ST PAUL'S
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
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REVISED TEXT AND TRANSLATION
'WITH
EXPOSITION AND NOTES
BY
J. AEMITAGE BOBINSON D.D.
DEAN OF -WBSTMINSTEE
SECOND EDITION
Ho n ton
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
NEW YOEK: THE JC^OMILLAM' COMPANY
1904
All rights reserved
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Second Edition, 1904.
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AMPLISSIMO . THEOLOGORVM . HALLENSIVM . ORDINI
QVORVM . EX . DECRETO
AD . GRADVM . DOCTORIS . IN . SACRA . THEOLOGIA
ANTE . NOVEM . ANNOS . PROVECTVS . SVM
HAS CHARTAS . TANDEM
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IGNATIUS.
P 6CTIN H efp^NH HM(3iN.
PEEFACE.
AN English commentator on the Epistle to the Ephesians
-^- finds a portion of the detail of his work already done
by the master-hand of Bishop Lightfoot in his edition of the
companion Epistle to the Colossians. For the discussion of
particular words I have accordingly referred again and again
to Lightfoot's notes. Where I have felt obliged to differ from
some of his interpretations, it has seemed due to him that
I should state the ground of the difference with considerable
fulness, as for example in more than one of the detached notes :
for we may not lightly set aside a judgment which he has
given.
Lightfoot had himself made preparations for an edition of
Ephesians ; but only an introductory Essay and notes on the
first fourteen verses have seen the light (Biblical Essays,
pp. 375396 ; Notes on Epistles of St Paul, pp. 307324).
A more solid contribution to the study of the epistle is to be
found in Hort's Introductory Lectures (Prolegomena to Romans
and Ephesians, pp. 63 184). I have nothing to add to the
discussion of the authorship of this epistle which these lectures
contain.
*v
My object has been to expound the epistle, which is the
crown of St Paul's writings. I have separated the exposition
from the philological commentary, in order to give myself
greater freedom in my attempt to draw out St Paul's meaning :
and I have prefixed to each section of the exposition a trans-
lation of the Greek text. In this translation I have only
viii PREFACE.
departed from the Authorised Version where that version
appeared to me to fail to bring out correctly and intelligibly
the meaning of the original. The justification of the renderings
which I retain, as well as of those which I modify or reject,
must be sought in the notes to the Greek text.
In order to retain some measure of independence I have
refrained from consulting the English expositors of the epistle,
but I have constantly availed myself of Dr T. K. Abbott's work
in the International Critical Commentary, since it is as he
says 'primarily philological.'
I offer the fruit of a study which has extended over the
past ten years as a small contribution to the interpretation of
St Paul. The truth of the corporate life which was revealed
to him was never more needed than it is to-day, Our failure
to understand his life and message has been largely due to our
acquiescence in disunion. As we rouse ourselves to enquire
to us afresh.
Several friends have helped me in seeing this book through
the press: I wish to thank in particular the Reverend
J. O. F. Murray and the Reverend R. B. Rackham.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY,
Feast of the Transfiguration^ 1903.
CONTENTS.
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION i
TRANSLATION AND EXPOSITION 17
TEXT AND NOTES 141
On the meanings o/'yapig and ^aptroSy 221
'The Beloved' as a Messianic title 229
On the meaning of p.v(rrrfpi.ov in the New Testament 234
On evepyelv and its cognates 241
On the meaning of eniyvaxris 248
On the meaning of 7r\ypa>fia 255
On the word <rvvapfio\oyelv 260
On TTcopaxns and Tnjpaxris 264
On some current epistolary phrases 275
Note on various readings 285
INDEX OF GREEK WORDS 305
INDEX OF SUBJECTS 3 n
INTRODUCTION.
I T PAUL was in Rome : not, as he had once hoped, on a St Paul in
friendly visit of encouragement to the Roman Christians,
resting with them for a few weeks before he passed on to
preach to new cities of the further West ; not in the midst
of his missionary career, but at its close. His active work was
practically done : a brief interval of release might permit him
to turn eastwards once again ; but to all intents and purposes
I his career was ended. He was a prisoner in Rome.
To know what had brought him there, and to comprehend th . e
. . . . climax of
his special mission, of which this was in truth no unfitting his mis-
climax, we must pass in brief review the beginnings of the
Christian story.
I. Our Lord's earthly life began and ended among a people i- One
the most exclusive and the most hated of all the races under ministry
the universal Roman rule. But it was a people who had an un- ( imlted to "
paralleled past to look back upon, and who through centuries of
oppression had cherished an undying hope of sovereignty over
all other races in the world. Our Lord's life was essentially a
Jewish life in its outward conditions. In every vital point He ;
conformed to the traditions of Judaism. Scarcely ever did 1 .
He set foot outside the narrow limits of the Holy Land, th&
*/ *
area of which was not much larger than that of the county of
Yorkshire or the principality of Wales, With hardly an excep-
tion He confined His teaching and His miracles to Jews. He
was not sent, He said, but unto the lost sheep of the house of
EPHES. 2 i
2 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
Israel. It is true that He gave hints of a larger mission, of
founding a universal kingdom, of becoming in His own person
the centre of the human race. But the exclusive character of.
His personal ministry stood in sharp contrast to those wider
hopes and prophecies. He incessantly claimed for His teaching
that it was the filling out and perfecting of the sacred lessons
of the lawgivers and prophets of the past. He seemed content
to identify Himself with Hebrew interests and Hebrew aspira-
tions. So it was from first to last. He was born into a Jewish
family, of royal lineage, though in humble circumstances ; and
it was as a Jewish pretender that the Romans nailed Him to
a cross.
2. The 2. The little brotherhood which was formed in Jerusalem
Church to carry on His work after His Ascension was as strictly limited
vriftTthe ^ * ne sphere of its efforts as He Himself had been. It was
samelimi- composed entirely of Jews, who in no way cut themselves off
from the national unity, and~^who were zealous worshippeTs~~inr
the national temple. It was a kind of Reformation movement
within the Jewish Church. It sought for converts only among
Jews, and it probably retained its members for the most part
at the national centre in the expectation of the speedy return
of Jesus as the recognized national Messiah, who should break
the Roman power and rule a conquered world from the throne
of David in Jerusalem.
A popular "We cannot say how long this lasted: perhaps about five
ment, years. But we know that during this period a long one in
the childhood of a new society the Apostles and the other
brethren enjoyed the esteem and good will of all except the
governing class in Jerusalem, and that their numbers grew
with astonishing rapidity. The movement was characteristi-
cally a popular one. While the Sadducaic high-priestly party
dreaded it, and opposed it when they dared, the leader of the
Pharisees openly befriended it, and 'a great multitude of the
priests' (who must be distinguished from their aristocratic
rulers) ' became obedient to the faith ' (Acts vi. 7). This
statement indicates the high-water mark of the movement in
INTRODUCTION. 3
its earliest stage. It shews too that there was as yet no breach loyal to
at all with Judaism, and that the specifically Christian gather-
ings for exhortation, prayers and eucharists were not regarded
as displacing or discrediting the divinely sanctioned sacrificial
worship of the temple.
3. But the Apostles had received a wider commission, 3. A crisis
although hitherto they had strictly adhered to the order of the O n
Lord's command by ' beginning at Jerusalem.' A crisis came
at last. A storm suddenly broke upon their prosperous calm :
a storm which seemed in a moment to wreck the whole structure
which they had been building, and to dash their fair hope of
the national conversion in irretrievable ruin.
The Jews of Alexandria had been widened by contact with by St
Greek philosophy and culture. They had striven to present - 1
their faith in a dress which would make it less deterrent to teaching '
the Gentile mind. If we cannot say for certain that St Stephen
-was-an-Alexa^drianT-we-know-at-any-rate-that-he-was-a-repre
sentative of the Hellenistic element in the Church at Jerusalem.
A large study of the Old Testament scriptures had prepared
him to see in the teaching of Christ a wider purpose than others
saw. He felt that the Christian Church could not always
remain shut up within the walls of Jerusalem, or even limited
to Jewish believers. What he said to suggest innovation and
to arouse opposition we do not know. We only know that the What he
points on which he was condemned were false charges, not to have
unlike some which had been brought against the Lord Himself. said-
He was accused of disloyalty to Moses and the temple the
sacred law and the divine sanctuary. His defence was drawn
from the very writings which he was charged with discrediting. The politi-
But it was not heard to the end. He was pleading a cause uniterto 168
already condemned; and the two great political parties were^ demn
at one in stamping out the heresy of the universality of
the Gospel. For it is important to note the change in the
Pharisaic party. Convinced that after all the new movement
was fatal to their narrow traditionalism, they and the common
people, whose accepted leaders they had always been, swung
4- EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
round into deadly opposition. The witnesses, who by the law
must needs cast the first stones at the condemned, threw off their
upper garments at the feet of a young disciple of Gamaliel.
Persecn- The murder of St Stephen was followed by a general perse-
ters the cution, and in a few days the Apostles were the only Christians
Church, left in j erusa i enit We may fairly doubt whether the Church
which is as a whole would have been prepared to sanction St Stephen's
vo^edVn ^ me ^ t eacmn g- Had they been called to pronounce upon it,
the conse- they might perhaps have censured it as rash and premature, if
the wider not indeed essentially unsound. But they were never asked
without 8 ' *ke question. They were at once involved in the consequences
be ! D 3 . of what he had taught, with no opportunity of disclaiming it.
sanction Providence had pushed them forward a step, and there was
no possibility of a return.
4. The 4. The scattered believers carried their message with them ;
nines" of an( ^ they soon found themselves proclaiming it to a widening
xt ^ slon ~circle~of~hearers; StPhilip preaches-to-the-unorthodox and
Gentiles. half-heathen Samaritans; later he baptises an Ethiopian, no
*j* Jew, though a God-fearing man. St Peter himself formally
declares to a Roman centurion at Caesarea that now at length
he is learning the meaning of the old saying of his Jewish Bible,
that ' God is no respecter of persons'. At Antioch a Church
springs up, which consists largely of Gentile converts.
but Saul, But we must go back to Jerusalem to get a sight of the
thesuc- man on wnom St Stephen's prophetic mantle has fallen. He
cessorof was w th him when he was taken up, and a double portion
Stephen. .... . .
of his spirit is to rest upon him. The fiery enthusiasm of the
persecuting Saul, the most conspicuous disciple of the greatest
Pharisee of the age, was a terrible proof that Christianity
had forfeited the esteem and favour of her earliest years in
Jerusalem. The tide of persecution was stemmed indeed by
his conversion to the persecuted side: but for some time his
own life was in constant danger, and he retired into obscurity.
He came out of his retirement as the Apostle, not of a
Christianized Judaism, but of St Stephen's wider Gospel for
the world.
INTRODUCTION. 5
Alike by birth and training he was peculiarly fitted to be Hia three-
the champion of such a cause. A Jew, born in a Greek city,
and possessed of the Roman franchise, he was in his own person
the meeting-point of three civilisations. In a unique sense
he was the heir of all the world's past. The intense devotion
of the Hebrew, with his convictions of sin and righteousness
and judgment to come; the flexible Greek language, ready
now to interpret the East to the West; the strong Roman
force of centralisation, which had made wars to cease and had
bidden the world to be at one: in each of these great world-
factors he had, and realised that he had, his portion : each of
them indeed was a factor in the making of his personality
and his career. With all that the proudest Jew could boast,
he had the entry into the larger world of Greek culture, and
withal a Roman's interest in the universal empire. He was
a man to be claimed by a great purpose, if such a purpose
-there were to claim him; His Judaism could never have
enabled him to enter on the fulness of his inheritance. Chris-
tianity found him ' a chosen vessel ', and developed his capacity
to the utmost.
The freer atmosphere of the semi-Gentile Church in Antioch Antioch.
marked out that great commercial centre as a fitting sphere ing-point.
for his earliest work. From it he was sent on a mission to
Cyprus and Asia Minor, in the course of which, whilst always
starting in the Jewish synagogue, he found himself perpetually
drawn on to preach his larger Gospel to the Gentiles. Thus Gentile
r or Churches
along the line of his route new centres of Gentile Christianity founded.
were founded, Churches in which baptism practically took the
place of circumcision, and Jews and Gentiles were associated
on equal terms. At Antioch, on his return, the news of this
was gladly welcomed : ' a door of faith ' had been opened to the
Gentiles, and they were pressing into the kingdom of God.
5. We could hardly have expected that the Christians of 5-
Jerusalem, now again returned to their home, would view the of the
matter with the same complacency. The sacred city with its believer.
memories of the past, the solemn ritual of the temple, the holy
6 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
language of the scriptures and the prayers of the synagogue
all spoke to them of the peculiar privileges and the exceptional
destiny of the Hebrew people. Was all this to go for nothing ?
"Were outside Gentiles, strangers to the covenant with Moses,
to rise at a bound to equal heights of privilege with the
circumcised people of God ?
His dis- We are apt to pass too harsh a judgment on the main body
natural, of the Jewish believers, because we do not readily understand
the dismay which filled their minds at the proposed inclusion of
Gentiles in the Christian society, the nucleus of the Messianic
kingdom, with no stipulation whatever of conformity to Jewish
institutions. Day by day, as the Jewish believer went to his
temple-prayers, it was his proud right to pass the barrier
which separated Jew from Gentile in the house of God. What
was this intolerable confusion which was breaking down the
divinely constituted middle-wall of partition between them?
His~dearest~hope, whicirthe words~~of ~Christ~had~only~seemed~
for a moment to defer, was the restoration of the kingdom
to Israel. What had become of that, if the new society was to
include the Gentile on the same footing as the Jew ? Was not
Christ emphatically and by His very name the Messiah of the
Jewish nation? Could any be a good Christian, unless he
were first a good Jew?
Theren- I* is essential to an understanding of St Paul's special
^Christ' B^ 88 * 011 * an( ^ f *he whole view of Christianity which he was
disguises led to take during the progress of that mission, that we should
from us . i i !/.
the Jewish appreciate this problem as it presented itself to the mmd of
essia . ^ j^ W jj jj a( j Believed in Christ. The very fact that
throughout the Apostolic writings the Greek translation X/MGTO?
takes the place of the Hebrew 'Messiah' disguises from us the
deep significance which every mention of the name must have
had for the Palestinian Christian. The Syriac versions of the
New Testament, in which the old word naturally comes back
again, help us to recover this special point of view. How
strangely to take a few passages at random 1 do these words
r i Cor. viii ir, is 12, xii 27.
INTRODUCTION.
sound to us: 'him who is weak, for whom the Messiah died';
' the Gospel of the Messiah ' ; ' ye are the body of the Messiah *.
Yet nothing less than this could St Paul's words have meant
to every Jew that heard them.
Again, St Paul's own championship of Gentile liberty is St Paul's
j. 1.- . xi . j. ^ j j. ii wn sense
so prominent in his writings, that we are tempted to overlook of the
those passages which shew how keenly he himself realised
the pathos of the situation. A Hebrew of purest Hebrew
blood, a Pharisee as his father was before him, he saw to his
bitter sorrow, what every Jewish Christian must have seen, that
his doctrine of Gentile freedom was erecting a fresh barrier
against the conversion of the Jewish nation: that the very
universality of the Gospel was issuing in the self-exclusion of
the Jew. The mental anguish which he suffered is witnessed
to by the three great chapters of the Epistle to the Romans
(ix xi), in which he struggles towards a solution of the
-problem. { A disobedient and gainsayingjpeople ' it is, as the
prophet had foretold. And yet the gifts and the calling of
God are never revoked ; ' God hath not cast off His people,
whom He foreknew '. The future must contain somewhere the
justification of the present: then, though it cannot be now,
' all Israel shall be saved '. It is the largeness of his hope The
that steadies him. His work is not for the souls of men so Q f hope
much as for the Purpose of God in Christ. The individual
counts but little in comparison. The wider issues are always hitn -
before him. Not Jews and Gentiles merely, but Jew and
Gentile, are the objects of his solicitude. Not the rescue of
some out of the ruin of all is the hope with which the Gospel
has inspired him, but the summing up of all persons and all
things in Christ.
6. The feeling, then, which rose in the minds of the Chris- 6. The
tian portion of the Jewish people on hearing of the proposed an <j i\ s
indiscriminate admission of Gentiles into the Church of Christ lssue>
might have found its expression in the cry, ' The Jewish Messiah The
for the Jews ! ' Gentiles might indeed be allowed a place in
the kingdom of God. The old prophets had foretold as much
8 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
as this. Nor was it contrary to the established practice of
later Judaism, after it had been forced into contact with the
Greek world. The Gentile who submitted to circumcision and
other recognised conditions might share the privileges of the
chosen people. But admission on any lower terms amounted
to a revolution; the very proposition was a revolt against
divinely sanctioned institutions.
not taken We are not to suppose that the Apostles themselves, or
Apostles. even *k majority of the Jewish believers, took so extreme
a view : the conference at Jerusalem is a proof that they did
not. But even they may well have been perplexed at the
swiftness with which a change was coming over the whole face
of the movement in consequence of St Paul's missionary action:
and they must have perceived that this change would be
deeply obnoxious in particular to those earnest Pharisees whom
they had led to believe in Jesus as the nation's Messiah.
_ The_con= - Some of the- more ardenfc^of these found theirway fco~~
Antioch. Antioch, where they proclaimed to the Gentile believers :
' Except ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye cannot
be saved '. Happily St Paul was there to champion the Gentile
cause. We need but sketch the main features of the struggle
that ensued.
The con- A conference with the Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem
& was * ne fi 18 * s * e P- Here after much discussion St Peter rises
lem - and recalls the occasion on which he himself had been divinely
guided to action like St Paul's. Then comes the narrative of
facts from the missionaries themselves. Finally St James
formulates the decision which is reached, 'to lay on them
no other burden ' than certain simple precepts, which must of
necessity be observed if there were to be any fellowship at all
between Jewish and Gentile believers.
The So the first battle was fought and won. The Divine
averted attestation given to St Paul's work among the Gentiles was a
for the proof that God had opened to them also the door of faith.
moment * *
vonly. They were pressing in : who could withstand God by trying to
shut the door ? But when the novelty of the wonder wore
INTEODUCTION.
away, the old questionings revived, and it seemed as though
the Church must be split into two divisions Jewish and
Gentile Christians.
To St Paul's view such a partition was fatal to the very Two con-
mission of Christianity, which was to be the healer of the e pi s ti es .
world's divisions. The best years of "his life were accordingly
devoted to reconciliation. Two great epistles witness to this
endeavour : the Epistle to the Galatians, in which he mightily
defends Gentile liberty ; and the Epistle to the Romans, in
which, writing to the central city of the world, the seat of its
empire and the symbol of its outward unity, he holds an even
balance between Jew and Gentile, and claims them both as
necessary to the Purpose of God.
One practical method of reconciliation was much in his Gentile
thoughts. Poverty had oppressed the believers in Judaea. Here to
was a rare chance for Gentile liberality to shew that Sfc Paul
jH[as_right_in_saying_that_Jew and Gentile were-one-manin
Christ. Hence the stress which he laid on the collection of
alms, ' the ministry unto the saints ' (2 Cor. ix i). The alms
collected, he himself must journey to Jerusalem to present
them in person. He knows that he does so at the risk of his
life : but if he dies, he dies in the cause for which he has lived.
His one anxiety is lest by any means his mission to Jerusalem
should fail of its end; and he bids the Roman Christians
wrestle in prayer, not only that his life may be spared, but also
that ' the ministry which he has for Jerusalem ', or, to use an
earlier phrase, 'the offering of the Gentiles', may be 'acceptable
to the saints ' (Rom. xv 16, 31).
His journey was successful from this point of view ; but it St Paul's
led to an attack upon him by the unbelieving Jews, and a long imprison-
imprisonment in Caesarea followed. Yet even this, disastrous ment
as it seemed, furthered the cause of peace and unity within
the Christian Church. St Paul was removed from the scene of
conflict. Bitter feelings against his person naturally subsided
when he was in prison for his Master's sake. His teachings
and his letters gained in importance and authority. Before he
10 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
was taken to bis trial at Rome the controversy was practically
dead. Gentile liberty had cost him his freedom, but it was an
accomplished fact. He was 'the prisoner of Jesus Christ on
close the behalf of the Gentiles'; but his cause had triumphed, and the
contro- t *
yersy. equal position of privilege of the Gentile converts was never
again to be seriously challenged.
7. The /. Thus St Paul had been strangely brought to the place
occftsion
of the where he had so often longed to find himself. At last he was
to P tne 6 ^ Jft me: a prisoner indeed, but free to teach and free to write.
Ephe- And from his seclusion came three epistles to the Philippians,
to the Colossians, and ' to the Ephesians '.
A non- The circumcision question was dead. Other questions were
sial expo- being raised ; and to these the Epistle to the Colossians in
positive Particular is controversially addressed. This done, his mind is
truth: fr ee f or one supreme exposition, non-controversial, positive,
fundamental^-of the-great-doetrine-of- his_life==that-doctrine_
into which he had been advancing year by year under the
discipline of his unique circumstances the doctrine of the
unity of mankind in Christ and of the purpose of God for the
world through the Church.
the issue The foregoing sketch has enabled us in some measure to
tory and 8 see h w St Paul was specially trained by the providence that
mediate 11 " ru ^ ^is life to be the exponent of a teaching which transcends
circum- a li other declarations of the purpose of God for man. The best
stflJI Cfifl -
years of his Apostolic labour had been expended in the effort to
preserve in unity the two conflicting elements of the Christian
Church. . And now, when signal success has crowned his
labours, we find him in confinement at the great centre of the
world's activity writing to expound to the Gentile Christians of
Asia Minor what is his final conception of the meaning and
aim of the Christian revelation. He is a prisoner indeed, but
not in a dungeon : he is in his own hired lodging. He is not
crushed by bodily suffering. He can think and teach and
write. Only he cannot go away. At Rome he is on a kind of
watch-tower, like a lonely sentinel with a wide field of view
INTRODUCTION. II
but forced to abide at his post. His mind is free, and ranges
over the world past, present and future. With a large liberty
of thought he commences his great argument 'before the
foundation of the world ', and carries it on to 'the fulness of the
times', ^mbracing in its compass 'all things in heaven and on
the earth '.
8. If the writer's history and circumstances help us to 8. The
MI i readers
understand the meaning of his epistle, so too will a considera- O f the
tion of the readers for whom it was intended. But here we epis e *
meet with a difficulty at the very outset. The words ' in Omission
Ephesus' (i i) are absent from some of our oldest and best words 'in
MSS., and several of the Greek Fathers make it clear that they Ephesus'.
did, not find them in all copies. Indeed it is almost certain
that they do not come from St Paul himself 1 .
There are good reasons for believing that the epistle was A circular
intended- as a circular letter, an encyclical, to go the round of
"many~Ghurches-in-^A:sia Minor; We-have-parallels-to-this-in
I St Peter and the Apocalypse, in both of which however the
Churches in question are mentioned by their names.
' The capital of the Roman province of Asia was Ephesus. Naturally
To Ephesus suc^h a letter would naturally go first of all : and f rst to
when in later times a title was sought for it, to correspond E P hesnfl -
with the titles of other epistles, no name would offer itself so
readily and so reasonably as the name of Ephesus. Accordingly Hence its
the title 'TO THE EPHESIANS' was prefixed to it. And if, as
seems not improbable, the opening sentence contained a space
into which the name of each Church in turn might be read
'to the saints which are * * * and the faithful in Christ
Jesus' it was certain that in many copies the words 'in
Ephesus' would come to be filled in.
The internal evidence of the epistle itself is in harmony The
Vf*fl d *l*$t
with the view that it was not specially intended for the Ephe- i n large
sian Church. For in more than one place the Apostle appears know^to
to be writing to Christians whom he has never seen, of whose St Paul,
faith he knew only by report, and who in turn knew of his
1 See the detached note on iv "
12 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
teachings only through the medium of his disciples (i 15, iii 2,
iv 21).
St Paul's Moreover the encyclical nature of the epistle removes what
relation would otherwise be a most serious objection to its authenticity.
Ephesus. ^ we rea d the notices of St Paul's relations with Ephesus, as
they are given by St Luke in the Acts, we observe that for a
long while he appears to have been specially checked in his
efforts to reach and to settle in that important centre. At one
j-'
time 'he was "forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the word
in Asia* (xvi 6). Other work must take precedence. Not
only were the Galatian Churches founded first, but also the
European Churches Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth. Then
on his way back from Corinth he touches at the city of his
desire, but only to hurry away, though with a promise to
return, if God so will (xviii 21). At last he comes to remain,
and he makes it a centre, so that 'all they which dwelt in
As~he~~tetls~"the
Ephesian elders at Miletus, when he believes that he is saying
his last words to them, ' For three years night and day I ceased
not to warn every one of you with tears' (xx 31).
Yet this To judge by the other letters of St Paul, we should expect
has 8 no * ^^ a l 6 ^ 6 ? to the Ephesians unusually full of personal
saluta- details, reminiscences of his long labours, warnings as to special
indi- dangers, kindly greetings to individuals by name. We are
struck by the very opposite of all this. No epistle is so general,
so little addressed to the peculiar needs of one Church more
than another. As for personal references and greetings, there
are none. Even Timothy's name is not joined with St Paul's
at the outset, as it is in the Epistle to the Colossians, written
at the same time and carried by the same messenger : not one
proper name is found in the rest of the epistle, except that of
Tychicus its bearer. 'Peace to the brethren', is its close;
'grace be with all that love our Lord*.
Theincon- The apparent inconsistency disappears the moment we strike
filstPTlCV '" .
disap- out the words ' in Ephesus '. No one Church is addressed : the
pears, if j e ^ er w j|i g O ^he round of the Churches with the broad lessons
INTRODUCTION. 13
which all alike need: Tychicus will read in the name from this is a
" ' ' tf*ll*tf*lll fll*
place to place, will explain St Paul's own circumstances, and letter.
will convey by word of mouth his messages to individuals.
Thus the local and occasional element is eliminated : and The elimi-
in this we seem to have a further explanation of that wider the local
view of the Church and the world, which we have in part
accounted for already by the consideration of the stage in a wider
visw.
the Apostle's career to which this epistle belongs, and by
the special significance of his central position in Rome.
The following is an analysis of the epistle : Analysis.
i i, 2. Opening salutation.
i 3 14. A Doxology, expanded into
(a) a description of the Mystery of God's will: elec-
tion (4), adoption (5), redemption (7), wisdom (8),
consummation (io)j
(6) a statement that Jew and Gentile alike are the
-portion-of-God-(-i-r -1-4);-
i 15 ii 10. A Prayer for Wisdom, expanded into a descrip-
tion of God's power, as shewn
(a) in raising and exalting Christ (19 23),
(J) in raising and exalting us in Christ, whether
Gentiles or Jews (ii i 10).
ii 10 22. The Gentile was an alien (n, 12); but is now
one man with the Jew (13 18); a fellow-citizen (19),
and part of God's house (20 22).
iii i 13. Return to the Prayer for "Wisdom ; but first
(a) a fresh description of the Mystery (26),
(b) and of St Paul's relation to its proclamation (7 13).
iii 14 21. The Prayer in full (14 19), with a Doxology
(20, 21).
iv i 16. God's calling involves a unity of life (i 6),
to which diversity of gifts is intended to lead (7 14)
the unity in diversity of the Body (15, 16).
iv 1 7 24. The old life contrasted with the new.
iv 25 v 5. Precepts of the new life,
v 6 21. The old darkness and folly: the new light and
wisdom.
14 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
v 22 vi 9. Duties interpreted by relation to Christ :
wives and husbands (22 33);
children and parents (vi i 4);
slaves and masters (5 9).
vi 10 20. The spiritual warrior clad in God's armour.
vi 2 1 24. Closing words.
The The topic of the Epistle to the Ephesians is of pre-eminent
Interest interest in the present day. At no former period has there
been so widespread a recognition in all departments of human
to the life of the need of combination and cooperation : and never,
Ephe-
sians. perhaps, has more anxious thought been expended on the
problem of the ultimate destiny of mankind. Whilst it is
true that everywhere and always questions have been asked
about the future, yet it is not too much to say that we, who
have begun to feel after the truth of a corporate life as higher
than an individual life, are more eager than any past generation
has been to learn, and perhaps are more capable of learning,
what is the goal for which Man as a whole is making, or, in
other words, what is God's Purpose for the Human Race.
The Among the perpetual marvels of the Apostolic writings is
massage" 5 *^ e ^ ac *' *^ a * they contain answers to enquiries which have
isfor all j on g wa ifc e d to be made : that, while the form of the written
record remains the same for all ages, its interpretation
grows in clearness as each age asks its own questions in
its own way.
EXPOSITION
OF THE
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
WE SPEAK THE WISDOM OP GOD IN A MYSTERY,
THE WISDOM THAT HATH BEEN HIDDEN,
WHICH GOD FOEEORDAINED BEFORE THE WORLD
UNTO-OUR-GLORY.
One God, one law, one element,
And one far-off divine event,
To which the whole creation moves.
[TO THE EPHESIANS]
T)AUL, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the i i, *
-*- saints which are [at Epkesus] and the faithful in Christ
Jesus : 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ.
The two points which distinguish this salutation have been
noticed already in the Introduction. No other name is joined with
St Paul's, although the salutation of the Epistle to the Colossians,
written at the same time, links with him f Timothy the brother*.
No one Church is addressed, but a blank is left, that each Church
in turn may find its own name inserted by the Apostle's messenger.
Paul the Apostle, and no other with him, addresses himself not to
the requirements of a single community of Christians, but to a
universal need the need of a larger knowledge of the purposes
of God.
3 BLESSED be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, i 3-*4
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ : 4 according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
blameless before Him in love ; 5 having foreordained us to the
adoption of sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory
of His grace, which He hath freely bestowed on us in the
Beloved; 7 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the-:
forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,,
8 which He hath made to abound toward us in all wisdom and:
prudence, 9 having made known unto us the mystery of His will,
according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in
Him, 10 for dispensation in the fulness of the times, to gather
EPHES. 2
1 8 EXPOSITION OF THE [13
up in one all things in Christ, both which are in the heavens
and which are on earth; in Him, "in whom also we have been
chosen as God's portion, having been foreordained according to
the purpose of Him who worketh all things according to the
counsel of His will, "that we should be to the praise of His
glory, who have been the first to hope in Christ; I3 in whom ye
also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also having believed, ye have been sealed
with the holy Spirit of promise, I4 which is the earnest of our
inheritance, unto the redemption of God's own possession, to
the praise of His glory.
From the outset the elimination of the personal element seems
to affect the composition. Compare the introductory words of some
of the epistles :
1 Thess. * We thank God always concerning you all...'
2 Thess. ' We are bound to thank God always for you...'
Gal ?-I-mar-V-el-that-ye-are_sO-SOon_changing '
Col. 'We thank God always concerning you...'
Here, however, no personal consideration enters. His great
i3 theme possesses him at once: 'Blessed be God... who hath blessed
us'. The customary note of thanksgiving and prayer is indeed
sounded (vv. 15 .), but not until the great doxology has run its full
course.
There is one parallel to this opening. The Second Epistle to
the Corinthians was written in a moment of relief from intense
strain. The Apostle had been anxiously waiting to learn the effect
2 Cor. vii of his former letter. At length good news reaches him : ' God',
6 as he says later on, 'which comforteth them that are low, com-
forted us by the coming of Titus'. In the full joy of his heart he
begins his epistle with a burst of thanksgiving to the Divine
2 Cor. i 3, Consoler : ' Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
4 Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who com-
forteth us in all our trouble, that we may be able .to comfort them
that are in any trouble, by means of the comfort with which
we ourselves are comforted of God V
The blessing there ascribed to God is for a particular mercy:
* Blessed be God... who comforteth us'. But here no special boon is
in his mind. The supreme mercy of God to man fills his thoughts :
( Blessed be God... who hath blessed us'.
I 3] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 19
The twelve verses which follow baffle our analysis. They are a vv. 3 14
kaleidoscope of dazzling lights and shifting colours : at first we fail
to find a trace of order or method. They are like the preliminary
flight of the eagle, rising and wheeling round, as though for a
while uncertain what direction in his boundless freedom he shall
take. So the Apostle's thought lifts itself beyond the limits of
time and above the material conceptions that confine ordinary men,
and ranges this way and that in a region of spirit, a heavenly
sphere, with no course as yet marked out, merely exulting in the
attributes and purposes of God.
At first we marvel at the wealth of his language : but soon we
discover, by the very repetition of the phrases which have arrested
us, the poverty of all language when it comes to deal with such
topics as he has chosen. He seems to be swept along by his theme,
hardly knowing whither it is taking him. He begins with God,
the blessing which comes from God to men, the eternity of His
purpose of good, the glory of its consummation. But he cannot
order his conceptions, or close his sentences. One thought presses
hard upon another, and will not be refused. And so this great
doxology runs on and on: 'in whom... in Him... in Him, in whom...
in whom. . .in whom. . . '.
But as we read it again and again we begin to perceive certain
great words recurring and revolving round a central point :
'The will' of God: vv. 5, 9, n.
'To the praise of His glory 7 : vv. 6, 12, 14.
'In Christ' : vv. 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 bis, n, 12, 13 bis.
The will of God working itself out to some glorious issue in
Christ that is his theme. A single phrase of the ninth verse sums
it up : it is ' the mystery of His will'.
In proceeding to examine the passage clause by clause we shall
not here dwell on individual expressions, except in so far as their
discussion, is indispensable for the understanding of the main
drift of the epistle. But at the outset there are certain words and
phrases which challenge attention; and our hope of grasping the
Apostle's meaning depends upon our gaining a true conception
of the standpoint which they imply. They must accordingly be
treated with what might otherwise seem a disproportionate fulness.
The third verse contains three such phrases. The first is : 'with i 3
all spiritual blessing*. It has been suggested that the Apostle
inserts the epithet ' spiritual ' because the mention of two Persons
of the Blessed Trinity naturally leads him to introduce a reference
20 EXPOSITION OF THE [1 3
to the third. Accordingly we are asked to render the woi-ds:
'every blessing of the Spirit'.
But a little consideration will shew that the epithet marks an
important contrast. The blessing of God promised in the Old
Testament was primarily a material prosperity. Hence in some of
its noblest literature the Hebrew mind struggled so ineffectually
with the problem presented by the affliction of the righteous and
the prosperity of the wicked In the Book of Genesis the words
Gen. xsii < fa blessing I will bless thee ' are interpreted by ' in multiplying I
r ^ will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven'. In Deuteronomy
Deut. the blessing of God is expressed by the familiar words : c Blessed
XXV111 3 f(
shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field ...
Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store '.
The blessing of the New Covenant is in another region: the
region not of the body, but of the spirit. It is ' spiritual blessing',
not carnal, temporal blessing. The reference then is not primarily
to the Holy Spirit, though 'spiritual blessing-' cannot be thought
of apart from Him. The adjective occurs again in the phrase
v 19 'spiritual songs': and also in the remarkable passage : 'our wrest-
-TTT2 ling-isTT^against-the-spiritual-(things)-of-wiekedness-in-the-heavenly
(places)'. It is confirmatory of this view that in the latter passage
it occurs in close connexion with the difficult phrase which we must
next discuss.
