Ephesians 1

Ephesians 1:4

Agreeably to what before the creation of the world he had determined in his decree of giving of Christ, viz., to call men from vicious living to Christianity and sanctity and purity of life, such as he will accept of coming from the sincere love of him and of our brethren:

Ephesians 1:5

Having in his eternal purpose of mercy appointed his Son to be preached unto the world, and

that as many as received his message, obeyed his commands, should be received by way of adoption into the number of his children, and live lives of obedience, of holiness and purity, unto him; a mercy attended with very rich advantages, all which have accrued to us, not from any merit or desert of ours, being supposed sinners and enemies unto him, but only from his free goodness toward us, which was pleased so to determine it.

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And this tends eminently to the setting forth the exceeding lustre of his mercy towards us, or of the gospel revealed to such unworthy wretches, (see note

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Having by that precious ransom paid for us, the blood of that dear Son of his, afforded us captives to sin a way of freedom, viz. a free pardon for all our past sins upon our present repentance and renovation: a work of the abundant favour and bounty of Almighty God,

Ephesians 1:8

Wherein also his infinitely wise disposal hath

eminently appeared in this (of all others) most probable and powerful means of bringing home sinners

to new life and bliss. 9, 10. Having now by the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles also manifested to us that secret will of his, of which there can be no cause or motive rendered but his own free mercy and purposed reso-

¹ benediction in the things that belong to heaven through Christ, εὐλογία ἐν τοῖς ἀκουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ. ² his own, αὐτοῦ. ³ with which he hath favoured us, ἐν ᾧ ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς, or, which he hath afforded us: for the King’s MS. reads ἧς ἐχαρίτωσεν. ⁴ Or, bounty: for the King’s MS. reads χρηστότητος. ⁵ which he hath made to abound, or, abundantly poured out, ἧς ἐπερίσσεψε. ⁶ his own, αὐτοῦ. ⁷ his own. ⁸ For the dispensation, or, administration, εἰς οἰκονομ. or, Against, or, According to: for the King’s MS. reads Κατὰ τὴν. ⁹ to gather, ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι.

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[b] gather together in one] Κεφάλαιον in arithmetic signifies a sum, συναρίθμησις, the putting many members together into one; hence ἀνακεφαλαιούν, to put many severals together; and when it is used of speech, then it is to speak briefly and summarily, Eccles. xxxii. 8; and so saith Chrysostom, ἐν τύπῳ τὰ ἐπὶ μακρὸν λεγόμενα, &c., “to contract a long discourse into few words.” It is used in military affairs for the contracting or putting together scattered soldiers into one troop. In rhetoric it is the repeating and gathering the head of the former discourse or oration. In all it is the bringing into one those that were several, and so it is here the uniting and joining together of those that were disparate and severed before; the same that in the parallel place, Col. i. 20, is ἀποκυταλλάξαι and εἰρηνοποιῆσαι, bringing all to an agreement or pacification.

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Through the same Christ, I say, by whom we Jews have had the will of God revealed to us, now above all that we ever had before, the gospel being first preached unto us, Acts iii. 26, and those of us which have believed taken possession of, as of a patrimony or portion assigned and set apart to God, to serve him in holiness according to the secret counsel of him who had long since decreed and determined this of his own free mercy to us,

[c] obtained an inheritance] Κληροῦσθαι (if ἐκληρώθημεν be the right reading) signifies, to be taken as a κλῆρος, lot or patrimony, in the passive voice and sense. Now the κλῆροι among the Hebrews were those portions of land that fell by lot to any in the division of a land or estate, as in the first division of Canaan Judah had his lot, or portion, or division, Reuben his, and God was Levi’s lot, or inheritance, or possession, as we call it. So in like manner, when in the division of the world into Jews and Gentiles God chose the Jews, they were said to be his κλῆρος or portion, Deut. iv. 20, and so believers or Christians are now styled, 1 Pet. v. 3; and in a more peculiar manner they that preached the gospel, the apostles, who seem to be here noted by the καὶ, (raising it somewhat higher than those had had the knowledge of his will, ver. 9,) and surely are the ἡμεῖς, we, ver. 12, and προηλπικόνες, the first that hoped or believed in Christ, and who, as such, were before others preferred to that dignity. And so accordingly have all that have served God in the ministry been called God’s κλῆρος or clergy, by whom therefore they are here said κληροῦσθαι, to become God’s peculiar possession or portion. But the king’s MS. hath not this word, but only ἐκλήθημεν, we were called.

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To this end, that we that were first converted to Christianity might publish and preach and make known the gospel to all others, and set it out as illustriously as might be.

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By whom also it is that ye Gentiles, though after called, yet now also having heard and believed the gospel, by which you are escaped out of your idolatrous sinful course, are in like manner secured and marked out by God for good, by receiving that Spirit which is promised to believers, and which is the mark of all those whom God receives: (see note

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Which is given by God as a pledge or first part of payment of that inheritance which he hath destined to us, (grace, pardon, salvation, and all the inheritance that God will instate upon his children,) and this on purpose to purchase to himself a peculiar

[d] earnest] The Greek ἀρραβών is a Syriac word, עֲרָבִין, from עֲרָב, contraxit, mercatus est, fidejussit, “to make any bargain,” as it signifies Gen. xxxviii. 17, a pledge, or first part of a payment, which is an assurance or security that the rest of the whole price shall not fail to follow. This is it which in English is peculiarly called the earnest, that which confirms and assures the bargain. And so the spirit and gifts thereof after the ascension of Christ, poured out not only upon Jews but Gentiles, is the pledge or earnest paid by God, the first part of the price which he hath agreed to give for the bringing in and redeeming the Gentiles out of the hands of Satan and sin, to be the servants of the living God: those many other graces and rich treasures consequent to that gift, pardon of sin, increase of grace, and at last salvation itself, being the residue of the price, and here called κληρονομία ἡμῶν, our portion, or that which we receive in the bargain, in this great purchase of God’s, his work of redeeming of souls.

[e] redemption] What περιποίησις signifies, will be seen note [d] on

Ephesians 1:15

Considering therefore this mercy of God as to others, so particularly to you, both knowing myself the good success of my preaching the faith among you, and having received advertisement of your great proficiency in it, since the time I was among you, and of that inseparable effect and branch of it, your great charity to all Christians that want your assistance,

Ephesians 1:17

For the time to come, I should be glad if they that are Christians, or would be esteemed so, would not cause trouble or vexation to me, for I am now otherwise employed than to need that trouble, and have greater evidence of my being a servant of Christ than to doubt of the sincerity of the discharge of my office, and my acceptance with him, howsoever I am looked on by you; for I have on me those afflictions which are marks and notes of a servant of Christ, and which testify me to belong to him, and that it is not long before he will seize me as his own peculiar.

c the favour and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ— See note on the title to the epistle. # THE # EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO # THE [a] EPHESIANS. # CHAP. I.

PAUL, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, a to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

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That by this means of illumination ye may be furnished to all spiritual uses, discerning thoroughly what is the benefit of his calling us to Christianity, and what the glorious blessed condition of those graces of his which are distributed among Christians here (as also of those endless joys which are now instated on all penitent, obedient, faithful servants of his) as an inheritance to the children, infinitely above that Canaan that was bestowed on Abraham’s posterity;

19, 20. And withal the infiniteness of his power that hath been engaged in this work toward us believers in subduing our enemies, sin, and death the punishment of sin, and raising us sinners first to a new and then to an eternal life, which was a work of the same omnipotence with that which he first evidenced in that miraculous raising of Christ from the grave, and exalting him to the highest degree of glory, next to himself in heaven, (an emblem and essay of the methods which he hath now used toward

¹⁴ having heard, ἀκούσας. ¹⁵ to the acknowledgment of him, ἐν ἐκτρώσει αὐτοῦ. ¹⁶ τίς ὁ πλοῦτος, what the riches, is left out in the King’s MS.