In his book Dynamic Diversity, Bruce Milne helpfully comments on the significance of the phrase “all things together under” as used at Ephesians 1:10. In that verse the ultimate end of God’s plan of salvation is expressed:
his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to bring all things in heaven and earth together under one head, even Christ.
In the Greek one word is rendered by “all things together under” (ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι) – a word used in Greek mathematics. When we are adding numbers together we might list the numbers by writing them under one another. Then we put a line under the numbers and put the total under the line. As Milne points out, the Greeks did it the other way round. They listed the numbers then put the line above the numbers and put the total above the line, that is, the literally “summed up.” Milne remarks:
Paul here sees God drawing a line across the entire human and superhuman story, and writing ‘Jesus Christ’ ‘above the line’ as his ‘summing up’ of all things (19).
Posted June 8, 2011
www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au
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