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For an extended exposition of this subject the reader is referred to the Alphabetical
Analysis, article, THE PLEROMA, which has a specially designed chart to illustrate the
exposition.
No.39.
The Throne Room (1: 19 - 2: 7).
Dead IN, or Dead TO? (2: 1).
pp. 21 - 26
The first half of this section is taken up with the exceeding exaltation of Christ seated
at the right hand of God, seated in the heavenlies and seated far above every conceivable
authority. We do well to pause with worshipping wonder as we glory in the fact that "He
shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high" (Isa. 52: 13). We shall lose the real
import of this passage, however, even as we shall miss the import of Isa. 52: 13 if we
leave the Lord in isolated exaltation. Isa. 53: provides the sequel "Therefore will I
divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong"
(Isa. 53: 12). "He shall divide the spoil." Some of the redeemed therefore are to share
this high glory, and that is exactly the reason for the revelation of Eph. 1: 20-23. The
whole section is an exposition of "His power to usward who believe". The Saviour's
glory now at the right hand of God, is the glory of the Mediator and Redeemer. He had a
glory that antedates time, and He Himself distinguishes between that glory which is His
intrinsically and which cannot be shared, with that glory which He has received as
Mediator and Head, which He intends most certainly to share with the redeemed:
"And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had
with Thee before the world was" (John 17: 5).
That is one aspect of the subject. Here is the other:
"The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as
We are one" (John 17: 22).
The wondrous goal "that they may be one" is reflected in the title of the church "the
fullness of Him".
We return then from the contemplation of the high glory of Eph. 1: 22, 23 to realize
with reverence and awe, that after all this, glory is a part of our high calling by grace, and
we can perhaps the better appreciate the translation favoured by many, of Eph. 2: 1
"Even you". Reading the A.V., the grace and glory of this relationship between the Head
and the members of the Body, between the Redeemer and the redeemed, is interrupted by
the statement "who were dead in trespasses and sins", but we must never allow ourselves
to "prefer" a reading simply because it accords with our creed. Most readers of the
Berean Expositor believe that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" and
the epistle to the Romans leaves us in no doubt on that dread score.