NOTE. would be like a rope of gold-dust, all the parts would be excellent, and of value. but would seem heaped together, without order or connexion. This “and,” here, it is true, ties the parts together, and points out the connexion and coherence of St. Paul's discourse; but yet it stands so far from ixática, "set," in ver. 20 of the foregoing chapter, and ovvewomolyσ, "quickened,” ver. 5 of this chapter, which are the two verbs it copulates together; that by one, not acquainted with St. Paul's style, it would scarce be observed or admitted, and therefore it may not be amiss to lay it in its due light, so as to be visible to an ordinary reader. St. Paul, ver. 18-20, prays that the Ephesians may be so enlightened, as to see the great advantages they received by the Gospel : those that he specifies are these: 1. What great hopes he gave them. 2. What an exceeding glory accompanied the inheritance of the saints. 3. The mighty power exerted by God on their behalf, which bore some proportion to that which he employed in the raising Christ from the dead, and placing him at his right hand: upon the mention of which, his mind being full of that glorious image, he lets his pen run into a description of the exaltation of Christ, which lasts to the end of that chapter, and then re-assumes the thread of his discourse; which in short stands thus: "I pray God, that the eyes of your understandings may be enlightened, that you may see the exceeding great power of God, which is employed upon us who believe: [xalà Tǹv] corresponding to that energy, wherewith he raised Christ from the dead, and seated him at his right hand; for so also has he raised you, who were dead in trespasses and sins: us, I say, who were dead in trespasses and sins, has he quickened, and raised together with Christ, and seated together with him in his heavenly kingdom." This is, in short, the train and connexion of his discourse from chap. i. 18 to ii. 5, though it be interrupted by many incident thoughts; which, as his manner is, he enlarges upon by the way, and then returns to the thread of his discourse. For here again, in this first verse of the second chapter, we must observe, that, having mentioned their being dead in trespasses and sins, he enlarges upon that forlorn estate of the Gentiles before their conversion; and then comes to what he designed, that God, out of his great goodness, quickened, raised, and placed them together with Christ, in his heavenly kingdom. In all which it is plain he had more regard to the things he declared to them, than to a nice, grammatical construction of his words: for it is manifest xal, "and," ver. 1, and xαl, "and," ver. 5, copulate σuomone, "quickened," with xác, set," ver. 20 of the foregoing chapter, which the two following words, ver. 6, make evident, καὶ συνήγειρε καὶ συνεκάθισεν εν ἐπουρανίοις, “ and hath raised up together, and hath made sit together in heavenly places." St. Paul, to display the great power and energy of God, showed towards the Gentiles, in bringing them into his heavenly kingdom, declares it to be xalà Tñv évegyeíav, proportionable to that power, wherewith he raised Jesus from the dead, and seated him at his right hand. To express the parallel, he keeps to the parallel terms concerning Christ : he says, chap. i. 20, ἐγείρας αὐτὸν ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς оupavíos, "raised him from the dead, and set him at his right hand, in heavenly places." Concerning the Gentile converts his words are, chap. ii. ver. 5, 6, καὶ ὄντας ἡμᾶς νεκρούς τοῖς παραπλώμασι, συνεζωοποίησε τῷ Χρισῷ, καὶ συνήγειρε καὶ σuvexáðiσer év étoupaviors," and us, being dead in trespasses, he hath quickened together with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places." It is also visible that buas, "you," ver. 1, and μãs, us," ver. 5, are both governed by the verb cuve (woroínce, "quickened together," ver. 5, though the grammatical construction be somewhat broken, but is repaired in the sense, which lies thus: "God, by his mighty power, raised Christ from the dead; by the like power you, Gentiles of Ephesus, being dead in trespasses and sins; what do I say, you of Ephesus; nay, us all, converts of the Gentiles, being dead in trespasses, has he quickened and raised from the dead. You Ephesians were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, TEXT. 2 Wherein, in time past, ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience : 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. PARAPHRASE. you Gentiles, before you were converted to the Gospel, walked, according to the state and constitution of this world', conforming yourselves to the will and pleasure of the prince of the power of the air