Exposition on Ephesians

The Ephesians believed, from among the Jews and the Gentiles, when the apostle Paul preached. Because they were standing firm, he writes to them; at the beginning of the letter he addresses the Jews and sets out the mysteries of Christ's incarnation; then he turns to the Gentiles and exhorts them not to be ungrateful for such great benefits; then, addressing all in common, he lays down moral instructions to the end.

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God." Not by my merits. "To the saints and faithful." All saints are faithful, ... from the fact that they believe in Christ, can be called faithful and yet are not saints, because they have not been sanctified through baptism. Or: it is to be understood that he writes to those who faithfully keep the grace of holiness. "Who are at Ephesus in Christ Jesus." Not to all the Ephesians, but to those who believe in Christ.

"Grace to you and peace." Grace will avail for you then, if you are not ungrateful to it by ascribing your salvation to your own merits; and we shall keep the peace of reconciliation if from now on we do nothing contrary to his goodness or righteousness. "From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The Father and the Son are shown to be one, since both work alike.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." He praises God for having given the things written below. "Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing." Not in some, but in all the spiritual blessings of grace, so that, just as nothing is lacking to us from him, so nothing may be lacking to his will from us. "In the heavenly places." Not in fleshly prosperity or earthly abundance. "In Christ." In the head he blessed all the members.

"Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless." Because nothing is new to God, with whom all things existed before they came to be; not, as certain heretics dream, that souls were previously set apart in heaven. "In his sight." Not that of men. "In love." He did this through love. Or: God loves the spotless. "Who predestined us to adoption." Not of nature. "As sons." He predestined this: that all who were willing to believe should have the power to become sons of God, as it is written: "they spoke the word of God with all boldness" to everyone willing to believe. "Through Christ into himself." So that we may be his members. "According to the purpose of his will." Not according to our merits.

"To the praise of the glory of his grace." That we may praise the glory of his grace. "In which he has graced us in his beloved Son." In which grace he made us pleasing to himself in Christ.

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." Not only did he redeem us, but by forgiving our sins without labour of ours he made us righteous. "According to the riches of his grace,"

"which abounded toward us in all wisdom,"

"to make known the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in him." He abounded more than enough: not only did he freely forgive the sins of those redeemed from death, but he also gave us such wisdom that we should know the hidden mysteries of his will.

"For the dispensation of the fullness of times." In the last times, when the whole dispensation of the times of the law, of nature, and of the prophets had now been completed. "To restore all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in him." Many have said different things on this matter: some say that the heavens should be taken as souls and the earth as bodies; others affirm that the heavens are the Jews, who had heavenly commands, and the earth the Gentiles; others again assert that in the heavens it is not the angels who were restored, but that their knowledge advanced from the time of Christ, for as if ignorant they asked who this king of glory was, and they are taught that he is the Lord of hosts. But since nothing is said to be restored unless it has fallen, it is better if we say that their joy was restored in the salvation of human beings, the joy they had had before human beings wholly turned aside from righteousness; and that on earth the human race was restored through Christ, no one is unaware. "In whom we too have been called." We who from the Jews believed in Christ. "Predestined." Destined beforehand through faith. Or: foreknown. "According to the purpose of God." By which he purposed to restore all things, but first the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "Who works all things." The cause of all these things is the will of God, which there is no doubt is reasonable. "According to the counsel of his will." Not according to our merits.

"That we may be to the praise of his glory." That the glory of God may be praised through our way of life, or through the signs that we perform. "We who first hoped in Christ." We apostles or Jews, who believed in Christ first. Or: from the law we awaited Christ.

"In whom you also, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation." In whom salvation was announced also to you Gentiles. "In whom, believing." In which gospel. Or: in Christ. "You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,"

"who is the pledge of our inheritance." By this you will know that you are one, because you have received the same Spirit, whose signs are the earnest of the future inheritance. If, then, to raise the dead is an earnest, how great will the possession itself be! A pledge produces faith in what is promised; the Spirit was promised to all flesh through Joel. "Unto the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of his glory." Those whom he acquired by redeeming them with his blood, so that in this too we may praise his glory.

"Wherefore I also, hearing of your faith which is in the Lord Jesus." How firmly you hold the faith of Jesus. "And toward all the saints." That you love them without respect of person or of acquaintance; for we are commanded to beware of false prophets, not to believe every spirit, and not to judge before testing. This is to prove faith by works.

"I do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." Not, as some do, in the merriment of a banquet; but to me nothing is more pleasant than prayer.

