Ephesians 1:10

Ephesians 1:10. Unto; not ‘until,' nor, ‘in,' but with a view to, setting forth the end or aim of the purpose (Ephesians 1:9).

The dispensation. The article is wanting in the original, but the idea is made definite by what follows. The word itself is that from which our word ‘economy' is taken, first meaning ‘stewardship' (as in Luke 16:2), then applied in this sense to spiritual things, especially to the apostolic office (1 Corinthians 9:17; Colossians 1:25). But here, and in chap. Ephesians 3:2; Ephesians 3:9, the reference is to God's disposition, ordering of affairs, the notion of stewardship falling into the background.

Of the fulness of the times, or, ‘seasons.' Comp. Galatians 4:4, where a similar expression occurs. There, however, ‘the time' is regarded as one period; here, as a succession of ‘seasons,' which fill up a measure or receptacle. ‘Fulness' may mean (1.) that which fills; (2.) that which is filled, the state of fulness; or (3.) the act of filling. The last sense is inappropriate here. Either (1.) or (2.) may be accepted with substantially the same result. The reference is to the coming of the Messiah (not to the second advent), as in Galatians, This ‘fulness of the times' was the characteristic of the ‘dispensation' (dispensatio propria plenitudini temporum). The main question is whether the phrase, as a whole, refers to the entire gospel dispensation, or to the period of the first advent alone. As the explanatory clause which follows points to what is still future, we accept the wider reference.

To gather up together again (for Himself). This explains the design of the ‘dispensation' etc. The word used is the equivalent of ‘recapitulate,' sum up again (comp. Romans 13:9, where the E. V. renders it ‘is briefly comprehended'). Here it has a reflexive sense (for Himself), and further suggests the idea of gathering again what has been sundered. ‘God will gather together again for Himself what He has created for Himself.' The fathers found here a reference to Christ as the Head, but this is suggested by the sound of the word, rather than by its sense. That idea is introduced later (Ephesians 1:22), and the reference here is to Christ's atonement rather than to His sovereignty.

All things. This expression must not be limited unnecessarily to persons, or to the redeemed from among men. The expressions used in Romans 8:21; 1 Corinthians 15:28, and elsewhere, show that the redemption in Christ has wider relations which affect physical nature (on the proper limitation, see below).

In the Christ. It seems wise to translate the article, which emphasizes the fact that the Messiah had come.

The things which, etc. ‘Both' is to be omitted, according to the best authorities. The whole explains ‘all things,' and the neuter gender suggests an application to things as well as persons. The explanation: ‘the redeemed from among men, some of whom are now in heaven, and others are still on earth,' restricts the sense too much. The neuter might refer to persons (as in Galatians 3:22), but the context seems to demand a wider application. ‘Heaven and earth have become places of sin (chaps. Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12); indeed, heaven was the first theatre of sin, when a part of the angels fell into sin and from God (1 Timothy 3:6; 1 John 3:8; James 2:19; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6); thence it came to earth (2 Corinthians 11:3), in ever greater dimensions (1 Corinthians 10:20-21). Thus the state originally appointed by God and the development. He wished to be without disturbance, ceased (Romans 8:18-24), so that a renewing of the heavens and of the earth was taken into view (2 Peter 3:13). The centre of this renewal is Christ and His redeeming work (Colossians 1:20), which, however, has its development also, both before His appearance up to “the fulness of the times,” and afterwards up to His second advent, when “the restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21), the palingenesia (Matthew 19:28), will be introduced' (Braune). Hence we may conclude that physical nature and the world of mind, angels and men, will all stand in some new relation to each other and to Christ, their common centre, when this summing up in Him is completed. ‘As the stone dropped into the lake creates there widening and concentric circles, which ultimately reach the farthest shore, so the deed done on Calvary has sent its undulations through the distant spheres and realms of God's great empire' (Eadie). Evil spirits and unbelieving men shall then be recognized only as conquered and rejected opponents. ‘The doctrine of restoration, according to which even those who have remained unbelieving, and finally devils, shall yet attain to blessedness, contrary as it is to the whole tenor of the N. T., finds in this passage also no support' (Meyer). It is not necessary to restrict the former clause to good angels, still less to exclude them altogether.

Even in him. This repetition is for solemn emphasis; without Him, the personal Mediator, this comprehensive re-uniting cannot take place; He is the only sphere in which it can occur.