The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 104

of wrnth." We must look for the motive in the love of God alone. But that love is so great that it is a very treasure-house of mercy. God is "rich in meroy." Then our very helplessness appeals to his compassion. 'l'he more dead we are the more will God desire to quicken us. ll. Tm; MEA::S-S THROUGH WHIOH THE GRACE OF GoD TRANSFORMS FROM DEATH TO LIFE IS tTh"ION WITH CHRIST. 1. All through the_ hi_storr of the wonderful process, St. Paul traces, step by step, the progress of the Chnsttan in the very eq;perience through u·hich Christ went. (1) We begin in death as Christ stooped to die for us. (2) We are "quickened together with Christ," and have fellowship with the resurrection of Christ. (3) "We are e~lt~ in _the likeness of Christ's ascension (ver. 6). (4) And we look forward to shanng m his future glory. Thus we are not merely to receive the benefits of the dea~ and resurrection of our Lord; we have to enter into his very experience lUld pass through it ourselves spiritually. Then his life and his victory become ours. ::!. This ex:perienr.e is realized by our union with Christ in faith. It is vain and hopeless to attempt t-0 folfow Christ by painfully attempting an exact imitation while we are going alone and in our own strength. The way is too dark, too steep, too rou<>h, .And this is not what is expected of us. But if we trnst Christ our faith unites u;' to him, and by the influence he puts forth over us he carries us along with him; so that through him we receive the gift of life from the grace of God.-W. F. A. Ver. 8.-Grace and faith. These two, grace and faith, are the sheet anchors of the Pauline gospel The fonner was preserved in the Augustinian theology, and the latter restored to the Church by the Reformation. Jn his cnrlier Epistles, St. Paul establishes their claims by argument. Now, he considers those cfaims to be settled, and appeals to the doctrines of faith and grace as axioms, quoting the phrase," By grace have ye been saved," as a sort of proverb. It is plain that the apostle regarded the truths as practically self-evident, though it was not long since· they were the mysteries of a new revelation and the conclusions of an original argument. There is no paradox in this changed position, for it is the function of revelation so to open our eyes that we may see for ourselves what was before hidden. Then, having once thus· beheld the trnth, we may retain it on its own account. So that revelation is most successful when it teaches us how to dispense with itself. But this is only possible on the condition that there is an inherent fitness and reasonableness in the truths it declares. If, therefore, we are t-0 see the axiomatic truth of the doctrines of grace and faith, they must not be an arbitrary association of ideas; they must be truths of inherent reasonableness. In other words, the relation of salvation to grace and faith must not be treated as accidental, and fixed only by the sovereign will of God, but as natural and necessary. L SAL v ATION IB GIVEN BY GRACE. To see the natural reasonableness of this axiom, we must first understand in what salvation consists. In the Bible the word" salvation" is not a technical theological term. It means deliverance generally. Any special import in a particular passage must depend on the 0-0ntext. In the present instance the context clearly shows what kiad of salvation St. Paul is thinking of. This is not rescue from earthly po,·erty and pain-the lower old Jewish salvation, nor escape from future torment-the lower Christian salvation. It is deliverance from a present spiritual death (vers. 4, 5). The soul is saved from itself. Such a. salvation must be . by grace, because we cannot escape from ourselves; because the evil of spiritual death involves the loss of power in spiritual things; because God only can create life ; and because the death results from sin, and therefore implies an ill desert that can only appeal to the mercy of God. The. facts of the work of Christ and the recovery of dead souls to life by the gospel prove that this salvation exists and is accomplished by grace. II. GRACE woBKS THROUGH FAlTlL This principle, if axiomatic, must he also natural and rE:aSOnable. We mnst not think of faith as a mere assent to the doctrine of grac~ Faith is the soul opening out to God. .As the flower cannot be quickened int.o fertility while the bud is cl~, the S1Jul that is self-contained can by no means receive the e:raoe of God. The door is barred, and Christ will not force an entrance. Faith is a capitulation e,f the proud soul. It means flinging wide the gates in submissive re:ce1,tivity, and yicldin<> to the voice of Divine love in obedient activity. When the s1J1tl has faitL in God, the grace of God streams in with lifo and healing. .As distrust severa souls, faith uuites them. Thus faith is like the wire joining earth to heaven, OH II, 1-22.] THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 101