The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 134

Wisdom of God, so we may expect to see in his Church a wisdom manifold as himself. What an element in the scheme of redemption, that the Redeemer was a Divine Bein" in human nature I How justice and mercy are reconciled in his cross I How sin i~ forgiven while God at the same time manifests his detestation of it I How manifold are the ways by which men are brought into the Church I What the final adjustment of things is to be is very much a. mystery to us, as it is doubtless to the angels. But w? stand in this position that, in what has been exhibited to us already of the manifold wisdom of God, we can look hopefully forward to the final reconciliation. VII. RETURN TO PRIVILEGE OF CHRISTIAN POSITION. "In whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him." Christ was the Object of their faith. Realizing by faith what he was, the provision made by him, the great love he bore to them, they had the spirit of sons. In Gal. iii. 26 it is said, "Ye are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." That is, we have the position of children. Here the thought is, we have the disposition of children. 1. The spirit of boldness. They had a free, joyous mood, as having an interest in Christ. They were delivered from the fear of wrath. They were not of the number of those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 2. In nearness to God (in the God- Man) they had the spirit of confidence. They had that confidence restored to them which Adam lost. They had the confidence to which Paul elsewhere gives lofty expression: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor princi- palities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor ,:ny other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." VIII. EXHORTATION LOOKING BACK TO FIRST -VERSE. "Wherefore I ask that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which are your glory." He supposes that they woulu be concerned for his tribulations, as endured for them. How was the cause of Christ to be carried forward, when so principal an instrument was lying a prisoner in Rome? nut he would have them not to faint, bringing forward the consideration that these tribulations of his were their glory. If he had proved unfaithful to their interests, and withdrawn from persecutions, that would ha.ve been e. discrediting of him as a discredit- ing of the Founder of the Church, e.nd they might in that case have been tempted to despair of Christianity. But, e.s he had stood true to them in the face of persecu- tions, that brought them honour, and was fitted to have a. con.firming, elevating effect on them as a Church.-R. F. Vers. 14-19.-.A prayer on behalf of the Ephesian Christians. I. THE llUPPLIANT. "For this cause I bow my knees." He has explained who he, Paul, was, iL tho remarkable parenthesis which concludes with the thirteenth verse. In resuming his . sentence, so long interrupted, he naturally falls back on the first words, "For this cause." Thus taken up, it has only the meaning which it had before, the thought in the parenthesis being carried forward into the word, "I." He describes himself as a suppliant from the natural posture in prayer. The only reason there can be for a standing posture in prayer has a narrow reference. There is justification in standing in prayer at a bedside or before a congregation, if kneeling interferes with edification (which is the higher consideration). Solomon was able to combine the kneeling posture with edification in his prayer of the dedication; for, placed on a brazen pulpit, "he kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven." Kneeling is the posture of humility, and we have reason to humble ourselves before God as creatures before our Creator, as sinners before our Judge. It is the posture of earnest entreaty. "And his fe~low-servant !ell down at his feet and besought him." So should we, as though pleading for our life, bend the knee before God. II. How Goo IS ADDRESSED. "Unto the Father, from whom: every family in heaven and on earth is named.1o In the Greek there is e. transition as from Father to father- hood, only the transition in thought !s not to the a~str~ct idea of fatbe~hoo~, but to the concrete representation of it in a family. God has rnst1tuted the relat10ush1p of father and son amoug men. Aud thou"h tho angels neither marry nor are given in marriage, it would seem from tho lano-ua~e here that there is a certain grouping of them in , families too, How fe.r this m';i.y descend we h:i.vc not the means of knowing. But into  182 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [011. w. 1-21.