I. What is to be kept: "the unity of the Spirit." That unity may be regarded as twofold. It may be viewed in two lights: as outwardly manifested and as inwardly wrought. In either view it is the unity of the Spirit.
II. This unity is to be kept. (1) There must be an endeavour to keep it. (2) There is a bond provided for keeping it: it is the bond of peace; it is the peace of reconciliation to God.
R. S. Candlish, Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, p. 70.
Eph 4:3 The Basis of Communion.
I. It seems to me that there are two streams of influence which are pressing some, and those by no means the feeblest and least thoughtful, of our ministers, towards the conclusion that the Church of the future will take comparatively slight heed of doctrinal agreements and differences, and will base its fellowship on vital sympathy in the work of teaching, helping, and saving society. First, there is the weariness of the narrow doctrinal basis which has been accepted as orthodox, which has made exclusion rather than inclusion the watchword of the kingdom of heaven. There is the certainty that many others within the Church who are distinguished by no loftiness of spiritual nature, but who are proud of their soundness in the faith, would be found practically, if they were examined, to be in much confusion as to the true nature and bearings of even such truths as the Incarnation and the Atonement; while outside the orthodox pale there are equally a large number who seem to be laden with all the fruits of the Spirit, to live in love, and to spend themselves in ministry to mankind. This is one stream of influence, and it is pressing men strongly in this direction, to this issue: a communion independent of doctrine and based purely on fellowship of spirit, sympathetic views of Christian activities, Christian endeavour and aspiration, Christian methods, aims, and ends.
II. There is another stream of influence tending towards the same result. There are those who are not impatient of the doctrinal barriers which are raised between those who, it is affirmed, ought to be in communion, but who are in doubt of the doctrines themselves. They hold reverently, tenaciously, to the spiritual element in Christianity. The Cross represents to them the highest and most sacred power which can be brought to bear on the development and elevation of mankind, but they have no hold on the realities outside the sphere of the human which revelation makes known to us. They see the historic basis of the Church, as they think, vanishing; they find no longer credible the facts and judgments on which for eighteen centuries Christendom has nourished its life. They dread lest those whose faith in the great Christian verities is shaken or shattered should drift away into blank atheism and sensualism, and they would gladly create for them a haven of Christian fellowship in a non-sectarian, undoctrinal, and free-thinking Church.
III. Sound doctrine is in the long run as needful to healthy, vigorous, productive Christian life as bone is to flesh in the order of the human frame; but I do not hesitate to say that I see considerable force in what is urged by this latter party, and I entertain not a shadow of doubt that in this direction-the larger and more loving recognition of the unity which may underlie wide doctrinal divergences-lies the next great expansion of the visible kingdom of heaven.
J. B. Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 401.
I. The more the heavenly and spiritual union of all Christians in one body is out of sight and above understanding, the more necessary it is that we should be continually put in mind of it. Having once learned it, we should never allow ourselves to forget it, else we shall be often doing many things, in carelessness or in ignorance, most contrary to this Divine unity. Therefore the Apostle lays such stress on the word "endeavouring "in our text: "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," that is, making a serious object of it, looking to Church union and communion distinctly as one great purpose of our lives. Do Christians in general, do we ourselves, attend as we ought to this precept of the Holy Ghost? The bond of peace we understand and perceive the benefits of, but the unity of the Spirit is a matter of faith, not of sight; we either never think of it at all, or dismiss it at once out of our minds, saying it is above us, and all we can do is to live quietly among our neighbours of all sorts.
II. What can private Christians do towards so great an object as this of keeping the Church at unity in itself? In answer to this, I would remind you of those many Scriptures in which the Church of Christ is represented as a holy building or temple, whereof the materials are not earthly stones, but the sanctified and regenerated souls and bodies of Christians, living stones, as St. Peter entitled us all, forming one spiritual household. The layman or the child has so far the same duty as the Apostle, that is, to maintain his post in the building, and not to loosen it, as the withdrawing of any stone must do. We may never see what the early Christians saw on earth, the Church universal of one accord, of one mind, but we may hope to see in heaven that of which even the first and best Church was but a faint shadow and emblem: the unity of the Spirit kept perfectly in the bond of everlasting peace.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. i, p. 206.
Life and Peace.
I. "The Spirit bloweth where it listeth.'' The influences which we recognise as coming to us from above, and which mould our individual being, are often presented to us partially in fitful succession, and their first effect seems rather to disturb us than to control. And yet it is out of such struggling and discordant elements that the growth towards the ideal life is to be won. For in all human life and movement that is not merely a sinking downwards there is something which without irreverence may be called a breathing of the Spirit. And the Spirit must be there, striving with human infirmity, before the first upward step can be taken. It is not from the complacent, satisfied, unaspiring temper that the unity of the Spirit is to be wrought. There may be unity in such a life, but it is not the unity of the Spirit; there may be a sort of peace, but it is the peace of apathy. That is not the peace which reflects the image of the early Christian ideal.
II. But when we look back on the struggle after it is over, and the peace is won, we may see the evidence of the working of something higher still, and a unifying, harmonising power that was less apparent to us at the time; and we cannot claim that power to have been our own. "When I said, My foot hath slipped, Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up." This is a strength which knows its dependence upon a higher strength, and which rejoices in the belief that it may be privileged to strengthen others with the might wherewith it has itself been strengthened from above.
III. For the Divinity that shapes our ends is no blind destiny descending on us from without and compelling us we know not whither, nor yet can we admit that character is fate in the sense that weakness predetermines men to ruin. There is a Spirit witnessing to our spirit that we are the children of God.
IV. And in this belief and consciousness the life is at last girded with the bond of peace. Life without peace is weakness and chaos; peace without life is nothingness. It is when the two are united, when self-control is not mere self-repression, but the enlightened guidance of an ardent will, that the individual has realised for himself, and will assist his brethren in realising individually, the ideal which the Apostle sets collectively before the early Church: the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
L. Campbell, Some Aspects of the Christian Ideal, p. 123.
References: Eph 4:3 .-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xi., No. 607; T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. i., p. 56; A. Mackennal, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 328; J. Baldwin Brown, Ibid., vol. xiii., p. 9; F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 155; J. Edmunds, Sixty Sermons, p. 383. Eph 4:3-6 .-Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. ix., p. 186; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. i., p. 205; vol. iv., p. 31.
Eph 4:4 I. Consider the unity or oneness of the Church as set forth by the unity or oneness of the body. "The body is one," says the Apostle. Notwithstanding the several limbs of which it is composed, one life animates the whole. The parts mutually subserve one another. They instinctively feel that they belong to one another; that they owe to one another mutual help and support. And so, too, the Church is one-one mystical body, as we call it-having one Author, which is God, and one Head, which is Christ, and one informing Spirit, which is the Holy Ghost; having one country toward which all its members are travelling, which is heaven, one code of instructions to guide them thither, which is the word of God, one and the same band of enemies seeking to bar their passage, which are the world, the flesh, and the devil; having the same effectual assistances in the shape of sacraments and other means of grace to enable them to overcome these enemies, and of God's good favour to attain the land of their rest.
II. But, secondly, as in the human body there is unity, so there is also variety, diversity, multiplicity, or whatever else we may please to call it. The Church is most truly a body in this sense also: that its different members have different functions to perform, all these being assigned to them by God; and then, and then only, it makes equable and harmonious growth.
III. Consider the lessons which we may derive from these truths. (1) We are members of a body. Let us never forget this. It is only too easy to do so. Do not let us yield to the temptation which would lead us to separate ourselves, if not wholly, yet in part, from the body of Christ, and to set up a selfish independent life of our own. (2) If we are thus members one of another, many are the debts which as such we owe the one to the other. We owe each other truth, love, honour. Let us ask of God a tenderer, livelier, more earnest sense of the sorrows, needs, perplexities, distresses, fears, trials, of our brethren.
R. C. Trench, Westminster and Other Sermons, p. 152.
References: Eph 4:4 .-J. G. Rogers, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 380; Preacher's Monthly, vol. iv., p. 211.
Eph 4:4-6 Church Unity.
In these words, which unite the passionate enthusiasm of thanksgiving with the clear-cut precision of a creed, St. Paul draws out to us explicitly that which is the great subject of the whole Ephesian Epistle: the existence and the nature of the Holy Catholic Church of Christ. The whole area of humanity, and therefore the whole area of the salvation of Christ, is seen by him as a whole. Over the whole battlefield of the world he watches the sweep of the tides of the spiritual battle. The unity of all men in Christ with God and with each other is the magnificent truth which fills his whole mind and heart, and breaks forth ever and anon in bursts of praise; and the text draws out at last, as it were in a triumphant creed, the great lines of the pervading subject.
I. The picture before St. Paul's eyes was the picture of the Catholic Church of Christ. And that picture differs very much from the appearance which it presents to our eyes now. Far less was it then in extent, numbering its thousands instead of its millions, only spread over the civilisation that fringed the basin of the Mediterranean, instead of pervading the length and breadth of the world. Far less pervading was it in its power. It had not yet penetrated into the very nature of humanity; it had not yet moulded the language, the thought, the imagination, and the life of all the leading nations of mankind. But yet, if it was far less grand in its outline, how much more perfect was it in its unity.
II. St. Paul places the source and living power of our unity not in anything that belongs to us, but in the eternal unity of God. There is one Spirit, the Holy Ghost Himself, making His temple in the hearts of Christians. They who partake of His life are one body still. The bonds which bind all Christian hearts with gold chains about the feet of God have passed upward from the earth. They cannot be trampled and broken under the heel of man; they cannot be severed. Whatever else we have done, the source of our unity we can no more close up than we can stop the outburst of some mighty river when it comes rushing down from its ice cave in the everlasting hills.
III. In all unity between rational beings there must be action on both sides, and God brings in the law in His dealing with us. All His blessings are freely given by His grace; but only by the consent of the human will can they penetrate the soul. Faith, hope, love, that triad of Christian graces-these are the conditions which make us one body indeed. What is the duty which this passage forces upon Christians? (1) Realise what you have. Feel, and act as if you felt, the large amount of unity which exists among Christians still. Let us act with, let us think with, let us pray with, all who bear the name of Christ. (2) Strive for what as yet you have not. There is an incalculable waste of spiritual power, not only by division, but by friction and antagonism. There is a bewilderment of truth when it is proclaimed, however loudly, by discordant voices. If only Christendom were united, it would hardly need a generation to convert the world; if only England were united, our isle might be "an isle of saints," a kingdom of God.
Bishop Barry, Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 679.
I. Ver. 4: The Apostle uses a favourite image here. The Church is represented by the individual man, and the unity of the Church is represented as like the unity of a man. There is an outward oneness of character and walk, as there is an outward oneness in the corporeal structure of a man; and there is an inward oneness, as of the soul in man.
II. The one individual man, having a body and a soul, but still one, is one also as having and owning one Head. Made one body and one spirit, through the one hopeful calling common to all, we are further one as recognising one Lord. And there is but one method of union with Him and with one another in Him: faith, one faith; and one seal of that oneness of faith: one baptism.
III. Thus called, in one hopeful calling, to be one body animated by one Spirit, thus united to one and the same Lord by one and the same faith, confirmed by the seal of one and the same baptism, they who constitute the one Church come to stand in one and the same relation to the Supreme, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.
R. S. Candlish, Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, p. 70.
Reference: Eph 4:4-6 .-Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 428.
Eph 4:5 I. How is the lordship of Jesus constituted? Not by the suffrages of men, but by the will of God. It consists in the exaltation, the reward of servantship, and is constituted by God directly and acquiesced in, and acknowledged, and accepted with gladness by the Church.
II. What does this lordship comprise? It is a sign of His pre-eminence. He rises far above all principalities, and powers, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named in this world and in that which is to come. In and over the Church, He, and He only, has the right to reign; and it is a high offence against Christ for any to set up thrones to men within the Church or to assume lordship over God's heritage.
III. See how this is essential to the Church. Of the Church's household Christ is Master. As a school of faith and holiness Christ is Teacher. Of the Church as a host Christ is Captain. Of the Church as bride Christ is Husband and Lord. Honour the Son, and you are in that very act honouring the Father also. Confess that Jesus is Lord. Every tongue that confesseth that Jesus is Lord does so to the glory of God the Father.
IV. Consider the Church in manifestation-that is to say, the Christian community upon the earth. Jesus Christ is Lord, Head, Ruler, Lawgiver, of the whole Christian assembly and of all the assemblies in detail-Jesus Christ, and He alone. As Lord He gives teachers; as chief Captain He employs officers and orderlies in the war. But He has carefully directed that they should remember that they are servants and not assume lordship over the heritage of God.
V. Note the uses of this doctrine. (1) The doctrine of the lordship of Jesus Christ stirs gratitude; (2) it requires obedience; (3) it promotes equity and fair play among Christians; (4) it binds together Christians in unity.
D. Fraser, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 145.
Reference: Eph 4:5 .-C. C. Bartholomew, Sermons chiefly Practical, pp. 435, 450.
Eph 4:5-6 I. The Apostle speaks first of one Lord. Those words would have at once recalled to a Jew the sentence which had been repeated to him since he could speak: "The Lord thy God is one Lord." And surely much of the emphasis of this Divine sentence lay in the word "thy." Multitudes of things surround thee and crave thy worship; there is One near thee, ruling thee, caring for thee, jealous of thee, who claims thy heart for Himself: He is the Lord.
II. "One faith." The Jew had been taught to put his whole trust in the Lord God of Israel. Faith or trust was the principle of his being; losing that, he lost everything. The different objects of sense were appealing to him every moment. He could care for them or dread them, but he could not trust them. He must have one faith, or they become his masters; he must have one faith, or there was nothing to bind him to his brother-Israelites; he must have one faith, or his manliness forsook him.
III. "One baptism." The baptism of John had been a witness that the one God of their fathers was calling them to turn round to Him from all the visible objects and the secret lusts to which they had yielded; that He was pardoning away their sins and confirming His covenant with them.
IV. "One God and Father of all." One Lord the law and the prophets had spoken of. But this name of Father, who had uttered that? It came forth when Jesus went up into the mount to proclaim the fulfilment, not the destruction, of that which had been said in the old time. Then did the belief of "one God and Father of all" begin to break through the Jewish exclusiveness, to prove that the Jewish election had this for its final result. One God and Father of all, because one Man who can say, "I came from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father."
F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 111.
References: Eph 4:7 .-Clergyman's Magazine, vol. ii., p. 98. Eph 4:7-12 .-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 982.
Eph 4:7-16 The Church Edified and Edifying Itself.
I. There are various outward appliances all meant for the edifying of the body of Christ. These may be regarded as comprehending generally all the spiritual instrumentalities and gifts brought to bear upon the Church and its members from without and from above. For the Apostle is not here laying down the platform of Church government, or determining formally and authoritatively what offices had been or were to be owned and sanctioned in the Church. He is not thinking of that, but of something else. He merely names the ministries then in exercise. He names them simply to bring out their variety of function in connection with their unity of aim. They are all of them, as then subsisting, among the gifts which when He ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, Christ received from the Father, that He might give them unto men. They are widely different from one another in respect of their inherent nature and their official use; but all their differences tend to one result: the drawing of the whole together, the edifying of the body of Christ.
II. In this process of edification the body of Christ is not passive. It has inward vitality, internal vital impulses and movements. And these also are various, yet tend in one direction and to one issue: the edifying of the body of Christ. Oneness and faith and knowledge as regards the Son of God is the great terminus ad quem, the meeting point for all the members of the body. There is ripeness or maturity of manhood among Christians in proportion as there is oneness of faith and knowledge about the Son of God. To that we are all to come at last; to that we are all coming now. But our coming implies the fulfilling of two conditions. (1) There must be an end of all childishness or infantile imbecility; (2) there must be wrought in us an active energetic principle, bent on doing the true thing and doing it lovingly.
R. S. Candlish, Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, p. 94.
References: Eph 4:8 .-Archbishop Benson, Sundays in Wellington College, p. 243; S. A. Tipple, Sunday Mornings at Norwood, p. 5; J. Kennedy, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 9.
Eph 4:8 , Eph 4:11 A Glorious Ascension.
To ascend on high must have meant for Christ a large increase of His quickening influence, more power to act beneficially on human minds and hearts, to purify and energise, to inspire and elevate, as hitherto He had not been able. That was His supreme ambition, the height for which He sighed; and was it not even thus that He went up gloriously at last from the cross and the grave, mounting from thence to be a greater saving and subliming force than He had ever been before, to beget repentance and remission of sins beyond what He had ever done?
I. He led captivity captive; in plain language, He captured the prisoners, making happy captives of those who were the victims of a miserable captivity, emancipating them from the bondage in which they were held by bringing them into subjection to something better and worthier. They were captured by the vision of a spiritual redemption-a spiritual redemption, not for Jews only, but for peoples of all nations, for men everywhere. In leaving them alone to mourn and wonder, Christ drew forth from them the ripe fruit of what they had blindly and little by little imbibed from Him. Then at length He rescued them from prison to be the bondsmen of a grander Lord; then at length He raised their ideal.
II. "He gave gifts unto men." The men who had been redeemed from their former sensuous dreams to discern and follow the glory of the spiritual began to blossom all over, became thereby more Divinely endowed. Christ enriched them with a heritage of gifts simply by detaching them from the meaner object on which their eyes were fixed and binding them fast to a higher ideal. Gifts that are not ours do often lie hid and slumbering in us, waiting only for the application of the needed stimulus-healing or cleansing-to display themselves; and blessed is he who with some disturbing, quickening touch helps to elicit them.
III. Christ left behind Him men qualified and ready to labour in different capacities. Here was the issue and fruit of Him, a number of living souls, whom He had been slowly training, on whom at last He had succeeded in impressing Himself, a number of living souls, at last in fellowship with His mind, understanding and sympathising with His aims, touched by His Spirit. Let us not doubt that that is always the Divinest work: to get at a man and be the means of ministering in some way to his healthier growth or finer inspiration, of helping him in some way to juster thought or loftier feeling.
