If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of
God,
&c.] Not the free love and favour of God in his heart towards
his people; nor internal grace wrought in the heart of the
apostle; but either the gift of grace, as in ( Ephesians
3:7 ) qualifying him for the work of the ministry; and so the
Ethiopic version renders it, "if ye have heard the gift of the
grace of God"; or rather the doctrine of grace, the Gospel, the
subject matter of which is the grace of God; it is a declaration
of the free grace of God in the salvation of men; and it is the
means of conveying the grace of God into their hearts. Now the
apostle had a dispensation to preach this Gospel committed to
him; he acted by authority, and as a steward of the mysteries of
God; and which he faithfully dispensed to the family of Christ,
who appointed him to this service: this the Ephesians had heard
of, from the relations of the apostle, and others, and knew it
themselves, having often heard him preach, for he was with them
for the space of three years; wherefore this is not said as if he
questioned, whether they had heard or not, but as taking it for
granted that they had: "if", or "seeing ye have heard"
which is given me to you-ward;
it was not for his own private use, that the Gospel was committed
to him, or gifts were given him to qualify him for the
dispensation of it, but for the sake of others, especially the
Gentiles, and particularly the Ephesians.