Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 6:24

Grace [be] with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

24. Grace ] Lit., “ the grace.” So in the closing benedictions of Col., 1 Tim., 2 Tim., Tit., Heb. In Rom., Cor., Gal., Phil., Thess., Philem., Rev., the benedictions are in the full form (or nearly so), “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The shorter form is very probably the epitome of the larger; “ the grace” is His grace. On the word “grace,” see note on Eph 1:2. It is nothing less than God Himself in action, in His Son, by His Spirit, in the salvation of man.

with all them that love, &c.] In this short clause, at once so broad and so deep in its reference, so exclusive from one point of view, so inclusive from another, we find the last expression of those great ideas of the Epistle, the local Universality and spiritual Unity of the true, the truly believing and loving, Church. All who answer this description are, as a fact, in contact with the Fountain of Grace, and on all of them the Apostle invokes “grace for grace” (Joh 1:16), the successive and growing supplies of the gift of God.

“ Our Lord Jesus Christ ” : the full name and style of the Object of love is given. In this lies the needful warning that the Object must be no creature of the individual’s, or of the community’s, thought, but the Redeemer and King of history and revelation.

in sincerity ] Lit., (as R.V.,) in uncorruptness. The word is the same as that in Rom 2:7 (A.V., “immortality”); 1Co 15:42; 1Co 15:50; 1Co 15:53-54 (A.V., “incorruption”); 2Ti 1:10 (A.V., “immortality”). The cognate adjective occurs Rom 1:23; 1Co 9:25; 1Co 15:52 ; 1Pe 1:4; 1Pe 1:23 (A.V., in each case, “incorruptible” and so, practically, 1Pe 3:4); and 1Ti 1:17 (A.V., “immortal”) [41] . Thus the word tends always towards the spiritual and eternal, as towards that which is in its own nature free from elements of decay. “In spiritual reality ” would thus represent a part, but only a part, of the idea of the present phrase. The whole idea is far greater in its scope. The “love of our Lord Jesus Christ” in question here is a love living and moving “ in ” the sphere and air, so to speak, of that which cannot die, and cannot let die. God Himself is its “environment,” as He lives and works in the regenerate soul. It is a love which comes from, exists by, and leads to, the unseen and eternal. “Thus only,” in Alford’s words, “is the word worthy to stand as the crown and climax of this glorious Epistle.”

[41] The Genevan English Version (1557) renders the words in the text here, “ to their immortalitie.” The preposition (“to”) cannot stand, but the noun conveys part of the true meaning.

Amen ] See note on Eph 3:21, above. The evidence for the omission of the word here is considerable, though not overwhelming. The early Versions; and the Fathers (in quotation), retain it, almost without exception in both cases. Some very important MSS. omit it. What reader will not supply it from his own spirit?

The Subscription

Written from Rome, &c.] Lit., ( The Epistle) to (the) Ephesians was written from Rome, by means of Tychicus. It may safely be assumed that no such Subscription appeared in the original MS. of the Epistle, and the question of various forms has, accordingly, an antiquarian interest only. In the oldest Gr. MSS. the form is the same as that of the Title (see note there); To (the) Ephesians. Old, but later, MSS., along with some early Versions and some Fathers, read, exactly or nearly, as the A.V. Among other forms we find, (Here) ends (the Epistle) to (the) Ephesians, (and) begins (that) to (the) Colossians ( sic), or, that to (the) Philippians.

The Subscriptions (to St Paul’s Epistles) in their longer form (as in the A.V.) are ascribed to Euthalius, a bishop of the fifth century, and thus to a date later than that of the earliest known MSS. (See Scrivener’s Introduction to the Criticism of the N. T., ed. 1883, p. 62.)

The Subscription here is obviously true to fact, (assuming the rightness of the words “ at Ephesus,” Eph 1:1). In this it resembles those appended to Rom., Phil., 2 Tim. Other Subscriptions are either (1 Cor.; Galat.; 1 Tim.) contradictory to the contents of the respective Epistles, or (Thess.; Titus) difficult to be reconciled with them.

Additional Note (see p. 54)

The Rev. C. T. Wilson, M.A., of Jerusalem, has favoured the Editor with the following remarks:

“The word occurs in the colloquial Arabic of Palestine, in the form arraboon, and is frequently used for the sum of money paid in advance to a tradesman or artizan to seal a bargain. It is also used to signify a sum deposited as a pledge for the fulfilment of a bargain. When engaging a muleteer, it is usual to take a small sum from him as a pledge that he will be forthcoming at the appointed time. The arraboon is forfeited if he fails.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Grace be, … – note, Rom 16:20.

That love our Lord Jesus Christ – see the notes on 1Co 16:22.

In sincerity – Margin, with incorruption. With a pure heart; without dissembling; without hypocrisy. There could not be a more appropriate close of the Epistle than such a wish; there will be nothing more needful for us when we come to the close of life than the consciousness that we love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. To writer and reader may this be equally the inestimable consolation then! Better, far better then will be the evidence of such sincere love, than all the wealth which toil can gain, all the honors which the world can bestow – than the most splendid mansion, or the widest fame. The subscription to this Epistle, like those affixed to the other epistles, is of no authority, but in this instance there is every reason to believe that it is correct. Compare notes at the end of the Epistle to the Romans and 1 Corinthians.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Eph 6:24

Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.

Grace and love

Everything you need to make you good, wise, humble, lovely, useful, and happy, is comprehended in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you care for yourself and your immediate friends only, and not for others also, is it not that you have too little of the grace of Jesus Christ? Or if you show a self-loving partiality for your own Church, and a prejudice against other Churches, would not more of the grace of the Lord Jesus enlarge your heart, and correct the one-sidedness of your character? If you carry yourself haughtily towards anyone, is not that a sign that your own spirit is strong, and the grace of Christ weak in you? Do not your impatience, irritability, and anger, give evidence of your deficiency in grace? If you are fretful or downcast under suffering, would not more of the grace of Jesus produce in you an exactly contrary condition? If you surrender your tongue to foolish talking, does it not argue an absence of the dignity and wisdom which are in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? If you fall into any vice or sin whatsoever, would not a greater measure of His grace restrain you? It is clear, therefore, that the grace of Christ is precisely what you want, to make you everything that you should be. It is everything that can relate you happily to God and advantageously to man. One word expresses the whole circle of your wants. For that one word, Grace, stands for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It is the virtue of His all-perfect humanity operating within you, the one thing that roots, grows, and opens in us every excellence and charm of spirit and character. (J. Pulsford.)

Love for Christ

1.Love for Christ is the common life of all true Christians. In whatever else they differ from each other, in their creeds, in their modes of worship, in some of their conceptions of how the Divine life in man is originated, how it should be disciplined, and how it is manifested, they are alike in this: they all love the Lord Jesus Christ. The controversies and divisions of Christendom have gone a long way towards destroying the unity of the Church; but in love for Christ all Christians are one.

2. And love for Christ is immortal. The religious passion which is created by sensuous excitements, whether these excitements are addressed to the eye or to the ear, whether they heat the blood or intoxicate the imagination, is transitory. It has in it the elements of corruption. But true love for Christ is rooted in all that is deepest and divinest in human nature. It is immortal, for it belongs to that immortal life which comes to us by the inspiration of the Spirit of God. It will not decay with the decay of physical vigour. It will triumph over death; and will reveal the fulness of its strength, and the intensity of its fervour in those endless ages which we hope to spend with Christ in glory. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

Benediction to those who love Jesus

I. Consider on what accounts Christ is entitled to our love.

1. He is a Divine Person.

2. His mediatorial offices entitle Him to our love. A sense of our wants adds worth to an object suited to relieve them. Jesus is such a Saviour as we need.

3. Christ is an object of our love on account of His kindness to us.

II. Sincerity is an essential qualification of our love to Christ.

1. Our love to Christ must be real, not pretended.

2. Our love to Christ must be universal; it must respect His whole character.

3. Sincere love to Christ is supreme.

4. Sincere love is persevering.

5. True love to Christ is active. Not a cold and indolent opinion of Him; but such a sensible regard to Him as interests the heart, and influences the life.

III. How sincere love to Christ will discover itself.

1. It will make us careful to please Him.

2. This holy principle will be accompanied with humility.

3. If we love Christ, we will follow His steps, and walk as He walked.

4. Our love to Him will animate us to promote His interest, and oppose His enemies.

5. This principle will express itself in a devout attendance on His ordinances, especially the Holy Communion, the Sacrament of His love.

6. Love to Christ will make us long for His reappearing.

IV. The benediction connected with this temper. It is called grace–a term of large and glorious import. It comprehends all the blessings which the gospel reveals to the sons of men, and promises to the faithful in Christ.

1. One great privilege contained in this grace is justification before God.

2. Another privilege is the presence of the Divine Spirit.

3. They who love Christ have free access to the throne of grace, and a promise that they shall be heard and accepted there.

4. They who love Christ in sincerity will receive the gift of a happy immortality. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)

Christian catholicity

I. The characters described.

1. The object of their love The Lord Jesus Christ.

(1) Lord, Said to be Lord of all.

(2) Jesus. This signifies Saviour, and it was given to Him on account of His mission and work.

(3) Christ. Signifies Anointed. The anointed Saviour. The Christ predicted, promised, expected, at length revealed.

2. The nature of their love–Love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Here is the affection and the kind of affection. Now, love to Christ–

(1) Is always the result of faith in His love to us.

(2) Love to Christ is always an evident emotion.

(3) Is sincere. It may be rendered uncorrupted, without alloy.

It means real, in opposition to pretended love–intense, in opposition to languid–constant, in opposition to vacillating.

II. The affectionate prayer expressed.

1. All the saints of the Lord Jesus require this grace. None independent of it.

2. The grace is provided for all the disciples of Jesus. Out of His fulness have we all, etc.

3. We should seek sincerely in prayer that all may possess it. And that for the following reasons:–

(1) All who love, etc., are loved of God and chosen of Him.

(2) They are all our brethren and sisters in Christ.

(3) We are in circumstances of common need and dependence.

(4) We have all one Spirit.

(5) We are destined to one common inheritance.

Application:

1. We see the true nature of apostolical Christianity. A religion of love.

2. We perceive the unhappy influences of sectarianism. (J. Burns, D. D.)

The power of love

This is the climax of a most noble Epistle; and there is no letter of Paul that came from the very centre of Divine love with more richness, power, and brilliancy, and in which he deduces more clearly and more numerously the evidences and fruits of a truly Christian life, than in this one to the Ephesians. The conception of a Christ-like life, its fruitions, its trials and victories, is not more grandly set forth anywhere. The last note of this symphony is, Grace be upon all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity–as if loving the Lord Jesus Christ was at once the consummation which all duties lead toward, and the source or inspiration from which all duties spring, so that it comprehended all the details which he had been passing through; and as if it were a resumption or resume of the whole of what he had said before.

1. This love to Christ, as a great soul-force, accomplishes that which is indispensable to the whole ripening of the human soul–namely, whatever unites it in vital sympathy to God. The human soul, without personal union with God, is sunless and summerless, and can never blossom nor ripen. To bring this lower order in creation up to a Divine union, so that it shall make the leap from the animal to the spiritual sphere, from the lower to the higher condition, is the one problem of history. It cannot be done by reason, although reason is largely subordinated, and is auxiliary. But the reason, dominant, can never bring the soul into vital union with God. Neither can this be done by conscience. Conscience has power: but not the power to create sympathy. No man will be joined to God by conscience; contrariwise, men will, more likely, by mere conscience, which excites fear, be driven away from God. It cannot, either, be done by awe and reverence, which are adjuncts, but which, while they give toning and shadow to the higher feelings, give them no solar heat. They tend to lower and humble the soul; not to inspire and elevate it. They have their place among other feelings. Neither have they found God, nor have they ever led a soul to find Him–still less to join Him. Love, as a disposition, as a constant mood, has a welding power which can bring the soul to God, and fix it there. Finding Him, it can bring the soul into communion with Him, so that there shall be a personal connection between the Divine nature and the human nature. Love, then, is the one interpreter between God and man.

2. Love, also, is the one facile harmonizer of the internal discords of the human soul. It induces an atmosphere in us in which all feelings find their summer and so their ripeness.

3. Love is the only experience which keeps the soul always in a relation of sympathy and of harmony with ones fellows; and so it is the truest principle of society. If society ever rises out of its lower passions and entanglements into a pure and joyous condition, it will be by the inspiration of a Divine love. This alone will enable it to convert knowledge to benefit.

