Ephesians 1:16

οὐ παύομαι εὐχαριστῶν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν : cease not to give thanks for you. The παύομαι is most naturally connected with the nearer participle. There is no reason why the remoter participle should be made the leading term, as some construe it, rendering it so “I cease not, while giving thanks for you, to make mention,” etc. (Abbott). The verb εὐχαριστεῖν, which is used in later Greek both in the sense of feeling thankful and in that of giving thanks, occurs in none of the NT Epistles except in that bearing Paul's name. In these it is found some twenty-six times. It also appears once in Revelation, twice in Acts, and more frequently in the Gospels. μνείαν ὑμῶν ποιούμενος : making mention of you. Documentary evidence is against the insertion of ὑμῶν. Though it is supported by considerable authorities ([88] [89] [90] [91], Vulg., Syr., Boh., Orig., etc.), it has no place in [92] [93] [94] [95] 1, etc., and is omitted by LTTrWH and the Revisers. The subject of the μνεία, therefore, must be understood. It may be ὑμῶν, or it may rather be the preceding πίστιν and ἀγάπην. In the phrase μνείαν ποιεῖσθαι the noun seems to have the sense of mention. In other connections it has the sense of mindfulness (μνείαν ἔχειν τινός, 1 Thessalonians 3:6) or that of remembrance (Philippians 1:3). ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν μου : in my prayers, On ἐπί as here = in see Blass, Gram. of N. T. Greek, p. 137; Win.-Moult., p. 470; Bernh., Synt., p. 246. The local reference proper to ἐπί (as the preposition answering the question Where?), however, is not wholly sunk in the temporal sense. See Ell. on 1 Thessalonians 1:2. Winer takes it to express the idea of something attaching itself to something else. The word for prayer used here is one of frequent occurrence in the NT, sometimes joined with δέησις (e.g., Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 4:6, etc.), and sometimes with ἔντευξις as well (1 Timothy 2:1). The most general term is προσευχή = precatio, and that term is not used but of prayer to God. Δέησις, which can be used also of addresses to men, has the more definite sense of petitio, rogatio; while ἔντευξις, which means a falling in with, conference, conversation, and goes beyond the idea of intercession (as our AV renders it), expresses prayer as the converse of the soul with God, with the notion of urgency and filial confidence. See Huther and Ell. on 1 Timothy 2:1; Win.-Moult., sub δέησις; Light. on Philippians 4:6; Trench, Syn., sub voce.

[88] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[89] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[90] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[91] Codex Porphyrianus (sæc. ix.), at St. Petersburg, collated by Tischendorf. Its text is deficient for chap. Ephesians 2:13-16.

[92] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[93] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[94] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[95] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.