Sunday, September 30, 2018 - Ephesians 6:24
Grace to Those Who Love The Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace
Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher,
Jim Rickard
5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.
Eph
6:24, “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with
incorruptible love.”
Now, looking at the rest of this
passage, we have noted HO CHARIS, “the grace,” that Paul desires for believers.
This is noted in the next few words, “with
all those who,” which begins with the Genitive Preposition META, “with.” Since this is Paul’s desire, it
should read, “be with,” that is, “The
grace, (that is from God), be with.”
Then we have the recipients of God’s grace with the Genitive Adjective of PAS,
“all or everyone,” with the Genitive Article HO used pronominally for, “those, or those who.” The Article is
used here as a demonstrative Pronoun to identify a certain group of believers
as defined in the rest of the passage.
The criteria for this grace is, “loving our Lord Jesus Christ,” AGAPAO
HO KURIOS HEMEIS IESOUS CHRISTOS.
“Love,” is the verb AGAPAO that is used 10 times in the book of
Ephesians, as we have noted above. Here it is the Present, Active, Participle,
in the Genitive, Plural. The Present Tense is Gnomic for a timeless
general fact that God’s grace is poured out to those who love the Lord, and
that the action of loving and grace pouring continues without time limit. In
other words, the believer who continually loves the Lord will continue to be
blessed by the grace of God. The Active Voice says that the believer
performs the actions of loving the Lord. The Participle provides a
substantive force of “love” that the believer possesses, (using the Genitive
case here), that is directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a thing
possessed, (i.e., Category 1 Love, love towards God), and in this case
specifically, love that is expressed towards the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
As we noted above in vs. 23, Paul utilizes the actionable
Verb for “love,” AGAPAO, 10 times, in 7 passages, with 5 different contexts in
this letter, Eph 1:6; 2:4; 5:2, 25, 28,
33; 6:24. Therefore, we see Motivational Virtue AGAPE Love, (MVA Love), in
action in these passages. With 10 being the number for perfect order, 7 the
number of spiritual perfection, and 5 the number for grace, we see AGAPAO love
as the perfect order for the believer to live in spiritual perfection under the
grace plan of God, to express the grace of God to others. In this case, it is
expressed towards The Lord Jesus Christ.
In the five contexts that AGAPAO
Love is used in the Book of Ephesians, the action of AGAPAO love is motivated
by the mental attitude motivational virtue of AGAPE love within the soul:
1. The MVA love that characterized
the person of Jesus Christ as “The Beloved,” or “the One loved,” through Whom
we receive grace because of our union with Him, Eph 1:6.
2. The MVA love God the Father has
for us by providing for our Salvation, Eph
2:4.
3. The MVA love that Christ had
and has for us by going to the Cross, Eph
5:2.
4. The MVA love a husband has for
his wife that demonstrates Christ’s love for the Church, Eph 5:25, 28, 33.
5. The MVA love we, the Church,
are to have for the Lord Jesus Christ, (in response to the love Jesus Christ
has demonstrated towards us), that results in God’s grace being poured out in
our lives, Eph 6:24.
1 Peter 1:8, “And though you have not seen Him, you love
Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice
with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”
This love of ours is directed
towards the person of “our Lord Jesus Christ,” HO KURIOS HEMEIS IESOUS
CHRISTOS.
HEMEIS, “our” is the Possessive Genitive Personal Pronoun in the 1st
Person Plural, where Paul is including himself along with us in claiming
allegiance or love for the Lord. In other words, Jesus Christ belongs to us as
of the moment of salvation. The possessive says Jesus Christ is “our Lord.” He
is your personal Master, Owner, Lord, Savior, Messiah, and Friend.
“Lord” is the Accusative Singular of KURIOS, κύριος. It means,
“Supreme controller, Owner, Master, and Lord.” It is used 23 times in the Book
of Ephesians, Eph 1:2-3, 15, 17; 2:21;
3:11; 4:1, 5, 17; 5:8, 10, 17, 19, 20, 22; 6:1, 4, 7, 8, 10, 21, 23, 24.
