Ephesians 3.11b-The Accomplishment of the Father's Eternal Predetermined Plan
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 6, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:11b-The Accomplishment of the Father’s Eternal Predetermined Plan
Lesson # 162
Ephesians 3:11 This was in conformity with the eternal predetermined plan, which He caused to be accomplished by means of our faith in and union and identification with the one and only Christ, who is Jesus, who is the one and only Lord ruling over each and every one of us as a corporate unit. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:11 is composed of the prepositional phrase kata prothesin tōn aiōnōn (κατὰ πρόθεσιν τῶν αἰώνων), “the eternal predetermined plan,” which modifies the result clause in Ephesians 3:10.
The latter asserts that the multifaceted wisdom produced by the manifestation of the will of God (the Father) was made known to the sovereign rulers and governmental authorities in the heavenlies through the members of the church.
This prepositional phrase is modified by the relative pronoun clause hēn epoiēsen en tō Christō Iēsou tō kyriō hēmōn (ἣν ἐποίησεν ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν), “which He caused to be accomplished by means of our faith in and union and identification with the one and only Christ, who is Jesus, who is the one and only Lord ruling over each and every one of us as a corporate unit.”
The noun prothesis (πρόθεσις), “predetermined plan” pertains to that which is planned or purposed in advance.
Thus, as was the case in Ephesians 1:11, the word here in Ephesians 3:11 refers to the “predetermined plan” of God the Father.
We also noted that this word is modified by the articular genitive masculine plural form of the noun aiōn (αἰών), “eternal” which speaks of an exceedingly long or indefinite period of time from an assumed beginning up to the present.
Literally, the word means “ages” and speaks of the period prior to the Father created through His Son, Jesus Christ the time, matter, space continuum.
Thus, it pertains to eternity past.
The noun prothesis (πρόθεσις) is the object of the preposition kata (κατά), which functions as a marker of correspondence to a particular standard or policy.
As we also noted earlier, this prepositional phrase is modifying the result clause in Ephesians 3:10, which asserts that the multifaceted wisdom produced by the manifestation of will of God (the Father) was made known to the sovereign rulers and governmental authorities in the heavenlies through the members of the church.
Therefore, this indicates that the multifaceted wisdom produced by the manifestation of will of God (the Father) was made known to the sovereign rulers and governmental authorities in the heavenlies through the members of the church “according to” or “in conformity with” the Father’s “eternal predetermined plan.”
The referent of the accusative feminine singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς), “which” is the accusative feminine singular form of the noun prothesis (πρόθεσις), “predetermined plan.”
This is indicated by the fact that they agree in case (accusative), gender (feminine), and number (singular).
The third person singular aorist active indicative conjugation of the verb poieō (ποιέω) is expressing the idea that the Father “caused” His eternal predetermined plan “to be accomplished” in the sense that He caused it to be carried out fully by means of the church age believer’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ at justification and union and identification with Him through the baptism of the Spirit at justification.
As was the case in Ephesians 1:1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 20, 2:5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 20, 3:1, 4, 6, and 8 the proper name Christos (Χριστός), “the one and only Christ” here in Ephesians 3:11 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 Christos (Χριστός) 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 (Χριστός) also 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, it 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.
Now, as was the case in Ephesians 1:9, 12, 2:6, 7, 10, 13, 3:6 and 3:8, the proper name Christos (Χριστός), “Christ” here in Ephesians 3:11 contains the figure of metonymy.
This means that the Lord Jesus Christ is put for the church age believer’s faith in Him at justification as well as their union and identification with Him through the baptism of the Spirit at his justification.
The articular construction of this word also indicates that Jesus of Nazareth is the only one deserving of this name or title 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.
The dative masculine singular form of the proper noun Iēsous (Ἰησοῦς), “who is Jesus” and refers to the human nature of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.
This word functions as a dative of simple apposition which means that it clarifies who is Christ here, namely Jesus of Nazareth since there were many in the first century who made the claim.
As was the case in Ephesians 1:2, 3, 15, 17 and 2:21, the referent of the dative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (κύριος) is Jesus Christ.
The word means “Lord” and indicates the following about Jesus Christ: (1) His equality with the Father and the Spirit. (2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos. (3) His highest ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government. (4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature. (5) His victory over the sin nature and Satan and His kingdom.
The articular construction of the noun kurios (κύριος) is monadic indicating that there were many lords or masters in the world.
However, in reality there was only one lord or master worthy of the namely, the God-man, Jesus Christ.
The noun kurios (κύριος) also functions as a dative of simple apposition which means that it clarifies who Jesus Christ is, namely He is the Lord ruling over each and every member of the body of Christ.
The genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “each and every one of us as a corporate unit” not only refers to Paul and the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit but also the word is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
It functions as a genitive of subordination, which indicates that Paul and each and every one of the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit or are “subordinated to” the one and only Lord, who is Jesus Christ.
The proper name Christos (Χριστός), “Christ” is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which functions here as a marker of means.
Therefore, this indicates that the church age believer’s faith in Jesus Christ at justification and their union and identification with Him through the baptism of the Spirit at justification is “the means by which” the Father accomplished His eternal predetermined plan.
It was not Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father which accomplished this plan but these events in our Lord’s life were the basis for this predetermined plan, which was accomplished through the justification of the church age believer.
Remember, this predetermined plan is related to the mystery, which asserts that Gentile and Jewish church age believers are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the promise.
This union between Jewish and Gentile church age believers was brought about by the faith of their in Jesus Christ at justification and their union and identification with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
The active voice of this verb poieō (ποιέω) is a causative active, which indicates that God the Father is the ultimate cause of accomplishing His eternal predetermined plan but was not directly involved in it.
A comparison of Scripture with Scripture indicates that the Lord Jesus Christ caused the Father’s eternal predetermined plan to be accomplished by means of His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at His right hand.
The work of His Son during His First Advent was the basis for Gentile church age believers being fellow heirs as well as fellow members of the body of Christ likewise fellow partakers of the Messianic promise with Jewish church age believers.
This we noted manifested the multifaceted wisdom produced by the manifestation of the Father’s will.
Also, at the moment of justification, the Holy Spirit placed the church age believer in union with Jesus Christ and identified them with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
