Ephesians 1.19b-The Exertion of the Father's Sovereign, Omnipotent Power on Behalf of the Church Age Believer
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday June 24, 2023
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:19b-The Exertion of the Father’s Sovereign, Omnipotent Power on Behalf of the Church Age Believer
Lesson # 60
Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, after I myself heard about the faith among each and every one of you in the one and only Lord Jesus as well as you are practicing divine-love, which is on behalf of each and every one of the saints, 16 I never permit myself to cease regularly expressing thanks to the one and only God because of each and every one of you. I do this while disciplining myself to make it my practice of remembering each and every one of you during my prayers. 17 I make it a habit of occupying myself with praying that the God, that is, the glorious Father of the one and only Lord ruling over each and every one of us as a corporate unit, who is Jesus Christ, would cause each and every one of you to receive divine wisdom, specifically, divine revelatory wisdom provided by the one and only Spirit with respect to an experiential knowledge of Himself. 18 Namely, that the eyes of your heart are enlightened in order that each and every one of you would possess the conviction of what constitutes being the confident expectation of blessing produced by His effectual call, what constitutes His inheritance, which is characterized by glorious wealth, residing in the person of the saints. 19 Also, what constitutes being His incomparable, great power on behalf of each one of us who believe which is equivalent to the exertion of His sovereign, omnipotent power to overcome. (Lecturer’s translation)
In Ephesians 1:19, the noun energeia (ἐνέργεια), “the exertion of” refers to the Father’s activity on behalf of the church age believer through both the work of His Son and His Spirit.
Therefore, this word speaks of the “exertion of the Father’s power” since it pertains to the exertion of the Father’s omnipotence.
This word is the object of the preposition kata (κατά), “equivalent to” which is functioning as a marker of correspondence indicating being in conformity or agreement with something.
In other words, it is marking the agreement of two things.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates that the Father’s incomparable, great power was manifested on behalf of the church age believer through both the work of the Son and the Spirit is “in agreement with” the exertion of His immense strength.
Thus, this preposition kata (κατά) indicates that the Father’s incomparable, great power which was manifested on behalf of the church age believer through both the work of the Son and the Spirit is “the equivalent of” or “identical to” the exertion of His immense strength.
They are one in the same.
In other words, he is describing the Father’s incomparable, great power as exerting His absolute omnipotent power to overcome any enemy, with the implication from the contents of this epistle, that these enemies are the indwelling Adamic sin nature as well as Satan and his cosmic system.
The noun kratos (κράτος), “sovereign power” pertains to absolute, sovereign divine power that is exercised without any necessary conditioning by a finite will or wills or anyone or anything outside the exercise of this power.
In other words, the Father’s omnipotence is sovereign over the power of both human beings and angels.
The noun ischys (ἰσχύς), “power to overcome” refers to the attribute of divine omnipotence which belongs to the divine nature of the Father, which has overcome sin, Satan and his cosmic system.
The Father’s omnipotence was manifested through the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session of His Son, Jesus Christ.
It was also manifested through the work of the Spirit in identifying the church age believer with Jesus Christ in these events in His life, which provide the church age believer victory over sin, Satan and his cosmic system.
So therefore, Ephesians 1:19 is of course speaking about the Father’s divine omnipotence which was manifested on behalf of the church age believer through both the work of the Son and the Spirit.
This omnipotence is now available to the church age when they appropriate their union and identification with Jesus Christ.
This verse describes the Father’s omnipotence as being incomparable, great, absolute or sovereign, and able to overcome any enemy.
In Colossians 1:9-11, Paul uses much of the same language when interceding on behalf of the Colossian Christian community as he does for the recipients of the Ephesian epistle in Ephesians 1:15-19.
In fact, both prayers reference the Father’s omnipotence.
Colossians 1:9 For this reason also, from the day we ourselves heard about all of you, we never permit ourselves to cease making it our habit of occupying ourselves with praying on behalf of each and every one of you. Specifically, we make it our habit of occupying ourselves with making urgent requests that (God) would cause all of you to be filled with that which is knowing His will experientially by means of a wisdom which is absolute resulting in a discernment which is spiritual. 10 The purpose would be all of you living your lives in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be fully pleasing to Him. This would result in all of you bearing fruit by means of each and every kind of action which is divine good in quality and character and in addition increasing in knowing experientially God the Father. 11 This is because of all of you are empowered by means of a power which is absolute, because of a power which is sovereign, namely, His glory. The purpose of which is to perfectly embody perseverance as well as patience with joy. (Lecturer’s translation)
Divine omnipotence is one of the characteristics of the divine essence (Father: Mark 14:36 and Luke 1:37; Son: Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:3; Spirit: Rom. 15:13).
God has limitless and infinite ability to do something (Gen. 18:14a; Ps. 147:5a; Isa. 40:26; Lk. 1:37).
There is power in the Word of God (Ps. 33:6a; Heb. 1:3a; 4:12a; 11:3a; 2 Co. 6:7; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 3:5).
The cross of Christ is the power of God, which delivers the believer from the sin nature, the cosmic system of Satan and Satan himself (1 Corinthians 1:18).
The Gospel is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16).
All three members of the Trinity are omnipotent since they are co-equal, co-infinite and co-eternal: (1) God the Father is omnipotent (Eph. 1:17; 2 Pet. 1:2-3). (2) Holy Spirit is omnipotent (Acts 1:8; Rm. 15:13, 19; Eph. 3:16; 1 Th. 1:5). (3) Word of God is omnipotent (Ro. 1:16; 1 Co. 1:18, 24; Heb. 4:12).
Now, thus far in our study of Paul’s intercessory prayer on behalf of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle, we have noted that he wanted the Father to cause them to receive divine revelatory wisdom provided by the Holy Spirit with respect to an experiential knowledge of Himself (Eph. 1:17).
He then describes this reception of this divine revelatory wisdom from the Holy Spirit as having the eyes of their heart enlightened (Eph. 1:18).
He then follows this up by presenting the purpose for which he wants them to have the eyes of their heart enlightened (Eph. 1:18).
The first purpose is that they would possess the conviction of what constitutes being the confident expectation of blessing which was produced by the Father’s effectual call (Eph. 1:18).
This is a confident expectation of being in the presence of the Lord at physical death as well as receiving a resurrection body at the rapture of the church and rewards for faithful service at the Bema Seat.
The second purpose is that they would possess the conviction of what constitutes the Father’s glorious, rich inheritance residing in the persons of the saints.
The Father’s inheritance is the church age believer in the presence of the Lord at their physical death as well as receiving a resurrection body and in addition rewards for faithful service (Eph. 1:18).
Now, here in Ephesians 1:19, Paul presents the third purpose for which he wanted the Father to cause them to receive a divine revelatory wisdom produced by the Holy Spirit or in other words, the purpose for which he wanted the eyes of their heart to be enlightened.
Namely, he wanted them to possess the conviction of what constitutes being the Father’s incomparable, great power on their behalf which is equivalent to the Father’s absolute, omnipotent, sovereign power to overcome.
This power resides the church age believer’s union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
This omnipotence is appropriated by the church age believer who appropriates by faith this union and identification with Jesus Christ, which in turn enables them to overcome sin, Satan and his cosmic system.
This power was first appropriated by the church age believer at their justification, which Paul refers to here in Ephesians 1:19 when he describes them as those “who believe.”
This faith at justification results in the Father viewing them as He does His Son, namely crucified, died, buried, raised and seated at His right hand.
It results in the church age believer receiving the guarantee of being perfected in a resurrection body at the rapture of the church and rewards for faithful service at the Bema Seat.
This justifying faith also sets up the potential for the church age believer to experience this power after their justification.
This is accomplished when they appropriate by faith their union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand.
This post-justification faith involves the church age believer considering themselves as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Jesus Christ at the Father’s right hand (cf. Rom. 6:1-14; Col. 3:1-7).
Again, the appropriation of the Father’s omnipotence will enable them to experience victory over the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system.
