Ephesians 3:1-13. He would pursue the subject of the Temple, but digresses to say more of the world-wide scope of the Gospel _For this cause_ With such a present and such a future for my reason, motive, hope. Here begins a sentence broken immediately by a great digression. Where is it resumed? At Ep... [ Continue Reading ]
Ephesians 3:1-13. He would pursue the subject of the Temple, but digresses to say more of the world-wide scope of the Gospel _For this cause_ With such a present and such a future for my reason, motive, hope. Here begins a sentence broken immediately by a great digression. Where is it resumed? At Ep... [ Continue Reading ]
_If ye have heard of_ Lit. IF SO BE THAT YE HEARD OF. This phrase occasions the question, Could this Epistle have been addressed to a Church familiar with St Paul? And it has thus seemed, to some extreme critics, an argument against the genuineness of the Epistle, a _lapsus plumœ_on the part of a fa... [ Continue Reading ]
_by revelation_ Probably at or about the time of his conversion. Acts 26:17-18, indicates that the Lord then and there gave him the special commission, and it is likely that a period of special and direct Divine instruction followed, perhaps in "Arabia" (Galatians 1:17). See Galatians 1:11, &c. for... [ Continue Reading ]
_may understand_ R.V., CAN PERCEIVE; and so better. _my knowledge_ Better, INTELLIGENCE, UNDERSTANDING (R. V.). The thought is, not any laudation of the Apostle's intellect, but substantiation of his God-granted insight, verified by the spiritual reader, and resulting in further confidence on the r... [ Continue Reading ]
_ages_ Better, GENERATIONS. The reference (see next words) is to human time, and the periods before the Gospel. _unto the sons of men_ A designedly large phrase; mankind in general, both inside and outside the Jewish pale. Outside, the secret was wholly unknown; inside, it was only dimly and sparin... [ Continue Reading ]
_That the Gentiles_, &c. It is well to pause over a passage like this, and reflect that what seems now to be an axiom of religious thought, the equality of mankind in view of the offer of salvation, was once an immense and long-withheld discovery. See above, on Ephesians 2:11. _should be_ Better, A... [ Continue Reading ]
_a minister Diâconos_, a worker, helper. Cp. Colossians 1:23. The word implies activity and subordination. "I" here is not emphatic. _according to the gift_, &c. See above on Ephesians 3:2. The "gift" includes the commission and the inspiration. His "ministry," both in field and in effect, was "acc... [ Continue Reading ]
_Unto me_ A slight pause and new start here occurs in the long parenthesis. The thought of his commission, and of the Divine power which enabled him, leads by contrast to the thought of the personal insignificance and unworthiness of the subject of that power, in view of the field and of the message... [ Continue Reading ]
_and to make all_men _see_ Lit., "_to illuminate all men_." The Latin versions have _illuminare omnes_. Some ancient MSS. (including the great MS. of the British Museum, and the Sinaitic), and other authorities, omit "all men." But the external and internal evidence for retention greatly preponderat... [ Continue Reading ]
_now_ In the great "fulness of the times;" the age of the Gospel. _the principalities and powers_ See on Ephesians 1:21. Here, as there, the reference is to "governments and authorities" in the world of holy Angels. "These things angels covet to look into" (1 Peter 1:12); as we find them doing, for... [ Continue Reading ]
_according to the eternal purpose_ Lit., and better, ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE OF THE AGES. I.e. the Church, as watched by the angels, presents to them the final result (final _in kind_) of the great Plan of Divine developments by which the glory of God was to be displayed in His dealings with Sin. T... [ Continue Reading ]
_in whom we have_ Here (see last note) _is_the realization. It was "purposed in Him" that we His saints should be unspeakably near to the Father; and so we now _are_, and angels see it. _boldness_ Lit., THE (or OUR) FREEDOM OF SPEECH, the boldness of intimate _intercourse_. Here and there (perhaps C... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore_ In view of the facts just recited; the welcome of Gentile believers into the true Israel, the Body of Christ, "according to the purpose of the ages," for the instruction of holy angels, and for the saints" own joy in intimacy with the Father. In the propagation of such a Gospel the messe... [ Continue Reading ]
The main theme resumed: prayer for the Indwelling of Christ 14. _For this cause_ The same phrase as that of Ephesians 3:1. See note there. Here the broken connexion is resumed. The "permanent habitation of God" (Ephesians 2:22) is still in the Apostle's mind, but in another aspect. The thought of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_of whom … is named_ Lit., "_out of Whom_, &c." The _derivation_of the "name" is from His Fatherhood. _the whole family_ Gr., _patria_. It is difficult to preserve in English the point of the Gr. here. "Father" and "family" have no verbal kinship, while _patêr_and _patria_have. "The whole fatherhoo... [ Continue Reading ]
_according to the riches of his glory_ I. e., as He can do Who is Lord of the resources of an Eternal Nature and Heavenly Kingdom. (See on Ephesians 1:18 for the phrase "riches of glory" in another reference.) The glory of God is, in brief, Himself, as the Infinite and Holy One, with all results, fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_that Christ may dwell_ This clause is in close connexion with the preceding. The "strengthening" is the requisite to the "dwelling"; the "dwelling" the sure sequel to the "strengthening." See last note but one. " _Christ_" _:_lit. "_the Christ_," as so often in this Epistle (Ephesians 1:10; Ephesia... [ Continue Reading ]
_may be able_ R. V., MAY BE STRONG; more lit. still, MAY GET STRENGTH; the verb being aorist, pointing to a new crisis. The idea is of a wide grasp, a mighty stretch of thought and faith, only to be made by spirits perfectly _assured_(Ephesians 3:17) _of their footing_. _to comprehend_ R. V., "_app... [ Continue Reading ]
_And to know_ An aorist verb, expressing a new and decisive development of knowledge, knowledge of the spiritual kind, the intuition of the regenerate spirit, realized in its own responsive adoring love. _the love of Christ_ Who "loved the Church, and gave Himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25); "Who love... [ Continue Reading ]
Ascription of praise, closing a main section of the Epistle 20. _Now unto him_ The Father, in Whose "glory" all things terminate. As it is of His essence to demand praise, so it is of the essence of regenerate life to yield it to Him. _that is able_ For this phrase in doxology cp. Acts 20:32; Roman... [ Continue Reading ]
_glory_ Lit., and better, THE GLORY; the glory due to the Father of the Saviour, and of the saints in Him. _in the church by Christ Jesus_ Lit., IN CHRIST JESUS. "The glory" is ascribed "_in_Him" as the Father is manifested in Him, and "in Him reconciled the world to Himself." But very strong evide... [ Continue Reading ]