Category: Musings

Research and response to Ephesians 1:15-23. (My thoughts are in blue because I’m so gobsmacked by all of this; almost to the point of mute astonishment):

Amplified Bible verse 17:

[I always pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation [that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight] into the true knowledge of Him [for we know the Father through the Son]. (18) And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will know and cherish the hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people), (19) and [so that you will begin to know] what the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His [active, spiritual] power is in us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength (20) which He produced in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, (21) far above all rule and authority and power and dominion [whether angelic or human], and [far above] every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and world but also in the one to come.

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(17) The God of our Lord Jesus Christ.—See John 20:17, “I ascend unto My Father and your Father; and to My God and your God.” It has been noted that, while on the cross, our Lord, in the cry, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” adopted the common human language of the Psalmist, He here, after His resurrection, distinguished emphatically between His peculiar relation to God the Father and that relation in which we His members call God “our Father.” St. Paul’s usual phrase (see above, Ephesians 1:3) is “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;” the phrase here used is unique, probably substituted for the other on account of the use of the word “Father” in the next clause. It refers, of course, entirely to our Lord’s nature as the true Son of Man. In that respect God is in the full sense (which in us is interrupted by sin) His God, in whom He lived and had His being. In proportion as we are conformed to His likeness, “God is our God for ever and ever.”

The Father of glory.—Better, of the glory. This phrase is again unique. We have, indeed, such phrases as “Father of Mercies” (2Corinthians 1:3), “Father of Lights” (James 1:17); and, on the other hand, “the King of Glory” (Psalm 28:5), “the God of Glory” (Acts 7:2), “the Lord of Glory” (1Corinthians 2:8; James 2:1). In all these last instances “the glory” seems certainly to be the Shechinah of God’s manifested presence, and in all cases but one is ascribed to our Lord. But “the Father of the glory,” seems a phrase different from all these. I cannot help connecting it with the missing element in the preceding clause, and believing (with some old interpreters), in spite of the strangeness of expression, that God is here called “the Father of the glory” of the incarnate Deity in Jesus Christ (see John 1:14), called in 2Corinthians 4:6, “the glory of God in the face (or person) of Jesus Christ.” (See Excursus A to St. John’s Gospel: On the Doctrine of the Word; dealing with the identification of “the Word” with the Shechinah by the Jewish interpreters). The prayer which follows connects the knowledge of the glory of our inheritance with the exaltation of our Lord in glory.

The knowledge of him.—The word here rendered “knowledge” signifies “perfect and thorough knowledge;” and the verb corresponding to it is used distinctively in this sense in Luke 1:4; 1Corinthians 13:12. It is employed by St. Paul more especially in his later Epistles (Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 1:9; Colossians 1:9-10; Colossians 2:2; Colossians 3:10), dealing as they do with the deeper things of God, and assuming more of a contemplative tone. It is represented here as coming from distinct “revelation.”

In verse 19 is the strength a spiritual (I almost want to use the phrase physical) manifestation of the shekinah glory? Like God’s love and strength are just as obvious to us as the clouds during a beautiful sunset and when He descended in in that form in Exodus?

I feel like I’ve never read these 7 verses before. There’s so much in them, it’s mind boggling.

Got Questions defines Shekinah Glory as such:

The word shekinah does not appear in the Bible, but the concept clearly does. The Jewish rabbis coined this extra-biblical expression, a form of a Hebrew word that literally means “he caused to dwell,” signifying that it was a divine visitation of the presence or dwelling of the Lord God on this earth. The Shekinah was first evident when the Israelites set out from Succoth in their escape from Egypt. There the Lord appeared in a cloudy pillar in the day and a fiery pillar by night: “After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people” (Exodus 13:20–22).

God spoke to Moses out of the pillar of cloud in Exodus 33, assuring him that His Presence would be with the Israelites (v. 9). Verse 11 says God spoke to Moses “face to face” out of the cloud, but when Moses asked to see God’s glory, God told Him, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (v. 20). So, apparently, the visible manifestation of God’s glory was somewhat muted. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, covered him with His hand, and passed by. Then He removed His hand, and Moses saw only His back. This would seem to indicate that God’s glory is too awesome and powerful to be seen completely by man.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the dwelling place of God’s glory. Colossians 2:9 tells us that “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,” causing Jesus to exclaim to Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). In Christ, we see the visible manifestation of God Himself in the second person of the Trinity. Although His glory was also veiled, Jesus is nonetheless the presence of God on earth. Just as the divine Presence dwelled in a relatively plain tent called the “tabernacle” before the Temple in Jerusalem was built, so did the Presence dwell in the relatively plain man who was Jesus. “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). But when we get to heaven, we will see both the Son and the Father in all their glory, and the Shekinah will no longer be veiled (1 John 3:2).

