The Ohio Independent Baptist, September 1970

APEKDECHOMAI - THE WORD OF RESPONSIBLE EXPECTANCY- ln Phil ~ : _o. the p stle Patil l t.1,nt tt1 tl1t: ,econd c n1ing of the l (' d J e tl" hr1"t a the great and hie '. ed object f the t ta l hope of all trtt\;; helie, er . I n d ing o, the po tle tl .. " a ,, rd to de cribe the pr:)per attitude of hri tia n to\\·ard the fac t of the Lord· return. \\ hich l1f parti 11la r importance and inter– e t a nd \\ 1 hich n1ight be char acterized - a the \i ord of re po11 ihie e.rpectanc) 1 • l t i_~ the , 1 er b ape/.. cl ec/10111ai. rendered in the 1'.JV ··\, e iook for·,. Thi r a re \\ ord i c arcel,, u ed out- .. ide of the re,, Te tan1ent. although i t doe appear in the Apocryphal h_.\ct of P aul' . ( Ill ) to de cribe One– iph oru on the out kirt of L}' tra ..,, a it1no for·· Paul' arrival f rom ::, Icon ium ( l1eistteika apekdechon 1 enos a11 to,1 ). L- give a citation from H eliodoru . and ageli report a few la ter u age . \\ hich make it po ible tha t the Apo tle Paul \Va not the f 1r t to u e thi unu ual v..·ord. This doe no t mean however tha t Paul did not coin the \\ 1 ord independently un– der the direction of the H oly Spirit - ,,•hich i . in fact. precisel}' what we belie\ e he did. The Church Father s later u ed the ,, ord to render ..a\\ 1 a it eager})'. e"<pect. \\ ait for a rdently, \ 'ait out \\ ith anticipation". I t occurs eight time in the e\:\: Testament, once in I Peter 3: 20 . and once in H eb. 9: 2 . ,vhile the r ema ining six occurrence appear in Paul, and seven of the eight u e a re rela ted to the ..... econd com.ng of the Lord J e u "'"' Chr1 1 I n Rom. : 19, \\'e ·:,\'ait expectant- 1) ·· for the time of the un\.·eiling of the on of God: in 8: 23 \\ e ··eagerly· anticipate the redemption of our bod,,: and in : 25. \\ e ··\\'ait for' ' thi .. b]e ed rea]i t)' , ith patience. not uc- umbing to the trial \\ 1 hich we no\\ .... undergo. In I or. I : 7. \\'e ·',, ait p a- 12 SEPTEIABER, 1970 tient l)' and e pecta ntly' ' fo r hri t to con1e back: in Gal . 5 : 5, we ' 'wait eagerly' ' for the hope o f rig hteou ne to be fu lfill ed, by mean of the Spirit, ut o f the r ea lm of fa ith , a nd Heb. 9 : 2 de igna te the fact tha t a ll true believer ar e continuing to "look eagerly·" for the Lord to r e turn. Four Elements The comp o i tion of the word i n10 t intere ting . I t actu ally con i t of three wor d : t\\ 7 0 prepositions and a deponent verb form: apo ( away f rom) ek ( ou t of) and dec/1on1ai ( to wait expectantly in order to wel– come ) . I t is the occurrence of the v. ord in Phil . 3 : 20 wh ich will occupy our atten tion in this study, a nd which uggests certain p articula r ideas that are relevant a nd commanding. Four outs tanding elements appear in the compos ition of the word a nd it u se in thi context , which l ay claim upon u . They ar e a follow : 1 . . . There is the elerrient of - D ERIVATIO : The prepo i tion ek· means out fr om wi thin", and should be consider ed w ith the additional ex /1 oit (KJV "fr om whence"), and may be r endered ··ou t of which ' . The e expressions are r elated to t he fi rst clause "For our cit izen hip is in heaven' , an d wh ile the prep ositional ex hott is be t refer red to "citizen ship ' which is singula r , and n o t to ' heaven ' ' \.vhich is p lural o ur V er sion s tran s– late "from whence.,, and the c lash in number 1 m ade acceptable by the fact that the heaven are wher e our commonwealth is and has been from the beginning, a nd they al o f orm the habitation of our Lord J esus Christ. o the fact of derivation i clear: it is oz1t fro1r1. ivithin tlze heavens where 011r citi~enship is, tl1at the L ord lv ill co111e to get z,s wh en the hour is ready . The reality of heaven is thus a fact, a n{l 11 11 :1 tnnc, 11 tl1 l1t1rcl1. f t is n (ne t 1h :1l ( l1r isl cli ct l ancl r< c I r n1 111 <. l 'a<. l: it i~ ~, fac1 tl1n1 li e , cnt l1ack lJc t l i l ' i 1 to tJ1c glL) ry: it is a f<1c l th at 11, is ti, ~r " no\v : Hncl it i a fac t tl1 a t Ile is co n1 ing IJack ~1gain frc) n1 \iVi th i11 that very p lace. ns li e ll i111 ,clr saicl fJ c woul c.1 c.lo ( .J hn 14:3) . lf cncc our w l1o lc l1orJe has it <. lc r iva t io n i11 l1cnvcn wl1erc ot1r l1)e:-; cd 1.Jor <.l is nc)w 111i nistc r ing an(l ot1t ()f 'w hi c h ha l11ta ti o n J le is like ly to c111crgc a t any t1111c. 2 . . . 1 /1ere is 1/,e ele111en t r,j D I R l · T IO : he prepositi o n t l/J< ig nifi c<; "away from ,, and is ind ica– ti ve o f the d ircc tio n the J.,o rd wil l ta ke whe n H e come t o rece ive those who a re Hi own . At the time o f Hi coming back to r eceive H i people in accord with Hi promi e in J o hn 14 :3, H e will leave Hi s present po· itio n a nd move away from ( apo ) Hi immedia te h abita tion into a lower r ealm o f the heavens, wher e H e will r ece ive the Church a int in r esurrec– tion and tra n la tio n. P aul d e cribe5 this event in I The s. 4: 16-1 7, a nd tate tha t the Lord • will come down from heaven. , ( katabeisetai apo oi,. ranou ) . and tha t believer s will be cau ght up to "a meeting of the Lore in the a ir· ( aera: the lower and den e1 r egion o f the heaven ) . So t he Lore will come down , away from the habi· ta tion of glory, into a lower r egior of the heaven where He will as· emble His people in the r apture gathering them together unto Him elf as H e said. This is t/1e event for whict we must be eagerly watching. 3 . . . Th ere is the ele,nent o, DEMEA OR: This has pec ificall1 to do with believers themselves, an th eir a ttitude o f looking for the Lord'~ re turn. A previou ly pointed out, the verb mean : " to wait for with eage1 anticipation and ardent expecta ncy .· Our demeanor then as believer s w il be such a waits with the most en· thu ia tic d esire for the Lord to come. , Our whole bearing will be that of p eople whose whole heart is set upor this mee ting of the Lord in the air Our a ttitude w ill be tha t of believer ~ wh o are thoroughly convicted of thc– r eality of heaven a a place who kno~ beyond all doubt tha t the Lord i~ ther e in p er on who a r e ab olutel) conv inced tha t H e i coming b ack ir per on from heaven, and who are sc fully persu aded and possessed by th( imminency of His promised return that they cannot r e train their ardou1 and eager expectancy when thinkin! and peaking of the Lord's seconc coming. What is the real attitz~de Oj (Continued on Page 15) THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST