prerogative of the prelates in their collective capacity, instead of claiming it for each individual bishop.
Ata ϑελήματος Θεοῦ, by the will of God. There are two ideas included in this phrase. 1. That the apostleship was a gift, or grace from God, Rom. 1, 5. Eph. 3, 7. 8. 2. That the commission or authority of the apostles was immediately from God. Paul in Gal. 1, 1, as well as in other passages, asserts that apostle- ship was neither derived from men nor conveyed through the instrumentality of men, but conferred directly by God through Christ.
To the suints which are at Ephesus. The Israelites, under the old dispensation, were called saints, because separated from other nations and consecrated to God. In the New Testament the word is applied to believers, not merely as externally consecrated, but as reconciled to God and inwardly purified. The word ἁγιάζειν sig- nifies to cleanse, either from guilt by a propitiatory sacrifice, as in Heb. 2, 11. 10, 10. 14, or from inward pollution, and also to consecrate. Hence the ἅγιοι, saints, are those who are cleansed by the blood of Christ, and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and thus separated from the world and consecrated to God. On the words, which are at Ephesus, see the Intro- duction.
And to the faithful in Christ Jesus. The word πιστός, faithful, may mean preserving faith, worthy of faith, or exercising faith. In the last sense, which is its meaning here, it is equivalent to believing. The faithful, therefore, are believers. Jn Christ, belongs