Ephesians 1:15

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, Eph 1:15. 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, Eph 1:16. While he blesses God for giving them the Spirit, he ceases not to pray that he would give unto them the Spirit (Eph 1:17), 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, Eph 1:17. 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 Eph 1:3) 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, Eph 1:18. 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, Eph 1:18. 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, Eph 1:19. 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, Eph 1:20. 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, etc. 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, etc., Eph 1:20, Eph 1:21. 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 (Eph 1:22), according to the promise, Psa 110:1. 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 (Eph 1:23), 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, Eph 3:19. 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.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15–23. Prayer, that the Saints may fully realize their Divine privileges and prospects in Christ

15. Wherefore, &c.]. The Apostle now passes from the adoring view of Divine Redemption to prayer that its treasures of grace may be realized in the whole experience and life of the saints. And this he does, as elsewhere (Colossians 1; 2 Thessalonians 1) in close connexion with thanksgiving for what they had already found[31].—“Wherefore”:—because such is the greatness of Redemption, in fact and prospect.

[31] In Dean Howson’s admirable Lectures on the Character of St Paul (Lect. IV.) it is pointed out that St Paul always, in opening an Epistle, joins prayer to thanksgiving, except in Epistles (1 Cor.; Gal.) marked by a certain severity.

I also] as well as others who have you in their hearts; a touch of gracious modesty.

heard] in his Roman lodging, doubtless through Epaphras (Col_1:7) among others.

your faith] More lit., the faith among you, la foi chez vous.

in the Lord Jesus] Reposed on and in Him, as an anchor in the ground. It is questioned whether “faith,” “believe,” &c. with the preposition “in,” do not rather mean “faith, &c., maintained in and by connexion with Christ.” But there are passages which fully prove the possibility of the simple meaning given above (e.g. Mar_1:15, where lit., “believe in the Gospel;” and cp. in LXX. Psalms 77 (78) 26; Jer_12:6); and in most passages where the construction occurs a remote and elaborate meaning would in the nature of the case be unlikely.

and love unto all the saints] Cp. Col_1:4 for an exact parallel. Here, however, the reading is disputed. Some very important MSS. omit “love,” and R. V. reads accordingly “the faith … which ye shew toward all the saints.” But the external evidence for the received reading is very strong. All the ancient Versions give it, as well as some of the oldest MSS., and the vast majority of others. And it is internally very much more likely than a phrase which is without any real parallel, and which couples together, under closely kindred terms, “faith in” Christ and “faith towards” Christians. And the parallel in Col_1:4 is strongly in favour of the received reading; for though it is likely enough that St Paul may have omitted in one Epistle a whole phrase which he used in the other (as in Eph_1:7 above, where the Colossian parallel omits “through His blood”), it is far from likely that he should have varied the easy and obvious phrase in the one for a curiously difficult one in the other. The true probability is that we have here an early mistake of transcription, due to certain phenomena in the Gr. words.

The Apostle has heard with joy of their personal trust in the Divine Redeemer, and their consequent love to all who are His; “faith working by love,” coming out, developing itself, in a life of holy love.

It is obvious that this “love to the saints” does not negative “love towards all men.” But it is love of another order, love of endearment, not only of good will; a necessary sequel of the family connexion of the saints; “brotherly love.” The N. T. is full of this supernatural family affection.—See 2Pe_1:7 for “love” (to all men) “added to,” or rather “supplied in, love to the brethren.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_1:15-16

Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and love unto all the saints.

Faith a chief characteristic of the Christian

I. It is the first condition of spiritual life.

1. Uniting the sinner with the Lord of life.

2. Restoring the spiritual outcast to filial relations with God the Father.

3. Interesting and exercising the renewed nature in things unseen and eternal.

II. It exhibits itself in the spirit and conduct of believers.

1. The life of the believer is in the greatest contrast to the life of unbelief.

(1) His own previous conduct.

(2) The general behaviour of the world.

2. It impels to the promotion of the well-being of others.

III. It ought therefore to be anxiously looked for and thankfully recognized by other Christians. But all Christians are not so deeply interested in the progress of Christs kingdom as Paul was! It requires an unworldly and generous spirit to be possessed by such an enthusiasm.

1. Awaking thanksgiving in him. As if it had been a personal advantage to himself. God is thanked as the Author of the spiritual life thus evinced.

2. Impelling to prayer. Because the fruits and spiritual outgrowth of faith were still to come. He who awakened faith in Himself alone can sustain and perfect it. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)

Christian faith and love

I. Faith is the first gift of God which He mentions in their praise, and truly in many respects it deserves the first place in our letters, in our hearts, and in our lives. What is faith? It is a holy resting upon the word and promise of God as true and faithful, so that the natural consequence is peace of conscience and spiritual joy; it is a taking of God at His word.

II. Now comes the next great gift for which the apostle praises them, love, brotherly love, love to all the saints. It has its fountain in the love of God as the Father of the whole redeemed family. His love to us produces corresponding love to Him, and in loving the common Father, we necessarily love one another. The bonds, indeed, which bind the saints together are very many and very strong. They are members of the same family, redeemed with the same precious blood, and filled with the same quickening Spirit. They have the same friends and the same enemies, the same hopes and fears, the same promises of good things to come, and the same living Head in heaven. How full, and deep, and strong should be their love to one another! The words of our text are instructive--Love to all the saints! (W. Graham, D. D.)

Recognition of good points in others

Pauls thankfulness for what he heard about the faith and religious life of the Ephesian Christians is one of the many proofs that his nature was singularly ardent, generous, and sanguine. He knew that there were some, perhaps many, of them who were emerging only very slowly from the vices of their old heathen days, else he would not have thought it necessary to write what he has written in the later pages of this Epistle about the most elementary moral duties. But it was his habit to think of all that was fairest in the lives of Christian people. There were grave faults, there were gross sins, in the Church at Ephesus; but he had heard enough of the Church to be sure that it had not forgotten what he had taught it eight or nine years before. The faith of the Church in Christ was still steadfast, and the reality of that faith was still shown in their spirit and conduct to all saints. They themselves were loyal to Christ, and they regarded all Christians as comrades and brethren; and therefore he ceased not to give thanks for them. That is an admirable temper. We are too much disposed to impeach the sincerity and worth of a mans faith if we see in him a single serious fault. That was not Pauls way. He had a keen eye for goodness; whatever might be his sorrow on account of the sins of Christian men, and however sternly he rebuked them for their sins, he rejoiced ardently in every manifestation, however faint, of a genuine desire to do the will of God. He watched the beginnings of a nobler life in his converts, as we watch the conflict between the dawn and the heavy darkness of the night. In some of them the rising glory was almost concealed by the dense clouds of heathen ignorance, superstition, and vice; but he could see gleams of light trembling through the gloom. Here and there between the broken clouds there was the clear blue of a diviner heaven. He rejoiced and gave thanks that the light of God had risen upon the darkness; not in a moment, but gradually and certainly, the dim, cloudy, troubled dawn would be followed by a bright and glorious day. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

Observance of others religious progress

1.Ministers must labour to know how grace goes forward in those with whom they have to deal. It behoves shepherds to know their flock.

2. The Ephesians faith is occupied about the Lord Jesus Christ.

(1) Faith in Christ is not only to know but to rely on Him: an affair not merely of the understanding, but also of the will.

(2) Faith in Christ justifies and saves, inasmuch as it receives at His hand Gods pardon and grace.

3. Faith and love are never disjoined, but go hand in hand with each other. Faith without love is but a dead carcase; love without; faith is but a blind devotion. Neither is pleasing to God without the other. Let us try the truth of our faith by the presence or absence of love. We may more easily carry coals in our bosom without burning, than by faith apprehend truly this love of God, without finding our hearts burn in answering love to Him.

4. The love of true believers is set on the saints, yea, on all the saints. Every creature likes to be with those who are united with it in communication of the same nature: so sanctified Christians cannot but love and like to be most with those who have received the like divine nature in which they are themselves partakers. (Paul Bayne.)

Faith and love--immense affections

No one who knows what faith and love are, according to the New Testament, will ever doubt that they are the most human of all our capacities. They are distinct, yet essentially one. They are significant signs of our vast future. Give yourself to history, to geology, astronomy, physiology, chemistry, and you will correspondingly inform and expand your mind. But by faith, your spirit is at one with the wisdom and goodness, the power and glory, the infinity and eternity of God. Faith involves, therefore, the utmost enlargement of soul, and yet begets nothing like self-exaltation. We say nothing of nominal believers; but minds which are in actual sympathy with the Son of God, are in the condition to become the master minds of the universe. Nor can anyone doubt this, who understands the scope of Gods purpose in Christ Jesus. It is not possible that the power of God, and the wisdom of God, should establish their empire in certain men, without constituting them kings and priests unto God. The elements of essential precedency and power are rooted and grounded in them. By selfish thoughts of the gospel, as of a plan by which we are to be saved from misery and hell, we spoil it of its Divine glory. The gospel of God comprehends higher and broader reaches of thought, than any subject ever opened to the minds of angels or men. The noble-mindedness of faith is always associated with a corresponding noble-heartedness. Faith and love are inseparable bosom companions. I constantly thank God, writes Paul, for your faith and love. Your faith is a Divine expansiveness given to your understanding, and your love unto all the saints is a like vastness given to your affections. They are the double suns of your soul, sun within sun. Whole galaxies of wisdom are comprehended in faith, as in a mental firmament. And as to the new spirit of love, which is faiths associative soul, He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. Wherefore, I cease not to give thanks for you, that the goodness and the greatness which are everlasting are made sure to you. Your faith and love are of unknown value. They constitute your initiation into an endless progress. Infinite truth is the scope of your mind; and infinite love, the scope of your heart. (John Pulsford.)

Faith in Christ

I remember an old experimental Christian speaking about the great pillars of our faith; he was a sailor; we were then on board ship and there were sundry huge posts on the shore, to which the ships were usually moored by throwing a cable over them. After I had told him a great many promises, he said, I know they are good strong promises, but I cannot get near enough to shore to throw my cable round them; that is the difficulty. Now it often happens that Gods past mercies and loving kindnesses would be good sure posts to hold on to, but we have not got faith enough to throw our cable round them, and so we go drifting, down the stream of unbelief because we cannot stay ourselves by our former mercies. I will, however, give you something that I think you can throw your cable over. If God has never been kind to you, one thing you surely know, and that is, He has been kind to others. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Faith and love illustrated

Some naturalists desired to obtain the wild flowers which grew on the side of a dangerous gorge in the Scottish Highlands. They offered a boy a liberal sum to descend by a rope, and get them. He looked at the money, thought of the danger, and replied, I will go if my father will hold the rope. With unshrinking nerves he suffered his father to put the rope round him, lower him over the precipice, and to suspend him there, while he filled his basket with the coveted flowers.

Reflex benefit of charity

Where charity is, there doth God reside. Possess charity, and you will see Him in your own heart, seated as on His throne. (Augustine.)

Self-denying charity

John Howard, the philanthropist, having settled his accounts at the close of a particular year, found a balance in his favour, and proposed to his wife to make use of it in a journey to London. What a comfortable cottage for a poor family it would build! was her answer. This hint met with cordial approbation; and the money was laid out upon that purpose accordingly.

Brotherly love

As the spokes of a carriage wheel approach their centre, they approach each other; so also, when men are brought to Jesus Christ, the centre of life and hope, they are drawn towards each other in brotherly love and relationship, and stand side by side, supporting each other, as they journey on together to their heavenly home. (J. F. Serjeant.)

Love of our neighbour

Cultivate ever a spirit of love to all. Love is the diamond amongst the jewels of the believers breastplate. The other graces shine like the precious stones of nature, with their own peculiar lustre and varied hues; but the diamond is white; now in white all the colours are united (as a prism will show), so love is centred every other grace and virtue; for we are told that Love is the fulfilling of the law. (Rowland Hill.)

Faith in Christ

Faith looked at in reference to God is a spirit of quietude and repose. Nothing so full of conscious helplessness and simple trust. No little bird beneath its parents wing, no child upon its mothers lap, so gentle and confiding. A lion in conflict with the powers of hell, faith lies down like a lamb at the feet of the Lord of heaven. It returns and rests in quietness and in confidence. Indeed, in this way it obtains salvation and strength. The calm resting upon God makes it victorious over all beside. In truth, it is He who fights for the believer, with the believer, in the believer. Faith does nothing alone, nothing of itself, but everything under God, by God, through God. It is only in a qualified sense that faith makes war and gets victory. The excellency of power is of God, and not of us. Its humble dependence, its meek, child-like spirit, after all constitute its proper self. These are the essence and life of faith. (J. Stoughton.)

Love the fruit of faith

When a rosebud is formed, if the soil is soft and the sky is genial, it is not long before it bursts; for the life within is so abundant that it can no longer contain it all, but in blossomed brightness and swimming fragrance it must needs let forth its joy, and gladden all the air. And if, when thus ripe, it refused to expand, it would quickly rot at heart, and die. And Christian love is just piety with its petals fully spread, developing itself, and making it a happier world. The religion which fancies that it loves God, when it never evinces love to its brother, is not piety, but a poor mildewed theology, a dogma with a worm in the heart. (Dr. J. Hamilton.)

Thanksgiving and prayer for others

1. The graces of God in others must move Christians, especially ministers, to thankfulness. If a schoolmaster brings a rude untoward boy to behaviour and forwardness in learning, we much commend him, that he has wrought so far on so ill-disposed a subject; how much more is He to be magnified who works such alterations in sinners, dead in their sins and trespasses?

2. Christians are to help each other with prayer, especially ministers their converted people.

3. We must perseveringly follow God in those things we pray for. Some things God gives us before we ask for them; others, immediately upon our prayer; for others, again, He will have us follow Him with continuance before bestowing them. Thus He sees fit to exercise our sanctity, faith, and patience; to test whether our requests proceed from the heart; and to prepare us to receive the things we ask in greater measure, for the wider the soul is enlarged in desire, the more abundantly God means to fill it in His time. (Paul Bayne.)

Intercessory prayer

Prayer, generally speaking, is the life of a Christian Church, and when it takes the forms of thanksgiving and intercession it is peculiarly blessed and attractive. (W. Graham, D. D.)

Prayer and thanks

Prayer and thanks are like the double motion of the lungs: the air that is sucked in by prayer, is breathed forth again by thanks. (Goodwin.)

Christian intercession

The great secret of the success of Harlan Page was, that he always aimed at the conversion of someone; wrestling in prayer with God, and in affectionate entreaty with the sinner, till he saw his wishes realized. By following this plan, though he was in a humble sphere of life, in active work, and often in deep poverty, he lived to see more than a hundred brought to God, as the fruit of his zeal and intercessions. (Howes.)

The meaning of intercession

The question, What is meant by intercession? being asked in a Sunday school, one of the children made a very apt reply, in the words, Speaking a word to God for us, sir.

Unceasing prayer

When a pump is frequently used, the water pours out at the first stroke, because it is high; but, if the pump has not been used for a long time, the water gets low, and when you want it you must pump a long while; and the water comes only after great efforts. It is so with prayer. If we are instant in prayer, every little circumstance awakens the disposition to pray, and desire and words are always ready: but, if we neglect prayer, it is difficult for us to pray; for the water in the well gets low. (Felix Neff.)

Intercessory prayer

A young lady heard voice as of one engaged in conversation, and distinguished the words, O Lord, have mercy upon the dear youth of this place! She was struck with the thought, Is this the way Christians go about the town, and mingle with the world? Do they pray thus for our souls? I have hardly ever prayed for my own. From that day, she began to pray, and became the first-fruits of a glorious revival.

A passion for prayer

When Dr. Bacchus (the President of Hamilton College), was upon his death bed, the doctor called to see him, and, after examining the symptoms, left the room without speaking, but, as he opened the door to go out, was observed to whisper something to the servant. What did the physician say to you? asked Dr. Bacchus. He said, sir, that you cannot live to exceed half an hour. Is it so? said the good man. Then take me out of my bed, and place me upon my knees; let me spend that time in calling upon God for the salvation of the world. His request was complied with; and his last moments were spent in breathing forth his prayers for the salvation of his fellow sinners. He died upon his knees. So also did Drs. Krapt and Livingstone.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 1:15-17. Wherefore, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus — That is, of your perseverance and increase therein. For the apostle’s manner of speaking does not imply that he received by report an account of their first believing in the Lord Jesus, and therefore that he wrote this epistle to them before he had been at Ephesus in person, or was personally acquainted with them. He wrote in the same terms to the Thessalonians, who were his converts, (1Th 3:4; 1Th 3:6,) and to his convert Philemon, Eph 1:4-5. Therefore, as his saying that he heard of the faith and love of the Thessalonians and of Philemon, does not mean that he was ignorant of these things till they were reported to him, but only that he had heard of their persevering in the true faith of the gospel, and in their love to the saints; so the faith of the Ephesians, which he says he had heard of, was not their first faith, or their conversion to Christianity, but their continued and increasing faith, evidencing itself by the fruit here spoken of. Love unto all the saints — Namely, whether circumcised or uncircumcised. For, by praising the Ephesians for their love to all the saints, the apostle seems to intimate that they were free from that narrow, bigoted spirit, which prevailed in some other churches, where difference in opinion about the necessity of circumcision had interrupted love. I cease not — In all my solemn addresses to God; to give thanks for you — On account of your perseverance in the true faith of the gospel, and in your love to all Christ’s disciples; making mention of you in my prayers — So he did of all the churches, Col 1:9. That the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory — Of which he is eternally and immutably possessed; from whom all glory proceeds, and to whom it returns; and whose glory shines in the face of Christ his beloved Son; or, as the expression might have been rendered, the glorious Father; may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation — This Spirit, termed the Spirit of promise, (Eph 1:13,) they had already received, in a great measure, for he had sealed them, as is there signified, and was an earnest of their inheritance in their hearts; but the apostle here prays that the same Spirit might be still more largely communicated to them, revealing more fully the deep things of God, and rendering them still more wise in all matters that concerned their own salvation, and the salvation of others. In the knowledge of him — Of Christ, of his person and offices, of his wonderful process in accomplishing the work of man’s redemption; of his humiliation and exaltation, his grace and glory, which he termed, (Php 3:8,) the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, for whom he had willingly suffered the loss of all things, and accounted them despicable, in comparison of this knowledge of him. Some commentators understand the clause as signifying the acknowledgment of him, namely, by professing faith in him and his gospel, whatever persecution such a profession might expose them to.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

Eph_1:15-16.—St. Paul is always ready to give a prompt acknowledgment of all that is best in his readers and to pray for something better. Cease not to give thanks.—My thanksgiving knows no end.

Eph_1:17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.—The connection or unity of the Father and the Son is the basis of the plea for those who are in the Son. Christ said, “I ascend unto My Father and your Father, to My God and your God” (Joh_20:17). The Father of glory.—Compare the phrases, “the Father of mercies” (2Co_1:3), “the Father of lights” (Jas_1:17), “our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory” (Jas_2:1). The spirit of wisdom and revelation.—The wisdom which is from above is the heritage of all the redeemed in Christ (1Jn_4:20); but this day-spring, which gladdens the eyes of the heart, grows to mid-day splendour by successive apocalypses. In the knowledge.—The word means a complete knowledge. It is a word characteristic of the four epistles of the first Roman captivity.

Eph_1:18-19. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened … to us-ward who believe.—Three pictures for heaven-illumined eyes:

1. The hope of His calling.—Meyer says “the hope” is not here (nor anywhere) the res sperata, “the object on which hope fastens, but the great and glorious hope which God gives”—a statement too sweeping for other scholars, though here they agree that it is the faculty of hope “which encourages and animates.”

2. The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.—“What a copious and grand accumulation, mirroring, as it were, the weightiness of the thing itself!” (Meyer). “Riches of the glory” must not be watered down into “glorious riches.”

3. The exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward.—The amazing and wholly unexpected working of the same Hand that wrought our first deliverance: the Power that smites the oppressor with dismay opens the path through the sea (see Isa_40:10-11). According to the working of His mighty power.—This may be regarded as a specimen of the divine power, the norm or standard by which we may gain an idea of the “exceeding greatness” of it—that from the tomb of His humiliation Christ was raised by that power to an unrivalled dignity in God’s throne. The R.V. gives “working of the strength of His might”: “working”—“the active exertion of power” (Meyer); “strength”—might expressing itself in overcoming resistance, ruling, etc.; “might”—strength in itself as inward power.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Eph_1:15-18

Prayer for Higher Spiritual Knowledge—

I. Thankfully acknowledges the grace already possessed (Eph_1:15-16).—The possession of some grace prompts the prayer for more. The apostle recognises the faith of the Ephesians in the person and work of Christ and the love they displayed towards the saints. Knowing the source of that grace and that the supply was unlimited, he thanks God and is encouraged to pray for its increase. How slow we are to see the good in others and to thank God for any good found in ourselves! Ingratitude dulls our sensibilities and chills the breath of prayer. If we were more thankful, we should be more prayerful. The way to excite gratitude is to interest ourselves in the highest welfare of others.

II. Invokes the impartation of additional spiritual insight (Eph_1:17-18).—The apostle prays, not for temporal good or for prosperity in outward things, or even for the cessation of trouble and persecution, but for an accession of mental and spiritual blessings. He prays for the opening of the eye of the mind that the vision of spiritual realities may be more clear and reliable, and that the soul may be possessed with a fuller knowledge of Christ. The highest wisdom is gained by a more accurate conception of Him “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Sin enters the heart through the avenue of the senses and passions, grace through a spiritually enlightened understanding. Pride, prejudice, and error are expelled from the mind not so much by the repression of evil tendencies as by the entrance and maintenance of superior moral truths. The revelation of the Spirit in the word will not suffice, unless the light of the same Spirit shines through every faculty and power of the inquiring soul. “Man’s knowledge is not perfect within the domain of creation, still less can he know the things of the invisible world. Only by living in a sphere does he gather knowledge of what is found there: knowledge comes from experience of occurrences. Without a disposition of the heart the sense of the understanding is not enlarged and sharpened. Sensible, mental, spiritual knowledge refers to life spheres in which he who knows must move. Only the believing, loving, longing one knows and grows in knowledge unto knowledge.” We need, therefore, continually to pray for the Spirit of wisdom—a keener spiritual insight.

III. Unveils the grandeur of the divine inheritance in believers.—“That ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph_1:18). The increase of spiritual knowledge is an ever-widening revelation of the value and splendour of divine blessings already possessed and in prospect of possession. Faith enjoys the inheritance now, and hope anticipates an ampler revelation and richer experience of its unspeakable blessedness. The phrase “the riches of the glory of His inheritance” indicates how utterly inadequate human language is to describe its boundless spiritual wealth. It is an inheritance implying union to Him who only hath immortality and is eternal. Rust cannot corrupt it, nor decay consume, nor death destroy. We have not only an inheritance in Christ, but He has also an inheritance in us. He finds more in us than we find ourselves, and we should never know it was there but for the revelation of Himself within us.

Lessons.—

1. Prayer and thanksgiving go together.

2. The soul needs a daily revelation of truth.

3. The highest spiritual truths are made known to the soul that prays.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

Eph_1:15-18. Clearer Discernment in Divine Things desired.

I. The things for which the apostle commends the Ephesians.—Their faith in Jesus and love to the saints (Eph_1:15).

1. Faith is such a sensible, realising belief of the gospel in its general truth and in its particular doctrines and precepts as gives it a practical influence on the heart and life; it looks up to God through Christ; it is made perfect by works.

2. Faith is accompanied with love. Viewing and applying the examples and doctrines of the gospel, it purifies the soul unto unfeigned love of the brethren. The gospel requires us to love all men, sinners as well as saints, enemies as well as friends. If we love God for His moral perfections, we shall love the saints as far as they appear to have these divine qualities wrought into their temper. Our love is not to be confined to a party, to those who live in the same city and worship in the same sanctuary, but embraces all.

II. Paul expresses his great thankfulness to God for the success of the gospel.—“I cease not to give thanks” (Eph_1:16). He rejoiced in the honour which redounded to the crucified Jesus. He rejoiced to think how many were rescued from the power of Satan, and in the consequences which might ensue to others. If the prevalence of religion is matter of thankfulness, we should spare no pains to give it success.

III. He prays for the future success of the gospel (Eph_1:16).—The best Christians have need to make continual improvement. Paul was no less constant in his prayers than in his labours for the spiritual interest of mankind. He knew that the success of all his labours depended on God’s blessing; he therefore added to them his fervent prayers. When ministers and people strive together in their prayers, there is reason to hope for God’s blessing on both.

IV. He prayed for spiritual enlightenment (Eph_1:17-18).—That they may seek wisdom from God to understand the revelation He has given, and such an illumination of mind as to discern the nature and excellence of the things contained in this revelation. Christians must not content themselves with their present knowledge, but aspire to all riches of the full assurance of understanding.

V. He prayed for power to appreciate Christian privileges (Eph_1:18).—To know the hope of the divine calling, the possibility and assurance of attaining the heavenly kingdom. To know what a rich and glorious inheritance God has prepared for and promised to the saints. Though we cannot comprehend its dimensions nor compute its value, yet when we consider the grace of the Being who conveys it, the riches of the price which brought it, and the divine preparation by which the heirs are formed to enjoy it, we must conceive it to be unspeakably glorious.—Lathrop.

The Apprehension of Spiritual Blessings.

I. Further spiritual blessings are to be apprehended by the saints, therefore their condition is a relative one.—The Ephesians had already received spiritual blessings (Eph_1:11-15). How much more is here. The possessed bears some proportion to what is to be received. Without this relative view the estimate is vague and erroneous. The further gifts consist specially in the clearer sight and the more certain and enlarged experience of what they already saw and possessed. “Him,” “His calling,” “His inheritance,” “His mighty power”—these were to be theirs in a degree of exceeding greatness and glory.

II. Unless saints apprehend blessings now attainable, they live below their privilege.—“If thou knewest the gift of God, thou wouldest have asked of Him.” Without some knowledge there is neither faith nor desire. With these unveilings the heart is deeply moved with the sense of obligation to possess, it is attracted and filled with desire and animation. Otherwise, with an ignorant satisfaction, the condition must remain relatively lean and impoverished.

III. The spiritual apprehension of these blessings is the gift of God.—This is needed because of their divine nature. As we cannot properly see what the sun has called into life and beauty without his light, so these blessings are truly seen only in the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Through the Redeemer the Spirit is given. He gives the Spirit to enlighten both the object and the eye, to “testify,” to “show,” to “glorify,” to reveal, “that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” Thus these blessings are seen, not distantly and dimly, but in their nearness and unveiled glory, whilst He creates in the heart corresponding sympathy, desire, and assurance. Nothing can compensate for this gift—no mere intelligence, no reflection upon past experience, no mere help from others.

