Levend Water
Accepted in the Beloved - Charles H. Welch
Index - Page 13 of 26
`BEFORE HIM'
`BESIDE HIM'
13
AND
it is used of the believer who is exhorted to `present' his body a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1); it is used of the Church
the Bride, which Paul desired `to present' a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2); and it is the word used by the
apostle to Timothy, when he said `study to show thyself approved unto God' (2 Tim. 2:15). It is translated literally
`to stand by' a dozen times. We are now potentially `seated together', we shall actually `be manifested with Him in
glory', and the initial act of this manifestation will be this glorious `presentation'. It would be pardonable if the
reader expected Jude 24 to be included in the references to paristemi. It certainly reads very like Ephesians :
` Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy'.
We have the word `presence' katenopion, we have the word `faultless' amomos (`without blemish') but instead of
paristemi, `to stand beside' we have the simple istemi `to stand'. Paristemi, the full word is not used by either Peter,
James, John or Jude in their epistles. So far as the doctrinal use of the word is concerned it is found only in the
ministry of Paul, in whose epistles it occurs just exactly fourteen times. The presentation therefore of the Church is
glorious. It is not merely to be `presented', it is to be presented `beside' Him.
We have already seen that after the glorious fact of free unconditional grace has been established that the
Scriptures move on and use the self same term in some form of exhortation or practical truth.
It is so with regard to paristemi. Not only is it revealed that the Church has the high honour of being `presented
beside' the Lord, they may `yield' their members (Rom. 6:19), they may `present' their bodies (Rom. 12:1), they may
study `to show' themselves approved unto God, and the apostle who had assured the Colossians of the glorious
presentation in the twenty-second verse immediately goes on to speak, in a practical context of his intense desire
to`present every man perfect in Christ Jesus' (Col. 1:28), a ministry that necessitated `warning' as well as teaching,
as verse 28, and 2:4-23, will show.
We have one more feature to review before we can leave Ephesians 1:4-6 and 5:26,27. Meanwhile let us glory
in the Lord, and that grace which planned not only that we should be holy and without blemish, but that we should
be `before Him' and not only `before Him' but `beside Him' in the glory.
The Sphere and Realm of our glorious acceptance.
We have now to consider the three spheres in which the blameless and spotless condition of the saints by grace
was conceived, was made possible, and is to be enjoyed. They are as follows :
Conceived `in love' (Eph. 1:4).
Made possible `in Christ, in the Beloved' (Eph. 1:3-6).
Enjoyed `in glory' (Eph. 5:27).
The third item needs a word of explanation. The Authorised Version reads a `glorious' church which translates
the word endoxos, a translation given to two out of the four occurrences of the word : `gorgeously apparelled' (Luke
7:25); `glorious things' (Luke 13:17); `honourable' (1 Cor. 4:10), and `glorious' (Eph. 5:27).
Now we are not suggesting that these translations of endoxos should be altered to read `in glory', such is
evidently not the meaning, the only thing we wish to do is to place the English reader a little nearer to the advantage
ground of the Greek, who, though he read mentally the idea `glorious', would see with his eyes the word that spells
`in glory' and, consequently, the parallel between the words `in love' and `in the Beloved' would be more obvious
and he would realize that the church will never be `a glorious church' until it is manifested with the Lord `in glory'
endoxe (Col. 3:4).
Returning to Ephesians 1:4, we have spoken of the words `in love' as the sphere, as it were, the atmosphere if we
will, in which the whole gracious plan was conceived. Considerable difference of opinion has been expressed by
commentators as to the position and reference of these words. Some refer them wholly to the next verse and read