_AFTER THE SALUTATION, AND THANKSGIVING FOR THE EPHESIANS, HE TREATETH OF ELECTION AND ADOPTION BY GRACE: AND, BECAUSE THE HEIGHT OF THIS MYSTERY CANNOT EASILY BE ATTAINED UNTO, HE PRAYETH THAT THEY MAY COME TO THE FULL KNOWLEDGE AND POSSESSION THEREOF IN CHRIST._ _Anno Domini 62._ BECAUSE the Eph... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE FAITHFUL IN CHRIST JESUS:— Some have understood this as an intimation, that the Christians at Ephesus were remarkably_faithful to Christ_ in relying on him alone for salvation, without that attachment to the _Mosaic law_ which was to be found in some other churches, and particularly among the... [ Continue Reading ]
_EPHESIANS 1:3_.— The two first verses contain St. Paul's inscription, or introduction, to his Epistle; and thence to Ephesians 1:14 he proceeds to thank God for his grace and bounty to the Gentiles; wherein he so sets forth both God's gracious purpose of bringing the Gentiles into his kingdom under... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HIM— That is, _in Christ._ See the preceding verse, which, together with this, makes up the following sense: "As it was in consideration of Christ alone that God heretofore, before the foundation of the world, designed us Gentiles to be his people; so now that the Messiah is come, all the blessin... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVING PREDESTINATED US— It was not by the observances of the law, but by faith alone in Jesus Christ, that God _pre-determined_ to take the Gentiles into the state of sonship, or adoption. This was another particular for which St. Paul blesses God, in the name of the Gentiles; the consideration whe... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREIN HE HATH MADE US ACCEPTED— Nothing can be imagined of greater force to raise the minds of the Ephesians above the Jewish ritual, and to keep them steady in the freedom of the gospel, than what St. Paul says here; namely, that God, before the foundation of the world, freely determined within h... [ Continue Reading ]
IN ALL WISDOM AND PRUDENCE,— Having, with infinite wisdom, contrived a wayto glorify _all his attributes_ in the salvation of men,—even _those_ who seemed to have themost different claims; dispensing mercy in a way of judgment, and awakening a humbleawe and reverence in the soul by the very method w... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL,— St. Paul's so often terming God's purpose of calling the Gentiles _a mystery,_ and so emphatically declaring it to be _concealed from ages,_ and particularly revealed _to himself,_ (as we find in this Epistle, where it is so called five times, and four times in that to the... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MIGHT GATHER TOGETHER— The original, 'Ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι, rendered _gathered together,_ properly signifies, _to recapitulate, recollect,_ or _put together the heads of a discourse,_ and _to unite again under one head._ Both angels and men were at first in harmonious subjection to the Son of God, t... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE OBTAINED AN INHERITANCE,— Mr. Locke would render u949?κληρωθημεν _are become his inheritance;_ alluding to Deuteronomy 32:9 and interprets it as referring to the admission of the Gentiles into the church, which is God's heritage. But as _we,_ in this and the next verse, seems opposed to _you... [ Continue Reading ]
YE WERE SEALED— In Revelation 7:3 mention is made of God _sealing the foreheads_ of his servants, that they might be known to be his; alluding to the custom of marking the foreheads of slaves, that the public might know that they were the private property of the purchasers. So St. Paul here says, th... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH IS THE EARNEST, &C.— "In which Holy Spirit you have a certain pledge and token of your being by adoption entitled to the future _inheritance;_ to encourage and animate you under all the difficulties of your way, _till the_ complete _redemption_ of his faithful saints, whom he hath so dearly _p... [ Continue Reading ]
_EPHESIANS 1:15_.— Having, in the foregoing verses, thanked God for the great favours and mercies which, from the beginning, he had purposed for the Gentiles under the Messiah, in such a description of that design of the Almighty as was fit to raise their thoughts above the law; having taken notice... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FATHER OF GLORY,— A Hebrew expression, which cannot well be changed, since it signifies his being glorious in himself,—the fountain whence all glory is derived—and to whom all glory is to be given. In all which senses it may be taken here, where there is nothing that appropriates it in particula... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EYES OF YOUR UNDERSTANDING BEING ENLIGHTENED;— _And would give you to have the eyes of your understanding enlightened:_ Doddridge, more agreeable to the original.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO US-WARD— _Us_ here, _you,_ ch. Ephesians 2:1 and _us_ ch. Ephesians 2:5 plainly signify the same; namely, those who, being spiritually dead, partook of the energy of that great power which raised Christ Jesus: and all those glorious things which in Ephesians 1:18, he intimates to them, by praying... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE DEAD, AND SET HIM, &C.— _From the dead: and he set him,_ &c. Instead of _heavenly places,_ both here and Ephesians 1:3 the margin of our bible reads _things,_ which, perhaps, will be thought better, (as we have there remarked above,) if we compare the 22nd verse. _He set him at his right ha... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL PRINCIPALITY, &C.— These abstract names are frequently used in the New Testament, according to the stile of theeastern languages, for "those vested with power and dominion, &c. and that not only here on earth among men, but in heaven, among superior beings;" and so are often taken to express ran... [ Continue Reading ]
FULNESS— _Fulness_ is here taken in a passive sense, for "a thing to be filled or completed;" as appears by the following words,—_of him that filleth all in all._ That is, "It is Christ the head, who perfecteth the church, by supplying and furnishing all things to all the faithful members, to make t... [ Continue Reading ]