecost in 30 AD and has continued under the grace of God to this hour. The church is any believer wherever he is found.

Since the proqesij of God is founded on grace and functions on grace it is inevitable that we have at this point a grace panorama.

“you” — the accusative plural of the personal pronoun su refers to every believer of the Church Age. The plural says here that what the principle is is for all of us, and when grace found us under these three concepts in these first three verses it found all of us the same way.

“hath he quickened” is not here in the original, it comes later.

“who were” — present active participle of e)imi. This is the ascriptive use of the participle; it ascribes some fact, some quality, or some characteristic directly to the pronoun. The quality, the characteristic, or the fact is death.

“dead” — is also in the accusative plural of nekroj because the pronoun is in the plural. The ascriptive use of the participle is used to link up the quality of death to each one of us. So when grace found us we were all dead, says the ascriptive participle plus the plural of the accusative of nekroj, plus the plural of su.

The doctrine of the classification of death

1. Spiritual death — Ephesians 2:1; Romans 5:12; 6:23; 1Corinthians 15:22. Spiritual death is a judgment on the human race at the point of birth. It is being born into the devil’s kingdom as citizens. We are born spiritually dead and related to the devil’s kingdom and we continue that way until we believe in Jesus Christ at which point this thing is broken. This means that when grace found us we belonged to Satan’s kingdom because we were born with spiritual death. Therefore the participle in verse is not only ascriptive but it is linear aktionsart. It is a status that continues and can only be broken by a new birth, and therefore the necessity for the new birth. The new birth breaks spiritual death. Spiritual death is not only separation from God but it is the penalty of sin, and it is totally the penalty of sin. Physical death is not the penalty of sin and it does not have anything to do with the penalty of sin. The only way that physical death is related to the penalty of sin is that since we are born spiritually dead it is inevitable that eventually we will all die. The first use of spiritual death in the Bible is in Genesis 2:17.

2. Physical death — Matthew 8:22; 2Corinthians 5:1-8; Romans 8:38,39; Philippians 1:21. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body.

3. The second death is the perpetuation of spiritual death into eternity — Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:12-15. It refers to the final judgment of the unbeliever in which the unbeliever is cast into the lake of fire forever. So it follows the general concept of separation but it is the eternal lake of fire.

4. Operational death — James 2:26. “Faith without production is dead [non-operative].” This is a reference to the believer’s failure to produce divine good, the failure of the believer to reach super-grace, the failure of the believer to GAP it consistently; it is the failure of the believer to get an accumulation of doctrine that leads to the ECS, occupation with Christ, super-grace capacity, super-grace blessing.

5. Positional death — Romans chapter 6 is the major passage of discussion. It is also found in Colossians 2:12, 20; 3:3. At salvation we are entered into union with Christ through the baptism of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit has two aspects. We are in union with Christ as Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. We are also in union with Christ as Christ died on the cross — current and retroactive positional truth. Positional death is retroactive positional truth or identification with Christ in His death. We are identified with Christ in His death because at the cross Jesus Christ rejected human good. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree but He rejected human good. Retroactive positional truth is simply our rejection of human good through identification with Christ on the cross.

6. Temporal death — Romans 8:6,13; Ephesians 5:14; 1Timothy 5:6; James 1:15; Revelation 3:1; Luke 15:24,32. It refers to the believer out of fellowship through sin. It is simply carnality or the perpetuation of carnality in reversionism. Temporal death just means that death is used to show that when you and I sin we are out of fellowship, we are dead to God in the sense of being out of fellowship. The prodigal son was still a son but he was dead to his father — “This, my son, was dead but now is alive.” He was out of fellowship, now he is back in fellowship.

7. Sexual death which is the inability to copulate — Romans 4:16-21; Hebrews 11:11.12.

There is no greater emphasis on God’s grace than our spiritual condition prior to salvation — “And you all constantly being [spiritually] dead.”

Next we have a prepositional phrase, e)n plus the locative of sphere, and we have two objects of the preposition — “in the sphere of.”

“your transgressions” — paraptwma plus the definite article and a personal pronoun. The definite article classifies the sphere in which our spiritual death is manifest. We are spiritually dead but how do we demonstrate it? By transgressions. This means to violate divine law. Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God — from the Westminster Confession. Sin is violation of something you know to be true as a part of divine law. But that is only half of it. The other half is found in the other half of the preposition, the word “sins,” also the locative plural. This time the noun is a(martia, which means failure to hit the mark. It is correctly translated “sins.”

Translation: “And you being spiritually dead in the sphere of your transgressions and sins.”

Principle: Grace found every believer regulating his life and ordering his behaviour pattern in the sphere of deviations and missing the mark. Grace found each one of us not only a total zero but also a total sub-zero.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #18

18 04/30/1973 Ephesians 2:2 Devil's seven; doctrine of the old sin nature

Verse 2 — grace found us under the control of the ruler of this world. Spiritual death is your citizenship paper showing that you are member of the devil’s kingdom.

“Wherein” is a prepositional phrase — e)n plus the locative plural of the relative pronoun o(j. It should be translated “in the sphere of which” or “in which sphere.” It is referring to the sphere of transgressions and sins.

“in time past” — an enclitic particle of time, pote, and it means “formerly.” It means before we were saved.

“ye walked” — aorist active indicative of the verb peripatew, used for lifestyle or life pattern. The aorist is a constative aorist, which always contemplates the action of a verb in its entirety. It takes an occurrence and regardless of the extent or the duration of that occurrence it gathers it into a single whole. The active voice: the unbeliever, which we all were formerly, produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that not only were we spiritually dead but we had a ruler who was totally obnoxious to the groom. The unbeliever is under the domination and the control of Satan.

A classification of verbs for walking

1. A)nastrefw is used for the pattern of social life — Ephesians 3:3

2. Stoixew refers to action along a particular line — Romans 4:12; Philippians 3:16. It means to follow a definite course of action, a course of action which is recognisable in the context.

3. Peripatew connotes personal or an individual life-pattern.

“according to the course” — the preposition kata plus the accusative singular of a)iwn which means an age or an era. It refers to a period of time and it should be translated “according to the era.”

“of this world” — a genitive of description, kosmoj which represents the anti-God influence of the unbeliever in the status quo of spiritual death. The era of the kosmoj refers to the fact that not only does Satan rule the planet earth but that he has compiled a tremendous mass of thoughts, opinions, speculations, hopes, impulses, objectives, aspirations, trends, and panaceas which form the entire scope of Satanic doctrine for ruling. Communism is an extension of these things, as is the thinking of the French Revolution, as is liberalism. The evils of the world are brought about by Satan’s inability to keep consistent. Satan does not have the ability to rule the world which he has taken from man at the fall.

“according to the prince” — the Greek word for prince is a)rxon for “highest ruler.” It really means a ruler, a king, but it is someone who becomes a ruler without inheriting a throne. Notice that Satan is not called “king,” he is called a)rxon because he didn’t inherit the world, he seized it. The coup de tat of seizure was the fall of man. One thing Satan recognises is the importance of authority, so he is called the highest ruler …

“of the power” — a descriptive genitive of e)cousia which does not means power, it means authority.

“of the air” — a)er, the Greek word for the lower or dense atmosphere. The higher atmosphere is called ether. The atmosphere around the earth consists of the first heavens. Satan as the highest ruler is found controlling not only the planet earth but also the atmosphere around it.

Translation so far: “In which sphere you formerly walked according to the era of this kosmoj, according to the highest ruler of the authority of the atmosphere.”

The seven points of the devil (The devil’s seven)

1. The devil is an angelic personality. He is also a genius, smarter than any human being or creature who ever lived. He is also very attractive and has a beautiful voice. Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:11-19 gives us a total picture of Satan as a personality, a person of the highest possible mentality. Here and there other passages tell us other things about Satan. He is the biggest liar that God ever stuck a soul in. He is the father of lies — John 8:44. He is also a murderer — 1John 3:8. He is the highest ruler of the authority of the atmosphere.

2. The devil is the ruler of this world — Luke 4:5-7; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2.

3. As the ruler of this world Satan has strategy regarding the nations. Satan is anti-nationalism; he despises nationalism. Nationalism frustrates the function of his rulership. Nationalism is a part of the laws of divine establishment to preserve human freedom in the devil’s kingdom — Revelation 12:9; 20:3,8. In order to rule the world Satan has to have strategy, he has to function on principles. For example, the two greatest enemies of Satan in ruling the world are Bible doctrine and the laws of divine establishment. So Satan counterattacks with religion. Religion is designed to neutralise doctrine. He counterattacks with revolution. Revolution is a Satanic device to neutralise the laws of divine establishment. That is why all revolutionists in their doctrine are internationalists and anti-nationalism. Nationalism frustrates Satan’s function on the earth. Nationalism is a part of the laws of divine establishment and basically it includes: a) the military establishment to protect the freedom of the nation involved. This immediately knocks out the possibility of any Christian being a conscientious objector; b) law plus a police system. This is one of the most important foundations for the preservation of privacy, rights and freedoms; c) free enterprise, with no government interference.

Religion is man by man’s efforts seeking to gain the approbation of God. It is working, man’s plans, man’s devices, superimposed upon God. The devil is the author of religion, the author of revolution, the author of internationalism; it is all a part of his strategy as the ruler of the world.

4. Since everyone is born into the world as an unbeliever and spiritually dead we are born citizens of Satan’s kingdom. Spiritual death is the citizenship papers in cosmos diabolicus. Therefore the devil has to have strategy with regard to people. He has to do everything possible to keep people unbelievers. It is the devil’s objective that no one believe in Jesus Christ. Luke 8:12; 2Corinthians 4:3,4; 2Thessalonians 2:9,10; Colossians 2:8.

5. Therefore when a person believes in Christ the devil doesn’t give up on them. They are members of the family of God and in God’s plan and totally separated from Satan’s plan. So the devil has to have strategy regarding believers — 2Corinthians 2:1.

There are seven strategies:

a) The devil’s strategy is to accuse believers. The devil is always embarrassed about sin. What he tries to do in his kingdom is what God produced in innocence. So one of his objectives is to ignore sin with all unbelievers and to make a great stir about the sins of believers. Satan makes an accusation about the sins of believers to God the Father. God the Son is seated at the right hand of the Father and at that point Jesus Christ takes on a new role, which is very closely related to His celebrityship. He acts as the believer’s defense attorney immediately and presents the case that every sin that the devil mentions has already been judged. Law of double jeopardy: you can’t be judged twice for the same offense. So Jesus Christ mentions that. God the Father as the judge throws the case out of court. Revelation 12:9,10; Job 1:6-11; Zechariah 3:1,2; 1John 2:1,2.

b) It is Satan’s objective to sponsor reversionism. The devil has been working for a long time to get one whole generation of believers in reversionism. 1Corinthians 10:19-21. The devil has a communion table and it is designed to sponsor reversionism. This communion table is for reversionists. 2Corinthians 11:3,13-15. Illustration: 1Chronicles 21.

c) It is the strategy of the devil with regard to believers to frustrate the will of God in the believer’s life. The will of God is categorised and classified in three ways: mental, operational, and geographical. Mental will of God: What does He want me to think? Operational will of God: What does he want me to do? Geographical will of God: Where does He want me to be? It is the Satanic objective to frustrate all three categories. The mental — Ephesians 4:14, he tries to frustrate divine viewpoint. Operational — James 4:7,8. Geographical — 1Thessalonians 2:18.

d) It is the strategy of the devil to neutralise the believer’s soul through worry and anxiety — 1Peter 5:7-9.

e) It is Satan’s objective to obscure the focus of the believer — occupation with Christ or the super-grace life. He does this in three ways: getting eyes on self — 1 Kings 19:10; getting eyes on people — Jeremiah17:5; getting eyes on things — Hebrew 13:5,6.

f) It is the Satanic objective to involve the believer in humanistic, temporal solutions to man’s problems so that divine solutions are obscured and excluded, e.g. the so-called social gospel (social action).

g) To instill in believers a fear of death — Hebrews 2:14,15.

6. Religion as a Satanic system. The basic principle of religion is to counterfeit what God has done. There are nine different counterfeits in religion:

a) Counterfeit gospel — 2Corinthians 11:3,4.

b) Counterfeit ministers — 2Corinthians 11:13-15.

c) Counterfeit doctrine — 2Timothy 4:1.

d) Counterfeit communion table — 1Corinthians 10:19-21.

e) Counterfeit righteousness — Matthew 19:16-28.

f) Counterfeit modus vivendi — Matthew 23. (Whitewashed tombstones)

g) Counterfeit power — 2Thessalonians 2:8-10.

h) Counterfeit gods — 2Thessalonians 2:3,4.

7. False teachers and false teaching is a part of the devil’s strategy.

a) False teachers always have a phony facade — Matthew 7:15; Romans 16:18. This facade is a kind of Maddison Avenue presentation to impress people.

b) False teachers court believers — Galatians 4:17,18; 2Timothy 3:5-7.

c) False teachers always appeal to human pride — 2Corinthians 10:12.

d) False teachers like to promote idolatry because it is a quick way to demon possession — Habakkuk 2:18,19.

e) False teachers often promote legalism — 1Timothy 1:7,8.

f) False teachers will continue throughout the cosmic era of Satan’s rulership — 1John 4:1.

Next to the lie itself, the greatest delusion Satan imposes — reaching to all unsaved

and to a large proportion of Christians — is the supposition that only such things as society considers evil could originate with the devil — if, indeed, there be any devil to originate anything. It is not the reason of man, but the revelation of God, which points out that governments, morals, education, art, commercialism, vast enterprises and organisations, and much of religious activity are included in the cosmos diabolicus. That is, the system which Satan has constructed includes all the good which he can incorporate into it and be consistent in the thing he aims to accomplish. A serious question arises whether the presence of gross evil in the world is due to Satan’s intention to have it so, or whether it indicates Satan’s inability to execute all he has designed. The probability is great that Satan’s ambition has led him to undertake more than any creature could ever administer. Revelation declares that the whole cosmos-system must be annihilated — not its evil alone, but all that is in it, both good and bad. God will incorporate nothing of Satan’s failure into that kingdom which He will set up in the earth.

Lewis Sperry Chafer, “Systematic Theology", vol. 2 , PP 100-101

“the spirit” is a subjective genitive from a neuter noun, pneuma. While pneuma is a neuter noun it is used also for persons. It means breath or air or spirit. The word is also used for angels, for esprit decor, thought pattern. Here we have the definite article, which indicates the classification of the noun rather than calling attention to its quality. The noun in the genitive produces the action of the participle. A genitive noun produces the action of the participle. The noun refers to the state of mind of reversionistic believers. It refers to doctrine of demons entering the right lobe of believers who are negative toward doctrine. The word also refers to unbelievers’ thinking as Satan has influenced them. The noun also refers to Satan who is the a)rxon and therefore a spirit.

“that now worketh” is the present active participle of e)nergew and it goes with the genitive because it, too, has the definite article. The word means to be operational or effective — “the spirit which is now operational.” The definite article can be translated as a relative clause when included with the participle.

“in the children” — e)n plus the locative plural of u(ioj. This refers to negative volition toward the gospel as far as unbelievers are concerned, for the believer it refers to negative volition toward doctrine. The devil’s propaganda works in the unbeliever to keep him from getting to the gospel, or putting him under strong delusion so that he will not accept the gospel. This is the principle of 2Corinthians 4:3,4. Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. It also refers to reversionistic believers. Both could be classified as children of disobedience.

“of wrath” — the descriptive genitive of the noun a)peiqeia, used both here and in Hebrews 4:6 for the obstinacy or disobedience or negative volition of the reversionistic believer. It can be both a reversionist or an unbeliever.

Translation: “In which sphere you formerly walked according to the error of the cosmos, according to the supreme ruler of the authority of the atmosphere, the ruler of the spirit which now is operational in the sons of obstinacy.”

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #19

19 05/01/1973 Ephesians 2:3 Doctrine of divine essence: sovereignty and righteousness

Verse 3 — Grace also found us under the control of the old sin nature. “Among whom” is a prepositional phrase, e)n plus the locative of the relative pronoun o(j.

a) This refers to the unbeliever type reversionists specifically.

b) The unbeliever reversionist has rejected the gospel so that a vacuum is created in his soul.

c) Into this vacuum goes the doctrine of demons causing him to reject the laws of divine establishment.

d) Every believer was once among unbeliever type reversionists.

e) This is where grace found each one of us.

f) Now also grace finds this believer in this passage in a reversionistic state, controlled by the old sin nature.

“also” is the adjunctive use of kai; it is followed by the phrase “we all” — h(meij pantej, a pronoun and an adjective in the nominative plural and it refers to believers with retrospective exposition regarding their status as unbelievers or how grace found them.

“we all had our conversation” — an aorist passive indicative from the compound verb a)nastrefw [A)na = above or again; strefw = to turn one’s course]. It connotes a pattern of social life, it means to live in the sense of practicing certain principles, to have a pattern of behaviour or conduct. This is a constative aorist, it gathers up into one entirety the pattern of our life when grace found us. The passive voice: The subject receives the action of the verb. The unbeliever receives the action of this verb and this is what we received up to the point of salvation. The indicative mood is the reality of our life pattern or life style as an unbeliever under the old sin nature.

“in times past” is an adverb, pote, and it means “formerly.”

“in the lusts of our flesh” — this Greek phrase refers to the old sin nature’s lust pattern. We have ep)iqumia and sarc as the two basic words. Sarc is sometimes human flesh but sometimes the old sin nature: generally in the epistles of the New Testament, the old sin nature.

The doctrine of the old sin nature

1. Definition. The old sin nature is that which was acquired originally by Adam’s fall and subsequently acquired by us at the point of physical birth. It is the source of the soul’s rebellion toward God.

2. The essence of the old sin nature is specified in the Greek of Romans 6:6. Basically it is fourfold. There is an area of weakness which produces all personal sins — Hebrews 12:1 specifies the principle. The doctrine of hamartiology classifies three types of personal sins — mental, verbal, and overt. Secondly, the old sin nature has an area of strength which produces human good in contrast to divine good. Human good is described in Isaiah 64:6 and the principle is mentioned in Romans 8:8. Thirdly, there is a lust pattern in the old sin nature — Romans 7:7; Ephesians 2:3. Approbation lust is the basic concept, the basic motivator of life and is why people seek to get attention from others. There is power lust, materialism lust, sex lust, and so on. Finally, the old sin nature has antithetical trends — trend toward lasciviousness, trend toward asceticism. One is as bad as the other, both are evil.

3. The biblical nomenclature for the old sin nature.

a) The flesh — Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 2:3.

b) Old man — Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9.

c) Carnal — Romans 7:14; 1Corinthians 3:1-3.

d) Sin (in the singular) — Romans 5:12; 7:14; 1Corinthians 15:56; 1John 1:8.

e) Heart, generally used for the right lobe, occasionally for the old sin nature’s influence on the right lobe — Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 12:34,35; 15:19; Mark 7:21-23.

4. Principles of the old sin nature.

a) The old sin nature is a source of spiritual death in mankind — Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1,5.

b) The old sin nature is perpetuated in the human race through physical birth — Psalm 51:5; 1Timothy 2:13,14.

c) The believer continues to have an old sin nature after salvation. There is no such thing as sinless perfection — 1Corinthians 3:1; 1John 1:8.

d) The believer under the control of the old sin nature is designated carnal — Romans 7:14; 1Corinthians 3:1-3.

e) The old sin nature frustrates bona fide production in phase two — Romans 7:15.

f) The old sin nature is not found in the resurrection body of the believer — 1Corinthians 15:56; Philippians 3:21; Colossians 3:4; 1Thessalonians 5:23.

g) Divine judgment solves the problem of the old sin nature. Phase one judgment: Christ is judged for our sins on the cross — 2Corinthians 5:21; 1Peter 2:24. There is a phase two judgment: the believer’s sins in time are judged by the rebound technique — 1Corinthians 11:31; 1John 1:9. There is also a phase three judgment where the believer’s human good is judged.

Verse 3b — “fulfilling” is a present active participle of poiew which means “doing the desires of the flesh.” The verb means to do and has nothing to do with fulfilling anything.

“the desires of the flesh” — the word for “desires” is the accusative plural of the noun qelhma. It means that people always do what they want to do. They are not always ready to take the consequences of that they do. Basically the lifestyle of all unbelievers is doing what they want to do. This simply proves once again that you have free will before salvation. Doing what God wills or doing what you want to do after salvation indicates the same factor. Angels observe unbelievers with this in mind. In this sense the unbelieving human race is spoiled and when grace finds us we have been doing what we wanted to do X number of years without achieving anything by it. We are neither happier nor better off in any way, we simply have put ourselves under total obligation to the cosmos, the “devil’s seven.” Being under this obligation means that anything we have in life that we enjoy we owe to the ruler of this world, and it’s enjoyment in very short-lived because the ruler of this world does not have either the ability or the capacity to make either a promotion or any kind of prosperity system of happiness. Therefore our only hope in this field lies under the concept of grace. So grace found us totally enmeshed in using our own free will to make ourselves miserable while trying to make ourselves happy. “Continually doing” is present linear aktionsart, and this is how grace found us. Continually doing the desires of the flesh means that if you were a very good person before you were saved (and not the town sinner) you were still doing what you wanted to do. You wanted to be good, you wanted to be prissy, and you wanted to be better than everyone else. We are what we are by our own volition.

When grace found all of us we were doing what we wanted to do and it wasn’t getting us anywhere. The issue is on volition and desires, and desires are what we will, what we want to do. With Bible doctrine you know what you want to do, you want to do the will of God. The will of God is for you to get doctrine inside the soul. The only way we can use our situation to improve the situation is non-meritorious. Non-meritorious volition GAPs it to super-grace, and then God does all the pouring.

“and of the mind” — the genitive plural from dianoia. All the do-gooders and all the bleeding hearts are always looking for something for which they can crusade. They want to be good in life, they want to do something good, they want to feel like they have put a little whitewash or a little patch on planet earth.

“and were” is the imperfect active indicative of e)imi — “we kept on being.” This is the imperfect used as the past tense for the purpose of indicating what we were when grace found us.

“by nature” — the instrumental of fusij, which means by natural or by inherited endowment. We all inherited something. By inherited endowment we are …

“the children” — the nominative plural of teknon without the definite article.

1. The word means a child in relationship to its parents. That is, a child under authority of other members of the human race.

2. It also refers to descendants, to posterity, hence it refers here to the posterity of Adam.

3. The absence of the definite article emphasises the qualitative aspect of the noun. In this case the quality was bad. We were under authority but we were under the authority of wrath.

“of wrath” — o)rgh, descriptive genitive singular. It means anger, wrath, indignation, or punishment. In other words, we were being pulled irresistibly under Satan’s authority, under the authority of the old sin nature, toward the lake of fire. Now here is the contrast: We were under this authority taking us to the lake of fire; now we are under authority taking us eventually to surpassing grace. In the meantime we have the privilege of super-grace, and our authority is the Word of God and the communicator of the Word, the classroom being the local church.

“even as others” — kai o(i loipoi is plural and means “also the rest [of the human race].”

Translation” “Among whom also formerly we all had our behaviour pattern in the lusts of our flesh [OSN], continually doing the desires of the flesh and the thoughts, and were continually by natural inherited endowment the posterity of wrath punishment, as also the rest of the human race was.”

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #20

20 05/02/1973 Ephesians 2:4a Doc/divine essence: justice, love, eternal life, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence

Verses 4-7 takes us a step further — how grace found us, how grace provided for us.

Verse 4 — “But” is an adversative particle, de, used as a conjunction of contrast. The contrast is between how Christ found us as the children of wrath and what God was like when He found us. In other words, this adversative conjunction is to set up a contrast. We were found as zeros, the one who found us was perfect.

“God” — o( qeoj refers to God the Father, and it is “the God.” Now the purpose of the definite article is to define one person of the Godhead, the author of the plan.

“who is” should be “being” — the present active participle of e)imi: always being, there never was a time when he wasn’t. “But the God being.”

“rich” — the adjective plousioj. The word means money, but it also means to be rich in other things too.

The doctrine of divine essence — we must see who found us.

1. God is one in essence. The oneness of God’s essence is the glory of God. Whenever the glory of God is found in the scripture it refers to the essence of God. All the characteristics of divine essence are resident in each member of the Godhead. However, all of the characteristics of God are not manifest at one time.

2. The relationship of essence to the Trinity. Each member of the Trinity or the Godhead is a separate person having the same essence as the other members. Even though a separate person He is still one in essence with the others. The fact that there is more than one person in the Godhead is taught in 1Peter 1:2; 2Corinthians 13:14; John 10:30 cf. Psalm 110:1; Isaiah 48:16.

3. Examples of how various characteristics are manifest include: a) Salvation, where you see God’s love and eternal life; b) Judgment, God’s righteousness and justice is seen; c) Faithfulness, you see immutability plus veracity; d) In God’s plan is seen omniscience plus sovereignty. So each aspect of life brings out a different characteristic in the essence of God.

4. The sovereignty of God.

a) God is the supreme being of the universe — Deuteronomy 4:39; 1Samuel 2:6-18; 1Chronicles 29:11; 2Chronicles 20:6; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 45:5,6; Acts 17:24.

b) God is also said to be king of heaven and earth — Psalm 47:2; 93:1; Matthew 6:13b; Hebrews 8:1; Revelation 4:2,3,11.

c) God as sovereign is also eternal — Psalm 93:2; God is infinite — Psalm 8:1; Acts 5:39; Self-determining — Job 9:12; Psalm 115:3; 135:6; Proverbs 21:1; Daniel 4:35.

d) Expressions of divine volition — Isaiah 46:10b; Ephesians 1:5 — resulting in a plan for humanity — Psalm 24; Hebrews 6:17.

e) But as a part of the sovereignty of God, God is a gentleman. That means He will not coerce or violate the volition of any member of the human race. He will not use His absolute will against the volition He gave man — John 7:17; Revelation 22:17.

f) As far as the believer is concerned God has a will for our life. We can choose to go against that will of the intake of doctrine, GAPing it to super-grace. We can wind up in reversionistic revolt. The believer in reversionism repudiates God’s will, God’s person, and God’s plan.

5. The righteousness of God.

a) God is righteous or absolute holiness — Leviticus 19:2b; 1Samuel 2:2; Psalm 22:3; 47:8; 111:9; Isaiah 6:3; John 17:11; Revelation 3:7; 4:8; 6:10. God’s righteousness is absolute, it cannot be destroyed, contaminated, compromised.

b) There are passages which say that God is good, a goodness that stems from His righteousness — Psalm 25:8; 34:8; 86:5; 119:68; Luke 18:19.

c) God’s righteousness is free from sin — 2Corinthians 5:21; 1John 1:5.

d) The righteousness of God is perfect, so that His character is perfect, so that His person is perfect. It is impossible to have perfect righteousness without having perfect character and a perfect personality. They key to personality is righteousness. Deuteronomy 32:4b; Psalm 7:9; 11:7; 97:6; 111:3; 119:137a; Jeremiah 23:6; John 17:25a; Romans 1:17; 10:3; 1John 2:29.

e) He is righteous in His attitudes and His actions — Deuteronomy 32:4; 2Samuel 22:31; Psalm 119:37; 145:17; Daniel 9:14; Revelation 19:2.

f) God’s perfect righteousness rejects human standards of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness galls, but true righteousness in the believer is pleasing. That is why salvation cannot be attained by human righteousness — Titus 3:5. God regards our righteousness as filthy rags — Isaiah 64:6.

g) The righteousness of God is available to all who believer — Romans 3:22 for imputation of righteousness.

6. The concept of divine justice as a part of the essence of God .

a) God is fair, this is a part of His justice. In fact, it is impossible for God to be unfair. God’s judgments are perfect and God is always fair, therefore God is eliminated as a patsy in anyone’s life. It is impossible to make God the object of bitterness or any mental attitude sin. His fairness is total. His justice also operates in the field of punitive activity. God must express His love through His justice to His reversionistic believers. He is always just and as a part of His justice He is no respecter of persons. Therefore God has only two avenues through which He can express His love to believers. He expresses His love to super-grace believers through blessing; He expresses His love to reversionism through the function of divine justice and/or discipline. Justice administers the penalty which righteousness demands. Deuteronomy 32:4; 2Chronicles 19:7; Job 37:23; Psalm 19:9; 50:6; 58:11; 89:14; Isaiah 45:21; Jeremiah 50:7; Romans 3:26; Hebrews 10:30,31; Hebrews 12:23.

b) Justice not only is an expression of the fairness of God, not only an expression of the punitive operation of God, but justice means that God in vindicating any believer as a part of the angelic conflict cannot have a compromise to that characteristic. That is why we have the cross and that is where the doctrine of propitiation fits in. Were it not for the ministry of Jesus Christ on the cross, were it not for the doctrine of propitiation we would be in serious trouble because God would have to compromise His justice in order to save us; and God cannot compromise any part of His character. Immutability means that God’s character remains inviolate, it cannot be compromised. The Lord Jesus Christ through His vicarious efficacious spiritual death on the cross (1Peter 2:24) transferred the guilt of the sinner (Romans 5:12) in Himself. This propitiated the justice of God the Father so that the Father is not only free to pardon and to justify each person who accepts Christ, but He is free with His justice to condemn forever those who reject Christ. So the work of Christ on the cross not only liberated the justice of the Father for total expression in eternity but also made it possible for the Father’s justice to remain intact in the plan of God. His justice in the basis for the unbeliever going to the lake of fire.

7. Divine love.

God is eternal and therefore has unchangeable love in the same quantity as he had billions of years ago. The quantity of God’s love and the quality of God’s love remains the same — Jeremiah 31:3. Each member of the Godhead is somewhere related to love. For example, the Father’s love is described in John 3:16; 1John 2:15; 3:1. The Son’s love is described in Romans 8:35. The principle that the love of God will not permit separation, that no believer can be separated from the love of God, is found in Romans 8:38,39. No matter how a believer fails, no matter what he does, no matter who says what about him, no matter what he has actually done, he can never be separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This means that the Father has a love which is not in any way related to emotion. Emotion does not exist in any member of the Godhead. Emotion is not a part of the essence of God, it is strictly a human function in order to become an appreciator of what we have in the right lobe of the soul. In the function of the soul emotion is the responder to the various functions of the right lobe or the heart. God doesn’t need an emotion to appreciate what He has in the mentality if His essence — omniscience, and God does not function on emotion as we do. Emotion is a prop so that what you have in your right lobe will be a source of stimulation to you. But God is not emotional. An occasional emotional type verb will be used as an anthropopathism merely to express a divine attitude but not to indicate a true condition of God’s essence. So it is important to understand that God’s love is infinitely superior to any human love because it needs no props. For example, one of the props in human love is to get a response. Very few people have the ability to love someone consistently when all they ever get from them is to be ignored or antagonism.

God’s love is so great that no strings are involved. He will love us when we are in reversionism just as much as when we are heroes in super-grace.

It is possible for a member of the human race to love God. However, it must be regenerate mankind, a member of the family of God, first. Then the capacity for it is something totally unrelated to props. Doctrine is not related to props; doctrine is not emotional. We appreciate doctrine and emote often when we learn principles of doctrine. But doctrine in itself has not emotional content. Doctrine is designed to have a strictly mental content. God’s love is a part of the ECS, in which case it becomes reality. 1John 2:5 tells us about God’s love and the ECS. God’s love is first a reality to us when we are controlled by the Spirit — Romans 5:5.

8. Eternal life. God is absolute existence — Exodus 3:14; John 8:58; Psalm 90:2. Jesus Christ is eternal life and has always existed with the Father — John 1:1-3. He is eternal life and shares His life with us at the point of salvation — 1John 5:11,12; John 10:28; 20:31. Always existent as eternal life is a characteristic of essence.

9. Omniscience. God is all-knowledge. It is related to eternal life in this way. God’s knowledge is total and God’s knowledge is not related to time. God’s knowledge is outside of time because He is eternal life. 1Samuel 2:3; Job 26:6; Jeremiah 16:17; Psalm 139:1-6; Ezekiel 11:5; Matthew 10:29,30; Hebrews 4:13. God, therefore has infinite wisdom and understanding — 1Samuel 16:7; Psalm 44:21; 147:5; Proverbs 3:19; 5:21; 17:3; Isaiah 40:13,14; Jeremiah 17:10; 51:15; Nahum 1:7; Romans 11:33; 1John 3:20.

It is God’s intention for each one of us as a believer to understand everything in the Bible — in time!

10. Omnipresence. God is ever present, He is not limited by space or time. This means He is both imminent and transcendent. Jeremiah 23:24; Acts 17:27. Heaven is His throne, the earth is His footstool — Deuteronomy 4:39; Isaiah 66:1. Furthermore, where His omnipresence is concerned the heavens cannot contain Him — 1 Kings 8:27; Acts 17:24b.

11. Omnipotence. God has a power totally devoid of human props. Omnipotence means not only strength as we understand it but ability as well. God has unlimited ability, unlimited strength — Genesis 17:1; 18:14; Job 26:7; 42:2; Psalm 24:8; 93:1; 147:5a; Isaiah 40:26; 50:2; Jeremiah 27:5; 32:27; Matthew 19:26; Mark 14:36; Luke 1:37. The only limitation God ever has on His strength is human negative volition — Revelation 4:8. God also has unlimited authority — Psalm 33:9; Romans 13:1; Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 19:6.

12. Immutability. God is also perfectly stable. Immutability is total stability. Immutability means unchangeability. God cannot change — Psalm 102:26,27; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 1:12. God is absolute stability — Isaiah 40:28; James 1:17. God’s Word and God’s works are unchanging. That is why through GAP God gives us one immutable thing — doctrine is immutable. God gives us something of Himself when he gives us Bible doctrine. When we have doctrine in the soul we have the only stabiliser in life. His words and His works are unchanging — Psalm 119:89; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Isaiah 40:8. From His stability comes His faithfulness. He is faithful in keeping His promises — Numbers 23”19; 1 Kings 8:56; 2Corinthians 1:20; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 10:23; 11:11. He is faithful to forgive — 1John 1:9. He doesn’t forgive because we feel sorry for our sins, He forgives because Christ died for our sins. He is faithful in keeping us saved — 2Timothy 2:12,13. He is faithful to deliver us from and in pressure — 1Corinthians 10:13; 1Peter 4:19. He is faithful in stabilising the believer — 2Thessalonians 3:3. He is faithful in the administration of His plan — 1Corinthians 1:9. He is faithful in His provision — 1Thessalonians 5:24.

