“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Observe, he applies the word “through” to the Father. But what then? Shall we say that He is inferior? Surely not.
“To the saints,” says he, “which are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus.”
Observe that he calls saints, men with wives, and children, and domestics. For that these are they whom he calls by this name is plain from the end of the Epistle, as, when he says, “Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands.” And again, “Children, obey your parents:” and, “Servants, be obedient to your masters.” Think how great is the indolence that possesses us now, how rare is any thing like virtue now and how great the abundance of virtuous men must have been then, when even secular men could be called “saints and faithful.” “Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” “Grace” is his word; and he calls God, “Father,” since this name is a sure token of that gift of grace. And how so? Hear what he says elsewhere; “Because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
“And from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Because for us men Christ was born, and appeared in the flesh.
Ver. 3. “Blessed be the God,” he says, “and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Observe; The God of Him that was Incarnate. And though you will not, The Father of God the Word.
Ver. 3. “Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
He is here alluding to the blessings of the Jews; for that was blessing also, but it was not spiritual blessing. For how did it run? “The Lord bless you, He will bless the fruit of your body;” and “He will bless your going out and your coming in.” But here it is not thus, but how? “With every spiritual blessing.” And what do you lack yet? You are made immortal, you are made free, you are made a son, you are made righteous, you are made a brother, you are made a fellow-heir, you reign with Christ, you are glorified with Christ; all things are freely given you. “How,” says he, “shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Your First-fruits is adored by Angels, by the Cherubim, by the Seraphim! What do you lack yet? “With every spiritual blessing.” There is nothing carnal here. Accordingly He excluded all those former blessings, when He said, “In the world you have tribulation,” to lead us on to these. For as they who possessed carnal things were unable to hear of spiritual things, so they who aim at spiritual things cannot attain to them unless they first stand aloof from carnal things.
What again is “spiritual blessing in the heavenly places?” It is not upon earth, he means, as was the case with the Jews. “You shall eat the good of the land.” “Unto a land flowing with milk and honey.” “The Lord shall bless your land.” Here we have nothing of this sort, but what have we? “If a man love Me, he will keep My word, and I and My Father will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” “Every one therefore which hears these words of Mine, and does them, shall be likened unto a wise man which built his house upon the rock, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon the rock.” And what is that rock but those heavenly things which are above the reach of every change? “Every one therefore who,” says Christ, “shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father which is in Heaven: But whosoever shall deny Me, him will I also deny.” Again, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” And again, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” And again, “Blessed are you which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for great is your reward in Heaven.” Observe, how every where He speaks of Heaven, no where of earth, or of the things on the earth. And again, “Our citizenship is in Heaven, from whence also we wait for a Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.” And again, “Not setting your mind on the things that are on the earth, but on the things which are above.”
“In Christ.”
That is to say, this blessing was not by the hand of Moses, but by Christ Jesus: so that we surpass them not only in the quality of the blessings, but in the Mediator also. As moreover he says in the Epistle to the Hebrews; “And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken; but Christ as a Son over His house, whose house are we.”
Ver. 4. “Even as,” he proceeds, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love.”
His meaning is somewhat of this sort. Through whom He has blessed us, through Him He has also chosen us. And He, then, it is that shall bestow upon us all those rewards hereafter. He is the very Judge that shall say, “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And again, “I will that where I am they will also be with Me.” And this is a point which he is anxious to prove in almost all his Epistles, that ours is no novel system, but that it had thus been figured from the very first, that it is not the result of any change of purpose, but had been in fact a divine dispensation and fore-ordained. And this is a mark of great solicitude for us.
What is meant by, “He chose us in Him?” By means of the faith which is in Him, Christ, he means, happily ordered this for us before we were born; nay more, before the foundation of the world. And beautiful is that word “foundation,” as though he were pointing to the world as cast down from some vast height. Yea, vast indeed and ineffable is the height of God, so far removed not in place but in incommunicableness of nature; so wide the distance between creation and Creator! A word which heretics may be ashamed to hear.
But wherefore has He chosen us? “That we should be holy and without a blemish before Him.” That you may not then, when you hear that “He has chosen us,” imagine that faith alone is sufficient, he proceeds to add life and conduct. To this end, says he, has He chosen us, and on this condition, “that we should be holy and without blemish.” And so formerly he chose the Jews. On what terms? “This nation, says he, has He chosen from the rest of the nations.” Now if men in their choices choose what is best, much more does God. And indeed the fact of their being chosen is at once a token of the loving kindness of God, and of their moral goodness. For by all means would he have chosen those who were approved. He has Himself rendered us holy, but then we must continue holy. A holy man is he who is a partaker of faith; a blameless man is he who leads an irreproachable life. It is not however simply holiness and irreproachableness that He requires, but that we should appear such “before Him.” For there are holy and blameless characters, who yet are esteemed as such only by men, those who are like whited sepulchres, and like such as wear sheep's clothing. It is not such, however, He requires, but such as the Prophet speaks of; “And according to the cleanness of my hands.” What cleanness? That which is so “in His eyesight.” He requires that holiness on which the eye of God may look.
Source: Homilies on Ephesians (New Advent)