From: Ephesians 1:1-10
Greeting
[1] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are also
faithful in Christ Jesus: [2] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Hymn of Praise
[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, [4] even as he chose
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless
before him. [5] He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, accor-
ding to the purpose of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace which he free-
ly bestowed on us in the Beloved. [7] In him we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace [8]
which he lavished upon us. [9] For he had made known to us in all wisdom and in-
sight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ
[10] a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and
things on earth.
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Commentary:
1. As usual St Paul begins with a greeting which identifies who he is, his autho-
rity to write this letter — he is an “apostle of Jesus Christ” — and the dignity of
the people he is addressing — “saints” and “faithful in Christ Jesus”. He presents
himself as an “apostle”, that is, an envoy of Christ Jesus. A calling to the aposto-
late is something that comes from God: it is a grace, a sign of God’s special love.
In St Paul’s case this calling was revealed to him by Christ on the road to Damas-
cus (cf. Acts 9:3-18); the Holy Spirit then set him out to preach (cf. Acts 13:2f),
and the message which he received from the Lord he passed on orally and in wri-
ting (cf. 1 Cor 11:23), so that in every way is it right for him to say that he is an
“apostle” (cf. note on Rom 1:1).
St Paul often refers to the Christians as “saints” (cf. Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; Phil 1:
1; etc.) and “faithful” (cf. Col 1:2); these titles describe what Baptism does for a
person (cf. Eph 5:26).
All the baptized are called to live a holy life: being “saints”, being “believers”,
commits them to do so. Holiness is, therefore, a gift of God which at the same
time implies an obligation to further its development, as the Second Vatican
Council explains: “It is therefore quite clear that all Christians in any state or
walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love,
and by this holiness a more human manner of life is fostered also in earthly so-
ciety. In order to reach this perfection the faithful should use the strength dealt
out to them by Christ’s gift, so that, following in his footsteps and conformed to
his image, doing the will of God in everything, they may wholeheartedly devote
themselves to the glory of God and to the service of their neighbor. Thus the ho-
liness of the people of God will grow in fruitful abundance, as is clearly shown
in the history of the Church through the life of so many saints” (”Lumen Gen-
tium”, 40).
By describing the Christians as “faithful” St Paul is not only saying that they are
people who have received the gift of faith (cf. Eph 2:8); he is also calling on them
to stay true to the faith despite all the wiles of the devil (cf. Eph 6:10-13).
In the Church it has always been customary to refer to those who have received
Baptism as “faithful”: “Christ’s faithful are those who, since they are incorporated
into Christ through baptism, are constituted the people of God. For this reason
they participate in their own way in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of
Christ. They are called, each according to his or her particular condition, to exer-
cise the mission which God entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the world” (”Code
of Canon Law”, can. 204, 1).
2. “Shalom!” — “Peace!” — is the usual way Jews greet one another. According to
the prophets, peace was one of the gifts the Messiah would bring. After the incar-
nation of the Son of God, now that the “prince of peace” has come among men
(cf. Is 9:6), when the Apostles use this greeting they are joyfully proclaiming the
advent of messianic peace: all good things, heavenly and earthly, are attainable
because by his death and resurrection Jesus, the Messiah, has removed, once
and for all, the enmity between God and men: “since we are justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1).
The same expression — “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ” — is frequently to be found in St Paul’s letters. For its mea-
ning, see the notes on Rom 1:7 and 1 Cor 1:3.
3-14. Verses 3-14 are a hymn of praise to God for the plan of salvation he has
devised and brought to fulfillment in benefit of men and all creation. It is written
in a liturgical style of rhythmic prose, similar to that in Colossians 1:15-20. In
the Greek it is one long complex sentence full of relative pronouns and clauses
which give it a designed unity; we can, however, distinguish two main sections.
The first (v. 3-10), divided into four stanzas, describes the blessings contained in
God’s salvific plan; St Paul terms this plan the “mystery” of God’s will. The sec-
tion begins by praising God for his eternal design, a plan, pre-dating creation, to
call us to the Church, to form a community of saints (first stanza: vv. 3f) and re-
ceive the grace of being children of God through Jesus Christ (second stanza:
vv. 5f). It then reflects on Christ’s work of redemption which brings this eternal
plan of God to fulfillment (third stanza: vv. 7f). This section reaches its climax in
the fourth stanza (vv. 9f) which proclaims Christ as Lord of all creation, thereby
revealing the full development of God’s salvific plan.
