        
• Key
Chapter 1
- The apostle's salutation to the Church, 1,2.
- He
blesses God for calling the Gentiles to the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ, by whose sacrificial death
both they and the Jews find redemption, 3-7.
- He
shows that it was through the great abundance of God's
wisdom and goodness that the Gentiles were called into
a state of salvation, and that they should receive the
Holy Spirit as the earnest of their inheritance,
8-15.
- He praises God for their conversion, and prays that
they may be farther enlightened, that they may see the
glory of Christ, and partake of the blessings procured
by his passion and exaltation, 16-23.
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Verse 1. To the saints which are at
Ephesus
As some learned men think that this
epistle was written to the Church of the Laodiceans,
and that the words ενεφεσω, in Ephesus, were not
originally in this epistle, the consideration of the subject
has appeared to be more proper for the preface; and to
that the reader is referred for a particular discussion of
this opinion. By the term saints we are to understand
those who in that place professed Christianity, and
were members of the Christian Church. Saint properly
signifies a holy person, and such the Gospel of Christ
requires every man to be, and such every true believer
is, both in heart and life; but saint appears to
have been as ordinary a denomination of a believer in Christ
in those primitive times, as the term Christian is now.
Yet many had the name who had not the thing.
The faithful in Christ
Jesus
πιστοις. the believers-the
persons who received Christ as the promised Messiah, and the
Saviour of the world, and continued in the grace which they
had received.
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Verse 2. Grace be to
you
See Clarke on Romans
1:7.
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Verse 3. Blessed be the
God
See Clarke on 2 Corinthians
1:3. where the same form is used.
With all spiritual
blessings
With the pure doctrines of
the Gospel, and the abundant gifts and graces of
the Holy Ghost, justifying, sanctifying, and building us up on
our most holy faith.
In heavenly places
εντοιςεπουρανιοις. In heavenly things, such as
those mentioned above; they were not yet in heavenly
places, but they had abundance of heavenly
things to prepare them for heavenly places. Some think the
word should be understood as signifying blessings of
the most exalted or excellent kind, such as are
spiritual in opposition to those that are
earthly, such as are eternal in opposition to
those that are temporal; and all these in,
through and by CHRIST. We have already seen, on Galatians
4:26, that the heavenly Jerusalem, or Jerusalem
which is from above, is used by the Jews to signify the
days of the Messiah, and that state of grace and glory which
should follow the Levitical worship and ceremonies; and it is
possible that St. Paul may use the word επουρανια, heavenly
things, in this sense: God hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly things, or in
this heavenly state, in which life and immortality
are brought to light by the Gospel. This is apparently the
preferable sense.
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Verse 4. According as he hath chosen
us in him
As he has decreed from the
beginning of the world, and has kept in view from the
commencement of the religious system of the Jews,
(which the phrase sometimes means,) to bring us Gentiles to
the knowledge of this glorious state of salvation by Christ
Jesus. The Jews considered themselves an elect or
chosen people, and wished to monopolize the whole of
the Divine love and beneficence. The apostle here shows that
God had the Gentiles as much in the contemplation of his mercy
and goodness as he had the Jews; and the blessings of the
Gospel, now so freely dispensed to them, were the proof that
God had thus chosen them, and that his end in giving
them the Gospel was the same which he had in view by giving
the law to the Jews, viz. that they might be holy and without
blame before him. And as his object was the same in respect to
them both, they should consider that, as he loved
them, so they should love one another: God
having provided for each the same blessings, they should
therefore be αγιους, holy-fully separated from
earth and sin, and consecrated to God and
αμωμους, without blame-having no spot nor
imperfection, their inward holiness agreeing with their
outward consecration. The words are a metaphor taken
from the perfect and immaculate sacrifices which
the law required the people to bring to the altar of God. But
as love is the fulfilling of the law, and
love the fountain whence their salvation flowed,
therefore love must fill their hearts towards God and
each other, and love must be the motive and
end of all their words and works.
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Verse 5. Having predestinated
us
προορισας. As the doctrine of eternal
predestination has produced much controversy in the
Christian world, it may be necessary to examine the meaning of
the term, that those who do use it may employ it according to
the sense it has in the oracles of God. The verb προοπζω, from
προ, before, and οριζω, I define, finish, bound,
or terminate, whence ορος, a boundary or
limit, signifies to define beforehand,
and circumscribe by certain bounds or limits; and is
originally a geographical term, but applied also to any thing
concluded, or determined, or demonstrated. Here the word is
used to point out God's fixed purpose or predetermination to
bestow on the Gentiles the blessing of the adoption
of sons by Jesus Christ, which adoption had been before
granted to the Jewish people; and without
circumcision, or any other Mosaic rite, to admit the
Gentiles to all the privileges of his Church and people. And
the apostle marks that all this was fore-determined by
God, as he had fore-determined the bounds and precincts of the
land which he gave them according to the promise made to their
fathers; that the Jews had no reason to complain, for God had
formed this purpose before he had given the law,
or called them out of Egypt; (for it was before the
foundation of the world, Ephesians
1:4;) and that, therefore, the conduct of God in calling
the Gentiles now-bringing them into his Church, and
conferring on them the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit,
was in pursuance of his original design; and, if he did
not do so, his eternal purposes could not be fulfilled; and
that, as the Jews were taken to be his peculiar people,
not because they had any goodness or merit in
themselves; so the Gentiles were called, not for any
merit they had, but according to the good pleasure
of his will; that is, according to his eternal
benevolence, showing mercy and conferring privileges in
this new creation, as he had done in the original creation;
for as, in creating man, he drew every consideration from his
own innate eternal benevolence, so now, in redeeming man, and
sending the glad tidings of salvation both to the Jews and the
Gentiles, be acted on the same principles, deriving all the
reasons of his conduct from his own infinite goodness.
This argument was exceedingly conclusive, and must silence
the Jews on the ground of their original, primitive,
and exclusive rights, which they were ever ready to
plead against all pretensions of the Gentiles. If therefore
God, before the foundation of the Jewish
economy, had determined that the Gentiles, in the
fulness of time, should be called to and admitted into
all the privileges of the Messiah's kingdom, then the
exclusive salvation of the Jews was chimerical; and
what God was doing now, by the preaching of the apostles in
the Gentile world, was in pursuance of his original design.
This same argument St. Paul repeatedly produces in his Epistle
to the Romans; and a proper consideration of it unlocks
many difficulties in that epistle. See the notes on Romans
8:29,30; and elsewhere, in the course of that epistle,
where this subject is handled. But why is the word προορισας,
fore-determined, limited, or circumscribed, used
here? Merely in reference to the settlement of the Israelites
in the promised land. God assigned to them the
portions which they were to inherit; and these
portions were described, and their bearings,
boundaries, vicinities to other portions, extent
and length, as exactly ascertained as they could
be by the most correct geographical map. As God,
therefore, had dealt with the Jews in making them his peculiar
people, and when he divided the earth among the sons of Noah
reserved to himself the twelve portions which he
afterwards gave to the twelve tribes; (See Clarke on Deuteronomy
32:8.;) and as his dealings with them were typical
of what he intended to do in the calling and salvation of the
Gentiles; so he uses the terms by which their allotment and
settlement were pointed out to show that, what he had thus
designed and typified, he had now fulfilled according to the
original predetermination; the Gentiles having now the
spiritual inheritance which God had pointed out by the grant
made of the promised land to the children of Israel.
This is the grand key by which this predestination business is
unlocked. See Clarke on Ephesians
1:11.
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Verse 6. To the praise of the glory
of his grace
δοξηςτης χαριτοςαυτου. The
glory of his grace, for χαριςενδοξος, his
glorious or illustrious grace, according to the
Hebrew idiom. But the grace or mercy of God is peculiarly
illustrated and glorified in the plan of redemption by Christ
Jesus. By the giving of the LAW, God's justice and
holiness were rendered most glorious; by the giving of
the GOSPEL, his grace and mercy are made equally
conspicuous.
