Ephesians 1:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

We need it to understand that our reception of the faith is the work of God's great power and action. As He raised Christ from the dead, so He also raised us from unbelief when we were dead. Therefore he called this the immeasurable greatness of His power and the working of His mighty strength. For the prophets accomplished nothing, nor did all creation accomplish anything. Visible creation taught by its good order. Invisible creation taught through the angels who instructed and admonished. Then, unexpectedly, we received salvation. Understand the words "which He worked in Christ" as spoken of the human nature. For He who rose from the dead is Man, although He was united to God.

Then He "seated" Him. Showing the greatness of the honor, he adds, "at His right hand." He also indicates the royal palace: "in the heavenly places." Then he names the subjects: "far above every principality and authority." After listing all the known names of the invisible powers. He adds that if we do not know others now, we shall know them later in the life to come. For they are all subjected to Him. He also joined to this the prophetic testimony: "He has put all things under His feet" (Ps 8:7). The Prophet too said this of Christ as man. For he says, "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" (Ps 8:5).

As is known, they are appointed as the apostolic reading at the prayer service "at the beginning of instruction for children." By choosing and establishing such a reading for all similar occasions, Christ's Church, our universal nurturer and teacher, expresses this thought. The highest and final goal of all instruction must be the knowledge of the Lord God, nearness to Him, and the directing of the human spirit toward that unearthly realm. There true rational and blessed life awaits it in communion with the source of all knowledge, the Lord God, glorified in the Trinity. All other goals are lower and ministerial. The Church does not bless any learning or instruction that forgets this highest goal. She by no means takes it under her protection.

Concerning the naming of the Father as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed Theodoret observes: "The Apostle called one and the same Person both God and Father of Jesus Christ. He is His God as man, and His Father as God. After the Incarnation, the God-man could not fail to know Himself as man, while being also God." Concerning the naming of God as Father of glory, Bishop Theophan says that this Eastern expression means "most glorious, glory itself." Together with what precedes, it means: "The God of our Lord, most glorious, most great, boundless, and ineffable in His perfections. For the glory of God is the fullness of the divine majesty" (cf. Acts 7:2; Ps 23:7). According to Chrysostom, "The Apostle does not find a word that could fully depict the good things prepared by God. Everywhere he calls them glory, since this word signifies for us every kind of greatness." Explaining why the Apostle prayed that the Spirit of wisdom and revelation be given to the Ephesians, he says: "To understand spiritual things and see hidden things, spiritual wisdom is needed. The Spirit reveals all things and explains the very mysteries of God. The vision of the mysteries of God belongs to the Spirit alone, who searches even the depths of God (1 Cor 2:10). Neither angel, nor archangel, nor any other created power gives this gift." "Whose word, for example, can set forth the glory of which the saints will one day be deemed worthy? To understand this, the human mind truly needs grace. It needs to receive at least a single ray of spiritual light." "In conversion to the faith, divine power is needed. To awaken faith in souls is much more difficult than to raise the dead. The reason is that God wills that we ourselves should become good voluntarily. Thus the Apostle rightly sees the surpassing greatness of God's power in us who believe. When the prophets achieved nothing, and angels and archangels proved unable to help the salvation of mankind, then God Himself was pleased to appear. By this He showed that divine power is needed in conversion to the faith."

“What a weak and humiliated faith,” someone may think. So it appears outwardly, but in the spirit nothing is stronger than faith.

The feeling of such power is given to the enlightened heart. It feels power in itself, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the whole community of Christians, or in the Church of Christ.

Turning to the Lord is accomplished by a sign of God’s power, which acts impressively upon the spirit of man.

The preservation of the faithful in faith is also accomplished by the power of God, which often reveals itself visibly.

The Lord said, “No one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father is greater than all” (Jn 10:29).

The presence of a special power among Christians was initially so perceptible that it brought fear upon all who were around them.

The more this power is revealed to the heart, the stronger faith becomes. Therefore the Apostle desires the Ephesians to know this, or to come to know it more and more.

The greatness of power was revealed by God in arranging our salvation. For this the Son of God became incarnate, suffered, died on the Cross, rose, and sat at the right hand of God the Father.

For this He received all authority in heaven and on earth. For this the Holy Spirit descended and, through the Apostles, established the Church of God.

In the Church He acts unceasingly and will not cease to act until the end of the age.

The greatness of His power also appears in the conversion of people to faith in Christ the Lord.

He makes idolaters worshipers of the true God, drunkards sober, fornicators pure, the proud humble, and the wrathful meek.

He takes a coarse, fleshly, beastlike heart and makes it tender, spiritual, and angelic, says Jerome.

Saint Paul points here to this power, revealed in the ordering of salvation, in the calling to faith, and in the preservation of believers.

He prays that God would grant the Ephesians to comprehend it fully and hold it in the heart.

“Before this the Apostle mentioned what is to come, the riches of the glory of the inheritance. Now he speaks of what has already been accomplished, in order to assure us of the former by the latter.

What is this? It is that we believe. For it is truly proof of the great power of God that we, who were so wild and beastlike in character, have believed in God and philosophize about heavenly things,” say Oecumenius and Theophylact.

“The boundless greatness of His ineffable power is also shown toward us who believe. How?

