Ephesians 4

Ephesians 4:3

3. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.] The words signify a diligent, industrious, and united endeavour to preserve and maintain an union of heart and spirit, an unity of faith and doctrine, an unity of judgment and affection, amongst all the professors of Christianity. And the means, by which this duty may be performed, is “the bond of peace,” or a peaceable disposition and deportment, which binds Christians together, whereas discord and division cuts that bond saunder. Burkitt.

Some interpret this of the unity of faith and doctrine, in opposition to heresy; and so meekness and humility appear in not preferring private opinions before those of our brethren; especially of the spiritual superiors and pastors of the church. But it seems rather meant of the unity of affection or charity, opposed to schisms and factions in the church, and hatred in other matters: which is chiefly done by not preferring our own interests and desires against other men. But we may say that these depend one upon the other, for we seldom see sincere charity where there is a diversity of opinions. Bp. Fell.

Ephesians 4:4

4. There is one body, &c.] The Apostle, having exhorted the Ephesians to labour to preserve concord and unity in opinion and judgment by unity of affection, adds the following indispensable obligations to the duty. That the church of Christ is one body; that His Spirit is the one soul animating that body; that we all am at and expect one reward; acknowledge one Master; pro-

Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; Anno DOMINI 64.

Ephesians 4:5

5.—one baptism.] Iteration of baptism once given, hath always been thought a manifest contempt of that ancient apostolick sphevism, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism:” baptism not only one, inasmuch as it hath every where the same substance, and offereth unto all men the same grace: but one also, for that it ought not to be received by any one man above once. We serve that Lord which is but one, because no one can be joined with Him; we embrace that faith, which is but one, because it admitteth no innovation; that baptism we receive which is but one, because it cannot be received often. For how should we practise iteration of baptism, and yet teach, that we are by baptism born anew; that by baptism we are admitted unto the heavenly society of saints; that those things be really and effectually done by baptism, which are no more possible to be often done, than a man can naturally be often born, or civilly be often adopted into any one stock or family. This also is the cause why they that present us unto baptism, are entitled for ever after our parents in God, and the reason why there we receive new names, in token that by baptism we are made new creatures. As Christ hath therefore died and risen from the dead but once, so that sacrament, which both extinguisheth in Him our former sin, and beginneth in us a new condition of life, is by one only actual administration for ever available, according to that in the Nicene Creed, “I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.” Hooker.

Ephesians 4:7

7.—according to the measure of the gift of Christ.] In such measures as Christ knows will be best for the church’s benefit. So that none ought to be dissatisfied with his own, or to undervalue those of another. Pyle.

Ephesians 4:8

8. Wherefore he saith, &c.] See Ps. lxviii. 18. That this Psalm relates to the Messiah, we learn from the Jews themselves. Dr. Whitby.

— When he ascended up on high, &c.] “He,” that is, Christ. Christ therefore is the “Lord God.” The Scripture, here referred to, expressly affirms the person who ascended to be “the Lord.” Jones of Nayland.

— he led captivity captive.] This is a common phrase in the Old Testament, to signify a conquest over enemies, especially over such as formerly had led their present conquerors captive. Dr. Whitby.

— and gave gifts unto men.] The word is ‘received’ in the Greek version of the faith Psalm: the Hebrew signifying both ’to give’ and ’to receive.’ Dr. Hammond.

A that his church might be edified, and grown up in Christ. Anno DOMINI 64. b 1 Cor. 15. 22. it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

Ephesians 4:10

10. He that descended is the same &c.] He therefore is now returned back to His heavenly throne, the highest and most glorious that can be, to exercise an universal dominion, and to diffuse His influences over every part of His mystical body, the church. Dean Stanhope.

“Far above all heavens,” is an expression similar to that in Heb. vii. 96; and consequently means Messiah’s exaltation above all the angelical hosts inhabiting the heavens. See Phil. ii. 9—11. Dr. Macknight.

