Ephesians 81-82_05 Key Words in Ephesians
Ephesians 1981-82 Corps Teachings. Lesson 2: Key Words in Ephesians.
Format: AUDIO
Publication Date: 1981-82
Victor Paul Wierwille was a Bible scholar and teacher for over four decades.
By means of Dr. Wierwille's dynamic teaching of the accuracy and integrity of God's Word, foundational class and advanced class graduates of Power for Abundant Living have learned that the one great requirement for every student of the Bible is to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Thus, his presentation of the Word of God was designed for students who desire the in-depth-accuracy of God’s Word.
In his many years of research, Dr. Wierwille studied with such men as Karl Barth, E. Stanley Jones, Glenn Clark, Bishop K.C. Pillai, and George M. Lamsa. His formal training included Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from Mission House (Lakeland) College and Seminary. He studied at the University of Chicago and at Princeton Theological Seminary from which he received a Master of Theology degree in Practical Theology. Later he completed his work for the Doctor of Theology degree.
Dr. Wierwille taught the first class on Power for Abundant Living in 1953.
Books by Dr. Wierwille include: Are the Dead Alive Now? published in 1971; Receiving the Holy Spirit Today published in 1972; five volumes of Studies in Abundant Living— The Bible Tells Me So (1971), The New, Dynamic Church (1971), The Word's Way (1971), God's Magnified Word (1977), Order My Steps in Thy Word (1985); Jesus Christ Is Not God (1975); Jesus Christ Our Passover (1980); and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed (1982).
Dr. Wierwille researched God's Word, taught, wrote, and traveled worldwide, holding forth the accuracy of God's "wonderful, matchless" Word.
KEY WORDS IN EPHESIANS
September 16, 1981
Well bless your hearts. I’d like for you to take your Bibles tonight and go to
1 Corinthians 15. I believe that I can understand why Paul said and wrote what God asked
him and inspired him to say and write as holy men of God spake as they were moved by
the holy spirit. In 1 Corinthians 15, beginning with what, verse 8.
1 Corinthians 15:8, 9
8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as [if it were]…one born out of due
time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not [fit or] meet…
Or wonderful enough, or great enough, spiritually sharp enough…
1 Corinthians 15:9b
…to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Verse 10.
1 Corinthians 15:10
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed
upon me [did not prove to be empty];…but I labored more abundantly than
they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Verse 11.
1 Corinthians 15:11
Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
And in Ephesians chapter 3, I can understand why Paul said, verse 7:
Ephesians 3:7, 8
7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God
given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I
should preach among the Gentiles [the untrackable] the unsearchable riches
of Christ;
Verse 9.
Ephesians 3:9
And to make all men see what is [the administration] of the mystery, which
[was]…hid in God, who created all things [period]….
Standing today where Paul stood in the original declaration of that revelation of the
Mystery is an awesome responsibility and privilege, and that, to me, the least of all saints
in this time, is this grace given also is not explainable. Ephesians is the apex. It is the top.
Geometrically speaking, it is the vertex of all Christian revelation. The key to this, the
greatest of all revelations, the key to the treatise of all times is Ephesians 1, verse 3.
Ephesians 1:3
Blessed…
And the word “blessed” is the word eulogon, transliterated into English…into the
English word “eulogy.” Usually you hear an eulogy after a man’s dead and gone and they
tell you how wonderful he was or wasn’t. Usually he’s much more wonderful then than
when he was living {audience laughter}. Eulogized. No one can give you the great impact
of that word. You have to feel it spiritually in your soul. Nobody can teach it. The word
“blessed” is very shallow. Eulogize, yes, but with all the heart, with all the soul, with all
your mind, your strength, all of that, eulogize, venerate, respect, love (all I can think of
right now). That’s this word, “blessed.”
Ephesians 1:3b
…the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…
He is both the Elohim and Jehovah. He is also the one who created in Mary soul life.
That’s why He is the Father. “…the Father of our,” of our, not somebody else right now,
our, the Corps tonight that’s listening, every individual, He is our Father. He’s the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You put your own name in there. He is the God and Father
of my Lord Jesus Christ. Put your own self in there. Not only the God and Father of Jesus
or of Christ, three magnanimous, significant unbelievable words: Lord Jesus Christ.
