Ephesians · Chapter 3

V. 1. For this cause-That ye may be so "built together." I am a prisoner for you Gentiles-For your advantage, and for asserting your right to these blessings. This it was which so enraged the Jews against him.

Verse 1. For this cause] Because he maintained that the Gentiles were admitted to all the privileges of the Jews, and all the blessings of the new covenant, without being obliged to submit to circumcision, the Jews persecuted him, and caused him to be imprisoned, first at Cæsarea, where he was obliged to appeal to the Roman emperor, in consequence of which he was sent prisoner to Rome. See Acts 21:21-28, &c. The prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles] For preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, and showing that they were not bound by the law of Moses, and yet were called to be fellow citizens with the saints; for this very cause the Jews persecuted him unto bonds, and conspired his death.

Verses 1-7. For this cause — That you may be so built up together, and made the temple of God, and his habitation through the Spirit; I bow my knees, &c., see verse 14, with which the words are evidently closely connected, (as they are also with the close of the preceding chapters) the subsequent paragraph to the end of verse 13 manifestly coming in by way of parenthesis. I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles — For your advantage, for asserting your right to these blessings. This it was which so much enraged the Jews against him. If ye have heard — Or, seeing ye have heard, as eige hkousate may be properly rendered; and being so rendered will be very applicable to the Ephesians, who, no doubt, were well acquainted with Paul’s apostolical commission. Here, by way of digression, the apostle sets forth the nature and dignity of his apostolical office toward the Gentiles, as in Romans 11:13. Of the dispensation of the grace of God — For the meaning of the word oikonomia, here rendered dispensation, see note on Ephesians 1:10. It here means the authority and commission given him to declare the doctrine of the grace of God to the Gentiles, as displayed in the gospel; which is given me to you- ward — Which office is committed to me chiefly with relation to you Gentiles, to be employed for your edification; how that by revelation, see (Acts 26:16, 17,) and not by the instrumentality of any human testimony; he made known to me the mystery — Which had so long been concealed, namely, that salvation by Christ alone was free for both the Jews and Gentiles; as I wrote afore — Namely, chap. 1:9, 10; in few words — The very words of which passage he here repeats. The apostle does not appear to mean that he had written of the mystery in a few words, for the greatest part of the preceding chapters is taken up in explaining that mystery; but his meaning seems to be, that he had written before in a few words concerning the discovery of the mystery to him by revelation. The mystery which in other ages was not made known — So clearly and fully; unto the sons of men — No, not to the Jews themselves; (see on Matthew 13:17;) as it is now revealed — In consequence of the death and resurrection of Christ; unto his holy apostles and prophets — Namely, of the New Testament: see on 1 Corinthians 12:28. That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs — With the believing Jews, (Galatians 3:29,) and Christ himself, (Romans 8:17,) of the heavenly inheritance; and of the same body — Under Christ the head, or incorporated in the true church; and partakers of his promise — Of pardon, adoption, the renewing of the Holy Ghost and eternal life; in Christ — Purchased by him, and enjoyed by virtue of your union with him; in the gospel — Preached to you. Whereof I was made a minister — When first called by Christ himself appearing to me for that purpose; according to the gift of the grace of God — To which office he raised me, not through any worthiness of mine, but of his free grace; given unto me — In a most extraordinary and remarkable manner; by the effectual working of his power — Which conquered my prejudices, enlightened my understanding, changed my heart, and prepared and qualified me for that high and holy office, averse as I once was to all the purposes of it.

Verse 1. Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. He was indeed the prisoner of Caesar, but a greater than Cæsar had said to him in the castle at Jerusalem, “Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” Acts 23. 11. My bonds therefore prove that Jesus is the Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. The kings of the earth, who thought to do me harm, are overruled to be my protectors.

1. For—Paul began his letter with the broad, universal elect, chap. 1; he next narrows to his Ephesian converts, chap. 2; and now, chap. 3, he comes to a point in his own Ego. At this point he starts with fervent prayer in their behalf; but the mention of his apostleship carries him out into a full expatiation of thirteen verses upon that glorious office; and when that excursion is finished, the actual record of his prayer begins at the fourteenth verse. For this cause—In view of your blessed transition from heathenism to Christ, as pictured in the last paragraph. I Paul—And doubtless no human name so thrilled their hearts at the utterance as this I Paul. It is uttered in the majestic style of their apostle, who, however humble in himself, is authoritative in his divine office. Prisoner… Christ— Not Cesar’s, but literally Christ’s prisoner. In every phase of life he is Christ’s.

The reader, casting his eye down to verse 14, will there find for this cause resumed, and the apostolic prayer offered. But here, starting at this point from the word Gentiles, Paul first states the call of the Gentiles, vv. 2-6; next, his own divine commission as their apostle, 7-9; and last, what the mission imports, 10-12.

Ver. 1. For this cause: because, on the foundation laid by the Apostles, Paul’s readers had been built into the rising walls of the temple of God. Same words in Ephesians 3:14; Titus 1:5; not elsewhere in the N.T. As in Ephesians 1:15, so now, a recital of blessings already given moves Paul to pray for more.

I Paul: as in Colossians 1:23.

Prisoner of Christ Jesus: as in Philemon 1, 9. The definite article suggests that he looked upon his imprisonment as placing him in a unique position among the servants of Christ. And this is easily explained. He was a prisoner… on behalf of the Gentiles: for his loyalty to their spiritual rights as fellow-heirs of the Kingdom of God had aroused the hostility of the Jews and thus brought about, after many earlier troubles, his arrest at Jerusalem. He had pursued his path in full view of the peril to which it exposed him, knowing that this loyalty was demanded by the highest interests both of Jews and Gentiles. Same thought in Ephesians 3:13, afflictions on your behalf, and in Colossians 1:24, where see note. At this point the grammatical construction is broken off, as in Ephesians 2:1, by a long parenthesis explaining these last words by an account of the Gospel committed to Paul. The close of the parenthesis is marked by a return in Ephesians 3:13 to the thought now before us; and by a repetition in Ephesians 3:14 of the first words of Ephesians 3:1, for which cause. But, instead of completing the broken-off sentence, Paul begins in Ephesians 3:14 as in Ephesians 2:5 a new sentence.

V. 2. The dispensation of the grace of God given me in your behalf-That is, the commission to dispense the gracious gospel; to you Gentiles in particular. This they had heard from his own mouth.

Verse 2. If ye have heard of the dispensation] The compound particle eige, which is commonly translated if indeed, in several places means since indeed, seeing that, and should be translated so in this verse, and in several other places of the New Testament. Seeing ye have heard of the dispensation of God, which is given me to you-ward: this they had amply learned from the apostle during his stay at Ephesus, for he had not shunned to declare unto them the whole counsel of God, Acts 20:27, and kept nothing back that was profitable to them, Acts 20:20. And this was certainly among those things that were most profitable, and most necessary to be known.

By the dispensation of the grace of God we may understand, either the apostolic office and gifts granted to St. Paul, for the purpose of preaching the Gospel among the Gentiles, see Romans 1:5; or the knowledge which God gave him of that gracious and Divine plan which he had formed for the conversion of the Gentiles. For the meaning of the word economy, see Clarke’s note on “Ephesians 1:10”.

Verses 1-7. For this cause — That you may be so built up together, and made the temple of God, and his habitation through the Spirit; I bow my knees, &c., see verse 14, with which the words are evidently closely connected, (as they are also with the close of the preceding chapters) the subsequent paragraph to the end of verse 13 manifestly coming in by way of parenthesis. I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles — For your advantage, for asserting your right to these blessings. This it was which so much enraged the Jews against him. If ye have heard — Or, seeing ye have heard, as eige hkousate may be properly rendered; and being so rendered will be very applicable to the Ephesians, who, no doubt, were well acquainted with Paul’s apostolical commission. Here, by way of digression, the apostle sets forth the nature and dignity of his apostolical office toward the Gentiles, as in Romans 11:13. Of the dispensation of the grace of God — For the meaning of the word oikonomia, here rendered dispensation, see note on Ephesians 1:10. It here means the authority and commission given him to declare the doctrine of the grace of God to the Gentiles, as displayed in the gospel; which is given me to you- ward — Which office is committed to me chiefly with relation to you Gentiles, to be employed for your edification; how that by revelation, see (Acts 26:16, 17,) and not by the instrumentality of any human testimony; he made known to me the mystery — Which had so long been concealed, namely, that salvation by Christ alone was free for both the Jews and Gentiles; as I wrote afore — Namely, chap. 1:9, 10; in few words — The very words of which passage he here repeats. The apostle does not appear to mean that he had written of the mystery in a few words, for the greatest part of the preceding chapters is taken up in explaining that mystery; but his meaning seems to be, that he had written before in a few words concerning the discovery of the mystery to him by revelation. The mystery which in other ages was not made known — So clearly and fully; unto the sons of men — No, not to the Jews themselves; (see on Matthew 13:17;) as it is now revealed — In consequence of the death and resurrection of Christ; unto his holy apostles and prophets — Namely, of the New Testament: see on 1 Corinthians 12:28. That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs — With the believing Jews, (Galatians 3:29,) and Christ himself, (Romans 8:17,) of the heavenly inheritance; and of the same body — Under Christ the head, or incorporated in the true church; and partakers of his promise — Of pardon, adoption, the renewing of the Holy Ghost and eternal life; in Christ — Purchased by him, and enjoyed by virtue of your union with him; in the gospel — Preached to you. Whereof I was made a minister — When first called by Christ himself appearing to me for that purpose; according to the gift of the grace of God — To which office he raised me, not through any worthiness of mine, but of his free grace; given unto me — In a most extraordinary and remarkable manner; by the effectual working of his power — Which conquered my prejudices, enlightened my understanding, changed my heart, and prepared and qualified me for that high and holy office, averse as I once was to all the purposes of it.

Ver. 2. If ye have heard of the dispensation [economy] of the grace of God which is given to me, to call the gentiles, though uncircumcised, into the fold and family of Christ. He doubted not but they had heard, having long preached in Ephesus, and the provinces of proconsular Asia. But the words imply, if you have fully been informed and believed in this economy of the grace of God; and as multitudes were now crowding into the church, the more recent christians had need to be reminded of it.

2. If ye have heard—The best commentators, as Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, Eadie, etc., agree that the Greek for this if implies no doubt of their having heard, but rather assumption that they had, namely, from Paul himself during his two years’ ministry at Ephesus.

Ver. 2. In Ephesians 3:2-12 Paul expounds at length the relation implied in Ephesians 3:1, on your behalf.

If at least: not suggesting uncertainty, but asserting that if, as is the fact, the readers have heard about Paul’s commission, they cannot doubt that his imprisonment is on their behalf.

Have-heard: either from Paul’s lips when at Ephesus or by report from others.

The grace given to me: the undeserved favour with which God had smiled on Paul; as in Romans 12:3, 6; 15:15; 1 Corinthians 3:10. Cp. 1 Corinthians 15:10. This favour prompted Christ’s appearance to Paul and the commission then given to him. And Paul never forgot the responsibility to God and to the Gentiles thus laid upon him. The spiritual wealth thus entrusted to him for their good was a stewardship of the grace of God… for you. Similar thought in Colossians 1:25. But here stress is laid upon the undeserved favour to Paul involved in his commission to the Gentiles. So are all tasks given by God to man marks of His favour. For they bring great reward. This sense of responsibility finds expression in Galatians 1:16; Acts 26:16-18.

V. 3. The mystery-Of salvation by Christ alone, and that both to Jews and Gentiles.

As I wrote before-Namely, Ephesians 1:9, 10; the very words of which passage he here repeats.

Verse 3. By revelation he made known unto me] Instead of egnwrise, he made known, egnwrisqh, was made known, is the reading of ABCD*FG, several others, both the Syriac, Coptic, Slavonic, Vulgate, and Itala, with Clemens, Cyril, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Damascenus, and others: it is doubtless the true reading.

The apostle wishes the Ephesians to understand that it was not an opinion of his own, or a doctrine which he was taught by others, or which he had gathered from the ancient prophets; but one that came to him by immediate revelation from God, as he had informed them before in a few words, referring to what he had said Ephesians 1:9-12.

Verses 1-7. For this cause — That you may be so built up together, and made the temple of God, and his habitation through the Spirit; I bow my knees, &c., see verse 14, with which the words are evidently closely connected, (as they are also with the close of the preceding chapters) the subsequent paragraph to the end of verse 13 manifestly coming in by way of parenthesis. I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles — For your advantage, for asserting your right to these blessings. This it was which so much enraged the Jews against him. If ye have heard — Or, seeing ye have heard, as eige hkousate may be properly rendered; and being so rendered will be very applicable to the Ephesians, who, no doubt, were well acquainted with Paul’s apostolical commission. Here, by way of digression, the apostle sets forth the nature and dignity of his apostolical office toward the Gentiles, as in Romans 11:13. Of the dispensation of the grace of God — For the meaning of the word oikonomia, here rendered dispensation, see note on Ephesians 1:10. It here means the authority and commission given him to declare the doctrine of the grace of God to the Gentiles, as displayed in the gospel; which is given me to you- ward — Which office is committed to me chiefly with relation to you Gentiles, to be employed for your edification; how that by revelation, see (Acts 26:16, 17,) and not by the instrumentality of any human testimony; he made known to me the mystery — Which had so long been concealed, namely, that salvation by Christ alone was free for both the Jews and Gentiles; as I wrote afore — Namely, chap. 1:9, 10; in few words — The very words of which passage he here repeats. The apostle does not appear to mean that he had written of the mystery in a few words, for the greatest part of the preceding chapters is taken up in explaining that mystery; but his meaning seems to be, that he had written before in a few words concerning the discovery of the mystery to him by revelation. The mystery which in other ages was not made known — So clearly and fully; unto the sons of men — No, not to the Jews themselves; (see on Matthew 13:17;) as it is now revealed — In consequence of the death and resurrection of Christ; unto his holy apostles and prophets — Namely, of the New Testament: see on 1 Corinthians 12:28. That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs — With the believing Jews, (Galatians 3:29,) and Christ himself, (Romans 8:17,) of the heavenly inheritance; and of the same body — Under Christ the head, or incorporated in the true church; and partakers of his promise — Of pardon, adoption, the renewing of the Holy Ghost and eternal life; in Christ — Purchased by him, and enjoyed by virtue of your union with him; in the gospel — Preached to you. Whereof I was made a minister — When first called by Christ himself appearing to me for that purpose; according to the gift of the grace of God — To which office he raised me, not through any worthiness of mine, but of his free grace; given unto me — In a most extraordinary and remarkable manner; by the effectual working of his power — Which conquered my prejudices, enlightened my understanding, changed my heart, and prepared and qualified me for that high and holy office, averse as I once was to all the purposes of it.

Ver. 3, 4. How that by revelation he made known to me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words. He wrote the same to the Galatians: Galatians 1:12. But though many short letters of the apostle may possibly be lost, the holy scriptures give us this mystery without impairs.

3. By revelation—At his powerful conversion, as narrated in Acts ix; but the revelation is detailed in his own statement, in Acts 26:16-20. The mystery—The fact heretofore held, undisclosed, in only the foreknowledge of God. Wrote afore—Above wrote, in ver. 11. In few words—In brief. The same phrase, en oligw, as used by Agrippa and by Paul, (Acts 26:28,) and means smallness of amount.

Ver. 3. Further account of the stewardship committed to Paul. The mystery made known (as in Ephesians 1:9) to Paul was spiritual wealth entrusted to him for distribution to others. It was therefore a stewardship. By way of revelation: mode in which it was made known to Paul, viz. by spiritual enlightenment. See under Romans 1:17. Mystery and revelation are constant correlatives: Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7, 10. For the secrets of God are known only by those for whom God lifts the veil which hides them from unaided human vision. I have before written: apparently in this Epistle. For Ephesians 3:6 which gives the contents of this mystery is a summing up of Ephesians 2:13-22. Moreover, the present tense, reading, in Ephesians 3:4 suggests that Paul refers to something new. To the same teaching refer also the similar words in Ephesians 1:9, having made known the mystery. For the union of Jews and Gentiles is part of God’s larger purpose (Ephesians 3:10) to unite in Christ the whole universe. In short space: viz. in Ephesians 2:13-22, words very few for the truths so great, and to Jews so astounding, therein set forth.

Verse 4. Whereby, when ye read] When ye refer back to them. Ye may understand my knowledge] Ye may see what God has given me to know concerning what has been hitherto a mystery-the calling of the Gentiles, and the breaking down the middle wall between them and the Jews, so as to make both one spiritual body, and on the same conditions.

Verses 1-7. For this cause — That you may be so built up together, and made the temple of God, and his habitation through the Spirit; I bow my knees, &c., see verse 14, with which the words are evidently closely connected, (as they are also with the close of the preceding chapters) the subsequent paragraph to the end of verse 13 manifestly coming in by way of parenthesis. I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles — For your advantage, for asserting your right to these blessings. This it was which so much enraged the Jews against him. If ye have heard — Or, seeing ye have heard, as eige hkousate may be properly rendered; and being so rendered will be very applicable to the Ephesians, who, no doubt, were well acquainted with Paul’s apostolical commission. Here, by way of digression, the apostle sets forth the nature and dignity of his apostolical office toward the Gentiles, as in Romans 11:13. Of the dispensation of the grace of God — For the meaning of the word oikonomia, here rendered dispensation, see note on Ephesians 1:10. It here means the authority and commission given him to declare the doctrine of the grace of God to the Gentiles, as displayed in the gospel; which is given me to you- ward — Which office is committed to me chiefly with relation to you Gentiles, to be employed for your edification; how that by revelation, see (Acts 26:16, 17,) and not by the instrumentality of any human testimony; he made known to me the mystery — Which had so long been concealed, namely, that salvation by Christ alone was free for both the Jews and Gentiles; as I wrote afore — Namely, chap. 1:9, 10; in few words — The very words of which passage he here repeats. The apostle does not appear to mean that he had written of the mystery in a few words, for the greatest part of the preceding chapters is taken up in explaining that mystery; but his meaning seems to be, that he had written before in a few words concerning the discovery of the mystery to him by revelation. The mystery which in other ages was not made known — So clearly and fully; unto the sons of men — No, not to the Jews themselves; (see on Matthew 13:17;) as it is now revealed — In consequence of the death and resurrection of Christ; unto his holy apostles and prophets — Namely, of the New Testament: see on 1 Corinthians 12:28. That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs — With the believing Jews, (Galatians 3:29,) and Christ himself, (Romans 8:17,) of the heavenly inheritance; and of the same body — Under Christ the head, or incorporated in the true church; and partakers of his promise — Of pardon, adoption, the renewing of the Holy Ghost and eternal life; in Christ — Purchased by him, and enjoyed by virtue of your union with him; in the gospel — Preached to you. Whereof I was made a minister — When first called by Christ himself appearing to me for that purpose; according to the gift of the grace of God — To which office he raised me, not through any worthiness of mine, but of his free grace; given unto me — In a most extraordinary and remarkable manner; by the effectual working of his power — Which conquered my prejudices, enlightened my understanding, changed my heart, and prepared and qualified me for that high and holy office, averse as I once was to all the purposes of it.

Ver. 3, 4. How that by revelation he made known to me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words. He wrote the same to the Galatians: Galatians 1:12. But though many short letters of the apostle may possibly be lost, the holy scriptures give us this mystery without impairs.

4. When ye attentively read it as a sample of my gospel, ye may be able to appreciate my insight. The mystery of, or concerning the Christ or Messiah.

Ver. 4. Whereby: more accurately, to which referring as a standard of comparison.

Understanding: ability to interpret the significance of things observed: see under Colossians 1:9.

The mystery of Christ: expounded in Colossians 1:27. The presence of Christ in His people, as a pledge of the splendour awaiting them, is a secret known only to those specially taught by God. This secret, which is the matter understood, is here represented as the surrounding element of the spiritual insight which Paul’s readers would recognise in his teaching about the union in Christ of Jews and Gentiles.

V. 5. Which in other-In former, ages was not so clearly or fully made known to the sons of men-To any man, no, not to Ezekiel, so often styled, "son of man;" nor to any of the ancient prophets. Those here spoken of are New Testament prophets.

Verse 5. Which in other ages was not made known] That the calling of the Gentiles was made known by the prophets in different ages of the Jewish Church is exceedingly clear; but it certainly was not made known in that clear and precise manner in which it was now revealed by the Spirit unto the ministers of the New Testament: nor was it made known unto them at all, that the Gentiles should find salvation without coming under the yoke of the Mosaic law, and that the Jews themselves should be freed from that yoke of bondage; these were discoveries totally new, and now revealed for the first time by the Spirit of God.

Verses 1-7. For this cause — That you may be so built up together, and made the temple of God, and his habitation through the Spirit; I bow my knees, &c., see verse 14, with which the words are evidently closely connected, (as they are also with the close of the preceding chapters) the subsequent paragraph to the end of verse 13 manifestly coming in by way of parenthesis. I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles — For your advantage, for asserting your right to these blessings. This it was which so much enraged the Jews against him. If ye have heard — Or, seeing ye have heard, as eige hkousate may be properly rendered; and being so rendered will be very applicable to the Ephesians, who, no doubt, were well acquainted with Paul’s apostolical commission. Here, by way of digression, the apostle sets forth the nature and dignity of his apostolical office toward the Gentiles, as in Romans 11:13. Of the dispensation of the grace of God — For the meaning of the word oikonomia, here rendered dispensation, see note on Ephesians 1:10. It here means the authority and commission given him to declare the doctrine of the grace of God to the Gentiles, as displayed in the gospel; which is given me to you- ward — Which office is committed to me chiefly with relation to you Gentiles, to be employed for your edification; how that by revelation, see (Acts 26:16, 17,) and not by the instrumentality of any human testimony; he made known to me the mystery — Which had so long been concealed, namely, that salvation by Christ alone was free for both the Jews and Gentiles; as I wrote afore — Namely, chap. 1:9, 10; in few words — The very words of which passage he here repeats. The apostle does not appear to mean that he had written of the mystery in a few words, for the greatest part of the preceding chapters is taken up in explaining that mystery; but his meaning seems to be, that he had written before in a few words concerning the discovery of the mystery to him by revelation. The mystery which in other ages was not made known — So clearly and fully; unto the sons of men — No, not to the Jews themselves; (see on Matthew 13:17;) as it is now revealed — In consequence of the death and resurrection of Christ; unto his holy apostles and prophets — Namely, of the New Testament: see on 1 Corinthians 12:28. That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs — With the believing Jews, (Galatians 3:29,) and Christ himself, (Romans 8:17,) of the heavenly inheritance; and of the same body — Under Christ the head, or incorporated in the true church; and partakers of his promise — Of pardon, adoption, the renewing of the Holy Ghost and eternal life; in Christ — Purchased by him, and enjoyed by virtue of your union with him; in the gospel — Preached to you. Whereof I was made a minister — When first called by Christ himself appearing to me for that purpose; according to the gift of the grace of God — To which office he raised me, not through any worthiness of mine, but of his free grace; given unto me — In a most extraordinary and remarkable manner; by the effectual working of his power — Which conquered my prejudices, enlightened my understanding, changed my heart, and prepared and qualified me for that high and holy office, averse as I once was to all the purposes of it.

Ver. 5. Which in other ages was not made known — as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. He here avows that the Hebrew prophets were inspired by the Spirit to speak of Christ, and preach the doctrines of the gospel to the ancient church; but that God, in conformity to the scheme of gradual revelation, had now made known the truth in more luminous characters; truths of unspeakable value, as regarding the full birthright of the gentiles to the glorious liberty of the children of God. Romans 8:21.

5. Other ages, or dispensations preceding this, as the patriarchal, the Mosaic, the prophetic. Not made known—Of the same mystery, Paul affirms (Romans 16:25, 26) that it “was kept secret since the world began,” but “now is made manifest,” and “made known to all nations.” In his apostleship was enclosed the mystery of God. The sons of men— Who, with all their natural powers, could never discover it. As it is now— Beautiful predictions are recorded in the prophets of future good to the Gentiles. But the disclosure was not then made as it is now, when it forms the great theme and event of this newly opened age. Prophets—Clearly the New Testament prophets, as in Ephesians 2:20. And these are holy as truly as the prophets of old, who were set apart for revelation to men.

Ver. 5. Generations: the successive courses of men living at one time. So <504415> Philippians 2:15; Colossians 1:26.

Other: more correctly different. It calls attention to the different and less favoured position of those who lived before the Gospel age. The words are here a note of time.

The sons of men: men looked upon in the light of their human origin: so Genesis 11:5; Psalms 8:4Psalm 8:4; 11:4. ‘While the successive generations of the past, so different in their lower privileges from the men of Paul’s day, followed each other from the cradle to the grave, the great secret now revealed was not made known to the offspring of human parents.’ Revealed; takes up made known by way of revelation in Ephesians 3:3, and asserts that others shared with Paul the truth supernaturally communicated to him.

Apostles and prophets: as in Ephesians 2:20. These were holy because in virtue of their office they stood in special relation to God. Cp. Luke 1:70.

In the Spirit: same words and sense as in Ephesians 2:22. Close parallel in Matthew 22:43: for David was (Acts 2:30) a prophet. Both Apostles and Prophets were specially inspired by the Holy Spirit, who made known to them truths till then not known to men. They held respectively (Ephesians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 12:28) the first and second ranks in the universal Church; differing in the supreme authority exercised by the Apostles.

V. 6. That the Gentiles are joint-heirs-Of God. And of the same body-Under Christ the head. And joint-partakers of his promise-The communion of the Holy Ghost.

Verse 6. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs] This is the substance of that mystery which had been hidden from all ages, and which was now made known to the New Testament apostles and prophets, and more particularly to St. Paul.

His promise in Christ] That the promise made to Abraham extended to the Gentiles, the apostle has largely proved in his Epistle to the Romans; and that it was to be fulfilled to them by and through Christ, he proves there also; and particularly in his Epistle to the Galatians, see Galatians 3:14. And that these blessings were to be announced in the preaching of the Gospel, and received on believing it, he every where declares, but more especially in this epistle.

Verses 1-7. For this cause — That you may be so built up together, and made the temple of God, and his habitation through the Spirit; I bow my knees, &c., see verse 14, with which the words are evidently closely connected, (as they are also with the close of the preceding chapters) the subsequent paragraph to the end of verse 13 manifestly coming in by way of parenthesis. I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles — For your advantage, for asserting your right to these blessings. This it was which so much enraged the Jews against him. If ye have heard — Or, seeing ye have heard, as eige hkousate may be properly rendered; and being so rendered will be very applicable to the Ephesians, who, no doubt, were well acquainted with Paul’s apostolical commission. Here, by way of digression, the apostle sets forth the nature and dignity of his apostolical office toward the Gentiles, as in Romans 11:13. Of the dispensation of the grace of God — For the meaning of the word oikonomia, here rendered dispensation, see note on Ephesians 1:10. It here means the authority and commission given him to declare the doctrine of the grace of God to the Gentiles, as displayed in the gospel; which is given me to you- ward — Which office is committed to me chiefly with relation to you Gentiles, to be employed for your edification; how that by revelation, see (Acts 26:16, 17,) and not by the instrumentality of any human testimony; he made known to me the mystery — Which had so long been concealed, namely, that salvation by Christ alone was free for both the Jews and Gentiles; as I wrote afore — Namely, chap. 1:9, 10; in few words — The very words of which passage he here repeats. The apostle does not appear to mean that he had written of the mystery in a few words, for the greatest part of the preceding chapters is taken up in explaining that mystery; but his meaning seems to be, that he had written before in a few words concerning the discovery of the mystery to him by revelation. The mystery which in other ages was not made known — So clearly and fully; unto the sons of men — No, not to the Jews themselves; (see on Matthew 13:17;) as it is now revealed — In consequence of the death and resurrection of Christ; unto his holy apostles and prophets — Namely, of the New Testament: see on 1 Corinthians 12:28. That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs — With the believing Jews, (Galatians 3:29,) and Christ himself, (Romans 8:17,) of the heavenly inheritance; and of the same body — Under Christ the head, or incorporated in the true church; and partakers of his promise — Of pardon, adoption, the renewing of the Holy Ghost and eternal life; in Christ — Purchased by him, and enjoyed by virtue of your union with him; in the gospel — Preached to you. Whereof I was made a minister — When first called by Christ himself appearing to me for that purpose; according to the gift of the grace of God — To which office he raised me, not through any worthiness of mine, but of his free grace; given unto me — In a most extraordinary and remarkable manner; by the effectual working of his power — Which conquered my prejudices, enlightened my understanding, changed my heart, and prepared and qualified me for that high and holy office, averse as I once was to all the purposes of it.

6. What this mystery is he now expresses. The Gentiles—All nations besides the sons of Abraham: for both in language and in action St. Paul showed his wonderful prophetic comprehension of the vastness of his apostleship, as including (Romans 16:26) all nations. This called him east and west, and moved him to make Rome his capital. And this indicates, too, that he understood not that the probationary age was to be closed by a speedy advent of Christ, but believed himself to stand at the threshold of a new dispensation of the universal gospel to mankind for ages. Fellow heirs… partakers—Our English feebly represents the apostle’s Greek. We render it, The Gentiles be co-heirs, co-embodied, and co-sharers. The Jews had so interpreted the prophets as to assume that Jerusalem should be imperial instead of Rome, and the subjugated Gentiles should be their subjects and servants. But to Paul is revealed a new and better gospel. There is to be no political conquest. Simply the antagonism of ages is to be removed, and all the world stand equal under the Christ. Promise—The promise of a universal Saviour, first given in Paradise, repeated to Abraham, and re-echoed by the prophets of old.

Ver. 6. Statement of the mystery now revealed.

That the Gentiles are etc.: objectively in Christ, subjectively through each one’s faith.

Fellow-heirs: same word and sense in Romans 8:17; Hebrews 11:9; 1 Peter 3:7. To Gentiles, as to Jews, belongs, in virtue of their filial relation to God, the wealth of heaven.

Fellow-members-of-the-body: a word not found elsewhere and probably coined by Paul. It presents the union of Jews and Gentiles under Paul’s favourite metaphor of the Body of Christ.

Fellow-partakers: same word in Ephesians 5:7. These three words, beginning with the same syllable, proclaim very clearly the equal rights of Jews and Gentiles.

The promise: as in Ephesians 2:12. It was designed for, and will be fulfilled in, Jews and Gentiles alike; and therefore belongs to both. In Christ Jesus: as in Ephesians 2:13, which is explained in Ephesians 2:14, 15. The above was God’s purpose from eternity: Ephesians 1:4. Therefore in His eternal purpose, which is more real than any creature, already Jews and Gentiles are, in virtue of their relation to Christ, sharers of the one inheritance, members of the one body, and sharers of the one promise.

Through the Gospel: means by which this objective right is subjectively and personally appropriated, and this purpose of eternity accomplished in time. As Abraham, in the day when he believed the promise, stood before God as already father of many nations, so before time began the believing Gentiles stood before God, as, by means of the good news announced by Christ and His servants, sharers with the believing Israelites of the blessings promised to Abraham.

The union of Jews and Gentiles in the one Church may seem to some unworthy to be called the mystery of Christ. But this union is a logical result of the central doctrine of the Gospel, viz. that God accepts into His favour all who believe. Consequently, in the extension to the Gentiles of the rights of the New Covenant, was involved the essence of the Gospel. Hence the strong language of Galatians 5:2; 4:10, 11. Moreover, to Paul, a zealous Jew, it was the most conspicuous feature of the Gospel, and at one time the most serious objection to it. And, in all ages, the universality of the Gospel, embracing on the same terms men of all kinds, is one of the clearest proofs that it comes from the common Parent of all. This universal destiny of the Kingdom of God was in great part veiled under the Old Covenant. But to Paul and his colleagues, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, it had been revealed. A remembrance of these long ages of silence, of his superior privilege, and of the special honour put upon him as an Apostle filled him with wonder and gratitude. See further in Ephesians 3:8-11.

This verse is another plain note of genuineness. For it gives to the union of Jews and Gentiles an importance in complete harmony with Paul’s position, history, and mode of thought; but inconceivable in the second century, when the Gentiles had obtained a secure and predominant position in the Church.

V. 7. According to the gift of the grace of God-That is, the apostle-ship which he hath graciously given me, and which he hath qualified me for. By the effectual working of his power-In me and by me.

Verse 7. Whereof I was made a minister] diakonov. A deacon, a servant acting under and by the direction of the great Master, Jesus Christ; from whom, by an especial call and revelation, I received the apostolic gifts and office, and by thn energeian thv dunamewv autou, the energy, the in-working of his power, this Gospel which I preached was made effectual to the salvation of vast multitudes of Jews and Gentiles.

Verses 1-7. For this cause — That you may be so built up together, and made the temple of God, and his habitation through the Spirit; I bow my knees, &c., see verse 14, with which the words are evidently closely connected, (as they are also with the close of the preceding chapters) the subsequent paragraph to the end of verse 13 manifestly coming in by way of parenthesis. I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles — For your advantage, for asserting your right to these blessings. This it was which so much enraged the Jews against him. If ye have heard — Or, seeing ye have heard, as eige hkousate may be properly rendered; and being so rendered will be very applicable to the Ephesians, who, no doubt, were well acquainted with Paul’s apostolical commission. Here, by way of digression, the apostle sets forth the nature and dignity of his apostolical office toward the Gentiles, as in Romans 11:13. Of the dispensation of the grace of God — For the meaning of the word oikonomia, here rendered dispensation, see note on Ephesians 1:10. It here means the authority and commission given him to declare the doctrine of the grace of God to the Gentiles, as displayed in the gospel; which is given me to you- ward — Which office is committed to me chiefly with relation to you Gentiles, to be employed for your edification; how that by revelation, see (Acts 26:16, 17,) and not by the instrumentality of any human testimony; he made known to me the mystery — Which had so long been concealed, namely, that salvation by Christ alone was free for both the Jews and Gentiles; as I wrote afore — Namely, chap. 1:9, 10; in few words — The very words of which passage he here repeats. The apostle does not appear to mean that he had written of the mystery in a few words, for the greatest part of the preceding chapters is taken up in explaining that mystery; but his meaning seems to be, that he had written before in a few words concerning the discovery of the mystery to him by revelation. The mystery which in other ages was not made known — So clearly and fully; unto the sons of men — No, not to the Jews themselves; (see on Matthew 13:17;) as it is now revealed — In consequence of the death and resurrection of Christ; unto his holy apostles and prophets — Namely, of the New Testament: see on 1 Corinthians 12:28. That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs — With the believing Jews, (Galatians 3:29,) and Christ himself, (Romans 8:17,) of the heavenly inheritance; and of the same body — Under Christ the head, or incorporated in the true church; and partakers of his promise — Of pardon, adoption, the renewing of the Holy Ghost and eternal life; in Christ — Purchased by him, and enjoyed by virtue of your union with him; in the gospel — Preached to you. Whereof I was made a minister — When first called by Christ himself appearing to me for that purpose; according to the gift of the grace of God — To which office he raised me, not through any worthiness of mine, but of his free grace; given unto me — In a most extraordinary and remarkable manner; by the effectual working of his power — Which conquered my prejudices, enlightened my understanding, changed my heart, and prepared and qualified me for that high and holy office, averse as I once was to all the purposes of it.

7. This stupendous mystery brings us again to the apostle’s Ego. Minister—Not an originator or composer, but a mere servitor, an agent in distributing. The gift—Consisting of the grace, or endowment. According to… power—As in the similar phrase in Ephesians 1:19, the reference is to the divine power exerted in accomplishing the redemptive scheme. Paul’s apostolic endowment was bestowed in accordance with that powerful display of God’s omnipotence.

Ver. 7. Of which I became a minister: as in Colossians 1:23; stating in each case Paul’s relation to a foregoing general statement. According to the gift etc.: close parallel to Colossians 1:25. The appointment of Paul as a minister of the Gospel is traced to its source in the favour with which God smiled on him. And this grace was in harmony with the working or activity of His power. Otherwise the grace would have been ineffective. As in Galatians 2:8, 9, Paul felt that in his labours the might of God was at work.

V. 8. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given-Here are the noblest strains of eloquence to paint the exceeding low opinion the apostle had of himself, and the fulness of unfathomable blessings which are treasured up in Christ.

Verse 8. Less than the least of all saints] elacistoterw pantwn agiwn. As the design of the apostle was to magnify the grace of Christ in the salvation of the world, he uses every precaution to prevent the eyes of the people from being turned to any thing but Christ crucified; and although he was obliged to speak of himself as the particular instrument which God had chosen to bring the Gentile world to the knowledge of the truth, yet he does it in such a manner as to show that the excellency of the power was of God, and not of him; and that, highly as he and his follow apostles were honoured; they had the heavenly treasure in earthen vessels. To lay himself as low as possible, consistently with his being in the number of Divinely commissioned men, he calls himself less than the least; and is obliged to make a new word, by strangely forming a comparative degree, not from the positive, which would have been a regular grammatical procedure, but from the superlative. The adjective elacuv signifies little, elasswn or elattwn, less, and elacistov, least. On this latter, which is the superlative of elacuv, little, St. Paul forms his comparative, elacistoterov, less than the least, a word of which it would be vain to attempt a better translation than that given in our own version. It most strongly marks the unparalleled humility of the apostle; and the amazing condescension of God, in favouring him, who had been before a persecutor and blasphemer, with the knowledge of this glorious scheme of human redemption, and the power to preach it so successfully among the Gentiles. The unsearchable riches of Christ] The word anexicniastov, from a, privative, and exicniazw, to trace out, from icnov, a step, is exceedingly well chosen here: it refers to the footsteps of God, the plans he had formed, the dispensations which he had published, and the innumerable providences which he had combined, to prepare, mature, and bring to full effect and view his gracious designs in the salvation of a ruined world, by the incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection of his Son. There were in these schemes and providences such riches-such an abundance, such a variety, as could not be comprehended even by the naturally vast, and, through the Divine inspiration, unparalleledly capacious mind of the apostle.

Yet he was to proclaim among the Gentiles these astonishing wonders and mysteries of grace; and as he proceeds in this great and glorious work, the Holy Spirit that dwelt in him opens to his mind more and more of those riches-leads him into those footsteps of the Almighty which could not be investigated by man nor angel, so that his preaching and epistles, taken all in their chronological order, will prove that his views brighten, and his discoveries become more numerous and more distinct in proportion as he advances. And had he lived, preached, and written to the present day, he had not exhausted the subject, nor fully declared to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ-the endless depths of wisdom and knowledge treasured up in him, and the infinity of saving acts and saving power displayed by him.

Verses 8, 9. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, &c. — Here are the noblest strains of eloquence, to paint the exceeding low opinion which the apostle had of himself, and the fulness of unfathomable blessings which are treasured up in Christ. The word elacistoterw is a comparative, formed from the superlative elacistov, the force of which it is difficult to express in the English language. Doubtless he speaks of himself in this humble manner, on account of his having been formerly a blasphemer of Christ, a persecutor of his disciples, and exceedingly injurious in so acting. Is this grace given — This unmerited favour bestowed; that I should preach among the Gentiles — Ignorant of divine things as they had been from generation to generation, and apparently abandoned of God to vice and wretchedness; the unsearchable riches of Christ — Those unsearchable perfections, (Colossians 2:9,) whereby he is qualified to be the Saviour of the world, and to bestow on all who believe the greatest spiritual blessings, which are the only true riches, because they render the possessors perfectly happy. In other words, In the riches of Christ, here justly said to be unsearchable, are included, 1st, His redeeming acts; such as his incarnation, his enduring temptation, his obedience unto death, his resurrection, ascension, intercession. 2d, His saving benefits; as illumination, justification, adoption, the spirit of adoption and regeneration, the restoration of God’s image to the soul, communion with God, and eternal life. 3d, The ways and means of the application of these acts and benefits; as (1,) The properties and powers exerted by Christ, such as his wisdom, power, love, patience: (2,) The means and ordinances, as affliction, the word of God, prayer, the fellowship of saints: (3,) The graces and virtues to be exercised by us; as faith, hope, love, obedience; in all which particulars unsearchable riches are comprehended, and by which we may be unspeakably and eternally enriched. And to make men see — To enlighten and instruct, as well the Gentiles as the Jews, and show them what is the fellowship of the mystery — What those mysterious blessings are whereof all believers are called jointly to partake; which from the beginning of the world — Greek, apo twn aiwnwn, from ages, and from generations, (Colossians 1:26,) hath been hid in God — Concealed in his secret counsels; who created all things by Jesus Christ — His eternal Word and Son, John 1:3; Hebrews 1:2; where see the notes. This is the foundation of all his dispensations.

Ver. 8. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints. The apostle speaks of himself with similar sentiments of self-abasement in other passages. 1 Corinthians 15:9. 1 Timothy 1:11-15. Grotius remarks the elacsteron is a comparison made of the superlative degree, and he quotes seven examples of the use of the word from the poets. Paul’s heart was ever touched, that he should be selected as the first of apostles, to publish this enlarged revelation, and to preach among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; the riches of divine wisdom and knowledge, which none of the princes of this world knew, neither the philosophers of Grecian schools. The mysteries and purposes of grace were indeed hidden in the Father’s bosom before the foundation of the world, to give his Son as an atoning sacrifice, to reconcile us to God. These are not the devices of human wisdom, but the doctrines of the gospel of the blessed God, publishing full forgiveness to rebels of every class, adoption for aliens, the glory of sanctifying grace to supersede all the impurity of our nature, the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit conferred according to the riches of his glory, thrones for sinners raised from the dust, eternal life in the enjoyment of the kingdom that cannot be moved.

8. The apostle feels the overwhelming pressure of this sublime mystery resting upon his being. Like one surveying the vastness of universal space, as unfolded in astronomy, he feels what a mere speck he is. The present verse is indeed a contrast between his own littleness and the greatness of Christ’s bounty to men, which he is called to dispense. Less than the least—An ingenious expression of the translators to give the force of the apostle’s Greek. The Greek word is a superlative least, with a comparative termination added, as if leaster; a degree below least; and so less, by one degree, than the least. Of all saints—For which of all the saints had so “persecuted the Church of God?” 1 Corinthians 15:9. Even as late as 1 Timothy 1:13, he cannot forgive himself, how much soever God had forgiven him, that he had been “a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious.” Preach among the Gentiles—Especially; as Peter among the Jews, Galatians 1:16. Unsearchable—The Greek word derived from track; so, untrackable, untraceable.

Ver. 8.-12. A new sentence, reasserting and amplifying the statements in Ephesians 3:2-7.

The less-than-least: a combination, not found elsewhere, of superlative and comparative: close parallels in 1 Corinthians 15:9; 1 Timothy 1:13. These two passages explain Paul’s self-depreciation here and they reveal his profound sense of the awful sin of lifting a hand against the Church of God. Not merely below the Apostles, as in 1 Corinthians 15:9, but far below all saints, i.e. Christians, Paul places himself. Was given etc.: a remarkable re-echo of Ephesians 3:2, 7, revealing Paul’s deep sense of the undeserved favour of God which committed to him so glorious a commission. This grace is further expounded by the words to announce to the Gentiles as good tidings etc.

Unsearchable: whose footsteps cannot be traced. So in Romans 11:33. The riches of Christ extend, in their abundance, farther than the mind of man can follow. When the Gospel went forth to enrich the Gentiles, it passed the thought of Israel. And, to announce as good news this infinite wealth for all that believe, was the mission given to Paul by the undeserved favour of God.

V. 9. What is the fellowship of the mystery-What those mysterious blessings are whereof all believers jointly partake. Which was, in a great measure, hidden from eternity by God, who, to make way for the free exercise of his love, created all things-This is the foundation of all his dispensations.

Verse 9. And to make all men see] kai fwtisai pantav. And to illuminate all; to give information both to Jews and Gentiles; to afford them a sufficiency of light, so that they might be able distinctly to discern the great objects exhibited in this Gospel.

What is the fellowship of the mystery] The word koinwnia, which we properly translate fellowship, was used among the Greeks to signify their religious communities; here it may intimate the association of Jews and Gentiles in one Church or body, and their agreement in that glorious mystery which was now so fully opened relative to the salvation of both. But instead of koinwnia, fellowship, oikonomia, dispensation or economy, is the reading of ABCDEFG, and more than fifty others; both the Syriac, Coptic, Æthiopic, Armenian, Slavonian, Vulgate and Itala, with the chief of the Greek fathers. Some of the best printed editions of the Greek text have the same reading, and that in our common text has very little authority to support it. Dispensation or economy is far more congenial to the scope of the apostle’s declaration in this place; he wished to show them the economy of that mystery of bringing Jews and Gentiles to salvation by faith in Christ Jesus, which God from the beginning of the world had kept hidden in his own infinite mind, and did not think proper to reveal even when he projected the creation of the world, which had respect to the economy of human redemption. And although the world was made by Jesus Christ, the great Redeemer, yet at that period this revelation of the power of God, the design of saving men, whose fall infinite wisdom had foreseen, was not then revealed. This reading Griesbach has received into the text.

Who created all things by Jesus Christ] Some very judicious critics are of opinion that this does not refer to the material creation; and that we should understand the whole as referring to the formation of all God’s dispensations of grace, mercy, and truth, which have been planned, managed, and executed by Christ, from the foundation of the world to the present time. But the words dia ihsou cristou, by Jesus Christ, are wanting in ABCD*FG, and several others; also in the Syriac, Arabic of Erpen, Coptic, Æthiopic, Vulgate, and Itala; as also in several of the fathers. Griesbach has thrown the words out of the text; and Professor White says, “certissime delenda,” they are indisputably spurious. The text, therefore, should be read: which from the beginning of the world had been hidden in God who created all things. No inferiority of Christ can be argued from a clause of whose spuriousness there is the strongest evidence.

Verses 8, 9. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, &c. — Here are the noblest strains of eloquence, to paint the exceeding low opinion which the apostle had of himself, and the fulness of unfathomable blessings which are treasured up in Christ. The word elacistoterw is a comparative, formed from the superlative elacistov, the force of which it is difficult to express in the English language. Doubtless he speaks of himself in this humble manner, on account of his having been formerly a blasphemer of Christ, a persecutor of his disciples, and exceedingly injurious in so acting. Is this grace given — This unmerited favour bestowed; that I should preach among the Gentiles — Ignorant of divine things as they had been from generation to generation, and apparently abandoned of God to vice and wretchedness; the unsearchable riches of Christ — Those unsearchable perfections, (Colossians 2:9,) whereby he is qualified to be the Saviour of the world, and to bestow on all who believe the greatest spiritual blessings, which are the only true riches, because they render the possessors perfectly happy. In other words, In the riches of Christ, here justly said to be unsearchable, are included, 1st, His redeeming acts; such as his incarnation, his enduring temptation, his obedience unto death, his resurrection, ascension, intercession. 2d, His saving benefits; as illumination, justification, adoption, the spirit of adoption and regeneration, the restoration of God’s image to the soul, communion with God, and eternal life. 3d, The ways and means of the application of these acts and benefits; as (1,) The properties and powers exerted by Christ, such as his wisdom, power, love, patience: (2,) The means and ordinances, as affliction, the word of God, prayer, the fellowship of saints: (3,) The graces and virtues to be exercised by us; as faith, hope, love, obedience; in all which particulars unsearchable riches are comprehended, and by which we may be unspeakably and eternally enriched. And to make men see — To enlighten and instruct, as well the Gentiles as the Jews, and show them what is the fellowship of the mystery — What those mysterious blessings are whereof all believers are called jointly to partake; which from the beginning of the world — Greek, apo twn aiwnwn, from ages, and from generations, (Colossians 1:26,) hath been hid in God — Concealed in his secret counsels; who created all things by Jesus Christ — His eternal Word and Son, John 1:3; Hebrews 1:2; where see the notes. This is the foundation of all his dispensations.

9. Make… see—Fwtisai, to illuminate as to what, etc. Fellowship—A better reading would be economy, or established plan. From the beginning of the world—That is, from the point of time and event at which the ages or dispensations started. Ellicott precisely expresses it: “The counsel itself was formed before the ages.” 1 Corinthians 2:7. The concealment of it dated from the ages; that is, from their starting-point. Created all things—St. Paul here (as in Ephesians 2:8, and often elsewhere) sedulously fastens the redemptive system to God himself; not to any Gentile polytheistic god, but to the supreme God, who founded and brought into existence all things, and not the least among them, this divine scheme of bringing our entire race within the unity of his Son.

Ver. 9. And to enlighten etc.: another item of the grace given to Paul, or rather another view of the grace just described.

Enlighten, or shed light upon: as in Ephesians 1:18; 2 Timothy 1:10; Hebrews 6:4; John 1:9. The light may be conceived as cast, either upon the person seeing, who finds himself surrounded by light, or upon the object seen. A cognate word in 2 Corinthians 4:4, 6. All: probably not more than our phrase all of them, viz. the Gentiles. For its position is not emphatic; nor have we here the universal phrase found in Romans 5:12, 18, etc.

Stewardship of the mystery: as in 1 Corinthians 4:1, stewards of the mysteries of God. It combines the ideas separately expressed in Ephesians 3:2 and Ephesians 3:3. The great secret revealed to Paul was, in reality, spiritual wealth entrusted to him for distribution to others. To make this secret known to the Gentiles, was to give them light. To do this by announcing the unsearchable riches of Christ, was Paul’s joyful task.

Hidden from the ages: from the beginning of time, as in Colossians 1:26.

In God: whose all-knowing mind is the treasury in which this wealth lay hidden. This suggests, as is clearly implied in Ephesians 3:10, that the mystery was not known even to angels.

Who created all things; links together the purpose kept secret for ages with the creation of the universe: so Ephesians 1:4; Colossians 1:16, 17. And this suggests that the world was created with a view to the realisation of this purpose.

V. 10. That the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church-By what is done in the church, which is the theatre of the divine wisdom.

Verse 10. That now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places] Who are these principalities and powers? Some think evil angels are intended, because they are thus denominated, Ephesians 6:12. Others think good angels are meant; for as these heavenly beings are curious to investigate the wondrous economy of the Gospel, though they are not its immediate objects, see 1 Peter 1:12, it is quite consistent with the goodness of God to give them that satisfaction which they require. And in this discovery of the Gospel plan of salvation, which reconciles things in heaven and things on earth-both men and angels, these pure spirits are greatly interested, and their praises to the Divine Being rendered much more abundant. Others imagine the Jewish rulers and rabbins are intended, particularly those of them who were converted to Christianity, and who had now learned from the preaching of the Gospel what, as Jews, they could never have known. I have had several opportunities of showing that this sort of phraseology is frequent among the Jews, and indeed not seldom used in the New Testament. Dr. Macknight, whose mode of arguing against this opinion is not well chosen, supposes that “the different orders of angels in heaven are intended, whose knowledge of God’s dispensations must be as gradual as the dispensations themselves; consequently their knowledge of the manifold wisdom of God must have been greatly increased by the constitution of the Christian Church.” Of this there can be no doubt, whether the terms in the text refer to them or not. By the Church] That is, by the Christians and by the wonderful things done in the Church; and by the apostles, who were its pastors. The manifold wisdom of God] h polupoikilov sofia. That

multifarious and greatly diversified wisdom of God; laying great and infinite plans, and accomplishing them by endless means, through the whole lapse of ages; making every occurrence subservient to the purposes of his infinite mercy and goodness. God’s gracious design to save a lost world by Jesus Christ, could not be defeated by any cunning skill or malice of man or devils: whatever hinderances are thrown in the way, his wisdom and power can remove; and his infinite wisdom can never want ways or means to effect its gracious designs.

Verses 10-12. To the intent that now — Under the gospel dispensation, the last and best dispensation of divine grace and mercy to fallen man; unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places — To all the various orders of angelic beings; might be made known by the church — Namely, by what is done in and for it; the manifold wisdom of God — Discovering itself gradually in such a beautiful and well-ordered variety of dispensations. By this the apostle seems to intimate that the Church of Christ is the grand theatre in which the divine wisdom is most signally displayed, including, doubtless, the manifestation made therein of the whole process of Christ for the accomplishment of man’s redemption and salvation. According to the eternal purpose — The original plan adjusted in the Divine Mind, and to be executed in due time in and by Jesus Christ our Lord; in, or through whom we have boldness and access with confidence — Such as those petitioners have who are introduced to the royal presence by some distinguished favourite; the word parrhsia, rendered boldness, implies unrestrained liberty of speech, such as children use in addressing an indulgent father, when, without fear of offending, they disclose all their wants, and make known all their requests.

Ver. 10. Principalities and powers in heavenly places. The Greek, epourania, is translated by Tertullian, supercœlestibus, and followed by Jerome. It occurs also in Ephesians 1:3, 2:6. It is here understood of angels who fill the thrones of heaven. It is a mistake to apply the text to princes, for their souls are not better than the poor, and they were the last to listen to the gospel. Saints are by the redemption raised to angelic rank, and have the promise of thrones and crowns in the kingdom of their Father.

10. All these things—namely, the Gentile call and its apostleship—take place to the intent, or in order that, the future heavenly worlds might realize the God they have. Principalities and powers—Note, Romans 8:38. In heavenly—In the supernals. See note on Ephesians 1:1. By the church—The glorious and finally glorified. Manifold—Many-formed, variegated; showing itself around infinite complexities in bringing out the clear, the right, and the glorious.

Ver. 10. Purpose, not of the creation of all things nor of the concealment of the mystery during long ages, but of the chief matter of the sentence, viz. the commission to Paul to proclaim the mystery. For the mention of creation is only passing: and the revelation, which is itself a part of the original purpose, can hardly be said to be the aim of the concealment. Whereas, as expounded above, this ultimate aim increases immensely the grandeur of Paul’s commission. The Gospel he preaches is designed to make-known even to angels something about God not known before. Cp. 1 Peter 1:10.

Now: in contrast to the ages of silence.

The principalities and the authorities: as in Ephesians 1:21. The mention of two ranks of angels throws into bolder relief the greatness of this revelation.

In the heavenly places: as in Ephesians 1:3.

Through the Church: as a visible embodiment of God’s eternal purpose. Wisdom of God: as in Romans 11:33; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 1:24. It is God’s perfect knowledge of whatever is and can be, enabling Him to select the best ends and means.

Manifold or many-coloured; suggests an extreme variety of means used. As the various ranks of angels contemplated the Church on earth, consisting of Jews and Gentiles, of every nationality, rank, degree of culture, and previous character, yet now saved from their sins by the one Gospel of Christ united into one living body with Christ as its Head, and as they observed the combination of various means by which this great consummation has been accomplished, they see, as even angels never saw before, the infinite wisdom with which God selects ends worthy of Himself and the most fitting means. Thus the Church becomes a mirror in which the bright ones of heaven see the glory of God. And, in order to show them this glory, God committed the Gospel to Paul. This teaches that heaven and earth are one great whole; and that good done on earth extends to heaven.

Verse 11. According to the eternal purpose] kata proqesin twn aiwnwn. According to the purpose concerning the periods. This seems to refer to the complete round of the Jewish system, and to that of the Gospel. I have often observed, that though the proper grammatical meaning of the word is ever-during or endless duration, yet it is often applied to those systems, periods, governments, &c., which have a complete duration, taking in the whole of them, from their commencement to their termination, leaving nothing of their duration unembraced. So, here, God purposed that the Jewish dispensation should commence at such a time, and terminate at such a time; that the Gospel dispensation should commence when the Jewish ended, and terminate only with life itself; and that the results of both should be endless. This is probably what is meant by the above phrase.

Which he purposed in Christ Jesus] hn epoihsen. Which he made or constituted in or for Christ Jesus. The manifestation of Christ, and the glory which should follow, were the grand objects which God kept in view in all his dispensations.

Verses 10-12. To the intent that now — Under the gospel dispensation, the last and best dispensation of divine grace and mercy to fallen man; unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places — To all the various orders of angelic beings; might be made known by the church — Namely, by what is done in and for it; the manifold wisdom of God — Discovering itself gradually in such a beautiful and well-ordered variety of dispensations. By this the apostle seems to intimate that the Church of Christ is the grand theatre in which the divine wisdom is most signally displayed, including, doubtless, the manifestation made therein of the whole process of Christ for the accomplishment of man’s redemption and salvation. According to the eternal purpose — The original plan adjusted in the Divine Mind, and to be executed in due time in and by Jesus Christ our Lord; in, or through whom we have boldness and access with confidence — Such as those petitioners have who are introduced to the royal presence by some distinguished favourite; the word parrhsia, rendered boldness, implies unrestrained liberty of speech, such as children use in addressing an indulgent father, when, without fear of offending, they disclose all their wants, and make known all their requests.

11. Eternal purpose—Of reconciling the whole race in Christ, 1:10; which purpose takes completion in the elect through faith. But the wisdom of God is manifold. As the ideal of God is not realized, so that that pure mercy is not fulfilled, thereupon he avails himself of that non-realization to unfold his attribute of justice in judgment upon sin, and thus reveals more completely his full-orbed nature.

Ver. 11. According to purpose: same words and sense as in Ephesians 1:11; Romans 8:28; 2 Timothy 1:9. A cognate word in Ephesians 1:9.

Of the ages; keeps conspicuously before us the idea of a long-cherished purpose. Paul here asserts that the ultimate aim described in Ephesians 3:10 was in harmony with, i.e. was a part of, the one eternal purpose. Grammatically, the words which follow may mean either that God made, or accomplished, in Christ His great purpose. As matter of fact, both are true. But, inasmuch as the full title Jesus Christ our Lord calls very marked attention to the historic Saviour and as Ephesians 3:12 speaks of actual access to God through Christ, it is perhaps better to understand Paul to refer here to the virtual accomplishment in Jesus of Nazareth of the eternal purpose.

V. 12. By whom we have free access-Such as those petitioners have, who are introduced to the royal presence by some distinguished favourite. And boldness-Unrestrained liberty of speech, such as children use in addressing an indulgent father, when, without fear of offending, they disclose all their wants, and make known all their requests.

Verse 12. In whom we have boldness] By whom we, Gentiles, have thn parrhsian, this liberty of speech; so that we may say any thing by prayer and supplication, and thn prosagwghn, this introduction, into the Divine presence by faith in Christ. It is only in his name we can pray to God, and it is only by him that we can come to God; none can give us an introduction but Christ Jesus, and it is only for his sake that God will either hear or save us. It is on the ground of such scriptures as these that we conclude all our prayers in the name, and for the sake, of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Verses 10-12. To the intent that now — Under the gospel dispensation, the last and best dispensation of divine grace and mercy to fallen man; unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places — To all the various orders of angelic beings; might be made known by the church — Namely, by what is done in and for it; the manifold wisdom of God — Discovering itself gradually in such a beautiful and well-ordered variety of dispensations. By this the apostle seems to intimate that the Church of Christ is the grand theatre in which the divine wisdom is most signally displayed, including, doubtless, the manifestation made therein of the whole process of Christ for the accomplishment of man’s redemption and salvation. According to the eternal purpose — The original plan adjusted in the Divine Mind, and to be executed in due time in and by Jesus Christ our Lord; in, or through whom we have boldness and access with confidence — Such as those petitioners have who are introduced to the royal presence by some distinguished favourite; the word parrhsia, rendered boldness, implies unrestrained liberty of speech, such as children use in addressing an indulgent father, when, without fear of offending, they disclose all their wants, and make known all their requests.

Ver. 12, 13. In whom we have boldness and access. Freedom of speech in prayer, and the privilege to enjoy all the blessings consequent on embracing the Saviour. And I give you, as if the apostle had said, this cup of consolation, while weeping for my bonds, that you faint not.

12. Boldness and access—Or introduction. Both are the reverse of that fear which the consciousness of unpardoned sin produces both in our race and in our individual guilty conscience. This boldness, literally, freedom of address, is the state, gift, and enjoyment of the reconciled soul in address to God. Access—Introduction. Confidence—A forward trust put forth upon God. By, or through, the faith of him—Namely, Christ as its object. We conceive that this entire verse is pictured from Oriental autocracy. We are afraid to approach the royal presence: but the monarch’s son is our patron. Fear is thereby removed. By faith in that son, as we are about to approach; we will have a freedom for speech, an introduction, in confidence of receiving our request.

Ver. 12. A new statement proving from spiritual matter of fact the statement in Ephesians 3:11.

In whom we have: as in Ephesians 1:7.

Boldness: or rather the boldness, i.e. the well-known confidence which does not fear to speak the whole truth. Same word and sense in Philippians 1:20.

Access: as in Ephesians 2:18; Romans 5:2. In confidence: our state of mind in approaching God. Same word in Philippians 3:4.

Through faith: as in Ephesians 2:8; Romans 3:22, etc. A favourite phrase of Paul.

Faith in Him: literally, the faith of Him; i.e. the faith of which He is the personal object. ‘Through our assurance that the words of Christ are true and will come true, and in virtue of our relation to Him, we have a confidence which enables us to speak unreservedly to man and to approach God without fear.’ By giving to us this confidence, God has, in the historic Christ, accomplished a purpose formed before time began.

V. 13. The not fainting is your glory.

Verse 13. I desire that ye faint not] In those primitive times, when there was much persecution, people were in continual danger of falling away from the faith who were not well grounded in it. This the apostle deprecates, and advances a strong reason why they should be firm: “I suffer my present imprisonment on account of demonstrating your privileges, of which the Jews are envious: I bear my afflictions patiently, knowing that what I have advanced is of God, and thus I give ample proof of the sincerity of my own conviction. The sufferings, therefore, of your apostles are honourable to you and to your cause; and far from being any cause why you should faint, or draw back like cowards, in the day of distress, they should be an additional argument to induce you to persevere.”

Verses 13-16. Wherefore — Since by my ministry you have been called to the fellowship of the gospel; I desire that ye faint not — Be not discouraged or disheartened; at my tribulations for preaching the gospel to you, which is your glory — A cause of glorying and rejoicing to you, inasmuch as hereby it appears how much God regards you, in that he not only sends his apostles to preach the gospel to you, but to do this notwithstanding the great variety of extreme sufferings to which they are hereby exposed. For this cause — That ye may not faint, either on account of my sufferings or your own, and that the great work in which I am engaged may more successfully be carried on, and the purposes of these my sufferings maybe answered in your consolation and the divine glory; I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — I present my sincere and ardent supplications before him. Or rather, the apostle here returns to the subject which he began in verse 1, (where see the note,) the intervening verses coming in by way of parenthesis. Of whom — The Father; the whole family of angels in heaven — Saints in paradise, and believers on earth, is named — Are acknowledged by him as his children, a more honourable title than children of Abraham; and acknowledge their dependance upon, and relation to him. Or, in the family here spoken of, all rational beings in heaven and earth may be considered as included, because they derive their being from him, and are supported by him. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory — The immense fulness of his glorious wisdom, power, mercy, and love; to be strengthened with might — Or mightily strengthened, that is, endowed with courage, fortitude, and power, to withstand all your spiritual enemies, to do with cheerfulness, and suffer with patience, his whole will; by his Spirit — the great source of all power and might, grace and goodness; in the inner man — The soul.

Ver. 12, 13. In whom we have boldness and access. Freedom of speech in prayer, and the privilege to enjoy all the blessings consequent on embracing the Saviour. And I give you, as if the apostle had said, this cup of consolation, while weeping for my bonds, that you faint not.

13. Wherefore—In blessed review of the comprehensive results of this Gentile call and apostleship. I desire—I beseech you for myself. Faint not—Be not downcast or disheartened. There might be those who feared that the imprisonment of the apostle was a refutation of his doctrine. They might be disgusted at a cause that so poorly sustained its champion. Hence Paul alludes bravingly to his bonds; he is “an ambassador in Christ,” “the prisoner” of Christ. And hence, to inspirit them to a similar brave view, to thrill them with the same spirit, he uses these electric words. For you—As Gentiles, and as sinners, then, he preached and suffered in their stead. Your glory—That I and you should suffer chains and death for Christ and his elect.

Paul, having expanded the view of his apostolic office, (note, verse 1,) is now ready for the apostolic prayer.

4. Paul’s apostolic prayer for the Ephesian Church, 14-19.

Ver. 13. In Ephesians 3:12, Paul completed his account, begun in Ephesians 3:2, of the stewardship committed to him. This prompts a request bearing upon Ephesians 3:1, a reference indicated by the words on your behalf which recall the same words in Ephesians 3:1. They mark the close of the long parenthesis, Ephesians 3:2-13. Paul then takes up the thought interrupted by the parenthesis, noting the resumption by the words for this cause carried on from Ephesians 3:1 to Ephesians 3:14.

For which cause: because of this boldness towards men and God which Christians have in Christ and through faith.

I ask: more fully, ask as a favour to myself: so Colossians 1:9. It is a courteous request suggesting the pleasure and profit which the Christian courage of his readers will give to Paul.

My afflictions on your behalf: cp. Colossians 1:24, my sufferings on your behalf; and see note.

Not to faint: same word and sense in 2 Corinthians 4:1, 16; Galatians 6:9. Paul begs his readers, as a personal favour to himself, not to lose courage in the great fight through the hardships which he endures in order to preach the Gospel to them. This request, his own confidence in Christ emboldens him to make. For he is sure that Christ is able to make them also brave. Then follows a reason for not losing heart: which are your glory. Paul declares, conscious that his own brave perseverance is a manifestation of the grace of God, that his sufferings are an ornament to his readers. They can point to his unfaltering courage under great hardships as a confirmation of the Gospel which he preaches and they believe. Surely, their hearts need not sink because of afflictions which bring honour to the whole Church.

Glory: as in 1 Corinthians 11:7; 2 Corinthians 8:23. REVIEW. Paul’s recital in § 2 of blessings conferred, in accomplishment of an eternal purpose, upon Jews and Gentiles, prompts him in § 3 to pray that God may reveal to the Ephesian Christians His own great power already at work in those who believe. As a measure of this power, he points them to Christ raised from the dead and seated at God’s right hand. And, that his readers may apply to themselves this standard of measurement, Paul teaches in § 4 that they once were dead, and in § 5 that Christ has breathed into them new life, thus saving them through faith. This salvation he further describes in § 6 as bringing near those who once were far off not only from God but from the ancient people of God, and as reconciling to God Jews and Gentiles united into one body. The various parts of the Church, however separate they may now seem to be, are destined to become one temple, one dwelling-place of God. All this moves Paul to pray for his readers’ further development. But, while preparing to pray, the prisoner remembers his bonds, and that they were caused by his loyalty to the truth which brought salvation to the Gentiles. He delays for a moment his prayer that he may set forth his relation to the Gospel which has brought this unexpected salvation. And this delay interrupts the grammatical sequence of his letter. In undeserved favour, God has made Paul a steward of good things for the Gentiles, by revealing to him a secret kept in silence while successive generations of men passed to the grave. But the secret has now been revealed to certain men whom God has made the mouth-piece of His Spirit. The secret is that through the Gospel the Gentiles are to share all the spiritual privileges of the people of God. Of this Gospel, Paul is a servant. With profound gratitude for God’s kindness to one so unworthy, he repeats what he has just said. It is his happy lot to announce as good news the wealth entrusted to him for others, viz. the secret so long hidden in the mind of God. The ultimate aim of the trust reposed in Paul reaches even to the bright ones of heaven, to whom God has purposed to reveal through His united people on earth His own many-sided wisdom. This purpose God has carried into effect in Christ. Its effect is seen in the confidence towards man and God already enjoyed by those who believe. In view of all this, Paul begs his readers, as though half apologizing for mention of his imprisonment, not to be discouraged by his hardships but rather to rejoice in the divinely-given endurance they evoke.

Verse 14. For this cause I bow my knees] That you may not faint, but persevere, I frequently pray to God, who is our God and the Father of our Lord Jesus. Some very ancient and excellent MSS. and versions omit the words tou kuriou hmwn ihsou cristou, of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in them the passage reads: I bow my knees unto the Father. The apostle prays to God the Father, that they may not faint; and he bows his knees in this praying. What can any man think of himself, who, in his addresses to God, can either sit on his seat or stand in the presence of the Maker and Judge of all men? Would they sit while addressing any person of ordinary respectability? If they did so they would be reckoned very rude indeed. Would they sit in the presence of the king of their own land? They would not be permitted so to do. Is God then to be treated with less respect than a fellow mortal? Paul kneeled in praying, Acts 20:36; 21:5. Stephen kneeled when he was stoned, Acts 7:60. And Peter kneeled when he raised Tabitha, Acts 9:40.

Many parts of this prayer bear a strict resemblance to that offered up by Solomon, 2 Chronicles 6:1, &c., when dedicating the temple: He kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards heaven; 2 Chronicles 6:13. The apostle was now dedicating the Christian Church, that then was and that ever should be, to God; and praying for those blessings which should ever rest on and distinguish it; and he kneels down after the example of Solomon, and invokes him to whom the first temple was dedicated, and who had made it a type of the Gospel Church.

Verses 13-16. Wherefore — Since by my ministry you have been called to the fellowship of the gospel; I desire that ye faint not — Be not discouraged or disheartened; at my tribulations for preaching the gospel to you, which is your glory — A cause of glorying and rejoicing to you, inasmuch as hereby it appears how much God regards you, in that he not only sends his apostles to preach the gospel to you, but to do this notwithstanding the great variety of extreme sufferings to which they are hereby exposed. For this cause — That ye may not faint, either on account of my sufferings or your own, and that the great work in which I am engaged may more successfully be carried on, and the purposes of these my sufferings maybe answered in your consolation and the divine glory; I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — I present my sincere and ardent supplications before him. Or rather, the apostle here returns to the subject which he began in verse 1, (where see the note,) the intervening verses coming in by way of parenthesis. Of whom — The Father; the whole family of angels in heaven — Saints in paradise, and believers on earth, is named — Are acknowledged by him as his children, a more honourable title than children of Abraham; and acknowledge their dependance upon, and relation to him. Or, in the family here spoken of, all rational beings in heaven and earth may be considered as included, because they derive their being from him, and are supported by him. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory — The immense fulness of his glorious wisdom, power, mercy, and love; to be strengthened with might — Or mightily strengthened, that is, endowed with courage, fortitude, and power, to withstand all your spiritual enemies, to do with cheerfulness, and suffer with patience, his whole will; by his Spirit — the great source of all power and might, grace and goodness; in the inner man — The soul.

Ver. 14, 15. For this cause, and that you may enjoy the plenitude of sanctifying grace, the best support under afflictions, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the fountain of deity and the source of love. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, for he is Lord of all: Ephesians 1:20-23. This form of speech teaches us that God cannot be invoked except through Jesus Christ, as is often noted by the fathers. Christ is here understood, in whom the Godhead is adored. Believers are called by his name, angels are his worshippers, and thrones, dominions, and powers are put under him.

14. For this cause—Resumption of his purpose of prayer at verse 1, where see our note. The cause still remains the same, pervading alike the paragraphs Ephesians 2:11-22, and this last paragraph Ephesians 3:1-13, namely, the happy gathering of the Gentile Ephesians into Christ under Paul’s apostleship. Bow my knees—As before them solemnly in thought assembled, Paul conceptually kneels to dedicate them as a Church to God. In this prayer he is too earnest to stand or sit, and so, in body as in spirit, he bows before God. The attitude of body is of inferior importance, except as externally impressive both upon others and upon ourselves. God, however, is as truly beneath and behind us as he is above and before us; and whatever attitude of body we assume matters not, provided our reverence is perfect. Paul says not that he prays, but gives the prayer as audible to their listening ears. Of… Christ, is omitted by the best critics as not genuine.

EPHESIANS

SECTION 8. — PAUL PRAYS THAT HIS READERS

MAY KNOW CHRIST AND THUS ATTAIN THE

CONSUMMATION DESIGNED BY GOD.

CH. 3:14-21.

For this cause I bow my knees to the Father from whom every family in heaven and upon earth is named, in order that He may give to you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit to the inward man, that Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts; in order that, being rooted and foundationed in love, ye may be strong to apprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; in order that ye may be filled to all the fulness of God.

To Him that is able to do beyond all things abundantly beyond the things which we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus, to all the generations of the age of the ages. Amen.

This section contains in Ephesians 3:14-19 a sublime prayer for the readers, consisting of three petitions, viz. Ephesians 3:16, 17 and Ephesians 3:18, 19a and Ephesians 3:19b, each leading up to the petition following; and in Ephesians 3:20, 21 a doxology of praise to Him who is able to surpass in fulfilment our loftiest prayer or thought.

Ver. 14.-15. For which cause; takes up the same words in Ephesians 3:1, after the digression prompted by the latter part of Ephesians 3:1, and continues the line of thought there broken off. That the Christians at Ephesus who were once far off; are now (Ephesians 2:21, 22) stones built into the rising walls of the temple of God, was prompting Paul in Ephesians 3:1, while in prison through his loyalty to their spiritual interests, to pray for them. But his prayer was delayed to make way for an account of his Apostolic commission for the Gentiles. This account he closes by an assertion that in Christ his readers and himself have confident access to God. He begs them not to lose heart through his persecutions; and declares that these, by revealing the grandeur of the grace of God, cover them with splendour. And now comes the postponed prayer, introduced by a repetition of the words of the broken-off sentence, for this cause: i.e. because of his readers’ confident access to God by faith and the glory which is theirs through the sufferings of Paul. Thus both § 7 and § 8 were prompted by the actual spiritual life of those to whom he writes. Bow… knee: same phrase in Romans 11:4; 14:11; <502910> Philippians 2:10: slightly different from Acts 7:60; 9:40; 20:36; 21:5. So intensely real, so deliberate and solemn, is Paul’s approach to God for his readers that even while writing he forgets his actual posture and says I bow my knees. He turns in prayer to the Father from whom etc.

Family: same word in Exodus 6:15, These are the families of the sons of Simeon; and in Numbers 1:16, leaders of the tribes according to their families, etc.

Every family in heaven: the various classes of angels, e.g. those mentioned in Ephesians 1:21. So in Job 1:6; 2:1 the sons of God can be no other than angels: and the word is so rendered by the LXX. They are sons of God as sharing, by derivation from Him, His moral and intellectual nature; not by adoption, which is always the reception of a stranger’s child, but by creation and continuance in the image of God. Every family… on earth: Jews and Gentiles, or any other classes into which the race is divided. Not all men indiscriminately, but the adopted sons, according to Paul’s constant teaching: see under Romans 8:17. With the various families of heaven are associated, as children of one divine Father, families of adopted sons on earth. And, from the one Father, all these bear the same name: cp. Ephesians 1:21. Notice that, in harmony with the exalted standpoint of the whole Epistle, when Paul approaches God in prayer his eye passes the limits of earth and sees other races sharing with himself a name which enables them to call God their Father. Thus the cry, My Father God, unites earth to heaven.

V. 15. Of whom-The Father. The whole family of angels in heaven, saints in paradise, and believers on earth is named. Being the "children of God," (a more honourable title than "children of Abraham,") and depending on him as the Father of the family.

Verse 15. Of whom the whole family] Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ on earth, the spirits of just men made perfect in a separate state, and all the holy angels in heaven, make but one family, of which God is the Father and Head. St. Paul does not say, of whom the families, as if each order formed a distinct household; but he says family, because they are all one, and of one. And all this family is named-derives its origin and being, from God, as children derive their name from him who is the father of the family: holy persons in heaven and earth derive their being and their holiness from God, and therefore his name is called upon them. Christ gives the name of Christians to all the real members of his Church upon earth; and to all the spirits of just men (saved since his advent, and through his blood) in heaven. They are all the sons and daughters of God Almighty.

Verses 13-16. Wherefore — Since by my ministry you have been called to the fellowship of the gospel; I desire that ye faint not — Be not discouraged or disheartened; at my tribulations for preaching the gospel to you, which is your glory — A cause of glorying and rejoicing to you, inasmuch as hereby it appears how much God regards you, in that he not only sends his apostles to preach the gospel to you, but to do this notwithstanding the great variety of extreme sufferings to which they are hereby exposed. For this cause — That ye may not faint, either on account of my sufferings or your own, and that the great work in which I am engaged may more successfully be carried on, and the purposes of these my sufferings maybe answered in your consolation and the divine glory; I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — I present my sincere and ardent supplications before him. Or rather, the apostle here returns to the subject which he began in verse 1, (where see the note,) the intervening verses coming in by way of parenthesis. Of whom — The Father; the whole family of angels in heaven — Saints in paradise, and believers on earth, is named — Are acknowledged by him as his children, a more honourable title than children of Abraham; and acknowledge their dependance upon, and relation to him. Or, in the family here spoken of, all rational beings in heaven and earth may be considered as included, because they derive their being from him, and are supported by him. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory — The immense fulness of his glorious wisdom, power, mercy, and love; to be strengthened with might — Or mightily strengthened, that is, endowed with courage, fortitude, and power, to withstand all your spiritual enemies, to do with cheerfulness, and suffer with patience, his whole will; by his Spirit — the great source of all power and might, grace and goodness; in the inner man — The soul.

Ver. 14, 15. For this cause, and that you may enjoy the plenitude of sanctifying grace, the best support under afflictions, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the fountain of deity and the source of love. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, for he is Lord of all: Ephesians 1:20-23. This form of speech teaches us that God cannot be invoked except through Jesus Christ, as is often noted by the fathers. Christ is here understood, in whom the Godhead is adored. Believers are called by his name, angels are his worshippers, and thrones, dominions, and powers are put under him.

15. Whole family—It was a beautiful interpretation which made this word family include the saints on earth and their fellow-saints in heaven as all one blessed kin with Christ, their elder brother. But both the absence of the Greek article before the word and the spuriousness of the above clause exclude that meaning.

The word here rendered family, (patria, patria,) is derived from the Greek and Latin pathr, pater, which, with our word father, are but different forms of the same words. A patria is a great kin, clan, or race, descended genetically from one primitive progenitor. So the three great patriae, or races of the earth, traced their lineage to Shem, Ham, and Japhet as their progenitors. Of every patria the father-founder is called (patria, progeny, and arch, arch, chief, or beginner) patriarch. St. Paul’s thought, then, is, that God is the universal Patriarch. Translating patria by the English word patriarchy, (the word patriarchy importing the progeny of the patriarch,) we may render this clause, Of whom all (or every) patriarchy in heaven and earth is named. The words then include angels above and men below. Angels are not, indeed, born; yet, as originated from God they are called “the sons of God.” The patriae in heaven are the angelic ranks and orders. Is named—The descendants, or patria, of a patriarchal progenitor are often called by his name; and patronymic words, so called, are formed to express the patria. The patria of Japhet are Japhetidae; of Abraham, Abrahamidae. Now, though no proper name precisely parallel to these may be quoted to designate the universal patria of God, yet such a name is the true name of their nature in their divinely-originated relation. “Sons of God,” “Diogeneis,” that is, God-born, or creatures, are what God’s patria may be truly named. Most truly so named in so far as a true name expresses the nature of the thing. We find no commentator inquiring what relevancy this fatherhood of God over all races has to St. Paul’s present train of thought. We suppose that it springs from his presenting himself in the previous paragraphs as apostle of the Gentiles. He beseeches God, the father of all races, to pour the richest blessings of the Abrahamic promise upon these Japhetidae, this Church in Japhetic and Aryan Ephesus. The drift of Paul’s prayer may be comprehended by noting that vv. 16, 17 express qualifications (as might, and an indwelling Christ) for achieving (vv. 18, 19) knowledge of the boundlessness of Christ’s love, and a possession of God’s fulness; concluding with a doxology expressing the unlimited power of God to do all, and more than all, we can ask.

EPHESIANS

SECTION 8. — PAUL PRAYS THAT HIS READERS

MAY KNOW CHRIST AND THUS ATTAIN THE

CONSUMMATION DESIGNED BY GOD.

CH. 3:14-21.

For this cause I bow my knees to the Father from whom every family in heaven and upon earth is named, in order that He may give to you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit to the inward man, that Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts; in order that, being rooted and foundationed in love, ye may be strong to apprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; in order that ye may be filled to all the fulness of God.

To Him that is able to do beyond all things abundantly beyond the things which we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus, to all the generations of the age of the ages. Amen.

This section contains in Ephesians 3:14-19 a sublime prayer for the readers, consisting of three petitions, viz. Ephesians 3:16, 17 and Ephesians 3:18, 19a and Ephesians 3:19b, each leading up to the petition following; and in Ephesians 3:20, 21 a doxology of praise to Him who is able to surpass in fulfilment our loftiest prayer or thought.

Ver. 14.-15. For which cause; takes up the same words in Ephesians 3:1, after the digression prompted by the latter part of Ephesians 3:1, and continues the line of thought there broken off. That the Christians at Ephesus who were once far off; are now (Ephesians 2:21, 22) stones built into the rising walls of the temple of God, was prompting Paul in Ephesians 3:1, while in prison through his loyalty to their spiritual interests, to pray for them. But his prayer was delayed to make way for an account of his Apostolic commission for the Gentiles. This account he closes by an assertion that in Christ his readers and himself have confident access to God. He begs them not to lose heart through his persecutions; and declares that these, by revealing the grandeur of the grace of God, cover them with splendour. And now comes the postponed prayer, introduced by a repetition of the words of the broken-off sentence, for this cause: i.e. because of his readers’ confident access to God by faith and the glory which is theirs through the sufferings of Paul. Thus both § 7 and § 8 were prompted by the actual spiritual life of those to whom he writes. Bow… knee: same phrase in Romans 11:4; 14:11; <502910> Philippians 2:10: slightly different from Acts 7:60; 9:40; 20:36; 21:5. So intensely real, so deliberate and solemn, is Paul’s approach to God for his readers that even while writing he forgets his actual posture and says I bow my knees. He turns in prayer to the Father from whom etc.

Family: same word in Exodus 6:15, These are the families of the sons of Simeon; and in Numbers 1:16, leaders of the tribes according to their families, etc.

Every family in heaven: the various classes of angels, e.g. those mentioned in Ephesians 1:21. So in Job 1:6; 2:1 the sons of God can be no other than angels: and the word is so rendered by the LXX. They are sons of God as sharing, by derivation from Him, His moral and intellectual nature; not by adoption, which is always the reception of a stranger’s child, but by creation and continuance in the image of God. Every family… on earth: Jews and Gentiles, or any other classes into which the race is divided. Not all men indiscriminately, but the adopted sons, according to Paul’s constant teaching: see under Romans 8:17. With the various families of heaven are associated, as children of one divine Father, families of adopted sons on earth. And, from the one Father, all these bear the same name: cp. Ephesians 1:21. Notice that, in harmony with the exalted standpoint of the whole Epistle, when Paul approaches God in prayer his eye passes the limits of earth and sees other races sharing with himself a name which enables them to call God their Father. Thus the cry, My Father God, unites earth to heaven.

V. 16. The riches of his glory-The immense fulness of his glorious wisdom, power, and mercy.

The inner man-The soul.

Verse 16. That he would grant you] This prayer of the apostle is one of the most grand and sublime in the whole oracles of God. The riches of the grace of the Gospel, and the extent to which the soul of man may be saved here below, are most emphatically pointed out here. Every word seems to have come immediately from heaven; labouring to convey ideas of infinite importance to mankind. No paraphrase can do it justice, and few commentators seem to have entered into its spirit; perhaps deterred by its unparalleled sublimity. I shall only attempt a few observations upon the terms, to show their force and meaning; and leave all the rest to that Spirit by which these most important words were dictated. In the mean time referring the reader to the discourse lately published on this prayer of the apostle, entitled, The Family of God and its Privileges.

That he would grant you-You can expect nothing from him but as a free gift through Christ Jesus; let this be a ruling sentiment of your hearts when you pray to God.

According to the riches of his glory] According to the measure of his own eternal fulness; God’s infinite mercy and goodness being the measure according to which we are to be saved. In giving alms it is a maxim that every one should act according to his ability. It would be a disgrace to a king or a noble-man to give no more than a tradesman or a peasant. God acts up to the dignity of his infinite perfections; he gives according to the riches of his glory.

To be strengthened with might] Ye have many enemies, cunning and strong; many trials, too great for your natural strength; many temptations, which no human power is able successfully to resist; many duties to perform, which cannot be accomplished by the strength of man; therefore you need Divine strength; ye must have might; and ye must be strengthened every where, and every way fortified by that might; mightily and most effectually strengthened.

By his Spirit] By the sovereign energy of the Holy Ghost. This fountain of spiritual energy can alone supply the spiritual strength which is necessary for this spiritual work and conflict.

In the inner man] In the soul. Every man is a compound being; he has a body and a soul. The outward man is that alone which is seen and considered by men; the inward man is that which stands particularly in reference to God and eternity. The outward man is strengthened by earthly food, &c.; the inward man, by spiritual and heavenly influences. Knowledge, love, peace, and holiness, are the food of the inward man; or rather Jesus Christ, that bread of life which came down from heaven: he that eateth this bread shall live and be strengthened by it. The soul must be as truly fed and nourished by Divine food as the body by natural food.

Verses 13-16. Wherefore — Since by my ministry you have been called to the fellowship of the gospel; I desire that ye faint not — Be not discouraged or disheartened; at my tribulations for preaching the gospel to you, which is your glory — A cause of glorying and rejoicing to you, inasmuch as hereby it appears how much God regards you, in that he not only sends his apostles to preach the gospel to you, but to do this notwithstanding the great variety of extreme sufferings to which they are hereby exposed. For this cause — That ye may not faint, either on account of my sufferings or your own, and that the great work in which I am engaged may more successfully be carried on, and the purposes of these my sufferings maybe answered in your consolation and the divine glory; I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — I present my sincere and ardent supplications before him. Or rather, the apostle here returns to the subject which he began in verse 1, (where see the note,) the intervening verses coming in by way of parenthesis. Of whom — The Father; the whole family of angels in heaven — Saints in paradise, and believers on earth, is named — Are acknowledged by him as his children, a more honourable title than children of Abraham; and acknowledge their dependance upon, and relation to him. Or, in the family here spoken of, all rational beings in heaven and earth may be considered as included, because they derive their being from him, and are supported by him. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory — The immense fulness of his glorious wisdom, power, mercy, and love; to be strengthened with might — Or mightily strengthened, that is, endowed with courage, fortitude, and power, to withstand all your spiritual enemies, to do with cheerfulness, and suffer with patience, his whole will; by his Spirit — the great source of all power and might, grace and goodness; in the inner man — The soul.

Ver. 16. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory. Other forms are used of equivalent import, as, according to his mercy, to his abundant mercy, and according to the fulness of the promises, which we are authorized to interpret in the largest sense; for “as is his majesty, so is his mercy.”

16. Riches of his glory—An affluence too abounding for any one race alone. Strengthened with might—For the immense attainments of verses 18, 19. In—Rather, into; implying the inpouring of the might of the divine Father. This favours Meyer’s thought, that Paul’s prayer for their might is antithetic to their faintness, in ver. 13. Their faintness did, indeed, (as Eadie objects,) take occasion from the mere “personal wrongs” of St. Paul; nevertheless it was a spiritual weakness unmanning their whole Christian might. He might well pray, therefore, for the whole wonderful energizing expressed in the following verses; for spiritual power is in sum total what he asks. Inner man—The spirit, in antithesis to the body, the outer man. And also, perhaps, the spirit, as the ethical Ego, in which all spiritual operations are centered, in distinction from the anima, or soul, in which the animal and secular intellectualities reside. So Romans 7:22: “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” Yet the Holy Spirit in the inner man sheds his purifying power through body and soul as well as spirit. Note on Matthew 5:8, and 1 Thessalonians 5:23. The phrase inner man is found in a similar sense in Plato; but there is no reason for supposing it borrowed by Paul directly from Plato. It was probably current among thinkers in Paul’s day, as such terms become in periods when men deeply reflect.

Verse 16. In order that He may give to you: same words and sense in Ephesians 1:17.

The riches of His glory: the abundance of the splendour of God. Same words in Romans 9:23. Similarly Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 4:19. Conscious that the answer to his prayer will reveal the grandeur of God and thus evoke the admiration of men, and that there is in God an infinity of grandeur ready to reveal itself, Paul asks that this infinite grandeur may be the measure of the answer to his prayer. Strengthened: fitted for the intellectual and moral effort and work and battle of the Christian life. Same word and sense in 1 Corinthians 16:13; Luke 1:80; 2:40. It is practically the same as the similar word in Colossians 1:11; Philippians 4:13. This strengthening is to come by contact with divine power, which enters into us and makes us strong. Similar connection of thought in Colossians 1:11. Through (or by means of) His Spirit: the Bearer of the presence and power of God. Same or similar words and same sense in Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 12:8; 2 Timothy 1:14.

The inward man: that in man which is furthest removed from the outer world and its influence, the secret chamber in which man’s personality dwells alone. Same words and sense in Romans 7:22; 2 Corinthians 4:16. Paul prays that, by contact with the might of God and by the agency of the Holy Spirit, the inward Bearer to man’s spirit of all divine influences, divine strength may reach and fill this inmost chamber, making his readers strong indeed.

V. 17. Dwell-That is, constantly and sensibly abide.

Verse 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith] In this as well as in many other passages, and particularly that in Ephesians 2:21, (where see the note,) the apostle compares the body or Church of true believers to a temple, which, like that of Solomon, is built up to be a habitation of God through the Spirit. Here, as Solomon did at the dedication of the temple at Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 6:1, &c., Paul, having considered the Church at Ephesus completely formed, as to every external thing, prays that God may come down and dwell in it. And as there could be no indwelling of God but by Christ, and no indwelling of Christ but by faith, he prays that they may have such faith in Christ, as shall keep them in constant possession of his love and presence. God, at the beginning, formed man to be his temple, and while in a state of purity he inhabited this temple; when the temple became defiled, God left it. In the order of his eternal mercy, Christ, the repairer of the breach, comes to purify the temple, that it may again become a fit habitation for the blessed God. This is what the apostle points out to the believing Ephesians, in praying that Christ katoikhsai, might intensely and constantly dwell in their hearts by faith: for the man’s heart, which is not God’s house, must be a hold of every foul and unclean spirit; as Satan and his angels will endeavour to fill what God does not.

That ye, being rooted and grounded in love] Here is a double metaphor; one taken from agriculture, the other, from architecture. As trees, they are to be rooted in love-this is the soil in which their souls are to grow; into the infinite love of God their souls by faith are to strike their roots, and from this love derive all that nourishment which is essential for their full growth, till they have the mind in them that was in Jesus, or, as it is afterwards said, till they are filled with all the fulness of God. As a building, their foundation is to be laid in this love. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, &c. Here is the ground on which alone the soul, and all its hopes and expectations, can be safely founded. This is a foundation that cannot be shaken; and it is from this alone that the doctrine of redemption flows to man, and from this alone has the soul its form and comeliness. IN this, as its proper soil, it grows. ON this, as its only foundation, it rests.

Verses 17-19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts — May be always present with you, and may reside continually in you, by his purifying and comforting influences, so as to direct your judgment, engross your affections, and govern all your passions and tempers. See on John 17:23; Galatians 2:21. By faith — By means of a continual exercise of faith in him, and in the truths and promises of his gospel. “The apostle had called the church the temple of God, Ephesians 2:21; here he represents every individual believer as the habitation of Christ, who came from heaven that he might rule in the hearts of men. And surely the indwelling of Christ in our hearts by faith in his doctrines and promises, is a much greater honour than that which the temple of Ephesus was said to possess, through the residence of an image of Diana, falsely reported to have fallen down from Jupiter, Acts 19:35: also a better preservative from evil than the votaries of that idol pretended to possess, by carrying about her shrine, mentioned Acts 19:24.” That being rooted and grounded — Deeply fixed and firmly established; in love — Both in an experimental knowledge of God’s love to you, and in the exercise of a fervent love to him in return, and to each other, which will be a never-failing source of piety and virtue in your hearts and lives. The word teqemeliwmenoi, here rendered grounded, is used in allusion to a building, agreeably to the apostle’s representation of the Christian Church as the temple of God, built not of stones, but of men who believe and obey the gospel. And, (as the pious Professor Frank observes,) in the following clause, “he expresses his wish that the foundation might be so extensively and deeply laid, and that a superstructure might be raised, extending itself to such a magnificent length, and breadth, and height, as to be fitted to receive the sacred guest, that he might dwell, as it were, uncrowded in their hearts.” May be able to comprehend — So far as a human mind is capable; with all saints — That which all, who are worthy of the name of saints, do in some measure attain unto here, and shall fully understand hereafter; what is the breadth — Of the love of Christ, embracing all mankind; and length — From everlasting to everlasting; and depth — Descending into the abyss of our sin and misery to rescue us thence; and height — Exalting us to the summit of heavenly glory and felicity, to the dignity of God’s sons and daughters here, and to the vision and enjoyment of him hereafter. And to know the love of Christ — Continually aspiring after more enlarged and affecting views thereof, even of the love which he hath displayed in purchasing his church with his own blood, and redeeming it out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, Revelation 5:9; which, however, after all we can say or think of it, as to its nature, extent, and excellence, does and ever will infinitely surpass our knowledge and comprehension. “This prayer of the apostle does not imply any contradiction, for though the love of Christ be so great that it cannot be comprehended by the understanding of men, the apostle with great propriety prayed that they might know as much of it as the limited nature of their faculties permitted them to know, in order to their being sensible of the wisdom and power of God in gathering the Christian Church, not only from among the Jews, but from among the idolatrous Gentiles also;” and in bestowing on the members of that church such unspeakable blessings of grace here, and in preparing for them such blessings of glory hereafter. That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God — Macknight, who applies this clause to the church at Ephesus, collectively considered, rather than to the individuals of which it was composed, observes, “Having told the Ephesians, (Ephesians 2:21, 22,) that the Jews and Gentiles were formed into a holy temple, for a habitation of God by the Spirit, he prays that this great temple might be filled with all the fulness of the presence of the true God, inhabiting every part of it by the gifts and graces of the Spirit, chap. 4:6. For in that respect the Christian Church far exceeded the temple at Ephesus, which had nothing in it pretending to divinity, but the lifeless image of an idol placed in a corner of it.” The apostle, however, rather intended this, as he evidently did all the preceding clauses of his prayer, to be applied, not so much to that or any other church in general, as to each individual believer therein in particular. He therefore prayed that the mind and heart of each might be enlarged more abundantly, so as to admit larger communications than ever of divine light, love, wisdom, holiness, power, and glory, till at length they should arrive in the heavenly state, to full perfection in the knowledge, image, and enjoyment of God, where that which is perfect being come, they should know even as they also were known, and possess love in proportion to their knowledge.

Ver. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Dwell in you as his living temple, conformably to the promise in John 14:23, where the Father and Son engage to come and make his abode with those that keep his word. The religion of such shall be constant as a stream, firm as a building, or flourishing as a tree rooted in a genial soil; for “they who are planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God.” Christ in all his graces, and in all the habitudes of the christian temper, is formed in the heart, the hope of glory.

17. Christ… in your hearts—The powerful thought is, that Christ’s own spirit or temper may, by faith, or self-surrender on our part, supplant our own natural temper in our hearts, so that we may approximately live and speak as Christ would in our place. That—In order that. Thus far he has prayed for the conditions that shall produce what follow. Rooted and grounded—As Wordsworth finely says: “Rooted like a plant, and therefore always alive and growing; and grounded as a building, and therefore firmly established—in love.” The bishop’s words are abridged and improved from Adam Clarke.

Ver. 17. A clause exactly parallel to that preceding it.

Dwell: or make His home: same word in Colossians 1:19; 2:9; Hebrews 11:9; Matthew 2:23; 4:13. In Romans 8:9, 11 and 1 Corinthians 3:16 cognate words describe the indwelling of the Spirit of God: cp. also 2 Corinthians 6:16 and Colossians 3:16. In your hearts: the locality of spiritual life: same words and sense in Colossians 3:15, 16; Romans 5:5; cp. Ephesians 1:18; 4:18; 6:5; Galatians 4:6. The heart is the inmost chamber of our nature, whence come our thoughts, words, and actions: see under Romans 1:21. It is, therefore, practically identical with the inner man. Moreover, the Holy Spirit is the divine person through whose agency Christ dwells in man. For the coming of the other Helper is the coming of Christ to His disciples: John 14:18. Hence the indwelling of the Spirit is practically the indwelling of Christ: Romans 8:9-11; cp. Galatians 2:20. Now Christ has all power. Therefore, for Him to make His home in our heart, is for God to give us, by the agency of the Holy Spirit, the Bearer of the presence of Christ, a strength reaching to the inmost chamber of our being. Moreover, faith is the constant condition of the gift of the Spirit: Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 3:2, 14. Consequently, it is through faith that Christ makes His home in our hearts. Thus each of these parallel clauses explains the other. This unexpected reference to faith is in complete accord with Ephesians 2:8, and with the importance everywhere given to faith in the theology of Paul as the means of salvation. The above exposition is better than to take the indwelling of Christ as a result of the strengthening wrought by the Spirit; a connection of thought not found elsewhere. The presence of Christ in us is not a result, but a means, of the spiritual strength for which Paul prays.

V. 18. That being rooted and grounded-That is, deeply fixed and firmly established, in love.

Ye may comprehend-So far as an human mind is capable. What is the breadth of the love of Christ-Embracing all mankind. And length-From everlasting to everlasting. And depth-Not to be fathomed by any creature. And height-Not to be reached by any enemy.

Verse 18. May be able to comprehend with all saints] iJna exiscushte katalabesqai. These words are so exceedingly nervous and full of meaning, that it is almost impossible to translate them. The first word, exiscushte, from ex, intensive, and iscuw, to be strong, signifies that they might be thoroughly able, by having been strengthened with might, by God’s power. The second word katalabesqai, from kata, intensive, and lambanw, to take, catch, or seize on, may be translated, that ye may fully catch, take in, and comprehend this wonderful mystery of God. The mind must be rendered apt, and the soul invigorated, to take in and comprehend these mysteries.

What is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height] Here the apostle still keeps up the metaphor, comparing the Church of God to a building; and as, in order to rear a proper building, formed on scientific principles, a ground plan and specification must be previously made, according to which the building is to be constructed, the apostle refers to this; for this must be thoroughly understood, without which the building could not be formed. They were to be builded up a heavenly house, a habitation of God through the Spirit; and this must have its latitude or breadth, its longitude or length, its altitude or height, and its profundity or depth.

It is supposed by some that the apostle is here alluding to the famous temple of Diana at Ephesus, which, as I have already had occasion to remark, was reputed one of the wonders of the world, being in length 425 feet, in breadth 220; it was supported by 127 pillars, each 60 feet high; was builded at the expense of all Asia; and was 220 years in being completed. I cannot, however, allow of this allusion while the apostle had a nobler model at hand, and one every way more worthy of being brought into the comparison. The temple at Jerusalem was that alone which he had in view; that alone could be fitly compared here; for that was built to be a habitation of God; that was his house, and that the place of his rest: so the Christian temple, and the believing heart, are to be the constant, the endless residence of God; and how august must that edifice be in which the eternal Trinity dwells!

But what can the apostle mean by the breadth, length, depth, and height, of the love of God? Imagination can scarcely frame any satisfactory answer to this question. It takes in the eternity of God. GOD is LOVE; and in that, an infinity of breadth, length, depth, and height, is included; or rather all breadth, length, depth, and height, are lost in this immensity. It comprehends all that is above, all that is below, all that is past, and all that is to come. In reference to human beings, the love of God, in its BREADTH, is a girdle that encompasses the globe; its LENGTH reaches from the eternal purpose of the mission of Christ, to the eternity of blessedness which is to be spent in his ineffable glories; its DEPTH reaches to the lowest fallen of the sons of Adam, and to the deepest depravity of the human heart; and its HEIGHT to the infinite dignities of the throne of Christ. He that overcometh will I give to sit dawn with me upon my throne, as I have overcome and sat down with the Father upon his throne. Thus we see that the Father, the Son, and all true believers in him, are to be seated on the same throne! This is the height of the love of God, and the height to which that love raises the souls that believe in Christ Jesus!

Verses 17-19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts — May be always present with you, and may reside continually in you, by his purifying and comforting influences, so as to direct your judgment, engross your affections, and govern all your passions and tempers. See on John 17:23; Galatians 2:21. By faith — By means of a continual exercise of faith in him, and in the truths and promises of his gospel. “The apostle had called the church the temple of God, Ephesians 2:21; here he represents every individual believer as the habitation of Christ, who came from heaven that he might rule in the hearts of men. And surely the indwelling of Christ in our hearts by faith in his doctrines and promises, is a much greater honour than that which the temple of Ephesus was said to possess, through the residence of an image of Diana, falsely reported to have fallen down from Jupiter, Acts 19:35: also a better preservative from evil than the votaries of that idol pretended to possess, by carrying about her shrine, mentioned Acts 19:24.” That being rooted and grounded — Deeply fixed and firmly established; in love — Both in an experimental knowledge of God’s love to you, and in the exercise of a fervent love to him in return, and to each other, which will be a never-failing source of piety and virtue in your hearts and lives. The word teqemeliwmenoi, here rendered grounded, is used in allusion to a building, agreeably to the apostle’s representation of the Christian Church as the temple of God, built not of stones, but of men who believe and obey the gospel. And, (as the pious Professor Frank observes,) in the following clause, “he expresses his wish that the foundation might be so extensively and deeply laid, and that a superstructure might be raised, extending itself to such a magnificent length, and breadth, and height, as to be fitted to receive the sacred guest, that he might dwell, as it were, uncrowded in their hearts.” May be able to comprehend — So far as a human mind is capable; with all saints — That which all, who are worthy of the name of saints, do in some measure attain unto here, and shall fully understand hereafter; what is the breadth — Of the love of Christ, embracing all mankind; and length — From everlasting to everlasting; and depth — Descending into the abyss of our sin and misery to rescue us thence; and height — Exalting us to the summit of heavenly glory and felicity, to the dignity of God’s sons and daughters here, and to the vision and enjoyment of him hereafter. And to know the love of Christ — Continually aspiring after more enlarged and affecting views thereof, even of the love which he hath displayed in purchasing his church with his own blood, and redeeming it out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, Revelation 5:9; which, however, after all we can say or think of it, as to its nature, extent, and excellence, does and ever will infinitely surpass our knowledge and comprehension. “This prayer of the apostle does not imply any contradiction, for though the love of Christ be so great that it cannot be comprehended by the understanding of men, the apostle with great propriety prayed that they might know as much of it as the limited nature of their faculties permitted them to know, in order to their being sensible of the wisdom and power of God in gathering the Christian Church, not only from among the Jews, but from among the idolatrous Gentiles also;” and in bestowing on the members of that church such unspeakable blessings of grace here, and in preparing for them such blessings of glory hereafter. That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God — Macknight, who applies this clause to the church at Ephesus, collectively considered, rather than to the individuals of which it was composed, observes, “Having told the Ephesians, (Ephesians 2:21, 22,) that the Jews and Gentiles were formed into a holy temple, for a habitation of God by the Spirit, he prays that this great temple might be filled with all the fulness of the presence of the true God, inhabiting every part of it by the gifts and graces of the Spirit, chap. 4:6. For in that respect the Christian Church far exceeded the temple at Ephesus, which had nothing in it pretending to divinity, but the lifeless image of an idol placed in a corner of it.” The apostle, however, rather intended this, as he evidently did all the preceding clauses of his prayer, to be applied, not so much to that or any other church in general, as to each individual believer therein in particular. He therefore prayed that the mind and heart of each might be enlarged more abundantly, so as to admit larger communications than ever of divine light, love, wisdom, holiness, power, and glory, till at length they should arrive in the heavenly state, to full perfection in the knowledge, image, and enjoyment of God, where that which is perfect being come, they should know even as they also were known, and possess love in proportion to their knowledge.

Ver. 18. Able to comprehend [apprehend, as the same word is rendered in Philippians 3:12] with all saints. Jehovah comprehends all, but none can comprehend him. The soul of Paul was so expanded here, that he looked on the horizon above, the depths below, the ocean without a shore; but he recovered himself by the admission, that man can only know the love of Christ so as to be filled with the fulness of God. He viewed the Saviour on the throne, uncircumscribed in charity, from whom the emanations of grace incessantly flow.

18. With all saints—Inasmuch as you Gentile Ephesians are built with all other saints into the structure of a glorious Church. Breadth, length, depth, height—These are the four geometrical dimensions of a building, or other solid or spacial object. But of what object is it that Paul is praying that his Ephesians may comprehend these dimensions? The old Greek commentators, as well as Erasmus and Grotius, refer it to our redemption—identical with the mystery of verse 9. For although the word mystery is far back in the discourse, yet the thought, redemption, runs through its whole current. And to this redemptive mystery these geometrical distinctions have been attributed with a truth and beauty not deserving the repulse they receive from Meyer and others. The length of this redemption extends from the eternity of God’s foresight to the reconciliation of Ephesians 1:10. Its breadth is in design as broad as humanity; its depth as profound as the perdition from which it rescues us; and its height as sublime as the heaven to which it raises us. Still it must be inquired whether there be any object more supposably present at the moment to St. Paul’s mind in naming these dimensions than this redemptive mystery? Meyer, with decisive confidence, identifies the love of Christ in next verse as the object. If so, then Paul prays that they may… comprehend the dimensions of, and know, by real experience, the love of Christ. But, as Eadie justly objects, the Greek conjunction used by St. Paul does not thus unite two clauses co-ordinately. Besides, the break between verses 18 and 19 is too decided.

Our division of paragraphs clearly shows, we think, to what object these dimensions belong. At verse 14, as we have noted, the for this cause being identical with the for this cause of ver. 1, and the entire of vv. 1-13 being parenthetical, Paul’s mind reverts back to Ephesians 2:20-23, where the glorious churchly temple stands out in full view. Into this temple the intervening paragraph describes the inbuilding of his Ephesians; and the present passage prays that they may fully comprehend the blessings and glories of its structure. That the apostle has this architectural image still in view is clear from the fact that grounded—that is, based, or founded—has the same Greek word as foundation in verse 20.

Ver. 18.-19a. Second petition of Paul’s prayer.

Love: to our fellows, as always when not otherwise defined: see under 1 Corinthians 13:1. It is a reflection in man of God’s love to man. Rooted: same word and sense in Colossians 2:7.

Foundationed, i.e. placed upon a solid foundation: same word in Colossians 1:23; Hebrews 1:10; Matthew 7:25. Notice the double metaphor: a similar combination in Colossians 2:7. A man animated by Christian love has therein good soil in which his spiritual life may take firm hold and raise its head securely, and from which it may derive nourishment and growth. He has also a firm rock on which may rest and rise a solid structure of immoveable perseverance. Cp. 1 John 2:10. Where love does not reign, the Christian life is always unstable. The above words may grammatically be joined either to those preceding or to those following. In the former case, they would further describe the state of those in whom Christ dwells: in the latter, they would state a condition needful in order to comprehend the love of Christ. The latter seems the more likely: so A.V. and R.V. For the strength implied in this root and foundation seems to lead up to the strength needful to comprehend etc. [This would also more easily explain the nominative participles, rooted and foundationed. For the construction, cp. 2 Corinthians 2:4; Galatians 2:10.] But the difference is slight. For Paul’s first petition, in Ephesians 3:16, 17, leads up to the second as a means to an end; so that in any case the firmness developed by Christian love is a condition of the spiritual strength needful to comprehend the love of Christ.

That ye may etc.: immediate object of the second petition. May-be-strong: an emphatic Greek word, found in the Greek Bible only here and Sirach vii. 6, denoting strength to carry us through and out of difficulty. It suggests the difficulty of comprehending the love of Christ. Comprehend: same word and sense in Acts 4:13; 10:34; 25:25. It denotes firm mental grasp. And what Paul desires for his readers he desires for all the saints. This desire is prompted by remembrance that it is designed equally for all.

What is the breadth etc.: an indirect question suggesting wonder and adoring curiosity.

Breadth and length etc.: as though Paul attempted to measure the love of Christ in each direction, e.g. how wide is its compass, how far it will carry us, how high it will raise, and from what depth it will rescue. But these must not be taken as the intended distinction of the four dimensions. They are altogether indefinite, simply noting measurement in every direction. Cp. Job 11:7-9. What Paul desires his readers to comprehend, he does not in Ephesians 3:18 say, but interrupts his sentence to suggest its manysidedness and vastness. The matter to be grasped is stated in Ephesians 3:19a.

To know: already implied in comprehend, but inserted for marked contrast to the words which follow.

The love of Christ: to us, revealed (2 Corinthians 5:15) in His death for all, and well known to Paul as a constraining power and as the ground (Galatians 2:20) of his faith in Christ.

Surpassing: as in Ephesians 1:19; 2:7: passing all limits and all measurement; and doing this, as implied in Ephesians 3:18, in every direction. This love surpassing knowledge, Paul desires his readers to comprehend and to know. Nor was this an empty wish. For, though human knowledge cannot fathom it, a determined effort to fathom it ever leads to blessed result by revealing its immeasurable depth. Thus in a very real sense men may know that which in its fulness surpasses knowledge. The greatness and difficulty of this attempt to fathom the unfathomable prompted the emphatic word rendered may-be-strong. And, since this strength is possible only to those whose Christian life is made firm by, and draws nourishment from, love to their brethren, and rests upon this love as on a solid foundation, Paul prefaces this second petition by the words rooted and foundationed in love.

V. 19. And to know-But the apostle corrects himself, and immediately observes, it cannot be fully known. This only we know, that the love of Christ surpasses all knowledge.

That ye may be filled-Which is the sum of all.

With all the fulness of God-With all his light, love, wisdom, holiness, power, and glory. A perfection far beyond a bare freedom from sin.

Verse 19. To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge] It is only by the love of Christ that we can know the love of God: the love of God to man induced him to give Christ for his redemption; Christ’s love to man induced him to give his life’s blood for his salvation. The gift of Christ to man is the measure of God’s love; the death of Christ for man is the measure of Christ’s love. God so loved the world, &c. Christ loved us, and gave himself for us.

But how can the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, be known? Many have laboured to reconcile this seeming contradiction. If we take the verb gnwnai in a sense in which it is frequently used in the New Testament, to approve, acknowledge, or acknowledge with approbation, and gnwsiv to signify comprehension, then the difficulty will be partly removed: “That ye may acknowledge, approve, and publicly acknowledge, that love of God which surpasseth knowledge.” We can acknowledge and approve of that which surpasses our comprehension. We cannot comprehend GOD; yet we can know that he is; approve of, love, adore, and serve him. In like manner, though we cannot comprehend, the immensity of the love of Christ, yet we know that he has loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood; and we approve of, and acknowledge, him as our only Lord and Saviour. In this sense we may be said to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge.

But it is more likely that the word gnwsiv, which we translate knowledge, signifies here science in general, and particularly that science of which the rabbins boasted, and that in which the Greeks greatly exulted. The former professed to have the key of knowledge; the secret of all Divine mysteries; the latter considered their philosophers, and their systems of philosophy, superior to every thing that had ever been known among men, and reputed on this account all other nations as barbarians. When the apostle prays that they may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, he may refer to all the boasted knowledge of the Jewish doctors, and to all the greatly extolled science of the Greek philosophers. To know the love of Christ, infinitely surpasseth all other science. This gives a clear and satisfactory sense.

That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.] Among all the great sayings in this prayer, this is the greatest. To be FILLED with God is a great thing; to be filled with the FULNESS of God is still greater; but to be filled with ALL the fulness of God, pan to plhrwma tou qeou, utterly bewilders the sense and confounds the understanding.

Most people, in quoting these words, endeavour to correct or explain the apostle, by adding the word communicable; but this is as idle as it is useless and impertinent. The apostle means what he says, and would be understood in his own meaning. By the fulness of God, we are to understand all those gifts and graces which he has promised to bestow on man, and which he dispenses to the Church. To be filled with all the fulness of God, is to have the whole soul filled with meekness, gentleness, goodness, love, justice, holiness, mercy, and truth. And as what God fills, neither sin nor Satan can fill; consequently, it implies that the soul shall be emptied of sin, that sin shall neither have dominion over it, nor a being in it. It is impossible for us to understand these words in a lower sense than this. But how much more they imply, (for more they do imply,) I cannot tell. As there is no end to the merits of Christ, no bounds to the mercy and love of God, no limits to the improvability of the human soul, so there can be no bounds set to the saving influence which God will dispense to the heart of every believer. We may ask, and we shall receive, and our joy shall be full.

Verses 17-19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts — May be always present with you, and may reside continually in you, by his purifying and comforting influences, so as to direct your judgment, engross your affections, and govern all your passions and tempers. See on John 17:23; Galatians 2:21. By faith — By means of a continual exercise of faith in him, and in the truths and promises of his gospel. “The apostle had called the church the temple of God, Ephesians 2:21; here he represents every individual believer as the habitation of Christ, who came from heaven that he might rule in the hearts of men. And surely the indwelling of Christ in our hearts by faith in his doctrines and promises, is a much greater honour than that which the temple of Ephesus was said to possess, through the residence of an image of Diana, falsely reported to have fallen down from Jupiter, Acts 19:35: also a better preservative from evil than the votaries of that idol pretended to possess, by carrying about her shrine, mentioned Acts 19:24.” That being rooted and grounded — Deeply fixed and firmly established; in love — Both in an experimental knowledge of God’s love to you, and in the exercise of a fervent love to him in return, and to each other, which will be a never-failing source of piety and virtue in your hearts and lives. The word teqemeliwmenoi, here rendered grounded, is used in allusion to a building, agreeably to the apostle’s representation of the Christian Church as the temple of God, built not of stones, but of men who believe and obey the gospel. And, (as the pious Professor Frank observes,) in the following clause, “he expresses his wish that the foundation might be so extensively and deeply laid, and that a superstructure might be raised, extending itself to such a magnificent length, and breadth, and height, as to be fitted to receive the sacred guest, that he might dwell, as it were, uncrowded in their hearts.” May be able to comprehend — So far as a human mind is capable; with all saints — That which all, who are worthy of the name of saints, do in some measure attain unto here, and shall fully understand hereafter; what is the breadth — Of the love of Christ, embracing all mankind; and length — From everlasting to everlasting; and depth — Descending into the abyss of our sin and misery to rescue us thence; and height — Exalting us to the summit of heavenly glory and felicity, to the dignity of God’s sons and daughters here, and to the vision and enjoyment of him hereafter. And to know the love of Christ — Continually aspiring after more enlarged and affecting views thereof, even of the love which he hath displayed in purchasing his church with his own blood, and redeeming it out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, Revelation 5:9; which, however, after all we can say or think of it, as to its nature, extent, and excellence, does and ever will infinitely surpass our knowledge and comprehension. “This prayer of the apostle does not imply any contradiction, for though the love of Christ be so great that it cannot be comprehended by the understanding of men, the apostle with great propriety prayed that they might know as much of it as the limited nature of their faculties permitted them to know, in order to their being sensible of the wisdom and power of God in gathering the Christian Church, not only from among the Jews, but from among the idolatrous Gentiles also;” and in bestowing on the members of that church such unspeakable blessings of grace here, and in preparing for them such blessings of glory hereafter. That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God — Macknight, who applies this clause to the church at Ephesus, collectively considered, rather than to the individuals of which it was composed, observes, “Having told the Ephesians, (Ephesians 2:21, 22,) that the Jews and Gentiles were formed into a holy temple, for a habitation of God by the Spirit, he prays that this great temple might be filled with all the fulness of the presence of the true God, inhabiting every part of it by the gifts and graces of the Spirit, chap. 4:6. For in that respect the Christian Church far exceeded the temple at Ephesus, which had nothing in it pretending to divinity, but the lifeless image of an idol placed in a corner of it.” The apostle, however, rather intended this, as he evidently did all the preceding clauses of his prayer, to be applied, not so much to that or any other church in general, as to each individual believer therein in particular. He therefore prayed that the mind and heart of each might be enlarged more abundantly, so as to admit larger communications than ever of divine light, love, wisdom, holiness, power, and glory, till at length they should arrive in the heavenly state, to full perfection in the knowledge, image, and enjoyment of God, where that which is perfect being come, they should know even as they also were known, and possess love in proportion to their knowledge.

19. Know—As by conscious experience. Love of Christ—His love to us as manifested in the redemption. Passeth knowledge—The conciseness of St. Paul’s Greek justifies the rendering, that ye may know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ. A contradiction in form in order vividly to impress the truth that the quality and surpassing amount may be apprehended, though it cannot be adequately comprehended. We know the ocean, yet the ocean immensely exceeds our knowledge. Filled—Is the image of a temple still continued? The thought, then, naturally recurs to the filling of the temple of Solomon with the shekinah at the dedication, (2 Chronicles 5:14,) when “The glory of Jehovah filled the house of God.” St. Paul here, as Clarke beautifully, develops the thought, dedicates the temple described in Ephesians 2:20-23, into which the Ephesians are structurally incorporated. But as this temple is a spiritual structure—a communion of living souls—so the shekinah must therein dwell in living hearts. With—The old method of interpretation, by which the Greek preposition eiv was said to be put for en, and then en be rendered with, is properly obsolete. The preposition truly expresses into or unto. The image suggested by the phrase filling into an element, would seem to be that of filling a sponge or a vessel by plunging it into the element, as dipping a cup into the ocean and thereby filling it. The filling would imply the complete replenishment of the cup, and the into would imply the motion by which the filling is accomplished. Taking the preposition to denote unto, what would the phrase unto all the fulness of God mean? Unto would then be a preposition of measure; that ye may be filled up to the full measure of the fulness of God. But then the fulness of God surely cannot include his omniscience, or his omnipresence, so that we become endowed inwardly with the attributes of God? It is that highest plenitude of his Spirit wherewith he ever fills his true and holy Church, made up of true believers. It is to be filled with all that sanctifying plenitude of the indwelling Spirit for which our finite nature has the capacity. There is no limit in God, but in us only.

5. Closing doxology, 20, 21.

If any caviller would fling in the charge that this prayer of Paul’s is extravagant, both in language and in petition, Paul will drown his voice with a burst of lofty ascription of glory to him who is able to confer immeasurably more than we can ask or even think.

Ver. 19b. Third and culminating petition. Paul desires his readers (1) to be strengthened by the indwelling of Christ, in order that thus (2) they may know the love of Christ, and in order that thus finally (3) they may be filled etc.

Filled: made full or fully developed so as to attain the goal of their being. Fulness: result of being filled or fulfilled: see under Colossians 1:19. The fulness of God: either that with which God is Himself full or the fulness which He gives, filling others or working in them a realisation of the possibilities of their being. These senses are closely allied. For all good in man is an outflow of the eternal excellence of God. And only by being filled with blessing from God can we attain our own complete development. This divinely-given and full development is the measure and aim of the fulness with which Paul prays that his readers may be filled: to all the fulness of God. [The preposition eiv has the same sense of a goal to be reached in Ephesians 4:13.] Such fulness leaves in man no aching void and no defect. It is God’s gift and is an impartation to man, according as he is able to contain it, of that infinite abundance in which every desire of the nature of God finds ever complete satisfaction.

Such is Paul’s prayer. It begins and ends with an appeal to the infinite wealth of God. This is, as he approaches the one Father of angels and men, the measure of his desire and his faith. For, to answer his prayer, will reveal the abundance of the splendour of God. His first petition is that his readers be strengthened by the agency of the Holy Spirit, even to the inmost chamber of their being: or, what is practically the same, that Christ may make His home in their hearts. He remembers that this inward presence of Christ is, like all Gospel blessings, through faith. This first petition is but a stepping stone to others greater. Paul desires that Christ may dwell in his readers’ hearts in order that by personal and inward contact with Him they may know the infinite greatness of His love. To form any worthy conception of this love, passes so completely all human intellectual power that before asking for this knowledge Paul prays that his readers may receive from the Spirit of God divine strength for this arduous spiritual task. And he reminds them that this strength needs the nourishment and support found in Christian love. He wishes them to measure in every direction the love of Christ, that the failure of their measurement may reveal a vastness which leaves behind the utmost limits of human and created thought. Yet even this is not the ultimate aim of Paul’s prayer. Knowledge, even of God, is but a means to a further end. Paul desires his readers to know in order that thus they may be made full, or rather that thus they may attain the goal of their being. And this goal is God Himself. He prays that, by the impartation of that fulness in which are realised the possibilities of God’s own nature, his readers may attain the satisfaction of every spiritual instinct and the aim of their being.

V. 20. Now to him-This doxology is admirably adapted to strengthen our faith, that we may not stagger at the great things the apostle has been praying for, as if they were too much for God to give, or for us to expect from him.

That is able-Here is a most beautiful gradation. When he has given us exceeding, yea, abundant blessings, still we may ask for more. And he is able to do it. But we may think of more than we have asked. He is able to do this also. Yea, and above all this.

Above all we ask-Above all we can think. Nay, exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can either ask or think.

Verse 20. Now unto him] Having finished his short, but most wonderfully comprehensive and energetic prayer, the apostle brings in his doxology, giving praise to Him from whom all blessings come, and to whom all thanks are due.

That is able to do exceeding abundantly] It is impossible to express the full meaning of these words, God is omnipotent, therefore he is able to do all things, and able to do uper ek perissou, superabundantly above the greatest abundance. And who can doubt this, who has any rational or Scriptural views of his power or his love?

All that we ask or think] We can ask every good of which we have heard, every good which God has promised in his word; and we can think of, or imagine, goods and blessings beyond all that we have either read of or seen: yea, we can imagine good things to which it is impossible for us to give a name; we can go beyond the limits of all human descriptions; we can imagine more than even God has specified in his word; and can feel no bounds to our imagination of good, but impossibility and eternity: and after all, God is able to do more for us than we can ask or think; and his ability here is so necessarily connected with his willingness, that the one indisputably implies the other; for, of what consequence would it be to tell the Church of God that he had power to do so and so, if there were not implied an assurance that he will do what his power can, and what the soul of man needs to have done?

