Three Books of Commentaries on the Epistle to the Ephesians by Saint Jerome of Stridon, Priest
Latin Text from public domain Migne Editors, Patrologiae Cursus Completus.
Translated into English using ChatGPT.
Table of Contents
The First Book: Prologue
If there is anything, Paula and Eustochium, which holds the wise man in this life, and persuades him to remain with an equal mind amid the pressures and whirlpools of the world, I consider it to be first and foremost, meditation and knowledge of the Scriptures. For whereas we differ from other animals chiefly in that we are rational and able to speak, all reason and speech is contained in the divine books, by which we learn both God and the reason for our creation. I am amazed that some have arisen who either, giving themselves over to idleness and sleep, do not wish to learn those things which are excellent, or who think that those who have this desire for knowledge should be censured. Although I could respond more severely to them and dismiss them briefly either as offended or as placated, I will say that it is much better to read the Scriptures than to strive after the increase and accumulation of wealth. I would assert, even before an unjust judge, that my leisure pleases me and that solitude seems more delightful than any social interaction. And just as I do not criticize or condemn what they do, so they ought to grant me my foolishness. I am not very eloquent, what do you say? Read someone more skilled. I do not translate Greek into Latin as I ought, but if you have knowledge of the same language, read the Greeks; or if you are only a Latinist, do not judge this free gift, and, as the common proverb has it: 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.' Do I drag you into court with a writ of summons because you do not write to me (perhaps you may have read)? Let the less learned read me: perhaps if you write what you say, Tullius will admire it. Did Tertullian stop the blessed martyr Cyprian, or did Cyprian deter Lactantius, or did Lactantius stop Hilary from writing? I am silent about other triflers who chatter with me in their books. Even if they are small, they cannot stand out if they are not preceded by the second and third. We do not climb to the top unless we step on the bottom. Therefore, I beg you, who are present now, as well as holy Marcella, the unique example of widowhood, not to easily hand over my work to slanderers and enviers: neither give what is holy to dogs, nor throw pearls before swine (Matthew 7). They envy what they cannot imitate well, and consider themselves learned and educated if they speak ill of others. I beg you to answer them, so that they themselves may fix their style, connect three words as they say, sweat a little, test themselves, and learn from their own labor to forgive those who labor. You yourselves know that you have forced me, unwilling and reluctant, to this work of explanations. Not that I have ever stopped reading or asking learned men what I did not know since my youth, and only considered myself a teacher like many others. Finally, I recently went to Alexandria for this very reason, to see Didymus and to inquire of him about all the Scriptures that I had doubts about. But while it is one thing to compose one's own books, for example, on greed, faith, virginity, widows, and to join secular eloquence with testimonies from the Scriptures sought here and there, and to display pompous language in common places, it is another thing to enter into the sense of the prophet and apostle, to understand why they wrote, how they established their own opinions, what is peculiar to the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Tyrians, Philistines, Egyptians, and Assyrians in the Old Law, and what we have in our hands now in the New Testament to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Thessalonians, Hebrews, Colossians, and the letter we now have to the Ephesians. For it is necessary that according to the diversities of places and times, and of the people to whom they were written, they should have different causes, arguments, and origins. And just as blessed John in his Apocalypse writes to the seven churches and in each one of them reproves specific vices or approves virtues, so too does the holy apostle Paul, through each church, heal the wounds inflicted, and does not, like an unskilled doctor, want to cure all eyes with one ointment. And because we have already expressed our thoughts on the Galatians a few days ago, as you requested, now it is necessary to move on to the Ephesians, both in terms of order and meaning. And by "middle" I do not mean that it is greater than the first and last, but just as the heart is in the middle of the body, so you may understand how many difficulties and profound questions are involved in this. Paul was writing to the Ephesians, who worshipped not the huntress Diana who holds a bow and is dressed for the chase, but the many-breasted one whom the Greeks call "Polymastia", so that even from her image they lied and said that she was the nurse of all animals and living beings. But it was written to the metropolis city of Asia, in which idolatry and, as always follows idolatry, the tricks of magical arts flourished so much that Demetrius said, 'and the great temple of the goddess Diana will be regarded as nothing, and its magnificence will be destroyed, which all Asia and the whole world worships' (Acts 19:27). Finally, the Apostle stayed there for three years, preaching the Gospel of God day and night, so that with the destruction of the stronghold of idolatry, it would be easy to capture the temples of smaller cities. Scripture itself confirms this, as Paul speaks to the Ephesians, saying: "Therefore, watch, remembering that for three years I did not cease, night or day, to admonish each one of you with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified" (Acts 20:31-32). For they needed the Apostle's recommendation to God, whom the error of demons had held for so long, and they knew that there were some spiritual powers, and in entrails, and in auspices, and in divinations they recognized a certain likeness of divinity. Therefore, he speaks to them again: "Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all. For I have not failed to proclaim to you the whole will of God." And in another place: "How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house" (Acts 20:20). He had read in Ezekiel (Ibid., 26, 27) that the watchman who did not announce the coming of the enemy to the people would have the blood of the citizens required from his hands. Therefore, he recalled having announced to them all the will of God and everything that would be useful to them, so that he would be free from their blood. And in order for you to know that those who had believed in Ephesus had been bound by the deceptive tricks of the demons and the arts of magic, it is repeated in the same Acts of the Apostles and it is said: "Moreover, many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. They calculated the value of them and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to spread and prevail mightily" (Acts 19:19-20). We have repeated all this to show why the Apostle in this letter, or rather in this particular Epistle, has piled up obscure meanings and mysteries unknown to ages, and has taught about the power of holy and opposing virtues, about who the demons are, what they are capable of, what they were before, and how they were destroyed after the coming of Christ. Concerning whom he says: "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places" (Ephesians 6:12). And in another place: "But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries" (1 Corinthians 16:8-9). He stayed at Ephesus until Pentecost, a time of joy and victory, where we do not bend our knees or bow to the ground, but rising up with the Lord we are lifted up to the heights of heaven. And he remained: because the door was open to him, and not a small door, but a great one, so that having bound the strong one and overcome him, he could invade his house, plunder it, overturn it, and lead captive captivity (Matth. 12): who, gathering together the ranks of his companions, fought against the Apostle with all his might, and was defeated. And who the Ephesians were is proven especially by this, that just as John, about to relate the mystery of the ancient nativity of the Lord, reclined on His breast and drank from the purest fountain a stream of teachings (John 13 and 21), so these [Ephesians], falling upon Paul's neck as he was departing, indicated with their kisses and embraces that they possessed one treasury of knowledge with him, and bore witness to their longing for their teacher with tears. I also remind you in the preface that Origen wrote three volumes on this Epistle, whom we have followed in part. Apollinaris and Didymus also wrote some commentaries, from which we have gleaned a few things and added or subtracted some that seemed to us appropriate, so that the reader may immediately recognize at the beginning whether this work is ours or someone else's.
1:1
"Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God." If the preposition "by" indicates the ministry of the one through whom things are done, it seems to me that this meaning is in agreement with the statement: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them" (John 6:44). And so it will be that the statement in John's Gospel: "All things were made through him" (John 1:3) does not diminish our Lord Jesus Christ, as if he were inferior to the Father because he obeys the Father's will. Similarly, it does not diminish the Father that Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ is so by the will of God. Others, however, understand this passage to mean that Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God who is Christ, so that just as wisdom and the Word, and the power of God, and truth and resurrection, and the way are referred to as Christ, so too is the will. Some believe it makes no difference whether it is "by the will of God" or "according to the will of God" because the Apostle uses these prepositions interchangeably, and "by the will of God" means the same thing as "according to the will of God" would mean.