“Lord” is master, and as I’ve taught so many hundreds and thousands of times, that means
he’s party of the first part in your life. He’s party of the first part, second part, third part,
he’s part…; he is the one and only of your life. He is your lord. He is your master. That’s
why in Romans 10:9, if thou will confess with thy mouth Jesus as what? {lord} Lord.
And here in the key verse of the treatises of all time he sets it like a diamond with all of
its beauty and all of its perfection. Our lord, my master. He is the one you serve, He is the
one you love, he is the one you take orders from. Whenever he speaks, you never question,
you simply obey. You just do. That’s why I haven’t been able to understand in all my life
why the Christian church doesn’t carry out what they say they believe. If they believe in
Jesus Christ, he has to be their lord; they have to carry out what he said or they are not
truly believing. I would ye all spake in tongues. I didn’t know how, nobody could teach me
how. I went through all these academic classes, all the colleges, universities, seminaries.
Nobody taught me, and yet, it’s a command of God in His Word. The master said I would
ye all spake in tongues. Then the responsibility of every believer is to do what the Lord,
the master, said. And by God’s mercy and by His grace, and love, I came to that day in my
life where I could obey Him. You cannot obey until you are taught and know how to obey.
He’s the God and Father of my lord. He is my lord, our Lord Jesus, the humiliated one, the
Christ, the messianic one whom God so loved that He gave and sent His only begotten son.
“Who” our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:3c
…God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: who hath blessed us…
Blessed us. Put your own name in it, hath blessed me, and me and you make us, the
body of believers, has blessed us. People, then as a believer it is no longer a question of
prayer, of request, it’s always a prayer of thanksgiving. He hath blessed us. He has blessed
you, He has blessed me, with every spiritual blessing. When will our minds ever receive it;
when will our hearts ever believe it. Blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenlies and from it. I sometimes believe it might be most accurate if we translated that
preposition “from.” I am not sure. The Research Department can fight about it.
He hath blessed us in the heavenlies. I can understand this, but if it’s up in the
heavenlies, what good does it do to me down here? Only in the light that we’re already
seated in the heavenlies. I know we’re seated in the heavenlies, but I know I’m still down
here trying to live the life whereunto He has called me, trying to walk in the abundance of
the grace and mercy and love wherewith He called me. Perhaps that’s why we could say:
Ephesians 1:3c (not KJV)
…every spiritual blessing in and from the heavenlies in Christ.
You will see that Ephesians is basically addressed to those who are in alignment and
harmony with him, who are walking in the light as he, Jesus Christ, is the light, men and
women who are fully walking in Christ. I believe with that understanding and concept in
your mind, you begin to see why so many, many, many thousands of born-again believers
have never made it to Ephesians, because they never are in fellowship. They never walk in
the light as he is the light. They never endeavor to live in the abundance of which God
made available in Christ Jesus to those who walk in him, to be more than conquerors, to
have a more than abundant life.
God’s purpose in Christ Jesus is manifested in what God made Jesus Christ to be for
every believer. Again let me reiterate it and say it once more: God’s purpose in Christ
Jesus is manifested in what God made Jesus Christ to be for every believer. God’s purpose
in every believer is what God made the believer to be in Christ. The will, the purpose, the
intense desire of God, and I cannot define those words “intense desire” beyond their
meaning in your head: a driving compulsion just an intense, a red hot, white hot desire.
Like hanging your tongue out and panting after. The will, the purpose, the intense desire of
God in His plan of calling every believer before the foundation of the world by His grace,
is the source of all blessings. The work of Christ is the way, it is the me…method, it is the
media whereby God made every spiritual blessing available to everyone. The holy spirit is
the gift, the power of God in Christ in us to live the will of God.
So you have the will of God in His plan. You have the work of Christ and you have the
gift of holy spirit. I believe with the best of my knowledge and understanding in working
the Word through the years that perhaps the understanding of the holy spirit field had been
lost before the death of the Apostle Paul. But it is living again because I believe God has
given us an understanding of His Word. God is many different things in the Word. God is
love, God is grace, God is peace. I know all of that. But I believe the Word sets God in the
greatness of all the greatness of God in the two words, holy and spirit. God is holy without
any iota of imperfection. Secondly, God is spirit. And God was in Christ reconciling the
world, the believers, those who were called from before the foundation unto Himself.
