CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Ephesians 3:15. The whole family.—R.V. “every family.” The word for “family” is only found in the New Testament in St. Luke 2:4 and Acts 3:25; in one translated “lineage,” in the other “kindreds” in A.V.; consistently as “family” by R.V. Chrysostom, and others who followed him, have surely a special claim to be heard. They translate it “races.” Bishop Alexander contends for the A.V. translation, “the whole.” He says, “A special force and signification in the expression make this translation necessary” (cf. Ephesians 2:19).
Ephesians 3:16. The riches of His glory.—“The whole glorious perfection of God.” To be strengthened with might.—There may be a verbal connection with the “fainting” of Ephesians 3:13, but the thought goes far out beyond that. In the inner man.—We are reminded again of the text quoted above (2 Corinthians 4:16). A mode of expression derived from the Platonic school, not necessarily presupposing any acquaintance with that system of philosophy.
Ephesians 3:17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.—The condition of this, declared by Christ Himself, is that a man should keep the word of Christ. Being rooted and grounded.—A double metaphor—of a tree that has struck its roots deep into the crevices of the rock, and of a building with a foundation of bed-rock. “Every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God” (1 John 4:7). Love conditions knowledge of things divine (see Ephesians 3:18).
Ephesians 3:18. May be able.—Perfectly able. With all saints.—The highest and most precious knowledge Paul can desire only as a common possession of all Christians. What is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height.—“The deeply affected mind with its poetico-imaginative intuition looks upon the metaphysical magnitude as a physical, mathematical one. Every special attempt at interpretation is unpsychological, and only gives scope to that caprice which profanes by dissecting the outpouring of enthusiasm” (Meyer).
Ephesians 3:19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.—“An adequate knowledge of the love of Christ transcends human capacity, but the relative knowledge of the same opens up in a higher degree the more the heart is filled with the Spirit of Christ, and thereby is strengthened in loving. This knowledge is not discursive, but based in the consciousness of experience” (Meyer).
Ephesians 3:20. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly.—After his prayer proper is ended the full heart of the apostle swells out into a solemn doxology The frequent and bold compound expressions of St. Paul (Farrar says twenty of the New Testament twenty-eight with ὑπέρ are St. Paul’s) spring from the endeavours adequately to express his energetic thought. According to the power that worketh in us.—“The measure of a man” or “of an angel” is insufficient here. Things are not achieved by creaturely mensuration where God works (cf. Ephesians 1:19-23).
Ephesians 3:21. To Him be the glory.—“The honour due to His name.” By Christ Jesus.—He that “climbeth up some other way” with his offering courts his own destruction. Throughout all ages, world without end.—R.V. “Unto all generations, for ever and ever.” A good specimen of the “exceeding abundantly above all that we … understand” as regarded under the aspect of time. It carries our thoughts along the vista of the future, till time melts into eternity.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Ephesians 3:14-21
A Sublime and Comprehensive Prayer—
I. For spiritual strengthening (Ephesians 3:16).—The first necessity of the new convert is strength. The change from the former life is so new and strange. The spiritual faculties are but recently called into exercise; and though they are thrilled with the vigour of youth, they possess the inherent weakness and are exposed to the temptations of youth. Their newly acquired strength is at once their glory and their danger—their glory in giving them the capacity and impulse for the highest kind of work; their danger because they are tempted to rely upon their own conscious power rather than upon the grace of God within them, which is the source of their best strength. If that strength is once undermined or eaten away, it can never be replaced. The strength of youth, physical or spiritual, belongs only to the period of youth; if lost in youth, it can never be regained in maturer life. Whatever strength we may gain in after-years will never be what it might have been if we had never lost the strength of our first love. The apostle here prays that his converts may be invigorated with a manful courage, the moral strength to meet dangers and to battle with difficulties without quailing.
1. This spiritual strengthening is achieved by the indwelling Christ welcomed and retained in the heart by faith.—“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephesians 3:17). The source of this strength is not in us; we cannot evoke it by any voluntary effort of our own. It is a divine power working in us (Ephesians 3:20). It is the Christ within us making Himself felt in our otherwise enfeebled powers. We are invested with the strength of Christ by our faith in Christ; and increase of strength comes with increase of faith. The faith that receives Christ into the heart must be constantly exercised to keep Him there, and to derive inspiration and help from Him in attaining spiritual growth and in doing useful work.
2. This spiritual strengthening is cherished by an accession of Christian love.—“That ye, being rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:17). The double metaphor gives emphasis to the idea—“rooted,” a tree; “grounded” a building. When Christ is planted and settled in our hearts, love is shed abroad there, and becomes the genial soil in which our graces grow, and the basis of all our thought and action. Love is strength, the most reliable, sustaining, and victorious kind of strength.
II. For a clearer comprehension of the immeasurable love of Christ (Ephesians 3:18-19).—Here the prayer rises in sublimity and comprehensiveness. The apostle prays that we may know the unknowable—“know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.” There is nothing so fascinating as the love of Christ, ever leading us on by fresh revelations, and ever leaving the impression that there are unfathomable depths and inaccessible heights yet to be discovered. “Oh that Christ would,” exclaimed the saintly Rutherford, “arrest and comprise my love and my heart for all. I am a bankrupt who have no more free goods in the world for Christ, save that it is both the whole heritage I have, and all my moveables besides. Lord, give the thirsty manna drink. Oh to be over ears in the well! Oh to be swimming over head and ears in Christ’s love! I would not have Christ’s love entering in me, but I would enter into it, and be swallowed up of that love. But I see not myself here, for I fear I make more of His love than of Himself, whereas He Himself is far beyond and much better than His love. Oh, if I had my sinful arms filled with that lovely one Christ! Blessed be my rich Lord Jesus, who sendeth not away beggars from His house with an empty dish. He filleth the vessel of such as will come and seek. We might beg ourselves rich, if we were wise, if we would but hold out our withered hands to Christ, and learn to seek, ask, and knock.” The highest conceptions of the love of Christ are realised by the soul that prays.
III. For the attainment of the most complete endowment of the divine fulness.—“That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). The prayer asks that man may gain the sum-total of God’s gifts, be filled in every capacity of his nature with the whole plenitude (the πλήρωμα) of God. To reach this glorious result, we need, indeed, special spiritual strengthening. New wine bursts old bottles; and a large and sudden inflow of divine grace would be disastrous to the soul unprepared to receive it. What is wanted is strength—strength of the highest and purest kind. Muscular strength—a magnificent healthy physique—is a great gift; but it is one of our lowest endowments, and its abuse sinks us to a worse than brutish sensuality. Intellectual strength is a still higher gift, and if rightly used will lift us into a loftier world of wonders, of beauty, of purity and joy; but if abused will drag us down to the base level of the vapouring, scoffing sceptic, whose attempts to glorify error are instigated by a savage but utterly powerless hatred of truth. Spiritual strength is the highest gift of all. It is the motive-power that gives movement and direction to thought and action. Without it man is the plaything and victim of unrestrained passions. A short time ago I inspected one of the finest ocean-going steamships, a marvellous combination of strength and elegance. Everything seemed as perfect as engineering science could make it. But there was something wanting; it was a fatal defect. The giant shaft and powerful screw, the triple expansion cylinders, the cranks, pistons, and wheels were all there, but the noble vessel was useless, heaving helplessly on the rolling tide. The fires were out, and the active driving-power was lacking. What steam is to that great floating mass of complicated mechanism, giving it life, movement, direction, purpose—that spiritual strength is to our mental and physical organism. To receive the fulness of indwelling Deity the soul must be strengthened with spiritual strength. We cannot pray too earnestly for this.
IV. Uttered with a reverential recognition of the great Giver of all blessing.—
1. Beginning with the submissive awe of a humble suppliant. “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father,” etc. (Ephesians 3:14-15). The apostle is overwhelmed with the contemplation of the rich blessings stored up for man in Christ Jesus, and prostrates himself with lowly homage in the conscious presence of the great Donor of all spiritual good. Nothing humbles us more than a sight of the blessings possible of attainment by the greatest sinner.
2. Ending with an outburst of triumphant praise (Ephesians 3:20-21).—Praise soars higher than prayer. Man’s desires will never overtake God’s bounty. When the apostle desires that God’s praise may resound in the Church “throughout all ages,” he no longer supposes that the mystery of God may be finished speedily as men count years. The history of mankind stretches before his gaze into its dim futurity. The successive generations gather themselves into that consummate age of the kingdom of God, the grand cycle in which all the ages are contained. With its completion time itself is no more. Its swelling current, laden with the tribute of all the worlds and all their histories, reaches the eternal ocean. The end comes; God is all in all. At this furthest horizon of thought, Christ and His own are seen together rendering to God unceasing glory (Findlay).
Lessons.—
1. Prayer is the cry of conscious need.
2. Increases in importunity as it is strengthened by faith.
3. Finds its sublimest themes in the culture of the spiritual life.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Ephesians 3:14-15. The Christian Church a Family.
I. The definition here given of the Christian Church.—
1. A society founded upon natural affinities—“a family.” A family is built on affinities which are natural, not artificial; it is not a combination, but a society. In ancient times an association of interest combined men in one guild or corporation for protecting the common persons in that corporation from oppression. In modern times identity of political creed or opinion has bound men together in one league in order to establish those political principles which appeared to them of importance. Similarity of taste has united men together in what is called an association, or a society, in order by this means to attain more completely the ends of that science to which they had devoted themselves. But, as these have been raised artificially, so their end is, inevitably, dissolution. Society passes on, and guilds and corporations die; principles are established, and leagues become dissolved; tastes change, and then the association or society breaks up and comes to nothing. It is upon another principle altogether that that which we call a family, or true society, is formed. It is not built upon similarity of taste nor identity of opinion, but upon affinities of nature. You do not choose who shall be your brother; you cannot exclude your mother or your sister; it does not depend upon choice or arbitrary opinion at all, but is founded upon the eternal nature of things. And precisely in the same way is the Christian Church formed—upon natural affinity, and not upon artificial combination.
2. The Church of Christ is a whole made up of manifold diversities.—We are told here it is “the whole family,” taking into it the great and good of ages past now in heaven, and also the struggling, the humble, and the weak now existing upon earth. Here, again, the analogy holds good between the Church and the family. Never more than in the family is the true entirety of our nature seen. Observe how all the diversities of human condition and character manifest themselves in the family. First of all, there are the two opposite pales of masculine and feminine, which contain within them the entire of our humanity; which together, not separately, make up the whole of man. Then there are the diversities in the degrees and kinds of affection. For, when we speak of family affection, we must remember that it is made up of many diversities. There is nothing more different than the love which the sister bears towards the brother, compared with that which the brother bears towards the sister. The affection which a man bears towards his father is quite distinct from that which he feels towards his mother; it is something quite different towards his sister; totally diverse, again, towards his brother. And then there are diversities of character. First, the mature wisdom and stern integrity of the father, then the exuberant tenderness of the mother. And then one is brave and enthusiastic, another thoughtful, and another tender. One is remarkable for being full of rich humour; another is sad, mournful, even melancholy. Again, besides these, there are diversities of condition in life. First, there is the heir, sustaining the name and honour of the family; then perchance the soldier, in whose career all the anxiety and solicitude of the family is centred; then the man of business, to whom they look up, trusting his advice, expecting his counsel; lastly, perhaps, there is the invalid, from the very cradle trembling between life and death, drawing out all the sympathies and anxieties of each member of the family, and so uniting them all more closely, from their having one common point of sympathy and solicitude. Now, you will observe that these are not accidental, but absolutely essential to the idea of a family; for so far as any one of them is lost, so far the family is incomplete. And precisely in the same way all these diversities of character and condition are necessary to constitute and complete the idea of a Christian Church.
