Chapter 1
In this chapter we have, I. The introduction to the whole
epistle, which is much the same as in others (v. 1, 2). II. The apostle’s
thanksgivings and praises to God for his inestimable blessings bestowed on the
believing Ephesians (v. 3–14). III. His earnest prayers to God in their behalf
(v. 15–23). This great apostle was wont to abound in prayers and in
thanksgivings to almighty God, which he generally so disposes and orders that
at the same time they carry with them and convey the great and important
doctrines of the Christian religion, and the most weighty instructions to all
those who seriously peruse them.
Verses 1-2
Here is, 1. The title St. Paul takes to himself, as belonging
to him—Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, etc. He reckoned it a great
honour to be employed by Christ, as one of his messengers to the sons of men.
The apostles were prime officers in the Christian church, being extraordinary
ministers appointed for a time only. They were furnished by their great Lord
with extraordinary gifts and the immediate assistance of the Spirit, that they
might be fitted for publishing and spreading the gospel and for governing the
church in its infant state. Such a one Paul was, and that not by the will
of man conferring that office upon him, nor by his own intrusion into it; but by
the will of God, very expressly and plainly intimated to him, he being
immediately called (as the other apostles were) by Christ himself to the work.
Every faithful minister of Christ (though his call and office are not of so
extraordinary a nature) may, with our apostle, reflect on it as an honour and
comfort to himself that he is what he is by the will of God. 2. The
persons to whom this epistle is sent: To the saints who are at Ephesus,
that is, to the Christians who were members of the church at Ephesus, the
metropolis of Asia. He calls them saints, for such they were in profession,
such they were bound to be in truth and reality, and many of them were such.
All Christians must be saints; and, if they come not under that character on
earth, they will never be saints in glory. He calls them the faithful in
Christ Jesus, believers in him, and firm and constant in their adherence to
him and to his truths and ways. Those are not saints who are not faithful,
believing in Christ, firmly adhering to him, and true to the profession they
make of relation to their Lord. Note, It is the honour not only of ministers,
but of private Christians too, to have obtained mercy of the Lord to be
faithful.—In Christ Jesus, from whom they derive all their grace and
spiritual strength, and in whom their persons, and all that they perform, are
made accepted. 3. The apostolical benediction: Grace be to you, etc.
This is the token in every epistle; and it expresses the apostle’s good-will to
his friends, and a real desire of their welfare. By grace we are to
understand the free and undeserved love and favour of God, and those graces of
the Spirit which proceed from it; by peace all other blessings,
spiritual and temporal, the fruits and product of the former. No peace without
grace. No peace, nor grace, but from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ. These peculiar blessings proceed from God, not as a Creator, but as
a Father by special relation: and they come from our Lord Jesus Christ, who,
having purchased them for his people, has a right to bestow them upon them.
Indeed the saints, and the faithful in Christ Jesus, had already received grace
and peace; but the increase of these is very desirable, and the best saints
stand in need of fresh supplies of the graces of the Spirit, and cannot but
desire to improve and grow: and therefore they should pray, each one for
himself and all for one another, that such blessings may still abound unto
them.
After this short introduction he comes to the matter and
body of the epistle; and, though it may seem somewhat peculiar in a letter, yet
the Spirit of God saw fit that his discourse of divine things in this chapter
should be cast into prayers and praises, which, as they are solemn addresses to
God, so they convey weighty instructions to others. Prayer may preach; and
praise may do so too.
Verses 3-14
He begins with thanksgivings and praise, and enlarges with a
great deal of fluency and copiousness of affection upon the exceedingly great
and precious benefits which we enjoy by Jesus Christ. For the great privileges
of our religion are very aptly recounted and enlarged upon in our praises to
God.
I. In general he blesses God for spiritual blessings,
v. 3, where he styles him the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;
for, as Mediator, the Father was his God; as God, and the second person in the
blessed Trinity, God was his Father. It bespeaks the mystical union between
Christ and believers, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is their
God and Father, and that in and through him. All blessings come from God as the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. No good can be expected from a righteous and
holy God to sinful creatures, but by his mediation. He hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings. Note, Spiritual blessings are the best blessings
with which God blesses us, and for which we are to bless him. He blesses us by
bestowing such things upon us as make us really blessed. We cannot thus bless
God again; but must do it by praising, and magnifying, and speaking well of him
on that account. Those whom God blesses with some he blesses with all spiritual
blessings; to whom he gives Christ, he freely gives all these things. It is not
so with temporal blessings; some are favoured with health, and not with riches;
some with riches, and not with health, etc. But, where God blesses with
spiritual blessings, he blesses with all. They are spiritual blessings in
heavenly places; that is, say some, in the church, distinguished from the
world, and called out of it. Or it may be read, in heavenly things, such
as come from heaven, and are designed to prepare men for it, and to secure
their reception into it. We should hence learn to mind spiritual and heavenly
things as the principal things, spiritual and heavenly blessings as the best
blessings, with which we cannot be miserable and without which we cannot but be
so. Set not your affections on things on the earth, but on those things
which are above. These we are blessed with in Christ; for, as all our
services ascend to God through Christ, so all our blessings are conveyed to us
in the same way, he being the Mediator between God and us.
