Fragments on Ephesians

1Just as Paul wrote to the Romans when he had not yet seen them, so also he wrote to the Ephesians. John had gone before him and laid down the preaching for them, so Paul urges them at the right time not to be held fast by the law. The apostles who were staying in Jerusalem kept the law because of those who had believed from the circumcision. Then, since John had spoken of God sufficiently and had left out nothing of the proclamations leading to the knowledge of God, as far as was comprehensible for human beings, Paul comes to present the divine plan of the incarnation. He clothes it with its own proper greatness and with words worthy of the realities, and he takes up the greater subject. For the dignity of the Godhead had its own proper honor and was acknowledged, but to describe the incarnation worthily, which appears lowly, required spiritual power.

Here too the word “through” belongs to God according to Paul, and the Father is not diminished. He reasonably says “through the will of God,” so that he may show that just as God willed John to be an apostle, so also he willed me. He writes this so that what is said by him may be trustworthy.

Someone might object: if each term is said by improper use, both “Father” and “Lord,” then the Son will be acknowledged as greater than the Father, if the one has the name of father and the other the name of lord. But the reason for these words is acknowledged. For since he said “our Father,” and the Father is the Father of Christ, he did not want the same name to be placed both on the Only Begotten and on the faithful, either pulling the Son down contrary to nature or leading those others up beyond nature. So after saying “our Father” and showing that the title is by grace, he added “and the Lord Jesus Christ.” For it was not possible, when the title was common by nature, for the dignity also to be common. Why then is the Father Lord of these, but he himself is not Lord of the Son, if the title was by improper use in each case?

If then the saints were marked out in Christ for adoption, the Son is not adopted, but Son by nature.

If according to the law the willing is an activity, what is the good pleasure of this willing? For Paul would not have said “the good pleasure of his will” unless he meant to show that the will has been decided. “To the praise of the glory of his grace.” I have already said before that he adorns his own word with the dignity of the divine plan.

Since the one who was formed fell through disobedience, and when human beings acted impiously the heavenly things were alienated from the earthly things, Christ came and brought together all things. And after this he says it in another way when he says: “making peace between the things in the heavens and the things on the earth.” For he himself is our peace, the one who made both one, the Jews and the Greeks, through faith in Christ.

Clearly here he says that activity is one thing and counsel is another. After saying “the one who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” he said “of his will,” so that he may show that the will has been decided. Whatever someone has confirmed from good counsel, these things have been determined by judgment. He used the words in this way.

“You also,” he says, “are among those foreknown,” being made Christ's own through obedience and through faith in what is heard and through the seal upon faith, which is likeness to Christ through participation in the Spirit. From whom did they hear the word of truth? Was it not from John the Evangelist? For he was preaching there. Therefore Paul speaks with them at a higher level, since they have been equipped by his teaching.

Redemption means being acquired as God's possession. For in order that we may be possessed and made God's own, we are redeemed, remembering the blood by which we were redeemed and the whole divine plan. It is clear that he is here calling Christ God according to the flesh. For nowhere here does he mention the dignity of the Godhead, but the divine plan that is ours, which is acknowledged to belong to the flesh.

2Scripture often calls God's very essence "glory." Since that essence is untouchable and unattainable, Scripture named it "glory" so that you may not demand an account but worship. Ezekiel is the first to call God's essence "glory," when in visions he saw God seated and added, "This was the likeness of the glory of the Lord" (Ezekiel 1:28). Interpreting this elsewhere, God says, "I multiplied visions and was likened through the prophets" (Hosea 12:10). So the "glory" Ezekiel spoke of is what God calls "the I." And Paul says, "He is the radiance of the glory"—of what glory?—"and the exact imprint of his substance" (Hebrews 1:3). Here, then, he calls him "God of our Lord Jesus Christ" according to the flesh, but "Father of glory" according to nature.

And every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come (Ephesians 1:21). For in this age we name thrones, rulers, dominions, authorities, powers, angels, archangels. But since there are countless orders of invisible powers unknown to us and therefore unnameable, and after the resurrection they will be known and will receive their titles from us along with that knowledge, for this reason he said, "and in the age to come."

