Ephesians - Lesson 7

Now, notice in verse 14 how Paul is, again, he's shifting a bit, isn't he? Talk about the Gentiles were sealed, and the Gentiles, they heard the gospel, and the Gentiles believed it, and by believing it doesn't simply mean they cognitively affirmed the data, but they commit their lives to it, which is what we saw in Acts chapter 19 in previous lectures, that they responded to the gospel in such a way where many of them left their idol practices, put an end to their businesses that worshipped idols or created idols to be worshipped in their communities, and he's saying that you believed this, you gave your life to this, you were sealed. Verse 14, notice how he switches now the pronouns, which is the down payment of our inheritance, so he's clearly, well, maybe clearly he's too strong. He seems to be making a Jew-Gentile distinction at this point in the argument to emphasize the Jew-Gentile unity in Christ.

He's just said, remember, that God in Christ is doing this, making known the mystery, the unification of all things in heaven and earth in Jesus, and these Jews and Gentiles together, they have the inheritance and the seal of which is the Holy Spirit. Their inheritance is a inheritance of the whole world, which includes, yes, their personal conversion experience, but it also includes a kingdom of God, which cannot be shaken, a land to which Abraham looked, which is going to be realized in the new heavens and the new earth, this land and seed and universal language in Genesis. This inheritance that God promised him is realized in inheriting all the salvation promises given to Jews and Gentiles in Christ and experienced in a real world, a real kingdom that is going to invade the present evil age.

I turn ahead once again to chapter 5, where Paul mentions in chapter 5, the kingdom of God, verse 5, and Christ has no inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ. The kingdom is certainly bigger than, or the inheritance is bigger than the inheritance, but it includes, or the inheritance is bigger than the kingdom, but it includes the kingdom is my point. So you look at verse 14, the down payment of our inheritance is the Spirit.

Now, this next part is also difficult, so I'm going to read it first from the ESV translation, and then I'm going to try to make sense of it for you by giving you my own translation. So in verse 13, or verse 14 rather, who is the guarantee, or who is the seal, the Spirit that is, of our inheritance? And here's the ESV, until we acquire a possession of it to the praise of his glory. Now, the difficult piece about this verse is what do we make of the phrase for the redemption of a possession is how I'm translating the Greek phrase.

The ESV, again, translates it until we acquire a possession. So this idea of acquisition is one way readers have read the verse. Another way people have read the verse is to suggest that we are the possession, the redeemed possession, we're God's possession.

But another way to read it is this idea that God Himself is redeeming us so that we would experience or inherit an inheritance, so that the redemption is not we are going to be the possession, but that we are redeemed to inherit a possession. Does that make sense? So I guess the question becomes, is Paul emphasizing that we are the possession who's redeemed, or is Paul emphasizing that we are redeemed to inherit an inheritance? That is, we receive a possession, namely, an inheritance. Well, I think if I'm reading it correctly, a plausible way to read it is to say that we are redeemed for the inheriting of an inheritance.

The redundancy there is intentional. That I am not in this verse, and believers are not in this verse, the ones who are the inheritance is that we are receiving an inheritance and we're redeemed for that end. We are forgiven of our sins to receive an inheritance.

The inheritance is all the spiritual blessings that God gives us, all the redemptive promises that God gives us in Christ. A couple of reasons why this might be right. One, again, in chapter 1 verse 18, he talks about the hope of His calling and the riches of His glorious inheritance amongst the saints.

It seems to be indicating this fact that the saints have an inheritance that they receive. Chapter 5, he also talks about a person not having an inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ if that person is ungodly and immoral. But perhaps most helpful for what I'm trying to articulate is the idea in chapter 4, once again, that verse 30, when Paul says, using the same verb, redemption, as that pops up in chapter 1 verse 14, he says, you were sealed for the day of redemption, anticipating that although we have experienced redemption, namely the forgiveness of our sins, there's an aspect of redemption that is yet to come in the future where we experience perhaps the future kingdom.

