What Verbs Did Jesus Do?

Thursdays are for the New Testament. This post was prepared 5/28/15 for publication 6/11/15.

Peterson, Eugene H., and Peter Santucci. Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing up in Christ. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Kindle Electronic Edition.
Chapter 3, “God and His Glory: Ephesians 1:3-14” Loc. 589-770.

Ephesians 1:3-14 is one sentence consisting of 201 words (Peterson 2010, Loc. 593). Peterson affirms that the sentence is a wonderful outpouring, comparing it to the immensity of the world and the grace of God described in the sentence (Peterson 2010, Loc. 602).

Peterson goes on to discuss the idea that we are all lost in this world, needing to see the work of the Holy Spirit (Peterson 210, Loc. 611). Paul uses his statement here to open our eyes to the world and Christ’s redemption, pointing our way home. To do this he uses simple parts of speech, nouns and verbs (Peterson 2010, Loc. 618). Peterson traces seven verbs from this passage (blessed chose, destined, bestowed, lavished, made known, gather up) (Peterson 2010, Loc. 633). He then walks through them in order.

1. Blessed - God the blessed one blesses us (Peterson 2010, Loc. 635).
2. Chose - God chose his people to be holy (Peterson 2010, Loc. 644).
   
3. Destined - Our outcome is not by chance (Peterson 2010, Loc. 657).
   
4. Bestowed - This is a rarely used word, indicating God giving lavishly from his extravagant favor (Peterson 2010, Loc. 690).
   
5. Lavished - not a rare term at all (Peterson 2010, Loc. 706).
   
6. Made Known - God informs his people (Peterson 2010, Loc. 715).
   
7. Gathers - God collects his world together from his glory (Peterson 2010, Loc. 730).
   

Peterson observes that Jesus is the one who does all these verbs. He is the one who is active and in all this world. All that happens in our world should finally point “to the praise of his glory,” repeated three times in this sentence (Peterson 2010, Loc. 753).