Ephesians 1:19

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power - On the language used here, compare the notes at 2Co 4:17. There is much emphasis and energy of expression here, as if the apostle were laboring under the greatness of his theme, and wanted words to express the magnitude of his conception. This is the “third” thing which he was particularly desirous they should know - that they should be fully acquainted with the “power” of God in the salvation of people. He refers not merely to the power which he had evinced in their salvation, but also to what the gospel was “able” to accomplish, and which they might yet experience. The “power” referred to here as exercised toward believers does not refer to one thing merely. It is the whole series of the acts of power toward Christians which results from the work of the Redeemer. There was power exerted in their conversion. There would be power exerted in keeping them. There would be power in raising them up from the dead, and exalting them with Christ to heaven. The religion which they professed was a religion of “power.” In all the forms and stages of it the power of God was manifested toward them, and would be until they reached their final inheritance.

To us-ward - Toward us, or in relation to us.

Who believe - Who are Christians.

According to the working of his mighty power - Margin, The might of his power. This should be taken with the clause in the following verse, “which he wrought in Christ;” and the meaning is, that the power which God has exerted in us is in accordance with the power which was shown in raising up the Lord Jesus. It was the proper result of that, and was power of a similar kind. The same power is requisite to convert a sinner which is demanded in raising the dead. Neither will be accomplished but by omnipotence (see the notes, Eph 2:5); and the apostle wished that they should be fully apprised of this fact, and of the vast “power” which God had put forth in raising them up from the death of sin. To illustrate this sentiment is one of his designs in the following verses; and, hence, he goes on to show that people before their conversion were “dead in trespasses and sins;” that they had no spiritual life; that they were the “children of wrath;” that they were raised up from their death in sin by the same power which raised the Lord Jesus from the grave, and that they were wholly saved by grace; Eph 2:1-10. In order to set this idea of the “power” which God had put forth in their regeneration in the strongest light, he goes into a magnificent description of the resurrection and exaltation of the Lord Jesus, and shows how that was connected with the renewing of Christians. God had set him over all things. He had put all things under his feet, and had made principalities and dominions everywhere subject to him. In this whole passage Eph 1:19-23; Eph 2:1-10, the main thing to be illustrated is the power which God has shown in renewing and saving his people; and the leading sentiment is, that the same power is evinced in that which was required to raise up the Lord Jesus from the dead, and to exalt him over the universe.

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

Eph_1:17; Eph_1:19

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the rather of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

What young believers require to receive

I. Increase of spiritual perception. Not so much new objects to contemplate, as clearer and deeper knowledge of objects already discerned. This is attained--

1. Through exercise of faith already possessed. It grows with the using.

2. Through the influence of the Holy Spirit. It assimilates the perceiving power to its own nature, and imparts new knowledge of Divine things. The powers of the spirit in general are heightened and extended--a spirit of wisdom. Truth not discernible by ordinary human faculties is made known--revelation.

II. Closer acquaintance with their Lord. In the knowledge of Him. He is the life book we are to study.

III. Access of Divine knowledge.

IV. Growth in experience. Amid the vague, new elements that crowd into their knowledge, certain great, central objects are to be realized most intensely.

1. The hope of their calling. Glory, complete salvation, eternal life, etc., are various aspects of this hope, which it is the great object of Christians to attain.

2. The riches of the glory of the Divine inheritance. The Kingdom of God grows in vastness, glory, and privilege, the more it is contemplated and sought.

3. The Divine resurrection power within themselves. The same power which raised Christ from the dead, and set Him at the right hand of God, works in the believer, evokes spiritual life, and sustains and develops it, from grace to grace, and glory to glory. As they compare their spiritual experience with His in resurrection and ascension, they will have grander realizations of the nature of the resurrection power that is working in themselves, and will trust it more intelligently and absolutely. There is no limit to this experience. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)

The presence of the Holy Ghost in the soul

I. The two mysteries which exist in the manhood of Christ, and in His mystic body, exist also in the ransomed soul; the presence of the Spirit, and union with the Son of God. You may conceive of the indwelling of the Spirit in Christs human nature. It was spotless: original sin found no place there. In the foundations of Christs created nature, there was no intermingling of the taint of the Fall. In His birth no sin, in His temptations no inward response. His soul was the mirror of unsullied holiness, and therefore a fit dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. But we are conceived in sin, born in sin, may have lived in sin, bear still the remains of a corrupt nature, the flesh lusteth against the Spirit. Who would dare then to speak of the indwelling of Almighty God the Comforter in our souls, had He not unmistakably affirmed it? The New Testament points to it as the characteristic glory of Christian life. The Spirit, who first dwelt in Jesus in His fulness, extends His presence to all in union with that manhood. As the little cloud about the size of a mans hand, when it rose up into the heavens, spread itself out over the whole sky, and there was an abundance of rain, so the Ascended Lord gathers His Saints around Him, and pours down upon the parched earth streams of Divine Life. Each soul in grace is a partaker of the Divine Nature. The pure nature of Christ is the instrument of the Spirit in the soul. There is in every baptized soul, not only the indwelling of the Comforter, but a jet of the Life of Jesus, through which the transformation of our nature is being accomplished, and His character gradually impressed.

II. Again, the expansion of the Church into the world finds its counterpart in the progressive development of the Kingdom of God within the soul. The same vital principles in both, if permitted to put themselves forth, will overcome all opposing forces. Of the Kingdom of God, it is said, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This may be true, too, of the reign of Christ in the soul. The Kingdom of God within has its persecutions to pass through. At its secret beginning, the whole of nature is in revolt; but if we are steadfast, grace will finally gain the ascendency, and sit in calm possession of the throne. The command of the Church, to disciple all nations, is only by degrees accomplished; so the leaven of grace in the soul will only gradually penetrate into our whole being, and in the end produce the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. The treasure of Divine truth, which the Spirit unfolds in the understanding, we will now consider. The understanding, through the Fall, is in a state of darkness as to supernatural things. Reason and conscience are two lights which rule the night. They are the only guides by which we find our path. The understanding being thus overclouded, much of the sin that is committed may be traced up to some error in this faculty. The Holy Spirit, as the Illuminator, dispels the darkness, and amplifies the view, correcting and ennobling the natural faculty with the grace of faith, and the gifts of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel. Faith is the dawn upon the soul of a supernatural world. It is the first fissure through the cloud. It may be only like the breaking of the day, an imperfect view, like the glimpse of the blind man, the sight of men as trees, walking; yet it is a revelation of the Invisible. The Invisible becomes a reality. Hence the gift of faith is the one the Spirit employs against the adversary. It is with the shield of faith we are to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, whom we must resist steadfast in the faith. Why is faith the chosen engine against the Evil One, the shield of our spiritual armour? It is because through it a new set of motives is brought to bear upon our conduct. For instance: a temptation awaits us; the flesh is weak, and some powerful influence is required to prevent a fall. Faith supplies it. In the early stage of the spiritual life, the thought comes, There is heaven; if I commit this sin, I may lose it; or fear is excited; Here is hell; if I commit sin, I may fall into it. If there is a deeper life the thought of the Cross of Jesus and His constraining love will be felt; If I commit this sin, I shall be crucifying Him afresh. The light of faith furnishing motives which act either upon our fears or hopes, or rekindle our love, fulfils the office of a shield in the day of battle. Besides this grace, the Holy Spirit provides certain gifts which complete His work in the understanding, and are auxiliary to Divine faith. When the apostle used the words of the text, he was praying not simply for general enlightenment, but that his converts might possess and develop certain specific forms of spiritual knowledge. The gift of wisdom is the chief of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul prays that the Ephesians may be endued with the spirit of wisdom; and Isaiah places it first, when he enumerates the gifts as they dwelt in our Lord. It is the highest quality which the Spirit bestows. The apostle links with the spirit of wisdom that of revelation. This may correspond with the gift of understanding, for it is a spiritual insight into the mysteries of the kingdom of grace. The gift of knowledge is another form of light, having for its object not God and His perfections, nor the mysteries of grace, but God as He is seen in created things. It discloses His designs in them, what they are in themselves, what purposes they are intended to fulfil, what portions of His being they reflect, how they may be enlisted in His service, and brought through our instrumentality to minister to His glory, how they may be rightfully used or enjoyed. This gift, too, is important as it relates to our inner life. Self-knowledge is obtained through it. The gift of counsel completes our intellectual equipment. Its name describes its nature. It guides the soul in the choice of the best means to be used for arriving at the desired end. It seeks advice from all past occurrences; teaching us how to use our falls, the various remedies to which we have been directed to resort, those which have best suited our disposition, what have been the occasions of sin, what the results,--in short, the gift of counsel treasures up all the complex experiences of the spiritual life, and puts them to account. There are two thoughts which suggest appropriate lessons on this part of our subject. If it be true, that the Holy Ghost dwells within us; that each one is a temple of His presence, and a member of Christ; that our understanding is now replete with such wonderful powers, supplied with Divine lights for the removal of the darkness which sin has occasioned; that the same gifts which the mind of Christ possesses, are in their measure communicated to all His brethren: then, surely, sin committed in such a state, will have a special heinousness about it. Hence there is a more minute inspection of sin in the new dispensation. The inward presence brings up to light inward sin. What a thought to influence our conduct, I am the temple of God! The rebuke of the apostle is not now unnecessary, or out of date--know ye not that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Another practical conclusion is to be drawn from what has been said. Life is manifested by action. A Divine life will be manifested by actions which exceed the power of nature. If I possess this life, I am thereby rendered capable of doing works which shall be pleasing to God. Grace, as a new principle of action, enables me to do works, which, by nature, I could not do. A supernatural life bestows on my actions a new value, so that they partake of the Eternity of God. The presence of the Holy Spirit imparts to them, when they are wrought in grace, and with a pure intention for Gods glory, an imperishable character. They are wrought in God. (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)

Growth in spiritual knowledge

I. The means whereby this knowledge is attained. The spirit of wisdom and revelation. Here are two things--the spirit of wisdom and the spirit of revelation. This spirit of revelation I understand to mean inspiration. The prayer for its bestowment upon the Ephesian Church was in effect a prayer for the multiplication of its prophets, the then accredited guides and instructors of the Church, in the absence of the apostle, in all that related to spiritual matters. The spirit of revelation, however, is not a need of the Church now since it has the revelation of the spirit, for where the revelation of the spirit is, there can be no need for the spirit of revelation. But the spirit of wisdom is still a need of the Church, and will ever form one of its first necessities.

1. To secure an attitude of firm, unflinching faith in this revelation. Just as the force by which the earth is hurled along in its ceaseless course through space has never succeeded in overcoming the force by which it is kept in its orbit, so the spirit of wisdom in the Church will ever prevent the centrifugal force of free thought and free criticism from overcoming the centripetal force of faith in the Divine revelation, humanitys moral sun, the source of its spiritual life and glory.

2. It is not alone in relation to the attitude we are to assume towards Gods Word, in view of the modern spirit of unsparing, not to say reckless, criticism, that the spirit of wisdom is needed. It is needed also as the power by which alone we shall be able to unlock the spiritual secrets of that Word, to explore its hidden treasures, to take in fully and sympathetically its deepest teachings.

II. We come now to consider the second division of the subject of the text, namely, the object to whom this spiritual enlightenment relates--God. It is the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, Him as described in the preceding part of the verse. The full purport of this expression in reference to the Ephesians will be better understood if we remember that they had until very recently been heathens. It is thus reasonable to suppose that their conceptions of God were very defective. They had not as yet succeeded in entirely divesting their minds of the low, degrading notions of God with which their heathen training had impressed them. They had still much to learn concerning His nature and character. They had constant need of instruction whereby their notions of Him might be purified and elevated. Hence the prayer that they might have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Further, the apostle indicates the particular aspect of the Divine character upon which they were to seek further enlightenment--the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of glory. It is a description of God that covers the whole ground of His redemptive relation to men. And it is God in this inexpressibly glorious aspect of His character that the text represents as the great object of Christian knowledge. It is that the Ephesian believers might have a more abundant entrance into the transcendent glories and the ineffable joy of this truth, that the apostle prays that they might have the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

III. We now come to the consideration of the third truth indicated by the text, namely, the further experiences of spiritual things to which this knowledge of God conduces. The apostle specifies in the text and the next verse three things, to the right and full apprehension of which we come through the knowledge of Him. These are--the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and the exceeding greatness of His power to usward and Christward. The first includes Gods purpose in relation to men--to call them into glory. The second refers to the glory that shall accrue to Himself through men thus glorified. The third refers to the transcendent character of the means adopted to secure these glorious ends. Here are three matters of knowledge arrived at by the enlightenment of the understanding through the knowledge of Him. They are matters of transcendent glory, and sweep the whole horizon of our salvation. Yes, we are to come into the full meaning of these superlative truths through our knowledge of God, as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. The Divine Being, thus apprehended, is the higher plane from which alone the full glory of our salvation can be viewed and comprehended. It forms our coign of vantage for the attainment of an adequate conception of at least three things respecting this salvation.

1. The grandeur of its aim both as regards the individual and the race.

2. It is as viewed from this higher plane of spiritual knowledge that the infinite reasonableness of this munificent gift of grace and love will reveal itself to the mind.

3. Again, we notice that the knowledge of God is our vantage ground for understanding the infallible certainty of the accomplishment of these great ends. From this standpoint we enter into the full apprehension of the exceeding greatness of His power. Whatever fear or doubt may perplex the mind regarding the realization of the redemptive scheme, on the score of the grandeur of its aim and comprehensiveness of its scope, and the vastness of the difficulties in its way, will vanish in the light of this apprehension of the exceeding greatness of His power. This power covers every difficulty, is, in fact, illimitable and absolute in relation to the Divine purposes. He whose eyes have been enlightened knows this, and in this knowledge rests in unshaken tranquility. (A. J. Parry.)

The spirit of wisdom

1. We must so consider God, when we come to Him in prayer, as to see Him in what we desire. St. Paul when about to pray for these Ephesians who had believed on Christ, and to seek the glorious gifts of the Spirit which might help them to know the glory reserved for them, sets God before him as the God of that Christ whom they had now received by faith into their hearts, and the Father of all glory: both of which considerations strengthened his faith; for he could not think that God, the God of Christ, would be wanting to those who were Christs, or that the Father of all glory would deny those glorious gifts which he was about to ask Him to increase. So here is a lesson for all. Wouldst thou have remission of sin? Consider of God as a God with whom there is plenty of redemption or forgiveness. Wouldst thou have ease in any misery and grief? Consider of Him as a Father of all mercy and consolation, when thou comest to Him; this strengthens faith, and inflames affection. We seek things more securely, when we know them to be where we are looking for them; and we follow them more affectionately, when (so to speak) we see them before us.

2. Even true believers have great want of heavenly wisdom. They have it in a certain measure; but fall far short of what may be attained.

(1) Let us labour to find this want in ourselves, and to see our folly, that we may be made wise.

(2) Let us not be dismayed by our lack of wisdom. Things are not begun and perfected at once. Wisdom must rise from one degree to another in us.

3. We need light as well as wisdom. To have inward faculty of seeing is one thing: to have outward light, by means of which to see, is another. Light must come to light before we can see; the light in the eye must meet with the outward light of the sun, or a candle, or some other lightsome body, or nothing is perceived: so the light of wisdom which is in the soul must have shining to it this light of revelation, which makes manifest things spiritual; or else, be our sight never so quick, we shall be environed with darkness. The Spirit, therefore, is fitly compared with fire, which has not only heat resolving numbness and making stiff joints active, but also has light grateful to the eye of the body: so the Spirit has both love which warms our frozen hearts and affections, and also this light of revelation which delights the eye of the understanding and manifests heavenly things to its view.

4. It is God, by the Spirit of Christ, who works in us all true wisdom. It is not pregnancy of natural wit that can make us wise unto salvation, nor ripeness of years: but the inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding. Yet we do attain ripeness of wisdom, under God, by the due use of means.

(1) One day teacheth another. As a man grows older, he ought to grow wiser.

(2) He tastes, as we say, many waters; finding by experience the good in some things, the evils in others.

(3) He becomes gradually weaned from his youthful lusts which, like a back bias, drew after themselves the understanding. We see, then, to whom we must give all thanks for whatever wisdom we have received, and to whom we must fly for the increase of it--even to God, who gives it plentifully, and upbraideth not. (Paul Bayne.)

Worldly wisdom worthless

What does the philosophy of the Agnostic for the despairs of the sinking human soul? Hear the sad summing up of one of the votaries of the cold wisdom of the world, which knows not God. It is that of Professor Clifford, dying early, with this sad word on his lips, My researches have revealed to me a soulless universe, looked down upon by a godless heaven. (Author of The Harvest of a Quiet Eye.)

We are nothing without Gods wisdom in us

See how much they think of me! said a lantern to some dips that were hanging, on a nail close by. The master says he doesnt know what he should do without me these dark nights. No doubt, said the candle; but hed sing a different song if it werent for one of us inside of you. Did it never occur to you, friend, that you wouldnt be of the least use to anybody if our light didnt shine through you? (Mrs. Prosser.)

