Ephesians 1:1, 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:… The apostle introduces his Epistle by a duplicate order of ideas: a double blessing - "grace and peace;" a double source of blessing - "God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;" a double designation of the Christian people - "saints and faithful in Christ Jesus;" and a double source of authority - "an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." I. THE AUTHOR. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." As one standing outside the circle of the twelve, who overshadowed all others by his immense authority, it was necessary he should preface his Epistle by the mention of his independent apostleship. Yet in no spirit of vanity or self-assertion does he use the high language of apostolic authority and inspired conviction. He disclaims all personal merit in his call. His apostleship was linked with grace in its original bestowal; therefore he speaks of "grace and apostleship" in the same breath (Romans 1:5); it was "by the will of God," not by the suggestion or call of man, that he found his place in the service of all the Churches. For us the interest of our author's name has a profound significance; for, though in language of the deepest humility he speaks of himself as "the least of the apostles" and "less than the least of all saints," he stands before all coming ages as the great apostle of the Gentiles, whose personal history and writings fill one-third of the New Testament Scriptures, and who, more than any other apostle, has shaped the theology of Christendom in its best periods, supplying at once the bone and marrow of the evangelical system of thought. II. THE PERSONS ADDRESSED. "The saints which are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus." 1. This double title seems to suggest the objective and subjective sides of Christian life; for if it is God's work to make saints, "it is man's to believe;" we are chosen to salvation "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:13). God has joined these two principles together: let not man put them asunder. 2. It is in Christ we obtain our standing both as saints and as believers. He is made unto us "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). The expression, "in Christ," which occurs here for the first time in this Epistle, is found thirty-three times in the New Testament. Christian life, like revelation, is Christo-centric. 3. The Christians at Ephesus had grown from twelve disciples (Acts 19:1) into a large and influential community, worshipping the Lord under the very shadow of the great Temple of Diana. The apostle has a deep personal interest in the fortunes of a Church established in the very acropolis of paganism - the first of the seven Churches of Asia - forming the third capital of Christianity, as Antioch was the second and Jerusalem the first. He remembers the three years of untiring and anxious labor he had spent in the city, as well as the interest of the Ephesian Christians in himself and his work which he seeks shortly to intensify by the projected visit of "a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord" (Ephesians 6:21, 22). The Apostle Paul was unique among the apostles of Christ for his quickness in finding out a common ground of interest among the believers of every place, for his deep yearning after appreciation, and the heartfelt joy of finding his services recognized by the Churches he served, as well as by the facility with which he held a hundred interests in his hand, and engaged the sympathy of all sorts of men in the cause of Christ. III. THE TERMS OF THE SALUTATION. "Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." This is the apostle's usual salutation to Churches - it is only in the pastoral Epistles that he adds the word "mercy" - but its form suggests a beautiful and significant blending of the Greek and Hebrew methods of salutation, as if to anticipate the share of Jew and Gentile alike in the future blessings of the gospel How sweetly Christianity sanctifies the common courtesies of life! 1. The double blessing. "Grace and peace." The word "grace" has a unique history among English words. It means ever so many things, all suggestive of the happiest associations, and has never suffered that contraction of meaning which has spoiled the moral beauty of so many other words. In the gospel sense, whether it applies to the origin of man's salvation or to the Christian disposition which is the result of it, grace marks a beautiful movement of life in the direction of blessing given or received. Grace is the key-note of the Ephesian Epistle. Grace is the well-spring of all blessings. "The way to heaven lies not over a toll-bridge, but over a free bridge, even the unmerited grace of God in Christ Jesus." Peace is the fruit of grace, which can never be severed from its fruits. It is the very testament of Christ: "My peace I give unto you:" the very equanimity, firmness, serenity, of his own life carried into the lives of his saints. This peace so "keeps the heart and mind" that nothing can break down a spirit so established. The two graces are here in their due order; for there is no peace without grace. They cover the whole space of a believer's life; for if it begins in grace, its latter end is peace. The Lord always has "thoughts of grace and peace toward us" (Jeremiah 29:11). They are together the bright sum of the gospel. 2. The double Source of blessing. "From God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." There is a certain intensity of bright suggestion in the asserted origin of these blessings. God the Father is the "God of grace" (1 Peter 5:10) and "the God of peace" (Hebrews 13:20); and equally so "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17), and he is also our Peace (Ephesians 2:14). But the Father is the original Fountain of all blessings, and the Son the Dispenser of blessing to us. The juxtaposition of Christ with the Father is the significant proof of the divinity of the Son of God. No man's name can be placed beside God's in the dispensation of Divine blessings. The Holy Ghost is not named, because it is he who communicates the grace and the peace. Similarly, the believer has "fellowship with the Father and the Son" (1 John 1:3), but the Holy Ghost is the power of this fellowship. 3. It is neither improper nor unnecessary to pray for grace and peace, though we already possess them. We need a continuous supply and a continuous experience of both blessings. Believers are, therefore, fully justified in coming boldly to a throne of grace, that they may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - T.C. Parallel Verses KJV: 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: |
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