23, 24. A twin doxology, reversing the order of the
salutation--"Peace and grace."
+Genuineness of the epistle.+--Dr. Ellicott sums up the matter
briefly by saying, "There is no just ground on which to dispute the
genuineness." Arguments based on certain expressions in the body of
the letter have been speciously urged against its genuineness by
De Wette and others; and Holzmann has "learnedly maintained that the
epistle is only the expansion of a short letter to the Colossians by
some writer about the close of the first century" (_Godet_).
"We have, on the other hand, subjective arguments, not unmixed with
arrogance, but devoid of sound historical basis; on the other hand,
unusually convincing counter-investigations and the unvarying
testimony of the ancient Church." Adverse arguments have been
answered so satisfactorily and sometimes so crushingly as to leave no
room for doubt. Those who cannot read the epistle without being moved
by the peculiar loftiness, by the grandeur of conception, by the
profound insight, by the eucharistic inspiration they recognise in
it, will require strong evidence to persuade them that it was written
by some other man who wished it to pass as St. Paul's.
+The practical design of the epistle.+--The object is to set forth
the ground, course, aim, and end of the Church of the faithful in
Christ. The Ephesians are a sample of the Church universal. The key
to the epistle may be found in the opening sentence (ver. 3). Fixing
his eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle opens his mind to the
blessings which radiate forth from Him, and from the Father through
Him, upon the whole world. The mind of God towards men unveiled in
Christ, the relation of men towards God exhibited in Christ, the
present spiritual connection of men with Christ, the hopes of which
Christ is the ground and assurance, the laws imposed by the life of
Christ upon human life--these are the blessings for which he gives
thanks. Christ embracing humanity in Himself is the subject of the
epistle. St. Paul tells with strict faithfulness what he has read and
seen in Christ; Christ fills the whole sphere of his mind.
+CHAPTER I.+
_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES._
Ver. 1. +To the saints.+--Dismiss the commonly accepted meaning. Not
men who by hard and rigorous methods have reached the heights where
but few abide, but those who, as the elect of God, are separated from
everything unholy and kept for God's peculiar possession (1 Pet.
ii. 9). +And faithful.+--Sometimes the word may mean "believers,"
sometimes "trustworthy." "The use of the adjective for the Christian
brotherhood cannot be assigned rigidly either to the one meaning or
the other. Its very comprehensiveness was in itself a valuable
lesson" (_Lightfoot_).
Ver. 2. +Grace . . . and peace.+--The light-hearted Greek salutation
was, "Rejoice"; the more sober Hebrew--our Lord's own--was, "Peace be
to you." Here both unite.
Ver. 3. +Blessed be the God and Father.+--The Hebrew form for
"hallowing the Name" was, "The Holy One, blessed be He." The Prayer
Book version of Psalm c. gives, "Speak good of His name." +Who
blessed us.+--When old Isaac pronounces the blessing uttered on Jacob
unwittingly to be irreversible, he depends on God for the carrying
out of his dying blessing: the Divine blessing _makes_ whilst
_pronouncing_ blest. +In the heavenly places.+--Lit. "in the
heavenlies"--so, as A.V. margin says, either places or _things._
Perhaps the _local_ signification is best; "relating to heaven and
meant to draw us thither" (_Blomfield_).
Ver. 4. +Even as He chose us in Him.+--Whatever be the manifestation
of the Divine goodness, it is _"in Christ"_ that it is made. "This
sentence traces back the state of grace and Christian piety to the
eternal and independent electing love of God" (_Cremer_). There is
always the connotation of some not chosen. +Before the foundation of
the world.+--St. Paul, like Esaias, "is very bold." His Master had
only said "from," not "before," the foundation (Matt. xxv. 34),
reserving the "before" for the dim eternity in which He was the
sharer, with the eternal Spirit, of the Father's love (John
xvii. 24). +Without blemish+ (R.V.), or, in one word, "immaculate." A
sacrificial term generally; used by St. Peter (1 Pet. i. 19) to
describe that "Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world."
This word serves to guard "holy," just before it; a separated (holy)
people must also be a spotless people.
Ver. 5. +Having predestinated us.+--By pointing as the R.V. margin
does, we get Love Divine as the basis on which our foreordination
rests. "There is no respect of persons with God," and so _arrière
pensée_ in the invitation, "All that labour and are heavy laden."
+Unto adoption as sons.+--The end, as regards man. Perhaps St. John's
word goes more deeply into the heart of the mystery, "That we should
be called the _children_ of God"--"_born_ of God." +Through Jesus
Christ.+--Mediator of this and every implied blessing. +According to
the good pleasure of His will.+--The word for "good pleasure"
characterises the will as one whose intent is something good; the
unhampered working of the will lies in the expression too. The
measure of human privilege in the adoption is _according to_ the
Divine Graciousness.
Ver. 6. +To the praise of the glory of His grace.+--The ultimate end,
"that God may be all in all." +Wherein He hath made us accepted in
the Beloved.+--The change in the R.V., considerable as it seems,
turns on the rendering of one word, the meaning in the New Testament
being "to bestow favour." Compare Luke i. 28 and the A.V. marginal
alternative "much-graced." Chrysostom's beautiful interpretation must
not be lightly rejected, "to make love-worthy"--just as if one were
to make a sick or famished man into a beautiful youth, so has God
made our soul beautiful and love-worthy for the angels and all saints
and for Himself.
Ver. 7. +In whom we have redemption.+--Release in consideration of a
ransom paid--"deliverance effected through the death of Christ from
the retributive wrath of a holy God and the merited penalty of sin"
(_Grimm_). +Through His blood.+--St. Paul quite agrees with the
author of Hebrews (Heb. ix. 22) that apart from the pouring out of
blood, the putting away of sin cannot be brought about. +The
forgiveness of our trespasses.+--Another way of stating in what the
redemption consists. Notice the "forgiveness" as compared with the
"passing over" (Rom. iii. 25, R.V.). The one is the remission of
punishment; the other the omission to punish sin that has been
observed, "leaving it open in the future either entirely to _remit_
or else adequately to punish them as may seem good to Him" (_Trench_).
Ver. 8. +In all wisdom and prudence.+--"Wisdom embraces the
collective activity of the mind as directed to Divine aims to be
achieved by moral means. Prudence is the insight of practical reason
regulating the dispositions" (_Meyer_).
Ver. 9. +The mystery of His will.+--"Mystery" is here to be taken not
so much as a thing which baffles the intellect as the slow utterance
of a long-kept secret, which "the fulness of time" brings to birth.
Ver. 10. +The fulness of times.+--The word for "times" denotes "time
as brings forth its several births." It is the "flood" in the "tide
of affairs." +To sum up all things.+--"To bring together again for
Himself all things and all beings (hitherto disunited by sin) into
one combined state of fellowship in Christ, the universal bond"
(_Grimm_). "It is the mystery of God's will to gather all together
for Himself in Christ, to bring all to a unity, to put an end to the
world's discord wrought by sin, and to re-establish the original
state of mutual dependence in fellowship with God" (_Cremer_). +The
things which are in heaven and which are on earth.+
"The blood that did for us atone
Conferred on them some gift unknown."
Ver. 11. +In whom also we have obtained an inheritance.+--R.V. _"were
made a heritage."_ "The Lord's portion is His people, Jacob is the
lot of His inheritance," sang dying Moses (Deut. xxxii. 9). The
verbal paradox between A.V. and R.V. is reconciled in fact. "All are
yours, and ye are Christ's" (1 Cor. iii. 22, 23). "Before the
_Parousia_ an ideal possession, therefore a real one" (_Meyer_).
+After the counsel of His own will.+--"The 'counsel' preceding the
resolve, the 'will' urging on to action" (_Cremer_).
Ver. 12. +That we should be to the praise.+--R.V. _"to the end that
we should be."_ "_Causa finalis_ of the predestination to the
Messianic lot" (_Meyer_). "We" in antithesis to "you" in ver. 13--We
Jewish--you Gentile Christians.
Ver. 13. +In whom ye also, etc.+--The word "trusted," supplied by
A.V., is dropped by R.V. It seems best to regard the words after "ye
also" as one of the frequent breaks in the flow of the apostle's
language, the second "ye" taking up the first. "In whom ye were
sealed." "The order of conversion was: hearing, faith, baptism,
reception of the Spirit" (_Meyer_). +Ye were sealed.+--"This sealing
is the indubitable guarantee of the future Messianic salvation
received in one's own consciousness" (_Meyer_).
Ver. 14. +Who is the earnest.+--The guarantee. The word represented
by "earnest" was derived from the Phœnician merchants, and meant
money which in purchases is given as a pledge that the full amount
will be subsequently paid (_Grimm_). The word is found in the Hebrew
of Gen. xxxviii. 17, 18, and means "pledge." F. W. Robertson makes a
distinction between "pledge" and "earnest"--the grapes of Eshcol were
an "earnest" of Canaan. He who receives the Holy Spirit partakes the
powers of the age to come (Heb. vi. 4, 5). +Until the
redemption.+--The final consummation of the redemption effected by
the atonement of Christ. The "until" is faulty, the "earnest" being
"something towards" the redemption. +Of the purchased
possession.+--R.V. "of God's own possession." "The whole body of
Christians, the true people of God acquired by God as His property by
means of the redeeming work of Christ" (_Meyer_).
Vers. 15, 16.--St. Paul is always ready to give a prompt
acknowledgment of all that is best in his readers and to pray for
something better. +Cease not to give thanks.+--My thanksgiving knows
no end.
Ver. 17. +That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.+--The connection or
unity of the Father and the Son is the basis of the plea for those
who are in the Son. Christ said, "I ascend unto My Father and your
Father, to My God and your God" (John xx. 17). +The Father of
glory.+--Compare the phrases, "the Father of mercies" (2 Cor. i. 3),
"the Father of lights" (Jas. i. 17), "our Lord Jesus Christ, the
glory" (Jas. ii. 1). +The spirit of wisdom and revelation.+--The
wisdom which is from above is the heritage of all the redeemed in
Christ (1 John iv. 20); but this day-spring, which gladdens the eyes
of the heart, grows to mid-day splendour by successive apocalypses.
+In the knowledge.+--The word means a complete knowledge. It is a
word characteristic of the four epistles of the first Roman captivity.
Vers. 18, 19. +The eyes of your understanding being enlightened . . .
to us-ward who believe.+--Three pictures for heaven-illumined eyes:
1. +The hope of His calling.+--Meyer says "the hope" is not here (nor
anywhere) the _res sperata,_ "the object on which hope fastens, but
the great and glorious hope which God gives"--a statement too
sweeping for other scholars, though _here_ they agree that it is the
_faculty_ of hope "which encourages and animates." 2. +The riches of
the glory of His inheritance in the saints.+--"What a copious and
grand accumulation, mirroring, as it were, the weightiness of the
thing itself!" (_Meyer_). "Riches of the glory" must not be watered
down into "glorious riches." 3. +The exceeding greatness of His power
to us-ward.+--The amazing and wholly unexpected working of the same
Hand that wrought our first deliverance: the Power that smites the
oppressor with dismay opens the path through the sea (see Isa.
xl. 10, 11). +According to the working of His mighty power.+--This
may be regarded as a specimen of the Divine power, the norm or
standard by which we may gain an idea of the "exceeding greatness" of
it--that from the tomb of His humiliation Christ was raised by that
power to an unrivalled dignity in God's throne. The R.V. gives
_"working of the strength of His might"_: _"working"_--"the active
exertion of power" (_Meyer_); _"strength"_--might _expressing itself_
in overcoming resistance, ruling, etc.; _"might"--strength in itself_
as inward power.
Ver. 20. +Set Him at His own right hand.+--_"Dexter Dei ubique est."_
We cannot dogmatise about the relations to space which a glorified
body holds. The transcendent glory of God in that body links God to
man, the humanity in the glory gives man his claim in God. "The true
commentary on the phrase is Mark xvi. 19, 'He was received up into
heaven, and sat on the right hand of God'" (_Meyer_).
Ver. 21. +Far above all principality, and power, and might, and
dominion.+--R.V., "Rule, and authority, and power, and dominion." "To
be understood of the _good_ angels, since the apostle is not speaking
of the victory of Christ over opposing powers, but of His exaltation
above the existing powers of heaven" (_Meyer_). "Powers and
dominions, deities of heaven," as Milton calls them, ranged here,
perhaps, in a descending order. +And every name that is named.+--"God
hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every
name." "Let any name be uttered, whatever it is, Christ is above it,
is more exalted than that which the name affirms" (_Meyer_). +Not
only in this world.+--"This age." "No other name under heaven given
among men." +But also in that which is to come.+--There Zechariah's
word will have its fullest application. "The Lord shall be King over
all the earth; _there shall be one Lord, and His name one._"
Ver. 22. +And hath put all things under His feet.+--Compare 1 Cor.
xv. 27.
"Strong Son of God, immortal Love, . . .
Thou madest Death; and lo Thy foot
Is on the skull which Thou hast made."--_In Memoriam._
Ver. 23. +The fulness of Him that filleth all in all.+--"The Church,
viz., is _the Christ-filled, i.e._ that which is filled by Him in so
far as Christ penetrates the whole body and produces Christian life"
(_Meyer_). "The brimmed receptacle of Him who filleth all things with
all things" (_Farrar_). "Among the Gnostics the supersensible world
is called the Pleroma, the fulness _or filled,_ in opposition to 'the
empty,' the world of the senses" (_Meyer_).
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1, 2.
_Apostolic Salutation._
+I. He declares the Divine source of his authority.+--"Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God" (ver. 1). The faithful
ambassador scans his commission with the utmost care and is
solicitous to clearly understand the will of his Sovereign. If he
examines his own fitness for the office, it is only to be humbled
under a sense of unworthiness, and to express surprise that he should
be chosen to such a dignity and be entrusted with such powers. His
supreme ambition is to sink his own personal predilections in the
earnest discharge of his duty. Paul does not dilate on his own mental
capabilities or spiritual endowments. He accepts his appointment to
the apostleship as coming directly from the hand of God and
recognises the Divine will as the source of righteousness and of all
power to do good. This lofty conception of his call gave him
unfaltering confidence in the truth he had to declare, inspired him
with an ever-glowing zeal, rendered him immovable in the midst of
defection and opposition, and willing to obliterate himself, so that
the Gospel committed to him might be triumphant. The true minister,
in the onerous task of dealing with human doubt and sin, feels the
need of all the strength and prestige conferred by the conscious
possession of Divine authority. He seeks not to advance his own
interests or impose his own theories, but to interpret the mind of
God to man and persuade to submission and obedience. The power that
makes for righteousness has its root in the Divine will.
+II. He designates the sacred character of those he salutes.+--"To
the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus"
(ver. 1). The Ephesian saints were made so by their faith in Christ
Jesus. They were not saints because Paul called them so. Sanctity is
not the result of human volition, nor can it be created by a college
of cardinals. "Many saints have been canonised who ought to have been
cannonaded." Sanctity is the gift of God and is bestowed on those who
believe in Christ Jesus and maintain their allegiance by continued
faith in Him. They are holy so long as they are faithful. The saints
of God! "Think," says Farrar, "of the long line of heroes of faith in
the olden times: of the patriarchs--Enoch the blameless, Noah the
faithful, Abraham the friend of God; of the sweet and meditative
Isaac, the afflicted and wrestling Jacob; of Moses, the meekest of
men; of brave judges, glorious prophets, patriotic warriors, toiling
apostles; of the many martyrs who would rather die than lie; of the
hermits who fled from the guilt and turmoil of life into the solitude
of the wilderness; of the missionaries--St. Paul, Columban, Benedict,
Boniface, Francis Xavier, Schwartz, Eliot, Henry Martyn, Coleridge,
Patteson; of the reformers who cleared the world of lies, like
Savonarola, Huss, Luther, Zwingli, Wesley, Whitefield; of wise
rulers, like Alfred, Louis, Washington, and Garfield; of the writers
of holy books, like Thomas-à-Kempis, Baxter, Bunyan, Samuel
Rutherford, Jeremy Taylor; of the slayers of monstrous abuses, like
Howard and Wilberforce; of good bishops, like Hugo of Avalon,
Fénélon, and Berkeley; of good pastors, like Oberlin, Fletcher of
Madeley, Adolphe Monod, and Felix Neff; of all true poets, whether
sweet and holy, like George Herbert, Cowper, Keble, and Longfellow,
or grand and mighty, like Dante and Milton. These are but few of the
many who have reflected the glory of their Master Christ, and who
walk with Him in white robes, for they are worthy."