The second section, which divides into two stanzas, deals with the application
of this plan — first to the Jews (fifth stanza: vv. 11f) and then to the Gentiles, who
are also called to share what God has promised: Jews and Gentiles join to form
a single people, the Church (sixth stanza: vv. 13f).
Hymns in praise of God, or “eulogies”, occur in many parts of Sacred Scripture
(cf. Ps 8; Ps 19; Dan 2:20-23; Lk 1:46-54, 68-78; etc.); they praise the Lord for
the wonders of creation or for spectacular interventions on behalf of his people.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, St Paul here praises God the Father for all Christ’s
saving work, which extends from God’s original plan which he made before he
created the world, right up to the very end of time and the recapitulation of all
things in Christ.
We too should always have this same attitude of praise of the Lord. “Our entire
life on earth should take the form of praise of God, for the never-ending joy of our
future life consists in praising God, and no one can become fit for that future life
unless he train himself to render that praise now” (St Augustine, “Enarrationes
in Psalmos”, 148).
Praise is in fact the most appropriate attitude for man to have towards God:
“How can you dare use that spark of divine intelligence — your mind — in any-
thing but in giving glory to your Lord?” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 782).
3. St Paul blesses God as Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because it is through
Christ that all God’s blessings and gifts reach us. God’s actions in favor of man
are actions of all three divine Persons; the divine plan which the Apostle consi-
ders here has its origin in the Blessed Trinity; it is eternal. “These three Persons
are not to be considered separable,” the Eleventh Council of Toledo teaches,
“since we believe that not one of them existed or at any time effected anything
before the other, after the other, or without the other. For in existence and ope-
ration they are found to be inseparable” (”De Trinitate” Creed, “Dz-Sch”, 531).
In the implementation of this divine plan of salvation, the work of Redemption is
attributed to the Son and that of sanctification to the Holy Spirit. “To help us
grasp in some measure this unfathomable mystery, we might imagine the Bles-
sed Trinity taking counsel together in their uninterrupted intimate relationship of
infinite love. As a result of their eternal decision, the only-begotten Son of God
the Father takes on our human condition and bears the burden of our wretched-
ness and sorrows, to end up sewn with nails to a piece of wood” (St. J. Escriva,
“Christ Is Passing By”, 95).
St Paul describes as “spiritual blessings” all the gifts which the implementation
of God’s plan implies, gifts which are distributed by the Holy Spirit. When he
speaks of them as being “in the heavenly places” and “in Christ”, he is saying
that through Christ who has risen from the dead and ascended on high we too
have been inserted into the world of God (cf. 1:20; 2:6).
When man describes God as “blessed” it means he recognizes God’s greatness
and goodness, and rejoices over the divine gifts he has received (cf. Lk 1:46, 68).
Here is what St Thomas Aquinas has to say about the meaning of this passage:
“The Apostle says, ‘Benedictus’ [Blessed be the God ...], that is, may I, and you,
and everyone bless him, with our heart, our mouth, our actions — praising him as
God and as Father, for he is God because of his essence and Father because
of his power to generate” (”Commentary on Eph.”, 1, 6).
Sacred Scripture very often invites us to praise God our Lord (cf. Ps 8:19; 33;
46-48; etc.); this is not a matter only of verbal praise: our actions should prove
that we mean what we say: “He who does good with his hands praises the Lord,
and he who confesses the Lord with his mouth praises the Lord. Praise him by
your actions” (St Augustine, “Enarrationes in Psalmos”, 91, 2).
4. As the hymn develops, the Apostle details each of the blessings contained in
God’s eternal plan. The first of these is his choice, before the foundation of the
world, of those who would become part of the Church. The word he uses, trans-
lated here as “chose”, is the same one as used in the Greek translation of the
Old Testament to refer to God’s election of Israel. The Church, the new people
of God, is constituted by assembling in and around Christ those who have been
chosen and called to holiness. This implies that although the Church was foun-
ded by Christ at a particular point in history, its origin goes right back to the
eternal divine plan. ‘The eternal Father, in accordance with the utterly gratuitous
and mysterious design of his wisdom and goodness, ... ‘predestined (the elect)
to be conformed to the image of his Son in order that he might be the first-born
among many brethren’ (Rom 8:29). He determined to call together in a holy
Church those who believe in Christ. Already present in figure at the beginning
of the world, this Church was prepared in marvelous fashion in the history of the
people of Israel and in the Old Alliance. Established in this last age of the world,
and made manifest in the outpouring of the Spirit, it will be brought to glorious
completion at the end of time” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 2).
