Text -- Ephesians 1:16-23 (NET)

1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember remember you in my prayers. 1:17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him, 1:18 –since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened– so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 1:19 and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. 1:20 This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms 1:21 far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 1:22 And God put all things under Christ’s feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things. 1:23 Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: Eph 1:16

I do not cease ( ou pauomai ).

Singular present middle, while in Col 1:9 Paul uses the plural (literary, or including Timothy), ou pauometha .

Robertson: Eph 1:17

The Father of glory ( ho patēr tēs doxēs ).

The God characterized by glory (the Shekinah, Heb 9:5) as in Act 7:2; 1Co 2:8; 2Co 1:3; Jam 2:1.

Robertson: Eph 1:17

That - may give ( hinȧ̇dōiē ).

In Col 1:9 hina is preceded by aitoumenoi , but here the sub-final use depends on the general idea asking in the sentence. The form dōiē is a late Koiné[28928]š optative (second aorist active) for the usual doiē . It occurs also in 2Th 3:16; Rom 15:5; 2Ti 1:16, 2Ti 1:18 in the text of Westcott and Hort. Here B 63 read dōi (like Joh 15:16) second aorist active subjunctive, the form naturally looked for after a primary tense (pauomai ). This use of the volitive optative with hina after a primary tense is rare, but not unknown in ancient Greek.

Robertson: Eph 1:17

A spirit of wisdom and revelation ( pneuma sophias kai apokalupseōs ).

The Revised Version does not refer this use of pneuma to the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 6:1; Rom 8:15), but it is open to question if it is possible to obtain this wisdom and revelation apart from the Holy Spirit.

Robertson: Eph 1:17

In the knowledge of him ( en epignōsei autou ).

In the full knowledge of Christ as in Colossians.

Robertson: Eph 1:18

Having the eyes of your heart enlightened ( pephōtismenous tous ophthalmous tēs kardias humōn ).

A beautiful figure, the heart regarded as having eyes looking out toward Christ. But the grammar is difficult. There are three possible interpretations. One is an anacoluthon, the case of pephōtismenous being changed from the dative humin (to you) to the accusative because of the following infinitive like eklexamenous (Act 15:22) after apostolois . Another way of explaining it is to regard it as a tertiary predicate of dōiē , a loose expansion of pneuma . The third way is to regard the construction as the accusative absolute, a rare idiom possible in Act 26:3; 1Co 16:3; 1Ti 2:6. In this case, the participle merely agrees with tous ophthalmous , not with humin , "the eyes of your heart having been enlightened."Otherwise tous ophthalmous is the accusative retained after the passive participle.

Robertson: Eph 1:18

That ye may know ( eis to eidenai ).

Final use of eis to and the infinitive (second perfect of oida ) as in Eph 1:12. Note three indirect questions after eidenai (what the hope tis hē elpis , what the riches tis ho ploutos , and what the surpassing greatness kai ti to huperballon megethos ). When the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of the heart, one will be able to see all these great truths.

Robertson: Eph 1:18

In the saints ( en tois hagiois ).

Our riches is in God, God’ s is in his saints.

Robertson: Eph 1:19

The exceeding greatness of his power ( to huperballon megethos tēs dunameōs autou ).

Megethos is an old word (from megas ), but here only in N.T. Huperballon , present active participle of huperballō , reappears in Eph 2:7; Eph 3:19 and seen already in 2Co 3:10; 2Co 9:14. To enlightened eyes the greatness of God’ s power is even more "surpassing."

Robertson: Eph 1:20

Which he wrought ( enērgēken ).

Reading of A B rather than aorist enērgēsen . Perfect active indicative, "which he has wrought."Hēn is cognate accusative of the relative referring to energeian (energy) with enērgēken and note also kratous (strength) and ischuos (might), three words trying to express what surpasses (huperballon ) expression or comprehension.

Robertson: Eph 1:20

Made him to sit ( kathisas ).

First aorist active participle of kathizō in causative sense as in 1Co 6:4. Metaphorical local expression like dexiāi and en tois epour aniois .

Robertson: Eph 1:21

Far above all rule ( huperanō pasēs archēs ).

Late compound adverbial preposition (huper , anō ) with the ablative case. In N.T. only here and Heb 9:5. As in Col 1:16, so here Paul claims primacy for Jesus Christ above all angels, aeons, what not. These titles all were used in the Gnostic speculations with a graduated angelic hierarchy.

Robertson: Eph 1:21

World ( aiōni ).

"Age."See this identical expression in Mat 12:32 for the present time (Gal 1:4; 1Ti 6:17) and the future life (Eph 2:7; Luk 20:35). Both combined in Mar 10:30; Luk 18:30.

Robertson: Eph 1:22

He put all things in subjection ( panta hupetaxen ).

First aorist active indicative of hupotassō , quoted from Psa 8:7 as in 1Co 15:27.

Robertson: Eph 1:22

Gave him to be head ( auton edōken kephalēn ).

Robertson: Eph 1:22

Gave ( edōken , first aorist active indicative of didōmi )

to the church (the universal spiritual church or kingdom as in Col 1:18, Col 1:24) Christ as Head (kephalēn , predicate accusative). This conception of ekklēsia runs all through Ephesians (Eph 3:10, Eph 3:21; Eph 5:23, Eph 5:24, Eph 5:25, Eph 5:27, Eph 5:29, Eph 5:32).

Robertson: Eph 1:23

Which ( hētis ).

"Which in fact is,"explanatory use of hētis rather than hē .

Robertson: Eph 1:23

The fulness of him that filleth all in all ( to plērōma tou ta panta en pāsin plēroumenou ).

This is probably the correct translation of a much disputed phrase. This view takes plērōma in the passive sense (that which is filled, as is usual, Col 1:19) and plēroumenou as present middle participle, not passive. All things are summed up in Christ (Eph 1:10), who is the plērōma of God (Col 1:19), and in particular does Christ fill the church universal as his body. Hence we see in Ephesians the Dignity of the Body of Christ which is ultimately to be filled with the fulness (plērōma ) of God (Eph 3:19) when it grows up into the fulness (plērōma ) of Christ (Eph 4:13, Eph 4:16).

Vincent: Eph 1:16

Making mention, etc.

As I make mention. The same expression occurs Rom 1:9; Phi 1:4; Phm 1:4.

Vincent: Eph 1:17

God of our Lord Jesus Christ

Compare Joh 20:17; Mat 27:46, and see on Eph 1:3.

Vincent: Eph 1:17

Father of glory ( ὁ πατὴρ τῆς δόξης )

The Father to whom the glory belongs. Note the article, the glory, preeminently. Compare Act 7:2; 1Co 2:8. See Psa 18:3, " who is worthy to be praised;" where the Hebrew is is praised . The exact phrase has no parallel in Scripture.

Vincent: Eph 1:17

The Spirit of wisdom and revelation

Spirit has not the article, but the reference is to the Holy Spirit. Compare Mat 12:28; Luk 1:15, Luk 1:35, Luk 1:41; Rom 1:4; 1Pe 1:2. Wisdom and revelation are special forms of the Spirit's operation. He imparts general illumination (wisdom) and special revelations of divine mysteries. The combination of two words with an advance in thought from the general to the special is characteristic of Paul. Compare grace and apostleship , Rom 1:5; gifts and calling , Rom 11:29; wisdom and prudence , Eph 1:8, wisdom and knowledge , Col 2:3.

Vincent: Eph 1:17

In the knowledge of Him ( ἐν ἐπιγνώσει αὐτοῦ )

The sphere in which they will receive God's gift of wisdom and revelation. To know God is to be wise. The condition is not merely acknowledgment , but knowledge . Ἑπίγνωσις knowledge is never ascribed to God in the New Testament. Of Him refers to God.

Vincent: Eph 1:18

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened ( πεφωτισμένους τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν )

Rev., eyes of your heart . Lit., being enlightened as to the eyes of your heart ; enlightened being joined with you (Eph 1:17) by a somewhat irregular construction: may give unto you being enlightened . For a similar construction see Act 15:22. The phrase eyes of the heart occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Plato has eye of the soul (ψυχῆς , " Sophist," 254). Ovid, speaking of Pythagoras, says: " With his mind he approached the gods, though far removed in heaven, and what nature denied to human sight, he drew forth with the eyes of his heart" (" Metamorphoses," xv., 62-64). Heart is not merely the seat of emotion , as in popular usage, but of thought and will . See on Rom 1:21. The particular aspect in which its activity is viewed, perception or cognition, is determined by what follows, " that ye may know," etc.

Vincent: Eph 1:18

Hope of His calling

Hope , not, as sometimes, the thing hoped for , but the sentiment or principle of hope which God's calling inspires.

Vincent: Eph 1:18

The riches of the glory of His inheritance

Ellicott remarks that this is a noble accumulation of genitives, " setting forth the inheritance on the side of its glory, and the glory on the side of its riches." Glory is the essential characteristic of salvation, and this glory is richly abounding. His inheritance: which is His, and His gift.

Vincent: Eph 1:19

Exceeding ( ὑπερβάλλον )

Compounds with ὑπέρ over , beyond , are characteristic of Paul's intensity of style, and mark the struggle of language with the immensity of the divine mysteries, and the opulence of the divine grace. See Eph 1:21; Eph 3:20; 2Co 4:17, etc.

Vincent: Eph 1:19

According to the working of His mighty power ( κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ κράτους τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ )

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

Vincent: Eph 1:20

Which ( ἣν )

Refer to working (Eph 1:19).

Vincent: Eph 1:20

He wrought ( ἐνήργησεν )

The best texts read ἐνήργηκεν , perfect tense, He hath wrought . The verb is kindred with working (Eph 1:19).

Vincent: Eph 1:20

In Christ

In the case of Christ. Christ's dead body was the point on which this working of divine power was exhibited. See Rom 8:11; 2Co 4:14.

Vincent: Eph 1:20

When He raised ( ἐγείρας )

Or, in that He raised .

Vincent: Eph 1:20

And set ( καὶ ἐκάθισεν )

Rev., made Him to sit . The best texts read καθίσας having seated , or in that He caused him to sit .

Vincent: Eph 1:20

Right hand

See Act 7:56.

Vincent: Eph 1:20

In the heavenly places

See on Eph 1:2. Local. Not merely of a spiritual state, which does not suit the local expressions made to sit and right hand .

Vincent: Eph 1:21

Far above ( ὑπεράνω )

Lit., over above . See on Eph 1:19. Connect with made Him to sit .

Vincent: Eph 1:21

Principality, power, etc.

These words usually refer to angelic powers; either good , as Eph 3:10; Col 1:16; Col 2:10; or bad , as Eph 6:12; 1Co 15:24; Col 2:15; or both , as Rom 8:38. See on Col 1:16; see on Col 2:15. Here probably good , since the passage relates to Christ's exaltation to glory rather than to His victory over evil powers.

Vincent: Eph 1:21

And every name that is named

And has a collective and summary force - and in a word . Every name , etc. Whatever a name can be given to. " Let any name be uttered, whatever it is, Christ is above it; is more exalted than that which the name so uttered affirms" (Meyer). Compare Phi 2:9. " We know that the emperor precedes all, though we cannot enumerate all the ministers of his court: so we know that Christ is placed above all, although we cannot name all" (Bengel).

Vincent: Eph 1:21

Not only in this world, etc.

Connect with which is named . For world (αἰῶνι ), see on Joh 1:9.

Vincent: Eph 1:22

Put all things in subjection

Compare Col 1:15-18; Psa 8:5-8.

Vincent: Eph 1:22

Gave Him

Him is emphatic: and Him He gave. Not merely set Him over the Church, but gave Him as a gift. See 2Co 9:15.

Vincent: Eph 1:22

The Church ( τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ )

See on Mat 16:18.

Vincent: Eph 1:23

Which is His body ( ἥτις )

The double relative is explanatory, seeing it is: by which I mean . Body , a living organism of which He is the head. See on Col 1:18.

Vincent: Eph 1:23

The fullness

See on Joh 1:16; see on Rom 11:12; see on Col 1:19. That which is filled. The Church, viewed as a receptacle. Compare Eph 3:10.

Vincent: Eph 1:23

That filleth all in all ( τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν πληρουμένου )

Better, that filleth all things with all things . The expression is somewhat obscure. All things are composed of elements. Whatever things exist, God from His fullness fills with all those elements which belong to their being or welfare. The whole universe is thus filled by Him.

Wesley: Eph 1:16

In all my solemn addresses to God. To give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers - So he did of all the churches, Col 1:9.

Wesley: Eph 1:17

The same who is the Spirit of promise is also, in the progress of the faithful, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation; making them wise unto salvation, and revealing to them the deep things of God. He is here speaking of that wisdom and revelation which are common to all real Christians.

Wesley: Eph 1:18

It is with these alone that we discern the things of God. Being first opened, and then enlightened - - By his Spirit.

Wesley: Eph 1:18

That ye may experimentally and delightfully know what are the blessings which God has called you to hope for by his word and his Spirit.

Wesley: Eph 1:18

What an immense treasure of blessedness he hath provided as an inheritance for holy souls.

Wesley: Eph 1:19

Both in quickening our dead souls, and preserving them in spiritual life. According to the power which he exerted in Christ, raising him from the dead - By the very same almighty power whereby he raised Christ; for no less would suffice.

Wesley: Eph 1:20

That is, he hath exalted him in his human nature, as a recompence for his sufferings, to a quiet, everlasting possession of all possible blessedness, majesty, and glory.

Wesley: Eph 1:21

That is, God hath invested him with uncontrollable authority over all demons in hell, all angels in heaven, and all the princes and potentates on earth.

Wesley: Eph 1:21

We know the king is above all, though we cannot name all the officers of his court. So we know that Christ is above all, though we are not able to name all his subjects. Not only in this world, but also in that which is to come - The world to come is so styled, not because it does not yet exist, but because it is not yet visible. Principalities and powers are named now; but those also who are not even named in this world, but shall be revealed in the world to come, are all subject to Christ.

Wesley: Eph 1:22

An head both of guidance and government, and likewise of life and influence, to the whole and every member of it. All these stand in the nearest union with him, and have as continual and effectual a communication of activity, growth, and strength from him, as the natural body from its head.

Wesley: Eph 1:23

It is hard to say in what sense this can be spoken of the church; but the sense is easy and natural, if we refer it to Christ, who is the fulness of the Father.

JFB: Eph 1:16

(Col 1:9).

JFB: Eph 1:16

Omitted in the oldest manuscripts. Then the translation may be as English Version still, or as ALFORD, "making mention of them" (your "faith and love").

JFB: Eph 1:17

A fit prayer for all Christians.

JFB: Eph 1:17

Appropriate title here; as in Eph 1:20-22 he treats of God's raising Jesus to be Head over all things to the Church. Jesus Himself called the Father "My God" (Mat 27:46).

JFB: Eph 1:17

(Compare Act 7:2). The Father of that infinite glory which shines in the face of Christ, who is "the glory" (the true Shekinah); through whom also "the glory of the inheritance" (Eph 1:18) shall be ours (Joh 17:24; 2Co. 3:7-4:6).

JFB: Eph 1:17

Whose attribute is infinite wisdom and who works wisdom in believers (Isa 11:2).

JFB: Eph 1:17

Whose function it is to reveal to believers spiritual mysteries (Joh 16:14-15; 1Co 2:10).

JFB: Eph 1:17

Rather, as Greek (see on 1Co 13:12), "in the full knowledge of Him," namely, God.

JFB: Eph 1:18

The oldest manuscripts, versions, and Fathers, read "heart." Compare the contrary state of unbelieving, the heart being in fault (Eph 4:18; Mat 13:15). Translate, "Having the eyes of your heart enlightened" (Eph 5:14; Mat 4:16). The first effect of the Spirit moving in the new creation, as in the original physical creation (Gen 1:3; 2Co 4:6). So THEOPHILUS to AUTOLYCUS (1.3), "the ears of the heart." Where spiritual light is, there is life (Joh 1:4). The heart is "the core of life" [HARLESS], and the fountain of the thoughts; whence "the heart" in Scripture includes the mind, as well as the inclination. Its "eye," or inward vision, both receives and contemplates the light (Mat 6:22-23). The eye is the symbol of intelligence (Eze 1:18).

JFB: Eph 1:18

The hope appertaining to His having called you; or, to the calling wherewith He has called you.

JFB: Eph 1:18

Omitted in the oldest manuscripts and versions.

JFB: Eph 1:18

(Col 1:27).

JFB: Eph 1:18

The inheritance which he has in store in the case of the saints. I prefer explaining, "The inheritance which He has in his saints." (See on Eph 1:11; Deu 32:9).

JFB: Eph 1:19

"surpassing."

JFB: Eph 1:19

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

JFB: Eph 1:19

In accordance wit,h, what might be expected from.

JFB: Eph 1:19

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

JFB: Eph 1:19

Greek, "of the strength of His might."

JFB: Eph 1:20

As our "first-fruits" of the resurrection, and Head, in virtue of God's mighty working in whom His power to us-ward is made possible and actual [ALFORD].

JFB: Eph 1:20

"in that He raised Him." The raising of Christ is not only an earnest of our bodies being hereafter raised, but has a spiritual power in it involving (by virtue of our living union with Him, as members with the Head) the resurrection, spiritually of the believer's soul now, and, consequently, of his body hereafter (Rom 6:8-11; Rom 8:11). The Son, too, as God (though not as man), had a share in raising His own human body (Joh 2:19; Joh 10:17-18). Also the Holy Spirit (Rom 1:4; 1Pe 3:18).

JFB: Eph 1:20

Greek, "made Him sit." The glorious spirits stand about the throne of God, but they do not sit at God's right hand (Heb 1:13).

JFB: Eph 1:20

(Psa 110:1). Where He remains till all His enemies have been put under His feet (1Co 15:24). Being appointed to "rule in the midst of His enemies" during their rebellion (Psa 110:2), He shall resign His commission after their subjection [PEARSON] (Mar 16:19; Heb 1:3; Heb 10:12).

JFB: Eph 1:20

(Eph 1:3). As Christ has a literal body, heaven is not merely a state, but a place; and where He is, there His people shall be (Joh 14:3).

JFB: Eph 1:21

Greek, "Far (or high) above all (Eph 4:10) principality (or rule, 1Co 15:24), and authority, and power (Mat 28:18), and dominion (or lordship)." Compare Phi 2:9; Col 1:16; Heb 7:26; 1Pe 3:22. Evil spirits (who are similarly divided into various ranks, Eph 6:12), as well as angels of light, and earthly potentates, are included (compare Rom 8:38). Jesus is "King of kings, and Lord of lords" (Rev 19:16). The higher is His honor, the greater is that of His people, who are His members joined to Him, the Head. Some philosophizing teachers of the school of Simon Magus, in Western Asia Minor, had, according to IRENÆUS and EPIPHANIUS, taught their hearers these names of various ranks of angels. Paul shows that the truest wisdom is to know Christ as reigning above them all.

JFB: Eph 1:21

Every being whatever. "Any other creature" (Rom 8:39).

JFB: Eph 1:21

Greek, "age," that is, the present order of things. "Things present . . . things to come" (Rom 8:38).

JFB: Eph 1:21

"Names which now we know not, but shall know hereafter in heaven. We know that the emperor goes before all, though we cannot enumerate all the satraps and ministers of his court; so we know that Christ is set above all, although we cannot name them all" [BENGEL].

JFB: Eph 1:22

Greek, "put in subjection under" (Psa 8:6; 1Co 15:27).

JFB: Eph 1:22

For her special advantage. The Greek order is emphatic: "HIM He gave as Head over all things to the Church." Had it been anyone save HIM, her Head, it would not have been the boon it is to the Church. But as He is Head over all things who is also her Head (and she the body), all things are hers (1Co 3:21-23). He is OVER ("far above") all things; in contrast to the words, "TO the Church," namely, for her advantage. The former are subject; the latter is joined with Him in His dominion over them. "Head" implies not only His dominion, but our union; therefore, while we look upon Him at the right hand of God, we see ourselves in heaven (Rev 3:21). For the Head and body are not severed by anything intervening, else the body would cease to be the body, and the Head cease to be the Head [PEARSON from CHRYSOSTOM].

JFB: Eph 1:23

His mystical and spiritual, not literal, body. Not, however, merely figurative, or metaphorical. He is really, though spiritually, the Church's Head. His life is her life. She shares His crucifixion and His consequent glory. He possesses everything, His fellowship with the Father, His fulness of the Spirit, and His glorified manhood, not merely for Himself, but for her, who has a membership of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones (Eph 5:30).

JFB: Eph 1:23

"the filled-up receptacle" [EADIE]. The Church is dwelt in and filled by Christ. She is the receptacle, not of His inherent, but of His communicated, plenitude of gifts and graces. As His is the "fulness" (Joh 1:16; Col 1:19; Col 2:9) inherently, so she is His "fulness" by His impartation of it to her, in virtue of her union to Him (Eph 5:18; Col 2:10). "The full manifestation of His being, because penetrated by His life" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON]. She is the continued revelation of His divine life in human form; the fullest representative of His plenitude. Not the angelic hierarchy, as false teachers taught (Col 2:9-10, Col 2:18), but Christ Himself is the "fulness of the Godhead," and she represents Him. KOPPE translates less probably, "the whole universal multitude."

JFB: Eph 1:23

Christ as the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the world, constituted by God (Col 1:16-19), fills all the universe of things with all things. "Fills all creation with whatever it possesses" [ALFORD]. The Greek is, "filleth for Himself."

Clarke: Eph 1:16

Cease not to give thanks - The apostle intimates, so fully satisfied was he of the genuineness of their conversion, and of their steadiness since their conversion, that it was to him a continual cause of thanksgiving to God, who had brought them into that state of salvation; and of prayer, that they might be preserved blameless to the end

Clarke: Eph 1:16

Making mention of you - While praying for the prosperity of the Christian cause generally, he was led, from his particular affection for them, to mention them by name before God.

Clarke: Eph 1:17

That the God of our Lord Jesus - Jesus Christ, as man and mediator, has the Father for his God and Father: and it is in reference to this that he himself says: I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God; Joh 20:17

Clarke: Eph 1:17

The Father of glory - The author and giver of that glory which you expect at the end of your Christian race. This may be a Hebraism for glorious Father, but the former appears to be the best sense

Clarke: Eph 1:17

The Spirit of wisdom and revelation - I pray that God may give you his Holy Spirit, by whom his will is revealed to men, that he may teach and make you wise unto salvation, that you may continue to acknowledge him, Christ Jesus, as your only Lord and Savior.

Clarke: Eph 1:18

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened - The understanding is that power or faculty in the soul by which knowledge or information is received, and the recipient power is here termed the Eyes of the understanding; and we learn from this that ὁπερ ὁ οφθαλμος εν τῳ σωματι, τουτο ὁ νους εν τῃ ψυχη, as Philo expresses it: What the eye is to the body, the understanding is to the soul; and that as the eye is not light in itself, and can discern nothing but by the means of light shining, not only on the objects to be viewed, but into the eye itself; so the understanding of man can discern no sacred thing of or by itself, but sees by the influence of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation; for without the influence of God’ s Holy Spirit no man ever became wise unto salvation, no more than a man ever discerned an object, (no matter how perfect soever his eye might have been), without the instrumentality of light

Instead of της διανοιας, of your understanding, της καρδιας, of your heart, is the reading of ABDEFG, and several others; also both the Syriac, all the Arabic, the Coptic, the Ethiopic, Armenian, Sahidic, Slavonian, Vulgate, and Itala, besides several of the fathers. The eyes of your Heart is undoubtedly the true reading

Clarke: Eph 1:18

The hope of his calling - That you may clearly discern the glorious and important objects of your hope, to the enjoyment of which God has called or invited you

Clarke: Eph 1:18

The riches of the glory of his inheritance - That you may understand what is the glorious abundance of the spiritual things to which you are entitled, in consequence of being made children of God; for if children, then heirs, heirs of that glorious inheritance which God has provided for the saints - for all genuine Christians, whether formerly Jews or Gentiles. On the chief subject of this verse, see the notes on Gal 4:6, Gal 4:7 (note).

Clarke: Eph 1:19

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

Clarke: Eph 1:19

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

Clarke: Eph 1:20

Set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places - Gave him, as mediator between God and man, the highest honors and dignities, Phi 2:9; in which state of exaltation he transacts all the affairs of his Church, and rules the universe. The right hand is the place of friendship, honor, confidence, and authority.

Clarke: Eph 1:21

Far above all principality - The difficulty in this verse does not arise from the words themselves, the meaning of each being easily understood, but from the sense in which the apostle uses them. Some think he has reference here to the different orders among good and evil angels; he is superior to all the former, and rules all the latter. Others think he refers to earthly governments; and as αρχη, principality, the first word, signifies the most sovereign and extensive kind of dominion; and κυριοτης, lordship, the last word, signifies the lowest degree of authority; hence we are to understand that to our Lord, in his human nature, are subjected the highest, the intermediate, and the lowest orders of beings in the universe. - Chandler. Others imagine that the apostle has in view, by whatsoever is named in this world, all the dignitaries of the Jewish Church; and by what is named in the world to come, all the dignities that should be found in the Christian Church

Schoettgen supposes that the "apostle’ s αρχη (for αρχοντες, the abstract for the concrete) means the same as the נשיאים Nesiim among the Jews, whose chief business it was to clear and decide all contentions which arose concerning traditions and legal controversies

"That εξουσια, power, is the same as צורבא tsorba , he who possesses authority to propound, expound, persuade, convince, and refute

"That δυναμις, might, answers to רבנות rabbanoth , signifying all the class of rabbins, whose office it was to expound the law, and teach the people generally

"And that κυριοτης, dominion, answers to מר mar , which signifies a person above the lower orders of men. And he observes that Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, called fishermen, publicans, and men from the lowest orders of the people, to the work of the ministry; and made them instruments of confounding and overturning all the Jewish rulers, rabbins, and doctors. And that in the world which is to come - the successive ages of Christianity, he should ever be exalted above all those powers and authorities which Antichrist might bring into the Christian Church; such as popes, cardinals, wicked archbishops, bishops, deans, and canons; and all those who among the schoolmen were termed seraphic doctors, angelic doctors, most illuminated, most perfect, and irrefragable doctors. And although Wiclif, Huss, Luther, Melancthon, and the rest of the reformers, were men of little or no note when compared with the rulers of the popish Church, so eminently did the power of Christ work in and by them, that the pope and all his adjutants were every where confounded, and their power and authority annihilated in several entire regions.

It is certain that the apostle means that all created power, glory, and influence, are under Christ; and hence it is added:

Clarke: Eph 1:22

And hath put all things under his feet - All beings and things are subject to him, whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers, Col 1:16-18; Col 2:10; for he, God the Father, has given him to be head - chief, and supreme, over all, to the Church, the Church having no ruler but Jesus Christ; others may be officers in his Church, but he alone is head and supreme.

Clarke: Eph 1:23

Which is his body - As he is head over all things, he is head to the Church; and this Church is considered as the body of which he is especially the head; and from him, as the head, the Church receives light, life, and intelligence

Clarke: Eph 1:23

And is the fullness of him - That in which he especially manifests his power, goodness, and truth; for though he fills all the world with his presence, yet he fills all the members of his mystical body with wisdom, goodness, truth, and holiness, in an especial manner. Some understand the fullness or πληρωμα, here, as signifying the thing to be filled; so the Christian Church is to be filled by him, whose fullness fills all his members, with all spiritual gifts and graces. And this corresponds with what St. John says, Joh 1:16 : And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. And with what is said, Col 2:9, Col 2:10 : Ye are complete in him; και εστε εν αυτῳ πεπληρωμενοι· And ye are in him filled full; i.e. with gifts and grace

How, in any other sense, the Church can be said to be the fullness of him who fills all in all, is difficult to say. However, as Jesus Christ is represented to be the head, and the Church, the body under that head, the individuals being so many members in that body; and as it requires a body and members to make a head complete; so it requires a Church, or general assembly of believers, to make up the body of Christ. When, therefore, the Jews and Gentiles are brought into this Church, the body may be said to be complete; and thus Christ has his visible fullness upon earth, and the Church may be said to be the fullness of him, etc. See Eph 1:10.

Calvin: Eph 1:16

16.Making mention of you To thanksgiving, as his custom is, he adds prayer, in order to excite them to additional progress. It was necessary that the Ephesians should understand that they had entered upon the proper course. But it was equally necessary that they should not turn aside to any new scheme of doctrine, or become indifferent about proceeding farther; for nothing is more dangerous than to be satisfied with that measure of spiritual benefits which has been already obtained. Whatever, then, may be the height of our attainments, let them be always accompanied by the desire of something higher.

Calvin: Eph 1:17

17.That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ But what does Paul wish for the Ephesians? The spirit of wisdom, and the eyes of their understanding being enlightened. And did they not possess these? Yes; but at the same time they needed increase, that, being endowed with a larger measure of the Spirit, and being more and more enlightened, they might more clearly and fully hold their present views. The knowledge of the godly is never so pure, but that some dimness or obscurity hangs over their spiritual vision. But let us examine the words in detail.

The God of our Lord Jesus Christ The Son of God became man in such a manner, that God was his God as well as ours.

“I ascend,” says he, “to my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” (Joh 20:17)

And the reason why he is our God, is, that he is the God of Christ, whose members we are. Let us remember, however, that this relates to his human nature; so that his subjection takes nothing away from his eternal godhead.

The Father of glory This title springs from the former; for God’s glory, as a Father, consists in subjecting his Son to our condition, that, through him, he might be our God. The Father of glory is a well-known Hebrew idiom for The glorious Father. There is a mode of pointing and reading this passage, which I do not disapprove, and which connects the two clauses in this manner: That God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, may give to you.

The Spirit of wisdom and revelation is here put, by a figure of speech, (metonymy,) for the grace which the Lord bestows upon us by his own Spirit. But let it be observed, that the gifts of the Spirit are not the gifts of nature. Till the Lord opens them, the eyes of our heart are blind. Till the Spirit has become our instructor, all that we know is folly and ignorance. Till the Spirit of God has made it known to us by a secret revelation, the knowledge of our Divine calling exceeds the capacity of our own minds.

In the knowledge of him This might also be read, In the knowledge of himself. Both renderings agree well with the context, for he that knows the Son knows also the Father; but I prefer the former as more natively suggested by the Greek pronoun, ἐν ἐπιγνώσει αὐτοῦ

Calvin: Eph 1:18

18.The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. === The eyes of your heart is the rendering of the Vulgate, which is supported by some Greek manuscripts. The difference is immaterial, for the Hebrews frequently employ it to denote the rational powers of the soul, though more strictly, being the seat of the affections, it means the will or desire; but I have preferred the ordinary translation.

===And what the riches A comparison, suggested by its excellence, reminds us how unfit we are to receive this elevated knowledge; for the power of God is no small matter. This great power, he tells us, had been exerted, and in a very extraordinary manner, towards the Ephesians, who were thus laid under constant obligations to follow his calling. By thus extolling the grace of God toward themselves, he intended to check every tendency to despise or dislike the duties of the Christian life. But the splendid encomiums which he pronounces on faith convey to us also this instruction, that it is so admirable a work and gift of God, that no language can do justice to its excellence. Paul is not in the habit of throwing out hyperboles without discrimination; but when he comes to treat of a matter which lies so far beyond this world as faith does, he raises our minds to the admiration of heavenly power.

