エフェソの信徒への手紙3:10-13 Ephesians 3:10-13,
だから、あなたがたのためにわたしが受けている苦難を見て、落胆しないでください。この苦難はあなたがたの栄光なのです。 （エフェソ3:13）
「この苦難はあなたがたの栄光なのです」とはどういうことでしょうか？二とおりの答えを考えることができます。一つの答えは、パウロがエフェソの人々のような異邦人にキリストの救いを宣べ伝えたからこそ、エフェソの人々はキリストを信じて神の子という栄光ある身分を受けたのだから、「この苦難はあなたがたの栄光」だという答えです。つまり、栄光とはエフェソ教会の信徒たちが現在与えられている輝かしい身分のことだということです。このエフェソの信徒への手紙では、2章5節と6節に「罪のために死んでいたわたしたちをキリストと共に生かし、キリスト・イエスによって共に復活させ、共に天の王座に着かせてくださいました」とあるように、クリスチャンが霊的にはすでに天の王座についていると考えられています。ですから、パウロの苦難のゆえにエフェソ教会の信徒たちは現在栄光を受けていると言うことができるのです。
もう一つの答えは、「この苦難はあなたがたの栄光なのです」という「栄光」とは、エフェソ教会の信徒たちが将来永遠の命の体に復活することによって受ける栄光であるという答えです。この手紙の1章18節でパウロは「神の招きによってどのような希望が与えられているか、聖なる者たちの受け継ぐものがどれほど豊かな栄光に輝いているか悟らせてくださるように」という祈りを記しています。「希望」という言葉が示すように、これは将来のことです。そして、「聖なる者たちの受け継ぐもの」とは天国の財産である永遠の命です。永遠の命は、キリストと結ばれた人が終わりの日に永遠の命の体に復活することによって完成します。そして、それは「豊かな栄光に輝いている」ものなのです。パウロが苦難を受けつつキリストを宣べ伝えたことによって、エフェソ教会の信徒たちは将来、永遠の命の体に復活して栄光を受けることができるのだということです。わたくしは、この二つの答えのどちらも「この苦難はあなたがたの栄光なのです」という言葉の意味として可能だろうと考えています。 （4月13日の説教より）
When you hear the words “wise person,” what kind of person do you think of? When you hear the words “knowledgeable person,” you probably think of someone who knows a lot about various things. However, when you hear the words “wise person,” you probably think of someone who not only knows a lot about various things, but also uses that knowledge to live a good life. According to the dictionary Seisenban Nihon Kokugo Daijiten (Selected Edition of Japanese Language Large Dictionary) published by Shogakukan, the word “chie” (wisdom) in Japanese classics has two meanings. One is “the ability to understand the principles of things and to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil. It also refers to the ability to know the sequence of events, to think carefully about what comes before and after, to plan, and to deal with things correctly. It also refers to a person who has this ability.” The other meaning is “the ability to be resourceful. It refers to having superior wit, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and the ability to think on one’s feet.” In other words, “wisdom” can mean the ability to make correct decisions based on the principles and logic of things, or it can mean the ability to respond appropriately to situations in everyday life.
When we say things like “Chie wo kariru” (to borrow some wisdom) or “Chie kurabe wo suru” (to have a wisdom contest) in everyday life, we probably mean the latter of these two, that is, the ability to respond appropriately to situations. The Japanese proverb “San nin yoreba monzyu no chie” (Three heads are better than one) does not have a deep religious meaning, but rather a practical meaning: “Even an ordinary person can come up with unexpected good ideas if three people get together and discuss things” (Kotowaza wo Siru Jiten [Dictionary of Proverbs] by Shogakukan). When you think about it, the word “wisdom” originally has a deep religious or philosophical meaning, but in everyday life it is often used in a more light-hearted sense, such as the ability to live well. And when we talk about “wise person,” we often mean someone who has mastered the art of getting on in the world.
