mind of Christ

Predestination

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians included a list of spiritual blessings that belong to God’s adopted children. Speaking to the saints who were in Ephesus, Paul said that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world and, “In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:4-6). Paul stated that God’s plan of salvation was formulated before the world was conceived and that its express purpose was to build a family for Jesus. In order to accomplish this, God predestined everyone that he intended to save for adoption into his family. The Greek word proorizo (pro-or-id-zo) is derived from the words “pro (G4253), before, and horizo (G3724), to determine. To decide or determine beforehand, to foreordain, to predetermine…Proorizo is used to declare God’s eternal decrees of both the objects and goal of his plan of salvation (Romans 8:29, 30), of the glorious benefits that will come from that salvation (1 Corinthians 2:7), and of our adoption and inheritance as sons of God (Ephesians 1:5, 11)” (G4309). Paul outlined God’s process of salvation in his letter to the Romans. Paul said, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30). Paul indicated that predestination was based on God’s foreknowledge. God’s foreknowledge “is not simply that which God was aware of prior to a certain point. Rather, it is presented as that which God gave prior consent to, that which received his favorable or special recognition. Hence, this term is reserved for those matters which God favorably, deliberately and freely chose and ordained” (G4267).

Paul explained to the Ephesians that the reason why we were adopted into God’s family was so that we could receive an inheritance and that the Holy Spirit guarantees that we will acquire possession of it. Paul wrote:

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11-14)

The Greek word that is translated obtained an inheritance in Ephesians 1:11 kleroo (klay-roˊ-o) means “to allot…In the passive, to obtain an inheritance, as through the casting of lots” (G2820).

Each of the twelve tribes of Israel were assigned an allotment of property after they entered the Promised Land. It says in Joshua 16:1-3, “The allotment of the people of Joseph went from the Jordan by Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, into the wilderness, going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel. Then going from Bethel to Luz, it passes along to Ataroth, the territory of the Archites. Then it goes down westward to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the territory of Lower Beth-horon, then to Gezer, and it ends at the sea.” The Hebrew word goral (go-ralˊ), which is translated allotment in Joshua 16:1, is similar to the Greek word kleroo. Goral means “a pebble, i.e. a lot (small stones being used for that purpose); (figurative) a portion or destiny (as if determined by lot)” (H1486). The correlation between the Israelites’ allotment of property and the inheritance that God has promised to all who have faith in Jesus Christ is God’s ownership of the world and everything else that was created by him out of nothing in the beginning (Genesis 1:1). God the Father determined that ownership of his creation would be transferred to his Son and shared among all who believed in him. Jesus was born King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2), Israel’s Messiah (John 1:41), but he died as the Savior of the World (1 John 4:14).

Genesis 12:1-3 records God’s call of Abraham. Just as Jesus’ disciples were called to follow him, God told Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” “This promise to Abraham is one of the most significant passages in the entire Bible. It points ultimately to the redemption of the whole world. Abraham’s family became a divinely appointed channel through which blessing would come to all men. This promise was formalized in a covenant (Genesis 15:17-21) and was repeated four additional times: twice to Abraham (Genesis 17:6-8; 22:16-18), once to Isaac (Genesis 26:3, 4), and once to Jacob (Genesis 28:13, 14). This promise is emphasized in the New Testament in Acts 3:25, Romans 4:13, Galatians 3:8, 29 (where it is called “the gospel”), and Ephesians 2:12. Its importance to the Gentiles is evident, for it is clearly stated that Gentiles who were ‘separated from’ and ‘strangers to the covenants of promise’ have been brought to it by the blood of Christ (Galatians 3:8; Ephesians 2:12, 13)” (note on Genesis 12:1-3).

Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians that we “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (Ephesians 1:13-14). The Greek word that is translated sealed, sphragizo (sfrag-idˊ-zo) means “to stamp (with a signet or private mark) for security or preservation” (G4972). Sphragizo is derived from the word sphragis (sfrag-eceˊ) which means “a signet (as fencing in or protecting from misappropriation)” (G4973). The boundaries that were designated for the allotment of the people of Joseph were like a signet in that they made it possible for the people of Joseph to claim their territory and to protect their land from being misappropriated. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit indicates that believers’ bodies, souls, and spirits belong to God and cannot be possessed by Satan or his demons. Paul indicated that the Holy Spirit guarantees our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. The Greek word that Paul used that is translated guarantee, arrhabon (ar-hrab-ohnˊ) means “a pledge, i.e. part of the purchase money or property given in advance as security for the rest” (G728). One way of looking at the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is that He gives us a small taste of what we will experience in our resurrected bodies, the inheritance that we will acquire possession of after we die.

One of the main points that God communicated to the Israelites was that they had to take possession of their inheritance. God told Joshua, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess” (Joshua 13:1). In order to take possession of their inheritance, the Israelites had to actually occupy the land by driving out its previous tenants and possessing it in their place (H3423). This example suggests that the guarantee of the Holy Spirit does not mean that we will inherit everything that we are entitled to, but only that we will receive whatever inheritance we have taken possession of in this life.

Joshua 18:2-6 tells us, “There remained among the people of Israel seven tribes whose inheritance had not yet been apportioned. So Joshua said to the people of Israel, ‘How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers had given you? Provide three men from each tribe, and I will send them out that they may set out and go up and down the land. They shall write a description of it with a view to the inheritances, and then come to me. They shall divide it into seven portions. Judah shall continue in his territory on the south, and the house of Joseph continue in their territory on the north. And you shall describe the land in seven divisions and bring the descriptions here to me. And I will cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.’” The Hebrew word that is translated put off, râphâh (raw-fawˊ) is “a verb meaning to become slack, to relax, to cease, to desist, to become discouraged, to become disheartened, to become weak, to become feeble, to let drop, to discourage, to leave alone, to let go, to forsake, to abandon, to be lazy” (H7503). All of these are symptoms of spiritual sickness. When God made the bitter water sweet at Marah, he referred to himself as “the LORD, your healer” (Exodus 15:26). The name healer is another form of the word râphâh (raw-fawˊ) which “means to heal, a restoring to normal, an act which God typically performs (Genesis 20:17)” (H7495).

Jesus healed many of the people that he came in contact with. When Jesus sent out his twelve apostles to minister to the people of Israel, Luke 9:1-6 tells us:

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

The connection between preaching the gospel and healing may be that the Holy Spirit’s power always has a twofold effect; he saves and as a result, heals those he comes in contact with.

Paul explained in his first letter to the Corinthians that God’s predestination of those who would be adopted into his family involved the impartation of a secret and hidden wisdom. Paul said:

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:6-16)

Paul talked about things being revealed to us through the Spirit and said that “no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11). When believers receive the Holy Spirit, it is as if we have been given a spiritual treasure map that directs us to our eternal inheritance. We are able to discover spiritual truths because the Holy Spirit reveals them to us. Paul concluded with the statement, “’For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Paul equated the Holy Spirit with the mind of Christ and indicated that spiritual discernment is impossible without it.

God’s eternal decrees of both the objects and goal of his plan of salvation may be embedded in the Holy Spirit’s DNA so to speak in that he is hard wired to accomplish a specific outcome. Paul indicated that believers are predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son (Romans 8:29). Being conformed to the image of God’s Son has to do with assimilation, which means that we have to take in and understand fully Jesus’ life and teaching through the Bible. Paul expressed the essential features of having the mind of Christ in Christ’s example of humility. Paul said in his letter to the Philippians:

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:4-8)

The key feature of Jesus’ life on earth was obedience to the will of his Father. Jesus told his disciples, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:38-40).

God’s predestination of believers for adoption as sons and Jesus’ death on the cross worked together with the sealing of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the end result of saving mankind. The joint effort that was required was an example of how and why God exists in three persons, but operates according to a single will or objective. Shortly before his death, Jesus prayed for all believers to become one, just as he and his father were one (John 17:20-23). Jesus used the phrase become perfectly one to describe the kind of union he was expecting. One of the Greek words that was used, teleioo (tel-i-oˊ-o) means “to complete, make perfect by reaching the intended goal” (G5048). This word suggests that our will is also a factor in God’s plan of salvation and that our decision to follow Christ is just as important as God’s predestination with regards to being adopted into his family. When Jesus saw a paralyzed man lying by the pool of Bethesda, he asked him, “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6). The man gave the excuse that he had no one to put him into the pool when the water was stirred and then, “Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed and walk’” (John 5:7-8).

Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost clearly stated that it was God’s will for Jesus to die for the sins of the world, but God was able to raise him up afterward because death had no power over him. Peter said, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:22-24). The Greek word that is translated definite in Acts 2:23, horizo (hor-idˊ-zo) is one of the root words of proorizo, the word that is translated predestined in Ephesians 1:5, 11 and Romans 8:29-30. Horizo is derived from the word horion (horˊ-ee-on) which specifies “(a bound or limit); a boundary-line, i.e. (by implication) a frontier (region)…the border of a country or district” (G3725). Peter depicted Jesus’ crucifixion as combination of God’s predestination and man’s free will. Even though Jesus was boxed in so to speak by his destiny to go to the cross, the responsibility for his crucifixion fell on the shoulders of mankind.

Paul linked together the issues of man’s predestination and his free-will in his message to the men of Athens. Paul said of God:

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:26-31)

Paul implied in his message to the men of Athens that the determination of the boundaries of every nation were a part of God’s plan of salvation and that they were meant to facilitate the outcome of predestination.

Paul indicated that God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world and that Jesus was appointed as the instrument of God’s judgment (Acts 17:31). Paul also said that God has given assurance to all by raising Jesus from the dead. The Greek word that is translated assurance, pistis (pisˊ-tis) is “a technical term indicative of the means of appropriating what God in Christ has for man, resulting in the transformation of man’s character and way of life…especially reliance upon Christ for salvation” (G4102). Pistis is also translated as belief and faith. “Pistis is conviction of the truth of anything, belief; of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith and joined with it. It is related to God with the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ; to Christ with a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God” (G4102, SEEC). Essentially, what God did when he raised Jesus from the dead was give everyone something specific to believe about him that was related to their own salvation. God raised Jesus from the dead; therefore, I am able to believe that God will raise me from the dead, if I am adopted into his family.

God’s supernatural ability

It’s not unusual for everything that God does to be considered a miracle because he is a supernatural being. On the other hand, humans have a limited amount of strength and ability that they can rely on and therefore do not typically do extraordinary things on a regular basis. The 40 years that the Israelites spent in the desert after they were delivered from slavery in Egypt demonstrated that it is possible for people to live miraculous lives by relying on God’s power to accomplish things that they cannot do themselves. Most of the miracles that happened in the desert were a result of God working through Moses to perform supernaturally feats (Exodus 15:25; 17:6, 11), but the construction of the tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant was kept was a collective effort that showed God’s supernatural ability could be distributed among the people in such a way that everyone could play a part in getting the job done. Moses started by asking everyone to “take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twisted linen; goats’ hair, tanned rams’ skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece” (Exodus 35 5-9). Basically, everything that was needed to construct the tabernacle and its contents had to come from the Israelite’s personal belongings. Moses asked everyone who had a generous heart to give up their possessions so that their material wealth could be used to benefit the LORD’s work.

A generous heart is not something that comes naturally to human beings. For the most part, the Israelites were selfish with their possession just like most people are today, but Exodus 35:20-29 tells us:

Then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord. And every one who possessed blue or purple or scarlet yarns or fine linen or goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or goatskins brought them. Everyone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s contribution. And every one who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work brought it. And every skillful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. And the leaders brought onyx stones and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastpiece, and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.

The freewill offering to the Lord was characterized by spontaneity. “This term can denote that state of being which allows a person to offer a gift or a favour to someone else without any thought of return or payback. The favour is not given out of any obligation owed by the giver; rather, it is the result of an overflow from an abundance within the heart” (H5071).

In addition to the materials that were needed for the tabernacle to be constructed, there was a need for laborers as well. Moses asked the people to give up their time and talent too. He said, “Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded” (Exodus 35:10). Exodus 36:2-7 states:

And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the LORD had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.

Moses indicated that the Lord had put skill into the minds of every craftsman, “everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work” (Exodus 36:2). The Hebrew word that is translated stirred up, nacah (naw-saw’) “is used of the undertaking of the responsibilities for sins of others by substitution or representation” (H5375). This seems to suggest that the people whose hearts were being stirred up were believers that wanted to participate in the process of salvation that God was enacting.

Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians was focused on his ministry of spreading the gospel which God had entrusted to him by way of supernatural revelation (Ephesians 3:3). Paul said, “Therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose hart. But we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:1-4). Paul emphasized the fact that God’s word was able to affect the minds of believers because it was the truth. The Biblical definition of truth is something that is real, it conforms to the nature and reality of things, therefore it is credible and not to be rejected (G227). An open statement is an expression of truth that makes something visible or observable to you that might otherwise go unnoticed (G5321). Paul’s mission of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles was necessary because it was a mystery that they were “fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:6). Paul said that he had “commended himself to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:2), meaning that he was leaving it up to God to convict and convince the people that he was preaching to that his gospel message was indeed the truth.

The conscience enables people to see things from God’s perspective. It is a “faculty of the soul which distinguishes between right and wrong and prompts one to choose the former and avoid the latter” (G4893). Paul said that his gospel message was veiled to those who were perishing because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Paul referred to Satan as the god of this world because everyone that has not accepted Jesus as their Savior is under his dominion. Paul told the Ephesians that “you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:1-3). Paul encouraged the Ephesian believers to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might…that you might be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 5:10-11) and identified the word of God as a sword that can be used offensively to defeat Satan’s army (Ephesians 5:17). The Greek word that is translated strong, endunamoo (en-doo-nam-o’) means “to empower” and is used metaphorically of the mind being strengthened by God (G1743). Endunamoo is derived from the Greek words en and dunamoo. Dunamoo comes from the Greek word dunamis (doo’-nam-is) which refers specifically to God’s ability to do miracles (G1411).

God’s supernatural ability is transferred to believers, at least in part, through our minds and in particular through our understanding of his word. Paul told the believers in Corinth that he had not tampered with God’s word (2 Corinthians 4:2), meaning that he hadn’t mingled the truths of God’s word with false doctrines (G1389). Paul had kept his opinions to himself and only conveyed to the Corinthians what God’s Spirit had prompted him to. Paul said, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:5-6). Paul used the metaphor of light shining out of darkness to show that God’s word is not constrained by the limitations of our human comprehension. Paul went on to say, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us’ (2 Corinthians 4:7). The surpassing power that Paul was referring to was dunamis. “Dunamis almost always points to new and higher forces that have entered and are working in this lower world of ours. It is ‘power, ability,’ physical or moral, as residing in a person or thing” (G1411). Paul thought of his gospel message as a treasure that had been placed in jars of clay in order to show that its effectiveness was linked to God’s supernatural ability rather than Paul’s preaching.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul talked a lot about the foolishness of preaching the gospel. He said, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Paul used the word dunamis to describe the power that God uses to save people. The word of the cross is basically the gospel message which states that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Paul indicated that this message was considered to be folly or an absurdity (G3472) to those that were destined for destruction (G622). Paul explained that “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). Spiritual discernment is the ability to understand that which is non-physical by nature (G4153). Paul went on to say, “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Paul’s statement corresponds to Jesus’ teaching about the vine and the branches. Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2). Then Jesus stated:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:12-17)

Jesus bracketed his teaching about the power that is available to believers through God’s word with a commandment to “love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). This seems to suggest that we are expected to refrain from using God’s word as a tool to hurt others, but rather as an instrument of encouragement and support. Paul eluded to this in his explanation of why he was suffering even though he was doing God’s will. Paul said:

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (2 Corinthians 4:8-12)

Paul hinted at that fact that God’s supernatural ability was at work in his life when he said that even though he was afflicted in every way, he was not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). The contrasting language that Paul used made it clear that his ability to preach the gospel had not been diminished by the trouble he had gone through. Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that he was still strong in his faith and was determined to accomplish the mission that was entrusted to him. Paul’s statement that death was at work in him (2 Corinthians 4:12) was meant to convey the idea that there was a cost associated with undertaking the responsibilities for the sins of others. Paul encouraged the Corinthians by stating:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

The outer self and the inner self that Paul was referring to were the physical and spiritual aspects of mankind. The Greek word that is translated self, anthropos (anth’-ro-pos) is generally used to designate a human being without reference to sex or nationality and in distinction from God and animals. In this phrase, “the inner man means the regenerate person’s spiritual nature personified, the inner self of the believer…as the sphere of the renewing power of the Holy Spirit” (G444). Paul’s prayer for spiritual strength included a petition for power through the Holy Spirit. He said:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Being filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19) has to do with the process of sanctification which leads to our oneness with Christ (Ephesians 4:13). Paul indicated that this process is driven by the power of the Holy Spirit who strengthens us in our inner being (Ephesians 3:16). Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the Helper and said, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:25-26). Thus, the role of the Holy Spirit is to help us remember God’s word and to teach us spiritual lessons.

Paul’s prayer concluded with an acknowledgement of God’s supernatural ability. Paul stated, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21). Paul used the superlative “far more abundantly” to express the infinite degree to which God is able to do what we ask of him. The point Paul was trying to make was that we can’t deplete God’s resources. His supernatural ability is beyond what humans can even think or imagine him doing. Paul made it clear that believers can access God’s supernatural ability through the power of the Holy Spirit who is at work within us. What Paul likely meant by the statement “according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20) was that dunamis, miraculous power and/or ability, is not available to believers on an as needed basis, but it can be stored up or put to use at any time. An example of this is the parable of the talents which Jesus told his disciples not long before he was crucified. In this parable, the servant that received five talents was commended for using them to gain five more talents by putting them to work (Matthew 25:21). The servant that received one talent was rebuked because he didn’t even bother to invest his talent so that his master could gain something from the resources that had been entrusted to him (Matthew 25:26-27). Afterward, the talent was taken away from him and given to the servant that had ten talents (Matthew 25:28). Jesus concluded his parable by stating, “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (Matthew 25:29)