The expression t vn, the heavenly (places)' occurs five times in this
epistle (13, 20; ii 6 ; iii 10 ; vi 12), and is found nowhere else.
The adjective (eTroupavios) is not new : we find it in Homer and
Plato, as well as in the New Testament, including other epistles of
St Paul. The nearest parallel is in an earlier letter of the same
Phil, ii 10 Roman captivity : ' every knee shall bow of things in heaven and
things on earth and things under the earth '.
It might be rendered 'among the heavenly things', or 'in the
heavenly places ' : or, to use a more modern term, ' in the heavenly
^ sphere'. It is a region of ideas, rather than a locality, which is
suggested by the vagueness of the expression. To understand what
* it meant to St Paul's, mind we must look at the contexts in which
he uses it.
Leaving the present passage to the last, we begin with i 20 : after
the Resurrection God ' seated Christ at His right hand in the heavenly
sphere, above every principality and authority and power and
dominion, and every name that is named not only in this world but
also in that which is to come'. Thus 'the heavenly sphere' is
regarded as the sphere of all the ruling forces of the universe. The
1 3] EPISTLE TO THE EPHEglANS. 21
highest place therein is described in Old Testament language as Ps. ex i
' God's right hand'. There Christ is seated above all conceivable rivals.
We are not told whether the powers here spoken of are powers of
good or powers of evil. The Psalm might suggest that the latter
are at least included : ' Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make
Thine enemies Thy footstool'. But St Paul's point is, as in
Phil, ii i o, simply the supremacy of Christ over all other powers.
In ii 6 we have the surprising statement that the position of
Christ in this respect is also ours in Him. ' He raised us together
and seated us together in the heavenly sphere in Christ Jesus ; that
He might display in the ages that are coming the surpassing riches
of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus '.
In iii 10 we read : ' that there might now be made known to the
principalities and powers in the heavenly sphere by means of the
Church the very-varied wisdom of God '. St Paul is here speaking
of his special mission to the Gentiles as belonging to the great
mystery or secret of God's dealings throughout the ages : there are
powers in the heavenly sphere who are learning the purpose of God
through the history of the Church.
The last passagejsjperhaps the most remarkable : *We have not vi 12
to wrestle against blood and flesh, but against the principalities^
against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against the spiritual (hosts) of wickedness in the heavenly
sphere'. Our foe, to meet whom we need the very 'armour of
God', is no material foe : it is a spiritual foe, a foe who
attacks and must be fought 'in the heavenly sphere*. We are
reminded of Satan standing among the sons of God and accusing Job i 6
Job. We are reminded again of the scene in the Apocalypse :
' there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels, to fight against Apoo. xii 7
the dragon : and the dragon fought, and his angels '.
We now return to our passage: 'Blessed be God ...who hath 13
blessed us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenly sphere '.
The heavenly sphere, then, is the sphere of spiritual activities :
that immaterial region, the ' unseen universe ', which lies behind the
world of sense. In it great forces are at work : forces which are con-
ceived of as having an order and constitution of their own ; as having
in part transgressed against that order, and so having become dis-
ordered :, forces which in part are opposed to us and wrestle against
us : forces, again, which take an intelligent interest in the purpose
of God with His world, and for which the story of man is an
object-lesson in the many-sided wisdom of God : forces, over all of
which, be they evil or be they good, Christ is enthroned, and we in
Him.
22 EXPOSITION OF THE [1 3
"We may call to our aid one other passage to illustrate all this.
'The things in the heavens', as well as 'the things on earth', are
to be summed up to be gathered up in one in the Christ
(i 10). Or, as the parallel passage, Col. i 20, puts it : 'It pleased
God to reconcile all things through Christ unto Himself, setting
them at peace by the blood of the cross, whether they be the things
on earth or the things in the heavens '. That is as much as to say,
' The things in the heavens ' were out of gear, as well as ' the things
on earth '. And so St Paul's Gospel widens out into a Gospel of the
Universe : the heavens as well as the earth are in some mysterious
manner brought within its scope.
It is important that we should understand this point of view.
' Heaven ' to us has come to mean a future state of perfect bliss.
But, to St Paul's mind, 'in. the heavenly sphere' the very same
struggle is going on which vexes us on earth. Only with this
difference : there Christ is already enthroned, and we by representa-
tion are enthroned with Him.
In other words, St Paul warns us from the beginning that he
takes a supra-sensual view of human life. He cannot rest in the
'things-seen-'-t-they-are-not-the-eternal^-the-real-things-: they-are-
but things as they seem, not things as they are : they are things
2 Cor. ivi8 ' for a time ' (wpocrieaipa), not things ' for ever '
The third important phrase which meets us on the threshold of
the epistle is the phrase 'in Christ'. It is characteristically Pauline.
It is not, of course, confined to this epistle, but it is specially
frequent here.
A word must first of all be said as to the two forms in which
St Paul uses the name ' Christ '. It is found sometimes with and
sometimes without the definite article. The distinction which is
thus introduced cannot always be pressed : but, speaking generally,
we may say that in the first case we have a title, in the second a
proper name : in other words, the first form lays emphasis on the
Office held, the second on the Person who holds it.
In the present passage, in speaking of the blessing wherewith
God has blessed us, St Paul points to Christ as the Person in whom
we have that blessing 'in Christ*. Below, in speaking more
broadly of the purpose of God for the universe, he lays the stress
i Jo upon the Ofiice of the Messiah ' to gather up in one all things in
the Christ '. But it is possible that in many cases the choice be-
tween the two forms was determined simply by the consideration of
euphony. -^'
The Messiah was the hope of the Jewish nation. Their expecta-
1 3] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. , 23
tion for the future was summed up in Him. He was the Chosen,
the Beloved, the Anointed o God; the ideal King in whom the
nation's destiny was to be fulfilled.
The Life and Death of Jesus were in strange contrast to the
general Messianic expectation. The Resurrection and Ascension
restored the failing hope of His immediate followers, and at the
same time helped to translate it to a more spiritual region. They
revealed the earthly Jesus as the heavenly Christ.
To St Paul 'Jesus' was preeminently 'the Christ '; Very rarely
does he use the name ' Jesus ' without linking it with the name or
the title 'Christ' : perhaps, indeed, only where some special reference
is intended to the earthly Life. So, for example, he speaks of ' the 2 Cor.iv 10
dying of Jesus ' : and, in contrasting the earthly humiliation with
the heavenly exaltation which followed it, he says: 'that in the PMl.uiof.
name of Jesus every knee should bow,... and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is LORD '.
If the primary thought of the Messiah is a hope for the Jewish
people, St Paul's Gospel further proclaims Him to be the hope of
the world of men, the hope even of the entire universe. That the
Christ was the Christ of the Gentile, as well as of the Jew, was the
special message which he had been calletlTto annouirce=*1;o-bring-as-iii-8-
a gospel to the Gentiles the unexplorable wealth of the Christ'.
This was the mystery, or N secret of God, long hidden, now revealed :
as he says to the Colossians : ' God willed to make known what is Col. i 27
the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles ; which
is Christ in you ' you Gentiles ' the hope of glory '.
That ' the Christ ' to so large an extent takes the place of 'Jesus'
in St Paul's thought is highly significant, and explains much that
seems to call for explanation. It explains the fact that St Paul
dwells so little on the earthly Life and the spoken Words of the
Lord. He cannot have been ignorant of or indifferent to the great
story which for us is recorded in the Gospels. Yet he scarcely
touches any part of it, save the facts that Jesus was crucified, that
He died and was buried, that He rose and ascended. Of the
miracles which He wrought we hear nothing j of the miracle which
attended His birth into the world we hear nothing. Of the struggles
with the Pharisees, of the training of the Twelve, of the discourses
to them and to the multitudes, he tells us nothing. It is a solitary
exception when, as it were incidentally, he is led by a particular
necessity to relate the institution of the Eucharist.
It cannot have been that these things were of small moment in
his eyes. He must have known at least most of them, and have
valued them. But he had a message peculiarly his own : and that
24 EXPOSITION OF THE [13
message dealt not with the earthly Jesus, so much as with the
heavenly Christ. ' In the heavenly sphere ' his message lies. ' Hence-
2 Cor. v 16 forth ', he says, ' know we no man after the flesh : yea, if we have
known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him (so)
no more '. The Death, the Resurrection, the Ascension these are
to him the important moments of the life of Christ ; they are the
ladder that leads upwards from ' Christ after the flesh ' to ' Christ
in the heavenly sphere' the exalted, the glorified, the reigning
Christ ; the Christ yet to be manifested as the consummation of the
purpose of God. And if St Paul looked beyond the earthly life of
the Lord in one direction, he looked beyond it also in another. To
his thought ' the Christ ' does not begin with the historical ' Jesus '.
The Christ is eternal in the past as well as in the future. The
earthly life of Jesus is a kind of middle point, a stage of humiliation
aCor.viiip for a time. 'Being rich, He became poor'; 'being in the form of
Phil. ii6f. God... He humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant, coming
to be in the likeness of men '. That stage of humiliation is past :
' God hath highly exalted Him ' : we fix our gaze now on ' Jesus
Christ ' ascended and enthroned.
JWB_may_not,_indeed,_think_that_f-Jesus and Mine-Christ ean-
, ever in any way be separated : St Paul's frequent combination of
the two names is a witness against such a separation. Yet there
are two aspects : and it is the heavenly aspect that predominates
in the thought of St Paul.
It is instructive in this connexion to compare the narrative of
St Paul's conversion with the account that immediately follows of
his first preaching. It was 'Jesus' who appeared to him in the
Acts is 5 way : ' Who art thou, Lord ?. . .1 am Jesus '. He had always looked
for the Messiah : he was to be taught that in Jesus the Messiah
Acts ix 2 2 had come. The lesson was learned; and we read: 'Saul waxed
strong the more, and confounded the Jews that dwelt in Damascus,
proving that this was the Christ '. He had seen Jesus, risen and
exalted : he knew Him henceforth as the Christ.
"We observe, then, that the conception which the phrase 'in
Christ' implies belongs to the same supra-sensual region of ideas to
which the two preceding phrases testify. The mystical union or
identification which it asserts is asserted as a relation, not to
'Jesus ' the name more distinctive of the earthly Life^irbut to ' the
Christ ' as risen and exalted.
The significance of the relation to Christ, as indicated by the
preposition 'in', and the issues of that relation, are matters on
which light will be thrown as we proceed with the study of the
epistle. But it is important to note at the outset how much is
1 4] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 25
summed up in this brief phrase, and how prominent a position it
holds in Sfc Paul's thought.
In Christ, the eternal Christ, who suffered, rose, ascended, who
is seated now at God's right hand supreme over all the forces of the
universe : in Christ, in the heavenly sphere wherein He now abides,
in the region of spiritual activities, all spiritual blessing is ours : in
Christ God has blessed us ; blessed be God. >
In the verses which follow (4 14) we have an amplification of w. 4-14
the thoughts of v. 3, and especially of the phrase 'in Christ'. This
amplification is introduced by the words 'according as'.
And first St Paul declares that the blessing wherewith God hath
blessed us is no new departure in the Divine counsels. It is in
harmony, with an eternal design which has marked us out as the
recipients of this blessing : ' according as He hath chosen us in Him i 4
before the foundation oftJie world*.
' He hath chosen us ' or ' elected us '. Election is a term which
suggests at once so much of controversy, that it may be well to lay
emphasis on its primary sense by substituting, for the moment, a
wxDrd of the same meaning, but less trammelled by associations
the word ' selection 3 .
The thought that God in His dealings with men proceeds by the
method of selection was not new to St Paul. The whole of the
Old Testament was an affirmation of this principle. He himself
from his earliest days had learned to cherish as his proudest posses-
sion the fact that he was included in the Divine Selection. He
was a member of the People whom God had in Abraham selected
for peculiar blessing.
, The Divine Selection of the Hebrew People to hold a privileged
position, their ready recognition of that position and their selfish
abuse of it, the persistent assertion -of it by the Prophets as the
ground of national amendment this is the very theme of the Old
Testament scriptures. It is on account of this, above all, that the
Christian Church can never afford to part with them. Only as we
hold the Old Testament in our hands can we hope to interpret the
New Testament, and especially the writings of St Paul. Only the
Mstory of the ancient Israel can teach us the meaning of the new Gal. vi 16
* Israel of God^'.
No new departure in principle was made by Christianity. Its
very name of the New Covenant declares that God's method is still
the same. Only the application of it has been extended : the area
of selection has been enlarged. A new People has been founded, a
People not limited by geographical or by racial boundaries : but
26 EXPOSITION OF THE [1 4
still a People, a Selected People even as to-day we teach the
Christian child to say : 'The Holy Ghost, which sanctifieth me and
all the Elect People of God'.
God, then, says St Paid, selected us to be the recipients of the
distinctive spiritual blessing of the New Covenant. It is in accord-
ance with this Selection that He has blessed us.
i 4 The Selection was made ' in Christ before the foundation of
the world'. That is to say, in eternity it is not new; though in
time it appears as new. In time it appears as later than the
Selection of the Hebrew People, and as an extension and develop-
ment of that Selection. But it is an eternal Selection, indepen-
dent of time ; or, as St Paul puts it, ' before the foundation of the
world '.
Here we must ask : Whom does St Paul regard as the objects
of the Divine Selection? He says: 'Blessed be God... who hath
blessed us... according as He hath selected us... before the foundation
of the world '. What does he mean by the word ' us ' ?
The natural and obvious interpretation is that he means to
include at least himself and those to whom he writes. He has
spoken-SQ-far_of no-others. Later_on_hejmll_distinguish_twi)_great_
, classes, both included in the Selection, of whom he has certain
special things to say. But at present he has no division or dis-
tinction. He may mean to include more : he can scarcely mean to
include less than himself and the readers whom he addresses.
It has been said that in the word ' us ' we have ' the language
of charity ', which includes certain individuals whom a stricter use
of terms would have excluded. That is to say, not all the members
of all the Churches to whom the letter was to go were in fact
included in the Divine Selection.
To this we may reply : (i) Nowhere in the epistle does St Paul
suggest that any individual among those whom he addresses either
is or may be excluded from this Selection.
(2) Unworthy individuals there undoubtedly were: but his
appeal to them is based on the very fact of their Selection by God :
iv i 'I beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye
have been called '.
The Old Testament helps us again here. Among the Selected
People were many unworthy individuals. This unwOTthiness did
not exclude them from the Divine Selection. On the contrary, the
Prophets made their privileged position the ground of an appeal to
them.
Moreover, just as the Prophets looked more to the whole than
to the parts, so St Paul is dominated by the thought of the whole,
I 4, 5] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 27
and of God's purpose with the whole. It is a new Israel that
Christ has founded a People of privilege. "We are apt so far to
forget this, as to regard St Paul mainly as the Apostle of individu-
ality. But in the destiny of the individual as an individual he shews
strangely little interest strangely, I say, in comparison with the
prevailing thought of later times; though not strangely, in the
light of his own past history as a member of a Selected People.
"We take it, then, that by the word ' us ' St Paul means to
include all those Christians to whom he intended his letter to come.
It is reasonable to suppose further that he would have allowed his
language to cover all members of the Christian Church every-
where.
The one doubt which may fairly be raised is whether the later
phrase of v. 12, 'we who have been the first to hope in Christ',
should be taken as limiting the meaning of 'us' in the earlier
verses. This phrase we must discuss presently: but meanwhile it is
enough to point out that the parallel passage in the Epistle to the
Colossians, where some of the same statements are made (compare
especially Eph. 1 6, 7 with Col. i 13, 14), has no such limitation,
-and quite clearly includes the Gentiles to whom he was writing.
We may therefore believe that here too the Gentile Christians are
included, up to the point at which the Apostle definitely makes
statements specially belonging to the Christian Jew.
The aim of the Divine Selection is plainly stated in the words,
' that we should be holy and blameless before Him, in love ', The i 4
phrase c in love ' must be joined with the preceding words, not with
those that follow ; although the latter collocation has some ancient
interpreters in its favour. For (i) the same phrase occurs five
times more in the epistle (iii 17, iv 2, 15, 16, v 2), and always in
the sense of the Christian virtue of love not of the Divine love
towards man: and (2) here it stands as the climax of the Divine
intention. Love is the response for which the Divine grace looks ;
and the proof that it is not bestowed in vain. On our side the
result aimed at is 'love' : just as on God's side it is 'the praise of
the glory of His grace '.
' Having fore-ordained us unto the adoption of sons tlvrough i 5
Jesus Christ unto Himself. The sonship of Man to God is implied,
but not expressed, in the Old Testament. In the light of the later
revelation it is seen to be involved in the creation of Man in the Gen.ia6f.
Divine image, by which a relationship is established to which appeal Gen. is 6
can be made even after the Fall. In a more special sense God is a Jer. xxxi 9
Father to Israel, and Israel is the son of God. But sonship in the Ex. iv 22
28 EXPOSITION OF THE [1 5, 6
completest sense could not be proclaimed before the manifestation
of the Divine Son in the flesh. He is at once the ideal Man and
the Image of God. In Him the sonship of Man to God finds its
realisation. Those who have been ' selected in Him ' are possessed
of this sonship, not as of natural right, but as by adoption. Hence
'the adoption of sons' is the distinctive privilege of the New
Covenant in Christ.
The doctrine of Adoption is not antagonistic to. the doctrine of
the universal sonship of Man to God. It is on the contrary in the
closest relation to it. It is the Divine method of its actualisation.
The sonship of creation is through Christ, no less truly than the
sonship of adoption. Man is created in Christ: but the Selected
People are brought more immediately than others into relation with
Christ, and through Christ with the Father.
is 'According to the good pleasure of His will'. Ultimately, the
power that rules the universe is the will of God. ' It pleased His
will ' : we cannot, and we need not, get behind that.
i 6 'To the praise of the glory of His grace '. This is the ordained
issue : God's free favour to Man is to be gloriously manifested, that
it_may_be_eternally_praise.d._
c Grace ' is too great a word with St Paul to be mentioned and
allowed to pass. It will, as we shall see, carry his thought further.
But first he will emphasise the channel by which it reaches us:
'His grace, which He hath freely bestowed on us in the Beloved*.
If ' the Beloved ' is a Messianic title, yet it is not used here without
a reference to its literal meaning. In the parallel passage in
Col. i 13 we have 'the Son of His love'. Just as in the Son, who
is Son in a peculiar sense, we have the adoption of sons : so in the
Beloved, who is loved with a peculiar love, the grace of God is
graciously bestowed on us.
w. 3-6 To sum up w. 3 6 : The blessing, for which we bless God, is
of a spiritual nature, in the heavenly sphere, in the exalted Christ.
It is in accordance with an eternal choice, whereby God has
selected us in Christ. Its goal, so far as we are concerned, is the
fulness of all virtues, love. It includes an adoption through Jesus
Christ to a Divine sonship. Its motive lies far back in the will of
God. Its contemplated issue in the Divine counsel is that God's
grace, freely bestowed on us in His Well-beloved, should be gloriously
manifested and eternally praised.
It is noteworthy that up to this point there has been no
reference of any kind to sin : nor, with the exception of a passing
notice of the fact that it has been put out of the way, is there any
16,7] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 29
allusion to it in the whole of the remainder of this chapter. We
are taken in these verses into the eternal counsels of God. Sin,
here as elsewhere in St Paul's teaching, appears as an interloper.
It comes in to hinder the progress of the Divine Purpose; to check
it, but not to change it. There is nothing to lead us to suppose
that the grace of God comes to Man in Christ simply on account of a
necessity introduced by sin. Sin indeed has served to magnify the
grace of God : ' where sin hath abounded, grace hath yet more Bom. v 20
abounded'. But the free favour which God has bestowed on the
Selected People in Christ is a part of the eternal Purpose, prior to
the entrance of sin. There is good reason to believe that the Incar-
nation is not a mere consequence of the Fall, though the painful
conditions of the Incarnation were the direct result of the Fall.
And we may perhaps no less justly hold that the education of the
human race by the method of Selection must likewise have been
necessary, even if Man had not sinned at all.
But the mention of ' grace ' leads St Paul on to speak of the
peculiar glory of grace, on which he has so often dwelt. Grace is
above all grace in baffling sin.
c In whom we have redemption throug
of trespasses'. We must again bear in mind St Paul's Jewish
' training, if we are to understand his thought. This is especially
necessary, where, as here, the terms which he employs have become
very familiar to us.
' Redemption '. God is often spoken of in the Old Testament as
the Redeemer of His People Israel. The first great Redemption,
typical of all the rest and frequently referred to as such by the
Prophets, was the emancipation of Israel from the Egyptian bondage.
With this the history of Israel, as a People, and not now a family
merely, began. A new Redemption, or Emancipation, initiates the
history of the New People.
'Through His blood'. These words would be scarcely intel-
ligible if we had not the Old Testament. To the Jewish mind
' blood ' was not merely nor even chiefly the life-current flowing Gen. iv 10
in the veins of the living : it was especially the life poured out in
death ; and yet more particularly in its religious aspect it was
the symbol of sacrificial death. The passover lamb whose blood
was sprinkled on the lintel and doorposts was the most striking
feature of the Redemption from Egypt. The sacrificial blood of the
Mosaic 'ritual was the condition of the remission of sins: * without Heb. ix 22
blood-shedding no forgiveness takes .place '.
The New Covenant is the consummation of the Old. The
30 EXPOSITION OF THE [1 7 9
Redemption is through the blood o Christ, and it includes 'the
forgiveness of trespasses',
17 ' According to the riches of His grace'. The mention of 'grace'
had led to the thought of its triumph over sin : and this in turn
leads back to a further and fuller mention .of * grace '.
i 8 ' His grace which He hath made to abound towards us in aU
wisdom and prudence'. The last words help to define the grace
in another "way : among its consequences for us are ' wisdom and
prudence'. Wisdom is the knowledge which sees into the heart
of things, which knows them as they really are. Prudence is
the understanding which leads to right action. "Wisdom, as it is
set before us in the Sapiential books of the Old Testament, includes
both these ideas : but with St Paul "Wisdom belongs specially to
the region of the Mystery and its Bevelation.
The great stress laid by St Paul on Wisdom in his later letters
calls for some notice. In writing to the Corinthians at an earlier
period he had found it necessary to check their enthusiasm about
what they called Wisdom an intellectual subtlety which bred
conceit in individuals and, as a consequence, divisions in the
Christian Society. He had refused to minister to their_appetite-for-
this kind of mental entertainment. He contrasted their anxiety for
Wisdom with the plainness of his preaching. He was forced into
an extreme position: he would not communicate to them in their
carnal state of division and strife his own knowledge of the deeper
things of God. But at the same time he declared that -he had
a Wisdom which belonged not to babes, but to grown men 1 .
And it is this Wisdom which we have in the present Epistle. It
i Cor. ii 7 deals as St Paul had said with ' a mystery ; : it is a Wisdom long
hidden but now revealed.
i q ' Having made known to us the mystery of His will '. This
together with what follows, to the end of v. 10, is explanatory of
the preceding statement. ' God hath made grace to abound toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, in that He hath made known to us
the mystery of His will '.
' The mystery' or 'secret'. It is tempting to regard St Paul's
employment of the word ' mystery ' as one of the instances in which
he has borrowed a term from popular Greek phraseology and has
lifted it into the highest region of thought. The word was every-
where current in the Greek religious world. When the old national
1 Contrast i Cor. ii i, 2 with ib. this subject (Prolegg. to Eomans and
ii 6, 7: and see Dr Hort's words on Ej)hesians t iSoff.).
I 9] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
spirit died out in Greece, the national religious life died with it, and
the ancient national cults lost their hold on the people. About the
same time there came into prominence all over the Greek world
another form of religious worship, not so much public and national
as private and individualistic. It had many shapes, and borrowed
much from Eastern sources. Its aim was the purification of indi-
vidual lives ; and its methods were (i) the promise of a future life,
and (2) the institution of rites of purification followed by initiation
into a secret religious lore. With some of the mysteries much that
was abominable was connected : but the ideals which some at least
of them proclaimed were lofty. The true secret of divine things
could only be revealed to those who passed through long stages of
purification, and who pledged themselves never to disclose 'the
mysteries ' which they had been taught.
The ' mystery ', of which St Paul speaks, is the Secret of God's
dealing with the world : and it is a secret which is revealed to such
as have been specially prepared to receive it. But here so far at
any rate as St Paul's writings are concerned 1 the parallel with
the Greek mysteries ends. For the Secret of God has been pub-
lished in Christ. There is now no bar to its declaration. St Paul
has been appointed a
interpretation of all human life.
As a matter of fact the word has come to St Paul from a wholly
different source. We now know that it was used of secrets which
belong to God and are revealed by Him to men, not only in the
Book of Daniel, but also in a book which presents many parallels to
the Book of Daniel, and which just 'failed, when that book just
succeeded, in obtaining a place within the Jewish canon. Portions
of the long lost Greek of the Book of Enoch have recently been
restored to us, and we find that the word 'mystery* is used in
it again and again of divine secrets which have rightly or wrongly
come to the knowledge of men. And even apart from this particu-
lar book, we have ample evidence for this usage in the Greek-speak-
ing circles of Judaism. The word, with its correlative 'revelation',
was at hand in the region of the Apostle's own Jewish training,
and we need not seek a heathen origin for his use of it *.
1 According to Sis good pleasure which He hath purposed in Sim,
for dispensation in the fulness of tlie times , to gather up in one all
1 With later parallels to the Greek 2 See the detached note on the
mysteries in the rites of the Christian meaning
Church we are not here concerned.
32 EXPOSITION OF THE [I 10
things in Christ.' This is a description in the broadest terms of
the scope and contents of the Divine Secret.
i 10 'for dispensation in the fulness of the times'. The similar
language of iii 9 is the best comment on this passage. The Apostle
declares there that it is his mission to shew 'what is the dispensation
of the mystery which hath been hidden from eternity in God who
created all things '. The Creator of the universe has a Purpose in
iii ii regard to it c an eternal purpose which He hath purposed in Christ
Jesus our Lord'. The secret of it has been hidden in God until
now. The ' dispensation ' or ' working out ' of that secret Purpose
iii 3 is a matter on which St Paul claims to speak by revelation.
' Dispensation ' is here used in its wider sense, not of household
management, which is its primary meaning, but of carrying into
effect a design. The word must be taken with the foregoing phrase
' the mystery of His will ' ; and we may paraphrase, ' to carry it out
in the fulness of the times '. The thought is not of 'a Dispensation ',
as though one of several Dispensations : but simply of the ' carrying
out ' of the secret Purpose of God.
That secret Purpose is summarised in the words, ' to gather up
in-Qne-aU-things-in-Chr-ist-.-
To gather up in one'. As the total is the result of the
addition of all the separate factors, as the summary presents in
one view the details of a complicated argument these are the
metaphors suggested by the Apostle's word so in the Divine
counsels Christ is ,the Sum of all things.
'All things'. The definite article of the Greek cannot be
represented in English: but it helps to give the idea that 'all
things' are regarded as a whole, as when we speak of 'the
universe': compare Col. i 17 and Heb. i 3.
' In Christ '. The Greek has the definite article here also : for
the stress is laid not on the individual personality, but rather on the
Messianic ofiice. The Messiah summed up the Ancient People:
St Paul proclaims that He sums up the Universe.
The conti-ast between 'the one' and 'the many' was the
foundation of most of the early Greek philosophical systems.
'The many' the variety of objects of sense was the result of
a breaking up of the primal 'one'. 'The many' constituted im-
perfection: 'the one' was the ideal perfection. The philosopher
could look beyond ' the many ' to ' the one ' the absolute and alone
existent ' one '.
There is something akin to this here. The variety of the
universe, with its discordances and confusions, has a principle
of unity. ' In Christ', says St Paul in Col. i 17, ' all things consist' ;
I 10] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 33
in Him, that is, they have their principle of cohesion and unity :
even as ' through Him and unto Him they have been created '. Col. i 16
If confusion has entered, it is not of the nature of things, and it is
not to be eternal. In the issue the true unity will be asserted and
manifested. 'The mystery of the will of God' is the Divine
determination 'to gather up in one all things in Christ'.
St Paul has thus been led on past the method of God's working
to the issue of God's working. He has told us the purpose of the
Divine Selection. It is not simply, or mainly, the blessing of the
Selected People. It is the blessing of the Universe.
It is worth while to note how entirely this is in harmony with
the lesson of the Old Testament, though it far transcends that
earlier teaching. Abraham was chosen for peculiar blessing : but
at the moment of his call it was said to him : ' in thee shall all Gen. xii 3
families of the earth be blessed '. And to take but two of the later
utterances, we may recall the warning of Ezekiel : ' I do not this Bzek.
for your sakes, house of Israel, but for Mine holy name's sake... xxxv * 22 f -
and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord ' ; and the familiar
words of the Psalm : '0 let the nations rejoice and be glad : for Ps. Ixvii
Thou shalt judge the folk [the chosen people]~riglrteously, and-*>-7
govern the nations upon earth... God shall bless us: and all the
ends of the earth shall fear Him '.
It was the failure to recognise this mission to bless the whole
world that was the 'great refusal' of Judaism. A like failure to
grasp the truth that it is the mission of Christianity to sanctify the
whole of human experience has blighted the Church of Christ again
and again. Out of that failure it is the purpose of St Paul's greatest
epistle to lift us to-day.
For the Christian hope is an unbounded hope of universal good.
It has two stages of its realisation, an intermediate and a final
stage : the intermediate stage is the hope of blessing for the Selected
People; the final stage is the hope of blessing for the Universe
'the gathering up in one of all things in Christ, things in heaven,
and things upon the earth '.
Without attempting to analyse this bjirst of living praise, we w. 3 10-
yet may notice that there is a certain orderliness in the Apostle's
enthusiasm. The fulness of ' spiritual blessing ' of v. 3 is expounded
under five great heads : Election, v. 4 ; Adoption, v. 5 ; Redemp-
tion, v. 7 j Wisdom, v. 8 ; Consummation, v. 10.
We might have expected him at last to stay his pen. He has
reached forward and upward to the sublimest exposition ever framed
EPHES, 2 . 3
34 EXPOSITION" OF THE [In, 12
of the ultimate Purpose of God. His doxology might seem to have
gained its fitting close. But St Paul is always intensely practical,
and at once he is back with his readers in the actual world. Jew
and Gentile are among the obstinate facts of his day. May it not
be thought by some that he has been painting all along the glowing
picture of the Jew's hope in his Jewish Messiah ?
It is plain, at any rate, that he desires at once to recognise the
place of Jew and Gentile alike in the new economy. So without a
i ii 13 break he proceeds: 'in. Him, in whom also we have been chosen as
God's portion, having been foreordained... that we slwuld be to the
praise of His glory, who have been the first to hope in Christ; in
whom, ye also...'.
' We have been chosen as God's portion'; that is, assigned by God
to Himself as His own lot and portion. Underneath the phrase
lies the thought of Israel's peculiar position among the nations.
Compare the words of the great, song in Deut. xxxii 8 ff. :
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
When He separated the children of men,
He set the bounds of the peoples
According to the number of the children of Israel
For the Lord's portion is His people;
Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.
He found him in a desert land,
And in the waste howling wilderness;,
He compassed him about, He cared for him,
He kept him as the apple of His eye.
The; prophet Zechariah foresaw the realisation of this once more in
Zech. iiia the future: 'The Lord shall inherit Judah as His portion in the
holy land, and shall yet choose Jerusalem'.
To St Paul the fulfilment has come. In the dispensation of
the mystery of God's will, he saysj this peculiar position is ours:
in 'we have^ been chosen as God's portion^ having been foreordained
according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things according
to? the counsel of His will'.
Thus far no word of limitation has occurred: but now at once
i 12 the first, of two classes is marked out: 'that we should be to the
praise of His glory' we, 'wha have been the first to hope in
Christ,'.
The limiting phrase is capable of two explanations. It seems
most natural to interpret it of the Christian Jews,: those members
of the- Jewish people who have recognised Jesus, as their Messiah.
Elsewhere the Apostle lays stress on the fact that Christ was first
I 13] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 35
preached to and accepted by Jews. The Jewish Christian had a
distinct priority in time : indeed the first stage of the Christian
Church was a strictly Jewish stage. St Paul recognises this,
though he hastens at once to emphasise the inclusion of the Gentile
Christians. It is 'to the Jew first' =-but only 'first': 'to the JewEom. ii 10
first, and to the Greek; for there is no respect of persons with God'.
But it is also possible to render, 'who aforetime hoped in the
Christ', and to refer the words to the Jewish people as such. This
would be in harmony with such an expression as Tor the hope of Actsxxviii
Israel I am bound with this chain'. 20
In either case, if for a moment he points to the Jewish priority,
it is only as a priority in time; and his very object in mentioning it
is to place beyond all question the fact that the Gentiles are no
less certainly chosen of God.
l ln whom, ye also\ The main verb of this sentence is not easy i 13
to find. It can hardly be 'ye have been chosen as (God's) portion',
supplied out of the former sentence: for the assignment to God is
a part of the eternal purpose in Christ, and not a consequence of
'hearing' and 'believing,'. It might be 'ye hope', supplied out of
the preceding participle. But it is simpler to regard the sentence
as broken, andTaken up again~with~the words-'in-whonaralso';
'In whom ye also f Jiaving heard the word of the truth, the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also having believed, ye have been
sealed with the holy Spirit of promise'. To the Jew came the
message first: but to you it came as well. You too heard 'the
word of the truth', the good news of a salvation which was yours
as well as theirs. You heard, you believed; and, as if to remove all
question and uncertainty, God set His seal on you. The order of
the words in the original is striking: 'Ye were sealed with the
Spirit of the promise, the Holy (Spirit) '. Here again we have the
expansion of an Old Testament thought. ' To Abraham and his Gal. iii 16
seed were the promises made ' : but the ultimate purpose of God
wa v s ' that upon the Gentiles should come the blessing of Abraham Gal. iii 14
in Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith'. 'To you is the promise (of the Holy Spirit)', says Acts ii 39
St Peter on the Day of Pentecost, ' and to your children 5 , and to all
that are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call \ And
when the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles at Caesarea he cried:
f Can any forbid the water, that these should not be baptized, Acts x 47
seeing that they have received the Holy Spirit, even as we?'
The gift of the Spirit of the Promise was not only God's
authentication of the Gentile converts at the time, but their foretaste
and their security of the fulness of blessing in the future. This is
32
36 . EXPOSITION OP THE [1 14, -15
expressed in two ways. First, by a metaphor from mercantile life.
i 14 The Holy Spirit thus given is ' the earnest of our inheritance'. The
word arrhabon means, not a ' pledge ' deposited for a time and ulti-
mately to be claimed back, but an ' earnest ', an instalment paid at
once as a proof of the bona fides of the bargain. It is an actual
portion of the whole which is hereafter to be paid in full. Secondly,
' ye have been sealed', says the Apostle, ( unto the redemption of
God's own possession '. So later on, speaking of the Holy Spirit,
iv 30 he says: 'in whom ye have been sealed unto the day of redemption'.
The full emancipation of the People of God is still in the future.
' '"The redemption of God's own possession' is that ultimate
emancipation by which God shall claim us finally as His ' peculiar
treasure.' So the Septuagint rendered MaL iii 17 'They shall be
to me for a possession, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day which
I make ' ; comp. i Pet. ii 9, 'a people for God's own possession '.
It is noteworthy that St Paul is careful to employ in regard to
the Gentiles the very terms ' promise ', ' inheritance ', ' emancipa-
tion ', ' possession ' "which were the familiar descriptions of the
peculiar privilege of Israel. Moreover in the phrase 'our inherit-
ance ' he has suddenly changed back again from the second_person
to the first; thereby intimating that Jews and Gentiles are, to
iii 6 use a phrase which occurs later on, ' co-heirs and concorporate and
co-partakers of the promise '.
At last the great doxology comes to its close with the repetition
for the third time of the refrain, 'to the praise of His glory' words
Jer. xiii n which recall to us the unfulfilled destiny of Israel, 'that they might
be unto Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for
a glory : but they would not hear '.
11523 IS WHEREFORE I also, having heard of your faith in the
Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, l6 cease not to
give thanks for 'you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Him ; l8 the eyes of your heart being
enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling,
what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward
who believe, according to the working of the might of His
strength, ^ which He hath wrought in Christ, in that He
hath raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right
1. 1 5, 1 6] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 37
hand in the heavenly places, * above every principality and
authority and power and dominion, and every name that is
named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to
come ; " and He hath put all things under His feet ; and Him
hath He given to be head over all things to the church, ^ which
is His body, the fulness of Him who all in all is being fulfilled.
From doxology the Apostle passes to prayer. His prayer is
introduced by expressions of thanksgiving, and it presently passes
into a description of the supreme exaltation of the heavenly Christ,
and of us in Him for, though it is convenient to make a pause at
the end of c. i, there is in fact no break at all until we reach ii n.
' Having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all 15
the saints'. It is St Paul's habit to open his epistles with words of
thanksgiving and prayer; and as a rule his thanksgiving makes
special reference to the ' faith ' of those to whom he writes : some-
times with c faith ' he couples ' love ' j and sometimes he completes
the trinity of Christian graces by a mention of ' hope '. Thus :
-(-i-) Rom i-8-; that-: your #M^A_is_sp_oken of throughout the '
whole world.
(2) 2 Thess. i 3: because that ya\xc faith groweth exceedingly,
and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth.
Philem. 5 : hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast
toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints.
(3) i Thess. i 3 : remembering without ceasing your work of
faith and labour of love and patience of hope, etc.
Col. i 4, 5 : having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and
the love which ye have toward all the saints, because of the
hope, etc.
' I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my i 16
prayers '. This ' making mention ' is a frequent term in Sfc Paul's
epistles (i Thess. i 2, Rom. i 9, Philem. 4). We might suppose it to
be a peculiarly Christian expression. But, like some other phrases
in St Paul, it is an old expression of the religious life of the people,
lifted up to its highest use. Thus in a papyrus letter in the British
Museum, written in Egypt by a sister to her brother and dated
July 24, 172 B.C., we read: 'I continue praying to the gods for
your welfare. I am well myself, and so is the child, and all in the
house, continually making mention of you [i.e., no doubt, 'in
prayer ']. When I got your letter, immediately I thanked the gods
for your welfare...'. Here are the very terms : 'making mention*
38 EXPOSITION Off THE [I
and ' I thanked the gods'. And the language of many other letters
bears this put 1 . A frequently occurring phrase is, for example,
this: 'I make thy reverence to our lord Serapis', St Paul, then,
instead of praying to ' our lord Serapis ', makes his request to ' the
God of our Lord Jesus Christ': instead of a conventional prayer
for their health and welfare, he prays for their spiritual enlighten-
ment: and so what to others might have been a mere formula of
correspondence becomes with him a vehicle of the highest thought
of his epistle.
i 17, 1 8 His prayer is this: f that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom... that ye
may lenow...'.
It is to be noted that for the sake of emphasis the Apostle has
resolved the combined title of v. 3, 'the God and Father of our
Lor<J Jesus Christ'. His prayer is directed to Him who is not only
the Father of our Lord, but also our Father in the heavenly glory.
With the title 'the Father of glory' we may compare on the one
a Cor. 13; hand 'the Father of mercies'; and on the other, 'the God of
i Co/Ss* 8^ or y'? '*ke -k r( ^ ^ gl or y ' and the remarkable expression of
Jas. ii i St James 'our Lord Jesus Christ of glory'. Moreover, when after
a~long break the Apostle takes up his prayer again in iii
we find another emphatic expression : 'I bow my knees to the
Father, of whpm all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named'
an expression which may help to interpret 'the Father of glory' in
this place.
The prayer takes the form of a single definite request for a
definite end : that ' the Father. . .may give unto you the Spirit of
wisdom. . .that ye may know 1 . The words are closely parallel to
Luke xi 13 our Lord's promise as given by St Luke: 'The Father. . .will give
the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him'.
For note that it is a Spirit, that St Paul prays for. It is not
an attitude of mind, as when we speak of 'a teachable spirit'. In
the New Testament the word ( spirit ' is used in its strictest sense.
All true wisdom comes from a Spirit, who dwells in us and teaches
us. It is a teaching Spirit, rather than a teachable spirit, which
the Apostle asks that they may have.
In St John's Gospel the personality of the Divine Teacher is
John xiv strongly emphasised : * The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
26, xvi 13 ^ j y nam6j H Q w m teach you all things'; 'When He, the Spirit
of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth '. There in the
Greek we have the definite article (TO wefyw* T^S aXij&ias): here it
is absent (irvevfw 0"o<ia). To .attempt to make a distinction by
1 See the detached note on current epistolary phrases.
I 17, j8] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 39
inserting the indefinite article in English would perhaps be to go
further than is warranted. There is, after all, but one ' Spirit of
wisdom ' that can teach us.
But a distinction may often be rightly drawn in the New
Testament between the usage of the word with the definite article
and its usage without it. With the article, very generally, the
word indicates the personal Holy Spirit; while without it some
special manifestation or bestowal of the Holy Spirit is signified.
And this latter is clearly meant here. A special gift of the Spirit
for a special purpose is the subject of St Paul's request.
The Spirit thus specially given, will make them wise: He will
come as the 'Spirit of wisdom'. Yet more, as the 'Spirit of
revelation ' He will lift the veil, and shew them the secret of God.
'Revelation' 'apocalypse', or 'unveiling' is a word which is
naturally used where any 'mystery' or 'secret' is in question.
The Divine Secret needs a Divine Unveiling. So St Paul declares
of himself: 'by apocalypse was the mystery' by revelation wasiiis
the secret ' made known unto me '. He prays that it may be so
for those to whom he writes. In one sense it is .true that a secret
_once published is thereafter but 'an open secret'. But it is no less
true that the Christian 'mystery' demands for~~its unveiling~the
perpetual intervention of the 'Spirit of apocalypse*.
'In the knowledge of Him': i.e. of 'the God of our Lord Jesus i 17
Christ, the Father of glory': as such must He be recognised and
known. And to this end 'the eyes of their heart' must be opened i 18
and filled with light. The Divine illumination is no mere intellec-
tual process: it begins with, the heart, the seat of the affections
and the will 1 .
1 A striking illustration of the Ian- 'the fulness of the times' compare 2 (4)
guage of St Paul in this passage is to Esdr. iv. 37, 'By measure hath He
be found in 2 (4) Esdras xiv 22, 25 : measured the times, and by number
' If I have found grace before thee, hath He numbered the times ; and He
send the Holy Ghost (or, 'a holy doth not move nor stir them, until
spirit ') into me, and I shall write all the said measure be fulfilled ' : -with
that hath been done in the world 'the mystery' compare xii 36, 'Thou
since the beginning... And he answered only hast been made meet to know
me,... I shall light a candle of under- this secret of the Highest' (comp.
standing in thine heart, which shall v. 38, x 38, xiv 5 ' the secrets of the
not be put out, till the things be per- times ') : with ' ye were sealed ' corn-
formed which thou shalt begin to pare perhaps vi 5, 'Before they were'
write'. sealed that have gathered faith for
In this book, which is perhaps al- a treasure,' and x 23, 'And, which
most contemporary with St Paul, there is the greatest [sorrow] of all, the seal
are two or three other verbal parallels of Sion hath now lost her honour*,
which are worth noticing here : with See also below, p. 48.
40 EXPOSITION OF THE [1 1820
'That ye may know'. A. threefold knowledge, embracing all
eternity the past, the future, and not least the present.
(1) ' What is the hope of His calling'. Note that St Paul does
not say 'the hope of your calling', i.e. His calling of you: though
that is included. The expression is wider : it is universal. We are
taken back, as in the earlier verses of the chapter, to the great past
of eternity, before the foundations of the world were laid. It is
'His calling', in the fullest sense, that we need to understand.
That 'calling' involves a 'hope', and we must learn to know
what that hope is. It is a certain hope : for it rests on the very
fact that the calling is God's calling, and no weak wish of ours
iThes.V24 for better things. 'Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will
do it'.
(2) ' What the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the
saints'. This too they must know : the glory of the eternal future.
Again, it is not 'of your inheritance' but something grander far.
It is 'His inheritance'; of which they are but a tiny, though a
Deut. necessary, part. 'The Lord's portion is His people: Jacob is the
xxxii 9 lot jjjg inheritance'.
i 19 (3) ' And what the exceeding greatness of His power to vs^waaed-
~wh~~o~~b~elieve'~. Not merely God's calling in the past, and God's
inheritance in the future ; but also God's power in the present. Of
the first two he has said much already: on the third he will now
enlarge. And so he is led on, as it were by a word, to a vast
expansion of his thought.
This power is an extraordinary, a supernatural power. It is the
very power that has raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at
God's right hand, and that makes Him now supreme over the uni-
verse. This is the power that goes forth 'to us-ward who believe',
i 19, 20 'According to the working of the might of His strength^ which
He hath wrought in Christ'. We have no words that fully represent
the original of the phrase, 'the working... which He hath wrought'.
Both the noun and the verb are emphatic in themselves, and
St Paul seldom employs them, except where he is speaking of some
Divine activity 1 . 'Might', again, is an emphatic word, never used
of mere human power in the New Testament. St Paul heaps word
upon word (Swa/xis, e/epyeta, /cparos, ur^us) in his determination to
emphasise the power of God that is at work in the lives of ' them
that believe'.
'In that He hath raised Him from the dead'. Compare Horn,
viii n, 'If the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus from the dead
dwelleth in you... 3
1 See the detached note on tvepyeiv and its cognates.
12023] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 41
' And set Him at His right hand in the heavenly places'. The
resurrection is a step in the path of exaltation.
' Above evert/ principality and authority and power and dominion', i ai
These titles St Paul uses as denoting familiar distinctions of spiritual
forces. We have another list in Col. i 16: 'Whether thrones or
dominions or principalities or authorities'. Originally terms of
Jewish speculation, they came in after times to play a large part in
Christian thought. The Apostle's purpose in mentioning them,
both here and in the Epistle to the Colossians, is to emphasise the
exaltation of Christ above them all. He closes the list with 'every
name that is named ', i.e. every title or dignity that has been or can
be given as a designation of majesty. Compare Phil, ii 9, 'the
Hame which is above every name'.
That spiritual potencies are in the Apostle's mind is clear from
the phrase 'in the heavenly sphere 5 , as we have already seen (above,
on v. 3); and also from the added words 'not only in this world
(or age), but also in that which is to come'.
Above all that anywhere is, anywhere can be above all
grades of dignity, real or imagined, good or evil, present or to
of God has exalted and enthroned the
Christ.
'And He hath put all things under His feet'. Thus Christ has 22
fulfilled in His own person the destiny of man : ' Let them have Gen. i 26
dominion../. The actual words are derived from the eighth Psalm :
'What is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man Ps.viii4, 6
that Thou visitest him?... Thou hast put all things tinder his feet'.
The best comment is Heb. ii 6 9.
'And Him hath He given to be head over all things to the church, i 22, 23
which is His body '. When St Paul combats the spirit of jealousy
and division in the Corinthian Church, he works out in detail the
metaphor of the Body and its several parts. But he does not there
speak of Christ as the Head. For not only does he point out the
absurdity of the head's saying to the feet, I have no need of you ;
but he also refers to the seeing, the hearing and the smelling, to
which he could not well have alluded as separate functions, had he
been thinking of Christ as the head. Indeed in that great passage
Christ has, if possible, a more impressive position still : He is no
part, but rather the whole of which the various members are parts :
'for as the body is one and hath many members, and all the mem- i Cor. xii
bers of the body being many are one body ; so also is the Christ '. I2
This is in exact correspondence with the image employed by our
Lord Himself : ' I am the Vine, ye are the branches '. That is to John xv 5
say, not ' I am the trunk of the vine, and ye the branches growing
42 EXPOSITION OF THE {I 23
out of the trunk'; but rather, 'I am the living whole, ye are the
parts whose life is a life dependent on the whole'.
Here however the Apostle approaches the consideration of
Christ's relation to the Church from a different side, and his lan-
guage differs accordingly. He has begun with the exalted Christ ;
and he has been led on to declare that the relation of the exalted
Christ to His Church is that of the head to the body.
It is interesting to observe that later on, when he comes to ex-
pound the details of human relationship as based on eternal truths,
v 22 S, he says in the first place, 'Let wives be subject to their own hus-
bands as to the Lord ; because the husband is head of the wife, as
also Christ is head of the Church, Himself being saviour of the
body': but then, turning to the husbands, he drops the metaphor
of headship, and bids them love their wives as their own bodies,
following again the example of Christ in relation to His Church;
and he cites the ideal of marriage as proclaimed at the creation of
Gen. ii 24 ; man, 'the twain shall become one flesh'. Not headship here, but
identity, is the relation in view. 'This mystery', he adds, 'is a
mighty one: but I speak (it) with reference to Christ and to the
Church'. __
-T-hus-the-two"couce^tions~~invoIve to St Paul's mind no inherent
contradiction. He passes easily from one to the other. Each in
turn serves to bring out some side of the truth.
Kor may we say that the headship of Christ is a new concep-
tion, belonging only to the Epistles to the Ephesians and to the
Colossians 1 . For in the same Epistle to the Corinthians in which
he regards Christ as the whole Body of which Christians are the
i Cor. xi 3 parts, he also says, 'I would have you know that the head of every
man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man (i.e. her
husband), and the head of Christ is God'. This is not quite the
same thought as we have here; but it is closely parallel.
We now come to what is perhaps the most remarkable expres-
sion in the whole epistle. It is the phrase in which St Paul
further describes the Church, which he has just declared to be
i 23 Christ's Body, as { the fulness of Him who all in all is being
fulfilled'.
When the Apostle thus speaks of the Church as the pleroma
or fulness 2 of the Christ, and in the same breath speaks of the
Christ as 'being fulfilled', he would appear to mean that in some
mysterious sense the Church is that without which the Christ is
1 Eph. i 22, iv 15, v 23 ; Col. i 18, ii 10, 19.
2 See the detached note on
I 23] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 43
not complete, but with which He is or will be complete. That
is to say, he looks upon the Christ as in a sense waiting for
completeness, and destined in the purpose of God to find com-
pleteness in the Church.
This is a somewhat startling thought. Are we justified in
thus giving to St Paul's language what appears to be its obvious
meaning ?
i. Krjst, let us pay attention to the metaphor which has just
been employed, and which leads directly up to this statement.
Christ is the Head of the Church, which is His Body. Now, is
it not true that in a certain sense the body is the pleroma, or
fulness of the head? Is the head complete without the body?
Can we even think of a head as performing its functions without
a body? In the sense then in which the body is the fulness
or completion of the head, it is clear that Sfc Paul can speak
of the Church as the fulness or completion of the Christ.
Even now, in the . imperfect stage of the Church, we can see
that this is true. The Church is that through which Christ lives
on and works on here below on earth. Jesus, the Christ incar-
_nate, is no longer on earth as He was. His feet and hands no
longer move and work in our midst, as once they moved~~and
wrought in Palestine. But St Paul affirms that He is not without
feet and hands on earth: the Church is His Body.. Through the
Church, which St Paul refuses to think of as something separate
from Him, He still lives and moves among men 1 .
2. But, further, although he may make havoc of his meta-
phors, St Paul will never let us forget that the relation of the
Church tp Christ is something even closer than that of a body
to its head, In the present passage he has been describing the
exalted Christ; and he asks, How does He in His supreme posi-
tion of authority stand to the Church? He stands as Head to
the Body. But this is never all the truth; and if we bear in
mind St Paul's further conception, in accordance with which the
whole-^-Head and Body together is the Christ, we get yet further
help in our interpretation of the statement that the Church is the i Cor. xii
pleroma, of the Christ. For it is plainer than ever that without I2
the Church the Christ is incomplete: and as the Church grows
towards completion, the Christ grows towards completion; the
Christ, who in the Divine purpose must be 'all in all', 'the Christ' Col. iii n
if we may so use the language of our own great poet 'that
is to be'.
3, Again, this conception illuminates and in turn receives
* See the quotation from Clement of Alexandria on p. 140.
44 EXPOSITION OF THE [I 23
light from a remarkable passage in the Epistle to the Colossians.
St Paul is there speaking of his own sufferings: he can even re-
joice in them, he tells us. If the Church and the Christ are
one, the suffering of the Church and the suffering of the Christ
are also one. The Christ, then, has not suffered all that He is
destined to suffer; for He goes on suffering in the sufferings of
the Church. These sufferings of the Church have fallen with
special heaviness on St Paul He is filling up something of what
is still to be filled up, if the sufferings are to be complete. So
Col. 1 24 he says : ' Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and fill
up in your stead the remainder (literally, 'the deficits') of the
sufferings of the Christ in my flesh, on behalf of His Body,
which is the Church '. Thus then the Church, the completion of
the Christ, is destined to complete His sufferings; and St Paul
rejoices that as a member of the Church he is allowed by God
to do a large share of this in his own person on the Church's
behalf. The thought is astonishing; it could never have occurred
to a less generous spirit than St Paul's. It is of value to us
here, as helping to show in one special direction how to St Paul's
mind the Christ in a true sense still waited for completion,-and
-would-nnd-that-completionronly~~in the Church.
St Paul, then, thinks of the Christ as in some sense still in-
complete, and as moving towards completeness. The conception is
difficult and mysterious no doubt; but the Apostle has given us
abundant warning earlier in the epistle that he is dealing with
no ordinary themes. He has already told us that the purpose
i 10 of God is * to gather up in one all things in the Christ '. Until
that great purpose is fully achieved, the Christ is not yet all
that the Divine wisdom has determined that He shall be. He
still waits for His completeness, His fulfilment. As that is
being gradually worked out, the Christ is being completed, ' being
fulfilled.'
By way of enhancing this ultimate completeness St Paul in-
serts the adverbial phrase 'all in all', or, more literally, 'all
(things) in all (things)'. "We feel its force the more when we
read the whole context, and observe that it comes as a climax
after two previous declarations of supremacy over 'all things':
'He hath put all things under His feet; and Him hath He
given to be head over all things to the Church, which is His
Body, the fulness of Him who all in all is being fulfilled'. And
indeed immediately before this we read, ' above every principality
...and every name'. All conceivable fulness, a completeness which
1 23}
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
45
sums tip the universe, is predicated of the Christ as the issue of
the Divine purpose.
'Through the Church', as the Apostle will declare yet more iii 10
explicitly further on, this Divine purpose is being worked out The
Head finds completeness in the Body : the Church is the completion
of the Christ : for the Christ is being ' all in all fulfilled ', is moving
towards a completeness absolute and all-inclusive *.
1 It may be well here to note that revolt from their king. So nothing
the three great Versions of antiquity
support the rendering of the pas-
sage which is here given. The Latin
Church, the early Syrian Church, and
the Egyptian Church so understood
the words: see the commentary ad,
loe.
Of the Greek commentators two
may be here quoted.
Origen says (Cramer, Catena in
Ephes. pp. 133 ft.; comp. Jerome
ad loc.) :
"Now, we desire to know in what
-way the_Church,_being_the__Body_of_
Christ, is the fulness of Him who all
in all is being fulfilled ; and why it is
not said 'of Him who filleth (irXi/-
povvros) all in all,' but who is Himself
'filled' (or 'fulfilled,' irXijpovf^vov) :
for it will seem as though it would
have been more naturally said that
Christ was He who filleth, and not He
who is filled. For He Himself not
only is the fulness of the Law, but
also is of all fulnesses ever the fulness,
since nothing comes to be full apart
from Him. See, then, if this be not
the answer ; that inasmuch as, for the
close relation and fellowship of the
Son with reasonable beings, the Son
of God is the fulness of all reasonable
beings, so too He Himself takes as it
were a fulness into Himself, being
shown to be most full in regard to
each of the blessed. And that what
is said may be the plainer, conceive
of a king as being filled with kingdom
in respect of each of those who aug-
ment his kingdom ; and being emptied
thereof in the case of those who
is more in harmony with the merciful
kingdom of Christ, than each of those
reasonable beings aided and perfected
by Him, who help to fulfil that king-
dom j in that fleeing unto Him they
help to fulfil His Body, which is in a
manner empty, while it lacks those
that are thus aided by Him. Where-
fore Christ is fulfilled in all that come
unto Hun, whereas He is still lacking
in respect of them before they have
come."
The words of the great master are
not always clear, but his illustration
is a good one up to a certain point :
and at least there is no doubt of what
he thought the passage meant.
Chrysostom, in his Commentary
on the passage (Savile, iii 776), after
expounding the Headship of Christ to
His Body, says :
"But, as though this were not
enough to show the relation and close
connexion, what says he ? * The ful-
ness', he says, of Christ is the Church.
For the fulness of the head is the
body, and the fulness of the body is
the head. . . . ' The fulness ', he says : that
is, just as the head is filled (or ful-
filled) by the body. For the body is
constituted of all its parts, and has
need of each one.... For if we be not
many, and one a hand, another a foot,
and another some other part, then
the whole Body is not fulfilled. By
means of all, then, His Body is ful-
filled. Then the Head is fulfilled,
then there comes to be a perfect Body,
when we all together are knit and
joined in one. Do you see the riches.
46 EXPOSITION OF THE [I 23, II i
i 33 and The beginning of c. ii cannot be separated from the close of
11 1 c. i. The Apostle has been led away to expound the mystery
of the exalted Christ: but he comes quickly back to the actual
persons to whom he is writing, and deals at some length with
their relation to the exalted Christ. The transition is exactly
parallel to that in v. ii, where from 'the gathering up in one of
the universe in the Christ' he turns at once to speak of the relation
of himself and of his readers to Christ 'in whom also we... in whom
ye also...'.
i 3 iii 21 It will be useful at this point to note the general construction of
the first part of the epistle :
(1) A Doxology leading to ever-expanding thoughts of the
purpose of God in Christ, and describing the relation of Jew and
Gentile to that purpose (i 3 14).
(2) A Prayer leading to a preliminary exposition of the
mystery of the exalted Christ (i 15 23), and then to a fuller
discussion of the relation of Jew and Gentile to Him (ii i 22).
(3) In iii i the Apostle recurs to the thought of his Prayer ;
but at once breaks off to say more of the mystery, and of his own
work in proclaiming it; and then (iii 14) returns to his^rayer,_and^
-closes-it-at-last-with-a-brief~Boxologyn(iii 20, 21).
i 1523 We may now gather up the leading thoughts of i 15 23, in
order to grasp the connexion of this passage with what follows :-
' I have heard of your faith (15) : I thank God, and I pray (16)
that you may have the true knowledge (17), the light which falls
on the opened eye of the heart; that you may know the hope
of God's calling, the glory of God's inheritance (18), the great-
ness of God's power: above all, the last of these as it bears
upon ourselves (19). Judge what it is by looking at the exalted
Christ : there you see it at work (20). God has raised Him, and
exalted Him above every conceivable dignity of this world or
the next (21). Thus supreme, He has further made Him Head
of a Body (22), which in turn fulfils and completes Him; for to
an absolute completeness He is still moving on (23)'.
The grammatical construction was broken in v, 22 : from
that point independent sentences follow one another, no longer
subsidiary to the words 'according to the working... which...' of
vv. 19, 20.
The verb of our next sentence, which is simply added by a
conjunction to those which precede, is long in coming; for once
of the glory of the inheritance? Bo power towards them that believe? Do
you see the exceeding greatness of the von see the hope of the calling ? "
II j] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 47
more the construction is broken, to be picked up again in v. 5.
We find the verb at last in 'He hath quickened us together with
Christ'.
So that the line of thought is this: The power which the Apostle
specially prays that they may know is the very power by which
God has raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the
heavenly region (i 20), and also has quickened them (both Gentiles
and Jews, as he breaks off to explain), and raised them, and
seated them in the heavenly region in Christ (ii 5, 6). In the
original the sequence is brought out clearly by the repetition of
the verbs of i 20 in a compound form in ii .6.
AND you, who were dead in your trespasses and sins, ii i 10
2 wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the
spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience ; * wherein
we also all had our conversation in time past in the lusts of our
flesh, doing the desires of our flesh and of our minds, and were
-by-nature-children-of-wrath t _e_v_en_as the rest : *but God, being
rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He hath loved us,
seven though we were dead in trespasses hath quickened us
together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, %nd hath
raised us together and seated us together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus: Hhat in the ages to come He might
shew forth the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through
faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is- the gift of God : ^not of
works, lest any man should boast. IO Fbr we are His workman-
ship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
afore prepared that we should walk in them.
The grammatical construction is often broken in St Paul's
writings from a desire to clear up obscurities at once and to fore-
stall possible misconceptions. His style reminds us of the freedom
and rapidity of conversation : it hurries eagerly on, regardless of
formal rules, inserting full explanations in a parenthesis, trusting
to repetitions to restore the original connexion, and above all
depending on emphasis to drive the meaning home. "We have the
less cause to be surprised at this freedom of composition, when we
48 EXPOSITION OF THE [II i, z
remember that several of his epistles contain the clearest indi-
cations that the Apostle's practice was to dictate his letters to an
amanuensis '. Accordingly in many cases the force of a passage
will most readily be felt when we read it rapidly or read it aloud.
In the present instance the Apostle desires to work out a simple
parallel. The mighty power of God, he would say, which raised
Christ from the dead and seated Him in the heavenly region, has.
been at work in you as well. For you too were dead, and you too
it has raised from the dead and seated with Christ in the heavenly
places. But he breaks off in the middle to explain (i) in what
sense he could speak of them as dead, and (2) that not only they,
the Gentiles, were dead, but the Jews likewise. Quite similarly in
i 13 he had broken off to say that not the Jews only had been taken,
as God's portion, but they, the Gentiles, likewise.
ii i ' Dead in -gour trespasses and sins '. that is to say, you were
dead, not with a physical death as Christ was, but with the death of
sin ; dead while you lived, because you lived in sin. This state of
death was the inevitable condition of those who had no life beyond
the life of this world, which is dominated by death and the lords of
deathA
' According 'to the course of this world'. The expression of the
original is pleonastic. The Apostle might have said either 'this
age ', or ' this world '. But for the sake of emphasis he says, in a
phrase which we cannot use in English without ambiguity, 'the
age of this world'. 'This age' and 'this world' represent a single
Hebrew phrase, which is often found in the Rabbinic writings,
where it stands in contrast to ' the age (or ' world ') to come ', that
is to say, the age introduced by the advent of the Messiah. The
contrast is not found in the canonical books of the Old Testament ;
2 (4) Esdr. but it occurs frequently in 2 (4) Esdras. Thus we read : ' The
J Most High hath made this world for many, but the world to come
iisa for a few'. The same contrast is found in St Matthew's Gospel,
and we have had it already in this epistle 3 .
St Paul is in agreement with contemporary Jewish thought in
regarding ' this age ' as evil and as transitory (see Gal. i 4, i Cor.
Bom. xii 2 vii 31). Instead of being 'conformed' to it, Christians are to be
'transfigured' even now 'by the renewing of their mind'. For them
1 Compare e.g. Bom. xvi 22, i Cor. 8 See Eph. i 21, and the com-
xvi 21, Col. iv 1 8, 2 Thess. iii 17. mentary on that verse. Compare also
2 On 'life ' and 'death. 5 in a spiritual 2 (4) Esdr. vi 9, 'For Esau is the end
sense see the striking words of Dr Hort of this world, and Jacob is the begin-
(Hulsean Lectures, App. pp. iSpff.). ning of it that followeth '.
II 2, s] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 49
this 'world 'is already dead, having been itself 'crucified' in the Gal. vi 14'
crucifixion of Christ.
' According to the prince of the power of the air '. Here again
the Apostle adopts the language of his contemporaries. It was the
general belief of his time that through the Fall the whole world had
become subject to evil spirits, who had their dwelling in the air,
and were under the control of Satan as their prince. So in the
New Testament itself we read of 'the power of darkness', in Col. 13
contrast with the kingdom of Christ; of 'the power of Satan ', and lg . j^ att
even 'the kingdom of Satan': and Beelzebub is named as 'thexii. 26;
t? TV IT 1 * *
prince of the devils '. Later on in this epistle we have a further ar 1U 32
description of ' the spiritual hosts of wickedness ', who are called vi 12
in a strange phrase 'the world-rulers of this darkness'.
This ' power (or ' authority ') of the air ' is further described by
a collective term as ' the spirit that now worJeeth in the sons of Hi
disobedience '. The phrase is carefully chosen so as to suggest that
the world-power as a whole stands in sharp contrast to God. It is
'a spirit', and it 'worketh' the same forcible word which has been i n, 20
used twice already of the Divine working.
'The sons of disobedience' is a Hebraism. It recurs in, v 6.
Compare-also-Luke-xvi-8^xx-34^the-sons-of-this-world (-or_lagel)_:
and contrast i Thess. v 5, ' sons of light ' and ' sons of day '. In
rendering it into Greek the word 'children' is sometimes used
instead of ' sons ' ; as in ii 3 ' children of wrath ', and v 8 ' children ;
of the light ' : but the meaning is precisely the same. !
Lest the Gentiles should seem for a moment to be placed in a
worse position than the Jews, St Paul breaks off to insert a guard-
ing clause. We were all alike, he says, in this evil case. * Wherein ii 3,
we also all had our conversation in time past in the lusts of our flesh,
doing the desires of our flesh and ofonr minds'.
Whether in Gentile or in Jew this lower life was hateful to
God : it was a life of disobedience, and as such it incurred the
Divine wrath. We 'were by nature children of wrath, even as the
rest '.
' Children of wrath' is, as we have seen, an expression parallel
to 'sons of disobedience'. That the 'wrath' here spoken of must
be the Divine wrath, and not human ' passion ', is made clear by a.
later passage, in which similar phraseology recurs: 'on account v 6
of these things the wrath of God cometh upon the sons of dis-
obedience'. Moreover, to interpret 'wrath' in this place as
'passion' would destroy the contrast which immediately follows
between ' wrath ' and ' mercy '. The phrase plainly signifies ' objects
EPHES. 2 A
SO EXPOSITION OF THE [II 3
of the Divine wrath' : compare Bom. i 18, ii 5, 8, where 'the wrath
of God' is shewn to attend Gentiles and Jews alike who do amiss.
Thus far the expression involves no difficulty. This is what
St Paul has always taught : Jew and Gentile are in the same case:
they have alike lived in sin : they are alike * sons of disobedience '
and * children of wrath '.
But into the latter phrase he inserts the words 'by nature':
'children by nature of wrath' is the order of the original. In
interpreting these words it is important to remember that we are
accustomed to use the word ' nature ' much more freely than it was
used in St Paul's day. We speak, for instance, of ' an evil nature ' :
but there is no such term to be found in the New Testament 1 . So
too we often use the word 'natural' in a depreciatory sense, as
when we render i Cor. ii 14, 'The natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God '. But in the Greek the word is ifruxLKos,
* the man of soul ', as opposed to 7n/ev/i<mKos, * the man of spirit '.
The Greek word for ' nature ' is a neutral word. It simply means
the natural constitution of a thing, or the thing in itself apart from
anything that may come to it from outside. As a rule it has a
good meaning rather than a bad : thus ' according to nature ' is
good^~'"contrary to nature '^isTbad ; compare Bom. xi 2 1 ff., and
Bom. i 26.
An important example of St Paul's use of the phrase ' by
Eom. ii 14 nature ' is found in the words, ' When the Gentiles, which have
not Law, by nature do the things of the Law ' : i.e. without the
Gal. ii 15 intervention of a direct revelation. Other examples are, 'We are
by nature Jews ' : i.e. we have not become such ; we are such : and,
Gal. iv 8 ' those which by nature are not gods ', though they may be thought
such and called such.
The sense of the present passage is : We were in ourselves chil-
dren of wrath, even as the rest : but God in His mercy did not
leave us to ourselves as the Apostle hurries on to say, breaking his
sentence again in order to point the contrast. We must be careful,
then, while retaining the rendering 'by nature', not to introduce
later meanings and associations of the word 'nature'; nor to
make St Paul throw the blame upon a defect of constitution which
necessarily led to sin and wrath. That is not the teaching of this
passage. ' By nature ', as St Paul used the words, men were not
necessarily led to do wrong : they could not shift the blame on to
their ' nature '.
1 In 2 Pet. i 4 we read of a ' Divine in contrast to a nature of beasts'
nature' (0eta 0&ns) ; and in Jas. iii 7 (0tfs Syptuv).
of a ' human nature ' (dvdptavlvij ^ftris)
II 3^-6] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 5 1
Much of the confusion which has shrouded the meaning of
the passage is probably due to the word 'children'. This sug-
gests to many minds the idea of infancy: so that St Paul is
taken to mean that by our birth as children we came under the
Divine wrath. But this is quite foreign to his meaning here. He
is not thinking, as in Rom. v, of the sin and death in which we are
involved through Adam's disobedience. He is speaking of actual
transgressions, of a conversation in the lusts of the flesh. Atten-
tion to the two parts of the phrase has shewn us (i) that ' children
of wraik' is a Hebraism for 'objects of wrath', and (2) that ' by
nature' means simply 'in ourselves', as apart from the Divine *
purpose of mercy. So that the common misinterpretation which
makes the phrase mean 'deserving of wrath from the moment of
birth ' is due to a neglect first of a Hebrew, and then of a Greek
idiom.
St Paul hastens on, as so often, from sin to grace, only mention-
ing sin in order to shew how grace more than meets it : compare
Bom. iii 23 f., v 12 21. Here sin and wrath lead on to ' a wealth ii 4
of mercy ', as in the previous chapter sin led on to ' a wealth of i 7
grace ';
' Even though we were dead in trespasses '. With these words he ii 5
takes up the broken sentence of v. i : only now the Jew has been
linked with the Gentile in the ' disobedience ' and the 'wrath ', and
therefore must be kept with the Gentile in the 'mercy'. Hence
not ' you,' but ' we '.
' He hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are
saved '. St Paul's affection for the word ' grace ', the word which to
him sums up his own special proclamation 1 , the word which is his
sign-manual ' in every epistle ', leads him to break off again to insert 2 Thess. iii
it; and the insertion itself will presently be repeated and expanded, I7
causing a yet further digression (y. 8).