II. The particular spiritual blessings with which we are blessed
in Christ, and for which we ought to bless God, are (many of them) here
enumerated and enlarged upon. 1. Election and predestination, which are the
secret springs whence the others flow, v. 4, 5, 11. Election, or choice,
respects that lump or mass of mankind out of which some are chosen, from which
they are separated and distinguished. Predestination has respect to the
blessings they are designed for; particularly the adoption of children,
it being the purpose of God that in due time we should become his adopted
children, and so have a right to all the privileges and to the inheritance of
children. We have here the date of this act of love: it was before the
foundation of the world; not only before God’s people had a being, but
before the world had a beginning; for they were chosen in the counsel of God
from all eternity. It magnifies these blessings to a high degree that they are
the products of eternal counsel. The alms which you give to beggars at your
doors proceed from a sudden resolve; but the provision which a parent makes for
his children is the result of many thoughts, and is put into his last will and
testament with a great deal of solemnity. And, as this magnifies divine love,
so it secures the blessings to God’s elect; for the purpose of God according
to election shall stand. He acts in pursuance of his eternal purpose in
bestowing spiritual blessings upon his people. He hath blessed us—according
as he hath chosen us in him, in Christ the great head of the election, who
is emphatically called God’s elect, his chosen; and in the chosen
Redeemer an eye of favour was cast upon them. Observe here one great end and
design of this choice: chosen-that we should be holy; not because he
foresaw they would be holy, but because he determined to make them so. All who
are chosen to happiness as the end are chosen to holiness as the means. Their
sanctification, as well as their salvation, is the result of the counsels of
divine love.—And without blame before him—that their holiness might not
be merely external and in outward appearance, so as to prevent blame from men,
but internal and real, and what God himself, who looketh at the heart,
will account such, such holiness as proceeds from love to God and to our
fellow-creatures, this charity being the principle of all true holiness. The
original word signifies such an innocence as no man can carp at; and therefore
some understand it of that perfect holiness which the saints shall attain in
the life to come, which will be eminently before God, they being in his
immediate presence for ever. Here is also the rule and the fontal cause of
God’s election: it is according to the good pleasure of his will (v. 5),
not for the sake of any thing in them foreseen, but because it was his
sovereign will, and a thing highly pleasing to him. It is according to the
purpose, the fixed and unalterable will, of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will (v. 11), who powerfully accomplishes
whatever concerns his elect, as he has wisely and freely fore-ordained and
decreed, the last and great end and design of all which is his own glory: To
the praise of the glory of his grace (v. 6), that we should be to the praise of
his glory (v. 12), that is, that we should live and behave ourselves in
such a manner that his rich grace might be magnified, and appear glorious, and
worthy of the highest praise. All is of God, and from him, and through him,
and therefore all must be to him, and centre in his praise. Note, The glory of
God is his own end, and it should be ours in all that we do. This passage has
been understood by some in a very different sense, and with a special reference
to the conversion of these Ephesians to Christianity. Those who have a mind to
see what is said to this purpose may consult Mr. Locke, and other well-known
writers, on the place. 2. The next spiritual blessing the apostle takes notice
of is acceptance with God through Jesus Christ: Wherein, or by which
grace, he hath made us accepted in the beloved, v. 6. Jesus Christ is
the beloved of his Father (Mt. 3:17), as well as of angels and saints. It is
our great privilege to be accepted of God, which implies his love to us and his
taking us under his care and into his family. We cannot be thus accepted of
God, but in and through Jesus Christ. He loves his people for the sake of the
beloved. 3. Remission of sins, and redemption through the blood of Jesus, v. 7.
No remission without redemption. It was by reason of sin that we were
captivated, and we cannot be released from our captivity but by the remission
of our sins. This redemption we have in Christ, and this remission through his
blood. The guilt and the stain of sin could be no otherwise removed than by the
blood of Jesus. All our spiritual blessings flow down to us in that stream.