IV. This gift is bestowed in answer to prayer.—This particular bestowment comes under the promise of the Spirit to believing prayer. This is a gift. Gifts are asked for, not made ours in any other way. This gift is awaiting and challenging prayer, importunate prayer. That an ever-deepening desire for these spiritual gifts may be ours, let us often ask—What truths are given to me, which, if the eyes of my understanding were enlightened, would now exert the most positive influence over me, lifting me into the clearer light of God’s relations, thus empowering me to live above the standard of natural strength, and so to fulfil His present designs? Think of the alternative.—J. Holmes.

Eph_1:15-16. True Religion self-revealing—

I. In its moral results.—“Faith and love” (Eph_1:15).

II. Is evident to others.—“I heard of your faith” (Eph_1:15).

III. Is the occasion of constant thanksgiving.—“Cease not to give thanks for you” (Eph_1:16).

IV. Calls forth a spirit of prayer.—“Making mention of you in my prayers” (Eph_1:16).

Eph_1:17-18. Spiritual Enlightenment.—

1. The wisdom which Christians are to seek is not that carnal wisdom which is emnity to God, nor natural wisdom or knowledge of the hidden mysteries of nature, nor the wisdom of divine mysteries, which is only a gift and floweth from a common influence of the Spirit, but that whereof the Spirit of God by His special operation and influence is author and worker, and is more than a gift, even the grace of wisdom, which is not acquired by our own industry, but cometh from above.

2. It is not sufficient for attaining this grace of wisdom that the truths be plainly revealed by the Spirit in Scripture. There must be the removal of natural darkness from our understandings that we may be enabled to take up that which is revealed, as in beholding colours by the outward sense there must be not only an outward light to make the object conspicuous, but also the faculty of seeing in the eye. A blind man cannot see at noonday, nor the sharpest-sighted at midnight.

3. Though those excellent things which are not yet possessed, but only hoped for, are known in part, yet so excellent are they in themselves, and remote from our knowledge, and so much are we taken up with trifles and childish toys, that even believers who have their thoughts most exercised about them are in a great part ignorant of them.

4. As the things hoped for and really to be enjoyed in the other life are of the nature of an inheritance not purchased by us but freely bestowed upon us, so they are properly Christ’s inheritance, who has proper right to it as the natural Son of God and by virtue of His own purchase; but the right we have is communicated to us through Him, in whom we have received the adoption of children and are made heirs and coheirs with Christ.

5. It is a glorious inheritance, there being nothing there but what is glorious. The sight shall be glorious, for we shall see God as we are seen, the place glorious, the company glorious, our souls and bodies shall be glorious, and our exercise glorious, giving glory to God for ever and ever.—Fergusson.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. Exhortation springing out of the Apostle’s supplication for the Church as the body of Christ, who is the Head

(Eph_1:15-23.)

15Wherefore [For this cause] I also, after I [having] heard of your faith [or the faith which is among you] in the Lord Jesus, and love [the love which ye have]66 unto all the saints, 16Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you67 in my prayers; 17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge [in full knowledge] of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; [Having the eyes of your heart68 enlightened,] that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and 19[omit and]69 what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is [omit is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according 20to the working of his mighty power [the might of his strength],70 Which he [hath]71 wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him [in raising him from the dead and making him sit]72 at his own right hand in the heavenly places,73 21Far [over]74 above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion [lordship], and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put [And subjected] all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that [who] filleth all75 in all.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Summary.—After the praise of God on account of His grace towards Christendom, to which the readers of this letter belong (Eph_1:13) has been expressed (Eph_1:3-14), there follows on account of this very grace the Apostle’s thanksgiving for the readers’ faith and love in his prayers (Eph_1:15-16), out of which he gives prominence to the petition, united with his thanksgiving, that God would make them know the glory of their calling and inheritance as well as of His power (Eph_1:17-19), which He has shown and will show in the Redemption through Christ, the Head of the church (Eph_1:20-23).

It is not proper to find here, as Olshausen does, after an “effusion of love,” only a “thanksgiving for the faith of the readers,” as far as Eph_2:10, without perceiving the profound, rich instruction contained in these verses. But it is not precisely a prayer for the readers which follows, as Harless says; he only mentions what he does when thinking of the church. This prayer and supplication to God about and for souls is the apostolic ministry in faith, care and joy; and the whole Church should know it and should infer from this petition, how weak and needy she is in and of herself, even though born a heavenly seed for heaven; and how necessary earnest, persevering prayer and supplication on her part always is, for her preservation and prosperity.

[After praise comes prayer (Eadie). Ellicott: “I ever give thanks, and pray that you may be enlightened to know the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance, and the greatness of His power, which was especially displayed in the Resurrection and supreme exaltation of Christ.”—Alford, following the Trinitarian division of Stier: “The idea of the Church carried forward, in the form of a prayer for the Ephesians, in which the fulfilment of the Father’s counsel through the Son and by the Spirit, in His people, is set forth, as consisting in the knowledge of the hope of His calling, of the riches of His promise, and the power which He exercises on His saints as first wrought by Him in Christ, whom He has made Head over all to the Church.”—R.]

The Apostle’s Thanksgiving (Eph_1:15-16).

Eph_1:15. For this cause, διὰ τοῦ το, refers to what precedes, and on account of the close connection of the individual parts with each other, to Eph_1:3-14. So most ancient and modern commentators (Œcumenius: διὰ τὰ ἀποκείμενα ἀγαθἀ τοῖς ὀρθῶς πιστεύουσι καὶ βιοῦσι καὶ δίατὸ ἐν τοῖς σωθησομένοις τετάχθαι ἡμᾶς); it is not merely an appendage to Eph_1:13-14, because the thanksgiving and petition apply to the readers only (Meyer, Rueckert), nor to the last clause (Eph_1:14 : “to the praise of His glory”), as Grotius thinks. But it treats of more than thanksgiving, of petition, supplication, not merely of the readers, but also of all Christendom (εἰς ἡμᾶς, Eph_1:19; comp. Eph_1:20-23).

[The reference to the whole preceding paragraph is defended by Harless (so Chrysostom, Winzer, Schenkel and many others). It accords best with Braune’s exegesis of Eph_1:13-14, to accept this view, but Eadie, Ellicott, Hodge follow Theophylact, in referring it to Eph_1:13-14. Alford: “On account of what has gone before, since Eph_1:3; but especially of what has been said since Eph_1:13, where καὶ ὑμεῖς first came in.” The more restricted view seems preferable, but we must then accept an expanded reference in Eph_1:19.—R.]

I also, καὶ ἐγώ.—The unexpressed fellowship in which Paul thus marks himself, as Eph_1:13 (καὶ ὑμεῖς), is to be inferred from the context, from the clause ἀκούσας—οὐ παύομαι εὐχαριστῶν. He thinks of the Christians, who have spoken of the readers’ Christian state with joy and thanksgiving, and “expects, that all Christians, especially they themselves to whom he writes, would do the same” (Harless). Hence it is not=even I also, a believing Israelite (Baumgarten); such arrogance he would have opposed, not possessed. Nor is it=also I, your Apostle (Stier) [Eadie]; He places himself as a member of the body of Christ, who is the Head, in the Church, not above it. [De Wette unwarrantably joins καί with the preceding διὰ τοῦτο. Alford objects to the view of Meyer (“Paul knows that he co-operates with the readers in his prayerful activity”), preferring to take καί as marking the resumption of the first person after the second. Ellicott thus expresses Braune’s view: “Κἀγὼ is thus faintly corresponsive with καὶ ὑμεῖς, and hints at the union in prayer and praise which subsisted between the Apostle and his converts.”—R.]

Having heard, ἀκούσας.—This marks nothing further than that he had heard, and accordingly indicates only, that what has been heard has been spoken of, hence that the Apostle was not in Ephesus, when he heard. Grotius is therefore correct: loquitur apostolus de profectu evangelii apud Ephesios, ex quo ipse ab illis discesserat. So Theodoret, Harless, Meyer and others. Nothing is said respecting acquaintance or non-acquaintance (against Olshausen [who thinks the larger part were probably unknown to him—R.]); it is used in the former case, Phm_1:5, in the latter, Col_1:4; Rom_1:8. Bengel: Hoc referri potest non solum ad ignotos facie, sed etiam ad familiarissimos, pro statu eorum præsenti. It is therefore not=scire, comperire (Hammond), as though it described personal observation, since it is the very opposite; but at the same time nothing can be inferred from this against the composition of this Epistle for the Ephesians, nor that he wrote the letter before his personal acquaintance, nor yet that he had other churches in his mind at the same time (Stier).76

Of the faith which is among you in the Lord Jesus, τὴν καθ̓ ὑμᾶς πίστιν ἐν τῷ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ.—To this Col_1:4 is parallel: “your faith in Christ Jesus,” etc. Accordingly τὴν καθ̓ ὑμᾶς πίστιν here seems to be equivalent to τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν there [so E. V.]. But “faith among you” differs somewhat from “your faith;” the relation of the faith to the subjects is different: in the first case, in accordance with the notion of the preposition (κατὰ τῆν πόλιν, Luk_8:39, κατʼ οἶκον not=ἐν οἴκῳ, see Winer, p. 374), which is distributive, the faith is merely to be found there, within the church, even though each one does not have it, and believers and unbelievers dwell side by side, in the other case, however, the faith is the possession of the individuals; Winer, p. 146, fides, quæ ad vos pertinet, apud vos (in vobis?) est.77 Such circumlocutions have their special shadings of thought, as τὴν ἀπὸ σοῦ ἐπαγγελίαν (Act_23:21), τῇ ἐξ ὑμῶν ἀγάπῃ (1Co_8:7), promissio a te profecta, amor qui a vobis proficiscitur, are not exactly equivalent to tua promissio, amor vester. Comp. Winer, p. 181. Stier is excellent: A hint that a gracious treasure of faith and love is indeed present within the church, yet not certainly active in every member of it. [So Alford.] The notion of the substantive is not, however, thereby modified, as though the objective nature of faith were to be understood here, and the individual quality of faith in the particular persons, in Col_1:4 (Harless) [Ellicott]; with the Apostle the faith in Ephesus as among the Colossians remains the subject of thanksgiving; and the genitive indicates nothing about individual quality, only the possession of the individuals, still less any thing about purity or impurity (Matthies); nor is any hint given respecting fides qua or fides quæ creditur.

It is indeed here as there more closely defined as the faith “in the Lord Jesus,” as Gal_3:26. The preposition marks the foundation of the faith: founded in the Lord Jesus, or its life-sphere, without placing any other aim of the faith. There is no reason for understanding here εἰς θεόν from 1Pe_1:21 : “who by him do believe in God” (Bengel: fidem erga Deum in domino Jesu; Grotius: fidem in Deum fundatam in Christo); “in the Lord” is not=“through Him,” nor ἐν=εἰς (Koppe, Flatt). The article τἠν is wanting before ἐν τῷ κυρίῳ, because the qualifying phrase adds an integral element to πίστις, which as anticipated is joined immediately (Rom_3:25; 2Co_7:7). [“Christ-centred faith” (Ellicott).—R.] Comp. Winer, p. 128. The position of the words does not permit our connecting ἐντῳ κυρίῳ with ὑμας (Winzer); besides πίστις requires further definition more than ὑμᾶς.

And the love which ye have unto all the saints, καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην πὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους.—[See Textual Note1.—R.] This sets forth the first and immediate manifestation of the faith. Chrysostom aptly says: πανταχοῦ συνάπτει καὶ συκολλᾷ τὴν πίστιν καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην, θαυμαστήν τινα ξυνωρίδα. Quisquis fidem et amorem habet, particeps est totius benefactionis (Bengel). This love is, however, more closely defined as “unto all the saints.” On the article [which here specializes love.—R.] see Winer, p. 126. “Paul had here first the idea of love in itself and then added in his thought τὴν είς πάντας” (Meyer). Ἅγιοι are Christians. Hence: “all saints” (Eph_3:8; Eph_3:18; Eph_6:18; Eph_6:24) points to brotherly love as character Christianismi, Joh_13:34 f.; 1Jn_5:1. As little as this notion is to be enlarged here into universal philanthropy, as Calvin would do, and as is the case in 1 Corinthians 13; Gal_5:6; 1Ti_2:1; Tit_3:2, also in 2Pe_1:7 (ἐν τῇ φιλαδελφίᾳ τὴν ἀγάπην), so little and still less is brotherly love to be narrowed down, with Theodoret, to liberality. At the same time we should not overlook the emphasis resting on the word “all,” permitting no distinction as respects condition, rank, possessions or internal endowment, either mental or spiritual.

Eph_1:16. Cease not to give thanks for you, οὐ παύομαι εὐχαριστῶν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν.—Thus or εὐχαριστῶ πάντοτε, 1Co_1:4; Php_1:3; Col_1:3; 1Th_1:2; Philippians 4; comp. Winer, p. 323. Paul never ceases to be a giver of thanks. [The participle points to a state supposed to be already in existence. Eadie: “As one giving thanks for you I cease not.” Ulphilus: non cessans gratias dico.—R.] The phrase ὑπὲρὑμῶν, as in Eph_1:2; 1Ti_2:1, marks the protection of prayer, like that of a shield over the assailed (Winer, p. 359) while περὶ πάντων ὑμῶν (Rom_1:8) denotes the position of the protector around the protected.

Making mention of you, μνείαν ὑμῶν ποιούμενος, adds a limitation; he thanks constantly whenever he thinks of them; but that happens daily.—In my prayers, ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν μου.—This indicates that Paul has and takes occasion to think of them from his prayers.78 Comp. Winer, p. Eph 352: 1Th_1:2; Rom_1:10. Praying is the Apostle’s daily doing, and therewith arises the thought about his church, changing his prayer into intercession. The subject of his thought and petition is not, therefore, precisely the faith and love of the Ephesians (Meyer [Alford] who rejects ὑμῶν), but themselves, with their necessities indeed, which determine the purport of the petition.—“No thanksgiving without petition, so long as perfection and completion are not yet there” (Stier).

The Apostle’s petition as to its purport. Eph_1:17-19

Eph_1:17. That, ἵνα, has its parallel in ὅπως, Phil. 6 and must retain, as in Eph_3:16, the signification of the purpose, design, Comp. Winer, pp. 418 f., 428 f. The Apostle’s will, in the very thought of his prayer, is directed to this, that God should give (Meyer, Schenkel). Hence there is no reason for weakening the force of ἴνα here into: that He may give (Winer, p. 273), as if it introduced only the object, the purport of the petition (Harless, Stier); for although Paul did not regard his request “as causa of Divine favors,” nor purpose “thereby” to bestow upon others the gift of grace, yet still in his petitions offered in the name of Jesus (Joh_14:13; Joh_15:16; Joh_6:23) he has the design as well as the hope, that they should take place.79 Bengel: Argumentum precum pro veris Christianis.

The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, ὁθεὸς τοῦ κυρίουἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.—Here we must hold (see Eph_1:3 f.), that he is speaking of the Incarnate One, the God-man, to whom God is God, worshipped by Him also (Stier). It does not suffice to say, that the meaning is, God sent Him, He bore witness of God and returned to God (Harless) [apparently Hodge also].

The Father of glory, ὁπατὴρ τῆςδόξης. This parallel clause is far more difficult than the last. First of all, πατήρ, corresponding to θεός, is to be retained in its established meaning, “Father,” hence not to be taken in the sense of causa (Grotius), auctor (ὁ μεγάλα ὑμῖν δεδωκώς ἀγαθά, Chrysostom and others), source, origin (Matthies, Schenkel). The genitive, τῆςδόξης, designates the possession, the character of the Father, to whom the glory belongs, which is=כָּבוֹד, the Divine glory and majesty; it is like “the God of glory” (Act_7:2; Psa_29:3), “the Lord of glory” (1Co_2:8), “the King of glory” (Psa_24:7); comp. also “the Father of mercies” (2Co_1:3). Hence: the Father full of glory. As parallel to the genitive: “of our Lord Jesus Christ,” we must also in connection with “glory,” think of Him, in whom it was manifested. Bengel: Pater gloriæ, infinitæ illius, quæ refulget in facie Christi; imo gloriæ, quæ est ipse filius Dei, unde etiam nobis hereditas gloriosa obtinget (Eph_1:18). Harless: Father of glory, because the glory presses upon the Apostle, which God has revealed to men in His Son.

Though the Greek Fathers go too far (δόξαν γὰρ τὴν θείαν φύσιν ὠνόμασεν), yet “the Father full of glory,” following “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,” is evidently not without a reference to Christ and of such a kind, that the Apostle’s first phrase conceives rather of the God-man;80 the second of the God-man. This explanation accordingly is not a curiosity (Rueckert), needing no contradiction (Olshausen), nor is it obscurius et remotius (A-Lapide). It is much more of a curiosity, to wish to connect thus: Deus qui est domini nostri Jesu Christi pater, gloriæ; since then ὁθεός and τῆςδόξης must be taken together, while τοῦ κυρίου—ὁ πατήρ is inserted between them (Vatable). The conjecture of Piscator, that πατήρ and θεός were first written in interchanged positions, is very bold. Still it cannot be said that our phrase is=pater gloriosus (Calvin and others), or cui debetur honor, venerandus, or præstantissimus (Wahl and others), or the Almighty Father (Koppe).—Œcumenius aptly remarks: πρὸς τὸ προσκείμενον ὀνομάζει θεόν. The designation of God in this passage corresponds entirely with the fervor and confidence of the Apostle’s petition respecting the affairs of the kingdom of Christ.

May give unto you, δῴηὑμῖν.—Δᾠη the optative; Joh_15:16 : δώῃ the conjunctive; the Ionic conjunctive form is not sufficiently attested in the New Testament, and δῴ is preferred [in that passage, B. giving it here also.—R.] The optative as modus optandi is here, especially in oratio obliqua (Matthies), used in the place of the conjunctive (Winer, p. 273). In 2Ti_1:16; 2Ti_1:18 we find a similar usage. [Meyer and Ellicott regard the optative as chosen to follow the present here, because the answer belongs to what is hoped for, etc., the latter finding in its use a support for his view of the sub-final force of ἵνα. But the view of Alford (and Eadie) is preferable: The optative “is used when the purpose is not that of the writer as he is writing, but is described as that of himself or some one else at another time,” thus falling in effect under the rule of the oratio obliqua.—R.]

The spirit of wisdom and revelation, πνεῦμασοφίας καὶἀ ποκαλύψεως, is the object of the preceding verb. The omission of the article before the genitives points to the close connection with the governing substantive, to which also the article may be wanting, without its becoming indefinite, as the genitives contain the closer definition; Luk_23:46 : εἰς χεῖράςσου παρατίθεμαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου (Winer, p. 118 f.). God gives as a Father to His children, who have become such through Christ, of His Spirit; hence the reference may well be to the Holy Ghost; but since they have already been sealed with this (Eph_1:13), this efficient, personal, power recedes rather, and we are to understand the spirit wrought or to be wrought by the same in Christians. So Gal_6:1; 2Ti_1:7. So Olshausen, Stier: Something of God, yet manifesting itself as in man. Hence we are not to understand the human spirit of itself, or the human heart (Rueckert: God give you a wise heart, open to His revelation), nor yet precisely the Person of the Holy Ghost (Bengel: idem Spiritus, qui est promissionis, in progressu fidelium est etiam sapientiæ et revelationis; sapientia in nobis operatur sapientiam, Revelatio cognitionem; Matthies, Meyer).81 Evidently Paul is speaking of a gift for all Christians; hence Charisms are not meant, as 1Co_12:8; 1Co_14:12; 1 Cor. 6:26 (Olshausen).

Both “wisdom” and “revelation” point to universal gifts to Christians, and to what is or comes to pass in them, hence to something subjective. By “wisdom” we understand a continued condition, by “revelation” the single glances afforded us, into the truths of Christianity, into the will of God in special circumstances and situations of life, into the human heart, into the course of time, into eternal life. The former includes the φρόνησις, “understanding,” joined with it in Eph_1:8; the latter is “the very necessary private revelation for every Christian” (Stier), as 1Co_2:10. Paul adds the special to the general in the same way (Rom_1:5; Rom_5:15; Rom_11:29). Accordingly we are not to consider the second an objective medium for the first (Harless); in that case, the position would be reversed (Meyer).82 Comp. Col_1:9.

In the full knowledge of him [ἐνἐ πιγνώ σειαὐτοῦ].—First the meaning of the words. In ἐπίγνωσις the preposition, which “renders prominent the intension of the verbal notion to its object” (Harless), must not be overlooked, and the distinction from γνῶσις must be maintained. It is major exactiorque cognitio (Grotius,) plena et accurata cognitio (Wahl). 1Co_13:12 is instructive: “Now I know (γιγνώσκω) in part; but then shall I know (ἐπι γνώσομαι) even as also I am known” (ἐπεγνώσθην).83 Hence it is not=agnitio (Calovius and others), nor can it be of any force here, that γνῶσις designates the higher, the charismatic form of knowledge, 1Co_12:8; 1Co_13:8 (Olshausen), since this technical term designates the character, not the degree (Meyer). The context, Eph_1:18-19, evidently determines that the knowledge of God is here referred to, and does not permit αὐτοῦ to be referred to Christ (Beza, Erasmus, Luther and others); nor can it remain undetermined (Calvin). Finally ἐν, “in,” designates the sphere within which that is accomplished, which has been spoken of: it cannot possibly be taken as=εἰς (Vulgate, Luther and others), or=per (Erasmus and others), or=una cum (Flatt). [Hodge most unwarrantably renders the preposition ἐν, “together with.”—R.]

The connection with the verb “give” is clear then: The knowledge of God is a status or circle of life, wrought already by the Spirit and word of God, in which he should and must be, who will and shall receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation, since this does not take place without means, Col_1:9-10. Advance is made from truth to truth, from knowledge to knowledge. The connection with what follows: πεφωτισμένους ὀφθαλμούς (Chrysostom and others), is impossible, both grammatically and logically, on account of the appended εἰς τὸ εἰδέναι ὑμᾶς, which is joined at the close of Eph_1:18, just as ἐνἐ πιγνώ σειαὐτοῦ here in Eph_1:17; the two phrases correspond to each other. But the connection with ὖμῖν is quite as impossible, as with ἀποκαλύψεως (a suggestion of Koppe’s); it is contrary to the usus loquendi and introduces erroneous thoughts: for it is not to those, who have known, who are real worshippers, that He gives such a spirit, as He does not give the spirit through knowledge, but rather knowledge through the Spirit, nor does revelation consist only in the knowledge of God, although this is the beginning, centre and main point to which all comes and returns. [Eadie follows Koppe, the result being a confusion respecting these phrases, which is very uncommon with him.—R.]

Eph_1:18. Having the eyes of your heart enlightened [πεφωτισμένουςτοὺςὀφθαλμοὺςτῆςκαρδίαςὑμῶν],—This is added without a conjunction, seeming to be in apposition, with the emphasis on the participle; the being enlightened is, what God should give. Τοῦς ὀφθαλ μούς, eyes, He need not first give; Bengel: articulus præsupponit oculos jam præsentes. But the Apostle wishes that the eyes may be given in a new quality (Harless). Accordingly we should not render: enlightened eyes (Luther); in that case we should find, τοῦς ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῦς πεφωτισμένους. It is arbitrary to correct the reading into πεφωτισμένοις (Piscator and others), as though it belonged to ὑμῖν. It is untenable to accept an accusative absolute (Beza, Koppe, Meyer [E. V., Eadie), and to refer the participle to ὑμῖν, so that the accusative of the noun is made to contain the closer definition; for then the recipients would have been, which is contrary to Scripture and to fact, enlightened before they received the Spirit of wisdom and revelation; the reference to the effect: so that you are illuminated as respects your eyes—is grammatically impossible. Nor should εἶναι be interpolated (Flatt).

[The interpretation: so that you are illuminated as respects your eyes, is that of Meyer, who does not defend the accusative absolute. Ellicott and Alford, whose rendering is given in the English text, refer the participle to ὐμῖν, as a lax construction, taking the noun as an accusative of limiting reference. Notwithstanding Dr. Braune’s objection, this seems the best solution. The clause “serves to define the result of the gift of the Spirit, and owing to the subsequent infinitive, which expresses the purpose of the illumination, not unnaturally lapses into the accusative” (Ellicott). See Alford for similar constructions. The accusative absolute which also expresses a result, is a very doubtful construction, see Meyer in loco, and on Rom_8:3. The appositional construction, which makes our clause the object of δώη, is open to fewer grammatical than logical objections. The enlightenment as regards the eyes of the heart ought not to be put as correlative or co-ordinate with the gift of the Spirit of wisdom, etc. This objection holds, however, the meaning of our clause may be enlarged, as is done below, and by Harless and others. Braune’s view, it should be added, is supported by Rueckert, Matthies, Meier, Holzhausen, Harless, Olshausen, De Wette and others; apparently by Hodge, who does not notice the construction preferred in this note.—R.]

The value of the gift is well described by Gregory Nazian.: εἰ γὰρ σκότος ἡ ἄγνοια καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία, φῶς ἄν εἴη ἡ γνῶσις καὶ ὀ βίος ἔνθεος. According to Eph_5:8, compared with Eph_4:18; 2Co_4:4; Heb_6:4, the light of life is meant, that illumination which is already connected with sanctification and rooted in experience (Harless, Stier), so that it cannot be referred to merely intellectual insight (Rueckert and others). [Yet “the eyes of the heart” are spoken of, giving prominence to the perceptive side.—R.]

The eyes are τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν, “of your heart,” and this is the centre of life (Harless), the core of the personality (Olshausen), and not merely mind or soul, without disposition. Mat_23:15 : τῇ καρδίᾳ συνῶσι. Comp. Eph_4:22; Rom_1:21; 2Co_4:6. Cor est, quo tantas res percipimus (Bengel).84 It is thus marked by this qualifying phrase, that we, in spite of our old nature, are renewed and made susceptible of that wisdom and revelation, that is the light for which the eyes of our heart are prepared; our heart should become secure and full of the Spirit. Thus this apposition is defended from Meyer’s objections.