' Ye are saved ' ; not ' ye are being saved ' (present) salvation
regarded as in process 2 : nor ' ye were saved ' (aorist) salvation as
a single Divine act 8 : but ' ye are saved ', or ' ye have been saved '
(perfect) salvation as a Divine act completed indeed, but regarded
as continuous and permanent in its issues.
' And hath raised us togetJier (with Him) and seated us together ii 6"
(with Him) in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus '. The compound
1 See the detached note on the that were being saved '.
meanings of %aptj. 3 As in Bom. viii 24, ' for by hope
2 As in i Cor. i 18, xv 2 ; 2 Cor. ii -were -we saved '.
15; and especially Acts ii 47, 'them
42
52 EXPOSITION OF THE [II 6 10
verbs (awyyeipev and <rwoca#rev) are intended to recall the simple
verbs (eyetpas and Ka0ras) of i 20. Christ was dead, and "was raised
from the dead. "We too, in a true sense, were dead, and as truly
were raised from the dead in His Resurrection : aye, and were
seated, even as He was seated, in the heavenly sphere 1 .
All this is spoken of as a Divine act contemporaneous with the
Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. It is wholly independent of
any human action. It is the free grace of God, which has lifted us
into a new world in Christ. As its motive the Apostle can but
suggest the glorification of grace. As he had said before that the
i 6 Election and the Adoption were ' to the praise of the glory of His
ii 7 grace ' : so here he says, ' that in the ages to come He might shew
forth the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in
Christ Jesus '.
ii 8, 9 ' For by grace ', he repeats, ' are ye saved through faith ' : and
lest by any means the possibility of merit should seem to creep in
with the mention of the 'faith' which realises this great salvation,
he adds at once : 'and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God:
not of works, lest any mam, should boast ' : or, if we may slightly
paraphrase the words to force out the meaning of the original:
' aye, and not of yourselves : the gift, for such it is, is God's gift :
not of works, that none may have ground to boast '.
ii ro ' For we are His workmanship ' : more closely, ' for His making
we are 'words which recall Ps. c 3 : 'it is He that hath made us,
and not we ourselves '. But the words which here follow shew that
it is not of the first Creation that St Paul is speaking. There has
been a new Making of Man in Christ. "We have been ' created in
Christ Jesus'.
This is that New Creation of which St Paul speaks in Gal.
vi 1 5, as having done away with the distinction between those who
were within the Jewish covenant and those who were outside it :
' for neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision ; but
(there is) a new creation'. Similarly in 2 Cor. v 16 f. he declares
that distinctions of the flesh are done away : ' "We from henceforth
know no man after the flesh... so that if any man be in Christ,
(there is) a new creation : the old things have passed away : lo,
they have become new'.
Mankind had started as One in the original Creation. But in
the course of the world's history, through sin on the one hand, and
on the other hand through the revelation of God to a selected
People, a division had come in. Mankind was now Two and not
1 See above pp. 20 if.
II ro] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 53
One. There was the privileged Jew, and there was the unprivileged
Gentile. It was the glory of grace to bring the Two once more
together as One in Christ. A new start was thus made in the
world's history. St Paul called it a New Creation.
"We shall see presently the importance which he attaches to this
view. 'He is our peace', he says, 'who hath made both One... iii4f.
that He might create the Two in Himself into One New Man,
making peace'. And so again, later on, he speaks of 'the Newiv4
Man, which according to God is created in righteousness '.
The New Creation, then, in St Paul's language is that fresh
beginning in the history of the human race by which the old division
is done away, and the unity of mankind is restored. It was for the
realisation of this unity that St Paul laboured and suffered. His
supreme mission was to proclaim Christ as the centre of a united
humanity. And this is the drift of our present passage. The
Apostle has been speaking of the relation of both Gentile and Jew
to Christ. Both alike were in themselves the objects of Divine
wrath by reason of their disobedience : but both alike, though dead,
were quickened, raised, exalted, with and in Christ Jesus. Man was
made anew by God. Pree grace had done it all : works, or ' merit ',
as we should say, had no part in the matter. It was a New
Creation : ' God's making are we, created in Christ Jesus'.
' Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath afore ii 10
prepared that we should walk in them'. Not 'of works', but 'unto
works'. The Divine purpose is not achieved apart from the 'good
works' of men: only it does not begin from them, but leads to
them. They are included in the Divine will for man: they are
ready for our doing ; and we are created to do them. This reference
to 'works' is an echo of the earlier controversial teaching. It is
directly suggested by the mention of 'faith', which is the human
response to the Divine ' grace '.
We must not allow our attention to be distracted by the details
of interpretation from the very remarkable thought which is
enshrined in the verses which we have been considering. The
Apostle has been praying that God would grant to those to whom i 17
he is writing the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, with a view to
their knowing in particular the mighty energy that is at work in i 20
themselves and in all Christian people. It is that miraculous power
which raised and exalted Christ. It has in like manner raised and
exalted them in Christ: for they cannot be separated from Him,
even as the Body cannot be separated from its Head. The result i 22
of this action on God's part is manifold. It lifts them out of the ii i 10
54 EXPOSITION OP THE [II 10, n
present ' age ', or * world ', and sets them ' in the heavenly sphere '.
It lifts them above the control of the world-forces which rule here
below, and seats them where Christ is seated above all the powers
that are or can be. It lifts them out of death the death of sin
and makes them truly alive. It annihilates the old distinction
between Gentile and Jew, and inaugurates a New Creation of man-
kind : for Gentile and Jew alike were dead, and alike have been
quickened and exalted in Christ Jesus. And all this is the free
gift of God, His sovereign grace.
The same teaching, couched to some extent in the same words,
may be gathered out of various parts of the Epistle to the Colossians
(see especially i 21, ii 12, 13, 20); and there it is pressed to the
logical conclusion, which is only hinted at in the 'good works' of
Col. iii i ff. our passage. For there the Apostle urges : ' If therefore ye
have been raised together with Christ, seek the things that are
above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God : set your
thought on the things that are above, not on the things that are on
the earth. For ye have died, and your life is hidden with Christ
in God'.
Nor is the teaching by any means confined to these two epistles.
We need but recall the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans,
Rom. vi 1 1 where again the logical conclusion is vigorously pressed : ' In like
manner do ye also reckon yourselves dead to sin, but living to God
in Christ Jesus '.
In our present passage the practical issue is not insisted on, but
merely hinted at in passing. The Apostle's main thought is the
unity which has thus been brought about, and the new hope which
accordingly is opened up for mankind as a whole. Hence he passes
on at once to expound the wealth of privilege to which, as the result
of this new unity, his Gentile readers have been introduced.
ii ii 22 IZ WHEREFORE remember that in time past ye, the Gentiles
in the flesh, who are called the Uncircumcision by that which
is called the Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands, " that
at that time without Christ ye were aliens from the common-
wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. l3 But now in
Christ Jesus ye who in time past were far off have been made
nigh by the blood of Christ. I4 For He is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of the
partition, 1S having abolished in His flesh the enmity, the law
II 1 1] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 55
of commandments contained in ordinances; that He might
create in Himself of the twain one new man, so making peace ;
16 and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by
the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: I7 and He came and
preached peace to you which were afar off, and peace to them
that were nigh ; l8 for through Him we both have our access in
one Spirit unto the Father. I9 So then ye are no more strangers
and sojoumers, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and
of the household of God, ^ being built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the
corner-stone ; ^ in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth into an holy temple in the Lord; a2 in whom ye also
are being builded together for an habitation of God in the
Spirit. .^
' Wherefore remember*. It is hard for us to realise the vital ii u
interest of this teaching to St Paul's readers. To us the distinction
of Jew and Gentile is not the most important fact in human life.
The battle for our privilege as Gentile Christians for our part
and place in Christ was fought and won eighteen hundred years
ago. We have forgotten the struggle and the victory altogether.
We do not recognise that this was a, decisive battle of the world's,
history.
But for the Gentiles to whom St Paul wrote the abolition of this
great distinction was everything. For five and twenty years the
conflict had been raging. At one moment the issue had depended
on a single man. A little place the Christian Jew was prepared to
allow to the Christian Gentile. He might be like ' the stranger in
the gates ' : but he could not be as the true born child of privilege,
unless indeed he were prepared to abandon his Gentile position, and
by circumcision identify himself with the Jew.
At one critical moment even St Peter withdrew himself, and Gal. iii iff.
would not sit at the same table with the Gentile Christians. St
Barnabas at that moment was likewise carried away. St Paul stood
alone. He saw that everything depended on absolute equality
within the Church of Christ. He withstood St Peter to the face,
and brought him to his true self again. That scene and a score of
others, when in different ways the same struggle was being waged,
left a deep mark on St Paul's mind. Two Churches or one that to
his mind was the question at issue. One Church, in the providence
of God, and through the work of St Paul, it was destined to be.
56 EXPOSITION OF THE [II 11, 12
The struggle was over but only just over when he wrote this
letter. It was the morrow of the victory. Can we marvel that
while it was vivid in his memory, and in the memories of all, he
should delight again and again to remind the Gentiles of what had
been gained ? ' Wherefore remember '.
ii ii ' Remember that in time past ye t the Gentiles in the flesh '. The
connexion appears to be this. We both Gentiles and Jews, with.
no distinction now are God's New Creation in Christ; created
with an end to fulfil, a path marked out to tread. Wherefore
remember what you were, and what you are. You were the
despised, outside, alien Gentiles, while these fleshly distinctions
i Cor. v 1 6 lasted. But now that ' we know no man after the flesh ', now that
the New Creation has made the Two no longer Two, but One, all is
yours : you have equal rights of citizenship, an equal place in the
family of God ; you go to make up the Temple in which it pleases
God to dwell.
' Remember that in time past ye, the Gentiles in the flesh', -while
' the flesh ' was the ground of distinction, as it was while the sign
of God's covenant was a mark made by a man's hand on a man's
flesh 'who are called the Uncircumcision by that which is called
the Circumcision^ in the flesh, made with hands'. There is no
necessary trace of contempt, as has been sometimes thought, in the
expressions, 'who are called the Uncircumcision', and 'which is
called the Circumcision'. These were familiar names on Jewish
lips, even if St Paul himself will not lend them his sanction. There
is no ground for the interpretation, ' the so-called ', as if the Apostle
meant that the distinctions were absurd or unreal. They were very
real and very tremendous; but they were done away in the New
Creation. So far as there is any depreciation of circumcision in the
passage, it is found in the last words, which are intended to suggest
that it belongs to an order that is material and transient.
The emphasis which the Apostle wishes to lay on the words ' the
Gentiles ' has led him again to expand, and so the sentence is broken.
This is the third time in the epistle that he has broken his sentence
to emphasise the position of the Jew and the Gentile : compare i 13
and ii 3. Nothing could more clearly shew the place this question
held in his thought.
:ii 12 ' That at that time without Christ ye were aliens from the common-
wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise '. A
contrast is here drawn between their old position, 'at that time
without Christ ', and their new position, ' now in Christ Jesus '
(v. 13). This contrast is somewhat obscured if we render, as in the
II i 2 ] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 57
Authorised Version, 'that at that time ye were without Christ,
being aliens' <fcc. They are called upon to remember not simply
that they were without Christ, but what they were without Christ.
It is interesting to compare with this statement of disabilities
the Apostle's catalogue in an earlier epistle of the privileges of those
whom he terms ' his brethren, his kinsfolk after the flesh ' : they Rom. ix
' are Israelites ' ', theirs ' are the adoption, and the glory, and the 3 ~~ 5
covenants, and the giving of the law, and the worship, and the
promises'; theirs 'are the fathers', that is, the patriarchs and
prophets, the heroes of the past ; and of them ' is the Christ accord-
ing to the flesh'. These were their distinctive privileges, which
marked them as the Elect People. It was these things that the
Gentiles had lacked.
* In Christ ', indeed, as they now were, all was theirs ; but ' with-
out Christ ', as they had been, they were unenfranchised * outlanders ',
aliens and foreigners, with no rights of citizenship in the sacred Gen. xyii 7
commonwealth, with no share in the covenants which guaranteed LukeTL 8
the promise made to ' Abraham and his seed for ever 7 . 72 f.
' Having no hope '. The Jew had a hope : the Gentile had none.
The golden age of the Gentile was in the past : his poets told him
of it, and how it was gone. Th~e~~3"ew's~~golden~~age was-in the
future : his prophets told him to look forward to its coming.
1 And without God'. Though there were 'gods many and lords i Cor. viii
many ', yet in the true sense they had no God. It had not yet ^
been revealed, as it was revealed through Christ, that ' the God of Rom. iii
the Jews ' was ' the God of the Gentiles also '.
This is the only place in the New Testament where the word
a0 cos occurs. It is in no contemptuous sense that the Apostle
speaks of them as having been ' atheists ', or ' godless '. It was the
simple and sad description of their actual state, not indeed from
their own, but from the only true point of view.
The charge of 'atheism' was hurled again and again by the
heathen at the Christians of the early days. Justin Martyr com-
plains that Christians were persecuted as a#cot, and reminds the
persecutors that Socrates had been put to death as a0eos. On a
memorable occasion the phrase was turned back on those who used
it. The Martyrdom of Poly carp tells (c. 9) how the proconsul bade
the aged bishop, in words which it was customary to employ,
'Swear by the genius of the emperor; repent; say, Away with
the atheists' (Alpe TOV<S adeov? meaning the Christians). 'Then
Polycarp, looking towards the people and waving with his hand,
groaned and looked up to heaven and said, ATpe rows o&ovs'. It
was they and not' the Christians, who had no God.
58 EXPOSITION OF THE [II 12 14
* In the world* . These words are the positive description of the
state which the Apostle has hitherto been describing entirely by
negatives. Coming at the close, they stand in sharp contrast to
what immediately follows : 'but now in Christ Jesus...'
They are not however to be taken by themselves, but in close
connexion with the two preceding phrases. The world, to St Paul,
is the present outward order of things; not of necessity to be
characterised as evil ; but evil, when considered as apart from God,
or as in opposition to God. Without a hope, and without a God
this was to be ' in the world ' and limited to the world, with nothing
to lift them above the material and the transient. It was to be, in
St John's language, not only ' in the world ', but * of the world '.
j 13 'JBut now in Christ Jesus ye who in time past were far off have
been made nigh by the blood of Christ'. In the remainder of this
section the Apostle reverses the picture. They were 'without
Christ... in the world' : they are 'in Christ Jesus'. The distance
between the unprivileged and the privileged is annihilated : ' the
Isa. Ivii 19 far ' has become 'near'. These are Old Testament terms: the
allusion is more explicitly made below in u 17.
- i -J3y-the-blood-of-Christ'^6~(more literally) '"in the blood of the
Christ'. So in i 7 we had 'through His blood', when the Apostle
was speaking of the Emancipation, before he had distinguished the
two classes of Jew and Gentile, and when he was describing the
blessings of the new Election in the imagery of the old covenant.
We may reserve to a later point the consideration of his present
use of the words.
ii 14 ' For He is our peace '. The pronoun is emphatic in the original.
We might render : ' For He Himself is our peace ', or ' For it is He
who is our peace '.
Note that the Apostle, having taken two words from the passage-
in Isaiah, now takes a third. In fact it is thus that the word
Isa. Ivii 19 ' peace ' is suggested to him : for the old promise ran : ' Peace, peace
to him that is far off, and to him that is nigh'. 'It is He', says
St Paul, ' who is our peace '. Note also the change in the pronouns
from ' ye ' to ' our '. To you and to us the peace has come. We
were strangers to one another ; nay, we were enemies : ' it is He
who is our peace'.
He, ' who hath made both one ' both the parts one whole. The
neuter of the original cannot well be expressed by an English
translation. Lower down, instead of the neuter he will use the
ii 15 masculine : ' that He might create the two (men) into one new man,
(so) making peace '.
II 14] .EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 59
This is the most perfect peace : not the armed peace of rival
powers, not even the peace of the most friendly alliance 5 but the
peace which comes from absolute unity. There can be no more a
quarrel, when there are no more two, but only one.
1 And hath broken down the middle wall of the partition'; that is, ii 14
the intervening wall which formed the barrier.
To understand the metaphor we must know something of the
construction of the Temple in St Paul's day. The area which had
been enclosed by Herod the Great was very large. It consisted of
court within court, and innermost of all the Holy Place and the Holy
of Holies. There were varying degrees of sanctity in these sacred
places. Into the Holy of Holies only the High Priest could enter,
and that once in the year. The Holy Place was entered daily and
incense was burned by a priest on the golden altar at the moment
of the sacrifice of the morning and evening lamb. This sacrifice took
place outside in the Court of the Priests, where was the great Altar
of Burnt-offerings. Outside this again were two further courts the
Court of the Sons of Israel immediately adjacent, and beyond this
on the east the Court of the Women. The whole of the localities
thus far mentioned formed a raised^plateaTr:~from-it-you-deseended
at various points down five steps and through gates in a lofty wall, to
find yourself not yet outside the temple-precincts, but on a narrow
platform overlooking another large court the outer court to which
Gentiles who desired to see something of the glories of the Temple,
or to offer gifts and sacrifices to the God of the Jews, were freely
admitted. Further in than this court they were forbidden on pain
of death to go. The actual boundary line which the Gentile might
not cross was not the high wall with its gates, but a low stone
barrier about five feet in height which ran round at the bottom of
fourteen more steps 1 .
In the year 1871, during the excavations which were being
made on the site of the Temple on behalf of the Committee of the
Palestine Exploration Fund, M. Clermont Ganneau found one of
the very pillars which Josephus describes as having been set up on
the barrier to which St Paul here refers. It is now preserved in
1 This account is derived from most beautifully worked; on it there
Josephus Antiqq. xv 1 1, B. J. v 5. In were set up at equal distances pillars
the latter passage he says: 'As you setting forth the law of sanctity, some
went on through this first court to the in Greek and some in Eoman eharac-
second there was a stone fence run- ters, how that no man of another race
ning all round, three cubits high and might pass within the sanctuary '.
60 EXPOSITION OF THE [II 14
the Museum at Constantinople, and it bears the following inscrip-
tion in Greek letters 1 :
/ NO MAN OP ANOTHER NATION TO ENTER
i WITHIN THE PENCE AND ENCLOSURE
ROUND THE TEMPLE. AND WHOEVER IS
CAUGHT WILL HAVE HIMSELF TO BLAME
THAT HIS DEATH ENSUES.
That barrier, with its series of inscribed stones threatening
death to the intruder, was still standing in the Temple courts at the
moment when St Paul boldly proclaimed that Christ had broken it
down. It still stood : but it was already antiquated, obsolete, out
of date, so far as its spiritual meaning went. The sign still stood :
but the thing signified was broken down. The thing signified was
the separation between Gentile and Jew. That was done away in
the person of Jesus Christ. A few years later the sign itself was
dashed down in a literal ruin. Out of that rum a fragment of it
has been dug, after exactly eighteen hundred years, to enforce
St Paul's words, and by a striking object lesson to bid us, the
Gentiles, 'remember' that in Christ Jesus we who were 'far off'
have been 'made
ii ir 14 At this point we may pause to draw out in greater fulness the
teaching of the Apostle in this passage. He has called on the
Gentiles, who have newly been admitted into a position of absolute
equality of privilege with the Jew, to remember what they were
and what they now are. They were the Gentiles, according to a
distinction which he describes by the words 'in the flesh' : that is
to say, they were the TJncircumcision, as they were called by those
who on their part were called the Circumcision. The distinction
was an external one : it was made ' in the flesh ' ; it was made by a
man's hand. The very terms suggest and are chosen to suggest
that it was temporary, not eternal. But it was not therefore un-
real ', nor was it wrong : it was part of the Divine method for the
education of the world. It is done away now ; but it was divinely
ordained, and tremendous in its reality while it lasted.
This is what they were. There was a dividing line, and they
were on the wrong side of it. And consequently, as he goes on to
say, they were not only without the sign of privilege, but without
the privilege itself. For they were not members of the Chosen
People : they were aliens, they were strangers : they knew nothing
of a Divine fellowship, a sacred polity, in which men were linked
to one another and to God, in which God had entered into covenant
1 For the Greek text see the commentary ad loc.
II 14] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 6l
with men and had blessed them with a promise which brightened
their outlook into the future. Nothing of all this was for them :
they had no hope, no God : they were in the world without a hope
and without a God the world, which might be so full of hope and
so full of God, to those who knew the Divine purpose and their
own share in it ; but which was as a fact to them, in their isolated,
unprivileged condition, a hopeless and a godless world. That is
what they were : it would do them good to think upon it.
If we bear in mind how closely St Paul links together member-
ship in a Divine polity and fellowship with God Himself, we shall
be saved from some difficulties of interpretation later on. He did
not deny that God was working in the hearts of the Gentiles all
the while : something of God could be known to them, was known
to them: 'He left not Himself without witness'; He was always Acts xiv 17
doing them good : their sin consisted in their rebellion against Him
who made Himself felt among them, at least in some degree, as the
Lord of their spirits. But they were not like the favoured Jews,
who knew God and had been brought into an actual fellowship
with Him, who had God * so nigh unto them ', who were claimed Dent, iv 7
every moment of their lives as God's own ; so that in a peculiar
sense God was '"the~God~of~Israel-'7-and Israel-was-' the-Israel-of
God'.
The Jew, and the Jew alone, was nigh to God. And hence it
followed that to be nigh to the Jew was to be nigh to God, and to
be far from the Jew was to be far from God.
This then is what St Paul says : You were far off, but now you
have been made nigh. In the first instance he means, You were
far off from the Jewish commonwealth and the covenants that con-
tained the promise : but he cannot separate this thought from that
other which gave it all its meaning and importance far from the
sacred commonwealth is far from God.
We must go back upon his life-long training, if we would under-
stand his position. From a child he had been taught that he was
a member of a Selected People, that he was brought into a Divine
fellowship. This membership, this citizenship in the sacred polity,
was the fact on which his whole life rested. This was what made
life worth living to him: this was his one only and sufficient
hope for the great future. When he became a Christian this was
not taken from him. Only he now saw that his People's hope had
come : he saw in Jesus the Messiah of his People's longings. All,
and more than all, that his prophets had foretold had actually come
to pass. The Divine fellowship, the sacred commonwealth, was
more than ever to him now. To be within it, as he knew he was,
62 EXPOSITION OF THE [II 14
was infinitely more precious a privilege, to be outside was far more
grievous a disability, than ever it could have seemed before.
Hence the deep pathos of his language as he describes the hopeless
misery of the Gentile world. Hence too his supreme delight in pro-
claiming, not that the Divine fellowship was suddenly at an end, but
that the old limits by which it had been confined to a single race were
done away ; that the world was no longer two parts one privileged,
the other unprivileged but one whole, all privileged alike ; that the
partition wall which had kept the Gentile at a distance was simply
broken down, and that Jew and Gentile might enter hand in hand
Mark xi into the One Father's house, ' the house of prayer for all nations '.
^ It was the fulfilment of the Jewish hope not its disappointment
which had brought about this glorious issue. It was the Messiah
who had done it. The Jew lost nothing : he gained everything
gained new brothers, gained the whole Gentile world. In Christ
Ps. ii 8 God had ' given him the heathen for his inheritance, and the utter-
most parts of the earth for his possession '.
The Gentile too had gained all. He indeed had nothing to lose,
and could only gain. He had gained brotherhood with the Jew, a
place in the Divine family, the franchise of the sacred polity, his
passage across~~the partition which~HadTdivibled him from the Jew
and thereby had divided him from God. He was brought nigh
nigh to the Jew, and nigh to God.
All this is in St Paul's thought when he says : ' Ye were far off,
but ye have been made nigh '.
We have not yet considered the important words which he adds
ii 13 to this statement : ' in ' or 'by the blood of the Christ '. The
reconciliation by which 'the far off' and 'the near' are brought
together by which Gentile is made nigh to Jew and thereby nigh
Heb. ix 1 8 to God is 'not without blood'. For neither was the Jew's own
covenant ' without blood '.
We need to remind ourselves that from the earliest days every
treaty between man and man, as well as every covenant between
man and God, was ratified and made sure by the blood of a sacrifice.
All that is done away now, and we find it hard to do full justice to
a conception so foreign to our ways of thinking. But we must bear
this fact in mind if we would understand St Paul. The covenant
between a nation and its deity was a covenant of blood : the peace
between a nation and a nation was ratified by a victim's blood 1 .
1 The history of this idea, which by the late Professor W. Bobertson
played so large a part in human life Smith (part I. ' Fundamental Institu-
before the Christian era, is elaborately tions ').
treated in The Religion of the Semites
< II 14, 15] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 6
That the Messiah had been killed was at first sight the defeat
and failure of all the expectation of which He had been the centre.
His resurrection dispelled the gloom, and shewed that He had
triumphed in spite of death even through death, for He had shewn
Himself the conqueror of death. His death was presently seen to
have been a necessary stage of His work. It partook of the nature
of a sacrifice. It was the blood of a covenant : so He Himself had
solemnly described it on the eve of His crucifixion ' This is My Mark xiv
Blood of the Covenant'. St Paul gives us here an interpretation of
His words. The ' blood of the Christ ' had made a new treaty of
peace between the two opposing sections of humanity : it had made
the two into one. ' The blood of the Christ ' had made ' the far off'
to be 'near': it had widened out the old Covenant, so as to embrace
those who had been outside : it had become the fulfilment of all the
sacrificial blood-shedding of the old Covenant, which it superseded
only by including it in a new Covenant, in which Jew and Gentile
alike had access to the one and only God. His life-blood poured out
as the ratification of the new Covenant, says St Paul, has made ' the
far off' ' near ' ; for He Himself is our peace j He Himself has made
the two parts one whole ; He Himself has broken down the partition-
wHlltTiat~shut~off "the one from the privileges of ~th~e~otner;
Up to this point the Apostle's meaning is clear, when once we
nave grasped the conceptions which lie behind .his thought. But he
is conscious that he has been using the language of metaphor, and
he proceeds to elaborate and to interpret what he has been saying.
The participial clause which follows is a re-statement in other terms
of what has immediately preceded.
' Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, the law of command- ii 15
ments contained in ordinances'. This recasts and presents afresh
the statements 'He Himself is our peace' and 'He hath broken
down the middle wall of the partition '. ' In His flesh, ' corresponds
to the emphatic pronoun 'He Himself; the abolition of ( the
enmity ' is a new description of ' our peace '. As the division was
symbolised and expressed in the barrier of the Temple, so 'the
enmity ' was expressed in ' the law of commandments contained in
.ordinances '. Accordingly the breaking down of the Temple barrier
is one and the same thing with the abolition of the enmity as it had
taken outward shape in the enactments of the ritual law.
But these phrases deserve to be considered one by one. l ln
His flesh '. ' His flesh ' is the scriptural term for what we speak of
as His humanity, His human nature. * He took upon Him flesh '
was an early Christian mode of speaking of the mystery of the
64 EXPOSITION OF THE [II 15
Incarnation. It is the same in' meaning with the great phrase of
the Te Deum, Tu ad liberandum suscepisti hominem, ' Thou tookest
upon Thee man, to deKver him '. The flesh of Christ is our common
humanity, which He deigned to make His own. So that in Him
c all flesh ', that is, all humanity, finds its meeting point. And thus
He is Himself our peace : in His own person He has abolished our
enmity.
' The law of commandments contained in ordinances ' was abolished
by Christ. The fulness of this expression is no doubt intentional.
Matt, v 17 Christ came 'not to destroy' the law, 'but to fulfil' it: not to
break it down, but to fill it with its full meaning. Yet this was to
do away with it in so far as it was a limited code of commands.
All, its commandments were swallowed up in the new commandment
of love. In so far as it was petrified in enactments, and especially
in those external ordinances which guided all the details of the
Jew's daily life and were meant above all things to keep him
distinct from the outside Gentile, -just in that sense and in that
measure it was annulled in Christ. This is made clearer by the
guarding phrase ' in ordinances '. The law, so far as it was a ' law
of commandments ' and was identified with external * ordinances ',
was-aboBshed-by-Christ;-
The Apostle uses parallel language in the Epistle to the Colos-
Col. ii 14 sians. ' He hath cancelled the bond that stood against us, (that
consisted) in ordinances : He hath taken it out of the way, having
nailed it to His cross'. And he asks, lower down, of those who
seemed to wish to return to a modified system of external prohibi-
Col. ii. 20, tions : ' Why are ye still ordinance-ridden ? ' And at the same time
21 he explains his meaning by examples of such ordinances: 'Touch
not, taste not, handle not '. To re-enact these was to abandon the
Gospel and to return to ' the commandments and doctrines of men '.
' The law of commandments in ordinances ' had an important
use while the distinction 'in the flesh' between Jew and Gentile
had to be clearly marked. The touch of certain things defiled, the
taste of certain meats made a man unclean. To touch even in the
commerce of the market what a Gentile had touched, to eat at the
same table at which a Gentile ate these things were defiling then.
The ordinances were framed to prevent such pollution, such sins
against the Divine covenant which marked off the Jews as a
peculiar people. It was just these distinctions that were done away
now ; and with them the ordinances which enforced them were
annulled.
'The law of commandments in ordinances' was abolished, and
abolished by the Messiah Himself. * In His flesh ' He had united
II 1517] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. '65
those whom these distinctions had held apart : 'in His blood ' He
had made a new Covenant which included them both.
' That He might create in Himself of the twain one new man, so ii 15
making peace '. This is the New Creation, the New Man, of which
we have spoken already. Henceforth God deals with man as a
whole, as a single individual, in Christ. Not as Two Men, the
privileged and the unprivileged Two, parted one from the other by
a barrier in the most sacred of all the relations of life : but as One
Man, united in a peace, which is no mere alliance of elements
naturally distinct, but a concorporation, the common life of a single
organism.
' And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the ii 16
cross, having slain the enmity thereby '. Here the Apostle expresses
what has all along been implied in his thought, namely, that the
peace by which the Gentile was reconciled to the Jew was at the
same time a peace with God. In the new Covenant which was
made ' in the blood of the Christ ' not only were the two sections of
humanity brought nigh to one another, but both of them in the
same moment were brought nigh to God.
' In one body \ This is the ' one body ' which has resulted from
the union of the two sections. It is the ' one body ' to which the
' one Spirit ' of v. 18 corresponds. It is not the human body of the
Lord Jesus j that was referred to above in v. 15 by the expression
' in His flesh '. Here St Paul is speaking of that larger Body of
the exalted Christ, of which he has already declared that it is His i 23
fulness or completion, and of which he will presently declare that iv 4
' there is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope
of your calling '.
' Having slain the enmity tJiereby ', that is, by the Cross. An
alternative rendering is ' having slain the enmity in Himself 1 . The
meaning is the same in either case : and the expression is a bold
one. Christ in His death was slain : but the slain was a slaver
J
too.
1 And He came and 'preached (or ' published good tidings of ') ii i i:
peace to you which were afar off, and peace to them that were nigh '.
In these words St Paul combines with the passage of Isaiah which
he has already used in w. 13, 14 another passage of the same book.
' Peace, peace to him that is far off and to him that is near, saith Tsa. Ivii 10
the Lord ', is combined with ' How beautiful upon the mountains Isa. lii 7
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace '. The verb ' to publish good tidings ' is drawn by the Apostle
from the Septuagint version of the latter passage.
EPHES. 8 t
66 EXPOSITION OF THE [II 18, 19.
In the words ' He came and preached ' we have a reference not
to the work of the Lord Jesus on earth before the Crucifixion, but
to the work of the exalted Christ in announcing the peace which
His death had made.
ii 18 * For through Him, we both have our access in one Spirit unto the
father '. The new Covenant was henceforward the ground of the
Jew's approach to God, as well as of the Gentile's. For the old
Covenant was swallowed up in the new. Jew and Gentile now
rested alike on the new Covenant, and so all distinction between
them was at an end.
It is noteworthy that, as the Apostle proceeds, the hostility
between Jew and Gentile has been gradually falling into the back-
ground. The reconciliation of which he speaks is the reconciliation
of both to God, even more than of each to the other ; and the
climax of all is found in the access of both to the common Father.
For the supreme blessing which the new Covenant has secured is
freedom of approach to Him who is to be known henceforth by His
new Name, not as Jehovah the God of Israel, but as the Father.
' In one Spirit '. This phrase is the counterpart of the phrase
'in one body ' of v. 16. ' In one body ' we both were reconciled to
God : ' in one Spirit we bothThave our access to the J 1 atheri The 7
' one body ' is animated by ' one Spirit '. So, later on, the Apostle
iv 4 declares : ' There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye have been
called in one hope of your calling '. Even if the reference is not
primarily to the Holy Spirit, yet the thought of Him as the Spirit
Comp. ^ fellowship is necessarily present where the 'one Spirit' of the
i Cor. xii < one body ' is spoken of. The Body of the Christ has a Spirit that
13 dwells in it. That Spirit is the Spirit of the Christ, the Holy Spirit.
When we grasp this correlation of the Body of Christ and the Spirit
of Christ, we can understand why in the Apostolic Creed the clause
'The Holy Catholic Church' forms the first subdivision of the
section which begins, ' I believe in the Holy Ghost '.
ji jo ' So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are
fellow-citizens with the saints '. The Apostle returns to his political
metaphor, and uses a term which was well understood in the Greek
cities. The ' sojourners ' were a class of residents who were recog-
nised by law and were allowed certain definite privileges : but
their very name suggested that their position was not a permanent
one : they resided on sufferance only, and had no rights of citizen-
ship. The Gentiles, says St Paul, are no longer in this position of
exclusion from the franchise of the sacred commonwealth. They
are 'fellow-citizens with the saints '. ' The saints ' was a designation
II i 9 , 20] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 67
proper to the members of the ancient People of God. They were
a ' holy nation ' : they were ' saints ' by virtue of their national
consecration to Jehovah. The designation was naturally retained
by St Paul, when the Chosen People was widened into the Catholic
Church. To quote Bishop Lightfoot's words 1 : "The Christian
Church, having taken the place of the Jewish race, has inherited
all its titles and privileges j it is 'a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people ' (i Pet. ii 9). All who
have entered into the Christian covenant by baptism are ' saints ' in
the language of the Apostles. Even the irregularities and profli-
gacies of the Corinthian Church do not forfeit it this title ".
The Gentiles, then, had been admitted to full rights in the
polity of ' the saints ' : they were now no less truly a part of the
consecrated people than were the Jews. But the Apostle adds a
further metaphor. He has just spoken of God as 'the Father', to
whom they had been given access. In harmony with this he now
declares that the Gentiles are members of God's family, or house-
hold : they have all the privileges of the sons of the house : they are
' of the household of God '. In this phrase he uses an adjective ii 19
(OIKCIOS) which implies the word ' house ' in the non-material sense in
wEich we often use it ourselves : comp. i Tim. iii. 4 and 15. But
we can scarcely doubt that it is the feeling of the radical meaning
of the word that leads him on to the new metaphor which he at
once developes, and which would seem excessively abrupt if it were
not for this half-hidden connexion. They are not merely members
of the household, but actually a part of the house of God.
* Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, ii 20
Christ Jesus Himself being the corner-stone '. They are not the first
stones laid in the building : they are built up on others which were
there before them. The foundation stones are the apostles and
prophets, the chief stone of all being Christ Jesus Himself, who is the Isa. xxviii
'corner-stone', as the Old Testament writers had called the Messiah. 1<5 'j i ? s '
In an earlier epistle St Paul had emphatically declared : ' Other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ '. .
But there he is employing his metaphor in a different way. He is
not speaking of persons who are builded in, but of persons who
build. He himself, for example, is not a stone of the building, but
*a wise master-builder' : those of whom he speaks are builders also,
and their work will come to the testing. The foundation he has
himself laid in the proclamation of Christ Jesus : it is not possible
that any of them should lay any other foundation : but it is only
too possible that the superstructure which they raise should be
1 Note on Philippians i i.
68 EXPOSITION OF THE [II 20
worthless, and thafc instead of wages for good work done they
should come in for the fine which attached to careless or fraudulent
workmanship. Here the application of the metaphor is different.
The stones are persons : the foundation stones are the apostles
and prophets, the most important stone of all being ' Christ Jesus
Himself.
This last phrase is emphatic. Christ, the Messiah who had
been spoken of beforehand as the corner-stone; Jesus, the human
manifestation of the Christ in time : ' Christ Jesus Himself '. He
is part of the Body which He brings into being, for He is its Head :
He is part of the House which He founds, for He is its Corner-
stone. The passage in St Paul's mind at this point is Isa. xxviii 16,
as it was rendered by the Septuagint: 'Behold, I lay for the
foundations of Sion a stone costly and chosen, a precious corner-
stone for the foundations thereof '. And just because he will speak
of Christ in the old prophet's terms as a corner-stone, he cannot
here speak of Him as the whole foundation.
Matt, rvi We are naturally reminded by this passage of the saying of our
Lord to St Peter : ' I say unto thee, Thou art Peter (Herpes), and
upon this rock (^rerpa) I will build My Church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it : I will give to thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven '. Here we have the same metaphor, and again
its application is slightly varied. In English the play upon words
is wholly lost : in the Greek it is somewhat obscured by the change
from Herpes to Trerpa. The feminine word (irerpa) could not well be
the name of a man, and accordingly the Greek name of Cepha was
Herpes, which signifies a stone rather than a rock. But in the
Aramaic, in which our Lord almost certainly spoke, there was no
such difficulty. Cepha was equally a stone or a rock. So that the
words must have run, just as we now read them in the Syriac
versions : ' Thou art Cepha, and upon this cepha I will build My
Church'.
It is worth our while to notice how the metaphor of a house is
there applied to the Church. It is the Divine House which Christ
will build (He is neither the foundation nor the corner-stone, but
the Builder), and the keys of it He will place in the Apostle's
hands. Thus by a rapid transition the Apostle's own relation to
the house is expressed by a new metaphor ; he is now the steward
Isa. xxii 22 of the house : compare the prophet's words : * I will give the
( Heb -) key of the house of David...'. Thus the Church the Ecclesia
corresponds to 'the kingdom of heaven', which the Messiah has
come to establish : each of the designations being drawn from the
past history of the sacred commonwealth, which was at once ' the
II 20, 21] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 69
Ecclesia of the sons of Israel ' and * the kingdom of Israel '. ' My
Ecclesia', Christ says, (i.e. My new Israel) 'I will build' : compare
Amos ix ii f., cited in Acts xv 16 f., 'I will build again the taber-
nacle of David which is fallen down '.
In our present passage the foundation is not Peter (Cepha, the
rock) j he is only a part with others of the foundation : not Christ,
for even He is but a part, though the chief part, the corner-stone :
but ' the apostles and prophets '. The scope of these designations I
have discussed elsewhere 1 . Here it is enough to say with regard
to the former that though the Twelve and St Paul himself are no
doubt primarily intended, we need not seek to narrow it to them to
the exclusion of others who may have been founders or joint-founders
of Churches. With regard to the latter the whole context makes
it abundantly plain that St Paul is not taking us back from the
New Covenant to the Old not speaking of Old Testament prophets
in the past when he says that the apostles and prophets are the
foundation of the new House of God.
When St Paul speaks of Christ as the corner-stone, he uses a
metaphor which appears to be wholly Oriental The Greeks laid
no stress on corner-stones. We must go to the East if we would
understand at all what they mean. The corner-stones in the
Temple substructures, which have been excavated by the agency
of the Palestine Exploration Fund, are not, as we might perhaps
have supposed, stones so shaped as to contain a right-angle, and
thus by their projecting arms to bind two walls together; though
it would appear from an incidental remark of Sir Henry Layard
(Nineveh ii 254) that he had seen some such at Nineveh. They are
straight blocks which run up to a corner, where they are met in the
angle by similar stones, the ends of which come immediately above
or below them. These straight blocks are of great length, frequently
measuring fifteen feet. The longest that has been found is described
by Sir Charles Warren (Jerusalem Recovered, p. 121) in bis account
of the excavation of the southern wall of the sanctuary area. It
measures 38 feet and 9 inches, and belongs to a very ancient period
of building. It was such a stone as this that furnished the ancient
prophet with his image of the Messiah.
'In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an ii ai
holy temple in the Lord '. The uncertainty which has attended the
translation of these words may best be illustrated by bringing
together the various forms of the English Version in this place 2 .
1 See Encyclopedia Siblica, arts. 2 I cite the older renderings from
'Apostle' and 'Prophet (N. T.)': see 'The English Hexapla' (Bagster,
also below, pp. 97 f. 1841).
70 EXPOSITION OF THE [II 21
WICLIF. 1380. In whom eche bildynge made : wexeth in to
an holi temple in the lord.
TYNDALE. 1534. In whom every bildynge coupled togedder,
groweth vnto an holy temple in the lorde.
CRANMER. 1539. In whom what buyldyng soever is coupled
together, it groweth vnto an holy temple in the Lorde.
GENEVA. 1557. In whom all the buyldying coupled together,
groweth vnto an holy temple in the Lord.
K.HEIMS. 1582. In whom al building framed together, groweth
into an holy temple in our Lord.
AUTHORISED. 1611. In whom all the building fitly framed
together, groweth vnto an holy temple in the Lord.
REVISED. 1881. In whom ^ach several building, fitly framed
together, groweth into a holy 2 temple in the Lord.
1 Gr. every "building. s Or, sanctuary.
"We need not at this point enter into the causes of so great
variety of rendering. This would be to discuss the influence of the
Latin Yulgate, and of the variants in the Greek text. Our study
of-the-context-should-by-this-time-have-made-it-perfectly_clear__that_
St Paul contemplates a single structure and no more. Such a
rendering then as ' every building ' (that is to say, ' all the build-
ings ') is out of harmony with the general thought of the passage.
If the Apostle has in any way referred to parts which go to make
up a whole, it has always been to two parts, and only two, viz. the
Jew and the Gentile. To introduce the idea of many churches
going to make up one Church is to do violence to the spirit of this
whole section. The rendering ' each several building, fitly framed
together, groweth into a holy temple ' offends the most conspicuously
against the Apostle's thought. For it must logically imply that
the ' several buildings ' grow into ' several temples ' : and this is at
once inconsistent with the single ' habitation ' or ' dwelling-place ' of
God, which the Apostle mentions in the next verse.
In English the word 'building* has various shades of meaning,
each of which is found equally in its counterpart in the Greek. It
may mean ' the process of building ' : it may mean * the building
itself when complete '. Or it may have a sense intermediate between
these two, and mean 'the building regarded as in process'. The
Apostle's meaning is saved by the rendering of the Bheims Bible
' al building ' ; but this is somewhat harsh, and limits us too strictly
to the process, as contrasted with the work in process. ' All that
is builded ', or ' all building that is done ' might express the sense
with sufficient accuracy : but this hardly differs from ' all the build-
II 2 1] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 7 1
ing ', when we keep before our minds the thought of the building
in process, as opposed to the completed edifice. We may accord-
ingly retain the familiar rendering, although it is not free from
ambiguity if the context be neglected, and although it was origi-
nally intended as the translation of a reading in the Greek which
the textual evidence precludes us from accepting.
All work done on this House of God, all fitting of stone to
stone, as the building rises coupled and morticed by clamp and
dowel, all this work is a growth, as though the building were a
living organism. St Paul has no hesitation in mixing his meta-r
phors, if thereby he can the more forcibly express his meaning.
We have the exact converse of this transition in the fourth chapter :
if here ' the building grows ' like a body, there ' the body is builded '. iv 12, 16
' An holy temple '. The word ' temple ' in our English Bible is
used to render two Greek words, naos and hieron. The first of
these which is used in this place denotes the shrine, the actual
House of God, which in the Jewish temple consisted of the Holy
Place and the Holy of Holies. The second, on the other hand, has
the wider meaning of the temple-precincts the courts and colon-
_nades, in which the people gathered for worship. This distinction
is observed alike by Josephus and by the writers of the New Testa-
ment. Thus the hieron was the temple into which the Pharisee Luke xviii
and the publican went up to pray : it was there that our Lord used r ?. Mark
to teach : it was thence that He drove out the traders. But it Markxi 15
was in the naos that the angel appeared to Zacharias the priest : Luke i 9
it was between the naos and the altar that Zacharias, * the son of Matt, xxiii
Barachias ', was slain : it was the veil of the naos that was rent at 35
XT- r\ -.C i
the Crucifixion 1 .
A passage which is sometimes cited to justify a false interpreta-
tion of our present verse is Matt, xxiv i, 'the buildings of the
temple '. But note the word there used : ' And Jesus went out and
was departing from the hieron, and His disciples drew near to point
out to Him the buildings of the hieron '. The plural could be used
of the temple-precinct through which they were passing, adorned as
it was with the splendid structures of Herod. It could not be
used of the naos, which was a single building, divided only by the
partition of a veil. Accordingly it seems impossible to assign
any meaning to the phrase 'every building groweth into a holy
naos', except it be such a meaning as is directly opposed, as we
1 The only passage where there xxvii 5 : Judas cast the price of the
could be a reason for wishing to give Lord's betrayal into the naos.
to the naos a wider meaning is Matt.
EXPOSITION OF THE [II 21, 22
have seen, to the whole teaching on which St Paul is laying such
evident stress.
'In the Lord'. This is the first time in the epistle that this
title has stood by itself. It may not be wise always to insist on a
conscious motive for the choice of the phrase 'in the Lord', in
preference to the phrase ' in Christ '. Yet it can hardly be a mere
coincidence that where the Apostle describes the transcendental
relation of believers to Christ as the ground of their acceptance
with God he uses the expression 'in Christ', or one of the fuller
expressions into which this title enters; whereas, when he is
speaking of the issues of that relation as manifested in life and
conduct here below, he uses the phrase 'in the Lord'. Contrast,
ii 10 for example, the words created in Christ Jesus ' with the words
vi 10 Be strong in the Lord '. The Christ of the privileged position is
the Lord of the holy lif e : if in Christ we are in heaven, in the Lord
we must live on earth. Christ is the corner-stone of the foundation ',
the building grows to an holy temple in the Lord.
ii 22 ' In whom ye also '. These words have by this time a familiar
sound. The Apostle insists afresh upon the inclusion of the Gen-
tiles ; and he is thus led into what might seem a mere repetition of
what he has already said, but that the two fresh expressions which
he adds produce the effect of a climax.
' Are builded together for an habitation of Gfod in the Spirit '.
Once more he takes his word from the Old Testament. The
Exod. xv ' habitation ' or ' dwelling-place of God ' was a consecrated phrase.
It was the proudest boast of the Jew that the Lord his God, who
etc. dwelt i* 1 heaven, dwelt also in Sion. To the new People the same
sCor.vi 16 high privilege is granted in a yet more intimate manner. Tor we
Lev. xxvi are the temple of the living God : as God hath said, I will dwell in
11 f< them, and walk in them ; and I will be their God, and they shall be
My people '.
' In the Spirit '. Here, as so often, the Apostle does not make
it plain whether he is speaking directly of the Divine Spirit or not.
But it is to be observed that this section, which began with the
words 'in the flesh' (twice repeated), ends with the words 'in
the spirit'. No doubt the thought that the habitation of God is
spiritual, in contrast to the material temple, is present to the
Apostle's mind, even if it does not exhaust the meaning of his
words. And we may perhaps regard the expression of i Pet. ii 5,
' a spiritual house ', as the earliest commentary on this passage.
Thus St Paul closes this great section by declaring that the
Gentiles had full rights of citizenship in the sacred commonwealth,
II 22, III i] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. . 73
that they were true sons of the household of God, nay that they were
a part of His Holy House, builded upon its foundation, secured by
its corner-stone, that corner-stone which gave unity to all building
that was reared upon it ; so that all such building, duly welded into
one, was growing into a holy shrine, to be the spiritual dwelling-
place of God.
Such was ' the mystery of the will of God '. It was that they i 9
might grasp this mystery that he had begun to pray for the ' Spirit
of wisdom and apocalypse' on their behalf. And now that he has i 17
so far expounded it, in brief language compared with its mighty
magnitude, it becomes again the basis of his prayer. Or rather, the
prayer which he had essayed to utter, and the first words of which
had carried him so far that the prayer had lost itself in the wonder
of the blessing prayed for, that prayer he once more desires to
take up and at length to utter in its fulness.
This he attempts to do in the words : ' For this cause I Paul, the jtii
prisoner of Christ Jesus for you, the Gentiles ' : but, as we shall see,
new thoughts again press in, and in v. 14 he makes another and at
last a successful attempt to declare the fulness of his petition :|
this cause I boto my knees'.
FOR this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you, iii 113
the Gentiles, "if so be that ye have heard of the dispensation
of the grace of God which was given unto me to you-ward:
3 how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery,
as I have written afore in few words, 4 whereby, when ye read,
ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ ;
s which in other generations was not made known unto the sons
of men, as it hath now been revealed unto His holy apostles
and prophets in the Spirit ; 6 to wit, that the Gentiles are fellow-
heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of
the promise in Christ Jesus through, the gospel, 7 whereof I was
made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God which
was given unto me according to the working of His power,
8 unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this
grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light what is the dispensation
of the mystery which from the ages hath been hid in God who
created all things ; I0 to the intent that now unto the princi-
74 EXPOSITION OF THE [III I
palities and powers in the heavenly places might be made
known through the church the manifold wisdom of God,
"according to the purpose of the ages which He purposed in
Christ Jesus our Lord, ia in whom we have our boldness and
access with confidence by the faith of Him. l3 Wherefore I ask
you that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which are
your glory.
The construction is at once broken at the end of v. i. There is
something even in those few words which has suggested a new train
of thought, and the Apostle cannot check himself until he has
expressed what is in his soul. What is the starting-point of this
new departure ?
Hitherto St Paul has been strangely unlike himself in one
particular. He has been marvellously impersonal. His only
reference to himself since the salutation has been in the words,
i 15 'I cease not to give thanks and to pray'. He has said nothing
of his own peculiar office as the chosen herald of these new revela-
tions of the will and way of God ; and of all that he had personally
endured, whether in long journeyings and constant labours to bring
this message to the Gentiles, or in persecutions and imprisonment
directly due to his insistence on the wideness of the Gospel. The
reason for this unwonted reserve is, as we have partly seen already,
that he is not writing to the members of a single Church of his own
Acts xx 3 1 foundation, whom he had 'admonished night and day with tears',
who knew him well and to whom he could write as he would have
spoken face to face. He is writing to many who had never seen
him, though they must have heard much of him and probably had
learned the Gospel from his fellow-workers. He is writing not a
personal word of encouragement, but an exposition of the Divine
Purpose as he had come to know it a word of large import for
multitudes who needed what he knew it was his to give them. He
i 15 f. has heard how the great work has been going forward far beyond
the limits of his own personal evangelisation. He thanks God for
it. It is part of the f ulfilment of the Purpose. He is fully taken
up with declaring what the Purpose has brought to the Gentiles as
a whole. It is only as he reaches a resting-place in his thought,
that he hears as it were the clink of his chain, and remembers
iii i where he is and why he is there : ' / Paul, the prisoner of Christ
Jesus for you, the Gentiles '.
But the words are too full to be left without a comment or a
justification. You may never have seen my face, he seems to say,
Ill 2] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 75
but surely you have heard how God has been using me to help you :
you may even have been discouraged by learning to what my efforts
on your behalf have brought me.
The fresh points which are to be emphasised in the remainder of Hi 13
this section, which is one long parenthesis, are these : (i) St Paul's
peculiar mission as the exponent of the mystery of the inclusion of
the Gentiles, as the publisher of the great secret, as the herald of
the Gospel of ' grace ' ; (2) the newness of the revelation, hid in God \
till now, but made known at last to the apostles and prophets of J
the Christian Church; (3) the sufferings which his mission has
entailed upon him, and which yet must not dishearten those for
whom he suffers.
The section is full of echoes of the earlier part of the epistle.
Almost every great phrase has its counterpart in the first two
chapters : the mystery made known by revelation ; revealed by
the Spirit to the apostles and prophets ', the inheritance, the body,
the promise, in which the Gentiles have their share in Christ ; the
grace of God, and the working of His power j the dispensation of
_fche_grace. and of the mysteryj the heavenly region; the purpose
of eternity ; the free access to God.
* If so be that ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace o/"iii 2
God which was given unto me to you-ward '. The form of the sentence
is conditional, just as in iv 2 1 ; but it can scarcely mean anything
less than ' For surely you have heard '. The expression as a whole,
however, confirms the conclusion that among those to whom the
epistle was addressed a considerable number, if not the majority,
had never come into personal contact with the writer : had he been
writing solely or even primarily to his own Ephesian converts, he
could never have expressed himself so.
' The grace of God which was given unto me ' is a favourite phrase
of St Paul. The context usually makes it quite clear that ' the
grace given ' him was not a spiritual endowment for his own personal
lif e, but the Gospel of God's mercy to the Gentile world. Thus, in
describing his visit to the Apostles at Jerusalem, St Paul says,
'"When they saw that I had been entrusted with the Gospel of the Gal. ii 7,9
TJncircumcision, . . . and when they knew the grace which was given
unto me, . . .they gave right hands of fellowship to me and to Barnabas,
that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the Circum-
cision'. An equally striking example is found where St Paul
justifies his action in addressing a letter to the Roman Christians : Bom. xv.
'I have written the more boldly', he says, c by reason of the grace I 5 f -
7<5 EXPOSITION OF THE [III 2, 3
which was given unto me from God, that I should be a minister
of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles '. As we have seen in part already,
* * grace ' was the significant word which summed up for St Paul his
own special message the merciful inclusion of the Gentile in the
purpose of God 1
In a parallel passage of the Epistle to the Colossians we find the
Col. i 25 words, ' according to the dispensation of God which was given unto
me to you- ward ' ; and an English reader might be led to suppose
that in our present passage the construction likewise must be, 'the
dispensation... which was given'. The ambiguity, which does not
exist in the Greek, might be avoided by the rendering ' that grace
of God which was given unto me ' (so the Revised Version renders) j
but this expedient has the disadvantage of partially obscuring the
identity of a phrase which recurs again and again in St Paul's
epistles 2 .
Both here and in Col. i 25 'the dispensation' spoken of is a
dispensation in which God is the Dispenser, and not the adminis-
tration, or stewardship, of any human agent. This is made clear
by the parallel use of the word in i 10, and again below in iii 9.
iii 3 ' How that by revelation, was made known unto me the mystery '.
We have already noted 8 the signification of the word ' mystery ' or
' secret ', and of its natural correlative ' apocalypse ' or * revelation '.
By Divine disclosure, St Paul declares, the Divine secret had been
made known to him. The recognition of the wideness of God's
purpose was neither a conclusion of his own mind nor a tradition
passed on to him by the earlier Apostles. A special providence had
prepared him, and a special call had claimed him, to be the depositary
Gal. i 15 f. of a special revelation. 'It was the good pleasure of God ', he says
elsewhere, in words that remind us of an ancient prophet 4 , 'who
separated me, even from my mother's womb, and called me through
His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among
the Gentiles'. And of his visit to the Apostles in Jerusalem he
Gal. ii 2 says emphatically, ' I went up by revelation, and I laid before
them the Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles '. The message
1 See above p. 51; and, for the 3 pp. 30^,39.
detailed examination, see the detached 4 Comp. Jer. i 5, 'Before I formed
note on %</>. The use of the word in thee in the belly I knew thee, and
the Acts is in striking harmony with before thou earnest forth out of the
the usage of St Paul : see esp. si. 23, womb I sanctified thee ; I have ap-
xv ii. pointed thee a prophet unto the
2 The same ambiguity meets us nations'.
below in v. 7.
III3 5] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 77
itself, and the method of its proclamation and of its justification,
were alike given to him by Divine revelation.
'-4 / have written afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye iii 3 f.
can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ '. In the
earlier chapters the Apostle has stated already in brief his concep-
tion of the Divine purpose as it has been made known to him. He
has not indeed declared it in the set terms of a formal treatise.
But he has given them enough to judge by : if they attend to it
they cannot but recognise as they read that he writes of that which
he knows, and that a special knowledge gives him a special claim to
speak of the mystery of Christ.
' Which in other generations was not made known unto the sons iii 5
of men'. Here St Paul takes up a fresh point. He has not had-^f
occasion hitherto in this epistle to dwell on the newness of the great
revelation. It is his reference to his own part as the receiver and
proclaimer of the illuminating truth, that leads him on to explain,
not indeed that the Divine purpose is a new thing, but that its
manifestation to men is new. The Purpose was there in the treasury
of the heavenly secrets from eternity : but it was a secret ' kept in Bom. xvi
silence '. ' The sons of men ', whom it so deeply concerned, knew it 2 5
not as yetTTt was hidden away from Jew and~f rom Gelitlle~alike;
' As it hath now been revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets
in the Spirit'. This clause, without revoking the last, seems to T~
leave room for those glimpses of the Divine purpose, which the
Apostle would never have wished to deny to the holy and wise of
the past. Yet their half-lights were but darkness, when compared
with the day of the new revelation.
In contrast to ' the sons of men ' of the past, to whom the secret
had not been disclosed, St Paul sets ' the holy apostles and prophets '
of the present, to whom a spiritual revelation of it had come. This
word ' holy ' or ' saints ', as we render it when it stands by itself
has played an important part in the epistle already. It is to c the i r
saints ' that the epistle is formally addressed ; that is, as we have
seen, to those who in Christ are now the hallowed People of God.
The Apostle thanks God that they are recognising their position in
practice by a love which goes out ' to all the saints '. God's heritage, i IS
he declares in passing, is 'in the saints', that is, in His hallowed i 18
People. And, later on, he explicitly contrasts the alien state of the
Gentiles apart from Christ with their new position of privilege in
Christ as ' fellow-citizens with the saints '. When the same word is ii 19
used, as an adjective, to characterise the * apostles and prophets ' to
whom the new revelation has been made, it cannot be a mere otiose
epithet or conventional term of respect, nor can it be properly taken
?8 EXPOSITION OF THE [III 5, 6
V
in any other sense than hitherto. *It is no personal holiness to which
the Apostle refers j it is the hallowing which was theirs in common
with the whole of the hallowed People. Here is the answer to
the suggested difficulty, that while St Paul must certainly have
included himself among the 'apostles ' to whom the revelation came,
he would hardly have called himself 'holy', even in this indirect
fashion. There is ho real incongruity. Not his holiness, but God ? s
hallowing is in question the hallowing which extended to all the
members of the hallowed People, even, as he would tell us, to
iii g himself, though he was ( less than the least ' of them all.
, The mention ,of the apostles and prophets, as those to whom the
new revelation was made, recalls and helps to explain the position of
ii so f. the apostles and prophets as the foundation of the ' holy temple '
of God's building. "With the reference to the Spirit as the medium
117 of the revelation we may compare the prayer for 'the Spirit of
revelation' to be the guide of his readers into the knowledge of
God's purpose. Here, as in some other places, the Apostle's language
is so vague that we cannot tell with entire certainty whether he
refers directly to the personal Divine Spirit, or rather desires to
suggest that the reception of the revelation is a spiritual process.
The actual phrase ' in (the) Spirit ' does not preclude either view.
What, then, is the substance of this secret old as eternity, yet
new in its disclosure to mankind ? The Apostle has told us already,
as he says, in brief : but now to remove all possible misconception
he will tell us once again, repeating in fresh words the images
iii. 6 which he has already so fruitfully employed. It is ' that the Gentiles
a/re fellow-heirs, and felloio-m&mbers of the body, and fellow-partakers
of the promise in Christ Jesw through the gospel'.
The middle term of this threefold description (orWw/Aos) cannot
be rendered by any current English word. ' Concorporate ', a loan
from the Latin, and analogous to 'incorporate', is the word we
want; but, though it has been used in this connexion, it is not
sufficiently familiar to take its place in a rendering of the passage.
In relation to the Body the members are ' incorporate ' : in relation
to one another they are ' concorporate ', that is, sharers in the one
Body. The- unusual English word might indeed express the fact
that St Paul himself, in order to emphasize his meaning, has had
recourse to the formation of a new Greek compound 1 .
1 The rendering of the Latin Vul- fends the unusual Latin on the ground
gate is 'cohaeredes et concorporales et that it was important to represent the
comparticipes ' (Ambrosiaster actually force of the repeated compounds. ' I
has ' concorporatos '). St Jerome de- know', he says, 'that in Latin it
Ill 69] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 79
' Through the gospel, whereof I was made a minister according iii 6 ff.
to the gift of the grace of God which was given unto me... to preach
unto the Gentiles...'. There is a close parallel in the Epistle to Col. 124!?.
the Colossians : ' the Church, whereof I was made a minister ac-
cording to the dispensation of God which was given unto me to
you-ward, to fulfil the word of God, (even) the mystery that hath
been hid ', <fec. In both passages the Apostle emphasises the great-
ness of his peculiar mission, which corresponded to the wide mercy of
God to the Gentiles. Here he adds ' according to the might (or ' work-
ing') of His power': words which remind us of Gal. ii 8, 'He that
wrought (or ' worked mightily ') for Peter unto the apostleship of
the Circumcision, wrought for me also unto the Gentiles '.
Once more he breaks his sentence, lest, while as Apostle of the Bom. xi
Gentiles he glorified his ministry, he should for one moment seem J 3
to be glorifying himself. Never did a man more stoutly press his
claims : never was a man more conscious of personal unworthiness.
He was not ' a whit behind the very chief est of the apostles ' : yet 2 Cor. xi 5
he felt that he was ' the least of the apostles ' and ' not worthy to be i Cor. xv o
called an apostle '. He was ' less than the least of all saints ', that is, iii 8
of all the holy People of God : but yet the fact remained that to : )v
~him~this~maTvellous~grace~of~God~had~been^iven;
' To preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ '.
His mission was to ' bring as the gospel ' the verb of the original
takes up again ' the gospel ' of v. 6 to the Gentiles the inexplorable
wealth of the Christ. He can never sufficiently admire the marvel
of the Divine inclusion of the Gentiles, or be sufliciently thankful
that it is his privilege to make it known to them.
' And to bring to light what is the dispensation of the mystery iii 9
which from the ages hath been hid in God who created all things '. So
in the parallel already quoted he continues : ' the mystery that hath Ool. i 26
been hid from the ages and from the generations, but now it hath
been manifested to His saints '. The purpose of God is an eternal
purpose ' a purpose of the ages ', as he says below in v. 10. It has
remained concealed since the beginning of things; but it was the
very purpose of Creation itself.
As the Creation includes other intelligences beside Man, so the
makes an ugly sentence. But because Yersion, 'fellow-heirs, and of the same
it so stands in the Greek, and because body, and partakers ' &c., fails to re-
every word and syllable and stroke produce the reiterated compound (<rw-)
and point in the Divine Scriptures is of the original ; and I have therefore
full of meaning, I prefer the risks of adopted the necessarily paraphrastic
verbal malformation to the risk of rendering of the Eevised Version,
missing the sense'. The English
80 EXPOSITION OF THE [III 1013
secret of the Divine purpose in Creation is published now to the
iii 10 whole universe, as the justification of the Divine dealing : ' to the
intent that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly
places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom
of God'. The Apostle has found a perfectly satisfying philosophy
of history : he believes that it is able to 'justify the ways of God to
men ' ; and not to men only, but also to those enquiring spiritual
powers of the heavenly sphere, who have vainly sought to explore
the design and the methods of the Creator and Ruler of the world.
' Through the church '. This is only the second time that the
Comp. i 22 word ' Church ' ,has been used in the epistle. We shall have it
iii 21 again at the end of the chapter in an equally emphatic position :
' to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus '. It recurs
v 23 32 six times in the important passage which closes chap. v. St Paul
never uses the word in this epistle in the sense of a local Christian
society, though he does in two out of the four times in which it
occurs in the Epistle to the Colossians.
Through the Church ' the very-varied wisdom of God ' is made
known to the universe. The metaphor is taken from the intricate
beauty of an embroidered pattern. We have an echo of it in i Pet.
iv ID, ' the manif61d~(6r~' varied ') grace of "God 'i
iii 1 1 ' According to the purpose of the ages which He purposed in Christ
Jesus our Lord'. 'The purpose of the ages' is a Hebraistic phrase
for ' the eternal purpose ' : just as we say ' the rock of ages ' for
' the everlasting rock ', from the Hebrew of Isaiah xxvi 4.
iii i2 ' In whom we have our boldness and access with confidence by the
faith of Him '. These words are an echo of ii 18, and form a similar
climax. The issue of all is that we are brought near to God Him-
self through faith in Christ.
iii 13 ' Wherefore 7 ask you that ye faint not at my tribulations for you,
which are your glory '. The meaning is : ' I ask you not to lose
heart, when you hear of my suffering as the prisoner of Christ on
your behalf. It might seem to some as though the Apostle's
sufferings and imprisonment augured ill for the cause which he
represented. This was not the view that he himself took of
Col. i. 24 them. 'I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, he says to the
Colossians, in a remarkable passage to which we have already had
occasion to refer at some length 1 . Never for a moment did he
himself lose heart. He saw a deep meaning in his sufferings : they
were the glory of those for whom he suffered. He commends this
reason to his readers with a logic which we can hardly analyse.
1 See p. 44.
Ill 13] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 8l
Perhaps he could scarcely have explained it to them. It is the
language of the heart.
The section which we have been considering forms, strictly iii i *3
speaking, a mere parenthesis. It is a personal explanation^
occasioned by the words, 'I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus
on behalf of you, the Gentiles'. But, though in form it is a
digression, which still further postpones the utterance of the
Apostle's Prayer, yet in the general movement of the thought of
the epistle it plays an essential part. Though he speaks from
his own personal standpoint, the Apostle's thought ranges before
and after, and he is led to give us such a complete philosophy
of history as had never been attempted before. He is confident
that he is in possession of the secret of the Creator Himself: 'by
apocalypse the mystery has been known to me '.
Hitherto he had been considering mainly the effect of the work
of Christ, in the reconciliation of the two opposed sections of
humanity, in the reception of the Gentiles into the sacred common-
wealth, and in the nearer approach of Jew and Gentile alike to the
one Father. But now he is bold to trace the whole course of the
~Divine~dealing with man; to~~de~clare~that~Hhroughrthe~~ages~one
increasing Purpose runs ' ; and even to suggest that human history
is intended to read a lesson to the universe.
The Purpose which is now made clear to him was included in
the design of Creation itself. But it was a hidden purpose, a Divine
secret, a mystery of which the apocalypse could not be as yet. 'The iii 5
sons of men' had lived and died in ignorance of the secret of their
own lives and of the universe. Generation followed generation until
the time was ripe for the disclosure of ' the mystery of the Christ '.
At last to the apostles and prophets of a new age the revelation was
given. Indeed to c the less than the least ' of them all the message
had been primarily entrusted. His part it had been to flash the
torch of light across the darkness j to illuminate past, present and
future at once, by shewing ' what is the dispensation of the mystery iii. 9,
that hath been hidden from eternity in God who created all things'.
It was a glorious task : through incessant toil and suffering he
had accomplished it : his imprisonment at Borne could only remind
him that for his part the work was done. Yet in a wider sense it
was only begun. The process which had been revealed to him was>j^
to move steadily on, in presence of all the spiritual forces of the '
universe, who keenly watch the drama of this earthly theatre. For
they too ' through the Church ' are to learn 'the very-varied wisdom iii 10
of God, according to the purpose of the ages which He formed in
EPHES. S 6
82 EXPOSITION OF THE [III 14
the Christ, even Jesus our Lord '. And it is because the process
must go forward, and not slacken for anything that may occur to
him, that ' the prisoner in Christ Jesus' bows his knees and lifts his
heart in prayer to God.
iiii4 21 J 4For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father*
whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named, l6 that
He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to
be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man,
J 7that Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts in love; ye
being rooted and founded, l8 that ye may be able to comprehend
with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height
and depth, ^and to know the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.
20 Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh
in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus,
_ _ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
iii 14 After many digressions, into which he has been led by his desire
to make plain not only what he prays for, but on whose behalf he
prays, and what is his relation to them which leads him so to pray,
the Apostle succeeds at last in uttering the fulness of his Prayer.
The Prayer is in its final expression, as it was at the outset, a
prayer for knowledge. That knowledge is indeed declared to pass
iii 19 man's comprehension ; but the brief doxology with which the
iii 20 petition closes recognises a Divine power to which nothing is
impossible.
iii 14 'For this cause'. These words are resumptive of the opening
iii i words of the chapter, ' For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ
Jesus for you, the Gentiles'. Accordingly they carry us back to
the great mercy of God to the Gentiles (expounded in c. ii) as the
ground of the Apostle's Prayer. But the Prayer needed as its
further preface a reference to his own peculiar mission as the
publisher of the new declaration of that mercy, and to the sufferings
by which he rejoiced to seal his mission. After this reference has
been made and fully explained, he knits up the connexion by
repeating the words 'For this cause'.
1 1 bow my knees to the Father '. We shall miss the solemnity of
this introduction unless we observe how seldom the attitude of
kneeling in prayer is mentioned in the New Testament. Standing
Ill 14, 15] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 83
to pray was the rule : comp. Matt, vi 5, Luke xviii 1 1, 13. Kneeling
was expressive of unusual emotion : comp. Luke xxii 41, Acts xxi 5.
Indeed when we compare Luke yyir 41 'kneeling down ' with Mark
xiv 35 ' He fell upon the ground ' and Matt, xxvi 39 ' He fell upon
His face', the parallels point us to the fact that what there is
meant is not our 'kneeling' in an upright position, but kneeling
with the head touching the ground the Eastern prostration. This
was and is the sign of the deepest reverence and humiliation : and,
as is well known, the posture was forbidden in the early Church on
the Lord's day.
But the significance of St Paul's phrase becomes still clearer,
when we note that it is, in its particular wording, derived from a
passage of Isaiah (which he quotes in Bom. xiv n and alludes to in
Phil, ii 10) : 'I have sworn by Myself,... that unto Me every knee Isa. xiv
shall bow'. In that reverence, which is due only to the Supreme, 2 3
to whom it must needs one day be rendered by all, he bends low
before the Father.
