VI. (4_ b_.) In Ephesians 6:1. St. Paul passes from the detailed exposition of the true relation of husbands and wives, to deal with the relation of parents and children, far more cursorily and simply, but under the light of the same idea. It is to be thought of as existing “in the Lord,” _i.e.,_ w... [ Continue Reading ]
[5. Practical Exhortation continued (Ephesians 5:22 to Ephesians 6:9). (4) THE BEARING OF THE TRUTH OF UNITY ON THE THREE GREAT RELATIONS OF LIFE. (_a_) _Between husbands and wives_ — a relation which is a type of the unity between Christ and His Church (Ephesians 5:22). (_b_)_ Between parents... [ Continue Reading ]
In Ephesians 6:10. St. Paul sums up his practical exhortation in that magnificent description which has ever since laid hold of Christian imagination, both in metaphor and in allegory. He paints the Christian life as a battle against spiritual powers of evil, waged in the strength of the Lord, and i... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT WITH PROMISE. — It is, indeed, in the Decalogue “the only commandment with promise” distinctly attached to it. But it is still the first; the Decalogue being itself the introduction to the Law, in which similar promises are repeated again and again. (2) (18) PRAYING ALWAYS WIT... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH THEE... — The quotation is but slightly varied from Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16. But by the omission of the limiting words, “which the Lord thy God hath given thee,” St. Paul at once generalises the application and determines it to the earth, and not to “the good land” of... [ Continue Reading ]
Ephesians 6:21 form the conclusion of the Epistle, in commendation of Tychicus’ salutation and blessing. The extreme brevity and generality of this section here — in contrast with St. Paul’s practice in every other Epistle, except the Second Epistle to the Corinthians and the Epistle to the Galatian... [ Continue Reading ]
PROVOKE NOT YOUR CHILDREN TO WRATH. — The word is the same as in Ephesians 4:26. It denotes the exasperation produced by arbitrary and unsympathetic rule. NURTURE AND ADMONITION OF THE LORD. — In this phrase we have the two elements of education. “Nurture” is a word signifying generally “the treatme... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR MASTERS ACCORDING TO THE FLESH. — This phrase (used also in Colossians 3:12) at once implies the necessary limitation of all human slavery. It can subjugate and even kill the body, but it cannot touch the spirit; and it belongs only to the visible life of this world, not to the world to come. T... [ Continue Reading ]
(4 _c._) In Ephesians 6:5 the hardest form of subjection, that of slaves to masters, is dealt with, still under the same idea that both are “in Christ.” The slave is the servant of Christ in obeying his master, the master is a fellow-servant with his slave to the same Divine Lord. We notice on this... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT WITH EYESERVICE, AS MENPLEASERS. — This verse is merely an expansion of the idea of singleness of heart. The word “eyeservice” (used here, and in Colossians 3:22) is peculiar to St. Paul, and to these passages; the word “menpleasers” is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but is used in th... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH GOOD WILL DOING SERVICE, AS TO THE LORD, AND NOT TO MEN. — Here we ascend to a still higher quality than “singleness of heart.” To do service “with good will,” that is, gladly and cheerfully, “counting it joy to spend and to be spent” in the service, is really to serve, not as a slave, but as a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SAME SHALL HE RECEIVE OF THE LORD. — This verse clenches the previous exhortations by the inculcation of a sense of responsibility and hope. The phrase itself is emphatic — not _“he_ shall receive the reward of his deed,” but “he shall receive the deed itself,” considered as a thing still living... [ Continue Reading ]
DO THE SAME THINGS UNTO THEM — _i.e._, treat them as flesh and blood like yourselves, having, as men, the same claims on you as you on them; “do unto them as ye would that they should do unto you.” The parallel passage in the Colossian Epistle (Ephesians 4:1) is the best comment on this, “Give unto... [ Continue Reading ]
FINALLY, MY BRETHREN, BE STRONG IN THE LORD. — The address “my brethren” appears to be an interpolation (probably from Philippians 3:1). Frequent as it is from St. Paul, it is not found either in this or in the Colossian Epistle. BE STRONG. — Properly, _be strengthened in the inner man; go_ on from... [ Continue Reading ]
(6. CONCLUSION (Ephesians 6:10). (1) FINAL EXHORTATION to put on the whole armour of God, in order to stand fast in the struggle, not against flesh and blood, but against unearthly powers of evil (Ephesians 6:10). (2) SPECIAL DESIRE OF THEIR PRAYERS, as for themselves and for all men, so especial... [ Continue Reading ]
PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOUR. — The special emphasis in this verse is on “the whole armour,” or “panoply” (a word only used here and in Luke 11:22); not mainly on its strength or its brightness, as “armour of light” (comp. Romans 13:12), but on its completeness, providing against all “the wiles” and “all... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE WRESTLE. — Properly, _For our wrestling is._ That there is a struggle, a “battle of life,” must be assumed at once by all who look at the world as it is; the question is whether it is against flesh and blood, or against a more unearthly power of evil. FLESH AND BLOOD. — Or rather (as perhaps... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE EVIL DAY. — Comp. Ephesians 5:15, “Because the days are evil.” The evil day is any day of which it may be said in our Lord’s words, “This is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53). In this life all days may be evil, but, except to the reprobate, none wholly evil; for out of evil “... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR LOINS GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH, AND HAVING ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. — There is here an obvious reference to two passages of Isaiah (Isaiah 11:5; Isaiah 59:17), “Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,” “He put on righteousness as a breastplate.” Truth and righteousness are virt... [ Continue Reading ]
(14-17) In this magnificent passage, while it would be unreasonable to look for formal and systematic exactness, it is clear that (as usual in St. Paul’s most figurative passages) there runs through the whole a distinct method of idea. Thus (1) the order in which the armour in enumerated is clearly... [ Continue Reading ]
SHOD WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE. — This passage is one which even to the Greek interpreters (see Chrysostom) was obscure. What is “the preparation of the gospel of peace”? (1) It has seemed to many natural to illustrate this phrase by the celebrated passage (Isaiah 52:7; Romans 10:1... [ Continue Reading ]
ABOVE ALL. — Properly, _over all,_ or _besides all else._ The shield here is the large heavy shield covering the whole body, in which the “fiery darts” — that is, the arrows, with the points made red hot, or wrapped in with burning tow (comp. Psalms 7:14; Psalms 120:4) — may fix and burn themselves... [ Continue Reading ]
AND TAKE. — There is a break here. We are said not to put on, but to “take” (or rather, _receive_) — a word specially appropriate to “salvation.” THE HELMET OF SALVATION. — The word here (as in Luke 2:30; Luke 3:6; Acts 28:28) rendered “salvation,” is not the word commonly so rendered in the New Tes... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SUPPLICATION FOR ALL SAINTS; AND FOR ME. — It is curious, and probably not accidental, that the prepositions in these two clauses are different. The first is properly “touching all saints,” and the second “on behalf of me.” Both are often interchanged; but there is, perhaps, here a touch of grea... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT UTTERANCE MAY BE GIVEN ME, THAT I MAY OPEN MY MOUTH... — This hardly renders the original “that word may be given me in opening my mouth.” The “opening the mouth” — an expression always used of solemn and deliberate utterance — seems taken for granted. What the Apostle desires them to pray for... [ Continue Reading ]
IN BONDS. — Rightly, as in the margin, _in a chain._ The word is the same which is used in Acts 28:20, “For the hope of Israel I am bound in this chain.” It occurs also in Mark 5:4; Luke 8:29, where it is distinguished from a “fetter” properly so called, as binding the feet, and therefore obviously... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT YE ALSO — _i.e.,_ ye as well as others. There is evidently an allusion to Tychicus’ similar mission to Colossæ; and we may, perhaps, also trace some indication of a generality of scope in this Epistle. TYCHICUS is first mentioned with Trophimus in Acts 20:4, as being “of Asia,” and accompanying... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOM I HAVE SENT UNTO YOU. — This verse corresponds word for word with Colossians 4:8, being a quasi-official statement of Tychicus’ commission. The words “that he might comfort (or, _encourage_) your hearts,” although they might apply generally to all messengers from an Apostle, may probably be bes... [ Continue Reading ]
PEACE BE TO THE BRETHREN... — In the conclusion of the Epistle, as at the beginning, St. Paul gives the double benediction, “Peace and grace be with you all.” But it. is impossible not to notice the difference between the generality of the terms here used (“the brethren,” and “all who love the Lord... [ Continue Reading ]
GRACE BE WITH ALL THEM... — The salutation, “Grace be with you,” in various forms, is, as St. Paul himself says in 2 Thessalonians 3:17, “the token,” or characteristic signature, in every one of his Epistles, written with his own hand. It may be noted that it is not found in the Epistles of St. Jame... [ Continue Reading ]