That ye may know, εἰς τὸ ἐιδέναιὑμᾶς.—This sets forth the aim of the enlightening, toward which progress is made “in the knowledge of Him;” the latter is to be developed. Thus to the ground and outgoing there corresponds the aim, in which the beginning now appears in its extent; the deeper insight after the hearing of the proclamation, after the first faith and knowledge and understanding, is here treated of.85

What is the hope of his calling, τίςἐστιν ἡ ἐλπίς τῆς κλήσεως αὐτοῦ.—The first object of this insight is “the hope of His calling.” “His,” αὐτοῦ, according to the context, is to be understood of God; Rom_11:29 : the “calling of God.” He calls; this call is not without effect; and this is the hope, the cause of which is the call. The re-echo in us of this call of God on us is hope, hoping; the Christian’s hope lies, not in the eternal “election,” but in the temporal “calling.” So “joy of the Holy Ghost” (1Th_1:6), “trial of affliction” (2Co_8:2). Hope is the Christian’s advantage (Eph_2:12; 1Th_4:13; Rom_5:2), and a hope that “maketh not ashamed” (Rom_5:5; Rom_8:24). To know the character of such hope is not a small matter (against Stier). Τίς points then to the character, the quality of this hope. Passow sub voce. It is therefore not=πόση, ποταπή, quanta (Stier, Olshausen, Schenkel), but qualis, cujusnam naturæ (Harless, Meyer and others). Nor is ἐλπίς=res sperata (Olshausen, Stier [Eadie] and many others), although it can mean this (Col_1:5 : “laid up;” Heb_6:18 : “set before us;” Gal_5:5 : “wait for the hope of righteousness”), which Meyer [with Ellicott] denies. It is inconceivable that κλῆσις should be=those called (Schuetze). Luther renders: “your calling,” putting the effect for the cause: “his calling.” [With Alford, Eadie, and Ellicott it is better to take τίς in the simple meaning “what,” quæ (Vulgate), without referring either to quality or quantity. As regards “hope,” the objective sense must be admitted in the N. T., but the bald res sperata does not express the signification here. Alford thinks the controversy mere trifling: “If I know what the hope is, I know both its essence and its accidents.” Even Ellicott admits an objective aspect: “the grounds, the state of the hope.” Hodge supports the subjective sense. On κλῆσις, see Romans, pp. 280, 281.—R.]

What the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints [τίς ὁ πλοῦτος τῆς δόξης τῆς κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἀγίοις].—The second object of the insight is the object of the Christian hope, the inheritance, to which “the calling of God” helps us, hence “His:” He gives it, it is from His own. As Divine, eternal life, participation in the kingdom of God, heirship with Christ (God Himself is our portion), it has a “glory” and this glory has “riches,” so that it is an important object for our more profound observation. So Col_1:27 : “the riches of the glory of this mystery.” It is a weakening of the ideas, to resolve these substantives into objectives: what is the riches of the glorious inheritance (Luther), or: what is the glorious riches of His inheritance (Stier). [As Meyer well says: “What a rich, sublime cumulation, setting forth in like terms the weightiness of the matters described;—and not to be diluted by any resolving of the genitives into adjectives.”—R.]

“In the saints” is added after “His inheritance,” without the article (τῆς ἐν τοῖς ἁγιόις), and hence conceived of as most closely connected with his inheritance, which is to be found in (Luther: an) and among the saints, the called Christians not outside of them. So Rom_9:3 : “my kinsmen according to the flesh;” 2Co_7:7 : τὸν ὑμῶν ζῆλον ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ Comp. Col_1:12 (εἰς τὴν μερίδα τοῦ κλήρου τῶν ἁγίων ἐν φωτί); Act_20:32 (δοῦναι τὴν κληρονομίαν ἐν τοῖς ἡλιασμέουοις πᾶσιν); Act_26:18. The Apostle does not say “in you,” “us,” but states it altogether objectively in humility and wisdom. He speaks indeed of the inheritance of God in Christians, but not of the glory of the portion, nor its riches in the saints, so that we must understand here chiefly the children of God, who are partakers of the inheritance (Eph_1:11; Eph_1:14), even though only in its incipient stages; “the riches of the glory” become indeed perceptible even here, but unfold themselves fully only in eternity, which is the more to be included, since here and hereafter are less divided than light and darkness. Accordingly we are not to consider the object of the inheritance to be principally and solely the present kingdom of God on earth (Harless), or on the other hand the future kingdom of God to be established at the second Advent (Meyer); nor is the connection of ἐν τοῖς άγίοις with an ἐστιν to be supplied (Koppe and others) possible, since not ὁ πλοῦτος, but only κληρονομία, is in, on and among the saints.86 To join αὐτοῦ with ἐντοῖςἁγίοις (Stier) is inadmissible, because far-fetched. The reference is not to the totality of morally good beings in the other world (Rueckert), or in the holiest of all (Calovius), as Heb_9:12; nor should prominence be given to the thought, as inhering in the text: God inherits the saints (Meyer, Œttinger, Stier), although they belong to Him, and He to them. This is the carrying out, extension and expansion of the thought, but not an exegesis of the words set before us.

Eph_1:19. And what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe [καὶ τί τὸ ὑπερβάλλον μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως αὑτοῦ εἰς ἡμᾶς τοὺς πιστεύοντας.]—The third object of the insight is the power of God, which leads from the calling to the inheritance. The “exceeding greatness” of this power is a worthy object of profound insight (2Co_4:7 : ὐπερβολὴ τῆς δυνάμεως); it must and can also be experienced, since it makes itself felt “to us-ward,” to those “who believe” in the present, hence, without limiting the circle of those who believe, or passing beyond it, not to all in general, but only to those who admit and consent to this condition appointed by God. Since the preposition designates the direction towards the believers, and the present participle the present time, and the article before the participle marks that word as the ground, condition of the activity (Eph_1:13; 1Jn_3:23), and since only experiences of the power of God are spoken of, from which “the exceeding greatness” is to be inferred, we must here hold fast to the proofs in this earthly life (Chrysostom or to Harless, Stier), and not apply it to the future (Meyer, Schenkel, who however adds, that the beginning of the consummation manifests itself in this life).87

According to the working of the might Of his Strength,88 κατά τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ κράτους τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ.—In this collocation of words the proper subject is ἰσχύς, as δύναμις just before, giving prominence to a characteristic, the strength (ἰσχύς from ἵς =seat of elasticity, sinew, muscle, nape of the neck, stem of a tree, hence vis); δύναμις is brachium divinum, ἰσχύς its muscles; κράτος is the power manifesting itself, the ἐξουσία, which rules (κρατεῖ); ἐνέργεια (ἐν ἔργῳ), efficacia (Erasmus), the actual efficiency (Harless). So Bengel, Calvin: robur est quasi radix, potentia autem arbor, efficacia fructus. There is no chance throwing together of words, but an order corresponding to the thought: regard is to be paid chiefly to the efficacy, the effects, in which the power of God’s strength allows itself to be perceived and felt. [The language is intended to exalt our ideas of God’s power in connection with this “eminent act of His omnipotency.”—R.]

Κατά with the accusative juxta, secundum, according to, thus designating the norm and standard as well as the motive and occasion (Winer, p. 375 f.). Comp. Eph_4:7; Eph_1:5, and κατὰνομον (Luk_2:22), κατὰ χάριν (Rom_4:4). The two notions, “according to” and “by virtue of” are related (1Co_12:8-9). The simplest connection and that most readily understood by the hearer, is that with “us who believe.” We believe only by virtue of the efficacy of the power of God in Christ and upon our souls. [The meaning of the preposition is something less than propter and something more than according to. On the connection see below.—R.]

So Chrysostom, who truly and beautifully says: τοῦ ἀναστῆσαι νεκρὸν πολλῷ θαυμασιώτερον τὸ πεῖσαι ψυχάς. Just on this account, because we believe only by virtue of the efficacy of God’s power, which has enough obstacles to faith to overcome in us, we can understand, how great the power of God is. Since believing is not a momentary affair, but a status, preserved by the same power, which produced it, the aorist participle πιστεύσαντες is not necessary (Bleek), and no room is given for the monstrous thought, that faith according to the power of God is spoken of. It is inadmissible to connect, either with the verb ἐστι which is understood, or with “the exceeding greatness” (Schenkel), or with all the points introduced by “what” (Harless), or with “may know” (Meyer). [Dr. Hodge also defends the connection of this clause with πιστεύοντας, but it is doubtful whether this is correct. For though undoubtedly expressing a truth, yet it places the rest of the chapter in grammatical dependence on an incidental idea. It has also a suspicion of polemical purpose (against Pelagianism) attached to it, besides pressing too strongly on κατά the sense of “in virtue of.” It is better then with De Wette, Eadie, Ellicott, Alford and others, to accept a reference which Braune does not mention, viz.: to the whole preceding clause: “not however as an explanation (Chrys.) or an amplification (Calv.) of this power, but in accordance with the full ethical force of κατά, as a definition of its mode of operation (Eadie), a mighty measure, a stupendous exemplar by which its infinite powers towards the believing, in its future, yea, and its present manifestations, might be felt, acknowledged, estimated and realized” (Ellicott).—R.]

The Apostle’s petition as to its ground. Eph_1:20-23.

Eph_1:20. Which he hath wrought in Christ—Ἠνἐνέργησεν,89 analogous to ἀγάπην ἀγαπᾷν, Eph_2:4, is to be referred to ἐνέργειαν. Winer, p. 210. [The cognate accusative]. Nor is ἐντῷ Χριστῷ, without a reference to εἰςἡμας, Eph_1:19 : in Christ is accomplished that efficacy of God, which is powerful toward us. [“In Him” as our spiritual Head (Ellicott and others).—R.]

In raising him from the dead, ἐγείραςαὐτὸν ἐκνεκρῶν, marks a fact of his working. [The aorist indicates that the act is contemporaneous with that of the preceding verb. Alford justly warns against the danger of regarding, “with the shallower expositors, Christ’s resurrection as merely a pledge of our bodily resurrection, or as a mere figure representing our spiritual resurrection,—not as involving the resurrection of the church in both senses.” Both Hodge and Eadie fall somewhat short of the full conception thus expressed.—R.]

And making him sit at his own right hand in the heavenly places [καὶ καθίσας ἐν δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις].—Thus the exaltation, beginning with the resurrection, was completed (1Pe_3:21 ff.). Instead of the better supported participle, ἐκάθισεν has been generally substituted, because the Greeks disliked the spinning out of long relative and participial sentences, and easily passed over into the finite verb (Winer, p. 533, b.).90 Ἐνδεξιᾷαὑτοῦ denotes the participation in dominion, the σύνθρονος of the Father (Mar_16:19.; Rom_8:34; Act_7:55; Php_3:20 f.; Mat_20:21; Mar_10:37). Comp. also 1Sa_10:25; 1Ki_2:19, in the earthly relations, which are transferred to Christ, Psa_110:1. The phrase ἐν τοῖςἐ πουρανίοις (see on Eph_1:3), which is the antithesis of ἐκ νεκρῶν, designates space, or as Hofmann [Schriftbeweis, II. 1, p. 334) intimates, the relation to the world; ἐν δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ distinguishes Him from spirits, ἐν ἐπουρανίοις locates Him and them alike. We may with as little right understand here the status cœlestis (Harless and others) as the central place of Divine glory and revelation, the highest, inmost heaven (Stier, Schenkel), since the word is used of Satan also (Eph_6:11-12).

[The various local expressions used in the context seem decisive as to the meaning of ἐπουρανίοις. It refers to heavenly places, is more indefinite than ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, but was chosen here probably on account of the details in Eph_1:21 (Ellicott).—Alford reminds us, that “the fact of the universal idea of God’s dwelling being in heaven, being only a symbolism common to all men, must, not for a moment induce us to let go the verity of Christ’s bodily existence, or to explain away the glories of His resurrection into mere spiritualities. As Stephen saw Him, so He veritably is: in human form, locally existent, over above,” etc.—R.]

Eph_1:21. Over above all principality, and power, and might, and lordship, and every name that is named [ὑπεράνω πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ κυριότητος καὶ παντὸς ὀνόματος ὀνομαζομένον].—The word ὑπεράνω (Eph_4:10 : πάντων τῶν οὐρανῶν; Heb_9:5), the opposite of ὑποκάτω (κλίνης, Luk_8:16; τῆς συκῆς, Joh_1:51; τῶν ποδῶν, Mar_6:11; Mat_22:44; Rev_12:1), can only mean “over, above” [so Ellicott, Alford] without marking any particular eminence, Greek Fathers, Beza, Estius [Eadie] or dominion (Bengel), although the latter inheres in the nature of the case (Meyer). It is to be connected with “setting,” and with its genitives (“all principality,” etc.) forms the detailed description and explanation of the phrase, “at his right hand in the heavenly places;” the two belong together, the first being more closely defined by the second.

Of these four names the first three occur in the same order in 1Co_15:24, the first two occur in our Epistle, Eph_3:10, and in Col_1:16, after εἴτε θρόνοι εἴτε κυριότητες, joined with εἴτε also and in the same order, in 1Pe_3:22 : ὑποταγέντων αὐτῷ ἀγγέλων καὶ ἐξουσιῶν καὶ δυνάμεων. On the other hand in Rom_8:33 : ἄγγελοι and ἀρχαί, like ζωή and θάνατος, δύναμις, ὕψωμα and βάθος, are contrasted with each other by οὔτε—οὔτε; so that we can infer nothing thence respecting our passage.91 A certain consistency is noticeable in the use of these words. Besides the reference to angels is quite obvious, being required here by the context, especially ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις. Calvin. Cur non simpliciter nominavit angelos? Respondeo, amplificandæ Christi gloriæ causa Paulum exaggerasse hos titulos, ac si diceret; nihil est tam sublime aut excelsum, quocunque nomine censeatur, quod non subjectum sit Christi majestati. According to Hofmann (Schriftbeweis; I. p. 34)92 we cannot understand here a climax descendens (Meyer, Stier). These designations for the world of angels were given through the higher position of the angels as the messengers of God (Psa_103:20 f.; Heb_1:6 f., 13 f.), as holy (Psa_89:5; Dan_8:13). Since the context points to the resurrection of Christ, the Crucified, and His exaltation to a participation in the government of the world, as a fact, in which we see the efficiency of God, according to which He works on us also, in order to make us His children and heirs of His glory, we may well apply these terms to good as well as bad angels, aye, we can scarcely limit the reference to the angels, who reach also into this world, the αἰὼν οὗτος, especially as both πάσης and the concluding phrase “every name that is named,” which corresponds entirely with “nor any other creature” (Rom_8:38), warrant an unbounded extension, limited only to power and might. Harless only concedes this, preferring however the reference to good angels alone, as does Meyer, who then refers “name” to every thing created. In such universality is the passage understood by Erasmus, Rueckert, Stier [Alford] and others. With Stier we must understand under the first four designations, personalities, not merely principles, forces, factors, recognizing them in “every name that is named,” the transition to the impersonal (τὰ πάντα). Accordingly the following views are to be rejected: the reference to devils alone (Scholz), to Jewish hierarchs (Schöttgen), to heathen (Van Till) human potentates (Morus); the affirmation of a polemical purpose, not at all indicated, against angel-worship (Bucer, Estius, Hug), or a preservative purpose against possible infection through false gnosis (Olshausen [Hodge, though not decidedly]); also every attempt to define the different grades of these groups of angels, and the explanation of “name” as a summing up of a nomen dignitatis potentiæve (Erasmus and others); it is not even to be limited to names of “such a character” (Harless).

[It is on some accounts safest to take the four terms here introduced in the widest, most indefinite sense. Still it would seem best, if any limitation is made to refer the words to good angels alone, including of course under that term all created heavenly intelligences. The prevailing reference in these words is to angelic powers, to good (Eph_3:10; Col_1:16; Col_2:10) and bad (Eph_6:12; Col_2:15; 1Co_15:24; comp. Rom_8:38) alike. The preceding local definition would not exclude the latter, as Christ is placed “over above” all these (besides ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις is apparently applicable to bad angels also, Eph_6:12). But the “verse relates to Christ’s exaltation in heaven rather than His victory over the powers of hell.” Then without; attempting any closer definition of these classes, we may still admit a descensive order throughout: First the Exalted One, then the various gradations of heavenly Intelligence, then “every name that is named,” a view which is favored by the apparent regularity in the order (comp. Col_1:16). “Every name that is named” includes more than persons, in this view, more than titles of honor: Every thing which can bear a name. No less comprehensive sense seems admissible.—Alford accepts the most universal reference for the four terms under discussion, but adopts rather too abstract a sense.—Ellicott refers to the list of authors in Hagenbach, History of Doctrine, § 131.—R.]

Not only in this world, but also in that which is to come [οὐ μόνον ἐν τῶ αἰῶνι τούτω ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι].—This qualifies “named,” establishing the pre-eminence of Christ above all that is ever named in both this world and that to come. Beza: præstantiam non esse temporariam, sed æternam. We find a parallel in “things present,” “things to come” (Rom_8:38). Yet the expression here is not purely=now and hereafter [Hodge], but designates the present time as the first age, disappearing in the transition to the future glory, the future as the eternal glory beginning with the return of Christ. Paul takes the reference to time from the system of the world ruling in each period, thinking at once of pre-messianic and post-messianic, terrestrial and celestial worlds. Excellent, but rather abrupt is Bengel’s remark: αῖών denotat hic non tempus, sed systema rerum et operum suo tempore revelatum et permanens. It is then=always (Harless) with respect to this institution of the history of salvation (Stier).93 Comp. my remarks on αἰὼν οῦ̓τος and μέλλων, Biblework, 1Jn_2:18, p. 73 f. The connection with καθίσας (Calvin and others) is incorrect and also the remark of Bengel, following Chrysostom: “Imperia, potestas, etc., sunt in futuro, sed tamen nominantur etiam in seculo hoc; at ea quoque, quæ in præsenti ne nominantur quidem, sed in futuro demum nobis nomine et re patefient, Christo subjecta sunt,”

Eph_1:22. And subjected all things under his feet [καὶ πάντα ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοῦς ποδας αὐτοῦ]—Even if we retain the participle in Eph_1:20, we must here accept the transition from the participle to the finite verb. The words themselves are not difficult. Evidently, and in this the advance of thought consists, πάντα, “all things,” is to be applied to all that is created, and ὑπέταξεν, “subjected,” with its closer definition, refers of itself as well as on account of Psa_8:6 (comp. Eph_3:6) to conflict and opposition, which was suggested already by the passage (Psa_110:1) evidently in mind in Eph_1:20 : “set him at his own right hand.” The Lord Himself had quoted Psa_8:3. The same Psalm (Eph_1:6) is used with special emphasis in 1Co_15:27; Heb_2:6-8. Should the Psalm refer to the glory of the first Adam (Gen_1:26-28) and its restoration, as is definitely indicated in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Eph_2:6-8), then we must suppose here, that Paul is led by such thoughts to the use of this passage, especially as the context requires it, treating as it does of what shall occur to us, in accordance with what has occurred to Christ. Dominium nunc illi uni (Christo) tribui potest, quandoquidem per Adamum primum potestatem dignitatemque a Deo concessam nostrum genus amisit (Peter Martyr). There is therefore no tautological repetition here, but from above descensively the Apostle marks, after a sketch of the dignity of Christ (Schenkel), the sovereignty, which subjects all things, even the unconscious creation (Olshausen). This representation is not merely emphatic, or only a reminiscence (Meyer), but καὶ τὴν προφητικὴν ἐπήγαγε μαρτυρίαν (Theodoret). So Harless and Stier in the main.

[The notion of opposition should not be too “strongly pressed, though it is undoubtedly implied. As regards the allusion or citation from Psa_8:6, if it be regarded as a mere allusion the difficulty disappears; if it be a veritable citation, then we must adopt one of two conclusions: either the Psalm is in a certain sense Messianic, or Paul quotes in the accommodating manner which virtually destroys any specific meaning the Scriptures have. I prefer to adopt the former alternative, little fearing that too many Psalms will be accepted as Messianic. Paul’s allusion is due “to a direct reference under the guidance of the Spirit to a passage in the O. T. which in its primary application to man involves a secondary and more profound application to Christ. In the grant of terrestrial sovereignty the Psalmist saw and felt the antitypical mystery of man’s future exaltation in Christ” (Ellicott).—R.]

And gave him to be the head over all things to the church [καὶ αὐτὸν ἔδωκεν κεφαλὴν ὑπὲρ πάντα τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ].—Thus is set forth the office (Schenkel) of Christ, and the sphere of His efficiency. Αὐτὸν is in emphatic position, Him. Such an one, thus placed [thus exalted, thus glorified]. We must regard Him too as a gift, a present. Διδόναι is not=τιθέναι. the Apostle might otherwise have said ἔθηκεν or κατέστησεν; it is quite different in 1Co_12:28 : “And God hath set (ἔθετο) some in the church.” He gave Him to be “Head over all things-to the church.” We say with equal exactness: He gave Him to be Head, or as Head for the Church. As Head! not as καρδιά, but as κεφαλή. In the head lies the organizing power. Schubert (Geschichte der Seele, p. 163) describes the relation of head and body “as a figure of a love, descending from above to beneath, grasping and moving the corporeal, and of a longing rising from below to above, the work of which it is, to constantly transform the lower nature of that which longs into the higher nature of that which is longed for.” Martin Boos boldly says: “Christ dwelling in our humanity is as active as in that which He assumed from Mary.” Gerlach beautifully says: “At once Ruler and Member of His Body.” “Head” designates elsewhere superiority also (1Co_11:3).

The qualifying phrase “over all” is governed by “gave him to be head,” and marks the might (ὑπὲρ) of this Head; πάντα is all without limitation, He is Head over all—to the church, to Christendom; “Head” is not to be supplied again (Meyer). The presence κεφαλὴν ὑπὲρ πάντα between ἔδωκεν and τῆἐκκλησίᾳ does not at all alter the construction (against Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, II. 2, p. 117). The sense is precisely this: “Christ is such a Head of the Church, that He is for all that the Lord over all, over devils, world, etc.” (Luther). The whole economy of Creation stands at His disposal as the basis and sphere of activity for the economy of redemption (Beck). Accordingly ὑπὲρ πάντα is not to be joined per trajectionem to αὐτόν (Syriac, Greek fathers, Erasmus and others), nor is ὑπὲρπάντα to be taken as meaning: above all the good which God has given stands this that He gave Christ as Head of the Church (Chrysostom), nor is it=præcipue, μάλιστα πάντων (Baumgarten), nor=ὑπερέχουσα πάντων, caput summum (Beza, Rueckert: Oberhaupt, Olsh.: the prophets also were heads); nor are we to understand it of bona virtutum (Anselm), or dona gratiæ, nor is “the natural limitation to be found in τῇ ἐκκλησία” and this dative taken as in commodum ecclesiæ, for the Church (Harless). It is altogether unwarrantable to take the neuter for the masculine (Jerome, Wahl).

[The view of Braune is in the main that of modern English commentators. We must reject any sense of the verb but the simple one of “give,” since the dative follows. Christ is given to the church—and given as Head, for the next clause renders this view imperative. The only trouble then is with “over all things;” what is His relation to them? Evidently that of Head also. No other view is admissible exegetically; the question becoming thus a purely grammatical one: Shall we accept a brachyology and understand a second κεφαλήν before τῇ ἐκκλησία (Meyer, Stier, Hodge approvingly): “gave Him the Head over all things (to be the Head) to the church,” or take κεφαλήν as a species of tertiary predicate (Alford, Eadie, Ellicott): “gave Him as Head over all things to the Church.” The latter seems to be Braune’s view, and is certainly the simpler grammatically. Nor does it throw out of view the grand thought that Christ is Head of the Church. Alford: “Christ is Head over all things: the Church is the Body of Christ, and as such is the fulness of Him who fills all with all: the Head of such a Body, is Head over all things; therefore when God gives Christ as Head to the Church, He gives Him as Head over all things to the Church, from the necessity of the case.”—R.]

The choice of the word ἐκκλησία for the Christian Church (Eph_3:10; Eph_3:21; Eph_5:23; Eph_5:25; Eph_5:27; Eph_5:29; Eph_5:32; Php_3:6; 1Co_6:4; 1Co_12:28) is very apt. Gerhard (Loc. ed, Cotta. x. 3, 20): Chemnitius notat σύγκλησιν de primoribus, magnatibus, consulibus et eorum conventu, διάκλησιν de colluvie promiscuæ multitudinis quando fit congregatio ab agris, ἐκκλησίαν vero de civibus, quando σύνοδος τῶν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν celebratur, eorum scilicet, qui certis legibus sibi devincti unius reipublicæ cives sunt. Appellatio igitur ecclesiæ ad populum Dei translata ostendit, ecclesiam Dei non esse colluviem promiscuæ multitudinis, sed eorum, qui certis legibus a Deo vocati et sibi invicem sunt obstricti. Athenis erant usitati duplices conventus, ἐκκλησίαι et ἀγοραί vel ἀγοραίαι. Illæ significabant conventus ordinatos, quando universitas civium, eorum scilicet, qui jus civitatis habebant, ordine, justo, a magistratu convocati congregabantur; hæ vero significabant congregationes promiscuas et inordinatas, quando promiscua multitudo hominum in civitatibus et oppidis sine observatione ordinis in unum coibat.—Appellationi igitur ecclesiæ ad populum Dei translatæ inest significatio εὐταξίας καὶ εὐνουίας, qualis est in aristocratia civili, cui opponitur δημοκρατία, ἀκαταστασίας καὶ ἀταξίας plenissima.—Ut civitas non consistit ex medico et medico, aut ex rustico et rustico, sed ex medico et rustico, sicut Aristoteles in ethicis loquitur, ita quoque ecclesia non constat ex pastore et pastore seu ex auditore et auditore, sed ex docentibus et discentibus, atque inter ipsos auditores sunt varii vitæ status atque ordines.

Accordingly the ἐκκλησία has two main features in it, one the ordained unity and the other the calling, which includes in itself a separating out (ἐκλέγεσθαι) from the world not yet called or rejecting the call, and which is consummated through intellectual means. See further under Doctr. Note 5.

Eph_1:23. Which is his body, ῆτις ἐστὶν τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ—The pronoun ὅστις has an “explanatory element,” introducing the statement of a reason, and is=the old German als welcher, “as which.” So Rom_2:15 : οἵτινες=ut qui (Beza), qui quidem ostendant (Castalio); Luther renders it quite well: damit dass sie beweisen, and here: welche da ist. [Alford: which same; Eadie, Ellicott: which indeed. Meyer: “ut quæ, defining the attribute as belonging to the being of the church”—is perhaps too strong—though true enough.—R.] He is the Head of the church, since it is His Body, τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ (Eph_2:16; Eph_4:4; Eph_4:12; Eph_4:16; Eph_5:23; Eph_5:30; Col_1:18; Col_1:24; Col_2:19; Col_3:15; Rom_12:5; 1Co_6:15; 1Co_10:17; 1Co_12:13; 1Co_12:27). From this citation of passages, in all of which this view of the Apostle is contained, the frequency of the figure, especially in this Epistle, may be seen. The membership making up the whole, the indispensableness of Christ and the vital fellowship with Him are marked. We must also remember, that here, on account of the ἥτις, only that is treated of, which the church is and has in Christ, and not what He has in it; this is only an inference, though a correct one, and remains in the background, should it enter at all.

[The questions, what constitutes the church? who are true members of the true church? do not enter here; but that Paul here teaches a mystical union, above and beyond any federal or representative union, or ethical union of thought and feeling, seems perfectly clear. We call this a figure, but is it not the reality, and the organic unity of the body the figure? Really and truly the church is the body of Christ, and out of this truth spring many lessons respecting our personal union with Christ. Alford: “It is veritably His body: not that which in our glorified humanity He personally bears, but that in which He, as the Christ of God, is manifested and glorified by spiritual organization. He is its Head; from Him comes its life; in Him, it is exalted; in it, He is lived forth and witnessed to; He possesses nothing for Himself,—neither His communion with the Father, nor His fulness of the Spirit, nor His glorified humanity,—but all for His Church, which is in the innermost reality, Himself.” Comp. Col_1:24, which admits of no satisfactory explanation, unless we accept the fact that the Apostle was conscious of such a union as this.—R.]

The fulness of him who filleth all in all [τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν πληρουμένου.]—As respects syntax, this is the intrusion of an apposition, forming a parallel clause, in order to express without a figure, what has just been figuratively explained: “fullness” corresponds to “body,” “of Him filling all in all” to “His.”

On πλήρωμα, comp. Eph_1:10 and Passow sub voce. Words ending in—μός as a rule represent the abstract action of the verb, those in—μα the concrete effect, so “that they are for the most part equivalent to the perfect participle passive” (Buttmann), like πρᾶγμα, σπέρμα, κήρυγμα, especially here σῶμα (id quod σώζεται). The word is not=πλήρωσις, the act of filling, but is to be taken in the passive sense: all that, or with which any thing is filled, the fulness. So here. [This simple passive sense is adopted by Fritzsche, De Wette, Olshausen, Stier, Meyer, and by Alford, Eadie, Ellicott (“that which is filled, the filled-up receptacle).” As the word was a favorite among the Gnostics (in after times however), so it has been a favorite plaything with commentators since, who have thrown not a little confusion upon its meaning. The simple passive sense is the most natural one; though perhaps not the most usual one, it is certainly allowable. The active sense, the filling up is adopted by Harless, who says there is no other sense used in the New Testament, in which view Hodge seems to acquiesce. But what is meant by the active sense: implendi actionem, or id quod res impletur? Ellicott speaks of the latter as passive, while Hodge evidently regards it as active (so Braune apparently under 2 below). Alford deems it a transition from the abstract sense, denying any active sense to such nouns, but saying that what is thus termed is “a logical transference from the effect to that which exemplifies the effect.” From this it is evident how impossible it is to speak intelligibly about the word in its active and passive senses, until this meaning: that by which any thing is filled, is properly labelled. That is the work of the grammarian, yet it is evident that it is active or passive, according to the point of view: “whether one thinks first of the container, and then of the contained, or the reverse.” Harless and Hodge are not justified in saying that the word is always used actively in the New Testament, though this sense is a common one.94 It would give here the meaning complement, or supplement, which seems appropriate in view of the figure of Head and Body. But, on the other hand, this gives a sense which is so remarkable as to raise doubts; for how can Christ be filled by the church? Then again, we are almost forced by this interpretation to take the following participle in a passive sense, which is objectionable grammatically and logically. These reasons are strong enough to lead us to adopt the passive sense, which may be done without any fear of running counter to the usus loquendi of the New Testament.—R.]

Nor does the difficulty lie in the genitive: τοῦ πληρουμ ένου, which refers to Christ. The participle is middle, and, as usage requires in the case of such

correlated words, is used in the same sense as the preceding noun: of Him who fills from out Himself, through Himself (Winer, p. 242), or fills for Himself (Fritzsche: qui sibi complet). [The latter sense is adopted by Meyer (in 4th edition, Braune quotes him as accepting a deponent sense), Ellicott, Eadie. This reciprocal sense seems to have escaped the notice of Dr. Hodge, who agrees with Alford in accepting the active sense, though he admits it is favored only by classical usage. Certainly the active meaning of the participle is not so justifliable as the passive sense of the noun πλήρωμα.—R.] The present tense must also be taken into the account: He is conceived of in the process of filling; whether He succeeds, the result will show; the process is now going on.

The real difficulty lies in τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν, “all in all.” The object τὰπαντα is of course, in accordance with what precedes, to be referred to the entire world of creatures, which Christ fills, naturally as a soul the body, the former however working out beyond the latter, not exclusively in and upon it, and not only working, but being actively present, hence not as blood fills the heart, or water a vessel. “All” is filled by Christ, as is the Church, His Body, hence not mechanically, chemically, or the like. The most difficult point still remains: ἐνπ ᾶσιν “in all.” The preposition ἐν joined with πληροῦσθαι and πλήρωμα must designate that in which He fills; if this is inconceivable, then the Apostle must and would have expressed himself otherwise. Accordingly the neuter cannot be accepted here, since then idem per idem would be asserted, or an exaggeration occur: Alles in Allem [all things in all things, see below under (7)—R.] Following the rule, that those cases which belong to both genders (πάντων, πᾶσι) are to be taken as masculine, unless the context absolutely requires the neuter, we render: in Allen, “in all persons” (so Luther originally, but “in Allem” afterwards crept in); it thus marks His filling efficiency in persons, in heavenly spirits and human souls, of which also His relation as Head of the Church obliges us to think. He is the central Personality, working through all things, working in all. Such a Head has the Church, the central sphere of the world which is to be perfected (Stier).95 This explanation is in no particular without supporters, but there is also no incorrect explanation possible which has not been made here.

(1) The connection is viewed incorrectly, by joining the parallel clause “the fulness,” etc., with “him” (Eph_1:22), and taking “which is his body” as parenthetical (Erasmus), when it is too important to admit of this. Bengel, too, following Semler, is incorrect: “Hoc neque de ecclesia prædicatur, ut plerique censent, neque, ut aliis visum, cum dedit construitur, sed absolute ponitur accusativo casu, uti τὸ μαρτύριος, 1Ti_2:6. Est enim epiphonema eorum, quæ a Eph_1:20 dicuntur, innuitque apostolus, in Christo esse plenitudnem patris omnia implentis in omnibus.”

(2) Πλήρωμα is taken in the active sense as supplementum. So the Greek Fathers, Estius, Calvin, Beza (“ut sciamus Christum per se non indigere hoc supplemento, ut qui efficiat omnia in omnibus revera,” even Harless, who holds with Baehr as the undoubted result of investigation, that πλήρωμα is used in the New Testament only in its active sense, says: “She is the fulness of Christ, not as though she were the glory which dwells in Him, but because He permits His glory, as in all, so to dwell in her; she is the glory, not of one who would be in want without her, but of Him who fills all in all parts,” so Hofmann (Schniftbeweis, II. 2, p. 118–120). Even Stier points to this, bringing it over out of the middle form; yet this is not se implere, se supplere, but sibi. It is quite as incorrect to take it as=πλῆθος (Hesychius, Wahl: copia cultorum Dei sive Christi, Schöttgen: multitudo, cui Christus præest).—Rueckert, too, who is helpless here, is in error, in taking the Church, πλήρωμα, as the means of filling for Christ’s executive efficiency, since the Church can do nothing without Him.—The explanation of Cameron is a curiosity: full bodily mass.96

(3) The participle τοῦ πληρουένου is taken as passive (Chrysostom, Vulgate); ἀντὶτοῦ πληροῦντος (Theodoret, Œkumenius, Olshausen, Harless); as deponent (Meyer). Bengel remarks: “i.e., πληροῦτος; sed major via mediæ vocis, in denotanda relations ejus, qui implet et eorum, qui implentur”—quite correct!

(4) The meaning of the verb is certainly not: to make complete (Vulgate, Estius: adimpletur).

(5) As regards the subject of the verb, Harless, referring to Theodoret: τοῦ μὲν Χριστοῦ σῶμα, τοῦ δὲ παπρὸς πλήρωμα—οἰκεῖ ἐν αὐτῆ τῆ (ἐκκλησίᾳ) καὶ ἐμπεριπατέῖ κατὰ τὴν προφητικὴν φωνήν says: it must be referred to Christ, while Stier, who founds his proof less on the passage in question than on the organism of the Epistle, says: God must be considered the subject. [So Alford, but the great majority of commentators adopt the other reference.—R.]

(6) Τὰ πάντα has been limited to the members of the Church, to members of the body of Christ (Estius, Stier), to the spiritual results wrought by Christ, or the Christian’s faculties of soul (Grotius: Christus in omnibus (credentibus) implet omnia, mentem luce, voluntatem piis affectibus, corpus ipsum obsequendi facultate), to different peoples, nations (Flatt, Morus).

(7) The preposition ἐν is taken as instrumental (Meyer). [Alford: “The thing with, or by, or in which as an element, the filling takes place. So that the expression will mean, with all, not only gifts, not only blessings, but things.” So Ellicott, who thus explains the whole verse: “The Church is the veritable mystical Body of Christ, yea the recipient of the plenitudes of Him who filleth all things, whether in heaven or in earth, with all the things, elements, and entities, of which they are composed.” This view accepts πᾶσιν as neuter, and is on the whole preferable to every other interpretation, unless that of Braune be an exception. See above.—R.]

(8) Πᾶσιν is taken as neuter and rendered: in all parts (Harless and others), or in all places, everywhere (Flatt). Bengel, (neutrum, masculini potestatem) does not belong here, nor does he waver; he refers it to μέλεσι τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, to persons. It is also taken adverbially: ἐν παντί (Jerome: sicut adimpletur imperator, si quotidie ejus augetur exercitus—ita et—Christus—sic tamen, ut omnia adimpleantur in omnibus, i.e., ut qui in eum credunt, cunctis virtutibus pleni sint). Indeed, πάνταἐνπᾶσιν has been taken adverbially (Schöttgen: omnia omnino), or referred to the eternal (Holzhausen).

(9) It is entirely groundless to find a polemic purpose here, especially an account of the word πλήρωμα used afterwards by the Gnostics also (Meier, Baehr).

(10) Quite as groundless is the assumption that the ubiquity of the glorified Body is taught here (Calovius).

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. God, whose power and glory is so exceeding great (Eph_1:19), at whose command and disposal are all things, even Christ, whom He raised and exalted above all heavenly and earthly, personal and unpersonal powers (Eph_1:20-22), works freely, but without arbitrariness, conditioning Himself, upon men—not without faith (Eph_1:19), not without Christ (Eph_1:22-23), so that the prayer also (Eph_1:16-17 : ἵνα), which is offered believingly in the name of Christ, has a prospect of being granted. Precisely in the work of Redemption is manifested the worshipful glory of God, who in self-conditioning love moderates Himself, lowers and limits Himself, in order to employ and to show His unbounded love, to impart of His nature and to make blessed. His whole power, strength, might and efficacy stand in the service of His love.

2. Christ, who as to His human nature has in His Father His God (Eph_1:17), is our Lord, the Head of His Church, at the right hand of God in glory, of unlimited power over angels and men, ministering and hostile spirits, as well as over the economy of the creation and of salvation. He cannot be put down to the level of Divine humanity and God likeness. Yet our section says nothing of His state of humiliation, speaks only of His state of exaltation, beginning with the resurrection from the dead, refers to the humanity, which He assumed, appropriated, and did not afterwards relinquish,97 only that in what the Father did in Him, we might have a standard for what the Almighty God, who through Him is our Father, will and shall do and work in us (Eph_1:19-20 : εἰς ἡμᾶς—κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν—ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ). He is the Head, to whom there will not be wanting a body, which He will prepare for Himself; He cannot be a “mere Head.” But he has also no vicar, such as the Pope. Sancta enim Christiana sive Catholica ecclesia consistere absque isto capite optime potest et constitisset certe rectius, ac melius cum eo ageretur, nisi diabolus illud caput in medium projecisset et exaltasset (Articles of Smalkald).

3. The connection between creation and redemption is presupposed here; the two spheres do not fall asunder; Christ, the acme in both, holds them together; the former must serve the latter (Eph_1:21-23).

4. Respecting the angels, who are included in Eph_1:21. “over above all principality, and power, and might, and lordship,” it is only indicated that they are personalities, and affirmed that they have power and might. From the series of these designations, which can scarcely be taken as a descending climax [though this is the most plausible hypothesis—R.], nothing can be inferred as to the ranks or groups of angels.98 [“On the nature of angels, consult the able treatise by Twesten, Dogmatik, Vol. II. especially § 1, 4, the essay by Stuart, Bibliotheca Sacra for 1843, p. 88–154, Ebrard, Dogmatik, § 228 sq., Vol. I. p. 276, and the remarks of Lange, Leben Jesu, Part II. p. 41 f.” (Ellicott).—All that is expressed is well set forth by Wesley: “We know that the king is above all, though we cannot name all the officers of his court. So we know that Christ is above all, though we are not able to name all His subjects.”—R.]

5. The Church. On this subject our section teaches more. As regards its origin the name ἐκκλησία (Eph_1:22), “the calling of God” (Eph_1:18) show what is indicated by “Head” or “gave Him to be Head” (Eph_1:22) viz.: The Church results not from a physical or purely world-historical process without the creative power and fatherly love of God; it is His work, His gracious gift, and indeed His Word is efficient therein, Christ, also, as the Eternal Word, as the power organizing the whole (τὸ σῶμα), through the word, as the intellectual means of the ingathering. The extent of the Church is also pointed out in two directions:

a) On earth: “the faith which is among you in the Lord Jesus” (Eph_1:15) and “to us-ward who believe” (Eph_1:19)—the faith in Jesus, wrought in men through the word, describes the domain of the Church: where (καθʼ ὐμᾶς) faith is there is the Church, the congregation, even if it is wanting in particular persons or in many. The extent is not to be limited by Donatist or Anabaptist notions of the Church; she has, according to the purity of the word, the power of the preaching, the vitality of the faith, her degrees, quo purior et sincerior est verbi prœdicatio, eo etiam purior est ecclesiæ status (John Gerhard, Loc. XI. p. 195). But it should not be said, that there is no Church where sinners are and are tolerated (Anabaptists, Schwenkfeld and others).

b) On earth and in heaven: “the fulness of Him who filleth all in all” (Eph_1:23); she is not merely a temporal institution, within the visible world, she embraces men after as well as before death. “Of all the names which the Church can and does bear, not one is so immeasurably deep and yet so transparently clear, so sharply defined and yet so inexhaustibly rich, at once so real and spiritual, external and internal, obvious and mysterious as this one: she is the Body of Christ. It is this name and no other, which the New Testament Church has not in common with the Old Testament Church, and in which all her superiority over the latter is included; time and eternity, suffering and glory, blessing and curse, for all over whom the name of Christ is named, lie in its lap, and itself a riddle, to be first solved hereafter, yet all the riddles proposed to us by the present life find in it their solution” (Delitzsch).

The completion of the Church is an object of the Divine government of the world, and has begun here in Christendom by the path of faith, to which the inheritance in the saints is certain (Eph_1:18-19; Eph_1:23).

6. Faith has its ground “in the Lord Jesus (Eph_1:15), its place of manifestation in the Church (καθʼ ὑμᾶς Eph_1:5), its worth and its position before love (Eph_1:15), its importance and value for God, who requires it as the condition of salvation (Eph_1:19 : “to us-ward who believe”), from which may be inferred at the same time, that it has different degrees, since the Apostle joins together himself and others, also since the participle is present, that it is not to be conceived of as an act once for all, but as “a continuing life-movement to be constantly renewed.”

7. Beside faith stands love, which is germinally included in the former, since this “is an act of self-emptying and surrender to a gracious God,” who is Love. But it is not to be regarded as a virtue, by means of which we become well-pleasing to the beloved Love; it comes into existence with faith, which lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and thus attains to righteousness before God, and is the mother of all virtues.—In the phrase “unto all the saints” no limitation can be perceived, since he who loves all the members of the Church, the orthodox and the erring too, will imitate his Lord Jesus, the Good Samaritan of the world in Samaritan love (Luk_10:37 : “Go thou and do likewise”). The context leads only to this emphasizing of love.

8. The ground of hope is the calling of God and its goal the “inheritance” of God. It comes from above, points and looks upward; it lifts us out of the natural ego and above the visible world about us.99

9. Knowledge is both path (ἐν ἐπιγώσει, Eph_1:17) and goal (εἰς τὸ εἰδέςαι, Eph_1:18); it is a matter capable of growth, for it has but to ponder the thoughts of the eternal, creative God. Man’s knowledge is not perfect within the domain of creation, still less can he know the things of the invisible world. Only by living in a sphere does he gather knowledge of what is found there; knowledge comes from experience of occurrences. Without a disposition of the heart the sense of the understanding is not enlarged and sharpened. Sensible, mental, spiritual knowledge refers to life-spheres, in which he who knows must move. Only the believing, loving, longing one knows and grows in knowledge unto knowledge.

10. The prayer of the Apostle has it starting-point in what God has given, and its goal in what God should give. From thankful acknowledgment, he proceeds to requests, petitions; with the faith and love of the church before his eyes, he rises to supplication for the spirit of wisdom and revelation, for wider knowledge of what God is, on behalf of their inner life. This occurs daily. Thus have we all, ministers and members of the church, especially the former, to learn, in order to practise it, what furthers the Kingdom of God in general and in particular: such prayer is a means of grace full of blessing for those who offer it, as well as for those for whom it is offered.

11. The consummation in the case of individuals is conditioned by the church and conditions its consummation. Hence “His inheritance in the saints” (Eph_1:18). Outside the church we do not advance, nor salvation become ours, whatever we may be, or accrue to us, wherever we stand; it is a gift, for which we must be prepared. The fulness of the gift and our perfection finally coincide.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

It is a joy, when in social circles one hears from another, just as of city and state events, so especially of the kingdom of God, the church of Christ, of the faith and love of Christians.—We should not judge the faith of particular persons in a church, but rejoice in the faith within the church, though it be only among the minority; so long as there is believing preaching, supplication for all that concerns the church, order in the administration of the sacraments, grace at table and family worship, use of the best hymns, since we have so many poor ones, and many another sign of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in the church, a stranger who does not know the individuals at all, may and ought to rejoice therein and speak thereof.—Love to all Christians! As we must pray every Sunday for love toward all men, so love to all Christians is not so easily brought about. The orthodox, pietists, and those who deal earnestly with God’s word and the confessions of the church, are least likely to encounter love from those, who regard themselves as precisely the liberal Christians; such fall in much more readily with those who are against the Church of Christ than with these. Always reckon among “all Christians” those first, who are to you the most unpleasant, thus you will best perceive the weight of this injunction and your own weakness.—Who of us always begins his prayers with thanksgiving, as did the Apostle? We rather pray for what we lack, than thank for what we have received. This should not be.

Men rejoice much, if they are thought of at a distance; they part well-nigh always with the request: Remember me! It is something beyond this, when such remembrance rises into intercession, and one remembers the absent, not merely pleasantly or listlessly, in conversation with men, but devoutly in prayer to God.—Without knowledge we do not attain to knowledge; only in the light do we see light. The Apostle does not indeed preach the Word of learning or science, but still it is spoken against ignorance, indiscretion, narrowness. Only that the centre of man, the heart and temper with the will be open to the light, to knowledge!—As the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Psa_111:10), so the starting point for this is insight into our misery and poverty; poor human beings generally swell out with their own worth, and just in this way fritter away what they have of God’s gifts. We must in the end seek our worth above, if we would find it; else we get into a pitiful satisfaction.

The three most important objects of our knowledge: 1. God’s call—in our need; 2. God’s heritage—in our heart; 3. God’s strength—in our longing and striving.—As the world needs revelation beside the wisdom from experience, so a man also needs besides wisdom and prudence the private revelation to teach what and how he should act and suffer and bear.—Our hope rests on Christ in God. What the Father, to whom Christ in His holy humanity prayed, praying as to His God, has done to Him, in and upon Him, when He exalted Him from the dead to His right hand, that shall occur to thee, since He works upon thee, yet only in proportion to thy faith in thy Saviour.—Be, become and remain a member of the Church which is His Body! Those are beheaded rather, who deny the Lord to save their heads, than those who in holy martyrdom lost their heads, to remain with their Head.

Starke:—Faith has to do with the gospel, love with the law. Faith takes, love gives; the former has the benefits, the latter the duties.—We must not seek the saints only in heaven, for they are certainly already on the earth. The imperfection of sanctification and holiness does not deny the truth of these things.—See here, how a preacher should remember his congregation before God in prayer!—As it is one of the signs and duties of a faithful teacher, now to thank and now to pray to God for his congregation, so it is not less the characteristic of a good hearer, to give the teacher, whose intercession he will confidently expect as a blessing to himself, great cause for thanksgiving.—The possessions of our glorious inheritance are so great and excellent, that no man can understand them without the illumination of the Holy Ghost.—The mere science of the letter in Divine things, obtained by the natural powers of godless people is no real enlightenment nor proper knowledge of Jesus Christ.—The call to the kingdom of God must stand at the basis of every external calling which we have in our sphere of life, that we may master it.—Conversion is a great and almighty work of God, hence not the power of man, nor consisting in a mere thought of the brain, but is a great change of soul, since all its powers are turned away from sin and the world to heaven and God.—Lazarus was awakened by Christ with a word, but how many sermons did He use to awaken the spiritually dead Jews, and yet they would not let themselves be awakened. God’s power and grace for the conversion of man is in itself infinite, yet He will force no man, but leaves him the freedom to resist.—The Christian Church is the Body of Christ and hence closely united with Him. She receives all her fulness from Him; from Him, the Head, flows all strength into the members. Although she here finds herself surrounded with much weakness and misery, yet is she still glorious in her Head, who already reigns in glory.

A. H. Francke:—This then is also wisdom, to know that we cannot be wise unless there be a God and we can receive it from Him in answer to prayer. The Apostle does not say, he wishes that a university might be established in the city of Ephesus, in which many professors would take, positions, that by this means the people might be made wise,—but: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom.

Rieger:—Beside the glances into the distance and the hope of our calling in the invisible and eternal, beside the insight into the economy of God, without us, we must not disregard the insight into the necessary truths learned by experience of God’s work of grace within us, that each do their part in making the heart steadfast and full of confidence and love. If a man thinks of the depth of his fall, the throng and deceit of his foes, the powerful hindrances to his salvation, then he may well desire to look into the greatness of the power of God, which is employed in his calling and preservation unto blessedness.—In faith we can most precisely notice, how God applies His transcendent might and yet how man is not overcome by it in a violent manner, but is so disposed, that he can maintain his convictions, his love for light, his obedience under its influence.—Believing is opposed by the love of our own life so deeply inherent in us, by so many offences occurring to us in the world’s ways; therefore it requires the working of His mighty strength. This power of God and its effect is indeed still concealed in us, covered up by our weaknesses, and behind the curtain of the flesh not yet fully to be judged; but in Jesus Christ it has already attained to victory.—The Head and the Body together make a whole; in the church is seen the fulness of Him who filleth all in all; Christ applies the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Him to the completing and perfecting of this His church; He does not leave her until He has also fulfilled all that is well-pleasing to God, and presented her, blameless, filled with all the fruits of righteousness.—He who stands in vital fellowship with Him, has all things.—All that is not yet disclosed to you, remains yours still in this fulness.

Passavant:—Do you detect no result of this Divine power in you, no new life from God, or no hunger and thirst after deliverance out of the old nature into the new nature of the friends of the Lord; oh, do not trust yourself, do not trust thy best thoughts, thy most beautiful feelings, thy noblest strivings, thy best beliefs, for there is also a vain, a false, self-made, fancied faith, a faith leading to God as little as coming from God.—Are they holy and good, those powers, Jesus is still more holy and glorious above them; and have they on God’s account, as is the case, as angels of light an influence upon the worlds of God, upon the earth upon us, they receive from Christ their power and strength, they stand under His supreme influence; He directs them, He equips them. Are they unholy and evil, those powers, even hero Jesus will have power and maintain authority; will punish their evil nature, will restrain their corrupting influence and destroy their power, aye, has already, as the Dying and Crucified One, broken and destroyed their power.—All in all: In the angels of His power, in the glorified righteous, in His saints, and all the Blessed, their only clear and heavenly radiance, their Divine joy, their eternal peace, their blessedness, their glory. All in all: Among the angels of disobedience, about the unrighteous, the ungodly and the damned, for all the Light shining with eternal rays of anxiety and terror through their darkness; the eye, that with a flame of fire searches forever through their inmost nature; the power, that always from without and from within tends them with a rod of iron; the word, the eternal word, judging and condemning them in their own hearts, ever anew, ever more penetratingly, more irrevocably, more awfully. All in all: In all His worlds, from the lowest to the highest degrees, in all powers and glories, from the smallest to the most exalted of constellations, of suns, which excel all others in clearness and glory. He is the Divine, infinite fulness of light, of life, from out which they gladly rise in His heavens.

Heubner:—Thanksgiving and prayer are the inward emotions of a holy mind, the inward holy choir.—Only what proceeds from God’s revelation, which is attested to man by the illumination of the Holy Ghost, is true wisdom. Every one must have his own revelation of Christianity, for he should not believe on the testimony of a stranger.—The Christian knows not only his misery, but also his blessedness, how rich and glorious is the inheritance ordained by God for the saints, and from the greatness of his blessedness he knows the greatness of Divine grace. All this can be known and valued only by an enlightened eye, because it has not the dazzling glitter of earthly things. The evil spirit blinds man, so that he does not perceive how great is the blessedness won by Christ, so that he in his blindness thinks this disturbs his happiness and lays a yoke upon him.—God’s mental power shows itself in what He has made out of man, in the transformation of the single sinner as well as of the heathen world. What philosopher could have suspected this? What did Apollonius accomplish? Nothing, save that the next generation held him to be what he was, a charlatan.—The resurrection of Christ is a token of spiritual life, of the regeneration of humanity, to take place through the Risen and Exalted Christ.—Christ is the Lord of the whole world of spirits, visible and invisible; He has authority over all ruling powers in heaven and on earth. Paul’s words are an amplification of Mat_28:18.—This heavenly King is given to the Church as Head; she is committed to Him in specie; over her He has immediate oversight and care; she is to Him the dearest of all, because He has bought her with His own blood.—The Church is the Body of Christ, she is a communion, entirely permeated by His Spirit, the members being animated and controlled by His Spirit; she is the very centre of His efficiency.

