|
CHAPTER I. VERSES 1-2.
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through
the will of God, to the saints which are at
Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus.
Grace to you, and peace, from God our
Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Observe, he applies the word "through" to the
Father. But what then? Shall we say that He
is inferior? Surely not.
"To the saints, "saith he, "which are at
Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus."
Observe that he calls saints, men with wives,
and children, and domestics. For that these
are they whom he calls by this name is plain from
the end of the Epistle, as, when he says,
"Wives, be in subjection unto your own
husbands." (Eph. v: 22. ) And again,
"Children, obey your parents: " ( Eph.
vi: 1. ) and, "Servants, be obedient to
your masters." (Eph. vi: 5. ) Think how
great is the indolence that possesses us now,
how rare is any thing like virtue now and how
great the abundance of virtuous men must have
been then, when even secular men could be called
"saints and faithful." "Grace to you, and
peace, from God our Father; and the Lord
Jesus Christ." "Grace" is his word; and
he calls God, "Father," since this name is
a sure token of that gift of grace. And how
so? Hear what he saith elsewhere; "Because
ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His
Son into our hearts, crying, Abba,
Father." (Gal. iv: 6.)
"And from the Lord Jesus Christ."
Because for us men Christ was born, and
appeared in the flesh.
Ver. 3. "Blessed be the God," he saith,
"and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Observe; The God of Him that was
Incarnate. And though thou wilt not, The
Father of God the Word.
Ver. 3. "Who hath blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in
Christ."
He is here alluding to the blessings of the
Jews; for that was blessing also, but it was
not spiritual blessing. For how did it run?
"The Lord bless thee, He will bless the
fruit of thy body;" (Deut. vii: 13.)
and "He will bless thy going out and thy coming
in." (Deut. xxviii: 4.) But here it is
not thus, but how? "With every spiritual
blessing." And what lackest thou yet? Thou
art made immortal, thou art made free, thou art
made a son, thou art made righteous, thou art
made a brother, thou art made a fellow-heir,
thou reignest with Christ, thou art glorified
with Christ; all things are freely given thee.
"How," saith he, "shall He not also with
Him freely give us all things?" (Rom.
viii: 32.) Thy First-fruits is adored by
Angels, by the Cherubim, by the Seraphim!
What lackest thou yet? "With every spiritual
blessing." There is nothing carnal here.
Accordingly He excluded all those former
blessings, when He said, "In the world ye
have tribulation," (John xvi: 33.) to
lead us on to these. For as they who possessed
carnal things were unable to hear of spiritual
things, so they who aim at spiritual things
cannot attain to them unless they first stand
aloof from carnal things.
What again is "spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places?" It is not upon earth, he
means, as was the case with the Jews. "Ye
shall eat the good of the land." (Isa. i:
19.) "Unto a land flowing with milk and
honey." (Ex. iii: 8.) "The Lord shall
bless thy land." (Deut. vii: 13.) Here
we have nothing of this sort, but what have we?
"If a man love Me, he will keep My word,
and I and My Father will come unto him, and
make our abode with him." (Jo. xiv:
23.) "Every one therefore which heareth
these words of Mine, and doeth them, shall be
likened unto a wise man which built his house
upon the rock, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it
fell not, for it was founded upon the rock."
(Mat. vii: 24, 25.) And what is that
rock but those heavenly things which are above
the reach of every change? "Every one
therefore who," saith Christ, "shall confess
Me before men him will I also confess before
My Father which is in Heaven: But whosoever
shall deny Me, him will I also deny."
(Mat. x: 32, 33.) Again, "Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God." (Mat. v: 8.) And again,
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of Heaven." (Mat. v: 3.)
And again, "Blessed are ye which are
persecuted for righteousness sake, for great is
your reward in Heaven." (Mat. v: 11,
12.) Observe, how every where He speaketh
of Heaven, no where of earth, or of the things
on the earth. And again, "Our citizenship is
in Heaven, from whence also we wait for a
Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ." (Phil.
iii: 20. ) And again, "Not setting your
mind on the things that are on the earth, but on
the things which are above." (Col. iii:
30.)
"In Christ."
That is to say, this blessing was not by the
hand of Moses, but by Christ Jesus: so that
we surpass them not only in the quality of the
blessings, but in the Mediator also. As
moreover he saith in the Epistle to the
Hebrews; "And Moses indeed was faithful in
all his house as a servant, for a testimony of
those things which were afterward to be spoken;
but Christ as a Son over His house, whose
house are we." (Heb. iii: 5-6.)
Ver. 4. "Even as," he proceeds, "He
chose us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without
blemish before Him in love." His meaning is
somewhat of this sort. Through whom He hath
blessed us, through Him He hath also chosen
us. And He, then, it is that shall bestow
upon us all those rewards hereafter. He is the
very Judge that shall say, "Come, ye blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world." (Mat.
xxv: 34.) And again, "I will that where
I am they will also be with Me." (John
xvii: 24.) And this is a point which he is
anxious to prove. in almost all his Epistles,
that ours is no novel system, but that it had
thus been figured from the very first, that it
is not the result of any change of purpose, but
had been in fact a divine dispensation and
fore-ordained.And this is a mark of great
solicitude for us.
What is meant by, "He chose us in Him?"
By means of the faith which is in Him,
Christ, he means, happily ordered this for us
before we were born; nay more, before the
foundation of the world. And beautiful is that
word "foundation," as though he were pointing
to the world as cast down from some vast height.
Yea, vast indeed and ineffable is the height of
God, so far removed not in place but in
incommunicableness of nature; so wide the
distance between creation and Creator t A word
which heretics may be ashamed to hear.
But wherefore hath He chosen us? "That we
should be holy and without a blemish before
Him." That you may not then, when you hear
that "He hath chosen us," imagine that faith
alone is sufficient, he proceeds to add life and
conduct. To this end, saith he, hath He
chosen us, and on this condition, "that we
should be holy and without blemish." And so
formerly he chose the Jews. On what terms?
"This nation, saith he, hath He chosen from
the rest of the nations." (Deut. xiv:
2.) Now if men in their choices choose what
is best, much more doth God. And indeed the
fact of their being chosen is at once a token of
the loving kindness of God, and of their moral
goodness. For by all means would he have chosen
those who were approved. He hath Himself
rendered us holy, but then we must continue
holy. A holy man is he who is a partaker of
faith; a blameless man is he who leads an
irreproachable life. It is not however simply
holiness and irreproachableness that He
requires, but that we should appear such
"before Him." For there are holy and
blameless characters, who yet are esteemed as
such only by men those who are like whited
sepulchres, and like such as wear sheep's
clothing. It is not such, however, He
requires, but such as the Prophet speaks of;
"And according to the cleanness of my hands."
(Ps. xviii: 24.) What cleanness? That
which is so "in His eyesight." He requires
that holiness on which the eye of God may look.
Having thus spoken of the good works of these,
he again recurs to His grace. "In love,"
saith he, "having predestinated us." Because
this comes not of any pains, nor of any good
works of ours, but of love; and yet not of love
alone, but of our virtue also. For if indeed
of love alone, it would follow that all must be
saved; whereas again were it the result of our
virtue alone, then were His coming needless,
and the whole dispensation. But it is the
result neither of His love alone, nor yet of
our virtue, but of both. "He chose us,"
saith the Apostle; and He that chooseth,
knoweth what it is that He chooseth. "In
love," he adds, "having foreordained us;"
for virtue would never have saved any one, had
there not been love. For tell me, what would
Paul have profited, how would he have exhibited
what he has exhibited, if God had not both
called him from the beginning, and, in that He
loved him, drawn him to Himself? But
besides, His vouchsafing us so great
privileges, was the effect of His love, not of
our virtue. Because our being rendered
virtuous, and believing, and coming nigh unto
Him, even this again was the work of Him that
called us Himself, and yet, notwithstanding,
it is ours also. But that on our coming nigh
unto Him, He should vouchsafe us so high
privileges, as to bring us at once from a state
of enmity, to the adoption of children, this is
indeed the work of a really transcendent love.
Ver. 4, 5. "In love," saith he,
"having foreordained us unto adoption as sons
through Jesus Christ unto Himself."
Do you observe how that nothing is done without
Christ? Nothing without the Father? The one
hath predestinated, the other hath brought us
near. And these words he adds by way of
heightening the things which have been done, in
the same way as he says also elsewhere, "And
not only so, but we also rejoice in God,
through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. v:
II.) For great indeed are the blessings
bestowed, yet are they made far greater in being
bestowed through Christ; because He sent not
any servant, though it was to servants He
sent, but the Only-begotten Son Himself.
Ver. 5. "According to the good pleasure,"
he continues, "of His will."
That is to say, because He earnestly willed
it. This is, as one might say, His earnest
desire. For the word "good pleasure" every
where means the precedent will, for there is
also another will. As for example, the first
will is that sinners should not perish; the
second will is, that, if men become wicked,
they shall perish. For surely it is not by
necessity that He punishes them, but because
He wills it. You may see something of the sort
even in the words of Paul, where he says, "I
would that all men were even as I myself."
(1 Cor. vii: 7.) And again, "I desire
that the younger widows marry, bear children."
