NOTES for Eph 3:20-21

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²⁰Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

²¹Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

It is not surprising that the main activity of the Church, according to Paul's words, is the glorification of God through Jesus Christ. But what it really means? And what is in general the glorification, which was known to the people of God several centuries before the arrival of Christ? Is it the witness of faithfulness to God? Is it story to the world about His greatness? Of course and this also. But the story about God and the witness of the faithfulness to Him are only a consequence. And where is thus the base? God from the beginning wanted to see His people as a people-community. And of course the divine service had to be the spiritual center of the life of the community. But indeed, the divine service had never been an only human affair, God always participated in it, and not only in the sense that by His presence He blessed and sanctified the assembly of the faithful.

The divine service was even always inseparable of the sanctification of the world, in which the people of God lived. This sacred space, where takes place God's meeting with the community of the faithful, changes completely really the world, by making it different, not such as it was before. Of course it did not come to talk about the sanctification and the transformation of all the creation before the arrival of the Christ, but the presence itself in the world of the sacred space, as an alternative of the existing of the non transformed order of things, changed fundamentally the spiritual situation in it.

And with the coming of Christ it changed even more, changed fundamentally: because with His coming, into the world also entered the Kingdom, so now the prospect of the full transformation of the creation becomes completely real. But now also one of the main tools of God's action in the world remains the divine service, only that now it is for the Church inconceivable without the participation of the Risen One. His presence becomes a major theophany, completeness surpassing all which was before. And God is now glorified in Him through His Church. Because it is particularly like that the world is attached to the Kingdom, finding in it its salvation.

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For Eph 3:14-21

¹⁴For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁵Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

¹⁶That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

¹⁷That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

¹⁸May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

¹⁹And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

²⁰Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

²¹Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Paul considers the Christian's main task to be a qualitative change in spiritual life. There is, of course, nothing new in this appeal itself: the path of righteousness has always presupposed such a change. But now this change is achieved through complete trust in Christ and with His direct participation. Christian life is the life of the Kingdom and life in the Kingdom, which is unthinkable without daily, direct fellowship with Christ as its King.

It is in this context that the apostle speaks of the "inner man," as if developing the theme of the inner Torah - a concept that in his day was well known to any Jew who took spiritual life at least somewhat seriously. But the inner Torah meant first of all the presence in a person of an inner spiritual and moral imperative that determined his whole life and was itself determined by God's inner presence and God's will, which the person understood as part of his spiritual space and as an inseparable element of his spiritual life.

The inner Torah presupposed a definite dynamic connected with the duality of fallen humanity, so that the inner imperative demanded from a person something different from, and often opposite to, his own nature. The appearance of the "inner man," however, meant that human nature itself was beginning to change. It was no longer merely raw material that had to be shaped by deliberate spiritual influences; from it something had already been built that was, to a certain extent, fit for life in the Kingdom.

Of course, the process is still far from complete, and full transformation is still far away. But the foundation of a new, transformed humanity has already been laid, and it is based on the presence of Christ, who has "dwelt" in the hearts of those who have trusted Him. From now on, all further spiritual work will take place with His direct participation - until the moment of the full triumph of the Kingdom and the full transformation of human nature.

NOTES for Eph 3:20-21

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