13. Veracity: truthfulness. He is absolute truth — Deuteronomy 32:4b. His veracity manifests itself in His ways; He has ways of communication — Psalm 25:10; 86:15; Revelation 15:3. His truth is manifest in His Word — 2Samuel 7:28; 1 Kings 17:24; Psalm 19:9; 119:142; 138:2, 150:1; John 8:45; 17:17; 2Corinthians 6:7.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #21

21 05/03/1973 Ephesians 2:4b Doc/divine essence: omnipotence, immutability, veracity; Stonewall Jackson a supergrace believer

Verse 4b — The word plousioj is an expression of the doctrine of divine essence.

“in mercy” — the manifestation of God’s essence to the human race. It is e)n plus the locative of e)leoj which means grace in action. In other words, grace found us, that’s verses 1-3. So if God is going to take us from mere zeros and He is going to take us to a hundred point zero He is going to have to have a way to do it. The way is GAP. Grace found us as zeros and God has the capability to do something about that. So “in the sphere of his mercy” means God did something about it. This glorifies God only. No member of the human race is glorified by entering the plan of God. The stability of God’s grace emphasises His righteousness but the mercy of God’s grace emphasises His love. Love goes into action on our behalf.

“for his great love” — dia plus the accusative singular of polluj plus the accusative of a)gaph. Polluj connotes greatness in magnitude and quantity. In quantity God has enough love for all of us. God’s love is great in magnitude. It is perfect because God’s character is perfect. So we translate not “for his great love” but — dia plus the accusative — “because of his great love.”

Verse 4, translation: “But the God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loves us.”

The doctrine of love

1. At the point of salvation every believer passes the point of propitiation, placing himself under maximum divine love. The principle is found in relationship to that love in 1John 2:2. Positional truth further guarantees that God the Father will love every believer with the same amount of love which He possesses for Jesus Christ — 1John 3:2.

2. Therefore God can love every believer with maximum love in spite of the believer’s spiritual status in phase two.

3. There are three basic categories of love. As far as man is concerned category #1 is love toward God. Category #2 is love for a member of the opposite sex who is categorised as either right man or right woman. Category #3 is friendship. All of these categories are limited. Category #1 is limited to the three members of the Godhead. Category #2 is limited to one person of the opposite sex. Category #3 is also limited and will never include too many real friends. When it comes to the command to love the brethren (members of the family of God) that is strictly a mental attitude love produced first by the filling of the Spirit and also produced by growth and spiritual maturity. It is strictly a mental attitude, nothing more.

4. There is also a relationship-type love in the Bible. It comes from the Attic Greek noun storgh and it means love of parents for children, love of children for parents when they mature a little bit. There is another Attic Greek word which connotes an aspect of category #2 love, e)roj, which is called sex love. Relationship love does exist, except of course where Bible doctrine divides a family, as in Matthew 10:34-37; Luke 12:51-53.

5. In the New Testament vocabulary for love we have two verbs and two nouns. They are cognates within the framework of the two. We have a)gapaw which is the verb, and the cognate is a)gaph. We have filew, which is the verb, and the noun is filoj. A)gapaw and a)gaph is a special love, a limited type love because it refers only to the mentality of the soul. it is strictly a mental attitude and, by the way, excludes emotion. It means freedom from mental attitude sins, it means a relaxed mental attitude towards its object. The second category is a general type love and covers every facet of the soul. This type of love includes emotion and it is actually more mature. To be called the filoj of God like Abraham was is a very, very high honour. This type of love is more mature and expresses greater capacity for love, as illustrated by the indignation of Peter when Jesus said he didn’t have filew or filoj — John 21:17.

6. Principle of documentation. It was Archbishop Trench who first observed the correct distinction between a)gapaw and filew. He observed this by going to a parallel and almost an exactly parallel language at the time of the Roman empire. At that time Latin was spoken in the western part of the empire and was the most dominant language. In the eastern part of the empire Koine Greek was the dominant language. At the time of the Roman empire Latin and the Koine Greek became exact equivalents. It was the study of these two languages at the time of the writing of the New Testament which brought Trench around to the conclusion that the verb in the Latin, diligo, is equivalent to a)gapaw; and that the Latin word amo is equivalent to filew. He cites the writings of Cicero and he finally concluded from these and other writings from which he took a lot of authors: “We conclude that amo which answers to filew is stronger than diligo which corresponds to a)gapaw” — page 41, The Synonyms of the New Testament, by Archbishop Richard C, Trench.

7. Summary of the distinctions. The noun a)gaph is strictly a mental attitude love which emphasises the actions of mental attitude sins. The noun filoj is stronger and connotes a more general soul love and a great capacity. It is mistakenly translated “friendship.” The noun a)gaph is found in two areas: the filling of the Spirit produces it — Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22. The third floor of the ECS produces it — 1John 2:5; Colossians 3:14. The noun filoj is the fourth floor of the ECS and it by far the highest concept in that area.

8. All believers are commanded a)gaph type love. Since a)gaph is produced by the filling of the Spirit it is only accomplished in this way — Romans 5:5 — and it produces the concept we have in 1Corinthians 13 where the word “charity” is a)gaph love. However, filoj type love demands maturity, it demands capacity, so there is a lot of GAPing before one gets this far.

9. In mankind a)gaph is limited only to the mentality of the soul while filoj extends to every facet of the soul and to the entire life as well as having something to do with the personality of the individual. This has to be remembered because people have very erroneously taught that a)gaph is divine love and filoj is human love.

10. The erroneous conclusion that a)gaph refers only to divine love because, for example, it is found in John 3:16. With the verb a)gapaw and the noun a)gaph it all depends on who is producing the action. For example, in John 3:19 men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. So you have evil men with a)gaph and the word is used in an entirely different way.

11. God must be the subject of the verb before any verb can be divine love. God is the subject of filew in John 16:27, just as God is the subject of a)gapaw in John 3:16.

12. God is the motivating factor of category #1 love — 1John 3:11; 4:19.

Verse 4b — “wherewith” is accusative feminine singular of the relative pronoun o(j should be translated “with which.”

“he loved us” — the aorist active indicative of a)gapaw. The aorist tense is a dramatic aorist, it states a present reality with the certitude of a past event and it is always translated like a present tense. Notice that “he loved us” is a past tense in our English translation, but it should be translated “with which he loves us.” God still loves us, will always loves us, nothing can change to love of God for us. This is an idiomatic device in the Greek for emphasis. While God has always loved us we have just come to realise it through doctrine in the soul. The active voice: God produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is the reality of God’s past and present and future love for the believer. The dramatic aorist indicates something that always existed but is just now realised. The accusative plural of the personal pronoun e)gw [us] indicates all believers regardless of status.

Translation: “But the God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loves us.”

God loves us whether we love Him or not — 1John 4:19, “We” refers to the super-grace believer only. Only the super-grace believer has what it takes to respond to the love of God.

Verse 19 — “Even” is the ascensive use of kai, translated “even ” or “although.”

“when we were” is the present active participle from e)imi, indicating a status quo. This is what we were before we were found by grace. This is a temporal participle and it is always translated by the past tense in the English. The temporal participle is technically an adverbial participle acting as an adverb to the noun and main verb of the sentence. The noun is “the God.” The main verb is the dramatic aorist of a)gapaw. The temporal adverbial participle indicates the condition of each member of the human race when God loves us. The point is that we weren’t worth loving. We were spiritually dead, under the influence of Satan, under the old sin nature.

“dead” is the masculine accusative plural from nekroj. The plural refers to spiritual death in every case, there are no exceptions.

“in sins” — We have the locative of sphere, also in the plural of paraptwma, meaning “in the sphere of our transgressions.” So far this should be translated, “Although we were dead in the sphere of our transgressions.” So we were totally unlovely to God.

“hath he quickened” — aorist active indicative of the triple-compound verb suzwpoiew [sun = with or along with; zw = life; poiew = to do or to make] which means to make alive together with or along with — “he has made us alive together with.” The aorist tense is a culminative aorist. It is employed to view the action of the verb in its entirety but to emphasise the existing results. Along with a lot of other people since Adam was saved He has made us alive together with them. The culminative aorist emphasises the results. The active voice: God produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that this is accomplished in the Church Age by positional sanctification whereby every believer is entered into union with Christ through the baptism of the Spirit.

“with Christ” is the instrumental of association plus the definite article — “in association with Christ.” So this is positional truth, this is the same as 1John 5:11,12.

The doctrine of propitiation

1. Propitiation is taken from the Greek word i(lasthrion which actually means the mercy seat, the mercy seat over the ark of the covenant. Technically it should probably be translated “the place of the propitiation.”

2. To understand the mercy seat one must first of all comprehend the ark of the covenant — Exodus 25:10-22; 37:1-9 declare the concept of the ark of the covenant.

3. In summary, the ark was a wooden box two and a half cubits long [45 inches] by one and one half cubits high [27 inches] by one and one half cubit wide [27 inches]. The wood was acacia wood and it was overlaid with gold. The gold represents the deity of Christ, the wood represents the humanity of Christ.

The gold in the box: Jesus Christ is God. He is sovereignty, absolute righteousness, justice, love, eternal life, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability, and veracity. But as God He cannot go to the cross. Sovereignty cannot become obedient to death, eternal life cannot die, omnipresence cannot reduce itself to one point — the cross, immutability cannot change these characteristics, righteousness will have nothing to do with sin [except through justice to condemn it]. There is no way that Christ as God can go to the cross. The wood in the ark speaks of the fact that Christ would become in the fullness of time true humanity, as He did. The wood represents the fact that Christ had a human body, that He had a human soul which possessed self-consciousness, mentality, emotion, volition, and conscience. He did not have an old sin nature — virgin birth. He also was born with and retained a human spirit. The ark of the covenant portrays the hypostatic union and the impeccability of Jesus Christ.

4. There are three verses of scripture in the Bible that tell us the content of the ark — Numbers 17:8, 10; Hebrews 9:4. There were three things in this box. There was the table of the law, which spoke of sin as transgression of God’s perfect standard. There was Aaron’s rod that budded which speaks of sin in terms of reversionism, revolution against God. There was the pot of manna, which speaks of sin, in rejection of the provision of God. So all three articles inside of the box picture sin. They picture Christ bearing our sins in His own body on the tree.

5. The content of the box therefore indicates the work of Christ on the cross. On the cross Jesus Christ was bearing our sins — 1Peter 2:24.

6. Over the top of the ark was a mercy seat, the i(lasthrion, the throne with a golden cherub on each side of the throne. This throne or seat was made of solid gold. There was a cherub on each end to represent the pertinent characteristics of the essence of God. One cherub represented +R, the other cherub represented the justice of God.

7. On the day of atonement the high priest took the blood of an animal sacrifice, entered the holy of holies and sprinkled the blood over the top of this golden throne. When righteousness looks at that blood righteousness is satisfied because that blood is a representative analogy of the work of Christ in bearing our sins. Righteousness is satisfied and justice is satisfied. Righteousness is satisfied because the animal sacrifice was without spot and blemish representing the impeccability, the perfection of Jesus Christ. Justice is satisfied because Jesus Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree. This is what is meant in the English by propitiation. Propitiation means satisfaction.

8. The mercy seat represents the doctrine of propitiation or satisfaction.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #22

22 05/04/1973 Ephesians 2:4–5 Doctrines of love, propitiation, grace

In verse 5 we now have a parenthesis: “by grace” is the instrumental singular of xarij. It is the instrumental of means, it indicates the principle of God’s grace, that God found a way to love us, even though He is perfect and the total sum of perfection, and we are the total of everything that is imperfect.

“ye are saved” is a periphrastic, a perfect periphrastic. A periphrastic is composed of two verb forms. The first is a present active indicative of the verb e)imi, the verb to be. With this is a perfect passive participle of the verb swzw which means to save or deliver. We have in this case the intensive perfect which emphasises the fact that the work of salvation is completed and the results are perpetuated forever. The passive voice of the participle: mankind at the point of faith in Christ receives the action of the verb, which is a permanent salvation. The participle indicates the permanence of the periphrastic. “By means of grace you have been permanently saved.”

The doctrine of grace

1. Grace is all that God is free to do for man on the basis of the cross, on the basis of propitiation. God is actually freed from the confinements of His own perfect character to do something for us. So grace is God’s freedom to express His love to mankind without jeopardising any part of His essence. The cross freed God to save us and to save us permanently. Therefore grace is the plan of God, grace is the work of God, the expression of God’s perfection. Grace means very simply that God does all the work and man does all of the benefiting without work. Grace is a plan, a policy, a function, a mechanic of divine modus operandi.

2. Grace depends upon the essence or the character of God. Therefore grace depends on who and what God is. Grace is what God can do for man and be consistent with His own character or essence. This is why propitiation is so important.

3. The issue. The believer must sort out the different between grace and legalism. Legalism is man’s ability, man’s works, man’s actions intruding into the plan of God. Anything that man throws into the plan is no good. If is was accepted it would neutralise or destroy grace. The plan of God, however, is not destroyed or neutralised because grace rejects our talent, our ability, our plans, our concepts, anything that we have and regard as beneficial. Man’s plans and God’s plans cannot coexist. This immediately sets up in the soul a great conflict.

4. Grace, sanctification, and the angelic conflict all meet. The principle is that under grace the greatest things that God can do for any believer is to make that believer like His Son who is the only celebrity of the Church Age, as well as the head of the Church. Man was created to resolve the angelic conflict, therefore when the first Adam blew it through his free will and sin [the Fall] Jesus Christ as the last Adam became human — not an angel, as per Hebrews 2:14-16. The first Adam lost the victory through the Fall and the last Adam wins the victory through the cross and then operation footstool — Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 2:14. So grace found a way to take man, created inferior to angels and in fallen condition, and make him superior to all angelic creatures. This is accomplished in three stages of sanctification.

Stage one: By means of the baptism of the Holy Spirit whereby every believer is entered into union with Christ every believer became positionally higher than angels — Hebrews chapters 1 & 2.

Stage two: Because of this it is possible under the construction of the ECS and the entrance into the super-grace life to become experientially higher than angels. There is nothing that tears the devil up more than for some believer to reach super-grace because positionally the devil can’t do anything about what happened in a second. But he can try to head off building a cup in the soul because one the believer has a cup God starts pouring, and He pours, and He pours. Once the ECS has been constructed and once the believer enters into super-grace and maintains it then he is under what is known as experiential sanctification. At this point God is able to so benefit in the devils world human beings to a greater extent than the devil’s own original crowd, angels, are benefited. Demons are miserable, that’s why they are always trying to possess a body. When God through grace can start pouring in your cup and benefit you way above the demons it just tears them all apart. While God is blessing you God is glorified. The other side of the picture is that the demons are weeping and wailing. It tortures them to have you blessed under super-grace. The biggest issue in your life is super-grace blessing.

Stage three: That is when the Church receives their resurrection body and becomes the bride of Christ. When Church Age believers receive the resurrection body at the Rapture this is ultimate sanctification, and at that point the believer in Jesus Christ is physically superior to the angels.

5. The entrance factor into grace. Every believer has entered the grace of God. That means he has tasted grace at least once, the moment he believed in Jesus Christ — Hebrews 6:4; 1Peter 2:3. At the moment of salvation every believer receives 36 things and hey are irrevocable, they are just as immutable as God Himself. This grace package at salvation cannot be cancelled or destroyed either by God or by angels or by human beings. At the same time God is freed to love you regardless of your experiential status of this life. Maximum love frees God to pour out maximum grace, but grace can only find a place to lodge where there is capacity for grace, and that is the super-grace life. Therefore God in grace has provided super-grace in order that this might be demonstrated to us, to angels, to the entire heavenly convocation. By the way, grace never goes where grace is not wanted. The issue here is Bible doctrine. God found a way through doctrine, through GAP, to put this into operation.

6. The occupational hazard of believers in the field of grace: ignorance, lack of cognisance with regard to the concept of grace, therefore leading to disorientation of grace, leading to the field of reversionism — Galatians 5:4; Hebrews 12:15. Reversionism is the greatest enemy, the greatest antagonist to the whole plan of God in operation phase two.

7. The divine attitude: God is constantly waiting to pour grace into the cup of the soul — Isaiah 30:18,19. When a believer reaches super-grace he has super-grace capacity and God pours.

8. Grace in phase one is documented from the following passages: Psalm 103:8-12; Romans 3:23,24; 4:4; 5:20; Ephesians 2:8,9; Hebrews 2:9.

9. Grace in phase two sees the believer in time and every aspect of our life is related somehow to grace, like prayer in the super-grace life — Hebrews 4:16; in the field of suffering — 2Corinthians 12:9,10; growth through the function of GAP — 2Peter 3:18; stability — 1Peter 5:12; Hebrews 13:9; modus vivendi — 2Corinthians 1:2; Hebrews 12:28; the production of divine good — 1Corinthians 15:10; 2Corinthians 6:1.

10. Grace and giving. The best part of giving comes when maximum materialistic blessing meets maximum doctrine in the normal function of the super-grace life. Giving becomes meaningful as an act of priestly worship — 2Corinthians chapters 8 & 9; Philippians 4:14-18.

11. The axioms of grace:

a) God is perfect, therefore His plan is perfect.

b) A perfect plan can only originate and function from a perfect God.

c) If man can do anything meritorious in the plan of God it is no longer perfect, and obviously not longer grace.

d) A plan is no stronger than its weakest link. For this reason grace excludes human merit and human ability. Grace also excludes human good. Do-gooders never make it under the plan of God.

e) Legalism and human good are the enemies of grace.

f) Therefore works of human righteousness have no place in the plan of God.

g) All human good is associated with the great mental attitude sin of pride. Pride seems to be the expansion of the self-consciousness of the soul in reversionism to the point of total disorientation to the grace of God.

12. Four areas in which pride rejects God’s grace.

a) The pride of the believer who rejects the doctrine of eternal security. To reject eternal security you have to be very proud because inevitable the person who does thinks that his sins are greater than the plan of God. He is more impressed with his sins than he is with what God has done for him.

b) The pride of the believer who succumbs to pressure and adversity and who thinks that his sufferings are greater than the grace provision of God — 2Corinthians 12:7-10.

c) The pride of pseudo spirituality: the believer who thinks that his human systems are greater than the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in his life. The systems may be anything from personality imitation, observation of taboos, confusion of means and results, the concept of relativity (my sins are more refined than your sins, therefore I am spiritual), the speaking in tongues, the ecstatics, the asceticism, the programs, the ritualism, all are involved in that type of pride.

d) The pride of the believer in emotional revolt of the soul. he assumes that his feelings, his emotions, his experiences, and his areas of reaction — disillusion, boredom, discouragement, self-pity, loneliness, frustration, jealousy, bitterness, being jilted or phased out. These are reactors that lead to the frantic search for happiness which triggers emotional revolt and which comes back and intensifies the ones involved. So there is an intensification of reactors through emotional revolt.

13. Grace is always related to divine assets — John 1:14,16,17; 1Corinthians 1:4,5; Ephesians 1:6,7.

14. The principle of super-grace — James 4:6, “greater grace/super-grace.” Super-grace in the life of Jesus Christ is described in John 1:14-17; in the life of the believer in phase two is described in chapters like Philippians 4; James 4; Ephesians 3:19-21; 2Corinthians 12:8,10.

15. The concept of the pursuit of grace — Ephesians 1:6. The pursuit of grace is the perpetuation of super-grace in the believer’s life. God is glorified when we are blessed under super-grace.

16. Under grace [super-grace] the believer reaps what God sows — Psalm 13:5; under reversionism the believer reaps what the believer sows — Psalm 13:5.

Verse 5 — “Although we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive in association with the Christ, (by means of grace you have been permanently saved).”

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #23

23 05/14/1973 Ephesians 2:6–7 Doctrines of baptism of Holy Spirit, the heavenlies, surpassing grace. "Stonewall Jackson" by Col. Henderson quoted

Verse 6 — we see now what happened at the beginning of the Church Age and why the Church Age had to be. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, and because in His humanity He ascended as a member of the human race into the presence of God the Father, as a man He is now superior to all angels. And now that the Age of Israel is interrupted the Church Age begins, and the Church Age is the age of the intensification of the angelic conflict , not the Tribulation. The Tribulation is one of the most awful periods in human history and it is a continuation of the Age of Israel, but the Church Age is the age of the intensification of the angelic conflict because Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. Throughout the Old Testament dispensations Christ was the target of Satan but once Christ was glorified at the right hand of the Father He can no longer be the target, and therefore the Church, the body of Christ — some day to be the bride of Christ — becomes the target. Because the Church is the target the angelic conflictshifts gears and it now in its intensified stage.

In order that we might be properly entered into the intensified stage of the angelic conflict verse 6 tells us that we have been raised up together with Jesus Christ and made to sit with Him.

“And” is the continuative use of the conjunction kai for the resumption of a sentence on the other side of a parenthesis.

“hath raised us up together” — aorist active indicative from the compound verb sunegeirw [sun = along with; e)geirw = to raise up]. The word has several connotations. It has to do with the fact that somehow we are identified with Jesus Christ in His resurrection. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, it regards this phase of current positional truth from the standpoint of its existing results. Christ died on the cross, He was buried and raised and then ascended into heaven. This is the culminative aorist which sees the results of the entire glorification of Jesus Christ. The active voice: God the Holy Spirit actually produces the action of raising us up together with Christ through the ministry of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit

1. It did not occur in the Old Testament or in any previous dispensation.

2. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is first mentioned as a prophecy from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ — John 14:20; Acts 1:5.

3. The mechanics of the baptism of the Spirit are also an explanation of it, or description — 1Corinthians 12:13. God the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the Church Age took those who were already saved in one locale only, Jerusalem, and entered them into union with Christ. Now, wherever we are in the Church Age, the moment a person believes he enters into union with Christ, he is identified with Him forever and it is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to enter him into union with Christ. Baptism means identification. All believers are entered into union with Christ and this is the basis of unity in the entire Church Age. This unity is expressed by a command to love the brethren, other member of the family of God, but the love which is used is a)gaph or a)gapaw and this means simply a relaxed mental attitude toward other members of the body of Christ.

4. The unification of believers is achieved by the baptism of the Spirit — Ephesians 4:5 which has nothing to do with water baptism.

5. The implications of the baptism of the Spirit provide equality not existent in physical birth. We are not born equal, the only equality we will ever know is when we are born again and that equality comes through the baptism of the Spirit — Galatians 3:26-28.

6. The basis for retroactive positional truth is the baptism of the Spirit — Romans 6:3,4; Colossians 2:12. We are not only identified with Christ but we are also identified with Him in His death, the principle being that Jesus Christ rejected human good when He was bearing our sins and therefore we are identified with Christ because that is our position. Our position in Christ is that of rejection of human good.

7. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is also the basis for current positional truth — Ephesians 1:3-6; Colossians 2:10.

8. The baptism of the Spirit begins the dispensation of the Church — Matthew 16:18; Acts 1:5. It was fulfilled in Acts 2:3, however there is no reference in Acts 2:3 to the baptism of the Spirit but Acts 11:15-17 explains the fact that Acts 1:5 was fulfilled in Acts 2:3.

9. The baptism of the Spirit is not an experience of any kind. It is not ecstatics, it is not speaking in tongues. The aorist tense of 1Corinthians 12:13 plus “we all” includes all believers and does not include experience.

10. The baptism of the Spirit occurs at the moment that we believe in Jesus Christ — Colossians 2:12.

“And has raised us up together” is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. The indicative mood of this verb is the reality of current positional truth identifying us with Christ seated at the right hand of the Father. The implications of this indicative mood are found in Hebrews 1:13,14.

“and has made us sit together” — the aorist active indicative of sunkaqizw [sun = along with; kaqizw = to sit]. This is also a culminative aorist, it regards this phrase of current positional truth from the standpoint of its existing results. The active voice: God the Holy Spirit produces the action on the baptising ministry. The indicative mood is the reality that God the Holy Spirit enters each one of us into union with Christ as at the point of salvation.

“in heavenly places” — the preposition e)n plus the locative plural of e)pouranioj, and it should be translated “in the heavenlies.” The prepositional phrase refers to the sphere of the believer’s position in Christ. The sphere is the place of victory in the angelic conflict and in effect it is our identification with the strategical victory of the cross. At the cross Christ bore our sins. Three days later He was resurrected. Then He ascended and was seated at the right hand of the Father and this is the strategical victory of the angelic conflict. The strategical victory has its continuation at the second advent. In the meantime during the Church Age we have tactical victories when a believer reaches super-grace. We have part in glorifying God in the Church Age in tactical victory. There can be no tactical victory without some strategical victory first. The strategic victory is the fact that God the Holy Spirit unites each one of us into union with Christ at the point of salvation. Strategic victory leads to tactical victory.

The doctrine of the heavenlies

1. The heavenlies is the sphere of divine blessing, including super-grace blessings, because it is the place of strategical victory in the angelic conflict. Christ seated at the right hand of the Father is the strategical victory — Ephesians 1:3.

2. The heavenlies is the sphere of Christ’s victory in the angelic conflict and therefore the key to the Church’s position — Ephesians 1:20.

3. “In the heavenlies” is the sphere of the believer’s current position in Christ, making it possible for super-grace blessing to be a part of the tactical victory in our lives — Ephesians 2:6.

4. “In the heavenlies” is also the sphere of angelic activity — Ephesians 3:10. This is why elect angels are rejoicing and are observing very closely our activities.

5. It is also the sphere of the angelic conflict in the Church Age — Ephesians 6:12.

“in Christ Jesus” — the prepositional phrase e)n plus the locative of Jesus Christ. The absence of the definite article in this phrase calls attention to the quality of the proper noun. Jesus Christ is unique, He is the only celebrity for the Church Age.

Translation: “And has both raised us up together, and has seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.”

Verse 7 — there is a reason for all of this. In verse 6 the implication is that positional truth is designed to make it possible for tactical victory. The Church Age is the time of tactical victories. The tactical victory is always the same, the believer GAPs it to super-grace. Under super-grace he has the cup in his soul and God pours. It is the pouring of God that is the tactical victory. God is glorified by giving the believer super-grace blessings. Notice: the strategical victory is positional truth; the tactical victory is the super-grace experience. One is related to the other.

“That” is the conjunction i(na plus the subjunctive and it introduces a purpose clause.

“in the ages to come” — the preposition e)n plus the locative of a)iwn plus the definite article should be translated “that in the approaching ages.” The approaching ages refer to phase three. The word “to come” is the locative plural present active participle of e)perxomai and should be translated here “approaching.” Here is a participle used as a noun.

“he might shew” — the aorist middle subjunctive of e)ndeiknumi which means to demonstrate. In the middle voice it means to manifest. Here we have the culminative aorist, which views everything from the standpoint of its results. God’s plan inevitably results in eternity. We have gone through a time when there have been tactical victories but there is coming a time when there is going to be strategic victory and it is called “surpassing grace.” The middle voice describes the subject as participating in the results of the action. We are going to have everything associated with happiness forever. This is also the indirect middle, which emphasises the agent producing the action, and the agent producing the action is God. This is sometimes known as the intensive middle. The subjunctive mood goes with the purpose clause. There is no question about what God is going to do, so the subjunctive is not potential here but a purpose clause.

“the exceeding riches of his grace” — the word “exceeding is a present active participle of u(perballw which means to throw beyond or throw over. It comes to mean surpassing; “riches” is ploutoj, which includes materialistic things, things that have always been associated with happiness; “of his grace” — the descriptive genitive and also the genitive of possession of xarij, and because it is in the genitive case it can be translated “grace riches.” The genitive of possession, indicates that he has all the wealth and whether we like it or not He is going to give it to us forever and ever and ever.

“in his kindness” — e)n plus xrhstothj should never be translated “kindness,” it means generosity.

“toward us” is literally, “upon us in Christ Jesus,” not “through Christ Jesus.”

Translation: “That in the approaching ages he might demonstrate his surpassing grace riches in generosity toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Summary

1. Note that verse 7 deals with phase three grace and that phase three grace is literally “surpassing grace.”

2. In phase two the believer has grace and super-grace.

3. In phase three the believer has surpassing grace.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #24

24 05/15/1973 Ephesians 2:8–10 Doctrines of eternal security, human good, divine good, walking

Verse 8 — “For” is the explanatory use of the conjunctive particle gar. This now gives us a concept of the strategical victory that we might have a better understanding of our relationship to our life on this earth. The strategic victory occurred at the cross, resurrection, ascension and session. And because Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father and we are entered into union with Christ we share in the strategic victory, and being sharers in the strategic victory the objective in phase two is to enter into the tactical victory of the super-grace life. This is only possible as we utilise the grace of God available to us. There are four different kinds of grace available. First of all, phase one grace which is the pattern for all grace, and at the same time it is related to volition. Positive volition to phase one grace enters the believer into the strategical victory of the angelic conflict. Then there is a phase two grace which has nothing to do with volition except that phase two grace is designed to keep us alive a certain amount of time in the devil’s world. But there is a super-grace in phase two which again is related to positive volition. The issue in phase one is Christ, the issue in phase two is doctrine, which results in tactical victory in the angelic conflict. Finally there is surpassing grace or phase three grace which is the inheritance and the portion of every believer forever and ever, and is not related to volition.

“by grace” — the instrumental singular of xarij plus the definite article should be translated “by the grace.” The grace refers to the plan of God as emanating from the character of God. The definite article denotes a previous reference to grace which was mentioned in verse 5. The definite article may be used to point out an object the identity of which is defined by some previous reference made to it in context. Grace is the operating principle of God’s plan; grace is the way in which God can provide all things for us which He designed to provide for us in eternity past without ever compromising His character and at the same time glorifying Himself. So grace is the only principle to the plan of God because grace means that God is responsible, God does the work, God does the providing. But to keep His plan perfect God must do all of the work and all of the thinking, and take all the credit. Therefore the exclusion of man’s works in the plan.

“are ye saved” — this is a perfect periphrastic and is erroneously translated. A periphrastic is always made up of a participle plus the indicative mood. In this case we have the present active indicative of the verb e)imi. Then with that is the perfect passive participle of swzw. The two of them together form a perfect periphrastic. The perfect tense is the intensive perfect which emphasises the results of a finished product. The passive voice: mankind is the beneficiary, mankind receives the action of the verb. The participle indicates the permanence of the periphrastic.

The first word, gar, should be translated not “for” but “now you see.” “Now you see by the grace you have been permanently saved.”

Next, the means of appropriation is emphasised as a non-meritorious function: “through faith” — dia plus the genitive singular of pistij. There is no definite article here. The absence of the definite article gives great emphasis to the noun “faith.” It emphasises the qualitative aspect of the noun rather than its identity. The quality of faith is non-meritorious and yet totally efficacious because of the object of faith. The definite article with the noun emphasises the identity but there is no definite article here so faith is then emphasised as a non-meritorious system of perception, a system whereby we can never receive any credit at any time.

“and that” is not correct. We have the ascensive use of kai, which should be translated “even.” Then we have the demonstrative pronoun, the nominative neuter of o(utoj. The neuter gender is the problem here because “faith” is in the masculine gender, and “grace.” But here we have a neuter gender and it should be translated “even this,” not “and that.” The demonstrative pronoun calls attention with special emphasis to the designated object, and the demonstrative pronoun is used for something relatively near in the context. But in this neuter gender this demonstrative pronoun excludes the possibility of anything in the context because they are feminine gender, not neuter. So here is a hanging demonstrative pronoun to indicate the entire plan of God. The demonstrative pronoun emphasises the importance of the planner rather than the mechanics of the plan. The mechanics of the plan are outlined but they are not nearly as important as the planner.

“not” — the negative particle o)uk. This word is spelled three different ways [o)uk, o)u, and o)ux]. Each spelling of this negative depends upon how it is used in the sentence. O)uk is used before words beginning with vowels. O)u is used before words beginning with consonants. Then the o)ux is used before words beginning with vowels which have a rough breathing. But it is always the same negative. So it is “ … even this definitely not.”

“of yourselves” — the preposition e)k plus the ablative plural of su. This means “not out from the source of you all.”

Then the true source is given: “it is the gift of God.” This is the ablative of source from qeoj which should be translated “from God,” plus the word for “gift” here which denotes a gift which could never be earned or deserved, dwron. In the Koine Greek when it is desired to apply the sense of an abstract noun in some special and distinct way it is again preceded by the definite article, as here. It is an abstract noun which has a distinct meaning — “the gift,” a gift that God can never retract.

Translation: “Now you see by the grace you have been permanently saved through faith; even this [salvation] not out from the source of you: the free gift is from the source of God.”

Verse 9 — “Not” is the negative o)uk again to deny the reality of an alleged statement; “of works” — e)k plus the ablative plural of e)rgon, and it means “not out from the source of works.”

That brings up the categories of works that are generally associated with salvation. First of all there are verbal works — things like coming forward and acknowledging Christ publicly, “repenting,” confessing, or begging God to save you, inviting Christ into your heart. These are verbal works. The second category would be ritual works, like circumcision or baptism. The third are psychological works, like raising the hand, walking the aisles, doing something to make an ass out of yourself. In other words, jumping through a psychological hoop. The fourth are corporate works, works related to the church — join the church, tithe, give money, work around the church for salvation. The fifth: religious works — keeping the law, doing penance, or “recognising the Lordship of Christ.” The sixth type is behaviour improvement works, changing of behaviour patterns from immoral to moral, or giving up something in the taboo class. Then, seventh, the emotional works such as ecstatics or the tongues crowd, or anything where you get the rosy glow simultaneously with some type of a confession of Christ. These are all the negative side and they are all included in this phrase, “not out from the source of works.”

“lest” is i(na mh which introduces a negative final clause. Mh is the subjective type negative, it is not quite as strong.

“any man” — the indefinite pronoun tij which represents a category of humanity that is those who seek to be saved by their own works with the result that they can boast. “Lest anyone” is a better translation.

“should boast” — aorist middle subjunctive of kauxaomai. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist in which the event is viewed from the standpoint of its entirety but emphasised from the viewpoint of its existing results. The result is that when everyone and anyone gets to heaven there will be no boasting. This is the whole concept of salvation as well as everything else thereafter. In the plan of God there is no place for human boasting. The middle voice: the subject acts with a view toward participating in the outcome. This is called a direct middle or a reflexive middle — not from the source of works that no one himself” really. The subjunctive mood is a potential subjunctive which is used to indicate a final clause in the Greek.

Translation: “Not from the source of works, that no one should boast.”

The doctrine of human good

1. Human good is dead to God’s plan, therefore it is called “dead works” in Hebrews 6:1.

2. Human good is not acceptable to God at any time — Isaiah 64:6.

3. Therefore human good has no place in the plan of God — 2Timothy 1:9.

4. However, a distinction should be made between human good and morality — Romans 13:4,5.

5. Human good will not save mankind — Titus 3:5.

6. The believer’s human good is revealed and destroyed at the judgment seat of Christ — 1Corinthians 3:11-16.

7. Human good is the basis for the unbeliever’s indictment at the last judgment — Revelation 20:12-15.

8. Human good has as its logical outlet boasting — Ephesians 2:9.

Verse 10 — “For” is again the explanatory use of gar, which means “for you see” or “now you see.”

“we are” — present active indicative of e)imi, “we keep on being.” This is linear aktionsart, also a dramatic present.

“his workmanship” — genitive masculine singular from the intensive pronoun a)utoj for “his.” It is used here as a possessive pronoun. The demonstrative force of the pronoun is intensified to emphasise the believer’s identity. The point of this intensive pronoun is to tell you that you have a very definite place in the plan of God. This is so strong in the Greek that it should be brought in first — “His, you see, we are his.” This is a proleptic use of the intensive pronoun. Then comes the word “workmanship,” the noun poihma, taken from poiew. Poihma is a perfect illustration of the suffixes of the noun in the Greek. It is taken from the verb poiew, which means to do. The noun is manufactured by dropping the suffix of the verb and adding a noun suffix. Ma is the passive suffix in the Greek, so poihma means what is made. Therefore handiwork, workmanship are good translations, as long as it is understood to mean what is manufactured. In other words, we are His product. We are something God makes. “For you see we are his production.” God does the producing and He does it by creating something that is brand new.

“created” — aorist passive participle of ktizw. Ktizw actually has three pertinent meanings. It means to create in the sense of reducing from a state of disorder, and this is pertinent. The disorder was stated in the first part of this chapter — grace found us spiritually dead and under the control of Satan. And the old sin nature. That is disorder. All we inherited from Adam causes us disorder, our unregenerate state is a state of chaos and we have gone from being a chaotic unregenerate to a production by God, regenerate. Ktizw also has a second meaning which is pertinent. It means to call into being. This definition emphasises the new birth aspect of salvation plus the potential of phase two. There is a being in this earth, in the devil’s world, which is a person who belongs to God, called into being as God’s citizenship rather than Satan’s. The third meaning of ktizw is to invest with a spiritual frame, and this emphasises positional truth, the same concept that we have in 2Corinthians 5:17. All of these meanings are pertinent. There is a principle that goes with this: God’s plan and God’s grace begins at the cross, and what God does for us at the cross is perfect. It does not reflect itself in our lives unless there is doctrine in the soul subsequently but what God does is perfect at salvation. We are new creatures at the moment of salvation because of what God does — positional truth. The objective of super-grace is to dramatise our position and to have a tactical victory from our strategic victory. God has placed us in this world under the principle of strategic victory, and when you exist under the principle of strategic victory it should follow that there is tactical victory. Strategic victory merely places you in the right position; tactical victory causes you to annihilate the enemy. That is the concept here, that God at the point of salvation placed us under the concept of strategic victory so that tactical victory can be ours, and that is why we are left alive. He keeps us alive to pour out super-grace blessings upon us as a part of the tactical victory of the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. Therefore in salvation we have to be His workmanship and only His workmanship. If we are our own workmanship to any degree then we are still under chaos. God can only build on His own foundation. Positional truth, therefore, wipes out every foundation and every achievement of human life in the devil’s world. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist which is employed to emphasise the results. The results toward which this passage is looking are super-grace. The passive voice: the believer receives the action of the verb at salvation. In other words, the fact that you’re saved is a guarantee that God has super-grace blessings for you. Whether you get them or not depends on your attitude toward doctrine, but they are available. The aorist participle: the action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, the main verb is “we are.”

“in Christ Jesus” emphasises positional truth. We were created in Christ Jesus and then became His production. Positional truth is the basis for our strategic victory being related to the tactical victory of super-grace blessing.

“unto good works” is not quite correct — the preposition e)pi plus the instrumental of a)gaqoj and e)rgon. This should be translated “for the purpose of good works,” e)pi plus the instrumental means purpose.

The doctrine of divine good

1. There are three sources of divine good: from the Holy Spirit, the filling of the Spirit; from the human spirit, doctrine applied to the right lobe; from the soul, the ECS resulting in super-grace.

2. Divine good resolves the angelic conflict, it is the tactical victory — Romans 12:21.

3. GAP is the means for the production of divine good in the grace perspective — Colossians 1:9,10; 2Timothy 2:21; 3:17; Titus 2:7.

4. The believer in phase two is the recipient of grace in time for the production of divine good as a manifestation of the tactical victory — 2Thessalonians 2:17.

5. The grace principle of divine good is found in 2Corinthians 9:8; 1Corinthians 15:10. Divine good is really a normal part of the function of the priesthood at the point of super-grace.

6. Divine good will be rewarded under 2Corinthians 5:10 as a part of the reward for super-grace — living super-grace and receiving the blessings of super-grace.

“which” — the relative pronoun o(j in the instrumental plural. The antecedent of this relative pronoun is “good works.”

“God” is literally “the God” — o( qeoj, referring to God the Father as the author of the plan.

“hath before ordained” — aorist active indicative of proetoimazw [pro = before; etoimazw = to make ready], which means that God has prefabricated every blessing that we will ever have, and a lot we may not reach because of failure to GAP. This means that God has pre-decreed or prefabricated. The aorist tense is a dramatic aorist, which states a present reality with the certitude of a past event. The active voice: God produces the action in eternity past when He prepared super-grace blessings and divine good production for you and for me. The indicative mood is the reality of the preparation of super-grace blessings in eternity past.

“that” introduces a purpose clause: i(na plus the subjunctive; “we should walk” is an aorist active subjunctive of peripatew which means here to have a pattern of life — “that we may pattern our life,” literally. This is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes the occurrence regardless of its extent or duration and gathers it into a single whole. This single whole is patterning our life in super-grace. The active voice: the believer orders his pattern of life in the sphere of super-grace. The subjunctive mood indicates the potentiality of super-grace and resultant production of divine good.

“in them” is e)n plus the locative and should be translated “in the sphere of them.”

Translation: “For you see we are his production, having been created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good production, which the God has prefabricated that in the sphere of them we may pattern our life.”

The doctrine of walking

1. The verb peripatew always describes pattern of life. It is used usually for modus vivendi and in Ephesians 2:10 it refers to the modus vivendi of the super-grace life.

2. This word is so used because the believer lives one day at a time just as walking involves putting one foot down at a time. The concept is related in Romans 14:5,6; Ephesians 5:16-18; James 4:13-15.

3. The second concept of walking involves recovery of balance. There is a moment in walking when we are off balance. The believer is off balance living in the devil’s world but is stabilised by the grace provision of God. Therefore walking is identified with grace orientation and grace provision.

4. Walking is used to depict the modus operandi of the reversionistic believer — Philippians 3:18.

5. Walking is also used to describe the function of the ECS of the believer — Philippians 3:7; Colossians 2:6.

6. There are three spheres of the believer’s walk; a) In the Holy Spirit — Galatians 5:16; b) In faith — 2Corinthians 5:7; c) In doctrine — 3 John 3.

7. Walking therefore depicts the Spirit-filled life in certain passages, such as Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:2-4; Ephesians 5:2,18.

8. Walking also describes the function of GAP to the point of super-grace — Ephesians 5:15.

9. Walking therefore results in the ECS and the super-grace life. The super-grace life is then described as “walking in the light” — 1John 1:7; “in newness of life” — Romans 6:4; “worthy of the vocation” — Ephesians 4:11; “worthy of the Lord” — Colossians 1:10; “honestly as in the day” — Romans 13:13; “in good works” — Colossians 1:10; Ephesians 2:10.

Summary translation of verses 8-10:

Verse 8 — “For you see by the grace you have been completely and permanently saved through faith; even this salvation not out from the source of you: the free gift is from the source of God:

Verse 9 — “Not from the source of works, that no one should boast.

Verse 10 — “Of him, for you see we are his production, having been created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good production, which the God has prefabricated that in the sphere of them we may pattern our life.”

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #25

25 05/28/1973 Ephesians 2:11 Doctrine of circumcision (Jewish culture)

Verse 11 — “Wherefore,” or “for this reason,” in view of the first ten verses. “Wherefore” is a compound inferential conjunction composed of the preposition dia plus the relative pronoun o( — dio. “For this reason,” that is because of the panorama of grace in the previous paragraph now comes the application. The application takes us back to a facet of salvation. In verses 11-17 we have the concept of grace and the barrier. Once you understand grace and the barrier there is no excuse for not making the application to every facet of your life on this earth. The real blackout with most people is the fact that they are not aware that God intends for you to be blessed to the ultimate in time, in the devil’s world, while the angelic conflict is going on. In eternity there will be no angelic conflict, neither will there be any sorrow, pain, tears, death, or anything that is uncomfortable or miserable or construed as adversity. This next paragraph orients us to what God intends without it being stated at this point. We are given here a grace basis for orientation. In verses 11 and 12 we have the true and the false barrier. In verse 11 is the false barrier, and “for this reason” it is time for us to apply grace.

“remember” — capacity for life is related to memory. We have the present active imperative of mnhmoneuw. What you have in your soul by way of memories can never be taken from you. The present tense of this verb is a tendencial present, it is used of an action which is purposed though has not actually taken place. It represents the idea of what is intended. Whatever you have in your right lobe becomes the basis for orienting to difficulties that are beyond your control or understanding. Whatever you have in your frame of reference memory centre picks that up and makes the application. If you are at the point of occupation with Christ, if Christ is the only celebrity in your life, the celebrityship of Jesus Christ will take up the slack for any adversity in life and any blessing. That is why Jesus said, “Keep on doing this in remembrance of me.” But the normal function of the communion table comes with super-grace. It is your memory centre that pulls out the things that are important to meet any given situation. It should be your objective if you are taking in doctrine to pull doctrine, or to pull pleasant experiences, to pull something wonderful out of your life to utilise. The tendencial present plus the imperative mood demands that we apply grace principles, that we apply occupation with Christ, that we apply category #1 love, that we apply wonderful things in our lives when the chips are down, when things are difficult. The active voice: this is a command to all believers. We are to recall what grace did, for example, to eliminate the true and false barriers for that is the recall in this passage.

Summary

1. “For this reason remember.” This command to remember the false and superficial distinctions on the wrong side of the barrier acts as a reminder to avoid making such distinctions of a superficial nature on the right side of the barrier.

2. Believers have a tendency to establish a false criterion for the evaluation of other believers.

3. This results in judging, maligning, gossiping and criticising other believers. This is false application.

4. The sins of the tongue in turn produce self-induced misery.

“that” — the conjunction o(ti is used after verbs of thinking or recalling for content. it is set up to who the content of what should be remembered; “ye” is a nominative plural pronoun, su, therefore it applies to each one of us.

“in time past” — this is not a preposition, it is an enclitic particle used for an adverb meaning “formerly.” It is an adverb of the past, pote — “at one time.” It means all of us before we were saved, all of us had a superficial system of evaluation of life and the people in it. This must be shed.

“Gentiles” — the nominative plural of e)qnoj plus the definite article — “the Gentiles.” This is addressed to former Gentiles.

Summary

1. “Gentiles” [e)qnoj] is not usually used as a term of reproach except by the Jews.

2. These former Gentiles were the objects of Jewish scorn and snobbishness. The Jews, because of their fantastic background from God in grace, regarded all heathen with some form of scorn.

3. Such a critical attitude either came from the religious and legalistic Jewish unbeliever or the reversionistic believers also. (Reversionism causes you to keep the same standards that you had on the wrong side of the barrier — Galatians 2:11)

4. Religious snobbery caused the legalistic Jew to hold dogmatically to the opinion that he was closer to God because of the ritual of circumcision.

5. In reality the ritual of circumcision did not more to save the Jew than lack of ritual did to condemn the Gentile — Romans 9:30-33.

6. Circumcision had become a status symbol, which gave the Jews a false confidence based on ritual.

7. Relativity on the wrong side of the barrier does not save, does not give anyone a relationship with God.

“the Gentiles in the flesh” — the preposition e)n plus the locative of sarc refers to the matter of physical birth.

“who are called” is a present passive participle of legw plus the definite article and should be translated “the ones being called.”

“Uncircumcision” — a)krobustia. And the Jews said it with their nose in the air. This is still the wrong side of the barrier. This was the name of derision for the Gentiles by which the Jews sought to establish their superiority in the field of religion and culture. The Jews had a snobbishness in this field.

“by that which is called” — the preposition u(po plus the ablative of a participle, the present passive participle of legw again. It should be translated “by the ones being designated.”

“Circumcision” — h( peritomh, “the circumcision.” The ablative case denotes separation. This is called the ablative of comparison which implies separation in a degree. The degree of separation is the difference between circumcision and uncircumcision. The absence of the definite article calls attention to the quality of the noun, rather than defining it. Therefore the circumcised Jews regarded themselves infinitely superior to the uncircumcised Gentile. This was their sign.

“in the flesh” — e)n plus the locative of sarc; “made by hands” is a compound adjective in the ablative singular — xeiropoihtoj.

Translation: “For this reason remember that at one time you all, the Gentiles in the flesh, the ones being called uncircumcision by the ones being designated circumcision in the flesh accomplished by human hands.”

Remember that circumcision is being distorted here. There is a true and real use of circumcision but this is the distortion here.

Summary

1. If man using his hands to perform the rite of circumcision can actually save another then salvation is by works.

2. However, man is incapable of saving man — Ephesians 2:9; Titus 3:5.

3. Man is imperfect. Man’s plan, man’s actions, man’s thoughts, man’s devices are imperfect.

4. But God is perfect; His plan is perfect. His plan includes salvation by grace. This is because God does all the planning, God does all the work, and God does all of the revealing. Therefore it is all grace.

5. However man by man’s efforts cannot save man. Man’s thoughts, man’s functions on the wrong side of the barrier cannot save him, they are on the wrong side of the barrier.

6. Now that these Gentiles are saved the purpose of this verse is to remind them of false barriers which existed when they were unbelievers. There were barriers between them and the Jews.

7. These false barriers on the wrong side of the barrier made Gentiles the victims of Jewish religiosity, Jewish snobbishness. Gentiles were subjected to name-calling devices based on false standards.

8. Circumcision and uncircumcision are superficial and outward distinctions which in no way reveal the inner soul relationship to God. Cf Isaiah 55:7-9; 1Samuel 16:6,7.

9. Therefore believers are warned not to bring into the Christian life the false and superficial standards of pre-salvation days. These false standards victimise other believers as well as being contrary to divine standards of evaluation. Bible doctrine brings us divine standards of evaluation.

The doctrine of circumcision

1. Circumcision was designed by God as the sign of the Abrahamic covenant — Genesis 17:10-14. It was both an operation and at the same time a ritual. The ritual emphasised both the principle of establishment in the law plus the spiritual value of doctrine — Romans 2:25. Abraham was circumcised long after his salvation and after he was given the covenant — Romans 4:11. Moses almost died the sin unto death because he had failed to circumcise his younger son — Exodus 4:24-26. No Jew could partake of the Passover without first being circumcised — Exodus 12:48. The Jews were placed under the 5th cycle of discipline for lack of circumcision of the soul to accompany this ritual — Jeremiah 6:10; 9:25,26.

2. Circumcision consists of the operation of cutting away the foreskin of the male phallus. The ritual indicated dedication of the male sexual organ to the right woman and no one else. It was definitely set up in contrast to the phallic cult of the Gentiles — Leviticus 12:2,3.

3. The ritual of circumcision has no significance in the Church. It only intrudes as a false standard on the wrong side of the barrier — 1Corinthians 7:18,19; Galatians 5:2,3; Ephesians 2:11.

4. Circumcision became a rallying point for legalism, therefore — Acts 15:1, 24; Galatians 6:12,13.

5. Circumcision was used to designate the Jews by race and by nation — Galatians 2:8; Colossians 4:11; Titus 1:10; Ephesians 2:11. The ritual portrayed the laws of divine establishment found in the Mosaic code.

6. The ritual of circumcision is used as an illustration of retroactive positional truth in Colossians 2:11.

7. Circumcision is also used to illustrate or portray scar tissue of the soul, emotional revolt, and other aspects of reversionism — Jeremiah 6:10; 9:25,26; Ezekiel 44:7; Acts 7:51.

8. Circumcision is used to portray the function of GAP — Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4.

9. Circumcision is used to portray the ECS — Romans 2:28,29; Philippians 3:3. This is a spiritual connotation.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #26

26 05/29/1973 Ephesians 2:11b–12 Superiority of the Jews; South vs. Federal Government

Verse 12 — “That” is the conjunction o(ti, used after thinking or remembering. It’s purpose is to show the content of memory. Again we have to use the word “remember,” mnhmneuw, present active imperative, with o(ti because o(ti is like a quotation mark. This is what we are to remember — what we were. Now we have what God has done for us.

“at that time,” before we accepted Christ, when we were on the wrong side of the barrier — to kariw e)keinw. We have the locative of kairoj, and kairoj refers to a period of time, the time before we were saved. Plus the locative of time from the demonstrative pronoun e)keinoj, used to refer back to the previously mentioned context. The believer previously being on the right side of the barrier had false standards. As unbelievers there are true standards as well. But Paul is saying once again that they were separated even from good standards.

“ye were” — we now have all the advantages that Israel had plus a lot more. This is the imperfect active subjunctive of e)imi, absolute status quo verb. The imperfect tense is a progressive imperfect, it denotes linear aktionsart in past time. This was what you always were and you never did improve until the day you accepted Christ as saviour and then grace provided things for you which you never had before. The active voice: the Ephesians believers formerly produced the action of the verb as unbelievers in the past. The subjunctive mood is called a deliberative subjunctive, it is used as a rhetorical device to which there is no answer. It is used here to say that this statement has no answer. There is no way a Gentile can contradict this principle. The Jews are a unique race, always have been.

Next follow five relatives on the wrong side of the barrier. These are true standards. The first standard has to do with salvation:

“without Christ” — xwrij Xristou. The adverb xwrij and Xristoj, the ablative for “Christ.” It should be translated “separated from Christ” in the sense of no relationship. Here is the first true standard and the most universal standard for all people on the wrong side of the barrier. All unbelievers are separated from Christ. Circumcision, therefore, is a false issue; Christ is the real issue.

“being alienated from the commonwealth of Israel” — here is the superiority of Israel historically. “Being alienated” is a perfect passive participle from a)pallotriow [a)po = ultimate source; allotriow = alienate] which means to be alienated from the ultimate source. It should be translated “having been alienated from.” This is the intensive perfect, something that has happened in the past and the results continue into the present time and onward. The passive voice means we receive this by being born Gentiles in the world. We also have here a circumstantial participle; “the commonwealth” is an old English word, the Greek is politeia. This is a word that was left over from the Attic Greek. It does not mean commonwealth, it means citizenship — “the citizenship of Israel.”

“Israel” — It does have a definite article and it is in the genitive case, the genitive of description. The word “Israel” is an indeclinable noun. This is actually, with the definite article, a reference to the previous dispensation of Israel in which the citizenship with Israel was based on regeneration rather than physical birth. The pattern for the citizenship with Israel is found in Romans 4:2-25; 9:6-8. Only born again Jews were the true citizens of Israel. So this phrase once again emphasises lack of regeneration on the wrong side of the barrier. This phrase emphasises the fact that no matter what we had formerly when we walked over the barrier it was gone. God has stripped us of these things, He has stripped us of every superficiality.

“and strangers” — this is an adjective, the nominative plural of cenoj which means a foreigner. It also means to be estranged, unacquainted with, not operating under. In other words, here again we are an alien in the sense of no citizenship. All of this means that we were foreigners to what grace is all about.

“from the covenants” — the ablative plural of source of diaqhkh and it refers to the unconditional covenants of Israel. We were foreigners, we were outside of them. The unconditional covenants all involve eternal life. So once again it is always the same thing: we didn’t have salvation so we didn’t have anything. Until we believe in Jesus Christ we are nothing. This is the Abrahamic, Palestinian, and Davidic covenants. They are unconditional covenants, they are grace covenants, they have grace provision, they all have eternal life provision, they are all for the Jews.

“of promise” — a descriptive genitive e)paggelia. It is used for the divine promises, for a gracious gift. It is used for unconditional promises of grace and blessing.

“having no hope” — present active participle of e)xw plus the subjective negative mh, plus the accusative singular e)lpij and it means expectation here.

“without God in the world” — the nominative plural of a)qeoj which means “Godless,” plus a prepositional phrase e)n plus the locative of kosmoj which is the devil’s system of controlling the world.

Translation: “At that period of time you were separated from Christ, having been alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and aliens from the covenants of the promise, not having future expectation, Godless in the cosmos.”

Beginning with verse 13 we have the means of reconciliation.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #27

27 06/11/1973 Ephesians 2:13 Doctrine of the blood

Verse 13 — “But” is the conjunctive particle de and it is used as an adversative particle, it sets up a contrast. The contrast is between the saved and unsaved state or the former state of those to whom this epistle is addressed. We have a contrast, then, between the wrong and the right side of the barrier.

This is followed by a temporal adverb, nun or nuni. The temporal adverb designates the immediate present as well as the extent of the immediate present. It is translated here “now,” and it can be also translated “at the present time.” This is now our status as believers.

“in Christ Jesus” — the preposition e)n plus the locative gives us positional truth and relates us to the strategic victory of the angelic conflict. We start at salvation with relationship to the strategic victory. This is “in Christ Jesus.”

“ye” is a nominative plural pronoun which refers to believers who were formerly Gentile unbelievers: “ye were” is a present active participle of e)imi plus the definite article. This is a customary present tense and indicates a continuous situation.

“were” — the enclitic particle pote is used for the past; “far off” — the adverb of the extent of space, “far away,” makran. This indicates that as an unbeliever on the wrong side of the barrier, no matter how you succeeded and no matter what you did, you were not brought any closer to God. So the adverb of the extent of time indicates no matter whom you are or what you are you can’t be saved by what you do. No matter what you achieve it is not good enough.

“are made” — aorist passive indicative of ginomai which means to become. The aorist tense is the culminative aorist in which the event is viewed in its entirety but regarded from the standpoint of its existing results. This is a verb of process, that is, the removal of the barrier and/or reconciliation, and it denotes the attainment of the process. The passive voice: the believer receives the action of the verb at the point that he believes in Jesus Christ. The indicative mood is the reality of reconciliation.

Then we have an adverb as the object of the state of being verb — e)gguj, “near.” This is an adverb of space, which goes with the accusative of the extent of space. “Near” actually refers to the commonwealth or the citizenship of Israel, which we have previously studied. Note that the Gentile believers are not in the commonwealth of Israel but are near it in the sense of being born again. They cannot be in it because this is the Church Age, not the dispensation of Israel. This emphasises the fact that pseudo standards on the wrong side of the barrier do not exist, nor is there any cognisance taken of them, in God’s plan.

“by the blood” — the preposition e)n plus the instrumental case of a(ima — “blood.” The blood relates back to the Old Testament to the sacrifices that were made to portray the Lord Jesus Christ.

The doctrine of the blood

1. Blood is the basis for animal life. Animals do not have souls. A human being is not dead until the soul leaves the body but an animal dies because his blood leaves his body. Leviticus 17:10-14 is about animals only. A human being’s life is in his soul. God selected animals to teach the Old Testament people about salvation. The cross had not occurred historically; the cross was going to occur historically, the cross was a part of the divine decrees. The cross is the key to the Father’s plan of grace and the cross is the mechanics of salvation. God selected these animals to portray the ministry of Christ in salvation, the work of Christ on the cross. This is how the altar came into being. It was a raised platform so that everyone could see. The meaning of a word in the Bible is determined by its first usage, and the meaning of the word “blood” is determined by Genesis 3:20,21 and Leviticus chapters 1-6.

2. Therefore animal blood was used in Old Testament sacrifices to represent the spiritual death of Christ in the cross. Leviticus chapters 1-3. Therefore the blood of the animal becomes a representative analogy. This is not a direct or true analogy. A direct or true analogy would mean that Christ had to bleed to death on the cross. But Christ didn’t bleed to death on the cross. A representative analogy takes something that happens literally to portray something that is spiritual. The something that is spiritual is the first of the two deaths of Christ on the cross.

When Christ died spiritually on the cross He did so in a way which is very clearly described in scripture. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. That means that all of the sins in the history of the human race were poured out upon Him. As our sins were poured out upon Christ God who had withheld judgment on these sins now judges them. This is what the animal was portraying on the altar. The animal died a physical death; the Lord Jesus died physically too, after salvation was finished. Tetelestai is the perfect tense of telew and it means it has already been finished in the past and the results go on forever. The animal blood was real and literal but it represents the spiritual death of Christ on the cross, which was real and literal. The term “blood of Christ” is talking about Christ being judged for our sins — Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 10:19; 13:20; 1Peter 1:2.

3. The doctrine of redemption was communicated to the Old Testament by means of animal sacrifices. Redemption is the classifying phrase for the blood of Christ, starting in Old Testament times — Hebrews 9:22.

4. Christ did not die on the cross by bleeding to death — John 19:30,33,34. The physical death of Christ on the cross occurred not by bleeding but by an act of His own volition: “Father, into thy hands I dismiss my spirit.” He dismissed His spirit and departed from this life as an act of His own volition. John 10:18 also indicates that He did not die by bleeding to death. Cf. Luke 23:46; Matthew 27:50. When Christ died physically His blood was still inside His body — John 19:34.

5. Therefore the blood of Christ is part of the representative analogy between the physical death of animals in the Old Testament and the spiritual death of Christ on the cross bearing our sins. 2Corinthians 5:21; 1Peter 2:24.

6. The blood of Christ depicts four doctrines of soteriology: expiation (the paying of the penalty) — Revelation 1:5; redemption — Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; 1Peter 1:18,19; justification — Romans 5:9; sanctification — Hebrews 13:12.

7. The blood of Christ is expiation is also the basis for the rebound technique — Leviticus 4 & 5; 1John 1:7 cf. 1John 1:9.

The judgment of Christ on the cross means reconciliation. His judgment is related to the Levitical sacrifices by the use of the word a(ima or “blood.”

This is the true condition of every unbeliever on the wrong side of the barrier and this removes all false standards set up by religion, legalism, and the reversionistic revolution.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #28

28 06/12/1973 Ephesians 2:14; Gal. 5:1 Freedom/soul in Christ. Wall of snobbery.

Verse 14 — the removal of the false standards of religion by reconciliation. Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship with God. Religion is man by man’s efforts seeking to gain the approbation of God. Remember that in the angelic conflict Satan has two great counterattacks going. One counterattack is against Bible doctrine; the other is against the laws of divine establishment. The counterattack against doctrine is religion, the counterattack against the laws of divine establishment is revolution, and these two are constantly in operation during the course of human history since the fall of man.

“For” is the inferential conjunction gar which draws the inevitable conclusion. There are two types of inferential particle. The first is gar, the other real inferential conjunction is o)un. O)un is an inference which always occurs somewhere in the sentence, usually in between clauses. Gar begins a sentence, but both of them demand a conclusion. The conclusion demanded by gar is a very strong or a primary conclusion whereas the conclusion demanded by o)un is always a secondary conclusion somewhere in the context. From time to time this becomes very important. When it says “for” we are to understand a major conclusion is on its way.

“he” — incorrectly translated. This looks as though we have a simple personal pronoun, but we do not. We have an intensive demonstrative pronoun a)utoj, and with gar demanding a primary conclusion it should be translated “For he himself and only he himself.” This immediately sets off the Lord Jesus Christ as being unique. It emphasises His celebrityship and it reminds us once again so that we never lose the perspective, the celebrityship of Christ is the first characteristic of entering into the super-grace life. There is nothing more important than reaching the super-grace life; it is place of the normal function of the priesthood. When a believer GAPs it all of the way to super-grace the first thing that characterises that condition is occupation with the person of Christ or maximum category # 1 love. The second characteristic has to do with super-grace capacity based on doctrine or the cup in the soul. The next factor is the fulfillment of Romans 8:28.

“is” — present active indicative of e)imi, absolute status quo. This is a customary progressive present, it continues — “keeps on being.” It is an absolute.

“our peace” — h) e)irhnh h(mwn. E)irhnh means harmony, welfare, tranquillity, unity, blessing. It can also mean peace. Here the noun denotes harmony and distinction between Jew and Gentile. The word h(mwn is a descriptive genitive, it is “our” harmony, our tranquillity, our peace. This means that Jesus Christ as the strategic victor plays a major role in our lives at the point of super-grace, and we know it.

“who hath made” — there is no relative pronoun, this is simply the aorist active participle of poiew plus the definite article. The definite article is in the singular — “the one having made.” The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, it takes an entirety and emphasises the results which have come from a consistent action within the entirety. This is the result of that so great salvation and the result of the strategic victory. The culminative aorist, then, takes note of the strategic victory of the Lord Jesus Christ when he broke the back of Satan on the cross, as per Colossians 2:14,15; Hebrews 2:14,15. The active voice: Christ produces the action of the verb through the function of reconciliation. The participle has antecedent action.

“both” — the accusative plural of a)mfoteroj. Both Jew and Gentile entering the body of Christ, crossing the barrier, as per John 10:16; “one” — the accusative from e(ij, the numeral. All distinctions are removed at the point of salvation.

“and hath broken down” — aorist active participle from luw which means to abolish, to annihilate, to destroy. This is a culminative aorist. The active voice: Christ did the work. Basically the word means to destroy.

“the middle wall of partition” — this is one of the best-attested records from the ancient world of class distinction, of racial distinction. It is actually a wall that the Jews built around the temple. Gentiles could be around the outer court but never past the middle wall. Why the middle wall? Because the temple had walls, an outer wall and then a wall in between called the middle wall because the middle wall was that through which the Jews could go but the Gentiles could not. The penalty for any Gentile going past the middle wall was death. But Jesus Christ broke it down. When you accept Christ as saviour and you are related by the baptism of the Spirit and are entered positionally into union with Christ, at that moment in principle the middle wall of partition is broken down. And if you do to the tactical victory you will literally be without a middle wall in your soul. So the strategic victory always comes before the tactical victory.

Translation: “For he himself being our harmony [blessing], the one having made both [Jew and Gentile] one, and having abolished the dividing wall of the barrier.”

Summary

1. The distinction between Jew and gentile emphasised by religious Jews and Judaisers is obliterated in the Church Age.

2. Circumcision has no spiritual advantage over uncircumcision.

3. Because of reconciliation and positional truth all pseudo standards are removed and replaced by position in Christ.

4. Both Jew and Gentile have the same position in Christ.

5. Jesus Christ makes two kinds of peace or harmony: a) Harmony that removes the wall between Jew and Gentile, harmony that destroys all of those distinctions of the soul that are false and based upon the prejudice and the pattern of life and thinking when we were on the wrong side of the barrier; b) The harmony or peace that joins Jew and Gentile to God, removing the enmity between God and the believer and establishing a relationship between the believer and the strategic victory of Jesus Christ.

6. Reconciliation removes bona fide barriers between God and man, as well as false barriers between man and man.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #29

29 06/13/1973 Ephesians 2:15 Doctrine of hypostatic union

Verse 15 — “Having abolished” is the aorist active participle of the compound verb katargew. The aorist tense here is a gnomic aorist which means an absolute. Whatever is stated by the participle is to be regarded as an absolute point of doctrine. The active voice: the Lord Jesus Christ produces the action. It is produced on the cross and produced under the category of the doctrine of reconciliation. The participle is one of those antecedent type actions. The action of the aorist participle ordinarily would precede the action of the main verb. In this case this is a matter almost of logic because they are coterminous and yet one must occur before the other logically. This should be translated “Having cancelled” or “Having wiped out.”

“in his flesh” — the Lord Jesus Christ provided for us the strategic victory of the angelic conflict by becoming a member of the human race. It became obvious at the time of creation that the human race was created and brought on to planet earth to resolve the angelic conflict. It also was obvious that the failure of the first Adam necessitated the second Adam coming into the world without a sin nature, without an act of personal sin, without the imputation of Adam’s sin, so that He might actually resolve the angelic conflict. Passages like Colossians 2:14 make it very clear that Satan’s back was broken at the cross. This is the strategic victory which is so important to us and to which we are related by positional truth. Every believer is in union with Christ as Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is the place of operation footstool. Retroactive and current positional truth put us in strategic victory.

We have the preposition e)n plus the locative of sarc. Sarc means old sin nature most of the time in scripture. Here it means the human body only. It can be used either way, depending upon the context. Here it refers to the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ hanging on the cross. The primary objective in the humanity of Christ is to win the strategic victory of the angelic conflict and to provide at the same time for us eternal salvation.

“the enmity” — the accusative singular of e)xqra which means total alienation, state of enmity. This state of enmity or alienation is the barrier between God and man. The barrier is made up of a) sin — “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” But that is only personal sin. By birth we are born with an old sin nature and with the imputation of Adam’s sin; b) The penalty of sin which is death — Romans 6:23; c) The problem of physical birth — physically alive and spiritually dead; d) The problem of relative righteousness, -R cannot have fellowship with +R; e) The problem of the character of God. His character is perfect and therefore there is no way He can have fellowship with us; f) All members of the human race have a position in Adam — “In Adam all die,” spiritual death. This is our e)xqra in the passage, it refers to the fat that there is a barrier between man and God, a barrier which man cannot move around or over, a barrier which is non-removable and therefore a barrier which God Himself must handle. In the handling of this barrier notice that Christ came in the flesh. “Having wiped out in his flesh the state of enmity [the barrier].”

