Ephesians 1:9

γνωρίσας ἡμῖν : having made known unto us. Better, “in that He made known unto us”. As in Ephesians 1:5 the aor. part, is modal, not temporal, expressing an act not conceived as prior to that intimated by the definite tense, but coincident with it and stating the way in which it took effect. The ἡμῖν means to us Christians generally, not to us Apostles particularly, and the knowledge in question is spiritual understanding or insight. It was in giving us to know a certain secret of His counsel that God made His grace to abound toward us in all wisdom and discernment. The revelation of this secret to our minds meant the bestowal on us of all that is implied in wisdom and intelligence. τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ : the mystery (or secret) of His will. The gen. is the ordinary gen. objecti, the mystery touching or concerning His will; not the gen. subjecti, the mystery originating in His will, nor the appositive gen., as if it were simply another form for “His hidden will”. The word μυστήριον, which in classical Greek meant something secret, especially the secrets of religion communicated only to the initiated and by them to be kept untold, is used in the Apocryphal books of things hidden, e.g., the counsels of God (Wis 2:22; Jdt 2:2), and in the NT occasionally of things not clear to the understanding (1 Corinthians 13:2; 1 Corinthians 14:2), or of the mystic meaning of things sayings, names, appearances (Ephesians 5:32; Revelation 1:20; Revelation 17:5). But its distinctive sense in the NT is that of something once hidden and now revealed, a secret now open. In this sense it is applied to the Divine plan of redemption as a whole (Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 6:19; Colossians 1:26; 1 Timothy 3:9; 1 Timothy 3:16, etc.), or to particular things belonging to that Divine plan the inclusion of the Gentiles (Romans 11:25; Ephesians 3:3; Ephesians 3:9), the transformation of Christians alive on earth at Christ's return (1 Corinthians 15:52), the union of Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:32). It does not convey the idea of something that we cannot take in or understand even when it is declared to us. It is peculiarly frequent in the kindred Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, ten out of the twenty-six or twenty-seven occurrences being found in them. Nor is it confined absolutely to the things of grace. Paul speaks also of the “mystery of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). The redemption accomplished through Christ this is the secret hidden for ages in the Divine Counsel and now revealed. This also is the truth, the disclosure of which to our understandings meant so large a gift of grace in the way of insight and spiritual discernment. κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν αὐτοῦ : according to His good pleasure. This is to be attached neither to the μυστήριου τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ, which needs no further definition, nor to the following προέθετο, κ. τ. λ., but to the γνωρίσας, precisely as the previous προορίσας was declared to be κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ (Ephesians 1:5). The opening of this secret to us after the silence of ages had its ground and reason in nothing else than the gracious counsel or free purpose of God. ἣν προέθετο : which He purposed. This verb προτίθεμαι occurs only thrice in the NT, and all three instances are in the Pauline Epistles: once of human purpose (Romans 1:13), once of the Divine action (Romans 3:25), and once (here) of the Divine purpose. The eternal purpose of God is in view, as the context shows. The προ in the compound verb, however, does not express the idea of the pre-temporal. It appears to have the local sense setting before oneself and so determining. ἐν αὐτῷ : in Himself. Some make it “in him,” that is, in Christ (Chrys., Luth., Bengel, Hofm., Light., Wycl., Vulg., etc.), and this would be quite in accordance with the subsequent statement of the eternal purpose as one which God “purposed in Christ Jesus the Lord” (Ephesians 3:11). But God and His will are the subjects in view here, and the mention of Christ seems too remote for the αὐτῷ to refer naturally to Him. The purpose is God's own free determination, originating in His own gracious mind. The reading ἐν αὑτῷ is adopted by Mey., Ell., etc., while ἐν αὐτῷ is given by Lachm., Tisch., WH, Harl., etc. The question whether the NT knows any other form than ἑαυτοῦ as the reflexive of the third person is still debated. It is urged (e.g., by Bleek, Buttm., etc.) that the NT does not use αὑτοῦ, but only ἑαυτοῦ in most cases or at least the vast majority, on such grounds as these, viz., that the MSS. have ἀπό, ἐπί, ὑπό, etc., and not ἀφʼ, ἐφʼ, ὑφʼ, before αὐτοῦ; that in the second person we find only σεαυτοῦ, not σαυτοῦ; and that the first and second personal pronouns are often used in the NT instead of the reflexive, though not when the pronoun is immediately dependent on the verb. Lightfoot concludes that “ αὐτοῦ, etc., may be used for ἑαυτοῦ, etc., in almost every connection, except where it is the direct object of the verb” (see his note on Colossians 1:20). On the other hand, Ell. is of opinion that the reflexive form is in place “where the attention is principally directed to the subject,” and the non-reflexive where it is “diverted by the importance of the details”. Winer, while admitting that in most passages αὐτοῦ, etc., would suffice, would write αὑτοῦ, etc., certainly in a few cases such as John 9:21 (αὐτὸς περὶ αὑτοῦ λαλήσει) and Romans 3:25 (ὃν προέθετο ὁ Θεὸς … εἰς ἔνδειξιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὑτοῦ), and would prefer it also in such passages as Mark 7:35; Luke 12:34; Luke 19:15; Romans 14:14; Revelation 11:7; Revelation 13:2; as also here in Ephesians 1:9. See Buttm., p. 111; Win.-Moult., p. 188; Bleek, Heb., ii., p. 69.