(I Tim. v: 14.) By "good pleasure"
then he means the first will, the earnest will,
the will accompanied with earnest desire, as in
case of us, for I shall not refuse to employ
even a somewhat familiar expression, in order to
speak with clearness to the simpler sort; for
thus we ourselves, to express the intentness of
the will, speak of acting according to our
resolve. What he means to say then is this,
God earnestly aims at, earnestly desires, our
salvation. Wherefore then is it that He so
loveth us, whence hath He such affection? It
is of His goodness alone. For grace itself is
the fruit of goodness. And for this cause, he
saith, hath He predestinated us to the adoption
of children; this being His will, and the
object of His earnest wish, that the glory of
His grace may be displayed. "According to the
good pleasure of His will," he proceeds,
Ver. 6. "To the praise of the glory of His
grace which He freely bestowed on us in the
Beloved."
That the glory of His grace may be displayed,
he saith, which He freely bestowed on us in the
Beloved. Now then if for this He hath shown
grace to us, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, and that He may display His grace, let
us abide therein. "To the praise of His
glory." What is this? that who should praise
Him? that who should glorify Him? that we,
that Angels, that Archangels, yea, or the
whole creation? And what were that? Nothing.
The Divine nature knoweth no want. And
wherefore then would He have us praise and
glorify Him? It is that our love towards Him
may be kindled more fervently within us. He
desireth nothing we can render; not our
service, not our praise, nor any thing else,
nothing but our salvation; this is His object
in every thing He does. And he who praises and
marvels at the grace displayed towards himself
will thus be more devoted and more earnest.
"Which He freely bestowed on us," he saith.
He does not say, "Which He hath graciously
given us," (ekarisato) but, "wherein He
hath shown grace to us." (ekaritwsen) That
is to say, He hath not only released us from
our sins, but hath also made us meet objects of
His love. It is as though one were to take a
leper, wasted by distemper, and disease, by
age, and poverty, and famine, and were to turn
him all at once into a graceful youth,
surpassing all mankind in beauty, shedding a
bright lustre from his cheeks, and eclipsing the
sun-beams with the glances of his eyes; and
then were to set him in the very flower of his
age, and after that array him in purple and a
diadem and all the attire of royalty. It is
thus that God hath arrayed and adorned this soul
of ours, and clothed it with beauty, and
rendered it an object of His delight and love.
Such a soul Angels desire to look into, yea,
Archangels, and all the holy ones. Such grace
hath He shed over us, so dear hath He rendered
us to Himself. "The King," saith the
Psalmist, "shall greatly desire thy beauty."
(Ps. xlv: II. ) Think what injurious
words we uttered heretofore, and look, what
gracious words we utter now. Wealth has no
longer charms for us, nor the things that are
here below, but only heavenly things, the
things that are in the heavens. When a child
has outward beauty, and has besides a pervading
grace in all its sayings, do we not call it a
beautiful child? Such as this are the
faithful. Look, what words the initiated
utter! What can be more beautiful than that
mouth that breathes those wondrous words, and
with a pure heart and pure lips, and beaming
with cheerful confidence, partaketh of such a
mystical table? What more beautiful than the
words, with which we renounce the service of the
Devil, and enlist in the service of Christ?
than both that confession which is before the
Baptismal laver, and that which is after it?
Let us reflect as many of us as have defiled our
Baptism, and weep that we may be able again to
repair it.
Ver. 6. "In the Beloved," he saith,
"in whom we have our redemption through His
Blood."
And how is this? Not only is there this
marvel, that He hath given His Son, but yet
further that He hath given Him in such a way,
as that the Beloved One Himself should be
slain!
Yea, and more transcendent still! He hath
given the Beloved for them that were hated.
See, how high a price he sets upon us. If,
when we hated Him and were enemies, He gave
the Beloved, what will He not do now, when we
are reconciled by Him through grace?
Ver. 7. "The forgiveness," saith he,
"of our trespasses."
Again he descends from high to low: first
speaking of adoption, and sanctification, and
blamelessness, and then of the Passion, and in
this not lowering his discourse and bringing it
down from greater things to lesser, no rather,
he was heightening it, and raising it from the
lesser to the greater.
For nothing is so great as that the blood of
this Son should be shed for us.
Greater this than both the adoption, and all
the other gifts of grace, that He spared not
even the Son. For great indeed is the
forgiveness of sins, yet this is the far greater
thing, that it should be done by the Lord's
blood. For that this is far greater than all,
look how here again he exclaims, Ver. 7,
8. "According to the riches of His grace,
which He made to abound toward us."
The abovementioned gifts are riches, yet is
this far more so. "Which,"saith he, "He
made to abound toward us." They are both
"riches" and "they have abounded," that is
to say, were poured forth in ineffable measure.
It is not possible to represent in words what
blessings we have in fact experienced. For
riches indeed they are, abounding riches, and
He hath given in abundance riches not of man but
of God, so that on all hands it is impossible
that they should be expressed. And to show us
how He gave it to such abundance, he adds,
Ver. 8, 9. "In all wisdom and prudence,
having made known unto us the mystery of His
will."
