CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Ephesians 6:23. Peace, love, and faith.—A worthy triad, and the greatest of these is love.
Ephesians 6:24. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.—Paul’s favourite word “grace” comes in as “epilogue”—as it was “prologue” (Ephesians 1:2). Sincerity means incorruptly—to love in a spirit corruption cannot touch.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Ephesians 6:23-24
A Suggestive Benediction—
I. Recognises the divine source of all blessing.—“From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 6:23). All our blessings are divine, and flow from the inexhaustible fountain of the divine beneficence. “God the Father,” in the eternal counsels of His wisdom and love, “and the Lord Jesus Christ,” who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself as an atonement for human sin—the glorious Trinity of Persons in the Godhead—contribute from their combined perfections the spiritual good that enriches every believing soul. “The God of Christians,” says Pascal, “is not barely the Author of geometrical truths, or of the order of the elements—this is the divinity of the heathen; nor barely the providential Disposer of the lives and fortunes of men, so as to crown His worshippers with a happy series of years—this is the portion of the Jews. But the God of Abraham and of Jacob, the God of Christians, is a God of love and of consolation; a God who fills the heart and the soul where He resides; a God who gives them a deep and inward feeling of their own misery and of His infinite mercy, unites Himself to their spirit, replenishes it with humility and joy, with affiance and love, and renders them incapable of any end but Himself.” The religious character of the Lancashire people was illustrated by an incident that happened towards the close of the cotton famine. The mills in one village had been stopped for months, and the first waggon-load of cotton that arrived seemed to them like the olive branch that told of the abating waters of the deluge. The waggon was met by the women, who hysterically laughed and cried and hugged the cotton bales as if they were dear old friends, and then ended by singing that grand old hymn, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.”
II. Implores specific blessings upon Christian brethren.—“Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith” (Ephesians 6:23). Where there is no love there is no peace, and peace and love without faith are capricious and worthless. Love is the strength of the forbearance and self-suppression so essential to the maintenance of peace. As faith grows and intensifies it opens up new channels in which love can flow. We are to contend for the faith, not that peace may be disturbed, but that it may rest on a firmer and more permanent basis. What greater boon can we desiderate for our brethren than that they may abound in “peace and love with faith”?
III. Greets with expansive generosity all genuine lovers of Christ.—“Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen” (Ephesians 6:24). The overflow of divine grace submerges the barriers of sects and effaces the distinctions of a selfish and pretentious bigotry. Sincere love to Christ opens the heart to the richest endowments of grace, and blends all hearts that glow with a kindred affection. If we love Christ, we love one another, we love His work, His word, and are eager to obey Him in all things He commands. We may not agree in a uniformity of creeds, but we reach a higher union when our hearts are mingled in the capacious alembic of a Christ-like love. The benediction of grace to all who love Jesus is answered and confirmed by an appropriate Amen. “Amen” under the law was answered to the curses, but not to the blessings (Deuteronomy 27:15-26). Every particular curse must have an “Amen.” But in the next chapter, where the blessings follow, there is no “Amen” affixed to them (Deuteronomy 28:2-12). But it is otherwise in the gospel. To the blessings there is an “Amen,” but not to the curses. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 16:22)—a fearful curse; but there is no “Amen” to that. “Grace be with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity”: there is an “Amen” to that.
Lessons.—
1. Christianity is freighted with blessings for the race.
2. It has special blessings for present need.
3. It points men to God as the true source of all blessing.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Ephesians 6:23. Elements of Religious Comfort.—The apostle prays that, with faith, there may be peace and love.
I. Faith captivates the soul into obedience to the gospel by giving efficacy to its precepts, examples, and doctrines. Where faith operates, love will appear, and peace will follow.
II. Love produces peace.—
1. Inward peace. It extinguishes malice, envy, hatred, wrath, revenge, every unfriendly passion.
2. Social peace.—Christians will be careful not to give offence, either by real injuries or unnecessary differences. They will be slow to take offence.
III. Love brings religious comfort.—Love is comfortable in its immediate feelings and in its pacific influence. It brings comfort to the soul as it is an evidence of godly sincerity. If we would enjoy the comfort, we must maintain the comfort of religion.—Lathrop.
