DIVINE ADMINISTRATION IN EPHESIANS (3)

DIVINE ADMINISTRATION IN EPHESIANS (3)

Ephesians 3

SMcC We should be helped in considering this chapter, in keeping in mind the Lord functioning as Man in heaven in regard to the great administration that is proceeding from there, in relation to the whole realm of the testimony, and having in mind the full scope of the truth. We shall see, as comes out in this chapter, the great place the assembly has, and the greatness of divine thoughts that are linked with the assembly in this particular setting. Paul, you will recall at Ephesus, stressed the fact that in his service and ministry among them, he had not shunned to declare to them the whole counsel of God, reminding us of the scope of the truth in relation to his service and ministry in Ephesus. Resident, as he was, three years among them, serving in patient and devoted service from house to house, showing how extensive his labours were, admonishing each one, as he says in Acts 20, showing how all the saints were in his mind in his service in that locality. And what we should keep before us in our inquiry this morning together, in a subject and dependent way, is his own distinctiveness first, then the way that the assembly is brought in in relation to the thought of the mystery, and then the greatness of the realm of mediatorial operations as in verses 14 to 19; then the great end in the assembly where the worship of God is particularly before us, God in the most extended way we can think of Him, involving Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and answering glory issuing to Him in the assembly, as viewed in the 21st verse. The position of Paul in the prison is to be noted, detained as he was through circumstances,

no doubt in view of the fulness of the truth coming out. We are thus reminded that circumstances in themselves do not necessarily hinder the outflow of divine thoughts; it may be as under the Lord’s hand they may be used in view of the fulness of the truth coming out. The latter part of the second chapter, particularly leaves our minds with an impression as to the greatness of the assembly as the family or the vessel that would be intelligent in regard to every divine thought. For the holy temple in the Lord, in its full result involving the world to come, would show what a vessel of intelligence the assembly is, as F.E.R. said many years ago, the library of the universe. She is the great light-bearer of the universe and the greatness of the present moment in the Gentile assembly, the habitation of God in Spirit, leads Paul to proceed with this great parenthesis in the 3rd chapter, where the greatness of his ministry is stressed.

IL What had you in mind in drawing attention to Paul’s labours in Acts 20?

SMcC I think it is to show us, that the matter of this coming into the truth in relation to the spiritual and heavenly side is not an easy matter. It involved much for Paul in his ministry and service - much in the way of arduous labour and toil, and yet so prospered by the Lord as it was.

CAI Have you in mind the Lord operating from His position in heaven in relation to Paul’s prisonership now?

SMcC Well, exactly, that it is all part of the functioning of this great administration which has its centre in heaven. The Spirit here in the assembly, commensurate with the position in heaven where Christ is as Man, functions in that position, in relation to the administration which involves the unfolding of all the truth in regard to the counsels of God in this dispensation.

PB So in the first chapter of Ephesians and the 2nd and 3rd you have a climax in relation to the assembly?

SMcC Yes, and it is to be noted that in each of the first three chapters they close with unique references to the assembly. All the chapters which are dealing with the doctrine of the truth, in regard to the purpose and counsels of God, end with unique references to the assembly. When we come to the hortatory part of the epistle, we do not get the same references to the assembly, but we specially get it where the doctrine of the truth is being opened out.

CSK In this 3rd chapter the apostle almost makes a second salutation. It is certainly different from the beginning of the first, now referring to himself as the one in bonds, or the prisoner of the Christ Jesus. Is there a suggestion in this that what peculiarly sets out the mystery here will be in conflict and in suffering?

SMcC I think so. It involves that the truth of the assembly from the standpoint that we are considering and looking at it, comes out of circumstances of pressure. Yet on the other hand they are circumstances in which the servant, as free from the arduous nature and character of his service, can take account of the full scope of the truth, and is used of the Lord to bring it to us.

EB I think our attention was drawn to the disposition on the part of the Lord Jesus when in the garden of Gethsemane, the way He disposed of the disciples, taking with Him the three, under circumstances of the greatest pressure. Is it to be wondered at that He disposes of His servants, although it may involve them in great pressure, so precious are the matters in hand?

