Ephesians 2

Notes

Ver. 1. And as God, by the exceeding greatness of his power, raised up Christ as a public person from the dead, he has also bestowed upon you a life of justification, freeing you from your guilt and condemnation, and quickened you to a life of holiness, by the renewal of your nature, who, as Gentile sinners, were under the dominion of both legal and spiritual death, and, as it were, condemned and killed by a multitude of sins original and actual. 2. In which, while ye continued unregenerate heathens, ye with great eagerness constantly, freely, and progressively moved and acted according to the corrupt fashions and customs of this present evil world—according to the will, desire, instigation, and government of the devil and his angels, who wander about in and even agitate the air, and who, however proud, light, and vain, are worshipped and obeyed by the most of mankind, and continually work in the hearts of them who rebel against the laws and gospel of Christ; 3. Among whom all of us, Jews or Gentiles, being equally depraved in our spirit and temper, while we remained unregenerate, lived and acted, led away with divers lusts and pleasures, sometimes seeking to satisfy one, and sometimes another; and under the dominion and influence of our inward corruptions, gratifying, acting over, and indulging the irregular appetites of our body, in all its members; and of our soul, in all its powers, faculties, wishes, and contrivances ; and were naturally chargeable and infected from our very conception with awful sin, and on that account condemned and exposed to the everlasting displeasure of God as much as any of those who are eternally lost. 4-6. But while we were in these loathsome, deplorable, condemned, helpless, and hopeless circumstances, it pleased God—whose riches of mercy and grace are altogether excellent, abundant, universal, and overflowing, and who is ready to pity, help, save, and enrich sinful and miserable creatures, according to that wonderful love which from eternity he fixed upon us, and upon all who through faith accept spiritual blessings in Christ—to recover us into a state of favour with himself, and grant unto us a principle of spiritual life, in conformity to and by virtue of our union and fellowship with Christ; and to give us a title to and foretastes of eternal salvation; and without making any distinction of nations or conditions, to raise us up in Christ as our Head and Representative, and make us to sit in the heavenly mansions in him as our forerunner already entered for us into the full possession thereof, and hereby assuring us that, in due time, we, in our persons, shall sit there with him and all his saints,—7. That in all the future ages and generations of this world he might set forth an illustrious and encouraging pattern, pledge, and earnest of the transcendent excellency and superabundant fulness of his full favour as it hath been exemplified in acts of special goodness and endearing kindness toward us, Jews and Gentiles, through the person and mediation of Christ; and that, in the heavenly state, he might for ever demonstrate and display the supereminent glory of his free grace, in all the unsearchable riches thereof, to the everlasting astonishment, joy, and praise of angels and saints. 8. For, as hath been before hinted, the whole of that salvation which ye are possessed of and entitled to, in the tenderness, love, offer, and application of it, and in all its parts and degrees, proceeds truly from the good will and love of God, and is conveyed through faith; not indeed by any virtue of faith itself, but as God's appointed means, whereby ye receive and rest upon Christ alone for it; and this faith itself, as well as the salvation thereby received, is not the product of any natural principle, good disposition, kindness, or improvement of the gospel that ye were capable of, but is wholly the free gift of God secured by Christ, and graciously offered you through faith in his sacrifice. 9. Neither the salvation itself, nor the faith whereby it is received, is in the least owing to any good works done by us, as the meritorious, moving, or efficient cause of it; but in recovering us, when so inexpressibly guilty, polluted, rebellious, infamous, and wretched, God has so demonstrated his mercy and grace as leaves no appearance of room or occasion for any man, in a vainglorious manner, to pretend he had done aught to render himself fit for or worthy of it. 10. For all the good works or qualities which appear in us, Jews or Gentiles, are nothing else than the effects of God's grace towards us, who, with respect to our spiritual state and renewed nature, are the curious workmanship of God, formed in and by virtue of our union with Christ, for bringing forth the fruits of holiness, for which, not our inclinations or power, but the gracious purpose and glorious grace of God do prepare us.—11. Wherefore, that ye Gentile converts may be deeply and humbly affected with that amazing grace which has been extended to you, I beseech you seriously to reflect on your former deplorable condition, when ye lived in ignorance, idolatry, and all other defilements of the human nature; and being destitute of all the ordinances of God, were contemned and detested by his professed people: 12. That then ye had no knowledge of or faith in the only Saviour of sinners, nor any vital union to or communion with him; nor any claim to the blessings of the gospel secured, revealed, or dispensed by him: ye had no possession of or right to the privileges of his visible Jewish church, and no spiritual relation to or fellowship with his people; ye had no share in the dispensation of the promise of grace, and its unnumbered exceeding great and precious hopes; and so could have no solid, rational, and well-grounded hope of deliverance from misery or enjoyment of eternal life; but were living, like atheists, without the knowledge, faith, fear, worship, and profession of the only true God, and destitute of all spiritual communion with or communications from him. 13. But notwithstanding all your unworthiness, wickedness, and wretchedness, through the astonishing mercy and grace of God ye are now, by the gospel dispensation, brought into a special relation and union to Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of lost sinners, and thereby translated from your former state of distance, enmity, and hopelessness into a spiritual state of friendship and fellowship with God and his church, through the merit and application of Jesus' atoning blood. 14. For he, in his person and mediation, is the only peacemaker, and the centre of union between God and us, and between one another, whether we are believing Jews or Gentiles; who hath reconciled us to God and to each other, and hath united us in one church, and cemented us together in heart and affection as children of one family; the ceremonial law, that wall of partition which separated between Jews and Gentiles, being abolished through his incarnation and death, and the New-Testament worship, which gives equal access to both, appointed in its stead. 15, 16. And having in his crucifixion fulfilled their typical signification, he disannulled the obligation of these ceremonial institutions, which represented God still unpropitious, and proved the occasion of much hatred and enmity between Jews and Gentiles,—that out of both he might make one church, formed of new creatures, after the image of God, and framed together for gospel worship and new obedience, and by a new constitution under him made equally partakers of grace and glory—that thus he might bring about an entire harmony and friendship between believers of all nations, as one spiritual body united to him by faith and love; and that, through his atoning sacrifice of himself upon the cross, he might remove their guilt, and bring them into a joint state of peace and favour with God. 17. And in order thus to reconcile them to God and to each other in one gospel church, by the ministry of his servants and the powerful operation of his Spirit, he published the glad tidings of peace and salvation to you Gentiles, who were far removed from the knowledge, profession, faith, and favour of God; and also to the Jews, who had long been his peculiar people, and had enjoyed the symbols of his presence, and the oracles and ordinances of his grace. 18. For such is the efficacy of his incarnation, obedience, and sufferings exhibited in the gospel, that by means thereof we who believe, whether Jews or Gentiles, through the direction and assistance of his Spirit, have an equally free and familiar access into the favour, presence, and fellowship of God, our common Father in and with Christ. 19. Now, therefore, ye Gentile believers, being reconciled and brought near to God, are no more aliens from his church, covenants, promises, or privileges, but, like freemen and fellow-citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, are entitled to and joint partakers with the believing Jews of all the blessings which pertain to the believers; and are, through repentance and faith, of the family and children of God, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. 20. And graciously and for ever to establish your union with Christ, and with God in him as your Father and Creator, by means of the doctrines of the apostles and prophets, which exhibit and offer him to you, ye are by faith built upon Christ as your immovable and life-giving Foundation, and connected, beautified, and strengthened by him as your chief Corner-stone. 21. In union with whom, and by virtue derived from him, the universal church, Jews or Gentiles, and every true member of it, placed in proper order for the use of the whole, doth, by a continual addition of new converts, or the further gracious growth of each, as animated and influenced by their living and life-giving Foundation, become a spiritual temple, formed by, dedicated to, and inhabited by the Lord Christ and his Father; and in which he manifests his gracious presence, displays his glory, and is worshipped and glorified: 22. In whom, being vitally united to his person, and formed into a church state by his authority and influence, ye are built up together as a particular church—a living temple—which God had consecrated for himself, who, by the special presence, light, and grace of his Spirit, dwells among you, and in the heart of every true believer.

