Ephesians 1.20a-The Father Exerted His Power on Behalf of the Incomparable Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday June 27, 2023
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:20a-The Father Exerted His Power on Behalf of the Incomparable Christ
Lesson # 61
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. 20 This He caused to enter into the state of being exerted on behalf of the incomparable Christ. Specifically, by causing Him to be raised out from the dead ones. Then, by causing Him to be seated at His right hand in the heavenlies. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 1:20 continues Paul’s thought from Ephesians 1:15-19 since it continues to discuss the exertion of the Father’s sovereign, omnipotent power, which is mentioned in Ephesians 1:19.
Specifically, the contents of Ephesians 1:20 describe the means by which the exertion of the Father’s sovereign, omnipotent power to overcome the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system manifested itself.
This verse is composed of a relative pronoun clause, which is then followed by two participial clauses.
The relative pronoun clause makes an assertion about the exertion of the Father’s omnipotent power to overcome the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system.
It asserts that the exertion of the Father’s omnipotent power to overcome the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system was caused by the Father to enter into the state of being exerted on behalf of the one and only or incomparable Christ.
The first participial describes the means by which the Father caused the exertion of His sovereign, omnipotent power to overcome was manifested in time.
It describes it as taking place by means of the Father causing Jesus Christ to enter into the state of having been raised physically alive out from those who are physically dead.
The second participial clause describes the second means by which the Father caused the exertion of His sovereign, omnipotent power to overcome was manifested in time.
It describes it as taking place by means of the Father causing Jesus Christ to enter into the state of being seated at His right hand in the third heaven.
The referent of the accusative feminine singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) is the articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun energeia (ἐνέργεια), which appears in Ephesians 1:19, since they agree in gender (feminine) and number (singular) and case (accusative).
We noted that the noun energeia (ἐνέργεια) 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 hos (ὅς) speaks of the “exertion of the Father’s power” since it pertains to the exertion of the Father’s omnipotence.
The verb energeō (ἐνεργέω) in this relative pronoun clause is the verbal cognate of the noun energeia (ἐνέργεια) and pertains to the act of bringing into play or causing something to be.
Therefore, this verb speaks of the work of the Father working.
In other words, it speaks of the exertion of the Father’s His omnipotence or divine power being exerted by Himself.
Therefore, this verb energeō expresses the idea of the Father causing the exertion of His power to be exerted by causing His Son, Jesus Christ to be raised physically alive out from those who are physically dead.
As was the case in Ephesians 1:1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 12, and 17 the proper name Christos (Χριστός), “Christ” here in Ephesians 1:20 emphasizes that Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Son of God delivered the believer from the sin nature, personal sins, the devil and his cosmic system, spiritual and physical death and eternal condemnation through His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths and resurrection.
The articular construction of this word indicates that the referent of this word is in a class by himself and the only one deserving of the name since there were many individuals in the first century A.D. who claimed to be the Christ or were proclaimed to be the Christ.
Thus, this construction speaks of the incomparability of Christ.
Also, this word is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which functions as a marker of benefaction, which indicates that the Father exerted His omnipotence “for the benefit of” or “on behalf of” the person of the one and only Christ.
This word Christos denotes the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth, thus He is the Deliverer of the human race in three areas through His death, resurrection, ascension and session: (1) Satan (2) Cosmic System (3) Old Sin Nature.
The Lord’s Messiahship has a four-fold significance: (1) Separation unto God. (2) Authorization from God. (3) Divine enablement. (4) The coming Deliverer.
It also signifies the uniqueness of Jesus of Nazareth who is the God-Man.
Christos signifies that Jesus of Nazareth served God the Father exclusively and this was manifested by His execution of the Father’s salvation plan which was accomplished by His voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
The word signifies that Jesus of Nazareth has been given authority by God the Father to forgive sins, give eternal life, and authority over all creation and every creature as a result of His execution of the Father’s salvation plan.
It denotes that Jesus of Nazareth was perpetually guided and empowered by God the Holy Spirit during His First Advent.
Lastly, Christos signifies that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised deliverer of the human race from the bondage of Satan, his cosmic system and the old Adamic sin nature.