The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 22

Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and .of the same body, and partakers of• his promise in Christ by the gospel JI (eh. iii. 4-6). It was no mystory to pre-Christian ages that the Gentiles would be afterwards included in the Christian Church-for the prophetio Scriptures are full of the subject; but it was never known till after the day of Pente- cost that the theocracy itself was to. be abolished, and that a now dispensation, was to be est;ablished, under which the old distinction of Jew a,nd Gentile was to .be abolished. Sometimes it appears as if it meant a Divine purpose or plan, :with Christ for its Centre stretching out over the whole length of the Christian dispensation, and finally re-collecting into one" things on earth" and "things in hee.ven '! (vers. 9, 10). In, fact, it means all three things; for the Divine plan for " the summing up " of all thinus included, as one of its earliest and most momentous facts, the. inclusion of the Gentil~ in the Church, and Jesus Christ as the very Centre of the whole Divine dispensation, w whom shall be " the gathering of the people» in all ages of the world. This is the mystery of the gospel; not the Church, as some say, restricting the term to believers of the Christian dispens..-uion; for it was by the Church the mystery was to be made known: " To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God JI (eh. iii. 10). Yet the Church was included in this glorious mystery of God, as the form in which there should be the final "summing up n of all things in heaven and in earth.-T. C. Ver. 10.-" T/uJ dispensation of theful,ness of times.'' This mark~- the period during which the summing up of all thlngs is to be accomplished-the period of .the dis- pensation of grace. , ; • ,,·: l. THE TERM SUGGESTS TBE IDEA OP A PLAN OB SYSTEM, NOT CONSISTlNG ·01!' MERE FRAGME~"TABY .AND tn."RELATED PABTS, BUT A THOROUGHLY COMPACT AND'ORGANIZED SYSTEM, IN WHICH THE INDIVIDUAL PABTS HAVE THEIR DUE PLACES IN THE WORKING OUT OF A DESTINED RESULT, Just· as in creation there is a,unity·of plan with certain typical ideas and regulative numbers lying at its basis,.so there isin,God's dispensa- tion a certain succession of times and seasons working out the purposes .of his will. "God is the Steward of all time." The God who has made of one blood all nations of men "bath determined the times before appointed, e.nd the bounds. of. their habitation" (Acts rvii 26). Christianity marks a new era in history, dividing, it'into two unequal parts, the appearance of Christ marking the turning-point between them. II. Tms Dll!PD."SATION DATF.S FBOM THE FUL."IBSS 01!' TIMES, THAT IB, FBOM THE PEBJOD = ALL THE 'I:D[E8 DESTD,ED TO PRECEDE IT RAD BUN OUT. The pre-Christian .ages ha'l'e seen their end in Christ's advent, which becomes thenceforth "the fulness of rimes." It was a chronological as well as a moral fulness. The epoch in question is tiie best time in the Divine calendar; for it is God's time, and he is the Lord .of all time. The age that saw the advent of the Saviour was ripe for the event. It was "the time appointed by the Father" (Ga.L iv. 2). The Roman power had opened highways for the gospel in every land by its immense conq~ests and its lar~e toleration, while Greece gave the world the richest of languages to become the vehicle for New Testament inspiration. Meanwhile religion had outlived itself, and scepticism mocked at the decaying superstitions of the people. "The world by wisdom knew not God." All Gentile experiments in living had been tried, but with the u!lvarying res,u~t of disappointment. Mean~hile there -;vas at_ ~he heart of heathenism ,a my~ter!ous longing for some change Ill the worlds dest1n1es, and the, eyes of men ,turned, mstinc- tively to the East.. Whether this tendency sprang up among the di.Spersion of the Jews over the East and the West, or from some instinctive longing, it was God's will that the Gentiles should, with a conscious need of redemption, feel after him for them- selves, "if ha ply they might find him" (Acts xvii. 27). Among the Jews, likewise, ~here was a signilicant "wai~ing f~r the COil9?lati~n of. Israel; " i~olatry had totally <li.sa.ppeared ; new and more liberal ideas prevailed., ~ spite o_f th~ b1g ?try of the,aects; anci ma.uy hean.s were prepaia.l to welcome the" DeslJ'e of all nat10ns. 1 "The full age iiaci evme," when the heir would enter on his inheritance. Thus the advent_ was in every sense" the fulness of times." It waa "the due time" when Chrut died for the uo<>odly. The world had waited long for it. The purpose uf God had only to receive its fuiii.lment by tLe coming of Christ. Equally 60 still is there a longing in tho heart of mtri for a Sav,our, Men rIJJJ,y ky experiments in life; they may taste of its CB, I, 1-23,] 'l'HE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 19