Ephesians 3:15
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
Around 1920, a man by the name of Clinton Howard wrote an article on the names of Christ. He got up to 304, then in Isaiah 9:6, he found five more and added them to his list, so he got 309 names and titles for Christ Jesus. This was spurred on by a Mohammedan who was showing him his string of beads. There were 99 beads on it, and each one stood for a different name of Allah, his god, as found in the Koran, the bible of Islam. Mr. Howard's search produced approximately three times 99 and 9 over the 99 that the Muslim had of his god. So we thought we should just take a look and see what names and titles we could find of Christ in Paul's Post Acts Epistles. We found 22, and so 22 out of the 309 are found written after Acts 28:28. It's a good idea to look at these and see the significance of each.
1 Timothy 2:5. "Christ Jesus" Christ means anointed, and Jesus comes from the Hebrew Jehoshua which means salvation. Salvation is a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He's the Anointed One. Anointed has to do with kingship or rulership of some kind (they did anoint priests as well as kings). Also, the order of these words, Christ Jesus, tells us something. The first word, Christ, was in the heavenly places, and Jesus, the earthly name, indicates that He came down to earth. When you have the expression, Jesus Christ, it's the Man on the earth Who was taken into Heavenly Places.
1 Timothy 1:2. "Jesus Christ our Lord" Kurios is the Greek word for Lord, and it is interesting to note that Kurios is the Greek word used to translate the Hebrew words Jehovah and Adonai. When Paul starts out in the practical section of Ephesians, he immediately starts out with he's a prisoner of the Lord (he'd been a prisoner of Jesus Christ in Chapter 3, where he's giving the doctrinal), which means there can be no practical application of the Scriptures in our lives without making Him Lord if we don't do that, our work is all in vain.
Ephesians 3:14-15. "Lord Jesus Christ" and adds the title, "Of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." We believe that the whole family here is correct in the light of Ephesians 1:9-10 because in speaking Dispensationally in Ephesians, we find that some are on the earth and some are in The Heavenly Places. Also, according to Ephesians 1:9-10, these are being made into one, headed over by Christ. So this whole family is the household of God and is named after The Lord Jesus Christ.
Colossians 3:4. "Christ our Life" Outside of Him, there is no Life. So He is our Life, and in a special way, including this life, and far beyond that. We believe God's Word is telling us that upon receiving Him as our Life, we will have Life Everlasting so that we will Live as long as God. The Word says we are associated and identified with Him in His death, burial, and Resurrection, and His being Quickened (made alive), Raised, and Seated at the right hand of the Father. Identified with Him in all that we have is such a great promise - Christ our Life!
Colossians 3:11 "Christ is all and in all" Now we find that The Goal of The Ages for the earth (1 Corinthians 15:28) is that God may be all and in all in the near future. But as far as The Church, which is The Body of Christ, and the principalities, powers, might, and dominions associated with Him on and in The Heavenly Places. It's already accomplished, and God's wonderful Word tells us that this group of which we are a part already has Spiritual Unity Eph. 4:3. The earth is looking forward to Unity someday. Still, we are to believe His Word now so that He can enlighten our eyes so that we might comprehend the dimensions thereof Eph. 1:18-23. Unity is just one of the blessings that belong to The Secret of The One Body.
1 Timothy 1:17. "The King eternal, immortal, invisible" Colossians 1:13. "...hath translated us into The Kingdom of His dear Son." So He has a Kingdom, and He's The King over it. It also says immortal - was Christ ever mortal? He died, didn't He? That body He lived in was mortal. He took upon Him the likeness of man that He might redeem mankind. So Christ is the King eternal, immortal, invisible. (This paragraph contains numbers 6 & 7 of the list of 22.)
1 Timothy 1:17. "The only wise God." You can leave out "wise" - the original text omits this, although we know it is true.
