is, by the blood of Christ. A king's ransom we account a vast sum; O, what will our ransom by the blood of the Son of God come to! Grace is purchased, and glory is purchased, both by the blood of Christ. Lord! what will that glory come to! In eternity we shall admire it, but never fully comprehend it. 15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; Observe here, 1. The special duties which St. Paul performed on the behalf of these Ephesians he gave thanks for them, he prayed for them, and both without ceasing. I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Where note, How enlarged St. Paul's heart was in thankfulness to God for the salvation of others, as well as unwearied in his endeavours in order to their salvation. This will be one great exercise of our grace in heaven; namely, thankfulness to God for the salvation of others, as well as our own; and, verily, it ought to be a mighty argument to move the heart of any one to work out his own salvation, when he sees another, be it his minister, his parent, his master, or his neighbour, so solicitous for it, and taking such care of it. Note farther, That the duties of prayer and praise, of supplication and thanksgiving, ought to accompany one another: We are never to pray for fresh mercies, either for ourselves or others, without giving thanks to God' for former mercies. Besides, there is no such effectual way of begging, as thanksgiving; he that is spiritually thankful for what he has received, engages God to confer upon him the mercies which he wanteth. Add to this, That holy thankfulness is an evidence of true grace in us. Need and want will make us beggars, but grace only thanksgivers. Observe, 2. The occasion of St. Paul's prayers and praises on the Ephesians' behalf; namely, his having heard, 1. Of their faith in Christ; 2. Of their love to all saints.-Where note, How he joins faith and love together, as the two most eminent graces, and as the two great evangelical commandments, faith in Christ, and love to saints. But how comes he not to make mention of their love to God? Ans. Because love to God is supposed and necessarily included in our love to saints as saints; for he that loves them that are begotten, much more loves him that begetteth; he that loves the child for the father's sake, loves the father much Note farther, It is more for his own sake. love to saints, as saints, and to all saints without exception, that is the evidence of true faith; poor saints as well as rich, weak saints as well as gifted. There are froward and fretful saints, passionate and peevish christians, who have many infirmities, great infirmities cleaving to them, though disallowed by them; yet these professing christians are loved and to be loved by us, even as a brother loveth all his brothers, for his father's sake that begat them all, though one be little, another lame, a third crooked, a fourth sickly. Lord! how far are the professors of this day from the practice of this duty! How doth a little difference in judgment, occasion a great deal of judging and rash censuring one another: Christ hath received us; why should we reject one another? One heaven will hold us all hereafter; why should not one communion hold us here? Verily, if children quarrel and fall out with one another at a full table, there is an enemy at their back that will quickly take away the voider if our hearts be not turned suddenly to one another, Almighty God will certainly come and smite the earth with a curse. 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him : These words give us a short, but very comprehensive, account of that affectionate prayer which St. Paul put up to God on the behalf of these Ephesians, newly converted to christianity; in which observe, 1. The person whom he prays unto, God, under a very endearing title, for the strengthening of his faith; he styles him, not as the Old-Testament saints, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but in the language of the New Testament, The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of glory. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, as he is Man and Mediator, commissioned of him, and sent by him; and the Father of glory, as being in himself infinitely glori ous; to whom all glory is and ought to be ascribed, and from whom alone it is communicated. Learn hence, That as all our prayers and requests are and ought to be directed unto God only, so in order to our having access to God with assurance in prayer, it is our duty to apply to him as a Father, as a Father in Christ, as a Father in Christ to us, and under this notion and apprehension to strengthen our faith for the obtaining of what we ask in prayer; May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give unto you, &c. Observe, 2. The great and comprehensive blessing prayed for; namely, divine illumination and spiritual knowledge; that is, a farther increase of that wisdom and saving knowledge of divine mysteries, whereof the Spirit of God is the author. Learn hence, That as spiritual wisdom, or the saving knowledge of divine mysteries, is necessary to a christian; so those who have a good measure of this grace already received, ought not to sit down satisfied with it, but aspire after farther measures and degrees of it: spiritual knowledge is as necessary for increasing grace, as it is for working grace in the soul. Observe, 3. The title here given to the Holy Spirit of God; he is styled the Spirit of wisdom and revelation; he being the author of all that knowledge in the mysteries of religion which we attain unto, and it being his proper work and office to reveal unto us the will of God for our salvation. Learn hence, 1. That believers themselves, who are divinely enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God, have yet need of farther measures, and fuller degrees, of spiritual wisdom. Learn, 2. That the way to obtain this fuller measure of divine wisdom and spiritual illumination, is to be earnest with God in prayer for his Holy Spirit. So the apostle here. 