"To all the saints who are at Ephesus." Some, more curious than necessary, think that because it was said to Moses, "Say this to the children of Israel: 'I Am has sent me to you'" (Exod. 3:14), even those who are saints and faithful in Ephesus were called by the term of essence. Just as from the holy come the holy, from the just come the just, and from the wise come the wise, so from Him who is come those who are, and according to the same Apostle, God chose things that were not in order to destroy things that are. They also explained the Scripture that was brought up as testimony in this way: that we should understand the destruction of things that are from the consequents, "so that no flesh may boast in the presence of God" (1 Cor. 1:29). For if someone, they say, by progressing from what was not to what is, does not give grace to the giver but thinks that what exists is due to their own merit and virtue, then as soon as it exists, it is destroyed and begins to be what it was not. Others, however, simply believe that the writing refers not to those who exist but to those who are holy and faithful in Ephesus.
"And to the faithful in Christ Jesus." For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband (1 Corinthians 7:14). And there are also holy vessels, and dumb beasts that are sacrificed to God in the temple (Numbers 4 and 31): therefore, those whom he called holy, he also called faithful, because faith comes from our own mental choice, but sanctification is sometimes received by us as a gift from the one who sanctifies, without our will. And when he says "faithful in Christ Jesus," this is emphasized as a careful distinction. For there are many who are faithful, but not in Christ Jesus. If someone returns a deposit, or does not deny something entrusted to them, they should show themselves to be a faithful friend: they should be ready to sacrifice their life rather than their faith, as we read of some philosophers (and not to give them too much credit, a prostitute in Athens also did so). This person is faithful, but not in Christ Jesus.
1:2
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Whether both grace and peace are meant for both, that is, both to God the Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ, or whether each one is to be referred to individually, so that grace is for God the Father and peace is for Christ. For immediately following this, it says: "To the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He has made us accepted in the Beloved," so that it is by the grace of the Father that He deigned to send His Son for our salvation, and by the peace of the Son that we have been reconciled to the Father through Him, and by breaking down the middle wall of partition in His flesh, making both one.
1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. According to his substance and nature, God, who is good, has made us good by sharing in his communion and speaks to Israel, saying, 'Be holy, for I am holy' (Leviticus 20:7); and so may he, who is blessed, make us blessed. For the lawgiver gives blessings, and the Lord's blessing is upon the head of the righteous (Proverbs 10), whose name 'Baruch' in our language means 'blessed'. And he has blessed us, not with a single blessing, but with all blessings. Not that we all attain all things, but that while we individually possess one or some or many of all things, we all possess all things through them individually. And not with earthly blessings, but with spiritual ones. For earthly blessings include having children, being wealthy, enjoying honor and health, which are earthly blessings that extend even to irrational beasts. For it is said of them: 'And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:22).' But spiritual blessings are in the heavenly realm, because the earthly realm cannot contain spiritual blessings. For example, the blessings that are promised to those who keep God's commandments in Leviticus 26, such as lending to foreign nations, having full storehouses of grain, being blessed in cities and in the fields, and other similar blessings, we will not see fulfilled in the prophets, as we see fulfilled in people who wandered in sheepskins and goatskins, in poverty, in distress, in desolate mountains, in caves and in rocky crevices, avoiding the attacks of persecutors (Hebrews 11). Therefore, all things must be understood spiritually, and spiritual blessings must be expected not in earthly places but in heavenly ones. However, it is questioned how He has blessed us with heavenly blessings while we are still on earth, as it is written, "who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 1:3) It seems that it has already been done in the past, not promised for the future, i.e., He has blessed, not He will bless. Either because our conversation is in heaven, and we are not of this world; but having put off the image of the earthly, we bear the image of the heavenly; and we do not live in the flesh but in the spirit, and we treasure up for ourselves in heaven where our heart is, we are now said to be blessed with heavenly blessings; or certainly because all spiritual blessings are counted as heavenly in Christ, even if they are on earth. He says, "He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." This refers to God's word, wisdom, truth, and other virtues. It can be read in two ways: "Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," so that God, the creator of all things, is blessed and distinguished in this way, and then it follows: "who is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," or it can be read as "God and Father," referring to our Lord in a common way. God is blessed, who took on human form, and His Father is blessed, who was the Word of God in the beginning. This is not to say that one man was assumed and another was the word that was assumed, but that one and the same person is proclaimed in different ways, sometimes exalted and sometimes humble, depending on the circumstances.