The doctrine of the hypostatic union

1. By way of definition, in the person of Jesus Christ are two natures inseparably united, without mixture or loss of separate identity, without loss or transfer of properties or attributes, the union being personal and eternal.

2. The two natures involve the deity of Christ. He is coequal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, both of whom have identical characteristics. When the Bible says God is one it is always referring to essence. Jesus Christ is also different from the other members of the Trinity in that he is a man having a body, a soul, and a human spirit. So He has two natures, God and Man in one person forever. John 1:1-14; Romans 1:2-5; (Philippians 2:5-11; 1Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:14.

3. The incarnate person of Christ includes His deity. Jesus Christ is God, coequal and co-eternal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. His incarnation does not diminish His deity and therefore He is undiminished deity even though He is in hypostatic union. There is no change in the deity of Christ.

4. The incarnate person of Christ is true humanity. He is a bona fide member of the human race with a body, a soul, and a human spirit, minus the old sin nature. Because of the virgin birth Jesus Christ came into the world without a sin nature and without the imputation of Adam’s sin. He was without both of those and so He was born in the same status as Adam came into the world — without sin.

5. The two natures are united without transfer of attributes. The attributes adhere to their corresponding natures. That means that the divine attributes are always the divine attributes and the human attributes are always the human attributes and there is no “leak” back and forth. The essence of deity cannot be changed — doctrine of immutability; the infinite cannot be transferred to the finite. If you rob God of one attribute of His essence then you destroy His deity. To rob Jesus Christ of His humanity or one single attribute of His humanity would destroy humanity. But it must be remembered that from the virgin birth Jesus Christ has been and always will be truly God and truly man in one person forever.

6. No attribute of essence or deity was changed by the incarnation. In fulfilling the purpose of the first advent certain attributes of deity were not used. But this does not imply that they were either surrendered or destroyed. They were merely held in check in keeping with the plan of the Father for the first advent. The plan of the Father for the first advent was to provide a strategic victory, which would once and for all break the back of Satan. This strategic victory calls for the humiliation of Christ, bearing our sins on the cross. The problem of the old sin nature has to be solved in the cosmos. All of the sins of the old sin nature are poured out and judged and all human good is rejected at the cross. Then, because Jesus Christ is a priest and because the offering of Himself was only the first function of His priesthood He must remain alive. In death He is eliminated as a priest, but three days later His resurrection, ascension and session puts Him in the driver’s seat to make intercession for us, as per Hebrews 7:25. Therefore the priesthood of Christ is perpetuated by resurrection; therefore He had to be resurrected. Then, furthermore, the priesthood of Christ was perpetuated by His ascension. Whereas the high priest in Israel could only enter the holy of holies once a year our high priest has entered the reality. The holy of holies is merely a type of heaven. Our high priest has actually entered heaven and now represents us at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us.

The true doctrine of Kenosis: Jesus Christ, during His time on this earth, voluntarily restricted the independent use of certain divine attributes in keeping with the plan of the Father during the first advent. This did not in any way eliminate them from His essence.

7. Therefore the union of divine essence and human nature in the incarnation of Christ is hypostatic and personal. “Hypostatic” refers to the whole person of Christ as distinguished from His two natures, divine and human. “Personal” refers to the emergence of a unique person. The hypostatic union is personal in the sense that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man, of course superior to all mankind.

8. There is a false interpretation, which occasionally breaks out during the course of church history. Many of the great controversies in church history have occurred over this very fact. The false interpretation is that deity possessed humanity, or that the deity of Christ indwelt His humanity, or that the union was simply harmony or sympathy. These are the major heresies in the field. But, once again, the hypostatic union is personal, the divine and human natures have been combined into one person, once essence, forever.

9. Therefore Jesus Christ, the God-Man has one hypostasis or one essence forever. The attributes of the divine and human nature belong to the person of Christ. The characteristics of one nature are never attributed to the other and this means that during the first advent Jesus Christ would be simultaneously omnipotent and weak, omniscient and ignorant. However, the ignorance of His humanity was quickly overcome by the daily function of GAP — Luke 2:40,52; John 1:14.

10. The necessity for the humanity of Christ. There are four reasons why Christ had to become a member of the human race.

a) The first reason is because as God he can’t save us. Deity can plan it but deity can’t execute the plan. It takes humanity to execute the plan. Every characteristic of deity is immutable and unchangeable. What happened to the deity of Christ on the cross? It remained in the hypostasis but it remained without change. Philippians 2:7,8; Hebrews 2:14,15.

b) To be a mediator. A mediator must be equal with both parties in the mediation. A mediator is defined for us in Job. He pulls two parties together by being equal with both parties — Job 9:2, 32-33; 1Timothy 2:5,6.

c) Priesthood — emphasises in Hebrews 7:4,5,14,28; 10:5,10-14. A priest is a man; he must be a member of the human race.

d) God cannot lie. Veracity is one of the characteristics of His essence. When God makes a promise He must keep the promise. In this case God promised David that no matter whether he failed or succeeded he would have a son in his line who would rule forever, and that David’s dynasty would be the one dynasty in all of history that would be perpetuated into eternity. 2Samuel 7:8-16; Psalm 89:20-37. There is no way that this could be fulfilled except one, and that is for Jesus Christ to come in the line of David.

11. Everything verbally communicated by Christ during the incarnation came from one of three sources: His deity — John 8:58; His humanity — John 19:28; His hypostatic union — His calls for salvation, like Matthew 11:28.

12. Categories of attributes as related to the person of Jesus Christ.

a) Attributes true of His whole person, the God-Man, include redeemer or saviour. Both divine and human natures are essential to the function of Christ as saviour.

b) Attributes true only of His deity but the whole person [God-Man] is the subject. John 8:58.

c) Attributes true only of His humanity but the whole person is the subject — John 19:28.

d) The person of Christ is described according to the divine nature but predicate of the human nature — Revelation 1:12-18. In other words, Christ is described as the one who was dead but now is alive. The deity of Christ is in evidence but death is only possible to the humanity of Christ.

e) The person is described according to the human nature but the predicate of the divine nature — John 6:62. The Son of man belongs to the human nature. The Son of man ascending up where He was before applies only to the divine nature.

f) The person of Christ described according to His divine nature but predicate of both natures — John 5:25-27. Here we have Christ as the Son of God who spoke to those who were spiritually dead and those who heard, having positive volition, lived. But in the future Christ will execute judgment as the Son of man — His human nature. So the person of Christ is described according to His divine nature but the predicate of both natures.

g) The person of Christ is described according to His human nature but the predicate of both natures — Matthew 27:46. Here Christ was speaking from the viewpoint of His human nature but the pronoun “me” has reference to both natures.

The state of enmity is now described in two phrases, which gives us an outline for reconciliation.

“the law of commandments” — ton nomon twn e)ntolwn, all in the accusative. Ton nomon refers to the Mosaic Law, but only one part of it. The law refers to the whole law, Codex #1, #2, and #3. But here we have a qualifying phrase in the genitive, “of the commandments.” The commandments is an Old Testament technical term for Codex #1 only. It refers to what is sometimes called the decalogue but includes a great deal more, the moral commandments. The decalogue really is the basis for human freedom and every prohibition in the ten commandments is directly related to some phase of human freedom, as divine institution #1 and as the springboard for the laws of divine establishment. However, there is another purpose in the many, many commandments in addition to the decalogue that are found. All of these commandments under Codex #1 actually prove that man is a sinner and needs a saviour — 1Timothy 1:9,10; Galatians 3:15-29; Romans 3:20 or establishing the fact that the status of man is hopeless and he needs to go outside of himself for eternal salvation.

“in ordinances” — e)n plus the instrumental of dogma which means decrees or ordinances. Technically here it refers to ordinances and it refers to Codex #2 of the Mosaic Law, which is a complete Christology and soteriology. It includes everything from the Levitical offerings, the holy days, the tabernacle, the modus operandi of the priesthood, and it all adds up to the ministry of Jesus Christ dying for our sins. So Codex #2 in the Mosaic Law was a complete Christology by which any person who heard it read, even once, or saw it in operation under the Levitical priesthood could understand salvation, understand the gospel, and respond by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“for to make” — “For” is a conjunction i(na and should be translated “that,” plus the aorist active subjunctive of ktizw and it means to create. It should be translated, “that he might create.” The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist, an absolute. It is an absolute fact that as of the moment of salvation one of the 36 things the believers receives is being made a new creature by being entered into the strategic victory in Christ.

“in himself” — e)n plus the locative of the intensive pronoun a)utoj. This refers to positional truth by which every believer is made a new creature at the moment of salvation.

“of twain” — the accusative definite article plus the indeclinable numeral duo. This all should be translated “that in himself he might create the two.”

“one” — the preposition e)ij plus numeral in the accusative singular for e(ij which is into one or resulting in one.

“new” is the accusative singular of kainoj which means new in species; “man” — a)nqrwpoj, the generic term for the category of mankind. It is a brand new category once you accept Christ as saviour.

“making” — present active participle of poiew. This is in the static present which represents a condition perpetually existing. This means eternal security, blessing by getting into doctrine. The active voice: Christ produces the action on the cross through the doctrine of reconciliation. The participle is a causal participle, He causes this.

“peace” — e)irhnh which means harmony, blessing. It causes harmony and the removal of the barrier between the Jew and the Gentile, which occurs when Jew and Gentile accept Christ, now they are both the same.

Translation: “Having wiped out in his flesh the state of enmity, the law of the commandments by means of the ordinances; that he might create in himself the two resulting in one [Jew and Gentile] new species man, causing peace.”

Reconciliation removes all false standards and pseudo barriers between the members of the human race and all believers are new creatures in Christ.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #30

30 06/14/1973 Ephesians 2:16 Doctrine of reconciliation (amplified, revised)

Verse 16 — reconciliation removes all false standards and pseudo barriers between the members of the human race. All believers are a brand new species on this earth. As a brand new species you are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. That means you are related to the strategic victory.

“And that” — the continuative use of the conjunction kai. Like most conjunctions it unites clauses; “that” is inserted by the translator for the word does not occur at the beginning of the verse. It does occur in the middle. The word is i(na and when it occurs it will be related to a purpose concept.

“he might reconcile” — aorist active subjunctive of the compound verb a)pokatallassw [a)po = preposition of ultimate source, always used with the ablative; kata = norm or standard; allassw = to change or to alter something] which means to transform someone or something according to a norm or a standard from the ultimate source of someone else. To put all of this together in one English word is difficult. However, it might be translated “to restore to favour.” The aorist tense is a constative aorist; it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes an occurrence, like reconciliation, and regardless of its extent or duration gathers it into a single whole. The active voice: Christ does the work of reconciliation on the cross. The subjunctive mood is used to indicate a continuation of the purpose clause from the middle of the previous verse. If we are a new species at the point of regeneration God had to do something to make it possible. God had to wipe out all of the contamination from the fall of Adam and being of the old species of a)nqrwpoj. Reconciliation is also potential, according to this subjunctive, depending upon whether the individual believes in the Lord Jesus Christ or not.

“both” is the accusative plural from a)mfoteroj plus the definite article and should be translated “the both.” The definite article refers to the Jew and the Gentile on the wrong side of the barrier and it is used to show that the nouns have been previously defined. Therefore the qualitative aspect is not the issue, merely definition.

A)pokatallassw means in this context to transfer from a certain state [a bad one] to another state which is not only quite different but beneficial. Both Jew and Gentile are transferred from total condemnation to the grace plan of God.

“unto God” — dative of possession of qeoj plus the definite article indicates that anyone who crosses the line at the point of salvation he does possess God. He is in union with God the Son; he is related to the strategic victory of the angelic conflict.

“in one body” — the preposition e)n plus the locative of sarc which is “in one flesh.” This emphasises the principle of no old species but a new one, which has meaning and purpose. Even though you look the same you are not the same because of the new spiritual definition in your life beginning at the point of salvation with the 36 things that you receive.

“by the cross” — dia plus the genitive of stauroj means “through the cross.” The cross is the means of reconciliation, on the cross the barrier was removed between man and God; and by the work of Christ on the cross man is reconciled, God is propitiated, and there is no barrier. It was all accomplished through grace; it was planned in eternity past and executed in time.

“having slain” — the aorist active participle of a)pokteinw. It means having put to death. This is an antecedent aorist participle. That means that the action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, and first of all “he put to death’ — He destroyed the barrier, tore down the middle wall of partition — that he might reconcile. God tore down the wall between Himself and us, therefore God is the reconciler but we are reconciled. “Man is reconciled” is the correct statement of the doctrine. God is not reconciled to man; God is propitiated.

“the enmity” — the accusative singular of e)xqra which refers to the barrier between man and God, a barrier man cannot remove or get around in any possible way. “thereby” is a prepositional phrase, e)n plus the instrumental of the intensive demonstrative pronoun a)utoj. It should be translated “by it.”

Translation: “And that he might reconcile the both to the God in one body through the cross, by it [the cross] having put to death the enmity.”

Principle of grace

1. God the Father planned the removal of the barrier — doctrine of divine decrees.

2. God the Son executed the removal of the barrier; He tore down the wall.

3. God the Holy Spirit reveals to the human race to step over the line.

So everything in reconciliation is accomplished by God and man is the beneficiary — “man is reconciled.”

The doctrine of reconciliation

1. Reconciliation is the first work of God from which man benefits eternally.

2. The removal of this barrier between man and God is called reconciliation in Ephesians 2:16; Colossians 1:20,21; 2Corinthians 5:18.

3. The cross is the basis for such reconciliation — Colossians 1:20; Ephesians 2:16.

4. In reconciliation the unbeliever is regarded as the enemy of God, the barrier is called “enmity” — Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21.

5. Believers of the Church Age, therefore, have a ministry of reconciliation — 2Corinthians 5:18-20.

6. Reconciliation connotes peace between man and God — Ephesians 2:14 cf. 2:16; Colossians 1:20.

7. The peace offering of the Levitical sacrifices portrays reconciliation — Leviticus chapters 3, 6:37,38; 8:15.

8. The mechanics of reconciliation.

a) Sin is removed from the barrier [unlimited atonement — 2Corinthians 5:14,15,19; 1Timothy 2:6; 4:10; Titus 2:11; Hebrews 2:9; 2Peter 2:1; 1John 2:2; redemption — John 8:31,36; Galatians 3:13; 1Peter 1:18,19; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14.

b) The penalty of sin is removed by expiation — Colossians 2:14. Expiation is Christ paying the penalty of sin — Psalm 22:1-6 where Christ is the worm being crushed on our behalf.

c) The problem of physical birth is removed from the barrier by the doctrine of regeneration — John 3:1-18; 1Peter 1:23; Titus 3:5. When anyone believes in Christ because of the work of the cross he is said to be born again.

d) Human good or relative righteousness is removed from the barrier by two doctrines: the doctrine of imputation and the doctrine of justification. They are entirely different doctrines though closely related because one depends upon the other. At the point of salvation, because of propitiation and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, God imputes to each person who believes His own righteousness [+R]. Once we have +R God then looks at us and says, “Vindicated” or “Justified.” So the possession of +R means vindication at the point of salvation. Imputation — Romans 3:22; 9:30-10:10; Philippians 3:9; 2Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 10:14. Justification — Romans 4:1-5, 25; 5:1; 8:29,30; Titus 3:7; Galatians 2:16.

e) The problem of God’s perfect character. This is removed from the barrier through propitiation — Romans 3:22-26; 1John 2:1,2.

f) Instead of position in Adam God the Holy Spirit through the baptism of the Spirit takes us at the moment of salvation and enters us into union with Christ so that this item of the barrier is removed. The problem s position in Adam is removed by positional sanctification — 1Corinthians 15:22; 2Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:3-6.

9. Reconciliation at the cross was prophesied in Isaiah 57:19.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #31

31 07/17/1973 Ephesians 2:17–22 Doctrines of intensification of the angelic conflict, reconciliation, baptism of the Holy Spirit

Verse 17 — the paraphrasing of Isaiah 57:19 which is Old Testament documentation to reconciliation. “And” is the adjunctive use of kai which introduces the paraphrase. The adjunctive use of kai is always translated “also.” It is translated this way in order to indicate documentation.

“came” — (He came) This is the aorist active participle of e)rxomai used here for the coming of Christ at the first advent: His arrival at the cross and His fulfillment of reconciliation by the removal of the barrier between man and God. The aorist participle is not a part of the paraphrase; it introduces the subject of the paraphrase. The fulfillment of this participle comes in Isaiah 57:19 which refers to the first advent and the cross. The action of this aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, which is coming up — “preached.” The aorist tense itself is a dramatic aorist; it states a present reality with the certitude of a past event. This Greek idiom is used for a situation which has already been realised, already been fulfilled. At the time that it was written it was a prophecy; now it has been fulfilled. This is true of many of the Old Testament prophecies; they were fulfilled by the first advent of Christ. Therefore the dramatic aorist is used to indicate that principle. The active voice indicates the one who has come, the Lord Jesus Christ. It should be translated “also having come.” After this comes the paraphrase (put in a colon).

“and” is not found here; “he preached” — aorist middle indicative from e)uaggelizw which means to communicate information of good news or to communicate vitally important information. In this case what is communicated in the doctrine of reconciliation or the removal of the barrier between God and man by the work of Christ on the cross. The aorist tense of the verb is a culminative aorist. The communicating of the good news is the result of Christ coming into the world. The middle voice is an indirect middle emphasising the agent producing the action who is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. The indicative mood is declarative, it indicates that we have an absolute assertion, total and complete reality. This is a picture of communication of reconciliation on the fulfillment side as stated in Isaiah 57:19.

“peace” is the good news that He preached — the absence of the definite article with the accusative of e)irhnh. This is peace between God and man, a peace which describes reconciliation in this passage.

“to you which were afar off” — “to you” is a dative plural from the personal pronoun su; “which were” is not found in the original; we have simply an adverb, makran, in the dative plural plus the dative plural definite article. Adverbs do not take cases but there is one with this one to show advantage to the Gentiles. The far away ones have the advantage of being reconciled. The definite article in the plural with the adverb indicates it is to their advantage to have Christ come into the world and go to the cross.

“to them” — dative plural of advantage plus the definite article; “that were near” — this time the adverb is e)gguj and refers to the Jews.

Translation: “Also [Jesus] having come, he announced the good news [fulfillment of Isaiah 57:19] which is reconciliation to you [Gentiles], the far off ones, and reconciliation to you [the Jews] who were near.”

Summary

1. The documentation of reconciliation is taken from the paraphrase of Isaiah 57:19.

2. When Jesus came to the earth in the incarnation He communicated the good news of reconciliation to both Jews and Gentiles, just as Isaiah 57:19 prophesied He would.

3. Therefore in the next and final section of this chapter, verses 18-22, Paul picks up the thread now of Ephesians 1:22,23 where the Church, the body of Christ, was last mentioned.

Verses 18-22, the principle of grace and the Church.

Verse 18 — the baptism of the Holy Spirit. “For” is a causal conjunction, o(ti, and it means “Because.” It connects this with the previous paragraph — Because of reconciliation.

“through him” — the preposition dia plus the genitive of the intensive pronoun a)utoj.

“we both” — the nominative plural adjective a)mfoteroj, used for both Jew and Gentile; plus the definite article. It should be translated “we the both,” referring to Jew and Gentile in this dispensation. The royal priesthood is recruited from both Jews and Gentiles, and always has been. Melchizedek was a Gentile: Jesus Christ was a Jew. This is the dispensation in which both Jew and Gentile become one in Christ and become members of that same royal priesthood.

“have” — present active indicative of e)xw. The present tense is a static present; it represents a condition as perpetually existing. The active voice: the believer, Jew or Gentile, produces the action of the verb as of the moment of salvation. The indicative mood is the reality of access or entry as of the moment of salvation.

“access” — the accusative singular from the noun prosagwgh. It means access or entry, it means admission into the presence of, entrance or freedom to enter, the ability to enter, the right to enter. The Greek word was used originally for obtaining an interview with a king or entering into the presence of a king to serve him. This is emphasised here. Our access is based upon our union with Christ; it therefore gives us the right to enter into His presence because we are under His priesthood.

“one Spirit” — e)n plus the instrumental of e)ij plus the instrumental of pneuma, referring to God the Holy Spirit, and it should be translated “by means of one Spirit.” This refers to the baptism of the Spirit by which we are entered into the presence of the Father.

“unto the Father” — proj plus the accusative of pathr, and it means “face to face with the Father.”

Translation: “Because through him [Jesus Christ] we the both [Jew and Gentile] keep having access by means of one Spirit face to face with the Father.”

The doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit

1. The baptism of the Holy Spirit did not occur in Old Testament times or in any previous dispensation. It is peculiar to one dispensation only, the Church Age, the age in which we live. It qualifies each one of us as royal priests. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is that salvation ministry of the Spirit whereby he enters every believer into union with Jesus Christ our high priest and therefore appoints each one of us a royal priest forever.

2. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was prophesied by the Lord Jesus Christ while He was on earth. It was a part of teaching the whole principle of reconciliation. Reconciliation and the baptism of the Spirit occur simultaneously. John 14:20; Acts 1:5. It was essential the Lord the Lord Jesus Christ ascend and be seated at the right hand of the Father. That is analogous to the high priest entering the holy of holies. The holy of holies represents heaven. Jesus Christ enters into heaven as the royal high priest and our personal representative. We, in turn, represent Him as a kingdom of priests on this earth.

3. The mechanics of the baptism of the Spirit are described in 1Corinthians 12:13. God the Holy Spirit enters each one of us into union with Christ.

4. In this way at the point of salvation and totally apart from any experience God the Holy Spirit brings perfect unity to the body of Christ. Regardless of its experiential status there is perfect unity kin the body of Christ for all believers are entered into union with Christ. Ephesians 4:5.

5. The implications of the baptism of the Spirit provide equality nonexistent in physical birth — Galatians 3:26-28.

6. The basis for retroactive positional truth is the baptism of the Spirit since we are not only entered into union with Christ at the right hand of the Father but we are also identified with Him in His death, as per Romans 6:3,4; Colossians 2:12.

7. It is also the basis for current positional truth — Ephesians 1:3-6; Colossians 2:10. In current positional truth we share everything that Christ has.

8. The baptism of the Holy Spirit begins the dispensation of the Church — Matthew 16:18; Acts 1:5, plus Acts 2:3 which doesn’t mention the baptism of the Spirit, but it explains that what happened there is the baptism of the Spirit by the explanation in Acts 11:15-17.

9. The baptism of the Spirit is not an experience of any kind; it is something that happens to every believer at the point of salvation.

10. The baptism of the Spirit occurs at the moment that we believe in Jesus Christ —Colossians 1:12.

Verse 19 — an application to former Gentiles. “Now” is an inferential illative particle a)ra which means “consequently.”

“Therefore” is another inferential particle, o)un, which denotes that which is introduced as an inference from something else — from the baptism of the Spirit. Translation: “Consequently therefore [as a result of the baptism of the Spirit].”

“Ye are” — present active indicative of e)imi. This is a static present, an absolute thing that will always be true.

“No more” — a negative compound adverb, o)uketi, which means “no longer.” It is a reference to Gentiles who in the previous dispensation of Israel were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel.

“Strangers” — the predicate nominative plural of cenoj, mean, “aliens.”

“And foreigners” — paroikoj, meaning those who live beside us but were not of us.

“But” — the adversative conjunction a)lla sets up a contrast between the saved and the unsaved Gentiles of the Church Age.

“Fellow citizens” — predicate nominative plural sumpolithj; “with the saints” — the genitive plural of description from a(gioj which is “of the saints.” This is also a genitive of possession to indicate that all believers, Jew or Gentile, at the point of salvation actually possess sainthood.

“And of the household of God” — the word “household” here simply means a dispensation, administration, brought about by God; and we have the ablative of source, He is the source of that dispensation — members of the family of God or an administration from the source of God. The household is often used for a dispensation. It is used to designate the dispensation of the Church in Hebrews 3:6; 1Peter 2:5.

Translation: “Consequently therefore you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the family of God [or, members of the dispensation from God].”

Verse 20 — “And are built” — there is no word “and.” We have the aorist passive participle of e)poikodomew, which means to build upon. — “Having been built.” This is a culminative aorist. The Church is still being built by the baptism of the Spirit. The passive voice: the believer receives the action of the verb at salvation. Again we have antecedent action to the main verb, the main verb is “you have become and keep on being fellow citizens.”

“Upon the foundation of the apostles” — this is the historical foundation of the Church. E)pi plus the locative of qemelioj which means “upon the foundation.” It refers to the local church in contrast to the entire body of Christ. The historical foundation was the local church and its leadership of the apostolic age.

“Apostles and prophets” are descriptive genitives and they apply to the leadership that existed before the canon. There are neither prophets nor apostles today because the canon is closed. The real foundation is given next for the universal church in contrast to the local church…

“Jesus Christ himself” … this is another genitive absolute. When a noun and a participle in the genitive case are not grammatically connected with the rest of the sentence they are called a genitive absolute, and “Jesus Christ himself” is put in the genitive absolute to show the uniqueness of what we now have and what we are a part of.

“Being” is the present active participle [e)imi] in the genitive case and it completes the absolute and indicates the uniqueness of what we have.

“The chief corner stone” is one word in the Greek, a) krogwniaioj. It means the corner foundation stone. The concept is found in many scriptures — Matthew 21:42; Psalm 118:22; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1Peter 2:5-7; Isaiah 28:16. The corner foundation stone is the stone by which the architect fixes the standard for the bearing of the walls. This is the way he trues everything. This stones actually forms the corner or the angle of the wall and that is the concept here. Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone. One wall is Israel and the other wall is the Church. Israel trues up on Jesus Christ and the Church trues up on Jesus Christ. This stone is often laid by a formal inauguration after the erection of a building and becomes the stone on which the information and dedication, name of the building, and other such information is found.

Translation: “Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself the corner foundation stone.”

In this passage the corner foundation stone is the stone, which is built into the corner of the foundation of the building and actually trues up the wall. The two walls are the Jewish Age and the Church Age. Today Jew and Gentile are united by the baptism of the Spirit.

Verse 21 — the construction of the Church. “In whom” is e)n plus the locative of the relative pronoun o(j, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ — “In the sphere of whom.”

“All the building” — refers to the Church; “fitly framed together” — present passive participle sunarmologew which means to be in the process of being framed together in a perfectly compact manner. The Lord doesn’t build anything in a sloppy manner; this is no hit-or-miss operation. The present tense is a pictorial present; it depicts an event in the process of occurrence. The building isn’t finished yet. One of the words in this participle is a)rmoj which means a joint; sun means all together; logew means it has been thought out perfectly and it has been put together perfectly. The passive voice indicates that the building of the Church is in the process of being constructed by the baptism of the Spirit. When it is finished the Rapture of the Church will occur. The participle is circumstantial.

“groweth” — present active indicative of a)ucanw, a retroactive progressive present denoting what has begun in the past and continues into the present time, and hasn’t stopped yet. The active voice: the Church or the body of Christ continues to grow during the course of this dispensation. The indicative mood is the reality of continual growth of the body of Christ during this age in spite of everything; “resulting in a holy temple in the Lord.”

Translation: “In whom an entire building in the process of being perfectly constructed continues to grow, resulting in a holy temple is the Lord.”

Summary

1. The Church continues to grow during the present dispensation in spire of all Satanic efforts to hinder it. Satan has never been able to stunt the growth of the Church.

2. On earth the Church is called the body of Christ in anticipation of phase three. When the body is completed the holy temple will be called the bride of Christ — phase three.

3. The building of the temple is also used as an analogy in this paragraph. Each person saved during the Church Age is one more brick, one more board in the building, and each brick or board is perfect in itself because it is said to be holy. Our holiness is based upon not only the baptism of the Spirit but the fact that the Holy Spirit enters us into union with Christ and He stays.

4. When the number of believers in the body of Christ is equal to the number of fallen angels or demons operating under Satan the last board will be in.

5. This is the completion of the building and/or the removal of the Church in preparation for operation footstool: the fact that we will be a part of operation footstool, the second strategic phase and the second strategic victory of Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:15; Revelation 19:6,8; Zechariah 13:2; 1Thessalonians 3:13

6. A new concept emerges. In the Old Testament Christ was the target of Satan, but with the glorification of Christ and the change of dispensation the Church is the target of Satan.

7. This leads to the intensification of the angelic conflict in the Church Age.

Verse 22 — the positional sanctification of the Church.

“In whom” — e)n plus the locative of the relative pronoun o(j, again referring to Jesus Christ: “In the sphere of whom.”

“ye also” — all believers’ “are builded together” — present passive indicative of sunoikodomew — “In whom you are being constructed together.” The construction of the Church goes on. The present tense is the retroactive progressive present, it indicates that which was begun in the past and continues right up to the present time, and will continue until the Rapture of the Church. The passive voice: the Church is in the process of being constructed. The indicative mood is declarative which says in effect that this is an absolute assertion.

“for an habitation of God” is not quite correct. It should be translated “resulting in a permanent dwelling for God.” We have the preposition e)ij plus the accusative. The word for “dwelling” is katoikhsij which means permanent type dwelling; “of God” is genitive of possession: “of the God.” God owns the building.

“through the Spirit” is e)n plus the instrumental of pneuma which is “by means of the Spirit.” This is a second reference to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Translation: “In whom you also are being constructed together, resulting in a permanent dwelling place of the God by means of the Spirit.”

The intensification of the angelic conflict

1. In the Old Testament dispensation Christ was always the target of Satan. But once Christ came in the flesh, went to the cross, was glorified through resurrection, ascension and session he is no longer a target and can no longer be a target. He is now at the right hand of the Father.

2. The Church therefore, the representation of Christ on the earth, has become that target. Every believer is a royal priest, every believer is an ambassador, and therefore we are His representatives, we are the targets.

3. Since the Church is composed of numerous believers on earth at any given time in history the conflict has shifted gears and intensified, making each believer on this earth a target.

4. Therefore each believer in this dispensation, being the devil’s target, also is fortified and strengthened. For each board in the building will remain in the building, it cannot be removed. For this reason special and unique divine provision is ours in this age of the Church.

a) Union with Christ or positional truth, relationship to God in the strategic victory of the cross.

b) The indwelling of Christ as long as we are growing.

c) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

None of these things ever occurred before the Church Age historically.

d) The completion of the canon of scripture.

e) The universal royal priesthood of the believer.

f) The universal ambassadorship of the believer.

g) A supernatural way of life with a supernatural tactical objective — the super-grace life.

5. Grace provision did not exist did not exist in the Old Testament dispensations. These things have been added to meet the needs and the pressures of the intensified angelic conflict.

6. Different epistles emphasise different aspects of this intensified conflict. Hebrews emphasises the priesthood; Ephesians emphasises the grace plan; James emphasises the experiential activity.

7. Twice in this chapter — verses 18-22— God the Holy Spirit is mentioned in relationship to the unique ministry of the Church.

8. The baptism of the Holy Spirit multiplies the targets of Satan and causes him to go on an all-out offensive to destroy the Church. This he has been trying for nearly 2000 years and has not succeeded.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #32

32 08/14/1973 Ephesians 3:1–2 Docs/dispensations, intercalation. Contrast of Church Age to Age of Israel

Chapter 3

The road to super-grace has four basic doctrines which are found in this passage. The first is the doctrine of the mystery which is given to us in the first six verses. Secondly, we have the doctrine of the ministry in verses 7-13. The third doctrine in this chapter is the doctrine of GAP in verses 14-18. The fourth is the doctrine of the super-grace life in verses 19-21. The subject of this chapter is “the road to super-grace,” it is paved with four doctrines.

We must remember that the Church Age is an interruption of the Jewish dispensation, the Age of Israel. The Age of Israel has not been completed, it is interrupted. The interruption caused trauma in Israel.

a) Israel was a period of a specialised priesthood. By way of contrast the Church Age has a universal priesthood. The specialised priesthood was from a non-royal line but the universal priesthood under the Church is strictly a royal priesthood.

b) Then we have a contrast in the field of Christology. In the Age of Israel we have shadow Christology because the cross had not occurred, it was anticipated. There were many ways in which Christology was revealed — the tabernacle, all of the articles of furniture in the tabernacle, the structure of the tabernacle, the function of the Levitical priesthood, the actual uniform of the Levitical priesthood, the holy days, the Levitical offerings. All of these were shadows. Now, in the New Testament we have an historical Christology which is retrospective.

c) The unconditional covenants to Israel formed their positional truth. The position of the Jew was not union with Christ, that is the Church. The Jews, when they were born again, entered into the provision of the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New covenants, all of which were unconditional covenants. This made the unconditional covenants the position of the born again Jew (in the previous dispensation) the custodian of the Word and the missionary representing the Lord. In the Church Age the Church is the custodian of the Word and missionary representative.

d) In the previous dispensation there was no indwelling of the Holy Spirit and no indwelling of Christ. Instead of the indwelling of the Spirit they had the Spirit with them, i.e. enduement. Instead of the indwelling of Christ there was Christ coming in the angel of Jehovah. On the other hand, in the Church Age every believer is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit and every believer starts out by being indwelt by the person of Christ, and as long as he is on the road to super-grace he continues to be indwelt by Christ. You cannot lose the indwelling of the Spirit but reversionists lose the indwelling of Christ.

e) Spirituality in the Age of Israel was basically the faith-rest technique, whereas in this dispensation spirituality is God the Holy Spirit controlling the life. He indwells every believer but does not necessarily control every believer. The control is called the filling of the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, and so on.

These differences are enough to make us realise that we must be oriented time-wise. If we are going to continue on the road to super-grace we must understand what has transpired in the past in human history and what is going to occur in the future in human history, and where we are located in this picture of human history. This is called the doctrine of the mystery. The first six verses deal with this doctrine.

Verse 1 — begins with an idiom which is not understood at all — Toutou xarin. Xarin is the accusative singular of xarij, the noun for grace. Toutou is the genitive singular of the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. Toutou means “of this”; xarin means grace as the object of some kind of a verb. It is in the accusative. In this particular idiom xarij doesn’t even mean grace at all. All this is is an idiom which means “for this reason.” The genitive singular of o(utoj, the accusative singular of xarij. O(utoj is used with reference to what precedes; xarij is used as a preposition, and the preposition follows this object in this idiom. It means “For this reason.” This is an idiom to show that there is a relationship between the content at the last half of the second chapter and what is coming up. In other words, verses 18-22 of the previous chapter are definitely related and this is an advance on that subject. If you have mastered the contents of verse 18-22 you are now ready to make a further advance in doctrine. Why is it necessary to explain this? Because doctrine is built upon doctrine. Advanced doctrine cannot be understood until you understand basic doctrine.