Stier:—The most powerful and yet most humble way of exhorting is with this introduction: I pray for thee!—No thanksgiving without petition, so long as perfection and completeness are not yet there.—Our state of grace does not indeed begin with this deeper insight, but only through this does it indeed advance: may all preachers then learn from the Apostles, to work properly in their sermons and in their congregations for this end.—The Spirit of God cannot begin entirely without knowledge, nor work through dim feeling toward new will and life.—Illumination is not itself as yet sanctification, but is the immediately vital transition thereto from faith, which is at first, in and before experience, a matter of knowledge.—To know God—the highest aim of all wisdom of the spirit.—In the heart is all decided, faith, insight, desire, will.—The Apostle unfolds and portrays the supremacy of the Exalted One in the domain of power, especially in the kingdom of grace, of the Spirit, making alive again the dead in sin on the earth, in the church.—In this world there are many names before God and Christ, that we do not know or name, but hereafter we shall learn them.—Church is the assembly or unity of those called to the fellowship of salvation in Christ; it is the growing, developing body of Christ.

Leupold (Sermons for Whitsunday on Eph_1:15-19): The heavenly gifts, in which the children of God rejoice with praise to-day. 1) The grace of God, enriching us in the knowledge of salvation; 2) The power of God, causing this knowledge to become a might; 3) The faithfulness of God, carrying forward the good work already begun to the blessed goal.—How do we prove ourselves thankful for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and His gifts? 1) By our knowing His gifts better; 2) ever imploring them more faithfully for ourselves and others; 3) by letting ourselves be filled by them and their power become more perceptible and precious in us.—What are the Christian’s festival petitions? 1) That he may grow in the knowledge of salvation; 2) that he may grow in fellowship with the Saviour and all saints; 3) that he may not forget to give thanks for the unmerited favors of God.—The high significance of the Pentecostal gift: 1) It comes from the Lord; prayer is its condition; 2) In it the Lord comes to us; knowledge of God and His plan of salvation, of Christ and His saving work, is its proof; 3) Through it we come to the Lord; living faith, working in love is its crown.—The fellowship of believers, holy and glorious: 1) The spirit of revelation endows it; 2) faith in the Lord Jesus founds it; 3) Love to all saints strengthens it; 4) Fraternal intercession crowns it.

Winter (Eph_1:20-23):—The ascension of Christ His exaltation to the right hand of God in heaven: 1. Let us so consider it. 2. Let us perceive the transcendent consolation therein inherent for us: a) now is He properly attested as our Saviour and Deliverer; b) now we know, not only that He still lives, but has power to defend us and His kingdom; c) now we may cheerfully go there too. 3. The high and holy duties proceeding from this: a) that we obey Him in all things; b) commit to Him ourselves and our whole life; c) seek not what is below, but what is above, and have our conversation in heaven.—Christ all in all! 1) The Lord of all in heaven; 2) the Almighty Head of His Church on earth.

[Hodge:—In praying that the Ephesians might be enlightened with spiritual apprehensions of the truth, the Apostle prays for their sanctification. In praying that they might have just conceptions of the inheritance to which they were called, he prayed that they might be elevated above the world. And in praying that they might know the exceeding greatness of the power exercised in their conversion, he prayed that they might be at once humble and confident,—humble, in view of the death of sin from which they had been raised; and confident, in view of the omnipotence of that God who had begun their salvation.

[Eadie:

Eph_1:15. Community of faith begets community of feeling, and this brother-love is an instinctive emotion, as well as an earnest obligation. In that spiritual temple which the Spirit is rearing in the sanctified bosom, faith and love are the Jachin and Boaz, the twin pillars that grace and support the structure.

Eph_1:16. The Apostle, though he had visited them, does not felicitate himself on his pastoral success among them, but gives thanks on this account to God.—The Apostle gave thanks, and his thanks ended in prayer.

Eph_1:17. It is only when the prayerful study of the Bible is blessed by spiritual influence that wisdom is acquired.—This knowledge of God concerns not the works of His creation, which is but the “time-vesture” of the Eternal, but the grace and the purposes of His heart, His possession and exhibition of love and power.

Eph_1:18. If the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God be conferred, then the scales fall from the moral vision, and the cloudy haze that hovers round it melts away.—Not only had they been the objects of God’s affection—but also, and especially, of God’s power. Infinite love prompted into operation omnipotent strength.

Eph_1:19. If the resurrection of Jesus be the normal exhibition of Divine power, other similar exhibitions are pledged to Christ’s people.

Eph_1:20. The specimen and pledge of that power displayed in quickening us, is Christ’s resurrection. 1. It is transcendent power. 2. It is power already experienced by belieEph Eph_1:3. It is resurrectionary power, displayed in restoring life. 4. The resurrection of Jesus is in this respect not merely a specimen or illustration—it is also a pledge. Present spiritual life and future resurrection are both involved.—Jesus was placed at the Father’s “right hand.” 1. It is the place of honor. 2. It is the place of power. 3. It is the place of happiness—happiness possessed, and happiness communicated.

Eph_1:22. The brow once crowned with thorns now wears the diadem of universal sovereignty; and that hand, once nailed to the cross, now holds in it the sceptre of unlimited dominion. He who lay in the tomb has ascended the throne of unbounded empire. Jesus, the brother-man, is Lord of all: He has had all things put under His feet—the true apotheosis of humanity.—The history of the church is a proof extending through eighteen centuries; a proof so often tested, and by such opposite processes, as to gather irresistible strength with its age; a proof varied, ramified, prolonged, and unique, that the exalted Jesus is Head over all things to the church.

Eph_1:23. Head and body are correlative, and are organically connected. There is first a connection of life—at the same time a connection of power,—and, in fine, a connection of sympathy.—The Head of the Church is at the same time Lord of the Universe. While He fills the Church fully with those blessings which have been won for it and are adapted to it, He also fills the universe with all such gifts as are appropriate to its welfare—gifts which it is now His exalted prerogative to bestow.—R.]

Footnotes:

[66] Eph_1:15.—א.1 A. B. and some other authorities omit τὴν ἀγάπην; א.3 adds it. The omission is an evident error of the transcriber. [K. L., nearly all versions, most fathers support the longer reading, which is adopted by Tischendorf, Meyer, Ellicott and the great majority of editors and commentators. The repetition of τήν readily accounts for the omission, while there is little reason for accepting an insertion from Col_1:4.—In the above emendations Ellicott has been followed. For this cause is adopted in preference to wherefore (the rendering for διό) and on this account (which is more modern). The more indefinite participial construction, having heard, is necessary here; the faith which is among you is more exact than your faith (see Exeg. Notes), while the love which ye have brings out the force of the second τήν.—R.]

[67] Eph_1:16.—[The Rec. reads: μνείαν ὑμῶν ποιούμενος, on the authority of D.3 E. K. L. (F. G. transposing: ποιούμενος ὑμῶν), most cursives. Vulgate, Syriac versions, Coptic, most fathers; accepted by Tischendorf (but not in all editions), Griesbach, Ellicott. Wordsworth (De Wette and Braune tacitly). In א. A. B. D.,1 and about 10 cursives, ὑμῶν is omitted; accepted by Rückert, Lachmann, Meyer, Alford. The question is a delicate one: Was the word inserted where the meaning is so obvious, or was it omitted because occurring so immediately before? The variation in position favors the former theory, but a similar omission by nearly the same authorities in 1Th_1:2 is almost decisive for the latter. See Exeg. Notes for the interpretation of Meyer and Alford, resulting from the acceptance of the briefer reading.—R.]

[68] Eph_1:18.—Instead of καρδίας (א. A. B. D. F. E. G. K. L. and others) a few [Rec., fathers, no uncials] have διανοίας, an evident gloss from Eph_4:18. [There should be merely a comma after enlightened in the English text.—On the reasons for rejecting the absolute construction followed in the E. V., see Exeg. Notes.—R.]

[69] Eph_1:18.—καί is omitted in א.1 A. B. [D.1 F.; by Lachmann, Rückert, Alford, Braune. It is found in א.3 D.3 E. K. L., nearly all cursives, retained by Tischendorf, Meyer, Ellicott, Eadie. The probability is against its genuineness, yet it may have been omitted because καί follows in Eph_1:10.—R.]—A very few authorities substitute τί for τίς.

[70] Eph_1:19.—[On this choice of words, see Exeg. Notes.—R.]

[71] Eph_1:20.—[Braune apparently accepts the reading ἐνέργησεν, which is sustained by א. D. F. K. L. (So Rec.), accepted by Ellicott among other careful critics. The perfect ἐνήργηκεν (A. B.) is adopted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer, Alford, mainly for the sufficient reason that the more usual aorist would scarcely have been altered to the perfect, while the succeeding aorists might readily occasion the alteration from the perfect.—Hence we render: “hath wrought.”—R.]

[72] Eph_1:20.—א. A. B. and others read: καθίσας [adopted by Rückert, Lachmann, Alford. Tischendorf varies. The Rec. reads ἐκάθισεν, with D. F. K. L. and most cursives. So Eadie, Ellicott, and Meyer (apparently); but the change to the finite verb looks more like the attempted relief of the construction.—R.]

[73] Eph_1:20.—Instead of ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις in א.1 and most authorities, ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς [an evident gloss] is found in B. with a few minor authorities.

[74] Eph_1:21.—[Far above (E. V.) involves more than is expressed by the Greek word ὑπεράνω, according to the most exact commentators.—R.]

[75] Eph_1:23.—[The Rec. omits τά before πάντα, but on altogether insufficient authority. No important alterations have been made in the rendering of this clause, because it is almost impossible to change the literal rendering of the E. V., without substituting an explanation for the translation: Braune’s view would require: all things in all (persons), but the difference of gender he accepts cannot be expressed in an English rendering.—R.]

[76][On the other hand, the aorist must not be taken as frequentative, so as to show from such a sense, that he had frequent communication with them as a well-known church. Even Eadie, who at first adopted this view, citing Kühner and Buttmann in support of it, is disposed to defer to the judgment which Winer (p. 260) pronounces against it. Hodge seems to have been led into the same error.—R.]

[77][Meyer admits no distinction between the two passages, while Eadie, finding this form singular in the New Testament (though frequently used for the possessive genitive in later classical Greek), makes it denote more characteristic possession, differing thus from nearly all the commentators.—R.]

[78] [“In ἐπί with a genitive, the apparent temporal reference partakes somewhat of the local reference of juxtaposition,” Bernhardy. So Alford, Ellicott, and now Eadie who formerly omitted the sub-local reference. The preposition “serves to express the concurrent circumstances and relations, in which and under which an event took place.”—R.]

[79][On the force of ἵνα comp. Tittmann, Syn. N. T., II., p. 35, ff., who is perhaps the ablest defender of the frequency of its ecbatic signification. But many of the instances he cites are very doubtful. The eventual or ecbatic sense (indicative of result) is not defensible here. The very best explanation of the force of ἵνα after verbs of praying, etc., is given by Alford (on 1Co_14:3): “The idea of purpose is inseparably bound up in this particle, and can be traced wherever it is used. At the same time, prayer being a direct seeking of the fulfilment of the purpose on account of which we pray—not like many other actions, indirectly connected with it,—the purport and purpose become compounded in the expression.” This sub-final force is accepted by Ellicott, denied by Eadie and by Meyer, who rejects everything short of the strict final sense. The ecbatic sense is rare, it must be admitted, and due to “Hebrew teleology,” which reverently accepted a prophecy as fulfilled—R.]

[80][It is perhaps unwise to press any Christological reference upon this phrase upon the ground of its parallelism with the preceding one, though this is preferable to the many distorted views, which have been adopted through fear of an Arian interpretation.—R.]

[81][Eadie and Hodge defend the formal reference to the Holy Spirit here, but it seems better with Alford and Braune to accept πνεῦμα as “the complex idea, of the spirit of man indwelt by the Spirit of God, so that as such, it is His special gift.” This intermediate or complex sense is that suggested in my Excursus, Romans, p. 235, B., but too often overlooked.—R.]

[82] [These genitives are also characterizing genitives, it would seem. Eadie takes the latter as indicating the mode by which the wisdom is imparted, which appears illogical. Dr. Hodge does not clearly indicate what view he adopts, but apparently inclines toward that accepted above.—R.]

[83] [The use of the verb in this passage, applying it in the second instance to God, contradicts the position taken by Eadie, that ἐπί has in our word an additive force, referring to the successive increments of knowledge, for in that case it could not be applied to God, as indeed he affirms ἐπίγνωστς never is.—R.]

[84][Ellicott says of the phrase, “the eyes of your heart:” “A somewhat unusual and figurative expression, denoting the inward intelligence of that portion of our immaterial nature (the ψυχή) of which the καρδία is the imaginary seat.” Comp. Meyer, Alford, Harless and Stier.—R.]

[85] [Dr. Hodge divides the prayer of the Apostle into three leading petitions: 1. For adequate knowledge of Divine truth; 2. For due appreciation of the future blessedness of the saints; 3. For a proper understanding of what they themselves had already experienced in their conversion. This is well enough for homiletical purposes, but it is very unsatisfactory as an exegesis of the passage, since it places as co-ordinate three clauses, which hold very different relations to each other, destroying altogether the proper final force of εἰς, besides being open to other objections. Alford rightly takes εἰς τὸ εἰδέναι as setting forth the purpose of the πεφωτισμένους, not of the πνεῦμα σοφίας. What is now described is involved in the latter, not its object, but that of the former.—R.]

[86] [This interpretation should not be lightly passed over, since it is sustained by Winer (in earlier editions, not in 6th and 7th), De Wette, Meyer and Ellicott. The reason for adopting it is the assumption that the article should precede our phrase, were it joined directly with κληρονομίας αῦτοῦ, since that expression is so complete in itself as to admit of no qualification forming one conception with it (which is the condition of the omission of the article). Our phrase would then, according to Ellicott, define the sphere in which the riches, etc., are peculiarly found, felt and realized. To this view, however, there are grave objections. It is awkward to begin with; it disturbs the grammatical parallelism of the clauses, and logically it represents Paul as praying that they might know what great things are already among Christians, This last objection Meyer, who on all possible occasions adopts a reference to the future kingdom of God at the second Advent, avoids by saying that Paul conceives of it as present (vergegenwärtiges). Nor does the absence of the article interfere with the other interpretation. Comp. Harless and Alford for a clear statement of the case. We give the paraphrase of the latter: “His inheritance in, whose example and fulness, and embodying is in the saints.” Eadie and Hodge apparently restrict “inheritance” to the future blessing, the former expanding this idea with his usual felicity as a practical expositor.—R.]

[87][Ellicott agrees with Schenkel in taking the primary reference to be to the future, but admits a secondary present reference, which Meyer denies. See the beautiful climax Ellicott gives in his note. But the other view is preferable, on the grammatical grounds urged by Braune, and because of the comparison with the resurrection of Christ. See Hodge, who quotes Calvin’s remarks against the notion that this language would be frigid hyperbole if applied to our experience in this life. Dr. Hodge, however, incorrectly takes our clause as a third petition. Ellicott and Meyer again supply ἐστί, with which they connect εἰς ἡμᾶς. It is better, with most, to join it with δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ.—Alford retains “to us-ward” as better indicating the prominence which belongs to “us” in the fact of its direction. “But it is not the power which works faith in us, except in so far indeed as faith is a portion of its whole work: here the πιστεύοντες are the material on which the power works.”—R.]

[88][Alford and Ellicott prefer “strength of his might;” the former says: “The latter (ἰσχύς) is the attribute subjectively considered; the former (κρώτος) the weight of that attribute, objectively esteemed.” Most commentators accept this distinction; the question is only, whether the inherent strength (ἰσχύς) is best expressed in English by the word strength or might. The former seems preferable.—R.].

[89] [See Textual Note 6, where the reading ἐνήργηκεν is accepted. Meyer notes its distinctive sense here in referring to an act completed, as viewed by the writer.—R.]

[90][Ellicott adopting the reading ἐκαθίσεν, says the change to the finite verb, is especially designed to enhance the importance of the truth conveyed by the participle, referring to the same page in Winer. The main thought at first is that of the resurrection, but the Apostle is speedily absorbed with the other, which accords so well with the ground-tone of the Epistle.—R.]

[91] [The variation in the text of Rom_8:38 indicates certainly that the early transcribers referred δυνάμεις to angels, since there is no other motive for the change in its position; the correct reading however seems to justify a reference to earthly powers, so that as remarked above we gain nothing decisive from that passage.—R.]

[92][Hofmann denies any reference to gradations in rank, admitting only a designation of various relations to God and the world, but this distinction does not seem to be tenable.—R.]

[93] [Alford remarks: “Not only time present and to come, but the present earthly condition of things, and the future heavenly one.” Ellicott: “With regard to the meaning of αἰὼν it may he observed that in all passages where it occurs, a temporal notion is more or less apparent. To this in the majority, an ethical idea is limited. In a few passages like the present a semi-local meaning seems also superadded, causing αἰὼν to approach in meaning to κόσμος, though it still may be always distinguished from it by the temporal and (commonly) ethical notions which ever form its background” Comp. Eph_2:2; Gal_1:4.—R.]

[94][In many of the instances specified by Hodge, the passive sense is equally allowable. For example, Eph_1:10, “the fulness of the times” may as well be taken as meaning the state of being full on the part of the appointed periods of time, as that which fills up those periods, and so in Gal_4:4; Eph_3:19 : “the fulness of God” affords a much better sense if taken passively (see in loco), while Mar_8:20 : “the fulnesses of how many baskets,” refers not to what fills up the baskets, but “the state of fulness as respects the baskets.”—R.]

[95] [This interpretation is very plausible, and commends itself especially on account of the view it takes of the preposition ἐν. As τὰ πάντα immediately precedes, too much stress should not be laid on the rule mentioned above respecting the choice of the masculine. But I fully share in Dr. Braune’s dislike for the instrumental sense of ἐν (taking it as=per). One who has been puzzled by the E. V., which accepts this as one of its most usual significations, and seen how often commentators pass over it without notice, must feel that for so small a word, it has suffered more at the hands of its friends than any other in the Greek Testament. It is a good rule: never render ἐν, by if any other possible meaning accords with the context. Alford and Ellicott refer to Eph_5:18, in support of the instrumental sense, but it is very doubtful even there. If we take ἐν=in here, then the πᾶσιν must be accepted as masculine, for the neuter would not allow of any intelligible meaning, especially in view of the well-known phrase τὰ πάντα, the universe. See under (7) however.—R.]

[96] [Harless takes πλήρωμα as expressing the Divine glory=Shekinah, but that is objectionable for reasons both lexical and logical.—Eadie refers to the view of Michaelis and Bretschneider (=quasi templum in quo habitat, quod occupat et regit, ut anima corpus), but this and kindred interpretations are all either too limited or too specific. Just here it becomes us to be cautious.—R.]

[97] [We must hold fast, especially in view of the local reference in Eph_1:20 to the truth of Christ’s actual bodily presence in heaven, over against the Lutheran doctrine of the ubiquity of His humanity (Form. Conc. ii. 8). Comp the implied opposition to this dogma in the Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 47, 48, 80 (apparently inserted afterwards). The Eucharistic controversies of the 16th century made of this a battle-field.—R.]

[98] [The so-called revelations of modern “spiritualism” do not seem to have shed much light on the few passages of Scripture which treat of angels. Nor do they attempt to do so. One might infer something from this fact, as to the question whether these revelations, granting them a supernatural origin, have the same origin as the statements of Scripture.—R.]

[99] [Meyer: “Notice here, too, the three fundamental elements of subjective Christianity: Faith and Love and Hope (Eph_1:15; Eph_1:18); in faith and love the illumination through the Holy Ghost should ever bring more and more to our knowledge the glory of our hope; for the Christians’ πολίτευμα is in heaven (Php_3:20), whither their entire “minding” and “seeking” is directed. The centre of Christianity is still faith with its love, in connection with which, however, hope ever, encouragingly and inspiritingly, holds up the constant goal.” He adduces this against Weiss, who seeks to discover here special prominence given to hope “entirely after the Petrine mode,” which as that author thinks makes “hope” the centre.—R.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Division 2. (Eph 1:15-23; Eph 2:1-10.)

Our participation with Christ in God’s work beyond death.

We have had, then, the general outline of God’s purpose in Christ, not merely towards us, but embracing the subjection of all things to Him. We are now to see how He has, in fact, taken us up to link us with Christ for the fulfilment of blessing.

1. It takes the form. of a prayer from the apostle’s heart in behalf of those whom he is addressing. He longs for them and for us that we may have the spirit of wisdom and revelation with regard to all these things. In fact, how much has been hidden in this way through the lack of response on the part of God’s people to these wonderful communications! He has heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love to all the saints. He gives thanks, therefore, for them, but that is not enough. He realizes that they are yet in a world in which Satan is busy, as by and by he will more fully show, to deprive the people of God of that which, in their knowledge of it now, would be power for them to glorify God in the scene through which they are passing. It is here, in fact, in the entering into these purposes of God, that the Christian character is practically acquired, and the Christian intelligence alone fully gained. It is no wonder, therefore, if here should be the sharpest possible contention, and that here the apostle should be in prayer that God’s people should lose nothing of that which He has designed for them. Accordingly, the prayer is to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, the One who has purposed all this, and the One to whom belongs the power alone to accomplish it. He prays that this God may give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the "full knowledge," (as it should be) of Him. The deepest, sweetest character of the revelation of these things is that it gives the knowledge of Himself. For this we need, as he explains directly, the "eyes of our heart" to be enlightened. It is "heart," not "mind," for in the heart such eyes really are. It is not mere intelligence that can possess itself of these things. It is not any brightness of mind merely, as people would say. It is the heart for what is revealed that will lead to right intelligence as to the revelation. Could God possibly reveal these things with all their announced value for the soul, so that a human heart would kindle with desire to possess itself of them, only to find that the faculty had been denied of obtaining that which was sought for? How impossible to think of it! God’s people deprive themselves of what is the inheritance of every one of them, and they must, of necessity, connive at their being robbed of it, in order not to know. The Spirit of revelation, the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of understanding is in them already,and,as the apostle pictures it, it is the Spirit that searcheth the deep things of God. Can He do it in one and not in another? Or, if He be pleased still to have special human instruments, does He mean by that to deny the possession of the truth to any who seek it? Certainly, it would be impossible to think so. The apostle prays, therefore, that they might know what was the hope of this calling of God, that is, of all that, in fact, is hailing us from those blessed scenes which God is opening up to us, and that they might know what the riches are of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. It is God’s inheritance. No possession of it on our part could possibly deprive Him of what is in it, and how little would it be true inheritance if we did not inherit it with Him! It is God that inherits what is His, but it is the saints whom He puts in possession, just as He puts Israel in possession of the land which, nevertheless, He reserves as His, and which, therefore, cannot be taken away from Him. "The land is Mine," He says: "ye are strangers and sojourners," -guests therefore, as such, thrown upon the goodness and liberality of Him who, as such, is entertaining them, -"ye are strangers and sojourners with Me." We inherit after the same manner: a blessed thing to know that it is not the inheritance of a lost Father, but the inheritance of One who dwells with us in it, that belongs to us. But He desires that we should know also the greatness of His power which is working towards us with regard to these very things, according to the working of the might of His strength. How He multiplies words that we might realize the energy that is at work, a power in which He has wrought in Christ; for the work done in Him is done for us all, and the good of it belongs to us all. God has raised Christ from the dead then, and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. The work is perfectly accomplished, and He only awaits the full answer to it on the part of God. The present answer is only the pledge of the full carrying out of all. His place is already above every principality and power and dominion and every name named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. He has put all things under His feet. Here it is the One then who has in His own hand the fulness of blessing for us, and this accomplishment already with regard to Him must have its present bearing upon our condition also, even while we are here in the world. God has given Him, in fact, to be Head over all things to the assembly which is His body, -Head over all things, which is that inheritance itself of which Paul has been speaking. He is Head in the full power of such a place to the assembly. All that is implied by the place He has, implies the blessing which is to be to the Church, united as it is to Him now in the nearest way that could be attained -His body; the apostle does not hesitate to add "the fulness of Him who filleth all in all." What things to bring together! Here is One who is possessor of divine fulness; no other could fill all in all, and yet the body is His fulness. He is not complete without it. In God’s thought and purpose, Christ would be incomplete if His body had not its place too; how near and wonderful a place, -"His body," filled with His love, energized with His mind, working out His thoughts as our bodies work out the thoughts and purposes of our minds! It is in resurrection, of course, that He becomes this Head. It is a human Head, blessed be God, though He be much more than human. That is the fitting Head to this human Body. Thus, the Church could have no existence until after He had risen from the dead. Search throughout the Old Testament, you will find nowhere the first hint, even, of any company of people as the body of Christ. You will find saints put under Him for blessing, you will find His rule over man, but such a relationship is to be found nowhere, such a relationship could not, in fact, exist until Christ as Man had risen from the dead and become, therefore, the fitting Head for such a body. Then the body itself must be brought into being, and thus the descent of the Spirit follows the ascent of Christ to the throne of God.

