tion is greatly to be preferred. Ta πάντα properly means the universe; and if taken to mean any thing else, it must be because the context demands it, which is not the case here. Secondly, this passage is eyi- dently parallel with ch. 1, 21, where also it is said of Christ as exalted, that “he fills the universe in all its parts.” Thirdly, the analogy of Scripture is in favour of this interpretation. The omnipresence and universal dominion of God are elsewhere expressed in a similar way. ‘DoT not fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord.” Jer. 28, 24. The same grand idea is ex- pressed in Matt. 28, 18, “ All power is given unto me in heaven and upon earth ;” and in Phil. 2, 9.10, and in many other places. It is not of the ubiquity of Christ’s body of which the apostle speaks, as the Lutherans contend, but of the universal presence and power of the ascended Son of God. It is God clothed in our nature, who now exercises this universal domin- ion; and, therefore, the apostle may well say of Christ, as the incarnate God, that he gives gifts unto men. V.11. Kai αὐτὸς ἔδωκε, and He gave. He, the ascended Saviour, to whom all power and all resources have been given—he gave, some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. These were among the gifts which Christ gave his church; which, though implying diver- sity of grace and office, were necessary to its unity as an organized whole. These offices are mentioned in the order of their importance. First, the apostles, the immediate messengers of Christ, the witnesses for him,
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of his doctrines, his miracles, and of his resurrection ; infallible as teachers and absolute as rulers in virtue of the gift of inspiration and of their commission. No man, therefore, could be an apostle unless—1. He was immediately appointed by Christ. 2. Unless he had seen him after his resurrection and had received the knowledge of the Gospel by immediate revelation. 3. Unless he was rendered infallible by the gift of inspiration. These things constituted the office and were essential to its authority. Those who without these gifts and qualifications claimed the office, are called “ false apostles.”
2. Prophets. A prophet is one who speaks for another, a spokesman, as Aaron was the prophet of Moses. Those whom God made his organs in speaking to men were prophets, whether their communications were doctrinal, preceptive, or prophetic in the restricted sense of the term. Every one who spoke by inspira- tion, was a prophet. The prophets of the New Testa- ment differed from the apostles, in that their inspiration was occasional, and therefore their authority as teach- ers subordinate. The nature of their office is fully taught in 1 Cor. 14, 1-40. As the gift of infallibility was essential to the apostolic office, so the gift of occa- sional inspiration was essential to the prophetic office. It is inconceivable that God should invest any set of men with the authority claimed and exercised by the apostles and prophets of the New Testament, requiring all men to believe their doctrines and submit to their authority, on the pain of perdition, without giving the