 |  |
are regarded as "made one" when the Epistle was written. Some make a distinction
between "the saints" that were at Ephesus, and "the faithful" that were in Christ Jesus.
May not the passage, which some say teaches a distinction, be there to teach the exact
opposite? With peculiar emphasis the Apostle has said that for the members of the One
Body there is "one faith," and he speaks also of "the unity of the faith." So essential is
this, that the members of the One Body can never comprehend what is breadth, and
length and depth and height, or know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, or be
filled unto all the fulness of God, apart from comprehending it with "all the saints."
Their prayers too must embrace all who in every place are members of the One Body;
they pray for "all the saints." So in Eph. 1: 15, 16, the faith of the Ephesians believers
was one with "all the saints." Instead of instituting a contrast the Apostle draws a
comparison. Their faith in the Lord Jesus was the same as that for all the saints. That
the saints here are members of the One Body seems evident by their inclusion in
verse 18, where, definitely linked with the exclusive hope of His calling, is the riches of
the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Scripture and the structure would lead us to
believe that the "saints" are the same people in both verses, even as they are in 2: 19,
4: 12, 5: 3. This, of course, is but the expression of belief of one who is still learning,
and still unlearning, but, as the interpretation suggested is likewise merely the belief of
another such learner, we do not hesitate to place before you the alternative, which in our
judgment is nearer the true meaning of the passage.
Answers to Correspondents.
pp. 158-159
No. 20.--C.H.K., MINN.--"My difficulty lies in getting hold thoroughly of
the truth as to whether the church begins at Pentecost or after Acts 28:
The latter would be clear to me if the 70 weeks of Daniel did not hinder. It
is generally supposed that the Kingdom was suspended at the cutting off of
Messiah until after the church age. But I see clearly that the dispensation of
Israel was not set in abeyance until the period of the end of Acts 28:"
The writer enclosed a diagram illustrating the generally accepted view, namely, that
the 69th week ended just before the crucifixion of Christ, and that therefore the "final
seven years" are all that remain to complete the number, and that these are entirely future
and are found in the Book of the Revelation.
We wonder how many (or perhaps how few), there are who have faced this problem?
The answer to the question is too important to reply to hastily in the space we have before
us. Before we endeavour to set forward the answer, we would seek to make the
importance of the question, and its real significance, evident. 100: H. K. recognizes that the
evidence in favour of Acts 28: as the starting point of the church as against Acts 2:
is strong, but the interpretation of Dan. 9:, upheld by names he mentions, but which we
refrain from repeating, deters him. It ought also to deter others. If the accepted
interpretation of Dan. 9: be true, the Acts of the Apostles comes in the gap, and Israel is