15, "Turn from these vanities unto tlie living
Union of Ihe Once Alien Gentiles EPHESIANS II. with the Jews in ClinsU concerned (Colossians 2. 11), substituting for it the law of love, which is tlie everlasting spirit of the law, and which flows from the realization in the soul of His love in His death for us. Translate what follows, " That He might make the two (Jews and Gentiles) into one new man." Not that He might merely reconcile the two to each other, but incorporate tlie two, reconciled in Him to God, into one new man; the old man to which both belonged, the enemy of God, having been slain in His flesh on the cross. Observe, too, one new in.in ; we are all in God's sight but one in Christ, as we are but one in Adam. [Alford.] ifialclng peace—primarily between all and God, secondarily between Jews and Gentiles ; He being " our peace." This " peace-making " precedes its publication (v. 17). 16.'
substantially, is one and the same at all times, but only (Ulicrent in its accidents and external circumstances (cf. Hebrews 1. 1, "at sundry times and in divers manners"), witliout . . . Iiope — beyond this life
(1 Corinthians 15. 19). The conjectures of heathen philosophers as to a future life were at best vague and utterly unsatisfactory. They had no Divine " promise,'' and therefore no sure ground of " hope." Epicurus and Aristotle did not believe in it at all. Tlie Platonists believed the soul passed through perpetual changes, now happy, and then again miserable. The Stoics, that it existed no longer than till the time of the general burning up of all things, witliout God— GVee/c, "atheists," i. e., they had not "God" in the sense we use the word, the Eternal Being who made and governs all things (cf. Acts U.
Translate, " Might altogether reconcile them both in one body (the Church, Colossians 3. 15) unto God through His cross." The Greek for "reconcile" {apocatalaxe), found only here and Colossians 1. 20, expresses not only a return to favour with one (catallage), but so tt) lay aside enmity that complete amity follows; to pass from enmity to complete reeoneiliation. [Tittm.] slain-tlie eninlly— i;i2., that had been between man and God; and .so that between Jew and Gentile which had resulted from it. By His being stain, He sletu it (cf. Hebrews 2. 14). thereby— Greek, "therein;" "in" or "by the cross,," i. e., His crucifixion (Colossians 2. 15). 17. Translate, "He came and announced glad tidings of peace." " He came " of His own free love, and "announced peace" with His own mouth to the apostles (Luke 24.30; John 20.19,21,20); and by them to others, through His Spirit present in His Church (John 14,
15, "Turn from these vanities unto tlie living/ God who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things therein "), whereas the Jews had distinct ideas of God and immortality. Cf. also Galatians 4. 8, " Ye knew not God. . ye did service unto them which are no gods " (1 Tliessalonians 4. 5). So also pantheists are atheists, for an impersonal God is NO God, and an ideal immortality no immortality. [Tholuck.] ill the world—In contrast to belonging to " tlie commonwealth of Israel." Having their portion and their all in this godless vain world (Psalm 17. 14), from which Christ delivers his people (John
15. 19 ; 17. 14 ; Galatians 1. 4). 13. now—in contrast to " at that time " {v. 12). in CUrlst Jesiis—" Jesus " is here added, whereas the expression before {v. 12) had been merely "Christ," to mark that they know Christ as the personal Saviour, " Jesus." sometimes Greek, "aforetime." far off—The Jewish description of the Gentiles. Far off from God and from the people of God {v. 17 ; Isaiah 57. 19 ; Acts
IS). Acts 20. 25 is strictly parallel ; after His resurrection " He showed light to the people (' them that were nigh') and to the Gentiles'' ("you that were afar otf"), by His Spirit in His ministers (ef. 1 Peter 3. 19). and to tliem— The oldest MSS. insert "peace" again: "And peace to them." The repetition implies the joy with which both alike would dwell again and again upon the welcome word "peace." So Isaiah 57. 19. 18, Translate, "For it is through Him (John 14. 6; Hebrews 10. 19) that we have our access (ch.'3. 12; Romans 5. 2), both of us, in (i. e., united
2. S9). ave— Greek, " have been." by— Greek, " in." Thus "the blood of Clirist" is made the seal of a covenant in which tlieir nearness to God consists. In ch. 1. 7, where the blood is more directly spoken of as the instrument, it is "through His blood." [Alford.] 14. Greek, " Himself" alone, pre-eminently, and none else. Emphatical. our peace—not merely "Peacemaker," but "Himself " the price of our (Jews' and Gentiles' alike) peace with God, and so the bond of union lietvveen "botli" in God. He took both into Himself, and reconciled them, united, to God, by His assuming our nature and our penal and legal in, i.e., by, 1 Corinthians 12. 13, Greek) one Spirit to the Father," viz., as our common Father, reconciled to both alilie; whence flows the removal of all separation between Jew and Gentile. The oiieness of "the Spirit," through which we both have our access, is necessarilj' followed by oneness of the body, the Church (v. 16). The distinctness of persons in the Divine Trinity appears in this verse. It liabilities (v. 15; Isaiah 9. 5, 6; 53. 5; Micah 5. 5; Colossians
1. 20). His title, "Shiloh," means thesame (Genesis49. 10).