+III. He supplicates the bestowal of the highest blessings.+--"Grace
be to you, and peace" (ver. 3). Grace and peace have a Divine source.
_Grace_ is the rich outflow of God's goodness, made available for man
through the redeeming work of Christ. There is sometimes the thought
that grace implies God's passing by sin. But no, quite the contrary;
grace supposes sin to be so horribly bad a thing that God cannot
tolerate it. Were it in the power of man, after being unrighteous and
evil, to patch up his ways and mend himself so as to stand before
God, there would then be no need of grace. The very fact of the
Lord's being gracious shows sin to be so evil a thing that man, being
a sinner, is utterly ruined and hopeless, and nothing but free grace
can meet his case. This grace God is continually supplying. Grace,
like manna, will rot if kept overnight. "Wind up thy soul," says
George Herbert, "as thou dost thy watch at night." Leave no arrears
from day to day. Give us this day's food; forgive us this day's sins.
_Peace_ is first peace with God, with whom the soul was at enmity;
then peace of conscience, troubled on account of repeated sins, and
peace with all men. All our best wishes for the welfare of others are
included in the all-comprehensive blessings of grace and peace.
+Lessons.+--1. _The will of God is the highest authority for
Christian service._ 2. _The saintly character is the outgrowth of a
practical faith._ 3. _Grace and peace describe the rich heritage of
the believer._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._
Vers. 1, 2. _Paul's Introduction to the Epistle._--The design of this
epistle is more fully to instruct the Ephesians in the nature of that
Gospel they had received, to guard them against certain errors to
which they were exposed from the influence and example of unbelieving
Jews and Gentiles, and to inculcate upon them the importance of a
conversation becoming their faith and profession. It contains the
substance of the Gospel.
+I. Paul here calls himself an apostle of Jesus Christ.+--The word
"apostle" signifies a messenger sent on some particular business.
Jesus Christ is called an Apostle because He was sent of God to
instruct and redeem mankind. Paul and others are called apostles
because they were sent of Christ to teach the doctrines they had
received from Him. To confirm this commission, as well as to give
their ministry success, Christ, according to His promise, wrought
with them and established their words with signs following.
1. _Paul was an apostle by the will of God._--He received not his
call or commission from man; nor was he, as Matthias was, chosen to
his apostleship by men; but he was called by Jesus Christ, who in
person appeared to him for this end that He might send him among the
Gentiles, and by God the Father, who revealed His Son in him, and
chose him that he should know His will and be a witness of the truth
unto all men.
2. _He was called of God by revelation._--It was not a secret
revelation known only to himself, like the revelation on which
enthusiasts and impostors ground their pretensions, but a revelation
made in the most open and public manner, attended with a voice from
heaven and a light which outshone the sun at noonday, and exhibited
in the midst of a number of people to whom he could appeal as
witnesses of the extraordinary scene. The great business of Paul and
the other apostles was to diffuse the knowledge of the Gospel and
plant Churches in various parts of the world.
+II. Paul directs this epistle to the saints and faithful.+--The
phrases denote they had been called out of the world and separated
from others that they might be a peculiar people unto God. The
religion we profess contains the highest motives to purity of heart
and life. If, content with a verbal profession of and external
compliance with this religion, we regard iniquity in our hearts, we
are guilty of the vilest prevarication, and our religion, instead of
saving us, will but plunge us the deeper into infamy and misery. That
which is the visible ought to be the real character of Christians.
+III. The apostle expresses his fervent desire that these Ephesians
may receive the glorious blessings offered in the
Gospel.+--1. _Grace._ Pardon is grace, for it is the remission of a
deserved punishment. Eternal life is grace, for it is a happiness of
which we are utterly unworthy. The influences of the Divine Spirit
are grace, for they are first granted without any good disposition on
our part to invite them, they are continued even after repeated
oppositions, they prepare us for that world of glory for which we
never should qualify ourselves.
2. _Peace._--By this we understand that peace of mind which arises
from a persuasion of our interest in the favour of God. Our peace
with God is immediately connected with our faith in Christ. Our peace
of mind is connected with our knowledge of the sincerity of our
faith. "If our heart condemn us not, we have confidence toward God."
