{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"EPH","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Ephesians","commonName":"Ephesians","introduction":"THE headings (Eph 1:1, and Eph 3:1, show that this Epistle claims to be that of Paul. This claim is confirmed by the testimonies of IRENÆUS, [Against Heresies, 5.2,3; 1.8,5]; CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, [Miscellanies, 4, P. 65, and The Instructor, 1.8]; ORIGEN, [Against Celsus, 4,211]. It is quoted by VALENTINUS, A.D. 120, namely, Eph 3:14-18, as we know from HIPPOLYTUS [The Refutation of All Heresies, p. 193]. POLYCARP [Epistle to the Philippians, 12], testifies to its canonicity. So TERTULLIAN [Against Marcion, 5,17]. IGNATIUS [Epistle to the Ephesians, 12], which alludes to the frequent and affectionate mention made by Paul of the Christian state, privileges, and persons of the Ephesians in his Epistle.\n\nTwo theories, besides the ordinary one, have been held on the question, to whom the Epistle is addressed. GROTIUS, after the heretic Marcion, maintains that it was addressed to the Church at Laodicea, and that it is the Epistle to which Paul refers in Col 4:16. But the Epistle to the Colossians was probably written before that to the Ephesians, as appears from the parallel passages in Ephesians bearing marks of being expanded from those in Colossians; and Marcion seems to have drawn his notion, as to our Epistle, from Paul's allusion (Col 4:16) to an Epistle addressed by him to the Laodiceans. ORIGEN and CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, and even TERTULLIAN, who refers to Marcion, give no sanction to his notion. No single manuscript contains the heading, \"to the saints that are at Laodicea.\" The very resemblance of the Epistle to the Ephesians, to that to the Colossians, is against the theory; for if the former were really the one addressed to Laodicea (Col 4:16), Paul would not have deemed it necessary that the churches of Colosse and Laodicea should interchange Epistles. The greetings, moreover (Col 4:15), which he sends through the Colossians to the Laodiceans, are quite incompatible with the idea that Paul wrote an Epistle to the Laodiceans at the same time, and by the same bearer, Tychicus (the bearer of our Epistle to the Ephesians, as well as of that to Colosse, Eph 6:21; Col 4:7); for who, under such circumstances, would not send the greetings directly in the letter to the party saluted? The letter to Laodicea was evidently written some time before that to Colosse, Archbishop USHER has advanced the second theory: That it was an encyclical letter headed, as in Manuscript B., \"to the saints that are . . . and to the faithful,\" the name of each Church being inserted in the copy sent to it; and that its being sent to Ephesus first, occasioned its being entitled, as now, the Epistle to the Ephesians. ALFORD makes the following objections to this theory: (1) It is at variance with the spirit of the Epistle, which is clearly addressed to one set of persons throughout, co-existing in one place, and as one body, and under the same circumstances. (2) The improbability that the apostle, who in two of his Epistles (Second Corinthians and Galatians) has so plainly specified their encyclical character, should have here omitted such specification. (3) The still greater improbability that he should have, as on this hypothesis must be assumed, written a circular Epistle to a district, of which Ephesus was the commercial capital, addressed to various churches within that district, yet from its very contents (as by the opponents' hypothesis) not admitting of application to the Church of that metropolis, in which he had spent so long a time, and to which he was so affectionately bound. (4) The inconsistency of this hypothesis with the address of the Epistle, and the universal testimony of the ancient Church. The absence of personal greetings is not an argument for either of the two theories; for similarly there are none in Galatians, Philippians, First and Second Thessalonians, First Timothy. The better he knows the parties addressed, and the more general and solemn the subject, the less he seems to give of these individual notices. Writing, as he does in this Epistle, on the constitution and prospects of Christ's universal Church, he refers the Ephesians, as to personal matters, to the bearer of the Epistle, Tychicus (Eph 6:21-22). As to the omission of \"which are at Ephesus\" (Eph 1:1), in Manuscript B., so \"in Rome\" (Rom 1:7) is omitted in some old manuscripts: it was probably done by churches among whom it was read, in order to generalize the reference of its contents, and especially where the subject of the Epistle is catholic. The words are found in the margin of Manuscript B, from a first hand; and are found in all the oldest manuscripts and versions.\n\nPaul's first visit to Ephesus (on the seacoast of Lydia, near the river Cayster) is related in Act 18:19-21. The work, begun by his disputations with the Jews in his short visit, was carried on by Apollos (Act 18:24-26), and Aquila and Priscilla (Act 18:26). At his second visit, after his journey to Jerusalem, and thence to the east regions of Asia Minor, he remained at Ephesus \"three years\" (Act 19:10, the \"two years\" in which verse are only part of the time, and Act 20:31); so that the founding and rearing of this Church occupied an unusually large portion of the apostle's time and care; whence his language in this Epistle shows a warmth of feeling, and a free outpouring of thought, and a union in spiritual privileges and hope between him and them (Eph 1:3, &c.), such as are natural from one so long and so intimately associated with those whom he addresses. On his last journey to Jerusalem, he sailed by Ephesus and summoned the elders of the Ephesian Church to meet him at Miletus, where he delivered his remarkable farewell charge (Acts 20:18-35).