Ephesians 4:11

11. And he gave some, apostles; &c.] To which purpose it is, that He qualified persons for, and sent them in, the several capacities here mentioned; some to reveal, some to forestall and explain, His will; some to propagate and record it; others to govern according to it, and instruct in it where it was already received. Dean Stanhope. Concerning these offices, see the notes on Rom. xii. 6, 7; 1 Cor. xii. 28.

Whilst the church of Christ is here militant upon earth, He exercises His regal power, not only in subduing its enemies, but likewise in appointing and commissioning officers to administer His word and sacraments, and the discipline that He hath settled in it, for the increasing, strengthening, and well governing of the whole, and also of every part of it. This He did most sensibly, when He first ascended up to heaven, by sending down His Holy Spirit in a visible manner upon His Apostles, that all the world might know that the gifts and graces of the Spirit all come from the Lord Christ, as He is exalted at the right hand of God. It was by Him that the Patriarchs and Prophets were inspired in the Old Testament, as well as the Apostles and Evangelists in the New; and it is still He who appoints and empowereth officers of His church, for the edifying and

well governing of His people; they are His ministers, His ambassadors, acting only in His name; and it is He who only makes their ministry effectual, to the ends for which He hath ordained it; for which purpose also He is always present with them, in the execution of their respective offices under Him. “And, lo!” saith He, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world,” Matt. xxviii. 20. Bp. Beveridge.

Ephesians 4:12

12.—for the work of the ministry.] For the full and exact discharge of the great work of the ministry, which could not be sufficiently managed by any one rank of gifts or men. Bp. Hall.

—for the edifying of the body of Christ.] As man is a social creature, and capable of receiving at least as much benefit from uniting in religion, as in other things; so our blessed Lord hath formed His followers into a spiritual society or church; to celebrate the worship of God more solemnly, and bear a publick testimony to His truth; to exhort, and “provoke one another unto love and to good works,” Heb. x. 24, 25; to “restore in the spirit of meekness them that are overtaken in faults,” Gal. vi. 1; but to “put away from amongst them the” grossly and obstinately “wicked,” 1 Cor. v. 13. And that all this may be performed in a due manner, He hath instituted a regular subordination and succession of “pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” An appointment evidently suitable both to the nature of a being, which so greatly wants instruction and admonition as man; and to the nature of a religion, that will so well bear to be shown in a full light. However defectively, therefore, or wrongly, this institution may be administered through the faults of Christian ministers, or how much soever it may be despised, or obstructed, through the faults of the people, yet, in itself, it is visibly of excellent use; and which is remarkable, peculiar to the religion delivered in Scripture. For in the Gentile world, through many centuries, we have no one instance of any publick teaching, much less any moral discipline, attending their worship. And indeed, when Julian attempted to set up preachers of heathenism, in opposition to those of Christianity, it was immediately foretold him, and the event verified the prediction, that what had proved so effectual to establish truth, would only serve to expose and ruin error. Abp. Secker.

Ephesians 4:13

13.—unto a perfect man, unto the measure &c.] That is, to such degrees of piety and perfection, as are esteemed the maturity and full growth of Christians, according to those measures of each, whereof our nature and state are capable. Dean Stanhope.

The phrase, “a perfect man,” means an adult, one full grown, of full age, as opposed to ‘little children,’ or ‘infants,’ see the next verse. In this view it is applied spiritually to Christians according to the original of 1 Cor. xiv. 20; Heb. v. 14. The classical writers of Greece employ the word in the same sense. Parkhurst.

Ephesians 4:14

14.—by the sleight of men.] A metaphor taken from

Ephesians 4:15

15. But speaking the truth in love, &c.] But that, preserving unity of faith and charity, we may improve as members in unity with the Head, and grow in all Christian knowledge, and in all Christian graces, in conformity to Him. Drs. Hammond and Wells.

Ephesians 4:16

16. From whom the whole body &c.] That is, from which head, the whole body of Christians duly compacted together, some sustaining the office of an inferior head, some of an eye, some of an hand, some of a foot, 1 Cor. xii. 15—17, by the assistance, which every one of these parts, thus united together, gives to the whole, according to the particular proportion of its gifts, increaseth or grows in love, and so all the members edify each other. Dr. Whitby.

From what the Apostle says in this, and in other places, about edifying the church, it appears that to advance the peace, order, and unity of this common body in, in Scripture language, the true Christian edification. Consequently whatever tends to make any breach or division in that body, is contrary to, and destructive of, edification: consequently again, separating from a regular established church, or leaving one’s proper pastor, on pretence of edifying more elsewhere, is as much as to say we intend to strengthen a wall by drawing out the stones; or that we design the improvement of health, vigour, and beauty in the body natural, by unnecessarily taking away the useful limbs, and loosing the ligaments, which should compact and keep them in their functions. The edification, together with the union of the church, must be produced by every little vessel, to which every private Christian bears proportion, doing its proper office in that part, where nature hath placed it. And whatever disorder or mischief would follow in the one case, from any dislocation or defect of such vessel; the like deformity and confusion will as certainly ensue in the other case, as often as any member of the body shall either perversely depart from his station, where Providence hath placed him, or slothfully neglect the duties that belong to it. Dean Stanhope.

Ephesians 4:17

17. This I say therefore,] The Apostle having finished his grand exhortation to love and unity amongst all Christians, and enforced it with the most weighty arguments and motives, now proceeds to press upon the Ephesians the practice of particular duties. Burkitt.

— and testify in the Lord,] Or rather, ‘beseech,’ or ‘charge’ you. Parkhurst.

— that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk,]

That being now converted Christians, ye walk no more like ignorant and unconverted heathens. Burkitt.

— in the vanity of their mind,] The expression comprehends not only idolatry, Acts xiv. 15, which the legislators and philosophers pretended to justify upon political principles, but all the vices flowing from, and connected with, idolatry, and of which the Apostle hath given a particular account, Rom. i. 24. Now as idolatry was no where practised with greater splendour, or with more allurements than at Ephesus; and as it was no where more ingeniously defended; and its influence in corrupting the human mind was no where more conspicuous; it was highly proper to set before the Ephesians a picture of their ancient manners, with an express injunction to relinquish them. Dr. Macknight.

In the ages following the days of Noah, by degrees negligence and wickedness introduced ignorance and superstition; and these in their turn augmented negligence and wickedness, till the patriarchal doctrines were forgotten or perverted, the spiritual worship of God laid aside for idolatry, and His nature and perfections so grossly misunderstood, that it is no wonder if pardon of sin, assistance in right conduct, and a recompense after death, were either not thought of, or expected on conditions absurd, and even immoral. For the knowledge of the commonest duties of life was in many cases utterly lost; and shocking crimes considered as perfectly lawful, nay exalted into acts of religion. Thus then did the nations of the earth, to speak in the language of St. Paul, “walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God.” Abp. Serker.

Ephesians 4:18

18. Having the understanding darkened,] By a long course of sin, so that they see not that, which by the light of nature they are enabled to see. Dr. Hammond.

— being alienated from the life of God] From that way of life, not only which God approves of, but which resembles Him in purity, righteousness, truth, and goodness. Dr. Whitby.

— through the ignorance that is in them, &c.] Having lost all sense of the absurdity and vileness of the grossest sins; and so not only prostituted themselves to the practice, but by custom hardened themselves into a liking of, and delight in, and eagerness after, the most filthy carnalities.

The absolute necessity, as well as the invaluable benefits, of that Divine revelation and grace, which is ministered by the Gospel of Christ, needs no other evidence than the description given in these three verses by St. Paul, of those miserable circumstances, to which the heathens were reduced for want of them. The wretched ignorance and erreurs, whereby the light of the Lord within them, the faculties of reason and judgment, were almost quite extinguished: the total depravation of the will and affections, addicted and fastened down to objects of flesh and sense, and irreconcilably averse to all

from impurity, and to put on the new man. Anno DOMINI 64.