Calvin: Eph 1:19

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

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

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

Calvin: Eph 1:20

20.Which he wrought in Christ The Greek verb isἐνέργησεν, from which ἐνέργεια is derived. It might run thus, According to the efficacy which he effected. But the translation which I have given conveys the same meaning, and is less harsh.

With the greatest propriety does he enjoin us to contemplate this power in Christ; for in us it is hitherto concealed. “My strength,” says he, “is made perfect in weakness.” (2Co 12:9.) In what do we excel the children of the world but in this, that our condition appears to be somewhat worse than theirs? Though sin does not reign, it continues to dwell in us, and death is still strong. Our blessedness, which lies in hope, is not perceived by the world. The power of the Spirit is a thing unknown to flesh and blood. A thousand distresses, to which we are daily liable, render us more despised than other men.

Christ alone, therefore, is the mirror in which we can contemplate that which the weakness of the cross hinders from being clearly seen in ourselves. When our minds rise to a confident anticipation of righteousness, salvation, and glory, let us learn to turn them to Christ. We still lie under the power of death; but he, raised from the dead by heavenly power, has the dominion of life. We labor under the bondage of sin, and, surrounded by endless vexations, are engaged in a hard warfare, (1Ti 1:18;) but he, sitting at the right hand of the Father, exercises the highest government in heaven and earth, and triumphs gloriously over the enemies whom he has subdued and vanquished. We lie here mean and despised; but to him has been “given a name” (Phi 2:9,) which angels and men regard with reverence, and devils and wicked men with dread. We are pressed down here by the scantiness of all our comforts: but he has been appointed by the Father to be the sole dispenser of all blessings. For these reasons, we shall find our advantage in directing our views to Christ, that in him, as in a mirror, we may see the glorious treasures of Divine grace, and the unmeasurable greatness of that power, which has not yet been manifested in ourselves.

And set him at his own right hand This passage shews plainly, if any one does, what is meant by the right hand of God. It does not mean any particular place, but the power which the Father has bestowed on Christ, that he may administer in his name the government of heaven and earth. It is idle, therefore, to inquire why Stephen saw him standing, (Act 7:55,) while Paul describes him as sitting at God’s right hand. The expression does not refer to any bodily posture, but denotes the highest royal power with which Christ has been invested. This is intimated by what immediately follows, far above all principality and power: for the whole of this description is added for the purpose of explaining what is meant by the right hand.

God the Father is said to have raised Christ to “his right hand,” because he has made him to share in his government, because by him he exerts all his power; the metaphor being borrowed from earthly princes, who confer the honor of sitting along with themselves on those whom they have clothed with the highest authority. As the right hand of God fills heaven and earth, it follows that the kingdom and power of Christ are equally extensive. It is in vain, therefore, to attempt to prove that, because Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, he dwells in heaven alone. His human nature, it is true, resides in heaven, and not in earth; but that argument is foreign to the purpose. The expression which follows, in heavenly places, does not at all imply that the right hand of God is confined to heaven, but directs us to contemplate the heavenly glory amidst which our Lord Jesus dwells, the blessed immortality which he enjoys, and the dominion over angels to which he has been exalted.

Calvin: Eph 1:21

21.Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion All these names, there can be no doubt, are applied to angels, who are so denominated, because, by means of them, God exercises his power, and might, and dominion. He permits them to share, as far as is competent to creatures, what belongs to himself, and even gives to them his own name; for we find that they are called אלהים , ( elohim,) gods. From the diversity of names we conclude that there are various orders of angels; but to attempt to settle these with exactness, to fix their number, or determine their ranks, would not merely discover foolish curiosity, but would be rash, wicked, and dangerous.

But why did he not simply call them Angels? I answer, it was to convey exalted views of the glory of Christ that Paul employed those lofty titles. As if he had said, “There is nothing so elevated or excellent, by whatever name it may be named, that is not subject to the majesty of Christ.” There was an ancient superstition, prevalent both among Jews and Gentiles, falsely attributing to angels many things, in order to draw away their minds from God himself, and from the true Mediator. Paul constantly labors to prevent this imaginary lustre of angels from dazzling the eyes of men, or obscuring the brightness of Christ; and yet his utmost exertions could not prevent “the wiles of the devil”(Eph 6:11) from succeeding in this matter. Thus we see how the world, through a superstitious dread of angels, departed from Christ. It was indeed the unavoidable consequence of the false opinions entertained respecting angels, that the pure knowledge of Christ disappeared.

===Above every name that is named. === Name is here taken for largeness, or excellence; and to be named means to enjoy celebrity and praise. The age that is to come is expressly mentioned, to point out that the exalted rank of Christ is not temporal, but eternal; and that it is not limited to this world, but shines illustriously in the kingdom of God. For this reason, too, Isaiah calls him, (Isa 9:6,) The Father of the future age. In short, the glories of men and angels are made to hold an inferior place, that the glory of Christ, unequalled and unapproached, may shine above them all.

Calvin: Eph 1:22

22.And gave him to be the head He was made the head of the Church, on the condition that he should have the administration of all things. The apostle shews that it was not a mere honorary title, but was accompanied by the entire command and government of the universe. The metaphor of a head denotes the highest authority. I am unwilling to dispute about a name, but we are driven to it by the base conduct of those who flatter the Romish idol. Since Christ alone is called “the head,” all others, whether angels or men, must rank as members; so that he who holds the highest place among his fellows is still one of the members of the same body. And yet they are not ashamed to make an open avowal that the Church will beἀκέφαλον, without a head, if it has not another head on earth besides Christ. So small is the respect which they pay to Christ, that, if he obtain undivided that honor which his Father has bestowed upon him, the Church is supposed to be disfigured. This is the basest sacrilege. But let us listen to the Apostle, who declares that the Church is His body, and, consequently, that those who refuse to submit to Him are unworthy of its communion; for on Him alone the unity of the Church depends.

Calvin: Eph 1:23

23.The fullness of him that filleth all in all This is the highest honor of the Church, that, until He is united to us, the Son of God reckons himself in some measure imperfect. What consolation is it for us to learn, that, not until we are along with him, does he possess all his parts, or wish to be regarded as complete! Hence, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, [1Co 12:12 ] when the apostle discusses largely the metaphor of a human body, he includes under the single name of Christ the whole Church.

That filleth all in all This is added to guard against the supposition that any real defect would exist in Christ, if he were separated from us. His wish to be filled, and, in some respects, made perfect in us, arises from no want or necessity; for all that is good in ourselves, or in any of the creatures, is the gift of his hand; and his goodness appears the more remarkably in raising us out of nothing, that he, in like manner, may dwell and live in us. There is no impropriety in limiting the word all to its application to this passage; for, though all things are regulated by the will and power of Christ, yet the subject of which Paul particularly speaks is the spiritual government of the Church. There is nothing, indeed, to hinder us from viewing it as referring to the universal government of the world; but to limit it to the case in hand is the more probable interpretation.

Defender: Eph 1:18

The spiritual eyes of the natural man have been blinded by Satan, the god of this world (2Co 4:4), and the saving gospel of Christ is beyond his comprehension. In answer to prayer, (Eph 1:16), the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, whose ministry is to convict unbelievers "of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (Joh 16:8) - may bring light to his spiritual eyes, and an understanding faith in Christ. The same Spirit will then continue to enlighten his understanding through the Word."

Defender: Eph 1:21

When Christ defeated sin and death and arose from the dead, He ascended far above all heavens (Eph 4:10), including the dwelling of the angelic hosts and their stellar habitations. The risen, glorified Lord Jesus is now King of all creation (Mat 28:18; Phi 2:9-11), and will be so forever."

Defender: Eph 1:23

The theme of the church as the body of Christ whose members are composed of both Jews and Gentiles is prominent in Eph 2:15, Eph 2:16; Eph 4:4, Eph 4:12-16 (1 Corinthians 12:12-31; Rom 12:4, Rom 12:5; Col 1:24).

Defender: Eph 1:23

This is an amazing concept, that somehow we, the members of His body, can contribute to the "fulness" of the great King who, by virtue of His work of creating, saving and reconciling all things (Col 1:16-20) already "fills all things" (Eph 4:10; Eph 3:19; Eph 4:13; Col 2:9, Col 2:10)."

TSK: Eph 1:16

Cease : Rom 1:8, Rom 1:9; 1Sa 7:8, 1Sa 12:23; Phi 1:3, Phi 1:4; Col 1:3; 1Th 5:17; 2Th 1:3

making : Gen 40:14; Isa 62:6; 1Th 1:2

TSK: Eph 1:17

the God : Eph 1:3; Joh 20:17

the Father : 1Ch 29:11; Psa 24:7, Psa 24:10, Psa 29:3; Jer 2:11; Mat 6:13; Luk 2:14; Act 7:2; 1Co 2:8; Jam 2:1; Rev 7:12

the spirit : Gen 41:38, Gen 41:39; Isa 11:2; Dan 5:11; Luk 12:12, Luk 21:15; Joh 14:17, Joh 14:26; Act 6:10; 1Co 12:8, 1Co 14:6; Col 1:9, Col 2:3; Jam 3:17, Jam 3:18

revelation : Eph 3:5; Dan 2:28-30, Dan 10:1; Mat 11:25, Mat 16:17; 1Co 2:10; 2Co 12:1

in the knowledge : or, for the acknowledgment, Eph 3:18, Eph 3:19; Pro 2:5; Jer 9:24, Jer 24:7, Jer 31:34; Mat 11:27; Joh 8:54, Joh 8:55, Joh 16:3; Joh 17:3, Joh 17:25, Joh 17:26; Rom 1:28; Col 1:10, Col 2:2; 2Ti 2:25; Tit 1:1; 2Pe 1:3; 2Pe 3:18; 1Jo 2:3, 1Jo 2:4

TSK: Eph 1:18

eyes : Eph 5:8; Psa 119:18; Isa 6:10, Isa 29:10,Isa 29:18, Isa 32:3, Isa 42:7; Mat 13:15; Luk 24:45; Act 16:14, Act 26:18; 2Co 4:4, 2Co 4:6; Heb 10:32

is : Eph 2:12, Eph 4:4; Rom 5:4, Rom 5:5, Rom 8:24, Rom 8:25; Gal 5:5; Col 1:5, Col 1:23; 1Th 5:8; 2Th 2:16; Tit 2:13, Tit 3:7; 1Pe 1:3; 1Jo 3:1-3

his calling : Eph 4:1; Rom 8:28-30; Phi 3:14; Col 3:15; 1Th 2:12; 2Th 1:11; 1Ti 6:12; 1Pe 3:9, 1Pe 5:10

the riches : Eph 1:7, Eph 1:11, Eph 3:8, Eph 3:16

TSK: Eph 1:19

exceeding : Eph 2:10, Eph 3:7, Eph 3:20; Psa 110:2, Psa 110:3; Isa 53:1; Joh 3:6; Act 26:18; Rom 1:16; 2Co 4:7, 2Co 5:17; Phi 2:13; Col 1:29, Col 2:12; 1Th 1:5; 2Th 1:11; Jam 1:18

his mighty : Gr. the might of his

TSK: Eph 1:20

he wrought : Eph 2:5, Eph 2:6; Rom 6:5-11; Phi 3:10; 1Pe 1:3

when : Psa 16:9-11; Joh 10:18, Joh 10:30; Act 2:24-33, Act 4:10, Act 10:40, Act 26:8; Rom 1:4; Heb 13:20

and set : Eph 4:8-10; Psa 110:1; Mat 22:43-45, Mat 26:64, Mat 28:18; Mar 14:62, Mar 16:19; Joh 17:1-5; Act 2:34-36, Act 5:31, Act 7:55, Act 7:56; Rom 8:34; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3, Heb 2:9; Heb 10:12; Rev 1:17, Rev 5:11-14

heavenly : Eph 1:3

TSK: Eph 1:21

above : Phi 2:9, Phi 2:10; Col 2:10; Heb 1:4

principality : Eph 3:10, Eph 6:12; Dan 7:27; Rom 8:38, Rom 8:39; Col 1:15, Col 1:16, Col 2:15; Heb 4:14; 1Pe 3:22

every : Mat 28:19; Act 4:12; Phi 2:9-11; Rev 19:12, Rev 19:13

in that : Mat 25:31-36, Mat 28:18; Joh 5:25-29; Heb 2:5; Rev 20:10-15

TSK: Eph 1:22

put : Gen 3:15; Psa 8:6-8, Psa 91:13; 1Co 15:25-27; Heb 2:8

gave : Eph 4:15, Eph 4:16; 1Co 11:3; Col 1:8, Col 2:10,Col 2:19

to the : Eph 3:21; Mat 16:18; Act 20:28; 1Ti 3:15; Heb 12:22-24

TSK: Eph 1:23

his : Eph 2:16, Eph 4:4, Eph 4:12, Eph 5:23-32; Rom 13:5; 1Cor. 12:12-27; Col 1:18, Col 1:24, Col 3:15

fulness : Eph 3:19, Eph 4:10; Joh 1:16; 1Co 12:6, 1Co 15:28; Col 1:19, Col 2:9, Col 2:10, Col 3:11

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Eph 1:16

Cease not to give thanks for you - In the prosperity of the church at Ephesus he could not but feel the deepest interest, and their welfare he never forgot.

Making mention of you in my prayers - Paul was far distant from them, and expected to see them no more. But he had faith in prayer, and he sought that they might advance in knowledge and in grace. What was the particular subject of his prayers, he mentions in the following verses.

Barnes: Eph 1:17

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ - The God who has sent the Lord Jesus into the world, and appointed him as the Mediator between himself and man. The particular reason why Paul here speaks of him as "the God of the Lord Jesus"is, that he prays that they might be further acquainted with the Redeemer, and be enlightened in regard to the great work which he came to do.

The Father of glory - The glorious Father, that is, the Father who is worthy to be praised and honored.

May give unto you the Spirit of wisdom - May make you wise to understand the great doctrines of the religion of the Redeemer.

And revelation - That is, revealing to you more and more of the character of the Redeemer, and of the nature and results of his work. It is probable here that by the word "Spirit"the apostle refers to the Holy Spirit as the Author of all wisdom, and the Revealer of all truth. His prayer is, that God would grant to them the Holy Spirit to make them wise, and to reveal his will to them.

In the knowledge of him - Margin, "for the acknowledgment."That is, in order that you may more fully acknowledge him, or know him more intimately and thoroughly. They had already made high attainments Eph 1:15, but Paul felt that they might make still higher; and the idea here is, that however far Christians may have advanced in knowledge and in love, there is an unfathomed depth of knowledge which they may still explore, and which they should be exhorted still to attempt to fathom. How far was Paul from supposing that the Ephesians had attained to perfection!

Barnes: Eph 1:18

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened - The construction here in the Greek is, probably, "that he may give you ( δώη dōē , Eph 1:17) the Spirit of wisdom, etc. - eyes of the understanding enlightened,"etc. Or the phrase, "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened,"may be in the accusative absolute, which Koppe and Bloomfield prefer. The phrase, "the eyes of the understanding,"is a figure that is common in all languages. Thus, Philo says, "What the eye is to the body, that is the mind to the soul;"compare Mat 6:22. The eye is the instrument by which we see; and in like manner the understanding is that by which we perceive truth. The idea here is, that Paul not only wished their "hearts"to be right, but he wished their "understanding"to be right also. Religion has much to do in enlightening the mind. Indeed, its effect there is not less striking and decisive than it is on the heart. The understanding has been blinded by sin. The views which people entertain of themselves and of God are narrow and wrong. The understanding is enfeebled and perverted by the practice of sin. It is limited in its operations by the necessity of the case, and by the impossibility of fully comprehending the great truths which pertain to the divine administration. One of the first effects of true religion is on the understanding. It enlarges its views of truth; gives it more exalted conceptions of God; corrects its errors; raises it up toward the great Fountain of love. And nowhere is the effect of the true religion more apparent than in shedding light on the intellect of the world, and restoring the weak and perverted mind to a just view of the proportion of things, and to the true knowledge of God.

That ye may know what is the hope of his calling - What is the full import of that hope to which he has called and invited you by his Spirit and his promises. The meaning here is, that it would be an inestimable privilege to be made fully acquainted with the benefits of the Christian hope, and to be permitted to understand fully what Christians have a right to expect in the world of glory. This is the first thing which the apostle desires they should fully understand,

And what the riches of the glory of his inheritance - This is the second thing which Paul wishes them to understand. There is a force in this language which can be found perhaps nowhere else than in the writings of Paul. His mind is full, and language is burdened and borne down under the weight of his thoughts; see the notes at 2Co 4:17. On the word "riches"used here, see the notes at Eph 1:7. The phrase "riches of glory"means "glorious wealth;"or, as we would say, "how rich and glorious!"The meaning is, that there is an abundance - an infinitude of wealth. It is not such a possession as man may be heir to in this world, which is always limited from the necessity of the case, and which cannot be enjoyed long; it is infinite and inexhaustible; compare notes, Rom 2:4. The "inheritance"hero referred to is eternal life. notes, Rom 8:17.

In the saints - Among the saints. note, 1Co 1:2.

Barnes: Eph 1:19

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

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

Who believe - Who are Christians.

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

Barnes: Eph 1:20

Which he wrought in Christ - Which he exerted in relation to the Lord Jesus when he was dead. The "power"which was then exerted was as great as that of creation. It was imparting life to a cold and "mangled"frame. It was to open again the arteries and veins, and teach the heart to beat and the lungs to heave. It was to diffuse vital warmth through the rigid muscles, and to communicate to the body the active functions of life. It is impossible to conceive of a more direct exertion of "power"than in raising up the dead; and there is no more striking illustration of the nature of conversion than in such a resurrection.

And set him at his own right hand - The idea is, that great power was displayed by this, and that a similar exhibition is made when man is renewed and exalted to the high honor of being made an heir of God. On the fact that Jesus was received to the right hand of God, see the notes at Mar 16:19; compare the notes at Act 2:33.

In the heavenly places - see the notes at Eph 1:3. The phrase here evidently means in heaven itself.

Barnes: Eph 1:21

Far above all principality - The general sense in this verse is, that the Lord Jesus was exalted to the highest conceivable dignity and honor; compare Phi 2:9; Col 2:10. In this beautiful and most important passage, the apostle labors for words to convey the greatness of his conceptions, and uses those which denote the highest conceivable dignity and glory. The "main"idea is, that God had manifested great "power"in thus exalting the Lord Jesus, and that similar power was exhibited in raising up the sinner from the death of sin to the life and honor of believing. The work of religion throughout was a work of power; a work of exalting and honoring "the dead,"whether dead in sin or in the grave; and Christians ought to know the extent and glory of the power thus put forth in their salvation. The word rendered "far above"- ὑπεράνω huperanō - is a compound word, meaning "high above,"or greatly exalted. He was not merely "above"the ranks of the heavenly beings, as the head; he was not one of their own rank, placed by office a little above them, but he was infinitely exalted over them, as of different rank and dignity. How could this be if he were a mere man; or if he were an angel? The word rendered "principality"- ἀρχή archē - means properly, "the beginning;"and then the first, the first place, power, dominion, pre-eminence, rulers. magistrates, etc. It may refer here to any rank and power, whether among people or angels, and the sense is, that Christ is exalted above all.

And power - It is not easy to distinguish between the exact meaning of the words which the apostle here uses. The general idea is, that Christ is elevated above all ranks of creatures, however exalted. and by whatever name they may be known. As in this he refers to the "world that is to come,"as well as this world, it is clear that there is a reference here to the ranks of the angels, and probably he means to allude to the prevailing opinion among the Jews, that the angels are of different orders. Some of the Jewish rabbies reckon four, others ten orders of angels, and they presume to give them names according to their different ranks and power. But all this is evidently the result of mere fancy. The Scriptures hint in several places at a difference of rank among the angels, but the sacred writers do not go into detail. It may be added that there is no improbability in such a subordination, but it is rather to be presumed to be true. The creatures of God are not made alike; and difference of degree and rank, as far as our observation extends everywhere prevails. On this verse compare the notes at Rom 8:38.

Dominion - Greek "Lordship."

And every name that is named - Every creature of every rank.

Not only in this world - Not only above all kings, and princes, and rulers of every grade and rank on earth.

But also in that which is to come - This refers undoubtedly to heaven. The meaning is, that he is Supreme over all.

Barnes: Eph 1:22

And hath put all things under his feet - See the notes at 1Co 15:27.

And gave him to be the head over all things - Appointed him to be the supreme ruler.

To the church - With reference to the church, or for ira benefit and welfare: see the notes or, Joh 17:2. The universe is under his control and direction for the welfare of his people.

\caps1 (1) a\caps0 ll the elements - the physical works of God - the winds and waves - the seas and rivers - all are under him, and all are to be made tributary to the welfare of the church.

\caps1 (2) e\caps0 arthly kings and rulers; kingdoms and nations are under his control. Thus far Christ has controlled all the wicked rulers of the earth, and they have not been able to destroy that church which he redeemed with his own blood.

\caps1 (3) a\caps0 ngels in heaven, with all their ranks and orders, are under his control with reference to the church; see the notes at Heb 1:14; compare Mat 26:53.

\caps1 (4) f\caps0 allen angels are under his control, and shall not be able to injure or destroy the church. See the notes at Mat 16:18. The church, therefore, is safe. All the great powers of heaven, earth, and hell, are made subject to its Head and King; and no weapon that is formed against it shall prosper.

Barnes: Eph 1:23

Which is his body - This comparison of the church with "a person"or body, of which the Lord Jesus is the head, is not uncommon in the New Testament; compare the notes at 1Co 11:3; 1Co 12:27, note; Eph 4:15-16, notes.

The fulness of him - The word rendered here as "fulness"- πλήρωμα plērōma - means properly, that with which anything is filled; the filling up; the contents; notes, Rom 11:12. The exact idea here, however, is not very clear, and interpreters have been by no means united in their opinions of the meaning. It seems probable that the sense is, that the church is the "completion or filling up"of his power and glory. It is that without which his dominion would not be complete. He has control over the angels and over distant worlds, but; his dominion would not be complete without the control over his church, and that is so glorious, that it "fills up"the honor of the universal dominion, and makes his empire complete. According to Rosenmuller, the word "fulness"here means a "great number"or multitude; a multitude, says he, which, not confined to its own territory, spreads afar, and fills various regions.

Koppe also regards it as synonymous with "multitude or many,"and supposes it to mean all the dominion of the Redeemer over the body - the church. He proposes to translate the whole verse, "He has made him the Head over his church, that he might rule it as his own body - the whole wide state of his universal kingdom.""This,"says Calvin (in loc.), "is the highest honor of the church, that the Son of God regards himself as in a certain sense imperfect unless he is joined to us."The church constitutes the "complete body"of the Redeemer. A body is complete when it has all its members and limbs in proper proportions, and those members might be said to be the "completion,"or the filling-up, or the "fulness"- πλήρωμα plērōma - of the body or the person. This language would not, indeed, be such as would usually be adopted to express the idea now; but this is evidently the sense in which Paul uses it here.

The meaning is, that the church sustains the same relation to Christ, which the body does to the head. It helps to form the entire person. There is a close and necessary union. The one is not complete without the other. And one is dependent on the other. When the body has all its members in due proportion, and is in sound and vigorous health, the whole person then is complete and entire. So it is to be in the kingdom of the Redeemer. He is the head; and that redeemed Church is the body, the fulness, the completion, the filling-up of the entire empire over which he presides, and which he rules. On the meaning of the word "fulness"- πλήρωμα plērōma - the reader may consult Storr’ s Opuscula, vol. i. pp. 144-187, particularly pp. 160-183. Storr understands the word in the sense of full or abundant mercy, and supposes that it refers to the great benignity which "God"has shown to his people, and renders it, "The great benignity of him who filleth all things with good, as he called Jesus from tile dead to life and placed him in heaven, so even you, sprung from the pagan, who were dead in sin on account of your many offences in which you formerly lived, etc. - hath he called to life by Christ."This verse, therefore, he would connect with the following chapter, and he regards it all as designed to illustrate the great power and goodness of God. Mr. Locke renders it, "Which is his body, which is completed by him alone,"and supposes it means, that Christ is the head, who perfects the church by supplying all things to all its members which they need.

Chandler gives an interpretation in accordance with that which I have first suggested, as meaning that the church is the full "complement"of the body of Christ; and refers to Aelian and Dionysius Halicarnassus, who use the word "fulness"or πλήρωμα plērōma as referring to the rowers of a ship. Thus also we say that the ship’ s crew is its "complement,"or that a ship or an army has its "complement"of people; that is, the ranks are filled up or complete. In like manner, the church will be the filling-up, or the complement, of the great kingdom of the Redeemer - that which will give "completion"or perfectness to his universal dominion.

Of him - Of the Redeemer.

That filleth all in all - That fills all things, or who pervades all things; see the notes, 1Co 12:6; 1Co 15:28, note; compare Col 3:11. The idea is, that there is no place where he is not, and which he does not fill; and that he is the source of all the holy and happy influences that are abroad in the works of God. It would not be easy to conceive of an expression more certainly denoting omnipresence and universal agency than this; and if it refers to the Lord Jesus, as seems to be indisputable, the passage teaches not only his supremacy, but demonstrates his universal agency, and his omnipresence - things that pertain only to God. From this passage we may observe:

(1) That just views of the exaltation of the Redeemer are to be obtained only by the influence of the Spirit of God on the heart; Eph 1:17-19. Man, by nature, tins no just conceptions of the Saviour, and has no desire to have. It is only as the knowledge of that great doctrine is imparted to the mind by the Spirit of God, that we have any practical and saving acquaintance with such an exaltation. The Christian sees him, by faith, exalted to the right hand of God, and cheerfully commits himself and his all to him, and feels that all his interests are safe in his hands.

\caps1 (2) i\caps0 t is very desirable to have such views of an exalted Saviour. So Paul felt When he earnestly prayed that God would give such views to the Ephesians, Eph 1:17-20. It was desirable in order that they might have a right understanding of their privileges; in order that they might know the extent of the power which had been manifested in their redemption; in order that they might commit their souls with confidence to him. In my conscious weakness and helplessness; when I am borne down by the labors and exposed to the temptations of life; when I contemplate approaching sickness and death, I desire to feel that that Saviour to whom I have committed my all is exalted far above principalities and powers, and every name that is named. When the church is persecuted and opposed; when hosts of enemies rise up against it and threaten its peace and safety, I rejoice to feel assured the Redeemer and Head Of the church is over all, and that he has power to subdue all her foes and his.

\caps1 (3) t\caps0 he church is safe. Her great Head is on the throne of the universe, and no weapon that is formed against her can prosper. He has defended it hitherto in all times of persecution, and the past is a pledge that he will continue to protect it to the end of the world.

\caps1 (4) l\caps0 et us commit our souls to this exalted Redeemer. Such a Redeemer we need - one who has all power in heaven and earth. Such a religion we need - that can restore the dead to life. Such hope and confidence we need as he can give - such peace and calmness as shall result from unwavering confidence in him who filleth all in all.

Poole: Eph 1:16

Cease not to give thanks for you for your faith and love, and all the spiritual blessings God hath bestowed upon you.

Making mention of you in my prayers I not only acknowledge what ye have received, but pray that what is yet lacking in you may be made up.

Poole: Eph 1:17

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ he is the God of Christ not according to Christ’ s Divine nature, but his human, and as Mediator, in which respect he was subject to the Father.

The Father of glory the most glorious Father, and the Author of all glory and glorious things, and to whom all glory is due.

May give unto you the spirit of wisdom a greater measure (for some they already had) of faith, as Eph 1:8 , where it is called wisdomor of the knowledge of the things of God, whereof the Spirit is the Author. God is said to give or send the Spirit, where the Spirit works effectually; and, so to give the Spirit of wisdom, where the Spirit effectually works that wisdom.

And revelation: by revelation he means not extraordinary, such as the prophets had, but ordinary, such as was common to believers, and expresseth the manner of the Spirit’ s working this wisdom, that he doth it by removing the covering or veil of natural ignorance, Psa 119:18 Luk 24:45shining into the mind, and making it see what before it saw not; sometimes new objects, sometimes new excellencies in objects before known. Thus the Spirit works not only in the beginning of faith and spiritual knowledge, but in its further progress he lets in new light into the mind, and removes some remaining degree of natural darkness.

In the knowledge or acknowledgment, which may imply an ownng, approving, and embracing things before known.

Of him i.e. God or Christ, or God in Christ: and so either he declares here wherein the wisdom he mentioned consists, viz. the knowledge of God and Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: or rather, the end of that wisdom and revelation, viz. the acknowledgment of God or Christ, when we so know him, as to own him as ours, to embrace, and love, and wholly subject ourselves to him, Col 1:9,10 .

Poole: Eph 1:18

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened viz. by that

spirit of revelation: and so this clause explains the former. What the eye is to the body, that the understanding is to the soul. He prays for a further degree of illumination for them.

That ye may know what is the hope of his calling either:

1. The object of hope, the thing hoped for, as Col 1:5 Gal 5:5 ; and then the meaning is, what it is to the hope of which God hath called you by the gospel. Or:

2. The grace of hope: q.d. That ye may know how great, and sure, and well grounded that hope is, which by the gospel is wrought in you.

And what the riches of the glory the glorious riches, or the abundant glory; riches of glory, and riches of grace, Eph 1:7 , and riches of glory, Rom 6:23 .

Of his because he is the Father of it: he gives this glory as the Father of glory. As men give inheritances suitable to their estates, so God, as the God of glory, and Father of glory, gives a glorious inheritance.

Inheritance heaven, called an inheritance both in respect of believers’ title to it by virtue of their adoption, being heirs of God; and in respect of the perpetuity of their enjoying it, on which account it is called an eternal inheritance, Heb 9:15 .

In the saints or, among the saints, those, namely, that are perfect, who alone are possessed of the inheritance, which saints on earth have only in hope.

Poole: Eph 1:19

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

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

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

Poole: Eph 1:20

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead i.e. the power God exerciseth toward believers is such as that was whereby he raised up Christ from the dead.

And set him at his own right hand hath invested him with the greatest honour, dignity, and power, as princes set the next in honour and authority to themselves at their right hands: see Mat 20:21 .

In the heavenly places in the highest heaven, called the third heaven, 2Co 12:2 , and paradise, 2Co 12:4 .

Poole: Eph 1:21

Principality, and power, and might, and dominion: these terms are sometimes applied to magistrates and men in authority here in the world, Tit 3:1 Jud 1:8 sometimes to angels; to good ones, Col 1:16 ; to evil ones, Eph 6:12 Col 2:15 ; though with allusion to powers in the world, or because by them God puts forth and exerciseth his power and dominion. By these, then, the apostle understands good angels, as Eph 3:10 ; or, comprehensively, all sorts of powers, both visible and invisible, as Col 1:16 1Pe 3:22 .

And every name that is named lest any might think he had not named all above whom Christ is exalted, he adds this, to take all in.

Every name that is, every person, and every thing which hath a name; whatever hath any dignity or excellency.

Not only in this world, but also in that which is to come because, though it hath a being at present, yet it is future to us who are not yet possessed of it. Either this clause relates to Christ’ s sitting at his Father’ s right hand, and then it notes the perpetuity of his reign, that his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, Luk 1:33 ; or rather, to the words immediately going before: q.d. If there be any name, any dignity, or excellency, not known in this life, and which shall be known in the other; yet, be they what they may, Christ is above them all.