This great benefit, which comes freely to us, was dearly bought and paid for by
our blessed Lord; and yet it is according to the riches of God’s grace.
Christ’s satisfaction and God’s rich grace are very consistent in the great
affair of man’s redemption. God was satisfied by Christ as our substitute and
surety; but it was rich grace that would accept of a surety, when he might have
executed the severity of the law upon the transgressor, and it was rich grace
to provide such a surety as his own Son, and freely to deliver him up, when
nothing of that nature could have entered into our thoughts, nor have been any
otherwise found out for us. In this instance he has not only manifested riches
of grace, but has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence (v. 8),
wisdom in contriving the dispensation, and prudence in executing the counsel of
his will, as he has done. How illustrious have the divine wisdom and prudence
rendered themselves, in so happily adjusting the matter between justice and
mercy in this grand affair, in securing the honour of God and his law, at the
same time that the recovery of sinners and their salvation are ascertained and
made sure! 4. Another privilege which the apostle here blesses God for is
divine revelation—that God hath made known to us the mystery of his will
(v. 9), that is, so much of his good-will to men, which had been concealed for
a long time, and is still concealed from so great a part of the world: this we
owe to Christ, who, having lain in the bosom of the Father from eternity, came
to declare his will to the children of men. According to his good pleasure,
his secret counsels concerning man’s redemption, which he had purposed,
or resolved upon, merely in and from himself, and not for any thing in them. In
this revelation, and in his making known unto us the mystery of his will,
the wisdom and the prudence of God do abundantly shine forth. It is described
(v. 13) as the word of truth, and the gospel of our salvation. Every
word of it is true. It contains and instructs us in the most weighty and
important truths, and it is confirmed and sealed by the very oath of God,
whence we should learn to betake ourselves to it in all our searches after
divine truth. It is the gospel of our salvation: it publishes the glad
tidings of salvation, and contains the offer of it: it points out the way that
leads to it; and the blessed Spirit renders the reading and the ministration of
it effectual to the salvation of souls. O, how ought we to prize this glorious
gospel and to bless God for it! This is the light shining in a dark place, for
which we have reason to be thankful, and to which we should take heed. 5. Union
in and with Christ is a great privilege, a spiritual blessing, and the
foundation of many others. He gathers together in one all things in Christ,
v. 10. All the lines of divine revelation meet in Christ; all religion centres
in him. Jews and Gentiles were united to each other by being both united to
Christ. Things in heaven and things on earth are gathered together in
him; peace made, correspondence settled, between heaven and earth, through him.
The innumerable company of angels become one with the church through Christ:
this God purposed in himself, and it was his design in that dispensation
which was to be accomplished by his sending Christ in the fulness of time, at
the exact time that God had prefixed and settled. 6. The eternal inheritance is
the great blessing with which we are blessed in Christ: In whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, v. 11. Heaven is the inheritance, the happiness of
which is a sufficient portion for a soul: it is conveyed in the way of an
inheritance, being the gift of a Father to his children. If children, then heirs.
All the blessings that we have in hand are but small if compared with the
inheritance. What is laid out upon an heir in his minority is nothing to what
is reserved for him when he comes to age. Christians are said to have obtained
this inheritance, as they have a present right to it, and even actual
possession of it, in Christ their head and representative. 7. The seal and
earnest of the Spirit are of the number of these blessings. We are said to be sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise, v. 13. The blessed Spirit is holy
himself, and he makes us holy. He is called the Spirit of promise, as he
is the promised Spirit. By him believers are sealed; that is, separated and set
apart for God, and distinguished and marked as belonging to him. The Spirit is
the earnest of our inheritance, v. 14. The earnest is part of payment, and
it secures the full sum: so is the gift of the Holy Ghost; all his influences
and operations, both as a sanctifier and a comforter, are heaven begun, glory
in the seed and bud. The Spirit’s illumination is an earnest of everlasting
light; sanctification is an earnest of perfect holiness; and his comforts are
earnests of everlasting joys. He is said to be the earnest, until the
redemption of the purchased possession. It may be called here the
possession, because this earnest makes it as sure to the heirs as though they
were already possessed of it; and it is purchased for them by the blood of
Christ. The redemption of it is mentioned because it was mortgaged and
forfeited by sin; and Christ restores it to us, and so is said to redeem it, in
allusion to the law of redemption. Observe, from all this, what a gracious
promise that is which secures the gift of the Holy Ghost to those who ask him.
The apostle mentions the great end and design of God in
bestowing all these spiritual privileges, that we should be to the praise of
his glory who first trusted in Christ—we to whom the gospel was first
preached, and who were first converted to the faith of Christ, and to the
placing of our hope and trust in him. Note, Seniority in grace is a preferment:
Who were in Christ before me, says the apostle (Rom. 16:7); those who
have for a longer time experienced the grace of Christ are under more special
obligations to glorify God. They should be strong in faith, and more eminently
glorify him; but this should be the common end of all. For this we were made,
and for this we were redeemed; this is the great design of our Christianity,
and of God in all that he has done for us: unto the praise of his glory,
v. 14. He intends that his grace and power and other perfection should by this
means become conspicuous and illustrious, and that the sons of men should
magnify him.
Verses 15-23
We have come to the last part of this chapter, which
consists of Paul’s earnest prayer to God in behalf of these Ephesians. We
should pray for the persons for whom we give thanks. Our apostle blesses God
for what he had done for them, and then he prays that he would do more for
them. He gives thanks for spiritual blessings, and prays for further supplies
of them; for God will for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do
it for them. He has laid up these spiritual blessings for us in the hands
of his Son, the Lord Jesus; but then he has appointed us to draw them out, and
fetch them in, by prayer. We have no part nor lot in the matter, any further
than we claim it by faith and prayer. One inducement to pray for them was the
good account he had of them, of their faith in the Lord Jesus and love to
all the saints, v. 15. Faith in Christ, and love to the saints, will be
attended with all other graces. Love to the saints, as such, and because they
are such, must include love to God. Those who love saints, as such, love all
saints, how weak in grace, how mean in the world, how fretful and peevish
soever, some of them may be. Another inducement to pray for them was because
they had received the earnest of the inheritance: this we may observe from the
words being connected with the preceding ones by the particle wherefore.
"Perhaps you will think that, having received the earnest, it should
follow, therefore you are happy enough, and need take no further care: you need
not pray for yourselves, nor I for you.’’ No, quite the contrary. Wherefore—I
cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, v.
16. While he blesses God for giving them the Spirit, he ceases not to pray that
he would give unto them the Spirit (v. 17), that he would give greater measures
of the Spirit. Observe, Even the best of Christians need to be prayed for: and,
while we hear well of our Christian friends, we should think ourselves obliged
to intercede with God for them, that they may abound and increase yet more and
more. Now what is it that Paul prays for in behalf of the Ephesians? Not that
they might be freed from persecution; nor that they might possess the riches,
honours, or pleasures of the world; but the great thing he prays for is the
illumination of their understandings, and that their knowledge might increase
and abound: he means it of a practical and experimental knowledge. The graces
and comforts of the Spirit are communicated to the soul by the enlightening of
the understanding. In this way he gains and keeps possession. Satan takes a
contrary way: he gets possession by the senses and passions, Christ by the
understanding. Observe,
I. Whence this knowledge must come from the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, v. 17. The Lord is a God of knowledge, and there
is no sound saving knowledge but what comes from him; and therefore to him we
must look for it, who is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ (see v. 3) and
the Father of glory. It is a Hebraism. God is infinitely glorious in
himself all glory is due to him from his creatures, and he is the author of all
that glory with which his saints are or shall be invested. Now he gives
knowledge by giving the Spirit of knowledge; for the Spirit of God is the
teacher of the saints, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. We have the
revelation of the Spirit in the word: but will that avail us, if we have not the
wisdom of the Spirit in the heart? If the same Spirit who indited the sacred
scriptures do not take the veil from off our hearts, and enable us to
understand and improve them, we shall be never the better.—In the knowledge
of him, or for the acknowledgment of him; not only a speculative knowledge
of Christ, and of what relates to him, but an acknowledgment of Christ’s
authority by an obedient conformity to him, which must be by the help of the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation. This knowledge is first in the
understanding. He prays that the eyes of their understanding may be
enlightened, v. 18. Observe, Those who have their eyes opened, and have
some understanding in the things of God, have need to be more and more
enlightened, and to have their knowledge more clear, and distinct, and
experimental. Christians should not think it enough to have warm affections,
but they should labour to have clear understandings; they should be ambitious
of being knowing Christians, and judicious Christians.
II. What it is that he more particularly desire they should
grow in the knowledge of. 1. The hope of his calling, v. 18.
