guarantee

A Trifecta of Blessing

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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 in 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 his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. – Ephesians 1:3-14 ESV

After a brief salutation, Paul begins his letter with a virtual flood of carefully crafted words designed to express his deep admiration and appreciation for the saving work of God the Father as expressed through the sacrificial life of the Son and empowered through the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Greek, these 12 verses form one long but eloquently worded run-on sentence. It’s as if Paul were speaking the words, and in his excitement, the thoughts in his mind literally explode from his lips without leaving him time to catch his breath.

He is a man possessed by and obsessed with the incredible nature of God’s redemptive plan for mankind. Unable to contain his enthusiasm for all that God has done, Paul explodes in a flood of praise and worship for each member of the Godhead, outlining the vital role that each played. This punctuation-free praise song to the Trinity is designed to instill in the Ephesian believers a deep and abiding awareness of the divine nature of their salvation. They had been chosen, predestined, and adopted by God the Father. They had been redeemed out of slavery to sin by the precious and priceless blood of Jesus Christ. And they had received the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God as a sign of their new identity as God’s children and as a proof of the promises to come.

For Paul, it all begins with God the Father, who made the determination to send His Son as the solution to mankind’s sin problem. And, according to Paul, God came up with that plan “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4 ESV). In other words, long before God made the universe or fashioned Adam out of the dust of the ground, He had come up with the plan to send His Son as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of a not-yet-existent humanity.

God had not been caught off guard by Adam and Eve’s rebellion. He had actually made provision for their fall and had a predetermined plan already in place long before they made the fateful determination to disobey His command. And Paul wanted the Ephesians to know that they had been blessed by God in Christ. Jesus was the sole means by which God had chosen to redeem fallen mankind. Together, the Father and His Son made possible the reconciliation of a guilty and justly condemned humanity – and that included the believers in Ephesus. They had been blessed by God in or through Christ “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3 ESV).

Paul emphasizes spiritual blessings in order to accentuate the eternal nature of the gift the Ephesians had received. God had not sent His son to die so that men and women might have their best life now. The sacrificial death of Jesus was not meant to pave the way to an earthly life marked by health, wealth, and prosperity. His precious blood was spilled so that a spiritual transformation might take place, turning former sinners into sons and daughters of God, holy and blameless in His sight. All “according to the purpose of his will” and “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:5-6 ESV). This radical transformation of sinners into saints had been God’s idea and had only been possible as a result of His grace or unmerited favor. No one deserved to be saved. No one had earned the right to be redeemed.

Paul stresses that God “lavished” His grace on mankind. The Greek word, perisseuō, conveys the idea of a superabundance of grace. God poured out His grace in such a way that it overflowed and exceeded all expectations and requirements. It was, as Jesus told Paul, an all-sufficient grace.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV

Paul knew that the Ephesian believers were grateful for the forgiveness of sins that came with their faith in Christ, but he wanted them to understand that was just the tip of the iceberg. Paul doesn’t underestimate the value of forgiveness but stresses that God was “so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins” (Ephesians 1:7 NLT). But God’s grace didn’t stop there. He also showered His children with “wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians 1:8 NLT), so that they might know “the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ” (Ephesians 1:9 ESV). And by disclosing this previously undisclosed mystery, God revealed His “plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:10 ESV).

In other words, God’s plan of salvation includes far more than forgiveness of sins. As great as that may be, it pales in comparison to the future God has in store for His children. Forgiveness of sins does not eradicate the presence of sin in the life of a believer. Life on this earth will always be marred by the persistent presence of sin. Believers are no longer slaves to sin but they are not free from its influence. Paul described his own experience with sin in his letter to the Romans.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. – Romans 7:18-20 NLT

And that’s why Paul places so much emphasis on the inheritance that awaits the believer.

…because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. – Ephesians 1:11 NLT

It is the promise of this future inheritance that should motivate the believer in this life. It is the assurance of coming glorification that should encourage a life of faithfulness as we wait for God to fulfill the final phase of His grand redemptive plan. That is why Paul reminded the believers in Corinth to focus their attention on the hope to come.

We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. – 2 Corinthians 5:2-5 NLT

In his letter to the Ephesian believers, Paul reiterates the role of the Holy Spirit as the downpayment or guarantee of their future glorification.

The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. – Ephesians 1:14 NLT

And the gift of the Spirit had been poured out on Jews and Gentiles alike. The body of Christ was made up of people of all ethnicities and backgrounds. It was just as Paul had told the Christians living in Galatia.

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. – Galatians 3:26-29 NLT

While God had set apart the Jews as His chosen people and had ordained that His Son be born of the seed of Abraham, He had always planned for His gracious gift of redemption to be for all mankind. The Jews were a means to an end. They had been blessed by God so that they might be a blessing to the world. And God had accomplished that blessing through the gift of His Son and guaranteed the eternal nature of its consequences through the gift of His Spirit.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New English Translation (NET)NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

 

Hopefully, Eagerly Waiting.

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And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. – Romans 8:23-25 ESV

While we live in this world, we find ourselves praying for the healing of those who are sick, the restoration of marriages that are broken, and the salvation of those who are lost. We long for peace in the world, an absence of pain, the presence of joy, and the removal of all sorrow. But we must understand that while we might get a glimpse of some of these things in this life, they are reserved for the life to come. Paul says, “we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons.” He is insinuating that we lack sonship in this life, but that the final stage of our adoption will take place when we receive the inheritance that has been reserved for us.