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, Our apostle proceeds in this verse, and to the end of the chapter, in a very affectionate and fervent prayer, on the behalf of the Ephesians; namely, that the blessed Spirit of God, the author of all divine illumination, would farther open the eyes of their understanding, formerly shut up in heathenish blindness and darkness, that so they might know, 1. What is the hope of his calling: that is, what high and glorious hopes he had called them unto; for hope here is taken for the object of hope, or the great and good things hoped for and it is said to be the hope of their calling, because, at their conversion from heathenism to christianity, they were entitled to, and called to the expectation of, these great and good things, which were the object of hope. Where note, The Ephesians' deplorable state before conversion, they were without hope; and the happy exchange of their condition by embracing christianity, they were begotten to a lively hope of glorious things, which before they were wholly ignorant of, and strangers to. As a sinner's misery lies not in what he feels, but what he fears; so a christian's happiness consists not in what he has in hand, but what he has in hope: May you know what is the hope of his calling. The second blessing which he prays for on their behalf, is, that they may know what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints; that is, say some, What an exceeding glorious thing it is to be a christian! What an exceeding glory redounds to God, by his people, which are his inheritance! say others. But most understand the words as a description of heaven, which is here called an inheritance, a rich inheritance, a glorious inheritance, in or among the saints; that is, the saints in heaven, who hold that in possession which the saints on earth have in hope and expectation. Learn hence, That heaven is the saints' inheritance. An inheritance is an estate that belongs to children, to all such, and none but such. It is an undeserved possession, and it is a sure and certain possession. Here note, That Almighty God is said in scripture to make heaven as sure to his saints, by all sorts of ways, as a man can make an inheritance sure to his child. It is theirs by promise, it is theirs by purchase, it is theirs by gift, it is theirs by bequest; it is given by will to them, St. Luke xxii. 29. I appoint by will unto you a kingdom. Can any thing be surer, or more ways made secure to any person, than this inheritance of heaven is to the holy servants of God? But, farther, the apostle calls it the riches of the glory of his inheritance; that is, a very rich and exceedingly glorious inheritance: such abundant riches and transcendant glory are found in it, as overwhelm the mind of man that here enters upon the close contemplation of it. Heaven will appear to be a glorious inheritance, if we consider the glory of the place, the glory of the company, the glory of the employment, and the glory that will be then and there upon our souls and bodies. Lord, make us meet for this glorious inheritance of thy saints in light! 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,— The next particular which the apostle prays for, on behalf of the converted Ephesians, is this, that they might know or sensibly apprehend, the greatness of that divine power which God had exerted; first, in their conversion; next, in carrying on that work step by step, in spite of all opposition then, in giving them the extraordinary gifts of his Spirit, as miracles, tongues, and prophecy; also the sanctifying graces of the Spirit, as knowledge, faith, hope, love, joy, and patience, to enable them to go on in suffering for Christ to the uttermost; and lastly, that they might know the exceeding greatness of that power which God will farther exert towards them as believers, in raising up their dead bodies, to enter upon that glorious inheritance which God by promise insured to them; which power, he assures them, would bear some likeness to, and correspondence with, that omnipotent power which God put forth, in raising Christ from the dead, and advancing him to the heavenly glory, where he is Lord of all. Observe here, What an heap of words our apostle makes use of, to set forth the power of God in the soul's conversion from the power of sin, and in the body's resurrection from the power of the grave: he calls it "power, the power of God, the greatness of his power, and the exceeding greatness of his mighty power, and the power which raised up Christ from the dead." Lord! what a glorious power was that which opened our Redeemer's grave, when he lay in the heart of the earth, with a mighty stone rolled upon his sepulchre! May the same Almighty Power break asunder all those bars of unbelief, which keep our souls under the power and dominion of sin now, and at the great day break in pieces the bars of death and the grave, that it may be altogether impossible for us any longer to be holden by them for towards thy saints, and in order to their salvation, thou dost engage the uttermost of thine attributes, the uttermost of thy love, and the exceeding greatness of thy power! 