Reflection on God's Word

BOLDLY GO... INTO HIS PRESENCE

by Tim Thomas

January 29, 2006

Ephesian 3:10-15

This passage begins by explaining the purpose for hiding in the past the mystery of God's redemptive plan (see verse 9). His purpose was to reveal His plan of redemption through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. Who are these rulers and authorities? They are angelic beings that have responsibility over the nations. Paul uses these terms in other places to refer to dark angels -- powerful demons -- in authority (Colossians 2:15; Romans 8:38; Ephesians 6:12). It is not as clear here whether Paul is referring to the "good guys" or the "bad guys", partly because we do not know a lot about the hierarchy of the "good guys", except to say that they are under God's authority, and that there is some hierarchy, because we know of archangels named Gabriel and Michael. I lean toward the interpretation of God witnessing to the bad guys -- a kind of revelation that ought to send chills down the spine of any sized demon.

Recall that Satan thought he was on the same order of magnitude as God when he rebelled, and a third of the angels believed him and fought against God and angels loyal to Him (Revelation 12:7-9). But this was an incredible misunderstanding of the power of God, that a created being would be greater than its Creator. People are likewise deluded when they think there is no God, or if there is a God, He can be disregarded; or when they believe the New Age teaching that people are gods. While the Psalms even suggests that people are gods (Psalms 82:6; cited by Jesus in John 10:34), it is a much different and limited meaning than used by New Agers, because the Bible never suggests that we are equal to or superior to God, except possibly through God's transforming grace in our lives, to be fully revealed at the end of the age when the Bride will be prepared for the Bridegroom (Revelations 21:1-3).

What "manifold wisdom" of God is being expressed through the Church? My gut feeling here is that the wisdom is that humans can be transformed into God's image by God living in our hearts, which occurs as a result of faith in Jesus's work on the cross. In Ezekiel (11:19 and 36:26), God says that one day He will give people new hearts that are able to love and obey, hearts of flesh rather than hearts of stone, hearts that are able to choose God's way over our own. This refers to us believers, and we have received that promise! The wisdom of God is that what Satan corrupted through tempting Adam and Eve, God has now "un-corrupted" through the tranformation that comes to our hearts and lives through Jesus the Messiah.

Verse 12 ties back to the idea introduced in Chapter 2 of Ephesians: that in Christ, we have intimacy with the Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and especially God the Father. Chapter 2 says that we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and here it says that because we are in Christ we may come to God with freedom and confidence, even boldness. If I were to approach the President of the United States with a special request, I imagine that I would be conscious of the power he (or perhaps one day, she) has, and how insignificant I am in comparison. But here, Paul says that we should be bold and confident in approaching Someone with infinitely greater power than the President. Amazingly, at a gut level, this makes perfect sense to me. Why? Because I have come to believe that I am a friend of God, that He loves me, and that my concerns are not trivial to Him. Out of my relationship with God, I feel very comforable bringing my needs and requests to Him, but I have no such relationship with the President, so going to him makes me feel uncomfortable.

Some reading this might still be uncomfortable with confidently going before God the Father with requests. Perhaps you cannot shake the idea of God as a stern judge. Yet most of us have less trouble seeing Jesus as someone with whom we could be friends. The Bible tells us that Jesus was a perfect representation of the Father (Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3), so the truth is that the gentleness and understanding that we see in Jesus are exactly the characteristics of the Father. If you are still having trouble envisioning such freedom in approaching God the Father, then perhaps this will be a stopgap measure to help you: when we come to the Father, we come "in Jesus". One way of looking at this is that when the Father looks in our direction, He sees us in Jesus. Another way is to say that our friend Jesus goes along with us to smooth the way for us to speak with the Father.

Paul shifts thoughts in verse 13, asking the church at Ephesus not to be disheartened by Paul's imprisonment for the faith. This links back to verse 12, though, for it is because of Paul's access to God and the Ephesians' access to God that they should not lose heart. They can bring Paul's immediate needs before God, trusting that He is big enough to change the situation, if the situation is not in God's plan for building His Kingdom.

Verses 14 and 15 lead into the following passage, which is an extended prayer (which we are clued into here because Paul writes that he is kneeling before the Father -- an image or metaphor for praying), and among the most important passages of the entire Bible. The passage begins with "for this reason" which begs the question, "What reason?" The Amplified suggests that the answer is "seeing the greatness of this plan by which you are built together in Christ", which refers all the way back to verse 1. It also would be sensible if this referred back to verses 7 to 9, where Paul expresses his calling. Since Paul saw himself as a father to those he introduced to the faith, the prayer which follows would fit the pattern of a magnificent, fatherly prayer of one who wants to see his children built strong in faith. Or, it may be that "for this reason" simply refers back to the previous verse, where Paul tells them not to lose heart. Apart from the knowledge of God's love, expressed in his prayer which follows, it would be easy to become discouraged and lose heart.

The meaning of verse 15 is less clear. Which family is he referring to? Is it the body of believers, or is it all people? Does it include angels when it speaks of heaven, or just people who have died and gone to heaven? There is even some confusion about whether Paul is referring to the Father or Jesus when stating that the whole family or every family derives its name from Him. And there is disagreement about whether it should read "every family" as in the Amplified or "whole family" as in NIV.

I don't believe anybody makes any doctrinal points from this particular verse, so we won't spend time trying to delve deeply into it. I will throw in my two cents worth. To me, this verse is simply saying that all of us in God's Kingdom get our identity (our "name") -- who we really are -- from our relationship with God.