… the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people …
Summary: To understand the text, we need to understand the translation, and sometimes that means we need a different translation.
Once again, I have to punt. I am sure that this passage makes total sense to you, but it is Greek to me. Oh, wait …
(I guess it is all Greek at some point!)
There is a kind of translation called an “interlinear.” An interlinear shows the Greek text, and under each Greek word, the English equivalent. As you might imagine, the English sentences in this type of translation don’t always make sense. Fortunately, a man named William Mounce took this type of translation a step further.
Instead of having the Greek on top and the English underneath, all garbled up, he flipped the whole process or “reversed” it. He put the English on top using its proper structure and then put the Greek words, out of their proper sequence, below the English. This is what it looks like for today’s passage:
What I like about Mounce’s translation of this passage is that it actually makes sense. (Sorry, NIV!)
Paul is asking God that the eyes of our hearts would be open to knowing hope. Not just any hope, but the profound hope that comes from knowing God personally. In addition to this hope, Paul wants us to know about something else.
Being a son or daughter of the Living God comes with an inheritance. Like a worldly inheritance, being a beneficiary of God comes with benefits. Lots of benefits! The main one is life. Not physical life necessarily, but spiritual life.
“What good is that?” you ask.
The answer to that depends on how you want to spend eternity. If you are okay paddling around a lake of fire, weeping, and gnashing your teeth forever, fine (Revelation 20:14-15). Maybe there is no benefit to knowing Christ for you. But if you want to avoid that fate and live eternally with the source of all that is good and pleasant, then yes, it is important to pay attention to these things.
The other part of the answer has to do with how you want to live your life here on earth. There are a number of immediate benefits that come with having Christ in our lives. One is peace (Philippians 4:7), and another is having a moral compass that works (John 16:13). There are others, but you get the idea.
The whole reason for studying the Bible is to understand why we need God. Lesson one is that opposing God in any way (sin) is not a good idea. Lesson two is that we need to stop opposing God, or repent from putting our selfish interests first. Lesson three is to rely on Jesus Christ, who gave his life up in the most painful way imaginable so that our opposition to God can be forgiven. After all this, we start to realize that not only does God forgive us, but he has things for us to do and gives us the power to do those things.
Application: Study your Bible!
Food for Thought: What are the “rich benefits” of God’s inheritance that are important to you?
What are the “rich benefits” of God’s inheritance that are important to you?
First and foremost, spending eternity with my Heavenly Father, and His son, my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Secondly, spending my life walking, developing, and perfecting a personal relationship with Him.
Both of these bring me hope. Hope for eternity, and the hope in knowing when I can truly humble myself, truly look to Him and ask that I be able to do do His will, that He guides me to goodness and righteousness, and that in everything, the end result draws me closer to Him, and to those around me.
No matter what happens, no matter what I have done, submitting to Him always brings His glory into my life.
His goodness becomes my goodness. Without Him, I have none.
Chris,
Your last point is really interesting to me. With God’s goodness in our lives we can actually feel good about our lives through and through. That alone is a wonderful benefit of being a child of God.
Any inheritance I receive is important. I deserve none of those rich benefits. And I know that the inheritance is glorious. This is grace pure and simple.
In 2 Corinthians 12: 3 – 4, Paul indicates that he saw paradise either in person or in a vision – and he said things he heard were too sacred to mention. I believe him. I think there will be things associated with our eternal inheritance that would blow our minds. But the best is an unhampered close relationship with our Savior. Revelation 22: 3 – 5.
Brother Rich,
One of the benefits I see in you is God’s humility reflected in your smile and your loving service in the Lord’s name. And yes, the future benefits of being in heaven do sound mind-blowingly awesome! 🙂
Jeff, Another excellent reminder to read and study the Bible – His instuctions to us for today! Jim
Thanks Jim!
Yes, it takes time, prayer, and help from our friends and the Holy Spirit to sort it out, but the answers are all there in God’s Word. 🙂
What are the “rich benefits” of God’s inheritance that are important to you?
I agree with Rich that they are all important, but not only because of the importance of it all (salvation) but because of the loving aspect of it. John 15:13.
Brother Tim,
I completely agree! Nothing is sweeter than being embraced in God’s love.
Yes embracing love is wonderful, even if its unknown, it is something that our creator designed us to desire.
I was referring towards the sentimental value of a gift. Like how much someone looks frantically for their bible when they misplaced it.
What are the “rich benefits” of God’s inheritance that are important to you?
As believers, we begin experiencing our inheritance NOW. God has blessed each in Christ. with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Our sins are forgiven, through Christ we become holy and blameless before Him, as we become adopted children of God.
Ephesians 1:3, 1:7-8
The Holy Spirit has been sent by the Father as our eternal Helper. He is with each while we wait for Christ’s return and will live with us for eternity with in heaven. He has sealed each believer as His sign of ownership, protection and guarantee of our inheritance. He teach’s us all things, and will bring to remembrance all we are taught as it is needed. It is by His power we become witnesses for Jesus Christ in whatever capacity He has determined.
John 14:15-19, 14:26, Ephesians 1:11-14, Acts 1:8
Praise God for the LIFE he has given to all believers NOW and forever as we are given the honor of being allowed to serve Him by living in His will today.
Ron
There is something amazingly therapeutic about having our sins forgiven! That alone is a life changing event!
Yes indeed, but then God does one better as He sets each of us on the road to perfection during our time in these physical bodies.
It is a blessing being set on the path and guided towards His glory.
Amen, brother! 🙂
When at the point of giving up on sleep, I have to say I really look forward to real rest. When reading through the Mosaic law you really get to see all that God tells us to do to care for our bodies, our relationships, and be with Him. He forces us to rest, He forces us to wash up, He forces us to reconcile with others, He forces us to value life, property, respect and to get rid of everything that prevents us from living by His standard. Only then, by detailed instruction do we know how we can even be in His presence, His land, His protection.
So yeah, due to currently not being able to sleep, feeling rest sounds best.