The way to enjoy peace is to increase in all holy dispositions and to
abound in every good work. If the apostle wished grace and peace to
Christians, surely they should feel some solicitude to enjoy
them.--_J. Lathrop, D.D._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 3-14.
_Praise for the Work of the Trinity in the Gospel of Grace._
These verses are an outburst of descriptive eloquence that even the
ample resources of the Greek language seem too meagre to adequately
express. The grandeur and variety of ideas, and the necessary
vagueness of the phrases by which those ideas are conveyed in this
paragraph, create a difficulty in putting the subject into a
practical homiletic form. It may help us if we regard the passage as
an outpouring of praise for the work of the Trinity in the Gospel of
grace, the part of each person in the Trinity being distinctly
recognised as contributing to the unity of the whole.
+I. The Gospel of grace originated in the love of the
Father.+--1. _He hath chosen us to holiness._ "Blessed be the God and
Father . . . who hath chosen us . . . that we should be holy and
without blame before Him in love" (vers. 3, 4). The love of God the
Father gave Christ to the world, and in Him the human race is dowered
with "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places." The blessings from
heaven link us to heaven, and will by-and-by bring us to heaven,
where those blessings will be enjoyed in unrestricted fulness. Before
time began, in the free play of His infinite love, God the Father,
foreseeing the sin and misery that would come to pass, resolved to
save man, and to save him in His own way and for His own purpose. Man
was to be saved in Christ, and by believingly receiving Christ; and
his salvation was not to free him from moral obligation, but to plant
in him principles of holiness by which he could live a blameless life
before God. He chose for Himself that we might love Him and find our
satisfaction in the perpetual discovery of His great love to us. The
true progression of the Christian life is a growth of the
ever-widening knowledge of the love of God. Love is the essence and
the crown of holiness.
2. _He hath ordained us to sonship._--"Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Christ Jesus Himself" (ver. 5). The
sonship is not by natural right of inheritance, but by adoption. It
is an act of Divine grace, undeserved and unexpected. It is said
that, after the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon adopted the children
of the soldiers who had fallen. They were supported and educated by
the State, and, as belonging to the family of the emperor, were
allowed to attach the name of Napoleon to their own. This was not the
adoption of love, but as a recognition of service rendered by their
fathers. None can adopt into the family of God but God Himself, and
it is an act on His part of pure, unmerited love. He raises us to the
highest dignity, and endows us with unspeakable privileges, when He
makes us His children; and our lives should be in harmony with so
distinguished a relationship.
3. _He hath accepted us in Christ._--"Wherein He hath made us
accepted in the Beloved" (ver. 6). Christ, the beloved One, is the
special object of the Father's love, and all who are united to Christ
by faith become sharers in the love with which the Divine Father
regards His Son. It is only in and through Christ that we are
admitted into the Divine family. God loves us in Christ, and the more
so because we love Christ. We are accepted to a life of holiness and
a service of love. Christ is the pattern of our sonship and the means
of our adoption. The love of God to the race finds an outlet through
the person and gracious intervention of His Son.
+II. The Gospel of grace was wrought out by the sufferings of the
Son.+--1. _In Him we have forgiveness of sins._ "In whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (ver. 7). How
little do we realise the greatness and blessedness of the pardon of
sin! It may seem difficult to explain how the forgiveness of sins is
connected with the sufferings and death of Christ; but there is no
fact in the New Testament writings more clearly revealed or more
emphatically repeated than this. "The death of Christ was an act of
submission on behalf of mankind to the justice of the penalties of
violating the eternal law of righteousness--an act in which our own
submission not only received a transcendent expression, but was
really and vitally included; it was an act which secured the
destruction of sin in all who, through faith, are restored to union
with Christ; it was an act in which there was a revelation of the
righteousness of God which must otherwise have been revealed in the
infliction of the penalty of sin on the human race. Instead of
inflicting suffering God has elected to endure it, that those who
repent of sin may receive forgiveness, and may inherit eternal glory.
It was greater to endure suffering than to inflict it" (_Dale_). The
forgiveness is free, full, and complete.