2. The apostle carries us back now to what, alas, was our previous fellowship. We have been called to the fellowship of Christ, but how good for us to look back and see what He has called us out of. "And you," he says, "hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." This is the first time in the epistles that we find such a statement with regard to man’s condition. The epistle to the Romans speaks of our being under death as the penalty upon our sins. It speaks of our being dead to sin as the effect of the new place of identification with Christ in His death, which God has given us; but now there is something more than this. It is man himself who is dead. That state, impracticable of help to any except God, is his. There is no possibility of self-help. There is no possibility of working out of that condition. No work is conceivable in such a state. This death is Godward. There is not anything which for Him constitutes life at all. He says that this is not a condition of irresponsibility, however, but the reverse. It is "in trespasses and sins" that men are dead; active enough, fully active in this character in which the epistle to the Romans has spoken of them, but dead as to the hopelessness of it, as to the total absence of all response to God which it implies. Activity there is enough, "in which ye once walked," he says, "according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power," or authority, "of the air, the spirit which now worketh in the sons of disobedience." This is what gives its character then to the course of this world, age, as it is literally, as we have seen; the whole period characterized by that which is away from God, and with the ruler over it who, as the ruler of the power of the air, is exhibited to us as having that complete control of the earth which the heavens have for fruitfulness or for disturbance. This ruler is the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. They are marked out as the sons of disobedience, as that which gives him title to the power which he manifests over them. How complete is this apostasy, then, from the blessed place in which God created man to be at the beginning, the one with whom He had come down to walk as with a friend. Nor was there any who did not share this place. "Among whom we also," he adds, we Jews as well as you Gentiles, "all once had our conversation in the lusts of our flesh." We had our common fellowship, terrible fellowship indeed, "in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the wills of the flesh and of the mind;" that is, the grosser or the more refined and spirit part of our nature, both alike evil and away from God. Thus we were "children of wrath by nature even as the rest." The Jew is in no wise exempt, but, on the contrary, as being in this condition in spite of all the blessing and privilege which God had bestowed upon him, is only, if possible, in a greater depth of evil than the Gentile. Such is man’s condition, then.

3. "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sins," -that is where God’s love lays hold upon us, not when there has been something right in us, not when we have begun to waken up and respond to the love which greets us from Him, but simply out of His love itself. "He has quickened us with Christ," and "by grace it is that we are saved," he adds in parenthesis. grace surely. He has given us life when in that condition. There is no condition possible between death and life, no life which could be true life except by His gift for those so fallen, so that here His love met us, doing the whole work from the beginning, quickening us, as he says, with Christ. He looks at it all as part of that same work which brought Christ up from the dead. As to the point of time, of course, we are individually quickened and brought up, but as to the character of the quickening, it is this from its being part of that redemptive work which is the fruit of His intervention for us. It is a life which, in fact, is the life of Him with whom we are quickened. It is a life which makes Him to be the "Firstborn" among human brethren. Christ is looked at here, of course, as the Representative of His people, not, therefore, in the title which belongs to Himself personally, but in that which He had earned by the work to which He stooped. Thus it is all part of the same work. We are with Him in character by virtue of this quickening. Our condition is changed into the total opposite of what it was, and not only is our condition changed, our position is changed. He has "raised us up together." Quickening and resurrection are different things. Quickening is communication of life. Resurrection is the bringing of the life into the place of the living. Christ’s resurrection has, in fact, given us this new place before God, as Romans has already taught us to say that we were justified by His resurrection. As His people, although justified now of course, when we become His people and not before, yet we look back to that resurrection of His which was the public sentence of God with regard to this. He has delivered us from every charge that could be made, from every question against us, by the resurrection of Christ. He has given us, therefore, a new and unassailable position in the One whom He has raised up. "He has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ." Notice the difference. He does not say with Christ" now any more. He is thinking simply of the representative character of Him who is seated in the heavenly places for us. We are actually quickened, we are actually raised up, we belong no more to the dead, whether as to the condition of our souls or as to the company in which we are.* We are actually quickened and raised up, but we are not actually sitting down in the heavenlies. We are virtually and representatively sitting there in the One who is before God for us. Thus we reach, as has. been said before, the height of Christian position. The epistle to the Romans has involved this already, for "in Christ" means the same thing there as here, but it is here put in the fullest and strongest way, it is developed in such a way as to make it practically a new thing for us. We would not be entitled to infer such things except we had divine warrant for them, but here we have the warrant. God has made us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ. Now comes the display of His glorious purpose as to this. It is "that He might show forth in the ages to come the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." We need not be surprised then that the place should be such a place of wonder! If God is going to show that which is indeed the fruit of Christ’s work and the display of the full purposes of His heart, it will be surely true that the fullest blessing possible is necessitated for this. God is acting, as it were, though only grace could say so, on His own account; but then with regard to us it is grace and nothing but grace. He adds that all the way through here: "For ye are saved by grace, through faith"; and as if that were not enough, he adds, "and this not of yourselves:" that is, as surely is meant here, the faith itself is not of us. It is not of us, but it is God’s gift. There is no principle of works, therefore, that any one may boast; nay, if you talk of works, we are His workmanship, and in such a way as He worked at the beginning in creation itself. We are His new creation, "His workmanship created in Christ Jesus." Here is what brings us, of course, into that scene of which the epistle to the Galatians has spoken to us. It is God’s work in us that has accomplished this, and "He has created us unto good works," such works "as He has afore prepared that we should walk in them." He has given us a nature which will be fruitful in us after the manner that He desires. He knows what He is doing and His purposes cannot fail of accomplishment. Thus, poorly (if we look at ourselves,) as we may rightly think of ourselves, the glory to come will display the full accomplishment of all that He has had in His heart to do; and the brethren of Christ will be such as even in this way He will not be ashamed to call His brethren.

{*It will be noticed that "together" suggests the union of Jew and Gentile, as later on in ver. 16, they are spoken of as reconciled "in one body" by the cross. Thus we not only are quickened and raised individually, but by the very fact that all believers are so, we have a common life and position, into which the previous distinction of Jew and Gentile cannot enter. -S.R.}

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 5

FOR THE EYES OF THE HEART

Eph_1:15-20

"BECAUSE of this": because you have heard the glad tidings, and believing it have been sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph_1:13-14). "I too": I your apostle, with so great an interest in your salvation, in return give thanks for you. Thus St. Paul, having extolled to the uttermost Gods counsel of redemption unfolded through the ages, claims to offer special thanksgiving for the faith of those who belong to his Gentile province and are, directly or indirectly, the fruit of his own ministry. {Eph_3:1-13}

The intermediate clause of Eph_1:15, describing the readers faith, is obscure. This form of expression occurs nowhere else in St. Paul; but the construction is used by St. Luke, -e.g., in Act_21:21 : "All the Jews which are among the Gentiles," where it implies diffusion over a wide area. This being a circular letter, addressed to a number of Churches scattered through the province of Asia, of whose faith in many cases St. Paul knew only by report, we can understand how he writes: "having heard of the faith that is (spread) amongst you."-"The love," completing "faith" in the ordinary text, {as in Col_1:4} is relegated by the Revisers to the margin, upon evidence that seems conclusive. The commentators, however, feel so strongly the harshness of this ellipsis that, in spite of the ancient witnesses, they read, almost with one consent, "your love toward all the saints." The variation of the former clause prepares us, however, for something peculiar in this. In Eph_1:13 we found St. Pauls thought fixed on the decisive fact of his readers "faith." On this he still dwells lingeringly. The grammatical link needed between "faith" and "unto all the saints" is supplied in the Revised Version by "ye show," after the analogy of Phm_1:5. Perhaps it might be supplied as grammatically, and in a sense better suiting the situation, by "is come." Then the coordinate prepositional phrases qualifying "faith" have both alike a. local reference, and we paraphrase the clause thus: "since I heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is spread amongst you, and whose report has reached all the saints." We are reminded of the thanksgiving for the Roman Church, "that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world." The success of the gospel in Asia gave encouragement to believers in Christ everywhere. St. Paul loves in this way to link Church to Church, to knit the bonds of faith between land and land: in this letter most of all; for it is his catholic epistle, the epistle of the Church oecumenical. In Eph_1:16 we pass from praise to prayer. God is invoked by a double title peculiar to this passage, as "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory." The former expression is in no way difficult. The apostle often speaks, as in Eph_1:3, of "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ": intending to qualify the Divine Fatherhood by another epithet, he writes for once simply of "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ." This reminds us of the dependence of the Lord Jesus upon the Eternal Father, and accentuates the Divine sovereignty so conspicuous in the foregoing Act of Praise. Christs constant attitude towards the Father was that of His cry of anguish on the cross, "My God, My God!" Yet He never speaks to men of our God. To us God is "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ," as He was to the men of old time "the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob." The key to the designation "Father of glory" is in Rom_6:4 : "Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father." In the light of this august manifestation of Gods power to save His lost sons in Christ, we are called to see light (Eph_1:19-20). Its glory shines already about Gods blessed name of Father, thrice glorified in the apostles praise (Eph_1:3-14). The title is the counterpart of "the Father of compassions "in 2Co_1:3. And now, what has the apostle to ask of the Father of men under these glorious appellations? He asks "a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, - the eyes of your heart enlightened, in order that you may know," etc. This recalls the emphasis with which in Eph_1:8 and Eph_1:9 he set "wisdom and intelligence" amongst the first blessings bestowed by Divine grace upon the Church. It was the gift which the Asian Churches at the present juncture most needed; this is just now the burden of the apostles prayers for his people.

The "spirit of wisdom and revelation" desired will proceed from the Holy Spirit dwelling in these Gentile believers (Eph_1:13). But it must belong to their own spirit and direct their personal mental activity, the spirit of revelation becoming "the spirit of their mind". {Eph_4:23} When St. Paul asks for "a spirit of wisdom and revelation, " he desires that his readers may have amongst themselves a fountain of inspiration and share in the prophetic gifts diffused through the Church. And "the knowledge-the full, deep knowledge of God is the sphere in which this richer inspiration and spiritual wisdom are exercised and nourished." Philosophy, taking man for its centre, says, Know thyself: only the inspired word, which proceeds from God, has been able to say, Know God.

The connection of the first clause of Eph_1:18 with the last of Eph_1:17 is not very clear in St. Pauls Greek; there is a characteristic incoherence of structure. The continuity of thought is unmistakable. He prays that through this inspired wisdom his readers may have their reason enlightened to see the grandeur and wealth of their religion. This is a vision for "the eyes of the heart." It is disclosed to the eye behind the eye, to the heart which is the true discerner. "The seeing eyes See best by the light in the heart that lies."

Yonder is an ox grazing in the meadow on a bright summers day. Round him is spread the fairest landscape, a broad stretch of herbage embroidered with flowers, the river gleaming in and out amongst the distant trees, the hills on both sides bounding the quiet valley, sunshine and shadows chasing each other as they leap from height to height. But of all this what sees the grazing ox? So much lush pasture and cool shade and clear water where his feet may plash when he is done feeding. In the same meadow there stands a poet musing, or a painter busy at his easel; and on the soul of that gifted man there descends, through eyes outwardly discerning no more than those of the beast at his side, a vision of wonder and beauty which will make all time richer. The eyes of the mans heart are opened, and the spirit of wisdom and revelation is given him in the knowledge of Gods work in nature.

Like differences exist amongst men in regard to the things of religion. "So foolish was I and ignorant," says the Psalmist, speaking of his former dejection and unbelief, "I was as a beast before Thee!" There shall be two men sitting side by side in the same house of prayer, at the same gate of heaven. The one sees heaven opened; he hears the eternal song; his spirit is a temple filled with the glory of God. The other sees the place and aspect of his fellow-worshippers; he hears the music of organ and choir, and the sound of some preachers voice. But as for anything besides, any influence from another world, it is no more to him at that moment than is the music in the poets soul or the colours on the painters canvas to the ox that eateth grass. It is not the strangeness and distance of Divine things alone that cause insensibility; their familiarity has the same effect. We know all this gospel so well. We have read it, listened to it, gone over its points of doctrine a hundred times. It is trite and easy to us as a worn glove. We discuss without a tremor of emotion truths the first whisper and dim promise of which once lifted mens souls into ecstasy, or cast them down into depths of shame and bewilderment so that they forgot to eat their bread. The awe of things eternal, the mystery of our faith, the Spirit of glory and of God rest on us no longer. So there come to be, as one hears it said, "gospel hardened" hearers-and gospel-hardened preachers! The eyes see-and see not; the ears hear-and hear not; the lips speak without feeling; "the heart is waxen fat." This is the nemesis of grace abused. It is the result that follows by an inevitable psychological law, where outward contact with spiritual truth is not attended with an inward apprehension and response. How do we need to pray, in handling these dread themes, for a true sense and savour of Divine things, -that there may be given, and ever given afresh to us "a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God." Three things the apostle desires that his readers may see with the hearts enlightened eyes: the hope to which God calls them, the wealth that He possesses in them, and the power which He is prepared to exert upon them as believing men.

I. What, then, is our "hope" in God? What is the ideal of our faith? For what purpose has God called us into the fellowship of His Son? What is our religion going to do for us and to make of us?

It will bring us safe home to heaven. It will deliver us from the present evil world, and preserve us unto Christs heavenly kingdom. God forbid that we should make light of "the hope laid up for us in the heavens," or cast it aside. It is an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. But is it the hope of our calling? Is this what St. Paul here chiefly signifies? We are very sure that it is not. But it is the one thing which stands for the hope of the gospel in many minds. "We trust that our sins are forgiven: we hope that we shall get to heaven!" The experience of how many Christian believers begins and ends there. We make of our religion a harbour of refuge, a soothing anodyne, an escape from the anguish of guilt and the fear of death; not a life-vocation, a grand pursuit. The definition we have quoted may suffice for the beginning and the end; but we need something to fill out that formula, to give body and substance, meaning and movement to the life of faith.

Let the apostle tell us what he regarded, for himself, as the end of religion, what was the object of his ambition and pursuit. "One thing I do," he writes to the Philippians, opening to them all his heart, -"One thing I do. I press towards the mark for the prize of my high calling of God in Christ Jesus." And what, pray, was that mark?-"that I may gain Christ and be found in Him!-that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain unto the final resurrection from the dead." Yes, Paul hopes for heaven; but he hopes for something else first, and most. It is through Christ that he sees heaven. To know Christ, to love Christ, to serve Christ, to follow Christ, to be like Christ, to be with Christ forever! - that is what St. Paul lived for. Whatever aim he pursues or affection he cherishes, Christ lies in it and reaches beyond it. In doing or in suffering, in his intellect and his heart, in his thoughts for himself or for others, Christ is all things to him and in all. When life is thus filled with Christ, heaven becomes, as one may say, a mere circumstance, and death but an incident upon the way, -in the souls everlasting pursuit of Christ. Behold, then, brethren, the hope of our calling. God could not call us to any destiny less or lower than this. It would have been unworthy of Him-and may we not say, unworthy of ourselves, if we are in truth His sons? From eternity the Father of spirits has predestined you and me to be holy and without blemish before Him, -in a word, to be conformed to the image of His Son. Every other hope is dross compared to this.

II. Another vision for the hearts eyes, still more amazing than that we have seen: "what is," St. Paul writes, "the riches of the glory of Gods inheritance in the saints."

We saw, in considering the eleventh and fourteenth verses (Eph_1:11, Eph_1:14), how the apostle, in characteristic fashion, plays upon the double aspect of the "inheritance," regarding it now as the heritage of the saints in God and again as His heritage in them. The former side of this relationship was indicated in the "hope of the Divine calling,"-which we live and strive for as it is promised us by God; and the latter comes out, by way of contrast, in this second clause. Eph_1:18 repeats in another way the antithesis of Eph_1:14 between our inheritance and Gods acquisition. We must understand that God sets great store by us His human children, and counts Himself rich in our affection and our service. How deeply it must affect us to know this, and to see the glory that in Gods eyes belongs to His possession in believing men.

What presumption is all this, some one says. How preposterous to imagine that the Maker of the worlds interests Himself in atoms like ourselves, -in the ephemera of this insignificant planet! But moral magnitudes are not to be measured by a foot-rule. The mind which can traverse the immensities of space and hold them in its grasp, transcends the things it counts and weighs. As it is amongst earthly powers, so the law may hold betwixt sphere and sphere in the system of worlds, in the relations of bodies terrestial and celestial to each other, that "God has chosen the weak things to put to shame the mighty, and the things that are not to bring to nought the things that are." Through the Church He is "making known to the potentates in the heavenly places His manifold wisdom". {Eph_3:10} The lowly can sing evermore with Mary in the Magnificat: "He that is mighty hath magnified me." If it be true that God spared not His Son for our salvation and has sealed us with the seal of His Spirit, if He chose us before the worlds foundation to be His saints, He must set upon those saints an infinite value. We may despise ourselves; but He thinks great things of us.

And is this, after all, so hard to understand? If the alternative were put to some owner of wide lands and houses full of treasure: "Now you must lose that fine estate, or see your own son lost and ruined! You must part with a hundred thousand pounds-or with your best friend!" there could be no doubt in such a case what the choice would be of a man of sense and worth, one who sees with the eyes of the heart. Shall we think less nobly of God than of a right-minded man amongst ourselves?-Suppose, again, that one of our great cities were so full of wealth that the poorest were housed in palaces and fared sumptuously every day, though its citizens were profligates and thieves and cowards! What would its opulence and luxury be worth? Is it not evident that "character" is the only possession of intrinsic value, and that this alone gives worth and weight to other properties? "The saints that are in the earth and the excellent" are earths riches.

So far as we can judge of His ways, the great God who made us cares comparatively little about the upholstery and machinery of the universe; but He cares immensely about men, about the character and destiny of men. There is nothing in all that physical science discloses for God to love, nothing kindred to Himself. "Hast thou considered My servant Job?" the Hebrew poet pictures Him saying before heaven and hell!-"Hast thou considered My servant Job?-a perfect man and upright: there is none like him in the earth." How proud God is of a man like that, in a world like this. Who can tell the value that the Father of glory sets upon the tried fidelity of His humblest servant here on earth; the intensity with which He reciprocates the confidence of one timid, trembling human heart, or the simple reverence of one little child that lisps His awful name? "He taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy!" Beneath His feet all the worlds lie spread in their starry splendour, our sun with its train of planets no more than one glimmering spot of light amongst ten thousand. But amidst this magnificence, what is the sight that wins His tender fatherly regard? "To that man will I look, that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at My word." Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity. The Creator rejoices in His works as at the beginning, the Lord of heaven and earth in His dominion. But these are not His "inheritance." That is in the love of His children, in the character and number of His saints. We are to be the praise of His glory.

Let us learn, then, to respect ourselves. Let us not take the worlds tinsel for wealth, and spend our time, like the man in Bunyans dream, scraping with "the muck-rake" while the crown of life shines above our head. The riches of a Church-nay, of any human community-lie not in its moneyed resources, but in the men and women that compose it, in their godlike attributes of mind and heart, in their knowledge, their zeal, their love to God and man, in the purity, the gentleness, the truthfulness and courage and fidelity that are found amongst them. These are the qualities that give distinction to human life, and are beautiful in the eyes of God and holy angels. "Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish."

III. One thing more we need to understand, or what we have seen already will be of little practical avail. We may see glorious visions, we may cherish high aspirations; and they may prove to be but the dreams of vanity. Nay, it is conceivable that God Himself might have wealth invested in our nature, a treasure beyond price, shipwrecked and sunk irrecoverably through our sin. What means exist for realising this inheritance? what power is there at work to recover these forfeited hopes, and that glory of God of which we have come so miserably short?

The answer lies in the apostles words: "That ye may know what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us that believe,"-a power measured by "the energy of the might of His strength which He wrought in the Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." This is the power that we have to count upon, the force that is yoked to the worlds salvation and is at the service of our faith. Its energy has turned the tide and reversed the stream of nature in the person of Jesus Christ and in the course of human history. It has changed death to life. Above all, it certifies the forgiveness of sin and releases us from its liabilities; it transforms the law of sin and death into the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. We preachers hear it said sometimes: "You live in a speculative world. Your doctrines are ideal and visionary, -altogether too high for men as they are and the world as we find it. Human nature and experience, the coarse realities of life, are all against you."

What would our objectors have said at the grave-side of Jesus?" The beautiful dreamer, the sublime idealist! He was too good for a world such as ours. It was sure to end like this. His ideas of life were utterly impracticable." So they would, have moralised. "And the good prophet talked -strangest fanaticism of all-of rising again on the third day! One thing at least we know, that the dead are dead and gone from us. No, we shall never see Jesus or His like again. Purity cannot live in this infected air. The grave ends all hope for men." But, despite human nature and human experience, He has risen again, He lives forever! That is the apostles message and testimony to the world. For those "who believe" it, all things are possible. A life is within our reach that seemed far off as earth from heaven. You may become a perfect saint.

From His open grave Christ breathed on His disciples, and through them on. all mankind, the Holy Spirit. This is the efficient cause of Christianity, -the Spirit that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. The limit to its efficacy lies in the defects of our faith, in our failure to comprehend what God gave us in His Son. Is any; thing now too hard for the Lord? Shall anything be called impossible, in the line of Gods promise and mans spiritual need? Can we put an arrest upon the working of this mysterious force, upon the Spirit of the new life, and say to it: Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther? Look at Jesus where He was-the poor, tortured, wounded body, slain by our sins, lying cold and still in Josephs grave: then lift up your eyes and see Him where He is, - enthroned in the worship and wonder of heaven! Measure by that distance, by the sweep and lift of that almighty Arm, the strength of the forces engaged to your salvation, the might of the powers at work through the ages for the redemption of humanity.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

1:15-23 Paul prays that his readers may have the spiritual understanding to grasp the full significance of God’s gifts (1:3-14).

1:15 Paul links faith in Christ with love for God’s people. Personal faith in Christ brings salvation, and salvation is expressed, above all, by a life of love (see Gal 5:6; Col 1:4; 1 Thes 1:3; 3:6; 5:8; 2 Thes 1:3; 1 Tim 1:14; 2:15; Titus 2:2).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Eph 1:15. Ἀκούσας, having heard) At a distance. This may be referred not only to those who were unknown to him by face, Col 1:4, but also to his most intimate acquaintances, Philem. Eph 1:5, in accordance with their present state.—πίστιν) Faith towards God in the Lord Jesus.—καὶ, and) Whosoever has faith and love, is a partaker of the whole blessing, Eph 1:3, etc. Hope is added, Eph 1:18.—πάντας, all) The distinguishing characteristic of Christianity.[15] Paul often includes all; ch. Eph 3:8-9; Eph 3:18; Eph 4:6; Eph 4:13; Eph 6:18; Eph 6:24.

[15] Is implied, in its embracing all in love.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_1:15.[109] Only now, after the general ascription of praise to God for the Christian economy of salvation, which had since Eph_1:3 flowed forth from him in an enraptured stream, does Paul reach that, with which he is wont on other occasions at once to beginthe thanksgiving to God for the Christian position of the readers, and intercession for them.

διὰ τοῦτο] has reference to Eph_1:13-14 : because this is the case, that ye too are in Christ and have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, etc. See already Theophylact. There is no reason for going farther back and referring it to the whole preceding development from Eph_1:3 onward (Harless, Winzer, Schenkel, and others, following Oecumenius), since thanksgiving and intercession have reference to the readers, and it is only Eph_1:13 that has led over to the latter.

κἀγώ] I also; for Paul knows that by his exercise of prayer, Eph_1:16, he is co-operating with the readers. Comp. on Col_1:9.

ἀκούσας] does not serve to prove that the Epistle could not have been written to the Ephesians, or not to them alone (see Introd. § 1); Grotius in fact has already aptly remarked: Loquitur autem apostolus de profectu evangelii apud Ephesios, ex quo ipse ab illis discesserat. Comp. Winzer, p. 5; Wiggers in the Stud. u. Krit. 1841, p. 430 f.; Wieseler, p. 445; and already Theodoret in loc. No doubt Olshausen (comp. Bleek) maintains that Paul so expresses himself as to make it apparent that with a great proportion of his readers he was not personally acquainted, appealing to Col_1:4. But may he not here, as at Phm_1:5, have heard respecting those who were known to him, what at Col_1:4 he has heard respecting those who were previously unknown to him?

τὴν καθʼ ὑμᾶς πίστιν] fidem, quae ad vos pertinet, i.e. vestram fidem. Comp. Act_17:28; Act_18:15; Act_26:3. Thuc. vi. 16. 5 (τῷ κατʼ αὐτοὺς βίῳ); Ael. V. H. ii. 12 (ἡ κατʼ αὐτὸν ἀρετή). The difference between ἡ καθʼ ὑμᾶς πίστις and ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν lies only in the form of conception, not in the thing itself. Yet the mode of expression, not occurring elsewhere in the letters of the apostle, belongs to the peculiar phenomena of our Epistle. The assertion of Harless, that it denotes the faith of the readers objectively, as in itself a thing to be found among them, while ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν denotes it subjectively, according to its individual character in each one (comp. Matthies and Schenkel), is the less capable of proof, in proportion to the prevalent use among the later Greeks of the periphrasis of the genitival relation by κατά. See Valckenaer, ad Luc. p. 4 f.; Schaefer, ad Long. p. 330; Wesseling, ad Diod. Sic. xiv. 12.

ἐν τῷ κυρίῳ] belonging to πίστιν (fidem vestram in Christo repositam), and blended without any connecting article into unity of idea with it. See on Gal_3:26. Winzer connects it with ὑμᾶς: fidem, quae vobis, Domino Jesu veluti insitis, … inest; but this is forbidden by the order of the words.

καὶ τὴν ἀγάπ. τὴν εἰς πάντας κ.τ.λ.] Here, too, Paul might have left out the second article, so that the sense would be: καὶ τὸ ἀγάπην ὑμᾶς ἔχειν εἰς πάντας (comp. Col_1:4), as at 2Co_7:7 : τὸν ὑμῶν ζῆλον ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ. But he has first thought of the notion of love in itself, and then added thereto, as a special important element, the thought, τὴν εἰς πάντας τ. ἀγ.

πάντας character Christianismi, Bengel. Comp. Eph_6:18; Phm_1:5. We may add Chrysostoms apt remark: πανταχοῦ συνάπτει καὶ συγκολλᾷ τὴν πίστιν καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην θαυμαστήν τινα ξυνωρίδα. Comp. Gal_5:6; 1 Corinthians 13.

[109] On vv. 1519, see Winzer, Commentat., Lips. 1836.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 1:15-23 . SECOND SECTION OF THE EPISTLE: in which the writer expresses his own feelings and desires towards the Ephesians, and in doing so leads them to the highest conception both of Christ’s own supremacy and of the grandeur of that Church of His of which they had been made members. The wonders of the grace thus shown them give him occasion, he tells them, for increasing thanksgiving. But his thanksgiving also prompts him to prayer on their behalf. Seeing to what they had already attained in the Christian life into which that marvellous grace had brought them, especially in faith and in brotherly love, his prayer is that they may increase in these yet more and more, and in particular that they may have an enlarging insight into the hope that springs from their calling, the inheritance which is reserved for them, and the present power of Christ which is the guarantee for all that they have and look for.