Poole: Eph 1:22

All things either all his enemies, as Psa 110:1 , all except the church, which is said to be his body; or all things more generally, of which he spake before, angels and men; all are made subject to Christ, 1Pe 3:22 .

Hath put all things under his feet put them into a perfect and full subjection to him.

Objection. All things are not yet put under him.

Answer.

1. All things are so put under him that he can do with them what he please, break all his enemies in pieces when he will, though for many reasons he yet doth it not.

2. They are begun to be subjected to him, and by degrees shall be further subjected, till they be perfectly and absolutely subjected unto him, de facto, as already they are de jure.

And gave him appointed, or constituted, or made him.

To be head a mystical head; such a one not only as a king is to his subjects, to rule them externally by his laws, but such as a natural head is to the body, which it governs by way of influence, conveying spirits to it, and so causing and maintaining sense and motion in it, Eph 4:16 Col 2:19 .

Over all things either:

1. God hath chiefly, and above all before mentioned, given Christ to be the Head of the church; q.d. Though he be King and Lord of all, yet God hath made him the only proper Head to the church only; God hath set him above principalities and powers, but especially hath appointed him to be the Head of the church. Or:

2. Over all things may be meant, for the communication of all good things to the church, and performing all offices of a Head to her; a Head to the church, with a power over all things for her good.

To the church the catholic church, or whole collection of believers throughout the world, and in all ages of it.

things under his feet put them into a perfect and full subjection to him.

Objection. All things are not yet put under him.

Answer.

1. All things are so put under him that he can do with them what he please, break all his enemies in pieces when he will, though for many reasons he yet doth it not.

2. They are begun to be subjected to him, and by degrees shall be further subjected, till they be perfectly and absolutely subjected unto him, de facto, as already they are de jure.

And gave him appointed, or constituted, or made him.

To be head a mystical head; such a one not only as a king is to his subjects, to rule them externally by his laws, but such as a natural head is to the body, which it governs by way of influence, conveying spirits to it, and so causing and maintaining sense and motion in it, Eph 4:16 Col 2:19 .

Over all things either:

1. God hath chiefly, and above all before mentioned, given Christ to be the Head of the church; q.d. Though he be King and Lord of all, yet God hath made him the only proper Head to the church only; God hath set him above principalities and powers, but especially hath appointed him to be the Head of the church. Or:

2. Over all things may be meant, for the communication of all good things to the church, and performing all offices of a Head to her; a Head to the church, with a power over all things for her good.

To the church the catholic church, or whole collection of believers throughout the world, and in all ages of it.

Poole: Eph 1:23

Which is his body i.e. a mystical one, whereof every member is influenced by the Spirit of Christ the Head, as in the natural body the members are influenced by spirits derived from the natural head.

The fulness of him: the church is called the fulness of Christ, not personally, but relatively considered, and as Head of the church. The head is incomplete without the body; Christ in his relative capacity as a Head, would not be complete without his mystical body the church.

That filleth all in all: lest Christ should be thought to have any need of the church, because of her being said to be his fulness, it is added, that she herself is filled by Christ. Christ fills all his body, and all the members of it, with the gifts and graces of his Spirit, Eph 4:10 .

PBC: Eph 1:17

" eyes of your understanding being enlightened"

He (God) has revealed himself in Scripture. Ps 19:7-14; Ro 1:16-17 Revelation, in other words, was communicated to man via the vehicle of inspiration. As we read and study God’s revealed word, therefore, we need illumination from God the Holy Spirit. Eph 1:18

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What boundless love marked the petitions of Paul as he came boldly to the throne of grace for these brethren? His desires for them seemed to be addresses to the Father of glory, who alone commanded these blessings, so would he show them the intensity of his affection in his desire that they attain to the highest measure knowledge and spiritual joy. We learn from this something of the bond that unites the true minister with his flock. He is fitted in heart and experience to care for them. No thought of gain or honor touches his bosom, but an affectionate, tender, and lasting regard for their well being, that God alone puts in the heart. Human training does not produce the self-sacrificing, tender, out-going principle of love that is necessary in caring for the flock of God. It is akin to the feeling which the mother has for her offspring which no opposition, suffering, nor persecution can destroy. Prompted by this solicitude, Paul pored forth his soul in prayer for his brethren. He knew the value to the church of a spiritually minded congregation, that could witness to the experimental truth and doctrinal sentiments of the gospel. What is more sad than to see Christians active and penetrating as to worldly things, and yet dull and stupid in things eternal? Alas! How often are church members found to be, what the apostle calls in another letter " weak, and sickly, and asleep," irresolute, and disinclined, and incapable of understanding the solid truths of God’s word when presented to them.

Eld. James Oliphant

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It is interesting to note that very seldom do we find the apostle Paul praying for people with physical problems.  He was far more concerned about their spiritual health.

Oh that we might be burdened for the spiritual needs of those who are physically sick and those that have other problems and those that we encounter in our own life.  That we might have a prayer continually for spiritual growth that there may be a development in our lives to be drawn closer to the Lord and to display the fruit of the Spirit to the honor of His name.  Paul was perpetually concerned about that.  He's praying that they may have wisdom.  He wants them to have knowledge concerning Jesus Christ, the eyes of their understanding being enlightened that they might know more about the hope of His calling and the riches of His glory in the inheritance of the saints in light.

PBC: Eph 1:19

Paul taught that our belief results from God’s mighty power, the same power which he exerted in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the grave. Belief in God does not result from a logical analysis of the carnal, rational mind of sinful man. The carnal mind is God’s enemy, not his intelligent ally, Ro 8:7.

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Eph 1:19-20  " And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places."

This passage shows clearly how we comprehend and believe the gospel. It was simply Paul’s own experience, and it can be no less true today, for Paul was a pattern for all them that afterward believe. But notwithstanding this clear statement of the apostle, it is now everywhere proclaimed that men have sufficient power to repent and believe the gospel. If so, why did not Paul believe if himself? He certainly had great intellectual power and strength of mind. His reasoning caused Felix to tremble on the judgement seat, and Festus and Agrippa were startled by his learning, and yet he tells us that it tool the same display of power to cause him to believe that it did to raise Jesus from the dead and set him in the heavenly places. He gives these as parallel cases, both of which are accomplished by the working of God’s mighty power. He would have us think of the Savior being taken from the cross—the vital spark gone out; he is laid in the rocky sepulchre, which is then closed with a great stone bearing Pilate’s seal; grim soldiers guard this place of death. Friends could not save his life, what can they do now that he is in the tomb? Will he leave this dark abode; will he live again? Yes, if the text be true, God will rescue his darling from the lions. He will not suffer his Holy One to see corruption. Yes, Jesus will live again, but who will mention the help of man in such a circumstance? Who will speak of our Savior as being taught or persuaded to rise from the dead? Study carefully this wonderful event, and you will have the precise power that makes men believe. There is no place in the salvation of sinners where the best of men, nor angels, nor the sinner himself can take any part. The power that wrought silently, wonderfully, effectually in the tomb of Jesus, is the only force that can deliver men from the power of darkness, and translate them into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. They are dead in trespasses and sins, and none can quicken them but God. He reserves this right to himself, and he will not give this glory to another. The capacity or power to believe in God has many forms of expression. It is known in God’s word as a quickening, a deliverance, a translation, an opening of the heart, an opening of blind eyes, opening the eyes of your understanding, born of God, born from above, born from incorruptible seed, called with a holy calling, partaking of the divine nature, the gift of eternal life, renewed in the spirit of your mind, renewing of the Holy Ghost, washing of regeneration, a creation in Christ Jesus, and many others, and all of which denote the working of God’s mighty power. Turn where we may in God’s word, a cloud of witnesses assures us that this mighty power goes before or underlies every manifestation of spiritual life. It is said that he that believeth is born of God, and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believe. This shows that God prepares the heart to receive his word. Of his own will begat he us, says James. He is the author and finisher of our faith, that is our belief and trust in God as a Redeemer and Savior. When Paul wrote of believing according to God’s mighty power, no doubt he called to mind his memorable journey to Damascus—that great crises of his life—when, as he said, " It pleased God to reveal His Son in him." No man, or church, or angel, was pleading for Paul; it simply was the good pleasure of God’s sovereign will, and so, this revelation of Christ Jesus, is that which is essential to " seeing the Kingdom of God," or receiving the things of the Spirit, and no man can reveal Jesus to his brother, saying, " Know the Lord."

Eld. James Oliphant

PBC: Eph 1:21

Our minds are put in awe by this picture of the Savior’s exaltation. It seems to be the answer to his prayer to God the night of his betrayal, " O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." From being an object of scorn, and suffering, and death, he is, by the greatness of God’s power, set above all principality, might, and dominion, and above every name that is named on earth, or known in heaven. How often we are told of his power and glory and how things are put under his feet; but in this letter we learn that his people are connected with the praise of his glory, and Paul concludes the chapter by the wonderful statement that he is given to be the head over all things to the church, and that the church is his body and his fullness. He shares his glory and his honor with his people, saying to them, " Because I live, ye shall live also." What great joy these reflections should bring to our hearts! When Jacob heard of the great power of Joseph in Egypt, he was comforted; he was so related to Jacob’s family that all his power would be turned to do them good, and they would share in Joseph’s honor and glory. When David slew the giant, Israel rejoiced, they shared the victory with him, for he was their brother. And so the church rejoices and shares in the triumph of her Redeemer. He appeared for her in his life, and in his death, and now in heaven appears in her behalf. The doctrine of covenant union, before faith and before time, in the foundation for all his loving toil and perfect victory. He left the throne of glory to fill the place of a Redeemer, and as the Surety of his people, he endured the cross, caring nothing for the shame of it. They were given to him before time, that he might give eternal life to them. Adam represented every human being in his one sin, and Jesus, in his obedience, was the head of all chosen in him.

The representative nature of Christ’s obedience, death, resurrection, and intercession is essentially necessary, so Paul argues in Romans from previous considerations. Answering the question, " Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?" he says, " It is Christ that died [for them], yea rather, that is risen again [for them], who is even at the right hand of God [for them], who also maketh intercession for us." Take away the doctrine of covenant union before time and before faith, and you strip all his works of their consistency and essential glory, for this is the ground upon which we may glory in the cross and in Christ’s great glory in heaven. Let us remember that our dearest friend is at the right hand of the Father; that all power is given into his hand, and that every enemy is beneath his feet. The same power that upholds the universe is engaged to uphold Zion, and the feeblest of her members. Therefore, we have reason to press on though our own sins and the evil influences of a sinful world make war on our doctrine. Let us show by an upright walk that the sentiment of trusting all to Christ does not tend to licentiousness, but that such a principle forms the strongest incentive to obedience and correct living, and this is the sentiment of this chapter, faith in him and his unchanging power, and faithfulness to him in continued and devoted service.

Eld. James Oliphant

Haydock: Eph 1:19

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

Haydock: Eph 1:21

All principality. The Fathers agree that there are nine orders of blessed spirits, of which some are specified here, in the Epistle to the Colossians we have the order of thrones, to which if we add the cherubim, seraphim, Angels, and Archangels, we shall have nine. Calvin and other heretics strive to bring into doubt, and to corrupt may points of Catholic doctrine, sufficiently clear in holy writ, and sanctified by the general belief of the Universal or Catholic Church.

Haydock: Eph 1:22

As Christ is king, and yet men are kings also; so Christ is head of the Church, and yet man may be head thereof also. Jesus Christ is bishop and pastor of our souls; (Hebrews iii.) but is that a reason why there should be no other bishop and pastor of our souls?

Notes as to the style or expressions of St. Paul, in this chapter.

Haydock: Eph 1:23

Who is filled all in all. [5] In the Latin the words have a passive signification, is filled; in the Greek may be signified, who filleth all in all. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Qui omnia in omnibus adimpletur, Greek: panta en pasi pleroumenou; which may either be in the passive or middle voice. St. Jerome, in his exposition, (p. 337) expressly says: Non ait, qui omnia in omnibus adimplet, sed qui omnia in omnibus adimpletur....sicut ergo adimpletur Imperator, si quotidie ejus impleatur exercitus, sic dominus Jesus, &c. See St. John Chrysostom in Lat. edit. (p. 869) and in the Greek, (p. 776. lin. 31) Greek: dia panton oun pleroutai to soma, where the whole text requires a passive sense.

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Gill: Eph 1:16

Cease not to give thanks for you,.... On account of their faith and love; which were gifts of grace bestowed upon them, and not the produce of their own free will and power; and therefore thanks are given to God for them:

making mention of you in my prayers; which shows the apostle to be a praying person, and that he was constant at the throne of grace, where he prayed for others as well as for himself; and it points out the time and way, when, and in which he gave thanks to God for them; and is mentioned, not only to testify his great affection for them, but also to excite them, by his example, to the practice of those duties themselves.

Gill: Eph 1:17

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,.... In what sense God the Father is the God of Christ; see Gill on Eph 1:3.

The Father of glory; or the glorious Father; who is glorious in himself, in the perfections of his nature, and in the works of his hands; and as a father, he is a glorious father to Christ, and is a father to him, as he is to none else; and has been honoured and glorified by Christ, and from whom Christ as man has received much honour and glory: and he is a glorious father to the saints, to whom he has shown inexpressible love, by adopting them into his family; and pities them, as a father does his children; takes care of them, and protects them, and makes a glorious provision for them; not only of good things now, but of an eternal inheritance hereafter: and he may be so called, because he is the author and giver of eternal glory and happiness; and because all glory is due unto him: the Arabic version reads, "God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory", making all these epithets to belong to Christ:

may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of him; this was one part of the apostle's prayers for the saints at Ephesus, that they might increase in divine knowledge; either in the knowledge of God, as the God of Christ, and the Father of glory, and as their God and Father in Christ; or of God, as considered in Christ the Mediator; or else of Christ himself: and designs not a notional and speculative knowledge of Christ, but what is practical and experimental; and which is joined with love of him, faith in him, and obedience to him; and which is not only approbative, but fiducial and appropriating; and though it is but imperfect, yet is progressive; and for the progression of it, the apostle prays; for it is certain, that these saints had a knowledge of Christ, but this was not perfect; and a larger measure of it was desirable: and in order to this, he prays for the Spirit, as a "spirit of wisdom"; who implants spiritual wisdom in the hearts of men, and instructs them in the Gospel, the hidden wisdom of God, leads them into all truths, and opens to them the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, which are hid in Christ, the wisdom of God; and as a spirit of "revelation"; who reveals Christ and the things of Christ, at first conversion; and afterwards reveals him and his righteousness, and other benefits of his more largely, even from faith to faith; and gives a clearer view of interest in them: hence it appears, that the Spirit is the gift of God; and that all spiritual light and knowledge, and the increase of it, are owing to him.

Gill: Eph 1:18

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened,.... By the Spirit of God already, to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin; the insufficiency of their own righteousness; the beauty, glory, fulness, and suitableness of Christ, as a Saviour; the excellency, truth, and usefulness of the doctrines of the Gospel; in which their understandings were before dark, but now had light into them: wherefore these words are not to be considered as part of the apostle's petitions, but rather as what was taken for granted by him; and are to be put into a parenthesis, and the following words to be joined in connection with the preceding verse; unless it should be thought, that the apostle prays for greater illuminations, and for more spiritual light, and that the eyes of their understandings might be more and more enlightened; the phrase, עין השכל, ομμα της διανοιας, "the eye of the understanding", is Rabbinical, and often to be met with in Jewish writings ^f; the Alexandrian copy, and several others, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read, "the eyes of your heart"; and to, עיני הלבבות, "the eyes of the hearts, or minds", is a phrase used by the Jewish writers ^g:

that ye may know what is the hope of his calling; by which is meant, the effectual calling of the saints; which is not a call to an office, or a call merely by the external ministry of the word; but which is internal, special, powerful, high, and heavenly: and this is the calling of God, of which he is the author; who calls with an holy calling, unto eternal glory by Christ Jesus; and which is without repentance: and the hope of this calling, is either eternal happiness, which is the thing hoped for; or Christ, who is the ground and foundation of it; or the grace of hope, which is exercised on both; or all three: for hope of eternal glory, as it is founded on Christ, may be said to be the hope of the calling of God, because it is wrought in the soul at the time of the effectual calling, and what saints are then called to the exercise of; and calling grace, is an encouragement to hope for eternal life; since whom God calls, he justifies and glorifies: and now the apostle prays, that these saints who were called by the grace of God, might know more of Christ, the foundation of their hope; and what that is they are hoping for, and more and more what it is to hope for the same, upon the view of Christ's person, blood, and righteousness:

and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints; the saints themselves are the Lord's portion, and the lot of his inheritance, in whom he is, and will be abundantly glorified; but here it rather seems to design the heavenly inheritance before spoken of, of which the Spirit is the earnest; and this is the Lord's, it is of his preparing, and it is his gift, and a very rich and glorious inheritance it is: hence it is not only signified by mansions, and everlasting habitations, by an house, and by a city, but by a kingdom; the riches of grace are preparatory to it, and the riches of glory are comprised in it; and this is in, or among the saints, who only have a right unto it, and a meetness for it; and what this inheritance is, with the riches and glory of it, will not be fully known in this life; and indeed but little of it is known; so that such a petition as this is always proper and pertinent.

Gill: Eph 1:19

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

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

Gill: Eph 1:20

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,.... There are many articles of faith contained in this passage; as that Christ died, that he is raised from the dead, that he was raised from the dead by God the Father, and that his resurrection was by the power of God: the resurrection of any person is an instance of great power, but Christ's resurrection from the dead was an instance of peculiar and special power; for he was raised from the dead as a public person, representing all his people, for whom he became a surety; and he was raised again for their justification, and to great glory in himself, after he had been brought into a very low estate indeed: moreover, this passage in connection with the preceding verse suggests, that there is some proportion between the power put forth on Christ in raising him from the dead, and that which is exerted in the work of conversion and faith: there is some likeness between the things themselves, as well as in the display of power in them; Christ's resurrection is called a begetting, and he is styled the first begotten from the dead, and the regeneration of men is signified by a resurrection from the dead; as Christ's body was really dead, lifeless, and without motion, antecedent to his resurrection, so men, previous to conversion, are dead in trespasses and sins, and are destitute of spiritual life and motion; and as Christ's human nature could not help itself, could not raise itself, so neither can dead sinners convert themselves, or bring themselves out of that state and condition, in which they are by nature; and as the resurrection of Christ was the pure work of God, and a display of his almighty power, so the work of faith, of grace and conversion, is the entire work of God, which is begun, carried on, and finished wholly by his power; and as Christ's resurrection was in order to his glorification, so is the regeneration and conversion of men, in order to their enjoyment of the heavenly inheritance, as it follows:

and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places; which is expressive of the great honour conferred upon the human nature of Christ, such as never was given to any of the angels, and of the glory it is exalted to; and shows that he has done his work on earth with acceptance, which he came about; and therefore is set down at his Father's right hand, where he enjoys rest and ease from his labours, and is out of the reach of every enemy; will never die again, but live for ever, to intercede for his people, to assist and protect them, and bring them where he is; and in whom, as their head and representative, they are already set down in the same heavenly places.

Gill: Eph 1:21

Far above all principality and power,.... Good angels and bad angels, and civil magistrates, who also may be intended by the following words:

and might and dominion; good angels may be so called, because of their employment under God in the affairs of Providence, and the government of this world; and Christ is not only above them, as he is God, being their Creator, who has made them, and on whom they depend, and is the Lord whom they serve, and is the object of their worship and adoration, and as he is Mediator, to whom they minister, and so is above them in nature, name, and office; but also as he is man, in union with the Son of God; and chiefly he here is said to be above them on account of place, being at the right hand of God, where they are not, Heb 1:13. And evil angels may be so called, because of the government which subsists among themselves, and the power and influence they have over mankind; Christ was above them when here on earth, as appears by his resisting the temptations of Satan, and defeating him in them; by his dispossessing devils from the bodies of men; by his spoiling and destroying them and their works at his death; and by his leading them captive, and triumphing over them at his ascension; and by delivering souls out of his hands at conversion, through his power attending the ministration of his Gospel; and his being above them will still be more manifest, in the binding of Satan a thousand years, and in the final condemnation of him, and of all his angels under him: civil magistrates are sometimes called by these names, and Christ is above them; they receive their governments from him, they rule by him, and are accountable to him, and are set up and put down at his pleasure; all these senses may be taken in; but the first seems chiefly designed: it is added,

and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; persons of authority and dignity, of fame and renown, whether in earth or heaven; as emperors, kings, princes, nobles, generals of armies &c. in this world, and cherubim, seraphim, &c. in the other world: this phrase denotes both the extensiveness of Christ's kingdom, and the eternity of it; as reaching to both worlds, and being over everything in them, and as lasting to the end of this, and unto that which is to come.

Gill: Eph 1:22

And hath put all things under his feet,.... These words are taken out of Psa 8:6. See Gill on 1Co 15:27.

And gave him to be the head over all things to the church; the Vulgate Latin version reads, "and gave him to be the head over every church", or "all the church"; the Ethiopic version, "the whole church"; which intends not barely professors of religion, or a family of faithful persons, or a particular congregation, in which sense the word is sometimes used; but the whole body of God's elect, the church, which is built on Christ the rock, for which he gave himself, and which is the general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven: Christ is an head to this church; in what sense he is so; see Gill on 1Co 11:3. And this headship of Christ is the gift of God; and it is an honourable gift to him, as Mediator; it is a glorifying of him, and a giving him in all things the pre-eminence; and it is a free grace gift to the church, and a very special, valuable, and excellent one, and of infinite benefit and advantage to it; and which is expressed in his being head "over all things" to it; to overrule all things for its good; to communicate all good things to it; and to perform all the good offices of an head for it: the Syriac version reads, "and him who is above all things, he gave to be the head to the church" even him who is God over all, blessed for evermore.

Gill: Eph 1:23

Which is his body,.... That is, which church is the body of Christ; as an human body is but one, consisting of various members, united to each other, and set in an exact proportion and symmetry, and in a proper subservience to one another, and which must be neither more nor fewer than they are; so the church of Christ is but one general assembly, which consists of many persons, of different gifts and usefulness, and are all united together under one head, Christ, whose name they bear, and are made to drink of the same Spirit; and these are placed in such order, as throw a glory and comeliness on each other, and to be useful to one another, so that it cannot be said of the meanest member, that there is no need of it; and the number of them can neither be increased nor diminished; and this is Christ's body, his mystical body, which becomes his by the Father's gift to him, and by his own purchase; to which he is united, and of which he is the only head; and which he loves as his own body, and supplies, directs, and defends:

the fulness of him that filleth all in all; besides the personal fulness which Christ has as God, and his fulness of ability and fitness for his work as Mediator, and his dispensatory fulness, which dwells in him for the use of his people, the church is his relative fulness, which fills him, and makes up Christ mystical; and which is filled by him, and is complete in him: and then will the church appear to be Christ's fulness, when all the elect, both Jews and Gentiles, shall be gathered in; and when these are all filled with the grace designed for them; and when they are all grown up to their full proportion, or are arrived to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; which will be a glorious sight to see, and very desirable: and this shows the certainty of the saints' perseverance and salvation: for if anyone member, even the meanest, could be lost, the church would not be the fulness of Christ: and this may be further concluded, from its being his fulness, who

filleth all in all; which may be understood either more extensively; for he fills both worlds with inhabitants; he fills all places with his omnipresence, and all creatures with proper food and sustenance: or with a limitation to the church and people of God; he fills all his churches and ordinances with his gracious presence; and he fills the various societies of his saints with members and with officers; and these with the gifts and graces of his Spirit, suitable to their place and station; he fills all and every of the saints, all the vessels of mercy, whether greater or lesser, all sorts of them, of larger or meaner capacities; he fills all the powers and faculties of their souls, their hearts with joy, their minds with knowledge, their consciences with peace, their wills with spiritual desires, submission and resignation, and their affections with love to himself and people: in short, he fills them with all grace and goodness, and the fruits of righteousness; and so makes them meet for usefulness here, and for happiness hereafter; the fulness of the earth in Psa_24:1 is by the Jews interpreted of the souls of the righteous, and of the congregation of Israel ^h.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Eph 1:16

¹ tn Grk “making mention [of you].”

NET Notes: Eph 1:17

¹ tn The words “I pray” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied to clarify the meaning; v. 17 is a subordinate clause to v. 16 (“I pray” in v. 17 is implied from v. 16). Eph 1:15-23 constitutes one sentence in Greek, but a new sentence was started here in the translation in light of contemporary English usage.

² tn Or “glorious Father.” The genitive phrase “of glory” is most likely an attributive genitive. The literal translation “Father of glory” has been retained because of the parallelism with the first line of the verse: “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.”

³ tn Or “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation,” or “a spirit of wisdom and revelation.” Verse 17 involves a complex exegetical problem revolving around the Greek term πνεῦμα (pneuma). Some take it to mean “the Spirit,” others “a spirit,” and still others “spiritual.” (1) If “the Spirit” is meant, the idea must be a metonymy of cause for effect, because the author had just indicated in vv. 13-14 that the Spirit was already given (hence, there is no need for him to pray that he be given again). But the effect of the Spirit is wisdom and revelation. (2) If “a spirit” is meant, the idea may be that the readers will have the ability to gain wisdom and insight as they read Paul’s letters, but the exact meaning of “a spirit” remains ambiguous. (3) To take the genitives following πνεῦμα as attributed genitives (see ExSyn 89-91), in which the head noun (“S/spirit”) functions semantically like an adjective (“spiritual”) is both grammatically probable and exegetically consistent.

⁴ tn Grk “in the knowledge of him.”

sn The point of the knowledge of him has nothing to do with what God knows, but with what believers are to know (hence, “your…knowledge”). Further, the author’s prayer is that this knowledge of God would increase, not simply be initiated, since he is writing to believers who already know God (hence, “your growing knowledge of him”).

NET Notes: Eph 1:18

¹ tc ‡ Most witnesses, especially of the Byzantine and Western texttypes, though with a few important Alexandrian witnesses (א A D F G Ψ 0278 Ï latt sy), add ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) after καρδίας (kardias, “heart”), though it is clearly implied in the shorter (Alexandrian) reading (found in Ì⁴⁶ B 6 33 1175 1739 1881 pc). The longer reading thus looks to be a clarifying gloss, as is frequently found in the Byzantine and Western traditions. The translation above also uses “your” because of English requirements, not because of textual basis.

tn Grk “the.”

² tn The perfect participle πεφωτισμένους (pefwtismenou") may either be part of the prayer (“that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened”) or part of the basis of the prayer (“since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened”). Although the participle follows the ἵνα (Jina) of v. 17, it is awkward grammatically in the clause. Further, perfect adverbial participles are usually causal in NT Greek. Finally, the context both here and throughout Ephesians seems to emphasize the motif of light as a property belonging to believers. Thus, it seems that the author is saying, “I know that you are saved, that you have had the blinders of the devil removed; because of this, I can now pray that you will fully understand and see the light of God’s glorious revelation.” Hence, the translation takes the participle to form a part of the basis for the prayer.

³ tn Or “the hope to which he has called you.”

sn The hope of his calling. The translation is more formally equivalent for this and the following two phrases, because of the apparently intentional literary force of the original. There is a natural cadence to the three genitive expressions (hope of his calling, wealth of his glorious inheritance, and extraordinary greatness of his power). The essence of the prayer is seen here. Paraphrased it reads as follows: “Since you are enlightened by God’s Spirit, I pray that you may comprehend the hope to which he has called you, the spiritual riches that await the saints in glory, and the spiritual power that is available to the saints now.” Thus, the prayer focuses on all three temporal aspects of our salvation as these are embedded in the genitives – the past (calling), the future (inheritance), and the present (power toward us who believe).

⁴ tn Grk “of the glory of his inheritance.” Here “inheritance” is taken as an attributed genitive and the head noun, “glory,” is thus translated as an adjective, “glorious inheritance.”

NET Notes: Eph 1:19

¹ tn Or “immeasurable, surpassing”

² tn Or “for, to”

³ tn Grk “according to.”

⁴ tn Grk “according to the exercise of the might of his strength.”

sn What has been translated as exercise is a term used only of supernatural power in the NT, ἐνέργεια (energeia).

NET Notes: Eph 1:20

¹ tn Grk “which” (v. 20 is a subordinate clause to v. 19).

² tn The verb “exercised” (the aorist of ἐνεργέω, energew) has its nominal cognate in “exercise” in v. 19 (ἐνέργεια, energeia).

³ tn Or “This power he exercised in Christ by raising him”; Grk “raising him.” The adverbial participle ἐγείρας (egeiras) could be understood as temporal (“when he raised [him]”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “he exercised” earlier in the verse, or as means (“by raising [him]”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.

⁴ tc The majority of mss, especially the Western and Byzantine mss (D F G Ψ Ï b r Ambst), have the indicative ἐκάθισεν (ekaqisen, “he seated”) for καθίσας (kaqisa", “when he seated, by seating”). The indicative is thus coordinate with ἐνήργησεν (enhrghsen, “he exercised”) and provides an additional statement to “he exercised his power.” The participle (found in Ì^92vid א A B 0278 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 2464 al), on the other hand, is coordinate with ἐγείρας (egeiras) and as such provides evidence of God’s power: He exercised his power by raising Christ from the dead and by seating him at his right hand. As intriguing as the indicative reading is, it is most likely an intentional alteration of the original wording, accomplished by an early “Western” scribe, which made its way in the Byzantine text.

⁵ sn Eph 1:19-20. The point made in these verses is that the power required to live a life pleasing to God is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. For a similar thought, cf. John 15:1-11.

NET Notes: Eph 1:22

¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Grk “subjected.”

³ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ sn An allusion to Ps 8:6.

⁵ tn Grk “and he gave him as head over all things to the church.”

NET Notes: Eph 1:23

¹ tn Grk “which is.” The antecedent of “which” is easily lost in English, though in Greek it is quite clear. In the translation “church” is repeated to clarify the referent.

² tn Or perhaps, “who is filled entirely.”

sn The idea of all in all is either related to the universe (hence, he fills the whole universe entirely) or the church universal (hence, Christ fills the church entirely with his presence and power).

Geneva Bible: Eph 1:17

^{( 18 )} That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of ^{( u )} glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the ^{( x )} knowledge of him:

^{( 18 )} The causes of faith are God the Father enlightening our minds with his Holy Spirit, so that we may embrace Christ revealed to us in the Gospel, to the obtaining of everlasting life, and the setting forth of God's glory.

^{( u )} Full of majesty.

^{( x )} For it is not enough for us to have known God once, but we must know him every day more and more.

Geneva Bible: Eph 1:18

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the ^{( y )} hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

^{( y )} What blessings they are which he calls you to hope for, whom he calls to Christ.

Geneva Bible: Eph 1:19

^{( 19 )} And what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

^{( 19 )} The excellency of faith is declared by the effects, because the mighty power of God is set forth and shown in them.

Geneva Bible: Eph 1:20

^{( 20 )} Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [him] at his own ^{( z )} right hand in the heavenly [places],

^{( 20 )} The apostle wishes us to behold in our most glorious Christ (with the eyes of faith) that most excellent power and glory of God, of which all the faithful are partakers, even though it is as yet very dim in us, by reason of the shame of the cross, and the weakness of the flesh.

^{( z )} To be set on God's right hand is to be a partaker of the sovereignty which he has over all creatures.

Geneva Bible: Eph 1:21

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every ^{( a )} name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

^{( a )} Everything, whatever it may be, or above all things, even if they are of ever so much power or excellency.

Geneva Bible: Eph 1:22

^{( 21 )} And hath put all [things] under his feet, and gave him [to be] the ^{( b )} head over all [things] to the church,

^{( 21 )} So that we should not think that the excellent glory of Christ is a thing with which we have nothing to do, he witnesses that Christ was appointed by God the Father as head over all the Church, and therefore the body must be joined to this head, which otherwise would be a maimed thing, without the members. However, this is not because of necessity (seeing that it is rather the Church which is made alive and sustained by the holy power of Christ, so it is far from being true that he needs the fulness of it), but because of the infinite goodwill and pleasure of God, who condescends to join us to his Son.

^{( b )} Insomuch that there is nothing that is not subject to him.

Geneva Bible: Eph 1:23

Which is his body, the ^{( c )} fulness of him that filleth all in all.

^{( c )} For the love of Christ is so great towards the Church, that even though he fully satisfies all with all things, yet he considers himself but a maimed and unperfect head, unless he has the Church joined to him as his body.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Eph 1:1-23

1 After the salutation,

3 and thanksgiving for the Ephesians,

4 he treats of our election,

6 and adoption by grace;

11 which is the true and proper fountain of man's salvation.

13 And because the height of this mystery cannot be easily attained unto,

16 he prays that they may come to the full knowledge and possession thereof in Christ.

Combined Bible: Eph 1:17

Prayer  

  

(1:17,18) What Paul prays for on behalf of the believers in Ephesus...  

  

(1)    The Spirit of wisdom and revelation, i.e. "information" in order that they "may know God the Father better."   

  

(2)    That "the eyes of your heart" (a euphemism for ones "mind") may be "enlightened", i.e. "information" in order that they "may know the hope" of their calling and how rich their inheritance is.  

  

(3)    That they "may know" of "His incomparably great power" exercised for believers.  

  

Pray for Understanding!  

Note that there are no petitions here for relief, but for understanding and wisdom. These are the basis of hope, rather than any ease from our present difficulties. It is tragic when Christians spend their hours searching for relief and change. These are the very circumstances brought into our lives by a loving Father precisely to bring us into a clearer and richer understanding of His care for us. "May know" is epignosis "knowledge that is true, full, accurate and tested." "Heart" is cardia and refers to the organs of thought and conscience. "Enlightened" is a perfect participle, referring to an act in the past, which has results that extend into the present.  

  

"It is not salvation merely that we have received; but we are set here as saved ones to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus, in mind and ways of Him by whom we live. Hence there are little children, young men, and fathers (1 John 2), showing the grades, not of salvation, but of growth in the divine life."  

--J.P. Stoney  

  

  

  

  

Combined Bible: Eph 1:19

Paul's letters make it clear that the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit to believers is to instruct them in the things of God, in order "that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God ( 1Co 2:12 ). We should easily conclude, that believers should, for the most part, stop praying for relief and consistently pray for understanding! Even when, no, especially when, the circumstance seems unfair, painful, or humanly unconscionable is it necessary for the believer to reach into inner resources of faith and trust that can only come from the life of the Lord Jesus within--faithfulness, not heroism. The Son faced His human tasks of obedience and suffering knowing that his loving heavenly Father is weaving a tapestry only viewed in its entirety from His Throne. If Jesus Christ would not interpose His own desires to recuse Himself as a victim of the most heinous act of cruelty known among angels and men, dare we suggest our own limited ideas as alternatives to the conditions we see around us? (God, give us understanding!)   

  

The next thing to take in from this very powerful passage is this--The power that the Father brings to bear in our life in order to accomplish His best for us, is the same power used "when He (the Father) raised Him (the Son) from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies." This is a strong as you can get! And, it is the standard package for believers, regardless of what their gift for service, personal strength of commitment, or standing in the church might be. It's much like an admission kit to the hospital. Everybody who is admitted gets one. But, think of what this is saying to us...God the Father is channeling the same degree of power through us to accomplish His will in our lives that He used to raise the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and draw Him into heaven. If that is what is going on all of the time as a standard provision for us, then what in the world have we left to ask for?  

  

and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the   

  

Combined Bible: Eph 1:21

Look, says Paul, on the basis of that power, Christ has been installed by the Father as supreme ruler "above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given." That pretty much covers every class of creation, angelic or human, fallen or redeemed, judged or free, "not only in the present age, but also in the one to come" referring to the Millennium and beyond. "Rule, authority, power, dominion, and title", all refer to the angelic hierarchy, both fallen and righteous, who are given freedom to affect the affairs of men. It is important to remember that the man, Jesus, who is "the Christ", is now at the right hand of the Father and ruler over every level of creation forever, specifically to function as head over it all on behalf of the Church. The Church is that unique company of the redeemed from out of mankind beginning with those in the upper room at Pentecost and ending with the calling out of the final remnant who are alive when the Rapture occurs.   

  

  

Combined Bible: Eph 1:23

Church completes Christ  

  

(1:23) It is that company of believers "which is His body," and "the fullness of Him." He is saying to us that it is the Church, which completes everything that God intends for His blessed Son. Can you possibly take this in? Christ, the head of all creation, is completed by taking to Himself a bride, the Church of the New Testament, consisting of each individual believer redeemed by His blood. That's you and me and Paul and Peter and Aunt Annie and.. .  

  

  

  

Maclaren: Eph 1:18

The Hope Of The Calling

that ye may know what is the hope of His calling.'--Eph. 1:18

A MAN'S prayers for others are a very fair thermometer of his own religious condition. What he asks for them will largely indicate what he thinks best for himself; and how he asks it will show the firmness of his own faith and the fervour of his own feeling. There is nothing colder than the intercession of a cold Christian; and, on the other hand, in no part of the fervid Apostle Paul's writings do his words come more winged and fast, or his spirit glow with greater fervour of affection and holy desire than in his petitions for his friends.

In that groat prayer, of which my text forms a part, we have his response to the good news that had reached him of the steadfastness in faith and abundance in love of these Ephesian Christians. As the best expression of his glad love he asks for them the knowledge of three things, of which my text is the first, and the other two are the riches of the glory of the inheritance' and the exceeding greatness of God's power.'

Now if we take the hope' in my text, as is often done, as meaning the thing hoped for, there seems to be but a shadowy difference between the first and the second of these subjects of the apostolic petition. Whereas, if we take it as meaning, not the object on which the emotion is fixed, but the emotion itself, then all the three stand in a natural gradation and connection. We have, first, the Christian emotion; then the object upon which it is fixed; the glory Of the inheritance'; then the power by which the latter is brought and the former is realised. We shall consider the second and third of these petitions in following sermons. For the present I confine myself to .this first, the Apostle's great desire for Christians who had already made considerable progress in the Christian life, that they may know,' by experiencing it, what is the hope of His calling.'

I. Now The First Thought That These Words Suggest To Me Is This, That The Christian Hope Is Based Upon The Facts Of Christian Experience.

What does the Apostle mean by naming it the hope of his calling'? He means this, that the great act of the divine mercy revealed to us in the Gospel, by which God summons and invites men to Himself, will naturally produce in those who have yielded to it a hope of immortal and perfect life. Because God has called men, therefore the man who has yielded to the call may legitimately, and must, if he is to do his duty, cherish such a hope. It is dear enough that this is so, inasmuch as, unless there be a heaven of completeness for us who have yielded to the summons and obeyed the invitation of God in His Gospel, His whole procedure is enigmatical and bewildering. The fact of the call is inexplicable; the cost of it is no less so. It was not worth while for God to make the world unless with respect to another which was to follow. It is still less worth His while to redeem the world if the results of that redemption, as they are exhibited here and now, and as they are capable of being exhibited in this present condition of things, are all that are to flow from it. It was not worth Christ's while to die, it was not worth God's while to send His Son, there was no sense or consistency in that great voice that echoes from heaven, calling us to love and serve Him, unless, beyond the jangling contradictions, and imperfect attainments, and foiled aspirations, and fragmentary faith, and broken services of earth, there be a region of completeness where all that was tendency here shall have become effect; and all that was but in germ here, and sorely frostbitten by the ungenial climate, and shrivelled by the foul vapours in the atmosphere, shall blossom and burgeon into eternal life. The Christian life, as it is to-day, in its attainments and imperfections, is at once the witness of the reality of the power that has produced it, and clamantly calls for a sphere and environment in which that power shall be able to produce the effects which it is capable of producing.

God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent.' Men begin grand designs which never get further than the paper that they are drawn on; or they build a porch, and then they are bankrupt, or change their minds, or die, and the palace remains unrealised, and all that pass by mock and say, This man began to build and was not able to finish.' But God's designs are certain of accomplishment. Unless we are to be reduced to a state of utter intellectual bewilderment and confusion, and forgo our belief in His veracity and resources to execute His designs, the design that lies in the calling must needs lead on to the realm of perfectness. If we consider the agent by which it is effected, even the risen Christ; if we consider the cost at which it was accomplished, even the death on the Cross, the mission of His Son, and His assumption of the limitations of an incarnate life; if we consider the manifest potencies of the power that He has brought into operation in the present Christian life; and if we consider, side by side with these, the stark, staring contradictions and as manifest inevitable limitations of the effects of that power, His calling carries in its depths the assurance that what He means shall be done, that Jesus Christ has not died in vain, that He has not ascended to fill a solitary throne, but is the Firstfruits of a great harvest; and that we shall one day be all that it is in the gospel of our salvation to make us, unhindered by the limitations and unthwarted by the antagonisms of this poor human life of ours. Unless there be a heaven in which all desires shall be satisfied, all evils removed, all good perfected, all ragged trees made symmetrical and full-grown, and all souls that love Him radiant with His own perfect image, then the light that seemed a light from heaven is the most delusive of all the marsh-fires of earth, and nothing in the illusions of sense or of men's cunning is so cruel or so tragic as the calling that seemed to be the voice of God, and summoned us to a heaven which was only a dream.

II. And So, Secondly, Notice How This Hope Of Our Text Is In Some Sense The Very Topstone Of The Christian Life.

Paul has heard, concerning these people in Ephesus, of their faith and love. And because he has heard of these, therefore he brings this prayer. These two--the faith which apprehends the manifestation of God in Jesus Christ, and the love which that faith produces in the heart that accepts the revelation of the infinite love--are crowned by, and are imperfect without, and naturally lead on to the brightness of this great hope, Faith--the reliance of the spirit upon the veracity of the revealing God--gives hope its contents; for the Christian hope is not spun out of your own imaginations, nor is it the mere making objective in a future life of the unfulfilled desires of this disappointing present, but it is the recognition by the trusting spirit of the great and starry truths that are flashed upon it by the Word of God. Faith draws back the curtain, and Hope gazes into the supernal abysses. My hope, if it be anything else than the veriest will-o'-the-wisp and delusion, is the answer of my heart to the revealed truth of God.

Similarly the love which flows from faith not only necessarily leads on to the expectation of union being perfected with the object of its warm affection, but also so works upon the heart and character as that the false and seducing loves which draw away, like some sluice upon a river, the current of life from its true channel, are all sanctified and no more hinder hope. Loving, we hope for that which, unless we loved, would not draw desires nor yield foretastes of sweetness which, like perfumed oil, feed the pure flame of hope.

The triad of Christian graces is completed by Hope. Without her fair presence something is wanting to the completeness of her elder sisters. The great Campanile at Florence, though it be inlaid with glowing marbles, and fair sculptures, and perfect in its beauty, wants the gilded, skyward-pointing pinnacle of its top most pyramid; and so it stands incomplete. And thus faith and love need for their crowning and completion the top most grace that looks up to the sky, and is sure of a mansion there.

Brethren, our Christianity is wofully imperfect unless faith and love find their acme, their outstretching completion, in this Christian hope. Do you seek to complete your faith and love by a living hope full of immortality?

III. Thirdly, Notice How This Hope Is An All-Important Element In The Christian Life.

The Apostle asks for it as the best thing that can befall these Ephesian Christians, as the one thing that they need to make them strong and good and blessed. There are many other aspects of desire for them which appear in other parts of this letter. But hero all Christian progress is regarded as being held in solution and included in vigorous hope.

Why is the activity of hope thus important for Christian life? Because it stimulates effort, calms sorrows, takes the fascination out of temptations, supplies a new aim for life and a new measure for the things of time and sense.

If we lived, as we ought to live, in the habitual apprehension of the great future awaiting all real Christians, would it not change the whole aspect of life? The world is very big when it is looked at from any point upon its surface; but suppose it could be looked at from the central sun, how large would it appear then? We can shift our station in like fashion, and then we get the true measure at once of the insignificance and of the greatness of life. This world means nothing worthy, except as an introduction to another. Not that thereby there will follow in any wise man contempt for the present, for the very same reference to the future which dwarfs the greatnesses and dwindles the sorrows, and almost extinguishes the dazzling lights of this present, does also lift it to its true significance and importance. It is the vestibule of that future, and that future is conditioned throughout by the results of the few years that we live here. An apprenticeship may be a very poor matter, looked at in itself; and the boy may say What is the use of my working at all these trivial things? but, since it is apprenticeship, it is worth while to attend to every trifle in its course, for attention to them will affect the standing of the man all his days.

Here and now we are getting ready for the great workshop yonder; learning the trick of the tools, and how to use our fingers and our powers, and, when the schooling is done, we shall be set to nobler work, and receive ample wages for the years here. Because that great to-morrow will be as this day' of earthly life, and much more abundant,' therefore it is no trifle to work amongst the trifles; and nothing is small which may tell on our condition yonder. The least deflection from the straight line, however acute may be the angle which the divergent lines enclose at the starting, and however small may seem to be the deviation from parallelism, will, if prolonged to infinity, have room between the two for all the stars, and the distance between them will be that the one is in heaven and the other is in hell. And so it is a great thing to live amongst the little things, and life gains its true significance when we dwarf and magnify it by linking it with the world to come.

If we only kept that hope bright before us, how little discomforts and sorrows and troubles would matter! Life would become a solemn scorn of ills.' It does not matter much what kind of cabin accommodation we have if we are only going a short voyage; the main thing is to make the port. If we, as Christian people, cherish, as we ought to do, this great hope, then we shall be able to control, and not to despise but to exalt this fleeting and transient scene, because it is linked inseparably with the life that is to come.

IV. Lastly, This Hope Needs Enlightened Eyes.

The Apostle prays that God may give to these Ephesians the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,' and then he adds, as the result of that gift, the desire that the Ephesian believers may have the eyes of their hearts enlightened.' That is a remarkable expression. It does not mean, as an English reader might suppose it to mean, that the affections are the agents by which this knowledge reaches us; but heart' is here used, as it often is in Scripture, as a general expression for the whole inward life, and all that the Apostle means is that, by the gift of the Divine Spirit of wisdom, a man's inner nature may be so touched as to be capable of perceiving and grasping the hope of the calling.'

Observe, too, the language, that ye may know the hope.' How can you know a hope? How do you know any kind of feeling? By having it. The only way of knowing what is the hope is to hope, and this is only possible by dint of these eyes of the understanding being enlightened. For our inward nature, as we have it, and as we use it, without the touch of that Divine Spirit, is so engrossed with this present that the far-off blessedness to which my text refers has no chance of entering there. No man can look at something beside him with one eye, and at something half a mile off with the other. You have to focus the eye according to the object; and he who is gazing upon the near is thereby made blind to that which is afar off. If we go crawling along the low levels with our eyes upon the dust, then of course we cannot see the crown above.

We need more than the historical revelation of the light in order to enlighten the inward nature. There is many a man here now who knows all about the immortality that is brought to light by Jesus Christ just as well as the Christian man whose soul is full of the hope of it, and who yet, for all his knowledge, does not know the hope, because he has not felt it. You have to get further than to the acceptance intellectually of the historical facts of a risen and ascended Saviour before there can be, in your heart, any vital hope of immortality. The inward eye must be cleared and strengthened, cross lights must be shut out so that we may direct the single eye of our hearts towards the great objects which alone are worthy of its fixed contemplation. And we cannot do that without a divine help, that Spirit of wisdom which will fill our hearts if we ask for it, which will fix our affections, which will clear our eyesight, which will withdraw it from seeing vanity as well as give it reality to see.

But we must observe the conditions. Since this clearness of hope comes not merely from the acceptance as a truth of the fact of Christ's Resurrection and Ascension, but comes through the gift of that Divine Spirit, then to have it you must ask for it. Christian people, do you ask for it? Do you ever pray--I do not mean in words, but in real desire, that God would help you to keep steadily before you that great future to which we are all going so fast? If you do you will get the answer. Seek for that Spirit; use it, and do not resist its touches. Do not fix your gaze on the world when God is trying to draw you to fix it upon Himself. Think more about Jesus Christ, more about God's high calling, live nearer to Him, and try more honestly, more earnestly, more prayerfully, more habitually, even amidst all the troubles and difficulties and trivialities of each day, to cultivate that great faculty of joyful and assured hope.

Surely God did not endue us with the power of hoping that we might fling it all away on trivial, transient things. We are all far too short-sighted; our fault is not that we do not hope, but that we hope for such near things, for such small things, like the old mariners who had no compass nor sextant, and were obliged to creep timidly along the coasts, and steer from headland to headland. But we ought to launch boldly out into mid-ocean, knowing that we have before us that star that cannot guide us amiss. Do not set your hopes on the things that perish, for if you do, hopes fulfilled and hopes disappointed will be equally bitter in your mouths. And you older people who, like myself, are drawing near the end of your days, and have little else left to hope for in this world, do you see to it that your anticipations extend above the ruinable skies.' There is an object beyond experience, above imagination, without example, for which the creation wants a comparison, we an apprehension, and the Word of God itself a sufficient revelation. It doth not yet appear what we shall be.' God hath called us to His eternal kingdom and glory; let us seek to walk in the light of the hope of His calling.'

God's Inheritance In The Saints

That ye may know what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.'--Eph. 1:18.

THE misery of Hope is that it so often owes its materials to the strength of our desires or to the activity of our imagination. But when mere wishes or fancies spin the thread, Hope cannot weave a lasting fabric. And so one of the old prophets, in speaking of the delusive hopes of man, says that they are like spiders' webs,' and shall not become garments.' Paul, then, having been asking for these Ephesian Christians that they might have hopes lofty and worthy, and such as God's summons to them would inspire, passes on to ask that they might have the material out of which they could weave such hope, namely, a sure and clear knowledge of the future blessings. The language in which he describes that future is remarkable--the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.' He calls it God's inheritance, not as meaning that God is the Inheritor, but the Giver. He speaks of it as in the saints,' meaning that, just as the land of Canaan was distributed amongst tribes and families, and each man got his own little plot, so that broad land is parted out amongst those who are partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.'

And so my text suggests to me three points to which I seek to call your attention. First, the inheritance; second, the heirs; and third, the heirs' present knowledge of their future possession.

I. First, Then, Note The Inheritance.

Now we must discharge from the word some of its ordinary associations. There is no reference to the thought of succession in it, as the mere English reader is accustomed to think--to whom inheritance means possession by the death of another. The idea is simply that of possession. The figure which underlies the word is, of course, that of the ancient partition of the land of Canaan amongst the tribes, but we must go a great deal deeper than that in order to understand its whole sweep and fulness of meaning.

What is the portion for a soul? God. God is Heaven, and Heaven is God. No interpretation of the inheritance,' however it may run into cheap and vulgar sensuous descriptions of a future glory, has come within sight of the meaning of the word, unless it has grasped this as the central thought: Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.' Only God can be the portion of a human spirit. And none else can fill the narrowest and the smallest of man's needs.

So, then, if there were realised all the accumulated changes of progress in blessedness, and the withdrawal of all external causes of disquiet and weariness and weeping, still the heart would hunger and be empty of its true possession unless God Himself had flowed into it. It were but a poor advancement and the gain of a loss, if yearnings were made immortal, and the aching vacuity, which haunts every soul that is parted from God, were cursed with immortality. It would be so, if it be not true that the inheritance is nothing less than the fuller possession of God Himself.

And how do men possess God? How do we possess one another, hero and now? By precisely the same way, only indefinitely expanded and exalted, do we possess Him here, and shall we possess Him hereafter. Heart to heart is joined by love which is mutual and interpenetrating possession; where mine' and thine' become blended, like the several portions of the one ray of white light, in the blessed word ours.' Contemplation makes us possessors of God. Assimilation to His character makes us own and have Him. They who love and gaze, and are being changed by still degrees into His likeness, possess Him. This is the central idea of man's future destiny and highest blessedness, a union with God closer and more intimate in degree, but yet essentially the same in kind, as is here possible amidst the shows and vanities and wearinesses of this mortal life. His servants shall serve Him, and see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.' Obedience, contemplation, transformation, these are the hands by which we here lay hold on God; and they in the heavens grasp Him just as we here on earth may do. The inheritance' is God Himself.

Surely that is in accordance with the whole teaching of Scripture, and is but the expansion of plain words which tell us that we are heirs of God.' If that be so, then all the other subsidiary blessings which have been, to the sore detriment of Christian anticipation and of Christian life in a hundred ways, elevated into disproportionate importance, fall into their right places, and are more when they are looked upon as secondary than when they are looked upon as primary.

Ah, brethren! neither the sensuous metaphors which, in accommodation to our weakness, Scripture has used to paint that future so that we may, in some measure, comprehend it, nor the translation of these, in so far as they refer to circumstances and externals, are enough for us. It is blessed to know that there shall be no night there '--blessed to grasp all those sweet negatives which contradict the miseries of the world, and to think of no sin, no curse, no tears, no sighing nor sorrow, neither any more pain, because the former things have passed away.' It is sweet and ennobling to think that, when we are discharged of the load of this cumbrous flesh, we shall be much more ourselves, and able to see where now is but darkness, and to feel where now is but vacancy. It is blessed to think of the recognising of lost and loved ones. But all these blessednesses, heaped together, as it seems to me, would become sickeningly the same if prolonged through eternity, unless we had God for our very own. Eternal is an awful word, even when the noun that goes with it is blessedness. And I know not how even the redeemed could be saved, as the long ages rolled on, from the oppression of monotony, and the feeling, I would not live always,' unless God was the strength of their hearts, and their portion for ever.' We must rise above everything that merely applies to changes in our own natures and in our relations to the external universe, and to other orders of creatures; and grasp, as the hidden sweetness that lies in the calyx of the gorgeous flower, the possession of God Himself as the rapture of our joy and the heaven of our heaven.

And if that be so, then these accumulated words with which the Apostle, in his fiery, impetuous way, tries to set forth the greatness of what he is speaking about, receive a loftier meaning than they otherwise would have.

The riches of the glory of His inheritance'--now that word riches,' or wealth,' is a favourite of Paul's; and in this single letter occurs, if I count rightly, five times. In addition to our text, it is used twice in connection with God's grace, the riches of His grace' once in connection with Jesus, the unsearchable riches of Christ'; and once in a similar connection to, though with a different application from, our text, the riches of His glory.' Always, you see, it is applied to something that is special and properly divine. And here, therefore, it applies, not to the abundance of any creatural good, however exuberant and inexhaustible the store of it may be, but simply and solely to that unwearying energy, that self-feeding and ever-burning and never-decaying light, which is God. Of Him alone it can be said that work does not exhaust, nor Being tend to its own extinction, nor expenditure of resources to their diminution. The guarantee for eternal blessedness is the riches' of the eternal God, and so we may be sure that no time can exhaust, nor any expenditure empty, either His storehouse or our wealth.

And again, the glory' is not the lustrous light, however dazzling to our feeble eyes that may be, of any creature that reflects the light of God, but it is the far-flashing and never-dying radiance of His own manifestation of Himself to the hearts and souls of them that love Him. And so the inheritance is incorruptible and undefiled, and fadeth not away'; not merely by reason of the communicated will of God operating upon creatures whom He preserves untarnished by corruption, and ungnawed by decay, but because He Himself is the inheritance,' and on Him time hath no power. On His wealth all His creatures may hang for ever; and it shall be as it was in the sweet parable of the miracle of old, the fragments that remain will be more than when the meal began. The riches of the glory of His inheritance.'

II. Now Notice, Secondly, The Heirs.

The words of my text receive, perhaps, their best commentary and explanation in those words which the writer of them heard, on the Damascus road, when the voice from heaven spoke to him about men obtaining an inheritance among them that are sanctified.' It almost sounds like an echo of that long past, but never-to-be-forgotten voice, when our Apostle writes as he does in our text.

Now what does he mean by saints'? Who are these amongst whom the broad acres of that infinite prairie are to be parted out? The word has attracted to itself contemptuous meanings and ascetical meanings, and meanings which really deny the true democracy of Christianity and the equality of all believers in the sight of God. But its scriptural use has none of these narrowing and confusing associations adhering to it, nor does it even directly and at first mean, as we generally take it to mean, pure men, holy in the sense of clean and righteous. But something goes before that phase of meaning, and it is this--a saint is a man separated and set apart for God, as His property. That is the true meaning of the word. It is its meaning as it is applied to the vessels of the Temple, the priests, the services, and the altar. It is its meaning, only with the necessary substitution of spirit for body, as it is applied in the New Testament as a designation co-extensive with that of believers.

How does a man belong to God?

We asked a minute or two ago how God belonged to men. The answer to the converse question is almost identical. A man belongs to God by the affection of his heart, by the submission of his will, by the reference of his actions to Him; and he who thus belongs to God, in the same act in which he gives himself to God, receives God as his possession. The thing must be reciprocal. All mine is Thine'; and God answers, And all Mine is thine.' He ever meets our O Lord, I yield myself to Thee,' with His And My child, I give Myself to thee.' It is so in regard of our earthly loves. It is so in regard of our relations to Him. And that being the case, purity, which is generally taken by careless readers as being the main idea of sanctity, will follow this self-surrender, which is the basis of all goodness, everywhere and always.

If that be true, and I do not think it can be effectively denied, then the next step is a very plain one, and that is that for the perfect possession of God, which is heaven, the same thing is needed in its perfection which is required for the partial possession of Him that makes the Christian life of earth. And just as here we get Him for ours in proportion as we give up ourselves to be His, so yonder the inheritance belongs, and can only belong to, the saints.' So, then, one can see that there is nothing arbitrary in this limitation of a possession, which in its very nature cannot go beyond the bounds which are thus marked out for it. If heaven were the vulgar thing that some of you think it, if that future life were desirable simply because you escaped from some external punishment and got all sorts of outward blessings and joys, felicities and advantages, hung round the neck, or pinned upon the breast, as they do to successful fighters, why then, of course, there might be partiality in the distribution of the decorations. But if that possession hinges upon our yielding ourselves to Him, then there is not an arbitrary link in the whole chain. Faith is set forth as the condition of heaven, because faith is the means of union with Christ, by and from whom alone we draw the motives for self-surrender and the power for sanctity. You cannot have heaven unless you have God. That is step number one. You cannot have God unless you have holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.' That is step number two. You cannot have holiness without faith. That is step number three. An inheritance among them that are sanctified'; and then there is added, by faith which is in Me.'

It is clear, too, what a fatal delusion some of us are under who think that we shall, and fancy that we should like to, as we say, go to heaven when we die.' Why, heaven is here, round about you, a present heaven in the imitation of God, in the practice of righteousness, in the cultivation of dependence upon Him, in the yielding of yourselves up to Him. Heaven is here, and by your own choice you stop outside of it. There must be a correspondence between environment and nature for blessedness. The mind is its own place,' as the great Puritan poet taught us, and makes a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.' Fishes die on the shore, and the man that drew them out dies in the water. Gills cannot breathe where lungs are useful, and lungs cannot, where gills come into play. If yea have not here and now the holiness which knits you to God, and gives you possession of Him, you would not like heaven,' if it were possible to carry you to that place, in so far as it is a place. It is rather strange, if you hope to go to heaven when you die, that you should be very unwilling to spend a little time in it whilst you are alive, and that you should expect blessedness then from that presence of God which brings you no blessedness now.

III. Lastly, We Have Here The Heirs' Present Knowledge Of Their Future Blessedness.

The Apostle asks that these men may know a thing that clearly seems unknowable. It is an impossible petition, we might be ready to say, because it is clear enough that there can be no true knowledge of the conditions and details of that future life. The dark mountains that lie between us and it hide their secret well, and few or no stray beams have reached us. An unborn babe, or a chrysalis in a hole in the ground or in a chink of a tree, might think as wisely about its future condition as we can do about that life beyond. There can be no knowledge until there is experience.

What, then, does Paul mean by framing such a petition as this? The answer is found in noticing that the knowledge which he is imploring here is a consequence of a previous knowledge. For, in a former verse, he prays that these men may have the spirit of wisdom in the knowledge of God'; and when they have got the knowledge of God he thinks that they will have got the knowledge of the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.' Now, turn that into other words, and it is just this, that the knowledge of God, which comes by faith and love here, is in kind so identical with the fullest and loftiest riches of the knowledge of Him hereafter, that, if we have the one, we are not without the other. The one is in germ, the other, no doubt, full blown; the one is the twinkling of the rushlight, as it were, the other is the blaze of the sunshine. The two states of being are so correspondent that from the one we draw our clearest knowledge of the other. There are telescopes, in using which you do not look up when you want to see the stars, but down on to a reflecting mirror, and there you see them. Such a reflecting mirror, though it be sometimes muddied and dimmed and always very small, are the experiences of the Christian soul here.

So, dear friends, if we want to know as much as may be known of the blessedness of heaven, let us seek to possess as much as may be possessed of the knowledge and love of God on earth. Then we shall know the centre, at any rate; and that is light, though the circumference may be very dark. Much will remain obscure. That is of very small consequence to Hope, which does not need information half so much as it needs assurance. Like some flower in the cranny of the rock, it can spread a broad bright blossom on little soil, if only it be firmly rooted.

The path for us all is plain. Come to Jesus Christ as sinful men, and take what He has given, who has given Himself for us. Touched by His love, let us love Him back again, and yield ourselves to Him, and He will give Himself to us. They who can say, O Lord! I am Thine,' are sure to hear from heaven, I am thine.' And they who possess, in being possessed by, God Himself, do not need to die in order to go to heaven, but are at least doorkeepers in the house of the Lord now, and stand where they can see into the inner sanctuary which they will one day tread. A life of faith brings Heaven to us, and thereby gives us the surest and the clearest knowledge of what we shall be, and have, when we are brought to heaven.

Maclaren: Eph 1:19-20

The Measure Of Immeasurable Power

That ye may know.., what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ.'--Eph. 1:19-20.

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

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

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

I. So, Then, I Ask You To Look, First, At The Measure And Example Of The Immeasurable Power That Works In Christian Men.

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

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

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

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

II. Secondly, Notice The Knowledge Of The Unknowable Power.

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

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

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

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

The same knowledge is our refuge from our own consciousness of weakness. We look up, as a climber may do in some Alpine ravine, upon the smooth gleaming walls of the cliff that rises above us. It is marble, it is fair, there are lovely lands on the summit, but nothing that has not wings can get there.

We try, but slip backwards almost as much as we rise. What is to be done? Are we to sit down at the foot of the cliff, and say, We cannot climb, let us be content with the luscious herbage and sheltered ease below?' Yes! That is what we are tempted to say. But look! a mighty hand reaches over, an arm is stretched down, the hand grasps us, and lifts us, and sets us there.