3. The Church of Christ is a society which is for ever shifting its locality and altering its forms.—It is the whole Church, “the whole family in heaven and earth.” So, then, those who were on earth and are now in heaven are members of the same family still. Those who had their home here, now have it there. The Church of Christ is a society ever altering and changing its external forms. “The whole family”—the Church of the patriarchs and of ages before them; and yet the same family. Remember, I pray you, the diversities of form through which, in so many ages and generations, this Church has passed. Consider the difference there was between the patriarchal Church of the time of Abraham and Isaac and its condition under David; or the difference between the Church so existing and its state in the days of the apostles and the marvellous difference between that and the same Church four or five centuries later; or, once again, the difference between that, externally one, and the Church as it exists in the present day, broken into so many fragments. Yet, diversified as these states may be, they are not more so than the various stages of a family.
II. Consider the name by which this Church is named.—“Our Lord Jesus Christ,” the apostle says, of whom “the whole family in heaven and earth is named.”
1. First, the recognition of a common father.—That is the sacred truth proclaimed by the Epiphany. God revealed in Christ—not the Father of the Jew only, but also of the Gentile. The Father of a whole family. Not the partial Father, loving one alone—the elder—but the younger son besides; the outcast prodigal who had spent his living with harlots and sinners, but the child still, and the child of a Father’s love.
2. The recognition of a common humanity.—He from whom the Church is named took upon Him not the nature merely of the noble, of kings, or of the intellectual philosopher, but of the beggar, the slave, the outcast, the infidel, the sinner, and the nature of every one struggling in various ways.
3. The Church of Christ proceeds out of and rests upon the belief in a common Sacrifice.—F. W. Robertson.
The Family in Heaven and Earth.—With the boldness of a true and inspired nature the apostle Paul speaks with incidental ease of one family distributed between heaven and earth. There is, it seems, domesticity that cannot be absorbed by the interval between two spheres of being—a love that cannot be lost amidst the immensity, but finds the surest track across the void—a home affinity that penetrates the skies, and enters as the morning or evening guest. And it is Jesus of Nazareth who has effected this; has entered under the same household name, and formed into the same class, the dwellers above and those beneath. Spirits there, and spirits here, are gathered by Him into one group; and where before was saddest exile, He has made a blest fraternity.
I. Members of the same home cannot dwell together, without either the memory or the expectation of some mutual and mortal farewell.—All we who dwell in this visible scene can think of kindred souls that have vanished from us into the invisible. These, in the first place, does Jesus keep dwelling near our hearts; making still one family of those in heaven and those on earth. This He would do, if by no other means, by the prospect He has opened, of actual restoration. And since the grave can bury no affection now, but only the mortal and familiar shape of their object, death has changed its whole aspect and relation to us; and we may regard it, not with passionate hate, but with quiet reverence. It is a divine message from above, not an invasion from the abyss beneath; not the fiendish hand of darkness thrust up to clutch our gladness enviously away, but a rainbow gleam that descends through Jesus, without which we should not know the various beauties that are woven into the pure light of life. Once let the Christian promise be taken to the heart, and as we walk through the solemn forest of our existence, every leaf of love that falls, while it proclaims the winter near, lets in another patch of God’s sunshine to paint the glade beneath our feet and give a glory to the grass. Tell me that I shall stand face to face with the sainted dead; and, whenever it may be, shall I not desire to be ready, and to meet them with clear eye and spirit unabashed? Such and so much encouragement would Christianity give to the faithful conversation of all true affections, if it only assured us of some distant and undefinable restoration. But it appears to me to assure us of much more than this; to discountenance the idea of any, even the most temporary, extinction of life in the grave; and to sanction our faith in the absolute immortality of the mind. Rightly understood, it teaches not only that the departed will live, but that they do live, and indeed have never died, but simply vanished and passed away.