21 -And set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; 22 And hath put all things under his feet,— Our apostle, in these words, discovers to us Christ's exaltation, or that glory and dignity which, after his resurrection and ascension, the Father put upon him as God-man, or Mediator; far surpassing the glory of all created beings. Now this is represented to us by the notion, and under the metaphor, of Christ's sitting at God's right hand. This imports, 1. Fulness of rest and pleasure, that he quietly, securely, and everlastingly, possesses all that happiness and satisfaction in heaven, which God himself is possessed of, and delighted with, far above all the pleasures and delightful satisfactions which all the glorified saints and glorious angels do or can possibly enjoy. 2. It implies a fulness of honour and glory, of dignity and respect. When Solomon set Bathsheba at his right hand, it was in token of honour and respect to her. Heb. ii. 9. we see Jesus to be crowned with glory and honour, sitting down at the right hand of the majesty on high. 3. Christ's sitting at God's right hand, imports his having all rule, dominion, and power, put into his hand, to govern all things both in heaven and on earth. 4. It imports and implies ability to execute that power; all those royal glorious endowments which God filled the human nature of Christ with, to make him fit to be the supreme head of his church, and the great and wise governor of the world; all this doth God's setting Christ at his own right hand import and imply. In the next verse (the 21st) the apostle expresses more plainly, what he had said in the former verse figuratively; God hath exalted Christ (says he) far above all principalities and powers, might and dominion, and every name that is named; and hath put all things under his feet. Where note, 1. The eminency, 2. The universality, of our Lord's exaltation. Its eminency appears in the height of his exaltation; he is not only above, but far above, all principalities, and powers, and might, and dominion; and in the lowness of the subjection of all things to him, having put all things under his feet. And the universality of Christ's exaltation appears, by instancing in principalities and powers, might and dominion under which he comprehends all things that are excellent in heaven and earth, angels and men, &c. all creatures whatsoever being placed in a degree of inferiority beneath him, and in the lowest state of subjection under him. Whence we learn, 1. That the human nature of Christ, and his glorified body, by virtue of that unspeakable union between the two natures of Christ, his Godhead and manhood, is so highly dignified and exalted in heaven, that all the glory of heaven and earth, of kings and emperors, of sun, moon, and stars, of the souls of just men made perfect, yea, and of the spotless, glorious angels themselves, is nothing to it, nor may be compared with it. Christ sits now in heaven, in our glorified humanity united to his glorious deity; that body which hung on an ignominious cross in blood and gore, now shines brighter than ten thousand suns in the kingdom of his Father. All this honour and homage, glory and praise, dominion and power, is due to our Lord and Redeemer, as the reward of his sufferings; God hath set him at his own right hand, far above all principalities and powers. Learn, 2. That although the mediatorial kingdom of Christ shall cease at the last day, (and be delivered up by Christ unto his Father,) as to the way wherein he now administers it, by ruling in the midst of his enemies, whom he shall then have finally subdued and destroyed: yet his natural kingdom, as God, shall never cease, but continue in the world to come, without end. Those words here, not only in this world, but in the world to come, do show the duration of Christ's kingly government, and that he is king for ever and ever, that his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endureth through eternal ages. -And gave him to be the head over all things to the church. 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. St. Paul having spoken of Christ's sovereignty in general, over all created beings, both in heaven and earth, in the foregoing verses, doth in the words before us declare, that as he is an head of dominion and authority to the whole creation in general, so he is an head of influence to his church in particular. Note, Christ was given by the Father to be the church's head. Now, this metaphor of an head implies several things; as, 1. Eminency above the church; as the head is above the members. 2. Authority over the church: the head governs all the members. 3. Oneness of nature betwixt him and his church: to see an head of one nature, and ineinbers of another, is monstrous. 4. It implies a strict, intimate, and close union betwixt him and his church, as betwixt head and members; which union as to the members of the visible church, is a political union; but as to the invisible members, (real believers,) the union betwixt Christ and them is mystical, spiritual, supernatural, and indissoluble. Lastly, this metaphor of an head, given here to Christ, implies a communication of influences from himself unto all his members; an influence of common gifts to the visible members of his body, and an influence of spiritual life and motion to the invisible members, true believers. Indeed, Christ is the head of angels as well as saints, but in different respects: to angels, he is an head of dominion and government, an head of authority and superiority; but to his church, he is an head of dominion and direction also; not only an head of authority, but an head of vital influence too. The angels are Christ's honour. able subjects, but saints are the mystical members of his body, the former are as the nobles in his kingdom, that attend upon his person, but the latter are the endeared spouse