How to read this page

An Intertextuality Pair — one connection between two passages, shown as linked verse cards: the Later text and the Earlier text it quotes, alludes to or echoes. The Significance essay explains why the link matters and where it points in Christ.

Reference Type— how explicit the link is: Quotation, Allusion, or Echo
Connection Method(s)— how it carries meaning: e.g. Typology, Promise-Fulfillment, Analogy, Longitudinal Theme
Found via— where the connection was identified, e.g. the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or an Anchor-Text Network

Graph View — tap the constellation icon in the top bar to see this page's connections as a web of light: gold points are passages, and the coloured threads are the connection types. Click any type in the graph's own legend to filter it in or out, and use the expand control for the full-screen night sky.

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Intertextuality Pair

Ephesians 1:19-21 → Isaiah 40:26

Allusion

Later text

Ephesians 1:19-21BSB

and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Earlier text

Isaiah 40:26BSB

Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

+ 1 more earlier text

Earlier text

Psalm 147:4BSB

He determines the number of the stars; He calls them each by name.

Walk the Square · a single-voice walk of this pair around the Clowney square13:48

Significance

Paul alludes to Isaiah's language of divine creative power ("the might of his strength") to establish that the same power that ordered the cosmos now operates in Christ's resurrection. This cosmic perspective prepares readers for the subsequent use of Psalm 8:6, demonstrating that God's creative authority over stars extends to Christ's exaltation over all cosmic powers. The theological move connects creation theology with Christology, showing believers that the Creator who names stars has definitively defeated spiritual forces through Christ. This frames Ephesians' spiritual warfare theme within God's sovereign ordering of the universe.

Found via: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Analogy