I N D E X
`fulness' reappear in connection with the present dispensation and the church of
the One Body.  It is evident therefore that `the dispensation of the fulness of
the seasons' when God will `head up all things in Christ' must refer to the
dispensation of which Paul was the minister, and which obtains now.  `All
things' here is not the universal panta, but the limited ta panta `the all
things', some entity that is under immediate review, namely the redeemed and the
heavenly beings with whom their lot is cast.  Only those `in Christ' are thus
`headed up', but these are not limited to things on earth, things in heaven are
included and this fact must be considered.  We cannot stay to give an extended
examination of these two terms, but one example may indicate the Scriptural
intention in the use or absence of the article `the'.  We know that all things
(panta, good and bad, all things without restriction or limitation) work
together for good (no one needs an inspired revelation to inform that `good
things' work together for good).  Here the absence of the article is
understandable (Rom. 8:28).
`He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how
shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?' (Here the original
reads ta panta, some specific `all things' that can be freely given us
with Christ as Redeemer) (8:32).
The sphere of the church of the Mystery is in heavenly places, where
Christ sits at the right hand of God; there can be no higher place of honour.
This company is potentially `seated together' there now, in anticipation of the
day when they shall be manifested with Him in Glory (Col. 3:1-4; Eph. 2:6).
Christ is not only revealed to be the Head of this church (Eph. 1:22,23), but at
the same time and during the same dispensation, He is revealed to be equally the
Head of all principality and power (Col. 2:10), and whether we adopt the
translation of Ephesians 3:15 given by the A.V. `of Whom the whole family in
heaven and earth is named', or whether we believe we should read with the R.V.
`every family', this `heading up' of things in heaven and earth in Christ, is an
actual blessed present fact, an anticipation of the day that is coming, when all
things, in whatever sphere they be, shall be ranged under Christ in blessed
unity.  The anticipatory character of the present dispensation is seen in the
words of Colossians 3:11 `Christ is all and in all' -- a present glory
foreshadowing the greater glory when the end is attained and `God' shall be all
in all (1 Cor. 15:28).  Both Ephesians 1:22,23 and 1 Corinthians 15:27,28 flow
out of the special interpretation of Psalm 8 which is peculiar to Paul's
epistles (see also Heb. 2:8 as an evidential proof that Paul wrote that
epistle).
All that we have seen in this study of Ephesians 1:10 is a preparation for
the concluding clauses of this section `The Work of the Son', which speaks of an
inheritance.  We have not only been saved `from', we have been saved `to', and
among those things that are the goal and consequence of our redemption is an
inheritance.  This association of bondage, redemption and inheritance moreover,
is not peculiar to the dispensation of the Mystery.  Other callings follow the
same pattern, as indeed does the purpose of the ages.  For example, the book of
Job falls into three parts:
(1)
Job, perfect but untried.
(2)
Job, tried and not perfect in the experimental sense.
(3)
Job, restored, tried and perfected.
Again, the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 15 falls into the same
pattern:
101