Authenticity and Genuineness of the Epistle
BISHOP CHARLES J. ELLICOTT, D. D.—The Epistle to the Ephesians was written by St. Paul during his first captivity at Rome in the early part of A. D. 62. With regard to its authenticity and genuineness, it is not too much to say that there are no just grounds for doubt. The testimonies of antiquity are unusually strong. Even Marcion did not deny that this Epistle was written by St. Paul, nor did heretics refuse occasionally to cite it as confessedly due to him as its author.— Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 744.
God Supreme, and Orders All
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The affirmation here is not merely that God accomplishes the designs of salvation according to the counsel of his own will, but that he does everything. His agency is not confined to one thing, or to one class of objects. Every object and event is under his control, and is in accordance with his eternal plan.—Note, In loco.
LORD BACON. —I believe, that notwithstanding God hath rested and ceased from creating since the first Sabbath, yet, nevertheless, he Both accomplish and fulfill his divine will in all things, great and small, singular and general, as fully and exactly by providence, as He could by miracle and new creation, though his working be not immediate and direct, but by compass; not violating Nature, which is his own law upon the creature.— Confession of Faith.
PROF. WILLIAM WHEWELL, M. A., F. R. S.—God is the Author and Governor of the universe through the laws which He has given to its parts, the properties which He has impressed upon its constituent elements: these laws and properties are the instruments with which He works: the institution of such laws, the selection of the quantities which they involve, their combination and application, are the modes in which He exerts and manifests his power, his wisdom, his goodness: through these attributes, thus exercised, the Creator of all shapes, moves, sustains and guides the visible Creation. This has been the view of the relation of the Deity to the universe entertained by the most sagacious and comprehensive minds ever since the true object of natural philosophy has been clearly and steadily apprehended.— Astronomy and General Physics, Chap, VIII.
DR. WILLIAM CARPENTER.—God is the efficient cause alike for the simplest and most minute, and of the most complicated and most majestic phenomena of the universe.— Gen. and Comp. Phys., p. 1080.
The Soul Enlightened
PHILO.—What the eye is to the body, that the understanding is to the soul.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—One of the first effects of true religion is on the understanding. It enlarges its views of truth; gives it more exalted conceptions of God; corrects its errors; raises it up towards the great fountain of love. And nowhere is the effect of true religion more apparent than in shedding light on the intellect of the world, and restoring the weak and perverted mind to a just view of the proportion of things, and to the true knowledge of God.—Note, In loco.
The Dead in Sin Quickened
EPICTETUS.—We are all wonderfully afraid of bodily death, and use every means in our power to avoid it; but a dead soul gives us no concern.—Epict., I., 5.
SENECA.—Many things chain us down; many things enfeeble us; we have been long dead in sin: it is a difficult matter to wash and be clean; for we are not only stained, but infected.—Epist., 59.
Christ the True Foundation
SENECA.—We must consider that we are born for the good of the whole; human society resembles a vaulted roof of stone, which would soon fall unless prevented by one stone supporting another.— Epist., 95.
One God and Father
ROBERT ANCHOR THOMPSON, M. A.—As far as observation can carry us, external nature furnishes abundant evidence of the unity and immensity of the Creator. This evidence consists in the immensity of space and of material being, and in the continued unity of the globe' through the long periods of the past... Astronomy discovers the unity and immensity of the Supreme Being in space, or beyond it; Geology, in time, or beyond it. Chemistry, in the reality of all present conditioned existence, or beyond it. Astronomy has taught us to look into the depths of space from star to star, and from system to systems through distances all but infinite. Compared with the immense fields of the stellar universe, the solar system sinks into an infinitesimal speck. The immense distances and enormous magnitudes of the stars are beyond question. In the interminable range of system upon system, and firmament upon firmament, of which we catch a glimpse through the astronomer's telescope, the imagination is bewildered and lost. Yet in these immensities of matter and of space we have evidences of the same unity in diversity which is everywhere manifest in the world. Astronomy bears testimony with the world in which we live, that "there are diversities of operation, but it is the same God which worketh all in all." The discoveries of Geology terminate in the same conclusion. We pass through long periods of progress, and over sudden changes and catastrophes; but all, after ages of ages, are found to have evolved harmonious results. The very convulsions of the earth were among the steps most essential in its preparation for man. The inference is confirmed by the remains of former animal and vegetable kingdoms. Many varieties are met with, far more of extinct than of existing species. But they are all members of one great system of creation. They are bound to one another in similar relations, with the different systems now existing in the world, and are always adapted to the constitution of the globe at the time of their existence. Chemical science bears a similar testimony. On its numerous diversities, and the constant unity in diversity, it is unnecessary to speak farther. This, then, is the testimony of the material world, in whatever direction we may look. In its magnitude, and in its minuteness, in the distant causes of the past, and in the deep causes of the present, it stretches from the finite toward the Infinite, and everywhere discovers itself to have been created and ordered by one and the same Intelligent Agency —the Eternal and Self-existent Being.—Christian Theism, Book III., c. 2.
Stability
LUCIAN.—If you have not acquired that skill and ability which may suffice to make you a good Stoic, you will be led about by the nose at everybody's pleasure, and no reed will be more easily shaken about by every blast or faint breath of wind.—Hermotim., c. 68.
All Members of One Body
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Here the church is compared to the human body, in the which the "head" conveys vital influences, vigor, motion, etc., to its every part. The human frame is admirably arranged for growth and vigor and activity. Every member and joint contributes to its healthful and harmonious action. One part lends beauty and vigor to another, so that the whole is finely proportioned and admirably sustained. Let anyone read Paley's Natural Theology, or any work on anatomy, and he will find innumerable instances of the truth of this remark; not only in the proper adjustment and placing of the members, but in the manner in which it is united to the other parts of the body. All the investigations of anatomists only serve to give increased beauty and force to the general terms which the apostle uses here. All that he says here of the human frame is strictly accurate, and is such language as may be used by an anatomist now.—Note, In loco.
The New Man
PLATO.—Evil of necessity moves round this mortal nature and this region. Wherefore we ought to endeavor to fly hence as quickly as possible. But this flight consists in resembling God as much as possible; and this resemblance, in becoming just and holy with wisdom.—Theœtet, c. 25.
Lying
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—Truth was of but small account among many, of even the best heathens; for they taught that, on many occasions, a lie was to be preferred to the truth itself; here are examples: "A lie is better than a hurtful truth."—Menander. "Good is better than truth."—Proclus. "When telling a lie will be profitable, let it be told."—Darius. "He may lie who knows how to do it in a suitable time."—Plato. "There is nothing decorous in truth, but when it is profitable; yea, sometimes truth is hurtful, and lying is profitable to men."—Maximus Tyrius. Having been brought up in such a loose system of morality, these converted Gentiles had need of these apostolical directions, Put away lying, speak every man truth.— In loco.
Anger
CICERO.—To subdue one's inclinations, to master one's angry feelings, to be moderate in the hour of victory; these are actions which raise men into the likeness of the gods.—Pro Marcel., c. 3.
PLUTARCH.—We are to imitate the Pythagoreans, who, if at any time they were so carried away by anger as to reproach and to revile each other, yet before the sun went down they would shake hands, embrace each other, and become good friends again.—De Frat. Amor., c. 17.
Eph. 4:3131Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: (Ephesians 4:31).—Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you.
HORACE.—Away with anger and clamor.—Hor., lib. iii., carm. 8.
Abominations Committed in Secret
Eph. 5:1212For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. (Ephesians 5:12).—For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. DR. ADAM CLARKE. —This no doubt refers to the Eleusinian and Bacchanalian mysteries, which were performed in the night and darkness, and were known to be so impure and abominable, especially the latter, that the Roman Senate banished them both from Rome and Italy. How the discovery of these depths of Satan was made, and the whole proceedings in that case, may be seen in Livy XXXIX., c. 8-19, where the reader will see the force of what the apostle says here-the abominations being of the most stupendous kind, and of the deepest dye.—Note, In loco.
Redeeming the Time
SENECA.—Such hours as have hitherto been stolen from you unawares, or have slipped by inadvertently, recollect, and for the future turn to some good account. Embrace every hour; ale stronger hold you have on to-day, the less will be your dependence on to-morrow. Life, however unimproved, still glides away.—Epist., I.
SUETONIUS.—Titus, reflecting once at supper that he had done nothing for any one that day, broke out into that memorable and justly-admired saying, My friends, I have lost a day.—Tit., c. 8.
Psalms and Hymns
Eph. 5:19.—Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
PLINY.—Those who had been Christians—but who had left them—affirmed that the whole of their fault or error lay in this: that they were wont to meet together, on a stated day, before it was light, and sing among themselves, alternately, a hymn to Christ as God, etc.—Letter to Trajan.
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA composed the following hymn for Christians:
O king of saints, thou all-subduing Word of the Most High Father, thou Lord of Wisdom, thou support in toils ever gracious, of the race of men, Jesus the Savior. Heavenly way, ever-during Word, Light eternal, fountain of mercy, in virtue strong, life revered of them who hymn thee God, Christ Jesus. Simple praises, sincere hymns, to Christ the king, offerings pure of lively doctrine let us chant together, with simplicity let us praise the Mighty Child; the band of peace, we sons of Christ, people of sober mind, let us together praise the God of peace.—Clem. Alex. Pad., lib. iii., c. 12.
GREGORY NAZIANZEN composed the following for the churches:
O glorious Word of the eternal Father, uttering his vast mind, more excellent than any speech; Light of unmingled light; One-Begotten; Image of the immortal Father; most certain Seal; shilling as bright as that great Spirit; filling eternity; whose praise all celebrate; Giver of all wealth; enthroned high in heaven; almighty Source of mind; Bringer of life; Ruler of all that are, and all that shall be, for by Him all subsist; by Him were laid the foundations of the world, and all things are committed to his care.— Greg. Naz. Carmina Varia., caret. 55.
Duty of Husbands and Wives
PLUTARCH.—The husband ought to rule over the wife, not as a master over that which he possesseth, but as the soul governs the body, by a natural and sympathetic affection.—Conj. Prat., c. 33.
EURIPIDES.—This is her greatest safety.—Med., v. 14.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Because she is one with him, and their interests are identified. Because by this, he really promotes his own welfare, as much as he does when he takes care of his own body. A man's kindness to his wife will be more than repaid by the happiness which she imparts; and all the real solicitude which he shows to make her happy, will come to more than it costs.—Note, In loco.
CURTIUS.—We do not hate those things that pertain to our own bodies.—Curt., VII.
SENECA.—I confess that there is in us implanted the love of our own body. Epist,
Duty of Children
ARISTOTLE.—A father is by nature adapted to rule over his children... on which account parents are honored.—Eth., VIII.,
IDEM.—It is not possible to confer adequate honor upon the gods or on parents; for no one can bestow these according to desert; but he who pays homage to them to the utmost of his power, appears to be a worthy man.—Eth, VIII., 14.
PLAUTUS.—Daughters can never take too much care of their parents: whom ought we to esteem more dear to us than these?—Stich., act I., sc. 2.
QUINTILIAN.—A son never ought to forget the reverence he owes to his parents.—Quint., II., I.
Duty of Parents
PLATO.—Children are to be chastised; but not in an ignominious manner, with insults, so-as to encourage an angry feeling in them.—De Leg., VII., 4.
PLUTARCH.—I would on no account have fathers to be too severe and rigorous with their children. —De lib. Educ., c. 18.
Duty of Servants
Eph, 6:5.—Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ.
SENECA.—If any one supposes that slavery affects the whole man, he is mistaken; the better part of the man is exempt from it. The body of a slave is subject to his master; the mind is under a different law: the body is bought and sold; the mind cannot be brought into slavery. As long as a slave yields that service which can be exacted from him, it is a duty; but when he willingly offers that which he could not be compelled to do, he confers a benefit upon his master.—De Benef., III., 20.
Duty of Masters
Eph. 6: 9.—And, ye masters, do the same thing unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
SENECA. —Live so with an inferior as you would have a superior live with you. As often as you think on the power you have over a servant, reflect on the power your master has over you. Live courteously with your servant; vouchsafe him conference; admit him to counsel, and even to your table.—Epist., 47.
Fiery Darts
THUCYDIDES.—The Peloponnesians threw darts bearing fire into the trenches and ignited the fagots; thereby kindling such a flame under the walls of Platæa, as had never been seen before.— Thucyd., II., 75.
ARRIAN.—The Tyrians defended themselves with darts, and cast their missives, bearing fire at their points, into the very ship of the Macedonians.—Exped. Alex., II., 21.