Wherein he hath made us accepted
in the Beloved
This translation of
ενηεχαριτωσενημαςεντωηγαπημενω) is not clear; with which he
has graciously favoured us through the Beloved, is at once
more literal and more intelligible. Whitby, Macknight,
and Wakefield translate the passage in nearly the same
way.
In the Beloved must certainly mean in Christ,
who is termed God's beloved Son, Matthew
3:17; but several excellent MSS., such as D*EFG, the later
Syriac, the AEthiopic, Vulgate, Itala, with
several of the fathers, add, υιωαυτου, his beloved
Son. This is the meaning, whether the
reading be received or rejected.
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Verse 7. In whom we have
redemption
God has glorified his grace by
giving us redemption by the blood of his Son, and this
redemption consists in forgiving and delivering us from our
sins; so then Christ's blood was the redemption price
paid down for our salvation: and this was according to the
riches of his grace; as his grace is rich or
abundant in benevolence, so it was manifested in
beneficence to mankind, in their redemption by the
sacrifice of Christ, the measure of redeeming grace
being the measure of God's own eternal goodness.
It may not be useless to remark that, instead of τηςχαριτος
αυτου, his grace, the Codex Alexandrinus and the
Coptic version have τηςχρηστοτητος, his
goodness.
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Verse 8. Wherein he hath
abounded
That is, in the dispensation of
mercy and goodness by Christ Jesus.
In all wisdom and
prudence
Giving us apostles the most
complete instructions in heavenly things by the inspiration of
his Spirit; and at the same time prudence, that we
might know when and where to preach the Gospel
so that it might be effectual to the salvation of those who
heard it. Nothing less than the Spirit of God
could teach the apostles that wisdom by which they were
to instruct a dark and sinful world; and nothing less than the
same Spirit could inspire them with that prudence which
was necessary to be exercised in every step of their life and
ministry. Every wise man is not a prudent man, and every
prudent man is not a wise man. Wisdom and
prudence may be expected in an apostle who is
constantly living under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
"Wisdom," according to Sir William Temple, "is
that which makes men judge what are the best ends, and what
the best means to attain them; and gives a man advantage of
counsel and direction." "Prudence is wisdom applied to
practice; or that discreet, apt suiting as well of actions as
words, in their due place, time, and manner. Every minister of
Christ needs these still; and if he abide not under the
influence of both, not only his prayers but his
ministerial labours will be all hindered,
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Verse 9. Having made known unto us
the mystery
That the Gentiles should ever
be received into the Church of God, and have all the
privileges of the Jews, without being obliged to submit to
circumcision, and perform the rites and ceremonies of the
Jewish law was a mystery-a hidden thing which
had never been published before; and now revealed only
to the apostles. It was God's will that it should be
so, but that will he kept hidden to the present time. A
mystery signifies something hidden, but it
ceases to be a mystery as soon as it is
revealed. See Clarke on Matthew
13:11.; and particularly that on, See Clarke on Romans
11:25.
Good pleasure
τηνευδοκιαν. That benevolent design which he had
purposed in himself, not being induced by any
consideration from without.
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Verse 10. In the dispensation of the
fulness of times
εις
οικονομιαντουπληρωματοςτωνκαιρων. The word οικονομια, which is
the same as our word economy, signifies, as Dr.
Macknight has well observed, "the plan which the master of a
family, or his steward, has established for the management of
the family;" it signifies, also, a plan for the management of
any sort of business: and here it means the dispensation of
the Gospel, that plan by which God has provided
salvation for a lost world; and according to which he intends
to gather all believers, both Jews and Gentiles, into one
Church under Jesus Christ, their head and governor. See Clarke
on Matthew
24:45. where the word and the office are
particularly explained.
The fulness of times-By this phrase we are to
understand either the Gospel dispensation, which is the
consummation of all preceding dispensations, and the last that
shall be afforded to man; or that advanced state of the
world which God saw to be the most proper for the full
manifestation of those benevolent purposes which he had formed
in himself relative to the salvation of the world by Jesus
Christ.
That he might gather together in
one
ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι, from ανα,
again, and κεφαλαιοω, to reduce to one sum; to add
up; to bring different sums together, and fractions
of sums, so as to reduce them under one denomination; to
recapitulate the principal matters contained
in a discourse. Here it means the gathering
together both Jews and Gentiles, who have believed in
Christ, into one Church and flock. See the preceding note.
All things-which are in heaven,
and which are on earth
This clause is
variously understood: some think, by things in heaven
the Jewish state is meant and by things on earth
the Christian. The Jews had been long considered a
Divine or heavenly people; their doctrine, their
government, their constitution, both civil and ecclesiastical,
were all Divine or heavenly: as the powers of the
heavens, Matthew
24:29, ; Luke
21:26, mean the Jewish rulers in Church and
state, it is very possible that the things which are in
heaven mean this same state; and as the Gentiles were
considered to have nothing Divine or heavenly
among them, they may be here intended by the earth, out
of the corruption of which they are to be gathered by the
preaching of the Gospel. But there are others who imagine that
the things in heaven mean the angelical
hosts; and the things on earth believers of all
nations, who shall all be joined together at last in one
assembly to worship God throughout eternity. And some think
that the things in heaven mean the saints who
died before Christ's advent, and who are not to
be made perfect till the resurrection, when the full power and
efficacy of Christ shall be seen in raising the bodies of
believers and uniting them with their holy souls, to reign in
his presence for ever. And some think that, as the Hebrew
phrase shamayim vehaarets, the heavens and the
earth, signifies all creatures, the words in the
text are to be understood as signifying all mankind,
without discrimination of peoples, kindreds, or tongues; Jews,
Greeks, or barbarians. All that are saved of all nations,
(being saved in the same way, viz. by faith in
Christ Jesus, without any distinction of nation or previous
condition,) and all gathered into one Church or
assembly.
I believe that the forming one Church out of both Jews and
Gentiles is that to which the apostle refers. This agrees with
what is said, Ephesians
2:14-17.
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Verse 11. In whom
Christ Jesus; also we-believing Jews have
obtained an inheritance-what was promised to Abraham
and his spiritual seed, viz. the adoption of sons, and
the kingdom of heaven, signified by the
privileges under the Mosaic dispensation, and the possession
of the promised land, but all these privileges being forfeited
by the rebellion and unbelief of the Jews, they are now about
to be finally cut off, and the believing part to be
re-elected, and put in possession of the blessings promised to
Abraham and his spiritual seed, by faith; for without a
re-election, they cannot get possession of these spiritual
privileges.
Being predestinated
God having determined to bring both Jews and Gentiles to
salvation, not by works, nor by any human means
or schemes, but by Jesus Christ; that salvation being
defined and determined before in the Divine
mind, and the means by which it should be brought about all
being according to his purpose, who consults not his
creatures, but operates according to the counsel of
his own will, that being ever wise, gracious, and good.
The original reference is still kept up here in the word
προορισθεντες, being predestinated, as in the word
προορισας Ephesians
1:5. And as the apostle speaks of obtaining the
inheritance, he most evidently refers to that of which the
promised land was the type and pledge.
And as that land was assigned to the Israelites by
limit and lot, both of which were
appointed by God so the salvation now sent to the
Gentiles was as expressly their lot or portion,
as the promised land was that of the people of
Israel. All this shows that the Israelites were a typical
people; their land, the manner of possessing
it, their civil and religious code, and that in,
by, and through them, God had fore-determined,
fore-described, and fore-ascertained a greater and
more glorious people, among whom the deepest counsels of his
wisdom should be manifested, and the most powerful works of
his eternal mercy, grace, holiness, goodness, and truth, be
fully exhibited. Thus there was nothing fortuitous in
the Christian scheme; all was the result of infinite counsel
and design. See Clarke on Ephesians
1:5.
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Verse 12. That we
Jews, now apostles and messengers of God, to whom the
first offers of salvation were made, and who were the
first that believed in Christ.
Should be to the praise of his
glory
By being the means of preaching
Christ crucified to the Gentiles, and spreading the
Gospel throughout the world.
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Verse 13. In whom ye also
trusted
Ye Gentiles, having heard from us
the word, τονλογον, the doctrine, of the truth,
which is the Gospel, or glad tidings, of your
salvation, have believed, as we Jews have done, and
received similar blessings to those with which God has
favoured us.