Christianity is our calling. God has called us to it, and on that account it is
said to be his calling. There is a hope in this calling; for those who deal
with God deal upon trust. And it is a desirable thing to know what this hope of
our calling is, to have such an acquaintance with the immense privileges of
God’s people, and the expectations they have from God, and with respect to the
heavenly world, as to be quickened thereby to the utmost diligence and patience
in the Christian course. We ought to labour after, and pray earnestly for, a
clearer insight into, and a fuller acquaintance with, the great objects of a
Christian’s hopes. 2. The riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints. Besides the heavenly inheritance prepared for the saints, there is
a present inheritance in the saints; for grace is glory begun, and holiness is
happiness in the bud. There is a glory in this inheritance, riches of glory,
rendering the Christian more excellent and more truly honourable than all about
him: and it is desirable to know this experimentally, to be acquainted with the
principles, pleasures, and powers, of the spiritual and divine life. It may be
understood of the glorious inheritance in or among the saints in heaven, where
God does, as it were, lay forth all his riches, to make them happy and
glorious, and where all that the saints are in possession of is transcendently
glorious, as the knowledge that can be attained of this upon earth is very
desirable, and must be exceedingly entertaining and delightful. Let us
endeavour then, by reading, contemplation, and prayer, to know as much of
heaven as we can, that we may be desiring and longing to be there. 3. The
exceeding greatness of God’s power towards those who believe, v. 19. The
practical belief of the all-sufficiency of God, and of the omnipotence of
divine grace, is absolutely necessary to a close and steady walking with him.
It is a desirable thing to know experimentally the mighty power of that grace
beginning and carrying on the work of faith in our souls. It is a difficult
thing to bring a soul to believe in Christ, and to venture its all upon his
righteousness, and upon the hope of eternal life. It is nothing less than an
almighty power that will work this in us. The apostle speaks here with a mighty
fluency and copiousness of expression, and yet, at the same time, as if he
wanted words to express the exceeding greatness of God’s almighty power,
that power which God exerts towards his people, and by which he raised
Christ from the dead, v. 20. That indeed was the great proof of the truth
of the gospel to the world: but the transcript of that in ourselves (our
sanctification, and rising from the death of sin, in conformity to Christ’s
resurrection) is the great proof to us. Though this cannot prove the truth of
the gospel to another who knows nothing of the matter (there the resurrection
of Christ is the proof), yet to be able to speak experimentally, as the
Samaritans, "We have heard him ourselves, we have felt a mighty
change in our hearts,’’ will make us able to say, with the fullest
satisfaction, Now we believe, and are sure, that this is the Christ, the Son
of God. Many understand the apostle here as speaking of that exceeding
greatness of power which God will exert for raising the bodies of believers
to eternal life, even the same mighty power which he wrought in Christ when
he raised him, etc. And how desirable a thing must it be to become at
length acquainted with that power, by being raised out of the grave thereby
unto eternal life!
Having said something of Christ and his resurrection, the
apostle digresses a little from the subject he is upon to make some further
honourable mention of the Lord Jesus and his exaltation. He sits at the
Father’s right hand in the heavenly places, etc., v. 20, 21. Jesus
Christ is advanced above all, and he is set in authority over all, they being
made subject to him. All the glory of the upper world, and all the powers of
both worlds, are entirely devoted to him. The Father hath put all things
under his feet (v. 22), according to the promise, Ps. 110:1. All creatures
whatsoever are in subjection to him; they must either yield him sincere
obedience or fall under the weight of his sceptre, and receive their doom from
him. God GAVE him to be head over all things. It was a gift to Christ,
considered as a Mediator, to be advanced to such dominion and headship, and to
have such a mystical body prepared for him: and it was a gift to the church, to
be provided with a head endued with so much power and authority. God gave
him to be the head over all things. He gave him all power both in heaven
and in earth. The Father loves the Son, and hath given ALL things
into his hands. But that which completes the comfort of this is that he is
the head over all things to the church; he is entrusted with all power, that
is, that he may dispose of all the affairs of the providential kingdom in
subserviency to the designs of his grace concerning his church. With this
therefore we may answer the messengers of the nations, that the Lord hath
founded Zion. The same power that supports the world support the church; and we
are sure he loves his church, for it is his body (v. 23), his mystical
body, and he will care for it. It is the fulness of him that filleth all in
all. Jesus Christ filleth all in all; he supplies all defects in all his
members, filling them with his Spirit, and even with the fulness of God,
ch. 3:19. And yet the church is said to be his fulness, because Christ as
Mediator would not be complete if he had not a church. How could he be a king
if he had not a kingdom? This therefore comes in to the honour of Christ, as
Mediator, that the church is his fulness.
Excerpt from:
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
Matthew Henry (1662 - 1714)
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