The reason they have always tended to have three gods is…the reasons are so multiple
that you can hardly take the time to figure it all out or desire to figure it out. But they had
three things to deal with. They had God, they had His son, and they had holy spirit. And
not being able and not willing to listen to the greatness and the integrity of the Word and
being possessed by devil spirits, they came up with the trinity: God the father, God the son,
God the holy ghost. Three gods. But rationally they said there’s only one. Their rationality
was not too rational. Never is when you’re possessed. But for those of us who have learned
the true doctrine of the Word, this whole field of truth is really simple. There is only one
God. There’s only one son of God. And there is only one birth from God. God is holy and
God is spirit. God could not give anything but what He is. And on the day of Pentecost He
gave for the first time the greatness of what He really is as a gift, unmerited, unearned, but
a gift, a gift that the recipient would be totally responsible for, and that gift was called holy
spirit. And the confusion between God being Holy Spirit and His gift being holy spirit has
caused no end of problems throughout all the days of Christendom. But understanding the
revelation tonight, this holy spirit gift to every believer when they confess with their mouth
the Lord Jesus, believing God raised him from the dead, that gift is the power of God, or
the power from God, which wis…which is in Christ, which is or who is in us. That’s why
we can live the will of God.
So to understand the greatest revelation of all times, God’s consummate wisdom kept
secret from before the foundation of the world, the pinnacle of the all truth of John 16:13,
the apex of all right believing of the spiritual revelation from God, there are certain key
words in the Book of Ephesians that depict and center our focus on God’s great blessing to
the believer in Christ. In John 16, we shall read that verse 13. Jesus Christ said that he had
yet many things he would like to share but they couldn’t handle it at the time because the
time had not yet come. Howbeit, verse 13.
John 16:13
…when [this] he [it, third person singular], the Spirit of truth,…
The true spirit, truly the spirit.
John 16:13b
…is come, [it] he [she, third person singular, he, it] will guide you [into the
all truth] into all truth: for he [or it, or this spirit] shall not speak of himself
[or itself] but whatsoever [it or] he shall hear [from the Lord, or it is the
Lord God], that shall [it or] he speak: and [this spirit] he [or it] will shew
you things to come.
That’s revelation, nine of them. Again, to understand the greatest revelation of all
times, God’s consummate wisdom which was kept secret from before the foundation of the
world, the pinnacle of the all truth of John 16:13, the apex of all right believing of the
spiritual revelation from God, there are certain key words that depict and center our focus
on God’s blessing to the believer in Christ.
It is significant that this guide would be into all truth, and all truth has nothing lacking.
If it’s all truth or if it’s all truly true, then there’s nothing more to add, you could only
subtract or detract to your own hurt. And the all truth of the greatness of what God
wrought in Christ Jesus to and for every believer in Christ is finished in the Book of
Ephesians. In the gospel of Luke, where is it in the first chapter, I believe…where he says
that the coming of this masah or this Jesus the Christ would guide them. Where is the word
“guide” in Luke? Guide his people in the way of something. {Audience inaudible.} I didn’t
hear you. {Verse 79}. Seventy-nine, that’s it. That’s it. He’s going to give light and all
light removes shadow, especially if it’s perpendicular. There is no shadow to your body if
the sun is right above you. And Jesus Christ is not only right above us, he’s in us. But the
phrase is, “to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Luke 1:79
…to guide our feet into the way of peace.
John said to guide into the all truth. It’s not a compulsion, it’s not a possession. It is
simply a guide. It’s like leading somebody by the hand people. If that individual wants to,
he can break out of that grip of your hand and run the other way. Jesus Christ is the guide
into all peace. He is also the guide into the all truth…shall guide you. But suppose you
don’t want to be guided? Suppose you do not want to be steered into the all truth? Suppose
you prefer to run adrift in the Old Testament law and refuse to come to the apex of
revelation of Ephesians? You will end up on the road of life to a degree at least of
destruction, hurt, when God made it available to come into the harbor or park in the
garage, guiding you all the way into the apex, the abundance of the greatness of His love in
Christ Jesus.
Every time I think of all these things it’s like a sword in my heart and soul. How far we
live below par, how far we allow the Adversary to frame us, to screw us up. How far we
allow him to attack our lives. Can we never come to believing the greatness of what God
says we are in Christ Jesus?
