Ephesians 2:15. ΚΑΤΑΡΓΉΣΑΣ אAB &c. καταρτίσας D*. Ephesians 2:21. ΠΑ͂ΣΑ ΟἸΚΟΔΟΜῊ א*BDG _al_ Clem Orig Chrys. πᾶσα ἡ οἰκ. א*ACP _al mult_. Ephesians 3:5. Τ. ἉΓΊΟΙΣ�. ΠΡΟΦΉΤΑΙΣ אAC &c. Orig. τ. ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ�. προφήταις DG 115 go Theophct Hil Victorin. τ. ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ κ. προφήταις B Ambrst. The text a... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΟΎΤΟΥ ΧΆΡΙΝ resumed in Ephesians 3:14. It is closely connected with Ephesians 2:22, the climax of the whole paragraph Ephesians 2:11-22. ἘΓῺ ΠΑΥ͂ΛΟΣ. This personal appeal is characteristic of the writer, and marks all the groups of his Epistles; cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:18; 2 Corinthians 10:1; Galatia... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἼ ΓΕ ἨΚΟΎΣΑΤΕ. This claim to be conferring a benefit or at least to be suffering on behalf of his correspondents must be unintelligible except in the light of his special commission, and he cannot take a knowledge of that for granted. If he had been writing exclusively to the Ephesians he must have... [ Continue Reading ]
ὌΤΙ. R.V. ‘how that,’ dependent on ἠκούσατε. It may be ‘because,’ or ‘seeing that,’ defining the grace given. ΚΑΤᾺ�. St Paul was certain that the knowledge of the truth which he preached had come to him by a direct Divine illumination (Galatians 1:12; Galatians 1:16). He is not, however, here (as i... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΡῸΣ Ὃ ΔΎΝΑΣΘΕ�. ‘By reference to which ye can as ye read the Scriptures understand.’ It seems, as Hort has pointed out (_Rom. and Eph._ 150 ff.), impossible to account for ΠΡῸΣ Ὅ if ἈΝΑΓΙΝΏΣΚΟΝΤΕΣ is taken in its obvious sense as referring to the reading of the letter itself. His alternative, to ta... [ Continue Reading ]
ἙΤΈΡΑΙΣ ΓΕΝΕΑΙ͂Σ. ‘In former generations.’ Cf. Ephesians 2:12; Romans 16:25. ΤΟΙ͂Σ ΥἹΟΙ͂Σ ΤΩ͂Ν�. Contrast Ephesians 3:10 (ταῖς�). ὩΣ ΝΥ͂Ν�. For the ignorance even of the O.T. Prophets, cf. 1 Peter 1:10. For νῦν with aor. cf. Hort on 1 Peter 1:12. ΤΟΙ͂Σ ἉΓΊΟΙΣ�. Cf. Colossians 1:26. It is not easy... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΥΝΚΛΗΡΟΝΌΜΑ. Cf. on κληρονομία Ephesians 1:14. ΣΎΝΣΩΜΑ, ἅπ. λεγ. Cf. ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι, Ephesians 2:16. ΣΥΝΜΈΤΟΧΑ ΤΗ͂Σ ἘΠΑΓΓΕΛΊΑΣ. Cf. Ephesians 2:12 (τῶν διαθηκῶν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας), Ephesians 1:13 (τῷ πνεύματι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας). ΔΙᾺ ΤΟΥ͂ ΕΥ̓ΑΓΓΕΛΊΟΥ. Cf. on Ephesians 1:13. The Gospel enshrines ‘the myst... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟὟ ἘΓΕΝΉΘΗΝ ΔΙΆΚΟΝΟΣ. Cf. Colossians 1:23; Colossians 1:25; Acts 20:24; 2 Corinthians 4:1; 2 Corinthians 5:18; 1 Timothy 1:12. A humble word for servant which may have owed its attractiveness for St Paul to its use in words of the Lord (Mark 10:43; Luke 22:26;... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΜΟῚ ΤΩ͂Ι ἘΛΑΧΙΣΤΟΤΈΡΩΙ ΠΆΝΤΩΝ ἉΓΊΩΝ. The thought of the commission instinctively wakens a sense of his own unworthiness. Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:8. The same trait is noticeable in the Pastorals (1 Timothy 1:12 f.; cf. Ephesians 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11). A strong note of genuineness. The commission include... [ Continue Reading ]
9. The second effect of the commission has a yet wider range. Ultimately it reaches the whole universe of created being by bringing into clear light an eternal fact of boundless issues. ΦΩΤΊΣΑΙ. The Gospel has an illuminating power ‘bringing life and immortality to light’ (2 Timothy 1:10) and pierc... [ Continue Reading ]
