Quite apart from the words "far above", there can be no denial of the fact that there is

here indicated a sphere without compare in the whole range of Scripture.

To conclude the first part of our examination, we turn to Eph. 2: 6 where we have a

categorical statement that there, where Christ sits, is the sphere of blessing for every

member of the Church which is His body.

In these three passages (Eph. 1: 3, 20, 21 and 2: 6) we have indubitable evidence of

a sphere of blessing that differs entirely from anything that had hitherto been revealed.

But our task will not have been completed if we fail to take note of the attempts that

have been made to discredit the teaching of the three spheres by concentrating attention

upon the A.V. rendering of huperano. The words translated "far above all" in Eph. 1: 20

and 4: 10 are adjuncts of the teaching we have already proved by other means, and no

alteration or re-translation can make the slightest difference to the three-fold distinctions

we have already seen. As the word in question only occurs three times in the N.T. it is a

matter of importance to ascertain whether it occurs in the Septuagint, and if so, in what

connection. A writer who has gone out of his way to denounce the teaching of The

But when we consult the Septuagint, we discover that our critic omits the first

occurrence, and upon examination we further find that this first occurrence is antagonistic

to this contention that huperano means position, but never distance.  The omitted

reference is  Gen. 7: 20:  "Fifteen cubits upward did the water prevail, and the

mountains were covered."

If the subject before us was the comparative value of the various manuscripts which

we have to consult in seeking the original text of the Scriptures, it would be right and

proper to assess the respective merits of the Vatican, the Sinaiticus, the Alexandrian, and

other MSS, and at the close of the investigation we should be within our rights if we were

to express a preference for one manuscript above another. But if we are investigating the

usage of a particular word, and we profess to have given "all of the occurrences", then the

omission of one reference, especially one that militates against our own conclusions, is

serious. This first reference to huperano in the Septuagint most emphatically uses the

word to express distance in cubits, whereas our self-appointed mentor grows almost

hysterical in his denunciation of our retention of the A.V. rendering, "far above", calling

it, among other things, a blot on the A.V. translation, and adding that "so long as it

remains it is impossible for the English reader to get the truth". These words would have

sounded rather empty if Gen. 7: 20 had been cited, and our critic's dictum that

huperano denotes "position, never distance" looks absurd in the presence of these

15 cubits!

We have more to bring forward from Gen. 7: 20 in a moment, but it will be better

appreciated after we have allowed our critic a little more space.