Ephesians 1:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He did this, he says, according to the riches of His grace. Notice these intensified expressions: we have been given riches, and God's riches, the riches of grace. Not simply grace, but grace "which He made to abound toward us," that is, which He poured out superabundantly.

"In all wisdom and understanding."

That is, He poured out grace upon us in order that, having made us wise and understanding, He might tell us "the mystery of His will." By saying "to tell us the mystery of His will," it is as if he said: He opened to us the mysteries of His heart.

Or it may be taken this way: "to show us the mystery in all wisdom and understanding," that is, the depth of all wisdom and understanding. For to count enemies, and contemptible ones at that, worthy of such great blessings, and this at the end of times and through the Cross, is this not the work of great wisdom?

"According to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him."

He did this as He willed, as He "purposed beforehand" and predestined in Him, that is, in Christ.

"In Christ according to the flesh, God established one Head for all, for angels and men. That is, He gave one supreme principle to angels and men: to the one, Christ according to the flesh; to the other, God the Word" (Chrysostom).

"By the divine economy of Christ the Master, human nature is restored and clothed in incorruption, and the ranks of the invisible powers will abide in joy" (blessed Theodoret).

"But the full recapitulation of all things will be accomplished, or will appear in power and glory, at the end of the ages. Now it has only been set forth in the Person of the Lord and appointed here in the course of the events of the world and humanity until the end of the world.

The Apostle's mind was full of the contemplation of this recapitulation in Christ. His rapture at this contemplation moved him to write this epistle. To it, as to the final boundary, he brings every discourse" (Bishop Theophan).

After this our holy father adds with feeling: "It is impossible to express in words what has been done with us and for us. Wealth has been granted to us, immeasurable wealth, not human but divine. Speech is utterly powerless to declare it."

In what did this abounding consist? "In all wisdom and understanding." That is, "in this, that He made us wise and understanding in true wisdom and true understanding" (Saint Chrysostom).

By these words one may understand in general the whole divine revelation, everything the Lord was pleased to reveal to us about creation, providence, redemption, and future hopes (Blessed Jerome). The abounding of grace in this may be expressed in this way: behold what has been done for you. Believe; here is grace for you, here are the rules of life. Live in this way according to faith, with the help of grace, and you will be saved. But do not inquire into what things are, how they happen, and what will be. That is not your concern.

We would have been saved even so. But God was pleased to make this grace abound by enlightening our mind with clear concepts of everything, from the beginning to the last days of the age and to eternity itself. He has told us everything clearly and definitely. We do not walk in darkness like others, but in the light of divine understanding.

Ambrosiaster writes that wisdom and understanding are an addition to grace. "To the enumerated blessings, that is, holiness, adoption as sons, and redemption, there is added the gift of wisdom and understanding in spiritual things." He could have left us to walk in the dim light of faith. Yet the light of knowledge has been given to us about all things, and especially about how to save our soul and how it is saved as it passes through the various stages of spiritual perfection. This may be counted as the excess of grace.

Yet it is better, understanding the abounding of grace to mean that not only grace is communicated to us from above, but also knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, to understand by this not the whole field of knowledge communicated to us, but only its expansion. Knowledge of God and divine things is necessary for those being saved. Therefore it is not an excess of grace, but a necessary part of it.

When God resolved to save us by His grace, the gift of knowledge, or revelation for the enlightenment of the mind, had to enter into this decree. Yet in the field of knowledge there are matters which must be known as conditions of salvation. There may also be matters communicated only for the fullness of knowledge, as though for the adornment or completion of the house of wisdom represented by divine revelation.

All divine knowledge is immeasurable. God has revealed to us the smallest part of it, the part most necessary, concerning Himself and His works. But He did not limit Himself to what was necessary. He also said what must be counted as the abounding of His grace toward us.

What is this precisely? It is what is spoken of next: the recapitulation of all things in Christ Jesus. The Apostle's mind was full of the contemplation of this. Rapture at this contemplation moved him to write the epistle itself. To this, as to the final limit, he brings every discourse.