2. _In Him we have the revelation of the mystery of the Divine
will._--"Wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and
prudence; having made known to us the mystery of His will" (vers. 8,
9). The will of God is to advance the ultimate glorious destiny of
the whole creation. This sublime purpose was for ages an unrevealed
mystery, unknown to the prophets, psalmists, and saints of earlier
times. In the depths of the Divine counsels this purpose was to be
carried out by Christ, and it is revealed only through and in Him.
The believer in Christ discovers in Him, not only his own
blessedness, but also the ultimate glory of all who are savingly
united to the great Redeemer. The abounding grace of God bestows
wisdom to apprehend a larger knowledge of the ways and will of God,
and prudence to practically apply that knowledge in the conduct of
life.
3. _In Him we enjoy the unity and grandeur of the heavenly
inheritance._--"That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He
might gather together in one all things in Christ, . . . in whom also
we have obtained an inheritance, . . . that we should be to the
praise of His glory" (vers. 10-12). The fulness of times must refer
to the Gospel age and the glorious ages to follow, in which the
accomplishment of the Divine purpose will become more apparent. That
purpose is to heal up the estrangement of man from God, and to
restore moral harmony to the universe, which has been disordered by
the introduction of sin. The great agent in the unifying and
harmonising of all things is Christ, who is the centre and
circumference of all. The angels who never sinned, and the saints who
are made such by redeeming mercy, will share together the inheritance
of bliss provided by the suffering and triumphant Christ. "One final
glory will consist, not in the restoration of the solitary soul to
solitary communion with God, but in the fellowship of all the blessed
with the blessedness of the universe as well as with the blessedness
of God."
+III. The Gospel of grace is confirmed and realised by the operation
of the Holy Spirit.+--1. _By Him we hear and understand the Word of
truth._ "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation" (ver. 13). The Gospel is
emphatically the Word of truth; it is reliable history, not
romance--a revelation of truths essential to salvation. It is the
function of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the mind by the
instrumentality of the truth, to apply the Word to the conscience,
and to regenerate the heart. He takes of the things of Christ and
shows them unto us, and the vision leads on to a spiritual
transformation.
2. _By Him we are sealed as an earnest of possessing the full
inheritance of blessing._--"Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of
promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance" (vers. 13, 14). The
work of the Spirit broke down all class distinctions. The Jewish
Christians discovered that the exclusive privileges of their race had
passed away. All believers in Christ Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile,
received the assurance of the Spirit that all the prerogatives and
blessings of God's eternal kingdom were theirs. The seal of the
Spirit is the Divine attestation to the believing soul of its
admission into the favour of God, and the guarantee of ultimately
entering into the full possession and enjoyment of the heavenly
inheritance.
+Lessons.+--1. _The Gospel of grace is the harmonious work of the
blessed Trinity._ 2. _The grace of the Gospel is realized by faith._
3. _Praise for the gift of the Gospel should be continually offered
to the Triune God._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._
Vers. 3-6. _The Doctrine of Predestination._--Neither Calvinism nor
Arminianism has solved the problem presented in this chapter. Like
difficulties meet us in God's providential dealings--ay, in the
workings of His natural laws; for, as a brilliant author has said,
"Nature is a terrible Calvinist."--_Lange._
_Election._--It is above logic and philosophy and even technical
theology, even as on many, and these, the most important subjects,
the heart is a better teacher than the head. In these matters I am so
fearful that I dare not speak further--yea, almost none otherwise
than the text does, as it were, lead me by the hand.--_Ridley._
_Mystery of election._--Those who are willing are always the elect;
those who will not are not elected. Many men are wrapped up in the
doctrines of election and predestination; but that is the height of
impertinence. They are truths belonging to God alone; and if you are
perplexed by them, it is only because you trouble yourself about
things which do not concern you. You only need to know that God
sustains you with all His might in the winning of your salvation if
you will only rightly use His help. Whoever doubts this is like a
crew of a boat working with all their might against the tide and yet
going back hour after hour; then they notice that the tide turns,
while at the same time the wind springs up and fills their sails. The
coxswain cries, "Pull away, boys! wind and tide favour you!" But they
answer, "What can we do with the oars? don't the wind and tide take
away our free agency?"--_H. W. Beecher._