tlie middle Avnll of partition Greek, "... of the partition " or " fence;
' tlie middle wall which parted Jew and Gentile. There was a balustrade of stone which sepai-ated the court of the Gentiles from the holy place, which it was death for a Gentile to pass. But this, tliough incidentally alluded to, was but a symbol of the partition itself, vi2., "the enmity" between "both" and God {v. 15), the real cause of separation from God, and so the mediate cause of their separation from one another. Hence tliere was a twofold wall of partition, one the inner wall, severing the Jewish people from entrance to the holy part of the temple where the priests officiated, the other the outer wall, separating the Gentile proselytes from access to the court of the Jews (cf. Ezekiel 44. 7; Acts 21. 28). Thus this twofold wall represented the Sinaitic law, which 6of/t severed all men, even the Jews, from access to God (tlirough sin, which is the violation of the law), and also separated the Gentiles from the Jews. As the term " wall " implies Ihe stren fftfi o( the jiartitlon; so "fence" implies that It was easily removed liy God when the due time came. 15. Rather, make "enmity" an apposition to "the middle wall of partition ;"" Hath broken down the middle wall of partition (not merely as English Version, 'between us,' but also between all men and God), to wit, the enmity (Romans 8. 7) by his tiesh " (cf. v. 10; Romans 8. 3). tlie law of commaiidmeiits—ccmtoinetZ in Greek, " the law of the commandments [consisting] in ordinances." Tills law was "the partition " or "fence," which emliodled the expression of the " enmity"(the " wrath " of God against our si u, and our enmity to Him, t>. 3) (Romans 4. 15; 5. 20; 7. 10, 11 is also fatal to the theory of sacerdotal priests in the Gospel through whom alone the people can approach God. All alike, people and ministers, can draw nigh to God tlirough Christ, their ever-living Priest. 19. ]Vow,tl»erefore—'lather, "So then." [Alford.] foreigners—rather, " sojourners ;" opposed to " members of the household," as " strangers " is to " fellow-citizens." Philippians 3. 19, 20, "conversation," Greek, "citizenship." tout—The oldest MSS. add, "are." witli tlie saints—" the commonwealth of (spiritual) Israel" (u. 12). of God—the Father; as Jesus Christ appears in v. 20, and the Spirit in v. '22. 20.
