{"id":4825,"date":"2025-08-19T08:46:55","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T12:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4825"},"modified":"2025-08-19T08:46:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T12:46:55","slug":"ek-dia-eis-from-through-for-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/19\/ek-dia-eis-from-through-for-god\/","title":{"rendered":"EK, DIA, EIS: “From, Through, For” God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u00a0Each weekday in the month of August, we will pursue \u201cprepositional truth\u201d by zeroing in on a single Greek preposition in a single verse, noting the theological richness so often embedded in the humble words we so often overlook.\u00a0<\/em>

Have you ever submitted a project or made a presentation and known, in your heart of hearts, that you had truly bombed?

Even Abraham Lincoln was not immune from such moments of self-doubt.

Shortly after speaking to a throng in November 1863, the president turned to a friend and declared that his speech was a “flat failure.”

It didn’t help that he had spoken for only two minutes.\u00a0The day’s primary orator, a pastor named Edward Everett, had spoken eloquently (and entirely from memory) for over two hours.\u00a0Not that pastors have ever been known to drone on and on.\u00a0\u00a0

Just in case you think that negative press coverage is a modern invention, here’s what journalists had to say the next morning:

“The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, dish-wattery utterances of the President of the United States” (The Chicago Times<\/em>).

“We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion be dropped over them” (The Patriot & Union <\/em>of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania).

“Anything more dull and commonplace it would not be easy to reproduce” (The London Times<\/em>).

And you thought you got some tough feedback in speech class.\u00a0What was this dreadful speech?

Today it is known as the Gettysburg Address.\u00a0It is considered one of the most inspiring and nuanced presentations ever conceived in the English language.\u00a0In just ten sentences Lincoln made the case that the Civil War, which was still raging, was not merely about preserving the Union.\u00a0It was really about a larger story: the struggle for human equality.

Most of us recognize the speech\u2019s opening words: \u201cFour score and seven years ago\u2026\u201d But the most compelling line is the last one, where Lincoln\u2019s prepositions beautifully reinforce his propositions:\u201c\u2026that this nation, under God, shall have\u00a0a new birth of freedom\u2014and that government\u00a0of<\/u><\/strong><\/em> the people,\u00a0by<\/u><\/strong><\/em> the people, for<\/u><\/strong><\/em> the people,\u00a0shall not perish from the earth.\u201d

That trifecta \u2013 \u201cof, by, for\u201d \u2013 is quite possibly the most famous expression of democratic government and servant leadership ever penned. \u00a0

The apostle Paul also had a brilliant way of pulling together prepositional phrases like pearls on a string. As he wraps up Romans chapter 11 \u2013 having provided an over-the-top description of how God\u2019s eternal purposes are being worked out in human history \u2013 he closes with this doxology:

\u201cFor from<\/u><\/strong><\/em> (EK<\/strong>) him and through<\/u><\/strong><\/em> (DIA<\/strong>) him and for<\/u><\/strong><\/em> (EIS<\/strong>) him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen\u201d (Romans 11:36).

Paul is straining the boundaries of language to tell us we live in a God-saturated universe. That becomes clear as we break down the prepositions.

\u201cAll things\u201d are from<\/u><\/strong><\/em> (EK<\/strong>) God. Everything we see and experience originates in the power of the Creator Even things we are used to chalking up as human inventions \u2013 suspension bridges, iPhones, air conditioning \u2013 ultimate spring from the ingenuity God has graciously provided.

\u201cAll things\u201d are through<\/u><\/strong><\/em> (DIA<\/strong>) God. There\u2019s an old joke about a group of scientists who feel confident they have solved the riddle of life. They challenge God to a contest. \u201cWe can make human beings as well as you can!\u201d God accepts the challenge and agrees to go first.

Taking a pile of dirt, God fashions a fully-formed person. \u201cVery impressive,\u201d admit the scientists. \u201cNow it\u2019s our turn.\u201d They also take a pile of dirt \u2013 at which point God intervenes and says, \u201cUh, you need to go get your own dirt.\u201d

We may congratulate ourselves on our astonishing technological advances. But the means<\/em> by which such advances are accomplished \u2013 all the way from our MIT-educated minds to the most humble piles of dirt \u2013 are God\u2019s unique and irreplaceable gifts.

\u201cAll things\u201d are for<\/u><\/strong><\/em> (EIS<\/strong>) God. Why are there sunsets? Why do oceans team with schools of fish? Why are there rivers and mountains and glaciers and volcanic calderas? Paul declares that everything exists for God\u2019s sake. For God\u2019s glory. Just for the pleasure of God\u2019s own purposes, which we may or may not ever have the privilege of discovering.

You might remember we began this month looking at the phrase \u201cbelieving into<\/u><\/strong><\/em>,\u201d where EIS<\/strong> has a directional sense \u2013 going into<\/em> or towards<\/em> or upon<\/em>. Romans 11:38 reminds us that prepositions can have different shades of meaning in different contexts. \u00a0

Abraham Lincoln didn’t live long enough to experience the total reversal in public opinion concerning his masterwork.\u00a0

In fact, it wasn’t until November 2013 – 150 years after the speech at Gettysburg – that the Patriot-News<\/em> of Harrisburg (successor of the Patriot & Union<\/em>) printed this retraction:

“Seven score and ten years ago, the forefathers of this media institution brought forth to its audience a judgment so flawed, so tainted by hubris, so lacking in the perspective that history would bring, that it cannot remain unaddressed in our archives… the Patriot & Union<\/em> failed to recognize [the speech’s] momentous importance, timeless eloquence, and lasting significance.\u00a0The Patriot-News<\/em> regrets the error.”\u00a0\u00a0

Most of us aren’t particularly comforted by the hope that 150 years from now our critics will finally come around.\u00a0What can we do in the meantime?

We must trust our performances, our projects, and our reputations to God.\u00a0

Prepare well.\u00a0Pray.\u00a0Do your very best.\u00a0

Then leave the outcome in the hands of the One from whom, through whom, and for whom<\/em> are all things.
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here \u00a0Each weekday in the month of August, we will pursue \u201cprepositional truth\u201d by zeroing in on a single Greek preposition in a single verse, noting the theological richness so often embedded in the humble words we so often overlook.\u00a0 Have you ever submitted a project or made a presentation and known,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[982,892,473],"class_list":["post-4825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-god-the-creator","tag-gods-sovereignty-2","tag-prepositions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4827,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4825\/revisions\/4827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}