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Heb. 6: 17 is said to be "Ephesian truth". Let us see if this can be substantiated.
"For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, he
sware by Himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will
multiply thee, and so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise"
(Heb. 6: 13-15).
These are the words that introduce the first similarity named, the "heirs" of
Heb. 6: 17. The reference in Heb. 6: is to Gen. 22:, where, after Abraham had
manifested the reality of his faith in the offering of Isaac, the Lord intervened saying,
"By Myself have I sworn". The Apostle did not quote the whole of Gen. 22: 16-18 for
he was writing to Hebrews, who were thoroughly familiar with the context of the passage
and the inheritance that was in view. To-day, however, it seems that it is necessary to
quote the remainder of the passage. It is as follows:
"I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the
sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22: 16-18).
Now "Ephesian truth" is directly connected with an election that took place "before
the foundation of the world", and with the revelation of a "mystery" which had been hid
in God and not made known until the defection of Israel at Acts 28: These things
being so, the attempt to link the "heirs" of Heb. 6: 17 with those of Eph. 3: 6 is a
palpable error.
Let us take the next similarity, "The Body" (Heb. 13: 3).
"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer
adversity, as being yourselves also in the body."
The way in which this verse is written is reminiscent of the correspondence and
expansion so characteristic of Hebrew poetry. It can be set out thus:--
A |
Those that are in bonds.
B
| As bound with them.
A |
Those which suffer adversity.
B
| As being yourselves in the body.
That there is no reference here to "the church which is His body" is evident from
the Syriac version which renders the passage, "As men who are clothed with the flesh".
Dr. Weymouth's translation is, "For yourselves are still in the body". Paul uses the
phrase, "in the body", to indicate the present life in the flesh, in II Chron. 4: 10; 5: 10
and 12: 2, and we might just as well see "Ephesian truth" in these references to "the
body" as in Heb. 13: 3, "which", as Euclid would say, "is absurd".
The third similarity is Heb. 3: 1, where the word "partakers" is linked with
Eph. 3: 6. If there is one thing that is distinctive of Ephesian truth, it is the
overwhelming grace that makes the calling there revealed absolutely sure; completely