1. YOU have asked me to set forth to you the scope and substance of
the Epistle to the Ephesians, an Epistle which seems somewhat obscure,
unless by analyzing it we can gather what those motives are by which
the Apostle would persuade us not to despair of the kingdom of God.
2. In the first place then he points out that the hope of reward and
the inheritance of those heavenly promises which have been brought
within our reach by the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, are wont to
be a great encouragement to the good in the pursuit of virtue.
Sidenote: Eph. iv. 15.
3. To this he has added that not only has a mode of return to Paradise
been opened to us by Christ, but that even the honour of sitting in
heavenly places has been imparted to this flesh of our body by its
fellowship with the Body of Christ; so that you need no longer doubt
the possibility of your own ascension, now that you know that your
fellowship with the flesh of Christ subsists even in the kingdom of
heaven, knowing also that by His Blood reconciliation has been made
for all things, both on earth and in heaven, for He descended that He
might fill all things: and, further, that by His Apostles, prophets,
and priests, the whole world has been established, and the Gentiles
gathered in; and that the end of our hope is the love of Him, that we
may _grow up into Him in all things_; for He is the Head of all things,
and unto Him according to the measure of His working we are all raised
and built up by charity into one body.
Sidenote: Eph. i. 5.
Sidenote: Gen. ii. 24.
Sidenote: Eph. v. 31, 32.
4. We ought not therefore to despair of the members adhering to their
Head; especially since from the beginning we have _been predestinated
by Jesus Christ to adoption as children of God in Himself_: which
predestination He has ratified, instructing us that the prediction
made from the first, that _a man shall leave his father and mother, and
shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh_, is _a
sacrament of Christ and the Church_. If therefore the union of Adam and
Eve is _a great sacrament which relates to Christ and the Church_, it
is certain that as Eve was bone of the bones of her husband, and flesh
of his flesh, so we are members of the Body of Christ, bone of His
Bones and flesh of His Flesh.
Sidenote: Ib. i. 3, 5, 9.
Sidenote: Ib. 10.
Sidenote: Ib. vi. 12.
5. No other Epistle has pronounced so many blessings over the people
of God as this. For herein the pregnant witness of Divine grace has
declared that we are _blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places_, and _predestinated unto the adoption of children_, richly
endowed also with grace in the Son of God, _which things have abounded
unto the knowledge of the mystery of His eternal will_. Especially now,
in the fulness of time, when _all things are reconciled in Christ, both
in heaven and on earth_, have we attained an inheritance in Him, to
the intent that both what is of the Law and what is of Grace might be
fulfilled in us. For even according to the Law we seemed to be elected
in that season of youth, by which is signified a holy life, without
either the wantonness of childhood or the infirmity of age. We have
been taught also how we must vigorously _wage war not only against
flesh and blood, but also against spiritual wickedness in high places_.
Sidenote: Acts i. 26.
Sidenote: Ps. lxviii. 13.
Sidenote: Num. xxvii. 1.
6. Wherefore as the possession of lands taken from the enemy fell to
their lot, so to us has fallen the lot of grace, that we may become
the heritage of God, Who possesses our reins, the seat of chastity and
temperance. Do you seek to know this lot? Remember that lot which fell
upon Matthias, that he might be chosen into the number of the twelve
Apostles. The Prophet David also says, _If ye sleep in the midst of
the lots_, because he who is placed in the middle, between the lot
of the Old and New Testament, resting upon both, arrives at the peace
of the heavenly kingdom. This lot of their paternal inheritance the
daughters of Zelophehad sought for, and their petition was admitted
by God’s judgment. But they sought for it in the shade, for Zelophehad
means ‘the shade of the mouth;’ they sought it then in dark sayings,
they spoke not what was revealed. Hence the supplication for their
inheritance by the daughters of Zelophehad was couched in dark sayings,
but in our case it stands in the light of the Gospel and in the
revelation of grace.
Sidenote: Eph. ii. 4.
Sidenote: Ib. 6.
7. Let us therefore be the possession of God, and let Him be our
portion, for in Him are the riches of His glory and inheritance. For
who is rich but God alone, Who created all things? Especially however
is He _rich in mercy_, in that He redeemed all mankind, and, as being
the author of nature, changed us, who according to our fleshly nature
were the children of wrath, and exposed to trouble, that we might
become the children of peace and charity. For who can change nature
but He Who created nature? Wherefore He raised the dead, and those that
were _quickened in Christ He hath made to sit in heavenly places in the
Lord Jesus_.
Sidenote: Ps. cx. 1.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xxvi. 64.
8. Not that any man has been thought worthy of the privilege of
sitting in that seat of God, for to the Son alone hath the Father said,
_Sit thou on my right hand_; but because in that Flesh of Christ the
flesh of the whole human race has been honoured, because it partakes
of the same nature. For as He was subjected in our flesh by His unity
therewith, and by the obedience of the body, wherein He was made
obedient even unto death, so we, in His Flesh, are _sat down together
with Him in heavenly places_. We therefore are not set down by
ourselves but in the Person of Christ, Who alone, as the Son of man,
sitteth at the right Hand of God; as He said Himself, _Hereafter shall
ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of God_. To this end
has His Grace and Goodness been formed upon us in Christ Jesus, that
being dead according to works, redeemed through faith and saved by
grace, we might receive the gift of this great deliverance. Our very
nature, raised, as it were, in Him, has been made partaker of the Grace
of a new creation, that being new created in Christ, we, who had before
fallen away through the corruption of our guilty lineage, might walk in
good works.
Sidenote: Eph. ii. 14.
Sidenote: Ib. 15.
Sidenote: Ib. 18.
9. For the strife which before existed in the flesh being removed, an
universal peace has been made in heaven; that men might be like Angels
upon earth, that the Gentiles and Jews might be made one, that both the
new and old man might be united, the middle wall of partition, which,
as a hostile barrier, had once divided them, being broken down. For
the nature of our flesh having stirred up anger discord and dissension,
and the law having bound us with the chains of condemnation, Christ
Jesus subdued by mortification the wantonness and intemperance of the
flesh, and made void _the law of commandment contained in ordinances_,
declaring thereby that the decrees of the spiritual Law are not to be
interpreted according to the letter; putting an end to the slothful
rest of the Sabbath and to the superfluous rite of outward circumcision,
and opening to all _access by one Spirit unto the Father_. For how
can there be any discord, where there is one calling, one body and
one spirit?
Sidenote: Ib. iv. 10.
10. For what else did the Lord Jesus effect by His descent but our
deliverance from captivity into liberty, and the subjection to Himself
of that captivity which the bonds of unbelief had fettered, but which
is now restrained by the fetters of wisdom, every wise man putting his
feet into its bonds? For it is written that when He had descended He
ascended also, _that He might fill all things_, and that we might all
receive of His fulness.
Sidenote: Ib. 11.
Sidenote: Ib. 13.
11. Wherefore _He gave first Apostles_ in the Church, filling them with
the Holy Spirit, others _prophets, others evangelists, others pastors
and teachers_, that by their exhortations the progress of believers
might be accomplished, and the work of the ministry of faith might
receive increase. Every one by the growth of virtue is built up unto
the measure of the inward life, which _measure_, being that more
perfect one of a holy life, that is, _of a perfect man_, taking of the
fulness of Christ, has received the fulness of grace.
Sidenote: Eph. iv. 16.
12. But who is a perfect man, but he who, being delivered from the
weakness of a childish mind, from the unstable and slippery ways of
youth, and from the unbridled passions of adult age, has attained to
the strength of full manhood, and has grown up unto such maturity of
character as not to be easily turned aside by the address of a wily
disputer, nor cast, as it were, upon the rocks by the turbid violence
of foolish doctrine? Who but he that betakes himself to the remedies of
error, who follows truth not only in his words but also in his works,
and, takes upon him the edifying of himself in love, that he may be
united with others in the unity of faith and knowledge, and, as a
member, not fall off from his Head, that is, from Christ, Who is the
Head of all, _from whom the whole body_ of the faithful and prudent
_fitted and compacted and joined together by the rational harmony of
the Word_ (for this is the meaning of συναρμολογούμενον, ἁρμονίᾳ τοῦ
Λόγου δεδεμένον[293],) _by that which every joint supplieth, according
to the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying itself in love_; that so it may rise as one temple of God in
all, and one habitation of the heavenly mansion in the spirit of all.
13. Herein I conceive we are to understand that not only holy men but
all believers, and all the heavenly and reasonable hosts and powers
are united in faith and spirit; that by a certain concord of powers
and offices one body, composed of all spirits of a reasonable nature,
may adhere to Christ their Head, being so united to the framework of
the building, that in no single point of juncture the several members
may seem to be severed from each other. For this is the meaning of the
Greek ἁφὴν τῆς χορηγίας κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν ἐν μέτρῳ. And to unite each one
to Himself according to the due measure of his merits and faith will
not be difficult: for the edifice of love closes and blocks up every
crevice through which offences may enter. We ought not then to doubt
that in the building up of this temple the company of the heavenly
hosts will be united with us; for it is unreasonable to suppose that
while the Temple of God can be so built up by human love as that we
shall become _an habitation of God in the Spirit_, He should not dwell
within the heavenly Host.
Sidenote: Eph. i. 18.
Sidenote: Ib. iv. 22.
Sidenote: Ib. 26.
Sidenote: S. John xiii. 27.
Sidenote: Eph. v. 24.
Sidenote: Ib. 25.
Sidenote: Ib. vi. 13.
Sidenote: Ib. 12.
14. On this account, that the building may be raised within us more
rapidly, the Apostle exhorts us _to open the eyes of our understanding_,
to lift them to things above, diligently to follow after the knowledge
of God, to unravel the truth, to hide in our hearts the commandments of
God, _to put off deceitful lusts_ and hidden deeds of shame, to seek to
be renewed by the graces of the Sacraments, to moderate anger, to calm
all disturbance of spirit before the sun goes down, to beware lest the
adversary gain the upper hand of us, that mighty spirit who entered
into the heart of Judas, and broke through the gates of his soul,
overpowering his resistance, to shut out theft, to eschew falsehood,
to rise from the dead, to put on sobriety. He tells us likewise that
wives should be subject to their husbands, as the Church is to Christ,
and that husbands should offer up their own lives for their wives, _as
Christ gave Himself for the Church_. And lastly, that, as good soldiers,
we should _put on the armour of God_, and continually fight, not only
against _flesh and blood, but also against spiritual wickedness_; that
we may neither be corrupted by friends nor vanquished by enemies.
This summary account of the Epistle I offer you as the best which I
have in my power to give.
Farewell, my son; love me, for I also love you.