In Ephesians 1:7 Paul goes on to say, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses, according to the riches of His grace.” Verse 7 is the continuation of verse 6. As previously mentioned, verse 6 reveals that we have become the object of God’s favor, for we have been graced in the Beloved. The phrase in whom in verse 7 refers to the Beloved in verse 6. This means that we have been redeemed in the Beloved, in the One in whom God delights. Thus, in the eyes of God, redemption is not a pitiful matter; it is a thing to be delighted in. The expression in the Beloved means in God’s delight. In God’s delight, the Beloved, we have redemption. We have been redeemed through the blood shed for us by God’s Beloved on the cross.
We were chosen and predestinated in eternity past, but after being created, we became fallen. For Him to work out His plan with us, God needed to accomplish redemption in Christ through His blood in order to solve all the problems between us and God. This is another item of God’s blessings that He has bestowed on us.
The forgiveness of our offenses is the redemption through the blood of Christ. Apart from the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb. 9:22). Because Christ’s death in the flesh on the cross has fulfilled God’s righteous requirements, His blood becomes the instrument for our redemption. Redemption is what Christ accomplished for our offenses; forgiveness is the application of Christ’s accomplishment to our offenses. Redemption was accomplished on the cross when Christ shed His blood, whereas forgiveness is applied by the Spirit of God when we believe in Christ and make confession to the righteous God.
In Ephesians 1:10 Paul says, “Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.” We need to note that it is in Christ that God intends to head up all things. The word Christ here literally means “the Christ”; it refers to the One mentioned in verse 1 and verse 3, the One in whom are the spiritual blessings of God and in whom are the faithful saints, who participate in the blessings. He is a particular One; hence, He is called “the Christ.”
The Greek word rendered economy in verse 10 is oikonomia, which means “house law, household management or administration, and derivatively, administrative dispensation, plan, or economy.” The economy that God, according to His desire, planned and purposed in Himself is to head up all things in Christ at the fullness of the times. This is accomplished through the dispensing of the abundant life supply of the Triune God as the life factor into all the members of the church that they may rise up from the death situation and be attached to the Body.
The expression the times in verse 10 refers to the ages. The fullness of the times will be when the new heaven and new earth appear after all the dispensations of God in all the ages have been completed. Altogether there are four ages: the age of sin (Adam), the age of the law (Moses), the age of grace (Christ), and the age of the kingdom (the millennium).
God’s eternal intention is to head up all things in Christ, who has been appointed to be the universal Head. Through all the dispensations of God in all the ages, all things will be headed up in Christ in the new heaven and new earth. That will be God’s eternal administration and economy. Thus, the heading up of all things is the issue of all the items covered in verses 3 through 9. God chose us to be holy, predestinated us unto sonship, accomplished redemption for us through the blood of Christ, graced us in the Beloved, and caused grace to abound to us in all wisdom and prudence in order that He may head up all things in Christ.
Ephesians 1:22 says that God gave Christ to be Head over all things. This reveals that the heading up of all things is to the church so that the Body of Christ may share in all that is of Christ as the Head, having been rescued from the heap of the universal collapse in death and darkness, which was caused by the rebellion of the angels and the rebellion of man. In Christ God is in the process of heading up all things in heaven and on earth. However, without the church as the Body to match Christ as the Head, it will not be possible for God to head up all things in Christ. The heading up of all things is accomplished by the Head, but it cannot be accomplished without a Body for the Head. Whether Christ can be the Head over all things, whether all things can be subjected to the authority of Christ, and whether all things can be headed up in Christ completely depend upon whether or not the church has been produced and has grown up (4:14-16; Col. 2:19). When the church is fully grown, God is able to subject all things to the authority of Christ. By means of the church, Christ is able to be the Head over all things. Eventually, the Body with Christ as the Head will be the universal Head over all things. When everything is headed up in Christ, there will be absolute peace and harmony (Isa. 2:4; 11:6; 55:12; Psa. 96:12-13), a full rescue out of the collapse. This will begin from the time of the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).
When God created the universe, everything of the universe was in oneness; all things in it were in harmony, not in chaos. God and the universe were in harmony. This harmony is the great oneness of the universe. All things related to the universe depend on God, who is one, as the factor of their oneness. The center of the universe is God Himself; hence, the oneness of the universe is God Himself. There was oneness in the creation of the universe, and in this oneness there was no confusion. Yet because of Satan’s rebellion, which was followed by man’s fall, this original oneness in creation was ruined so that the entire universe was brought into confusion. Satan damaged the oneness of the universe in creation by introducing death into all creation, which death severed the Creator’s relationship with creation. In other words, when Satan brought death into the universe, the universe was separated from God and the oneness of the universe was lost. Thus, there is not the full harmony in the universe.
Yet God had an eternal plan to head up all things in Christ, that is, to make Christ the Head of all things and the Head above all things. God’s way to recover the oneness among His creation is to impart Himself in Christ into us as life (Rom. 8:6, 10-11, 19-21). The Triune God as life brings in light, and light issues in harmony and brings all things into oneness. Hence, the believers participate in this heading up by growing in life, by being headed up in the proper church life, and by living under Christ’s light (John 1:4; Rev. 21:23-25). The more we grow in life, the more we will be headed up and the more we will be rescued from the universal collapse (Eph. 4:15; Col. 2:19). This process of heading up all things in Christ is still continuing, and the heading up of all things will be fully accomplished and manifested when Christ finishes His work to bring forth the new creation out of the old creation through all the dispensations of God. It is through this new creation that Christ will head up all creation and bring it into the universal oneness; this will issue in the new heaven and the new earth. In the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center, all things will be headed up in Christ; this will be the complete fulfillment of the heading up of all things spoken of in Ephesians 1:10. In Revelation 21 we see the Head, the Body surrounding the Head, and all the nations walking in the light of the city. The whole universe will be headed up in the light shown through the transparent city (v. 18).