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Chapter Ephesians 2:1-10. Regeneration of the Ephesians, an Instance of Gratuitous Salvation

1. And you hath he quickened] The construction is broken, and the gap is filled by the inserted verb, inferred from Ephesians 2:5 below, where however “we” has taken the place of “you.” Better, perhaps, did He quicken (as R. V.); the Gr. verb in Ephesians 2:5 being the aorist. Ideally, in their slain and risen Lord’s triumph, actually, in their spiritual regeneration, “believing on His name,” they had definitely received “eternal life.”—The English reader will remember that in the A. V. “to quicken” means seldom if ever to excite what already lives, but to bring from death to life.

Observe here the great theme of the Church and its Head treated in the special aspect of entrance into the Body by Divine regeneration of persons. For close parallels, though they treat the matter more from the side of Christ’s atoning work, cp. Colossians 1:21; Colossians 2:13; passages which, if written shortly before this, may have suggested the form of the opening phrase of this.

who were dead] Lit. being dead, “when you were dead;” devoid of spiritual and eternal life; see the next words. Obviously this weighty phrase needs to be read in the light of other truths; such as the existence of spirit, and the full presence of conscience, and of accountability, in the unregenerate. But those truths must not be allowed unduly to tone down this statement, which distinctly teaches that the state of the unregenerate has a true analogy to physical death; and that that analogy on the whole consists in this, that (1) it is a state in which a living principle, necessary for organization, growth and energy, in reference to God and holiness, is entirely lacking; (2) it is a state which has no innate tendency to develope such a principle of life. The principle must come to it altogether ab extra.—The latest researches into nature confirm the conviction that dead matter has absolutely no inner tendency to generate life, which must come into it ab extra if it is to live; a suggestive analogy.

On the doctrine of spiritual death as the state of unregenerate man, cp. ch. Ephesians 5:14; John 5:24; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 5:12; and see John 3:3; John 6:53. There are passages where “death” is used as a strong term to denote a comparatively lifeless state of the regenerate soul, needing (if it is to be escaped) not new birth, which is a thing once accomplished, but revival. But this modified sense of “death” must not be allowed to lower the absolute sense in a passage like this, with its peculiar doctrinal emphasis on the contrast of death and life. The state here described is not one of suppressed life, but of absence of life. Cp. 1 Timothy 5:6; Revelation 3:1.

2 Corinthians 5:14, sometimes quoted of spiritual death, is not in point: translate, “then did all die,” and interpret of the death, representatively in Christ, of “all” at Calvary.

in trespasses and sins] Better, in respect of your trespasses, &c.—The Gr. construction is the dative without the preposition “in,” (so Colossians 2:13); and indicates conditioning circumstances.—What is the distinction between “trespass” and “sin”? It has been held that “trespass” is more of the conception, and “sin” of the act; or again that “trespass” is more of omission, “sin” of commission. But usage forbids any certainty in such inferences. In Ezekiel 18:26 the LXX. use the word paraptôma (trespass) of the sin which the “righteous” commits and in which he dies. Etymologically, it is a fall over; and this may be either over a pebble or over a precipice. In actual usage, however, there is a slight occasional tendency in “trespass” towards a mitigated idea of sin, a “fault,” as in Galatians 6:1; and it is possible that we have this here; as if to say, “in every form of evil-doing, whether lighter (trespasses) or heavier (sins).” But it is more probable still that the phrase is used designedly for accumulation’s sake alone, without precise distinction; as if to say, “evil-doing, however described.”

See Abp. Trench, N. T. Synonyms, under the word ἁμαρτία, &c. And above, note on Ephesians 1:7.