1 Timothy 3:16. Christ is, "The mystery of godliness." To actually comprehend all of this is beyond our thinking. We can't understand how God can manifest Himself in the flesh! This is something different than man can ever imagine, that the Man Christ Jesus could have two natures. He was just as much man as if there wasn't anything of God in Him and just as much God as if there wasn't anything of man in Him. Two complete natures which have never been known among mankind: So it is a Great Mystery.
2 Timothy 4:8. "The Righteous Judge" We're told that all judgment is given unto the Son in John's Gospel. If we go before God as Judge, it's in the Person of the Son. And, of course, God is spoken of as the Judge because God and the Son are spoken of as One and the same. We're told very specifically that The Son is the Judge. You can see the necessity for that. The Son is The Redeemer, The One Who took on the likeness of sinful flesh and died for us, that we might be clothed with His Righteousness. Therefore, when the Father sees us, He sees the Righteousness of His Son. And if He sees only the Righteousness of His Son, He has nothing by which to find fault in us. Is that good reasoning? Well, that's the way it works out.
Ephesians 2:14-15. "He is our peace" Christ is our peace because of all that follows in these verses. Now, we not only have Peace because of the work of Christ, but He is our Peace, which is also hard to comprehend.
1 Timothy 2:5. "The Man Christ Jesus" "Man" is used in the plural in verse 1 of that Chapter, so He's putting Himself on a level with all men. So He appears on the earth as the Man Christ Jesus. In a crowd, He might not be noticed. He wasn't different from the others, just one of them.
1 Timothy 2:5. "Mediator between God and men." To be efficient as such, one must understand both sides, both parties that He's going to mediate between. And so that made it necessary that He should be God, and at the same time Man, to be the perfect Mediator between God and men. Why is there a need for a mediator? By Genesis 3, there is a need! A mediator is the one between those who are on the outs with one another, enmity. Man is naturally at enmity against God, so sin has put up a barrier, and He came as The Mediator to break down that barrier.
Colossians 1:15. "Who is the Image of the invisible God." Also spoken of as the "Express Image," which narrows it down even more.
Colossians 2:9. "The fulness of the Godhead." Another title for Him. That is what He is, and "Fulness," which means being filled to overflowing, a fountain, a never-ending supply, and so Christ in every respect is filled to overflowing with God. In all spiritual details, He is God, so He could make known The Invisible God, Who we now know as The Father, Who is Spirit and has no form except The Image of His Dear Son.
Colossians 1:16. "Creator" This verse clearly states that The Son is The Creator and the only Creator. He created all things, so there is nobody else creating because there isn't anything beyond "all things." Many have been taught that God The Father did the Creating, but The Scriptures clearly state in several places The Father has The Son do the Creating and The Judging. This also means the New Creation, the New Heaven, and Earth. So then, Christ --- is a Faithful Creator.
Ephesians 5:23 a. "Head of The Church" Thinking of a living body with a head is not the best example. But a column of figures used to be added up, and that sum was The Head --- that's one picture. It is way beyond Leader, King, Priest, etc. Compare with Ephesians 1:22-23.
Ephesians 5:23 b. "He is The Saviour (the Preserver) of The Body"
Colossians 2:10."Head of all principality and power" Not only Head of The Church which is here on Earth but Head of all principalities and powers in The Heavenly Places. Again, that's brought out in Ephesians 1:9-10 where you have the things on Earth and the things in Heaven. These things occur several times, and the way to get it sure is to get all the references for it and see how they agree.
1 Timothy 6:15. "The blessed and only Potentate" Potentate = powerful ruler, and He is King of kings and Lord of lords.
1 Timothy 1:1. "God our Saviour, and.. our Hope" He's our God, Savior, and Hope. Three times, we have "God our Saviour" in the Book of Titus, and two times there as "Jesus Christ our Saviour."
Colossians 1:13. "His (God's) dear Son." This, and all the preceding, tends to make you think of the old hymn, "More About Jesus Would l Know."
IN CONCLUSION -- Isaiah 9:6. This is one verse we should never forget! It contains five names of Christ. "And His name shall be called WONDERFUL, COUNSELLER, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, THE PRINCE OF PEACE."
