Bible Commentaries
Ephesians 1

Introduction

Ephesians Chapter 1

Ephesians 1:1,Ephesians 1:2 After saluting the Ephesians,

Ephesians 1:3-6 Paul blesseth God for his spiritual blessings on those whom he had chosen in Christ, and predestinated to the adoption of children,

Ephesians 1:7-10 for our redemption by his grace, according to his revealed purpose of gathering together all in one under Christ,

Ephesians 1:11,Ephesians 1:12 for the inhertance already obtained by those who first trusted in Christ,

Ephesians 1:13,Ephesians 1:14 and for the Spirit given to after believers, as an earnest of the same.

Ephesians 1:15-19 He declareth his continual thankfulness to God for their faith, and his prayers that God would perfect them in the knowledge of those things which concerned their state in Christ,

Ephesians 1:20-23 whom God had raised up, and exalted to be the supreme Head of his body the church.

Verse 1

The faithful; this may be understood either:

1. By way of restriction, of those that are sincere and constant to Christ, and so not only saints by profession, but true to their profession; or rather:

2. By way of explication: he defines those saints he spake of, and calls them faithful in Christ here, whom he called saints before.

Christ Jesus; the Author and Fountain of that holiness which denominates them saints.

Verses 2-3

Blessed be; i.e. thanked, praised. We bless God when we praise him for, and acknowledge him in, his excellencies or benefits.

Who hath blessed us; hath vouchsafed or communicated, all spiritual blessings to us. God blesseth us when he doeth good to us: and so the word blessed is taken in a different sense from what it was in the former clause.

With all; of all sorts or kinds.

Spiritual blessings; in opposition to temporal and worldly, which the carnal Jews principally expected, and the law mostly promised, {Deuteronomy 28:1-14} and which were but types and shadows of those spiritual blessings which immediately relate to the spiritual life and salvation of believers.

In heavenly places; Gr. supercelestial, or heavenly: understand either:

1. Things; and then it seems to be the same as spiritual blessings, only in other terms. Or:

2. Places, in opposition to earthly places, particularly the land of Canaan, in which God had formerly promised to bless his people. These spiritual blessings are in heavenly places, because, though they reach us here on earth, yet they are derived to us from God and Christ in heaven, and in heaven only have their full perfection and consummation hereafter.

In Christ; by or through Christ; upon the account of whose merit, and by whose efficiency, these spiritual blessings are derived from God to us. Or, in Christ as our Head, the repository and seat of all Divine blessings, from whom they flow down upon us as his members, receiving all we have out of his fulness. He seems to have respect to the promise made to Abraham, Genesis 22:18; That in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed; pointing out Christ as that seed, and those blessings as spiritual. See Acts 3:25,Acts 3:26.

Verse 4

God blesseth us with all spiritual blessings according as he hath chosen us; election being the fountain from whence those blessings come, so that God doeth nothing for us in carrying on the work of our salvation, but what he had in his eternal counsel before determined.

Chosen us; separated us in his purpose and decree from others, (whom he left out of that gracious act of his will), and determined that we should be holy and unblamable, &c.

In him; either:

1. By and through Christ, (as in the former verse), for his sake, and upon the account of his merit as the procuring cause, not of our election, but sanctification; q.d. God hath chosen us, that we should be made holy and unblamable by Christ. Or rather:

2. In Christ, as the foundation on which he would build us, (his spiritual house), and by which both we might be united to God, and he communicate his influence and grace to us; or as our Head, by which he might convey grace, and strength, and life to us as Christ’s members.

Before the foundation of the world; either before God’s decree of creating the world, or rather, before his executing that decree in the actual creation of it; i.e. from eternity, when neither we nor the world had a being.

That we should be holy and without blame; by inherent grace begun in regeneration, and carried on in sanctification and mortification in this life, though not perfected till the other. Holiness in us is declared here to be not the cause, but the effect of our election; we are chosen that we may be holy, not because we are, or God foresees we will be holy.

Before him; in the sight of God, who is not deceived with an outward appearance, but looks to the heart.

In love; as a principal part of our sanctification, and the best evidence of the fear of God in us, and our obedience to the whole law.

Verse 5

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children; having appointed us unto a state of sonship and right to glory. This seems to be more than the former, a greater thing to be the sons of God, and heirs of heaven, than to be holy.

By Jesus Christ; as Mediator, and Head of the elect, and the foundation of all spiritual blessings vouchsafed them, and so of this relation into which they are brought, by being united to him. The adopted children come into that state by the intervention of the natural Son.

To himself; either:

1. In himself, i.e. looking no farther than to himself for the cause of and motive to his adopting them. Or:

2. To himself, (according to our translation), i.e. to God. Or, rather:

3. For himself (as the Syriac renders it); God would have the honour of having many adopted children that shall all call him Father.

According to the good pleasure of his will; his sovereign grace and good will, as the only spring from which predestination issued, God being moved to it by nothing out of himself.

Verse 6

To the praise of the glory of his grace: glory of his grace, by a usual Hebraism, for glorious grace, i.e. large, abundant, admirable. The praise of this grace the apostle makes the end of God’s choosing and predestinating us to the adoption of children. God hath chosen us, &c., and therein manifested his grace to us, that such as it is in itself, such it may be acknowledged to be; and therefore praised and adored by us.

Wherein; in, or through, or by the same grace out of which he chose us.

He hath made us accepted in the beloved; having chosen us in Christ, he likewise favours us, is well pleased with us in Christ, to whom we are united, whose members we are, and in whom God looks upon us. We are hateful in ourselves as sinners, but accepted in Christ as sons.

Verse 7

In whom; in Christ, God-man, the immediate worker of this redemption; for though the Father and the Spirit concurred to it, yet the redeeming work was peculiarly terminated in the Second Person. The other two Persons have a right of propriety to redeem us; Christ only a right of propinquity, as assuming our nature, and being of kin to us.

We; we elect, before mentioned.

Have redemption; freedom from the wrath of God, and curse of the law, to which we are obnoxious, and consequently the power of sin and tyranny of Satan, as the effects of the former.

Through his blood; i.e. by the sacrifice of his death upon the cross, where his blood was shed. This was the price of redemption paid to God for us, and wherewith his justice being satisfied, we could no longer be detained under the custody of the devil, or the dominion of sin.

Even the forgiveness of sins; redemption is not formally forgiveness, but causally, forgiveness being the effect of it; and it is mentioned not as the only or adequate, but the prime and principal fruit of redemption, and upon which the other depend.

According to the riches of his grace: what he called glorious grace, Ephesians 1:6, here he calls riches of grace, meaning plentiful and superabundant grace, by a phrase frequently used by him elsewhere in the same sense, Romans 9:23; Romans 2:4,Romans 2:7.

Verse 8

Wherein, in which grace before mentioned,

he hath abounded toward us; i.e. out of abundance of grace in himself, (called riches of grace, Ephesians 1:7), he hath bestowed upon us wisdom and prudence. The like expression we have, 1 Timothy 1:14.

In all wisdom; this denotes either, the perfections or excellency of it, being instead of all other wisdom, and more excellent than all else; or all in comparison of what was under the Old Testament. They then had Divine truths revealed but by parts and parcels, and so a more sparing measure of spiritual wisdom; but under the gospel, believers have it more fully and largely, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation being poured out on them.

Wisdom and prudence; either the doctrine of the gospel, which contains more perfect and higher wisdom than that the Greeks sought after, 1 Corinthians 1:22, and for lack of which they counted the gospel foolishness; or rather, by wisdom is understood that knowledge or faith whereby we receive spiritual truths revealed to us, and to be believed by us, so as to their excellency, and have our hearts affected with them; and by prudence, the knowledge of the rule of our duty, with skill to govern ourselves according to it: and so wisdom is no other than faith, and prudence the same in effect with holiness; the former relates to the things we are to believe, the latter to the things we are to do. In the working these two in the soul, consists inward and effectual calling, which the apostle mentions in this verse, as he doth the outward likewise, by the preaching the word of the gospel, in the next.

Verse 9

Having made known unto us; having revealed to us outwardly by the preaching of the gospel; inwardly, by the illumination of the Spirit.

The mystery of his will; the whole doctrine of grace and salvation by Christ, which is a secret to others, and had still been so to us, had not God discovered it to us in the gospel.

According to his good pleasure; the good pleasure of God is the fountain of all spiritual blessings which flow out to us, as well as it is of our being first chosen and appointed to be the subjects of them.

Which he hath purposed in himself; this signifies a firm, settled will in God, either merely of God, and moved by nothing out of himself, or his keeping this purpose in himself till the time appointed for the publication of it.

Verse 10

Some copies join the last clause of the former verse with this, leaving out the relative which, and concluding the sentence at good pleasure, and then read: He purposed in himself, that in the dispensation, & c.; but most read it as our translators have rendered it, only some understand an explicative particle, to wit, in the beginning of this verse, to wit, that in the dispensation, &c.; but either way the scope of the words is the same, viz. to give the sum of that mystery of God’s will, mentioned before.

In the dispensation; in that administration or distribution of the good things of God’s house; which he had determined should be in the fulness of time. It is a metaphor taken from a steward, who distributes and dispenseth according to his master’s order to those that are in the house, Luke 12:42. The church is the house of God, God himself the Master of the family, Christ the Steward that governs the house; those spiritual blessings, mentioned Ephesians 1:3, are the good things he gives out. These treasures of God’s grace had been opened but to a few, and dispensed sparingly under the Old Testament, the more full communication of them being reserved till the fulness of times, when they were to be dispensed by Christ.

The fulness of times; the time appointed of the Father for the appearance of Christ in the flesh, (according to former promises), the promulgation of the gospel, and thereby the gathering together in one all things in Christ. It is spoken in opposition to the times and ages before Christ’s coming, which God would have run out till the set time came which he had pitched upon, and believers expected: see Galatians 4:2,Galatians 4:4.

Gather together in one; to recapitulate; either to sum up as men do several lesser numbers in one total sum, which is the foot of the account, but called by the Greeks the head of it, and set at the top; or as orators do the several parts of their speeches in fewer words; thus all former prophecies, promises, types, and shadows centred, and were fulfilled, and as it were summed up, in Christ: or rather, to unite unto, and gather together again under, one head things before divided and scattered.

All things; all intellectual beings, or all persons, as Galatians 3:22.

In Christ; as their Head, under which they might be united to God, and to each other.

Which are in heaven; either saints departed, who have already obtained salvation by Christ, or rather the holy angels, that still keep their first station.

Which are on earth; the elect of God among men here upon earth in their several generations. The meaning of the whole seems to be, that whereas the order and harmony of God’s principal workmanship, intellectual creatures, angels and men, had been disturbed and broken by the entering of sin into the world; all mankind, and many of the angels, having apostatized from him, and the remnant of them being in their own nature labile and mutable; God would, in his appointed time, give Christ (the Heir of all things) the honour of being the repairer of this breach, by gathering together again the disjointed members of his creation in and under Christ as their Head and Governor, confirming the good angels in their good estate, and recovering his elect among men from their apostate condition. Though it be true, that not only believers under the Old Testament were saved, but the elect angels confirmed before Christ’s coming, yet both the one and the other was with a respect to Christ as their Head, and the foundation of their union with God; and out of whom, as the one, being lost, could not have been restored, so the fall of the other could not have been prevented, nor their happiness secured.

Verse 11

In whom we; we apostles and others elect of the Jewish nation, we who first trusted in Christ, Ephesians 1:12.

Have obtained an inheritance; are called, or brought into the participation of an inheritance, or have a right given us to it as by lot: in allusion to the twelve tribes having, in the division of the land of Canaan, their inheritances assigned them by lot. He shows that they did not first seek it, much less deserve it, but God cast it upon them: their lot fell in the heavenly inheritance, when others did not.

Being predestinated; this, as well as the forementioned privileges, was designed to us by eternal predestination, and though it be free, and without our procuring, yet in respect of God it is not casual, but of his ordering.

Who worketh all things, powerfully and effectually,

after the counsel of his own will; i.e. that infinite wisdom of God, which is always in conjunction with his will, whereby he acts wisely as well as freely, and though not by deliberation, which falls beneath his infinite perfection, yet with his greatest reason and judgment.