1:4
"As he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him." In Greek, it is written for the foundation of the world, πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου; not the same as καταβολή, which means "constitution". Therefore, because of the poverty of language and the novelty of the matter, and as some say that the Greek language is broader and more felicitous, we will try not so much to translate the word for word, which is impossible, as to explain the force of the word by a certain circumlocution. Καταβολὴ is properly said when someone is thrown down and put into a lower place from a high one, or when something takes its beginning. Hence those who first lay the foundations of future buildings are said to have καταβεβληκέναι, that is, to have laid the beginnings of the foundations downward. Therefore, Paul, wishing to show that God had devised everything out of nothing, referred to him not as "condition," "creature," or "work," but as καταβολὴ, that is, "the beginning of the foundation," so that nothing, as according to Manichaeus and other heresies (which posit a creator and matter), preceded creatures from which creatures were made, but all things existed from nothing. That we are chosen, to be holy and blameless before him, that is, before God, before the creation of the world, belongs to God's foreknowledge; for whom all things future have already been made, and all things are known before they are made. Just as Paul himself is predestined in his mother's womb, and Jeremiah is sanctified in the womb (Jeremiah 1), he is chosen, strengthened, and sent as a prophet to the Gentiles in the type of Christ. But another who tries to show that God is just, that he does not choose each one from his own preconceived knowledge but from the merit of the elect, says that there were once invisible creatures before visible creatures, heaven, earth, seas, and everything within them, in which even souls, which for some reasons known only to God, were cast down into this valley of tears, into a place of affliction and pilgrimage, in which the holy man prayed to be returned to his former abode, saying: "Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants" (Ps. 120:5). And in another place: "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" And: "It is better to return and be with Christ." And elsewhere: "Before I was humbled I sinned" (Ps. 118:67), and so on. Therefore, before the souls, they say, were cast down into the world, and the world was made from the souls with their inhabitants, God chose Paul and others like him before him who were holy and blameless. But no one is chosen from among many: and where there are some who are of lower status, that is where the choice is made. However, just as in the captivity of Babylon, when the people were taken by Nebuchadnezzar to Chaldea, the prophets Ezekiel, Daniel, three boys, Haggai, and Zechariah were sent, not because they deserved captivity, but to be a consolation to the captives, so too in this world's downfall, those who were chosen by God before the world was made were sent to instruct and teach the souls of sinners, so that they would return to the place from which they had fallen. And this is what is said by Moses in the eighty-ninth Psalm: "Lord, you have been our refuge from generation to generation: before the mountains were formed, before the earth and the world were made" (Psalm 89:1). That is, that before the world was made and the whole generation had its beginning, God was a refuge to his saints. And what he says, "that we might be holy and immaculate before him," between holy and immaculate there is this difference, that holy and immaculate can also be understood as immaculate but not immediately holy. "For young children are indeed immaculate, because they have not committed any sin with their whole body; and yet they are not holy, because holiness is compared to will and effort. And he who can be called immaculate is one who has not committed any sins, but he who is holy is one who is full of virtues, according to what is written in a certain psalm: 'He who walks without blemish and works justice' (Ps. 14:2). And in the Song of Songs: 'You are all beautiful, my love, and there is no blemish in you' (Song 4:7). It is asked how someone can be holy and immaculate before God, when the prophet testifies, saying: 'All the living will not be justified in your sight' (Ps. 143:2). Either the saints and the immaculate are before God in Ephesus, and what is said, 'All the living will not be justified in your sight' is false, or if no one is justified in the sight of God, it is false that the saints and the immaculate are before God, to which there are two possible answers. For Paul does not say, 'He chose us before the constitution of the world, when we were holy and immaculate,' but he chose us so that we might be holy and immaculate, that is, we were not holy and immaculate before, but we would be afterwards." That can also be said of sinners who have turned to better things, and that statement will stand: 'In your sight, no living being will be justified,' that is, throughout their entire life, during all the time they have lived in this world. Indeed, it is understood in this way, and it is opposed to those who claim that before the world was made, souls were chosen for their holiness and had no sin. For, as we have already said, Paul and those like him were not chosen because they were holy and immaculate, but they were chosen and predestined to become holy and immaculate through their actions and virtues in subsequent life. Furthermore, it should be understood in this way because he did not say, 'No one living in your sight will be justified,' but rather, 'every living being,' that is, not all will be justified, but some will be justified.