This term was used in Christianity
in contrast to the worship of the Roman Caesars or Emperors. Some Roman
emperors employed the title KURIOS to themselves. They also promoted the notion
of emperor worship and considered themselves divine. Here is where the term
came to have religious connotations. Therefore, Paul employs the term for Jesus
Christ along with the Possessive Pronoun HEMEIS, “our,” to distinguish the
difference between the Roman Emperors as “lords” and Jesus Christ who is the
one true “Lord.” As such, though Jesus is the Lord of all, Joshua 3:11-13; Micah 4:13; Zech 6:5; Act 10:36; Rom 10:12, He is
not experientially the Lord of the unbeliever, nor of the reversionistic
believer. Yet, He is experientially the Lord of the believer who loves Him. Therefore, “Lord,” also
refers to the deity of Christ with emphasis on His authority as the “King of
kings and Lord of lords,” Deut 10:17;
Psa 136:1-26; 1 Tim 6:15; Rev 17:14; 19:16.
IESOUS,
Ἰησοῦς is translated “Jesus,” the
title for His humanity that means Savior. It is used in the Book of Ephesians
19 times, Eph 1:1-3, 5, 15, 17; 2:6-7,
10, 13, 20; 3:1, 6, 11, 21; 4:21; 5:20; 6:23-24. It comes from the Hebrew
YESHUA for Joshua, it means,” the Lord delivers or Savior.”
Acts 2:36, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for
certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus (IESOUS) whom you
crucified.”
CHRISTOS,
Χριστός is translated “Christ,”
meaning anointed one, which is His second royal title as the Son of David being
the Messiah. “Christ” also refers to His deity with His messiahship in view, as
the legitimate and eternal king of Israel. It is used 42 times in the Book of
Ephesians.
When Lord is added
to the phrase, as it is here, His Lordship or Kingship is emphasized in
relation to its placement in the phrase, which in this case is first.
Therefore, the first emphasis is of His Lordship, second His Humanity as Savior,
and third being His Messiahship as God.
The title or name “Lord Jesus
Christ” is used six times in the Book of Ephesians, Eph 1:2, 3, 17; 5:20; 6:23, 24. Six is the number of man.
Therefore, we see the emphasis on the humanity of our Lord, even though He is
God. He is God incarnate in hypostatic union – 100% man, 100% God.
In addition, in some ancient
manuscripts, it is also added to Eph
3:14, as in the KJV, but it is not found in the most reliable texts.
Nevertheless, that would make its usage seven times; the number of spiritual
perfection. Further, the three titles are also used in Eph 3:11, but in a different order, “Christ Jesus our Lord,” which emphasizes His Deity and Messiahship
first that also reminds us of the spiritual perfection He is, He performed and
completed during His earthly ministry, as well as that which we have received
being in union with Him.
The six usages of “Lord Jesus
Christ,” emphasize the following:
In Eph 1:2, the opening salutation, it tells us that “grace” and
“peace” come to us from our LJC:
In Eph 1:3, it tells us that we are to praise God our Father who has
“blessed us with every spiritual blessing,” because of our union with TLJC.
In Eph 1:17, just as in vs. 3,
we see that God our Father is also the God and Father of our LJC, which
emphasizes Jesus’ humanity and the humility He took on to become like us, even
though He is God, co-equal, co-infinite, and co-eternal with God the Father.
In Eph 5:20, we are to give thanks to God the Father for all things,
in the name of our LJC.
In Eph 6:23, just as in the opening salutation, the closing salutation
tells us that “peace,” (along with love and faith), are from our LJC.
In Eph 6:24, continuing the closing salutation, we also see, like the
opening salutation, that “grace” comes from our LJC, especially for those who
love Him.
In addition, in Eph 3:11, we see that God the Father’s
eternal plan and purpose were carried out in “Christ Jesus our Lord,” the second member of the Trinity, who
became man, to be the Messiah for the entire world.
Combined, all of these usages
reminded us of the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Humanity of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Messiahship of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saving work of our
Lord Jesus Christ, our Union with our Lord Jesus Christ, and the mediatorship
of our risen, ascended, and enthroned Lord Jesus Christ. It gives us a great
overview of who our Lord is, what our Lord did and continues to do on our behalf,
and of our relationship with Him.
Therefore, in Eph 6:24, “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ,”
as Paul closes with a statement about our personal relationship with Christ, he
is telling us that we ought to be occupied with Him on a daily basis, first in
appreciation and thanksgiving for all that He has done and is doing on our
behalf, and secondly, to be occupied with Him we have to know Him and what He
has done and is doing for us. The only way to know Him is to learn and apply
His Word, DAILY!
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