God’s choice seeks to have us become “holy and blameless before him”. In
the same way as in the Old Testament a victim offered to God had to be unble-
mished, blameless (cf. Gen 17:1), the blameless holiness to which God has
destined us admits of no imperfection. By the very fact of being baptized we
are made holy (cf. note on 1:1), and during our lifetime we try to grow holier
with the help of God; however, complete holiness is something we shall attain
only in heaven.
The holiness with which we have been endowed is an undeserved gift from God:
it is not a reward for any merit on our part: even before we were created God
chose us to be his: “’He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy.’ I know that such thoughts don’t fill you with pride or lead you
to think yourself better than others. That choice, the root of your vocation, should
be the basis of your humility. Do we build monuments to an artist’s paintbrush?
Granted the brush had a part in creating masterpieces, but we give credit only to
the painter. We Christians are nothing more than instruments in the hands of the
Creator of the world, the Redeemer of all men” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing
By”, 1).
“He destined us in love”: the loving initiative is God’s. “If God has honored us with
countless gifts it is thanks to his love, not to our merits. Our fervor, our strength,
our faith and our unity are the fruit of God’s benevolence and our response to his
goodness” (St John Chrysostom, “Hom. on Eph, ad loc”.).
God’s election of Christians and their vocation to holiness, as also the gift of di-
vine filiation, reveals that God is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8); we have become partakers of
God’s very nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4), sharers, that is, in the love of God.
“He destined us in love”, therefore, also includes the Christian’s love of God and
of others: charity is a sharing in God’s own love; it is the essence of holiness, the
Christian’s law; nothing has any value if it is not inspired by charity (cf. 1 Cor 13:
1-3).
5. The Apostle goes on to explore the further implications of God’s eternal plan:
those chosen to form part of the Church have been given a second blessing, as
it were, by being predestined to be adoptive children of God. ‘The state of this
people is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts
the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium, 9).
This predestination to which the Apostle refers means that God determined from
all eternity that the members of the new people of God should attain holiness
through his gift of adoptive sonship. It is God’s desire that all be saved (cf. 1 Tim
2:4) and he gives each person the means necessary for obtaining eternal life.
Therefore, no one is predestined to damnation (cf. Third Council of Valence, “De
Praedestinatione”, can. 3).
The source of the Christian’s divine sonship is Jesus Christ. God’s only Son,
one in substance with the Father, took on human nature in order to make us
sons and daughters of God by adoption (cf. Rom 8:15, 29; 9:4; Gal 4:5). This is
why every member of the Church can say: “See what love the Father has given
us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 Jn 3:1).
What is involved here is not simply formal adoption, which is something external
and does not affect the very person of the child. Divine adoption affects man’s en-
tire being, it inserts him into God’s own life; for Baptism makes us truly his chil-
dren, partakers of the divine nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4). Divine sonship is therefore the
greatest of the gifts God bestows on man during his life on earth. It is indeed
right to exclaim “Blessed be God” (v. 3) when one reflects on this great gift: it is
right for children openly to acknowledge their father and show their love for him.
Divine filiation has many rich effects as far as the spiritual life is concerned. “A
child of God treats the Lord as his Father. He is not obsequious and servile; he
‘is not merely formal and well-mannered: he is completely sincere and trusting.
God is not shocked by what we do. Our infidelities do not wear him out. Our
Father in heaven pardons any offense when his child returns to him, when he
repents and asks for pardon. The Lord is such a good father that he anticipates
our desire to be pardoned and comes forward to us, opening his arms laden with
grace” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 64). See the notes on Jn 1:12.
6. The gift of divine filiation is the greatest expression of the glory of God (cf. note
on 1:17 below), because it reveals the full extent of God’s love for man. St Paul
stresses what the purpose of this eternal divine plan is — to promote “the praise
of his glorious grace”. God’s glory has been made manifest through his merciful
love, which has led him to make us his children in accordance with the eternal
purpose of his will. This eternal design “flows from ‘fountain-like love’, the love of
God the Father [...]. God in his great and merciful kindness freely creates us
and, moreover, graciously calls us to share in his life and glory. He generously
pours out, and never ceases to pour out, his divine goodness, so that he who is
Creator of all things might at last become ‘everything to everyone’ (1 Cor 15:28),
thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our happiness” (Vatican II, “Ad
Gentes”, 2).
The grace which St Paul speaks of here and which manifests the glory of God re-
fers first to the fact that God’s blessings are totally unmerited by us and include
the grace-conferring gifts of holiness and divine filiation.
“In the Beloved”: the Old Testament stresses again and again that God loves his
people and that Israel is that cherished people (cf. Deut 33:12; is 5:1, 7; 1 Mac 6:
11; etc.). In the New Testament Christians are called “beloved by God” (1 Thess
1:4; cf. Col 3:12). However, there is only one “Beloved”, strictly speaking, Jesus
Christ our Lord — as God revealed from the bright cloud at the Transfiguration:
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 17:5). The Son of his
love has obtained man’s redemption and brought forgiveness of sins (cf. Col 1:13),
and it is through his grace that we become pleasing to God, lovable by him with
the same love with which he loves his Son. At the Last Supper, Jesus asked his
Father for this very thing — “so that the world may know that thou hast sent me
and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me” (Jn 17:23). “Notice”, St John
Chrysostom points out, “that Paul does not say that this grace has been given
us for no purpose but that it has been given us to make us pleasing and lovable
in his eyes, now that we are purified of our sins” (”Hom. on Eph, ad loc.”).
7-8. St Paul now centers his attention on the redemptive work of Christ — the
third blessing — which has implemented the eternal divine plan described in the
preceding verses.
Redemption means “setting free”. God’s redemptive action began in the Old Tes-
tament, when he set the people of Israel free from their enslavement in Egypt (cf.
Ex 11:7ff): by smearing the lintels of their doors with the blood of the lamb, their
first-born were protected from death. In memory of this salvation God ordained the
celebration of the rite of the passover lamb (cf. Ex 12:47). However, this redemp-
tion from Egyptian slavery was but a prefigurement of the Redemption Christ
would bring about. “Christ our Lord achieved this task [of redeeming mankind and
giving perfect glory to God] principally by the paschal mystery of his blessed pas-
sion, resurrection from the dead, and glorious ascension” (Vatican II, “Sacrosanc-
tum Concilium”, 5). By shedding his blood on the Cross, Christ has redeemed us
from the slavery of sin, from the power of the devil, and from death (cf. note on
Rom 3:24-25). He is the true passover Lamb (cf. Jn 1:29). “When we reflect that
we have been ransomed ‘not with perishable things such as silver or gold but with
the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot’ (1 Pet 1:
18f), we are naturally led to conclude that we could have received no gift more sa-
lutary than this power [given to the Church] of forgiving sins, which proclaims the
ineffable providence of God and the excess of his love towards us” (”St Pius V
Catechism”, I, 11, 10).
The Redemption wrought by Christ frees us from the worst of all slaveries — that
of sin. As the Second Vatican Council puts it, “Man finds that he is unable of
himself to overcome the assaults of evil successfully, so that everyone feels as
though bound by chains. But the Lord himself came to free and strengthen man,
renewing him inwardly and casting out the ‘ruler of this world’ (Jn 12:31), who held
him in the bondage of sin. For sin brought man to a lower state, forcing him away
from the completeness that is his to attain” (”Gaudium Et Spes”, 13).
In carrying out this Redemption, our Lord was motivated by his infinite love for man.
This love, which far exceeds anything man could hope for, or could merit, is to be
seen above all in the universal generosity of God’s forgiveness, for though “sin in-
creased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20); this forgiveness, achieved by
Christ’s death on the cross, is the supreme sign of God’s love for us, for “greater
love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).
If God the Father gave up his Son to death for the remission of men’s sins, “it was
to reveal the love that is always greater than the whole of creation, the love that is
he himself, since ‘God is love’ (1 Jn 4:8, 16)”, John Paul II reminds us. “Above all,
love is greater than sin, than weakness, than ‘the futility of creation’ (cf. Rom 8:
20); it is stronger than death” (Redemptor Hominis”, 9).
By enabling our sins to be forgiven, the Redemption brought about by Christ has
restored man’s dignity. “Increasingly contemplating the whole of Christ’s mystery,
the Church knows with all the certainty of faith that the Redemption that took
place through the Cross has definitely restored his dignity to man and given back
meaning to his life in the world, a meaning that was lost to a considerable extent
because of sin” (”Redemptor Hominis”, 10). This action on God’s part reveals his
wisdom and prudence.
9. Through Christ’s redemptive action, God has not only pardoned sin: he has
also shown that his salvific plan embraces all history and all creation. This plan,
which was revealed in Jesus Christ, St Paul calls “the mystery” of God’s will; its
revelation is a further divine blessing. The entire mystery embraces the establish-
ment of the Church and the gift of divine filiation (vv. 4-7), the recapitulation of all
things in Christ (v. 10), and the convoking of Jews and Gentiles to form part of
the Church (vv. 11-14; cf. 3:4-7). All this has been revealed in Christ, in whom,
therefore, God’s revelation reaches its climax. Christ “did this by the total fact
of his presence and self-manifestation — by words and works, signs and mira-
cles, but above all by his death and glorious resurrection from the dead, and fi-
nally by sending the Spirit of truth. He revealed that God is with us, to deliver us
from the darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to eternal life” (Vatican II,
“Dei Verbum”, 4).
