ACCESS.
Prosagoge.
This word is a compound of pros, a
preposition denoting ‘toward’ and ago ‘to lead’. The verb
prosago is used in 1 Peter 3:18 in the
statement that Christ once suffered for sins, ‘the Just for the unjust,
that He might bring us to God’. The usage of prosago in the LXX version
of Leviticus and Numbers had already invested this word with a sacrificial
meaning.
Prosagoge,
the act of bringing anyone to or towards another is found only three times in
the New Testament, Romans 5:2, Ephesians 2:18 and 3:12. The reference in Romans
is purely doctrinal in character and is a truth unchanged by the change of
dispensation. There are things that are permanent and things that are passing in
the epistle to the Romans, the permanent being doctrine that is basic to all
callings, the passing that which was true at the time but true no longer. The
two references to access in Ephesians contain truth that is peculiar to the
dispensation of the Mystery.
‘For through Him we both have access by one Spirit
unto the Father’ (Eph. 2:18).
Here it is a company that can be called ‘the both’ that have this access.
This expression and a parallel one ‘the twain’ links that section of Ephesians
which covers 2:14-18.
A ‘The both’ made one.
B ‘The twain’ created one new man.
A ‘The both’ reconciled.
B ‘The both’ have access in one
spirit.
The complete structure of this passage will be found in the article devoted
to EPHESIANS (p. 275), and the explanation of
the terms ‘the both’ and ‘the twain’ will be found under the heading,
The MIDDLE WALL OF PARTITION. Suffice it
here to say that the access contemplated in Ephesians 2:18 is experienced by
that newly-created company that before the breaking down of the middle wall,
consisted of believing Jews and believing Gentiles, each having their own code
and often grieving one another. This new company is no mere evolution from the
Acts dispensation, it is ‘created’ (ktizo,
Eph. 2:15, A.V. ‘make’), the result being ‘one new man’.
The second and last reference to this access is found in Ephesians 3:12,
which arises out of the ‘eternal purpose’ or ‘purpose of the ages’ (see
AGE p. 47) of verse 11. This access is spoken
of as being exercised with ‘boldness’ and with ‘confidence’. It is said to be
‘by the faith of Him’. This subject ‘access’ is an adjunct to a larger one,
namely RECONCILIATION which should be
consulted, with which it is associated both in Romans 5:1-11 and in Ephesians
2:11-19, and this great subject should be known by all who would appreciate what
the ‘access’ in the dispensation of the Mystery entails.