Really “the Church” so-called…(may I have some coffee), has lived so far below par
that I feel in my heart God’s heart is crying massive tears of oceans, that He could not get
sons and daughters who would believe Him and walk with Him in all the greatness of what
He accomplished in Christ Jesus. God’s heart for the most part through the centuries must
have always been broken because man refused, the born-again believer refused to believe
that he was what Ephesians declared he was and is, that he has what Ephesians declares he
has, and that he will be what the Word of God says he will be. Never I believe since
perhaps the first century have as many people been on the threshold of having the joyful
privilege of believing it and exemplifying it in their life as you, perhaps the Corps, have
today. And when I look at the Word and in the light of the truth of the greatness of the
Word, one of the great big wonderful sins is not to believe Ephesians, to live below par, to
allow yourself to be inundated with all the negatives of the world and everything the
Adversary can throw at you. We need to take a stand and declare again and say what the
Word says in Ephesians. We need to walk in the light of the greatness of that Word and not
be discouraged every moment of every day or every second moment, or even every day or
every other day or every week. We have to so live and so walk with thanksgiving and love
day after day after day that we just know that we are more than conquerors, and that we
have the more than abundant life because of what God wrought in Christ and what God in
Christ in you brought to pass.
Certain of those key words are grace, love, peace, spirit or spiritual, in the heavenlies,
heaven, glory, riches, filled to capacity, Mystery, will, in, give, Father and unity.
“Grace” is used 12 times in Ephesians: 1:2, 6, 7; 2:5, 7, 8; 3:2, 7, 8; 4:7, 29; 6:24. Once
it is translated “highly favoured.” In 1:6…of…in that Luke 1:28 is also what I wanted to
say. In 1:6 it is the word charitoō. All the rest are charis. “Highly favoured” is this word
translated in Luke 1:28.
The word “love”: 10 times it’s agape; 10 times it’s the verb agapaō; twice it’s to be
loved, agapētos. And the…this…these last two are in 5:1 and 6:21.
“Peace” is used 8 times: 1:2; 2:14, 15, twice in 17; 4:3; 6:15, 23.
“Spirit” is used 14 times. Spiritual, 3 times and that’s pneumatikos: 1:3; 5:19; 6:12.
“In heavenly” or “in the heavenlies,” and there’s a note here the Research Department
gave me, when an adjective is used as a noun, the necessary noun may be supplied. That’s
why the word “place” or “places” is supplied. Five times we have its usage in Ephesians:
1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12.
The word “heaven” is used 4 times. Some of these I don’t have all the scriptures for
you just look up in your concordance, if you want to know them put them in.
“Glory” is used 8 times: one…chapter one verse 6, 14, 17, and 18; chapter 3:13, 16, and
21.1
I would also like to say that it is very significant the multiple amount of usages in a
certain section of a certain word. Why is it used so many times over here and then used so
infrequently over there? There is a reason. You just have to find it and work it out.
“Riches” is used 5 times: 1:7, (eight…) and 18; 2:7; 3:8, 16; and as plousios it is used
in 2:4. That form of riches is only used once.
“Filled to capacity” as plēroō is used 4 times: 1:2 2 and 3; 3:19…(I don’t understand
what I’ve written. Do you? Don’t understand it at all…in Chapter 1, 2, and 3.
Well…pardon? {The word “filled” you have it listed twice, once for plēroō and for
plērōma. Each time for 3:19 but the words only occur once in the verse: filled with all the
fullness of God…}. Yeah, well the whole…is that what I did or what they did? Take the
comma out behind the two. Okay, alright, proofreading’s bad.) 1:23—thank you. 3:19,
you just mentioned, right? 4:10; and 5:18. 4 times it’s plērōma: 1:10, and verse 23 (used
twice there. See it?); 3:19; and 4:13. Now I think we got it; praise the Lord. It’s hard work.
“Mystery” 6 times: 1:9; 3:3, 4, and verse 9; 5:32; 6:19.
“Will” 7 times thelēma: one…1:1, 5, 9, 11; 2:3; 5:17; and 6:6.
The preposition “in” is used the most of all the prepositions. It’s used 122 times in
Ephesians.
The word “Father” is used 11 times.
And the word “give” is used 12 times, didōmi. Patēr is “father.”
And then the wonderful word “unity” is used twice only in Ephesians: 4:3, 13.
Those are some of the basic key words that will be coming up and you’ll have to keep
well in your heart and in your mind. To really get your heart and soul into all the greatness
of the Book of Ephesians, since this is the second consecutive year I’m teaching it, you
should listen to all the tapes of the first year.
There are also three great…four great words that constantly will be coming up and
keep coming up in the heart and life of all of those of us who truly want to be in Christ and
walk the walk of greatness. And in my own heart and life and from the knowledge I have
and understanding of the Word, the first and greatest of all the words I would use would be
love. God so loved. The second would be grace. Grace is unmerited, divine favor. The
third would be mercy, God’s withholding of judgment. And the fourth would be peace.
Peace is that personal inner thing that you have, that quiet serenity, that knowledgeable
knowledge of the love of God, the grace of God and the mercy of God, and because of
1 Dr. Wierwille left out 1:12. Glory is used 8 times: 1:6, 1:12, 1:14, 1:17, 1:18, 3:13, 3:16, 3:21.
2 Dr. Wierwille misread his notes. It should be 1:23 instead of 1:2 and 1:3. He talks it out with another
student.
God’s great love, His grace and His mercy, you have peace. No man, no matter how he
looks to you in the senses world, and whenever you see men in the senses world,
remember you are seeing them outside of the privacy of their own living. They rep…may
represent how wonderful they are, how terrific and how peaceful they are, but it will
always be a lie if they do not know the love of God or God’s grace or His mercy. For no
man will ever have true peace, that peace of God which passeth all understanding, unless
he has the love of God, the grace of God and the mercy of God in his life.
In the Book of Ephesians there are three Greek words that indicate will, and these three
must be rightly divided and understood. One is the word thelēma (t-h-e-l-long ē-m-a),
which is translated “desire” in 2:3. It is translated “will” in 1:1, 5, 9, and 11; in 5:17; and
6:6. The other word is the word boulē (b-o-u-l-long ē). This is translated “counsel” (c-o-un-
s-e-l; not i-l; e-l) in 1:11. And the other word is prothesis (p-r-o-t-h-e-s-i-s). That word in
a different form is the word protithēmi (p-r-o-t-i-t-h-long ē-m-i), translated “purpose” in
1:9, 11; and in 3:11.
The word thelēma is that intense, red hot, white hot, heart desire. That’s thelēma. It’s
God’s intensively, intensively intense desire. And of course the word is used figuratively in
the figure of condescencio. You know, God having a “red, hot heart” has to be
condescencio. So that is the figure that marks the umph, the dynamic of the reality of the
greatness of how much God wanted sons and daughters, how much He wanted a household
of believers who loved Him, who served Him, who said what He said unashamedly and
boldly.
The second word boulē that I gave you, is the plan of God. The plan of God. It is God’s
determination of the ages, the plan that God had from before the foundation of the world
until the Return. That would be boulē. The plan God has with the Return of Christ and
after when the new heaven and earth is established. That is boulē. That’s the difference.
The third word is the word prothesis or that other word I gave you, and that is the
working out of the plan. It is the working out of it; His purpose in working it out. That is
prothesis.
Class, here is a phrase very important: God’s purpose, prothesis, the working out of the
plan. God’s purpose, prothesis is His setting forth in Himself a plan, boulē, which is the
result of His intense heart’s desire, thelēma.
By usage of these words, God’s heart’s desire was Paul’s apostleship recorded in
chapter 1:1, your sonship recorded in 1:9, the one body…(did I say 1:9, I meant 1:5) 1:9 is
the body; 1:5, 1:9. Man’s inheritance and praise of God’s glory in 1:11. And every believer
in Christ is to walk in accordance with God’s desire of chapter 5:17, and chapter 6:6. The
desire of every unbeliever is summed up in the will of the flesh, chapter 2:3, which is just
opposite of the will of God. The will of the flesh of 2:3.
From God’s heart’s desire God formed a plan, boulē, around which He has worked
everything, chapter 1:11. The purpose of His plan is always in accordance with His
pleasure, doing and work, 1:9, 11; 3:11. And Corps, finally, God’s purpose concerning
Christ is one of the twofold plans that are set…that is set forth in Ephesians. You see,
God’s will, God’s plan, God’s purpose is twofold in Ephesians. One is His purpose
concerning Christ, and the other is God’s purpose in Christ concerning the church.
In our next session with the Corps, I will give you the overall structure of Ephesians
and then we will begin in it verse by verse, word by word and line by line. I’m not nearly
going to spend as much time on some of the things in some categories as I did last year,
but I will handle it to the best of my ability as I feel spiritually it must be taught. It’s been
wonderful sharing my heart, my life and the Word with the Corps again tonight. Good
night. God bless. I love you.