TEXT. 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, PARAPHRASE. 16 and your love to all the saints*, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my pray17 ers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory † would endow your spirits, with wisdom and revelation §, whereby you may know 18 him; And enlighten the eyes of your understandings, that you may see what hope his calling you to be christians carries with it, and what an abundant NOTES. three churches, that he rejoices at their standing firm in the faith, and thereupon writes to them to explain and confirm to them the kingdom of God under the Messiah, into which all men now had an entrance, by faith in Christ, without any regard to the terms, whereby the jews were formerly admitted. The setting forth the largeness and free admittance into this kingdom, which was so much for the glory of God, and so much showed his mercy and bounty to mankind, that he makes it, as it were, a new creation, is, I say, plainly the business of the three epistles, which tend all visibly to the same thing, that any one, that reads them, cannot mistake the apostle's meaning, they giving such a clear light one to another. 1 15" All the saints." One finds in the very reading of these words, that the word [all] is emphatical here, and put in, for some particular reason. can, I confess, see no other but this, viz. that they were not, by the judaizers, in the least drawn away from their esteem and love of those who were not circumcised, nor observed the jewish rites; which was a proof to him, that they stood firm in the faith and freedom of the gospel, which he had instructed them in. 17+ "Father of glory: an Hebrew expression, which cannot well be changed, since it signifies his being glorious himself, being the fountain from whence all glory is derived, and to whom all glory is to be given. In all which senses, it may be taken here, where there is nothing that appropriates it, în peculiar, to any of them. + Wisdom," is visibly used here for a right conception and understanding of the gospel. See note, ver. 8. § "Revelation," is used by St. Paul, not always for immediate inspiration, but as it is meant here, and in most other places, for such truths, which could not have been found out by human reason, but had their first discovery from revelation, though men afterwards come to the knowledge of those truths, by reading them in the sacred scripture, where they are set down, for their information. TEXT. 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power; 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, in the heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, PARAPHRASE. glory it is to the saints to become his people, and 19 the lot of his inheritance; And what an exceeding great power he has employed upon us* who believe: 20 A power corresponding to that mighty power, which he exerted in the raising Christ from the dead, and in setting him next to himself, over all things, re21 lating to his heavenly kingdom †; Far above all NOTES. 19 "Us," here, and " you," chap. ii. 1, and "us," chap. ii. 5, it is plain signify the same, who being dead, partook of the energy of that great power that raised Christ from the dead, i. e. the convert gentiles, and all those glorious things he, in ver. 18-23, intimates to them, by praying they may see them, he here in this 19th verse tells, is bestowed on them, as believers, and not as obseryers of the mosaical law. 20 + 'E TOTS Eπupavíos," in heavenly places," says our translation, and so ver. 3, but possibly the marginal reading, "things," will be thought the better, if we compare ver. 22. He set him at his right hand, i. e. transferred on him his power; pavíos, in his heavenly kingdom; that is to say, set him at the head of his heavenly kingdom, see ver. 22. This kingdom, in the gospel, is called indifferently, βασιλεία Θεό, "the kingdom of God;" and Baσiλeix Ty pavy, "the kingdom of heaven." God had before, a kingdom and people in this world, viz. that kingdom, which he erected to himself, of the jews, selected and brought back to himself, out of the apostatized mass of revolted and rebellious mankind: with this his people he dwelt, among them he had his habitation, and ruled as their king, in a peculiar kingdom; and, therefore, we see that our Saviour calls the jews, Matt. viii. 12," the children of the kingdom." But that kingdom, though God's, was not the Baoiλela Tŵv spavшv, "the kingdom "of heaven," that came with Christ: see Matt. iii. 2, and x. 7. That was but niyos," of the earth," compared to this spάvios, "heavenly kingdom," which was to be erected under Jesus Christ; and, with that sort of distinction, our Saviour seems to speak and use those words iπíyɛı, “earthly,” and iπspávix, 66 heavenly," John iii, 12. In his discourse there, with Nicodemus, he tells him, “unless a man were born again, he could not see the kingdom of God." This being born again, stuck with Nicodemus, which Christ reproaches him with, since, being a teacher in Israel, he understood not that which belonged to the jewish constitution, wherein to be baptized, for admittance into that kingdom, was called and counted to be born again; and therefore says, if, having spoken unto you iπiyesα, things relating to your own earthly constitu tion, you comprehend me not, how shall you receive what I say, if I speak to you, rà espάux, heavenly things, i. e. of that kingdom, which is purely heavenly? And according to this, St. Paul's words here, Eph. i. 10, Tα Ts TEXT. and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. PARAPHRASE. principality, and power, and might, and dominion and any other, either man or an angel, of greater dignity or excellency, that we may come to be acquainted with, or hear the names of, either in this 22 world, or the world to come: And hath put all things in subjection to him; and him, invested with a power over all things, he hath constituted head of 23 the church, Which is his body, which is completed by him alone †, from whom comes all, that gives any NOTES. iv Toïs ¿pavoïs naì rà enì tñs yñs, (which occur again, chap. iii. 15, Col. i. 16, 20) may perhaps not unfitly be interpreted of the spiritual, heavenly king"dom of God:" and that also of the more earthly one of the jews, whose rites and positive institutions, St. Paul calls "elements of the world," Gal. iv. 3, Col. ii. 8, which were both, at the coming of the Messiah, consolidated into one, and together re-established under one head, Christ Jesus. The whole drift of this, and the two following chapters, being to declare the union of the jews and gentiles into one body, under Christ, the head of the heavenly kingdom. And he that sedately compares Eph.ii. 16, with Col. i. 20, (in both which places it is evident, the apostle speaks of the same thing, viz. God's reconciliug of both jews and gentiles, by the cross of Christ) will scarce be able to avoid thinking, that "things in heaven, and things on earth," signify the people of the one and the other of these kingdoms. 21 These abstract names are frequently used in the New Testament, according to the style of the eastern languages, for those vested with power and dominion, &c. and that, not only here on earth, among men, but in heaven, among superior beings and so often are taken to express ranks and degrees of angels: and, though they are generally agreed' to do so here, yet there is no reason to exclude earthly potentates out of this text, when wons necessarily includes them; for that men in power are one sort of apxal and iscía, in a scripture-sense, our Saviour's own words show, Luke xii. 11, and xx. 2. Besides, the apostle's chief aim here being to satisfy the ephesians, that they were not to be subjected to the law of Moses, and the government of those who ruled by it, but they were called to be of the kingdom of the Messiah: it is not to be supposed, that here, where he speaks of Christ's exaltation to a power and dominion paramount to all other, he should not have an eye to that little and low government of the jews, which it was beneath the subjects of so glorious a kingdom, as that of Jesus Christ, to submit themselves to. And this the next words do farther enforce. 23 † Пλńρwμα, "fulness," here, is taken in a passive sense, for a thing to be filled, or completed, as appears by the following words, "of him that filleth "all in all," i. e. it is Christ the head, who perfected the church, by supplying and furnishing all things to all the members, to make them what they are, and ought to be, in that body. See chap. v. 13, Col. ii. 10, and iii, 10, 11. TEXT. II. 1 And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, PARAPHRASE. thing of excellency and perfection to any of the members of the church: where to be a jew, or a greek, circumcised, or uncircumcised, a barbarian, or a scythian, a slave, or a freeman, matters not; but to be united to him, to partake of his influence and spirit, is all in all. II. 1 And* you, being also dead in trespasses and sins, NOTE. 1 Ka), "and," gives us here the thread of St. Paul's discourse, which is impossible to be understood without seeing the train of it: without that view, it would be like a rope of gold-dust, all the parts would be excellent, and of value, but would seem heaped together, without order, or connexion. This "and," here, it is true, ties the parts together, and points out the connexion and coherence of St. Paul's discourse; but yet it stands so far from exάicev, "set," in ver. 20, of the foregoing chapter; and σuve(wooinσe, "quickened,' ver. 5, of this chapter, which are the two verbs it copulates together; that by one, not acquainted with St. Paul's style, it would scarce be observed or admitted, and therefore it may not be amiss, to lay it in its due light, so as to be visible to an ordinary reader. St. Paul, v. 18-20, prays that the ephesians may be so enlightened, as to see the great advantages they received by the gospel: those that he specifies are these: 1. What great hopes he gave them. 2. What an exceeding glory accompanied the inheritance of the saints. 3. The mighty power exerted by God on their behalf, which bore some proportion to that which he employed in the raising Christ from the dead, and placing him at his right hand upon the mention of which, his mind being full of that glorious image, he lets his pen run into a description of the exaltation of Christ, which lasts to the end of that chapter, and then re-assumes the thread of his discourse which in short stands thus: "I pray God, that the eyes of your "understandings may be enlightened, that you may see the exceeding great power of God, which is employed upon us who believe: [xalà Th] corres"ponding to that energy, wherewith he raised Christ from the dead, and "seated him at his right hand; for so also has he raised you, who were dead in trespasses and sins: us, I say, who were dead in trespasses and sins, has he "quickened, and raised together with Christ, and seated together with him " in his heavenly kingdom." This is, in short, the train and connexion of his discourse, from chap. i. 18, to ii. 5, though it be interrupted by many incident thoughts; which, as his manner is, he enlarges upon by the way, and then returns to the thread of his discourse. For here again, in this first verse of the second chapter, we must observe, that, having mentioned their being dead in trespasses and sins,he enlarges upon that forlorn estate of the gentiles before their conversion; and then comes to what he designed, that God out of his great goodness, quickened, raised, and placed them together with Christ, in his heavenly kingdom. In all which it is plain he had more regard to the things he declared to them, than to a nice, grammatical construction of his words: for it is manifest xal, "and," ver. 1, and xxl, and, ver. 5, copulate συνεζωοποίησε, “ quickened,” with ἐκάθισεν, σε set," ver. 20, of the foregoing chapter, which the two following words, ver. 6, make evident, xal qurnyeipe TEXT. 2 Wherein, in time past, ye walked, according to the course of this PARAPHRASE. 2 In which you gentiles, before you were converted to the gospel, walked, according to the state and constitution of this world, conforming yourselves to the will and pleasure of the prince of the power NOTES. Hai σUVEнátiσED Ev èπepavíois, “and hath raised up together, and hath made "sit "together in heavenly places." St. Paul, to display the great power and energy of God, showed towards the gentiles, in bringing them into his heavenly kingdom, declares it to be xalà Tv ivepyεíav, proportionable to that power, wherewith he raised Jesus from the dead, and seated him at his right hand. To express the parallel, he keeps to the parallel terms concerning Christ; he says, chap. i, 20, ἐγείρας αυτὸν ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ αὐτῷ ἐν τοῖς ἐπερανίοις, "raised him from the dead, and set him at his right hand, in heavenly places." Concerning the gentile converts his words are, chap. ii. ver. 5, 6, xaì övlas ἡμᾶς νεκρές τοῖς παραπτώμασι, συνεζωοποίησε τῷ Χρισῷ, καὶ συνήγειρε καὶ συνεκάθισεν ἐν pavíos, and us, being dead in trespasses, he hath quickened together with "Christ, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly "places." It is also visible that us, "you," v. 1, and yμãs, "us," v. 5, 66 are both governed by the verb συνεζωοποίησε, σε quickened together," ver. 5, though the grammatical construction be somewhat broken, but is repaired in "the sense, which lies thus: "God, by his mighty power, raised Christ from "the dead; by the like power you, gentiles of Ephesus, being dead in trespasses and sins; what do I say, you of Ephesus; nay, us all, converts of the "gentiles, being dead in trespasses, has he quickened and raised from the dead. "You ephesians were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you walked accord"ing to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the "air, the spirit that yet worketh in the children of disobedience, and so were we, all the rest of us, who are converted from gentilism; we, all of us, of "the same stamp and strain, involved in the same conversation, living, hereto"fore, according to the lusts of our flesh, to which we were perfectly obe"dient, doing what our carnal wills and blinded minds directed us, being then "no less children of wrath, no less liable to wrath and punishment, than those "that remained still children of disobedience, i. e. unconverted; but God, rich "in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us, hath quickened us all, "being dead in trespasses, (for it is by grace ye are saved) and raised us, &c." This is St. Paul's sense, drawn out more at length, which, in his compendious way of writing, wherein he crowds many ideas together, as they abounded in his mind, could not easily be ranged under rules of grammar. The promiscuous use St. Paul here makes of "we" and " you," and his so easy changing one into the other, plainly shows, as we have already observed, that they both stand for the same sort of persons, i. e. christians, that were formerly pagans, whose state and life, whilst they were such, he here expressly describes. 2* Al may be observed, in the New Testament, to signify the lasting state and constitution of things, in the great tribes, or collections of men, considered in reference to the kingdom of God; whereof there were two most eminent, and principally intended, if I mistake not, by the word alwvns when that is used alone: and that is valov," this present world," which is taken for that state of the world, wherein the children of Israel were his people, and made up his kingdom upon earth, the gentiles, i. e. all the other nations of the world, |