PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians
Hodge, Charles, 1797–1878 · 114,389 words · 342 reading sections
278 EPHESIANS,
brethren.” Christ’s death was for us as a sacrifice, and therefore, from the nature of the transaction, in our place. Whether the idea of substitution be expressed by ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν depends on the context rather than on the force of the preposition. To die for any one, may mean either for his benefit or in his stead, as the…
597 wordsSECTION 242280 EPHESIANS,
construction. The Hebrew phrase properly means a savour of rest; that is, one which composes, pacifies, or pleases. The last is what the Greek expresses, and therefore the equivalent expression is εὐάρεστος τῷ Θεῷ, well pleasing to God. Rom. 12,1. Phil. 4, 18. It was in the exercise of the highest conceivable love, whi…
75 wordsSECTION 243SECTION I.—Vs. 3-20.
But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not con- . venient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolate…
204 wordsSECTION 244282 | EPHESIANS,
15. See that ye walk circumspectly ; not as fools, but as wise, re- 16. deeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye 17. not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled 19. with the Spirit ; speaking to yourselves in psalms…
94 wordsSECTION 245ANALYSIS.
It becomes saints to avoid not only the sins of un- cleanness and covetousness, but also all impropriety of conduct and frivolity of language, vs. 3-4. Because uncleanness and covetousness not only exclude from heaven, but, whatever errorists may say, bring down the wrath of God, vs. 5-6. Christians, therefore, should …
182 wordsSECTION 246CHAP. V. V8. 3, 4. 283
Spirit, and give expression to their gladness in psalms and hymns, praising and thanking God through Jesus Christ, vs. 17-20.…
20 wordsSECTION 247COMMENTARY.
V. 3. But fornication and all uncleanness, or covet- ousness, let it not be oncenamed among you, as becometh saints. In the preceding section the apostle had spoken of sins against our neighbour; here from v. 3 to v. 20 he dwells principally on sins against ourselves. Not only fornication, but every thing of the same …
222 wordsSECTION 248284 EPHESIANS,
hence τὸ καλόν καὶ τὸ αἰσχρόν, means virtue and vice. The substantive is equally comprehensive, and includes whatever is vile or disgusting in speech or conduct. Lesser evils are expressed by the words μωρολογία and εὐτραπελία, foolish talking and jesting. The former means such talk as is characteristic of fools, i. e.…
267 wordsSECTION 249CHAP. V. VER./5. 285
know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” The form of expression is peculiar, ἴστε ἢ γινώσκοντες, ye know know- ing. Many refer this to the familiar Hebrew idiom, in which the infinitive and finite tense of a verb are …
278 wordsSECTION 250286 EPHESIANS,
and idolatry, is more obvious and more distinctly re- cognized in Scripture than between idolatry and any other of the sins mentioned. It is well that this should be understood, that men should know, that the most common of all sins, is the most heinous in the sight of God. For idolatry, which consists in putting the c…
585 wordsSECTION 251288 EPHESIANS,
apostle here refers. It is urged that they have their origin in the very consitution of our nature; that they are not malignant ; that they may co-exist with amia- ble tempers ; and that they are not hurtful to others, that no one is the worse for them if no one knows them, &c. Paul, therefore, cautions his readers in …
551 wordsSECTION 252290 EPHESIANS,
much as the corresponding English terms do. Good- ness is benevolence and beneficence ; righteousness is adherence to the rule of right. Yet both are used for moral excellence in general. The evil and the good, included all classes of the vicious and the virtuous. Good works are works of any kind which are morally exce…
571 wordsSECTION 253292 EPHESIANS,
sins he calls “the unfruitful works of darkness.” By unfruitful is meant not merely barren or worthless, but positively evil. For in a moral subject the negation of good is evil. Works of darkness are those works which spring from darkness, i. e. from ignorance of God; as “works of light” are those works which light or…
276 wordsSECTION 254CHAP. V. VER. 12. 293
1 Cor. 14, 24, Paul says the effect of intelligible preach- ing of the Gospel is conviction—which is explained by saying “the secrets of the heart are revealed.” The duty, therefore, here enjoined is to shed light on these works of darkness; to exhibit them in their true nature as vile and destructive. By this method t…
285 wordsSECTION 255294 EPHESIANS,
sins the apostle gives as the reason why they should be reproved. V. 18. Vile however as those sins are, they are capa- ble of being corrected. They are not beyond cure. Reprove them. Let in the light of divine truth upon them, and they will be corrected or healed. For the truth is divinely efficacious. It is the orga…
274 wordsSECTION 256CHAP. V. VER. 13. 295
meaning is, ‘ Whatever is manifested;’ not ‘whatever makes manifest.’ As the word φανεροῦται just before is passive, it is unnatural to make φανερούμενον active. Besides, the apostle is not speaking of the nature of spiritual light, but of its effects. It illuminates or turns into light all it touches, or wherever it p…
287 wordsSECTION 257296 EPHESIANS,
But it is essential to all holy exercises. And wherever the truth penetrates, it dissipates the clouds of error, and brings every thing to view, so that when spiritually discerned it produces its proper effect on the soul. Truth being thus essential, it is the duty of Christians to bring it to bear upon all those who a…
277 wordsSECTION 258CHAP. V. VER. 14. 297
gint is accurately followed, but the general idea is reproduced. We without the authority and divine guidance of the apostles deal in the same way with the word of God, of which almost every sermon would furnish examples. It is generally assumed that Paul here refers to Is. 60, 1, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, …
294 wordsSECTION 259298 EPHESIANS,
Those asleep and the dead are in darkness, and therefore those involved in spiritual darkness are ad- dressed as sleeping. The light which comes from Christ has power to reach even the dead—as our Lord, in the use of another figure, says, ‘The hour is coming, and now is, that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of…
583 wordsSECTION 260800 EPHESIANS,
acquiring by purchase. The latter in virtue of the force of the ἐκ properly means to purchase back, or to make free by purchase. But it is also used in the sense of the simple verb, as in Daniel 2, 8, whence the ex- pression in the text is probably derived. There, ac- cording to the Septuagint, the king said to the Cha…
589 wordsSECTION 261302 EPHESIANS,
or judgment the standard of yours, and the rule of your conduct. The will of the Lord is the will of Christ. That Lord here means Christ, is plain not only from the general usage of the New Testament, so often re- ferred to, but also from the constant use of the word in this chapter as a designation of the Redeemer. He…
552 wordsSECTION 262304 EPHESIANS,
was a distinction between them as there is still. A psalm was, agreeably to the etymology of the word ψαλμός, a song designed to be sung with the accom- paniment of instrumental music. 2. It.was one of the sacred poems contained in the book of Psalms, as in Acts 18, 33, ἐν τῷ ψαλμῳ τῷ δευτέρῳ, in the second Psalm ; and…
578 wordsSECTION 263306 EPHESIANS,
To the Lord, i. e. to Christ. In the parallel passage, Col. 3, 16, it is to God. In either form the idea is the same. In worshipping Christ we worship God. God in Christ, however, is the definite, special object of Christian worship, to whom the heart when filled with the Spirit instinctively turns. This special worshi…
376 wordsSECTION 264SECTION II.—Vs. 17-33.
21. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the 28. Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Saviour of the body. 24, Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so Jet the wiv…
253 wordsSECTION 265ANALYSIS.
The apostle enjoins mutual obedience as a Christian duty, v. 21. Under this head he treats of the relative duties of husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to the duties of husbands and wives. As the conjugal relation is analogous to that which Christ su…
269 wordsSECTION 266COMMENTARY.
V. 21. That a new paragraph begins with this verse is generally conceded. First, because the preceding ex- hortations are evidently brought to a close in v. 20— with the words to God even the Father. And secondly, because the command to be obedient one to another, amplified through this chapter and part of the next, do…
243 wordsSECTION 267310 EPHESIANS,
tural doctrine on this subject is that men are not isolated individuals, each one independent of all others. No man liveth for himself and no man dieth for himself. The essential equality of men and their mutual depend- ence lay the foundation for the obligation of mutual subjection. The apostle however is here speakin…
265 wordsSECTION 268CHAP. V. VER. 22. 311
his glory. It isin this way all social duties, even the most humiliating, are raised into the sphere of religion, and rendered consistent with the highest elevation and liberty. This idea is specially insisted upon by the apostle when he comes to speak of the duty of servants to their masters. It ought not to escape th…
294 wordsSECTION 269312 EPHESIANS,
her obedience to her husband is to be regarded as part of her obedience to the Lord. See 6, 5.6. It ter- minates on him, and therefore is religious, because de- termined by religious motives and directed towards the object of the religious affections. This makes the bur- den light and the yoke easy. For every service w…
286 wordsSECTION 270CHAP. V. VER. 23. 313
be denied or disregarded without destroying society and degrading both men and women; making the one effeminate and the other masculine. The superiority of the man, however, is not only consistent with the mutual dependence of the sexes, and their essential equality of nature, and in the kingdom of God, but also with t…
283 wordsSECTION 271314 EPHESIANS,
The most probable explanation is, that as the apostle’s design is not merely to teach the nature of the relation between husband and wife, but also that between Christ and the church, the clause in question is added for that purpose, without any bearing on the conjugal relation. This clause is not in apposition with th…
288 wordsSECTION 272CHAP. VY. VER. 25. 3815
ments, but is limited in all; first, by the nature of the relation; and secondly, by the higher authority of God. No superior, whether master, parent, husband or magis- trate, can make it obligatory on us either to do what God forbids, or not to do what God commands. So long as our allegiance to God is preserved, and o…
297 wordsSECTION 273316 EPHESIANS,
doubted that true conjugal love will ever lead the husband to sacrifice himself for his wife.* Vs. 26. 27. As the apostle unites with his design of teaching the duties arising from the conjugal relation, the purpose to illustrate the nature of the union be- tween Christ and his church, these verses relate to the latte…
604 wordsSECTION 274318 EPHESIANS,
ally preferred. The design of Christ’s death was to make his people holy. It accomplishes this end by reconciling them to God, and by securing for them the gift of the Holy Ghost. Thus in Gal. 3, 13. 14, it is said, ‘“ Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” W…
561 wordsSECTION 275320 EPHESIANS,
elsewhere connected with the remission of sin; as in Acts 22, 16, and Acts 2, 88, “ Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.” The meaning of the word, how- ever, depends upon its relation to the preceding clause. Ka@apicas may be connected with ἁγιάσῃ, and taken in…
582 wordsSECTION 276322 EPHESIANS,
experience. Multitudes of the baptized are unholy ; many of the unbaptized are sanctified and saved. How then is it true that baptism washes away sin, unites us to Christ, and secures salvation? The an- swer again is, that this is true of baptism in the same sense that it is true of the word. God is pleased to connect…
580 wordsSECTION 277324 EPHESIANS,
Whatever he may have experienced or enjoyed before, this is the public conveyance to him of the benefits of the covenant, and his inauguration into the number of the redeemed. If he is sincere in his part of the service, baptism really applies to him the blessings of which it is the symbol. 4. Infants are baptized on t…
613 wordsSECTION 278326 EPHESIANS,
There is one other remark suggested by this pas- sage. The turning point in the discussion between Baptists and Paedobaptists, so far as the mode of bap- tism is concerned, is, whether it is in its essential nature an immersion, or a washing. If the former, then there is but one mode in which it can be adminis- tered. …
563 wordsSECTION 279328 EPHESIANS,
of the best expositors, as Rickert, Meyer, and Winer. The position of the words, however, is so decidedly in favour of the first mentioned explanation, that it has commanded the assent of the great body of inter- preters. V. 27. The ultimate end for which Christ gave himself for the church, and for which he sanctifies…
271 wordsSECTION 280CHAP. V. VER. 27. 329
A larger number of commentators take the ground that the end contemplated in this verse is accomplished in the present life. In other words, that the state of the church here described is one attained in this world. Of those who take this view, some, as the ancient Pela- gians, interpret the passage as teaching that pe…
292 wordsSECTION 281330 EPHESIANS,
still this cannot be affirmed of the whole body of be- lievers. The great majority of commentators, there- fore, from Augustin down to the present time, under- stand the apostle as stating what is to take place when Christ comes the second time to be admired in all them that believe. It is then, when the dead are raise…
588 wordsSECTION 282332 EPHESIANS,
to the analogous relation between them, husbands should love their wives as, i. e. as being, or because they are, their own bodies. Christ loves his church because it is his body. Husbands should love their wives because they are their bodies. ‘Qs, as, before the latter member of the sentence is not comparative, but ar…
294 wordsSECTION 283CHAP. V. VER. 28. 333
men are to be, in this respect, like the angels of God, neither marrying nor given in marriage. 4. On the other hand the marriage union is not merely one of interests and feeling. Husbands and wives are in such a sense one, that the husband is the complement of the wife and the wife of the husband. The marriage rela- t…
275 wordsSECTION 284334 EPHESIANS,
sense of those words. All coercion on the part of parents, therefore, is contrary to the nature of the relation; and all marriages of mere convenience are opposed to the design of the institution. 3. The State can neither make nor dissolve the marriage tie. It may enact laws regulating the mode in which it shall be sol…
278 wordsSECTION 285CHAP. V. VER. 28. 3835
social crime, next to murder, which any one can com- mit, is to seduce the affections of a wife from her hus- band, or of a husband from his wife. And one of the greatest evils which civil authorities can inflict on society, is the dissolution of the marriage contract (so far as it is a civil contract, for further the …
279 wordsSECTION 286336 EPHESIANS,
but that they are one. It is not a duty, but a fact which they announce. So also it is a fact which the apostle declares when he says, “Ηρ that loves his wife loves himself.” VY. 29. Conjugal love, therefore, is as much a dic- tate of nature as self-love ; and it is just as unnatural for a man to hate his wife, as it …
602 wordsSECTION 287338 _ EPHESIANS,
attempted is to guard against false interpretations, and leave the matter just where the apostle leaves it, as something to be believed and reverenced but not un- derstood. The lowest explanation of the passage before us is that which departs entirely from the signification of the words, and supposes that the apostle …
277 wordsSECTION 288CHAP. V. VER. 30. 339
has many advocates from Chrysostom downwards, but it is liable to the same objection as the preceding. It refuses to admit what the apostle asserts. He says not merely that we derive our life from Christ, which is true; but also that we derive our life from his flesh, and are partakers of it. This must mean something m…
296 wordsSECTION 289840 EPHESIANS,
to himself a true body and a reasonable soul; but the union here spoken of arises from owr participa- tion of Christ’s body ; that is, of his flesh and of his bones. It is not his taking our flesh and blood, but our partaking of his, after he had assumed them, that is here asserted. Besides, so far as the mere assump- …
283 wordsSECTION 290CHAP. V. VER. 30. 341
flesh, Christians are literally of one flesh with him. Calvin did not hold that Christ’s body was locally present in the Lord’s Supper, nor that it was received by the mouth, nor that it was received in any sense by unbelievers. He did hold, however, that the sub- stance of Christ’s glorified body, as enthroned in heav…
322 wordsSECTION 291342 EPHESIANS,
mon belief of the Reformed churches, the Bible teaches no such doctrine concerning the Lord’s Supper, as either of these several views of the passage supposes. 2. That there is not only no allusion to the Lord’s Sup- per in the whole context, but the terms here employed are never used in Scripture when treating of that…
286 wordsSECTION 292CHAP. V. VER. 30. 343
of Christ is the general life of the church, manifested in its members. The church is the development of Christ, as the human race is the development of Adam ; or as the oak or forest is the development of an acorn. As, therefore, we are said to be flesh of Adam’s flesh and bone of his bones, in the same sense and with…
320 wordsSECTION 293344 EPHESIANS,
The text asserts—1. That we are members of Christ’s body. 2. That we are partakers of his flesh and of his bones, in such a sense that our relation to Christ is analogous to Eve’s relation to Adam. _ The three general interpretations of the passage are, First, That as Eve derived her physical life from Adam, so we der…
284 wordsSECTION 294CHAP. V. VER. 30. 345
and natural sense. To partake of one’s flesh and blood, does not, in ordinary life nor according to scriptural usage, mean to partake of his substance, but it does mean to partake of his life. The substance of which the body of any adult is composed is derived exclu- sively from his food and from the atmosphere. A few …
296 wordsSECTION 295346 EPHESIANS,
peculiar type of physical life from the head of his race, but not one particle of the substance of his body. Husband and wife are in Scripture declared to be one flesh. But here again it is not identity of substance, but community of life that is intended. As, therefore, participation of one’s flesh does not in other c…
584 wordsSECTION 296348 EPHESIANS,
Christ and his people. They also are one flesh because they have a common life, and because his people de- rive their life from his flesh .as Eve derived hers from the flesh of Adam. The principal difficulty here relates to the connec- tion. The passage stands thus: ‘We are members of Christ’s body, of his flesh, and …
284 wordsSECTION 297CHAP. V. VER. 31. 849
mediate connection between the two verses 80 and 31, and understands the whole of the latter to refer to the relation between Christ and his church. It then may be explained either in reference to the present, or the future. If to the present, the sense would be, ‘ We are members of Christ’s body, and, therefore, he le…
311 wordsSECTION 298350 EPHESIANS,
the sake of the last words, they shall be one flesh. The meaning and the connection then are, ‘As Eve was formed out of the body of Adam, and therefore, it is said, a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. So, since we are members of Christ’s body, therefore, …
301 wordsSECTION 299CHAP. V. VER. 32. 951
Υ. 82. Τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστίν, this mystery zs great. The word mystery does not refer to the pas- sage in Gen. 2, 24, as though the apostle intended to say that that passage had a mystical sense which he had just unfolded by applying it to the relation be- tween Christ and his church. It is the union between Chr…
283 wordsSECTION 300852 EPHESIANS,
taking the word in this sense here, and understanding the apostle to refer to marriage, quote this passage in proof that matrimony is a sacrament. The answer to this argument is obvious. In the first place, it is not marriage, but the union between Christ and his church, that Paul declares to be a μυστήριον, and the Vu…
281 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1856). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.