Gaius Marius Victorinus — Commentary on Scripture

Ephesians 4:28

Sin does not consist in simply committing sin but persisting in it. If so, there is always a place for repentance. There is a place for correction. So the apostle says: “let the one who has stolen not steal again.” This should be applied not only to stealing but also to all sin. Anyone who has sinned in any way is now called not to sin again.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.4.28

Ephesians 4:31

He adds five terms briefly at the end—bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander. Then at the very end he has added the summarizing phrase with all malice. Bitterness consists in envying and speaking ill of others and similar actions. Wrath consists in the lust for vengeance and punishment. Anger is the impulse of a mind boiling over and upheaving beyond what is reasonable. Clamor is a kind of insane, uncontrolled utterance. And blasphemy is wicked thought or speech that attacks God and is primarily directed against God.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.4.31

Ephesians 5:2

As Father and Son are of one substance, so too they are one in will.… The Son offered himself to the Father that through this mystery of his sacrifice all things might be made new by his Spirit. In this way he himself is the aroma of sweetness.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.5.2

Ephesians 5:3

The name, the mind and the conscience of the saints demand that the tongue itself should be an agent of holiness. If a person who is holy in his ways speaks unnecessarily of abominable behaviors, he may harbor sin. Even speaking of them may show how well acquainted he is with vices better left unspoken.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.5.3

Ephesians 5:4

Having said what should be the case, he adds what must above all be the case, which is this, that we should “give thanks”—to God, without doubt, but also to other people. Hence he uses the term thanksgiving without qualification.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.5.4

Ephesians 5:5

Since he has listed three sins first, then added another three, his instruction requires him to explain that the first three are more serious, seeing that he has said that these first three are not even to be named among the saints.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.5.5

Ephesians 5:6

These people he calls “children of disobedience”; for there are many who make light of the promise of a heavenly kingdom.… They disbelieve; they have no faith. The wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. Disobedience is epitomized by the devil they serve. Therefore they are said to be his children.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.5.6

Ephesians 5:12

If it is shameful even to speak of these things in secret, it is fairly plain that these people were doing wicked things, things too depraved even to talk about.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.5.12

Ephesians 5:13

Having instructed them also to counsel all those who are doing ill, he next shows what a great service this is. For admonition makes those sins manifest. It puts them in the light. For the one who admonishes shows how important is the behavior he illumines. In doing this he is in effect illuminating the evil to show its consequences. When the one who commits evil understands this, the shadows are dispelled and he enters the light.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.5.13

Ephesians 5:26

Here we take “the church” to mean every believer and everyone who has received baptism. The believer is brought to faith by the washing in water and the invocation of the Word. But how is this applied to a husband’s conduct toward his wife? This is not entirely clear. One possible view is that the mystery of baptism is being rehearsed in this metaphor. On the other hand, if we refer this to the endurance of the husband, which entails his giving himself for the wife and bearing and suffering all that is hers, even sharing in all that she endures, she is being cleansed with water and the Word—that is, she is being purified in the Lord’s sight when he renders her pure and by his endurance makes her ready to be sanctified by washing and the Word.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.5.25-26

Ephesians 5:27

What Christ is accomplishing [in baptism] is that the church should be “holy and spotless.” It is “holy” in that it has been cleansed by the washing of water by the Word. It is “spotless” in that it is without spot or wrinkle.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.5.27

Ephesians 5:33

Already he has given instructions generally to men concerning their wives and to women concerning their husbands. He now applies the same principles specifically to the Ephesians.… He has added the connecting word however. This shows that even as Christ and the church are one body, so are husband and wife one flesh. The husband’s maxim is to love his wife as if she were his own flesh.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.5.33

Ephesians 6:14

Faith lives in righteousness. Faith remains the fountain of all the virtues, as Paul has often stated. Righteousness is not as strong as faith because “righteousness lives by faith.” But the effect of righteousness is accomplished by faith. So in this battle we must strive toward righteousness. Faith is proven to be true faith when we live righteously. Then faith is seen to be useful to us, as the righteousness that accompanies faith is useful.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.6.13-14

Ephesians 6:15

The gospel is to be carried abroad. It is to be preached among the nations. Wherever, then, it is preached, it must be heard. But so that all may hear, one must use one’s feet to travel. And so do we travel with haste and urgency. .

Ephesians 6:16

He returns to that capital virtue, the shield of faith. It contains all the other virtues and brings them all to fulfillment. Unless we are armed with this shield we will not have the strength to battle courageously and resist all these deadly powers. But with the protection of faith we repel all these blows and whatever attacks come from the whole host of powers.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.6.16

Ephesians 6:17

It is Christ indeed who is the author of salvation. He is our head. He descended to us and redeemed us by his own mystery. It is he indeed who guards the heads of the faithful. Therefore he is the “helmet of salvation.” He is the Word by which the adverse powers are overcome and taken captive.… Christ, who is the Word of God, was sent to overcome all corruption and wickedness and even death itself. It is in this sense that Paul refers to “the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.”

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.6.17

Ephesians 6:18

When he says “through every prayer and petition,” I think he has this distinction in mind: It is a prayer when we speak the praises of God and recount his great works and when we give thanks and worship him. It is a petition when we pray to God either to pardon our sins or to offer his grace to us.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.6.18

Ephesians 6:18

The saints themselves, with the bishops and apostles and elders, are called to pray on behalf of the faithful and the catechumens and all the other members of the body. It is typical of Paul to make mention of the whole people of God in prayer. He also calls upon the whole people of God to pray on behalf of their leaders, bishops and saints, and then he adds: “Pray for me too.”

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.6.18-19

Ephesians 6:18

Some might think that the phrase at all times means only the daytime. But, so that he could amplify the force of “at all times,” what does he say? “With all perseverance.” This calls us to a certain persistent disposition of the mind. We do not pray as if we were asleep. This is what some sound like who pray by reciting or reading familiar phrases or uttering them routinely from memory.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.6.18

Ephesians 6:18

This means that we should not say or utter particular words or recite them in our prayers as though they were premeditated or written down. We are to pray “in the spirit” and “at all times.” Let your deep affections enter into your praying. The inner spirit, that is, the inner man, is making his prayer with intense desire. He is praying all the time, so that even when he is not praying aloud he is still praying in the spirit.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.6.18