Ephesians 1 : Douay Rheims Bible parallel
Haydock Commentary
Ephesians 1
| Douay RheimsDouay-Rheims Bible -- The New Testament was published at Rheims (1582), the Old Testament at Douay (1609). The Douay Rheims served as the main English bible for the Catholic world for centuries. Bishop Challoner updated it extensively mid-18th century. Biblical scholar Rev. George Haydock compiled a Catholic commentary mid-19th century. This text set is from an approved 1914 U.S. printing. | Haydock CommentaryHaydock Catholic Bible Commentary - based on the Douay-Rheims Bible; originally compiled by Catholic priest and biblical scholar Rev. George Leo Haydock (1774-1849). |
| 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to all the saints who are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. | S. Chrysostom takes notice, in his preface to this epistle, that the doctrinal part in the first three chapters is treated in a very sublime manner, with long periods and sentences, which makes the style more perplexed and the sense more obscure than in his other epistles. On this account I shall first give the reader a paraphrase as literal as I can, and then make some short notes on the difficulties in the text. Wi. |
| 2 Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. | |
| 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ: | With all spiritual blessings in heavenly places: lit. in heavenlies, [1] or celestials, which some expound and translate, in heavenly things; but this being expressed just before by spiritual blessings, it rather seems to be understood of the glory prepared for us in heaven, or in the heavenly mansions; in which sense it seems to me, according to the interpretation both of S. Jerom and of S. Chrys. in their commentaries on these words. Estius takes notice that the same expression, in the celestials, is used five times in this epistle, and in all of them signifies places above us. Wi. |
| 4 As he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity. | As by his eternal decree, according to the purpose of his good will and pleasure, he hath made choice of us to be his adoptive sons, and predestinated us to be saved and glorified by the merits and grace of his beloved Son, our Redeemer, without any merits of ours to the glorious praise and riches of his grace, by which he hath made us abound in all wisdom and true prudence. Wi. |
| 5 Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto himself: according to the purpose of his will: | |
| 6 Unto the praise of the glory of his grace, in which he hath graced us in his beloved son. | To the praise of the glory of his grace; i.e. unto the glorious praise or commendation of his grace. Wi. |
| 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins, according to the riches of his grace, | |
| 8 Which hath superabounded in us in all wisdom and prudence, | In all wisdom and prudence; which may be either referred to the wisdom and prudence of God, the giver of grace, or to the gifts of wisdom and prudence bestowed upon the elect. Wi. |
| 9 That he might make known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in him, | Which he hath purposed in him; [2] i.e. in Christ: but in the Greek the sense is, in himself; i.e. in God the Father, who sent his Son. Wi. |
| 10 In the dispensation of the fulness of times, to re-establish all things in Christ, that are in heaven and on earth, in him. | In the dispensation of the fulness of times. It may perhaps be translated, at the appointed fulness of time, which is generally expounded to signify at the time decreed from eternity. — To establish (or restore) all things in Christ. [3] The Greek is to recapitulate, or, as the Prot. translation, to gather together all things in Christ; which S. Jerom expounds, by a fulfilling at once in Christ all the ancient figures and prophecies of the former law. Wi. |
| 11 In whom we also are called by lot, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his will. | In Christ we also are called by lot; i.e. to this happy lot, this share and state of eternal happiness, (he seems to speak with an allusion to the manner by which the lands of a temporal inheritance was distributed to the Israelites, in Palestine) that we (v. 12) who are saved, may be to the praise of his glory; might praise God for ever in the kingdom of his glory; particularly we Jews, who before hoped in the Messias to come, and also you Gentiles, who now having heard the gospel, have believed in Christ, and who, together with all Christians, have been now sealed as it were with the holy Spirit of promise; i.e. by the Spirit promised, and all those spiritual graces which are an earnest and pledge, which give us an assurance of our future glory and happiness. For our redemption from our sins, and in order to the acquired possession, to the possession of that glorious happiness which Christ, by his incarnation and death, hath acquired for us. Wi. |
| 12 That we may be unto the praise of his glory, we who before hoped Christ: | |
