Ephesians 3
HAMMEphesians 3:1
Hereupon I Paul, as an apostle, so at this time a prisoner also of Jesus Christ, who am persecuted for this one thing, because I preach to the Gentiles, and according to the doctrine of Christ vindicate the liberty of the Gentile converts, and the no-necessity of circumcision to them; see note [c] Gal. ii.;
Ephesians 3:2
Which you cannot choose but know, if you understand (see note [f] ch. i.) any thing of my apo-
¹² upon it, ἐν αὐτῷ. ¹⁵ being the corner stone of it, ὄντος ἀκρογωνιαίου αὐτοῦ. will increase, συναρμολογουμένη αἴξει. ¹³ he hath come and, ἐλθὼν εἰπῆγγ. ¹⁶ he hath come and, ἐλθὼν εἰπῆγγ. ¹⁷ for, ἐν. ¹⁸ domestics of God, οἰκεῖοι. ¹⁹ being compacted together, ¹⁸ by, or, through, ἐν.
Ephesians 3:5
Which mystery in the former ages was so far from being revealed to men, that it was generally thought unlawful to converse or have any thing to do with the Gentiles, till now the contrary hath been revealed (as to Peter, Acts x, so) particularly to me, ver. 3, and generally to the apostles and others (that received visions to that purpose, and extraordinary gifts for the benefit and use of the church, the gifts of tongues, &c. on purpose that they might preach to all nations,)
Ephesians 3:6
viz. That the Gentiles were to be taken in with the Jews into the same inheritance, and have part in all the pardon and grace, acceptation and reward, which is now made over to believers in Christ; that they were to be members of Christ, and so receive influences from the head (as well as the Jews); that they were to partake of all the promises made in Christ, and that the preaching of the gospel to them was to be a means of all this;
Ephesians 3:7
In which work I have been made use of as an instrument, God out of his free grace to me, that was a persecutor, being thus pleased to employ me, and by the gift of tongues and miracles, &c. fitting me for the discharge of it.
Ephesians 3:8
I, I say, who am the unworthiest person, and most unfit for such an office, have yet had this dignity, this favour, this commission vouchsafed to me, to make known to the Gentiles this bounty of Christ’s toward them, in receiving them freely into covenant, without those impositions of circumcision, &c. which were required of the Jews: a thing which could not by any clue or search have been found in the Jewish law, if Christ had not commanded, and I and other apostles received revelation to do it;
[a] grace] The word χάρις here, and χάρισμα in other places, 1 Tim. iv. 14, signifies some special favour of God’s in order to some charge or office, that especially of the ministry. So when Levi is called God’s holy one, Deut. xxxiii. 8, the word there used in the Hebrew is חכּירך, not thy ἅγιοι so properly, (that would be כְּרִישׁ,) as thy κεχαριτωμένοι, חכּר signifying χάρις, favour here; and so the person to whom the חכּר belongs, is he that is favoured by God in a special manner, preferred to such a dignity (an office) before others, without consideration of any dignity in the person, only upon the free mercy and good pleasure of God.
Ephesians 3:9
And to let all men see what this mystery is which hath so long lain hid in God, (who, as he created all things at first by Jesus Christ, so hath now wrought this great work of new creation, of regene-
¹ have afore written, προέγραψα. ² communication, κουπωσία. ³ hath been hid from
the ages, ἀποκεκρυμμένον ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων.
Ephesians 3:10
That by what is now done in the church, the very angels may now come to know that which before they knew not, the great variety of God’s wise dispensing of things, as in his dealing formerly with the Jews, so now in calling the Gentiles to the light of the truth, and knowledge, and practice of all Christian virtue,
Ephesians 3:11
According to that which he had beforehand decreed in Christ, of the several ages of the world, to dispose things after that manner, that in the last age these worst of men, the heathen idolaters, should have Christ revealed to them;
Ephesians 3:12
Through whose mediation the Gentiles, all that believe, have now boldness given them and liberty to approach (see note [a] John vii.) and address themselves to God, with confidence of reception and acceptance.
Ephesians 3:13
And therefore I that am persecuted for this reason peculiarly, because I preach to the Gentiles, (which the Jews think to be unlawful, and it is not strange they should, when it was a mystery not formerly revealed to the very angels, ver. 10,) do desire and pray first for myself, (as after he prays for them, ver. 16,) that I be not amated at any thing that befalls me in this cause; or I do beseech you and pray for you that you be not discouraged, or stopt, or amated (see note [a] Luke xviii.) in your course, upon consideration of the sufferings that have fallen on me for your sakes, (that is, because I converse with and preach to you, or assert this dealing of God toward the Gentiles,) which should be rather matter of glorying or rejoicing to you.
