I. 108 Marvellousness of the Atonement and of its effects. HOMIL. Again he descends from high to low; first speaking of adoption, and sanctification, and blamelessness, and then of the Passion, and in this not lowering his discourse and bringing it down from greater things to lesser, no rather, he was heightening it, and raising it from the lesser to the greater. For nothing sure so great as that the blood of God should be shed for us. Greater this both than the adoption, and all the other gifts of grace, that He spared not even the Son. For great indeed is the forgiveness of sins, yet this is the far greater thing, that it should be Because this is far greater than done by the Lord's blood. Ver. 7, 8. According to the riches of His grace. Wherein SO. The abovementioned gifts are riches, yet is this far more Wherein, saith he, He abounded toward us. They are both riches and they have abounded, that is to say, were poured forth in ineffable measure. It is not possible to represent in words what blessings we have in fact experienced. For riches indeed they are, abounding riches, riches not of man but of God, so that on all hands it is impossible that they should be expressed. And to shew us how He gave it to such abundance, he adds, Ver. 8, 9. In all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will. That is to say, Making us wise and prudent, in that which is true wisdom, and that which is true prudence. Strange! what friendship! Yea, He telleth us His secrets; the mysteries, saith he, of His will, as one might say, He hath made known to us what is in His heart. For here is indeed the mystery which is full of all wisdom and prudence. For what will you mention equal to this wisdom! Those that were worth nothing, it hath discovered a way of raising them to wealth and abundance. What can equal this wise contrivance? He that was an enemy, he that was hated, he is in a moment lifted up on high. And not this only,-but, yet more, that it should be done at this particular time, this again was the work of wisdom; and that it should be done by means of the Cross. It were matter of long discourse here to The Son is not a Minister of God. 109 point out, how all this was the work of wisdom, and how He EPHES. hath made us wise. And therefore he repeats again the words, According to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself. That is to say, This He longed, this He travailed for, that He might be able to reveal to us the mystery. What mystery? That He would have man seated up on high. And this hath come to pass. Ver. 10. That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him. Heavenly things, he means to say, had been severed from earthly. They had no longer one Head. So far indeed as the system of the creation went, there was over all One God, but so far as connection went, this, amid the wide spread of Gentile error, was not the case, but they had been severed from His obedience. In the dispensation, saith he, of the fulness of times. I. 10. The fulness of the times, he calls it. Observe with what nicety he speaks. And whereas he points out the origination, the purpose, the will, the first intention, as proceeding from the Father, and the fulfilment and execution as effected by the agency of the Son, yet no where does he apply to him the term minister. He hath chosen us, saith he, in Him, having diάxovor. predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself; and, to the praise of the glory of His grace, in whom we have redemption through His blood,-which He hath purposed in Himself, that, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ; and no where hath he called Him minister. If however the word in and the word by implies a mere minister, look what the matter comes to. Just in the 110 What it is to gather together in one. HOMIL. very beginning of the Epistle, he used the expression by I. the will of the Father. The Father, he means, willed, the Son wrought. But neither does it follow, that because the Father willed, the Son is excluded from the working; nor because the Son wrought, that the Father is deprived of the willing. But to the Father and the Son, all things For all Mine are Thine, saith He, and Thine John17, are common. 10. are Mine. The fulness of the times, however, was His coming. After, then, He had practised every thing, by the ministry both of Angels, and of Prophets, and of the Law, and nothing came of it, and it was well nigh come to this, that man had been made in vain, brought into the world in vain, nay, rather to his ruin, when all were absolutely perishing, more fearfully than in the deluge; He devised this dispensation, that is by grace; that it might not be in vain, might not be to no purpose that man was created. This he calls the fulness of the times, and wisdom. And why so? And why so? Because at that time when they were on the very point of perishing, then they were rescued. That He might gather together in one, he saith. What is the meaning of this word, brought under one head? It is to knit together. Let us, however, endeavour to get near the exact import. With ourselves then, in common conversation, the word means the summing into a brief compass things spoken at length, the concise account of matters described in detail. And it has this meaning. For Christ hath gathered up in Himself the dispensations carried on through a lengthened period, that is to say, He hath cut Rom. 9, them short. For by finishing the work and cutting it short in righteousness, He both comprehended former dispensations, and added others beside. This is the meaning of bringing under one head. 28. It has also another signification; and of what nature is this? He hath set over all one and the same Head, i. e. Christ according to the flesh, alike over Angels and men. That is to say, He hath given to Angels and men one and the same government; to the one the Incarnate, to the other God the Word. Just as one might say of a house which has some part decayed and the other sound, He hath rebuilt the house, Exhortation. I. 10. 111 that is to say, He has made it stronger, and laid a firmer Ephes. foundation. So also here He hath brought all under one and the same Head. For thus will an union be effected, thus will a close bond be effected, if one and all can be brought under one and the same Head, and thus have some constraining bond of union from above. Honoured then as we are with so great a blessing, so high a privilege, so great loving-kindness, let us not dishonour our Benefactor, let us not render in vain so great a boon. Let us exemplify the life of Angels, the virtue of Angels, the conversation of Angels, yea, I entreat and conjure you, that all these things turn not to our judgment, nor to our condemnation, but to our enjoyment of those good things, which may God grant we may all attain, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, strength, &c. &c. HOMILY II. HOMIL. EPHES. Chap. i. v. 11. In whom also we have obtained an inheII. ritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. Paul earnestly endeavours on all occasions to display the unspeakable loving-kindness of God towards us, to the utmost of his power. For that it is impossible to do so Rom. adequately, hear his own words. O! the depth of the riches 11, 33. both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! Still, notwithstanding, so far as it is possible, he does display it. What then is this which he is saying; In whom also we have obtained a lot, being predestinated? Above he used the word, He hath chosen us; here he saith, we have obtained a lot. But inasmuch as a lot is the effect of chance, not of deliberate choice, nor of virtue, (for it is closely allied to ignorance and accident, and oftentimes passing over the virtuous, brings forward the insignificant into notice,) observe how he corrects this very point: being predestinated, saith he, according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things. That is to say, not merely have we obtained by lot, as, again, we have not merely been chosen, (for it is God who chooses,) and so neither have we merely been allotted, (for it is God who allots,) This is what he says also To them that are called but it is according to a purpose". Rom. 8, in the Epistle to the Romans, 28.30. according to a purpose; and, whom He called, them He a S. Chrysostom interprets these words in loc." according to the purpose or will of the persons called." As do S. Athanasius in vit. S. Anton. §. 19. S. Cyril Catech. Introd. i. Theodor. in loc. Origen in loc. |