S. A. Tipple, Sunday Mornings at Upper Norwood, p. 1.
Eph 4:8-16 The Origin of the Christian Clergy.
No doubt from the first the Christian society which we now call a Church existed in Christ's faithful followers, even from the beginning, and wheresoever, in any time or country, two or three were gathered together by the communion of love or faith, they also would be a Christian Church, and even for years after our Lord's departure such a society existed without the separate order of clergy.
I. Yet there was a sense in which the Christian ministry was the gift of our Divine Master. Not in His earthly life, not as a part of the original manifestation of Christianity, but as a result of the complex influences which were showered down to the earth after its Founder had left, as part of the vast machinery of Christian civilisation, created by the Spirit of Christ for filling up the void of His absence, came the various gifts of Christianity, and among these was the great vocation, the sacred profession, of the Christian ministry. And various grades of the Christian clergy had sprung up in Christian society in the same way, by the same Divine cause, the same natural necessity as the various grades of government and law and science-a necessity only more urgent and more universal, and therefore more Divine, so far as the religious wants of mankind were of a more general, a more simple, and therefore a more Divine kind than their social and intellectual wants.
II. The two great functions of the Christian ministry are those of pastor and teacher. The object of their existence was, as the Apostle told them, that they might take their part in the complex but glorious work in which all Christians were called to share: the edifying or building up of the whole body of Christ. The Church, as thus put before them, was not to be an unreasoning infant, or a stunted dwarf, or an old crone, tossed to and fro with every blast, but it was to be a solid, well-built, manly, full-grown man. It was not to be a dead, dry system, but a well-compacted living organisation, in which every part should be knit together, every muscle should move in accordance with its natural bent, where there should be the active hand, and the feeling heart, and the ready foot, and the resolute backbone.
A. P. Stanley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 17.
References: Eph 4:9 .-Preacher's Monthly, vol. iii., p. 365; J. Vaughan, Sermons, 4th series, p. 221.
Eph 4:9-10 Consider:-
I. The ascension of Christ in the light of its previous and preparatory history. That the Son of man ascended from the deepest depth of human history and experience, from the lower parts of the earth, up above all heavens, presupposes His descent. In His descent He became the hidden presence and controlling power of the world's history until the old world passed away in His death and the new world rose in His resurrection.
II. The Ascension in the light of its declared purpose: "That He might fill all things." (1) When we see the only-begotten Son, clothed in a body like our own, exalted above all the heavens, in that sight we have before us the all-glorious and controlling centre of all the spheres, the key which interprets the testimony of prophecy, the gathered firstfruits of a new and redeemed world. The Gospel contains a gospel for nature as well as for man, the prediction of the day when the strife of elements shall cease, and when the powers of darkness shall be swallowed up of light. (2) By Christ's ascension our nature is endowed with an exalted fulness and clothed with a glory becoming the Son of God. "A parcel of clay," to use the words of Archbishop Leighton, "is made so bright and set so high as to outshine all the flaming spirits of eternity and the stars of the morning." And with such a miracle of grace who can regret his connection with a sinful history which conditions so great a salvation?
W. Pulsford, Trinity Church Sermons, p. 271.
Reference: Eph 4:9 , Eph 4:10 .-C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, p. 388.
Eph 4:10 Christ Filling all Things.
I. Let us understand, first, how Christ fills all things, not with His body, for, as it has been well said, "Christ's body may be anywhere at any time; but Christ's Spirit is everywhere at all times." Of that body of Christ, of spiritual body at all, still more of spiritual body glorified, we know, and we can know, nothing; but as far as our faculties can reach, body must occupy definite space. How then does Christ fill all things? (1) By His influence. We know that even here a person may occupy a much larger sphere than he actually fills with his presence, and the range in which a man may thus go on filling circle after circle is almost without limit. Carry on that idea of the power of extending influence infinitely, and you will arrive at some conception of the way in which Christ can fill all things. (2) By His sovereignty and care. The Queen fills her realms, and we are always conscious of the power of our Queen. How much more does the royal, superintending power and love of Christ fill the universe? There is nothing so small that it is below it, and there is nothing so great that it is above it, nothing independent of it, nothing despised by it. (3) Higher still than this all-diffusive power of Christ's majesty, there is that actual living Spirit that we call the Holy Ghost. By the presence of the Holy Ghost Christ is present everywhere, and not only present, but He is the very life of all that lives; He is the soul of every being in creation. "He fills all things."
II. Why does Christ fill all things? And what is the design of this grand arrangement in God's great empire? (1) It is that all honours should be to Jesus Christ in every degree; (2) that no man upon this earth should ever find any real satisfaction out of Christ; (3) that there may be always in Christ a fulness suited to every man's want.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 4th series, p. 174.
References: Eph 4:10 .-Homilist, 3rd scries, vol. i., p. 272; Preacher's Monthly, vol. vii., p. 305. Eph 4:11 .-Clergyman's Magazine, vol. xii., p. 215; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 204; Fletcher, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 32. Eph 4:11 , Eph 4:12 .-S. Pearson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 35; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. iv., p. 224.
Eph 4:11-13 The Christian Ministry.
I. The Christian ministry is simply this: a teaching, a helping, of men's personal feeling and life. The man who seeks to change his ministry from a teaching and helping into a priesthood, an official prerogative, whether as a sacrificer or an absolver, is false to the fundamental idea of Christianity and its ministry. Every necessity of sacrifice is provided in the one sacrifice of Christ, "offered once for all"; every necessity of revelation is provided in the inspired and authoritative Scriptures. All that is now necessary is that men should be taught about Jesus Christ and induced to accept Him as their Redeemer from sin. And this is the sole function of the Christian ministry; we simply preach Christ crucified.
II. Another great idea is unity in diversity, the harmony of diversified functions in the ministry of the Church. Elsewhere St. Paul insists upon the harmony of diversified gifts in the same function. All Apostles, all evangelists, all pastors, all teachers, are not alike. They are as diversified as the members of the body, and with relentless and resistless logic the Apostle presses his argument: the well-being of the body demands diversity in its members, diversity in its gifts. Thus God's truth, like the phenomena of nature, is seen in many lights and on many sides. The great fundamental facts are unchangeable, but a thousand minds and hearts tell us their impressions of them; the very varieties of apprehension confirm them. It is a magnificent harmony of truth in which a thousand impressions and voices blend. Instead of being dissatisfied, let us rejoice in the diversified gifts and ministry of the Church.
H. Allon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxi., p. 177.
References: Eph 4:11-13 .-H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii., p. 292; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. vi., p. 216. Eph 4:11-16 .-W. Cunningham, Sermons, p. 316.
Eph 4:12 I. The work of the ministry is a work for all believers, and a work for none but believers. The command to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature is a command given to all the disciples of Jesus Christ, and the exhortation to teach and admonish one another is intended for all Christian people everywhere. If a Church choose, with a view to order and edification, to select one of its brethren to be its president and, in some especial manner, its pastor and its teacher, that does not by any means debar other brethren from engaging, and engaging largely, in this work of the ministry.
II. Our life as Christian workers is a life of work. There has been such a development of Christian agency and work, and of the various operations of a moral and religious sort in which Christian ministers are expected to take part, and almost must take part; and a pastor, if faithful and up to his work, must be full of work. It is a life of work, "the work of the ministry."
III. "The work of the ministry." That is to say, it is a work of service. We are servants in a twofold sense. We are the servants of Christ, and we are the servants of Christ's people. The former position, of course, is readily recognised; but let us not be so proud and so wilful as to refuse to recognise the latter. The Church does not exist for the ministry, but the ministry for the Church. The work of the ministry is suggestive of much toil and of much patient waiting. It is also a work of very solemn and awful responsibility. There is no other work which is weighted with such responsibility. But while we are deeply and solemnly impressed with the responsibility, do not let us be dismayed or run away from the work, but rather let us ask God to give us more diligence and faithfulness and courage, that, like Paul, we may be able to witness that we are free from the blood of all men. It is very pleasing to see the results of this spiritual labour and to see those to whom the word has been preached living, by God's grace, in the enjoyment of the light and peace of the truth of the Gospel. Disappointments there are, certainly, and bitter and terrible they are. There is, nevertheless, not a work in all this world which can compare with this in the greatness and permanence and glory of the reward.
H. Stowell Brown, Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 761.
References: Eph 4:12 .-H. S. Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 266; Fraser, Ibid., vol. xxviii., p. 25. Eph 4:13 .-G. Butler, Sermons in Cheltenham College, p. 243; A. Stanton, Church of England Pulpit, vol. v., p. 65; C. Short, Ibid., vol. xi., p. 305; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 308; Preacher's Monthly, vol. v., p. 289.
Eph 4:14 Modern Thought: its Influence on Character.
The words "modern thought" are used by not a few in our day as a badge of reproach. For the emancipated children of the Reformation to disparage thought simply for its modernness is, indeed, passing strange. Unless our thinking be modern, we have no thinking at all. All the thinking that has ever been done in the world has been "modern" in its day. Let us clear our minds of any timid prejudice against thought as modern, and, in the name of Him who has given us mental powers and has placed us in the present age, let us all try to be modern thinkers, pondering all that can affect our life and duty with reverent boldness, as did those spiritual ancestors whom we most admire. On the other hand, let us beware of idolising what is modern. Many who have scarcely begun to think, and certainly have never thought, seriously, broadly, or profoundly, pick up the phrases of the hour, and talk about being "abreast of the age," as if newness were a test of truth rather than a call for investigation.
I. There is an intellectual stream of tremendous force connected with the physical researches of this century by which character is affected in many powerful, but in some respects subtle, ways. Modern science has helped theology by giving us new measures of time and new standards of greatness and wisdom. The enthralling interest and beauty of various modern sciences and the fascinating effect of dazzling theories based upon so many sure and certain discoveries of fact tend to absorb attention and to exclude things spiritual from many studious minds.
II. Another way in which modern scientific thought influences character lies in its tendency to regard all our thoughts and activities as the necessary results of our physical antecedents and environment. Be not driven about by every wind of hasty teaching offered in its name. There is no knowledge so sure and clear as self-consciousness. Be true, then, to the voice of conscience within. Cultivate the powers of moral judgment, that your senses may, by reason of use, be keener to discern good and evil.
T. V. Tymms, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 401.
Reference: Eph 4:14 .-T. Hooke, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 173; H. W. Beecher, Sermons, vol. ii., pp. 327, 343. Eph 4:14 , Eph 4:15 .-Preacher's Monthly, vol. i., p. 449.
Eph 4:15 The real test of all religion is, and must be, its power to raise and to regenerate the life of man. There are three chief needs which the life of man must fill up. He has in him the lower nature of the flesh, with its appetites and its passions, by which he is fast bound in the chains of this material world; and that flesh must be subdued to the spirit, to the indestructible will, to that superior power of reason, to that clear voice of conscience, to that glowing spirit of love, by which alone he is able to rise above the material world. He is, again, on the one side, bound up in this life, on which are written at every turn the characters of transitoriness and of death; and yet he is so to move in this life as to satisfy his inner consciousness of immortality, his capacity and longing for a higher life. He has also the reality of his sin in its loathsomeness. The test of the truth of religion must be its power to aid men in filling up their great needs.
I. The first part of this great principle is simply the speaking truth, or rather the being true in action, in word, and in thought. This, again, has more than one form. It bids us to seek for truth; it bids us to speak truth in ourselves. In the first lies all the power of progress, and on the second is laid the basis of human society. What is it to seek truth? Truth is the law established in many forms by God Himself. The Gospel has all the characteristics of truth.
II. To speak truth is only one small part of this great principle. The principle is to be true, to be that which we claim to be. In this alone is there safety against falsehood. St. Paul finds in love that spirit which gives new life to truth, and in which, as in a Diviner region, the truth moves free from all those taints which would sully its brightness. We must be true in love, and so grow up into the Head, because we are members one of another.
III. We see how this love strengthens and intensifies the spirit of truth. There is, doubtless, a delight in truth. From him who feels a positive glow of love, especially for those who love and trust him, the very thought of falsehood is far away. To be true is to fill the place which is set us in this world, to rise above all secondary motives to that which is the highest guide of man.
Bishop Barry, Penny Pulpit, New Scries, No. 276.
Christian Growth.
The doctrine of our text is that true spiritual growth is to be sought in sincere, truthful dealing in our Christian relation to Christ and to them that are His, our fellow-labourers in Christ. Manifestly one might here divide the subject into two heads: truthfulness towards Christ and truthfulness towards them that are His. Into the first of the two points I shall not enter.
Paul looks at truthful dealing with the brethren as the form in which a sincere heart towards our common Head must mainly manifest itself.
I. First, then, the text assumes that if we are Christians our daily conversation will be mainly with our fellow-Christians. If our relations with our fellow-Christians were only occasional and accidental, it would be vain to think that our truthful discharge of those relations could ensure growth in the whole spiritual life; but the true Christian cannot be merely in occasional and accidental contact with those who are radically united to him in Christ.
II. Secondly, the blessed fruits of the fellowship into which we enter inwardly and spiritually in our union with Christ, and visibly and outwardly in our public profession of faith as members of the Christian Church, can only be manifested by truthfulness and loyalty.
III. Where there is this honesty of purpose towards the brethren, we shall be sure to find candour, simplicity, and plain truthfulness in every act of life.
IV. If our actions were always pure in the sight of God and man, if our Christian life were perfect, if we were not still under the power of sin, so often intent on selfish ends, it would be easy for us to be candid and sincere to one another. The test of Christian truthfulness is to be found in its power to assert itself as the rule of our life in spite of the sins that disturb even Christian fellowship.
V. Truthful dealing is possible only if, as the Apostle says, it is truth speaking "in love."
W. Robertson Smith, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 20.
References: Eph 4:15 .-Preacher's Monthly, vol. viii., p. 60; Homilist, vol. i., p. 137; J. Vaughan, Sermons, 7th series, p. 97; J. W. Lance, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 360; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xxix., p. 409; Ibid., vol. xxx., p. 298; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 294; F. W. Robertson, The Human Race, p. 94; S. Martin, Sermons, p. 211. Eph 4:16 .-Archbishop Benson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxiv., p. 1. Eph 4:17 .-F. W. Macdonald, Ibid., vol. xxx., p. 156.
Eph 4:17-18 The Life of God.
I. Let us see what St. Paul means when he talks about the Gentiles in his day. For that also has to do with us. I said that every man, Christian or heathen, has the same duty, and is bound to do the same right; every man, Christian or heathen, if he sins, breaks his duty in the same way, and does the same wrong. There is but one righteousness: the life of God; there is but one sin, and that is being alienated from the life of God. The one disease to which every man is liable is that we are every one of us worse than we ought to be, worse than we know how to be, and, strangest of all, worse than we wish and like to be. Just as far as we are like the heathen of old, we shall be worse than we know how to be. For we are all ready enough to turn heathens again at any moment, my friends; and the best Christian in this church knows best that what I say is true: that he is beset by the very same temptations which ruined the old heathens, and that if he gave way to them a moment they would ruin him likewise. For what does St. Paul say was the matter with the old heathens?
II. "Their understanding was darkened." But what part of it? What was it that they had got dark about and could not understand? For in some matters they were as clever as we and cleverer. What part of their understanding was it which was darkened? St. Paul tells us in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. It was their hearts-their reason, as we should say. It was about God and the life of God that they were dark. They had not been always dark about God, but they were darkened; they grew more and more dark about Him generation after generation; they gave themselves up more and more to their corrupt and fallen nature, and so the children grew worse than their fathers, and their children, again, worse than them, till they had lost all notion of what God was like.
III. The heathens of old might have known that, if they had chosen to open their eyes and see. But they would not see. They were dark, cruel, and unloving, and therefore they fancied that God was dark, cruel, and unloving also. They did not love love, and therefore they did not love God, for God is love. And therefore they did not love loving; they did not enjoy loving; and so they lost the Spirit of God, which is the Spirit of love. And therefore they did not love each other, but lived in hatred, and suspicion, and selfishness, and darkness. They were but heathen. But if even they ought to have known that God was love, how much more we! For we know of a deed of God's love, such as those poor heathen never dreamed of. God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son to die for it. Then God showed what our eternal life is: to know Him who is love and Jesus Christ, whom He sent to show forth His love; then God showed that it is the duty of, and in the power of, every man to live the life of God, the life of love.
C. Kingsley, Sermons for the Times, p. 198.
Eph 4:17-19 The Walk of the Gentiles.
I. As to the nature of this walk, one leading feature or characteristic of it is vanity of mind. The life of men walking in the vanity of their minds is either all but wholly aimless, or else its aims are mean and frivolous, or at the best disappointing, tantalising, and unsatisfying. The character of vanity is stamped on all its pursuits and pleasures, on its worship, such as it is, and on all its works and ways.
II. Now the cause of this dismal and disastrous state of things is indicated in ver. 19. On the one hand, men are darkened in respect of their understanding; they are spiritually blind: on the other hand, they are alienated from the life of God. By the life of God we are to understand the life which consists in glorifying and enjoying God; the life for which man was made; life in God, with God, to God; God's own life in the soul of man; life of which He is the source, the centre, and the end. Thus the root of the disease is double. It is in the mind and in the heart. The mind is wilfully ignorant; the heart is wilfully hardened. Therefore there is neither light in the mind, nor love in the heart, and therefore there is vain walking.
III. The natural result or issue in the case of other Gentiles or worldly men is explained in ver. 19. A terrible course of possible declension is pointed out. There are several stages in it. First, there is your walking like others in the vanity of your minds; secondly, there is your being darkened in your understandings; thirdly, there is your alienation from the life of God; and fourthly, there is a giving of yourselves over to a life of mere and thorough self-seeking and self-indulgence, in some form or other. Surely, then, the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles.
R. S. Candlish, Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, p. 107.
The Immorality of the Heathen.
There is a startling contrast between the earlier and the later chapters of this Epistle. In the earlier chapters Paul describes the Christians at Ephesus as saints, as the faithful in Christ Jesus, etc.; and now to the persons whom he has described by these sacred titles, and to whom he has spoken of these Divine mysteries, he gives a succession of precepts relating to the most elementary moral duties. He thinks it necessary to warn them against the basest and the coarsest vices: against lying and thieving; against foul speech; against drunkenness; against gross sensual sins.
I. The access of the Divine life does not at once and in a moment change the man's moral temper and habits. Moral distinctions which were faint will not at once become vivid; moral distinctions which were not recognised at all will not at once become apparent. The Christians at Ephesus had been breathing from their childhood the foul atmosphere of a most corrupt form of heathenism; they were breathing it still. In the community which surrounded them the grossest vices were unrebuked by public sentiment. Christian righteousness is achieved slowly. A Divine life is given to us, but the life has to grow. There will, however, be real ethical progress wherever there is genuine loyalty to Christ.
II. The description of the heathen both here and in the Epistle to the Romans is to be taken as representing their general condition. Speaking broadly and generally, heathen men had lost the knowledge of God, and had lost the knowledge of the steadfast and eternal laws of righteousness, and this is what Paul means when he says that they were walking in the vanity of their minds. We are environed by an invisible, Divine, and eternal world. When once that world has been revealed to us, our whole conception of human duty and human destiny is changed; we discover that it is only the larger world that has been revealed to us by Christ which is real and enduring; we see that the true life of man is the eternal and Divine life by which he is related to what is eternal and Divine, that the true honour, the true wealth, the true wisdom, the true happiness, of man are found in that eternal and Divine kingdom.
R. W. Dale, Lectures on the Ephesians, p. 294.
References: Eph 4:17-20 .-Church of England Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 380. Eph 4:18 .-Homilist, vol. i., p. 313; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. i., p. 20; Preacher's Monthly, vol. i., p. 218.
Eph 4:19 Spiritual Insensibility.
I. There is a certain pitch of wickedness at which moral insensibility comes on; and when that comes on, the case becomes almost hopeless. There is little prospect of repentance or reformation then. No matter how bad any poor sinner has been, there is still some hope so long as you can get him to feel. It is one of the last and worst symptoms of the soul's condition when feeling is gone. That is arrived at by most men only after a long continuance in iniquity; and that is an indication which gives sad ground for fearing that the Holy Ghost, without whom we can never feel anything as we ought, has ceased to strive with that hardened soul, has left that obdurate heart alone. We all run a great risk of becoming so familiar with spiritual truths that we shall understand them and believe them without feeling them, without really feeling what their meaning is, and without that degree of emotion being excited by them that ought to be excited. And if it be true that even the converted man, in whom what we may call the organs of spiritual perception have been quickened from their native paralysis, and the capacity of spiritual emotion in some good measure developed, by the working of Divine grace, has to wonder and lament that he believes so much, but feels it so little, we need hardly be surprised to find that in the case of most unconverted men living in a Christian country, and probably frequenting a Christian church, there is a perfect numbness of soul; as regards spiritual things they are, in the full sense of the words, "past feeling."
II. While we never forget that in the case of even a true Christian it is a sad thing when as years go his religion appears to be always growing more a thing of the head and less a thing of the heart, and while we are well assured that no one will lament that more than the true Christian himself, let us remember that such a train of thought must not be pushed too far. It would be very wrong if the aged believer were to fancy that because his religious feelings are growing less keen, less easily excited than in former years, he must, therefore, conclude that he is backsliding from his God and leaving his first love. He is causing for himself needless sorrow when he so acts and thinks. It is just that he has grown older, and so less capable of all emotion; but his choice of Christ may be just as firm and his religious convictions as deep as ever.
III. It is only to such as have really some good ground for hoping that they have believed in Christ that all this should be any ground of comfort. But if a man be not a believer, and if when he listens to the declaration of the doctrines of the Cross he understands them, but does not feel them; if he knows thoroughly well that whosoever does not betake himself to the great atonement of Christ must perish eternally, and if he knows too that he himself has never gone to Christ and never prepared to die; and if, with all this, he does not care-ah, then there is a sad and a fearful explanation of how he comes to be so. Let it be your earnest prayer and endeavour at once to go to Him who came to seek and save the lost, lest the Holy Spirit, without whom you can do nothing, may be finally grieved away.
A. K. H. Boyd, The Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson, p. 106.
References: Eph 4:19 .-Clergyman's Magazine, vol. iv., p. 305; Preacher's Monthly, vol. vi., p. 166. Eph 4:20 .-H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, The Life of Duty, vol. ii., p. 164.
Eph 4:20-21 I. We have here distinctly affirmed that the living voice of Christ Himself is our teacher. "Ye have heard Him" says Paul. Remember that the New Testament everywhere represents Christ as still working and teaching in the world; remember that He Himself promised the prolongation of His great work of declaring the Father beyond the limits of His earthly life, and that no more in proverbs, but plainly; remember that He has pledged Himself to send the teaching Spirit of truth, in whose coming Christ Himself comes, and all whose illuminations and communications are showing and imparting to us the things of Christ. Every living soul may have, and every Christian soul does have, direct access for himself to the living Lord, the eternal Word.
II. Those who are in Christ receive continuous instruction from Him: "and have been taught by Him." These words seem to imply the conditions of the gradual process of Christ's schooling. His teaching is not one act, but a long, loving; patient discipline. The first feeble motion of faith enrols us as disciples, and then there follows through all the years the "teaching to observe all things whatsoever He has commanded."
III. This gradualness and slowness of instruction is brought out still more distinctly if we look at the third idea which is contained in these words: as to the substance of the instruction. The theme of the teaching is the Teacher: "Ye have not so learned Christ." Then our lesson is not thoughts about the Lord, but the living Lord Himself, not the doctrine of Christianity only, but Christ, the theme as well as the Teacher.
A. Maclaren, Sermons in Manchester, 2nd series, p. 61.
I. Let us glance at the truth in Jesus. (1) The life of Jesus opposed and contradicted that which was false and wrong, and in this respect the truth was in Jesus. (2) Jesus embodied the truth of truth's symbols. (3) Jesus spake truth, that which, on account of its importance to man, is the truth. His truth is eternal, universal, new.
II. Let us show what cannot be learned by those who have only heard and been taught by Christ. (1) Nothing childish can be learned of Christ. (2) A shifting and accommodating creed is not learned of Christ. (3) Pious frauds are not learned of Christ. (4) A literal and carnal interpretation of Christ's laws is not learned of Christ. (5) Truth framed according to system is not learned of Christ. (6) Nothing contrary to the Godlike can be learned of Christ.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Sermons, 3rd series, p. 81.
References: Eph 4:20 , Eph 4:21 .-D. Rhys Jenkins, The Eternal Life, p. 365; J. Vaughan, Sermons, 14th series, p. 61.
Eph 4:20-21 I. When the phrase, "the truth as it is in Jesus," is used, it is probably almost always intended to imply, if nothing more, at least this: the great doctrine of human sin and of the redemption of mankind by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we should separate these two things which God has graciously joined together and take by itself that truth which the Old Testament contains, viz., the truth that man has fallen under the wrath of God, we should have a truth, but a truth emphatically as it is not in Jesus Christ; we should have the truth as it appears in its coldness and blackness and wretchedness, apart from that which has lightened it up and made it tolerable, even the smiles of Him who was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.
II. It would be giving a somewhat different view of the matter, though it would after all be substantially the same, if we were to say that the truth as it is in Jesus ought to be taken as our expression of that belief concerning the Lord Jesus Christ which is contained in the Apostles' Creed. To this general view of the truth as it is in Jesus many persons would be disposed to make several additions. They would be disposed to include within the limits of this truth, not only the knowledge of what God has done for us, but the knowledge of what we must, on our part, do in order to apprehend Christ and make our calling and election sure. Right views of faith and the saving, justifying power of faith would enter largely into this conception of the truth as it is in Jesus, or of what may be called Gospel truth. The manner in which we are to avail ourselves of the love of God is of course infinitely important; yet, after all, it is nothing as compared with the love itself. Christ is the foundation; Christ is the Truth; and the manner in which we build upon the foundation is, in the very nature of things, second to the fact of our having a foundation whereon to build.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 5th series, p. 290.
The Christian Method of Moral Regeneration.
I. A complete moral revolution is not accomplished either by one supreme effort of our will, or by any momentary shock of Divine power. It must be carried through in detail by a long, laborious, and sometimes painful process of self-discipline. The process lasts as long as life lasts. For with the changing years there are changing forms of moral evil which have to be resisted and put away from us. The earlier triumphs make the later triumphs easier, but do not release us from the hard necessities of battle. (1) Self-examination is necessary. Our moral habits must be compared, one by one, with the commandments of Christ, and their conformity to the genius and spirit of Christian ethics must be patiently and honestly tested. (2) There must be self-discipline as well as self-examination. We must put away our old self. The whole structure of our former moral character and habits must be demolished, and the ruins cleared away, that the building may be recommenced from its very foundation.
II. The truth which the Apostle assumes had been taught to the Ephesian Christians required them to be renewed in the spirit of their mind. The "spirit," which is that element of our life which comes to us direct from God, and by which we are akin to God, restores to the mind its soundness and health, the clearness of its vision, and its practical force and authority. In this high region of our nature Paul finds the springs of moral regeneration. It is by the discovery of the invisible kingdom of God that we learn the laws by which we are to be governed in the external and accidental relations of this transitory world. Regeneration must be followed by renewal. The Divine life given in the new birth must be fed from its eternal springs, or the stream will soon run shallow, will cease to flow, will at last disappear altogether. We must be renewed in the spirit of our mind.
R. W. Dale, Lectures on the Ephesians, p. 308.
References: Eph 4:20-24 - Homilist, 1st series, vol. v., p. 326; 3rd series, vol. v., p. 241; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 331.
Eph 4:22 I. Note the very significant, though brief, outline sketch of the facts of universal sinful human nature which the Apostle gives here. (1) The first of the characteristics of the sinful self is that every Christian life, whatsoever the superficial differences in it, is really a life shaped according to, and under the influence of, passionate desires. The desires are meant to be impelling powers. It is absurdity and the destruction of true manhood to make them, as we so often do, directing powers, and to put the reins into their hand. They are the wind, not the helm; the steam, not the driver. (2) The words of the text not only represent the various passionate desires as being the real guides of the "old man," but they give this other characteristic: that these desires are in their very nature the instrument of deceit and lies. The way never to get what you need and desire is always to do what you like, because (a) the object only satisfies for a time; (b) the desire grows, and the object of it does not. Whoever takes it for his law to do as he likes will not for long like what he does. (3) These deceiving desires corrupt. In whatever direction we move, the rate of progress tends to accelerate itself.
II. Note how we have here the hopeless command to put off the old man. That command "put off" is the plain dictate of conscience and of common sense, but it seems as hopeless as it is imperative. But what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son, did: He condemned sin in the flesh. So we come to-
III. The possibility of fulfilling the command. The context tells us how this is possible. The law, the pattern, and the power for complete victory over the old sinful self are to be found "as the truth is in Jesus." Union with Christ gives us a real possession of a new principle of life, derived from Him and like His own. We shall die with Him to sin when, resting by faith on Him who has died for sin, we are made conformable to His death, that we may walk in newness of life.
A. Maclaren, Sermons in Manchester, 3rd series, p. 105.
References: Eph 4:22-24 .-Clergyman's Magazine, vol. iii., p. 207. Eph 4:22-30 .-H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 1st series, p. 351. Eph 4:25 .-Homilist, vol. vii., p. 104.
Eph 4:24 I. The great purpose of the Gospel is our moral renewal: "the new man," created in righteousness and holiness. Notice (1) the profound sense of human sinfulness which underlies the text. (2) The Apostle specifies as the elements or characteristics of this new nature righteousness and holiness.
II. A second principle contained in these words is that this moral renewal is a creation in the image of God.
III. This new creation has to be put on and appropriated by us. That process of assumption has two parts. We are clothed upon with Christ in a double way, or rather in a double sense: we are found in Him, not having our own righteousness, but invested with His for our pardon and acceptance; we are clothed with His righteousness for our purifying and sanctifying. There is the assumption of Christ's righteousness which makes a man a Christian and has for its condition simple faith; there is the assumption of His righteousness, sanctifying and transforming us, which follows in a Christian course as its indispensable accompaniment and characteristic, and that is realised by daily and continuous effort.
IV. Finally, the text contains the principle that the means of appropriating this new nature is contact with the truth. (1) Let us learn how impossible are righteousness and holiness, morality and religion, in men unless they flow from this source; (2) let us learn the incompleteness and monstrosity of a professed belief in the truth which does not produce this righteousness and holiness.
A. Maclaren, Sermons in Manchester, 3rd series, p. 119.
Eph 4:24 I. "The inward man is renewed day by day." This renewing is to be sought after and to be cherished. A Christian is not to wait for its coming; he is to secure its advent.
II. Further, these changes are to be made manifest. When a Christian is renewed within, the renewing is to appear. It is not to be kept secret, but is to be shown, just as the newness of life in the vegetable kingdom is shown in the buds, and in the expanding leaves, and in the formative blossoms.
III. The new man consists, not of words merely, or of one class of actions, but of the entire human development. The characteristic of the new man is godliness, and its distinctive features are righteousness and true holiness.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Sermons, 2nd series, p. 93.
References: Eph 4:24 .-Preacher's Monthly, vol. viii., p. 159; J. Edmunds, Sixty Sermons, p. 398. Eph 4:25 .-H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 115; W. Braden, Ibid., vol. vii., p. 225; G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons and Addresses in Marlborough College, p. 158.
Eph 4:26 Anger, Noble and Ignoble.
In this injunction, delivered by St. Paul to a body of Christians, the privilege and duty of anger, as well as the danger attending its display, are fully recognised. They might be angry; they must be angry. Circumstances would continually arise to call out this emotion. They were not to crush it, only to watch it, lest it changed from a feeling worthy of God into one worthy only of the devil.
I. What then is the emotion which is here by implication commended? Anger is not the same as temper, or irritability, or ill-humour, or hatred; anger is displeasure strongly excited: that is its definition. An enthusiasm of love for righteousness includes an enthusiasm of hatred for evil
The three remaining chapters consist entirely of practical exhortations. Mutual agreement is the first subject, in the course of which a discussion is introduced respecting the government of the church, as having been framed by our Lord for the purpose of maintaining unity among Christians.
1.I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord. His imprisonment, which might have been supposed more likely to render him despised, is appealed to, as we have already seen, for a confirmation of his authority. It was the seal of that embassy with which he had been honored. Whatever belongs to Christ, though in the eyes of men it may be attended by ignominy, ought to be viewed by us with the highest regard. The apostle’s prison is more truly venerable than the splendid retinue or triumphal chariot of kings.
That ye may walk worthy. This is a general sentiment, a sort of preface, on which all the following statements are founded. He had formerly illustrated the calling with which they were called, (138) and now reminds them that they must live in obedience to God, in order that they may not be unworthy of such distinguished grace.
(138) Τὢς κλήσεως ἧς ἐκλήθητε “Arrian, Epict. page 122, 1. 3, says, καταισχύνειν τὴν κλὢσιν ἣν κέκληκεν, ‘to disgrace the calling with which he has called thee.’ He is speaking of a person, who, when summoned to give his testimony, utters what is contrary to that which was demanded or expected from him.” — Raphelius.
2. With all humility. He now descends to particulars, and first of all he mentions humility The reason is, that he was about to enter on the subject of Unity, to which humility is the first step. This again produces meekness, which disposes us to bear with our brethren, and thus to preserve that unity which would otherwise be broken a hundred times in a day. Let us remember, therefore, that, in cultivating brotherly kindness, we must begin with humility. Whence come rudeness, pride, and disdainful language towards brethren? Whence come quarrels, insults, and reproaches? Come they not from this, that every one carries his love of himself, and his regard to his own interests, to excess? By laying aside haughtiness and a desire of pleasing ourselves, we shall become meek and gentle, and acquire that moderation of temper which will overlook and forgive many things in the conduct of our brethren. Let us carefully observe the order and arrangement of these exhortations. It will be to no purpose that we inculcate forbearance till the natural fierceness has been subdued, and mildness acquired; and it will be equally vain to discourse of meekness, till we have begun with humility.
Forbearing one another in love. This agrees with what is elsewhere taught, that “love suffereth long and is kind.” (1. o 13:4.) Where love is strong and prevalent, we shall perform many acts of mutual forbearance.
3. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. With good reason does he recommend forbearance, as tending to promote the unity of the Spirit. Innumerable offenses arise daily, which might produce quarrels, particularly when we consider the extreme bitterness of man’s natural temper. Some consider the unity of the Spirit to mean that spiritual unity which is produced in us by the Spirit of God. There can be no doubt that He alone makes us “of one accord, of one mind,” (Phi 2:2,) and thus makes us one; but I think it more natural to understand the words as denoting harmony of views. This unity, he tells us, is maintained by the bond of peace; for disputes frequently give rise to hatred and resentment. We must live at peace, if we would wish that brotherly kindness should be permanent amongst us.
4. There is one body. (139) He proceeds to show more fully in how complete a manner Christians ought to be united. The union ought to be such that we shall form one body and one soul. These words denote the whole man. We ought to be united, not in part only, but in body and soul. He supports this by a powerful argument, as ye have been called in one hope of your calling. We are called to one inheritance and one life; and hence it follows, that we cannot obtain eternal life without living in mutual harmony in this world. One Divine invitation being addressed to all, they ought to be united in the same profession of faith, and to render every kind of assistance to each other. Oh, were this thought deeply impressed upon our minds, that we are subject to a law which no more permits the children of God to differ among themselves than the kingdom of heaven to be divided, how earnestly should we cultivate brotherly kindness! How should we dread every kind of animosity, if we duly reflected that all who separate us from brethren, estrange us from the kingdom of God! And yet, strangely enough, while we forget the duties which brethren owe to each other, we go on boasting that we are the sons of God. Let us learn from Paul, that none are at all fit for that inheritance who are not one body and one spirit.
(139) “There are ancient medals now extant, which have the figure of Diana on them, with this inscription, κοινὸν τὢς ᾿Ασίας, denoting that the cities of Asia were one body or commonwealth. Thus also were all Christians of all nations, Jews and Gentiles, under Christ.” — Chandler.
5. One Lord. In the first Epistle to the Corinthians, he employs the word Lord, to denote simply the government of God.
“There are differences of administration, but the same Lord.”
(1. o 12:5)
In the present instance, as he shortly afterwards makes express mention of the Father, he gives this appellation strictly to Christ, who has been appointed by the Father to be our Lord, and to whose government we cannot be subject, unless we are of one mind. The frequent repetition of the word one is emphatic. Christ cannot be divided. Faith cannot be rent. There are not various baptisms, but one which is common to all. God cannot cease to be one, and unchangeable. It cannot but be our duty to cherish holy unity, which is bound by so many ties. Faith, and baptism, and God the Father, and Christ, ought to unite us, so as almost to become one man. All these arguments for unity deserve to be pondered, but cannot be fully explained. I reckon it enough to take a rapid glance at the apostle’s meaning, leaving the full illustration of it to the preachers of the gospel. The unity of faith, which is here mentioned, depends on the one, eternal truth of God, on which it is founded.
One baptism, This does not mean that Christian baptism is not to be administered more than once, but that one baptism is common to all; so that, by means of it, we begin to form one body and one soul. But if that argument has any force, a much stronger one will be founded on the truth, that the Father, and Son, and Spirit, are one God; for it is one baptism, which is celebrated in the name of the Three Persons. What reply will the Arians or Sabellians make to this argument? Baptism possesses such force as to make us one; and in baptism, the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Spirit, is invoked. Will they deny that one Godhead is the foundation of this holy and mysterious unity? We are compelled to acknowledge, that the ordinance of baptism proves the existence of Three Persons in one Divine essence.
6. One God and Father of all. This is the main argument, from which all the rest flow. How comes it that we are united by faith, by baptism, or even by the government of Christ, but because God the Father, extending to each of us his gracious presence, employs these means for gathering us to himself? The two phrases, ἐπὶ πάντων καὶ διὰ πάντων, may either mean, above all and through all Things, or above all and through all Men. Either meaning will apply sufficiently well, or rather, in both cases, the meaning will be the same. Although God by his power upholds, and maintains, and rules, all things, yet Paul is not now speaking of the universal, but of the spiritual government which belongs to the church. By the Spirit of sanctification, God spreads himself through all the members of the church, embraces all in his government, and dwells in all; but God is not inconsistent with himself, and therefore we cannot but be united to him into one body.
This spiritual unity is mentioned by our Lord.
“Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast, given me, that they may be one as we are.”
(Joh 17:11)
This is true indeed, in a general sense, not only of all men but of all creatures. “In him we live, and move, and have our being.” (Act 17:28.) And again, “Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?” (Jer 23:24.) But we must attend to the connection in which this passage stands. Paul is now illustrating the mutual relation of believers, which has nothing in common either with wicked men or with inferior animals. To this relation we must limit what is said about God’s government and presence. It is for this reason, also, that the apostle uses the word Father, which applies only to the members of Christ.
7. But to every one. He now describes the manner in which God establishes and preserves among us a mutual relation. No member of the body of Christ is endowed with such perfection as to be able, without the assistance of others, to supply his own necessities. A certain proportion is allotted to each; and it is only by communicating with each other, that all enjoy what is sufficient for maintaining their respective places in the body. The diversity of gifts is discussed in another Epistle, and very nearly with the same object.
“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit”
(1. o 12:4.)
Such a diversity, we are there taught, is so far from injuring, that it tends to promote and strengthen, the harmony of believers.
The meaning of this verse may be thus summed up. “On no one has God bestowed all things. Each has received a certain measure. Being thus dependent on each other, they find it necessary to throw their individual gifts into the common stock, and thus to render mutual aid.” The words grace and gift remind us that, whatever may be our attainments, we ought not to be proud of them, because they lay us under deeper obligations to God. These blessings are said to be the gift of Christ; for, as the apostle, first of all, mentioned the Father, so his aim, as we shall see, is to represent all that we are, and all that we have, as gathered together in Christ.
8. Therefore he saith. To serve the purpose of his argument, Paul has departed not a little from the true meaning of this quotation. Wicked men charge him with having made an unfair use of Scripture. The Jews go still farther, and, for the sake of giving to their accusations a greater air of plausibility, maliciously pervert the natural meaning of this passage. What is said of God, is applied by them to David or to the people. “David, or the people,” they say, “ascended on high, when, in consequence of many victories, they rose superior to their enemies.” But a careful examination of the Psalm will convince any reader that the words, he ascended up on high, are applied strictly to God alone.
The whole Psalm may be regarded as anἐπίνικιον, a song of triumph, which David sings to God on account of the victories which he had obtained; but, taking occasion from the narrative of his own exploits, he makes a passing survey of the astonishing deliverances which the Lord had formerly wrought for his people. His object is to shew, that we ought to contemplate in the history of the Church the glorious power and goodness of God; and among other things he says, Thou hast ascended on high. (Psa 68:18.) The flesh is apt to imagine that God remains idle and asleep, when he does not openly execute his judgments. To the view of men, when the Church is oppressed, God is in some manner humbled; but, when he stretches out his avenging arm for her deliverance, he then appears to rouse himself, and to ascend his throne of judgment.
“Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts; he put them to a perpetual reproach.”
(Psa 78:65.)
This mode of expression is sufficiently common and familiar; and, in short, the deliverance of the Church is here called the ascension of God.
Perceiving that it is a song of triumph, in which David celebrates all the victories which God had wrought for the salvation of his Church, Paul very properly quoted the account given of God’s ascension, and applied it to the person of Christ. The noblest triumph which God ever gained was when Christ, after subduing sin, conquering death, and putting Satan to flight, rose majestically to heaven, that he might exercise his glorious reign over the Church. Hitherto there is no ground for the objection, that Paul has applied this quotation in a manner inconsistent with the design of the Psalmist. The continued existence of the Church is represented by David to be a manifestation of the Divine glory. But no ascension of God more triumphant or memorable will ever occur, than that which took place when Christ was carried up to the right hand of the Father, that he might rule over all authorities and powers, and might become the everlasting guardian and protector of his people.
He led captivity captive. Captivity is a collective noun for captive enemies; and the plain meaning is, that God reduced his enemies to subjection, which was more fully accomplished in Christ than in any other way. He has not only gained a complete victory over the devil, and sin, and death, and all the power of hell, — but out of rebels he forms every day “a willing people,” (Psa 110:3,) when he subdues by his word the obstinacy of our flesh. On the other hand, his enemies — to which class all wicked men belong — are held bound by chains of iron, and are restrained by his power from exerting their fury beyond the limits which he shall assign.
And gave gifts to men. There is rather more difficulty in this clause; for the words of the Psalm are, “thou hast received gifts for men,” while the apostle changes this expression into gave gifts, and thus appears to exhibit an opposite meaning. Still there is no absurdity here; for Paul does not always quote the exact words of Scripture, but, after referring to the passage, satisfies himself with conveying the substance of it in his own language. Now, it is clear that the gifts which David mentions were not received by God for himself, but for his people; and accordingly we are told, in an earlier part of the Psalm, that “the spoil” had been “divided” among the families of Israel. (Psa 68:12.) Since therefore the intention of receiving was to give gifts, Paul can hardly be said to have departed from the substance, whatever alteration there may be in the words.
At the same time, I am inclined to a different opinion, that Paul purposely changed the word, and employed it, not as taken out of the Psalm, but as an expression of his own, adapted to the present occasion. Having quoted from the Psalm a few words descriptive of Christ’s ascension, he adds, in his own language, and gave gifts, — for the purpose of drawing a comparison between the greater and the less. Paul intends to shew, that this ascension of God in the person of Christ was far more illustrious than the ancient triumphs of the Church; because it is a more honorable distinction for a conqueror to dispense his bounty largely to all classes, than to gather spoils from the vanquished.
The interpretation given by some, that Christ received from the Father what he would distribute to us, is forced, and utterly at variance with the apostle’s purpose. No solution of the difficulty, in my opinion, is more natural than this. Having made a brief quotation from the Psalm, Paul took the liberty of adding a statement, which, though not contained in the Psalm, is true in reference to Christ — a statement, too, by which the ascension of Christ is proved to be more illustrious, and more worthy of admiration, than those ancient manifestations of the Divine glory which David enumerates.
9. Now that he ascended. Here again the slanderers exclaim, that Paul’s reasoning is trifling and childish. “Why does he attempt to make those words apply to a real ascension of Christ, which were figuratively spoken about a manifestation of the Divine glory? Who does not know that the word ascend is metaphorical? The conclusion, that he also descended first, has therefore no weight.”
I answer, Paul does not here reason in the manner of a logician, as to what necessarily follows, or may be inferred, from the words of the prophet. He knew that what David spake about God’s ascension was metaphorical. But neither can it be denied, that the expression bears a reference to some kind of humiliation on the part of God which had previously existed. It is this humiliation which Paul justly infers from the declaration that God had ascended. And at what time did God descend lower than when Christ emptied himself? (᾿Αλλ ᾿ ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε, Phi 2:7.) If ever there was a time when, after appearing to lay aside the brightness of his power, God ascended gloriously, it was when Christ was raised from our lowest condition on earth, and received into heavenly glory.
Besides, it is not necessary to inquire very carefully into the literal exposition of the Psalm, since Paul merely alludes to the prophet’s words, in the same manner as, on another occasion, he accommodates to his own subject a passage taken from the writings of Moses. “The righteousness which is of faith speaketh in this manner, Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above;) or, who shall descend into the deep (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.”) (Rom 10:6. Deu 30:12.) But the appropriateness of the application which Paul makes of the passage to the person of Christ is not the only ground on which it must be defended. Sufficient evidence is afforded by the Psalm itself, that this ascription of praise relates to Christ’s kingdom. Not to mention other reasons which might be urged, it contains a distinct prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles.
Into the lower parts of the earth. (140) These words mean nothing more than the condition of the present life. To torture them so as to make them mean purgatory or hell, is exceedingly foolish. The argument taken from the comparative degree, “the lower parts,” is quite untenable. A comparison is drawn, not between one part of the earth and another, but between the whole earth and heaven; as if he had said, that from that lofty habitation Christ descended into our deep gulf.
(140) For ‘the lower parts of the earth,’ they may possibly signify no more than the place beneath; as when our Savior said, (Joh 8:23,) ‘Ye are from beneath, I am from above; ye are of this world, I am not of this world;’ or as God spake by the prophet, ‘I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath.’ Nay, they may well refer to his incarnation, according to that of David, (Psa 139:15,) or to his burial. (Psa 63:9.)” — Pearson.
10. That ascended up far above all heavens; that is, beyond this created world. When Christ is said to be in heaven, we must not view him as dwelling among the spheres and numbering the stars. Heaven denotes a place higher than all the spheres, which was assigned to the Son of God after his resurrection. (141) Not that it is literally a place beyond the world, but we cannot speak of the kingdom of God without using our ordinary language. Others, again, considering that the expressions, above all heavens, and ascension into heaven, are of the same import, conclude that Christ is not separated from us by distance of place. But one point they have overlooked. When Christ is placed above the heavens, or in the heavens, all that surrounds the earth — all that lies beneath the sun and stars, beneath the whole frame of the visible world — is excluded.
That he might fill all things. To fill often signifies to Finish, and it might have that meaning here; for, by his ascension into heaven, Christ entered into the possession of the authority given to him by the Father, that he might rule and govern all things. But a more beautiful view, in my opinion, will be obtained by connecting two meanings which, though apparently contradictory, are perfectly consistent. When we hear of the ascension of Christ, it instantly strikes our minds that he is removed to a great distance from us; and so he actually is, with respect to his body and human presence. But Paul reminds us, that, while he is removed from us in bodily presence, he fills all things by the power of his Spirit. Wherever the right hand of God, which embraces heaven and earth, is displayed, Christ is spiritually present by his boundless power; although, as respects his body, the saying of Peter holds true, that
“the heaven must receive him until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Act 3:21.)
By alluding to the seeming contradiction, the apostle has added not a little beauty to his language. He ascended; but it was that he, who was formerly bounded by a little space, might fill all things But did he not fill them before? In his divine nature, I own, he did; but the power of his Spirit was not so exerted, nor his presence so manifested, as after he had entered into the possession of his kingdom.
“The Holy Ghost was not yet given,
because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (Joh 7:39.)
And again,
“It is expedient for you that I go away; for, if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you.” (Joh 16:7.)
In a word, when he began to sit at the right hand of the Father, he began also to fill all things. (142)
(141) “This was the place of which our Savior spake to his disciples, ‘What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before?’ Had he been there before in body, it had been no such wonder that he should have ascended thither again; but that his body should ascend unto that place where the majesty of God was most resplendent; that the flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, should be seated far above all angels and archangels, all principalities and powers, even at the right hand of God; this was that which Christ propounded as worthy of their greatest admiration. Whatsoever heaven there is higher than all the rest that are called heavens; whatsoever sanctuary is holier than all which are called holies; whatsoever place is of greatest dignity in all those courts above, into that place did he ascend, where, in the splendor of his Deity, he was before he took upon him our humanity.” — Pearson.
(142) “The deepest humiliation is followed by the highest exaltation. From the highest heaven, than which nothing can be higher, Christ descended to hell, than which nothing can be lower. And on that account he deserved that he should be again carried up beyond the boundaries of all the heavens, withdrawing from us the presence of his body in such a manner, that from on high he might fill all things with heavenly gifts, and, in a different manner, might now be present with us more effectually than he was present while he dwelt with us on earth.” — Erasmus.
He returns to explain the distribution of gifts, and illustrates at greater length what he had slightly hinted, that out of this variety arises unity in the church, as the various tones in music produce sweet melody. The meaning may be thus summed up. “The external ministry of the word is also commended, on account of the advantages which it yields. Certain men appointed to that office, are employed in preaching the gospel. This is the arrangement by which the Lord is pleased to govern his church, to maintain its existence, and ultimately to secure its highest perfection.”
It may excite surprise, that, when the gifts of the Holy Spirit form the subject of discussion, Paul should enumerate offices instead of gifts. I reply, when men are called by God, gifts are necessarily connected with offices. God does not confer on men the mere name of Apostles or Pastors, but also endows them with gifts, without which they cannot properly discharge their office. He whom God has appointed to be an apostle does not bear an empty and useless title; for the divine command, and the ability to perform it, go together. Let us now examine the words in detail.
11.And he gave. The government of the church, by the preaching of the word, is first of all declared to be no human contrivance, but a most sacred ordinance of Christ. The apostles did not appoint themselves, but were chosen by Christ; and, at the present day, true pastors do not rashly thrust themselves forward by their own judgment, but are raised up by the Lord. In short, the government of the church, by the ministry of the word, is not a contrivance of men, but an appointment made by the Son of God. As his own unalterable law, it demands our assent. They who reject or despise this ministry offer insult and rebellion to Christ its Author. It is himself who gave them; for, if he does not raise them up, there will be none. Another inference is, that no man will be fit or qualified for so distinguished an office who has not been formed and moulded by the hand of Christ himself. To Christ we owe it that we have ministers of the gospel, that they abound in necessary qualifications, that they execute the trust committed to them. All, all is his gift.
Some, apostles. The different names and offices assigned to different persons take their rise from that diversity of the members which goes to form the completeness of the whole body, — every ground of emulation, and envy, and ambition, being thus removed. If every person shall display a selfish character, shall strive to outshine his neighbor, and shall disregard all concerns but his own, — or, if more eminent persons shall be the object of envy to those who occupy a lower place, — in each, and in all of these cases, gifts are not applied to their proper use. He therefore reminds them, that the gifts bestowed on individuals are intended, not to be held for their personal and separate interests, but to be employed for the benefit of the whole. Of the offices which are here enumerated, we have already spoken at considerable length, (143) and shall now say nothing more than the exposition of the passage seems to demand. Five classes of office-bearers are mentioned, though on this point, I am aware, there is a diversity of opinion; for some consider the two last to make but one office. Leaving out of view the opinions of others, I shall proceed to state my own.
I take the word apostles not in that general sense which the derivation of the term might warrant, but in its own peculiar signification, for those highly favored persons whom Christ exalted to the highest honor. Such were the twelve, to whose number Paul was afterwards added. Their office was to spread the doctrine of the gospel throughout the whole world, to plant churches, and to erect the kingdom of Christ. They had not churches of their own committed to them; but the injunction given to all of them was, to preach the gospel wherever they went.
Next to them come the Evangelists, who were closely allied in the nature of their office, but held an inferior rank. To this class belonged Timothy and others; for, while Paul mentions them along with himself in the salutations of his epistles, he does not speak of them as his companions in the apostleship, but claims this name as peculiarly his own. The services in which the Lord employed them were auxiliary to those of the apostles, to whom they were next in rank.
