19Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners: but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the domestics of God,20Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone:21In whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord.22In whom you also are built together into an habitation of God in the Spirit.
19Now, therefore, you are no longer visitors and new arrivals. Instead, you are citizens among the saints in the household of God,20having been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and of the Prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the preeminent cornerstone.21In him, all that has been built is framed together, rising up into a holy temple in the Lord.22In him, you also have been built together into a habitation of God in the Spirit.
19Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;20And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
19Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners: but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the domestics of God,20Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone:21In whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord.22In whom you also are built together into an habitation of God in the Spirit.
19Now, therefore, you are no longer visitors and new arrivals. Instead, you are citizens among the saints in the household of God,20having been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and of the Prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the preeminent cornerstone.21In him, all that has been built is framed together, rising up into a holy temple in the Lord.22In him, you also have been built together into a habitation of God in the Spirit.
19Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;20And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
2The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands.3Day to day uttereth speech, and night to night sheweth knowledge.4There are no speeches nor languages, where their voices are not heard.5Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world.
2The heavens describe the glory of God, and the firmament announces the work of his hands.3Day proclaims the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge.4There are no speeches or conversations, where their voices are not being heard.5Their sound has gone forth through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.
2Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.3There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.4Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,5Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
2The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands.3Day to day uttereth speech, and night to night sheweth knowledge.4There are no speeches nor languages, where their voices are not heard.5Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world.
2The heavens describe the glory of God, and the firmament announces the work of his hands.3Day proclaims the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge.4There are no speeches or conversations, where their voices are not being heard.5Their sound has gone forth through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.
2Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.3There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.4Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,5Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
Verse 5 hides a famous crux. Where the Douay has "their sound hath gone forth," the Hebrew reads a word Haydock transliterates kum, which Berthier takes for "a line" and Abenezra for "a writing" — the Protestant versions print "their line," with "their rule or direction" in the margin. Paul, quoting the verse for the spread of the gospel, reads "sound," as do Symmachus, Jerome and the Syriac, and Calmet judges the Vulgate's sense preferable. Menochius, following Genebrard, offers the mechanical account: the preceding verse has kolam, "their voice," and a single letter separates the two words, easily lost or dropped by poetic licence. One consonant, then, stands between a surveyor's line stretched across the sky and a voice that will not stop talking. The verb of v. 3 leans the same way: eructat, the Latin has it — day pours out speech to day with force and abundance, not politely.
Augustine reads the whole psalm of the preaching Church. The heavens are the righteous Evangelists in whom God dwells, setting out the glory of Christ; the firmament shows the deeds of His power, made heaven by the assurance of the Holy Ghost where before it was earth by fear. "Day unto day uttereth word" is the Spirit giving the fulness of unchangeable Wisdom to the spiritual, while "night unto night announceth knowledge" is the mortality of the flesh conveying faith to those still afar off; and there is no language in which the voices of the Evangelists have not been heard, since the Gospel was preached in every tongue — the Fathers take v. 4 of the gift of tongues at Pentecost. The Haydock notes hold both registers rather than choosing: Worthington has the silent works declaring God's majesty to whoever considers them and the preachers making the same thing known by word of mouth, while Berthier keeps the figure exact — heaven for the Church, stars for apostolic men who cease not by day or night, Christ the sun of justice enlightening every man that comes into the world. Calmet enters the necessary caution: these are figurative expressions, and some have taken them grossly enough to assert that the heavens are animated.
The passage names its own opponent. Chrysostom's line is that the silence of heaven speaks louder than any trumpet, and Haydock lets a pagan press it against the learned: Cicero asked who could behold the heavens and be foolish enough not to acknowledge that a God exists. Paul's reproach in Romans 1 is aimed at philosophers who could not read the creation, and Worthington concludes that no nation, however barbarous, can plead ignorance. The modern refusal is not ignorance but a decision about genre — the sky as data, magnificent and mute, a thing to be measured rather than heard. The psalm concedes the measuring; that is what the alternative reading, the line stretched out, actually says. It denies only that measurement exhausts the utterance. Eusebius finds the wisdom of the author in the vicissitudes of day and night, and Bellarmine hears them singing God's praises in succession — one handing off to the next, a relay not once dropped since it began.
12And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray: and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God.13And when day was come, he called unto him his disciples: and he chose twelve of them (whom also he named apostles):14Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,15Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon who is called Zelotes,16And Jude the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was the traitor.
12And it happened that, in those days, he went out to a mountain to pray. And he was in the prayer of God throughout the night.13And when daylight had arrived, he called his disciples. And he chose twelve out of them (whom he also named Apostles):14Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,15Matthew and Thomas, James of Alphaeus, and Simon who is called the Zealot,16and Jude of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was a traitor.
12And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.13And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;14Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,15Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon called Zelotes,16And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
12And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray: and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God.13And when day was come, he called unto him his disciples: and he chose twelve of them (whom also he named apostles):14Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,15Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon who is called Zelotes,16And Jude the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was the traitor.
12And it happened that, in those days, he went out to a mountain to pray. And he was in the prayer of God throughout the night.13And when daylight had arrived, he called his disciples. And he chose twelve out of them (whom he also named Apostles):14Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,15Matthew and Thomas, James of Alphaeus, and Simon who is called the Zealot,16and Jude of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was a traitor.
12And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.13And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;14Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,15Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon called Zelotes,16And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
Luke gives the night its own clause before he lets the morning do any business: he passed the whole night in the prayer of God (v. 12), and only then, when day was come, are the disciples called and twelve of them chosen (v. 13). What follows is oddly formal for a Gospel — eleven names set down without comment, then a twelfth with a verdict already attached, Judas Iscariot, who was the traitor (v. 16). Cyril of Alexandria reads that precision as a guard: Luke "not only says that the holy Apostles were chosen, but he enumerates them by name, that no one should dare to insert any others in the catalogue." Theophylact adds that Peter's second name is not conferred here at all, having been given long before; Luke's whom he surnamed Peter is a reminder, not an event.
Ambrose blocks the obvious misreading of the vigil at once: do not "think that the Son of God prays from want of strength, that He may obtain what He could not perform," since He is the Author of power and prays to lead us by example. Cyril turns the example into method — go apart, unseen, worldly cares set down — and Ambrose warns that not everyone who prays ascends the mountain, "he only who prays advancing from earthly things to higher." Chrysostom is the most physical of them: at night the soul is purer, and "fire does not so destroy the rust of iron as nightly prayer the blight of sin." Lapide draws the conclusion the scene actually carries: Christ spent the night in prayer before choosing ministers, which is why the Church fasts and prays at Ember-tide before ordinations, "for as with the priest so with the people": a zealous pastor is a strength to his diocese, a slothful one "a stumbling-block and offence to believers." Haydock, following Tirinus, presses the office rather than the men — apostle means legate or ambassador, and their jurisdiction, unlike a bishop's, was "not limited to place." And then Augustine takes the whole argument somewhere uncomfortable: Judas "is chosen, not unwittingly but knowingly." A night of prayer did not screen him out. Christ accepted this share of human infirmity so that you, betrayed by a friend, "may bear calmly your mistaken judgment, your kindness thrown away."
Two errors meet here. One is the assumption that discernment done properly produces a safe result — that enough prayer, enough vetting, buys immunity from the Judas in the list; Augustine's reading forecloses it, and forecloses too the search for a Church whose founding roster was clean. The other is the credentialism Ambrose names: Christ chose neither the wise nor the rich nor the noble, but fishermen and publicans, so that men should not seem drawn to grace "by riches or by the influence of power and rank," and so that "the force of truth, not the graces of oratory, might prevail." What the passage positively asks is Chrysostom's small and exact demand — not a career of vigils, but this: "although you pray not much at night, pray once with watching, and it is enough; show that the night belongs not only to the body, but to the soul." The mountain is still dark, and the names are not chosen until it is light.
19Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners: but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the domestics of God,20Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone:21In whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord.22In whom you also are built together into an habitation of God in the Spirit.
19Now, therefore, you are no longer visitors and new arrivals. Instead, you are citizens among the saints in the household of God,20having been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and of the Prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the preeminent cornerstone.21In him, all that has been built is framed together, rising up into a holy temple in the Lord.22In him, you also have been built together into a habitation of God in the Spirit.
19Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;20And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
The Douay word for what the Ephesians have become is domestics of God (v. 19) — not guests received into the house but members of its household, people with a place and a task in it. Paul arrives at that word by first taking two others away: they are no more strangers and foreigners. Then the image shifts under him. The household becomes a building site, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone (v. 20); and by the next verse the structure is not being assembled but groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord (v. 21), framed together rather than merely stacked. A building that grows is a strange figure, and it is the one Paul leaves standing: the temple is finished by living increase, not by the last stone being set.
Calmet, quoted in Haydock, presses the negative half hard. Before their conversion these readers were "travellers and vagabonds, without a God," not knowing to whom they belonged, finding in paganism "either solid foundation or truth" — neither — and so neither hope for this life nor consolation for the next. The diagnosis is about belonging rather than morals: the pagan's ruin was not knowing whose he was. Haydock himself adds only a single sharp question at v. 20, but it is the one the verse invites: "The Church is in this place said to be built upon the apostles and prophets; why not then upon St. Peter?" The verse is often produced to show that Christ alone can be the Church's foundation, and Haydock turns it around — whoever reads it as written has already granted that a foundation may be laid on men. What is left in dispute is the extent of that concession, not its principle.
The error the passage rebukes now wears a milder face than paganism: not the vagabond without a God, but the believer who keeps his faith unattached, treating the Church as a service he may draw on and not a house he lives in. Calmet's question still finds him — to whom does he belong? Paul's answer is not that he should belong more warmly but that he should be framed together, cut to fit the stones already in place, which is a harder thing than being devout alone. A block that will not be squared to its neighbours can be perfectly sound and still carry nothing; the temple rises only where stones consent to be fitted.
2The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands.3Day to day uttereth speech, and night to night sheweth knowledge.4There are no speeches nor languages, where their voices are not heard.5Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world.
2The heavens describe the glory of God, and the firmament announces the work of his hands.3Day proclaims the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge.4There are no speeches or conversations, where their voices are not being heard.5Their sound has gone forth through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.
2Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.3There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.4Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,5Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
Verse 5 hides a famous crux. Where the Douay has "their sound hath gone forth," the Hebrew reads a word Haydock transliterates kum, which Berthier takes for "a line" and Abenezra for "a writing" — the Protestant versions print "their line," with "their rule or direction" in the margin. Paul, quoting the verse for the spread of the gospel, reads "sound," as do Symmachus, Jerome and the Syriac, and Calmet judges the Vulgate's sense preferable. Menochius, following Genebrard, offers the mechanical account: the preceding verse has kolam, "their voice," and a single letter separates the two words, easily lost or dropped by poetic licence. One consonant, then, stands between a surveyor's line stretched across the sky and a voice that will not stop talking. The verb of v. 3 leans the same way: eructat, the Latin has it — day pours out speech to day with force and abundance, not politely.
Augustine reads the whole psalm of the preaching Church. The heavens are the righteous Evangelists in whom God dwells, setting out the glory of Christ; the firmament shows the deeds of His power, made heaven by the assurance of the Holy Ghost where before it was earth by fear. "Day unto day uttereth word" is the Spirit giving the fulness of unchangeable Wisdom to the spiritual, while "night unto night announceth knowledge" is the mortality of the flesh conveying faith to those still afar off; and there is no language in which the voices of the Evangelists have not been heard, since the Gospel was preached in every tongue — the Fathers take v. 4 of the gift of tongues at Pentecost. The Haydock notes hold both registers rather than choosing: Worthington has the silent works declaring God's majesty to whoever considers them and the preachers making the same thing known by word of mouth, while Berthier keeps the figure exact — heaven for the Church, stars for apostolic men who cease not by day or night, Christ the sun of justice enlightening every man that comes into the world. Calmet enters the necessary caution: these are figurative expressions, and some have taken them grossly enough to assert that the heavens are animated.
