Eph-80-81 - Lesson 25 - Ephesians 3: 9-15
Publication Date: 03-25-1981
Victor Paul Wierwille (December 31, 1916 – May 20, 1985) dedicated his life to the research and teaching of the Bible. In his quest for truth he consulted and worked with some of the most outstanding individuals in Biblical studies and Christian living; including Karl Barth, Joseph Bauer, Glenn Clark, Karl J. Ernst, Joseph Friedli, Louis C. Hessert, Elmer G Homrighausen, E. Stanley Jones, George M. Lamsa, Richard and Reinhold Niebuhr, K. C. Pillai, Paul Tillich, Ernst Traeger, and many others.
Dr. Wierwille received his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from present day Lakeland College, and conducted graduate studies at the University of Chicago and Princeton Theological Seminary. It was at Princeton that Wierwille earned the Master of Theology degree in Practical Theology. He later completed his Doctor of Theology degree at Pike's Peak Bible Seminary and Burton College in Manitou Springs, Colorado.
Dr. Wierwille was the author of numerous books in the field of Biblical research, including Are the Dead Alive Now?; Receiving the Holy Spirit Today; Jesus Christ Our Passover; and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed. Additionally, he developed and taught several comprehensive classes directed toward helping people to understand the Bible and to increase the power of God in their lives, such as the Power For Abundant Living series, Living Victoriously, and the University of Life courses. Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille was the founder and president of a world-wide Biblical research, teaching, and fellowship ministry for forty years; as well as the founder and president of several Biblical research centers, colleges, leadership training, and Christian outreach programs associated with it.
Victor Paul Wierwille served the Lord with unending joy all the days of his life as he travelled continuously throughout the world to hold forth the Word of God. He reached thousands of people during his lifetime through his live presentations, numerous radio and television broadcasts, film and video classes, and recorded teachings. And countless others continue to enjoy and be enriched by his books and hundreds of hours of recorded works, many of which are available in the public domain. A detailed listing of his work, as well as more information about his life and teachings can be found at Eternally Blessed (www.eternallyblessed.org).
Last week, I think some of you know I got real disgustepated, because a certain piece of work that I'd requested to be done, was done, but it didn't suit me, because it didn' t get to me in time, that I had time to look it over before I went in to teach. That' s why I quit teaching when I finally had to get to it. But this week we got it worked out, and we got it worked out accurately where it makes sense and it communicates. And all of you were given a copy of this opening of the Corps, tonight. The rest of you at the campuses will get yours, because we printed enough for every campus. And I want Walter to go through this because this is so important in the understanding of Ephesians chapter two and also verses from. ..a verse from chapter three. So Walter, handle this thing all the way through tonight.
Walter: Okay. As it says here, there' s three sets of three words that begin with the prefix
s-u-n, sun, which means ' together with.' The first ones are in Ephesians 2:5 and 6. There' s three of them there. And then in Ephesians 2:19-22. And the third group of three are in Ephesians 3:6.
In Ephesians 2:5 and 6, it says, We are made alive together with him, which is the word sunezoopoiesen, and it has the prefix sun on it. And the word ' life' is in there, zoa, z-o-a. You can see it in the word.
The second word is ' raised together with' which is sun, together with, prefix to egeiro which means 'to raise.' Like ' raise' from the dead. {sunegeiren}
And the third is sunekathisen, 'seated together with,' which has the prefix sun on the word kathizo.
Dr. Wierwille: Now all of those are in Ephesians 2:5 and 6, right, Walter?
Walter: Verse 5 and 6 of chapter two.
Dr. Wierwille: Okay.
Walter: Now Ephesians 2:19-22 has the words ' fellow citizens,' or ' citizens together with.' And that' s the word sumpolitai. Now, the Greek is s-u-M, as in mouse, rather than s-u-n, but that' s the Greek style. Whenever they would have an ' n' before a letter ' p' or any type of labial, that' s a sound that' s made with the lips, they would change it to an ' m' sound so that it would flow easier. Like we contract certain words like ' don' t' instead of ' do not.' ' Don' t,' we contract it. They did similar things to make their words flow. So you have s-u-m-p-o-l-i-t-a-i, sumpolitai. That' s ' fellow citizens.'
The next one is ' fitly framed together with.' And that' s sunarmologoumene. That's sun, prefix to the word armologoumene, which means ' to lay out together.' Or just ' to lay out,' and then the ' together with' is the prefix sun.
And then the third one is ' to build together with.' And that' s sunoikodomeisthe. Having sun on the front of the word for ' build up,' oikodomeo.
So you have ' fellow citizens ,' ' fitly framed together,' and ' builded together with,' all in Ephesians
2:19-22.
Then in chapter three, these are all in verse 6, in one verse. You have ' heirs together with,' ' the same body together with' and ' partners together with.' That's the three words sunkleronoma. And the second word ' same body' is sussoma. Now there you have s-u-s instead of s-u-n. And that's again because they contracted it, or made the vowels flow together better. Sussoma.
Dr. Wierwille: But the original word there is what?
Walter: Sunsoma
Dr. Wierwille: Right
Walter: Some have s-u-n. As a matter of fact, some critical Greek texts have sunsoma.
Dr. Wierwille: Right, right.
Walter: And then the third one is summetocha. There the ' n' was changed to an 'm' again. And originally would have been sunmetocha. But to make it flow, they just made it another ' m,' summetocha. That's ' partners together with.'
Dr. Wierwille: Right. And when you put all of these together in this great doctrinal section of Ephesians {chapters} 1-3, you have all, what is it, nine of these regarding the Lord Jesus Christ and what we are with him. Read them all, Walter.
Walter: Okay.
- ' Made alive together with'
- ' Raised together with '
- ' Seated in the heavenlies together with '
- ' Citizens together with the '
- ' Fitly framed as a temple together with the Judeans.'
Dr. Wierwille: Right, now you understand the temple, I hope. The Corps should. Nobody else in the world understands it, I guarantee you. They use the Scripture, Know ye not that you're the temple of the holy spirit regarding an individual. That's not true. The individual is always a tabernacle. But for the habitation of God, that Ephesians talks about, when the individuals are collected together, that makes up the tabernacle. The hab.. .I mean the temple of God. Tabernacle is individual. Temple is the body of believers. Do you understand? [Yes] That's what that verse is talking about.
Walter: That was five.
Dr. Wierwille: Fitly framed as a temple. Go on.
- ' Builded as a habitation of God together with the '
- ' Fellowheirs together with the '
- ' A body together with the '
- ' Partakers of the promises together with the '
I
: Ephesians J:6 contains three words all beginning with the prefix sun meaning "together with." In addition, Ephesians 2:19-22 contains three other words, all prefixed with sun, and Ephesians 2:5 and 6 contains three more words with the prefix sun. Below are these three groups of three words each prefixed with sun.
Ephesians 2:5 and 6:
sunezoopoiesen sunegeiren suneka:thisen
Ephesians 2:19-221
sumpolitai (sunpolitai) sunarmologownene
sunoikodomeisthe Ephesians J:6:
sunkleronoma sussoma (suns&la)
summetocha (sunmetocha)
made alive together with raised together with seated together with
fellowcitizens, citizens together with fitly framed together with (also occurs
in Ephesians 4:16) build together with
heirs together with same body together with
partners together with (also occurs in Ephesians 5:7)
Putting these nine words all together in this great doctrinal section of Ephesians 1-3 we see that the Gentiles are:
- Made alive together with Christ
- Raised together with Christ
- Seated in the heavenlies together with Christ
- Citizens together with the Judeans
- Fitly framed as a temple together with the Judeans
- Builded as a habitation of God together with the Judeans
- Fellowheirs together with the Judeans
- A body together with the Judeans
- Partakers of the promises together with the Judeans
Dr. Wierwille: ' Together with,' there it is. Well, I think that' s tremendous. Thank you, Walter. I think that's wonderful. And last week of course I'm sure Patty, you felt badly. I sent you a note by telephone or something to the Indiana Campus. It wasn' t your fault. It's just that I didn' t take the time or I didn' t have the time to bring it all together and my Research Department hadn' t set it up like we set it up on this particular printing. And all of this now, will be available to everybody in the Corps.
Well, it's like they told you in the song, we are in Ephesians, chapter three. And tonight we begin with verse nine of Ephesians chapter 3:9. In the King James, it reads, And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the Mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.
There is really not much in here that I need to discuss with the Corps as far as the Greek usages are concerned, but I need to discuss those last words of that verse, the last three, ' by Jesus Christ.' These words are omitted by the majority of the critical Greek texts. And they are omitted in the Syriac, the Peshitta, and the Coptic texts. And they have no place whatsoever in the context of creation. This is a Trinitarian forgery to get it in the King James. So you have to scratch the phrase, ' by Jesus Christ.' You just have to delete it.
Outside of that, I believe that if I give you a literal according to usage and an expanded one, you'll be able to understand the verse fully.
This is the literal according to usage of verse nine. King James says, ' To make all men see.' It would be better to translate it, ' and to enlighten all.'
And to enlighten all regarding the administration of the Mystery. .. The word ' fellowship' is oikonomia .. .the Mystery, which was completely hidden from all ages in God who created all things. That's the literal according to usage.
We' ll have these typed up and made available to the Corps in due time. This is the expanded one. And I think this one again makes a lot of sense in our culture, in our time.
And I will clearly enlighten all the saints regarding the Administration of the Mystery which has been hidden protectively away from all ages by and in God only who created all.
I feel that that is just a fantastic presentation of that verse. And I will clearly enlighten. Not just enlighten, but clearly enlighten. Enlighten people to the extent that there' s no possibility of their misunderstanding if they really want to know. And He's going to clearly enlighten the saints. There is no sense in trying to enlighten the unbeliever. He' s got to get born again first. But, He' s going to clearly enlighten all the saints regarding the Administration of the Mystery, which has been hidden protectively away from all ages by and in God only who created all.
Boy, that's just beautiful. That is why Jesus Christ never knew the Mystery. Had he been God, he would have known what? [The Mystery] But, he didn't know it. But, you see the Trinitarian forgery boys had to get it into the verse. Boy, that stuff is real devilish, what they have done to the Word of God. The Lord will take it off of their hide or something someday. I don' t know.
Now we go to verse 10. King James says, To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of whom? [God] Might be
known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God. It literally is ' to the end that.' Was in God only who created all ' to the end that.' It' s a purpose ' to the end that.'
These words 'unto the principalities' in King James in the Aramaic appear at the end of the verse, rather than at the beginning, near the beginning. F. F. Bruce from Manchester, England has this to say about principalities and powers. Namely, he says, ' They included both good and evil beings.' And I think he was right and of course our wonderful Research Team feels the same way. And I'm real blessed with that. In the light of that, you ought to compare I Peter 1:12 sometime.
Now those words, 'might be known,' those words. That word in the Greek, g-n-o-r-i-s-t-h-e, is the second word in the verse in Greek. And that of course blessed my heart very much to again see that and that the Research Team also saw the greatness of it.
The ' manifold wisdom' is like ' multicolored wisdom.' Many colors. It' s used of speckled animals or colored stones, flowers. A rainbow of colors. Many-colored, variegated, spectacularly-radiant. Used of Joseph's robe in the Old Testament. Bullinger says in his Bible that it implies 'infinitely
diversified,' I think that's real neat.
The literal according to usage of verse 10 is: To the end that the Church will know now.. .You see He just told us in verse nine, He is going to clearly enlighten all the what? Saints. And that' s the Church. That's why verse 10... To the end that the Church will know now, so will the principalities and the authorities in the heavenlies, the infinite, radiantly-diversified wisdom of God. That' s the literal.
Now, the expanded one is sort of neat, again: That by my hand... and you know the hand would be a figure, but it is literal because the revelation of the Mystery was first given to whom? [Paul] To Paul. That's why verse 10 should, could be translated ' that by my hand,' ' that by my speech,' 'by what I did' is what it means. ' By what I declared,' ' by what I proclaimed.' That by my hand, the Church of the one Body as well as all principalities and powers in the heavenlies. Not only the Church, Corps, the one Body, but as well as all principalities and powers in the heavenlies may know, may know that spectacularly, that spectacularly-radiant and infinitely-diversified.
Boy, what a tremendous thing. Spectacularly-radiant and infinitely-diversified wisdom of God.
Now verse 11 in the King James reads, According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This word ' according to' in verse 11 in the Aramaic refers to ' the wisdom of God.' In the Greek, it refers to 'the standards of God's wisdom ,' the set standard of God' s wisdom, the purpose of the ages, the administrations.
The words ' eternal purpose' in Ephesians 1:11 was given as the outworking, or the working out of God's plan according to His absolute desire, His absolute will. That' s why the working of God' s plan...talking about inheritance in 1:11 of Ephesians ...is a part of the Mystery that is here dealt with in Ephesians three.
The words 'purpose of the ages' in Ephesians, the ages are divided into three categories. This age, past ages, and the coming age. The following scriptures are applicable that you should into.
Ephesians 1:21, 2:7, 3:9, and 6:12.
The literal according to usage of this verse 11 is as follows: According to the eternal purpose of the ages which He carried out effectively by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now the expanded one of verse 11: To that working out of God' s absolutely-designed plan the purpose of the ages and administrations and He carried it out effectively by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Boy, that's wonderful. You see, if you pick up that expanded one in verse 10, ' Infinitely-diversified wisdom of God,' ' to that' , to that spectacularly-radiant and infinitely-diversified wisdom of God ' to that' working out of God' s absolutely desired plan, the purpose of the ages and administrations and He, God, carried it out effectively by Jesus Christ our what? [Lord] Right. That which, you know, was hidden protectively away. Boy, what a fantastic truth.
Now verse 12 in King James reads, In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
This ' boldness' is literally a ' freedom of speech,' ' a right to talk up,' ' a right to speak out.' The access is the approach, like you have access to the super highway is the approach. And to have it with confidence , with surety, certainty.
The literal according to usage of this verse 12: To whom (God) we have freedom of speech and direct access, a-c-c, not e-x-i-t. Direct access in perfect certainty through Jesus Christ.
The expanded one of verse 12 is... remember carrying on now from verse 11, carried it out effectively by Jesus Christ. Verse 12: That, that what? See? That...here is the rest of it... which in God gives us freedom of speech and in nearness with absolute confidence by way of the believing of Jesus Christ.
I was talking to Walter earlier about how I do these things and I said, outside of our Ministry, it might be a little difficult for some of them, the scholars and stuff, to understand it. But if they would work the Aramaic as well as the Greek and then have a spiritual perception of how this whole thing ties together, they would see the reason for the translations.
That which in God gives us freedom of speech. Why does it give us a freedom of speech in God, or to God? We've had it previously. The veil of the temple was what? [Tom] Between God and Israel.
Right? And then it said the wall of partition was what? [Broken down] Broken down, laid flat between Israel and the Gentiles. That's why, that which in God gives us freedom of what? [Speech] Speech. And a nearness. The veil' s tom , the wall is down, gives us a nearness. Hardly anybody believes this. That' s right. They' re always condemned, but the veil's tom, kids. The wall is down. There is nothing between the believer and God. Nothing. Nothing. Gives us a nearness. That' s why I translated it ' nearness,' with absolute confidence. How did we get it? By the believing of Jesus Christ, the veil was rent in what? [Two] And the wall was what? [Tom down] That' s why I translated it that way.
Verse 13 King James. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulation for you, which is your what? [Glory] Glory. Aramaic has ' because of this.'
The words ' I desire ' are the same words that I have described previously, like the word ' ask.' Same word, ' ask.' You walk up to the cashier' s window with your check and you ask payment on that
check. It' s the word like the word ' demand,' payment on the check. Because there' s already a deposit there for you. That' s this ' I desire that.'
The word ' faint not' is ' don' t lose heart.' Other times it means ' cowardly,' but it doesn't mean ' cowardly' here. It just means ' don't lose heart.'
'Which is your glory.' The word ' which,' is the Greek word h-e, hetis, h-e-t-i-s. And that' s a double relative pronoun. And that's why it's used for emphasis here. And this relative pronoun, this whole clause, modifies pressures or tribulations. That's why this whole clause gives the reader a reason or a motive for not yielding to faintness of heart, because Paul' s tribulations, his pressures, were endured in their behalf and they were of value to the believers.
And the Research Department wrote the following that I think is tremendous:
The greater the office of the sufferer, the more did the afflictions which he was content to endure for them redound to their honor; and the better this was understood by them, the less should they give way to weakness and discouragement. I think that is tremendous.
Now here' s the literal according to usage of verse 13: Wherefore ... you see...freedom of speech, direct access, and perfect certainty through Jesus Christ... Wherefore I ask you not to be downcast at the pressures on my life on your behalf. It is for your glory.
The expanded one of 13 is: Because of this... the believing of Jesus Christ... because of this I demand that you don' t ever lose heart or act downcast because I'm in jail which is in your behalf for this is for your glory. I think that's neat. He demands, ' don' t lose heart.' Don' t go around acting downcast because I'm in jail. For this will be to your glory. I think it' s wonderful.
Verse 14 King James, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The words ' for this cause' do not appear in the Aramaic. They're in the Greek. And the Research Department feels that the reason they are in the Greek is that it is a figure of anachoresis,
a-n-a-c-h-o-r-e-s-i-s, which literally means ' a return from a digression.' Chapter three began with the words, ' For this cause.' Then there came a parenthesis in verse two, a parambole, and now the words 'for this cause' here in verse 14 signal that the original topic begun in verse one is again resumed.
' To bow the knee' is the figure euche or the word e-u-c-h-e, which is ' an expression of feeling by prayer.' And those words open the prayer that continues through verse 19. This prayer that's coming up is the fulcrum for all of Ephesians and it makes the central prayer, the central member for the prayers of Ephesians 1:15-23 and 6:19, 20. This ' I bow my knee' is literally the figure of an idiom, a common expression having a figurative meaning which is a part away from the literal meaning of the words used. So it' s the prayer that's being emphasized and not the posture because you could stand, you could kneel, you could be prostrate in prayer.
The phrase ' of our Lord Jesus Christ' is omitted in numerous manuscripts, although the Aramaic show no variations. Vincent, Robertson, those all believe it ought to be omitted. I not only believe it, I know it. So that settles it.
Now, the literal according to usage of verse 14, very simple: I bow my knees to the Father.
The expanded: And I get down on my knees in reverence to pray to the Father.
Verse 15 from King James. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.
The word ' named' .. .is ' named,' appears directly after ' of whom' in the beginning of the verse. There's not much that needs to be added otherwise, except to say to you that those words ' in heaven' do not apply to people who have died now and are up there. That ' s a common teaching of theologians. That' s not true. Because God has a family of angels, believers, angels in heaven and He has a family of believers born again here upon earth.
That's why the literal according to usage of verse 15 is as follows. Remember now 14, I bow my knees to whom? [Father] The Father. Now verse 15, very logically, literal: Out from whom? Out from whom? The Father, who is God. Out from whom? The whole family in heaven and on earth is named.
And then the expanded one of verse 15: For from Him... For from Him. . .Remember in the expanded one of 14, in reverence to pray to the Father. .. that' s the expanded one. Verse 15, For from Him, from Him who? [Father] The Father, the Father who is also God. For from Him the Father is named. The Father, for from Him the Father is named. And I put the word ' named' where the Aramaic put it and I think that' s where it ought to go. For from Him the Father is named. All the Family. All the family.
All the family takes the name from their what? [Father] Father. That' s why it should be there.
For from Him the Father is named. All the family, the angels in heaven and the born again family on earth. That ' s the expanded.
For from Him the Father is named all the family, the angels where? [In heaven] and the born again family on earth.
Those are the verses we' re going to cover in Ephesians tonight.
Thank you, Father, for the wonderful night with the Corps. Thank you for the great reality and the living of your Word and the understanding of it and the simplicity of it in our lives in the name of our wonderful Lord, your savior, our Savior, your wonderful son, Father. We surely thank you tonight.
Thank you for the privilege of sharing my heart and life and the heart and life of our Research men and women with you again this wonderful night. Thank you, Father, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.