The Recapitulation of All Things in Christ; the Seal of the Spirit (Ephesians 1:10–13)

Eph. 1:10. For the dispensation of the fullness of times, to gather together / recapitulate all things in Christ, both the things which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

“Dispensation” — οικονομια— economy in general; the ordering of the entire course of affairs in a household, in which everything is directed to one goal—the wellbeing of all. There is a special economy of the Lord in the ordering of the salvation of the human race. The plan—what is to be and when—was outlined in the divine counsel from before the ages; but each thing comes to pass when its proper time arrives. This arrival of the time is called by the Apostle here “the fullness of times” — πληρωμα των καιρον,—and in the Epistle to the Galatians — πληρωμα του χρονου,—the fullness of the time. By such an expression one could designate the time of any special divine disposition in the ordering of our salvation; but in the Apostle it signifies exclusively the coming of the Only-begotten Son of God to earth, as he directly indicates in the Epistle to the Galatians: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son” (Gal. 4:4). Here is the same thought, only it is not the sending of the Son of God that is spoken of, but the significance which this sending holds within the whole circle of all that exists.

“By the fullness of times the Apostle means the time appointed by God (for the coming of the Lord to earth)” (Theodoret). Holy Chrysostom, having said that the fullness of times was His coming, or the economy itself, adds: “Note how precisely he (the Apostle) expresses himself. Showing that the beginning of our salvation, the proposal, the first desire and impulse—are in the Father, while the fulfillment of it in deed is through the Son, he nowhere, however, calls Him (the Son) a servant. — The Father willed. The Son fulfilled the will. But if the Father had not willed, the Son would not have acted; likewise, if the Son had not acted, the Father would have been deprived of His will, for between Father and Son all things are common. ‘All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine’—says the Son (Jn. 17:10).”

The Apostle mentions this fullness of times here not in order to dwell upon it specially, but only for the completeness of his depiction of the whole work of the ordering of salvation in the Lord. Having said that God showed the overabundance of His grace toward us by revealing to us the mystery of His will—the chief hidden goal of all the good pleasure set forth in the Lord Jesus Christ—he now shows what this mystery is and what this hidden purpose of God is; namely, that by virtue of the divine economy, or the pre-eternal arrangement of God that the appointed time should now have come,—to gather together / recapitulate all things in Christ.

But for us, in reading these words, it is never superfluous to pause and attend to the thought they express. It introduces us into the mysteries of divine wisdom, the contemplation of which is always edifying. Holy Paul points here to the foreordained time of the appearance of the Son of God on earth, expressing at the same time that this time was already fulfilled in the appearance of Jesus Christ—God incarnate. Humanity, and in particular the people of God, had lived through that period of time which divine Providence had appointed for preparing them to receive the redemptive powers. All of history before Christ the Lord was of a pedagogical character. Everything there tended toward preparing humanity for the greatest work of God manifested in Christ. The experience of five and a half thousand years was sufficient to make man understand that from his own efforts and his own wisdom no salvation was to be expected. He could not attain it either by the path of the Law, as Judaism showed, or by the path of purely human striving, as paganism showed. Thus was formed the consciousness of one’s own powerlessness—the felt need for deliverance from outside, for seeking and awaiting a Deliverer from on high. This is the foreappointed fruit of the course of events—the fullness of times… Holy Chrysostom depicts this thus: “The fullness of times was His (the Son of God’s) coming. So, when He had done everything through Angels, Prophets, and the Law, and had accomplished nothing, but was on the contrary still in danger (of regretting) that He had created man to no purpose, had brought into existence one who was too advanced in evil; when all without distinction were perishing, and in greater numbers than at the flood—then He found the means of saving man in grace, a means by which it is shown that He did not create him thoughtlessly or to no purpose. — Thus men were saved at the very time when they were most doomed to perish.”

The calamitous condition of man had reached its extreme limits. — And the Lord came; and was received, as rain by a parched earth. With His appearing, the preparation for Him came to an end, and a new era of the spiritual life of humanity began, which the holy Apostle characterized as the recapitulation of all things in Christ. Humanity rightly regards this moment of the fullness of times as the central point of its history, from which it looks back and also sees forward. To it the entire course of events gravitates, as the periphery to the center; to it all the radii of the circle of times converge.

“To gather together / recapitulate all things, both the things which are in heaven and on earth, in Him”. — Here is the goal of all God’s good pleasure toward us, the ultimate limit to which the economy of our salvation extends—the mystery, by the revelation of which the Lord increased His grace toward us, which was already very full even without this! Christ the Lord is the head of saved humanity, foreordained from before the ages. But since sin introduced discord and dissolution among earthly and heavenly creatures, the Lord, by destroying sin, removes the wall of partition, reunites all, restores all to peace in Himself, and becomes the head of the earthly and the heavenly (Col. 1:20).

“The things which are in heaven”—the Angelic world; “the things which are on earth”—the human race and the material world. These three worlds were originally in perfect manifest harmony and formed one Kingdom of God. The sin of man, his falling away from God, shattered this harmony. Man, by his very idea, was meant to be the center of all worlds—of the whole domain of created being, of both Angels and the material world. With his fall, the center of the bond was gone, and everything fell into discord. The world, whose powers and elements he encompasses in himself, he drew into a downward fall through his own person, and it groans, according to the Apostle, for deliverance (Rom. 8:22). And the Angels themselves became estranged from what had come about, because man took an entirely different path. In Christ Jesus everything is now again being drawn up into union, and the original harmony of creation is being restored. Into the world He introduces life-giving powers through His human body, and holds and permeates the whole world—through its own powers—from within Himself. And the Angels He also draws to Himself through the human spirit, giving them scope to act and thereby blessing them. Through sin they had been fenced off and constrained, as if enclosed within their own sphere by a barrier. Now in the person of the Lord the door to the domain of man and nature is opened to them once more, and they are welcome everywhere, rejoicing in the return of the full circle of their beneficent activity, for which they were destined from the very beginning.

But the full recapitulation of all things will be accomplished, or will appear in power and glory, at the end of the ages. For now it is only seeded in the person of the Lord and is destined to ripen in the course of the events of the world and of humanity, until the end of the world.

Since this subject is of the first importance, we will make somewhat more extended quotations concerning it from the holy fathers.

Holy Chrysostom says: “The heavenly and the earthly were severed from one another and had no single head. This head was to be none other than God—the Creator and Provider; but in actuality it turned out otherwise, because men severed themselves from obedience.”

Then, having explained the other words contained in this verse, holy Chrysostom returns again to “recapitulate” and says: “What does ‘recapitulate’ mean? It means—to unite. Among us recapitulation — ανακεφαλαιωσις — commonly means the presentation in brief terms of what would require a long time to say; or a condensed exposition of all that was said at length. Thus the word can also mean the following: what has been in preparation for so long (the economy of our salvation) He recapitulated in Himself—that is, brought together; or, to speak briefly—while preserving the truth—He both encompassed what was already there and added what is new.” — All prophecies and prefigurations were fulfilled in Him (at length—blessed Jerome), and the Law came to an end. New gracious powers were established which, like leaven, began to permeate, enliven, and rebuild all things.

But this thought is not the primary one for St. Chrysostom. The primary thought is the reunification of all created beings.

“But there is something else as well, he says, that is signified by this word. In Christ, according to the flesh, God has placed one Head over all—over Angels and men alike; that is, He has given one supreme Beginning to both Angels and men: to the latter, Christ according to the flesh; to the former, God the Word. It is as if someone were to say of a building that one part of it had rotted while another remained sound, and were then to restore it—that is, make it stronger by laying a firmer foundation; so here too He has brought all things under one Head. Only then is union possible, only then will there be this perfect bond, when all things, having some necessary connection on high, are brought under one Head.”

Blessed Theodoret supplements this thought by introducing created nature itself into the restorative act accomplished in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ: “To gather together all things…” He sets this forth more clearly in the Epistle to the Romans, saying: “the whole creation… groans and travails in pain together until now” (Rom. 8:22); and again: “For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19). He says the same in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “that he” apart from God “should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2:9). “The divine nature alone has need of nothing; but every created thing had need of the healing that the economy of salvation provides. For even the elements, created for the use of mankind, God made subject to corruption, since transgression was to render man mortal as well. And the invisible powers too were surely grieved at beholding the wickedness taking root among men. For if they rejoice ‘over one’ ‘sinner’ ‘that repents,’ as the Lord said (Lk. 15:7), it is plain that they grieve when they see the contrary. But the incarnation of the Only-begotten, having crushed death, revealed the resurrection, and given the pledges of the general Resurrection, dispersed this gloomy cloud. Therefore the Apostle calls this sudden transformation of all things ‘the gathering together.’ For by the economy of the Lord Christ, human nature is restored and clothed in incorruption, the visible creation, freed from corruption, attains incorruption, and the hosts of the invisible powers will from now on abide in joy, for ‘sorrow and sighing shall flee away’ (Isa. 35:10). This is what the divine Apostle teaches in the words under consideration. For he did not say simply ‘heaven and earth,’ but ‘things in heaven and things on earth.’ And, revealing the mystery of the economy, he added: ‘in Him,’ that is, in Christ.”

