In Him, Eph, 1:19b-21
Ephesians 1:19b-21 · Vern Peterman · May 23, 2004
Ephesians & Colossians, No. 20
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826237375613

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay, now let's take a look at this passage that we're looking at here this morning. Ephesians 1, 19b, which is basically the way of saying the second half, through verse 21. And one of the things we want to point out in the New American Standard, some of your other translations don't have it, there are some italics there right at the beginning, and we'll pay attention to that in a little bit. But the idea that we want to get here is Paul has begun in verse 15, and remember we pointed out actually 15 through the end of the chapter is all one long sentence in the Greek. And what he's doing here in 17 through 19 is he's continuing a prayer.

And the focal point that we ended up with last week is that the surpassing greatness of his power is toward, we really underscored, into those who believe. And so what he's doing here as he goes through into this next passage is expanding upon what is the character of that power, and particularly the source, scope, and character of the power of this surpassing greatness towards us who believe. That's what he's laying out here. It's like he's saying, there is this immense power that is directed into the heart and mind and life of the believer, and let me tell you what that is. That's what he's doing in the rest of the chapter. He doesn't want us to underestimate that power that he has introduced here.

And so we're looking at 19b through 21 this week and next week at verses 22 and 23 to finish up the chapter. And what we're going to see here is an explanation in these verses, first this week and then next week, that centers around the person of Christ. That is the ultimate explanation of this power. It's not impersonal power. It is personally focused in Jesus Christ.

First to bring up, we brought up that in the New American Standard that these are, is actually not in the Greek text, it's inserted in the translator's attempt to sort of break it up into English. This is an instance where actually the King James tends to do better with bringing across the Greek without inserting anything. So really it's in accordance, as Mike read for us, is the way this section starts.

In accordance with the working of the strength of his might. And that in accordance with has nothing to do with accordions. It's consistent with or defined by is the concept. Consistent with or defined by the working of the strength of his might is what he's getting across here.

So let's look at this. The working of the strength of his might. Not too many words, but you say, boy, you've got all these words having to do with strength and might and working and power and what's all that about? Well, let's take a look at it. We'll look at it in detail here. This first one, working, here, is energeia. It's a compound word, means in working, okay? In working. It's putting ability into action.

You might compare it to, you know, the idea of stepping on our gas in the car. Step on the gas, the car goes, at least we sure hope it does, don't we? It made me think of, when I was looking at this, some years ago, I took my sons, Randy and Ed, to the Fremont Drag Strip in California. And they got to see a number of these cars that were outside the particular strip and the stands that were there. And you can see all these cars and they're really impressive.

I mean the mechanics is phenomenal. But it's when they get on the strip that you see the power put into action. It's when you see them put the power into the action. That's this concept of Energeia. The power is not just there. It's not just a capacity to execute the power. It's put into action. It is effective. It's working. It's doing something, not just sitting there and looking cool. So the ability is fully there, but this word is the placing into action of that ability.

And we'll see the same word again as we go through Ephesians 3.7 and 4.6, and also in Colossians, the same word shows up two different places, 1.29 and 2.12.

We saw this word once before when we were studying in Philippians 3.20 through 21, and you can look that up if you'd like as well. Now, the next one, strength. Now, this word, as you look at it, you might look at it and think, oh, I know what that means. It means crate toss. No, it doesn't mean crate toss, okay? It might take lots of strength to toss a crate, especially the one on the right, but that's not what it's about, okay?

Now, this word here is the word kratos, and it refers to inherent power. It's exhibited in the existing and exercised dominion, okay? Power that is the Lord's because of who He is. It is having dominion. Why? Because that is the character of the Lord, to have dominion. to have a power that exercises dominion over the place over which the Lord is in control. It's interesting, this word is only used of God in the New Testament. Only used of God.

The third one is ischus. It has nothing to do with itches. Ischus. Power that is able to overcome resistance is the idea. Simple idea. This aspect of the power of God is characteristic of God, again, because of who He is. It is power that is able to overcome resistance, and that's important, as we'll see here in a minute.

Now, suppose you say, Vern, that's great, you've strung up a bunch of Greek words, but it's all Greek to me. Well, if that's the case, that's fine. Let's take a look at these. We'll take a look at the words all at once. Yes, that's a Greek Scrabble set, if you can imagine that. Good way to practice your Greek vocabulary. What Paul has done here in verse 19, we looked at the first word last week and the rest of the words this week, he has strung together using basically every word for power and strength and might available in the Greek language and put them together in one verse.

That's what he's done. And we're just looking at that, at the last part of that verse here this morning. Here's the bottom line, here's where he's coming to, here's what he's saying. God is directing this overwhelming power into us who believe. See that? He is directing this overwhelming power into us who believe. Now, that might be a mind-boggling concept. You wake up in the morning and say, boy, I don't feel like I'm quite awake yet. Even at those moments, God's overwhelming power is directed into us who believe, and this is how He explains it. That power that He is directing into us And here's where these three words come together that look like power and might and strength.

Precisely defined as effectively in action, inherent in God, and able to overcome all resistance. That's the character of the power he has directed into each believer here this morning. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, this is true of you. This is true of you.

And it's the same power, and here's where it goes on to explain in verse 20, it's the same power which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and the rest of what He describes. Let's take a closer look at that. Start at verse 20, which He brought about in Christ. First of all, we want to make sure you understand, because we're seeing a bunch of pronouns, aren't we? Him and His and He and those kinds of things. This He is God the Father. That's made clear in Ephesians 3 and 17. 1.3 and 1.17. So this is God the Father is the one who is bringing this about. We need to make that clear.

The other thing is this word, brought about, is energeia, which is the verb form of energeia, which we saw was working. So let's draw the line up here. This working, this energeia, the noun, this is spelled out in the verb form here, when he said, when he brought about, he did the inworking. That's what he's communicating here.

Which he brought about, he did effectively, He put into action in Christ. In Christ, and then he defines, here is case in point. Here is case in point. Matter of fact, here is primary case in point. When he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

Those are his examples. If you were in a court case, you would say, here is my evidence. He says, you want to see evidence of this? Here's what it looks like. This is the evidence. Raise him from the dead. Here's the evidence. Seat him at the right hand. Now, let's take a look at those.

The surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. This surpassing greatness of His power toward, and that really means into, us who believe, Results from our having been identified with Christ. Our identification with Christ is not incidental to this. It is instrumental.

Results from our having been identified with Christ and his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. The resurrection and seeding are given explicitly here, when he raised him from the dead and seeded him in his own right hand. His crucifixion, that is his death, and the burial and ascension are implied in these actions. We frequently make reference to this chart, and it's been included in your handout again.

Particularly we're looking at Ephesians 1.18 and 20 here.

The raised and seeded are explicitly stated. The others are implied. implied in part, of course, because it says he raised him from the dead, but also because we have the other teachings alongside, even later on in the book of Ephesians, to indicate all five of the respects in which we've been identified. Let's look at that graphically.

Here is pictorially here. We've been crucified and buried, raised, ascended, and seated, and raised and seated are specifically and explicitly mentioned here in this passage. And the others are implied. The crucified, buried, and ascended are implied in the passage. Let's walk through quickly what this means.

We have been crucified with Christ. We have been buried with Christ, we have been raised with Christ, we have been ascended with Christ, we have been seated with Christ. Those are all the Father's actions through Christ. Christ is the expression and primary evidence of the power towards us who believe in our having been identified with Christ. Let's look at the second part here, seated him in his right hand in the heavenly places.

Now, one of the things you'll notice here is we don't mind talking at all, okay? You'll notice especially I don't mind. But we want to talk about seated him, okay? Now, one of the things to remember is the seating of him is not just a, here's a chair, have a seat, okay?

It has a specific reference, He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. And what I want you to notice, to observe, is this. Who was it that did the seating? It was God the Father. Christ's position at His right hand, that is the Father's right hand, was the place of honor and power. So being seated at his right hand wasn't just a, here, have a seat, okay? But it was specifically the place of honor and power. And thirdly, look at where Christ is seated. Seated in the heavenlies.

And this phrase, in the heavenlies, is a phrase, as we've noted when we studied Ephesians 1, 3, only shows up in this same way in the book of Ephesians. Okay. Ephesians chapter 1, here we see that God the Father is presented as the sovereign source of action. Have you noted that as we've gone through?

He is the one who takes the action. He is the one who sets this eternal strategy in motion. He is the one who has the eternal perspective and makes it happen. Christ is the instrument. Christ is the instrument as we go through this here. He is the one who is giving credit for having raised Christ from the dead and has seated Christ at his own right hand. It is God the Father who is specifically being referred to here.

Now, something we have to point out about this seated at the right hand. Now this has nothing to do with being against lefties. I want you to know that. It's not against lefties. I'm left-handed. That is the left hand. Yeah, okay. I'm left-handed. Nancy's left-handed. Grandfather. My grandfather married us. He's left-handed. Best man, left-handed. Maid of honor, left-handed. So I'm not against left-handed people. Oh yes, our sisters were bridesmaids left-handed. So we're not against lefties. Please understand me.

You just need to understand this, that being seated at the right hand of power in the ancient world meant having great honor and power given to you. That's what it means. This was no less true of the Jews. You'll find many references in the Old and New Testament to this place of being seated at the right hand, being in reference to having the place of honor and power. When Jacob blessed his sons, what did he do? He placed his right hand on their head. So he's pictured there. Another instance, when in Exodus 15, God is credited with having closed the Red Sea on the Egyptians, and he did it with his right hand.

The right hand is a place of honor and of power. Those are just some examples. We could look at others. But there's something very clear. Having the right hand is not just one or the other. It's explicitly the place of honor and power. What this shows you is two right hands. By the way, that's what ambidextrous means. I can't figure that one out, but I would not want two right hands. Anyway, that's what it means.

But the focal point of this picture here was, in Psalm 110.1, the Lord says to my Lord, and this is a way of expressing God the Father and God the Son, says, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

And you can also see Psalm 20, verse 6, Isaiah 62, 1 through 12, with a similar kind of message. What's going on here is it so clearly lays out, here is the Messiah, okay? Here is the Messiah, and he is given this place of honor. He is given this place of power. This is a verse that's quoted often in the New Testament, and you see the several references there in Luke, Acts, and Hebrews, which they've already seen and will yet see again, I think, in the Hebrews class.

Now, when we look at the start of verse 21, here's what we see. It says, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Now this set of words we've seen before. We've seen as we studied in the first chapter of Colossians. Remember Colossians 1 15-17.

Towards the end or the middle of verse 16 it says whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. So we need to figure out what does that mean. One of the things we found out as we looked at it This combination of words occurs either completely or partially in a number of different New Testament passages, and it was a set of words that was used to describe angelic authorities, the authorities of angels. Some of these same words, you'll notice, come at the end of Ephesians in dealing with the angelic authorities that are opposed to the Lord. I think what we want to do here, though, is to not just go over the things we saw in Colossians, but look at the bottom line of what Paul is trying to say here.

Christ is far above any created angelic power. We live at a time when there's been an interest in things spiritual. Have you noticed that? People are interested in general spirituality, not necessarily biblical Christianity. As a matter of fact, there's even opposition to that. But general spirituality, people are quite interested in. During the 90s, particularly, there was a rise in people having an interest in angels and what angels can do for you.

And what's interesting is this was a time that we find from records outside the New Testament that the Jews were even getting into thinking the angels had lots of power. Many of the Jews were even going around with this idea that the angels actually directed our affairs. as human beings.

And so what is he pointing out here? He says, you need to understand, any of these angelic beings are subject to Christ. Any of these angelic beings will be less than where Christ is. And I think the key point is that no matter what era we live in, there will always be a direction of the culture, a direction of misplaced spirituality, to point us to something less than Christ. There will be a tendency to direct us to look to angels, as we saw in the last decade and a half. There will be a tendency for us to look at some other beings, some other person, look at some set of circumstances as our Savior. There will always be that direction, but the truth is, and what he underscores here, Christ is above all those. Christ is above all those. In one sense, the people who are reading this would be greatly relieved. Yeah, greatly relieved.

Because they were living under the idea that there's all these different gods that they had to try to please. They were living under the idea that, oh, I've got to go and have this kind of God and that one, and I've got to satisfy this other being over here. And I've got these stars here that are controlling my life. How on earth do I deal with that?

And what he is saying is, no, Christ is above all those. Christ is over all those. To them, they were like, man, do you mean I don't have to be subject to all these beings? I don't have to be subject to all these spiritual beings who don't really have my best interest in mind. This was good news. All right. And he says, every name that is named. Now, what does he mean by that? Well, last week we brought up this point.

One of the things that's very clear, the book of Acts even brings it out, is that Ephesus was grasping for all kinds of spiritual power, and among those spiritual power grabs, if you will, was magic documents, Acts 19.19, Indicates that the believers gathered together stacked up for a document burning a great number of these documents This is the marketplace at Ephesus where a lot of these things would be sold Now you might be wondering how many of these things was a small deal or not? turns out that if you take the number that's given in Acts 19 19 there and They had 50,000 pieces of silver. You put that in the equivalent, it would be 138 years of wages for the average worker. 138 years of wages for the average worker. That's how much money was stacked up and burned in these documents.

Somebody took the time to tally it up. It was a huge influence among these people. And here's some instance of what that's like. Interestingly enough, and here's this example of this magic document off to the left side of the screen. This document has a mixture of pagan and Jewish magic spells sewn into it.

It's interesting that in Acts 19.13, it uses the same verb and noun as are found in Ephesians 1.21 that we're looking at here for naming names. and only it was done not in the context of something biblical, but trying to appeal as if by magic to the name of Jesus. Ephesians 121 says, far above every name that is named, which meant Christ is above all this magic that everybody's spending money on. No wonder they burned the documents, okay? Christ is above it all.

Why do I need this junk anymore? Doesn't our culture appeal to us in the same way, though? You need this. If you just buy this, if you have this soap, you'll have what you need. If you just buy this car, you'll have exactly what you need. You have got to use our deodorant and then you'll be just fine. Our culture is constantly throwing at us the same message, isn't it? You've got to have this and then you'll be fine. So here's what we find. Here's a pottery shard from the time.

All it means is just a piece of pottery. Somebody had written names on it. It was sort of like a magic amulet that they would carry. They'd carry that like in a pocket or in a purse, and they would have these names, and that would be the naming of names.

Here's some other examples. You also have them in your handout. And one of them says, I conjure you by the great names. Or the next one down, you, these holy names and these powers confirm and carry out this perfect enchantment. Or here was another one, a phylactery, which we'll take a larger shot of the picture of in a minute, a bodyguard against phantasms, that's ghosts or spirits, against every sickness and suffering. And so what they would do is they would take this phylactery like this, and it would be a little box, little scrolls with a whole bunch of names of different gods and goddesses that they could claim and put them in the box and they'd tie them onto their wrists or around their neck. And with that they thought, well now I've got, and we have the same idea now, sort of a magic charm or a good luck charm. The same idea. They would name every name.

And so people would go around buying these things and collecting them, and that would be a part of what was burned there in Acts 19.19, is all these lists of names. And people would go around looking for making sure they had the right list of names. And what does Paul tell them? He says, Christ is above every name that you can put on your list, every name that you can put on your little phylactery scroll. Christ is above that. You don't need those phylacteries anymore. You don't need your little scroll list, and your little pot shirts, and your little magic amulets. Forget it. You don't need it.

The Jews would understand what God meant, though. Think of this. Abraham was given a name by God. And that was Abraham, okay, from Abram. And so what would the Jews hang on to? I'm a son of Abraham, okay? And they'd say, boy, I can hang on to that name. Jacob was given a name by God. Israel, okay? And so they say, oh, I'm part of that group, so I'll hang on to that name. That's one that I'll call on. Why? I'm a son of Abraham. I'm of Israel. And they would rely upon that.

Even the stars were given names by God. But what we see clearly here is Christ, whether pagan or Jewish, is far above every name that is named. You don't need to look at these subsidiary names. You don't need to find some name, whether you're Jewish or Gentile, pagan or not. You don't need to find some other name to claim. Christ is above every one of those names you could name. You don't need to come up with a list and make sure you don't miss a one. The name of Christ is sufficient for all, far above any name you could come up with.

Finally, he says, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. Now, what's he talking about? This age and the one to come. Hmm. Well, let's take a look. In the Jewish understanding of the time, they thought of, there was this present evil age, which began with the fall and continued on to when the Messiah came.

That was this present evil age, or they would say it in short, this age. Then, when Messiah would come, reigning on David's throne, that would be the age to come. So there was this age, the present evil age, and the age to come. Now, it's interesting, as you go through the New Testament, you find repeated reference to this concept of this age, even sometimes the present evil age, and the age to come.

And so Paul makes reference to that here. The Jews, particularly, who are reading this would understand well what he meant. Oh, this age and the age to come. We know what that means. But the New Testament puts something else on top of that. Right in the middle, right smack dab in the middle of this present evil age, we find Christ's death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. So what's this telling us? Why do we have this spelled out here? Think of what Paul has spelled out to these people.

All the things that they thought they were subject to. They're thinking, I'm subject to the angels, I'm subject to the stars, I'm subject to all these different goddesses and gods whose names I've got to have. Even the Jews are thinking, you know, boy, I've got to look to Abraham, or I better look to Moses, or Israel, Jacob. People are looking to all kinds of things to save them, to keep them from some catastrophe, to keep them in God's blessing.

And what's he pointing out here? He says, it doesn't matter what time you're talking about. It doesn't matter whose name you're talking about. Christ is over it all. You can be relieved now, he's telling them. You don't have to be subject to the things that are just here and just now. You don't have to be subject to those names.

We think of their temples and their gods and goddesses. Those were no great relief to them. They had a constant fear and dread of their gods and goddesses and the stars and the control that those lesser beings had. Paul comes up and he says, here is Christ who loves you and gave his life for you.

That one is the one who has control over all these things. You don't need to worry about anything that's less than that. You don't need to be subject to those things. As we look at this passage, I think it's key to look at what's it all about. We've looked at the first half of this explanation that he gives about the surpassing greatness of this power toward us who believe, those in Christ. And we've looked at 19b through 21. Next week we'll look at 22 and 23. But one of the things that's very clear, the entire explanation about the power, towards us who believe is focused on the person of Christ. And that's one reason why we keep seeing in this passage, in Him. You are in Him. Your blessings, every spiritual blessing is in Him. He is the focal point of God's expression and execution of power.

I'd like us to kind of turn our attention to what's spelled out here in Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. The author of Hebrews says, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus. You know very well the culture is going to call us to fix our eyes on everything and anything else. And frankly, they don't care what. The culture will call us to put our eyes everywhere else. The focal point here is to fix our eyes upon Jesus. He is, after all, the One who is the expression of the power that is towards us who believe.

It is Christ and nothing else. Paul is saying to these people who have so many things to try to distract them, who have people telling them, oh, if you want to approach Christ, you've got to talk to the angels. If you want to approach Christ, you've got to talk to somebody else. If you want to have these blessings, then you've got to have this thing or that.

And he's saying no. All of God's expression of His power towards us is through Christ. That is the expression of His power towards us who believe. We can fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. He didn't, unlike the gods and goddesses who said, OK, you did something for me, I'll do something for you. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and as we've seen in this passage, sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Let's pray.

Lord, what marvelous things you have done that we never could. But what is even more amazing as we begin to take a look at this passage is the expression of power and strength and might that is directed towards us, Lord, is indeed amazing and far above all the other things that this world would appeal to us to rely upon. And so we look to you here this morning, Lord. We pray that you would Draw our hearts grow us Lord each moment to Come to to recognize and realize that you are the one to whom we can look always and forever a Marvelous that is in Jesus name. Amen