4. Love is almost the only prophetic power of the soul. It is the chief principle that inspires hope of immortality. No man ever loved his wife, and buried her, saying, with any composure, There is no immortality for her. No man ever bore his child to the grave, though it were one that he could carry in the palm of his hand, that everything in his nature did not rise up, and say, Let me find it again. No man ever proudly loved a heroic father, and consented that that father should go to extinction. The flame of love, once shining, no one can endure to believe will ever go out. Love, therefore, teaches the soul to long for, and to believe in, a better land. If you think that in this diverse but brief exposition of the power of love, I have transcended good reason, listen and see whether I have equalled the declarations of Scripture on the same subject. If you think I have been extravagant, is not the apostle more extravagant? (1Co 13:1-13.) Upon all, then, who have learned this sacred secret; upon all who have been scholars to Christianity and to the Lord Jesus Christ, and have learned to love Christ in perpetuity, permanently–upon all these, grace, from God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and grace from all Christian men, in godly fellowship. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity! Grace be upon all theologians that tend to create love; upon all services that tend to inspire love; upon all organizations that tend to promote love. No grace upon anything else. That which does not touch love does not touch anything religious which is worth our consideration–certainly not worth our suffering for. Violent attacks are made on men, in order to change them; but that is not the best way to change them, nor to bring them into a redeeming spirit of love. Little wilt be done in this world to change men by controversy. We must make that chief in us, and in the Church, which we believe to be chief in Christianity–namely, the spirit of love. We must intensify this feeling. If we would return toward it, we must reform by it. We must produce an atmosphere, we must create a public sentiment, such that churches will feel the superiority of love over organization, and ordinance, and doctrine. (H. W. Beecher.)

Love to Christ

Test your love to Christ by the love you have to some dear friend, and you will find the proofs of it–if ye love Him in sincerity.

1. If a man be very dear to me, I love to be with him. It is not enough that I behold the window where he sometimes appears; I want to see him. What are ordinances but the lattices–the windows through which Christ makes Himself known, and is seen by His saints and disciples? You read the Word of God; it is Gods appointed way of finding Him. You hear the Word of God; it is Gods appointed medium for seeing Him. You bend the knee in prayer; it is Gods appointed medium for meeting Him. Then I would say, you love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, because nothing short of Himself will ever satisfy your souls.

2. If by any unkindness to a dear friend we have caused him to withdraw from us, so that we see his face no more for a time, we search after him, and we cannot rest till we have found him. My dear hearers, see the Church of God, as discovered in the fifth chapter of that precious book–the Song of Solomon of Solomon. I opened to my Beloved; but my Beloved had withdrawn Himself, and was gone; my soul failed when He spake; I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave me no answer. But she went on seeking Him till she found Him. She did not give over her search, till she was enabled to say, in the third verse of the next chapter–My Beloved is mine: He feedeth among the lilies. True love cannot rest till it has found. We go to our family devotions, we seek the Lord in secret prayer, we mingle with the saints of God, but we cannot find rest till we have found Him.

3. Observe again: if I have a dear and beloved friend, I love his likeness. Although it maybe but a poor and feeble likeness, with many failures in it, yet there may be something about it which reminds me of him; and I love it because I love him. So do I love the saints of God. It is but a poor likeness–a faint resemblance; yet I see Christ in it. I see something of His meekness, tenderness, and love in it: and though it be but a poor picture, it reminds me of Him; and I love it for His sake. It is the true principle of brotherly love.

4. I am conscious of this principle too; that if I have a dear and beloved friend, I am concerned that others shall love him, and speak and think well of him; and that their hearts should be drawn out towards him. And so it is with the children of God. Observe in the first of John, that no sooner had Andrew heard the mighty call, than he searched after Simon; and no sooner had Philip heard it, than he searched after Nathanael. It marks out a principle, and exhibits the truth of what I am now speaking of. Ye parents that hear me, could ye but see in your dear child the breaking down of its proud heart, the humiliation of spirit, and withdrawment to prayer; could ye but see that beloved friend bow before God, it would be more to you than a thousand worlds. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)

An apostolic conclusion

This apostolic conclusion is a reminder of–

I. That peace which comes down from Gods heaven alone upon our earth, into our hearts.

II. That love, which is pure, holy, Divine.

III. That faith, which, inseparable from love, living and active through it, born of God, alone is pleasing to God, alone gives to God His glory, alone exalts the soul to Him.

IV. That grace, through which, first and alone, there comes to us all true, eternal, blessed good, continuing ours out of pure mercy and unto eternity. (Passavant.)

Sincerity defined

In the palmy days of Roman prosperity, when her merchants lived in their marble palaces on the banks of the Tiber, there was a sort of emulation in the grandeur and artistic adornment of their dwellings. Good sculptors were eagerly sought after and employed. But tricks were sometimes practised then as now; thus, if the sculptor came upon a flaw in the marble, or chipped a piece out by accident, he had a carefully prepared wax with which he filled in the chink, and so carefully fixed it as to be imperceptible. In process of time, however, heat or damp would affect the wax, and reveal its presence there. The consequence was, that when new contracts were made for commissioned works of art, a clause was added to the effect that they were to be sine cera, or without cement. Hence we have here a word picture of great moral significance. (J. Tesseyman.)

Devotion with selfishness

God is in the hypocrites mouth, but the world is in his heart, which he expects to gain through his good reputation. I have read of one that offered his Prince a great sum of money to have leave once or twice a day to come into his presence and only say, God save your majesty! The prince, wondering at this large offer for so small a favour, asked him what advantage this would afford him. O sire, saith he, this, though I have nothing else at your hands, will get me a name in the country for one who is a great favourite at court, and such an opinion will help me to more at the years end than it costs me for the purchase. Thus some, by the name they get for great saints, advance their worldly interests, which lie at the bottom of all their profession. (W. Gurnall, M. A.)

A service of love

A century ago, in the north of Europe, stood an old cathedral, upon one of the arches of which was a sculptured face of wondrous beauty. It was long hidden, until one day the suns light striking through a slanted window revealed its matchless features. And ever after, year by year, upon the days when for a brief hour it was thus illuminated, crowds came and waited, eager to catch but a glimpse of that face. It had a strange history. When the cathedral was being built an old man, broken with the weight of years and care, came and besought the architect to let him work upon it. Out of pity for his age, but fearfullest his failing sight and trembling touch might mar some fair design, the master set him to work in the shadows of the vaulted roof. One day they found the old man asleep in death, the tools of his craft laid in order beside him, the cunning of his right hand gone, the face upturned to this other marvellous face which he had wrought–the face of one whom he had loved and lost in early manhood. And when the artists and sculptors and workmen from all parts of the cathedral came and looked upon that face, they said, This is the grandest work of all; love wrought this! (St. Louis Christian Advocate.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 24. Grace be with all them] May the Divine favour, and all the benedictions flowing from it, be with all them who love our Lord Jesus Christ, who has so loved us as to give his life to redeem ours, and to save us unto life eternal.

In sincerity.] In incorruptibility. Those who show the genuineness of their love, by walking before him in holiness of life. Many profess to love our Lord Jesus who are corrupt in all their ways; on these the grace or favour of God cannot rest; they profess to know him, but in works deny him. Such can neither expect favour here, nor hereafter.

Amen.] This is wanting in ABFG, and some others. It is, however, more likely to be a genuine subscription here than most others of its kind. The apostle might have sealed his most earnest wish by this word, which means not so much, so be it! or may it be so! but rather implies the faithfulness of him who had given the promises, and whose prerogative it was to give effect to the prayers which his own Spirit had inspired.

The principal subscriptions to this epistle are the following: To the Ephesians. The Epistle to the Ephesians is finished. To the Ephesians, written from Rome. To the Ephesians, written from Rome by Tychicus. (This is the subscription which we have followed; and it is that of the larger number of modern MSS. and editions.) The Epistle to the Ephesians, written from Rome, and sent by Tychicus – SYRIAC. To the Ephesians. – AETHIOPIC. VULGATE, no subscription. The end of this epistle, which was written from Rome by Tychicus. Praise be to God for ever. Amen. – ARABIC. Written at Rome, and sent by Tychicus. – COPTIC. The SAHIDIC is defective. The Epistle to the Ephesians is ended, which was written at Rome by Tychicus. – Philoxenian SYRIAC.

We have had already occasion to observe that the subscriptions to the sacred books were not written by the authors themselves, but were added in a much later age, and generally by unskilful hands. They are consequently not much to be depended on, and never should be quoted as a part of the Divine oracles.

1. IT may be supposed that on the principal subject of this concluding chapter, the armour of God, I should have been much more diffuse. I answer, my constant aim is just to say enough, and no more, on any point. Whether I attain this, in general, or not, I can still say it is what I have desired. As to the Christian armour, it does not appear to me that the apostle has couched such a profusion of mystical meaning in it as to require a huge volume to explain. I believe the Ephesians did not understand it so; nor did the primitive Church of God. Men of rich imaginations may write large volumes on such subjects; but when they come to be fairly examined, they will be found not to be explanations of the text, on which they professedly treat, but immense bodies of divinity, in which the peculiar creed of the writer, both with respect to doctrine and discipline, is amply set forth. Mr. Gurnal’s Christian Armour contains a great many excellences; but surely it does not require such a volume to explain the five verses of this chapter, in which the apostle speaks of the spiritual armour. The grand design of the apostle was to show that truth, righteousness, obedience to the Gospel, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, a well grounded hope of salvation, a thorough knowledge of the word of God, and a continual dependence on and application to him by prayer, were essentially necessary to every soul who desired to walk uprightly in this life, and finally to attain everlasting blessedness. This is the obvious meaning of the apostle; in this sense it was understood by the Ephesians, and by the primitive Church; we may amplify it as we please.

2. In two or three places, in the preceding notes, I have referred to a piece on a very remarkable rule relative to the Greek article, to be introduced at the end. From the labours of several learned men this subject has acquired considerable importance, and has excited no small interest among Biblical critics. The late benevolent, learned, and excellent Mr. Granville Sharp was, I believe, the first who brought this subject fairly before the public; he was followed by the Rev. Dr. Wordsworth, a learned and intelligent clergyman of the Established Church.

The Rev. Dr. Middleton, late bishop of Calcutta, has presented the subject in all its force and excellence, fortified by innumerable proofs, and a great variety of critical disquisition. The principal design of these writers was to exhibit a new and substantial mode of proving the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour. Their works are before the public, and within the reach of all who are capable of judging of this mode of proof.

The piece which I now subjoin is the result of the researches of one of my literary friends, H. S. Boyd, Esq., author of Translations from Chrysostom, c., who has read the Greek writers, both sacred and profane, with peculiar attention and has collected a vast number of additional examples, both from prose and poetic writers, for the confirmation and illustration of the rule in question, and in support of the great doctrine of the Godhead of Christ.

The critical reader, who has entered into this subject, will be glad to see such a number of pointed examples brought within his reach, which at once serve the purpose both of philology and divinity. The learned author has transmitted them to me for the purpose of insertion in this place; but want of room has obliged me to omit several of his quotations.*

* Since Dr. Clarke wrote this paragraph, the Essay on the Greek Article has undergone a careful revision by the author, and several additions have been made to it, which will, it is hoped, be valuable to the critical reader. It is now introduced in a separate form from the Commentary. – THE PUBLISHERS

I would not wish the reader to suppose that these are the only proofs of the grand doctrine of the Godhead of Christ; they are not: the Holy Scripture, in its plain, obvious meaning, independently of such criticism, affords the most luminous and convincing proofs of the doctrine in question; but this is no sufficient reason that we should reject any additional light which may come to us in the way of Divine Providence.

Finished the correction for a new edition, Dec. 15th, 1831.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This is more extensive than the former, he prays here for all true believers every where.

In sincerity; or, with incorruption, i.e. so as that nothing can draw them off from the love of Christ, and so it implies constancy as well as sincerity.

Written from Rome unto the Ephesians by Tychicus.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

24. Contrast the malediction onall who love Him not (1Co 16:22).

in sincerityGreek,“in incorruption,” that is, not as EnglishVersion, but “with an immortal (constant) love” [WAHL].Compare “that which is not corruptible” (1Pe3:4). Not a fleeting, earthly love, but a spiritual and eternalone [ALFORD]. Contrast Col2:22, worldly things “which perish with the using.”Compare 1Co 9:25, “corruptible. . . incorruptible crown.” “Purely,” “holily”[ESTIUS], without thecorruption of sin (See on 1Co 3:17;2Pe 1:4; Jdg 1:10).Where the Lord Jesus has a true believer, there I have a brother[BISHOP M’IKWAINE].He who is good enough for Christ, is good enough for me [R. HALL].The differences of opinion among real Christians are comparativelysmall, and show that they are not following one another like sillysheep, each trusting the one before him. Their agreement in the main,while showing their independence as witnesses by differing innon-essentials, can only be accounted for by their being all in theright direction (Act 15:8;Act 15:9; 1Co 1:2;1Co 12:3).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Grace [be] with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ,…. Christ is the object of love, and a lovely object he is: he is to be loved because of the loveliness of his person, and the transcendent excellencies that are in him; because of his suitableness and fulness as a Saviour; and because of his great love shown to his church and people; and because of the relations he stands in to them, and the communion they have with him: love to Christ is a grace of the Spirit, and is in all believers; and though it is imperfect, and sometimes cold, it will abide for ever; it ought to be universal and superlative; all of Christ is to be loved, and he is to be loved above all: and it shows itself in a value for his Gospel, and the truths of it; in an esteem of his ordinances, and a regard to his commands; in parting with all for Christ, when called for; and in bearing all for his sake; in a well pleasedness in his company and presence, and in a concern for his absence, and in an uneasiness until he is enjoyed again: it should be fervent, and constant, and cordial, and, as here said,

in sincerity; from the heart, and with all the heart, and without hypocrisy; not in word only, but in deed and in truth; which appears when he is loved, as before observed: and the apostle wishes “grace” to all such sincere and hearty lovers of him; by which may be meant a fresh discovery of the free grace, love, and favour of God in Christ to them; and a fresh supply of grace from the fulness of it in Christ; and a larger measure of the grace of the Spirit to carry on the good work begun in them; as well as a continuation of the Gospel of the grace of God with them, and an increase of spiritual gifts. Grace may be connected with the word translated “sincerity”, and be rendered “grace with incorruption”: or incorruptible grace, as true grace is an incorruptible seed; or “grace with immortality”: and so the apostle wishes not only for grace here, but for eternal happiness and glory hereafter; and then closes the epistle with an Amen, as a confirmation and asseveration of the truth of the doctrines contained in it, and as expressive of his earnest desire that the several petitions in it might be granted, and of his faith and confidence that they would be fulfilled.

The subscription,

written from Rome to [the] Ephesians by Tychicus, seems to be right; for that this epistle is written to the Ephesians, the inscription shows; and that it was written when the apostle was at Rome, appears from Eph 3:1; and that it was sent by Tychicus, seems very likely from Eph 6:21.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

In uncorruptness ( ). A never diminishing love. See 1Co 15:42 for .

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

In sincerity [ ] . Rev., correctly, in incorruptness : who love Christ with an imperishable and incorruptible love.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Grace be with all them that love” (he charis meta panton ton agaponton) “May grace or unmerited favor be with all those continually loving,” “progressively loving,” or “preserving in love,” Joh 13:34-35; 2Co 8:9; 2Co 12:9; 2Pe 3:18; Jas 4:6; 1Pe 5:5. The “all them that love” Christ in an incorruptible manner of life seems to be an all-embracing prayer desire of God’s goodness to be upon one and all then, there, and thereafter who should love the Lord in an affinity of church fellowship and service as soldiers of the Lord, Eph 3:21.

2) “Our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity” (ton kurion hemon iesou christou en aphtharsia) “The Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility;” That is, those living the way they profess. Paul did not pray God’s unmerited favors upon church members of Ephesus and Asia Minor who live corruptible, immoral, and unethical lives. To have done so would have ignored the principle of blessings for goodness and obedience and chastisement for wrong, Ecc 12:13-14; 1Co 3:13-15; Heb 12:5-11.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

24. Grace be with all. The meaning is, “May God continue to bestow his favor on all who love Jesus Christ with a pure conscience!” The Greek word, which I follow Erasmus in translating sincerity, ( ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ,) signifies literally uncorruptedness, which deserves attention on account of the beauty of the metaphor. Paul intended to state indirectly, that, when the heart of man is free from all hypocrisy, it will be free from all corruption. This prayer conveys to us the instruction, that the only way of enjoying the light of the Divine countenance is to love sincerely God’s own Son, in whom his love toward us has been declared and confirmed. But let there be no hypocrisy; for most men, while they are not unwilling to make some professions of religion, entertain exceedingly low notions of Christ, and worship him with pretended homage. I wish there were not so many instances in the present day to prove that Paul’s admonition, to love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity is as necessary as ever.

END OF THE COMMENTARIES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

THE CONCLUDING SALUTATION

Eph 6:24

THIS is the last word in what is probably Pauls most noble Epistle. No man can read this Letter to the Ephesians without being blessed. Henry Ward Beecher says of it, The conception of a Christian life, its duties, its fruitions, its trials and victories, is not more grandly set forth anywhere.

The last note of this symphony is our text, as if loving the Lord Jesus Christ was at once the consummation toward which all duties led; the source of inspiration from which all duties spring; so that to comprehend all the details which he had been passing througha resumption or resume of the whole of what he had said before.

It was my thought this glad morning to present this Scripture as a Christmas salutation, Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. This Sabbath belongs to a season when every salutation ought to be accompanied with a smile, and every expression between neighbors should be one of good will. The first Christmas heard the angels sing, and the shepherds of Bethlehem, listening, caught the expression, Peace on earth, good will toward men, or, as I prefer to render it, towards men of good will, and every Christmas ought to emphasize the idea. It is a season when we ought to do more than sit at good dinners; more than hold family reunions; more than make merry with our friends. If there is ever a time when our hearts sympathies ought to go out in benediction to all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, it is at this Christmas time. True, in that first Christmas, the wise men from the East, when they were come into the house and saw the young child, with Mary His mother, bowed down and worshiped Him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Mankind has caught the spirit, and express trains and freight cars, and mail coaches have been crowded all week with material expressions of friendship and love. But let us not forget that the first offering these wise men made was that of worship; and it was also their best offering, and the most difficult to make. The sacrifice of silver and gold is far easier than self-devotement, and, in consequence, less acceptable to God. The Apostle Paul commended those Christians who first gave themselves to God, and afterwards to the needy, by the will of God. And in this Epistle the Apostle is saluting just such, and is pronouncing upon them his benediction, Grace be with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. This Christian salutation has in it three suggestions.

First:

THE SUBJECTS OF DIVINE GRACE

They are characterized by love! Grace be with all them that love. Love is the capital grace; it is also the most Christian characteristic. Our Revised Version brings that out beautifully in the language of this same Apostle to the Corinthians,

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And, though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing (1Co 13:1-3).

John confirms Paul in this inspired opinion. In his First Epistle he writes, Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of .God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love (1Jn 4:7-8).

Christ Himself emphasizes love as an evidence of ones loyalty to Him, saying,

Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies; do good to them which hate you.

Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you (Luk 6:26-28).

I was reading sometime since a brief life of Cranmer, and I found in his conduct much to criticise. He was more politic than courageous; more generous than just. But Dr. Herrick says, Cranmers charity, unlike his courage, knew no circumscribing lines which it could not overstep. The very man who plotted against his life, who charged him with heresy, with malfeasance, with treason, were as freely forgiven as if they had charged him with some petty offense against propriety. So that it passed into a proverb, Do my lord of Canterbury an injury and it will make him your friend. He was certainly Christly upon some occasions when to have been vindictive would have been easier. Christly is the word. The man whose love never fails is the man who has furnished one of the best evidences that he is a subject of Divine grace.

The Lord must be the chief object of this love. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ. There are those who find in their hearts some love for their brethren, and they reason that such is an evidence of their Christianity, since it is written, We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. But, after all, the brethren are not to have supreme place in our affections, and we cannot love them as we ought until we have learned to give that place to the Lord, their Lord and ours. Since, as John wrote again, By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God (1Jn 5:2).

It would be an interesting study, if one had much time on his hands, to see how often love to God is both enjoined and approved in the Word. It is the first commandment. Moses was simply reminding Israel of the principle involved in that commandment when he said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might (Deu 6:5). Joshua urged the people to be diligent in obedience to the command to love the Lord your God (Jos 22:5). David called upon Israel at large, O love the Lord, all ye His saints (Psa 31:23). While Jesus Christ Himself said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (Mat 22:37).

We do believe that that commandment is all the easier since God manifested Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ, for, as John Watson says, It is a person, not a dogma, which invites my faith; a person, not a code, which asks for obedience. Jesus stands in the way of every selfishness; He leads in the path of every sacrifice; He is crucified in every act of sin; He is glorified in every act of holiness. St. Stephen, as he suffered for the Gospel, saw the heavens open and Jesus standing to receive him. St. Peter, fleeing in a second panic from Rome, meets Jesus returning to be crucified in his place. Conscience and heart are settled on Jesus, and one feels within his soul the tides of His virtue. It is not the doctrines nor the ethics of Christianity that are its irresistible attraction. Its doctrines have been a stumbling-block, and its ethics excel only in degree. The life-blood of Christianity is Christ. As Louis said, Letat cest moi, so may Jesus say, I am my Religion. What Napoleon was to his soldiers on the battlefield, Jesus has been to millions separated from Him by the chasm of centuries. No emotion in human experience has been so masterful, none so fruitful, as the passion for Jesus. It has inspired the Church, it has half saved the world.

Of course, such affection must be sincere. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. The Master never missed an opportunity to emphasize this need of sincerity. When one of the Scribes enquired Which is the great commandment in the law, Jesus answered, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. What else is that than sincerity? Time and trials are always telling on the sincerity of men, and the lack of it. A few years since there came a cry from East London that reached the ears of Englands society folk, and stirred their hearts. And Pastor Stalker said, The sons and daughters of fashion left their frivolities to go slumming. But they did not find it easy work; it had its mighty obstacles; it had its disgusting features; it had its distressing experiences, and very shortly these professionalists tired and turned back from this difficult, yet Divine work, to the social fads that were consonant with their superficialities. But all them that loved the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity who had wrought afore time, worked on, indefatigably, for sincerity is not easily dissuaded from its purpose or turned back from its attempts.

When Savonarola was borne from the throne of Florence to a dungeon, tortured by every invention of his time, nerves and muscles lacerated, bones disjointed, and eventually was dragged forth to be hanged and burned, he showed no disposition to falter, but cheerfully met both gibbet and flame, saying, My Lord was pleased to die for my sins, why should I not be glad to give up my poor life for love to Him? Aye, there you saw an example of Divine grace, for he was among the company of those that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.

This leads to my second thought.

THE SECRET OF SPIRITUAL BLESSING

Love alone will accept Gods salvation. He that dwelleth in love; dwelleth in God and God in him (1Jn 4:16). Intellectual assent to Gods existence is in no sense an acceptance of His salvation. There are many theists in the world who are not Christians. Mr. Ingersoll never denied the existence of a God, but he repudiated the idea of ever becoming dependent upon Divine grace. And that is not unnatural for the heart that has in it no love for the Lord; in fact it is according to all the workings of nature. Here is a virtuous woman, and some man, with gentle behavior but insidious intent, offers her a gift of gold, or possessions in houses and lands and she rejects the proffer with scorn, because she does not propose to be his chattel; but when he has made known his love to her, and has won her affection in turn, then she willingly surrenders her independence, and not only gives him her hand in marriage, but delights to take from his hand whatever he is pleased to bestow, feeling that love has so linked them together that these possessions are now hers as surely as his. And when the soul comes to love God, the riches of His grace are readily accepted. Even His great salvation is not only taken, but received, in the spirit of joy! The lover says with Isaiah, Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation.

Love alone links us in sympathy with God. When Jesus was asked how He would manifest Himself to His own, He answered, If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him (Joh 14:23). Love is the only basis of sympathy; the solitary ground of harmony. Unless man love God, he cannot be brought into perfect sympathy with Him; he will find himself constantly out of harmony. There is a book once popular with the reading public entitled, In Tune with the Infinite. It was a shallow treatise on Christian Science, but the very title expresses what we mean.

Savonarola, the great preacher of Florence, was a son of Thunder when denouncing the sins of his day; yet, he knew well the necessity of being in harmony with God, and his language indicates how surely love had linked him in sympathy with the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, The love of Jesus Christ is to be seen in that warm affection for Him which leads the faithful to wish that his soul may become almost a part of that of Christ, and that the living principle in the Lord may be reproduced in himself, not in the way of an external image, but as in inward and Divine inspiration. This love is omnipotent, uniting the finite creature with the Infinite Creator. Man, in fact, rises continually from humanity to something Divine when he is animated by this love, which is the sweetest of all affections; penetrates the soul, acquires a mastery over the body, and causes the faithful to walk on earth, rapt as it were in the spirit.

