God’s Final Purpose
And 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 will have reached their fulfilment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
Ephesians 1:9,10
Paul has just noted that ‘we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding’ (1:8). Such ‘wisdom and understanding’ are possible because God ‘made known to us the mystery of his will’ (1:9). In classical Greek a mystery could mean secret rites or secret knowledge into which one was initiated, or it could just mean a secret of any kind. Regularly in the New Testament a ‘mystery’ is something which has formerly been secret in the purposes of God but has now been disclosed (Romans 16:25,26). For Paul the mystery was the way in which God through Christ brings humanity back to Himself, the way in which He brings into a restored unity the whole universe that has been disordered by human rebellion and sin (‘the mystery of his will … which he purposed in Christ’ [1:9]). The New Testament emphasises the fact that understanding God’s mystery depends on God’s will to reveal, and on human desire to receive God-given insight.
God’s making known the mystery of His will is ‘according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ’ (1:9). In Colossians 1:27 the aspect of God’s purpose now disclosed to His people related to their hope of glory, guaranteed by the reality of the indwelling Christ. Elsewhere Paul notes that the coming glory of God’s people is only part of His gracious purpose. All creation is to share in the fruits of Christ’s redemptive work, in ‘the glorious freedom of the children of God’ (Romans 8:21). So here in Ephesians, the universe has its place in God’s secret purpose, now revealed. In Colossians 1:20 God’s good pleasure was ‘to reconcile to himself all things’ through Christ. This is what Paul means here (his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ’) and will now explain.
What God has done and is doing in Christ is ‘to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment’ (1:10). The word the NIV translates ‘put into effect’ described either the administration of a household, or the responsibility of the one who administered it. Here it is the government of things for God’s people (the entire Church is God’s household and Jesus Christ is the chief administrator; under Him are His ministers called to be stewards or managers [1 Corinthians 4:1,2; 9:17; Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 4:10]) and for the entire universe as well. Jesus Christ orders everything in its full time. The word for ‘times’ is not chronos which means the passage of time in days and weeks but kairos which means a particular time (here a decisive moment in the purposes of God).
God’s purpose is ‘to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ’ (1:10). The word for ‘bring all things … together’ was used for gathering things together and presenting them as a whole. The Greek practice was to add up a sum of figures and put the total at the top. The word used here described this process. The only other New Testament use of the verb is Romans 13:9 where all the commandments of the Law’s second table are summed up in the statement to love our neighbour as our self.
A little later in 1:22 will state that God has made Jesus Christ ‘head over everything for the church’. So here he is saying that the summing up of the totality of everything takes place under the head. Already Christ is head of the body, the Church, but one day ‘all things’ will acknowledge His headship. There is at present continuing discord in the universe, but there is coming a day when the discord will cease and perfect unity will come into being under the headship of Christ.
God’s purpose affects ‘all things in heaven and on earth’ (1:10). Paul has in view the whole creation, spiritual and material. At the time of writing he was concerned with a heresy in Asia Minor which placed many spiritual powers in opposition to Christ and others as mediators between God and humanity. His answer to such teaching, explicit in Colossians and implicit here in Ephesians, is that there is one alone who can and will reconcile and unify all things – Jesus Christ.
And through the revelation of the anointed One, he unveiled his secret desire to us—the hidden mystery of His long-range plan, which He was delighted to implement from the very beginning of time.10 And this detailed plan will reign supreme through every period of time until the fulfilment of all the ages finally reaches its climax—when God makes all things new in all of heaven and earth through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:9,10 (The Passion Translation)