4.3 Energeia
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
We have established a profound implication regarding the Lord Jesus Christ as the Bond of Symmorphy, the One who continuously enables the Father and us to share the same form.
When Jesus walked this earth in our same state, He said, “It is the Father who does the work” (John 14). When we are speaking of the work of God going forth from us into creation, we are all dependent on the Holy Spirit. But when we are speaking of the work inside of us, continuously establishing agreement between God and us as the two of us together fully inhabit the same form, then we now say, “It is Christ Jesus who does the work.”
Jesus must do all that Salvation means in all at the same time.
Through Jesus. Our union with God the Father is only through the Lord Jesus Christ. God exists in union only with Jesus. It is Jesus who exists, then, in union with us.
But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool (Hebrews 10:12-13). – Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and sustaining all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3).
The Right Hand of God. Remember that Jesus exists now in the form of a life-giving Spirit and that, since all of God is HERE, that means that the right hand of God is HERE, at whatever point “here” might be. Although “the right hand of God” is a role, yet geographically, the “right hand of God” must be in all possible locations. Nonetheless, God elsewhere is of no use to us. It is only knowing God inside of us that God becomes our life. And the place in us where Jesus is seated is our hearts, thus our hearts must be the throne of God, the very throne of heaven.
Now, notice that Jesus is filled with the expectation of hope that His enemies will be made His footstool. BUT, in all present tense, He sustains all things by the word of His power.
Our Connection. Sustaining all things. We must dissect this word “all things.” The term includes every individual thing that exists, both in its material or spirit form as well as in its function, and including every type of Godly relationship. The most important thing Jesus SUSTAINS is our specific Covenant/Symmorphic connection with God.
And so we are seeing another huge question we must ask regarding this Covenant. We say that we are filled with all the fullness of God and that it is Jesus who connects us together with this God who fills us full. We say that we walk in a present living Symmorphy with God.
What Are These Connections? What are the connections between us and Father? How do they work? How far do the connections go? Where are these connections found in the Covenant?
Saying that we live as one Pperson together with the Father is a HUGE deal; most would call such an idea “blasphemy.” We just like being with Father in all ways. And since we know that God is always meek and lowly of Heart, seeing others as better than Himself, we have no concern about “becoming self-exalted like the devil.” (How ridiculous.)
Let’s underline a significant difference between a Symmorphic Covenant and all other covenants or contracts. A Symmorphic Covenant is itself alive, a living, breathing entity.
A Living Covenant. More than that, when we say “Christ Jesus,” we are speaking of a very complex Being. And so, this Living Covenant is alive in us, binding us as one Pperson together with Father in all ways on the one hand. On the other hand, this same Living Covenant lives as all of us together, the Church, the fullness of Christ who fills all in all. And so we can conclude that this same Jesus living as all of us together means that we together are that Living Covenant through which God relates with all creation.
Now, that last point is humongous, for how can God be known by His creation before the Living Covenant is complete? The thing that makes this Covenant complete is our confidence.
What Is Life? We have raised many more lines of inquiry, questions whose answers we wait upon God to receive. But this reality, that our Connection with God is a living Covenant, a Covenant that is alive and personal, means that we include in our investigation the nature and meaning of the thing we have covenanted with God to obtain – LIFE!
What is life?
Now, we could say that life is Jesus except that we have no idea what that means. But consider a body, five minutes before death and five minutes after. What happened? What signifies that the life has gone out of that body? The absence of energeia, of life action.
An Active Force. Thus we conclude that life is an active force. And thus we could say that Jesus-Sent is the energeia of life.
Now, I am using the Greek word energeia, rather than the English word energy, because energy contains too many connotations that are not in our picture. And to energize is not quite the same thing as the Greek verb energeo. Let me define energeia, not just as what it meant to the Greeks, but as I am envisioning it in the present moment.
But first the Greek meaning. Energeia: working, action, productive work. Divine power in action. We are looking at Jesus in His active role as LIFE inside of us.
Effective Energeia. Let’s bring in some verses first before we attempt a full, present definition of energeia.
And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the energeia of the might of His strength which He energeoed in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:19-20). (Note that the verb form, energeo, includes a meaning similar to an electrical current energizing a wire, and thus, shining out from a light bulb.)
I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective energeia of His power (Ephesians 3:7).
Implications of Life. Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective energeia by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:16). As I am filling in these verses in this context of a Living Covenant, the implications of life and reality that I am seeing are beyond measure. We must have the WORDS God speaks.
Symmorphosed with His glorious body, according to the energeia by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3:21). Notice how the right hand of God and subdue all things and energeia are often together – resurrection life.