To these two classes the apostle adds Prophets. By this name some understand those persons who possessed the gift of predicting future events, among whom was Agabus. (Act 11:28.) But, for my own part, as doctrine is the present subject, I would rather define the word prophets, as on a former occasion, (144) to mean distinguished interpreters of prophecies, who, by a remarkable gift of revelation, applied them to the subjects which they had occasion to handle; not excluding, however, the gift of prophecy, by which their doctrinal instruction was usually accompanied.
Pastors and Teachers are supposed by some to denote one office, because the apostle does not, as in the other parts of the verse, say, and some, pastors; and some, teachers; but, τοὺς δὲ, ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους, and some, pastors and teachers Chrysostom and Augustine are of this opinion; not to mention the commentaries of Ambrose, whose observations on the subject are truly childish and unworthy of himself. I partly agree with them, that Paul speaks indiscriminately of pastors and teachers as belonging to one and the same class, and that the name teacher does, to some extent, apply to all pastors. But this does not appear to me a sufficient reason why two offices, which I find to differ from each other, should be confounded. Teaching is, no doubt, the duty of all pastors; but to maintain sound doctrine requires a talent for interpreting Scripture, and a man may be a teacher who is not qualified to preach.
Pastors, in my opinion, are those who have the charge of a particular flock; though I have no objection to their receiving the name of teachers, if it be understood that there is a distinct class of teachers, who preside both in the education of pastors and in the instruction of the whole church. It may sometimes happen, that the same person is both a pastor and a teacher, but the duties to be performed are entirely different.
It deserves attention, also, that, of the five offices which are here enumerated, not more than the last two are intended to be perpetual. Apostles, Evangelists, and Prophets were bestowed on the church for a limited time only, — except in those cases where religion has fallen into decay, and evangelists are raised up in an extraordinary manner, to restore the pure doctrine which had been lost. But without Pastors and Teachers there can be no government of the church.
Papists have some reason to complain, that their primacy, of which they boast so much, is openly insulted in this passage. The subject of discussion is the unity of the church. Paul inquires into the means by which its continuance is secured, and the outward expressions by which it is promoted, and comes at length to the government of the church. If he knew a primacy which had a fixed residence, was it not his duty, for the benefit of the whole church, to exhibit one ministerial head placed over all the members, under whose government we are collected into one body? We must either charge Paul with inexcusable neglect and foolishness, in leaving out the most appropriate and powerful argument, or we must acknowledge that this primacy is at variance with the appointment of Christ. In truth, he plainly rejects it as without foundation, when he ascribes superiority to Christ alone, and represents the apostles, and all the pastors, as indeed inferior to Him, but associated on an equal level with each other. There is no passage of Scripture by which that tyrannical hierarchy, regulated by one earthly head, is more completely overturned. Paul has been followed by Cyprian, who gives a short and clear definition of what forms the only lawful monarchy in the church. There is, he says, one bishoprick, which unites the various parts into one whole. This bishoprick he claims for Christ alone, leaving the administration of it to individuals, but in a united capacity, no one being permitted to exalt himself above others.
(143) See Calvin on Corinthians, vol. 1 p. 401.
(144) See Calvin on Corinthians, vol. 1 p. 415.
12. For the renewing of the saints. In this version I follow Erasmus, not because I prefer his view, but to allow the reader an opportunity of comparing his version with the Vulgate and with mine, and then choosing for himself. The old translation was, (ad consummationem ,) for the completeness. The Greek word employed by Paul isκαταρτισμός, which signifies literally the adaptation of things possessing symmetry and proportion; just as, in the human body, the members are united in a proper and regular manner; so that the word comes to signify perfection. But as Paul intended to express here a just and orderly arrangement, I prefer the word (constitutio ) settlement or constitution, taking it in that sense in which a commonwealth, or kingdom, or province, is said to be settled, when confusion gives place to the regular administration of law.
For the work of the ministry. God might himself have performed this work, if he had chosen; but he has committed it to theministry of men. This is intended to anticipate an objection. “Cannot the church be constituted and properly arranged, without the instrumentality of men?” Paul asserts that a ministry is required, because such is the will of God.
For the edifying of the body of Christ. This is the same thing with what he had formerly denominated the settlement orperfecting of the saints. Our true completeness and perfection consist in our being united in the one body of Christ. No language more highly commendatory of the ministry of the word could have been employed, than to ascribe to it this effect. What is more excellent than to produce the true and complete perfection of the church? And yet this work, so admirable and divine, is here declared by the apostle to be accomplished by the external ministry of the word. That those who neglect this instrument should hope to become perfect in Christ is utter madness. Yet such are the fanatics, on the one hand, who pretend to be favored with secret revelations of the Spirit, — and proud men, on the other, who imagine that to them the private reading of the Scriptures is enough, and that they have no need of the ordinary ministry of the church.
If the edification of the church proceeds from Christ alone, he has surely a right to prescribe in what manner it shall be edified. But Paul expressly states, that, according to the command of Christ, no real union or perfection is attained, but by the outward preaching. We must allow ourselves to be ruled and taught by men. This is the universal rule, which extends equally to the highest and to the lowest. The church is the common mother of all the godly, which bears, nourishes, and brings up children to God, kings and peasants alike; and this is done by the ministry. Those who neglect or despise this order choose to be wiser than Christ. Woe to the pride of such men! It is, no doubt, a thing in itself possible that divine influence alone should make us perfect without human assistance. But the present inquiry is not what the power of God can accomplish, but what is the will of God and the appointment of Christ. In employing human instruments for accomplishing their salvation, God has conferred on men no ordinary favor. Nor can any exercise be found better adapted to promote unity than to gather around the common doctrine — the standard of our General.
13. Till we all come. Paul had already said, that by the ministry of men the church is regulated and governed, so as to attain the highest perfection. But his commendation of the ministry is now carried farther. The necessity for which he had pleaded is not confined to a single day, but continues to the end. Or, to speak more plainly, he reminds his readers that the use of the ministry is not temporal, like that of a school for children, (παιδαγωγία, Gal 3:24,) but constant, so long as we remain in the world. Enthusiasts dream that the use of the ministry ceases as soon as we have been led to Christ. Proud men, who carry their desire of knowledge beyond what is proper, look down with contempt on the elementary instruction of childhood. But Paul maintains that we must persevere in this course till all our deficiencies are supplied; that we must make progress till death, under the teaching of Christ alone; and that we must not be ashamed to be the scholars of the church, to which Christ has committed our education.
In the unity of the faith. But ought not the unity of the faith to reign among us from the very commencement? It does reign, I acknowledge, among the sons of God, but not so perfectly as to make them come together. Such is the weakness of our nature, that it is enough if every day brings some nearer to others, and all nearer to Christ. The expression, coming together, denotes that closest union to which we still aspire, and which we shall never reach, until this garment of the flesh, which is always accompanied by some remains of ignorance and weakness, shall have been laid aside.
And of the knowledge of the Son of God. This clause appears to be added for the sake of explanation. It was the apostle’s intention to explain what is the nature of true faith, and in what it consists; that is, when the Son of God is known. To the Son of God alone faith ought to look; on him it relies; in him it rests and terminates. If it proceed farther, it will disappear, and will no longer be faith, but a delusion. Let us remember, that true faith confines its view so entirely to Christ, that it neither knows, nor desires to know, anything else.
Into a perfect man. This must be read in immediate connection with what goes before; as if he had said, “What is the highest perfection of Christians? How is that perfection attained?” Full manhood is found in Christ; for foolish men do not, in a proper manner, seek their perfection in Christ. It ought to be held as a fixed principle among us, that all that is out of Christ is hurtful and destructive. Whoever is a man in Christ, is, in every respect, a perfect man.
The AGE of fullness means — full or mature age. No mention is made of old age, for in the Christian progress no place for it is found. Whatever becomes old has a tendency to decay; but the vigor of this spiritual life is continually advancing.
14. That we may be no more children. Having spoken of that perfect manhood, towards which we are proceeding throughout the whole course of our life, he reminds us that, during such a progress, we ought not to resemble children. An intervening period is thus pointed out between childhood and man’s estate. Those are “children” who have not yet advanced a step in the way of the Lord, but who still hesitate, — who have not yet determined what road they ought to choose, but move sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another, always doubtful, always wavering. Those, again, who are thoroughly founded in the doctrine of Christ, though not yet perfect, have so much wisdom and vigor as to choose properly, and proceed steadily, in the right course. Thus we find that the life of believers, marked by a constant desire and progress towards those attainments which they shall ultimately reach, bears a resemblance to youth. At no period of this life are we men. But let not such a statement be carried to the other extreme, as if there were no progress beyond childhood. After being born to Christ, we ought to grow, so as “not to be children in understanding.” (1. o 14:20.) Hence it appears what kind of Christianity the Popish system must be, when the pastors labor, to the utmost of their power, to keep the people in absolute infancy.
Tossed to and fro, and carried about. The distressing hesitation of those who do not place absolute reliance on the word of the Lord, is illustrated by two striking metaphors. The first is taken from small ships, exposed to the fury of the billows in the open sea, holding no fixed course, guided neither by skill nor design, but hurried along by the violence of the tempest. The next is taken from straws, or other light substances, which are carried hither and thither as the wind drives them, and often in opposite directions. Such must be the changeable and unsteady character of all who do not rest on the foundation of God’s eternal truth. It is their just punishment for looking, not to God, but to men. Paul declares, on the other hand, that faith, which rests on the word of God, stands unshaken against all the attacks of Satan.
By every wind of doctrine. By a beautiful metaphor, all the doctrines of men, by which we are drawn away from the simplicity of the gospel, are called winds God gave us his word, by which we might have placed ourselves beyond the possibility of being moved; but, giving way to the contrivances of men, we are carried about in all directions.
By the cunning of men. There will always be impostors, who make insidious attacks upon our faith; but, if we are fortified by the truth of God, their efforts will be unavailing. Both parts of this statement deserve our careful attention. When new sects, or wicked tenets, spring up, many persons become alarmed. But the attempts of Satan to darken, by his falsehoods, the pure doctrine of Christ, are at no time interrupted; and it is the will of God that these struggles should be the trial of our faith. When we are informed, on the other hand, that the best and readiest defense against every kind of error is to bring forward that doctrine which we have learned from Christ and his apostles, this surely is no ordinary consolation.
With what awful wickedness, then, are Papists chargeable, who take away from the word of God everything like certainty, and maintain that there is no steadiness of faith, but what depends on the authority of men! If a man entertain any doubt, it is in vain to bid him consult the word of God: he must abide by their decrees. But we have embraced the law, the prophets, and the gospel. Let us therefore confidently expect that we shall reap the advantage which is here promised, — that all the impostures of men will do us no harm. They will attack us, indeed, but they will not prevail. We are entitled, I acknowledge, to look for the dispensation of sound doctrine from the church, for God has committed it to her charge; but when Papists avail themselves of the disguise of the church for burying doctrine, they give sufficient proof that they have a diabolical synagogue.
The Greek wordκυβεία, which I have translated cunning, is taken from players at dice, who are accustomed to practice many arts of deception. The words, ἐν πανουργίᾳ, by craftiness, intimate that the ministers of Satan are deeply skilled in imposture; and it is added, that they keep watch, in order to insnare, (πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τὢς πλάνης.) All this should rouse and sharpen our minds to profit by the word of God. If we neglect to do so, we may fall into the snares of our enemies, and endure the severe punishment of our sloth.
15. But, speaking the truth. Having already said that we ought not to be children, destitute of reason and judgment, he now enjoins us to grow up in the truth. (145) Though we have not arrived at man’s estate, we ought at least, as we have already said, to be advanced children. The truth of God ought to have such a firm hold of us, that all the contrivances and attacks of Satan shall not draw us from our course; and yet, as we have not hitherto attained full and complete strength, we must make progress until death.
He points out the design of this progress, that Christ may be the head, “that in all things he may have the pre-eminence,” (Col 1:18,) and that in him alone we may grow in vigor or in stature. Again, we see that no man is excepted; all are enjoined to be subject, and to take their own places in the body.
What aspect then does Popery present, but that of a crooked, deformed person? Is not the whole symmetry of the church destroyed, when one man, acting in opposition to the head, refuses to be reckoned one of the members? The Papists deny this, and allege that the Pope is nothing more than a ministerial head. But such cavils do them no service. The tyranny of their idol must be acknowledged to be altogether inconsistent with that order which Paul here recommends. In a word, a healthful condition of the church requires that Christ alone “must increase,” and all others “must decrease.” (Joh 3:30.) Whatever increase we obtain must be regulated in such a manner, that we shall remain in our own place, and contribute to exalt the head.
When he bids us give heed to the truth in love, he uses the preposition in, (ἐν,) like the corresponding Hebrew preposition ב, (beth,) as signifying with, — speaking the truth With love (146) If each individual, instead of attending exclusively to his own concerns, shall desire mutual intercourse, there will be agreeable and general progress. Such, the Apostle assures us, must be the nature of this harmony, that men shall not be suffered to forget the claims of truth, or, disregarding them, to frame an agreement according to their own views. This proves the wickedness of the Papists, who lay aside the word of God, and labor to force our compliance with their decisions.
(145) “᾿Αληθεύοντες does not seem properly to denote so much ‘speaking the truth,’ as ‘embracing and adhering to it;’ and, to render the Christian perfect, he must add to this regard to truth, love, or universal affection and benevolence. It was a noble saying of Pythagoras, agreeable to this sentiment of our apostle, ‘These are the two loveliest gifts of the gods to men, τό τε ἀληθεύειν καὶ τὸ εὐεργετεῖν, to embrace the truth, and be beneficent.’ AElian. 1. 12, c. 58.)” — Chandler.
(146) “᾿Αλγθεύοντες ἐν ἀγάπη, means much more than ‘speaking the truth in love;’ it signifies thinking, feeling, acting under the influence of ‘the truth, which worketh by love.’” — Brown.
16. From whom the whole body. All our increase should tend to exalt more highly the glory of Christ. This is now proved by the best possible reason. It is he who supplies all our wants, and without whose protection we cannot be safe. As the root conveys sap to the whole tree, so all the vigor which we possess must flow to us from Christ. There are three things here which deserve our attention. The first is what has now been stated. All the life or health which is diffused through the members flows from the head; so that the members occupy a subordinate rank. The second is, that, by the distribution made, the limited share of each renders the communication between all the members absolutely necessary. The third is, that, without mutual love, the health of the body cannot be maintained. Through the members, as canals, is conveyed from the head all that is necessary for the nourishment of the body. While this connection is upheld, the body is alive and healthy. Each member, too, has its own proper share, — according to the effectual working in the measure of every part.
Lastly, he shows that by love the church is edified, — to the edifying of itself in love. This means that no increase is advantageous, which does not bear a just proportion to the whole body. That man is mistaken who desires his own separate growth. If a leg or arm should grow to a prodigious size, or the mouth be more fully distended, would the undue enlargement of those parts be otherwise than injurious to the whole frame? In like manner, if we wish to be considered members of Christ, let no man be anything for himself, but let us all be whatever we are for the benefit of each other. This is accomplished by love; and where it does not reign, there is no “edification,” but an absolute scattering of the church.
17. This I say therefore. That government which Christ has appointed for the edification of his church has now been considered. He next inquires what fruits the doctrine of the gospel ought to yield in the lives of Christians; or, if you prefer it, he begins to explain minutely the nature of that edification by which doctrine ought to be followed.
That ye henceforth walk not in vanity. He first exhorts them to renounce the vanity of unbelievers, arguing from its inconsistency with their present views. That those who have been taught in the school of Christ, and enlightened by the doctrine of salvation, should follow vanity, and in no respect differ from those unbelieving and blind nations on whom no light of truth has ever shone, would be singularly foolish. On this ground he very properly calls upon them to demonstrate, by their life, that they had gained some advantage by becoming the disciples of Christ. To impart to his exhortation the greater earnestness, he beseeches them by the name of God, — this I say and testify in the Lord, (147) — reminding them, that, if they despised this instruction, they must one day give an account.
As other Gentiles walk. He means those who had not yet been converted to Christ. But, at the same time, he reminds the Ephesians how necessary it was that they should repent, since by nature they resembled lost and condemned men. The miserable and shocking condition of other nations is held out as the motive to a change of disposition. He asserts that believers differ from unbelievers; and points out, as we shall see, the causes of this difference. With regard to the former, he accuses their mind of vanity: and let us remember, that he speaks generally of all who have not been renewed by the Spirit of Christ.
In the vanity of their mind. Now, the mind holds the highest rank in the human constitution, is the seat of reason, presides over the will, and restrains sinful desires; so that our theologians of the Sorbonne are in the habit of calling her the Queen. But, Paul makes the mind to consist of nothing else than vanity; and, as if he had not expressed his meaning strongly enough, he gives no better title to her daughter, the understanding. Such is my interpretation of the wordδιανοία; for, though it signifies the thought, yet, as it is in the singular number, it refers to the thinking faculty. Plato, about the close of his Sixth Book on a Republic, assigns toδιανοία an intermediate place between νόησις and πίστις but his observations are so entirely confined to geometrical subjects, as not to admit of application to this passage. Having formerly asserted that men see nothing, Paul now adds, that they are blind in reasoning, even on the most important subjects.
Let men now go and be proud of free-will, whose guidance is here marked by so deep disgrace. But experience, we shall be told, is openly at variance with this opinion; for men are not so blind as to be incapable of seeing anything, nor so vain as to be incapable of forming any judgment. I answer, with respect to the kingdom of God, and all that relates to the spiritual life, the light of human reason differs little from darkness; for, before it has pointed out the road, it is extinguished; and its power of perception is little else than blindness, for ere it has reached the fruit, it is gone. The true principles held by the human mind resemble sparks; (148) but these are choked by the depravity of our nature, before they have been applied to their proper use. All men know, for instance, that there is a God, and that it is our duty to worship him; but such is the power of sin and ignorance, that from this confused knowledge we pass all at once to an idol, and worship it in the place of God. And even in the worship of God, it leads to great errors, particularly in the first table of the law.