It was this very sentiment to which Paul addressed himself when he wrote to the Corinthians Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (2Co 5:17); and to the Galatians I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me (Gal 2:20); and to the Colossians, Your life is hid with Christ in God (Col 3:3).

Frances Ridley Havergal writes,

Joined to Christ in mystic union,We Thy members, Thou our Head,Sealed by deep and true communion,Risen with Thee, who once were dead. Saviour, we would humbly claim All the power of this Thy Name.

Upon this same sincere love rests our sanctification. The power to resist temptation rests there. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him (Jas 1:12). The graces which come as Gods gifts; in which we are builded up toward the stature of perfect men in Christ, are vouchsafed only to them that love the Lord. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, writes, We know that all things work together for good to them that love God (Rom 8:28).

Aye, our very struggles to meet what we conceive to be Gods will for us; the struggles by which we are measuring up more and more to perfect manhood in Christ Jesus; the struggles that are appointed of God for our success; the struggles through which we receive strength, and by means of which the Spirit continues his process of sanctification, are inspired solely by sincere love and stand, therefore, as the secret of this blessing of sanctity. I was telling my evening audience once a bit of history in illustration of this idea. It seems that when Dr. Paxson was a school boy, he was slow in getting his lessons. The teacher gave up in despair and wrote his mother that the boy could not learn the multiplication table and might as well be kept at home. This letter broke the mothers heart. When this fun-loving, curly-headed, blue-eyed fellow found his mother in tears, he immediately inquired what the trouble was; and she told him how distressed she was that her boy could not learn. To which Paxson answered, Oh, dont cry mamma; you break my heart! I did not suppose you cared. I didnt think you wanted me to learn the multiplication; I will know it to-morrow. And, to the amazement of everybody, he made good his word the next day, and afterwards proved to be a mathematical prodigy. A. J. F. Behrends says, Here love fulfilled the law. What the school master could not secure by authority, the mother affected through affection.

I believe, today, that if you went to the saintly souls of earth; to those few men and women who seem to have gotten sin under their feet; to those who have learned the secret of the holy life, whose joy in the Lord is undisturbed; who seem to dwell in the heavens, and say to them, Whence their fervor? why their brave battle for the right? why their holy living? They would respond in a chorus, Because He desires it; because it makes glad the heart of our Christ, the Son of God. This is why I see in this text the secret of Spiritual blessing; and that is why it is not only a salutation but a certainty that grace is with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ, sincerely.

Again, you will find in this text

THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY

It emphasizes character rather than communion. Paul does not say, Grace be to all that belong to the sect of the Pharisees. Paul does not even say, Grace be to all the descendants of Jacob. Such a phrase would have exalted communion above character; would have set denomination above Divine attainment; and Paul was never guilty of thinking such a thing. It is a pity that modern Christians are. It is unfortunate, as Joseph Parker suggests, that while we cannot help thinking kindly of those who agree with us on subjects when men differ from us we naturally denounce them as incapable, short-sighted, and pitiable creatures. But when the same people agree with us, we see in them the dawning of genius and the budding of sound statesmanship. That is a little peculiarity of men; it comes out very strongly in some newspapers. When I differ from them I am cordially disliked and represented by many invidious epithets; when I agree with them I instantly become an eminent Congregational minister.

I have often thought that Jesus Christ spake the parable of the Good Samaritan to show us the basis of Christian charity; to teach that there might be a Jew in spirit outside of the Jewish nation; that there might be a Christian outside of your communion, and outside of mine. Charles Kingsley brings this out in Hypatia, when he makes the Jew say to the Prefect, I have watched you for many a day, and not in vain. When I saw you, an experienced officer, encumber your flight with wounded men, I was only surprised. But since I have seen you and your daughter, and, strangest of all, your gay young Alcibiades of a son, starving yourselves to feed those poor ruffiansperforming for them, day and night, the offices of menial slaves comforting them, as no man ever comforted me blaming no one but yourselves, caring for every one but yourselves, sacrificing nothing but yourselves; and all this without hope of fame or reward, or dream of appeasing the wrath of any god or goddess, but simply because you thought it right. * * When I saw that, sir, and more which I have seen; and when, reading in this book here, I found most unexpectedly those very grand moral rules which you were practicing, seeming to spring unconsciously, as natural results, from the great thoughts, true or false, which has preceded them; then, sir, I began to suspect that the creed which could produce such deeds as I have watched within the last few days, might have on its side not merely a slight preponderance of probabilities, but what we Jews used once to call, when we believed in itor in anythingthe mighty power of God! In other words, the Jew had learned that there were people who knew the truest grace of God outside his religious communion. It is a good lesson.

I do not believe in the Episcopate of the Methodist Church, but when I find a Methodist Christian who loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, I say, Grace be on him; I do not believe with my Presbyterian friends that there are two or three forms of baptism, but when I meet a good Presbyterian Christian I say, Grace be on him; I do not believe with many Congregational people that it makes little difference what you think of the question of inspiration, or the Deity of Christ, but when I meet a Congregationalist who loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, I say; Grace be on him; I do not believe with the Campbellite peopleor Disciples that in the act of baptism ones sins are washed away, but when I find a member of this communion who loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, I say, Grace be on him, because Christianity is more than communion.

Sincerity is to be regarded before Apostolic succession. The Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Church, the High Episcopal Church, are all directly in the line of Apostolic successionso they say! But what is Apostolic succession worth to the man who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity? Suppose they prove their pleabut they cannotwhat profit in it? Is the Pope any better because he is the Pope? Is the priest any better because he is a priest? If it could be proven that the Pope was the direct successor from Peter, would that be any basis of fraternity with him, except one find out that he loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity?

Down in the Southland our Baptist people had a long and bitter discussion touching a kindred question to Apostolic succession, and that is, the unbroken procession of Baptists, Dr. Whitsitt contending that there was a period in history when no immersionists could be found; and other brethren insisting that such a statement was a sufficient reason for his resignation from the Southern Seminary Presidency. I want to know what earthly difference it makes whether we can trace a line of Baptists from John to the present? The more important question is, Who is obedient now? It is just so with this whole question of Apostolic succession. Now the true Apostles have not all been in the Catholic Church; they have not all been in the Greek Church; they have not all been in the Episcopal Church. In fact, these bodies have not had their share, since the true successors of the Apostle Peter have been those men who have loved the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. To my way of thinking Apostolic succession runs through Yesterdays Fundamentalist heretics. In 1296 John Tauler was born, and he proved himself an Apostle of God. Before he had passed from the stage of action, Wycliffe was at work, pleading practically the same precious truths, though a citizen of another country. He was Taulers successor. And before Wycliffe was gone John Huss was stirring all Bohemia and Bavaria. And Huss is only dead a few years when Savonarola, moved by the same spirit of sincere love to Christ, is his successor, only he is in Italy. At Savonarolas death the scepter of spiritual power passed to Latimer, then to Melancthon, Luther, Knox, Calvin, Coligny, Brewster, John Wesley and on to Finney, Moody and Spurgeon. Aye, this is the line of true Apostolic succession, since all these loved the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. And if one is going to trace these things by birth in the spiritual realm, he would find sincerity illustrated again in the Apostolic succession, for Savonarola begot John Colet, and Colet begot Erasmus, and Erasmus begot Billney, and Billney begot Latimer, and Latimer begot Wishart, and Wishart begot John Knox; and so on. Had Paul been present in the world he would have laid his hands in benediction upon the heads of all these, not because they were members of the Roman Church, for most of them never were; or the Greek Church, for none ever belonged to it; or the Episcopal, for few of them ever heard of it, but because they loved the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. When you find sincere people, you find those who invite our salutation; who draw out of us the spirit of charity; who evoke from us the expressions of love.

Finally, this text makes the Cross, versus creed, the focal point of Christian fraternity. Paul does not say Grace be with all them that belong to my creed, but Grace be with all them that meet at the Cross of Christ, drawn there by love to Him whose sacrificial death is exalting forever that symbol of infamy. Did you ever stop to think of the group around that Cross? There charity, or love one for another, was not in consequence of the same birth. There was Joseph of Arimathea, who belonged to an honored house, and Peter, who belonged to an humble one. It was not in consequence of intelligence. There was Nicodemus, a brilliant member of the Sanhedrin, and Andrew, a plain and unlettered man. It was not in consequence of kindred political station; there was Aemilius, a believing Roman Centurion, and Matthew, the despised custom collector. It was not even the question of denomination, for the believing Roman Gentile and the believing Jewish John, were equally attracted to that Cross. In the presence of this matchless Person, the lesser matters of creed were forgotten, and, as the Jew and the Gentile believed on Him, they were brought together, and thought themselves to be brethren.

I think of the Worlds Christian Fundamentals Association as an illustration of the same truth. In it faithful Presbyterians and Methodists, Congregationalists and Baptists, have stood side by side, harmoniously singing,

Onward, Christian soldiers,Marching as to war,With the Cross of Jesus,Going on before.

That Cross is the focal point of our fraternity. It is not to be understood that we have surrendered our respective opinions, and think now only the same thoughts. We have not. In this union movement Denominationalism is not reckoned dead; for it a common creed has been formulated on the greater fundamentals only; worshiping the same Divine Christ they meet at the Cross and utter the great Apostles salutation, Grace be with all them that love the LORD JESUS CHRIST in sincerity. It is the one point at Which the fraternal spirit flows most easily; it is the one point at which sectarianism least divides; it is the one point at which the believing in churches of the different denominations become one; for, as R. F. Horton says, Where love is not, the Church ceases; and, on the other hand, where the new commandment is accepted and obeyed, where we love one another as Christ has loved us, there is His Church. Men are always anxious to define the Church beforehand by some easily produced marks, such as order or sacraments. Jesus insists on defining it solely by love. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another (Joh 13:35). But Christian love is in excelsis only, as between them who believe in and love the Lord.

Aye, being His disciples we become brethren. Forgetting color, despising questions of property or poverty, setting aside those of position, high or low, concerning ourselves not with questions of noble or lowly birth, be this our salutation for this Christmas season, Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

(24) Grace be with all them . . .The salutation, Grace be with you, in various forms, is, as St. Paul himself says in 2Th. 3:17, the token, or characteristic signature, in every one of his Epistles, written with his own hand. It may be noted that it is not found in the Epistles of St. James, St. Peter, St. Jude and St. John, and that it is found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Here, however, it is at once general and conditional, to all them who love the Lord Jesus Christ. So in 1Co. 16:22, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.

In sincerity.The original is far stronger, in incorruptibility, a word usually applied to the immortality of heaven (as in Rom. 2:7; 1Co. 15:42; 1Co. 15:50; 1Co. 15:53-54; 2Ti. 1:10); only here and in Tit. 2:7, applied to human character on earth. Here it evidently means with a love immortal and imperishable, incapable either of corruption or of decay, a foretaste of the eternal communion in heaven.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

24. Grace A benedictory and valedictory prayer concerning all saints, Eph 6:18. In remembering each other let us remember the holy all.

In sincerity Rather, in incorruption. The Greek term is the incorruption in 1Co 15:42, of our resurrection bodies, by which, unlike our mortal bodies, they change not, putrefy not, disintegrate not, but remain in endless life, bloom, and power. And thus this sublime epistle, this lofty manifesto of Christ’s ambassador in a chain, ends worthily of itself in immortality; the immortality of the love of Christ its glorious theme indeed!

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility (immortality).’

Grace lies at the root of all. It is the undeserved, unmerited, active love of God reaching out to His own. And it is the portion of those who love the Lord Jesus Christ totally and unfailingly.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Eph 6:24. In sincerity. The Greek word signifies in incorruption, . Mr. Locke explains the wordof such a love as would prevent men’s mixing any thing with the gospel which was not genuine, and might render it ineffectual. Comp. Gal 2:4. But it seems rather to express that uprightness of heart which is opposed to the putting on false presences, and may, with great propriety, be understood as a general description of a true Christian: and indeed it is manifest, that wherever this unfeigned, this inviolable love to Christ prevails, there will, of course, be all the other essential parts of the Christian character.

