142 EPHESIANS,

ward man. God is reconciled. Being justified by faith we have peace with God. Christ having redeemed us from the curse of the law; having reconciled us to God by his death, came and preached peace. To what preaching does the apostle refer? Some say to Christ’s personal preaching while here on earth. Hav- my come, i. 6. in the flesh, he preached. This supposes the connection is not with what immediately precedes, but with verse 14.—‘ He is our peace, and having come into the world he preached peace.’ But this breaks the concatenation of the ideas. The reconcilia- tion is represented as preceding the annunciation of it. Having died, he came and preached. The preaching is, therefore, the annunciation of the favour of God, made by Christ, either in person, or through his apos- tles and his Spirit. Having come, ἐλθών, is not redun- dant, nor does it refer to his coming into the world, but to that reappearing which took place after his resurrection, which was temporarily in person and continuous in his Spirit. He is with the church always, even to the end of the world; and it is his annuncia- tion of peace which is made, by the word and Spirit, through the church. The peace meant, according to one interpretation, is peace between Jews and Gentiles, according to another, peace with God. The decision between the two depends on the view taken of the context. If the interpretation given above of the pre- ceding verses be correct, then the peace here mentioned can only be peace with God. The dative ὑμῖν does not depend immediately on the verb, and point out the