SMcC So that the difference between chapters 3 and 4 has been often noted; in chapter 4 it is what Paul has accepted in his own soul in regard of the circumstances into which he has been brought, the prisoner in the Lord. But in chapter 3 he is viewing it from the standpoint of how he has been detained in view of the nations coming into the truth as to the mystery.

CFI Would the result be seen in verse 4, “Ye can understand my intelligence in the mystery of the Christ?” Is it a great thing that one has this intelligence?

SMcC Well, it is indeed. Whoever of us may not know too much about it, here is one man that can speak; as we have had pointed out before, his intelligence, “my intelligence in the mystery of the Christ,” a remarkable allusion of Paul’s to himself, not in any egotistic way, but as restfully understanding his part in the administration of the mystery.

TRH Does this administration from heaven largely take shape in Paul’s ministry?

SMcC In its fulness it does, but we must not leave out the twelve - the Lord reserved Paul for the completing of the word of God, involving the knowledge of the mystery - Christ and the assembly as uniquely presented in this epistle. This is peculiarly linked with the Pauline ministry.

ENC Might the activities of the Lord towards the assembly and through the assembly in the present time practically be described in this term, “the administration of the grace of God?”

SMcC Well, it shows, does it not, that in regard to Paul’s service in bringing out the great truth as to Christ and the assembly, that the administration of the grace of God entered into it. We might have put in there, had we been writing it, the administration of the glory of God; but the administration of the grace of God shows us what a dignified feature grace is, as entering into this matter in view of the revelation of the mystery.

FW Would you say, why the thought of the nations is made a good deal of in this chapter, “Prisoner … for you nations” and “they who are of the nations should be joint heirs” and then “announce among the nations?”

SMcC Well, I think it is to project on to our minds, on to our view, the greatness of the present time of faith, in which the Gentiles play such a large part. Just like Joseph exalted in Egypt, the great realm of administration that proceeds from him, so faith would understand the great position of Christ in heaven functioning as Man, the administration proceeding, bringing out the truth of Christ and the assembly, proceeding in relation to the nations, the Jews being brought in too, “joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus.” It enlarges our minds as to the immensity of the scope of this administration.

WJB Do verses 10 and 11 in the next chapter illustrate how the administration works?

SMcC Yes, we shall see that this afternoon; the way that administration enters into chapter 4 in a subsidiary way involving the gifts, so that the truth might be set on and enforced, in relation to the saints.

RGW The administration is a more extensive thought than the ministry.

SMcC The administration that we are alluding to, proceeding from Christ in heaven, goes right on into the millennium, and in result goes into eternity. It is concentrated at the present moment in the functioning of Christ, as Man in heaven, in relation to the great thought of the assembly; every prophetic line held up, as it were, to make way for the greatness of the assembly at the present moment.

WJB Is the great substance in administration, love?

SMcC It is. Love enters into administration, the operation of it, the working out of it, and so in Ephesians, right through from beginning to end the feature of love is stressed.

EWC Is this administration from heaven directed towards the formation and establishment of the mystery of the Christ?

SMcC It is operating towards our enlightenment in regard to the mystery. The mystery is disclosed, unveiled.

JBT The revelation was first of all given to Paul, then it says it was revealed to the prophets and apostles. Would you say a word?

SMcC It says in verse 5, “which in other generations has not been made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit, that they who are of the nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus.” Well, we can see how Paul makes full room for the ministry of the twelve. Peter, the apostle for the circumcision, is used by God to open the door for the Gentiles, for the nations to come in. He subserves, as it were, in this great administration proceeding from Christ in heaven - the great thought of the truth of the mystery being brought in through Paul.

CFI Are the features of the mystery given to us specifically in verse 6, “Joint heirs,” “joint body” and “joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus?”

SMcC Exactly. What a triumph that is of divine grace, that the nations should be brought in as joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings. How great that is, as you think of what has been surmounted and overcome in regard to the barriers.

WHW Does the thought of revelation in verse 3 indicate it is a matter that is in the hands of the Spirit and can only be understood spiritually?

SMcC Yes. Paul is alluding to the distinctiveness of his ministry, “that by revelation the mystery has been made known to me.” He did not receive it from men, his glad tidings was not from man, nor by man,

he received it directly from heaven, the Lord operating from heaven and the Spirit operating here below. We have to understand in that way the link between the Lord on high and the Spirit down here.