ἽΝΑ ΓΝΩΡΙΣΘΗ͂Ι ΝΥ͂Ν. Dependent perhaps on ἀποκεκρυμμένου (so Lightfoot), cf. Mark 4:22; or on φωτίσαι (so Hort apparently). ΤΑΙ͂Σ�. Superhuman intelligences either good (Ephesians 1:21; Colossians 2:10) or evil (Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 2:15). For the interest of Angels in human concerns cf. Mark... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΤᾺ ΠΡΌΘΕΣΙΝ ΤΩ͂Ν ΑἸΏΝΩΝ. ‘In accordance with a plan for the ages.’ Cf. on Ephesians 1:9. ἫΝ ἘΠΟΊΗΣΕΝ. This may be taken in two ways; either (1) ‘which He formed,’ i.e. to which He gave a definite objective existence. ἣν ἐποιήσατο = προέθετο would have left the plan purely ‘subjective.’ This would... [ Continue Reading ]
12. Here we come back to the position established in Ephesians 2:18, but the thought of the freedom and fulness of communion with the Father which is ours in Him is brought out in greater detail. ΠΑΡΡΗΣΊΑΝ. Of freedom in approaching God, characteristic of Heb. (Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 10:19) and 1 Jn... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙῸ. Such being the occasion and the effect of my sufferings. ΑἸΤΟΥ͂ΜΑΙ. Elsewhere in St Paul only Ephesians 3:20; Colossians 1:9; in each case of a request from God. But the context is on the whole in favour of translating ‘I beg you not.’ Otherwise ‘I pray that there be no failing’ is possible. R... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΟΎΤΟΥ ΧΆΡΙΝ. Resuming Ephesians 3:1. Such being the prospect open before you. ΚΆΜΠΤΩ ΤᾺ ΓΌΝΑΤΆ ΜΟΥ. The attitude of adoration (Romans 11:4; Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10; cf. Isaiah 45:23), but also of prayer (Luke 22:41; Acts 7:60; Acts 9:40;... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΑ͂ΣΑ ΠΑΤΡΙᾺ. Lit. ‘every family’ or ‘father’s house’ (a sub-division of a tribe). Cf. Exodus 6:15; Numbers 1:2; Numbers 1:4; Luke 2:4; Acts 3:25. ἘΝ ΟΥ̓ΡΑΝΟΙ͂Σ ΚΑῚ ἘΠῚ ΓΗ͂Σ. Cf. Matthew 6:10. God’s heart is revealed in every true father on earth (cf. Luke 11:11 ff.). The bond of ‘fatherhood’ is not... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΤᾺ ΤῸ ΠΛΟΥ͂ΤΟΣ ΤΗ͂Σ ΔΌΞΗΣ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂. ‘According to the riches of His glory.’ We have the remission of sius ‘according to the riches of His grace’ (Ephesians 1:7), for the power to live the new life we draw on the riches of His glory—the spiritual force inherent in His revealed and realized presence... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΤΟΙΚΗ͂ΣΑΙ Κ.Τ.Λ. The result of the spiritual strengthening is to enable men to satisfy the conditions for the indwelling of the Christ in personal presence and power in the centre of their being. See on ἐν Χριστῷ (p. lxii ff.). κατοικῆσαι takes up the idea of the κατοικητήριον τοῦ θεοῦ (Β χριστοῦ)... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΞΙΣΧΎΣΗΤΕ. ‘That ye may be strong enough.’ Just as we need spiritual strengthening to enable us to believe, because faith in the Christ revealed in Jesus our Lord must tax to the uttermost every faculty of mind and heart and will that we possess, so the fuller revelations that He has in store as we... [ Continue Reading ]
ΓΝΩ͂ΝΑΊ ΤΕ. We pass now to the second method of approach, the personal appropriation of the universal Truth. γινώσκειν has characteristically in St Paul, as in the Bible generally, a personal object, e.g. Philippians 3:10. The Hebrew mind was not interested in abstract speculation. ΤῊΝ … ἈΓΑΠῊΝ ΤΟΥ͂... [ Continue Reading ]
20 f. THE DOXOLOGY The Vision and the Prayer find their goal in a Doxology, which is at once an adoring recognition of essential facts and the expression of the deepest longing of a grateful heart. Such an ascription of ‘glory’ to God (see Note D on ὁ πατὴρ τῆς δόξης) is the instinctive response of... [ Continue Reading ]
ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ι Ἡ ΔΌΞΑ. ‘His is,’ or ‘To Him be’ the glory. The acknowledgement of the fact is perhaps stronger than the prayer for its recognition by men. Cf. the liturgical conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Thine is the kingdom &c.’ ἘΝ ΤΗ͂Ι ἘΚΚΛΗΣΊΑΙ, cf. Ephesians 3:10, διὰ τῆς ἑκκλησίας. The ‘glory’ ha... [ Continue Reading ]