The passage names its own opponent. Chrysostom's line is that the silence of heaven speaks louder than any trumpet, and Haydock lets a pagan press it against the learned: Cicero asked who could behold the heavens and be foolish enough not to acknowledge that a God exists. Paul's reproach in Romans 1 is aimed at philosophers who could not read the creation, and Worthington concludes that no nation, however barbarous, can plead ignorance. The modern refusal is not ignorance but a decision about genre — the sky as data, magnificent and mute, a thing to be measured rather than heard. The psalm concedes the measuring; that is what the alternative reading, the line stretched out, actually says. It denies only that measurement exhausts the utterance. Eusebius finds the wisdom of the author in the vicissitudes of day and night, and Bellarmine hears them singing God's praises in succession — one handing off to the next, a relay not once dropped since it began.
12And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray: and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God.13And when day was come, he called unto him his disciples: and he chose twelve of them (whom also he named apostles):14Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,15Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon who is called Zelotes,16And Jude the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was the traitor.
12And it happened that, in those days, he went out to a mountain to pray. And he was in the prayer of God throughout the night.13And when daylight had arrived, he called his disciples. And he chose twelve out of them (whom he also named Apostles):14Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,15Matthew and Thomas, James of Alphaeus, and Simon who is called the Zealot,16and Jude of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was a traitor.
12And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.13And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;14Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,15Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon called Zelotes,16And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
Luke gives the night its own clause before he lets the morning do any business: he passed the whole night in the prayer of God (v. 12), and only then, when day was come, are the disciples called and twelve of them chosen (v. 13). What follows is oddly formal for a Gospel — eleven names set down without comment, then a twelfth with a verdict already attached, Judas Iscariot, who was the traitor (v. 16). Cyril of Alexandria reads that precision as a guard: Luke "not only says that the holy Apostles were chosen, but he enumerates them by name, that no one should dare to insert any others in the catalogue." Theophylact adds that Peter's second name is not conferred here at all, having been given long before; Luke's whom he surnamed Peter is a reminder, not an event.
Ambrose blocks the obvious misreading of the vigil at once: do not "think that the Son of God prays from want of strength, that He may obtain what He could not perform," since He is the Author of power and prays to lead us by example. Cyril turns the example into method — go apart, unseen, worldly cares set down — and Ambrose warns that not everyone who prays ascends the mountain, "he only who prays advancing from earthly things to higher." Chrysostom is the most physical of them: at night the soul is purer, and "fire does not so destroy the rust of iron as nightly prayer the blight of sin." Lapide draws the conclusion the scene actually carries: Christ spent the night in prayer before choosing ministers, which is why the Church fasts and prays at Ember-tide before ordinations, "for as with the priest so with the people": a zealous pastor is a strength to his diocese, a slothful one "a stumbling-block and offence to believers." Haydock, following Tirinus, presses the office rather than the men — apostle means legate or ambassador, and their jurisdiction, unlike a bishop's, was "not limited to place." And then Augustine takes the whole argument somewhere uncomfortable: Judas "is chosen, not unwittingly but knowingly." A night of prayer did not screen him out. Christ accepted this share of human infirmity so that you, betrayed by a friend, "may bear calmly your mistaken judgment, your kindness thrown away."
Two errors meet here. One is the assumption that discernment done properly produces a safe result — that enough prayer, enough vetting, buys immunity from the Judas in the list; Augustine's reading forecloses it, and forecloses too the search for a Church whose founding roster was clean. The other is the credentialism Ambrose names: Christ chose neither the wise nor the rich nor the noble, but fishermen and publicans, so that men should not seem drawn to grace "by riches or by the influence of power and rank," and so that "the force of truth, not the graces of oratory, might prevail." What the passage positively asks is Chrysostom's small and exact demand — not a career of vigils, but this: "although you pray not much at night, pray once with watching, and it is enough; show that the night belongs not only to the body, but to the soul." The mountain is still dark, and the names are not chosen until it is light.
The complete public-domain commentary this reading's note draws from, unabridged. Every claim in the note traces to a passage here.
You are no longer strangers with regard to God and his holy alliance. You are no longer travellers and vagabonds, without a God, as you were before your conversion; not knowing to whom you belonged, nor finding in paganism either solid foundation or truth, neither hopes for this nor consolation for future life. But now you are become citizens of the same city as the saints, and domestics of the house of God. (Calmet)
The Church is in this place said to be built upon the apostles and prophets; why not then upon St. Peter?
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.
We have now come to the last part of the chapter, which contains an account of the great and mighty privileges that converted Jews and Gentiles both receive from Christ. The apostle here shows that those who were in a state of enmity are reconciled. Between the Jews and the Gentiles there had been a great enmity; so there is between God and every unregenerate man. Now Jesus Christ is our peace, v. 14 . He made peace by the sacrifice of himself; and came to reconcile, 1. Jews and Gentiles to each other. He made both one, by reconciling these two divisions of men, who were wont to malign, to hate, and to reproach each other before. He broke down the middle wall of partition, the ceremonial law, that made the great feud, and was the badge of the Jews' peculiarity, called the partition-wall by way of allusion to the partition in the temple, which separated the court of the Gentiles from that into which the Jews only had liberty to enter. Thus he abolished in his flesh the enmity, v. 15 . By his sufferings in the flesh, to took away the binding power of the ceremonial law (so removing that cause of enmity and distance between them), which is here called the law of commandments contained in ordinances, because it enjoined a multitude of external rites and ceremonies, and consisted of many institutions and appointments about the outward parts of divine worship. The legal ceremonies were abrogated by Christ, having their accomplishment in him. By taking these out of the way, he formed one church of believers, whether they had been Jews or Gentiles. Thus he made in himself of twain one new man. He framed both these parties into one new society, or body of God's people, uniting them to himself as their common head, they being renewed by the Holy Ghost, and now concurring in a new way of gospel worship, so making peace between these two parties, who were so much at variance before. 2. There is an enmity between God and sinners, whether Jews and Gentiles; and Christ came to slay that enmity, and to reconcile them both to God, v. 16 . Sin breeds a quarrel between God and men. Christ came to take up the quarrel, and to bring it to an end, by reconciling both Jew and Gentile, now collected and gathered into one body, to a provoked and an offended God: and this by the cross, or by the sacrifice of himself upon the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. He, being slain or sacrificed, slew the enmity that there was between God and poor sinners. The apostle proceeds to illustrate the great advantages which both parties gain by the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ, v. 17 . Christ, who purchased peace on the cross, came, partly in his own person, as to the Jews, who are here said to have been nigh, and partly in his apostles, whom he commissioned to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, who are said to have been afar off, in the sense that has been given before. And preached peace, or published the terms of reconciliation with God and of eternal life. Note here, When the messengers of Christ deliver his truths, it is in effect the same as if he did it immediately himself. He is said to preach by them, insomuch that he who receiveth them receiveth him, and he who despiseth them (acting by virtue of his commission, and delivering his message) despiseth and rejecteth Christ himself. Now the effect of this peace is the free access which both Jews and Gentiles have unto God ( v. 18 ): For through him, in his name and by virtue of his mediation, we both have access or admission into the presence of God, who has become the common reconciled Father of both: the throne of grace is erected for us to come to, and liberty of approach to that throne is allowed us. Our access is by the Holy Spirit. Christ purchased for us leave to come to God, and the Spirit gives us a heart to come and strength to come, even grace to serve God acceptably. Observe, We draw nigh to God, through Jesus Christ, by the help of the Spirit. The Ephesians, upon their conversion, having such an access to God, as well as the Jews, and by the same Spirit, the apostle tells them, Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, v. 19 . This he mentions by way of opposition to what he had observed of them in their heathenism: they were now no longer aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and no longer what the Jews were wont to account all the nations of the earth besides themselves (namely, strangers to God), but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, that is, members of the church of Christ, and having a right to all the privileges of it. Observe here, The church is compared to a city, and every converted sinner is free of it. It is also compared to a house, and every converted sinner is one of the domestics, one of the family, a servant and a child in God's house. In v. 20 the church is compared to a building. The apostles and prophets are the foundation of that building. They may be so called in a secondary sense, Christ himself being the primary foundation; but we are rather to understand it of the doctrine delivered by the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New. It follows, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone. In him both Jews and Gentiles meet, and constitute one church; and Christ supports the building by his strength: In whom all the building, fitly framed together, &c., v. 21 . All believers, of whom it consists, being united to Christ by faith, and among themselves by Christian charity, grow unto a holy temple, become a sacred society, in which there is much communion between God and his people, as in the temple, they worshipping and serving him, he manifesting himself unto them, they offering up spiritual sacrifices to God and he dispensing his blessings and favours to them. Thus the building, for the nature of it, is a temple, a holy temple; for the church is the place which God hath chosen to put his name there, and it becomes such a temple by grace and strength derived from himself— in the Lord. The universal church being built upon Christ as the foundation-stone, and united in Christ as the corner-stone, comes at length to be glorified in him as the top-stone: In whom you also are built together, &c., v. 22 . Observe, Not only the universal church is called the temple of God, but particular churches; and even every true believer is a living temple, is a habitation of God through the Spirit. God dwells in all believers now, they having become the temple of God through the operations of the blessed Spirit, and his dwelling with them now is an earnest of their dwelling together with him to eternity.
19. Now, therefore-- rather, "So then" [Alford].
foreigners-- rather, "sojourners"; opposed to "members of the household," as "strangers" is to "fellow citizens." Php 3:19 , 20 , "conversation," Greek, "citizenship."
but-- The oldest manuscripts add, "are."
with the saints-- "the commonwealth of (spiritual) Israel" ( Ep 2:12 ).
of God-- THE Father; as Jesus Christ appears in Ep 2:20 , and THE Spirit in Ep 2:22 .
20. Translate as Greek, "Built up upon," &c. (participle; having been built up upon; omit, therefore, "and are"). Compare 1Co 3:11 , 12 . The same image in Ep 3:18 , recurs in his address to the Ephesian elders ( Ac 20:32 ), and in his Epistle to Timothy at Ephesus ( 1Ti 3:15 ; 2Ti 2:19 ), naturally suggested by the splendid architecture of Diana's temple; the glory of the Christian temple is eternal and real, not mere idolatrous gaud. The image of a building is appropriate also to the Jew-Christians; as the temple at Jerusalem was the stronghold of Judaism; as Diana's temple, of paganism.
foundation of the apostles, &c.-- that is, upon their ministry and living example (compare Mt 16:18 ). Christ Himself, the only true Foundation, was the grand subject of their ministry, and spring of their life. As one with Him and His fellow workers, they, too, in a secondary sense, are called "foundations" ( Re 21:14 ). The "prophets" are joined with them closely; for the expression is here not "foundations of the apostles and the prophets," but "foundations of the apostles and prophets." For the doctrine of both was essentially one ( 1Pe 1:10 , 11 ; Re 19:10 ). The apostles take the precedency ( Lu 10:24 ). Thus he appropriately shows regard to the claims of the Jews and Gentiles: "the prophets" representing the old Jewish dispensation, "the apostles" the new. The "prophets" of the new also are included. Bengel and Alford refer the meaning solely to these ( Ep 3:5 ; 4:11 ). These passages imply, I think, that the New Testament prophets are not excluded; but the apostle's plain reference to Psa 118:22 , "the head stone of the corner," proves that the Old Testament prophets are a prominent thought. David is called a "prophet" in Ac 2:30 . Compare also Is 28:16 ; another prophet present to the mind of Paul, which prophecy leans on the earlier one of Jacob ( Ge 49:24 ). The sense of the context, too, suits this: Ye were once aliens from the commonwealth of Israel (in the time of her Old Testament prophets), but now ye are members of the true Israel, built upon the foundation of her New Testament apostles and Old Testament prophets. Paul continually identifies his teaching with that of Israel's old prophets ( Ac 26:22 ; 28:23 ). The costly foundation-stones of the temple ( 1Ki 5:17 ) typified the same truth (compare Jr 51:26 ). The same stone is at once the corner-stone and the foundation-stone on which the whole building rests. Paul supposes a stone or rock so large and so fashioned as to be both at once; supporting the whole as the foundation, and in part rising up at the extremities, so as to admit of the side walls meeting in it, and being united in it as the corner-stone [Zanchius]. As the corner-stone, it is conspicuous, as was Christ ( 1Pe 2:6 ), and coming in men's way may be stumbled over, as the Jews did at Christ ( Mt 21:42 ; 1Pe 2:7 ).
21. In whom-- as holding together the whole.
fitly framed-- so as exactly to fit together.
groweth-- "is growing" continually. Here an additional thought is added to the image; the Church has the growth of a living organism, not the mere increase of a building. Compare 1Pe 2:5 ; "lively stones ... built up a spiritual house." Compare Ep 4:16 ; Zec 6:12 , "The Branch shall build the temple of the Lord," where similarly the growth of a branch, and the building of a temple, are joined.
holy-- as being the "habitation of God" ( Ep 2:22 ). So "in the Lord" (Christ) answers to "through the Spirit" ( Ep 2:22 ; compare Ep 3:16 , 17 ). "Christ is the inclusive Head of all the building, the element in which it has its being and now its growth" [Alford].
22. are builded together-- Translate, "are being builded together."
To the end, a psalm of David himself.
1. It is a well-known title; nor does the Lord Jesus Christ say what follows, but it is said of Him.
2. "The heavens tell out the glory of God"
(ver. 1). The righteous Evangelists, in whom, as in the heavens, God dwelleth, set forth the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, or the glory wherewith the Son glorified the Father upon earth. "And the firmament showeth forth the works of His hands." And the firmament showeth forth the deeds of the Lord's power, that now made heaven by the assurance of the Holy Ghost, which before was earth by fear.
3. "Day unto day uttereth word"
(ver. 2). To the spiritual the Spirit giveth out the fulness of the unchangeable Wisdom of God, the Word which in the beginning is God with God. "And night unto night announceth knowledge." And to the fleshly, as to those afar off, the mortality of the flesh, by conveying faith, announceth future knowledge.
4. "There is no speech nor language, in which their voices are not heard"
(ver. 3). In which the voices of the Evangelists have not been heard, seeing that the Gospel was preached in every tongue.
5. "Their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world"
(ver. 4).
6. "In the sun hath He set His tabernacle." Now that He might war against the powers of temporal error, the Lord, being about to send not peace but a sword on earth, in time, or in manifestation, set so to say His military dwelling, that is, the dispensation of His incarnation. "And He as a bridegroom coming forth out of His chamber"
Firmament. Hebrew, "expansion," or region of the stars, far above our atmosphere. (Berthier) --- These two sentences express the same idea, unless the former may denote what we behold, and the firmament be explained of the higher heavens, (Haydock) where we imagine the throne of God to be placed. Some have taken these expressions in a gross sense, and asserted that the heavens are animated, Job xxxviii. 7. But we must allow that they are figurative expressions, which seem to give a soul to plants, stars, &c. (Calmet) --- The beautiful works of God extort our admiration. (Haydock) --- The silence of heaven speaks louder than any trumpet. (St. Chrysostom) --- "Who can behold the heavens, and yet be so foolish as not to acknowledge that a God exists? said Cicero, (Haydock) a learned pagan; (Arusp. and Nat. Deo. 2.; Calmet) though they cannot determine of what nature the Deity may be. (Leg. i.; Menochius) --- Hands. Chaldean, "Those who look up at the heavens, publish the glory of the Lord; and those who raise their eyes towards the air, announce his works." (Calmet) --- The silent works declare God's Majesty to those who consider them, and his preachers make the same known to their hearers by word of mouth. (Worthington) --- St. Paul reproaches the philosophers of paganism for not understanding the language of the creation, Romans i. 20., and Job xii. 7. (Haydock) --- The Church, which is so often styled the kingdom of heaven, makes God known, not only as a Creator, but also as a Redeemer. The figure is here most beautifully preserved. Heaven denotes the Church, as the stars represent apostolic men, who cease not to perform their duties day or night, in happier days as well as under persecution. Jesus Christ is the true sun of justice, enlightening every man that cometh into the world, (St. John i.) --- The Fathers have made these remarks. (Berthier) --- What a consolation must it be for Catholics to think that the true doctrine will never cease, no more than the succession of day and night! We have received our creed, our orders and mission, from the apostles. The chain of succession has never been broken. Unhappy those who make a religion of their own to damn souls! who run, though God send them not! (Haydock)
Utterth, with great force and abundance, eructat. --- Knowledge of God. (Berthier) --- Our knowledge is always on the increase. (Abenezra) --- The vicissitudes of day and night prove the wisdom of their author. (Eusebius) --- They seem to sing in succession the praises of God. (Bellarmine) --- This evinces the power of God, as the perpetual propagation of the gospel does that of Jesus Christ, whose Church will last till the end. (Worthington) --- All the chief reformers acknowledged that there was no salvation out of the one true Church, and that the Church of Rome is such. (Nightingale, p. 263.) (Haydock)
There. Symmachus joins this with the preceding. "Will announce knowledge. Not by words or speeches, the sounds of which are not heard," so as to be understood. (Haydock) --- "They are not languages or words, the signification of which is unknown;" or Hebrew, "never has their voice been heard." Beli, "not," may also signify absque, "without;" and thus we may render, "no speeches, (or country) where their voice has not been heard." (Berthier) --- The sight of the heavens is sufficient to convince any one of the existence of God. (Haydock) --- No nation, however barbarous, can plead ignorance. The Fathers have explained this of the gift of tongues, by means of which the apostles spoke languages which they had not studied, Acts ii. 4. (St. Augustine, &c.) --- Some of every nation have heard, (Worthington) or will embrace, (Haydock) the Christian religion. (Worthington)
Sound. So, St. Paul reads this text, though the Hebrew have, "line." Yet there is no reason why we should suppose that the Septuagint read differently, or that the Jews have corrupted their copies, as t hey could derive no advantage from so doing (Berthier) here, unless it were to discredit the apostle; as infidels assert the truth of the Old Testament, to vilify the new. Kum (Haydock) may signify a "line," (Berthier) or "writing." (Abenezra) --- The greatest exactitude has been observed in forming the world, as if all had been measured by an architect. But the sense of the Vulgate is preferable, and is adopted by Symmachus, St. Jerome, and the Syriac. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "their line." Marginal note, "their rule or direction." Kolam, "their voice," occurs in the preceding verse. The l might easily be lost, (Haydock) or omitted by a poetical licence. (Genebrard.) (Menochius) --- Their, refers to the heavens representing the apostles, as St. Paul explains this text, to prove that all were inexcusable who would not believe the gospel. (Berthier)
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork. 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist, in these verses, leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God, whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens, the structure and beauty of them, and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies. This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists, who see there is a heaven and yet say, "There is no God," who see the effect and yet say, "There is no cause," but to show the folly of idolaters also, and the vanity of their imagination, who, though the heavens declare the glory of God, yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only, the Father of lights. Now observe here,
1. What that is which the creatures notify to us. They are in many ways useful and serviceable to us, but in nothing so much as in this, that they declare the glory of God, by showing his handy-works, v. 1 . They plainly speak themselves to be God's handy-works; for they could not exist from eternity; all succession and motion must have had a beginning; they could not make themselves, that is a contradiction; they could not be produced by a casual hit of atoms, that is an absurdity, fit rather to be bantered than reasoned with: therefore they must have a Creator, who can be no other than an eternal mind, infinitely wise, powerful, and good. Thus it appears they are God's works, the works of his fingers ( Ps. viii. 3 ), and therefore they declare his glory. From the excellency of the work we may easily infer the infinite perfection of its great author. From the brightness of the heavens we may collect that the Creator is light; their vastness of extent bespeaks his immensity, their height his transcendency and sovereignty, their influence upon this earth his dominion, and providence, and universal beneficence: and all declare his almighty power, by which they were at first made, and continue to this day according to the ordinances that were then settled.
