Commentari biblici

And you hath he quickened , who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Who were dead — Natural men are living carcases, walking sepulchres of themselves. In most families it is, as once it was in Egypt, Exodus 12:30 , no house wherein there is not one, nay, many dead corpses. Howbeit, the natural man, though he be theologically dead, yet is ethically alive, being to be wrought upon by arguments; hence, Hosea 11:4 ; "I drew them by the cords of a man," that is, by reason and motives of love, befitting the nature of a man. So the Spirit and Word work upon us still as men by rational motives, setting before us life and good, death and evil.

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Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Wherein ye walked — Hence, Acts 14:16 ; sin is called a way, but it leads to the chambers of death.

According to the course of this world — The mundaneity or worldliness of the world (as the Syriac rendereth it), which is wholly set upon wickedness (as Aaron saith of his worldlings, Exodus 32:22 ), and takes no care for the world to come.

According to the prince, … — The devil, by whom wicked men are acted and agitated. Gratian was out in saying that Satan is called prince of the world, as a king of chess, or as the cardinal Ravenna, only by derision. Evil men set him up for their sovereign, and are wholly at his beck and obedience.

The spirit that now worketh — As a smith worketh in his forge, an craftsman in his shop. A natural man as he is the heir of original and father of actual sin, so his soul and all the powers thereof are but Satan’s shop of sins; his body and all the parts thereof, tools of sin; his life, and all his actions of both soul and body, a trade of sin, by the same reason.

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Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Among whom also we all, … — Let the best look back often on what they were before calling, that they may thankfully cry out with Iphicrates, εξ οιων εις οια , from what misery to what dignity are we advanced!

Fulfilling the desires — Gr. the wills of the flesh. Now therefore we must as diligently fulfil not the will, but the wills of God, as David did, Acts 13:22 .

The children of wrath — De ires. Gregory the Great said of the English boys that were presented to him, Angli quasi Angeli, English just as Angels. And demanding further what province they were of in this island, it was returned, that they were called De ires; which caused him again to repeat the word, and to say, that it were great pity but that by being taught the gospel, they should be saved de ira Dei, from the wrath of God. (Abbot’s Geog.) Whereunto we are subject, even as in nature a child is to the commands and restraints of his father; being damnati priusquam nati, as Augustine hath it, damned ere born into the world.

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But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

But God, who is rich in mercy — Such a mercy as rejoiceth against judgment, as a man against his adversary which he hath subdued,James 2:13; James 2:13 .

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Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Hath quickened, … — The very first stirrings in the womb of grace are precious to God; he blesseth our very buds,Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 44:3 , according to the Geneva translation.

Even when we were dead — This is again repeated, because hardly believed. We are apt to conceit better of ourselves than there is cause for, and can hardly be persuaded that we are dead in sins and trespasses, and lie rotting and stinking in the graves of corruption, much worse than Lazarus did after he had lain four days in his sepulchre. We would be sorry but our penny should be as good silver as another’s, and are ready, with the Pharisee, to set up our counter for a thousand pound. In fine, a dead woman we say must have four to carry her forth. A man shall have much ado to persuade the merry Greeks of this world, but that they have the only life of it, and that others are dead in comparison of them. Hence this iteration of the blow upon the natural man, to knock him down dead, as it were, to bring him to Paul’s pass, Romans 7:9 .

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And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

And made us sit together — We have taken up our rooms beforehand in heaven, whereunto we have just right upon earth by virtue of the union, the ground of communion,1 John 5:12; 1 John 5:12 . He that hath the Son hath life; he hath possession of it, as by turf and twig.

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That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

In his kindness toward us — We come not to the knowledge of God but by his works. And even this way of knowing him we naturally abuse to idolatry.

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For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

For by grace ye are saved — So Ephesians 2:5 , and everywhere almost St Paul is a most constant preacher of the grace of God, as Chrysostom styleth him. Sub laudibus naturae latent inimici gratiae, saith Augustine. The patrons of man’s free will are enemies to God’s free grace.

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