II. But it is not merely the members of the same literal home that Christ unites in one, whether in earth or heaven. He makes the good of every age into a glorious family of the children of God; and inspires them with a fellow-feeling, whatever the department of service which they fill. Keeping us ever in the mental presence of the divinest wisdom and in veneration of a perfect goodness, it accustoms us to the aspect of every grace that can adorn and consecrate our nature; trains our perceptions instantly to recognise its influence or to feel its want. It looks with an eye of full and clear affection over the wide circle of human excellence. Such hope tends to give us a prompt and large congeniality with them; to cherish the healthful affections which are domestic in every place and obsolete in no time; to prepare us for entering any new scene, and joining any new society where goodness, truth, and beauty dwell.—Martineau.
The Christian Brotherhood of Man.—The brotherhood of man has been the dream of old philosophers, and its attainment the endeavour of modern reformers. Man can only reach his highest life when he forms part of a society bound together by common sympathies and common aims, for by a great law of our nature it is true that he who lives utterly apart from his fellows must lose all true nobleness in selfish degradation. There is no real progress for the individual but through social sympathy. There is no strong and enduring aspiration but in the fellowship of aspiring souls. That conviction which men have so strongly felt and so vainly endeavoured to realise is perpetually asserted in the Book of God.
I. The brotherhood of man in Christ.—
1. The Christian brotherhood is a unity of spirit under a diversity of form. Thus with the Church of the first century. At first it was one band of brotherhood; but as it grew and individual thought expanded and experience deepened there arose infinite diversities. The more men think and the more they grow, the more will they differ.
2. There are spiritual ties in action which in Christ bind man to man.—Paul’s words imply a threefold unity.
1. The fellowship of devotion to a common Father.
2. The fellowship with Christ our common Brother.
3. That fellowship is unbroken by the change of worlds.
II. Results of realising this fact of brotherhood.—
1. Earnestness of life.
2. Power and grandeur of hope.—Some complain that their ideas of heaven are vague and ineffective. Only realise the brotherhood of man, and then the hope of the future will become a power in life.—E. L. Hull.
The One Family.—
1. Believers on earth and saints and angels in heaven spring from the same common parent.
2. Are governed by the same general laws.
3. Share in the same pleasures and enjoyments.
4. Have the same general temper, the same distinguishing complexion.
5. Have one common interest.
6. Look to, rely upon, and are guided by the same Head.
7. Are all objects of God’s love.
8. At the last day will meet in God’s presence, be openly acknowledged as His children, and admitted to dwell in His house for ever.
Lessons.—
1. If we estimate the dignity of men from the families with which they are connected, how honourable is the believer!
2. We see our obligations to mutual condescension, peaceableness, and love.
3. Let those who are not of this family be solicitous to obtain a place in it.—Lathrop.
Ephesians 3:16-19. Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians.
I. For spiritual strength.—It was not bodily strength, civil power, or worldly distinction; it was the grace of fortitude and patience.
II. For an indwelling Christ.—As we become united to Christ by faith, so by faith He dwells in our hearts.
III. For establishment in love.—True love is rooted in the heart. It is a spiritual affection towards Christ. Its fruits are love to men, imitation of Christ’s example, obedience to His commands, zeal for His honour, and diligence in His service.
IV. For increase of knowledge in the love of Christ.—The love of Christ passeth all known examples of love. This love passeth our comprehension in respect of its breadth or extent, its length, its depth, as the benefits it has procured exceed all human estimate. Though the love of Christ passeth knowledge, there is a sense in which it is known to the saints. They have an experimental knowledge, an influential knowledge, an assimilating knowledge of the love of Christ.
V. For the fulness of God.—That they may have such a supply of divine influence as would cause them to abound in knowledge, faith, love, and all virtues and good works.—Lathrop.
