Ephesians 3.9c-The Father Created All Things
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday May 25, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:9c-The Father Created All Things
Lesson # 157
Ephesians 3:9 Specifically, in order to cause everyone to be enlightened as to what constitutes this unique dispensation, which is a mystery, which has been hidden from previous ages because of God’s will, who has caused each and every animate and inanimate object to be created. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:9 is composed of an infinitival purpose clause, which explains specifically the purpose for which the Father bestowed upon Paul the unmerited blessing of serving the gospel as an apostle to the Gentiles.
It asserts that the Father gave Paul this gift in order to enlighten everyone in the Gentile Christian community as to what constitutes this unique dispensation, which was a mystery, which has been hidden from previous ages because of the Father’s will, who caused each and every animate and inanimate object to be created.
So therefore, when Paul asserts in Ephesians 3:8 that he received the unmerited blessing of serving the gospel in order to proclaim to the Gentile Christian community the unfathomable wealth brought about by their justification by faith in and union and identification with Christ, he means that the purpose of this gift was to enlighten this community.
Specifically, to enlighten them that they are now fellow heirs with Jewish church age believers as well as fellow members of the body of Christ likewise fellow partakers of the Messianic promise because of justification by faith in and union and identification with Jesus Christ.
Thus, Ephesians 3:9 is explaining the previous purpose clause because it identifies what Paul proclaimed to the Gentile Christian community, namely, enlightenment with regards to this mystery, whose content has already been revealed in Ephesians 3:6.
The adjective pas (πᾶς) occurs as a second time in Ephesians 3:9 where it pertains to the totality of inanimate and animate objects that are contained in the first, second and third heavens and the earth or in other words, that are contained in creation, which would include all marine life, bird life, terrestrial life, human beings and angels.
The adjective is used in a distributive sense meaning “each and every thing” was created by God the Father.
However, John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16 teach that His Son, Jesus Christ was the personal agency which the Father employed to create each and every animate and inanimate object in the time, matter, space continuum.
The adjective pas (πᾶς) refers to the totality of animate and inanimate objects that are contained in the first, second and third heavens and the earth:
(1) Stars, satellites, and planets that compose the stellar universe. (2) Earth’s sun and moon. (3) Vegetation on the earth (4) Marine life (5) Bird life (6) Terrestrial life. (7) Human beings (8) Angels.
This adjective would include the orderly arrangement of the heavens and the earth and all things in their complex order and composition as created by God, created in perfect order and subject to the laws God established to govern its operation (Matt. 13:35; John 21:25; Acts 17:24).
The verb ktizo (κτίζω) refers to the Father creating out of nothing each and every animate and inanimate object located in the first, second and third heavens through the personal agency of His Son, Jesus Christ, which is indicated by the contents of Colossians 1:16 and John 1:3 and other passages.
As was the case with the verb phōtizō (φωτίζω) here in Ephesians 3:9, the active voice of this verb ktizo (κτίζω) is also causative, which means that God the Father as the subject was not directly involved in the act of creating each and every animate and inanimate object located in the time, matter, space continuum but that He was the ultimate source or cause behind this taking place.
It indicates that He was not the direct agent behind but the source behind it and as we noted earlier, His Son was the direct agent that the Father employed to do this.
Now, many expositors have questioned as to why Paul describes the Father as the creator of all things.
I believe that the answer lies in the apostle’s use of the verb ktizo (κτίζω) earlier in the epistle, which is employed by him in Ephesians 2:10 and 15.
It appears that by speaking of the Father’s creative activity in relation to the church here in Ephesians 3:9 and employing this verb to do so, Paul is linking the other references to the Father’s creative activity in relation to the church in Ephesians 2:10 and 15.
Ephesians 2:10 For each and every one of us are His creative workmanship. For each and every one of us has been created by means of our faith in and union and identification with Christ Jesus in order to produce actions, which are divine good. These God prepared in advance so that each of us would conduct our lives by means of them. (Lecturer’s translation)
So therefore, the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:10 describes the church composed of both Jewish and Gentile church age believers as being the Father’s creative workmanship who have been created by means of their faith in and union and identification with Jesus Christ in order to produce actions, which are divine good.
Thus, when Paul speaks of the Father’s creative activity in Ephesians 3:9 in relation to the church being composed of Jewish and Gentile church age believers who are joint heirs with each other as well as fellow members of the body of Christ together and fellow partakers of the Messianic promise because of their faith in and union and identification with Jesus Christ, he is linking this creative activity with the creative activity in relation to the church in Ephesians 2:10.
Ephesians 2:15 In other words, by nullifying by means of His human nature the law composed of the commandments consisting of a written code of laws in order that He might cause the two to be created into one new humanity by means of faith in Himself at justification and union and identification with Himself through the baptism of the Spirit at justification. Thus, He caused peace to be established (between the two and the two with God). (Lecturers translation)
So therefore, the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:15 asserts the Lord Jesus Christ nullified by means of His human nature the Mosaic Law in order that He might cause both Jewish and Gentile church age believers to be created into one new humanity.
This was accomplished again by means of faith in Jesus at justification and union and identification with Him through the baptism of the Spirit at justification.
Thus, the Lord created one new humanity from the two races.
Thus, when Paul speaks of the Father’s creative activity in Ephesians 3:9 in relation to the church being composed of Jewish and Gentile church age believers who are joint heirs with each other as well as fellow members of the body of Christ together and fellow partakers of the Messianic promise because of their faith in and union and identification with Jesus Christ, he is linking this creative activity with the creative activity in relation to the church in Ephesians 2:15.
Thus, we can see that Ephesians 3:9 is linked together with Ephesians 2:10 and 15 because all three verses speak of the creative activity of the Father and Son in relation to the church.
Consequently, a comparison of these verses reveals the following about the church in relation to the creative activity of the Father and the Son:
(1) The church is the creative workmanship of the Father, which has been created by means of their faith in and union and identification with Jesus Christ in order to produce good works (2:10).
(2) The Lord Jesus Christ nullified the Law by means of His human nature in order that He might cause both Jewish and Gentile church age believers to be created into one new humanity by means of their faith in and union and identification with Jesus Christ through the baptism of the Spirit at justification and thus caused there to be peace between the two communities (2:15).
(3) The Father used Paul to enlighten the Gentile Christian community as to what constitutes the outworking of the Father’s purpose for church age, which was a mystery to Old Testament saints because of God’s will (3:9).
The content of this mystery is that Jewish and Gentile church age believers are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the Messianic promise because of their justification by faith in and union and identification with Jesus Christ (3:6).
Notice the common denominator is that both the Jewish and Gentile Christian communities became the Father’s creative workmanship and the new humanity and fellow heirs with each other and fellow members of the body of Christ and fellow partakers with each other as a result of being declared justified by the Father through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
Simultaneously, they were placed in union with Him and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father through the baptism of the Spirit at justification.
Therefore, Paul links the creative of the Father in Ephesians 3:9 with His creativity in Ephesians 2:10 and the creative of His Son in Ephesians 2:15 because he wants the recipients of the Ephesian epistle who were Gentile church age believers that all three creative actions were for the benefit of them in that they are now a new humanity.
The implication is that they are extremely important in the Father’s determination to have the church rule over His creation and dispossess Satan and his fellow evil spirits who currently reign over the earth temporarily.
This is exactly why he makes the following assertion in Ephesians 3:10.
Ephesians 3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. (NET)
So therefore, here in Ephesians 3:9, Paul defines proclaiming to the Gentile Christian community the unfathomable wealth produced by their justification by faith in and union and identification with Jesus Christ as providing them enlightenment with regards to the Father’s secret plan for them as Gentile church age believers.
The content of this mystery is revealed in Ephesians 3:6 and reveals that the will of the Father during the church age was to have Gentile believers be fellow heirs with Jewish believers as well as fellow members of the body of Christ with them likewise fellow partakers of the Messianic promise with them because of their justification by faith in and union and identification with Christ Jesus.