E
P H E S I A N S
CHAP. I.
In
this chapter we have, I. The introduction to the whole epistle, which is much
the same as in others, ver. 1, 2. II. The apostle's thanksgivings and praises
to God for his inestimable blessings bestowed on the believing Ephesians, ver.
3-14. III. His earnest prayers to God in their behalf, ver. 15-23. This great
apostle was wont to abound in prayers and in thanksgivings to almighty God,
which he generally so disposes and orders that at the same time they carry
with them and convey the great and important doctrines of the Christian
religion, and the most weighty instructions to all those who seriously peruse
them.
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will
of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus: 2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father,
and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here is, 1. The title St. Paul takes to himself, as belonging to him--Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, &c. He reckoned it a great honour to be
employed by Christ, as one of his messengers to the sons of men. The apostles
were prime officers in the Christian church, being extraordinary ministers
appointed for a time only. They were furnished by their great Lord with
extraordinary gifts and the immediate assistance of the Spirit, that they
might be fitted for publishing and spreading the gospel and for governing the
church in its infant state. Such a one Paul was, and that not by the will
of man conferring that office upon him, nor by his own intrusion into it; but by
the will of God, very expressly and plainly intimated to him, he being
immediately called (as the other apostles were) by Christ himself to the work.
Every faithful minister of Christ (though his call and office are not of so
extraordinary a nature) may, with our apostle, reflect on it as an honour and
comfort to himself that he is what he is by the will of God. 2. The
persons to whom this epistle is sent: To the saints who are at Ephesus,
that is, to the Christians who were members of the church at Ephesus, the
metropolis of Asia. He calls them saints, for such they were in profession,
such they were bound to be in truth and reality, and many of them were such.
All Christians must be saints; and, if they come not under that character on
earth, they will never be saints in glory. He calls them the faithful in
Christ Jesus, believers in him, and firm and constant in their adherence
to him and to his truths and ways. Those are not saints who are not faithful,
believing in Christ, firmly adhering to him, and true to the profession they
make of relation to their Lord. Note, It is the honour not only of ministers,
but of private Christians too, to have obtained mercy of the Lord to be
faithful.--In Christ Jesus, from whom they derive all their grace and
spiritual strength, and in whom their persons, and all that they perform, are
made accepted. 3. The apostolical benediction: Grace be to you, &c.
This is the token in every epistle; and it expresses the apostle's good-will
to his friends, and a real desire of their welfare. By grace we are to
understand the free and undeserved love and favour of God, and those graces of
the Spirit which proceed from it; by peace all other blessings,
spiritual and temporal, the fruits and product of the former. No peace without
grace. No peace, nor grace, but from God the Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. These peculiar blessings proceed from God, not as a Creator,
but as a Father by special relation: and they come from our Lord Jesus Christ,
who, having purchased them for his people, has a right to bestow them upon
them. Indeed the saints, and the faithful in Christ Jesus, had already
received grace and peace; but the increase of these is very desirable, and the
best saints stand in need of fresh supplies of the graces of the Spirit, and
cannot but desire to improve and grow: and therefore they should pray, each
one for himself and all for one another, that such blessings may still abound
unto them.
After this short introduction he comes to the matter and body of the epistle;
and, though it may seem somewhat peculiar in a letter, yet the Spirit of God
saw fit that his discourse of divine things in this chapter should be cast
into prayers and praises, which, as they are solemn addresses to God, so they
convey weighty instructions to others. Prayer may preach; and praise may do so
too.
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Praise
for Spiritual Blessings.
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A. D. 61.
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3 Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace; 8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence; 9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth;
even in him: 11 In whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be
to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 13 In
whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with
that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise
of his glory.
He begins with thanksgivings and praise, and enlarges with a great deal of
fluency and copiousness of affection upon the exceedingly great and precious
benefits which we enjoy by Jesus Christ. For the great privileges of our
religion are very aptly recounted and enlarged upon in our praises to God.
I. In general he blesses God for spiritual blessings, v. 3,
where he styles him the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for,
as Mediator, the Father was his God; as God, and the second person in the
blessed Trinity, God was his Father. It bespeaks the mystical union between
Christ and believers, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is
their God and Father, and that in and through him. All blessings come from God
as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. No good can be expected from a
righteous and holy God to sinful creatures, but by his mediation. He hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Note, Spiritual blessings are the
best blessings with which God blesses us, and for which we are to bless him.
He blesses us by bestowing such things upon us as make us really blessed. We
cannot thus bless God again; but must do it by praising, and magnifying, and
speaking well of him on that account. Those whom God blesses with some he
blesses with all spiritual blessings; to whom he gives Christ, he freely gives
all these things. It is not so with temporal blessings; some are favoured with
health, and not with riches; some with riches, and not with health, &c.
But, where God blesses with spiritual blessings, he blesses with all. They are
spiritual blessings in heavenly places; that is, say some, in the
church, distinguished from the world, and called out of it. Or it may be read,
in heavenly things, such as come from heaven, and are designed to
prepare men for it, and to secure their reception into it. We should hence
learn to mind spiritual and heavenly things as the principal things, spiritual
and heavenly blessings as the best blessings, with which we cannot be
miserable and without which we cannot but be so. Set not your affections on
things on the earth, but on those things which are above. These we are
blessed with in Christ; for, as all our services ascend to God through Christ,
so all our blessings are conveyed to us in the same way, he being the Mediator
between God and us.
II. The particular spiritual blessings with which we are blessed in Christ,
and for which we ought to bless God, are (many of them) here enumerated and
enlarged upon. 1. Election and predestination, which are the secret springs
whence the others flow, v. 4, 5, 11. Election, or choice,
respects that lump or mass of mankind out of which some are chosen, from which
they are separated and distinguished. Predestination has respect to the
blessings they are designed for; particularly the adoption of children,
it being the purpose of God that in due time we should become his adopted
children, and so have a right to all the privileges and to the inheritance of
children. We have here the date of this act of love: it was before the
foundation of the world; not only before God's people had a being, but
before the world had a beginning; for they were chosen in the counsel of God
from all eternity. It magnifies these blessings to a high degree that they are
the products of eternal counsel. The alms which you give to beggars at your
doors proceed from a sudden resolve; but the provision which a parent makes
for his children is the result of many thoughts, and is put into his last will
and testament with a great deal of solemnity. And, as this magnifies divine
love, so it secures the blessings to God's elect; for the purpose of God
according to election shall stand. He acts in pursuance of his eternal
purpose in bestowing spiritual blessings upon his people. He hath blessed
us--according as he hath chosen us in him, in Christ the great head
of the election, who is emphatically called God's elect, his chosen;
and in the chosen Redeemer an eye of favour was cast upon them. Observe here
one great end and design of this choice: chosen--that we should be holy;
not because he foresaw they would be holy, but because he determined to make
them so. All who are chosen to happiness as the end are chosen to holiness as
the means. Their sanctification, as well as their salvation, is the result of
the counsels of divine love.--And without blame before him--that their
holiness might not be merely external and in outward appearance, so as to
prevent blame from men, but internal and real, and what God himself, who looketh
at the heart, will account such, such holiness as proceeds from love to
God and to our fellow-creatures, this charity being the principle of all true
holiness. The original word signifies such an innocence as no man can carp at;
and therefore some understand it of that perfect holiness which the saints
shall attain in the life to come, which will be eminently before God, they
being in his immediate presence for ever. Here is also the rule and the fontal
cause of God's election: it is according to the good pleasure of his will
(v. 5), not for the sake of any thing in them foreseen, but because it
was his sovereign will, and a thing highly pleasing to him. It is according
to the purpose, the fixed and unalterable will, of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will (v. 11), who powerfully
accomplishes whatever concerns his elect, as he has wisely and freely
fore-ordained and decreed, the last and great end and design of all which is
his own glory: To the praise of the glory of his grace (v. 6), that we
should be to the praise of his glory (v. 12), that is, that we
should live and behave ourselves in such a manner that his rich grace might be
magnified, and appear glorious, and worthy of the highest praise. All is of
God, and from him, and through him, and therefore all must be to him, and
centre in his praise. Note, The glory of God is his own end, and it should be
ours in all that we do. This passage has been understood by some in a very
different sense, and with a special reference to the conversion of these
Ephesians to Christianity. Those who have a mind to see what is said to this
purpose may consult Mr. Locke, and other well-known writers, on the place. 2.
The next spiritual blessing the apostle takes notice of is acceptance with God
through Jesus Christ: Wherein, or by which grace, he hath made us
accepted in the beloved, v. 6. Jesus Christ is the beloved of his
Father (Matt. iii. 17), as well as of angels and saints. It is our great
privilege to be accepted of God, which implies his love to us and his taking
us under his care and into his family. We cannot be thus accepted of God, but
in and through Jesus Christ. He loves his people for the sake of the beloved.