He raised and made alive us whose senses had all been deadened by the passions, and whose very thought had been buried in them.

He did this by making us worthy to receive the light of faith. Truly in this is the dominion of His might.

Therefore the Apostle also prays that the Ephesians may know this by the Spirit of wisdom.

For as soon as we understand how we have been benefited, we will value the gift more highly and nourish greater gratitude toward the Benefactor,” says Photius in Oecumenius.

“To awaken faith in souls is much harder than to raise a dead man. How so? I shall try to make this clear.

Listen. Christ said to the dead man, ‘Lazarus, come forth’ (Jn 11:43), and the dead man obeyed.

Peter said to Tabitha, ‘Tabitha, arise’ (Acts 9:40), and she did not contradict.

The Lord will speak on the last day, and all will rise. They will rise with such speed that those still alive will not precede the dead.

All this will be done and completed in the shortest possible time, in the twinkling of an eye.

But it is not so in the work of conversion to faith. How, then? Listen again to what the Lord says: ‘How often would I have gathered your children, and you would not’ (Lk 13:34).

Do you now understand what is harder? For this reason the Apostle proves everything by faith.

Indeed, even by human reasoning, it is much harder to persuade man’s freedom than to create nature.

The reason is that God desires us to become good voluntarily. Therefore the Apostle rightly sees the surpassing greatness of God’s power in us who believe.

When the prophets accomplished nothing, when angels and archangels, and all visible and invisible creation, proved unable to help human salvation, then God Himself was pleased to appear.

By this He showed that divine power is needed in the work of conversion to faith,” says Chrysostom.

“According to the working of the dominion of His might.” Dominion, κρατος, in God is almighty sovereignty. Might, ισχυς, is power.

The dominion of might means strong, or almighty, sovereignty, or the sovereign power of God over all.

Working, ενεργεια, is the manifestation of this power in deeds. “According to the working of the dominion of His might” means according to the action of God’s almighty sovereignty over all.

What does Saint Paul wish to say by these words? This will be decided by what we connect them with.

If we connect them with the words immediately preceding, “in us who believe,” then we receive a thought explaining how we came to believe.

It is this: in arranging our salvation, God revealed His almighty sovereignty over all.

The knowledge of this manifestation of God’s power for our sake acts upon the heart and awakens faith.

The remembrance of it sustains faith, constantly kindling it.

The sense will be: in us who believe through the influence upon our mind and heart of His exceeding power, revealed by God in arranging our salvation.

The following verses explain precisely how this power was revealed.

If we connect these words with “what is the surpassing greatness of His power,” then we receive a thought explaining from what this greatness of power is seen.

It is seen from the action of God’s sovereign might.

The third subject which the holy Apostle prays the Ephesians may see with enlightened eyes of the heart is the knowledge of the boundless greatness of the power expended on believers.

How can they come to see this? By judging from the manifestations, or by following the manifestations of His sovereign might, “which He worked.”

This power was manifested in the Resurrection, in the seating of the Lord Jesus Christ at His right hand, and in His headship over the Church.

Oecumenius cites the words of blessed Patriarch Photius, which explain this apostolic saying in detail.

“The words ‘according to the working,’ and so forth, mean one of two things.

Either our resurrection from spiritual death and the Resurrection of Christ our God from bodily death are works of the same power and operation.

Or, by saying ‘according to the working,’ he shows the cause of our awakening, that is, the cause by which we believed and rose from spiritual death.

For the working of the might which He worked in Christ, raising Him and so forth, was the cause of our believing and rising from our former delusion.

He rose because He died. He died because He became incarnate. He became incarnate in order to adopt us to God.

All these are works of Him who raised Him from the dead. Therefore he says ‘according to the working’ in order to say, ‘because of the working of the dominion of His might.’

For by it and through it we both believe and are saved.

Or, speaking thus, he explains ‘what is the surpassing greatness of His power in us who believe’ by the fact that, having raised Christ and seated Him at His right hand, He seated our firstfruits above every Principality, Power, Authority, and Dominion.

For in this the surpassing greatness of power is truly revealed: to raise the earthly nature above the heavens and make it worshiped by the bodiless ranks.

If we understand the meaning of the apostolic saying in this way, we shall also make the whole following discourse clear.”

The last understanding is closer to the flow of the discourse.

The Apostle explains how the exceeding power of God has been revealed. He indicates how, by these manifestations as by tracks, one may ascend to seeing this power with full eyes.

Is it not the Apostle’s chief intention to fix the Ephesians’ attention on this, and to fasten their mind in contemplation of it?

He wants to convey to them what he himself contemplated.

What he contemplated he briefly sketched at the beginning, when he blessed God for every blessing in Christ.

He blessed Him for choosing us before the foundation of the world for holiness and purity, for adopting us to Himself, and especially for the wondrous summing up of all things in the Lord.

Now he expresses a strong desire that the Ephesians also enter into the same contemplation.

He asks God to open the eyes of their heart, so that they may see the high dignity of Christianity and the ineffability of the blessings prepared for believers.

He especially asks that they see the boundless power revealed in arranging our salvation.

Having mentioned such a manifestation of power, he then explains exactly how it was revealed: in the person of Jesus Christ (Eph 1:20-23), and in the person of all believers (Eph 2 and 3).