Ephesians 4:6

εἶς Θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ πάντων : one God and Father of all. This supreme name, Θεὸς or ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πατήρ, is used both absolutely (1 Corinthians 15:24; Ephesians 5:20; James 1:27), and with defining terms, e.g., τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν, Ephesians 1:10 (Romans 15:6; Ephesians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3), ἡμῶν (Galatians 1:4; Philippians 4:20; 1Th 3:11; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:16), πάντων (here; cf. the longer designation εἷς Θεὸς ὁ πατὴρ ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, 1 Corinthians 8:6). Christian unity being here in view, the name applies to the special Fatherhood of God in grace, not (with Holz., Abb.) to the universal Fatherhood of God and His relation to all men. Attention is rightly called by Mey. and others to the advance in the thought in these verses from Church to Christ, and from Christ to God who is One in the highest and most absolute sense the One source of life and good in all His people, the one to whom both Christ and the Spirit are related. ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων, καὶ διὰ πάντων καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ὑμῖν ὑμῖν : who is over all, and through all, and in [you] all. The ὑμῖν of the TR (following some cursives and Fathers), and the variant ἡμῖν (in [359] [360] [361] [362], Lat., Syr., Goth., etc.) must be omitted (with LTTrWHRV) as having no support from [363] [364] [365] [366], 17, Copt., Eth., etc. The πάντων and the πᾶσιν are most naturally taken as masculines here, in harmony with the previous πάντων. The clause, therefore, expresses a three-fold relation of the One God and Father to the all who are His: first, the relation of transcendence (Mey.) or sovereignty ἐπί (= ὑπεράνω, over or above) expressing the supremacy of absolute Godhead and Fatherhood; second, that of immanence διά (= through) expressing the pervading, animating, controlling presence of that One God and Father; and third, that of indwelling the ἐν expressing the constant abode of the One God and Father in His people by His Spirit. Neither the creative action of God (Est.), nor His providential rule (Chrys., Grot.), is in view, but what He is to the Christian people in His dominion over them and His gracious operative presence in them.

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

[360] Codex Augiensis (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Trinity College, Cambridge, edited by Scrivener in 1859. Its Greek text is almost identical with that of G, and it is therefore not cited save where it differs from that MS. Its Latin version, f, presents the Vulgate text with some modifications.

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

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

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

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

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

[366] Codex Ephraemi (sæc. v.), the Paris palimpsest, edited by Tischendorf in 1843.