Cornelius a Lapide cites the words of blessed Augustine: “In Christ there is restored also that which is ‘in heaven,’—in that what was lost among the fallen angels is recovered from among men (who are saved in the Lord); and there is restored also that which is ‘on earth,’—in that men, predestined to eternal glory, are renewed, escaping the corruption of the old nature” (from Enchirid. LXII).

And from St. Gregory the Great: “Men are raised through humility to the place from which the apostate angels fell through pride. Now both men and Angels are called together into one house, under one Head. This house was destroyed through Adam’s sin. One wall remained intact: these are the Angels; and the other fell: men fell away from fellowship with the Angels and were brought under the yoke of demons. Christ has now restored this fallen wall, and through this He has restored the whole house. He has reestablished the fellowship of Angels and men, and the house is whole again, as it was before the fall” (Moral., lib. XXXI, cap. XXXV).

And from St. Irenaeus: “In Christ all things are gathered together, because in human nature all the elements and powers are contained. Why is man called a microcosm? When God the Word assumed human nature, He united within Himself, as in a compendium, all that exists, and restored it to Himself—their Creator” (lib. III, cap. VIII).

Thus heaven and earth—all that exists—are harmoniously joined together in Christ Jesus. Moreover, all that unfolds in time finds its center in Him. He is therefore the key to understanding the mysteries of the creation and governance of the world. Having entered into the contemplation of this and been rapt by it, St. Paul cried out: Blessed be God! — and from the opening of his discourse to this point, concisely yet fully, he has depicted the whole picture of this divine goodwill toward us in Christ and all the abundance of the blessings poured out upon us in Him. From here he descends from heaven and shows how on earth men—Jews and Gentiles—have entered and continue to enter under the beneficent streams of these gracious blessings.

Let us conclude this section—on the blessings of God, vv. 3–10—with the exhortation of St. Chrysostom: “Having been deemed worthy of so great a gift, so great an honor, so great a loving-kindness, let us not put to shame our Benefactor; let us not render vain so great a grace; let us display an angelic manner of life, angelic virtue, and an angelic pattern of living. And I ask and beseech that all this may not be to us for judgment and condemnation, but for the receiving of those blessings of which may we all be deemed worthy by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom together with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory and power.”

Eph. 1:11, 12. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first hoped in Christ might be to the praise of His glory.

Verses 11–14 describe the movement on earth of the work of salvation—that is, how the economy of this salvation, foreordained from eternity and brought to manifestation and fulfilment by the Lord Jesus Christ, touched Jews and Gentiles, and in what manner and sense both were brought into possession of what salvation has prepared.

Verses 11 and 12 contain one thought and refer to one group of persons, designated by the words “we” and “us.” Since these are described as having first hoped in Christ, it is evident that by them we must understand the Jews. These two verses show how they became partakers of salvation. In verse 13 another group of persons is introduced, designated by “you.” From this juxtaposition it is plain that by “you” the holy Apostle means the Gentiles.

Proceeding from the thought that verses 11 and 12 speak of the Jews, the word “we have obtained an inheritance” — εκληρωθημεν — must be given this sense: we entered into an inheritance, or, as if by right of inheritance, we were received into God’s portion, into the kingdom of those saved in Christ, brought into possession of that to which we were of old chosen and appointed. The inheritance in the Apostle’s usage is preeminently participation in the Kingdom of the Messiah. The Jews had already been foreordained to this participation, and those who, having believed and received the Messiah, thereby fulfilled the condition for entering His Kingdom, naturally entered it as into a foreordained portion, or were received by Christ as His rightful inheritance.

Having indicated this preeminence of the Jews with the words “we have obtained an inheritance”—brought into inheritance—the Apostle goes on to indicate the ground of this their election and its purpose.

The ground lies in the free resolve and determination of God, who works all things according to the counsel of His will; and the purpose is that they, as the first, should serve for the glory of the Messiah-Saviour who had appeared—as indeed they did serve, being the place of the Saviour’s appearing and the point of departure in His glorification. For where did the Saviour appear? Among the Jews. Where was His saving activity unfolded, and where was the economy of salvation accomplished by Him? Among the Jews. Where did His glorification begin, and from where did it go forth? From the Jews, with the holy Apostles as the first heralds of the Gospel and of the preaching concerning the Saviour. Such they became as a result of their prior election by God for this work from among all peoples. This election was followed by particular divine providential arrangements for preparing them for the proper fulfilment of their calling. Hence they had already hoped in Christ beforehand, had awaited Him; and when He came, they served as the soil for the growth of the Kingdom of Christ and as the instrument for drawing other peoples into it.

