Tag: Remembering

Anchored in God, Hope Comes

“‘Dear Lord God, I wish to preach in your honor. I wish to speak about you, glorify you, praise your name. Although I can’t do this well of myself, I pray that you may make it good.’”[i]

Introduction

Lately, I’ve heard much about hope and our need to have it. Considering that we are immersed in socio-political events (both national and global) that are chaotic and tumultuous, this plea to the keeping and having of hope makes sense. Have hope! Cling to hope! Hope is all you need! Those exhorting us to hope see hope as the antidote to the creeping threat of despair and our increased paralysis to do anything. Hope is seen as the foundation and motivation to keep on keeping on as we feel lost in a sea of unmanageable events. It’s the supposed driftwood keeping us afloat among the raucous and stormy waves.

Unfortunately, the pleas to cling to hope above all else render the human being turning in on themselves. Hope becomes this illusive thing that we fight to have while finding ourselves increasingly unsure about what it means or even feels like to have hope. Hope is strangled in our death-like grip as we strive to keep it refusing to let go. We kill hope as we burden it with power it doesn’t have, forcing it do magic for us. We are convinced by those who encourage us to have hope that hope is the only way through events feeling way bigger than we are. And the more we fight to keep and have our hope, the more we turn in on ourselves; sadly, this trajectory will secure we not only lose touch with hope but will also lose touch with her little sister perseverance.

We can’t cling to hope thinking that it will keep despair away. It won’t. Hope isn’t the antidote to despair (it’s not even a good antonym for it). Comfort is the foundation of the reversal of despair. Encouragement, too. Once we have these two things in place, then, and only then, can we begin to make space for hope to show up. This is why Peter in our epistle does not tell his audience to cling to hope. Rather, he anchors them in something bigger, something outside of themselves, something that will comfort them and encourage them.

1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

Peter begins his final thoughts to his audience with endearment and encouragement. Calling them Beloved, he writes,

…do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal occurring among and in you to test you as taking place as alien to you. Rather, rejoice! according to which you are having a share of Christ’s passion so that also you might rejoice jumping for joy in the revelation of his glory. If you are defamed in the name of Christ, [you are] blessed because of the Spirit of glory, namely the Spirit of God, is resting upon you (4:12-14).

Peter knows that his audience will face persecution for their faith in Christ (from their neighbors and not as sent by God), especially as they participate in God’s mission of the revolution of love, life, and liberation in the world. [ii] Peter has already addressed the manifold fruit that comes from faith that will cause them to stand out. So, they will be tested[iii] and persecuted. There is no way to live in such a way that is both faithful to the proclamation of Christ crucified and raised and without test and trial.[iv] So, they must remember who and whose they are. Peter’s use of “beloved” in address isn’t just a nice way to address his audience; it’s a way of reminding them that their faith unites them to Christ in his belovedness of God. This is important because the testing and persecution that will happen is not bad but good, and Peter must try to help them reframe these experiences in the name of Christ.[v] Thus, as Christ is beloved of God so, too, are they. This also goes for their “fiery ordeal” and the persecution that will come because of their faith (in the name of Christ); as Christ suffered[vi] at the hands of errant humanity, so, too, will they.[vii] To experience both is to be “blessed”;[viii],[ix] again, just as Christ is blessed.[x] For Peter, it boils down to identification:[xi] if the believer is eager to identify with Christ’s blessedness and belovedness, then they must prepare to and welcome identification with Christ’s foundational[xii] suffering; there’s no option to have the former without the latter. So, Peter encourages them, rejoice now because you will rejoice later,[xiii] cloaked and covered in divine glory just like Christ.[xiv] (They are not to rejoice in or because of their suffering, but only because of what is to come in Christ.[xv])

Peter then shifts the focus away from his audience to God.[xvi] In light of what has been said,[xvii] Peter urges them, Therefore, humble yourselves under and toward the strong hands of God, so that God might elevate you in time (5:6). By centering God in the text, Peter gently directs the audience’s attention to God. There’s movement here; it’s more than just turning one’s head but directing one’s self, one’s body toward and under God. The only way to do this is through humility; in humbling themselves, Peter’s audience can direct their entire selves toward and under God. It’s here—under and toward God—where Peter’s audience will find their comfort and their protection, their foundation and stability, their sustenance and their fortitude, and (even) their hope and perseverance. He does not direct them inwards, but outwards toward God, the divine parent and loving progenitor of Christ, all of Creation, and of the faithful whom Peter addresses. Those who bring themselves low will be brought high by God.[xviii]

Thus, Peter can further beseech his audience,

Cast all your anxiety upon God, because this one, God, cares about you. Be sensible, be alert. Your opponent, the devil, walks about as a roaring lion seeking something to drink down. Oppose him, solid in faith, having perceived that your siblings in all the cosmos are undergoing the same kind of sufferings (vv7-9).

Peter’s audience need not bear their own anxiety as if no one is in their corner.[xix] Peter has spent the entirety of the letter telling them they are not alone even when they suffer for doing good and especially when they are anxious facing the reality of the suffering that will come. Peter’s audience can cast their cares on God because this one, this God, the parent of Jesus Christ with whom they identify, have God in their corner. This is important to remember[xx] because an adversary is on the loose, looking to devour[xxi] the faithful; [xxii] the faithful will only have success in opposing the opponent when they cast their entire selves toward and under God’s mighty hand of protection. This explains why Peter admonishes them to resist by faith, being clear minded and alert like a soldier on watch ready to resist incoming attack.[xxiii] It is not that they will resist this adversary by memorizing scripture passages or blindly holding to certain dogma and doctrine;[xxiv] rather, it’s about humbling oneself and being protected under the strong hand of God who will strengthen those who know they are weak apart from God. Peter’s audience is encouraged to find their support and strength[xxv] in God by faith; they can be comforted in knowing that the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also raise them both from the dead and into glory like Christ.[xxvi] God will help God’s people because God has helped God’s people in Christ. [xxvii] God will triumph over evil because God has already in Christ. Peter then takes this encouragement one step further and broadens their awareness to include their siblings who also suffer similarly; they are truly not alone.[xxviii]

In closing, Peter reminds his audience,

Now, the God of all grace, the one who called you into God’s eternal glory in Christ, after suffering a little while, God, God will mend, fix, strength, and establish you; to God be the strength forever and ever. Amen (vv10-11)

What they will experience and endure for this little bit while still here in the temporal realm will be vindicated in the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead; God will not let God’s people endure suffering while here on earth and not follow through with restoration that comes in eternal glory for those who are located in Christ by faith.[xxix] At this point, Peter’s audience can have hope; here, they can receive hope because of all that has occurred before them and on their behalf. In remembering and recalling Christ and God’s work in and through Christ and what will come for those who are in Christ by faith, Peter’s audience can believe that this God is faithful to who God says God is and this is the foundation and the source of their hope. And it’s this hope born from this assurance that then gives them the necessary perseverance they need to endure the chaos and tumult that is present and will come.

Conclusion

When we think about hope we think about something we expect to happen in the future. In this way, hope is that thing that can disappoint rather than please. When hope fails to produce material or spiritual alterations to our life, it makes sense to ditch it. If my hope keeps presenting as dreaming of phantoms of good and better, then it’s nothing but that which perpetually disappoints me. The mythological carrot of sadistic King Future luring on the peasants of the present eager to steal their labor and love.

Another problem arises when we cling to hope as if it is the thing that will save us. As we do this, we turn in on ourselves, digging deeper eager to mine hope from the subterranean self. But it’s not there; it’s not deep in us like a precious ore waiting to be excavated. Our persistent digging only makes matters worse because in this instance it is all up to us.