So if I put all this together, it seems to me that it's possible, anything's possible, maybe reasonable is a better way to say it, that Paul is emphasizing by this statement in chapter 1 verse 14, the redemption of a possession, that the idea is that we are being a people who are redeemed for the purpose of receiving a future inheritance. And that future inheritance has already broken in right now because we have the down payment of the spirit, verse 14, and the down payment of the spirit guarantees our future reception of the kingdom of God in the age to come. So if I just go back in time and think for a moment about Paul's or rather Moses's remarks in Genesis chapter 12, you can turn there and look at the verses with me in chapter 12 verses 1 through 3. Just go back with me there where Moses tells us the story of Abraham and God appears, it seems, out of nowhere in the narrative to Abraham.

In Genesis 12 verse 1, the Lord said to Abraham, go far from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you. I will curse and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

You have this language of blessing and this language eventually of inheritance that pops up in Abraham's life from 12 to 50. He's promised to inherit a land, although he dies before he does so. And then when you get to later on in the biblical narrative, the redemptive narrative, you have this promise in 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 12 where the Lord promises David that he's going to give him an inheritance.

He's going to give him an offspring, if you will, a seed and you shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.

And you read the rest of the passage, as I've said before, in part he's talking about Solomon. Solomon is David's seed or offspring who succeeds him over his throne. But Solomon fails miserably and because of his transgression, the people of God eventually go into exile.

The northern and southern, the unified kingdom is divided. Northern part of the kingdom 722 BC goes into exile. Southern part of the kingdom 586 BC goes into exile.

And the whole prophetic tradition that emphasizes exile and salvation is pointing to a day where the judgment that God has given because of exile is going to end when God brings about this servant-like figure, thinking of Isaiah 40 to 66, who's filled with the Spirit, the Spirit of God is upon him. And he's going to bring about this renewal of Jerusalem, this cosmic renewal. Jerusalem will have joy and redemption once again.

And the Gentiles will come streaming into Jerusalem. And he's going to be a light of revelation, Isaiah 49, to the Gentiles. And there's going to be a new creation, Isaiah 65, 17 to 25.

And the hearts of God's people will be resurrected, Ezekiel 36 and 37. And the Spirit of God will be poured out on all flesh, Joel chapter 2. And there's going to be a new Jerusalem, oh, much better than the old Jerusalem that was burned down and those new walls that were put up and that second temple that was constructed and that second temple that was expanded by King Herod and completed after his death later in the 60s. There's going to be a day coming when there's going to be a cosmic renewal that breaks into this world and brings Jews and Gentiles together in the Jewish Messiah, who is Jesus Christ.

And Paul says that day has come in the gospel and that Jews and Gentiles together are sealed by the Spirit, guaranteeing the fact that they are going to receive in full the inheritance as those who have been predestined for adoption. So practical thoughts here as we come to a section or season of question and answer, a few practical thoughts. Again, number one, I want to keep emphasizing this very fact.

There's no other name under heaven given among men whereby Jews and Gentiles can be saved. Never believe that there's another way to have access to God's inheritance apart from faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for Jews and this is true for Gentiles.

Second thing I would say is that this world has many good gifts, many beautiful gifts, many joys. I love, for example, sports. I love basketball.

I'm a lifelong Kentuckian. We bleed basketball and people who are cheering for the right team in Kentucky bleed blue, not red. We have a rival here known as the Cardinals versus the Cats, and the rivalry will sometimes divide homes.

We have homes that are divided between UK fans and Cat card fans for UofL. And it's a joy to go with my family to watch both UK games and UofL games because I love, we love basketball. I love good food.

I love vacations. I love rest. I love reading.

These are all joys. I love living in a world where or in a country where I have freedoms to enjoy and to live out my faith in a way that's consistent with my conscience. But we have to remind ourselves that we are living not for this world.

We're living for a kingdom that has not yet been fully revealed. We're living for the kingdom of God. This encourages this encourages during times of sorrow where there are so many Christians who suffer severely.

