I’m so glad it’s Friday! Aren’t you?
But I’m not just happy it’s Friday, I’m happy that Friday means tomorrow is Saturday, then Sunday! In other words, it’s great to have something to look forward to each day of the week.
We now continue with a short commentary on Ephesians 4:6.
4:6 “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
One God and Father of all,
The seventh unifier of the Church is the fact that we all worship the same God and Father of all. Making up the third triad, Paul goes on to describe God our Father as above, through, and in us all. But note that Paul does not use just one or the other in the labeling of the Supreme Being; He’s both God and Father. What a glorious thought when one considers that the Creator is also our Abba! For the one outside of the Body, learning of an omnipotent and omnipresent entity from which they cannot run or hide might be terrifying! However, quite the opposite is true for the child of God. Knowing that God is not just King, Judge, and Executioner, but He’s our loving, all-caring, gracious, merciful Father full of love and pity for His own.
who [is] above all,
Now describing the God and Father of all, first Paul describes Him as “above all.” We must never forget who God is. He is the wholly “Other” in that He is Holy like no other. There is none like Him. There is none that compare. He is above and beyond anything our imaginations can conceive and the only One to whom the angels cry day and night, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!” (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8).
and through all,
But far from the God of Deism (a God who is distant and totally transcendent, without concern for His creation), this God is ever near. Unto every one of us, as Paul told the Athenians on Mars Hill, He is so close that if we would just reach out we would find Him (Acts 17:27).
and in you all.
According to Rick Brannon and Israel Loken, “Most early manuscripts have the general statement, ‘and in all,’ but some early manuscripts and related later witnesses personalize the statement to the readers with ‘and in you all.’”[1] The idea is that God is not distant, though He be far above us; He’s not unreachable or out-of-touch with His creation, for His presence can be seen and felt through it all; and more than a God “out there,” He is personal and cares about the “you.”
[1] Rick Brannan and Israel Loken, The Lexham Textual Notes on the Bible, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014), Eph 4:6.
The Recovering Legalist 