Chapter 02. Greeting, and Praise for Divine Salvation

Chapter 2.
Greeting, and Praise for Divine Salvation Ephesians 1:1-14

"Dark with excess of bright Thy skirts appear, Yet dazzle heaven, that brightest Seraphim Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes."
—Milton THE Epistle has been completed in the lodging of St Paul at Rome; it has been carried safely over sea and land, till it has travelled up from the Ægæan shore, by the long ship-canal, and found its way to Ephesian hands.

We recollect that it has travelled not alone. Two other apostolic messages go by the same bearers; a letter to the outlying mission-church of Colossæ, on some special dangers just now present there and at Laodicea, and a shorter missive, a note rather than a letter, for an individual Colossian, Philemon; it commends to him his slave Onesimus, once a runaway and perhaps a thief besides, now "begotten" to the new life in the miracle of a true conversion, and returning at all costs to duty. Our reasons for the assertion that these three memorable Letters were carried by the same hands and at the same time are as simple as interesting. The Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians are near akin in respect of subject-matter; the most rapid inspection shews this. Closer examination tells us that the connexion extends to phraseology as well, in a degree which makes it quite certain morally that they not only passed through the same mind but passed through it and from it at about the same time. Let the reader take the two Epistles, and compare (as a few examples out of many) the following passages: Ephesians 1:22 with Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 4:16 with Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 2:1 with Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 1:7 with Colossians 1:14; Ephesians 4:22-24 with Colossians 3:9-10; Ephesians 5:16 with Colossians 4:5; Ephesians 5:19 with Colossians 3:16. On a more extended scale, let him compare the domestic paragraphs of the two Epistles, Ephesians 5:22 to Ephesians 6:9 with Colossians 3:18 to Colossians 4:1. Then let him note that the one friend or follower named by St Paul in Ephesians is Tychicus ( Ephesians 6:21), and that this name appears also in Colossians ( Ephesians 4:7), in a sentence of close verbal similarity. Taking both Epistles as the genuine utterances of St Paul, we may say with absolute confidence that they belong to the same moment of his ministry, and were meant for recipients intimately connected with one another. Then we turn to the letter to Philemon, and we find abundant evidence for a close relation between it and the letter to the Colossians. Philemon indeed is not called a Colossian, nor does his name occur in the Colossian Epistle. But Onesimus (the name of his slave) is "one of the Colossians" ( Ephesians 4:9). And Archippus, who in the private letter is named in close connexion with Philemon (Philemon 1:2), receives in Colossians (for who can doubt the identity of the person, looking at the whole context?) a solemn charge ( Colossians 4:17). And when St Paul enumerates the other friends around him as he dictates, and sends their greetings, we find the same names in both Epistles; Epaphras, Aristarchus, Marcus, Lucas, Demas; only one such name, "Jesus, who is called Justus" ( Colossians 4:11), fails to occur in the two documents alike. We are left without a reasonable doubt; the letters to Philemon and to the Colossians were sent together, and together accompanied that which we know as the Epistle to the Ephesians.

"To the Ephesians," we may be tolerably sure, it was in the first instance delivered, whatever its after-destination may have been.[1] To them first it would be read aloud; see Colossians 4:16 for such a "reading in the church," in the assembly of the disciples. Perhaps in the "school of Tyrannus," perhaps in some large private room furnished by a leading disciple, the reader gave to the listening throng of saints, sentence by sentence, uttered for that first time in ears representing universal Christendom, this glorious oracle of God through His chosen Vessel. Can we not almost see the scene, and catch the accent and the cadence, and watch the audience—perhaps the very large audience—with their eager faces, and many a look and perhaps many an exclamation of wonder and worship, as that scroll is slowly opened and, column by column, poured into their ears and hearts?

Let us take our seat beside them, for we are of the same family, and let us listen too, as those who have never heard before.

Ephesians 1:1. Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus,[2] envoy of Him who is first the Hope of Israel and then of the world, through God’s will, commissioned by nothing less than His fiat, to the holy ones who live at Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus; the men and women separated from sin to God (ἁγίοις) and living the life of saving reliance (πιστοῖς) in their union with (ἐν) His Son; persons thus wonderfully enabled for that twofold life which is lived "in Ephesus,"

Ephesians 1:2. externally, "in Christ Jesus," spiritually. Grace to you and peace, free and benignant divine favour, and its fair resultants of reconciliation with the Holy One and inward rest through His presence in the heart, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. For such is Jesus Christ, that though He was known, amply within living memory, as dwelling with men in Palestinian villages and towns, spending human life and dying human death in uttermost literal experience, yet, as truly as the Eternal Father, He, "this same Jesus," is the Giver of spiritual gifts to every recipient soul of man.

Such is the Salutation; and perhaps the Reader pauses for a moment in the assembly. Now for the message:

Ephesians 1:3. Blessed, praised with worshipping love, be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; He "who inhabiteth eternity," "dwelling in the light unapproachable," unknown and unknowable in His "perfection," but knowable, and known, and near, and dear, in this respect, that our risen Lord called Him, in human hearing ( John 20:17), "My Father and your Father, My God and your God "[3]; He whoblessed us (for the Blessed loves to bless, with an act of blessing "which divinely effects the good it speaks") in, with a purpose expressed in, all spiritual benediction; spiritual, as shed from Him who "is Spirit" ( John 4:2) upon the inmost spirit of His creatures, for their spiritual birth, and life, and glory; in the celestial regions, in Christ. Yes, He blessed us as He sate there, upon the throne of love, viewing us sinners as also there, above all earthly place, before all human time; for we were represented there already "in" our blessed Head, in foreseen union with Him. Wonderful benediction! but it is only in correspondence and harmony with its occasion, which itself was an act of immeasurable and uncaused love.

Ephesians 1:4. For it took place according as He chose us out, from fallen humanity, in Him, in Christ; chose us, selected us, His followers, His company who believe and love; chose us "not according to our works"; for reasons infinitely good, but hidden wholly in Himself; before the world’s foundation, aye, before this universe in its most aboriginal beginning began to be. So sovereign, so sublime, so immeasurably antecedent to ourselves, was that decree for our salvation; so ante-mundane in date, so supra-mundane in sphere and scope. And what was to be its issue? That we should be holy and blameless before His face in love; given, by His love, a perfect "standing" in His presence, welcomed there in faultless title as His very own.[4] This "choosing out" is to be described, from another side, as a destination beforehand; a definite divine intention of privilege and blessing antecedent to the very being of its objects. For He chose us out,

Ephesians 1:5. marking us out beforehand (προρίσας), writing down as it were our names for that happy future,[5]to an adoption, an instatement into the position of sons (υἱοθεσία), through Jesus Christ, unto Himself; for it is "through" the Son that we reach sonship, and so come to be related "unto" the Father in that wonderful position; His very own, to belong to Him, to know Him, to serve Him, "to glorify Him, and to enjoy Him fully for ever." And how came all this to be? What are we that thus, in an eternity above all time, we were seen, and loved, and blessed, after this celestial sort? "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." It was according to, conditioned and caused by, the good pleasure, the royal and benignant resolve, of His will—that ultimate mystery and glory, that secret of good behind all good, the Will of God. And so its issue was and is to be good indeed, with a good unattainable

Ephesians 1:6. by any lower cause; unto the praise of the glory of His grace; so that He may receive from His adoring creatures the "praise" due to His "glory," His own manifested Character, manifested in this form of entrancing beauty, His "grace." It is that grace in regard to which[6]He accepted us in His (τῷ) Beloved One[7]; making us one with Him, as limb is one with head, as bride with bridegroom, and so giving us real part and lot in Christ’s own welcome to the Father’s heart.

Thrice blessed by us be the Εὐλογητός, the "Blessed," who thus loved, and chose, and welcomed. Thrice blessed be the Ἠγαπημένος, the "Beloved," who gave Himself in that deep eternity to be not only the Deliverer of us sinners, but our Head, articulating us into Himself, identifying Himself with us for ever. And now we are not to forget that by the Blessed Father and the Beloved Son this boundless gift given to us was not wrought by a mere edict, however omnipotent. It was a matter not of power only, nor even only of love, but of law too; it must harmonize the holiness of Him who "is consuming fire" with the tenderness of the same God, who "is love." So now the majestic sentences, like Him of whom they speak, "come down from heaven," and take us from the Throne to the mortal Cross. There was no other way, no easier way, to make actual the eternal blessing, uttered "before the world’s foundation." Were we to be justified, and sanctified, and glorified? Then must the Father, constrained by His own holiness, "not spare His own Son, but deliver Him over for us all" ( Romans 8:32). And the Son, under the same constraint, infinitely free of all other compulsion, but compelled by the fact that love, to be divine, must be holy, must not spare Himself—" becoming obedient, even to the length of death" ( Php 2:8). So, in Him

Ephesians 1:7. we have our (τήν) redemption; we possess (ἔχομεν) in happy certainty our position as His rescued ones, rescued by His ransom paid for us; through His blood, for that was the price; "without blood-shedding, no remission" ( Hebrews 9:22); without inflicted death, no peace with broken law. "Remission" it was indeed; the remission, the forgiveness, the wonderful amnesty, of our trespasses; according to, in the plan and on the immense scale of, the wealth of His grace, "not grudgingly," but with a "cheerful giving" correspondent to the boundless resource of His free favour. Did the Father so purpose and so provide? He also took merciful care in due time to reveal. This

Ephesians 1:8. grace, this loving favour He made overflow (ἐπερίσσευσεν) to us, from the deep well of His love, in all wisdom and intelligence; that is, He let it shew itself "in" our being by Him enabled to understand His purpose, to feel His heart of mercy, to approve and to concur with His redeeming plan, as men "made wise unto salvation." He "made His

Ephesians 1:9. grace overflow" thus, when He made known (γνωρίσας) to us, in His Son, and in the Gospel of His Son, the secret (μυστήριον) of His will; that bright secret, meant not for the darkness but the light, the hidden treasure which is in fact Jesus Christ; according to, true to the plan of, His good pleasure, His gracious resolve, which He proposed to Himself in Him (ἐν αὐτῷ), that is to say, in His Son. For the Son was its place and sphere; it moved and worked "in" the Son; it was to take effect wholly through Him, and to do so by bringing us into union with Him. Aye, and the whole process has regard to a consummation which will indeed take effect "in" Him. It looks forward,

Ephesians 1:10. with a view to the stewardship of the fulness of the seasons. The Son is the great "Steward" of the Father’s house; the keys of all its life and history are in His hands. And His "management" will at length conduct the whole operation to a goal, placed and dated by God’s own prescient wisdom. Then all the "seasons" of the story of redemption will attain their "fulness," will be fulfilled, accomplished, so that the actual result shall correspond to the divine ideal.

What is that ideal? It is the glorification of Christ as the Head of all things; Centre, Ruler, Life, of whatsoever He has blessed. It is, to sum up all things in Christ as Head (ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι... εἰς Χριστόν), the things in[8]the heavens and the things on the earth; the angelic host above, (which also, as well as we, has in some unknown way felt His gracious power,) and us mortals here below, "redeemed from the earth"; chosen angels and chosen men; glorious concentric

Ephesians 1:11. circles around Him the vital Sun.^[9]In whom we were as a fact (καί) taken into the inheritance, so as to become "the Lord’s portion" ( Deuteronomy 32:9), not only in purpose but in act; foreordained as we were, to this happy position, according to the purpose of Him who is working everything[10]in us according to the counselof His will; the "counsel" which is directed full upon

Ephesians 1:12. that wonderful object—upon our being to the praise of His glory, our being so saved and so transfigured as to win adoring admiration for His Character seen in our redemption; us, who had hoped, who had trusted, beforehand in His (τῷ) Christ. The "beforehand" has regard to His Second Coming, when we "shall appear with Him in glory." Then, finally and fully, we shall be the occasion for "the praise of His glory." And we shall be what then we shall be, as having "relied in advance," by faith, not sight, upon His promises, as yet unfulfilled in their ultimate splendour.

Now the message comes closer to the immediate listeners, the saints of Ephesus. Hitherto the Apostle has spoken generally of the redeemed. "We," "us," "our," have been as inclusive as possible. Now the whole facts of grace and glory are applied to the particular instance:

Ephesians 1:13. In whom, in Christ the Head, "in" Him by covenant inclusion and by vital cohesion, you also are,[11] having found entrance into Him on hearing (ἀκούσαντες) the message of the truth, the Good News of your salvation; in whom also, on believing, you were sealed with the Spirit of the Promise, the Holy One; the gifts and power of the Paraclete were made yours at once on your union with the Christ of God,[12] and their presence and their fruit "sealed" you as genuine subjects of salvation, and also as the actually purchased property of your Lord.

Ephesians 1:14. Thanks be to God for that sealing Gift; for it (ὅ) is an earnest, an arrhâbôn,[13] a part-payment given as promise of the whole, a pledge, of our inheritance, our coming "weight of glory," pending (εἰς) the redemption, the final emancipation from the last relics of evil, of the Acquisition, the purchased Property of God, even us His saved ones; to the praise of His glory.

We may well pause here for a little while. The golden passage forms so closely linked a chain that I knew not how to break its continuity by closing our "study" earlier. But this gold from the celestial mines weighs heavy, with the weight of mercies, graces, glories unspeakable. Reverently let us lay it down here, and gaze upon it as it lies, and give thanks in worshipping wonder. A few links in that chain, radiant even above the rest, we will as it were touch and handle for a moment.

I. We note the splendid title of the recipients of the letter. They are, "the saints," the saints who live in Ephesus. The word "saint" shines starry bright with associations of heaven; habitually, for ages, it has been used in the Church to denote the glorified. But the usage of Scripture tends rather to attach it to the pilgrims of the Lord, not yet at home. They already, if His indeed, are "the holy ones," οἱ ἅγιοι, His votaries, His devotees, for so we may fairly explain the word. True, they may too often live below what, in Christ, they are. But let not this pull down the glorious word, as if it were a mere pale synonym for "member of a community called Christian." Let it rather lift up the bearer of the title, to recollect its glory, and, in Christ, to live it.

II. Let us recollect with humblest reverence the wonderful words of the Epistle, that is to say, of the Heavenly Spirit, about the sovereignty of grace. "Blessed in the celestial regions in Christ"; "chosen out in Him before the universe was founded"; "foreordained to adoption"; such are some of the phrases in which the believer is reminded that behind all his believing, and all his receiving, lies this glowing mystery, the "everlasting love." It is the infinite Free-Will of God, (even more sacred than the free-will of man;) a purpose and a plan older than the oceans and the skies. Who does not know the awful-ness of the shadows that lie close to this glory—the dread questionings of the mind over the election of God? But these shadows are cast, as shadows always are, by light. And the purpose of the light is, not to cast shadows but to guide our steps. Do we indeed believe on the Son of God? Have we indeed been "sealed with the Spirit of the Promise "? Then let us leave absolutely to the Lord the unknown of the matter; we shall not be disappointed when He lets us know more about it, another day. But let us boldly grasp for our strength and joy the known of the matter; the sovereign grace that lies behind the sinner’s repentance, faith, hope, and love; the covenant, the purpose, the counsel, the will.

III. Lastly, let us adore and rejoice, as we contemplate the Trinity of Eternal Love coming forth here "for us men and for our salvation" in the threefold action of grace. Behold the Father, "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." He is no half-adverse Power, needing the persuasions of a more benignant Son to draw Him over to the side of mercy. He is the Fountain of the whole redeeming work; blessing, choosing, accepting, working all things in the line of His own benignant will. Behold the Son, the Beloved One. He gives Himself in the past Eternity to be already our all-sufficient Representative, so that we were dealt with even there and then "in Him." He gives Himself, "on earth abased," to death, to sanguinary death, to shed the streaming blood of sacrifice, that we might have a redemption as secure as it is merciful, a "forgiveness of sins" quite as holy as it is divinely generous. He lives to be the "Head" of His people; their Source of life, their Secret of power, their unifying Centre; and the day is coming when that Headship will be seen as the centre of a whole Universe of holy life. Look again, and behold the Spirit!

"Behold Him dwell in all the saints, And seal the heirs of heaven."

He comes, the Promise of the Father. Contact, in humblest faith, with Christ implies reception of the Spirit, the Lord, the Life-giver, the Sanctifier. And He is the Pledge of a "glory to be revealed in us," before whose brightness not only "the sufferings of this present time" but its experiences of grace will so fade in the comparison that it will be as if they had scarcely been at all. "The purchased possession" of our God will be so emancipated then into the eternal freedom that it will be as if its "redemption" had but just been achieved.

Great and wonderful are the promises. It is undertaken for believing sinners that here they shall be, in the Beloved One, the very "sons of God," walking and pleasing Him. It is undertaken for them that hereafter, when their Lord’s time shall come, they shall "appear with Him in glory," such a glory that "it doth not yet appear what they shall be." "How can these things be?" The effect is great; but the Cause is greater.

"Of Father, Son, and Spirit we Extol the threefold care, Whose love, whose merit, and whose power, Unite to lift us there."

"Tout vient de Dieu, et l’homme n’en a pas moins quelque chose a faire. C’est au nom de ceux qui croient que l’Apôtre rend grâces. C’est ceux qui croient qui sont prédestinés, qui sont élus, qui sont bénis, qui sont reḉus en grâce, qui sont faits héritiers, qui sont scellés du Saint-Esprit, qui sont réservés pour la rédemption finale. Lecteur, avez-vous cru? En êtes-vous bien sûr?"
—Adolphe Monod.

^[1]See above, Chapter 1.

^[2]This is the best attested order here, not "Jesus Christ." It is peculiar to St Paul.

^[3]Note that this infinitely precious designation of Him occurs also verbatim2 Corinthians 1:3,1 Peter 1:3.

^[4]I venture, though not without hesitation, to recommend this interpretation of the wordsεἶναι...ἐνἀγάπῃ. It is obviously possible to explain them not of thepositionbut rather of theconditionof the saints, as that condition will be finally perfected by grace. But the context seems to plead rather for the other reference; the emphasis of the context is upon our welcome to all the love of the Father just because of our most mercifully givenunion with the Son.See further, note here in theCambridge Bible.

^[5]The Latin versions of the New Testament give the wordsprædestinare, prædestinatio,forπροορίζειν,προόρισις. By an accident of language, "destiny" (destinatio) has come to be connected in thought with blind, impersonal, mechanicalfate.And nothing can be further than that idea from theπροόρισιςof infinite love and wisdom (quite as much as of infinite power). Hence, for ordinary purposes, the wordpredestinationis to be used sparingly, and with explanation; "foreordain," "mark out beforehand," are better phrases for practical use. But this is not to sweep away the mystery of the thing; it is only to remind us that the mystery, "dark with excess of bright," a sovereign "choosing," "ordaining," and "blessing," of us unworthy sinners, in Christ, is in the hands of personal and infinitely trustworthy Love.

^[6]Ἧςstands by "attraction" forἥν. See againbelow,Ephesians 1:8.

^[7]Read,ἧςἐχαρίτωσενἡμᾶς, κ.τ.λ.. I venture to retain the A.V. rendering forἐχαρίτωσεν. It is indeed rather a paraphrase than a rendering, but the context seems to justify it. "Made us recipients of grace" would properly renderἐχαρίτωσενἡμᾶς. But the context tends to suggest the "grace" specially ofacceptance; God’s love expressing itself specially in a paternalwelcome.

^[8]Perhaps readτὰ ἐπὶτοῖς οὐρανοῖς, lit. "onthe heavens"; the heavens regarded as a country "on" which walk the glorified. Cp. the adjectiveἐπουράνιος.

[9] It will be seen that I so far limit theτὰπάνταas to refer the words not to existence in its universality but to the "things" which the context suggests. In that light, the reference is not, surely, to the universe at large. Meanwhile Colossians 1 gives a notable intimation of the fact that the Son of God is the "Head" also of the whole created Cosmos.

^[10]Τὰπάνταἐνεργοῦντος:Τὰπάνταis theπάνταin question, the all-thingsof salvation.Ἐνεργεῖνsuggestsby its form the rendering given above, the "inward" working of God in the soul and in the Church. But usage forbids us to press this without reserve.

^[11]Ἐνᾧκαὶ ὑμεῖς: the above rendering is grammatically safe, and simplifies an otherwise complex construction. Still, in view of St Paul’s often complicated style (complicated by a boundless fulness of matter) itmaybe well to explain the Greek as if he had intended to write, simply, "In whom you too, believing, were sealed"; but had then conceived the thought expressed in the clausesἀκούσαντες...σωτηρίαςὑμῶν, and woven this in as he went. The general import, however, is but little affected by the doubt.

^[12]Those gracious gifts may indeed need the believer’s constantly advancinguse,and his growing discovery of what they are. But in covenant provision they arehis at once"in Christ."

^[13]To this day in Palestine the wordarraboonis used of such payments, e.g. in the hire of a conveyance.