Chapter 03. The Apostle's Prayer That They May Realize What They Possess

Chapter 3.
The Apostle’s Prayer That They May Realize What They Possess Ephesians 1:15-23

"Dieu est bon et Dieu est puissant, il veut et il peut: deux petits articles, qui renferment tout ce qui peut consoler une âme. Heureux qui les croit reellement."
—Adolphe Monop

ST PAUL has led us up to the heavens for the facts of eternal redemption. He has led us down again to Asia for the certainty of the possession of its blessings by the converts there. But even so his thought cannot rest. Nothing can satisfy him short of the assurance that those converts are fully "possessing their possessions" ( Obadiah 1:18). His soul goes up for them in warm thanksgiving, but also in prayer, strong and importunate, that they may know, with a supernatural insight, where they are and what they have.

It must be so, the Gospel being what it is. The life eternal is "to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent"

( John 17:3). They who have it are indeed to "rest and be thankful," in respect of the Rock beneath their feet; they are to taste, and to evidence, the deep repose born of the discovery of the Summum Bonum itself. But they are to be thankful and never to rest in respect of the realization of what they have discovered. "He who says Enough" writes Augustine somewhere, "is already a lost man." If the Christian man is indeed one who has caught a genuine glimpse of "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" ( 2 Corinthians 4:6), how can he not be sure that he has still before him indefinitely greater discoveries there, "from glory to glory"? His root is settled, and for ever; he will never find a substitute for the Cross. But his branches will extend themselves, and for ever, in that place of root and rest, to receive more and more the living powers of the light and air around, and to bring forth more fruit and yet more for the heavenly Planter.

Ephesians 1:15. On this account, because so great and wonderful is your redemption, so heavenly in its origin, so divine in its possibilities, so full, so present, I also, I as well as others who love you and pray for you, on hearing, as I have done, (it was no doubt through Epaphras of Colossæ,) of the faith, the reliance, prevalent among you (καθ’ὑμᾶς), in the Lord Jesus, resting in Him as anchor rests in ground,[1]and of the love[2]which you shew towards all the saints, all your fellow-believers, that love which is the sweet fruit of faith the living

Ephesians 1:16. root; am incessantly giving thanks on your behalf, making mention of you[3]on occasion of (ἐπὶτῶν, at the times of) my prayers, naming you before the throne of grace, individually or collectively; asking that you may know more, because you have much, and have already learnt to use your wealth so well. In another moment, he will be telling them what are the terms and special directions of his petition. Let us prepare ourselves to listen the better by recollecting how beautifully characteristic of him is this line of address. In seven of his Epistles besides this he speaks to the recipients first about his glad thanksgivings, and then about the prayers which, as it were, spring out of them. Writing to Rome ( Romans 1:8), he "thanks his God through Jesus Christ for them all, that their faith is spoken of throughout the whole world," and "makes mention of them without ceasing in his prayers." To the Corinthians ( 1 Corinthians 1:4) he writes how he "thanks God always on their behalf for the grace of God which is given them in Christ Jesus," and then prays that they may grow in the grace of holy unity of spirit. He "thanks God upon every remembrance of" the Philippians ( Php 1:3), "always in every prayer for them all making request with joy." For the Colossians ( Colossians 1:3) he "gives thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for them, that they may be filled with the knowledge of His will." To the Thessalonians, earliest recipients of his Epistles, he writes repeatedly of his thanksgivings: "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers" ( 1 Thessalonians 1:3); "We thank God for you without ceasing" ( 1 Thessalonians 2:13); "We are bound to thank God always for you, because your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of you all towards each other aboundeth; wherefore also we pray always for you... that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in Him" ( 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12); "We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" ( 2 Thessalonians 2:13). For Philemon 1:4; Philemon 1:6 he "thanks God, making mention of him always in his prayers... that the communication of his faith may become effectual" as a witness for his Redeemer. To his beloved Timothy, writing under the shadow of the end, he blends thanks and yearning into one pathetic thought ( 2 Timothy 1:3): "I thank God... that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee."