Because the Church is an interruption dispensation we now have an interrupting doctrine before prayer. This is what the idiom brings up. We took up in verses 19 through 22 especially the fact that the Age of Israel was putting along and then it was interrupted ten days after Jesus Christ ascended. All of a sudden the dispensation of Israel comes to a crashing halt. On the other side the Church Age picked up and went right on.

Now Paul is about to pray. Paul was about to start the greatest of all apostolic prayers of which there are three, one in Colossians and two in Ephesians. Just as he is about to start he is going to interrupt himself with doctrine and that doctrine is going to take 13 verses, and it is going to cover the doctrine of the mystery and the doctrine of the ministry, both of which must be explained before he can offer his prayer for GAP and super-grace. He can’t offer a prayer for these until they understand that there are two ways that you get there. There must be doctrine and there must be a communicator of doctrine. Because Israel is an interrupted dispensation we now have with it an interrupted prayer. And what Paul does in his genius is that he shows the interrupted dispensation by interrupting his prayer, and when he starts his prayer he will also tell the purpose of this dispensation. Paul is about the begin a prayer for the Church but he interrupts it for two doctrines which teach the interruption. So he says “For this reason,” and he will repeat this idiom in verse 14 when he begins his prayer. He started to bow his knees at this point but he can’t, something must be taught first.

“I Paul” — e)gw Pauloj. E)gw is simply the first person singular pronoun but it is also something else, it represents the self-consciousness of the soul. E)gw is not ego in the sense of pride. Pride is a sin; ego is self-consciousness. Ego can have confidence, poise, it can know where the individual is going and be oriented to life, and give the impression of pride without having one ounce of pride. Application: Don’t judge people who have confidence, don’t judge people who are dogmatic, don’t judge believers with good posture, who looked scrubbed and clean, etc. as proud. If you do you only intensify your own discipline as well as add to your own confusion. Pride has nothing to do with confidence, dogmatism, good posture.

And from this comes a divine viewpoint concept, a very simple one: Paul is not a complainer because he has enough doctrine to know that complaining is useless. If ever a person could say E)gw Pauloj and then go right into how terrible things were, he was the prisoner of Nero, etc., it was Paul. But he doesn’t say that. He says “I Paul, the prisoner.”

“the prisoner” — desmioj which refers to Paul’s status in Rome. He is under house arrest awaiting trial.

“of Jesus Christ” — tou Xristou I)hsou. All of these genitives are genitives of relationship, genitive of possession. Both are true here. Paul is related to Christ through positional truth, therefore he possesses the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul has believed in Christ and Christ is now his royal high priest, therefore he has a relationship with Christ. This is an expression of his relationship with Christ which he is able to do only because he is in super-grace. No man can express his relationship to Christ unless he is in super-grace. So the principle is that you can lead people to super-grace if you haven’t been there yourself. You can’t lead people where you haven’t been when it comes to spiritual leadership.

“for you Gentiles” — u(per plus the ablative of e)qnoj, “on behalf of you the Gentiles,” literally.

Translation: “For this reason I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you the Gentiles.”

In verse 1 we meet the human writer, we meet the communicator of doctrine, we meet the man with authority, we meet the one who is already there; he is in super-grace as he writes. And he tells us something else. In the trauma of the interrupted dispensation there is a need not only to square away Israel with regard to the change in dispensation but to read the Gentiles into the picture, to explain to them the plan. Therefore the greatest Jew who ever lived is a minister to the Gentiles. Because he is a minister to the Gentiles and because he must explain the dramatic interruption of the dispensation of Israel, he at the same time brings in a dramatic interruption to his own prayer.

Note that the prayer which should have been begun in verse 1 is postponed to verse 14 where we again have totou xarin. Principle: Only doctrine can postpone a prayer in order to make that prayer more effective. Second principle: The effectiveness of prayer is based upon doctrine residing in the soul. While Paul is ready to pray those to whom he addresses this epistle are not ready to hear his prayer. He is going to write down his prayer, but why write it down if they are not ready for it? There is no sense in seeing his prayer until they can understand it. So the prayer is interrupted just as the dispensation of Israel is interrupted. The prayer will begin in verse 14 and the prayer is a prayer for believers throughout the Church Age to move down the road to super-grace. In the meantime two doctrines explain the interruption.

Verse 2 — we meet the new dispensation head on. “If” is a conditional particle e)i used as a conjunction to introduce a first class condition, plus the indicative plus the verb, first class condition. Paul assumes that they have heard before. He assumes correctly because he has taught in Ephesus and in many of the local churches in the Roman province of Asia. They have heard dispensational teaching. The verb is the aorist active indicative of a)kouw — “If you have heard.” The indicative also helps us to identify the first class condition. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes the teaching of the dispensation of grace, the Church Age, to these believers and it gathers it up into a single entirety. In other words, he assumes that they have heard, heard, heard, and heard; they have GAPed it in the field of dispensations and the assumption is correct, first class condition. The active voice: the royal priests of the Roman province of Asia to which this letter was directed produce the action of the verb by the function of GAP. But by the function of GAP first of all they have heard this because they came to a classroom, the e)kklhsia. It is a classroom to worship God. Worshipping God comes through learning Bible doctrine. The intake of the Word of God is the ultimate in worship. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality. It is used for the first class condition.

“of the dispensation” — the accusative singular from o)ikonomia which means “management, administration.” It means the arrangement of a plan, stewardship in the sense of administration. The word was first used in the Attic Greek by Plato and Xenephon where it indicated providing for an army or administering for an organisation. So the word “dispensation” means administration.

“of the grace of God” — “of the grace” is the descriptive genitive singular of the noun xarij; plus the possessive genitive of qeoj, plus the definite article, which means God owns the dispensations.

“which is given” — aorist passive participle of didomi, plus the definite article: “having been given me to you-ward” — the aorist tense is a culminative aorist, it views the event in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of its existing results. In other words, as a result of learning these things himself Paul is now in the process of communicating them under his spiritual gift of apostleship. The event in its entirety is the dispensation being communicated to Paul. Then Paul as a result teaches it to others. (Don’t teach what you don’t know) Paul is teaching what he knows, it has been given to him. The culminative aorist indicates the result. He learned it, now he teaches. This is the story of the life of any pastor. The passive voice: Paul receives the action of the verb which is the divine communication of dispensational doctrine from God to Paul. The participle has antecedent action to the main verb. The main verb: “ye have heard.” In other words, they didn’t hear it until Paul learned it and taught it. Paul could not teach what he did not know.

“me” is a dative singular from e)gw. It is the dative of indirect object which indicates the one in whose interest the communication of doctrine is. It is also a dative of advantage.

“to you-ward” — the preposition e)ij plus the accusative plural of the personal pronoun su.

Translation: “If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of the God having been given to me for you.”

Notice God’s way. God doesn’t give it directly to you. In every dispensation God has chosen to use the same system, to use intermediaries as communicators. That’s grace and God’s sense of humour.

The doctrine of dispensations

1. Definition.

a) A dispensation is a period of human history expressed in terms of divine revelation.

b) Therefore dispensations are the divine outline of human history as well as divine categories of human history.

c) At the same time the dispensations become the divine interpretation of history. Therefore God’s plan for man is related to time.

d) The believer’s orientation to time and history is vitally necessary for understanding God’s plan and reaching the objective of the super-grace life.

e) In every dispensation God administers His plan through specific agencies or stewards. For example, in the Age of the Gentiles the progeny of Seth; in the Jewish Age, the patriarchs and under the nation the prophets; in the Church Age, first the apostles in the pre-Canon period, then the pastor-teachers in the post-Canon period.

f) While salvation is always the same in each dispensation (faith in Christ), the tactical objective of reaching the super-grace life is also the same. Each dispensation, however defines the function and the ministry of the believer in terms of divine revelation pertinent to that period of history.

2. The vocabulary of dispensations: Xronoj, kairoj, and a)ion.

a) Xronoj is sometimes used for dispensations, it means time as a succession of events, one following the other. This is where we get our English word “chronology.” It is used to portray the chronological history of Israel in their administration.

b) Kairoj connotes time as an epoch or an era and it emphasises the character of the time which follows one event after another in chronological order. Kairoj categorises the chronological events.

Both of these words are used together for dispensations in 1Thessalonians 5:1 where we have the translation “times and seasons.”

c) A)ion refers to a dispensation as an age or a period of time. It basically means “age.” Therefore, a)ion is usually used in the sense of a divine category of human history and it is often and correctly translated “age.” Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:25 are illustrations.

d) O)ikonomia refers to the management or the administration of an estate or business. It also connotes policy administration which is a part of God’s function in this area.

3. The Age of the Gentiles.

a) Scripture: Genesis chapters 1-11.

b) Outline:

i) The period of positive volition which is known theologically as innocence.

ii) The period of negative volition, the period of the fall and conscience.

iii) The period of divine establishment, the beginning of human government.

c) The general characteristics of this age are seven: One language, one race (Gentiles only), a special angelic attack upon establishment (free will: Genesis 3; marriage and the family: Genesis 6; nationalism: Genesis 11:1-9)

d) The scope of this dispensation is from creation to the tower of Babel, the first united nations building. God expresses His attitude toward it by destroying that building.

e) During this dispensation there was no written canon of scripture. God communicated His doctrine in other ways.

f) There was no specific missionary agency.

g) Salvation was by faith in Jesus Christ as He was revealed in that dispensation.

4. The Age of the Jews (Israel).

a) Scripture: Most of the Old Testament minus the Millennial passages, and the Gospels minus John chapters 13-17.

b) Outline: The period of the patriarchs, the period of the new race from Abraham to Moses; the period of the nation from Moses to Christ; the period of the Tribulation.

c) Characteristics: i) There are many languages; ii) Many races; iii) The development of Israel from a race to a nation; Israel becomes the custodian of the written Canon as well as the missionary agency representing God.

d) Security for Israel was given through the unconditional covenants — the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New covenants to Israel which acted as both spiritual and eternal security.

e) National security, prosperity, and blessing came through the establishment teaching of the Mosaic law.

f) National discipline was given to this nation under five cycles — Leviticus 26.

g) Salvation was by faith in Jesus Christ.

h) Spirituality was the faith-rest technique. This is demonstrated in the New Testament in Hebrews 11 & Romans 4:17-21.

5. The doctrine of intercalation: The Church Age.

a) Intercalation means basically “insertion.” The Jewish dispensation was interrupted by the strategical victory of Christ. Intercalation is the insertion of doctrine not previously known so that people can orient in this age — the Church Age. Whatever there was for this age we had to know about it, so we have the epistles of the New Testament as the concept of intercalation.

b) A new dispensation was brought about: the Church Age.

c) Intercalation or the insertion of information goes with the dispensation. Intercalation is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.

d) Intercalation is expressed in another way: mystery. The Church Age is a mystery in the Greek sense of the word musthrion. It was something hidden in the past but known to others. The Church Age is a mystery not known to the Old Testament writers.

e) Doctrines pertaining to the Church Age were not found in the Old Testament. Where Church Age information would have occurred the Old Testament simply skipped over it. The Old Testament would talk about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and then it would stop, it would move over to the Tribulation and talk about the second advent and the Millennium. But it would never talk about anything between the ascension of Christ and the beginning of the Tribulation. So now we must have intercalation, the insertion of doctrine were before there was a complete blank.

f) Doctrine pertinent to the Church Age is therefore intercalated, inserted, by the New Testament epistles.

g) We have a large number of the great parenthesis passages. The great parenthesis occurs between Daniel 2:40 and 41; between 7:23 and 24; between 8:22 and 23; between 11:35 and 36; between Hosea 3:4 and 5; between 5:15 and 6:1; between Psalm 22:22 and 23; between Isaiah 61:2a and 2b.

6. The Church Age.

a) The scripture: John chapters 14-17 and the New Testament epistles.

b) The outline: Broken down into two parts, the pre-Canon period which is the book of Acts and the post-Canon period which is the New Testament epistles.

Characteristics:

a) The baptism of the Holy Spirit produced union with Jesus Christ and/or positional sanctification.

b) The universal royal priesthood of all believers.

c) The universal indwelling of Christ — but you can lose the indwelling of Christ by reversionism and regain it by repentance in the area of reversionism, which is what Revelation 3:20 is all about. Christ is on the outside in reversionism and is knocking on the door. He comes back in when the believer repents and recovers.

d) The universal indwelling of the Holy Spirit which never occurred before.

e) The completed Canon of scripture. All divine revelation is now reduced to writing, there is no extra-biblical revelation such as dreams, trances, visions, voices, and so on.

f) Every believers is in full time Christian service; every believer is an ambassador representing the Lord Jesus Christ on earth in the devil’s world.

g) The intensification of the devil’s world in the angelic conflict is a characteristic of this dispensation.

h) Salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ.

i) All believers are commanded to GAP it to super-grace as the means of glorifying God.

7. The Age of Christ.

Scripture: Isaiah 11, 35,62,65; Psalm 72; Revelation 20.

Outline: The second advent of Christ, Armageddon where Jesus Christ breaks His record in killing the enemy, the baptism of fire, 1000 years of perfect environment, the second advent of Satan and the Gog revolution, the destruction of the universe and the great white throne or final judgement.

Characteristics:

a) We have perfect environment because Satan is bound. Demons are removed from the earth. There is no religion in Christ’s kingdom. Revelation 20:1-3. However, in this perfect environment people are still saved the same way by faith in Christ and the objective is still to go to super-grace in this dispensation — super-grace giving the capacity to enjoy the environment as well as the blessings.

b) Optimum spirituality will exist among believers during that dispensation — Isaiah 65:24; Joel 2>28,29; Zechariah 14:16,17.

c) Israel will be restored as a nation — Isaiah 5:26-30; 10:19-23; 11:11-16; 65:19; Joel 2:16ff; Zechariah 8:20-23; 10:6-12.

d) There will the fulfillment of the unconditional covenants to Israel — Daniel 9:24.

e) The nations of the earth enjoy perfect environment under the reign of Christ. This includes: For the first time in history there will be universal peace — Psalm 46:9; Isaiah 2:4; Hosea 2:18; Micah 4:3. There will be universal prosperity — Psalm 72:7,16. There will be a perfect world government under Christ — Isaiah 11:1,2; Zechariah 14:9. There will be a universal knowledge of God — Isaiah 11:9. There will be perfect environment which is reflected in longevity. People will live a thousand years easily — Isaiah 65:20.

f) There will be perfect objectivity in the administration of justice. Therefore there will be no crime — Isaiah 11:3-5; Psalm 72:12-14.

g) Perfect environment will exist in nature. This means creation will be released from the bondage of sin — Romans 8:19-22. Plant life will abound — Isaiah 35:1,2,7. Animals will lose their ferocity — Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:25.

h) The human population in the Millennium. The baptism of fire removes all unbelievers from the earth so the population begins with believers only — Ezekiel 20:34-38; Matthew 25:31-46. As the Millennium continues with perfect environment and there will be a population explosion. This will result in a population of believers and unbelievers, and the unbelievers will be involved in the Gog revolution at the end of the Millennium.

i) The Gog revolution terminates the Millennium — Revelation 20:7-10. It starts with the second advent of Satan and terminates with the great white throne judgement. The Gog revolution indicates once again that perfect environment is not the solution to man’s problems.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #33

33 08/15/1973 Ephesians 3:3–4 Doctrines of dispensations, the mystery

Verse 3 — “How that” is simply the conjunction o(ti used to denote a system of perception transferred from God the Holy Spirit to the apostle Paul. As usual, o(ti is translated “that.” I(na is translated “in order that” because it introduces a final clause. Here o(ti is translated not “How that” but “that,” and i(na introduces with the subjunctive a final clause, the final clause denotes a purpose, an aim, or an objective and therefore should be translated “In order that.” In this way you can actually tell in the English what is going on in the Greek.

“by revelation” is the preposition kata plus the accusative of a)pokaluyij which actually means here “disclosure.” “Revelation” is all right if you understand that revelation means enlightenment from God to man. Kata plus the accusative can also mean “from,” and that is what it means here — “that from disclosure.” That is, divine disclosure.

“he made known” should be “it was made known” — the aorist passive indicative of gnwrizw which means to make known or to be revealed. Paul is about to tell how he got clued in on this dispensation so that he could reveal the doctrine of the mystery to us so that we will have the first increment on the road to super-grace well firmed up in the soul. “That from divine disclosure it [the doctrine of the mystery] was revealed to me.” The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of God’s revealing of mystery doctrine — doctrine which is peculiar to the Church Age only — in its entirety. The passive voice: Paul receives the disclosure of doctrine from God the Holy Spirit. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality.

“unto me” — the dative singular of e)gw, and in three verses we have e)gw three times. This is a dative of advantage, it is to Paul’s advantage to have this information so that from the area of the self-consciousness of the soul he can actually communicate these things.

“the mystery” — the nominative singular of murthrion. This is the subject of gnwrizw. The verse thus far should read, “That from divine disclosure the mystery was revealed to me.”

The doctrine of the mystery

1. The Greek word musthrion is derived from an Attic noun (the Classical Greek of the age of Pericles) musthj. This is a person who has been initiated into a fraternity in the ancient world. These fraternities had doctrines and policies, and these policies are called doctrines or mysteries. Once a person had memorised these things and has passed all the tests he is then a musthj, a member of the fraternity. It is also derived from a verb in the Classical Greek, muew, which means to initiate, to instruct in the doctrines of the fraternity. Therefore the doctrines of the fraternity were only instructed to those who were in. The people on the outside never knew what was taught, the doctrines of the fraternity were kept secret and they were called musthrion — hidden from the outside but known to the members of the fraternity. Jesus used this meaning with the disciples in Matthew 13:11 and Mark 4:10,11. The word “mystery” in the Bible is simply a series of doctrines hidden from the Old Testament.

2. In the epistles of the New Testament the word “mystery” refers to Church Age doctrine, either all of it or some specific part of it — Ephesians 3:2-6.

3. Mystery doctrine of the Church Age was not revealed to the Old Testament prophets — Romans 16:25,26; Colossians 1:26,27.

4. Part of the mystery doctrine includes the blindness or hardness of Israel during the Church Age. It also includes part of the 5th cycle of discipline to Israel — Romans 11:25.

5. The mystery as Church Age doctrine was a part of the divine decrees in eternity past — 1Corinthians 2:7.

6. The pastor or minister is responsible for communicating Church Age doctrine as his stewardship of the mysteries — 1Corinthians 4:1. That means that he must be able to teach everything from the baptism of the Spirit, to positional truth, to every detail of the road to super-grace, what the super-grace life is all about, all about the Rapture of the Church and how it isn’t in the Tribulation, what happens after the Rapture and what time the Church becomes the body of Christ and the bride of Christ at another time, and what the analogy is all about.

7. The Rapture of the Church is part of the mystery doctrine — 1Corinthians 15:51.

8. The mystery doctrine is always related to the dispensation of the Church — Ephesians 1:9; 3:2.

9. Mystery doctrine is understood through the function of GAP — Colossians 2:2; 1Timothy 3:9.

“as” usually used as an adverb of comparison, kaqwj, but here it is a causal conjunction. “insofar as” is a better translation.

“I wrote afore in few words” — should be “I have previously written in brief.” The aorist active indicative of prografw [grafw = to write; pro = before] which means to write before. The aorist tense is a dramatic aorist used for a result which has just been accomplished or is on the point of being accomplished, that is, the clarification of the doctrine of the mystery. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb by teaching what he has learned about the doctrine of the mystery. And again, you can’t teach what you don’t know. The indicative mood is the declarative indicative which represents the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality. Since the epistle is addressed to the Roman province of Asia it indicates that Paul has been teaching this before in Colossians 1:25,26. Colossians, therefore, had to be written before Ephesians; “in few words” is e)n plus the locative of o)ligoj, an idiom for “in brief.”

Translation: “That from divine disclosure the mystery was revealed to me; (just as I have previously written in brief.”

Verse 4 — the knowledge of the mystery. “Whereby” — the prepositional phrase proj plus the accusative singular of o(j, which means “Face to face with which.” The relative pronoun o(j refers to the doctrine of the mystery. The issue is: you cannot reach super-grace without understanding the main principles in the doctrine of the mystery. The main principles begin with the baptism of the Spirit and they go all the way to doctrines we will see in this chapter and in the remainder of the epistle.

“when ye read” — the present active participle of a)naginwskw which doesn’t mean to read. It was used in the Classical Greek for public reading or speaking — reading aloud, in other words. Actually, the word means to gather exact knowledge of some passage and then teach it. So we will simply use the technical word “exegesis.” The present tense is a customary present used to denote that which is expected to occur. When this epistle is read and studied by pastor-teachers it is exegeted and communicated. The active voice: the epistle will be studied by many pastors throughout history. The participle is a temporal participle used in the sense of a temporal clause. Since a)naginwskw means to exegete the verb here connotes analysis and teaching. The phrase says literally, “Face to face with which [doctrine of the mystery] when you study and teach.”

“ye may understand” — two verbs here: “you may” is the present active indicative of dunamai which means “you may be able.” The present tense is a tendencial present used for an action which is purposed or attempted but not actually taking place at the moment. The active voice: the local pastors of congregations in the Roman province of Asia will have the ability to GAP this chapter and to communicate it to their congregations. People get the idea that the letter was read to the entire congregation. Not at all. The pastor reads it and studies it and explains it. The indicative mood is a potential indicative, it is associated with three ideas: the idea of contingency in the areas of obligation, impulse, and condition. Here we have a potential indicative expressing obligation. In the future, pastors of local churches will have the obligation of communicating this, therefore this is translated, “you ought to be able.” The second verb, “understand,” is in the infinitive form, the aorist active infinitive of noew. Generally the word means to think, sometimes it means to imagine. Here it means to think. It actually means here thinking in the sense of concentration, to concentrate or direct one’s mind to a subject. In this case the subject is the doctrine of the mystery and the verb comes to mean to perceive, to understand through concentration. The doctrine of the mystery and its importance is understood through concentration. The aorist tense is an ingressive aorist used to contemplate the action of the verb from the standpoint of its beginning. The active voice: when the pastor-teacher communicates this the congregation will understand it. The infinitive denotes a purpose.

“my knowledge” — the accusative singular from sunesij which means categorical knowledge. It means to understand technical information in its categories.

“in the mystery” — e)n plus the locative of musthrion, “in the sphere of the mystery.”

“of Christ” — the genitive singular of Xristoj plus the definite article which is translated “of the Christ.” This is a possessive genitive which denotes ownership. The mystery doctrine is owned by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is what this dispensation is all about. His strategic victory caused this dispensation to dramatically interrupt the Age of Israel. So Jesus Christ owns Church Age doctrine.

Translation: “Face to face with which [doctrine of the mystery] when you exegete you ought to be able to begin to understand my categorical knowledge in the sphere of the mystery of the Christ).”

Principle: You cannot teach what you do not understand.

Principle: Paul had the doctrine of the mystery in his frame of reference, in his memory centre; it was a part of his own vocabulary, he had completely categorised it in his right lobe before he attempted to communicate any part of it. In other words, he had a complete saturation.

Now it becomes a case of face to face teaching, necessary for this doctrine to be communicated to the royal priesthood.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #34

34 08/16/1973 Ephesians 3:5 Doctrines of apostleship, inspiration

Verse 5 — the doctrine of the mystery. “Which” is the nominative neuter singular of the relative pronoun o(j which has as its antecedent the doctrine of the mystery.

“in other ages” — the locative plural of the adjective e(teroj means other of a different kind. This adjective indicates that the Church Age is a dramatic and very traumatic interruption of the Age of Israel. The Age of the Gentiles came to a close with the destruction of the first United Nations building. Internationalism is a part of the Satanic conspiracy in this stage of the angelic conflict, as well as in every dispensation. With the destruction of the first UN building (Babel) we have the beginning of the Age of Israel, starting with the age of the patriarchs (from Abraham to Moses), the period in which the race is developed. Then we have the race becoming a nation in the period of the law. This was interrupted by the tactical victory of the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross and bearing our sins, resurrection and ascension and session. Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father waiting for the second stage of the strategic victory which is operation footstool. In the meantime, ten days after the ascension and session of Christ, the Church Age interrupts the Age of Israel. The Church Age will be complete before the Age of Israel is completed. The Church Age takes precedence over Israel, it is the age of the intensification of the angelic conflict. Christ was always the target from the seed of the woman passage in Genesis 3:15 until His ascension. Once He is ascended the target now moves to every member of the royal priesthood. Therefore the Church Age is an intensification of the angelic conflict and the special type of super-grace life which is provided by God in the divine decrees is every important. The word “ages” indicates that there were at least two dispensations before the Church Age.

“was not made known” — the aorist passive indicative of gnwrizw, which in the passive voice actually means to be revealed. “Was not revealed” is the correct translation. The strong negative o)uk here indicates that there was no leak anywhere. The aorist tense here is a constative aorist, it takes the revelation of the doctrine of the mystery and gathers it up into a single entirety. The passive voice plus the negative o)uk indicates there was no revelation prior to the Church Age. The indicative mood is the declarative indicative which represents the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality. This is an unqualified assertion of fact, no doctrine of the Church Age was ever revealed before apostolic times.

“unto the sons of men” — the dative plural of u(ioj is a dative of reference and takes the interest concept out of the dative and reduces it to a mere idea of reference. There is no concept here of advantage. With it is a descriptive genitive, a)nqrwpoj, which refers to believers in the human race. “Uioj indicates positional truth. So those members of the human race who have accepted Jesus Christ as saviour in the Church Age receive immediately 36 things. In one of them they are entered into union with Christ and never get out. Here the sons of men simply indicates that now in the human race there is a category of individuals who can understand these doctrines. “Men” is strictly the human race, but u(ioj in the human race indicates those who have personally believed in Jesus Christ as saviour with emphasis on positional sanctification. “[The doctrine of the mystery] which in other periods of time [dispensations] was not revealed to the sons of men.”

The negative o)uk becomes very important at this point because we have the word “as.” In the Greek this is generally a comparative particle. The comparative particle is o(j. It also has some special uses, as here. It is used, for example, as a conjunction denoting comparison. It is used to introduce the character, the quality or the aspect of an action, a thing, or a person. It is used of an actual quality or a quality which exists in someone’s imagination, or sometimes even for a quality wrongly claimed. It is used of a temporal conjunction, “when,” but it is also used as a final particle denoting some kind of a purpose, and here we have exactly that concept — “so that now” rather than “as it is now.” God has a purpose, as it were, in keeping Church Age doctrine under wraps. There are many purposes actually but the one which is important to us is the fact that something neither Moses nor any of the great prophets, like Isaiah or Jeremiah, ever even had a clue existed now is known to every member of the royal priesthood.

“it is now revealed” should be “it has been revealed” — the aorist passive indicative of a)pokaluptw. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, employed to regard the action of the verb in its entirety but emphasise the existing results. Here is the constant revelation of the doctrine of the mystery to Paul, that is the constative aorist. As a result of that he has learned it and it is a culminative aorist. The passive voice: the doctrine of the mystery or Church Age doctrine is now received revelation to the Church through first the apostles and then pastor-teachers. The indicative mood is a declarative indicative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality and certainty. It is unqualified assertion of a fact.

“unto his holy apostles” — this is for the writing, for the purpose of getting it recorded in the canon of scripture. Now it is the job of the pastor-teacher to dig this out and teach it. But at this point we are talking about the apostles. This is a dative plural toij a(gioij a)postoloij which is a dative of indirect object. The dative of indirect object indicates the one in whose interest the revelation of the mystery doctrine is performed. First of all it is in the interest of the apostles. Then it is recorded in the Word of God as we now see it, under the doctrine of inspiration. Once the canon of scripture is completed it becomes a matter of the gift of pastor-teacher studying and teaching it. The word “and” is the ascensive use of kai and it is incorrectly translated in the King James version. The ascensive use of kai should be translated “even.” The reason we know this is ascensive is that we have one article for both nouns. It indicates here that the word “apostles” and the word “apostles” here are synonymous. In other words, “prophets” is in apposition to “apostles.” Why is it important? Prophets aren’t usually emphasised in the Church Age but prophets are emphasised in the formation of the Old Testament canon. All those who wrote the Old Testament canon were called prophets and it must be understood that in the formation of the New Testament the writers had a special gift called apostle. Therefore, to show that we are talking here not just about any apostles but the apostles who wrote the New Testament we have the ascensive use of kai and link it with the Old Testament gift, and therefore it should be translated “the holy apostles, even prophets.”

“by the Spirit” — e)n plus the instrumental of pneuma. This refers to God the Holy Spirit.

Translation: “Which in other periods of time [dispensations] was not revealed to the sons of men, so that now it has been revealed to his holy apostles [the doctrine of mystery must be entered into the canon of scripture before pastors can teach it] by means of the Spirit.”

The doctrine of apostleship

1. Apostleship is the highest spiritual gift sovereignly bestowed by the Holy Spirit to recipients of salvation or those who were already saved at the beginning of the Church Age — 1Corinthians 12:11,28; Ephesians 4:11. This gift stopped in 96 AD but while it lasted the apostle was the only communicator of doctrine, either by writing or verbally, who had control of more than one local church. A pastor-teacher does not have authority over all the churches. The idea today of archbishops, bishops, and other types of people controlling a lot of churches is strictly erroneous. It is non-biblical and even blasphemous in the way it is carried out. It inevitably to destroying Bible doctrine or to the introduction of false doctrine. For example, there was a time when the pastor-teacher (250 years after the apostles were gone) in Ephesus, a lot of them in Jerusalem, and there was one in Rome who became very prominent. His name was Gregory and he decided he was going to be “poppa” over all the churches so he called himself “poppa.” He would sit down in his chair and make some pronouncements. Some church out on the periphery would say it was not doctrinal, it doesn’t line up with the Bible. But “poppa” would say, “When I sit down on my throne it is just like God speaking to you, so shape up!” And he either shaped up or he shaped out. This is the way abuses began. Inevitably, as soon as someone controls a group of churches he makes policy for a group of churches, and sooner or later he is going to get in trouble with his policy and it is going to get non-biblical. Then when someone calls it to his attention he establishes himself by putting them down and saying, “I speak excathedra.” There is no such thing as a clergyman who speaks excathedra for God. God has spoken to us in this dispensation through His Word, and the highest authority left today is a pastor-teacher and he has the absolute authority over one local church only. A pastor-teacher who gets off-base with regard to doctrine can be removed from that congregation and the heresy doesn’t spread all over the world. So denominations are abominations!

2. Apostleship is a temporary gift. A temporary gift is designed to carry the church until the canon of scripture was completed. There were a lot of temporary gifts, some were cut off earlier than others. The least of all temporary gifts was the gift of tongues and it was the first one to be cut off. It was only designed to warn Israel of the coming of the fifth cycle of discipline. The Jews were evangelised in Gentile languages, that was the gift of tongues. In August of 70 AD Jerusalem fell and no one ever spoke in tongues again. There were other gifts but the last one to go was apostleship. This was apostleship was necessary to complete the canon of scripture.

3. The time of appointment. The apostles were not appointed until after the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the completion of His strategic victory — Ephesians 4:8,11. Therefore the apostles must be distinguished from another group of peoples called apostles, the apostles to Israel — Matthew 10:2-4. The problem is that in the Age of Israel, at the end of the age before the Church, Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry appointed apostles to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It just so happens that 11 of them also became apostles to the Church.

4. The extent of the gift. This spiritual gift exercised authority over all local churches until the canon was completed. Then the gift was removed. Today, all local churches should be autonomous with authority vested in the canon and the local pastor-teacher.

5. Qualification for the apostles. The apostles had to be eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Christ. This qualified the eleven, and Paul was also qualified by seeing Christ on the Damascus road — Acts 1:22; 1Corinthians 9:1; 1Corinthians 15:8,9.

6. The authority of apostleship was established by possession of certain additional temporary gifts. There were three gifts which were used to establish the authority of an apostle before he was well known. They were the gifts of miracles, healing, and tongues — Acts 5:15; 19:16-18; 28:8,9. Once the authority was established the gift was removed.

7. The roster of apostles was 12, the eleven minus Judas Iscariot. Matthias was elected but not an apostle. Paul was the twelfth apostle to replace Judas Iscariot — 1Corinthians 15:7-10.

8. Others were given delegated authority and therefore occasionally had apostolic authority without having the gift. For example, Barnabas — Acts 14:14; Galatians 2;9. James, the Lord’s half brother — 1Corinthians 15:7; Galatians 1:19. James was not an apostle but he was given the authority of an apostle to write the book of James. Apollos — 1Corinthians 4:6,9. Sylvanus and Timothy — 2Thessalonians 1:1; 2:6. Actually, there were only twelve apostles to the Church just as there were twelve apostles to Israel. Mark was not an apostle, he was writing for Peter. Mark’s Gospel is the gospel as Peter saw it. He had the temporary authority of an apostle. The same was true of James and Jude, the half brothers of Jesus Christ. They carried the authority of an apostle in writing the book of James and the book of Jude.

The job of the apostles in the Old Testament was carried on by the apostles in the New testament. Since the prophets who wrote the Old Testament were called prophets when we get to the apostles who wrote the New Testament they are called apostles and prophets to indicate their relationship and to indicate that the Old Testament is not the completion of the canon of scripture, but the New Testament is.

The doctrine of inspiration

1. The principle of inspiration is found in a Greek noun, qeopneutoj. It means “God-breathed.” 2Timothy 3:16 should be translated, “All scripture is God-breathed ...” Breathing involves two factors: inhale and exhale. The inhale is God the Holy Spirit communicating to human authors, like Paul and the other apostles, God’s complete and coherent message under the doctrine of the mysteries. In the case of the Old Testament of the Holy Spirit communicated to the prophets His complete and coherent message, exactly what he wanted them to communicate. The passages that deal with the inhale concept, from the Holy Spirit to the human writers — 2Samuel 23:2,3; Isaiah 59:21; Jeremiah 1:9; Matthew 22:42,43; Mark 12:36; Acts 4:24,25; 28:25. The exhale: the human writers took the information, the doctrine, and they comunicated it in writing. They thought in a language, they wrote in that language. The human writers of scripture so wrote that without waiving their human intelligence, their vocabulary, their personality, their individuality, their personal feelings, God’s complete message to man was permanently recorded in writing with perfect accuracy in the original languages of scripture.