Eph 1:15 . Διὰ τοῦτο κἀγώ : For this cause I too . διὰ τοῦτο might cover the contents of the entire preceding paragraph, pointing back to Eph 1:3 and indicating that in his thanksgiving to God, in behalf of these Ephesians, the Apostle had in his mind the whole counsel and eternal choice of God of which he first made mention, and the whole operation of grace in the lives of the Ephesians in the several particulars afterwards instanced. In view, however, of the transition from the more general “us” to the more definite “ye also” in Eph 1:13 it is probably more accordant with the tenor of thought to take the διὰ τοῦτο to refer to the signal manifestation of God’s grace in the sealing of these believers, who had been taken from the dark pagan world, with the Spirit which was both assurance and foretaste of an inheritance undreamt of in their heathenism. The κἀγώ is best explained by the same καὶ ὑμεῖς . It means simply “I on my side,” and does not imply as some, including, even Meyer, suppose, that the writer was thinking of a co-operation between those addressed and himself in thanksgiving and prayer. ἀκούσας τὴν καθʼ ὑμᾶς πίστιν ἐν τῷ Κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ : having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus . It has been wrongly inferred from the ἀκούσας that the writer had no personal acquaintance with those addressed and knew of their conversion only by the report of others. Philemon was well known to Paul, who spake of him indeed as his ἀγαπητός , his συνεργός , and his son in the faith (Eph 1:19 ). Yet Paul uses with reference to him almost the same terms as those used here εὐχαριστῶ … μνείαν σου ποιούμενος … ἀκούων σου τὴν ἀγάπην καὶ τὴν πίστιν κ . τ . λ . (Eph 1:4-5 ). Besides, what the writer speaks of here is not their conversion but their faith and love, and it is only in harmony with all that we know of Paul that he should have used every opportunity of keeping himself in communication with them and watching their progress. Through Tychicus, or some other visitor or messenger, tidings of their Christian walk may have come to him now ( cf. Introduction). In any case he finds his first and foremost reason for thanksgiving in the report of the way in which the fundamental Christian requirement was made good among them that of faith , their faith in the Lord Jesus Himself. The phrase here is not the usual τὴν ὑμετέραν πίστιν , or τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν , but τὴν καθʼ ὑμᾶς πίστιν . The sense, however, is substantially the same. Some good grammarians indeed seek to establish a distinction between the two phrases, and claim a special partitive or distributive sense for the one with κατά . Ellicott, e.g. , points to the fact that the form ἡ καθʼ ὑμᾶς πίστις is adopted only once by Paul, while πίστις ὑμῶν occurs some seventeen times in his Epistles, and concludes on the whole that the former may denote “the faith of the community viewed objectively,” “ the faith which is among you ,” whereas the latter expresses “the subjective faith of individuals”. Alford, also, gives the former the sense of the “faith which prevails among you” (on the analogy of τῷ κατʼ αὐτοὺς βίῳ in Thuc., vi., 16), and takes it to imply that some in the Ephesian Church may not have had the faith. So the RV gives in its text “the faith … which is among you”; marg., “ in you”. But the analogies referred to ( e.g. , τῷ νόμῳ τῷ ὑμετέρῳ , Joh 8:17 , as contrasted with νόμου τοῦ καθʼ ὑμᾶς in Act 18:15 ; cf. Ell.) scarcely bear this out, and there is much to show that the latter form had become, or was on the way to become, simply a periphrasis for the former. Such phrases as ὡς καί τινες τῶν καθʼ ὑμᾶς ποιητῶν ; the above νόμου τοῦ καθʼ ὑμᾶς ; and τῶν κατὰ Ἰουδαίους ἐθῶν (Act 17:28 ; Act 18:15 ; Act 26:3 ) may be thus explained; and in later Greek κατά with an acc. is frequently used where the older classical Greek would have had the gen. case, e.g. , ἡ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπόθεσις = the resignation of government , Diod., S., i., 65. So, while in the NT κατά may usually retain its distributive force, in cases where it is followed by the acc. of a personal pronoun it may mean nothing more than the poss. adj. or the gen. of the personal pronoun. As Buttmann points out, strictly speaking it is not so much that “the case was periphrased but that the prepositional phrase displaced the simple case”; as it was easy for the Greek language to make prepositional phrases dependent immediately upon substantives, and natural, therefore, for it in its later developments to carry this further and employ “prepositional expressions even where the earlier language still preferred the simple case” ( Gram. of N. T. Greek , p. 156; cf. Bernhardy’s Syntax , p. 241; Win.-Moult., pp. 199, 241, 499; Blass, Gram. of N. T. Greek , p. 133). καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους : and your love toward all the saints . The reading is uncertain. The Received Text inserts τὴν ἀγάπην , which has the support of such authorities as [79] [80] [81] [82] [83] , Syr., Boh., Lat., Copt., Goth., Thdrt., etc., and is adopted by Tisch, and Tregelles (the latter bracketing it in margin). It is regarded by WH as a Western and Syrian insertion from Col 1:4 . The τὴν ἀγάπην is omitted by [84] [85] [86] [87] , 17, Orig., Cyr., Jer., etc., and is deleted by Lach., WH and RV. The documentary evidence is on the side of the omission. But the difficulty is to find in that case a suitable sense. Hort thinks that Phm 1:5 furnishes a parallel, as it might be rendered (with RV marg.) “hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints”. But the love is expressed there. Dale would render it “having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which is among you and shown toward all the saints,” as if the point of the latter clause was the reality or manifestation of the faith. But in the Greek there is nothing corresponding to the “shown”. The πίστις , in short, if it belongs to both clauses, must be introduced in two different aspects, as belief in the first clause and as faithfulness in the second. But in the absence of any intimation of a double presentation of πίστις this is awkward exceedingly. The Revisers nevertheless render it “the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and which ye shew toward all the saints”. The insertion in any case is of early date, and the omission may have been due to the eye of some ancient scribe being deceived by the two occurrences of τὴν . The grace in question, whether their love or their faithfulness, was of catholic quality, taking all the saints for its objects.

[79] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[80] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[81] Codex Boernerianus (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthæi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis ( δ ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.

[82] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[83] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[84] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[85] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[86] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[87] Codex Porphyrianus (sæc. ix.), at St. Petersburg, collated by Tischendorf. Its text is deficient for chap. Eph 2:13-16 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 1:15 to Eph 2:10. THANKSGIVING PASSING INTO PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL INSIGHT

This section corresponds to the section of thanksgiving which in all St Paul’s Epistles except Gal., 1 Tim. and Tit. follows directly after the salutation. Such a section (see Robinson’s Excursus, pp. 275 ff.) is often found in the familiar correspondence of the time as evidenced by the Egyptian papyri. In St Paul the delicate adaptation of the subjects chosen for thanksgiving to the circumstances of the persons whom he is addressing shows that his language is as far removed as possible from the formal and the conventional. In his letters the section helps to prepare the way for the teaching and even for the reproof that is to follow by its generous recognition of all that is best in his correspondents, and by bringing the whole of his communication with them from the first into the realized presence of God.

15. Διὰ τοῦτο. Because this is our true Christian position.

ἀκούσας. Cf. Col 1:4; Col 1:9, and (virtually) Rom 1:8. This language would be unnatural if the letter were exclusively addressed to the Ephesians. There is nothing corresponding to it in the letters to the Churches of his own founding. Philemon Eph 1:5 ἀκούων (cf. 3Jn 1:4) = as I continue to hear. Philemon was an old friend. The news had most probably been brought by Epaphras. See Intr. p. lxxvii.

τὴν καθʼ ὑμᾶς. In the light of fresh evidence from papyri this is best taken as a periphrasis for ὑμῶν.

ἐν τῷ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ. Cf. on Eph 1:1. This faith is theirs as alive to God in Jesus acknowledged as their Lord. In Phm 1:5 εἰς τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν, the Lord Jesus is the object of their faith.

καὶ τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους. If this is the true reading it must describe the faith as reaching out in its effect to all the saints, e.g. by leading to the recognition of the bond of spiritual brotherhood by which we are linked to one another in Christ. This is however an extremely difficult construction which has no real parallel in N.T. In Phm 1:5 the presence of ἀγάπην makes all the difference. εἰς is found with ἀγάπη in the closely parallel phrase Col 1:4; and also in 2Co 2:4; 1Pe 4:8; cf. 1Th 3:12; 2Th 1:3. Other passages to which Hort (W.H. Ap. in loc.) refers, Tit 3:15; Gal 5:6; Eph 3:17, are valuable as showing that faith and love are combined naturally in all Christian activity both towards God and towards man (cf. Eph 6:23; 1Th 5:8; 1Ti 1:14; 2Ti 1:13), but they only make the absence of a specific reference to love here the less natural. It seems therefore that the true reading must be sought here in the Versions which with one voice insert ‘love.’ The form that this reading takes in the best Greek MSS. that contain it is in DG καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην εἰς πάντας. It is tempting, however, to suggest that the original reading was without the article before ἀγάπην. The whole sentence would then run τὴν καθʼ ὑμᾶς πίστιν ἐν τῷ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ καὶ ἀγάπην εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους, the thought being that the faith and the love were both characteristic of the ‘Ephesians,’ and enjoyed in the Lord Jesus, and directed towards all the saints. The reading ⲕⲁⲓⲧⲏⲛ would then be a very early corruption of ⲕⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏⲛ owing to a misreading of the contraction for ⲕⲁⲓ. Cf. Hort’s conj. on Rom 4:12.

εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους. Cf. (with Whitaker) Eph 3:18, Eph 6:18. The faith or the love (or the faith and the love) of these Gentile Christians was a link uniting them with the whole Body consisting of Jew and Gentile.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_1:15-23

Analysis

Having in the preceding Section unfolded the nature of those blessings of which the Ephesians had become partakers, the apostle gives thanks to God for their conversion, and assures them of their interest in his prayers, Eph_1:15, Eph_1:16. He prays that God would give them that wisdom and knowledge of himself of which the Spirit is the author, Eph_1:17; that their eyes might be enlightened properly to apprehend the nature and value of that hope which is founded in the call of God; and the glory of the inheritance to be enjoyed among the saints, Eph_1:18; and the greatness of that power which had been already exercised in their conversion, Eph_1:19. The power which effected their spiritual resurrection, was the same as that which raised Christ from the dead, and exalted him above all created beings and associated him in the glory and dominion of God, Eph_1:20, Eph_1:21. To him all things are made subject, and he is constituted the supreme head of the church, which is his body, the fullness or complement of the mystical person of him who fills the universe with his presence and power, Eph_1:22, Eph_1:23.

Commentary

Eph_1:15

Wherefore. This word is to be referred either to the whole preceding paragraph, or specially to Eph_1:13. Because you Ephesians, you Gentile Christians, have obtained a portion in this inheritance, and, after having believed, have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, etc. I also, i.e. as well as others, and especially yourselves. The Ephesians might well be expected to be filled with gratitude for their conversion. The apostle assures them he joins them in their perpetual thanksgiving over this glorious event.

Having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus. As Paul was the founder of the church in Ephesus and had labored long in that city, it has always excited remark that he should speak of having heard of their faith, as though he had no personal acquaintance with them. This form of expression is one of the reasons why many have adopted the opinion, as mentioned in the Introduction, that this epistle was addressed not to the Ephesians alone or principally, but to all the churches in the western part of Asia Minor. It is, however, not unnatural that the apostle should speak thus of so large and constantly changing a congregation, after having been for a time absent from them. Besides, the expression need mean nothing more than that he continued to hear of their good estate. The two leading graces of the Christian character are faith and love faith in Christ and love to the brethren. Of these, therefore, the apostle here speaks. Your faith; τὴν καθ ̓ ὑμᾶς πίστιν, which either means the faith which is with you; or as our version renders the words, your faith. Compare in the Greek Act_17:28; Act_18:15. Faith in the Lord Jesus, i.e. faith or trust which has its ground in him. For examples of the construction of πίστις with ἐν, see Gal_3:26; Col_1:4; 1Ti_1:14; 1Ti_3:13; 2Ti_1:13; 2Ti_3:15. Compare Mar_1:15, and in the Septuagint Jer_12:6; Psa_78:22. This construction, though comparatively rare, is not to be denied, nor are forced interpretations of passages where it occurs to be justified, in order to get rid of it.

In the Old Testament the phrases, the Lord said, the Lord did, our Lord, and the like, are of constant occurrence; and are used only, in this general way, of the Supreme God. We never hear of the Lord, nor our Lord, when reference is had to Moses or any other of the prophets. In the New Testament, however, what is so common in the Old Testament in reference to God, is no less common in reference to Christ. He is the Lord; the Lord Jesus; our Lord, etc., etc. It is this constant mode of speaking, together with the exhibition of his divine excellence, and holding him up as the object of faith and love, even more than any particular declaration, which conveys to the Christian reader the conviction of his true divinity. His being the object of faith and the ground of trust to immortal beings, is irreconcilable with any other assumption than that he is the true God and eternal life.

And love towards all the saints, i.e. towards those who are saints; those who have been cleansed, separated from the world, and consecrated to God. This love is founded upon the character and relations of its objects as the people of God, and therefore it embraces all the saints.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He returneth to the former gratulation, concluding two things together of those things that went before: the first is, that all good things come to us from God the Father in Christ, and by Christ, that for them he may be praised of us. The second is that all those things (which he bringeth to two heads, to wit, faith and charity) are increased in us by certain degrees, so that we must desire increase of his grace from whom we have the beginning, and of whom we hope for the end.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Wherefore--because ye are in Christ and sealed by His Spirit (Eph 1:13-14).

I also--on my part, in return for God's so great benefits to you.

after I heard--ever since I have heard. Not implying that he had only heard of their conversion: an erroneous argument used by some against the address of this Epistle to the Ephesians (see on Eph 1:1); but referring to the report he had heard since he was with them, as to their Christian graces. So in the case of Philemon, his "beloved fellow laborer" (Plm 1:1), he uses the same words (Plm 1:4-5).

your faith--rather, as Greek, "the faith among you," that is, which many (not all) of you have.

love unto all the saints--of whatever name, simply because they are saints. A distinguishing characteristic of true Christianity (Eph 6:24). "Faith and love he often joins together. A wondrous pair" [CHRYSOSTOM]. Hope is added, Eph 1:18.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. Faith in the Lord Jesus] Cordial reception of the Christian religion, amply proved by their love to all the saints-to all the Christians. Perhaps love here implies, not only the kind affection so called, but also all the fruits of love-benevolence, and kind offices of every description.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Wherefore I also. This thanksgiving was not simply an expression of his ardent love to the Ephesians. He congratulated them before God, that the opinion which he had formed respecting them was highly favorable. Observe here, that under faith and love Paul includes generally the whole excellence of Christian character. He uses the expression, faith in the Lord Jesus, because Christ is the aim and object of faith. Love ought to embrace all men, but here the saints are particularly mentioned; because love, when properly regulated, begins with them, and is afterwards extended to all others. If our love must have a view to God, the nearer any man approaches to God, the stronger unquestionably must be his claims to our love.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(15) After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints.—These words have an almost exact parallel in Col_1:4, addressed there to a church which St. Paul had not seen, and have been quoted in support of the belief that this Epistle cannot have been addressed, properly and solely, to the well-known Ephesian Church. They are not, however, decisive, for we have a similar expression to Philemon (Phm_1:5), St. Paul’s own convert.

We may note a distinction between “faith in the Lord Jesus” and “faith towards the Lord Jesus” (like “the love towards the saints”). Comp. 2Ti_1:13 (“faith and love in Christ Jesus”). “Faith in Christ” is a faith which, centred in Christ, nevertheless rests through Him on the Father; recognising a “life hid with him in God” (Col_3:3) and a sonship of God in Christ Jesus (Gal_3:26). The connection of the two clauses here shows that such a faith abounds (i.e. overflows) unto love, first necessarily to God, so being made perfect (Gal_5:6), but next towards all His children. For “this commandment we have from Him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also” (1Jn_4:21).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore I also,.... As well as others:

after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus; who is the immediate object of faith, and a very proper and suitable one; having every thing in him that is agreeable to the case and circumstances of those that trust in him. And the grace of faith, which terminates on him, is a seeing him, a beholding the glory of his person, and the fulness of his grace; a going to him, and venturing on him; a laying hold upon him, and embracing of him; a committing all unto him, and a leaning and depending on him, and a living upon him, and a walking on in him.

And love unto all the saints: whether Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, greater or lesser believers, of meaner gifts, or larger abilities; and which love was unfeigned, fervent, active, and laborious; and which is the evidence of regeneration, and without which a profession is in vain. These two graces, faith and love, are inseparable; they always go together, and are to be found in the same persons; and where they are, they cannot be hid, as they were not in these Ephesians; their faith was professed by them, and was made public, and their love showed itself in deeds, as well as in words, to the saints: hence the apostle came to hear of them both, upon the certain relation of others; for these things were come abroad, and were talked of; See Gill on Col 1:3. See Gill on Col 1:4. See Gill on Plm 1:4. See Gill on Plm 1:5.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

Ver. 15. Your faith in the Lord Jesus] Love is the fruit of faith, therefore the apostles pray for increase of faith, that they might be able seven times a day to forgive an offending brother, Luk 17:5. {See Trapp on "Luk 17:5"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus - This is one of the passages usually relied on by those who suppose that this Epistle was not written to the Ephesians. The argument is, that he writes to them as if they were strangers to him, and that it is not language such as would be used in addressing a people among whom he had spent three years; see the introduction, section 5. But this inference is not conclusive. Paul had been some years absent from Ephesus when this Epistle was written. In the difficult communication in those times between distant places, it is not to be supposed that he would hear often from them. Perhaps he had heard nothing after the time when he bade farewell to the elders of Ephesus at Miletus Acts 20, until the time here referred to. It would be, therefore, a matter of great interest with him to hear from them; and when in some way intelligence was brought to him at Rome of a very gratifying character about their growth in piety, he says that his anxiety was relieved, and that he did not cease to give thanks for what he had heard, and to commend them to God in prayer.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Wherefore....hearing of your constancy in the faith of Christ, and of your charitable love to all the saints, or faithful, I give always thanks to God; I pray that God may be more revealed to you, that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, (ver. 18) that you may know what ground you have to hope in the transcendent greatness of God’s almighty power, who raised Christ from the dead, (ver. 20) and set him on his right hand in heaven, above all the choirs and orders of blessed spirits, putting all things under his feet, making him, as man, head over all his Church militant on earth, and triumphant in heaven: which Church is his mystical body, who is filled all in all, (ver. 23) or as others have translated, who filleth all in all; the sense is, that the glory of Christ, as head of all, is filled and increased by the salvation and happiness of all his chosen members, and of all his elect, to the end of the world. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

After I heard; he was an eye-witness of their first believing, but here he speaks of their increase and constancy in the faith since, of which he had heard by others.

Of your faith in the Lord Jesus; i.e. not barely a belief of Christ’s excellencies, but a belief of his being their Saviour, their receiving and relying on him as such, and so a believing in him as the immediate object of their faith, and him by whom they believed in God, 1Pe 1:21.

And love unto all the saints; this is added to show the truth of their faith, which works by love.

Love to the saints is mentioned, as an evidence of their love to God; and to all the saints to show the sincerity of that love, in its not being partial, but respecting all saints, and therefore saints as saints.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 15-23. PRAYER FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL GROWTH.

Wherefore I also, having heard of the faith among you in the Lord Jesus, and your love which extends to all the saints. The "wherefore" has reference to their present standing in grace, described in the verses preceding: since ye have heard, believed, been sealed, and thereby shown to be in the right line, I apply myself towards promoting your progress, towards advancing you to the higher stages of the Christian life. Special mention is made of their faith and love, as cardinal Christian graces, to which elsewhere the apostle adds hope (1Co_13:13; 1Th_1:3; 2Th_1:3) The literal expression, faith among you" (kaq uJmav), indicates that it was a marked social feature, but perhaps not universal; while their love was not mere general amiability, but a love that embraced the saints as such, having a special complacency in them, and being directed to them all. If it be asked Could this knowledge of the condition of his correspondents have been derived from hearsay ("having heard") if the letter was addressed to the Ephesians, among whom Paul had lived so long, and whose condition he must have known by personal intercourse? (Act_19:10 Act_20:31) we reply that, though he derived his first acquaintance from personal intercourse, it was some years since he had been at Ephesus, and the ajkousav refers to what he had heard in the interval (see Introduction).

Vers. 15-23.

Prayer for spiritual growth.

General characteristics of Paul"s prayers (see Exposition, ver. 16). The prayer is

(1) retrospective;

(2) prospective.

I RETROSPECTIVE. Consists of thanksgiving (ver. 16). Happy key-note for prayer.

II PROSPECTIVE. Of supplication. Here we may note:

1. The name by which God is invoked (ver. 17; see Exposition).

2. The blessing sought, viz. further illumination in the knowledge of God"s will.

1. The points needing to be more fully revealed, viz.:

1. The hope of his calling, or to which he calls.

2. The riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

3. The greatness of his power toward believers.

1. The working of God"s power in Christ, as foreshadowing his working in believers.

1. In his resurrection.

2. In his elevation to God"s right hand.

3. In his universal dominion.

4. In his relation to the Church.

To what a glorious elevation we are carried in such prayers! We seem to luxuriate in infinite stores of blessing. Observe, again, that all is connected with Christ and his redemption. If the power that raised Christ should raise us, to what a glorious elevation should we rise!

Vers. 15-23.

Paul"s first prayer for the Ephesians.

Having spoken of the inspiration of the adopted children, the apostle proceeds next to his first prayer on their behalf. He has a still more remarkable prayer in Ephesians 3., but the present one is most instructive too. It begins, as usual, with thanksgiving for the faith towards the Lord Jesus, and love to all the saints which the Ephesians cherish. This need not detain us, but we may at once proceed to the substance of his petition for them. In a word, it is that they may know spiritually the Divine purpose regarding them, and thus be able the better to co-operate with God in the fulfillment of it. This Divine purpose is determined by the Divine power, and the progress of the Christian is simply an experience of "the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power." The point of the passage and of the prayer consists in the measure of the mighty power. This is found in the experience of Christ. His experience, in fact, becomes the measure of the Christian"s hope. When the Father can do such wonders in the person of Christ and in the interests of Christ"s people, how much may we expect him to do for ourselves!

I THE FATHER SHOWED HIS MIGHTY POWER IN RAISING CHRIST FROM THE DEAD. (Ver. 20.) The mighty power of God is illustrated in the work of creation; but, as A. Monod pointedly puts it, "Creation is an emanation; resurrection is a victory." Christ was dead; apparently he had been vanquished; the king of terrors seemed supreme. But the first day of the week dawned upon a risen Savior," and the Father"s mighty power received ample illustration. Now, it must have been a marvelous experience for our Savior to Dass from death into newness of life. For the life after he rose was different from the life before he suffered. It was immortal. He could henceforth die no more. Hence he said in apocalyptic vision, "I am he that liveth, and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore." It was thus a transformation from mortality to immortality, from death to everlasting life. The previous resurrections, as far as we know, were only to mortal life. The children raised by Elijah, Elisha, and Christ, and the adults as well, rose to die once more. So that previous resurrections were only foreshadowings of the resurrection of Jesus out of death into life eternal.

II THE FATHER SHOWED HIS MIGHTY POWER IN CAUSING CHRIST TO ASCEND TO HIS OWN RIGHT HAND IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES. (Vers. 20, 21.) Had Christ been left in this world with his immortal nature, he would have had a wide sphere for influence and authority. The opposing terrestrial powers would have gone down before him in due season, and an emancipated world been the result. But when we consider how limited in size this earth is compared with the rest of the system, we can understand how the Father would resolve to put his best beloved Son in a wider sphere of influence than this world affords. What principalities, powers, mights, and dominions lie beyond this "little sand-grain of an earth" we cannot yet tell; but we are assured here of one fact, that the Father has set the Son above them all, at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Now, the "right hand of God" means the seat of power. It is the very focus and center of that mighty energy which we are now considering. Consequently the Father has lifted the Son in his immortal human nature into the very center of power, and given him the universe as his empire. This, again, must have been a marvelous experience for Christ. What a joyful enlargement! To pass out of the narrowness and provincialism of this tiny world into the magnificence of a universal empire; to have all created things and beings as his subjects; to be supreme Administrator under the infinite Father; this must have been a mighty and a joyful experience for the risen Christ.

III THE FATHER SHOWED HIS MIGHTY POWER IN PUTTING ALL THINGS UNDER CHRIST"S FEET. (Ver. 22.) The administration is thus guaranteed to be triumphant. Some portions of the vast empire may be rebellious. They may refuse the reign of the Man Christ Jesus. Their rash words may be, "We will not have this Man to reign over us." But they are only putting themselves under the feet of the reigning Christ. Their defeat is certain; the Father"s mighty power is pledged to Christ"s supremacy. And though, in the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews, "we see not yet all things put under him, we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor," and this is the Father"s pledge of ultimate triumph.

IV THE FATHER SHOWED HIS MIGHTY POWER IN GIVING CHRIST THE HEADSHIP OF THE CHURCH. (Vers. 22, 23.) Now, the administration of a state and the headship of a Church are very distinct things. If the Church is the body and Christ the Head, then it stands in closer relations to Christ than subjects do to any sovereign. Christ thinks for the Church; the Church acts for Christ. Just as the body is the instrument of the head, carrying out in the details of practical life the commandments of the head, the seat of the mind and will, so the Chinch is designed to be the instrument in the hand of Christ for the carrying out of his purposes. What a mighty power is needed to bring about a relation so close as this! What gracious power is needed to subdue the individual self-will, and enforce submission to the will and the word of the living Head! This intimate and glorious union between believers and their Lord is what the mighty power of the Father has brought and is bringing about, and this again must be a glorious experience on the part of Christ.

Here, then, we have resurrection, ascension, enthronement, and headship all secured to the once dead Christ by the mighty power of the Father. In such a system what possibilities are opened up for each of us! If this is the measure of the Father"s mighty power, which Paul invoked on behalf of his Ephesian converts, truly they may lift up their heads in hope of redemption, complete and glorious, drawing nigh. The more we meditate upon the mighty power of the gracious Father, the more we are assured that mighty grace shall be manifested to us as we need it. When our Lord has had such experience granted him, his members may expect similar experiences in their season. We shall see a parallelism in the experience when we advance to the succeeding section. R.M.E.

Vers. 15-23.

Prayer for the Ephesians.

I FOUNDED ON INFORMATION.

1. Regarding their faith. "For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you." He had already more than once referred to their Christian faith; he refers to it now as ground for his prayer on their behalf. We are to pray for "all men," even for unbelievers; but whoever through faith are admitted into the same Christian circle, claim a special interest in our prayers.

2. Regarding their faith as manifested saintward. And which ye show toward all the saints." "Love" is omitted in the Revised translation; but the thought must be faith working through love." It was toward the saints. They were saints themselves (ver. 1); they were kind to the saints as to those who were actuated by the same lofty sentiments. They recognized them as having the first claim on their sympathies, according to the order laid down in Gal_6:10. It was toward all the saints. They exhibited catholicity. They did not confine their interest to their own immediate circle, but extended it to the whole circle of the saints. They did not boast of their superiority to other Churches, but were able to appreciate Christian excellence wherever it was to be found. They were not restrained in the outgoings of their brotherly love by any difference in unessentials.

II IT COMBINED TWO THINGS.

1. Thanksgiving for them. "Cease not to give thanks for you." His information supplied him with matter for thanksgiving. He heard of their faith and its manifestations, and so he thanked God for them. This is a very interesting part of our priestly office. All joys of others we then make ours.

I saw thee eye the gen"ral mirth With boundless love.

We can only do this when we turn to God in thanksgivings for all men. (1Ti_2:1) The apostle had peculiar delight in the Ephesians; and as their faith was genuine, and was ever receiving new manifestations, his thanksgiving for them was unceasing.

2. Intercession for them. "Making mention of you in my prayers." He was in the habit of praying for the Churches by name, as a parent prays for his children by name. They were among the number prayed for, from the time of their becoming a Church. He had special points of interest connected with them. He had been long resident there, and he had not forgotten the affectionate leave-taking at Miletus. And having kept up his information regarding their affairs, he was supplied with matter for intercession. Observe the twofold use of information. It is important to circulate missionary information, that we may be supplied with subjects for thanksgiving. "Daily shall he be praised" as the result of praying for Christ continually (in an unsaved world) and giving of the gold of Sheba; but how shall we praise unless we have the means of hearing? It is important also to know the condition of Churches and of individuals, that our prayer for them may be more intelligent, and may not, from vagueness and indirectness, miss the mark.

III IN WHAT CHARACTER GOD IS ADDRESSED IN PRAYER. "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory." As is not unusual in prayer, God receives a name from what is to be prayed for. The prayer is to relate to glory; and so God is styled sublimely the "Father of glory." The glory in store for us is not from ourselves; it is from God. To him all glory essentially belongs, and by him as Father it must be produced in us. The first part of the designation is striking; it cannot be said to be startling. That God should be called "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ" is in keeping with the language of human dependence on the cross: "My God, my God," and also with the language of identity with his own before his ascension: "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God." Using this language, we identify ourselves with Jesus Christ as our Lord. Taken along with the other part of the designation, the meaning is that God is the First Cause (Father) of that glory which Jesus Christ has obtained for us, and which it belongs to him as our Lord to bestow.

IV IT IS A PRAYER GENERALLY TO KNOW ABOUT GOD. "May give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him." Than the thorough knowledge of God which is here implied, there is nothing more worthy of attainment. "Every one"s elevation is to be measured first and chiefly by his conception of this great Being; and to attain a just and bright and quickening knowledge of him is the highest aim-of thought. In truth, the great end of the universe, of revelation, of life, is to develop in us the idea of God. Much earnest, patient, laborious thought is required to see the infinite Being as he is; to rise above the low, gross notions of the divinity, which rush in upon us from our passions, from our selfish partialities, and from the low-minded world around us." A spirit of wisdom is that in which we rightly estimate things, vain things as vain, worthy things as worthy, and all things according to their relative vanity or worth. As applied to God, it is the spirit in which we learn to appreciate his infinite worth. It is also a spirit of revelation. It is the dawning of his beauty upon our minds. It is the reception of much about God that we could never have found out by our reason. Condition. "Having the eyes of your heart enlightened." There is a noticeable change from "understanding" to "heart" in the translation here. It is true that God is an object for the heart more than for the intellect. The Church says in the Song of Solomon, "I sleep, but my heart waketh." It was the heart that detected the voice of the Beloved. The eyes of our heart, more than of our intellect, have been filmed over by sin. We cannot naturally appreciate the Divine unselfishness, what in self-forgetfulness he has it in his heart to do for us. For this there is necessary the cleansing and quickening of our spiritual vision by the revelation without us and through the inward operation of the Spirit. To God, then, we must look for the presence of this condition of Divine knowledge.

V IT IS A PRAYER SPECIFICALLY TO KNOW ABOUT GOD THE GLORY WHICH HE HAS DESTINED FOR US. "That ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." There is a hope which his calling produces in our hearts. This is the hope of the inheritance which has already been referred to in the fourteenth verse. Having, then, connected the Divine purpose with the inheritance, he now prays that they may have some worthy conception of it, as that to which they were called. There is an accumulation of language to impress us with the greatness of the inheritance as worthy of the donor. The glory of the inheritance in the saints. The glory of a thing is its highest, most beautiful form, as when the fields are in their summer loveliness. The glory of the inheritance in the saints is all that an inheritance can flower out into for them, the final thought of God regarding the condition of his own. It must excel what was the glory of Canaan, as it is an inheritance formed with richer materials. The riches of the glory. The riches of his grace ends in the riches of the glory. The open flower, of which there was a representation in the Jewish temple, is but a suggest, ion of the glory which God will manifest in the saints. The higher the existence the richer the efflorescence. So rich is the glory in the saints that it is difficult to form a conception of what it shall be. It is difficult for us to think of ourselves beautified as we shall be in our nature and in our surroundings. But that it may be worthily conceived is an object for which we are to pray for ourselves and for others. It is true that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him;" but that is not the whole statement, for it is added, "God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." We are therefore to seek, with the materials we have, some clear, vivid, uplifting conception of the future inheritance.

VI IT IS A PRAYER TO KNOW ABOUT GOD THE POWER WHICH IS TO EFFECT THIS GLORY TO THE SAINTS. "And what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe." Again the apostle heaps up language, as though the idea were too great for expression. The power of God has not only greatness; it has exceeding greatness. "The power of God is that ability and strength whereby he can bring to pass whatsoever he pleases, whatsoever his infinite wisdom can direct, and whatsoever the infinite purity of his will can resolve" (Charnock). "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this: that power belongeth unto God." It belongs to him originally, inalienably. Job discourses of the power of God as seen in the lower parts of the world, in hanging the earth upon nothing, in holding up the clouds, in compassing the waters with bounds till day and night come to an end, in commotions in air and earth, in his garnishing the heavens. Then sublimely he concludes: "Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?" The apostle goes to a different field in which to study the power of God. It is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe. It is the power of God as manifested toward the Church of Christ.

VII IT IS A PRAYER TO KNOW ABOUT THE DIVINE POWER THAT WHICH WAS MANIFESTED IN THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, "According to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead." He has spoken of the power of God abstractly; this gives coloring to it. He would show what God can do for the Church, by pointing to what he has already done for Christ. It was power displayed upon Christ in extraordinary circumstances. For how powerless was Christ, when his body was taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb! He continued for a time under the power of death. His humanity was unnaturally divided. The spirit was disembodied, leaving the once active body a pale and motionless corpse. But upon this utter powerlessness the power of God was signally put forth, that power by which he can subdue even death to himself. He recalled the spirit, and gave it to retenant the body subdued to a nobler mold. This, then, is the power which is to give us the riches of the glory of the inheritance. And is it not pertinent as well as sufficient? For our being raised by a similar forth putting of power is preparatory to our bring instated in the inheritance.

VIII IT IS A PRAYER TO KNOW ABOUT THE DIVINE POWER THAT WHICH WAS MANIFESTED IN THE RAISING OF CHRIST TO HIS RIGHT HAND. "And made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." The working of the strength of the Divine might did not terminate with the raising of Christ from the dead. For a time he remained on earth, and was seen by mortal eye. But by another grand forth putting of power Christ was raised above earth, was raised to the right hand of God. This denotes an intimacy with God in power such as is beyond any mere creature. And yet it was mysteriously in our creaturely nature that he was raised to the right hand of God. There he was seen afterwards, and recognized, by the prisoner of Patmos; and there he still sits. This is in the heavenly places, the height from which, according to the former thought, the Church is blessed. He has been raised above every form of superiority or prerogative. Four words are used which cannot be distinguished. Earthly orders or powers seem to be included as well as heavenly. Christ is King of kings, whether these are of the human or of the angelic type. He has also been raised above every name that is named, i.e. every one who has personal subsistence or, it may be, is the representative of power. And this has reference , not merely to the present, but to the future order of things as well. Thus, with necessary vagueness, is the superiority of Christ set forth. "We know that the emperor goes before all, though we cannot enumerate all the satraps and ministers of his court; so we know that Christ is set before all, although we cannot name all who are under him.

IX IT IS A PRAYER TO KNOW ABOUT THE DIVINE POWER THAT WHICH WAS MANIFESTED IN THE GIVING OF CHRIST TO BE HEAD OVER ALL THINGS TO THE CHURCH. "And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be Head over all things." There is a climax. He raised him from the dead; he raised him to sit at his right hand; raised to sit at his right hand, he gave him to be Head. The apostle thinks of the Father as First throughout, and in viewing him as Head he thinks of the Father preparing for the position by first putting all things in subjection under his feet. His seat at the right hand of God is a seat of government. From it he exercises unlimited, universal sway. The elements of earth and air and water, all living things on our planet, the bodies and souls of men, the whole material universe, the invisible world and its inhabitants, are in his hands to be sovereignly disposed of according to his thought. But let us look at the full bearing of the headship of Christ on the Church.

1. Christ is given as lead over all things to the Church. "To the Church." By the Church we are to understand the collective body of believers, or of those who are called out of the world. The latter conception, to which the derivation points, excludes the holy angels, whose life must be essentially the same with ours, but who have never been called out of a depraved condition. It is the Church of the redeemed, then, about which sublime statements are made. Christ is here set forth as the great Donation to the Church. "Given to the Church" is the language of the apostle; and the gifts of God, we are told, are without repentance. He does not withdraw his Bible, nor his Son to whom it testifies. This is a gift which strikes us with a sense of the disproportion between its value and the recipient. God"s own Son given to the Church how inconceivable a mark of the Divine favor! But it is in his headship over all things that he is gifted to the Church. Had he reigned only within the Church, its interests could not have been sufficiently guaranteed. Danger might have arisen from the quarter to which his reign did not extend. But, as he reigns over all things, he can

2. make all things without the Church and within the Church too work together for its good. "The whole economy of creation stands at his disposal as the basis and sphere of activity for the economy of redemption." He does not need to be indebted to the earthly powers for a sphere for carrying on the operations of the Church in the era that is proceeding. "For the earth is the Lord"s, and the fullness thereof." He has proprietary rights over it of the most absolute nature as Mediator. It has been put in subjection under his feet; it has been handed over unconditionally to his control. And the earthly powers only hold from him their portion of the surface and riches of the earth. They are no more than tenants-at-will; he appoints to them the bounds of their habitation; and they can be used by him for his ends; their schemings and commotions can be overruled for the advancement of the Church. As for the Church, Christ, having unlimited power, can place it where its discipline can best be secured, and where it can have the widest door of usefulness. And even the worldly elements which find entrance into the Church, although they may be allowed to work for a time, can be checked, controlled for his Church"s triumph over them. If the Church has a vast work before it, and is yet far from coming up to the prophetic mark, may it not trust to the greatness of its Head? And if the Church is promised a great future after this era has run its course in the eternal order of things, is not its great Head invested with power sufficient to bring it about?

3. The Church stands in an intimate relationship to Christ. "Which is his body." As we stand in relation to our body, so Christ stands in relation to his Church. The body of man is a marvelous piece of workmanship. "Fearfully and wonderfully made" is language applicable to its structure. But the apostle contemplated it, not from the strictly scientific, but from the religious or more particularly the Christian standpoint. He says that the Church is the body of Christ. This raises the body of man to an exalted position. It is not the degraded thing it has been sometimes thought to be. It is after the pattern of things in the heavens. This is the true way of putting it; not, certainly, that the Church is made after the pattern of the body, but that the body is made after the pattern of the Church. Just as fatherhood existed in God before it existed in man, so body existed in the Divine conception of the Church before it existed in the human body. Let us look into the bearing of it.

(1) It is in relation to Christ that the Church has life. The head or brain is the great seat of bodily life. It is here that there takes place the mysterious union of soul to body. From this as a center the soul animates the body.

There is an equally mysterious union of Christ to the Church. Upon him as animating Head the Church depends.

(2) It is in relation to Christ that the Church is organized. An organism is a living structure that, by means of organs, serves its uses. The human body is an elaborate structure of this kind. It is a number of organs arranged to form an organic whole. It is from the brain that it is organized. From it proceed the various ramifications throughout the body. In the same way the Church is the great living structure, even more elaborate than the human body. It is an organization intended to serve certain uses. It is from Christ as Head that the Church takes the type of its organization.

(3) It is by Christ that the Church is governed. The brain is the thinking, ruling center in the body. There the thinking is done. From it the whole regulation proceeds. Its commands are carried by the nerves to every part. So Christ is the brain or center where the thinking goes on for the Church, whence commands are issued to all the dependent parts.

4. The Church is that in which Christ is to be fully manifested. "The fullness of him that filleth all in all." We are to understand it to be Christ that filleth all in all. It is he who fills the sun with its light-giving properties. He fills the seed with its germinating power. He fills the flowers with their power to blossom forth into beauty. He fills the souls of men with all their natural qualities. It is Christ, then, who is to be seen in the sunshine, in the waving corn, in the flowers that deck the field, and also in the blossoming forth of genius. But the Church stands in a special relation to Christ. It is his body, and therefore he is to fill it fuller than he does anything else. It is here called his pleroma, or fullness. As he himself is called the Pleroma of God, so the Church is called his pleroma. There is a high sense in which the body is intended to be the manifestation of the soul. We think of Christ in the days of his flesh as having a body with an ideal beauty corresponding to his spiritual excellence so far as flesh would allow. It was not a mere sensuous beauty, but rather a beauty that was expressive of holiness. At the same time, it was not a beauty that excluded marring by sorrow and struggle. In the same way the Church is to manifest Christ. It is to be a fitting temple for the Christ within. It is to be that in which he is to body himself without any barrier, other than that which marks the Church"s finitude. He is to bring up his Church into the highest form so as to body forth his beauty. All deformity and weakness are to be excluded, as unworthy of him who is receiving manifestation. All imperfection is also to be excluded, such as belongs to lower things which can only, though filled by him, have broken rays of his glory. What a glorious destiny is this for the Church! How fitting that it should be held up before it in all the grandeur of the conception! And how fitting that we should see to it that we belong to the Church, and are guided and ruled by Christ, so that in us, as part of the whole, the glory of Christ shall shine forth! R.F.

Vers. 15-23.

Apostolic philanthropy.

I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 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: 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, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, tar 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: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all." This passage, which is confessedly somewhat involved and obscure in some of its expressions, may be homiletically regarded as illustrating apostolic philanthropy. There is a great deal of what is called philanthropy in this age. Most men who are candidates for public suffrage profess to feel its inspiration, and advocate its claims. Indeed, there are not a few who trade in its holy name. Under the cover of serving their race, they gratify their own vanity and enrich their own coffers. Amongst so much of spurious philanthropy it may be well to take a glance at the genuine thing. Paul was a philanthropist of the true type; his love for his race was disinterested, self-sacrificing, and unconquerable. The passage before us gives us a glimpse of philanthropy as it existed in his noble soul. We observe

I HIS PHILANTHROPY REGARDED SPIRITUAL EXCELLENCE AS THE ESSENTIAL NECESSITY OF MANKIND. Two elements of spiritual excellence are mentioned here, which must be regarded, not merely as the specimen of others, but as the root of all genuine goodness of heart.

1. Practical faith in Christ. "Faith in the Lord Jesus." In the New Testament this is everywhere made the one thing needful. Faith in him is represented as essential in the moral restoration of man to the knowledge, image, and fellowship of God; and both the philosophy of the human mind and the experience of mankind concur in demonstrating that practical faith in the Son of God can alone confer real and lasting good on man.

2. Genuine love for the good. "Love unto all the saints," i.e. all the genuine disciples of Jesus Christ. The love is virtuous, it is for men on account of their goodness This love is catholic, it is for "all the saints." Now, Paul regarded these two things as existing in the Ephesian Church as the most hopeful and essential things. He makes no reference to their secular education, to their mercantile progress, to their artistic improvements, to their political advancement; he knew that these were comparatively useless without spiritual excellence, and that with spiritual excellence these would grow up to highest perfection. He looked to the reformation of souls as that which was a good in itself, and which alone could give value to any other reformation.

II HIS PHILANTHROPY LIVED IN THE RELIGIOUS EXERCISES OF HIS SOUL. Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of yon in my prayers." Observe three things concerning Paul"s religious devotions.

1. They were profoundly reverential. How great did that God whom he worshipped appear to him!

(1) "The God of our Lord Jesus." The God of that mighty Being who wrought such wonders when on this earth.

(2) "The Father of glory." One who dwelt "in light which no man could approach unto." The central Fount, of all honor and dignity.

(3) The Dispenser of the Spirit. "Given unto you the Spirit," etc. Such is the God he worshipped. Great ideas of God generate reverence in souls.

1. They were unceasing in thanks and prayer. "Cease not to give thanks for you," etc. In prayer and supplication he made known his requests to God. Unceasing thanks for the past, and prayer for the future, is the grand duty of all, and the happy life of Christians.

2. They were ever animated with love to men. As he appeared before this great God in worship, he bore the interest of the Church at Ephesus in his prayers. He presented Ephesus to the care and love of him who alone can save and bless. True philanthropy has ever used, and must ever use, prayer as its chief instrument. The prayer of Abraham all but saved Sodom and Gomorrah. On the day of judgment it will be seen that the world"s greatest benefactors were the men of greatest prayer.

III HIS PHILANTHROPY EARNESTLY SOUGHT MAN"S ADVANCEMENT IN SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE. He desired the increase of their knowledge in three things.

1. In Divine truth. He prayed that God "would give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him." He wished for them clearer and broader views of the Eternal.

2. In Christian privilege. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling." The general idea is that you may know the transcendent and. inexhaustible blessings that God has provided for you.

3. In personal attainment. "What is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward." The idea is that you may more deeply feel the change that God"s power has wrought in you. How great was the change that God"s almighty energy had wrought in these people! (see Ac 19) Such was the knowledge that Paul was anxious to promote, and this, indeed, is the knowledge to bless humanity.

IV HIS PHILANTHROPY TRACED ALL GENUINE IMPROVEMENT IN HUMAN CHARACTER TO THE DIVINE POWER THAT WAS MANIFESTED IN CHRIST. The mighty power which had done such wonders for them was the "power which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead," etc. The power:

1. Was manifested in the resurrection, of Christ. Christ"s resurrection might be regarded

(1) as a symbol of the spiritual resurrection of the soul: "If ye then be risen with Christ," etc.;

(2) as the procuring cause of the spiritual resurrection of the soul. Had Christ not risen from the dead the spiritual resurrection would be impossible. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

2. Was manifested in type exaltation of Christ. He exalted Christ "far above all principalities," etc. That power will also exalt the soul, give it a dominion over self and circumstances; that power makes men "kings and priests unto God." Paul"s philanthropy led him to trace all the improvement at Ephesus, not to his own labors, though he had labored there long and hard, but to God"s power, and to God"s power as manifested by Jesus Christ.

V HIS PHILANTHROPY IDENTIFIED MAN"S INTEREST WITH THE LIFE OF THE SON OF GOD. Those ony, he felt, were truly blessed of men who were vitally connected with Christ, as body and soul. "Which is his body," etc. The figure implies:

1. Christs animation. The soul animates the body; Christ animates the good.

2. Christs control. The soul controls the body; Christ controls the good.

3. Christ"s manifestation. The soul manifests itself through the body; Christ manifests himself in the good.

4. Christs Church. It is a unity. The body, with all its members, is one whole. D.T.

Vers. 15, 16.

Spiritual prosperity.

Although St. Paul could soar into strange heights of contemplation, his interest was not confined to cold theological abstractions. If he meditated on the final consummation of all things, he was never negligent of the spiritual condition of the Christians of his day. No man could show more deep, earnest, personal concern for those committed to his charge, than the great apostle evinced for the Churches of which he had the oversight. They were ever m his thoughts and in his prayers. Their prosperity or adversity was his joy or sorrow. It was happy when, as in the case of the Christians of Asia, to which the Epistle to the Ephesians was addressed, St. Paul had little to blame and much to rejoice over. We may learn something by considering what, in St. Paul"s estimation, were the marks of Christian prosperity, and how he regarded that prosperity.

I THE TRUE PROSPERITY OF A CHURCH CONSISTS IN THE GROWTH OF SPIRITUAL GRACES AMONG THE MEMBERS. We make much of numbers, as though prosperity were a matter of arithmetic. "The statistics of the Churches" will never serve as a divining rod with which to discover the precious metal of piety. St. Paul cared less for the number of adherents to Christianity than for the quality of the true Christians. While we busy ourselves in counting the attendants at church, who is to measure the growth or decrease of spiritual life? Then St. Paul"s idea of prosperity was not accumulating wealth, the creation of more imposing buildings, a higher social status things about which some of us are so greatly concerned. All he cared for was spiritual progress. The two essential elements of this are growing faith in Christ and growing love towards one another.

II THE GROWTH OF SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY IS DESERVING OF JOYFUL RECOGNITION AND THANKSGIVING. If St. Paul is fearless in rebuking where rebukes are necessary, he is ungrudging in his congratulations where these are earned. Some people seem to be afraid of provoking the vanity of others in praising them, if they are not prevented from giving them their due by jealousy. We might better encourage one another if we were more ready to anticipate the great Master"s generous "Well done, good and faithful servant." At the same time, it must be remembered that the glory is due to God, as the grace came only from him. Thus our congratulations should pass into thanksgivings.

III WHILE THANKFULLY RECOGNIZING SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY, WE SHOULD PRAY FOR THE INCREASE OF IT. The present graces are not enough. We shall deceive our brethren if our congratulations lead them to think that there is no need for further progress. On the contrary, the present attainments are reasons for praying for greater increase. Thus St. Paul makes mention of the faith and love of the Christians of Asia in his prayers. The reward of one grace is the addition of another. One prepares the way for another. Certain spiritual attainments are grounds on which new and higher attainments may be built. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Since I heard of your faith and love - That is, of their perseverance and increase therein.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. The special duties which St. Paul performed on the behalf of these Ephesians: he gave thanks for them, he prayed for them, and both without ceasing. I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

Where note, How enlarged St. Paul’s heart was in thankfulness to God for the salvation of others, as well as unwearied in his endeavours in order to their salvation. This will be one great exercise of our grace in heaven; namely, thankfulness to God for the salvation of others, as well as our own; and, verily, it ought to be a mighty argument to move the heart of any one to work out his own salvation, when he sees another, be it his minister, his parent, his master, or his neighbour, so solicitous for it, and taking such care of it.

Note farther, That the duties of prayer and praise, of supplication and thanksgiving, ought to accompany one another: We are never to pray for fresh mercies, either for ourselves or others, without giving thanks to God for former mercies. Besides, there is no such effectual way of begging, as thanksgiving; he that is spiritually thankful for what he has received, engages God to confer upon him the mercies which he wanteth.

Add to this, that holy thankfulness is an evidence of true grace in us. Need and want will make us beggars, but grace only thanksgivers.

Observe, 2. The occasion of St. Paul’s prayers and praises on the Ephesians’ behalf; namely, his having heard,

1. of their faith in Christ; 2. of their love to all saints.

Where note, How he joins faith and love together, as the two most eminent graces, and as the two great evangelical commandments, faith in Christ, and love to saints.

But how comes he not to make mention of their love to God?

Ans. Because love to God is supposed and necessarily included in our love to saints as saints, for he that loves them that are begotten, much more loves him that begetteth; he that loves the child for the father’s sake, loves the father much more for his own sake.

Note farther, it is love to saints, as saints, and to all saints without exception, that is the evidence of true faith; poor saints as well as rich, weak saints as well as gifted. There are froward and fretful saints, passionate and peevish Christians, who have many infirmities, great infirmities cleaving to them though disallowed by them; yet these professing Christians are loved and to be loved by us, even as a brother loveth all his brothers, for his father’s sake that begat them all, though one be little, another lame, a third crooked, a fourth sickly.

Lord! how far are the professors of this day from the practice of this duty! How doth a little difference in judgment occasion a great deal of judging and rash censuring one another: Christ hath received us; why should we reject one another? One heaven will hold us all hereafter; why should not one communion hold us here? Verily, if children quarrel and fall out with one another at a full table, there is an enemy at their back that will quickly take away the voider: if our hearts be not turned suddenly to one another, Almighty God will certainly come and smite the earth with a curse.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. “Therefore I, hearing the faith with you in the Lord Jesus, and the Divine love toward all the saints,

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15, 16. After I heard of your faith. This verse has been thought to show that Paul was not personally acquainted with those to whom he wrote, and hence that this letter could not be addressed to the Ephesians; but he used similar language of Philemon, one of his own converts. See Philemon 5. The language is natural if Paul left Ephesus in the spring of a.d. 57, and wrote this letter about the close of a.d. 62 (Conybeare and Howson), more than five years after. During this period he could only know of the faith and love of the Ephesians by what he heard.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Paul prays for the Ephesian believers and praises God for the power that believers have through Christ.

I have not stopped thanking God

Paul uses "not stopped" to emphasize that he continues to thank God. AT: "I continue to thank God" (See: Litotes)

translationWords

faith

lord

Jesus

love

set apart

pray

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

15-23.] The idea of the Church carried forward, in the form of a prayer for the Ephesians, in which the fulfilment of the Father’s counsel through the Son and by the Spirit, in His people, is set forth, as consisting in the knowledge of the hope of His calling, of the riches of His promise, and the power which He exercises on His saints as first wrought by Him in Christ, whom He has made Head over all to the Church.

15,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Your faith [την καθ υμας πιστιν] . The Greek phrase is nowhere else used by Paul. Lit., as Rev., the faith which is among you. Expositors endeavor to make a distinction between this and Paul 's common phrase hJ pistiv uJmwn your faith, but they differ widely, and the distinction is at best doubtful.

Love. Omit.

Unto all the saints [την εις παντας τους αγιους] . Lit., that which is toward all, etc. Love being omitted, this refers to faith : faith which displays its work and fruits toward fellow Christians. See on Phl 1:5,

Eph 1:6Compare work of faith, 1Th 1:3. Though love is not mentioned, yet faith works by love. Gal 5:6.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.