UNIQUE EXPRESSIONS AND 
GREAT TRUTHS FROM THE APOSTLE PAUL
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 THE APOSTLE PAUL many times used unique, paradoxical, and superlative statements in getting across the great truths of the gospel. This comes as no surprise as the Lord Jesus Christ did the same thing. 

 
 Paradoxically, using words that sound like a contradiction, the Lord spoke of finding your life in losing it (Matthew 16:25), and he said, "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4). Likewise in the same vein, Matthew 19:30 reads, "But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first."

 
 He also used expansive words to get across the great and expansive nature of his teachings. In the Sermon on the Mount, he authoritatively asserted, "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20). At another time he stated, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10b). Then to show the extent of his love, which he would exemplify, he said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Superlatives would express the essence of Christianity.

 
 The writer of the book of Hebrews repeatedly uses the word "better" in talking about the New Testament and everything connected with it (Hebrews 1:4; 7:19, 22; 8:6; 9:23; 10:34; 11:16, 35, 40; 12:24). He does not mean better in the sense of good, better, and best. Only two things are being compared in each case here, so "better" would be the proper superlative to use. Christianity excels all that ever came before it, being God’s completed and final revelation to man.

 
 Let us "zero in" on some of Paul’s unique, paradoxical, and expansive statements in expressing the great truths of the New Testament. Not only will this prove to be interesting, as our minds are refreshingly stirred, we will surely thereby be edified.
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—I— 
 "For the invisible things of him [God] from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20).
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The Reality of God
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 The Bible tells us that God "is" (Hebrews 11:6; Genesis 1:1). Jesus said that God is "Spirit" (John 4:24), and also he said that a spirit does not have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39). Consequently, God in His eternal dimension is invisible to man in his fleshly body. Repeatedly, we are told that God is invisible and has not been seen by man (I Timothy 1:17; 6:16; John 1:18).

 
 However, the apostle Paul speaks of the invisible things in reference to God as being clearly seen (Romans 1:20). Obviously this is a paradox. In the context, what he is saying is that it was inexcusable that the ancient Gentiles went into idolatry. The creation itself declares that there is an Almighty God. It is just like Psalms 19:1 reads, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." Here we see His "eternal power and Godhead [divinity]" awesomely displayed.

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Elaboration on This
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 Yes, Paul makes his point well. We are made to feel minutely small as the vast canopy of the star-spangled expanse of night is spread over us. From our smaller planet, the earth, we see the galaxies, the stars, and other planets out there in boundless space. Breathtaking, awesome, almighty power is displayed right before our eyes. And it is not an uncertain, erratic manifestation of power, exploding and going unpredictably in any and every direction. These mighty heavenly bodies go reeling through space in exact, clock-like precision. This almighty power is governed by nothing less than supreme intelligence.

 
 Focusing our attention back to earth, we likewise are amazed by the world of nature and the elements about us. There are laws and principles that govern everything. They are true and consistent and can be relied upon. And because of this there can be such a thing as science, as we call it. Men are simply discovering and rethinking the higher thoughts of God after Him, as evident in His creation. All of this points to God, Supreme Intelligence, and man is without excuse in denying the reality of God.

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The Rest of the Story
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 We have no problem in believing in God; everything points to Him. Left to nature alone, however, God might come through to us as nothing more than a cold, calculating scientist of the highest order. And God being Spirit, and the fact that we are fleshly beings, creates a problem. Besides learning that God is love (I John 4:16; John 3:16), it would be nice to have something more tangible to focus our minds upon when we think about God. So let us go a step further for the rest of the story. John 1:18 reads, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Right before this in verse 14, we read, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." Read the whole prologue of the gospel of John—great reading! (John 1:1-18) Christ was Emmanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23). Not only has Jesus become our Savior, he has shown us God in the flesh, and given us something tangible to focus our minds upon. He "is the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15), "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). Now then, and even more exactly, through the eyes of faith we can be "seeing him who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27).