According to the power that worketh in us] All that he can do, and all that he has promised to do, will be done according to what he has done, by that power of the holy Ghost thn energoumenhn, which worketh strongly in us-acts with energy in our hearts, expelling evil, purifying and refining the affections and desires, and implanting good.

Verses 20, 21. Now unto him, &c. — This doxology is admirably adapted to strengthen our faith, that we may not stagger at the great things the apostle has been praying for, as if they were too much for God to give, or for us to expect to receive from him. Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, &c. — Here is a most beautiful gradation. When God has given us abundant, yea, exceeding abundant blessings, still we may ask for more, and he is able to give, or do for us, what we ask. But we may think of more even than we have asked, and he is able to do this also; yea, and above all this; above all we ask, above all we can think, nay, exceeding abundantly above all that we can either ask or think: according to the power that worketh in us — Which is already so illustriously displayed, and worketh so efficaciously in us. The change which the Ephesians had already experienced, not only in their views of things, but in their hearts and lives, their dispositions, words, and actions, yea, in all the powers and faculties of their souls, through the mighty working of the power of God in them, was a sufficient foundation on which to build their hope of receiving all the blessings promised to them in the gospel; and particularly the blessings of a complete restoration to a conformity to the image of God’s Son (Romans 8:28; 1 John 4:17) in this life, and happiness greater than can be now conceived in the life to come. To him be glory in the church — On earth and in heaven; by Christ Jesus — Its glorious Head, through whom all his blessings descend to us, and our praises ascend to him; throughout all ages — Through the most distant ages and periods, as long as the earth with its successive generations shall continue; and world without end — Or, as the original, eiv pasav tav geneav tou aiwnov twn aiwnwn, literally signifies, through all the successive generations of the age of ages. “The variety,” says Blackwall, in his Sacred Classics, “and emphasis of the elegant and sublime repetitions in these two last verses of this chapter, are such as cannot be reached in any translation.” And with this sublime doxology the apostle ends the doctrinal part of the epistle.

Ver. 20, 21. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think — be glory throughout all ages. The apostle closes this full view of sanctifying grace as he ought to close it, in doxologies, unceasing doxologies of praise, through every age of the church, world without end. Amen. Who now, that calmly reads these words, can doubt that we may attain in this life to the whole christian temper, and a growing perfection in every virtue. Who can scruple to use that prayer, “Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name.” Such indeed has been the profession of the Greek fathers, and of all the more eminent saints of the Roman catholic communion, through all the dark ages of the church. And is it not infinitely better to preach this doctrine, and set heights and depths of religion before the church, to which they have not as yet attained, than bitterly to detail the quotations on Romans 7:24. That St. Paul, while groveling here on earth, never ceased to be loaded with much of the defilement and ordure of sin. Ostervald, in his book on the ministry, apologizes for Calvin’s institutes, as the work of his younger years. But those institutes contain dogmas to which every student, in some sort, is obliged to subscribe; and hence arise a thousand sneers and reproaches on holy men, who preach the whole truth as it is in Jesus. Hence also believers are checked and chilled with maxims which freeze the warmer ardours of the heart.

Jeremiah Burroughs, who in 1600 was father to the ministers of London, says, “My soul longs for perfection: it is already washed and perfect, as to its justification, and I look for a time when it shall be perfect in respect of its sanctification. Oh that the time were now come.” — Sermon on Matthew 5:8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Page 389.

20. Now—This rendering of the Greek transitive particle de is very beautiful. As if St. Paul, at the dedication of the glorious Church, had said, The dedication prayer is finished, now let the choral begin. Unto him— Compare the doxology with which St. Paul closes the argumentative part of Romans 11:36, and still rather, that with which he closes Romans 16:25-27. These doxologies are finishing shouts of triumph. For, as we have elsewhere noted, (Romans 8:39,) St. Paul always climactically ends, after struggle, in victory and glory. Him—Not fabulous Artemis, nor Jove, but Him—the God of all worlds and of all ages. Exceeding abundantly—St. Paul’s Greek piles up hyperboles to express the plenitude of the prayer-hearing Jehovah. Ask or think—Our think is likely to be broader than our ask; but God’s able is broader than either. The Jews asked and thought a human hero-Messiah; God gave a divine Redeemer for the race. According to the divine power that worketh by his Spirit in us. It is for the rich plenitude of God within the soul that Paul has prayed.

Ver. 20. Rising by three successive stages, Paul has now reached the summit of his mighty prayer. Conscious of the greatness and difficulty of that for which he has asked, he remembers that the omnipotence of God passes infinitely all human word or thought. In this surpassing power of God his faith now takes refuge.

To Him that is able: cp. Romans 16:25; Jude 1:24. Paul has prayed that his readers be strengthened by the power of God so as to have strength to comprehend the surpassing love of Christ. He now appeals to the only source of this strength, the infinite power of God. Beyond all things: passing all limits. This is further expounded by the parallel phrase, exceedingly beyond etc.

The things which we ask or think: specific details included in all things. God’s power to do goes not only beyond these but exceedingly beyond them.

Think: as in Romans 1:20: a looking through things around to the realities underlying them. Of such mental sight, Paul is conscious: we think. His thoughts go beyond his prayers. But God’s ability to perform goes infinitely beyond both prayers and thoughts.

This appeal to the power of God to perform this great petition is in harmony with the truth that already His power is at work in His people’s hearts: according to the power which is at work in us. Close parallel of thought and expression in Ephesians 1:19, 20. The power already at work in them, a power surpassing all word and thought of man, stimulates Paul’s faith that the great prayer just offered will be answered. Glory: manifested grandeur evoking admiration. See under Romans 1:21. The infinite power of God assures Paul that his great prayer will be answered. He knows that the answer will be an outshining of the grandeur of God and will evoke the adoring admiration of His creatures. And this is his heartfelt desire: to Him be the glory.

In the Church: the human locality of this admiration. Only in the company of the saved is the grandeur of God recognised. To the outer and human sphere of this praise is now added its inner and divine sphere: and in Christ Jesus. A somewhat similar combination in Ephesians 1:3. Only through the historic facts of Christ and so far as we are inwardly united to Him do we recognise the grandeur of God.

The age of the ages: Hebrew superlative, like song of songs. Eternity is here represented as one superlative age; the one age in which all ages culminate. Slightly different in Galatians 1:5.

Generations: as in Ephesians 3:5. Since the men living together on earth are ever changing by death, this word receives sometimes a temporal sense. And Paul here projects into eternity the most conspicuous feature of our conception of time, viz. the passing by of successive generations. Even where generations cannot pass away, and where we cannot easily conceive fresh generations rising, Paul uses a term derived from human life on earth in order to describe in the clearest colours possible the endlessness of the song of praise which the manifested power of God will evoke: to all the generations of the age of the ages.

The mention of the Church in this endless song implies that it will itself endure for ever. This is also clearly implied in Ephesians 5:27. For the bride of the eternal King can never die. We may therefore conceive the glorified human race to continue for ever as a definite and glorious part of the Kingdom of God.

This doxology is the climax of the Epistle. Taking up his pen to write, the prisoner’s first thought is praise to God for blessings already given to his readers. All these he traces to their ultimate source in an eternal purpose of God, a purpose embracing the universe. In the spiritual life of the servants of Christ, the realisation of this purpose has already begun. This moves Paul to pray that his readers may know the infinite greatness of the power already at work in them. As a measure of it, he points to the power which raised Christ from the grave to the throne of God; and declares that spiritually they are already raised from the dead and seated with Christ in heaven. Having thus described their salvation from beneath upwards, Paul further describes it laterally as a bringing near those who were once far away from the people of God, and as a building together of Jews and Gentiles upon one foundation into one glorious temple.

All this moves Paul again to pray for his readers. But he delays his prayer, in view of the just-described union of Jews and Gentiles, to expound his own commission to the Gentiles. Like the blessings for which Paul gave thanks in his first outburst of praise, this commission also has its source in an eternal purpose; and is wider in its scope than the human race, embracing even angels in their successive ranks. The Apostle then, deliberately and solemnly, betakes himself to prayer. He prays to the Father of angels and of men; and appeals to the wealth of splendour ever waiting to reveal itself in Him. He prays that, by the agency of the Spirit and by the indwelling of Christ, his readers may receive, in the inmost chamber of their being, strength to grasp the immeasurable love of Christ, that thus by knowing that which passes knowledge they may themselves be made full to an extent measured by the fulness which God waits to give. The vastness of his prayer compels Paul to appeal to the all-surpassing power of God: and this power evokes from him a song of adoring praise. Thus from praise to prayer and prayer to praise, in the light of the eternal past and the eternal future and in view of a universe to be united under the sway of Christ, in stately and increasing grandeur, rolls forward this glorious anthem, till it culminates in a song of praise begun in the Church on earth but destined to continue through the successive periods of the age of ages. Notice that each of the two prayers is dominated by thought of the power of God (Ephesians 1:19; 3:20) already working in Christians and able to work in them blessings beyond their utmost thought.

V. 21. In the church-On earth and in heaven.

Verse 21. Unto him] Thus possessed of power and goodness, be glory in the Church-be unceasing praises ascribed in all the assemblies of the people of God, wherever these glad tidings are preached, and wherever this glorious doctrine shall be credited.

By Christ Jesus] Through whom, and for whom, all these miracles of mercy and power are wrought.

Throughout all ages] eiv pasav tav geneav. Through all succeeding generations-while the race of human beings continues to exist on the face of the earth.

World without end.] tou aiwnov twn aiwnwn. Throughout eternity-in the coming world as well as in this. The song of praise, begun upon earth, and protracted through all the generations of men, shall be continued in heaven, by all that are redeemed from the earth, where eras, limits, and periods are no more for ever.

Amen.] So be it. So let it be! and so it will be; for all the counsels of God are faithfulness and truth; and not one jot or tittle of his promise has failed, from the foundation of the world to the present day; nor can fail, till mortality is swallowed up of life.

Therefore, to the Father, Son, and holy Ghost, be glory, dominion, power, and thanksgiving, now, henceforth, and for ever.-Amen and Amen.

1. FOR the great importance of the matter contained in this chapter, and the sublimity of the language and conceptions, there is no portion of the New Testament equal to this. The apostle was now shut up in prison, but the word of the Lord was not bound; and the kingdom of God seems to have been opened to him in a most astonishing manner. There seems to have been exhibited to him a plan of the Divine counsels and conduct relative to the salvation of man, before and from the foundation of the world to the end of time; and while, with the eye of his mind, he contemplates this plan, he describes it in language at once the most elevated that can be conceived, and every where dignified and appropriate to the subject; so that he may with safety be compared with the finest of the Grecian writers. In the notes I have already observed how hard it is to give any literal translation of the many compound epithets which the apostle uses. Indeed his own nervous language seems to bend and tremble under the weight of the Divine ideas which it endeavours to express. This is most observable in the prayer and doxology which are contained in Ephesians 3:14-21. A passage in Thucydides, lib. vii. cap. lxxxvii, in fine, where he gives an account of the total overthrow of the Athenian general, Nicias, and his whole army, by the Sicilians, has been compared with this of the apostle; it is truly a grand piece, and no reader can be displeased with its introduction here: xunebh te ergon touto eJllhnikon twn kaqa ton polemon tonde megiston genesqai-kai toiv te krathsasi lamprotaton, kai toiv

diafqareisi dustucestaton. kata panta gar pantwv nikhqentev, kai ouden oligon ev ouden kakopaqhsantev, panwleqria dh, to legomenon, kai pezov kai nhev, kai ouden o, ti ouk apwleto. kai oligoi apo pollwn epJ oikou apenosthsan. “This was the greatest discomfiture which the Greeks sustained during the whole war, and was as brilliant to the conquerors as it was calamitous to the vanquished. In every respect they were totally defeated; and they suffered no small evil in every particular: the destruction was universal, both of army and navy; there was nothing that did not perish; and scarcely any, out of vast multitudes, returned to their own homes.

The learned may compare the two passages; and while due credit is given to the splendid Greek historian, no critic will deny the palm to the inspired writer.

2. With such portions of the word of God before us, how is it that we can he said conscientiously to credit the doctrines of Christianity, and live satisfied with such slender attainments in the divine life? Can any man that pleads for the necessary and degrading continuance of indwelling sin, believe what the apostle has written? Can we, who profess to believe it, be excusable, and live under the influence of any temper or passion that does not belong to the mind of Christ? Will it be said in answer, that “this is only a prayer of the apostle, and contains his wish from the overflowings of his heart for the spiritual prosperity of the Ephesians?” Was the apostle inspired or not when he penned this prayer? If he were not inspired, the prayer makes no part of Divine revelation; if he were inspired, every petition is tantamount to a positive promise; for what God inspires the heart to pray for, that God purposes to bestow. Then it is his will that all these blessings should be enjoyed by his true followers, that Christ should inhabit their hearts, and that they should be filled with all the fulness of God; yea, and that God should do for them more abundantly than they can ask or think. This necessarily implies that they should be saved from all sin, inward and outward, in this life; that the thoughts of their hearts should be cleansed by the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, that they might perfectly love him, and worthily magnify his holy name.

As sin is the cause of the ruin of mankind, the Gospel system, which is its cure, is called good news, or glad tidings; and it is good news because it proclaims him who saves his people from their sins. It would be dishonourable to the grace of Christ to suppose that sin had made wounds which that could not heal.

EPHESIANS

Verses 20, 21. Now unto him, &c. — This doxology is admirably adapted to strengthen our faith, that we may not stagger at the great things the apostle has been praying for, as if they were too much for God to give, or for us to expect to receive from him. Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, &c. — Here is a most beautiful gradation. When God has given us abundant, yea, exceeding abundant blessings, still we may ask for more, and he is able to give, or do for us, what we ask. But we may think of more even than we have asked, and he is able to do this also; yea, and above all this; above all we ask, above all we can think, nay, exceeding abundantly above all that we can either ask or think: according to the power that worketh in us — Which is already so illustriously displayed, and worketh so efficaciously in us. The change which the Ephesians had already experienced, not only in their views of things, but in their hearts and lives, their dispositions, words, and actions, yea, in all the powers and faculties of their souls, through the mighty working of the power of God in them, was a sufficient foundation on which to build their hope of receiving all the blessings promised to them in the gospel; and particularly the blessings of a complete restoration to a conformity to the image of God’s Son (Romans 8:28; 1 John 4:17) in this life, and happiness greater than can be now conceived in the life to come. To him be glory in the church — On earth and in heaven; by Christ Jesus — Its glorious Head, through whom all his blessings descend to us, and our praises ascend to him; throughout all ages — Through the most distant ages and periods, as long as the earth with its successive generations shall continue; and world without end — Or, as the original, eiv pasav tav geneav tou aiwnov twn aiwnwn, literally signifies, through all the successive generations of the age of ages. “The variety,” says Blackwall, in his Sacred Classics, “and emphasis of the elegant and sublime repetitions in these two last verses of this chapter, are such as cannot be reached in any translation.” And with this sublime doxology the apostle ends the doctrinal part of the epistle.

Ver. 20, 21. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think — be glory throughout all ages. The apostle closes this full view of sanctifying grace as he ought to close it, in doxologies, unceasing doxologies of praise, through every age of the church, world without end. Amen. Who now, that calmly reads these words, can doubt that we may attain in this life to the whole christian temper, and a growing perfection in every virtue. Who can scruple to use that prayer, “Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name.” Such indeed has been the profession of the Greek fathers, and of all the more eminent saints of the Roman catholic communion, through all the dark ages of the church. And is it not infinitely better to preach this doctrine, and set heights and depths of religion before the church, to which they have not as yet attained, than bitterly to detail the quotations on Romans 7:24. That St. Paul, while groveling here on earth, never ceased to be loaded with much of the defilement and ordure of sin. Ostervald, in his book on the ministry, apologizes for Calvin’s institutes, as the work of his younger years. But those institutes contain dogmas to which every student, in some sort, is obliged to subscribe; and hence arise a thousand sneers and reproaches on holy men, who preach the whole truth as it is in Jesus. Hence also believers are checked and chilled with maxims which freeze the warmer ardours of the heart.

Jeremiah Burroughs, who in 1600 was father to the ministers of London, says, “My soul longs for perfection: it is already washed and perfect, as to its justification, and I look for a time when it shall be perfect in respect of its sanctification. Oh that the time were now come.” — Sermon on Matthew 5:8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Page 389.

21. Unto him—Repeated with majestic emphasis. Be glory—Namely, an ascription of supreme adoring honour. Throughout all ages… end— Literal Greek, into all generations of the age of ages. And here we might be surprised at generations being ascribed to the eternal ages. But the word generation designates, not a real progeny, but a time period. With the elder Hebrews a generation seems to have been a century, with the Greeks, one third of a century. (See Robinson’s Greek N.T. Lexicon on the word.) Grotius rightly says, For the purpose of magnifying, the apostle here mingles two Hebrew idioms, namely, “to generations of generations,” (as in Psalms 10:6Psalm 10:6,) and “to ages of ages,” (as in Isaiah 45:17, and elsewhere.) But it may be asked how does this phrase truly and completely express eternity?—for it appears to express not time infinite, but merely time indefinite. We may reply, that, at any rate, St. Paul here uses it for time infinite or endless, since he uses it to measure the duration of Jehovah’s glory, which must be infinite in duration. Amen—Grotius suggests: “The Churches were accustomed to acclaim amen at such doxologies, which, that they may do, Paul gives them a lead.” A beautiful thought, confirming the idea that St. Paul conceptually dedicates his Ephesian and universal Church with this prayer and choral finishing. And now, this glorious Church, as viewed from its divine side, is delineated, erected, finished, and dedicated with prayer and rapturous anthem.—Let us next contemplate the human side of its churchly and Christian duties.