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

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

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

III. Lastly, Notice The Conditions For The Operations Of The Power.

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

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

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

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

MHCC: Eph 1:15-23

God has laid up spiritual blessings for us in his Son the Lord Jesus; but requires us to draw them out and fetch them in by prayer. Even the best Christians need to be prayed for: and while we hear of the welfare of Christian friends, we should pray for them. Even true believers greatly want heavenly wisdom. Are not the best of us unwilling to come under God's yoke, though there is no other way to find rest for the soul? Do we not for a little pleasure often part with our peace? And if we dispute less, and prayed more with and for each other, we should daily see more and more what is the hope of our calling, and the riches of the Divine glory in this inheritance. It is desirable to feel the mighty power of Divine grace, beginning and carrying on the work of faith in our souls. But it is difficult to bring a soul to believe fully in Christ, and to venture its all, and the hope of eternal life, upon his righteousness. Nothing less than Almighty power will work this in us. Here is signified that it is Christ the Saviour, who supplies all the necessities of those who trust in him, and gives them all blessings in the richest abundance. And by being partakers of Christ himself, we come to be filled with the fulness of grace and glory in him. How then do those forget themselves who seek for righteousness out of him! This teaches us to come to Christ. And did we know what we are called to, and what we might find in him, surely we should come and be suitors to him. When feeling our weakness and the power of our enemies, we most perceive the greatness of that mighty power which effects the conversion of the believer, and is engaged to perfect his salvation. Surely this will constrain us by love to live to our Redeemer's glory.

Matthew Henry: Eph 1:15-23

We have come to the last part of this chapter, which consists of Paul's earnest prayer to God in behalf of these Ephesians. We should pray for the persons for whom we give thanks. Our apostle blesses God for what he had done for them, and then he prays that he would do more for them. He gives thanks for spiritual blessings, and prays for further supplies of them; for God will for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. He has laid up these spiritual blessings for us in the hands of his Son, the Lord Jesus; but then he has appointed us to draw them out, and fetch them in, by prayer. We have no part nor lot in the matter, any further than we claim it by faith and prayer. One inducement to pray for them was the good account he had of them, of their faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints, Eph 1:15. Faith in Christ, and love to the saints, will be attended with all other graces. Love to the saints, as such, and because they are such, must include love to God. Those who love saints, as such, love all saints, how weak in grace, how mean in the world, how fretful and peevish soever, some of them may be. Another inducement to pray for them was because they had received the earnest of the inheritance: this we may observe from the words being connected with the preceding ones by the particle wherefore. "Perhaps you will think that, having received the earnest, it should follow, therefore you are happy enough, and need take no further care: you need not pray for yourselves, nor I for you."No, quite the contrary. Wherefore - I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, Eph 1:16. While he blesses God for giving them the Spirit, he ceases not to pray that he would give unto them the Spirit (Eph 1:17), that he would give greater measures of the Spirit. Observe, Even the best of Christians need to be prayed for: and, while we hear well of our Christian friends, we should think ourselves obliged to intercede with God for them, that they may abound and increase yet more and more. Now what is it that Paul prays for in behalf of the Ephesians? Not that they might be freed from persecution; nor that they might possess the riches, honours, or pleasures of the world; but the great thing he prays for is the illumination of their understandings, and that their knowledge might increase and abound: he means it of a practical and experimental knowledge. The graces and comforts of the Spirit are communicated to the soul by the enlightening of the understanding. In this way he gains and keeps possession. Satan takes a contrary way: he gets possession by the senses and passions, Christ by the understanding. Observe,

I. Whence this knowledge must come from the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, Eph 1:17. The Lord is a God of knowledge, and there is no sound saving knowledge but what comes from him; and therefore to him we must look for it, who is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ (see Eph 1:3) and the Father of glory. It is a Hebraism. God is infinitely glorious in himself all glory is due to him from his creatures, and he is the author of all that glory with which his saints are or shall be invested. Now he gives knowledge by giving the Spirit of knowledge; for the Spirit of God is the teacher of the saints, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. We have the revelation of the Spirit in the word: but will that avail us, if we have not the wisdom of the Spirit in the heart? If the same Spirit who indited the sacred scriptures do not take the veil from off our hearts, and enable us to understand and improve them, we shall be never the better. - In the knowledge of him, or for the acknowledgment of him; not only a speculative knowledge of Christ, and of what relates to him, but an acknowledgment of Christ's authority by an obedient conformity to him, which must be by the help of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. This knowledge is first in the understanding. He prays that the eyes of their understanding may be enlightened, Eph 1:18. Observe, Those who have their eyes opened, and have some understanding in the things of God, have need to be more and more enlightened, and to have their knowledge more clear, and distinct, and experimental. Christians should not think it enough to have warm affections, but they should labour to have clear understandings; they should be ambitious of being knowing Christians, and judicious Christians.

II. What it is that he more particularly desire they should grow in the knowledge of. 1. The hope of his calling, Eph 1:18. Christianity is our calling. God has called us to it, and on that account it is said to be his calling. There is a hope in this calling; for those who deal with God deal upon trust. And it is a desirable thing to know what this hope of our calling is, to have such an acquaintance with the immense privileges of God's people, and the expectations they have from God, and with respect to the heavenly world, as to be quickened thereby to the utmost diligence and patience in the Christian course. We ought to labour after, and pray earnestly for, a clearer insight into, and a fuller acquaintance with, the great objects of a Christian's hopes. 2. The riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Besides the heavenly inheritance prepared for the saints, there is a present inheritance in the saints; for grace is glory begun, and holiness is happiness in the bud. There is a glory in this inheritance, riches of glory, rendering the Christian more excellent and more truly honourable than all about him: and it is desirable to know this experimentally, to be acquainted with the principles, pleasures, and powers, of the spiritual and divine life. It may be understood of the glorious inheritance in or among the saints in heaven, where God does, as it were, lay forth all his riches, to make them happy and glorious, and where all that the saints are in possession of is transcendently glorious, as the knowledge that can be attained of this upon earth is very desirable, and must be exceedingly entertaining and delightful. Let us endeavour then, by reading, contemplation, and prayer, to know as much of heaven as we can, that we may be desiring and longing to be there. 3. The exceeding greatness of God's power towards those who believe, Eph 1:19. The practical belief of the all-sufficiency of God, and of the omnipotence of divine grace, is absolutely necessary to a close and steady walking with him. It is a desirable thing to know experimentally the mighty power of that grace beginning and carrying on the work of faith in our souls. It is a difficult thing to bring a soul to believe in Christ, and to venture its all upon his righteousness, and upon the hope of eternal life. It is nothing less than an almighty power that will work this in us. The apostle speaks here with a mighty fluency and copiousness of expression, and yet, at the same time, as if he wanted words to express the exceeding greatness of God's almighty power, that power which God exerts towards his people, and by which he raised Christ from the dead, Eph 1:20. That indeed was the great proof of the truth of the gospel to the world: but the transcript of that in ourselves (our sanctification, and rising from the death of sin, in conformity to Christ's resurrection) is the great proof to us. Though this cannot prove the truth of the gospel to another who knows nothing of the matter (there the resurrection of Christ is the proof), yet to be able to speak experimentally, as the Samaritans, " We have heard him ourselves, we have felt a mighty change in our hearts,"will make us able to say, with the fullest satisfaction, Now we believe, and are sure, that this is the Christ, the Son of God. Many understand the apostle here as speaking of that exceeding greatness of power which God will exert for raising the bodies of believers to eternal life, even the same mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him, etc. And how desirable a thing must it be to become at length acquainted with that power, by being raised out of the grave thereby unto eternal life!

Having said something of Christ and his resurrection, the apostle digresses a little from the subject he is upon to make some further honourable mention of the Lord Jesus and his exaltation. He sits at the Father's right hand in the heavenly places, etc., Eph 1:20, Eph 1:21. Jesus Christ is advanced above all, and he is set in authority over all, they being made subject to him. All the glory of the upper world, and all the powers of both worlds, are entirely devoted to him. The Father hath put all things under his feet (Eph 1:22), according to the promise, Psa 110:1. All creatures whatsoever are in subjection to him; they must either yield him sincere obedience or fall under the weight of his sceptre, and receive their doom from him. God GAVE him to be head over all things. It was a gift to Christ, considered as a Mediator, to be advanced to such dominion and headship, and to have such a mystical body prepared for him: and it was a gift to the church, to be provided with a head endued with so much power and authority. God gave him to be the head over all things. He gave him all power both in heaven and in earth. The Father loves the Son, and hath given ALL things into his hands. But that which completes the comfort of this is that he is the head over all things to the church; he is entrusted with all power, that is, that he may dispose of all the affairs of the providential kingdom in subserviency to the designs of his grace concerning his church. With this therefore we may answer the messengers of the nations, that the Lord hath founded Zion. The same power that supports the world support the church; and we are sure he loves his church, for it is his body (Eph 1:23), his mystical body, and he will care for it. It is the fulness of him that filleth all in all. Jesus Christ filleth all in all; he supplies all defects in all his members, filling them with his Spirit, and even with the fulness of God, Eph 3:19. And yet the church is said to be his fulness, because Christ as Mediator would not be complete if he had not a church. How could he be a king if he had not a kingdom? This therefore comes in to the honour of Christ, as Mediator, that the church is his fulness.

Barclay: Eph 1:15-23

The supremely important part, the second great step in Paul's argument, lies at the very end of this passage; but there are certain things we must note in the verses which go before.

Here there is set out before us in a perfect summary the characteristics of a true Church. Paul has heard of their faith in Christ and their love to all God's consecrated people. The two things which must characterize any true Church are loyalty to Christ and love to men.

There is a loyalty to Christ which does not issue in love to men. The monks and the hermits had a loyalty to Christ which made them abandon the ordinary activities of life in order to live alone in the desert places. The heresy hunters of the Spanish Inquisition and of many another age had a loyalty to Christ which made them persecute those who thought differently from them. Before Jesus came the Pharisees had a loyalty to God which made them contemptuous of those whom they thought less loyal than themselves.

The true Christian loves Christ and loves his fellow men. More than that, he knows that he cannot show his love to Christ in any other way than by showing his love to his fellow men. However orthodox a Church is, however pure its theology, and however noble its worship and its liturgy, it is not a true Church in the real sense of the term unless it is characterized by love for its fellow men. There are Churches which seldom make any public pronouncement which is not based on censorious criticism. They may be orthodox, but they are not Christian. The true Church is marked by a double love--love for Christ and love for men.

F. W. Boreham quotes a passage from Robert Buchanan's Shadow of the Sword, in which Buchanan describes the Chapel of Hate. "It stood on a bleak and barren moor in Brittany a hundred years ago. It was in ruins; the walls were black and stained with the slime of centuries; around the crumbling altar nettles and rank weeds grew breast high; whilst black mists, charged with rain, brooded night and day about the gloomy scene. Over the doorway of the chapel, but half-obliterated, was its name. It was dedicated to Our Lady of Hate. 'Hither,' says Buchanan, 'in hours of passion and pain, came men and women to cry curses on their enemies--the maiden on her false lover, the lover on his false mistress, the husband on his false wife--praying, one and all, that Our Lady of Hate might hearken, and that the hated one might die within the year.' " And then the novelist adds: "So bright and so deep had the gentle Christian light shone within their minds!"

A chapel of hate is a grim conception; and yet--are we always so very far away from it? We hate the liberals or the radicals; we hate the fundamentalists or the obscurantists; we hate the man whose theology is different from our own; we hate the Roman Catholic or the Protestant as the case may be. We make pronouncements which are characterized, not by Christian charity, but by a kind of condemning bitterness. We would do well to remember every now and then that love of Christ and love of our fellow men cannot exist without each other. Our tragedy is that it is so often true, as Swift once said: "We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another."

Barclay: Eph 1:15-23

In this passage we see what Paul asks for a Church which he loves and which is doing well.

(i) He prays for the Spirit of Wisdom. The word he uses for wisdom is sophia (4678), and we have already seen that sophia (4678) is the wisdom of the deep things of God. He prays that the Church may be led deeper and deeper into the knowledge of the eternal truths. If ever that is to happen, certain things are necessary.

(a) It is necessary that we should have a thinking people. Boswell tells us that Goldsmith once said: "As I take my shoes from the shoemaker, and my coat from the tailor, so I take my religion from the priest." There are many who are like that; and yet religion is nothing unless it is a personal discovery. As Plato had it long ago: "The unexamined life is the life not worth living," and the unexamined religion is the religion not worth having. It is an obligation for a thinking man to think his way to God.

(b) It is necessary that we should have a teaching ministry. William Chillingworth said: "The Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." That is true; but so often we would not think so. The exposition of scripture from the pulpit is a first necessity of religious wakening.

© It is necessary that we should have a readjusted sense of proportion. It is one of the strange facts of Church life that in Church courts, such as sessions and presbyteries, and even General Assemblies, a score of hours might be given to the discussion of mundane problems of administration for every one given to the discussion of the eternal verities of God.

(ii) Paul prays for a fuller revelation and a fuller knowledge of God. For the Christian growth in knowledge and in grace is essential. Any man who follows a profession knows that he dare not stop studying. No doctor thinks that he has finished learning when he leaves the classrooms of his university. He knows that week by week, and almost day by day, new techniques and treatments are being discovered; and if he wishes to continue to be of service to those in illness and in pain, he must keep up with them. It is so with the Christian. The Christian life could be described as getting to know God better every day. A friendship which does not grow closer with the years tends to vanish with the years. And it is so with us and God.

(iii) He prays for a new realization of the Christian hope. It is almost a characteristic of the age in which we live that it is an age of despair. Thomas Hardy wrote in Tess: "Sometimes I think that the worlds are like apples on our stubbard tree. Some of them splendid and some of them blighted." Then comes the question: "On which kind do we live--a splendid one or a blighted one?" And Tess' answer is: "A blighted one." Between the wars Sir Philip Gibbs wrote: "If I smell poison gas in Edgeware Road, I am not going to put on a gas mask or go to a gas-proof room. I am going out to take a good sniff of it, for I shall know that the game is up." H. G. Wells once wrote grimly: "Man, who began in a cave behind a windbreak, will end in the disease-soaked ruins of a slum." On every side the voice of the pessimist sounds; it was never more necessary to sound the trumpet-call of Christian hope. If the Christian message is true, the world is on the way not to dissolution but to consummation.

(iv) He prays for a new realization of the power of God. For Paul the supreme proof of that power was the resurrection. It proved that God's purpose cannot be stopped by any action of men. In a world which looks chaotic, it is well to realize that God is still in control.

(v) Paul finishes by speaking of the conquest of Christ in a sphere which does not mean so much to us today. As the King James Version has it, God has raised Jesus Christ "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named." In Paul's day men strongly believed both in demons and in angels; and these words which Paul uses are the titles of different grades of angels. He is saying that there is not a being in heaven or on earth to whom Jesus Christ is not superior. In essence Paul's prayer is that men should realize the greatness of the Saviour God has given to them.

Barclay: Eph 1:15-23

We come to the last two verses of this chapter, and in them Paul has one of the most adventurous and most uplifting thoughts that any man has ever had. He calls the Church by its greatest title--the body of Christ.

In order to understand what Paul means, let us go back to the basic thought of his letter. As it stands, this world is a complete disunity. There is disunity between Jew and Gentile, between Greek and barbarian; there is disunity between different men within the same nation; there is disunity within every man, for in every man the good strives with the evil; there is disunity between man and the beasts; and, above all, there is disunity between man and God. It was Paul's thesis that Jesus died to bring all the discordant elements in this universe into one, to wipe out the separations, to reconcile man to man and to reconcile man to God. Jesus Christ was above all things God's instrument of reconciliation.

It was to bring all things and all men into one family that Christ died. But, clearly, that unity does not as yet exist. Let us take a human analogy. Suppose a great doctor discovers a cure for cancer. Once that cure is found it is there. But before it can become available for everyone, it must be taken out to the world. Doctors and surgeons must know about it and be trained to use it. The cure is there but one man cannot take it out to all the world; a corps of doctors must be the agents whereby it arrives at all the world's sufferers. That precisely is what the Church is to Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus that all men and all nations can become one; but before that can happen they must know about Jesus Christ. And it is the task of the Church to bring that about.

Christ is the head; the Church is the body. The head must have a body through which it can work. The Church is quite literally hands to do Christ's work, feet to run upon his errands, a voice to speak his words.

In the very last phrase of the chapter Paul has two tremendous thoughts. The Church, he says, is the complement of Christ. Just as the ideas of the mind cannot become effective without the work of the body, the tremendous glory which Christ brought to this world cannot be made effective without the work of the Church. Paul goes on to say that Jesus is bit by bit filling all things in all places; and that filling is being worked out by the Church. This is one of the most tremendous thoughts in all Christianity. It means nothing less than that God's plan for one world is in the hands of the Church.

An illustration which is old and hackneyed perfectly sums up this great truth. There is a legend which tells how Jesus went back to heaven after his time on earth. Even in heaven he bore upon him the marks of the Cross. The angels were talking to him and Gabriel said: "Master, you must have suffered terribly for men down there." "I did," said Jesus. "And," said Gabriel, "do they all know about how you loved them and what you did for them?" "O no," said Jesus, "not yet. Just now only a few people in Palestine know." "What have you done," said Gabriel, "to let everyone know about it?" Jesus said: "I have asked Peter and James and John and a few others to make it the business of their lives to tell others about me, and the others still others, and yet others, until the farthest man on the widest circle knows what I have done." Gabriel looked very doubtful, for he knew well what poor stuff men were made of. "Yes," he said, "but what if Peter and James and John grow tired? What if the people who come after them forget? What if away down in the twentieth century people just don't tell others about you? Haven't you made any other plans?" And Jesus answered: "I haven't made any other plans. I'm counting on them." To say that the Church is the Body means that Jesus is counting on us.

Constable: Eph 1:3--4:1

II. THE CHRISTIAN'S CALLING 1:3--3:21

". . . the first three chapters are one long prayer, culminating in the great doxology at the end of chapter 3. There is in fact nothing like this in all Paul's letters. This is the language of lyrical prayer, not the language of argument, and controversy, and rebuke."¹⁰

Constable: Eph 1:3--2:11

A. Individual calling 1:3-2:10

Paul began the body of his letter by revealing the spiritual blessings that God has planned for believers in His Son.

Constable: Eph 1:15-23

2. The means: knowledge 1:15-23

Having reviewed his readers' blessings in Christ, Paul next prayed that they would appreciate and appropriate these good things in their own lives. Verses 15-23 are one sentence in the Greek text as are verses 3-14. Intellectual understanding is one thing, but it is also important that we use this knowledge to come into intimate relationship with God.

Constable: Eph 1:15-16

Commendation 1:15-16

As was his custom, Paul first commended his readers for what they were doing well. Then he told them what his prayer requests for them were.

1:15 In view of their spiritual blessings, Paul felt constrained to pray for his original readers. Even though God had greatly blessed them, they needed even more from God. In addition to informing them, Paul also interceded for them.

The apostle had personally witnessed the faith and love of the Ephesians a few years earlier, but he had evidently received fresh reports of their condition. His statement also suggests that "you" may include other churches beside the one or ones located in Ephesus. Faith is the expression of the believer's trust in God, our vertical relationship. Love is the evidence of his or her proper relationship with other people, our horizontal relationship (cf. 6:23; Col. 1:14; 2 Thess. 1:3).

1:16 These qualities in his readers stimulated Paul to give thanks to God for their present condition and to petition Him for their present and future needs. He said he prayed for them repeatedly.³⁵

Constable: Eph 1:17-23

Supplication 1:17-23

1:17 Paul returned to his concept of God as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 3; cf. Matt. 6:9). He combined with this fact the idea that all glory belongs to the Father (vv. 6, 12, 14; cf. Acts 7:2; 1 Cor. 2:8).

Paul asked God to give the Ephesians a spirit of wisdom and revelation. The spirit in view probably refers to an attitude rather than to the Holy Spirit, wisdom and revelation being the description of that attitude (cf. 1 Cor. 4:21). These attitudes become ours through the ministry of the Holy Spirit to us, however (cf. Isa. 11:2). Wisdom (Gr. sophia, v. 8; 3:10) enables one to perceive reality accurately. Revelation is the unveiling of the subject contemplated, in this case God Himself.

"William Chillingworth said: The Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants.' That is true; but so often we would not think so. The exposition of scripture from the pulpit is a first necessity of religious wakening. We are interested, not in what a preacher thinks, but in what God says."³⁶

The end in view was that the readers might gain greater knowledge of God. The Greek word translated "knowledge" (epignosis) refers to exact, complete, experiential knowledge, not just abstract knowledge of God or even facts about Him.³⁷ Paul wanted his readers to get to know God more intimately as their Father, to become closer friends with Him (cf. John 15:14).

"To know God personally is salvation (John 17:3). To know Him increasingly is sanctification (Phil 3:10). To know Him perfectly is glorification (1 Cor. 13:9-12)."³⁸

1:18 They would gain this greater knowledge as God would enlighten their understanding. The heart refers to the center of personality in the Bible. The eyes of the heart, a vivid mixed metaphor, suggests not just intellectual understanding but total apprehension of God.³⁹

The reason Paul prayed this prayer was three-fold. He wanted his readers to know (Gr. eidenai) factually three things. First, he wanted them to know the hope that was theirs because God had called them to salvation through election. Every Christian should appreciate his or her sure hope for the future that rests on his or her calling to salvation in the past.

Second, the readers needed to realize that they themselves would be an inheritance that God would receive when they went to be with Him. Paul spoke of the believer's inheritance in verse 14. Here he spoke of God's inheritance. This inheritance will be valuable because believers are people for whom God paid dearly with the blood of His own Son. It is glorious because when we see the Lord we will experience glorification, cleansing, and removal from sin (cf. vv. 6, 17 for other glorious things).

1:19 Third, Paul wanted the Ephesians to know the great power of God that affects the Christian. Power (Gr. dunamis) refers to a spiritually dynamic living force. "Working," "strength," and "might" or "mighty" further describe this power. These three words describe it as energetic, inherent in God, and able to overcome resistance respectively. This is the power of God that is available to believers.

"By making us His inheritance, God has shown His love. By promising us a wonderful future, He has encouraged our hope. Paul offered something to challenge our faith: the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe' (Eph. 1:19)."⁴⁰

1:20 God manifested this power in Christ in three instances that Paul cited to help us appreciate it more. God's power resurrected Jesus from the dead and exalted Him to God's right hand in heaven.⁴¹ The same power is available to us now (cf. Phil. 3:10; Col. 1:11).

1:21 Christ's ascension has resulted in His exaltation over every other authority (cf. Col. 1:16), human and angelic (cf. Phil. 2:8-11), present and future (cf. 1 Cor. 15:23-28). The Jews believed angels controlled human destiny, but Paul saw Jesus Christ doing this.

1:22 The second manifestation of God's power in Christ was the Father's making all things subject to Christ. Adam lost his lordship over creation when he sinned, but Jesus gained lordship over creation by His obedience (1:10; Rom. 5:12-21). His lordship over creation will be obvious in the future when He reigns during the Millennium (Ps. 8:6; 1 Cor. 15:27; Heb. 2:6-8).⁴²

The third manifestation of God's power in Christ is the Son's appointment as Head over the church (cf. 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18). This aspect of His lordship is evident now.⁴³

"There is given to the Church, and for the Church's benefit, a Head who is also Head over all things. The church has authority and power to overcome all opposition because her Leader and Head is Lord of all."⁴⁴

1:23 The church is both the body of Christ and the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way, namely Jesus Christ. The church is the fullness of Christ probably in the sense that He fills for Himself (middle voice in Greek) the church with blessings (cf. 4:10-11). Jesus Christ who fills all things with all things (i.e., with blessings) is filling the church with blessings. The church could not come into existence until Jesus Christ had ascended into heaven to become its head.⁴⁵

After showing that believers have received all spiritual blessings (vv. 3-14), Paul prayed that believers might come to know God intimately (v. 17). This is necessary so we might better appreciate our past calling to salvation that gives us hope (v. 18), the future inheritance that we constitute for God (v. 18), and the present power of God available to us (v. 19). God manifested this power in the past in Christ's resurrection and ascension (v. 20-21). He will manifest it in the future by making Jesus Christ the head over all creation (v. 22). He is now manifesting this power in Jesus Christ's headship over the church (vv. 22-23).

College: Eph 1:1-23

EPHESIANS 1

I. DOCTRINE:

GOD'S PLAN FOR SALVATION (1:1-3:21)

A. GOD'S BLESSINGS (1:1-23)

1. Salutation (1:1-2)

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, ^a the faithful ^b in Christ Jesus: ² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

^a 1 Some early manuscripts do not have in Ephesus. ^b 1 Or believers who are

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus

Using the formula typical of ancient letter writing, and typical of his own epistles as well, Paul identifies himself by name and position. As in Romans and the Pastoral Epistles, he does not name any other associate with himself.

As "an apostle" (ajpovstolo" , apostolos ) of Christ Jesus, Paul had been "sent forth" (ajpostevllw , apostellô ) to carry the message of his master. Paul's repeated use of this title shows his awareness of the official authority of his position and the importance of his epistles. It was, in fact, in carrying out his commission that he brought the gospel to Ephesus and the surrounding province.

"Christ" is from the Greek word for "anointed," and is the equivalent of the Hebrew word "messiah." In the Old Testament reference is made to the anointing of prophets (Isa 61:1), priests (Exod 29:7), and kings (1 Sam 15:1). The long-awaited Messiah or Christ was anointed by the Father as our great Prophet, Priest, and King. By decree of the angel, the human name given to this Anointed One was "Jesus" (Luke 1:31). It is the same as the O.T. name Joshua, and means "Yahweh is salvation."

by the will of God,

As in 1 and 2 Corinthians, Colossians, and 2 Timothy, Paul's apostleship is "by the will of God." While the specific commission came from Jesus, the underlying cause was the Father's will. This pattern, the will of the Father enacted by the work of the Son, is seen throughout Ephesians. While Paul is aware of the importance of his apostleship, he is also keenly conscious of the fact that he did not become an apostle by his own merit.

To the saints in Ephesus,

The "saints" are the "holy ones," the people consecrated to the Lord. They are "holy," as Paul will point out, because God chose them to be that way (1:4) and because Christ has cleansed them (5:26-27). Their further identity, however, poses a problem. The oldest surviving copies of Ephesians do not include the words "in Ephesus." It is probable that Paul intended this epistle for a much larger audience than just the church in Ephesus. He likely did send the epistle first to Ephesus, and from there copies were to be sent throughout the churches of Asia. If the epistle had been intended for Ephesus alone, where Paul had spent three years of ministry, it is surprising that there are no personal greetings and no mention of local problems. Paul seems to have deliberately kept his focus on the more universal aspect of the church.

the faithful in Christ Jesus:

In the manuscripts which leave out the words "in Ephesus," the Greek reads, "to the saints, the ones being also faithful in Christ Jesus." Those who are "faithful" have put their trust and commitment in Christ Jesus as the object of their faith. Paul's audience, then, is not an elite faction of the church, but all Christians.

1:2 Grace and peace to you

F. F. Bruce suggests that the salutation "grace and peace be yours" probably had its origin in the language of public worship and was taken over by Paul and others in their letters. More likely, however, is that the early church learned its forms of speech from the apostles (Acts 2:42). Certainly Paul himself had ample reason to rejoice in the theme of God's grace. Grace is the goodwill, favor, and lovingkindness of God - directed toward people who do not deserve it. Grace means that although we are unworthy, God likes us anyway!

Peace is best defined as "well-being of the soul." As Christians we have this inner peace because we have been saved by grace through faith, not by our own worthiness. Jesus himself is our peace (2:14), having reconciled men to God and to one another through the cross (2:15-17).

It has often been noted that "grace" (cavri" , charis ) is very similar to the usual Greek greeting (caivrein , chairein ). Also, "peace" was the usual Jewish greeting (Hebrew shalom ). Since so much of Paul's ministry involved bringing Jews and Greeks together into one body (3:4-6), it seems somehow appropriate that this Greek-Jew greeting should begin each of his epistles.

from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is strong emphasis in Ephesians on the fatherhood of God. At least once each chapter we are reminded of this important fact. The unity of the church is built upon it. Since there is one Father - only one (Eph 4:6) - all who are his children are automatically brothers and sisters in one family.

It is also the Father who gave Jesus Christ his authority as head (1:22) and Lord (4:5). At least once each chapter there is the reminder that Jesus is Lord. The title "Lord" (kuvrio" , kyrios ) has an interesting background. Originally it was used for the owner of a piece of property. Later it was applied to the master who owned slaves and had the authority to demand their obedience. Then it came to be used as a common title for the gods of the mystery religions. Last of all, shortly before the coming of Jesus, the word "Lord" became the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" in the Septuagint version of the Scriptures. All the implications of the term apply to Jesus: he is our owner and master; he is God.

2. Present Blessings in Christ (1:3-14)

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he ^a predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace ⁸ that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹ And he ^b made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment - to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. ¹¹ In him we were also chosen, ^c having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of his glory.

^a 4,5 Or sight in love. ⁵ He ^b 8,9 Or us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he ^c 11 Or were made heirs

1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

In the original Greek verses 3 to 14 constitute one grand sentence. Characteristic of the more elaborate style of writing in Ephesians, these verses outline seven spiritual blessings which all of God's children share:

1 - We are chosen (v. 4)

2 - We are predestined to be adopted (v. 5)

3 - We are given grace (v. 6)

4 - We are redeemed (v. 7)

5 - We are told the secret of his will (v. 9)

6 - We are made a heritage (v. 11)

7 - We are sealed with the Spirit (vv. 13-14)

"Praise be" (literally "blessed be") echoes a Hebrew liturgical phrase (see 2 Cor 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3) common in Jewish synagogue worship. When we "bless" God we acknowledge his grace, praise his glory, and worship him. We cannot bless him in the sense that he blesses us, but we can admit that his greatness and goodness de- serve all praise and glory. While some scholars have attempted to demonstrate that vv. 3-14 were originally a hymn which Paul borrowed, their evidence is unconvincing.

who has blessed us in the heavenly realms

God's blessings for his children are located "in the heavenly realms" (literally, "in the heavenlies"). The adjective "heavenly" occurs several times in the N.T., but this unique phrase occurs only in Ephesians. The heavenly realms are:

Where our blessings are (1:3).

Where Christ sits at God's right hand (1:20).

Where we now sit with Christ (2:6).

Where rulers and authorities observe God's wisdom (3:10).

Where spiritual forces of evil oppose us (6:12).

The heavenly realms cannot be identified simply as "the church" or as "heaven" itself, for neither will fit every usage. It must refer to a realm that is more real than our mortal earth, which will endure even after the sky "disappears with a roar and the elements are destroyed by fire" (2 Pet 3:10). This realm already exists all around us, and through the church we are participants in this grander drama (2:6). It is "in the heavenly realms" that we are right now wrestling against Satan and his hosts (6:12).

with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

While it is true that material blessings are also from God (Deut 28:1-14; James 1:17), his spiritual blessings are more to be desired. These blessings are "spiritual" because they are received by our spiritual nature. It may be a good index of our own spirituality to consider for which kind of blessings we are more likely to cry out, "Praise the Lord!"

It must not be overlooked that each of the seven blessings is available "in Christ," "in him," or "in the Beloved." Some variation of this phrase occurs eleven times in the first fourteen verses. Similar expressions occur throughout Ephesians, almost twice as many times as the average for Paul's letters. For Paul, to be "in Christ" is to be incorporated into his body, the church.