'The father, of whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is iii 14, 15
named'. At the first commencement of his prayer the Apostle had
spoken of God as 'the Father of glory'. In this we have one of i 17
several notable parallels between the prayer as essayed in the first
chapter and the prayer as completed in the third chapter.
It will be instructive to bring together here the various refer-
ences which St Paul makes in this epistle to the fatherhood of God.
In his opening salutation we find the words ' from God our Father i 2
and the Lord Jesus Christ' ; and similar words occur at the close vi 23
of the epistle. His great doxology opens with the words, ' Blessed i 3
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ' ; and this title is
resolved and emphasised, as we have seen, in the form ' the God of i 17
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory'. Presently he uses the
name absolutely, in speaking of 'our access to the Father'; and ii 18 f-
he follows it by the significant phrase, ' of the household of God '.
Then we have our present description, which expands and interprets
the title 'the Father of glory ' ; and shortly afterwards we find the
absoluteness and universality of the fatherhood yet further de-
clared in the words, ' one God and Father of all, who is over all iv 6
and through all and in all'. Then, lastly, Christian duty is summed
up in the obligation to ' give thanks always for all things in the v 20
name of our Lord Jesus Christ to Him who is God and Father'.
This survey may help to shew us with what fulness of appreciation
the Apostle recognises the various aspects of the new truth of the
Divine fatherhood as revealed to man in Jesus Christ.
'The Father, of whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is iii 14, 15
62
84 EXPOSITION OF THE [III 15, 16
named'. The literal translation of the words rendered ' all father-
hood' is 'every family'. But this translation entirely obscures to
an English reader the point of the Apostle's phrase. In Greek the
word for 'family' (irarpia) is derived from the word for 'father*
(n-a-n/p). But in English the ' family ' is not named from the
c father '. So that to reproduce the play upon words, Which lends
all its force to the original, we must necessarily resort to a para-
phrase, and say 'the Father, of whom all fatherhood is named' 1 .
The addition of the words ' in heaven and on earth' reminds us
of the large inclusiveness of the Divine purpose as declared to us by
St Paul. We have had this collocation already, where the Apostle
i 10 spoke of the summing up of all things in Christ, 'both which are in
the heavens and which are on earth'. Similarly he tells us elsewhere
Col. i 20 that the reconciliation in Christ includes 'all things, whether things
on the earth or things in the heavens'. And if in one place he adds
Phil, ii 10 ' things which are under the earth ' as well, it is to declare that
there is nothing anywhere which shall not ultimately be subject to
Christ. In the present passage it would be irrelevant to enquire
what ' families in heaven ' the Apostle had in his mind. His whole
Eph. i 17 point is that 'the Father' whom he has before called { the Father
of glory ' is the source of all conceivable fatherhood, whether earthly
or heavenly.
According to this notable utterance of St Paul, God is not only
the universal Father, but the archetypal Father, the Father of
whom all other fathers are derivatives and types. So far from
regarding the Divine fatherhood as a mode of speech in reference
to the Godhead, derived by analogy from our conception of human
fatherhood, the Apostle maintains that the very idea of fatherhood
exists primarily in the Divine nature, and only by derivation in
every other form of fatherhood, whether earthly or heavenly. The
All-Father is the source of fatherhood wherever it is found. This
may help us to understand something further of the meaning which
is wrapped up in the title 'the Father of glory'.
iii 1 6 'That He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to
be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man'. We
have already pointed to the close parallel between the language of the
prayer as it is at first enunciated in chap, i and that of its fuller
expression which we have now reached. In each case the prayer is
directed to the Father 'the Father of glory' (i 17), 'the Father,
of whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named' (iii 14 f.).
In each case petition is made for a gift of the Holy Spirit 'that
1 The Latin and Syriac versions, as in the same difficulty and escaped it
will be seen in the commentary, -were by a like paraphrase.
Ill 16, 17] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 85
the Father of glory may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation*
(i 17), 'that He would grant (or 'give') you according to the riches
of His glory to be strengthened with power by His Spirit' (iii 16).
We noted before how closely this corresponds with the promise of
our Lord, as recorded by St Luke, ' The Father from heaven will Luke xi 13
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him'. Again, the sphere of
action of the Spirit is in each case described in a striking phrase
'the eyes of your heart being enlightened' (i 18), 'to be strengthened
in the inner (or 'inward') man' (iii 16). Finally, the ultimate aim
of all is knowledge of the fulness of the Divine purpose 'that ye
may know what is the hope of His calling', &c. (i i8f.), 'that ye
may be able to comprehend what is the breadth and length and
height and depth, and to know', &c. (iii i8f.). Knowledge and
power are inextricably linked together : the prayer to know the
mighty power (i 19) becomes the prayer to have the mighty power,
in order to be strong enough to know (iii 19).
'That Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts in love', iii 17
Here we must bear in mind that it is for Gentiles that the Apostle
prays. He has already declared to them that they are 'in Christ' : he i 13, ii 13
now prays that they may find the converse also to be a realised truth,
'that Christ may dwell in your hearts'. In writing to the Colossians
he speaks of this indwelling of Christ in the Gentiles as the climax
of marvel in the Divine purpose : ' God hath willed to make known Col. ii 27
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery in the Gentiles, which
is Christ in you'. Thus we come to see the force of the phrases
'through faith' and ' in love '. It is only ' through faith ' (or 'through
the faith', if we prefer so to render it) that the Gentiles are par-
takers of Christ: ,and it is 'in love', which binds 'all the saints'
together, whether they be Jews or Gentiles (comp. v. 18 'to com-
prehend with all the saints '), that the indwelling of the Christ, who
is now the Christ of both alike, finds its manifestation and consum-
mation. We may compare with this the words with which the
Apostle prefaced his prayer at the outset : 'Wherefore I, having i 15 f.
heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the
saints, cease not to give thanks on your behalf, making mention of
you in my prayers '.
' Te being rooted and founded'. We have parallels to these
expressions in the Epistle to the Colossians, which help us to inter-
pret them here : ' If ye are abiding in the faith, founded and firm, Col. i 23
and not being shifted'; and 'Booted and built up in Him, and Col. ii 7
confirmed in the faith, as ye have been taught'. These parallels are
a further justification of the separation of the participles from the
words 'in love', and their connexion in thought with the 'faith'
86 EXPOSITION OP THE [III 1719
which has previously been mentioned. It is only as they have their
roots struck deep and their foundation firmly laid in the faith as
St Paul proclaims it to them, that they can hope to advance to the
full knowledge for which he prays.
iii 1 8 'That ye may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is
the breadth and length and height and depth'. In the original the
expression is yet more forcible : ' that ye may have the strength to
comprehend'. The clause depends on the participles 'rooted and
founded ' ; but it has a further reference to the words ' to be
strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man '.
The object? of the knowledge for which the Apostle prays was
stated with some fulness in i 18 f. : 'that ye may know what is the
hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints, and what the exceeding might of His power to us-ward
who believe'. Here it is indicated under vague terms, chosen to
express its immensity. For the Divine measures exceed human
Isa. Iv 8 comprehension : as it is written, ' My thoughts are not your thoughts'.
And yet in this boldest of prayers the Apostle asks that they may
be comprehended. The uttermost extent of the Divine purpose is
the goal, however unattainable, of the knowledge for_which_the_
Apostle prays.
'To comprehend with all the saints'. The knowledge of the
Divine purpose is the privilege of 'the saints'. So the Apostle
Col. i a6f. speaks to the Colossians of 'the mystery which was hidden... but
now it hath been made manifest to His saints, to whom God hath
willed to make known', &c. As ye, says the Apostle in effect, are
now 'fellow-citizens of the saints', and as your love goes out 'towards
all the saints', in verification of your oneness with them; so you may
share 'with all the saints' that knowledge which is God's will for them.
We need not exclude a further thought, which, if it is not
expressed in these words, at least is in full harmony with St Paul's
conception of the unity of the saints in God's One Man. The
measures of the Divine purpose are indeed beyond the comprehension
of any individual intelligence : but in union 'with all the saints' we
may be able to comprehend them. Each saint may grasp some
iv 13 portion : the whole of the saints when 'we all come to the perfect
man' may know, as a whole, what must for ever transcend the
knowledge of the isolated individual.
iii ^ 'And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge'. These
words are a re-statement of the aim, with a recognition that it is
indeed beyond attainment. The Father's purpose is coincident with
the Son's love : both alike are inconceivable, unknowable and yet
the ultimate goal of knowledge.
Ill 19] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 87
'That ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God'. The climax iii 19
of the Apostle's prayer points to an issue even beyond knowledge.
He has prayed for a superhuman strength, in order to the attain-
ment of an inconceivable knowledge, which is to result in what he
can only call fulness ' all the fulness of God '. What is this
fulness for which St Paul prays, as the crowning blessing of the
Gentiles for whom he has laboured and suffered?
Fulness, or fulfilment, is a conception which plays a prominent
part in St Paul's thought both in this epistle and in that which he
sent at the same time to the Colossian Church. It is predicated
sometimes of Christ and sometimes of the Church. It is spoken of
now as though already attained, and now as the ultimate goal of a
long process.
Again and again, in these two epistles, we find the thought of
the complete restoration of the universe to its true order, of the
ultimate correspondence of all things, earthly and heavenly, to the
Divine ideal. This issue is to be attained 'in Christ', and at the
same time 'in ' and 'through the Church'.
Thus, to recall some of the main passages, it is the purpose of
God ' to gather up in one all things in Christ, both that are in the i 10
heavens and that are on earth' : and again, 'It hath pleased God... Col7i igi~
through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself... whether they
be things on earth or things in the heavens '. Under the figure of
the universal headship of Christ we have the same thought : c "Who Col. ii 10
is the head of every principality and authority ' ; ' He set Him at Eph.iaofE.
His right hand in the heavenly places above every principality and
authority... and gave Him to be head over all things to the
Church...'. And the Church's part in the great process by which
the result is to be attained is further indicated in the words : ' that iii 10
there might now be made known to the principalities and authorities
in the heavenly places, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of
God ' : ' to whom', as the Apostle says later on, ' be the glory in the iii 21
Church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without
end'.
To express this complete attainment of the end of all things in
Christ and through the Church, the word ' fulness ' or ' fulfilment ',
with its verb 'to be filled' or 'fulfilled', is used in very various
ways. Christ Himself is spoken of not only as ' filling ' or ' ful- iv 10
filling all things ', but also as being ' all in all filled ' or ' fulfilled '. i 23
In close connexion both with Christ's headship of the Church, and
also with the reconciliation of all things, the Apostle speaks of ' all Col. i 19
the fulness ' as residing in Christ : ' for it hath pleased God that
in Him should all the fulness dwell, and through Him to reconcile
88 EXPOSITION OF THE [III 19
i 23 all things unto Himself. The Church is expressly said to be ' the
f ulness ' of Christ, f ulfilling Him as the body fulfils the head. All
the members of the Church are to meet at last in a perfect Man,
iv 13 and so to attain to ' the measure of the stature of the fulness of the
iii 19 Christ'. And for the saints the Apostle here prays that they 'may
be filled unto all the fulness of God'.
One remarkable passage remains, in which ' fulness' is predicated
Col. ii 9 at once of Christ and of the saints : ' for in Him dwelleth all the
fulness of the Deity in a bodily way, and ye are filled (or, ' fulfilled ')
in Him'. It is usual to limit the reference of this passage to the
incarnation of Christ in His individual human body, and to take it
as meaning that in that body resides the Godhead in all its com-
pleteness. But this is to neglect St Paul's special use of the terms
* fulness ' and ' body ', as they recur again and again in these
epistles. For we have already had in the previous chapter the
Col. i 19 expression ' that in Him should all the fulness dwell' ; and we have
JSph. iii 19 also to reckon with the phrase ' that ye may be filled unto all the
fulness of God'. Moreover, when St Paul refers to the individual
human body of Christ in these epistles, he does so in unmistakeable
ii 14 terms, speaking either of ' His flesh ' or of ' the body of His flesh !._
ColH- But"'~tEe"body r ofThe Christ' to St Paul is the Church.
When we bear this in mind, we at once understand the appro-
priateness of the second clause of this passage : * and ye are filled
(or 'fulfilled') in Him'. The relation of Christ to the Church is
such that His fulness is of necessity also its fulness. And,
further, the whole passage thus interpreted harmonizes with its
Col. ii 8 ff. context. ' Take heed ', says the Apostle, if we may paraphrase
his words, 'lest there be any who in his dealings with you is a
despoiler through his philosophy (so-called) or empty deceit (as it
is in truth). Emptiness is all that he has to offer you : for he
exchanges the tradition of the Christ, which you have received
(v. 6), for the tradition of men: he gives you the world-elements
in place of the heavenly Christ. For in Christ dwells all the
fulness (as I have already said), yea, all the fulness of the Deity,
expressing itself through a body : a body, in which you are incor-
porated, so that in Him the fulness is yours : for He who is your
head is indeed universal head of all that stands for rule and
authority in the universe'.
Thus St Paul looks forward to the ultimate issue of the Divine
purpose for the universe. The present stage is a stage of imperfec-
tion : the final stage will be perfection. All is now incomplete : in
the issue all will be complete. And this completeness, this fulfil-
ment, this attainment of purpose and realisation of ideal, is found
Ill 19 IV i] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 89
and is to be found (for to St Paul the present contains implicitly
the future) in Christ in Christ 'by way of a body'; that is to
say, in Christ as the whole, in which the head and the body are
inseparably one.
Even beyond this the Apostle dares to look. This fulfilled and
completed universe is in truth the return of all things to their
creative source, through Christ to God, 'of whom and through Bom. 213 6
whom and unto whom are all things', 'that God may be all in i Cor. xv
all'. Thus 'the fulness', which resides in Christ and unto which * 8
the saints are to be fulfilled, is 'all the fulness of the Deity', or, as
he says in our present passage, 'all the fulness of God'.
No prayer that has ever been framed has uttered a bolder
request. It is a noble example of irapprjcrta, of freedom of speech, of
that 'boldness and access in confidence' of which he has spoken iii 12
above. Unabashed by the greatness of his petition, he triumphantly
invokes a power which can do far more than he asks, far more than
even his lofty imagination conceives. His prayer has risen into
praise. ' Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above iii 20 f.
all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, to
Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen'.
'According to the power that worketh in us'. Once more we are
reminded of his first attempt to utter his prayer. It was at a
closely similar phrase that he began to digress : 'that ye may i 18 ff.
know... what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us- ward
who believe, according to the working of the might of His strength,
which He wrought in Christ, in that He raised Him', etc. It is
the certainty of the present working of this Divine power that
fills him with exultant confidence.
'To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus' in the
Body and in the Head. This is only the third time that the
Apostle has named the Church in this epistle. He has spoken of it
as that which fulfils the Christ, as the body fulfils the head. He i 23
has spoken of it again as the medium through which lessons of the iii 10
very-varied wisdom of God are being learned by spiritual intelli-
gences in the heavenly region. He now speaks of it, in terms not
less remarkable, as the sphere in which, even as in Christ Jesus
Himself, the glory of God is exhibited and consummated.
I THEREFORE, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that ye iv i 6
walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called, 2 with all
lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one
90 EXPOSITION OP THE [IV i
another in love; sgiving diligence to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace. * There is one body and one Spirit,
even as also ye are called in one hope of your calling: 5 one
Lord, one faith, one baptism : 6 one God and Father of all, who
is above all and through all and in all.
iv i / therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you'. He repeats the
title 'prisoner* by which he has already described himself; and
iii 2 13 thereby he links this section to the long parenthesis in. which he has
interpreted his use of it. He seems to say : I am a prisoner now,
and no longer an active messenger of Jesus Christ. I can indeed
write to you, and I can pray for you. But with yourselves hence-
forward rests the practical realisation of the ideal which it has been
my mission to proclaim to you.
We have already had occasion to draw attention to the special
usage of St Paul in regard to the names 'Christ' and 'the Lord' 1 .
It is in full harmony with this usage that he has previously called
himself 'the prisoner of Christ Jesus', emphasising his special mission
to declare the new position of the Gentiles 'in Christ'; whereas now
ke_says,^the-prisoner-in-the-Ird'7-aB - her~begi5s - ~to speaJPof the
outcome of the new position, the corporate life ruled by 'the Lord'.
'That ye walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye cure called'. The
great human unity, which the Apostle regards as the goal of the
ii 15 Divine purpose, has been created and already exists in Christ. It
is being progressively realised as a fact in the world of men by the
123 Church, which is 'the body of the Christ' and His 'fulfilment'.
iii 10 ' Through the Church ', as fulfilling the Christ, the very-varied
wisdom of the Divine purpose is being taught to the intelligences of
iii 1 1 the spiritual sphere. 'In the Church and in Christ Jesus' the
Divine purpose is to find its consummation to the eternal glory
of God.
It is the responsibility of the members of the Church for the
preservation and manifestation of this unity, which the Apostle
now seeks to enforce. You, he says, have been called into the'
unity, which God has created in Christ : you have been chosen into
this commonwealth of privilege, this household of God : you are
stones in this Temple, members of this Body. This is your high
vocation ; and, if you would be true to it, you must ever be mindful
of the whole of which you are parts, making your conduct worthy of
, your incorporation into God's New Man.
iv a ' With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing
1 See above, p. 72.
IV a] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 9 1
one another in love'. It is the mental dispositions which promote
the right relation of the parts to the whole and to each other in the
whole, that the Apostle first demands of them. His experience had
taught him that these dispositions were indispensably necessary for
the maintenance of unity.
This emphatic appeal for 'lowliness of mind', as the first of
virtues to which their new position pledged them, must have been
peculiarly impressive to converts from heathenism. To the Greek
mind humility was little else than a vice of nature. It was weak
and mean-spirited ; it was the temper of the slave ; it was incon-
sistent with that self-respect which every true man owed to himself.
The fulness of life, as it was then conceived, left no room for
humility. It was reserved for Christianity to unfold a different
conception of the fulness of life, in which service and self-sacrifice
were shewn to be the highest manifestations of power, whether
human or Divine. The largest life was seen to claim for itself the
right of humblest service. The Jew had indeed been taught
humility in the Old Testament, on the ground of the relation of
man to God. ' The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity' Isa. Ivii 15
would only dwell { with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit'.
But the Gospel went far further and proclaimed that humility was
not the virtue of weakness only. The highest life, in the fullest
consciousness of its power, expresses itself in acts of the deepest
humility. ' Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things John xiii
into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God ; *
He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments, and took a
towel and girded Himself. After that he poureth water into a
bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with
the towel wherewith He was girded'. It is in harmony with this
that St Paul, in a great theological passage, treats humility as the
characteristic lesson of the Incarnation itself. ' In lowliness of Phil, ii 3
mind', he pleads, 'let each esteem other better than themselves...
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus... who
humbled Himself.
In our present passage the Apostle enforces humility on the
ground of the relation of man to man in the great human unity. A
larger life than that of the individual has been revealed to him. Its
law is that of mutual service : and its first requisite is the spirit of
subordination, 'lowliness of mind and meekness'.
' With long-suffering, forbearing one another '. The patient spirit
by which each makes allowance for the failures of the other, is
closely related to * the lowliness of mind', by which each esteems the
other better than himself.
92 EXPOSITION OF THE [IV 2, 3
'In love'. Here, as so often in this epistle, love is introduced as
the climax, the comprehensive virtue of the new life which includes
all the rest 1 . In the Epistle to the Colossians the same thought is
Col. iii even more emphatically expressed : 'Put ye on... lowliness of mind,
12 ' meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another... and, over and
above all these, love, which is the bond of perfectness '.
iv 3 'Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace'. The word 'endeavouring', which the Authorised Version
employs in this place, has come to suggest in our modern usage too
much of the possibility of failure to be strong enough to give the
Apostle's meaning. The word which he uses has an eagerness about
it, which is difficult to represent in English 2 . The Church to him
was the embodiment of the Divine purpose for the world : it was
the witness to men of the unity of mankind. What would become
of this witness, how should the purpose itself be realised, if the
unity of the Church were not preserved ? Well might he urge upon
his readers eagerly and earnestly to maintain their oneness. They
must make a point of preserving it : they must take care to keep it.
' To keep the unity'. The unity is spoken of as a thing which
already exists. It is a reality of the spiritual _w_orld It_ is , a_gif t_of _
God which is committed to men to keep intact. At the same time,
as St Paul will presently shew, it is a unity which is ever enlarging
iv 13 its range and contents : 'until we all come to the unity'. The unity
must be maintained in the process, if it is to be attained in the
result.
' The unity of the Spirit '. Hitherto St Paul has avoided the
abstract word, and has used concrete terms to express the thought
ii 15 ff. of unity: 'one man... in one body... in one Spirit'. Indeed the
characteristically Christian word to express the idea is not 'unity'
or ' oneness ' (li/or^s), but the more living and fruitful term 'com-
munion ' or ' fellowship ' (KOIVCOI/IO) : a term implying not a meta-
physical conception but an active relationship : see, for example,
Acts ii 42, 2 Cor. xiii 14, Phil, ii i. Yet the more abstract term
has its value : ' the oneness of the Spirit ' underlies ' the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit', which manifests and interprets it.
By a mischievous carelessness of expression, 'unity of spirit' is
commonly spoken of in contrast to 'corporate unity', and as though
1 Compare for the emphatic posi- which are used to render the corre-
tion of the phrase ' in love ', i 4, iii 1 7, spending substantive (<nrovS^) in 2 Cor.
iv 15, 16. vii n f., viii 7 f., 16 : 'carefulness',
2 The range of the word and the 'care', 'diligence', 'forwardness',
difficulty of adequately translating it ' earnest care \
maybe illustrated by the five synonyms
IV 3 6] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 93
it might be accepted as a substitute for it. Such language would
have been unintelligible to St Paul. He never employs the -word
' spirit ' in a loose way to signify a disposition, as we do when we
speak of 'a kindly spirit'. To him 'spirit* means 'spirit', and
nothing less. It is often hard to decide whether he is referring
to the Spirit of God or to the human spirit. In the present passage,
for example, we cannot be sure whether he wishes to express the
unity which the Holy Spirit produces in the Christian Body, as in
the parallel phrase 'the fellowship of the Holy Spirit' j or rather the a Cor. xiii
unity of the ' one spirit' of the 'one body', regarded as distinguishable I4
from the personal Holy Spirit. But at any rate no separation of
' body ' and ' spirit ' is contemplated : and the notion that there
could be several ' bodies ' with a ' unity of spirit ' is entirely alien to
the thought of St Paul. It is especially out of place here, as the
next words shew.
' There is one body and one Spirit, even as- also ye are called in iv 4 fif.
one Iwpe of your catting; one Lord, one faith, one baptism ; one God
and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all'. The
seven unities here enumerated fall into three groups : one body, one
-Spirit > _o.ne_ho_pe ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism : one God and
Father of all.
The Apostle begins from what is most immediately present to
view the one Body, vitalised by one Spirit, and progressing towards
the goal of one Hope. This Body depends for its existence upon
one Lord, its Divine Head, to whom it is united by one Faith and
one Baptism. Its ultimate source of being is to be found in one
God, the All-Father, supreme over all, operative through all,
immanent in all.
More succinctly we may express the thought of the three groups
thus :
One Body and all that this involves of inward life and ultimate
perfection ;
One Head and that which unites us to Him ;
One God to whom all else is designed to lead us.
Elsewhere St Paul has said, in words which express a similar
progress of thought : ' Ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's'. i Cor. iii
' Who is above all and through all and in all'. A timid gloss, 23
which changed the last clause into ' in you all ', has found its way
into our Authorised Version ; but it is destitute of authority. The
Greek in the true text is as vague as the English rendering given
above : so that we cannot at once decide whether St Paul is speaking
of 'all persons' or 'all things'. The words 'Father of all', which
immediately precede, may seem to make the former the more natural
94 EXPOSITION OF THE [IV. 6, 7
interpretation ; but they cannot in themselves compel us to abandon
the wider meaning.
The Apostle is indeed primarily thinking of the Body of Christ
and all its members. The unity of that Body is the truth which he
seeks to enforce. But when he has risen at length to find the source
of human unity in the unity of the Divine fatherhood, his thought
widens its scope. The words * Father of all* cannot be less inclusive
iii 14 f. than the earlier words, ' The Father of whom all fatherhood in
heaven and on earth is named'. And the final clause, 'Who is
above all and through all and in all', is true not only of all intelli-
gent beings which can claim the Divine fatherhood, but of the total
range of things, over which God is supreme, through which He
moves and acts, and in which He dwells.
It was a startling experiment in human life which the Apostle
was striving to realise. Looked at from without, his new unity was
Col. iii n a somewhat bizarre combination. ' Greek and Jew, circumcision
and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman' all
Col. iii 9, these are no more, he boldly proclaims to the Colossians, ' but all in
12 all is Christ'. The ' putting on of the New Man', he goes on to tell
them, involved^" the~~ welding~~into one of~all these heterogeneous
elements ; or rather the persistent disregard of these distinctions, in
presence of the true human element, which should so far dominate
as practically to efface them. In every-day life this made a heavy de-
mand upon the new virtues of self-effacement and mutual forbearance.
Accordingly he declares, in language closely parallel to that which
Col. iii 12 he uses in this epistle, that to put on the New Man is to ' put on
*5 the heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, meekness, long-
suffering; bearing one with another, and forgiving each other, if
any have a complaint against any'. 'Over and above all these
things ' they must put on ' love, which is the bond of perfectness '.
And the paramount consideration which must decide all issues is
* the peace of the Christ ', unto which they have been called c in one
Body'.
iv 716 7 BUT unto every one of us is given grace, according to the
measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Wherefore it saith :
When He ascended up on high, He led a captivity captive,
And gave gifts unto men.
9 Now that, He ascended, what is it but that He also
descended into the lower parts of the earth? IO He that
descended, He it is that also ascended above all heavens, that
IV 7] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 95
He might fill all things. "And He gave some, apostles; and
some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and
teachers; 12 for the perfecting of the saints for the work of
ministry, for the building of the body of Christ, ^till we all
come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ: 'Hhat we be no longer children, tossed to
and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, by craftiness according to the wiles of error;
*5but maintaining the truth in love, may grow up into Him in
all things ; which is the head, even Christ, l6 from whom the
whole body, fitly framed together and compacted by every joint
of its supply, according to the effectual working in the measure
of each several part, maketh the increase of the body, unto
the building thereof, in love.
'JBut unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure ivy
~df~the~gift~of~Ghrist'- The~recognition of~the~whole~is~to~St~Paul
the starting-point for the consideration of the position of the indi-
vidual parts. For the unity of which he speaks is no barren
uniformity : it is a unity in diversity. It secures to the individual
his true place of responsibility and of honour.
In order to appreciate the language of this passage we must
recall the phraseology which the Apostle has used again and again
in the earlier part of chap. iii. He has there spoken of ' the grace iii 2
of God which was given' to him on behalf of the Gentiles. He was
made minister of the Gospel which included the Gentiles ' according iii 7
to the gift of that grace of God which was given' to him : to him
for he will repeat it the third time though less than the least of
the holy people 'this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles iii 8
the unexplorable wealth of the Christ'. This reiterated identifica-
tion of his special mission with the gift of grace illustrates the
passage before us. To each individual, if not to all in like measure,
the same grace has been given. The Divine mercy in its world- wide
inclusiveness is committed to each member of the holy people, not
as a privilege only, but also as a responsibility 1 .
'According to the measure of the gift of Christ '. The grace is
1 Compare Phil, i 7, where St Paul nexion with 'the defence and con-
speaks of the Philippians as 'fellow- firrnation of the Gospel',
partakers with him of grace ', in con-
96 EXPOSITION OF THE [IV 710
the same ; but Christ gives it in different measures, as the Apostle
proceeds to explain.
At this point we may usefully compare with the present context
as a whole a parallel passage in the Epistle to the Bomans, in
which, after the Apostle has closed his discussion of the wide inclu-
siveness of the Divine mercy, he calls for a fitting response in the
conduct of those to whom it has come. The language of the two
passages offers several similarities. The opening phrase, with which
he passes from doxology to exhortation, is in each case the same :
Kom. xii < I beseech you therefore'. There, as here, ' the grace which is given
1 ' to me ' leads the way to ' the grace which is given to us '. There
too we find an appeal for humility on the ground of the one Body
and the distribution of functions among its members, ' as God hath
dealt to every man the measure of faith'. 'Having gifts', the
Apostle continues, 'which are diverse according to the grace which
is given to us': and he adds a catalogue of these gifts, which we
shall presently have to compare with that which follows in this
epistle. These various functions, diverse according to the distribu-
tion of the grace such is the Apostle's teaching in both places
are indispensable elements of a vital unity.
iv 8 ' Wherefore it saith : When He ascended up on high, He led a
captivity captive, and gave gifts to men'. The Apostle has already
connected the exaltation of Christ with the power that is at work
in the members of His Church. The varied gifts bestowed by the
Ps. Ixviii exalted Christ now recall to his mind the ancient picture of the
18 victorious king, who mounts the heights of the sacred citadel of
Zion, with his captives in his train, and distributes his largess from
the spoils of war. It is the connexion between the ascension and
the gifts, which the Apostle desires to emphasise; and the only
words of the quotation on which he comments are 'He ascended'
and 'He gave'.
ivp 'Now that, He ascended, what is it but that He also descended
into the lower parts of the earth ? ' Desiring to shew that the power
of Christ ranges throughout the universe, St Paul first notes that
His ascent implies a previous descent. This descent was below the
earth, as the ascent is above the heavens.
iv 10 ' He that descended, He it is that also ascended above all heavens,
that He might Jill all things\ From its depths to its heights He has
compassed the universe. He has left nothing unvisited by His
presence. For He is the Divine Fulfiller, to whom it appertains in
the purpose of God to fill all things with their appropriate fulness :
to bring the universe to its destined goal, its final correspondence
with the Divine ideal. Compare what has been said above on iii 19.
IV 1 1] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 97
gave some, apostles; and some, prophets'. The nomina- iv n
tive is emphatic in the original : ' He it is that gave some as
apostles ', etc. Having commented on ' He ascended ', St Paul goes on
to comment on ' He gave '. It is Christ who in each case fulfils the
ancient hymn. He it is that 'ascended', and He it is that 'gave'.
The Ascended One is the giver of gifts. His gifts are enumerated
in a concrete form : they are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors
and teachers. All these in their diversity of functions are given by
the Ascended Lord for the varied and harmonious development of
His Church.
. In the passage of the Epistle to the Romans to which we have
already alluded, the gifts are catalogued in the abstract : prophecy, Bom. xii
ministry, teaching, and the like. Here the Apostle prefers to speak 6 ff>
of the members who fulfil these functions as being themselves gifts
given by Christ to His Church. In another catalogue, in the First
Epistle to the Corinthians, he passes from the concrete method of
description to the abstract : ' G-od hath set some in the Church, i Cor. xii
first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that 2
miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of
tongues-. T-here-too-he has been speaking of the Body-and its
members ; and the general thought is the same as here : the
diversity of gifts and functions is not only consistent with but
necessary to corporate unity.
' Some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and
some, pastors and teachers '. We shall be disappointed if we come to
this passage, or either of the parallels referred to above, in the
expectation of finding the official orders of the Church's ministry.
The three familiar designations, bishops, presbyters and deacons,
are all wanting. The evidence of the Acts of the Apostles, which
employs the first two of these designations in reference to the
leaders of the Ephesian Church, together with the evidence of the
First Epistle to Timothy which employs all three in dealing with
the organisation and discipline of the same Church, forbids the
suggestion that such officers are not mentioned here because they
did not exist in the Asian communities to which St Paul's letter
was to go, or because the Apostle attached but little importance to-
their position. A reason for his silence must be sought in another
direction. The most intelligible explanation is that bishops, pres-
byters and deacons were primarily local officers, and St Paul is here
concerned with the Church as a whole. Apostles, prophets and
evangelists are divinely-gifted men who serve the Church at large ;
and if a local ministry is alluded to at all it is only under the vaguer
designation of ' pastors and teachers '.
EPHES. 8 <y
9 EXPOSITION" OF THE [IV n
This is not the place to discuss the development of the official
ministry : but it may be pointed out that it rises in importance as
the first generation of apostolic and prophetic teachers passes away,
as the very designations of 'apostle' and 'prophet' gradually dis-
appear, and as all that is permanently essential to the Church of the
apostolic and prophetic functions is gathered up and secured in the
official ministry itself.
The recovery of the Didache, or Teaching of the Apostles, has
thrown fresh light on the history of the first two terms of St Paul's
list 1 . It shews us a later generation of ' apostles', who are what we
should rather term 'missionaries'. They pass from place to place,
asking only for a night's lodging and a day's rations. They would
seem to correspond to the ' evangelists ' of St Paul's catalogue, who
carried the Gospel to regions hitherto unevangelised. This mention
of them establishes beyond further question that wider use of the
name ' apostle ', for the recognition of which Bishop Lightf oot had
already vigorously pleaded 2 .
Yet more interesting is the picture which the Didache draws for
us of the Christian prophets. It shews us the prophets as pre-
eminent in. the community which they may^dsit f _Qr_in_which-they-
may choose to settle. They appear to celebrate the Eucharist, and
that with a special liturgical freedom. They are to be regarded as
beyond criticism, if their genuineness as prophets has once been
established. They are the proper recipients of the tithes and first-
fruits of the community, and this for a noteworthy reason : * for
they are your high-priests'. And when at the close of the book
* bishops and deacons' are for the first time mentioned, honour is
claimed for them in these significant terms : Tor they also minister
unto you the ministration of the prophets and teachers : therefore
despise them not ; for they are your honourable ones together with
the prophets and teachers'. In this primitive picture it is instruc-
tive to observe that the ministry of office is in the background,
overshadowed at present by a ministry of enthusiasm, but destined
to absorb its functions and to survive its fall,
iv 12 'For the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministry' . The
1 The DidachS was published by regard it as representative of the
Archbp Bryennius in 1883. In its general condition of the Church at so
present form it is a composite work, late a period : it would appear rather
which has embodied a very early (pos- to belong to some isolated community
sibly Jewish) manual of conduct. Its in which there lingered a condition of
locality is uncertain, and it cannot life and organisation which had else-
be dated with prudence earlier than where passed away,
about 130 A.D. It is impossible to 2 Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 95.
IV 12, is] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 99
second of these clauses must be taken as dependent on the first, and
not (as in the Authorised Version) as coordinate with it. The
equipment of the members of the Body for their function of service
to the whole is the end for whicH Christ has given these gifts to
His Church. If the life and growth of the Body is to be secured,
every member of it, and not only those who are technically called
' ministers ', must be taught to serve. More eminent service indeed
is rendered by those members to whom the Apostle has explicitly
referred j but their service is specially designed to promote the
service in due measure of the rest : for, as he tells us elsewhere,
'those members of the body which seem to be feebler are necessary*, i Cor. xii
Thus 'the work of ministry' here spoken of corresponds to the aa
' grace given to every one of us ', which is the subject of this iv 7
section.
