To The Praise of His Glory
With Phil Hubbard
Dotted throughout the opening monologue of Paul in Ephesians 1 is this seemingly innocuous repeated phrase, ‘to the praise of his glory.’ We can innocently pass over it and miss the weight of this phrase, only for the reason that it has the ability to be dwarfed by some of the most grand and eloquent truth statements in all of scripture that happen to surround it. However, this phrase may be the most significant of them all. Repetition in scripture was a literary form used to emphasise a point, like putting it in bold caps. Paul is saying, “don’t miss this!” In a passage dripping in meaning and has been called the ‘ground zero for theology of identity’, Paul is making it clear. The answer to the age-old question of why we are here and what is the meaning of life, he answers - To the praise of His glory.
In the original text, verses 3-14 are written without any punctuation, one long exhausting sentence. In Paul’s literary genius, he is purposefully leaving us breathless, as we read line after line of the overflowing, extravagant goodness of God and all He has done for us. Scholars believe Ephesians was most likely a circular letter passed around to the all the churches of the area of Asia. It was a letter that would be read out loud to the community in each location. Paul is fully aware of this and is guiding the tone of the reader even though he is locked behind bars hundreds of miles away. Every blessing. He wants us to feel it. Every promise. He wants us to experience it. These 11 verses unravel and highlight for us the richness of God’s love for us, it leaves the reader reaching for a glass of water. But are you picking up what he’s putting down?...To the praise of His glory.
Ever met a person who is so in love with a certain topic they just jabber on and on, you can’t get a word in even if you wanted to - specialty coffee, favourite football team or hottest TV series out on Netflix. Paul is one of those people. He is consumed by the love of God. He is infatuated with the truth of what ‘Jesus risen’ means and what it says about the nature of our Heavenly Father, and what that means for us. He can’t contain his passion - he wants us to join him in this passion. The difference with Paul is that the ‘thing’ he is passionate for is not a team or the best coffee spot in London - it’s not even a ‘thing’ – it’s an identity statement and a spiritual state - he wants us to fall in love with how much God loves us!
Ephesians, more than any other book, is the epicentre for understanding our identity as human beings. Who we are in Christ. What we were created for. Why we are here. And the foundation of it all, the foundation of our lives and what it means to be human has nothing to do with us - it has nothing to do with our performance, our possession, pleasure or popularity and has everything to do with all that He has already accomplished for us. The truth of it is, your identity is not even about you! To the praise of His glory.
When we truly grasp this mid-boggling truth, if we even take a baby step toward comprehending His love for us, we like Paul won’t be able to help but shout it from the roof tops.
Jesus has redeemed us from death and returned us to life. He freed us to be completely, authentically and genuinely who we are created to be. To be uniquely you! He broke down every wall of hostility. He launched a new family and invited us into that family by His grace. We now wear a ring on our finger with a vocation of good works to live out. Day by day he lovingly whispers to us - live in My love, be the work of art I have created you to be. To the praise of His glory.
This is what it truly means to be human.
You are a beloved child of God, in whom He is well pleased!
To the praise of his glory.
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