As to the second objection, our judgment does indeed agree with the law of God in regard to the mere outward actions; but sinful desire, which is the source of everything evil, escapes our notice. Besides, Paul does not speak merely of the natural blindness which we brought with us from the womb, but refers also to a still grosser blindness, by which, as we shall afterwards see, God punishes former transgressions. We conclude with observing, that the reason and understanding which men naturally possess, make them in the sight of God without excuse; but, so long as they allow themselves to live according to their natural disposition, they can only wander, and fall, and stumble in their purposes and actions. Hence it appears in what estimation and value false worship must appear in the sight of God, when it proceeds from the gulf of vanity and the maze of ignorance.
(147) “Μαρτύρομαι ἐν κυρίῳ — In this sense μαρτύρομαι is obviously used by Polybius: συνδαραμόντων δὲ τῶν ἐγχωρίων καὶ μαρτυρομένων τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐπανάγειν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχήν, when the inhabitants had run together and besought to bring the men to the magistrates. It is more customary to use διαμαρτύρομαι in this sense. Πολλὰ γὰρ τῶν κυβερνητῶν διαμαρτυρομένων μὴ πλεῖν παρὰ τὴν ἔξω πλευρὰν τὢς Σικελίας, because the pilots earnestly implored them not to sail along the opposite coast of Sicily.” — Raphelius.
(148) “Il y a bien en l’esprit de l’homme des principes et maximes veritables, qui sont commes estincelles.” “There are, in the mind of man, many true principles and maxims, which resemble sparks.”
18. Being alienated from the life of God. The life of God may either mean what is accounted life in the sight of God, as in that passage,
“they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God, ”
(Joh 12:43,)
or, that life which God bestows on his elect by the Spirit of regeneration. In both cases the meaning is the same. Our ordinary life, as men, is nothing more than an empty image of life, not only because it quickly passes, but also because, while we live, our souls, not keeping close to God, are dead. There are three kinds of life in this world. The first is animal life, which consists only of motion and the bodily senses, and which we have in common with the brutes; the second is human life, which we have as the children of Adam; and the third is that supernatural life, which believers alone obtain. And all of them are from God, so that each of them may be called the life of God. As to the first, Paul, in his sermon at Athens, says, (Act 17:28,) “In him we live, and move, and have our being;” and the Psalmist says,
“Send forth thy Spirit, and they shall be created; and thou wilt renew the face of the earth.” (Psa 104:30.)
Of the second Job says,
“Thou hast granted me life, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.” (Job 10:12.)
But the regeneration of believers is here called, by way of eminence, the life of God, because then does God truly live in us, and we enjoy his life, when he governs us by his Spirit. Of this life all men who are not new creatures in Christ are declared by Paul to be destitute. So long, then, as we remain in the flesh, that is, in ourselves, how wretched must be our condition! We may now form a judgment of all the moral virtues, as they are called; for what sort of actions will that life produce which, Paul affirms, is not the life of God? Before anything good can begin to proceed from us, we must first be renewed by the grace of Christ. This will be the commencement of a true, and, as the phrase is, a vital life.
On account of the ignorance that is in them. We ought to attend to the reason which is here assigned; for, as the knowledge of God is the true life of the soul, so, on the contrary, ignorance is the death of it. And lest we should adopt the opinion of philosophers, that ignorance, which leads us into mistakes, is only an incidental evil, Paul shews that it has its root in the blindness of their heart, by which he intimates that it dwells in their very nature. The first blindness, therefore, which covers the minds of men, is the punishment of original sin; because Adam, after his revolt, was deprived of the true light of God, in the absence of which there is nothing but fearful darkness.
19. Who being past feeling. The account which had been given of natural depravity is followed by a description of the worst of all evils, brought upon men by their own sinful conduct. Having destroyed the sensibilities of the heart, and allayed the stings of remorse, they abandon themselves to all manner of iniquity. We are by nature corrupt and prone to evil; nay, we are wholly inclined to evil. Those who are destitute of the Spirit of Christ give loose reins to self-indulgence, till fresh offenses, producing others in constant succession, bring down upon them the wrath of God. The voice of God, proclaimed by an accusing conscience, still continues to be heard; but, instead of producing its proper effects, appears rather to harden them against all admonition. On account of such obstinacy, they deserve to be altogether forsaken by God.
The usual symptom of their having been thus forsaken is — the insensibility to pain, which is here described — being past feeling. Unmoved by the approaching judgment of God, whom they offend, they go on at their ease, and fearlessly indulge without restraint in the pleasures of sin. No shame is felt, no regard to character is maintained. The gnawing of a guilty conscience, tormented by the dread of the Divine judgment, may be compared to the porch of hell; but such hardened security as this — is a whirlpool which swallows up and destroys. As Solomon says,
“When the wicked is come to the deep, he despiseth it.”
(Pro 18:3.)
Most properly, therefore, does Paul exhibit that dreadful example of Divine vengeance, in which men forsaken by God — having laid conscience to sleep, and destroyed all fear of the Divine judgment, — in a word, being past feeling, — surrender themselves with brutal violence to all wickedness. This is not universally the case. Many even of the reprobate are restrained by God, whose infinite goodness prevents the absolute confusion in which the world would otherwise be involved. The consequence is, that such open lust, such unrestrained intemperance, does not appear in all. It is enough that the lives of some present such a mirror, fitted to awaken our alarm lest anything similar should happen to ourselves.
Lasciviousness (ἀσελγείᾳ) appears to me to denote that wantonness with which the flesh indulges in intemperance and licentiousness, when not restrained by the Spirit of God. Uncleanness is put for scandalous enormities of every description. It is added, with greediness. The Greek wordπλεονεξία, which is so translated, often signifies covetousness, (Luk 12:15; 2. e 2:14,) and is so explained by some in this passage; but I cannot adopt that view. Depraved and wicked desires being insatiable, Paul represents them as attended and followed by greediness, which is the contrary of moderation.
20. But ye have not. He now draws a contrast of a Christian life, so as to make it evident how utterly inconsistent it is with the character of a godly man to defile himself regardlessly with the abominations of the Gentiles. Because the Gentiles walk in darkness, therefore they do not distinguish between right and wrong; but those on whom the truth of God shines ought to live in a different manner. That those to whom the vanity of the senses is a rule of life, should yield themselves up to base lusts, is not surprising; but the doctrine of Christ teaches us to renounce our natural dispositions. He whose life differs not from that of unbelievers, has learned nothing of Christ; for the knowledge of Christ cannot be separated from the mortification of the flesh.
21. If ye have heard him. To excite their attention and earnestness the more, he not only tells them that they had heard Christ, but employs a still stronger expression, ye have been taught in him, as if he had said, that this doctrine had not been slightly pointed out, but faithfully delivered and explained.
As the truth is in Jesus. This contains a reproof of that superficial knowledge of the gospel, by which many are elated, who are wholly unacquainted with newness of life. They think that they are exceedingly wise, but the apostle pronounces it to be a false and mistaken opinion. There is a twofold knowledge of Christ, — one, which is true and genuine, — and another, which is counterfeit and spurious. Not that, strictly speaking, there are two kinds; but most men falsely imagine that they know Christ, while they know nothing but what is carnal. In another Epistle he says,
“If any man be in Christ, let him be a new creature.”
(2. o 5:17.)
So here he affirms that any knowledge of Christ, which is not accompanied by mortification of the flesh, is not true and sincere.
22. That ye put off. He demands from a Christian man repentance, or a new life, which he makes to consist of self-denial and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. Beginning with the first, he enjoins us to lay aside, or put off the old man, employing the metaphor of garments, which we have already had occasion to explain. The old man, — as we have repeatedly stated, in expounding the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and other passages where it occurs, — means the natural disposition which we bring with us from our mother’s womb. In two persons, Adam and Christ, he describes to us what may be called two natures. As we are first born of Adam, the depravity of nature which we derive from him is called the Old man; and as we are born again in Christ, the amendment of this sinful nature is called the New man. In a word, he who desires to put off the old man must renounce his nature. To suppose that the words Old andNew contain an allusion to the Old and New Testaments, is exceedingly unphilosophical.
Concerning the former conversation. To make it more evident that this exhortation to the Ephesians was not unnecessary, he reminds them of their former life. “Before Christ revealed himself to your minds, the old man reigned in you; and therefore, if you desire to lay him aside, you must renounce your former life.” Which is corrupted. He describes the old man from the fruits, that is, from the wicked desires, which allure men to destruction; for the word, corrupt, alludes to old age, which is closely allied to corruption. Let us beware of considering the deceitful lusts, as the Papists do, to mean nothing more than the gross and visible lusts, which are generally acknowledged to be base. The word includes also those dispositions which, instead of being censured, are sometimes applauded, — such as ambition, cunning, and everything that proceeds either from self-love or from want of confidence in God.
23. And be renewed. The second part of the rule for a devout and holy life is to live, not in our own spirit, but in the Spirit of Christ. But what is meant by — the spirit of your mind? I understand it simply to mean, — Be renewed, not only with respect to the inferior appetites or desires, which are manifestly sinful, but with respect also to that part of the soul which is reckoned most noble and excellent. And here again, he brings forward to view that Queen which philosophers are accustomed almost to adore. There is an implied contrast between the spirit of our mind and the Divine and heavenly Spirit, who produces in us another and a new mind. How much there is in us that is sound or uncorrupted may be easily gathered from this passage, which enjoins us to correct chiefly the reason or mind, in which we are apt to imagine that there is nothing but what is virtuous and deserves commendation.
24. And that ye put on the new man. All that is meant is, “Be renewed in the spirit, or, be renewed within or completely, — beginning with the mind, which appears to be the part most free from all taint of sin.” What is added about the creation, may refer either to the first creation of man, or to the second creation, which is effected by the grace of Christ. Both expositions will be true. Adam was at first created after the image of God, and reflected, as in a mirror, the Divine righteousness; but that image, having been defaced by sin, must now be restored in Christ. The regeneration of the godly is indeed — as we have formerly explained (149) — nothing else than the formation anew of the image of God in them. There is, no doubt, a far more rich and powerful manifestation of Divine grace in this second creation than in the first; but our highest perfection is uniformly represented in Scripture as consisting in our conformity and resemblance to God. Adam lost the image which he had originally received, and therefore it becomes necessary that it shall be restored to us by Christ. The design contemplated by regeneration is to recall us from our wanderings to that end for which we were created.
In righteousness. If righteousness be taken as a general term for uprightness, holiness will be something higher, or that purity which lies in being devoted to the service of God. I am rather inclined to consider holiness as referring to the first table, and righteousness to the second table, of the law, as in the song of Zacharias,
“That we may serve him in holiness and righteousness, all the days of our life.” (Luk 1:74.)
Plato lays down the distinction correctly, that holiness (ὁσιότης) lies in the worship of God, and that the other part,righteousness, (δικαιοσύνη,) bears a reference to men. The genitive, of truth, (τὢς αληθείας,) is put in the place of an adjective, and refers to both terms; so that, while it literally runs, in righteousness and holiness of truth, the meaning is, in true righteousness and holiness. He warns us that both ought to be sincere; because we have to do with God, whom it is impossible to deceive.
(149) See Calvin’s Commentary on Corinthians, vol. 2. p. 187.
25. Wherefore, putting away lying. From this head of doctrine, that is, from the righteousness of the new man, all godly exhortations flow, like streams from a fountain; for if all the precepts which relate to life were collected, yet, without this principle, they would be of little value. Philosophers take a different method; but, in the doctrine of godliness, there is no other way than this for regulating the life. Now, therefore, he comes to lay down particular exhortations, drawn from the general doctrine. Having concluded from the truth of the gospel, that righteousness and holiness ought to be true, he now argues from the general statement to a particular instance, that every man should speak truth with his neighbour. Lying is here put for every kind of deceit, hypocrisy, or cunning; and truth for honest dealing. He demands that every kind of communication between them shall be sincere; and enforces it by this consideration, for we are members one of another. That members should not agree among themselves, — that they should act in a deceitful manner towards each other, is prodigious wickedness.
26. Be ye angry, and sin not. Whether or not the apostle had in his eye a part of the fourth Psalm is uncertain. The words used by him (᾿Οργίζεσθε καὶ υὴ ἁμαρτάνετε) occur in the Greek translation, though the wordὀργίζεσθε, which is translated, be ye angry, is considered by some to mean tremble. (150) The Hebrew verb רגז (ragaz) signifies either to be agitated by anger, or, to tremble. As to the passage of the Psalm, the idea of trembling will be quite appropriate. “Do not choose to resemble madmen, who rush fearlessly in any direction, but let the dread of being accounted foolhardy keep you in awe.” The word sometimes signifies to strive or quarrel, as, in that instance, (Gen 45:24,) “See that ye fall not out by the way;” and accordingly, the Psalmist adds, “Commune with your own heart, and be still,” — abstain from furious encounters.
In my opinion, Paul merely alludes to the passage with the following view. There are three faults by which we offend God in being angry. The first is, when our anger arises from slight causes, and often from no cause whatever, or at least from private injuries or offenses. The second is, when we go beyond the proper bounds, and are hurried into intemperate excesses. The third is, when our anger, which ought to have been directed against ourselves or against sins, is turned against our brethren. Most appropriately, therefore, did Paul, when he wished to describe the proper limitation of anger, employ the well-known passage, Be ye angry, and sin not. We comply with this injunction, if the objects of our anger are sought, not in others, but in ourselves, — if we pour out our indignation against our own faults. With respect to others, we ought to be angry, not at their persons, but at their faults; nor ought we to be excited to anger by private offenses, but by zeal for the glory of the Lord. Lastly, our anger, after a reasonable time, ought to be allowed to subside, without mixing itself with the violence of carnal passions.
Let not the sun go down. It is scarcely possible, however, but that we shall sometimes give way to improper and sinful passion, — so strong is the tendency of the human mind to what is evil. Paul therefore suggests a second remedy, that we shall quickly suppress our anger, and not suffer it to gather strength by continuance. The first remedy was, Be ye angry, and sin not; but, as the great weakness of human nature renders this exceedingly difficult, the next is — not to cherish wrath too long in our minds, or allow it sufficient time to become strong. He enjoins accordingly, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. If at any time we happen to be angry, let us endeavor to be appeased before the sun has set.
(150) “Stand in awe,” Psa 4:4. (English Version)
27. Neither give place (τῷ διαβόλῳ) to the devil. I am aware of the interpretation which some give of this passage. Erasmus, who translates it, “neither give place to the Slanderer,” (calumniatori ,) shews plainly that he understood it as referring to malicious men. But I have no doubt, Paul’s intention was, to guard us against allowing Satan to take possession of our minds, and, by keeping in his hands this citadel, to do whatever he pleases. We feel every day how impossible, or, at least, how difficult it is to cure long-continued hatred. What is the cause of this, but that, instead of resisting the devil, we yield up to him the possession of our heart? Before the poison of hatred has found its way into the heart, anger must be thoroughly dislodged.
28. Let him that stole steal no more. This includes not merely the grosser thefts which are punished by human laws, but those of a more concealed nature, which do not fall under the cognizance of men, — every kind of depredation by which we seize the property of others. But he does not simply forbid us to take that property in an unjust or unlawful manner. He enjoins us to assist our brethren, as far as lies in our power.
That he may have to give to him that needeth. “Thou who formerly stolest must not only obtain thy subsistence by lawful and harmless toil, but must give assistance to others.” He is first required to labor, working with his hands, that he may not supply his wants at the expense of his brethren, but may support life by honorable labor. But the love which we owe to our neighbor carries us much farther. No one must live to himself alone, and neglect others. All must labor to supply each other’s necessities.
But a question arises, does Paul oblige all men to labor with their hands? This would be excessively hard. I reply, the meaning is plain, if it be duly considered. Every man is forbidden to steal. But many people are in the habit of pleading want, and that excuse is obviated by enjoining themrather to labor (μᾶλλον δε κοπιάτω) with their hands. As if he had said, “No condition, however hard or disagreeable, can entitle any man to do injury to another, or even to refrain from contributing to the necessities of his brethren.
The thing which is good. This latter clause, which contains an argument from the greater to the less, gives no small additional strength to the exhortation. As there are many occupations which do little to promote the lawful enjoyments of men, he recommends to them to choose those employments which yield the greatest advantage to their neighbors. We need not wonder at this. If those trades which can have no other effect than to lead men into immorality, were denounced by heathens — and Cicero among the number — as highly disgraceful, would an apostle of Christ reckon them among the lawful callings of God?
29. No filthy speech. He first forbids believers to use any filthy language, including under this name all those expressions which are wont to be employed for the purpose of inflaming lust. Not satisfied with the removal of the vice, he enjoins them to frame their discourse for edification. In another Epistle he says, “Let your speech be seasoned with salt.” (Col 4:6.) Here a different phrase is employed, if any (speech) be good to the use of edifying, which means simply, if it be useful. The genitive, of use, may no doubt be viewed, according to the Hebrew idiom, as put for an adjective, so that for the edification of use (πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν τὢς χρείας) may mean for useful edification; but when I consider how frequently, and in how extensive a meaning, the metaphor of edifying occurs in Paul’s writings, I prefer the former exposition. The edification of use will thus mean the progress of our edification, for to edify is to carry forward. To explain the manner in which this is done, he adds, that it may impart grace to the hearers, meaning by the word grace, comfort, advice, and everything that aids the salvation of the soul.