Translate m Greek, "Built up upon," &c. (participle; having been built iip xtpon ; omit, therefore, " and are"). Cf. 1 Corinthians 3. 11, 12. The .same image in ch. 3. 18, recurs In his address to the Ephcsian elders (Acts 20. 32), and in his Epistle to Timothy at Ephesus (1 Timothy 3. 15; 2 Timothy 2. 19), naturally suggested by the splendid architecture of Diana's temple; the glory of the Christian temple is eternal and real, not mere idolatrous gaud. The Imago of a building Is appropriate also to the Jew-Christians ; as the temple at Jerusalem was the stronghold of Judaism; as Diana's temple, of Paganism, foundation of the apostles, &c.—i. e., upon their ministry and living example (cf. Matthew 10. 18). Clirist Himself, the only true Foundation, was the grand subject of their ministry, and spring of their life. As one with Him and HI' fellow-workers, the.v, too. In a secondary sense, are called "foundations" (Revelation
21. 14). The " prophets" are Joined with them closel.y ; for the expre*slon is here not "foundations of the apostles and the prophets," but "foundations of the apostles and
8. 7). Christ has in, or by, His crucified Ilesh, abolished It, €0 far as Its condemning end enmitv-creating power is 346
TJia-i the Gentiles sJiould be Saved, EPHESIANS III. made knoiim lo Paui by Revelation know to be the fact, viz.) that ye have heard," &c. " If, as prophets." For the doctriue of both was essentially one (1 Peter 1. 10, 11; Revelation 19. 10). The apostles take
I presume," &c. The indicative in the Greek, shows thai no doubt is implied : " Seeing that doubtless," &c. He by this phrase delicately reminds them of their having heard from himself, and probably from others subsequently, the the precedency (Luke 10. 24). Thus he appropriately shows regard to the claims of the Jews and Gentiles "the prophets" representing the old Jewish dispensation, " the apostles" the new. The " prophets" of the new fact. See Introduction, showing that these words do not disprove the address of this Epistle to the Ephesians. Cf. Acts 20. 17-24. the dispensation—" The office of di.spensalso are included. Bengel and Alford refer the meaning solely to these (ch. 3. 5 ; 4. 11). These passages imply, ing, as a steward, the grace of God which was (not ' is') given me to you-ward," viz., to dispense to j'ou. 3. he made known—The oldest MS.S., Ac, read, "That by revelation was the mystery (viz., of the admission of the Gen-
1 think, that the New Testament prophets are not excluded; but the apostle's plain reference to Psalm 118. 22, "the head stone of the corner," proves that the Old Testament prophets are a prominent thought. David is tiles, V. 6; ch. 1. 9) made known unto me (Galatians 1. 12). as I wrote afore viz.. In this Epistle (ch. 1. 9, 10), the words of which he partly repeats. 4. understand my knowledge—" perceive my understanding" [Alford], or "intelligence." "When ye read," implies that, deep as are the mysteries of this Epistle, the way for all to understand them is to read It (2 Timothy 3. 15, 16). Jiy perceiving his understanding of the mysteries, they, too, will be enabled to understand, the mystery of Christ The "mj'stery" is Christ Himself, once hidden, but now revealed (Colossians 1. 27). 5. In other ages— Greefc, "generations." not made known—He does not say, " Has not been revealed." Making known by revelation, is the source of making known by preaching. [Bengel.] The former was vouchsafed only to the prophets, in order that they might make known the truth so revealed to men in general, unto the sons of men—men in their state by birth, as contrasted with those illuminated "by the Spirit" (Greek, "in the Spirit," cf. Revelation 1.10), Matthew 16. 17. as—The mystery of the call of the Gencalled a "prophet" in Acts 2.30. Cf. also Isaiah 2S. 16; another prophet present to the mind of St. Paul, which prophecy leans on the earlier one of Jacob (Genesis 49.
24). The sense of the context, too, suits this: Ye were once aliens from the commonwealth of Israel (in the time of her Old Testament prophets), but now ye are members of the true Israel, built upon the foundation ol her New Testament apostles and Old Testament prophets. St. Paul continually identifies his teaohiiig with that of
Israel's old prophets (Acts 26. 22 ; 2S. 23). The costly foundation stones of the temple (1 Kings 5. 17) typified the same truth (cf. Jeremiah 51. 26). The same stone is at once the corner stone and the foundation stone on which the whole building rests. St. Paul supposes a stone or rock so large and so fashioned as to be both at once ; supporting the whole as the foundation, and in part rising up at the extremities, so as to admit of the side walls meeting in It, and being united In it as the corner stone. [Zanchius.] As the corner stone, it is conspicuous, as was Christ (1 Peter 2. 6), and coming in men's way may be stumbled over, as the Jews did at Christ (Matthew 21.
