Ephesians 1:15–23

Verse 15, and so forth Wherefore … hearing of your constancy in the faith of Christ, and of your charitable love to all the saints, or faithful, I give always thanks to God; I pray that God may be more revealed to you, that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, (verse 18) that you may know what ground you have to hope in the transcendent greatness of God’s almighty power, who raised Christ from the dead, (verse 20) and set him on his right hand in heaven, above all the choirs and orders of blessed spirits, putting all things under his feet, making him, as man, head over all his Church militant on earth, and triumphant in heaven: which Church is his mystical body, who is filled all in all, (verse 23) or as others have translated, who filleth all in all; the sense is, that the glory of Christ, as head of all, is filled and increased by the salvation and happiness of all his chosen members, and of all his elect, to the end of the world. Witham.

TR reads “understanding” instead of “hearts”

Verse 19. His power. The greatest exertion of the power of God, or that action by which he shewed his power most, is the resurrection from the dead, which he exercised in Christ, when he raised him from the tomb, and placed him over all the Angels of heaven; and which shall likewise be exercised over us all, when we too shall be raised from the dead, and constituted members of the triumphant Church, and rewarded with a share of glory proportioned to our merits. These are the hopes to which we are called.

Verse 21. All principality. The Fathers agree that there are nine orders of blessed spirits, of which some are specified here; in the Epistle to the Colossians we have the order of thrones, to which if we add the cherubim, seraphim, Angels, and Archangels, we shall have nine. Calvin and other heretics strive to bring into doubt, and to corrupt many points of Catholic doctrine, sufficiently clear in holy writ, and sanctified by the general belief of the Universal or Catholic Church.

Verse 22. As Christ is king, and yet men are kings also; so Christ is head of the Church, and yet man may be head thereof also. Jesus Christ is bishop and pastor of our souls; (Hebrews 3) but is that a reason why there should be no other bishop and pastor of our souls?

Notes as to the style or expressions of Saint Paul, in this chapter

Verse 23. Who is filled all in all. [5] In the Latin the words have a passive signification, is filled; in the Greek may be signified, who filleth all in all. Witham.