INTRODUCTION TO EPHESIANS 2 The design of the apostle in this chapter, is to magnify the riches of divine grace, in the effectual calling and salvation of sinners, by Christ Jesus; in order to which, he describes the sad estate they are in by nature, and before conversion, even God's elect among th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YOU HATH HE QUICKENED,.... The design of the apostle in this and some following verses, is to show the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and to set forth the sad estate and condition of man by nature, and to magnify the riches of the grace of God, and represent the exceeding greatness of his power in... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREIN IN TIME PAST YE WALKED,.... Sins and transgressions are a road or path, in which all unconverted sinners walk; and this path is a dark, crooked, and broad one, which leads to destruction and death, and yet is their own way, which they choose, approve of, and delight to walk in; and walking i... [ Continue Reading ]
AMONG WHOM ALSO WE ALL HAD OUR CONVERSATION IN TIMES PAST,.... What the apostle says of the Gentile Ephesians before conversion, he says of himself and other Jews; and this he does, partly to show that it was not from ill will, or with a design to upbraid the Gentiles, that he said what he did; and... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT GOD, WHO IS RICH IN MERCY,.... Mercy is a perfection of the divine nature, and is essential to God; and may be considered with respect to the objects of it, either as general, extending to all men in a providential way; or as special, reaching only to some in a way of grace; for though mercy is... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN SINS,.... Ephesians 2:1. HATH QUICKENED US TOGETHER WITH CHRIST: which may be understood either of regeneration, when a soul that is dead in a moral or spiritual sense, is quickened and made alive; a principle of life is infused, and acts of life are put forth; such have t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HATH RAISED US UP TOGETHER,.... Which refers either to a spiritual resurrection, to a resurrection from a death in sin, to a spiritual life; and which is the effect of almighty power, and of rich grace and mercy; and in which Christ is concerned: he is the efficient cause of it, he raises the de... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IN THE AGES TO COME,.... This is the end of God's permitting sin, in which men are morally dead; and of his suffering them to go on in sin, in a state of unregeneracy; and of his quickening them with Christ, and raising them up, and causing them to sit together with him: namely, that HE MIGHT... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED,.... This is to be understood, not of temporal salvation, nor of preservation in Christ, nor of providential salvation in order to calling, and much less of being put in a way of salvation, or only in a salvable state; but of spiritual salvation, and that actual; for salvat... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT OF WORKS,.... Of any kind, moral or ceremonial, before or after conversion, done without faith or in it, nor of these in any sense; works are neither the moving causes, nor the procuring causes, nor the helping causes, nor "causa sine qua non", or conditions of salvation; the best works that are... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP,.... Not as men only, but as Christians; not as creatures merely, but as new creatures; the work of grace upon the soul seems chiefly designed, which like a poem, as the word may be rendered, is a very curious work; the king's daughter is all glorious within, for this is a... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE REMEMBER, THAT YE BE IN TIME PAST GENTILES IN THE FLESH,.... This, with what follows in the next verse, the apostle puts the converted Ephesians in mind of, in order to magnify the grace of God in their conversion; and to humble them in a view of their former state and condition; and to te... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT AT THAT TIME YE WERE WITHOUT CHRIST,.... Or separate from him: they were chosen in him and were preserved in him, and were redeemed by him before; but they were without any knowledge of him, faith in him, love to him, communion with him, or subjection to him, his Gospel, government, laws, and o... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOW IN CHRIST JESUS,.... Being openly and visibly in Christ, created in him, and become believers in him; as they were before secretly in him, as chosen and blessed in him before the foundation of the world: YE WHO SOMETIMES WERE FAR OFF; who in their state of unregeneracy were afar off from Go... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE IS OUR PEACE,.... The author of peace between Jew and Gentile: there was a great enmity of the Jew against the Gentile, and of the Gentile against the Jew; and chiefly on account of circumcision, the one being without it, and the other insisting on it, and branding one another with nicknames... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVING ABOLISHED IN HIS FLESH THE ENMITY,.... The ceremonial law, as appears by what follows, EVEN THE LAW OF COMMANDMENTS CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES; which consisted of many precepts, and carnal ordinances; and is so called because it was an indication of God's hatred of sin, by requiring sacrifice f... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THAT HE MIGHT RECONCILE BOTH UNTO GOD,.... This is another end of the abrogation of the ceremonial law: the Jews had run up a long score against the ceremonial law, as well as against the moral law; and Christ by fulfilling it for them, and thereby abrogating it, reconciled them; and the Gentile... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHICH WERE AFAR OFF,.... Which is to be understood not of Christ's coming in the flesh; for when he came in the flesh, he came only to the Jews that were nigh, and preached the Gospel in his own personal ministry to them, and not to the Gentiles, who are the person... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THROUGH HIM WE BOTH HAVE AN ACCESS, That is, both Jews and Gentiles; the Arabic version reads, "we both factions": being made one, and reconciled unto God, and having the Gospel of peace preached to both, they have through Christ freedom of access and boldness in it: BY ONE SPIRIT UNTO THE FATH... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THEREFORE YE ARE NO MORE STRANGERS..... Alluding to the name נכרי, "a stranger", by which the Jews called the Gentiles; meaning that they were not now strangers to God, to the grace of God, the love of God, and communion with him, nor to the throne of his grace; nor to Christ, to his person, his... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ARE BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS,.... The prophets of the Old Testament, and the apostles of the New, who agree in laying ministerially the one and only foundation, Jesus Christ; for not the persons of the apostles and prophets, nor their doctrines merely, are here mean... [ Continue Reading ]
IN WHOM ALL THE BUILDING FITLY FRAMED TOGETHER,.... This building is to be understood of all the saints, and people of God; of the whole universal church, which is God's building; and is a building of a spiritual nature, and will abide for ever: and this is fitly framed together; it consists of vari... [ Continue Reading ]
IN WHOM YOU ALSO ARE BUILDED TOGETHER,.... As the church universal, so every particular church is a building that is compact together, in and upon Christ, as the church at Ephesus was: God is the builder of it; Christ is the foundation; true believers are the proper materials; the door, or entrance... [ Continue Reading ]