Everywhere we find the deep sympathy which rejoices and is grateful over the attained and present blessing. Everywhere also appears that holy insight which cannot rest without the spiritual progress and full consistency of those who call out the thanksgivings. The Prayers of St Paul have been made the subject of extended spiritual treatises. The study of them can never be complete without the study also of their connexion with his Thanksgivings. But now, how does his soul go up in prayer for the richly-blest recipients of this Letter? He prays that they may have supernatural light shed upon the gold of their supernatural wealth:

Ephesians 1:17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, His God, inasmuch as He, the Son, took the created Nature to Him, and became Son of Man,[4]the Father of the glory, Origin of all that is meant by heavenly and holy glory, all divine holiness, might, majesty, beauty; above all, the Father of Him who is the true Shechinah, "the Lord of Glory," crucified and risen; may give you, as His promised Gift, the Spirit[5]of wisdom and unveiling, the Holy One who imparts new insight and lifts the veil higher and higher from the fair face of the eternal Love, in full knowledge (ὲνἐπιγνώσει) of Him, of this ever-blessed Father, "whom to know is to live."[6] For philosophy comes to man with the message, Know thyself; the Gospel meets him also with the far more glorious and fruitful watchword, Know thy God.[7] Yes,

Ephesians 1:18. may He grant you this, granting you illumination of the eyes of your heart,[8] that is of all your inner powers, alike of affection, thought and will, so that on the whole "inner man" shall shine the smile of "the Father of Glory"; with a view to your knowing, with a deep and developed insight and experience, what is the hope of His calling, the eternal prospect opened up when He effectually calls man to union with Himself in Christ[9]; and what is the wealth of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, the rich, boundless life destined, in the final state, for those whom "He hath chosen for His own inheritance" ( Psalms 33:12), His "purchased possession," His "acquisition" (above, Ephesians 1:14); so that His property is, as it were, lodged "in" them; and

Ephesians 1:19. what is the surpassing greatness of His power, in the whole process of salvation, both in sanctification now and beatification in eternity, that power which is put forth towards us, the believing ones, and so the recipients of a strength not our own. And what is the scale, the measure, of "the greatness of that power"? It is according to, to be calculated by, the working of the strength of His might, (for only such accumulations

Ephesians 1:20. of phrase can indicate its energy,) which working He put forth in His (τῷ) Christ, "in" Him as its sublime Object, raising Him from the dead, and seating[10]Him on His right hand, as Sharer of His

Ephesians 1:21. throne, in the heavenly regions; far above[11]every government, and authority, and power, and lordship, all ranks and orders of celestial greatness in "the mighty kingdoms angelical"[12]; aye, and every name that can be named (ὀνομαζομένου) with fame and awe, not only in the present Age but also in the coming, the Age of the everlasting Life ( Mark 10:30); so that in that "world" also the exalted Christ of God will be "the Prince of the Kings," not of earth only ( Revelation 1:5) but

Ephesians 1:22. of heaven; and all things, the whole created universe, He did put under His feet, in that great "act and deed" of exaltation. Its full realization awaits indeed the hour of His final triumph, but in the fiat of the Father it is already fact So this wonderful Risen One sits supreme on "the throne of God and of the Lamb" ( Revelation 22:1), Commander of the hosts of angelic loyalty, and Conqueror of all the dark powers of rebellion, who are destined for "His footstool." And now, what of man, what of us believers, what of our company and body? The Christ, thus related to the angelic Universe, has received a mighty exaltation in regard of us and our salvation: And Him,[13] Him and no other, He gave as Head, as at once Chief to rule and Life-Centre to vivify, over all things, infinitely above all other imaginable claimants to Headship, for the Church, the human Company joined and organized into communion by spiritual union with

Ephesians 1:23. Him; that Church which is His Body, as He is its Head; His Body, as animated by His life, and the tangible vehicle and implement of His thought and will; that Church which is the Fulness, the Fulfilment, the Realization of the grace, power, and glory of Him, this blessed Christ, who is richly filling[14]all things in all; the Replenisher of all the capacities for blessing of all His members.

"What shall we say then to these things?" Perhaps the first and best response is the Amen of holy silence. May I even suggest to the reader (and to myself) that after the perusal of such a passage we should on purpose be quiescent for a time, not from thought altogether, but as much as may be from discursive thought? Let us "sit before the Lord," and be still and passive. These sentences were written first and supremely to be believed, received, and—in a worshipping and serving life—lived out. Let us hear them, in a hush of the soul, without haste, and without talk. But in due time it is our part to examine and to remark, "What shall we say then to these things?"

I. First, assuredly, let us note and admire this great phenomenon, the glory of the Christ of God, who was dead, and is upon the throne. Think of the paradox. The Apostle is speaking of a Personage of history, of recent, of almost contemporary, history. He had once, at Jerusalem, met and conversed with a Galilean religious teacher, "James, the Lord’s brother" ( Galatians 1:19). That man was a member of the same family circle, in a small town of Northern Palestine, with "Jesus, which is called Christ." In the same sense in which James was brother of Jesus, Jesus was brother of James. It was notorious that Jesus had been an inhabitant for several years of such a district and such a town, and that He was related to such and such people, men and women, by ties of blood and ties of law. He had worked with His hands, He had walked from place to place like other men, and many could no doubt accurately describe His look and manner when He talked. At last He had died, under circumstances profoundly impressive indeed, but still such as were also matter of human procedure; circumstances which had called in the prosaic authority of a Roman magistrate and the physical force of Roman soldiers. Well, but to the writer of this letter, while all these aspects of "Jesus, the brother of James," are present to his mind, what is this same Jesus on the other hand? With quite the same certainty, as a matter of quite equal fact, He is now "seated at the right hand of"

Almighty God, on His very throne, "in the heavenly regions," "aloft above" all the ranks and orders of the powers of heaven. He is the ruling and life-giving "Head" of a vast multitude of human beings who absolutely belong to Him, and absolutely live by Him. They are His Body; they exist, collectively, to be His limbs and implements. They are "His Fulness," the Pleroma in which this sublime Person actualizes His will. He is their "Fulfiller"; all that is receptive of spiritual life and power in them, it is He who makes it and keeps it full.

He is such that He is the Source of all grace, and the Hope of all glory, for fallen man. Yet He was also "the brother of James." Paul knows all about Him in both characters.

God, the Son of God; Man, the Son of Man! It is the old truth of the Creed, old and eternal. But, that we may grasp it the more firmly and comprehensively, let us recollect it thus once more in its light as a fact of history. Look at it as it was to St Paul and to those first disciples. And, as you read the Apostle’s words about Christ glorified, words glowing indeed, but absolutely sane and practical in manner, reflect upon the self-evidencing tone of the whole utterance. Here is either the very wildest delusion ever generated by a disturbed brain, or—the Incarnation of the Eternal Word. And it is not usual in history to find wild delusions, by their originators, or first victims, stated in terms of majestic tranquillity, and at the same time applied to the very highest and the most practically beneficial ends in human life.

"God manifest in Flesh" is fact.

II. Then, "feeling the rock beneath our feet," assured yet again that we are not "following cleverly devised myths" ( 2 Peter 1:16), we look up into heaven, where this wonderful "brother of James" is seated. The "region," to use that noble old word, is seen full of hosts and ranks of light around Him. "Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers," behold them there.[15] It is indeed a scene of power; "His Angels, that excel in strength"; we trace their irresistible steps in many a scene of the story of Redemption. But they are "all His servants." "Angels and authorities and powers are made subject unto Him"; with a subjection in which they find their eternal law of liberty and joy. What then is He, so "far aloft above them"? Is He not to us, poor things on earth, "throned inaccessible"? Wonderful thought, it is so far from being thus that we are here called in to make the crown and climax of His prerogatives and glories. For what has the Apostle to tell us about Him as His last and highest function "at the Right Hand"? It is that He is given to be Head above all things—to the Church, to the Assembly, the Community of men, men once "dead in trespasses and sins," and still exposed to all the temptations and all the sorrows of time, and still compelled to cry, "Enter not into judgment with Thy servants, O Lord."

Yes, this is here given as the final glory of the infinitely exalted Christ. Angels and archangels are subject unto Him. But believing men are joined to Him, with a union such that He and they, by this same messenger of His, are called elsewhere ( 1 Corinthians 12:12) one "Christ."

"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?" ( Psalms 8:3). In himself, he is the mere creature of the sovereign will. Of himself, as he has ruined himself, he is a sinful wreck. But in the Christ of God, man is a being raised to the heavenly regions, living by the life of his Head, crowned with glory and honour. "And it doth not yet appear what he shall be."

III. Lastly, in this passage we have men, these greatly favoured men, presented to us not individually but in community. The Christ is "given as Head to the Churchy His "Body" is the Church. The Church is His Pleroma, His Plenitude, the sphere in which His blessed attributes are to be realized and displayed through the graces of His people.

It is a momentous word, Church, Ecclesia. Around it many a great controversy has been fought. Claims have been advanced in its name, as by the Roman power, but not by it only, which would make it as it were an almost substitute for the Lord. It has been presented as a vast organized republic, or oligarchy, or monarchy, worked and managed through an elaborate machinery of human officers. So given, the word Church has too often been the motto for repression and persecution. The individual conscience has been too often overawed and browbeaten because of it. Individual spiritual history, individual access to God, individual work and witness for Him, has again and again been discredited and hindered under the maxims of "corporate life," "Church life," and supposed necessary principles of Unity. It has come in many quarters to be assumed or asserted that a unity of order is a more important thing than a close adherence to scriptural conclusions about the individual’s acceptance before God in Christ and spiritual conformity in life to Him. By an inevitable reaction the word Church has become to many Christians an unwelcome and distasteful word, hard and narrow, beclouded with ideas of officialism, I had almost said of bureaucratic tyranny. In view of both the distortion and the reaction against it the Church doctrine of this Epistle is inestimably precious. The word Church occurs frequently. We have it here, in a connexion high as the heavens, and full of the very deepest spiritual suggestions. We have it below, Ephesians 3:10, where "the Church" is beheld as the scene in which, even now, "the governments and the authorities in the celestial regions" get informed of "the variegated wisdom of God, according to His purpose of the ages." We have it again Ephesians 3:21, where "glory" is given to the Eternal Father, "in the Church, in Christ Jesus," throughout eternity. And in the fifth chapter ( Ephesians 5:23, Ephesians 5:24, Ephesians 5:25, Ephesians 5:27, Ephesians 5:29, Ephesians 5:32) we have it set fully before us as the Bride and Spouse of the Lord Himself. He is the Church’s Head, the Saviour of the Body; it is subject to Him, with wifely reverence; He loved it, He gave Himself for it, to hallow it, to cleanse it "by the bathing of the water attended by an utterance," to present it to Himself glorified, spotless, holy. He nourishes it and cherishes it. He and His Spouse are one.

Here is on the one hand an Ecclesia which is lifted for our view far above mere terrestrial and visible limitations. The one allusion to the external is the reference to "the water," but even this is at once connected so with the "utterance" (ῥῆμα) of the everlasting Covenant as to point us straight through the ordinance to the heavenly blessing which it seals. The whole conception soars in the high air of direct spiritual relations between the Lord and a redeemed Company whose units are all joined in an ineffable reality of faith and love to Him, and so member to member. We may call it the Ideal Church. We may call it the Invisible, in the sense of invisibility which points to an Organism seen in its true limits and relations by God alone. But however, it is a something which refuses to be really identified with any one organization, or aggregate of organizations, officered and tabulated by human ministers. It is related more nearly, may we not say? to heaven than to earth. It is, in its essence, with Christ where He is. It is the wonder of angels. It is the sphere within which glory is given to God as much in eternity ( Ephesians 3:21) as in time. It (not parts of it, but it) is to be presented to its Lord at last in the heavenly light. Let us beware of lowering the radiant sublimity of the conception by definitions of the Church essentially conditioned by time.

Meantime, we have a correction here to any mere individualism in Christian life on earth. The individual’s spiritual blessings are here shewn to us as profoundly connected, for their true development, with his recollection that he is not an isolated entity but the limb of a Body, of a Bride. He is intended as truly to live not unto himself but unto others as he is intended to live unto the Lord. And as regards a true place, in our thought about the Church, for temperate ideas of visible cohesion and order, we have a deep suggestion here. It lies in the words which describe the Church as the Body and the Plenitude of Christ. For those words suggest that the Church exists not only to enjoy mystic union with Him but to be of practical service to Him. And that thought, though it can never justify narrow definitions of the Church, must assuredly always bear towards all possible practical cohesion, with a view to co-operation, among its members. To adjust with perfect logic the ideal of the Ecclesia, that is to say its ultimate truth, with a right understanding of the possible in organized and united Christian life, is, I hold, beyond our power. But the Church doctrine of our Epistle will be a safe and holy guide to us in the direction of adjustment.

"Hail, glorious Head of all Thine own, Our equal Source of peace and power;

Thou for our sins didst once atone, Thou art our Life of Life this hour.

"Then, Lord, in strong communion still, O bind us faster, to be free, * Thou working out by us Thy will, We working out Thy will by Thee."

^[1]For the construction cp.Mark 1:15,πιστεύετεἐν τῷεὐαγγελίῳ, andJeremiah 12:6(Septuagint),μὴπιστεύσῃςἐν αὐτοῖς.

