The Resurrection and Session of Christ

Lesson 16

Resurrection and Session of Christ

Eph 1:18b-20

There are 5 points to the Doctrine of Sanctification:

DEFINITION OF SANCTIFICATION

First of all, what is sanctification? Sanctification begins with one’s spiritual birth and ends at physical death or the rapture during which time he learns loyalty to God (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

PHASES OF SANCTIFICATION

Second, there are three phases of sanctification. There is phase 1: Positional Sanctification (penalty of sin) which refers to the moment you believed in Christ. This refers to your position “in Christ”. This is a past completed action that took place the moment you believed.  “you have been sanctified” (1 Cor. 1:2). Phase 3: Ultimate Sanctification (presence of sin) is also positional, just like phase 1 but it refers to the moment you physically die or are raptured, whichever comes first. At that moment you are totally sanctified because you receive a new resurrection body free from the presence of any sin. Phase 2: Experiential Sanctification (power of sin) refers to the time between Phase 1: Position in Christ at your spiritual birth and Phase 3: Ultimate Sanctification. Phase 2 is the time that God has given you to learn loyalty to God through His word.

THE AIM OF SANCTIFICATION

The aim of sanctification is not to get rid of sin or to destroy one’s enemies. The aim of sanctification is to learn loyalty to God through His word. How do we know this? Well, both Adam and Eve as well as Jesus Christ himself had to learn loyalty to God even while they had no sin or sin nature. After the Fall we have the world, the flesh, and the devil trying to impede our learning loyalty to God (1 John 2:16), but the aim of sanctification remains the same before and after the fall, namely, to learn loyalty to God through His word.

BEFORE THE FALL                                                   AFTER THE FALL

ENEMIES OF SANCTIFICATION

As just mentioned we have enemies to our sanctification. You can’t fight against the forces of the world, flesh, and devil by directly attacking them. This won’t work.

                                                                World, Flesh, Devil

Remember, the aim of sanctification is not to destroy your enemies. Instead the aim of sanctification is to learn loyalty to God through His word. Thus, we have to take an indirect approach to defeating our enemies.

                                    LOYALTY TO GOD’S WORD

                                          world, flesh, and devil

Once we learn loyalty to God’s word we can put the word to work by means of faith. Faith is the means of sanctification. It is the word of God that fights off our enemies and so one must learn loyalty to God’s word as an indirect means. Additionally, we have two dimensions to Phase 2: Experiential Sanctification.

2 DIMENSIONS OF SANCTIFICATION

Often misunderstood but necessary are the 2 dimensions of sanctification: Existential Present and Long-Term Growth. We are either in-or-out of fellowship and therefore either spiritual or carnal at any given moment. This is the first dimension of sanctification; the Existential Present…you are either thinking God’s thoughts or your own thoughts…DVP or HVP. This dimension does not denote maturity, just spirituality.

However, what is often missed is the second dimension of sanctification: Long-Term Growth. Long-Term Growth looks at sanctification from the perspective of overall growth…and therefore refers to maturity.

1                      3          TIME

4                      6          TEACHING

7                      9

Mathematically it is a function of time and teaching. Of course, these two dimensions are related. As one stays in fellowship in the Existential Present his knowledge of the general will of God for his life increases as he studies the Bible so that he matures. Conversely, the longer one stays out of fellowship the more likely he will encounter what is sometimes called “compound carnality”. So, the 2 dimensions of sanctification look something like a good stock if one is continually in fellowship and maturing, or a bad stock if one is stuck in “compound carnality”.

100

%         50

0

                        years of spiritual growth

Paul began chapter 1 with a Prologue (1:1-2), followed by a Praise (1:3-14), and now we are looking at Paul’s Prayer (1:15-23). Prayer and Praise should always go together. This section might be called the “Prayer for Those Who Have Everything” because Paul has just finished telling us the spiritual blessings we possess. However, too often we can become complacent if we simply know intellectually that we have these spiritual blessings (vv. 3-14). Rather than becoming complacent Paul prays that we might appropriate these truths so that our human spirits are strengthened in the areas of Divine wisdom and revelation. v. 15 is Paul’s commendation of the saints in Ephesus. He commends them for their faith toward God and their love for one another. Paul is making a point to recognize both their vertical and horizontal actions. In v. 16 Paul makes a request for them. He wants the Ephesians to know God precisely, to increase their depth of knowledge about Him. in v. 18 Paul tells them that they have been enlightened at the moment they believed the gospel. This is the precondition for anyone coming to know God precisely. You first have to be enlightened so that you can come to epignosis through the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. So, what Paul is praying about is our sanctification. He wants us to grow up as believers.