Hope rides in neither with blind optimism about the future nor ruthless determination to have it. It’s comes with remembering and recalling; specifically, it comes in remembering and recalling what God has done in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. When I’ve read through the First Testament and the recorded stories of Israel’s journey and walk with God, Israel’s hope in God is a ripe present hope based on historical stories hallmarking the past: we hope now because God has done… Today we can press on because yesterday God saw us through it. These ancient stories of God’s journey with Israel and God’s work in Christ reminds us that what is isn’t ever all there is. We live in the collision of the possible with the actual, in what has been and what will yet be. Here in is hope’s realm.

Hope always takes up residence in the present with every anthology of the past stacked against her walls. Hope comes to us as we remember what is right now, isn’t all there is right now because in the past what was wasn’t all there was; all things are possible with God. Hope comes as we remember possibility. Hope comes with the whisper filled wind of history surging and coursing around our fatigued bodies causing us to remember. And as we remember, we find ourselves accompanied by hope and then perseverance.

[i] LW 54:157-158; Table Talk 1590.

[ii] I. Howard Marshall, “1 Peter,” The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, eds. Grant R. Osborne, D. Stuart Briscoe, and Haddon Robinson, (Downers Grove: IVP Press, 1991), 151. “[Peter’s Christians are to see themselves as] suffering at the hands of those opposed to God and his sovereign rule, and as part of the cost of bringing salvation to the world.”

[iii] Peter H. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, TNICTNT, ed. F.F. Bruce (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 164-165. “The picture of a refiner’s fire was picked up in the Intertestamental period as a picture for testing (therefore ‘to test you’)…”

[iv] Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, 164. “…our author turns toward the future. All the careful and considerate living possible will not prevent persecution…”

[v] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 165. “Thus these Christians are to see what is happening to them as a refining process that will reveal the genuineness of their faith…and therefore be to their ultimate benefit. While painful, this type of suffering is not something they should think strange, but something they should welcome.”

[vi] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 165. “there is a second reason why the readers should not think their ordeal is strange: it is the same type of thing that Christ received and thus it is an indication of their identification with him.”

[vii] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 164. “Thus he encourages the Christians in Asia Minor, ‘do not be shocked’ as if what is happening ere ‘strange,’ using vocabulary familiar from 4:4….Do not think it is foreign; do not think that this ought not to happen.”

[viii] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 167. “On the one hand, they are blessed now if this is the case…The very persecution is a sign of their blessedness. On the other hand, they are ‘insulted because of the name of Christ.’ To be so insulted is not simply to recive a rebuke…but as is the case in the contexts in which the term appears elsewhere in the NT and the Greek TO…it means to be rejected by the society (or even by humanity). And the reason they are rejected is ‘the name of Christ’; that is, because of their association with Christ either because of their life-style or because of their direct confession…Thus it is that because of their association with Christ their social group now rejects them; they are outcasts. But that is not their true state, for peter tells them they are blessed.”

[ix] Marshal, 1 Peter, 153. “To be insulted publicly is, by normal reckoning, a source of misery. But Peter echoes Jesus and says that, on the contrary, appearances are deceptive. IN fact, you are blessed.”

[x] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 164. “…these Gentile converts had no experience of being a cultural minority. Before their conversion they were perfectly at home in their city. And instead of rebelling against God they had accepted the gospel message. But now they were experiencing cultural isolation and personal hostility, not what they might have expected as the blessing of God. Well might they have wondered if something had not gone wrong. Thus our author reassures them: persecution is not something ‘strange’ or foreign to their existence as Christians. What is happening is right in line with Christ’s predictions.”

[xi] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 166. Identification with “…Christ’s suffering during his life on earth, especially his death on the cross.”

[xii] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 166. “Instead of focusing on Christ’s present suffering in the church, Peter focuses on the church’s sharing in Christ’s foundational suffering, not in a salvific sense (there is no hint in 2 Peter that this sharing either forgives their sin or adds to the work of Christ), but in a sense of identification and real unity. In other words, as the Christians suffer because of their identification with Christ, they enter into the experience of Christ’s own sufferings.  This experience creates a re-imaging of their own suffering, which will allow them to see the real evil as an advantage as their perspective shifts.  This process is precisely what each of the passages in 1 Peter that use this language does; each encourages a reimaging of suffering as an identification with Christ (and thus a type of imitatio Christi is encouraged in how they behave in the suffering situation) that will lead to an eventual participation in his glory.”

[xiii] Marshal, 1 Peter, 152. “He is talking about rejoicing that, when suffering does come to us, we can see it as a sharing in Christ’s suffering.”

[xiv] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 168. “Thus those suffering for Christ experience through the Spirit now the glory they are promised in the future…Indeed, their very suffering is a sign that the reputation (glory) of God is seen in them, that the Spirit rests upon them. They can indeed count themselves blessed.”

[xv] Marshal, 1 Peter, 152. “…Peter is not urging Christians to seek suffering, even suffering for Christ.”

[xvi] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 186.

[xvii] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 186. If all that has come before is true, then “the duty of the believer is not to resist (either attacking the persecutor or raging against God), but to ‘humble p[himself] under the mighty hand of God.’”

[xviii] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 186. “…they are to see God’s work behind their suffering and submit, allowing themselves to be brought low, for his purpose is that ‘he may exalt you in due time.’”

[xix] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 188. “When pressures come on the Christian the proper response is not anxiety, for that comes out of a belief that one must take care of oneself and a lack of trust in God. It is rather a trusting commitment to God….in the assurance that God indeed cares and that his caring does not lack the power or the will to do the very best for his own.”

[xx] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 189. “Thus, after writing his comforting thoughts about God, Peter must go on to warn…[the devil] is on the prowl.”

[xxi] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 191. “The goal of the hunt is to find someone to devour.”

[xxii] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 190. “The devil is not a neutralized foe, but one who is seeking the destruction of the believer.”

[xxiii] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 189. “…here…the meaning is not literal soberness as opposed to drunkenness, but a clear-headedness that comes from a freedom from mental confusion or passion. Likewise alertness, which in military contexts refers to a soldier on watch, is opposed to mental and spiritual lethargy…. that would prevent one from recognizing and meeting an attack on one’s faith.”

[xxiv] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 191-192. “The devil is resisted by being ‘firm in faith.’ The concept is not that of holding certain doctrines firmly, which is a meaning of faith found in the Pastorals…but that of remaining firm in one’s trust in God.”

[xxv] Marshal, 1 Peter, 171. “What Peter is talking about is not putting strength into believing but drawing strength from what we believe.”

[xxvi] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 195.

[xxvii] Marshal, 1 Peter, 172. “During this period of affliction God will help his people.”

[xxviii] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 192-193. “One thing that will make their commitment firmer is the awareness that they are not suffering alone. It is not ‘just me’ who is suffering or even ‘just us,’’ laments that make the suffering seem unfair and unjust, but ‘our brotherhood throughout the world.’”

[xxix] Davids, Frist Epistle of Peter, 196-197. “The one who has planned and promised is also the one to whom belongs the power to fulfill. This is indeed assurance for his readers.”

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Remember and Rejoice Even Now

Canticle 9 The First Song of Isaiah Surely, it is God who saves me; I will trust in Abba God and not be afraid. For God is my stronghold and my sure defense, and Abba God will be my Savior.

Introduction

Joy. Joy? In this economy?