tiles (of which Paul speaks here) was not unknown to the Old Testament prophets (Isaiah 56. 6, 7; 49. 6). But they did not know it with the same explicit distinctness " as" ithasbeennowknown (Acts 10.19,20; 11.18-21). They probably did not know that the Gentiles were to be admitted without circumcision, or that they were to be on a level with the Jews In partaking of the grace of God. The gift of "the Spirit" in its fulness was reserved for the New Testament, that Christ might thereby be glorified. The epitliet "holy," marks the special consecration of the New Testament "prophets" (who are here meant) by the Spirit, compared with which even the Old Tesment prophets were but "sons of men" (Ezekiel 2. 3,. and elsewhere). 6. Translate, "That tlie Gentiles are," Ac, "and fellow-members of the same body, and fellowpartakers of the (so the oldest MSS. read, not 'His') promise. In Christ Jesus (added in the oldest MSS.),, through the Gospel." It is "in Christ Jesus" that they are made "fellow-heirs" in the inheritance of God: "of th» same body" under the Head, Christ Jesus; and "fellowpartakers of the promise" in the communion of the Holk Spirit (ch. 1. 13; Hebrews 6. 4). The Trinity is thus alluded to, as often elsewhere in this Epistle (ch. 2. 19, 29,
42; 1 Peter 2. 7). 21. In whom—as holding together the whole, fitly framed—so as exactly to fit together, growetli— "Is growing" continually. Here an additional thought Is added to the image; the Church has the gi-owlh of a living organism, not the mere increase of a building. Cf. 1 Peter 2.5, "lively stones . . . built up a spiritual house." Cf. ch. 4. 16; Zechariah 6. 12, "The Branch shall build the temple of the Lord," where similarly the growth of a branch, and the building of a temple, are Joined. l»oly—as being the "habitation of God"
(V. 22). So "in the Lord" (Christ) answers to "through the Spirit" (r. 22; cf. ch. 3. 16, 17). " Christ is the inclusive Head of all the building, the element in which it has its being and now Its growth." [Alfokd.] 32. are builded together — translate, "Are being builded together." through— GreeA:, "in the Spirit." God, by His Spirit in believers, has them for His habitation (1 Corinthians 3. 16, 17 ; 6. 19 ; 2 Corinthians 6. 16).
CHAPTER III.
Ver. 1-21. His Apostolic Office to make Known the Mystery of Christ Revealed by the Spirit : Prayer that by the same spirit they may comprehend the Vast Love of Christ: Doxology Ending this Division of the Epistle. As the first chapter treated of the Father's ofllce; and the second, the Son's, so this, that of the Spirit. 1. of Jcgug Christ— Greet, " Christ Jesus." The ojffice is the prominent thought in the latter arrangement; the person, in the former. He here marks the Meisiahship of "Christ," maintained by him as tlie origin of his being a "prisoner," owing to the jealousy of the Jews being roused at his preaching it to the Gentiles. His very bonds were profitable to ("for" or "in behalf of you") Gentiles (w. 13; 2 Timothy 2. iO). He digresses at "For this cause," and does not complete the sentence which he had intended, until v. 14, wliere lie resumes the words, " For this cause," viz., because I know this your call of God as Gentiles (ch. 2. 11-22), to be "fellow-heirs" with the Jews (u. 6), "I bow my knees to" the Father of our common Saviour {v. 14, 15) to confirm you in the lalth by HlB Spirit. "I Paul," expresses the agent employed by the Spirit to enlighten them, after lie had been flrel enlightened himself by the same Spirit {v. 3-5, 9). a. I*—The Greek does not Imply doubt : " Assuming (what I 69
22). 7. Whcreof—"of which" Gospel, according toinconsequence of, and in accordance with, "tlie gift of the grace of God." given—"which (gift of grace) was given to me by (Greek, according to, as v. 20; ch. 1. 19: as the result of, and in proportion to) the effectual working (Greek, ' energy,' or ' in-working') of His power." ». am- —Not merely was I In times past, but I still am the least worthy of so high an office (cf. l-Tlmothy 1. 15, end), least; of all saints—not merely "of all apostles" (1 Corinthians 15.9,10). Is— Greet, " has been given." among Omitted' in the oldest MSS. Translate, "To announce to the Gentiles the glad tidings of the unsearchable (Job 5. 9) riches," &c., viz., of Christ's grace (ch. 1.7; 2. 7). Romans 11.3.3, "unsearchable" as a mine Inexhaustible, whose treasures can never be fully explored (v. 18, 19). 9. to make all men see— Greet, "to enlighten all" (ch. 1.18; Psalm 18.28; Hebrews 6. 4). "All" (cf. Colossians 1. 28). fellowship—The oldest MSS. read, "economy," or "dispen.salion" (cf. Colossians 1. 25, 26; and Note, ch. 1. 10, above). "To make all see how it hath seemed good to God at this lime to dispense (through me and others, His stewards) what heretofore was a mystery." Ellicott explains It, " the arrangement," or "regulation" of the mystery (the union of