Lesson
9
Review:
5. 1:8
"which (GRACE) He lavished upon us."
great translation to express the relationship of God and His provision
for the believer.
- this abundance or overflow of
grace is directed towards us!
* So we have a statement then
that He has lavished upon us, through grace not only redemption,
forgiveness; But also He has lavished
on us wisdom and insight!
6. The revelation of
the mystery 1:8b-10
- "in all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His
will"
- "wisdom" = sofi,a; knowledge that sees the issues, the heart of
things; speaks of the skill of
application;
- "insight" = fro,nhsij; speaks of a way of
thinking, a mindset; an attitude;
- This wisdom and insight is
another of the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ!
When one's life is steeped in God's word, that one is given
wisdom and is equipped with the discernment to face whatever comes in life.
* Point here is that in grace
what we're given is wisdom and insight so that we might grasp a part of the
divine purpose for the ages namely that part indicated by "the
mystery" of which we have a place.
As used here and throughout Eph. and Col. musterion (musth,rion) takes on a special meaning; It refers to something
previously concealed but now revealed.
- This mystery vs:9 says, He
made known to us the mystery of His will
These verses 3:3, 4, 9; 5:32; 6:19; Col 1:26,27
point us to the meaning or use of mystery as referring to truths,
doctrine that is only true of the Church age;
specifically the unique TRUTHS of
our relationship as believers to Christ!
* But is that the primary focus
here in 1:9-10?
The objective noted here is to bring God's plan to its
ultimate goal and completeness in Him:
read vs:9-10.
* These verses answer at least in
part why God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ!
#1 Because it is what He has purposed for His benefit;
#2 How? As we respond to His grace; grow and mature by
renewing our mind to His, and living out these truths; we are exploiting these
blessings; we are doing what? Bringing
Him glory! vs:12
1:10 The Goal
begins eivj; pointing to the direction of history!
direction of His plan and purpose;
"toward an
administration suitable to the fullness of the
times"
There's an important word in the first phrase here in vs:10
-
the word oivkonomi,a means to manage a household, to arrange, to
order, to plan
1. Some Observations on administrations or
dispensations; oivkonomi,a
a. DEFINITION
1. A dispensation is a period of human history
expressed in terms of divine revelation, that is, from God's perspective.
2. Therefore dispensations are
the divine interpretation of
history. God's plan related to
time.
b. IMPORTANCE OF
1. Apart from understanding "dispensations",
the concept of "economies and
ages", the history of man from the divine
perspective, the Bible cannot be understood as a consistent cohesive whole. [hodgepodge]
2. The alternative is to
allegorize large portions of scripture to resolve apparent contradictions in
the Bible which clearly are intended to be taken literally as normal statements
of fact.
3. The only interpretation of
scripture that will consistently interpret the "ages", the periods of
history or "dispensations"
with harmony throughout the scripture is one that adheres to a consistent, literal, grammatical and
historical hermeneutic.
* Can we identify from the text that there are administrations or dispensations? If so, more than 1?