being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:6  NIV

To completion – Would you like to put an exclamation point behind your life?  Look no further than this word, epiteleo.  Actually, the root word is what we would expect, teleo – to finish, to complete, to make perfect.  It’s the same word you’ll find in Matthew 5:48, the bad Greek translation of Leviticus 19:2.  What we don’t expect is the addition of the particle epi.  That addition is an intensifier, like adding an exclamation point to the word.  Of course, it isn’t translated into English because English doesn’t allow sentences like this:  “will carry it on to completion! until the day . . .”  Perhaps we could have captured the nuance with something like “will carry on to the absolutely final completion until the day,” but then we would be adding words that aren’t in the text.  At any rate, once you know that the Greek is epiteleo and not teleo, you can add the mental exclamation point yourself.

If teleo would have sufficed, then why does Paul choose epiteleo?  Perhaps he wants to capture the same shock and awe we find in Galatians 3:3 (“having begun in the Spirit are you now completed in the flesh?”).  The Hebrew equivalents are pa’al (Numbers 23:23), kalah (1 Samuel 3:12) and batsa’ (Zechariah 4:9).  In each case, the Hebrew verb is associated with God’s sovereign act.  What God does, no man undoes.  Perhaps that’s why the LXX translations of these verses from the Tanakh used the form of teleo with the exclamation point added (epi).

The bottom line for us is obvious.  We are the epi products of God’s providence.  God put the exclamation point behind each of our lives.  God punctuated us, and His emphasis will not be overturned.  Job understood this Greek word long before Greek linguistics produced epiteleo when he said, “No plan of Yours can be thwarted.”

Work to enter into that rest.  What “rest” is that?  The rest where God’s exclamation point is the final guide of your life choices.  Live in the direction of the !.  Live with His ! at the end of your day.  Live to the full because He marked you with an !.  Today is the day when all that you do can be a reflection of divine punctuation.  Today you can be !!!

A follower of the King is intense – intense in duty, intense in service, intense in worship.  There are no “meek and mild” wallflowers in the Kingdom.  These are men and women of exclamation.  Go for it!  And when you do, you will be reflecting His awe and glory, His ! behind your name.

Topical Index:  epiteleo, exclamation point, completion, Philippians 1:6