Ephesians 3:11 speaks of the purpose of the ages which God “made in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This purpose is the plan, the plan is the arrangement, and the arrangement is the household administration, which is the oikonomia. This oikonomia was made in Christ.
Ephesians 1:9 says that God’s good pleasure was purposed in Himself. Now we see that in 3:11 God’s purpose was made in Christ. First, God’s purpose was formed in Himself. Then in order to make this purpose a household administration, it was made in Christ.
The phrase “in Christ” in 3:11 implies three crucial significances. First, it implies, or indicates, that in eternity past Christ existed simultaneously with God. Certain verses in Ephesians speak of God’s thought, will, determination, purpose, and plan in eternity past. The fact that this purpose, this plan, was made in Christ implies Christ’s eternal, divine existence. It also indicates Christ’s deity. Christ, who had no beginning, exists eternally and simultaneously with God.
Second, the title Christ in Ephesians 3:11 implies, or indicates, that Christ is the embodiment of God. The book of Colossians reveals that Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God. “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). The entire Triune God is embodied in Christ, for all the fullness of the Godhead, that is, of the Triune God, dwells in Christ bodily. Hence, the title Christ in Ephesians 3:11 indicates that this One is God’s embodiment.
Because the Triune God has embodied Himself in Christ, Christ is the mystery of God, the mysterious story of God. Outside of Christ there is no God, and outside of Christ we cannot find God or contact God, because the Triune God is altogether embodied in Christ.
Third, the title Christ in 3:11 implies a commission. In the New Testament the Lord Jesus is called both the Christ and the Son of God. In Matthew 16:16 Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” John 20:31 says, “These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” What is the difference between the Christ and the Son of God? The Son of God denotes the Lord’s person, and the Christ denotes His commission. Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, and the Son of God is the expression of God the Father. As such a one, the Son of God, the expression of God, was anointed to be God’s Christ, and He was commissioned to bring forth many sons of God so that God may have a household.
As God’s anointed and commissioned One, Christ has brought forth many sons for God’s household through seven steps: creation, redemption, regeneration, sanctification, transformation, conformation, and glorification. First, all things, including mankind made in God’s image, were created through Christ. After man fell, Christ came to accomplish redemption, to bring back fallen man. Next, Christ regenerated God’s chosen people. Regeneration is followed by sanctification, transformation, and conformation to Christ’s own image. Ultimately, the many sons of God will be brought into the glory of God. All this is for the purpose of bringing forth many sons of God, who are the many brothers of Christ. This is clearly revealed in Romans 8:29, which speaks of the many brothers of God’s firstborn Son. Now God has many sons to form into a family, a household, which He can administrate for the carrying out of His eternal plan to have the church.
In the morning of His resurrection, the Lord Jesus referred to His disciples as His brothers. He said to Mary, “Go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God” (John 20:17). Furthermore, Hebrews 2 reveals that, in His resurrection, the Lord declared His Father’s name to His brothers and that His brothers have become the church (vv. 11-12). The church, therefore, is a composition of all the sons of God, who are the many brothers of Christ.
God made His eternal economy in Christ. The Christ revealed in the New Testament is the embodiment of the Triune God and all the processes through which He has passed, including creation, incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. In such a Christ God made His eternal economy. Therefore, Christ is the element, sphere, means, goal, and aim of God’s eternal economy. Christ is everything in God’s economy. In fact, all the contents of the eternal economy of God are simply Christ. Christ is the center of God’s eternal plan. Christ is the element and the sphere in which, with which, and through which God carries out His household administration to have the church as the household of God and the Body of Christ.
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