Ephesians 3:14
For this cause I humbly beseech God daily for the sake of his dear Son Christ Jesus our Lord,
Ephesians 3:15
(Through whom it is that the whole world of men, Gentiles as well as Jews (see note [c] Col. i.) are now acknowledged and owned by God as children, called after his name Christians, received into his family upon their receiving of the faith,)
Ephesians 3:16
And having united them one to another, might also reconcile them to God, having by his sufferings taken away all quarrel or falling out, whether betwixt God and them, or (especially here) betwixt Jew and Gentile, having died for both indifferently, and thereby sealed his covenant of mercies to both.
That according to the abundance of that power by which he hath called you to the faith, and wrought in you obedience to it, he will also by his Spirit give
⁴ that now, ἵνα νῦν. ⁵ fore-disposing of the ages, πρόθεσιν τῶν αἰώνων. ⁶ entreat you not to be disheartened, αἰνόψαι μὴ ἰκκωτίν, or, I desire, or, pray not to be, or, that I be not troubled: so the Syriac, that my spirit be not troubled. ⁷ his own, αἰνόψ.
Ephesians 3:17
And accordingly it is that he hath by his apostles (see note [c] 1 Pet. iii.) preached the gospel, and in it all kind of good news to you Gentiles, as well as to the Jews.
That ye may continue constant in the faith of Christ, and by your zeal and sincerity of love toward him be so fastened to him, (as a tree that hath taken deep root, or as a building firmly founded,) that no temptation or persecution be able to shake you, ver. 13. 18, 19. That ye may be perfectly skilled (as all holy men should be) in the knowledge of immense wisdom, and other attributes of God, (John xi. 8, 9,) or (as the ancients are willing to understand these dimensions) understand and search into the immensity of Christ’s love to us, best expressed by the several dimensions of the cross to which he was fastened, being extended upward and downward, and on both sides; I mean, that unspeakable and unfathomable love of Christ, the knowledge of which is a science of great concernment unto us, far beyond all that mysterious knowledge that the Gnostics boast of, or to consider the infinite mercy of God in revealing Christ unto us, that this may inflame your hearts with the love of God, who thus loved us, and so fill you with that virtue which is most divine, 1 John iv. 16, and which will fortify you against all the persecutions which are now apt to discourage you, ver. 13.
Ephesians 3:18
For by the covenant made in him, we have both admission afforded us, and confidence to approach to God as to our Father, having the Spirit of Christ to intercede for us, both Jews and Gentiles.
19, 20. And so now ye are no longer foreigners, as the Gentiles were wont to be called by the Jews, but taken to be fellow-citizens with the Jews, and members of God’s family, that is, received into the church, into the number of believers, added to that building of which Christ was the corner stone, and the apostles and prophets joined to him, as the foundation built thereon.
Ephesians 3:19
[b] know] The meaning of this verse will not easily be pitched on, because it is not certain whether the reading be ὑπερβάλλουσαν τῆς γνώσεως ἀγάπην τοῦ Χριστοῦ, or, as the king’s MS. reads, ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἀγάπην τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ. If the first be the right reading, it must then be rendered the love of Christ which exceedeth knowledge; where the comparison being laid betwixt the love of Christ and knowledge, and the love of Christ being by ver. 18 determined to signify Christ’s love of us, the knowledge must probably signify those things which the Gnostics pretend to know, and boast so much in that knowledge; and so to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, is to study and contemplate that one subject, Christ’s infinite love to us, which is infinitely more worth our studying than what they boast of: and so this is no improbable sense of the place, that the apostle having prayed that they may comprehend the immense love of Christ toward them, ver. 18, should add also, that they may know that love of Christ’s, which excelleth knowledge, that is, (as the Gnostics are very proud of their deep and secret knowledge, and place great perfection therein, so they on the other side should,) look upon the huge love of Christ toward them, such as being considered will by way of gratitude incline them to suffer any thing for his sake, in opposition to being discouraged at tribulations, ver. 13, and to possess their hearts of that, as that which is far more worth their thinking of and studying, than the highest knowledge or skill of mystical interpretations, which the Gnostics so pretended to. As for the notion of γνώσεως for knowledge, simply taken, so as to exceed knowledge should signify unsearchable, unintelligible, that cannot probably be the meaning of it, when at the same time he prays they may know it, and besides, the genitive case γνώσεως being the note of comparison, seems rather to refer to the former notion, to compare love and knowledge together, and prefer the former. But if the other be the right reading, then the rendering will be plain, the exceeding love of the knowledge of Christ: and though that be capable of several interpretations, whether, first, the love of God in revealing, and of Christ in vouchsafing to be known to us, or, secondly, our love of Christian knowledge, yet the former will be more commodious, because more agreeable to ver. 18, where it is God’s love toward us that they are to comprehend; and this is one special branch of that, his revealing his
[c] filled with all the fulness of God] Πληρόω, to fulfil, signifies to fill up vacuities, to perfect, to complete; see note [h] on Matt. v.; so here, having recommended to them the βάλλονσαν ἀγάπην, exceeding love or charity of God toward them, viz. rich love, and promises of God in Christ, he adds that they may be fulfilled, that is, (as an effect of their consideration of God’s love towards them,) filled up and perfected to the highest pitch that God now in Christ requires of us, and that is properly called πᾶν πλήρωμα Θεοῦ, all the fulness of God, that is, all that perfection of charity to which God in Christ hath designed to elevate the Christian, and wherein in a manner all Christianity doth consist, and to which we are engaged by his love to us.
