The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Ephesians — Key Ideas to Explore

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Authors: Nicoll, W. Robertson (William Robertson), Sir, 1851-1923 [Editor], Findlay, George G. (George Gillanders), 1849-1919 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2012 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Bible. Ephesians -- Commentaries Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 130,777

Reading time 569 min

Text sections 16

The source record for The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Ephesians — Key Ideas to Explore measures this digital text at 130,777 words, 9 hr 29 min estimated reading time, and 16 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 20.3 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

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Source: Project Gutenberg record #39196

This editorial note examines how Findlay's commentary on Ephesians balances theological exposition with historical context, focusing on the contrast between pagan polytheism and Christian monotheism, the distribution of spiritual gifts, and the author's use of vivid rhetorical contrasts.

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WRITER AND READERS. PAGE Contrast of Galatians and Ephesians--Pauline qualities of Ephesians: intellectual, historical, theological, spiritual, ethical--The Idea of the Church--The Person of Christ--Ephesians and Colossians--Style of Ephesians--Circular Hypothesis--Epistle from Laodicea--Designation of the Readers--Faithful Brethren 3

The Apostle’s Hymn of Praise--Blessed be God!--Blessing spiritual, heavenly, Christian--In the Beginning the Election of Grace--The World and its Founder--Redemption embedded in Creation--God’s prescient Choice--Our Holiness His Purpose--Divine Adoption--Who are the Elect? 21

THE BESTOWMENT OF GRACE.

Structure of the Paragraph--Grace an Experience--Christ the Beloved--Forgiveness and its Price--The Value of Forgiveness--Wisdom a Gift of Grace--The Gospel as an intellectual Force--God’s Will the Goal of human Thought--Sonship and Heritage--The Fulness of the Times--The Christian Inventory of the Universe--Reconciliation and Reconstitution--Gathering in and Gathering out 34

THE FINAL REDEMPTION.

Mutual Inheritance--Jewish and Gentile Heirs--Uses of the Seal--The Stamp of Sanctity--Promise fulfilled and to be fulfilled--Hearing and Believing--Salvation by the Truth--Salvation for the Gentiles--Faith and the Holy Spirit--The two Redemptions--The encumbered Property--The Earnest of our consummate Life 50

FOR THE EYES OF THE HEART.

Thanksgiving for the Readers--The God of Christ, the Father of Glory--Christian Enlightenment--Seeing with the Heart--What is our Hope?--God’s Wealth in Men--The true Standard of Value--The Power of Christ’s Resurrection 65

CHAPTER i. 20--iii. 13.

WHAT GOD WROUGHT IN THE CHRIST.

Prayer and Teaching--Historical Effect of Christ’s Resurrection--The Stages of His Exaltation--Christianity without Miracles--The efficient Cause of Christianity--The perfect Resurrection--The First-begotten out of the Dead--The Risen One, the Holy One--Resurrection and Ascension--Ascension to Rule--Christ and the Angels--Christ glorified God’s Gift to the Church--Christ the Fulness of God 81

Raised with Christ--Sin is Death--Jesus Christ in a dead World--Alive in Body, dead in Spirit--Religious Difficulties--Antipathy to God--The Power of the Air--God’s Anger against Sinners--The Soul’s Awaking--Consciousness of God--Fellowship in Salvation 95

Beginning and End of God’s Plan--Mercy, Love, Kindness, Grace and Gift--Not of Works--Boasting excluded--Evangelical Assurance--In the heavenly Places--Grace a Task-master--Creation and Redemption--The apostolic Church and the coming Times 109

Wherefore remember!--Sudden and gradual Conversion--The Gentile World: Godless, hopeless, Christless--Away with the Atheists!--The double Pessimism--The Uncircumcision--Nigh in the Blood of Christ--Reunion in Guilt and in Pardon 120

THE DOUBLE RECONCILIATION.

The Jewish War--The two Parties in the Church--The Jewish Enmity typical--The new Christian Humanity--The Church in the first Century and the nineteenth--Hindrances to Unity: external, internal--The Ground of Reconciliation--Enemies of God--The Atonement of the Cross--Moral Communism--Personal Faith--The Fraternization of Mankind 131

GOD’S TEMPLE IN HUMANITY.

The Divine Occupant--The Service of Man and of God--One Temple and many Buildings--The Variety of the apostolic Church--The primitive Catholicism--Church and Dissent--Union by Approximation--Our Lord’s Prayer for Unity--The apostolic Basis--The Builder Spirit--The sure Foundation Stone 143

THE SECRET OF THE AGES.

St Paul’s Style of Composition--Christ the Mystery of God--Christ in the Old Testament--The Exploration of Christ--The Portion of the Gentiles in Israel--The Organs of the new Revelation--The unique Office and Influence of the Apostle Paul 155

EARTH TEACHING HEAVEN.

Christ the Bond of Angels and Men--Our Lord and theirs--Jesus of Nazareth the Lord of the Ages--The Reality of the Angels--Their Interest in the Church--The Peculiarity of the human Problem--The Docility of the heavenly Potentates--The angelic Standpoint--The Grandeur of Christianity inspires Courage 167

THE COMPREHENSION OF CHRIST.

Contents of St Paul’s Prayer--The Father of Angels and of Men--Strength of Spirit and of the Spirit--Christ abiding in the Heart--Christ and the Christ--Christ’s Claim on the Intellect--Neglect of Theology--Dimensions of God’s Building--Strength to grasp the Magnitude of Christianity--The true Broad Churchman 183

KNOWING THE UNKNOWABLE.

