EPHES. of overwhelming loftiness and grandeur. Thoughts which he Argum. scarcely so much as utters any where else, he here plainly declares; c. 3, 10. as when he says, To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold c. 2, 6. wisdom of God. And again; He hath raised us up together, and c. 3, 5. made us sit together in heavenly places. And again; Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and partakers of His inheritance in Christ.

HOMILY I.

Chap. i. v. 1,2. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Observe, he applies the word by or through to the Father. But what then? Shall we say that He is inferior? Surely

not.

To the saints, saith he, which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

22. and

o, 1. 5.

Observe whom he calls saints, men with wives, and children, and domestics. For that these are they whom he calls by this name is plain from the end of the Epistle, as, e. g. when he says, Wives, submit yourselves to your Eph. 5, own husbands. And again, Children, obey your parents: and, Servants, be obedient to your masters. Think how great is the indolence that now possesses us, how rare is any thing like virtue, how great the abundance of virtuous men must then have been, when even secular men could be called saints and faithful. Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is his word; and he calls God, our Father; since this name is a sure token of that gift of grace. And how so? Hear what he saith elsewhere; Because ye are sons, God hath sent the Gal.4,6. Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

And from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because for us men Christ was born, and was born in the flesh for our sakes.

Ver. 3. Blessed be the God, he saith, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Observe; The God of Him that was Incarnate. And though thou wilt not, The Father of God the Word.

102

Spiritual privileges of the Gospel.

HOMIL. Ver. 3. Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

I.

He is here alluding to the blessing of the Jews; for that was blessing also, but it was not spiritual blessing. For Deut. 7, how did it run? The Lord bless thee, He will bless the fruit of thy womb; and He will bless thy going out and 28, 4. thy coming in. But here it is not thus, but how? With all

13. Deut.

32.

spiritual blessing. And what lackest thou yet? Thou art made immortal, thou art made free, thou art made a son, thou art made righteous, thou art made a brother, thou art made a fellow-heir, thou reignest together, thou art Kom. 8, glorified together; all things are freely given thee. How, saith he, shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Thy First-fruits is adored by Angels, by the Cherubim, by the Seraphim! What lackest thou yet? With all spiritual blessing. There is nothing carnal here. Accordingly John 16, He excluded all those former blessings, when He said, In the world ye shall have tribulation, to lead us on to these. For as they who possessed carnal things were unable to hear of spiritual things, so they who aim at spiritual things cannot attain to them unless they first stand aloof from carnal things.

33.

Exod. 3,

8.

1 John

24. 25.

What again is spiritual blessing in heavenly places? It is not upon earth, he means, as was the case with the Jews. Is. 1, 19. Ye shall eat the good things of the land. Unto a land flowing with milk and honey. The Lord shall bless thy land. Deut. 7, Here we have nothing of this sort, but what have we? He 13. that loveth Me will keep My commandments, and I and My 14, 23. Father will come unto him, and make our abode with him. Matt. 7, Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock, and the winds blew, and the floods came, and beat vehemently upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And what is that rock, but those heavenly Matt. things which are above the reach of every change? Who10, 32. soever, saith Christ, shall confess Me before men, him will I 33. also confess before My Father which is in Heaven: and whoMatt. 5, soever shall deny Me, him will I also deny. Again, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And again, Matt. 5, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of

8.

The Gospel system no after thought.

103

I. 3.

Matt. 5,

Phil. 3,

Heaven. And again, Blessed are ye which are persecuted EPHES. for righteousness sake, for great is your reward in Heaven. Observe, how every where He speaketh of Heaven, no where 11. 12. of earth, or of the things on the earth. And again, Our con- 20. versation is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus. And again, Not setting your affections Col. 3, on the things that are on the earth, but on the things which 3. are in Heaven.

In Christ Jesus.

That is to say, this blessing was not by the hand of Moses, but by Christ Jesus: so that we surpass them not only in the quality of the blessings, but in the Mediator also. As moreover he saith in the Epistle to the Hebrews; And Moses Heb. 3, verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testi-' mony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house are we.

Ver. 4. According also, he proceeds, as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him.

5.6.

24.

His meaning is somewhat of this sort. He by whom He hath blessed us is the same by whom He hath also chosen us. And He then it is that shall bestow upon us all those rewards hereafter. He is the very Judge that shall say, Come, Matt. ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for 25, 34. you from the foundation of the world. And again, I will John 17, that these also be with Me where I am. And this is a point which he is anxious to prove in almost all his Epistles, that ours is no novel system, but that it had thus been figured from the very first, that it is not the result of any change of purpose, but had been in fact a divine dispensation ordained from the beginning, and that as such it is matter of providential care.

What is meant by, He hath chosen us in Him? By means of the faith which is in Him, Christ, he means, happily ordered this for us before we were born, nay more, before the foundation of the world. And beautiful is that word foundation, as though he were pointing to the world as cast Tdown from some vast height. Yea, vast indeed and ineffable B is the height of God, so far removed not in place but in in- down. communicableness of nature; so wide the distance between

βολή,

casting

104 Christians are chosen in order to be unblameable.

HOMIL. Creation and Creator!

A word which heretics may be

I.

ashamed to hear ".

Deut.

14,

2.

But wherefore hath He chosen us? That we should be holy and without blame before Him. That you may not then, when you hear that He hath chosen us, imagine that faith alone is sufficient, he proceeds to add life and conduct. To this end, saith he, hath He chosen us, and on this condition, that we should be holy and without blame. And so formerly he chose the Jews. On what terms? "This nation, saith he, hath He chosen from the rest of the nations. Now if men in their choices choose what is best, much more doth God. And indeed the fact of their being chosen is at once a token of the loving kindness of God, and gr. of their moral goodness. For doubtless He chose them as approved. He hath Himself rendered us holy, but then we must continue holy. A holy man is he who is a partaker of faith; a blameless man is he who leads an irreproachable life. It is not however simply holiness and irreproachableness that He requires, but that we should appear such before Him. For there are holy and blameless characters, who yet are esteemed as such only by men, those who are like whited sepulchres, and like such as wear sheep's clothing. It is not such, however, He requires, but such as the Ps. 18, Prophet speaks of; And according to the cleanness of my hands. What cleanness? That which is so in His eyesight. He requires that holiness on which the eye of God may look.

24.

Having thus spoken of the good works of these, he again recurs to the work of grace. In love, saith he, having predestinated us. Because this comes not of any pains, nor of any good works of ours, but of love; and yet not of love alone, but of our virtue also. For in truth were it the result of love alone, it would follow that all must be saved; whereas again were it the result of our virtue alone, then were His coming needless, and the whole dispensation. However, it is the result neither of His love alone, nor yet of our virtue, but of both. He hath chosen us, saith the Apostle; and He that chooseth, knoweth what it is that He

• An allusion to the Manichees. Ed. in Joan. Hom. iv. Bened. Or to the Arians, vid. Chrysost.