Ephesians 1:6
To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.
It is in or by grace that we have our acceptance. God has made us accepted, and we did not attain to it by any volition or works of ourselves. Only those in the Beloved qualify for this great blessing.
In speaking of Mary in Luke 1:28, the word accepted is translated as highly favored.
In the OT, there is a peculiar form of acceptance in the case of offerings. Of course, if the offering is accepted, then it is a certainty that the one making the offer is also accepted.
Take the case of Abel in Gen. 4:4. God had respect for his offering. This was shown in such a way that Abel knew that it was accepted. On the other hand, Cain just as certainly knew that his offering was not accepted. Later events will tell us how.
In Lev. 9:24 is the scene of the dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. It had been built carefully according to the pattern. Then the offering was put on the altar, and fire came from before the Lord and burned the offering so that it was consumed. Contrast this with the fire that killed Nadab and Abihu in Lev. 10:1-2. This happened because their fire was strange fire.
Then note what happened to Gideon in Judges 6:20-21. His offering was also accepted by fire.
We are not so sure that fire came down to burn the offering of Manoah in Judges 13:20, but the angel of the Lord went up in the flame, and so Manoah and his wife knew that they were accepted. It is quite likely that fire from God burned their sacrifice.
We have a mighty fine example in 1 Kings 18:38. It is the strife between one lone man, Elijah, and 450 prophets of Baal backed up by the queen, Jezebel. The prophets put their sacrifice on an altar and all day tried every stunt they could think of to make fire come from their god to burn the offering. Nothing happened. Then it was Elijah's turn. He prepared an altar and put the offering on it. He dug a trench around it and poured water on the altar, and filled up the trench. There could be no sleight of hand here, for if he started it with strange fire, he would meet the same fate as Nadab and Abihu. But the fire did come down and burn, not only the offering but the water and all. Jezebel was very unhappy with this result as the people said, “The Lord He Is God; The Lord He Is God," and the prophets of Baal paid with their lives.
When David numbered Israel and incurred divine displeasure, he made an offering on the threshing floor, and it was burned up by fire from God. So he was accepted, and the plague was stayed (1 Chron. 21:26 ).
And finally, when The Temple was built and the day of dedication came (2 Chron. 7:1-2), fire came and burned the first offering. So it was accepted.
We are accepted in the Beloved. Twice a voice came down from heaven saying, "This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased." This was at His baptism and His transfiguration (Matt. 3:17; Matt. 17:5). Also, Matt 12:18 quotes from Isaiah using the words, My Beloved. He was accepted when He was raised from the dead for or because of our justification. Hence, we are accepted in Him, The Son of His Love, Who is The Fire Of Eternity.
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John 3:15
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Rotherham has translated everlasting or eternal life by the term age-abiding life. The meaning brought out by this term is better than eternal or everlasting as those words are not used in The Hebrew Old Testament or The Greek New Testament. Actually, it would be aionian life if we were to transliterate the Greek word.
The idea in the original is not so much the length of the life, but rather it's quality. In fact, an aion is not an eternity but a span of time. It may be definite, as in the aion called The Millennium (1,000 years in length), or it may be an indefinite length of time. It is something that has a beginning and an end, which is not true of our idea of eternity today.
The ages or aions are but a little parenthesis in eternity. If you would make a little scratch with a knife on the rim of a great wheel with a diameter as big as the diameter of the universe, that little scratch would indicate in scale the time of the ages. Of course, it is not possible to measure the diameter of the universe, for if you start out in a straight line and keep on going, you will finally return to the point where you started. Such is the vastness of the universe. You might just as well try to measure the Love of God!
So far as we know, the ages began with the overthrow (not the foundation). The ages will end when there is another overthrow, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. We are living in the time called the Ages or aions. Science has not been able to find any life that is age-abiding. All life that is known in creation has an end, a terminus. Protoplasm is temporary. It differs from lifeless matter only in that it has that indefinable quality called life. How life began, no one can discover in the laboratory. And just how it ends, they have not found out. No one knows what life is. And no one but the Creator can generate life. It is His secret.
Man is no exception to this law of death that is in the creation. He, too, returns to dust, even as the animals and the plants. He was not endowed with life any different from that of other living things on the earth. All, both man and beast, go to the same place at death. And The Word adds that there is no difference in their deaths.
But God, at the infinite cost of His Son, has provided an age-abiding life which man can lay hold on thru faith (John 3:16). This life is the only life that can abide during the ages. It is a part of The Divine Life. Man can partake of it. It guarantees his Resurrection. Nothing else can produce Resurrection. There is only One who could say; I AM The Resurrection and The Life.
There is Life only in Christ. This is the testimony of God's Word. Then it is equally true that outside of Him, there is only death. If otherwise, then His statement is not true. But we believe what He has said to be The Truth.
Age-abiding life not only results in Resurrection but also in immortality. No one but Christ has been Resurrected so far. He alone has Immortality. He is the First-born from the dead. All in Him will be made alive and immortal.
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The Gospel of John
But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God;
and that believing ye might have LIFE through His name (John 20:31).
That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Eternal Life (John 3:15).
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life (John 3:16).
He that believeth on the Son hath Everlasting Life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36).
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into Everlasting Life (John 4:14).
And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto Life Eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together (John 4:36).
