(21) And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled (22) In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight: (23) If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
The Apostle, under GOD the Spirit, having so blessedly held forth Christ, in his Person, and offices; now proceeds to shew, the gracious effects of the whole, on the persons of his members. The Church of GOD, being born in the common nature of the Adam-fall, and involved in the same ruin by sin, as the world at large; the first blessed consequences of the Father's electing love, and the Son's redeeming grace, which the Church, in every individual member is made sensible of, is, when by the regenerating work of God the Spirit, they that were some time alienated, and enemies in their mind, by wicked works, are now reconciled in the, body of Christ's flesh; and brought from darkness to light, and from the power of sin, and Satan,, to the living God. I pray the Reader to observe, the beautiful harmony observed in those Covenant transactions, between the Persons of the Godhead. Each glorious Person concurs, and co-operates in the great design. God the Father chose the Church in Christ, that it should be holy, and without blame before him in love; before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4. God the SON, having betrothed his Church to himself forever, undertook, and hath accomplished his merciful purpose in the same, to redeem her from the ruins of the fall, and preserve her in himself forever, Galatians 1:4. And God the Holy Ghost, by regeneration, quicken the Church, when dead in trespasses and sins, to a new, and spiritual life, in Christ Jesus; whereby she is presented, holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. And thus the purposes of Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, are accomplished, to the Redeemer's glory, and the Church's happiness; and all terminates as God's first, and original design, had all along in view, that the whole shall be, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. See Ephesians 1:3-10 and Commentary.
Having fully established this blessed truth, we come next to observe, what the Apostle hath said of the child of God, continuing in the faith, and being grounded, and settled, and not moved away from the Hope of the Gospel. The Apostle begins the verse with an If. If (saith he) ye continue in the faith. I beg the Reader to observe with me, that this if, is not in a way of condition; as if God's grace depended upon the will of man. This would be, if true, a sad concern; and make the promises of God, which are now in Christ Jesus, all yea, and Amen, a doubtful thing; and reduce the whole of the believer's hope, to a mere yea and nay gospel. Blessed be God! this is not the case. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself, 2 Timothy 2:13. If the Reader will attend to one or two considerations on this subject, it will not only serve to put what the Apostle hath here said in a clear point of view; but explain similar passages, which we meet with in the word of God, of a like nature.
And first. The if here introduced, cannot be intended as anything of condition, for obtaining those rich blessings just before spoken of; because the whole, and every part of them, are the result of God's original purposes, which he purposed in himself, before the world began. They were not proposed, as depending for anything upon human merit, or human improvement; but wholly the consequence of divine will, and pleasure. God's Covenant love in Christ, and not the Church's stedfastness of faith in Christ, being the bottom, and foundation of security, Deuteronomy 7:9; Jeremiah 32:40
Secondly. The blessings which the Church is here said to be brought into, in being presented holy, and unblamable, and, irreproachable, in the Lord's sight; have been produced by the joint pleasure, and operations of the whole Persons of the Godhead. God the Father's choice, God the Son's redemption-work, God the Spirit's regenerating grace, have taken place. And the whole hath been unaccompanied by any act of faith, or love, or works, or obedience, on the part of the highly favored objects of the Lord's bounty. The if, therefore, of the Apostle, in this verse, could have no reference to the blessed things spoken of; but must have another, and a very different meaning.
Thirdly. Let the Reader yet further observe, that what the Apostle had just before taught the Church, of their being presented holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable, he speaks as of a thing done and accomplished, and not now to be done. By virtue of God the Father's love, in having chosen the Church, and Christ having redeemed it, and the Holy Ghost having quickened it, the vast mercy was now bestowed. Therefore, as the Church is brought into a blessed participation of those things, from her interest in Christ, and union with Christ, in his justifying righteousness, and all the glorious consequences arising out of his redemption; her continuing stedfast in the faith cannot be made a party cause, but is simply an effect. Hence, therefore, it must immediately follow, that what is here said of continuing in the faith, hath not the smallest reference to anything like a condition, either for the first appointment of God's original and eternal purposes, or in the accomplishment of those purposes in time by the high contracting powers; neither in the Church's being brought into the actual possession of this unspeakable mercy, in being presented holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight.
It is time now to enquire what may be supposed, according to the general analogy of Scripture, to have been the Apostle's meaning, by the expression, if ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled. Scripture is best explained by Scripture. In the third chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 3:14; Hebrews 3:14, the same Apostle useth similar words. He had been speaking on much the same subject, of our oneness with Christ. And he saith, Whose house are we, if we holdfast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end. So again. We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of the confidence stedfast unto the end. Now here, in both these instances, as in the former, the things proposed are not for future possession, for they are actually obtained. Hence, there is nothing of a condition here, no more than in the former. Very plainly, therefore, the continuing in the one instance, and the holding fast in the other, are meant but as evidences and effects, that those whose faith is so blessed, do truly live in the enjoyment of the mercies. And the child of God who is a partaker of Christ, and presented holy and unblameable as such in God's sight, will feel all the blessedness of this adoption-character, if, through grace, he continues firm in the faith and persuasion of his interest therein, and is not moved away from the hope of the Gospel.