Verse 12

That we should be to the praise of his glory; either:

1. Passively, that the excellency and greatness of God’s wisdom, power, grace, mercy, &c. might be shown forth in us by our being predestinated, called, sanctified, saved: or rather:

2. Actively, that we, by the holiness, obedience, and fruitfulness of our conversations, suitable to such privileges, might manifest and set forth the glory of him that vouchsafed them to us.

Who first trusted in Christ; who were the fruits of the New Testament church, the gospel having been first preached to the apostles by Christ himself, and by them to the Jews, (their own nation), and having been first believed by them.

Verse 13

In whom ye also; here is a defect of the verb in the Greek, which may be supplied either from Ephesians 1:11, which seems to be the principal verb in the sentence, and then it must be read: In whom ye also have obtained an inheritance; or from Ephesians 1:12, trusted, which is the nearest verb; so our translation:

In whom ye also trusted; but neither way makes any difference in the scope of the words.

Ye; ye Ephesians and other Gentiles.

The word of truth; the gospel, so called, either:

1. By a usual Hebraism, from the true word; or:

2. By way of eminency, as containing the most excellent and necessary of all truths, the doctrine of righteousness and life by Jesus Christ; or:

3. With respect to the law and its shadows, the truth and substance of which is held forth in the gospel.

The gospel of your salvation: both in respect of the matter contained in it, the doctrine of salvation, and in respect of its efficiency, as being the means whereby God works faith, and brings to salvation, Romans 1:12; Hebrews 2:3.

In whom also after that ye believed; in whom either is to be referred to believers; q.d. After ye believed in Christ: or to sealing; and then it shows by virtue of whom this benefit of sealing is bestowed, viz. by virtue of Christ.

Ye were sealed with that holy Spirit; ye were secured and ascertained of your right to the inheritance; which we may understand to be done either by the Spirit’s impressing upon the soul the image of God in the work of regeneration, or (because that cannot so well be understood to be after believing) rather by his testimony in men’s own consciences afterward; whether immediate, by an overpowering light shining into the soul, and filling it with assurance of its interest in Christ and heaven; or mediate, enabling a man to discern that image of God in his soul, by which the Spirit bears witness to his interest in the inheritance, and assures him of it: see Ephesians 4:30; Romans 8:1;Romans 6:0 Galatians 4:6.

Of promise; because the Spirit’s coming was before promised, or because he verifies and confirms the promises in and to the hearts of believers.

Verse 14

Which is the earnest of our inheritance: the Spirit, given to and dwelling in believers by his gifts and graces, is the earnest or pledge whereby their inheritance is secured to them; as men are secured the payment of a promised sum, by a part given beforehand in earnest for the rest.

Until the redemption of the purchased possession; either:

1. The redemption of the possession is put for the possessing of the redemption, (by an hypallage), viz. full and final redemption from sin, and death, and hell, and Satan; which redemption though perfectly wrought by Christ, is but in part applied in this life, and is to be fully enjoyed in the other: or rather:

2. (Though to the same sense), To the full and final redemption in the end of the world, of all God’s people, who are here called his purchased possession: see the same word so taken, Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 2:9.

Unto the praise of his glory; the final salvation and complete redemption of God’s people, will be especially for the glory of God, 2 Thessalonians 1:10.

Verse 15

After I heard; he was an eye-witness of their first believing, but here he speaks of their increase and constancy in the faith since, of which he had heard by others.

Of your faith in the Lord Jesus; i.e. not barely a belief of Christ’s excellencies, but a belief of his being their Saviour, their receiving and relying on him as such, and so a believing in him as the immediate object of their faith, and him by whom they believed in God, 1 Peter 1:21.

And love unto all the saints; this is added to show the truth of their faith, which works by love.

Love to the saints is mentioned, as an evidence of their love to God; and to all the saints to show the sincerity of that love, in its not being partial, but respecting all saints, and therefore saints as saints.

Verse 16

Cease not to give thanks for you; for your faith and love, and all the spiritual blessings God hath bestowed upon you.

Making mention of you in my prayers; I not only acknowledge what ye have received, but pray that what is yet lacking in you may be made up.

Verse 17

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ; he is the God of Christ not according to Christ’s Divine nature, but his human, and as Mediator, in which respect he was subject to the Father.

The Father of glory; the most glorious Father, and the Author of all glory and glorious things, and to whom all glory is due.

May give unto you the spirit of wisdom; a greater measure (for some they already had) of faith, {as Ephesians 1:8, where it is called wisdom} or of the knowledge of the things of God, whereof the Spirit is the Author. God is said to give or send the Spirit, where the Spirit works effectually; and, so to give the Spirit of wisdom, where the Spirit effectually works that wisdom.

And revelation: by revelation he means not extraordinary, such as the prophets had, but ordinary, such as was common to believers, and expresseth the manner of the Spirit’s working this wisdom, that he doth it by removing the covering or veil of natural ignorance, {Psalms 119:18; Luke 24:45} shining into the mind, and making it see what before it saw not; sometimes new objects, sometimes new excellencies in objects before known. Thus the Spirit works not only in the beginning of faith and spiritual knowledge, but in its further progress he lets in new light into the mind, and removes some remaining degree of natural darkness.

In the knowledge, or acknowledgment, which may imply an ownng, approving, and embracing things before known.

Of him; i.e. God or Christ, or God in Christ: and so either he declares here wherein the wisdom he mentioned consists, viz. the knowledge of God and Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: or rather, the end of that wisdom and revelation, viz. the acknowledgment of God or Christ, when we so know him, as to own him as ours, to embrace, and love, and wholly subject ourselves to him, Colossians 1:9,Colossians 1:10.

Verse 18

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, viz. by that

spirit of revelation: and so this clause explains the former. What the eye is to the body, that the understanding is to the soul. He prays for a further degree of illumination for them.

That ye may know what is the hope of his calling; either:

1. The object of hope, the thing hoped for, as Colossians 1:5; Galatians 5:5; and then the meaning is, what it is to the hope of which God hath called you by the gospel. Or:

2. The grace of hope: q.d. That ye may know how great, and sure, and well grounded that hope is, which by the gospel is wrought in you.

And what the riches of the glory; the glorious riches, or the abundant glory; riches of glory, and riches of grace, Ephesians 1:7, and riches of glory, Romans 6:23.

Of his; because he is the Father of it: he gives this glory as the Father of glory. As men give inheritances suitable to their estates, so God, as the God of glory, and Father of glory, gives a glorious inheritance.

Inheritance; heaven, called an inheritance both in respect of believers’ title to it by virtue of their adoption, being heirs of God; and in respect of the perpetuity of their enjoying it, on which account it is called an eternal inheritance, Hebrews 9:15.

In the saints; or, among the saints, those, namely, that are perfect, who alone are possessed of the inheritance, which saints on earth have only in hope.

Verse 19

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe; he means that power of God which is put forth in the whole of our salvation, from first to last: not that absolute power whereby he can do whatsoever is possible to be done; but his ordinate power, or power joined with his will, whereby not only he will work in raising us up at last, and finally saving us, but hath wrought in begetting faith in us, and doth work in still preserving that faith, {1 Peter 1:5} and carrying us on in the way of salvation. And this he speaks for the encouragement of the Ephesians, that they should not fear falling short of the riches of the glory of the inheritance mentioned, seeing God, who hath by his power brought them to Christ, is able likewise by the same power to bring them to glory.

According to the working of his mighty power: some point the words after us-ward, and read them,

who believe according to the working of his mighty power, & c.; and then the meaning must be, that the working faith in believers, is an instance of his mighty power; he hath shown his power in working faith, and therefore will show it in the remainder of salvation which is to follow. But our translation favours the former sense, and then, as in the preceding clause he shows the greatness of God’s power, so in this latter the efficacy of it in its actual operation, particularly the raising up Christ from the dead.

Verse 20

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead; i.e. the power God exerciseth toward believers is such as that was whereby he raised up Christ from the dead.

And set him at his own right hand; hath invested him with the greatest honour, dignity, and power, as princes set the next in honour and authority to themselves at their right hands: see Matthew 20:21.

In the heavenly places; in the highest heaven, called the third heaven, 2 Corinthians 12:2, and paradise, 2 Corinthians 12:4.

