Being brought to completion by the Spirit, part twoPicking up where we left offLast week, we started to examine the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit to believers, to the church. We began in the book of Ephesians, where we examined a word, a verse, and a concept. The word is the Greek verb pleroo. The verse is Ephesians 5:18. And the concept is the concept of fullness or completion. We learned about the lexical meanings for pleroo, and then we visited the four places in the book of Ephesians that contain the Greek verb pleroo. To summarize, pleroo means to make full, to bring to completion, to complete. And we constructed our working translation of Ephesians 5:18: And do not get drunk with wine, which is dissipation (disorderly living, reckless abandon, the opposite of being made whole), but be completed (brought to completion, made full, brought to a designed end) by the Spirit. Then we examined the other places in Ephesians where pleroo is used: Eph 1:22-23, Eph 2:19-22, Eph 3:14-19, and Eph 4:10. We ended in chapter 1 of Ephesians, where we took in that completely full and rich statement about what God has done for the church which is Christ’s body.
A change in plans!Now I know I said in last week’s blog that we’d be looking at the rest of the New Testament letters to see what they teach us about pleroo, being brought to completion (growth and fullness). But I changed my mind. We need to spend a couple of more weeks in Ephesians. Today we are simply going to introduce one additional revelation. It’s simple and yet it’s so profound, like many things in the New Testament. And it turns out to be the insight that illuminates the meaning of the whole letter to the Ephesians.
The key to understanding EphesiansPerhaps the most appropriate way to introduce it is to turn to our Lord Jesus, and listen to His prayer to the Father the night before He went to the cross. John 17:13-26 20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 "O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; 26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." This is unity of the most profound kind – and it is being brought to full completion by the Spirit in the church, which is Christ’s body. Which is what Ephesians is really about. Ephesians describes how God the Father is fulfilling His Son’s wish that we Christians might all be one. And the rest of this blog is going to be about that. About the church as Christ’s body being perfected in unity.
The one Body of ChristBecause, from beginning to end, Ephesians sees us as members of the one Body of Christ. Grasping this will revolutionize our understanding of Ephesians 5:18. Let’s go now to the letter and see this corporate nature of Ephesians : the unity of the one Body in Christ. First of all, the “us”, the we” in Ephesians is the corporate us, us as a community of believers – the one body of Christ. Our calling is corporate. One calling for all the brethren. We are called to share in the destiny of the one body of Christ. We know that from Ephesians 4:4 Eph 4:4 This is not to say that there is not a personal dimension to these things, but rather that here in Ephesians it is the corporate, communal aspect that is emphasized. Our blessing is corporate blessing. We all share in these blessings together: Eph 1:3 Election and predestination also have a corporate dimension, and we see this as well in Ephesians. Eph 1:4-6 It’s all us in the Beloved. And why are we in the Beloved? Because we were baptized by the Spirit into Christ. Into the one Body of Christ!! 1 Cor 12:12-13 In Ephesians, Christ takes a Body. Eph 1:18-23
Jews and Gentiles together in one bodyThe first three chapters of Ephesians are taken up with the corporate body of Christ. This again clearly comes into view in the second part of chapter 2. Eph 2:11-22
Notice the unity here. We are described as being a single body, a single company of saints. We are all in one household. Jew and Gentile together have our access in one Spirit to the Father. And here for the first time we are introduced to the work of the Spirit in fitting us all together as we grow into one holy temple in the Lord. We are being built together into one dwelling of God by the Spirit.
Mystery Revealed!Chapter 3 features the mystery that God revealed to Paul. He identifies this mystery in verse 6: Eph 3:6 He will put it this way in chapter 5: Eph 5:32 The mystery is wrapped up in Christ and His body the church, made up of Jew and Gentile.
The agency of the SpiritIn chapter 4, Paul expounds on the unity of Christ and His church, and features the role that the Spirit has as the agent who establishes and preserves this unity as He builds up the church in love. Eph 4:1-6 There is so much here in Ephesians, such riches revealed about the one body of Christ, that we will need to continue with this next week.
Being perfected in unityLet’s end today with the description of how we are being perfected in unity on a daily basis: Eph 4:11-16 Can't you hear Jesus saying to His Father: "sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. So that the love with which you loved Me may be in them, and I in them".
Next week we will move into the practical ways that this building up of the body of Christ occurs. Then we’ll return to Ephesians 5:18, but we will see it in a whole new light. That’s because we will see who is being brought to fullness or completion by the Spirit, how (and where) we are brought into this fullness, how it is expressed, and what God’s ultimate purpose is behind this work of the Spirit.
Until the next time, we’re all …. In His grip, Pastor John If you found this helpful, please pass it on! Post it on Facebook, or tweet about it! .
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