EPISTLE TO EPHESIANS study 2

It is important to be familiar with the language of any portion of scripture; we have already seen the use of "kata" to portray that God is the source and foundation of all blessing; His good pleasure, His determinate counsels, His immense power, His eternal purpose, His glorious riches, His power within us, His effectual working in us.   We now consider the time factor clearly indicated throughout chapters 1-3 which show that God also spans all periods of time.   There is not a moment in time when God is not involved in this world of ours!

Chapter 1v3    "Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.."
Chapter 3v21  "..glory in the church in Christ Jesus unto all the generations of the age of the ages."

 The grace of God in Christ spans from eternity to eternity, and everything in between!!   Different words are use to describe the world and time periods in the epistle.

• kosmos       this occurs in 1v4, 2v2, and 2v12.   It refers to an ordered arrangement of things; the Greek is the exact opposite of chaos.   Therefore the mathematically and physically precise universe, including the earth, is so ordered of God.   This is God's world in creation and in future horizon.
• aion           this occurs in 1v21, 2v2, 2v7, 3v9, 3v11, 3v21. Usually translated age, it refers to undefined time periods marked out by epoch-making events (age- defining events), which mark each age with diverse characteristics.   The existence of this world is divinely mapped out in ages.
• oikonomia  this occurs in 1v10 and 3v2 and means administration or stewardship ( particular usage is the stewardship of a household).  Translated dispensations it describes the trends of any given period of time. Ages are time periods, dispensations are what God is doing in these periods.   It is God's administration of the world He created.   The present time is said to be the dispensation of grace!
• genea        this is found in 3v5 & 3v21, and the idea, as the root word would suggest, is generation and carries the idea of tribe or family or nation.....if you like, contemporary groups.   Another, similar, word is used, which is oikoumene which means "habitable world", the world of men, as opposed to the material world.   Genea suggests a large group and it's usage suggests huge congregations for ever and ever.

We see then how particular the Holy Spirit is in the use of different shades of meaning to convey the wonders of God's plan for His people.   God exercises control of the time spans, and He is sovereign in all the trends and events of those time spans.   Contrary to the folly of the sceptics, this world is not going round in endless circles, but is moving inexorably, in linear fashion, to it's eternal goal.   When time has run it's course, sinners will be conformed to God's image, angels will be wiser in the ways of God, demons will be banished, unrepentant sinners will go into perdition, God will be glorified.   History will prove to be His story, and believers will dwell with God in His temple.   All of this is in the epistle.   As we, together, tread the sacred steps of this wonderful letter, let us remind ourselves of the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, in a chapter which began with him weeping tears for the state of his nation; "thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth."

God has always been, is now today, and forever will be, in sovereign control of the world He created with a very definite purpose, which purpose will be realised in it's time.   Differences of interpretation exist regarding the nature and timing of these ages, but we can clearly define three of them; namely the age of law, the present age of grace, and the age to come. What is certain is that God will have His way.  We do well to prepare for the next age, because it will be definitive.