The Genesis Genealogies
Chapter 4
God's Divine Administration for Redemption
1. The History of Redemption as a Part of God's Divine Administration
The history of mankind is the history of redemption unfolding according to God's plan. It is the history that God the Father devised after the fall, Jesus the Son fulfilled, and the Holy Spirit completed.
(1) What is God's divine administration?
Divine Administration is (oikonomia) in Greek and is used three times in the letter to the Ephesians (Eph 1:9-10; 3:2, 9). It can also be translated as "stewardship" (1 Cor 9:17), "divine administration"(Col 1:25), or "the mystery of His will" (Eph 1:9-10). Also used similarly is the word (oikonomos), translated as "manager"(Luke 16:2-4; Gal 4:2). Just as a steward managers and administration to govern the heavens and the earth for the purpose of saving His chosen people through Jesus Christ and His church (Eph 1:20-23). God's divine administration includes the entire process of managing, allocating, arranging, planning, governing, and ministering the order, movement, and times of all things in the universe (Col 1:25).
God did not just devise His plan and entrust it to be fulfilled by the natural course of history. Instead, He intervenes in the specific events of human history so that what He has planned from the beginning of time bears fruit. This is what we call "God's providence." God's providence and His divine administration are part of the larger history of redemption, whose chief focus is the messianic prophecies and their fulfillment.
(2) God's divine administration is fulfilled according to His predestined will.
Predestination refers to the "divine foreordaining" (i.e., God's determined will) of all that will ensure (Eph 1:4-5; 3:11). Our salvation has been predestined from before creation (2 Tim 1:9; Titus 1:2). In Matthew 25:34, the King says to those on His right, "Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." God planned and prepared for the salvation of His people through Jesus Christ before the creation of this world (John 1:1-4, 18; 17:5, 24; Prov 8:22-23). For this reason, Ephesians 1:9-10 describes Jesus' coming as the "administration suitable to the fullness of the times," signifying that God's plan for salvation was finally fulfilled through Jesus Christ, the Word who came in the flesh.
The apostle Paul also emphasized that God's divine administration is realized only in Christ (Eph 1:3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 15, 20). However, he was astounded to realize that the notion of the Israelites as the sole "elect people" had collapsed after Jesus' coming and that the scope of God's plan to save had included the Gentiles. He describes this as the "administration of the mystery" (Eph 3:9) because it had been kept hidden until then.
Today, God continues to intercede in the history of mankind and brings to fruition portions of His will according to the "administration suitable to the fullness of the times" and the "administration of the mystery." God's work of redemption will proceed without ceasing until His predestined will and plan are all completely fulfilled at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Copyright ⓒ 2009 Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
First Korean edition published by Huisun in 2007
All rights reserved.
ISBN:978-4-7946-0628-2
Distributed by:
North America, Latin America & Europe
Tuttle Publishing
364 Innovation Drive
North Clarendon, VT 05759-9436 U.S.A.
Tel: 1 (802) 773-8930
Fax: 1(802) 773-6993
info@tuttlepublishing.com
http://www.tuttlepublishing.com/
Asia Pacific
Berkeley Books Pte. Ltd.
61 Tai Seng Avenue #02-12
Singapre 534167
Tel: (65) 6280-1330
Fax: (65) 6280-6290
inquires@periplus.com.sg
http://www.periplus.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment