EPISTOLA AD EPHESIOS

• 587C

587DThe Ephesians are Asians. These, having received the word of truth, stood fast in the faith: these the Apostle commends, writing to them from the city of Rome, out of prison, by Tychicus the deacon.

VERS. 1.-- Paul an Apostle. After his manner he sets a salutation first. Then he gives thanks to God, setting forth first the benefits bestowed upon the human race, afterward those granted especially to the apostles themselves; then to the Ephesians themselves also, showing by whom and unto what they have been called. Then he shows the dignity and pre-eminence of Christ; afterward he invites them to patience and to charity, commending the unity of the faith and of the Church, and enumerating the gifts of grace. At last, exhorting them to the contest against the princes of darkness, he 588Cdescribes the armour of the Christian warfare. To all the saints. To the perfect, and not to them only, etc. To the faithful. Who, if not saints, are at least sound in 588Dfaith. To the saints, by the exercise of the virtues. And to the faithful, by right faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Rightly did he set down those two, for then a good life profits and is believed, if faith is in Christ Jesus. Then are they truly saints, if they are faithful in Christ. Or: distinguish between the saints and the faithful, so that by the saints thou understand the greater and the more perfect, by the faithful the less perfect.

VERS. 3.-- Blessed. The salutation having been set first, he begins from the giving of thanks, intimating that all things are from God. He hath blessed. The word of blessing is indeed one, but according to what befits the person it must be understood in various ways. God is blessed by man, when he is extolled with worthy praises. But man is blessed by God, when God imparts to him the gifts of his grace, not by that man's merits, but by his own mercy.

589AVERS. 4.-- Even as he chose, etc. Let no one, then, suppose that souls are eternal with God, and that they then merited something, according to the error of those who say that before these visible things there were certain holy souls, and that they were therefore then chosen.

VERS. 5.-- Who predestinated. A predestination having been set down which pertains to the justice and holiness of the present life, another is here set down pertaining to eternal life, whose effect he noted above.

VERS. 6.-- Unto the praise of the glory of his grace, etc. As if he should say: the glory of the graces is the eternal adoption. In which he hath shown grace. The effect of the first preordination unto justice. In the beloved Son. God the Father loving his only-begotten, the Son lavishes divine things upon those whom he loves and to whom he wills.

589BVERS. 7.-- In whom we have, etc. He shows a twofold grace, because he both redeemed, and did not impute our sins.

VERS. 8.-- Which hath superabounded. Thus far concerning those things which [he gave] to the whole human race: now he speaks of those which he gave to the apostles singularly.

VERS. 10.-- In the dispensation. That is, in the fullness of the time dispensed by God, that is, in this time of grace, in which the divine providence reasonably dispensed to fulfil the things which in other times were promised or prefigured. For if men were utterly ignorant, not taught beforehand, they would not receive Christ, and unless the proud had first been convicted by the natural and the doctrinal law, they would little esteem the coming of Christ.

589CTo restore. (AUG.) Now those things are restored which are in the heavens, etc., as far as they are renewed from the oldness of corruption.

All things, which are in the heavens. That is, the angels; or: to restore, that is, to fill up. Which are in the earth. That is, men, who had been depraved by sin. In him. That is, through Christ.

VERS. 11.-- In whom we also. Lest the apostles, in whom grace superabounds, should seem to have deserved better than others, he shows that they were thus called freely, not by merits, even as others also were. By lot. Grace is called a lot, because it is not the choice of man, but of the will of God. Whence the Lord's tunic woven from above, which signifies charity, came by lot. He worketh all things. Even to will the good, and that we should begin to believe, so that by our example no one may glory in man. For it is true: You have not chosen 589Dme, but I you, etc. And the praise of the glory of God is when many are gained unto the faith, as the glory of a physician is when he cures many.

VERS. 13.-- In whom you. Now he comes to those things which he gave to the Ephesians. When you had heard. When here notes the cause, and the time.

VERS. 15.-- Therefore. The benefits conferred upon the human race, or upon the apostles, or upon the Ephesians having been enumerated, the Apostle subjoins what he thinks concerning their benefits, namely that he gives thanks, and asks that more be added, lest they be proud, but stretch beyond.

VERS. 17.-- That God, etc. As if he should say: to obtain it I put forward not merits, but that he is God and the Father of Christ, etc.

590AVERS. 18.-- The eyes of the heart. In his own image, therefore, know thou its author, who is not attained by bodily sense. Do not, therefore, think that God is attained by bodily sense, but with the eyes of the mind hear him. In the body, where the members are diverse, thou hearest in one place, thou seest in another. But in thy heart, where diverse members are not found, there thou hearest where thou seest. And to this end may he enlighten the eyes. That you may know, etc. This he says that they may be the more inclined: because when they shall fully know what the fruit of believers is, they will become the more inclined toward the cultivating of religion. Or thus: that hope be taken properly. And the sense is: That you may know what it is, namely his will [voluntas; read vocatio, "calling"], that is, how much the hope of eternal life avails, unto which he calls. And that you may know what the fulfilment of that hope is. Which he thus says: And what are the riches. Here he 590Bdiscloses what he understood by the name of hope: for he takes hope as the thing hoped for.

VERS. 19.-- What is the exceeding greatness. The highest doctors shall have a certain increase of glory, beyond that which all shall have in common. For all shall have the same penny. But star differeth from star in brightness (I Cor. XV). [Vulg. 1 Cor. 15:41 Stella enim a stella differt in claritate; the connective is the explanatory enim, "for", where Migne prints the adversative Sed, "but", against the preceding sentence] And there shall be diverse mansions in the house of the Father (Joan. XIV). [Vulg. John 14:2 In domo Patris mei mansiones multae sunt, "In my Father's house there are many mansions" — multae, "many", not diversae, "diverse", and the present, not the future]

VERS. 20.-- Raising him up, etc. Now the example of the glory of the saints consists in the resurrection of the Saviour, that in it the faithful may know what has been promised to them. At his right hand. The right hand is the eternal beatitude which is given to the saints: the left is the misery which is given to the wicked. For by no form of body is God bounded and enclosed.

VERS. 21.-- Above every, etc. This he says on account of the 590Cincarnation of the Son of God, that even having been made man he may be said to be above all the heavens, and above every creature, having his name by nature, not by adoption.

VERS. 22.-- Under his feet, etc. By the feet full subjection is noted, and all things are deservedly subject to him, because they were made through him; or, the feet signify the humanity, because as the foot is the lower part of the body, so in Christ the lower nature is the humanity, which even the angels adore. And him, etc. After he has commemorated the dignity of Christ, he returns to us, showing that his dignity pertains to us; as if he should say: God so exalted Christ that this his exaltation pertains to us: because he himself is the head, and we the body, that we may partake of him. The head. According to the deity: 590Dbecause all were made by him ab ipse, and also according to the humanity, by which the Church is joined to him, by nature and by grace. For of his fullness we have all received (Joan. X). [Vulg. John 1:16 Et de plenitudine ejus nos omnes accepimus, "And of his fullness we all have received" — Et, not Nam]

VERS. 23.-- His fullness. Because he is filled up through them, yet being all things in all, here and in the time to come. Likewise. When those who have entered unto confession bend the knee to Christ, he is filled up, because those who withdraw seem to empty him. All things in all. Because the members confer nothing upon him, but he himself all things upon the members: because by his power they are what they are.

VERS. 1.-- And you, when you were, etc. He calls to mind former things, that in good things they may be humbled, and that it may be certain that 591Aif these things were given to enemies, they shall the more be given to friends, which the Apostle desires; as if he should say: He is the head of the whole Church and yours, because he hath quickened you together: when, that is, although you were dead. Or we who have believed have the hope of the inheritance, and you also, that is, you have believed. But God quickened you together, or raised up Jesus, etc.

VERS. 2.-- The prince. Namely Beelzebub, who is the prince of the malignant spirits, or, intransitively, the prince of spirits. He calls the prince of error the spirit of the air, in which he bears rule. Of the air. The murky lower air is that of the demons. Of the spirit. That is, of spirits: for the genitive singular is put for the plural. Who worketh in the children of unbelief. What? if not his own evil works: and among the first chiefly, because that very unbelief 591Band infidelity by which they are enemies of the faith, through whom he knows that they can be cleansed?

VERS. 3.-- And we were by nature, etc. As if: since these foresaid things were in us, let not the Gentile despair but that he may become equal to the Jews. Children of wrath. Mortals are born with the wrath of God, because, Adam sinning, vice grew in place of nature. For the human race was held under a just damnation, and all were by nature children of wrath.

VERS. 5.-- He hath quickened us together. Or us Jews, and you Gentiles likewise, and this is: by whose grace you Gentiles are saved. And he raised up both together.

VERS. 6.-- He hath made to sit together, etc. Not vainly, but faithfully, he already reckons as done that which he does not doubt shall be. For certainly Christ already sits in the heavenly places, but we not yet; yet we hold it by a sure hope.

591CVERS. 7.-- In the ages to come, abounding, etc. For in the age to come the gift of God shall appear, in the remuneration of believers; which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. And these are the abounding riches, that so much be given as the mind cannot search out.

VERS. 8.-- And this not of yourselves, etc. Lest perchance thou say: I have deserved it, therefore I received it. Do not think that thou hast received by deserving. Grace went before thy merit: not grace from merit, but merit from grace. For if grace were from merit, thou hast bought it, thou hast not received it freely. Grace goes before all merits, so that my merits may follow the gifts of God.

VERS. 9.-- That no man may glory. He does not say this for the reason that good works done with a pious thought are made void, since God renders to every man according to his works, and there is 591Dglory of God to him that works good, but because works are from grace, not grace from works. It is good, therefore, for a man that he presume not upon the powers of his own will; because he who thought that without his help he could keep what he had given, having set out into a far country, and living prodigally, consumed all: and, worn down by misery, and returned into himself, said: I will arise, and I will go to my father (Luc. XV). Which good thought he would not have had, unless the most merciful Father had inspired that very thing into him in secret.

VERS. 10.-- For we are his, etc. No one ought to glory, because we, created in faith and in works, are his making, that is, his work, or we are created through his making, that is, his operation: and so neither must one 592Aglory of works through faith, since faith and all things are from grace.

VERS. 11.-- For which cause. That you may know that all things are from the grace of God. He had compared the Jews and the Gentiles, in that both had been under sin, now he shows that the Gentiles were the more unworthy and had endured the reproaches of the Jews, so that, being now equal to the Jews, they may be the more beholden to the grace of God. Sometime you. In certain codices it is found to be written: who, in this place: you who were Gentiles, and according to this it is read suspensively as far as this place: Now, however, in Christ, etc.; the sense nevertheless remaining the same.

VERS. 12.-- Strangers. Hospes, as it were ostii pes, the foot of the door, because when one was received into a house, the master of the house, and he who was received, set his foot upon the doorway, and, right hands having been given, he swore that his entry was peaceable.

592BVERS. 14.-- Who hath made both one. For he himself is the corner stone, in whom two peoples, as walls coming to one another from a different angle, are joined as it were in the kiss of peace. The wall. That is, the obstacle, on this side from the law, on that side from idolatry.

VERS. 15.-- Making peace, etc. He makes peace between them, that he may reconcile both to God the Father. In himself. Not otherwise than by the cross, that is, by death, did he slay the enmity which was between God and men, that is, he forgave sins. For the death of the Saviour profited all.

VERS. 17.-- You were far off, etc. If thou lovest God with affection, thou art near: if thou hatest, thou art far off. For it is not by regions that anyone is far from God, but by affections.

VERS. 19.-- You are not strangers. That is, less worthy 592Cin the faith, as those formerly received under the law. And sojourners. That is, foreign to God. But you are fellow citizens. That is, of the same right and dignity in the house of God. Of the saints. Not of carnal Israel. And the domestics. That is, of the household. Of God. To whom he reveals secrets.

VERS. 20.-- He himself the chief corner stone, etc. (AUG., in Psal. LXXXVI.) Lest the Apostles or the prophets (in whom the city is founded) should hold to themselves, following on he says in himself: He himself the chief corner stone, Christ Jesus; for indeed the whole building rests upon Christ as upon the first foundation: which foundation is at the top, not at the bottom, as in a bodily structure.

VERS. 21.-- It groweth into a holy temple in the Lord. No one is so perfect that he cannot grow.

• 592D

VERS. 1.-- For this cause, etc. It having been shown that through Christ peace and reconciliation were made, here he sets down through whom they themselves were built together, because God revealed that salvation pertained to the Gentiles, and sent him to preach to them, and makes him suffer for them, that they may be the more pleasing to God.

VERS. 2.-- If yet you have heard. That is, if you have understood the grace, that is, the apostleship dispensed by God, who knows why he chose me for this office? Or the apostleship, through which we weigh out diverse things to diverse men. By this he wishes them to know that by the judgment of God he was sent by Christ to preach to the Gentiles the mystery of the grace of God.

VERS. 3.-- As I wrote above, etc. Namely, in that place he is our peace. For there he touched in a brief discourse upon 593Athe sum of the mysteries revealed to him, not so much bringing forth the whole that he knew, as showing it from a little.

VERS. 5.-- And to the prophets. The earlier prophets indeed foreknew this of old concerning the Gentiles, that they were to be called, and to be partakers of the gift of God, but this lay hid, that without the law salvation would be theirs through faith in Christ.

VERS. 6.-- Through the Gospel, etc. Through preaching the gift of God was made known, which God gives to the Gentiles according to the working of his power: by which he raised up Christ, in whom all are saved without the works of the law.

VERS. 7.-- A minister. For it is not mine but God's, and so no thanks are to be rendered to me, but to God.

VERS. 8.-- Unsearchable. By nature, namely, but through the grace and revelation of the Holy Spirit they are searchable 593Bto the faithful.

VERS. 9.-- Hidden from ages. In the world are hidden the rational causes of all things which come to be naturally, as Levi was hidden in the loins of Abraham, when he was tithed. But in God are hidden the causes of those things which come to be through grace, or of those which, for the signifying of this, come to be miraculously and not naturally, which were done by the ministering angels. In God. For God has hidden in himself the causes of certain deeds, which he did not insert into created things, and he fulfils them, not by that work of providence by which he established natures that they might be, but by that by which he administers them as he shall have willed, which, as he willed, he founded. There also is the grace through which sinners are made safe. For not through a nature depraved by vice, 593Cbut through the grace of God is man restored.

VERS. 10.-- That it may be made known. It was given to me to preach the gospel and to enlighten. See how great this is, because through this something accrued to the angels, who learned many secrets in these things. In the heavenly places. Because there the Church was first, whither after the resurrection this Church also is to be gathered, that we may be equal to the angels of God.

VERS. 11.-- According to the predefinition. For the wisdom which in its own nature is simple is, according to those things which are done in the world, which God predefined, that is, preordained, manifold, since it is varied in manifold ways. And lest the doctors of the sacred page should seem to contradict one another in the aforesaid opinions, what has been said can be determined thus: that to those who are of greater dignity, and by whose ministry those things 593Dwere announced, they were known in part, as, for instance, to those familiars and messengers; but to those who are of lesser dignity, they were unknown.

VERS. 14.-- For this cause. I entreat you, and I beseech God, that grace may work together with you. And this is what he adds: For this cause. In which he shows that they have the free choice of their own will. But lest they think that this suffices, he adds: I bow my knees to the Father. So much only is had in the Greek; but what has been added in the Latin codices: of our Lord Jesus Christ, fits well, in that he was praying that we might obtain by the merit of him to whom he is Father properly and naturally, and not by adoption.

VERS. 15.-- Fatherhood, etc. Neither angel, nor 594Aman is truly a father as God is, who is the father of all by creation, and of the faithful by re-creation, whom he adopted as sons. Or is named, that is, is nameable. For from him who is the father of all, both the angels in heaven and men on earth received that they should call others fathers. And note that Christ, the only-begotten of God by nature, signifies by the benefit of adoption that he is a father, saying, Son, thy sins are forgiven thee (Matth. II). In like manner also the Holy Spirit, through whom the just are adopted as sons. But a man is called father either by nature, or by the authority of example, or by reason of benefit.

VERS. 17.-- In charity. I pray also that [you may be] rooted, that is, firmly planted, from the likeness of a tree, which the more it is fixed in the earth, the more it grows, and yields a richer fruit.

594BVERS. 18.-- With all the saints. This is the communion of the heavenly commonwealth. These seek not their own, but the things which are Christ's, that is, they pursue not private advantages, but take counsel in the communion where the salvation of all is.

What is the breadth. Of charity, which ought to be extended even to enemies, and to work well with cheerfulness, because he who gives sadly loses what he gives. There is need, therefore, of the breadth of charity, lest whatever good thou dost should perish. But because, iniquity abounding, the charity of many grows cold, there is need also of length.

And sublimity. Of charity. This is that the heart be directed upward, that God be awaited as the reward. For if thou workest well even toward enemies, and givest cheerfully, thou hast breadth; and if in these things unto the end thou 594Cperseverest, thou hast length. But if thou do all these things not for the sake of the heavenly reward, it has not height: and so now there will be neither breadth nor length. For to have height is to think God, to love God, and freely to love him the helper, him the crowner, at last to account him the reward, to expect from him no other than himself. If thou lovest, love freely. If thou truly lovest, let him whom thou lovest be himself the reward. And depth. Of charity, that is, that you may be able to understand the hidden judgment of God; why he gives to this man, but not indeed to that. For from the depth of the judgments of God, which we cannot search out and contemplate, proceeds all that we can. What I can, I see; whence I can, I do not see; except that I know it is from God. But why he should give to that man, and not give to this, is far from me, it is an abyss 594Dand a depth. Now therefore charity itself is exercised in good works for the succouring of others, and is extended even to enemies; and this is breadth. Now with longanimity it bears adversities, and perseveres in that which it has truly held; and this is length. But all this it does for the obtaining of the eternal country, which is promised to it on high; and this is height. But that charity arises out of the hidden, and this is depth.