\n\nThis Epistle was addressed to the Ephesians during the early part of his imprisonment at Rome, immediately after that to the Colossians, to which it bears a close resemblance in many passages, the apostle having in his mind generally the same great truths in writing both. It is an undesigned proof of genuineness that the two Epistles, written about the same date, and under the same circumstances, bear a closer mutual resemblance than those written at distant dates and on different occasions. Compare Eph 1:7 with Col 1:14; Eph 1:10 with Col 1:20; Eph 3:2 with Col 1:25; Eph 5:19 with Col 3:16; Eph 6:22 with Col 4:8; Eph 1:19; Eph 2:5 with Col 2:12-13; Eph 4:2-4 with Col 3:12-15; Eph 4:16 with Col 2:19; Eph 4:32 with Col 3:13; Eph 4:22-24 with Col 3:9-10; Eph 5:6-8 with Col 3:6-8; Eph 5:15-16 with Col 4:5; Eph 6:19-20 with Col 4:3-4; Eph 5:22-33; Eph 6:1-9 with Col 3:18; Eph 4:24-25 with Col 3:9; Eph 5:20-22 with Col 3:17-18. Tychicus and Onesimus were being sent to Colosse, the former bearing the two Epistles to the two churches respectively, the latter furnished with a letter of recommendation to Philemon, his former master, residing at Colosse. The date was probably about four years after his parting with the Ephesian elders at Miletus (Acts 20:6-38), about A.D. 62, before his imprisonment had become of the more severe kind, which appears in his Epistle to the Philippians. From Eph 6:19-20 it is plain he had at the time, though a prisoner, some degree of freedom in preaching, which accords with Act 28:23, Act 28:30-31, where he is represented as receiving at his lodgings all inquirers. His imprisonment began in February A.D. 61 and lasted \"two whole years\" (Act 28:30) at least, and perhaps longer.\n\nThe Church of Ephesus was made up of converts partly from the Jews and partly from the Gentiles (Act 19:8-10). Accordingly, the Epistle so addresses a Church constituted (Eph 2:14-22). Ephesus was famed for its idol temple of Artemis or Diana, which, after its having been burnt down by Herostratus on the night that Alexander the Great was born (355 B.C.), was rebuilt at enormous cost and was one of the wonders of the world. Hence, perhaps, have arisen his images in this Epistle drawn from a beautiful temple: the Church being in true inner beauty that which the temple of the idol tried to realize in outward show (Eph 2:19-22). The Epistle (Eph 4:17; Eph 5:1-13) implies the profligacy for which the Ephesian heathen were notorious. Many of the same expressions occur in the Epistle as in Paul's address to the Ephesian elders. Compare Eph 1:6-7; Eph 2:7, as to \"grace,\" with Act 20:24, Act 20:32 : this may well be called \"the Epistle of the grace of God\" [ALFORD]. Also, as to his \"bonds,\" Eph 3:1, and Eph 4:1 with Act 20:22-23. Also Eph 1:11, as to \"the counsel of God,\" with Act 20:27. Also Eph 1:14, as to \"the redemption of the purchased possession,\" with Act 20:28. Also Eph 1:14, Eph 1:18; Eph 2:20; Eph 5:5, as to \"building up\" the \"inheritance,\" with Act 20:32.\n\nThe object of the Epistle is \"to set forth the ground, the course, and the aim and end of THE CHURCH OF THE FAITHFUL IN CHRIST. He speaks to the Ephesians as a type or sample of the Church universal\" [ALFORD]. Hence, \"the Church\" throughout the Epistle is spoken of in the singular, not in the plural, \"churches.\" The Church's foundation, its course, and its end, are his theme alike in the larger and smaller divisions of the whole Epistle. \"Everywhere the foundation of the Church is in the will of the Father; the course of the Church is by the satisfaction of the Son; the end of the Church is the life in the Holy Spirit\" [ALFORD]. Compare respectively Eph 1:11; Eph 2:5; Eph 3:16. This having been laid down as a matter of doctrine (this part closing with a sublime doxology, Eph 3:14-21), is then made the ground of practical exhortations. In these latter also (from Eph 4:1, onward), the same threefold division prevails, for the Church is represented as founded on the counsel of \"God the Father, who is above all, through all, and in all,\" reared by the \"one Lord,\" Jesus Christ, through the \"one Spirit\" (Eph 4:4-6, &c.), who give their respective graces to the several members. These last are therefore to exercise all these graces in the several relations of life, as husbands, wives, servants, children, &c. The conclusion is that we must put on \"the whole armor of God\" (Eph 6:13).\n\nThe sublimity of the STYLE and LANGUAGE corresponds to the sublimity of the subjects and exceeds almost that of any part of his Epistles. It is appropriate that those to whom he so wrote were Christians long grounded in the faith. The very sublimity is the cause of the difficulty of the style, and of the presence of peculiar expressions occurring, not found elsewhere. \n\n\n\nNext: Ephesians Chapter 1\n\n","order":49,"numberOfChapters":6,"sha256":"cb26c51e1fc677d14f8ded4d2ec1526889ff5f790f6c8c41adec962f0416769a","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EPH/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EPH","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":6,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EPH/6.