2. The origin of scripture is not human viewpoint but God the Holy Spirit using human agency and human language — 2Peter 1:20,21.

3. Remember that the Bible as we have it is the mind of Christ. Therefore the Bible is an absolute criterion for believers. Psalm 138:2; 1Corinthians 2:16.

4. Consequently, the Bible as the mind of Christ existed in eternity past prior to its being reduced to writing — Proverbs chapter eight.

5. Pre-canon revelation from God occurred through the Holy Spirit. Before Moses there was no Bible, so God the Holy Spirit and God the Son communicated directly with people. For example, the Lord Jesus Christ communicated with Adam and the woman in the garden — Bible class every evening. The Lord Jesus Christ appeared in theophanies to communicate. Angels were used to communicate. 2Samuel 23:2; Ezekiel 2:2; 8:3; 11:1,24; Micah 3:8; Hebrews 3:7.

6. There are four categories of Old Testament revelation. a) The spoken word: “Thus saith the Lord.” These we might classify as dictation directly from God; b) Dreams. God revealed Himself in dreams in Genesis 15:12; 31:10-13; Numbers 12:6; Daniel 10:9. However, it must be pointed out that once the canon is completed there are no more dreams for divine revelation; c) Visions — Isaiah 1:1; 6:1; 1 Kings 22:19; d) Angelic teaching — Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalm 68:17; Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19. Eventually there was also writing.

7. The extent of inspiration in the canon.

a) The unknown past. The Bible portrays past history and details unknown to man, unconfirmed by human records. E.g. the first eleven chapters of Genesis. God the Holy Spirit provided this information to Moses so that we have what God intends for us to have about early history.

b) Ancient history. The Bible is not an historical textbook but it does mention portions of history. So the Bible contains historical citations which are accurate and form the basis and the background for communication of certain doctrines. We call this principle in hermeneutics the principle of isagogics, the principle of interpreting scripture from its historical background.

c) Objective-type law. The Bible contains many laws for individual, social and national life. These laws perfectly express the essence of God. They contain His will for the people to whom they are given. Repetition of these laws and subsequent recording of them demonstrates application to other generations.

d) Dictation. Some portions of the scriptures contain direct quotation from God. Genesis 2:17. The doctrine of inspiration guarantees that such commands or quotations are recorded exactly as they were heard by the individual to whom they were recorded.

e) Devotional literature — like the Psalms, Song of Solomon. God uses the problems, the pressures, the prosperity, the failures, the successes of certain individuals to reveal principles of grace and His divine provision for life.

f) We have a lot of things that are false in the Bible: statements and things that are not true. Certain parts of Ecclesiastes are not true, they simply represent what Solomon was thinking in reversionism. But inspiration does not guarantee that something that is not true is true because it is found in the Bible, it simply guarantees that this is what he thought, this is the wrong thinking that he had, this is the lie that he spoke. Inspiration guarantees the accuracy of the lie, the accuracy of pseudo thinking.

g) Prophecy. Inspiration involves both the selection of prophetic materials and their complete accuracy. Some of these things in the Old Testament have been fulfilled, other will not be fulfilled until the Tribulation, second advent, or the Millennium.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #35

35 08/17/1973 Ephesians 3:6–7a Doctrines of positional truth, the ministry

Verse 6 — “That” is no conjunction. Generally the word “that” is used to translate i(na plus the subjunctive mood. However that is not the case here and occasionally the translators used “that” to indicate that they are taking an infinitive and transferring it into a purpose clause of a final clause. This is a legitimate function, however it is used primarily to smooth out the translation and doesn’t always work out. Here it works out pretty well.

“the Gentiles” — the accusative plural from the noun e)qnoj. This accusative plural is the subject of the infinitive under the accusative of general reference. Under the accusative of general reference we actually have the accusative describing the persons connected with the action of the infinitive, but it is easier to say subject of the infinitive. Because of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the resultant positional sanctification every Gentile believer in the Church Age is in union with Christ and coequal with all Jewish believers. The dramatic and traumatic interruption of the Jewish Age by the insertion of the Church Age came as a great shock to Israel. The shock finally dwindled down in the first 40 years of the Church Age to the fifth cycle of discipline to Israel. That knocked them out completely. Paul already, before that period begins, is the apostle to the Gentiles and what he points out to the Gentile believers of that day applies right now. Your life as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has meaning, purpose, and definition. You are not only a priest, you are a royal priest; your objective is to reach the super-grace life. You will know when you are there because of three characteristics. First of all, super-grace is characterised by occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. Secondly, super-grace is characterised by having super-grace capacity which is doctrine in the soul. Thirdly, God pours. God has your name in the paragraph of the super-grace blessing part of the divine decrees, and it is the objective of God to pour, He wants to pour, He is waiting to pour. And it is your objective to stay with Bible doctrine, to be consistent, to GAP it until you reach the super-grace life.

The Gentiles were hanging back in this thing because they felt that they still were suffering from the effects of the Jewish Age. The Gentiles immediately upon accepting Christ as saviour saw the validity of the Old Testament scriptures but it sort of gave them a little bit of a personal setback when they realised that Jews had all of these responsibilities for many centuries. Therefore they had a tendency to look at the Jewish believers as still possessing the monopolies of the previous dispensation. But that dispensation is over and now Jew and Gentile are one in Christ. Now Jew and Gentile are priests, and that means that every believer, whatever he does in this life, is in full time Christian service. His full time Christian service in his job, his business, his profession, his activities in life; and as a member of the royal priesthood it is God’s objective to bless him in these activities and to utilise these activities for his promotion, his happiness, and for his success in life. Since this is the objective and since the only way to reach it is by the intake of Bible doctrine every believer must have a right pastor to communicate the doctrine of the mystery which is the doctrine pertaining to the Church Age.

“That the Gentiles.” These Gentiles include yourself as members of the body of Christ and as members of a congregation. In the accusative of general reference they are connected with the infinitive, given next.

“should be” — present active indicative of the verb e)imi, the absolute status quo verb. In the present tense we have the static present which represents a condition perpetually existing in the Church, and as a matter of fact forever, with regard to believers of the royal priesthood. There is no question how the royal priesthood will live in phase three. We are going to have blessings that are beyond description but it is God’s objective to give us those blessings now, we do not have to wait for eternity. The active voice: Gentile believers of the Church Age produce the action of the verb by moving toward super-grace. The infinitive is used for both purpose and a part of the accusative of general reference.

We now have the threefold description of Gentile believers in the Church Age. They have the same rights and privileges as Jewish believers and, as a matter of fact, God has provided for all believers super-grace blessings.

“fellowheirs” — the accusative plural from sunklhronomoj which means to have the same opportunity as anyone else who is in this particular group called the royal priesthood.

“and of the same body” — the word for “body” here, swma, is used to describe the church on earth during this dispensation. With it is the accusative plural of susswmoj [sus = the same]. The first Adam was provided by Jesus Christ with a right woman. At the same time Jesus Christ said, “Not good that Adam should be alone.” The same principle applies to the last Adam, Jesus Christ. So God the Father provided for the last Adam, the Lord Jesus, a body, a right woman. The Church is the right woman. Who is this last Adam? First of all by physical birth He is the son of David, the royal line of Israel. Secondly He is promised by God in the divine decrees that He will reign forever, the Millennium being only the first 1000 years. Thirdly, if He is, as it were, single and does not have a right woman, whoever becomes His right woman becomes royalty. And so we are the body of Christ and therefore we are royalty. We will reign with Him forever as royalty, but we are royalty by grace and royalty by grace demands the accouterments of royalty. These are found in the super-grace life. So we have “of the same body,” this is an advance on the doctrine of royalty. We are fellowheirs, which means we are heirs of royalty, but we are of the same body, we are members of the royal family.

“and partakers of his promise in Christ” — the word “partakers” is a little misleading. It is the word summetoxoj which really means joint possessors. This means every one of us has a joint account with God. This means that we can draw on Him for anything and everything, and also it means He has unlimited resources. The joint account of His promise means that we as believers should have in time happiness, God’s happiness, blessings, prosperity, success, promotion. This is the normal Christian life, whatever you are doing in life. The word e)paggelia means promise of blessing.

“in Christ” — this is where we entered into the royal family, e)n plus the locative of Xristoj. This refers to positional truth, union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “Jesus” is added in the Greek.

“by the gospel” is how we entered into the royal family. Good news started it, there is good news afterwards. The good news is that once we have accepted Jesus Christ as saviour the next objective is the super-grace life. This is dia plus the genitive of e)uaggelion and should be translated “through the gospel.”

Translation: “That the Gentiles are joint heirs, and fellow members of the body, and joint possessors of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

Summary

1. Not only is the gospel the information by which every believer enters the plan of God but in this Church dispensation it is the means of providing equal spiritual privileges for both Jews and Gentiles who are believers. This was never true in the Old Testament.

2. The content of the gospel is the same in every dispensation, but response to it in different dispensations results in different modus operandi and different privilege. Certainly the Jews in the Old Testament had the greatest of spiritual privileges but there is a setup even greater than that. In this dispensation we have something that the average Jewish believer did not have. We have royalty, we are members of the royal family. We have the same objective. For every Jewish believer there was the objective of reaching super-grace. Again, we have that same objective right now. The privileges now are greater than they have ever been but, of course, the battle is greater, we live in the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.

3. This means that in previous dispensations when anyone believed in Christ he did not have the baptism of the Spirit which immediately enters him into union with Christ. He had spiritual privileges but the spiritual privileges of this dispensation are absolutely unique.

4. Furthermore, in the dispensation of Israel Jewish believers had privileges and responsibilities that contemporary Gentile believers did not have. That was the Age of Israel, the age of spiritual monopoly of Israel. This no longer exists.

One more thing should be noted. All of this royalty starts with positional truth — “in Christ Jesus.”

The doctrine of positional truth

1. Positional truth starts with the baptism of the Spirit, one of five things that God the Holy Spirit does for every believer in this dispensation only. We have spiritual privilege in this dispensation which is different from any other. The five things are:

a) Regeneration — John 3:1-16; Titus 3:5. However, God the Holy Spirit did this for all of the Old Testament saints from the time of Adam and Eve. At the point that any person believes God the Holy Spirit regenerates them. He is the agent of regeneration. So this first one is not unique, it is something the Holy Spirit has always done at any time in any dispensation when a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

b) The sealing of the Holy Spirit — 2Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30. This is unique. The purpose of the sealing of the Holy Spirit is to guarantee your royalty forever. You are royalty forever, regardless of how you live. This is the security of the royal priesthood.

c) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit — John 7:37-39; Romans 8:9; 1Corinthians 3:16; 6:19,20; Galatians 3:2; 4:6. This is God the Holy Spirit making your body His temple. This guarantees that you are going to remain royalty in time; you are protected by the indwelling of the Spirit.

d) The baptism of the Spirit is how we enter the royal family — 1Corinthians 12:13. We enter the family of God by being born again but we enter as a royal family by the baptism of the Spirit.

e) He provides a spiritual gift for every believer. He never did this before, He does it for every one of us because we are members of the royal family. Not only are we members of the royal family, royal priests, but God the Holy Spirit gave us at the point of salvation a spiritual gift — 1Corinthians 12:11.

2. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the mechanics of positional sanctification — Acts 1:5; 1Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 4:5.

3. Positional truth belongs to the carnal as well as the spiritual believer, it belongs to the reversionist as well as the super-grace believer. In other words, positional truth belongs to every believer — 1Corinthians 1:2,30.

4. Positional truth guarantees no judgement for the believer in eternity — Romans 8:1.

5. Positional truth qualifies the believer to live with God forever. If we are going to live with God forever we must have forgiveness of all sins. This was accomplished at the cross when Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree. But we have to have more than that, we have to be as good as God is good because remember it is His righteousness which was propitiated by the cross. But if we are going to live with God forever we cannot get there with our -R, that has to be changed to +R. The moment we believe He credits to our account His righteousness, and therefore He looks at us and says, “Justified.” Then, God is eternal life. All these things are received by union with Christ. We have to have the same life that God has, we have eternal life — 1John 5:11,12. We receive the imputation of divine righteousness in union with Christ — 2Corinthians 5:21.

6. Positional truth is the key to both election and predestination — Ephesians 1:3-6.

7. Positional truth creates a new creature, something that has never existed before on the earth, a royal spirituality — 2Corinthians 5:17. The new creature concept is based on who and what Christ is, therefore what grace accomplishes is the issue, not what we accomplish. All changes that are bona fide in the Christian life are wrought by doctrine in the soul, not by giving up things.

8. Positional truth guarantees the eternal security of the believer — Romans 8:38,39.

9. Positional truth is classified under two categories: retroactive and current. Retroactive is identification with Christ in His death, this is our rejection of human good. When Christ was on the cross our sins were poured out upon Him and judged but human good was rejected. When we believe in Christ we are identified with Christ in His death, therefore positionally we have rejected human good. Then there is current positional truth which is identification with Christ at the point of His strategic victory. Current positional truth: we are in union with Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father.

10. The implications of current positional truth are nine-fold:

a) When we enter into union with Christ we enter the life of Christ. Jesus Christ has eternal life; we share His life — 1John 5:11,12.

b) We share His righteousness — 2Corinthians 5:21.

c) We share His election — Ephesians 1:4. Christ was elected in eternity past, we now share His election by union with Him.

d) We share His destiny — Ephesians 1:5.

e) We share His sonship — 2Timothy 2:1.

f) We share His heirship — Romans 8:16,17.

g) We share His sanctification — 1Corinthians 1:2,30.

h) We share His kingdom (our royalty) — 2Peter 1:11.

i) We share His priesthood — Hebrews 10:10-14.

11. Some general characteristics of positional truth:

a) It is not an experience, it is neither emotional nor ecstatic.

b) It is not progressive. Positional truth which we receive at salvation can never be improved, it is perfect at the point of salvation.

c) It is not related to human merit, human ability, human good, or human activity of any kind.

d) It is eternal in nature. Positional truth will last forever, it cannot be changed by God, by angels, or by any combination of powers in the human race.

e) Positional truth is known only by the Word of God.

f) Positional truth is obtained in total at the moment of salvation. This is accomplished by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it is one of those 36 things we receive at salvation.

Verse 7 — the doctrine of the ministry. “Whereof” is the genitive singular from the relative pronoun o(j and should be translated in this case “Of which.” The antecedent is the gospel of the previous verse. The genitive case of the relative pronoun is possessive.

“I was made” — the aorist passive indicative from ginomai which really means to become: “Of which I have become.” The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist. A gnomic aorist is one in which the truth is regarded as so absolute, so axiomatic in its character, that it is described by the aorist tense. It is very similar to the culminative aorist and can also be regarded as one. The culminative aorist indicates the fact that Paul, like many who have this gift, had become something. This is the appointment by God the Holy Spirit, that is constative. The culminative point is the result that Paul is now functioning in the ministry. The passive voice: Paul receives the action of the verb at salvation through receiving the gift. The indicative mood is declarative, the mood of unqualified assertion, the mood of dogmatism. The mood represents the verbal idea from the standpoint of absolute certainty.

“a minister” — diakonoj. This word is used in many ways.

The doctrine of the ministry

1. Greek synonyms of service.

a) Douleuw which means to serve as a slave.

b) Qerapeuw, which means to serve in a medical sense, medical practice. This is where we get the word “therapy.”

c) Latreuw, which means to serve for wages. A bona fide system of service.

d) Leitourgew, which refers to public service — police, military, government administration, etc.

e) U(perterew, means to be helpful to someone.

f) Diakonew, the verb. The noun is diakonia. One other is diakonoj. Sometimes this word is transliterated “deacon.” Sometimes it is translated “minister” and that is a good translation.

2. The usage of diakonoj and diakonia. There are five different uses in the Bible:

a) The political use. This is for the head of a state in Romans 13:14. The word diakonoj is used once in the Bible for those who are in charge of a country.

b) A general use. It is the universal ministry of every believer in the Church Age as a royal priest — 2Corinthians 3:6; 4:1; 6:3,18.

c) It is used of church administrators or deacons — Philippians 1:1; 1Timothy 3:8-13. Deacons administer the activities of the church, so it connotes administration.

d) It is used in a specialised way for the pastor-teacher of the local church. It is used in the sense of his authority, his communication of the Word of God, and his policy-making — 1Corinthians 3:5; Ephesians 3:7; Colossians 1:7, 23; 4:7; 1Thessalonians 3:2; 1Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 6:10; Acts 6:4.

e) There is also an evil usage of the word in 2Corinthians 11:15 where it is used for Satan’s ministers. This is a counterfeit of the local church concept and Satan uses his ministers in religion.

3. There are other words which identify the pastor-teacher or the minister of the local church. The function of the pastor-teacher is not religious, he is the teacher of the Word of God. It is his objective to so communicate doctrine that the royal priesthood under his jurisdiction in the local church will move to super-grace status which is the normal function of the priesthood and at which point the believer becomes spiritually self-sustaining.

So we have three different words in addition. These three Bible words all indicate something different in the pastor-teacher.

a) The first is the authority of his person. The Greek word is presbuteroj, often translated “elder.” It is found in 1Timothy 5:17,19; Titus 1:5; James 5:14; 1Peter 5:1. It always refers to the pastor, it does not refer to a church officer in the Bible. The distortion of this is to utilise this for a church officer. There is only one elder in a local church. The word means originally, “old man,” not in the sense of age but in the sense of title. It is a title of authority, it means the one in command of the local church. So this is the authority of his person.

b) The authority of his policy. The Greek word for this is e)piskopoj. Unfortunately this is translated “bishop.” The reason for that is because of the Church of England and the translators being related to the Church of England who saw fit to translate this word (which means “inspector”) “bishop.” But actually it refers to the one who is an overseer, the one who has charge of observing what is going on, the one who sets up the policy for the workers on the plantation. So it comes to means the authority of his policy. Philippians 1:1; 1Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7.

c) The authority of his message is found in two words: pastor-teacher of Ephesians 4:11. The first word, poimhn, means shepherd. So shepherd-teacher would be a better translation. This had the connotation that the sheep need feeding and need to be led properly and the shepherd has to find food for them. This is the first part of it. Secondly, we have his function, didaskaloj which means to teach a group. This means that a pastor doesn’t have to run around and personally spend time with members of his congregation.

4. We also have some synonymous identification with these words. In Acts 20:17,28 we discover that all of these words are synonymous, referring to one person. In verse 17 the elders of Ephesus are called pastors in Acts 20:28. In this same context we have presbuteroj, e)piskopoj, and poimainw; they are told to feed the sheep, and all three of them are words used in the previous point.

5. The appointment of the pastor is described in 1Corinthians 12:11,28. God the Holy Spirit sovereignly bestows this gift on the pastor-teacher apart from human merit. The appointment of the pastor has nothing to do with the people. No congregation makes a pastor, a pastor makes a congregation. A pastor makes a great congregation by sticking to his job of teaching the Word of God and not allowing any portion or any individual in the congregation to run over him. Ephesians 4:11 — the gift of the pastor-teacher is strictly a gift of the Holy Spirit, not of the individual involved.

6. The principle of the right pastor-teacher, right congregation is taught in 1Peter 5:2. Every believer has a right pastor. Geography is usually the issue but there has to be a right pastor, your right pastor, the one who gets to you with doctrine, the one who causes you to be occupied with the person of Christ because you see who and what He is.

7. The authority of the right pastor is given in Hebrews 13:7,17; 1Thessalonians 5:12. His authority is absolute.

8. The concept of the pastor as the total product of God’s grace is taught in 1Corinthians 15:10; Ephesians 3:7; 1Timothy 1:12-16.

9. The reward of the pastor — Hebrews 6:10; 1Peter 5:4.

10. The biblical documentation for the existence of pastors: Colossians 1:23-29; 1Timothy 2:24-26; 3:1-9; Titus 1:6-9; Ephesians 3:7-13.

A minister is a male believer in a local congregation. As he grows spiritually he becomes aware of the existence inside of him of the residence of a spiritual gift. The spiritual gift was received at salvation. His awareness of the gift is based upon his daily intake of doctrine, the daily function of GAP causes him to become aware of this gift. It is not an emotional thing although certainly he has the right to get emotional about it if he is enjoying what he is doing in life.

“according to the gift” — the preposition kata plus the accusative singular of dwrea which means free gift. Kata is the preposition of norm or standard, so “according to the norm or standard of the gift from the grace of the God.” The gift of pastor-teacher, like all spiritual gifts, is a sovereign gift from the Holy Spirit. As a result it is often like other spiritual gifts. In the Church Age every believer is said to be born again at the moment of salvation and is entered into union with Christ. So not only are we born again spiritually but we are born into the royal family. We are members of the royal priesthood now, we are also members of the royal family and at the return of Jesus Christ we will rule with Him. That is why the Church is called in the Bible the body of Christ here on earth and the bride of Christ in heaven.

“of the grace of God” — the ablative of source of xarij and should be translated “from the grace.” The source of this gift is the source of every blessing to the believer — grace. Plus the genitive of possession of qeoj plus the definite article. This means that God owns grace.

No one ever reaches super-grace status in the Church Age apart from the ministry of the pastor-teacher. The appointment of the pastor-teacher is a grace gift and no male believer has ever earned or deserved this gift. Ministers are not a profession of spiritual giants, they are not supermen, they are recipients of God’s grace like everyone else. So there is no secret to the minister’s success apart from God’s grace and apart from doing his job properly which is study and teach. While the royal priesthood is made up of believer priests in full time Christian service there are relatively few who have the gift of pastor-teacher. God the Holy Spirit only distributes enough to keep people in doctrine in every generation. Because some generations are so negative there are often pastor-teachers who are really not functioning as such. But this is not their fault, it is the fault of negative volition in their particular generation. God makes other provisions for those people.

“given” — the aorist passive participle of didomi. This is the normal word for giving and this is a culminative aorist, it views the events in entirety but emphasises the existing results. The aorist participle usually has antecedent action and here we have antecedent action to the main verb, “I have become a minister.” First of all came the spiritual gift, then he became a minister. The gift precedes the ministry. The gift is the commission for the ministry. No commission, no ministry.

“unto me” — dative singular of the personal pronoun e)gw. E)gw is used for a personal pronoun, it is also used for self-consciousness of the soul. This is the dative of indirect object which indicates the one in whose interest the action of the verb is performed. It is in the interest of Paul that before he ever tried to communicate doctrine he had the gift of pastor-teacher. This is also a dative of possession in that Paul possesses the spiritual gift.

“by the effectual working” is a prepositional phrase, kata plus e)nergeia — “according to the operational function.”

“of his power” — genitive singular from dunamij and it refers to inherent power. It actually refers to the omniscience of God.

Translation: “Of which I have become a minister, according to the gift from God’s grace having been given to me according to the operational function of his omnipotence.”

The first thing we notice of importance in this passage is the gift from God’s grace. All the way through Ephesians we have noticed the concept of grace.

The doctrine of grace

1. Definition. Grace is all that God is free to do for man on the basis of the cross. Grace is God’s freedom to express His love to mankind without jeopardising His essence. Grace is both God’s plan and God’s policy for mankind.

2. The concept of grace. Grace depends upon the essence or the character of God, therefore grace depends always on who and what God is and never who and what man is. Grace is what God can do for man and be consistent with His own essence. God can save man and be consistent with His own essence, that is propitiation. Once the person has believed in Christ God can do more than that — super-grace. Under super-grace God’s objective is to keep you in time in order the bless you to the maximum.

3. The issue. The believer must sort out the difference between grace and legalism. Legalism is man’s ability and works intruding into the plan of God. Anything man throws into the plan, if it was accepted by God, would destroy the plan because grace depends on who and what God is. However, the plan of God is neither destroyed nor neutralised by grace because under the concept of grace God is doing the working and grace rejects human energy, human ability, human genius, human talent, human viewpoint ideas of any kind. Man’s works cannot coexist with God’s works and they are therefore mutually exclusive. Man’s plans and God’s plans cannot coexist and the issue is: In your life since you have accepted Christ as saviour, since you have come under the plan called grace, which way are you going? Are you going the way of human works and human ability? Are you going the way of God’s plan? Doctrine in the soul is the only way you can go with God’s plan.

4. Grace, sanctification and the angelic conflict are all related. The greatest thing God can do for a believer is to make him exactly like His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only celebrity of the Church Age. Man was created to resolve the angelic conflict and therefore when the first Adam sinned he sinned through free will. He sinned by the use of his own negative volition. Therefore Jesus Christ, not an angel, had to come to bail him out — Hebrews 2:14-16. In other words, the first Adam lost the victory through the fall and the last Adam won the victory through the cross — Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 2:14. Grace found a way to take man created inferior to angels and make him superior. He does this in three stages of sanctification. Stage one: Positional sanctification. The believer enters into union with Christ after His strategic victory. Believers are in union with Christ, therefore believers are positionally higher than angels — Hebrews 1 & 2. Stage two: The tactical victory which is to GAP it to construct an edification complex and then to enter into the super-grace life. This is called experiential sanctification and the objective is the super-grace life. This is impossible apart from the filling of the Spirit and apart from the communication of Bible doctrine. Stage three: The body of Christ becomes the bride of Christ at the Rapture or the resurrection of the Church. When this takes place the believer will have a resurrection body exactly like that of the Son of God, minus the old sin nature, minus all human good. Therefore we have the third stage when we are exactly like the Son of God and, as members of the royal family, live with Him forever.

5. The entrance factor. Every believer has tasted the grace of God at least once — Hebrews 6:4; 1Peter 2:3. Tasting is a picture of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. The moment of salvation occurs at the point you believe. At that moment God gives you 36 things and you have them forever. This grace package of salvation cannot be canceled either by God or by you. Maximum love frees God to pour out maximum grace, but grace can only find a place to lodge where there is capacity for grace. This capacity comes from the super-grace life. The filling of the Spirit gives the new believer minimal capacity for grace but GAPing it on a daily basis brings him around to maximum. The construction of the ECS further increases capacity for grace but ultimately capacity for grace is tied into the super-grace life. Grace never goes, however, where grace is not wanted. Some will never know the wonderful things that God has for them because they are negative toward Bible doctrine.

6. The occupational hazard. Disorientation to grace in the field of reversionism is the believers greatest occupational hazard — Galatians 5:4; Hebrews 12:15. Reversionism is the great danger to entering into the super-grace life.

7. There is a divine attitude, therefore, in grace. God is constantly waiting to pour out His grace on every believer — Isaiah 30:18,19.

8. The various phases of grace. Grace is divided into phases. Phase one is salvation, it takes a second, long enough to believe in Jesus Christ at which point you receive 36 things from God which you have forever. Phase two is the believer in time. This is where we move to the road of super-grace, the tactical objective. Phase three is eternity, absent from the body, face to face with the Lord. Phase one: Ephesians 2:8,9. Phase two: Grace in prayer — Hebrews 4:16; grace in suffering — 2Corinthians 12:9,10; grace in growth — 2Peter 3:18; grace in stability — 1Peter 5:12; Hebrews 13:9; grace in modus vivendi — the super-grace life, 2Corinthians 1:12; Hebrews 12:28; grace in the production of divine good — 1Corinthians 15:10; 2Corinthians 6:1.

9. The concept of grace and giving — 2Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 4:14-18. Grace orientation is the bona fide motivation and the thought pattern for giving in the Church Age.

10. Grace in suffering — 2Corinthians 12:7-10.

11. The axioms of grace.

a) God is perfect, therefore His plan is perfect.

b) A perfect plan can only originate and function from a perfect God.

c) If man can do anything meritorious in the plan of God it is no longer perfect.

d) A plan is no stronger than its weakest link. For this reason grace excludes all human merit and all human ability. Grace also excludes human good.

e) Legalism and human good is the enemy of grace always.

f) Therefore works of human righteousness have no place in the plan of God.

g) All human good is associated with the greatest of the mental attitude sin of pride.

12. There are three areas of pride which reject grace. This explains Satan’s pride; this explains human pride. This explains why pride is the worst and the most devastating mental attitude sin when it comes to relationship with God.

a) Pride of the believer who rejects the doctrine of eternal security.

b) Pride of the believer who succumbs to pressure in adversity. He thinks his sufferings are greater than God’s grace provision. The answer to him is found in 2Corinthians 12:8-10.

c) Pride of pseudo spirituality, the believer who thinks his human systems are God’s ministry of grace.

13. Grace is related to divine assets — John 1:14,16,17; 1Corinthians 1:4,5; Ephesians 1:6,7.

14. The principle of super-grace is found in James 4:6 where the comparative translated “more grace” is really “greater grace.” He has given us greater grace. Under that concept the humanity of Jesus Christ reached the super-grace life — John 1:14-17. Super-grace believers in phase two are encouraged to move in that direction — Philippians 4, James 4, Ephesians 3, 2Corinthians 12:8-10.

15. The pursuit of grace is our objective. This objective is stated from a corrected translation of Ephesians 1:6 — “Resulting in recognition of glory from the source of his grace, from which he has pursued us with grace in the beloved.”

16. Under super-grace the believer reaps what God sows.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #36

36 08/19/1973 Ephesians 3:7 Doctrine of the ministry (cont.); doctrine of grace

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #37

37 08/19/1973 Ephesians 3:8 Doctrine of supergrace

Verse 8 — “Unto me” is the dative singular from the personal pronoun e)gw. It is the dative of indirect object which indicates the one for whom or in whose interest the action is performed. Very close is the dative of advantage. It is to our advantage to have a pastor-teacher who communicates Bible doctrine so that we can assimilate and reach the super-grace life. Every pastor even has been taught by someone else. There is no such thing in this time as a self-taught pastor, and that means that everyone who reaches super-grace will get there because of a pastor-teacher communicating the Word of God. There is no other way to get there. So this is both dative of indirect object and dative of advantage.

“who am less” — dative of a comparative word e)laxistoteroj which means the very least, less than the least. It describes the apostle Paul perfectly, he is also described as the chief of sinners, the worst man who ever lived before salvation. He is here also described as less than the least even though humanly speaking he was a genius.

“is this grace — h( xarij a)uth, a technical reference here to his super-grace. It refers to every type of grace he received. First of all, the spiritual gift of apostleship. Secondly, he was actually the twelfth apostle. “Super-grace” would be a better translation here.

“has been given” — the aorist passive indicative of didomi indicates the fact that the apostle Paul first of all reached super-grace before he tried to lead anyone in that direction. Didomi is in the aorist tense, it is a culminative aorist which views an event such as super-grace in its entirety. It views every time that Paul studied the Word, took in doctrine, until he himself reached super-grace. No pastor can lead people to super-grace unless he is there himself. The passive voice: Paul is the recipient of super-grace blessings in the realm of doctrine. The indicate mood is declarative which represents the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality. This is the mood of unqualified assertion. The verb is compatible with the principle of grace. Paul cannot earn or deserve anything, he has arrived at his objective, super-grace, before he tries to lead anyone in that direction.

“that” — used here to express an infinitive of purpose. Once he himself has assimilated enough doctrine to teach the super-grace life then he makes an issue out of it.

“I should preach” — aorist active infinitive of e)uaggelizw, translated many times “preach” but there is no such word actually. It means to communicate information which is of the best possible news. In other words, the super-grace life is good news for every member of the royal priesthood. You are a member of royalty, you are in the royal family because you live in the dispensation of the Church. The objective of your life is to live like royalty and the blessings of heaven are yours in time. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes Paul’s teaching ministry and regardless of extent or duration gathers it up into one entirety. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb by communicating doctrine. The infinitive is a telic infinitive, it denotes a purpose. It is Paul’s job to communicate the super-grace life.

“among the Gentiles” — the locative plural of sphere of the noun e)qnoj.

“the unsearchable” — Bible doctrine can never be classified as unsearchable. This is a compound adjective, a)necxanistoj. This word means inexhaustable, incalculable, unlimited. It is a reference to the super-grace life. This means that there is something ahead for each believer. First of all, it is inexhaustable — spiritual blessing; incalculable — materialistic blessing; unlimited — there is no end to what God can do for a super-grace believer.

The doctrine of the super-grace life

1. Definition. Super-grace is the final stage of spiritual growth in the Christian life. It is the stage beyond the construction of the ECS. It is the ultimate in spiritual achievement and it is the normal area for the function of the royal priesthood. The nomenclature for this term “super-grace” is taken from James 4:6 where the word “more grace” is really “greater grace.”

2. Characteristics. The super-grace life is characterised by the analogy of a cup running over — Psalm 23:5,6; 16:5. The cup is super-grace capacity. There are actually three basic characteristics: occupation with the person of Christ which comes from the construction of the ECS; the super-grace capacity which is doctrine in the soul; the pouring of super-grace blessing. The cup is super-grace capacity through Bible doctrine taken in the soul, the pouring is God providing the super-grace blessings. The believer reaps what God sows in eternity past.

3. The related categories of grace — four:

a) Salvation grace (phase one) — everything the Trinity has done to save man. There is non-meritorious involvement by the believer, it is faith in Jesus Christ which is the way of salvation. The salvation grace involves the strategic victory in the angelic conflict as well — Hebrews 2:14; Colossians 2:14,15.

b) Living grace (phase two) — everything that God does to keep you alive as a believer to give the opportunity of going to the super-grace life. There is no involvement by the believer since this is a matter of the sovereignty of God.

c) Super-grace — maximum growth resulting in occupation with Christ and God providing certain blessings. The involvement: non-meritorious volition expressed by the daily function of GAP, positive volition toward Bible doctrine. This time it is an attitude toward the written Word.

d) Surpassing grace (phase three) — called “the exceeding riches of his grace” in Ephesians 2:7. This is all that God will do for us in eternity. No volition is involved since the angelic conflict by that time has been terminated.

4. Illustrations of the super-grace life.

Abraham had super-grace, which means he had wealth, success, spiritual blessings. But there is one key in each illustration — super-grace sexual prosperity from which came a new race and many Gentile nations in the case of Abraham.

Joseph is a picture of super-grace promotion and prosperity with emphasis on ruling and blessing a Gentile empire which received its peak blessing under the administration of Joseph as Prime Minister. The key in Joseph’s case was a phenomenal administrative ability over an empire.

Moses is a picture of super-grace leadership making him the father of the Jewish nation.

David was so blessed of God in so many way that it would be hard to select a key were it not for the fact that up to this moment David is the greatest king who ever lived, and will be until the Lord Jesus Christ returns to break that record. So again, David had super-grace leadership but he also had everything else, the whole realm of super-grace blessings.

Isaiah in the realm of Bible doctrine represents the greatest information and knowledge over more subjects of doctrine of anyone in the Old Testament. Isaiah comes closer to representing the whole realm of doctrine as the apostle Paul does in the New Testament. He was the greatest prophet and greatest Bible teacher during the time of Israel’s kingdom.

Jeremiah is little different. He did not have all of the super-grace blessings that the others had. He represents super-grace blessings when one is in old age, super-grace blessings in time of national disaster, greatness under pressure.

Daniel represents super-grace blessing and promotion outside of the land.

5. The promotion of super-grace. Super-grace always means promotion — Psalm 84. The super-grace believer is God’s man for the crisis — 1Samuel 17. Promotion comes at the point of super-grace.

6. The love problem in super-grace.

a) God loves every believer with a maximum love because of propitiation.

b) However, the believer does not love God until he knows Him.

c) No believer gets to know God apart from the consistent intake of Bible doctrine.

d) This means that the believer’s love varies according to the amount of doctrine in his soul.

e) The super-grace believer does love God. He has the capacity to love God, the ability to love God, from doctrine in the soul. Romans 8:28; Ephesians 3:19; 1John 4:19.

7. The role of happiness in super-grace.

a) The key to super-grace is happiness or God’s +H given to the believer at that point.

b) Therefore the super-grace life is characterised by the happiness spectrum — all realms of happiness are found between ecstatics and tranquillity.

c) The same doctrine which provides +H provides the super-grace life.

d) The top floor of the ECS is the beginning of the super-grace life — Philippians 4:4; 1Thessalonians 5:16.

e) The fulfillment of +H through doctrine is the entrance into the super-grace life — 1John 1:4.

8. The reality of the celebrityship of Jesus Christ. Remember that super-grace is so wonderful because for the first time the believer is occupied with the person of Jesus Christ. He understands who and what Christ is.

9. Areas of super-grace capacity.

a) Capacity for freedom. This comes from Bible doctrine — Romans 8:21; 2Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 5:1; James 1:25-2:12.

b) Capacity for life — 1Samuel 17:47.

c) Capacity for love: Category #1, toward God — Deuteronomy 6:6; 30:20; Category #2, — Song of Solomon 8:7; Category #3 — 2Samuel 1:26.

d) Capacity for happiness — Psalm 9:1,2; 21:1; 31:7; 43:4; 97:12; John 17:13; 1John 1:4.

e) Capacity for suffering. This means we are always on top of any suffering that comes our way when we are in the super-grace life — 2Corinthians 12:7-10.

“riches of Christ” — the word “riches” is the noun ploutoj. It means not simply financial wealth, it means wealth of other types — wealth in land, wealth in possession materialistic things as well as money. It is used for the fact that God owns all the money trees, provides all of the promotion, provides all of the wealth, all of the materialistic things of life for the believer; plus the genitive singular of possession of Xristoj. In other words, this belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is super-grace benefit. Also with it is the definite article which indicates that Jesus Christ is the key because it is what Jesus Christ thinks that is the Bible doctrine of the mystery found in the New Testament epistles.

Translation: “To me, the very least of all the saints, this super-grace blessing has been given to communicate to the Gentiles the inexhaustible [incalculable, unlimited, infinite] riches of the Christ.”

Summary

1. Here is the sum total of super-grace blessing provided in eternity past for every believer. God provides for every believer super-grace blessings.

2. This blessing can only be acquired through Bible doctrine in the soul. That means the function of GAP, that means you have to have a right pastor, that means you have to be under the ministry of that right pastor consistently.

3. It is impossible to love Jesus Christ unless you know Him.

4. It is one thing to be saved by believing in Christ but it is an entirely different matter to love the one who saved you.

5. This love for Christ comes the same way as super-grace blessing — through the daily intake of Bible doctrine through GAP.

6. Paul has been blessed with super-grace status — reached through doctrine.

7. Therefore it is his responsibility ( having a spiritual gift compatible) to communicate this doctrine to the royal priesthood so that they, too, can reach the inexhaustible riches of Christ.

8. The function of Paul’s ministry is to teach doctrine so that believers of the royal priesthood can reach super-grace status.

We move now to the dispensational orientation of the ministry.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #38

38 08/20/1973 Ephesians 3:9–10 Doctrine of the heavenlies

Verse 9 — “And” is a transitional or continuative use of the conjunction kai. The second purpose is now given for the ministry, the first being to bring the believer to the super-grace status and the normal function of the royal priesthood. The second purpose is to orient the believer to the uniqueness of the Church Age and the resultant intensification of the angelic conflict. The two purposes are related but they are separated in the context.

“all men” is not found in the original. It simply says “And to make see,” the aorist active infinitive of fwtizw. This word means to bring to light or to make known. We translate this, “And to shed light on.” The aorist tense of fwtizw is a constative aorist which contemplates Paul’s teaching of the dispensations in its entirety. It gathers all the teaching of dispensations into one whole. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb through teaching and bringing to light the various facets of the mystery dispensation which is the Church Age, which is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. The infinitive expresses Paul’s purpose in teaching.

“that” — the interrogative pronoun of direct inquiry is often translated “what is.”

“the fellowship” — incorrect. The word “fellowship” is o)ikonomia which means the dispensation, not fellowship.

“of the mystery” — the descriptive genitive singular from mustherion used to describe doctrine of the Church Age. The dispensation of the mystery is a reference to the Church Age with emphasis on the fact that Church Age truth was not previously revealed to the Old Testament prophets or to the Old Testament saints. Next to doctrine which leads to super-grace status the teaching of dispensations is most important. It helps to orient us to the time in which we live, the circumstances under which we live as members of the royal family on this earth.

“hath been hid” — this is an appositional genitive perfect passive participle of the verb a)pokruptw. The appositional genitive simply indicates that the mystery having been hid is a part of the description of it in the past. The perfect tense is a consummative perfect. This denotes a completed action. Here the action is not on the existing results as we often think of the perfect tense, but simply on the fact that the action has been completed. Therefore the consummative perfect does not emphasise the existing state, it emphasises the process by which the state was completed. Here the process is emphasised, and the process means that up until the time of the Church Age this doctrine was completely hidden from all members of the human race. This doctrine was only known for the first time when it was announced by the Lord Jesus Christ during the upper room discourse where He merely outlined what was to come. The detailed announcement was given by the apostle Paul. The doctrine of the mystery in past dispensations was concealed so that no one even had a clue as to what it was all about, and furthermore the Church Age is the only dispensation that comes in as an interruption. The passive voice: the mystery doctrine of the Church Age receives the action of the verb. This is a telic participle which indicates God’s purpose to hide Church Age doctrine until the Church Age interrupts the Age of Israel. It is translated “having been hidden” or “having been concealed.”

“from the beginning of the world” — a)po followed by the ablative plural of a)iwn means “from the ages.” This is the ablative of separation. In other words, the mystery doctrine was separated from all dispensations. We live in the most unique time in all of human history. Uniqueness is normal in the dispensation in which we find ourselves.

“in God” is incorrectly translated. This is not e)n plus the locative, it is e)n plus the instrumental of qeoj. There is also a definite article and it should be translated “by the God.” It is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the creator of all things, according to John 1:3; Hebrews 1:10; Colossians 1:16,17.

“who created” is an aorist active participle. The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist which states an absolute fact of dogmatic doctrine which is axiomatic. Jesus Christ is the creator of everything in the universe that has ever been created. Jesus Christ ordered the concealment of Church Age doctrine until His own incarnation and until as the God-Man in His humanity He Himself revealed this information. In hypostatic union Christ made the first declaration of Church Age doctrine in John chapters 14-17. The active voice: Christ produced the action of the verb which is the creation of all things. The creator of all things is the initial revealer of Church Age doctrine. The participle has antecedent action as an aorist participle, it is antecedent to the main verb which is found in verse 8 — “is given.”

“by Jesus Christ” is not found in the original.

Translation: “And to shed light on what is the dispensation of the mystery, having been hidden from the ages [previous dispensations] by the God, having created the all things.”

Verse 10 — orientation to the angelic conflict. It is the responsibility of the pastor-teacher to orient his right congregation with regard to the angelic conflict.

“To the intent that” — one word in the Greek, the conjunction i(na which introduces a final clause. A final clause always denotes a purpose, an aim, or a goal. It is used with the subjunctive to denote that goal. “In order that” is a better translation.

“now” — the adverb nun indicates the role of the Church Age in the angelic conflict. It is to orient the Church with regard to the angelic conflict.

“unto the principalities and powers” — this does not occur next in the sentence. The verb follows the adverb. We will take up principalities and powers at the point at which they occur. They do not occur at this point.

“might be known” — should be translated “might be made known.” We have an aorist passive subjunctive of gnwrizw. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of God’s wisdom being made known to the fallen angels in its entirety. The passive voice: fallen angels receive the knowledge of God’s wisdom by means of the Church. The subjunctive mood is the potential subjunctive, with i(na, to indicate the aim or goal of hiding Church Age doctrine or mystery doctrine until the church Age began.

Notice: “in order that now might be made known” — there is the omission of any subject. The verb must have a subject. The subject of the verb is found at the end of the verse. It was placed at the end of the verse out of place for emphasis. So whatever the subject that might be made known it is right down at the end of the verse: “the manifold wisdom of God.”

“manifold” is polupoikiloj, a compound adjective [polu = much or many; poikiloj = diversified, variegated].

“wisdom” is the noun sofia which often refers to insight into spiritual things. God is omniscient, He has insight into everything. So this is the total sum of everything that omniscience knows or ever has known or ever will know. Omniscience doesn’t learn anything new.

So far we have: “In order that now the manifold wisdom of the God might be made known.” It has been made known to us through doctrine, but angels are learning it too.

“unto the principalities and powers” — throughout Ephesians this refers to angels. “Principalities” is the dative plural from a)rxh, used for highest rank. It has a number of meanings — “beginning, eternity past which was not a beginning, the greatest eminence or highest authority.” Here it is used of the highest authority in connection with fallen angels. It refers to demon general officers. The dative plural of “powers” from the word e)cousia means “authority.” It is used for commissioned officers. The two categories together constitute the entire demon leadership under the command of Satan. Both are datives of disadvantage. The demon generals and commissioned officers are on the losing side in the angelic conflict.

“in heavenly places” is e)n plus the locative of e)pouranioj which means “heavenlies” and it should be translated “in the heavenlies.”

The doctrine of the heavenlies

1. “The heavenlies” — e)pouranioj — refers to the third heaven, the abode of God; the courtroom of heaven, the place of trying the case called the angelic conflict. Satan’s case was tried in heaven. The third heaven is the place of angelic convocation and that means that the angelic conflict not only occurs on this earth — this is the battleground — but it also occurs in heaven as well.

2. The use of “heavenlies” in Ephesians.

a) It is the sphere of divine blessing — Ephesians 1:3.

b) It is the sphere of strategic victory of Christ in the angelic conflict — Ephesians 1:20.

c) It is the sphere of positional victory for the believer — Ephesians 2:6

d) It is the sphere of angelic judgement — Ephesians 3:10.

e) It is the sphere of the angelic conflict — Ephesians 6:12.

“by the church” — dia plus the genitive singular of e)kklhsia should be translated “through the church.”

Translation: “In order that now [Church Age] the manifold wisdom of the God might be known to demon rulers and authorities in the heavenlies by means of the church.”

Summary

1. Part of the mystery doctrine is the fact that the Church Age with its royal priesthood is the means of resolving the angelic conflict.

2. The Church is used to make known to fallen angels the validity of divine judgement on Satan and his adherents in the angelic realm.

3. The angels learn through the Church that God’s wisdom has many sides.

4. The Church is also an integral part of operation footstool.

5. The Church teaches fallen angels in the future that it will remove them under operation footstool.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #39

39 08/21/1973 Ephesians 3:11–13 Doctrine of glory

Verse 11 — the emphasis of the ministry. “According to the eternal purpose is a prepositional phrase,” kata plus the accusative of proqesij. Proqesij is with the descriptive genitive of a)iwn and altogether this should be translated, “According to a predetermined plan of the ages.” The decrees of God are constructed around dispensations, that is why we have proqesij with the descriptive genitive of a)iwn for the ages or dispensations. The emphasis of the ministry is that God has a plan for your life but you will never understand that plan for your life unless you understand the dispensation in which you live, and unless you understand the doctrine of the mystery you are never going to understand that this is the only dispensation that is an interrupted dispensation. This dispensation broke right in on another dispensation and stopped it. The Age of Israel is an interrupted dispensation. The predetermined plan of God contains all the grace provision for the human race.

“which” — the accusative feminine singular of the relative pronoun o(j. This refers back to proqesij, the predetermined plan.

“he purposed” — aorist active indicative from poiew. Poiew means to do but it has many similar type meanings. For example, it means to accomplish and it means to execute. Here it means to carry out — “he has carried out.” The aorist tense is the culminative aorist, it views the action of the verb in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of the existing results. God has carried out the plan. The doctrine of the mystery actually presents the principles and the mechanics by which the plan is carried out or executed. Grace means God carries out the plan, our part is always a grace response. The active voice: God produces the action of the verb. God the Father is the author of operation grace. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality.

“in Christ Jesus our Lord” — this is how it is accomplished. One thing is added in salvation that was never given in the salvation of any Old Testament saint, nor will it occur in the Tribulation or the Millennium, and that is the baptism of the Spirit.

Translation: “According to a predetermined plan of the ages which he has carried out in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Principle

1. Because of positional sanctification accomplished through the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation every believer is a member of the royal family. This was never true before the day of Pentecost and will never be true after the Rapture.

2. The Lordship of Christ is positional, not experiential. And it is the Lordship of Christ which we have as members of a spiritual nobility that will never die out.

3. Under the Lordship of Christ all believers of this dispensation are in the plan of God.

4. This means that in the eternal decrees there is a super-grace paragraph with your name on it, and it is for time, not for eternity.

5. Therefore at this point all believers are encouraged to go on to super-grace.

Verse 12 — the life of the ministry. This means that the communicator, also being a member of the royal priesthood, having a different spiritual gift, also has a life to live. The principle here is that he is in for more pressure than most.

“In whom” — reference to union with Christ, e)n plus the locative of the relative pronoun o(j which refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.

“we have” — present active indicative of e)xw which means to have and to hold. The static present represents a condition which is assumed as perpetually existing. We always have this status. The active voice: the believer in union with Christ produces the action of the verb. This is for the royal family only. The royal family has access to the palace. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality.

“boldness” — the accusative singular plus the definite article from the noun parrhsia. Parrhsia means outspokenness, frankness, plainness of speech, freedom of speech, courage, confidence, boldness. These meanings are all in relationship to those who have to communicate doctrine. In relationship to God the noun also means happy, confidence or assurance. It should be translated here, “In whom we keep having the confident assurance.” Positional truth provides confident assurance for every royal priest of the Church Age.

“and access” — the accusative singular from prosagwgh [proj = face to face; agwgh = to be led in] which is used for royalty permitted into the presence of the king. To be led in face to face comes to mean access, admission into the presence of the ruler, of royalty. Here it means we have admission into the presence of God. The noun only occurs three times in the New Testament — Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18; 3:12. It is used primarily for having an audience with the king or being in the presence of the king. It can also be translated “entree.”

“with confidence” is e)n plus the locative of pepoiqhsij. This is built upon the perfect tense of poiew. Poiew in the perfect tense means to have confidence, so the noun means confidence. It should be translated “in confidence.” Confidence is a characteristic of royalty — not confidence in the sense if ignorance but confidence in the sense of a strange situation.

“by the faith of him” — dia plus the genitive of pistij which means doctrine here, what is believed. It should be translated “though his doctrine.”

Translation: “In whom [Christ] we have confident assurance and entree in confidence through his doctrine.”

Summary

1. The life of the ministry is Bible doctrine.

2. The purpose of the pastor-teacher is to exegete, analyse, interpret and communicate. In this way the whole realm of doctrine is extracted by analysis from the scripture, put into the soul of the pastor-teacher, so that he is familiar with the palace and then starts to communicate. The faithful teaching of Bible doctrine leads to fulfilling the goal of the ministry. The goal of the ministry is to lead through teaching believers, members of the royal priesthood, to super-grace status.

Verse 13 — “Wherefore” is an inferential conjunction, dio. It should be translated “therefore” or “for this reason.” The inference is derived from the life of the ministry which is communication of Bible doctrine. Doctrinal communication on a consistent basis means a great deal of pressure to the pastor Just communicating doctrine becomes a source of great pressure.

“I desire” — the present middle indicative of a)itew means to ask, to make a request. He asked them something. The present tense is a retroactive progressive present which denotes that which was begun in the past and continues into the present time. Paul has been studying and teaching and it is still going on. Also, this is called the present tense of duration. This could also be construed as an iterate present describing what recurs at consistent successive intervals. The middle voice is an indirect middle which lays stress on the agent as producing the action. In other words, it is like Paul saying, “I myself personally ask you.” The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality.

“that you faint not” — the present active infinitive of e)gkakew. The present tense is an iterative present, it describes that which recurs at successive and consistent intervals, it is the present tense of repeated action. The active voice: believers of the Roman province of Asia were very fond of Paul. This doesn’t have to be but they did love Paul. The infinitive here is an imperative infinitive. He commands them not to be despondent or discouraged, or to despair over his pressures.

“at my tribulations” — this is a prepositional phrase, e)n plus the instrumental of the noun qlipyij. The preposition e)n plus the instrumental means “because of.”

The pressures of a communicator are both normal and abnormal. They range from self-induced misery to the specialised function of the pastor-teacher in the angelic conflict. Normal pressures centre around the concept of constant study and teaching regardless of anything else. The abnormal pressures are related to the fact that the pastor receives double discipline for being out of line. And by virtue of his spiritual gift he is heavily involved in the angelic conflict and therefore there is the principle of double discipline as well.

“for you” — the preposition u(per plus the ablative of the personal pronoun su. It means “on your behalf.” In other words, the pressure Paul is mentioning here is limited to the communicating type. It is dealing with the fact that they are very concerned about the fact that Paul is apparently having a great deal of pressure, having difficulty in study and teaching and continuing a consistent communicating ministry. In the Greek this type of phraseology is idiomatic for Don’t feel sorry for me, don’t have adverse or painful attitudes in your soul because I am undergoing pressure.

“which” is a nominative singular from a qualitative relative pronoun, o(stij; “is” is the present active indicative of e)imi and should be “keep on being.” This is a static present and it represents a quality of pressure which by its very nature is taken for granted as a fact, and Paul lives with it constantly. The active voice: normal and continuous pressures derived from the function of constantly studying and teaching produce the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative.

“your glory” — doca. By that he means they are going to super-grace glory.

Translation: “Therefore I personally ask you not to despair because of my pressures on your behalf, which by their very nature keep on being your glory.”

The doctrine of glory

1. The noun doca means brightness, radiance, splendour, glory, magnificence, fame, renown, honour. In the plural — docai — it is used for both angels and illustrious persons. There is also a verb, docazw, which means to praise, to honour, to glorify, to magnify.

2. The usage of doca.

a) It is used for the essence of God — Deuteronomy 5:24; Psalm 21:5; Romans 3:23; Ephesians 1:17.

b) It is used for the super-grace status of the believer. We have “the glory of his grace” — Ephesians 1:6; “the riches of his glory” — Ephesians 1:18; 3:16; 4:19; Colossians 1:27, referring to the super-grace life; “full of glory” — 1Peter 1:8.

c) It is used in the right man, right woman relationship. It is used of the right woman, she is the glory of her right man — 1Corinthians 11:7,15.

d) It is used for the indwelling of Jesus Christ and is related to the super-grace life because Christ indwells all super-grace believers — Colossians 1:17.

e) It is used to describe the wonders of the universe — 1Corinthians 15:40,41.

f) It is used to describe the believer’s resurrection body — 1Corinthians 15:43; 2Thessalonians 2:14.

g) It is used to describe heaven and eternal life — 1Timothy 3:16; 1Peter 5:10; 2Peter 1:3.

h) It is used to describe the strategic victory of operation footstool — Hebrews 2:10.

i) It is used for a description of human glamour — 1Peter 1:24; Philippians 3:19.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #40

40 08/22/1973 Ephesians 3:14–15 Doctrine and concept of prayer, intercession

Verses 14 and 15 indicate that we are actually beginning an apostolic prayer.

Verse 14 — “For this cause” is a repetition of the Greek idiom which we saw in the first verse, Toutou xarin, and idiom which means “For this reason.” Since the idiom was first used in verse one when Paul was about to begin his apostolic prayer it actually becomes an idiom of interruption, and idiom of postponement. In verse 1 Paul postponed his prayer to brief us on the doctrine of the mystery and the doctrine of the ministry. The digression has been completed, the subject now resumes. The postponed prayer of verse 1 now begins.

“I bow” — present active indicative of kamptw. The word means to bow and should be, as it were, the posture of the priesthood. One of the functions of the priesthood is the proper use of prayer. Bowing represents the concept of prayer. The concept of prayer is true principle of humility. Humility is an objective recognition of the greatness of someone outside of one’s self and a true orientation to that greatness. One of the most basic principles of prayer is the principle of humility. God is everything, we are nothing. We address prayers to Him because He is totally capable and we are incapable. This is the iterative present tense, it describes what recurs at successive intervals. It is known as the present tense of repeated action. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb as his second apostolic prayer. The principle is important. Many people think you have to get on your knees to pray but that is ridiculous. You do not have to get on your knees. Prayer requires concentration. Posture is not important.

“unto the Father” — proj plus the accusative of pathr should be translated “face to face with the Father” because prayer puts you face to face with the Father. The posture is not necessary for effective prayer. Paul really here is not writing with his knees bowed, he is dramatising the importance of doctrine in effective prayer function. God the Father is the only recipient of prayer from the royal priesthood. The phrase “of our Lord Jesus Christ” is not found in the original.

Verse 15 — “Of whom” is the preposition e)k plus the ablative of o(j, whose antecedent is God the Father. It should be translated “From whom.”

“the whole family” — the nominative singular of paj plus the nominative singular of patria. The whole family refers to the royal family, it does not refer to the family of God in previous dispensations. This should be “the entire royal family.”

The paronomasia

1. A paronomasia is a literary word for a pun. This paronomasia is developed from two words. In the previous verse, “Face to face with the Father [pathr].” Then the word “family [patria].”

2. This is the paronomasia of spiritual descent based upon regeneration. However, our spiritual descent is royalty. This is the only dispensation in which there is royalty in the family of God. 3. We are the patria; the first person of the Trinity is the pathr.

4. The entire human race is not the family of God, only those who are born again, and in this dispensation, royal family.

5. To be born again one must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the only saviour — John 3:1-18, 36; Galatians 3:26; John 20:31.

6. We are also distinguished from other members of the family of God in that we are royalty.

7. Pathr communicates to patria through Bible doctrine; we communicate with Him through prayer.

8. Our daily relationship with Pathr is based upon the daily function of GAP, not on prayer. Prayer is a result of the relationship. The daily function of GAP makes prayer, witnessing, and all other production effective. We must know Him before we try to communicate with Him. You must know the person with whom you are communicating before you seek to communicate with Him in prayer.

“in heaven” — the preposition e)n plus the locative plural of o)uranoj. There is no definite article. This emphasises th qualitative aspect of the noun. In other words, heaven is a marvellous, perfect place.

“and earth” — it should be “and on the earth” because there is a preposition after “and,” e)pi plus the genitive of gh. It refers to the royal priesthood still alive on planet earth, the devil’s world. It is only the ones on earth that He communicates with through doctrine.

“is name” — the present passive indicative of o)namazw means to derive a name. The present tense is retroactive progressive present denoting that which was begun in the past and continues into the present. The passive voice indicates the derivation of the name. The first person of the Trinity is Pathr and He gives His name [patria] to the royal family only. The indicative mood is a declarative indicative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality and certainty.

Translation: “Our from the source of whom the entire family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”

The doctrine of prayer

1. There are three categories of prayer received by God the Father:

a) Prayer from the high priest. The royal high priest is Jesus Christ, and right now at the right hand of the Father he offers prayer — Hebrews 7:25.

b) Prayer is from God the Holy Spirit. This is the age of the royal priesthood, the royal family. We are members of the body of Christ, Christ is royalty, we are one with Him, we are royalty spiritually. Therefore God the Holy Spirit does something in this dispensation He has never done before and will never do again, He offers prayer on our behalf. Romans 8:26,27.

c) Prayer is always addressed to God the Father.

2. Prayer approach for the royal priesthood.

a) All prayer is addressed to the Father — Matthew 6:9; Ephesians 3:14; 1Peter 1:17.b) The channel of approach is through the high priest — John 14:13,14.

c) The power of approach is the filling of the Holy Spirit — Ephesians 6:18.

3. Extrapolation of prayer promises.

Prayer is related to the faith-rest technique — Matthew 18:19; 21:22; Mark 11:24. Prayer promises are to give you confidence as you approach the Father in the name of the Son in the power of the Spirit. OT promises — Psalm 116:1,2; Isaiah 65:24; Jeremiah 33:3. NT promises — Matthew 7:7,8; John 14:13,14; 15:7; Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 4:6; 1Thessalonians 5:17; Hebrews 4:16.

4. There are eight basic principles of prayer.

a) Prayer effectiveness depends on the consistent function of GAP and resultant Bible doctrine in the soul. John 15:7; Ephesians 3:16-19.

b) Prayer is an extension of the faith-rest technique. It is actually a faith-rest exhale toward God — Matthew 21:22.

c) Prayer demands cognisance of the will of God and therefore demands maximum doctrine in the soul through GAP — 1John 5:14.

d) Generally prayer must be offered in the spiritual status of the filling of the Spirit — Ephesians 6:18. The exception is a rebound prayer for a carnal believer or a repentance prayer for a reversionist.

d) Mental attitude sins result from both carnality and reversionism and these destroy the effectiveness of prayer — Psalm 66:18.

e) Efficacious prayer exists to the extent that the believer is grace oriented. Therefore the believer begins to be effective when he begins the construction of the ECS.

f) The eternal decrees took cognisance of all effective prayer in time.

g) Prayer effectiveness reaches its zenith at the time of super-grace status — Psalm 116:1,2.

5. The agenda for private prayer. Confession of sin or rebound — 1John 1:9; 1Corinthians 11:31; Thanksgiving — Ephesians 5:20; 1Thessalonians 5:18; Intercession — Ephesians 6:18; Petition — Hebrews 4:16.

6. The doctrine of intercession.

a) The dynamics of intercessory prayer is taught in passages like 1 Kings 18:42-46, the principle being found in James 5:16-18.

b) The power of prevailing prayer — Acts 12.

c) The prayer for the unbeliever — Romans 10:1. (You cannot pray for something that will coerce their volition, so you pray that the gospel message will be made clear to them, will be revealed to them)

d) Prayer for an unknown believer — Colossians 1:3-11.

e) Prayer for the known believer — Ephesians 1:15-23.

g) The Lord’s prayer — John 17.

7. There are four categories for petition in prayer.

a) 1Samuel 8:5-9, 19,20. The prayer petition was a simple one, they wanted a king. That was their desire. The petition was answered but the desire to be like other nations was not, they were in a jamb all the time.

b) The petition is not answered but the desire is — Genesis 17:18; 18:23-33; 2Corinthians 12:17-10.

c) The ideal one where the petition is answered and the desire is answered — 1 Kings 18:36,37; Judges 16:28; Luke 23:42,43: John 11:41,42,45.

8. Nine reasons why prayer is not answered.

a) Carnality or reversionism, or both, causing failure to be controlled by the Holy Spirit — Ephesians 6:18.

b) Mental attitude sins caused by either carnality or reversionism — Psalm 66:18.

c) A specific Satanic sin of pride and a resultant self-righteous state — Job 35:12,13.

d) A lust type selfishness — James 4:2-4.

e) Malfunction or failure of faith-rest — Mark 11:24.

f) A general lack of obedience or subordination to God’s will — 1John 3:22.

g) Insubordination to the known will of God — 1John 5:14.

h) Malfunction of marriage, lack of domestic tranquillity — 1Peter 3:7.

i) Reversionistic lack of compassion and grace orientation — Proverbs 21:13.

9. Principles of grace in prayer

a) Principle — Hebrews 4:16; 1Peter 1:7.

b) Prayer is the privilege of the royal priesthood. Since grace is the basis of prayer no believer can come to God in prayer and expect to be heard on the basis of human merit, human ability, human function, human ingenuity.

c) Every believer approaches God in prayer on the basis of the merit of Jesus Christ, or the Father is propitiated with Christ but is no respecter of persons as far as believers are concerned.

d) In other words, God does not hear and answer prayer because I am good, moral, benevolent, sincere or religious.

e) God hears and answers prayer on the basis of who and what Christ is. Every believer is in union with Christ and gets through to the throne of grace on the basis of approach through the high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The doctrine of GAP

1. GAP stands for grace apparatus for perception. it is a grace system whereby God has made it possible for all believers to learn doctrine and advance tactically to the super-grace status. Consequently it is the divine provision for spiritual growth and advancement. God has found a way for every believer regardless of his IQ, his educational background or his natural perspicacity, to understand and assimilate Bible doctrine. So GAP stands for learning doctrine, knowledge of doctrine, the assimilation of doctrine into the soul.

2. There is a distinction between the human and the spiritual IQ. Spiritual IQ is determined by the amount of doctrine, the amount of e)pignwsij, stored in the human spirit and in the right lobe — Colossians 1:9.

3. The exclusion of human IQ from GAP — 1Corinthians 1:9-2:16.

a) Human IQ has often been considered a factor in learning doctrine.

b) This is a false statement, it would imply that a low IQ believer is handicapped in the perception of God’s Word. God never allows under grace human handicaps to keep a person from learning the Word.

c) However, in eternity past God found a way through grace for every believer, regardless of human ability of human handicap, to learn doctrine.

d) For this reason every believer receives at salvation the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and a human spirit is attached to his soul. The Holy Spirit is given primarily to indicate royalty in the family of God. The food of royalty is Bible doctrine, the sign of royalty is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the means of royalty is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

4. Receptive comprehension.

a) The believer’s soul possesses mentality. Mentality is divided into two frontal lobes.b) The left lobe is called nouj. It is designed to assimilate objective information. Knowledge or objective information in the nouj is called gnwsij.

c) However gnwsij cannot be applied to experience. This means that the left lobe is a staging area in learning doctrine.

d) The residence of doctrine in the perceptive lobe makes the believer a hearer of the Word but not a doer of the Word — James 1:21-25.

e) The thinking of the left lobe is called noew, the simple verb for thinking.

f) There are two kinds of thinking in the left lobe. When doctrine goes into the mind it is called gnwsij. There is firstly objective type thinking which is called fronew. Sometimes we have subjective thinking which is dokew.

g) All of this is receptive comprehension — understanding different types of data.

h) Receptive comprehension involves the following factors: a) attendance at a local church (which is a classroom when it functions properly); b) the ministry of God the Holy Spirit converting the content of what is communicated into receptive comprehension. As the pastor communicates the information goes into the left lobe, the vouj, and if you are filled with the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit converts this to gnwsij. If you start to think about this gnwsij you are going to come up with either frwnew or dokew — are you going to think about it objectively or subjectively. If you think about it subjectively it dies right there. If you think about it objectively you are now in a position to move it on into the staging area of the human spirit. The residence of doctrinal data in the left lobe is only s staging area.

i) It must be remembered that gnwsij can exist to a large degree in the left lobe of any believer without spiritual benefit. Remembering that this is a staging area it must be moved on to be beneficial. Doctrine in the left lobe is not beneficial if it stays there.

j) However, gnwsij has no spiritual benefit nor application of divine viewpoint to this life.

5. Grace provision for learning doctrine.

a) The first grace provision is the formation and preservation of the canon of scripture.

b) We have divine authorisation of the local church as the classroom for learning that doctrine. All worship is centered around learning doctrine. The believer assembled in the local church is a student without portfolio under strict academic discipline under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

c) The spiritual gift of pastor-teacher is also a grace provision. This spiritual gift has both authority and ability to communicate doctrine in the local church. God sovereignly bestows this gift at the point of salvation. The gift is restricted to males only and the function of the gift in communication is by monologue.

d) The royal priesthood of the believer makes each believer a member of the royal family and therefore he has extreme privacy and freedom to receive and reject doctrine, and privacy and freedom if he is positive to take it in without interference. The royalty of the priesthood demands that the believer through doctrine also achieve the status of royalty which is the super-grace life.

e) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit for the function of GAP. GAP runs on the ministry of God the Holy Spirit — 1Corinthians 2:9-16.

f) However the believer must be filled with the Spirit for GAP to be effective. Therefore the grace provision of the rebound technique.

g) The provision of the human spirit as the second target of GAP. The first target is the left lobe, the second in the human spirit — Job 32:8; 1Corinthians 2:12.

h) The provision of the laws of establishment whereby a nation’s freedom and privacy is protected by these divine laws.

i) The anatomy of grace whereby certain non-meritorious functions of the human body provide the ability to think and concentrate; they are strictly grace provision.

6. The mechanics of GAP.

Stage one is operation ICE. I is for isagogics; C is for categories; E is for exegesis. The pastor communicates doctrine to the local church under the concept of the Greek verb didaskw. It means one person is communicating to a group. The system is monologue, no dialogue. We also have the word khrussw which means to announce something of great importance as the heralds of the king. Didaskw means to teach doctrine, one person teaching to a group.

The content is where we get ICE. First of all is isagogics which means the interpretation of the Bible within the framework of its historical setting. The Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written. For that reason isagogics demand that we reproduced the historical backgrounds and customs of the people, and these can be determined of etymology and extant literature, and so on.