VERS. 19.-- That you may be filled. Because then nothing is lacking to the Christian, when he thus knows the Father and the Son. Otherwise the profession of the deity is not entire, because faith is neither entire in the Father alone, nor perfect in the Son alone. Unto all the fullness of God. Not that they be (full God) as certain erring men have wished, but that they be perfectly 595Afilled with God; or thus: that by confession and thanksgiving honour be reserved to the Son as to the Father, and that all things which are from God the Father be believed to have been made and restored through the Son, that there may be a full profession of the divinity in believers.

VERS. 20.-- He is able to do all things, etc. In this are certain things which otherwise no one would ask or understand, as that God should die as man for men, and other things of this kind.

VERS. 1.-- I beseech. Thus far he has shown that all things are to be attributed to grace, from here he admonishes concerning morals, first all in common, afterward through the several orders.

VERS. 2.-- In charity. (AUG.) For this is the action of the right journey, which always has its eyes toward God. 595BSuch action is not broken by business, nor is it turbulent, nor languid mancida, nor bold, nor fugitive, nor headlong, nor prostrate

VERS. 3.-- In the bond of peace. That is, keeping peace. And this is peace, if we bear until the last harvest those sins which cannot be rooted out without harm to the wheat, or with hope of the salvation of those to be corrected.

VERS. 5.-- One Lord. You ought to keep unity, because we have one Lord, not three, for whose diverse wills you should have to be at variance. And you are bidden to believe the same, and to work in the same manner. And you have one God, the creator of all and father by his providing: and therefore no one can prefer himself to another. 595CWho, that is, God, is above all, that is, he excels all creatures, whose dignity should invite you, and through all things diffused, because he is everywhere, and therefore to be feared; since he can nowhere be avoided. And in us all, through grace, we who keep unity. And so this is taken not singularly of one person, but commonly of all, that is, of the Trinity. One faith. Not in number, but in kind, because it is alike in all.

VERS. 8.-- He led captivity captive. That is, those whom the devil had led captive from paradise, and had made the proper goods of the world and of hell, Christ made captive again, while they are led back to heaven.

VERS. 11.-- Prophets (AMBR.) In the New Testament the expounders of the Scriptures are called prophets, yet there were certain in the first beginning of the faith who foretold things to come, 595Das Agabus, and the seven daughters of Philip.

Evangelists. Who are also deacons, because although they are not priests, yet they can preach the gospel.

VERS. 12.-- Unto the work of the ministry. And these he gave unto the work of the ministry, that each might fully be able to do the work of the ministration committed to him. For if one man had all things, he would not perfectly perform each. Unto the consummation. That is, that he might consummate those who are already holy. And unto the edification. That is, that they may build into the body of Christ those who are as yet strangers.

VERS. 13.-- Until. That is, in the day of judgment. All. We who are in one and not discrepant faith: and in one and not differing unity of the knowledge of the Son of God; or in the virtues by which the Son of God is known in us; or 596Aby which we shall know him in the time to come. Let us meet. One another, from the diverse parts of the world, or Christ himself, as it were running with desire unto joy. Unto a perfect man. That each one may be a perfect man and having the same age, which is the measure and the limit of age, beyond which nothing accrues naturally to a man: in which age Christ had the fullness of years and of body, in which he passed out of this world. For all shall rise again in that same age in which Christ died and rose again, of whatever age they shall have died.

VERS. 15.-- Christ. He is called Anointed. And in the Old Testament the kings were anointed.

VERS. 17.-- This therefore. He admonishes that they beware of the custom of their ancient heathenism; as if he should say: Because God has given so many helps for the keeping of unity, and because 596Byou can grow and shall meet him, I say, I do not beseech as before.

VERS. 18.-- Darkened. Not a little: and therefore it is the less to be wondered at if they walk in vanity rather than you who are enlightened, and have the hope of life.

From the life of God. There are two lives: one of the body, the other of the soul; and as the life of the body is the soul, so the life of the soul is God: and as, if the soul forsake it, the body dies, so the soul dies, if God forsake it. The soul withdrawing from the light of justice, the more it seeks what it may find against justice, the more it is driven back from the light of truth, and is plunged into things of darkness.

VERS. 19.-- Despairing. Or indolorii, which is drawn from the Greek, that is, not grieving for sin.

596CVERS. 21.-- As the truth. This he says for this reason: because there are certain in the Church who under the name of Christ do not follow the truth which Christ taught.

VERS. 22.-- Put ye off. [Vulg. Eph. 4:22 deponere vos, the infinitive, "that you put off"; Migne prints the imperative, and the gloss is written on it — Non jubet, "he does not command"] He does not command that the body be put off, but that the life be changed for the better. The old. Some think that the old man is the body, and the new the soul; but the body is the outer man, the soul the inner: and in the inner this oldness and newness is enacted

VERS. 23.-- In the spirit of the mind. The Apostle did not wish two things to be understood there, as though the mind were one thing and the spirit of the mind another, but because the mind is spirit. A like saying is: In the despoiling of the body of the flesh, that is, of the flesh which is the body. The mind, therefore, or reason, or understanding, is the image of God, by which man is set over the rest: who, created in the knowledge of God, after he grew foolish by sin, is renewed in the same, 596Dthat that image may begin to be reformed by him by whom it was formed.

VERS. 24.-- Who according to God is created. For he was conceived in a virginal womb, by the working of the Holy Spirit, of the seed of a woman without the seed of a man. This was new; whence Jeremias: The Lord shall make a new thing upon the earth: A woman shall compass a man in the bosom of her womb (Jer. XXXI) [Vulg. Jer. 31:22 quia creavit Dominus novum super terram : femina circumdabit virum, "for the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: a woman shall compass a man" — the perfect for the future, femina for Mulier, and in gremio uteri sui is in no part of the verse].

VERS. 25.-- For which cause. He follows out the parts of the old and of the new man. With his neighbour. Even with a Gentile: because every man is a neighbour by the condition of the first birth, or by the hope of conversion every man ought to be thought a neighbour.

VERS. 26.-- Be ye angry, that is, be indignant with your 597Aown selves with such vehemence that you cease from sinning, because upon this anger the sun of justice does not go down, but rather shines upon it. Anger is a natural motion of the mind against sinners; but lest by exceeding the measure you sin by reproving too harshly. Whence Solomon: Be not too just, who perisheth by his own justice (Eccl. VII) [Vulg. Eccles. 7:17 Noli esse justus multum, "Be not just overmuch"; the relative clause is Eccles. 7:16, justus perit in justitia sua, "the just perisheth in his justice" — Migne conflates the two verses and drops the preposition]. Justice therefore must be tempered, whence God also bears with the wicked, that some of them may be corrected. Let not the sun go down. He wills that anger endure not, because if it endures, occasion is given to the devil. For the angry man thinks evil, and so the devil insinuates himself that he may accomplish evils. Let not the sun go down. Let not Christ forsake the mind, who never dwells with anger.

VERS. 27.-- Do not, etc. There are two gates by which the devil enters: cupidity and fear concerning earthly things. These same being turned to the contrary, God enters. Those are to be shut, 597Bthese to be opened.

VERS. 29.-- Every word, etc. In the servant of God all things ought to be seen to be good, nor ought his purity to be stained in any part.

VERS. 30.-- And grieve not. Through disobedience, the Holy Spirit, that is, the preacher of the truth, which is to grieve the Holy Spirit so far as pertains to you. Which you ought not to do, in whom you have been sealed as wax, his image being left with you; or you have been sealed, that is, set apart from the wicked.

VERS. 31.-- All bitterness. These things, even if they be done when causes arise, must nevertheless be tempered. Blasphemy. Blasphemy is that by which false things are said concerning God himself. And therefore it is worse to blaspheme than to forswear, because by forswearing God is brought in as witness to a false thing; 597Cbut by blaspheming false things are said concerning God himself.

VERS. 2.-- Unto an odour of sweetness. If the death of Christ was a sweet odour to God, therefore he willingly accepted his death. Did not they, then, sin who crucified him? But it is not so, because they unjustly slew the just one: who was offered by the Father's will and by his own. So also Judas, what has he but sin in betraying Christ? yet unless Christ had delivered up himself, Judas would not have delivered him up. Judas delivered up Christ, Christ delivered up himself. But the one was transacting the business of his own selling, the other of our redemption. Therefore the one impiously offended, this one acted mercifully.

VERS. 5.-- A covetous man. He makes covetousness equal to idolatry, 597Dbecause he signifies that covetous man whose God is money, or because he usurps to himself and lays up the things of God which God wills to serve the needy, and prefers them before God, as idolatry does before the honour of God.

VERS. 6.-- With vain words. All their reasonings are vain words, empty of fruit, drawing to punishments.

VERS. 9.-- For the fruit, etc. Now works of this kind are the fruit and the work of light. And justice, etc. Justice and truth are parts of goodness. And the sense is: In all goodness and justice and truth. That is, do you speak fittingly things just and true.

