for He hath made nothing without Him; for “without Him,” it is said, “was not any thing made.” (John i. 30.) In speaking of “principalities” and “powers,” he speaks both of those above and those beneath. “According to the eternal purpose.” It hath been now, he means, brought to pass, but not now decreed, it had been planned beforehand from the very first. “According to the eternal purpose which He purposed252 in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That is, according to the eternal foreknowledge; foreknowing the things to come, i.e., he means the ages to come; for He knew what was to be, and thus decreed it. According to the purpose of the ages, of those, 81 perhaps, which He hath made by Christ Jesus, because it was by Christ that every thing was made. Ver. 12. “In whom we have,” saith he, “boldness, and access in confidence through our faith in him.” “Have access,” not as prisoners, he says, nor yet, as persons candidates for pardon, nor as sinners; for, saith he, we have even “boldness with confidence,” that is, accompanied with cheerful trust; arising from what source? “through our faith in Him.” Ver. 13. “Wherefore253 I ask that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which are your glory.” How is it “for them?” How is it “their glory?” It is because God so loved them, as to give even the Son for them, and to afflict His servants for them: for it was in order that they might attain so many blessings, that Paul was in prison. Surely this was from God’s exceeding love towards them: it is what God also saith concerning the Prophets, “I have slain them by the words of my mouth.” (Hos. vi. 5.) But how was it that they fainted, when another was afflicted? He means, they were troubled, were distressed. This also he says when writing to the Thessalonians, “that no man be moved by these afflictions.” (1 Thes. iii. 3.) For not only ought we not to grieve, but we ought even to rejoice. If ye find consolation in the forewarning, we tell you beforehand that here we have tribulation. And why pray? Because thus hath the Lord ordered. Ver. 14, 15. “For this cause254 I bow my knees unto the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” 252 [This verb, ἐποίησεν, has been applied by many to the ‘forming’ of the purpose. (So Rev. Ver.) But it seems best to refer it to the ‘execution’ of it, regarded as an accomplished fact. Riddle in Popular Commentary and in Lange. Braune in Lange. Meyer, Ellicott.—G.A.] 253 [Wherefore, “in view of my position as minister of such a gospel.”—Riddle.—G.A.] 254 [This τούτου χάριν is a resumption of the first verse of the chapter which was left unfinished by reason of the digression concerning his office as apostle of the Gentiles, which forms a section by itself. (ver. 2–13.)—G.A.] 154 Ephesians 3:8-11