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No.45.
The Almonry (2: 8 - 10).
The oblation of God.
pp. 181 - 183
The reader will remember that we have adopted the figure of a great house to set forth
the literary structure of Ephesians, and should he have commenced to study with us since
the opening articles were published in Volume XXXV, he will see the diagram of the
Great House with an explanation of the chart, on pages 141 to 146.
The present section, Eph. 2: 8-10, we have called "The Almonry". This word comes
to us through the French aumonerie, which is derived from the Greek word eleemosune,
meaning "pity" or "mercy". This was a room in which alms were distributed, especially
in monastic buildings. Eleos has already appeared in Eph. 2: 4 where we read of God
Who is rich in "mercy", and this is its translation in every one of the twenty-eight
occurrences of the word.
Eleeo means to have pity, have mercy, obtain mercy or have compassion and it is so
translated in the A.V.
Eleemosune is limited to Matthew, Luke and the Acts, where it is translated alms and
almsdeed. Those to whom alms are given, are generally those who have little or
nothing of themselves. Where Luke 12: 33 reads "sell that ye have, and give alms",
Matt. 19: 21 reads "Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor", where "give to the
poor" is an evident synonym for "give alms". We therefore have full justification for
adopting the idea of an almonry in this series, where the rooms in a great building are
used to symbolize the structural subdivisions of the epistle.
Ephesians 2: 8 - 10
A | For by grace are ye saved through faith
B | a | Not of yourselves
b | The gift of God
a | Not of works lest (hina) any should boast FAITH
A | For we are His workmanship, created
B | a | Unto good works
b | Foreordained of God
a | That (hina) we should walk in them
WORKS
Salvation is not out of works, but it is nevertheless unto works, for the same God that
"predestined" us (prohorizo) from before the foundation of the world, as surely
"foreordained" (proetoimazo) that there should be a gracious practice corresponding to
our high calling. He Who elected us apart from any personal merit on our part, has
declared that this unmerited election is demonstrated by our attitude to His Word and the