Ephesians 1:3–14

Verse 3. Blessed be the God, who, through his Son Jesus Christ, made man, hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings and gifts; and by his grace, infused into our souls, has given us a title to a happy eternity in heaven. Witham.—In heavenly things; (in cælestibus) that is all spiritual blessings for heaven, or for eternity. This is the object of all the blessings we receive from God; and we ought, according to the first intention of them, to refer them all to eternal or heavenly beatitude. Saint Paul distinguishes the blessings which we receive in Jesus Christ from those bestowed upon the Jews, which were temporal and limited to this earth. Calmet. Challoner.

Verse 3. With all spiritual blessings in heavenly places: lit. in heavenlies, [1] or celestials, which some expound and translate, in heavenly things; but this being expressed just before by spiritual blessings, it rather seems to be understood of the glory prepared for us in heaven, or in the heavenly mansions; in which sense it seems to me, according to the interpretation both of S. Jerom and of Saint John Chrysostom in their commentaries on these words. Estius takes notice that the same expression, in the celestials, is used five times in this epistle, and in all of them signifies places above us. Witham.

Verse 4–8. As by his eternal decree, according to the purpose of his good will and pleasure, he hath made choice of us to be his adoptive sons, and predestinated us to be saved and glorified by the merits and grace of his beloved Son, our Redeemer, without any merits of ours to the glorious praise and riches of his grace, by which he hath made us abound in all wisdom and true prudence. Witham.

Verse 4–8. As by his eternal decree, according to the purpose of his good will and pleasure, he hath made choice of us to be his adoptive sons, and predestinated us to be saved and glorified by the merits and grace of his beloved Son, our Redeemer, without any merits of ours to the glorious praise and riches of his grace, by which he hath made us abound in all wisdom and true prudence. Witham.

Verse 4–8. As by his eternal decree, according to the purpose of his good will and pleasure, he hath made choice of us to be his adoptive sons, and predestinated us to be saved and glorified by the merits and grace of his beloved Son, our Redeemer, without any merits of ours to the glorious praise and riches of his grace, by which he hath made us abound in all wisdom and true prudence. Witham.

Verse 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace; that is unto the glorious praise or commendation of his grace. Witham.

Verse 4–8. As by his eternal decree, according to the purpose of his good will and pleasure, he hath made choice of us to be his adoptive sons, and predestinated us to be saved and glorified by the merits and grace of his beloved Son, our Redeemer, without any merits of ours to the glorious praise and riches of his grace, by which he hath made us abound in all wisdom and true prudence. Witham.

Verse 4–8. As by his eternal decree, according to the purpose of his good will and pleasure, he hath made choice of us to be his adoptive sons, and predestinated us to be saved and glorified by the merits and grace of his beloved Son, our Redeemer, without any merits of ours to the glorious praise and riches of his grace, by which he hath made us abound in all wisdom and true prudence. Witham.

Verse 8. In all wisdom and prudence; which may be either referred to the wisdom and prudence of God, the giver of grace, or to the gifts of wisdom and prudence bestowed upon the elect. Witham.

Verse 9. That he might make known to us, and to all men, the mystery of his will and pleasure in establishing his new law, of calling all Gentiles, as well as Jews, to believe in his Son, made man for us, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, (that is, at the time decreed from eternity) to establish, to accomplish, and, as it is in the Greek, to recapitulate all things in heaven and on earth, in Christ, and through him, and his merits; on earth, by fulfilling all the types, figures, and prophecies concerning the Messias; and in heaven, by filling up the number of his elect. Witham.—The mystery of his will. The word mystery signifies a secret, an unknown design. It was the will of God, to reveal to us the great design he had in the incarnation of his Son, that is the formation of one great body of true adorers; composed, without distinction, of Jew and Gentile: till (verse 10) when the time appointed shall come, he will reunite and perfect in or under Christ this one body, composed of the Church triumphant, Angels and saints in heaven, and the Church militant upon earth. S. Chrysostom, Estius, and so forth

Verse 9. Which he hath purposed in him; [2] that is in Christ: but in the Greek the sense is, in himself; that is in God the Father, who sent his Son. Witham.

Verse 10. In the dispensation of the fulness of times. It may perhaps be translated, at the appointed fulness of time, which is generally expounded to signify at the time decreed from eternity.—To establish (or restore) all things in Christ. [3] The Greek is to recapitulate, or, as the Prot. translation, to gather together all things in Christ; which S. Jerom expounds, by a fulfilling at once in Christ all the ancient figures and prophecies of the former law. Witham.

Verse 11. In Christ we also are called by lot; that is to this happy lot, this share and state of eternal happiness, (he seems to speak with an allusion to the manner by which the lands of a temporal inheritance was distributed to the Israelites, in Palestine) that we (verse 12) who are saved, may be to the praise of his glory; might praise God for ever in the kingdom of his glory; particularly we Jews, who before hoped in the Messias to come, and also you Gentiles, who now having heard the gospel, have believed in Christ, and who, together with all Christians, have been now sealed as it were with the holy Spirit of promise; that is by the Spirit promised, and all those spiritual graces which are an earnest and pledge, which give us an assurance of our future glory and happiness. For our redemption from our sins, and in order to the acquired possession, to the possession of that glorious happiness which Christ, by his incarnation and death, hath acquired for us. Witham.

Verse 13. In whom you.… were sealed, and so forth Having been regenerated in baptism, you have received the Holy Spirit and the supernatural gifts which he communicates, by which he has, as it were, impressed upon you the seal of your sanctification and the pledge of your salvation. It is not an external impression, such as that by which soldiers are marked by their sovereigns, nor circumcision, as of old, but it is a mark within you—the grace with which you are filled—which shews itself outwardly by miraculous effects, and so forth Calmet.—Some refer these words, in whom you were sealed, to the sacrament of baptism; others to confirmation: both, with the sacrament of holy orders, confer a character, or mark, of which Saint Paul seems to speak whenever he speaks of God sealing us.

Verse 14. The redemption of acquisition; [4] that is in order to the acquired possession, or to the obtaining of that glory which Christ, by redeeming us, hath acquired for us. Witham.