Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians

In the Epistle to the Ephesians we have the most mature and sustained of all the statements of Christian doctrine which have come down to us from the hand of the great apostle. In almost all his other epistles Paul is now and again, and in some of them very frequently, carried away form the particular argument which he is pursuing, in order to deal with matter of local or temporary interest to his immediate readers. But in this epistle he goes on to utter forth uninterruptedly all that has taken possession of his own mind, in reference to those matters of faith and duty which must always be of utmost concern to the members of Christ’s body, who, while living upon earth, seek to have their conversation in heaven.

“A commentary on such an epistle ought to be exegetical,” writes Macpherson in the Preface. He deals with all questions of textual and grammatical criticism where they arise, in so far as these seem of importance in elucidating the particular and precise meaning of the passages in which they occur. Yet, he also gets at the heart and truth of the epistle. “It is the task of the expositor to make everything contribute to the elucidation of those great truths, with regard to the Christian creed and conduct, which the apostle here lays down for the instruction of those who no longer need to be fed on milk nor to be taught again what are the first principles of the oracles of God.”