25. The Pleasure of the Pro-Thesis

Covering Ephesians 1:

I am titling Ephesians Chapter 1 as “The Pleasure of the Pro-Thesis.” I have also called it “The Jesus Secret II.” A majority of the verses in Ephesians are Gospel Verses, with 18 bullet points among 23 verses in Chapter 1. Yet I hope to get it all into five lessons.

The Ruling Verse of Ephesians as a whole is actually 2:22, Being built together as the House of God. The Pro-Thesis points towards this House, God’s purpose for it, and Ruling Verse 2 is actually inside the overall concept of God needing a House in which to dwell – The Form for God through Jesus. I hope to present Ephesians with little negative. At the same time, Romans and Colossians have already set the stage. To get Ephesians right, however, we need a brief outline. 

God and the Church. In 1 Corinthians, Paul sets out how the gathering together as the Church, drinking of the same Spirit, becomes the body of Christ, that is, the form for Jesus having returned, with Love at its heart, caring for one another. In 2 Corinthians, Paul explores how God and human weakness actually fit together.

Paul then has to prove two things, first how his extraordinary claims are actually out from Scripture, and how we are actually made justly innocent and devoted to God. He does that through Galatians and the first part of Romans. Yet the core of all of it is our union with Christ, that Jesus shares Himself entirely with each one of us. Having established our just innocence from Scripture, Paul then takes union with Jesus to our being symmorphosed with His image.

Why God Wants a Form. In Colossians, Paul takes us from Christ inside each of us to Christ inside our gathering together, outlining the great value to God of our care for one another. Thus we see that Paul’s driving intent is to show us why God wants a created Form for Himself, a Form that fits Him in all ways, inside of creation. And through all, Paul weaves this background wonder, that we share with Jesus in ALL.

Ephesians is the deepest study in the Bible of the Church, the Form for God through Jesus, the what and how and why. We go through this study of Chapter 1 with two purposes, first to fill in the Gospel Comments, but second for us as well, to understand more clearly the Pro-Thesis and how it connects directly with our being the image of God.

Defining “Pro-Thesis.” Ephesians Chapter 1 is one of several versions of “the Pro-Thesis,” God’s set-forth purpose, together with John 1 & 17, as well as a number of shorter lines from elsewhere. I retained the Greek word “Pro-Thesis” because, although God’s Purpose is the meaning, it is much more than any human or limited “purpose.” A “thesis” is a written declaration, a blueprint or pattern, set in place before anything begins, set out for all to know clearly what the final outcome must be.

God’s Pro-Thesis is Christ Jesus, our Pattern, now written in our hearts, and the final outcome is many just like Him, calling God into visibility (the Ekenosis) as the Church, which in Ephesians is referenced as “the praise of His Glory.”

The Pleasure of the Pro-Thesis. I have a text book on my shelf that was part of a course I took in Canada titled, The Pleasure of the Crown. Without elaborating, it means that nothing can happen in Canada without the permission of its owner, King Charles III. King Charles then has his steward in Canada, the Governor General, through whose “permission” the government rules.

Paul uses the word for “good pleasure” twice in Ephesians 1, and by it he means that the Pro-Thesis is an expression of WHAT GOD WANTS, and it’s final outcome is the only thing that gives our Creator pleasure. And we know that our confident faith that God is telling us the Truth is what pleases God. Our purpose, then, in considering the Pro-Thesis, is the Good Pleasure of God.

Expanding Ruling Verse 1. (Chapter 1) • 3 We bless and speak well of the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the One who has blessed and spoken well concerning us with every spiritual speaking of goodness and blessing in the heavenly realms inside of Christ. • 4 In exactly the same way that He selected us inside of Jesus separate from the founding and structure of the cosmos, so we are devoted, pure, and blameless inside the seeing and presence of Jesus, inside all the sphere of love.

The word, “Pro-Thesis,” does not appear until verses 9 & 11, and its full expression is found in verse 23. Nonetheless, Paul is building that one thought throughout. More than that, we can now see that the entirety of Ephesians 1 is a massive expansion of Ruling Verse 1, which Paul had written in Romans about four years before.