Tonight turn to Ephesians 1:18-20. Now Paul describes the goal of his prayer request; Paul wants us to comprehend three things; 1) the hope of His calling (v. 18b), 2) the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (v. 18c), and 3) the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe (v. 19a). So, Paul is making one request for knowledge that has three goals. Paul saw that in his day the believers at Ephesus had a need to understand the whole plan of God; past, present, and future so he casts these three things as the goal of his prayer.

Greek Text: 1:18 eivj to. eivde,nai u`ma/j ti,j evstin h` evlpi.j th/j klh,sewj auvtou/( ti,j o` plou/toj th/j do,xhj th/j klhronomi,aj auvtou/ evn toi/j a`gi,oij(  

Translation: 1:18 in order that you might perceive/know what is the hope of His calling, what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

eivj to. eivde,nai u`ma/j, “in order that you might know” The Greek word for "know" here is not the more common word ginosko, instead it is the Greek word oida. There has been a lot of discussion about these two words. Most agree that they differ only slightly. The word ginosko means “to find something out”. Oida means “to perceive something” and is related to the eyes. Thus, it is very appropriate that Paul uses oida rather than ginosko because his request for the Ephesians is based on the fact that the eyes of their heart have been enlightened (1:18a). Oida is a very internal knowledge that is working, a deep seated knowledge of something, not surface-like. Paul wants them to have a working knowledge of three things that they could not perceive before they believed the gospel. Each of these three spiritual truths is marked off in the Greek text by a tis “what” clause.

 ti,j evstin h` evlpi.j th/j klh,sewj auvtou/( “what is the hope of His calling,”…First, the hope of His calling. The word for hope is elpis. hope was the one thing missing in v. 15 when Paul commended the Ephesian saints. They were strong in faith and love but they were lacking hope, so this is a part of his request for them. In our culture and time the word hope simply means “to wish for something that is not certain”, some desire that may or may not take place. This is not the biblical usage of hope in the NT. Hope in the NT is the absolute certainty that God will make true what He has promised. Turn to Romans 8:20ff. Here Paul makes a parallel between the creation and believers. The creation has hope, certainty of its redemption. Paul is referring to a future New Heavens and New Earth. The present heavens and earth were subjected to sin but there is certainty that it will be re-created. In the same way you as a believer, your redemption is not complete, you still await a resurrection body and you hope for it. There’s a sense of certainty that what God promised will come to pass. That’s the idea of biblical hope; absolute certainty. What is our hope based on? It’s based on His calling is a subjective genitive meaning that the reason or basis of our hope is His calling. It is because He called us that we have hope, that we have absolute certainty that God will make true what He has promised. This makes the most sense in the context because Paul has already explained how we have been redeemed, forgiven, and sealed and that because of the certainty of those truths we have hope that there is even more coming at the future day of redemption. So, because of all we already possess we have hope that all His promises will be fulfilled.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ love and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand—All other ground is sinking sand,

All other ground is sinking sand.[1] (The Solid Rock)

The Greek word for calling is klesis. Klesis means “an invitation” from God.  The Ephesian believers were called by God. The doctrine of calling is very closely related to the doctrine of election.  Turn to 2 Thess. 2:13-14. Notice that God chose believers for salvation from the beginning, obviously referring to eternity past, and that the actual calling of v. 14 took place in time through the gospel message. So, election occurs before time and calling occurs in time. God called you at some time during your life. Calling is therefore the in time manifestation of His before time choice. God is responsible for both the election and the calling as Ephesians indicates by the pronoun autou “His”. Paul wants us to see how big God’s plan is, that this thing began to be realized by us at the moment we were called and believed the gospel. God called us out of the rat race so to say and he wants us to look back and realize just how big God’s plan really is. Because we have been called by God into His family we have hope (certainty) of the future.

