Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

23. faithfulness, meekness, temperance : against such things 24 there is no law. Now those that are Christ's have cru25 cified the flesh with its passions and desires. 26 by the spirit, let us walk also by the spirit.

If we live

Let us not be vain-glorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

CH. VI. Brethren, if a man be even discovered in any offence*,

ye that are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempt2 ed. Bear ye one another's burthens; and thus fulfil the 3 law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be some4 thing, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man try his own work; and then he will have 5 glorying in himself alone, and not in another. For every man will bear his own burthen.

6 Now let him that is taught in the word, make him that 7 teacheth partaker of all good things. Be not deceived:

God is not deluded: for whatsoever a man soweth, that 8 he will reap also. For he who soweth to his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction: but he who soweth to the 9 spirit, from the spirit will reap everlasting life. And let us not be weary in well-doing for in due time we shall 10 reap, if we faint not. As therefore we have opportunity, let us do good to all men; but especially to those that are of the household of faith.

11

:

Ye see how large an epistle † I have written to you 12 with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, such would compel you to be circumcised, only lest they should be persecuted for the cross of 13 Christ. For neither do they themselves that are circum

cised keep the law; but they desire to have you circum14 cised, that they may glory in your flesh. But far be it that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus

If a man be overtaken in any fault, Wakefield, with the public version.
+ Or, in what large and inelegant letters. See Whitby, Doddridge, Wakefield.

Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I 15 unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision any thing *, nor uncircumcision; but a new crea16 tion t. And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy; and upon the Israel of God. Henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my 18 body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the favour of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

17

neither circumcision availeth any thing, R. T.

† a new creature is every thing. N.

‡ N. adds, of you, which are unnecessary if not injurious to the sense.

Or, the gracious gospel. q. d. May the grace and kindness of the gospel be conferred upon you, and cordially received by you in preference to the severe injunctions of the law.

THE

EPISTLE OF SAINT PAUL

ΤΟ

THE EPHESIANS.

СНАР. Ь

PAUL, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,

to the saints, and faithful in Christ Jesus, that are at 2 Ephesus*: favour be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

-3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing 4 in heavenly things through Christ: according as he chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we 5 might be holy and spotless before him in love having predestinated† us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious favourt, with which he hath

The words Ev EPE', at Ephesus, are wanting in one manuscript: they were also wanting in some ancient copies in the time of Basil, in the fourth century. Marcion's copy read "Laodicea." And though the external evidence is very great in favour of Ephesus, yet Mill, Benson, Paley, and many others think it probable that this letter was addressed by Paul to the Laodiceans, and is alluded to Col. iv. 16. It is indeed hardly possible, that the apostle should have dictated a letter to a society of Christians amongst whom he had resided three years, without once alluding to that circumstance, or to any of the extraordinary events which had occurred during his abode at Ephesus. See Acts xix. 2 Cor. i. 8. 1 Cor. xv. 32. Paley's Hor. Paul. p. 242.

+ Or, fore-appointed, or predetermined, N. m.

Gr. the glory of his grace, i, e. of his gratuitous goodness. So ver. 7. N. m.

7 favoured us through the beloved Son*: through whom we have redemption byt his blood, even forgiveness of 8 our offences, according to the riches of his favour; in which he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and 9 understanding; having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he 10 purposed in himself concerning the dispensation of the fulness of times, that he would gather together|| to himself in one all things through Christ, which are in the heavens and which are on the earth¶, even through him ; 11 through whom we have obtained an inheritance also, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own 12 will that we should be to the praise of his glory, hav13 ing first hoped in Christ: in whom ye also having be

lieved, (after ye heard the word of truth, the glad tidings of your salvation, in whom, I say, ye also having believed,) 14 have been sealed with the holy spirit of promise, (which is the earnest of our inheritance,) unto the redemptiontt of the purchased** possession, unto the praise of his glory.

• by which he hath made us accepted through the beloved Jesus, N. See Mr. Lindsey's Ans. to Robinson, p. 178.

+ Or, deliverance through.

See

By the terms we and us, the apostle often speaks affectionately of the gentiles. Locke. Their redemption signifies their deliverance from idolatry and vice: this was through the blood of Christ, by whose death the new covenant was ratified. The forgiveness of sin was transferring them from a heathen state, in which they are represented as sinners, to a covenant and privileged state, in which they are said to be justified and holy.

|| The primary signification of the word avaxePaλαlow, which the apostle here uses, is, to sum up an account, or, to reduce many sums to one. See Schleusner. The proper meaning of it in this place seems to be, to unite all things under one head. And in this view, as Mr. Locke justly observes, things in heaven and things on earth may be understood to signify the Jewish and the gentile world. The Jewish nation is called heaven, Dan. viii. 10. And the great men among the Jewish nation are called "the powers of heaven" by Christ himself, Luke xxi. 26; and Eph. iii. 10. 15, is best explained upon this supposition. See Locke's note, in loc. This remark of Mr. Locke's is both curious and important, and will serve to explain many passages in this epistle, and in that to the Colossians, which was written at the same time, and in the same figurative style.

in heaven and on earth, N.

+ Or, deliverance. ** Or, peculiar, N. m.

15

Wherefore I also, having heard of your faith in the 16 Lord Jesus, and love toward all the saints, cease not to

ye

that, the eyes of

give thanks for you; making mention of you in my 17 prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of 18 revelation, in the knowledge of him your mind being enlightened, may know what is the hope of his having called you, and what are the 19 glorious riches of his inheritance among the saints; and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty 20 strength, which he shewed in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and seated him at his own right hand in 21 the heavenly places ||; far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name which is named, not only in this age ¶, but in that also which is 22 to come; and put all things in subjection under his feet, and appointed him head over all things in the church, 23 which is his body, that which filleth up him †† who filleth

the spirit, N.

+ Gr. heart, N. m. understanding, R. T.

the eyes, etc., that ye may know, N. In the figurative language of the apostle, all who enjoy the light of divine revela tion, whether Jews or Christians, are said to dwell in heaven. See ch. ii. 6. And the unbelieving world are spoken of as inhabitants of earth. But the Jewish notion of heaven, borrowed not from divine revelation, which is silent upon the subject, but from the Oriental philosophy, which they appear to have imbibed in the Babylonian captivity, (see Mr. Lindsey's valuable observations in the Sequel to his Apology, p. 456, and seq.) represented the celestial world as peopled by myriads of beings who were of different ranks and orders,-angels, archangels principalices, powers, etc. Agreeably to this figurative representation, Jesus Christ is said, after his resurrection, to be seated at the right hand of God in heaven, i. e. to be advanced to the highest dignity in the Christian dispensation: above all principality, power and might, etc.; that is, above all the officers and ministers of the Jewish or Christian dispensation, expressed by the well-known phra seology of the present age and the age to come. This interpretation makes the apostle's discourse consistent, intelligible, and pertinent, but it gives no countenance either to the commonly received opinion of the existence of a celestial hierarchy, or the popular doctrine of the superiority of Christ to angels and other supposed celestials irits, “The gospel dispensation," says Mr. Lindsey, p. 464, “is represented under the idea a new regulation of these heavenly communities, in which Christ is placed at thehea of all."

world, N. See N. m.

+ Or, the fulness of him, N. m.

« FöregåendeFortsätt »