Tuesday, August 26, 2008

A Royal Family

Ephesians 3


1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. 8Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

“For this reason” (3:1) refers back to the understanding of Ephesians 1 and 2. Paul unfolds his understanding of “mystery”. Then, in verse 6, Paul says plainly “this mystery is that the Gentiles are made heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus”. (does this unity sound like the concept of family?)


“Family” is a constant theme in the Pauline letters. When you read further on to verse 14, you will see, the concept of ‘family’ extends further than just an ordinary household.

“For this reason I kneel before the father,” and from whom His whole family in Heaven and on Earth derives its name”.

We are heirs to a Royal Family. Verse 12 uses the word ‘approach’, From the Greek, ‘prosagogh’ (could be ‘access’). Used in the Old Testament for approaching God in the Sanctuary (Lev 1:3; 3:13; 4:14). And here, it is used in the right to be admitted (to have access to)to have an audience with a king. “For this reason I kneel before the Father” is an extension of “His whole family” (Royal Mansion) that Paul speaks of in verse 12.

This is just another example of where God’s temple is. We are the body, both Gentiles and Jews.

16 comments:

Tamela's Place said...

Hi Jim,

It looks like you were writing a new post about the same time i was today. When reading your post i was reminded of 1 Pet 2:9. We are a very special family and this is very humbling. But i am so grateful to God for giving us access to Him.. What an honor and a privilege we have to be called the son's and daughters of God because of Christ Jesus!

jeleasure said...

Cool. Great minds think alike.
Speaking of 'great', that is an awsome verse. I did not think of it when I was writing, unfortunately. Thanks for sharing.
I forgot the game.

preacherman said...

Wonderful post.
A wonderful reminder of who we and what a wonderful life we have in Christ. I am so thankful that God was willing to allow gentiles to be a part of this "royal family". Keep up the great bloggin.
I enjoy reading!

Gigi said...

Wow! What a great blog you have! I'd love to add you to my blogroll with your permission...thanks so much for visiting my site and for your nice comment.

And by the way, our youngest son lives in Richmond! Small, small world...

Vicki said...

It is sometimes difficult to remember that we are part of God's household, let alone part of His Royal Family. We don't deserve such privileges, and are here only because of the path provided by Jesus Christ.
Like Tamela, my first thought was the 1 Peter 2:9 reference. Then a melody haunted my brain of a song I sang on tour with the Accappella Choir my freshman year in college.
Blessings and Love,
Vicki

jeleasure said...

Hi Gigi,
Thanks for the complement. I have placed a link to your blog on my blog.
Vicki said she would host a link to your site from hers, also. Vicki is my wife.
Jim

jeleasure said...

Thanks PreacherMan. You are always an encouragement.
Jim

And to Vicki.
Wow! I'm impressed that you remember that song from waaayyyy baccckkk when. Good memory. Glad my blog brought it back.

Dr. Russell Norman Murray said...

Hi Jim.

Interesting to look at, and good learning for me. It is good to refresh in Greek, which I have been doing on my blogs as well. Thanks.

Francis Foulkes writes concerning 3: 12: 'To this mighty God, whose purpose embraces heaven and earth, time and eternity, we, in Christ, have boldness and confidence of access'...'Confidence of access expresses a thought very similar to boldness, but more personal.' Foulkes (1989: 107).

Foulkes goes on to state that this grace is received by faith in Ephesians 2: 8-10, and writes that to Paul it is not a mere intellectual belief but a personal knowledge and commitment to Christ. Foulkes (1989: 107).

FOULKES, FRANCIS (1989) Ephesians, Grand Rapids, Inter-Varsity Press.

