Part 1372

3:11. According to the eternal purpose which he made in Christ Jesus our Lord:

3:12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

3:13. Wherefore I pray you not to faint at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

3:14. For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

3:15. Of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named:

All paternity.... Or, the whole family. God is the Father, both of angels and men; whosoever besides is named father, is so named with subordination to him.

3:16. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened by his Spirit with might unto the inward man:

3:17. That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts: that, being rooted and founded in charity,

3:18. You may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

3:19. To know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge: that you may be filled unto all the fulness of God.

3:20. Now to him who is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand, according to the power that worketh in us:

3:21. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, unto all generations, world without end. Amen.

Ephesians Chapter 4

He exhorts them to unity, to put on the new man, and to fly sin.

4:1. I therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called:

4:2. With all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity.

4:3. Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4:4. One body and one Spirit: as you are called in one hope of your calling.

4:5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

4:6. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.

4:7. But to every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the giving of Christ.

4:8. Wherefore he saith: Ascending on high, he led captivity captive: he gave gifts to men.

4:9. Now that he ascended, what is it, but because he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

4:10. He that descended is the same also that ascended above all the heavens: that he might fill all things.

4:11. And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors:

Gave some apostles—Until we all meet, etc.... Here it is plainly expressed, that Christ has left in his church a perpetual succession of orthodox pastors and teachers, to preserve the faithful in unity and truth.

4:12. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

4:13. Until we all meet into the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ: