(6) One God and Father of all.--Necessarily, through the Son, we pass to the Father (as the Lord Himself invariably teaches us to do), since He is (to use the old Greek expression) "the fount of Deity." He is said to be the "Father of all." We cannot limit this universal Fatherhood; although, undoubtedly, the context shows that the immediate reference is to those who are His children by adoption in Jesus Christ. The Church is essentially Catholic, inheriting by special gift what is the birthright of all humanity; incapable of perfection till all be drawn into that closer sonship, yet having neither right nor desire to deny that outside her pale at any moment the wider Fatherhood of God extends.
Who is above all, and through all, and in you all.--The word "you" has little authority; many MSS. and commentaries have "us." But the best MSS. and authorities omit both, as probably early glosses of explanation which have crept into the text. Accordingly, the word "all" throughout must be taken, as above, as applying to all God's rational creatures, made in His image (and indeed, in a lower sense, even to all His creatures), but especially and properly to the members of Christ's Church. In the three-fold sentence many ancient and modern interpreters trace a reference to the Holy Trinity. But, strictly speaking, this cannot be, as the passage expressly points to the Father; although, in virtue of the eternal unity of the Godhead, it may be true that in the expression "through all" and "in all" we trace those manifestations of the Father which are especially made through the Son and by the Holy Spirit. Hence we must refer all properly to the ultimate conception of God the Father; as "above all" in the sovereignty of His will, since to work out "His pleasure they are and were created," and His will becomes to them the "law eternal;" as "through all" in the diffusive power of the forces--physical, moral, and spiritual--by which the world of nature, still more the world of man, most of all the society of Christians, are swayed as wholes; and "in all" by the indwelling of God in the individual for creation, sustentation, regeneration, which is the breath of life--both the physical and spiritual life. (This individuality, and the especial reference to Christians, are marked by the very natural gloss "us," or "you," in this clause.)
4:1-6 Nothing is pressed more earnestly in the Scriptures, than to walk as becomes those called to Christ's kingdom and glory. By lowliness, understand humility, which is opposed to pride. By meekness, that excellent disposition of soul, which makes men unwilling to provoke, and not easily to be provoked or offended. We find much in ourselves for which we can hardly forgive ourselves; therefore we must not be surprised if we find in others that which we think it hard to forgive. There is one Christ in whom all believers hope, and one heaven they are all hoping for; therefore they should be of one heart. They had all one faith, as to its object, Author, nature, and power. They all believed the same as to the great truths of religion; they had all been admitted into the church by one baptism, with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, as the sign of regeneration. In all believers God the Father dwells, as in his holy temple, by his Spirit and special grace.
One God and Father of all,.... That there is but one God is the voice of nature and of revelation; and may be concluded from the perfections of deity, for there can be but one eternal, infinite, immense, omnipotent, all-sufficient, perfect, and independent Being; and from one first cause of all things, and the relations he stands in to his creatures: there is but one God, who is truly, and really, and properly God, in opposition to all nominal and figurative deities, and which are not gods by nature, and to the fictitious deities and idols of the nations; and there is but one God of Jews and Gentiles; nor is the unity of the Godhead inconsistent with a trinity of persons in it: and this one God is the Father of all; the Father of all mercies, and of all spirits, both angels and souls of men; and he is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of all the elect in him: and seeing that they have all one covenant God and Father, who has predestinated them to the adoption of children, and who has put them among the children, and adopted them into his family, and stand in the same relation to him, and enjoy the same privileges, they ought to love as brethren:
who is above all; which may denote the superior excellency of his nature, not above his Son and Spirit, who are of the same nature with him, but above angels and men; and the extensiveness of his government, over all creatures in general, and over his church and people in particular:
and through all; the Arabic version renders it, "taking care of all"; which may have respect to his providence, which is either universal, and reaches to all creatures his hands have made; or special, and concerns his own chosen people, who belong to his family, and to whom he stands in the relation of a covenant God and Father: or this clause may refer to the perfections of his nature, which appear through the whole of the salvation of all the chosen ones; as his wisdom, love, grace, mercy, justice, holiness, truth, and faithfulness:
and in you all; which is to be understood, not of his being in his creatures, by his powerful presence, which is everywhere supporting them; but of the gracious union there is between him and his people, and of his gracious inhabitation in them by his Spirit. The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, the Complutensian edition, and some copies, read, "in us all"; and the Alexandrian copy, and the Ethiopic version, read only, "in all".
Who is above all, and through all, and in you all.--The word "you" has little authority; many MSS. and commentaries have "us." But the best MSS. and authorities omit both, as probably early glosses of explanation which have crept into the text. Accordingly, the word "all" throughout must be taken, as above, as applying to all God's rational creatures, made in His image (and indeed, in a lower sense, even to all His creatures), but especially and properly to the members of Christ's Church. In the three-fold sentence many ancient and modern interpreters trace a reference to the Holy Trinity. But, strictly speaking, this cannot be, as the passage expressly points to the Father; although, in virtue of the eternal unity of the Godhead, it may be true that in the expression "through all" and "in all" we trace those manifestations of the Father which are especially made through the Son and by the Holy Spirit. Hence we must refer all properly to the ultimate conception of God the Father; as "above all" in the sovereignty of His will, since to work out "His pleasure they are and were created," and His will becomes to them the "law eternal;" as "through all" in the diffusive power of the forces--physical, moral, and spiritual--by which the world of nature, still more the world of man, most of all the society of Christians, are swayed as wholes; and "in all" by the indwelling of God in the individual for creation, sustentation, regeneration, which is the breath of life--both the physical and spiritual life. (This individuality, and the especial reference to Christians, are marked by the very natural gloss "us," or "you," in this clause.)
who is above all; which may denote the superior excellency of his nature, not above his Son and Spirit, who are of the same nature with him, but above angels and men; and the extensiveness of his government, over all creatures in general, and over his church and people in particular:
and through all; the Arabic version renders it, "taking care of all"; which may have respect to his providence, which is either universal, and reaches to all creatures his hands have made; or special, and concerns his own chosen people, who belong to his family, and to whom he stands in the relation of a covenant God and Father: or this clause may refer to the perfections of his nature, which appear through the whole of the salvation of all the chosen ones; as his wisdom, love, grace, mercy, justice, holiness, truth, and faithfulness:
and in you all; which is to be understood, not of his being in his creatures, by his powerful presence, which is everywhere supporting them; but of the gracious union there is between him and his people, and of his gracious inhabitation in them by his Spirit. The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, the Complutensian edition, and some copies, read, "in us all"; and the Alexandrian copy, and the Ethiopic version, read only, "in all".