PB It speaks of the revelation of the mystery which has been given to Paul, and then he speaks of “ye can understand my intelligence in the mystery of the Christ,” and then in verse 7 “according to the gift of the grace of God given to me, according to the working of his power.” Is that all leading up to the administration of the mystery in relation to the unsearchable riches of the Christ?

SMcC It shows it is not a question of what is academic with Paul, “according to the working of his power,” power enters into the matter of the truth, as it is coming out here, “The gift of the grace of God given to me according to the working of his power.” Notice how he is amplifying the thought of grace in bringing in the truth of the mystery and what was distinctive to his own commission.

CAI So that the knowledge of the mystery in revelation given to him was one thing, but this grace, the making of it known in the power that was in that, was another thing.

SMcC So that the ministry involves what is authoritative from God, and involves divine power entering into the matter of it being made effective.

MRJM Is this the undoing in the apostle’s mind of all the previous Jewish teaching that he had, and the establishing of his heart in grace in the revelation of the mystery, consistent with it?

SMcC As if these two thoughts must be apprehended and understood in relation to the great truth of Christ and the assembly. The administration of the grace of God and “according to the gift of the grace of God given to me” - it seems to run alongside of the understanding and apprehension of the truth of the mystery.

CFI Why does Paul use this language in relation to himself “to me, less than the least of all saints”? How do you arrive at that, the unfolding of these great thoughts?

SMcC I think it is a remarkable reference to the kind of man that he was. He had been speaking in the verse immediately preceding, “according to the working of his power,” and then he proceeds to say “To me, less than the least of all saints,” showing what the man was substantially in regard to the truth; “to me, less than the least of all saints,” what lowliness was there; while he had the truth of the mystery officially. The commission was given to him in regard to Christ and the assembly, yet he is marked by what is so unofficial, and there must be something in it for us to learn.

CFI Is it that the understanding of the mystery and the great thoughts of God really laid hold of will work out on the line of reduction, as to ourselves?

SMcC That is what I would understand, that the more we progress in the truth as to Christ and the assembly, the more we will be marked by the spirit of Paul in the way he regards himself; on the one hand apprehending his dignity as a minister with a definite commission from Christ; on the other hand feeling the lowliness becoming to the position, recognising who he was and what he was.

RGC Does Peter emphasise that when he says He giveth grace to the humble?

SMcC He does. Mr. Taylor, many years ago, in the readings on Paul personally, and officially, in Galatians, made the remark, speaking of Paul going up to Jerusalem and making acquaintance with Peter, and the informal unofficial way in which he proceeded in meeting the crisis then existent, as to being dexterous enough to avoid what is official. I think that is one of the great needs in all our localities, spiritual dexterity, in avoiding what is official. So that things just do not get into the hands of one or two officially; things have to be done, and persons have to do them, but we should use spiritual dexterity to avoid officialism.

PB The unsearchable riches of the Christ are seen in one like that.

SMcC Well, it shows the greatness of his ministry, what he had in mind, and our thoughts need to be enlarged more and more as to the greatness of the truth in Paul’s ministry.

CAI So that if he is less than the least of all saints, on the other hand he had such a sense of the greatness of the saints?

SMcC Well, exactly. That is his own apprehension in regard to himself. We would not make him less than the least of all saints; that is what he has arrived at in his soul in regard of the magnitude of the administration, working out from Christ in heaven, in which he has part, the magnitude of the thing is affecting him, so that he speaks of himself thus, but we would not make him that.

WJB Would it be that also he had a sense of what he had been as it shows in 1 Corinthians 15? “Not fit to be called apostle, because I have persecuted the assembly of God.”

SMcC It would seem he never lost that. Right through to the end it seemed to remain with him - the magnitude of the grace shown towards him as he took account of what had marked him as an insolent and overbearing man in his unconverted days.

WJB So that although he had the fullest sense of forgiveness, it is remarkable that he still retained an impression of his past that he kept all his days.

SMcC Exactly, and you feel that he is a model for us in that regard, so that we should learn from such a one as Paul in regard to the way that he refers to himself here, never losing sight of the authoritative commission that he had, not in any sense lowering its dignity, but as to himself, personally, constantly maintained with him, the spirit of lowliness, as he thought of what grace had done in relation to him.