3. Remission of sins, and redemption through the blood of Jesus, v. 7.
No remission without redemption. It was by reason of sin that we were
captivated, and we cannot be released from our captivity but by the remission
of our sins. This redemption we have in Christ, and this remission through his
blood. The guilt and the stain of sin could be no otherwise removed than by
the blood of Jesus. All our spiritual blessings flow down to us in that
stream. This great benefit, which comes freely to us, was dearly bought and
paid for by our blessed Lord; and yet it is according to the riches of God's
grace. Christ's satisfaction and God's rich grace are very consistent in the
great affair of man's redemption. God was satisfied by Christ as our
substitute and surety; but it was rich grace that would accept of a surety,
when he might have executed the severity of the law upon the transgressor, and
it was rich grace to provide such a surety as his own Son, and freely to
deliver him up, when nothing of that nature could have entered into our
thoughts, nor have been any otherwise found out for us. In this instance he
has not only manifested riches of grace, but has abounded towards us in all
wisdom and prudence (v. 8), wisdom in contriving the dispensation,
and prudence in executing the counsel of his will, as he has done. How
illustrious have the divine wisdom and prudence rendered themselves, in so
happily adjusting the matter between justice and mercy in this grand affair,
in securing the honour of God and his law, at the same time that the recovery
of sinners and their salvation are ascertained and made sure! 4. Another
privilege which the apostle here blesses God for is divine revelation--that
God hath made known to us the mystery of his will (v. 9), that
is, so much of his good-will to men, which had been concealed for a long time,
and is still concealed from so great a part of the world: this we owe to
Christ, who, having lain in the bosom of the Father from eternity, came to
declare his will to the children of men. According to his good pleasure,
his secret counsels concerning man's redemption, which he had purposed,
or resolved upon, merely in and from himself, and not for any thing in them.
In this revelation, and in his making known unto us the mystery of his
will, the wisdom and the prudence of God do abundantly shine forth. It is
described (v. 13) as the word of truth, and the gospel of our
salvation. Every word of it is true. It contains and instructs us in the
most weighty and important truths, and it is confirmed and sealed by the very
oath of God, whence we should learn to betake ourselves to it in all our
searches after divine truth. It is the gospel of our salvation: it
publishes the glad tidings of salvation, and contains the offer of it: it
points out the way that leads to it; and the blessed Spirit renders the
reading and the ministration of it effectual to the salvation of souls. O, how
ought we to prize this glorious gospel and to bless God for it! This is the
light shining in a dark place, for which we have reason to be thankful, and to
which we should take heed. 5. Union in and with Christ is a great privilege, a
spiritual blessing, and the foundation of many others. He gathers together
in one all things in Christ, v. 10. All the lines of divine
revelation meet in Christ; all religion centres in him. Jews and Gentiles were
united to each other by being both united to Christ. Things in heaven and
things on earth are gathered together in him; peace made, correspondence
settled, between heaven and earth, through him. The innumerable company of
angels become one with the church through Christ: this God purposed in
himself, and it was his design in that dispensation which was to be
accomplished by his sending Christ in the fulness of time, at the exact time
that God had prefixed and settled. 6. The eternal inheritance is the great
blessing with which we are blessed in Christ: In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, v. 11. Heaven is the inheritance, the happiness of
which is a sufficient portion for a soul: it is conveyed in the way of an
inheritance, being the gift of a Father to his children. If children, then
heirs. All the blessings that we have in hand are but small if compared
with the inheritance. What is laid out upon an heir in his minority is nothing
to what is reserved for him when he comes to age. Christians are said to have
obtained this inheritance, as they have a present right to it, and even actual
possession of it, in Christ their head and representative. 7. The seal and
earnest of the Spirit are of the number of these blessings. We are said to be sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise, v. 13. The blessed Spirit is holy
himself, and he makes us holy. He is called the Spirit of promise, as
he is the promised Spirit. By him believers are sealed; that is, separated and
set apart for God, and distinguished and marked as belonging to him. The
Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, v. 14. The earnest is
part of payment, and it secures the full sum: so is the gift of the Holy
Ghost; all his influences and operations, both as a sanctifier and a
comforter, are heaven begun, glory in the seed and bud. The Spirit's
illumination is an earnest of everlasting light; sanctification is an earnest
of perfect holiness; and his comforts are earnests of everlasting joys. He is
said to be the earnest, until the redemption of the purchased possession.
It may be called here the possession, because this earnest makes it as sure to
the heirs as though they were already possessed of it; and it is purchased for
them by the blood of Christ. The redemption of it is mentioned because it was
mortgaged and forfeited by sin; and Christ restores it to us, and so is said
to redeem it, in allusion to the law of redemption. Observe, from all this,
what a gracious promise that is which secures the gift of the Holy Ghost to
those who ask him.