Verse 21

Principality, and power, and might, and dominion: these terms are sometimes applied to magistrates and men in authority here in the world, Titus 3:1; Jude 1:8 sometimes to angels; to good ones, Colossians 1:16; to evil ones, Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 2:15; though with allusion to powers in the world, or because by them God puts forth and exerciseth his power and dominion. By these, then, the apostle understands good angels, as Ephesians 3:10; or, comprehensively, all sorts of powers, both visible and invisible, as Colossians 1:16; 1 Peter 3:22.

And every name that is named; lest any might think he had not named all above whom Christ is exalted, he adds this, to take all in.

Every name, that is, every person, and every thing which hath a name; whatever hath any dignity or excellency.

Not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; because, though it hath a being at present, yet it is future to us who are not yet possessed of it. Either this clause relates to Christ’s sitting at his Father’s right hand, and then it notes the perpetuity of his reign, that his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, Luke 1:33; or rather, to the words immediately going before: q.d. If there be any name, any dignity, or excellency, not known in this life, and which shall be known in the other; yet, be they what they may, Christ is above them all.

Verse 22

All things; either all his enemies, as Psalms 110:1, all except the church, which is said to be his body; or all things more generally, of which he spake before, angels and men; all are made subject to Christ, 1 Peter 3:22.

Hath put all things under his feet; put them into a perfect and full subjection to him.

Objection. All things are not yet put under him.

Answer.

1. All things are so put under him that he can do with them what he please, break all his enemies in pieces when he will, though for many reasons he yet doth it not.

2. They are begun to be subjected to him, and by degrees shall be further subjected, till they be perfectly and absolutely subjected unto him, de facto, as already they are de jure.

And gave him; appointed, or constituted, or made him.

To be head; a mystical head; such a one not only as a king is to his subjects, to rule them externally by his laws, but such as a natural head is to the body, which it governs by way of influence, conveying spirits to it, and so causing and maintaining sense and motion in it, Ephesians 4:16; Colossians 2:19.

Over all things; either:

1. God hath chiefly, and above all before mentioned, given Christ to be the Head of the church; q.d. Though he be King and Lord of all, yet God hath made him the only proper Head to the church only; God hath set him above principalities and powers, but especially hath appointed him to be the Head of the church. Or:

2. Over all things may be meant, for the communication of all good things to the church, and performing all offices of a Head to her; a Head to the church, with a power over all things for her good.

To the church; the catholic church, or whole collection of believers throughout the world, and in all ages of it.

things under his feet; put them into a perfect and full subjection to him.

Objection. All things are not yet put under him.

Answer.

1. All things are so put under him that he can do with them what he please, break all his enemies in pieces when he will, though for many reasons he yet doth it not.

2. They are begun to be subjected to him, and by degrees shall be further subjected, till they be perfectly and absolutely subjected unto him, de facto, as already they are de jure.

And gave him; appointed, or constituted, or made him.

To be head; a mystical head; such a one not only as a king is to his subjects, to rule them externally by his laws, but such as a natural head is to the body, which it governs by way of influence, conveying spirits to it, and so causing and maintaining sense and motion in it, Ephesians 4:16; Colossians 2:19.

Over all things; either:

1. God hath chiefly, and above all before mentioned, given Christ to be the Head of the church; q.d. Though he be King and Lord of all, yet God hath made him the only proper Head to the church only; God hath set him above principalities and powers, but especially hath appointed him to be the Head of the church. Or:

2. Over all things may be meant, for the communication of all good things to the church, and performing all offices of a Head to her; a Head to the church, with a power over all things for her good.

To the church; the catholic church, or whole collection of believers throughout the world, and in all ages of it.

Verse 23

Which is his body; i.e. a mystical one, whereof every member is influenced by the Spirit of Christ the Head, as in the natural body the members are influenced by spirits derived from the natural head.

The fulness of him: the church is called the fulness of Christ, not personally, but relatively considered, and as Head of the church. The head is incomplete without the body; Christ in his relative capacity as a Head, would not be complete without his mystical body the church.

That filleth all in all: lest Christ should be thought to have any need of the church, because of her being said to be his fulness, it is added, that she herself is filled by Christ. Christ fills all his body, and all the members of it, with the gifts and graces of his Spirit, Ephesians 4:10.