m, the spirit that now yet possesses and 3 works" in the children of disobedience°. Of which number NOTES. the spirit that yet worketh in the children of disobedience, and so were we, all the rest of us, who are converted from Gentilism; we, all of us, of the same stamp and strain, involved in the same conversation, living, heretofore, according to the lusts of our flesh, to which we were perfectly obedient, doing what our carnal wills and blinded minds directed us, being then no less children of wrath, no less liable to wrath and punishment, than those that remained still children of disobedience, i. e. unconverted; but God, rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us hath quickened us all, being dead in trespasses, (for it is by grace ye are saved) and raised us," &c. This is St. Paul's sense, drawn out more at length, which, in his compendious way of writing, wherein he crowds many ideas together, as they abounded in his mind, could not easily be ranged under rules of grammar. The promiscuous use St. Paul here makes of "we" and "you" and his so easy changing one into the other, plainly shows, as we have already observed, that they both stand for the same sort of persons, i. e. Christians, that were formerly pagans, whose state and life, whilst they were such, he here expressly describes. 21 Aid may be observed, in the New Testament, to signify the lasting state and constitution of things, in the great tribes, or collections of men, considered in reference to the kingdom of God; whereof there were two most eminent, and principally intended, if I mistake not, by the word alwns, when that is used alone; and that is ó vv άiù”, “this present world,” which is taken for that state of the world, wherein the children of Israel were his people, and made up his kingdom upon earth, the Gentiles, i. e. all the other nations of the world, being in a state of apostasy and revolt from him, the professed vassals and subjects of the devil, to whom they paid homage, obedience, and worship: and xiùm péλλov, "the world to come," i. e. the time of the Gospel, wherein God, by Christ, broke down the partition-wall between Jew and Gentile, and opened a way for reconciling the rest of mankind, and taking the Gentiles again into his kingdom under Jesus Christ, under whose rule he had put it. In these words St. Paul points out the devil, the prince of the revolted part of the creation, and head of that kingdom, which stood in opposition to, and was at war with, the kingdom of Jesus Christ. n 'Evagyoûlos is the proper term, whereby, in the Greek, is signified the possession and acting of any person by an evil spirit. • "Children of disobedience," are those of the Gentiles, who continued still in their apostasy, under the dominion of Satan, who ruled and acted them, and returned not from their revolt, described Rom. i. 18, &c. into the kingdom of God, now that Jesus Christ had opened an entrance into it, to all those who disobeyed not his call; and thus they are called, chap. v. 6. TEXT. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved) PARAPHRASE. even we all having formerly been P, lived in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires thereof, and of our blinded, per4 verted mind. But God, who is rich in mercy, through 5 his great love wherewith he loved us, Even us, Gentiles, who were dead in trespasses', hath he quickened ", together with NOTES. 3 P'Ex cls cannot signify "amongst whom we also all had our conversation:" for if us, "we," stands for either the converted Jews, or converts in general, it is not true. If "we," stands (as is evident it doth) for the converted Gentiles, of what force or tendency is it for the apostle to say we, the converted Gentiles, heretofore lived among the unconverted Gentiles? But it is of great force, and to his purpose, in magnifying the free grace of God to them, to say, we of the Gentiles, who are now admitted to the kingdom of God, were formerly of that very sort of men, in whom the prince of the power of the air ruled, leading lives in the lusts of our flesh, obeying the will and inclinations thereof, and so as much exposed to the wrath of God, as those who still remain in their apostasy under the dominion of the devil.” This was the state that the Gentile world were given up to. See Rom. i. 21, 24. Parallel to this 3d verse of this 2d chapter, we have a passage in chap. iv. 17-20, of this same epistle, where xaßus xal rà λà ëŋ, “even as the other Gentiles," plainly answers os xal of λomol, “even as the others," here; and ἐν μαλαιότηλι τοῦ νοὸς αὐτῶν, ἐσκοτισμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ, “ in the vanity of their minds, having their understandings darkened,” answers ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν, ποιοῦντες τὰ θελήματα τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τῶν διανοιῶν, “ in the lusts of our desh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind." He that compares these places, and considers that what is said in the fourth chapter contains the character of the Gentile world, of whom it is spoken; I say, he that reads and considers these two places well together, and the correspondency between them, cannot doubt of the sense I understand this verse in; and that St. Paul here, under the terms, "we" and "our," speaks of the Gentile converts. 