Like the prodigal son, many of us demand our full inheritance in this life. We want it all now. And while Jesus did promise us abundant life, life to the full, He did not say that we would receive the full measure of our promised resurrection life right here, right now. In these verses, Paul describes us as having the “firstfruits of the Spirit,” He is NOT saying that we are firstfruits of the Spirit, but that we have received the firstfruits of the Spirit. He provides us with a foretaste of future glory. The Holy Spirit within us gives us glimpse of what our glorification will be like. Paul is not telling us we have only a part of the Holy Spirit. But as he told the believers in Corinth, the Holy Spirit is a kind of down-payment or earnest money, the first installment on all that is to come. “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NIV).

Paul mentions two aspects of our future glorification that should grab our attention. The first is the completion of our adoption by God as His sons and daughters. In an adoption, the paperwork can be completed, the financial transactions finalized and the child official status as an adopted son established, but the process is not really complete until the child and the parent are together. So it will be with us. Paul wrote to the Galatian believers, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:4-7 ESV). We have been adopted, but we are not yet with our heavenly Father. We have yet to receive our full inheritance as sons and daughters. And that brings us to the second aspect of Paul’s emphasis: “the redemption of our bodies.” We are still living in these bodies of flesh, what Paul elsewhere described as “tents”. “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1 NLT). He goes on to say, “we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 5:4-5 NLT).

Our finalized adoption and the redemption of our bodies. We should long for that day – eagerly and hopefully. In fact, Paul tells us “For in this hope we were saved.” That is the true purpose for our salvation in Christ. Not our best life now, but His perfect life later. In these bodies we groan. In this life we face trials and troubles. “We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing” (2 Corinthians 5:2 NLT). We should long for our adoption and the redemption of our bodies. And while we most certainly enjoy the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, the day is coming when God will make His dwelling among us. We will be with Him and He will be with us. I love the words of the Apostle John in his first letter. “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is” (1 John 3:2 NLT). “Now we see things imperfectly,” Paul writes, “like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT).

The presence of the Holy Spirit within us gives us a glimpse of our future glory and should provide us with an incentive to live lives of holiness now. He is a constant reminder of what is to come. He is our comforter. But the day is coming when we will no longer need to be comforted. There will be no more tears, sorrow, pain, disease, suffering, sin or death. We will have new, resurrected bodies. We have unbroken fellowship with God, our Father. We will enjoy fellowship with Jesus in an atmosphere of perfect righteousness and justice. Can I explain it? Can I fully comprehend it? No. But I can hopefully, eagerly hope for it. “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT).

Resurrection Power.

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If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. – Romans 8:11 ESV

If we think of the Holy Spirit at all, we tend to relegate Him to some kind of subservient, assistant-type role. We take the titles associated with Him, like Comforter and Helper, and interpret them to mean that His job is somehow supportive in nature and, therefore, less than substantive. The end result is that we treat the Holy Spirit like some kind of second-string member of the Trinity, relegated to providing us with help when we need it. He’s like a divine water boy, handing out towels and a cool drink to weary believers as we slog out our existence on this earth.

But Paul would have us view the Holy Spirit with much more reverence, awe, and amazement. He is not some kind of glorified equipment manager handing out spiritual gifts and providing words of encouragement to us as we fight the good fight of faith. He is the Spirit of God who dwells in each and every believer (Vs 9). And just so we clearly understand the unbelievable reality of what that means, Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit who dwells in us is the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. When Paul makes the statement, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you…”, he is not insinuating that his readers could be lacking the Holy Spirit. He is simply reminding them of exactly what it is that they enjoy and what they can expect as a result. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in them and will one day provide the power to give them resurrected bodies. Paul had just finished telling his readers, “although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10 ESV). In this life, we live in bodies that are still plagued by sin. We are saddled with a sin nature that does daily battle with the Spirit within us. But we have resurrection power at our disposal. The Holy Spirit is not some kind of cheerleader or motivational speaker, providing us with a pep talk along the way. He is the Spirit of God who played a major role in the creation of the world, was instrumental in the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary, anointed and empowered Jesus for His earthly ministry, and raised Him from the dead. And one day He is going to replace these sinful, earthly bodies with new, resurrected ones. It is that kind of power that lives within us.

One of the things Paul has tried to tell us in this passage is that we are to set our minds on the things of the Spirit. We are to have a Spirit-perspective, not an earthly or flesh-based one. We are to think on the things above. You see, the Holy Spirit is ultimately focused on one thing: the resurrection of our bodies and the consummation of our sanctification. He lives within us and empowers us for daily life, but He always has the end in mind. Over in his letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul writes, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 ESV).

It would seem that some of us view the Holy Spirit as simply a resource for this life. And while the Scriptures make it clear that He is our Helper, Comforter, and Advocate as we live in this world, we are never to forget that His primary purpose is that of providing life – the abundant life that Jesus promised, but also the resurrection life that Jesus died to provide and that should be our ultimate goal. We should live in this life with a longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. Our earthly bodies are a daily reminder that we still live in the “not yet” phase of our salvation. As the old hymn says:

This world is not my home I’m just a-passin’ through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

But while we’re here, we must constantly remember that the power within us is resurrection power. It is life-giving, death-defeating, debt-cancelling, sin-forgiving power that will one day provide us with new, resurrected bodies and make possible our final glorification. That part is guaranteed. In the meantime, let’s live like we believe it. Let’s live like that is the focus of our ambitions and expectations. Why would we settle for the good life now, when we have been promised the glorified life to come?