The election of the Hebrew people for this work depended on the will of God. It pleased God—and He chose. Although certain features of the Hebrew character can be pointed out by which one might judge that they were better suited to this work than others, yet it can equally be supposed that any people, in their place, had so many immediate divine benefactions been done for it, would have proved fit for it. The Apostle points to nothing of the sort, but says only: according to the purpose of God—in Greek προθεσιν — according to the proposal, resolve, and determination of the divine will. Such was God’s good pleasure.

Did the Jews fulfil this vocation? They did. Among them the first Church flourished. And it had already spread its branches throughout the whole world. That Christ was not received by the entire body of the nation may perhaps not have been part of the features of their calling. A fledgling, hatched within the egg, draws out of it all that is suitable for itself. Whatever remnants and shell there are get scattered here and there, while the fledgling flies freely over the face of the earth. So it was with the people of God. Whatever was fit within it all entered into the Kingdom of Christ, the Church; whatever was unfit was scattered over the face of the earth.

Blessed Theodoret writes: “Having predestined us in the beginning, He who does all things as He wills appointed us to life. The Apostle further indicates more plainly to what lot we have been predestined: ‘that we might be to the praise of His glory.’ For all, beholding us who have believed in the Lord, hymn Christ as the author of these blessings.”

“The praise of ‘glory’—of the glorious work accomplished by Jesus Christ. They were its first heralds. One may even say that to this day unbelieving Jews are for the praise of the glory of Jesus Christ, for they possess the prophetic books which proclaim Christ. The former glorified Christ by faith, while these glorify Him by their unbelief, without noticing it or willing it. They fulfil, against their own will, the divine appointment.”

The glory of God in general from the work of salvation accomplished by the Lord was spoken of above, in v. 6; here it is indicated more specifically how the Jews served and were meant to serve this glory, through glorifying Christ the Lord by their faith. They were able to do this because they were those who had hoped in Christ and awaited Him. The Gentiles, by contrast, lived “having no hope” (Eph. 2:12). Only for the first time did they begin to come alive with the good hope of salvation through receiving the Gospel proclamation that went forth from the Jews. For the first time they heard of a Deliverer, of whom they felt the need but of whom they had previously known nothing, and could therefore have had no definite hope in Him.

St. Chrysostom dwells here above all on how God does all things according to eternal foreordinations: “Since the One who chose is God, we owe our election not to chance, but have received an inheritance according to His purpose. He foresaw us before He made us heirs. How wondrous is the divine foreknowledge, seeing all things before their fulfilment! Moreover, note how the Apostle strives everywhere to explain that all events came to pass because they were foreordained of old in precisely this way, and that everything was accomplished by Him (the Lord) in accordance with this foreordination… He foreordained all things from the beginning and beyond this did nothing else. He acted to the end according to the counsel of His will. It follows that He called the Gentiles not at all because the Jews (not all the Jews) had not obeyed Him; He was not led or compelled to do so by the latter…”

Eph. 1:13. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

“In Him,”—through Him and for His sake, having cleaved to Him, united with Him and become one with Him and in Him—“you also”—Christians from among the Gentiles, who previously knew nothing of Christ, but for the first time heard of Him in the preaching of the Gospel, and having believed in Him, were received into the same fellowship in the blessings that are in Him as we who had hoped beforehand: of which the proof is that you too have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. We—the Jews—were already elected and appointed beforehand to be Christ’s portion, while you, though not directly appointed, yet having believed, were received into the same portion; and Christ laid His seal upon you as well—the gift of the Holy Spirit—so that all, both heavenly and earthly, might know that you already belong to Him and to no other. Thus you are in no way disadvantaged in comparison with us; you have received the same as we, through your faith and submission to the Gospel.

“The word of truth”—the teaching of Christ, the word of faith in Him, which is beyond all doubt true and contains the chiefest and most needful of all truths—how to be saved; and whoever receives this truth in his heart, even if he knows nothing else, will possess the truth of life, which along its true path will lead him to true blessedness.