30. And grieve not. As the Holy Spirit dwells in us, to him every part of our soul and of our body ought to be devoted. But if we give ourselves up to aught that is impure, we may be said to drive him away from making his abode with us; and, to express this still more familiarly, human affections, such as joy and grief, are ascribed to the Holy Spirit. (151) Endeavour that the Holy Spirit may dwell cheerfully with you, as in a pleasant and joyful dwelling, and give him no occasion for grief. Some take a different view of it, that we grieve the Holy Spirit in others, when we offend by filthy language, or, in any other way, godly brethren, who are led by the Spirit of God. (Rom 8:14.) Whatever is contrary to godliness is not only disrelished by godly ears, but is no sooner heard than it produces in them deep grief and pain. But that Paul’s meaning was different appears from what follows.
By whom ye are sealed. As God has sealed us by his Spirit, we grieve him when we do not follow his guidance, but pollute ourselves by wicked passions. No language can adequately express this solemn truth, that the Holy Spirit rejoices and is glad on our account, when we are obedient to him in all things, and neither think nor speak anything, but what is pure and holy; and, on the other hand, is grieved, when we admit anything into our minds that is unworthy of our calling. Now, let any man reflect what shocking wickedness there must be in grieving the Holy Spirit to such a degree as to compel him to withdraw from us. The same mode of speaking is used by the prophet Isaiah, but in a different sense; for he merely says, that they “vexed his Holy Spirit,” (Isa 63:10.) in the same sense in which we are accustomed to speak of vexing the mind of a man. By whom ye are sealed. The Spirit of God is the seal, by which we are distinguished from the wicked, and which is impressed on our hearts as a sure evidence of adoption.
Unto the day of redemption, — that is, till God conduct us into the possession of the promised inheritance. That day is usually called the day of redemption, because we shall then be at length delivered out of all our afflictions. It is unnecessary to make any observations on this phrase, in addition to what have already been made in expounding Rom 8:23, and 1. o 1:30. In this passage, the word sealed may have a different meaning from that which it usually bears, — that God has impressed his Spirit as his mark upon us, that he may recognize as his children those whom he perceives to bear that mark.
(151) “According to our view, the verse is a summation of the argument — the climax of appeal. If Christians shall persist in falsehood and deviation from the truth — if they shall indulge in fitful rage, or cherish sullen and malignant dislikes — if they shall be characterized by dishonesty, or insipid and corrupt language, then do they grieve the Holy Spirit of God; for all this perverse insubordination is in utter antagonism to the essence and operations of Him who is the Spirit of truth; and inspires the love of it; who assumed, as a fitting symbol, the form of a dove, and creates meekness and forbearance; and who, as the Spirit of holiness, leads to the appreciation of all that is just in action, noble in sentiment, and healthful and edifying in speech.” — Eadie.
31. Let all bitterness. He again condemns anger; but, on the present occasion, views in connection with it those offenses by which it is usually accompanied, such as noisy disputes and reproaches. Between wrath and anger (Θυμὸν καὶ ὀργὴν) there is little difference, except that the former denotes the power, and the latter the act; but here, the only difference is, that anger is a more sudden attack. The correction of all the rest will be greatly aided by the removal of malice. By this term he expresses that depravity of mind which is opposed to humanity and justice, and which is usually called malignity.
32. And be ye kind one to another. With bitterness he contrasts kindness, or gentleness of countenance, language, and manners. And as this virtue will never reign in us, unless attended by compassion, (ουμπάθεια,) he recommends to us to be tender-hearted This will lead us not only to sympathize with the distresses of our brethren, as if they were our own, but to cultivate that true humanity which is affected by everything that happens to them, in the same manner as if we were in their situation. The contrary of this is the cruelty of those iron-hearted, barbarous men, by whom the sufferings of others are beheld without any concern whatever.
Forgiving one another. The Greek word here renderedforgiving, (χαριζόμενοι ἑαυτοῖς,) is supposed by to mean beneficence. Erasmus, accordingly, renders it (largientes ) bountiful. Though the word admits of that meaning, yet the context induces me to prefer the other view, that we should be ready to forgive It may sometimes happen, that men are kind and tender-hearted, and yet, when they receive improper treatment, do not so easily forgive injuries. That those whose kindness of heart in other respects disposes them to acts of humanity, may not fail in their duty through the ingratitude of men, he exhorts them to discover a readiness to lay aside resentment. To give his exhortation the greater weight, he holds out the example of God, who has forgiven to us, through Christ, far more than any mortal man can forgive to his brethren. (152)
(152) See Calvin's Commentary on Philippians, Colossians, etc., page 213.
Eph 4:1. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, &c.- St. Paul having concluded the special part of his Epistle with the foregoing chapter, comes in this, as his manner is, to practical exhortations. He begins with unity, love, and concord, which he presses upon them from a consideration which he makes use of in more of his Epistles than one; that is, their being all members of one and the same body, whereof Christ is the head. Some have observed of this Epistle, and of the others which were written by St. Paul in his imprisonment, (namely, those to the Colossians and Philippians, to Philemon, and the second to Timothy) that they are more especially remarkable for their divine unction, and discover a peculiar favour of the things of God; by which it may be seen, that, while his sufferings did abound, his consolations also did much more abound. It is, however, manifest, that this Epistle,-as it sets forth, in the preceding part, the gracious design of God in the gospel dispensation; and represents the benefits and privileges which belong to all the faithful in Christ Jesus, as well Gentiles as Jews,-is cast into a strain of thanksgivings and prayers, and written, as it were, all in a rapture, in a sublime and elevated stile, flowing from a mind transported with the consideration of the unsearchable wisdom and goodness of God in the work of redemption, and of the amazing love displayed in Christ towards the Gentile world. The remaining part of it is no less admirable, for the engaging manner in which he improves what he had before delivered, urging the duties which became their character with the greatest tenderness, in expressions full of love and endearment; adding the strongest arguments to enforce them, and making mention of his bonds to recommend the exhortations which he offered to them. The prisoner of the Lord signifies for the sake, or on account of the Lord.
Eph 4:2. With long-suffering,- As there is no copulative between meekness and long-suffering, it seems most natural to connect the latter with the following clause, with longsuffering forbearing one another in love. And if the exhortation be thus rendered, it will prevent the solecism, which would arise from connecting the word forbearing (ανεχομενοι ) with υμας, ye, in the verse before; to which we should be led, by our translation.
Eph 4:6. One God and Father of all, &c.- Though God may be stiled the Father of all things universally, who is above, through, and in them all, as he created and upholds them, and has supreme dominion over them: and as in him we live, and move, and have our being; yet the father of all, &c. in this place, evidently means something more peculiar and distinguishing, withspecial relation to all his believing people, and to his gracious operation in them: for this best suits the design of the Apostle's argument, and is most agreeable to all the other instances of union before recited, which, undoubtedly, have a particular and restrained reference to the church; and the all here intended, admits of a very easy construction, as answering to the one body, Eph 4:4 and to you all in the close of this verse. But when the Father of all true believers is said to be one God, this no more excludes the Son and Spirit from being God, together with the Father, than Christ's being called one Lord, and the Holy Ghost one Spirit, Eph 4:4-5 excludes the Father from being Lord and Spirit together with them: and what is here said of God the Father as over or above all, (επι παντων ), is said of Christ, as over all, (επι παντων ) God blessed for ever (Rom 9:5.) and as the Father is through and in all believers, and all things that refer to them as believers; so it is said of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all things are by him, or through him, (δι ου τα παντα ), 1Co 8:6 and that he fills all in all, Eph 1:23 and believers are the temples of the Holy Ghost, in whom the Spirit of God dwells, (1Co 3:16.) Therefore one God and Father of all may be considered either as a personal character, and so the meaning is, that there is but one God the Father, in distinction from one God the Son and Spirit; or as an essential character, and so there is but one true God, inclusive of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to whom we are devoted in our baptism, Eph 4:5 in opposition to all false Gods; and with just the same propriety it may be said, there is one God the Son, and one God the Spirit, to distinguish them personally from the Father, and essentially from all false gods.
Eph 4:7. Is given grace, &c.- That their differing in some respects, though united in so many, might not be urged as a plea for self-esteem, or neglect of others who wanted such advantages, the Apostle insists upon it, that all is communicated to us in the way of free gift and unmerited liberality.
Eph 4:9-10. (Now, that he ascended, &c.- St. Paul's argumentation in these two verses is skilfully adapted to the main design of his Epistle. The convert Gentiles were attacked by the unconverted Jews, who were declared enemies to the thoughts of a Messiah who should die. St. Paul, to enervate that objection, proves, by a passage out of the Psalms, (Eph 4:8.) that he must die, and be buried. Besides the unbelieving Jews, several of those who were converted to the gospel, or at least professed to be so, attacked the Gentile converts on the other side, persuading them that they could not be admitted to be the people of God in the kingdom of the Messiah, nor receive any advantage by him, unless they were circumcised, and put themselves wholly under the Jewish constitution. He had said a great deal in the first three chapters to deliver them from this perplexity; but yet takes occasion here to offer them a new argument, by telling them, that Christ, the same Jesus that died, and was laid in his grave, was exalted to the right-hand of God, above all the heavens, in the highest state of dignity and power; thathe himself being filled bodily with the fulness of God, believers, who were allhis members, might receive immediately, from him their head, a fulness of gifts and graces, upon no other terms but as they were his members.
Eph 4:12. For the persecuting of the saints,- For the fitting out holy persons,-to the edifying, &c. Blackwall.
Eph 4:13. Till we all come, &c.- "Till all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, that are faithful members of this mystical body of Christ (including those who now do, and hereafter shall perseveringly believe, in successive generations to the end of the world,) shall meet, and be cemented together in an entire agreement about the doctrines of faith, in the sweetest harmony, union,and oneness, by means of the same faith in Christ; and of a clear, affectionate, and fiducial knowledge, and (επιγνωσεως ) approving acknowledgment of the eternal Son of God, as a divine person, and the only Lord and Saviour; and so, by gradually improving in gifts and graces, shall, at length, arrive at a state of complete manhood in spiritual understanding, vigour, strength, and attainments of every valuable kind, even unto the full proportion of that mature age and spiritual stature in Christ, which he designs for his faithful people, and which is acquired by derivation from his mediatorial fulness, and makes up the fulness of his faithful mystical body under him, as its head, with regard to the perfection of its graces, comfort, and holiness." Dr. Heylin renders this verse as follows: Till we all become united in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, grow up to maturity, and arrive at the measure of perfection to which the fulness that is in Christ will raise. See ch. Eph 3:19.
Eph 4:14. By the sleight of men, &c.- The word κυβεια, rendered sleight, properly signifies the artifice of those infamous gamesters, who know how to cog the dice. The next clause may be rendered, and subtlety in every method of deceit. Some render it, and cunning craftiness, as to the art, or method of deceit. The word rendered cunning craftiness, implies all the various degrees of subtlety, dissimulation, and insidiousness, by which men endeavour to deceive. It is to be hoped that no reader, and particularly none of the sacred order, will fail to observe what the Apostle so plainly asserts in the beginning of the next verse; namely, that it was the design of the ministry to preserve peace and charity, as well as orthodoxy, regularity, and discipline in the church;-to maintain the truth in love.
Eph 4:16. From whom the whole body- The sum of this whole figurative discourse is, that all real Christians, as members of one body, whereof Christ is the head, should, each in his proper sphere, according to the gifts bestowed upon him, labour with concern, good-will, and zeal, for the benefit and increase of the whole, till it be grown up to that fulness which is to complete it in Christ Jesus. This sense of the exhortation carries with it a strong insinuation (especially if we take in the rest of the admonitions to the end of the Epistle) that the Mosaical observances were no part of the business or character of a Christian, but were wholly to be declined and laid aside by the subjects of Christ's kingdom. The Apostle considers Christ in the allusion before us, not only as the head, but likewise as the heart of the church; whence the blood and spirits are derived, through many canals and tubes which communicate together, to the extreme parts, where the increase and nourishment of those parts which want it is produced. Bengelius translates this verse as follows: In whom the whole frame, joined together and compacted, receives increase of the body from every connection of supply, by an operation proportionate to each part, or member, for the building up of itself in love.
Eph 4:17. - From this verse to Eph 4:24 the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians wholly to forsake the former conversation, in which they had passed their lives, while they were Gentiles; and to take up that which became them, and was proper to them, now that they were Christians. The vanity of mind spoken of in this verse, appears from Rom 1:21. &c. to be, the apostatizing of the Gentiles from the true God to idolatry; and, in consequence thereof, to all that profligate way of living which followed thereupon, and is described in the place referred to by St. Paul.
Eph 4:18. Being alienated from the life of God,- The life of God seems to signify more than a life prescribed by God to his people, as some understand it. It intimates a life consisting in a righteous and holy imitation of his perfections, and a constant devotedness to his service; and perhaps it may also intimate its being originally derived from him; (see Eph 4:24.) they having been alienated in affection as well as in practice from the life of God-that noble principle of true religion, which is, indeed, the divine life in the soul, forming it to the service and imitation of him by whom it is implanted. Though the last clause of this verse may certainly refer to the Gentiles, in their unconverted state, yet it is equally true of the natural blindness of men universally, in their unregenerate state. If the words rendered mind, understanding, and heart are to be distinguished, the first may signify the mind in general, comprehending the understanding, or intellectual faculties; and the heart may imply the affections and passions, by the irregularity and obstinacy of which the understanding is often obscured, and led into false and irrational judgments.
Eph 4:19. With greediness.- The word πλεονεξια, rendered greediness, in its common acceptation, is, "The letting loose our desires to that which we have no right to by the law of justice." But St. Paul, in some of his Epistles, uses it for "intemperate and exorbitant desires of carnal pleasures." See ch. Eph 5:3. Col 3:5. 1Co 5:10-11. Thus, the Hebrew word which signifies covetousness, the LXX. translate by the word μιασμος, which denotes pollution; and in this sense the Apostle uses the word πλεονεξια here; implying a transgression of the bounds, not only of virtue and decency, but even of natural appetite. See Rom 1:29.
Eph 4:20. But ye have not so learned Christ;- This may, perhaps, intimate, that there was a manner of learning Christ, which might seem more consistent with such irregularities; and may glance on some teachers, who called themselves Christians, and yet took very little care to inculcate practical religion.
Eph 4:21. If so be, &c.- Forasmuch as, or seeing ye have heard him, &c. See ch. Eph 3:2. Beza, Gataker, and others, translate and connect this and the preceding verse as follows: But it is not so with you; you have learned Christ; for ye have heard of him, &c.
Eph 4:22. That ye put off, &c.- The verbs put off, be renewed, and put on, in this and the following verses, are in the infinitive mood; which shews their connection with the preceding words, and that the sense is, "Ye have been instructed to put off the old man, to be renewed, to put on," &c. As particular dispositions of mind are sometimes expressed by particular garments, when a man appears in them; so the whole of a good or bad character may be represented by a complete dress; yea, by the body in which he appears; and vice, alas! being too natural, and having the first possession, whereas goodness, if it ever succeeds at all, is supervenient and supernatural; the former may well be called the old, and the latter, the new man; which opposite characters may be seen clearly delineated in the following part of this, and in several other of St. Paul's Epistles. Some have explained the deceitful lusts spoken of in this verse, of the lusts into which they were led by the artifices of the heathen priests, who represented them as not disagreeable to their established deities; or by the sophistry oftheirphilosophers,who found out so many fallacious excuses for the grossest vices; but it is a more important sense to understand these deceitful lusts of those which generally prevail in the world; which can lead to no rational solid happiness, but delude by vain appearances and fallacious hopes, always ending in shame and disappointment.
Eph 4:23. And be renewed in the Spirit of your minds;- "This saving knowledge of Christ excites and binds you, not only to mortify your corruptions, but also to abound in all grace and holiness, that you may press after a still further renovation, through the sanctifyinginfluences of the Holy Spirit, in the inmost powers of the soul, which is of a spiritual nature, but is naturally all over depraved by the fall; and particularly after a growing renovation in your understanding, that superior and leading faculty, as well as in your will and affections, which are, or ought to be, under its conduct." As the Apostle supposed that there Ephesians had learned Christ, and been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, Eph 4:20-21 he could not but consider them, in the judgment of charity, as already regenerated, or born again; and therefore renewing in the spirit of their mind, must relate, not to the first grand work of the Spirit in their conversion, but to a progressiveness in those holy principles and dispositions that were wrought in them by heart-changing grace.
Eph 4:24. True holiness.- As this stands in a beautiful contrast to deceitful lusts, Eph 4:22 we may, with great propriety, retain our version; though archbishop Tillotson would translate the clause, the holiness of truth, which is perfectly agreeable to the original-by truth understanding the gospel, and so explaining it of evangelical holiness, in opposition to such mere moral virtues as might be found in a heat
Eph 4:25.- After the general exhortation, in the foregoing verses, to renounce the old course of life which they led when they were heathens, and to become perfectly new men, conformed to the holy rules of the gospel,-St. Paul descends to particulars; dehorting them from many vices, and pressing them to the practice of several important virtues. The words Το ψευδος, rendered lying, might be rendered more properly every lie; and as lying is so opposite to that sincerity which becomes a Christian, what is said against it may be best taken in the most extensive sense. The Apostle might possibly allude to the doctrine of those heathen moralists,who thought that lying might, in many cases, be justified: as well as to those, who, in order to conciliate the esteem of the Jewsand Gentiles, did not confine themselves to the rigid truth.
Eph 4:26. Be ye angry, and sin not:- It is evident that this is not a command to be angry, but a concession only, with a caution to beware of sinning in it. Comp. Isa 8:9-10. Nah 3:14-15. Some would read this interrogatively,-Are ye angry, yet sin not? The next is a Hebrew expression,-used to intimate that a thing necessary to be done, should not be prolonged or delayed;-and an allusion to Deu 21:23 to this effect: "If thepunishments inflicted by the law were not to be extended to the going down of the sun, much less should private resentments be extended longer." This was agreeable to the practice of the Pythagoreans, who used always, if the members of their sect had any difference with each other, to give tokens of reconciliation before the sun went down.
