1:1,2. All Christians must be saints; if they come not under that character on earth, they will never be saints in glory. Those are not saints, who are not faithful, believing in Christ, and true to the profession they make of relation to their Lord. By grace, understand the free and undeserved love and favour of God, and those graces of the Spirit which come from it; by peace, all other blessings, spiritual and temporal, the fruits of the former. No peace without grace. No peace, nor grace, but from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ; and the best saints need fresh supplies of the graces of the Spirit, and desire to grow.

Verse 2. - Grace unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. As in most of Paul's Epistles, "grace" is virtually the first word and the last (Ephesians 6:24), equivalent to free, undeserved mercy in all its manifold forms and manifestations. This Epistle is so full of the subject, that it has been called "The Epistle of Grace." The apostle dwells more fully on it than even in the Epistle to the Romans, and with a more jubilant sense of its richness and sufficiency. Peace is conjoined with grace; they are like mother and daughter, or like twin sisters. Grace is the only foundation of true peace - whether peace with God, peace of conscience, rest and satisfaction of soul, or peace toward our fellow-men. The source of grace and peace is "God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The two are always in apposition as the Source of blessing, never in opposition. The notion is eminently unscriptural that the Father personally burned with anger until the Son rushed in to appease; both are in beautiful harmony in the scheme of grace. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," etc.

Grace be to you, and peace from God,.... See Gill on Romans 1:7.

2. (Ro 1:7; 1Co 1:3; 2Co 1:2; Ga 1:3).

Ephesians 1:2 Parallel Commentaries

Ephesians 1:2 NIV
Ephesians 1:2 NLT
Ephesians 1:2 ESV
Ephesians 1:2 NASB
Ephesians 1:2 KJV

Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible