Parts of Speaking Publishing

 How often is our prayer in arrogance rather than humility? "I am praying for what I know is best for other people"? "God, give me this thing I want and make it your will for me"?  I write this today for two reasons. My husband is going to his doctor this morning, something he has anxiety about (long story), and I started to pray a very bold and presumptuous and me-centered prayer about it.  The prayer should be for his primary care physician and for his ability to explain his needs and for God's grace. And my repentance.  I bring this up because, well, it just happened and because I am concerned about my husband's health and ability to navigate the health care system (another matter entirely) and because we are moving into the second part of Ephesians 1 soon, a very intensely theological prayer Paul offers for the people of this southeastern Turkey church community. I will probably spend the biggest part of the rest of Lent on that. But not yet. First, we h...

  9  having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,  10  that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ,  [ c ] both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. (New King James) he [ d ]  made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,   10  to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. (New International Version)   9  making known [ c ]  to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ [ d ]   10  as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him. (English Standard Version) 9  He  [ i ] made known to us the...

  Verse 8 is a relative clause that I think provides a balance to human minds that might misunderstand grace. “…. according to the riches of His grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.” Now, “lavished” in the Greek has the meaning “overflowed,” “abundance” “more than needed.” When God lavished, He did it from His wisdom and insight. Another translation has it “   which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and  [ b ] prudence, (understanding). . . “ Or, is it referring to us having wisdom and understanding in the experience of grace? Obviously God does what He does in wisdom and insight. We can’t really divvy up God’s character, so there could be no tension or conflict in His wisdom v. His grace, as if one is intellectual/cognitive and the other emotional/affective. We are the ones who need to experience grace in wisdom, prudence, insight and understanding. Because we would naturally have the temptation to think grace goes farther than what Go...

  Let’s return to the longer passage and reflect. I have color-coded this to show the key words: will, in Christ, grace, blessing, glory, purpose/will. It is very much like a poem with looping themes. The sentence structure and concepts require such dissection and connection. Who ever said we were smarter than the ancients? Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful  in Christ Jesus : 2  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing  in the heavenly places,  4  even as he chose us i n him  before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love  5  he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of...

  Ephesians 1:7 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace . . . Is blood a figurative representation of the cost of sin and rebellion against God, or is it a reference to the Jews’ sacrifice, or are we supposed to think of the blood—pooling, flowing—in a more literal way? We live in bodies that bleed. Blood is serious. What else could be more serious to show the depth of Jesus’ work” to save us? The crucifixion death was unmistakable. The idea “He swooned on the cross” is so ludicrous I don’t know why anyone would bring it up. Three gospel writers say he was speared and pierced—that would preclude any kind of fainting and coming back to life. In 1:7, “through his blood” is the centerpiece, not a throw-in prepositional phrase. I may not like it, but it’s there and necessary and Christ’s bloody, horrid, violent death is the reason for redemption and forgiveness. I have read that recent ...

Ephesians 1:7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our  trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. . . I confess; I do not like “blood talk” in Christianity. I typically change the word “blood” in songs to “cross” or “death.” The blood talk seems so primitive. Why is such talk necessary? First, Jesus didn’t just die for our sins. He was executed, cruelly, torturously, violently. Blood loss was the whole point of the crucifixion method. Second, because of the Old Testament precedents. All those sacrifices meant temporary atonement. The Son of God had to die in a blood-shedding way to fulfill eternal atonement because only He was eternal. Third, because sin costs. Sin is rebellion against God, which is not the minor infractions we think of. Sin is how we bend away from God in every way.