The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 21

II. FoBGIVENEBB IB TO BE DIBTINGUIBHED PBOM ATONEMENT. Forgiveness is the act of God as Judge; atonement iB the Rct of Christ a.s Surety. The atonement is the foundation or ground of forgiveness. It is from the nea!ect of this distinction that some divines declare the impropriety of our praying for th~ forgiveness of sin, inasmuch as all our sine, past, present, and future, were put away in one day. The atonement was certainly made in one day; but forgiveness is a continuous a.et. To purchase a gift .ls a different thing from bestowing it. We cannot expunge a. debt till it has been contracted, and we were not in existence when Christ died, either to sin or to receive forgiveness. "But we were not in existence to be atoned for." The cases are dif- ferent. A father can lay up property for an unborn son, but the son cannot come into posseBSion till he is born. Besides, if all our sins were forgiven at Christ's death, how could pardoned believers ever have been guilty? And why should there be examples in Scripture of prayers for forgiveness? III. THE oBJGIN oF THE FORGIVENESS, "According to the riches of his grace." Though it comes to us through the blood of Christ, it is really traceable to the "riches of his grace." It bas been said that ransom and the exercise of grace are not consis- tent. Yet the apostle here expressly asserts the consistency of the two things-a complete satisfaction and a free pardon. Though the pardon is free to us, it was not procured without the payment of a price. The grace of God is the source or impelling cause in our redemption; the blood of Christ was the meritorious ground of it. We may, therefore, glorify God for "the riche!! of his grace" in the full forgiveness of all our sins. We may, therefore, " be of good cheer," for our sins are forgiven us ; we may love him much for the much that he has forgiven us; and call upon our souls to bless the Lord for all his benefits, and especially for this-" Who forgiveth all our iniquities."-T. C. Ver. 9.-The revelation of the mystery. It was the high distinction of the Apostle Paul that to him, and not to any one of the twelve apostles, was committed the revelation of a great mystery. Ten times is this mystery named in his Epistles. It is called significantly" his gospel;" for which he was, indeed, an ambassador in bonds; out a gospel even more gloriously practical than it was speculative in its tendency and character. It was a revealed secret, "hid from generations "-indeed, hid" from the foundation of the world;" a matter, not indeed unknowable, but simply unknown till it ea.me to light through the revelation of this last apostle. I. TmmE IS A TIJdE WHEN THE WORLD D NOT READY FOR GoD's MYSTERIES. The Divine purpose might be defeated by a premature disclosure to minds untrained for their reception. The presence of mysteries is a sort of moral training for man, in so far as it stimulates a sort of sober and devout inquisitiveness in minds blunted by s..n, while reason needs likewise to be humbled under a sense of the necessity of illumina- tion from on high. While we sit under the solemn shadows of Divine mysteries, we feel the need of lifting up our mantled eyeballs to the great Father of lights. II. THE MYSTERY DOES NOT OOHE WITHOUT DUE PREPA..B.ATI0N RAVING BEEN MADE FOB IT. Not only is the New Testament contained in the Old, but the whole pre- Christian period is one long preparation for the coming of Christ. Not only the types and prophecies of the Mosaic dispensation, but the whole history of the world, with all the me.rvellously intricate movements of providence, had a certain Christward tendency and leaning, as if to prepare the way for him who was the end of the Law, the turning-point between the old and the new time, "the pivot on which the entire plan of God moves." 'l'hus we find "the Incarnation to be the centre of gravity to the world's great movements." III. BUT THE MYSTERY 01' THE G0Sl'EL WHICH THE APOSTLE MADE KNOWN WAS A VEBY LARGE AND INOLUSIVE T!IING, J:MBBA0ING JEW AND GENTILE, BEA VEN AND EARTH, .IN lT8 FULL AND GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT. Sometimes it appears as if it meant only Christ: "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. i. 27). Sometimes it appears o.s if it included nothing but the reception of the Gentiles into the Christian Ohurch upon conditions of perfect equality with the Jews: "The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto hi11 holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the EPllESUNS. 0 lS 'l'HE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [OH, I, 1-28,