VERS. 11.-- Reprove. With a gentle mind, as the Apostle says elsewhere. Do this, namely, that outwardly the rebuke may terribly 598Aresound, and inwardly the love of gentleness may be held. He joins two things, namely, that they communicate not by consenting, and that they reprove. For in these two ways the evil man does not stain thee, if thou consentest not, and if thou reprovest. And the Apostle embraced both, saying: Do not communicate, etc., that is, do not consent, praise and approve. And because it is little not to consent, he adds: But rather reprove, that is, rebuke, correct, restrain. And the sense is: Be not consenting to evils by approving them, nor negligent in reproving, nor proud in reproving insultingly.

VERS. 13.-- But all things. As if: although it be shameful to tell the things which they themselves do, yet they must be reproved, because thus they are often made manifest through confession and 598Bpenance: and therefore reproof must be made, because what is thus made manifest is turned into light; or those evil men are made manifest to themselves that they are evil, and therefore are to be reproved, because thus they begin to be light. For every thing which are made manifest. [Vulg. Eph. 5:13 omne enim, quod manifestatur, singular, "for all that is made manifest"; Migne prints the plural manifestantur against singular omne] That is, the evil man, when he becomes known to himself to be evil, becomes light. Is light. That is, through penance he begins to be turned into good.

VERS. 14.-- Arise. Through confession. And rise up. Through satisfaction.

VERS. 16.-- Redeeming the time. That is, what you have done less in one time, restore in another, halving the days which the wicked do not halve. For some halve, others fill up the days, others do not even begin; that is, some die in Egypt, some in the desert, some in the holy land. Nor is it a wonder if you have done less, since the days 598Care evil, nor can all things be done at pleasure.

VERS. 21.-- Subject one to another. Not only the hearers to the prelates, but the prelates also to their subjects, by serving them in charity and humbly bearing their care. For although the dignity is of the greater, yet it is ministerial; whence the Apostle: I made myself the servant of all (I Cor. IX). It belongs, then, to the greater (their dignity nevertheless being safe) to serve, as it belongs to the lesser humbly to obey; and this ordered subjection, as well of the greater as of the lesser, ought to be in the chaste fear of Christ, who commanded humility.

VERS. 22.-- Women. Thus far he has treated of morals in common, now he urges certain things upon the several orders.

598DVERS. 27.-- Not having spot, etc. Because through good action she is clean from spot, and through hope stretched toward things above: accordingly his garment on the mountain shone forth whitened as snow, which signified. The Church cleansed from every spot of sin, which through Christ's stretching out upon the wood of the cross has been stretched from wrinkle, and by desire toward heavenly things. Not having now spot, or wrinkle, but that she may be holy, [Vulg. Eph. 5:27 non habentem maculam, aut rugam, aut aliquid hujusmodi, sed ut sit sancta et immaculata; Migne inserts nunc, "now", and drops aut aliquid hujusmodi, "or any such thing"] here through good works, and without blemish, in abstinence from evil. Or this will be in the time to come, for then the Church will be holy through glory, unblemished through the removal of corruption. As Christ shed his blood, that he might wash the spot of the Church, and stretched himself out upon the cross, that he might take away the wrinkle, so also husbands, if there be need, ought to die for the saving of their 599Awives, and to instruct them by the word of life, that they may present them cas to God.

VERS. 29.-- For no man ever. He, therefore, who would rather be without a body, hates not the body, but its corruptions and its weight. As Christ also the Church. So let the husband do concerning his wife, who is his flesh: because so also Christ nourishes the Church with the food of his body, and cherishes her with the spiritual garments of the precepts, of the virtues and of good works.

VERS. 32.-- This sacrament is great. Lest anyone should think it to be in the husband and the wife, according to the coupling of the natural sex of both, and the bodily mingling, he adds: I speak in Christ, etc., according to this, therefore, which is in Christ and the Church, is taken what has been said: They are now not two, but one flesh 599B, and as bridegroom and bride are spoken of, so head and body. Whether therefore head and body be spoken of, or bridegroom and bride, understand ye one thing. For out of two there is made as it were a certain one person, namely out of head and body, out of bridegroom and bride: which wonderful and excellent unity Isaias commends, in whom Christ speaking says: He hath bound a mitre upon me as upon a bridegroom, and hath adorned me with an ornament as a bride. The sacrament of this spiritual unity was that which in Genesis is said to the letter concerning the union of marriage

VERS. 2.-- The first. Namely among the commandments which are toward man in the second table. For the Decalogue belongs to the two precepts of the charity of God and of the neighbour. 599CTo the first precept, that of God, three chords belong, that is, three commandments, because God is a Trinity. But to the other precept, namely that of the neighbour, seven chords, that is, seven commandments. And those three pertaining to God are in the first table. And the other seven, toward the neighbour, were written in the second table. Among which this is deservedly first, because, as God is principally the beginning of man, so the father secondarily. To which commandment a promise is added, which is not in the others.

