The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 78

of the doctrine is the starting-point of the doctrines -of special revelation of redemp- ~ion _through Christ's blood, of regeneration through the Holy Spirit. This pnssnge implies- I. THAT WE NEED REDEIIII'TION FROM THE MOMENT OF OUR BIRTH, The sacrament of baptism is meaningless on any other theory. " The wicked are estre.ncred from the womb." Why do all men certainly sin from the beginning? " lI. TH.AT ALL MEN, JEWS AND GE:)."'TILES, ARE BORN IN THIS STATE OF CONDEMNATION. Because "all in Adam die" (1 Cor. xv. 22). Ill. THAT Gov's WRATH IS A REALITY. It is grounded in his essential holiness, as ~ppears from the fact that God swe.~rs i1;1 his wrath (Heb. iii. 11), and it belonis to the idea of the personal God as he acts in history, who cannot look with equal indifference or equal satisfaction upon ,irtue and vice, piety and impiety, wisdom and folly. It is not. to be ~"11.I"ded as a mere modification of Divine love, as either love-sorrow or the anger of lo.e. It is not Biblical to say that a God who has wrath is not e. God of love. The objective reality of Divine wrath on account of sin is an axiom of natural theoloay (Rom. L 32) as well as of revealed; it is presupposed in the atonement, and must be carried into any conception we may form of future retribution.-T. C. Ver. 4.-The true origin of sal,vatwn. It is interesting to observe the variety ot terms here employed to describe the source of all the blessings of salvation. It is no longer a question of power, as it was in the first chapter (eh. i. 19, 20), but of love, mercy, grace, and kindness. I. OUB SALVATION rs OF GoD's MER0Y, "God who is rich in mercy." There is a. distinction between mercy and love, for love is the foundation of mercy. God is called the "Father of mercies" (2 Cor. i. 3); mercy is his delight, for "he delighteth in mercy " (Micah vii. 18) ; he betrotheth us to himself in mercies (Hos. ii. 19) ; he begets us again "according to his abundant mercy" (1 Pet. i. 3) ; and we a.re led to pray," Lord, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgres- sions " (Ps. Ii 1). Believers are therefore well described as " vessels of mercy " (Bom.. ix. ::'3). II. Oun SAL,.!.TIOX IS OF LOVE. "According to the great love wherewith he bath lo,ed us." The apostolic saying, "God is love," supplies us with the best Christian id€a oi Goe, as well as mth the right key to explain all his actions. God's love is more th= ki.ndr.eEs, which is, indeed, oae of his attributes, but love is, properly speaking, the nature of him who unites all these attributes in himself. The incarnation of the only begotte::i Son is the greatest fact of the Divine love, but is not disjoined from the deep humiliation and suffering to which it enabled him to descead.. 'l'he love of God to sinners is (1) a great love (eh. ii. 4), "a love strong as death." (Cant. viii. 6, 7); (2) an everlasting love (Jer. xxx.i. 3); (3) a.n unchanging love (Ma.I. iii. 6); (4) an invincible love (Rom. viii. 39); (5) it is like the Father's love to the Son," As thou hast loved me" (John xvii. 23). III. Otra SALVATION IS 01" GBACE. "By grace ye a.re saved." 1. It is not of works, but of grace (eh. ii. 8). It is" of faith, that it might be of grace" (Rom. iv.16). 2. We are accepted by grace (eh. i. 6); our calling is by grace (2 Tim. i. 9). 3. We have a. good hope through grace. 4. Our election is of grace (Rom. xi. 5). 5. 'l'he grace of God abounds in faith and love (1 Tim. i. 14). 6. We are uader a reign of grace (Rom. vi. 14); we have our standing in grace (Rom. v. 2). 7. It is the greatest of all concerns to establish men's hearts in" the true grace of God" (1 Pet. v. 12). IV. Otra SALVATION 18 OF Gov's KINDNESS. (Ver. 7.) "The word here," says an old writer, " implies all sweetness, and all candidness, 3:nd all friendliness, and. all heartiness, and all goodness, and goodness of nature." Scnpture speaks of God as kind (Ps. m n 5; Luke vi. 35), aad of his "loving-kindnesses" (Isa. !xiv. 7). It is made the root of mercy in God (Titns iii. 4); for the apostle here speaks of his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Thus our salvation, first and last, is attributed to nothing in onrsel,es, but to love, mercy, grace, and kindness in God..-T. C. Ver. 5.-The belif:'l!er's union with (Jhri,st. The apostle teaches that, in virtue of the union between Christ and his people, his death was their death, bis life their life, his exaltation their exaltation. It is the familiar doctrine of Rom. vi. 4, "Therefore we on. 11. 1-2:l.J 'l'HE EPISTLE 'l'O THE EPHESJANS. 75