Inheritance
EPHESIANS 1:11-12
WE ALL KNOW WHAT “INHERITANCE” MEANS. We don’t really need to look it up. For example, an English dictionary I have on my computer says that an inheritance is a : (materially) the act of inheriting property b : (immaterially) the reception of genetic qualities by transmission from parent to offspring c : the acquisition of a possession, condition, or trait from past generations… 3 a : TRADITION b : a valuable possession that is a common heritage from history. It is what we think it is…
I FIRST TITLED THIS BLOG “OUR INHERITANCE IN CHRIST.” According to the NAS, which I most often use, along with the NKJ, that’s a good, appropriate title. Listen to the NAS’s translation of Ephesians11-12 (I am including the “In Him” from the end of v. 10)…
NAS Ephesians 1:10b-12 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
BUT AFTER STUDYING THIS PASSAGE ALL WEEK, I changed the title to simply “Inheritance.” The reason has to do with how the Greek word for “inheritance” is translated. The debate centers around the question…
DO BELIEVERS RECEIVE THE INHERITANCE, OR ARE BELIEVERS THEMSELVES the inheritance?…
THERE ARE ACTUALLY 4 VIEWS that scholars debate as to the most accurate interpretation of the Greek text in v. 11. In looking at all four in some detail, I believe only two are legitimate concerning this verse…
IN THE FIRST VIEW, THE BELIEVER RECEIVES THE INHERITANCE. “In this view, the believer receives a portion or share of what God has, and this the clause could be translated ‘we were made partakers of the inheritance’ or ‘we were assigned or appointed a portion or inheritance.” – Hoehner…
THIS FIRST VIEW IS REFLECTED IN THE NAS we looked at a moment ago. That translation is reflected in almost all of our English translations. That is the main reason I thought I was on solid ground when I first titled this blog “Our Inheritance in Christ.” But the more I studied, the more I changed my mind…
THE ESV AGREES WITH THE NAS…
ESV Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
SUPPORTING AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE FIRST VIEW IS NUMBERS 26:55…
NAS Numbers 26:55 “But the land shall be divided by lot. They shall receive their inheritance according to the names of the tribes of their fathers.
BUT NOT ONLY DID THE NATION OF ISRAEL RECEIVE AN INHERITANCE, they also were God’s inheritance, as we’ll see in a moment when I give you support for the second view…
INTERESTINGLY, INEXPLICABLY, THE NIV DOES NOT TRANSLATE THE TERM “Inheritance” in their interpretation of the v.11…
NIV Ephesians 1:11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
IN THE SECOND VIEW, THE BELIEVER IS VIEWED AS GOD’S INHERITANCE… “This view could be translated ‘we were made a heritage (of God).” – Hoehner…
THIS SECOND VIEW IS STATED WELL IN THE NET BIBLE…
NET Ephesians 1:11 In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will
“THE STRENGTH OF THIS VIEW IS THAT IT HAS O.T. PRECEDENCE. In the O.T. book of Deuteronomy, Israel is several times called God’s possession or heritage.” – Hoehner. Here are a few examples…
NAS Deuteronomy 4:20 “But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.
THE HEBREW WORD FOR “POSSESSION” IS הלָ חֲ נ (nach-lah). It means possession, property, or inheritance…
NAS Deuteronomy 7:6 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
THE NKJ RATHER POETICALLY READS…
NKJ Deuteronomy 7:6 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
AND FINALLY, DEUTERONOMY 32:9…
NAS Deuteronomy 32:9 “For the LORD’s portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
THE O.T. HAS MANY VERSES THAT SUPPORT THE FACT THAT GOD’S PEOPLE are His inheritance…
THE GREEK WORD FOR “HAVING OBTAINED AN INHERITANCE” IS κληρόω (klay-ra-o)… It can be argued that its meaning in v. 11 is appoint by lot, or as a passive be appointed by lot.en. But some render the Greek clause in whom our lot is cast = in whom we have our destiny, suggesting a total involvement in the fortunes of Christ. – [BDAG]…
BUT κληρόω (klay-ra-o) CAN ALSO MEAN obtain by lot, mid., also simply receive, have τὶ something. Ephesians 1:11 appears to be the most probable rendering for this passive. The point being that the nations are also included. That possible point is for another day…
AGAIN, DO BELIEVERS RECEIVE THE INHERITANCE, OR are believers themselves the inheritance?…
MY CONCLUSION AFTER WRESTLING WITH THE QUESTION ALL WEEK IS it is both. In this context I believe it can be shown that Paul is talking about “inheritance” from both the divine perspective and the human perspective. I honestly do not see how you can rule out either…
“BOTH OF THE TRANSLATIONS ARE LEGITIMATE grammatically and theologically. Throughout Scripture believers are spoken of as belonging to God, and He is spoken of as belonging to them. The N.T speaks of our being in Christ and of His being in us, of our being in the Spirit and of His being in us.” – MacArthur…
CONSIDER WHAT PAUL SAYS IN 1 CORINTHIANS 6:17…
NAS 1 Corinthians 6:17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
“THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF THIS, OF COURSE, IS THAT, because we are so intimately identified with Christ, our lives should be identified with His life in every way.” – MacArthur…
NAS 1 John 2:6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
“WE ARE TO LOVE AS HE LOVED, HELP AS HE HELPED, care as He cared, share as He shared, and sacrifice our own interests and welfare for the sake of others just as He did. Like our Lord, we are in the world to lose our lives for others.” – MacArthur…
THAT IS RADICAL CHRISTIANITY; the only kind of Christianity, in my opinion, there should ever be. If Jesus is who He says He is: Lord and Savior, and if He does for us in salvation what the Bible says He does, then how can anyone who claims to be a Christian be anything else than radical in his or her living of the Christian life?…
AT THIS POINT IN MY STUDY OF EPHESIANS I BELIEVE A GOOD TITLE for the book of Ephesians would be something along the lines of “Knowing God and Living Accordingly.” Knowing accurately who God is, I believe, should make us want to live lives of radical faith…
“THIS BEING MADE AN INHERITANCE (or receiving an inheritance) is explained by the words ‘having been predestined’ (to such a destiny). The word ‘predestined’ is the Greek word προορίζω (prah-hor-eed-zo). Which as we learned in v. 5 means to mark out the boundaries or limits beforehand. When God predestined us before the foundation of the world He marked out the boundaries of our lives so that no matter what courses our lives took, eventually, ultimately, we would be conformed into the image of Christ.” – Wuest/TAR…
ALL THIS, PAUL SAYS, WAS ACCORDING TO GOD’S PURPOSE AND WILL…
NAS Ephesians 1:11 … having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
EVERYTHING IN EPHESIANS 1 – AND EVERYTHING, PERIOD – IS IN ACCORDANCE with God’s sovereign will…
LISTEN AGAIN TO VV. 4-5…
NAS Ephesians 1:4-5 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
GOD DOES EVERYTHING FOR US EXCEPT BELIEVE, and even that could be said to come from God. Salvation is a gift from God…
NAS Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
“THE COUNSEL OF HIS WILL” IS REFERENCE TO THE DECREE, which you will remember we studied several weeks back. This phrase could be translated “the purpose or deliberation of His will.” God did not act arbitrarily in creating the world and choosing believers. Rather, “He acted intelligently and by deliberation, not without reason, but for specific reasons, hidden as those reasons may be from us, yet entirely proper to the Highest Mind and Most Perfect Moral Nature.” – Expositors (from Wuest)…
NOW VERSE 12 OF EPHESIANS 1…
NAS Ephesians 1:12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
THE “WE WHO WERE THE FIRST TO HOPE IN CHRIST” almost certainly refers to “the common hope of all believers.” – Hoehner… (Yet, inexplicably, Hoehner contradicts himself in his commentary of Ephesians in the B.K.C.: “The relative clause, ‘who were the first to hope in Christ,’ further substantiates that vv. 11-12 refer to Jewish believers as opposed to Gentile believers because the Jews did precede the Gentiles chronologically in the faith [Acts 1:8; 13:46; Rom 1:16].”)…
