Which is his body. The Church is Christ's body in a real though spiritual sense. He is the Head, his people the members; he the Vine, they the branches. He dwells in the Church as life dwells in a living body. He fills it with his life, replenishes it with his strength, feeds it with his body and blood, beautifies it with his comeliness, calms it with his peace, brightens it with his holiness, and finally glorifies it with his glory. All things are delivered unto him of the Father; and all that he has he has for the Church: "My beloved is mine, and I am his." The fullness of him that filleth all in all. The grammatical structure of the words would lead us to construe "fullness" with "the Church," and to regard the Church as Christ's πλήρωμα. Some object to this, inasmuch as, in point of fact, the Church is often very empty, and therefore not worthy of the term "fullness." But it is not meant that the Church has actually received all the fullness of him who filleth all in all, but only that she is in the course of receiving it. The Church on earth is an ever-changing body, perpetually receiving new members, who are at first empty; so that it must always in this state be in the course of filling, never filled. It is in the course of being filled with all Divine things—with all the treasures of heaven. As the empty cells of the honeycomb are being filled with the sweet essences of flowers, so the empty vessels of the Church are being filled with the glorious treasures of God; or, as the courts and compartments of a great international exhibition get filled up with the choicest products of the lands, so the Church gets filled with the handiwork of the grace of God. When the Church is completed, it will be a representation of the fullness of God; all of God that can be communicated to men will be made manifest in the Church. For he whose fullness the Church is, is he that filleth all in all, or filleth all with all. He possesses all things, and he fills all space with the all things. He fills the ocean with water, the organic world with life, the firmament with stars, the entire creation with forms innumerable, alike beautiful and useful. So also he fills the Church. Thus appropriately concludes this chapter, beginning (Ephesians 1:3) with thanksgiving to him who had blessed the Ephesians with every blessing of the Spirit in Christ Jesus, and now ending with a sublime picture of the Infinite One filling the Church with these Divine blessings out of the infinite stores of the kingdom of heaven. Thus we see the quality of richness, exuberance, overflowing abundance which is so conspicuously ascribed in this Epistle to the grace of God (comp. Psalms 36:8; Psalms 103:3-5; Matthew 5:3, etc.).
HOMILETICS
Address and salutation.
Character and scope of the Epistle as a whole (see Introduction); circumstances of the writer; jubilant tone of the Epistle; cordiality of the Ephesian Church.
I. The writer speaks with authority. He is an "apostle," sent and commissioned directly by Christ, and acting in his name—a real ambassador of the Lord of glory.
II. He holds this office "by the will of God;" pursues neither an irregular nor a merely volunteer course unsanctioned by the supreme Ruler, but acts by the will of God.
III. The Church is a society of "saints," and "faithful," or believing, "in Christ Jesus." If we want these attributes, we may be of Israel, but we are not Israel.
IV. Divine blessings are invoked and brought near to the Church, viz.
This salutation is more than a pious wish or even prayer; the blessings are brought as it were to the door of all. It rests with them either to receive them or not. "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God!" The blessings brought near are very precious, for God in Christ with all his fullness is there. Let us beware of trifling with the offer. Let us open the door and welcome the Lord of grace and peace.