II. What are some of those things which notify this? 1. The heavens and the firmament—the vast expanse of air and ether, and the spheres of the planets and fixed stars. Man has this advantage above the beasts, in the structure of his body, that whereas they are made to look downwards, as their spirits must go, he is made erect, to look upwards, because upwards his spirit must shortly go and his thoughts should now rise. 2. The constant and regular succession of day and night ( v. 2 ): Day unto day, and night unto night, speak the glory of that God who first divided between the light and the darkness, and has, from the beginning to this day, preserved that established order without variation, according to God's covenant with Noah ( Gen. viii. 22 ), that, while the earth remains, day and night shall not cease, to which covenant of providence the covenant of grace is compared for its stability, Jer. xxxiii. 20 ; xxxi. 35 . The counterchanging of day and night, in so exact a method, is a great instance of the power of God, and calls us to observe that, as in the kingdom of nature, so in that of providence, he forms the light and creates the darkness ( Isa. xlv. 7 ), and sets the one over-against the other. It is likewise an instance of his goodness to man; for he makes the out-goings of the morning and evening to rejoice, Ps. lxv. 8 . He not only glorifies himself, but gratifies us, by this constant revolution; for as the light of the morning befriends the business of the day, so the shadows of the evening befriend the repose of the night; every day and every night speak the goodness of God, and, when they have finished their testimony, leave it to the next day, to the next night, to stay the same. 3. The light and influence of the sun do, in a special manner, declare the glory of God; for of all the heavenly bodies that is the most conspicuous in itself and most useful to this lower world, which would be all dungeon, and all desert, without it. It is not an improbable conjecture that David penned this psalm when he had the rising sun in view, and from the brightness of it took occasion to declare the glory of God. Concerning the sun observe here, (1.) The place appointed him. In the heavens God has set a tabernacle for the sun. The heavenly bodies are called hosts of heaven, and therefore are fitly said to dwell in tents, as soldiers in their encampments. The sun is said to have a tabernacle set him, no only because he is in continual motion and never has a fixed residence, but because the mansion he has will, at the end of time, be taken down like a tent, when the heavens shall be rolled together like a scroll and the sun shall be turned to darkness. (2.) The course assigned him. That glorious creature was not made to be idle, but his going forth (at least as it appears to our eye) is from one point of the heavens, and his circuit thence to the opposite point, and thence (to complete his diurnal revolution) to the same point again; and this with such steadiness and constancy that we can certainly foretel the hour and the minute at which the sun will rise at such a place, any day to come. (3.) The brightness wherein he appears. He is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, richly dressed and adorned, as fine as hands can make him, looking pleasantly himself and making all about him pleasant; for the friend of the bridegroom rejoices greatly to hear the bridegroom's voice, John iii. 29 . (4.) The cheerfulness wherewith he makes this tour. Though it seems a vast round which he has to walk, and he has not a moment's rest, yet in obedience to the law of this creation, and for the service of man, he not only does it, but does it with a great deal of pleasure and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. With such satisfaction did Christ, the Sun of righteousness, finish the work that was given him to do. (5.) His universal influence on this earth: There is nothing hidden from the heart thereof, no, not metals in the bowels of the earth, which the sun has an influence upon.
III. To whom this declaration is made of the glory of God. It is made to all parts of the world ( v. 3, 4 ): There is no speech nor language (no nation, for the nations were divided after their tongues, Gen. x. 31, 32 ) where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone through all the earth (the equinoctial line, suppose) and with it their words to the end of the world, proclaiming the eternal power of God of nature, v. 4 . The apostle uses this as a reason why the Jews should not be angry with him and others for preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, because God had already made himself known to the Gentile world by the works of creation, and left not himself without witness among them ( Rom. x. 18 ), so that they were without excuse if they were idolaters, Rom. i. 20, 21 . And those were without blame, who, by preaching the gospel to them, endeavoured to turn them from their idolatry. If God used these means to prevent their apostasy, and they proved ineffectual, the apostles did well to use other means to recover them from it. They have no speech or language (so some read it) and yet their voice is heard. All people may hear these natural immortal preachers speak to them in their own tongue the wonderful works of God.
2. uttereth-- pours forth as a stream; a perpetual testimony.
3. Though there is no articulate speech or words, yet without these their voice is heard (compare Margin).
4. Their line-- or, "instruction"--the influence exerted by their tacit display of God's perfections. Paul ( Ro 10:18 ), quoting from the Septuagint, uses "sound," which gives the same sense.