Greek

Word Detail
Word/Inflected Form Lemma Part of Speech Lexical Entry
προσαγωγὴν (3) προσαγωγή (3) Noun admission, access
Parsing Accusative Singular Feminine
Related Words πρόσοδος πρόσβασις ἐπιβολή
Context in Ephesians 3:12 ἔχομεν τὴν παρρησίαν καὶ ... ἐν πεποιθήσει διὰ τῆς
Strongs # 4318 admission

Accusative is the case of the direct object of the transitive verb. The direct object (person or thing affected by the action) being of a transitive verb (action which affects or passes over to some person or thing, other than the subject). Wenham (1991: 6, 9).

WENHAM, J.W. (1991) The Elements of New Testament Greek, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

jeleasure said...

Russ,
Right. I see what you mean by adding a commentary article to the text. Maybe at the bottom as a foot note.
I have a hard time keeping my own thoughts cohesive and conductive. To add someone else's thoughts is difficult. This is why, in my "Love One Another" blog, I presented the essence of what C.S. Lewis was saying (ch. 1) and footnoted an exact quote from Lewis.
Also, I am not certain it would help the "adverage" reader to see the Greek parsings and, quite frankly I have never really been able to figure out and state with confidence 'inflection'.
Thanks Russ, this was a good illustration for me. And, I will take it into consideration. It may be a while before I attempt it, though.

Dr. Russell Norman Murray said...

Thanks, Jim.

Yes, I had a little more time today, but the type of comment I left can have aspects edited out for time. Many times I will state less.

The Greek is sometimes more important to deal with than an English commentary and vice-versa.

Russ:)

Arlene Kasselman said...

Jim, this reminds me of the blessing that we miss sometimes because our "Royal" language is lacking in such times. When I read Psalm 103 I see that God has not only brought me out of the pit, but He crowns me with His very nature.

His sovereignty brings me to my knees and that is the basis of worship.

Our citizenship in His Kingdom calls us to live in ways that testify to Him right here and now.

jeleasure said...

Very good thinking, Arlene.
You always seem to add something I did not consider. This would, of course be why the Bible says, "as iron sharpens iron, man sharpens man"
"Royal Language". "His very nature"
Thank you,
Jim

Christinewjc said...

Jim,

You can delete this after you read it.

I think I may have discovered what is causing your blog not to appear correctly in my "Christian blog list."

Today, while doing my post I attempted to copy a comment from a previous post with the links intact. Here's an example:

neverlosethatfeeling said...

[then, the body of the comment posted here]

August 30, 2008 5:02:00 AM PDT

When I copied and posted this in a new blog post, I got the same dash - under the title as is displayed under your blog name on my list! When I took out the live links and only pasted the screen name and date of the commenter in the post editor, the dash went away and it reappeared correctly on the blog list.

Just before I made this change, I noticed that copying the screen name and link contained a "no follow" text in the "Edit html" version of my blog's post box.

Perhaps this has happened on your blog? Maybe you could check through some of your posts and see if this same error is causing your problem.

Christinewjc said...

Came back to add great post! Wonderful comments too! I need to go and visit all of these blogs.

preacherman said...

Jim,
I am sorry brother.
I responed to your last comment on Jesus the First Change Agent part 2. I recommended your blog on loving one another. I think it is the best I have read on the subject. God bless you!

Christinewjc said...

Hi Jim,

Good points on that post about "confusion" at my blog.

You asked:

thank you for wanting to help me with my problem of having my link display properly.
Just to clarify, should I not use a link to another blogger's blog in the text of my blog articles?


Not at all. We want to post links to other's blogs.

However, in the case of copying an existing comment and pasting it in the new blog post box with the live link(s) intact, I found out that an error happened and that "no follow" notation appeared in the "edit html" mode.

I'm not very "tech savvy," so it is very possible that this isn't the same problem that you are currently having. Just thought I'd share the possibility with you.

Maybe it wasn't that afterall.

Sometimes, I have discovered broken links have screwed things up at my blog. When I am having problems, I often re-read my original posts in the "edit html" mode. [To do this, just go to "edit posts" and click on each one to check it out.] Be sure to click on "edit html" mode to see if the links are screwed up in any way.