To Bring Unity To All Things

Ephesians 1:8b-10 (NIV 2011) With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

It was the purpose of God from the beginning to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. This is a major theme in both Ephesians and Colossians. Sunday, my lesson will ask the questions, “What does this mean?” and “What does it matter to us?”

What does this mean? These verses presuppose a fractured cosmos — a universe that has been broken by sin and disobedience to God. This brokenness has separated God from human beings and human beings from one another. However, the brokenness does not end there. The very cosmos itself has been affected and has been diverted from God’s original purpose and subverted by evil. This brokenness has affected the heavenly realm as well—fallen angels, demons, principalities, and powers of evil. Even God’s heavenly family has been fractured as these beings have worked to thwart his plan.

Unity in this text is a dynamic equivalence translation of a complex theological concept. The word in Greek is avnakefalaio,w (anakephalai ah o). It means to sum up like adding a column of numbers or summarize in the sense of getting to the point of an argument. Paul is affirming that Jesus is the answer, the focal point, and goal of God’s eternal purpose. In Jesus, God is bringing everything to its resolution. God and humanity will be reconciled. Humans with be united with one another. The righteous will be saved and the wicked subjugated and vanquished. The entire cosmos will be renewed and released from its bondage to corruption.

What does this matter to us? Well obviously a fractured cosmos affects us—especially in our relationships with God, one another, and our subjection to death and disease in this present world. However, we can be reconciled to God and one another through Christ and inherit a renewed heaven and earth. I’ll say more in my lesson.

Joey