5-6. The sun, as the most glorious heavenly body, is specially used to illustrate the sentiment; and his vigorous, cheerful, daily, and extensive course, and his reviving heat (including light), well display the wondrous wisdom of his Maker.
CHAPTER 6
Ver. 12.He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to Godcommuning with God in prayer, asking the Father that He might choose for the ministry men fitted to be apostles, and would obtain for them an abundance of spiritual grace to enable them to fulfil the duties of their office; and also that He might teach us to pray in like manner.
So the Church at Ember-tide enjoins her children to fast and to pray that fitting persons may be chosen for the work of the ministry, and that those admitted to any holy function may be filled with grace and heavenly benediction; for as with the priest so with the people. When a chief pastor is zealous and God-fearing, he is a blessing and a strength to his diocese, but if he be an evil liver or slothful, he becomes a stumbling-block and offence to believers. In like manner, also, a good priest makes a good parish, but an evil one is for a destruction to his people.
Figuratively, Christ teaches us to pray in the night season that we may be the better able in silence and solitude to collect our thoughts and lift our hearts unto God; that we may be preserved from terror by night and from the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and also that by our prayers during the night we may obtain spiritual graces for the profit of our fellow-men during the ensuing day.
Hence Christ prayed by night and taught in the daytime. So did S. Paul, Act_16:25; and many other saints; 1Ti_5:5.
For the same reason David so often commends prayer during the night time, "Ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary," Psa_134:1-2.
"At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto Thee," Psa_119:62.
"In the night I commune with mine own heart," Psa_77:6.
"My tears have been my meat day and night," Psa_42:3.
See also Commentary on Deu_6:7.
And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.13. And when it was day, he called to him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;14. Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,15. Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,16. And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
When adversaries rose up against the miracles and teaching of Christ, He chose Apostles as defenders and witnesses of the truth, and prefaces their election with prayer; as it is said, And it came to pass, etc.
Let not your ears be open to deceit, that you should think that the Son of God prays from want of strength, that He may obtain what He could not perform; for being Himself the Author of power, the Master of obedience, He leads us by His own example to the precepts of virtue.
Let us examine then in the actions which Jesus did, how He teaches us to be instant in prayer to God, going apart by ourselves, and in secret, no one seeing us; putting aside also our worldly cares, that the mind may be raised up to the height of divine contemplation and this we have marked in the fact, act, that Jesus went into a mountain apart to pray.
Every where also He prays alone, for human wishes comprehend not the wisdom of God; and no one can be a partaker of the secrets of Christ. But not every one who prays ascends a mountain, he only who prays advancing from earthly things to higher, who is not anxious for the riches or honors of the world. All whose minds are raised above the world ascend the mountain. In the Gospel therefore you will find, that the disciples alone ascend the mountain with the Lord. But you, O Christian, have now the character given, the form prescribed which you should imitate; as it follows, And he continued all night in prayer to God. For what ought you to do for your salvation, when Christ continues all night in prayer for you?
Rise then you also at night time. The soul is then purer, the very darkness and great silence are in themselves enough to lead us to sorrow for our sins. But if you look upon the heaven itself studded with stars as with unnumbered eyes, if you think that they who wanton and do unjustly in day time are then nothing different from the dead, you will loathe all human undertakings. All these things serve to raise the mind. Vain-glory then disquiets not, no tumult of passion has the mastery; fire does not so destroy the rust of iron as nightly prayer the blight of sin. He whom the heat of the sun has fevered by day is refreshed by tile dew; nightly tears are better than any dew, and are proof against desire and fear. But if a man is not cherished by the dew we speak of, he withers in the day. Wherefore although you pray not much at night, pray once with watching, and it is enough; show that the night belongs not only to the body, but to the soul.
But what does it become you to do when you would commence any work of piety, when Christ, about to send out His disciples, first prayed? for it follows, And when it was day, he called his disciples, etc. whom truly He destined to be the means of spreading the salvation of man through the world. Turn your eyes also to the heavenly council. Not the wise men, not the rich, not the noble, but He chose to send out fishermen and publicans, that they might not seem to turn men to their grace by riches or by the influence of power and rank, and that the force of truth, not the graces of oratory, might prevail.
But mark the great carefulness of the. Evangelist. He not only says that the holy Apostles were chosen, but he enumerates them by name, that no one should dare to insert any others in the catalogue; Simon, whom he also called Peter, and Andrew his brother.
He not only surnamed Peter first, but long before this, when he was brought by Andrew, it is said, You shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone. But Luke, wishing to mention the names of the disciples, since it was necessary to call him Peter, wished shortly to imply that this was not his name before, but the Lord had given it to him.
The two next are James and John, as it follows, James and John, both indeed sons of Zebedee, who were also fishermen. After them he mentions Philip and Bartholomew. John says Philip was of Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. Bartholomew was a simple man, devoid of all worldly knowledge and guile. But Matthew was called from those who used to collect taxes; concerning whom he adds Matthew and Thomas.
Matthew places himself after his fellow-disciple Thomas, from humility, whereas by the other Evangelists he is put before him. It follows, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who is called Zelotes.
Because in truth he was of Cana in Galilee, which is interpreted zeal; and this is added to distinguish him from Simon Peter. It follows, Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
With respect to the name of Judas the brother of James, Luke seems to differ from Matthew, who calls him Thaddaeus. But what prevented a man from being called by two or three names? Judas the traitor is chosen, not unwittingly but knowingly, for Christ had indeed taken to Himself the weakness of man, and therefore refused not even this share of human infirmity. He was willing to be betrayed by His own Apostle, that you when betrayed by your friend may bear calmly your mistaken judgment, your kindness thrown away.
But in a mystical sense the mountain on which our Lord chose His disciples represents the loftiness of justice in which they were to be instructed, and which they were to preach to others; so also the law was given on a mountain.
But if we may learn the interpretation of the Apostles’ names, know that Peter means, "loosening or knowing;" Andrew "glorious power," or "answering;" James, "apostle of grief;" John, "the grace of the Lord;" Matthew, "given;" Philip, "large mouth," or the "orifice of a torch;" Bartholomew, "the son of him who lets down water;" Thomas, "deep or twill;" James the son of Alphaeus, "supplanter of the step of life;" Judas, "confession;" Simon, "obedience."
