Eph 2:7 - so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. My question is to whom is God making this presentation? Are there other passages that address this future presentation?
The answer to "to whom is God making this presentation" available in Faithlife is found by:
agree or disagree as you see fit
Good answer. It also demonstrates the slice/dice approach of Faithlife is severely constrained by interpretive common sense: aeons (ages?, gods?), demonstrating?, proving?, and as the OP asks 'who?'.
Thank you very much for your reply. While it is not answering the question I asked, it is great information that I didn't know already. The us you click on is not the us I'm asking about. The us you click on is the people the "immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness are being received by. My question is that whole process is going to be displayed to some people in the future. As in, in the coming ages He might show. So to whom is he going to show this in the coming ages is my question. What is is going to show is his immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness to us. I want to know to whom in the future will he show that?
Thank you very much for your reply. While it is not answering the question I asked, it is great information that I didn't know already. The us you click on is not the us I'm asking about. The us you click on is the people the "immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness are being received by. My question is that whole process is going to be displayed to some people in the future. As in, in the coming ages He might show. So to whom is he going to show this in the coming ages is my question. What He is going to show is "his immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness to us." I want to know to whom in the future will he show that?
I'd assume you won't get too much of an answer here as this forum is specifically geared toward the different ways to use Logos/Verbum software. I've re-read your question a couple times and it seems as though you're asking a theological question rather than a technical one. If I'm not mistaken there's a forum rule against discussing theology in this way, I'm assuming because it distracts from the point of the forums. If I misread your question, I'd assume someone else has as well. If your question is about Logos/Verbum, can you rephrase it so we can be of more help?
My question is that whole process is going to be displayed to some people in the future
If the "some people" were in the text/semantics of the text, the case frame would have to have a benefactive role or something similar. If you accept the case frame assigned by Faithlife, you are asking a question for which the text neither provides an answer nor implies that such an answer should exist. Don't be thrown by the semantics of the English word; it is the semantics of the Greek word that is relevant. In 9 of the 11 occurrences in the New Testament no "to whom" is provided.
If you are interested in reception history i.e. how those coming before us interpreted the passage:
[quote]
2:7 Showing the Immeasurable Riches of Grace
IN THE COMING AGES IT WILL BE CLEAR. CHRYSOSTOM: Do not be disbelieving. You have received a proof from former events, from the head12 and from his desire to manifest his goodness. For how otherwise could there be a revelation to us if this does not happen? This will be demonstrated in the ages to come. What now seems nonsense to unbelievers then will appear as fully sensible to everyone.… We will sit with him. Nothing is more trustworthy and worthy of praise than this revelation. HOMILY ON EPHESIANS 4.2.7.13
M. J. Edwards, ed., Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 133.
2:7 The Incomparable Riches of Grace
CHRIST DIED SO THAT PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE MIGHT BENEFIT. HEINRICH BULLINGER: What if someone were to object, “What difference does it make to me or what benefit do I get from the fact that many centuries ago Christ did some amazing things and suffered such a terrible fate?” Paul anticipated this question, and so he added here that this has happened so that in the coming ages God might display the great abundance of his grace. That is, there was a single time when God sent his Son into the world to declare how greatly he loved the human race, and that it was his wish for that race that it should be granted a spirit well-disposed and full of hope that all those who believed in Christ would embrace the same blessing and love with which their spirit had embraced him. COMMENTARY ON EPHESIANS.
HOPE IN GOD IS NEVER DECEIVED. LANCELOT RIDLEY: Here the apostle speaks in the time past for the time to come, for the certainty of the thing to come by Christ. And lest any should be wavering in hope or doubtful of the promise of God to be supplied as at humans promises, God wills that people should be as sure of his promises (as if they were received in deed) by faith and hope of them, which hope is never deceived. COMMENTARY ON EPHESIANS.
THE CALLING OF THE GENTILES. JOHN CALVIN: The calling of the Gentiles is such an astounding work of God’s goodness that it ought to be handed down from one generation to the next and never be erased from people’s minds. The kindness that we have received springs from God’s mercy, which is entirely free and undeserved. COMMENTARY ON EPHESIANS.
THERE ARE MANY INTERPRETATIONS OF THIS VERSE. WOLFGANG MUSCULUS: This verse is interpreted in different ways by different people. Some say that it refers to the future age, which will come after the end of this world and to the eternal life and happiness that we shall then enjoy in Christ. Others say that it applies to the time after the resurrection of Christ to the end of the world. Chrysostom, Jerome and Ambrose followed the first interpretation. As Chrysostom said, “Now some trifles, as it were, are revealed for the sake of unbelievers, but then everyone will know.”1 Jerome says the following: “In the future ages, God will show his glory and make known the riches he has given to us not just to one but to all his rational creatures.”2 And Ambrose writes, “This means that in the future age the gift of God will appear as a reward for believers, for eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it come into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him. These are the superabundant riches that are only given to believers and which no mind can fathom.”3 So say they.To my mind, though, those who think that this refers not to the future age, when there will be no transitional phases from one age to the next, but to those ages that were to follow the resurrection and ascension of Christ, in which the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of grace, remains and is maintained in the elect until the end of time, when we finally reach the kingdom of glory that will exist in the future age, have the better interpretation. Therefore this verse is very important and must be borne in mind by us who live in the sixteenth century after the birth of Christ. It is of immense help in confirming our faith if we understand that we are going to obtain the grace and blessing of God of which, at the beginning of the gospel, believers in Christ, both Jews and Gentiles, were evidence, that is to say, a specimen and example in which it was demonstrated what Christians in all subsequent ages ought to claim of that heavenly grace, which was identical to what the apostles and the other early Christians received by the riches of God’s grace in Christ. God showed in the first saints not what later generations should ask them for but what they should hope for and expect from his goodness and grace. In them he presented a specimen of his grace toward them, not so that they would later be called on and venerated but so that they might convey the examples of their grace to later generations. God wanted the faith of his elect to be sincere and to remain constant and continuous in all subsequent ages. Therefore he presented outstanding examples of his abundant grace right at the beginning of the preaching of the gospel as lamps to teach believers in later times what they should expect from God. Therefore those who teach us to seek this grace, not in God through Christ, but in the dead saints, are wrong. COMMENTARY ON EPHESIANS.
A WITNESS TO FUTURE GENERATIONS. DAVID DICKSON: The end for which we lost sinners, both Jews and Gentiles, even after we have so wickedly led our lives, should have salvation bestowed on us in Christ, is that those who shall live in after ages may see, and acknowledge the superabounding grace of God; and that by our example they may learn to come to God who is the fountain of salvation in Christ, that they also might in like manner, though most unworthy, obtain grace. Therefore you are saved only by grace. EXPOSITION OF EPHESIANS.
Timothy F. George, “General Introduction,” in Galatians, Ephesians: New Testament, ed. Gerald L. Bray and Scott M. Manetsch, vol. 10, Reformation Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011), 284–285.