VERS. 5.-- Servants, obey. Servitude began from sin; for the first cause of servitude is sin, that man nomo should be subjected to man by the bond of condition, which was not save by God judging, with whom there is no iniquity, and knows how to distribute diverse punishments to the merits 599Dof offenders. In simplicity. It makes servitude free; not by crafty fear, but by faithful love, until iniquity pass away, and all power be made void.

VERS. 10.-- For the rest. After the special precepts by which he admonished the several orders, now he admonishes all in common; as if: Thus far I have helped you by word and by work; henceforth, in the time to come, in the remaining time, by faith and by love.

VERS. 12.-- Rulers of the world. They are not so called for this reason, that they rule the world, which consists of heaven and earth; but he calls sinners the world, concerning which John: And the world knew him not (Joan. I). Such a world do they rule, against whom we have perpetual 600Aenmities: because even that we suffer importunate men, they cause. For they instigate and inflame them, and move them as their own vessels, and touch them as instruments. Against them we have a hidden wrestling, for which the Apostle arms us. Of darkness. Lest the demons be thought to rule this visible world, he subjoins what he understood by the name of the world: Of these darknesses, that is, of sins; as if: The demons have dominion not over the world which consists of heaven and earth, but over sinners. Against the spiritual things. As if: The enemies are to be feared because they are spiritual and invisible, and because they are wicked: and they fight not for a small matter, but for the taking away of the heavenly inheritance. As heavenly things he calls the virtues, in which we suffer the battle of the demons, or the wicked spirits are in the heavenly places, that is, in this lower air. For they, as 600Bhorsemen, fight upon men as horses. Let us then slay the horsemen, let us possess the horses.

VERS. 14.-- Having your loins girt, etc. That is, bridling carnal concupiscences with the girdle of chastity, not feignedly, but in truth, or through charity. Having put on the breastplate of justice. Rightly is the breastplate compared to justice, because, as a breastplate is woven of many rings, so justice consists of many virtues. Otherwise: Justice can be compared to a breastplate because, as a breastplate fortifies the breast, binds the belly, protects the thighs, so justice repels the superfluous thoughts which are wont to turn about in the breast: it binds the gluttony of the belly, and represses lust also.

VERS. 15.-- Shod. Mark says that the apostles were shod with sandals, or with soles, so that the foot should neither be 600Cstraight [rectus; read tectus, "covered"], nor bare to the ground, that is, that the Gospel should neither be hidden, nor lean upon earthly advantages. The feet. That is, let the affections be fortified with virtues, lest they be pricked by vices, so that they may thus be ready to preach the Gospel which announces peace between God and man; or that they may be ready to fulfil the precepts of the Gospel.

VERS. 16.-- The shield of faith. Faith is a shield, under which justice is safe, as under the defence of all the virtues, which is stretched before all arms and which the devil assails first of all.

VERS. 17.-- And the helmet. The helmet is eternal salvation, the memory of which enwraps the mind lest it fail. And the sword of the spirit. The word of God is a twice-sharpened sword, teaching concerning things temporal and eternal. Promising the consolation of the former in the Old, the perfection of the latter in the New 600DTestament. For what has been promised to us temporally, [belongs] to the one part of the sword: but what is unto everlasting belongs to the other part of the sword. For therefore also they are called two Testaments, because the Old promises earthly things, the New eternal. Concerning this sword the Lord says: I came not to send peace upon the earth, but the sword (Matth. X) [Vulg. Matt. 10:34 non veni pacem mittere, sed gladium; in terram stands in the first half of the verse, pacem venerim mittere in terram, not in the clause Migne quotes]. This sword is truly sharp, because it divides from the world him whom it has made.

VERS. 18.-- In the spirit. He prays in the spirit who prays with a clean conscience and an entire faith. He prays in the flesh who with a polluted mind sins again, not by chance, but of set purpose.

VERS. 19.-- Unto the opening, etc. [Vulg. Eph. 6:19 in apertione oris mei, the ablative, "in the opening of my mouth"; Migne prints the accusative In apertionem, and the gloss answers it with a purpose clause, ut aperte possim reserare] That is, that I may be able openly to unlock the mystery of the Gospel, that is, the secrets 601Aof the incarnation and of the passion. As if: Lest the pressure of tribulation by very dread should blunt the edge of doctrine.

602AVERS. 23.-- Peace to the brethren. He wishes them peace, which is the gate of love.