Ephesians 1.21b-The Duration of Jesus Christ's Sovereign Rulership in Relation to Every Human and Angelic Governmental Authority
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday August 15, 2023
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:21b-The Duration of Jesus Christ’s Sovereign Rulership in Relation to Every Human and Angelic Governmental Authority
Lesson # 65
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 21 above each and every sovereign ruler, authority, power exercised, dominion as well as each and every designated rank, by no means only during this age but in fact also during the one certain to come. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 1:21 is composed of three prepositional phrases.
The first is hyperanō pasēs archēs kai exousias kai dynameōs kai kyriotētos kai pantos onomatos onomazomenou (ὑπεράνω πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ κυριότητος καὶ παντὸς ὀνόματος ὀνομαζομένου), “above each and every sovereign ruler, authority, power exercised, dominion as well as each and every designated rank.”
It is modifying nominative masculine singular aorist active participle conjugation of the verb kathizō (καθίζω), “specifically, by causing to be seated,” which appears in Ephesians 1:20.
Therefore, this indicates that the Father caused His Son to be seated at His right hand in the third heaven above each and every sovereign ruler, governmental authority, power exercised, dominion as well as designated rank in both the human and angelic realm.
The last two prepositional phrases help to form a correlative clause ou monon en tō aiōni toutō alla kai en tō mellonti (οὐ μόνον ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι), “by no means during this age but in fact also during the one certain to come.”
They are modifying the first prepositional phrase and the verb it is modifying.
Therefore, this indicates that the Father caused His Son, Jesus Christ to be seated at His right hand above each and every sovereign ruler, authority, power exercised, dominion as well as each and every designated rank in both the human and angelic realm, by no means during this age, but in fact during the one certain to come.
Therefore, Ephesians 1:21 is asserting in emphatic terms the extent to which the Lord Jesus Christ rules over every creature from the right hand of God the Father as well as the duration in which He will rule.
Thus, it not only emphasizes His sovereign authority over each and every human and angelic being who has been delegated governmental authority by the Father but also the duration of time in which He will reign.
As we noted, the referent of the noun archē (ἀρχή), “sovereign ruler” are human and angelic sovereign governmental rulers in the human and angelic realms.
The referent of the noun exousia (ἐξουσία), “governmental authority” are human and angelic governmental authorities who are subordinated to the sovereign governmental rulers.
However, the noun dunamis (δύναμις), “power exercised,” kuriotēs (κυριότης), “dominion” and onoma (ὄνομα), “rank” are describing the governmental authority of the sovereign governmental rulers and those governmental authorities, which are subordinate to them.
Thus, the noun dunamis (δύναμις), “power exercised” speaks of the governmental power that which is exercised by these human and angelic sovereign governmental authorities and those governmental authorities under them.
The noun kuriotēs (κυριότης), “dominion” emphasizes the dominion or jurisdiction itself which these sovereign governmental authorities and those governmental authorities under their command.
Lastly, the noun onoma (ὄνομα), “rank” speaks of the rank of these sovereign governmental authorities and those governmental authorities under their command.
Now, the emphatic objective negative particle ou (οὔ), “not” is coupled with the adverb monos (μόνος), “only,” which are employed with the conjunction alla (ἀλλά), “but,” which is coupled with the conjunction kai (καί), “also.”
These four words form a correlative clause, which is uniting the doctrine that Jesus Christ rules over every human and angelic governmental authority during this present age, i.e. the last days with the doctrine that He will do so in the future during His millennial reign.
They express emphatically the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ’s sovereign authority is emphatically not limited to the present age but also extends throughout the one to come.
They are expressing in emphatic terms the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ’s sovereign authority is “by no means only” during the present age “but also” during the one to come.
The noun aiōn (αἰών), “age” pertains to a particular period of history which has some distinctive feature, which is distinguished from other periods of history.
Specifically, it refers to “the last days,” which began with the First Advent of Jesus Christ and will end with the Second Advent of Christ.
Therefore, it speaks of the church age, which began on the day of Pentecost in approximately 33 A.D. with the first occurrence of the baptism of the Spirit in the city of Jerusalem and will end with the rapture or resurrection of the church.
Secondly, it also refers to the seventieth week of Daniel, which immediately follows the rapture of the church.
“The last days” refers to the entire period of time from the death and resurrection and session of Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father and which periods end with His Second Advent which ends Daniel’s seventieth week.
This is indicated by Peter in Acts 2:16-39 and by the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 1:2.
They are called “the last days” because during this period of time God is completing His purposes for His people.
Both the apostle Paul and the apostle John asserted that they were living in the last days (cf. 2 Tim. 3:1–2; Heb. 1:2; 1 John. 2:18).
The articular construction of this word is employed with accusative neuter singular form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “this,” which is singling out the last days and distinguishing it from the Second Advent and millennial reign of Christ.
The noun aiōn (αἰών) is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), “during” which marks a period of history within human history.
Specifically, it marks the period of the last days, which began with the First Advent of Jesus Christ and will end with His Second Advent, as the period during which Jesus Christ exercises sovereign authority over every human and angelic governmental authority.
The articular participle conjugation of the verb mellō (μέλλω), “certain to come” refers to the period of history, which is future to the last days of human history, which began with the First Advent of Christ and will end with His Second Advent.
Thus, it is referring to the millennial reign of Christ, which is inaugurated by or established the Second Advent of Christ.
It is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), “during” which marks the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, which is established by His Second Advent, as the period in which He will exercise sovereign authority over each and every human and angelic being who exercised delegated governmental authority.
In Colossians 1:15-19, the apostle Paul not only writes concerning the Lord Jesus Christ’s authority over the church and every human and angelic being who exercises governmental authority but also that He is God and created these human and angelic governmental authorities.