ti,j o` plou/toj th/j do,xhj th/j klhronomi,aj auvtou/ evn toi/j a`gi,oij( “what is the wealth of His glorious inheritance in the saints,”…Next Paul wants us to look to the future, he wants us to understand what is the wealth of Christ’s inheritance in the saints.  The word for riches is ploutos. It is the same word Paul used in Eph. 1:7. In v. 7 it was descriptive of the amount of grace that was required to measure our redemption; how much it costs God to redeem you. The word might better be translated as wealth because the word is in the singular and points to the singularity of God’s possessions. In other words, rather than saying that Bill Gates has 30 billion dollars we might simply talk about his wealth which, of course, includes all his assets. We’ve looked at the word for glory several times in Ephesians (1:6; 12; 14). Glory refers to reflection of one’s being, the summation of all of one’s attributes which makes an impression on others. Here it is referring to His inheritance, the sum of all the attributes of all the saints. It is the accumulation of all that God possesses. What He possesses is His saints and all that He given to us, all the spiritual blessings. God didn’t lose anything when He gave us spiritual blessings because He possesses us and therefore all that He gives us. It’s kind of like giving yourself something or making an investment. This was first taught in v. 11. So, first of all Paul wants us to look back, to see how far back God’s plan goes, but now he wants us to look into the future to see where this plan is going. Ultimately, Christ called us to be His inheritance. He’s got a plan that goes from before time to eternity future. The only question is when will Christ’s full inheritance be actual? Well, it seems to be either at the Rapture or after the Messianic Kingdom. Probably Christ is receiving His inheritance in stages or degrees and the final consummation of His inheritance will be after the Messianic Kingdom. So, we have the Church age where people become believers and then the Rapture, then the 7 year tribulation and all the saints from that time period, then the Second Coming and binding of Satan followed by a forced rule (rule of the iron scepter) of the King on earth for 1,000 years. Then Satan will be released at the end of the 1,000 years and the nations will gather against Jerusalem to destroy the King. Next, Christ will reign down fire upon them destroying all His enemies. Then comes the Great White Throne Judgment where all unbelievers of all ages will be judged. Then comes the destruction of the present heavens and earth. Finally, God will create the New Heavens and New Earth which is when Christ will receive His inheritance in the saints. Perhaps this refers back to v. 10, the summing up or re-uniting of all things under one head, the things in the heavens and things in the earth in Him (Eph. 1:10). What we might call a dispensation of the “fullness of the times” (Eph. 1:9). At that time Christ will have the total package of His inheritance in His saints. Paul wants us to comprehend the greatness of God’s plan for His saints in the future. But that’s not all, the next verse tells us that God’s plan is not just the beginning and the end but everything in between…

Greek Text: 1:19 kai. ti, to. u`perba,llon me,geqoj th/j duna,mewj auvtou/ eivj h`ma/j tou.j pisteu,ontaj kata. th.n evne,rgeian tou/ kra,touj th/j ivscu,oj auvtou/Å  

Translation: 1:19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of His power,

            kai. ti, to. u`perba,llon me,geqoj th/j duna,mewj auvtou, “and what is the surpassing greatness of His power”. Paul wants us to understand God’s plan in the present and the power behind history that is bringing history to its ultimate goal through believer’s lives. The subject of this third concept is God’s power/omnipotence and it is obviously the one concept Paul wants us to understand the most about because he devotes the rest of the chapter to this aspect (vv. 19-23). Whereas the first concept, the hope of His calling, referred to the past, and the second concept, His inheritance, referred to the future, the third concept, His power toward us, refers to the present. So, we have a past calling, a future inheritance, and present power.

The word surpassing is a compound Greek word composed of the preposition uper, meaning “above, beyond” and the verb ballo, meaning “to throw”. So the word means “to throw above or beyond”. It would be the word to use when you are playing catch with a friend and you overthrow them; you throw the ball too far (2 Co. 3:10; 9:14; Eph. 1:19; 2:7; 3:19). The word for greatness is used only here in the NT. It is the Greek word megethos and it expresses the degree of the power. It is GREAT! The power of God available to the believer can only be described by the phrase surpassing greatness. God’s power to bring about His plan is working in believers. We are a part of bringing His plan to pass.

In this verse Paul uses four different words for power. This verse is clearly one of the strongest verses on the omnipotence of God (cf. Numb. 11:23). The first word for power is dunamis, which is the Greek word from which we get the English, “dynamite”. But the idea of God’s power as explosive is not the idea. Rather, dunamis could be translated as “ability, capability”. Remember, John 6:44 no one can come to the Father unless the Father draw Him. The word for can there is dunamis. It means no one is capable of coming to the Father unless the Father draws him. dunamis corresponds to potential energy. Aristotle used it this way. We’ll return to the Physics use of this word in a moment. But for now it’s enough to say that dunamis refers to potential energy. Along the same lines Paul said in Rom. 8:7-8 that the natural man does not have the dunamis to please God. He doesn’t even have the potential to please God. So, Paul is talking about God’s potential power being more than enough, and this is available…

