Meditation 1
Meditation 1
Meditation 1
1.
‘Paul,
an
apostle
of
Christ
Jesus
by
the
will
of
God.’
I
have
been
slow
to
pick
up
commentaries
on
any
book
of
the
Bible.
On
occasion,
I
have
wandered
through
John
Calvin’s
notes
to
try
and
understand
something
difficult
–
Hebrews
6
and
10,
for
instance.
But
for
the
most
part,
I
have
avoided
them,
for
fear
of
running
to
them
too
quickly.
We
have
the
Holy
Spirit
in
us,
and
Jesus
promises
that
He
will
guide
us
into
all
truth
(John
14).
Moreover,
I
have
found
Colin
Smith’s
lecture
on
‘transformational,
expository
preaching’
incredibly
helpful.
Running
to
commentaries
before
grappling
with
the
text
can
rob
you
of
the
joy
of
authentic
revelation.
I
say
all
this
because
I
have
seen
that
at
least
one
commentator
questions
Paul’s
authorship
of
Ephesians.
More
truthfully,
I
did
not
see
the
commentary
myself,
but
saw
Terry
Virgo’s
review
of
this
particular
commentary,
in
which
he
mentioned
that
he
was
sad
that
said
author
questioned
‘Pauline
authorship’.
From
a
layman’s
perspective,
I
think
that
the
first
line
of
the
letter
makes
it
rather
clear
who
wrote
it.
Paul
is
identifying
himself
not
only
in
name,
but
also
in
purpose.
He
is
not
appealing
to
his
position,
as
though
there
were
some
kind
of
power
hierarchy
in
the
church.
However,
the
purpose
given
to
him
by
God’s
sovereign
working
extends
to
him
a
position
of
ordained
authority
–
that
of
apostle.
His
legitimacy
is
granted
through
God’s
sovereignty
and
the
fact
that
he
is
now
a
servant,
not
a
ruler.
He
also
takes
pains
to
note
that
he
is
an
apostle
of
Christ
Jesus.
In
other
words,
he
does
not
speak
on
his
own
behalf,
but
on
behalf
of
the
God-‐Man
Jesus
Christ.
Paul
is
the
only
apostle
who
was
not
one
of
Jesus’
disciples
while
he
lived.
Having
been
a
Pharisee
and
zealous
persecutor
of
the
church,
he
hated
Jesus
and
his
church.
But
by
His
sovereign
will,
the
living
God
broke
into
Paul’s
life
and
appeared
to
him
as
to
one
‘untimely
born’
(to
quote
Paul’s
own
testimonial
phrase
from
1
Corinthians
15)
on
the
road
to
Damascus
(Acts
8).
This
is
in
the
wake
of
Paul’s
presence
at
the
stoning
of
the
first
Christian
martyr,
Stephen,
recorded
by
Luke
in
Acts
7.
Thus,
if
there
is
anyone
who
knows
that
his
current
position
is
entirely
attributable
to
the
grace
and
sovereignty
of
God,
it
is
Paul.
‘By
the
grace
of
God,
I
am
what
I
am,’
he
wrote
elsewhere.
There
is
an
invitation
in
this
very
first
line
to
meditate
on
the
will
of
God.
And
of
course
this
raises
the
ancient
question
of
predestination
over
against
‘free
will’.
But,
like
Spurgeon
said,
what
men
now
debate
as
‘Calvinism’
is
really
just
the
Bible1.
I
have
recently
read
a
brief
defence
of
‘open
theism’,
in
which
it
is
posited
that
God
does
not
have
exhaustive
knowledge
of
the
future,
but
responds
‘creatively’
to
any
given
situation.
This
is
not
the
appropriate
space
for
a
critique
of
such
theology,
but
as
part
of
my
meditation
it
is
suffice
to
say
that
open
theism
is
a
dangerous
position.
In
this
instance,
God’s
call
on
Paul’s
life
would
be
interpreted
as
a
creative
response
to
persecution
of
the
church
(which
God
1
Spurgeon,
‘A
defence
of
Calvinism’,
available
at
http://www.spurgeon.org/calvinis.htm
didn’t
quite
foresee).
This
seems
to
me
very
much
a
recreation
of
God
in
man’s
image
(exchanging
the
truth
of
God
for
a
lie;
Romans
1).
I
do
not
here
see
a
God
big
enough
to
worship,
but
a
picture
of
God
that
is
small
–
as
though
we
somehow
have
to
defend
the
God
who
created
all
things.
That
Paul
became
an
apostle
speaks
to
me
so
strongly
of
an
eternally
pre-‐existent
God
who
has
exhaustively
foreseen
all,
and
acts
to
work
out
his
sovereign
will.
I
have
found
John
Piper’s
paper
‘Are
there
two
wills
in
God?’2
to
be
helpful
in
this
respect,
and
it
is
well
worth
a
read.
2
John
Piper,
‘Are
there
two
wills
in
God?’
available
at
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-‐library/articles/are-‐there-‐two-‐wills-‐in-‐god