Ephesians 1:15-End Part 2 Bible Teaching

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So we left off at verse 19 last week after Paul sort of revealed an order in what he said in verses 15-18 which was:

Ephesians 1.15 -end
Part II
September 1st 2019
MILK
15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

At this point Paul, having taken us through a somewhat systematic approach to what he hoped the believers would come to understand about God and his purposes, now finishes the chapter by describing what God has done by Christ.

In verse 19 Paul wrote that his hope was that believers would understand “what is the exceeding greatness of God’s power to “usward who believe” adding, “according to the working of His mighty power,” and now adds in verse 20 to the end of the chapter

20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Really quickly, let’s recall the topics covered last week that are found in verses 17-19 where Paul prior says that he was praying for them (verse 17):

17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you

the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of him:

These things are then connected to what Paul says next, which he says would lead to

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened;

Which would allow

that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (verse 19)
And what is the exceeding greatness of
his power to us-ward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power, (verse 20)

And having described these things, specifically the “exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe”

Paul now focuses his attention on what God had done through Christ, saying:

which he (God) wrought in Christ, when he (God) raised him (Christ) from the dead, and set him (Christ) at his own (God’s own) right hand in the heavenly places,

And from here on Paul continues to describe what God has wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, saying about His Son (at verse 21) saying that God placed Christ

Far above all principality,
and power,
and might,
and dominion,
and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (verse 22)
And hath put all things under his feet
and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Which is his body,
the fulness of him
that filleth all in all.

I submit to you that what we are reading here is Paul’s attempt (and it’s a good one) at showing that

God is willing and therefore capable of Giving human beings both wisdom and revelation that would enable us to

Open the eyes of our understanding, which would then enable us to

know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe

And that this is all according to the working of his mighty power

which he (God) wrought in Christ, when he (God) raised him (Christ) from the dead, and set him (Christ) at his own (God’s own) right hand in the heavenly places.

This is telling us something folks. And I think it is telling us that the Living God, took His word, made it flesh in the man Jesus, who was born under the law, born of a woman, and who through suffering learned obedience on our behalf, by the same power God extends to us as believers, which in the end

raised Christ from the dead, and set him (Christ) at his God’s own right hand in the heavenly places.

Far above all principality,
and power,
and might,
and dominion,
and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (verse 22)
And hath put all things under his feet
and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Which is his body,
the fulness of him
that filleth all in all.

And having done this with His Son, we are therefore being prepared to enter in behind him, in that prepared kingdom established for God’s Only Son, as adopted Sons and Daughters, who through faith, have come to understand His intentions and have allowed his Power to raise us to new life as a means to participate in what we could call the Kingdom of Regenerated Man.

Up to verse 19 Paul was speaking to believers whom he was praying for. But at verse 20 he steps up and shifts from talking about the power God would give believers to the Power did give to His Son.

And from that point forward we find ourselves reading about God’s working in and through His Son and what he actually established on account of His labors, saying that he

raised Christ from the dead, and set him (Christ) at his God’s own right hand in the heavenly places.

Far above all principality,
and power,
and might,
and dominion,
and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
And hath put all things under his feet
and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Which is his body,
the fulness of him
that filleth all in all.

So the power that God gave His Son to raise him from the dead is the same power requisite to convert a sinner and bring them from death to life.

All accomplished by omnipotence of God.

Paul appears to want to illustrate to his reader the fact that if God did not step into the lives of believers who were dead in sin (which is what Paul will speak to in the first part of chapter 2) then we would remain in that state the same way that Christ would have remained in the grave if God did not raise him up and give Him life.

In other words there is a connection to the life-giving power God uses to give human beings new life and that which He used to raise His own Son from the grave and give Him the same.

From verse 19 to verse 23 and then in chapter 2 verses 1-10 (which is a continuation of this idea) the main principle appears to be the POWER of God in renewing and saving his people is the very SAME power God used not only to raise Jesus from the Grave BUT to exalt him up and over everything in the universe.

Because Paul connects us – our redemption and our renewal and regeneration to life eternal to that of His Son who he raised and placed everything under his feet I see a connection to rebirth and renewal by the power of God to human beings becoming Joint-Heirs with Christ who has been set above all things.

Which is the intention of God in the salvation of Man – to make creations Sons and Daughters – and not just reconcile them from hell to heaven.

So, speaking now of the power God uses to “us-ward,”Paul continues at verse 20 and says:

20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Which he wrought in Christ and exerted in relation to the Lord Jesus when he was dead.

I want to emphasize this last line – when he was dead. When Jesus Christ was dead.

It’s something we gloss over without too much thought but it is really important to assimilate this fact into our consciousness IF we are to comprehend what God did in and through his Only Human Son.

He made Him flesh, of a woman, a complete human being (on our behalf) and allowed Him to die on our behalf – spiritually and physically.

This fact does not or should not diminish him in our eyes but it ought to help us realize that God was working our His will through this mortal man on behalf of all mortals and that in and through His obedience and righteousness, made possible only through the fact that God was present in Him fully to bring this about and enable Him to choose the will of God in his flesh over his own.

