Friday, November 1, 2013
The Apostle Paul is a literary gymnast. The road traveled to make a theological point is not a line from A to B as we would express it but a winding road that seems to meander. We are tempted to be turned off by the seeming confusion but if we persist the meandering adds depth and perspective to his central point. This Sunday’s scripture is from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 1 : 1- 23. Let us begin our Pauline tour at verse 8.
The little phrase that is the key to this passage is “ the mystery of his will”. What is the will of God for his creation? The exclusionists' would like you to believe that the promised inheritance or cosmic plan is only for the redeemed in Christ. The "us" of whom Paul speaks (3-7) , according to these folk, can only means those persons who profess faith in the Christ. Unless you are one of us you are not in God's will for the future. Did Paul put the Christ in such a small box?
Paul was writing to the faithful in Ephesus so that the "us" were those who had experienced the truth and wonder of personal salvation. They were the believers to whom he was writing, "who were the first to put their hope in Christ”, those who “heard the word of truth” and “the gospel of your salvation” (13). Paul goes on, “ When you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance”(13,14). The new believer is adopted into the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and is an heir to an eternal future(14). This is a wondrous reality that can happen in this life as it did for Paul on the Damascus road. This news, the broadcasting abroad of this news was Paul’s reason for living, but Paul knew this to be only a part of the divine plan.
The whole plan of salvation was and is much more expansive and is a cosmic mirrored image of the love of the Christ himself. Please return to verses 8 and 9, "With all wisdom and pleasure, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ". It pleases God to share himself with his creation as it pleases a parent to share with their children. Our children will at times make lousy decisions but because we love or take pleasure in our kids, we will never quit on them. This is the heart of the God of the galaxies, the God to whom Paul knew. Would this God put eternal boundaries around his compassion for his creation?
Paul answers that question as we continue in verse 9, "to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment-- to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ". Paul knew that the mystery of God's plan is time sensitive,"when the times reach", and somehow was to include "all things", that it would bring unity where there was competition, with no boundaries, on earth and in heaven. The salvation to which God is working through the Christ is the biggest and widest possible expanse. This God of the galaxies could not give a heavenly pass to some and shut others out, all things means all things.
It would seem that the God of the few is no God at all. Somehow the God of the galaxies will work it all out and this passage is very appropriate for "All Saints Day".
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