eivj h`ma/j tou.j pisteu,ontaj, “toward us who believe,”. The preposition eis indicates the direction of God’s power which means that one of the goals of completely, precisely knowing God is that we might understand the greatness of His power directed toward us. The us is further defined as those who believe. This does not mean that the power is only available at moments of belief but rather that the power of God is available for all “believers” regardless of whether we are living by faith at any given moment or not. It is popular today among apostate teachers to tell people with illnesses who want to be physically healed that the reason they have not experienced healing is because they don’t have enough faith, they don’t believe. This conditions God’s power on human faith. This is absolutely wrong. That is never taught in the Bible. The reason some people are not healed has nothing to do with God being freed to heal us by our faith. This kind of teaching is apostate and usually is used to make people feel guilty so they will give money to some apostate organization. They are lured into thinking that if they just give money they will secure some blessing from God. This is anti-biblical. God never acts this way. Don’t get caught in this kind of trap, this is a deception. God’s potential power that is exceeding is for all who believe not just some special group of super-spiritual believers.

            kata. th.n evne,rgeian tou/ kra,touj th/j ivscu,oj auvtou/Å “according to the mighty working of His power,”. Once again this is kata with the accusative. kata with the accusative always denotes the standard or measure of God’s energy toward us. It refers back to the surpassing greatness of his power. What Paul is saying is that the surpassing greatness of His power is in accordance with the power of the power of His power. That’s right, Paul uses four different words for power to describe the measure of God’s power toward us.

            The first word was dunamis, the second word for power is energeia, from which we get the English word “energy”. energeia refers to kinetic power whereas dunamis refers to potential power. In physics we have kinetic and potential energy. Potential energy is the energy associated with an object due to its location in space and the forces acting upon it. For example, a rock sitting on a ledge has potential energy. It has the forces of gravity acting upon it such that if the rock fell off the edge the gravity would turn that potential, stored energy, into work. Thus, potential energy means that an object has the capacity to do work. It is motionless energy. However, when the rock falls off the ledge that potential energy has been converted into kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. That power is actually being put to work. In Scripture, energeia always refers to supernatural power being put to work. It therefore corresponds to kinetic energy. dunamis corresponds to potential or stored energy.

dunamis (potential energy)

                                                                                                energeia (kinetic energy)

The third word for power is kratos (Lk. 1:51; Acts 19:20; Eph. 1:19; 6:10; Col. 1:11; 1 Tim. 6:16; Heb. 2:14; 1 Pet. 4:11; 5:11; Jude 1:25; Rev. 1:6; 5:13). kratos refers to “might or strength” directed toward a goal. In the NT it always refers to supernatural power. It is from this Greek word that we get the words “theocracy, the rule of God; democracy, the rule of the people; autocracy, the rule of one absolute”, etc…So, this word has more to do with the visible position of strength such as a governmental ruler.

The fourth word for power is ischus (Mk. 12:30, 33; Lk. 10:27; Eph. 1:19; 6:10; 2 Thess. 1:9; 1 Pet. 4:11; 2 Pet. 2:11; Rev. 5:12; 7:12). ischus refers to inherent strength, whether of God, angels, or men. This is the power that is available for you, God’s omnipotence.

The question is how do all four of these words relate? All are closely related and their meanings overlap each other. First, ischus refers to inherent strength or power that is possessed. Second, kratos refers more to the visible aspect of this strength or power. Third, energeia refers to the strength or power in action. Fourth, dunamis refers to the capability to put that strength or power into action. So, God has “inherent power, visibly seen in His supremacy, with the capacity to be put into action, and is being put into action. His power is being put to work for all believers. A few examples might suffice to show the distinctions; first, “a bulldozer has the ability, capacity, and potential of routing out trees (du,namij). By looking at it, one senses its inherent strength (ivscu,j) but when its engine roars and it begins to move, its power of mastery becomes obvious (kra,toj). However, when it comes to a tree and knocks it over one sees the activity of its power (evne,rgeia).” Another example that has been used is that ischus is the root, kratos is the tree, and energeia the fruit. Paul’s main point is to emphasize the abundance of God’s power available to all believers as God brings His plan to pass through us. God is omnipotent and these shades of meaning that Paul uses to describe God’s power describe it in a total and complete way, in every which way you can think of power. God challenged Israel by asking them, “Is the LORD'S power limited?” (Num. 11:23). The obvious answer is no. God’s power is not limited in any way, shape, or form. When we say that God is omnipotent we mean that God can do anything compatible with His character. We do not, of course, ask questions such as “if God can do anything then can God lie?” Such questions are asked only by those false babblers who know not the Scriptures. For such as these there is little need of rebuke. For God to lie is contrary to His nature and His revealed word (Tit. 1:2; Heb. 6:18). Other passages that demonstrate or proclaim God’s omnipotence include Ps. 33:6-9 (READ).

