01.04. The Conferring of Authority
In calling attention to the "exceeding greatness of his (God’s) power," (Ephesians 1:19) we passed over without comment four words. These are: "to usward who believe." All the demonstration of the glory of God, shown in the manifestation of His omnipotence pointed manward. The cross of Christ, with what it revealed of obedience to God, of atonement for sin, of crushing defeat of the foes of divine authority, shows us a representative Man overcoming for mankind and preparing, through His own incumbency, a throne and a heavenly ministry for those who should overcome through Him.
Observe in this connection the identification of Christ’s people with Himself, in this crisis of the resurrection. In the first verse of chapter two (Ephesians 2:1), the words read literally: "And you, being dead in trespasses and sins," or, perhaps, to bring out better the thought: "And you, when ye were dead in trespasses and sins." It will be noticed that we have left out the verb "hath He quickened" which appears in our Bibles. This verb is not in the original; the sentence is incomplete, "being left unfinished," says one expositor, "in the rapidity of dictation." We do not accept this as the explanation of the omission, for we believe that the Holy Spirit so arranged the structure of the whole passage, that the fact might be emphasized that Christ and His people were raised together.
Where, then, do we find the verb that controls this passage? It will be seen in Ephesians 1:20 "According to that working of the strength of His might when He raised HIM from the dead .(then, putting a parenthesis around the words to the end of the chapter) . . . and YOU when ye were dead." The same verb which expresses the reviving of Christ expresses also the reviving of His people. That is to say the very act of God which raised the Lord from among the dead, raised also His body. Head and body are naturally raised together: Christ, the Head; His body, the Church (ho ekklesia, the assembly of believers in Him). This is a most important statement, and one of which the definite significance cannot be overestimated. The same thought in another form, is developed by. the apostle in Romans 6:1-23, where the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus are shown to also include His people. The passage in Romans sets forth (I) the death to sin of the believer with the crucified Christ, and.(2) the consequent annulling of the power of sin over him through the impartation of the life of the resurrected Christ. The believer is thus made a full partaker of Christ’s righteousness. But Ephesians lifts (3) the believer with the ascended Christ to the heavenlies where he is made a partaker of Christ’s throne. In this enthronement, there is an anticipation of that future union in the government of the nations which h:- shall share with his Lord, ruling them with a rod of iron and breaking them in pieces like a potter’s vessel, (Revelation 2:26-27).