The Energeia of God. That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His energeia which energeoes in me mightily (Colossians 1:28b-29). Now that places Living Covenant all through our beings.
Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through the faith of the energeia of God, who raised Him from the dead (Colossians 2:12). There you go – and not “faith in,” but “the faith of.”
Now, let’s bring in a few more Scriptures containing the verb energeo, energeia in action. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who energeoes all in all (1 Corinthians 12:6).
Energeoing You. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, energeoing you in the endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation (2 Corinthians 1:6). I am so glad this section of 2 Corinthians 1 is brought into our picture; we will look more closely at it in the next session, the Pro-Thesis of God.
Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Galatians 3:5). This is very badly translated. Indeed, in constant repetition, the translators break the words that are God in us in order to push their Calvinist ideology.
Critical to Our Knowing. Therefore, He who lavishly supplies the Spirit to you and energeoes power IN you, is it out from the works of law or out from the hearing with faith? (Galatians 3:5 from the Greek).
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power, but only faith energeoing through love (Galatians 5:6). – In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being pro-determined according to the pro-thesis of Him who energeoes all things according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11).
Something inside me is telling me that all of these energeia/energeo verses are critical to our knowing of the life force that is our Living Covenant with God.
Joining Will and Will. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power energeoing in us (Ephesians 3:20).
Fully accomplish your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who energeoes in you both to will and to energeo for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12b-13). And there we have come full circle to see this energeia that is the Living Lord Jesus enabling Father just being Himself through us, the energeia that joins will and Will, the ability to subdue all things, including all our own present decisions, to Himself. This is Jesus’ task, and He is very good at His job.
A Function of Jesus. And now we can attempt a definition of energeia.
First, energeia is a specific function or action of the Lord Jesus Christ inside those who belong to Him. This specific function is related to, but slightly different from sustaining Word.
Second, energeia first belongs to God Himself and becomes fully visible to creation first as the resurrection of Jesus’ body out from the dead. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26). We apply this principle also to energeia.
One verse, a verse of the Covenant, ties power (the outward effects of energeia) together with life – who has come… according to the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:16).
Our Confidence. Let’s take that a bit further. Energeia is the continuous all-here-now active function of Christ in us that results in the more visible demonstration that we call power in one view and life in another view.
Look back at Ephesians 1:19-20 to see all three of these things tied together; in fact, we want Paul’s actual meaning. The exceeding greatness of His power penetrating with purpose into us who believe, down to the finest details of the energeia of the dominion of His ability to subdue which He energeoed in Christ when He raised Him out from the dead.
Our confidence is rooted in enormous and specific power, power that penetrates into us with all purpose.
Subduing All. Energeia is that part of God’s being that subdues all to Himself, yet that energeia God continuously extends first to Jesus, and then through Jesus to us.
We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Since love is how God subdues all, then we see that energeia is describing love; that is, energeia is a quality or characteristic of love, and of faith through love. Faith energeoing through love has power. Thus when we read Paul’s definition of God/Love in 1 Corinthians 13, we understand every specific description to be filled with energeia and to be energeoing upon and within all who are thus loved.
Energeia Flowing Out. Then we see this same energeia of God, come into us through Jesus, the energeia that continuously raises life from the dead, as a function of power and life actively working in us. Everything Paul did, he did out from this same energeia working in him. More than that, Paul expected that the pressures through which he walked would transfer as energeia to endure into those whom he loved.
Energeia is the life force in us that enables us in all of God’s doing through us. Energeia as a life force transfers from each one of us to each other of us as a connected Body. Energeia goes out from each one of us to build up the Body.
Through Knowing Jesus. Energeia, energeoing in us, is that measure through which all the overwhelming abundance of God who is always MORE than enough is released into our knowledge and experience. To the extent that we know the energeia that is Jesus, energeoing in us as life and power, and energeoing out from us to become the same energeia in one another, to that extent we know God and His power.
Thus we never think of Jesus as static or motionless. Sitting at the right hand of God describes the quality of extension, that ALL that is God comes to us THROUGH our knowing of Jesus. Energeia is Jesus sent continuously out from God-in-us to and through our knowing.
God Working. Somehow, as I look at the verses quoted in this lesson, I am left with the impression that I have hardly scratched the surface. When I started this lesson, the title was different and I had no thought of the Greek word, energeia. My intent was to talk about Jesus in His actions as the Connector. Thus this lesson joins the many times in my life when I have taken a word before God that I knew I could not grasp and said to Him, “Oh, Father, cause this word to become my own heart, that I might know it.”
But the next session is “Pro-Thesis,” and I have come to see that God wants to work, and He wants to make things together with other people working with Him.
Energeia is God working. Energeia is us working with God.