And he gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all things in all (Ephesians 1:22-23). Through this he made clear that he calls the body of Christ—that is, the church—the fullness of God. Why "fullness"? Because it has been filled with God. For just as he fills all things in all, so also he fills the church, in that it is the body of Christ. So the church is the body of Christ and the fullness of God.

Of him who fills all things in all. For he is in heaven, working in a heavenly way, and on earth, working in an earthly way, and in angels, in the sun, but in each according to its own nature. For Scripture speaks about God from the things we share in, not from what he himself is; that is incomprehensible.

"World" is used in two ways: the created order, and the wicked system of human beings. Here Paul divided the two realities, calling human wickedness and sin "age," and the constitution of the universe "world," just as he also says in Galatians: "to rescue us from the present evil age" (Galatians 1:4). He means this present age. So he named the common human rebellion and error "age," of which those who now believe in Christ were once a part.

According to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit now at work (Ephesians 2:2). Through this the apostle clearly shows that the devil was not an angel from heaven, but a wicked aerial spirit. Even if the Lord says, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18), he is not indicating the place from which he fell. Rather, since lightning falls swiftly from above, he compared the swiftness of the devil's fall to lightning, saying: as lightning rushes swiftly from heaven, so I saw his fall as swift.

Of the one now at work. He made clear that the devil does not always have his power; rather, human weakness became his power.

Doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind (Ephesians 2:3). From this it is shown that the flesh is not opposed to the soul; for it joined in agreement with sin.

And we were by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Just as there are sons of hell, so also children of wrath.

Since he said "created," he says: creation means making something one's own possession. And he added "for good works" so that from now on you may build yourself up.

He did not say "closer" than those who believed from circumcision, but "near" (Ephesians 2:13).

Having destroyed the dividing wall of the fence, not the fence, but the dividing wall (Ephesians 2:14). What then is the fence?

3“I will remove its fence and it will become plunder” (Isaiah 5:5)—that is, the security of the Spirit. What then is the dividing wall? The non-mixing with the Greeks. For Jews were prevented from mixing with Greeks, so that the Jews might not fall into idolatry—they who even without this were committing idolatry. And this is what David says: “God settles the solitary in a house” (Psalm 68:6). For the leaven had to become strong, so that in this way the whole world might be leavened.

He speaks of the law of the commandments that had been made customary, as from the Mosaic commandments. Having abolished it by his own decrees, among which are: “It is not what goes in that defiles a person” (Matthew 15:11)—this dissolved the rule “eat this, do not eat that”—and the not-giving of a bill of divorce—this was contrary to dismissing a wife for any cause—and “you observe days and months and seasons and years” (Galatians 4:10)—this was contrary to what Moses had given. And in general there are many such dogmatic teachings by which he abolished the law of the commandments, not the commandments as inappropriate, but the custom as no longer useful. For the commandments are honored even when they are not in force, but the law—that is, our being under the law of the commandments—was harmful after grace.

For Greeks, turning away from idolatry as impiety, and Jews, turning away from the law as no longer useful, are built up into another newness of piety. “Making peace” (Ephesians 2:15). For the law does not wish there to be peace. Why? So that bodily peace may not stir up war against piety. “He reconciles both to God” (Ephesians 2:16). Since the Greeks had gone astray, and the Jews had transgressed. “Having killed the hostility in himself” (Ephesians 2:16). The thought has breadth in the brevity of the phrase. For since the law was what separated Jews from Greeks, as was said before, and the law was going to cease—and it ceased in no other way than because the Lord rose from the dead, to whom the church had to be joined as to another husband after the law—he says that in his flesh he killed that hostility by putting an end to the law.

“And coming, he preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near” (Ephesians 2:17). This shows that he does not call the law of Moses impious in the way idolatry is. For he says that the idolaters are far off, and the Jews near. And “near” shows a part of piety, not the whole. For if they had the whole, they would not be near but in it. And if again they were opposed, they would not be near but far off with the Greeks.