Ephesians 4:20

20. But ye have not so learned Christ:] The contrary to all which ye have been taught by the Christian religion. Dr. Hammond. This may perhaps intimate that there was a manner of learning Christ, which might seem more consistent with such irregularities, and may glance on some teachers, who called themselves Christians, yet took very little care to inculcate practical religion. Many passages in the Apostle’s writings shew this to have been actually the case, though it seems these teachers had not much footing at Ephesus. Compare 2 Tim. iv. 3. Dr. Doddridge.

Ephesians 4:21

21. If so be that ye have heard him.] Forasmuch as ye have heard of Him by us His Apostles. Dr. Wells. See the note on chap. iii. 2.

— as the truth is in Jesus:] According to the truth of what God requires under the Gospel. Dr. Wells.

Ephesians 4:22

22, 24. That ye put off—the old man,—And that ye put on the new man.] “The old man” signifies those evil habits, which they so long practised in the state of heathenism; “the new man,” that divine life, that life of righteousness and holiness, which Christianity requires. Dr. Whitby. Concerning the change here said to be wrought upon persons converted to Christianity, it may be observed, that the manner of the Apostle’s expressing it intimates their becoming quite another sort of people, indeed the very reverse of what they had been before. “The old man to be put off,” is said to be “corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;” those lusts, which cheated men with flattering promises of satisfaction that they cannot yield; and therefore the change in this point consists in stopping the ears against all false insinuations from that quarter, abandoning the unprofitable corruption, and having fruit unto holiness. This

Ephesians 4:23

23. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind:] Be inwardly and cordially changed to new desires and pursuits. Dr. Hammond.

Ephesians 4:25

25.—for we are members one of another.] Either by our union into one mystical body, or as members of human society at large: and nothing is more pernicious to society than falsehood, or tends more to destroy the security and mutual confidence, which ought always to be among men. Dean Stanhope, Burkitt.

Ephesians 4:26

26. Be ye angry, and sin not:] Anger is a passion, which is capable of serving excellent purposes, when managed with sobriety and discretion: and which the honour of God, the reverence due to the laws, the love of virtue, the protection of good men, may make, not only innocent, but necessary and commendable. Thus Moses was exceedingly provoked, and his “anger waxed hot,” at the molten calf, which the Israelites had made to dishonour God and themselves in the wilderness, Exod. xxxii. 19. And our blessed Saviour, the perfect pattern of meekness and patience, is said not only to have been “grieved,” but to have “looked upon the Pharisees with anger, because of the hardness of their hearts,” Mark iii. 5. St. Paul also in this passage seems to imply, that some anger is warrantable with regard to private injuries and affronts; provided always that due care be taken to restrain its excess, and to conquer and compose it in time. It is therefore very observable how this caution runs, “Be ye angry, and sin not,” &c. Meanwhile the manner of this exhortation plainly argues, that however lawful anger may be upon some occasions, and in some degrees; yet the justest anger cannot be excused, when it continues long. Dean Stanhope.

—let not the sun go down upon your wrath:] This precept was observed by the scholars of Pythagoras, who, when they had been angry and reproached one another, before the sun went down, shook hands, and embraced one another. This must the Christian do, as to the spirit of the precept, before he offers up to God his devotions, that so he may “fift up” to God “holy hands without wrath,” 1 Tim. ii. 8. Dr. Whitby.

Ephesians 4:27

27. Neither give place to the devil.] To tempt you to any sinful action by doing mischief to the person you are angry with. Dr. Wells. It was a maxim with the Jews, Let a man be always on his guard against anger;

Against stealing, &c. Paul exhorteth to love, Anno DOMINI 64. Or, to distribute. Or, to edify profitably.