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EPH","chapter":6},"totalNumberOfVerses":148},"chapter":{"number":5,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["And--in proof that you are so. \n\nwalk in love--resuming Eph 4:1, \"walk worthy of the vocation.\" \n\nas Christ . . . loved us--From the love of the Father he passes to the love of the Son, in whom God most endearingly manifests His love to us. \n\ngiven himself for us--Greek, \"given Himself up (namely, to death, Gal 2:20) for us,\" that is, in our behalf: not here vicarious substitution, though that is indirectly implied, \"in our stead.\" The offerer, and the offering that He offered, were one and the same (Joh 15:13; Rom 5:8). \n\noffering and a sacrifice--\"Offering\" expresses generally His presenting Himself to the Father, as the Representative undertaking the cause of the whole of our lost race (Psa 40:6-8), including His life of obedience; though not excluding His offering of His body for us (Heb 10:10). It is usually an unbloody offering, in the more limited sense. \"Sacrifice\" refers to His death for us exclusively. Christ is here, in reference to Psa 40:6 (quoted again in Heb 10:5), represented as the antitype of all the offerings of the law, whether the unbloody or bloody, eucharistical or propitiatory. \n\nfor a sweet-smelling savour--Greek, \"for an odor of a sweet smell,\" that is, God is well pleased with the offering on the ground of its sweetness,and so is reconciled to us (Eph 1:6; Mat 3:17; Co2 5:18-19; Heb 10:6-17). The ointment compounded of principal spices, poured upon Aaron's head, answers to the variety of the graces by which He was enabled to \"offer Himself a sacrifice for a sweet-smelling savor.\" Another type, or prophecy by figure, was \"the sweet savor\" (\"savor of rest,\" Margin) which God smelled in Noah's sacrifice (Gen 8:21). Again, as what Christ is, believers also are (Jo1 4:17), and ministers are: Paul says (Co2 2:17) \"we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["once named--Greek, \"Let it not be even named\" (Eph 5:4, Eph 5:12). \"Uncleanness\" and \"covetousness\" are taken up again from Eph 4:19. The two are so closely allied that the Greek for \"covetousness\" (pleonexia) is used sometimes in Scripture, and often in the Greek Fathers, for sins of impurity. The common principle is the longing to fill one's desire with material objects of sense, outside of God. The expression, \"not be even named,\" applies better to impurity, than to \"covetousness.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["filthiness--obscenity in act or gesture. \n\nfoolish talking--the talk of fools, which is folly and sin together. The Greek of it, and of \"filthiness,\" occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. \n\nnor--rather, \"or\" (compare Eph 5:3). \n\njesting--Greek, \"eutrapelia\"; found nowhere else in the New Testament: implying strictly that versatility which turns about and adapts itself, without regard to principle, to the shifting circumstances of the moment, and to the varying moods of those with whom it may deal. Not scurrile buffoonery, but refined \"persiflage\" and \"badinage,\" for which Ephesus was famed [PLAUTUS, A Boastful Soldier, 3.1,42-52], and which, so far from being censured, was and is thought by the world a pleasant accomplishment. In Col 3:8, \"filthy communication\" refers to the foulness; \"foolish talking,\" to the folly; \"jesting,\" to the false refinement (and trifling witticism [TITTMANN]) Of discourse unseasoned with the salt of grace [TRENCH]. \n\nnot convenient--\"unseemly\"; not such \"as become saints\" (Eph 5:3). \n\nrather giving of thanks--a happy play on sounds in Greek, \"eucharistia\" contrasted with \"eutrapelia\"; refined \"jesting\" and subtle humor sometimes offend the tender feelings of grace; \"giving of thanks\" gives that real cheerfulness of spirit to believers which the worldly try to get from \"jesting\" (Eph 5:19-20; Jam 5:13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["this ye know--The oldest manuscripts read, \"Of this ye are sure knowing\"; or as ALFORD, \"This ye know being aware.\" \n\ncovetous . . . idolater-- (Col 3:5). The best reading may be translated, That is to say, literally, which is (in other words) an idolater. Paul himself had forsaken all for Christ (Co2 6:10; Co2 11:27). Covetousness is worship of the creature instead of the Creator, the highest treason against the King of kings (Sa1 15:3; Mat 6:24; Phi 3:19; Jo1 2:15). \n\nhath--The present implies the fixedness of the exclusion, grounded on the eternal verities of that kingdom [ALFORD]. \n\nof Christ and of God--rather, as one Greek article is applied to both, \"of Christ and God,\" implying their perfect oneness, which is consistent only with the doctrine that Christ is God (compare Th2 1:12; Ti1 5:21; Ti1 6:13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["vain--empty, unreal words, namely, palliations of \"uncleanness,\" Eph 5:3-4; Isa 5:20 (that it is natural to indulge in love), \"covetousness\" (that it is useful to society that men should pursue gain), and \"jesting\" (that it is witty and clever, and that God will not so severely punish for such things). \n\nbecause of these things--uncleanness, covetousness, &c. (Eph 5:3-5). \n\ncometh--present, not merely \"shall come.\" Is as sure as if already come. \n\nchildren--rather, \"sons of disobedience\" (Eph 2:2-3). The children of unbelief in doctrine (Deu 32:20) are \"children of disobedience\" in practice, and these again are \"children of wrath.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["Here fellowship with wicked workers is forbidden; in Eph 5:11, with their wicked works.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["sometimes--\"once.\" The emphasis is on \"were.\" Ye ought to have no fellowship with sin, which is darkness, for your state as darkness is now PAST. Stronger than \"in darkness\" (Rom 2:19). \n\nlight--not merely \"enlightened\"; but light enlightening others (Eph 5:13). \n\nin--in union with the Lord, who is THE LIGHT. \n\nchildren of light--not merely \"of the light\"; just as \"children of disobedience\" is used on the opposite side; those whose distinguishing characteristic is light. PLINY, a heathen writing to Trajan, bears unwilling testimony to the extraordinary purity of Christians' lives, contrasted with the people around them.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["fruit of the Spirit--taken by transcribers from Gal 5:22. The true reading is that of the oldest manuscripts, \"The fruit of THE LIGHT\"; in contrast with \"the unfruitful works of darkness\" (Eph 5:11). This verse is parenthetic. Walk as children of light, that is, in all good works and words, \"FOR the fruit of the light is [borne] in [ALFORD; but BENGEL, 'consists in'] all goodness [opposed to 'malice,' Eph 4:31], righteousness [opposed to 'covetousness,' Eph 5:3] and truth [opposed to 'lying,' Eph 4:25].\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["Proving--construed with \"walk\" (Eph 5:8; Rom 12:1-2). As we prove a coin by the eye and the ear, and by using it, so by accurate and continued study, and above all by practice and experimental trial, we may prove or test \"what is acceptable unto the Lord.\" This is the office of \"light,\" of which believers are \"children,\" to manifest what each thing is, whether sightly or unsightly.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["unfruitful works of darkness--Sins are terminated in themselves, and therefore are called \"works,\" not \"fruits\" (Gal 5:19, Gal 5:22). Their only fruit is that which is not in a true sense fruit (Deu 32:32), namely, \"death\" (Rom 6:21; Gal 6:8). Plants cannot bear \"fruit\" in the absence of light. Sin is \"darkness,\" and its parent is the prince of darkness (Eph 6:12). Graces, on the other hand, as flourishing in \"the light,\" are reproductive, and abound in fruits; which, as harmoniously combining in one whole, are termed (in the singular) \"the FRUIT of the Spirit\" (Eph 5:9). \n\nrather, &c.--Translate as Greek, \"rather even reprove them\" (compare Mat 5:14-16). Not only \"have no fellowship, but even reprove them,\" namely, in words, and in your deeds, which, shining with \"the light,\" virtually reprove all that is contrary to light (Eph 5:13; Joh 3:19-21). \"Have no fellowship,\" does not imply that we can avoid all intercourse (Co1 5:10), but \"avoid such fellowship as will defile yourselves\"; just as light, though it touch filth, is not soiled by it; nay, as light detects it, so, \"even reprove sin.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["The Greek order is, \"For the things done in secret by them, it is a shame even to speak of.\" The \"for\" gives his reason for \"not naming\" (compare Eph 5:3) in detail the works of darkness, whereas he describes definitely (Eph 5:9) \"the fruit of the light\" [BENGEL]. \"Speak of,\" I think, is used here as \"speaking of without reproving,\" in contrast to \"even reprove them.\" Thus the \"for\" expresses this, Reprove them, for to speak of them without reproving them, is a shame (Eph 5:3). Thus \"works of darkness\" answers to \"things done in secret.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["that are reproved--rather, \"when they are reproved,\" namely, by you (Eph 5:11). \n\nwhatsoever doth make manifest--rather, \"everything that is (that is, suffers itself to be) made manifest (or 'shone upon,' namely, by your 'reproving,' Eph 5:11) is (thenceforth no longer 'darkness,' Eph 5:8, but) light.\" The devil and the wicked will not suffer themselves to be made manifest by the light, but love darkness, though outwardly the light shines round them. Therefore, \"light\" has no transforming effect on them, so that they do not become light (Joh 3:19-20). But, says the apostle, you being now light yourselves (Eph 5:8), by bringing to light through reproof those who are in darkness, will convert them to light. Your consistent lives and faithful reproofs will be your \"armor of light\" (Rom 13:12) in making an inroad on the kingdom of darkness.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["Wherefore--referring to the whole foregoing argument (Eph 5:8, Eph 5:11, Eph 5:13). Seeing that light (spiritual) dispels the pre-existing darkness, He (God) saith . . . (compare the same phrase, Eph 4:8). \n\nAwake--The reading of all the oldest manuscripts is \"Up!\" or, \"Rouse thee!