I N D E X
the en should be omitted, the dative case, pasi, would still remain unchanged.
Further, we believe that the words ta panta express from another point of view
that which constitutes the pleroma, and indicate that creation which was the
work of God, not as revealed in Genesis 1:1 but as revealed in Ephesians 3:9:
`The dispensation of the mystery, which hath been hidden from the ages, in
that God, Who (en to Theo to) the all things (ta panta) created' (Author's
translation).
Panta is universal, we know that `all things' good and bad, can work
together for good to them that love God, but it is not all things, bad as well
as good, that are `freely given to us', because of the great gift of Christ.
This is ta panta, the specific `all things' of the context, `all things' that
are the result of redeeming love.  Colossians 3:8 rightly translates ta panta
`all these', the Colossians were not expected to put off the universe as ta
panta has been translated.*
* See also our book Just and the Justifier,chapter 15, section 7
Another phrase needs considering.  What do we understand by `growing into
Him'?  Are we considered as separated from Him, and by slow degrees growing
nearer and nearer to Him?  This may be possible if we are speaking of the
believer's experimental fellowship with the Lord, but how can a `body' grow into
the `head', for that is the figure before us!  Moreover, the very next verse
says, `out of Whom all the body ... makes growth', so that growth is viewed as
only possible while Head and members are united.
A somewhat parallel expression occurs in 3:19, `That ye may be filled
(eis) unto all the fulness of God', which means that the believer shall be
filled for, or with a view to, that fulness; that he may be able to take his
place in such a fulness as a member of the Body which is itself a `fulness', so
that he may be filled up to the measure of Him that filleth (ta panta) with all.
So in Ephesians 4 the growth is `for' or `with a view to' Him in His capacity
as the Head, which is but another way of indicating our `measure', the stature
of the fulness of the Christ.  The fulness is the measure of our stature.  `The
Head' and `the all things' is but another way of saying the same thing.
Conybeare and Howson in a footnote say, `Auxesomen eis auton is to grow to the
standard of His growth'.  Christ, the Head, is placed together with `the all
things' that are `through Him' (1 Cor. 8:6); the Lord and His great age purpose
are placed before us as our standard and our goal.  Should it appear strange
thus to link together Christ and ta panta, we should remember Colossians 3:11
which says, `ta (in the Received Text) panta kai en pasin Christos', `the all
things and in all things (is) Christ'.  When the Scriptural term is understood,
the sense of strangeness will vanish as we realize how truly the Lord Jesus
Christ takes the all things of this mighty purpose unto Himself.
To complete the thought of this verse we need to remember one further
truth.  Running together down the ages are two mysteries.  The mystery of
godliness, culminating in the exaltation of Jesus Christ as Lord, and the
mystery of iniquity, culminating in the man of sin setting himself up as God.
In Ephesians 4:14 is the mystery of iniquity, `the systematized deception'.  In
Ephesians 4:15 is the mystery of godliness, with Christ as Head over all things
to His church, as He will yet be in heaven and earth to the glory of God the
Father.
What an incentive to grow in grace; may it not be lost upon us.
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