1:5
"In love predestining us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ in himself." It can be read in two ways: either with love connected to the preceding or succeeding clauses. With the preceding it is read as follows: "that we might be holy and without blemish before him in love," and after that follows: "predestining us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ in himself." With the succeeding, however, it is read thus: "in love predestining us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ in himself." Latin does not explain the difference between the Greek terms προορίσας and ὁρισθέντος. The former expression refers to those who did not exist before and upon whom thought was first cast and who thereafter existed. The latter expression refers to that which neither thought nor will preceeded but which always was and which never had a beginning. Accordingly, the term "predestined" is correctly used in speaking of those who, though they were not, later existed. Concerning the Son, that is, concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, it is written elsewhere "determined" because he always existed with the Father and because no parental will preceded him before he existed. From this it is deduced that the Father always was the Son and that in those in whom eternity is coeternal, there is the same nature. It must also be inferred that although God predestines or defines us to be his sons through Jesus Christ, we cannot become sons until we have received faith in and understanding of his son Jesus Christ. He is a Son by nature; we, by adoption. He never was not a Son; we were predestined before we came into being and then received the spirit of adoption when we believed in the Son of God.
"According to the pleasure of his will." The word "euodokian," which is translated in Latin as "placitum," is composed of two parts in Greek, derived from "eu" meaning "well" and "dokein" meaning "to think" or "to please." Together, they form the term "beneplacitum" or "well-pleased." This term is used only when what has pleased is commendable. The Septuagint translators rendered the Hebrew term "Reson" in this passage into Greek, creating a new word. Some use this passage to suggest that before the creation of the world, souls were present in heavenly Jerusalem among the angels and other heavenly powers. This idea cannot be consistent with the well-pleased will of God, or with God's praise, glory, and grace, if some souls were born poor, barbaric, servile, or weak, while others were born wealthy, Roman, free, healthy, and of different social status. Thus, it must be understood that each soul is born with different merits. The same sense may be found in the passage from Romans, "Does not the potter have power over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?" (Romans 9:21). If we do not believe in God's future judgment, then our actions, whether they be good or bad, hard or easy, in this world, are done in vain. Likewise, the diversity of those born into this world should indicate God's righteousness, unless the souls' merits have come first. If we do not accept this, it will not be in line with God's well-pleased will, nor with God's praise, glory, and grace. God predestined some to be holy and blameless, and to receive adoption through Jesus Christ before the creation of the world, while others were destined for eternal punishment.
