The Inscription and Greeting (Ephesians 1:1–2)

Eph. 1:1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

“Paul.” The Apostle’s proper name was Saul. But as a Roman citizen he bore another name as well—Paul—which he began to use exclusively once he plunged into the mass of the Gentile world with his preaching about Christ Jesus. He places this name at the head of all his epistles. Under it he has remained known throughout the Christian world, which consists chiefly of converted Gentiles.

“Apostle.” Apostle is the rank of St Paul in the gracious Kingdom of Christ—the highest rank of all. The Lord Himself so named His twelve disciples (Lk. 6:13), choosing them in order that He might “send them out to preach” (Mk. 3:14). St Paul confesses elsewhere that he too has been appointed an Apostle and a preacher, in order that he might everywhere carry the testimony to that truth that “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5, 6). The significance of those who are envoys is well known from common usage, and it is no different in the gracious Kingdom. The difference lies in the person of the one who sends, in the authority granted to the one sent, and in the object of the mission. The Greeks called ambassadors πρεσβευς — representatives of a sovereign, executors of his will, and guardians of the interests of their state. Such too are the Apostles—God’s ambassadors, executors of His will and guardians of the interests of the Kingdom of grace. This is why in this same epistle St Paul, asking the Ephesians to pray that freedom might be given him to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel with boldness, adds: “for which I am an ambassador,” — πρεσβευω,—“in chains” (Eph. 6:20). His whole concern is for the spread of the Kingdom of Christ, as he says elsewhere: “We therefore serve as ambassadors for Christ,” — πρεσβευομεν,—“as God making His appeal through us… be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).

“An apostle of Jesus Christ”—but “by the will of God.” The Lord Jesus chose and sent him, yet in such a way that this was also the will of God the Father. The Son does what He sees the Father doing. What the Father ordains, the Son carries into execution—seeing those decrees by virtue of His consubstantiality with the Father, His abiding in Him, His knowledge of all that belongs to the Father, and His participation in those very decrees. “By the will of God” the Father—which is also the will of the Son, by the one counsel of the persons of the Most Holy Trinity.

The decree that St Paul should be an Apostle was settled in heaven and brought to fulfillment on earth in due time. God’s will in this matter was made known to St Paul not through inward movements of feeling but visibly and tangibly, and moreover with such a powerful shaking of his whole being that it at once shook off all the prejudices that had settled over his keen mind, prejudices he had gathered from the Pharisaic sect. That he had been counted worthy of this gift by the special will of God, and above all that an extraordinary grace and mercy had been shown to him in transforming him from an enemy of Christ into an Apostle—this lay so deep in his heart and stood so constantly before his consciousness that he always made mention of it whenever he had occasion to say anything about his Apostleship. He was moved to do so both by a sense of gratitude for the mercy received and by a desire to assure those to whom he wrote or spoke that they were hearing from his lips undoubted divine truth, since he had not taken the preaching upon himself of his own initiative and had not been appointed to this work by men, but had been sent directly by the Lord Himself.

One commentator notes in this connection: the holy Apostle makes such frequent mention of his election to preach by the will of God in order to impress upon the souls of believers that the work of preaching, and more broadly every ministry in the Church, must not be arrogated to oneself by self-will, but must always be received by election—by the means established in the Church of God by God Himself, in the exercise of which the will of God is made manifest. This may also serve as an incentive for those who currently hold every degree of sacred ministry to examine themselves: whether everything in their election proceeded according to the pattern instituted by God—having regard not only to the outward order but to their own inward state and the testimony of their conscience.

“To the saints who are in Ephesus”—to the Christians living in Ephesus. A saint is a person pure and blameless, adorned with every virtue and free from every sin—not only as committed in deeds but as operating in thoughts and feelings as well—and therefore standing in the favour of God, near to God and accessible to Him. Were the believing Ephesians truly such? There is nothing surprising in this, given the liveliness of faith and the fervour of zeal with which people then drew near to the Lord, and still more given the abundance of grace poured out upon them in consequence. Sinners in the Church are an exception; the essential characteristic of the Church is that all her members should be holy. The local churches of that time were like pure virgins, having neither spot nor blemish—holy and without reproach (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:27). St Chrysostom says in this vein: “Observe—he calls saints even those who have children, wives, and servants… Such great carelessness now takes hold of all! How greatly zeal for virtue has weakened today! And how many virtuous people there were then, when even ordinary people were called holy and faithful!”

Among us today things have reached such a pass that sinfulness has become, as it were, the accepted norm of life for Christians, while holiness—or zeal for a good life—is the exception, which seldom passes without disapproving looks, and even mockery and opposition. Taking their cue from this, some interpret even the Apostle’s word “to the saints” as signifying nothing more than consecration to God—much as in the Old Testament tabernacle all the vessels were holy by reason of being dedicated to God, though inwardly they had neither holiness nor sinfulness. We cannot suppose that the Apostle by the word “saints” meant only this outward belonging to the Holy Church. At that time, in actual fact, all were holy and pure before God; if there were those who fell into sin, they disappeared into the general mass of the holy, and moreover, being surrounded on every side by the spirit of holiness, they immediately repented, corrected themselves, and again took their place in the ranks of the other, unfallen saints. And Christians as a whole were zealous not only that they themselves should be holy, but that all others should be holy as well, so that the entire community should bear not a single stain on account of any individual. Such ought all Christian communities (in their particular expressions) to be.

“And to the faithful in Christ Jesus.” The holy and the faithful are not two classes of persons—as if some were higher and others lower—but the same persons viewed from different sides of Christian life. Holiness is the goal of life; faith is its producer, its guard, its support, and its completion. “Faithful” means both one who believes and one who is faithful to the faith—both at once. The believer, having believed the good news of salvation in the Lord, forsakes his former evil life, repents, comes to baptism, and, reborn in it by the overshadowing of the grace of the Holy Spirit, goes forth to a life in the spirit of that faith, strengthened by that grace—being sooner ready to accept any kind of death than to abandon the confession of the faith or to transgress in any way the demands of the faith in his life. Such a disposition, representing the distinguishing characteristic of the “faithful,” is the producer of holiness, its keeper, and the one who brings it to its ultimate perfection. Thus by the word faithful St Paul showed how the holy come to be holy.

St Paul added “in Christ Jesus,” showing the source of faithfulness, and through it of holiness. Let no one think to accomplish anything spiritual by himself that would be fitting for the gracious Kingdom of Christ. Everything suited to that Kingdom is accomplished by the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus. But let no one think either that the Spirit of God will do anything in you and through you that is fitting for the Kingdom of Christ, as long as you yourself do not labour and exhaust all the powers that God has given you in your nature. In the work of salvation the two go together. Ambrosiaster writes: “The faithful are truly faithful only when they are also in Christ Jesus. For a good life has its full value and is truly holy only when it is so in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” By adding the words “in Christ Jesus,” St Paul reminded the Ephesians that if they are faithful, it is not by their own power, but that they owe this to their communion with the Lord Jesus, without whom they can do nothing worthy of the faith—and in doing so he cut off every occasion for pride in their faithfulness, while at the same time showing them where to seek faithfulness and holiness when they feel these to be failing.

Let us cite the thoughts of one commentator on these words: “One cannot fail to impress upon Christians that, by their high calling, they must be truly holy and untouched by sin—notwithstanding that they live in the midst of a world that serves sin and is given over to passions. Holding this up to view is, on the one hand, humbling: for who can say of himself that he is holy and measures up to the ideal of Christianity? On the other hand, it is inspiring: for who does not desire what is better? And which Christian is a stranger to the faith that he too has received the sanctifying grace of the Spirit, always ready to help and to guide? Both together will dispose one to flee the spirit of self-satisfaction, which leads to carelessness, and the spirit of timidity and indecision, by which one’s hands droop and one’s feet do not move, because they cut off all energy.”

The conjunction of holiness and faithfulness in the Apostle’s word—in the same persons—points to the inseparability of dogma and moral teaching in Christianity, and of faith and virtue in the life of every Christian. Faith, as soon as it is sealed in the heart by the Spirit of God, becomes a source of holiness for the regenerate person. But conversely, the more the zealot for holiness advances in it, the more his faith is purified and grows luminous within him. And this is the light of Christ!…

To keep the faith and to advance in holiness—this is both the yoke and the crown of the Christian. Remember where you begin and where you are going—the point of departure and the goal—these two poles of every movement. The beginning lies in your being graced through communion with the Lord by faith; the end lies in a God-like holiness. Neither the one nor the other is accomplished without living, personal communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The quality of holiness and the character of faithfulness are present in a Christian in no other way than from Christ the Lord. Each is present in him to the degree that he stands in living union with Christ. What, therefore, ought to claim all one’s attention? — The preservation of this communion with Christ, and growth in it. In this lies the key to the mysterious power of Christianity—the truth, the way, and the life—and not in learning and wide knowledge.

Eph. 1:2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Grace and peace!” In these two words the Apostle encompasses all the spiritual treasures of Christianity. Grace stands in relation to peace as a leaf or a root stands in relation to flower and fruit. Divine grace is the chief condition of Christian life, whose highest flower and fruit is peace. Grace comprises all the powers that belong to life and godliness; peace is the unshakeable possession of these gifts, their preservation and use. Peace with God in the conscience—inward peace—arising from the awareness of having found a firm foundation for life and firm hopes, and from bringing all one’s strivings into harmony and holding them in that harmony. There is also outward peace; but it is a providential outward aid, not a necessity for the interior life.

Thus the Apostolic good wish encompasses the highest and best that humble and reverent Christian feeling can hope to receive from a well-wisher. The highest—grace, which opens to the condemned sinner the way of approach to the merciful God the Father and unlocks for him the treasuries of His boundless love. The best—peace, which is established when, in the struggle of light and darkness within the innermost centre of personal life, the advantage remains with the light; when the troubling anxieties of conscience are stilled, and the heavy sense of unanswered guilt and condemnation finds a hopeful resolution.

In the fact that grace is always with the Christian, and that the promise of peace belongs to him—guaranteed by God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who are unfailing in word and deed—he finds consolation in sorrow and the courage for the inevitable struggle that is his lot. Where grace is, there too is peace, although the Christian does not always feel it in its full force while he remains engaged in the struggle with sin, with the powers of darkness, and with outward opposition to his good endeavours.

One may say that holiness and faith—spoken of above—stand in correspondence with grace and peace. Grace is the source of holiness; peace is the goal of faithfulness to the faith. Having received grace through faith, remain faithful to the faith, so as to keep grace always present, and with its help, advancing in holiness, to attain the peaceful disposition of heart in which God reposes—the sweet goal of the labours of a God-pleasing life.

The one who bestows grace is chiefly God the Father, and the peacemaker is God the Son in the Holy Spirit. This is why it is said: “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Blessed Jerome writes: “Either both belong to both together—that is, grace and peace to God the Father as well as to our Lord Jesus Christ; or one must be assigned to one and the other to the other—grace to God the Father and peace to the Lord Jesus Christ, as is indeed said a little further on: in ‘the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved’ (Eph. 1:6). The grace of the Father consists in His having willed to send His Son for our salvation, and the peace of the Son—in our being reconciled through Him to God the Father.” St Chrysostom says: “He said ‘grace’ and calls God Father, for that name is the mark of grace. How so? — Hear what he says elsewhere: ‘And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father’ (Gal. 4:6).” Blessed Theophylact sets forth the same thought more fully: “Having said ‘grace’ he adds ‘from God our Father’, to show what grace has accomplished for us—namely, that it has made the Master and God our Father. But the Lord, that is, God the Son, by grace toward us, became both Jesus and Christ; for by becoming incarnate for our sake He received the name Jesus and anointed humanity with the Godhead.”

To believers is given the right to become children of God, because they, having received the Lord, are born of God—they do not merely bear the name of sons, but are truly sons in essence (Jn. 1:12, 13). The Spirit of God, who accomplishes this, also implants the feeling of sonship, by reason of which the truly regenerate person addresses God as Father with the same disposition as a natural son addresses his natural father.

Jesus Christ is Lord not of us Christians only, but of the whole world; for to Him, as Mediator and Redeemer, all things have been handed over by the Father, and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given Him (Matt. 28:18), which He will exercise until the complete fulfilment of the entire plan of the economy of our salvation, when He will deliver up His Kingdom to God the Father (1 Cor. 15:24)—and “God will be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).