New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel by Marshall I. Howard

Author:Marshall, I. Howard [Marshall, I. Howard]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Intervarsity Press - A
Published: 2004-10-06T16:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

The theology of Ephesians and, to a lesser but still significant degree, Colossians is dominated by the cosmic scope of the powers arrayed against God and his people and by the immense stress on the superior power of God and Christ that is made available to believers. At the same time, the more traditional understanding of the nature of sin and redemption and life in Christ is fully present. There is also a stress on the place of knowledge of God’s purpose and his love. Thus, alongside the understanding of the work of Christ in terms of forgiveness of sins and raising up believers to new life in the power of the Spirit, there is also a conception of Christ as the omnipresent, supreme manifestation of the power of God through which the forces hostile to God will be overcome. Although there is not the development of a distinctive vocabulary such as we have in the case of justification, redemption and reconciliation, nevertheless there is a definite concept of the victory of Christ as an indispensable part of the understanding of his death and resurrection.

We have here a powerful development of the doxological motif in which the attitude of worship and praise dominates the presentation. The first part of the letter is essentially a celebration of God’s mighty work of redemption in a lofty style. It is entirely in keeping with this that in the second part of the letter the characteristic activity of people filled with the Spirit is that they speak “to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit” (Eph 5:19); the first part is a demonstration of what this might mean. Something similar can be seen from time to time in Paul’s earlier writings, specifically in Romans (Rom 8:31–39; 11:33–36; 15:1–13). It is easy to overlook this element in the exposition of New Testament theology and to attempt to reduce everything to cold, systematic, propositional form. Ephesians reminds us that for the New Testament writers theology was expressed in worship.

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