“The Gospel of ‘salvation’—the glad tidings of salvation—explains the content of ‘the word of truth.’ This was the whole substance of the preaching. The Apostles said to all: you are perishing and will remain in perdition if you continue as you are. If you wish to be saved, here is the one means: believe in the Lord Jesus Christ crucified. “What else did the preaching contain but the glad tidings of salvation—that is, that He no longer destroys those who deserve destruction?” (St. Chrysostom).”

Instead of “our salvation,” that is, of all people, some read “your salvation”—the Ephesians’. The sense would then be: of yours as of ours. Or more directly, the Apostle is drawing them back to the memory of how they came to believe. Hearing the preaching, they recognized that they were truly perishing; they felt their own ruin, and together with it felt that there was nowhere for them to be saved save in the Lord Jesus Christ; and this preaching became for them the pointing out of the one salvation, to which they clung with all their strength. And in each person saving faith begins to show its power when he appropriates to himself the universal salvation in the Lord—not by reasoning, but by feeling.

“And believed in Him.” Hearing is not enough; believing is necessary. Faith is the door to receiving all the blessings from the Lord. Just as, having ascended into heaven, He sent down the Holy Spirit into the world, so those who cleave to Him by faith He at once, through the sacraments, fills with the Holy Spirit. The path is this: first hearing, then faith from hearing, and finally the sealing with the Spirit in baptism and the laying on of hands, or chrismation. These are the steps by which those who were far off come near and are brought into the inheritance of Christ.

“You were sealed with the Spirit.” Of the Jews he said: we have obtained an inheritance, we entered into the inheritance of the blessings in Christ, or into Christ’s portion and lot; but of the Gentiles—“you were sealed with the Spirit.” And this is one and the same thing. For to be sealed with the Spirit meant precisely that they too had been received into Christ’s portion; just as for the Jews to partake of the blessings in Christ, or to enter into Christ’s portion, was in no other way possible than through the outpouring of the Spirit—in fulfillment of the promises to pour out the Spirit upon them and thereby make them new. Theodoret writes: “Not only did you hear, but you also believed. Hence you were also deemed worthy of the grace of the All-holy Spirit. ‘You were sealed’ is like the prophetic saying: ‘the light of Your face has been signed upon us, O Lord’ (Ps. 4:7); that is, as a kind of seal you received the gift of the Spirit.” St. Chrysostom says: “This sealing (with the Spirit) reveals great providential care. As if someone were to mark with a distinctive sign those who had fallen to his lot by lot, so that he might recognize them afterward, so too God, having set them apart for receiving faith in Him (Christ), sealed them (with the Spirit as a sign of belonging to Him, and) as an inheritance of future blessings… The Israelites also received a seal, but through circumcision, like irrational animals; we too have been sealed, but as children, with the Spirit.”

In the receiving of the Holy Spirit, by whom love is poured into our hearts and faith becomes life-giving, in the receiving of the Holy Spirit whose presence, in the earliest times, was attested by manifest and wondrous operations of grace, the Christian receives both for himself and for others a sign, a seal, an assurance that he belongs to Christ (Rom. 8:16). Blessed Jerome writes: “The seal of God consists in this: that just as the first man was created in the image and likeness of God, so in the second re-creation he who is deemed worthy of the Holy Spirit is sealed by Him in that he receives the image of his Creator. I consider that by this is signified that the Holy Spirit makes holy the one upon whom He is poured out: the spirit of wisdom makes him wise, the spirit of understanding makes him understanding, the spirit of counsel makes him counselled, the spirit of might makes him mighty, the spirit of knowledge makes him knowing, the spirit of godliness makes him godly, the spirit of the fear of God makes him God-fearing, working out his salvation with fear and trembling.”

“The promised Spirit.” Why did St. Paul so call Him? Both because He Himself was promised—both by the prophets and by the Lord—and because He serves as the earnest of future promises. St. Chrysostom says: “What does ‘the promised Spirit’ mean? It means that we received Him according to promise. There were two promises: one through the prophets, the other through the Son. I said, through the prophets; hear what Joel says: ‘I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your elders shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions’ (Joel 2:28). Hear then also what Christ says: ‘you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8).”

Oecumenius and Theophylact, having expressed the same thought, add: Oecumenius: “‘The promised Spirit’ is so called also either because He promises innumerable blessings, or because through being sealed by Him you will obtain or be deemed worthy of the promises.” Theophylact: “Or also because (He is the Spirit of promise) in that the Spirit confirms the promise of future blessings. Having been given, He thereby gives assurance also of the future. Hence He is also called the earnest.”