From: Ephesians 1:15-23
Thanksgiving. The Supremacy of Christ
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
15-23. The news the Apostle has received moves him to thanksgiving and prayer
(vv. 15-16). But he immediately returns to contemplate how wonderful it is to
know God’s goodness, and he asks God to give this gift to the readers of his let-
ter (vv. 17-19). His petition hinges on Jesus Christ, through whom God has re-
vealed his power by giving him dominion (vv. 20-21) and establishing him as head
of the Church (vv. 22-23).
15-16. St Paul’s solicitude sets a wonderful example, especially for those whose
responsibility it is to give Christian instruction to others. Like him, they should
pray for those entrusted to their care; they should thank God for their spiritual pro-
gress and ask the Holy Spirit to give them the gift of wisdom and understanding.
“Fulfill the task entrusted to you with all diligence of body and soul”, St Ignatius
of Antioch exhorts Polycarp. “Pay special attention to unity for there is nothing
more important than this. Make yourself the support of all and sundry, as the
Lord is to you. Bear lovingly with them all, as you are doing at present. Pray con-
stantly and beg for ever greater gifts of wisdom. Be watchful and always awake
in spirit. Address yourself to people personally, as is the way of God himself’
(”Letter to Polycarp”, I, 2-3).
This “faith in the Lord Jesus” is not just a matter of believing in Jesus Christ full
stop; it is a complete system of belief which is founded on Jesus Christ: those
who have received the gift of faith live in Christ, and this life in Christ means that
their faith is truly a living faith, one which expresses itself in “love towards all the
saints”. Faith makes us discover that every baptized person is a son or daughter
of God, and thus Christians’ fraternal love is a logical consequence of this insight.
17. The God whom St Paul addresses is “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ”, that
is, the God who has revealed himself through Christ and to whom Jesus himself,
as man, prays and asks for help (cf. Lk 22:42). The same God as was described
in the Old Testament as “the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob” is now de-
fined as “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ”. He is the personal God recognized
by his relationship with Christ, his Son, who as mediator of the New Covenant ob-
tains from God the Father everything he asks for. This will be our own experience
too if we are united to Christ, for he promised that “if you ask anything of the Fa-
ther, he will give it to you in my name” (Jn 16:23; 15:16).
The founder of Opus Dei reminds us that “Jesus is the way, the mediator. In him
are all things; outside of him is nothing. In Christ, taught by him, we dare to call
Almighty God ‘our Father’: he who created heaven and earth is a loving Father”
(”Christ Is Passing By”, 91).
The Apostle also calls God “the Father of glory”. The glory of God means his
greatness, his power, the infinite richness of his personality, which when it is re-
vealed inspires man with awe. Already, in the history of Israel, God revealed him-
self through his saving actions in favor of his people. Asking God to glorify his
name is the same as asking him to show himself as our Savior and to give us
his gifts. But the greatest manifestation of God’s glory, of his power, was the rai-
sing of Jesus from the dead, and the raising, with him, of the Christian (cf. Rom
6:4; 1 Cor 6:14). In this passage St Paul asks God “the Father of glory” to grant
Christians supernatural wisdom to recognize the greatness of the blessings he
has given them through his Son; that is, to acknowledge that he is their Father
and the origin of glory. By asking for a “spirit of wisdom and revelation” the Apos-
tle is seeking special gifts — on the one hand, wisdom, that gift of the Holy Spirit
which enables one to penetrate the mystery of God: “Who has learned thy coun-
sel, unless thou hast given wisdom and sent thy holy Spirit from on high?” (Wis
9:17). This wisdom which the Church has been given (cf. Eph 1:8) can be com-
municated to Christians in a special way, as a special gift or charism of the Holy
Spirit. The Apostle also asks God to give them a spirit “of revelation”, that is, the
grace of personal revelations, such as he himself (cf. 1 Cor 14:6) and other Chris-
tians (cf. 1 Cor 14:26) received. It is not a matter of revelation or recognition of
new truths, but rather of special light from the Holy Spirit so as to have a deeper
appreciation of the truth of faith, or of the will of God in a particular situation.
18-19. Along with this deeper knowledge of God, St Paul asks that Christians be
given a fuller and livelier hope, because God and hope are inseparable. He recog-
nizes the faith and charity of the faithful to whom he is writing (cf. 1:15); now he
wants hope to shine more brightly for them; he wants God to enlighten their
minds and make them realize the consequences of their election, their calling, to
be members of the holy people of God, the Church. Hope, therefore, is a gift from
God. “Hope is a supernatural virtue, infused by God into our soul, by which we
desire and expect eternal life, promised by God to his servants, and the means
necessary to obtain it” (”St Pius X Catechism”, 893).
The ground for hope lies in God’s love and power which have been manifested in
the resurrection of Christ. This same power is at work in the Christian. Because
God’s plan for our salvation is an eternal one, he who has called us will lead us
to an immortal life in heaven. The fact that God’s power is at work in us (cf. Rom
5:5) does not mean that we encounter no difficulties. St. Escriva reminds us that
“as we fight this battle, which will last until the day we die, we cannot exclude
the possibility that enemies both within and without may attack with violent force.
As if that were not enough, you may at times be assailed by the memory of your
own past errors, which may have been very many. I tell you now, in God’s name:
do not despair. Should this happen (it need not happen; nor will it usually hap-
pen), then turn it into another motive for uniting yourself more closely to the Lord,
for he has chosen you as his child and he will not abandon you. He has allowed
this trial to befall you so as to have you love him the more and discover even
more clearly his constant protection and love” (”Friends of God”, 214).
20-21. The Apostle is in awe at the marvels which God’s power has worked in
Jesus Christ. He sees Christ as the source and model of our hope. “For, just as
Christ’s life is the model and exemplar of our holiness, so is the glory and exal-
tation of Christ the form and exemplar of our glory and exaltation” (St Thomas
Aquinas, “Commentary on Eph, ad. loc”.).
As elsewhere in the New Testament (cf. Acts 7:56; Heb 1:3; 1 Pet 3:22), the
fact that the risen Christ is seated “at the right hand” of the Father means that
he shares in God’s kingly authority. The Apostle is using a comparison with
which people of his time were very familiar — that of the emperor seated on his
throne. The throne has always been the symbol of supreme authority and power.
Thus, the “St Pius V Catechism” explains that being seated at the right hand
“does not imply position or posture of body, but expresses the firm and perma-
nent possession of royal and supreme power and glory, which he received from
the Father” (I, 7, 3).
Christ’s pre-eminence is absolute: he is Lord of all creation, material as well as
spiritual, earthly as well as heavenly. “All rule and authority and power and do-
minion”: this refers to the angelic spirits (cf. note on Eph 3:10), whom the false
preachers were presenting as superior to Christ. St Paul argues against them:
Jesus Christ at his resurrection was raised by God above all created beings.
22-23. In previous letters St Paul described the Church as a body (cf. Rom 12:4f;
1 Cor 12:12ff). Here, and in Colossians 1:18, he pursues this comparison and
says that it is the body of Christ, and that Christ is its head. He returns to this
teaching elsewhere in the Captivity Epistles (cf. Col 1:18; Eph 5:23f). The image
of body and head highlights the life-giving and salvific influence of Christ on the
Church, and at the same time emphasizes his supremacy over the Church (cf.
St. Thomas Aquinas, “Commentary on Eph, ad loc.”, and also the note on Col
1:18). This fact fills Christians with joy: by joining the Church through Baptism,
they have become truly members of our Lord’s body. “No, it is not pride”, Paul
VI says, “ nor arrogance nor obstinacy nor stupidity nor folly that makes us so
sure of being living, genuine members of Christ’s body, the authentic heirs of
his Gospel” (”Ecclesiam Suam”, 33).
This image also reveals Christ’s close union with his Church and his deep love
for her: “he loved her so much”, St John of Avila observes, “that although what
normally happens is that a person raises his arm to take a blow and protect his
head, this blessed Lord, who is the head, put himself forward to receive the blow
of divine justice, and died on the Cross to give life to his body, that is, us. And
after giving us life, through penance and the sacraments, he endows us, defends
and keeps us as something so very much his own, that he is not content with
calling us his servants, friends, brethren or children: the better to show his love
and render us honor, he gives us his name. For, by means of this ineffable union
of Christ the head with the Church his body, he and we are together called
‘Christ”’ (”Audi, Filia”, chap. 84).
The Apostle also describes the Church, the body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 12:12) as
his “fullness” (cf. note on Col 1:19). What he means is that, through the Church,
Christ becomes present in and fills the entire universe and extends to it the fruits
of his redemptive activity. By being the vehicle which Christ uses to distribute his
grace to all, the Church is different from the Israel of the Old Testament: it is not
confined to a particular geographical location.
Because the Church has limitless grace, its call is addressed to all mankind: all
men are invited to attain salvation in Christ. “For many centuries now, the Church
has been spread throughout the world,” St. Escriva comments, “and it numbers
persons of all races and walks of life. But the universality of the Church does not
depend on its geographical extension, even though that is a visible sign and a mo-
tive of credibility. The Church was catholic already at Pentecost; it was born ca-
tholic from the wounded heart of Jesus, as a fire which the Holy Spirit enkindles
[...]. ‘We call it catholic’, writes St Cyril, ‘not only because it is spread through-
out the whole world, from one extreme to the other, but because in a universal
way and without defect it teaches all the dogmas which men ought to know, of
both the visible and the invisible, the celestial and the earthly. Likewise, because
it draws to true worship all types of men, those who govern and those who are
ruled, the learned and the ignorant. And finally, because it cures and makes heal-
thy all kinds of sins, whether of the soul or of the body, possessing in addition —
by whatever name it may be called — all the forms of virtue, in deeds and in words
and in every kind of spiritual gift’ (”Catechesis”, 18, 23)” (”In Love with the Church”,
9).
All grace reaches the Church through Christ. The Second Vatican Council re-
minds us: “He continually endows his body, that is, the Church, with gifts of mi-
nistries through which, by his power, we serve each other unto salvation so that,
carrying out the truth in love, we may through all things grow into him who is our
head” (”Lumen Gentium”, 7). This is why St Paul calls the Church the “body” of
Christ; and it is in this sense that it is the “fullness” (”pleroma”) of Christ — not
because it in any way fills out or completes Christ but because it is filled with
Christ, full of Christ, forming a single body with him, a single spiritual organism,
whose unifying and life-giving principle is Christ, its head. This demonstrates
Christ’s absolute supremacy; his unifying and life-giving influence extends from
God to Christ, from Christ to the Church, and from the Church to all men. It is
he in fact who fills all in all (cf. Eph 4:10; Col 1:17-19; 2:9f).
The fact that the Church is the body of Christ is a further reason why we should
love it and serve it. As Pope Pius XII wrote: “To ensure that this genuine and
whole-hearted love will reign in our hearts and grow every day, we must accus-
tom ourselves to see Christ himself in the Church. For it is indeed Christ who
lives in the Church, and through her teaches, governs and sanctifies; and it is
also Christ who manifests himself in manifold disguise in the various members
of his society” (”Mystici Corporis”, 43).
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.