Ephesians 2

Ephesians 2:1

the gratitude of the Ephesians, the apostle leads t state of moral death in which the gospel found nds them how entirely they were saved by Divine II. 1—10.

EPHESIANS II. 1.

UNSPEAKABLE, my brethren, is the happiness of the body of Christ, which I have just been mentioning, the happiness of all who are related to him as their glorious head: and through Divine grace this happiness is yours; for you, though once sinners of the Gentiles [hath he] who raised up Christ from the dead [quickened] and raised to life,ᵃ by the effectual working of that mighty power which I have shewn you to have wrought in Christ; even you, who will (as I persuade myself) most readily acknowledge, that you long were dead in trespasses and sins, incapable of any sensations and actions arising from that spiritual and Divine life to which his grace has now awakened you, and liable, as the just desert and consequence of your sins, to a sentence of eternal death. Such, it is manifest, was your wretched state, while you continued in the paths of vanity and guilt, in which ye formerly walked with pleasure,ᵇ

ᵃ You hath he quickened.] Some have observed that the connection here is harsh, the words [hath he quickened] not being in the original, and would therefore suppose the accusative case υμας (as the grammarians call it) to be governed by the verb υμας understood, answering to the close of the preceding chapter; and thus would take the sense to be, “He who lieth all his members with all gifts and virtues, hath also filled you among the rest.” But the words υμας οἶας νικης in this first verse, so directly answer to υμας οἶας νικης in the fifth, that I think it very plain both must refer to συνιζωποποις, he hath quickened together with Christ. This is

one instance, among others, of Paul’s beginning a sentence and then throwing in a very long parenthesis, and taking up again at a considerable distance the words with which he began, or nearly the same. Compare Eph. iii. 1, 14, with chap. iv. 1; and 1 Tim. i. 3, with ver. 18.

ᵇ In which ye formerly walked.] Dr. Goodwin very pertinently observes here, that the Ephesians were remarkable, i the midst of all their learning, for a most abandoned character. They banished Her modorus merely for his virtue, thereby in effect making a law that every modest and temperate man should leave them. See Dr. Goodwin’s Works, Vol. I. p. 7.

And subject to the prince of the power of the

according to the course and manner of this present world, in a conformity to the common usage of the age in which you live, and to the fashionable enormities of your heathen neighbours; a course so detestably evil, that I may properly say of it, that it was just according to the desire, instigation, and will, of the prince of the power of the air, that wicked spirit who commands the legions of fallen angels, that by Divine permission range in the air, and fly from place to place in pursuit of their pernicious purpose of corrupting and destroying mankind. I say it again, your course was formerly according to the dictates and suggestions of that cursed and malignant spirit, who by his influence on the hearts of men has in effect the management, however unseen and unapprehended, of the spirit that now operates powerfully in the children of disobedience, and prejudices their darkened minds against admitting the evidence and authority of the gospel.

Amongst whom also we all had formerly, at least in some degree, our course of life and conversation, whatever our education or religious profession might have been; walking in many instances in the unbridled lusts of our flesh, to the base appetites of which we were enslaved, so as to forget the true dignity and

The prince of the power of the air.] This refers to a Jewish tradition that the air was inhabited by evil spirits; a notion which, as Mr. Mede observes, (Diat. on 2 Pet. ii. 4,) the apostle Paul seems to approve.

Of the spirit that now operates powerfully in the children of disobedience.] I render it [of the Spirit,] as this agrees better with the construction of the original ἀνάσιος — πυρραινός, &c. which leads us to refer this latter clause to the prevailing influence of Satan over the vicious spirit or corrupt disposition that is so powerful in sinners, which is thus represented as subject to his management, and actuated by him. The phrase ἀνάσιος is very strong and emphatical, both in the denomination it gives to the heathen as children of rebellion and obstinacy, who would yield to no persuasion that would urge them to a better course of life, as the ἐνάσιος of ἀνάσιος

imports; and in the forcible manner in which it expresses the influence of Satan over them, as if they were inspired and possessed by him; for it is well known the word ἀνάσιος among the ancients signified the same with demoniacs.

We all had formerly our conversation.] The apostle, changing the expression from [re] Ephesians to [we,] seems plainly to declare that he meant to include himself and all other Christians in what he here says: and it is so professedly the design of the beginning of his epistle to the Romans to prove that the Jews had not, in point of justification, any advantage above the Gentiles, (Rom. iii. 9,) that it is surprising to me that some very learned and ingenious writers, and Mr. Locke in particular, should contend strongly for the contrary. As to the argument from Eph. iv. 17—20, see the paraphrase and notes there, in the beginning of sect. viii.

hath quicened us together with Christ.

happiness of a rational and immortal spirit. Thus we went on, fulfilling the dictates of the flesh, and of the inordinate passions of the carnal mind, as if we had been altogether destitute of any superior power to controul them; and howsoever we might pride ourselves in any distinction of birth, or separation by peculiar privileges from the rest of the world, we were indeed by nature, and according to the bias we were naturally under, the children of wrath, and heirs of the curse denounced on sin, even as others round us are: we too, as well as they, were born in sin, and, in consequence of that innate corruption, were early plunged in actual transgressions, and so brought under a sentence of death and destruction by that law which every soul of us had in various instances violated.

This was the common calamity in which we were all involved; but the blessed God being rich in mercy, and finding the motives of it in himself, when there was nothing in us but misery to move him to it, according to his great and free love wherewith he hath loved us, hath been pleased to look upon us with pity, and to contrive a most astonishing and effectual way for our recovery from this deplorable state: And in prosecution of it, even when we were, as I had before observed, dead in trespasses and sins, he hath quickened and enlivened us together with Christ,

The dictates of the flesh and of the passions.] The word Ἐνδωρᾶς, here made use of, expresses a kind of dictatorial power; and the plural Ἐνδωρᾶς, which we render mind, as it cannot here signify its intellectual powers, must, I think, denote the various passions, according to the prevalence of which our minds take as it were different colours and forms, and become strangely different from themselves.

Were by nature the children of wrath.] Some think the meaning of this phrase is only that we were so truly and indeed. Compare Gal. iv. 8. (See Limborch. Theol. lib. iii. cap. 4, § 17.) But, on the whole, I think it much more reasonable to refer it to the original apostasy and corruption, in consequence of which men do, according to the course of nature, fall early into personal guilt, and so become obnoxious to the Divine displeasure. And [we all,] in the beginning of this verse, is so plainly

opposed to [ye] in the verse before, that it is astonishing Dr. Whitby should maintain that [we] and [ye] are used promiscuously throughout this whole discourse. Monsieur Le Clerc, (Ars Crit. p. 104,) brings many instances from ancient writers to prove that even signifies genius or disposition: but I think I may venture to say that every one of them signifies a natural disposition, and not merely an acquired habit.

When we were dead in trespasses and sins.] What is said in Col. ii. 13, does indeed shew that this was eminently the case of the Gentiles; but I have given my reasons above why I think it here to be spoken of what all in general were till the grace of God wrought for their recovery.

Hath quickened us together with Christ.] This does not merely signify our being raised to the hope of pardon and glory by the resurrection and ascension of Christ; but

VOL. 5.

It is by grace that we are saved through fe

having constituted by his grace such a near relation between us, that his renewed life should be the source of ours: for it is by that grace, which is bestowed in him, that ye are saved, and made partakers in these invaluable privileges. And in consequence of this I may farther say, that he hath raised [us] up together in him, as our Head and Representative; and by admitting him into heaven as a forerunner, to take possession of those glorious mansions for us, he hath made [us] sit together in those heavenly [places] to which he is exalted, and into which we also may be said to be admitted in Christ Jesus: for by means of that relation between him and us which Divine grace hath established, we may look upon his resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of God, as the certain pledge and security of ours; and regarding him under the character of a public person, who is thus raised and exalted in our name, we may be said to share in those felicities and dignities which are conferred on him.

And this God hath done, that he might shew in the ages to come under the dispensation of the gospel, and might display to all succeeding generations, the exceeding riches of his free and unmerited grace, as manifested both to Jews and Gentiles in [his] kindness towards us in Christ Jesus; for we have received it all by him, and are partakers of it as connected with him, whom God hath appointed a Head and Saviour to us, and taught us to regard him as our great Representative. I repeat it again and again, that I may properly inculcate a doctrine of so great importance; for I would never have any of you forget, that it is by this free grace, which I have so frequently celebrated, and would for ever celebrate, that ye are brought into the

seems to refer to that union which there is between him and all true believers, by virtue of which they may look on his resurrection, ascension, and glory, as a pledge and security of something quite of a similar nature to be accomplished in due time in and upon them. Thus we are taught to consider Christ as a public person, the elder Brother of the family, and the Guardian of the younger branches of it, who

may, by a very easy and beautiful figure, be said to have received their inheritance in him. It is justly observed by Mr. Locke, that chap. i. 20, and ii. 5, 6, answer to each other; but the apostle’s mind being filled with these grand ideas, and transported with love to Christ, lets his person loose to enlarge upon them, though with some interruption to the natural construction.

not by works, lest any one should boast.

happy number of the saved ones, and are delivered from that ruin into which sin hath plunged you, and raised to these glorious hopes of eternal felicity; which inestimable privileges we receive through such a cordial faith in Christ, as is productive of unfeigned love and obedience: and the grace of God appears, not only in constituting this method of salvation through faith, but also in producing this great and Divine principle in our souls; for this very faith is not of yourselves,ᵏ it is not of your own production, there being such a natural averseness to it in the heart, as that we neither can be said to have wrought it, nor is any praise resulting from it, or any excellence in it, to be ultimately ascribed to us; but [it is] really the gift of God, who by the gracious influence of his Spirit fixes our attention to the great objects of it, subdues our prejudices against it, awakens holy affections in our souls, and, on the whole, enables us to believe, and to persevere in believing, till we receive the great end of our faith in the complete salvation of our souls.

And God hath appointed, that salvation should be thus obtained, by that faith which he produces in the heart, and not by works of the Mosaic law, or any other obedience of our own, lest any one should boast, as if he had by his own righteousness obtained salvation, and so should ascribe the glory of it to himself rather than to God. But it cannot be so now; for as all acts of acceptable obedience proceed

ᵏ By grace ye are saved through faith; and this not of yourselves.] It is observable, that the apostle speaks of these Christians not only as in the way to salvation, but as already saved, (συσσωματία) by a strong and lively figure expressing their happy security. Some explain the following clause, [and this not of yourselves.] as if it were only a repetition of what was said before, that the constitution that made faith the way to salvation was not of their own appointment, but God’s. But this is making the apostle guilty of a flat tautology, for which there is no occasion. Taking the clause as we explain it, that is, as asserting the agency of Divine grace in the production of faith, as well as in the constitution

tion of the method of salvation by it, the thought rises with great spirit. As for the apostle’s using the word πυρ in the neuter gender to signify faith, the thing he had just before been speaking of, there are so many similar instances to be found in scripture, that one would wonder how it were possible for any judicious critics to have laid so much stress on this as they do, i rejecting what seems beyond all comparison the weightiest and most natural interpretation. Compare the original of the following texts, Phil. i. 28; Eph. vi. 13; Gal. iii. 17; iv. 19. And for the like construction in other Greek authors of undoubted credit, see Elsner, Observ. Vol. I. p. 128; and Raphel, Annet. ex Herod. p. 186.

Re ections on the grace o God in our sa va

from faith, and this faith is wrought in our hearts by the gracious influence of the Divine Spirit, it is most evident that we are to acknowledge ourselves to be his workmanship, so far as there is any thing in us agreeable to the nature and will of God; being created in Christ Jesus unto good works, and made able not only to perform them, but to delight in them; even those works of evangelical obedience, to the performance of which (though we obtain the forgiveness of our sins previous to our performing them, on our accepting Christ and believing the grace of the gospel) God hath before prepared [us] by the influences of his Spirit;¹ having foreordained and appointed in his eternal counsels, and in the declarations of his word, that we should diligently and constantly walk in them, as ever we would approve ourselves his people, and stand entitled to the promised blessings of the future state, which indeed we can no otherwise in the nature of things be prepared to receive.

IMPROVEMENT.

Let us behold with a becoming attention, and with all those emotions of heart which an attentive review of it is capable of exciting, the amazing diversity of these states as represented by the apostle; and remember that they are states, in the one or the other of which we all are. We see what nature and the first Adam have made us; and we see what grace and an interest in the second would make us.

Daily observation, and, in too many instances, our own experience, may have convinced us, that it is not the character of the Gentiles alone to be dead in trespasses and sins. It shews us

that to walk according to the general course of this apostate world is to walk according to the prince of the power of the air; who when he is most set on our ruin, is most importunate in persuading us to fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

Still, alas! till the gospel reaches and renews the heart, do the same evil spirit, by means of the corrupt and vicious spirit dwelling in them, work in the children of disobedience and wrath, in which number we must acknowledge ourselves by nature to

¹ To which God hath before prepared us.] to perform good works, (Titus iii. 8,) so also God prepares us for, and enables us to it by his grace.