that lies in his bosom. O glorious dignity of the meanest believer above the highest angel! For as the nobles in a prince's court think it a preferment and honour to wait upon his queen, so the glorious angels account it no dishonour to them to serve and administer to the saints, to which honourable office they are appointed, Heb. i. 14. namely, to be ministering, or serviceable spirits, for the good of them that are the heirs of salvation. As the chiefest servants disdain not to serve the heir, so the angels delight to serve the saints. Observe, 2. As the character here given of Christ, The head of his church; so the honourable title put upon the church, she is his body: The head over all the church, which is his body; not his natural, but his mystical body. This implies, 1. The church's union with Christ, and her rela tion to him. 2. The church's receiving influences from him, life, motion, and strength; all which the members of the body receive by virtue of union with their head. 3. It implies the duty of subjection and obedience due from the church to Christ, as from the members to the head. 4. It implies the union and order among the members themselves: that as all the members of the natural body sympathize with, and are subservient to, each other; so should all the members of the church, Christ's mystical body, employ their gifts, and improve their functions and offices, for the general good of the whole, and the mutual benefit and advantage of each other, as becomes the body of Christ, and members in particular. But especially the church is said here to be the body of Christ, and He her head; 1. With respect to a communication of influences: Christ our head is our fountain of life; our head is our heart also, out of it are the issues of life: from him we live, by him we move, and our spiritual being is derived from him, strengthened and sustained by him; the whole church receives spiritual life, motion, and strength from Christ, as the body doth from the animating and enlivening soul. 2. Christ is called here the head of the church his body, with respect to a complication of interest, as well as a communica. tion of influences. As the head and the body, as the husband and the wife, so Christ and his church are mutually concerned for each other: they stand and fall, live and die, together; whatsoever he has is theirs; they have nothing but through him, they have all things in him, and by him; his God is their God, his Father is their Father; his blood, his bowels, his merit, his Spirit, his life, his death, is theirs; and as all that he has is his church's, so all that he did is for his church, called here his body. He obeyed as his church's head; he died as her head; he rose, ascended, and reigneth, as her head; and hath in his church's name taken possession of heaven, as a purchased inheritance for her. How fitly then may Christ be called the head of the church, and the church be called the body of Christ! Observe, 3. How Christ came to be the head of his church God the Father gave him this authority, ver. 22. And gave him to be head over all things to the church; that dignity and superiority, that dominion and power, which Christ has over his church, is given to him by God the Father; none : else was fit for it but himself: and although it was due unto himself, yet it must be given him. Now, if Christ did not exercise any authority over the church till it was given him, what bold presumption is it, and will it be, in any person upon earth to assume any power over, or to exercise any office in, the church, when never called to it, nor authorized by Christ to undertake it! We may den and of such confident undertakers, as the Pharisees demanded of the holy and humble Jesus, By what authority dost thou do these things? and who gave thee this authority? Observe, 4. The high honour which is put upon the church by being Christ's body; by this she becomes Christ's fulness: The church which is his body, the fulness of him. Yet note, The church is not the fulness of Christ personal, but of Christ mystical; not of his natural, but mystical, body: every saint, and every degree of grace in a saint, is part of Christ's fulness. The work of the ministry then is the best and noblest work in the world, because it is an adding to the fulness of Christ. God had but one Son in the world; and he made him a minister. And if increasing the number of converts, and adding to persons' growth in grace, be an addition to Christ's fulness, then how glorious a sight will the great day afford when Christ shall have all his fulness; when there shall not be one saint wanting; nor one degree of grace in any saint wanting; when head and members shall be both full, full of grace, full of joy, full of glory; when Christ shall be fully glorified in his saints, and they everlastingly filled with the fulness of him that filleth all in all ? Observe, 5. The glorious title here given to our Lord Jesus Christ, as head of his church. He filleth all in all; he filleth all persons, both angels and men; he filleth all places, heaven with glory, earth with grace, hell with horror; he filleth all ordinances, prayer with prevalency, preaching with efficacy, &c. he filleth all relations, fathers with paternal affections, mothers with maternal bowels; he fills all conditions, riches with thankfulness, poverty with contentment. CHAP. II. The design and scope of our holy apostle in this chapter, is to set forth before the Ephesians the happiness of that state and condition which, by their embracing christianity, upon the preachi ing of the gospel, they were brought into; to which end and purpose, he shows them the deplorable misery of their former condition, be |