CSK Did Paul’s own ministry work out in himself, first of all, as he put it out amongst the saints? I was thinking as this administration of grace moves in our souls we will esteem the saints greater, will we not?

SMcC Well, I think that is the lesson for us all. There are a great many of us here that have part in a little way (not that we would make much of it, any of us, because our part after all is very little when we think of Paul and the others), in the working out of the truth, and he is a model for us, especially for those that serve and minister, that officialism should be avoided as much as possible, and there should be a concern to set out the truth, not merely from an academic standpoint, but by being exponents of it.

CSK Did Paul have in view the last verse of this chapter; is that what he was working toward?

SMcC He did.

WHW Is it a little bit like John the Baptist? In the first chapter of John, he says, “Voice of one crying in the wilderness.” He was no more than that.

SMcC John the Baptist, in that way, in John’s gospel, is a model for those that serve. He came out from God, “there was a man sent from God, his name John,” and that is his credentials, that is his moral authority, that he came from God, and that is the authority of any minister, that he comes out from God; it is moral authority, based on his relations with God.

WJB Those that are with God will discern it, will they not?

SMcC They will, so that there is an affinity between the minister and those ministered to in discerning where ministry is coming from.

AMcKH Is it a consciousness too of being sent? Paul speaks of himself as the apostle of Jesus Christ by God’s will.

SMcC We were referring to that somewhere along the way - the importance of this matter of being sent, especially with those that serve, that we do not go of our own volition. We do not go because the brethren ask us to go. We may get lots of invitations, but it is a question of where the Lord wants us to go, where He would have us to go, and being sent by Him.

GHR Would the thought of the chapter in 2nd Corinthians that we had in Wellington, where it says that death works in us, and life in you, fit in with this?

SMcC Yes. So in verse 13 he says, “Wherefore I beseech you not to faint through my tribulations for you, which is your glory,” a corresponding reference to what we have in 2 Corinthians 4 - death working in the apostles and the ministers, and life in the saints. Tribulation working in the minister here and glory in the saints.

WJB Not to faint - not because of their tribulation, but because of his tribulation.

SMcC It shows how they were thinking of him, and Paul is taking account of it, giving them this word.

MRJM I was going to refer to Acts 20, where he says, “But I make no account of my life as dear to myself, so that I finish my course, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the glad tidings of the grace of God.” I thought of the apostle, knowing that the Holy Spirit testified in every city bonds and tribulations awaited him. I wondered if that is the way divine Persons (you spoke of circumstances at the beginning), harness us as it were, and keep us in a position of humility and dependence, which gives power to the ministry.

SMcC And the matter of Paul being detained in the prison, the Lord ordered it in view of the opening out of all the truth in its fulness, in relation to the mystery. Oftentimes in regard to service, if the service becomes onerous, and the toil arduous in it, it may detract from the truth in its fulness coming out. It is important that we should see that; it is essential as the Lord said, “Come ye ... apart ... and rest a little.”

WHW Is it interesting to see that this “less than the least of all saints” is set over against “the unsearchable riches of Christ?”

SMcC I think so. It would seem as though the magnitude of what has been committed to him seems to make him so insignificant, alongside the greatness of the saints as the objects of the administration.

FW Would you say a word in relation to that remark, as to verse 10, “in order that now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies might be made known through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God?”

SMcC Well, now he is moving to bring on to our view the greatness of the assembly in the working out of this administration, that the all-various wisdom of God is to be made known through the assembly. The heavenly intelligences looking on and taking account of the dignity of the administration working out through the assembly.

FW What does that mean? We might think of it as administration working out amongst ourselves. What is the force of the heavenly intelligences looking on?

SMcC Well, we know they are interested in what is transpiring in the assembly, they do not have part in it, they form another class by themselves, but they are looking on, just as in 1 Corinthians 11, the angels are looking on in regard to the position of headship, taking account of the man and the woman; so here they are looking on, taking account of the administration as it works out in the assembly.

CSK Does it show the greatness of the assembly’s place in that way in administration with Christ? We might have thought that we would learn through them but they learn through the assembly.

SMcC It brings out the quality of what is in the assembly, the greatness of what is working out in this family, unique as it is, in the universe of God.