The apostle mentions the great end and design of God in bestowing all these
spiritual privileges, that we should be to the praise of his glory who
first trusted in Christ--we to whom the gospel was first preached, and who
were first converted to the faith of Christ, and to the placing of our hope
and trust in him. Note, Seniority in grace is a preferment: Who were in
Christ before me, says the apostle (Rom. xvi. 7); those who have for a
longer time experienced the grace of Christ are under more special obligations
to glorify God. They should be strong in faith, and more eminently glorify
him; but this should be the common end of all. For this we were made, and for
this we were redeemed; this is the great design of our Christianity, and of
God in all that he has done for us: unto the praise of his glory, v.
14. He intends that his grace and power and other perfection should by this
means become conspicuous and illustrious, and that the sons of men should
magnify him.
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The
Apostle's Prayer.
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A. D. 61.
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15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your
faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease
not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto
you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is
the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of
his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty
power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the
dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every
name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to
come: 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave
him to be the head over all things to the church, 23
Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
We have come to the last part of this chapter, which consists of Paul's
earnest prayer to God in behalf of these Ephesians. We should pray for the
persons for whom we give thanks. Our apostle blesses God for what he had done
for them, and then he prays that he would do more for them. He gives thanks
for spiritual blessings, and prays for further supplies of them; for God will
for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. He has
laid up these spiritual blessings for us in the hands of his Son, the Lord
Jesus; but then he has appointed us to draw them out, and fetch them in, by
prayer. We have no part nor lot in the matter, any further than we claim it by
faith and prayer. One inducement to pray for them was the good account he had
of them, of their faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints, v.
15. Faith in Christ, and love to the saints, will be attended with all other
graces. Love to the saints, as such, and because they are such, must include
love to God. Those who love saints, as such, love all saints, how weak in
grace, how mean in the world, how fretful and peevish soever, some of them may
be. Another inducement to pray for them was because they had received the
earnest of the inheritance: this we may observe from the words being connected
with the preceding ones by the particle wherefore. "Perhaps you
will think that, having received the earnest, it should follow, therefore you
are happy enough, and need take no further care: you need not pray for
yourselves, nor I for you." No, quite the contrary. Wherefore--I cease
not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, v.
16. While he blesses God for giving them the Spirit, he ceases not to pray
that he would give unto them the Spirit (v. 17), that he would give
greater measures of the Spirit. Observe, Even the best of Christians need to
be prayed for: and, while we hear well of our Christian friends, we should
think ourselves obliged to intercede with God for them, that they may abound
and increase yet more and more. Now what is it that Paul prays for in behalf
of the Ephesians? Not that they might be freed from persecution; nor that they
might possess the riches, honours, or pleasures of the world; but the great
thing he prays for is the illumination of their understandings, and that their
knowledge might increase and abound: he means it of a practical and
experimental knowledge. The graces and comforts of the Spirit are communicated
to the soul by the enlightening of the understanding. In this way he gains and
keeps possession. Satan takes a contrary way: he gets possession by the senses
and passions, Christ by the understanding. Observe,
I. Whence this knowledge must come from the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
v. 17. The Lord is a God of knowledge, and there is no sound
saving knowledge but what comes from him; and therefore to him we must look
for it, who is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ (see v. 3) and
the Father of glory. It is a Hebraism. God is infinitely glorious in
himself all glory is due to him from his creatures, and he is the author of
all that glory with which his saints are or shall be invested. Now he gives
knowledge by giving the Spirit of knowledge; for the Spirit of God is the
teacher of the saints, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. We have the
revelation of the Spirit in the word: but will that avail us, if we have not
the wisdom of the Spirit in the heart? If the same Spirit who indited the
sacred scriptures do not take the veil from off our hearts, and enable us to
understand and improve them, we shall be never the better.--In the
knowledge of him, or for the acknowledgment of him; not only a speculative
knowledge of Christ, and of what relates to him, but an acknowledgment of
Christ's authority by an obedient conformity to him, which must be by the help
of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. This knowledge is first in the
understanding. He prays that the eyes of their understanding may be
enlightened, v. 18. Observe, Those who have their eyes opened, and
have some understanding in the things of God, have need to be more and more
enlightened, and to have their knowledge more clear, and distinct, and
experimental. Christians should not think it enough to have warm affections,
but they should labour to have clear understandings; they should be ambitious
of being knowing Christians, and judicious Christians.
II. What it is that he more particularly desire they should grow in the
knowledge of. 1. The hope of his calling, v. 18. Christianity is
our calling. God has called us to it, and on that account it is said to be his
calling. There is a hope in this calling; for those who deal with God deal
upon trust. And it is a desirable thing to know what this hope of our calling
is, to have such an acquaintance with the immense privileges of God's people,
and the expectations they have from God, and with respect to the heavenly
world, as to be quickened thereby to the utmost diligence and patience in the
Christian course. We ought to labour after, and pray earnestly for, a clearer
insight into, and a fuller acquaintance with, the great objects of a
Christian's hopes. 2. The riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints. Besides the heavenly inheritance prepared for the saints, there is
a present inheritance in the saints; for grace is glory begun, and holiness is
happiness in the bud. There is a glory in this inheritance, riches of glory,
rendering the Christian more excellent and more truly honourable than all
about him: and it is desirable to know this experimentally, to be acquainted
with the principles, pleasures, and powers, of the spiritual and divine life.
It may be understood of the glorious inheritance in or among the saints in
heaven, where God does, as it were, lay forth all his riches, to make them
happy and glorious, and where all that the saints are in possession of is
transcendently glorious, as the knowledge that can be attained of this upon
earth is very desirable, and must be exceedingly entertaining and delightful.
Let us endeavour then, by reading, contemplation, and prayer, to know as much
of heaven as we can, that we may be desiring and longing to be there. 3. The
exceeding greatness of God's power towards those who believe, v.
19. The practical belief of the all-sufficiency of God, and of the omnipotence
of divine grace, is absolutely necessary to a close and steady walking with
him. It is a desirable thing to know experimentally the mighty power of that
grace beginning and carrying on the work of faith in our souls. It is a
difficult thing to bring a soul to believe in Christ, and to venture its all
upon his righteousness, and upon the hope of eternal life. It is nothing less
than an almighty power that will work this in us. The apostle speaks here with
a mighty fluency and copiousness of expression, and yet, at the same time, as
if he wanted words to express the exceeding greatness of God's almighty
power, that power which God exerts towards his people, and by which he
raised Christ from the dead, v. 20. That indeed was the great proof
of the truth of the gospel to the world: but the transcript of that in
ourselves (our sanctification, and rising from the death of sin, in conformity
to Christ's resurrection) is the great proof to us. Though this cannot prove
the truth of the gospel to another who knows nothing of the matter (there the
resurrection of Christ is the proof), yet to be able to speak experimentally,
as the Samaritans, "We have heard him ourselves, we have felt a
mighty change in our hearts," will make us able to say, with the fullest
satisfaction, Now we believe, and are sure, that this is the Christ, the
Son of God. Many understand the apostle here as speaking of that exceeding
greatness of power which God will exert for raising the bodies of
believers to eternal life, even the same mighty power which he wrought in
Christ when he raised him, &c. And how desirable a thing must it be to
become at length acquainted with that power, by being raised out of the grave
thereby unto eternal life!
Having said something of Christ and his resurrection, the apostle digresses a
little from the subject he is upon to make some further honourable mention of
the Lord Jesus and his exaltation. He sits at the Father's right hand in
the heavenly places, &c., v. 20, 21. Jesus Christ is advanced
above all, and he is set in authority over all, they being made subject to
him. All the glory of the upper world, and all the powers of both worlds, are
entirely devoted to him. The Father hath put all things under his feet
(v. 22), according to the promise, Ps. cx. 1. All creatures whatsoever
are in subjection to him; they must either yield him sincere obedience or fall
under the weight of his sceptre, and receive their doom from him. God GAVE
him to be head over all things. It was a gift to Christ, considered as
a Mediator, to be advanced to such dominion and headship, and to have such a
mystical body prepared for him: and it was a gift to the church, to be
provided with a head endued with so much power and authority. God gave him
to be the head over all things. He gave him all power both in heaven and
in earth. The Father loves the Son, and hath given ALL
things into his hands. But that which completes the comfort of this is
that he is the head over all things to the church; he is entrusted with all
power, that is, that he may dispose of all the affairs of the providential
kingdom in subserviency to the designs of his grace concerning his church.
With this therefore we may answer the messengers of the nations, that the Lord
hath founded Zion. The same power that supports the world support the church;
and we are sure he loves his church, for it is his body (v. 23),
his mystical body, and he will care for it. It is the fulness of him that
filleth all in all. Jesus Christ filleth all in all; he supplies all
defects in all his members, filling them with his Spirit, and even with the
fulness of God, ch. iii. 19. And yet the church is said to be his
fulness, because Christ as Mediator would not be complete if he had not a
church. How could he be a king if he had not a kingdom? This therefore comes
in to the honour of Christ, as Mediator, that the church is his fulness.
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