{"id":29295,"date":"2022-09-24T13:13:51","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T18:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-ephesians-623\/"},"modified":"2022-09-24T13:13:51","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T18:13:51","slug":"exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-ephesians-623","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-ephesians-623\/","title":{"rendered":"Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 6:23"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peace [be] to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. <\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

23 24. Benediction<\/p>\n

23<\/strong>. Peace<\/em> ] The Apostle returns to his opening benedictory prayer. See on Eph 1:2<\/span> and note. We may remark here that the phrase “Grace and peace,” in apostolic salutations, though no doubt connected with ordinary Greek and Hebrew greetings, is not to be explained by them. Both nouns are surely used in the fulness of their Christian meaning. It is “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ;” “the peace of God.”<\/p>\n

the brethren<\/em> ] The only certain occurrence in this Epistle (see note on Eph 6:10<\/span> above) of this word in the plural. In the singular it has occurred once, Eph 6:21<\/span>. As children of God, Christians are brothers of one another in a sense full of Divine life and love. See Rom 8:29<\/span>; 1Jn 5:1<\/span>.<\/p>\n

love<\/em> ] The Divine gift of love in all its aspects. He prays that “the love of God may be poured out in their hearts” (Rom 5:5<\/span>), and that they may “walk in love” (above, ch. Eph 5:2<\/span>) as its result. For the word “love” in benediction or salutation, cp. 2Co 13:11<\/span>; Judges 2<\/span>.<\/p>\n

with faith<\/em> ] As if to secure the reality and purity of the experience of love by its co-existence with<\/em> faith, holy reliance, in God through Christ by the Spirit. Here “faith,” as well as “love” and “peace,” is invoked<\/em> upon them; it is a “ gift<\/em> of God.” See on Eph 2:8<\/span> above.<\/p>\n

from God the Father<\/em> ] Cp. Eph 1:2<\/span>, and notes. There “ our<\/em> Father” is the wording. For the present phrase, cp. 2Ti 1:2<\/span>; Tit 1:4<\/span>. The probable reference of the word “Father” in such an invocation (having regard to the far more frequent other form) is to the Father’s Fatherhood as towards the brethren of His Son, rather than directly towards His Son. But the two aspects are eternally and indissolubly united.<\/p>\n

and the Lord Jesus Christ<\/em> ] See on Eph 1:2<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Peace be to the brethren – <\/B>The Epistle is closed with the usual salutations. The expression peace to you, was the common form of salutation in the East (see the Mat 10:13<\/span> note; Luk 24:36<\/span> note; Rom 15:33<\/span> note; compare Gal 6:16<\/span>; 1Pe 5:14<\/span>; 3Jo 1:14<\/span>), and is still the salam which is used – the word salam meaning peace.<\/P>

And love with faith – <\/B>Love united with faith; not only desiring that they might have faith, but the faith which worked by love.<\/P>

From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ – <\/B>The Father and the Son are regarded as equally the author of peace and love; compare notes on 2Co 13:14<\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Eph 6:23<\/span><\/p>\n

Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Peace, love, and faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

There <\/em>is no better test of a man than the things that he wishes for the people that he loves most. He desires for them, of course, his own ideal of happiness. What do you desire most for those that are dearest to you? You parents, do you train up your children, for instance, so as to secure, or to do your best to secure, not outward prosperity, but these loftier gifts; and for yourselves, when you are forming your wishes, are these the things that you want most? Set your affections on things above, and remember that whoso has that trinity of graces–peace, love, faith–is rich and blessed, whatsoever else he has or needs. And whoso has them not is miserable and poor. The Christian life in its higher vigour and excellence is rooted in faith. That faith associates to itself, and is inseparably connected with love, and the faith and love together issue in a deep restful tranquillity which nothing can break. Now let us look at these three things as the three greatest blessings that any can bear in their hearts, and wring out of time, sorrow, and change.<\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>First, the root of everything is a continuous and growing trust. Remember, that this prayer or wish of my text was spoken in reference to brethren; that is to say, to those who, by the hypothesis, already possessed Christian faith. And Paul wishes for them, and can wish for them, nothing better and more than the increase and continuousness of that which they already possess. The highest blessing that the brethren can receive is the enlargement and the strengthening of their faith. Now we talk so much in Christian teaching about this faith that, I fancy, like a worn sixpence in a mans pocket, its very circulation from hand to hand has worn off the lettering. And many of us, from the very familiarity of the word, have only a dim conception of what it means. It may not be profitless, then, to remind you, first of all, that this faith is neither more nor less than a very familiar thing which you are constantly exercising in reference to one another, that is to say, simple confidence. There is nothing mysterious in it, it is simply the exercise of confidence, the familiar cement that binds all human relationship together, and makes men brotherly and kindred with their kind. Faith is trust, and trust saves a mans soul. Then, remember further, that the faith which is the foundation of everything is essentially the personal trust reposing upon a person, upon Jesus Christ. When you grasp Christ, the living Christ, and not merely the doctrine, for yours, then you have faith. Then, remember still further, that this personal outgoing of confidence, which is the action both of a mans will and of a mans intellect, to the person revealed to us in the great doctrines of the gospel–that this faith, if it is to be worth anything, must be continuous. And, still further, this faith ought to be progressive. Brethren, is it so with us? Let us ask ourselves that; and let us ask very solemnly this other question–If my faith has no growth, how do I know that it has got any life? And so let me remind you, further, that this faith, the personal outgoing of a mans intellect and will to the personal Saviour revealed in the Scriptures as the sacrifice for our sins, and the life of our spirits, which ought to be continuous and progressive, is the foundation of all strength, blessedness, goodness, in a human character; and if we have it we have the germ of all possible excellence and growth, not because of what it is in itself, for in itself it is nothing more than the opening of the heart to the reception of the celestial influences of grace and righteousness that He pours down. And, therefore, this is the thing that a wise man will most desire for himself, and for those that are dearest to him.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>And now, next, notice how inseparably associated with a true faith is love. The one is effect that never is found without its cause; the other is cause which never but produces its effect. These two are braided together by the apostle, as inseparable in reality and inseparable in thought. And that it is so is plain enough, and there follow from it some practical lessons that I desire to lay upon your hearts and my own. There are, then, here, two principles, or rather two sides of one thought; no faith without love, no love without faith.<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>And now, lastly, these two inseparably associated graces of faith and love bring with them, and lead to, the third–peace. It seems to be but a very modest, sober-tinted wish which the apostle here has for his brethren, that the highest and best thing he can ask for them is only quiet. Very modest by the side of joy and excitement, in their coats of many colours; and yet the deepest and truest blessing that any of us can have–peace. It comes to us by one path, and that is by the path of faith and love. These two bring peace with God, peace in our inmost spirits, the peace of self-annihilation and submission, the peace of obedience, the peace of ceasing from your own works, and entering, therefore, into the rest of God. Trust is peace. There is no tranquillity like that of feeling I am not responsible for this; He is; and I rest myself on Him. Love is peace. There is no rest for our hearts but on the bosom of someone that is dear to us, and in whom we can confide. But ah! brother, every tree in which the dove nestles is felled down sooner or later, and the nest torn to pieces, and the bird flies away. But if we turn ourselves to the undying Christ, the perpetual revelation of the eternal God, then, then our love and our faith will bring us rest. Self-surrender is peace. It is our wills that trouble us. Disturbance comes, not from without, but from within. When the will bows, when I say, Be it then as Thou wilt, when in faith and love I cease to strive, to murmur, to rebel, to repine, and enter into His loving purposes, then there is peace. Obedience is peace. To recognize a great will that is sovereign, and to bow myself to it, not because it is sovereign, but because it is sweet, and sweet because I love it, and love Him whose it is. That is peace. And then, whatever may be outward circumstances, there shall be peace subsisting at the heart of endless agitation; and deep in my soul I may be tranquil, though all about me may be the hurly-burly of the storm. (A. Maclaren, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Christian peace<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are depths in the ocean which no tempest ever stirs; they are beyond the reach of all storms which sweep and agitate the surface of the sea. There are heights in the blue sky to which no cloud ever ascends, where no tempest ever rages, where all is perpetual sunshine. Each of these is an emblem of the soul which Jesus visits; to whom He speaks His peace, whose fear He dispels, and whose lamp of hope He trims.<\/p>\n

