23 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Peace be to the brethren. I consider the word peace, as in the salutations of the Epistles, to mean prosperity. Yet if the reader shall prefer to view it as signifying harmony, because, immediately afterwards, Paul mentions love, I do not object to that interpretation, or rather, it agrees better with the context. He wishes the Ephesians to be peaceable and quiet among themselves; and this, he presently adds, may be obtained by brotherly love and by agreement in faith From this prayer we learn that faith and love, as well as peace itself, are gifts of God bestowed upon us through Christ, -- that they come equally from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Peace be to the brethren - The Epistle is closed with the usual salutations. The expression "peace to you," was the common form of salutation in the East (see the Matthew 10:13 note; Luke 24:36 note; Romans 15:33 note; compare Galatians 6:16; 1-Peter 5:14; 3-John 1:14), and is still the "salam" which is used - the word "salam" meaning "peace."
And love with faith - Love united with faith; not only desiring that they might have faith, but the faith which worked by love.
From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ - The Father and the Son are regarded as equally the author of peace and love; compare notes on 2-Corinthians 13:14.
Peace be to the brethren - If the epistle were really sent to the Ephesians, a people with whom the apostle was so intimately acquainted, it is strange that he mentions no person by name. This objection, on which Dr. Paley lays great stress, (see the preface to this epistle), has not been successfully answered.
Peace - All prosperity, and continual union with God and among yourselves; and love to God and man, the principle of all obedience and union; with faith, continually increasing, and growing stronger and stronger, from God the Father, as the fountain of all our mercies, and the Lord Jesus Christ, through whose sacrifice and mediation they all come.
Peace be to the brethren,.... The members of the church at Ephesus, who stood in a spiritual relation to each other; meaning all prosperity outward and inward, temporal, spiritual, and eternal; especially peace of conscience under the sprinklings of the blood of Christ, and a view of peace made with God by that blood:
and love with faith from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, an increase of these graces, and of the exercise of them, is wished for; for otherwise these brethren had both these graces, faith and love; see Ephesians 1:15; which go together; faith works by love, and love discovers faith, and both are imperfect; faith has something lacking in it, and love is apt to grow cold, and need reviving and increasing; and these, and the increase of them, are from God the Father, who is the God of all grace, and from Jesus Christ, in whom all fulness of grace is; and these things are equally desired from the one as from the other, and shows a plurality of persons in the Godhead, and the equality of Christ with the Father; and such a wish expresses the apostle's great love and affection for the brethren, and points out the things they stand in need of; and which, being asked for such, might be expected to be enjoyed.
love with faith--Faith is presupposed as theirs; he prays that love may accompany it (Galatians 5:6).
As was his custom he closes with a benediction. Compare those of the preceding Epistles.
Peace - This verse recapitulates the whole epistle.
*More commentary available at chapter level.