4 'o dì, "But," connects this verse admirably well with the immediately preceding, which makes the parts of that incident discourse cohere, which ending in this verse, St. Paul, in the beginning of ver. 5, takes up the thread of his discourse again, as if nothing had come between, though i dì, “but," in the beginning of this 4th verse, rather breaks than continues the sense of the whole. See note, ver. 1. "Rich in mercy." The design of the apostle being, in this epistle, to set forth the exceeding great mercy and bounty of God to the Gentiles, under the Gospel, as is manifest at large, ch. iii. it is plain that us, "us," here in this verse must mean the Gentile couverts. 5 "Dead in trespasses," does not mean here, under the condemnation of death, or obnoxious to death for our transgressions; but so under the power and dominion of sin, so helpless in that state into which, for our apostasy, we were delivered up, by the just judgment of God, that we had no more thought, nor hope, nor ability to get out of it, than men, dead and buried, have to get out of the grave. This state of death he declares to be the state of Gentilism, Col. ii. 13, in these words: "and you, being dead in trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath God quickened together with him," i. e. Christ. "Quickened." This quickening was by the Spirit of God, given to those TEXT. 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly 7 That, in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of PARAPHRASE. W 6 Christ, (by grace ye are saved) And hath raised us up together with Christ, and made us partakers, in and with Jesus Christ, of the glory and power of his heavenly kingdom, which God has put into his hands, and put under his rule: That, in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us, through Christ 8 Jesus. For by God's free grace it is that yey are, through faith in Christ, saved and brought into the kingdom of God, X NOTES. who, by faith in Christ, were united to him, became the members of Christ, and sons of God, partaking of the adoption, by which Spirit they were put into a state of life; see Rom. viii. 9—15, and made capable, if they would, to live to God, and not to obey sin, in the lusts thereof, nor to yield their members instruments of sin unto iniquity; but to give up themselves to God, as men alive from the dead, and their members to God as instruments of righteousness; as our apostle exhorts the converted Romans to do, Rom. vi. 11—13. 6 Wherein this raising consists, may be seen, Rom. vi. 1—10. 7 The great favour and goodness of God manifests itself, in the salvation of sinners, in all ages; but that, which most eminently sets forth the glory of his grace, was those, who were first of all converted from heathenism to Christianity, and brought out of the kingdom of darkness, in which they were as dead men, without life, hope, or so much as a thought of salvation, or a better state, into the kingdom of God. Hence it is that he says, chap. i. 12, "That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first believed." To which he seems to have an eye in this verse; the first conversion of the Gentiles being a surprising and wonderful effect and instance of God's exceeding goodness to them, which, to the glory of his grace, should be admired and acknowledged by all future ages; and so Paul and Barnabas speak of it, Acts xiv. 27. "They rehearsed all that God had done with him, and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." And so James and the elders at Jerusalem, when they heard what things God had wrought by St. Paul's ministry, among the Gentiles, "they glorified the Lord," Acts xxi. 19, 20. we," in the foregoing verse, to "ye," here, and 8 "Ye." The change of " the like change observable ver. 1 and 5, plainly shows, that the persons spoken of, under these two denominations, are of the same kind, i. e. Gentile converts; only St. Paul, every now and then, the more effectually to move those he is writing to, changes "we" into "ye," and vice versá: and so makes, as it were, a little sort of