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inheritance, just as the parallel tells us that the church of the one body is the fulness of
Him that filleth all in all.
At this point predestination re-appears. The first passage (verse 5) deals with our
being "placed as sons", which by comparison with the opening verses of Gal. 4: is
made parallel to being recognized as the heirs. In verse 11 we find that predestination
has settled the high glory of that chosen company. The "placing as sons" was "according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He highly
favoured us in the Beloved." The "taking for a heritage" was "according to the purpose
of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to the
praise of His glory, who first hoped in Christ."
That there is a close parallel between verses 5, 6, and 11, 12 the most casual reading
will show. A more attentive consideration will throw light upon a vexed question. The
words of the A.V., "first trusted," are corrected in the R.V. to "before hope," "a state of
prior expectancy." Some view the passage as referring to Israel, e.g.:--
"This is a proper characteristic, or distinguishing mark of the Jews. They had the
promises of the Messiah" (Chandler quoted by Dr. Macknight).
Others have taught (and we ourselves were included in this company for a time), that
those who had "a prior hope" were the members of the one body, whose hope will be
realized before the hope of Israel, etc. In the one interpretation, the word pro refers to the
act of hoping, in the other, of the effect of that hope in the future. A writer quoted in
Things to Come for August, 1915, says:--
"A Greek Concordance will show that the preposition pro, when in composition,
invariably attaches to the verb of which it is the prefix, and never has reference to the
effect produced by such verb."
If this be the case, and the Concordance gives much weight to the remark, then "the
prior hope" must refer to the act of "hoping before", and not to being called into a
company whose hope is to take place before the hopes of other companies are realized.
The reader may feel that with such a contradictory set of statements--all made by those
who reverence and love God's Word--the hope of arriving at a satisfactory conclusion is
rather uncertain.
We drew attention above to the close parallel that exists between the statements of
verses 5, 6 and 11, 12. This parallel we believe will provide the solution of the difficulty,
and emphasize the glory of the calling that has taken us to be "His inheritance."
Let us look at the parallel verses.
5, 6.
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A
| Predestinated as children.
B | According to good pleasure of His will.
C | To praise of glory of His grace.
D | Highly favoured in the Beloved.
11, 12.
|
A | Predestinated as inheritance.
B | According to purpose. . . . will.
C | To praise of His glory.
D | Who pre-hoped in Christ.