2. Wherein … ye walked] The transgressions were the road, or region, of the moral “walk,” i.e. the successive acts and practices of life. Contrast below, Ephesians 2:10, the region of the regenerate “walk.” The Gr. verb is aorist. The whole past experience, however long, is gathered up in memory into a point.

the course] Lit. the age. But the A. V. perfectly represents the meaning. See above on Ephesians 1:21.

this world] This present sinful order of things, as characterized by discord with the will of God. Cp. for the precise phrase John 8:23; John 9:39; John 12:25; John 12:31; John 13:1; John 16:11; John 18:36; 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 3:19; 1 Corinthians 7:31; 1 John 4:17; (and see Galatians 1:4, where however “world” is aiôn). In almost all the above passages the word (cosmos) will be seen clearly to mean not the physical world, (or certainly not it alone,) but the sinful human race, as now conditioned on earth. Full illustration will be found in very many passages where “the world,” (not as here, “this world”), occurs, and which context will distinguish from others (e.g. Ephesians 1:4 above) where the Cosmos of Creation is intended. The Gr. word rendered “world” in some passages of A. V. (Matthew 24:14; Luke 2:1; Luke 4:5; Acts 17:31; Romans 10:18; Hebrews 1:6; Hebrews 2:5; Revelation 3:10; Revelation 12:9; Revelation 16:14; are the most important) is different, meaning literally “the inhabited earth,” and so either the Roman empire and its surroundings, or the mystic empire of the Messiah, according to context.

the prince, &c.] Lit., the Ruler of the authority of the air; the great Personal Evil Spirit, Satan; whose existence, sparingly indicated in the O. T., is largely dwelt upon in the N. T. To the Lord and the Apostles he was assuredly no mere personification of evil, but an evil personality, as truly as for example “Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God,” is a good personality. As such, his existence is a fact-mystery, so to speak, not greater in kind, though in degree, than that of the permitted existence of an evil man who tempts and influences others. There is a strong prejudice in our time against the recognition of the personality of Satan; but it must stand on the level of other mysteries of Revelation; and the prejudice should never be fostered by exaggeration. Some food for prejudice has perhaps been found in the grotesque terrors of medieval art and legendary demonology; but this is not Scripture, rather the deepest contrast to Scripture.—The belief of a Devil has been called (Westminster Review, April, 1865, in an article on the Positive Philosophy), “a thoroughly polytheistic conception;” but what excuse is there for this statement in the Scripture portrait of the Enemy, save the solitary and quite explicable phrase, “God of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4)?

For St Paul’s recognition of the great fact, cp. Acts 13:10; Acts 26:18; Romans 16:20; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 2 Corinthians 2:11; 2 Corinthians 11:14; 1 Thessalonians 2:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; 1 Timothy 1:20; 1 Timothy 3:6-7; 1 Timothy 5:15; 2 Timothy 2:26; and below, Ephesians 4:27, Ephesians 6:11.

“The authority of the air:”—“The ruler of the authority” means the chief of all that is in power, the general of subordinate governors; an allusion to the organization of the evil spiritual world, of which much more is said below, Ephesians 6:12.—The word rendered “authority” does not necessarily mean lawful authority; indeed it often inclines to mean usurped or arbitrary authority. But it is authority as distinguished from mere dynamic force. See Bp. Lightfoot on Colossians 1:13.

“Of the air:”—on this phrase much has been written. It here stands alone (as connected with spiritual mysteries) in the N. T., and hence is the more difficult to analyse with certainty. In studying it we must dismiss the thought (Wetstein) that St Paul is speaking “the language of Pythagorean philosophy, in which his readers were versed,” or the like; no where is his tone more dogmatic. And we must seek a meaning of “air” literal and local, rather than otherwise, looking at his usage elsewhere (1 Corinthians 9:26; 1 Corinthians 14:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:17). This however does not mean a narrow localization, or hard literality, only that “air” is not a mere figure of speech for “mystery,” “darkness,” or the like. On the whole we gather, as the revelation of this passage, that as earth is the present abode of embodied spirits, mankind, so the airy envelope of earth is the haunt, for purposes of action on man, of the spirits of evil, which, if not bodiless, have not “animal” bodies (cp. 1 Corinthians 15:44). Observe our Lord’s use of “the birds of the sky” (Luke 8:5) as the figure for the Tempter in the parable of the Sower.

Abundant illustrations of such a view may be found in quotations from classical, Jewish, and medieval literature. But it would be a hasty inference either that the Apostle derived his doctrine from previous extraneous sources, or that below the wildest exaggerations there lay no fact.

the spirit] This word is in grammatical apposition, in the Greek, with that rendered “power” or “authority” just before. That “authority” meant, as we have said, “those in authority,” the unseen lords of evil, including their head. “The spirit” seems accordingly to mean, practically, “the spirits,” summed up into one idea, and used by one central power.

that now worketh] “Now,” as opposed to the “then” of its former action on those now rescued from it.—For illustrations of its “working” cp. the language used of Satan’s power on Judas (Luke 22:3; John 13:2; John 13:27), and Ananias (Acts 5:3), and of his energies (through men) at a time of persecution (Revelation 2:10). See also 2 Thessalonians 2:9. The subtle power of human personal influence may well prepare us to believe in the mysterious depth, force, and variety, of Satanic influences.

in the children of disobedience] I.e., in men characterized by moral resistance to the Holy God; a “disobedience” which, whether explicit or implicit, patent or latent, marks fallen man as such. There is that in the central Ego of fallen man which is antagonistic to the true claims of the God of Revelation, and which waits only the presentation of those claims to come out in action.—For the phrase, sons of disobedience, cp. ch. Ephesians 5:6, and Colossians 3:6. It is an example of the frequent Hebrew phrase, “son of,” “child of,” in the sense of close connexion, whether a connexion, as here, of principle and motive, or, as Luke 20:36 (“sons of the resurrection”), and 2 Peter 2:14 (“children of a curse”), of result and reward.—“Disobedience:”—the Latin versions have diffidentia, unbelief; and so the A.V. renders the same word, Romans 11:30; Romans 11:32; Hebrews 4:6; Hebrews 4:11. But the proper meaning of the word is resistance of the will. This is deeply connected with spiritual unbelief, but not identical.—The same remarks apply to the kindred verb, which occurs John 3:36; Acts 14:2; Acts 17:5; Acts 19:9; Romans 11:30-31; Romans 15:31; Hebrews 3:18; Hebrews 11:31; places where A.V. has “believe not,” &c.

3. also we all] Better we also all, the “also” emphasizing the “we.”—“We all:”—all present Christians, whether Jews or heathens by origin. St Paul often insists on this one level of fallen nature, wholly unaffected by external privilege. Cp. Romans 3:9; Romans 3:23; Galatians 3:22. It is met by the glorious antithesis of equal grace. Cp. just below, and Romans 1:16; Romans 3:29, Romans 10:12, &c.—Observe the emphatic statement that man as (fallen) man, whether within or without the pale of revelation, begins as a “child of disobedience.”—Observe too the change of person, from the second (Ephesians 2:2) to the first. The Apostle willingly, and truly, identifies his own experience with that of his converts.

had our conversation] Lit., moved up and down; engaged in the activities of life. Conversatio in Latin, like the Gr. word here, means precisely this; the goings in and out of human intercourse; not specially the exchange of speech, to which the word “conversation” is now restricted.—In Php 3:20 the Gr. original is different.

the lusts of our flesh] Better, the desires. “Lusts” is narrowed in modern usage to a special class of sensual appetites, but the older English knew no such fixed restriction; see e.g. Psalm 34:12, in the Prayer Book (Cranmer’s) Version; “what man is he that lusteth to live?” and Galatians 5:17, where the Spirit, as well as the flesh, “lusteth.”—Sinful “lusts” are thus all desires, whether gross or fine in themselves, which are against the will of God.

“Our flesh:”—this important word, wherever it occurs in N.T. in connexion with the doctrine of sin, means human nature as conditioned by the Fall, or, to word it otherwise, either the state of the unregenerate being, in which state the sinful principle dominates, or the state of that element of the regenerate being in which the principle, dislodged, as it were, from the centre, still lingers and is felt; not dominant in the being, but present. (For its permanence, till death, in the regenerate, see the implied statements of e.g. Galatians 5:16; Php 3:3.) We may account for the use of the word flesh as a symbol for this phenomenon by the fact that sin works so largely under conditions of bodily, fleshly, life in the literal sense of those words. See further, note on Romans 8:4 in this Series.

fulfilling the desires] Lit., doing the wishes. This (see last note) does not mean that “we” were loose livers, in the common sense; we might or might not have been such. But we followed the bent of the unregenerate Ego, whatever on the whole it was.

of the mind] Lit., of the thoughts; in the sense generally of reflection and impression. The word is used (in the singular) e.g. Matthew 22:37; “with all thy mind,” representing the Heb. “heart” in Deuteronomy 6:5; and 1 John 5:20; “He hath given us an understanding.” Here probably the distinction is between sin in imagination and sin in positive action (“of the flesh”); one of the many warnings of Scripture that moral evil lies as deep as possible in the texture and motion of the fallen nature. Cp. Matthew 15:19; 2 Corinthians 7:1, and see Proverbs 24:9.

by nature the children of wrath] On the phrase “children of wrath” see last note on Ephesians 2:2. “By nature we were connected with, we essentially were exposed to, wrath, the wrath of God.” It has been suggested that “children of wrath” may mean no more than “beings prone to violent anger,” or even to “ungoverned impulse” generally. But the word “wrath” is frequent with St Paul, and in 13 out of the 20 places it unmistakably means the Divine wrath, even where “of God” is not added, and where the definite article is absent. See for passages specially in point Romans 4:15; Romans 5:9; Romans 9:22; below, ch. Ephesians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:9. Add to this that this passage deals with the deepest and most general facts, and it is thus unlikely that any one special phase of sin would be instanced.—N. T. usage gives no support to the suggested explanation “ungoverned impulse” mentioned above. The word must mean “wrath,” whether of man or of God.—Translate, certainly, with A. V. and R. V.—On the truth that the fallen being, as such, lies under Divine “wrath,” see John 3:36, where “the wrath of God remaineth against” the soul which does not submit to the Son. Not to “possess eternal life” is to have that “wrath” for certain still impending.

And what is the Divine wrath? No arbitrary or untempered passion in the Eternal, but the antagonism of the eternal Holiness to sin; only—the antagonism of an Eternal Person. Von Gerlach, quoted by Monod on this verse, writes: “The forgetfulness at the present day of the doctrine of the wrath of God has exercised a baneful influence on the various relations in which man holds the place of God, and in particular on the government of the family and the state.” The antithesis to the truth about it is the dictum of the “Absolute Religion,” that “there is nothing in God to fear;” words in complete discord with great lines of revelation.

“By nature:”—i.e., by our unregenerate state in itself, not only by circumstances. For illustration see Galatians 2:15, (“Jews by nature”) and Ephesians 4:8, (“by nature no Gods”). Such was our state antecedent to the new process, ab extra, of regeneration. We have here the doctrine of “Original or Birth Sin,” as given in Art ix. of the Church of England. “That which provokes the wrath of God is not only in the individual, but in the race and in the nature” (Monod). A greater mystery we could not state; but neither could we name a surer fact “Original sin is, fundamentally, simply universal sin. That is the fact which is at once the evidence and the substance of it … Universal sin must receive the same interpretation that any other universal does, namely that it implies a law, in consequence of which it is universal. Nobody supposes that anything takes place universally by chance … we know there must be some law working in the case … What we call the law is a secondary question. The great thing is to see that there is a law. If all the individuals who come under the head of a certain nature have sin in them, then one mode of expressing this law is to say that it belongs to the nature, the nature being the common property and ground in which all meet” (J. B. Mozley, Lectures, ix. pp. 136, &c.). See further, Appendix B.

even as others] Lit, as also the rest; the unregenerate world at large.

C. ORIGINAL SIN. (Ch. Ephesians 2:3.)

The theological literature, ancient and modern, of this great subject (the title of which we owe to St Augustine), is very extensive. The English reader will find information in Commentaries on the XXXIX Articles, such as those of Bps Beveridge and E. H. Browne. Art. ix deals expressly with the subject, and its statements underlie those of several following Articles, especially x, xi, xiii, xv, xvii. Among English discussions of the subject we specially recommend three of the late Prof. Mozley’s Lectures (one of which is quoted in the notes); “Christ alone without Sin,” “Original Sin,” and “Original Sin asserted by Philosophers and Poets.” To the quotations given in this last Essay we may add the lines of Mr Browning:

“I still, to suppose it” [the Christian faith] “true, for my part,

See reasons and reasons; this, to begin;

’Tis the faith that launched point-blank her dart

At the head of a lie—taught Original Sin,

The Corruption of Man’s Heart.”

Gold Hair; a story of Pornic.

See, for some admirable pages on Original Sin, Prof. Shedd’s Sermons to the Natural Man, especially Sermons v. and xiv. On the Pelagian Controversy, see Hagenbach’s Dogmengeschichte, or English Translation (History of Doctrines), and Period, B., i. 2; Shedd’s Hist. of Christian Doctrine, Book iv. ch. 4; Cunningham’s Historical Theology, Vol. i. ch. 11. A popular but able account of the controversy is given in Milner’s History of the Ch. of Christ, Cent. 5, cch. 3, 4.

4. But God] The Divine counter-fact now comes in, brighter for the awful contrast.

who is rich in mercy] See note on “riches,” Ephesians 1:18.—The ultimate motive of the work of regeneration is here given, and it is simply the Divine Mercy. No claim or obligation is in the question, nor right inherent in the alienated race, nor “fitness of things” in the abstract; only the uncaused and supremely free choice of the God of mercy. Cp. Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:3.

for his great love, &c.] On account of, &c.; another aspect of the same fact.

loved us] the New Israel, the Church. Not the Philanthropy of God, His “love toward man” (Titus 3:4), but His inner and special love, is here in view; affection rather than benevolence. The whole context shews this.—Observe the change from “you” (Ephesians 2:1) to “us.”—For similar words regarding the Old Israel see Deuteronomy 7:8; “Because the Lord loved you, &c.”

5. dead in sins] Better, in respect of our trespasses. See on Ephesians 2:1 the construction is the same.

hath quickened] Did quicken, i.e., bring from death to life; ideally, when our Lord and Head rose to life; actually, when we, by faith, were united to Him.

together with Christ] As vitally and by covenant one with Him. For all His true “members,” His Death of propitiation is as if theirs; His Life of acceptance before the Father, and of spiritual triumph and power, is as if theirs also. As it is to Him the Divine pledge of the finished work of satisfaction, that pledge is theirs; as He appears in it “in the power of indissoluble life” (Hebrews 7:16), they, “because He lives, live also” (John 14:19). For the phrase cp. Colossians 2:13, which fixes the main reference to Acceptance. See accordingly Romans 4:25; “He was raised again by reason of our justification.”—Another reading, but not well supported, gives, “He quickened us together in Christ.”

(by grace ye are saved)] Lit. ye have been saved; and so Ephesians 2:8. The verb is perfect. More usually the present tense appears, “ye are being saved;” e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:2; 2 Corinthians 2:15 (“them that are being saved; them that are perishing”); the Christian being viewed as under the process of preservation which is to terminate in glory. See 1 Peter 1:5. And again a frequent meaning of the noun “salvation” is that glory itself, as in the text just quoted and Romans 13:11. Here, where the whole context favours such a reference, the reference is to the completeness, in the Divine purpose and covenant, of the rescue of the members of the true Church. From the Divine point of view that is a fait accompli which from the human point of view is a thing in process, or in expectation.—“By grace:”—for commentary, see the Ep. to the Romans, esp. cch. 3, 4. and Romans 11:5-6. The emphatic statement here is due to the whole context, (so full of the thought of a salvation which the saved could not possibly have generated, dead as they were,) and, immediately, to the phrase “quickened with Christ,” which involves the thought of the entire dependence of their “life” on Him.

6. and hath raised us up together, &c.] Better, did raise, &c.—The radical idea of new life is here put into more detail, as a resurrection and ascension; the special form of the Lord’s Revival.—“Together:”—the Gr. grammar allows this to refer to either (1) union with the Church, or (2) union with the Lord; (1) “as a united company,” or (2) “as united to Him.” And the words just below “in Him,” not “with Him,” may seem to favour the former. But the previous verse, and Colossians 2:12; Colossians 3:1; are strongly for the reference to Christ. His resurrection and ascension are the basis of the spiritual (as well as future bodily) resurrection and ascension of His Church.

made us sit together, &c.] Our great Representative is there, “sitting at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1). We, as “in Him,” vitally united to Him, are there also, in the sense of a supreme acceptance and welcome by the Eternal Father, and of the sure prospect of heavenly “glorification together [with Christ]” (Romans 8:17).

in heavenly places] See on Ephesians 1:3.

7. the ages to come] All future periods of development in His Kingdom. The phrase must not be restricted to the future history of the Church on earth; it is akin rather to the frequent formula for the eternal future, “unto the ages of the ages,” and cp. esp. Jude 25, “both now and unto all the ages”. “The King of the Ages” (1 Timothy 1:17) alone knows what great “dispensations” are included in the one Eternity.

shew] to other orders of being, angelic or other. Cp. Ephesians 3:10, and note.

exceeding riches] A phrase intensely Pauline. See on Ephesians 1:7.

through Christ Jesus] Lit., and better, in. Vital union with the Lord is the never silent key-note of the passage.

8. For by grace, &c.] The connexion of thought (“for”) is with the leading truth of Ephesians 2:4-7; the gratuitous “loving-kindness of the Lord” in the salvation of the Church. This, we have just read, will be the great future lesson of that salvation to the intelligent Universe; and this accordingly is re-stated here.

This important ver., and Ephesians 2:9, are rendered lit., For by grace ye have been saved, by means of faith; and that, not of you—God’s is the gift; not of works, that no one should boast. Here the main teaching is clear in itself, and clearer than ever as illustrated by e. g. Romans 3; Philippians 3. The salvation of the soul, and of the Church, is essentially and entirely a matter of sovereign Divine mercy in purpose and accomplishment. It is deliberately meant that no exception or reserve is to be made to that statement. But in detail, the verse presents a problem. Does it distinctly state that “faith” is the “gift of God,” or does it state, more generally, that “gratuitous salvation” is the “gift of God,” leaving it open whether the faith which accepts it is His gift or not? The question is largely occasioned by the construction of the Greek, in which “that” (neuter) does not agree with “faith” (feminine).—Many great expositors, Calvin at the head of them, accordingly take “that” to refer to the main previous idea, and “through faith” to be a separate inserted thought. Alford, who takes this view, states the case for it briefly and well. Nevertheless we recommend the other explanation, and for the following simple reason: the phrase “and that” (lit., “and this”) is familiar in N.T. Greek to introduce an addition of thought, enforcing or heightening what has gone before. See 1 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Corinthians 6:8; “and that before the unbelievers;” “and that, your brethren;” Php 1:28; Hebrews 11:12, (A.V., “and him, &c.”). But if it here refers only to the general previous idea, gratuitous salvation, it is hard to see what new force of thought it adds to the words “by grace.” If on the other hand it refers to the last special statement, “through faith,” there is a real additional point in the assertion that even the act of believing is a gift of God; for thus precisely the one link in the process where the man might have thought he acted alone, and where therefore, in St Paul’s sense, he might claim to “boast,” is claimed for God. Let the clauses, “and that, not of you; God’s is the gift,” be taken as a parenthesis, and the point of the interpretation will be clear; while the Greek amply admits the arrangement.

That “faith” is a matter of Divine gift is clear from e. g. 2 Corinthians 4:13; Php 1:29. Not that a new faculty of trust is implanted, but gracious manifestations—of the soul’s need and the Saviour’s glory—prevail upon the will to choose to repose trust in the right Object. The “gift” of faith is but one phase of the Divine action which (Php 2:13) “worketh in us to will.” And it may be said to be one aspect of the “gift of repentance” (Acts 5:31; 2 Timothy 2:25), for repentance is no mere preliminary to faith; it is the whole complex “change of mind” which includes faith.

See Bp O’Brien’s Nature and Effects of Faith, Note I.