1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world

God chose us. We were not forced upon him - he wanted us! Neither was this a last-minute concession on his part - he made this choice before the world was even created.

However, this verse is sometimes wrongly understood to mean that God chooses some people to go to heaven and other people to go to hell. Regardless of a person's own choice, it is said, his destiny has already been predetermined. Such a view ignores the fact that throughout the N.T. people are told to repent and are offered salvation - and their destiny depends upon their response. (See Luke 13:5; John 3:16-18; Acts 2:38; 17:30; Rev 22:17.) Similarly, Jesus taught that to be included among the "chosen," people must not only be invited - they must also accept the invitation (Matt 22:1-14).

What did God choose? He chose to receive all those who are "in Christ." Just as we were created "in him" (Col 1:16), so are we chosen "in him." God chose a class of people - the people who accept Christ as Lord and Savior. Many will not accept Christ, but those who do accept him are given the privilege to become sons of God (John 1:12).

to be holy and blameless in his sight.

Even though we were totally unworthy, God received us when we accepted Christ. God's choice for us now is that we should become holy (set apart for him) and blameless (without blemish). God did not accept us because we were good; he accepted us in Christ in order that we might become good.

In love 1:5 he predestined us

God's loving plan of salvation called for all those who accept Christ to be received as sons. God did not predestine which people would accept Christ; he predestined that whoever did accept him would be adopted into the family.

The word "predestine" (proorivzw , proorizô ) means literally "to set out boundaries in advance." God staked out the boundaries for the group he would adopt. By his sovereign decree, all those "in Christ" will be in the group. Whether a person is in God's group, then, depends on what that person has done with Jesus.

By contrast, strict Calvinism teaches that God makes all the choices himself. Every event of life, including our own decision about Jesus, is actually decided by God. Edwin Palmer states his views in this way:

Foreordination means God's sovereign plan, whereby He decides all that is to happen in the entire universe. Nothing in this world happens by chance. God is in back of everything. He decides and causes all things to happen that do happen. He is not sitting on the sidelines wondering and perhaps fearing what is going to happen next. No, He has foreordained everything "after the counsel of his will" (Eph 1:11): the moving of a finger, the beating of a heart, the laughter of a girl, the mistake of a typist - even sin.

to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ,

The legal process of adoption was apparently unknown in the Hebrew society, but common in Graeco-Roman law. "A well-to-do but childless adult who wanted an heir would adopt a male, usually at an age other than in infancy and frequently a slave, to be his son." Since adoption was often combined with the making of a will which included the duty to care for the aged "parent," adoption was practiced as a way of providing for one's old age. But what is God's reason for adopting us? The answer: he does it in love, in accordance with his pleasure and will.

in accordance with his pleasure and will -

God wants people to be saved. It is not his will that anyone should perish, but that all should repent and be saved (2 Pet 3:9). When men do repent, God gladly accepts them with a divine attitude of good pleasure (eujdokiva , eudokia ). God is not merely willing to save us - he is delighted to do so!

1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace,

Literally, "to the praise of glory of his grace." But it is not his glory that is in view here; it is his grace. The NIV has correctly interpreted the words "of glory" as a Hebraic qualifying phrase (as in Col 1:11 and 27). Thus, the "glory of his grace" is his loving goodwill, fully manifested in all its excellence. This phrase becomes a joyous refrain, repeated in vv. 6, 12, and 14.

which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

God's grace has been "graciously bestowed" or "freely given" (caritovw , charitoô ). God's grace is given free of charge, but only to those who are in the Beloved. God's love for the Son is so great that he gladly embraces us for Jesus' sake. When Jesus was baptized the Father spoke from heaven, calling him "my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt 3:17). Those who unite themselves with Christ (Rom 6:5) will share in the Father's good pleasure.

1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood,

In Christ - and only in Christ - we have redemption (ajpoluvtrwsi" , apolytrôsis ). In the ancient world to "redeem" was to pay the necessary ransom to set free a prisoner of war, a captive, or a debtor who was sold into slavery. Our self-incurred debt was slavery to sin (Rom 6:16). The rightful consequences were the wrath of God (Eph 5:6) and the death of the sinner (Rom 6:23). The price to rescue us was the blood of Jesus (1 Pet 1:18-19), a concept God began teaching from mankind's beginning (Gen 4:1-5) and codified in the law of Moses (Lev 17:11).

If Jesus' blood was the price for our ransom, to whom was the price paid? Some of the early Fathers held that the ransom was paid to Satan; other writers held that the ransom was paid to God himself. The first view would erroneously give Satan the upper hand over God; the second view would have God paying himself off. It is better to see the price as paid to satisfy divine justice. When God "redeemed" his people from their oppressor in Egypt (Ps 78:42-43), he did not "pay off" the pharaoh or anyone else. He simply did what was necessary to secure the release of his people.

the forgiveness of sins,

Literally, the "dismissing of acts of transgression." God's forgiveness through Christ's blood is not a mere covering up of our sins; it totally erases, removes, and sends them away. The word for "sins" is not the generic word aJmartiva ( hamartia ) (which is used in every other N.T. reference to the forgiveness of sins), but the plural of the specific word paravptwma (paraptôma ). These "sins" are our transgressions, all the times we have deviated from the path of truth and righteousness.

in accordance with the riches of God's grace

While our failures called for the wrath of God, instead we get forgiveness. And lest we think we may exhaust his supply, Paul says it is drawn from the "wealth" of his grace. This is a theme Paul, the former persecutor of God's people, cannot keep from repeating. Notice "wealth of his grace" (2:7), "wealth of his glory" (1:8 and 3:16), and "wealth of his kindness" (Rom 2:4).

1:8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

God spared no expense in providing for his children. His grace was lavished ("poured out overflowingly") upon us. "Where sin abounded, grace was more exceedingly multiplied" (Rom 5:20). Accompanying the generous gift there was even more: wisdom and insight into the secret plan. We can understand God's plan and live in the light of it.

1:9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will

One of the ways God has lavished his grace upon us is by revealing his plan of salvation. For all earlier ages this plan had been kept secret (Eph 3:9), but now it has been revealed. The word "mystery" (musthvrion , mystçrion ) in the Bible does not mean something that is complicated, obscure, and difficult to understand. It means something that was kept secret until God chose to reveal it. No man could have guessed in advance that God would save the world by the death of his Son, but once God announced it, it was plain and marvelously simple.

according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

God's "good pleasure" (eujdokiva , eudokia ) is the same word used in v. 5. It was not just God's plan to save the world - it was his pleasure to do so! All this, like each of the other spiritual blessings, is set forth in Christ.

1:10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment

Literally, "a plan for administration in the fullness of the times." The NIV "put into effect" represents a Greek word that depicts the wise governing or administration over a household. This masterplan was to go into effect on God's timetable, the "fullness of time" when Christ would be born into the world (Gal 4:4).

- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

God's great plan is to make Christ head over all things and to bring all things together in subjection under his feet (1:22). The primary focus of this act is Christ's headship: all things must be reconciled to God through him (Col 1:20). A secondary result of this plan is that men are also reconciled to each other.

Universalists have taken this verse to mean that all men will eventually be saved and all the universe will be in final harmony. However, this ignores the plain warning of Jesus himself that many men will go to destruction (Matt 7:13). Like the other spiritual blessings, this part of God's plan is only for those who are in Christ and submit to his lordship.

1:11 In him we were also chosen,

Translations of this verse differ widely. The word "chosen" (ejklhrwvqhmen , eklçrôthçmen ) means "to be appointed by lot." In the O.T. it has special reference to dividing the land by lot for inheritance (Num 26:55-56). Based on this usage the American Standard Version (1901) has well translated the passage, "in whom also we were made a heritage." The point is that we ourselves are apportioned and designated as the inheritance of God. This understanding of the text fits well with Deut 32:9, which says:

The Lord's portion is his people;

Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

In Christ we are admitted to the ranks of the chosen people, the special possession of God. We get heaven - and God gets us!

having been predestined

Using the same word as v. 5 (proorivzw , proorizô ), Paul again emphasizes that God has established the boundaries for his chosen people: those who have yielded to Christ as Lord. God did not predetermine who would be in this group, but he did predetermine what he was going to do with that group.

according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

God is in control. The flow of human history moves inexorably in the direction God has chosen. The "purpose" (boulhv , boulç ) of his will has been well thought out and masterfully executed. But lest we rush into predestination at this point in the text, let us remember what the all-sovereign God has decreed: that men are given a choice whether or not to come to Jesus. Free will is part of the divine decree.

1:12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ,

God's purpose is for those who put their hope in Jesus Christ. First to put their hope in the promised messiah were the Jews ("we who were the first"). They are set in contrast to the Gentiles of v. 13 ("you also who have heard"). First the Jew, then the Gentile (Rom 1:16), all men are offered the opportunity to become a part of God's designated inheritance.

might be for the praise of his glory.

Our worship - in fact, our very existence - becomes a paean of praise to the splendor of God's grace. (See vv. 6 and 14.)

1:13 And you also were included in Christ

"You also" is a dominant theme of Ephesians. The Gentiles were formerly excluded, but are now part of God's family (2:11-22). They are fellow members of the body (3:6) bound together in the unity of the Spirit (4:3).

when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.

When Paul taught daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus, Luke reports that "all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord" (Acts 19:10). The Gentiles were not introduced to God by an accident of birth, but by hearing the good news about Jesus. Paul knows this message to be the "word of truth," the means by which men are saved. It is called the truth "because it reveals man's true condition, proclaims and advocates the only true way of escape, and admonishes saved sinners to show true gratitude in their lives."

Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal,

Those who heard, believed. This was not merely a mental acceptance of a theological proposition. It was putting their trust and commitment in Christ. In response to their decision, God marked them with an official seal. This seal, the presence of the Holy Spirit, proved they belonged to God. To seal (sfragivzw , sphragizô ), as with the brand marking the ownership of cattle and slaves, had nothing to do with preservation.

While the coming of the Holy Spirit is sometimes connected with baptism in Scripture (Acts 2:38-39; 5:32; 1 Cor 12:13), other passages base his coming on our faith. (In addition to this verse, see Acts 19:2; Gal 3:2, 14; Eph 3:17). One must conclude that either half of the above verses are in error, or that baptism and faith are meant to go together.

the promised Holy Spirit,

As Peter reminded his Jewish hearers at Pentecost (Acts 2:17), God had promised a time when he would "pour out his Spirit on all flesh" (both Jew and Gentile). As Peter reminded the Jewish believers at the Jerusalem Conference, the coming of the Spirit on Cornelius was proof that the centurion had been accepted by God. While that event was special and spectacular, all believers have the confirming presence of the Spirit in their lives.

1:14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance

The "deposit" (ajrrabwvn , arrabôn , "earnest money") which guarantees our inheritance is like the down payment that is made on a real estate transaction. In the early days of trade it was "a commercial word denoting a pledge - some object handed over by a buyer to a seller until the purchase price was paid in full." The arrabôn guarantees that a person is in earnest about his intentions. Often the deposit is a first installment of similar payments to be made in the future. The presence of the Spirit is thus a foretaste of heaven!

Also interesting is the fact that arrabôn is the word in modern Greek for an engagement ring. It is a lovely parallel that the church, the bride of Christ, should now wear the token of his promise. We have this guarantee of heaven, that we shall share in the wedding feast of the Lamb (Rev 19:7-9).

until the redemption of those who are God's possession

Literally, "unto the redemption of the possession." While the RSV has "until we acquire possession of it," the NIV and NASB focus on God redeeming and possessing his people. God's Spirit in our lives is thus God's promise that he will finally claim us for his own and take us home to heaven.

- to the praise of his glory.

How we should praise God for his spiritual blessings! This phrase, now proclaimed for the third time, echoes the words of God in Isaiah 43:20-21,

. . . my people, my chosen,

the people I formed for myself

that they may proclaim my praise.

3. Potential Blessings in Christ (1:15-23)

15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit ^a of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, ²⁰ which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

^a 17 Or a spirit

1:15 For this reason,

Because God has blessed his people spiritually and put his own Spirit in them, Paul is moved to write a prayer of thanksgiving and encouragement. The prayer will have numerous digressions of thought, finally reaching its climax at the end of chapter three. Paul resumes the prayer twice with similar words (3:1, 14).

ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

There are two reasons Paul says "I heard about your faith" even though he himself had spent three years in Ephesus. First, some years have passed since his stay in Ephesus, and he is rejoicing to hear of their continued faith (cf. Philemon 4-5 and 1 Thess 3:6). Second, this epistle is intended to reach all of Asia Minor and many of these believers are people Paul has never met.

Faith in Jesus and love for the saints seem to be the qualifying marks of a Christian (see also Col 1:4; 1 Thess 1:3; 2 Thess 1:3; Phlm 4). The two necessarily go together. It is impossible to be in a right relationship with the head, while being cut off from all the rest of the body. Love for one another is an identifying characteristic of those who believe and follow Jesus (John 13:35).

1:16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

Paul had left Ephesus for the last time around A.D. 57. As he writes this epistle from Roman imprisonment, five or six years have gone by. Still, he is faithfully lifting up the Ephesian saints in his daily prayers. (See also Rom 1:8; 1 Cor 1:4; Phil 1:3; Col 1:3; 1 Thess 1:2; 2 Thess 1:3; Phlm 4.) This is how Paul lived out his admonition, "Pray without stopping" (1 Thess 5:17).

1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

"The God" of our Lord Jesus is the one Jesus came to reveal (John 1:18). He is the one Jesus called, "My God" (Matt 27:46; John 20:17). He is the one to whom both Jesus and Paul addressed their prayers.

the glorious Father,

Literally, "the father of glory," a Hebraic qualifying phrase as in 1:6. The Father stands unchallenged in the magnitude of his glory. That glory is his shining radiance and splendor, his majesty, honor, and power.

may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation,

Because the Greek text does not say "the" Spirit, the RSV and NASB have "a spirit," referring to an inner disposition or attitude. This would also be the sense of "spirit" in 4:23, the inner self where renewal takes place. On the other hand, the NIV has good reasons for having "the Spirit." (1) The Spirit is the giver of revelation in 3:5. (2) In the parallel in Col 1:9 the word "spiritual" is about the Spirit and the wisdom he imparts. (3) The "Spirit of sonship" in Rom 8:15 is grammatically similar (having no definite article), and refers to the Holy Spirit.

so that you may know him better.

A Christian must have more than just raw enthusiasm. Unless he is grounded in truth and wisdom, his faith may be as short-lived as the froth whipped up by ocean waves. But the center and focus of his knowledge must be God himself. This knowledge (ejpivgnwsi" , epignôsis ) is the clear perception of who God really is, and an intimate personal relationship with him.

1:18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened

God can sharpen our spiritual eyesight, and that is the goal of Paul's prayer. In particular there are three spiritual realities which we must not overlook. Like the servant of Elisha, we need to have the Lord open our eyes to see the wonderful truth.

in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you,

The word for "know" (oida , oida ) typically refers to the kind of knowledge that is perceived in the mind, even when it cannot be experienced with the senses of sight, hearing, or touch. The specific items which Paul will mention cannot be tested or measured by the skeptic. They must be perceived by those who walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).

The first such thing is the "hope" of our calling. This is the "one hope" (Eph 4:4) shared by all Christians, the upward calling by which God summons us to join him in heaven. Hope is not just the emotion, but also the content and object of what is hoped for. If we could more clearly perceive the glorious destiny awaiting us, we could live more victoriously here below.

the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

The second reality Christians need to see more clearly is that God has a rich inheritance in his people. This is not the inheritance God has for his people; that was the previous reality, heaven. This is what God has in his people, his own inheritance which consists in his people. To say, as in v. 11, that "we get heaven and God gets us" initially causes one to think that God is being short-changed. But if we could really see the church as God sees it, like a beautiful bride (Eph 5:27), we would understand how highly God values his inheritance.

1:19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

The third reality which might be otherwise missed by many Christians is God's incomparable power, which is available to work in us. The intensity of Paul's thought is shown in his words, the greatest collection of "power" and "greatness" words found anywhere in the Bible. "Incomparably" (uJperbavllon , hyperballon , found only in Paul in the N.T.) means "going far beyond; exceeding." "Great" (mevgeqo" , megethos ) has a stem recognizable in English as "truly large and great." "Power" (duvnami" , dynamis ) means great force and might, often even used to describe the power of Jesus' miracles. (This same word was well suited to name the explosive invention, dynamite.)

This power was first worked in each of us when God raised us from spiritual death through faith in Christ. It is power "for us who believe." But Paul is praying here that even after we have been raised to life, our eyes may be opened to see what we would otherwise miss: power at work in our service.

That power is like the working of his mighty strength,

This power is a dynamic "working" (ejnergeiva , energeia , "working on the inside"). This word is always used in Scripture of supernatural rather than human power. "Mighty" (kravto" , kratos ) is a term for authoritative power which overcomes whatever stands in the way, and "strength" (ijscuv" , ischys ) is the personal exercise of strength and power. Paul virtually exhausts the resources of the Greek language to describe something of the magnitude of divine might.

1:20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead

The greatest demonstration of this dynamic power was the resurrection of Christ. Death had been the one force that men were unable to resist, but its strength yielded to the greater power exerted (ejnergevw , energeô ) by God in Christ.

When Paul finally finishes this prayer at the end of chapter three, he refers again to this incredible divine power. By the "power that is at work (energeô ) within us," God is able to do more than all we ask or imagine - in the church, in all generations (3:20-21).

and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

God not only raised Jesus from the tomb, but raised him still higher to the throne. To sit "at his right hand" meant to share in the authority which controls all things in heaven and earth. When Christ took his seat with the Father, a prophecy was fulfilled which God had made long ago through David (Ps 110:1):

The Lord says to my Lord:

"Sit at my right hand,

Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."

These events, the resurrection and exaltation of Christ, are the core of Christian preaching (Acts 2:22-36; 17:31; Rom 10:9; 1 Cor 15:3; 1 Thess 1:10; 4:14) and the ground of the believer's hope (1 Cor 15:16-19; 1 Pet 1:3-4).

1:21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion,

The "heavenly realms" (as in v. 3) are the sphere in which both good and evil compete. When Christ took his seat of authority he was exalted not only above all human ranks, but also above all the angel ranks: "rule and authority, power and dominion."

and every title that can be given,

Paul is not interested in identifying specific ranks of rulers and authorities, whether on earth or in heaven. His point is that no matter who they are, on whatever level they exist, Jesus is higher.

not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Christ's exaltation to the throne is not temporary or partial. Though Satan is called "the god of this age" (2 Cor 4:4) and "the ruler of this world" (John 12:31), Jesus outranks him. "This (present) age" is always viewed negatively in Scripture, because it sits in contrast to heaven, the age to come.

1:22 And God placed all things under his feet

God has "placed under" (uJpotavssw , hypotassô, as in 5:21) or "subjected" all things beneath the feet of Jesus. He stands above them and rules over them. The Son of Man has achieved all that God intended for man (Gen 1:26; Ps 8:6; Heb 2:5-9); the Son of God is enthroned with his Father.

and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,

The figure of the head/body relationship of Christ and the church is found only in Ephesians and its sister epistle, Colossians. What Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Cor 12) about parts of the body, for instance, did not include Christ as head. While the human nervous system was not well understood at that time, the "head" was still known to exercise control over the body. Paul is using a bold new image to describe Christ and his church.

The church (ejkklhsiva , ekklçsia ) is named here for the first time in Ephesians. Literally the "called out assembly," the ekklçsia almost always refers to the local congregation in Scripture. Here, however, as in Matt 16:18, the universal church as a worldwide body of all God's children is in view.

1:23 which is his body,

Just as surely as a physical frame of flesh and blood was once the body of Jesus, so the church is now his body. While his physical body never got more than 200 miles from Jerusalem, his body of believers reaches around the world. While his body of flesh was subject to exhaustion and death, his body of believers cannot be stopped. The more the early martyrs were killed, the stronger the body became!

the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

This puzzling phrase seems to imply a contradiction. How can the One who "fills everything in every way" need to be filled himself? How can the church provide "fullness" to Jesus? The answer lies in the context of the preceding verses. God plans to work through the church. He will empower us and direct us to accomplish his will. The Father has chosen for the Son to function as a head that is dependent on its body. We are the hands and feet of the body of Christ. He chooses to be incomplete without us; we complete his fullness.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

Commentary -- Other

Evidence: Eph 1:19

Our God’s power is so great that He could easily turn 800 billion enemy tanks into fine powder with the flutter of an eyelash. Never, never lose sight of the victory! Don’t let the lies of enemy propaganda penetrate your mind. Remember the command, " Fear not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your God: I will strengthen you;...yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness" ( Isa 41:10 ).

To be discouraged is to dishonor God. If He is with us we must never lose courage. A blind, anemic, weak-kneed flea on crutches would have a greater chance of defeating a herd of a thousand wild stampeding elephants than the enemy has of defeating God!

Introduction / Outline

Robertson: Ephesians (Book Introduction)

The Epistle to the Ephesians

From Rome a.d. 63

By Way of Introduction

There are some problems of a special nature that confront us about the so-called Epistle to the Ephesians.

The Authorship

It is not admitted by all that Paul wrote it, though no other adequate explanation of its origin has ever been given. So far as subject matter and vocabulary and style are concerned, if Colossians is Pauline, there is little or nothing to be said against the Pauline authorship of this Epistle.

Relation to Colossians

As we have seen, the two Epistles were sent at the same time, but clearly Colossians was composed first. Ephesians bears much the same relation to Colossians that Romans does to Galatians, a fuller treatment of the same general theme in a more detached and impersonal manner.

The Destination

The oldest documents (Aleph and B) do not have the words en Ephesōi (in Ephesus) in Eph_1:1 (inserted by a later hand). Origen did not have them in his copy. Marcion calls it the Epistle to the Laodiceans. We have only to put here Col_4:16 " the letter from Laodicea" to find the probable explanation. After writing the stirring Epistle to the Colossians Paul dictated this so-called Epistle to the Ephesians as a general or circular letter for the churches in Asia (Roman province). Perhaps the original copy had no name in Eph_1:1 as seen in Aleph and B and Origen, but only a blank space. Marcion was familiar with the copy in Laodicea. Basil in the fourth century mentions some MSS. with no name in the address. Most MSS. were copies from the one in Ephesus and so it came to be called the Epistle to the Ephesians. The general nature of the letter explains also the absence of names in it, though Paul lived three years in Ephesus.

The Date

The same date must be assigned as for Philemon and Colossians, probably a.d. 63.

The Place of Writing

This would also be the same, that is Rome, though Deissmann and Duncan argue for Ephesus itself as the place of writing. Some scholars even suggest Caesarea.

The Character of the Epistle

The same Gnostic heresy is met as in Colossians, but with this difference. In Colossians the emphasis is on the Dignity of Christ as the Head of the Church, while in Ephesians chief stress is placed upon the Dignity of the Church as the Body of Christ the Head. Paul has written nothing more profound than chapters Ephesians 1-3 of Ephesians. Stalker termed them the profoundest thing ever written. He sounds the depths of truth and reaches the heights. Since Ephesians covers the same ground so largely as Colossians, only the words in Ephesians that differ or are additional will call for discussion.

JFB: Ephesians (Book Introduction)

THE headings (Eph 1:1, and Eph 3:1, show that this Epistle claims to be that of Paul. This claim is confirmed by the testimonies of IRENÆUS, [Against Heresies, 5.2,3; 1.8,5]; CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, [Miscellanies, 4, P. 65, and The Instructor, 1.8]; ORIGEN, [Against Celsus, 4,211]. It is quoted by VALENTINUS, A.D. 120, namely, Eph 3:14-18, as we know from HIPPOLYTUS [The Refutation of All Heresies, p. 193]. POLYCARP [Epistle to the Philippians, 12], testifies to its canonicity. So TERTULLIAN [Against Marcion, 5,17]. IGNATIUS [Epistle to the Ephesians, 12], which alludes to the frequent and affectionate mention made by Paul of the Christian state, privileges, and persons of the Ephesians in his Epistle.

Two theories, besides the ordinary one, have been held on the question, to whom the Epistle is addressed. GROTIUS, after the heretic Marcion, maintains that it was addressed to the Church at Laodicea, and that it is the Epistle to which Paul refers in Col 4:16. But the Epistle to the Colossians was probably written before that to the Ephesians, as appears from the parallel passages in Ephesians bearing marks of being expanded from those in Colossians; and Marcion seems to have drawn his notion, as to our Epistle, from Paul's allusion (Col 4:16) to an Epistle addressed by him to the Laodiceans. ORIGEN and CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, and even TERTULLIAN, who refers to Marcion, give no sanction to his notion. No single manuscript contains the heading, "to the saints that are at Laodicea." The very resemblance of the Epistle to the Ephesians, to that to the Colossians, is against the theory; for if the former were really the one addressed to Laodicea (Col 4:16), Paul would not have deemed it necessary that the churches of Colosse and Laodicea should interchange Epistles. The greetings, moreover (Col 4:15), which he sends through the Colossians to the Laodiceans, are quite incompatible with the idea that Paul wrote an Epistle to the Laodiceans at the same time, and by the same bearer, Tychicus (the bearer of our Epistle to the Ephesians, as well as of that to Colosse, Eph 6:21; Col 4:7); for who, under such circumstances, would not send the greetings directly in the letter to the party saluted? The letter to Laodicea was evidently written some time before that to Colosse, Archbishop USHER has advanced the second theory: That it was an encyclical letter headed, as in Manuscript B., "to the saints that are . . . and to the faithful," the name of each Church being inserted in the copy sent to it; and that its being sent to Ephesus first, occasioned its being entitled, as now, the Epistle to the Ephesians. ALFORD makes the following objections to this theory: (1) It is at variance with the spirit of the Epistle, which is clearly addressed to one set of persons throughout, co-existing in one place, and as one body, and under the same circumstances. (2) The improbability that the apostle, who in two of his Epistles (Second Corinthians and Galatians) has so plainly specified their encyclical character, should have here omitted such specification. (3) The still greater improbability that he should have, as on this hypothesis must be assumed, written a circular Epistle to a district, of which Ephesus was the commercial capital, addressed to various churches within that district, yet from its very contents (as by the opponents' hypothesis) not admitting of application to the Church of that metropolis, in which he had spent so long a time, and to which he was so affectionately bound. (4) The inconsistency of this hypothesis with the address of the Epistle, and the universal testimony of the ancient Church. The absence of personal greetings is not an argument for either of the two theories; for similarly there are none in Galatians, Philippians, First and Second Thessalonians, First Timothy. The better he knows the parties addressed, and the more general and solemn the subject, the less he seems to give of these individual notices. Writing, as he does in this Epistle, on the constitution and prospects of Christ's universal Church, he refers the Ephesians, as to personal matters, to the bearer of the Epistle, Tychicus (Eph 6:21-22). As to the omission of "which are at Ephesus" (Eph 1:1), in Manuscript B., so "in Rome" (Rom 1:7) is omitted in some old manuscripts: it was probably done by churches among whom it was read, in order to generalize the reference of its contents, and especially where the subject of the Epistle is catholic. The words are found in the margin of Manuscript B, from a first hand; and are found in all the oldest manuscripts and versions.

Paul's first visit to Ephesus (on the seacoast of Lydia, near the river Cayster) is related in Act 18:19-21. The work, begun by his disputations with the Jews in his short visit, was carried on by Apollos (Act 18:24-26), and Aquila and Priscilla (Act 18:26). At his second visit, after his journey to Jerusalem, and thence to the east regions of Asia Minor, he remained at Ephesus "three years" (Act 19:10, the "two years" in which verse are only part of the time, and Act 20:31); so that the founding and rearing of this Church occupied an unusually large portion of the apostle's time and care; whence his language in this Epistle shows a warmth of feeling, and a free outpouring of thought, and a union in spiritual privileges and hope between him and them (Eph 1:3, &c.), such as are natural from one so long and so intimately associated with those whom he addresses. On his last journey to Jerusalem, he sailed by Ephesus and summoned the elders of the Ephesian Church to meet him at Miletus, where he delivered his remarkable farewell charge (Acts 20:18-35).

This Epistle was addressed to the Ephesians during the early part of his imprisonment at Rome, immediately after that to the Colossians, to which it bears a close resemblance in many passages, the apostle having in his mind generally the same great truths in writing both. It is an undesigned proof of genuineness that the two Epistles, written about the same date, and under the same circumstances, bear a closer mutual resemblance than those written at distant dates and on different occasions. Compare Eph 1:7 with Col 1:14; Eph 1:10 with Col 1:20; Eph 3:2 with Col 1:25; Eph 5:19 with Col 3:16; Eph 6:22 with Col 4:8; Eph 1:19; Eph 2:5 with Col 2:12-13; Eph 4:2-4 with Col 3:12-15; Eph 4:16 with Col 2:19; Eph 4:32 with Col 3:13; Eph 4:22-24 with Col 3:9-10; Eph 5:6-8 with Col 3:6-8; Eph 5:15-16 with Col 4:5; Eph 6:19-20 with Col 4:3-4; Eph 5:22-33; Eph 6:1-9 with Col 3:18; Eph 4:24-25 with Col 3:9; Eph 5:20-22 with Col 3:17-18. Tychicus and Onesimus were being sent to Colosse, the former bearing the two Epistles to the two churches respectively, the latter furnished with a letter of recommendation to Philemon, his former master, residing at Colosse. The date was probably about four years after his parting with the Ephesian elders at Miletus (Acts 20:6-38), about A.D. 62, before his imprisonment had become of the more severe kind, which appears in his Epistle to the Philippians. From Eph 6:19-20 it is plain he had at the time, though a prisoner, some degree of freedom in preaching, which accords with Act 28:23, Act 28:30-31, where he is represented as receiving at his lodgings all inquirers. His imprisonment began in February A.D. 61 and lasted "two whole years" (Act 28:30) at least, and perhaps longer.

The Church of Ephesus was made up of converts partly from the Jews and partly from the Gentiles (Act 19:8-10). Accordingly, the Epistle so addresses a Church constituted (Eph 2:14-22). Ephesus was famed for its idol temple of Artemis or Diana, which, after its having been burnt down by Herostratus on the night that Alexander the Great was born (355 B.C.), was rebuilt at enormous cost and was one of the wonders of the world. Hence, perhaps, have arisen his images in this Epistle drawn from a beautiful temple: the Church being in true inner beauty that which the temple of the idol tried to realize in outward show (Eph 2:19-22). The Epistle (Eph 4:17; Eph 5:1-13) implies the profligacy for which the Ephesian heathen were notorious. Many of the same expressions occur in the Epistle as in Paul's address to the Ephesian elders. Compare Eph 1:6-7; Eph 2:7, as to "grace," with Act 20:24, Act 20:32 : this may well be called "the Epistle of the grace of God" [ALFORD]. Also, as to his "bonds," Eph 3:1, and Eph 4:1 with Act 20:22-23. Also Eph 1:11, as to "the counsel of God," with Act 20:27. Also Eph 1:14, as to "the redemption of the purchased possession," with Act 20:28. Also Eph 1:14, Eph 1:18; Eph 2:20; Eph 5:5, as to "building up" the "inheritance," with Act 20:32.