Love and faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Faith and love are like a pair of compasses. Faith, like one point, fastens on Christ as the centre; and love, like the other, goes the round in all the works of holiness and righteousness.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Verse 23. Peace be to the brethren<\/B><\/I>] If the epistle were really sent to the Ephesians<\/I>, a people with whom the apostle was so intimately acquainted, it is strange that he mentions no person by name. This objection, on which Dr. Paley lays great stress, (see the preface to this epistle,) has not been successfully answered.<\/P>

<\/P>

Peace<\/B><\/I>] All prosperity<\/I>, and continual union with God and among yourselves; and love<\/I> to God and man, the principle of all obedience and union; with faith<\/I>, continually increasing, and growing stronger and stronger, from God the Father<\/I>, as the fountain of all our mercies, and the Lord Jesus Christ<\/I>, through whose sacrifice and mediation they all come.<\/P><\/p>\n

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

He prays for their continuance and increase in these graces, which already were begun in them. <\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

23. love with faith<\/B>Faith ispresupposed as theirs; he prays that love may accompany it (Ga5:6<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Peace [be] to the brethren<\/strong>,…. The members of the church at Ephesus, who stood in a spiritual relation to each other; meaning all prosperity outward and inward, temporal, spiritual, and eternal; especially peace of conscience under the sprinklings of the blood of Christ, and a view of peace made with God by that blood:<\/p>\n

and love with faith from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ<\/strong>; that is, an increase of these graces, and of the exercise of them, is wished for; for otherwise these brethren had both these graces, faith and love; see Eph 1:15<\/span>; which go together; faith works by love, and love discovers faith, and both are imperfect; faith has something lacking in it, and love is apt to grow cold, and need reviving and increasing; and these, and the increase of them, are from God the Father, who is the God of all grace, and from Jesus Christ, in whom all fulness of grace is; and these things are equally desired from the one as from the other, and shows a plurality of persons in the Godhead, and the equality of Christ with the Father; and such a wish expresses the apostle’s great love and affection for the brethren, and points out the things they stand in need of; and which, being asked for such, might be expected to be enjoyed.<\/p>\n

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Love and faith <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). Love of the brotherhood accompanied by faith in Christ and as an expression of it. <\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) “Peace be to the brethren”<\/strong> (eirene tois adelphois) “Let peace be to or toward the brethren” of the church at Ephesus and throughout Asia. This is a closing benediction of peace and love to and for the church brethren addressed at Ephesus and wherever the letter was carried.<\/p>\n

2) “And love with faith”<\/strong> (kai agape meta pisteos) “And love with faith or fidelity.” Let it be to you, 1Co 16:24<\/span>. This love accompanies faith that works for good, Gal 5:6<\/span>. For faith that avails “works by love.”<\/p>\n

3) “From God the Father”<\/strong> (apo theou patros) “From the Father (even) God;” 2Co 1:3<\/span>.<\/p>\n

4) “And the Lord Jesus Christ”<\/strong> (kai kuriou iesou christou) As well as (the) Lord Jesus Christ,” the connection of the first and second persons of the Godhead indicates a joint-bestowal of spiritual blessings, 2Co 13:14<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

23. Peace be to the brethren. I consider the word peace, as in the salutations of the Epistles, to mean prosperity. Yet if the reader shall prefer to view it as signifying harmony, because, immediately afterwards, Paul mentions love, I do not object to that interpretation, or rather, it agrees better with the context. He wishes the Ephesians to be peaceable and quiet among themselves; and this, he presently adds, may be obtained by brotherly love and by agreement in faith From this prayer we learn that faith and love, as well as peace itself, are gifts of God bestowed upon us through Christ, — that they come equally from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES<\/em><\/p>\n

Eph. 6:23<\/span>. Peace, love, and faith.<\/strong>A worthy triad, and the greatest of these<\/em> is love.<\/p>\n

Eph. 6:24<\/span>. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.<\/strong>Pauls favourite word grace comes in as epilogueas it was prologue (Eph. 1:2<\/span>). Sincerity means incorruptlyto love in a spirit corruption cannot touch.<\/p>\n

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.<\/em>Eph. 6:23-24<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

A Suggestive Benediction<\/em><\/p>\n

I. Recognises the divine source of all blessing.<\/strong>From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 6:23<\/span>). All our blessings are divine, and flow from the inexhaustible fountain of the divine beneficence. God the Father, in the eternal counsels of His wisdom and love, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself as an atonement for human sinthe glorious Trinity of Persons in the Godheadcontribute from their combined perfections the spiritual good that enriches every believing soul. The God of Christians, says Pascal, is not barely the Author of geometrical truths, or of the order of the elementsthis is the divinity of the heathen; nor barely the providential Disposer of the lives and fortunes of men, so as to crown His worshippers with a happy series of yearsthis is the portion of the Jews. But the God of Abraham and of Jacob, the God of Christians, is a God of love and of consolation; a God who fills the heart and the soul where He resides; a God who gives them a deep and inward feeling of their own misery and of His infinite mercy, unites Himself to their spirit, replenishes it with humility and joy, with affiance and love, and renders them incapable of any end but Himself. The religious character of the Lancashire people was illustrated by an incident that happened towards the close of the cotton famine. The mills in one village had been stopped for months, and the first waggon-load of cotton that arrived seemed to them like the olive branch that told of the abating waters of the deluge. The waggon was met by the women, who hysterically laughed and cried and hugged the cotton bales as if they were dear old friends, and then ended by singing that grand old hymn, Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.<\/p>\n

II. Implores specific blessings upon Christian brethren.<\/strong>Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith (Eph. 6:23<\/span>). Where there is no love there is no peace, and peace and love without faith are capricious and worthless. Love is the strength of the forbearance and self-suppression so essential to the maintenance of peace. As faith grows and intensifies it opens up new channels in which love can flow. We are to contend for the faith, not that peace may be disturbed, but that it may rest on a firmer and more permanent basis. What greater boon can we desiderate for our brethren than that they may abound in peace and love with faith?<\/p>\n

III. Greets with expansive generosity all genuine lovers of Christ.<\/strong>Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen (Eph. 6:24<\/span>). The overflow of divine grace submerges the barriers of sects and effaces the distinctions of a selfish and pretentious bigotry. Sincere love to Christ opens the heart to the richest endowments of grace, and blends all hearts that glow with a kindred affection. If we love Christ, we love one another, we love His work, His word, and are eager to obey Him in all things He commands. We may not agree in a uniformity of creeds, but we reach a higher union when our hearts are mingled in the capacious alembic of a Christ-like love. The benediction of grace to all who love Jesus is answered and confirmed by an appropriate Amen<\/em>. Amen under the law was answered to the curses, but not to the blessings (Deu. 27:15-26<\/span>). Every particular curse must have an Amen. But in the next chapter, where the blessings follow, there is no Amen affixed to them (Deu. 28:2-12<\/span>). But it is otherwise in the gospel. To the blessings there is an Amen, but not to the curses. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ (1Co. 16:22<\/span>)a fearful curse; but there is no Amen to that. Grace be with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity: there is an Amen to that.<\/p>\n

Lessons.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Christianity is freighted with blessings for the race<\/em>. <\/p>\n

2. It has special blessings for present need<\/em>. <\/p>\n

3. It points men to God as the true source of all blessing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES<\/em><\/p>\n

Eph. 6:23<\/span>. Elements of Religious Comfort<\/em>.The apostle prays that, with faith, there may be peace and love.<\/p>\n

I. Faith captivates the soul into obedience to the gospel<\/strong> by giving efficacy to its precepts, examples, and doctrines. Where faith operates, love will appear, and peace will follow.<\/p>\n

II. Love produces peace.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Inward peace<\/em>. It extinguishes malice, envy, hatred, wrath, revenge, every unfriendly passion.<\/p>\n

2. Social peace<\/em>.Christians will be careful not to give offence, either by real injuries or unnecessary differences. They will be slow to take offence.<\/p>\n

III. Love brings religious comfort.<\/strong>Love is comfortable in its immediate feelings and in its pacific influence. It brings comfort to the soul as it is an evidence of godly sincerity. If we would enjoy the comfort, we must maintain the comfort of religion.Lathrop<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Eph. 6:24<\/span>. The Christians Truest Test and Excellence<\/em>.Other things may be required to complete the character of the Christian; but without love to Christ there can be no Christian at all. It is the master-spirit which must animate and enliven the whole combination; and in whomsoever this spirit prevails we are entitled and enjoined to welcome that person as a disciple.<\/p>\n

I. Consider the love of Christ as a duty we owe to Himself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Bring to your remembrance His personal excellences<\/em>. <\/p>\n

2. Consider the great and glorious object of all He did and enduredthe everlasting happiness of human souls<\/em>.<\/p>\n

II. Consider the love of Christ as a principle which works in ourselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. It does not destroy natural affections, but teaches us to fix them on proper objects and to give a right direction to their fullest energies<\/em>. <\/p>\n

2. A due sense of the Saviours love makes us feel at once that He merits all our best affections in return<\/em>. <\/p>\n

3. It gives delight in meditating on the precepts and promises of Gods word<\/em>. <\/p>\n

4. It helps in all the duties we owe to our fellow-creatures<\/em>. <\/p>\n

5. It animates the soul in the hour of death and the prospect of eternity.J. Brewster<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Loving Christ in Sincerity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I. On what account Christ is entitled to our love.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. He is a divine person<\/em>. <\/p>\n

2. He was manifest in the flesh<\/em>. In the man Christ Jesus appeared every virtuous quality which can dignify and adorn human nature. <\/p>\n

3. His mediatorial offices entitle Him to our love<\/em>. <\/p>\n

4. He is an object of our love because of His kindness to us<\/em>.<\/p>\n

II. An essential qualification of love to Christ is sincerity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Our love to Christ must be real, not pretended<\/em>. <\/p>\n

2. Must be universal<\/em>. It must respect His whole character. <\/p>\n

3. Sincere love to Christ is supreme<\/em>. It gives Him the preference to all earthly interest and connections. <\/p>\n

4. It is persevering<\/em>. <\/p>\n

5. It is active<\/em>.<\/p>\n

III. How sincere love to Christ will discover itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. It will make us careful to please Him<\/em>. <\/p>\n

2. Will be accompanied with humility<\/em>. <\/p>\n

3. We shall be fond of imitating Him<\/em>. <\/p>\n

4. We shall promote His interest and oppose His enemies<\/em>. <\/p>\n

5. We shall do good to His needy brethren and friends<\/em>.<\/p>\n

IV. The benediction connected with this temper.<\/strong>It is called grace. It comprehends all the blessings the gospel reveals and promises. <\/p>\n

1. Justification before God<\/em>. <\/p>\n

2. The presence of the divine Spirit<\/em>. <\/p>\n

3. Free access to the throne of grace<\/em>. <\/p>\n

4. The gift of a happy immortality.Lathrop<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Love to Christ<\/em>.What is it that constitutes Christs claim to love and respect? What is it that is to be loved in Christ? Why are we to hold Him dear? There is but one ground for virtuous affection in the universe, but one object worthy of cherished and enduring love in heaven and in earth, and that ismoral goodness. My principle applies to all beings, to the Creator as well as to His creatures. The claim of God to the love of His rational offspring rests on the rectitude and benevolence of His will. It is the moral beauty and grandeur of His character to which alone we are bound to pay homage. The only power which can and ought to be loved is a beneficent and righteous power. The ground of love to Christ is, His spotless purity, His moral perfection, His unrivalled goodness. It is the spirit of His religion, which is the Spirit of God, dwelling in Him without measure. Of consequence, to love Christ is to love the perfection of virtue, of righteousness, of benevolence; and the great excellence of this love is, that by cherishing it we imbibe, we strengthen in our own souls the most illustrious virtue, and through Jesus become like God. I call you to love Jesus that you may bring yourselves into contact and communion with perfect virtue, and may become what you love. I know no sincere, enduring good but the moral excellence which shines forth in Jesus Christ.Channing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Apostolic Benediction<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I. The subjects of the benediction.<\/strong>All them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.<\/p>\n

1. The object of their love<\/em>.The Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

2. The character of their love<\/em>.They love in sincerity. This proved by the effects it produces. <\/p>\n

(1) Love to Gods word.
(2) Prompt obedience to Christs precepts.
(3) Brotherly love.
(4) Zeal for Gods house.<\/p>\n

II. The nature of the benediction.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. The prayer embraces the communication of divine grace<\/em>. <\/p>\n

2. All Christians need the grace of God<\/em>. <\/p>\n

(1) In all trials peculiar to the age in which they live.
(2) In time of temptation and spiritual darkness.
(3) In the discharge of Christian duties.
(4) To sanctify, refine, and make them meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.<\/p>\n

Lessons.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Imitate the catholicity of the apostle<\/em>. <\/p>\n

2. Sectarian bigotry and hostility should cease<\/em>. <\/p>\n

3. How perilous the state of those who love not Christ.Pulpit Themes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

(23) Peace be to the brethren . . .<\/strong>In the conclusion of the Epistle, as at the beginning, St. Paul gives the double benediction, Peace and grace be with you all. But it. is impossible not to notice the difference between the generality of the terms here used (the brethren, and all who love the Lord Jesus Christ) and the personal you of all the other Epistlesa difference which would be inexplicable if this Epistle were addressed to the well-known and loved Church of Ephesus alone.<\/p>\n

Peace seems especially dwelt upon in the Epistles of the Captivity, of which the Epistle to Philippi contains (in Eph. 4:7<\/span>) the fullest description of the peace of God which passeth all understanding. It is naturally connected here with love (as in 2Co. 13:11<\/span>; Col. 3:15-16<\/span>)a love with faith, making perfect (as in Gal. 5:6<\/span>) the faith which St. Paul takes for granted as being in them. For peace is first with God, in the thankful receiving of His mercy; from this naturally arises love with faith towards Him; and out of this, again, peace and love towards men, in the conviction that, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another (1Jn. 4:11<\/span>). All these are gifts from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

‘Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’<\/p>\n

‘Peace’ was a regular greeting in Biblical times and denoted a desire for the well being of the recipient. But with regard to God it has a special significance. As light is to darkness, so peace is to evil (Isa 45:7<\/span>). It is the ultimate good. It had become especially associated with the coming Messianic age which would be an age of ‘peace’ sealed by the ‘covenant of peace’ (Isa 32:17<\/span>; Isa 52:7<\/span>; Isa 54:10<\/span>; Isa 55:12<\/span>; Isa 57:19<\/span>; Eze 37:26<\/span>; Hag 2:9<\/span>; Zec 9:10<\/span>) presided over by the Prince of peace (Isa 9:6<\/span>). And for the wicked there will be no peace (Isa 48:22<\/span>; Isa 57:20-21<\/span>).<\/p>\n

Thus ‘peace from God’ contains the idea of total well being. It includes peace with God (Rom 5:1<\/span>), and the peace of God planted in the heart (Php 4:7<\/span>). For Jesus Christ is our peace, having reconciled us to God and to each other (Eph 2:14-16<\/span>).<\/p>\n

‘And love, with faith.’ Love without faith is empty. Faith without love is puerile. Together they form the platform for a true life, and provide complete protection from the Enemy (1Th 5:8<\/span>), and result in an active life of goodness (1Th 1:3<\/span>).<\/p>\n

‘From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This links the peace from God with the Messianic promises and expresses the furthest heights of peace, love and faith. Their source is in the Father and the Son. Thus they will be peace beyond measure, love unfathomed and unchangeable, and faith unfailing.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Eph 6:23<\/span> f. Twofold wish of blessing at the close, in which, however, Paul does not, as in the closing formulae of the other Epistles, directly address the readers ( , , ). This variation is to be regarded as merely accidental<\/em> , and the more so, seeing that he has<\/em> in fact been just addressing his readers directly, and seeing that a or the like would simply address the readers, as has so often been done in the Epistle itself, leaving, we may add, the question, who<\/em> these readers are, in itself wholly undetermined. For what is asserted by Grotius on Eph 6:24<\/span> : “ Now, Ephesios tantum salutat, sed et omnes in Asia Christianos<\/em> ,” is not implied in which, on the contrary, represents<\/em> quite the simple , inasmuch as Paul conceives of the recipients of the Epistle in the third person<\/em> . According to Wieseler, p. 444 f., the apostle in Eph 6:23<\/span> salutes the Jewish Christians ( .), and in Eph 6:24<\/span> the Gentile Christians ( ) in Ephesus. Improbable in itself, more particularly in this<\/em> Epistle, which so carefully brings into prominence the unity of the two; and the alleged distinguishing reference would neither be recognisable, nor in keeping with the apostolic wisdom.<\/p>\n

] not concordia<\/em> , as recommended by Calvin (“quia mox fit dilectionis mentio;” comp. also Theodoret and Oecumenius), but, as Calvin himself explains: welfare, blessing<\/em> , , without more precise definition, because it takes the place of the valete ( , Act 15:29<\/span> ) at the close of our Epistle, [319] and because that special sense is not at all suggested from the contents of the Epistle (comp. on the other hand, 2Co 13:11<\/span> ).<\/p>\n

] is one<\/em> object of the wish for blessing, not two. After the general fare well!<\/em> namely, Paul singles out further the highest moral<\/em> element, which he wishes for his readers. He does not, however, write , because with good reason he presupposes faith (in the atonement achieved by Christ) as already present, but has doubtless to wish for them that which, as the constant life of faith, is to be combined with it (1Co 13<\/span> ; Gal 5:6<\/span> ), Christian brotherly love, consequently love<\/em> with faith ( has the emphasis, not .). Comp. Plato, Phaed<\/em> . p. 253 E: . Bengel and Meier understand the divine<\/em> love, to which, however, . is unsuitable, although Meier explains it: in conformity with their own faith<\/em> , partly at variance with linguistic usage, [320] partly importing a thought ( their own<\/em> ). The reading (instead of <\/em><\/strong> ) is to be regarded simply as a glossematic consequence of the explaining it of the divine<\/em> love, and yet, though found only<\/em> in codex A, it is held by Rckert to be the true one (comp. Gal 6:16<\/span> ); Paul, he says, wishes to the readers . for the reward<\/em> (?) of faith.<\/p>\n

. . . .] See on Rom 1:7<\/span> . Grotius, we may add, rightly observes: “conjungit causam principem cum causa secunda.” [321] For Christ is exalted on the part of God to the government of the world, and particularly to the Lordship of the church (Eph 1:22<\/span> ; Phi 2:9<\/span> ); and His dominion has in God, the Head of Christ (1Co 11:3<\/span> ), not merely its ground (comp. also Eph 1:17<\/span> ), but also its goal (1Co 3:23<\/span> ; 1Co 15:28<\/span> ).<\/p>\n

[319] Hence also not to be explained of the peace of reconciliation<\/em> (Bengel, Matthies, Schenkel, and others), any more here than in the opening<\/em> salutations of the Epistle, where it takes the place of the epistolary salutem<\/em> , .<\/p>\n

[320] may, it is true, sometimes be approximately as to sense rendered by conformably to<\/em> , but the analysis in those cases is such as does not<\/em> suit our passage. See e.g.<\/em> Dem. Lept<\/em> . p. 490; Plato, Phaed<\/em> . p. 66 B, where and is to be explained, in connection with<\/em> the laws, etc., i.e.<\/em> with the aid<\/em> of the same. Comp. also Thucyd. iii. 82. 5, and Krger in loc.<\/em> See in general, Bernhardy, p. 255.<\/p>\n

[321] The order in the combination of the two causes is inverted in Gal. l.c.<\/em> : . .<\/p>\n

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

2. Twofold salutation to the Church<\/em><\/p>\n

(Eph 6:23-24<\/span>)<\/p>\n

23Peace be<\/em> to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord 24Jesus Christ. Grace be<\/em> with all them that [those who] love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity [incorruption]. Amen, [omit<\/em> Amen.]65<\/span><\/p>\n

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

The form of the greeting<\/em> is altogether unusual; the third person, not the second, is used in spite of the direct address (Eph 6:21-22<\/span>); instead of we find in Eph 6:23<\/span> : , in the usual position of after the first word of the salutation, and in Eph 6:24<\/span> we read: instead of . Thus a general application corresponding with the universal Epistle is strongly marked. Further we find here divided into two salutations what is elsewhere comprised in one. This points emphatically from the actual effects of grace within the Christian heart and life to the ultimate real ground of the same. Finally<\/em>, the first salutation begins with peace, which elsewhere forms the close, and the second with grace, which is the usual beginning. See on Eph 1:2<\/span>. The explanation must accept the sense of the words as used elsewhere, unless other reasons compel a departure from it. In addition this original form supports the originality of this Epistle, its Pauline origin, against the acceptance of a pseudepigraphic work.<\/p>\n

Eph 6:23<\/span>. The first salutation<\/em>. Peace be to the brethren and love with faith.<\/strong> expresses a wish for two<\/em> things.66<\/span> Grammatically the three substantives stand in different relations to each other: the first two are connected as co-ordinate with , the third is joined to them with , which unites more closely than and , the latter denoting external connection, while points to an external one, to a belonging together (Winer, p. 353). This has its influence on the explanation of the substantives, which must designate internal, ethical things. The first is peace, as the fruit of grace, out of which it springs (see all the Pauline salutations) [comp. Romans<\/em>, p. 57], communicated through mercy, as the salutations in Epistles to Timothy conjoin; we must therefore refer it to peace of heart, peace with God, rest of soul. The next, love, is something springing out of the peace, hence love to the brethren, who with us have become children of Him who is Love; this love too is in the closest union with faith. Faith is the characteristic of proper love (as Gal 5:6<\/span>), love is the characteristic of proper faith (Harless). There remains, however, a distinction, inasmuch as faith is the ground and beginning, bringing love with it, not the reverse (Stier). Bengel: Fides prsupponitur ut donum Dei<\/em>. By the brethren we are to understand Christians in general, not those in Asia (Grotius), nor Jewish Christians in particular (Wieseler), nor yet the readers merely (Meyer).67<\/span> It is incorrect to take =concordia<\/em> (Calvin), as Gods love (Bengel), or =according to (Meyer). It is arbitrary to introduce here, in accordance with the salutations in the Epistles to Timothy, instead of (Rueckert), nor is it pertinent either, since mercy effects peace, and would not occur after the latter.<\/p>\n

From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/strong> denotes the source, as always in the salutations. Paulus conjungit<\/em> () causam principem<\/em> ( ) cum causa secunda<\/em> ( ). Comp. Eph 1:2<\/span>; Eph 1:22<\/span>; Php 2:9<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Eph 6:24<\/span>. The second salutation<\/em>. Grace be with all<\/strong>, .Elsewhere (Rom 16:20<\/span>; Rom 16:24; 1Co 16:23<\/span>; 2Co 13:13<\/span> : Gal 6:18<\/span>; Php 4:23<\/span>; 1Th 5:28<\/span>; 2Th 3:18<\/span>; Phm 1:25<\/span>) we find ; the simple only here, Col 4:18<\/span>; 1<\/span> Tim. 6:22; 2Ti 4:22<\/span> (where, however, precedes); Tit 3:15<\/span>. Paul, after the wish which is directed to what is subjective and ethical, points to its objective ground. The article () marks the grace as that which is well-known to all, of which the Epistle bears testimony. The single limitation to all is given by the following characteristic designation:<\/p>\n

Those who love our Lord Jesus Christ<\/strong>, .Thus Paul gives prominence to what should be the agens<\/em> in every called and baptized Christian. The twofold salutation, bordering on a parallelism, is thus to be distinguished; the first part points to the inner life of the Christian, the second to the principle on which this life is based, with its immediate effect, love to Christ. In this we find then both an advance and a justification of the explanation of . [Meyer and most find here alone the wider reference to all real Christians, corresponding to the Anathema in 1 Cor.R.] So 1Co 16:22<\/span>. Comp. Joh 14:21<\/span>; Joh 14:23<\/span>. Hence the first wish is not for all members of the church, and the second for genuine disciples (Stier); as if the effect were to be wished for the former, and the efficient cause only for the latter! Wieseler finds a most remarkable reference, in the first, to the Jewish Christians, as especially brethren after the flesh, in the second to the Gentile Christians, as though they were not brethren; no reader would have thought of this.<\/p>\n

