“Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.” Ephesians 6:24 ESV
Reflection: how would you characterize “life” as we know it?
As I went for my morning walk, I was met with this amazing color palette in the sky. And interestingly, we don’t see those colors here in Oklahoma all year, seems to be mostly in the fall as so much of nature is either falling asleep or even dying. But we look ahead, and although winter comes next, we know that spring follows with in a way the “rebirth” of nature. And, in a bigger sense, this idea of birth, life and then death, is really our understanding and experience, that life cannot exist without first a birth, but then death coming in the end of life. We cannot fully comprehend something living beyond a period of time. And therefore, we do have difficulties comprehending eternity and an everlasting God.
As Paul is closing his letter to the Ephesians, he ends with a word that we should ponder today, the word “incorruptible” in the ESV translation. If you look at different translations, you will find here a number of ways this word is translated. So we need to look at the original language it was written in which is Greek. The Greek word used is aphtharsia, which is Strong’s G861, and it has a few meanings in English according to Strong – incorruptibility; genitive, unending existence; (figuratively) genuineness:—immortality, incorruption, sincerity. We could perhaps simplify by saying it is
Never ending.
Eternity is what we deep down long for, what humans with or without God have been chasing since the beginning of time. Because, we are created for more than this cycle of “birth-life-death”. And Paul is using this word to talk about the love between Christ and His people, invoking the exact idea of eternity, where the same word is used to describe eternal life, such as “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;”Romans 2:6-7 ESV, In his message to Timothy, he also used this word “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” 2 Timothy 1:8-10 ESV
This idea of something everlasting, that doesn’t have this cycle of “birth-life-death” that we are familiar with, is of course a recurring theme in the Bible, and Jesus frequently brought it up, such as “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ESV. And, Peter tried to explain our hope and inheritance using eternal references “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV.
As we close our study of this beautiful letter to the Ephesians, Paul’s final reminder is a word, a reminder of our everlasting life, the love Christ has for us who love Him, a love and life that is eternal, never ending. And this love will carry us through this physical existence into eternity, to a life never ending. “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” Revelation 22:1-5 ESV