Secondly, the categorical teaching is based upon a hermeneutical principle of comparing scripture with scripture to determine the classification of doctrine. Categories simply take a doctrine which is located in a passage and relate it to all the other passages dealing with the same doctrine. Exegesis is the analysis of each verse in its context, emphasising its grammar, its syntax, the etymology of the words in the original languages.

Stage two occurs simultaneously if and when believers concentrate on what is being taught. This is operation gnwsij. It is, in effect, the same as receptive comprehension. Based on objective perception of doctrine by listening we have doctrine coming into the left lobe and it is assimilated under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. Prerequisites include positive volition toward doctrine, recognition of the authority of the pastor-teacher, good manners when in the assembly, poise, concentration and alertness. All of these must be accomplished through the filling of the Spirit plus certain other factors. Receptive comprehension does not mean that you agree or disagree with what is taught, it means you merely understand it.

Stage three is operation e)pignwsij. This is the important part of the assimilation of doctrine. This is where doctrine becomes usable. Under operation e)pignwsij doctrine is converted from gnwsij and it goes down into the human spirit. Volition comes into action. Volition is non-meritorious, so volition is really faith-rest. You actually believe what is residing in the nouj and the moment you believe it you transfer it down into the human spirit where it become e)pignwsij. The converter is non-meritorious. Doctrine is not applicable or usable to you personally until you convert it from gnwsij to e)pignwsij, and this is accomplished in compatibility with the concept of grace and that means you convert it by means of faith-rest. Negative volition locks it up in the left lobe. Positive volition transfers it to the human spirit where it is usable.

The moment that e)pignwsij hits the human spirit it begins to go into action. First of all there is the heart or the right lobe, the second lobe in the mentality of the soul. A vacuum comes out of the frame of reference into the human spirit and sucks e)pignwsij up into the frame of reference. E)pignowsij also begins to become building material for the construction of the ECS. So there aretwo actions of e)pignwsij. Immediately it is sucked into the right lobe and it begins to work on the ECS.

Stage four is operation heart.

a) The heart is the right lobe made up of a frame of reference, a memory centre, an area for vocabulary storage, an area for categorical storage, the conscience of the soul [norms and standards], and it has a launching pad. The right lobe is called kardia or heart. In the Bible kardia is never used for the physiological part of the body called the heart that circulates the blood, it is always used for the right lobe.

b) The essence of the right lobe. The frame of reference has in it a vacuum pump and that pulls e)pignwsij up from the human spirit into the frame of reference. Now it starts to be processed. The memory centre does the processing. It immediately sends anything off to vocabulary that must go there which isn’t there already. To learn doctrine you must have a technical vocabulary. The vocabulary will eventually become paragraphs and paragraphs will become chapters and chapters will become books. So there must also be categories. As you are able to put together the technicalities of theological vocabulary and to categories them your norms and standards begin to change and begin to comply with divine norms and standards. All of these have lines going out to the launching pad and every correct application you make in all of your life you will make on the basis of the frame of reference, on the basis of recalling from your categories, from your conscience, information. And doctrine on the launching pad is the dynamics of the Christian way of life. In other words, what you think is what counts. As a man thinketh in his right lobe, so he is. The real you is what goes on in your right lobe.

c) The heart or kardia is the dominant lobe of the soul. It is also the right man as far as the emotion is concerned. The emotion is designed to respond to what is in the right lobe — what is in the frame of reference, what is out on the launching pad, the vocabulary, the categories, every part of the right lobe. So the heart becomes the right man, the emotion becomes the right woman. In effect, emotion does not think, it responds to what you think in your right lobe. When emotion dominates the soul you stop thinking.

d) The storage of doctrine in the right lobe is called sofia or wisdom. When you utilise sofia that is distributed to the memory centre it is called sunhsij which is often correctly translated “discernment.”

e) The heart is the right man of the soul.

f) The emotion is the right woman of the soul designed to respond to what resides in the heart, it does not thinking.

g) Once again the word “heart” must never be confused with emotion. The heart is the thinking part of the soul in the Bible.

7. The function of the frame of reference.

a) It is the basis for comprehension of more advanced doctrine when such doctrine is taught.

b) It establishes a new conscience which is compatible with God’s norms and standards.

c) It forms divine viewpoint dynamics (the same as bringing every though into captivity for Christ).

d) It deals with problems of the subconscious and handles the guilt complex.

e) It provides an alarm system to detect and protect false doctrine and false teaching.

f) It provides soul capacity and discernment to detect right man or right woman.

g) It provides the furniture of the soul whereby God is able to share His happiness with the believer.

h) It provides the basis for the production of divine good.

i) It causes the proper function of the priesthood until the believer reaches super-grace, and then continues to cause the proper function of the priesthood.

8. The results of GAP.

a) GAP removes scar tissue from the soul and makes it possible for reversion recovery.

b) It is the basis for construction of the ECS which is necessary for super-grace.

c) It provides attainment of super-grace status which produces occupation with the person of Christ, super-grace capacity, and super-grace blessings.

d) It provides the basis for maximum production of divine good.

e) It glorifies God in this stage of the angelic conflict.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #41

41 08/23/1973 Ephesians 3:16 Doctrine of GAP (Grace Apparatus for Perception)

Verse 16 — the purpose of GAP. “That” is the conjunction i(na plus the subjunctive which introduces a final clause. A final clause denotes either a purpose, aim, or goal. It should be translated “In order that.”

“he would grant” — aorist active subjunctive of didomi which means to give, “grant” is simply an old English word for giving in the past tense. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist which views the action of the verb in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of its existing results. The existing result of GAPing it consistently is the super-grace status. The active voice: God the Father gives us super-grace status as a result of the intake of doctrine on a grace basis. The subjunctive mood is potential, it implies a future reference qualified by the element of contingency. The element of contingency is the daily function of GAP. If you don’t take it in daily you will never reach super-grace, you will never know the super-grace blessing.

“you” is the dative plural from the personal pronoun su. The dative of indirect object indicates the one in whose interest the action of the verb is performed and it also becomes a dative of advantage. In other words, “In order that he might give you” — it is for your benefit, for your advantage, that God has provided in eternity past a super-grace paragraph with super-grace listed for you. Again, the subjunctive is very important. God does not give what is here apart from the daily function of GAP.

“according to the riches of his glory” — the preposition kata plus the accusative of ploutoj. Ploutoj is something that most believers cannot understand. It is very simple. Ploutoj means that the source of all money and wealth and materialistic things is God, that God has limitless supplies that He is trying to give away but there is no place for it to go in the royal family. This is because the only members of the royal family who receive theses things are those who have capacity. Super-grace capacity is preceded by occupation with the person of Christ. Ploutoj does not have any spiritual connotation. The super-grace life is filled with spiritual blessings. A super-grace believer is going to have prosperity in those things which are related to time, those things in the devil’s world that are considered to be a blessing. It includes wealth and promotion and success and materialistic things. In other words, the principle here is that God has these things to give and He does so as a part of the tactical victory of the angelic conflict. It is related to the spiritual conflict and it is related to spiritual victory when God can actually pour into someone’s cup these things. Ploutoj refers to the materialistic blessings. The point is that God wants to bless you with materialistic things in time. But these materialistic things would be meaningless without the capacity to enjoy them and the capacity to enjoy them is the spiritual factor of super-grace. The spiritual factor in super-grace has to do with occupation with the person of Jesus Christ, with the capacity for life. These are related to Bible doctrine. The more doctrine you take in the greater becomes your capacity for life and the greater your capacity for life the more God is going to pour. God is glorified in pouring. “In order that he might give you according to the standard of his riches.”

“of his glory” is a descriptive genitive singular of doca. It refers here to the essence of God. God by His essence is perfect, eternal. Everything in the essence of God smacks of wealth, success, prosperity, royalty, greatness. There is nothing in the essence of God that talks of poverty, being down at the heels, running around in rags, begging, whining, complaining. And we are members of the royal family and God does not intend for us to act like peons. We are not here to imitate the kooks! There is suffering, but suffering in super-grace is a breeze. But we are living today with the fact that most believers are living with a defeatist attitude, human viewpoint attitude, that somehow it is spiritual to be down at the heels, to be without fun, to be broke all the time. It is going to happen from time to time but that is not the normal function of the super-grace life. The super-grace life is related to great spiritual assets followed by materialistic assets. With whom can God trust with materialistic blessings? Those who have the spiritual capacity for them — and He does. God is glorified, by the way, when God pours; and so the word “glory” here refers to the fact that the capacity in the soul is super-grace capacity which is maximum doctrine. So God starts pouring and the one who pours gets the glory. It is the host who gets the credit, not the one standing there with the cup in his hand.

Summary

1. The standard for providing super-grace blessings is the attainment of the super-grace status.

2. This is accomplished through a consistent daily intake of doctrine through GAP.

3. Therefore the purpose of GAP is to advance the believer to the tactical victory of the super-grace life.

4. God has provided the grace apparatus for maximum provision of grace benefits in the devil’s world.

5. Doctrine in the soul provides the capacity for super-grace blessings.

6. Super-grace blessings could never be enjoyed apart from occupation with the person of Christ and doctrinal capacity of the soul. These blessings include wealth, success, promotion, prosperity, happiness, and they are not generally associated with spiritual things or spiritual phenomena. But in the super-grace frame of reference these things are the result of spiritual phenomena. While they do not have a connotation of spiritual phenomena they are related to spiritual phenomena through the consistent intake of Bible doctrine.

7. Since the devil’s world does not give a frame of reference for the enjoyment of these things God provides a frame of reference in the heart or the right lobe of the soul.

8. This frame of reference filled to the maximum with doctrine provides capacity for every category of super-grace blessing.

9. “In order that He might give you according to the riches of His glory” — the “riches of His glory” is also found in Ephesians 1:18; Philippians 4:19; Colossians 1:27. The standard for divine giving to the believer is the highest possible norm — super-grace. This, by the way, is giving in time.

“to be strengthened” — aorist passive infinitive of krataiow. It actually means to become strong. On the basis of Luke 1:80 and 2:40 it denotes growth in childhood, especially from the standpoint of mental independence. In this passage in Ephesians it denotes spiritual growth to the point of super-grace status. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, it regards the function of GAP in its entirety but emphasises the results of GAP in attaining the super-grace status. The passive voice: the believer through consistent function of GAP receives super-grace status. The infinitive denotes God’s purpose in setting up GAP — so the believers might receive super-grace blessing on a super-grace basis. “with might” — the instrumental singular from the noun dunamij. It refers to inner or inherent power and is consequently a reference to Bible doctrine in both the human spiritual and the heart or right lobe. The instrumental should be translated “by means of power.” Power here is doctrine in the soul.

“by his Spirit” — dia plus the genitive of pneuma. It should be translated “through his Spirit.” There is also an intensive pronoun a)utoj here.

“in the inner man” — the location. Here is the sign of royalty and the means of achieving super-grace all in one phrase. We have the preposition e)ij plus the adverb e)sw plus the accusative of a)nqrwpoj — “with reference to the inner man,” literally.

Translation: “In order that he might give you, according to the riches of his glory, to become strong [advance to super-grace] by means of power [doctrine in the soul] through his Spirit [Holy Spirit] with reference to the inner man.”

God the Holy Spirit indwells the believer to overcome all human IQ handicaps. Human IQ is not the issue. So we must therefore include that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to provide GAPability. In addition to that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to provide nobility.

The doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

1. The reason for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. (It never happened before. God the Holy Spirit empowered believers in other dispensations prior to the Church Age. We call that indument, empowering. But now the Holy Spirit actually indwells every believer) The universal indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age is characteristic of this age only. It is necessary because of the strategic victory of the Lord Jesus Christ — His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and session. The strategic victory is followed by the intensification of the angelic conflict.

Two things happen simultaneously. In heaven and in the angelic realm the session of Christ seated at the right hand of the Father causes intensification, the angelic conflict is intensified. Simultaneously the Age of Israel is interrupted; we now have the Church Age. When the Rapture of the Church occurs the intensification is over. The angelic conflict intensifies in the heavenlies as well as on the earth. That is not true in the Tribulation. The intensification of the angelic conflict and the Church Age started at the same time. The Age of Israel is actually interrupted to be continued again after the Rapture. The intensification of the angelic conflict causes the insertion of another dispensation — the Church Age. Up to this time no one in all of history was ever at the point of regeneration indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. But in the Church Age we have something new. On the day of Pentecost for the first time we have the baptism of the Holy Spirit whereby the believer enters into union with Jesus Christ. This causes the person to be born into the royal family. Abraham was born again, Moses was born again. Isaiah, Jeremiah, David, these people were all born again. But they are different from the royalty we have here, none of them were taken by the Holy Spirit and entered into union with Christ. We call this the baptism of the Holy Spirit and it is this that makes each one of us royalty. We are royalty as of the moment we are born again. It is the baptism of the Spirit that is the distinctive feature of the Church Age. It is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that puts us in union with Jesus Christ and makes us a part of the royal family. Jesus Christ is royalty in His deity, royalty in His humanity — descended from the line of David. Jesus Christ is royalty without being born again, He didn’t have to be born again. He was born physically into royalty and that’s it. What is the badge of royalty? Royalty always has a badge. A coat of arms has often been one of the badges of royalty, carrying some kind of a sceptre, the right to carry a certain type of sword, etc. We have a badge of royalty forever — the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit makes us royalty; the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the badge of royalty, the sign of nobility.

Why suddenly is every believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit? Not only is it a sign of royalty but it is related to the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus Christ has a double royalty, that is why He is called King of kings. The first time we have King it refers to His deity; He is sovereignty and deity. “Of kings” refers to the fact that he is in His humanity a king. And there must be a relationship to the royal family. Jesus Christ on earth was indwelt by the Holy Spirit and John 7:37-39 says that the Spirit was not yet given to believers because Christ was not yet glorified. Therefore we begin to glorify Jesus Christ at the point of salvation because we are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. No matter how we may fail in the materialistic realm or in the humanistic realm or in any way we are still royalty and the badge of royalty can never be removed.

2. The documentation for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: Romans 8:9; 1Corinthians 3:16; 6:19,20; Galatians 3:2; 4:6; John 7:37-39; 14:16,17. We also have the anointing of the Spirit which merely indicates the indwelling of the Spirit relating Him to royalty. Anointing of the Spirit is synonymous with the indwelling of the Spirit in Acts 4:27; 10:38; 2Corinthians 1:21; 1John 2:20, 27.

3. The distinction between salvation and the post-salvation ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. There is a difference between His ministry at salvation and His post-salvation ministry.

God the Holy Spirit does five things for every believer at the point of salvation: baptism [how we enter the royal family], regeneration [how we enter the family of God], sealing [the security of our royalty], indwelling [the sign of our royalty], the provision of a spiritual gift. The first gift to royalty is a spiritual gift.

In the post-salvation ministry of the Holy is Spirit we have His inner control in order that we might assimilate doctrine and fulfill the purpose for remaining on the earth. What is that purpose? The blessings of the super-grace life, to reach the tactical objective of super-grace and to enjoy the blessings of it. Both carnality and reversionism result in the loss of the filling of the Spirit but never the indwelling of the Spirit. When a believer is out of fellowship he is said to be grieving the Spirit — Ephesians 4:30. That is equivalent to sinning. He is said to be quenching the Spirit — 1Thessalonians 5:19. That is equivalent to producing human good.

4. Other nomenclature for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In 1John 2:20, “unction.” In 1John 2:27, “anointing.” These both refer to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit but they emphasise the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a sign of being a member of the royal family. Just as royalty wear the overt accouterments of nobility, so we wear inner accouterments of nobility. The believer in the Church Age is in the palace by means of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the sign of royalty.

5. The prophecy of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ the King of kings, as a prophet, declared it in John 7:37-39; 14:16,17.

6. The distinction between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of Jesus Christ. The most obvious fact is that Jesus Christ is the second member of the Trinity and the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. As members of the Trinity they are coequal and co-eternal but they are different persons. They have the same essence but they are different in person. Christ indwells the believer for the purpose of fellowship on the road to super-grace. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer as a sign of royalty, a sign that we are members of the royal family of God. This means that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is permanent. We are royalty forever. However, the indwelling of Christ is not permanent. We can lose the indwelling of Christ by reversionism for the purpose of the indwelling of Christ is for fellowship on the road to super-grace. If we are on the road to reversionism then the Lord Jesus Christ removes Himself from us and instead knocks on the door of the soul as a warning that we are on the wrong road. And when we start to get back on the right road we open the door and let Him in, as per Revelation 3:20.

7. The primary functional objective of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling is the function of GAP — John 14:26; 16:12-15; 1Corinthians 2:9-16; 1John 2:27. The universal priesthood of the believer demands the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit for the achievement of the objective of the super-grace life.

8. It is also the objective of the indwelling Holy Spirit to suppress, to control, and to neutralise the function of the old sin nature — Galatians 5:17.

9. Illustrations of the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. One is taken from the Word of God — Elijah in the cave of 1 Kings 19:9-18; the second is taken from the picture of oil as anointing of the Holy Spirit. So oil becomes an illustration of the functions and ministries of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

a) For example, oil lubricates. Friction ruins machines. One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to remove friction among believers so that we function as a team as well as a royal family.

b) Oil heals. This was true in the ancient world where there was an extensive use of oil in healing. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit heals the sorrows, the sufferings, the pressures that come our way.

c) Oil was used as a system for lighting, just as the Holy Spirit illuminates the Word under the function of GAP.

d) Oil also propels. We learn this from diesel engines both on land and on sea. This illustrates the walking in the Spirit, moving toward our tactical objective.

e) Oil invigorates. For this reason athletes in the ancient world were anointed with oil before they entered their contest. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit invigorates the life of the believer.

f) Oil warms. Oil was used for heating fuel. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit warms the categories of love through His ministry indwelling.

g) Oil adorns. Oil has been used since time immemorial for grooming. The Holy Spirit produces the grooming of the soul through His indwelling.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #42

42 08/24/1973 Ephesians 3:16 Doctrine of the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #43

43 08/26/1973 Ephesians 3:17–18a Doctrine of the indwelling of Jesus Christ

Verse 17 — the purpose of the indwelling of Christ. The word “That” does not occur in the original Greek manuscript, it is used here as a translational device for the purpose of translating an infinitive. “Christ” is the first word, it is the accusative singular of Xristoj plus the definite article, so that we actually have “the Christ.” It is found in the accusative case and the reason for this is because we have an accusative of general reference, which is a relationship between an accusative and an infinitive in the Greek. The accusative is really not the subject of an infinitive, though it is often translated that way, it rather describes the person connected with the action of the infinitive. The person related to the action of the infinitive is the Lord Jesus Christ, called in this passage “the Christ.” “may dwell” — the aorist active infinitive of katoikew which is the type of a verb which has been under dispute for a long time. It is generally translated, as here, to “dwell.” However, it means a great deal more than simply to dwell or to settle down. The meaning can be understood only as we go back into the Greek language and find its use in others areas. There is an old Greek proverb which says: “The wise man dwells in the perceptible body like an alien resident in a foreign land (In other words, you live in this body now, you will not be here for long and you will be removed by death), but in spiritual virtue he dwells at home [katoikew] like a native in his own country.” So katoikew means both indwelling and to be at home. It means indwelling, however it means indwelling under very relaxed conditions. Therefore it means to be at home, it means to inhabit; it is used here for the indwelling of the person of Jesus Christ — not in the body as per the Holy Spirit but in the heart. The Lord Jesus Christ is said to indwell and the residence is said to be …

“in your hearts” — e)n plus the locative plural of kardia. E)n plus the locative means “in the sphere of” or “inside.” Kardia refers to the right lobe. Doctrine is distributed in the right lobe and it is here that the Lord Jesus Christ indwells. In other words, the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ has to do with fellowship until we reach the point of super-grace. So fellowship on the road to super-grace is the objective. It is significant that the Holy Spirit is said to indwell our bodies, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. But Christ is said to indwell the mentality of the soul, specifically the heart. This is said to be accomplished …

“by faith” — the preposition dia plus the genitive of pistij. Ordinarily pistij can be translated “faith.” However, it is Arndt and Gingrich which brings out the fact that there is an objectivising of pistij and it means that which is believed or the body of faith or doctrine. So it comes to means doctrine. Dia plus the genitive means “through,” so we have “through doctrine” or through what is believed. This, therefore, helps us to understand that the ministry of the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ is related to the intake of Bible doctrine.

Katoikew is in the aorist tense here — going back to the verb for the indwelling of Christ. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ and regardless of its duration gathers it up into a single whole. The Lord Jesus Christ indwells as the individual believer is GAPing it to super-grace. This is the concept of the aorist tense. The active voice: Christ produces the action of the verb by indwelling the heart or right lobe of the believer. The infinitive expresses God’s purpose which is, of course, the purpose of the indwelling of Christ — fellowship with the believer on the road to super-grace. So far the verse says “That the Christ may be at home in your hearts [right lobes] through the doctrine.”

The doctrine of the indwelling of Jesus Christ

1. The prophecy of the indwelling of Christ — John 14:20,21. The prophecy of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is found in John 14:16,17. The prophecy anticipates that the Jewish Age would be interrupted and that the dispensation of the Church would begin, there would be the royal bride prepared for the Lord Jesus Christ, on earth the body of Christ, the royal priesthood, and that this royalty would also live during the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.

2. A distinction must be made between the indwelling of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This distinction is brought out in the context of Romans 8:9-11. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer permanently — for functional reasons now, but the reason for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is that we will always be royalty. The moment we were born again we were born spiritually into a type of royalty, a type of nobility which has never existed in human history, a totally and completely spiritual nobility, a spiritual nobility based upon spiritual principles and spiritual origin, a nobility which began at the point of salvation. At the point of salvation, in order that we might have and carry forever the sign of nobility we have the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit — 1Corinthians 3:16; 6:19,20. However, Christ indwells the believer for the purpose of fellowship. The objective of this life is not to run around and pray, to run around and be religious, to be concerned, to be a bleeding heart, to be socially involved in the social reform of the world, that is like trying to whitewash the devil’s world. Our objective is to reach the super-grace life, the point where Christ can be glorified. Therefore, in order that we might have fellowship and encouragement on the road to super-grace we are indwelt by the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. The fellowship concept of the indwelling of Jesus Christ is found in two passages, Romans 8:10 and Galatians 2:20.

4. The indwelling of Christ is the confidence of reaching super-grace — Colossians 1:27. Glory in that passage refers to the super-grace life. The confidence of reaching super-grace glory is based upon the indwelling of Christ.

5. Therefore the purpose of the indwelling of Christ. Christ indwells every believer for the purpose of encouragement to super-grace, for the purpose of fellowship on the road to super-grace — Ephesians 3:17. This is accomplished through the consistent intake of Bible doctrine — Ephesians 3:18; Colossians 1:17 cf. Colossians 3:16.

6. The indwelling of Christ is temporary, depending upon attitude toward doctrine. Therefore, the reason for the departure of the indwelling Christ. Why does Christ cease to indwell believers? The answer is found in 2Corinthians 13:5 — “Be testing yourselves, if you are in the doctrine [are you interested in doctrine or not?]; be testing yourselves for approval [GAP it daily]. Be perceiving yourselves that Christ is in you, unless you are a reversionist.” Christ is in you unless you are a reversionist.

7. The recovery of the indwelling Christ. Once Christ leaves you He is knocking on the door, and so you can recover the indwelling of Christ — Revelation 3:20 is Jesus Christ standing at the door warning the believer that he is in reversionism. Knocking on the door is the first stage of discipline on the road to reversionism. It is the warning stage. The recovery of the indwelling of Christ is through reversion recovery. It occurs when the reversionistic believer repents or opens the door, as per Revelation 3:20. The fellowship which follows — “I will sup with him” — is involved in reversion recovery through the consistent function of GAP.

“that” is not found in the original manuscript. The rest of the verse says literally, “in love having been rooted, and the foundation having been laid.” So this second part of the verse begins, e)n a)gaph which is literally “in love” — e)n plus the locative of a)gaph is “in the sphere of love.” A)gaph means two things. a) It refers to the filling of God the Holy Spirit — Romans 5:5. The Holy Spirit spreads abroad in the soul a)gaph love. b) A)gaph means a relaxed mental attitude. It is not an overt type love, it is a love in the soul where you are totally free from mental attitude sins. It is a relaxed mental attitude toward the human race.

“being rooted” — this has to do with doctrine being in the right lobe. We have a perfect passive participle of the verb rizow. The perfect tense is an intensive perfect, it means the action of the verb has been completed with results going on. The completion of the action here is that the individual has consistently been GAPing it so that he has gnwsij in his left lobe, has transferred it to where it becomes e)pignwsij. It has then been siphoned up into the right lobe so that he has e)pignwsij in the right lobe — in the frame of reference, in the memory centre, in his vocabulary area, in his categorical storage, and on the launching pad, the conscience, and so on. So this is an intensive perfect, the results go on. The result is reaching the super-grace life. The passive voice: the believer receives the action of the verb through the daily intake of Bible doctrine. This is a temporal participle and it should be translated “after having been rooted.” The participle actually emphasises e)pignwsij in the right lobe, this is the roots for the tactical victory of the super-grace life. This participle emphasises doctrine in the right lobe while the next one emphasises doctrine in the human spirit.

“and grounded” — the perfect passive participle of the verb qemeliow. It means to lay a foundation. The foundation for everything is in the human spirit. The imperfect tense is the intensive perfect indicating that the action of the verb is completed and the results are going on. Having a foundation means that e)pignwsij is not only siphoned into the right lobe or the heart but it is becoming building material. Now we begin the construction of the edification complex of the soul [ECS]. The first floor in the building in the soul is grace orientation. No soul except the soul of the believer, based upon Bible doctrine, can have this edifice, the ECS. The second floor is mastery of the details of life. The third floor is relaxed mental attitude. The fourth floor is capacity for love — category #1 toward God; category #2 right man, right woman; category #3 friendship. The top floor is +H where we begin to enter into the super-grace life. So here is a structure that does not exist in the soul except through Bible doctrine in the human spirit. The passive voice: the believer receives the action of the verb through the daily function of GAP and the conversion of gnwsij into e)pignwsij. Again we have a temporal participle.

Translation: “That the Christ may indwell [be at home in] your hearts [right lobes] through doctrine; in the sphere of love [filling of the Spirit], after having been rooted and after having received the foundation.”

The roots are in the right lobe, the foundation is in the human spirit.

Verse 18 — the purpose of the human spirit. This verse actually begins with the word “that.” This is the conjunction i(na plus the subjunctive used to introduce a purpose clause.

“you may be able” is the aorist active subjunctive (also the second person plural, “that you all may be able”) of e)cisxuw which means to be strong, to be fully able, to have complete ability, to have unusual strength or to have a total ability in some field. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes the occurrence and regardless of its extent or duration gathers it into a single whole. Actually, the constative aorist here which gives us the ability is the intake of doctrine today, tomorrow, the next day and the next, and so on. Ability here is GAP-ability. The more you function under GAP the more you develop this ability which takes you to the super-grace life. The active voice: because of grace provision in the field of doctrinal perspicacity the believer produces the action of the verb actually completing and understanding doctrine in his soul. The subjunctive mood is a potential subjunctive which indicates that the function of GAP is dependent upon your volition. You have free will. True positive volition here is the consistent intake of doctrine on a daily basis.

“to comprehend” — aorist middle infinitive which goes with the verb, katalambanw which means to seize, to grasp, to light upon, to truly understand, to overtake, to attain a definite goal, to seize something and make it your own. These are all meanings for the active or passive voice and our infinitive is in the middle voice where it means to grasp mentally and to so grasp it as to make it your own. In other words, total comprehension. Again, we have a culminative aorist which emphasises the results. The result of GAPing it daily it total comprehension of doctrine. The middle voice is the direct middle, it refers the results of the action directly to the agent with reflexive force, and that means to comprehend in contrast to the active voice which simply means to seize or to grasp. The infinitive of result. The result of possessing doctrine is super-grace life.

“with all saints” — sun plus paj plus a(gioj. Sun plus a(gioj means “in the company of.” This refers to assembly of believers. This means that this comprehension does not take place apart from a local church situation where you have privacy for your priesthood. It should be translated “in the company of all saints” — sun plus the instrumental. This emphasises the principle of assembly.

Summary

1. “In the company of all saints” emphasises the conditions under which Bible doctrine must be taught.

2. Believers, saints, are all royalty in this age. They are assembled together under the authority of one pastor-teacher per congregation.

3. In this assembly of the local church the purpose is worship. The purpose of worship is having a classroom where a variety of IQs ranging from moron to genius all assemble.

4. All believers have the same opportunity and the same ability of comprehension in the field of Bible doctrine and spiritual phenomena. Why? Because it doesn’t depend on your IQ, it depends upon the grace apparatus God has provided. So GAP does not depend upon human IQ.

5. The genius does not have any advantage over the moron and the moron is not handicapped by his low IQ. 6. All believers have the same grace ability or full ability.

7. A believer can be one degree above a moron and understand the most profound doctrines by the use of GAP, while a genius using human IQ cannot understand even the simplest forms of doctrine.

8. Therefore, cognisance of Bible doctrine does not depend upon human perspicacity or academic background.

9. God’s grace is communicated through a system compatible with grace.

10. Grace found a way, therefore, for any believer to comprehend Bible doctrine.

1972 Ephesians                                                                                           Lesson #44

44 08/26/1973 Ephesians 3:18b–19a Doc. of the human spirit; occupation with Jesus Christ

Verse 18b — the word “what” is a nominative neuter singular of the interrogative pronoun tij. The nominative indicates that it is the subject of the content following, the singular indicates that it is one subject dealing with the human spirit rather than a list of subjects because there are four categories of the one subject. The neuter indicates that this is doctrine rather than dealing with some person. So what introduces the subject of categorical storage for the human spirit.

The doctrine of the human spirit

1. The human spirit is the immaterial part of man designed by God to convert, to store, and utilise spiritual phenomena or doctrine. The human spirit is designed to take gnwsij and convert it to e)pignwsisj. E)pignwsij activates doctrine. In the original creation of man it was received along with the human soul — Genesis 2:7, where we have the “breath of lives,” soul and spirit. The human spirit is not the same as the soul and the Bible distinguishes between them in Hebrews 4:12.

2. The variations of the status of mankind based upon the fact that man does not have the human spirit at the point of physical birth.

a) Original man was trichotomous — Genesis 2:7. He had a body, a soul, and a spirit. The body is material, visible, and soul and spirit are invisible and immaterial. All are real.

b) At the time of the fall — Genesis 3:6 — Adam and the woman suffered immediate spiritual death — Romans 5:12. Under spiritual death two things happened to them, namely the loss of the human spirit plus the acquisition of the old sin nature. Therefore when Jesus Christ came in the garden at the time for Bible class the man and the woman had to hide themselves in their fig leaves because they were incapable of learning doctrine, incapable of having fellowship with Jesus Christ as a member of the Godhead.

c) The unbeliever is born in the line of Adam, receives the imputation of Adam’s sin directly, and receives the old sin nature. So the unbeliever, then, is dichotomous — 1Corinthians 2:14; Jude 19.

d) On the other hand the believer is said to be trichotomous — 1Thessalonians 5:23. Since the unbeliever does not have a human spirit and the believer has a human spirit it is obvious that the human spirit is acquired at the point of salvation and is one of the 36 things we receive at the moment of salvation.

e) Therefore the believer receives the human spirit at the point of salvation. At the same time that he receives the indwelling Holy Spirit, the sign of royalty and the means of GAP. The human spirit is a staging area, a converter under the concept of GAP. The two spirits, God the Holy Spirit and the human spirit, are the keys to the assimilation of Bible doctrine in the Church Age.

3. Perception through the two spirits is taught in 1Corinthians 2:12-16. Doctrine in the human spirit cannot be evaluated by human viewpoint or by human IQ.

4. Therefore the reality of spiritual phenomena resides in the two spirits of Romans 8:16 — “The Spirit reaches our spirit.” In other words, the Holy Spirit teaches the human spirit. The Holy Spirit is the teacher of Bible doctrine — John 14:26; 16:12-16; 1John 2:27; 1Corinthians 2:9-16. The human spirit is the target for doctrine and actually is the converter of gnwsij into e)pignwsij, as well as the dispenser of doctrine into the right lobe and the constructor of materials which go into the ECS — Ephesians 4:2-24.

5. The storage of doctrine in the human spirit. It is stored in the human spirit as the area of refreshment — 2Corinthians 7:13. Doctrine is not meaningful in the left lobe. It is stored in the human spirit as the basis for all grace orientation. Grace orientation does not come from having doctrine in the left lobe. This is emphasised by James 1— “Be not hearers but doers of the Word.” A doer of the Word is simply a believer converting his gnwsij into e)pignwsij. Cf. Philemon 25. Spiritual IQ is related to doctrine stored in the human spirit — Job 32:8; Romans 8:16. 6. The human spirit is designed to store and distribute categorical doctrines — Ephesians 3:18,19.

7. Since the unbeliever does not possess a human spirit God the Holy Spirit must act like a human spirit for the comprehension of the gospel — Genesis 6:3; John 16:8-11; 1Corinthians 2:14,15.

“what is” — now we have the categorical storage of the human spirit; “the breadth” — platoj, which refers to the storage of all doctrine pertaining to the plan of God which relates to the royal believer priest in the Church Age. A whole new realm of doctrine has to come into existence with the advent of the Church Age and the “breadth” is where we get the baptism of the Holy Spirit which the means of becoming royal family, the indwelling of the Spirit which is the sign or badge of royalty, the sealing of the Spirit which is the security for royalty.

“length” is the Greek noun mhkoj and it refers to all time categories stored in the human spirit; not only dispensations but the biblical interpretations of history with regard to historical eras, the biblical interpretation of civilisations, cycles of discipline, and any other category of doctrine where the time factor is involved.

“depth” is the Greek word baqoj which refers to all doctrines stored in the human spirit relating to the angelic conflict, to Satan, fallen angels, cosmos diabolicus, religion, revolution, and so on. It includes also the depths of Satan, as in Revelation 2:24. It also includes the deep things of God — 1Corinthians 2:10. For this reason the angelic conflict is stored in this particular area. It also deals with the strategic and tactical implications of the angelic conflict.