Ephesians 1:1-2 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:… 1. Believers then, as now, required grace continually to keep them, and enable them to stand before their God. As our bodily frames require fresh food for their daily sustenance, and without it would grow weak, languish, and die, so do we in a spiritual sense require continual supplies of heavenly refreshment. 2. But it is not only grace, but peace too, for which the apostle prays for them. True peace cannot exist without grace — and peace is the consequence of grace. The believer stands, through grace, accepted, justified by the precious blood of Jesus; the sweet apprehension of Christ by faith brings pardon and peace to his soul. 3. And as then, so now, it is our consolation to remember the source from whence alone grace and peace can flow. Not from Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, but "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Jehovah, the Father, is the fountain, and Jehovah, the Son, the channel, of all blessings. The fountain of living waters as redundant as at the creation — the Sun of righteousness with undiminished effulgence — the Ocean unfathomable in the depths of love and mercy, — "an ocean without bottom or shore." Oh, how lamentably we live below our privileges! How little we bathe in that Fountain! how little we bask in that Sun! how little we ride buoyant on that Ocean with our anchor cast within the veil! (R. J. McGhee, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: |
    |