The Greek preposition I want to draw attention to is “eis”. It is usually translated “to” and sometimes “into;” in the AV it was often translated “unto”. It indicates movement towards or entrance into something, as you will see.
·
1:6,12,14: It is used in the famous phrase, to
the praise of His glory. What Paul
is talking about is said to move into praise for God’s glory. In v6 our adoption as sons is to the praise
of God’s glory. In v12 the salvation of
Jews in the early Church was to the praise of His glory. In v13-14 the guaranteed salvation of the Gentiles
is to the praise of God’s glory. In
other words, these great and important things did not just happen for the
benefit of the believers; it was accomplished so that God would be seen as
worthy of glory and praise!
·
1:5: This preposition is used twice in this
verse. First, God having predestined
us is an act of God unto/moving towards adoption of sons. This might seem a minor point but I consider
it of great import. Those chosen before
the foundation of the world (v4) were then (i.e. separate act with God)
determined or destined by God to be adopted as sons.
o But
that is not all to note. This adoption
is, as we noted yesterday, through Christ to Himself. “To” Himself is “eis”, in the direction of
Christ. God the Father, in eternity
past, seems to be saying something like this: “These are my chosen ones, from
Jews and Gentiles. I want them to be
holy and blameless. So what I will do is
make them sons; after all, ‘like Father, like Son.’ But in order to make them sons, I must deeply
connect them with My One and Only Son.
So I will place them or move them into My Son.” Thus we have what we know to be the great
doctrine of the New Covenant. We are
what we are because we are “in Christ.”
This was God’s plan from before time.
o While
we are on this subject, we must note why God did this. Did He do this for us, for believers? Well, of course we are the greatest of
beneficiaries. But the passage tells us
that we are short-sighted if we think God did this for us. He did this for His Son, the One in whom He
might gather together in one all things (v10). Believers in Christ have been placed by God
in Christ; we are gathered to Him, His body, the fullness of Him who fills
all in all (v23). And why did He do
all this? Into the praise of His
glory!
·
1:8: The
NKJV is clear in this verse. The
preposition is translated “toward.” God
made His rich grace abound toward / having an entrance into us in all
wisdom and understanding. What is this
talking about? Believers actually have
greater wisdom about life because they know where life is headed: it is headed
to the exaltation of Jesus Christ, the gathering together of everything in
Him. That is what follows in v9-10. This “mystery” is the driving force of
history. It is a “mystery” in that men,
by man’s wisdom, will miss this completely; it is hidden to them (1 Cor. 2 is
all about this). But when God saved us
by grace through faith His grace moved us to this knowledge.
·
1:10: How do I know all things are moving in the
direction of the exaltation of Christ?
Because v9-10 say this. The
mystery of His will (v9) is that “into” (eis) the dispensation of the
fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ. At the end of the ages, in other words, at
the conclusion of history, God will gather all things in Christ. This is His will, that history will move into
this sphere where Christ is Lord of all, and every knee bows to Him.
This is deep truth. And hopefully, our study of a little preposition
has helped open up wonderful truth that will move us to be for the praise of
His glory!
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