51 lines
3.2 KiB
XML
51 lines
3.2 KiB
XML
<div2 id="Eph.i" n="i" next="Eph.ii" prev="Eph" progress="57.97%" title="Introduction">
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<div class="Center" id="Eph.i-p0.1"><h2 id="Eph.i-p0.2">Ephesians</h2>
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<p id="Eph.i-p1">Completed by <span class="smallcaps" id="Eph.i-p1.1">Samuel Rosewell</span>.</p>
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</div>
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<hr/>
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<pb id="Eph.i-Page_685" n="685"/>
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<div class="Center" id="Eph.i-p1.3">
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<p id="Eph.i-p2"><b>AN</b></p>
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<h3 id="Eph.i-p2.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
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<h4 id="Eph.i-p2.2">W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E
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R V A T I O N S,</h4>
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<h5 id="Eph.i-p2.3">OF THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO</h5>
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<h2 id="Eph.i-p2.4">T H E E P H E S I A N
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S.</h2>
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<hr style="width:2in"/>
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</div>
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<p class="indent" id="Eph.i-p3"><span class="smallcaps" id="Eph.i-p3.1">Some</span> think
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that this epistle to the Ephesians was a circular letter sent to
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several churches, and that the copy directed to the Ephesians
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happened to be taken into the canon, and so it came to bear that
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particular inscription. And they have been induced the rather to
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think this because it is the only one of all Paul's epistles that
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has nothing in it peculiarly adapted to the state or case of that
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particular church; but it has much of common concernment to all
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Christians, and especially to all who, having been Gentiles in
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times past, were converted to Christianity. But then it may be
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observed, on the other hand, that the epistle is expressly
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inscribed (<scripRef id="Eph.i-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.1" parsed="|Eph|1|1|0|0" passage="Eph 1:1">1:1</scripRef>) <i>to the
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saints which are at Ephesus;</i> and in the close of it he tells
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them that he had sent Tychicus unto them, whom, in <scripRef id="Eph.i-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.4.12" parsed="|2Tim|4|12|0|0" passage="2Ti 4:12">2 Tim. iv. 12</scripRef>, he says he had sent to
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Ephesus. It is an epistle that bears date out of a prison: and some
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have observed that what this apostle wrote when he was a prisoner
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had the greatest relish and savour in it of the things of God. When
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his tribulations did abound, his consolations and experiences did
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much more abound, whence we may observe that the afflictive
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exercises of God's people, and particularly of his ministers, often
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tend to the advantage of others as well as to their own. The
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apostle's design is to settle and establish the Ephesians in the
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truth, and further to acquaint them with the mystery of the gospel,
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in order to it. In the former part he represents the great
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privilege of the Ephesians, who, having been in time past
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idolatrous heathens, were now converted to Christianity and
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received into covenant with God, which he illustrates from a view
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of their deplorable state before their conversion, <scripRef id="Eph.i-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.1-Eph.3.21" parsed="|Eph|1|1|3|21" passage="Eph 1:1-3:21"><i>ch.</i> 1-3</scripRef>. In the latter
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part (which we have in the <scripRef id="Eph.i-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Eph.4.1-Eph.6.24" parsed="|Eph|4|1|6|24" passage="Eph 4:1-6:24">4th,
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5th, and 6th chapters</scripRef>) he instructs them in the
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principal duties of religion, both personal and relative, and
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exhorts and quickens them to the faithful discharge of them. Zanchy
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observes that we have here an epitome of the whole Christian
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doctrine, and of almost all the chief heads of divinity.</p>
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</div2> |