[ See Locke, Lardner, Doddridge, Michaelis, Whitby, Bos, Bengelius, Calmet, Pearson, Sherlock, Sharpe, Mede, Goodwin, Limborch, Taylor, Leland, Warburton, Josephus, Junius, Poole, Diodati, Wolsius, Heylin, Franckins, Blackwall, Grotius, Vitringa, Hammond, Chrysostom, Owen, Mintert, Rollin, Bates, Luther, Schmidius, Stockius, Barrow, Bowyer, Menochius, Gurnall, and Raphelius.]

Inferences.It is matter of thankful acknowledgment, that the Almighty God condescends in his word to give us particular instructions, suited to the circumstances in which we are respectively placed. Children and servants are not forgotten. Let them attend to those gracious lessons which are here given by the supreme Parent and Master, who, while he teaches them, pleads their cause, and interposes his high authority to vindicate them from oppression and abuse.

Much of the happiness of society evidently depends on the temper and conduct of those who are placed in these lower relations. Let children, therefore, learn to be subject to their parents, with all dutiful and humble respect, from a sense of the reasonableness of the command, and of the goodness which has annexed such a promise to it; a promise which shall still be efficacious, so far as long life would be indeed a blessing to a pious child.

Servants, with all godly simplicity and uprightness of heart, should revere the authority of Christ in them that are their masters according to the flesh; and exercise a good conscience towards them upon all occasions, not only when under their eye, but in their absence; well knowing that GOD is always present, and always attentive to the conduct of every rational creature, in whatsoever rank. Let them cherish that inward good-will, and benevolence of heart, which renders every act of service uniform and steady, and makes it, in a degree, obliging, even when performed by those from whom authority might have extorted it: nor let the certain and important reward which will assuredly follow every good action, whether great or small,whether performed by persons in more elevated or inferior stations of life, fail to animate us all to a zealous diligence in well-doing, whatever discouragement may at present attend us.

Those who bear the superior relations in life should remember, that the command of a much higher Parent and Lord requires also of them a tender regard to their inferiors. Let Parents, therefore, govern their own passions, that they may not terrify and oppress the tender spirits of their children; or, if they be otherwise than tender, may not teach them an evil lesson against themselves, and by their own example strengthen them in those excesses, which may be a disgrace and detriment to the family; and when age has broken all the vigour of the parents, may bring down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. A conscientious care to educate and train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, if duly attended to, will teach a better conduct; and the meekness and gentleness of Christ will have a happy influence on both.

Again, let the thoughts of that great impartial Master in heaven, awe masters upon earth; and the expectation, the certain expectation of giving an account to Him, engage them to make the yoke of servitude, which God has been pleased to lay on those, who are nevertheless their brethren, as light and easy as they can; choosing, even when they might command with authority, rather to intreat with love: not doing or saying any thing unnecessarily rigorous, or severe; not threatening, reviling, or reproaching, but treating their servants like those whom they consider as partakers with them in the same hope, or whom they earnestly desire, by all prudent condescension and tenderness, to lead into the way of salvation.

Let the heart of every Christian soldier be at once awakened and animated by the important charge which the Apostle, as it were, still sounds in our ears. He knew the weakness of the Christian, and the dangers of his way; how insufficient for the spiritual warfare we are in ourselves, and that our only strength is in the Lord, and in the power of his might, by whom alone we can be kept in safety, and may be made even more than conquerors in all things: and therefore, pointing us to this, at the same time that he sets forth the difficulty of the combat, and sounds a charge to the battle, he shews us the provision made for our defence, and calls us to put on the complete armour of God; an armour, which will serve for every part; which will supply us both with offensive and defensive weapons, and help us to withstand, and even to surmount, the greatest opposition. Let us see to it, then, that we both put on, and that we use it all.

And when we consider the greatness and number of our enemies, their restless and unwearied malice, and their inconceivable subtlety,have we not enough to engage us in the application of this divine panoply? Flesh and blood have too, too frequently worried us; how then should we stand against principalities and powers; against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spirits of wickedness, who make it still their business to draw others into that spiritual wickedness, which they were first so daring as to shew in heavenly places?

Indeed, it will be impossible that we should, at any time, be safe from danger, if every direction here given be not diligently attended to: having such a numerous and mighty host of enemies combined against us, we shall never be able to withstand and overcome them,if the girdle of truth be loosened,if the breast-plate of righteousness be not put on,if the preparation of the gospel of peace do not secure our steps;if the helmet of salvation do not guard our head,if the shield of faith be not our defence and shelter, and the sword of the Spirit our weapon. And vainly shall we labour to obtain this armour by any other method, if fervent prayer and supplication in the Spirit, under the aids and influences of his grace, be not addressed to the God of heaven, whose work and whose gift this celestial armour is: so that if ever we would have it, and use it aright, let us persist in seeking it with holy importunity and perseverance, and the desired answer shall not always be denied.

To conclude. Let us often contemplate the great Apostle St. Paul, as discharging his embassy in a chain, that so we may learn to submit to whatever affronts and injuries, whatever hardships and sufferings we may be called to endure, on the account of religion, concerned about nothing so much as that we may approve our fidelity in the sight of God; and, loving the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, may be partakers of the blessings of his grace, with all that have a true affection for him. All who appear to be of such a character, may we ever most affectionately love, whatever their particular sentiments, or forms of worship may be; for thus, a share of this mercy and favour, with all the blessed fruits of peace and prosperity, of love and faith, shall be infallibly our own, and be communicated in a rich abundance to our souls, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

REFLECTIONS.1st, The Apostle proceeds with those relative duties which he had begun to enforce in the former chapter, beginning still with the inferior relation; for dutiful obedience will lay the strongest obligations on the superior to shew all condescension and love in return. We have,

1. The duty of children to their parents. Children obey your parents; hear their counsels, and submit to their commands, this being the debt that you owe them, both as the authors, under God, of your being, and for all the care they have shewn you; and this in the Lord, as far as is agreeable to his word, and for his glory. Honour thy father and mother, says the law; reverence them, speak respectfully to and of them, and, if needful, provide for them (which is the first commandment with a particular promise annexed to it), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

2. The duty of parents. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, by unreasonable tasks, severities, or restraints; but with all lenity, tenderness, and affection, endeavour, by love and kind persuasion, to win upon them; and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, instructing them in the knowledge of the scriptures, setting before them a gracious example, directing them to the means of grace, and watching over them with holy jealousy.

3. The duty of servants. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, in all their lawful commands, with becoming fear of their displeasure, and trembling, lest at any time you should justly offend them; in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ, without flattery, deceit, or guile, with a regard to the Redeemer’s glory: not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, diligent only so long as they look over you, merely to curry favour with them; but as the servants of Christ, under his constant and all-seeing inspection, and therefore doing the will of God from the heart, and discharging the duties of the station in which he hath placed you with all fidelity and truthwith good-will doing service, with cheerfulness and alacrity, from a principle of love to your masters, and a real zeal for their honour and interest; and this as to the Lord, and not to men, desiring, not so much human, as the divine approbation, and acting from a sense of duty to the great Lord of allknowing, that whatsoever good thing any man doth, however mean his station, and inconsiderable in itself the service may be, the same shall he receive of the Lord, who will suitably reward his fidelity, whether he be bond or free.

4. The duty of masters. And ye masters, do the same things unto them, shew the same readiness conscientiously to discharge your relation to them, forbearing threatening, not tyrannizing over them, and terrifying them with sternness and menaces; but choosing to rule by love rather than fear, knowing that your Master also is in heaven, to whom you must give an account; neither is there respect of persons with him; all shall stand at his bar on a level, and must receive from his lips their eternal sentence for happiness or misery.

2nd, Every Christian is enlisted under the banners of Jesus, to fight the Lord’s battles, and to maintain unceasing war against sin, the world, and the devil. The Apostle, therefore, warmly exhorts them to acquit themselves as men, under the glorious Captain of their salvation. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, supported by those almighty influences of grace which he supplies, in whom alone standeth our help, and from whom cometh our salvation. Put on the whole armour of God, as a soldier covered from head to foot with armour proof against any weapon, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, and neither be seduced by his ensnaring temptations, nor terrified by his suggestions, from the path of duty.

1. The enemies that we have to conflict with are described. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, not only against the temptations arising from our passions and appetites, or from the wicked men of this world who oppose and persecute, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, even against those legions of malignant spirits, who, under their hateful leader, have erected a kingdom of darkness, and enslaved the souls of men, and hover round us, watching for an opportunity to distress, harass, trouble, and destroy those who have escaped from their hateful bondage.

2. Having such foes, we need be well armed against their assaults. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, so absolutely necessary for this dangerous conflict, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, when this hour of temptation and danger comes, and, having done all, to stand faithfully, acquitting yourselves as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, through every trial, however sharp or prolonged. Stand, therefore, the enemy advances, be ready to receive him, looking up to your Almighty Support, and invulnerable in the divine panoply. The Christian’s complete armour, both offensive and defensive, is here described in military terms; the back alone is left unguarded; for we must conquer or die. Flight is sure to be fatal to the coward soul.

[1.] Truth must be our military girdle. Having your loins girt about with truth, firm in the doctrines of the gospel, and sincere in the profession of it, in simplicity approving yourselves before the heart-searching God.

[2.] Righteousness is our breast-plateHaving on the breast-plate of righteousness, justice, integrity, and all the other fruits of holiness and love, to guard the vital parts from the stroke of the envenomed foe.

[3.] Our sandals must be the gospel of peaceHaving your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; that whatever rough ways we walk in, and whatever difficulties we meet with, we may stand fast in the gospel of Jesus, prepared for every conflict, established on the sure foundation, enjoying peace with God in our own souls, and following it with all men.

[4.] Faith is our shieldAbove all, as the most necessary piece of armour, and that which covers the whole body, taking the shield of faith; having lively and realizing views of the divine promises of pardon, grace, and glory, confidently resting upon them; wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, when with fury he hurls his envenomed temptations at the soul, to despair, blasphemy, lewdness, rage, &c. seeking to bring horror, guilt, anguish, and distress upon the conscience: but divine faith repels them all, or quenches them, and they fall harmless at our feet.

[5.] Salvation is our helmetAnd take the helmet of salvation, that blessed hope of life eternal, springing from the bright witness of the Spirit of God, which guards from dejection, and raises us superior to every fear.

[6.] The mighty sword is the word of GodAnd take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, before which the legions of darkness cannot stand, when wielded by the faithful soldier, slaying every temptation, and opening a way through hosts of difficulties.

[7.] Prayer must be addedPraying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit; looking upwards constantly for divine support, in every emergence casting your care upon God, in ejaculations, and, at stated solemn seasons, commending yourselves into the Lord’s hand; and watching thereunto with all perseverance, never weary or giving over, though the conflict be hard and long, and no immediate answer received. And, as for yourselves, so also continue ceaseless in supplication for all saints, engaged in the same warfare, contending with the same enemies, and needing the same divine support; and, among others, for me also, under my trials, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, fearless of any consequences, to make known the mystery of the gospel, and publish the glad tidings with all zeal, openness, and freedom of speech, without concealing any of the glorious truths, however offensive they may be to men’s pride, or love of sin: for which fidelity I am an ambassador of Christ in bonds, suffering cheerfully, and still desiring, even in a prison, to negociate the great affair of reconciliation between God and sinners: and I entreat your prayers, that therein, under whatsoever difficulties I struggle, I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak, undaunted in my spirit, and without molestation. Note; (1.) Prayer is the Christian’s constant recourse, and sure support in every exigence. (2.) While we continue persevering in our supplications, we shall assuredly go on conquering and to conquer. (3.) We should mutually remember each other at the throne of grace; all saints need our prayers, and should have an interest in them.

3rdly, Having desired an interest in their prayers, he concludes this Epistle,
1. With recommending Tychicus to them, the bearer of this Epistle. But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do in my present confinement, Tychicus, a beloved brother, and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things concerning my situation, labours, treatment and success, even in bonds: whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts, amidst all the trials that you meet with, and encourage you, from my example, patiently and cheerfully to persevere in the good ways of the Lord.

2. He closes with his usual benediction and prayer. Peace be to the brethren; may you enjoy a sweet sense of God’s favour, be blest with all prosperity, temporal and spiritual, and live in the most uninterrupted harmony among yourselves: and may love to God and to each other abound, with faith in the most lively and vigorous exercise; all which spiritual blessings flow from God the Father, as their Source in the oeconomy of redemption, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, as the purchaser and dispenser of them to his faithful people. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, with unfeigned affection, or, in incorruption, without adulterating the doctrines of truth, or admitting any earthly thing to rival him in their hearts. Thus in faith he prays, and adds his joyful Amen!

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Eph 6:24 . While Paul has in Eph 6:23 expressed his wish of blessing for the readers ( ), he now annexes thereto a further such general wish, namely, for all who love Christ imperishably , just as at 1Co 16:22 he takes up into the closing wish an upon all those who do not love Christ.

] the grace , i.e. the grace of God in Christ. Comp. Col 4:18 ; 1Ti 6:21 ; 2Ti 4:22 ; Tit 3:15 . In the conclusion of other Epistles: the grace of Christ, Rom 16:20 ; Rom 16:24 ; 1Co 16:23 ; 2Co 13:13 ; Gal 6:18 ; Phi 4:23 ; 1Th 5:28 ; 2Th 3:18 ; Phil. 25.

] belongs neither to (Wetstein: “Christum immortalem et gloriosum, non humilem,” etc.; see also Reiners in Wolf and Semler), nor to (“favor immortalis,” Castalio, Drusius; comp. Piscator and Michaelis, who take as equivalent to , while the latter supposes a reference to deniers of the resurrection!), nor yet to the sit to be supplied after , as is held, after Beza (who, however, took for ) and Bengel, recently by Matthies (“that grace with all may be in eternity ;” comp. Baumgarten-Crusius), Harless (according to whom denotes the element in which the manifests itself, and . is all imperishable being, whether appearing in this life or in eternity), Bleek, and Olshausen, which last supposes a breviloquentia for , i.e. . But, in opposition to Matthies, it may be urged that the purely temporal notion eternity ( ) is foisted upon the word imperishableness ; and in opposition to Harless, that the abstract notion imperishableness is transmuted into the concrete notion of imperishable being , which is not the meaning of ., even in 2Ti 1:10 (but imperishableness in abstracto ), and that , instead of adding, in accordance with its emphatic position, a very weighty and important element, would express something which is self-evident, namely, that according to the wish of the apostle the grace might display itself not (1Pe 1:18 ), but ; the breviloquentia , lastly, assumed by Olshausen is, although . in itself might be equivalent to (see Grimm, Handb . p. 60), a pure invention, the sense of which Paul would have expressed by . The right connection is the usual one, namely, with . And in accordance with this, we have to explain it: who love the Lord in imperishableness , i.e. so that their love does not pass away , in which case expresses the manner. Comp. the concluding wish Tit 3:15 , where is in like manner to be combined with . Others , following the same connection, have understood the sinceritas either of the love itself (Pelagius, Anselm, Calvin, Calovius, and others) or of the disposition and the life in general (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Erasmus, Flacius, Estius, Zeger, Grotius: “significatur is, qui nulla vi, nullis precibus, nullis illecebris se corrumpi, i.e. a recto abduci , patitur,” and others, including Wieseler), but against this Beza has already with reason urged the linguistic usage; for uncorruptedness is not (not even in Wis 6:18-19 ), but (Tit 2:7 ) and (Wetstein, II. p. 373). On , imperishableness (at 1Co 15:42 ; 1Co 15:52 , it is in accordance with the context specially incorruptibility ), comp. Plut. Arist . 6; Rom 2:7 ; 1Co 9:25 ; 1Ti 1:17 ; 2Ti 1:10 ; Wis 2:23 ; Wis 6:18 f.; 4Ma 9:22 ; 4Ma 17:12 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

REFLECTIONS

HERE let us pause over the close of this Epistle, and, as we look back, and review the wonderful contents of it, may both the Writer and Reader of this Poor Man’s Commentary, bow down before the throne of a Covenant, God in Christ, for so rich a portion of divine revelation of Jehovah’s love to the Church ! Oh! God the Spirit grant to us, if it be thy blessed will, a spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the apprehension of those divine truths, and that they may be the engrafted word for the salvation of the soul.

Blessed Lord Jesus! we praise thy holy name, for thine unceasing mercies over thy Church, that amidst all the ravages of time, and all the revolutions of men and things; thy Church remaineth, and ever must remain, as long as the moon endureth, from one generation to another. And, although Ephesus is no more; the Church which was in Ephesus, and all the faithful in Christ Jesus, are the same, founded in Thee, the glorious Head of thy body; the same yester day, and today, and forever.

Faithful Paul ! our love to thee is great, in that the Lord counted thee faithful, putting thee into the ministry. Thou wert indeed, as thou hast here said, an Ambassador, though in bonds. Blessed for the Church was it, that the Lord sent thee as his Ambassador. And what art thou now, since like an Ambassador returned to his Master’s royal Court, thou hast given in thy report to the King, and hast entered into the joy of thy Lord! Almighty Head of thy Church and people! bless all thy redeemed here below, who like Paul, love thy appearing in the regenerating of sinners, and comforting of saints, and who are looking forward for thy appearing, when thou shalt come to be glorified in thy saints, and admired in all them that believe! In that great day of God! thou wilt give to everyone of thine, the crown of righteousness, which fadeth not away. Then will the whole Church shout for joy, and everlasting praises will be heard, from all the ransomed of Zion, to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, through endless ages. Amen.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. To the Ephesians written from Rome, by Tychicus.

Ver. 24. In sincerity ] . Or “immortality,” opposite to that Anathema Maranatha, 1Co 16:23 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

24 .] General benediction on all who love Christ: corresponding, as Mey. suggests, with the malediction on all who love Him not, 1Co 16:22 . May the grace (viz. of God, which comes by Christ) be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility (i.e. whose love is incorruptible. The method of exegesis of this difficult expression will be, to endeavour to find some clue to the idea in the Apostle’s mind. He speaks, in Col 2:22 , of worldly things which are is with him an epithet of God (Rom 1:23 . 1Ti 1:17 ): the dead are raised ( 1Co 15:52 ): the Christian’s crown is ( 1Co 9:25 ). is always elsewhere in N. T. (reff.) the incorruptibility of future immortality. If we seek elsewhere in the Epistles for an illustration of the term as applied to inward qualities, we find a close parallel in 1Pe 3:4 ; where the ornament of women is to be . the contrast being between the , , and the incorruptible graces of the renewed spiritual man. I believe we are thus led to the meaning here; that the love spoken of is ; in, as its sphere and element and condition, incorruptibility not a fleeting earthly love, but a spiritual and eternal one. And thus only is the word worthy to stand as the crown and climax of this glorious Epistle: whereas in the ordinary (E. V.) rendering, ‘ sincerity ,’ besides that (as Mey.) this would not be but ( Tit 2:7 ) or (see Wetst. on Tit. l. c.), the Epistle ends with an anti-climax, by lowering the high standard which it has lifted up throughout to an apparent indifferentism, and admitting to the apostolic blessing all those, however otherwise wrong, who are only not hypocrites in their love of Christ. As to the many interpretations, that is for (Chr. 2nd alt.), (Thl.), (Thdrt.), (Beza), (Piscator) that is to be taken with (Harl., Bengel, Stier), that . means ‘in immortality,’ as the sphere of the , cf. , ch. Eph 1:3 , that it is to be joined with (‘Christum immortalem et gloriosum, non humilem,’ Wetst.), that it is short for (Olsh.), &c. &c. (see more in Mey.), none of them seem so satisfactory as that assigned above).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Eph 6:24 . . [ ]: Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in uncorruptness . As in Colossians, the three Pastoral Epistles, and also in Hebrews, we have here , “ the grace,” the grace beside which there is none other, the grace of God in Christ of which Christians have experience. In the closing benedictions of Cor., Gal., Philip., Thess., Philem. (as also in Rev.), we have the fuller form , or ; also in Romans according to the TR, the verse, however, being deleted by the best critics. The former benediction was for the brethren , probably those in the Asiatic Churches. This second benediction is of widest scope for all those who love Christ. The difficulty is with the unusual expression , both as to its sense and its connection. The noun is used in Plutarch of ( Arist. , c. 6), in Philo of the ( De incorr. Mundi , 11), in the LXX and the Apocr. of immortality ( Wis 2:23 ; Wis 6:19 ; 4Ma 17:12 ). In the NT it is found, in addition to the present passage, in Rom 2:7 of the “incorruption” which goes with the glory and honour of the future; in 1Co 15:42 ; 1Co 15:50 ; 1Co 15:53-54 , of the “incorruption” of the resurrection-body; in 2Ti 1:10 , of the life and “incorruption” brought to light by Christ. The occurrence in Tit 2:10 must be discounted in view of the adverse diplomatic evidence. The Pauline use, therefore, is in favour of the idea of “incorruption,” “imperishableness,” the quality of the changeless and undecaying ; and that as belonging to the future in contrast with the present condition of things. There is nothing, therefore, to bear out the sense of sincerity adopted by Chrys., the AV, the Bish.; cf. Tynd., “in pureness”; Cov. Test., “sincerely”; Cov. Cran., “unfeignedly”. This would be expressed by or some similar term ( cf. Tit 2:7 ). Nor can it be simply identified with all imperishable being in this life or in the other (Bleek, Olsh., Matthies, etc.); nor yet again with on the analogy of , as if it described the sphere of the . There remains the qualitative sense of “imperishableness” (Mey., Ell., Alf., Abb., and most), which best suits linguistic use, the sense of the adj. ( cf. Rom 1:23 ; 1Co 9:25 ; 1Co 15:52 ; 1Ti 1:17 ; 1Pe 1:4 ; 1Pe 1:23 ; 1Pe 3:4 ), and the application here in connection with the grace of love. The , therefore, is not to be loosely dealt with, as if = (Beza, as if it meant the same as ), or (Theophy.), or (Chrys.), or even (Theodor.); but has its proper force of the element of manner in which the love is cherished. Further, the simplest and most obvious connection is with the , as it is taken by most, including Chrys., Theod., and the other Greek commentators. Some, however, connect the phrase with , as = “grace be with all in eternity ” (Bez., Beng., Matthies), or, “ in all imperishable being ” (Harl.), or as a short way of saying “grace be with all that they may have eternal life” (Olsh.). This construction, though strongly advocated recently by Von Soden, fails to give a clear and satisfactory sense, or one wholly accordant with the use of ; while there is against it also the fact that the defined noun and the defining phrase would be further apart than is usual in benedictions. Still less reason is there to connect the phrase immediately with as if it described Christ as immortal (Wetst., etc.) a construction both linguistically and grammatically (in the absence of before ) questionable. The phrase, therefore, defines the way in which they love, or the element in which their love has its being. It is a love that “knows neither change, diminution, nor decay” (Ell.). The closing added by the TR is found in [895] 3 [896] [897] [898] [899] , most cursives, Syr., Boh., etc.; but not in [900] [901] [902] [903] [904] , 17, Arm., etc. It is omitted by LTTrWHRV.

[895] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[896] Codex Claromontanus (sc. vi.), a Grco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[897] Codex Mosquensis (sc. ix.), edited by Matthi in 1782.

[898] Codex Porphyrianus (sc. ix.), at St. Petersburg, collated by Tischendorf. Its text is deficient for chap. Eph 2:13-16 .

[899] Codex Angelicus (sc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[900] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[901] Autograph of the original scribe of .

[902] Autograph of the original scribe of .

[903] Codex Alexandrinus (sc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[904] Codex Boernerianus (sc. ix.), a Grco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis ( ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.

The subscription is omitted by LTWH; while Treg. gives simply . Like the subscriptions appended to Rom., Phil., and 2 Tim., it chronicles a view of the Epistle that is easier to reconcile with fact than is the case with others (1 and 2 Thess., Tit., and espec. 1 Cor., Gal., 1 Tim.). In the oldest MSS. it is simply . In the Versions, later MSS., and some of the Fathers it takes various longer forms. The form represented in the TR and the AV is not older than Euthalius, Deacon of Alexandria and Bishop of Sulca, who flourished perhaps in the middle of the fifth century.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

EPHESIANS

THE WIDE RANGE OF GOD’S GRACE

Eph 6:24

In turning to the great words which I have read as a text, I ask you to mark their width and their simplicity. They are wide; they follow a very comprehensive benediction, with which, so to speak, they are concentric. But they sweep a wider circle. The former verse says, ‘Peace be to the brethren.’ But beyond the brethren in these Asiatic churches as a kind of circular letter to whom this epistle was probably sent there rises before the mind of the Apostle a great multitude, in every nation, and they share in his love, and in the promise and the prayer of my text. Mark its simplicity: everything is brought down to its most general expression. All the qualifications for receiving the divine gift are gathered up in one-love. All the variety of the divine gifts is summed up in that one comprehensive expression-’grace.’

I. So then, note, first, the comprehensive designation of the recipients of grace.

They are ‘all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption.’ Little need be said explanatory of the force of this general expression. We usually find that where Scripture reduces the whole qualification for the reception of the divine gift, and the conditions which unite to Jesus Christ, to one, it is faith, not love, that is chosen. But here the Apostle takes the process at the second stage, and instead of emphasising the faith which is the first step, he dwells upon the love which is its uniform consequence. This love rests upon the faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Then note the solemn fulness of the designations of the object of this faith-born love. ‘Jesus Christ our Lord’-the name of His humanity; the name of His office; the designation of His dominion. He is Jesus the Man. Jesus is the Christ, the Fulfiller of all prophecy; the flower of all previous revelation; the Anointed of God with the fulness of His Divine Spirit as Prophet, Priest, and King. Jesus Christ is the Lord-which, at the lowest, expresses sovereignty, and if regard be had to the Apostolic usage, expresses something more, even participation in Deity. And it is this whole Christ, the Jesus, the Christ, the Lord; the love to whom, built upon the faith in Him in all these aspects and characteristics, constitutes the true unity of the true Church.

That Church is not built upon a creed, but it is built upon a whole Christ, and not a maimed one. And so we must have a love which answers to all those sides of that great revealed character, and is warm with human love to Jesus; and is trustful with confiding love to the Christ; and is lowly with obedient love to the Lord. And I venture to go a step further, and say,-and is devout with adoring love to the eternal Son of the Father. This is the Apostle’s definition of what makes a Christian: Faith that grasps the whole Christ and love that therefore flows to Him. It binds all who possess it into one great unity. As against a spurious liberalism which calls them Christians who lay hold of a fragment of the one entire and perfect chrysolite, we must insist that a Christian is one who knows Jesus, who knows Christ, who knows the Lord, and who loves Him in all these aspects. Only we must remember, too, that many a time a man’s heart outruns his creed, and that many a soul glows with truer, deeper, more saving devotion and trust to a Christ whom the intellect imperfectly apprehends, than are realised by unloving hearts that are associated with clearer heads. Orchids grow in rich men’s greenhouses, fastened to a bit of stick, and they spread a fairer blossom that lasts longer than many a plant that is rooted in a more fertile soil. Let us be thankful for the blessed inconsistencies which knit some to the Christ who is more to them than they know.

There is also here laid down for us the great principle, as against all narrowness and all externalism, and all so-called ecclesiasticism, that to be joined to Jesus Christ is the one condition which brings a man into the blessed unity of the Church. Now it seems to me that, however they may be to be lamented on other grounds, and they are to be lamented on many, the existence of diverse Churches does not necessarily interfere with this deep-seated and central unity. There is a great deal said to-day about the reunion of Christendom, by which is meant the destruction of existing communions and the formation of a wider one. I do not believe, and I suppose you do not, that our existing ecclesiastical organisations are the final form of the Church of the living God. But let us remember that the two things are by no means contradictory, the belief in, and the realising of, the essential unity of the Church, and the existence of diverse communions. You will see on the side of many a Cumberland hill a great stretch of limestone with clefts a foot or two deep in it-there are flowers in the clefts, by the bye-but go down a couple of yards and the divisions have all disappeared, and the base-rock stretches continuously. The separations are superficial; the unity is fundamental. Do not let us play into the hands of people whose only notion of unity is that of a mechanical juxtaposition held together by some formula or orders; but let us recognise that the true unity is in the presence of Jesus Christ in the midst, and in the common grasp of Him by us all.

There is a well-known hymn which was originally intended as a High Church manifesto, which thrusts at us Nonconformists when it sings:

‘We are not divided, All one body we.’

And oddly enough, but significantly too, it has found its way into all our Nonconformist hymn-books, and we, ‘the sects,’ are singing it, with perhaps a nobler conception of what the oneness of the body, and the unity of the Church is, than the writer of the words had. ‘We are not divided,’ though we be organised apart. ‘All one body we,’ for we all partake of that one bread, and the unifying principle is a common love to the one Jesus Christ our Lord.

II. Mark the impartial sweep of the divine gifts.

My text is a benediction, or a prayer; but it is also a prophecy, or a statement, of the inevitable and uniform results of love to Jesus Christ. The grace will follow that love, necessarily and certainly, and the lovers will get the gift of God because their love has brought them into living contact with Jesus Christ; and His life will flow over into theirs. I need not remind you that the word ‘grace’ in Scripture means, first of all, the condescending love of God to inferiors, to sinners, to those who deserved something else; and, secondly, the whole fulness of blessing and gift that follow upon that love. And, says Paul, these great gifts from heaven, the one gift in which all are comprised, will surely follow the opening of the heart in love to Jesus Christ.

Ah, brethren! God’s grace makes uncommonly short work of ecclesiastical distinctions. The great river flows through territories that upon men’s maps are painted in different colours, and of which the inhabitants speak in different tongues. The Rhine laves the pine-trees of Switzerland, and the vines of Germany, and the willows of Holland; and God’s grace flows through all places where the men that love Him do dwell. It rises, as it were, right over the barriers that they have built between each other. The little pools on the sea-shore are separate when the tide is out, but when it comes up it fills all the pot-holes that the pebbles have made, and unifies them in one great flashing, dancing mass; and so God’s grace comes to all that love Him, and confirms their unity.

Surely that is the true test of a living Church. ‘When Barnabas came, and saw the grace of God, he was glad.’ It was not what he had expected, but he was open to conviction. The Church where he saw it had been very irregularly constituted; it had no orders and no sacraments, and had been set a-going by the spontaneous efforts of private Christians, and he came to look into the facts. He asked for nothing more when he saw that the converts had the life within them. And so we, with all our faults-and God forbid that I should seem to minimise these-with all our faults, we poor Nonconformists, left to the uncovenanted mercies, have our share of that gift of grace as truly, and, if our love be deeper, more abundantly, than the Churches that are blessed with orders and sacraments, and an ‘unbroken historical continuity.’ And when we are unchurched for our lack of these, let us fall back upon St. Augustine’s ‘Where Christ is, there the Church is’; and believe that to us, even to us also, the promise is fulfilled, ‘Lo! I am with you always, even to the end of the world.’

III. Lastly, note the width to which our sympathies should go.

The Apostle sends out his desires and prayers so as to encircle the same area as the grace of God covers and as His love enfolds. And we are bound to do the same.

I am not going to talk about organic unity. The age for making new denominations is, I suppose, about over. I do not think that any sane man would contemplate starting a new Church nowadays. The rebound from the iron rigidity of a mechanical unity that took place at the Reformation naturally led to the multiplication of communities, each of which laid hold of something that to it seemed important. The folly of ecclesiastical rulers who insisted upon non-essentials lays the guilt of the schism at their doors, and not at the doors of the minority who could not, in conscience, accept that which never should have been insisted upon as a condition. But whilst we must all feel that power is lost, and much evil ensues from the isolation, such as it is, of the various Churches, yet we must remember that re-union is a slow process; that an atmosphere springs up round each body which is a very subtle, but none the less a very powerful, force, and that it will take a very, very long time to overcome the difficulties and to bring about any reconstruction on a large scale. But why should there be three Presbyterian Churches in Scotland, with the same creed, confessions of faith, and ecclesiastical constitution? Why should there be half a dozen Methodist bodies in England, of whom substantially the same thing may be said? Will it always pass the wit of man for Congregationalists and Baptists to be one body, without the sacrifice of conviction upon either side? Surely no! You young men may see these fair days; men like me can only hope that they will come and do a little, such as may be possible in a brief space, to help them on.

Putting aside, then, all these larger questions, I want, in a sentence or two, to insist with you upon the duty that lies on us all, and which every one of us may bear a share in discharging. There ought to be a far deeper consciousness of our fundamental unity. They talk a great deal about ‘the rivalries of jarring sects.’ I believe that is such an enormous exaggeration that it is an untruth. There is rivalry, but you know as well as I do that, shabby and shameful as it is, it is a kind of commercial rivalry between contiguous places of worship, be they chapels or churches, be they buildings belonging to the same or to different denominations. I, for my part, after a pretty long experience now, have seen so little of that said bitter rivalry between the Nonconformist sects, as sects, that to me it is all but non-existent. And I believe the most of us ministers, going about amongst the various communities, could say the same thing. But in the face of a cultivated England laughing at your creed of Jesus, the Christ, the Lord; and in the face of a strange and puerile recrudescence of sacerdotalism and sacramentarianism, which shoves a priest and a rite into the place where Christ should stand, it becomes us Nonconformists who believe that we know a more excellent way to stand shoulder to shoulder, and show that the unities that bind us are far more than the diversities that separate.

It becomes us, too, to further conjoint action in social matters. Thank God we are beginning to stir in that direction in Manchester-not before it was time. And I beseech you professing Christians, of all Evangelical communions, to help in bringing Christian motives and principles to bear on the discussion of social and municipal and economical conditions in this great city of ours.

And there surely ought to be more concert than we have had in aggressive work; that we should a little more take account of each other’s action in regulating our own; and that we should not have the scandal, which we too often have allowed to exist, of overlapping one another in such a fashion as that rivalry and mere trade competition is almost inevitable.

These are very humble, prosaic suggestions, but they would go a long way, if they were observed, to sweeten our own tempers, and to make visible to the world our true unity. Let us all seek to widen our sympathies as widely as Christ’s grace flows; to count none strangers whom He counts friends; to discipline ourselves to feel that we are girded with that electric chain which makes all who grasp it one, and sends the same keen thrill through them all. If a circle were a mile in diameter, and its circumference were dotted with many separate points, how much nearer each of these would be if it were moved inwards, on a straight line, closer to the centre, so as to make a circle a foot across. The nearer we come to the One Lord, in love, communion, and likeness, the nearer shall we be to one another.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

Grace = The grace. App-184.

love. App-135.

sincerity. Literally uncorruptness. Greek. aphtharsia. See Rom 2:7. 1Co 15:42.

Amen. Omit, with all the texts.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

24.] General benediction on all who love Christ: corresponding, as Mey. suggests, with the malediction on all who love Him not, 1Co 16:22. May the grace (viz. of God, which comes by Christ) be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility (i.e. whose love is incorruptible. The method of exegesis of this difficult expression will be, to endeavour to find some clue to the idea in the Apostles mind. He speaks, in Col 2:22, of worldly things which are – is with him an epithet of God (Rom 1:23. 1Ti 1:17): the dead are raised (1Co 15:52): the Christians crown is (1Co 9:25). is always elsewhere in N. T. (reff.) the incorruptibility of future immortality. If we seek elsewhere in the Epistles for an illustration of the term as applied to inward qualities, we find a close parallel in 1Pe 3:4; where the ornament of women is to be . -the contrast being between the , , and the incorruptible graces of the renewed spiritual man. I believe we are thus led to the meaning here;-that the love spoken of is ;-in, as its sphere and element and condition, incorruptibility-not a fleeting earthly love, but a spiritual and eternal one. And thus only is the word worthy to stand as the crown and climax of this glorious Epistle: whereas in the ordinary (E. V.) rendering, sincerity,-besides that (as Mey.) this would not be but (Tit 2:7) or (see Wetst. on Tit. l. c.), the Epistle ends with an anti-climax, by lowering the high standard which it has lifted up throughout to an apparent indifferentism, and admitting to the apostolic blessing all those, however otherwise wrong, who are only not hypocrites in their love of Christ. As to the many interpretations,-that is for (Chr. 2nd alt.), (Thl.), (Thdrt.), (Beza), (Piscator)-that is to be taken with (Harl., Bengel, Stier), that . means in immortality, as the sphere of the , cf. , ch. Eph 1:3,-that it is to be joined with (Christum immortalem et gloriosum, non humilem, Wetst.), that it is short for (Olsh.), &c. &c. (see more in Mey.), none of them seem so satisfactory as that assigned above).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Eph 6:24. , with all) whether Jews or Gentiles, in all Asia, etc.-[108] in incorruption, sincerity) construed with grace, viz. let it be: comp. Eph 3:13, , not to faint, which is a proof of sincerity (, incorruption). Add 2Ti 1:10. We have its opposite, Eph 4:22.- implies health without any blemish, and its continuance flowing from it. This is in consonance with the whole sum of the epistle; and thence redounds to the love of believers towards Jesus Christ

[108] , that love) See of how great importance is that love, 1Co 16:22.-V. g.

[109] Bengel, J. A. (1860). Vol. 4: Gnomon of the New Testament (M. E. Bengel & J. C. F. Steudel, Ed.) (J. Bryce, Trans.) (61-118). Edinburgh: T&T Clark.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Eph 6:24

Eph 6:24

Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ-God’s grace is to those who love Christ, and for those who continue to love him is this grace continued. If our love to Christ fails, grace ceases to rest upon us. God does not look with favor upon those who turn from faith in his Son. [Of such persons, Paul said: If any man loveth not the Lord, let him be anathema. Marana tha. (1Co 16:22). Gods love is not a love of indifference; but a love of choice, Jesus said: If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him. (Joh 14:23. ) God cannot grant his grace to those who have seen and hated him in his Son and image. By that hatred they refuse his grace, and cast it from them. On the other hand, sincere love to the Lord Jesus Christ opens the heart to all the rich and purifying influences of divine grace. If we love Christ, we shall love his people.]

with a love incorruptible.-[This love is the life of the body of Christ. In it lies the churchs immortality. The gates of death prevail not against her, rooted and grounded as she is in love to the risen and immortal Christ May that love be maintained in deathless power!]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Grace: 1Co 16:23, 2Co 13:14, Col 4:18, 2Ti 4:22, Tit 3:15, Heb 13:25

love: Joh 21:15-17, 1Co 16:22

in sincerity: or, with incorruption, Mat 22:37, 2Co 8:8, 2Co 8:12, Tit 2:7

Amen: Mat 6:13, Mat 28:20

Reciprocal: Num 6:24 – The Lord Deu 30:2 – with all thine heart Jos 24:14 – serve Jdg 5:31 – them that 1Ch 12:18 – peace Son 1:4 – the upright love thee Son 7:12 – there will I give thee Isa 56:6 – to love Luk 7:47 – she Joh 5:23 – all men Joh 14:15 – General Joh 16:27 – because Rom 1:7 – and the Lord 1Co 5:8 – but 2Co 5:14 – the love 2Co 11:3 – so Eph 6:5 – in Phi 1:10 – that ye may be 1Pe 1:8 – ye love Rev 22:21 – General

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

(Eph 6:24.) -Grace be with all them who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption. This is a second and more general benediction. The article is prefixed to in the valediction. See under Eph 1:2. The words our Lord Jesus Christ, occurring previously in Eph 1:3, have also been already explained.

The concluding difficulty of the expositor, and it is no slight one, lies in the concluding words of the epistle- . Wyckliffe has vncorrupcioun, Tyndale puernes, the Genevan to their immortalitie, and Cranmer vnfaynedly.

The connection and meaning are alike matter of doubt.-1. Some, such as Drusius, Wilke, and Peile, connect with , as if the meaning were-grace with immortality, or immortal grace. But this exegesis appears on the face of it contrary to the verbal order of the clause. Piscator, taking for , regards grace and immortality as two separate gifts. Beza, Musculus, Bengel, Michaelis, Matthies, and Bloomfield (supplemental volume, in loc.), give the phrase another turn of meaning, and render-grace to immortality, or grace for ever abide with you. The opinion of Harless is similar – , he says, marks the element in which this grace reveals itself, and is its indestructible essence. And this is also the view of Baumgarten-Crusius. Such a construction, however, has no philological foundation, for the two nouns are not so homogeneous in meaning as to be used in such a connection. Olshausen resorts to the desperate expedient of an ellipse, saying that the words mean- . This ellipse, as Meyer says, is a pure fiction. 2. As far removed from a natural exegesis is the opinion of Wetstein, Reiners, and Semler, who join to , and give this interpretation – who love the Lord Jesus Christ in His incorruptible or exalted state. We should have expected a very different phraseology if that had been the apostle’s meaning, and at least, with the present words, the repetition of the article – . 3. Whatever difficulty may be involved in the exegesis, we are obliged to take the as qualifying . This appears to be the natural connection. But as to the meaning-

1. Chrysostom and Theophylact give an alternative explanation-on account of those things which are incorruptible. These critics say- , that is, stands for . But such violence to the words cannot be warranted.

2. Some give the meaning-in sincerity. Such is the view of Chrysostom and Theophylact in another of their interpretations, in which they explain by ; and they are followed by Pelagius, Erasmus, Calvin, a-Lapide, Estius, and Robinson. At the same time there is some difference of opinion among this class, some giving more prominence to sincerity as an element of the love itself, and others regarding this sincerity as proved by the result and accompaniment of a chaste and holy life.

3. Others give the phrase this meaning-in perpetuity. Among this party are OEcumenius, who employs as synonyms , and Luther, Zegerus, Wolf, Meyer, Wahl, Bretschneider, and Meier. Rckert and de Wette are undecided, though the latter seems to incline to the first interpretation of the Greek expositors. The Gothic version reads n unriurein-in incorruptibility. It is somewhat difficult to decide. The noun means incorruption, and must define either the sphere or character of this love. If it refer to the sphere, there then may be an allusion to the heavenly places to which believers are elevated-a region of unchanging and undecaying love to Jesus (Rom 1:23; 1Co 9:25; 1Co 15:52; 1Ti 1:17); or if, as Meyer says, it describe the character of this affection, then it signifies that it possesses an enduring freshness-that it glows for ever. A similar construction is found in Tit 3:15. We are inclined to believe that the word characterizes the nature of this love, perpetuity being a necessary element of this incorruption. The term points out that in this love there is no source of decay or change, that it does not contain within itself the seeds of dissolution, and that it is of such compactness, that its elements cannot one after another fall out and itself gradually perish. Incorruptness is immortality based upon simplicity of essence. And therefore this love to Jesus – filling the entire nature, burning with pure and quenchless fervour, proving itself a holy instinct, unmixed with baser motives and attachments, one and indivisible-is in incorruption,- . AMEN.

Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians

Eph 6:24. Paul wishes the grace (favor of the Lord) to be with the brethren; that is, with those who professed to love Him and who were sincere.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Eph 6:24. Grace, lit, the grace, the grace of God in Christ (comp. the usual benediction).

With all them that love, etc. The reference here seems to be to all Christians; comp. the anathema in 1Co 16:22.

In incorruption, not, in sincerity, which forms an anti-climax, not in eternity for which another expression would be used. It qualifies love, defining its element or manner, and indicating its character as perennial, immutable, and incorruptible (Ellicott).

The best authorities omit the word Amen. In the received text, Amen occurs at the close of nearly every book of the New Testament. It is rarely genuine; the scribes would naturally add it. The subscription written from Rome unto the Ephesians by Tychicus, like all the others, is a later addition, though in this case probably correct, which is rarely the case.

This wish differs from all other Pauline benedictions in its definition of Christians,a definition that forms a fitting close to an Epistle having as its theme the Church in Christ Jesus, since this Church is made up of them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption. Extensively, the Church is not bounded by those external limits necessarily established by ecclesiastical organizations, nor by those logical ones as necessarily defined by detailed dogmatic statement. Still less is it confined by the empirical partition walls set up by morbid and fanatical, or spasmodic and mystical religionism. The empire of love is wider than all these. Intensively, however, this definition opposes the view that the Church can dwell in the region of indifferentism, ignorance, doubt, or unbelief. Her characteristic is love, love for the one living Object, the Lord Jesus Christ. And love for Him who is the Truth seeks to know Him better; to see Him as He is. Speculative doubt about His Person may not drive away love, but it certainly does not promote it. Mere sincerity is not sufficient; the love must move in a sphere, partake of a character, which is perennial, immutable, incorruptible, and Christs grace alone can produce such a love. Those who possess it are in Christ, of His Body, which, like the Head, shall, in the fuller and higher sense, live and love in incorruption, through the same grace. Gerlach well says: The grace which is the cause of our love to Christ, becomes at the same time the reward of our love to Him: all may be hoped from Him, if one loves Him; all feared, if one does not love Him.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Still our apostle goes on praying: he began and closes his epistle with prayer; and the blessings prayed for are grace and peace; peace in the former verse comprehending all temporal felicity; and grace in this comprehending the special favour and loving kindness of God: this he prays may be the portion of all those that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, or incorruption, as the word signifies; that is not for time only, but for eternity; not in show and appearance only, but in reality.

Sincere love to our Lord Jesus Christ is a sure character and undoubted mark of such a person as has found grace in God’s sight, and is very high in the divine favour. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ; he doth not say with a seraphim’s, but with a sincere, love.

Quest. But when, and how, may a person know that he loves Christ in great sincerity?

Ans.If Christ be enthroned in thy heart as a chief commander; if he be esteemed by thee as thy chiefest excellency, and thy choicest treasure; if he be thy chiefest delight and joy; and if he be thy chiefest refuge, unto which thou fliest in all dangers and distresses; thou mayest conclude thy supreme love is placed upon him, that thou lovest him in sincerity.

And the more thou lovest him, the more lovely wilt thou be unto him, and the more will thy heart be let out in desires after him, and in fervent longings for the full fruition and final enjoyment of him; for those whom we love we long to be with. Come then, Lord! down to me, Or take me up to thee.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

ARGUMENT 26

REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION

24. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with Divine love in purity. Here we have agape, the definition of God himself. (1Jn 4:18.) God is love; i.e., love is the Divine nature. It evanesced from humanity in the fall, and never gets back till the Holy Ghost pours it from his own heart into ours in regeneration. So this Divine love is the new heavenly nature imparted to us in regeneration. We receive it into a depraved heart, as we have no other sort. This heart must be thoroughly purified in the subsequent work of entire sanctification. Why does not God take the old life of sin out of us before he imparts the new life of grace? Why did not the Indians evacuate California before the Americans came and settled this beautiful country? From the simple fact that they loved California, and wanted to stay in it, and did stay until they were driven out by the new inhabitants. Even so the devil loves the human heart, and only evacuates it at the point of the bayonet. If the Holy Ghost did not come in, Satan would never go out. When he comes in, he always brings his new life with him. Hence, we see regeneration must precede sanctification. This verse is a good text, beautifully revealing this great double salvation in a nutshell.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Grace [be] with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

A great benediction to close the letter. To remind them of all the treasures that they have in Christ. That one term “sincerity” is quite the qualifier. If you sincerely love Christ, then these are yours, but the implied opposite is that if you don’t “sincerely” love the Lord they are not.

Imagine knowing that you did not have peace, love, faith and grace from God and understanding the ramifications of same. It might make you consider your place before God. It is also of note that the passage is introduced with the term “brethren” a further call to consider your place before God.

Are you really a brother in Christ? Seems that there may have been a touch of witness in this prayer of Paul’s.

There is a very stiff qualifier for those that are to receive this peace, love, faith, and grace. Those that love the Lord “in sincerity” which relates to purity, lack of corruption, and sincerity are the recipients of those wonderful benefits. Don’t live a life of sin and expect to have the good life that the verses describe, but look for a life that lacks these things. We have no claim on God’s good things if we are rejecting Him in the area of purity.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

6:24 Grace [be] with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ {m} in sincerity. Amen. [To [the] Ephesians written from Rome, by Tychicus.]

(m) Or to immortality, to life everlasting.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

As the apostle opened his epistle by referring to God’s grace, so he ended it (Eph 1:2). God’s grace was the key to the calling of the Christian and the creation of the church. It is also essential to the conduct of the Christian (cf. Eph 1:7; Eph 2:5; Eph 2:7-8; Eph 3:2; Eph 3:8; Eph 4:7). Paul wished God’s unmerited favor and divine enablement on all who love Jesus Christ purely, without wrong motives or secret disloyalties (cf. 1Co 16:22). As God has poured out His grace to us in all purity, so we should pour out our love to Him in purity.

"Ephesians is ultimately about how God has powerfully equipped the church to experience blessing in Christ, by creating a new community that is able to honor God and resist the forces of evil. No longer does one’s Jewish or Gentile identity dominate. They are part of a new, reconciled community, a reconciliation that involves not only God but also one another. All enablement in this new sacred community is rooted in what the exalted Christ has provided for His people. That is why believers can have hope, since they have begun participation in a wealth of benefits distributed from heaven. The church’s members are citizens raised and seated with Jesus in a heavenly citizenship, though they represent Him now as light on the earth, fully enabled for the task. In all of this, God is taking steps toward the ultimate summation of all things in Christ." [Note: Bock, "A Theology . . .," p. 319.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)