WE HAVE BOTH BEEN GIVEN AN INHERITANCE OR have become an inheritance in order that we should be to the praise of his glory. I think the Greek grammar shows that this is a purpose statement. We have received an inheritance and been made an inheritance for the purpose of being “to the praise of His glory”…
“TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY”… Isn’t that a beautiful phrase? Paul, you may remember, used a similar phrase in v. 6…
NAS Ephesians 1:5-6 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace,
“ALL OF THE ACTIONS OF THE FATHER HAVE AS THEIR GOAL PRAISE to God.” –Hoehner. That’s the goal: praise of God. Everything in the universe will ultimately praise God…
NAS Psalm 48:10 As is Thy name, O God, So is Thy praise to the ends of the earth;
“THE WORDS ‘FOR THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY’ SERVE AS A REFRAIN used after a description of each Person of the Trinity.” – Hoehner (B.K.C.). In v. 6, as we just saw, the phrase refrained the work of the Father; in v. 12, it refrains the work of the Son; and, as we shall see in next week’s blog, in v. 14, it refrains the work of the Holy Spirit…
NAS Ephesians 1:14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
BRIEFLY, “PRAISE” MEANS “APPROVAL, APPLAUSE.” When we praise God we are in essence boasting about the great things God has done…
WE DO THIS WITH OUR LIPS, the things we say, the songs we sing…
NAS Psalm 63:3 Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise Thee.
IN THE N.T., WE ARE TOLD PLAINLY THAT PRAISE IS THE “FRUIT OF OUR LIPS”…
NAS Hebrews 13:15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks (or acknowledgement) to His name.
“TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY”… “In the final analysis, God’s working out of His purpose serves His own glorification and the believing community – that is us today – exists to further that end. The praise of God’s glory is the goal of the church’s whole existence, not merely its religious worship.” – Lincoln…
“GOD’S PURPOSE IN THE O.T. IN CHOOSING ISRAEL AS HIS INHERITANCE had been expressed in similar terms. The notion of God’s acting for the sake of His name and His glory was an integral part of O.T. thinking.” – Lincoln…
NAS Isaiah 43:21 “The people whom I formed for Myself, Will declare My praise.
NAS Ezekiel 20:44 “Then you will know that I am the LORD when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord God.'”
LISTEN TO PAUL’S WORDS FROM V. 3 AGAIN AS WE CLOSE…
NAS Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
“OUR INHERITANCE WITH CHRIST IS YET ANOTHER OF THE AMAZING and magnificent blessings with which our Father has blessed us in Christ. In Jesus Christ, believers inherit every promise God has ever made.” – MacArthur…
NAS 2 Corinthians 1:20 For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes;
AND THESE CONFIRMING WORDS FROM PETER…
NAS 2 Peter 1:3-4 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature (that’s the “Inheritance” Paul is talking about – TAR), having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
GOD HAS BLESSED US WITH EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING! Notice the Scripture says “spiritual” blessing. God does not promise to make us materially rich or uncompromisingly physically healthy…
OUR EVERY CONCEIVABLE SPIRITUAL NEED IS MET by God’s gracious provision in accordance with His divine promises… All these amazing actions of God that we have been studying these past months from chapter 1 “are not only the basis for every spiritual blessing but also are the spiritual blessings themselves. Is it any wonder that God is to be praised!” – Hoehner…
THE APPLICATION OF TODAY’S PASSAGE TO OUR LIVES? I suggest it is to live accordingly. Live according to the blessings we have been given. Paul says just this in chapter 4, verse 1…
NAS Ephesians 4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
WE SHOULD “WALK IN THE SAME MANNER AS OUR LORD WALKED.” And God has graciously given us the spiritual means to do just that, no matter our circumstances…
WE HAVE JUST HEARD ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL MESSAGE from the great book of Ephesians. The question now, I think you’ll agree, is what will we do about it?…
THE CHRISTLIKE WALK OF FAITH BEGINS ONE STEP AT A TIME, surrendering to God’s will and the power of the Holy Spirit, drawing upon the strength of the Spirit within us, not trusting in ourselves or any other thing, but only in God, trusting in His lovingkindness, one step at a time, directed by God’s Word; one step at a time, on our way to heaven…
“TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY”…
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