It’s as if on one hand we’re asked from elementary school “what do you want to be when you grow up?” When they’re really asking is “what do you think your calling is?”

Then we’re asked what we want to study in college and the “calling” comes up again but as a career.

Then as we age we look back and try to trace if we’ve known and/or followed our “calling”. But none of these examples of calling are true. It’s C. S. Lewis’s Shadowlands scenario. We’re called to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations, to glorify God in all we say and do, to love the lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor like yourself. These are our callings.

The world only offers us callings of the flesh and temporal. He calls us through the heart and spirit. And once we’ve accepted that calling, taken it up, we are given hope in return. Wisdom in return. Greater than Solomon. Strength in return and even a promise of something we can expect again as well (again in return) HIS POWER to overcome the world’s self inflicted and indoctrinated sense of calling that we not only are incapable of identifying but so often achieving.

My godfather just wrote me the most profound, detailed response to a question I had asked. The question was this:

In John 16:13 it’s talking about the Holy Spirit and it says “He will not speak on His own authority…” as part of the Trinity and so God himself (if I am grasping that correctly) why would the Holy Spirit not speak on His own authority? Is it like when Jesus said He didn’t either but only spoke from the words His Father had given Him?
I suppose I’m confused about this idea of who’s authority….belongs(?) where? Is God the Father the ultimate authority in the Trinity? Aren’t all three God? Is it a matter of deference?

His response was a brilliant and fascinating 7 pages. What stood out to me was the idea that there is a matter of servant hood at work between the three rather than authority.

How the kingdom is upside-down than our common ideas about how the world “should look/function/be governed” the idea that all 3 serve one another as an expression of love towards mankind is mind blowing. “true authority is revealed as that same suffering servant being raised from the dead by the Father through the Spirit and enthroned as King and Lord of all. God the Son is “served” by the Father and the Holy Spirit with resurrection life and exaltation, if I may say it like that. That brings us to the Lord’s teaching in Jn 14-16 that the Holy Spirit would indwell and teach and empower believers as His “service” to the Father and Son, and to us.”

I have to admit I’d never even thought of servant hood applying to the Trinity in the sense that they, out of love, serve us in saving us because they serve one another towards the common goal of redemption of all mankind.
The best analogy I can, from my first reading of this (believe me, I’ll be printing it out and re reading it more than once or twice) is that of the entire creation being like a restaurant. God the Father is like the host or maître d’, Jesus the attendant / waiter (that sounds so cheap and blasphemous, but I really can’t find a nicer way of putting it) and the Holy Spirit as the head chef.

They all play their parts on serving the customers (humanity) as they sit down for a meal. Some will leave with rave reviews (believers) , while others will complain about the service or prices (those who reject God).

I don’t think I’ve ever been more humbled to, through your writing here, to think that the Trinity wants to act not only in conjunction but through their own unique methods to help give us the opportunity for life with them everlasting if we only are willing to sit and eat at their table. Which I suppose could be expounded upon through the last supper, communion and Jesus’s declaration of being the “bread of life”.

I know that in my life I’ve been challenged to love and forgive, but it takes it to an entirely new level of doing so out of obedience to the scriptures, verses doing so because I am called to serve. There’s a very big difference between acting out of following orders as it were (even when doing so is with good intentions and not self seeking or gaining salvation through good works of said obedience) but doing so because I am serving. Serving to me means putting others’ needs before my own, showing compassion even when hard, laying my own hurt and ego aside, being both ready and willing to help another despite the cost (emotionally, physically, mentally) because my doing so is how I show (and hopefully witness to) another His grace and mercy and longing for restoration. Service on my part does not mean I will lead another to Christ. I only plant the seed and the Holy Spirit guides them and convicts them and then they make up their own mind about it. I’m just a door opener at that restaurant, whatever review they give it is up to them.