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened.

Spiritual eye salve; or, the benefit of illumination

The special grace here prayed for is illumination.

I. The eye is the most excellent organ of sense. In a clear eye, the looker sees his own image; so God, in a sanctified understanding, sees a limited resemblance of His infinite Self. God has set two lids to defend the corporal eye from annoyance; and, in like manner, He has given faith and hope, to shelter the understanding.

1. The situation of this spiritual eye is in the soul. God, framing mans soul, planted in it two faculties: the superior, that is the understanding, which perceiveth and judgeth; the inferior, that is the will, which being informed of the other, accordingly follows or flies, chooseth or refuseth. The Scripture, favouring the simplest capacity, compares these two powers of the soul to two known parts of the body: the understanding to the eye, the affections to the foot--the eye directing, the foot walking. Every man is naturally born blind and lame: as Zedekiah, captivated to the king of Babylon; first they put out his eyes (2Ki_25:7), and then they lamed his feet with fetters of brass. So is every man by nature, and therefore easily made a slave to the king of infernal Babylon, if the mercy of Christ should not redeem him. This consideration reacheth forth to us two uses; the one of instruction, the other of reprehension:--

(1) This teacheth us to desire in the first place the enlightening of our eyes; and then after, the strengthening of our feet.

(2) This reprehends a common fashion of many auditors. When the preacher begins to analyse his text, and to open the points of doctrine, to inform the understanding, they lend him very cold attention. Your affections are stirred in vain without a precedent illumination of your souls. You must know to do before you can do what you know. And indeed he that attends only to exhortation, and not to instruction, seems to build more upon mans zeal than Gods Word.

2. I come from the situation to the qualification of this spiritual eye: enlightened. For this blessing the apostle prays to the Father of lights, from whom comes every good and perfect gift (Jam_1:17): from Him, and from Him only, comes this grace of illumination. I cannot leave this excellent organ, the eye, till I have showed you two things:

(1) The danger of spiritual blindness;

(2) The means to cure it.

Spiritual blindness shall appear the more perilous, if we compare it with natural. The bodys eye may be better spared than the souls; as to want the eyes of angels is far worse than to want the eyes of beasts. The want of corporal sight is often good, not evil: evil in the sense, and good in the consequence. He may the better intend heavenly things, that sees no earthly to draw him away. Many a mans eye hath done him hurt (Gen_6:4). Besides, the bodily blind feels and acknowledgeth his want of sight; but the spiritually blind thinks that none have clearer eyes than himself. He that wants corporal eyes blesseth them that see; this man derides and despiseth them (Joh_9:41). The blind in body is commonly led either by his servant, or his wife, or his dog: there may be yet some respect in these guides. But the blind in soul is led by the world, which should be his servant, is his traitor. Now the means to clear this eye is to get it a knowledge of God, of ourselves. That the eye may be cured, this knowledge must be procured. Now God must be known by His works, His word, and His Spirit.

II. We have now done with the organ of seeing, the understanding, or souls eye: let us come to the object to be seen, the hope of His calling, and the riches of the glory of Gods inheritance in the saints. The object is clear and transparent to a sanctified eye. The philosophers propound six necessary occurrences to our perfect seeing; and you shall see them all here met:--

1. Firmness or good disposition of the organ that seeth. A rolling eye beholds nothing perfectly. A Dinahs eye is the prologue to a ravished soul.

2. The spectacle must be objected to the sight: the eye cannot pierce into penetralia terrae, or sublimia caeli; nor can the understanding see into these supernatural joys, unless the Lord object them to it. Hence it is that many neglectfully pass by (sine lumine lumen) the light, for want of eyes to regard it.

3. That there be a proportional distance betwixt the organ and the object: neither too near, nor too far off. A bright thing held too near the sight confounds it: be it never so bright, if too far off, it cannot discern it. God hath sweetly ordered and compounded this difference. Those everlasting joys are not close by our eyes, lest the glory should swallow us up; for mortal eyes cannot behold immortal things, nor our corruptible sight see steadfastly that eternal splendour.

4. It is required that the objected matter be substantial; not altogether diaphanous and transparent, but massy, and of a solid being. But this object here proposed is no empty chimera, or imaginary, translucent, airy shadow, but substantial: the hope of Gods calling, and a glorious inheritance; which though natures dull eye cannot reach, faiths eye sees perfectly.

5. Clearness of space betwixt the organ and the object; for the interposition of some thick and gross body prevents the faculty of the eye. The quickest eye cannot see through hills; and a crass cloud is able to hide the sun from us at noonday.

6. Lastly, the object must be stable and firm, for if it move too swiftly, it dazzleth the eye, and cannot be truly (according to the perfect form of it) beholden. (T. Manton, D. D.)

The eyes of the understanding

Already, as believers in Christ, we are entitled in Him to all the spiritual blessing and Divine fulness laid up in Him; but for a fuller revelation of Him and of them the apostle prays. If we may use an illustration, it is as if a man were taken during the night to some lofty eminence shrouded in darkness and mystery. Suppose him surrounded on every side by a landscape of surpassing beauty and glory as yet unseen. But presently the morning dawns, the sun arises, the shadows flee away, the mists disperse in all directions, rolling up the mountain side in curling wreaths, and disclosing to the mans delighted vision the glories of the inheritance that unfolds itself. Such is the case before the apostles mind. (M. Rainsford. B. A.)

The eye open to spiritual things

To grow up in the acknowledging of Christ is the way to attain fuller measure of the Spirit in every kind. Everything which respects life or godliness is said to begiven us through the knowledge or acknowledging of Christ. When we first come to know Him as the truth is in Him, we partake according to our measure in His Spirit; when we grow to behold Him as in a mirror or glass, more clearly, we are turned into the same glorious image by the Spirit of the Lord more and more; when we shall see Him and know Him evidently and fully, we shall be as He is. The more we know Him, the more fully He dwells in us, the more we enjoy the influence of His Spirit; even as this bodily sun, the nearer it approaches to us, the more we have the light and heat of it.

1. They whose spiritual sight is restored, have need still to depend upon God, that their eyes may be more and more enlightened by Him. As it is with bodily sicknesses, when we recover from them, health comes not all at once, but by ounces (as we say): so in spiritual. When God raises us up from our death, we neither are fully sanctified, nor yet fully enlightened; it is with us as with the blind man (Mar_8:24); we see, but confusedly and indistinctly. Now this enlightening comprehends these four things, which we have still need to ask God for.

(1) The removal of those things which impede our sight. Mists of ignorance. Clouds of lust. Veils of hardness of heart.

(2) The inward light of knowledge augmented in us.

(3) The light of revelation.

(4) A direction and application of the minds eye, to behold spiritual things. If the natural man and all his faculties move in God, much more the spiritual. God is said to make the eye seeing, and the ear hearing; i.e., not only to create them, but govern and apply them to what they do; otherwise we might be like Hagar, not seeing that which was before our eyes. Even as it is not so much the eye that sees, as the soul in and by the eye, whence it is that if the mind be abstracted in serious thought, men see not that which is before them; so it is not so much the eye of our understanding, as the Spirit of Christ, which is the soul of all the Body Mystical, which causes sight in us.

2. Even true believers know not at first, in any measure, those hopes which are kept in heaven for them.

(1) The reason why these hopes are not fully known is partly because of their excellence, and the abundant light which is in them.

(2) The weak sight of younglings in Christianity, is not proportioned and fitted as yet to so high an object as this. Bring the light of a candle near to the natural babe, and it cannot endure to look up against it.

(3) Even as children are so taken up with their childish affairs, that they cannot bring themselves to the serious consideration of more important matters; so believers are long so carnally affected that they cannot set themselves steadily to this contemplation.

(4) As those possessed of valuable earthly goods are surrounded by crafty companions who will keep them from knowing the value of things belonging to them; so the devil tries hard to keep us hoodwinked this way.

3. There is no grounded hope, but of such things as God has called us to obtain.

(1) This calling is such a revealing of His grace within our heart, as makes us come to Him and follow Him for the obtaining of life through Christ.

(2) To those called, God reveals His will. We may know that we are called if our hearts answer God, and our wills respond to the indications of His will.

4. The inheritance kept for us is abundantly glorious. We are passing through this vale of misery to an excellent eternal weight of glory. Let this draw up our hearts. Riches and glory, what do they not with mortal men? But, alas, these worldly riches and glorious dignities are but pictures, not having the substance of what they show for. Men will sue upon their knees to recover small inheritances on earth. While time lasts, seek this inheritance. Let us think what a heart break it is to a man when he finds that by some default he has forfeited some earthly matters which he might have held had he been wary; but what a grief and confusion will this cause, when men shall see that through carelessness they have lost an everlasting inheritance of glory which they might have attained. There is but one life between us and possession; why should we be so negligent as we are?

5. It is to the saints that this inheritance belongs--those who are not only cleansed from the guilt of dead works, but by the Spirit of Christ renewed to true holiness.

(1) See how those deceive themselves who expect to be saved, but love not holiness; who love to live after their ignorance and lusts, and mock at men who will not run to the same excess of riot that they do. Know this, that just as wise men will not leave their substance to the children of an adulteress, so God will never give thee the inheritance of glory while thou continuest a child of this world, loving nothing so much as its pleasures, pomps, and profits.

(2) Labour for holiness. True holiness is not a good nature, nor moral justice, nor external profession of religion so far as fits in with our own will. No; where we first renounce our will, there we first begin to be holy. We must strike at the root, by getting purged of sin, and seeking all things from God. (Paul Bayne.)

The seat of the spiritual eye

I see there is a rendering of the text which runs thus, The eyes of your heart being enlightened, and it strikes me that this version has about it the appearance of being the correct one, because Divine things are usually better seen by the heart than by the understanding. There are a thousand things which God has revealed which we shall never understand, and yet we can know them by a loving, trustful experience. Our Saviour says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The purifying of the heart is the enlightening of the spiritual eye. Strange as it may seem, the true eye of the renewed man is seated rather in the heart than in the head: holy affections enable us to see, and as far as possible to understand Divine things. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Universal need of enlightenment

This prayer was offered for Christians. He who sees most needs to have his eyes enlightened to see more, for how little as yet of the glory of God have any of us beheld! Even that favoured pilgrim who has been led by the shepherds to the top of Mount Clear, to stand there with telescopic glass and gaze into the glories of Immanuels land, has yet only commenced to perceive the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. I pray God that if we do already see, we may see more, until our eye shall be so strengthened that the light of the New Jerusalem shall not be too strong for us, but amid the splendour of God which outshines the sun we shall find ourselves at home. But if believers need to have their eyes enlightened, how much more must those who are unconverted. They are altogether blinded, and consequently their need of enlightenment is far greater. They were born blind, and the god of this world takes care yet further to darken their minds. Around them there broods a sevenfold midnight, the gloom of spiritual death. They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night. O blind eye, may Jesus touch thee! (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The eyes of understanding

Myra used to be entertained by her grandfather, who likened her to a fresh bud, that would soon burst into a flower, and himself to a faded leaf, which was almost ready to fall from the tree. One day, after Myra had taken a pleasant walk with her grandfather, she sat down with her mother, and then they talked together in the following manner: I wish I had grandfathers eyes, mother! What can you possibly want with the eyes of your grandfather, Myra? Oh, if I had his eyes I should see all that he sees when we are walking together; but now I cannot see half as much as he does.--How is that, when you are young and he is old. He often says that his sight is not what it used to be; and though the Bible is in large print, he is obliged to use spectacles. Yes, mother, but for all that he can see more than I can. Tell me what you mean, my child, for I do not understand you. Why, when we walk out in the fields and lanes, let us look at what we will, he says he sees the goodness of God in everything. Ah, Myra! its not grandfathers eyes, but grandfathers faith that you want. Pray to God to open the eyes of your understanding, to give you a heart to love and trust Him, and you will then see Him, not only in all the works of His hand, but in all the events of life.

Spiritual enlightenment

I remember once being present, says Captain Basil Hall, at a meeting of the Geological Society, when a bottle was produced which was said to contain certain zoophytes (delicate water animals, having the form of plants). It was handed round in the first instance among the initiated on the foremost benches, who commented freely with one another on the forms of the animals in the fluid: but when it came to our hands, we could discover nothing in the bottle but the most limpid fluid, without any trace, so far as our eyes could make out, of animals dead or alive, the whole appearing absolutely transparent. The surprise of the ignorant at seeing nothing was only equal to that of the learned, who saw so much to admire. Nor was it till we were specifically instructed what it was we were to look for, and the shape, size, and general aspect of the zoophytes pointed out, that our understandings began to cooperate with our eyesight in peopling the fluid, which, up to that moment, had seemed perfectly uninhabited. The wonder then was, how we could possibly have omitted seeing objects now so palpable. How many are the things which appear to the illuminated Christian to be palpably revealed, which the unconverted cannot discover to have any place at all in the Scriptures of Truth; and how very much surprised does he feel, that he could ever have at any former time overlooked them! (F. F. Trench.)

What is the hope of His calling.--

The hope of His calling

Dwell for a moment on--

1. The ground of this hope. His calling! May He not do as He will with His own?

2. The grace of this hope. The God of all grace has called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus (1Pe_5:10). When the Lord Jesus Christ called blind Bartimeus (Mat_20:32), He also commanded him to be called (Mar_10:29); and He further commanded him to be brought unto Him (Luk_18:40). And thus it was with our apostle himself. It pleased God, who separated me from my mothers womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me (Gal_1:15).

3. The objects of this hope. Whom He did foreknow, them He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified (Rom_8:29-30).

4. The subject of this hope. Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus (Col_1:27-28). (M. Rainsford, B. A.)

The hope of His calling

This may be taken either in the sense of the hope which God inspires into the hearts of His people, by the Spirit; or it may be taken for the object of hope. In either case it is scriptural, and might be suitable in this passage; the first includes the second, for when that hope which the Spirit inspires is given to the heart, the hope laid up for it in heaven is the object of its anticipation. I therefore take this as being the fullest sense: as the hope to which He calls His people, that is the hope which those who are called by the Lord are privileged to possess and enjoy. God works in the mind, through the medium of its natural feelings. Hope is the great, animating principle of all human conduct. Hope is the expectation of a good to be attained, founded on a belief that we can attain it.

I. The nature of Gods calling.

1. It is a calling to peace (Col_3:15).

2. Through peace to hope. Called to inherit a blessing, and so to hope for the inheritance (1Pe_3:9).

3. It is a sure calling. Those who are called by the Spirit of God are never left to perish.

II. What is the hope founded upon this?

1. It is a hope that springs from faith. Founded on the belief of the truth--the only sure foundation.

2. A sober hope, drawn from the source of Gods truth. The hope of the gospel. (R. J. McGhee, M. A.)

The three whats

I. What is to seen and known according to the text? Three whats.

1. What is the hope of His calling? Brethren, let me describe the hope of those of us who have come out to walk by faith in Christ Jesus. We have already obtained enough abundantly to reward us for obedience to the call, and even if nothing were shut up in the closed hand of Hope, her open hand has greatly enriched us. Christian man, you have in possession already the forgiveness of your sin, acceptance in Christ, adoption into the Divine family, and the nature, rank, and rights of a child of God. Still our main possession lies in hope. We carry a bag of spending money in our hands, but the bulk of our wealth is deposited in the Bank of Hope. What then is the Christians hope?

(1) He hopes and believes that he shall be under Divine protection forever and ever, that he shall be the object of Divine love time out of mind, and when time shall be no more. He expects a stormy voyage, but because Christ is at the helm he hopes to come to the fair havens at the last. Sustained by this hope he dreads no labours and fears no difficulties.

(2) We hope also, and have good ground for it, that after death at the day of judgment we shall have, as we believe we have now, a perfect justification.

(3) We hope also for absolute perfection. The God who has changed our hearts will continue the good work of sanctification till He has taken every sin out of us, every desire for sin, every possibility of sin.

(4) We hope also that this body of ours will be perfected. Raised--changed, but still the same as to identity. Perpetual youth.

(5) We hope that being thus cleared in judgment and made thus absolutely perfect, we shall forever enjoy infinite happiness. We do not know what form the joys of eternity will take, but they will take such form as shall make us the most happy.

(6) Nor even now have we come to an end, for something more yet remains. You say, Can more be? Yes, we expect forever to be in a condition of power, and honour, and relationship to God. This is the hope of our calling.

2. What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints?

(1) He has spent riches of love upon them, for He loves them, poor as they are, and sick and sorry as they often are.

(2) Moreover, the Lord has spent a wealth of wisdom on His saints. This enhances their value in His eyes.

(3) He has expended a life of suffering upon them.

(4) There comes great glory to God from the workmanship which He puts into His people. An artisan can put into a small piece of iron, of no worth at all, so much labour that it shall be valued at scores of pounds, and the Triune God can expend so much workmanship upon our poor nature that a man shall be more precious than the gold of Ophir. Valued thus, the Lord may well speak of the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

3. What is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe? Now, learn ye this and know it--that in the conversion, preservation, and salvation of any one person God exhibits as great power as He manifested when He raised Jesus Christ from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. The salvation of no man in the world is by his own strength. It is by the power of God, for we are His workmanship.

II. Why we wish you to see and know all this.

1. That you may not neglect it, nor set anything in competition with it.

2. That you may see where your hope lies. Not in being your own any more, but in being the Lords. If you are His, He will take care of you.

3. That you may not doubt, or despond, or despair, but cast yourselves before the incarnate God, and let Him save you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Spiritual enlightenment

1. The source of spiritual enlightenment is God.

2. The agency is that of the Holy Spirit.

3. The end sought is the owning of the glory of God. For the marginal reading seems preferable here. For the acknowledgment of God, that in this whole matter He may be known, owned, glorified, is this prayer for the enlightenment of His people offered. But now, what is it that in terms of this apostolic prayer we are thus to know? Three things are specified, embracing three aspects of the religious life.

I. What is the hope of His calling. The hopefulness of Gods calling; what hope there is in it; how full of hope it is.

1. Consider who it is who calls, and in what character. God, in the character of the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory; the God who gives grace and glory.

2. Consider who are called. Men; all men, such as they are.

3. Consider the nature of this calling.

(1) The calling of God is hopeful; there is hope in it for sinners, because it is on the one hand absolutely free, and on the other hand peremptorily sovereign and commanding.

(2) The calling of God is hopeful, because it is on the one hand earnest, in the way of persuasion; and on the other hand effectual, as implying a Divine work of renewal in the will within,

(3) The calling of God is hopeful, because it is, on the one hand righteous, and on the other hand holy: righteous, as proceeding upon provision made for the righteousness of God, the righteousness of His character and government being maintained without compromise; holy, as making provision for our becoming personally righteous--upright, pure, holy.

4. There is hope in this calling of God; as being on the one hand sure on His part, and on the other hand capable of being made sure on our part.

II. What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance is the saints; its rich glory; its glorious richness. God takes us to be His inheritance.

III. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe. That is the third thing to be known. And here the apostle gives us a measure. It is according to the working, etc. It is a measure of amazing compass. It is nothing short of this, that you who believe may rely and reckon upon the power of God as available on your behalf, to the full extent of its exercise on behalf of Christ; in His victory over death, His resurrection to life, His ascension to the right hand of God, and His investiture with dominion over all. Application:

1. The knowledge for which Paul prays is altogether Divine; coming from a Divine source, through a Divine agency, for a Divine end. It is meant to be a knowledge both assured and assuring. But it cannot be so unless these conditions of it are duly observed.

2. The highest point in this threefold knowledge of God is the centre, and that implies your being His saints, His holy ones. It must be as His holy ones that you reach and realize the knowledge of the riches of the glory of His inheritance in you. Let no false humility come in here.

3. The exceeding greatness of Gods power is put forth in your exercising faith: it is to usward who believe. (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)

What the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.--

Gods inheritance in His saints

Among men there is possession and inheritance, in beings as in things. The husband has a portion in his wife, and parents have a portion in their children. Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord. And, according to the text, God has His inheritance in the saints. He who is the first cause of all things owns all things, and all things are His inheritance, and as part of this vast possession, living beings are Gods peculiar treasure. That God has an inheritance in the things which He has made, is a fact asserted sometimes by Himself (Psa_50:10-12; Psa_127:3; Exo_19:5; Hag_2:8; Job_41:11, etc.) The redeemed of mankind--men, women, children--are Gods estate, His riches, His wealth.

1. Gods inheritance in the saints is possession of the highest kind. That which lives is superior to that which is inanimate. That which is moral and religious in its constitution is superior to that which is without moral sensibility. And the highest and best beings are they which are most like to God, possessing His image and wearing His likeness. Gods inheritance in the worlds upon worlds which He has made is inferior to His inheritance in the saints.

2. Gods inheritance in the saints is His own original possession. It is underived from any ancestor. He never was heir to it; He holds it in no succession. The saints are His from the beginning, and His alone.

3. While the saints are Gods inheritance naturally, He has a second or double title to the possession (Exo_15:16; Psa_74:2; Eph_1:14; 1Co_6:19-20, etc.). The sick child lifted up from the gates of death is a special inheritance to the mother who has fondly nursed it. The prodigal son restored to his father is a special inheritance to the parent, whose life was a blank until the lost one was found. A forgiven transgressor, an ungodly man justified, a bad man regenerated, a man in a second sense Gods child, is His peculiar treasure.

4. This inheritance, looked at from the God side and from the heaven side, is a rich and glorious inheritance. Considered from the human and earthly side, the possession is very poor. What can we see in ourselves that can make God rich? But God considers Himself rich and exalted and renowned, in being able to say of His saints, They are mine. The state of Gods heart toward His inheritance makes it appear to Himself as rich and glorious. We have seen that God has a rich and glorious inheritance in the saints.

Upon this fact we proceed to make a few practical observations.

1. If God have a rich and glorious inheritance in the saints, He will claim it. He will not leave it alone, as though it did not belong to Him, or as though it were worthless. And God does claim it. He claims it by the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking in the hearts of the saints. He claims it by the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God. He claims His inheritance by His work upon it. He claims it by His providence over it. He claims it by His conduct, when this inheritance is defiled or given to another. He claims it by frequently reminding His saints that they are not their own.

2. If God have a rich and glorious inheritance in His saints, He will take care of His possession. All the looking to and attention and regard and oversight, which it requires for its safety and prosperity, cannot but be bestowed. And this care will partake of all the qualities of His own nature. It will be independent care, almighty care, righteous care, loving care, sufficient care, perfect care.

3. If God have a rich and glorious inheritance in His saints, He will make use of that inheritance. The little in Gods hand shall produce more, and the more much, and the much a greater abundance. Christians are not senseless ornaments in Gods house, but servants.

4. If God have a rich and glorious inheritance in His saints, He must take pleasure in it. Although this delight may be disturbed by sin and by sorrow, without doubt it exists with no variableness or the shadow of turning.

5. If God have a rich and glorious inheritance in His saints, He will not forsake it. His natural and His special title to it, His having claimed it, His use of it, and care for it, and delight in it, are all so many reasons for retaining it. And He has the capacity and ability to retain it. The inheritance which husbands and wives have in each other, is an inheritance which by reason of death fades away. The inheritance which parents have in children, is one which by reason of death in some cases, of removal from home in other cases, and of other circumstances, either partially or entirely fades away. But in this case the heritor lives, and the inheritance itself is everlasting. And while He lives He changes not.

6. If God have a rich and glorious inheritance in His saints, and if He claim His inheritance, care for it, make use of it, and take pleasure in it, and if He will not forsake it, the saints themselves should think and feel and speak and act and live in harmony with this position. They who come suddenly into a fortune, or rise unexpectedly to a high social position, do not at first see and understand all that is required of them. And thus the appreciation of their position by the saints is a gradual experience.

7. If God have His inheritance in the saints, we ought to esteem it highly, and to cherish a living and loving care for it. Christians should care for themselves, because they are not their own, and should care for themselves for Gods sake. To defile or degrade or debase themselves, or to waste their energies, is to defile and debase and waste the inheritance of God. What motives are here to the cherishing of purity and righteousness and Christ-likeness! And how careful should saints be of each other! (S. Martin, D. D.)

Gods inheritance

Our inheritance in God is Christ, life, righteousness, peace, fulness, acceptance, Fatherhood, grace, and glory! But what can we say of His inheritance in us? Only this. That it is by His saints God intends to make known to principalities and powers in heavenly places His manifold wisdom, tenderness, long suffering, patience, and the boundless and inexhaustible abundance of His mercies and pardoning love. For even as this dark world needs the sun, so doth the sun need a world such as ours to shine upon, else his fulness of light and quickening, gladdening power would be unrevealed. And as the fulness of the earth sets forth the beauty and resources of the sun, so shall His vessels of mercy and His monuments of grace set forth the glory of our God. You may remember God speaks of His people as His garden. The figure is very instructive and very beautiful. What our gardens are to the sun, Gods children are to Him. As each flower attracts and absorbs the suns rays, receiving and reflecting his light and heat, and giving forth fragrance and fruit according to its nature, absorbing some rays and reflecting others, but all together setting forth in a variety of tints and shades, and fragrance and fruit, the infinite fulness and beauty of the light in which they dwell,--even so it shall be by and by when the Sun of Righteousness arises on us with healing in His wings. Each saint shall reflect some blessed aspect of His fulness of grace and glory. One shall set forth His patience, another His tenderness, another His faithfulness, another His strength, another His fulness, another His fruitfulness, another His loving kindness and tender mercies, but all together shall show forth the praises of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. (M. Rainsford, B. A.)

Eph_1:19-20

And what the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe.

The mighty power which creates and sustains faith

1. Be it never forgotten by us that the salvation of a soul is a creation. Now, no man has ever been able to create a fly, nor even a single molecule of matter. No human or angelic power can intrude upon this glorious province of Divine power. Creation is Gods own domain. Now, in every Christian there is an absolute creation. Created anew in Christ Jesus.

2. In the regeneration of every soul there is a destruction as well as a creation. The old man has to be destroyed.

3. The work of salvation is most truly a transformation. Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. You who have been made anew in Christ Jesus, know in your own hearts how great that transformation is.

4. Remember, too, as if this were not enough, that the conversion of a soul is constantly compared to quickening--the quickening of the dead. How great the miracle when the dry bones in Ezekiels vision suddenly became a great army!

I. Consider the analogy which the apostle here points out. You have to conceive of the power by which the dead body of Christ is brought to all that preeminence of honour, and then to remember that just such power is seen in you if you are a believer.

1. In examining the wonderful picture before us, we begin with Christ in the grave, by noticing that it was in Christs case a real death. So with us; by nature we are really dead. Our heart is dead in trespasses and sins.

2. Among the dead. Our outward life was just like that of other ungodly men.

3. A heavenly messenger comes. There is a Divine mandate for our resurrection, as much as for that of Jesus Christ.

4. There came with that messenger a mysterious life.

5. An earthquake.

6. The stone being removed, forth came the Saviour. He was free; raised up no more to die; He stood erect, beheld by His followers, who, alas I did not know Him. And even so we, when the Divine life has come, and the Divine energy has burst our tomb, come forth to a new life.

7. In the resurrection of Christ, as in our salvation, there was put forth nothing short of a Divine power. It was not angelic or arch-angelic, much less was it human. It is not the ministry, it is not the Word preached, nor the Word heard in itself; all the power proceeds from the Holy Ghost.

8. Observe again, that this power was irresistible. All the soldiers and the high priests could not keep the body of Christ in the tomb. Irresistible is the power put forth, too, in the Christian. No sin, no corruption, no temptation, no devils in hell, nor sinners upon earth, can never stay the hand of Gods grace when it intends to convert a man.

9. Observe, too, that the power which raised Christ from the dead was glorious reflected great honour upon God and brought, great dismay upon the hosts of evil. So there is great glory to God in the conversion of every sinner.

10. Lastly, it was everlasting power. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. So we, being raised from the dead, go not back to our dead works nor to our old corruptions, but we live unto God. The parallel will hold in every point, however minute. Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

We have only proceeded so far as to see Christ raised from the dead; but the power exhibited in the Christian goes further than this--it goes onward to the ascension.

1. If you will carefully read the story of the ascension, you will notice first that Christs ascension was contrary to nature. How should the body of a man without any means be borne upward into the air? While He blessed them He was taken out of their sight. So the Christians rising above the world, his breathing another atmosphere, is clean contrary to nature.

2. You will observe again, that the disciples could not long see the rising Saviour. A cloud received Him out of their sight. So in our case, too, if we rise as we should rise, if the Spirit of God worketh in us all the good pleasure of His will, men will soon lose sight of us. They will not understand us; they will be certain to run hither and thither, wondering at this and marvelling at that; they will call us mad, fanatical, wild and enthusiastic, and I know not what.

3. Jesus Christ continued to ascend by that same Divine power, until He had reached the seat of heaven above; He was gone, really gone from earth altogether. Such is the Christians life. He continues to ascend, the Lord makes him dead to the world, and the carnal multitude know him no more.

4. See, beloved, we have stretched our compass somewhat wide now, when we say that there is as much Divine power seen in raising the Christian above the world, as in raising Christ from the grave into heaven. But that is not all. When the Master had come to heaven, we are told in the text that He was made to sit down at the right hand of God. Sitting at the right hand implies honour, pleasure, and power. Conceive the change!--from depths of reproach to heights of glory; from fearful deeps of sorrow to glorious summits of bliss; from weakness, shame, and suffering, to strength, majesty, dominion, glory. Such is the change in the Christian too.

5. Complete triumph. Far above all principalities and powers. As Christ, so Christs, for we are in Him.

6. You will not fail to observe that He has also universal dominion. Follow the passage--And hath put all things under His feet. And so hath the Lord put all things under His peoples feet. Their sins and corruptions, their sorrows and afflictions, this world and the world to come, are all made subject unto us, when He makes us kings and priests, that we may reign forever.

II. Now we must note, in the second place, the reason of this. Why does God put forth as much power towards every Christian as He did in His beloved Son? Well, my brethren, I believe the reason is not only that the same power was required, and that by this means He getteth great glory, but the reason is this--union. It lays in the word--union. There must be the same Divine power in the member that there is in the head, or else where is the union? If we are one with Christ, members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones, there must be a likeness.

1. Note, first, that there cannot be a body at all--I mean not a true living body--unless the members are of the same nature as the head. If you could conceive a human head joined to bestial limbs, you would at once understand that you were not looking upon a natural body. If here were a dogs foot, and there a lions mane, and yet a mans eyes and a human brow, you could never conceive of it as a body of Gods creation; you would look upon it as a strange monstrosity, a tiring to be put out of sight, or to be shown for fools to gaze at as a nine-days wonder; but certainly not as a thing to display Divine wisdom and power. A body of Gods making will be of the same material all the way through.

2. If all the members were not like the head and did not display the same power it would not be glorious to God. Some of the old tapestries were made at different times and in different pieces, and occasionally the remark is heard, That part of the battle scene must have been wrought by a different needle from the other. You can see here an abundance, and there a deficiency of skill; that corner of the picture has been executed by a far inferior hand. Now, suppose in this great tapestry which God is working--the great needlework of His love and power--the mystical person of Christ--that we should say, The head has been wrought, we can see, by a Divine hand; that glorious brow, those fire-darting eyes, those honey-dropping lips, are of God, but that hand is by another and an inferior artist, and that foot is far from perfect in workmanship. Why, it would not be glorious to our Great Artist; but when the whole picture is by Himself we see that He did not begin what He could not finish, and that He has not inserted a single thread of inferior value.

3. Note again, that it would not be glorious to our Head. I saw the other day a cathedral window in the process of being filled with the richest stained glass. Methinks the great person of Christ may be compared to that great cathedral window. The artists had put in the head of the chief figure in the most beautiful glass that ever human skill could make, or human gold could purchase; I have not seen it since, but imagine for an instant that the workers afterwards found that their money failed them, and they were obliged to fill in the panes with common glass. There is the window, there is nothing but a head in noble colours, and the rest is, perhaps, white glass, or some poor ordinary blue and yellow. It is never finished. What an unhappy thing, for who will care to see the head? It has lost its fulness. There is the head, but it is strangely circumstanced. If you complete it with anything inferior, you mar and spoil it; it is the head of an imperfect piece of workmanship. But, dear friends, when all the rest of the picture shall have been wrought out with just the same costly material as the first part, then the head itself shall be placed in a worthy position, and shall derive glory from as well as confer glory upon the body. Ye can read this parable without an interpreter.

4. I must add, that if anything, the power manifested in the member should be greater than that manifested in the head--if anything, it should be greater. A marble palace is to be built. Well, now, if they build (and oh, how many people do this kind of thing in their houses) the front with costly stone, and then erect the back with common stock bricks; if the pinnacles be made to soar with rich Carrara to the skies, and then down in the walls common stone is seen, everybody says, This was done to save money. But if the whole structure throughout, from top to bottom, is of the same kind, then it reflects much honour upon the great builder, and declares the wealth which he was able to expend upon the structure. But suppose that some of the blocks of marble used in the foundation have lain in a very dark quarry, and have been subject to damaging influences, so that they have lost their gloss and polish, then surely they will want more polishing, more workmanship, to make them look like that bright cornerstone, that noble pinnacle which is brought out with shoutings. Christ Jesus was in His nature fit, without any preparing, to be a part of the great temple of God. We in our nature were unfit; and so, if anything, the power should be greater; but we are constrained to rejoice that we find in Scripture that it is just the same power which lifted the man Christ Jesus to the throne of God, which now shall lift each one of us to live and reign with Him. Moreover, to conclude this point, the loving promise of our Lord will never be fulfilled (and He will never be contented unless it be), unless His people do have the same power spent upon them as He has.

III. Inferences.

1. What a marvellous thing a Christian is.

2. Why should I doubt Gods power for others? If He has put forth so much power to save me, cannot He save anyone?

3. Why should I ever have any doubts about my ultimate security? Is this irresistible power engaged to save me? Then I must be saved.

4. How doleful the state of those who are not converted. But God may have pity on you yet. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Resurrection power

I. The prerogative of God. Originally the possession of God the Father, then conferred on the Son of God. It was through the eternal Spirit Christ offered Himself, and by the Spirit He was quickened (Heb_9:14; 1Pe_3:18).

II. Exercised chiefly in the case of the Son of God.

1. In restoring life.

2. In exalting life to higher conditions and more spiritual states.

3. In glorifying the human nature.

4. In bestowing universal power and authority.

III. Extended to believers.

1. This suggests the greatness of the work requiring to be accomplished with regard to them.

(1) Already accomplished.

(2) Still to be completed.

2. It increases their faith. By the revelation of the vastness of the power that is being put forth; by the light cast upon their own experience; and by the pledge it affords of Gods faithfulness. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)

The glorious analogy of spiritual life in believers

The universality and power of the gospel are grandly reflected in this Epistle--like Bunyans Pilgrims Progress, the outcome of solitary meditation in a cell. So the simplest disciple is the germ of all The gospel is magnified, and the believer encouraged by this demonstration of the mighty power of God in resurrection, because His spiritual life is--

I. Caused by the Risen One.

1. Originated.

2. Sustained.

II. Itself a manifestation of the same power. The new life is a resurrection from spiritual death.

III. Interpreted and ennobled by its fellowship with Christ in His resurrection. The latter was the greatest miracle of time. It transcended all the antecedent phenomena of nature and human history, and even the mightiest works of Christs life, previous to His crucifixion, are that--

1. Greater forces were opposed.

2. The question at stake was infinitely greater.

3. The Risen One was to have power to quicken others.

4. He was raised through and into the power of an endless life.

(1) The forces of regeneration might have been entirely hidden. Many of the greatest factors of nature and history are thus hidden. The kingdom of God as a whole and essentially is hidden. And believers are conscious of innumerable hidden influences and visitations of Divine grace.

(2) But God for wise ends has revealed them.

(a) To help us to a true estimate of the spiritual life--of all that it has involved in order to its creation and continuance, and of its character as a communion with the things that are above (Col_3:1-2).

(b) To encourage us. We are not alone. The weakest saint is sustained by this mighty power. Fellowship with Christ reveals a glorious destiny. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)

Those who think it easy to believe are destitute of saving faith

I. The difficulty of believing. That which requires the greatest power and strength to effect it, is no easy thing. But believing requires the greatest power to effect it. Therefore it is no easy thing to believe. I prove the assumption; namely, that the greatest power in heaven and earth is required to raise up faith in us.

1. Because faith deals with the power of God only about those things which it believes. Bears itself up upon that; and when God is about to persuade a sinner to believe His free grace, He first convinces him of His power, that He is able to perform His promises.

(1) God asserts His power. He declares Himself to be an Almighty God. So to Abraham (Gen_17:1); and in the New Testament He often asserts His power, that all things are possible to Him.

(2) God doth exert and put forth His power in some visible exemplification of it, that fully demonstrates His omnipotency, and can signify nothing less. Such an instance we have in the text, in the resurrection of Christ. This overt act speaks out His infinite power; it is matter of fact, and cannot be denied.

(3) God gives the saints some feeling and experience of the exceeding greatness of His power put forth in their own souls, by working faith in them.

2. Because no natural principle in man can take in the objects of faith. Flesh and blood cannot reveal them to us. Faith is an act above reason.

3. That which makes believing so difficult, is the seeming contradictory acts of faith. It seems not to consist with itself. Here I take faith more generally, as it has for its object the whole Word of God, the law and the gospel. The special object of faith, as saving, is the promise; saving faith seeks life, which is not to be found in commandments and threats, but in a promise of mercy. Faith, acting upon the whole Word of God, seems to contradict itself; for faith believes, a sinner is to die according to the law, and that he shall live according to the gospel. Faith has the Word of God for both, both for the death and life of a sinner; and both are true. The law must be executed, and the promise must be performed; but how to reconcile this is not so obvious and easy to every one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid (Gal_3:21). It is impossible both should be accomplished in the person of a sinner; he cannot die eternally, and live eternally; yet both are wonderfully brought about by Jesus Christ, according to the manifold wisdom of God, without any derogation to His law and justice.

4. The reigning unbelief that is among the generality of men. So it was in our Saviours time: the Jews, who had been the only professors of the true religion for many ages, in opposition to all idolatry and false worship--they stumble at the gospel; the Greeks, who were the more learned sort of the heathen world--they counted it foolishness.

5. The notorious apostasy of many professors this day, who have made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience (1Ti_1:19), may convince you all that it is no easy matter to believe; so to believe as to persevere in the faith.

6. Believers themselves find it a difficult matter to act their faith. If their lives lie upon it, they cannot act it at their pleasure, without the special aid and assistance of the Spirit. It is God [that] must work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php_2:13).

II. The reason why many professors count it an easy thing to believe. The main reason is this, and I will insist upon no other; namely, because they mistake a formal profession of faith for real believing. A formal profession is general; takes up religion in gross, but is not concerned in any one point of it. But real believing is particular; brings down every gospel truth to ourselves, shows us our concernment in it.

III. They who count it an easy matter to believe, are destitute of saving faith. I prove it thus--

1. They who have never found any conflict in themselves about believing, are destitute of saving faith: but they who count it an easy matter to believe, have never found any conflict in themselves about believing: if faith did not act in opposition to carnal reason, and carry it against all the strong reasonings of the flesh to the contrary, supernatural truths would never enter, never be admitted, never find acceptance in the soul; we should never be brought over to assent to them, so as to make them the sure ground of our trust and confidence in God. Bat faith captivates all rebellious thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God (2Co_10:5), as if they could disprove all that the gospel says; but the demonstrations of the Spirit are with that power, that we cannot resist them.

2. They who were never convinced of the sinfulness of sin, and of the dreadfulness of Gods wrath against sinners, are destitute of saving faith: but they who count it an easy matter, etc. I do not mean that all must pass under the like terrors of conscience: some have a more easy passage from a state of nature to grace, from death to life, from terror to comfort; they may sooner get over their fears, and attain to peace, than others may.

3. Those who have never been tempted to unbelief, are destitute of saving faith: but those who count it an easy matter to believe, were never sensible of any temptation to unbelief. No man ever got over temptation to unbelief without difficulty. Unbelief has much to say for itself; and it will be sure to say all it can to hinder the soul from closing in with Christ.

4. He who is not much in prayer, much in the use of all means to increase and strengthen his faith is destitute of saving faith. But he who counts it an easy matter to believe takes no pains this way, but thinks he can believe at any time. Then thou canst do that which flesh and blood never did, that no mortal man ever did in his own strength.

5. He who does not look upon a life of faith to be a careful, studious, laborious life, is destitute, etc. Faith has new rules, counsels, and methods of living, that a man was never acquainted with before: he meets with many scruples: doubts, and intricate cases, that put him to it, to find out the right way of pleasing God; for that is the great design of faith. (T. Cole, M. A.)

The power working in believers

The power that is working in them is not a weaker power, nor another power, but the same power, as that which wrought in the crucified and entombed body of our Lord. Paul sends us to that chamber in the rock, for our chief lesson. There lies the mangled and bloodless body. A lance has been thrust through His heart: not a drop of blood remains therein. Watch, and you shall see Gods own illustration of His power and working in all believers. By nature, we are as sepulchres in which our immortal nature lies in death. Only God can raise us from the dead. Year by year He raises nature from the dead, but He hides His great power under a veil of surprising gentleness. The effects are seen, but we see not the power working. Even so Jesus rose from the dead. There was neither stir nor voice in that tomb. God filled that lifeless form, as the spring warmth fills the trees, swells their buds, and opens them into leaf. Jesus rose as quietly as a flower lifts its head to the dawn. Calmly, and as free from excitement, as one awaking from sleep, He left the sepulchre. The linen that was about His body bore witness to His calm self-possession. A leisurely hand had folded it up. Such is the Godlike way in which death is destroyed by a power greater than death, and the light of immortality kindled in man. Man is saved. The power that moves in the tree, moves in the branches too. I am the vine, you are the branches. His new life warmth is in us. Christ liveth in us. The diffusion of His ascension through our souls is as much a fact as the diffusion of solar rays through the earth. The change which has been wrought in Christ shall be wrought in His members also. (John Pulsford.)

The power of God working in believers

I. Gods believing children know not at first at all clearly the great power of God which works in them. As He reveals His wisdom in afflicting us once, twice, and we hear Him not; so He manifests His power again and again, but we are not able to conceive it. By what means may we come to know this power better?

1. By seeking to God, who has promised that we shall know Him to the least of us, praying Him to open our eyes, that we may see His glory more clearly.

2. By looking into that double mirror of His Word and His works, through which the light of His glorious power is reflected to us.

3. By observing the experience we have ourselves of this power both working in us and for us.

4. They in whom the power of God works are true believers. The more we are united by faith with God in Christ, the more does His virtue or power work upon us, both in conforming us to Himself, and in doing otherwise what is desirable.

(1) What a power is that which so changes men, and makes lambs of lions, chaste and sober of filthy and intemperate, humble of proud--a thing harder than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.

(2) To continue and promote the work of sanctification in us, who are carnal, sold under sin, is a thing no less strange than to keep in fire and make it burn higher and higher in the water.

(3) The quickening of us with heavenly desires and holy affections is no small power; neither is it less wonderful than to see iron and lead flying upward, were it no less frequently wrought than the other.

(4) What a power is it, that inwardly confirms and strengthens us, so that we are not overcome; yea, that chains up these spirits of darkness, that they cannot disturb and assail us. These things ace daily done in us. Now this power is ready to work in time to come our deliverance from all evils, the further supply of graces which we yet find ourselves to want, the further healing of our sinful natures, and the full redemption of our souls and bodies.

3. It is the effectual working of Gods Almighty power which brings us to believe. The creating of us anew in Christ is a greater work than giving us our natural being in Adam, and therefore may not be ascribed to any power which is not almighty. This will be more apparent if we consider

(1) what state we are in of ourselves;

(2) what powers hold us captive, even those strong ones whom none but the Strongest can overcome;

(3) to what estate God raises us by believing, even to such an estate as is beyond comparison more excellent than that we received. Conclusion: What a power is that which shakes the hearts of the most secure sinners! It is a strong wind that shakes an oak, but to bring a heart like the jailors to tremble is a matter requiring a mighty power. Again, to give a hand or an eye to one blind or maimed were much; how great then is the power by which the hand and eye of faith are restored? Wherefore, let us look to Him who has thus mightily brought us to believe, that He would finish our faith by the same power. (Paul Bayne.)

The greatness of Gods power

Pompey boasted that, with one stamp of his foot, he could rouse all Italy to arms; but God by one word of His mouth, nay, by a wish of His mind alone, can summon the inhabitants of heaven, earth, and the undiscovered worlds, to His aid, or bring new creatures into being to do His will.

Gods power of raising to life

If this earth could but have its mantle torn away for a little while, if the green sod could be cut from it, and we could look about six feet deep into its bowels, what a strange world it would seem! What should we see? Bones, carcasses, rottenness, worms and putrifying corruption. And you would say, Can these dry bones live? Can they again start up into being? Yes, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the dead shall be raised. God speaks--they are alive! See them scattered! bone comes to his bone. See them naked! flesh comes upon them. See them still lifeless. Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain! When the wind of the Holy Spirit comes, they live; and they stand upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Will there be any longer doubt among men of Gods power in having raised His own Son from the dead? And not only so, but of having exalted Him to His throne in heaven above? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The resurrection a fact

So clear is the evidence of Christs resurrection, that when Gilbert West--a celebrated infidel--selected this subject as the point of attack, sitting down to weigh the evidence and to digest the whole matter, although filled with prejudice, he was so startled with the abundant witness to the truth of this fact, that he expressed himself a convert, and has left as a heritage for coming generations a most valuable treatise, entitled, Observations on the Resurrection of Christ. He laid down certain laws of evidence to begin with, and then went to the matter as though he had been a lawyer examining the pros and cons of any matter in dispute; and this, which is the fundamental doctrine of our faith, seemed to him so exceedingly clear that he renounced his unbelief, and became a professor of Christianity. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Resurrection honours

Passing by a house a short time since I noticed the intimation, This House to Let. How is this? Is the former tenant dead? I asked. Oh no, sir, said the caretaker; he has removed to a larger house in a better situation. Even thus, as we look upon the clay tenement in which some loved Christian friend has dwelt, we answer, No, he is not dead, but removed into the enduring house in the better country, where the better resurrection is, and where eternal life is. (Henry Varley.)

The fact and power of the resurrection

Of one lever and power the apostles of Christ speak with enthusiasm. When they touch upon the Resurrection, their words are winged with rapture, and burst into anthems.

I. The fact of the resurrection. Compare the narratives of St. Matthew and St. Luke with that of St. John. It is as nearly as possible correct to say that in the accounts of the risen Lord, St. Matthew mentions Galilee without Jerusalem (after the first appearance), while St. Luke mentions Jerusalem without Galilee. And in this respect St. Matthew is consistent with his purpose from the beginning. St. John, on the other hand, gives us, after his fashion, an idealized picture of the risen Jesus. He selects the appearances which he will relate, and moulds the record so as to show the identity (under glorified conditions) of the Word made flesh before and after the resurrection. That is

(1) The identity of the human body which rose from the grave with that which came from the Virgins womb, and hung upon the cross;

(2) the identity of the human soul, the permanence of the human sympathy of the risen Lord. And thus in the twentieth anti twenty-first chapters the Saviour is with His own. Not only does He recognize the old faces; He calls them by name--Mary, Thomas, Simon, son of Jonas. They traverse unforgotten places. The same palms are quivering in the air; the same waters are veiled with the hot morning haze, or sleeping under the blazing noon in their golden mountain cup. Think how He speaks--for a short while, indeed, not entirely recognized, but lovingly, like one from a higher sphere, as the eternal Wisdom who can teach them what they need to know. Then those two words after the loaf and the fish are so mysteriously prepared--come, dine. There is no link or particle in His brief sentence to break the hush of awe which mingles the familiarity of the breakfast upon the white beach with the enfolding depths of the presence of God.

II. The power of the resurrection.

1. Think of that power in increasing and sustaining the Church. In our time the Church seems weak. In one great capital of Europe the Good Friday of the present year saw a hideous revel, a ball of Antichrist, in which masked dancers moved to the strains of the sacred music which is heard in Christian churches. And people ask--why are such blasphemers allowed to live? why are they not struck dead? Ah! He is patient because He is eternal. If we could follow the histories of those revellers to the end, let us be sure that we should find not a few of them bowing before Him. And that for two reasons. First, the soul cannot live without God. A boy who lived in a rude cottage by the sea was once found by a wealthy relative and taken to an inland valley. There he was given a fairer home, and surrounded by every luxury. But he missed something sorely. He missed the morning and evening music of the tumbling tides, and the dewy spray upon his cheeks; and he climbed the highest point of the farthest hill, until far off, with a beating heart and moisture upon his eyelid, he saw a blue speck in the distance, and cried, the sea! And so the human soul misses that eternal, infinite Ocean which we call God. And as the ocean child cries--give me the ocean! so the soul, made for God and restless ever until it finds rest in Him, cries--give me God! Again, of those revellers there are some whom Christ will one day win by His voice. He will lay them on a sick bed. In His loving discipline He will open their hearts with that pierced hand which knows every bolt of the door of the heart. And when they are asked--how were you converted?--they will say that Jesus is not a memory, but a Person; that He lives and works, not as Napoleon or Luther, by the mere influence of a history and of ideas, but by a present living love; and that God has acted upon them according to the working of the mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead.

2. Consider the power of the resurrection in making believers holy. There is one great principle of the spiritual life which is deeply imbedded in the thought of St. Paul, and which pervades the conception of the Churchs year. All that was done in Christ is mystically repeated in Christs people.

3. Think of the power of the resurrection as regards our hope for the future of our dead. Remember what has been said of the two closing chapters of St. John.

4. Consider, lastly, the bearing of this resurrection power as a principle of conciliation in the national life of Christian nations. What if a nation contains within its womb two races and two manners of people? What if each of those two races has its own hostile tradition and its own thread of history, in whose texture the strands of right and wrong are so strangely intertwined that the subtlest analysis fails to distinguish where one ends and the other begins? The muse of history is, after all, not hate, but love. So wrote a great French philosophic historian more than half a century ago. In this our land there shall yet be two words, not stamped upon stone or metal, upon coin or plinth, but upon the fleshy tables of mens hearts, upon remote mountains, in great cities where the voice of thousands, homeless, or barricaded within squalid walls, now rises like the restless hum of bees that have lost their queen. These two words are--Pacata Hibernia. From brother to brother shall come the Easter greeting which came first from the heart of the Risen Christ--peace be unto you. The resurrection of love will be the true resurrection of our nation. (Bp. Wm. Alexander.)

The wonderfulness of Christs resurrection

How is it that Paul speaks with such a passion of emphasis of the working of the strength of Gods might which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead? The apostle seems struggling with an idea too large for expression. The Divine power manifested in the resurrection of Christ appears to him so immense that he accumulates epithet on epithet to describe it. What is the explanation of the extraordinary strength of the apostles language? The answer is to be found in the unique character of our Lords resurrection. When the daughter of Jairus was brought back to life, she returned to the same life that she had lived before she died; she was a child again in her fathers home. We know nothing of her later history; but if she lived many years she passed through all the common experiences of the race; she grew up to womanhood; she may have married; she had the ordinary cares and sorrows and joys of womanhood; illness came to her as it came to others, and at last she died a second time and was buried. It was the same with the young man at Nain. He went home with his mother, continued to work at his trade, took once more the place in the common ranks of men which for a few hours had been vacant, lived and died like other men. It was the same with Lazarus. He took up the broken threads of life just where he had left them, and was the same man that he had always been, except that the days of death and the hour in which at the command of Christ he returned to the common paths of men must always have been recalled by him with a certain wonder and awe. But the resurrection of Christ was not a return to the life which death had interrupted. It was the beginning of a new life under altogether new conditions. The resurrection was followed by the ascension. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

The sovereignty of the risen Christ

Paul attributes to Christ a real and effective sovereignty over all worlds, seen and unseen. He is not merely surrounded with the pomp and circumstance of supreme authority. He does not merely watch, with a perfect sympathy of joy, the infinite activities of the Divine life and the tremendous manifestations of the Divine power, as a son might watch the successive triumphs of his fathers heroism and his fathers genius. He Himself is Lord of all. He controls and governs all the immense forces of the material universe, and the more immense and awful forces of the moral and spiritual universe. He, the Christ whom men knew on earth, He--and not another--He who was born at Bethlehem, who was a child in the home of Joseph and Mary at Nazareth, who grew in wisdom and stature, who was tempted, who delivered the sermon on the mount, whose arms enfolded little children, who was betrayed by Judas, who was charged with treason against Caesar and with blasphemy against God, who was scourged, who was crucified--He, and not another, is Lord of all. He is supreme in the Church as well as in the rest of the universe; and the Church is His body in which all the wealth and the energy of His life are revealed, the perfect organ of His will, the very home of His glory. And yet it is not in the Church alone that the power and glory of Christ are manifested. He gives to the whole creation its substantial being; apart from Him it would be a phantom universe; He is the centre and support of universal law; the spring of universal life; the author of all beauty and of all joy and blessedness: He filleth all in all. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

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

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

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.

Eph_1:20. Set Him at His own right hand.—“Dexter Dei ubique est.” We cannot dogmatise about the relations to space which a glorified body holds. The transcendent glory of God in that body links God to man, the humanity in the glory gives man his claim in God. “The true commentary on the phrase is Mar_16:19, ‘He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God’ ” (Meyer).

Eph_1:21. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion.—R.V. “Rule, and authority, and power, and dominion.” “To be understood of the good angels, since the apostle is not speaking of the victory of Christ over opposing powers, but of His exaltation above the existing powers of heaven” (Meyer). “Powers and dominions, deities of heaven,” as Milton calls them, ranged here, perhaps, in a descending order. And every name that is named.—“God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name.” “Let any name be uttered, whatever it is, Christ is above it, is more exalted than that which the name affirms” (Meyer). Not only in this world.—“This age.” “No other name under heaven given among men.” But also in that which is to come.—There Zechariah’s word will have its fullest application. “The Lord shall be King over all the earth; there shall be one Lord, and His name one.”

Eph_1:22. And hath put all things under His feet.—Compare 1Co_15:27.

“Strong Son of God, immortal Love, …

Thou madest Death; and lo Thy foot

Is on the skull which Thou hast made.”

In Memoriam.

Eph_1:23. The fulness of Him that filleth all in all.—“The Church, viz., is the Christ-filled, i.e. that which is filled by Him in so far as Christ penetrates the whole body and produces Christian life” (Meyer). “The brimmed receptacle of Him who filleth all things with all things” (Farrar). “Among the Gnostics the supersensible world is called the Pleroma, the fulness or filled, in opposition to ‘the empty,’ the world of the senses” (Meyer).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Eph_1:19-23

The Church Complete in Christ.

I. The Church is the creation of divine power (Eph_1:19).—The Church does not consist in massive architecture or ornate decorations, not in ecclesiastical organisations and councils. It is not the offspring of the most elaborately constructed creed. It is not confined within the limits of the most expansive ecclesiastical epithet. It is a divine, spiritual creation. It consists of souls redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus, clinging to Him for pardon, peace, and righteousness, and created in Him, by “the working of the mighty power” of the divine Spirit, for good works, and therefore continually striving to disseminate the good they have themselves received. The apostolic idea of the Church was coloured by the leading characteristic of the man. To St. Peter it was the Church as influenced by law—the confessing Church; to St. Paul it was the Church influenced by the freedom of faith—the witnessing Church; to St. John it was the Church as filled with the ideality of faith—working and keeping joyful holiday, the adorned Bride (Rev_19:7-8). The Church is a constant revelation of “the exceeding greatness of His power” who first originated it and sustains its ever-widening growth.

II. The divine power that creates the Church instals Christ as the supreme authority.—

1. This power raised Christ from the deepest humiliation to the highest dignity (Eph_1:20-21). It raised Him from the cross to the throne, from the domain of the dead to the life and everlasting glory of the heavenly world. “God ascended with jubilation, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. Certainly, if when He brought His only begotten Son into the world He said, ‘Let all the angels worship Him’; much more, now that He ascends on high and hath led captivity captive, hath He given Him a name above all names, that at the name of Jesus all knees should bow. And if the holy angels did so carol at His birth in the very entrance into that estate of humiliation and infirmity, with what triumph they receive Him now returning from the perfect achievement of man’s redemption! And if, when His type had vanquished Goliath and carried the head into Jerusalem, the damsels came forth to meet him with dances and timbrels, how shall we think those angelic spirits triumph in meeting the great Conqueror of hell and death! How did they sing, ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in’!”

2. This power invests Christ with supreme rule and authority (Eph_1:22). On the night when Christ was born what a difference was there in all outward marks of distinction between the child of the Hebrew mother as He lay in His lowly cradle, and the Augustus Cæsar, whose edict brought Mary to Bethlehem, as he reposed in his imperial palace. And throughout the lifetime of the two there was but little to lessen that distinction. The name of the one was known and honoured over the whole civilised globe, the name of the Other scarce heard of beyond the narrow bounds of Judea. How stands it now? The throne of the Cæsars, the throne of mere human authority and power, has perished. But the empire of Jesus, the empire of pure, undying, self-sacrificing love, will never perish; its sway over the consciences and hearts of men, as the world grows older, becomes ever wider and stronger (Hanna). The rule of Christ will last till all enemies are subdued, and obedience to Him becomes a reverential and joyous experience.

III. The Church is complete as it is endowed with the divine fulness of Christ (Eph_1:23).—The Church to-day seems broken into fragments, torn by divisions and strife; but by-and-by it will blend in a glorious unity. Take a mass of quicksilver, let it fall on the floor, and it will split into a vast number of distinct globules; gather them up, and put them together again, and they will coalesce into one body as before. Thus God’s people below are sometimes divided into various parties, though they are all in fact members of one and the same mystic body. But when taken up from the world and put together in heaven they will constitute one glorious, undivided Church for ever and ever. The completeness of the Church is not the aggregation of all the virtues of the saints blended in beauteous and harmonious unity, but the glory of the divine fulness that pervades every part.

Lessons.—

1. The Church as a divine creation is a revelation of Christ.

2. The Church is composed of those who are created anew in Christ Jesus.

3. Christ is everything to His Church.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

Eph_1:19-23. The Dignity and Dominion of Christ.

I. The first step in Christ’s exaltation was the resurrection from the dead.—This miracle is an incontestable evidence of the truth of the Christian religion, and an evidence of the great doctrine of the resurrection of the body and a future life, and of the efficacy of Christ’s blood to expiate the guilt of our sins. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we must believe that the same mighty power which wrought in Him can also work in us to raise us from the dead.

II. The next step is His ascension to heaven and session at God’s right hand (Eph_1:20). The right hand is the place of honour and respect, and denotes superior dignity. Christ sitting at God’s right hand signifies He has ceased from His labours and sufferings and entered into a state of repose and joy, and imports authority and power. He is exalted not only as Ruler, but also as Intercessor.

III. The exaltation of Christ is supreme.—His kingdom extends to all creatures in heaven, earth, and under the earth. The government of the natural world is in His hands, as well as the government of the Church. He has dominion over devils. His last and most glorious act is the judgment of the world.

IV. The end for which Christ exercises His high and extensive dominion (Eph_1:22-23).—All His government is managed in reference to the good of the Church. See how criminal and dangerous it is to oppose the interest of the Church. If the Church is Christ’s body, let us honour it, study to preserve unity in it, labour for its edification and comfort. Let us honour and reverence our Head, and never presumptuously lift up ourselves against the Church.—Lathrop.

Eph_1:19. The Power of God in Conversion.—

1. The power God exercises in converting and carrying on the work of grace to glory is not only great, but exceeds all power that might impede that work, so that there is no power in the devil, the world, sin, or death which this power does not overcome, nor any impotency in believers which this greatness of power will not help and strengthen. There is no more pregnant proof of God’s omnipotent power than in converting sinners from sin to holiness.

2. This mighty power of God extends to all times. It works in the first conversion of believers, preserves them in a state of grace, actuating their graces that they may grow, and continues till their graces are perfected.

3. The experimental knowledge of God’s way of working is to be carefully sought after, to make us thankful for His gracious working in us, in order that our knowledge of God may be increased and our faith and hope in Him strengthened.—Fergusson.

Eph_1:20. The Future Life.

I. Our virtuous friends at death go to Jesus Christ.—Here is one great fact in regard to futurity. The good on leaving us here meet their Saviour, and this view alone assures us of their unutterable happiness. The joys of centuries will be crowded into that meeting. This is not fiction. It is truth founded on the essential laws of the mind. Their intercourse with Jesus Christ will be of the most affectionate and ennobling character. They are brought to a new comprehension of His mind and to a new reception of His Spirit. They will become joint workers—active, efficient ministers—in accomplishing His great work of spreading virtue and happiness. They retain the deepest interest in this world. They love human nature as never before, and human friends are prized as above all price.

II. Our virtuous friends go not to Jesus only, but to the great and blessed society which is gathered round Him.—The redeemed from all regions of earth. They meet peculiar congratulations from friends who had gone before them to that better world, and especially from all who had in any way given aids to their virtue. If we have ever known the enjoyments of friendship, of entire confidence, of co-operation in honourable and successful labours with those we love, we can comprehend something of the felicity of a world where souls, refined from selfishness, open as the day, thirsting for new truth and virtue, endowed with new power of enjoying the beauty and grandeur of the universe, allied in the noblest works of benevolence, and continually discovering new mysteries of the Creator’s power and goodness, communicate themselves to one another with the freedom of perfect love. They enter on a state of action, life, and effort. Still more, they go to God. They see Him with a new light in all His works. They see Him face to face, by immediate communion. These new relations of the ascended spirit to the universal Father, how near, how tender, how strong, how exalting! Heaven is a glorious reality. Its attraction should be felt perpetually. They who are safely gathered there say to us, Come and join us in our everlasting blessedness!—Channing.

Eph_1:21-22. The Supremacy of Jesus—

I. Acquired by His resurrection power.

II. Places Him above the highest created intelligences and potentates.

III. Is expressed in a name that surpasses in dignity and greatness that which has ever been or can be celebrated in earth or heaven.

IV. Gives Him absolute control over all worlds.—“And hath put all things under His feet” (Eph_1:22).

Eph_1:22-23. Christ the Head of the Church.

I. The Church depends on Him for life, guidance, activity, and development.—“Which is His body” (Eph_1:23).

II. He governs all things in the interest of His Church.—“And gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church” (Eph_1:22).

III. The Church is a revelation of the greatness and glory of Christ.—“The fulness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph_1:23).

Eph_1:22. The Headship of Christ.

I. The extent of His headship.—

1. Over all worlds.

2. Over the whole human race.

3. Over the Church.

II. The subserviency of its administration to the interests of His Church.—

1. For the edification of His Church. 2. For its defence.

3. For its increase.

III. Its grounds.—

1. His merit.

2. His qualifications. Whom do ye serve?—G. Brooks.

The Headship of Christ.—The verse consists of two statements:—

I. That Christ is Head over all things. The Father hath given Christ to be Head over all things.

1. Originally involved in a covenant or agreement between the Father and the Song of Solomon 2. Now a matter of history.

3. The path of Christ to the mediatorial throne capable of being traced.

4. He there laid deep the foundations.

5. The whole universe is under His sway—heaven, earth, hell, all worlds, all elements.

6. He is qualified for such dominion—divine attributes, angelic spirits, believers, the devil and wicked men, the Holy Spirit.

II. That Christ is Head over all things to the Church.—Christ sits upon the throne in the same character in which He trod the earth and hung upon the cross.

1. It is as Mediator

2. The same ends which He contemplated. It was for the Church He clothed Himself in human form.

3. He gives a peculiar character to the entire divine government. He Christianises it.

4. He employs all His attributes, resources, creatures.

Lessons.—

1. Redemption is a wide and extended plan, not so easily accomplished, not so limited.

2. All creatures and dominions should do Christ homage.

3. The Church is secure from real danger.

4. Believers may well glory in Christ as their Head.—Stewart.

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.

EPHESIANS

THE MEASURE OF IMMEASURABLE POWER

Eph 1:19

‘The riches of the glory of the inheritance’ will sometimes quench rather than stimulate hope. He can have little depth of religion who has not often felt that the transcendent glory of that promised future sharpens the doubt-’and can I ever hope to reach it?’ Our paths are strewn with battlefields where we were defeated; how should we expect the victor’s wreath? And so Paul does not think that he has asked all which his friends in Ephesus need when he has asked that they may know the hope and the inheritance. There is something more wanted, something more even for our knowledge of these, and that is the knowledge of the power which alone can fulfil the hope and bring the inheritance. His language swells and peals and becomes exuberant and noble with his theme. He catches fire, as it were, as he thinks about this power that worketh in us. It is ‘exceeding.’ Exceeding what? He does not tell us, but other words in this letter, in the other great prayer which it contains, may help us to supply the missing words. He speaks of the ‘love of Christ which passeth knowledge,’ and of God being ‘able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think.’ The power which is really at work in Christian men to-day is in its nature properly transcendent and immeasurable, and passes thought and desire and knowledge.

And yet it has a measure. ‘According to the working of the strength of the might which He wrought in Christ.’ Is that heaping together of synonyms or all but synonyms, mere tautology? Surely not. Commentators tell us that they can distinguish differences of meaning between the words, in that the first of them is the more active and outward, and the last of them is the more inward. And so they liken them to fruit and branch and root; but we need simply say that the gathering together of words so nearly co-extensive in their meaning is witness to the effort to condense the infinite within the bounds of human tongue, to speak the unspeakable; and that these reiterated expressions, like the blows of the billows that succeed one another on the beach, are hints of the force of the infinite ocean that lies behind.

And then the Apostle, when he has once come in sight of his risen Lord, as is his wont, is swept away by the ardour of his faith and the clearness of his vision, and breaks from his purpose in order to dilate on the glories of his King. We do not need to follow him into that. I limit myself now to the words which I have read as my text, with only such reference to the magnificent passage which succeeds as may be necessary for the exposition of this.

I. So, then, I ask you to look, first, at the measure and example of the immeasurable power that works in Christian men.

‘According to the working of the strength of the might which He wrought in Christ’-the Resurrection, the Ascension, the session at the right hand of God, the rule over all creatures, and the exaltation above all things on earth or in the heavens-these are the facts which the Apostle brings before us as the pattern-works, the chefs-d’oeuvre of the power that is operating in all Christians. The present glories of the ascended Christ are glories possessed by a Man, and, that being so, they are available as evidences and measures of the power which works in believing souls. In them we see the possibilities of humanity, the ideal for man which God had when He created and breathed His blessing upon him. It is one of ourselves who has strength enough to bear the burden of the glory, one of ourselves who can stand within the blaze of encircling and indwelling Divinity and be unconsumed. The possibilities of human nature are manifest there. If we want to know what the Divine Power can make of us, let us turn to look with the eye of faith upon what it has made of Jesus Christ.

But such a thought, glorious as it is, still leaves room for doubt as to my personal attainment of such an ideal. Possibility is much, but we need solid certainty. And we find it in the truth that the bond between Christ and those who truly love and trust Him is such as that the possibility must become a reality and be consolidated into a certainty. The Vine and its branches, their Head and the members, the Christ and His Church, are knit together by such closeness of union as that wheresoever and whatsoever the one is, there and that must the others also be. Therefore, when doubts and fears, and consciousness of our own weakness, creep across us, and all our hopes are dimmed, as some star in the heavens is, when a light mist floats between us and it, let us turn away to Him our brother, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and think that He, in His calm exaltation and regal authority and infinite blessedness, is not only the pattern of what humanity may be, but the pledge of what His Church must be. ‘Where I am, there shall also My servant be.’ ‘The glory that Thou gavest Me I have given them.’

Nor is that all. Not only a possibility and a certainty for the future are for us the measure of the power that worketh in us, but as this same letter teaches us, we have, as Christians, a present scale by which we may estimate the greatness of the power. For in the next chapter, after that glorious burst as to the dignity of his Lord, which we have not the heart to call a digression, the Apostle, recurring to the theme of my text, goes on to say, ‘And you hath He quickened,’ and then, catching it up again a verse or two afterwards, he reiterates, clause by clause, what had been done on Jesus as having been done on us Christians. If that Divine Spirit raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, it is as true that the same power hath ‘raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’ And so not only the far-off, though real and brilliant, and eye and heart-filling glories of the ascended Christ give us the measure of the power, but also the limited experience of the present Christian life, the fact of the resurrection from the true death, the death of sin, the fact of union with Jesus Christ so real and close as that they who truly experience it do live, as far as the roots of their lives and the scope and the aim of them are concerned, ‘in the heavens,’ and ‘sit with Him in heavenly places’-these things afford us the measure of the power that worketh in us.

Then, because a Man is King of kings and Lord of lords; and because He who is our Life ‘is exalted high above all principalities and powers’; and because from His throne He has quickened us from the death of sin, and has drawn us so near to Himself that if we are His we truly live beside Him, even whilst we stumble here in the darkness, we may know the exceeding greatness of His power, according to the working of the strength of the might which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.

II. Secondly, notice the knowledge of the unknowable power.

We have already come across the same apparent paradox, covering a deep truth, in the former sections of this series of petitions. I need only remind you, in reference to this matter, that the knowledge which is here in question is not the intellectual perception of a fact as revealed in Scripture, but is that knowledge to which alone the New Testament gives the noble name, being knowledge verified by inward experience, and the result of one’s own personal acquaintance with its object.

How do we know a power? By thrilling beneath its force. How are we to know the greatness of the power but because it comes surging and rejoicing into our aching emptiness, and lifts us buoyant above our temptations and weakness? Paul was not asking for these people theological conceptions. He was asking that their spirits might be so saturated with and immersed in that great ocean of force that pours from God as that they should never, henceforth, be able to doubt the greatness of that power which wrought in them. The knowledge that comes from experience is the knowledge that we all ought to seek. It is not merely to be desired that we should have right and just conceptions, but that we should have the vital knowledge which is, and which comes from, life eternal.

And that power, which thus we may all know by feeling it working upon ourselves, though it be immeasurable, has its measure; though it be, in its depth and fulness, unknowable and inexhaustible, may yet be really and truly known. You do not need a thunderstorm to experience the electric shock; a battery that you can carry in your pocket will do that for you. You do not need to have traversed all the length and breadth and depth and height of some newly-discovered country to be sure of its existence, and to have a real, though it may be a vague, conception of the magnitude of its shores. And so, really, though boundedly, we have the knowledge of God, and can rely upon it as valid, though partial; and similarly, by experience we have such a certified acquaintance with Him and His power as needs no enlargement to be trusted, and to become the source of blessings untold. We may see but a strip of the sky through the narrow chinks of our prison windows, and many a grating may further intercept the view, and much dust that might be cleared away may dim the glass but yet it is the sky that we see, and we can think of the great horizon circling round and round, and of the infinite depths above there, which neither eye nor thought can travel unwearied. Though all that we see be but an inch in breadth and a foot or two in height, yet we do see. We know the unknowable power that passeth knowledge.

And let me remind you of how large importance this knowledge of and constant reference to the measureless power manifested in Christ is for us. I believe there can be no vigorous, happy Christian life without it. It is our only refuge from pessimism and despair for the world. The old psalm said, ‘Thou hast crowned Him with glory and honour, and hast given Him dominion over the works of Thy hands,’ and hundreds of years afterwards the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews commented on it thus, ‘We see not yet all things put under Him.’ Was the old vision a dream, was it never intended to be fulfilled? Apparently so, if we take the history of the past into account, and the centuries that have passed since have done nothing to make it more probable, apart from Jesus Christ, that man will rise to the height which the Psalmist dreamed of. When we look at the exploded Utopias that fill the past; when we think of the strange and apparently fatal necessity by which evil is developed from every stage of what men call progress, and how improvement is perverted, almost as soon as effected, into another fortress of weakness and misery; when we look on the world as it is to-day, I know not whence a man is to draw bright hopes, or what is to deliver him from pessimism as his last word about himself and his fellows, except the ‘working of the strength of the might which He wrought in Christ.’ ‘We see not yet all things put under Him’-be it so, ‘but we see Jesus,’ and, looking to Him, hope is possible, reasonable, and imperative.

The same knowledge is our refuge from our own consciousness of weakness. We look up, as a climber may do in some Alpine ravine, upon the smooth gleaming walls of the cliff that rises above us. It is marble, it is fair, there are lovely lands on the summit, but nothing that has not wings can get there. We try, but slip backwards almost as much as we rise. What is to be done? Are we to sit down at the foot of the cliff, and say, ‘We cannot climb, let us be content with the luscious herbage and sheltered ease below?’ Yes! That is what we are tempted to say. But look! a mighty hand reaches over, an arm is stretched down, the hand grasps us, and lifts us, and sets us there.

‘No man hath ascended up into heaven save He that came down from heaven,’ and having returned thither stoops thence, and will lift us to Himself. I am a poor, weak creature. Yes! I am all full of sin and corruption. Yes! I am ashamed of myself every day. Yes! I am too heavy to climb, and have no wings to fly, and am bound here by chains manifold. Yes! But we know the exceeding greatness of the power, and we triumph in Him.

That knowledge should shame us into contrition, when we think of such force at our disposal, and such poor results. That knowledge should widen our conceptions, enlarge our desires, breathe a brave confidence into our hopes, should teach us to expect great things of God, and to be intolerant of present attainments whilst anything remains unattained. And it should stimulate our vigorous effort, for no man will long seek to be better, if he is convinced that the effort is hopeless.

Learn to realise the exceeding greatness of the power that will clothe your weakness. ‘Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, for that He is strong in might, not one faileth.’ That is wonderful, but here is a far nobler operation of the divine power. It is great to ‘preserve the ancient heavens’ fresh and strong by His might, but it is greater to come down to my weakness, to ‘give power to the faint,’ and ‘increase strength to them that have no might.’ And that is what He will do with us.

III. Lastly, notice the conditions for the operations of the power.

‘To usward who believe,’ says Paul. He has been talking to these Ephesians, and saying ‘ye,’ but now, by that ‘us,’ he places himself beside them, identifies himself with them, and declares that all his gifts and strength come to him on precisely the same conditions on which theirs do to them; and that he, like them, is a waiter upon that grace which God bestows on them that trust Him.

‘To usward who believe.’ Once more we are back at the old truth which we can never make too emphatic and plain, that the one condition of the weakest among us being strong with the strength of the Lord is simple trust in Him, verified, of course, by continuance and by effort.

How did the water go into the Ship Canal at Eastham last week? First of all they cut a trench, and then they severed the little strip of land between the hole and the sea, and the sea did the rest. The wider and deeper the opening that we make in our natures by our simple trust in God, the fuller will be the rejoicing flood that pours into us. There is an old story about a Christian father, who, having been torturing himself with theological speculations about the nature of the Trinity, fell asleep and dreamed that he was emptying the ocean with a thimble! Well, you cannot empty it with a thimble, but you can go to it with one, and, if you have only a thimble in your hand, you will only bring away a thimbleful. The measure of your faith is the measure of God’s power given to you.

There are two measures of the immeasurable power-the one is that infinite limit, of ‘the power which He wrought in Christ,’ and the other the practical limit. The working measure of our spiritual life is our faith. In plain English, we can have as much of God as we want. We do have as much as we want. And if, in touch with the power that can shatter a universe, we only get a little thrill that is scarcely perceptible to ourselves, and all unnoticed by others, whose fault is that? If, coming to the fountain that laughs at drought, and can fill a universe with its waters, we scarcely bear away a straitened drop or two, that barely refreshes our parched lips, and does nothing to stimulate the growth of the plants of holiness in our gardens, whose fault is that? The practical measure of the power is for us the measure of our belief and desire. And if we only go to Him, as I pray we all may, and continue there, and ask from Him strength, according to the riches that are treasured in Jesus Christ, we shall get the old answer, ‘According to your faith be it unto you.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:19-20 God’s power for us who believe him is the power of his Spirit at work in and through his people, because they are joined to the resurrected Christ (see Rom 6:4-14; Col 2:12). Paul longed to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection in his own life (Phil 3:10). • In biblical times, the place of honor was always at a person’s right hand (Ps 110:1; Acts 7:56).

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

Eph 1:19. Τοὺς πιστεύοντας, who believe) Faith is therefore something living and efficacious.—τὴν ἐνέργειαν, the working) This is the action [the actual putting of the might into exercise].—τοῦ κράτους, of might) This is exhibited in the action [i.e. when the might is so put into actual exercise]: Job 21:23, בעצם תמו,[17] LXX. ἘΝ ΚΡΆΤΕΙ ἸΣΧΎΟς ΑὐΤΟῦ, in the might of his power.—τῆς ἰσχύος, of power) This is the Divine power itself.

[17] Engl. Vers., “In his full strength;” and margin, “In his very perfection,” or “in the strength of his perfection.”—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_1:19 ff. After the object of the hope, there is now set forth also that by which it is realized, namely, the infinite power of God shown in the resurrection, etc., of Christ: and what (quanta) is the exceeding (surpassing all measure) greatness of His power in relation to us who believe. The construction is as in the preceding portion, and consequently such, that εἰς ἡμᾶς τοὺς πιστ. attaches itself not to τῆς δυνάμ. αὐτοῦ (Meier, Harless, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius, Bleek, after many older expositors; comp. 2Co_13:4), but to the ἐστί to be mentally supplied after τί.

From the context preceding (ἐλπὶς κληρονομίας) and following (Eph_1:20 f.) it is clear that Paul is not here speaking of the power of God already in the earthly life manifesting itself as regards believers in their inward experience (Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Photius, Theophylact, Erasmus, and others, including Flatt, Matthies, Rückert, Meier, Harless), not even of this as included (Schenkel), but only of the power to be shown as regards believers in future at the Parousia, where this mighty working displayed in Christs resurrection, exaltation, and appointment as Head of the church, must necessarily, in virtue of their fellowship with Christ, redound to the fulfilment of the hope, to the δόξα τῆς κληρονομίας (see Eph_1:20-23). Hence Paul continues: κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν κ.τ.λ.] This is indeed connected by many with τοὺς πιστεύοντας (see Erasmus, Calovius, Rosenmüller, Flatt, Rückert, Matthies, and others), in which case the πιστεύειν appeared as consequence of the ἐνέργεια κ.τ.λ., as ἔργον Θεοῦa view, which was helped among the older expositors (see, especially, Calovius) by the interest of opposition to Pelagian and Socinian opinions; but in this way the whole course of thought is deranged, and the simple and solemn exposition in Eph_1:20 is made subservient to an expression quite immaterial, which Paul might equally well have omitted (τοὺς πιστεύοντας). It is not the design, according to the connection, to prove the origin of faith. Chrysostom, Calvin, Calixtus, Estius, Grotius, and others, including Meier and Winzer, have found in κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργ. κ.τ.λ. an amplification (de Wette: the real ground; comp. also Bleek) of τὸ ὑπερβ. μέγεθος κ.τ.λ. But in this way all that follows would only be destined to hold the disproportionate place of a description, and would be isolated from εἰς τὸ εἰδέναι ὑμᾶς, which yet was the definite basis of the discourse hitherto; and this isolation there is no reason to assume. Hence we have to take κατὰ τ. ἐνέργ. κ.τ.λ. as the ground of knowledge of the preceding point. What is the exceeding greatness of the divine power towards believers, the readers are to know in virtue of the operation, etc.; in accordance with this operation they were to measure that exceeding greatness. Harless refers it not merely to the preceding point, but to all the three points adduced after εἰς τὸ εἰδέναι ὑμᾶς. But, as the ἐνέργεια τοῦ κράτους τῆς ἰσχύος corresponds simply to the notion of the δύναμις, we are not entitled to refer farther back than to the point, in which the δύναμις was spoken of.

τὴν ἐνέργ. τοῦ κράτ. τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ] a touching accumulation of terms, presenting the matter in genetic form; for ἰσχύς is strength in itself as inward power, as vis or virtus (Mar_12:30; 2Pe_2:11), κράτος, might expressing itself in overcoming resistance, in ruling, etc. (Luk_1:51; Act_19:20; Eph_6:10; Col_1:11; Heb_2:14; Dan_4:27; Isa_40:26), and ἐνέργεια, the efficacious working, the active exertion of power. For similar combinations of words having a kindred sense, see Lobeck, Paralip. I. p. 534 f. Comp. Soph. Philoct. 590: πρὸς ἰσχύος κράτος. Job_21:23 (LXX.). The Vulgate aptly renders: secundum operationem potentiae virtutis ejus, and Bengel remarks: τ. ἐνέργειαν, haec actus est; τοῦ κράτους, hoc in actu est.

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 1:19 . καὶ τί τὸ ὑπερβάλλον μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ : and what the exceeding greatness of his power . The αὐτοῦ refers again to God , and the power of God is introduced in respect of that surpassing greatness which belongs to it alone and which is the guarantee of the fulfilment of the Christian hope. The context and the subsequent mention of the resurrection and exaltation of Christ show that it is the future of believers that is still distinctively in view. So in these three clauses Paul leads the readers on from the hope itself which becomes theirs in virtue of their being called of God, to the splendour of the inheritance to which the hope points, and from this again to that in God Himself which makes the fulfilment of the hope and the possession of the inheritance certain, namely the limitless efficiency which is His prerogative. εἰς ἡμᾶς τοὺς πιστεύοντας : to us-ward who believe . No better rendering of εἰς ἡμᾶς here could be devised than the “to us-ward” of the AV which is wisely retained by the RV. The clause is best attached to the whole thought of the preceding sentence, and not to the δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ alone. The εἰς expresses the idea of “ethical direction” (Ell.), indicating the objects toward whom this Divine power will go forth those, namely, who are believers. The ἡμᾶς connects these Ephesian believers, in whom the Divine power has worked mightily even now ( cf. the conjunction of faith and the power of God in 1Co 2:5 ), with that whole community of the saints which was mentioned in the former sentence as the circle within which at last the complete possession of the inheritance will be made good. κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ κράτους τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ : according to the working of the strength of his might . Another impressive accumulation of terms, further describing that boundless efficiency of God in which we have our security for the realisation of the hope however new, and the possession of the inheritance however rich in its glory. Ἐνέργεια , which in the NT is never used but of superhuman power whether Divine (Eph 3:7 ; Eph 4:16 ; Col 1:29 ; Col 2:12 ) or Satanic (2Th 2:9 ), denotes power as efficiency, operative, energising power. Κράτος is power as force, mastery , power as shown in action : ἰσχύς is power as inherent , power as possessed, but passive. The phrase, therefore, means “the efficiency of the active power which expresses inherent might”. This again is best understood as defining the whole preceding statement, not as belonging simply to the πιστεύοντας . For, while the idea that our faith is the result of God’s power, is clearly expressed elsewhere ( e.g. , Col 2:12 ), that is not what is in view here. The κατά is best taken here in its proper sense of measure, standard or proportion . What the clause sets before us, therefore, is that the measure of that surpassing power of God which is the guarantee of our hope, is the operation of the exertion of the might that dwells in God as seen in the historical case instanced in the following sentence, viz. , the resurrection and exaltation of Christ.

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

Eph_1:19

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe. This is the third petition in the apostles prayer. He prays that his readers may have right apprehensions of the greatness of the change which they had experienced. It was no mere moral reformation effected by rational considerations; nor was it a self-wrought change, but one due to the almighty power of God. Grotius indeed, and commentators of that class, understand the passage to refer to the exertion of the power of God in the future resurrection and salvation of believers. But

1. It evidently refers to the past and not to the future. It is something which believers, as believers, had already experienced that he wished them to understand.

2. The apostle never compares the salvation of believers with the resurrection of Christ, whereas the analogy between his natural resurrection and the spiritual resurrection of his people, is one to which he often refers.

3. This is the analogy which he insists upon in this immediate connection. As God raised Christ from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places; so you, that were dead in sins, hath he quickened and raised you up together in him. This analogy is the very thing he would have them understand. They had undergone a great change; they had been brought to life; they had been raised from the dead by the same almighty power which wrought in Christ. There was as great a difference between their present and their former condition, as between Christ in the tomb and Christ at the right hand of God. This was something which they ought to know.

4. The parallel passage in Col_2:12, seems decisive of this interpretation. Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through faith of the operation of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.

In this passage it cannot be doubted that the apostle compares the spiritual resurrection of believers with the resurrection of Christ, and refers both events to the operation of God, or to the divine power. Such also is doubtless the meaning of the passage before us; and in this interpretation there has been a remarkable coincidence of judgment among commentators. Chrysostom says: The conversion of souls is more wonderful than the resurrection of the dead. Oecumenius remarks on this passage: To raise us from spiritual death is an exercise of the same power that raised Christ from natural death. Calvin says, Some (i.e. Stulti homines) regard the language of the apostle in this passage as frigid hyperbole, but those who are properly exercised find nothing here beyond the truth. He adds: Lest believers should be cast down under a sense of their unworthiness, the apostle recalls them to a consideration of the power of God; as though he had said, their regeneration is a work of God, and no common work, but one in which his almighty power is wonderfully displayed. Luther, in reference to the parallel passage in Colossians, uses the following language: Faith is no such easy matter as our opposers imagine, when they say, Believe, Believe, how easy is it to believe. Neither is it a mere human work, which I can perform for myself, but it is a divine power in the heart, by which we are new born, and whereby we are able to overcome the mighty power of the Devil and of death; as Paul says to the Colossians, In whom ye are raised up again through the faith which God works.

It is then a great truth which the apostle here teaches. He prays that his readers may properly understand τί τὸ ὑπερβάλλον μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ. The conversion of the soul is not a small matter; nor is it a work effected by any human power. It is a resurrection due to the exceeding greatness of the power of God.

According to the working of his mighty power, κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῶ κράτους τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ. The original here offers a remarkable accumulation of words. According to the energy of the might of his power. Ἰσχύς, κράτος, ἐνέργεια; Robur, Potentia, Efficacia. The first is inherent strength; the second power; the third the exercise or efficiency of that strength. Or, as Calvin says, The first is the root, the second the tree, the third the fruit. Whatever be the precise distinction in the signification of the words, their accumulation expresses the highest form of power. It was nothing short of the omnipotence of God to which the effect here spoken of is due. No created power can raise the dead, or quicken those dead in trespasses and sins.

The connection of this clause is somewhat doubtful. It may be referred to the words exceeding greatness of his power, i.e. κατὰ ἐνέργειαν may be referred to τὸ ὑπερβάλλον μέγεθος, κτλ. The sense would then be That ye may know the exceeding greatness of his power, to usward that believe, which was, according to, or like the working of his mighty power which wrought in Christ. Or, πιστεύοντας κατὰ ἐνέργειαν may be connected, Who believe in virtue of the working of his mighty power. In the one case this clause is a mere illustration or amplification of the idea of the divine power of which believers are the subject.

In the other, it expresses more definitely the reason why the power which they had experienced was to be considered so great, viz., because their faith was due to the same energy that raised Christ from the dead. In either case the doctrinal import of the passage is the same. The considerations in favor of the latter mode of construction are:

1. The position of the clauses. According to this interpretation they are taken just as they stand. Us who believe in virtue of (κατὰ) the working, etc.

2. The frequency with which the apostle uses the preposition κατὰ in the sense thus given to it. In Eph_3:7, he says: his conversion and vocation were (κατὰ) in virtue of the working of Gods power. See also Eph_3:20; 1Co_1:2, 1Co_1:8; Phi_3:21. Christ will fashion our bodies (κατὰ) in virtue of the energy whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. Col_1:29; 2Th_2:9. To say, therefore, we believe in virtue of, etc., is in accordance with a usage familiar to this apostle.

3. The parallel passage in Col_2:12, expresses the same idea. There the phrase is πίστις τῆς ἐνεργείας, faith of the operation of God, i.e. which he operates; here it is πίστις κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν, faith in virtue of the operation. The analogy between the expressions is so striking, that the one explains and authenticates the other.

The prayer recorded in these verses is a very comprehensive one. 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.

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

The excellency of faith is declared by the effects, because the mighty power of God is set forth and shown therein.

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

exceeding--"surpassing."

power to us-ward who believe--The whole of the working of His grace, which He is carrying on, and will carry on, in us who believe. By the term "saints" (Eph 1:18), believers are regarded as absolutely perfected, and so as being God's inheritance; in this verse, as in the course of fighting the good fight of faith.

according to--in accordance wit,h, what might be expected from.

working--Greek, "the energizing"; translate, "the effectual working" (Eph 3:7). The same superhuman power was needed and exerted to make us believe, as was needed and exerted to raise Christ from the dead (Eph 1:20). Compare Phi 3:10, "the power of His resurrection" (Col 2:12; Pe1 1:3-5).

of his mighty power--Greek, "of the strength of His might."

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 19. The exceeding greatness of his power] As the apostle is here speaking of the glorious state of believers after death, the exceeding greatness of his power, or that power which surpasses all difficulties, being itself omnipotent, is to be understood of that might which is to be exerted in raising the body at the last day; as it will require the same power or energy which he wrought in Christ, when he raised his body from the grave, to raise up the bodies of all mankind; the resurrection of the human nature of Christ being a proof of the resurrection of mankind in general.

According to the working of his mighty power] Κατα την ενεργειαν του κρατους της ισχυος αυτου· According to the energy of the power of his might. We may understand these words thus: MIGHT, ισχυς, is the state or simple efficiency of this attribute in God; POWER, κρατος, is this might or efficiency in action; ENERGY, ενεργεια, is the quantum of force, momentum, or velocity, with which the power is applied. Though they appear to be synonymous terms they may be thus understood: passive power is widely different from power in action; and power in action will be in its results according to the energy or momentum with which it is applied. The resurrection of the dead is a stupendous work of God; it requires his might in sovereign action; and when we consider that all mankind are to be raised and changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, then the momentum, or velocity, with which the power is to be applied must be inconceivably great. All motion is in proportion to the quantity of matter in the mover, and the velocity with which it is applied. The effect here is in proportion to the cause and the energy he puts forth in order to produce it. But such is the nature of God's power in action, that it is perfectly inconceivable to us; and even these astonishingly strong words of the apostle are to be understood as used in condescension to human weakness.

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

19. According to the working. Some consider this clause as referring solely to the word believe, which comes immediately before it; but I rather view it as an additional statement, tending to heighten the greatness of the power, as a demonstration, or, if you prefer it, an instance and evidence of the efficacy of the power. The repetition of the word power, (δυνάμεως) has the appearance of being superfluous; but in the former case it is restricted to one class, — in the next, it has a general application. Paul, we find, never thinks that he can say enough in his descriptions of the Christian calling. And certainly the power of God is wonderfully displayed, when we are brought from death to life, and when, from being the children of hell, we become the children of God and heirs of eternal life.

Foolish men imagine that this language is absurdly hyperbolical; but godly persons, who are engaged in daily struggles with inward corruption, have no difficulty in perceiving that not a word is here used beyond what is perfectly just. As the importance of the subject cannot be too strongly expressed, so our unbelief and ingratitude led Paul to employ this glowing language. We never form adequate conceptions of the treasure revealed to us in the gospel; or, if we do, we cannot persuade ourselves that it is possible for us to do so, because we perceive nothing in us that corresponds to it, but everything the reverse. Paul’s object, therefore, was not only to impress the Ephesians with a deep sense of the value of Divine grace, but also to give them exalted views of the glory of Christ’s kingdom. That they might not be cast down by a view of their own unworthiness, he exhorts them to consider the power of God; as if he had said, that their regeneration was no ordinary work of God, but was an astonishing exhibition of his power.

According to the efficacy of the power of his strength. There are three words here, on which we may make a passing remark. We may view strength as the root, — power as the tree, — and efficacy as the fruit, or the stretching out of the Divine arm which terminates in action.

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.

(19) According to the working of his mighty power.—More correctly (see margin), the working of the might of His strength. The word “power” is a general word for force, which may be latent, and, in fact, often describes force which is latent, in contradistinction to the word here used for working or energy. St. Paul, therefore, adds that this power of God is not latent; it actually works “according to,” that is, up to the full measure of “the might of the strength” of God—of that strength which is a part of His nature. The whole phrase forms a glorious climax, in which the Apostle accumulates words ever stronger and stronger to approach to the description of the omnipotence of the Spirit. It is a “force of exceeding greatness;” it is an ever energetic force; its only measure is the immeasurable might of the divine nature. (Comp. Eph_3:7; Php_3:21; Col_1:29; Col_2:12.)

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

19. And what is the exceeding greatness, &c.] The Gr. word rendered “exceeding” is, with its cognates, found, in the N. T., in St Paul’s writings only; a characteristic of the ardour of his style. The passages are Rom_7:13; 1Co_12:31; 2Co_1:8; 2Co_3:10; 2Co_4:7; 2Co_4:17; 2Co_9:14; 2Co_11:23; 2Co_12:7; Gal_1:13; Eph_2:7; Eph_3:19, and here.

his power] exercised in the whole work of grace and glory, from regeneration onward to resurrection. Cp. for various aspects of its exercise, Rom_1:16; 1Co_6:14; 1Co_15:43; 2Co_4:7; 2Co_12:9; 2Co_13:4; Eph_3:16; Eph_3:20; 2Th_1:11; 2Ti_1:8; 1Pe_1:5. We take its main reference here to be to the coming resurrection, believing the whole context to refer mainly to the future, and finding a special and suggestive mention of the Lord’s Resurrection just below. But the deep and strong continuity of process in the Divine work makes it impossible to restrict the reference so. The same “power that worketh in us” (Eph_3:20, see note) is that whereby we shall be glorified. See the significant words of Rom_8:11.

to us-ward who believe] whose “faith stands in the power of God” (1Co_2:5), which gave it; and who, as believers, are now in a state of receptivity towards that power (Mar_9:23); and who, by faith, touch the “things hoped for” (Heb_11:1) of the blessed prospect.

according to the working of his mighty power] Lit., according to the working of the strength of His might; a magnificent accumulation. Here is the scale by which to measure the possibilities of the Divine power; it is the surpassing victory of its exercise in the Lord’s Resurrection. See next note; and see further, on Eph_6:10.

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.

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe,.... The objects of the divine power here intended, are believers in Christ; which distinguishes this power from that which was put forth in creation, and from that which will be displayed in the resurrection of the dead, and from the power of divine wrath, which will appear in the damnation of sinners; and shows, that this power is that which is exerted in the implantation of faith, and in the continuance of it, and in the finishing of that work; and that this is a great power, an exceeding great one, a super eminent one; which is attended with energy and efficacy, and is irresistible and insuperable: the greatness of this power as displayed in the work of conversion and faith appears, if it be considered what the work itself is called, a creation, a resurrection from the dead, a regeneration, and a transformation of the man into another man, which must needs require almighty power; as well as what is then done, some things are removed, Satan is dispossessed, the stony heart is taken away, the enmity is slain, the old man is put down from his throne, and put off with his deeds; and there are some things wrought, Christ is formed in the soul, his grace is implanted, his image is stamped on, a new heart is given, and principles of light and life, of grace and holiness are put; the understanding is enlightened, the will is subdued, the affections are set on other objects, and the mind and conscience are cleansed and purified; and the means of this are the ministers, and ministry of the word, which are weak, foolish, and contemptible, in the eyes of men; to which may be added, the opposition made both from within and from without, from a sinful heart, a tempting devil, and an ensnaring, reproaching, and persecuting world: so that this work of faith cannot be ascribed to anything short of the exceeding greatness of divine power; and which is seen in supporting faith when it is wrought, under great discouragements; in delivering believers out of divers temptations; in assisting them to discharge their duty, and in their final perseverance: and to increase the idea of this power it is added,

according to the working of his mighty power, or "according to the energy of the might of his power": the strength of his power, in all the mighty energy of it, is exerted towards and upon believers; and which they should know, own, and acknowledge, to the glory of the grace of God: and this is in proportion, and agreeably to that power.

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

19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

Ver. 19. And what is the exceeding] Here is a most emphatic heap of most divine and significant words to express that which can never sufficiently be conceived or uttered. A sixfold gradation the apostle useth to show what a power God puts forth in working the grace of faith. Indeed this power is secret, and like that of the heavens upon our bodies; which (saith one) is as strong as that of medicine, &c., yet so sweet, and so secretly insinuating itself with the principles of nature, that as for the conveyance of it, it is insensible, and hardly differenced from that of the principles of nature in us; therefore the apostle prayeth for these Ephesians here, that their eyes may be enlightened to see the power that wrought in them, &c.

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.

His power. The greatest exertion of the power of God, or that action by which he shewed his power most, is the resurrection from the dead, which he exercised in Christ, when he raised him from the tomb, and placed him over all the Angels of heaven; and which shall likewise be exercised over us all, when we too shall be raised from the dead, and constituted members fo the triumphant Church, and rewarded with a share of glory proportioned to our merits. These are the hopes to which we are called.

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).

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe; he means that power of God which is put forth in the whole of our salvation, from first to last: not that absolute power whereby he can do whatsoever is possible to be done; but his ordinate power, or power joined with his will, whereby not only he will work in raising us up at last, and finally saving us, but hath wrought in begetting faith in us, and doth work in still preserving that faith, {1Pe 1:5} and carrying us on in the way of salvation. And this he speaks for the encouragement of the Ephesians, that they should not fear falling short of the riches of the glory of the inheritance mentioned, seeing God, who hath by his power brought them to Christ, is able likewise by the same power to bring them to glory.

According to the working of his mighty power: some point the words after us-ward, and read them,

who believe according to the working of his mighty power, & c.; and then the meaning must be, that the working faith in believers, is an instance of his mighty power; he hath shown his power in working faith, and therefore will show it in the remainder of salvation which is to follow. But our translation favours the former sense, and then, as in the preceding clause he shows the greatness of God’s power, so in this latter the efficacy of it in its actual operation, particularly the raising up Christ from the dead.

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

19. The apostle completes his threefold climax by unfolding the stupendous power exerted by God to produce this glory.

Us… who believe—And this believe, that is, faith, is the condition performed by us. Note, Eph_1:8. We have already said that as Paul here is unfolding the riches of the glory of the divine side of our redemption, so he says little of our condition from the human side. But nevertheless the objects of the whole election of God are viewed as possessing certain objective qualities by which they, rather than others, are eligible to choice. Those who deny this are in a dilemma, falling sometimes upon one horn and sometimes on the other. Sometimes we are told by them that absolutely there is no reason in one, rather than another, for God’s preference; and that makes it an irrational volition. It is an act not only without a rational motive, but a volition without any motive at all; which most Calvinists pronounce to be an impossibility. At other times we are told that there is a reason, but the reason is not revealed to us.

But if there be a reason for preferring one object to another, why may not that reason just as reasonably be faith as any other? The reason must be some preferability in one above another. To say there is no reason, no preferability, in the object for an act so stupendous, and in which St. Paul recognizes so transcendent a glory, is to make Omniscience an idiot. And if any preferability in the object exists, beyond all question it is faith in the man underlying the divine choice resting upon him. And this is Paul’s declaration. Us… who believe are the objects of the efficient action of redemption. These are the us whom he hath chosen Eph_1:4 : the us whom he has predestinated, Eph_1:5; the us whom he hath made accepted, Eph_1:6; and the us to whom he hath made known the mystery of his will, Eph_1:9. Hereby is harmonized the glorious supremacy of God with the free choice of the creature. God, in infinite and eternal power and goodness, provides the entire system of redemption into which man, by his empowered but not necessitated faith, is graciously and gloriously comprehended and embodied. See our notes on Rom_8:28-30; Rom_9:1-33.

The working of his mighty power—An elaborate clause in the apostle’s Greek, την ενεργειαν του κρατους της ισχυος αυτου, the working of the force of his strength. Taking the last first, ισχυος is personal strength or vigour inhering in a person; κρατους is the force or momentum with which it can go forth; ενεργειαν is the objective working, or action of the personal strength in its full force or efficiency. We are not to concede to adverse criticism that this is a mere wordy accumulation of terms. In the grandeur of this movement the apostle’s eye presents every successive stage. From the working he travels through its momentum up to the might inherent in the divine PERSON. Calvin, quoted by Alford, ingeniously says: “The might is the root, the momentum is the tree, the working is the fruit.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And what the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe. A new object of knowledge is here brought forward knowledge of a power which works in us a great power, a Divine power, a power surpassingly great. The whole energy of the Divine Being is turned on to our feeble, languid nature, vivifying, purifying, and transforming it, making it wonderfully active where all was feebleness before, as the turning on of steam suddenly wakens up a whole mass of inert machinery. When we think of the glory of the inheritance, we feel unfit for it; our narrow hearts, cold temperaments, feeble and dislocated faculties, how can they ever be right? Our fear is removed when we think of the greatness of the Divine power that works in us God"s power to transform us so that, "though we have lieu among the pots, we shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." According to the working of his mighty power. We are now furnished with a standard and sample of the mighty power which energizes in believers are referred to one of its grandest achievements, in order to elevate our conceptions of what it is capable of effecting in us. In the prophets we find a similar encouragement for God"s people, in sublime descriptions of the almighty power of him who was working in them and for them. (Isa_40:21, etc.; Isa_45:7, etc.)