The object of the Epistle is "to set forth the ground, the course, and the aim and end of THE CHURCH OF THE FAITHFUL IN CHRIST. He speaks to the Ephesians as a type or sample of the Church universal" [ALFORD]. Hence, "the Church" throughout the Epistle is spoken of in the singular, not in the plural, "churches." The Church's foundation, its course, and its end, are his theme alike in the larger and smaller divisions of the whole Epistle. "Everywhere the foundation of the Church is in the will of the Father; the course of the Church is by the satisfaction of the Son; the end of the Church is the life in the Holy Spirit" [ALFORD]. Compare respectively Eph 1:11; Eph 2:5; Eph 3:16. This having been laid down as a matter of doctrine (this part closing with a sublime doxology, Eph 3:14-21), is then made the ground of practical exhortations. In these latter also (from Eph 4:1, onward), the same threefold division prevails, for the Church is represented as founded on the counsel of "God the Father, who is above all, through all, and in all," reared by the "one Lord," Jesus Christ, through the "one Spirit" (Eph 4:4-6, &c.), who give their respective graces to the several members. These last are therefore to exercise all these graces in the several relations of life, as husbands, wives, servants, children, &c. The conclusion is that we must put on "the whole armor of God" (Eph 6:13).

The sublimity of the STYLE and LANGUAGE corresponds to the sublimity of the subjects and exceeds almost that of any part of his Epistles. It is appropriate that those to whom he so wrote were Christians long grounded in the faith. The very sublimity is the cause of the difficulty of the style, and of the presence of peculiar expressions occurring, not found elsewhere.

JFB: Ephesians (Outline)

• INSCRIPTION: ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH IN THE FATHER'S ETERNAL COUNSEL, AND THE SON'S BLOODSHEDDING: THE SEALING OF IT BY THE SPIRIT. THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER THAT THEY MAY FULLY KNOW GOD'S GRACIOUS POWER IN CHRIST TOWARDS THE SAINTS. (Eph. 1:1-23)
• GOD'S LOVE AND GRACE IN QUICKENING US, ONCE DEAD, THROUGH CHRIST. HIS PURPOSE IN DOING SO: EXHORTATION BASED ON OUR PRIVILEGES AS BUILT TOGETHER, AN HOLY TEMPLE, IN CHRIST, THROUGH THE SPIRIT. (Eph. 2:1-22)
• HIS APOSTOLIC OFFICE TO MAKE KNOWN THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST REVEALED BY THE SPIRIT: PRAYER THAT BY THE SAME SPIRIT THEY MAY COMPREHEND THE VAST LOVE OF CHRIST: DOXOLOGY ENDING THIS DIVISION OF THE EPISTLE. (Eph. 3:1-21)
• EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES RESTING ON OUR CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGES, AS UNITED IN ONE BODY, THOUGH VARYING IN THE GRACES GIVEN TO THE SEVERAL MEMBERS, THAT WE MAY COME UNTO A PERFECT MAN IN CHRIST. (Eph. 4:1-32) Translate, according to the Greek order, "I beseech you, therefore (seeing that such is your calling of grace, the first through third chapters) I the prisoner in the Lord (that is, imprisoned in the Lord's cause)." What the world counted ignominy, he counts the highest honor, and he glories in his bonds for Christ, more than a king in his diadem [THEODORET]. His bonds, too, are an argument which should enforce his exhortation.
• EXHORTATIONS TO LOVE: AND AGAINST CARNAL LUSTS AND COMMUNICATIONS. CIRCUMSPECTION IN WALK: REDEEMING THE TIME: BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT: SINGING TO THE LORD WITH THANKFULNESS: THE WIFE'S DUTY TO THE HUSBAND RESTS ON THAT OF THE CHURCH TO CHRIST. (Eph. 5:1-33)
• MUTUAL DUTIES OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN: MASTERS AND SERVANTS: OUR LIFE A WARFARE: THE SPIRITUAL ARMOUR NEEDED AGAINST SPIRITUAL FOES. CONCLUSION. (Eph. 6:1-24)

TSK: Ephesians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Eph 1:1, After the salutation, Eph 1:3, and thanksgiving for the Ephesians, Eph 1:4, he treats of our election, Eph 1:6, and adoption by grace; Eph 1:11, which is the true and proper fountain of man’s salvation; Eph 1:13, And because the height of this mystery cannot be easily attained unto, Eph 1:16. he prays that they may come to the full knowledge and possession thereof in Christ.

Poole: Ephesians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 1

Ephesus was the most considerable city of the lesser Asia; famous, first for sin, witchcraft, Act 19:19 , idolatry (especially the worship of Diana, Act 19:24 ), and persecution, 1Co 15:32 1Co 16:9 ; then for piety, having received the gospel by Paul’ s preaching, Act 18:1-28 , and showed great zeal, Act 19:17,18 , &c.; Rev 2:2,3 ; but, lastly, it was noted for coolness and declining, Rev 2:4 , leaving her first love. The apostle seems to have foreseen this as like to come to pass among them by means of false teachers, grievous wolves that would not spare the flock, Act 20:29 , and some that would arise from among themselves speaking perverse things, Act 20:30 . Hereupon he not only admonished the elders of the church to look to themselves and all the flock, Act 20:28 ; but afterward, when a prisoner at Rome, out of his care of these Ephesians, and concern for them, he writes this Epistle to them, to confirm and settle them in the faith they had received, and persuade them to a holy conversation, as best suited to a holy gospel. In the Epistle there are two principal parts:

1. Doctrinal, in the first three chapters, where he lays down and commends to them the doctrine of the grace of God in election, redemption, vocation, justification, adoption, Gal 1:1-23 , illustrating it by the deplorable condition in which before their conversion they had been, Ga 2 , and assuring them of the truth of their call, by asserting, against all objectors and cavillers, his apostleship with respect to them Gentiles, and his commission from God to preach among them the unsearchable riches of Christ, Gal 3:1-21 .

2. Practical; in which he exhorts them to walk worthy of their calling in the diligent practice of Christian duties, whether more general, and which concern all believers, or special, such as belong to them in their several relations, especially economical, Eph 5:1-33 and Eph 6:1-24 .

MHCC: Ephesians (Book Introduction)

This epistle was written when St. Paul was a prisoner at Rome. The design appears to be to strengthen the Ephesians in the faith of Christ, and to give exalted views of the love of God, and of the dignity and excellence of Christ, fortifying their minds against the scandal of the cross. He shows that they were saved by grace, and that however wretched they once were, they now had equal privileges with the Jews. He encourages them to persevere in their Christian calling, and urges them to walk in a manner becoming their profession, faithfully discharging the general and common duties of religion, and the special duties of particular relations.

MHCC: Ephesians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

(Eph 1:1-8) A salutation, and an account of saving blessings, as prepared in God's eternal election, as purchased by Christ's blood.

(Eph 1:9-14) And as conveyed in effectual calling: this is applied to the believing Jews, and to the believing Gentiles.

(Eph 1:15-23) The apostle thanks God for their faith and love, and prays for the continuance of their knowledge and hope, with respect to the heavenly inheritance, and to God's powerful working in them.

Matthew Henry: Ephesians (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians

Some think that this epistle to the Ephesians was a circular letter sent to several churches, and that the copy directed to the Ephesians happened to be taken into the canon, and so it came to bear that particular inscription. And they have been induced the rather to think this because it is the only one of all Paul's epistles that has nothing in it peculiarly adapted to the state or case of that particular church; but it has much of common concernment to all Christians, and especially to all who, having been Gentiles in times past, were converted to Christianity. But then it may be observed, on the other hand, that the epistle is expressly inscribed (Eph 1:1) to the saints which are at Ephesus; and in the close of it he tells them that he had sent Tychicus unto them, whom, in 2Ti 4:12, he says he had sent to Ephesus. It is an epistle that bears date out of a prison: and some have observed that what this apostle wrote when he was a prisoner had the greatest relish and savour in it of the things of God. When his tribulations did abound, his consolations and experiences did much more abound, whence we may observe that the afflictive exercises of God's people, and particularly of his ministers, often tend to the advantage of others as well as to their own. The apostle's design is to settle and establish the Ephesians in the truth, and further to acquaint them with the mystery of the gospel, in order to it. In the former part he represents the great privilege of the Ephesians, who, having been in time past idolatrous heathens, were now converted to Christianity and received into covenant with God, which he illustrates from a view of their deplorable state before their conversion, ch. 1-3. In the latter part (which we have in the Eph 4:1, Eph 5:1, and Eph 6:1 chapters) he instructs them in the principal duties of religion, both personal and relative, and exhorts and quickens them to the faithful discharge of them. Zanchy observes that we have here an epitome of the whole Christian doctrine, and of almost all the chief heads of divinity.

Matthew Henry: Ephesians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

In this chapter we have, I. The introduction to the whole epistle, which is much the same as in others (Eph 1:1, Eph 1:2). II. The apostle's thanksgivings and praises to God for his inestimable blessings bestowed on the believing Ephesians (Eph 1:3-14). III. His earnest prayers to God in their behalf (Eph 1:15-23). This great apostle was wont to abound in prayers and in thanksgivings to almighty God, which he generally so disposes and orders that at the same time they carry with them and convey the great and important doctrines of the Christian religion, and the most weighty instructions to all those who seriously peruse them.

Barclay: Ephesians (Book Introduction)

A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF PAUL

The Letters Of Paul

There is no more interesting body of documents in the New Testament than the letters of Paul. That is because of all forms of literature a letter is most personal. Demetrius, one of the old Greek literary critics, once wrote, "Every one reveals his own soul in his letters. In every other form of composition it is possible to discern the writercharacter, but in none so clearly as the epistolary." (Demetrius, On Style, 227.) It is just because he left us so many letters that we feel we know Paul so well. In them he opened his mind and heart to the folk he loved so much; and in them, to this day, we can see that great mind grappling with the problems of the early church and feel that great heart throbbing with love for men, even when they were misguided and mistaken.

The Difficulty Of Letters

At the same time there is often nothing so difficult to understand as a letter. Demetrius (On Style, 223) quotes a saying of Artemon, who edited the letters of Aristotle. Artemon said that a letter ought to be written in the same manner as a dialogue, because it was one of the two sides of a dialogue. In other words, to read a letter is like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. So when we read the letters of Paul we are often in a difficulty. We do not possess the letter which he was answering; we do not fully know the circumstances with which he was dealing; it is only from the letter itself that we can deduce the situation which prompted it. Before we can hope to understand fully any letter Paul wrote, we must try to reconstruct the situation which produced it.

The Ancient Letters

It is a great pity that Paulletters were ever called epistles. They are in the most literal sense letters. One of the great lights shed on the interpretation of the New Testament has been the discovery and the publication of the papyri. In the ancient world, papyrus was the substance on which most documents were written. It was composed of strips of the pith of a certain bulrush that grew on the banks of the Nile. These strips were laid one on top of the other to form a substance very like brown paper. The sands of the Egyptian desert were ideal for preservation, for papyrus, although very brittle, will last forever so long as moisture does not get at it. As a result, from the Egyptian rubbish heaps, archaeologists have rescued hundreds of documents, marriage contracts, legal agreements, government forms, and, most interesting of all, private letters. When we read these private letters we find that there was a pattern to which nearly all conformed; and we find that Paulletters reproduce exactly that pattern. Here is one of these ancient letters. It is from a soldier, called Apion, to his father Epimachus. He is writing from Misenum to tell his father that he has arrived safely after a stormy passage.

"Apion sends heartiest greetings to his father and lord Epimachus.

I pray above all that you are well and fit; and that things are

going well with you and my sister and her daughter and my brother.

I thank my Lord Serapis [his god] that he kept me safe when I was

in peril on the sea. As soon as I got to Misenum I got my journey

money from Caesar--three gold pieces. And things are going fine

with me. So I beg you, my dear father, send me a line, first to let

me know how you are, and then about my brothers, and thirdly, that

I may kiss your hand, because you brought me up well, and because

of that I hope, God willing, soon to be promoted. Give Capito my

heartiest greetings, and my brothers and Serenilla and my friends.

I sent you a little picture of myself painted by Euctemon. My

military name is Antonius Maximus. I pray for your good health.

Serenus sends good wishes, Agathos Daimonboy, and Turbo,

Galloniuson." (G. Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri,

36.)

Little did Apion think that we would be reading his letter to his father 1800 years after he had written it. It shows how little human nature changes. The lad is hoping for promotion quickly. Who will Serenilla be but the girl he left behind him? He sends the ancient equivalent of a photograph to the folk at home. Now that letter falls into certain sections. (i) There is a greeting. (ii) There is a prayer for the health of the recipients. (iii) There is a thanksgiving to the gods. (iv) There are the special contents. (v) Finally, there are the special salutations and the personal greetings. Practically every one of Paulletters shows exactly the same sections, as we now demonstrate.

(i) The Greeting: Rom_1:1 ; 1Co_1:1 ; 2Co_1:1 ; Gal_1:1 ; Eph_1:1 ; Phi_1:1 ; Col 2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:1 .

(ii) The Prayer: in every case Paul prays for the grace of God on the people to whom he writes: Rom_1:7 ; 1Co_1:3 ; 2Co_1:2 ; Gal_1:3 ; Eph_1:2 ; Phi_1:3 ; Col_1:2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:2 .

(iii) The Thanksgiving: Rom_1:8 ; 1Co_1:4 ; 2Co_1:3 ; Eph_1:3 ; Phi_1:3 ; 1Th_1:3 ; 2Th_1:3 .

(iv) The Special Contents: the main body of the letters.

(v) Special Salutations and Personal Greetings: Rom 16 ; 1Co_16:19 ; 2Co_13:13 ; Phi_4:21-22 ; Col_4:12-15 ; 1Th_5:26 .

When Paul wrote letters, he wrote them on the pattern which everyone used. Deissmann says of them, "They differ from the messages of the homely papyrus leaves of Egypt, not as letters but only as the letters of Paul." When we read Paulletters we are not reading things which were meant to be academic exercises and theological treatises, but human documents written by a friend to his friends.

The Immediate Situation

With a very few exceptions, all Paulletters were written to meet an immediate situation and not treatises which he sat down to write in the peace and silence of his study. There was some threatening situation in Corinth, or Galatia, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, and he wrote a letter to meet it. He was not in the least thinking of us when he wrote, but solely of the people to whom he was writing. Deissmann writes, "Paul had no thought of adding a few fresh compositions to the already extant Jewish epistles; still less of enriching the sacred literature of his nation.... He had no presentiment of the place his words would occupy in universal history; not so much that they would be in existence in the next generation, far less that one day people would look at them as Holy Scripture." We must always remember that a thing need not be transient because it was written to meet an immediate situation. All the great love songs of the world were written for one person, but they live on for the whole of mankind. It is just because Paulletters were written to meet a threatening danger or a clamant need that they still throb with life. And it is because human need and the human situation do not change that God speaks to us through them today.

The Spoken Word

One other thing we must note about these letters. Paul did what most people did in his day. He did not normally pen his own letters but dictated them to a secretary, and then added his own authenticating signature. (We actually know the name of one of the people who did the writing for him. In Rom_16:22 Tertius, the secretary, slips in his own greeting before the letter draws to an end.) In 1Co_16:21 Paul says, "This is my own signature, my autograph, so that you can be sure this letter comes from me" (compare Col_4:18 ; 2Th_3:17 ).

This explains a great deal. Sometimes Paul is hard to understand, because his sentences begin and never finish; his grammar breaks down and the construction becomes involved. We must not think of him sitting quietly at a desk, carefully polishing each sentence as he writes. We must think of him striding up and down some little room, pouring out a torrent of words, while his secretary races to get them down. When Paul composed his letters, he had in his mindeye a vision of the folk to whom he was writing, and he was pouring out his heart to them in words that fell over each other in his eagerness to help.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

The Supreme Letter

By common consent the Letter to the Ephesians ranks very high in the devotional and theological literature of the Christian Church. It has been called "The Queen of the Epistles"--and rightly so. Many would hold that it is indeed the highest reach of New Testament thought. When John Knox was very near his end, the book that was most often read to him was John CalvinSermons on the Letter to the Ephesians. Coleridge said of Ephesians that it was "the divinest composition of man." He went on: "It embraces first, those doctrines peculiar to Christianity, and, then, those precepts common with it in natural religion." Ephesians clearly has a place all its own in the Pauline correspondence.

And yet there are certain very real problems connected with it. These problems are not the product of the minds of over-critical scholars, but are plain for all to see. When, however, these problems are solved, Ephesians becomes a greater letter than ever and shines with an even more radiant light.

The Circumstances Of The Writing Of Ephesians

Before we turn to the doubtful things, let us set down the certainties. First, Ephesians was clearly written when Paul was in prison. He calls himself "a prisoner for Christ" (Eph_3:1 ); it is as "a prisoner for the Lord" that he beseeches them (Eph_4:1 ); he is "an ambassador in chains" (Eph_6:20 ). It was in prison, and very near to the end, that Paul wrote Ephesians.

Second, Ephesians has clearly a close connection with Colossians. It would seem that Tychicus was the bearer of both these letters. In Colossians Paul says that Tychicus will tell them all about his affairs (Col_4:7 ); and in Ephesians he says that Tychicus will give them all information (Eph_6:21 ). Further, there is a close resemblance between the substance of the two letters, so close that more than 55 verses in the two letters are verbatim the same. Either, as Coleridge held, Colossians is what might be called "the overflow" of Ephesians, or Ephesians is a greater version of Colossians. We shall in the end come to see that it is this resemblance which gives us the clue to the unique place of Ephesians among the letters of Paul.

The Problem

So, then, it is certain that Ephesians was written when Paul was in prison for the faith and that it has in some way the closest possible connection with Colossians. The problem emerges when we begin to examine the question of to whom Ephesians was written.

In the ancient days letters were written on rolls of papyrus. When finished, they were tied with thread, and, if they were specially private or important, the knots in the thread were then sealed. But it was seldom that any address was written on them, for the very simple reason that, for the ordinary individual, there was no postal system. There was a government post, but it was available only for official and imperial correspondence and not for the ordinary person. Letters in those days were delivered by hand and therefore no address was necessary. So the titles of the New Testament letters are not part of the original letters at all. They were inserted afterwards when the letters were collected and published for all the Church to read.

When we study Ephesians closely, we find it in the last degree unlikely that it was written to the church at Ephesus. There are internal reasons for arriving at that conclusion.

(a) The letter was written to Gentiles. The recipients were "Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise" (Eph_2:11 ). Paul urges them "no longer to live as the Gentiles do" (Eph_4:17 ). The fact that they were Gentiles did not of itself mean that the letter could not have been written to Ephesus; but it is a fact to note.

(b) Ephesians is the most impersonal letter Paul ever wrote. It is entirely without personal greetings and without the intimate personal messages of which the other letters are so full. That is doubly surprising when we remember that Paul spent longer in Ephesus than in any other city, no less than three years (Act_20:31 ). Further, there is no more intimate and affectionate passage in the whole New Testament than Act_20:17-35 where we have Paulfarewell talk to the elders of Ephesus, before he left Miletus on his last journey. It is very difficult to believe in face of all this that Paul would have sent a letter to Ephesus which was so impersonal.

(c) The indication of the letter is that Paul and the recipients did not know each other personally and that their knowledge of each other came by hearsay. In Eph_1:15 Paul writes: "Because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus." The loyalty of the people to whom he was writing was something which had come to him by information and not by experience. In Eph_3:2 he writes to them: "Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of Godgrace that was given to me for you." That is to say: "If you have heard that God gave me the special task and office of being the apostle to Gentiles such as you." The Churchknowledge of Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles was something of which they have heard, but not something which they knew by personal contact with him. So, then, within itself the letter bears signs that it does not fit the close and personal relationship which Paul had with the Church at Ephesus.

These facts might be explained; but there is one external fact which settles the matter. In Eph_1:1 none of the great early manuscripts of the Greek New Testament contain the words in Ephesus. They all read: "Paul...to the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus." And we know, from the way in which they comment on it, that that was the form in which the early Greek fathers knew the text.

Was Paul The Author?

Some scholars have gone on to find still another difficulty in Ephesians. They have doubted whether Paul was the author of the letter at all. On what grounds do they base their doubts?

They say that the vocabulary, is different from the vocabulary of Paul; and it is true that there are some seventy words in Ephesians which are not found in any other letter written by Paul. That need not trouble us, for the fact is that in Ephesians Paul was saying things which he had never said before. He was travelling a road of thought along which he had not before travelled; and naturally he needed new words to express new thoughts. It would be ridiculous to demand that a man with a mind like Paulshould never add to his vocabulary and should always express himself in the same way.

They say that the style is not the style of Paul. It is true-- we can see it even in the English, let alone in the Greek--that the style of Ephesians is different from that of the other letters. The other letters are all written to meet a definite situation. But, as A. H. McNeile has said, Ephesians is "a theological tract, or rather a religious mediation." Even the use of language is different. Moffatt puts it this way--generally speaking, Paullanguage pours out like a torrent; but in Ephesians we have "a slow, bright stream, flowing steadily along, which brims its high banks." The length of the sentences in Ephesians is astonishing. In the Greek Eph_1:3-14 ; Eph_1:15-23 ; Eph_2:1-9 ; Eph_3:1-7 are each one long, meandering sentence. McNeile very beautifully and rightly calls Ephesians "a poem in prose." All this is very unlike Paulnormal style.

What is to be said to this? There is first the general fact that no great writer always writes in the same style. Shakespeare can produce the very different styles of Hamlet, A Midsummer NightDream, The Taming of the Shrew, and the Sonnets. Any great stylist--and Paul was a great stylist--writes in a style to fit his aim and his circumstances at the time of writing. It is bad criticism to say that Paul did not write Ephesians simply because he has evolved a new vocabulary and a new style.

But there is more. Let us remember how Paul wrote most of his letters. He wrote them in the midst of a busy ministry, when, for the most part, he was on the road. He wrote them to meet a demanding problem which had to be dealt with at the moment. That is to say, in most of his letters Paul was writing against time. Now let us remember that Paul, if he wrote Ephesians, wrote it when he was in prison. That is to say, he had all the time in the world to write it. Is it any wonder that the style of Ephesians; is not the style of the earlier letters?

Moreover, this difference in style, this meditative, poetical quality is most apparent in Eph 1-3, and they are one long prayer, culminating in a great doxology. There is in fact nothing like this in all Paulletters. This is the language of lyrical prayer, not the language of argument or controversy or rebuke.

The differences are far from proving that Ephesians is not by Paul.

The Thought Of The Epistle

Certain scholars wish to go on to say that the thought of Ephesians is beyond the thought of any of the other letters of Paul. Let us see what that thought is. We have seen that Ephesians is intimately connected with Colossians whose central thought is the all-sufficiency, of Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ were hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col_2:3 ); all the fulness of God dwelt in him (Col_1:19 ); in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily (Col_2:9 ); he alone is necessary and sufficient for mansalvation (Col_1:14 ). The whole thought of Colossians is based on the complete sufficiency of Jesus Christ.

The thought of Ephesians is a development of that conception. It is summarized in two verses of the first chapter, in which Paul speaks of God as, "having made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." (Eph_1:9-10 ).

The key thought of Ephesians is the gathering together of all things in Jesus Christ. In nature as it is without Christ there is nothing but disunity and disharmony; it is "red in tooth and claw." Mandominion has broken the social union which should exist between man and the beasts; man is divided from man; class from class; nation from nation; ideology from ideology; Gentile from Jew. What is true of the world of outer nature is true of human nature. In every man there is a tension; every man is a walking civil war, torn between the desire for good and the desire for evil; he hates his sins and loves them at one and the same time. According to both Greek and Jewish thought in the time of Paul, this disharmony extends even to the heavenly places. A cosmic battle is raging between the powers of evil and the powers of good; between God and the demons. Worst of all there is disharmony between God and man. Man, who was meant to be in fellowship with God, is estranged from him.

So, then, in this world without Christ, there is nothing but disunity. That disunity is not Godpurpose but it can become a unity only when all things are united in Christ. As E. F. Scott has it: "The innumerable broken strands were to be brought together in Christ, knotted again into one, as they had been in the beginning." The central thought of Ephesians is the realization of the disunity in the universe and the conviction that it can become unity only when everything is united in Christ.

The Origin Of PaulThought

How did Paul arrive at this great conception of the unity of all things in Jesus Christ? Most likely he came to it in two ways. It is surely the inevitable outcome of his conviction, stated so vividly in Colossians, that Christ is all-sufficient. But it may well be that there was something else which moved Paulmind in this direction. He was a Roman citizen and proud of it. In his journeys Paul had seen a great deal of the Roman Empire, and now he was in Rome, the imperial city. In the Roman Empire a new unity had come to the world. The pax Romana, the Roman peace, was a very real thing. Kingdoms and states and countries, which had struggled and warred with each other, were gathered into a new unity in the Empire which was Rome. It may well be that in his imprisonment Paul saw with new eyes how all this unity centred in Rome; and it may well have seemed to him a symbol of how all things must centre in Christ, if a disunited nature and world and humanity were ever to be gathered into a unity. Surely, so far from being a conception that was beyond his thinking, all Paulthinking and experience would lead him precisely to that.

The Function Of The Church

It is in Eph 1-3 that Paul deals with this conception of the unity in Christ. In the second three chapters he has much to say of the place of the Church in Godplan to bring about that unity. It is here that Paul strikes out one of his greatest phrases. The Church is the Body of Christ. The Church is to be hands to do Christwork, feet to run upon his errands, a mouth to speak for him. So, then, we have a double thesis in Ephesians. First, Christ is Godinstrument of reconciliation. Second, the Church is Christinstrument of reconciliation. The Church must bring Christ to the world; and it is within the Church that all the middle walls of separation must be broken down. It is through the Church that the unity of all the discordant elements must be achieved. As E. F. Scott has it: "The Church stands for that purpose of world-wide reconciliation for which Christ appeared, and in all their intercourse with one another Christians must seek to realize this formative idea of the Church."

Who But Paul?

This is the thought of Ephesians. As we have seen, there are some who, thinking of the vocabulary and the style and the thought of this letter, cannot believe that Paul wrote it. E. J. Goodspeed, the American scholar, has put forward an interesting--but unconvincing--theory. The probability is that it was in Ephesus about the year A.D. 90 that the letters of Paul were first collected and sent out to the Church at large. It is Goodspeedtheory that the man responsible for that collection, some disciple of Paul, wrote Ephesians as a kind of introduction to the whole collection. Surely that theory breaks down on one salient fact. Any imitation is inferior to the original. But so far from being inferior Ephesians might well be said to be the greatest of all the Pauline letters. If Paul did not write it himself, we have to postulate as its writer someone who was possibly greater than Paul. E. F. Scott very relevantly demands: "Can we believe that in the Church of Paulday there was an unknown teacher of this supreme excellence? The natural assumption is surely that an epistle so like the work of Paul at his best was written by no other man than by Paul himself." No man ever had a greater vision of Christ than this which sees in Christ the one centre in whom all the disunities of life are gathered into one. No man ever had a greater vision of the Church than this which sees in the Church Godinstrument in that world-wide reconciliation. And we may well believe that no man other than Paul could rise to a vision like that.

The Destination Of Ephesians

We must now return to the problem which earlier we left unsolved. If Ephesians was not written to Ephesus--to what church was it written?

The oldest suggestion is that it was written to Laodicea. In Col_4:16 Paul writes: "And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea." That sentence makes certain that a letter had gone from Paul to the church at Laodicea. We possess no such letter amongst Paulletters as they stand. Marcion was one of the first people to make a collection of Paulletters, just about the middle of the second century, and he actually calls Ephesians the Letter to the Laodiceans. So from very early times there must have been a feeling in the Church that Ephesians was actually sent in the first instance to Laodicea.

If we accept that interesting and attractive suggestion, we still have to explain how the letter lost its individual address to Laodicea and came to be connected with Ephesus. There could be two explanations.

It may be that, when Paul died, the church at Ephesus knew that the church at Laodicea possessed a wonderful letter from Paul; and wrote to Laodicea asking for a copy. A copy may have been made and sent off, omitting only the words in Laodicea in the first verse, and leaving a blank as the earliest manuscripts have a blank there. Almost thirty years later the letters of Paul were collected for general publication. Now Laodicea was in a district which was notorious for earthquakes, and it may well have been that all its archives were destroyed; and that, therefore, when the collection was made, the only copy of the Letter to the Laodiceans was that which survived in Ephesus. That letter may then have come to be known as the Letter to the Ephesians, because it was in Ephesus that the only extant copy survived.

The second suggested explanation was propounded by Harnack, the great German scholar. In the later days the church in Laodicea sadly fell from grace. In the Revelation there is a letter to Laodicea which makes sad reading (Rev_3:14-22 ). In that letter the church of Laodicea is unsparingly condemned by the Risen Christ, so much so that he says to her in that vivid phrase: "I will spew you out of my mouth" (Rev_3:16 ). Now in the ancient world there was a custom called damnatio memoriae, the condemnation of a manmemory. A man might have rendered many a signal service to the state, for which his name might occur in books, in the state annals, in inscriptions and on memorials. But if such a man ended in some base act, some utter wreck of honour, his memory was condemned. His name was erased from all books, obliterated from all inscriptions, chiselled out of all memorials. Harnack thinks it possible that the church of Laodicea underwent a damnatio memoriae so that her very name was obliterated from the Christian records. If that were so, then the copies of the Letter to Laodicea would have no address at all; and when the collection was made at Ephesus, the name of Ephesus might well have become attached to it.

The Circular Letter

Both these suggestions are possible but still another suggestion is far more likely. We believe that Ephesians was not in fact written to any one church, but was a circular letter to all PaulAsian churches. Let us look again at Col_4:16 . He writes: "And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church at Laodicea; and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea." Paul does not say that the Colossians must read the epistle to Laodicea; they must read the epistle from Laodicea. It is as if Paul said: "There is a letter circulating; at the present moment it has reached Laodicea; when it is sent on to you from Laodicea be sure to read it." That sounds very like as if there was a letter circulating among the Asian churches,. and we believe that letter was Ephesians.

The Quintessence Of Paul

If this be so, Ephesians is Paulsupreme letter. We have seen that Ephesians and Colossians are very close to each other. We believe that what happened was that Paul wrote Colossians to deal with a definite situation, an outbreak of heresy. In so doing he stumbled on his great expression of the all-sufficiency of Christ. He said to himself: "This is something that I must get across to all men." So he took the matter he had used in Colossians, removed all the local and temporary and controversial aspects, and wrote a new letter to tell all men of the all-sufficient Christ. Ephesians, as we see it, is the one letter Paul sent to all the eastern churches to tell them that the destined unity of all men and of all things could never be found except in Christ, and to tell them of the supreme task of the Church that of being Christinstrument in the universal reconciliation of man to man and of man to God. That is why Ephesians is the Queen of the Epistles.

Study Method

In Ephesians Paulargument is very closely woven together. It often proceeds in long complicated sentences which are difficult to unravel. If we are really to grasp his meaning, there are passages where it will be better to read the letter, first in fairly long sections and then break down these sections into shorter passages for detailed study.

