Himhaving the eyes of your heart enlightened (vs. 18) that ye may know.
At 2:6 he contemplates Christians saved by grace in contact with the heavenly order; and then (vs. 11) all, that is realised in time through faith, is seen to be of God's ordering. Among the great mysteries of the faith, which he has prayed that the Ephesians may be enabled to understand, is that of the vital unitythe one manof 2:10wherein Christ, by the assumption of human nature, by His death, united in one body and reconciled to God, Jews and Gentiles.
But to comprehend ( katalabevsqai ) what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christa love which passeth knowledge (3:18)to know that which never can be knownthe co-operation of all is required ( su;n pa'si t. aJgivoi" ). Consecration is the condition of such knowledge. There is need of effort. And there is a corresponding powerGod's gift: His power working in us (3:20 f.).
In the unity of the Christian body each of its members has his part, a special function and a special endowment. (4:7. But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of the Christ).
Yet unity of knowledge, as of faith,of the faith and knowledge of the Son of Godis the final issue and limit of the work and manifold ministry of all.
Appropriation of the truth is not intellectual only, but is expressed in character and action (4:15, ajlhqeuvonte" ejn ajgavph/ ).
The spring of all error is ignorance, or forgetfulness, of God. So it was with the Gentiles ( ta; e[qnh ). And this ignorance ( a[gnoia ) which was in them was due to moral conditions ( dia; t. pwvrwsin t. kardiva" aujtw'n ).
The Christian is to have [in him], and to be, light ( fw'" )light is fellowship with Him, Who is the Light of the World (John 8:12: cf. Matt. 5:14). And the life in light is shewn in moral dutiesin every form of goodness and righteousness and truththe good, the right, the true.
In actionthere is need of moral discrimination (Eph. 5:10 dokimavzonte" tiv ejstin eujavreston tw'/ kurivw/ ), and of effort and carefulness in wise conduct, (15 f.) mh; wJ" a[sofoi, ajllj wJ" sovfoi ), need to understand ( sunivete ) what the will of the Lord is.
In the imperfect, transitory relations of earthly life (6:6 ff.) higher duties are involved:servants must remember ( eijdovte" ) that service is rendered to Christ, masters must remember ( eijdovte" ) that in heaven the servants' Master is their own also.
In conflict with the spiritual hosts of wickedness (6:12 f.) the Christian warrior stands having his loins girded with truth. He applies truth to life.
Religion includes thought or knowledge, as well as feeling and action. Each of these three implies, needs, and is strengthened by the other two. Knowledge in excess leads to Gnosticism or to dead orthodoxy. But realisation in thought of absolute Truth as revealed in the Incarnation is apprehension of a fact, which can be made the basis of a Science and yet is not for speculation only or for aesthetic contemplation only, but is essentially ethical.
The Sacrament of Baptism.
The rite of Baptism was connected with the work of Messiah by the prophets Ezekiel and Zechariah.
Ezek. 36:25 f.: And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the