If we spent any time in churches, we know that there are Christian people who love Jesus who are suffering because of sickness, suffering because of financial challenges, suffering because they've buried their spouse, because they've buried their children, or they struggle with infertility or because life is just unusually hard for all sorts of reasons. One thing Paul's remarks here in the doxology related to inheritance should do for us is to help us fix our eyes on a kingdom that cannot be shaken, on an inheritance that cannot be taken away, on a world wherein God and Christ reign over all things. And we reign with God in Christ, and we will worship Christ forever and ever in that world.

And that should motivate us to live in a world where there's joy and sorrow with a faith that is anchored in the risen, crucified and risen Lord. I think another way to apply it could be that this reminds us that there is great joy in knowing the certainty of our salvation. Now, based on how I argued for election, you might not be surprised by the comments I'll make now, that we can be certain about our salvation, that we can be certain that we are eternally secure because the Spirit is the guarantee of that inheritance.

So we live in a world where Christians fight and battle doubt. There are so many godly Christians with sensitive consciences who think that because they might struggle with this or that, that they are not part of the kingdom of God. But being part of the kingdom of God doesn't promise us we will never have struggles.

But being part of the kingdom of God reminds us that we have victory over those in Christ by the Spirit. And the Spirit guarantees that victory and guarantees our future inheritance in the kingdom by sealing us, confirming us, dwelling within us. We are filled, Paul says later, be filled not drunk with wine, but be filled by the Spirit of God, with the Spirit of God who lives in our hearts, who seals us for this day of redemption.

So a pastoral word to Christians who watch this, who struggle with their salvation, asking themselves constantly whether they're a Christian because of a variety of things that they may experience in their lives. No, your Christian experience is anchored not in your salvation security, is not anchored in your own ability to live the Christian life. It is anchored in God's redemptive plan.

And the certainty of your salvation is rooted in the transformational power of the Spirit in your life. So if you find yourself, for example, struggling with sin, here's what a Christian should do. Not sit in the struggle, but fight against the sin with the power of the gospel with confidence that because you are sealed by the Spirit, you now have the supernatural ability in the Spirit to fight and therefore inherit the inheritance of the kingdom as those who are sealed by the Spirit.

Because you are sealed by the Spirit, you can fight against sin and win the battle. And finally, I would say, to its practical application, just notice in verse 14, all of this has been said for the purpose of praising God and glorifying Him. The whole redemptive plan in Christ is God's action for God's people, for God's glory.

Well, the famous catechism says, ask this question, what is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Well, as one of my favorite preachers has said, God loves God more than God loves anything. He loves His glory more than He loves anything.

And one way in which He's glorified is by means of us living our lives as people sealed by the Spirit in anticipation of the inheritance that is yet to come and manifesting our participation in that inheritance by living as holy and blameless people in this world by which we praise God and glorify Him. So as we come to the end of this first section, let's ask the Spirit to help us live a life of praise and thanksgiving for these spiritual blessings that we have in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Chris How is it helpful to think about the part about what you were saying about the world has many blessings and also sorrows, to think about the arc of the Old Testament and people living a lot of time in exile, never seeing the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Lord.

And how does that help us to go through our lives sometimes when things seem long or difficult? Dr. Reagan Yeah, that's good. I think perhaps a good example of that is Abraham, where he is described by Paul in Romans as someone who is not wavering in unbelief, although he certainly had his fair share of problems. But he continued to hope against hope.

He continued to believe in the promises of God that he gave to him regarding land, seed, and universal blessing. And the particular promise that was perhaps most difficult was the promise of seed. And we see Abraham taking into his own hands how this promise should be realized.

And then God says, no, that's not the way, this is the way. And then as God says to Abraham in Genesis 21, okay, here's the promised child, now go. Here's the promised child in 21, now in 22, go kill him.

Which is to show us that Abraham is believing God and trusting in him. And he manifested his faith by doing what the Lord said to do, knowing that God was going to spare the promised child. So I think an answer to your question is, is that we look at those faithful saints in the Old Testament, and Hebrews mentions a list of them, that they continue to trust in the Lord, even as what they were promised was not revealed to them in full in their lifetime.

But the Lord gave them glimpses and images and shadows of the fullness of these promises. But ultimately they did not experience them as we experience them living on this side of the mystery. So as Christians, I think we can look at that and see that God is faithful to his promises, but his timetable is not always our timetable.