\" a phrase used in stirring men to activity. The words are a paraphrase of Isa 60:1-2, not an exact quotation. The word \"Christ,\" shows that in quoting the prophecy, he views it in the light thrown on it by its Gospel fulfilment. As Israel is called on to \"awake\" from its previous state of \"darkness\" and \"death\" (Isa 59:10; Isa 60:2), for that her Light is come; so the Church, and each individual is similarly called to awake. Believers are called on to \"awake\" out of sleep; unbelievers, to \"arise\" from the dead (compare Mat 25:5; Rom 13:11; Th1 5:6, with Eph 2:1). \n\nChrist--\"the true light,\" \"the Sun of righteousness.\" \n\ngive thee light--rather, as Greek, \"shall shine upon thee\" (so enabling thee by being \"made manifest\" to become, and be, by the very fact, \"light,\" Eph 5:13; then being so \"enlightened,\" Eph 1:18, thou shalt be able, by \"reproving,\" to enlighten others).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["that--rather as Greek, \"See how ye walk,\" &c. The double idea is compressed into one sentence: \"See (take heed) how ye walk,\" and \"See that ye walk circumspectly.\" The manner, as well as the act itself, is included. See how ye are walking, with a view to your being circumspect (literally, accurate, exact) in your walk. Compare Col 4:5, \"Walk in wisdom (answering to 'as wise' here) toward them that are without\" (answering to \"circumspectly,\" that is, correctly, in relation to the unbelievers around, not giving occasion of stumbling to any, but edifying all by a consistent walk). \n\nnot as fools--Greek, \"not as unwise, but as wise.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["Redeeming the time-- (Col 4:5). Greek, \"Buying up for yourselves the seasonable time\" (whenever it occurs) of good to yourselves and to others. Buying off from the vanities of \"them that are without\" (Col 4:5), and of the \"unwise\" (here in Ephesians), the opportune time afforded to you for the work of God. In a narrower sense, special favorable seasons for good, occasionally presenting themselves, are referred to, of which believers ought diligently to avail themselves. This constitutes true \"wisdom\" (Eph 5:15). In a larger sense, the whole season from the time that one is spiritually awakened, is to be \"redeemed\" from vanity for God (compare Co2 6:2; Pe1 4:2-4). \"Redeem\" implies the preciousness of the opportune season, a jewel to be bought at any price. WAHL explains, \"Redeeming for yourselves (that is, availing yourselves of) the opportunity (offered you of acting aright), and commanding the time as a master does his servant.\" TITTMANN, \"Watch the time, and make it your own so as to control it; as merchants look out for opportunities, and accurately choose out the best goods; serve not the time, but command it, and it shall do what you approve.\" So PINDAR [Pythia, 4.509], \"The time followed him as his servant, and was not as a runaway slave.\" \n\nbecause the days are evil--The days of life in general are so exposed to evil, as to make it necessary to make the most of the seasonable opportunity so long as it lasts (Eph 6:13; Gen 47:9; Psa 49:5; Ecc 11:2; Ecc 12:1; Joh 12:35). Besides, there are many special evil days (in persecution, sickness, &c.) when the Christian is laid by in silence; therefore he needs the more to improve the seasonable times afforded to him (Amo 5:13), which Paul perhaps alludes to.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["Wherefore--seeing that ye need to walk so circumspectly, choosing and using the right opportunity of good. \n\nunwise--a different Greek word from that in Eph 5:15. Translate, \"foolish,\" or \"senseless.\" \n\nunderstanding--not merely knowing as a matter of fact (Luk 12:47), but knowing with understanding. \n\nthe will of the Lord--as to how each opportunity is to be used. The Lord's will, ultimately, is our \"sanctification\" (Th1 4:3); and that \"in every thing,\" meantime, we should \"give thanks\" (Th1 5:18; compare above, Eph 5:10).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["excess--worthless, ruinous, reckless prodigality. \n\nwherein--not in the wine itself when used aright (Ti1 5:23), but in the \"excess\" as to it. \n\nbut be filled with the Spirit--The effect in inspiration was that the person was \"filled\" with an ecstatic exhilaration, like that caused by wine; hence the two are here connected (compare Act 2:13-18). Hence arose the abstinence from wine of many of the prophets, for example, John the Baptist, namely, in order to keep distinct before the world the ecstasy caused by the Spirit, from that caused by wine. So also in ordinary Christians the Spirit dwells not in the mind that seeks the disturbing influences of excitement, but in the well-balanced prayerful mind. Such a one expresses his joy, not in drunken or worldly songs, but in Christian hymns of thankfulness.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["(Col 3:16). \n\nto yourselves--\"to one another.\" Hence soon arose the antiphonal or responsive chanting of which PLINY writes to Trajan: \"They are wont on a fixed day to meet before daylight [to avoid persecution] and to recite a hymn among themselves by turns, to Christ, as if being God.