In verses 10 and 11 of today’s Bible passage, Paul writes as follows.
so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
When considering what Paul means by “the wisdom of God,” it is necessary to bear in mind the nature of ancient Greek thought and the fact that “the wisdom of God” is something completely different from it. In ancient Greece, from around the 5th century BC, there were teachers who taught the art of eloquently speaking in public for money. These teachers were called sophists, or “wise men” in Greek. However, rather than loving truth itself, it seems that these teachers were teaching the art of eloquence as a means of achieving success in life. Then, the philosophers Socrates and Plato appeared, criticised the sophists, and began to teach wisdom as pure truth, laying the foundations of philosophy. The word “philosophy” in English comes from the Greek word philosophia. The word “philosophia” is a combination of the Greek word “sophia,” meaning “wisdom,” and the Greek word “phileō,” meaning “love.” As you can see from the fact that the word “philosophy” is derived from the Greek word for “love of wisdom,” the ancient Greeks were a people who sought wisdom.
In 1 Corinthians 1:22-24, Paul writes as follows.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For a moment, I would like to consider the meaning of this passage. The word “sign” in “Jews demand signs” refers to a miracle. Jesus Christ performed various miracles while he was on earth. However, the Jews were not satisfied and asked for more miracles, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you” (Matthew 12:38). In response, Christ gave them an answer that meant: “Even if you seek miracles with an unbelieving heart, in the end you will not be given anything other than the miracle of Christ’s cross and resurrection” (Matthew 12:39-40). In this way, the Jews were a people who demanded signs. In contrast, the Greeks were a people who sought wisdom. As I mentioned earlier, the phrase “Greeks seek wisdom” refers to the fact that the ancient Greeks sought wisdom.
Paul declares that the Christian position is different from that of the Jews and Greeks, saying, “We preach Christ crucified.” That is, Paul is not saying that he will speak a message that suits the Jews, who demand signs, or the Greeks, who seek wisdom, but that he will “preach Christ crucified.” Paul also asserts that “Christ crucified” is “folly to Gentiles.” The term “Gentiles” refers to non-Jewish peoples such as the Greeks and Romans. Under Roman law, crucifixion was the most cruel form of capital punishment, reserved for the most serious crimes such as treason, or for the punishment of slaves. Furthermore, Roman citizens were not to be executed by crucifixion. For the Gentiles of the time, who had such an image of the crucifixion, the teaching that Christ died on the cross in place of human beings, and that if you believe in Christ, your sins will be forgiven, would have been nothing but “folly.” Even today, when we hear about atonement through the cross, many people would say, “I don’t have any sins that need to be atoned for.” Not only that, they may think, “The idea that some stranger called Jesus Christ paid for my sins on the cross is ridiculous!” I think many people today would agree that the idea of “Christ crucified” is “folly.”
Having stated the position of those who do not believe in Christ, Paul then declares his own position by saying, “(We preach) to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” What this means is that people who had previously regarded “Christ crucified” as “a stumbling block” or “folly” were called to the path of faith in Christ and came to realise that “Christ crucified” was “the power of God and the wisdom of God.” And those who, like Paul, have come to know that “Christ crucified” is “the power of God and the wisdom of God,” will proclaim “Christ crucified,” even if it is seen by people of this world as “a stumbling block” or “folly.” Paul was a representative of such a person.
When we read today’s passage in light of what is said about “the wisdom of God” in 1 Corinthians 1:24, we can say that “the manifold wisdom of God” is God’s plan to invite both Jews and Gentiles to become “fellow citizens with the saints” and “members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19) through “Christ crucified.” Paul goes on to say that this God’s plan is “made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” “through the church.” The phrase “through the church” probably refers to the fact that the church proclaims “Christ crucified.” The phrase “the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” probably refers to the invisible spiritual beings such as angels and demons that exist under God in heaven. As I mentioned before, the people of Ephesus believed in the spiritual rule of gods such as Artemis, the goddess of Greek mythology. They believed that the everyday life of this world and the afterlife “in the coming ages” were both controlled by the spirits of the gods. So, Paul is probably saying that now God’s plan is known to spiritual beings such as angels and demons, and that no spiritual power in which the people of Ephesus believed can oppose God’s plan.
