EPHESIANS 463 of God (iii. 1-19). A doxology follows, where the singular proininene . of the thought of the church in St Paul s mind at this moment, shown by the mention of it before the mention of Christ, "in the church and iu Christ Jesus " (v. 21), ought not to escape the notice of ths reader (iii. 20, 2 1). 1 Even at the beginning of chap, iv., where the prac tical exhortation, suspended for a time, is taken up, the apostle lias this unity that is in Christ still pressing upon bis thoughts; for he no sooner mentions the unity (verse 3) than in the fulness of his heart be hastens to enlarge on it; and, recalling all the gifts which. Christ had bestowed upon His church, he speaks of them as given to secure that we may "all," that is again, Jewish and Gentile Christians, attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the plcroma of Christ, from whom the whole body, by means of its several joints of supply, of which the Gentiles are one as well as the Jews (mark the Trao-vys d^jj? of verse 16), maketh the in crease of the body unto a building up of itself in love (iv. 1-16). It is not necessary to analyse further the teaching of this epistle, the remainder consisting of practical exhortations. What has been said is sufficient to show that one great thought runs through it all, not so much the glory of Christ in Himself, as that glory realized in the church which is His body, in which, the scattered "buildings are united into one holy temple, the scattered "families" into one great family, the scattered "joints of supply into one strong and vigorous body; and all this in Jesus Christ, whose glory is only accomplished, only reaches its plcronia, when this is done. More, however, has to be said, for it is obvious that the description thus given of the glory of the church is not given for its own sake only. It is neither a pious medita tion nor the splendid vision of an ecstatic hour. It has all a practical bearing upon Gentile Christians. It is to show them that their calling into the church is no accidental, doubtful thing. It is a part of God s eternal plau, the execution of which is essential to the accomplish ing of the glory of the Christ and of Himself in Him. Whatever, therefore, was their past state of alienation, it could only be temporary. They must have their full share in the privileges of those who are one with God, must be an integral portion of the one body of His Son. None can be more near than they, for none in whom Christ is revealed can be more near than others in whom the same revelation has been made. Let them dispel their doubts, rest in the assurance that He who is the peace of Israel is also their peace, and walk worthy of Him whose pleroma they help to "fulfil." The whole is the practical unfold ing and application of the thoughts which filled the apostle s mind in his epistle to the Colossians. The great e of importance to be attached to the Epbesian epistle iu the
- le construction of the Pauline system of doctrine will thus be
|ine apparent. It presents to us the realizing of that dispensa- hing tion of God which belongs to the fulness of all preceding " seisons " (i. 10), which is to exhibit the exceeding riches of His grace to all ages that are to follow, one succeeding another, without end (ii. 7 ; mark the compound, not the simple verb, eVepxo/aeVoii). It takes up everything that went before ; and nothing can be added to what it con tains. It sets before us the completion of an edifice whose foundations had been laid in a past eternity, and which was to stand for ever. It is especially the storehouse of truth connected with the church, using that word in its most comprehensive sense, for it treats of all the most 1 The reading of the T. R. has here again to be amended by the insertion of a KHI after eKKA.7j<ri qi. important features of her condition, her foundation, spirituality, unity, organization, aim. The consequence is that the nature of the spiritual life is brought out in this epistle to a wonderful degree Nowhere in the writings of St Paul is such frequent allusion made to the work of the Spirit in the soul and in the church. It would seem as if the apostle, feeling that in previous epistles he had said all that he had to say of the source and medium of redemption, desired to dwell, before he closed his labours, upon its application, to contemplate fully not merely tba love of God and the grace of Christ, but the power of the Spirit, as He enlightens, renews, seals, and fills the heart. III. Relation to the Epistle to the Colossians. We are Relation thus prepared to examine the relation of our epistle to the to Coloa- epistle to the Colossians. The complaint of De Wette sians - upon this point has been echoed by many later writers. The resemblances between the two epistles are said to be so great that the former must be regarded as a mere verbose expansion of the latter Even those by whom the authenticity of the Ephesian epistle is defended admit the striking similarity ; but they find the explanation of it in the fact that the two epistles were written at the same time, when the same ideas were in the author s mind, and when he was writing to two churches in a similar condition. A long succession of writers from Pa.ley onwards have adopted this line of defence, many of whom have at the same time rather inconsistently admitted that the epistle to the Ephesians shows no trace of the doctrinal errors combated in that to the Colossians. and that what may be called the doctrinal portion of the two epistles exhibits differences at least as striking as the similarities. The real explanation seems to lie in a wholly different direction, and is to be found neither in attempting to weaken the force of the similarities, nor in urging, while admitting them, that the -wants of the readers were the same. The truth is that there is no reason to doubt that the two churches of Laodicea and Colossae, as might indeed from their proximity to each other have been expected, were in a very similar condition, both doctrinally and practically; and that the same great doctrines were in the apostle s mind when he wrote to both. This consideration explains the similarities which strike the reader ; while the difference.! spring not from difference of doctrine, but from the wholly different and independent point of view from which the same doctrines are looked at in each epistle. Thus Col. i. 14 is much the same as Eph. i. 7; Col. i. 20 as Eph. i. 10, Col. i. 1C as Eph. i. 21; Col. i. IS, 19 as Eph. i. 22, 23; Col. ii. 13 as Eph ii. 5; Col. ii. 11 as Eph. ii. 11; Col. i. 20 as Eph. ii. 16; Col. i. 2n, 26 as Eph. iii. 2, 3; but a comparison of these passages will show that, what ever the resemblance be, they have in each epistle a dis tinct purpose of their own : in that to the Colossians to set forth the glory of Him in whom the whole church lives ; in that to the Ephesians to show that this glory cannot be fulfilled except by the bringing of all into unity in His one church, so that there cannot be two separate communities, but only one body in Christ. In short, the epistle to the Colossians is occupied with Christ himself. In opposition to the Judaeo Gnostic errors prevailing in Colossfe, and doubtless in Laodicea also, the apostle sets forth in it Christ in His person, life, death, resurrection, and exaltation in heaven. He is the true solution of their religious perplexities. He is the one and only Mediator between God and humanity, the one and only principle of the divine life to which humanity is to be brought. The epistle to the Ephesians is occupied with the church. In opposition to the arrogance of Jewish and the fears of Gentile Christians prevailing in Laodicea, and
doubtless in Colossce ako, the apostle sets forth in it the