^[2]Some very important MSS. (A Bℵ*) omit the wordsτὴνἀγάπην, and thus referπίστινto "the saints" as well as to the Lord. But the external evidence for retention is strong.All the chief ancient versionsgive the words, and so do the uncial MSS. D3G2, and the immense majority of "cursive" mss. And it is surely very unlikely that St Paul, who writes, to the Colossians (i. 4),τήν πίστινὑμῶνἐν Χρ.Ἰησοῦκαὶτὴνἀγάπην τὴν εἰς πάντας τούς, should in this Epistle, perhaps on the same day, have varied that natural phrase for one so difficult (giving two senses ofπίστιςin one clause) as this. An early mistake of transcription is the probable cause of the various reading here.

^[3]The wordὑμῶνis probably to be omitted, but we must supply it mentally.

^[4]So that He not only cried "Eli, Eli," upon the Cross, but on one memorable occasion, at Sychar (John 4:22), called Himself aworshipper: "We know whatwe worship."Yet He receives worship addressed to Himself with all the calm majesty of the supreme King (John 20:29).

^[5]Lit. "a spirit,"πνεῦμα, notτὸπνεῦμα: and so the Revised Version. But I venture to retain the Authorized Version. In the case of great and well-known words, such asΘεός, Κύριος, the article is often omitted as unneeded for definition. So, if I read aright, it often is withπνεῦμα.

^[6]Quem nosse vivere; the ancient original (in a prayer of cent. v.) of the beautiful phrase in the Morning Collect of the English Church, "in knowledge of whom standeth (consisteth) our eternal life."

^[7]I quote from Adolphe Monod, in his excellent Commentary on the Epistle. He says (referring to Pascal in a note),"La philosophie, prennant nécessairement l’homme pour centre, lui a dit: Connais-toi; mais la Parole inspirée, pouvant seule partir de Dieu, a seule aussi pu dire: Connais Dieu; et cette connaissance renferme, avec l’unique connaissance salutaire de nous-mêmes et de notre misère, celle de l’unique remède capable de la réparer."

^[8]Πεφωτισμένους τοὺςὀφθαλμούς: lit. "the eyes illuminated."—Readκαρδίαςcertainly.—"Heart" in Scripture "includes intelligence without excluding affections."

^[9]Κλῆσις: the word in the Epistles probably refers not only to the general benignant invitation of the Gospel but to the voice of grace as it mercifully—not forces but—decidesthe will for God. See particularly1 Corinthians 1:24, where the Apostle draws a marked distinction between the rejecting and hostile hearers of the Gospel and theκλητοί, who find Christ to be all in all. Archbishop Leighton, on1 Peter 2:9, writes of the inner call: "It is an operative word, that effects what it bids. God calls man; He works with him indeed as a reasonable creature; but sure He likewise works as Himself, as an almighty Creator. His call... doth, in a way known to Himself, twine and wind the heart which way He pleaseth." So, "whom Hecalled,them He justified, and... glorified" (Romans 8:28).

^[10]Read

^[11]Ὑπεράνω: the wordmaymean merely "above," by general usage. But St Paul’s marked love for compounds withὑπέρ, to energize ideas, makes it certain that"farabove" is the right rendering here.

^[12]I borrow the phrase from an isolated paragraph in S. T. Coleridge’sOmniana: "To Thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry.The mighty kingdoms angelical, like the thin clouds at dawn, receiving and hailing the first radiance, and singing and sounding forth their blessedness, increase the rising joy in the heart of God, spread wide and utter forth the joy arisen, and in innumerable finite glories interpret all they can of infinite bliss."

^[13]Αὐτόνis emphatic by position.

^[14]Πληρουμένου: the middle voice enriches and deepens the idea.

^[15]Surely the Apostle is here affirming, though passingly, the real existence ofἀρχαί,ἐξουσίαι,δυνάμεις,κυριότητες, and not merely taking up the terms of an unauthorized angelology to brush those terms away. In a passage like this, the glory of the Saviour may be said todemand the realityof the existences over which He is said to be supreme. The majestic line of Milton quoted above has learning in it as well as poetry. It is based on the "Celestial Hierarchy," written under the name of "Dionysius the Areopagite," cent. v. or vi. "Dionysius" ranked the Orders, down from the highest, in threeTrines;Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones; Dominations, Virtues, Powers; Principalities, Archangels, Angels.