This is plainly the sense of the original, which shews, that as we are chosen to be, and called

The sad state of the Gentiles before their conversion,

have been. But, blessed be God, that grace has its superior triumph over depraved nature; and where sin hath abounded, grace doth much more abound. (Rom. v. 20.)

The mercy of God is rich, and his love is great; and his powerful grace, to which we must ascribe all our hope of salvation, hath quickened us when we were dead in sins, and hath enlivened us with Christ, to whom by faith we are united, and so incorporated with him, that in consequence of it we may not only consider his resurrection and ascension to glory as an emblem, but in some degree as an anticipation, of our own, and may think and speak of ourselves as raised, and exalted, and glorified, with him.

O how blessed and joyful a view is this! and how powerfully ought it to operate upon us, to elevate our minds above this low world, and to animate us to every great and generous sentiment and pursuit! Surely this must illustrate, if any thing can do it, the riches and freedom of that grace by which we are saved, and must engage the generations to come to celebrate his exceeding kindness towards us. Let all boasting in ourselves therefore be entirely given up: let salvation by faith be acknowledged to be of grace; and that faith itself be acknowledged as the gift of God, whose workmanship we are, and by whom we are created to that noble and only acceptable principle of good works. Let not this grace be received in vain; but let us answer the purposes of this new nature and new life which God hath graciously given us, and shew forth the praises of him from whom it is derived, and in whom, in a spiritual as well as a natural sense, we live, and move, and exist.

Ephesians 2:11

The apostle farther pursues the argument begun in the last section, representing the happy state into which they were now brought, as united to the church of God, and partakers of all its privileges; the middle wall of partition being now removed in favour of believing Gentiles. Eph. II. 11, to the end.

EPHES. II. 11. WHEREFORE remember that Ephesians II. 11. YOU have heard of the glorious privileges to which as Christians you are exalted, out of that wretched state of moral death in which the gospel found you: wherefore let me seriously urge it upon you, that you would always remember and bear it in mind how happy a change God hath been pleased by his sovereign grace to make in your state, and would consider what you now are in comparison with

As being without Christ, and strangers to the

what you formerly were. O let it never be forgotten, that ye [were] formerly ignorant, vicious, and idolatrous Gentiles, and in a state wherein the flesh was continually leading you captive, and drawing you to gratify and fulfil its lusts; who being thus abandoned to your own ways, without any sign or token of an interest in God, [were] called, by way of contempt, the uncircumcision, uncircumcised abominable sinners, by that body of men which is called the circumcision, on account of their having received that rite which is performed with hands, and imprints a mark in the flesh, of which as you were destitute, they who had received and gloried in it, avoided you as unclean. But I am sensible your chief misery did not consist in the want of that ceremony, which can by no means avail to the salvation of the soul, or render it, while the heart continues uncircumcised, in any degree acceptable to God: Your wretchedness was, (and see that you remember it with the greatest humility, and with the most affecting sense of the acknowledgments you owe to that free grace which has delivered you from that deplorable condition,) that ye were at that time, while you were unregenerate Gentiles, without any knowledge of Christ, or any interest in him, and thus were destitute of all those blessings which he brings to his believing and obedient people: and indeed were without any expectations of the Messiah, and had not those advantages for inquiring after him and embracing him, which the Jews had by virtue of their prophecies, and of the various means ordained to point him out: ye were then aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and had no part in any of the favours granted to them, no claim to their peculiar privileges, nor any right of citizenship with them; not so much as knowing that policy which God had established among his own chosen people, in order to

• Called the uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision ] The terms of circumcision and uncircumcision in the abstract are here plainly put for circumcised and uncircumcised; as they are likewise Rom. ii. 26; iii. 30; and iv. 9. Thus also to be made the righteousness of God is put for being made righteous by God, 2 Cor. v. 21.

then no hope, and were atheists in the world.