FURTHER READING

Ephesians

T. K. Abbott, Ephesians and Colossians (ICC; G)

J. Armitage Robinson, St. PaulEpistle to the Ephesians (MmC; G)

E. F. Scott, The Epistles to Colossians, Philemon and Ephesians (MC; E)

Abbreviations

ICC: International Critical Commentary

MC: Moffatt Commentary

MmC: Macmillan Commentary

NCB; New Century Bible

E: English Text

G: Greek Text

Barclay: Ephesians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

The Purpose Of God (Eph_1:1-14)

1:1-14 This is a letter from Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God, to God's consecrated people who live in Ephesus and who are faithful in Jesus Christ. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings which are only to be found in heaven, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy and blameless before him. He determined in his love before time began to adopt us to himself through Jesus Christ, in the good purpose of his will, so that all might praise the glory of the generous gift which he freely gave us in the Beloved. For it is in him that we have a deliverance which cost his life; in him we have received the forgiveness of sins, which only the wealth of his grace could give, a grace which he gave us in abundant supply, and which conferred on us all wisdom and all sound sense. This happened because he made known to us the once hidden, but now revealed, secret of his will, for so it was his good pleasure to do. This secret was a purpose which he formed in his own mind before time began, so that the periods of time should be controlled and administered until they reached their full development, a development in which all things, in heaven and upon earth, are gathered into one in Jesus Christ. It was in Christ, in whom our portion in this scheme was also assigned to us, that it was determined, by the decision of him who controls everything according to the purpose of his will, that we, who were the first to set our hopes upon the coming of the Anointed One of God, should become the means whereby his glory should be praised. And it was in Christ that it was determined that you, too, should become the means whereby God's glory is praised, after you had heard the word which brings the truth, the good news of your salvation that good news, in which, after you had come to believe, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit, who had been promised to you, the Spirit who is the foretaste and guarantee of all that one day we will inherit, until we enter into that complete redemption which brings complete possession.

Greetings To God's People (Eph_1:1-2)

The Chosen Of God (Eph_1:3-4)

The Plan Of God (Eph_1:5-6)

The Gifts Of God (Eph_1:7-8)

The Goal Of History (Eph_1:9-10)

Jew And Gentile (Eph_1:11-14)

The Marks Of The Church (Eph_1:15-23)

Paul's Prayer For The Church (Eph_1:15-23 Continued)

The Body Of Christ (Eph_1:15-23 Continued)

Constable: Ephesians (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Historical background

Almost all Christians believed in the Pauline authorship of Ephesians until the nineteenth century when destructive biblical criticism gained influence (cf. 1:1; 3:1). The critics built a case against Pauline authorship from linguistic and stylistic features, literary comparisons chiefly with Colossians, historical evidence, and doctrinal peculiarities.

"When all the objections are carefully considered it will be seen that the weight of evidence is inadequate to overthrow the overwhelming external attestation to Pauline authorship, and the Epistle's own claims."¹

Most conservative New Testament scholars hold to the tradition that Paul wrote Ephesians along with Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians, the other "Prison Epistles," during his first Roman imprisonment, 60-62 A.D. (3:1; 4:1; 6:20; cf. Acts 28:16-31). During this time Paul was under house arrest. He lived in his own rented quarters under guard by Roman soldiers. He could have visitors and could minister without hindrance as far as his confinement permitted (Acts 28:16, 30-31). He was not chained in a prison cell at this time as he was during his second Roman imprisonment when he wrote 2 Timothy (cf. 2 Tim. 1:16). For some interpreters, the reference to Paul having recently sent Tychicus to Ephesus in 2 Timothy 4:12 seems to put the composition of Ephesians in the second imprisonment (cf. Eph. 6:21-22). However the similarities between Ephesians and Colossians have led most scholars to conclude that Paul wrote these two letters at the same time. The evidence for his having written Colossians and Philemon during the first imprisonment is strong.

Paul knew Ephesus and the church in that city well. He had ministered in Asia Minor, the Roman province of which Ephesus was the capitol, with Ephesus as his headquarters for about three years, 53-56 A.D. (Acts 19:1-20:1). It appears that he sent this epistle to the Ephesian church so the Christians there would subsequently circulate it among the other churches.² Three other New Testament books went first to Ephesus: 1 and 2 Timothy, and Revelation (cf. Rev. 2:1). Tychicus evidently delivered this epistle to the Ephesian church (Eph. 6:21-22).

Purpose

Paul's frequent references to the church as a mystery, previously unknown but now revealed, identify the apostle's main purpose in writing as having been the exposition of the mystery of the church (1:9; 3:3-4, 9; 5:32; 6:19). His emphasis on the church as Christ's body in which both Jewish and Gentile believers are one suggests that Paul wrote to promote unity in the Ephesian church and in the universal church. The emphasis on the importance of love is also strong. More than one-sixth of Paul's references to love in his 13 epistles occur in Ephesians. This also shows that he wanted to promote Christian unity in the church.

Message³

The Book of Ephesians enables us to view God's creation from an alpine altitude. When we study this book, it is as though we have climbed a high mountain peak because the book gives us that kind of perspective on what God has created. Recall the opening scenes in The Sound of Music movie where Maria Von Trapp is standing in a high meadow looking over the valleys and mountains beyond. Yet the creation Ephesians opens up to our vision is not the physical creation but the church and its position and importance in the panorama of God's program. The church is the subject of Ephesians.

One of the features of this book that distinguishes it from other Pauline epistles is its universal character. Ephesians deals with matters of perspective that are important to all churches of all ages. Ephesians is not like 1 Corinthians that concerns itself with the situation of one local congregation primarily. It is more like Romans that deals with the great revelations that transcend local church polity.

Ephesians is an exposition of one of the most important statements Jesus ever uttered during His earthly ministry. That statement is in Matthew 16:18: "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it." Other epistles similarly expound other teachings that Jesus gave while He walked this earth. For example, the Epistle of James is really an exposition of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. John's first epistle is an exposition of Jesus' Upper Room Discourse. Likewise Ephesians explains Jesus' teaching concerning the church. All the New Testament epistles deal with the church, of course. However, Ephesians lifts us above all the other revelation on this subject and puts the church in perspective in the plan of God. Paul developed both the building of the church and the conflict of the church, suggested in Jesus' statement, here.

Paul introduced the central teaching of Ephesians in its first verse. We read, "To the saints . . . in Christ Jesus." This phrase indicates the composition of the church. It alerts us to what will follow in the epistle. The phrase "the saints" reflects the diversity and differences that exist in the church. Paul had much to say in this letter about God's individual blessing of believers (e.g., 1:3-2:10). However the phrase "in Christ Jesus" emphasizes the unification of these individuals in one united church. Paul also had much to say about the corporate calling of believers in this letter (e.g., 2:11-3:19). The church is one organism that God has created from individual believers in this age whom God has united in a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. The figure of the human body with its diverse members controlled by one head (2:14-16) is the perfect illustration of the church.

As we examine the central teaching in Ephesians we can see that it falls into two parts. First, there is revelation concerning the eternal character of the church. Second, there is teaching about the temporal conduct of the church.

Consider first the revelation concerning the eternal character of the church. Ephesians tells us three things about the character of the church.

First, it reveals its conception. The church was in the plan of God from eternity past. It was not something God devised the day Jesus Christ died because the Jews had rejected their Messiah. Some dispensational expositors have referred to the church as a parenthetical part of God's eternal plan. That does not mean the church was an after-thought by God. The church is just as much a part of God's plan for human history as the nation of Israel. God did not reveal it in the Old Testament. It is a mystery, a New Testament revelation not revealed previously. Nevertheless it was always part of God's plan. This is important for us to realize because when we see that God brought the church into existence it is easier to believe that Satan will never destroy the church.

The second thing Ephesians reveals about the eternal character of the church is its construction. Whereas God viewed the church in the past as part of His eternal plan, He is constructing it in the present by His eternal power. In Ephesians there is much emphasis on power, the tremendous power of God. Paul prayed that his readers would grow in their understanding of the eternal power of God, the power that raised Jesus from the grave (1:18-19). Paul used four different Greek words for power in 1:19. This is the same power that has raised the Christian up and seated him or her with Christ in the heavenly realms now (2:4-6). Moreover it is the same power available to you and to me as we engage our spiritual enemy who is trying to tear down the church (6:10-11). Too often the church fails because Christians think it cannot succeed. We fail to appreciate the eternal divine power presently available to build the church and to defeat its foes.

The third thing we learn from this epistle about the character of the church is its consummation. This too involves an eternal perspective. Ephesians reveals that the church will serve the purpose of God throughout eternity future (2:4-7; 3:8-10). The church will demonstrate the richness of God's grace to all beings forever (2:7). It will also demonstrate the richness of God's wisdom to all beings forever (3:10).

In summary, Ephesians reveals the important place the church has in God's eternal plan for history. In the past He conceived of it as part of His eternal plan. In the present He is constructing it with His eternal power. In the future He will bring it to consummation in fulfillment of His eternal purpose.

Whereas the revelation of the church's eternal character constitutes a major portion of this epistle Paul also taught much about the temporal conduct of the church. The church's eternal character has major implications for its temporal conduct (4:1). We can organize this part of the revelation under three headings as well.

The first implication of the character of the church that I want to point out that Paul stressed relates to its construction. Since the church is what it is, the unified body of Christ, it is very important that Christians preserve this unity (4:1-3). Note that this is not a unity among professing Christians that we must achieve. It is a unity among genuine Christians that we must preserve. We must be very careful to avoid causing divisions in the body of Christ. One of the seven things Solomon wrote that the Lord hates is someone who spreads strife among his brothers (Prov. 6:19).

A second implication of the character of the church relates to its confession. The church, Paul urged, must make a confession or give testimony to God. This is the will of God (5:15-17). We do this by sanctifying all of life to God, setting it apart to Him for His honor and glory. Consequently Paul talked about the basic relationships of life--husbands and wives, parents and children, employers and employees. Our faith must have an impact on these relationships. The church makes its confession before the world not primarily by formulating creeds of belief but by demonstrating sanctification in conduct.

Third, another implication of the character of the church that Paul explained relates to its conflict with the forces opposed to God's purposes. We must arm ourselves, stay alert, and take a stand against these spiritual forces (6:10-11).

To summarize, the church must maintain unity as it grows. It must sanctify every relationship as it makes its confession to the world. It must also stand firm against its spiritual enemies as it conflicts with Satan's forces. You see how these points clarify Matthew 16:18: "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it." The church cooperates with God as He builds it in three ways. It must remain united itself. Second, it must present a message of purity and holiness to the world by its sanctified relationships. Third, it must fight God's enemies after putting on the whole armor of God.

Attempting to summarize the teaching of Ephesians into a short message statement I would phrase it this way. Ephesians reveals that the church is part of God's eternal plan, and it grows as a result of God's power working through believers' lives, overcoming their spiritual enemies.

We come next to the abiding appeal that this letter contains. I said Paul summarized the central revelation of Ephesians in 1:1, "the saints . . . in Christ Jesus." Similarly he summarized the timeless exhortation of this letter in 4:1, "Walk . . . worthy of the calling with which you have been called."

First, we are to walk in view of God's eternal plan. That is, we should live now with God's purposes throughout eternity clearly in view. God chose us before the creation of the world so He could conform us to the image of His Son (1:4; Rom. 8:29). We are to "grow up . . . into Him . . . even Christ" (4:15). The measure in which we are living in holiness and in love is the measure in which we are conforming to God's eternal plan. Paul did not tell us to be holy because decency demands it, or because God may discipline us if we don't. We are to live thinking about God's eternal plan and remembering that God had our individual lives in His mind from eternity past.

We can walk according to God's plan only by appropriating His almighty power. God is able to enable us to walk in this plan by His power. "Now to Him who is able to do exceeding . . ." (3:20-21). We have the power to walk worthily. However, we must allow God's Spirit to control us if we want to walk in harmony with God's will (5:18).

Third, we are to walk opposing God's unseen enemies as well as in view of God's eternal plan and appropriating God's almighty power. We need to balance the passive "be filled with the Spirit" with the active "stand firm" (6:14). Our enemies are not primarily other people but the unseen demonic personalities behind them. In former years, people scoffed at the idea of demons and malignant spiritual forces. Today there is a more realistic awareness of their existence and powerful influence. We must engage spiritual enemies with spiritual arms: truthfulness, righteous conduct, the gospel, trust in God, the Word of God appropriate to the need, and prayer (6:14-18).

Finally let me make application of the message of this epistle to us.

The measure of the church's power to change the world is the measure of her other-worldliness. Many in our day criticize the church for being uninvolved, or at least not involved enough, with the physical problems of people. Ephesians teaches us that the way to help people the most is by dealing with unseen issues: unity, love, holiness, prayer, and evangelism. We do the church's work much more effectively by praying than by picketing, by protesting, and by politicking. The measure of the church's power to help the world is the measure of her other-worldliness. The church must remember her heavenly calling in the eternal plan of God to realize all God purposes for her.

Conversely the measure of the church's other-worldliness is the measure of her influence in the world. If we really see God's purpose for the church, we can never remain unconcerned about or uninvolved with the physical problems of people. Was our Lord insensitive to suffering, unconcerned about injustice, or lacking in compassion toward the oppressed? Never, and He is the Head into whom we are to grow up.

"The church of God can never help God when she ceases to be other-worldly. When she is other-worldly she helps the world; and cannot avoid doing so."⁴

Constable: Ephesians (Outline)

Outline

I. Salutation 1:1-2

II. The Christian's calling 1:3-3:21

A. Individual calling 1:3-2:10

1. The purpose: glory 1:3-14

2. The means: knowledge 1:15-23

3. The motive: grace 2:1-10

B. Corporate calling 2:11-3:19

1. Present unity 2:11-22

2. Past ignorance 3:1-13

3. Future comprehension 3:14-19

C. Doxology 3:20-21

III. The Christian's conduct 4:1-6:20

A. Spiritual walk 4:1-6:9

1. Walking in unity 4:1-16

2. Walking in holiness 4:17-32

3. Walking in love 5:1-6

4. Walking in light 5:7-14

5. Walking in wisdom 5:15-6:9

B. Spiritual warfare 6:10-20

IV. Conclusion 6:21-24

Constable: Ephesians

Ephesians

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Ephesians (Book Introduction)

THE

EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE,

TO THE EPHESIANS.

INTRODUCTION.

Ephesus was a famous city, the metropolis of Asia Minor, upon the Ægean Sea, now called the Archipelago. In it was the temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the world. St. Paul had staid there two years, and preached another year thereabouts. See Acts xx. The chief design of this Epistle was to hinder the Ephesians, and others in the neighbouring cities, from being seduced by false teachers, who were come among them. In the first three chapters he extols the grace of God, in mercifully calling the Gentiles. It was written when St. Paul was a prisoner; (see Chap. iv. 1. and vi. 20.) but whether during his first imprisonment, at Rome, an. 62 [in the year A.D. 62], or in the latter imprisonment, as others judge about an. 65, in uncertain. (Witham) ---Ephesus was the capital of Lesser Asia, and celebrated for the temple of Diana, to which the most part of the people of the East went frequently to worship. But St. Paul having preached the gospel there for two years the first time, and afterwards for about a year, converted many. He wrote his Epistle to them when he was a prisoner at Rome, and sent it by Tychicus. He admonishes them to hold firmly the faith which they had received; and warns them, and also those neighbouring cities, against the sophistry of philosophers and the doctrine of false teachers, who were come among them. The matters of faith contained in this Epistle, are exceedingly sublime, and consequently very difficult to be understood. It was written about twenty-nine years after our Lord's ascension. (Challoner) --- Ephesus was the chief city in Asia Minor, much given to superstitions, and not less to debauchery and libertinism. In it was the famous temple of Diana. St. Paul had preached in this place three years; (Acts xx.) so that all, both Jews and Gentiles, heard the word of the Lord, till he was driven away by Demetrius, the silversmith. At his departure, he left Timothy (1 Timothy i.) to maintain the purity of the gospel, and preserve them from the fables, which St. Paul had warned the Ephesians, would be introduced among them by rapacious wolves, and men talking perversely, to lead disciples after them. The Gentile converts held fast to the doctrines they had received from St. Paul: the Jews were the chief innovators. To the former the apostle writes this Epistle, praising their steadfastness, and instructing them more fully in the hidden mysteries of faith, viz. redemption, justification, call of the Gentiles, predestination, and the glorification of Christ, and his body, the Church. In the fourth, and succeeding chapters, he exhorts them to the practice of morality, and to fulfill their respective duties of parents, children, masters, servants, &c. and finally reminds all the soldiers of Christ, to be armed with spiritual weapons against all the assaults of the devil. St. Jerome observes that this Epistle, especially the first three chapters, are intricate and difficult; probably owing to the sublimity of the subject. The last three contain the most interesting morality. (Estius. passim.) See also Acts xviii. 19. et seq. and xix. 1. et sequ. --- When Cardinal Pole was consulted by what method the obscure passages of St. Paul's Epistles could be best unfolded, he replied: Let the reader begin with the latter part, where the apostle treats of morality, and practise that which is delivered there; and then let him go back to the beginning, where points of doctrine are discussed with great acuteness and subtilty.

====================

Gill: Ephesians (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO EPHESIANS

The city of Ephesus is, by Pliny ^a, called the other light of Asia; Miletus was one, and Ephesus the other: it was the metropolis of the lesser Asia, and one of the twelve cities of Ionia, and the first and chief of them: it is said to be built by the Amazons ^b: it was famous for the magnificent temple of Diana; and the inhabitants of it were very much given to superstition and idolatry, and even to devilish arts, Act 19:19. It abounded with orators and philosophers, and men of great wisdom and learning ^c; and was formerly a very rich, trading, flourishing city, but now a village, and a poor desolate place; it retains the name of Efeso, though the Turks call it Aia Salik. Hither the Apostle Paul first went after he had been at Corinth, though he then made but a short stay; when he came thither again, he found twelve disciples, and was the instrument of making a great many more: here he continued two or three years and formed a Gospel church, very large and flourishing, to whom he writes this epistle; and which was written by him when he was a prisoner at Rome, as appears by several passages in it, Eph 3:1, and seems to have been written much about the same time as were the epistles to the Philippians, and to the Colossians, and to Philemon. Dr. Hammond thinks it was written about the year 58, and Dr. Lightfoot places it in 59, and the fifth year of Nero. The occasion of it was the foresight the apostle had of false teachers that would spring up in this church, after his death, and spread their pernicious doctrines, and draw away disciples after them, and do great mischief in the church; wherefore the design of this epistle is to establish the saints in the doctrines of the Gospel, that so they might not be carried away with the errors of the wicked: the subject matter of it is most excellent; it treats of the most sublime doctrines of grace, of divine predestination, and eternal election, of redemption by Christ, and of peace and pardon by his blood, of conversion by the power of efficacious grace, and of salvation by the free grace of God, in opposition to works: it also very largely treats of the nature and usefulness of the Gospel ministry, and of gifts qualifying for it, and of the several duties of religion incumbent on Christians; and the method which is used is exceeding apt and beautiful, for the apostle first begins with the doctrines of the Gospel, which he distinctly handles and explains, and then proceeds to enforce the duties belonging to men, both as men and Christians.

Gill: Ephesians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO EPHESIANS 1

In this chapter are contained the inscription of the epistle, the salutation of the persons to whom it is written, the apostle's thanksgiving for blessings received by him, and them; in which the efficient, moving, procuring, and final causes of salvation are taken notice of, and the several parts and branches of it observed; and the whole is concluded with prayers for the Ephesians; in which mention is made of various things to the comfort of the saints, and to the glory of Christ. The inscription is in Eph 1:1, in which the author of the epistle puts his name, declares his office, and how he came into it; and describes the persons to whom he wrote it, by their religious characters, and the place of their abode. The salutation is in Eph 1:2, which is common to all his epistles: and in Eph 1:3, is the thanksgiving to God, as the God and Father of Christ, for spiritual blessings in Christ in general; and then he proceeds to particulars, and begins with election, which is represented as an act of God the Father, as of particular persons, as done in Christ, and from the foundation of the world, the end of which is perfect holiness and love, Eph 1:4, and which is further illustrated under the name of predestination; the blessing which that is an appointment to, is the adoption of children; the moving cause of it, is the good pleasure of the divine will; the instrumental cause, or means, is Christ Jesus; the end with God is for himself, Eph 1:5, and which, in the next verse, is explained of the glory of his grace; to which grace, acceptance with him in Christ is owing; and which is another spiritual blessing, or a branch of election and predestination, Eph 1:6. To which is added another, and that is redemption; the author of which is Christ; the price, or procuring and meritorious cause of it is his blood; a branch of which is forgiveness of sins; and the whole is according to the plenteous and free grace of God, Eph 1:7, the entire plan and scheme of which is the produce of abundant wisdom and prudence, Eph 1:8, and is no other than the mystery of the will of God revealed in the Gospel, according to his sovereign will and purpose, Eph 1:9, which lay hid within himself until the fulness of times, or the Gospel dispensation, in which Christ being sent, has gathered all together in himself, Eph 1:10, through whom the saints enjoy the inheritance they are adopted to in predestination, which is the effect of an unfrustrable purpose, and a wise counsel and will, Eph 1:11. The end of which is, that those predestinated, redeemed, and adopted ones, should be to the praise and glory of God, Eph 1:12, and who are described as such, who first trusted in Christ upon hearing the Gospel; and after they had believed in him, were sealed by the Holy Spirit, said to be the Spirit of promise, Eph 1:13, and who is also spoken of as the earnest and pledge of the saints' inheritance, and who will continue so until all the people of God are redeemed from the grave in the resurrection morn, which will also issue in the praise and glory of God, Eph 1:14, and now on account of all these blessings of predestination, adoption, redemption, calling, and the sealing of the Spirit; as also, because of their faith in Christ, and love to the saints, these believers were possessed of, the apostle gave thanks, and continued to give thanks to God in his prayers to him, Eph 1:15. The object of his prayers is described as the God of Christ, and Father of glory; the petitions to him are for an increase of knowledge of Christ from the Spirit, as a spirit of wisdom and revelation, Eph 1:17, and that they might have a clearer view of the nature of that glory they were called unto, and were hoping for, Eph 1:18, and observe the wonderful display of the power of God in their conversion and faith; which is illustrated by comparing it with that power which was shown in raising Christ from the dead, Eph 1:20, which leads the apostle to take notice of the exaltation of Christ at the right hand of God in heaven, consequent on his resurrection; where he is advanced above angels and men, and has all things in subjection to him for the good of his church, of which he is the head, and which is his body and fulness, Eph 1:21.

College: Ephesians (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION

We are saved by grace through faith! We do not earn our salvation - it is the gift of God. This is the shocking good news of Ephesians. Even though we were dead in sin and fully deserved God's wrath, he saved us and brought us into the body of Christ. It is a glorious privilege to be a part of Christ's body, and it carries with it a glorious responsibility.

We are saved by grace, for good works. God saved us so that he could live in us and work through us. We are filled with his fullness and re-created in his likeness. We are imitators of God. His power works in us, making possible more than we could ever ask or think. We are strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. The message of Ephesians is a message of salvation: God gives it; man lives it.

THE WRITER

From earliest times the church has acknowledged Paul as the author of Ephesians. But while Ephesians has been called "the quintessence of Paulinism," it is now widely denied that Paul wrote the book. Despite the current trend in scholarly criticism, there are good and sufficient reasons for upholding Paul as the author.

Reasons to Support Paul as the Author

1. The letter claims to have been written by Paul (1:1 and 3:1), and has several personal references (1:15-16; 4:1; 6:19-20). Those who deny this claim must assume the burden of proving otherwise.

2. The letter was widely known and accepted in the early church, and no one (not even the heretic Marcion) disputed that Paul was the author.

3. The letter is filled with Pauline features. Is it more likely that an imitator copied Paul's writing style in 90 to 95% of the epistle, or that Paul himself wrote it, diverging from his usual style 5 to 10% of the time?

4. The letter closely parallels Colossians.

5. The practice of writing letters in the name of someone else was not as widely practiced in the early church as some claim.

6. A comparison with the church literature of the period from which a non-Pauline Ephesians is supposed to come (such as 1 Clement) indicates that the letter is far more akin to Paul than to the supposedly contemporary church literature of the late first century.

7. The major themes - justification by faith, grace, atonement by Christ, the place of the Jews and the law - agree with Paul's uncontroverted letters.

8. The nature of the letter accords well with what Paul would have written from prison, as a final summation of what the church is.

Challenges to Pauline Authorship

It must be admitted that many scholars have advanced reasons to reject Paul as the author of Ephesians. Their challenges will be listed and briefly answered:

1. Style and Vocabulary: The sentences are often long and complicated, with heavy use of synonyms and adjectives. Certain words and phrases ("devil," "heavenly realms") are not found in other Pauline letters.

However, it must be seriously questioned whether our collection of Paul's brief letters can establish what his style and vocabulary was. Furthermore, an author must be free to exercise flexibility in his style when he writes to a different audience on a different subject. Finally, "devil" is found in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus (but the critics deny the Pauline authorship of all three of these as well).

2. Literary Dependence: There are so many parallels between Ephesians and other letters, especially Colossians, that Ephesians must have been copied and expanded by an admirer of Paul. Of the 155 verses in Ephesians it is estimated that 73 have verbal parallels in Colossians.

However, the similarities could more easily result because the letters all had the same author. There is good evidence that Ephesians and Colossians were written at the same time, which would account for their frequent parallels. (It should be noted that the "style and vocabulary" argument is that Ephesians is too different, while the "literary dependence" argument is that Ephesians is too much the same.)

3. Historical Considerations: The Jew/Gentile tension has ceased; the "holy apostles" are revered as in retrospect; and the "dividing wall" at the temple in Jerusalem has been torn down. Therefore, the letter must have been written after Paul had already died.

However, the Jew/Gentile tension was not as big a problem in some locations; the apostles were held in reverence from the very beginning (Acts 2:42; 5:12-13); the symbolic "dividing wall" could still stand in the temple when it had already been torn down in the church.

4. Doctrinal Arguments: The "church" is now universal, rather than local; various themes are handled differently in other Pauline letters; the view of marriage differs from 1 Cor 7.

However, these arguments are more apparent than real. From the beginning Jesus saw his church on a universal scale (Matt 16:18) and nothing prevents Paul from using this concept. Certain themes (such as "the mystery," "in Christ," the Trinity) may be expressed in different terms in Ephesians, but it is foolish to force a strict uniformity on Paul or to prohibit him from adding any insights to what he has already written.

In conclusion, it must be said that those who dispute what the church has accepted from the beginning have not proved their case. There is more than sufficient reason to accept the epistle as from Paul's own hand, and to feel his pulse beating in every line.

THE AUDIENCE

The Recipients of the Letter

There are several reasons to question whether Paul addressed this epistle to the Ephesian saints:

1. Several of the earliest manuscripts do not include the words "in Ephesus" in 1:1.

2. Marcion, while a heretic, referred to it as "the epistle to the Laodiceans" at a very early date (about A.D. 140).

3. Though Paul spent three years in Ephesus, longer than any other location on his missionary journeys, the letter is strangely impersonal. He "has heard" about their faith (1:15). Unlike his other epistles, Paul addresses no local problems, and closes without a single personal greeting.

4. The epistle has the mature, universal tone of a letter sent as an encyclical, in this instance to all the churches of Asia Minor.

At the same time, most manuscripts do include "in Ephesus" and the church has traditionally called this epistle "to the Ephesians." If Paul did intend that the letter be sent to churches throughout Asia Minor, it is logical that it would have been sent first to the leading city, and from there copies would be circulated. It is likely, then, that Paul did send this epistle to the Ephesians, but not to them alone.

The Locale

Ephesus was the most important city in the Roman province of Asia, located on the west coast of what is now Turkey. It was a leading commercial center, situated at the intersection of two major trade routes. It was a city where East met West, with the resulting exchange of ideas and philosophies. Ephesus boasted the temple of Artemis (Diana), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Four times the size of the famed Parthenon in Athens, this temple also served as the bank of Asia Minor, one of the few places where money could be safely deposited. An enormous theatre in the center of the city could seat from 25,000 to 50,000 people.

Within its population of one-third of a million, Ephesus also had a large colony of Jews. After rejection by the local Jewish community, Paul found it possible to teach daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. From this strategic center the gospel message spread "so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord" (Acts 19:10).

Ephesus and the other cities of Asia Minor to which Paul sent this epistle are also mentioned in Rev 1:4-3:22. By that time the church in Ephesus needed to repent and return to its first love. Ephesus continued as a leading center of Christianity for several centuries.

THE DATE AND PLACE OF WRITING

Proceeding with the conclusion that Paul himself wrote this epistle, it is necessary to identify when and where he did so. We know that Paul wrote from an imprisonment (3:1; 4:1) in which he was confined with chains (6:20). We can safely assume, furthermore, that at this same time Paul also sent letters to the Colossians and to Philemon. But where was Paul imprisoned?

Rome

The traditional - and most likely correct - view is that Paul wrote from the imprisonment in Rome described in Acts 28:16-30. Paul was allowed to live in a private dwelling, with a soldier to guard him. This continued for two years, and during the latter part of this time Paul wrote Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon - and no doubt Philippians, as well. A date around A.D. 62 is likely.

Caesarea

Paul is also known to have spent two years imprisoned in Caesarea (Acts 24:27), before his voyage to Rome. It has been suggested that Onesimus would have been more inclined to escape the 500 miles to Caesarea than to attempt the long voyage to Rome. While this location is possible, yielding a date of A.D. 58-60, no real evidence can be introduced in its support.

Ephesus

Somewhat surprisingly, some critics have attempted to make Ephesus the site of Paul's prison epistles. This would be an even more convenient location for the escape of Onesimus. However, neither the book of Acts nor church history know anything of an imprisonment in Ephesus. Paul did refer to fighting "wild beasts" in Ephesus (1 Cor 15:32), but since the city did not have a coliseum and Paul was a Roman citizen, this is probably a metaphor for the fierce men who opposed him. Because this view has no historical support, it has only its novelty to commend it.

Probable Reconstruction of Events

During his imprisonment in Rome, Paul met and converted the runaway slave Onesimus. Not long afterward, he received troubling news about doctrinal problems in Colosse (Col 1:9), the home town of Onesimus (Col 4:9). Paul determined to send the letter of Colossians to correct their errors, and decided to send Onesimus back to Philemon at the same time. Having penned letters to address these two problems, Paul also wrote a letter to the saints in Ephesus, intending that it be circulated among all the churches of Asia Minor. The resulting epistle has been called "the divinest composition of man."

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

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-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

College: Ephesians (Outline)

OUTLINE

I. DOCTRINE: God's Plan for Salvation - Eph 1:1-3:21

A. God's Blessings - 1:1-23

1. Salutation - 1:1-2

2. Present Blessings in Christ - 1:3-14

3. Potential Blessings in Christ - 1:15-23

B. God's Salvation - 2:1-22

1. Saved from Sin - 2:1-10

2. Saved from Separation - 2:11-22

C. God's Participation - 3:1-21

1. God Working in Paul - 3:1-13

2. God Working in All Christians - 3:14-21

II. DUTIES: The Christian's Response to Salvation - 4:1-6:24

A. The Christian in Church Life - 4:1-16

1. Unity in the Body - 4:1-6

2. Diversity in the Body - 4:7-11

3. Maturity in the Body - 4:12-16

B. The Christian in Personal Life - 4:17-5:21

1. The Old Nature vs. the New - 4:17-24

2. Members of One Body - 4:25-32

3. Walking in Love - 5:1-2

4. Walking in Light - 5:3-14

5. Walking in Wisdom - 5:15-21

C. The Christian in Domestic Life - 5:22-6:9

1. Wives and Husbands - 5:22-33

2. Children and Parents - 6:1-4

3. Slaves and Masters -6:5-9

D. The Christian in Warfare - 6:10-24

1. The Nature of the Enemy - 6:10-12

2. The Armor of God - 6:13-18

3. Paul's Own Farewell - 6:19-24

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV