Charles Ellicott Commentary Ephesians 1:21

"far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:" — Ephesians 1:21 (ASV)

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion. The words here used are intended to include all possible forms of power, corresponding to the exhaustive enumeration in Philippians 2:10, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. The words translated “principality and power” (more properly signifying “government and the authority committed to it”) are used in Luke 12:11; Luke 20:20; Titus 3:1, distinctively for earthly powers; in 1 Corinthians 15:24, generally for all created powers whatever.

But St. Paul mostly employs this whole group of words, especially in the Epistles of the Captivity, with a manifest reference to angelic powers of good or evil. Thus, in Romans 8:38 we read of angels, and principalities, and powers (as in 1 Peter 3:22, angels, and authorities, and powers); in Ephesians 3:10 of this Epistle, of principalities and powers in the heavenly places; and in Ephesians 6:12, of wrestling not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, etc.; and in Colossians 1:16, of things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.

It is likely that he was induced to do so by the half-Gnostic speculation on the nature and worship of angels, prevalent in later Judaism, of which we have a specimen at Colossae (Colossians 2:18) — in the same spirit which leads the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews to dwell so emphatically on the infinite superiority of the Son of God to all angels. We observe that his references to these orders or aspects of the angelic hierarchy vary both in fullness and in order. (Compare, for instance, this passage with Colossians 1:16.) Hence we gain no encouragement for the elaborate speculation in which people have indulged as to the right succession and relation of the hosts of heaven.

In this passage, the names point to different aspects rather than to different orders of superhuman power. The first two words signify appointed government and the authority committed to it; the last two signify the actual force and the moral force of dignity or lordship with which it is endowed. In the Colossian passage, the words placed first here come last, though in the same mutual connection, and the words “dignities or lordships” are connected with the word “thrones,” not found here. His purpose is, indeed, better served by this comparative vagueness: for that purpose is to exalt the majesty of our Lord over all else, whatever it may be, and whatever name it may wear.

Not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. The word “world” here is age, and the antithesis is exactly that of our Lord’s words in Matthew 12:32 (see Note there). Manifestly, however, it here signifies “this life” (or dispensation) and “the future life,” that is, the life on this side, and on the other side, of the Second Coming of Christ.