EPH. 1:12.

EVERYTHING IN HIM.

209

So that we, who have already hoped in the

Christ,

Should win praise for the perfection of his character.

It is in him you also heard the message of the truth,

The Good News of your salvation.

In him you also believed and were marked as his
By receiving the Holy Spirit as promised.
And this is a foretaste and pledge of our in-
heritance,

Telling of the deliverance of God's own pos-
session,

And of praise for the perfection of his char

acter.

For this reason, and because I have heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and of your faithfulness to all his devoted followers, I do not cease to give thanks for you and I keep mentioning you in my prayers. I keep asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father whose character is perfect majesty, to give you his Spirit as a source of wisdom and revelation in the real and true knowledge of himself. I keep asking that your spiritual vision may be made so clear that you may appreciate the hope which his divine call opens to us, the wealth and majestic character of

1: 18.

his inheritance among his devoted followers, and the surpassing greatness of his power which he is able to exercise for us who believe in him. It is the same mighty power as that which he exercised on the Christ when he raised him from the dead, and caused him to sit at his right hand in heaven, far above angelic beings of every rank, and everything else which has a name, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And God put everything in Christ's power, and gave him as head over everything to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills everything with everything it has.

You

For

Take, for instance, your own case again. were dead because of your offences and sins. you once lived in them after the fashion of this world, and under the influence of the ruler of the powers of the air, the spirit who is now working in the disobedient.

And it was among these all of us

also once lived, indulging the cravings of our carnal nature, carrying out the desires prompted by it and by our own thoughts. And by our very nature we were fit subjects of divine judgment like everybody else. But because of the great love he had for us, God was full of pity for us, and so while we were still dead because of our offences, he gave life to us in giving life to the Christ.-It is by favor you have been saved.-And, in union with

Ерн. 2: 6.

A NEW HUMANITY.

211

Christ Jesus, God raised us with him and made us sit with him in heaven, so that by his kindness to us in Christ Jesus he might show to the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his favor. For it is because of the divine favor you have been saved through faith. It is not due to yourselves. It is the gift of God. It is not due to what you have done, so that none of you should boast. For we are God's work, created in Christ Jesus for generous deeds which he had already prepared so that we might devote our lives to them.

So remember that you yourselves were once heathen, as your bodies show, and are called "The Uncircumcised" by those who are called "The Circumcised," their circumcision being one made on the body by the hand of man.

For at that time you were without Christ. You were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the agreements founded on God's promise. You were in the world without hope and without God. But now, through your life in Christ Jesus, you, who were once far away, have, by the death of the Christ, been brought near. For it is he who is our peace. For he has made the two divisions of mankind one. He has torn down the dividing wall, and, in his human nature, he has brought to nothing the cause of enmity between them, that is, the law with its rules and regulations. And he has done this so as

2: 15.

to create in himself out of the two, one new humanity, and so make peace. And he has done it, so as to bring both back again, as one body, into harmony with God, through his cross, after he has destroyed with it the enmity between them. So he has come and brought Good News of peace to you who are far away and peace to those who are near. For it is through him, and by our union in one Spirit, we, of both divisions of humanity, have access to the Father. So, then, you are no longer strangers and foreigners. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God's devoted ones and members of his family. You have been built up on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the corner-stone. United in him, each separate building is fitly joined together and grows into a Holy Place devoted to the Lord. And it is in him you yourselves also are being built up together to become a dwelling-place for God in the Spirit.

It is for this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus the Christ for the sake of you heathen,-if, that is, you have heard of the arrangement by which God's favor has been bestowed on me for your benefit, and that it was by direct revelation the secret truth of God was made known to me, just as I have already briefly written to you. And by reading this you can see my understanding of the secret

EPH.

3: 4.

THE SECRET TRUTH OF CHRIST.

213

truth of the Christ. men in former times, as it has now been once for all revealed to his devoted Apostles and Prophets in the Spirit. I mean the truth that, by means of the Good News, the heathen, by virtue of their being in Christ Jesus, are heirs with us, are members of the same body, and sharers with us in God's promise. It is of this Good News I became a worker by virtue of the gift of God's favor bestowed on me through the working of his power. Yes, on me the less than least of all God's devoted ones was this favor bestowed, to tell to the heathen the Good News of the unfathomable wealth of the Christ, and to make plain to everybody what is God's method of working out the secret truth which from the beginning of time has been lying hid in him, the Creator of everything. And the object of this is, that the many-sided wisdom of God may now, by means of the Church, be once for all made known to the angelic beings of every rank in heaven, just as he intended in our Lord Jesus the Christ all through the ages. It is because of our life in him and by means of our faith in him, we have courage to approach God with confidence. So I ask you not to become discouraged because of the troubles which I am having for your sakes. For they are an honor to you.

This was not made known to

It is for this reason, when I kneel before the