Knowledge in the Growth--Paul’s Study of the Love of Christ--Christ’s manifested Love--God’s Fulness our final Aim--The Fulness more than Love--Praise out-soaring Prayer--God’s Gifts beyond our Requests--The Divine Power immanent in Men--The Inspirer of Prayer its Fulfiller--The Union of the Church and Christ in God’s Praise--The eternal Glory 197

_THE EXHORTATION. ON CHURCH LIFE._

THE FUNDAMENTAL UNITIES.

The Prisoner in the Lord--The Foes of Church Peace: Low-mindedness, Ambition, Resentfulness--The Basis of Unity: sevenfold, threefold--One Body despite Divisions--One Spirit makes one Body--Unity of Life and Hope--One Lord in all Churches--Baptism a Sign of Christ’s Rule, the Seal of a corporate Life--The one God, and the many 213

THE MEASURE OF THE GIFT OF CHRIST.

Unity in Diversities--Christ the Administrator--The Ascension of David and of David’s Son--Height and Breadth--The Giving of Jesus--Christ’s Descent and Ascent--The Warfare of Christ--The Spoils of His Victory--The Enlistment of His Prisoners--Apostles and Prophets, Evangelists and Pastors--Paul, Augustine, Luther, Knox, Wesley--The Demands of the Future--Individual Responsibility 227

THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH.

The Aim of the Christian Ministry--A perfect Manhood--Sleight or Sport?--Junctures of Supply--Reunion in the Knowledge of the Son of God--The Stature of Christ our Standard--The Dangers of Childishness--Speculative Error--Gnosticism and Agnosticism--Conditions of Safety--Church Organization--The Framework of the Body of Christ--Its Continuity of Tissue 244

_ON CHRISTIAN MORALS._

CHAPTER iv. 17-v. 21.

THE WALK OF THE GENTILES.

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George G. Findlay's contribution to The Expositor's Bible series treats the Epistle to the Ephesians as a document of both doctrinal depth and practical unity. Rather than offering a verse-by-verse gloss, Findlay constructs extended thematic essays that move from the eternal purpose of God to the daily life of the early Christian communities. The excerpts reveal a commentator who is as interested in the religious environment of Asia Minor as in the apostle's theology, frequently contrasting the 'vulgar pantheon' of local deities with the 'one God and Father' proclaimed in Ephesians.

Polytheism as Foil

Findlay repeatedly sets Paul's monotheism against the backdrop of Greco-Asiatic paganism. In one passage he lists the local cries—'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians,' 'Aphrodité of the Pergamenes,' 'Bacchus of the Philadelphians'—to illustrate the fragmentation of religious loyalty. He describes a world where 'every office and occupation, every function in life' had its patron deity, leaving the pious 'distracted with continual fear.' This rhetorical strategy does more than provide local colour; it frames the Ephesian letter's emphasis on cosmic unity as a direct answer to a pluralistic, anxious culture. Findlay's language is concrete: he speaks of 'petty godships,' a 'swarm of motley deities,' and the 'rest for the mind' that Christian monotheism offered. The contrast is not merely theological but psychological and social.

The Shape of the Commentary

The work is structured as a series of chapters that follow the epistle's sequence but often expand into topical discussions. The table of contents shows titles such as 'The Eternal Purpose,' 'The Bestowment of Grace,' and 'The Measure of the Gift of Christ.' Each chapter begins with a quoted passage from Ephesians, then proceeds as a continuous essay. Findlay does not isolate individual verses for detailed philological analysis; instead, he builds arguments across paragraphs, linking Paul's statements to broader biblical themes. For example, in discussing Ephesians 4:7–12, he moves from the 'unities of the Church to its diversities,' emphasizing that the 'great gift of God in Christ is manifold in its distribution.' The commentary thus mirrors the epistle's own movement from cosmic scope to local application.

Rhetorical and Theological Emphases

Findlay's prose is marked by balanced antitheses and cumulative lists. He writes of God 'over all, gathering all worlds and beings under the shadow of His beneficent dominion,' and 'through all, and in all: an Omnipresence of love, righteousness and wisdom.' Such phrasing echoes the doxological tone of Ephesians itself. The commentator also highlights the epistle's intellectual dimension: the gospel is described as 'an intellectual Force,' and wisdom as 'a Gift of Grace.' This emphasis on understanding—on the 'eyes of the heart' being enlightened—suggests that Findlay reads Ephesians as a text that engages both mind and spirit. He is careful to note that the apostle 'does not merge man in humanity, nor sacrifice the individual to the community,' preserving the personal within the corporate vision.

Readers approaching Findlay's commentary should expect a work that is homiletical in tone but grounded in historical observation. The excerpts show a writer who assumes familiarity with the biblical text and moves quickly to application. Those interested in the social and religious context of the early church will find the contrasts with pagan cults particularly illuminating. The commentary rewards slow reading, as its arguments often unfold across several paragraphs before reaching a summarizing point.

I found myself returning to Findlay’s handling of spiritual gifts the other day, the way he treats them as quiet, communal threads rather than loud displays. It brought to mind, almost without effort, that other volume on the pastoral epistles, where the same gentle tension between divine inheritance and daily witness lingers. Perhaps it’s the shared heartbeat. The Expositor's Bible: The Epistles of St. Peter — Text and Context feels like a steady nod to that same careful study, a familiar shelf companion.