Eph 4:28. Let him that stole steal no more:- Stealing properly signifies private thefts, or frauds, in distinction from public or violent robbery: and as in many of the Gentile nations theft was thought to be no sin; so, perhaps, some of the Ephesian converts had not perfectly divested themselves of their own immoral notions concerning it, and must, of course, have been sometimes under strong temptations to the commission of it. Instead of, working with his hands the thing which is good, Markland would read, working with his hands, that he may have good things to give to him, &c.
Eph 4:29. Let no corrupt communication proceed, &c.- This primarily refers to obscene talk; which is, with great propriety, called corrupt, or putrid, as the word σαπρος, signifies, in direct opposition to that which is seasoned with salt; and is recommended, Col 4:6 as tending to preserve from such putrefaction and rottenness. But that which is good, &c. some read, But if any thing be good to needful edification: as if it were intimated, "that if any useful thought arise, or an occasion may be fitly taken to graft an edifying remark on any thing which passes in conversation, there should be a readiness to improve it; that so every one may furnish out his quota, without unprofitable or disagreeable charms of silence, or the temptation of having recourse to any thing that is ill, to prevent them; which, unfortunately, is but too often the case."
Eph 4:30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed.- The original is emphatical, Grieve not that Holy Spirit of God;-whereby ye are sealed; that is to say, "As all the things, against which I have been cautioning you, are directly contrary to the holy nature, will, and operations, gifts and graces of the good Spirit of God; and as he, speaking after the manner of men, is grieved at them, as a friend uses to be at the disagreeable and ungrateful behaviour of one with whom he dwells, and has treated with kindness and favour,-have a care lest, by indulging any of them, you offend and rebel against him, as Israel did of old (Isa 63:10.), and provoke him to withdraw his gracious presence, who is not only infinitely pure and holy in himself, but loves holiness, and is the author and worker of its first beginnings, and of all its increases in you; by which, in some remarkablemanifestations and impressions of light and grace, consequent to your first believing, (see ch. Eph 1:13), you are evidently sealed as with his own image, and are thereby distinguished for his own, with assuring tokens of salvation; and have the pledge and earnest of it in yourselves, for your present comfort, until, if faithful unto death, you be possessed of the heavenly inheritance." The term of sealing seems to be a metaphor, taken from merchants putting some seal, or mark, upon their commodities, by which they may be known to be theirs. One of the ancients somewhere says, Delicata res est Spiritus Dei;-"There is, if we may so express it, a certain delicacy in the Spirit of God, which should engage those who desire his influences, solicitously to guard against every approach to what might be offensive to him."
Eph 4:31. Let all bitterness, &c. be put away- "Do not passionately resent every trifle, nor bitterly inveigh, with all the licentiousness and keenness of satire, against those who have greatly injured you;-for these things are most contrary to the nature of God, the genius of Christianity, and the character of its great Founder." Such is the meaning of this verse, if we suppose each word to have a different idea annexed to it; but if they are only synonimous terms, the Apostle's design in amassing them together might be to shew, that he would have them to be upon their guard against all the malevolent passions, and those outrages of speech and expression which they tend to produce. The like remark may be applied to many other passages of scripture, and particularly to those where all kinds of lewdness are forbidden in such a variety of phrase and language.
Inferences.-If divine grace has taught us to know the hope of our calling, it will surely add great weight to the pathetic exhortations of this faithful servant and prisoner of Jesus Christ, to walk worthy of it. It will teach us that humility, meekness, and long-suffering, of which our divine Saviour was so glorious an example;-an example, which should powerfully engage us to the exercise of that mutual forbearance, so well suiting those whom he has brought into so happy a state.
To incite us hereto, let us reflect-"Do we not all, indeed, belong to one body, however called by different denominations? Have we not all (so far as we are truly called Christians) received one Spirit? Is there not one hope of our common calling-even that of dwelling together, in one and the same blissful world, with God, and with each other? Have we not one Lord, even Jesus Christ, to whom we all equally profess subjection; who has taught us one faith: who has instituted one baptism, and who has introduced and consecrated us to one God and Father of all?-And what then are the considerations which should prevail so far as to divide us, when compared with such bonds of union as these?"
Let us all, therefore, in the name of this God, who is over all, who operates through all, and in us all; in the name of this one Saviour, and one Spirit,-awful and endearing names! into which we were all baptized; let us charge it upon our own souls, that we not only do nothing, through a factious and uncharitable temper to divide his church, but that we study what we can to heal its breaches, and to promote its growth and edification. And let us pray that God would guide and prosper our endeavours for that purpose, and preserve our hearts in such a situation and temper, that we may stand continually willing to give up every temporal interest which may interfere with such a design; yea, and even to make our own blood, if such were the will of God, the cement of those wounds, with which a body thus intimately united to Christ has so long been bleeding almost to death.
Were we actually to give such a proof of our regard to it, what would it be in comparison of the infinite condescension and love of that Saviour, who for us descended to these lower regions of the earth, and dwelt for a while among the dead; and then triumphantly rising and ascending on high, led those enemies, who held us in captivity, themselves captive, as at his chariot-wheels; and having received gifts from men, scattered them down with such royal munificence, that he might fit his ministers for the offices to which he had called them.
These his ministers we are taught by this chapter to regard as the special gifts of his love to the church; and as such, let us adore him for them; not only for apostles, prophets, and evangelists, but also for pastors and teachers. And let us earnestly pray, that through the continued influences of that Spirit, which he has sent down from on high, holy men may, in every succeeding age, be so perfectly and completely fitted for the work of the ministry, that the body of Christ may be edified; that by this means we may all come to that union, to that strength, to that full maturity, to which, by calling us into the fellowship of the gospel, he intended to raise us.
In the mean time, while we are advancing towards it, may we rise above that childish weakness which would make us the sport of every wind of doctrine, and a prey to every artifice of designing men. Let us ever maintain a due regard to the united interests of truth and love, that our union with Christ may be secured, and our growth in him more happily and abundantly advanced.
And since we have learned Christ, since the light of his blessed gospel has been imparted to us, and we are no longer numbered among the heathen nations, let us not abandon ourselves to those irregularities of temper and life, for which even their ignorance will not be a sufficient excuse, since the light even of their obscure dispensation taught them to condemn and to abhor such courses.
There are deceitful lusts, according to which the old man is corrupt; let us be always on our guard against them, and labour after such a renovation as becomes our profession; and, in order to its being effectual, let us be earnestly solicitous to obtain it in the spirit of our mind; that we may shew its influence upon us, not merely by ceasing to do evil, but by learning, to the utmost of our power, to do good. Thus, let it be our care to put on the new man, to be partakers of a new and holy nature, and to be brought to the whole of that temper in all its branches, by which we shall resemble the blessed God, the bright Original of universal righteousness and holiness, and the great Model of perfection.
In consequence of this, remembering our relation to each other, let us speak the truth from our hearts; and upon all occasions let us treat others with the same candour and integrity with which we would ourselves desire to be treated. If anger or indignation rise, let it be only on just occasions, and in due proportion; and let us take care that it rest not in our bosoms; lest, by indulging it, we give place to the devil, and become like that malignant spirit.-Let us be upright in our dealings; and, conscientiously avoiding the iniquitous practice of defrauding others, let generous and charitable sentiments always possess us; nor let those whose circumstances in life may constrain them to maintain themselves by their own manual labour, think that they may violate the strictest rules of honesty, or are dispensed with from all obligations to relieve others more necessitous than themselves. Whenever we engage in conversation, let us avoid every thing that may have the remotest tendency to corrupt discourse; and let us study what may improve and edify the minds of our hearers; embracing every opportunity of suggesting any thing that is good, and that may tend to minister grace, or to promote the more abundant exercise of it in the minds of those in whom it is already implanted.
Thus will the Spirit of God, that sacred Agent of Divine inspiration and sanctification, be delighted, instead of being grieved, as he so frequently is by the vain and foolish discourses of those who would be thought his temples. For his influences let us look, to dispose us to every good word and work, and seasonably to remind us of these plain but weighty admonitions, which, alas, are so little remembered by the generality of those who call themselves Christians, that one would imagine they had scarce ever read them.
The words in Eph 4:28 make up a complete sense, without depending on what goes before, or what follows after. They contain a confirmation and explication of the eighth commandment. For what the Apostle enjoins concerning labour and working with our hands, is no more than a necessary consequence of the command, "Thou shalt not steal." For since all men are equal sharers in the wants and necessities of life, and the things which should supply these wants are unequally divided, so that some have more than enough, and some much less, it follows, that the necessities of the one must be supplied from the abundance of the other. Steal you must not, or give perhaps you will not. The only sure way then by which you can come at the things you want, is by purchase or exchange; and the only thing that a poor man can exchange is the work and labour of his hands; and therefore it follows, as a consequence of the law, that since you must not steal, you must work, and purchase, by your labour and industry, the things necessary for your support and subsistence. In all that rich men can do, they want the assistance of the poor; they cannot minister to themselves either in the wants, the conveniences, or the pleasures of life: so that the poor man has as many ways to support himself as the rich man has wants and desires; for the wants and desires of the rich must be served by the labours of the poor. But then the rich man has often very wicked desires, and often delights in sensual pleasures; and though to serve the rich be the poor man's maintenance, yet in these cases the poor man must not serve him; and therefore the Apostle adds that he must labour, working with his hands the thing which is good. His poverty obliges him to serve man, and therefore he must work with his hands; and right reason, as well as religion, obliges him to serve God, and therefore he must work only the thing which is good. Labour is the business and employment of the poor; it is the work which God has given them to do; and therefore a man ought not to be satisfied with working merely as far as the wants of nature oblige him, and spending the rest of his time idly and wantonly: for if God has enabled him to gain more by his labour than his own wants, and the conveniences of life necessary to his station require, he then becomes a debtor to such duties as are incumbent on all to whom God has dispensed his gifts liberally. He must consider that he owes tribute to his Maker for the health that he enjoys; that there are others who want limbs to labour, or strength and understanding to arrive at the knowlege of any art or mystery, whereby to maintain themselves; and to these he is a debtor, out of the abundance of his strength, and health, and knowlege with which God has blessed him; and therefore he is obliged to labour, "working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."
REFLECTIONS.-1st, The Apostle addresses to them,
1. A general exhortation to walk worthy of their high vocation. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, suffering now for my fidelity to his gospel, beseech you, by every endearing argument, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, adorning, by your conversation, the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
2. He particularly exhorts them, (1.) to behave with all lowliness and meekness, in humble thoughts of themselves, and the mildest deportment towards others, with long-suffering passing by offences, and overlooking the infirmities of their brethren, forbearing one another in love, influenced by this divine principle, and patient towards all men. Note; True love, humility unfeigned, and approved meekness, are the most striking lineaments of the Christian's character. (2.) In this manner endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, sweetly cemented together in holy fellowship, and the whole church being in perfect peace, no jarring discord should disturb the happy union.
3. He suggests the strongest motives to the practice which he recommends. There is one body, of which we are all members; and one Spirit, which actuates the whole; and therefore we cannot, if this be the case, but have the tenderest concern for, and closest union with, each other; even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, looking for the same inheritance in glory, and expecting to spend a blessed eternity in your Father's house above. There is one Lord, the great Head of the church, and to whom they all owe duty and allegiance; one faith, the same gospel, and to be apprehended in the same way; one baptism, the sacramental right of admission into the kingdom of grace, wherein we are solemnly dedicated to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: one God and Father of all, who stands in this endeared relation in a peculiar sense to all that are his children by faith in Jesus Christ; who is above all, exalted above all blessing and praise; and through all, dispensing his mighty influences through the whole mystical body; and in you all, making your hearts his temple;-and therefore, being connected by ties so many and so engaging, we should be most closely united together in love, and appear as actuated by one soul.
4. The different gifts and graces bestowed on the members of the same body, far from producing any variance, should cement them the nearer, as they are given for the benefit of the whole. But unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gifts of Christ, who gives to each member his respective office and endowment, and dispenses severally, to all true believers, the grace suited to their place and station. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, triumphant over all his foes, having spoiled principalities and powers, and led Satan, sin, death, and hell, as vanquished enemies, bound to his chariot-wheels; and gave gifts unto men, the richest and most amazing gifts of his Spirit. Now that he ascended in this glorious manner, what is it that is herein intimated to us, but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth, humbling himself to take the human nature into personal union with himself, and then to lie down in the grave, making atonement for our sins. He that descended is the same divine Person, the Son of God, who ascended up far above all heavens to the state of the most transcendent dignity, enthroned in majesty on high, that he might fill all things, and abundantly dispense to every member of his church the gifts and graces needful for them. And he gave some apostles, to fill the highest stations in his church; and some prophets, to foretel by inspiration future events, and to expound the prophetic word; and some evangelists, who were generally employed in preaching the word; and some pastors and teachers, to take care of particular churches, and minister unto them in holy things: all which appointments to these several offices are designed for the perfecting of the saints, καταρτισμον, to join them in firm union together, and carry on the work of grace begun in them to its perfection; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowlege of the Son of God, by means of the same blessed gospel, and by happy experience of the power and grace of the same adored Jesus, unto a perfect man, growing up to higher spiritual attainments, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, when we shall bear his image complete: That we henceforth be no more children, weak in faith, and knowlege, and every grace, and consequently liable to be tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and, by fair pretences, seduce the simple and unwary into their pernicious heresies and destructive ways; but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ; which growth in grace the blessed gospel, through the power of Jesus, tends immediately to promote: from whom the whole body, fitly joined together as members to the living head, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, by that divine energy that is communicated from the life-giving Spirit of the Lord, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Note; Truth from the heart should ever be spoken among Christians, and with that love which may gain it a more welcome reception.
2nd, Having recommended to them close union, he proceeds to inculcate purity of heart and life.
1. He warns them against the practices of the unconverted heathen. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, entreating, and solemnly in his name enjoining it upon you as members of his undefiled body, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in their sinful, idolatrous, sensual courses, in the vanity of their mind, acting after the dictates of their vain and corrupted hearts; having the understanding darkened in all spiritual matters; alienated from the life of God, estranged from him who is the fountain of life, and averse to all his holy ways, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, rejecting every means of instruction, wilfully perverse and obstinate against the notices of his will, and resisting the convictions of their own consciences, not choosing to retain God with all their knowlege; who being past feeling, their hearts hardened in sin, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness, abandoning themselves to every vile affection without restraint, and pursuing their guilty pleasures with insatiable desire.
2. Far otherwise was the lesson which the gospel had taught them. But ye have not so learned Christ, since ye have known his grace; you have been directed to a different spirit and conduct; if so be, or since that ye have heard him speaking in his word to your hearts, and have been taught by him, through the illumination and powerful energy of his Spirit, as the truth is in Jesus, even that pure unadulterated gospel which Jesus taught by his own ministry, and exemplified in his temper and conversation, whose bright example his living members delight to imitate: that ye put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, that body of sin which was born with you: which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,-lusts which promise much gratification in the indulgence, but fatally deceive the soul into endless perdition: and be renewed in the Spirit of your mind yet more and more in knowlege, grace, and holiness; and that ye put on the new man, be made partakers of a divine nature, and in spirit, temper, and conduct, quite changed from your former selves, as if you had been really different persons; which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, after his own image, and by his own power. Wherefore, as those who are influenced by another spirit, beware of those sins to which you were formerly addicted; particularly,
(1.) Putting away lying in every instance, speak every man truth with his neighbour, without deceit or prevarication, paying the strictest regard to your word at all times, and in all circumstances, and preferring the endurance of the greater evils to the suggestion of the least falsehood: for we are members one of another, and therefore bound to use all simplicity and fidelity in our conversation with each other. Note; An habitual liar is infallibly a child of wrath. All Christ's members desire ever to speak the truth from their heart.
(2.) Be ye angry, and sin not: for all anger is not in its own nature evil: but as we are so prone to exceed in our resentments, even where there is just cause for indignation, we must check the rising displeasure, and repress its workings: therefore, whatever cause is given for it, let not the sun go down upon your wrath; but hasten to calm any tumult which may have arisen, that it fix not in hatred, or rankle into malice and revenge: neither give place to the devil, who ever seeks to irritate the irascible nature which is in us, and to blow our passions into a flame. Note; There is scarcely a more besetting sin than anger, nor any against which we need be more habitually on our guard.
(3.) Let him that stole, steal no more, utterly abhorring all such iniquitous practices; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth; and not only be saved from the temptation to dishonesty, whereunto idleness is the most direct road, but also be enabled by his honest industry to afford a pittance from his gains for the relief of the necessitous.
(4.) Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, nothing lewd, profane, opprobrious, light, which in its most distant tendency can lead to evil; but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and serve to promote their spiritual and eternal benefit. Note; Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh; and a Christian spirit will appear in a readiness to introduce and maintain such conversation as is profitable and edifying.
(5.) And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, by these or any such like evils; lest you provoke him to withdraw his blessed influences from you; whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption, that glorious day when the faithful saints of God shall be delivered from the burdens of the flesh, or when they shall rise again in glory, to appear for ever in the presence of God. Lord, take not thy holy Spirit from us! (See the Annotations.)
(6.) Let all bitterness, all rancour of spirit and acrimony and discourse; and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, the fruits of a mind inflamed with passion and rage; be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, gentle, courteous, affectionate; tender-hearted, sympathizing, and full of pity towards the afflicted and the tempted; forgiving one another every provocation and injury, however great or aggravated, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you, freely and fully. Note; A sense how much we are ourselves indebted to the pardoning love of God, will engage us to exercise the like forgiveness to our brethren.
