Acts 20:27

ὑπεστ., see above on Acts 20:20. τὴν β. τοῦ Θεοῦ, see on Acts 2:23, and cf. especially Ephesians 1:11 for the phrase, and Acts 3:4 for the thought. No Epistle excels that to the Ephesians in the richness of its thoughts, and in its conception of a divine purpose running through the ages; no Epistle dwells more fully upon the conception of the Church as the Body of Christ, or exhorts more touchingly to diligence in keeping the unity of the Spirit, or insists more practically upon the sanctifying power of the One Spirit, and the sense of a divine membership in every sphere of human life. The rich and full teaching of the Epistle is addressed to men who are able to understand the Apostle's knowledge of the mystery of Christ; in other words, to those to whom he had announced more fully than to others the counsel of God. The Ephesian Epistle may have been an encyclical letter, but it was addressed principally to the Ephesians as the representatives of the leading Church of the province of Asia. See amongst recent writers Gore, Ephesians, pp. 42, 43; and Lock, “Ephesians,” Hastings' B.D., p. 718. ὑμῖν : emphatically at the end, W.H [339]; this revelation had been made to the presbyters before him, and the responsibility would rest with them of communicating it to others when their spiritual father had left them.

[339] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.