The meaning is that these blessings pertain to that heavenly state into which the believer is introduced. Here on earth he is, as the apostle says, in ch. 2, 6, ‘in heavenly places.’ He is a citizen of heaven, Phil. 3,10. The word heaven, in Scripture, is not confined in its application to the place or state of future blessed- ness, but sometimes is nearly equivalent to ‘kingdom of heaven.’ The old writers, therefore, were accus- tomed to distinguish between the coelwm gloriae, the heayen of glory ; coelum naturae, the visible heavens, and coelum gratiae, the heaven of grace here on earth. These blessings connected with this heavenly state, are conferred upon believers in Christ. It is as they are in him, and in virtue of that union that they are par- takers of these benefits.
Υ. 4. All these blessings have their source in the electing love of God. Evdoyjcas—xabws ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς, he blessed us—because he chose us. Καθὼς, ac- cording as, or, masmuch as, because, see John 17, 2. Rom. 1, 28. 1 Cor. 1, 6. Election is the cause or source of all subsequent benefits.
He hath chosen ws. By ws is not meant the apostle alone, because there is nothing in the context to indi- eate or justify this restriction. The blessings conse- quent on the election heré spoken of, are in no sense peculiar to the apostle. Neither does the word refer to any external community or society as such. It is not us Ephesians, as Ephesians, nor us Corinthians, nor us Romans, as formerly the Jews were chosen by a national election. But it is us believers, scattered here