| Ephesians 3:14
| For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
| \f + \fr 3:14-15\ft For this cause I pray and bow my knees to the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all paternity (or fatherhood{ Ver. 14-15. Omnis paternitas, patria. See St. Jerome on this verse: Deus....paternitatis nomen ex seipso largitus est omnibus....praestat caeteris ut patres esse dicantur. Theodoret, tom. 3. p. 305. Ed. Par. an. 1642. Alii patres, sive corporales, sive spirituales, desuper traxerunt appellationem: oi de alloi pateres....anothen ten prosegorian []ilkusan. See St. John Damascene, lib. 1. Ortho. fid. ch. IX. Ed. Bas. p. 32. touto de istion, etc. See Theophylactus, etc.|}) in heaven and earth is named. The Greek word oftentimes signifies a family, and therefore may signify, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named; and thus the sense will be, that God is not only the Father of his eternal Son, but (as not only the Latin text, but even the Greek may signify) of all angelical spirits in heaven, and of all men, especially Christians, made his adoptive sons in baptism. But here may be signified not only a family, but those in particular who are honoured with the name and dignity of fathers; so that the name which they have of fathers, or patriarchs, is derived from God the Father of all, and communicated to them in an inferior degree. This exposition is found in St. Jerome, in Theodoret, Theophylactus, St. John Damascene, etc. (Witham) --- All paternity, or the whole family; patria. God is the Father both of angels and men: whosoever besides is named father, is so named with subordination to him. (Challoner)
|