An illustrative example of this ministry of saints to saints is to
be found in St Paul's reference to an interesting group of Corinthian
Christians : ' I beseech you, brethren, ye know the house of Ste- 1 Cor. xvi
phanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have l $
addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints *, that ye submit
-^rourselves-unto-suchj-and to-every-one-that helpeth^with us and
laboureth. I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus
and Achaicus : for that which was lacking on your part they have
supplied : for they have refreshed my spirit and yours : therefore
acknowledge ye them that are such'. From words like these we
may see that every kind of mutual service is included in the early
and unofficial sense of this word ' ministry'.
If ministry such as this is characteristic of each member of the
Body, it was preeminently characteristic of the Head Himself:
'The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister ' : Mark x 45
'I am among you as he that ministereth'. Luke xxii
' for the building of the body of Christ '. This is the process to j v r -
the forwarding of which all that has been spoken of is directed.
In describing it St Paul combines, as he has done before, his two
favourite metaphors of the temple and the body. He has previously ii -zr
said that the building of the Temple grows : here, conversely, he
speaks of the Body as being builded.
' Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God'. Unity has been spoken of, first of all, as a gift to
be kept ; it is now regarded as a goal to be attained. Unity, as it
exists already and is to be eagerly guarded, is a spiritual rather
than an intellectual oneness ; the vital unity of the one Spirit in
1 Literally, 'they have appointed themselves unto ministry to the saints'.
72
100 EXPOSITION OF THE [IV 13
the one body. Unity, as it is ultimately to be reached by all the
saints together, will be a consciously realised oneness, produced by
faith in and knowledge of the Son of God. We are one now : in
the end we all shall know ourselves to be one.
' The Son of God'. St Paul is so careful in his use of the various
designations of our Lord, that we may be confident that he has
some reason here for inserting between two mentions of 'the Christ'
this title, 'the Son of God', which does not occur elsewhere in the
epistle. It is instructive to compare a passage in the Epistle to the
Gal. ii 20 Galatians, where a similar change of titles is made. ' I have been
crucified with Christ ', says the Apostle, ' and I no longer live, but
in me Christ lives : and the life which now I live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself
up for me*. He with whom he has been crucified, He who now
lives in him, is ' Christ ' : He whose love brought Him down to
suffer is 'the Son of God'. The title is changed to one which
Johnxvii 5 recalls the glory which Christ had with the Father before the world
was, in order to heighten the thought of His condescending love.
And so in our present passage, when he is treating of the relation of
our_I^rdJbo_HisJI^mh,_he_spBaks_of_Hini_asJ_theJChrist-!_(for-the
article is used in both places in the original) : but when he would
describe Him as the object of that faith and knowledge, in which our
unity will ultimately be realised, he uses the words ' the faith and the
knowledge of the Son of God ' ; thereby suggesting, as it would seem,
the thought of His eternal existence in relation to the Divine Father.
'Till we all come... to a perfect man' : that is, all of us together
(for this is implied by the Greek) to God's New Man, grown at
length to full manhood. Not 'to perfect men': for the Apostle
iv 14 uses the plural of the lower stage only : ' that we be no longer
children* is his own contrast. We are to grow out of our indi-
vidualism into the corporate oneness of the full-grown Man.
' To the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (or, of the
Christy : that is, to the full measure of the complete stature, or
maturity, of the fulfilled Christ. We cannot forget that St Paul
i 53 has already called the Church 'the fulness of Him who all in all is
being fulfilled'. But in using the expression 'the fulness of the
Christ' in this place, he is thinking of more than 'the Church,
which is His Body'. For here we get once more to the background
of St Paul's thought, in which the Body and the Head together are
ultimately the one Christ ' the Christ that is to be '.
In the New Man, grown to perfect manhood, St Paul finds the
consummation of human life. He thus takes us on to the issue of
the new creation which he spoke of in chap. ii. There the ' one new
IV is, J4] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. IOI
man' is created in the Christ : but he has a long growth before him.
More and more are to claim their position as members of him. ^ .
'Christ is fulfilled' to quote Origen's words again 1 ' in all that
come unto Him, whereas He is still lacking in respect of them
before they have come '. When they shall all have come to the
unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, when
they shall all have come to a full-grown Man j then in the ripe
maturity of the New Man, 'the fulness of the Christ' will itself
have been attained.
The poet, who has spoken to us of 'the Christ that is to be', has
also most clearly expressed for us a part at least of the truth of the
Making of Man 2 :
Man as yet is being made, and ere the crowning Age of ages,
Shall not aeon after aeon pass and touch him into shape?
All about him shadow still, but, while the races flower and fade,
Prophet-eyes may catch a glory slowly gaining on the shade,
Till the peoples all are one, and all their voices blend in choric
Hallelujah to the Maker ' It is finish'd. Man is made '.
'That we be no longer children'. This expression, viewed from iv 14
-the-mere-standpoint~of "style, spoilsTthe previous metaphor : but it is
obviously intended to form a sharp contrast. The plural is to be
noted. Maturity belongs to the unity alone. Individualism and
self-assertion are the foes of this maturity. "We are not to be
'babes', isolated individuals, stunted and imperfect. Out of indi-
vidualism we must grow, if we would attain to our perfection in the
membership of the perfect Man.
'No longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine '. St Paul does not linger on the distant
ideal. He is quickly back to the present stage of childhood, which
has still to 'pass the waves of this troublesome world' in which
ideals are too apt to suffer shipwreck. The new metaphor is drawn
from the sea which the Apostle knew so well, the symbol of insta-
bility and insecurity. It suggests the jeopardy of the little boats,
storm-tossed and swung round by each fresh blast, so that they
cannot keep their head to the waves and are in danger of being
swamped.
l By the sleight of men, by craftiness according to the wiles of
error'. The dexterous handling of the dice and the smart cleverness
of the schemer are the figures which underlie the words here used.
They suggest the very opposite of the Apostle's straightforwardness
1 The full quotation is given in the 'The Making of Man ' in The Death of
note on p. 45. Oenone and other Poems (1892).
3 Tennyson, In Memortam cvi: and
102 EXPOSITION OF- THE [IV 14, 15
a Cor. iv 2 of teaching. Ours is not, he had once said to the Corinthians, the
versatility of the adept, which plays tricks with the Divine message.
So here he warns us that subtleties and over-refinements end in
error. We must keep to the simple way of truth and love.
iv 15 ''But maintaining the truth in love*. In this epistle St Paul is
not controversial. He attacks no form of false doctrine, but only
gives a general warning against the mischievous refinements of over-
subtle teachers. "With the 'error' to which these things lead he
briefly contrasts the duty of ' maintaining the truth in love ' ; and
then at once he returns to the central truth of the harmony and
growth of God's one Man.
'May grow up into Him in all things'. The next words, 'which,
is the head ', seem at first sight to suggest that the Apostle's meaning
is 'may grow up into Him as the head'. But although the limbs of
the body are presently spoken of as deriving their growth from the
head the head being regarded as the source of that harmony of the
various parts which is essential to healthy development it would
be difficult to give a meaning to the expression 'to grow up into
the head '. Accordingly it is better to regard the words ' may grow
up into~Him~in~~all~things'~as~~comp^le^t;e~in~~themselvesI What"
St Paul desires to say is that the children are to grow up, not
each into a separate man, but all into One, ' the perfect man ', who
is none other than the Christ.
The law of growth for the individual is this : that he should
learn more and more to live as a part of a great whole ; that he
should consciously realise the life of membership, and contribute his
appropriate share towards the completeness of the corporate unity j
and that thus his expanding faculties should find their full play in
the large and ever enlarging life of the One Man. It is to this that
St Paul points when he says, ' that we be no longer children, but
grow up into Him every whit'.
In one of the most remarkable poems of the In Memoriam
Tennyson suggests that the attainment of a definite self -conscious-
ness may be a primary purpose of the individual's earthly life 1 :
This use may lie in blood and breath,
Which else were fruitless of their due,
Had man to learn himself anew
Beyond the second birth, of Death.
We gather from St Paul that there is a further lesson which we are
called to learn the consciousness of a larger life, in which in a
sense we lose ourselves, to find ourselves again, no longer isolated,
1 In Memoriam, xlv.
IV 1 5] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIAFS.
but related and coordinated in the Body of the Christ. That the
poet, too, knew something of the mystery of this surrender of the
individual life may be seen from his Prologue :
Thou seemest human and divine,
The highest, holiest manhood, thou :
Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our wills are burs, to make them thine.
* Which is the head, even Christ '. Backwards and forwards the
Apostle moves, with no concern for logical consistency, between the
conception of Christ as the "Whole and the conception of Christ as
the Head of the Body. The newness of the thought which he is
endeavouring to develope the thought of human unity realised
through and in the Christ is doubtless responsible for these
oscillations. We feel that the conception is being worked out
for the first time, and we watch the struggle of language in face of
the difficulties which present themselves. The initial difficulty is
to conceive of a number of persons as forming in a real sense one
'body'. In common parlance this difficulty is not recognised,
-because-the word Mjodyis-used merely to-signify an aggregation-
of persons more or less loosely held in relation to one another, and
its proper meaning of a structural unity is not seriously pressed.
But just in proportion as 'a body' is felt to mean a living organism,
the difficulty remains. And St Paul makes it abundantly clear that
it is a living organism a human frame with all its manifold struc-
ture inspired by a single life which offers to him the true concep-
tion of humanity as God will have it to be.
A further difficulty enters when the relation of Christ to this
Body comes to be denned. It is natural at once to think of Him as
its Head : for that is the seat of the brain which controls and unifies
the organism. But this conception does not always suffice. For
Christ is more than the Head. The whole Body, in St Paul's Bom. xii 5
language, is 'in Him'; the several parts 'grow up into Him'.
Even more than this, the whole is identified with Him : * for as i Cor. sit
the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of I2
the body being many are one body ; so also is the Christ '. In the
New Man 'Christ is all and in all'. Identified with the whole Col. iii n
Body, He grows with its growth and will find His own fulfilment --
only in its complete maturity.
We are not therefore to be surprised at the rapidity of the tran-
sition by which the Apostle here passes from the thought of Christ
as the Whole, into which we are growing up, to the thought of Him
as the Head, upon which the Body's harmony and growth depends.
104 EXPOSITION OF THE [IV 16, 17
iv 16 ' From whom the whole body, fitly framed together and compacted
by every joint q/"its supply'. The expression 'fitly framed together *
ii 21 is repeated from the description of the building process which has
already furnished a figure of structural, though not organic, unity.
The remainder of the passage is found again, with slight verbal
Col. ii 19 variations, in the Epistle to the Colossians : 'from whom the whole
body, furnished out and compacted by the joints and bands,
increaseth with the increase of God'. The Apostle is using the
physiological terms of the Greek medical writers. We can almost
Col. iv 14 see him turn to ' the beloved physician ', of whose presence he tells
us in the companion epistle, before venturing to speak in technical
language of ' every ligament of the whole apparatus ' of the human
frame. There is no reference either here or in the Epistle to the
Colossians to a supply of nourishment, but rather to the complete
system of nerves and muscles by which the limbs are knit together
and are connected with the head.
' According to the effectual working in the measure of each several
part' : that is, as each several part in its due measure performs its
appropriate function. Unity in variety is the Apostle's theme :
unity__of_structure_in_the-jdiole,_and_variety of function in the-
several component parts : these are the conditions of growth upon
which he insists.
' Maketh the increase of the body, imto the building thereof, wi
love 1 . This recurrence to the companion metaphor of building
reminds us that the reality which St Paul is endeavouring to
illustrate is more than a physiological structure. The language
derived from the body's growth needs to be supplemented by the
language derived from the building of the sacred shrine of God.
The mingling of the metaphors helps us to rise above them, and
thus prepares us for the phrase, with which the Apostle at once
interprets his meaning and reaches his climax, ' in love '.
We have thus concluded a further stage in St Paul's exposition.
i 10 To begin with we had the eternal purpose of God, to make Christ
iii5,iii4ff. the summing into one of all things that are. Then we had the
mystery of Christ, consummated on the cross, by which Jew and
iv 3 ff. Gentile passed into one new Man. Lastly we have had the unity
of the Spirit, a unity in variety, containing a principle of growth,
by which the Body of the Christ is moving towards maturity.
Iv 1724 ''THIS I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that ye no
longer walk as do the Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their'
mind, l8 darkened in their understanding, being alienated from
IV 1719] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. IO5
the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them because
of the blindness of their heart ; ^who being past feeling have
given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all unclean-
ness with greediness. ^But ye have not so learned Christ;
2I if so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught in
Him, as the truth is in Jesus ; 22 that ye put off as concerning
your former manner of life the old man, which is corrupt
according to the lusts of deceit ; 2 3and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, 2 f and put on the new man, which after God is
created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
' This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer iv 17
walk as do the Gentiles walk\ The double use of the verb 'to
walk ' points us back to the beginning of the chapter. There he
had commenced his solemn injunction as to their 'walk'; but the
first elements on which he had felt bound to lay stress, humble-
ness of mind and mutual forbearance, the prerequisites of the life
of unity, led him on to describe the unity itself, and to shew that
it was the harmony of a manifold variety. Now he returns to
his topic again with a renewed vigour : ' This I say therefore and
testify in the Lord' in whom I am who speak, and you are
who hear 1 .
His injunction now takes a negative form : they are 'not to
walk as do the Gentiles walk*. This leads him to describe the
characteristics of the heathen life which they have been called
to leave.
'In the vanity of their mind, darkened in their understanding, iv 17
being alienated from tJie life of God, through the ignorance that is
in them because of the blindness of their heart \ They have no
ruling purpose to guide them, no light by which to see their way,
no Divine life to inspire them : they cannot know, because their
heart is blind. The last phrase may recall to us by way of contrast
the Apostle's prayer for the Gentile converts, that ' the eyes of their i 18
heart' might be enlightened. And the whole description may be
compared with his account of their former state as 'in the world ii 12
without hope and without God'.
' Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lascivi- iv 19
ousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness'. They have not
only the passive vice of ignorance, but the active vices which are
1 Bee above on iv. r.
106 EXPOSITION OF THE [IV 1921
Eom. i. 21 bred of recklessness. In the opening chapter of the Epistle to the
Romans the same sequence is found ; ' they became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened... wherefore God
also gave them up to uncleanness...for this cause God gave them
up unto vile affections... even as they did not like to retain God
in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to
do those things which are not convenient'. There it is thrice
said that ' God gave them up ' : here it is said that, ' having
become reckless, they gave themselves up'. The emphasis which
in either case St Paul lays on want of knowledge corresponds
with the stress which, as we have already seen, he lays upon
true wisdom 1 .
* v 20 ' But ye have not so learned Christ ', or, as it is in the original,
'the Christ'. That is to say, You are no longer in this darkness and
ignorance : you have learned the Christ : and the lesson involves a
wholly different life.
iv 21 ' If so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught in Him,
as the truth is in Jesus'. The conditional form of the sentence is
used for the sake of emphasis, and does not imply a doubt. We
may paraphrase it~~thus : * if ~intfeed~it~be~~He~whomrye~have~heard-
and in whom ye have been taught'. The phrases to learn Christ,
to hear Him, and to be taught in Him, are explanatory of each
other. The Apostle's readers had not indeed heard Christ, in the
sense of hearing Him speak. But Christ was the message which
had been brought to them, He was the school in which they had
been taught, He was the lesson which they had learnt. .
The expression 'to learn Christ' has become familiar to our
ears, and we do not at once realise how strangely it must have
sounded when it was used for the first time. But the Apostle
was well aware that his language was new, and he adds a clause
which helps to interpret it : ' even as the truth is in Jesus ', or
more literally, c even as truth is in Jesus '. He lays much stress
iv 15 on truth throughout the whole context. He has already called
for the maintenance of the truth in opposition to the subtleties
iv 24 f. of error : he will presently speak of the new man as c created
according to God in righteousness and holiness of the truth' ;
and, led on by the word, he will require his readers as the first
practical duty of the new life to put away falsehood and speak
truth each to his neighbour. . But truth is embodied in Jesus, who
is the Christ. Hence, instead of saying ' ye have learned the truth,
ye have heard the truth, ye have been taught in the truth ', he says
1 See above, p. 30.
IV 2 1 24] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
with a far more impressive emphasis, ' It is Christ whom ye have
learned, Him ye have heard, in Him ye have been, taught, even as
the truth is in Jesus '.
Nowhere else in this epistle does St Paul use the name 'Jesus'
by itself. Nor does he so use it again in any of the epistles of
his Roman captivity, if we except the one passage in which he
specially refers to the new honour which has accrued to ' the name Phil, ii 10
of Jesus '. Even in his earlier epistles it rarely occurs alone ; and,
when it does, there is generally an express reference to the death
or resurrection of our Lord 1 . "We have already said something
of the significance of St Paul's usage in this respect 2 . He uses
the name 'Jesus' by itself when he wishes emphatically to point
to the historic personality of the Christ. And this is plainly his
intention in the present passage. The message which he pro-
claimed was this: The Christ has come: in the person of Jesus
the crucified, risen and ascended Jesus He has come, not only
as the Messiah of the Jew, but as the hope of all mankind. In
this Jesus is embodied the truth : and so the truth has come to
you. You have learned the Christ; Him you have heard, in Him
you h~ave~been~taught^"even-as-the-truth-is-in-Jesusr
That ye put off as concerning your former manner of life iv 22 ff.
the old man, which is corrupt according to the lusts of deceit;
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new
man, which after God is created in righteousness and holiness of
the truth*. The injunctions which St Paul has hitherto laid upon
his readers have been gentle admonitions, arising directly out of
the great thoughts which he has been expounding to them. His
first injunction was : Remember what you were and what you are. ii n f.
The next was : Cultivate that humble and forbearing temper, which iv i ff.
naturally belongs to what you are, which tends to keep the unity.
But now his demand takes a severer tone : I protest in the Lord, he
says, that you be not what you were. s
The knife goes deep. As regards your former life, he declares,
you must strip off ' the old man', a miserable decaying thing, rotted
with the passions of the old life of error. You must be made new
in your spirits. You must array yourselves in ' the new man', who
has been created as God would have him to be, in that righteousness
and holiness to which the truth leads.
1 So in i Thess. i 10, iv 14, Bom. Jude. But in Hebrews it occurs alone
viii ii, 2 Cor. iv 10, n, 14. The re- eight times; and this is, of course, the
maining passages are Gal. vi 17, Bom. regular use in the Gospels.
iii 26, i Cor. iv 5. The name is not 2 See above, pp. 23 f.
used alone in James, i and 2 Peter, or
108 EXPOSITION OF THE [IV 22 24
What is 'the old man' who is here spoken of? St Paul has
Bom. vi 6 used the term in an earlier epistle. 'Our old man ', he had written
to the Romans, 'was crucified with Christ'. From the context of
that passage we may interpret his meaning as follows : I said that
by your baptism you were united with Christ in His death, you
were buried with Him. What was it that then diedl I answer :
The former you. A certain man was living a life of sin : he was
the slave of sin, living in a body dominated by sin. That man,
who lived that life, died. He was crucified with Christ. That is
what I call ' your old man '.
To the Romans, then, he has declared that their ' old man' is
dead. This, he says, is the true view of your life. It is God's
Bom. vi 7 view of it, in virtue of which you are justified in His sight. And
ffi this view, the only true view, you are bound yourselves to take, and
make it the ruling principle of all your conduct.
Gal. ii 20 Elsewhere he says : This is my own case. I have been crucified
with Christ : I no longer live. Yet you see me living. What does
it mean? Christ is living in me. So great was the revolution
which St Paul recognised as having taken place in his own moral
experience~that~~he~"does~not~~hesitate~to speak~~of~T.t~~as~~a~~change~
of personality. I am dead, he says, crucified on Christ's cross.
Another has come to live in me : and He has displaced me in
myself.
What was true for him was true for his readers likewise.
Christ, he says, has come and claimed you. You have admitted
JTis claim by your baptism. You are no longer yourselves. The
old you then died : Another came to live in you.
In our present passage, and in the closely parallel passage of the
Epistle to the Colossians, St Paul urges his readers to bring their
lives into correspondence with their true position, by 'putting off
the old man' and 'putting on the new man'. That they had done
this already in their baptism was not, to his mind, inconsistent with
Col. ii .12, such an admonition. Indeed he expressly reminds the Colossians
20; iii i ^at ^ey jjg^ tnus ^jg^ an( j kggjj Buried w ith Christ, and had been
raised with Him to a new life. None the less he urges them to
a fresh act of will, which shall realise their baptismal position :
Col.iiipff. 'putting off the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new,
who is ever being renewed unto knowledge according to the image
of Him that created him; where there is no Greek and Jew,
circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman,
freeman ; but Christ is all and in all '.
The metaphor here employed is a favourite one with St Paul.
They are to strip off the old self : they are to clothe themselves with
IV 22-2 4 ] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 109
Another. This Other is sometimes said to be Christ Himself. Thus
St Paul writes to the Galatians : ' As many of you as were baptised Gal. iii 27
into Christ did put on Christ' ; and to the Romans he says : Put Bom. xiii
ye on the Lord Jesus Christ*. Yet we could not substitute * Christ* I4
for ' the new man ' either here or in the Epistle to the Colossians.
For in both places the Apostle speaks of * the new man* as having
been 'created ', a term which he could not apply directly to Christ.
An earlier passage in this epistle, which likewise combines the
term 'new man* with the idea of 'creation', may perhaps throw
some light on this difficulty, even if it introduces us to a further
complication. In speaking of the union of the Jew and the Gentile
in Christ, St Paul uses the words : 'that He might create the two ii 15
in Himself into one new man'. As 'the new man', who is to be
'put on', is the same for all who are thus renewed, they all become
inseparably one one new Man. But the one new Man is ulti-
mately the Christ who is 'all and in all'. We cannot perhaps
bring these various expressions into perfect harmony : but we must
not neglect any one of them. Here, as often elsewhere with
St Paul, the thought is too large and too many-sided for a complete
4ogical-consistency-in-its-exposition.-
The condition of ' the old man, which is corrupt according to the iv 22
lusts of deceit', is contrasted first with a renewal of youth, and
secondly with a fresh act of creation. These two distinct con-
ceptions correspond to two meanings which are combined in the
phrase ' is corrupt '. For this may mean simply ' is being destroyed ',
'is on the way to perish ' ; as St Paul says elsewhere, ' our outward sCor.iv 16
man perisheth', using the same verb in a compound form. But
again it may refer to moral pollution, as when the Apostle says to
the Corinthians, ' I have espoused you to one husband, to present 2 Cor. xi
you as a pure virgin to Christ ; but I fear lest, as Satan deceived 2
Eve, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity and purity
which is towards Christ'. If in our present passage the words
'which is corrupt' stood alone, we might take the first meaning
only and render 'which waxeth corrupt' or, better, 'which is
perishing' : and this would correspond to the contrasted words, ' be
renewed in the spirit of your mind'. But the second meaning is
also in the Apostle's mind : for he adds the words ' according to the
lusts of deceit', and he offers a second contrast in 'the new man
which is created after God', or more literally 'according to God',
that is as he says more plainly to the Colossians ' according to the Col. iii i&
image of Him that created him*. The original purity of newly-
created man was ' corrupted ' by means of a ' deceit ' which worked
through 'the lusts'. The familiar story has perpetually repeated
HO EXPOSITION" OF THE [IV 25
itself in human experience : ' the old man is corrupt according to
the lusts of deceit ', and a fresh creation after the original pattern
has been necessitated : it is found in * the new man which after God
is created in righteousness and holiness which are (in contrast with
'deceit') of the truth'.
ivss vs 2 s WHEREFORE putting away lying, speak every man truth
with his neighbour : for we are members one of another. ^Be
ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your
wrath ; ^neither give place to the devil. 28 Let him that stole
steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his
hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to
him that needeth. 2 sLet no corrupt communication proceed
out of your mouth, but that which is good, for building up as
need may be, that it may give grace unto the hearers : sand
grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto
the day of redemption. 3 1 Let all bitterness and wrath and
anger and~~clamour and~evitspeaking~~be~put~away~from-you7-
with all malice: 3 *and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God in Christ hath forgiven you.
V. z Be ye therefore followers of God, as His beloved children;
2 and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved you, and hath
given Himself for you, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweetsmelling savour.
The Apostle proceeds to interpret in a series of practical precepts
his general injunction to put off the old man and put on the new, to
turn from the life of error to the life which belongs to the truth.
He appeals throughout to the large interests of their common life :
it is the Spirit of fellowship which supplies the motive for this moral
revolution. Six sins are struck at : lying, resentment, stealing, bad
language, bad temper, lust.
iv 25 Ikying is to be exchanged for truthfulness, for the Body's sake.
iv 26 .Resentment is to give way to reconciliation, lest Satan get a footing
iv 28 in their midst. Stealing must make place for honest work, to help
iv 29 others : bad language for gracious speech, 'unto building up', and lest
iv 31 the one holy Spirit be grieved. Bad temper must yield to kindliness
and forgivingness, for God has forgiven them all ; yea, to love, the
"v 3 love of self-giving, shewn in Christ's sacrifice. Lastly lust, and all
the unfruitful works of the dark, must be banished by the light.
IV 25, 26] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. HI
Thus the Apostle bids them displace the old man by the new,
the false life by the 'righteousness and holiness of the truth' :
Eing out the old, ring in the new;
King out the false, ring in the true;
Eing in the Christ that is to be.
' Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with, "his iv 25
neighbour : for we are members one of another'. In the original the
connexion with what has immediately preceded is very clearly
marked. For the word rendered * putting away ' is the same as that
which has been used for 'putting off' the old man, though the
metaphor of the garment is now dropped: and 'lying', or 'false-
hood ' as it could be more generally rendered, is directly suggested
by the word ' truth ' with which the last sentence closes. Truthful-
ness of speech is an obvious necessity, if they are to live the life of
* the truth'.
The Apostle enforces his command by a quotation from the
prophet Zechariah : ' These are the things that ye shall do : Speak Zeoh. viii
ye every man the truth with his neighbour : truth and the judge- r
ment of peace judge ye in your gates '. But he gives a character of
his own to the precept in the reason which he adds : ' for we are
members one of another '. These words remind us how practical he
is in all his mysticism. The mystical conception that individual
men are but limbs of the body of a greater Man is at once made the
basis of an appeal for truthfulness in our dealings one with another.
Falsehood, a modern moralist would say, is a sin against the mutual
trust on which all civilised society rests. St Paul said it long ago,
and still more forcibly. It is absurd, he says, that you should
deceive one another : just as it would be absurd for the limbs of a
body to play each other false. The habit of lying was congenial to
the Greek, as it was to his Oriental neighbours. St Paul strikes at
the root of the sin by shewing its inconsistency with the realisation
of the corporate life.
' Be ye angry t and sin not ; let not the sun go down upon your iv 26 f.
wrath; neither give place to the devil 1 . The first words of this
passage are another quotation from the Old Testament. They are
taken from the Greek version of the fourth Psalm, and are perhaps Ps. iv 4
a nearer representation of the original than is given by our English
rendering, ' Stand in awe, and sin not '. That there is a righteous
anger is thus allowed by the Apostle : but he warns us that, if
cherished, it quickly passes into sin. According to the Mosaic law
the sun was not to set on a cloke held as a surety, or the unpaid wage Dent, xxir
of the needy : and again, the sun was not to set on a malefactor put J 3> r S
H2 EXPOSITION OF THE [17.2729.
Deut. xxi. to death and left unburied. This phraseology furnishes |/>I;i Apostle
3 ... -with the form of his injunction. Its meaning is, as an old com-
29,3:27) mentator observes, 'Let the day of your anger be the day of your
reconciliation' 1 .
The phrase to ' give place to the devil ' means to give him rooi^s
or scope for action. Anger, which suspends as it were the har-
monious relation between one member and another in the Body,
gives an immediate opportunity for the entry of the evil spirit 2
iv 28 ' Let him that stole steal no more : but rather let him labour, work-
ing with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give
to him that needeth '. This is indeed to put off the old, and to put
on the new. It is a complete reversal of the moral attitude. Instead
of taking what is another's, seek with the sweat of your brow to be
in a position to give to another what you have honestly made your
own.
iv 29 ' Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth '. The
word here rendered ' corrupt ' is used in the Gospels of the worthless
Matt, vii tree, and of the worthless .fish : it is opposed to ' good ', in the sense
of being 'good-for-nothing'. But the 'corrupt' speech here con-
demned is foul talk, and not merely idle talk. It is probable that
St Paul in his choice of the word had in mind its original meaning
of ' rotten ' or ' corrupted ' : for in a parallel passage of the com-
Col. iv 6 panion epistle he says : ' Let your speech be alway with grace,
seasoned with salt ' 5 the use of salt being not only to flavour, but to
preserve.
' But that which is good, for building up as need may be'. The
words 'edify' and 'edification' have become so hackneyed, that it
is almost necessary to avoid them in translation, if the Apostle's
language is to retain its original force. How vividly he realised the
metaphor which he employed may be seen from a passage in the
Epistle to the Romans, where he says, if we render his words
Bom. xiv literally : ' Let us follow after the things that belong to peace and to
1 It is worth while to repeat Fuller's 2 The Didache, in a list of warnings
comment quoted from Eadie by Dr directed against certain sins on the
Abbott (ad loc. p. 141): 'Let us take ground of what they 'lead to', says
the Apostle's meaning rather than his (c. iii) : 'Be not angry; for auger leads
words with all possible speed to depose to murder: nor jealous, nor quarrel-
our passion; not understanding him some, nor passionate; for of all these
so literally that we may take leave to things murders are bred'. In the same
be angry till sunset, then might our chapter comes another precept which,
wrath lengthen with the days; and men it is interesting to compare with the
in Greenland, where days last above a sequence of St Paul's injunctions in
quarter of a year, have plentiful scope this place: 'My child, be not a liar;
of revenge '. since lying leads to thieving 1 .
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 113
the build j up of one another : do not for the sake of food pull down
God's work '. Moreover in the present chapter he has twice spoken iy 12, 16
of 'the building up of the body ; ; while in an earlier chapter he has u 20 '
elaborated the metaphor of the building in relation to the Christian
^ciety. In the present passage he recurs to this metaphor, as
in v. 25 he recurred to the figure of the body. Speech, like
everything else, he would have us use for the help of others who
are linked with us in the corporate life * for building up as occasion
may offer '.
' That it may give grace unto the hearers '. The phrase to ' give
grace ' may also be rendered to ' give gratification ' : and this is
certainly the idea which would at once be suggested to the ordinary
Greek reader. But to St Paul's mind the deeper meaning of grace
predominates. This is not the only place where he seems to play
upon the various meanings of the Greek word for ' grace '. Thus,
for example, in the passage which we have quoted above from the
Epistle to the Colossians, the obvious sense of his words to a Greek
mind would be : ' Let your speech be always with graciousness ' or Col. iv 6
* graceful charm ' : and another instance will come before us later on
_in-the_present-epistle- __ ____________
' And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto iv 30
the day of redemption'. Each of St Paul's injunctions is enforced
by a grave consideration. Falsehood is inconsistent with member-
ship in a Body. Cherished irritation makes room for the evil spirit.
Stealing is the direct contrary of the labour that toils to help others.
Speech that is corrupt not only pulls tlown instead of building up,
but actually pains the Holy Spirit of God.
The Spirit specially claims to find expression in the utterances
of Christians, as St Paul tells us later on in this epistle, where he
says : ' Be filled with the Spirit ; speaking to one another in psalms v 18 f.
and hymns and spiritual songs ', The misuse of the organ of speech
is accordingly a wrong done to, and felt by, the Spirit who claims to
control it. The addition of the words, < whereby (or ( in whom ') ye
are sealed unto the day of redemption', carries us back to the
mention of the sealing of the Gentiles with 'the holy Spirit of the i 13,,
promise ', that is, the Spirit promised of old to the chosen people.
This is the 'one Spirit', of which the Apostle says in an earlier
epistle that 'in one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body, r Cbr. xii
whether Jews or Greeks'. Thus the Holy Spirit stands in the J 3
closest relation to the new corporate life, and is specially wronged
1 See below, p. 1 16. For the various New Testaments gee the detached note
meanings of 'grace' in the Old and on
EPHBS. 2 g
114 EXPOSITION OF THE [IV 31 V 2
when the opportunity of v building it up becomes an occasion for its
defilement and ruin.
iv 31 f. ' Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil
speaking be put away from, you, with, all malice : and be ye kind one
to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ
hath forgiven you '. The fifth injunction, to put away bitter feelings,
and the quarrelling and evil-speaking to which they give rise, is
enforced by an appeal to the character and action of God Himself.
You must forgive each other, says the Apostle, because God in
Christ has forgiven you all.
vi 'Be ye therefore followers (or ' imitators ') of God, as His beloved
children '. These words must be taken closely with what precedes,
as well as with what follows. The imitation of God in His merciful-
Luke vi ness is the characteristic of sonship. ' Love your enemies, and do
35 " them good, and lend hoping for nothing again ; and your reward
shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High ; for He is
kind to the unthankful and evil. Be merciful, even as your Father
is merciful '.
v 2 * And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved you, and hath given
emng_a/nd^a
smelling savour \ The Apostle has invoked the Divine example
first of all in regard to forgiveness. He now extends its reference
by making it the basis of the wider command to ' walk In love '.
Take, he says, God as your pattern : copy Him ; for you are His
children whom He loves. Walk therefore in love such love as
Christ has shewn to you.
For us, the love of God is supremely manifested in the love of
Christ, who gave Himself up on our behalf, 'an offering and a
sacrifice to God for an odour of a sweet smell '. "We then are to love
even as Christ loved us j that is, with the love that gives itself for
others, the love of sacrifice. St Paul thus points to Christ's sacrifice
as an example of the love which Christians are to shew to one
another. Your acts of love to one another, he implies, will be
truly a sacrifice acceptable to God; even as the supreme act of
Christ's love to you is the supremely acceptable Sacrifice.
Two passages may help to illustrate this teaching and the
phraseology in which it is conveyed. One of. these is found later
on in this chapter, where the Apostle charges husbands to love
725 their wives 'even as Christ loved the church and gave Himself
up for it '. The other offers us another example of the application
of the sacrificial phraseology of the Old Testament to actions
which manifest love. The language in which St Paul dignifies
the kindness shewn to himself by the Philippian Church is strikingly
V 3 ] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIABTS. 11$
similar to that of our present passage : .' Having received of Phil, iv 18
Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of
a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God '.
fornication and all uncleanness, or covetousness. let it v 314
not even be named among you, as becometh saints; * neither
filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting, which are not befitting;
but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this ye know of a surety,
that no fornicator nor unclean person, nor covetous man, which
is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ
and of God. 6 Let no man deceive you with vain words; for
because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the
children of disobedience. ?Be not ye therefore partakers with
them. 8 For ye were in time past darkness, but now are ye
light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9 for the fruit of
light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth ; 10 proving
what is acceptable unto the Lord. "And have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them :
12 for of the things which are done of them in secret it is a
shame even to speak ; ^but all things when they are exposed
by the light are made manifest ; for whatsoever is made manifest >
is light. ^Wherefore it saith :
Awake, thou that sleepest,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ shall shine upon thee.