Ephesians 3:19. The Love of Christ.
I. The love of Christ passeth knowledge.—
1. He Himself furnishes an illustrative instance when He says, “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die”—a merely just and righteous man would be admired; but he would not so take hold of the heart of another to produce a willingness to die for him;—“yet peradventure,” in some rare case, “for a good man,” a man of benevolence, adorned with the softer virtues and abounding in the distribution of his favours—for such a one “some would even dare to die”; some one, overcoming even the love of life in the fulness of his gratitude, might venture to give his own life to preserve that of such a one. But we were neither just nor good; we were sinners, and “God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Passes it not, then, all knowledge, all reasonable conception and probability, that this fallen nature should be so sympathised with that these flagrant rebellions should excite, not an inexorable anger, but pity and love? And such love that our Saviour—looking not so much on man as offending, but as His creature, and as His creature still capable of restoration—should melt in compassion and die to effect his redemption; this is indeed love “that passeth knowledge.”
2. The manner in which this love is manifested carries the principle beyond all conception and expression.—It was love to the death. It was death for sinners, death in their stead; death, that the penal claims of law, and that law the unchangeable, unrelaxable law of God, might be fully satisfied. The redemption price was fixed by a spotless justice, and the love of Christ to the sinner was to be tested by the vastness of the claims to be made upon Him. But the wages of sin is death; and His love shrank not from the full and awful satisfaction required. It was death in our stead. Then it must be attended with anxious forebodings. Of what mysteries have I suggested the recollection to you? Can you comprehend them? That feeling with which He spoke of the baptism of blood? That last mysterious agony? That complaint of being forsaken of God? You feel you cannot. They transcend all your thought; and the love which made Him stoop to them is therefore love “which passeth knowledge.”
3. The love of Christ passeth knowledge if we consider it as illustrated by that care for us which signalises His administration.
4. The subject is further illustrated by the nature of the blessings which result to men from the love of Christ.—We usually estimate the strength of love by the blessings it conveys or, at any rate, would convey. And if the benefits be beyond all estimate, neither can we measure the love.
5. The love of Christ passeth knowledge because it is the love of an infinite nature. Love rises with the other qualities and perfections of the being in whom it is found. Among animals the social attachments are slight, and the instinctive affection dies away when its purposes are answered. In man love arises with his intellect. In him it is often only limited by his nature, and when rightly directed shall be eternal. Many that love on earth shall doubtless love for ever. Were Christ merely a man His love could not pass knowledge. What man has felt man can conceive. Love can be measured by the nature which exercises it. But this love passeth all knowledge but that of the divine nature, because itself is divine. Christ is God, and he who would fully know His love must be able to span immensity and to grasp the Infinite Himself.
II. But while it is true that the love of Christ passeth all knowledge, it is equally true that it is to be known by us.—To know the love of Christ is:
1. To recognise it in its various forms and expressions in our constant meditations. And where shall we turn and not be met by this, to us, most important subject? How delightful an occupation, to track all the streams of mercy up to their source. We are surrounded by the proof of the love of Christ. Let us see to it that the blinding veil be not on our heart, that our eyes be not holden that we should not know Him. We are called to know the love of Christ. Let us accustom ourselves to reflect upon it, to see it in its various forms and results; and then shall our meditation of Him be sweet.
2. To know the love of Christ is to perceive it in its adaptation to our own personal condition.
3. To know the love of Christ is to experience it in its practical results. He offers you pardon, and the offer is a proof and manifestation of His love; but properly to know it pardon itself must be accepted and embraced. This is to know His love. Seek it, and you must find it. Rest without it, and you are but “as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.”
4. To know the love of Christ we must put forth those efforts through which that love is appointed to express itself in our daily experience.
Lessons.—
1. The rejection of love, especially of redeeming love, involves the deepest guilt.
2. Remember that the grace is common to you all.—R. Watson.
The Unknown and Known Love of Christ.