direct their views to the gospel, and to prepare them for the reception of it: and having no communion with the church, ye were then unacquainted with the Divine engagements to it, and strangers to the covenants of promise, not having any knowledge of the covenant made with Israel by Moses, or of those better promises on which the covenant with Abraham was established, and assurance given of the Messiah’s coming, and of eternal life through him: so that, in consequence of this, ye were then wholly taken up in the pursuit of earthly things, without any prospect of good things to come, having no well grounded hope with regard to a future state, no hope of spiritual and eternal blessings, about which, immersed as you were in the cares and pleasures of this lower world, you had indeed but very little thought: and though you had such an infamous herd of imaginary deities, and were so eager in the worship of them, and particularly of your great goddess Diana, and of Jupiter, whose daughter she was supposed to be, (Acts xix. 35.) yet in reality ye were atheists in the world, for ye

b The covenants of promise.] Though the covenant for substance was one and the same, the apostle here speaks of it in the plural number, (as he does also Rom. ix. 4,) as it was given out at several times, with various explications and enlargements, not only to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, (Gen. xii. 2, 3; xvii. 7, 8; xxii. 17, 18; xxvi. 3, 4; xxviii. 13, 14,) but afterwards to the whole church of Israel, (Exod. xxiv. 7, 8; Deut. xviii. 15, 18; xxix. 12, 13; and xxx. 5, 6.) And as the promises it contained centred in the great promise of the Messiah, and of salvation by him, he therefore speaks of them in the singular number, but as one promise, which is agreeable to the scripture style in other places. Compare Acts ii. 39; xiii. 32; xxvi. 6, 7; Rom. iv. 14, 16; Gal. iii. 17, 22; Eph. iii. 6; and Heb. vi. 17.

c Having no hope.] That the heathens had among them the doctrine of a future state, and that it was popularly taught and generally believed by the common people, must, I think, appear incontestible to any who are at all acquainted with antiquity. But it is as apparent that they reasoned very weakly upon the subject, that they had no well grounded hope of future happiness, and that they were but very little

impressed with it; so that they had no deity to which they prayed for eternal life, as the fathers often remonstrate. And by far the greater part of their most learned philosophers either expressly denied, in private lectures to their pupils, the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, or taught principles quite inconsistent with it: as must, I think, plainly appear to any who will impartially peruse what Mr. Warburton has written upon the subject, so judiciously defended in the Critical Review.

d Atheists in the world.] Both the Christians and heathens, as Dr. Whitby well observes here, called each other atheists, though both worshipped some deity real or imaginary; because each supposed the other to reject that which was the true object of adoration. But I cannot conceive that the apostle would have given to the heathens the character of atheists, if the worship of the one living and true God had really prevailed among them to that degree which some Christian divines have incautiously maintained that it did. The truth of the matter seems to have been, that though several of them speak their Jupiter in terms properly applicable to the one Self-existent and Eternal Deity

But now Christ hath removed the middle wall o

lived and coversed in the world, ignorant of the one living and true God, its great Original and Support; and worshipping only such as by nature are no gods, (Gal. iv. 8,) ye had no conception of any being that was truly worthy to be spoken of by any Divine title.

But let your hearts reflect with joy and thankfulness on that blessed change which the Divine goodness hath now made in your condition, by bringing you to faith in Christ Jesus; for having cordially embraced him as exhibited in the gospel, ye who were formerly afar off from God, and from all the hopes and privileges of his people, are now brought near to God and to each other, by the atoning blood of Christ, whereby he hath expiated your guilt, and made a free and honourable way for your approach to God, and partaking in all the benefits of his church. For he is the procurer of our Peace, who hath reconciled us, whether Jews or Gentiles, to God and to each other, and hath so incorporated us into one church, that it may properly be said, he hath made both one, as to an interest in the favour of God and in the privileges of his people; and that no difference might remain between us, he hath thrown down the middle wall of separation, which divided us from each other, as the wall which runs between the court of the Gentiles and that of Israel in the temple at Jerusalem divided the Gentile

only, yet they taught and believed other things of him quite inconsistent with such perfections: and those who had some knowledge of one Supreme Eternal Cause, yet practically disregarded him; and, however they might reconcile it with the dictates of their consciences, worshipped inferior deities, and many of them such as were represented under the most scandalous characters, to the neglect of the Supreme Being, and the destruction of all true religion. Compare Rom. i. 20—26; and consult the notes on those verses, Vol. IV. p. 17, 18.

Are brought near by the blood of Christ. There seems to be an evident adusion here to the privilege of those Israelites who were not under any ceremonial position, or who were cleansed from their guilt by the

blood of atonement, and so had free liberty of entering the temple, and conversing with God; upon which account they are called a people near into him. Psal. xxviii. 14 Compare Exod. xix. 4, 6; Lev. x. 3; and Psal. lxv. 4.