In whom also, ενω, through whom, Christ
Jesus, after that ye had believed, viz. that he
was the only Saviour, and that through his blood redemption
might be obtained, ye were sealed with that holy
Spirit of promise; that is, The Holy Spirit, which is
promised to them who believe on Christ Jesus, was given to
you, and thus you were ascertained to be the children
of God, for God has no child who is not a partaker of the Holy
Ghost, and he who has this Spirit has God's seal that
he belongs to the heavenly family. It was customary among all
nations, when a person purchased goods of any kind, to mark
with his seal that which he had bought, in order that he might
know it, and be able to claim it if mixed with the goods of
others; to this custom the apostle may here allude but it was
also customary to set a seal upon what was dedicated
to God, or what was to be offered to him in
sacrifice. See this proved in the note on "Joh
6:27". The Jews themselves speak of the seal of
God, which they term emeth, truth, and which they
consider as a representation of the unoriginated and endless
perfections of God. As the apostle is here speaking of the
doctrine of truth, which came by the Holy Spirit, and
is sealed on the souls of believers by this Spirit, he
may have in view the Jewish notion, which is at once both
correct and elevated. This Spirit of truth, John
14:17, who leads into all truth, John
16:13, and teaches all things, John
14:26, makes the impression of his own eternal purity and
truth in the souls of them who believe, and thus they bear the
seal of God Almighty. And they who in the day of
judgment are found to bear this seal-TRUTH;
truth in the inward parts, having truly
repented, truly believed, and having been in
consequence truly justified, and truly
sanctified; and having walked in truth and
sincerity towards God and man; these are sealed
to the day of redemption; for, having this seal, they
are seen to have a right to eternal life.
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Verse 14. Which is the earnest of
our inheritance
This Holy Spirit, sealing
the soul with truth and righteousness, is the earnest,
foretaste, and pledge of the heavenly inheritance.
And he who can produce this earnest-this witness of
the Spirit, in the day of judgment, shall have an abundant
entrance into the holiest. On the αρραβων, or earnest,
See Clarke on Genesis
38:13. See Clarke on 2 Corinthians
1:22.
The redemption of the purchased
possession
That is, till the time when body
and soul are redeemed from all their miseries, and glorified
in the kingdom on heaven.
The redemption of the purchased
possession-απολυτρωσιςτης περιποιησεως is variously
understood; and indeed the original is variously translated.
Dr. Whitby has observed that the verb πεειποιεις
signifies to save alive; and he refers the περιποιησις,
here, to the redemption of the body from corruption, and to
its final glorification with the soul.
All those who believe in Christ Jesus are considered as his
peculiar people and property, and to them eternal glory is
promised. The Spirit of promise, which is given them, is a
pledge that they shall have a resurrection from the dead, and
eternal blessedness; the redemption, or bringing to
life of the body, cannot take place till the day of judgment,
but the Holy Spirit promises this redemption, and is now in
their hearts an earnest or pledge of this
complete restoration at the great day, which will then be, in
an especial manner, to the praise of his glory, viz. of
Christ, who has bought them by his blood.
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Verse 15. Faith in the Lord
Jesus
Cordial reception of the Christian
religion, amply proved by their love to all the
saints-to all the Christians. Perhaps
love here implies, not only the kind affection so
called, but also all the fruits of love-benevolence, and kind
offices of every description.
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Verse 16. Cease not to give
thanks
The apostle intimates, so fully
satisfied was he of the genuineness of their conversion, and
of their steadiness since their conversion, that it was to him
a continual cause of thanksgiving to God, who had
brought them into that state of salvation; and of
prayer, that they might be preserved blameless to the
end.
Making mention of
you
While praying for the prosperity of the
Christian cause generally, he was led, from his particular
affection for them, to mention them by name before God.
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Verse 17. That the God of our Lord
Jesus
Jesus Christ, as man and
mediator, has the Father for his God and Father:
and it is in reference to this that he himself says: I
ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God
and your God; John
20:17.
