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and as this meaning is foreign to the word, and in some cases most contradictory, we
must in the interest of truth drop it, and adopt something better. That word is ready to
hand, presented to us by the A.V. itself in the very epistle under review--"That in the
ages to come" (2: 7). To render this passage "That in the eternities to come" would be
impossible. There is, moreover, a departure from the inspired grammar of Eph. 3: 11.
"Eternal" is an adjective, but no adjective is found in the original of this passage. The
wording is kata prothesin ton aionon. Aionon is a noun and must be rendered "of the
ages". Instead therefore of a mystifying and indefinite statement like "according to the
eternal purpose", we find that the revelation of the mystery, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, by which through the church the principalities and powers are learning of the
manifold wisdom of God, is all according to plan.
"According to a purpose of the ages which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Heb. 1: 2, speaking of the Son, says, "By whom He made the ages".
The same word "made" occurs in Eph. 3: 11, "The purpose of the ages which He
made (not purposed) in Christ Jesus our Lord". By Christ the ages were made, and in
Christ the purpose of those ages was made too. The dispensation of the mystery is the
capstone of the ages so far as the great preparatory period is concerned. We know but
little of what the future ages shall bring of blessing, of glory, of knowledge, but we know
that the present dispensation of the mystery "fills up the Word of God".
When God created Adam and when Adam fell, the purpose of the ages had already
been made, and our part in it already settled. If the glorious inheritance became forfeit,
love would provide a Kinsman-Redeemer who should redeem the forfeited inheritance.
When God set aside the Gentiles and chose Israel, the purpose of the ages still stood,
some Gentiles were already foreknown as members of the One Body "chosen in Him
before the overthrow of the world". When the long-promised Seed came, and was
despised, rejected and crucified, no erasure was made in the book of the Divine purpose.
If we trace our steps and view the varying developments from another angle, namely,
that of Satanic opposition, it is a comfort to realize that, do what he may, no act of Satan
can thwart the purpose of God. How strongly this is stressed in Eph. 1::--
"According as He hath CHOSEN us in Him" (verse 4).
"According to the good pleasure of His WILL" (verse 5).
"According to His GOOD PLEASURE which He hath purposed in Himself" (verse 9).
"According to the PURPOSE of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His
own will" (verse 11).
Such is the nature of the purpose of the ages. The ages contain as sub-divisions times,
seasons, days, dispensations. They span the period of Gen. 1: 1 "In the beginning
God . . . . .", to I Cor. 15:, "That God may be all in all". They include an age-long
salvation, inheritance, life and punishment, all of which are so many factors in the
outworking of the purpose. To intrude the modern meaning of everlastingness is to spoil
the testimony that the ages roll on to their destined end, and shall one day cease. The
dispensation of the mystery is no fabrication of the Apostle; it is an integral though