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No.25 The Muniment Room (1: 3 - 14).
The Threefold Charter of the Church.
"The Prior-hope" (1: 12).
pp. 141 - 143
The inheritance, which formed the theme of our last study, is linked with the blessing
pronounced in verse five by the repetition of the word "predestinated".
A |
Predestinated to the adoption of sons, i.e. constituting such "heirs".
B
| According to His good pleasure.
A |
Predestinated to the inheritance described in verse 11.
B
| According to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will.
This brings us to the end of the second great section of Eph. 1: 3-14, namely that
which deals with the Work of the Son, and calls forth the refrain that we met in
verse seven and will meet again in verse fourteen "to the praise of His glory". We now
enter the third section of this great charter of the Church which we have called "The
witness of the Spirit".
In the first section, "The Will of the Father", we have Choice.
In the second section, "The Work of the Son", we have Deliverance.
In the third section, "The Witness of the Spirit", we have Sealing.
Each section is ultimately concerned with inheritance. The Will of the Father settles
who are to be His heirs, this is implied in the word adoption. The Work of the Son sets
those thus chosen free from the bondage of sin and death and fits them for their
inheritance. The Witness of the Spirit operates during the period that elapses from the
first act of faith unto the redemption of the purchased possession, and seals them for this
inheritance.
The word "trust" to-day stands for reliance, confidence, credit, and only in a very
secondary sense is it used for "hope". This can be realized if we were to interpose the
word "hope" into a "trust deed" or the office of a "trustee". Trust is connected with the
old word trow, to hold true. The word trust is used in the Authorized Version, to translate
two Greek words, peitho "to persuade" and elpizo "to hope". In Rom. 15: 12 and 13 we
have verb and noun of the latter coming together, where we read "In Him shall the
Gentiles trust, now the God of hope". While the verb elpizo is translated more times by
"to trust" than "to hope", the noun elpis is translated fifty-three times "hope" and once
"faith". This exception is Heb. 10: 23, "the profession of our faith", which the Revised
Version renders "the confession of our hope". While we cannot entirely dispense with
"trust" as a translation of elpizo by reason of the fact that the believer has every ground
for confidence that God will perform His promises, it does seem that where noun and
verb come together, or where the blessed hope of our calling is in view, the word "trust"