That is to say, Making us wise and prudent,
in that which is true wisdom, and that which is
true prudence. Strange! what friendship! For
He telleth us His secrets; the mysteries,
saith he, of His will, as if one should say,
He hath made known to us the things that are in
His heart. For here is indeed the mystery
which is full of all wisdom and prudence. For
what will you mention equal to this wisdom!
These that were worth nothing, it hath
discovered a way of raising them to wealth and
abundance. What can equal this wise
contrivance? He that was an enemy, he that was
hated, he is in a moment lifted up on high.
And not this only,-but, yet more, that it
should be done at this particular time, this
again was the work of wisdom; and that it should
be done by means of the Cross. It were matter
of long discourse here to point out, how all
this was the work of wisdom, and how He had
made us wise. And therefore he repeats again
the words, "According to His good pleasure
which He purposed in Him." That is to say,
this He desired, this He tra vailed for, as
one might say, that He might be able to reveal
to us the mystery. What mystery? That He
would have man seated up on high. And this hath
come to pass.
Ver. 10. "Unto a dispensation of the
fulness of the times to sum up all things in
Christ, the things in the heavens and the
things upon the earth, even in Him."
Heavenly things, he means to say, had been
severed from earthly. They had no longer one
Head. So far indeed as the system of the
creation went, there was over all One God,
but so far as management of one household went,
this, amid the wide spread of Gentile error,
was not the case, but they had been severed from
His obedience.
"Unto a dispensation," saith he, "of the
fulness of the times."
The fulness of the times, he calls it.
Observe with what nicety he speaks. And
whereas he points out the origination, the
purpose, the will, the first intention, as
proceeding from the Father, and the fulfillment
and execution as effected by the agency of the
Son, yet no where does he apply to him the term
minister.
"He chose us," saith he, "in Him, having
foreordained us unto adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ to Himself;" and, "to the
praise of the glory of His grace, in whom we
have redemption through His blood,-which He
purposed in Him, unto a dispensation of the
fulness of the times, to sum up all things in
Christ;" and no where hath he called Him
minister. If however the word "in" and the
word "by" implies a mere minister, look what
the matter comes to. Just in the very beginning
of the Epistle, he used the expression
"through the will of the Father." The
Father, he means, willed, the Son wrought.
But neither does it follow, that because the
Father willed, the Son is excluded from the
willing; nor because the Son wrought, that the
Father is deprived of the working. But to the
Father and the Son, all things are common.
"For all Mine are Thine," saith He, "and
Thine are Mine." (Jo. xvii: 10.)
The fullness of the times, however, was His
coming. After, then, He had done
everything, by the ministry both of Angels,
and of Prophets, and of the Law, and nothing
came of it, and it was well nigh come to this,
that man had been made in vain, brought into the
world in vain, nay, rather to his ruin; when
all were absolutely perishing, more fearfully
than in the deluge, He devised this
dispensation, that is by grace; that it might
not be in vain, might not be to no purpose that
man was created. This he calls "the fulness of
the times," and "wisdom." And why so?
Because at that time when they were on the very
point of perishing, then they were rescued.
That "He might sum up" he saith.
What is the meaning of this word, "sum up?"
It is "to knit together." Let us, however,
endeavor to get near the exact import. With
ourselves then, in common conversation, the
word means the summing into a brief compass
things spoken at length, the concise account of
matters described in detail. And it has this
meaning. For Christ hath gathered up in
Himself the dispensations carried on through a
lengthened period, that is to say, He hath cut
them short. For "by finishing His word and
cutting it short in righteousness." (Romans
ix: 28.) He both comprehended former
dispensations, and added others beside. This
is the meaning of "summing up."
It has also another signification; and of what
nature is this? He hath set over all one and
the same Head, i.e., Christ according to
the flesh, alike over Angels and men. That is
to say, He hath given to Angels and men one
and the same government; to the one the
Incarnate, to the other God the Word.
Just as one might say of a house which has some
part decayed and the other sound, He hath
rebuilt the house, that is to say, He has made
it stronger, and laid a firmer foundation. So
also here He hath brought all under one and the
same Head. For thus will an union be
effected, thus will a close bond be effected,
if one and all can be brought under one and the
same Head, and thus have some constraining bond
of union from above. Honored then as we are
with so great a blessing, so high a privilege,
so great loving-kindness, let us not shame our
Benefactor, let us not render in vain so great
grace. Let us exemplify the life of Angels,
the virtue of Angels, the conversation of
Angels, yea, I entreat and conjure you, that
all these things turn not to our judgment, nor
to our condemnation, but to our enjoyment of
those good things, which may God grant we may
all attain, in Christ Jesus, our Lord, with
whom to the Father, together with the Holy
Ghost, be glory, strength,
|
|