So an exercise of faith is to patiently await the fulfillment of the promises of God as they are worked out in his timing. All the promises of God in Christ Jesus have been fulfilled in Jesus. But there are other things that God may choose to do in our lives personally or corporately in our churches that aren't going to be done on our timetable.

And we must patiently pray and pursue the Lord and wait for him to do that. So I think the Old Testament saints give us the example and the motivation to know that we can trust God's plan for God's people in God's timing. Dr. John Ankerberg Hey, just a quick question.

You know, in verse 13, where it talked about in him, you also listening to the message of the truth of the gospel, your salvation, having also believed. And then there's in First Thessalonians, Paul, you know, commends the Thessalonian believers for accepting the word that was preached to them as the word of God. And the believing, I'm just going back to where you said about election.

They believed in the message and same thing with the Thessalonians, because God had already done a work in them, right? And then they believe because of the work in them. Okay, but then you made a statement, talking about the lost, they will suffer in a real hell, if they don't accept the gospel. And I guess the thing is, is if, if, again, election, because you said it with passion, they, how is it that they can't accept if they haven't been elected? I guess that's where I'm kind of, you know, because it was with great passion, you know, that they will suffer in a real hell if they don't trust the gospel.

Yes. But if they're not elected, what's where's the passion for them? Is I guess what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's, that's what kind of, you know, I mean, there's great passion.

That they're going to suffer. But when we talk about election and all of that, then that's where they where they are. I mean, yeah, I guess that's where I'm a little good.

I agree with what you say. That's that statement was very, you know, that is a very passionate statement. Yeah, you know, and I guess that's where I'm a little kind of confused on that.

Yeah. Help me out in that way. Yes, that's good.

There's great questions. Great, great thoughts. One thing I would say is when Paul talks about salvation, most of the time in his letters, he's not talking about election and predestination.

There are times where he'll give us glimpses into this reality. I think Romans is an example of this, where in my reading of Romans 9 to 11, he has a pretty strong predestinarian tone in that section, starting with Israel and then making his way down more narrowly to to people at the individual level. But that's also the same section where he says anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Romans 10, 13, and confessing and believing Romans 10, 8, 9, that Jesus is Lord and God risen from the dead, you shall be saved. Likewise, in Ephesians, he he spends this introductory section emphasizing election. But most of the time when Paul talks about salvation, he he emphasizes human agency, human action.

But he shows us on occasion that human agency is anchored in divine action, God's sovereignty. With respect then to the, to say it this way, the non-elect who don't hear the gospel, they suffer a real eternal torment. And what Paul never says is that we should not have passion to see the lost converted and escape that judgment.

But instead, he emphasizes the importance of preaching the gospel, teaching the gospel, reasoning with people so that they would respond. And I think in part because in his theology of salvation, while God, while he believes God chose and predestined some to be saved, he doesn't know who these people are apart from a real response to the gospel. So this is why he is urgent.

I mean, Paul has what I call eschatological urgency. One thing that motivates him to evangelize and to go on these missionary journeys is the real threat of God's wrath. He doesn't want to see lost people go to hell.

And that motivates him to go to all these different places and to go to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. And he even tells us in the pastorals that he suffers the things he suffers for the sake of the elect, that they might be saved. Now, he doesn't know who the elect are, but the only way he can be amazed by which the elect are saved is by preaching the gospel to anyone who will listen to him.

And the fact that God will save the elect does not diminish his agony when people reject the gospel. So, again, I just go back to the Romans passage, Romans 9 to 11. He tells us very plainly at the beginning, if he could give up his own salvation, that's how I read it, if he could give up his own salvation for Israel so that Israel would be saved, he would do it.

Romans 9, 1 to 5. And he says, basically, I agonize, I lament because my Israelite kin, according to the flesh, is rejecting their Jewish Messiah. And when you get to the end of Romans 11, toward the end, he talks about how God has stretched out his hands all day long to a disobedient people, basically pleading with them to repent and come. But in between Romans 9, 1 to 5, and between that section of Romans 11, he makes these very strong predestinarian statements.

So it seems to me in Paul's theology of salvation, there is not a contradiction, but there's this tension that he doesn't seek to resolve. So one question that comes up in the Romans 9 passage is, okay, if what he has said about election and predestination is true in previous verses, then how can God find fault against those who resist his will when he's predestined them to resist it in terms of salvation? That's the question he's anticipating this conversation partner to answer or to ask. And his response to that question is not philosophical.

It's not trying to even resolve the tension. He just simply says, who are we to ask the creator or to demand from the creator an explanation why he chooses to form vessels from one lump to serve two different purposes? Then he goes on, he's talking about God's plan of salvation, and then he takes the argument into 9.30 up to 10.13 regarding why do some Gentiles receive righteousness? Because they pursue it by faith. Why do some Jews not pursue righteousness or not receive righteousness? Because they pursued it by works of law.

So it seems to me in Paul's theology of salvation, he's comfortable with this tension of God's comprehensive sovereignty over salvation. He predestines, he chooses, he saves the people he wants to save when he wants to save them through the preaching of the gospel. And he appeals to all to respond to the gospel, recognizing that all won't, but that doesn't stop him from appealing to them.

And he laments when people reject the gospel, and he agonizes over that. But he never gives us any hint that he is trying to resolve the tension. He's comfortable with the tension, and he never gives us any hint that he's not broken by lostness.

He weeps over lostness, especially the lostness of his Jewish kinsmen, because they're missing out on God's promises to the Jewish people and their Jewish Messiah. So all that just to say to your question, I appreciate the question and your comments. I feel that in my soul as well, and I wrestle with that even intellectually when I'm evangelizing or when someone leaves this world and I'm not sure if they were saved.

I always say I wish I could have done more. I wrestle with that as a human, but I have to remind myself that there's a tension here, and I should never be content with lost people being lost. But I should also recognize that someone's eternal destiny is not dependent upon me.

I have a responsibility to share my faith, but I'm not to blame if someone dies and goes to hell, and that lifts a weight off of me. But likewise, I should be motivated to take the gospel to anybody who'll listen. There's a tension there, though.

In verse 12, you brought out the Jewish order. Would it be helpful for my personal Bible study to understand Jewish culture, and could that also help me interpret the Bible and also bring it to life in certain ways for me where I may not understand the heavy Jewish nature of the 66 books of the Bible? Yeah, your question is a good one. What role does understanding the Jewish context in front of which Paul makes these statements will play in helping us understand what Paul is saying? I think it's important for us, I'm reminded of this as a New Testament professor, how I need to read the Old Testament more, first of all, because what Paul is saying and doing in Ephesians is linked to what God promised to Abraham, God promised to David.

I mean, you can take it all the way back to Genesis 3, but especially Abraham and David, what the prophets reiterate. So I think really immersing ourselves into the Hebrew scriptures, the Jewish script, the Old Testament, which is Christian scripture as well, is helpful. And then also it is helpful, I think, to spend time thinking about the Second Temple Jewish context in which Paul is writing this letter, because we're inclined to think as Christians that there's a straight line from Malachi to Matthew.

And we use this phrase that's not very helpful called the intertestamental period, which I don't like because it sounds like there's no Old Testament history happening in between Malachi and Matthew. Now, when I say Old Testament history, I don't mean scripture is being written after Malachi before Matthew. But what I mean is the Second Temple period, which is talked a bit a lot in extra biblical literature, is continuing the Old Testament story in terms of Israel awaiting God's redemptive promises to be realized.

And that story continues throughout the Second Temple period right into the birth of Jesus, who was a Second Temple Jew born within a context where you've had prior to his birth, you had the Assyrians, you had the Babylonians, you have, of course, other nations as well, but major powers, Assyrians, Babylonians. You've had the Hellenistic age. You've had now the Roman era.

It's a Greco-Roman world. And Jesus is born into that. And throughout that period, prior to the birth of Christ, you've had these Jews who are trying to figure out how to continue to be faithful to Yahweh and to preserve the integrity of Yahweh's name by living a Jewish way of life outside of the land in the diaspora.

You have Jews everywhere by the time you get to the Second Temple period. And so when Jesus shows up and when the Apostle Paul shows up and when his letter, the Ephesians shows up, you have all of this history that precedes them that can be helpful if we understand to understand what it is they're saying about, for example, here, the priority of the Jewish people in terms of salvation and how God included Gentiles within that plan and how that was always his plan. So starting with the Old Testament, I think, is the foundational thing being schooled and immersed into the Old Testament scriptures.

And then also, again, a little taste of things in the Second Temple period that can help us understand. I'll give you one example about the Second Temple period. Eventually, I'm going to get to an exposition of Ephesians 2, 11 through 22.

And there's a section in there where Paul says that Jesus, by his death, separated or rather, excuse me, broke down the dividing wall, namely the law, and that the law separated Jews and Gentiles from each other. And I think what Paul means by that is, is that the law gives Jews clear boundaries to follow to mark them off from the other nations. And so he's using this language, I think, metaphorically to describe the the boundary the law creates between Jews and Gentiles.

But Christ Jesus's death and resurrection shatters the law of Moses as the mark of the people of God. He breaks down the wall, in other words, and it's no longer the mark of God's people. But but now the mark of God's people is Christ and the Spirit.

So Jews and Gentiles in Christ are no longer separated from works of law versus not works of law, but they're unified in Jesus, who is the fulfillment of all these messianic promises, who's the one to whom the law, Moses and the prophets point. But if you look at a Jewish author writing around the time of second century B.C., roughly prior to the birth of Jesus, prior to Paul, called the there's a letter called the Letter of Aristeas. And in that section you have the law described by this Jewish text.

It's described as a dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles. And the author describes it this way, that God gave this legislation, this law to keep Jews and Gentiles from mixing with each other. Now, here's the reality.

That doesn't mean that there was a hard and fast division between Jews and Gentiles, because, in fact, the Letter of Aristeas is written in Greek by a Jew. And it's also written in a context where it's talking about how a Gentile commissioned these Jews. I mean, this is a legendary tale, but commissioned these Jews to translate the books of the law in Greek because he wanted to include them in his in his library, this particular Gentile person.

And so you have Gentile and Jew relations at the social level. You have Jews who in the second period who are in Gentile military militaries. You have business taking place between Jews and Gentiles.

It's not like the era of segregation where there is no mixing between races. It's a totally different context. But in in the Second Temple period, here's really the dividing line.

It's at the religious level, at the level of with whom can you share table fellowship in terms of social intercourse in a way that shows mutual acceptance. And there are many texts that prohibit Jews from from participating in any kind of interaction at the sociological level in terms of friendship, kinship, that would be inappropriate. Jubilees, another Second Temple Jewish text would be another example of that.

But with respect to Aristides, the law is the is called a dividing wall that creates division between Jews and Gentiles. And this is celebrated as a good thing. This is not legalism either.

This is God saying, hey, you're different from the other nations. And these Jews are saying the law gave us the God gave us the law to make sure we don't become like the other nations who commit and who are pagans. Well, Paul comes along and he has basically the same view until Christ transforms his life.

And he realizes that in Christ Jesus, that dividing wall is broken down, that Jews and Gentiles are not marked off as God's people by Torah observance or Torah disobedience, but by means of Jesus Christ. So so Jews who follow Jesus, if they want to keep following Jesus or excuse me, if they want to keep following kosher laws, Jews can do that if they want. That's fine.

But it doesn't matter in terms of are they in or are they out of God's kingdom? What matters is, are they in Christ? But Gentiles must not and cannot be held to the standard of keeping the law because they're Gentiles, because in Christ Jesus, Jews and Gentiles have this unity and the law is no longer that mark. So it's helpful if you read the letter of Aristeas, a piece of it, beside of Ephesians 2, 11 through 22, you see really what Paul is saying. It's quite innovative.

The average contemporary Jew is not saying what Paul is saying about the law. It's Paul the transformed Jew in Christ who says what he says. And when you understand the Jewish context in front of which he says that, you're like, oh, now I see why his gospel was so problematic for Jews who rejected it.

Yeah.