🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ!
🌞💙💛
Since yesterday was a holiday, yesterday’s regular reading was postponed to Monday, but since I didn’t notice it, I missed it. So today I am looking at two regular readings — the one I missed yesterday and today’s. They are consecutive in the text of Scripture, continuing each other.
Ephesians II, 20 — ‘θεμελιω’ — ‘themelio’ — ‘the foundation’.
Ephesians II, 21 — ‘συναρμολογουμενη’ — ‘synarmologoumene’ — ‘fitted together from separate parts to form a whole’.
Ephesians II, 22 — ‘συνοικοδομεισθε’ — ‘synoikodomeisthe’ — ‘built together from different materials’. In this way Paul emphasises that the earthly Church is formed by different people with different backgrounds.
Ephesians III, 2 — ‘οικονομιαν της χαριτος’ — ‘oikonomian tes kharitos’ — ‘the stewardship (’oikonomia’) of grace’. We could also say administration of grace
. Paul means that the apostles (and also their successors) received grace to be used for the building up of the church, for the growth of the faithful in God
(including the apostles themselves and their successors.
Ephesians III, 8 — ‘εμοι’ — ‘emoi’ — ‘to me’.
Ephesians III, 9 — ‘οικονομια του μυστηριου’ — ‘oikonimia tou mysteriou’ — ‘the stewardship (oikonomia) of the mystery’. Similar to the above, but here it emphasises God’s special manifested trust in people (just as entrusting a great mystery
indicates a level of trust and relationship).
Ephesians III, 10 — ‘πολυποικιλος σοφια’ — ‘polypoikilos sophia’ — ‘very varied, manifold (high) wisdom’. It is said first of all as a negation of the idea of the monotony and uninterestingness
of God’s wisdom. That is, in no way the latter two. And since God’s wisdom is not monotonous and uninteresting, it is always desirable for a person, not only for the mind, but also for the feelings and will, and is capable of nourishing the whole person.
Ephesians III, 11 — ‘ημων’ — ‘emon’ — ‘us’ (our).
Ephesians III, 15 — ‘πατρια’ — ‘patria’ — ‘family, clan; tribe; fatherhood’. There is a profound theological thought here, which you can read more about here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/Trinity.html
Ephesians III, 17 (18) — ‘τεθεμελιωμενοι’ — ‘tethemeliomenoi’ — ‘founded (having a foundation)’. Compare with what is said above.
Ephesians III, 19 — ‘γνωναι τε την υπερβαλλουσαν της γνωσεως’ — ‘gnonai te ten hyperballousan tes gnoseos’ — ‘to come to know and surpass knowledge’. The Apostle Paul expresses a bold hope that later Christians will come to know God better. It is the idea of better knowledge
, inexhaustible knowledge
that lies behind the words to surpass knowledge
.
Ephesians III, 20 — ‘ημιν’ — ‘emin’ — (to) ‘us’ ((in) us).
This is a rich passage, so there are many words and phrases at the top. I will comment briefly.
The parable of the Trinity and Christ is well written about the
housemates of God
here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/uk/theology.at.ua/prytcha.html
Paul calls the participation of believers from all nations in God’s purpose for the salvation of people through Christ as the mystery of Christ
. In fact, his apostolic work was devoted to spreading faith in Christ among different nations. That is why a significant part of Paul’s personal position is here.
to the rulers and authorities in heaven
— to the angels (dominions and authorities are the names of the angelic ranks, known as the middle link
in the angelic hierarchy). These ranks are responsible for power and dominion over sin, over the devil, over evil, and thus the earthly Church through Jesus Christ amazes the angelic powers
with the power of Christ for the victory over the devil, sin and death. See also the previous reading here:
25092023.html
Verse 13 echoes 2 Corinthians I, 1-7:
10082023.html
Paul concludes with hope and faith in the riches of God’s grace in Christ and praise to God.
Mark XI, 15 — ‘εκβαλλειν’ — ‘ekballein’ — ‘to cast out, to bring out’ (showing power, strength).
Mark XI, 17 — ‘προσευχης’ — ‘proseukhes’ — ‘of a lifted (spiritual, high) prayer’.
Mark XI, 21 — ‘κατηρασω’ — ‘kateraso’ — ‘cursed’.
The story of the fig tree and the expulsion of the traders from the temple is an example of faith, a manifestation of the power of Christ the King.
Christ, by condemning the fig tree to wither, reveals His divine authority as King, Whose will is omnipotent. The commentators note that He does this in the example of a tree (trees do not have souls, so their withering is not spoken of as death in Scripture. Compare the story of the creation of humans and Paradise — in Paradise, it was possible to eat the fruits of trees, which obviously had to be transformed into components in the human body, and this was not considered death. So here, the withering of the fig tree is not death in the biblical sense).
Later Peter says that Christ cursed
the fig tree. Christ does not directly
deny Peter’s words, but teaches a faith that implies meekness (and therefore the absence of the need
to desire something bad). Thus, Christ leads the apostles to meekness as a Gospel virtue. It is also
related to the commandment not to swear and to the verbality.
See good works about faith and
its power at the following links:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/PowerOfHuman.html
11082023.html
I wrote about meekness and
mildness in relation to the Sermon on the Mount:
10062023.html
See the following links about the importance of
forgiveness:
26022023.html
20082023.html
On the verbality as well:
25022023.html
29072023.html
Regarding the expulsion of the traders from the temple, it is understood that Christ showed zeal for the sanctuary, also for the condition of the people, also showed that He is the Lord of the temple (implicitly), showed that the use of force can be good — to fight sin, if it is the will of God.
I also composed a beautiful prayer based on
the Gospel teaching on the heart —
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/posts/
You generously give, O Lord, so grant us also, that our hearts may be true houses of
faithfulness, fidelity, and not the caves of thieves.
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!