The fact that God reveals his plans of salvation is a further proof of his love and
mercy, for it enables man to recognize God’s infinite wisdom and goodness and
to hear his invitation to take part in these plans. As the Second Vatican Council
puts it, “It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to
make known the mystery of his will (cf. Eph 1:9). His will was that man should
have access to the Father through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spi-
rit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature (cf. Eph 2:18; 2 Pet 1:4). By
this revelation, then, the invisible God (cf. Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17), from the fullness
of his love, addresses men as his friends (cf. Ex 33: 11; Jn 15:14f), and moves
among them (cf. Bar 3:38), in order to invite and receive them into his own
company” (”Dei Verbum”, 2).
On the meaning of the word “mystery” in St Paul, see the notes on 1:26, 28; 2:9.
10. The “mystery” revealed by God in his love takes shape in a harmonious way,
in different stages or moments (”kairoi”) as history progresses. The fullness of
time came with the Incarnation (cf. Gal 4:4) and it will last until the End. Through
the Redemption, Christ has rechannelled history towards God; he rules over all
human history in a supernatural way. Not only have God’s mysterious plans be-
gun to take effect: they have been revealed to the Church, which God uses to
implement these plans. “Already the final age of the world is with us (cf. 1 Cor
10:11) and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way; it is even now anti-
cipated in a certain real way, for the Church on earth is endowed already with a
sanctity that is real though imperfect. However, until there be realized new hea-
vens and a new earth in which justice dwells (cf. 2 Pet 3:13) the pilgrim Church,
in its sacraments and institutions, which belong to this present age, carries the
mark of this world which will pass, and she herself takes her place among the
creatures which groan and travail yet and await the revelation of the sons of God
(cf. Rom 8:19-22)” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 48).
The climax of God’s pre-creation plan involves “uniting” (”recapitulating”) all things
in Christ: Christ is to be the cornerstone and head of all creation. This means that,
through his redemptive activity, Christ unites and leads the created world back to
God. Its unity had been destroyed as a result of sin, but now Christ binds it toge-
ther, uniting heavenly things as well as mankind and other earthly things. St John
Chrysostom teaches that “since heavenly things and earthly things were torn a-
part from each other, they had no head [...]. (God) made Christ according to the
flesh the sole head of all things, of angels and of men; that is, he provided one
single principle for angels and for men [...]; for all things will be perfectly united
as they ought to be when they are gathered together under one head, linked by
a bond which must come from on high” (”Hom. on Eph, ad loc.”).
Christ’s being head of all things — as will be made manifest at the end of time —
stems from the fact that he is true God and true man, the head and first-born of
all creation. By rising from the dead, he has overcome the power of sin and death,
and has become Lord of all creation (cf. Acts 2:36; Rom 1:4; Eph 1:19-23); all
other things, invisible as well as invisible, come under his sway.
The motto taken by Pius X when he became Pope echoes this idea of Christ’s
Lordship: “If someone were to ask us for a motto which conveys our purpose we
would always reply, ‘Reinstating all things in Christ’ [...], trying to bring all men
to return to divine obedience” (”E supremi apostolatus”).
“Uniting all things in Christ”: this includes putting Christ at the summit of human
activities, as the founder of Opus Dei points out: “St Paul gave a motto to the
Christians at Ephesus: ‘Instaurare omnia in Christo’ (Eph 1:10), to fill everything
with the spirit of Jesus, placing Christ at the center of everything. ‘And I, when I
am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself’ (Jn 12:32). Through his
incarnation, through his work at Nazareth and his preaching and miracles in the
land of Judea and Galilee, through his death on the cross, and through his resur-
rection, Christ is the center of the universe, the first-born and Lord of all creation.
“Our task as Christians is to proclaim this kingship of Christ, announcing it
through what we say and do. Our Lord wants men and women of his own in all
walks of life. Some he calls away from society, asking them to give up involve-
ment in the world, so that they remind the rest of us by their example that God
exists. To others he entrusts the priestly ministry. But he wants the vast majori-
ty to stay right where they are, in all earthly occupations in which they work —
in the factory, the laboratory, the farm, the trades, the streets of the big cities
and the trails of the mountains” (”Christ Is Passing By”, 105).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
