The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 161

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-Ethics after theology. The doctrinal part of the Epistle is now finished and the practical part begins. This is the true and natural order. l. IT IS IN THE SPHERE OF THE DOCTRINAL THAT WE FIND THE POWER TIIAT CAB.RIES US THROUGH ALL PRACTICAL DUTIES. In all the Epistles the duties enforced are grounded in the doctrines declared or explained. The doctrines are the reservoir which sends its stream of power down over the human life. The engineer scoops out a hollow space to be filled with water, constructs his machinery, and then lifts the sluice that sets all the machinery in motion. When the doctrines of grace have been fully expounded, the apostle lifts the sluice aud lets on the stream that sends life spinnin~ round and round in a course of holy activity. "I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice" (Rom. xii. 1). II. IT IS NECESSABY TO INCULCATE CHRISTIAN DUTIES EVEN IN THE CASE OF CHltISTIANs.· If the apostles did it, we must do it. It is only Antinomianism- resting on the doctrines of grace without watchfulness of the walk before God-that contests this principle. An Antinomian Bible would have no place for duties. Chris- tianity includes duties as well as doctrines .. It does not merely hold out a refuge to the guilty, but takes all who accept Christ under it-s supreme and exclusive direction. It evangelizes human life by impregnating its minutest transactions with the spirit of the gospel. But we must be always careful, in :preaching the necessity of good works and iu enforcing Christian duties, to ground them, as the Scriptures ground them, in the doctrines of grace.-T. C. Ver. 1.-The obligations of the CJhristian calling. "Walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called." I. THE NATURE OF THIS CALLING. It is the Christian vocation. We are called out of darkness into God's marvellous light(! Pet. ii. 9), into the grace of Cl:rist (Gal. i. G), into the fellowship of Christ (1 Cor. i. 9); unto holiness (1 'l'hess. ii. 7); unto glory and virtue (2 Pet. i. 3); unto peace (1 Cor. vii. 15), not only with Goel, but with our consciences and with one another (Acts xxiv. 16; eh. iv. 2). 'l'his calling is o high calling, a. holy calling, a heavenly calling. We may well, therefore, walk worthy of it. II. THE wALK IN HARMONY WITH OUR CALLING. It is emphatically "to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleosing" (Col. i. 10); "to walk worthy of God who bath called you unto his kingdom and glory" (1 Thess. ii. 12) ; to have a conversation becoming the gospel of Christ (Phil. i. 27). In human society, men are often kept from unworthy courses by a feeling of honour, as gentlemen; how much more ought Christians, to cherish a. sense of honour as disciples of the Saviour and joint-heirs with him of tho kingdom of heaven I 'l'he feeling of family honour is often a. powerful guard against mean or ungenerous actions. It is a profound disgrace to find the descendant of an ancient and noble family forswear all its best traditions. As members of the household of God, as brethren of Jesus Christ himself, shall we disgrace this sublime relationship'? We cannot afford to bring shame upon our profession (Heb. vi. 6), to lose the comfort of our calling (Ps. xix. 11), or to lose its end (Heb. xii. 14). Let us not, therefore, affront our calling by inconsistencies, but walk in a way that will fully harmonize with its nature, glory, and end. It is all the more necessary to do so as the true walk of a saint tends so powerfully to promote the unity of the Church.-T. C. Ver. 2.-Graces that pl'omote the harmony of the Ohurch, "All lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love." These graces are  'l'HE EPIS'l'LE TO THE EPHESIANS. [OH, IV, 1-3~