Charles Ellicott Commentary Ephesians 1

By the will of God.—This phrase, used in 1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:1 (compare the equivalent expression of 1 Timothy 1:1), appears to be St. Paul’s ordinary designation of the source of his apostolic mission and authority; used whenever there was nothing peculiar in the occasion of the Epistle, or the circumstances of the Church to which it was addressed. It may be contrasted, on the one hand, with the more formal enunciation of his commission, addressed to the Roman Church (Romans 1:1–5), and the indignant and emphatic abruptness of the opening of the Galatian Epistle—an apostle not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:1).

On the other hand, to the Thessalonian churches, in the Epistles written shortly after their conversion, he uses no description of himself whatever (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1); in the Epistles to the Philippians and to Titus he is simply the servant of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:1; Titus 1:1): to Philemon (for special reasons) the prisoner of Jesus Christ. The phrase in the text stands midway between the emphasis of the one class of Epistles and the more familiar simplicity of the other.

To the saints. . . . and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.—Here, as in Colossians 1:2 (the saints and faithful brethren) the same persons are described by both epithets. They are “saints,” as called (1 Corinthians 1:2) into “the communion of saints” by the grace of God; they are “faithful,” as by their own act believing in Christ and holding fast that faith. The two epithets are correlative to each other. Without the call and the grace of God, men cannot believe; without the energy of faith they cannot be, in effect as well as in opportunity, “saints.”

Both epithets belong in capacity and profession to all members of the Church militant; and St. Paul applies them accordingly to the whole body of any church which he addresses, without hesitation or distinction. In living reality they belong only to the “Invisible Church” of the present, which shall form the “Church triumphant” of the hereafter. It has been noted that the use of the word “saints,” as the regular and ordinary name of Christians, is more especially traceable in the later Epistles of St. Paul.

So in his speech before Agrippa he says, Many of the saints did I shut up in prison (Acts 27:10). The phrase, “in Christ Jesus,” belongs to both the words “saints” and “faithful;” but it is here more closely connected with the latter.

Which are at Ephesus.—On these words, omitted in the oldest MSS., see the Introduction.

Grace be to you, and peace.—On this, St. Paul’s nearly invariable salutation in every Epistle (found also in the Epistles of St. Peter, 2 John, and Revelation), see Note on Romans 1:7.

(2 a.) In Ephesians 1:3-6, the first section of the Introduction, the Epistle ascends at once into the heavenly places, naturally catching from there the tone of adoration and thanksgiving. It dwells on the election of the children of God by His predestinating love—an election based on His will, designed for His glory, and carrying with it the blessings of the Spirit, through which they become holy and blameless before Him. On the whole section, compare to Romans 8:28-30.

In Ephesians 1:15-23, this introductory chapter ends in a prayer for the enlightenment of the readers of this Epistle, that they may understand all the fullness of the blessings of the gospel. In accordance with the heavenward direction of the thought of the whole Epistle, these blessings are viewed in their future completeness of glory and power, of which the present exaltation of the risen Lord to the right hand of God, as the Lord of all creatures, and the Head of the Church His body, is the earnest and assurance.

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. (that is, inasmuch as)—Again it should be, He chose us for Himself. The eternal election of God is inseparably connected with the blessing of the Spirit. This passage stands alone in St. Paul’s Epistles in its use of this word “chosen” in connection with God’s eternal purpose, before the foundation of the world—a phrase only applied elsewhere to the eternal communion of the Son with the Father (John 17:24), and to the foreordaining of His sacrifice in the divine counsels (1 Peter 1:20).

The word “chosen” itself is used by our Lord of His choice of the Apostles (John 6:70; John 13:18; John 15:16–19); but in one case with the significant addition, one of you is a devil, showing that the election was not final. It is similarly used in the Acts (Acts 1:2; Acts 1:24; Acts 6:5; Acts 15:7; Acts 15:22; Acts 15:25) of His choice or the choice of the Apostles; and once (Acts 13:7) of the national election of Israel. In 1 Corinthians 1:27–28 (the only other place where it is used by St. Paul), and in James 2:5 it refers to choice of men by God’s calling in this world.

Clearly in all these cases it is applied to the election of men to privilege by an act of God’s mercy here. In this passage, on the contrary, the whole reference is to the election in Christ, by the foreknowledge of God, of those who should hereafter be made His members. From this examination of Scriptural usage it is clear that the visible election to privilege is constantly and invariably urged upon men; the election in God’s eternal counsels only dwelt upon in passages which (like this or Romans 9:11) have to ascend in thought to the fountainhead of all being in God’s mysterious will. It will be observed that even here it clearly refers to all members of the Church, without distinction.

That we should be holy and without blame before him.—In these words we have the object of the divine election declared, and the co-operation of the elect implied, by the inseparable connection of holiness with election.

There is an instructive parallel in Colossians 1:22: He hath reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable, and unreprovable in His sight. The word “without blame,” or “unblamable,” is properly without blemish; and the word “unreprovable” more nearly corresponds to our idea of one unblamable—that is, one against whom no charge can be brought. Here God is said to have “chosen” us, in the other passage to have “presented” us (compare the sacrificial use of the word in Romans 12:1), in Christ, to be holy and without blemish.

It seems clear that the words refer not to justification in Christ, but to sanctification in Him. They express the positive and negative aspects of holiness; the positive in the spirit of purity, the negative in the absence of spot or blemish. The key to their interpretation is to be found in the idea of Romans 8:29, whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.

The word “without blame” is applied to our Lord (1 Peter 1:19) as a lamb without blemish. To Him alone it applies perfectly; to us, in proportion to that conformity to His image. The words before Him refer us to God’s unerring judgment as contrasted with the judgment of men, and even our own judgment on ourselves. (Compare 1 Corinthians 4:3–4; 1 John 3:20–21.)

In love.—If these words are connected with the previous verse, they must be taken with He hath chosen us, in spite of the awkwardness of the dislocation of order. But it is best to connect them with the verse following, Having predestinated us in love.

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.—The idea of election depends on the union of the sense of actual difference between people, as to privilege and spiritual life, with the conviction of God’s universal sovereignty.

Hence, in all cases, it leads back to the idea of predestination, that is, of the conception of the divine purpose in the mind of God, before its realisation in actual fact. On the doctrine of predestination, see Romans 9.

It will suffice to note that here:

1. Its source is placed in God’s love.
2. Its meritorious cause is the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Its result is adoption, so that He is the firstborn of many brethren, who are conformed to His image, and redeemed by Him from bondage to sonship (Galatians 4:5). (It is clear that the adoption here is not the final adoption of Romans 8:23, but the present adoption into the Christian covenant, there called the firstfruits of the Spirit; )
4. It is in itself the expression of the good pleasure of His will on which all ultimately depends.
5. Its final purpose is to display God’s glory in the gift of His grace.

In a few words, the whole doctrine is summed up with that absolute completeness so eminently characteristic of this Epistle.

According to the good pleasure of his will.—In our version, “good pleasure,” there is an ambiguity, reproducing the ambiguity of the original. The word used may signify (Luke 10:21; Philippians 2:13) simply God’s free will, to which this or that “seems good,” or (Romans 10:1; Philippians 1:15) “His good will towards us.” Even the old Greek interpreters were divided upon it, and either sense will suit this passage. But the close parallel in Ephesians 1:11, according to the counsel (deliberate purpose) of His will, turns the balance in favour of the former rendering.