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory," "may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation." Note that for those who have faith and love he asks wisdom from the Lord: for he knew it to be the mother of all virtues. "In the knowledge of him." How does he wish them to know God, whom they already knew so well that, believing in him, they loved all the saints for his sake? But he asks this: that they may know perfectly his greatness and power; his power, because he is able to fulfil the promised rewards or punishments; his greatness, because, since he is everywhere, nothing at all can escape him. For whoever has known this for certain will be able to sin in no place; since one who is ashamed before a human witness will much more be able to revere the divine. Hence the sons of Eli, though they were priests, are said not to have known God, because they had no fear at all of his presence and power; and John the apostle affirms that everyone who sins has not known God.

"The eyes of your heart being enlightened." Spiritual promises are perceived only by spiritual eyes. "That you may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." If you know to what great hope you have been called, you will easily despise every hope of this age; and if you see the riches of God's inheritance, every earthly inheritance will be worthless to you: for no one who hopes for a kingdom with its wealth deigns to be a steward and to possess a modest property.

"And what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward you who have believed, according to the working of the might of his power,"

"which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead." What he granted to Christians surpasses all the greatness of God's mighty works in nature or the law: that he did not spare his own Son, and that he set him, who has become our head, at his right hand in the heavenly places. "And setting him at his right hand in the heavenly places." Here "right hand" is put for honour, not so that God may be believed to be bodily: for the Father too is written to be at the right hand of Christ: "The Lord," it says, "at your right hand will shatter kings in the day of his wrath." Both, then, are at the right hand, because in the Godhead nothing is on the left.

"Above every power and principality and might and dominion." Because the man who was assumed and who was raised is now one with God. "And every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the age to come." If there is any other.

"And he has put all things under his feet, and has given him as head over all things to the church,"

"which is his body and his fullness." The church is the fullness of all the members. "Who is filled all in all." When all have believed, then his body will be complete in all its members: for he is filled as a whole in all the members, not in each one singly, lest there be no diversity.

"And you, when you were dead in your trespasses and sins." He begins to recount the benefits conferred, so that from the contemplation of the pardon given they may be more eagerly roused to the duty of the commandments: for they were dead because of their sins, as Adam was, and "the widow living in pleasures."

"In which you once walked." Note that he said they had walked in sins, not that they "walk." "According to the age of this world." Like the men of the age, following the devil's will. "According to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit." According to the prince of that power which is in this air. "Who now works." He works by persuasion, not by force. "In the sons of unbelief." In those who do not believe; and those who despair and distrust God's promise are called sons of unbelief, as also sons of wrath, of Gehenna, and of death.

"Among whom we all also once lived." Not only you Gentiles by not believing, but we Jews by sinning. "In the desires of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the thoughts." When our mind clung to earthly and fleshly things, not only desiring but also doing whatever an evil thought suggested. "And we were by nature children of wrath, even as the others." The custom of our ancestral tradition had so taken hold of us that we all seemed to be born for condemnation.

"But God, who is rich in mercy." "You have mercy on all, because you can do all things, and you love all the things you have created; for you would not have made anything if you hated it." "Because of his great love he had mercy on us." It is great love to love rebellious slaves as sons. Hence one must consider how much he loves those who have become saints, when he deigned to love sinners so much.

"And when we were dead in sins," "he made us alive together with Christ." By making us without sin through baptism, as Christ is. "By whose grace you have been saved." Because of him. Or: who freely died for you, with no merit of your righteousness intervening, or though he himself was not guilty.

"And raised us up with him and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ." We cannot despair of what our nature already possesses, because where the head is, there the body also will be, as he himself says: "I will that where I am, these also may be with me."

"That he might show in the ages to come." He predestined beforehand what he was going to accomplish in these times. "The abounding riches of his grace." Truly abounding grace, which not only forgave sins but also set those raised with Christ at God's right hand in the heavenly places. "In kindness toward us in Christ." In the example or the body of Christ.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves." Not by the merits of your former life, but by faith alone; and yet not without faith. "But it is the gift of God,"

"not of works, lest anyone should boast" that he received anything in baptism by his own merits.

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ in good works, which God prepared that we should walk in them." Because we have recently been reborn in Christ, so that we may walk in the good works shown in the gospel.

"Wherefore remember that once you were in the flesh." He reminds them from what great obscurity they have been brought to the height of royal dignity, so that they may not be ungrateful for the benefits of the giver. "You who were called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision." The Gentiles were called uncircumcision, the Jews circumcision. "In the flesh, made by hands." By a human hand in the flesh, not by the Spirit of God in the heart.

"Because you were at that time without Christ." Not knowing Christ, you worshipped senseless idols. "Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel." Which was then the people of God. "And strangers to the covenants." Even if you believed, you were considered proselytes, that is, newcomers. "Having no hope of the promise." Which God had promised to Abraham; they alone seemed to hope for it. "And without God in this world." For following many false gods, they had lost the one true God.

"But now in Christ you who once were far off have been brought near." So that you are made equal to the Jews, who were with God. "By the blood of Christ." By believing that you have been set free by his blood and passion.

"For he is our peace, who has made both one." He is the reconciliation of both peoples to each other and to God. "And the middle wall of the fence." The middle wall, the fence, and the partition were the burdens of the law, dividing the two peoples, and therefore it is called the wall of enmity. "Abolishing the enmities in his flesh." Those of circumcision and the rest, which not so much the will of God as either the circumstances of the time or the hardness of the people had required.

"Making void the law of commandments by decrees." Justifying by faith alone and decreeing moral precepts only. "That he might create the two in himself." Joining Jew and Gentile equally in his body. "Into one new man, making peace." Into one Christian people made from two.

"And might reconcile both to God in one body." Because both had been separated by sin. "Through the cross, slaying the enmities in himself." Through faith in the cross alone, which deters no one: for it is not heavy or difficult, since even the thief fixed to a cross could have it.

"And coming he preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near." He came for this purpose: to call back the human race, at strife both within itself and with God, to the grace of reconciliation.

"For through him we both have access to the Father." "No one comes to the Father except through me." "In one Spirit." One body has one spirit, and the one Spirit is the sign of peace.

"Therefore you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God." No longer foreigners or proselytes: for the Lord has not separated you from his people, as Isaiah foretold, but citizens, who are of the same origin and the same dwelling.

"Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone." The prophets of the new covenant, of whom Agabus was one. Christ is the foundation, who is also called the cornerstone, joining and holding together two walls. And he is both foundation and summit because in him the church is both founded and completed.

"In whom the whole structure, joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord." In a holy temple stones that are not holy cannot be laid. He says the body of Christ, that is, the church, is built up by comparison with the temple of Jerusalem, so that the reality may have much greater purity and holiness than the image.

"In whom you also are built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." That with the apostles and prophets you may be a spiritual dwelling of God, not made by hands.

"For this reason." For the reason I mentioned above: that the Son of God saved both Gentiles and Jews and made both one. "I Paul, the prisoner of Christ." Or: in chains. Or: bound by the love of Christ, I can do nothing but the Lord's will. Indeed, when he calls himself a prisoner, he confirms the gospel of Christ, showing how great his hope is, since for him he gladly embraces such sufferings, when he could have abounded in riches among the Jews as a teacher and master of the law and enjoyed the highest honour. "For you Gentiles." "As regards the gospel they are enemies for your sake," because we say that you are like the Jews.

"If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me among you." If indeed you firmly hold that I received among you the stewardship of teaching: for "who is the faithful and wise servant whom the Lord has set over his household, to give them food in due season?"

"That by revelation." Not by human teaching. "The mystery was made known to me, as I have written above." That Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ. "In brief,"

"as you can understand my prudence when you read." Not as much as I could write, but as much as you were able to grasp. "In the mystery of Christ." Not in worldly eloquence.

"Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets." The earlier prophets knew indeed that the Gentiles would be called, but they did not know that there would be no distinction between them and the Jews. "In the Spirit"

"that the Gentiles are fellow heirs." Revealed to me through the Spirit. Or: that they are made partners in the Spirit, not by circumcision of the flesh. "And of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus." That is, of one body; not only fellow heirs, since they can be of different kinds, nor only of the same body, since sons of the same kind may not share the same inheritance of property. "Through the gospel"

"of which I was made a minister." Through my preaching it becomes known to all, because this was revealed to me in particular. "According to the gift of God's grace." Not according to my merit. "According to the working of his power." Whose power strengthened me. Or: whose mighty works confirm my gospel.

"To me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given." Least in time, not in labour. At the same time note that by humbling himself he made ranks among the saints. "To preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." To announce the promised riches of the future inheritance, which human understanding cannot grasp except by revelation.

"And to enlighten all as to what is the dispensation of the mystery." To lay open the reason of this mystery both to Jews and Gentiles. "Hidden from the ages in God." That is, known to God alone in former times. "Who created all things." Both Jews and Gentiles. Or: every creature, so that the sense may serve against Marcion and the other heretics.

"That the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and priests in the heavenly places through the church."

"According to the predetermination of the ages which he made in Christ Jesus our Lord." By which he determined beforehand that at this time, when people could no longer be saved otherwise, they should be saved by faith in Christ alone.

"In whom we have boldness and access in confidence through faith in him." Not through our own righteousness, but through him whose faith forgave us our sins.

"Wherefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory." Hearing that I am harmed with impunity, do not think that it does not concern God; rather you ought to glory in it, understanding that I could not bear such things without the confidence of a sure hope.

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,"

"from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named." From whom every fatherhood has received its name. Or: from whom every fatherly thing is named.

"That he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit." That he may strengthen you through the enlightening knowledge of the riches of his glory. "In the inner man"

"that Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts." Where the inner man is strong through faith, there Christ dwells, not where the outer man is fattened. "Rooted and grounded in love." That you may stand firm in love of him and of all his members, in whom he himself is loved, so that, knowing him, you may love him for his benefits.

"That you may be able to comprehend." That you may be able to comprehend in every respect the greatness of knowledge. "With all the saints." "You will seek wisdom among the wicked and will not find it," and elsewhere: "wisdom rests in a good heart." "What is the breadth and length and height and depth." Some say that the breadth is to be understood as the broad way, the length as eternal life, the height as heaven, the depth as hell, so that, having knowledge of all these, they may know what to choose and what to reject.

"To know also the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge." The love of Christ surpasses knowledge, though it is born of it, as the fruit surpasses the root. "That you may be filled to all the fullness of Christ." That you may be made perfect in all the virtues of Christ.

"Now to him who is able to do above all things more abundantly than we ask or understand." Often he grants greater things not only than we ask but than we understand how to ask, as we understand from the power of the signs that works in us.

"To him be glory in Christ Jesus and in the church." Because Christ, in coming, gathered the church for himself to the glory of God. "Unto all ages of ages." Immeasurable benefits are to be celebrated with immeasurable praises, not only for those he conferred in the times of Christ but also for those he did before and will do. "Amen." Up to here he has spoken of the mystery of Christ's incarnation and of the calling of the Gentiles and the unity with the Jews brought about by the gospel, whose ministry he himself undertook, and by word, prayer and labour in all things he taught them to show themselves perfect. From here he begins to hand on moral instructions for the whole church.

"I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling with which you have been called." I who am in chains for your sake ask you, recognizing yourselves as sons of God, to live worthily of so great an honour; for every rank has its own instructions by which it is recognized.

"With all humility and meekness, with patience." Both of mind and of body: true humility claims nothing for itself, the meek man harms no one, the patient man repays no injury. "Bearing with one another in love." Philosophers also bear with others, but not in love; we, not in order to be praised but so that the one we bear with may make progress, ought to bear with him diligently. "Eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Through the bond of peace the unity of the Spirit is maintained in us: for "the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul."

"One body and one Spirit, as you were called in one hope of your calling:"

"one Lord, one faith, one baptism." One body must have one consent; the frame of all the members is in one body, and they are called to one hope of salvation. Hence those who are bound up in the business of the world and think that they may sin while others may not ought to read this passage more carefully, since all have been baptized into one body, have received the same Spirit, and have been called in one hope of God. If you have one Spirit and are born of one Father, God, do not claim anything for yourselves on the ground of earthly nobility, lest you lose the true glory. "One God and Father of all." Even of those who have believed from the Gentiles. "Who is above all and through all and in us all." Above all powers as almighty, through all his works because he is immeasurable, in all Christians by the sanctification by which he deigns to dwell in them.

"But to each one of us grace has been given." There are not many bodies because of the variety of graces, but different members. "According to the measure." Both of our capacity and of his generosity. "Of the gift of Christ." Whatever grace one fits oneself for, that grace he will obtain: for example, one who studies the law obtains wisdom; one who prays and fasts much, the power to cast out spirits.

"Wherefore he says: Ascending on high he led captivity captive, he gave gifts to men." Those whom the devil held captive in death, Christ took captive for life, setting our head in the heavenly places.

"Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended?" He explains why he is said to have ascended who, there is no doubt, is everywhere: namely, according to the form of a servant, into which he had descended not by place but by condescension. "Into the lower parts of the earth?" Let no one now doubt that hell is under the earth. "He who descended is the same also who ascended above all the heavens." He who descended with his soul into hell, the same ascended with soul and body into heaven. "That he might fill all things." With the glory of the triumphant one. Or: the things that are written. Or: since humanity has now been made one with divinity.

"And he gave some apostles, and some prophets." Against the Arians, that the working of the Son and of the Father is one: for to the Corinthians he says that God the Father appointed these in the church, but here he records that Christ gave them. "And others evangelists." Every apostle is an evangelist, not every evangelist an apostle, as Philip, who was one of the seven. "And others pastors and teachers." Pastors are the priests, and teachers are all who are fit to instruct others. Every pastor, then, is a teacher, not every teacher a pastor.

"For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ." That the saints may be made perfect. Or: that their number may be completed. All these were appointed to build up the church, which is the body of Christ, so that they may bring all to perfection of faith.

"Until we all attain to the unity of the faith." This wish is present even in false teachers. "And of the knowledge of the Son of God." He has recognized the grace of the Son of God who does not sin, because "everyone who sins has not seen him nor known him." "To the perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ." For "whoever says he abides in Christ ought himself also to walk as he walked," and to imitate not the age of his years but the virtue of his fullness.

"That we may no longer be children, and be carried about by every wind of doctrine." That we may not be ignorant or doubtful and wavering, and, like an unskilled helmsman, spread the sails of our faith to the wind of every doctrine, lest we easily suffer shipwreck or never be able to reach the harbour of perfection. "In the wickedness and cunning of men." Human wickedness, by cunning disputations, twists the unwary from the right course of faith. "For the remedy of error." Or: because many think it a kind of remedy for their error if they draw many with them into error.

"But doing the truth in love." Doing all things in truth for the love of Christ, and not in hypocrisy. "Let us grow up in all things into him." Let us grow in every part into his perfection. "Who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, fitted and joined together through every joint of supply, according to the working." The body joined to the head grows through every connection of working, while the members build each other up by loving, so that each member grows in its own measure; that is, that one who is an eye through wisdom may grow into the number of those who perform the office of the eye, and the individual members may make progress in their own place. "In the measure of each member makes the increase of the body for the building up of itself in love." While the individual members grow, the body becomes greater.

"This therefore I say and testify in the Lord," He now binds with an adjuration in the Lord those whom he had besought above. "That you no longer walk as the Gentiles walk." "I do not wish," he says, "that you be Christians in name only, and confess God with the mouth while denying him by works; but as great as the distance between the devil and God, so great a difference ought the sons of God to show from the sons of the devil, lest, honouring God with our lips, we stand far off from him in fear of heart, and it be said of us: 'In vain do they worship me'; that is, they will receive no fruit from worshipping me." "In the vanity of their mind." "Vain are all men in whom there is no knowledge of God."

"Having their understanding darkened." They have understanding by nature, but darkened by the fog and darkness of ignorance and worldly cares. "Alienated from the life of God." They are alienated from the life of God because they do not know him; but you who have known God ought to follow him. "Through the ignorance that is in them." Note that ignorance gave birth to contempt of God. "Because of the blindness of their heart." "Their foolish heart was darkened," of those who say: "There is no God."

"Who, despairing, have given themselves over to lewdness," Despairing of the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the righteous; and it is inevitable that those who despair of the future cling to present pleasures, as is said in the book of Wisdom in the person of those who presumed that "the soul is dissolved into air": "Come, let us enjoy the good things that are," and the rest. "To the working of all uncleanness and greed." He includes all crimes under the names of uncleanness and greed. "But you did not so learn Christ,"

"if indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him." So as to live, as they do, in the Gentile manner: for he has truly heard Christ and learned from him who is found like the Gentiles in no vice. "As the truth is in Jesus." As he truly died and truly rose, so that we may truly walk in newness of life.

"To put off, according to your former manner of life, the old man." He has explained what the old man is and how he is put off: namely, whoever forsakes the former errors and the pleasures of the world, and is changed not in the members of the body but in mind and way of life. "Who is corrupted according to the desires of error." Doing the will of fleshly thoughts.

"But be renewed in the spirit of your mind." As Jeremiah says: "Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit."

"And put on the new man." From the old understand the new. "Who according to God is created in righteousness." He has explained what it is for man to be created in the image of God: namely, that he be righteous and holy and truthful, as God is. "And holiness and truth," not vanity; that is, the holiness that hunts for the vain glory of men, since it is written: "Justly pursue what is just."

"Wherefore putting away lying." From here he describes the very forms of holiness by which the new man is recognized. "Speak the truth each one with his neighbour, for we are members of one another." Let no one cheat his brother, because we are one body, and members cannot deceive or even tear one another: for the hand does not mock the eye, nor do the teeth tear the members, unless perhaps where an unclean spirit dwells.

"Be angry and do not sin." Let anger not intoxicate the mind, but let severity be applied, and correct not your own injury but your brother's sin. "Let not the sun go down upon your anger." Lest the light of knowledge fail in your indignation.

"Do not give place to the devil." By being angry, or by any other offence: for sin is the devil's gate, as righteousness is the gate of the Holy Spirit.

"Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labour." Let him make good by his own labour other people's labours that he once plundered, and by working give to the needy, he who by stealing made many destitute. "Working with his hands what is good, so that he may have something to share with those in need." Not what is evil: for there are many either dishonourable or evil trades, such as sorcery, and those that serve not the needs of nature but the pleasure of desires.

"Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth." Not one or two, but all evil words ought to be crucified in a Christian's mouth. "But only such as is good for the building up of faith." He did not impose silence, but showed the quality of speech, so that every word should build up Christian faith, and our mouth should be open only to the word of God. Note that this is commanded to the whole church. "That it may give grace to the hearers." This is what he says elsewhere: "Let your speech be in grace, seasoned with salt," so that the hearers may receive grace from our speech.

"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God." Speaking to human beings, he uses human comparisons, so that we may understand from ourselves how great an injury we do to the Holy Spirit when we pollute his house in us with some stain of sin, and that, grieving for us and not for himself, he departs sorrowful from his lodging. For the rest, sorrow and anger and other such things are passions in us, because we are passible, but in God they are dispensations: for we suffer them unwillingly, he takes them on by his will for our correction; and this is the difference of these conditions between God and man, which is a difference of nature. "In whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." You received the seal of the Holy Spirit on the day of baptism; you began to have a new seal.

"All bitterness." He shows by what the Holy Spirit is grieved; and rightly he put bitterness before anger, because it is the provocation. "And anger." He took away all anger. "And indignation." Indignation comes from pride, when we judge someone unworthy and therefore will not bear with him. "And clamour." Clamour, which comes from fury, which Christ did not have. Isaiah, however, is rightly bidden to cry aloud; and the Lord himself "cried" in the temple: "If anyone thirsts, let him come and drink." "And blasphemy be put away from you, with all malice." Malice that can repay even an enemy in kind.

"And be kind to one another." Keep the order of the law, so that not only is malice taken away but kindness is also put in. "Merciful." Compassionate. "Forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Forgiving sins, lest it be said to us: "Wicked servant, I forgave you all the debt; you ought also to have forgiven your fellow servant." "Be therefore imitators of God, as dearest sons." For by imitation, not by nature, we are sons of God, as the Saviour says: "That you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven," and the rest.

"And walk in love, as Christ also loved you." Hence the apostle John also says: "By this we have known love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." "And gave himself up." He gave himself up voluntarily; he was not handed over unwillingly by another. "For us." For sinners, that they might become righteous. "An offering and sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness."

"But sexual immorality and all uncleanness or greed." He covers all crimes briefly by naming the two roots of crimes. "Let it not even be named among you, as befits saints." Consider whether it is lawful to do what it is not lawful to name.

"Or obscenity or foolish talk." This is censured even among the sons of honourable men. "Or jesting, which is not to the point." Moving laughter, which does not suit Christian gravity, because it does not belong to the heavenly and divine matter. "But rather thanksgiving." Rather you should always be considering how to please God in deed and thought.

"For know this and understand, that every fornicator or covetous or unclean person, which is idolatry, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." He argues against those who say that faith alone can suffice, because acts of this kind are performed not for God but for a demon; and the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven is prepared for sons of God, not for sons of the devil.

"Let no one deceive you." By saying: "This alone is needed, that there be faith and that a person obtain Christ's baptism; however much he sins, he cannot perish." "With empty words." Which will not be able to set a person free. "For because of these things the wrath of God comes." Know the future from the past: if he spared the Sodomites and those who perished in the flood, he will spare you too. "Upon the sons of unbelief." Who did not believe that the wrath of God, who threatens, would come upon them.

"Do not therefore become partakers with them." If you are partakers in the sins of those who despair of judgment, you will also be partners in the punishment.

"For you were once darkness, but now light in the Lord. Walk as sons of light." When you did not know the Lord's will; but now you have known all things. As great, then, as the distance between light and darkness, so much must you differ from your former way of life.

"For the fruit of light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth." Knowledge has such fruit.

"Proving what is well pleasing to God." Prove from the law what is well pleasing to God, not what men assert.

"And do not have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." Whatever is done without knowledge of the truth is of no profit, because light cannot have fellowship with darkness. "But rather reprove them." Not only refuse fellowship, but reprove them too.

"For the things done by them in secret." In hidden places of houses, or in temples. "It is shameful even to speak of." It is shameful for us to speak of what they are not ashamed to do as if in darkness.

"But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light." As he says to the Corinthians: "the secrets of his heart are made manifest, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God, declaring that God is truly among you." "For everything that is made manifest is light." He begins to be light when they believe, and he is joined to you.

"Wherefore it says: Rise, you who sleep." He brings in, as it were, the voice of some wise man knocking at the conscience of the unbeliever and wishing to rouse him from the sleep of ignorance. "And arise from the dead." From sins or from idols. "And Christ will enlighten you." When you believe in him, you too will become light.

"See then, brothers, how you walk carefully, not as unwise but as wise." As sons of wisdom and light, lest you give anyone an occasion of stumbling and begin to be a cause of his perdition.

"Redeeming the time," by your wisdom or caution. "Because the days are evil." The days are not evil in themselves, but through men, as a place is called evil in which some evil is committed.

"Therefore do not become imprudent, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." Search the law, in which his will is known.

"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is luxury, but be filled with the Spirit." He sets out the usefulness of self-restraint, because it is not fitting for those crucified to seek the fuel of luxury, but to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

"Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." Not about the doings of the world, as the prophet says: "That my mouth may not speak the works of men." "Singing and making melody in your hearts." Lest we sound out God's words with the mouth only. "To the Lord"

"always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Whether for good or for evil; like Job, say: "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

"being subject to one another in the fear of Christ." Not from human fear or eagerness for gain, as some are accustomed to flatter their patrons.

"Let wives be subject to their own husbands." Because he was not feeding them with milk, like the incontinent Corinthians, but nourishing them with the perfect food of continence. For he fears that, when the duty of the flesh ceases among many, either subjection in the wives or the affection of love in the husbands might cease, and he might seem to have taught not so much continence as divorce. Otherwise, what sort of thing would it be for a preacher of new life to teach, with no cause existing, what they already possessed by nature! "As to the Lord." "As Sarah was subject to Abraham, calling him lord."

"Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, he himself the saviour of the body;"

"but as the church is subject to Christ, so also let wives be to their husbands in all things." He gives a just reason for subjection, because the man is both prior and ought to be the saviour of the body of both.

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church." With so holy and venerable a love. "And gave himself up for her." So you too should not refuse to die, if necessary, for the holiness of your wives.

"That he might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of water in the word." Water washed the body, teaching cleansed the soul, as he says to the Hebrews: "having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our body washed with pure water"; so you too cleanse your wives' bodies by continence and their souls by teaching.

"That he might present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing." So Christ cleansed the church for himself: he washed away the old crimes, and showed both by word and by example how we might not incur new stains. "But that it might be holy and without blemish." If it is without blemish in all its members, the stained are judged to be strangers to it, unless they have again been cleansed through repentance.

"So also husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies." That they may show their wives to be such as they themselves wish to be found. "He who loves his wife loves himself." Because the two are in one flesh.

"For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it." Not to inflict labours and pains on it, but to make it secure and peaceful. He does not condemn marriage, but he exhorts to continence. "As Christ also does the church,"

"because we are members of his body." The members ought to imitate him in all things. "Of his flesh and of his bones." We are of the whole substance of his body.

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother." In affection, even if not in place. "And will cleave to his wife, and the two will be in one flesh." An objection in the person of those who wish to love carnally.

"This mystery is great: but I speak in regard to Christ and the church." I say, he says, that this is to be understood of Christ and the church; hence you ought to love your wives, spiritual and holy, with greater affection, since you formerly loved them as sinners and fleshly in paganism.

"Nevertheless let each one love his wife as himself; and let the wife fear her husband." Let her be subject as the weaker, so that she may be guided.

"Children, obey your parents." He prepares them for discipline, because he commands that they be brought up by their parents according to God. "For this is right." That you may show love in return.

"Honour your father and mother." He commands that parents be honoured, but good ones; for Moses himself forbade the recognition of those who live against God. "Which is the first commandment." First in the second table, which contained six precepts concerning humanity; for the first table properly required the duties toward God. "With a promise,"

"that it may be well with you and you may be long-lived upon the earth." Not in this earth, in which even the wicked sometimes grow old among wicked parents, but upon that earth which the Lord promises to the meek, in which the righteous will dwell, and whose good things the psalmist believes he will see.

"And you fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord." Or: by beating them immoderately and unreasonably. Or: lest, by urging them toward worldly studies, you make them learn anger; but train them in the disciplines of the divine law. To such parents, then, he commands children to obey.

"Slaves, be subject to your masters according to the flesh." For Christ did not come to change conditions: for nature did not give servitude, but captivity made it; nor did it begin from the curse of Ham, as some think, since we read that kings were born from him. That curse was fulfilled in the sons of Ham, who were subjected to the sons of Israel. The apostle takes care here that the teaching of God not be blasphemed in any way, if believing slaves become useless to their masters, and that the master, who perhaps was going to allow other slaves to become Christians, may not begin to regret those already made so; but if he sees that they have improved and become faithful from unfaithful, he will not only wish his other servants to believe, but perhaps he himself will be saved. "With fear and trembling in the simplicity of your heart." With all obedience and eagerness of humility, having laid aside former pride and pretence. "As to Christ." Whatever is shown to men for his sake is done to Christ.

"Not serving to the eye, as pleasers of men." Not only when their masters are present, as if wishing to please them and not God. "But as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." In those things that are not contrary to God's will: for in many things the mind of masters agrees naturally with the law, since they want slaves who are faithful, sober, chaste, and humble.

"Serving with good will, as to the Lord and not to men." Not with grumbling, lest you be deprived both of favour with men and of reward with God.

"Knowing that whatever good each one does, this he will receive from the Lord, whether slave or free." Whatever you do for God's sake, you have your reward from him, and let your condition of servitude not make you despair.

"And you masters, do the same to them." Lest, if they run away, you begin to blame it on your own malice, not on the law. Even a pagan would have done this, if he were treated so: and you too ought to listen, if you want him to listen to what has been commanded. "Forbearing threats, knowing that both their Lord and yours is in heaven, and there is no respect of persons with God." Threaten for the sake of discipline, but forgive for the sake of mercy, so that your Lord may also forgive you, with whom you are so much one that there is one inheritance for you, which has been promised.

"Finally, brothers." He concludes the letter with a general exhortation. "Be strengthened in the Lord and in the power of his might." By the Lord's example and power.

"Put on the armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the cunning of the devil." Against spiritual enemies spiritual arms must be taken up, so that the difference of nature may be covered by the strength of the arms.

"For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood." Man is called flesh and blood. "But against principalities and powers." Who have usurped dominion over the men of this world, and who seduce ignorant souls through sins. "Against the rulers of the world of this darkness." "For you were once darkness, but now light in the Lord." "Against the spiritual forces of wickedness." For there are also spiritual forces of goodness. "In the heavenly places." In the air, where the birds are called "of heaven."

"Therefore take up the armour of God." Because you have such enemies. "That you may be able to resist in the evil day." The day is not evil to itself, but to us, when we are attacked by the evil one. "And stand perfect in all things." He wants man to be perfect not in some things only; but this too should be noted, that he exhorts all to perfection.

"Stand therefore, having your loins girded." Stand perfectly, with the loins of the mind girded: that is, prepared manfully for every battle and free from all the cares of the world. "In truth." Not in hypocrisy; for no one "is crowned unless he has competed lawfully." "And having put on the breastplate of righteousness." As a breastplate is woven of many rings or links, so righteousness is joined from different kinds of virtues; and it guards not only the conscience of the breast but also the continence of the belly, and it reaches even to restraining the lust of the thighs.

"And having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Advancing fearlessly with confidence, preach.

"Taking up in all things the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the darts of the evil one." Let us be protected by faith in all battles, because the shield is the defence of the arms themselves, and without it a man fully armed is unarmed; so these virtues too cannot save without faith. For as the shield repels and beats back everything thrown at it, so faith shuts out all the persuasions of the devil, though they seem to have a kind of light of reason.

"And take the helmet of salvation." Which protects all the senses of the head from evil uses and hides them. "And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." No soldier dares to go to war without a sword: for he can protect himself somehow, but he cannot kill the enemy, and sometimes he is even stripped of all his arms and slain by a bold enemy; so without the word of God all righteousness is unprotected.

"Through all prayer and supplication." Always ask for this sword. "Praying at all times in the Spirit." "Do not be hindered from praying always," and pray for spiritual things. "And watching in it." For it profits nothing to let the mind wander, like a sleeper, while the body lies still, since with such vanity nothing could be obtained even from a man. "For all the saints." Be saints, so that you may be able to pray for the saints.

"And for me, that speech may be given me in the opening of my mouth, with boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel." That I may set forth abundantly and without fear of persecution or of the hatred of the Jews the reason of the people united in Christ.

"For which I am an ambassador in chains, so that in it I may dare to speak as I ought." For all ambassadors of the word must without doubt endure such things, but the word of God cannot be bound: for then there will be greater confidence, if it is spoken reasonably and there is abundance to express the reason.

"But that you also may know my affairs, what I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother, will make all things known to you,"

"whom I have sent to you for this very purpose." He acts with care, not only that they may make progress, but also that they may not lose heart at his tribulations, or be saddened in anything.

"Peace to the brothers and love with faith." Peace and love and faith make a perfect Christian: for love without faith is as unfruitful as faith without love or peace; love is greater than peace, for one can be not hated and yet not loved.

"Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption." Or: of chastity. Or: in whose heart the love of Christ is not violated by any adulterous worldly love.