Ephesians 1:15-16 Why I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love to all the saints,… 1. Ministers must labour to know how grace goes forward in those with whom they have to deal. It behoves shepherds to know their flock. 2. The Ephesians' faith is occupied about the Lord Jesus Christ. (1) Faith in Christ is not only to know but to rely on Him: an affair not merely of the understanding, but also of the will. (2) Faith in Christ justifies and saves, inasmuch as it receives at His hand God's pardon and grace. 3. Faith and love are never disjoined, but go hand in hand with each other. Faith without love is but a dead carcase; love without; faith is but a blind devotion. Neither is pleasing to God without the other. Let us try the truth of our faith by the presence or absence of love. We may more easily carry coals in our bosom without burning, than by faith apprehend truly this love of God, without finding our hearts burn in answering love to Him. 4. The love of true believers is set on the saints, yea, on all the saints. Every creature likes to be with those who are united with it in communication of the same nature: so sanctified Christians cannot but love and like to be most with those who have received the like divine nature in which they are themselves partakers. (Paul Bayne.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, |
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