These twelve Christ chose as individual companions and domestics. To these he committed the charge of founding and governing his Church. He sent them as legates, or ambassadors, (for this is the import of the word apostle) to all the world. Hence their power was more universal than that of bishops, which is confined to their own dioceses or districts. The jurisdiction of the apostles was not limited to place. (Tirinus) --- This power which Jesus Christ delegated to his apostles, and which was for the benefit and regulation of the universal Church in all future ages, the apostles, in their turn, delegated to their successors in the ministry, with such regulations and limitations as have been judged in the Holy Ghost necessary for the proper government of the spiritual kingdom of God upon earth. And it is the height of presumption to question any ordinations that come to us with the authority of the Catholic Church: for, "whatever the Church says, is true; whatever she permits is lawful; whatever she forbids, is evil; whatever she ordains, is holy; whatever she institutes, is good." (St. Augustine) --- How futile then is the objection of Calvin, who pretends that an apostle, being nothing but a legate, can make no laws, nor prescribe or teach any thing not expressed in his mandatum! (Calvin, Inst. lib. iv. chap. 8)
Judas, surnamed Thaddeus in St. Matthew x. 3. and in St. Mark iii. 18. At the head of his epistle he styles himself Judas, brother of James. (Bible de Vence)
12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; 14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, 15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphæus, and Simon called Zelotes, 16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. 17 And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judæa and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; 18 And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.
In these verses, we have our Lord Jesus in secret, in his family, and in public; and in all three acting like himself.
I. In secret we have him praying to God, v. 12 . This evangelist takes frequent notice of Christ's retirements, to give us an example of secret prayer, by which we must keep up our communion with God daily, and without which it is impossible that the soul should prosper. In those days, when his enemies were filled with madness against him, and were contriving what to do to him, he went out to pray; that he might answer the type of David ( Ps. cix. 4 ), For my love, they are my adversaries; but I give myself unto prayer. Observe, 1. He was alone with God; he went out into a mountain, to pray, where he might have no disturbance or interruption given him; we are never less alone than when we are thus alone. Whether there was any convenient place built upon this mountain, for devout people to retire to for their private devotions, as some think, and that that oratory, or place of prayer, is meant here by he proseuche tou theou , to me seems very uncertain. He went into a mountain for privacy, and therefore, probably, would not go to a place frequented by others. 2. He was long alone with God: He continued all night in prayer. We think one half hour a great deal to spend in the duties of the closet; but Christ continued a whole night in meditation and secret prayer. We have a great deal of business at the throne of grace, and we should take a great delight in communion with God, and by both these we may be kept sometimes long at prayer.
II. In his family we have him nominating his immediate attendants, that should be the constant auditors of his doctrine and eye-witnesses of his miracles, that hereafter they might be sent forth as apostles, his messengers to the world, to preach his gospel to it, and plant his church in it, v. 13 . After he had continued all night in prayer, one would have thought that, when it was day, he should have reposed himself, and got some sleep. No, as soon as any body was stirring, he called unto him his disciples. In serving God, our great care should be, not to lose time, but to make the end of one good duty the beginning of another. Ministers are to be ordained with prayer more than ordinarily solemn. The number of the apostles was twelve. Their names are here recorded; it is the third time that we have met with them, and in each of the three places the order of them differs, to teach both ministers and Christians not to be nice in precedency, not in giving it, much less in taking it, but to look upon it as a thing not worth taking notice of; let it be as it lights. He that in Mark was called Thaddeus, in Matthew Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus, is here called Judas the brother of James, the same that wrote the epistle of Jude. Simon, who in Matthew and Mark was called the Canaanite, is here called Simon Zelotes, perhaps for his great zeal in religion. Concerning these twelve here named we have reason to say, as the queen of Sheba did of Solomon's servants, Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, that stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom; never were men so privileged, and yet one of them had a devil, and proved a traitor ( v. 16 ); yet Christ, when he chose him, was not deceived in him.
12-13. went out-- probably from Capernaum.
all night in prayer ... and when ... day, he called, &c.-- The work with which the next day began shows what had been the burden of this night's devotions. As He directed His disciples to pray for "laborers" just before sending themselves forth (see on Mt 9:37 ; Mt 10:1 ), so here we find the Lord Himself in prolonged communion with His Father in preparation for the solemn appointment of those men who were to give birth to His Church, and from whom the world in all time was to take a new mould. How instructive is this!
The Douay word for what the Ephesians have become is domestics of God (v. 19) — not guests received into the house but members of its household, people with a place and a task in it. Paul arrives at that word by first taking two others away: they are no more strangers and foreigners. Then the image shifts under him. The household becomes a building site, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone (v. 20); and by the next verse the structure is not being assembled but groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord (v. 21), framed together rather than merely stacked. A building that grows is a strange figure, and it is the one Paul leaves standing: the temple is finished by living increase, not by the last stone being set.
Calmet, quoted in Haydock, presses the negative half hard. Before their conversion these readers were "travellers and vagabonds, without a God," not knowing to whom they belonged, finding in paganism "either solid foundation or truth" — neither — and so neither hope for this life nor consolation for the next. The diagnosis is about belonging rather than morals: the pagan's ruin was not knowing whose he was. Haydock himself adds only a single sharp question at v. 20, but it is the one the verse invites: "The Church is in this place said to be built upon the apostles and prophets; why not then upon St. Peter?" The verse is often produced to show that Christ alone can be the Church's foundation, and Haydock turns it around — whoever reads it as written has already granted that a foundation may be laid on men. What is left in dispute is the extent of that concession, not its principle.
The error the passage rebukes now wears a milder face than paganism: not the vagabond without a God, but the believer who keeps his faith unattached, treating the Church as a service he may draw on and not a house he lives in. Calmet's question still finds him — to whom does he belong? Paul's answer is not that he should belong more warmly but that he should be framed together, cut to fit the stones already in place, which is a harder thing than being devout alone. A block that will not be squared to its neighbours can be perfectly sound and still carry nothing; the temple rises only where stones consent to be fitted.