Ephesians 4:28

28. Let him that stole steal no more:] In several nations, so defective were their notions of morality, stealing was accounted a small, or scarce any sin; and was rather countenanced than discouraged by some Grecian commonwealths, particularly in that of Lacedemon, where, Plutarch says, ‘it was enacted or agreed that the free-born youths might steal whatever they could.’ Pyle.

— but rather let him labour.] The reason for joining the prohibition of stealth with the precept of labour is obvious. ‘Stealing,’ saith St. Chrysostom, ‘is an effect of idleness.’ Dr. Hammond.

— that he may have to give &c.] This charity the primitive Christians expected even from them that laboured with their own hands. Dr. Whitby.

Even the poor should extend bounty to any that are still poorer, whenever they can really spare it. Nature and reason call upon them to do so; agreeably to which the Apostle requires men “to work with their own hands, that they may have to give to him that needeth.” And as our Saviour hath taught us that our charities shall be estimated in proportion to our abilities, the lowest have as much encouragement as the highest to do, even in this way, all the good they can. Abp. Secker.

Ephesians 4:29

29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.] That is, speech offensive to the hearers, or which tends to corrupt their minds. See chap. v. 4. Obscene discourse of every kind is chiefly intended in this prohibition. The same character however is applicable likewise to calumny, railing, commendations of vice, and profane jestings on religion and its ministers: because all such speech is not only offensive to virtuous ears, but tends to corrupt those to whom it is addressed, by lessening their abhorrence of vice, and their reverence for piety and goodness. Dr. Macknight.

— but that which is good to the use of edifying, &c.] The same direction is repeated in other places. Now though this precept ought not to be extended to all, nor perhaps to most of the words which we utter, yet certainly it enjoins more than several persons imagine or perform. If, as our Lord observes, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” it must be said, though to some it may be a hard sentence, that he out of whose mouth religious and virtuous sentiments never proceed hath a heart void of all good qualities. He who loves his God and his duty will even undesignedly show some marks in his discourse, whatsoever be

Ephesians 4:30

30. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, &c.] In fine, neither do nor say any thing, that may be inconsistent with those blessed endowments of the Holy Spirit, which are conferred upon you; or may deprive you of His sacred influences, which are the pledges of your present pardon, and the earnest of your eternal happiness. Pyle. The Holy Spirit being a Divine Person, it is certain that He cannot be properly grieved or vexed as we are. We therefore must remove from this expression, when it is applied to Him, all turbulent motions, all real pain, disquiet, discontent, and look upon it as spoken after the manner of men; intimating, 1st, that we act towards Him in such a manner, as creates grief in our fellow-creatures, when we act so to them, as when we refuse to hearken to His counsels, rebel against His government, and do that which is opposite to His holy nature: 2dly, that He in consequence acts so towards us as men are wont to do, when they are grieved by us and displeased at us; withdrawing their former kindness, flying our company, and abandoning us to our enemies. Dr. Whitby. See the notes on Gen vi. 6; Deut. i. 34.

— sealed unto the day of redemption.] See chap. i. 13, 14; Luke xxi. 28; Rom. viii. 23.

Ephesians 4:31

31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, &c.] It was probably the Apostle’s design, in amassing so many almost synonymous expressions together, to shew that he would have them be on their guard against all malerolent passions, and those outrages of speech and expression, which they tend to produce. The like remark may be applied to many other passages of Scripture. Dr. Doddridge.

Chap. V. The first and second verses conclude the exhortation to love and unanimity in the end of the foregoing chapter. Then the Apostle repeats his caution against their former heathenish vices, particularly such as accompanied their idolatrous worship: and descends to the relative duties, wherein the Jewish Christians, by former prejudices, were too apt to be deficient. See the preface to this Epistle. Pyle.

Ver. 1. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;] The former chapter having concluded with an exhortation to meekness, charity, and the forgiveness of