The Father of glory
The author and giver of that glory which you expect
at the end of your Christian race. This may be a Hebraism for
glorious Father, but the former appears to be the best
sense.
The Spirit of wisdom and
revelation
I pray that God may give you his
Holy Spirit, by whom his will is revealed to men, that
he may teach and make you wise unto salvation,
that you may continue to acknowledge him, Christ Jesus,
as your only Lord and Saviour.
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Verse 18. The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened
The
understanding is that power or faculty in
the soul by which knowledge or information is
received, and the recipient power is here termed the
EYES of the understanding; and we learn from this that
οπεροοφθαλμοςεντωσωματιτουτοονουςεντηψυχη, as Philo
expresses it: What the eye is to the body, the
understanding is to the soul; and that as the
eye is not light in itself, and can discern nothing but by the
means of light shining, not only on the objects to be
viewed, but into the eye itself; so the understanding of man
can discern no sacred thing of or by itself, but sees by the
influence of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation; for without
the influence of God's Holy Spirit no man ever became
wise unto salvation, no more than a man ever discerned an
object, (no matter how perfect soever his eye might
have been,) without the instrumentality of light.
Instead of τηςδιανοιας, of your
understanding, της καρδιας, of your
heart, is the reading of ABDEFG, and several others;
also both the Syriac, all the Arabic, the
Coptic, the AEthiopic, Armenian, Sahidic, Slavonian,
Vulgate, and Itala, besides several of the
fathers. The eyes of your HEART is undoubtedly
the true reading.
The hope of his
calling
That you may clearly discern the
glorious and important objects of your hope, to
the enjoyment of which God has called or invited
you.
The riches of the glory of his
inheritance
That you may understand what is
the glorious abundance of the spiritual things to which
you are entitled, in consequence of being made children of
God; for if children, then heirs, heirs of that
glorious inheritance which God has provided for the
saints-for all genuine Christians, whether formerly
Jews or Gentiles. On the chief subject of this
verse, see the notes on Galatians
4:6,7.
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Verse 19. The exceeding greatness of
his power
As the apostle is here speaking
of the glorious state of believers after death, the
exceeding greatness of his power, or that power which
surpasses all difficulties, being itself omnipotent, is to be
understood of that might which is to be exerted in
raising the body at the last day; as it will require the same
power or energy which he wrought in Christ, when he raised
his body from the grave, to raise up the bodies of all
mankind; the resurrection of the human nature of Christ being
a proof of the resurrection of mankind in general.
According to the working of his
mighty power
κατατην
ενεργειαντουκρατουςτηςισχυοςαυτου. According to the
energy of the power of his might. We may understand
these words thus: MIGHT, ισχυς, is the state or simple
efficiency of this attribute in God; POWER, κρατος, is
this might or efficiency in action;
ENERGY, ενεργεια, is the quantum of force, momentum, or
velocity, with which the power is applied.
Though they appear to be synonymous terms they may be thus
understood: passive power is widely different from
power in action; and power in action will be in
its results according to the energy or momentum
with which it is applied. The resurrection of the dead is a
stupendous work of God; it requires his might in
sovereign action; and when we consider that all mankind are to
be raised and changed in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, then the momentum, or velocity,
with which the power is to be applied must be inconceivably
great. All motion is in proportion to the quantity
of matter in the mover, and the velocity
with which it is applied. The effect here is in
proportion to the cause and the energy he puts
forth in order to produce it. But such is the nature of God's
power in action, that it is perfectly inconceivable to us; and
even these astonishingly strong words of the apostle
are to be understood as used in condescension to human
weakness.
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Verse 20. Set him at his own
right hand in the heavenly places
Gave him,
as mediator between God and man, the highest honours and
dignities, Philippians
2:9; in which state of exaltation he transacts all the
affairs of his Church, and rules the universe. The right
hand is the place of friendship, honour, confidence, and
authority.