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath Everlasting Life, and :shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life (John 5:24).
(Ye) search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life: but they are they which testify of Me (John 5:39).
Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto Everlasting Life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed (John 6:27).
And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have Everlasting Life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:40).
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath Everlasting Life (John 6:47).
Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath Eternal Life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:54).
Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life (John 6:68).
And I give unto them Eternal Life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand (John 10:28).
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto Life Eternal (John 12:25).
And I know that His commandment) is Life Everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak (John 12:50).
As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give Eternal Life to as many as Thou hast given Him (John 17:2).
And this is Life Eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent (John 17:3).
This is the disciple (John) which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true (John 21:24).
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Ephesians 2:8-10
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
All too many have thoughtlessly made these words mean the same as John 3:16. But John 3:16 has to do with everlasting life, not salvation. Everlasting life is a guarantee of resurrection, but John is not specific about what is beyond that.
The words we quoted above are in context. That context tells us what this salvation is. It is wise to be able to define our terms.
Eph. 1:1 tells us that Christ has filled the faithful saints (you) with the fulness of Him That filleth all in all. After dealing with the former state and life of the saints, the Apostle then speaks of a quickening, a raising up, and a seating in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus. In the midst of this, there is a parenthesis, a reminder that this Salvation is by Grace. So then this Great Salvation by Grace has to do with folks that are saints, who had been chosen before the foundation of the world, blest with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ, and now quickened, raised, and seated where He, the Head, is now seated. No salvation like this had ever been known before.
The uniqueness of This Salvation is not because it is by Grace. Anything that God does for man is by grace. And that grace is only possible because of the blood of redemption. No redemption, no blessing. If there is no redemption, then God would have to deal with all of us in strict justice. No Hope there.
Faith is not the gift of God. Faith is the simple acceptance of The Gift. What is the gift? The word 'that' is neuter and agrees with neither grace nor faith. So according to the rules, it must refer to the whole clause before. So The Gift is This Salvation by Grace through faith.
This Salvation, The Gift of God, is not rooted in works. It does not have its origin in works. So all boasting by man is denied. The Glory must be to The One Who paid the price of redemption and made The Gift possible. Man must not rob God here.
What is the purpose of This Salvation? The goal is good works. We who have believed unto this Great Salvation are His handiwork, having been created in Christ Jesus unto or with a view of doing good works. This is a creation that is supposed to work. God has a plan and a purpose for this creation. This work, or good works, is expressed by such words as, make all men see what is The Dispensation of The Mystery, or To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in The Heavenly Places might be known by The Church the Manifold Wisdom of God. A great responsibility!
Eph 2:8-9 should not be divorced from Eph 2:10. And the whole should not be taken from context and made to apply to everlasting life or some idea of salvation one might have. This is one of the most beautiful passages for faithful saints today.
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Ephesians 1:13
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth,
The Gospel of your Salvation: in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
The Gospel of our Salvation. Paul had been preaching this Gospel from a house in Rome, chained to a soldier. The Ephesians had heard of this Gospel and believed. Hence, the saints and faithful are mentioned in verse Eph. 1:1.
Again in Eph. 2:5, the apostle adds a parenthesis, By grace are ye saved. Then, in Eph. 2:8, they find, For by grace are ye saved through faith.
What is this Salvation? Is it salvation from something? Or is it salvation to something? Is it the obtaining of everlasting life? We hesitate to write on the subject of salvation because so few have any idea of what it really means.
In Eph. 2:1, we have a wondrous truth which the translators have obscured. The words in italics have been added to fill in what was left out. It is a figure called an ellipsis. It should read, "And you hath He filled, who were dead to trespasses and sins." The word filled is used in the verse before. So it is a blessed truth that our reckoning ourselves indeed dead to sins can make way for the infilling of the fullness of God, Christ being the Filler. This is a part of The Great Salvation.
Then, dropping down to Eph. 2:5, we see these words repeated, "Even when we were dead to sins." What then? Quickened ...raised...seated.
But there is much more. All through this, there is a wonderful identification with Christ. We are quickened together with Him. We are raised together with Him. We are made to sit together with Him. This is true togetherness. And it is made possible by our having died with Him to trespasses and sins.
Our Great Salvation then has to do with a baptism or identification with Christ. This is The One Baptism (Eph 4:5 ). This Salvation is far beyond the partaking of the divine nature and having everlasting or age-abiding life. It takes us right into the Holy of holies at the right hand of God.
All too often, the quickening, as a present experience, is left out or neglected. Many preach, 'Christ was crucified, Christ has risen, and Christ is coming again.' These are very important, but some momentous events have been left out. Christ ascended! It is the ascended Christ who has spoken to us in these days through His servant, Paul. And it is with the ascended Christ that we are quickened together.
The quickening makes it possible for us to live in the newness of life. We are to reckon ourselves as dead but also living unto God. Dead to the world and to sins, and living to and for God. The quickening makes it possible for Christ to live in us and to work through us. This makes for good works.
It is blessedly true that This Great Salvation has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and has translated us into The Kingdom of His dear Son. But we cannot stop there. There is much more.
We have not mentioned all that God is doing for those who have died to sins. There is a goal. It is found in Eph. 2:7, That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His Grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. But in all of it, remember the refrain: By Grace are ye saved.
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