The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 50

above earth, was raised to the right band of God. This denotes an intimacy with God in power such as is beyond any mere creature. And yet it was mysteriously in our creaturely nature that be was raised to the right hand of God. 'l'here he was seen afterwards, and recognized, by the prisoner of Patmos; and there he still site, This is in the hea,e~laoos, t.he height from which, according to the former thought, the Church is bi . He has been raised above every form of superiority or prerocrative. Four words are 11..«ed which cannot be distinguished. Earthly orders or power: seem t-0 be included as well as hea\enly. Christ is King of kings, whether these are of the human or of the angelic type. He has also been raised above every name that is named, i.e. e\ery one who has personal subsistence or, it may be, is the representative of power. And this has reference, not merely to the present, but to the future order of things as well. Thus, with necessary vagueness, is the superiority of Christ set forth. " \l," e know that the emperor goes before all, though we cannot enumerate all the satraps and minist~rs of his court; so we know that Christ is set before all, although we cannot name all who are under him." IX. IT IS A PRAYER TO KNOW ABOUT THE DIVINE POWER THAT WHICH WAS MANI• FESTEn IN THE GIVING OF CHRIST TO BE liEAD OVEB ALL THINGS TO THE C~CH, "And he put all things in subject.ion under his feet, and gave him to be Head over all things." There is a climax. He raised him from the dead; he raised him to sit at his right hand; raised to sit at his right hand, he gave him to be Head. The apostle thinks of the Father as First throughout, and in viewing him as Head he thinks of the Father preparing for the position by first putting all things in subjection under his feet. His seat at the right hand of God is a seat of government. From it he exercises unlimited, univenal sway. The elements of earth and air and water, all living things on our planet, the bodies and souls of men, the whole material universe, the invisible world and its in.habitants, are in his hands to be sovereignly disposed of according to his thought. But let us look at the full bearing of the headship of Christ on the Church. L Cl.rid is gi'Pffl as Head or,er ail things to the CJhurch. "To the Church. n By the Chnrch ._ are to undenrtand the collective body of believers, or of those who are called ou.t of the world. The latter conception, to which the derivation points, excludes the holy angels, whose life must be essentially the same with ours, but who have never been called out of a depraved condition. It is the Church of the redeemed, then, about which sublime statements -are made. Christ is here set forth as the great Donation to the Church. "Given to the Church" is the language of the apostle; and the gifts of God, we are told, are without repentance. He does not withdraw his Bible, nor his 8cm t.o whom it te.5tifies. This is a gift which .strikes us with a sense of the dispropor- tion between its value and the recipient. God's own Son given to the Church-how inconceivable a mad: of the Divine favour I But it is in his headship over all .thing8 that he is gifted to the Church. Had he reigned only within the Church, its interests could not have been sufficiently gnaranteed. •Danger might have arisen from the quarter to which his reign did not extend. But, as he reigns over all things, he can make all things-without the Church and within the Church· too-work together for its good. "The whole economy of creation stands at his disposal as the basis and sphere of activity for the economy of redemption." He does not need to be indebted to the earthly ro0wera for a sphere for carrying on the operations of the Church in the era that is proceeding. " For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." He ha.s proprietary rights over it of the most absolute nature as Mediator. It has been put in subjection under his feet; it has been handed over unconditionally to his control . .And the earthly powers only hold from him their p<n"tion of the surface and riches of the earth. They are no more than tenants-at-will ; he appoints to them the bound11 of their habitation; and they can be used by him for his ends; their schemings and commotions can be overruled for the advancement of the Church. As for the Church, Christ, having unlimited power, can place it where it.a discipline can best be secured, and where it can have the widest door of usefulness. And even the worldly elements which find entrance into the Church, although they may be allowed to work for a time, can be clu-cked, controlled for his Church's triumph over them. If the Church has a vast work before it, and is yet far from coming up to the prophetic mark, may it not trust to the greatness of its Head.? And if the Church is promised o. great future after this era has run it.a course in the eternal order of things, is not ite great OR, I, 1-23.] THE EPISTLE ·TO THE EPHESIANS. 47