CFI Would you help us as to the way Paul speaks of God here in the section we are now in, “hidden throughout the ages in God” and “the all-various wisdom of God, according to the purpose of the ages” or the note says “eternal purpose;” is purpose properly connected with God? I was thinking of chapter 1 where the Father is prominent, “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us.” Would this give a fuller presentation of the thought of purpose as centred in God?

SMcC Well, it does, and it would save us from saying that counsel and purpose are only linked with the Father, which is not the full truth. While Ephesians 1 enlarges on counsel and purpose as linked with the Father, it is all anticipative. The name of Father by which He is referred to there is the name by which He is known in the economy of love and grace, and the full thought of counsel and purpose is linked with God in this way, so that the hymn that we have in the book is quite in keeping with the truth, “The Persons of the Godhead In wondrous concord planned.” Some have a difficulty about that hymn. Why should they have it, in the light of this that we have here?

CFI So that chapter 1 would have in mind the working out of counsel operatively, would it?

SMcC Yes, involving the administration that we are speaking of, and the economy in which the Father is supreme.

TRH Does purpose stand in relation to God and does the working of it out in counsel stand in relation to the economy?

SMcC Well, let us read the 1st chapter, verse 11. It says, “in him, in whom we have also obtained an inheritance, being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will.” The purpose has to do with the originating of the matter, the divine will entering in, while counsel has to do with the way it works out - “works all things according to the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory.”

CSK Would you say why in Acts 20 in speaking to the Ephesian elders he says, “for I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsel of God?”

SMcC Well, I think he is stressing the whole realm of the truth. He does not say the whole purpose of God, but the whole counsel of God, because the thought of richness and wisdom enters into those counsels.

WJB Is the thought of counsel connected with the effectuation of the purpose?

SMcC Exactly, as it says, “works all things.” That is, the thing is working out according to the counsel of His own will - a remarkable thing.

WJB Counsel takes account of conditions in the effectuation of His purpose.

SMcC The will of man does not enter into it. The responsibility of man does not enter into that side, it is the counsel of His own will; God knowing as He would the end from the beginning, having in mind all that would come in, and taking account of how things would work out.

CAI Do you regard it as difficult to limit to the Father this expression in the 1st chapter, “him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will?”

SMcC Well, of course, the Father is the great subject there, but then we know that creation was through the instrumentality of the Son, but it is God who created all things. He that built all things is God, although we know that as to the Son, the creation exists through His instrumentality and also exists as His creature, but that does not preclude the thought that it was God who built all things. There is only one God, there are not three Gods; God is One.

WJB It says in Job “by his spirit the heavens are adorned.”

SMcC Exactly, and then the Lord says in John’s gospel, “my Father worketh hitherto and I work,” so that all three divine Persons are involved in the matter of creation.

WHW I was wondering if verse 14, the apostle’s prayer, does not help in relation to our brother’s question.

SMcC Well, it does, and what flows out from that; the mediatorial operations, beginning with the Father who puts His own impress upon every family. That shows us the supremacy of the Father, the great thought of the Father’s supremacy; then the Spirit coming into view and then the Christ in regard to the operative side. All that would help us as to how the counsels are made effective in the saints.

ENC Do the 14th and 15th verses bring in how the assembly stands in relation to the Father?

SMcC Exactly. It is the Father who puts the impress on every family. But what is to be noted here is that while in the 14th and 15th verses Paul alludes to the various families, as he proceeds he causes every family to recede from our view, in order that our thoughts might be concentrated on the family of families - the assembly.

AMcKH Is that why it is hidden throughout the ages - the one pearl, the uniqueness?

SMcC Yes, the uniqueness of this family in which the truth of the mystery is working out.

CFI That would be emphasized in verse 16 “in order that he may give you,” the emphasis on the “you.”

SMcC That is it. He refers to all the families in verse 15, but then in verse 16 he says, “in order that he may give you.” That is, the saints of the assembly, “according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man;” no other family knows the Spirit or has the Spirit in the way in which the assembly has.

GP Why is it that these wonderful thoughts are given to us in the form of prayer?

SMcC To impress us that when we come to the higher and heavenly levels of the truth, we must resort to this kind of thing. It is needed in order that we might come into the truth.