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been awash in many a meme and reel describing the harriedness of a mom during the Christmas season. From doing advanced math to figuring out the equity calibration among the presents for the kids to just making sure that things are “merry and bright” and feel like Christmas, these memes solicit a chuckle here and there as I navigate the various holiday season enterprises. The funniest memes and reels include moms who must also navigate a Christmas season with a kid who has (the audacity to have) a December birthday…

Joy. Joy? In this economy?!

But Joy is precisely what is being asked of me as I show up here, in this place. Maybe the audacity isn’t so much my kid who has a December birthday, but mine…can I have the audacity to have joy…even now?

We speak of Advent as a time of waiting and expecting; I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I’m waiting and expecting something I’m really just catastrophizing and imagining the worse, dreading everything. But what if the news to come is good? What if the waiting and expecting is for something remarkable, life-altering, world changing, something categorically awesome and awe-filled, something that rejuvenates tired bones and fatigued bodies, something that solicits that electrical surge of No Way! through the brain when something unbelievable happens? What if joy and its activity “rejoicing” are precisely the emotive and active prospects of this very moment, of this very economy, of this very time of waiting and expecting?

Canticle 9 The First Song of Isaiah

Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing from the springs of salvation. And on that day you shall say, Give thanks to Abba God and call upon Abba God’s Name…

Our canticle brings us into the realm of rejoicing, whether we like or not and whether we are ready for it or not. The canticle starts with a declaration from Isaiah, “Surely, it is God who saves me; I will trust in Abba God and not be afraid” (v.1). These words of Isaiah begin to conclude what has come before in the previous eleven chapters.[1] The words are not strictly Isaiah’s though, they are for the assembly. These prophetic[2] words of Isaiah 12 are liturgical words, thus, per Advent 1, they are psalmic.[3] It is not only Isaiah who praises Abba God; it is Israel’s summons to praise God because of all the good things God has done: God has been Israel’s “stronghold” and “sure defense” and God has demonstrated God’s self to be Israel’s savior (v.2). In remembering these deeds of God and the salvation they receive from God’s hand, Israel is ushered into the celebration of rejoicing and praise (v.3),[4] not unlike Moses and Israel did when they were liberated from Egypt. The words of Isaiah 12:1-6 are a litany of quotations from the psalms, other portions of Isaiah, and exodus.[5] Israel is being swept up in the great and grand salvation of God because God’s salvation is not one and done; God will always be their God thus their salvation, and they will always be God’s people in need of saving.

As the canticle continues with v. 4, “And on that day you shall say, Give thanks to God and call upon God’s Name; make God’s deeds known among the peoples; see that they remember that God’s Name is exalted.” On that day…meaning, not only on back then when their foreparents stood on the shore of the sea liberated from Egyptian oppression, but on any day when God’s salvation is made known to the people shall they give thanks and call upon God. Israel has been saved, is being saved, and will be saved; Isaiah has the fullness of time in view. [6] Israel will remember that God has saved and in remembering will look forward to God’s salvation in the future; with both their past and future secured in God, Israel’s salvation is present tense and they are liberated to brings God’s justice further into the world.

With the imagery of the Passover and liberation from Egypt in mind,[7] the canticle beckons the Israelites to remember that it is a faithful remnant that call upon God’s name, who respond to God’s judgment and redemption; and this is Isaiah’s hope.[8] The remnant is not the powerful, not the leaders, not the ones out front; the remnant is hidden among the regular people, like you and me, the ones calling out to God from their squalor, from their pain, from their suffering, from their oppression, from their existential fatigue;[9] they are the ones who remember the great deeds of Abba God and abide in God.[10] Martin Luther in The Bondage of the Will, says something similar about the true church of Christ, “The Church is hidden, the saints are unknown.”[11] The promised new community which the remnant constitutes is heard, according to Isaiah; their present reality is formed by a mutual remembering of the past and this constitutes the future of Israel.[12] God’s people will not be easily snuffed out no matter where they are or where they go because God is both their defender and their salvation in every moment. It is the remnant, spread far and wide, whose voices become one as they “Sing the praises of Abba God, for Abba God has done great things, and this is known in all the world” (v.5), and as they “Cry aloud” and “ring out [their] joy” because they are anchored in God because God is with them and God is their God and they are God’s beloved. [13]And knowing an believing this, there is reason to rejoice even in the waiting and expecting; especially in the waiting and expecting.

Conclusion

In Advent, we are summoned in and asked to remember while we wait. Following the logic of Isaiah 12:1-6, when we remember we also find ourselves looking forward to God who is our past and our future. We dare to look forward, to pick up heavy heads and cast tired eyes into the great unknown and dare to look forward with confidence that God will do what God has promised God will do because God has demonstrated God’s self as trustworthy (yesterday, today, and tomorrow). In this sacred time of waiting and by our holy remembering, we join our voices with that ancient remnant of Israel, those eager voices of yesteryear crying out to God. In this sacred time of waiting and by our holy remembering, we join our voices to those who cry out today for God’s intervention: those who are threatened with extinction and cry out to God, those who are scared to live as they are and cry out to God, those who fear for the lives of their loved ones because of the color of their skin and cry out to God, those who only know the cold bars of captivity and cry out to God, those who cry out to God from the depth of their nakedness, hunger, thirst, and loneliness. Israel’s call in the world is to think upon the gråeat actions of God and to then participate in God’s mission in the world righting the wrongs in the world. For those of us here today, those of us also waiting and remembering, we, too, are asked to participate in righting wrongs, in identifying with the least of these, in seeking God’s justice and peace in the world.

So, as we refresh our exhausted minds by remembering once again the off-the-wall story of God coming low in the humble form of a baby born to Mary in a cave so that God’s self can identify with God’s beloved, let us also find new energy to sing and praise God, to throw our hands up and rejoice again…even now, especially now.

[1] Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah: A Commentary, The Old Testament Library (Louisville: WJK, 2001), 107. “The chapter offers a response to the great deeds of God’s salvation to his people in Zion that were recorded in the previous eleven chapters.”

[2] Childs, Isaiah, 108. “It seems clear that the traditional conventions of the Psalter have been reused to shape an eschatological psalm of thanksgiving into a new vehicle for the prophetic proclamation of the book.”

[3] Childs, Isaiah, 108. “…chapter 12 is dominated by the psalmic language of Israel’s liturgy.”

[4] Childs, Isaiah, 108. “Verses 3 and 6 bracket the second confession and offer further theological grounding for the call of praise by the community of faith.”

[5] Childs, Isaiah, 108. “The passage is a veritable catena of citations and allusions form other sections of Isaiah, from Exodus, and the Psalter. For example, v. 1=Isa. 5:25; v. 2a=Ex. 15:2b; v. 2b=Ex. 15.2a; v. 3=Isa. 35:10, 55:1; Ps. 105:41, 43; v. 4=Ps. 105:1, 148:13; v. 5=Ex. 15:1, 21.”

[6] Childs, Isaiah, 109-110. “The theme of salvation is repeated three times, not just as a promise extended, but a reality experienced…It is this experience of the redeeming mercy that evokes joy as an inexhaustible source of life-giving water. Moreover, as with the rest of the Psalter, the experience of salvation calls forth a witness to the rest of the world that bears testimony to the wonders of God’s might works.”

[7] Childs, Isaiah, 110. Analogy between this text and Moses’s song in Ex. 15.

[8] Childs, Isaiah, 109. “The major point to make is that chapter 12 presents the voice of the faithful remnant of Israel responding to the great deeds of God, both in judgment and redemption, which had occupied the prophets throughout the former chapters.”

[9] Childs, Isaiah, 110. “Thus an analogy is established between redeemed Israel after the deliverance from Egypt and the present remnant, who in their experience of faith already stand on a safe shore a second time after having been rescued from enemies and exiles.”

[10] Abraham K. Heschel, The Prophets, (New York: JPS, 1962), 208. “God not only asks for justice; He demands of man ‘to regard the deeds of the Lord, to see the work of His hands’ (Isa. 5:12; cf. 22:11), ‘to walk in His paths’ (Isa. 2:3). ‘If you will not believe, you will not abide’ (Isa. 7:11).”

[11] Martin Luther “Bondage of the Will” LW 33:89

[12] Childs, Isaiah, 109. “Up to now there had been the promise of anew community of faith that would emerge from the ashes of Israel’s destruction, but the actual voice of the remnant had not been heard. The presentation of this voice of praise serves to confirm that the new society of faith was not merely a future promise, but was a present reality, made concrete first in the son Shearjashub (7:3) , but above all in the sign of Immanuel (7:14). This community of faith confirms in liturgical praise its experience of God, and the choice of the idiom of the Psalter bears testimony to the liturgical actuality of the worship.”

[13] Childs, Isaiah, 110. “In the response of faith the reality of the divine presence, ‘God with us’ (Immanuel), has been experienced, pointing to the full eschatological consummation of the kingdom of God. Israel can shout in joy because the Holy One of Israel, who has always reigned over his creation (6:3), even now shows himself mighty in the midst of his people (v. 6). The eschatological tensions of the chapter testify that the remnant already shares in that for which it waits in expectation.”

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For the Remaining Time…

Psalm 84:9-11 For one day in your courts is better than a thousand in my own room, and to stand at the threshold of the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. For Abba  God is both sun and shield; God will give grace and glory…

Introduction

The author of Ephesians begins their final thoughts, weaving together all that has transpired. The Ephesians are reminded, once again, to remember and have hope and thus to pray standing firm on the ground of remembrance of Christ and hope in God fort hey are sealed unto God and Christ by the power the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1). There is great unity and wholeness for this sealed body of believers who are united together through memory and hope and prayer; the Ephesians are asked to look again at the absence of the division wall of the fence, of enmity and hostility, of laws that keep some in and some out (Eph 2). The exhortation to grow (Eph 3) echoes, the arduous task of bringing the outer person in line with the inner person is not a one-and-done thing; it is daily arising and intentionally (re)learning about God’s love made tangible in Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirt. The movement from doxology to praxis and ethics is once again solidified as our praise of God informs our activity in the world to the well-being of the neighbor which returns our ethical activity into doxology and the praising of God‘s name and bringing God glory because God’s love pro nobis (for us) is the bedrock and the source of our power in the world before God (coram deo)and before humanity (coram hominibus) (Eph. 4). The emphasis on the truth is affirmed again as the Ephesians are given real ways to participate in the cosmic battle between the truth of the reign of God and the untruth of the kingdom of humanity through keeping track on how their words and deeds toward and about others either builds up or tears down, being reminded that our words (especially) and our deeds (generally) participate in the sacramental nature of the communication of God’s grace to others (Eph. 4-5).

And now in these final exhortations, Paul describes the believer as a warrior, but not one laden with the weaponry of the kingdom of humanity with the intent to harm and destroy flesh and blood, but a warrior of the reign of God, clothed in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and absolutely, positively, dependent on God and God’s love, ready to go out, divine orders in hand, to participate in God’s mission in the world.

Ephesians 6:10-20

For the remaining time, be filled with power by Christ and in the strength of his ability. Be clothed in the complete armor of God so as to be able to stand firm against the wiliness of the devil. For the struggle against blood and flesh is not for us. Rather, [we are to struggle] with the kingdom of humanity, with authorities, with the ruler of this world of darkness, with the spiritual hosts of iniquity in the heavenly speres. (Eph. 6:10-12)

Paul begins these final remarks for this remaining time by exhorting the Ephesians to press into Christ, to find themselves empowered not by their own will power but by the power of Christ and in the strength of [Christ’s] ability.[1] Everything comes from God: it starts with God and it ends with God,[2] so goes Ephesians. [3] For what the Ephesians are going to stand to do in remaining times cannot be done by human strength alone, but only by the will and power of God through Christ by the Holy Spirit—the same power that turned death into life on Easter morning.[4],[5]

Following the exhortation to be strong in and by Christ, is: be clothed in the complete armor of God so as to be able to stand firm against the wiliness of the devil. This is the adversary against which the Ephesians must contend; this is why they are to press into the strength of Christ and his ability so that they can follow in Christ’s footsteps and refute the devil’s advancements at every point. Thus, they are to put on/be clothed in the offensive and defensive equipment of God;[6] this means they must take off the offensive and defensive equipment of the kingdom of humanity. Just as one cannot have two masters, one cannot be dressed in two version of complete armor. Just as the Ephesians are exhorted to ditch the lies and the untruths of the kingdom of humanity and adhere to the truth of the reign of God (contending with the old Adam within themselves so that the new Adam may be born anew[7]), so are they to be dressed appropriately in the panoply of God.[8]

Clothed as such, the Ephesians can confront the devil and his craftiness and not other human beings. For Paul writes, Because the struggle for us is not against blood and flesh. Rather, [we are to struggle] with the kingdom of humanity, with authorities, with the ruler of this world of darkness, with the spiritual hosts of iniquity in the heavenly speres. In other words, the Ephesians are neither to take up real weapons to fight against other human beings (uh oh, Church History) nor are they to take it upon themselves to defend God and legislate God’s will (uh oh, Christian Nationalists);[9] rather, they are to wrestle like athletes[10] against the advancements of the “devil” and the powers antagonistic to the divine revolution of love, life and liberation. I could say it another way, the Ephesians are to combat untruth with truth, light with not light, love with not love (etc.). This is a wrestling/boxing match that will last until Christ comes again, and not something human beings—no matter how well intended—can do of their own power. With this preparation, clothing, and orientation in the world, the Ephesians, says Paul, should be able to withstand in the toilsome day and stand accomplishing everything. What God has set out to do—reconcile the beloved to God’s self, bringing love, life and liberation to the cosmos—God will do; the Ephesians are invited in and encouraged to participate and stand firm during these dark days (today and tomorrow[11]),[12] fully dependent and made able by God.[13]

Then Paul lists the different elements of the complete armor of God: putting on the belt[14] of truth, putting on the cuirass of justice, binding under the feet the solid foundation of the good news of peace, and with all [this] taking up the large shield of the faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming javelins of the evil one, receive the helmet [of victory] of salvation and the dagger from the Spirit, which is the word of God. The Ephesians are exhorted to gird themselves and be led by God and God’s truth; they are not to be girded and lead away by someone else or untruth.[15] They are to be fully covered in protective armor by God’s righteousness which is God’s justice; not only do they have God and God’s justice on their side, they stand on and have truth binding them, being conformed to God’s will, to pursue what God pursues. This does not mean doing things in God’s name by baptizing human action as God’s will. Rather, it is to be the clay vessels through whom God brings God’s justice: life, love, and liberation. The Ephesians, thusly, stand on the gospel that is the proclamation of Christ and the work of Christ that brings peace—the elimination of dividing walls, enmity, and laws of division—the word that makes humanity one.[16] The Ephesians are to put out the flaming arrows of the evil one with their shield of faith, thus faith—see rightly by the power of God—can put out the destructive untruths of the kingdom of humanity; here, the Ephesians do not fight fire with fire,[17] but extinguish the lies by faith by speaking the truth in love.[18] They are to wear their helmet of victory because what God started God will finish and victory is already God’s; thus the Ephesians can enter their spiritual battles knowing their victory is secured.[19] Last, they are to use the one weapon they have, the word of God; [20] the goal is not to tear down but to defend the lives of others with the word of God, to build up, to protect, to advocate, to resist on behalf of the neighbor, to, ultimately, proclaim the good news that brings liberation to the captives.[21]

Paul closes with an(other) exhortation to prayer. Throughout the letter of Ephesians, prayer has been the backbone concept throughout the text.[22] Now it comes out full force, through all prayer and supplication, pray in the Spirit in all seasons, and toward this being awake with all steadfastness and entreaty on behalf of all the holy ones, and on behalf of me… Prayer is both the way the believer is clothed in the complete armor of God and is the seizing of the sword of God, the word—not purely scripture, but the living breathing word of life, love and liberation that ushers forth from God’s lips anew every day.[23],[24] It is the core of the life of the believer in the world who, facing both good and bad times, is the representative of Christ, thus of God among and with the beloved of God—thus, the exhortation to be awake[25] and with all steadfastness and entreaty on behalf of all…[26] The faithful representative of God brings God close the neighbor and, through prayer, brings the neighbor close to God.

Conclusion

So, beloved, Ephesians leaves us drenched and soaked in the presence of God. What started off with remembering and hoping and prayer, ends with them. We are, according to Ephesians, part and participant in this great cloud of witnesses that not only sees God’s glory but also gets to share in bringing that glory further and deeper into the world. You may feel insignificant for such a cosmic task, but you are the perfect and most precious breakable vessel spreading God’s mission in the world. Together here, through our minds and our hearts, we see, hear, and experience in the proclamation of Christ the destruction of the dividing walls, the elimination of enmity, and the rendering obsolete oppressive laws. Each week, according to Ephesians, we grow in this knowledge of divine equity and we grow more mature in our knowledge and love of God and as a community eager to reach out and support each other, to stand in solidarity together, to have compassion, and to care. Then we bring this very reality out into the world—each of us—as God’s representatives, charged with an invaluable charge to participate in God’s divine revolution of love, life, and liberation. And this brings us back here, again, to remember, to hope, and to pray. Our doxology becomes our praxis that comes back again as our doxology.

[1] Barth, Markus, Ephesians: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary on Chapters 1-3, The Anchor Bible Series (Garden City: Doubleday, 1971), 760. “…a power which comes to man from outside is meant, rather than an increase in strength flowing from internal resources.”

[2] Allen Verhey and Joseph S. Harvard, Ephesians, Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, eds. Amy Plantinga Pauw and William C. Placher (Louisville: WJK, 2011), 249-250. “…’Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.’ The ‘in the lord’ signals the solidarity with the Lord, and ‘in the strength of his power’ displays that we have been made alive together with him (2:5). We have been raised with him; we are seated with him above the principalities and powers (2:6) it is not our own strength upon which we rely; it is God’s strength. But we must live in it! We mut perform our baptism, our being raised with Christ, our being united not only to Christ but to those who are different from us to those the culture of enmity has trained us to despise…”

[3] Barth, Ephesians, 760. “…no strength other than God’s own can fortify the saints…”

[4] Barth, Ephesians, 760. “They are ‘citizens…in the kingdom of the Messiah and God’ (2:19, 5:5); they live from the incomparable power that was demonstrated in the past through the resurrection of Christ and the subjugation of all other powers (1:19-21), and that will now and from day to day strengthen the heart of each individual. (3:16-19).”

[5] Barth, Ephesians, 760-761. “The strength available to them is the resurrection power; more briefly, God is their power in person. They can and shall rely on it, that is, on Him.”

[6] Barth, Ephesians, 761. Panoply “…often the term means the full and complete equipment of a soldier with weapons of offense and defense. …It can also serve as a summary description of all the apparel with which a woman ‘dresses up’ to show herself in public.”

[7] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 250-251. “This is a cosmic conflict that is as old as sin. To be sure, it is a battle that is fought on the turf of every soul. A battle rages between ‘the old self’ and the ‘new self,’ a battle between our inclination to hate and despise and our participation in the peaceable difference of our creation and renewal. From the beginning the vision in Ephesians has been cosmic in scope and social and political in its implications. Here it would enlist us in a battle not only or our own souls but especially for the renewal of the cosmos and humanity.”

[8] Barth, Ephesians, 762. “The saints are ‘able’-bodied men not by nature, nor by one act of ordination in the past (e.g. by their baptism), but only inasmuch as again and again they take up the special armor given to them.”

[9] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 251. “The final struggle is not ours to win; that is already sure and in God’s hands. But in the interim we are to resist the resistance to God’s cause. We are not called to defend God, not even called exactly to defend our own souls; we are called to defend the beachheads God’s cause has made, they displays here and there of a renewed creation and a new humanity, the places and times that bear the primes of God’s good future.”

[10] Barth, Ephesians, 763. “No doubt Eph 6 describes a ‘spiritual war’ and ‘spiritual weapons’; but rather than use the term ‘war’ (polemos) Paul chooses a concept that originally denotes the activity of an athlete.”

[11] Barth, Ephesians, 765. Darkest day may be just a reference to evil days in a regular life or “may indicate that even now is the last time.”

[12] Barth, Ephesians, 765. “….’taking up’ is sometimes a a technical military term. It describe the last preparation and final step necessary before the actual battle begins.”

[13] Barth, Ephesians, 766. “In Eph 6 far more emphasis is placed on readiness and firmness in the struggle than upon any actual human accomplishment during the battle. The good works which they will do according to 2:10 are prepared by God’ long beforehand.”

[14] Barth, Ephesians, 767. “girdle” belt “…the special belt or sash…designating an officer or high official.”

[15] Barth, Ephesians, 767. “For the strength of God’s power is promised to each of them, and the expression ‘gird one’s loins’ …is synonymous with the idiom, ‘gird with strength.’ The opposite is to be girded by someone else and to e led away involuntarily…or to be girded with a. rope or with sackcloth…”

[16] Barth, Ephesians, 771. “The ‘peace’ and the ‘gospel’ to which Eph 6:15 refers can only be the ‘peace made’ and ‘proclaimed’ by the Messiah which is described in 2:13-18. It is not a victory of men inside God’s kingdom over men outside it that make the saints stand ‘steadfast.’ Rather the Messianic ‘peace’ which has united and will further draw together ‘those far’ and ‘those near’ gives the strength to resist non-human, demonic attacks however spiritual their origin.”

[17] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 255. “Compared to the armor of the Zealots and the Roman soldiers, this list of items—truthfulness and righteousness and the proclamation of the gospel of peace, faithfulness and the gifts of salvation and the word—is deeply countercultural. There is no confidence in the ordinary weapons of war; there is confidence in God. it is as deeply countercultural as peace and unity in the midst of the cultures of enmity that marked the life of the first century.”

[18] Barth, Ephesians, 774. “Instead of flame throwers and napalm-canisters by which the opponents and their strongholds might be burned, they are given shields which ‘enable them to quench’ (only) the fire thrown at them. The fiery attacks endured now are unlike the fire of the last judgment of God who which all men and all the creation will be exposed…”

[19] Barth, Ephesians, 775. “Most likely, a ‘helmet of victory’ is in mind which is more ornate than a battle helmet and demonstrates that the battle has been won: the saints are to ‘take’ this helmet as a gift from God. they go into battle and stand the heat of the day in full confidence of the outcome, with no uncertainty in their minds; for they were the same battle-proven helmet which God straps on his head…and which is defined by ‘impartial justice’ in…”

[20] Barth, Ephesians, 777. “Whether a traditional or a freshly inspired ‘word of God’ is in mind, this ‘word’ can be called the cutting edge of the Spirit—but it must be maintained that the word itself, not the Spirit, is the sword.”

[21] Barth, Ephesians, 777. “Therefore it is probable that the ‘word of God,’ which he calls a ‘sword,’ has to do mostly directly with the preaching of the gospel and with prayer, or is identified with them.”

[22] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 258. “We are not surprised to find that the last world of the exhortation is an exhortation to pray. Prayer here, finally, is a form of watchfulness, of waiting and hoping for God’s good future. It is a way to ‘stay alert.’ But here too this form of attention to God, this waiting and hoping, is not simply passivity. Attentive to God, we are attentive to the one who makes us agents in God’s cause, the one who invites us to bless God, the one who invites our lives and our common life to be doxology, to be for ‘the praise of [God’s] glory’ (1:12,14).”

[23] Barth, Ephesians, 777. “In consequence, persistent ‘prayer’ can be the essence and modality of the whole process of arming oneself, or only of the seizing of the sword.”

[24] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 255. “The Spirit’s sword is not simply identical with Scripture, at least not as an artifact that we can hold in our hand. It is rather the powerful and creative Word of God.”

[25] Barth, Ephesians, 779. “The purpose of staying awake is ‘praying,’ rather than putting on arms.”

[26] Barth, Ephesians, 778. “Nothing less is suggested than that the life and strife of the saints be one great prayer to God, that this prayer be offered in ever new forms however good or bad the circumstance, and that this prayer not be self-centered but express the need and hope of all the saints.”

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Growing From and Into Love

Psalm 145: 10-11, 19 All your works praise you, O God, and your faithful servants bless you. They make known the glory of your kingdom and speak of your power…Abba God is near to those who call upon him, to all who call upon him faithfully

Introduction

Through Ephesians we’ve talked about the need for heartfelt, mind-filled remembrance of Christ’s work in the world thru the Cross and Resurrection event and how remembering this brings Christ close to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, here, we have hope. What God has done combined with God’s presence with the community through remembrance makes us hopeful because we are not abandoned and have something to participate in: the divine mission of the revolution of love, life, and liberation in the world for the beloved. And at the intersection of hope and remembrance we find ourselves bending our knee to pray, not as a last-ditch effort but to find our ground and our language so we can move through God and toward our neighbor, bringing tangible hope that is faith working itself out in action for those who are in need, on death’s door, frail and fatigued, on the verge of giving up.

Last week we dove into the peace that Christ brings us by destroying dividing walls, ridding us of hostility and enmity, and rendering inoperative laws that cause in groups and out groups. Within the Christian walk and life, the act of rebuilding walls keeping many out and few elite in, fomenting hostility and fear, and forcing the gospel to become a law in the church or the state is anathema. According to Ephesians, the followers of Christ cannot support any of these things or anything that supports these things. We have been liberated into radical equity with our neighbor through the work of Christ and the event of the Cross and Resurrection—(we are not, have never been, and will never be superior to our neighbor).

But all of this is moot if we don’t grow—individually and corporately—bringing the outer person in line with the inner person. Ephesians 3 exhorts us to grow in such a way so we can be stronger and more able partners of God participating in God’s mission in the world made known to us in Christ and inspiring our hearts, minds, and actions by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 3:14-21

…so that [God] might give to you according to the abundance of his glory the power to grow through [God’s] Spirit to align with the inner person [and] establish Christ in your hearts through faith. Having been fixed firmly on and having laid the foundation of love, [stand on love] so that you might be perfectly able to comprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and weight and depth, and to ascertain the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge… (Eph. 3: 16-19a)

This portion of Ephesians is a prayer to God the Father. The hint is For this reason I bend my knees to the Father, from whom all families in heaven and on earth received [their] name… I retained the use of “Father” in the translation to highlight that Paul isn’t praying to some distant deity,[1] but to a loving parent, who is involved in our lineage and our name.[2] But the point of the passage isn’t the emphasis on “Father” but rather the “bending of my knees,” the fact that Paul prays for the Ephesians.

So, Paul prays and prays these three petitions: for 1. Inner strength, 2. Profound understanding of God’s love, and 3. Being filled with God’s fullness.[3] The request for “inner strength”—so that [God] might give to you according to the abundance of his glory the power to grow through [God’s] Spirit to align with the inner person [and] establish Christ in your hearts through faith—is a statement that nothing is taken from God[4] as God inspires and woos the believer and the congregation as a whole[5] to bring the outer person into alignment with the inner person. In other words, the wholeness of self—the receipt of the believer’s self—hinted at in chapter 2 (last week) is confirmed here in chapter 3 as Paul prays that God out of God’s abundance gives abundant strength to the believer to be a whole person by bringing the outer person in line with the inner person. According to our letter, to be loved by God is healing balm that then empowers the believer to love as they have been loved and this is done from the firm ground and fixed foundation of Christ’s love and the believer’s faith that this God (as parent) really does love them.[6]

And because Paul sees the Ephesians as grounded and substantiated in God by love, Paul can write, Having been fixed firmly on and having laid the foundation of love, [stand on love] so that you might be perfectly able to comprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and weight and depth, and to ascertain the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge… In this prayer, the author of the letter bases everything on the love of Christ—on which the Ephesians have been firmly fixed and which is the foundation under the ground where they stand in the spiritual realm. The love of Christ is the starting point for the believers in Ephesus, from here they not only understand just how massive and astounding is God’s love (which is truly beyond human understanding),[7] but from where they move, have their being, and participate in God’s mission of divine revolution of love, life, and liberation for the beloved. The great mystery that the Ephesians are let in on is the divine mystery that is Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension and the impact of this divine event for the cosmos. But even then, understanding those points does not now make the Ephesians perfect or filled, or the arbiters of all that is of God[8] as if there is nothing more to learn or understand; this mystery surpasses all human knowledge. [9] For Paul these two things—the alignment of the outer with the inner person and the understanding the depth of God’s love—are woven together to create the situation where the believer might be filled into all fullness of God.[10] Embedded in the prayerful entreaty is Paul’s awareness that the Ephesians can never fully be filled with God’s fullness as if it is one and done. Rather, it is to be worked out; it’s on going—happening in the future and happening right now. This is what it means to grow: to grow in strength, to grow in act, to grow in prayer and dependence on God, to grow into fullness of the relationship with God, with the neighbor, and with the self.[11]

Paul then ends with And to the one who is able to do abundantly more than all things of which we ask or we can perceive according to the one who strengthens us, to [that one] be glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus from all the families of the ages of ages, amen. As the three petitions work themselves out in the lives of the believers by the power of God, the Spirit,[12] glory is brought to God because where this community remembers, hopes, and prays, there is God in Christ. It is this that is the firm foundation and starting point for the one community that is the temple of God who worships together and then proceeds to move through God to serve the beloved, the neighbor. And as the neighbor is served, their God’s name is blessed (hallowed,[13] honored[14]) and glory is brought to God in the community and in Christ Jesus.[15]

Conclusion

Beloved, we remember, we hope, and we pray. We have wholeness with God, with our neighbor, and with ourselves by faith in Christ as divisions, hostilities, and laws cease to pull apart in Christ. From here we grow, constantly being brought to the edge of our understanding of God’s love for us and not just for us but for our neighbor. Because, for Paul here in Ephesians, the community who is open to and able to go outside of itself is the community that is growing—individually and corporately—in the knowledge of God’s love.

Paul prays for the believers—in Ephesus, and here today—that we would completely and fully—as limited as we are—understand just how much God loves us. Paul reminds us of the work of Christ on our behalf—the great mystery of the divinely inspired cosmos—and that we—who were once far off—are now counted among the children and families of God—spanning all time and space. And all of this never for ourselves in some privatized fashion so promoted by current American evangelical theology, but in a deprivatized way: for we are so loved by God that we can bring our outer person (personal and corporate) in line with the inner person (personal and corporate) and live in the world in love as we have been loved—no dividing walls and fences, no enmity and hostility, no laws keeping some in and some out. As we remember Christ, hope, pray, embrace radical divine equity, and grow, we can work to bring love to those who suffer under the oppression of indifference, life to those who are dying and liberation to those who are captive.

[1] Allen Verhey and Joseph S. Harvard, Ephesians, Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, eds. Amy Plantinga Pauw and William C. Placher (Louisville: WJK, 2011), 123-124. “The ‘every family’ would have God as ‘Father,’ and every tribe and nation would be counted among the children of God. Then the invocation could be translated, ‘Father of all families [or tribes or nations].’ It is clearly not a biological relationship that is affirmed, but the care a father takes to supply the needs of his family, as when God is praised in Psalm 68:5 as the ‘father of orphans,’ the father of the fatherless. The scope of God’s parental care is not limited to those who know to call God ‘Father.’ Its reach extends beyond those who are near, and even beyond those who have been brought near.”

[2] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 124. “This is no tribal deity, no local god, not just the god of our ancestors. This God is not just committed to the flourishing of ap articular culture, country, or family. This God is the God of ‘all the families of the earth,’ the God of ‘all things.’ And to this God alone the Jews and Gentiles of the Lycus Valley—and we—owe ultimate loyalty.”

[3] Barth, Markus, Ephesians: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary on Chapters 1-3, The Anchor Bible Series (Garden City: Doubleday, 1971), 368. “Three petitions may be discerned in what follows. (a) Intercession for the inner fortification of the saints; this is unfolded in the prayer that Christ reside in their hearts (vss. 16-17). (b) supplication for their strong perception of all the dimensions of God’s will; this supplication is interpreted by a request for knowledge of Christ’s love (vss. 18-19a). (c) Petition for perfection with God’s perfection (vs. 19b).”

[4] Barth, Ephesians, 369. “In remembering the ‘riches’ and ‘glory’ of the Father, Paul is convinced that God need not change or lose anything by granting the requests made to him. God is expected to act according to his nature, his character, i.e. his radiating love and power.”

[5] Barth, Ephesians, 385. “The gospel proclaimed in Ephesians is distinct from many variants of secular and religious collectivism by the vital concern shown for the enrichment, strength, stability, love, knowledge, grown, and perfection of each member of the community and, virtually, of every man.”

[6] Barth, Ephesians, 369. “If this command is a parallel to the prayer contained in 3:16, then ‘the Lord’ is the aim, focus, and source of gathering strength—he, and not some innate self that resides in the nature of man and constitutes his individual quality.”

[7] Barth, Ephesians, 369. “In Eph 3 these nouns are so arranged as to make it clear that man must be invigorated by God’s Spirit before he is able to grasp God’s manifold wisdom and hold onto it in knowledge. Paul would hardly affirm in general terms, that knowledge is power. Rather he avers that through his Spirit God empowers man to know things that are beyond the human mind, eye, ear…”

[8] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 127-128. “Paul pleads that the church will grow strong enough to hold onto the mystery of God without claiming to be able to understand that mystery fully. That is, after all, what ‘all the saints’ (Eph. 3:18), including Job, did.”

[9] Barth, Ephesians, 373. “God laid his heart bare when he showed that from eternity the Gentiles are included in his love and in the Messiah’s realm, but the saints’ knowledge and understanding of the secret is still ‘imperfect’…”

[10] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 128. “Here Paul prays that the church will in fact be ‘filled with all the fullness of God’…that is, with Christ…., in whom the secret was made known and who will bring the plan of God to complete fruition. That grace, that glory, that loves is not created by human beings, but it exalts human beings. It creates and restores humanity, and it strengthens the church to respond to God’s grace and glory and love, to be responsible agents in service to God’s plan.”

[11] Barth, Ephesians, 373. “While Col 1:19 and 2:9 speak of the ‘indwelling’ of ‘the whole fullness of God’ in Christ and the church, and described it as an accomplished fact, it is (despite all elements of ‘realized eschatology’) characteristic of Ephesians to speak of ‘filling’ as a process still going on.”

[12] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 125. “The petition is that the church will be empowered by the Spirit to grow into Christ.”

[13] Let your name be hallowed (Lord’s Prayer)

[14] Honor your Father and Mother (Ten Commandments)

[15] Barth, Ephesians, 376. “In Eph 4:4-6 Paul mentions the church first because he starts from the actual locus of God’s praise. Then he adds a reference to the Messiah Jesus to designate the basis of the that praise. The existence and manifestation of God’s glory in the church is and remains dependent upon glorification of God through the Son. The secret of God is indeed now known only to the church, but it was revealed in Christ of the benefit of the whole world.”

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A Community that Remembers

Psalm 24:1-2 The earth is Abba God’s and all that is in it, the world and all who dwell therein. For it is God who founded it upon the seas and made it firm upon the rivers of the deep.

Introduction

Throughout our study of 2 Corinthians, we juggled the twin questions: “What now?” and “Will they?” What do we do now that we are in the world but not of the world, breakable creatures carrying God’s Spirit and message, charged with carrying on the mission of God in the world: the advancement of the divine revolution of love, life, and liberation made incarnate in Christ and the wellbeing and benefit of the neighbor to the glory of God. Without Christ to guide the disciples, the disciples are left to figure it out by the leading of the Spirit.

We saw that Paul, in 2 Corinthians, gave us ample direction to discover that the “What now?” and “Will they?” is never answered once for all, but brought to the disciples of Christ anew every season, and that in each season the disciples of Christ must depend fully on God, cling to God’s word made known in Christ, and to follow—eyes wide open—the leading of God’s Spirit residing in their hearts and guiding their minds toward God’s wisdom and discernment in the world, impassioned with God’s passion to bring love, life, and liberation to the whole world—participation in the mission of God by faith working itself out in freedom and responsibility.

Paul seemed to leave us, though, with the reality that the Christian journey and Christian life is as hard as easy, as sorrowful as joyous, as thorn-filled as rose-filled. It is certain that as Christians who follow God, God’s Word, and God’s Spirit, we will have great existential anguish as much as we will have great existential excitement; both states are part of the Christian life in the world that is not of the world. Paul left us in the world dependent on God as we walk.

If Paul left us on earth in 2 Corinthians 12; Ephesians launches us into that third heaven Paul referenced. It is through remembrance, hope, and prayer that we, those dependent on God, continue to move through the world bringing God’s love to our neighbor and our neighbor to a loving God.

Ephesians 1:3-14

Bless God, the parent of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who blesses us in Christ in every kind of spiritual blessing in the heavenly sphere, just as God selected us in Christ before the conception of the cosmos to live holy and righteous before God in love, foreordaining us to adoption through Jesus Christ toward God according to the favorable favor of the will of God … (Eph. 1:3-6)[1]

Verses three to fourteen form one long sentence packed full of adoration, gratitude, praise, prayer, and doctrine. One of the most striking things, though, is the way this passage starts with humans blessing God. While some may feel compelled to shun this idea—preferring that it is God who blesses us so to keep God active and not passive[2]—the idea that we can bless God isn’t that foreign to our theology and prayer life. Take for example “The Lord’s Prayer” and the petition, let your name be made sacred. Isn’t God’s name already sacred? Yet the petition implies a capacity on our part to act in such a way that God’s name is praised and made holy. Thus, the idea that we bless God isn’t farfetched but makes sense: we have been made by God to be in the world and to bring God the glory God deserves through our love of God which is love of our neighbor. In other words, we are the “free otherness” from God who can return the blessing and bless God who blesses us.[3] The relationship with God by faith in Christ and the power of the Spirit is one where both the Lover and the Beloved are mutually dependent and mutually responsible.[4] God loves us, and we love God; God keeps us warm, and we keep God warm; God protects us, and we protect God.[5]

The author then moves to speak of our being blessed in every kind of spiritual blessing in the heavenly sphere, and of our selection in Christ from the laying-down of the cosmos. All of it oriented toward holy and blameless living before God that is characterized by love. This living is at once in the temporal realm and in the spiritual realm.[6] Human being and human love, according to Ephesians, is born of God’s love to go farther into the world to bring light where there is darkness, life where there is death, liberation where there is captivity, and love where there is indifference.[7] The believer is caught up into the cosmic battle between the creation that is of the reign of God and the destruction that is of the kingdom of humanity; it is the believer who is “enlisted” to be the epicenter of spiritual and temporal activity, at once the one who is adopted through Christ toward God, according to the good pleasure of the will of God and the breakable vessel, summoned out of the mud and dust.

It is these adopted of God and summoned from the dust and mud who are also endowed with God’s grace, the ones who have been loved, the recipients of liberation and forgiveness of false-steps, and,thus, recipientsof divine wisdom working out in human prudence.[8] It is these who are enlisted to act in the world to the glory of God by God’s will and leading (by the Holy Spirit), those who are charged to carry forward God’s Word (incarnated in Christ), and to participate in the continuation of God’s mission in the world to gather up all things in Christ, the things upon the heavens and the things upon the earth, those who were given a share foreordained according to the purpose of the one who is operative in all things according to the will of God. It is these identity markers of the beloved of God in Christ who are given a reason to hope because what we see in the world isn’t all there is. As the forces of the kingdom of humanity threaten death and destruction in the temporal realm, those who believe know that there is another realm—the spiritual realm—surging alongside, eager to make itself known through those who walk with the Spirit in Christ before God, who have heard the word of truth, the good news of salvation, and those who have eyes to see that there is more here than meets the eye because they have been sealed to the Holy Spirit of promise who is the security of our inheritance of liberation to praise of the glory of God.[9]

Conclusion

The author of the letter of Ephesians wants the community to remember. Remembering is key because it is in remembering together where we hold the presence of one absent among us as if they are still present. Though Christ is gone from us, Christ is present among us and among us with those who suffer as we remember him through proclamation and through remembering that the gift of the Holy Spirit to us (individually and corporately) is “security” that what has been started by God in Christ is not yet finished and that God will show up because God has promised to do so and God’s promises do not fall flat. God is not done with God’s world because God’s people still remember, and by remembering they (re)turn their gaze to God in the present thus to the future. Herein is the good hope of something different that will bring the divine revolution of love, life, and liberation farther into the world, and, ultimately, to is consummation in Christ’s return.[10]

And we do all of it through our dependence on God realized through our prayers—corporate[11] and individual. We do not go it alone. This letter to the Ephesians is an invitation to pray, to pray with our whole selves.[12] Prayer is the groundwork of the union with God that leads to the outpouring of divine love, liberation, and life for the neighbor in the world. Prayer solicits a self-awareness needed by God and the self-needing God and needing God to speak. It is in prayer where the believer is not only reoriented to God and thus to themself, but also where they are brought close to their neighbor. Prayer also participates in new language for the believer in the world where the believer represents the neighbor to God in words articulating the septic, antiquatedness of the kingdom of humanity. But prayer does not resign the believer to non-activity as if it is the final act in the face of trouble; it is the starting point. Prayer is how the believer unites with God and God’s passion for life, love, and liberation.[13] It is the bold request for God to enter in, to act; in prayer God is spoken to and from, in prayer God is remembered, so, too, the neighbor.[14]

[1] Translation mine.

[2] Allen Verhey and Joseph S. Harvard, Ephesians, Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, eds. Amy Plantinga Pauw and William C. Placher (Louisville: WJK, 2011), 43. Blessing God “…seems to make God the recipient of blessing rather than the source of all blessing It seems to render God passive.”

[3] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 43. “But this mysterious ‘passivity’ of God is precisely the nuance we should not neglect. By a powerful and creative word God created the universe and all that is in it, by God’s constant care God sustains it, and by God’s grace God redeems it. God is agent, active. But God creates, sustains and redeems the creation into a fertile and free otherness from God. God gives God’s creatures their own distinctive powers and upholds those powers, concurring in their own works not rendering the creation passive but active in God’s own project.”

[4] Cf Dorothee Sölle, Christ the Representative.

[5] Dorothee Sölle, “Laudation from Dorothee Sölle for Carola Moosbach, June 2, 2000, “When it is related to the children: God loves you, God protects you, God warms you, I completely agree with it. But just as important is it to say to them: God is in need of you, you can warm God. Sometimes, it is also cold here to God.

[6] Barth, Ephesians, 102. “‘Spiritual blessing,’…does not mean a timeless, otherworldly, abstract blessing. Rather it describes changes effected upon and among people of flesh and blood. It means a history, that is, decisions, actions, testimonies, suffering which have been set in motion and are as yet unfinished.”

[7] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 45. Heavenlies “It is the mysterious and unseen realm above and behind this world. It is not another world, a different world, unconnected with this one. It is the realm at once of God, who creates and sustains this world, and of the ‘spiritual forces of evil’ (6:12), who are at work in this world to destroy it. It is the realm of a cosmic conflict. On the one side are God and his Christ; on the other are the principalities and powers who would usurp God’s rule. That cosmic conflict is that battle for sovereignty in this world, not some other one. It is the very cosmic conflict in which Christians find themselves enlisted (6:12).”

[8] Barth, Markus, Ephesians: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary on Chapters 1-3, The Anchor Bible Series (Garden City: Doubleday, 1971), 85. “The wise man knows how and when to speak; he gives good counsel; he lives up to his gifts; his actions make sense and are successful. For this reason the conjunction ‘and’ between ‘wisdom’ and ‘prudence’ is to be understood as expository. Paul speaks of that wisdom which is operating in prudence.”

[9] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 45. “The decisive battle has been fought and won in this conflict, fought and won in this world, when God raise Jesus form the dead. The powers of death and doom had done their damnedest, but God raised Jesus up and set him at his right hand ‘in the heavenly places’ (1:20).”

[10] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 47. “Remembrance has brought us to this point. It is because this community remembers Christ that it also hopes. It hopes for the good future of God, which is the good future for God’s creation, for ‘all things.’ This good future is our ‘inheritance’ in Christ (1:11), and the Spirit is the ‘pledge,’ the earnest, of that inheritance (1:14), the firstfruits of God’s good pleasure.”

[11] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 49. “Ephesians sets its talk of God and its instructions concerning the common life in the context of prayer.”

[12] Verhey and Harvard, Ephesians, 49. “Ephesians invites us to pray. Much of the first three chapters is prayer.”

[13] See Sölle, Choosing Life, pp. 92-93

[14] This paragraph is taken from, Lauren R.E. Larkin, “Leaving Heaven Behind: Paradoxical Identity as the Anchor of Dorothee Sölle’s Theology of Political Resistance,” PhD Dissertation (University of Aberdeen, 2024), 202.

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