Ver. 1. The words 'hath he quickened' are supplied from ver. 5. It is not improbable, however, that the ellipsis should be supplied from the preceding chapter thus: 'And you hath he filled'—that is, with life—'who were dead in trespasses and sins.' C.

Ver. 2. Course—αἰῶνα—its evil principles and practices, which run on as a stream through the whole period of its being. See ver. 7. C.

Ver. 3. Nature can never be translated 'custom' or 'habit,' unless such custom or habit as arises from original or innate propensity. C.

Ver. 5. The quickening referred to here is not the resurrection of the body alone, though that will follow, but a spiritual quickening—the imparting to us of a new and divine life, which operates upon us here, making us love and follow God. This also is a result of Christ's resurrection. Alford has well remarked on this topic: 'The resurrection of Christ was not a mere bodily act—an earnest of our bodily resurrection—but was a spiritual act—the raising of his humanity (which is ours), consisting of body and soul, from infirmity to glory, from the curse to the final triumph. In that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. And so, we who believe, knit to him, have died unto sin and live unto God.' The resurrection of Christ secures a present spiritual, as well as a future bodily or material resurrection. P. ; ;

Ver. 8. It is the gift of God. What is the gift?— salvation or faith? That salvation is the gift, is argued from τοῦτο being neuter, and so not agreeing with πίστις, feminine: but the construction in ch. 6. 18; Phi. 1. 28; Ga. 3. 17; 4. 19 will show how little value is to be attached to this circumstance. 'That faith is the gift will appear, not from mere verbal criticism, but from the plain facts declared Mat. 13. 11; Jn. 3. 27; 6. 65; from comp. 1 Jn. 3. 24 with Ga. 5. 22; and if more evidence be wanting, Paul expressly declares, Phi. 1. 29. 'Unto you it is given (as also to all) to believe.' C.

Ver. 10. Which God hath, &c. Rather, 'for the performance of which God has before prepared us;' that is, by the previous gift of his Spirit working faith in our hearts. C.

Ver. 16. 'And that he might reconcile both (Jew and Gentile, who were before separated) in one body (uniting them as different members of one body, namely, the church, which is the body of Christ) to God, by means of the cross (his death on the cross atoning for sin, and thus taking away that guilt which separated man from God), having slain the enmity (between man and his God in the first place, but which is developed into enmity between man and man, between Jew and Gentile) on it' (on the cross). P.

Reflections.—Alas! what a state of sin, slavery, wretchedness, and wrath are all men in by nature, Satan and their lusts hurrying them on to their own destruction! Transcendent and amazing grace must be necessary to quicken, to save, and to exalt for ever, such victims of misery, guilt, and pollution; and pure and free is the manifestation of it. No works of ours can possibly save us from our sins. How wonderful is that Christ for whom, in whom, and with whom all these rich mercies are received. Blessed be his name that Gentile idolaters are, through faith in his glorious person, righteousness, and mediation, brought into his gospel church!— While the building goes up sing, ye nations—sing, all the powers of my soul—grace, grace, unto it!