EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. _Chronological Notes relative to this Epistle._ Usherian year of the world, 4065. -Alexandrian era of the world, 5563. -Antiochian era of the world, 5553. -Constantinopolitan era of the world, 5569. -Year of the Eusebian epocha of the Creation, 428... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ephesians 1:2. _GRACE BE TO YOU_] Romans 1:7, Romans 1:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ephesians 1:3. _BLESSED BE THE GOD_] 2 Corinthians 1:3, where the same form is used. _WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS_] With the pure _doctrines_ of the Gospel, and the _abundant gifts_ and _graces_ of the Holy Ghost, justifying, sanctifying, and building us up on our most holy faith. _IN HEAV... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ephesians 1:4. _ACCORDING AS HE HATH CHOSEN US IN HIM_] As he has decreed from the beginning of the world, and has kept in view from the commencement of the _religious system of the Jews_, (which the phrase sometimes means,) to bring us Gentiles to the knowledge of this glorious state of salv... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ephesians 1:5. _HAVING PREDESTINATED US_] προορισας. As the doctrine of eternal _predestination_ has produced much controversy in the Christian world, it may be necessary to examine the meaning of the term, that those who do use it may employ it according to the sense it has in the oracles of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ephesians 1:6. _TO THE PRAISE OF THE GLORY OF HIS GRACE_] Δοξης της χαριτος αὑτου· _The glory of his grace_, for χαρις ενδοξος, _his_ _glorious_ or _illustrious grace_, according to the Hebrew idiom. But the grace or mercy of God is peculiarly illustrated and glorified in the plan of redempti... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 7. _IN WHOM WE HAVE REDEMPTION_] God has glorified his grace by giving us redemption by the blood of his Son, and this redemption consists in forgiving and delivering us from our sins; so then Christ's blood was the _redemption price_ paid down for our salvation: and this was according to the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 8. _WHEREIN HE HATH ABOUNDED_] That is, in the dispensation of mercy and goodness by Christ Jesus. _IN ALL WISDOM AND PRUDENCE_] Giving us apostles the most complete instructions in heavenly things by the inspiration of his Spirit; and at the same time _prudence_, that we might know _when_ a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 9. _HAVING MADE KNOWN UNTO US THE MYSTERY_] That the Gentiles should ever be received into the Church of God, and have all the privileges of the Jews, without being obliged to submit to circumcision, and perform the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish law was a _mystery_-a _hidden thing_ which... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 10. _IN THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES_] εις οικονομιαν του πληρωματος των καιρων. The word οικονομια, which is the same as our word _economy_, signifies, as Dr. Macknight has well observed, "the plan which the master of a family, or his steward, has established for the management of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 11. _IN WHOM_] Christ Jesus; _also we_-believing _Jews have_ _obtained an inheritance_-what was promised to Abraham and his spiritual seed, viz. the _adoption of sons_, and the _kingdom of_ _heaven_, signified by the privileges under the Mosaic dispensation, and the possession of the promised... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 12. _THAT WE_] Jews, now apostles and messengers of God, to whom the first offers of salvation were made, and who were the _first_ that _believed in Christ_. _SHOULD BE TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY_] By being the means of preaching Christ crucified to the _Gentiles_, and spreading the Gospel th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 13. _IN WHOM YE ALSO TRUSTED_] Ye Gentiles, having heard from us the _word_, τονλογον, the doctrine, _of the truth_, which is the _Gospel_, or glad tidings, _of your salvation_, have believed, as we Jews have done, and received similar blessings to those with which God has favoured us. _In w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 14. _WHICH IS THE EARNEST OF OUR INHERITANCE_] This Holy Spirit, sealing the soul with truth and righteousness, is the _earnest, foretaste_, and _pledge_ of the heavenly inheritance. And he who can produce this _earnest_ - this _witness of the Spirit_, in the day of judgment, shall have an abu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 15. _FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS_] Cordial reception of the Christian religion, amply proved by their _love to all the_ _saints_-to all the _Christians_. Perhaps _love_ here implies, not only the kind affection so called, but also all the fruits of love-benevolence, and kind offices of every descr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 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 _pra... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 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_; John 20:17. _THE FATHER OF GLORY_] The _author_ a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 19. _THE EXCEEDING GREATNESS OF HIS POWER_] As the apostle is here speaking of the glorious state of believers after death, _the exceeding greatness of his power_, or that power which surpasses all difficulties, being itself omnipotent, is to be understood of that _might_ which is to be exerte... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 20. _SET_ HIM _AT HIS OWN RIGHT HAND IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES_] Gave him, as mediator between God and man, the highest honours and dignities, Philippians 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 friends... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 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_, 1 Corinthians 1:16; 2 Corinthians 2:10; for he, God the Father, has _given him to be head_-chief, and supreme, over all, _to_ _the Chur... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ephesians 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. _AND IS THE FULNESS OF HIM_] Tha... [ Continue Reading ]