SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/17/2018 10:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Ground of Our Inheritance”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
1:11
Message of the verse: “In Him also we
have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose
who works all things after the counsel of His will,”
The
following quote from John MacArthur speaks to what I said we would look at in
our Spiritual Diary for today: “We have
obtained an inheritance’ translates a single compound word in the Greek (eklerothemen). When something in the future was so certain
that it could not possibly fail to happen, the Greeks would often speak of it
as if it had already occurred (as here, where Paul uses the aorist passive
indicative).”
There
is a similar Greek word in chapter two which speaks of “seated us with Him in
the heavenly places” (v-6) however this word is in the aorist active indicative
tense of the verb, but means something similar in that God views us as already
there “seated us with Him in the heavenly places.” This is future, but because God says it will
happen I believe He sees it as happening.
One of those things we have to take by faith, knowing that one day it
will happen.
John
MacArthur writes: “The passive form of
the verb in 1:11a allows for two possible renderings, both of which are
consistent with other Scripture. It can
be translated ‘were made an inheritance’ or, as here, ‘have obtained an
inheritance.’ The first rendering would
indicate that we, this, believers, are Christ’s
inheritance. Jesus repeatedly spoke of
believers as gifts that the Father had given Him (John 6:37, 39; 10:29; 17:2,
24; etc.) Jesus won us at Calvary—as the
spoils of His victory over Satan, sin, and death—and we now belong to Him. ‘And they will be Mine, ‘says the Lord of
hosts ‘on the day that I prepare My own possession’’ (Mal. 3:17). From eternity past the Father planned and
determined that every person who would trust in His Son for salvation would be
given to His Son as a possession, a glorious inheritance.
“Translated
the other way, however, this word means the opposite: it is believers
who receive the inheritance. Peter
speaks of our having been ‘born again to a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable
and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for [us]’ (1 Pet.
1:3-4).”
Now
if both of these are grammatically and theologically legitimate true, then how
do we know which one is the best in verse 11:1a? We know that we are “In Christ” as we have
been looking at throughout this very long sentence in the Greek as it is
repeated many times. We see in Scripture
that believers are spoken of as belonging to God, and He is spoken of as belonging
to them.
MacArthur
concludes: “The practical side of that
truth is that, because we are identified with Christ, our lives should be
identified with His life (cf. 1 John 2:6).
We are to love as He loved, help as He helped, care as He cared, share
as He shared, and sacrifice our own interests and welfare for the sake of
others just as He did. Like our Lord, we
are in the world to lose our lives for others.
“Although
either rendering of eklerothemen can
be supported, Paul’s emphasis in Ephesians 1:3-14 makes the second translation
more appropriate here: ‘we have obtained
an inheritance.’ Our inheritance with
Christ is yet another of the amazing magnificent blessings with which the
Father has blessed us in the Son.”
One
more quote before we end this SD which has to do with where we are going after
finishing this first main-section and move onto the first sub-section under it.
“Jesus
Christ is therefore the ground of the inheritance that we have obtained. Paul first shows that inheritance from the
divine perspective and then from the human.”
In our next SD, Lord willing, we will begin to look at the Divine
Perspective from 1:11, and 12b.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I can’t help but remember when I was
studying John 17 that Jesus said “that they may all be one; even as You,
Father, are in Me and I in
You, that they also may
be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” It seems to me that I, as a believer, am in
Christ and He is in Me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to continue to give me insight
into the 13th chapter of Revelation as I teach from that chapter
tomorrow.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Jesus came riding on the colt
of a donkey” (Luke 19:29-35).
Today’s Bible question: “Who said, ‘Sell me this day your
birthright’?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/17/2018 10:42 AM
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