He is our Peace. This Mr. Locke would have to be the same with your Peace, and to be meant of the Gentile converts, of whom the apostle had been speaking just before; but it is evident the reconciliation as well as the enmity was mutated, and the Jews were at least as strongly prejudiced against the Gentiles as the Gentiles against the Jews; the apostle therefore with consummate propriety goes on to speak in terms which were intended to include all true believers, whether originally belonging to the one or the other

reconciled both unto God by his cross.

worshippers from the Jewish. This happy union between us the Lord Jesus Christ hath accomplished, having abolished by those sufferings which he endured in his flesh, what was the grand occasion of the enmity and mutual alienation which had so long prevailed; [even] the law of positive commandments and ceremonies, [contained] in the Mosaic ordinances, to which the Jews were so much attached, and to the bondage of which the Gentiles were so irreconcileably averse: but this Christ hath now abrogated and taken out of the way, that so he might form the two opposite parties, by virtue of their union with each other in himself, into one new man, uniting them together as new creatures in one church, under a dispensation very different from the former, in which they both should equally partake of the same privileges; [so] making an entire peace between them, and laying a foundation not only for peace, but for mutual love, by removing the ground of those prejudices they had entertained against each other, and joining them in bonds of such tenderness as became the members of one living body: And that he might complete this blessed work of making peace, and reconcile them both, as thus united in one body, and animated by one spirit, not merely unto one another, but unto God, he hath took away the guilt of sin, and made atonement for it by the blood of his cross, removing by this means what was the cause of enmity between God and them, as they were all transgressors of his holy law; so that he may be properly considered, on account of what he suffered on the cross, as having slain the enmity by it, as he hath thus made up the breach which sin had made between God and his offending creatures, by means of the atoning sacrifice of himself. (Compare Col. i. 20.) And, having procured this reconciliation by his death, he came to both, after his resurrection and ascension, in the

Divided the Gentile worshippers from the Jewish. This is that wall which was called the chel, which separated the court of the Gentiles from that into which the Jews only were allowed to enter; of which we have the most authentic account in Josephus. (Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 5, [al. vi 6,] § 2.) Compare note 1, on Acts xxi. 28 Vol. III. p. 318.

VOL. 51

Both have the privilege of ellow citizens,

person of his authorized ambassadors, to whom he hath committed the important trust of speaking in his name and stead, (2 Cor. v. 19, 20,) and preached the glad tidings of peace and reconciliation to you that [were] as Gentiles afar off from God, and to them also of the Jewish nation that [were] of old regarded as a people near unto him; declaring the foundation he has laid, not only for a sincere reciprocal affection, but for all other most important benefits and blessings. For, as the happy fruit and consequence of the peace procured by him as well for the believing Gentiles as the Jews, we both are introduced into the Divine presence, and have an equal title to the liberty of a free access to God, as the common Father of the whole family, and may draw near to him with acceptance in the aids of one Spirit, under whose gracious influences we are fitted for the sacred pleasure of conversing with God, and filled with all filial confidence towards him and brotherly affection to each other. (Rom. viii. 15.)

Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, like those who came from distant nations to make a short abode among the Jews without a share in any of their privileges, but fellow citizens with the saints, entitled to all their glorious immunities, and even the domestics of God, admitted to dwell in his house, and

to you that were afar off, and to them are near.] It is so natural to refer what had been said of the different of Jews and Gentiles, that one would say any should have thought of ex- ing both these characters of the Jews, inflying those who lived in distant us, as well as those who dwelt in or Jerusalem where our Lord suffered.

cess to God the Father.] The word aeg, which we render access, does by refer to the custom of introducing into the presence of some prince, or of ever greatly their superior; in which is necessary they should be ushered the appointed for that purpose, to be a becoming decorum.

angers and foreigners.] I know not for there is room to distinguish nicely in the signification of these two gers and regents. If there be, the

latter signifies some former; and I doubt the case of sojourning Jews, who were not in plete proselitism into the people, and made, as quatorillas, fellow citizens. And perhaps domestics of God, is a some relation to that God in which the Jew refer to that great inti converse with God to ians are admitted; in privileges seem to res of the people praying of Israel, but of the p the house itself. Nay it by a figure which seen even on this, that we into the holiest of all b Heb. x. 12.

are built together for an habitation of God.