The Flow of Good Speaking. Notice the reciprocity of speaking, from us to God and from God to us. This is a living and continual communication. Now, I must say this early on. Ephesians 1 is filled with incredible and critical points regarding God and us together, BUT the point Paul is making that organizes all of this is not found until the end of Chapter 2. When we see God’s purpose of a House in which to dwell, everything then fits.

Ruling Verse 1: God alone set His hand upon us; God alone saves us and makes us pure and devoted to Himself. We come, every moment, out from the speaking of God inside Himself towards us through Jesus.

Speak Christ: Even as God speaks all goodness in the heavenly realms into us right now, so we speak the same in return, giving ourselves to the Father with thanksgiving.

Into Himself. • 5 He also pro-determined us as being placed and set forth as sons through Jesus Christ and into Himself [Father God], down to the finest details of the good pleasure of His desire, • 6 purposely into the praise of the glory, the inherent and intrinsic value, of His grace, with which God has freely graced us inside of the Beloved One.

Wow! There is a lot of stuff in this one. The root of the meaning of this long sentence is “the good pleasure of His desire.” Coming before this root meaning is what God did and following after is why He did it. In John 17, Jesus said that we belonged to God before He gave us to Jesus. Thus God, in sending us out from Himself, then brings us back into Himself through Jesus, that is, through knowing Him in Person and in experience.

Clothed with a Living Grace. “Pro-Determined” is past tense, yet, because it’s God, it’s always active now. The word “set forth as sons” is typically translated adoption, but remember, that John, James, and Peter all wrote that we are born sons, conceived of God. For that reason, I see this term – sons/tithemi – as a declaration, rather than what we mean by adoption. This would be the same as God saying, “This is My beloved Son.”

We will come to the word “image” later, but verse 6 is a description of what God means by His image. Glory and image are closely related concepts, two ways of seeing – what God looks like when He shows up in created form. Then Grace is clearly not something static, but a living thing, the living quality of giving from God to us and us to God as expressed in verse 3.

To Be Graced. Giving, that is, Grace, is the essence and meaning of God-Life and thus the living fabric of the place in which God dwells. God brought us into Himself through Jesus to make of us His Dwelling, the place of His Glory and Grace.

Life and Definition: The Good Pleasure of God’s Desire is the Source and meaning of all that is Life. It describes the whole purpose of everything – What God WANTS. We are sons inside of God. To be “graced” is to be clothed with the Glory of Christ as the image of what God is, for God gives.

Ruling Verse 1: The God who chose us for Himself and set the boundaries of our lives, has already clothed us with His own Glory, so that, as one body together, we might be His image in creation, the expression of the Giving that is God.

From Redemption to Our Story of Self. • 7 Inside of that Beloved One, we possess redemption and full deliverance [from our old selves] through His blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, the elimination of all consciousness of any falling away, by all the details of His abundant and wealthy grace • 8 which He [Father God] actively abounds into us inside of all wisdom and practical gut-level heart thinking.

These two verses show the direct relationship between our redemption, already accomplished, and our present thinking. These verses also show that the purpose of removing our offenses is NOT to remove our offenses, but because they are filling the space meant for something else. The key word in verse 8 is “into,” not “upon.” God Himself actively enters into us as our heart-thinking, as our story of self.

Jesus Carries Us into Knowing God. Verse 8 takes the good speaking of God, every spiritual speaking of goodness and blessing in the heavenly realms, and makes it God’s own words becoming our story of self. This is the meaning of the gift of God to us, that is, Grace.

Ruling Verse 6: Jesus alone carries us inside Himself, and inside His redeeming actions, not only into no consciousness of sins or any separation from God, but even more, into the full meaning of knowing a God who is Grace.

Speak Christ: Verse 8 takes the good speaking of God, “every spiritual speaking of goodness and blessing in the heavenly realms,” and makes it God’s own words becoming our story of self. This is the meaning of the gift of God to us, that is, Grace, that our human souls are shaped by God’s own thoughts. We speak Christ that we might know our Father.

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus. • 9 He has already made known to us the mystery, the hidden secret of His desire, according to His good pleasure which He purposed and set forth inside of Jesus, • 10 for the stewardship over and management of this full and complete season of opportunity; this secret of bringing and gathering together ALL into Christ, all upon the heavens and all upon the earth inside of Him.

“Purposed and set forth” is protithémi, the verb form of Pro-Thesis, Pro-Thesis in action. This is why we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Pro-Thesis of God, for the secret of God’s Desire, His Good Pleasure, is hidden inside of Him. Verse 10 is a big deal for us right now, for we are stewards, not “over” the Church, but over the final season of God’s opportunity to reveal Himself, the purpose of the Church.

Stewardship. Think of the main steward in Downton Abby. His job was not just to make sure all the work of all the servants flowed smoothly, but to ensure also that it all served the immediate needs of the Lord dwelling in the House. Verse 10 is the secret of the construction of God’s House; stewardship is the meaning of Ephesians through 2 Timothy.

Covenant & Kingdom: The Covenant is the purpose of God set forth, written inside of Jesus inside of us, and the Kingdom is the fulfilment of that purpose in bringing all into Christ, into the knowledge of God.

The Form for God through Jesus: The “season of opportunity” is for God, that God would have a Home in which to dwell inside of creation. God has made us to be as stewards over His opportunity to be known by all.

Ruling Verse 1 Again. • 11 Inside this same Jesus, we also were lot-cast, given place by divine choice, having already been pro-determined according to God’s Pro-Thesis, His set-forth purpose, Christ. Christ Jesus, then, is energeoing all down to the finest details of the counsel and deliberate wisdom arising out from God’s desire; • 12 which desire is that we who actively hope and expect inside of Christ [as firstfruits] might enter into the praise and the full outward expression of His glory, His intrinsic value and His ability to accomplish.

This is absolutely Ruling Verse 1, the same words expressed in a slightly different flow. It is clear that any future study of Romans 8:28-30 must connect it with Ephesians 1. Again, as in verses 5-6, Paul goes from what God did with us to why He did it, His DESIRE – His House, God made visible.

Energeoing All. A large difference between the JSV and the Calvinist translations is that I have expanded the prepositions to their full meaning, thus making them literal and substantial. In a bit we’ll look at “INTO His praise and glory,” but consider this line. – “Christ Jesus is energeoing all.” I put the word “all” into the same category, that is, literal.

God’s purpose, the full expression of His glory, is that we be made just like the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself is actively ENERGEOING every part of this purpose, down to its finest details, inside of us. This is forever; forever, we are made just like Jesus BECAUSE Jesus is actively causing us to be so, in every detail. Yet we know from Ruling Verse 1 that we are part of that active causation, for it is actually “synergeoing,” that is, praise.

We Finally Understand Clearly. Before this study, I have never understood Ephesians 1, other than as Paul’s expressive exuberance. Now we see that we DO understand it well, for it is an expansion of Romans 8:28-30.

Ruling Verse 1: Verses 11-12 are clearly an expression of Romans 8:28-30. God’s Desire is that we share the same form with Jesus, that is, symmorphy. Yet Paul is adding into that equation the assertion that Jesus actively energeoes all; Jesus actively makes us to be just like Himself.

Ruling Verse 1: Verse 12 then shows us the working of image and glory, the visibility of God we share with Jesus, which God also calls His “Praise” (see Isaiah 62:7).

The Form for God through Jesus: The fulfillment of God’s Pro-Thesis is the Church, Ephesians 1:23 & 2:22, “Being built together as a dwelling place of God.”

Into Being Praise. • 13 Inside of Jesus, you also, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and having actively believed, you were sealed inside of Him, owned by and owning, with the Devoted Spirit of Promise; • 14 who is the down-payment, the first instalment of our inheritance, proceeding into the full release of the complete and abundant possession or ownership, into being the praise, the full outward expression of His glory, intrinsic value and His ability to accomplish.