I. There are some respects in which the love of Christ passeth our knowledge.—
1. In its objects; so unworthy and degraded.
2. In its sufferings; love to the death.
3. In its care.
4. In its blessings.
5. In its degree. It is the love of an infinite nature.
II. There are some respects in which the love of Christ may be known.—
1. Our views of it may be clearer and more consistent.
2. Our views of it may be more confidential and appropriating.
3. Our views of it may be more impressive and more influential.—G. Brooks.
The Transcendent Love of Christ.
I. This representation must be confirmed.—
1. This love is divine.
2. Consider the objects it embraced.
3. The means by which it manifested itself.
4. The blessings it secured.
II. The perception the Christian may acquire of this love, notwithstanding its divine infinitude.—
1. It is the great interpreting principle which he applies to all the tremendous facts of redemption.
2. The sacred element and incentive of all piety—the theme of contemplation, the ground of confidence, the motive of obedience.
3. The impulse and model of all benevolence and zeal.
III. Conclusions from a review of the subject.—
1. It is only natural to expect a transcendent character in Christianity.
2. No better test exists of what is genuine Christianity than the level of the views which it exhibits concerning the person and work of Christ and the tone of the affections which it encourages towards Him.
3. There is much of implicit as well as declarative evidence in support of the Saviour’s supreme divinity.
4. How necessary is it that we should live habitually under the influence of this transcendent love.—R. W. Hamilton.
Ephesians 3:20-21. A Devout Doxology.
I. The acknowledgment the apostle makes of God’s all-sufficiency.—
1. God often does for men those favours which they never thought of asking for themselves.
2. God answers prayers in ways we think not of.
3. The mercies God is pleased to grant often produce consequences far beyond what we asked or thought.
4. The worth of the blessings we ask and God bestows infinitely exceeds all our thought.
II. The ascription of glory the apostle makes to this all-sufficient God.—
1. God is glorified by the increase of His Church. 2. God is glorified in the Church when a devout regard is paid to the ordinances He has instituted.
3. By the observance of good order in the Church, and by the decent attendance of the members on their respective duties.
4. That God may be glorified there must be peace and unity in the Church.—Lathrop.
God’s Infinite Liberality.
I. The object of this doxology.—The God of all grace. Whatever we think we ask. No limit to our asking but our thinking. God gives beyond our thinking. Here, take all this! Ah, poor thing, that transcends thine asking and even thy thinking, but take it. If it transcend all communicated power of mind, I say, “I thank Thee, my God, for it. I know it is exceeding good, but I cannot understand it. Keep it among Thy treasures. My blessedness rests not in my intellect, but in Thy favour. Remember Thou hast given it me. It may come I shall be able to understand it better and appreciate it more.” I shall never have asked too much, I shall never have thought too much, till I have asked beyond God’s ability, till I have thought beyond God’s ability. That ability is not a bare abstraction of the omnipotence of God, but it is the omnipotence of God as working in the Church and in the people of God. He is not omnipotent in heaven, and impotent in thee, or partially powerful in thee.
II. The doxology itself (Ephesians 3:21).—All should glorify God, but all will not. In the Church alone will God get glory. It is as the name of Christ is glorified in us that we are glorified in Him. It is when the glory that God reflects on the creature is by the creature ascribed as due only to God when He is glorified as the Author of it, transcendently and infinitely glorious, it is then that the glory rests. When it is appropriated it is lost, but it is possessed when it is tossed back and fro between God and the creature. When the creature gives it to God, God of His rich grace sends it back in greater measure; but the humble creature, emulous of God’s glory, sends it all back again to Him, and as it reciprocates so it increases. God gives not to end by enriching us—that is an immediate end; but the ultimate end is that He may be glorified. Be ashamed to get little—get all things. Get out of your poverty, not by fancying you are rich, but by coming and getting. The more you get always give glory, and come and ask and receive.—Dr. John Duncan.