Have You Ever Read Ephesians?

Theodoric "Personal attacks" are usually in the eye of the beholder.Of course you can dish out "More preaching" to me in a derogatory way. But you manifest a glass jaw when I respond in kind. "Personal attack" you say I level at you. Why? Because I said you preach too.I think as the Gospel continues to grow quite widespread in China and Africa and India, I think the same probably applies. Women notice that the Gospel gives them a better status than many pagan religions.In other words, if Stark is correct, there is no reason to think the factor would not apply in these times less than in the earlier times.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

I am not sure what you mean here.The belief that Christ is Son of God no longer exists?
The belief that He died and rose for the redemption of sinners no longer exists?Do you mean the belief in the resurrection no longer exists?
Do you mean the hope of His second coming no longer exists?Do you mean receiving Him and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit no longer exists? Do you mean these things are no longer taught?Do you mean persecution for being a Christian no longer exists?
Times have changed no doubt. I do not see the Christian Gospel as no longer in existence.I would not deny that there are some apostasies from the faith. I would agree that there is some degradation and some corruption. I would not say that matter is absolutely new. Nor would I say that the Christian faith no longer exists or Christianity no longer is exists as it did 1800 years ago.At best you have some kind of exaggeration there.

I can see that the sequence of exchanges there have not been accurately remembered by me.So I apologize for any words unfairly critical. But however it came, as who said what first and who said which afterwards, your "evil sadistic dictator" evaluation is a problem with God of the Bible.I am not just going to shrug that off as not a problem with God as the Bible reveals God.But I will try to be careful. And I disagree with any charge of evasion. You have asked for Jesus' support of Paul in Ephesians 5 and 6 and that is what I have been providing you with.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

And I think that is a matter in your imagination, the real Paul verses the latter forged Paul.I think that is your problem with what the same man wrote in each of the letters.The evolution of actual human morality I have to think some more upon.

That is not necessary to find. What is important is that the whole theme of authority and submission to authority is touched by both Paul and his Lord Jesus.The relationships there touch on authority and submission to authority.In the case of slave to master or child to parent there should be no problem to see that that is the whole realm Paul is addressing.In the wife to husband may be some people's problem. Now I am not an anthropologist. But I think that in cultures everywhere usually the marriage relationship begins with the female responding to, in submission, the male's desire that she be his mate.Arranged marriages of India and other places are an exception. But my liberal bent of disposition would not allow me to naively overlook that a woman submits to the man's initial request to be married. And such cooperation of wife towards husband carries through throughout many other areas of their married life.Do you fundamentally disagree with this? No I am not. The realm under which these exhortations are being developed is the realm of submission and authroity. And Jesus had something to say about that. And what He did say and demonstrated is supportive of Paul's ministry.It is not necessary that I find an exact instance of Jesus speaking of children and parents or slaves and masters. It is the matter of not giving rise to insubordination in favor of regard for honoring authority.Jesus marvled as the centurion who realized authority and submission. Jesus told the people to respect the scribes and Pharisees in their authroity but not to imitate their hypocritical behavior.These are teachings about authority and submission and they support rather than contradict Paul's words in Ephesians 5 and 6. The particulars are not exactly the same. The principles are similar with regard to authority and the honoring of it in submission in attitude, if not absolute obedience. Good for you. I stand by what I wrote.The issue is authorities and submission. And I might add that your so called earlier Paul spoke extensively on the matter in Romans 13.Ephesians 5 and 6, in its exhortations of wives / husbands, slaves / masters, children / parents is along the same line.And the point I make is that Jesus' words and actions are supportive of Paul's spirit there in his Ephesian epistle. Showing how Jesus acted towards His parents in Luke's Gospel and Paul's instruction to the churching children towards theirs, is not "scrapping the bottom of the barrel." Oh, I think Ephesians is marvelous completely as all the rest of Paul's letters.I do not think for the husband to love the wife as Christ loved the church - giving up His life for the church, reduces the worth of the wife.I think it enhances her worth, obviously. And the instruction to the children is with a reminder that the Law promised a long and prosperous life to children who honored their parents.So I neither think that Paul's word there undermines young people. Because it is obviously much more than that. And 2,000 some years of regard for its value among Christians argues in agreement with me there.I do not think that there is a person on the earth that likes every single thing written in the Bible with no exceptions. This I think is a unique quality of the word of God - somewhere it steps on somebody's toes.The church, in Ephesians, is only produced by ADDING Christ to man. The church comes out of Christ being wrought into man. The church in Ephesians only comes into existence by God working the living and available Christ into men, women, and children.This is marvelous.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

No they are not. Paul teaches of the "one new man" in Ephesians and Colossians. In Philemon he demonstrates his concept of the one new man where Christ is all and in all.Philemon is a very effective demonstration in real practical life of Paul's teaching that in the "one new man" the old patterns of social oppression are nullified. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

The authority is not in the husband himself. Nor is it in the employer himself. The authority is God.God establishes an order. When I submit to my employer as a Christian I do so with a regard for God as the source of order and authority.That's some people's problem. They see the person and say "Why should I have to submit to YOU ??" The Spirit filled wife, child, servant sees that God is the source of all authority.Now isn't that just what Paul (your Paul 1.0) argues in Romans 13?It is not the husband's person which is the issue. He is human. He is faulty. He is error prone. We know that. It is the concept of God as the only authority we see.The axe to insubordination is there in the New Testament. It is the old "QUESTION AUTHORITY" of the natural man which the NT gives little credence to.On the other hand husbands have to obey their wives too. If the husband does not obey his wife he doesn't know how to empathize with her.We might say that though the exhortation is for wives to obey husbands, because of the husband's love he may actually end up being in obedience to the wife more often.I have been married 36 some years. Many times I have to obey my dear wife. If I love her I have to often obey her.I don't choke on Ephesians 5 and 6. I take it in proportion to the plenery revelation of the whole Bible. And I consider my experience in a arguably successful Christian marraige of 36 years having also raised two children who are now adults.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

What is impressive is HOW Paul teaches the Christian brother (master) to receive his runaway servant.Because Paul is occupied with building the "one new man" Philemon is to receive Onisemus as a beloved brother. He is also to receive him exactly as he would receive Paul himself. He is to receive Onisemus as Paul's heart and Paul's child.He is to receive Onesimus as Paul's co-worker in the gospel outreach. And he is to recevie Onesimus back as one whose status is the same as Philemon's own son Archippus of Philemon's household.In the goal of building up the church in the locality of Philemon, Paul instructs this way. His FOCUS is the building up a practical expression of the "one new man" in various cities. It is important not to miss this. Paul has some apostolic authority over the local assemblies raised up under his ministry. He could COMMAND. But he wants the right thing to come out of the members of the church VOLUNTARILY. That is subjectively and willingly from their OWN wisdom and discision.Paul is just there to give some guidance. This is quite beautiful. This letter is not an edict. This letter is aan encouragement for Philemon to go along with what the Holy Spirit within him wishes to do.So Paul says "Having confidence in your obedience, I have written to you, knowing that you will do even beyond the things that I say." (v.21) That is Philemon is expectedd not just to grudgingly do the bare minimum for a outward show. Paul has confidence in the Christ living within him. Philemon will do even BEYOND Paul's meager request.This is also important because each member of the Body of Christ is directly under Christ the Head. As in a human body, each member moves by the direction of the head. My brain directs my arm. My brain directs my hand. My brain directs my fingers. And my brain directs EACH finger.Philemon, Onisemus, Paul, Archippus, Apphia, and Timothy are all members of the Body of Christ receiving thier directions directly from the head Jesus. "Holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ,

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Out from whom all the Body; being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and [through] the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love." (Eph. 4:15-16) Paul is dealing with a living and organic Body. This Body is growing with Jesus Christ within each member as divine life. And Jesus Christ is the one head. Paul is just one of the joining legiments supplying life to the Boby.Now in the Paul of First Corinthians we have this confirming word: "But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ." (1 Cor. 11:3) I take "Christ is the head of every man" to mean Christ is the head of every male man and female "man".Paul in the Philemon letter and in his exhortations in Ephesians 5 and 6 is directing all members of the Body of Christ to be under the ONE HEAD of the whole mystical Body - Christ. Exactly. The behavior is to flow out of Philemon and Onisemus voluntarily. I am pretty sure that Onisemus did not HAVE to return with that letter. He could have chucked the letter and skipped town completely forgetting about Paul, Philemon and everyone else.Paul desires the right thing to come out would be more than he requests. He expects that it will emmerge voluntarily and willingly only needed a little fellowship. The letter is not an eddict. I agree. It is the same Apostle Paul with the same apostolic ministry.Before Paul touches the down to earth practical circumstances of various believers he first portrays the big picture of what their whole Christian experience is for.It is for the building of living habitation of God in spirit. It is a organic growing entity with Jesus Christ as the Head knitting and blending all the members together into a corperate expression of God mingled with humanity.In short this church is the collective manifestation of what Christ is - a man mingled with God - God living in a man - a man living God, living out God and God living through a human being.This is a supernatural entity. This is no society of the fallen Adamic world or nature. This is a supernatural structure growing by the dispensing of God into man.But it is in the world too. So some matters of her occupying the world have to be touched. Family realities, servant and master realities. Paul's sphere of advice is towards the church. He is not scolding Roman society at large as to how to have a better world.It is clear to me that Paul identified kidnapping as a sin. So the slavery he is dealing with is probably not that kind of slavery. The law forbade the return of a runaway slave to his master.

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"You shall not deliver to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you; He shall dwell with you, even in your midst, in the place which he chooses among your towns, wherever he pleases; you shall not oppress him." (Deut 23:15,16)

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Paul had to have regarded these matters. And his condemnation of kidnapping in First Timothy was reminiscent of Exodus 21

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"He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 21:16)

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As a former Pharisee Paul must have known the ban on kidnapping would not encourage an apostle of the Gospel to instruct the Christian brothers to keep kidnapped slaves.This does not mean other forms of dept servitude were free from problems. By stop threatening them. By realizing that this is a Christian brother to whom I should render what is "just and equal" (Colossians 4:1). "Masters, grant to your slaves that which is just and equal, knowing that you have a Master in heaven."Paul equalizes the status in the "one new man" by telling the masters to do the same towards the slave as the slave is to render to the master in sowing and reaping "good thing". "Knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or a free man.

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And master, DO THE SAME THINGS toward them, giving up threatening ..." Paul puts the fear of God into both the master and the slave - "knowing that both their Master and yours is in the heavens, and there no respect of persons with Him." In all the exhortations Paul teaches that each Christian needs the empowering grace of Christ. It is Christ living within that enables the disciples to live Christ out. So Paul's final word very often turns the believers back to the indwelling grace of Christ - "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit" (Philemon 25) "Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ incorruptibility." (Eph. 6:24) The apostle's confidence is not in your magnanimus and liberal sense of social reform. His trust is not in you and I in ourselves. His trust is in the grace of Jesus Christ as He has become our indwelling living Lord and Savior.He writes that Christ would make His home in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17) . This is not sentimental talk. This is actual truth of the New Testament. Jesus Christ Himself is our only hope to fulfill God's purpose. By faith we must let God dispense this victorious and righeous One into our personalities.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

There are other truths of the Christian life that I take into account which you may be completely ignoring.Let's talk about the whole matter of leadership. When the disciples argued amongst each other as to which one of them was the greatest, Jesus taught them that the greatest was the one who was servant of all. "But Jesus called them to Him and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great exercise authority
over them.

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Is shall not be so among you; but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave;

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Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:25-28) While you may look at Paul's word to wives / husbands, and servants and masters, and childen and parents and recoil in revulsion, the Christian need not.For the Son of God taught us that to WANT to be first and a leader you must be a servant of the rest. Jesus taught that the believer who exalts himself will be humbled. But the one who humbles himself will be exalted because he or she manifests Christ in service to others.Now this with the natural life is impossible. For the natural life of Adam is proud, self serving, loving to be first, loving to boss around other people.But the Son of God is the divine Person whom God installs into the believer by the dispensing of the Holy Spirit. This one loves to serve others as a slave.The husband then can be empowered to serve wife and children. And wife also can be Christ like. And the child with the vision also can adopt God's criteria of greatness. So also both the legal servant and the legal master.The divine nature is not pigish or chauvanistic. It manifests Christ who came to give His life as a ransom for all. " And whoever wants to be first among you shall be a slave of all." (Mark 10:44) Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Because we are chiefly on Ephesians my reply to this sentence will mainly be from that book.Here are some reasons from Ephesians why I couldn't agree with your assessment:1.) God made provision to solve our problem against Him while we were helpless to do so ourselves. "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) ..." (2:4,5)The mercy of God reaches down to those helpless and hopeless - "even when we were dead in offenses".This is not an evil dictator but a merciful Savior. He reached the sinners while they were spiritually walking dead men subsisting in a state of constant offenses against God.2.) God's intention is to put on a eternal display. That is a theater of His boundles kindness towards the saved. "That He might display in the ages to come the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." (2:7) Just how extensive and how intensive can God's kindness be towards the forgiven sinner, that is the issue to be put on display. In the plural "ages" to come the measure of His riches in grace will kindly be revealed as surpassing all that we can imagine of even ask: "But to Him who is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which operates in us." (3:20) As you can see this manifestation of divine kindness is not altogether outside of man and upon man. Rather it is the working of God WITHIN man effecting his inward constitution and personality - "above all that we ask or think, according to the power which operates in us ..." 3.) The final goal of God's salvation puts the redeemed sinner in a state identical to that of His Righteous Son -with no defect at all - perfection - " ... even as He chose us in Him ... that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love, predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ ..." (1:5) Rather that an evil dictator we have a eternal Father placing His sons in a realm in which they eventually end up as faultless in character as the perfect Christ - holy and without blemish.The individual state of perfection is latter discribed as the corperate and aggregate perfection of a collective symbolic "wife" of Christ. "That He [Christ] might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, that He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and without blemish." (5:16,17) How kind God is to wash the sinners (not only with the redeeming blood of Christ) but with the water of the word. His speaking carries away defilement and adds the element of God into the believers. Wrinkles are of oldness. Spots are of foriegn elements that defile man like sin. Both are gradually washed totally away until what is left MATCHES Christ their Savior. To be His Wife speaks of MATCHING Christ perfectly.4.) Another factor of God's kindness rather than evil dictatorialness is that this salvation is a process. Rather than the SHOCK of being instantaneously transformed, God uses TIME that this new humanity may be gradually put on as a process. "That you put off as regards you former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit,

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And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holuness of the reality." (4:22-24) The new man, this new humanity, which is a humanity mingled and saturated with God Himself, is put on by the ongoing renewal of the mind.The mind being enlightened and renewed leads to the transformation of the soul. We are not yanked into the transformation. Rather the believer is gently renewed "metobolically" like growth into maturity.To be born only takes and instant. To mature into an adult takes a life time. As in the natural realm so also God takes the forgiven sinner through an instantaneous rebirth in being born again but a slow and sure transformation of the renewing of the mind.So the Triune God is neither evil nor sadistic nor a dictator in Ephesians. The gospel Paul preaches he calls "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (3:8) Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

There is no need to paint Paul as dejected or depressed towards the end of his ministry because he closes his life quite positively. "For I am already being poured out, and the time of my departure is at hand.

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I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith.

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Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will recompense me in that day, and not only me but also those how have loved His appearing." ( 2 Timothy 4:6-8) I detect no disappointment but rather enthusiasm.
He sounds like a long distance runner coming across the finish line triumphantly.Paul was soberminded and not giddy nor naive. He may have wanted to see the age consummate in his lifetime. But his realism did not allow the preference to hamper his labors to obviously prepare the Christian church for the long haul through time.For example, he cautions the Thessalonians not to be irresponsible about their obligations in this world merely because the second coming of Christ may be immenient.Also, Paul speaks of "the later times" in his faithfulness to the speaking Holy Spirit - "But the Spirit says expressly that in the later times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons .... etc." (1 Tim. 4:1) Whatever understandable preference Paul had for a soon to be second coming of Christ, it did not hamper him from preparing those under his charge for the long haul.Personal dejection, personal depression that he is going to die before he sees Christ coming on the clouds is nowhere found in Paul's letters.Besides, I think you are misunderstanding even the intention of Jesus in the passage you alluded to. "Truly I say to you, There are some of those standing here who shall by no means taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John ... And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with Him." (Matt. 16:28-17:3) I think some people read "who shall by no means taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom" but mentally they insert this "the Son of Man in His second coming".The whole matter of a man with God concealed within the shell of His humanity briefly allowing Himself to be "unzipped" as it were. That is letting the inward hidden splendour of divine glory burst through the shell of His concealing humanity, albeit temporarily, must be what He meant by SOME disciples seeing the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.All the evangelists who record the incedent place the transfiguration immediately following these words of promise of Christ.It is really another discussion. But I think you can discard the depressed and disappointed Paul as probably largely skeptic's hype.More could be said. That is all the time I have right now.
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Jazzns, my time is constrained today.I addressed that portion of your last post which struck my interest. I realize that you still want to talk a lot more about the slavery issue.I understand your main points. As I see them they are this:1.) Philemon and Ephesians are likely not written by the same person.2.) Ephesians does not rise to level of moral perfection as Philemon.3.) Paul is actually endorsing slavery in Ephesians.4.) It is not a matter of your (Jazzns's) desire the Ephesian Paul act as a social reformer.Now for my part, you'll probably get a sensation of me wanting to move on to other points of discussion in our going through Ephesians. You may find me kind of gravitating towards additional points. You may find be kind urging discussion of other concepts.I genuinely think some of your points are well argued. Up to a certain point I'll probably just acknowledge that we differ in our opinions. You're welcomed to have another view about what I believe.Evidence is not persuasion. I hear you - "You have not yet persuaded me." I got it. Okay.I just want to think about some of the additional things you wrote at this point and try to nudge the exchanges on other matters. Ephesians has a lot of things in it besiddes exhortations to wives, husbands, children, slaves, masters.

In the next probably few posts of mine, I am going to touch on some additional crucial aspects of the book of Ephesians. Embedded within the posts will be words intended to address the direct questions possed by Jazzns above.In this way readers are going to have to be on the lookout to find out how I have specifically answered the request for comment above. In this way those of us who want to move on to more of Ephesians will get something more. I think the wise reader will try to understand how my replies to Jazzns questions are related to the additional studies. There will be a relationship.I suspect that Jazzns will have the sensation of being told a lot of things that were not asked. But I attend that careful reading should see replies to the three matters above.In this way we move on in our safari through Ephesians. Maybe Jazzns will not feel these three above concerns of his are being ignored completely.I also may have a few questions on which I need help myself from other students of Ephesians. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