Ver. 19.

The power of God in salvation.

exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe." This is the third thing the apostle wished them to know "for their furtherance and joy of faith.

I THE SPHERE OF THIS WORKING. "TO usward who believe." Power will always excite our admiration, but it will not inspire comfort unless it is exerted on our behalf. The devils know the power of God, but its exercise inspires them with no comfort. This power is manifested in the various parts of Christian life, both in grace and in glory, from conversion to glorification. It provides all things that pertain to life and godliness. It is God"s saving power.

1. At the beginning of Christian life in our conversion. God "hath delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son". (Col_1:13) The apostle speaks of this power in relation to his own conversion and apostleship: "Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual working of his power". (Eph_3:7) The gospel is the instrument of Divine power. It is "the power of God unto salvation"; (Rom_1:16) for "our gospel came unto you, not in word only, but in power". (1Th_1:5)

1. In its progress in our sanctification. The thought of preserving grace is, perhaps, uppermost in the passage. Relievers are "kept by the power of

2. God unto salvation". (1Pe_1:5) Therefore the apostle prays that God would "fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power". (2Th_1:11) God "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think". (Eph_3:20) The apostle prays for himself that "he may know "the power of his resurrection". (Php_3:10) There is power everywhere at work in our salvation; for it is thus that" the whole body increaseth with the increase of God by the effectual working- in the measure of every part". (Eph_4:16)

3. At our final glorification. "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like to his own glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself". (Php_3:21)

II THE NATURE OF THIS POWER. "The exceeding greatness of his power." It was power that could overcome all obstacles. "If God be for us, who can be against us?"; (Rom_8:31) "My Father is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father"s hands". (Joh_10:29) We argue from his power to his forgiveness, and, therefore, in the Lord"s Prayer, after we have asked for the forgiveness of our sins, we plead for it on the ground, "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory." Let us not hesitate to accept the fullness of Biblical teaching through any fear of trenching on the free-will of man. Man"s freedom works freely within the sphere of God"s power. But the apostle does not content himself with merely piling up a succession of phrases expressive of the wonderful effects of this power. He places it side by side with the power manifested in the resurrection and glorification of the Redeemer. T.C.

Vers. 19, 20.

The power of the Resurrection.

to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead." The resurrection of Christ was at once an illustration and a pledge of our resurrection, spiritually and physically, with himself. It seems a strange thing to find an exercise of purely physical power compared with an exercise of purely spiritual power. The strangeness disappears when we consider the place of the Resurrection in the scheme of Christian doctrine. The fact of Christ"s resurrection is to us both doctrine and life very pillar and ground" of Christianity.

I IT IS THE CONSTITUTIVE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, HISTORICALLY AND MORALLY. Strauss admits that "Christianity in the form in which Paul, in which all the apostles understand it, as it is presupposed in the confessions of all Christian Churches, falls with the resurrection of Jesus." In this fundamental fact we have the concurrent witness of the apostles, of Paul in his gospel and his life, of the Gospels, of Jesus himself, of the belief of the disciples, of the attitude of Jewish enemies, of the founding of the Church among Jews and Gentiles. If the Resurrection is denied, Vinet"s remark becomes true: "A new history is manufactured for us in the interest of a new theology.

II IT HAS GREAT THEOLOGICAL VALVE; FOR IT IS THE SEAL AND CROWN OF CHRIST"S REDEEMING SACRIFICE. "He was raised again for our justification". (Rom_4:25) If he was not raised, we are yet in our sins.

III HIS RESURRECTION SUPPLIES THE IMAGE AND THE GROUND OF OUR RENEWAL INTO HIS FELLOWSHIP. (Rom_6:1-13; Col_2:10-13 Col_3:1-10; Gal_2:20) Jesus himself expressively blends together the historical and the moral constituents of our faith in the sublime sentence, "I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die". (Joh_11:25) It is not simply that resurrection is the truest description of the living personal experience of the believer from day to day, but by virtue of his oneness with Christ he is "quickened together with Christ, and raised up together with him, and made to sit together with him in heavenly places". (Eph_2:5) Jesus" extinction of the penalty of sin, his breaking the seal of death, his recovery for man of the power of the Holy Spirit, all attested by the Resurrection, reveal it to us at the same time as a source of moral light and power. This is "the power of the Resurrection" that the apostle prays for. (Php_3:10)

IV THE RESURRECTION IS THE PLEDGE TO US OF PERSONAL IMMORTALITY, AND HIS RESURRECTION-BODY THE TYPE OF THE FUTURE GLORIFIED MAN. (Php_3:21) The apostle says, "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you". (Rom_8:11) Thus, first and last, the resurrection of Christ is more than a mere illustration of the power of God "to usward who believe;" it is a pledge of the continuance and consummation of all that is involved in the redemption of Christ. T.C.

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

And what the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe - Both in quickening our dead souls, and preserving them in spiritual life. According to the power which he exerted in Christ, raising him from the dead - By the very same almighty power whereby he raised Christ; for no less would suffice.

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

The next particular which the aposstle prays for, on behalf of the converted Ephesians, is this, that they might know or sensibly apprehend, the greatness of that divine power which God had exerted; first, in their conversion; next, in carrying on that work step by step, in spite of all opposition: then, in giving them the extraordinary gifts of his Spirit, as miracles, tongues, and prophecy; also, the sanctifying graces of the Spirit, as knowledge, faith, hope, love, joy, and patience, to inable them to go on in suffering for Christ to the uttermost; and lastly, that they might know the exceeding greatness of that power which God will farther exert towards them as believers, in raising up their dead bodies, to enter upon that glorious inheritance which God by promise insured to them; which power, he assures them, would bear some likeness to, and correspondence with that omnipotent power which God put forth, in raising Christ from the dead and advancing him to the heavenly glory, where he is Lord of all.

Observe here, What an heap of words our apostle makes use of, to set forth the power of God in the soul’s conversion from the power of sin, and in the body’s ressurrection from the power of the grave: he calls it "power, the power of God, the greatness of his power, and the exceeding greatness of his mighty power, and the power which raised up Christ from the dead."

Lord! what a glorious power was that which opened our Redeemer’s grave, when he lay in the heart of the earth, with a mighty stone rolled upon his sepulchre! May the same Almighty Power break as under all those bars of unbelief, which keep our souls under the power and dominion of sin now, and at the great day break in pieces the bars of death and the grave, that it may be altogether impossible for us any longer to be holden by them: for towards thy saints, and in order to their salvation, thou dost engage the uttermost of thine attributes, the uttermost of thy love, and the exceeding greatness of thy power!

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

19. The exceeding greatness of his power. He prays that they may have greater knowledge of three things: (1) Of eternal life (the hope); (2) of the glorious inheritance, and (3) of God's mighty power towards believers. This mighty power works to raise them from sin, as it worked to raise Christ from the dead. However the power works, it is the same power that raised Jesus.

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.

the incomparable greatness of his power

God's power is far beyond all other power.

toward us who believe

"for us who believe"

the working of his great strength

"his great power that is at work for us"

raised him

"made him alive again"

from the dead

From among all those who have died. This expression describes all dead people together in the underworld. To come back from among them speaks of becoming alive again.

seated him at his right hand

To sit at the "right hand of God" is a symbolic action of receiving great honor and authority from God. AT: "seated him in the place of honor and authority beside him" (See: Symbolic Action)

in the heavenly places

"in the supernatural world." The word "heavenly" refers to the place where God is. See how you translated this in Ephesians 1:3.

far above all rule and authority and power and dominion

These are different terms for the ranks of supernatural beings, both angelic and demonic. AT: "far above all types of supernatural beings"

every name that is named

This can be stated in active form. AT: Possible meanings are 1) "every name that man gives" or 2) "every name that God gives" (See: Active or Passive)

name

Possible meanings are 1) title or 2) position of authority. (See: Metonymy)

in this age

"at this time"

in the age to come

"in the future"

translationWords

power

believe

Christ

God

raise

heaven

rule

authority

dominion

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

19. καὶ τί τὸ ὑπερβάλλον μέγεθος κ.τ.λ. For the realization of this hope and the manifestation of this glory we need the constant support of a power not our own. This, too, is supplied with an abundance sufficient to overwhelm all opposing forces.

εἰς ἡμᾶς τοὺς πιστεύοντας. This power operates upon and has ‘free play’ in us who believe, our faith opening the channels along which the current can flow (ct. Mat 13:58), and being at the same time created by the Divine force liberated by the Resurrection.

κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ κράτους τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ. ἰσχὺς ‘strength’ as contrasted with ‘weakness,’ κράτος ‘effective power’ overmastering opposition, ἐνέγεια ‘power in action’ as contrasted with power latent. The phrase qualifies both μέγεθος and πιστεύοντας. Our faith is not ‘of ourselves,’ cf. Eph 2:8. It is the result ‘of the operation of God,’ cf. Col 2:12. The same ‘operation of God’ is the measure of the surpassing greatness of the power. Note the prominence of the thought of spiritual power as a characteristic element in the Christian life throughout the Epistle, Eph 3:16; Eph 3:20, Eph 6:10.

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.

19.] and what the surpassing (a word only pauline in N. T., see reff.) greatness of His power to usward who believe (construction as before, ver. 18, τῆς δυνάμ. αὐτ. εἰς ἡμ., not τί τὸ ὑπ … (ἐστὶν) εἰς ἡμ. Not His future power in the actual resurrection only is spoken of, but the whole of His energizing to usward from first to last, principally however His present spiritual work, cf. πιστεύοντας, not, as in 2Th 1:10, πιστεύσασιν: see also Col 2:12, und 1Pe 1:3-5. This power is exerted to usward, which expression of the E. V. I retain as giving better the prominence to us in the fact of its direction, than the more usual but tamer ‘toward us.’ But it is not, as Matth., Flatt, 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), according to (in proportion to,—as might be expected from: but more than this—His power to usward is a part of, a continuation of, or rather included as a consequence in, the other. All the shallower interpretations must be avoided here:—Grot., ‘rei similitudinem significat:’ Van Ess., gleich der Werkung: nor must we join, as Erasm. al., κατὰ τ. ἐν. with πιστεύοντας, which is beside the Apostle’s purpose: nor, with Mey., understand it as a qualification of εἰς τὸ εἰδέναι (Erkenntnissgrund des vorherigen Momentes): nor, with Harless, refer it to all three, ἐλπίς, πλοῦτος, μέγεθος: but with Chrys., Calv., Est., Grot., De W., Ellic., take it as an amplification, or explanation, or grounding, of—τὸ ὑπερβ … to πιστεύοντας) the working (putting forth in action, in an object) of the strength of His might (κράτος the actual measure of ἰσχύς, His might. The latter is the attribute, subjectively considered: the former the weight of that attribute, objectively esteemed: the ἐνέργεια, the operation, in matter of fact, of the strength of that might. Calvin’s distinction, though not quite accurate, is worth noting: “Inter tria nomina quæ hic posuit, hoc interest: quod robur est quasi radix, potentia, autem, arbor (qu. vice versâ?): efficacia, fructus, est enim extensio divini brachii, quæ in actum emergit”), which (viz. ἐνέργειαν: cf. ver. 6, note) He hath wrought in Christ (our ἀπαρχή, as Œc.: nor only this, but our Head, in virtue of God’s ἐνέργεια in whom, His power to usward is made possible and actual. No shallower view, such as that of Grot. that ‘Deus oculis humanis quantum posset, in Christo, capite et duce nostro, ostendit,’ must be for a moment admitted) in that He raised (as γνωρίσας above, ver. 9) Him from the dead (the resurrection of Christ was not a mere bodily act, an earnest of our bodily resurrection, but was a spiritual act, the raising of His humanity (which is ours), consisting of body and soul, from infirmity to glory, from the curse to the final triumph. In that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. And so ἡμεῖς οἱ πιστεύοντες, knit to Him, have died unto sin and live unto God. It is necessary to the understanding of the following, thoroughly to appreciate this—or we shall be in 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); and setting Him at His right hand (see especially Mar 16:19) in the heavenly places (see on ver. 3: and Mat 6:9, note. But 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 (not, as in my former editions [before 1865], ‘far above.’ Ellicott says, “The intensive force which Chrys. and Thl. find in this word, ἵνα τὸ ἀκρότατον ὕψος δηλώσῃ, and which has recently been adopted by Stier and Eadie, is very doubtful: as is also the assertion (Eadie) that this prevails in the majority of passages in the LXX: cf. Eze 1:26; Eze 8:2; Eze 10:19; Eze 11:22; Eze 43:15; and even Deu 26:19; Deu 28:1. Such distinct instances as Eze 43:15, and in the N. T., Heb 9:5, the similarly unemphatic use of the antitheton ὑποκάτω, Joh 1:51, Luk 8:16, and the tendencies of Alexandrian and later Greek to form duplicated compounds, make it highly probable that ὑπεράνω, both here and ch. 4:10, implies little more than simple local elevation. So too Syr. and apparently all the ancient versions”) all government (cf. Mat 28:8) and power and might and lordship (see similar combinations in reff. The most reasonable account of the four words seems to be this: ὑπ. πάσ. ἀρχῆς gives the highest and fullest expression of exaltation: κ. ἐξουσίας is added as filling out ἀρχῆς in detail: ἐξουσία being not only government, but every kind of official power, primary and delegated: cf. Mat 8:9; Mat 10:1; Mat 21:23 ff.; Luk 20:20; Luk 23:7. Then in the second pair, δύναμις is mere might, the raw material, so to speak, of power: κυριότης is that pre-eminence or lordship, which δύναμις establishes for itself. So that in the first pair we descend from the higher and concentrated to the lower and diffused: in the second we ascend from the lower and diffused to the higher and concentrated. The following shews that in this enumeration not only earthly, nor only heavenly authorities are meant to be included, but both together,—so as to make it perfectly general. That the evil spirits are included, is therefore manifest: see also ch. 6:12; 1Co 15:24-26) and every name that is named (further generalization: indicating not merely titles of honour (cf. ὀνομαζομ.), nor persons, but, as Stier, a transition from the ἀρχαί, &c. to πάντα below: answering to οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα, cf. Rom 8:39. And this transition passes into still wider meaning in the following words) not only in this present state, but also in that which is to come (= ἐνεστῶτα and μέλλοντα of Rom 8:38—not only time present and to come, but the present (earthly) condition of things, and the future (heavenly) one. And forasmuch as that heavenly state which is for us future, is now, to those in it, present, it is by the easiest transition denoted by the μέλλων αἰών: cf. Luk 20:35, and especially Heb 2:5, τὴν οἰκουμένην τ. μέλλουσαν. So that the meanings seem combined,—‘every name now named in earth and heaven:’ and, ‘every name which we name,—not only now, but hereafter.’ And in this last view Thdrt.: προστέθεικεν, ὅτι καὶ εἴ τινας τούτων ἀγνοοῦμεν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα γνωσόμεθα ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι βίῳ. Chrys.: ἄρα ἐστὶ δυνάμεών τινων ὀνόματα ἡμῖν ἄσημα κ. οὐ γνωριζόμενα. Grot., ‘quæ noscemus in altero sæcuIo:’ Beng., ‘quamvis non omnes nominare possumus.’ Wesley, beautifully expanding Bengel (Stier, p. 183): ‘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’),

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

Exceeding [υπερβαλλον] . Compounds with uJper over, beyond, are characteristic of Paul 's intensity of style, and mark the struggle of language with the immensity of the divine mysteries, and the opulence of the divine grace. See ver. 21; Eph 3:20; 2Co 4:17, etc.

According to the working of His mighty power [κατα την ενεργειαν του κρατους της ισχυος αυτου] . The A. V. frequently impairs the force of a passage by combining into a single conception two words which represent distinct ideas; translating two nouns by an adjective and a noun. Thus Phi 3:21, vile body, glorious body, for body of humiliation, body of glory : Rom 8:21, glorious liberty, for liberty of the glory : 2Co 4:4, glorious gospel, for gospel of the glory : Col 1:11, glorious power, for power of the glory : 1Pe 1:14, obedient children, for children of obedience : 2Pe 2:14, cursed children, for children of cursing. So here, mighty power, for strength of might. The idea is thus diluted, and the peculiar force and distinction of the separate words is measurably lost. Rev., correctly, working of the strength of His might. For working, see on Col 1:29. For strength and might, see on 2Pe 2:11; Joh 1:12. Strength [κρατους] is used only of God, and denotes relative and manifested power. Might [ισχυος] . is indwelling strength. Working [ενεργειαν] is the active, efficient manifestation of these. Hence we have here God 's indwelling power, which inheres in the divine nature (strength); the relative quality or measure of this power (might); and the efficient exertion of the divine quality (working). The phrase, according to the working of the strength, etc., is to be connected with the exceeding greatness of His power. The magnitude of God 's power toward believers is known in the operation of the strength of His might.

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