Again, the key word is “into” in verse 14. God does not do something to us separate from Himself for His own “praise.” Rather, He brings us INTO being that very praise, which is the Glory, the image and revelation of God, which is His House, which is the Church. The Church, many together as one, is the praise and glory of God.

A Praise in All the Earth. God is maligned throughout the whole world, yet God’s purpose for the Church is that all would see us and give glory to God, that He is wondrously good. – That Jerusalem might be a praise in all the earth.

Ruling Verse 10: Jesus said, “Know that you are inside of Me and I inside of you.” This knowing is the seal of God upon us, that we belong utterly to Him.

Ruling Verse 3: It is the Spirit of Devotion that causes us to know Jesus Sent into us that we might know the Father. It is also the Spirit that gives life to our dying bodies in the full release of Rivers of Spirit flowing out from us.

The Form for God through Jesus: Paul is moving directly towards the dwelling place of God, the Church. “That Jerusalem might be a praise in all the earth” (Isaiah 62:7).

Seeing What Is Already True. • 17 I pray that the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Father of all glory and value, might give you the Spirit of wisdom and unveiling, that is, the Spirit that takes off the cover that hides [what is] inside of you as you acknowledge Him. • 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart be enlightened so that you may perceive what is the hope of His calling and summons, and what are the riches of His glory and value regarding His inheritance found inside the devoted ones.

Christians are FILLED with an energeoing Jesus, and when they gather together, that gathering is FILLED with God at Home, expressing Himself by His Good Pleasure. But we can’t see any of that unless God by His Spirit takes the cover from off our eyes. And that cover is removed as we acknowledge Jesus, as we speak what God says we are.

For Father’s Sake. The hope of our calling is that Jesus makes us to be just like Himself (see 1 John 3:2-3). BUT – Jesus does not make us to be just like Himself so that we can “be like Jesus.” He does so for Father’s sake, that God might have a Form in which to dwell inside of creation. The Church is God’s inheritance.

Covenant: The hope of our calling is that Jesus makes us to be just like Himself (see 1 John 3:2-3 & 2 Corinthians 3:18).

Kingdom: The Apocalypse is that moment when the cover is removed from our eyes, and we see that Jesus is already True inside of us and inside His Church. We pray for that unveiling, even now. We know it by acknowledging Jesus.

The Form for God through Jesus: Jesus makes us like Himself for Father’s sake, that God might have a Form in which to dwell inside of creation. The Church is God’s inheritance.

Outright Exuberance. • 19 and what is the surpassing and beyond-all greatness of His power into us. For we are actively believing out from the Energeia of His mighty and absolute strength • 20 which He energeoed inside of Christ, having awakened and raised Him out from the dead, and having seated Him inside of His right hand inside the heavenly realms 21 high above every other source or influence, authority, power or domination and over every name being named, not only inside this age, but also inside the age about to come.

Now Paul is really getting carried away in exuberance. You see, Paul will add even more meaning to these proclamations in Ephesians 2:6, that we are inside of this same Jesus, sharing all of these things with Him. The Faith of the Son of God given to us is a greater Energeia than all the power of every kind found in the entire spiritual-physical universe.

Energeia Encompassing All. Notice that our faith comes out from the Energeia of His mighty strength. This line is then parallel with 2 Corinthians 12, “My power in your weakness.” This conjunction of power and weakness is actually Ruling Verse 2.

Ruling Verse 2: God wants us to KNOW the surpassing greatness of His power into us, that is, “filled with all the fulness of God.” The faith by which we receive the Energeia of His mighty strength, His power in our weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9), comes out from that same Energeia. In short, Christ lives inside of our hearts through faith.

Definition: Jesus defines us; we are made only by His pattern. The Faith of the Son of God given to us is a greater Energeia than all the power of every kind found in the entire spiritual-physical universe. Faith sees Jesus alone, encompassing all.

It’s All about the Church. • 22 And God put all under the feet of Jesus and gave Him to be head, as the One who unites, for the sake of all the Church, of all her gathering together. • 23 For the Church is His body, the fullness and full meaning of Christ who fills full all inside of all, Jesus filling with Himself everything in everyone.

It’s all about the gathering together, not “the rapture” or “going to” heaven, but every local assembly as the dwelling place of God, Christian Communities arising everywhere, the New Jerusalem, the revelation of the Father. It’s all about the gathering together. Verse 23 is the culmination of the Pro-Thesis, the point to which everything in Chapter 1 is driving, yet not as the ultimate purpose. Jesus is SENT into us, His Church, to prepare a Place for God, that God might FILL His Temple.

The Fulness of Christ. The Church, by definition, is the Fulness of Christ. The Apocalypse is when we see that it is already True. Jesus as the one who unites is the Covenant. As the Covenant, Jesus FILLS All things in All members and in all togetherness.

Covenant: Jesus as the one who unites (the meaning of “the Head”) is the Covenant. As the Covenant, Jesus FILLS All things in each individual member and in every gathering together. To be connected with God is to be connected with one another. To know Jesus is to know one another.

The Form for God through Jesus: The Church, by definition, is the Fulness of Christ, in every local gathering as well as the Church universal. The Church is Jesus’ body, His True form to all heaven-earth. Jesus walks the earth today in all that He is, that God might fill His House.

Image. When I started this lesson, I thought that Ephesians 1 was Paul being Paul in an exuberant mess. That remains true, of course, but having placed the key phrases into the Flow of Gospel Word, we can see such strong definition of Purpose. The truth is, the word Paul is clearly describing all through Ephesians 1, he did not use here, though he did use it in Romans 8:29 and in the key verse of Colossians 3:10-11. That word is “image.” – “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).

And this is why my claim that Nicene theology is based on Genesis 3:1-5, that the devil defines all things, is proven! Nothing TWISTS and PERVERTS the Good Pleasure of God’s Desire more than the anti-claim, “you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” – Being like God is “of the devil.”

From Pro-Thesis to Image and Glory. Why does God want a created form inside heaven-earth? It’s all about image, the definition of God held by created things that cannot, of themselves, perceive God. And when all created things SEE GOD, what do they see? They see Christians, believers inside of Jesus, loving one another with pure hearts fervently, the image and revelation of the All-Sustaining One, His Praise in all the earth. And everything needed for us to know such a Glorious Purpose is written already inside the Pro-Thesis of God.

By placing Ephesians 2:20 as the organizing point, we now see what everything means and how it fits together. Yet Ephesians 1 is a profound expansion of Romans 8:28-30. Ephesians 1 shows us the dynamic movement from Pro-Thesis through Pro-Determination to Image and Glory.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, we thank You that You have given us the Spirit that opens our eyes to see Jesus even as we acknowledge Him as all. We thank You that You have made us to perceive the great hope that we are made just like the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, You have caused us to see Your Glory in the Church, Your Beloved, for we know the surpassing power You are now sending through us to all who call upon Your name.

“Father, it is Your mighty and absolute strength out from which comes even our faith in You, for You have raised us out from death inside of Jesus and have placed us with Him as Your authority now inside all the work of Your hands. Father, we know that You have given us Your Spirit energeoing in us all Your Desire into the full release of Life.

“Father, inside the mighty name of Jesus, even as we share His authority, we call You now into the knowing of Your Church. Clothe all whom You have given to Jesus in this hour with Your knowledge, with the Glory of the Lord Jesus. Father, open the eyes of the blind, cause our brothers and sisters to see Jesus in all power inside of them and inside of one another. Father, show them now that they also are just like the Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit we share together.

“And inside of Jesus, we cast down all that opposes, all that hinders the knowledge of Your mighty and absolute strength flowing into all who turn to You right now. Father, we require Jerusalem of You, that she should be a praise in all the earth, that all would look upon Your people and know that You are God. Father, You have answered us.”