| 13 In whom you also, after you had heard the word of truth, (the gospel of your salvation;) in whom also believing, you were signed with the holy Spirit of promise, | In whom you . . . . were sealed, &c. Having been regenerated in baptism, you have received the Holy Spirit and the supernatural gifts which he communicates, by which he has, as it were, impressed upon you the seal of your sanctification and the pledge of your salvation. It is not an external impression, such as that by which soldiers are marked by their sovereigns, nor circumcision, as of old, but it is a mark within you—the grace with which you are filled—which shews itself outwardly by miraculous effects, &c. Calmet. — Some refer these words, in whom you were sealed, to the sacrament of baptism; others to confirmation: both, with the sacrament of holy orders, confer a character, or mark, of which S. Paul seems to speak whenever he speaks of God sealing us. |
| 14 Who is the pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of acquisition, unto the praise of his glory. | The redemption of acquisition; [4] i.e. in order to the acquired possession, or to the obtaining of that glory which Christ, by redeeming us, hath acquired for us. Wi. |
| 15 Wherefore I also, hearing of your faith that is in the Lord Jesus, and of your love towards all the saints, | Wherefore . . . hearing of your constancy in the faith of Christ, and of your charitable love to all the saints, or faithful, I give always thanks to God; I pray that God may be more revealed to you, that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, (v. 18) that you may know what ground you have to hope in the transcendent greatness of God's almighty power, who raised Christ from the dead, (v. 20) and set him on his right hand in heaven, above all the choirs and orders of blessed spirits, putting all things under his feet, making him, as man, head over all his Church militant on earth, and triumphant in heaven: which Church is his mystical body, who is filled all in all, (v. 23) or as others have translated, who filleth all in all; the sense is, that the glory of Christ, as head of all, is filled and increased by the salvation and happiness of all his chosen members, and of all his elect, to the end of the world. Wi. |
| 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making commemoration of you in my prayers, | |
| 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation, in the knowledge of him: | |
| 18 The eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what the hope is of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. | |
| 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us, who believe according to the operation of the might of his power, | His power. The greatest exertion of the power of God, or that action by which he shewed his power most, is the resurrection from the dead, which he exercised in Christ, when he raised him from the tomb, and placed him over all the Angels of heaven; and which shall likewise be exercised over us all, when we too shall be raised from the dead, and constituted members of the triumphant Church, and rewarded with a share of glory proportioned to our merits. These are the hopes to which we are called. |
| 20 Which he wrought in Christ, raising him up from the dead, and setting him on his right hand in the heavenly places. | |
| 21 Above all principality, and power, and virtue, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. | All principality. The Fathers agree that there are nine orders of blessed spirits, of which some are specified here; in the Epistle to the Colossians we have the order of thrones, to which if we add the cherubim, seraphim, Angels, and Archangels, we shall have nine. Calvin and other heretics strive to bring into doubt, and to corrupt many points of Catholic doctrine, sufficiently clear in holy writ, and sanctified by the general belief of the Universal or Catholic Church. |
| 22 And he hath subjected all things under his feet, and hath made him head over all the church, | As Christ is king, and yet men are kings also; so Christ is head of the Church, and yet man may be head thereof also. Jesus Christ is bishop and pastor of our souls; (Heb. iii.) but is that a reason why there should be no other bishop and pastor of our souls?
Notes as to the style or expressions of S. Paul, in this chapter. |
| 23 Which is his body, and the fulness of him who is filled all in all. | Who is filled all in all. [5] In the Latin the words have a passive signification, is filled; in the Greek may be signified, who filleth all in all. Wi. |
Footnotes: Ephesians 1
- [1]
- [2] V. 9. In eo; but in the Greek, εν αυτω , in seipso.
- [3] V. 10. Instaurare, ανακεφαλαιωσασϑαι , recapitulare. See S. Jerom, p. 330.
- [4] V. 14. Acquisitionis, περιποιησεως . See S. Jer. and S. Chrys.
- [5] V. 23. Qui omnia in omnibus adimpletur, παντα εν πασι πληρουμενου ; which may either be in the passive or middle voice. S. Jerom, in his exposition, (p. 337) expressly says: Non ait, qui omnia in omnibus adimplet, sed qui omnia in omnibus adimpletur . . . sicut ergo adimpletur Imperator, si quotidie ejus impleatur exercitus, sic dominus Jesus, &c. See S. Chrys. in Lat. edit. (p. 869) and in the Greek, (p. 776. lin. 31) δια παντων ουν πληρουται το σωμα , where the whole text requires a passive sense.