In chapter one we read in the King James Version - "He might gather together in one all things in Christ." (1:10) I think the Recovery Version has a better translation: " ... to head up all things in Christ ..." .I am told that there is a verbal form of the noun "head" being used by Paul. So "to head up all things in Christ" better brings the sense out in English. "Making known to us the mystery of His will ... which He purposed in Himself, unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him." (9a-10) Here we see God's will is a matter of outworking a process in time. In the consummation of this time, at the climax of this time all things will be headed up in Christ. This necessarily means that all things as they exist in heaven and earth now are in some state of detachment and collapse from God's perfect governance.The operation of God in Christ is moving from a state of disarray to a final situation of being headed up in Jesus Christ - all things in the universe.Imagine a heap of ruined and damaged items piled up in a junk yard. Now imagine coming back some time latter and seeing a beautiful structure of fully and properly functioning items as kind of skyscrapper. All things in the ruin of collapse have been repaired and harmoniously related to the whole.Paul's teaching is that God's good pleasure is to work His operation to head up the collapsed and ruined universe in a man - Jesus Christ as the pinnacle and head authority. " unto the economy of the fullness of the times " means this matter is in progress and will reach a finale - a climax.Today the world is not totally without some order. But there is abuse of order. There is abuse in many places of authority. It is a tragic fact of history -Children can be abused by parents.
Those with wealth can abuse those without wealth.
Men abuse their wives and male chauvanism has abused females.Going back to the junkyard example we may see in this heap of chaos that some items are higher in the heap than others. Some items are lower in the heap than others. The problem is that the entire heap is in a state of collapse in relation to what it is going to be when it is headed up into a beautiful structure.One matter that needs repair in the collapse of the world system is the abuse of different relationships of authority and submission.In the same chapter Paul writes - "And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him [Christ] to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all." (1:22,23) Briefly, this passage shows that the Body of Christ as those who have received the life of Christ dispensed into them AND who are saturated and permeated with that life to express in a corperate way that filling One, take the lead in the universe to be headed up in CHrist. The church pioneers to come under the salvation of Christ from the ruined collapsed condition of the fallen and damaged creation.In the book of Romans Paul writes under the reign of Caesar Nero a terrible persecutor of the Christian church. Many scholars traditionally hold that Nero was the Roman emporer who had Paul killed.Yet Paul writes in Romans, the basic Pauline outline of the Christian faith that all governors are ordained by God. The entire 13th chapter must be read to get the full impact of these surprising words. Here are a few examples: "Let every person be subject to the authorities over [him], for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are ordained by God." (Romans 13:1) Full stop. "Excuse us Paul? The Roman Emporer Ceasar Nero is a God ordained authority to whom the Christians should submit !?! Do you mean the Christians should renounce their "atheism" for not worshipping the many gods of the Roman pantheon? Do you mean they should denounce Jesus the Son of God and claim Ceasar Nero as their only King and god?"It is difficult to write a brief word on this paradox.
It is difficult to adaquately explain this on a forum posting of average word length.Briefly - Paul is not endorsing the abuse of authority.
Paul is not reasoning that the junkyard of the collapsed creation and world governments are the perfect will of God. Neither could it be possible that Paul is teaching the Christian church to obey Ceasar Nero in each and every eddict designed to obliterate the Gospel of Christ and force universal worship of Roman citizens to the gods of Roman religion. Paul is not demanding denial of believing in Jesus the Son of God in favor of Nero worship.Briefly - Paul is teaching that insubordination, revolt, disregard for order, despising of human government per se should not be a blemish on Christian character during this process in which God is heading up all things under Christ.The same thought might be reflected in the words of Jesus in His message on the mountain - "Blessed are the meek , for they shall inherit the earth." (Matt. 5:5) Continued latter.
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Ephesians 1:10 and Ephesians 1:22,23 are very related to each other. The first verse shows God is moving in time to a climax of placing all the universe under the headship of a man, a Godman - Jesus Christ. The second verse show that this Godman has a collective Body. And this Body of those indwelt with Christ share in this climactic heading up of the universe in Christ.They pioneer in taking the lead to be headed up by the Christ that is living in them. And they participate in the heading up of all things at the conclusion of history. Here are the two passages: " Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him." (1:10)

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"And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all." (1:22,23) Now a tree is not a part of the Body of Christ.
A star, a planet, or things on a planet like a lion, a gerbil, a bushbuck, a turnip, a willow tree are strictly also not a part of the Body of Christ.Those who have not received Christ are also not a part of the mystical Body of Christ for the life of Christ has not (or not yet) been dispensed into their beings).In the age following the second coming of Christ many peoples who survive this age and are transfered into the next age will also not be a part of the Body of Christ. The bears, lions, sheep, snakes, and some nations surviving the great tribulation and the second coming of Christ will all not be a part of the Body of Christ.But all these things strictly speaking outside of Christ's Body will be headed up in Christ. This thought may be reflected in Jesus words after His resurrection - "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ..." (Matt. 28:18,19a) In other words all authority has been given to Christ. His disciples should go and immerse people into Himself; into the Triune God for the expansion of His mystical Body. Into the name (the singular name) really means into the Person. Bring people into the Person of the Father - Son - Holy Spirit.The bear and lion are brought into a heading up in Christ in the coming age. We see that in Isaiah 11 the lion and the sheep will be able to peacefully hang around together without the sheep being gobbled up by the lion.Ie. "And the wolf will dwell with the lamb; and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a young boy will lead them.

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The cow and the bear will graze; Their young will lie down together; And the lion will eat straw like the ox." (Isaiah 11:6,7) Somehow the heading up of all things in Christ will cause these carniverous animals to be transformed to be able to dwell together peacefully.On a larger scale, not only lion, sheep, and bear are headed up but the entire creation awaits the maturity of Christ's purpose. Paul writes this in Romans. "For the anxious watching of the creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity ... In hope that the creation itself will also be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." (See Romans 8:18-23) The Body will include those with the life of Christ dispensed into them as the Holy Spirit. These are the sons of God. Creation awaits their growth into maturity. The breaking forth of their freedom will also be the breaking forth of the creation from the slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.This is a brief word.The mystical Body takes the lead to be headed up in Christ. The church in creation pioneers the coming under the headship of Christ.The mystical Body of Christ also participates in the heading up of all things with Christ her Head. The King is not just the Head, but the Head WITH the Body. Christ is not only the Head, but also the Body. This is proved by Paul's word in First Corinthians 12:12: "For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ." (1 Cor. 12:12 RcV) The Body of Christ has many members. The individual human being into whom the Spirit of Christ has come. Christ is the Head of all these members. But the Head along with all the members is the corporate Christ - "THE Christ".The Head is Christ the One Godman Lord - the unique Lord and Savior as God's Son. The aggregate of the believers is the Body. And the Head and the Body toggether make up the corporate Christ. " ... yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ." . It may be recalled that when Paul was persecuting the believers on earth, Jesus spoke to him from heaven saying - "Saul, Saul, Why do you persecute Me?" If I smack you on your arm. You may say "Hey, do not hit my arm!" But you would also be justified to say "Hey, do not hit ME!"If I argued and say "But I did not hit you. I only hit your arm." You might say "When you hit my arm you hit ME dude. Stop hitting ME !!"The dusty, imperfect, growing, often naughty, immature with the more mature with the retarded in maturity Christians that Paul was persecuting were THE Christ. The "Me" of Jesus as the Head and the Body together.The Body, of course as all of Ephesians testifies, must be BUILT up. She does not emmerge into existence in maturity. She grows into maturity. And ALL members do not arrive at maturity at the same time necessarily. For Paul says - "until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we may be no longer children ..." (See Ephesians 4:13,14) Briefly - The saved believers are the Body of the Head, and participate in the heading up over all things in Christ. This is why the words "head over all things TO the church" imply a kind of transmission of Christ's authority on "to the church". " ... gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body ..." (Eph. 1:22a,23) In Romans we see the creation awaiting the maturity of the son of God. In Ephesians we see the growth of the Body into a full grown man, the constituents no longer being children.We see the power bringing spiritual children into mature inheriting sons of God being the same power the raised Christ from the dead. It is operating in the members of the Body of His believers - "And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the operation of the might of His strength, which He caused to operate in Christ in raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies far above all rule and authority and power and lordship ... not only in this age but also in that which is to come." (See 1:19-21) Paul's concept then is that the church is under nothing but Christ Himself for it is His Body headed up by Himself as the Head. As such the Body is both being headed up and participating in the heading up as co-reigners. Christ is the head over all things TO the church which is His Body.Christ is full in Himself of course. Christ is in the Body but needs to grow to be the fullness of the Body - filling all in all. Christ in the church must become every member in every part in everything. That is the expanding and permeating Christ. That is the saturating and filling Christ thoroughly blending Himself into the souls of the saved.All will eventually arrive. Paul includes himself in the all. He does not say "until you all arrive" but "until WE all arrive".Here Paul speaks of the growth of the Body - "But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ,

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Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love." (4:15,16) Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.