"The world to come" is, literally, "the inhabitable (world) about to be". This word has

occurred already in Hebrews, being used in 1: 6.

which the R.V. corrects by reading "When He again bringeth", consequently the

oikoumene must be the sphere of the Lord's dominion at His second coming. "The whole

inhabitable", he oikoumene, whole, of Isa. 14: 7, 26 refers to the Babylonian Empire,

even as the same word was employed to define the Empire of Alexander (Ælitan 5: H.

3: 29), and indicates "the whole world" that forms the battlefield in the coming Day of

the Lord (Rev. 16: 14). This oikoumene, or "habitable world", that Heb. 2: speaks of,

is said to be the world "to come", the Greek word being mello. A literal rendering of

mello is, "about to be". Hebrews speaks of those who were "about to be heirs of

salvation" of "the world that was about to be", "the powers of the age about to be" of

Christ as "High Priest of good things about to be"; of the law as a "shadow of good

things about to be" of a fire that is about to destroy the adversaries; of a land that

Abraham was about to receive as an inheritance; of the blessing of Jacob and Esau

concerning things about to be and of a city which the Hebrews were seeking which was

about to be (Heb. 1: 14; 2: 5; 6: 5; 9: 11; 10: 1, 27; 11: 8, 20; 13: 14).

We now observe that the epistle to the Ephesians employs this word mello once; the

reference is Eph. 1: 21.  The context speaks of the exaltation of Christ "far above all

principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not

only in this age (aion) but also in that which is about to be: and hath put all things under

His feet". Here therefore it is evident that the apostle when writing Ephesians, and even

when quoting Psalm 8:, has an entirely different sphere and calling in view. What

connection is there between the oikoumene, with its recognized limitation, whereof the

writer of the Hebrews assures us that he "speaks", and the Church which is His body,

over which Christ has been given to be Head over all things, and which is further defined

as "The fullness of Him that filleth all in all"? (Eph. 1: 22, 23). The habitable world to

come was a subject of prophecy and of type, the church of the one Body is the subject of

a mystery. In Hebrews we read that the words "He hath put all things under His feet"

imply that He left nothing that is not put under Him.  In Ephesians this universal

subjection is enlarged and given in detail, but there is added a reference to that company

which are not put under His feet, a company that occupy a position unshared even by

"principalities and powers", and form the Body of which Christ is the Head, a company

that are destined to be the fullness of Him, Who, in His glorious day, will be manifesting

the One that fills all in all. If these things are all one and the same with the teaching of

Heb. 2:, of what use is inspiration, to say nothing of logic and common sense? We

submit that a comparison of the way in which Psalm 8: is used in Hebrews and in

Ephesians is a further demonstration of the essential difference that must be maintained

by all who would rightly divide the Word of Truth.

REDEMPTION AND FORGIVENESS, IN HEBREWS AND EPHESIANS.

No reader of the Berean Expositor will need a lengthy citation of passages from the

epistle to the Hebrews to show that the great sacrificial system of the law is there set forth