to partake of the honours and blessings of his family; Being built on the foundation¹ of the apostles and prophets,ᵐ who in their respective places, by their miraculous works and predictions, as well as by their several ministrations, have testified the kind regard of God to his people, and made provision for the establishment of the church; Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner Stone, who holds the several parts together, and supports the whole stress of the edifice: In whom the whole building, harmoniously cemented, in such a manner as to add beauty, strength, and unity to the whole, growth by the continual accession of new converts, and the advancing graces of those already converted, into an holy temple in the Lord, fitly consecrated to him, as being raised and supported by him. In whom you also, my dear brethren, believing in him as the great Lord of the church, are built up together with all true believers for an habitation of God, who by the Spirit of his grace takes up his residence among you, and publicly owns his relation to you in consequence of your union with his beloved Son.

IMPROVEMENT.

LET the apostle’s remonstrance to these Ephesians remind us of our obligations to the Divine goodness, that we are not left in the sad state of our heathen ancestors; that we are not without the knowledge of Christ, in all the darkness of the Gentile

¹ Being built on the foundation.] It is observed by Lord Shaftsbury, that the apostle accommodates himself to the taste of the Ephesians, who were extremely fond of architecture, by frequent allusions to building, and to the majesty, order, and beauty, of which their temple consecrated to Diana was so celebrated a masterpiece. (Compare chap. iii. 17, 18; and iv. 16, 29.) But it is certain many allusions of this kind are to be met with in other epistles, particularly 1 Cor. iii. 9—17; vi. 19; 2 Cor. v. 1; vi. 16. Compare 1 Pet. ii. 4—8.

ᵐ Of the apostles and prophets.] I have often wondered that such sensible writers as the late Lord Barrington and Mr. Jeffery, should conclude that the prophets are spoken of are those of the New Tes-

tament. (Compare Eph. iii. 5; iv. 11; with Mat. xvi. 18.) See Miscell. Sacra, Essay ii. p. 44; and Jeffery’s Review, p. 88. Their chief argument is, that the Gentile church here spoken of was not built upon the foundation of the Old Testament prophets. But not to insist upon it, that when the converted Gentiles came to consult the Jewish writings, they might derive from them great encouragement in their faith, it is to be considered that the apostle is now speaking, not of the Ephesian or Gentile church in particular, but of the whole Christian church consisting of the aggregate body of converted Gentiles and Jews, as appears farther from what is said in the close of this verse, of Christ’s being the chief Corner Stone.

Reflections on the nearness we are brought to by Christ.

word; that we are not aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise; that we are not desti- verse of any well grounded foundation of future hope, and without God in the world. But how unhappy is the case of many, who, though they are called Christians, yet have no saving interest in that Redeemer whose name they bear, in consequence of their being strangers to the obedience of faith, and a vital subjection of heart to his gospel! Let all that name the name of Christ, all that profess to know him, acknowledge, with a view to his aton- ing sacrifice, that if they are brought near to God it is by his blood. To this we owe the external privilege of a people nigh unto God; and to the effectual application of it we owe the blessings of that nearness which the heart feels as the earnest of its eternal happiness. 14,16 If Christ, according to the principles of the apostle’s reasoning, hath made peace by the blood of his cross between Jews and Gentiles, whose manner of living was so widely different from each other; if he hath broken down the middle wall of partition between them, and of two made one new man; how much more apparently reasonable is it that smaller differences should give 18 way to the engagements of so endearing a band! Have we not all one Father? And have we not all access to him through one 19 Saviour, by one Spirit? Let us then consider ourselves as fellow citizens-with the saints; and maintain that most cordial affection to all of this household, which becomes those that are of one family, and are named from one Lord. And, as a great security of this union, let us be concerned to maintain a due regard to the apostles and prophets on whom we are built, whose writings, if perused with diligence and attention, subserve so much to the purposes of Christian edification. But, above all, let us fix our regards upon Christ, as the chief Corner Stone; by a union with whom we are united to each other, and the whole stress of our eternal hopes is supported. In him the whole building is fitly framed together; and it is by his operative influence that it groweth up to a holy temple in the 22 Lord. Let us consider ourselves as designed for this use, to be an habitation of God through the Spirit; and be concerned to cultivate that purity and sanctity which suits so excellent a relation and so high a dignity. Let us lift up the everlasting gates of our souls to admit that blessed Inhabitant, that he may come and dwell in us, and consecrate us more and more unto himself.

Paul was a prisoner for the sake of the Gentiles.