I N D E X
A SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLE
OF INTERPRETATION
10
`Having predestinated us unto the adoption' (Eph. 1:5).
`In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated' (Eph. 1:11).
A. -- Why do you say the `Kinsman-Redeemer' here?
B. -- That too is so important that we will leave it for the moment until we have finished this parallel.
A. -- The third section must be one that assures the inheritance, if it is to balance.
B. -- That is exactly what we find:
`Sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance' (Eph. 1:13,14),
and that inheritance not only ours because of the unalterable and unconditional will of the Father, but ours by the
great work of redemption, for it is:
`until the redemption of the purchased possession' (Eph. 1:14).
We have therefore in Ephesians 1:3-14:
(1) The unalterable and unconditional will of the FATHER.
(2) The strange interval of bondage from which we can only be delivered by the redemptive work of the SON.
This redemptive work involves the heading up of all things in heaven and earth, and is not complete until the
whole of the promised seed are restored and in possession of their inheritance.
(3) This assurance is the witness of the SPIRIT. The Spirit is essentially `the Holy Spirit of promise'. The
inheritance is ours by will and by purchase.
Sin and Redemption. Their place
A. -- Am I to understand by this parallel then that redemption is God's provision to deliver from the bondage and
forfeiture in which the seed of promise had become involved, and not that sin and redemption form an essential part
of His purpose?
B. -- That is so. The original will is unconditional and unalterable. We are justified in taking the words of Galatians
3 as a blessed argument. If the coming in of the law with its bondage and curse 430 years after the covenant with
Abraham could not alter by one jot that original covenant, neither shall the present reign of sin and death in any wise
prevent one child of promise reaching the goal.
A. -- Where does faith come in then?
B. -- We shall find that Israel's history provides a perfect parallel which we shall see in good time.
The Strange Interval
A. -- There is one other question that has been in my mind all the time, and that is, why should that strange interval
of bondage have been necessary?
B. -- There you put your finger upon the great problem that lies behind the purpose of the ages.
A. -- Does your vaunted theory of interpretation provide a parallel? I feel that if it fails here the abused `philosophic
method' must be mine.
B. -- I see that you are keen, and I appreciate your eagerness. Never fear; the Word will meet all our needs.
Who is the Antitypical Amorite?
B. -- We have a series of problems before us. We must seek a right understanding of the term `adoption', we must
discover God's intention in `redemption', and we have several other items of the age-purpose that must be dealt
with before we can be satisfied as to the principle of interpretation I suggest, or of its results.