Through this inconceivable achievement in and through the flesh, person and mind, will and emotion of Jesus of Nazareth, God was able to take a human being through the gauntlet of human trials and experience – of the Lord’s own free will and choice, mind you – and as the true head of humanity, overcome all things detrimental to the human race.

Jesus of Nazareth had to be born of a woman and had to grow and mature though the normal processes of all human beings.

He was not born the finished work of God, in my estimation, but through suffering learned obedience in the most extreme fashion imaginable, culminating in a death by crucifixion for the world.

It is not surprising that in the face of this monumental task and his victory that God would take his human son, and not only raise him from the grave (which received him for us) but . . .

“set him at his own right hand.”

A place of the highest honor that could ever be placed on a mortal renewed and exalted.

This promise by God to place the Lord at his right hand was stated in the Old Testament and then repeated by Jesus in reference to Himself in several places in the Apostolic Record.

In fact, at the day of Pentecost, Peter stood and said at one point, speaking of Jesus:

33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.

The right hand among the Hebrews was often used to denote power; and the expression here means, not that he was exalted to the right hand of God, but by his power.

So the line best means, “You have all my power until I make your foes your footstool” a topic we will return to in a minute.

According to John 17:5, this was a position of Power the Word of God pre-incarnate, had before the world was, which Paul goes on to say is –

21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
which is to come:

Now, the way I see it, for whatever its worth, is this:

As the Word of God, everything that God said was done. This was a power and might that was

“Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion,”

God said, by HIS WORD (His logos) let there be light and there was light and in that realm the darkness could not, as a principality or power, withstand it – so much so that by and through the LOGOS of God (also called his words) everything was created.

This was the glory Yeshua had with His Father before the world was.

In and through the incarnation, these attributes of power had to be “earned” in the Man Jesus of Nazareth (for lack of a better term – proven? Vetted?) He was not, in the flesh of a woman, with the ability to be tempted, and to die, born “far above all principality, power, might and dominion as an individual. Death had an effect over him. So did temptation. So did pain.”

In the flesh Jesus of Nazareth, the Word Made flesh, had to overcome all things before His flesh was given the power OVER all things by His Father.

And that is why it wasn’t until after his life, and temptation, and trial, and death that God would give Him – the exalted Man – all that he had before as the very Word of God – beginning with raising Him from the grave and then setting him at his right side (or giving Him, Jesus of Nazareth, clothed in resurrected flesh, all power over all things!)

So the general sense and meaning of this verse is that the Lord Jesus was exalted to the highest conceivable dignity and honor.

This explanation gives more meaning to
Philippians 2:9 where it says

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

And also Colossians 2:8-12, where Paul writes:

8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Here in Ephesians we see Paul striving to express what is inexpressible about Christ Jesus.

The utmost, the highest, the most loftly concepts of heavenly dignity and glory has been given him by His Father.

And yet we cannot forget that the purpose in Paul attempting this description is to show, in context, that it was this very same power which God exerted toward His Son to raise Him from the grave and to His side is the power He extends to all believers in giving them new life.

So whether in raising His worthy son bodily from the grave or raising us from sinful flesh to regenerated life – it is all the power of God.

Don’t dismiss it. Don’t see yourself as the product of your flesh and in that identity any longer. You have the very power of God in you overcoming the flesh and its weakness to keep you in the grips of death and sin.

Remember, Jesus was dead and in the grave because of sin – our sin – and God raised him up from that place by His power. We are all in the very same condition (which Paul will make clear when we get to chapter 2:1-10) and it is, again, the very same power of God that lifts us up to new life!

Now, at this point Paul speaks to the levels God has raised Christ, let’s discuss them quickly as he describes them as

Far above.

Which is translated from a compound word and means high above or greatly exalted meaning that He was not merely above the ranks of the heavenly beings, as the head; he was not one of their own rank, placed by office a little above them, but he was infinitely exalted over them, as of different rank and dignity.

Then we come to a word that is very important to me personally – the word rendered “principality”

It’s archay and means “the beginning,” and then “the first,” “the first place,” in pre-eminence over all powers, all dominions, all rulers, all magistrates, all forces, whatever the rank – Christ is exalted above all.

Why is this important to me personally? Because I came to see and learn over the course of my life that where many people and plans and archays place themselves ahead of Christ, they are not – not even close.

No government, no religious leader or group, no priesthood, no economy, no rockstar, movie star, hobbie, material, money, status, nothing – no other flesh and blood but Christ – He is the archay – the first, the alpha, and He is the last – the Omega.

And in the face of this I am a Christian an-archist – I refuse all other appeals by all other things to be my archay in heaven or earth – I only accept Him. He is the Archay in my life.

Why?

Because all others are fails when it comes right down to it. All of them.

“Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion,”

Far above all . . .

principality, (arche)
power, (exousia) (priviledge or force)
might, (dunamis) (miraculous power) and
dominion, (koo-ree-ot-ace) (mastery of government)

“and (presumably above) every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
which is to come”

When Paul says not only in this world the Greek is Aion meaning age, so he is talking about every name that is named in the former age or economy (that of the Old Testament, meaning the Law and the Prophets) But also in the age which is to come – proving that the age to come (the age that we are in now) had not yet arrived and the reason for this is everything in the former age had to be leveled and put away before the age to come would and could reign.

And that would occur at his coming which would wrap everything about that former age up and introduce the age to come to the world.

The writer of Hebrews makes this clear when he says in Heb 9:8

“the Holy Spirit indicates this, that the way into the Holiest of All (which is above) was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.”

Meaning, that first temple of brick and mortar had to fall before the way into the Holiest place of all – on High – in the New Spiritual Jerusalem – was made apparent.

Paul continues describing how powerful Christ Jesus now is through His father adding a really important set of passages in verses 22-23, saying:

22 And hath (God has) put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Let’s take this line by line. First of all, Paul says that “God has put all things under Christ’s feet.”

This is a reiteration of what he said in the previous verses but in a different approach as in the previous verses Paul said that God had put Jesus above all principalities and powers (etc.) and here he says that God has put all things under Jesus feet – which are essentially two ways of saying the same thing.

To put all things under the feeet of another, however, is an ancient Hebrew saying found in Psalm 8:6 and is akin to saying, all things are in His power.

“AND” (Paul adds) God “gave Him to be the head over all things to the church”

God gave Christ Jesus to be the head over all things to the church.

Now, this remark is unique. In verses 20 and 21 the language appears to say that God has put Christ above everything in the Universe or universes and that there is nothing over him at all anywhere.

But Paul chooses to get even more specific in verses 22-23 and reiterates that God has not only put all things under His feet but adds that God gave Him to be head over all things to the church!

The assembly of the Saints. The called out. The Eccleasea.

Why the reiteration or redundancy?

I don’t know. He clearly established that God has placed Jesus over all things but it appears that he is saying that EVEN the called out or the assembly of the Children of God are in his control as He has been made the head over all things relative to the church itself!

Now, what and where and who is the Church?

It is believers. True believers who follow Christ in faith and love. I do not believe that Paul is saying that God has placed Jesus over the head of all religious organizations – though he apparently is because He is over all things.

But relative to this line about Jesus being the head of all things in the Church I am convinced that this speaks to the legitimate, genuine, real church of believers that upon death enter into the Holy Place on high located in the New Jerusalem and there abide forever.

That church – that gathering of THOSE called out – God has certainly made Him head – the brain – the operation center for all who are God’s by faith in Him.

And He is so much intertwined with that body of genuine believers, so much their head, that Paul adds in verse 23, speaking of the Church and says

“Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”

So God gave Jesus to be the head over all things to the real church of believers – and I would suggest that this means that the world is subject to the welfare of His true believers.

That includes –

(1.) All the elements–the physical works of God–the winds and waves– the seas and rivers—all are under him, and all are to be made tributary to the welfare of the true church of souls.

(2.) That all earthly kings and rulers and Presidents and their kingdoms and nations are under his control for the benefit of the genuine body and none – though they have tried, have been able to destroy the existence of the genuine faith.

(3.) That all the angels in heaven, with all their ranks and orders, and all the fallen angels if they still abide, are in his control – remember, He had the victory over it all so this is not about usurping free will – its about a King gaining control over His Kingdom – and for this reason I do not fear or worry about trying to manipulate governments or leaders into doing things my way – He does it – and has done it, since God gave Him reign.

And since God made him to be the head over the church, Paul shows how intimately he governs it by actually saying the real, genuine church is HIS body in verse 23.

When Jesus was alive on earth he controlled his own body, to the point that He did not allow it to do its own will but only the will of the Father.

He Paul makes a radical suggestion that the He continues to control the assembly of genuine Christians by and through the same power -the power of God through agape love.

In other words, Christ, having been placed above all things in all places in everyway, and made the head of the true Assembly of believers serves as mind over that body, directing it with the same control and protection he gave his own body when mortal.

The gates of hell could never prevail against him and the gates of hell would never and will never prevail against the genuine church.

Paul concludes by saying, speaking of His body as the Church:

“the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”

This line and the way it is added here is very difficult to comprehend as I can’t tell (and neither can our better scholars) what this actually means relative to Christ, His Church as His body, and the fullness of HIM that filleth all in all.

We could make a number of guesses – but I’m not going to because none of them ring true to me at this point.

What I will say, however, is that the line:

“All in all,” is used in another place spoken of in scripture WHEN God would
Put all things under Jesus feet. And perhaps there is some connection to the use of the phrase here.

That time (as many of you may recall), hearkens back to 1st Corinthians 15 where Paul wrote the following at verse 28:

And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

We’ll continue on next week chewing on this for the time being and see if the Spirit will open us up to any insights in the meantime.

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