LI Does the ministry only take us so far in that way; however well the servant may serve us, it requires this matter of prayer to bring us into the full divine thoughts?

SMcC So that the state of the saints comes up here, in regard to this prayer. The matter of inward strengthening, as it says, “that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts.” We are not yet in heaven, we are in the great range of these mediatorial operations, by faith apprehending the immensity of the scope of them; Christ in heaven, yet dwelling in our hearts by faith, the Spirit operating within, in inwardness,

strengthening us in relation to the greatness of the matter on hand.

WHW Is this principle not illustrated in the 17th John, the Lord in addressing the Father is able to say much more than He ever said in speaking to the disciples?

SMcC Yes, exactly.

GRD Would verse 12 have some bearing on this prayer, “boldness and access in confidence by the faith of him?”

SMcC Yes, it is a remarkable touch in the body of the chapter. You notice he is referring to Christ Jesus our Lord “which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access in confidence by the faith of him;” what has been alluded to in regard to John 17 would help us in relation to this verse. No doubt the disciples would be affected by the access of Christ to the Father, the glory and the dignity of it. And it is in Christ that we have this boldness and access in confidence by the faith of Him.

RGW Would you say a little more as to the Christ dwelling in our hearts, is it a separate matter from the indwelling of the Spirit in us?

SMcC It is the Christ, personally. The great divine Operator in relation to this vast domain with which is linked the fulness of God, the outshining of God; that we are as near to God as we ever could be as creatures, in the presence, as we have often heard, of infinitude, yet not lost in it, but through the service of the Spirit and the steadying influence of Christ, held in it in relation to all its glory.

AEP Would you say a word as to verse 19, in connection with the thought “be filled even to all the fulness of God?” Just what does that involve?

SMcC The revelation of God in Christ, the out-shining of God in Christ. It says “that ye may be filled to all the fulness of God.” It is objective. It is not that we are filled into it, we are filled to it. This epistle has full and matured thoughts in mind; and in the outshining of God in Christ, we have an answer in the assembly in relation to it, in that the saints are filled to all the fulness of God.

PB This links up with 1 Corinthians 15, God all in all, would it? As filled to it?

SMcC Well, it would link in with it. I think we need constantly to keep in mind the largeness of divine thoughts, that we should not be narrowed in our outlook in relation to the saints of the assembly. We should keep in mind what divine Persons have in mind in relation to all the saints.

RGC Is it linked up with Ezekiel 47, “waters to swim in”? We enjoy these divine thoughts with all the saints?

SMcC Yes, they are essential, you might say, to the enjoyment of these thoughts that we are speaking of.

AMcKH Do you mean the saints of other families? All the saints?

SMcC It would refer exclusively to the assembly. The saints of the assembly, as it says, “that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints.” That is, the saints of the assembly, “what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge.” The saints of the assembly are brought into this great position of advantage, the nearest family to God, as it were, in the universe of God.

PB I am not clear as to what I think you said “that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God,” being objective. Would you open that up?

SMcC Well, we are filled to it. It is the answer in the saints to the outshining of God in Christ. The fulness of God, does not refer to God in the abstract conditions of deity, but refers to God as shining out in Christ and the saints are filled to it. Showing what an answer there is in the present family that is the subject of divine operations.

CSK Is that the answer to the revelation that has been given?

SMcC Yes.

EB You referred to Christ as the divine Operator. Would you say more about that?

SMcC Well, I think we want to understand Him more in that light, that He is the One to whom we owe things. We have been speaking about His functioning in heaven; while the Lord has sat down at the right hand of the greatness in the heavens. He is functioning as Man in regard to this great immense administration which is centring in the assembly at the present time, and it is through His operations that we come into the truth.

CSK Is this that is now before us in the end of this chapter, to fit us for the administration, so that we might be in it in intelligence, and in power and love?

SMcC And that all the working out of the administration has in mind the dignity of the worship of God, the service of God in the assembly; so it is “But to him.” Now notice that that “him” comes in after “all the fulness of God,” “But to him” involves Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God in the three Persons as revealed. The full revelation of God involves Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And it says, “But to him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us.” That is, it is not just academic, it is substantial, working in us, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen.”