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Daily Devotions

Ephesians

Ephesians 
Day 
Day 147

"That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel."

Text: Ephesians 3:6

THE SAME BODY

Medical science has advanced much in the last century. Virtually every discipline in medical science has made tremendous progress. One of the most remarkable areas of development is in the field of transplants of human organs. Heart transplants have advanced so much that many have an extended lease of life because of medical advance.

No matter how advanced medical technology may be, it cannot do away with the immune system of the body. The human body will not easily accept implants or transplants. The immune system of the body will reject anything that it thinks will threaten life. Only that which is perfectly acceptable to the body would be accepted.
Paul used the word, “sussoma” (translated as “of the same body”) to great effect. The imagery is most striking. Jew and Gentile are described as “sussoma” with the following implications:-

1. There is no rejection

2. There is perfect assimilation

3. There is wholesome oneness

ADDING TO THE IDEA OF “FELLOW HEIRS”

The idea of being “fellow heirs” is already a very strong concept. But that was not strong enough for the apostle Paul to convey what he had in mind. People could be fellow heirs and yet be very separate one from the other. This must not be allowed to happen, for it was not the original idea of God. What He had in mind was not merely to invite Gentile into His Kingdom as “fellow heirs” with Israel, but to help them understand that they are truly one with each other. The use of the word “sussoma” or “one body” went a long way to strengthen the idea of what it means to be children of God in every sense of the word.

APPRECIATING THE CONCEPT OF “SUSSOMA”

It is vital that we do not forget what Paul means when he uses the word “body”. Let us recall what he wrote earlier.

And He put all things under His feet and gave
Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which
is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
EPHESIANS 1:22-23

Surely we need to remind ourselves from time to time of the kind of oneness that we are supposed to have in the Church. We are altogether too forgetful of God’s idea of “sussoma” and thus we allow problems and difficulties to cause schism to the Church.

We must do everything we can to appreciate and honour the oneness that God has already made possible for us. On our own, we will never achieve that special sense of oneness. But God has gloriously provided something miraculous when He made us all of the “same body”. It is up to us to understand, appreciate and practise that which God has already accomplished.