Here he wishes to show that he did not dismiss them as strangers taught by others, but that, having been chosen as herald of the Gentiles, he owed them this demonstration too, and that as the Lord taught those around John, so also he taught me by revelation. And he hinted that he could have said something deeper, but he measured his teaching to what they could receive.

“So that it might now be made known to the rulers” (Ephesians 3:10). Reasonably so. For if it had been hidden in God, all the authorities would have been ignorant of it. For he says “now” not of the time of grace, but of the time from which the prophets began to reveal the things to come.

“In heaven,” he says, is the way of life of the righteous, and on earth that of all human beings. For the righteous are not stationed on earth with the living, but the generation of those devoted to God stands apart like some chosen race. And the generation of these is called heavenly as pure, while that of the rest is earthly as defiled.

4It must be noted that the name of the Father which the apostle reveals did not go up from us to heaven, but came down from heaven to us—clearly because it exists by nature and not merely as a name. For what is figurative must always come after what is natural, and among natural things, what is from above comes first, then what is from below. It must also be noted that he said "fatherhood" as in kinship group, not "clan." For everywhere the divine Scripture calls kinship groups "fatherhoods."

He shaped it more typologically, into the form of a cross. For what else could depth and height and breadth and length be but the nature of the cross? And he seems to speak of the cross as twofold, not single. But since the Lord's divine plan is divinity from above and humanity from below, and the apostolic proclamation stretched from north to south and from east to west, he brought together both the Lord's divine plan and the apostles' service, showing the twofold nature of the divine plan as in a twofold cross. That is why he spoke this way. For he could not simply name the places—above and below—and the line—breadth and length. "That you may be filled into all the fullness of God," that is, the church. For he calls the church the fullness.

"Arise, sleeper," and what follows, we find written nowhere in the Old or the New Testament. What is it then? It was a gift at that time, of both prayer and psalms, with the Spirit prompting, just as he says in the letter to the Corinthians: "Each of you has a psalm, has a prayer" (1 Corinthians 14:26). What is it then? "I will pray with the Spirit, I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the Spirit, I will sing also with the mind" (1 Corinthians 14:15). It is clear, then, that this which he mentioned lay in one of those spiritual psalms or prayers.

The one who redeems the slave of another redeems him and acquires him. Since the present time is enslaved to the wicked, redeem it, so that you may use it for godliness.

Since the Lamb was offered, we also eat his body. Food is accustomed to be distributed into the body of the one who eats—clearly we eat his body spiritually. It is distributed into our body, and so we are flesh from his flesh and bone from his bones.

Not the mystery, but God. What then is he saying? That this formation of Adam and of Eve from him, and their union, became a type of Christ and the church. For this reason he says: "We are bone from his bones and flesh from his flesh," just as Eve was from Adam. So when he says, "But I am speaking about Christ and the church," he is speaking of the mystery of marriage, meaning that the things according to the marriage law and the original creation are a type of Christ and the church. For this reason he added: "But also you, each one of you, let each one love his own wife as himself." Why did he say "each one of you"? Because the things concerning Adam were a type of the church and of Christ. For this reason he said: "You also, each one, love." For the mystery of which marriage was a type has come to pass and is true, but the type itself must also be fulfilled, and each one must love his own wife.

If the sword is the word of God, and the sword is of the Spirit, then the Spirit whose sword it is, is God. And if he called the Holy Spirit the word of God, clearly just as the Son of God is the Word, so also the Spirit is the word of God. He called the sword of the Spirit the punishing activity of the Spirit.

"Praying in the Spirit" he did not say simply, but because we do not know how to pray as we ought, he says elsewhere: "The Spirit itself intercedes for us" (Romans 8:26), so that our requests may have nothing fleshly. We have spiritual requests aided by the power of the Spirit.

Someone, he says, who is set free from the corruption that comes from the devil receives the grace of the Spirit in incorruption.