《Eadie’s Commentary on Ephesians (Vol. )》(John Eadie) 04 Chapter Introduction Chapter 4

Harless connects εἰς αὐτόν with ἐν ἀγάπῃ—“in love to Him.” But the position of the words forbids such a connection; and though the hyperbaton were allowable, the idea brought ought by such an exegesis is wholly out of harmony with the train of thought. Kühner, § 865. The idea of Harless is, that the spiritual growth here referred to, is growth toward the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, and that this depends on love to Christ. Now, we know that love to Christ rules and governs the believing spirit, and that it contributes to spiritual advancement; but in the passage before us such a connection would limit the operation of this grace, for here, as in the following verse, it stands absolutely. ᾿εν ἀγάπῃ describes the sphere of growth, and the meaning is, not that we are to grow in love, as if love were the virtue in which progress was to be made, but that in love we are to grow in reference to all things-all the elements essential to perfection; love being the means and the sphere of our advancement. The phrase εἰς αὐτόν does not mean “in Him,” according to the erroneous rendering of Jerome, Pelagius, Grotius, and Rückert; nor yet “like Him,” as is the paraphrase of Zanchius; but “to Him,” to Him as the end or aim of this growth, as is held by Crocius, Estius, Holzhausen, Meyer, Olshausen, and de Wette; or “into Him,” into closer union with Him, as the centre and support of life and growth. Buttmann, Neutest. Sprach. p. 287.

It is almost superfluous to remark, that the syntax of Wahl, Holzhausen, Koppe, and Schrader, in making τὰ πάντα equivalent to οἱ πάντες, cannot be received. The words mean “as to all”- κατά being the supplement, if one were needed; but such an accusative denoting “contents or compass” often follows verbs which cannot govern the accusative of object. Madvig, § 25. And the phrase is not simply πάντα, but τὰ πάντα. We cannot acquiesce in the view of Harless, who restricts the words to the ἑνότης of Ephesians 4:13. Stier, giving the article the same retrospective reference, includes faith, knowledge, truth, and love. That τὰ πάντα has often a special contextual reference, the passages adduced by Harless are sufficient proof. But it is often used in an absolute sense (Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6); or if these, from their peculiarity of meaning, be not reckoned apposite references, we have in addition 1 Corinthians 15:28; Mark 4:11; Acts 17:25; Romans 8:32. Besides, “the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,” is the end to which Christians are to come, and cannot therefore be well reckoned also among the elements of growth. Meyer's idea is, that τὰ πάντα denotes “all in which we grow,” and he supposes the apostle to mean, that all things in which we grow should have reference to Christ. Luther, Beza, Rückert, and Matthies, render pro omnia, or prorsus. The article gives πάντα an emphatic sense—“the whole;” and as the reference of the apostle is to a growing body, τὰ πάντα may signify all that properly belongs to it; or, as Olshausen phrases it, “we are to grow in all those things in which the Christian must advance.” The apostle first lays down the primary and permanent means of growth, holding the truth- ἀληθεύοντες; then he describes the peculiar temperament in which this growth is secured and accelerated- ἐν ἀγάπῃ; then he specifies its aim and end- εἰς αὐτόν; and, lastly, he marks its amount and harmony- τὰ πάντα. The body becomes monstrous by the undue development of any part or organ, and the portion that does not grow is both unsightly and weak, and not fitted to honour or serve the head. The apostle thus inculcates the duty of symmetrical growth, each grace advancing in its own place, and in perfect unison with all around it. That character is nearest perfection in which the excessive prominence of no grace throws such a withering shadow upon the rest, as to signalize or perpetuate their defect, but in which all is healthfully balanced in just and delicate adaptation. Into Him-

ὅς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ, χριστός—“who is the head-Christ.” D, E, F, G, K, L, prefix the article to χριστός, but A, B, and C, with other authorities, read χριστός without the article, perhaps rightly. The article in the New Testament is oftener omitted than inserted. When Alford warns against our former rendering—“the Christ”-he evidently puts a polemic meaning into the phrase-which is not necessarily in it. The meaning of κεφαλή in such a connection has been already explained; Ephesians 1:22. That Head is Christ- χριστός being placed with solemn emphasis at the end of the verse-being in the nominative and in assimilation with the preceding relative. Stallbaum, Plato Apol. p. 41; Winer, § 59, 7. The Head is Christ-one set apart, commissioned, and qualified as Redeemer, and who by His glorious and successful interposition has won for Himself this illustrious pre-eminence.

Verse 16

(Ephesians 4:16.) We would not say with. Chrysostom, that “the apostle expresses himself here with great obscurity, from his wish to utter all at once- τῷ πάντα ὁμοῦ θελῆσαι εἰπεῖν;” but we may say that the language of this verse is as compacted as the body which it describes.

ἐξ οὗ—“from whom,” that is, from Christ as the Head. This phrase does not and cannot mean “to whom,” as Koppe gives it, nor “by whom,” as Morus, Holzhausen, and Flatt maintain. The preposition ἐκ marks the source. “From whom,” as its source of growth, “the body maketh increase.” The body without the head is but a lifeless trunk. It was εἰς αὐτόν in the previous verse, and now it is ἐξ οὗ. The growth is to Him, and the growth is from Him-Himself its origin and Himself its end. The life that springs from Him as the source of its existence, is ever seeking and flowing back to Him as the source of its enjoyment. The anatomical figure is as follows-

πᾶν τὸ σῶμα συναρμολογούμενον καὶ συμβιβαζόμενον—“all the body being fitly framed together and put together.” The verb connected with σῶμα as its nominative is ποιεῖται. The first participle occurs at Ephesians 2:21, and is there explained. It denotes—“being composed of parts fitted closely to each other.” The second participle is used in a tropical sense in the New Testament (Acts 9:22; Acts 16:10; 1 Corinthians 2:16), but here it has its original signification—“brought and held together.” The two participles express the idea that the body is of many parts, which have such mutual adaptation in position and function, that it is a firm and solid structure-

διὰ πάσης ἁφῆς τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας—“by means of every joint of the supply.” This clause has originated no little difference of opinion. We take it as closely connected by διά with the two preceding participles, and as expressing the instrumentality by which this symmetry and compactness are secured. Meyer, Stier, and Alford, following Bengel, and contrary to its position, join the phrase to the verb ποιεῖται. The Greek fathers, followed by Meyer, render ἁφή by αἴσθησις-touch, sense of touch; tactum subministrationis is found in Augustine, De Civ. Dei, 22.18, and similarly Wycliffe—“bi eche joynture of undir seruynge.” But, with the majority of expositors, we take the word as explained by the parallel passage in Colossians 2:19, and as the Vulgate renders it-junctura. ᾿επιχορηγία denotes aid or assistance, and is taken by Flatt, Rückert, Harless, and Olshausen, as the genitive of apposition, and as referring to the Holy Spirit. The Greek fathers, and Meyer, render—“through our feeling of divine assistance.” Chrysostom says—“that spirit which is supplied to the members from the head, touches, or communicates itself to each single member, and thus actuates it.” Their idea is, through the joint or bond of union, which is the supply or aid of the Holy Spirit. We prefer taking ἐπιχορηγίας as the genitive of use-compacted together by every joint which serves for supply. John 5:29; Hebrews 9:21; Winer, § 30, 2 β. ᾿επιχορηγία is thus the assistance which the joints give in compacting and organizing the body. So in Colossians 2:19 - διὰ τῶν ἁφῶν καὶ συνδέσμων ἐπιχορηγούμενον. Such is also the general view of Grotius, Zanchius, Calvin, Matthies, Baumgarten-Crusius, and Ellicott. We understand it thus-From whom all the body, mutually adapted in all its parts, and closely compacted by means of every joint whose function it is to afford such aid-

κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἐν μέτρῳ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου μέρους—“according to energy in the measure of each individual part.” The MSS. A and C, with others of less note, along with the Vulgate, Coptic, and Syriac versions, and Chrysostom, Jerome, and Pelagius, read μέλους, which fits the passage so well as an explanation of μέρους, that we can easily conceive how it was introduced. Rückert and Bretschneider take κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν as an adverbial phrase, but without any real ground. The noun has been explained under Ephesians 1:19, Ephesians 3:7. It signifies “inworking”-effectual influence or operation, and is a modal explanation attached to the following verb. No article is between it and the following noun indicating unity of conception. ᾿εν μέτρῳ—“in the measure of every one part,” a plain reference to Ephesians 4:7. Bernhardy, p. 211. The connection has been variously supposed:-1. Harless takes the phrase in connection with the participle συμβιβαζόμενον. Such a connection is, we think, fallacious, for the compactness and the union of the body depend upon the functional assistance of the joints, not merely on the energy which pervades each part of the body, and which to each part is apportioned. But the growth depends on this ἐνέργεια, or distributed vital power, and so we prefer to connect the clause with the following verb—“maketh increase.” And it puzzles us to discover any reason why Harless should understand by the “parts” of the body, the pastors and teachers mentioned in Ephesians 4:11. Such an idea wholly mars the unity of the figure. 2. Others, among whom are Stier, Flatt, and Matthies, join the phrase to ἐπιχορηγίας, as if the assistance given by the joints were according to this energy. To this we have similar objection, and we would naturally have expected the repetition of the article, though it is n ot indispensable. “Energy,” “measure,” “part,” belong rather to the idea of growth than to stability. This energy is supposed by some, such as Theophylact, Grotius, and Beza, to be that of Christ, and Zanchius takes along with this the reflex operation of grace among the members of the church. The whole body-

τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ σώματος ποιεῖται—“carries on the increase of the body.” Colossians 2:19. Though σῶμα was the nominative, σώματος is repeated in the genitive-the body maketh increase of the body, even of itself. Luke 3:19; John 9:5; Winer, § 22, 2; Bornemann, Scholia in Luc. xxx. p. 5. The sentence being so long, the noun is repeated, especially as ἑαυτοῦ occurs in the subsequent clause. The use of the middle voice indicates either that the growth is of internal origin, and is especially its own-it makes growth “for itself,” or a special intensity of idea is intended. See under Ephesians 3:18; Krüger, § 52, 8, 4. The middle voice in this verb often seems to have little more than the active signification (Passow, sub voce), but the proper sense of the middle is here to be acknowledged, signifying either that the growth is produced from vital power within the body, or denoting the spiritual energy with which the process is carried on. Winer, § 38, 5, note. The body, so organized and compacted, developes the body's growth according to the vital energy which is measured out to each one of its parts. The purpose of this growth is now stated-

εἰς οἰκοδομὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ—“for the building up of itself in love.” The phrase ἐν ἀγάπῃ, however, plainly connects this verse with the preceding one. Meyer errs in connecting ἐν ἀγάπῃ with the verb or the whole clause. The words are the solemn close, and the verb has been twice conditioned already. Love is regarded still as the element in which growth is made. And it is not to be taken here in any restricted aspect, for it is the Christian grace viewed in its widest relations-the fulfilment of the law. Such we conceive to be the general meaning of the verse.

The figure is a striking one. The body derives its vitality and power of development from the head. See under Ephesians 1:22-23. The church has a living connection with its living Head, and were such a union dissolved, spiritual death would be the immediate result. The body is fitly framed together and compacted by the functional assistance of the joints. Its various members are not in mere juxtaposition, like the several pieces of a marble statue. No portion is superfluous; each is in its fittest place, and the position and relations of none could be altered without positive injury. “Fearfully and wonderfully made,” it has its hard framework of bone so formed as to protect its vital organs in the thorax and skull, and yet so united by “curiously wrought” joints, as to possess freedom of motion both in its vertebral column and limbs. But it is no ghastly and repulsive skeleton, for it is clothed with flesh and fibre, which are fed from ubiquitous vessels, and interpenetrated with nerves-the Spirit's own sensational agents and messengers. It is a mechanism in which all is so finely adjusted, that every part helps and is helped, strengthens and is strengthened, the invisible action of the pores being as indispensable as the mass of the brain and the pulsations of the heart. When the commissioned nerve moves the muscle, the hand and foot need the vision to guide them, and the eye, therefore, occupies the elevated position of a sentinel. How this figure is applicable to the church may be seen under a different image at Ephesians 2:21. The church enjoys a similar compacted organization-all about her, in doctrine, discipline, ordinance, and enterprise, possessing mutual adaptation, and showing harmony of structure and power of increase.

“The body maketh increase of the body” according to the energy which is distributed to every part in its own proportion. Corporeal growth is not effected by additions from without. The body itself elaborates the materials of its own development. Its stomach digests the food, and the numerous absorbents extract and assimilate its nourishment. It grows, each part according to its nature and uses. The head does not swell into the dimensions of the trunk, nor does the “little finger” become “thicker than the loins.” Each has the size that adapts it to its uses, and brings it into symmetry with the entire living organism. And every part grows. The sculptor works upon a portion only of the block at a time, and, with laborious effort, brings out in slow succession the likeness of a feature or a limb, till the statue assumes its intended aspect and attitude. But the plastic energy of nature presents no such graduated forms of operation, and needs no supplement of previous defects. Even in the embryo the organization is perfect, though it is in miniature, and harmonious growth only is required. For the “energy” is in every part at once, but in every part in due apportionment. So the church universal has in it a Divine energy, and that in all its parts, by which its spiritual development is secured. In pastors and people, in missionaries and catechists, in instructors of youth and in the youth themselves, this Divine principle has diffused itself, and produces everywhere proportionate advancement. And no ordinance or member is superfluous. Blessing is invoked on the word preached, and the eucharist is the complement of baptism. Praise is the result of prayer, and the “keys” are made alike to open and to shut. Of old the princes and heroes went to the field, and “wise-hearted women did spin.” While Joshua fought, Moses prayed. The snuffers and trays were as necessary as the magnificent la mp-stand. The rustic style of Amos the herdsman has its place in Scripture, as well as the polished paragraphs of the royal preacher. The widow's mite was commended by Him who sat over against the treasury. Solomon built a temple. Joseph provided a tomb. Mary the mother gave birth to the child, and the other Maries wrapt the corpse in spices. Lydia entertained the apostle, and Phoebe carried an epistle. A basket was as necessary for Paul's safety at one time as his burgess ticket and a troop of cavalry at another. And the result is, that the church is built up, for love is the element of spiritual progress. That love fills the renewed nature, and possesses peculiar facilities of action in “edifying” the mystical body of Christ. And, lastly, the figure is intimately connected with the leading idea of the preceding paragraph, and presents a final argument on behalf of the unity of the church. The apostle speaks of but one body- πᾶν τὸ σῶμα. Whatever parts it may have, whatever their form, uses, and position, whatever the amount of energy resident in them, still, from their connection with the one living Head, and from their own compacted union and mutual adjustment, they compose but one growing structure “in love:”-

“I'm apt to think, the man

That could surround the sum of things, and spy

The heart of God and secrets of His empire,

Would speak but love. With him the bright result

Would change the hue of intermediate scenes,

And make one thing of all theology.”

Verse 17

(Ephesians 4:17.) τοῦτο οὖν λέγω—“This, then, I say.” The apostle now recurs to the inculcation of many special and important duties, or as Theodoret writes- πάλιν ἀνέλαβε; and he begins with the statement of some general principles. The singular τοῦτο gives a species of unity and emphasis to the following admonitions, for it here refers to succeeding statements, as in 1 Corinthians 7:29; 1 Thessalonians 4:15. Other examples may be seen in Winer, § 23, 5. οὖν is not merely resumptive of the ethical tuition begun in Ephesians 4:1 (Donaldson, § 548, 31), but it has reference also to the previous paragraph from Ephesians 4:4-16, which, thrown out as a digression from Ephesians 4:3, runs at length into an argument for the exhortations which follow. Granting, as Ellicott contends, that grammatically οὖν is only resumptive, it may be admitted that such a resumption is modified by the sentiment of the intervening verses. The apostle in resuming cannot forget the statements just made by him-the destined perfection of the church, its present advancement, with truth for its nutriment and love for its sphere, and its close and living connection with its glorified Head. How emphatic is his warning to forsake the sins and sensualities of surrounding heathendom! Romans 12:3.

λέγω καὶ μαρτύρομαι ἐν κυρίῳ—“I say and testify in the Lord.” Romans 9:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 1 Timothy 5:21; 2 Timothy 2:14; 2 Timothy 4:1. The apostle does not mean to call the Lord to witness, as if ἐν κυρίῳ could mean “by the Lord,” as Theodoret and some of his imitators render it; but he solemnly charges “in the Lord”-the Lord being the element in which the charge is delivered-

μηκέτι ὑμᾶς περιπατεῖν καθὼς καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔθνη περιπατεῖ —“that ye walk no longer as also the other Gentiles walk.” 1 Peter 4:3. It is to the Gentile portion of the church that the apostle addresses himself. The adverb μηκέτι, “no longer,” is here used with the infinitive, though often with ἵνα and the subjunctive. The infinitive, which grammatically is the object of λέγω, expresses not so much what is, as what ought to be. Bernhardy, p. 371; Phryn. ed. Lobeck, p. 371; Winer, § 44, 3, b; Donaldson, § 584. They once walked as Gentiles, but they were to walk so no longer. The verb περιπατεῖν, in its reference to habits of life, has been explained under Ephesians 2:2. The καί after καθώς means “also.” Hartung, i. p. 126. In some such cases καί occurs twice, as in Romans 1:13, on which see the remarks of Fritzsche in his Comment. A, B, D¹, F, G, the Coptic, the Vulgate, and most of the Latin fathers omit λοιπά. But the great majority of MSS. retain it, such as D², D³, E, K, L, and the Greek fathers, with the old Syriac version. We therefore prefer, with Tischendorf, to keep it, and we can easily imagine a finical reason for its being left out by early copyists, as the Ephesian Christians seem by λοιπά to be reckoned among Gentiles yet. But being Gentiles by extraction, they are exhorted not to walk as the rest of the Gentiles-such as still remain unconverted or are in the state in which they always have been. Just as a modern missionary might say to his congregation in Southern Africa, Walk not as the other Kaffirs around you. The other Gentiles walked-

ἐν ματαιότητι τοῦ νοὸς αὐτῶν—“in the vanity of their mind.” The sphere in which they walk is described by ἐν. Romans 1:21. νοῦς is not intellect simply, but in the case of believers it signifies that portion of the spiritual nature whose function is to comprehend and relish Divine truth. Usteri, Lehrb. p. 35. It is the region of thought, will, and susceptibility-the mind with its emotional capabilities. Beck, Seelenl. p. 49, etc.; Delitzsch, Psych. p. 244. In the Hebrew psychology the intellect and heart were felt to act and react on one another, so that we have such phrases as “an understanding heart,” 1 Kings 3:9; “hid their heart from understanding,” Job 17:4; “the desires of the mind,” Ephesians 2:3, etc. That mind was characterized by “vanity.” Its ideas and impulses were perverse and fruitless. We do not, with some exegetes, restrict this vanity to the Hebrew sense of idolatry- ֶהבֶל, H2039-or as Theodoret thus defines it- τὰ μὴ ὄντα θεοποιοῦντα . The meaning seems to be, that all the efforts and operations of their spiritual nature ended in dreams and disappointment. Speculation on the great First Cause, issued in atheism, polytheism, and pantheism; and discussions on the supreme good failed to elicit either correct views of man's intellectual nature in its structure, or to train its moral nature to a right perception of its capabilities, obligations, and destiny; while the future was either denied in a hopeless grave without a resurrection, or was pictured out as the dreary circuit of an eternal series of transmigrations, or had its locality in a shadowy elysium, which, though a scene of classical retirement, was “earthly, sensual, devilish”-the passions unsubdued, and the heart unsanctified. The ethical and religious element of their life was unsatisfactory and cheerless, alike in worship and in practice, the same as to present happiness as to future prospect, for they knew not “man's chief end.”

Verse 18

(Ephesians 4:18.) ᾿εσκοτισμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ, ὄντες ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ θεοῦ—“Darkened in their understanding, and being alienated from the life of God.” Critics have differed as to which of the two leading perfect participles the participle ὄντες should be joined. Many attach it to the first of them, such as Clement (Protrept. ix. p. 69), Theodoret, Bengel, Harless, Meyer, Stier, de Wette, and the editors Knapp, Lachmann, and Tischendorf. In the New Testament, when any part of the verb εἰμί is joined to a participle, it usually precedes that participle. Besides, in the twin epistle (Colossians 1:21) the very expression occurs, the second participle being regarded as a species of adjective. Nor by such a connection is the force of the sentence broken, as Alford contends. For the first participle, ἐσκοτισμένοι, assigns a reason for the previous clause—“darkened, inasmuch as they are darkened;” and the second, ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι, parallel to the first, adjoins another reason and yet more emphatically- ὄντες-being alienated and remaining so. Winer, § 45, 5. The gender is changed to the masculine, agreeing in meaning but not in form with τὰ λοιπὰ ἔθνη, and the entire sense is often said to be a species of parallelism, which might be thus arranged-

Having been darkened in their understanding,