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Verse 21. Far above all
principality
The difficulty in this verse
does not arise from the words themselves, the meaning
of each being easily understood, but from the sense in
which the apostle uses them. Some think he has reference here
to the different orders among good and evil angels; he is
superior to all the former, and rules all the
latter. Others think he refers to earthly
governments; and as απχη, principality, the first
word, signifies the most sovereign and extensive kind of
dominion; and κυριοτης, lordship, the last word,
signifies the lowest degree of authority; hence we are
to understand that to our Lord, in his human nature, are
subjected the highest, the intermediate, and the
lowest orders of beings in the
universe.-Chandler. Others imagine that the apostle has
in view, by whatsoever is named in this world,
all the dignitaries of the Jewish Church; and by what
is named in the world to come, all the dignities that
should be found in the Christian Church.
Schoettgen supposes that the "apostle's αρχη (for
αρχοντες, the abstract for the concrete) means the same as the
Nesiim among the Jews, whose chief business it was to
clear and decide all contentions which arose concerning
traditions and legal controversies.
"That εξουσια, power, is the same as tsorba,
he who possesses authority to propound, expound,
persuade, convince, and refute.
"That δυναμις, might, answers to rabbanoth,
signifying all the class of rabbins, whose office it was to
expound the law, and teach the people generally.
"And that κυριοτης, dominion, answers to mar,
which signifies a person above the lower orders of men. And he
observes that Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, called
fishermen, publicans, and men from the lowest orders of the
people, to the work of the ministry; and made them instruments
of confounding and overturning all the Jewish rulers, rabbins,
and doctors. And that in the world which is to come-the
successive ages of Christianity, he should ever be exalted
above all those powers and authorities which Antichrist might
bring into the Christian Church; such as popes, cardinals,
wicked archbishops, bishops, deans, and canons; and all those
who among the schoolmen were termed seraphic doctors, angelic
doctors, most illuminated, most perfect, and irrefragable
doctors. And although Wiclif, Huss, Luther,
Melancthon, and the rest of the reformers, were
men of little or no note when compared with the rulers of the
popish Church, so eminently did the power of Christ work in
and by them, that the pope and all his adjutants were every
where confounded, and their power and authority annihilated in
several entire regions."
It is certain that the apostle means that all created
power, glory, and influence, are under Christ; and hence it is
added:
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JFB
Verse 22. And hath put all
things under his feet
All beings and
things are subject to him, whether they be thrones,
dominions, principalities, or powers, Colossians
1:16-18;; 2:10;
for he, God the Father, has given him to be head-chief,
and supreme, over all, to the Church, the Church
having no ruler but Jesus Christ; others may be
officers in his Church, but he alone is head and
supreme.
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JFB
Verse 23. Which is his
body
As he is head over all things,
he is head to the Church; and this Church is
considered as the body of which he is especially
the head; and from him, as the head, the Church receives
light, life, and intelligence.
And is the fulness of
him
That in which he especially manifests
his power, goodness, and truth; for though he fills all
the world with his presence, yet he fills all the members of
his mystical body with wisdom, goodness, truth, and holiness,
in an especial manner. Some understand the fulness or
πληρωμα, here, as signifying the thing to be filled; so
the Christian Church is to be filled by him, whose fulness
fills all his members, with all spiritual gifts and graces.
And this corresponds with what St. John says, John
1:16: And of his fulness have all we received, and
grace for grace. And with what is said, Colossians
2:9,10: Ye are complete in him;
καιεστεεναυτωπεπληρωμενοι. And ye are in him filled
full; i.e. with gifts and grace.
How, in any other sense, the Church can be said to be
the fulness of him who fills all in all, is
difficult to say. However, as Jesus Christ is represented to
be the head, and the Church, the body under that
head, the individuals being so many members in
that body; and as it requires a body and
members to make a head complete; so it requires
a Church, or general assembly of believers, to
make up the body of Christ. When, therefore, the
Jews and Gentiles are brought into this Church,
the body may be said to be complete; and thus Christ
has his visible fulness upon earth, and the Church may
be said to be the fulness of him, Ephesians
1:10.
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Copyright Statement
The Adam Clarke Commentary is a derivative of an
electronic edition prepared by GodRules.net.
Bibliography
Information
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary
on Ephesians 1". "The Adam Clarke Commentary".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?book=eph&chapter=001>.
1832.
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