distinction, that he may the more emphatically apply himself to them. z "Saved." He that reads St. Paul with attention, cannot but observe, that speaking of the Gentiles, he calls their being brought back again, from their apostasy, into the kingdom of God, their being saved. Before they were thus NOTE. brought to be the people of God again, under the Messiah, they were, as they are here described, aliens, enemies, without hope, without God, dead in trespasses and sins; and therefore when, by faith in Christ, they came to be reconciled, and to be in covenant again with God, as his subjects and liege people, they were in the way of salvation; and if they persevered, could not miss of attaining it, though they were not yet in actual possession. The apostle, whose aim it is, in this epistle, to give them a high sense of God's extraordinary grace and favour to them, and to raise their thoughts above the mean observances of the law, shows them that there was nothing in them; no deeds, or works of theirs, nothing that they could do, to prepare or recommend themselves, contributed aught to the bringing them into the kingdom of God, under the Gospel that it was all purely the work of grace, for they were all dead in trespasses and sins, and could do nothing, not make one step, or the least motion towards it. Faith, which alone gained them admittance, and alone opened the kingdom of heaven to believers, was the sole gift of God; men, by their natural faculties, could not attain to it. It is faith which is the source and beginuing of this new life; and the Gentile world, who were without sense, without hope of any such thing, could no more help themselves, or do any thing to procure it themselves, than a dead man can do any thing, to procure himself life. It is God here does all; by revelation of what they could never discover by their own natural faculties, he bestows on them the knowledge of the Messiah, and the faith of the Gospel; which, as soon as they have received, they are in the kingdom of God, in a new state of life; and being thus quickened by the Spirit, may, as men alive, work if they will. Hence St. Paul says, Rom. x. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," having in the foregoing verses declared, there is no believing without hearing, and no hearing without a preacher, and no preacher unless he be sent; i. e. the good tidings of salvation by the Messiah, and the doctrine of faith, was not, nor could be, known to any, but to those to whom God communicated it, by the preaching of prophets and apostles, to whom he revealed it, and whom he sent on this errand with this discovery. And thus God, now, gave faith to the Ephesians, and the other Gentiles, to whom he sent St. Paul, and others his fellow-labourers, to bestow on them the knowledge of salvation, reconciliation, and restoration into his kingdom of the Messiah. All which though revealed by the Spirit of God, in the writings of the Old Testament, yet the Gentile world were kept wholly strangers from the knowledge of by the ceremonial law of Moses, which was the wall of partition, that kept the Gentiles at a distance, aliens and enemies; which wall God, according to his gracious purpose before the erecting of it, having now broke down, communicated to them the doctrine of faith, and admitted them, upon their acceptance of it, to all the advantages and privileges of his kingdom; all which was done of his free grace, without any merit or procurement of theirs: "he was found of them, who sought him not, and was made manifest to them, that asked not after him.” I desire him, that would clearly understand this chap. ii. of the Ephesians, to read carefully with it Rom. x. and 1 Cor. ii. 9-16, where he will see, that faith is wholly owing to the revelation of the Spirit of God, and the communication of that revelation, by men sent by God, who attained this knowledge, not by the assistance of their own natural parts, but from the revelation of the Spirit of God. Thus faith, we see, is the gift of God, and with it, when men by baptism are admitted into the kingdom of God, comes the Spirit of God, which brings life with it: for the attaining this gift of faith, men do, or can do, nothing; grace hitherto does all, and works are wholly excluded; God himself creates them to do good works, but when, by him, they are made living creatures, in this new creation, it is then expected, that being quickened, they should act; and, from henceforwards, works are required, not as the meritorious cause of salvation; but as a necessary, indispensable qualification of the subjects of God's kingdom, under his Son Jesus Christ; it being impossible that any one should, at the same time, be a rebel and |