1:6
To the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He has made us acceptable in His beloved Son. This, they say, is the praise of the glory of God's grace—to make some people pleasing to Him in Christ, and to prepare others for eternal punishment: to love Jacob before he was even born, and to hate Esau before he had done anything worthy of hate, unless there were causes preceding that prove the justice of God? Therefore, all grace that we receive in glory, and His praise who has justified us ("Al." gratified) in His beloved, that is, in our Lord and Savior, is completed: because without wisdom, truth, justice, peace, redemption, and other virtues, no good can be understood. Nor is it to be believed that what is written in the Latin codices is "in His beloved Son," but simply "in the beloved"; and if anything had been added, such as "the beloved of God," or "the beloved of the Father", it would have been a simple understanding, and it is widely held that our Lord Jesus Christ was loved by the Father; but we would not grant anything great to the property of the Son if He were loved so much as the others. For it is said to God ("Al." Him): "For You love all things that are, and hate none of the things which You have made; for You did not appoint or make anything that, hating it, You would reject it" (Wisdom 11:24). Or if the opposite were said, "in which He made us acceptable in His beloved above all," all doubt would be removed, because we know that the patriarchs, prophets, and all of the holy men were beloved by God. But as He has spoken absolutely, saying "in the beloved," it seems to me to be understood by implication, "by all." For if Christ, as we have often said, is wisdom, justice, peace, joy, self-control, and the rest, these names of virtues are also loved by those who cannot follow them, and no one is so openly wicked that he does not say he loves wisdom and justice. Therefore, just as there is a consensus that the substance of God is divine and can hardly be understood by anyone's faculties, but each individual errs when they think it is such and such, so also with Christ, according to what he signifies by different virtues, all people love him, although not everyone can prove with their deeds that they love him. This is the beloved whom I believe is also signified in Isaiah: "I will sing a song to my beloved concerning His vineyard" (Isaiah 5:1); and "the vineyard has been made the beloved;" and in Psalm 28: "The Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon, and will break them like a calf of Lebanon; and He beloved as the son of the unicorns" (Psalm 28:6).
1:7
"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins." He who is captive is redeemed and, coming into enemy territory, has ceased to be under their power: so also some say that we are captives in this world and are held in the yoke of slavery by princes and powers, nor can we lift up our hands or eyes until the redeemer comes and frees us from our shackles. But who is this great and mighty person who can redeem the whole world with his own price? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, gave His own blood, and by freeing us from servitude, gave us liberty. And truly, if we believe the stories of the Gentiles, that Codrus, and Curtius, and Decii restrained the plagues of cities, famine, and war by their deaths, how much more possible is it to be judged in the Son of God that he cleansed the whole world with his blood and not just one city! But the blood of Christ is understood in two ways, either as spiritual and divine, about which He himself said: "My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" (John 6:56); and: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (Ibid., 54); or flesh and blood, which was crucified, and which was shed by the soldier's spear. According to this division, there is also diversity in the saints of his blood and flesh, so that there is one flesh that will see the salvation of God, and another flesh and blood that cannot possess the kingdom of God. Consequently, after the redemption of Christ's blood, we are said to have received the remission of sins because if we were not redeemed, our sins would be forgiven us in vain. Nor can we receive forgiveness of sins and cease to be slaves until the bloody conqueror has received the price for us.
1:8
"According to the riches of His grace which He has abundantly bestowed upon us." Whoever understands what is said: "For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves" (Ephesians 2), and the debtor of fifty and five hundred pence in the Gospel (Luke 7) who loves more, the more he is forgiven, he can know that according to His riches the grace of God has abounded towards us: especially in the Church gathered from among the Gentiles, which was alienated from the covenant and the promises of Israel, for whose offense we have obtained salvation. Is not the greatness of grace remarkable in Paul, and in the other saints, of whom it is said: "Do ye not know that we shall judge angels" (1 Corinthians 5)? and in another place: "Into which things the angels desire to look" (1 Peter 1:12): and again: "Father, I pray, that they may be one in us, as Thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee" (John 17:21). He does not render these riches of grace void in himself, who, as far as human weakness will allow, strives, labors, and contends, and with the Apostle may say: "His grace in me has not been void" (1 Corinthians 15). But he who does not remember the magnitude of the benefit, slips into worse things; in him the grace of God is rich, and yet His munificence is contracted by poverty.