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—II—
 "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God" (Ephesians 3:19).

 
 Interestingly, we are here presented with another paradox by the apostle Paul, i. e., to "know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge"—in other words, he seems to be saying they were to know that which was beyond knowing. Not only is this paradoxical, that "which passeth knowledge" is a superlative expression.

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Part of A Prayer
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 Ephesians 3:19 is not just an isolated verse, it is part of a prayer Paul was praying in behalf of the Ephesians, which was part of the larger epistle that bears their name. Paul had been writing about the wonderful, superlative truths of Christianity (God’s saving grace and how that Jew and Gentile were made one in Christ, chapter 2), and he was then about to word a prayer for the Ephesians in this connection (3:1), when parenthetically he reverts to talking about how God had entrusted him with the stewardship of taking the gospel to these Gentiles. In 3:14 we have a cue that he is getting back to what he was going to write in 3:1, when he says, "For this cause…" Then chapter 3:14-21 involves this prayer. As we said, Ephesians 3:19 is simply part of the prayer. To what is said here, let us more fully, although briefly, notice the whole prayer.

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All of This Prayer
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 First, carefully read the prayer. The apostle prays that the eternal God out of the richness of Himself will mightily strengthen them by His Spirit in their inner person; that, as this happens in the exercise of their faith, they will be "rooted and grounded in love." 

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 That being accomplished, he further prays about this love. He wants them to grasp (meaning of the Greek word translated "comprehend") and to know this love that is beyond knowing. Perhaps he wants them, somehow, intellectually to try to grasp "the breadth, and length, and depth, and height" of this love. There is only one article "the" for the collective grouping of breadth, length, depth, and height. Therefore, it seems they should be considered more as a vast whole, stressing the over-all vastness, rather than individually. Although, looking at the dimensions either collectively or individually, much can be said. Then they are to know by experience this love that passes knowledge. In its greatness and vastness, it is like the blue sky in the familiar atmosphere that is all around us, but it soon blends into the boundless and unknown outer space that reaches indefinitely and infinitely beyond us.

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The Superlative Results
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 This love is truly amazing! Why the sinless Son of God would empty himself of the glories of heaven, be shamefully treated by depraved and fallen man, and then die such an awful death on the old rugged cross is a love that is beyond our mortal understanding tainted by selfishness. But Paul wants us somehow to grasp it, to know it, and to experience it. Our love is a responsive love. "We love him, because he first loved us" (I John 4:19). Conversion itself is an experience of love. The Holy Spirit is given to us initially at conversion (Acts 2:38; John 3:5), and progressively thereafter we are filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 3:16,17; 5:18). In all of this we are made to know that "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost [Spirit] which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5). It is great when Paul’s prayer is answered. The end result is that we will be more and more like God, superlatively filled with His fullness divine (Ephesians 3:19; 4:13). How wonderful!

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The Benediction
And Appendage Thought
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 The point has been made. But the benediction, the last two verses of this prayer, contains a word that is most expressive. It truly is a forceful superlative and deserves our attention. The benedictory conclusion starts by saying, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think…"

 
 We find the Greek word translated "exceeding abundantly above" is huperekperissou. There are three parts to this word: huper + ek + perissou, the last being the main stem. This last stem seems to be from perissos (which is from peri, around), and indicates abundance. The prefix stems, huper, means over or above, and ek means out or from. So these stems have the force of above, out, and around. The word really is intensified. Most expressively it puts the emphasis upon God’s ability and capacity to respond to our prayers "above all that we ask or think."

 
 (As a matter of extended thought and interest, I Thessalonians 3:10 and 5:13 are the only other places where this word is found in the New Testament. The first expresses the extent Paul was engaged in prayer for the spiritual well-being of the new Thessalonian Christians. The other conveys the appropriate esteem in love in which the faithful leaders of the church were to be held by the Thessalonians and by us today.)
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