Omnipotence is one of God’s attributes that is more difficult to understand. The human corollary is energy. God doesn’t get tired, He doesn’t need to eat to get energy. He is pure energy. Because of the difficulty of understanding God’s omnipotence it should not surprise us that there are many heresies that are based on a misunderstanding of God’s omnipotence. For example, modern Process Theology says that God limits His power in order to allow room for human free will. What this means is that God is in a process of discovery, waiting to see what humans will do and where history is going. Of course, the Scriptures never say that God limits His power to allow for human free choice or that God’s power is limited by free choice. Process Theology is just another attempt by humans to resolve the supposed dilemma between God’s sovereignty and human freedom by claiming that God limits His power or that human freedom limits God’s power.

            “In conclusion, Paul states that the goal of knowing God intimately is that we might know what is the surpassing greatness of his ability or potential power which is according to the mighty activity of power derived from his inherent strength. This power is directed to all who believe. It is this kind of power that is needed to survive the satanic hostile powers and worldly system that surrounds us.”[2]

            Many think that the prayer ends here but the relative pronoun in the next verse indicates that Paul is still praying. He’s in mid-thought. Paul decides that in vv. 20-23 he should expound upon the power that is directed toward these believers. It is one thing to state the concept of omnipotence but it is quite another to give a historical demonstration of God’s omnipotence at work. Paul shows that God’s omnipotence was demonstrated by four divine events; 1) raising Christ from the dead, 2) seating Christ at His right hand, 3) putting everything in subjection under His feet, and 4) giving Him as head over everything to the Church. What God’s omnipotence did “in Christ” corresponds to what God’s omnipotence does for believers. Just as a bulldozer may be described as powerful, it is much different to see what the bulldozer can actually do. This Paul reveals to us by giving us two historical examples of what God’s omnipotence has done. First vv. 20-23 and second in Eph. 2:1-11 (regeneration). This is the kind of power we have available to us as God carries out His plan.

Greek Text: 1:20 }Hn evnh,rghsen evn tw/| Cristw/| evgei,raj auvto.n evk nekrw/n kai. kaqi,saj evn dexia/| auvtou/ evn toi/j evpourani,oij

Translation: 1:20 which worked in the Christ by raising Him from the dead and by seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies

            }Hn evnh,rghsen evn tw/| Cristw/| evgei,raj auvto.n evk nekrw/n, “which worked in the Christ by raising Him from the dead”. worked comes from the Greek verb energeo. The noun was used in the previous verse as referring to actual power (kinetic energy). This verb is used 9 times of God and once of Satan in the NT. It is never used of men. It therefore always refers to some supernatural power. Think of this. Christ’s body laid in the tomb for three days degenerating, falling apart. All physical and biological processes stopped for three days. Just think that every cell in His body had to be restored. Just think of the amount of energy required to do this, to transform Christ’s body. The verb worked is an aorist active indicative verb (AAI), meaning that this is a past completed point action. Paul is summing up in one verb the energy that was expended in the resurrection, the ascension, and the session of Christ; a 50 day period. During those 50 days God did some work, and He finished the work by the end of those 50 days. This same energy stands back of God’s promises to you.

            evgei,raj auvto.n evk nekrw/n, “by raising Him from the dead”. The resurrection took place on the 3rd day... having raised is an aorist active participle indicating that the working of His power took place precisely at the time Christ was raised from the dead (also aorist) and is therefore a demonstration of God’s power. This verse is denying the Modern Liberal and Secular Humanists who might say that since we live in a chance universe that anything can happen. Therefore, a resurrection here and there should not surprise us since anything is possible. It might be a rarity but not unheard of and because it is such a rarity it might make a great addition to Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Why not send it in. This verse is totally against that idea. This verse says it was not pure chance that Christ was resurrected; it was the power of God. It locates the cause of Christ’s resurrection with God’s power and not with blind chance. God’s power was demonstrated to be at work when He raised Christ from the dead. From the dead is ek nekron. The preposition ek shows that He was raised “out from” all the others who had died and been buried. Out of all who had ever died and been buried Jesus Christ was the one who God raised by His supernatural power. Notice how precise God’s power operates. It’s not uncontrolled power, it’s directed. Of all the bodies in the earth in tombs right next to Christ’s only Christ was raised from the dead. But this is not all that God’s power accomplished. Christ was also seated at His right hand in the heavenlies.

----

[1] Peterson, John W., Great Hymns of the Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1968), 272.

[2] Hoehner, Harold, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 272.