Ephesians 6:24. The Christian’s Truest Test and Excellence.—Other things may be required to complete the character of the Christian; but without love to Christ there can be no Christian at all. It is the master-spirit which must animate and enliven the whole combination; and in whomsoever this spirit prevails we are entitled and enjoined to welcome that person as a disciple.
I. Consider the love of Christ as a duty we owe to Himself.—
1. Bring to your remembrance His personal excellences.
2. Consider the great and glorious object of all He did and endured—the everlasting happiness of human souls.
II. Consider the love of Christ as a principle which works in ourselves.—
1. It does not destroy natural affections, but teaches us to fix them on proper objects and to give a right direction to their fullest energies.
2. A due sense of the Saviour’s love makes us feel at once that He merits all our best affections in return.
3. It gives delight in meditating on the precepts and promises of God’s word.
4. It helps in all the duties we owe to our fellow-creatures.
5. It animates the soul in the hour of death and the prospect of eternity.—J. Brewster.
Loving Christ in Sincerity.
I. On what account Christ is entitled to our love.—
1. He is a divine person.
2. He was manifest in the flesh. In the man Christ Jesus appeared every virtuous quality which can dignify and adorn human nature.
3. His mediatorial offices entitle Him to our love.
4. He is an object of our love because of His kindness to us.
II. An essential qualification of love to Christ is sincerity.—
1. Our love to Christ must be real, not pretended.
2. Must be universal. It must respect His whole character.
3. Sincere love to Christ is supreme. It gives Him the preference to all earthly interest and connections.
4. It is persevering.
5. It is active.
III. How sincere love to Christ will discover itself.—
1. It will make us careful to please Him.
2. Will be accompanied with humility.
3. We shall be fond of imitating Him.
4. We shall promote His interest and oppose His enemies.
5. We shall do good to His needy brethren and friends.
IV. The benediction connected with this temper.—It is called grace. It comprehends all the blessings the gospel reveals and promises.
1. Justification before God.
2. The presence of the divine Spirit.
3. Free access to the throne of grace.
4. The gift of a happy immortality.—Lathrop.
Love to Christ.—What is it that constitutes Christ’s claim to love and respect? What is it that is to be loved in Christ? Why are we to hold Him dear? There is but one ground for virtuous affection in the universe, but one object worthy of cherished and enduring love in heaven and in earth, and that is—moral goodness. My principle applies to all beings, to the Creator as well as to His creatures. The claim of God to the love of His rational offspring rests on the rectitude and benevolence of His will. It is the moral beauty and grandeur of His character to which alone we are bound to pay homage. The only power which can and ought to be loved is a beneficent and righteous power. The ground of love to Christ is, His spotless purity, His moral perfection, His unrivalled goodness. It is the spirit of His religion, which is the Spirit of God, dwelling in Him without measure. Of consequence, to love Christ is to love the perfection of virtue, of righteousness, of benevolence; and the great excellence of this love is, that by cherishing it we imbibe, we strengthen in our own souls the most illustrious virtue, and through Jesus become like God. I call you to love Jesus that you may bring yourselves into contact and communion with perfect virtue, and may become what you love. I know no sincere, enduring good but the moral excellence which shines forth in Jesus Christ.—Channing.
The Apostolic Benediction.
I. The subjects of the benediction.—“All them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.”
1. The object of their love.—“The Lord Jesus Christ.”
2. The character of their love.—They love in sincerity. This proved by the effects it produces.
(1) Love to God’s word.
(2) Prompt obedience to Christ’s precepts.
(3) Brotherly love.
(4) Zeal for God’s house.
II. The nature of the benediction.—
1. The prayer embraces the communication of divine grace.
2. All Christians need the grace of God.
(1) In all trials peculiar to the age in which they live.
(2) In time of temptation and spiritual darkness.
(3) In the discharge of Christian duties.
(4) To sanctify, refine, and make them meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.
Lessons.—
1. Imitate the catholicity of the apostle.
2. Sectarian bigotry and hostility should cease.
3. How perilous the state of those who love not Christ.—Pulpit Themes.