[The principal subject of the Apostle's prayer is, that we may know what mighty power God exercises towards his believing people. The exaltation of Christ is introduced by him quite incidentally, and merely for the purpose of illus- trating his main point. But, having introduced the subject, he draws a parallel between the believer's exaltation, and that of Christ. Behold then the Lord Jesus raised from the dead, and seated at his Father's right hand, far above all princi- palities and powers : such is the honour, and such the happi- ness, that is imparted to the believing soulm: and even that which he now enjoys, is but a shadow of what he will enjoy to all eternity. Believer, let your expectations be enlarged : the felicity of the Head is the felicity prepared for the mem- bers : " Such honour have all his saints."]
m Compare ver. 19 — 22. with ii. 5 — 7.
Eph. ii. 3. And ivere by nature the children of wrath, even as
others.
AMONG the many beautiful traits which mark the character of St. Paul, we cannot but notice par- ticularly his readiness to place himself on a level with the least and lowest of mankind, and to confess his obligations to the sovereign grace of God for all the difference that had been made between him and others. In his Epistle to Titus he gives such a re- presentation of himself and his fellow-Apostles in their unconverted state, as was most humiliating to them, whilst it afforded rich encouragement to all who felt the plague of their own hearts. In like manner, in the epistle before us, after shewing that the Gentile world had been altogether in a state of bondage to sin and Satan, he declares, that he him- self, and all others without exception, had in fact been in a condition no less deplorable, both by nature and practice ; — by practice having habitually fulfilled the desires of the flesh and of the mind ; and being " by nature children of wrath, even as others."
That we may fully enter into the confession which he here makes, we shall,