'Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith.'--Eph. vi. 23.
The numerous personal greetings usually found at the close of Paul's
letters are entirely absent from this Epistle. All which we have in
their place is this entirely general good wish, and the still more
general and wider one in the subsequent verse.
There is but one other of the Apostle's letters similarly devoid of
personal messages, viz. the Epistle to the Galatians, and their absence
there is sufficiently accounted for by the severe and stern tone of that
letter. But it is very difficult to understand how they should not
appear in a letter to a church with which the Apostle had such prolonged
and cordial relations as he had with the church at Ephesus. And hence
the absence of these personal greetings is a strong confirmation of the
opinion that this Epistle was not originally addressed to the church at
Ephesus, but was a kind of circular intended to go round the various
churches in Asia Minor, and only sent first to that at Ephesus. That
opinion is further confirmed by the fact known to many of you that in
some good ancient manuscripts the words 'at Ephesus' are omitted from
the first verse of the letter; which thus stands without any specific
address.
Be that as it may, this trinity of inward graces is Paul's highest and
best wish for his friends. He has no earthly prosperity to wish for
them. His ambition soars higher than that; he desires for them peace,
love, faith.
Now, will you take the lesson? There is no better test of a man than the
things that he wishes for the people that he loves most. He desires for
them, of course, his own ideal of happiness. What do you desire most for
those that are dearest to you? You parents, do you train up your
children, for instance, so as to secure, or to do your best to secure,
not outward prosperity, but these loftier gifts; and for yourselves,
when you are forming your wishes, are these the things that you want
most? 'Set your affections on things above,' and remember that whoso has
that trinity of graces, peace, love, faith, is rich and blessed,
whatsoever else he has or needs. And whoso has them not is miserable and
poor.
But I wish especially to look a little more closely at these three
things in themselves and in their relation to one another. I take it
that the Apostle is here tracking the stream to its fountain; that he is
beginning with effects and working backwards and downwards to causes; so
that to get the order of nature and of time we must reverse the order
here, and begin where he ends and end where he begins. The Christian
life in its higher vigour and excellence is rooted in faith. That faith
associates to itself, and is inseparably connected with love, and the
faith and love together issue in a deep restful tranquillity which
nothing can break.
Now, let us look at these three things as the three greatest blessings
that any can bear in their hearts, and wring out of time, sorrow, and
change.