Ephesians 3.16c-The Church Age Believer's Possesses the Nature of Christ Indwelling Them
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday August 22, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 3:16c-The Church Age Believer Possesses the Nature of Christ Indwelling Them
Lesson # 174
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason, I make it my habit of bending my knees in the presence of the Father 15 from whom each and every family located in the heavens as well as located upon the earth is designated a name. 16 I make it a habit of occupying myself with praying that according to the wealth produced by His glory He would cause each and every one of you as a corporate unit to be given strength by means of power through the personal intermediate agency of His Spirit for the benefit of your inner being. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:16 is composed of the following:
(1) direct object clause hina dō hymin…dynamei krataiōthēnai (ἵνα δῷ ὑμῖν…δυνάμει κραταιωθῆναι), “that…He would cause each and every one of you as a corporate unit to be given strength by means of power.”
(2) prepositional phrase: kata to ploutos tēs doxēs autou (κατὰ τὸ πλοῦτος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ), “according to the wealth produced by His glory.”
(3) prepositional phrase: dia tou pneumatos autou (διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ), “through the personal intermediate agency of His Spirit.”
(4) prepositional phrase: eis ton esō anthrōpon (εἰς τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον), “for the benefit of your inner being.”
We complete our study of Ephesians 3:16 by noting Paul’s use of the noun anthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος), which we noted speaks of the unique person of history, Jesus Christ, who is the head of the new creation in contrast to the head of the old humanity whose head is the first human being, Adam.
The articular construction of this noun functions as a possessive personal pronoun referring to the recipients of this letter who Paul identifies in Ephesians 2:11 as Gentile church age believers in the Roman province of Asia.
This expresses the idea that this inner human being is “the possession of” these Gentile church age believers.
This word is modified by the adverb of location esō (ἔσω) which identifies the location of this new humanity or the new head of the human race is located, namely, within the human body and soul of the church age believer.
The noun anthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος) is the object of the preposition eis (εἰς), which functions as a marker of benefaction, which indicates that it is “for the benefit of” the inner new humanity of these church age believers that they are strengthened by means of power through the post-justification work of the Holy Spirit.
This expression ton esō anthrōpon (τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον), which appears in Ephesians 3:16 also appears in Roman 7:22 with the same referent.
Romans 7:22 For you see, I habitually and joyfully agree with God’s Law with respect to my inner man. (Author’s translation)
In 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul employs a similar expression ho exō hēmōn anthrōpos (ὁ ἔξω ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος), “our inner person” to refer to the new indwelling nature of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day. (NET)
Therefore, these expressions in these three verses all refer to the new Christ nature that the church age believer received through regeneration the moment they were declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
At the moment a sinner is declared justified by God through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit for the imputation of eternal life by God the Father, which makes the believer a new spiritual species meaning they now possess the divine nature.
This is called in theology “regeneration.”
Some expositors argue that this “inner human being” or “man” or “inner person” is not the nature of Jesus Christ, which every church age believer receives at the moment of justification through regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
Many of these expositors believe the inner man or person is speaking of the heart, mind or soul of a person, which are in fact are affected by the temptations of the sin nature.
However, Romans 7:22 makes clear that it is in fact this indwelling nature of Jesus Christ because if you notice, Paul asserts in this verse that he delights in the law of God in this inner man or inner person.
An unregenerate person cannot delight in God’s law but only a regenerate person can delight in it because they are a new creation or new spiritual species because they received the nature of Jesus Christ at justification through regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
Also, notice in Romans 7:23, Paul asserts that the members of his physical body which contain the old Adamic sin nature are waging war against his mind and making him captive to this sin nature, which resides in the genetic structure of the physical body according to Romans 6:6.
Lastly, in 2 Corinthians 4:16 Paul contrasts the physical body, which is corrupted by the sin nature and decaying, with the new nature, which is being renewed day by day.
Therefore, it is better to view this inner person or inner man or inner being as the indwelling nature of Jesus Christ, which gives the church age believer the capacity to love and obey God and His law.
Paul’s Spirit inspired desire that the Father would cause each one of the recipients of this epistle, who were Gentile church age believers, to be given strength by means of power through the personal intermediate agency of the Holy Spirit, would result in this new nature of Christ gaining more and more control over the hearts of these Christians.
Consequently, the indwelling old Adamic sin nature would have less control over their hearts.
Therefore, this is why Paul asserts in Ephesians 3:17 that as a result of the Father answering this prayer request he makes in Ephesians 3:16, Christ will dwell in their hearts through faith.
As we noted in our study of Ephesians 1:18, the noun kardia (καρδία), “heart” is that aspect of the soul, which circulates thought or mental activity and is where one’s frame of reference and memory center resides.
It is also the place where one’s vocabulary and the classification of thoughts reside as well as the conscience where the norms and standards reside.
A person’s entire mental attitude circulates in the kardia as well as the subconscious where various categories of things that shock or impress from adversity, sin, failure or disappointment are located.
Also, it contains volition, which enables a person to make decisions.
Therefore, this word refers to a person’s mentality, volition, conscience, sub-conscience and emotions.
Thus, we can understand why Paul prayed that the Father would cause each one of these Gentile church age believers to be given strength by means of power through the personal intermediate agency of the Holy Spirit because it would affect their decisions and the way that they thought and their norms and standards.
The only way this could take place is if the Holy Spirit strengthened the new indwelling nature of Jesus Christ within these Christians.
Now, Paul’s intercessory prayer here in Ephesians 3:16 to the Father on behalf of these Gentile church age believers would be accomplished by these Christians responding in faith to the Spirit inspired contents of the Ephesian epistle.
This post-justification faith in the contents of this Spirit inspired epistle would result in these Gentile church age believers obeying the various prohibitions and commands and requests, which appear Ephesians chapters 4-6.
Therefore, this is why Paul asserts in Ephesians 3:17 that as a result of the Father answering this prayer request, Christ will dwell in the hearts of these Gentile church age believers through their post-justification faith in the Spirit inspired contents of this epistle.