Ephesians 3:20
Now to that all-wise and all-merciful God, that can do most abundantly above what we can imagine, and will do liberally above what we can pray for to him, an evidence of which we have in that mighty work which is now wrought among you, in the preaching of the gospel, and affording such miracles to be done among the Gentiles,
Ephesians 3:21
On whom all Christians being built, and Jews and Gentiles, how distant soever formerly, united now and knit together, are thereby enabled to continue in that unity, and make up one Christian church, to adore and worship God together.
To him be all honour ascribed through Jesus Christ, by what is now done in the church, even by the means of the faith and doctrine of Christ, which is now preached to the Gentile world: and may this for ever tend to the glory of God, and not only at this present time, but among all posterities through all parts of the world. Amen.
⁸ in power by his own Spirit, δυνάμει διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ. ⁹ being rooted and founded
in love, that ye may be able, ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἑρριζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι ἵνα ἐξισχύσητε. ¹⁰ Or,
the superlative love of the knowledge of Christ: for the King’s MS. reads ὑπερβάλλονταν
ἀγάπην τῆς γνώσεως. ¹¹ to, eis. ¹² superabundantly, ὑπὲρ ἐκ περισσοῦ. ¹³ which
is wrought among us, ἐνεργουμένην ἐν ἡμῖν, or, among you: for the King’s MS. reads ὑμῖν.
¹⁴ Or, and, or, even by Christ: for the King’s MS. reads καὶ ἐν.
[d] in the church] The variety of reading, either with or without καὶ, and, makes it doubtful how this verse should be rendered. If it be without καὶ, and, then it must first be observed, that the preposition ἐν, signifying sometimes in, as in a place, (and so it may possibly be here, in the assembly of Christians for ever,) signifies also through and by; and so it may most probably signify here, and be all one with διὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, by the church, ver. 10; that as there the various wisdom of God was demonstrated by the church, that is, by God’s dealing in it, so here that various wisdom and mercy of his should be acknowledged with thanksgiving. And then, though it is possible ἐν Χριστῷ may adhere to ἐκκλησίᾳ, and so be rendered the church in Christ Jesus, that is, the Christian church, yet because probably, if that were it, it would be expressed by repeating the article τῇ after ἐκκλησίᾳ, as it Isaiah 1 Cor. i. 2, therefore it will be more reasonable to render ἐν Χριστῷ, through Christ, as the mediator through whom as we pray, Rom. i. 8, so we give thanks and praise to God also. And so the meaning will be, All honour and glory be unto God through Jesus Christ, (by whom these mercies are conveyed to us,) for, or by, or through the church, that is, through those gracious and wise disposals of his, that are now wrought by receiving the Gentiles into the church, a thing which is likely to have main influence upon all posterities of the world for ever. But if the καὶ be taken in, (as in that ancient MS. it is,) then, as that must necessarily connect ἐκκλησίᾳ and Χριστῷ, church and Christ, whether it be rendered and or even, so the ἐν cannot signify in, as in a place, because that cannot be applied to ἐν Χριστῷ, in Christ, but must necessarily be rendered by or through, and the church and Christ must be the two means (though perhaps those two knit into one, by rendering καὶ, even) whereby this glory is to come in to God, and so is ascribed to him thus, All glory be to God the Father, the wise Disposer of all, through that which is now done in the church, and, or even, through what hath been done by Christ, in reconciling the Gentiles, and bringing them into the same fold with the Jews, making up one church of both.
Ephesians 3:22
Being also by Christ thus united, that he may come and reside among you, by communication of all those benign influences which flow down to your church from the Spirit of Christ.