Ver. 4. But God, who is rich in mercy.—“Unto all that call upon Him” (Rom. x. 12). “He hath shut all up into disobedience, that He might have mercy upon all” (Rom. xi. 32), For His great love wherewith He loved us.—“A combination only used when the notion of the verb is to be extended” (Winer).
Ver. 5. Even when we were dead in sins.—The phrase which closes ver. 3, difficult as it is, must receive an interpretation in harmony with this statement. It is the very marrow of the Gospel that, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.” That the wrath of God is real we know, but “God is love.” By grace ye are saved.—“Grace” is as truly characteristic of St. Paul’s writing as his autograph signature; it, too, is the token (“sign-manual”) in every epistle (2 Thess. iii. 17, 18).
Ver. 6. In heavenly places.—As in ch. i. 3.
Ver. 7. The exceeding riches of His grace.—The wealth of mercy mentioned in ver. 4 more fully stated. Grace is condescension to an inferior or kindness to the undeserving. In kindness toward us.—“Kindness” here represents in the original “a beautiful word, as it is the expression of a beautiful grace” (Trench). It is that “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. v. 22) called “gentleness” in the A.V., but which would be better named “benignity.”
Ver. 8. For by grace are ye saved, through faith.—“ ‘By grace’ expresses the motive, ‘through faith’ the subjective means” (Winer). The emphasis is on “by grace.”
Ver. 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.—The more beautiful the works achieved the more natural it is for a man to feel his works to be meritorious. One can understand that a man jealous for the honour of God, like Calvin, should speak of the excellencies of those out of Christ as “splendid vices,” even though we prefer another explanation of them.
Ver. 10. For we are His workmanship.—We get our word “poem” from that which we here translate workmanship, lit., “something made.” Every Christian belongs to those of whom God says, “This people have I formed for Myself, that they should show forth My praise” (Isa. xliii. 21). The archetype of all our goodness lies in the Divine thought, as the slow uprising of a stately cathedral is the embodiment of the conception of the architect’s brain.
Ver. 11. Wherefore remember, that ye, etc.—All that follows in the verse serves to define the “ye,” the verb following in ver. 12 after the repeated “ye”—“ye were without Christ.” “Called Uncircumcision . . . called the Circumcision.” As much rancour lies in these words as generally is carried by terms of arrogance on the part of those only nominally religious, and the scornful epithets flung in return. They can be matched by our modern use of “The world” and “Other-worldliness.”
Ver. 12. Without Christ.—Not so much “not in possession of Christ” as “outside Christ,” or, as in R.V., “separate from Christ.” The true commentary is John xv. 4, 5. The branch “severed from” the trunk by knife or storm bears no fruit thenceforth; disciples “apart from Christ can do nothing.” Being aliens from the commonwealth.—What memories might start at this word! Did St. Paul think of the separation from the Jewish synagogue in Ephesus or of the fanatical outburst created in Jerusalem when “the Jews from Asia” saw Trophimus the Ephesian in company with the apostle? To such Jews the Gentiles were nothing but massa perditionis. Like vers. 2, 3, this is a reminder of the dark past, the misery of which did not consist in a Jewish taunt so much as in a life of heathenish vices. Having no hope, and without God in the world.—To be godless—not sure that there is any God—this is to take the “master-light of all our seeing” from us; to live regardless of Him, or wishing there were no God—“that way madness lies.” To be “God-forsaken” with a house full of idols—that is the irony of idolatrous heathenism.
Ver. 13. Ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh.—The Gentile may sing his hymn in Jewish words: “Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; from everlasting is Thy name.” “Lo-ammi” (“not My people”) is no longer their name (Hos. ii. 23; Rom. ix. 24, 25).