In
the letter of Ephesians, the gospel of Jesus Christ reveals
how a believer can be an ambassador (a representative) of
the spiritual, heavenly domain. Although Paul encountered
the physical, earthly realm (often troublesome, perplexing,
precarious, and violent circumstances), his life continually
reflected the peace, the joy, and the sense of justice that
comes from living in the power of the kingdom of God. He
experienced the mystery of God’s will.
Paul’s desire was that his words and his life would not
mirror the misery, the gloom, and the despair that is often
experienced in the flesh and blood world. He wanted to
proclaim the mystery that enabled his decaying, weakening,
physical body to experience the incorruptible, immortal
presence of Christ in his life.
In the Ephesians letter, his message and his life make known
how his mortality (all the reality of experiencing the
physical realm) was continually swallowed up by the life of
God. Jesus continually came into his world (in prison,
mocked, and ridiculed) to produce the glory of the nearness
of God. Life in the Spirit overcame all the conflict, the
suffering, and the injustice that he encountered in his
human existence.
Paul's letter to the Ephesians contains
basically two themes (yet, it is really only one): the majesty of Jesus
Christ and the consequential manifestation of Himself among His people.
From the first chapter where the mystery of the Father's will is
proclaimed until the last chapter where the mystery of Christ's power is
manifested in the believers, Paul continually sets forth Christ as the
essence of all things.
His prayer for the Ephesians was that
"the eyes of [their] understanding [might be] enlightened; that [they
might] know what is the hope of [Jesus'] calling, and what the riches of
the glory of [Jesus'] inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding
greatness of [Jesus'] power to [them] who believe . . ." (1:18,19).
Paul wanted them to see Jesus!
With Paul using the little phrase "in
Christ," or its equivalent, over ten times in the first fourteen
verses of Chapter One, he reveals not only the secret of the Ephesians
letter but the secret of life as well. Moreover, Paul's closing
admonition ("Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the
power of his might" [6:10]) also reveals the source of life and the
essence of his letter, the revelation of being in Jesus Christ. The
believer does not live for Christ. He experiences life as Christ
lives in and through him.
Because Jesus was raised from
the dead by His heavenly Father, ascended to the heavenly realm, and
returned in the power of the Holy Spirit, it enables the believer to be
"quickened . . . together with Christ." It enables the
believer to be "raised . . . up together, and made [to] set together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (2:5,6). Being in
Christ, the quickening power of the Heavenly Farther is experienced by the
believer. He lives because he experiences the quickening power of Christ, the essence of
life. He experiences the heavenly realm although he is
living in the earthly domain. He is living of the
Spirit in a fleshly body. He is experiencing the
mystery of God's will.
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