In incorruption<\/strong>, (from , incorruptus, corruptioni et interitui non obnoxius<\/em>, 1Co 9:25<\/span>; 1Co 15:52<\/span>; Rom 1:23<\/span>; 1Ti 1:17<\/span>; 1Pe 1:4<\/span>; 1Pe 1:23<\/span>; 1Pe 3:4<\/span>), is used here as in 1Co 15:42<\/span>; 1Co 15:50<\/span>; 1Co 15:53-54<\/span>; Rom 2:7<\/span>; 2Ti 1:10<\/span>, where the resurrection of the body is spoken of, and is not to be applied differently. Bengel: dicit sanitatem labis expertem et inde fluentem perpetuitatem<\/em>. The phrase is an adverbial qualification of , as Tit 3:15<\/span> : . [So Meyer, Alford, Hodge, and most recent commentators.] Accordingly it is inadmissible to connect it with (supplying ) with the explanation that it is=, in whom it manifests itself (Harless, Stier and others), still more so, to join it with (Semler), as though the glorified Saviour, and not rather the One in the form of a servant, were the object of the love. It is not=in eternity (Matthies), that would be , nor in sincerity<\/em> [E. V.],68<\/span> either of love (Calvin, Calovius and others) or of life (Greek Fathers, Erasmus, Estius), that would be (Tit 2:7<\/span>). Luther renders it well: unverrcht<\/em> [immovably]; the phrase denoting that the love is one belonging to incorruption, not succumbing to the fluctuations and changes of the world. Bengel, who joins it with , remarks aptly, however: Congruit cum tota summa epistol: et inde redundat etiam<\/em> in amorem fidelium erga Jesum Christum<\/em>. [Comp. the terse and lucid note of Ellicott in loco<\/em>, who, after defending the view not commonly accepted, on grammatical and lexical grounds, adds: in incorruption, i.e.<\/em>, in a manner and in an element that knows neither change, diminution nor decay. Thus then this significant clause not only defines what the essence of the is, but indicates that it ought to be perennial, immutable, incorruptible. Not a fleeting earthly love, but a spiritual and eternal one (Alford).R.] There inheres a mighty earnestness in these closing words, which however may not be spared even with a child; the smallest child can love its mother.<\/p>\n

Thus the conclusion returns again to the beginning, and this is the more significant, when one remembers, that Paul, who did not himself write his letters, but always dictated them (Rom 16:22<\/span>), penned the salutation alone with his own hand, as Col 4:18<\/span> : 1Co 16:21; 2Th 3:17<\/span>, probably also Gal 6:11-18.69<\/span> See Laurent, Neutestamentliche Studien<\/em>, pp. 49.<\/p>\n

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. The Epistle began (Eph 1:2<\/span>) and now it closes with the greeting: grace be with you! This grace<\/em>, Gods condescending love in Christ, is the ground and the goal of all human effort directed toward salvation. 2. From grace there is first brought about in the heart of the Christian, peace<\/em> with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the reconciliation, which drives away the unrest caused by the re-echo in our conscience of the accusing and condemning law, making real rest of soul. Then in and by the side of peace toward God there enters love<\/em> toward our neighbor; both, peace and love, in the convoy of faith which casts itself upon Christ as Lord. The objective grace works subjectively through faith and peace and love, unfolding and moulding the strength and beauty of the human character in every department of life. Christianity animates and exalts in noble activity the Divine in the human, as a whole and in particular, to a blessed and beatifying permanence. 3. We should not be brethren merely through the external church relation, but prove ourselves such in love to the Lord. This will depend on the healthfulness of our faith<\/em>, which in spite of external progress, hindrances, dangers, influences, proves itself from the beginning to the very close by incorruptible love to the Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n

[4. The closing benediction<\/em> (Eph 6:24<\/span>). It differs from all other Pauline benedictions; not in what is wished, but in its definition of those for whom it is wished. This definition makes it a fitting close to our Epistle, the leading idea of which is: the Church in Christ Jesus. For we thus have a final definition of those who constitute this Church: those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption. Extensively<\/em>, then, 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 by those empirical ones set up by morbid, fanatical or spasmodic religionism. The empire of love is not co-incident with such boundaries. Still this is not the broad territory of indifferentism, ignorance, doubt or unbelief, for the definition is intensive<\/em> also. The love has for its object the Lord Jesus Christ, whom Paul loved. And those who love as Paul loved, must apprehend this Object in good measure as Paul apprehended Him. No one can define how far speculative doubt about the Person of Christ leaves scope for a real love to Him as the Lord Jesus Christ, but love seeks to know<\/em> the dear object, and those who seek Him will find Him, here or hereafter, as He is. Love is the best preceptor in Christology. Mere sincerity is not enough; the love must, move in a sphere, partake of a character, perennial, immutable, incorruptible. That Christs grace alone can beget such a love is evident both from the Apostles words and human experience. Those who have it are in Christ, of His Body, which, in a fuller, higher sense, like the Head, shall live and love in incorruption, through the same grace.R.]<\/p>\n

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

Comp. Doctr. Notes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Rieger: The sum of the whole Epistle was: God in Christ, before the world began in purpose, God in Christ in the accomplishment of our destined Redemption, God in Christ in the saints, appropriation of this salvation provided for us, unto its consummation in glory; hence the benediction at the conclusion concentrates itself upon fellowship with God and His peace and His love. The smallest child in Christ, and he who is the strongest through Gods Spirit in the inner man, can unite on the precious heart-point of love to Jesus. The grace remains immovable, and out of this the love also reaches to something amaranthine, which in the heat of the contest does not fade away.<\/p>\n

Heubner: The love to Jesus must abide, must be immovable, whatever fortunes meet us, however the spirit of the age may change; else it is not pure. Sans in amore mori<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Passavant: Here we have an apostolic conclusion. It is a reminder, first, of that peace<\/em>, which comes down from Gods heaven alone upon our earth, into our hearts; secondly, of that love<\/em>, which is pure, holy, Divine; thirdly, Paul reminds the Christians of that faith<\/em>, which, inseparable from love, living and active through it, born of God<\/em>, alone is pleasing to God<\/em>, alone gives to God His glory, alone exalts the soul to Him. Fourthly, we are reminded of that grace<\/em>, through which first and alone there comes to us all true, eternal, blessed good, continuing ours out of pure mercy and unto eternity.The whole of vital Christianity is contained in love to Jesus. Those then who love this Jesus with their whole heart, so that in this love they look to Him alone, desire Him alone, follow Him alone, deny themselves for Him, willingly bear His cross and their cross after Him, living to Him and dying to Himthose are Christians, are Gods children, His special, His constant and dear objects of regard.<\/p>\n

Stier: If any one loves our Lord Jesus Christ, in vain and in wrong would all the churches pronounce the ban against him, nor are formulas of faith valid against him.<\/p>\n

Gerlach: 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.<\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[65]<\/span> Eph 6:24<\/span> [The Rec.<\/em> inserts , with .3 D. K. L., most versions and fathers, but, as it is not found in .1 A. B. F. G. 2 cursives and good minor authorities, it is rejected by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer, Alford, Ellicott and most recent editors, as a liturgical gloss. In regard to such concluding words, the obvious rule is that good<\/em> authority is sufficient to warrant a rejection, preponderating external evidence being of itself insufficient to establish the genuineness.<\/p>\n

The Subscription in the Rec<\/em>., with K. L., is: . B2 has .A. B.1 D.: , to which F. adds . Comp. the subscriptions to the Epistle to the Colossians.R.]<\/p>\n

[66]<\/span>[Two<\/em>, not three<\/em>, for the term brethren presupposes faith there already. The form indicates also, that he wishes for them peace and love in inseparable connection with the already present faith. Of course the increase of love necessarily implies<\/em> the increase of faith, but the wish is strictly a double one.R.]<\/p>\n

[67]<\/span>[Meyer, followed by Eadie, Alford and Ellicott, takes the brethren here as=you, finding in the second benediction a wider reference; Braune, on the other hand, seems to refer to the same persons, viz<\/em>., all Christians. The former view is the more obvious one, but the latter accounts for the peculiar form of the salutation, and accords with the universal character of the Epistle. Still it lays a great stress upon a form that may have no special significance.R.]<\/p>\n

[68]<\/span>[Alford, with right, urges that this would make the Epistle end with an anticlimax, 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.R.]<\/p>\n

[69]<\/span>[Comp. Galatians, in loco<\/em>, where the additional notes defend the view that the whole of that Epistle was penned by Paul himself. This opinion includes the presupposition that he rarely did so, strengthening therefore, not weakening, the point Dr. Braune here introduces.R.]<\/p>\n

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

(23) Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (24) Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. Written from Rome unto the Ephesians by Tychicus.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

How sweetly Paul begins, and ends his Epistles. So, methinks, should every child of God, when writing to a brother in Christ! It is blessed, it is gracious, when, from Christ’s love in the heart, we send forth love to all Christ’s little ones. It is a prayer founded in the love of God. And, what begins in prayer, awakened by divine grace, will be sure to be followed, in divine mercy.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

23 Peace be<\/em> to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ver. 23. Peace be to the brethren<\/strong> ] These only be the children of peace, Luk 10:10<\/span> . The wicked are like the troubled sea, Isa 57:20<\/span> , which may seem sometimes still, but is never so; no more are they. The peace of prosperity they may have, but not of tranquillity. Sinceritas serenitatis mater.<\/em> Hence it followeth, <\/p>\n

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

23, 24<\/strong> .] Double<\/em> APOSTOLIC BLESSING; addressed (23) to the brethren, and (24) to all real lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

23<\/strong> .] Peace<\/strong> (need not be further specified, as is done by some: the Epistle has no special conciliatory view. It is sufficiently described by being peace from God<\/em> ) to the brethren<\/strong> (of the Church or Churches addressed: see Prolegg. to this Epistle, ii.: not as Wieseler, <\/strong> to the Jews, and <\/strong> below to the Gentiles: for least of all in this Epistle would such a distinction be found) and love with faith<\/strong> (faith is perhaps presupposed as being theirs: and he prays that love may always accompany it, see Gal 5:6<\/span> : or both are invoked on them, see 1Ti 1:14 ) from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ<\/strong> (see note on Rom 1:7 ).<\/p>\n

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Eph 6:23-24<\/span> . Closing Benediction.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Eph 6:23<\/span> . : peace be to the brethren and love with faith<\/em> . Paul’s benedictions are usually addressed directly<\/em> to the reader, or some similar form being employed. This one is addressed to the brethren<\/em> in the third person, as is perhaps more appropriate in a circular letter. There is nothing to favour Wieseler’s notion that in the Jewish<\/em> Christians are saluted, while the in Eph 6:24<\/span> refers to Gentile<\/em> Christians. , not = concord<\/em> one with another, but = the OT in salutations or farewells, = “may it be well with the brethren”; with the Christian connotation, however, of well-being as mental peace and good due to reconciliation with God. In his expression of what he would have them enjoy he couples with the blessing of a new mental peace that also of love<\/em> the Christian grace of love, that is to say, and such love as is associated<\/em> with faith ( ). , as distinguished from , expresses the simple idea of accompanying<\/em> . So here it is not “love and<\/em> faith,” but, faith being presupposed as making the Christian, it is love which goes with<\/em> faith, not the Divine<\/em> love (Beng., etc.), but the brotherly<\/em> love which shows itself where faith<\/em> is and by which faith works (Gal 5:6<\/span> ). : from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ<\/em> . The two-fold source of the blessings desired for the reader God as Father<\/em> , the Father of Christ Himself, the causa principalis<\/em> and fons primarius<\/em> ; Christ as Lord<\/em> , Head over all with a sovereignty which is founded in God (1Co 11:3<\/span> ; Phi 2:9<\/span> ; Eph 1:17<\/span> ), as causa medians<\/em> and fons secundarius<\/em> . The phrase occurs again (though with some variations in the readings) in 2Ti 1:2<\/span> ; Tit 1:4<\/span> . In the opening salutation it is “God our<\/em> Father”. Here the relation of God to Christ<\/em> is more in view, in respect of their joint-bestowal of spiritual blessings.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

EPHESIANS<\/p>\n

PEACE, LOVE, AND FAITH <\/strong><\/p>\n

Eph 6:23<\/p>\n

The numerous personal greetings usually found at the close of Paul’s letters are entirely absent from this Epistle. All which we have in their place is this entirely general good wish, and the still more general and wider one in the subsequent verse.<\/p>\n

There is but one other of the Apostle’s letters similarly devoid of personal messages, viz. the Epistle to the Galatians, and their absence there is sufficiently accounted for by the severe and stern tone of that letter. But it is very difficult to understand how they should not appear in a letter to a church with which the Apostle had such prolonged and cordial relations as he had with the church at Ephesus. And hence the absence of these personal greetings is a strong confirmation of the opinion that this Epistle was not originally addressed to the church at Ephesus, but was a kind of circular intended to go round the various churches in Asia Minor, and only sent first to that at Ephesus. That opinion is further confirmed by the fact known to many of you that in some good ancient manuscripts the words ‘at Ephesus’ are omitted from the first verse of the letter; which thus stands without any specific address.<\/p>\n

Be that as it may, this trinity of inward graces is Paul’s highest and best wish for his friends. He has no earthly prosperity to wish for them. His ambition soars higher than that; he desires for them peace, love, faith.<\/p>\n

Now, will you take the lesson? There is no better test of a man than the things that he wishes for the people that he loves most. He desires for them, of course, his own ideal of happiness. What do you desire most for those that are dearest to you? You parents, do you train up your children, for instance, so as to secure, or to do your best to secure, not outward prosperity, but these loftier gifts; and for yourselves, when you are forming your wishes, are these the things that you want most? ‘Set your affections on things above,’ and remember that whoso has that trinity of graces, peace, love, faith, is rich and blessed, whatsoever else he has or needs. And whoso has them not is miserable and poor.<\/p>\n

But I wish especially to look a little more closely at these three things in themselves and in their relation to one another. I take it that the Apostle is here tracking the stream to its fountain; that he is beginning with effects and working backwards and downwards to causes; so that to get the order of nature and of time we must reverse the order here, and begin where he ends and end where he begins. The Christian life in its higher vigour and excellence is rooted in faith. That faith associates to itself, and is inseparably connected with love, and the faith and love together issue in a deep restful tranquillity which nothing can break.<\/p>\n

Now, let us look at these three things as the three greatest blessings that any can bear in their hearts, and wring out of time, sorrow, and change.<\/p>\n

I. First, the root of everything is a continuous and growing trust. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember that this prayer or wish of my text was spoken in reference to brethren; that is to say, to those who, by the hypothesis, already possessed Christian faith. And Paul wishes for them, and can wish for them, nothing better and more than the increase and continuousness of that which they already possess. The highest blessing that the brethren can receive is the enlargement and the strengthening of their faith.<\/p>\n

Now we talk so much in Christian teaching about this ‘faith’ that, I fancy, like a worn sixpence in a man’s pocket, its very circulation from hand to hand has worn off the lettering. And many of us, from the very familiarity of the word, have only a dim conception of what it means. It may not be profitless, then, to remind you, first of all, that this faith is neither more nor less than a very familiar thing which you are constantly exercising in reference to one another-that is to say, simple confidence. You trust your husband, your wife, your child, your parent, your friend, your guide, your lawyer, your doctor, your banker. Take that very same emotion and attitude of the mind by which you put your well-being, in different aspects and provinces, into the hands of men and women round about you; lift the trailing flowers that go all straggling along the ground, and twine them round the pillars of God’s throne, and you get the confidence, the trust, of the praises and glories of which the New Testament is full. There is nothing mysterious in it, it is simply the exercise of confidence, the familiar cement that binds all human relationship together, and makes men brotherly and kindred with their kind. Faith is trust, and trust saves a man’s soul.<\/p>\n

Then, remember further that the faith which is the foundation of everything is essentially personal trust reposing upon a person, upon Jesus Christ. You cannot get hold of a man in any other way than by that. The only real bond that binds people together is the personal bond of confidence, manifesting itself in love. And it is no mere doctrine that we present for a man’s faith, but it is the person about whom the doctrine speaks. We say, indeed, that we can only know the person on whom we must trust by the revelation of the truths concerning Him which make the Christian doctrines; but a man may believe the whole of them, and have no faith. And what is the step in advance which is needed in order to turn credence into faith-belief in a doctrine into trust? In one view it is the step from the doctrine to the person. When you grasp Christ, the living Christ, and not merely the doctrine, for yours, then you have faith.<\/p>\n

Only remember, my brother, if you say you trust Christ, the question has immediately to be asked: What Christ is it that you are trusting? Is it the Christ that died for your sins on the Cross, or is it a Christ that taught you some great moral truths and set you a lovely example of life and conduct? Which of the two is it? for these two Christs are very different, and the faith that grasps the one is extremely unlike the faith that grasps the other. And so I press upon you this question: What Christ is it to Whom your confidence turns, and for what is it that you are looking to Him? Is it for help and guidance of some vague kind; is it for pattern or example, or is it for the salvation of your sinful souls, by the might of His great sacrifice?<\/p>\n

Then, remember still further, that this personal outgoing of confidence, which is the action both of a man’s will and of a man’s intellect, to the person revealed to us in the great doctrines of the Gospel-that this faith, if it is to be worth anything, must be continuous. Paul could desire nothing better for his Ephesian friends than that they should have that which they had-faith; that they should continue to have it, and that it should be perennial and increasing all through their lives. You can no more get present good from past faith than the breath you drew yesterday into your lungs will be sufficient to oxygenate your blood at this moment. As soon as you break the electric contact, the electric light goes out, and no matter how long a man has been living a life of faith, that past life will not in the smallest degree help him at the present moment unless the faith is continuous. Remember this, then, a broken faith is a broken peace; a broken faith is a broken salvation; and so long, and only so long, as you are knit to Jesus Christ by the conscious exercise of a faith realised at the moment, are you in the reception of blessing from Him at the moment.<\/p>\n

And, still further, this faith ought to be progressive. So Paul desired it to be with these people. If there is no growth, do you think there is much life? I know I am speaking to plenty of people who call themselves Christians, whose faith is not one inch better to-day than it was when it was born-perhaps a little less rather than more. Oh! the hundreds and thousands of professing Christians, average Christians, that clog and weaken all churches, whose faith has no progressive element in it, and is not a bit stronger by all the discipline of life and by their experience of its power. Brethren! is it so with us? Let us ask ourselves that; and let us ask very solemnly this other question: If my faith has no growth, how do I know that it has got any life?<\/p>\n

And so let me remind you further that this faith, the personal outgoing of a man’s intellect and will to the personal Saviour revealed in the Scriptures as the sacrifice for our sins, and the life of our spirits, which ought to be continuous and progressive, is the foundation of all strength, blessedness, goodness, in a human character; and if we have it we have the germ of all possible excellence and growth, not because of what it is in itself, for in itself it is nothing more than the opening of the heart to the reception of the celestial influences of grace and righteousness that He pours down. And, therefore, this is the thing that a wise man will most desire for himself, and for those that are dearest to him.<\/p>\n

Depend upon it, whether it is what we want most or not, it is what God wants most for us. He does not care nearly so much that our lives should be joyful as that they should be righteous and full of faith; and He subjects us to many a sorrow and loss and disappointment in order that the life of nature may be broken and the life of faith may be strong. If we rightly understand the relative value of outward and of inward things, we shall be thankful for the storms that drive us nearer to Him; for the darkening earth that may make the pillar of cloud glow at the heart into a pillar of fire, and for all the discipline, painful though it may be, with which God answers the prayer, ‘Lord, increase our faith.’<\/p>\n

II. And now, next, notice how inseparably associated with a true faith is love.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

The one is effect that never is found without its cause; the other is cause which never but produces its effect. These two are braided together by the Apostle as inseparable in reality and inseparable in thought. And that it is so is plain enough, and there follow from it some practical lessons that I desire to lay upon your hearts and my own.<\/p>\n

There are, then, here two principles, or rather two sides of one thought; no faith without love, no love without faith.<\/p>\n

No faith is genuine and deep which does not at once produce in the heart where it is lodged an answering love to God. That is clear enough. Faith is, as I have said, the recognition and the reception of the divine love into the heart; and we are so constituted as that if a man once knows and believes in any real sense the love that God has to him, he answers it back again with his love as certainly as an echo which gives back the sound that reaches it.<\/p>\n

Our faith is, if I may so say, like a burning-glass, which concentrates the rays of the divine love upon our hearts, and focuses them into a point that kindles our hearts into flame. If we have the confidence that God loves us, in any real depth, we shall answer by the gush of our love to Him.<\/p>\n

And so here is a test for men’s faith. You call yourselves Christians. If I were to come to you and ask you, ‘Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?’ most of you would say, ‘Yes!’ Try your faith, my friend, by this test: Does it make you love Him at all? If it does not, it is more words than anything else; and it needs a wonderful deepening before it can have any real power in your hearts. There is no faith worthy the name unless its child, all but as old as itself, be the answer of the heart to Him, pouring itself out in thankful gratitude.<\/p>\n

No love without faith; ‘we love Him because He first loved us.’ God must begin, we can only come second. Man’s natural selfishness is only overcome by the clearest demonstration of the love of God to him; and until that love, in its superbest because its lowliest form, the form of the sacrifice on the Cross, has penetrated into a man’s heart through his faith, there will be no love.<\/p>\n

So then, dear friends, there is a test for your love. We hear a great deal said nowadays, as there has always been a great deal said, about the essence of all religion consisting in love to God; and about men ‘rejecting the cumbrous dogmas of the New Testament, and falling back upon the great and simple truths, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbour as thyself,’ and saying ‘that is their religion.’ Well, I venture to say that without the faith of the heart in, not the cumbrous dogmas, but the central fact of the New Testament, that Christ died on the Cross for me, you will never get the old commandment of love to God with heart and soul and strength and mind really kept and carried out; and that if you want men to have their hearts and wills bound into loving fellowship with God, it is only by the path of faith in Him who is the sacrifice for sin that such fellowship is reached. Hence there follows a very plain, practical advice. Do you want your heart’s love to be increased? Learn the way to do it. You cannot work yourselves into a fervour of religious emotion of any valuable kind. A man cannot get to love more by saying, ‘I am determined I will.’ We have no direct control over our affections in that fashion. You cannot make water boil except by one way, and that is by putting plenty of fire under it; and you cannot make your affections melt and flow except by heating them by the contemplation of the truth which is intended to bring them out. That is to say, the more we exercise our minds on the contemplation of Christ’s great love to us, and the more we put forth the energies of our souls in the act of simple self-distrust and reliance upon Him, the more will our love be fervent and strong. You can only increase love by increasing the faith from which it comes. So do you see to it, if you call yourselves Christians, that you try to deepen all your Christian affections by an honest, meditative, prayerful contemplation and grasp of the great love of God in Jesus Christ. And do not wonder if your Christian life be, as it is in so many of us, stunted, not progressive, bringing no blessing to ourselves and little good to anybody else. The explanation is easy enough. You do not look at the Cross of Christ, nor live in the contemplation and reception of His great grace.<\/p>\n

III. And now, lastly, these two inseparably associated graces of faith and love bring with them, and lead to, the third-peace. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems to be but a very modest, sober-tinted wish which the Apostle here has for his brethren that the highest and best thing he can ask for them is only quiet. Very modest by the side of joy and excitement, in their coats of many colours, and yet the deepest and truest blessing that any of us can have-peace. It comes to us by one path, and that is by the path of faith and love.<\/p>\n

These two bring peace with God, peace in our inmost spirits, the peace of self-annihilation and submission, the peace of obedience, the peace of ceasing from our own works, and entering, therefore, into the rest of God. Trust is peace. There is no tranquillity like that of feeling ‘I am not responsible for this: He is; and I rest myself on Him.’<\/p>\n

Love is peace. There is no rest for our hearts but on the bosom of some one that is dear to us, and in whom we can confide. But ah, brother! every tree in which the dove nestles is felled down sooner or later, and the nest torn to pieces, and the bird flies away. But if we turn ourselves to the undying Christ, the perpetual revelation of the eternal God, then, then our love and our faith will bring us rest. There will be peace in trusting Him whom we never can trust and be put to shame. There will be peace in loving Him who is more than worthy of and able to repay the deep and perennial love of all hearts.<\/p>\n

Self-surrender is peace. It is our wills that trouble us. Disturbance comes, not from without, but from within. When the will bows, when I say, ‘Be it then as Thou wilt,’ when in faith and love I cease to strive, to murmur, to rebel, to repine, and enter into His loving purposes, then there is peace.<\/p>\n

Obedience is peace. To recognise a great will that is sovereign, and to bow myself to it, not because it is sovereign, but because it is sweet, and sweet because I love it, and love Him whose it is-that is peace. And then, whatever may be outward circumstances, there shall be ‘peace subsisting at the heart of endless agitation’; and deep in my soul I may be tranquil, though all about me may be the hurly-burly of the storm.<\/p>\n

The Christian peace is an armed peace, paradoxical as it appears; and according to the great word of the Apostle, is a sentry which garrisons the beleaguered heart and mind, surrounded by many foes, and keeps them in Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n

‘There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked,’ he is ‘as a troubled sea which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt’; but over the wildest commotion one Voice, low, gentle, omnipotent, says: ‘Peace! be still!’ and the heart quiets itself, though there may be a ground swell, and the weather clears. He is your peace, trust Him, love Him, and you cannot but possess the ‘peace of God which passeth understanding.’<\/p>\n

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eph 6:23-24<\/p>\n

23Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.<\/p>\n

Eph 6:23-24 These same themes opened the letter! Paul usually penned the closing thoughts himself to authenticate his letters.<\/p>\n

Eph 6:24<\/p>\n

NASB”with a love incorruptible”<\/p>\n

NKJV”in sincerity”<\/p>\n

NRSV”an undying love”<\/p>\n

TEV”with undying love”<\/p>\n

NJB”eternal life”<\/p>\n

This term usually means “incorruptible” (cf. 1Co 9:25; 1Co 15:52; 1Ti 1:17). It had the connotation of something unchanging and eternal. This was an encouragement in light of the confusion and conflict caused by the false teachers and the personal spiritual battle.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2013 Bible Lessons International <\/p>\n

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Peace. See Eph 1:2. The seventh and last occurance in the Ep. of grace and peace. <\/p>\n

love. App-135. Tenth and last OCC in Eph. <\/p>\n

faith. As Eph 6:16, but without article. <\/p>\n

from. App-104. <\/p>\n

Father. App-98. <\/p>\n

the Lord Jesus Christ. See Eph 1:3. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

23, 24.] Double APOSTOLIC BLESSING; addressed (23) to the brethren, and (24) to all real lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Greek Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Eph 6:23. , peace) peace with God and the love of God to us. A recapitulation is contained in this word peace, comp. Jud 1:2.-[107] , with faith) This is taken for granted, as being the gift of God.<\/p>\n

[107] , to the brethren) In this conclusion he does not say to you, as in Eph 6:21. It was, it seems, an encyclical epistle.-V. g.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Eph 6:23<\/p>\n

Eph 6:23<\/p>\n

Peace be to the brethren,-The peace for which Paul prayed to be among those in Christ is the fruit of peace with Christ and God. [Such peace guarding the thoughts and heart of each Christian, nothing contrary thereto will arise among them. There can be no clashing of interests, no selfish competitions, no strife as to who shall be the greatest. The awe of Gods presence with his people, the remembrance of the dear price at which the church was purchased with his own blood (Act 20:28), the sense of Christs lordship (1Co 15:25), and the sacredness of the brotherhood (1Co 3:16-17), should check all turbulence and rivalry and teach us to seek the things that make for peace. (1Pe 3:11).]<\/p>\n

and love with faith,-Love includes peace, and more; for it labors not to prevent contention only, but to help enrich in all ways the body of Christ. [By such toil of love, faith is made perfect. As faith grows and deepens, it makes new channels in which love may flow. To the Thessalonians Paul wrote: We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, even as it is meet, for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another aboundeth. (2Th 1:3). This is the sound and true growth of faith.]<\/p>\n

from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.-Peace among Christians is the fruit of peace with God through Christ. With such peace guarding the thoughts and heart of each Christian, nothing contrary thereto will arise among them. Calm and quiet hearts make a peaceful church. There are no clashing interests, no selfish competitions, no strife as to who shall be greatest.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Peace: Rom 1:7, 1Co 1:3, Gen 43:23, 1Sa 25:6, Psa 122:6-9, Joh 14:27, Gal 6:16, 1Pe 5:14, Rev 1:4 <\/p>\n

and love: Gal 5:6, 1Ti 1:3, 1Ti 5:8, 2Th 1:3, 1Ti 1:14, Phm 1:5-7 <\/p>\n

Reciprocal: Num 6:26 – give thee 1Ch 12:18 – peace Jer 33:6 – and will Joh 20:19 – Peace 2Co 1:2 – General 2Co 13:14 – the love Eph 4:6 – God Tit 3:15 – love 3Jo 1:14 – Peace Rev 22:21 – General<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

(Eph 6:23.) , -Peace to the brethren, and love with faith. is not concord, as some suppose, and it cannot be so in a parting salutation. The word in such a relation has not a special theological sense, but means, in a Christian mouth, all that was good for them here and hereafter. See the term explained under Eph 1:2. Peace be to the brethren-the Christian brotherhood in Ephesus; and not, as Wieseler restricts it, to the Jewish portion of the church. Chronol. p. 444. <\/p>\n

-and love with faith, that is, love in union with faith. Love is not God’s love to us, but our love to one another; or as the apostle has already called it, love unto all the saints. And that love is with faith, as its accompaniment, for faith worketh by love. The apostle wishes them a more fervent love along with a more powerful faith. He had heard that they possessed these already, but he wished them a larger inheritance of the twin graces. See under Eph 1:15. We could not say, with Robinson, that in this instance, and in some others, is equivalent to , for close relation seems always to be indicated. indicates something which is to be regarded not as an addition, but as an accompaniment. -love and faith, might mean love, then faith, as separate or in succession, and would have denoted coherence, but love with faith denotes love and faith in inseparable combination with it. The reading of Codex A, for , is an emendation suggested to some old copyists for the very reasons which have led Rckert to adopt it. The concluding salutations in the other epistles are commonly brief, but the sympathy and elevation which reign in this letter stoop not to a curt and common formula. In his fulness of heart the apostle bestows an enlarged benediction on the Christian community at Ephesus- <\/p>\n

-from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In the 2nd verse of the first chapter, the apostle says, from God our Father, and the Syriac reads here also . Though be not expressed, the meaning is the same, and the exposition will therefore be found under Eph 1:2. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Eph 6:23. Paul’s manner of salutation was not always the same as it pertained to the persons addressed. Sometimes he singled out certain individuals, at others he made it general as he does in this verse. Hence there is nothing significant in the form used.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Eph 6:23. Peace to the brethren, etc. This double greeting is quite peculiar: it is in the third person, although Eph 6:21-22 were in the second; peace comes before grace (Eph 6:24), reversing the usual order, while the two-fold form is quite as peculiar. (See further, at close of Eph 6:24. J Peace is to be taken as usual; comp. chap. Eph 1:2. Brethren refers to the readers (= you); the next verse seems to extend the benediction.<\/p>\n

And love with faith; the latter is pre-supposed in the use of the term brethren; in inseparable connection with this he wishes for love, Christian love of the brethren. Without faith love cannot exist; faith is the characteristic of proper love (as Gal 5:6), love is the characteristic of proper faith (Harless).<\/p>\n

From God the Father, etc. The form is the usual one; comp. chap. Eph 1:2.<\/p>\n

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Our apostle being now come to the close and conclusion of this excellent epistle, he shuts it up with very fervent and affectionate wishes and prayers for them. <\/p>\n

1. He wishes the brethern, the converted christians, in and about Ephesus, peace, peace with God, peace with conscience, peace especially one with another, and all manner of outward prosperity, comprehended in the word peace.<\/p>\n

2. Mutual love among themselves.<\/p>\n

3. The grace of faith, the fountain of the former; all which he wishes from God the Father, not excluding, but including, the Son and Holy Ghost, and from Jesus Christ the Mediator, through virtue of whose merit and intercession all saving benefits are conveyed unto believers.<\/p>\n

St. Paul’s example is instructive to the ministers of Christ in all succeeding ages. Would we have our ministerial endeavours attended with manifest success? we must be much in prayer, in serious and fervent prayer to God, to work those graces in our people, faith, love, and holiness, which we have been by our ministry recommending to their care and practice: that minister who is most prayerful is usually most successful.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Eph 6:23-24. Peace be to the brethren That is, all prosperity in matters temporal and spiritual; and love To God, one another, and all the saints, arising from Gods love to you; with faith In God, in Christ, and his gospel, accompanied with every other grace; from God the Father The original source of all our blessings; and the Lord Jesus Christ Through whose mediation alone they are communicated to us. Grace The unmerited favour of God, and those influences of his Spirit, which are the effect thereof; be with all them that love our Lord Jesus in sincerity , literally, in incorruption: that is, without any mixture of corrupt affections, or without decay; who continue to love him till grace shall end in glory. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Peace [be] to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Peace, love, and faith are all important communal virtues in the Christian life. Peace was necessary because of the Jewish Gentile problems Paul wrote Ephesians to ameliorate (Eph 2:14-16; Eph 3:15; Eph 3:19; Eph 4:3). Mutual love is the key to peace (Eph 1:15; Eph 3:17-18; Eph 4:2; Eph 4:16), and mutual love rests on a common faith (Eph 1:15; Eph 3:17; Eph 4:5; cf. Gal 5:6). The ultimate source of all three of these essential qualities is God and Jesus Christ, united here in perfect equality.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peace [be] to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 23 24. Benediction 23. Peace ] The Apostle returns to his opening benedictory prayer. See on Eph 1:2 and note. We may remark here that the phrase “Grace and peace,” in apostolic salutations, though no doubt connected … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 6:23”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}