In verse 12 that follows, Paul says that “we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith” in Christ” (NRSV). To “have access to God in boldness and confidence” means approaching God the Father with boldness in prayer, with the confidence that we are God’s children. On the night before he was crucified, Christ prayed a very bold prayer in Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. That is, according to Luke 22:42, Christ prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” He likened the suffering he was to endure to the cup of judgment that God would inflict on human beings on the cross, in accordance with the Old Testament tradition. Christ, who was about to be arrested and crucified, was in great pain. It was such great pain as “his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). Although Christ knew that it was God’s will for him to be crucified, he prayed boldly in his suffering, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” And those who believe in Christ and are united with him can also pray to God the Father in that bold way.
Do you approach God with “boldness and confidence” in your daily life? In other words, are you confiding everything to God in your suffering and praying boldly, seeking God’s guidance and help? One of the reasons why our faith becomes superficial is that we stop praying in our daily lives, or our prayers become superficial. Of course, there is nothing wrong with praying in a well-arranged way or with a formal prayer. In order to have a stable faith life, it is also necessary to pray the same words and the same content every day without fail. However, there are changes in our lives every day. There are times when we experience joys and sufferings that we didn’t have yesterday. In such times, we should approach God the Father and receive his guidance and help by praying boldly, just like Christ, who prayed “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” in the face of the suffering of the cross.
When he wrote this letter, Paul was thought to have been detained as an unsentenced prisoner awaiting trial in the city of Rome. That is, he was in a state of suffering. This was because he had been persecuted by the Jews for preaching the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles living in places such as Ephesus. To be a little more precise, as it is written in Acts 21:29, “They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple” That is, the cause was that they thought he had brought a Gentile believer into the inner court of the Jerusalem Temple, which was off-limits to Gentiles. In reality, Paul did not do such a thing, but the Jews who held a grudge against Paul thought otherwise. After going through various processes, he was put on trial by the Roman emperor. When the Ephesian church members learned that Paul was being persecuted and held as an unsentenced prisoner, they may have been discouraged, thinking “If believing in Christ can lead to such suffering, should we stop believing in Christ?”
So, in verse 13 of today’s passage, Paul encourages the Ephesian believers by saying, “So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.” What does he mean by “what I am suffering for you, which is your glory”? We can think of two possible answers. One answer is that Paul’s suffering “is your glory” because the believers of Ephesus received the glorious status of being children of God by believing in Christ, and this was made possible by Paul preaching the salvation of Christ to the Gentiles, like the people of Ephesus. In other words, “glory” refers to the glorious status that the believers of the Ephesian church have been given. In 2:6 of this letter, Paul says that God “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” So, it is thought that Christians are already seated on the heavenly throne in the spiritual sense. Therefore, it can be said that the Ephesian believers are currently receiving “glory” because of Paul’s suffering.
Another answer is that the “glory” in “what I am suffering for you, which is your glory” is the glory that the Ephesian church members will receive in the future when they are resurrected into bodies of eternal life. In 1:18 of this letter, Paul prays “that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” As the word “hope” suggests, this is about the future. And “his glorious inheritance in the saints” is eternal life, the property of heaven. Eternal life is completed when those who are united with Christ are resurrected into bodies of eternal life on the Last Day. And it is “glorious inheritance.” Paul’s suffering and preaching of Christ meant that the believers of the Ephesian church would be able to be glorified in the future by being resurrected into bodies of eternal life. I think that both of these two answers are possible as meanings of the phrase “what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.”
We want to become “wise persons.” However, I don’t mean the kind of wisdom that is used to describe the ability to live well or worldly wisdom. We want to acquire wisdom based on “the God’s wisdom,” which gives salvation through the suffering of the cross and the glory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God to all who believe in Christ. In other words, we want to acquire wisdom to live lives of believing in Christ and receiving glory through suffering. To this end, we want to live our lives receiving guidance from God through the Holy Spirit on how we ourselves should follow Christ, by praying boldly to God every day.