Ephesians 2.6b-The Church Age Believer Has Been Seated with Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday October 3, 2023
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 2:6b-The Church Age Believer Has Been Seated with Christ
Lesson # 85
Ephesians 2:1 Now, correspondingly, even though, each and every one of you as a corporate unit were spiritually dead ones because of your transgressions, in other words, because of your sins. 2 Each and every one of you formerly lived by means of these in agreement with the standard of the unregenerate people of this age, which is the production of the cosmic world system, in agreement with the standard of the sovereign ruler, namely the sovereign governmental authority ruling over the evil spirits residing in the earth’s atmosphere. Specifically the spirit who is presently working in the lives of those members of the human race who are characterized by disobedience. 3 Among whom, each and every one of us also formerly for our own selfish benefit conducted our lives by means of those lusts, which are produced by our flesh. Specifically, by indulging those inclinations which are produced by our flesh, in other words, those impulses, which are the product of our flesh. Consequently, each and every one of us caused ourselves to be children who are objects of wrath because of our natural condition from physical birth. Just as the rest correspondingly caused themselves to be children who are objects of wrath because of their natural condition from physical birth. 4 But because God is rich with regards to mercy, because of the exercise of His great love with which He loved each and every one of us, 5 even though each and every one of us as a corporate unit were spiritually dead ones because of our transgressions, He caused each and every one of us to be made alive together with the one and only Christ. Each and every one of you as a corporate unit are saved because of grace! 6 Specifically, He caused each and every one of us as a corporate unit to be raised with Him. Correspondingly, He caused each and every one of us as a corporate unit to be seated in the heavenlies because of our faith in and union and identification with the one and only Christ. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 2:6 is composed of two elliptical declarative statements, which serve to explain the previous concessive clause in Ephesians 2:5.
The latter asserts that the Father caused the church age believer to be made alive together with Christ even though they were spiritually dead because of their transgressions.
The first elliptical statement in Ephesians 2:6 asserts that the Father raised the church age believer with His Son in the heavenlies, because of their faith in Christ Jesus at justification and their union and identification with Him.
The second asserts that the Father caused the church age believer to be seated with His Son in the heavenlies because of their faith in Him at justification as well and because of their union and identification with Him through the baptism of the Spirit at their justification.
These assertions mean that the church age believer was identified with Christ in His resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father through the baptism of the Spirit, which took place when the Father declared them justified through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
Simultaneously, the Father identified the church age believer with His Son in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at His right hand through the baptism of the Spirit.
Therefore, these elliptical declarative statements here in Ephesians 2:6 indicate that when Paul asserts that the Father made the church age believer alive with Christ, he means that they were identified with Christ in His resurrection and session through the baptism of the Spirit at their justification.
The second elliptical declarative statement in Ephesians 2:6 corresponds to the first and asserts that the Father caused the church age believer to be seated with Christ in the heavenlies because of their faith in Him at justification and because of their union and identification with Him through the baptism of the Spirit at their justification.
The previous assertion we noted states that the Father caused the church age believer to be raised with His Son at the moment of justification through the baptism of the Spirit and so therefore, the correspondence between the two assertions is that both took place through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of justification.
Together, they explain what Paul means when he asserts in verse 5 that the Father caused the church age believer to be made alive with Christ.
The verb sygkathizō (συγκαθίζω) pertains to causing someone to be seated with another person.
The referent of the third person singular form of this verb sygkathizō (συγκαθίζω) is God the Father.
Once again, the apostle Paul employs the figure of ellipsis here in Ephesians 2:6 because he is again deliberately omitting the accusative first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) and the dative masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), though they are clearly implied from Ephesians 2:5.
As was the case in the previous statement in verse 6 the referent of the accusative first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) is Paul and the recipients of the Ephesian epistle, who were Gentile Christians according to the contents of Ephesians 2:11.
It functions as the accusative direct object of the verb sygkathizō (συγκαθίζω) indicating that it is receiving the action of this verb, which indicates that each and every church age believer received the action of being seated by the Father with His Son at their justification through the baptism of the Spirit.
Once again, the referent of the dative masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός) is Jesus Christ.
As was the case in the first declarative statement this word functions as a dative of association which indicates that the Father caused Paul and each one of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle and all church age believers to be seated “together with” or “in association with” His Son, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, these three words refer to the church age believer’s identification with Jesus Christ in His session at the right hand of the Father, which took place by means of the baptism of the Spirit when they were declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
As was the case in Ephesians 1:3 and 20, the articular dative neuter plural form of the adjective epouranios (ἐπουράνιος) here in Ephesians 2:6 means “the heavenlies” and refers to the first, second and third heavens.
It is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which functions here as a marker of location indicating that the session of Jesus Christ is “located in” the first, second and third heavens.
The proper name Christos (Χριστός), “the one and only Christ” here in Ephesians 2:6 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.
This word contains the figure of metonymy which means that the one and only Christ is put for the church age believer’s faith in Him at justification and their union and identification with Him through the baptism of the Spirit at their justification.
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 and thus, this construction speaks of the incomparability of Christ.
The proper noun Iēsous (Ἰησοῦς) means “Jesus” and refers to the human nature of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.
The word functions as a dative of simple apposition meaning that it stands in apposition to the dative form of the noun Christos (Χριστός), “the one and only Christ” and simply clarifies who is Christ here, namely Jesus of Nazareth since there were many in the first century who made the claim.
The noun Christos (Χριστός), “the one and only Christ” is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which functions here as a marker of cause or reason.
Therefore, this indicates that the church age believer’s faith in Christ at justification as well as their union and identification with Him through the baptism of the Spirit at justification is the “reason” why the Father caused each and every church age believer to be raised and seated with the one and only Christ in the heavenlies.
Therefore, in Ephesians 2:6, Paul is applying what he has already asserted about Christ in Ephesians 1:20.
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 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)
Not only does Paul speak of the church age believer’s identification with Christ in His session in Ephesians 2:6 and but also in Colossians 3:1.
Colossians 3:1 Therefore, if, and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that each and every one of you have been raised up with Christ and we agree that this is true. Then, continue to make it your habit of diligently seeking after the things above, where Christ is, as an eternal spiritual truth existing in a state of being seated at God’s right hand. 2 Each and every one of you continue making it your habit of concentrating on the things above, not on the things on earth 3 because each and every one of you has died. Consequently, the life of each and every one of you is concealed with Christ by means of the power of God the Father. 4 When Christ, the life of each and every one of you, enters into the state of being revealed, then, at that time, each and every one of you will, as a certainty be revealed with Him in a state of glory. 5 Therefore, I solemnly charge each and every one of you to put to death the members of that which belongs to your earthly nature with regards to the practice of sexual immorality, sexual impurity, sexual lust, evil desire as well as that which is greed which is characterized as idolatry. (Lecturer’s translation)