Book Review: United in Christ, Walking by the Spirit: A Theology of Ephesians (NTT), Benjamin Merkle

The New Testament Theology series aims to treat the main themes of each book of the New Testament through the lens of biblical theology. In this volume, Benjamin Merkle, professor of New Testament and Greek at SEBTS, writes that the goal of this book is “to offer an accessible summary of the theology of Ephesians that highlights the work of God through his Son for the believer who is then able to love and enjoy God because of the ongoing work of the Spirit. It is because believers are united to Christ that they can walk in the Spirit” (15).

Merkle wrote five chapters that highlight five major themes in Ephesians:

1. the plan of God;
2. union with Christ;
3. walking according to the Spirit;
4. the unity of the church; and
5. spiritual warfare in the present age.

God’s Plan

The first chapter, on the plan of God, highlights God’s plan of salvation and uniting all things in Christ, as well as God’s plan for Paul and his plan for prayer. When many people think of Ephesians, they think of “election.” Merkle looks at the meaning, cause, timing, and purpose of election. It is “God’s choice of individuals to receive his favor before they have done anything good or bad (Rom. 9:10–11)… based solely on God’s sovereign grace (Rom. 9:16)” (22).

Merkle emphasizes both individual election (instead of corporate) and “God’s sole initiative in election or predestination” (22). It is Gods divine choice based on his love to redeem sinners, a choice made “before the foundation of the world” (1:4; Jn 17:24; 1 Pet 1:20), before time and creation. The purpose is our sanctification, for us to be “holy and blameless” before God. This is done for “the praise of his glory,” which is “to make his name great through his great mercy that he bestows on undeserving sinners” (24). Merkle doesn’t end there though. He  looks also at redemption, which inheritance, perseverance, the sealing of the Spirit, and regeneration.

Union with Christ

Chapter two focuses on our union with Christ, using Constantine Campbell’s work Paul and Union with Christ. Union with Christ provides the webbing which holds all of Paul’s theology together. He uses Campbell’s four concepts of “union, participation, identification, and incorporation” to illuminate the believer’s union with Christ in Ephesians (47).

• Union with Christ is a spiritual, actual union effective “through the indwelling and activity of the Holy Spirit” (47). There are many references to believers being “in Christ, but there are a few references to Christ being in the believer (Gal 2:20; Col 1:27), illustrating the mutual indwelling we have with Christ.
• Because we are in union with Christ, we participate with him in his death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification, “as if believers partook of and accomplished all that Christ accomplished” (51).  We see this in Roans 6, where our faith unites us to Christ’s death and resurrection, as pictured in our baptism. Since Christ is the beginning of the new creation and we are united to him, we are no longer under the dominion of the old order of sin.
• We are also identified with Christ, which means that we are under his dominion. We receive God’s blessings because we are identified with Christ (Eph 1:6). Jews and Gentiles now both make up the body of Christ (3:6). All who come to Christ are under his dominion, in the realm of light (5:8).
• With Incorporation, each believer is part of the community of believers united through their mutual faith in Christ. Paul speaks of Jews and Gentiles both as the body of Christ and his temple. This “one body” is the church (2:16).

Spiritual Warfare

I won’t cover each chapter, so I’ll jump to the final chapter: spiritual warfare in the present age. Usually when I think of spiritual warfare, I think of Ephesians 6:10-20. Magic filled Ephesian society. There was constant fear of cosmic forces, but now the Ephesians are assured that they “are now identified with and united to Christ… the risen Lord who has defeated all enemies, triumphing over them on the cross and further establishing his dominion through his exaltation. Because believers are now identified with Christ, they are victorious over all hostile powers even if the current situation requires that they battle against these defeated foes” (112).

In this chapter, Merkle surveys Satan’s present rule over the world, how Christ is king over all creation, how we engage in spiritual battle, and what Paul has to say about the present age and the age to come. Satan and his minions are always actively seeking to destroy believers, however the God we serve is greater. God has the power to raise the dead, and “Jesus is the sole and supreme Lord, and no malignant power is able to compete with his authority” (118). The armor we wear is likened to the armor of a Roman soldier, but Paul also draws from Isaiah 11:4–5; 52:7; and 59:17 where Yahweh and his Messiah are depicted as being “clothed with armor as he prepares for battle to defend and vindicate his people” (123). For example, the breastplate of righteousness does not refer to God’s justifying righteousness. Since believers live in the light (Eph 5:8), the breastplate refers to the ethical quality of doing right (4:24; 5:9). We are shielded from the enemy’s arrows by our “faith, confidence, and trust in God” (125).