WT study today - Eph 1:8-10 - the administration, Stage 2

by Hoffnung 7 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Hoffnung

  In todays WT study (WT 15/JUL/2012 p.27 paras 3-4), the society advances Ephesians 1:10, which refers to an adminstration, that gathers the things in the heaven and on the earth. Whereas the bible clearly identifies a double purpose of the adminstration, there is no reason to believe there are also 2 different time frames intended, however the WT explains it this way. We are actualliy in the adminstration stage 2, according to the WT. Anyway, Is this verse providing an argument that can be used by JW that God would establish an organization on earth? I had a short look in threads from the past, but it seems this was never discussed on here.

  THE ADMINISTRATION AND ITS WORK
  3 Moses told the Israelites: “Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.” (Deut. 6:4) Jehovah’s actions and purpose are harmonious. Thus, “at the full limit of the appointed times,” God put into operation “an administration”— that is, an arrangement for unifying all his intelligent creatures. (Read Ephesians 1:8-10.) This administration will carry out its objective in two stages. The first stage prepares the congregation of anointed ones for life in heaven under Jesus Christ as their spiritual Head. This stage began at Pentecost 33 C.E. when Jehovah started to gather those who would rule with Christ in heaven. (Acts 2:1-4) Since the anointed have been declared righteous for life on the basis of Christ’s ransom sacrifice, they readily
  acknowledge that they have been adopted as “God’s children.”—Rom. 3:23, 24; 5:1; 8:15-17.
  4 The second stage prepares those who will dwell in Paradise on earth under Christ’s Messianic Kingdom. The “great crowd” make up the initial part of this group.

  Ephesians 1:8-10: This he caused to abound toward us in all wisdom and good sense, 9 in that he made known to us the sacred secret of his will. It is according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself 10 for an administration at the full limit of the appointed times, namely, to gather all things together again in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth.

  Hoffnung
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  Bobcat

  Hoffnung:

  Note that God is going to "gather all things together again." (NWT) "Gather ... together again" is the NWT translation of anakephalaioo. The ana prefix means "again," and the rest means "to sum up, recapitulate. To sum up, gather together again in one. In the mid[dle] voice (as in Eph 1:10), to reunite under one head, to bring all things into one in Christ" (AMG Greek-English Dictionary, p. 152)

  It is also used in the passive voice in Rom 13:9, where the NWT translates it "summed up."

  Most commentators take "the things in the heavens ... earth" as a reference to all creation which has been 'disturbed/left in chaos' with the outbreak of sin.

  The Society says "the things in the heavens" refer to the 144,000 and the "things in the earth" to earth-bound believers starting with the great crowd.

  This raises several questions:

  Why would Paul refer to Christians on earth (in his time) as the things "in the heavens"? None of the 144,000 were in heaven at that time.

  Why would he refer to them in the neuter (the things"), when they were all people?

  Why would he refer to the 144,000 as being "gathered ... together again"? The idea of a 144,000 only became a necessity after sin broke out. There was no 144,000 dispersed by sin that needed to be "gathered ... together again."

  Why would the context (Eph 1:11 - 14) include believers as an additional thought ("in union with whom we were also assigned" [vs. 11] and "but you also" in vs. 13) if they were already referred to as "the things in the heavens."?

  Like you said, there is no expression of "stages," although one might argue that God would accomplish this in an orderly fashion.

  This idea of unifying the cosmos under Christ is also alluded to at 1 Cor 15:28 (where all things are subjected to the Son, and the Son to God), Phil 2:10 (where every creature - heavenly, earthly and subterranean - pays homage to Jesus for God's glory), and especially Col 1:20 (where God reconciles all things, whether in heaven or on earth, to himself through Christ). BECGNT, Ephesians, p. 67

  Romans 8:18 - 25 also expresses a similar thought with "the things in the heavens ... earth" being replaced with "the creation."

  (In Col 1:21-23, after mentioning "the things in the heavens ... earth" in verse 20 there is a similar addtional ("indeed" [NWT] which is kai in Greek, normally translated "and") idea expressed about believers. They believed the good news which was preached "under heaven." So it would be odd to refer to them as "the things in the heavens" and in the next clause as hearing the preaching "under heaven.")

  Take care
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  Hoffnung

  Hi Bobcat,

  Thanks for replying. I indeed had not paid due attention to this word "again" in connection with the society's explanation of "the things in heaven" only applying to the 144.000, which indeed were never gathered before, and thus cannot be gathered again. So that point is sufficiently debunked, I would think.

  It seems though that this administration stage 2 idea was never put like that by the WT before, and it seems they can or will use this as a justification for having an earthly organization or administration.

  Hoffnung
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  Bobcat

  I'm waiting for the obligatory comment that God has a "purpose," not a "plan." After all, 'a plan can be thwarted.'

  They completely forget that a plan and a purpose are two different things. And that you can have a purpose (such as retiring comfortably) AND plan for it.

  And, of course, a "purpose" can be thwarted also (Compare Rom. 1:13 where the same Greek word is used as in Ephesians 1:9.
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  Leolaia

  What a blatant way to smuggle a "second hope" (of the "great crowd" on earth) into an epistle that specifically states that "t here is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:4-5). That "one hope" in the passage in question is "adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ ... in him we were chosen" (1:5, 11). There isn't any twofold division of salvation in the text, with the second phase pertaining to a different kind of election.

  The article also gives an overliteral reading of oikonomia in order to emphasize their understanding of God's kingdom as a governmental administration, as a bureaucracy. The word does not necessarily lend itself to that meaning, though it is understandable that a bureaucratic organization like the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society might want to read it that way. The word is used in 1:10, 3:2, 3:9 to refer to God's arragement for salvation; it is an arranging of (1) appointed times for salvation, (2) God's grace, and (3) the mystery of God's purpose hidden from the ages. The sense is not bureucratic but rather pertains to God's planning for salvation, hence the passage in question refers to predestination twice: "he predestined us for adoption to sonship" (1:5), and " in him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will" (1:11). The household sense of oikonomia fits well with the idea of adoption to sonship; this was God's arrangement for adoption of the elect into his household. Not bureaucratic at all.
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  Recovery

  Why do people insist on saying that there is only one hope, going to heaven? Yeah, the anointed are going to heaven to rule as kings and priests forever and ever on an earth with no people on it. I guess God just forgot about his original purpose, and all those scriptures that talk about a new earth are just metaphorical.
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  "Since the anointed have been declared righteous for life on the basis of Christ’s ransom sacrifice, they readily acknowledge that they have been adopted as “God’s children.”"

  And everydubby must be completely confident that the the "nibblers and sippers" are anointed because they say they are anointed.
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  leaving_quietly

  It's worth noting that the word "again" has been removed from the RNWT at both Eph 1:10 and Col 1:20. I'm looking for a way to refute the idea that the "things in the heavens" refers to the 144,000 and the "things on the earth" refer to the great crowd. Obviously, this isn't what Paul had in mind. After all, Christ said all authority had been given him in heaven and on earth. And in Col 1:20, the word used is "reconcile", which means "to restore friendly relations between". This has nothing to do with two groups and their destination.