\" The Spirit gives true eloquence; wine, a spurious eloquence. \n\npsalms--generally accompanied by an instrument. \n\nhymns--in direct praise to God (compare Act 16:25; Co1 14:26; Jam 5:13). \n\nsongs--the general term for lyric pieces; \"spiritual\" is added to mark their being here restricted to sacred subjects, though not merely to direct praises of God, but also containing exhortations, prophecies, &c. Contrast the drunken \"songs,\" Amo 8:10. \n\nmaking melody--Greek, \"playing and singing with an instrument.\" \n\nin your heart--not merely with the tongue; but the serious feeling of the heart accompanying the singing of the lips (compare Co1 14:15; Psa 47:7). The contrast is between the heathen and the Christian practice, \"Let your songs be not the drinking songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart\" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON]. \n\nto the Lord--See PLINY'S letter quoted above: \"To Christ as God.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["thanks . . . for all things--even for adversities; also for blessings, unknown as well as known (Col 3:17; Th1 5:18). \n\nunto God and the Father--the Fountain of every blessing in Creation, Providence, Election, and Redemption. \n\nLord Jesus Christ--by whom all things, even distresses, become ours (Rom 8:35, Rom 8:37; Co1 3:20-23).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["(Phi 2:3; Pe1 5:5.) Here he passes from our relations to God, to those which concern our fellow men. \n\nin the fear of God--All the oldest manuscripts and authorities read, \"in the fear of CHRIST.\" The believer passes from under the bondage of the law as a letter, to be \"the servant of Christ\" (Co1 7:22), which, through the instinct of love to Him, is really to be \"the Lord's freeman\"; for he is \"under the law to Christ\" (Co1 9:21; compare Joh 8:36). Christ, not the Father (Joh 5:22), is to be our judge. Thus reverential fear of displeasing Him is the motive for discharging our relative duties as Christians (Co1 10:22; Co2 5:11; Pe1 2:13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["(Eph 6:9.) The Church's relation to Christ in His everlasting purpose, is the foundation and archetype of the three greatest of earthly relations, that of husband and wife (Eph 5:22-33), parent and child (Eph 6:1-4), master and servant (Eph 6:4-9). The oldest manuscripts omit \"submit yourselves\"; supplying it from Eph 5:21, \"Ye wives (submitting yourselves) unto your own husbands.\" \"Your own\" is an argument for submissiveness on the part of the wives; it is not a stranger, but your own husbands whom you are called on to submit unto (compare Gen 3:16; Co1 7:2; Co1 14:34; Col 3:18; Tit 2:5; Pe1 3:1-7). Those subject ought to submit themselves, of whatever kind their superiors are. \"Submit\" is the term used of wives: \"obey,\" of children (Eph 6:1), as there is a greater equality between wives and husbands, than between children and parents. \n\nas unto the Lord--Submissiveness is rendered by the wife to the husband under the eye of Christ, and so is rendered to Christ Himself. The husband stands to the wife in the relation that the Lord does to the Church, and this is to be the ground of her submission: though that submission is inferior in kind and degree to that which she owes Christ (Eph 5:24).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["(Co1 11:3.) \n\neven as--Greek, \"as also.\" \n\nand he is--The oldest manuscripts read, \"Himself (being) Saviour,\" omitting \"and,\" and \"is.\" In Christ's case, the Headship is united with, nay gained by, His having SAVED the body in the process of redemption; so that (Paul implies) I am not alleging Christ's Headship as one entirely identical with that other, for He has a claim to it, and office in it, peculiar to Himself [ALFORD]. The husband is not saviour of the wife, in which particular Christ excels; hence, \"But\" (Eph 5:24) follows [BENGEL].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["Therefore--Translate, as Greek, \"But,\" or \"Nevertheless,\" that is, though there be the difference of headships mentioned in Eph 5:23, nevertheless, thus far they are one, namely, in the subjection or submission (the same Greek stands for \"is subject,\" as for \"submit,\" Eph 5:21-22) of the Church to Christ, being the prototype of that of the wife to the husband. \n\ntheir own--not in most of the oldest manuscripts, and not needed by the argument. \n\nin every thing--appertaining to a husband's legitimate authority; \"in the Lord\" (Col 3:18); everything not contrary to God.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["\"Thou hast seen the measure of obedience; now hear also the measure of love. Do you wish your wife to obey you, as the Church is to obey Christ? Then have a solicitude for her as Christ had for the Church (Eph 5:23, \"Himself the Saviour of the body\"); and \"if it be necessary to give thy life for her, or to be cut in ten thousand pieces, or to endure any other suffering whatever, do not refuse it; and if you suffer thus, not even so do you do what Christ has done; for you indeed do so being already united to her, but He did so for one that treated Him with aversion and hatred. As, therefore, He brought to His feet one that so treated Him, and that even wantonly spurned Him, by much tenderness of regard, not by threats, insults, and terror: so also do you act towards your wife, and though you see her disdainful and wantonly wayward, you will be able to bring her to your feet by much thoughtfulness for her, by love, by kindness. For no bound is more sovereign in binding than such bonds, especially in the case of husband and wife. For one may constrain a servant by fear, though not even he is so to be bound to you; for he may readily run away. But the companion of your life, the mother of your children, the basis of all your joy, you ought to bind to you, not by fear and threats, but by love and attachment\" [CHRYSOSTOM]. \n\ngave himself--Greek, \"gave Himself up.\" \n\nfor it--Translate, \"for her.\" The relation of the Church to Christ is the ground of Christianity's having raised woman to her due place in the social scale, from which she was, and is, excluded in heathen lands.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":26,"content":["sanctify--that is, consecrate her to God. Compare Joh 17:19, meaning, \"I devote Myself as a holy sacrifice, that My disciples also may be devoted or consecrated as holy in (through) the truth\" [NEANDER] (Heb 2:11; Heb 10:10; Heb 13:12 see on Heb 10:10). \n\nand cleanse--rather, as Greek, \"cleansing,\" without the \"and.\" \n\nwith the washing of water--rather as Greek, \"with,\" or \"by the laver of the water,\" namely, the baptismal water. So it ought to be translated in Tit 3:5, the only other passage in the New Testament where it occurs. As the bride passed through a purifying bath before marriage, so the Church (compare Rev 21:2). He speaks of baptism according to its high ideal and design, as if the inward grace accompanied the outward rite; hence he asserts of outward baptism whatever is involved in a believing appropriation of the divine truths it symbolizes, and says that Christ, by baptism, has purified the Church [NEANDER] (Pe1 3:21). \n\nby the word--Greek, \"IN the word.\" To be joined with \"cleansing it,\" or \"her.\" The \"word of faith\" (Rom 10:8-9, Rom 10:17), of which confession is made in baptism, and which carries the real cleansing (Joh 15:3; Joh 17:17) and regenerating power (Pe1 1:23; Pe1 3:21) [ALFORD]. So AUGUSTINE [Tract 80, in John], \"Take away the word, and what is the water save water? Add the word to the element, and it becomes a sacrament, being itself as it were the visible word.\" The regenerating efficacy of baptism is conveyed in, and by, the divine word alone.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":27,"content":["he--The oldest manuscripts and authorities read, \"That He might Himself present unto Himself the Church glorious,\" namely, as a bride (Co2 11:2). Holiness and glory are inseparable. \"Cleansing\" is the necessary preliminary to both. Holiness is glory internal; glory is holiness shining forth outwardly. The laver of baptism is the vehicle, but the word is the nobler and true instrument of the cleansing [BENGEL]. It is Christ that prepares the Church with the necessary ornaments of grace, for presentation to Himself, as the Bridegroom at His coming again (Mat 25:1, &c.; Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2). \n\nnot having spot-- (Sol 4:7). The visible Church now contains clean and unclean together, like Noah's ark; like the wedding room which contained some that had, and others that had not, the wedding garment (Mat 22:10-14; compare Ti2 2:20); or as the good and bad fish are taken in the same net because it cannot discern the bad from the good, the fishermen being unable to know what kind of fish the nets have taken under the waves. Still the Church is termed \"holy\" in the creed, in reference to her ideal and ultimate destination. When the Bridegroom comes, the bride shall be presented to Him wholly without spot, the evil being cut off from the body for ever (Mat 13:47-50). Not that there are two churches, one with bad and good intermingled, another in which there are good alone; but one and the same Church in relation to different times, now with good and evil together, hereafter with good alone [PEARSON].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":28,"content":["Translate, \"So ought husbands also (thus the oldest manuscripts read) to love their own (compare Note, see on Eph 5:22) wives as their own bodies.\" \n\nHe that loveth his wife loveth himself--So there is the same love and the same union of body between Christ and the Church (Eph 5:30, Eph 5:32).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":29,"content":["For--Supply, and we all love ourselves: \"For no man,\" &c. \n\nhis own flesh-- (Eph 5:31, end). \n\nnourisheth--Greek, \"nourisheth it up,\" namely, to maturity. \"Nourisheth,\" refers to food and internal sustenance; \"cherisheth,\" to clothing and external fostering. \n\neven as--Translate, \"even as also.\" \n\nthe Lord--The oldest manuscripts read, \"Christ.\" Exo 21:10 prescribes three duties to the husband. The two former (food and raiment) are here alluded to in a spiritual sense, by \"nourisheth and cherisheth\"; the third \"duty of marriage\" is not added in consonance with the holy propriety of Scripture language: its antitype is, \"know the Lord\" (Hos 2:19-20) [BENGEL].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":30,"content":["For--Greek, \"Because\" (Co1 6:15). Christ nourisheth and cherisheth the Church as being of one flesh with Him. Translate, \"Because we are members of His body (His literal body), being OF His flesh and of His bones\" [ALFORD] (Gen 2:23-24). The Greek expresses, \"Being formed out of\" or \"of the substance of His flesh.\" Adam's deep sleep, wherein Eve was formed from out of his opened side, is an emblem of Christ's death, which was the birth of the Spouse, the Church. Joh 12:24; Joh 19:34-35, to which Eph 5:25-27 allude, as implying atonement by His blood, and sanctification by the \"water,\" answering to that which flowed from His side (compare also Joh 7:38-39; Co1 6:11). As Adam gave Eve a new name, Hebrew, \"Isha,\" \"woman,\" formed from his own rib, Ish, \"man,\" signifying her formation from him, so Christ, Rev 2:17; Rev 3:12. Gen 2:21, Gen 2:23-24 puts the bones first because the reference there is to the natural structure. But Paul is referring to the flesh of Christ. It is not our bones and flesh, but \"we\" that are spiritually propagated (in our soul and spirit now, and in the body hereafter, regenerated) from the manhood of Christ which has flesh and bones. We are members of His glorified body (Joh 6:53). The two oldest existing manuscripts, and Coptic or Memphitic version, omit \"of His flesh and of His bones\"; the words may have crept into the text through the Margin from Gen 2:23, Septuagint. However, IRENÆUS, 294, and the old Latin and Vulgate versions, with some good old manuscripts, have them.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":31,"content":["For--The propagation of the Church from Christ, as that of Eve from Adam, is the foundation of the spiritual marriage. The natural marriage, wherein \"a man leaves father and mother (the oldest manuscripts omit 'his') and is joined unto his wife,\" is not the principal thing meant here, but the spiritual marriage represented by it, and on which it rests, whereby Christ left the Father's bosom to woo to Himself the Church out of a lost world: Eph 5:32 proves this: His earthly mother as such, also, He holds in secondary account as compared with His spiritual Bride (Luk 2:48-49; Luk 8:19-21; Luk 11:27-28). He shall again leave His Father's abode to consummate the union (Mat 25:1-10; Rev 19:7). \n\nthey two shall be one flesh--So the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, &c., read (Gen 2:24), instead of \"they shall be one flesh.\" So Mat 19:5. In natural marriage, husband and wife combine the elements of one perfect human being: the one being incomplete without the other. So Christ, as God-man, is pleased to make the Church, the body, a necessary adjunct to Himself, the Head. He is the archetype of the Church, from whom and according to whom, as the pattern, she is formed. He is her Head, as the husband is of the wife (Rom 6:5; Co1 11:3; Co1 15:45). Christ will never allow any power to sever Himself and His bride, indissolubly joined (Mat 19:6; Joh 10:28-29; Joh 13:1).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":32,"content":["Rather, \"This mystery is a great one.\" This profound truth, beyond man's power of discovering, but now revealed, namely, of the spiritual union of Christ and the Church, represented by the marriage union, is a great one, of deep import. See on Eph 5:30. So \"mystery\" is used of a divine truth not to be discovered save by revelation of God (Rom 11:25; Co1 15:51). The Vulgate wrongly translates, \"This is a great sacrament,\" which is made the plea by the Romish Church (in spite of the blunder having been long ago exposed by their own commentators, CAJETAN and ESTIUS) for making marriage a sacrament; it is plain not marriage in general, but that of Christ and the Church, is what is pronounced to be a \"great mystery,\" as the words following prove, \"I [emphatic] say it in regard to Christ and to the Church\" (so the Greek is best translated). \"I, while I quote these words out of Scripture, use them in a higher sense\" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":33,"content":["Nevertheless--not to pursue further the mystical meaning of marriage. Translate, as Greek, \"Do ye also (as Christ does) severally each one so love,\" &c. The words, \"severally each one,\" refer to them in their individual capacity, contrasted with the previous collective view of the members of the Church as the bride of Christ.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Ephesians Chapter 6\n\n"]}],"introduction":"EXHORTATIONS TO LOVE: AND AGAINST CARNAL LUSTS AND COMMUNICATIONS. CIRCUMSPECTION IN WALK: REDEEMING THE TIME: BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT: SINGING TO THE LORD WITH THANKFULNESS: THE WIFE'S DUTY TO THE HUSBAND RESTS ON THAT OF THE CHURCH TO CHRIST. (Eph. 5:1-33)\n\ntherefore--seeing that \"God in Christ forgave you\" (Eph 4:32). \n\nfollowers--Greek, \"imitators\" of God, in respect to \"love\" (Eph 5:2): God's essential character (Jo1 4:16). \n\nas dear children--Greek, \"as children beloved\"; to which Eph 5:2 refers, \"As Christ also loved us\" (Jo1 4:19). \"We are sons of men, when we do ill; sons of God, when we do well\" [AUGUSTINE, on Psalm 52]; (compare Mat 5:44-45, Mat 5:48). Sonship infers an absolute necessity of imitation, it being vain to assume the title of son without any similitude of the Father [PEARSON].\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EPH/5.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EPH","chapter":5},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EPH/6.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EPH","chapter":6},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EPH/4.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EPH","chapter":4},"numberOfVerses":32}