Commentaires bibliques

Παύλου ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς Ἐφεσίους

A B D E F G K א, min. have the shorter and older superscription: πρὸς Ἐφεσίους. I, min.: τοῦ ἁγίου ἀποστόλου Παύλου ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς Ἐφεσ.

CHAPTER 1

Ephesians 1:1. ἐν Ἐφέσῳ] See Introd. § 1. Tisch. has put it in brackets.

Ephesians 1:3. ἐν before Χριστῷ is wanting only in some min.,—an omission, which, although followed in the editions of Erasmus, Steph. 3, and Beza, and approved of by Mill, is not at all deserving of notice as a various reading.

Ephesians 1:6. ἐν ᾗ] A B א* min. Chrys. (alic.) have ἧς. Recommended by Griesb., adopted by Lachm. and Rück., and rightly so. The attraction was resolved partly by the simple ᾗ (so Theophyl. Ambrosiast.), partly, in keeping with the prevalence of ἐν in the context, by ἐν ᾗ, which latter is defended by Reiche on insufficient grounds.

Ephesians 1:10. τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς] The τέ read in Elz. after τά is, on decisive evidence, deleted by the later editors (except Harless). But in place of ἐν, B D E L א* min. Theodoret, Dam. Oecum. Tert. have ἐπί, which Lachm. and Rück. have rightly received. The usual form of conception, ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (comp. Ephesians 3:15), superseded the apparently unsuitable ἐπί. At Colossians 1:20, many min. Chrys. and Theodoret have likewise ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, where ἐπί, indeed, is too weakly attested, but has most probably come from our passage.

Ephesians 1:11. ἐκληρώθημεν] A D E F G, It. have ἐκλήθημεν. Recommended by Griesb., adopted by Lachm. and Rück. But Matth. Harless, Tisch. Reiche have rightly defended the still more considerably attested Recepta as the more difficult reading, glossed by ἐκλήθημεν. The gloss is to be derived from Romans 8:13 : οὓς δὲ προώρισε, τούτους καὶ ἐκάλεσε.

Ephesians 1:12. τῆς before δόξης is, following Griesb., deleted by the more recent editors (except Harless) on preponderating evidence. An addition easily suggested; comp. Ephesians 1:14.

Ephesians 1:14 ὅς] A B F G L, min. Athn. Cyr. Euthal. Chrys. (in the text) have ὅ. So Lachm. and Rück. But ὅ was, on account of the preceding πνεῦμα, the more easily introduced and retained, since by that means the old opinion, that ὅς applies to Christ, was met.

Ephesians 1:15. τὴν ἀγάπην τήν] Lachm. has only τήν, following A B א* 17, Cyr. (alic.) Jer. Aug. (alic.). A copyist’s error, and how easily caused by the repetition of the τήν! If the addition had been made from Colossians 1:4, ἣν ἕχετε would have ἣν ἔχετε been inserted instead of the second τήν.

Ephesians 1:16. The second ὑμῶν is wanting in A B D א, min. Cant. Goth. Hil.; F and G have it after ποιούμενος. Deleted by Lachm. and Rück. A defining addition, which was first written in the margin, and then inserted, sometimes before, sometimes after ποιούμενος.

Ephesians 1:18. καρδίας] Elz. has διανοίας, against decisive testimony. An interpretation.

καί] is wanting in A B D* F G א* 59, It. Goth. Ambrosiast. Victorin., and is deleted by Lachm. and Rück., but came to be more readily left out than added, because the concluding καί only comes in afterwards.

Ephesians 1:20. ἐνήργησεν] Lachm. reads ἐνήργηκεν, after A B, Cyr. Procop.; and rightly so. The aorist, in itself more in current use, was suggested by the aorists following. And the attestation is strong enough, since the vss. and Latin Fathers cannot be taken into account.

ἐκάθισεν] Lachm. and Rück. read καθίσας, following A B א, min. Slav. Vulg. Cyr. utr. Euseb. Procop. Tert. Jer. Ambr. Pel. An attempt to help out the construction.

οὐρανοῖς, instead of ἐπουρανίοις, though adopted by Lachm., is too feebly attested by B, Victorin. Hilar.

Ephesians 1:23. τά] is wanting in Elz., but has been, upon decisive evidence, restored by Bengel, Griesb. and the later editors; comp. Ephesians 1:22.

CONTENTS.

After the usual address and apostolic salutation (Ephesians 1:1-2), St. Paul begins with an ascription of praise to God for the salvation in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), which he sets forth (a) as already lovingly predestined by God in eternity to the praise of His grace (Ephesians 1:4-5); (b) as brought about by the death of Christ (Ephesians 1:6-7); then (c) as made known according to the purpose of the divine kindness, to unite all in Christ (Ephesians 1:8-10); and lastly, (d) as really appropriated according to the predestination of God (Ephesians 1:11); this latter in respect as well to those who had been Jews (Ephesians 1:12) as to those who had been Gentiles (Ephesians 1:13-14), both of whom were destined to the praise of the divine glory.

Wherefore, since the Gentiles also had attained to such happiness, he too, after having heard of their faith and love, ceases not to give thanks for his readers, when making mention of them in his prayers, in order that God might enlighten them by His Spirit concerning the hope to which their calling exalted them, concerning the glory of the future salvation, and concerning the greatness of the divine power in the believers (Ephesians 1:15-19), which power they were to recognise by what God had wrought in the case of Christ, whom He had raised from the dead and exalted above all, and had given Him as Lord over all to be Head to the church, which is His body—that which is filled by Him, who filleth all with all (Ephesians 1:20-23).

Ephesians 1:1-2. Διὰ θελήμ. Θεοῦ] See on 1 Corinthians 1:1.

τοῖς ἁγίοις] See on Romans 1:7.

καὶ πιστοῖς ἐν Χ. Ἰ.] furnishes, with τοῖς ἁγίοις] the completeness of the conception, hence it is not epexegesis (Beza, Vorstius, Calovius, and others), but an appended element, and καί is the closely copulative and. Comp. Colossians 1:2. It is not, however, the conception of fidelity and perseverance which is appended (Grotius, Locke, Baumgarten, Rosenmüller, Meier; see, on the other hand, already Calovius), but the notion of faith in Christ, since in the address, where the persons are to be designated very distinctly, τοῖς ἁγίοις alone would not yet characterize the readers expressly as Christians. Comp. Php 1:1.

ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ] does not belong to ἁγίοις and πιστοῖς, so that it would denote the sphere, within which the Christians are saints and believing (Harless; comp. Boyd, Storr, Opusc. II. p. 121, Meier, Schenkel), for otherwise (comp. on Colossians 1:2) καὶ πιστοῖς would be quite superfluous and a tame and heavy addition, inasmuch as the notion of ἅγιος ἐν Χριστῷ presupposes the notion of πιστὸς ἐν Χριστῷ; but merely to πιστοῖς: fidem in Christo reponentibus. Comp. Ephesians 1:15, and see on Mark 1:15; Galatians 3:26.

Ephesians 1:2. See on Romans 1:7.

Ephesians 1:3. Εὐλογητός] praised (בָּרוּךְ), sc. εἴη. Comp. Romans 9:5; 2 Corinthians 1:3; Luke 1:68; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Kings 15:29. It is prefixed here, since, as in most doxologies (see on Romans 11:5), in keeping with the emotion of the heart which breaks forth in songs of praise, the emphasis lies on it. Where the stress in conformity with the context rests upon the person, this is prefixed, as at 1 Kings 10:9; 2 Chronicles 9:8; Job 1:21; Psalm 68:20; Psalm 112:1-2; Romans 9:5. The second Epistle to the Corinthians begins also with an ascription of praise to God, and the general character of that now before us cannot, in view of the general contents of the Epistle (comp. 1 Peter 1:3 ff.) appear un-Pauline (in opposition to de Wette), especially as the thanksgiving which has reference to the readers comes in afterwards in Ephesians 1:15 f.

ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου κ.τ.λ.] God, who at the same time is the Father of Jesus Christ. See on Romans 15:6; 1 Corinthians 15:24; 2 Corinthians 11:31; Theodore of Mopsuestia in Cramer’s Catena. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylact, and others, including Michaelis, Koppe, Rückert, Olshausen, Schenkel, Bleek, have incorrectly attached τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν also to ὁ Θεός. It is true, indeed, that there is no objection to the idea “the God of Christ” in itself, and τέ before καί would not be at all necessary, as Harless thinks (see Ephesians 4:6; 1 Peter 2:25, al.); but against it stands the fact that ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πατήρ, even without a genitive, was a stated Christian designation of God (comp. on Romans 15:6), in which case πατήρ only, and not Θεός, requires a complementary genitive (v. 20; 1 Corinthians 15:24; Jam 1:27; Jam 3:9). Moreover, the expression the God of Christ stands so isolated in the N.T. (see on Ephesians 1:17), that we may not attribute to it any such currency, as it must have had, if it were contained in the formula ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου κ.τ.λ.

ὁ εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς] Aorist: by the work of redemption. Observe the ingenious correlation of the passive εὐλογητός and the active εὐλογήσας, as well as the dilogia, by which the former denotes the blessing in word, and the latter the blessing in deed (comp. Romans 15:29; 2 Corinthians 9:5 f.; Galatians 3:8-9; Galatians 3:14; Acts 3:26). ἡμᾶς applies to the Christians generally, not to Paul (Koppe), against which view the unsuitableness of such a thanksgiving of the apostle for himself at the head of the Epistle, as well as the actual plurality of persons in the whole context (Ephesians 1:4; Ephesians 1:11-12), and κἀγώ, Ephesians 1:15, are decisive.

ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ] instrumental: by His imparting to us every spiritual blessing (comp. Test. XII. Patr. p. 722: εὐλογ. ἐν ἀγαθοῖς); none has He withheld from us. This, however, is not to be explained as blessing, which concerns our spirit (Erasmus, Michaelis, Morus, Rosenmüller; Koppe and Rückert are undecided), but: proceeding from the Holy Spirit, because the distinctively Christian benefits are meant, and these are χαρίσματα. Comp. Romans 1:11; Romans 15:29; 1 Corinthians 12:1 ff. This blessing is wrought by God from heaven through the communication of the Spirit (Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 3:5; 1 Corinthians 12:6, and elsewhere), hence God is praised for it. We may add that a contrast to the earthly benefits promised to the Jews in the Old Testament (Grotius and others, including recently Holzhausen), or to the typical blessings of the Jews and the empty possessions of the Gentiles (Schöttgen), is foreign to the context. Paul denotes the matter in a purely positive form as it is, according to its characteristic nature; hence there is not in πάσῃ any contrast to merely sporadic blessings in the O. T. The εὐλογία consists in the most varied expressions, as in grace, truth, peace, joy, love, hope, consolation, patience, and all Christian virtues as the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22; Romans 5:1 ff.). Compare πᾶν ἀγαθὸν τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν, Philemon 1:6.

ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις] local: in the heavenly regions, in heaven. Comp. Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 2:6; Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 6:12. Against the instrumental rendering, according to which it is understood, as a more precise definition of the spiritual blessing, of the heavenly possessions[93] (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, Luther, Castalio, Piscator, Vorstius, Homberg, Michaelis, Zachariae, Morus, Flatt, Bleek, and others), we may urge, not the article (in opposition to Rückert, Harless, Olshausen),—which would very appropriately denote the category,—but the fact, that Paul has not added ἀγαθοῖς or ΧΑΡΊΣΜΑΣΙ, just because in our Epistle ἘΝ ΤΟῖς ἘΠΟΥΡΑΝΊΟΙς is constantly a designation of place.[94] The local ἘΝ ΤΟῖς ἘΠΟΥΡΑΝΊΟΙς is referred, either to God, so that heaven appears as the seat where the divine blessing is being prepared (Beza, Boyd),—but how idle and self-evident that would be! or to ἡμεῖς, so that heaven, as the seat of our ΠΟΛΊΤΕΥΜΑ (Php 3:20), would be the scene of the divine blessing. So Pelagius, Beza (who leaves a choice between the two views), Grotius (who says that the blessings place us et spe et jure in coelo), Baumgarten, Koppe, Rückert, and others. The aorist would not be at variance with this view, since the matter might be set forth proleptically in accordance with an ideal mode of looking at it (comp. Ephesians 2:6). But the whole explanation is far-fetched and opposed to the context; for πνευματικῇ shows that Paul has not thought of our having received this blessing in the heavenly ΠΟΛΊΤΕΥΜΑ, seeing that the Holy Spirit is received on earth as the present earnest of the heavenly heritage (Ephesians 1:13-14). Accordingly, the third reference remains the only correct one, under which ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις is attached as a local definition to ΕὐΛΟΓΊᾼ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙΚῇ: with every spiritual benefit in heaven, so that, because the Holy Spirit is in heaven, as is God Himself ὁ τὴν κατοικίαν ἐπουράνιον ἔχων (2Ma 3:39), the blessings also of the Spirit are regarded as to be found in heaven and brought down from thence to us. See Hebrews 6:4.

ἘΝ ΧΡΙΣΤῷ] for in Christ lay the ground of that εὐλογεῖν accomplished in our case; not out of Christ, but in Him lay the cause that God blessed us with every spiritual blessing, since His act of redemption is the causa meritoria of this divine bestowal of blessing. Comp. Ephesians 1:4.

[93] These would not be possessions, which have reference to the heavenly life, but possessions which are to be found in heaven and are imparted to us. For ἐπουράνιος always means “to be found in heaven.” See Wetstein, I. p. 417; Bleek on Hebrews 3:1, p. 375. Comp. τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ver. 10.

[94] The expression ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις, which occurs five times in this Epistle and nowhere else in the N.T., is surprising. In the case of any writer, no doubt, a phrase not in current use with him at other times may be accidentally and temporarily suggested to him, the use of which he involuntarily appropriates and soon again as involuntarily abandons; yet it remains a surprising fact that the expression ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις is not also used in the Epistle to the Colossians written at the same time, where there was no lack of opportunity (Ephesians 1:5; Ephesians 1:16; Ephesians 1:20) for the use of the expression, although the two Epistles exhibit so much verbal affinity.

Ephesians 1:4. Further amplification of ὁ εὐλογήσας κ.τ.λ. on to Ephesians 1:14. See the contents.

καθώς] even as, denotes that that εὐλογεῖν has taken place in conformity with the fact that, etc., and is consequently argumentative; see on 1 Corinthians 1:6; John 13:34.

ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς] He has chosen us (from the collective mass of men) for Himself (sibi). Comp. 1 Corinthians 1:27; Romans 9:11; Romans 11:5; Romans 11:7; Romans 11:28; John 15:19; 1 Peter 2:9 f. Entirely without reason does Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, I. p. 223, deny that ἐκλέγεσθαι here has reference to others not chosen, and assert that it applies only to that which we, in the absence of election, should not have become. This is according to the very notion of the word quite impossible. Ἐκλέγεσθαι always has, and must of logical necessity have, a reference to others, to whom the chosen would, without the ἐκλογή, still belong. Even in Acts 6:5; Acts 13:17; 1 Timothy 5:21; Exodus 18:25; Deuteronomy 4:37, it sets forth the distinctive separation from the remaining mass, just as also Christ, as one who is chosen out from all that is man, is called the ἐκλεκτός of God (Luke 9:35; Luke 23:35).

ἐν αὐτῷ] for in nothing else and in no one else than in Christ, whose future work of redemption God has foreknown and decreed from eternity (Acts 15:18; Romans 16:25; 2 Timothy 1:9; 1 Peter 1:20, al.), lay the ground, that the electing grace (Romans 11:5) chose us (comp. Ephesians 3:11); hence God had, as respected the subjects to be affected by the election, to deal, not in any arbitrary manner, but according to His πρόγνωσις of the same (praecognovit credituros). See on Romans 8:29. Christ is not, however, here conceived of as Himself chosen of God, and we as included in Him (ἐν αὐτῷ), as Hofmann, p. 229, thinks; but, as the more precise explanation in Ephesians 1:5 shows, the divine act of our election has in Christ its determining ground, so that to us by this act there is assigned and allotted no other than the salvation to be gained through Christ (who in the fulness of the times was out of His preexistence to be sent as Incarnate and was to accomplish the work of salvation). Apart from this connection of the divine election with Christ we should not be chosen; but in Christ lay for God the causa meritoria of our election.[95] The reference of ἐν αὐτῷ to God (Al. Morus, Holzhausen: with Himself, in His heart) is to be rejected on account of the utter superfluousness of this definition, and on account of the preceding ἐν Χριστῷ.

πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου] thus before all time, already in eternity. Comp. Colossians 1:15 ff.; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Matthew 25:34; also 1 Corinthians 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:9. The expression is nowhere else found in Paul; but see Matthew 13:35; Luke 11:50; John 17:24; Hebrews 4:3; 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8.

εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους κ.τ.λ.] Infinitive of the design: in order that we should be, etc. See Winer, p. 298 f. [E. T. 399 f.]. The predicates ἅγιος and ἄμωμος (blameless, Herod, ii. 177; Theoc. xviii. 25) exhaust the conception positively and negatively. Comp. Plut. Pericl. p. 173 D: βιός … καθαρὸς καὶ ἀμίαντος, and see on Colossians 1:22; Ephesians 5:27. It is not, however, to be explained of the holiness conditioned by morality and virtue (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Calvin, Piscator, Grotius, Calixtus, and many others, including Flatt, Rückert, Matthies, Meier, Schenkel), in which case reservations on account of human imperfection are often arbitrarily inserted, or it is referred, as by Rückert, to the ideal point of view of the apostle; but rather of the holiness and blamelessness brought about through the atoning death of Christ by means of the δικαιασύνη Θεοῦ thereby attained (Romans 3:21 ff; Romans 5:1 ff; Romans 8:1; Romans 8:33 ff; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:14; Hebrews 10:29), in favour of which the very εἶναι (not γίνεσθαι) and the whole context are decisive (Ephesians 1:5-7). We may add that, if the emphasis with which our Epistle brings into prominence the holiness of the church (comp. Ephesians 5:27) is to be held as betraying the standpoint of the second century (see Schwegler in Zeller’s Jahrb. 1844, p. 382), for which especial reference is made to Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 3:21, with equal reason the like suspicion may be thrown even on the most fully acknowledged Epistles (such as the Epistles to the Corinthians).

κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ] before God’s eyes, judice Deo (Colossians 2:14; Romans 3:20; Romans 4:5). It is God’s judgment, which has posited the reconciled as holy and blameless, and that by imputation of faith unto righteousness; thereupon He gives to them every εὐλογία πνευματική, Ephesians 1:3. The reference of αὐτός successively recurring to different subjects cannot surprise us (Winer, p. 135 [E. T. 179]); and so it is not to be written αὑτοῦ (as Harless still does), but αὐτοῦ, from the standpoint of the author (Dissen, ad Dem. de Cor. p. 276; Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 2. 49).

ἐν ἀγάπῃ] is attached by many to Ephesians 1:4, so that it is connected either with ἐξελέξατο (Oecumenius, Thomas, Flacius, Olearius, Baumgarten, Flatt, and others), but in how isolated and awkward a way! or with εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους κ.τ.λ. (Vulgate, Ambrosiaster, Erasmus, Luther, Castalio, Beza, Calvin, Piscator, Grotius, Wolf, Wetstein, and others, including Rückert,—but with hesitation,

Matthies, Meier, Baumgarten-Crusius), so that ἐν ἀγάπῃ would be the ground, or rather the element (evangelii τὸ πᾶν, says Grotius, lies in love), of the holiness and blamelessness. But this is not compatible with the correct explanation of ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους, as a state brought about by the ἱλαστήριον of Christ, according to which, not ἐν ἀγάπῃ, but ἐν πίστει, would have been a definition of the element of holiness in keeping with the context. Hence the connection with προορίσας, Ephesians 1:5, remains as the only correct one. So the Peshito, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Augustine, Estius (but with hesitation), Bengel, Michaelis, Zachariae, Koppe, and others, including Lachmann, Harless, Olshausen, de Wette, Tischendorf, Schenkel, Bleek. The only one of the objections made to this view which is plausible is that of Matthies and Meier, that the following κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελημάτος αὐτοῦ would render the preceding ἐν ἀγάπῃ in this connection superfluous. But see on Ephesians 1:5.

[95] Beyschlag (Christol. d. N.T. p. 141) finds in ἐν αὐτῷ the thought, “that the divinely conceived prototypes of perfected believers are from eternity posited by God in the One Prototype of humanity acceptable unto Him, as the countless multiplications of the same, to be thereupon brought through the historically realized One Prototype to their realization and perfection.” In opposition to this view we may simply urge the context, according to which ἐν αὐτῷ denotes Christ as the personal ground of the ἐκλογή made before all time, in so far as He, as Reconciler, is the bearer of the divine grace, vv. 6, 7.

Ephesians 1:5. Love was the disposition of God, in which He through this our election predestined us to υἱοθεσία. Hence this divine motive, therefore, is prefixed with emphasis, quite in keeping with the character of ascription of praise marking the discourse. Consequently: in that He in love predestined us. Homberg has indeed conceived the relation of the time of προορίσας to ἐξελέξατο as: “postquam nos praedestinavit adoptandos, elegit etiam nos, ut simus sancti;” but the usual view correctly conceives προορίσας as coincident in point of time, and accomplished simultaneously with ἐξελέξατο, so that it is regarded as the modus of the latter (see on γνωρίσας, Ephesians 1:9). For the praedestinatio (the προορίζειν) is never elsewhere distinguished from the election as something preceding it; it rather substantially coincides with it (hence at Romans 8:29 only the expression προώρισε is used, while in Romans 8:33 only ἐκλεκτοί are mentioned), and only the πρόγνωσις is prior, Rom. l.c. Comp. Lampsing, Pauli de praedestinat. decreta, Leovard. 1858, p. 70. See on this use of the aorist participle, Hermann, ad Viger. p. 774; Bernhardy, p. 383; Winer, p. 321 [E. T. 430]. It is, we may add, purely arbitrary to distinguish ἐξελέξατο and προορίσας, so that the former should apply to individuals, the latter to the whole (Schenkel). Both verbs have in fact the same objects (ἡμᾶς, which denotes the persons); see on Romans 8:29.

The προ in προορίσας, beforehand, points to the future realization. Certainly the predestination has taken place before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4); but this is not expressed by προ, which rather looks always towards the future setting in of the thing predestined. See Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 1:11; Acts 4:28; Heliod. p. 298, 14, p. 266, 15; Sopater in Walz, Rhet. V. p. 152, 20.

εἰς υἱοθεσίαν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς αὐτόν] are to be taken closely together: unto adoption through Jesus Christ in reference to Him,—that is, He has destined us to stand in the relation of those assumed as children through mediation of Jesus Christ to Him (to God). Comp. Romans 8:29. That υἱοθωσία is nowhere merely childship (as Meier and Bleek still take it here, following Usteri), but adoption,[96] see on Romans 7:15; Galatians 4:5. υἱοθεσία is never predicated of Christ Himself; for He is the born Son of God (Romans 8:3; Galatians 4:4), who procured for His own the assumption into the place of children (whereby they became de jure His brethren, Romans 8:29). The pre-eminence of Christ is therefore essential, not merely prototypal, as of the head of humanity;[97] He is the μονογενής. Through adoption believers have passed out (comp. Romans 7:24 f.) of their natural state, in which they by sin were liable to the wrath of God (Ephesians 2:3), and have entered into the state of reconciliation, in which they, through the mediation of the reconciling death of Christ (Ephesians 1:6-7), by means of the faith in it which was counted to them for righteousness (Galatians 3:26; Romans 4:5; Romans 4:23 f.), have forgiveness of sins, and are heirs of the Messianic blessedness (Ephesians 1:14; Galatians 4:7; Romans 8:10-11; Romans 8:17), as a guarantee of which the Holy Spirit is given to them (Ephesians 1:14; Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:16).

ΕἸς ΑὐΤΌΝ] does not apply to Christ (Anselm, Thomas, Castalio, Vorstius, Menochius, Cornelius a Lapide, and others, including de Wette), since Christ is mediator of the adoption, and this is a relation to God. This simple sense of reference toward is to be maintained, and we must not import either ad gloriam gratiae suae (Piscator; comp. Schenkel) or τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν ἀνάγουσαν τὸ γένος ἡμῶν (Theophylact). At variance with linguistic usage, Beza, Calvin, and Calixtus take it for ἘΝ ἙΑΥΤῷ, and discover in it the independence of the divine ΠΡΟΟΡΙΣΜΌς; and Grotius, Wolf, Baumgarten, Koppe, Holzhausen, Meier hold it as equivalent to sibi, לוֹ (“as children, who rightly belong to Him as His own,” Meier). Comp. also on Colossians 1:20.

We may add that here, too, we must not write (with Beza, Stephanus, Mill, Griesbach, Knapp, Meier, and others) ΑὙΤΌΝ, but ΑὐΤΌΝ. Comp. above on ΚΑΤΕΝΏΠΙΟΝ ΑὐΤΟῦ.

ΚΑΤᾺ ΤῊΝ ΕὐΔΟΚΊΑΝ ΤΟῦ ΘΕΛΉΜΑΤΟς ΑὐΤΟῦ (not ΑὙΤΟῦ): conformably to the pleasure of His will, just as it was the purpose of His will. Comp. Matthew 11:26; Luke 10:21. So Vulgate, Erasmus, Calvin, Bengel, Flatt, and others, including Rückert, de Wette, Bleek. It may also signify: according to the benevolence of His will (see, generally, Fritzsche, ad Rom. II. p. 369 ff.). So Harless, Olshausen, Baumgarten-Crusius, following older expositors. But this notion is already and more strongly contained in ἘΝ ἈΓΆΠῌ; and the element which is here meant, of free self-determination, independent of all human desert, as regulative of the προορίζειν, is clearly pointed to in the parallel by ἣν προέθετο ἐν αὑτῷ. Comp. also Ephesians 1:11; 2 Timothy 1:9.

[96] Even the old theocratic υἱοθεσία was adoption; for the Jews were as such, and not as men generally, the chosen and peculiar people to whom the Messiah was promised. See on Romans 9:4.

[97] In opposition to Beyschlag, Christol. d. N.T. p. 222 f.

REMARK.

Predestination is not made dependent on any sort of causa meritoria on the part of man (comp. Ephesians 1:11), but is simply an act of free divine kindness, whose determination has its causa impulsiva only in Christ; so that, in the case of the predestined subjects, faith is set forth as the causa apprehendens of the salvation destined for them κατὰ πρόγνωσιν (Romans 8:29); and with this Romans 9, when rightly apprehended, agrees. The conditions mentally supplied by expositors (as e.g. Grotius, who finds in our passage “decretum ejus, quod Deus facere vult, si et homines faciant, quod debent;” comp. already Jerome) remove the relation out of the sphere of the divine εὐδοκία τοῦ θελήματος into that of dependence on human self-choice, and consequently into the domain of the accidental. The notion of absolute decree, however, breaks down before the πρόγνωσις as the necessary premiss of the divine ἐκλογή—a premiss, which doubtless involves the necessity of morally restricting the truncus aut lapis of the Formula Concordiae (comp. Luthardt, Lehre vom freien Willen, p. 272).

Ephesians 1:6. As love was the disposition serving as motive for the divine predestination (Ephesians 1:5), so is the glorifying of the divine love (which, however, is here designated in accordance with its distinctive peculiarity, because it refers to sinners, Ephesians 2:1 ff., as grace) its divinely conceived ultimate aim, not, as Grotius would have it, consequens aliud. Comp. 2 Corinthians 1:20; Php 1:11.

εἰς ἔπαινον δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ (not αὑτοῦ) means neither to the glorious praise of His grace (Grotius, Estius), nor to the praise of His glorious grace (Luther, Castalio, Beza, and most expositors, including Morus, Koppe, Flatt, Holzhausen, Meier), the one of which is just as arbitrary as the other; but: to the praise of the glory of His grace. The quality of the grace, its glory—its greatness laudably evincing itself—is brought into prominence as the object of the praise to be bestowed on it. Comp. Bernhardy, p. 53 f.; Held, ad Timol. p. 368. Bengel already in his day aptly distinguished the notions: “Primum nascitur laus gratiae, Ephesians 1:5, inde laus gloriae.”

δόξης without the article may not surprise us on account of the genitival definition that follows. See Winer, p. 118 f. [E. T. 155 f.].

ἧς ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἠγαπ.] ἧς is attracted by the preceding τῆς χάριτος (χάριν χαριτοῦν is conceived of as ἀγάπην ἀγαπᾶν, Ephesians 2:4; John 17:26; comp. Dem. 306, 28: χάριτας χαρίζεσθαι) instead of ἥν. Comp. Ephesians 4:1; and see on 2 Corinthians 1:4; Hom. Il. xxii. 649; Arist. Pl. 1044: τῆς ὕβρεος ἧς ὑβρίζομαι. Χαριτόω means: gratia aliquem afficere; and, according as the χάρις is conceived of subjectively as love-worthiness, or objectively as the divine grace, the sense may either be: to make love-worthy, as Chrysostom[98] and his followers (comp. also Luther), Cornelius a Lapide, and many Roman Catholics (including Bisping), have taken it, understanding thereby not merely the reconciliation, but also the positive sanctifying, the justitia inhaerens; or: to grant grace (as it is taken usually). In the former sense (see Wetstein, I. p. 651), the word occurs, Niceph. Prog. ii. 2; Symm. Ps. xvii. 28; Sir 18:17; also Sir 9:8 in Cod. A; and Clem. Alex. Paed. iii. 11; in the latter sense, in Luke 1:28; Test. XII. Patr. p. 698. The latter is here decidedly correct, since the preceding τῆς χάριτος, especially with ἧς as the reading, permits no deviation from that meaning, just as Ephesians 1:7 sets forth simply the work of pardoning grace.

ἐν τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ] Christ as the υἱὸς τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ, Colossians 1:13 (comp. Matthew 3:17), is κατʼ ἐξοχήν the beloved of God, and in Him has God shown us grace, i.e. in the fact that He gave Him up to death for us (Ephesians 1:7), He has brought home to us His grace. Comp. Ephesians 2:13; Romans 8:39; 2 Corinthians 5:19. The designation of Christ by ὁ ἠγαπήμενος makes us feel the greatness of the divine grace. Comp. Romans 8:32; Romans 5:8 ff.; John 3:16; 1 John 4:9 f.

[98] Chrysostom says: just as if one were to make a sick or famished man into a beautiful youth, so has God made our soul beautiful and love-worthy for the angels and all saints and for Himself.

Ephesians 1:7. More precise elucidation, on the basis of experience (ἔχομεν), of what had just been said, ἐχαρίτ. ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἠγαπ.

ἐν ᾧ] so that in Him our possession of the redemption has its ground. He it is, without whose person and work we should not have been redeemed; χωρὶς Χριστοῦ (Ephesians 2:12), no ἀπολύτρωσις. Comp. Romans 3:24. The relative has, as is often the case (see, generally, Stallbaum, ad Plat. Phil. p. 195 f.; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 371), argumentative significance. Comp. here especially Ephesians 3:12.

τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν] the redemption, namely, from God’s wrath and penalties, which before our entrance into faith we had incurred through sin (Romans 1:18; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:5 ff; Romans 7:7 ff.; Ephesians 2:3; Ephesians 5:6, al.), as those who were under the dominion of the devil (Colossians 1:13; Acts 26:18). The purchase-price (1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23; Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45) through which Christ, in voluntary obedience towards God’s gracious counsel, accomplished this ἀπολύτρωσις, was His blood, which He shed as an ἱλαστήριον for the benefit of men (Romans 3:25; Romans 5:8-9; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 1:21; Colossians 2:13 f.). On ἀπολύτρωσις, as the effect of the atoning death, in which case the blood of Christ is always conceived of as the purchase-price, see Romans 3:24.

διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ] by means of His blood, a more precise definition of the preceding ἐν ᾧ. Paul might have written ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ (Ephesians 2:13); but he in general prefers an interchange of prepositions (comp. 2 Corinthians 3:11; Romans 3:30; Galatians 2:16; Philemon 1:5), to which he was here specially led by his epexegetic purpose (comp. Ephesians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 3:7).

τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν παραπτωμάτων] apposition to τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν, the essence of which is the forgiveness of sins obtained on account of the death of Christ. As to the distinction between πάρεσις (Romans 3:25) and ἄφεσις (used by Paul also in Colossians 1:14), see on Romans 3:25.

τῶν παραπτωμάτων denotes always the actual individual sins (Ephesians 2:1 ff.; and see on Romans 5:20); hence Paul has not mentally included a forgiveness of inborn sinfulness (Olshausen).

κατὰ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ] is not to be resolved into an adjective (“gratia liberalissima,” Koppe); but the riches, i.e. the great fulness (Codex 17 has τὸ πλῆθος), of the divine grace is that, in consequence of which we have in Christ the redemption. It is to be noted that here, as well as in Ephesians 1:6, the reference to the divine grace serves to wind up one element of the discourse, and (by ἧς) to annex another. As to πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος (Ephesians 2:7, Ephesians 3:16), see on Romans 2:4. We may add that Lachmann, Rückert, tischendorf have the form τὸ πλοῦτος, following A B D* E (?) א* min., to which also F G fall to be added with the transcriber’s error τοῦ πλοῦτος; and rightly. See on 2 Corinthians 8:2, Remark; and see Winer, p. 64 [E. T. 76].

Ephesians 1:8. Ἧς ἐπερίσσευσεν εἰς ἡμᾶς] ἧς stands by attraction (comp. Ephesians 1:6), not for ᾗ (Camerarius, Calvin, Piscator, Erasmus Schmid), so that ἐπερίσσ. would be intransitive,—for the attraction of the dative, rare even in classic authors (Krüger, Gramm. 51. 10. 3, and Grammat. Unters. III. p. 274 f.), is not found in the N.T., not even in the passages adduced by Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 247 [E. T. 287],—but for ἥν, so that ἐπερίσσ. is transitive (2 Corinthians 4:15; 2 Corinthians 9:8; 1 Thessalonians 3:12): which He has made abundant, has shown in an exceedingly high degree (ἀφθόνως ἐξέχεε, Theophylact), towards us. If, with Calvin and Beza (comp. also Holzhausen), we should not assume any attraction at all, but should take the genitive as at Luke 15:17, there would result the sense, unsuitable to what follows (γνωρίσας κ.τ.λ.): of which He had superabundance towards us.

ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ καὶ φρονήσει] is not, with Chrysostom, Jerome, Theodoret, Homberg, Baumgarten, Semler, Michaelis, Griesbach, Koppe, Holzhausen, Scholz, to be attached to γνωρίσας, because it would thus, like ἐν ἀγάπῃ in Ephesians 1:5, denote the attribute of God operative in the γνωρίζειν, which, on account of πάσῃ (see below), is not admissible. If, again, we should, with Chrysostom (comp. Michaelis and others), regard it as the state of men brought about by γνωρίσας κ.τ.λ., this would be forced, and, as concerns the sense, there might be urged against it the circumstance that, in the making known of the divine mystery, Paul had to set forth, not the divine display of grace in itself (this was given in the work of redemption, Ephesians 1:6-7), but the display of grace as revealed. Hence it was necessary that there should be added to ἧς ἐπερίσσ. εἰς ἡμ, a definition, and this is ἐν πάσῃ σοφ. κ. φρον.: which He has displayed abundantly towards us by every kind of wisdom and discernment (with which He endowed us, comp. Colossians 1:9), in that He made known to us, etc. Observe here withal the climax, in which, rising from the simple ἧς ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς, Ephesians 1:6, the apostle now, at this further display of grace, says: ἧς ἐπερίσσευσεν εἰς ἡμᾶς. Rückert (comp. Jerome, Castalio, de Wette, and others), although connecting it with ἧς ἐπερίσσ. εἰς ἡμ., incorrectly holds the divine wisdom to be meant, and takes the sense to be, that God has with highest wisdom and discernment dispensed His grace over us. Not only would this introduce here something remote from the point,—since in the whole context Paul is commending only grace as such, and not any other attribute along with it,—but the words themselves are opposed to it, not indeed by φρονήσει in itself, which (in opposition to Harless and Schenkel) might be used also of God (1 Kings 3:28; Proverbs 3:19; Jeremiah 10:12), but certainly by πάσῃ. For πᾶσα σοφία does not mean summa sapientia, but every kind of wisdom, which, according to a popular mode of expression, like our “all possible wisdom” (Theile, ad Jacob. p. 7), can be said only of men. The πολυποίκιλος σοφία, Ephesians 3:10, is not analogous (in opposition to de Wette), but denotes the absolute wisdom according to its manifold modes of manifestation.

καὶ φρονήσει] Comp. 1 Kings 4:29 : ἔδωκε κύριος φρόνησιν τῷ Σαλωμὼν καὶ σοφίαν πολλήν. Daniel 2:21 : διδοὺς σοφίαν τοῖς σοφοῖς καὶ φρόνησιν τοῖς εἰδόσι σύνεσιν; Joseph. Antt. ii. 5. 7, viii. 7. 5. Φρόνησις is an aptitude, which proceeds from wisdom (ἡ δὲ σοφία ἀνδρὶ τίκτει φρόνησιν, Proverbs 10:23), in connection with which the distinction is to be noted, that σοφία is the general notion (ἐπιστήμη θείων τε καὶ ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων, Sext. Emp. adv. phys. i. 13), which embraces the collective activity of the mind as directed to divine aims only to be achieved by moral means (comp. on Colossians 1:9); whereas φρόνησις denotes the more special notion of the morally determined intelligence, the insight of practical reason regulating the dispositions (ἐπιστήμη ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν, Plato, Def. p. 411 D; ἕξις ἀληθὴς μετὰ λόγου πρακτικὴ περὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπῳ ἀγαθὰ κ. κακά, Arist. Eth. vi. 5. 4). See, especially, also Cic. Off. i. 43. Comp. on φρόνησις, which Paul has not elsewhere, Luke 1:17; Beck, bibl. Seelenl. p. 62.