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; 1 Corinthians 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; 2 Corinthians 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; 1 Timothy 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.

            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 — 1 John 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; 2 Corinthians 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; 2 Corinthians 4:3,4; 2 Thessalonians 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 — 2 Corinthians 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; 1 John 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. 1 Corinthians 10:19-21. The devil has a communion table and it is designed to sponsor reversionism. This communion table is for reversionists. 2 Corinthians 11:3,13-15. Illustration: 1 Chronicles 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 — 1 Thessalonians 2:18.

                        d) It is the strategy of the devil to neutralise the believer’s soul through worry and anxiety — 1 Peter 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 — Jeremiah   17:5; 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 — 2 Corinthians 11:3,4.     

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

                        c) Counterfeit doctrine — 2 Timothy 4:1.

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

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

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

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

                        h) Counterfeit gods — 2 Thessalonians 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; 2 Timothy 3:5-7.

                        c) False teachers always appeal to human pride — 2 Corinthians 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 — 1 Timothy 1:7,8.

                        f) False teachers will continue throughout the cosmic era of Satan’s rulership — 1 John 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 2 Corinthians 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.”

            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; 1 Corinthians 3:1-3.

                        d) Sin (in the singular) — Romans 5:12; 7:14; 1 Corinthians 15:56; 1 John 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; 1 Timothy 2:13,14.

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

                        d) The believer under the control of the old sin nature is designated carnal — Romans 7:14; 1 Corinthians 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 — 1 Corinthians 15:56; Philippians 3:21; Colossians 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 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 — 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24. There is a phase two judgment: the believer’s sins in time are judged by the rebound technique — 1 Corinthians 11:31; 1 John 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.”

            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 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 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; 1 Samuel 2:6-18; 1 Chronicles 29:11; 2 Chronicles 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; 1 Samuel 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 — 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 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; 1 John 2:29.

                        e) He is righteous in His attitudes and His actions — Deuteronomy 32:4; 2 Samuel 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; 2 Chronicles 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 (1 Peter 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; 1 John 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. 1 John 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 — 1 John 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. 1 Samuel 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 — 1 Samuel 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; 1 John 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; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 10:23; 11:11. He is faithful to forgive — 1 John 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 — 2 Timothy 2:12,13. He is faithful to deliver us from and in pressure — 1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 Peter 4:19. He is faithful in stabilising the believer — 2 Thessalonians 3:3. He is faithful in the administration of His plan — 1 Corinthians 1:9. He is faithful in His provision — 1 Thessalonians 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 — 2 Samuel 7:28; 1 Kings 17:24; Psalm 19:9; 119:142; 138:2, 150:1; John 8:45; 17:17; 2 Corinthians 6:7. 

 

            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 1 John 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 — 1 John 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 — 1 John 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 1 Corinthians 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 — 1 John 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 — 1 John 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 1 John 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 — 1 Peter 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.

 

            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; 1 peter 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 — 2 Corinthians 12:9,10; growth through the function of GAP — 2 Peter 3:18; stability — 1 Peter 5:12; Hebrews 13:9; modus vivendi — 2 Corinthians 1:2; Hebrews 12:28; the production of divine good — 1 Corinthians 15:10; 2 Corinthians 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 — 2 Corinthians 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 — 2 Corinthians 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; 1 Corinthians 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; 2 Corinthians 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).”

            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 conflict shifts 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 — 1 Corinthians 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 1 Corinthians 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.        

            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 — 2 Timothy 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 — 1 Corinthians 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 2 Corinthians 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; 2 Timothy 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 — 2 Thessalonians 2:17.

            5. The grace principle of divine good is found in 2 Corinthians 9:8; 1 Corinthians 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 2 Corinthians 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 — 2 Corinthians 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” — 1 John 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.”

            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; 1 Samuel 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 — 1 Corinthians 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.

           

            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.

            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; 1 Peter 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. 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 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; 1 Peter 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; 1 John 1:7 cf. 1 John 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.

            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.

 

            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; 1 Timothy 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; 1 Timothy 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. 2 Samuel 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 — 1 Timothy 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.

            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; 2 Corinthians 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 — 2 Corinthians 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 — 2 Corinthians 5:14,15,19; 1 Timothy 2:6; 4:10; Titus 2:11; Hebrews 2:9; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:2; redemption — John 8:31,36; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 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; 1 Peter 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; 2 Corinthians 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; 1 John 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 — 1 Corinthians 15:22; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:3-6.

            9. Reconciliation at the cross was prophesied in Isaiah 57:19.

 

            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 1 Corinthians 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; 1 Peter 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; 1 Peter 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; 1 Thessalonians 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.