1 But fornication and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not v 3
even be named among you, as becometh saints '. The five prohibitions
which have preceded stand side by side with no connecting particles
to link them to each other. This, as a point of style, is far more
unusual in Greek than it is in English. Accordingly the adversative
particle with which the final prohibition is introduced deserves the
more attention. The Apostle has called upon his readers to put
away falsehood, irritation, theft, corrupt speech, bitter feelings.
But, he seems to say, there is another class of sins which I do not
even bid you put away : I say that you may not so much as name
them one to another.
( As becometh saints'. He appeals to a new Christian decorum, ii 19
* Ye are fellow-citizens with the saints' : noblesse oblige.
82
Il6 EXPOSITION OF THE [4, 5
v 4 ' Neither Jilthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting, which are not
befitting ; but rather giving of thanks '. The first of these nomina-
tives might be taken with the preceding verb, ' let it not even be
named'; but not the other two. The meaning however is plain:
'neither let there be among you' these things which degrade
conversation, or at least relax its tone. Having summarily dismissed
the grosser forms of sin, the Apostle forbids the approaches to them
in unseemly talk, in foolishness of speech, even in mere frivolous
jesting. The seemingly abrupt introduction of 'thanksgiving' in.
contrast to 'jesting' is due to a play upon the two words in the
Greek which cannot be reproduced in translation. Instead of the
lightness of witty talk, which played too often on the border-line of
impropriety, theirs should be the true ' grace ' of speech, the utter-
ance of a 'grace' or thanksgiving to God 1 . He developes the
v 1 8 ff. thought at greater length below, when he contrasts the merriment
of wine with the sober gladness of sacred psalmody.
v 5 ' for this ye know of a surety, that no fornicator nor unclean
person, nor covetous man, which is an idolater, hath any inheritance
in the kingdom of Christ and of God '. St Paul has spoken of the
i 14 Gentile Ghristians_as_having-received ^-the-earnest-of-the-inheri1>--
*" 6 ance ', and as being ' fellow-heirs ' with the Jews. Here however he
declares that those who commit the sins of which he has been
speaking are thereby excluded from such inheritance. They have
* indeed practically returned to idolatry, and renounced Christ and
God. They have disinherited themselves.
This extension of the metaphor of 'inheritance' is a Hebrew
form of speech which has passed over into the* Greek of the New
Testament. Thus we have in the Gospel the phrase 'to inherit-
eternal life' 2 . The connexion of 'inheritance' with 'the kingdom*
is found in Matt, xxv 34, ' inherit the kingdom prepared for you ',,
and in James ii 5, ' Hath not God chosen the poor of this world,
rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom', etc. In St Paul we find
only the negative form of the phrase, as in i Cor. xv 50, 'flesh
and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God'. The two other
i Cor. vi passages in which it occurs present close parallels to our present
9 * passage. ' Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves
with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
1 For a similar play on the word x 25: comp. Tit. iii 7. The phrase
'grace', see above p. 113. 'to inherit life* is found in Psalm*
s Mark z 17 and parallels, Lake of Solomon xiv 6.
y s __8] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 117
nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God '. And in closing
his list of ' the works of the flesh ' the Apostle says : ' Of the which Gal. v 21
I foretell you, as I have also foretold you, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God*. This repetition
might almost suggest that he was employing a formula of teaching
which had become fixed and could be referred to as familiar : * Know
ye not?', 'I foretell you, as I have also foretold you', 'This ye
know assuredly '.
'The kingdom of Christ and of God\ The epithet 'of God'
points to the nature of the kingdom, as opposed to a temporal
kingdom : hence it is that in St Matthew's Gospel the epithet
' of heaven ' can be so often substituted for it. The epithet ' of
Christ ' is more rare 1 : it points to the Messiah as ' the king set upon Ps. ii 6
the holy hill of Sion', the Divine Son, the Anointed of Jehovah
who reigns in His name. So St Paul says that 'the Father. . .hath Col. i 13
transplanted us into the kingdom of the Son of His love'. The
two thoughts are brought into final harmony in i Cor. xv 24 f.:
'Then cometh the end, when He shall deliver up the kingdom to
God, even the Father. . .that God may be all in all '.
t Let-no-man-decei i oe-you-with-'oain-words:-forbecause-of-these j r-6
things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience '.
The Apostle recurs to language which he has used already : he has
spoken of ' the children (or ' sons ') of disobedience ', and has called ii 2 f .
them ' children of (the Divine) wrath '. The wrath of God falls Comp._
upon the heathen world especially on account of the sins of the
flesh which are closely connected with idolatry.
' JBe not ye therefore partakers with them : for ye were in time past v 7 f .
darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord '. Having completed his
list of special prohibitions, the Apostle returns to his general
principle : Be not like the Gentiles. Once more he reminds his iv 17
readers of what in tune past they were, and of what they now are. Comp. ii
They have been taken into a new fellowship, and cannot retain the JI f -
old. The Gentiles whom they have left are still * darkened in their iv 18
understanding' : but they themselves have been rescued ' out of the Col. i 12 f.
power of darkness ', and ' made meet to be partakers of the inherit-
ance of the saints in light '. Here the Apostle does not say merely
that they were in time past in the darkness and now are in the
light : but, heightening his figure to the utmost, he speaks of them
as once 'darkness', but now 'light'.
1 For 'the kingdom of Christ' in we have 'Thy glory'), Luke i 33, xxii
the Gospel compare Matt, xiii 41, 29!., xxiii42, John xviii 36. See also
xvi 28, xx 21 (where in Mark x 37 t Pet. in, Apoc. xi 15.
118 EXPOSITION OF THE [V 8 13
v 8 * Walk as children of light '. We may compare St Paul's words
i Thess. to the Thessalonians : 'But ye, brethren, are not in darkness... for
v 4 f< ye are all children of light and children of the day ' . While speaking
of their position and privilege the Apostle has called them 'light'
itself : now that he comes to speak of their conduct, he returns to
his metaphor of 'walking', and bids them 'walk as children of
light'.
v 9 ' For the fruit of light is in all goodness and righteousness and
truth '. With * the fruit of light ' in this passage we may compare
Gal. v 22 'the fruit of the Spirit' in the Epistle to the Galatians. Indeed
some manuscripts have transferred the latter phrase to this place,
where it is found in our Authorised Version.
v. to 'Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord 7 , These words belong
in construction to the command ' Walk as children of light ', the
intervening verse being a parenthesis. The light will enable them
v 17 to test and discern the Lord's will 1 . So below he bids them ' under-
stand what the will of the Lord is '.
v ii 'And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness*.
GaL v 19, Just as in the Epistle to the Galatians the Apostle contrasted 'the
_ 22 fruit of the Spirit ' with_i_the-M;QrA-of-the-flesh-^-so-berej-whiIe-he-
speaks of 'the fruit of light', he will not speak of 'the fruit of
darkness ', but of its ' fruitless works '.
v ii ff. 'But ratJter expose them, ; for of the things which are done of them
in secret it is a shame even to speak; but all things when they are
exposed by the light are made manifest; for whatsoever is made
manifest is light'. The Apostle is not content with the negative
precept which bids his readers abstain from association with the
works of darkness. Being themselves of the nature of light, they
must remember that it is the property of light to dispel darkness, to
expose what is hidden and secret. Nay more, in the moral and
spiritual world, the Apostle seems to say, light has a further power :
it can actually transform the darkness. The hidden is darkness ;
the manifested is light; by the action of light darkness itself can be
turned into light.
* Ye were darkness ', he has said, * but now ye are light ' : and
this is only the beginning of a great series of recurring transforma-
tions. You, the new light, have your part to play in the conversion
of darkness into light. Bight produces right: it rights wrong.
Or, as St Paul prefers to say, light produces light: it lightens
darkness.
1 On the use of the title 'the Lord' in these places, see what has been
said above pp. 72, 90.
V 14, i5]
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
119
' Wherefore it saith, Awake, thou that steepest, and arise from the v 14
dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee'. This quotation is not to
be found in any book that we know. It is probably a fragment of
an early Christian hymn : possibly a baptismal hymn ; or possibly
again a hymn commemorating the descent of Christ into the under-
world 1 . We may compare with it another fragment of early
hymnology in i Tim. iii 16.
therefore careful heed how ye walk, not as unwise v I 5 33
but as wise, l6 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
J 7 Wherefore be ye not fools, but understand what the will of
the Lord is. l8 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess ;
but be filled with the Spirit, *9 speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
with your heart to the Lord; 20 giving thanks always for all
things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ unto our God and
Father; 2I submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of
-Christ. _ gg^y_es._sM6?mfr yourselves unto your own husbands, _
1 Two early suggestions are of suffi-
cient interest to be noted here. One
is found as a note on the passage in
John Damasc. (quoted by Tischendorf):
'We have received by tradition that
this is the voice to be sounded by the
archangel's trump to those who have
fallen asleep since the world began ',
The other is a story told by St Jerome
(ad loc.) : 'I remember once hearing a
preacher discourse on this passage in
church. He wished to please the
people by a startling novelty; so he
said: This quotation is an utterance
addressed to Adam, who was buried on
Calvary (the place of a skull), where
the Lord was crucified. It was called
the place of a skull, because there the
head of the first man was buried.
Accordingly at the time when the
Lord was hanging on the cross over
Adam's sepulchre this prophecy was
fulfilled which says : Awake, thou
Adam that steepest, and arise from the
dead, and, not as we read it Christ
shall shine upon thee [lin^atfcret], but
Christ shall touch thee [tm\//a6<rei] :
because forsooth by the touch of His
blood and His body that hung there
he should be brought to life and
should arise; and so that type also
should be fulfilled of the dead Elisha
raising the dead. Whether all this
is true or not, I leave to the
reader's judgment. There is no doubt
that the saying of it delighted the
congregation; they applauded and
stamped with their feet. All that I
know is that such a meaning does
not harmonise with the context of the
passage'. There are other traces of
the legend that Adam was buried on
Calvary, which was regarded as the
centre of the world. The skull often
depicted at the foot of the crucifix is
Adam's skull. It is not impossible
that the strange preacher was going
on tradition in connecting the words
with the release of Adam from Hades
at the time of the Lord's Descent.
J 20 EXPOSITION OF THE [Vis, 16
as unto the Lord : 2 sfor the husband is the head of the wife,
even as Christ is the head of the church, "being Himself the
saviour of the body. ^But as the church is subject unto
Christ, so let the wives be to their husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church, and gave Himself for it; 26 that He might sanctify
it, cleansing it by the washing of water with the word ; 2 ?that
He might present the church to Himself all-glorious, not
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing ; but that it should
be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought the husbands also to
love their wives as their own bodies : he that loveth his wife
loveth himself; 2 9for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but
nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ the church ; 3for
we are members of His body. s^For this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife,
and they two shall be one flesh. 3 2 This mystery is great ; but
I speak it concerning_Christ-and-the-church 33-Nevertheless-let
every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself;
and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
y 15 f. ' Fake therefore careful heed how ye walk, not as unwise but as
wise^ redeeming the time, because the days are evil '. In his desire to
pursue his metaphor of the conflict between light and darkness the
Apostle has been led away from his practical precepts of conduct.
To these he now returns, and he marks his return by once more
using the verb ' to walk '. Eour times already he has used it with a
iv i special emphasis in this and the preceding chapter : ' I beseech you
iv 17 that ye walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called': 'I
v i f . protest that ye no longer walk as do the Gentiles walk ' : ' Be
followers of God, as His beloved children, and walk in love, as
v 8 Christ also hath loved you ' : ' Once ye were darkness, now ye are
light ; walk as children of light '. And now he sums up what he
has just been saying, and prepares the way for further injunctions,
in the emphatic words, ' Take therefore careful heed how ye walk ' l .
The contrast between the darkness and the light finds practical
expression in the phrase ' not as unwise, but as wise ' . The power
of the light to transform the darkness suggests that the wise have a
1 The rendering of the Authorised spectly', is based on a slightly dif-
Tersion, ' See that ye walk circum- ferent reading of the original.
V 17, i8] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 121
mission to redeem the time in which they live. ' The days are evil '
indeed, and the unwise are borne along in the drift of wickedness.
The wise may stand their ground 'in the evil day' : nay more, they
may ransom the time from loss or misuse, release it from the bondage
of evil and claim it for the highest good. Thus the redemptive
power of the new faith finds a fresh illustration. There is a Divine
purpose making for good in the midst of evil : the children of light
can perceive it and follow its guidance, 'proving what is well-
pleasing to the Lord '. Only heedless folly can miss it : c Wherefore ', v 1 7
he adds, 'be ye not fools, but tmderstand what the will of the
Lord is'.
' And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess'. Elsewhere v 18
this last word is translated 'riot'. The Apostle's meaning is that Tit. i 6;
drunkenness leads to excess in a more general sense, to dissolute- I e ' 1V 4
ness and ruin. The actual words 'Be not drunk with wine' are
borrowed, as other precepts have been borrowed in the former
chapter, from the Old Testament 1 . They are found in the Greek
translation of Proverbs xxiii 31, where they are followed by the
contrast, 'but converse with righteous men' 2 .
t be filled, with the, Spirit'- more literally 'in' or 'through
the Spirit'. There is a fulness, which is above all carnal satis-
faction ; a spiritual fulness wrought by the Holy Spirit. It issues
not, as fulness of wine, in disorder and moral wreck, but in a
gladness of cheerful intercourse, psalm and hymn and spiritual
song, a melody of hearts chanting to the Lord.
The first age of the Christian Church was characterised by a
vivid enthusiasm which found expression in ways which recall the
simplicity of childhood. It was a period of wonder and delight.
The floodgates of emotion were opened : a supernatural dread
alternated with an unspeakable joy. Thus we read at one moment Acts ii 43,
that ' fear came upon every soul ', and at the next that ' they did eat 4**
their meat with exultation and simplicity of heart'. 'Great fear' vs, u
results from a Divine manifestation of judgment : ' great joy ' from a viii 8
Divine manifestation of healing power. Thus 'the Church went in is 3 r
the fear of the Lord and in the consolation of the Holy Spirit '. The
Apostles openly rejoiced as they left the council that they had been v 41
allowed to suffer for the Name : Paul and Silas in the prison at xvi 25
Philippi prayed and sang hymns to God, so that the prisoners heard
them. Nowhere in literature is the transition from passionate grief
to enthusiastic delight more glowingly pourtrayed than in St Paul's
1 See above on iv 25 f. is quite different : ' Look not thou
2 The Hebrew text of the passage upon the wine when it is red', etc.
122 EXPOSITION OF THE [V 19, 20
second epistle to the Corinthian Church. From such a writer in
such an age we can understand the combination of the precepts to
set free the emotion of a perpetual thankfulness in outbursts o
hearty song, and at the same time to preserve the orderliness of
v 19 ff. social relations under the influence of an overmastering awe : ' speak-
ing to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and 'making melody with your heart to the Lord; giving thanks
always for all things in the name of our Lord Jemis Christ unto
our God and Father; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear
of Christ '.
The implied contrast with the revelry of drunkenness makes it
plain that in speaking of Christian psalmody the Apostle is not
primarily referring to public worship, but to social gatherings in
which a common meal was accompanied by sacred song. For the
early Christians these gatherings took the place of the many
public feasts in the Greek cities from which they found themselves
necessarily excluded, by reason of the idolatrous rites with which
such banquets were associated. The agapae, or charity-suppers,
afforded an opportunity by which the richer members of the com-
munity-could-gather their-poorer-brethren-in- hospitable~fellowshipr
In the earliest times these suppers were hallowed by the solemn
'breaking of the bread', followed by singing, exhortations and
prayers. And even when the Eucharist of the Church had ceased
to be connected with a common supper, these banquets retained a
semi-eucharistic character, and the element of praise and thanks-
giving still held an important place in them.
v 20 ' Giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ unto our God and Father'. The parallel passage in
the companion epistle enforces the duty of thanksgiving no less
forcibly. After urging upon the Colossians gentleness, forgiveness
Col. iii 15 and peace, he proceeds : ' And be ye thankful. Let the word of
ff> Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom : teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with grace,
singing in your hearts to God : and whatsoever ye do in word or in
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God
the Father through Him '.
The expression, which occurs in both these passages, l in the
name of\ corresponds to the reiterated expressions * in Christ ' and
' in the Lord '. Believers are in Him : they must speak and act in
His name.
' Unto our God and Father '. The rendering in the Authorised
Version, ' unto God and the Father', does not satisfactorily represent
the original, which means 'to Him who is at once God and the
V2i,22] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 123
Father'. We are to give thanks to God, who in Christ has now
been revealed to us as 'the Father'.
4 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ '. The v i
enthusiasm of which the Apostle has spoken is far removed from
fanaticism. The glad life of the Christian community is a life of
duly constituted order. The Apostle of liberty is the Apostle of
order and subordination. This is strikingly illustrated by the fact
that the verb ' to submit oneself ' (often rendered ' to be subject ') is
used twenty-three times by St Paul. If we except i St Peter, which
is not independent of St Paul's epistles, it occurs but nine times in
the rest of the New Testament. "We may recall a few passages :
'Let every soul be subject to the higher powers'; 'The spirits of Eom.xiiii
the prophets are subject to the prophets'; 'Then shall even the L.
Son Himself be subject to Him that hath subjected all things
unto Him'.
Recognise, says the Apostle, that in the Divine ordering of
human life one is subject to another. We must not press this to
mean that even the highest is in some sense subject to those who
are beneath him. St Jerome indeed takes this view, and proceeds
himself in collision. But the Apostle is careful in what follows to
make his meaning abundantly clear, and does not stultify his precept
by telling husbands to be subject to their wives, but to love them ;
nor parents to be subject to their children, but to nurture them in
the discipline of the Lord.
. The motive of due subordination is given in the remarkable
phrase 'the fear of Christ'. In the Old Testament the guiding
principle of human life is again and again declared to be ' the fear
of the Lord', or 'the fear of God'. This is 'the beginning of
wisdom', and 'the whole duty of man'. St Paul boldly recasts
the principle for the Christian society in the unique expression ' the
fear of Christ'. He will interpret his meaning as he shews by
repeated illustrations that the authority which corresponds to
natural relationships finds its pattern and its sanction in the
authority of Christ over His Church.
' Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the v 22
Lord'. Having struck the key-note of subordination the recogni-
tion of the sacred principles of authority and obedience the Apostle
proceeds to give a series of positive precepts for the regulation of
social life, which is divinely founded on the unchanging institution
of the family. He deals in turn with the duties of wives and
husbands, of children and parents, of servants and masters;
beginning in each case with the responsibility of obedience, and
124 EXPOSITION OB 1 THE [V 23 25
passing from that to the responsibility which rests on those to
whom obedience is due. Those who obey must obey as though
they were obeying Christ: those who are obeyed must find the
pattern of their conduct in the love and care of Christ, and must
remember that they themselves owe obedience in their turn to
Christ.
The thought of the parallel between earthly and heavenly
relationships has already found expression at an early point in
iii 14! the epistle, where the Apostle speaks of 'the Father from whom
all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named'. In the present
passage it leads him back to his special topic of the relation of
Christ to the Church as a whole. It enables him to link the
simplest precepts of social morality with the most transcendent
doctrines of the Christian faith. The common life of the home is
discovered to be fraught with a far-reaching mystery. The natural
relationships are hallowed by their heavenly patterns.
v 23 f. ' f r the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head
of the church, being Himself the saviour of the body'. This last-
clause is added to interpret the special sense in which Christ is here
_. called_l-the_head_of-the-church-. We-have-already-had-occasion-i
observe that this metaphor of headship does not to St Paul's mind
exhaustively express the relation of Christ to His Body 1 . For, in
fact, Christ is more than the Head : He is the Whole of which
i Cor. xii His members are parts. ' For as the body is one and hath many
12 members, and all the members' including the head 'are one
body: so also is the Christ'. To this more intimate relation, not
of headship, but of identification, the Apostle will point us a little
later .on in this passage. For the moment he contents himself with
explaining the special thought which he has here in view. ' Christ
is the head of the church, as being Himself the saviour of the body '.
It is the function of the head to plan the safety of the body, to
secure it from danger and to provide for its welfare. In the highest
sense this function is fulfilled by Christ for the Church : in a lower
sense it is fulfilled by the husband for the wife. In either case the
responsibility to protect is inseparably linked with the right to rule :
the head is obeyed by the body. This is the Apostle's point ; and
accordingly he checks himself, as it were, from a fuller exposition of
v 24 the thoughts towards which he is being led : ' but ' for this is the
matter in hand 'as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the
wives be to their husbands in every thing '.
v 25 . ' Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church t
and gave Himself for it '. Subordination must be met by love. The
1 See above pp. 41 f., 103.
V26,27] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 12 J
relation of Christ to the Church still supplies the heavenly pattern.
'Hast thou seen', says St Chrysostom, 'the measure of obedience?
hear also the measure of love '.
Just as the Apostle interpreted the headship of Christ by the
insertion of the clause 'being Himself the saviour of the body'; so
here he interprets the love of Christ by a group of sentences which
lift him for the moment high above his immediate theme.
' Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it '. This is a
repetition of words which he has used already in urging the general
duty of love : ' Christ loved us, and gave Himself for us '. Here, as v a
there, the love is defined as the love of self-surrender: but the
sequel is different : there it was that He might Himself be a sweet-
smelling offering to God; here it is that He might hallow and
cleanse His Bride the Church.
{ That He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the washing of water v 26
with the word'. We are reminded of St Paul's appeal to the
Corinthians: 'Such were some of you' fornicators, idolaters, and iCor.vin
the like : ' but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were
justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of
-our-God-^
The ' word ' that is here spoken of as accompanying ' the
washing of water' is plainly some solemn mention of 'the name
of the Lord Jesus ', in which they ' were washed ' from their former
sins. The candidate for baptism confessed his faith in the Name :
the rite of baptism was administered in the Name. The actual
phrase which is here used is vague : literally translated it is ' in a
word ' : that is to say, accompanied by a solemn word or formula,
which expressed the intention of baptiser and baptised, and thus
gave its spiritual meaning to ' the washing of water '. The purpose
of Christ was accordingly that He might hallow His Bride by the
cleansing waters of a sacrament in which, in response to her confes-
sion, His Name was laid upon her.
*That He might present the church to Himself all-glorious, not v 27
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy
and without blemish 1 . More literally, 'that He might Himself
present the church to Himself, glorious', etc. We may contrast
the language which the Apostle uses to the Corinthian Church:
'I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God; for I betrothed 2 Cor.xi 5
you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ'.
Here no human agency is allowed to intervene. The heavenly
Bridegroom cleanses and sanctifies the Church His Bride, and then
Himself presents her to Himself in the glory of immaculate beauty
and unfading youth.
126 EXPOSITION OF THE [72832
Such is the love of the Divine Husband to His Bride, of Christ
v 28 the Head to His own Body the Church. ' So ought the husbands also
to love their wives as their own bodies '. The conclusion follows at
once, if indeed it be true that the husband is the head, and the wife
the body. Nay, the relation is if possible more intimate still : the
v 29 f. man is in fact loving himself. 'He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man ever yet hated his otvn flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth
it, even as Christ the church ; for we are members of His body '. The
Apostle is gradually passing away from the thought of headship to
the more mysterious thought of complete oneness. This thought he
will not expand : he will only point to it as the spiritual significance
of the fundamental principle enunciated from the beginning in the
Gen. ii 24 words ' they two shall be one flesh '. Some manuscripts anticipate
his reference to the book of Genesis by inserting at this place ' of
His flesh and of His bones '. But the words appear to be a gloss,
and the passage is complete without them.
v 31 'For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother \ and shall
be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh '. To these
words our Lord appeals in the Gospel, when He is confronted by the
_Mark_x_7__comparative-Jaxity_of-the-Mosaic-legislation- in regard to-divoreer-
^- 'They are no more twain', is the conclusion He draws, 'but one
flesh: what therefore God hath joined together let not man put
asunder'. St Paul makes his appeal to the same words with a
different purpose. He is justifying his statement that 'he that
loveth his wife loveth himself '. This must be so, he declares, for it
is written, ' they two shall be one flesh '. But if it be true in the
natural sphere, it is true also of the heavenly pattern. Hence he
vsa adds: 'This mystery is great; but I speak it concerning Christ and
the church'. The Apostle does not mean that the complete union
of husband and wife as 'one flesh', which is declared in the words
which he has cited, is a very mysterious thing, hard to be understood.
In English we can speak of ' a great mystery ' in this sense, using the
epithet ' great ' simply to emphasise or heighten the word to which
it is attached ; as in the familiar phrases ' a great inconvenience',
'a great pity'. But the corresponding word in Greek is not so
used : it retains its proper meaning of magnitude or importance : so
that ' a great mystery ' means ' an important or far-reaching mystery'.
Here the word ' mystery ' probably signifies either something which
contains a secret meaning not obvious to all, or the secret meaning
itself. Accordingly the Apostle's words mean either that the state-
ment which he has quoted is a symbolical statement of wide import,
or that the secret meaning therein contained is of wide import. In
either case he is practically saying : There is more here than appears
V 33 VI i] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 12;
on the surface; there is an. inner meaning of high importance:
I speak it or, I use the words of Christ and the Church.
In conclusion he returns to the practical lesson which it is the
duty of his readers to draw for themselves in daily life. ' Nevertlie- v 33
less let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself;
and the wife see that she reverence her husband '. The word translated
' reverence ' would be more literally rendered ' fear '. At the close
of the section the Apostle strikes again the key-note with which he
began. 'The fear of Christ' the fear of the Church for Christ v 21
which is the pattern of the fear of the wife for her husband is no
slavish fear, but a fear of reverence. Just as the word is often
applied in the Old Testament to the reverence due to God, so it is
used of the reverence due to parents : ' Ye shall fear every man his Lev. xix 3
mother, and his father'. Moreover, of Joshua it is said, 'they Josh. iv 14
feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life ' : and in
Proverbs we read, ' My son, fear thou the Lord and the king '. Prov. xxiv
21
1 CHILDREN, obey your parents in the Lord: for this isvii 9
right. 2 Honour thy father and mother ; which is the first
-
and thou mayest live long on the earth. 4 And, ye fathers,
provoke not your children to wrath : but bring them up in
the discipline and admonition of the Lord.
5 Servants, be obedient to your masters according to the
flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart,
as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice as menpleasers, but as
servants of Christ, 7 doing the will of God; doing service
heartily with good-will, as to the Lord, and not to men:
^knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the
same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or
free. s And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, for-
bearing threatening; knowing that both their Master and
yours is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with
him.
' Children, obey your parents in the Lord : for this is right ', or vi
'righteous'. The precept accords at once with natural right, and
with the righteousness enforced by the Divine law. That the latter
point of view is not excluded is shewn by the citation from the
Decalogue.
128 EXPOSITION OP THE [VI 25
vi a f . < Honour thy father and mother ; which is the first command-
ment with, promise ; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest
live long on the earth'. The importance of this obligation in the
Mosaic legislation may be seen by the prominent place which it
Lev. xix holds in the following passage of the Book of Leviticus : ' Speak
1 unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto
them: Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Ye
shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep My
sabbaths: I am the Lord your God'.
In characterising the Gentiles of whom he thrice says that
' God gave them up ', the Apostle notes among other signs of their
Bom. i 30 depravity that they were ' disobedient to parents '. Similarly the
2 Tim. iii 2 evil men of ' the last days ' are described as ' disobedient to parents '
and ' without natural affection '.
Obedience is to be rendered 'in the Lord'. Although the
Apostle does not expand the thought, he returns in this expression
V2i to the key-note which was first struck in the phrase 'in the fear
of Christ'.
vi 4 ' And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath ; but bring
-them up in the-discipline-and admonition of the Lord". After
insisting on obedience, the Apostle enforces the right exercise of
authority. His demand is not only negative the avoidance of
a capricious exercise of authority, which irritates and disheartens
the child (compare CoL iii 21, 'lest they be discouraged') : but it
is also positive. For parents are as much bound to insist on
obedience as children are to render it. There is a 'discipline of
the Lord ' which is the responsibility of the parent, just as obedience
' in the Lord ' is the duty of the child.
vi 5 ' Servants (slaves), be obedient to your masters (lords) according
to the flesh*. This passage gains in force when we observe that
in several instances the same Greek word is repeated where in
English a variety of renderings is almost unavoidable. Thus the
word which in v. i has been rendered ' obey ' must here be rendered
' be obedient to ', in order to bring out the parallel ' (obedient) to
your masters... as to Christ'. Again, the Greek has throughout the
same word for ' master ' and for ' Lord ' ; and in like manner the
same word for ' servant ' and for ' bond '. This latter word might
equally well be rendered 'slave': for it is bondservice that is
primarily intended.
' With fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as to
Christ '. The relation of slaves to their masters offered a problem
which could not be overlooked in the new Christian society. The
Gal. iii 28 spiritual liberty and equality proclaimed by St Paul 'there can.
YI6 9] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
be no bond nor free. . .for all of you are one man in Christ Jesus '
might easily be misinterpreted with disastrous results. The Apostle
of liberty, however, was, as we have already seen, the Apostle of
order. Spiritual freedom was to him not inconsistent with subjec-
tion 'in the fear of Christ'. Accordingly he rules out at once in v
the plainest terms the notion that the Gospel affords any pretext
to the slave for insubordination or for a careless attitude towards
his earthly master. On the contrary he declares that the Gospel
heightens obligations, by regarding the service rendered to the
earthly lord as service rendered to the heavenly Lord. It thus
brought a new meaning into the life of the Christian slave. He
was Christ's slave, doing God's will in his daily tasks. This con-
sideration would affect the thoroughness of his work: 'not withv
eyeservice as menpleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will
of God': and also its temper: 'doing service heartily with good-
will^ as to the Lord, and not to men'. A further thought of
encouragement is added. "Work has its value and its reward,
whether the condition of the worker be bond or free: whatever
good has been done, whether by slave or by master, will be repaid
-by_the_Master of both alike : * knowing that whatsoever good thing vi 8
any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be
bond or free'.
If the burden of hopelessness is thus lifted from the slave,
a new burden of responsibility is fastened on the shoulders of
the master. Willing and thorough service must be met by
a kindly and considerate rule: 'And, ye masters, do the same-ng,
things unto them, forbearing threatening ; knowing that both their
Master and yours is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons
with Him 1 .
If we are to judge aright the message which the Gospel brought
to the slave in apostolic days, we must needs make an effort of
the historical imagination. For we of the present time think of
the institution of slavery in the lurid light of the African slave-
traffic and its attendant horrors. It is not solely the ownership
of one man by another man which revolts us. It is still more
the crushing of a savage by a civilised race, and the treating of.
a black man as less than human by a white. But the Greek
slave at Corinth was not separated by so wide and deep a gulf.'
from his master ; nor was his lot so intolerable as the term slavery-
suggests to modern ears. If it had been, then surely we should
have found St Paul proclaiming to Christian masters the immediate
duty of emancipating their slaves. He does not, however, speak
of slavery as a social evil crying for a remedy. Philemon indeed
EPHBS. 2 o
130 EXPOSITION OF THE [VI 10
Philem. i6is to treat Onesimus as 'more than a slave, a brother beloved':
but Onesimus must go back to Philemon. Apostolic Christianity
did not present itself to the world with a social programme of
reform. It undertook to create a new human unity under present
conditions, teaching master and slave that they were members of
the same body, sharers in a common life, both alike related to
one Lord. It strove to make this human unity the one new
Man a visible reality in the Christian Church. It dealt with
the conditions which it found, and shewed how they might be
turned by master and slave alike into opportunities for * doing
good ' which would be rewarded ,by the common Master of them
both. At the same time it planted a seed which was to grow in
secret to a distant and glorious harvest.
vi 1020 10 FiNALLT, be strong in the Lord, and in the might of
His strength. "Put on the armour of God, that ye may be
able to stand against the wiles of the devil. "For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities,
againsib_the_pow_ers,-agamst-the-r^lers-of-the-darkness-of^ias
world, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly
places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the armour of God, that
ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done
all to stand. ** Stand therefore, having your loins girt about
with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness,
x sand your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace; l6 withal taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall
be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
x 7And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God, l8 with all prayer and sup-
plication praying always in the Spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints; ^and
for me, that utterance may be given unto me, in the opening
of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the
gospel, 30 for which I am an ambassador in bonds ; that therein
I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
As we approach the close of the epistle it is well that we
should look back and try to realise its main drift. The Apostle
began with a disclosure of the great purpose of God for the world
VI IQ] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 131
the gathering into one of all things in the Christ. He prayed that i 10
his readers might have the eyes of their hearts opened to see and i 18
understand this purpose and their own share in the realisation of
it. He shewed that while hitherto they, as Gentiles, had stood iii iff.
outside the sphere of the special development of the purpose, they
were now no longer outside it, but within. For a new beginning
had been made : Jew and Gentile had been welded together in
Christ to form God's New Man. The proclamation of this oneness iii i ff.
of mankind in Christ was the mission which was specially entrusted
to St Paul, and for which he was in bonds. That they should
know and understand all this was his earnest prayer, as their
knowledge of it was an essential preliminary of its realisation.
Having been given this unity, they must keep it. They had been iv 3
called to be parts of the One Man, to be limbs of the Body through
which Christ was fulfilling Himself; and this consideration must
rule their life in every detail. Here was the ground of the distinc-
tion of functions in the various members of the Body : some were iv nff.
given by Christ to be apostles, others to be prophets, and so forth,
to fit the saints as a whole for the service which they were called
till all should meet in one grown Man, who should at length have
reached the complete stature of the fulness of the Christ. Here
too was the ground of the commonest of obligations: the reason,
for example, why they should not lie to one another was that they iv 25
were members one of another. The positive duties of social life
found their sanction in the same doctrine of unity in the Christ:
the reason why wives should be subject to their husbands, and why v 22
husbands should love their wives, was that husband and wife stand
to each other even as Christ and the Church; in a relation of
authority and obedience, and yet in a relation of perfect oneness
not twain, but one. Children and parents, slaves and masters, were vi i ff.
in like manner to exemplify the ordered harmony of the new life,
in Christ.
At last he draws to a close. He comes back from these special
injunctions which deal with particular relationships to a general
exhortation which concerns the whole. For there is one thing
more to be said. It is not enough to remember that harmony
and mutual helpfulness are the conditions of the Body's growth
and health. If all be well within, there is yet an outside foe to
be continually faced. A struggle is to be maintained with no
visible human enemy, but with superhuman and invisible forces
of evil. And for this conflict a divine strength is needed. God's
New Man must be clad in the very armour of God.
9 2
132 EXPOSITION OF THE [VI 10 iz
vi 10 f. * Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the might of Hi* strength.
Put on the armour of God'.. This note of strength was sounded
i 19 f. at the outset. The Apostle prayed that they might know 'the ex-
ceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to,
the working of the might of His strength, which He hath wrought
in Christ ', as the Resurrection and Ascension have testified. There
the triumph of Christ occupied the Apostle's mind : Christ's exalta-
tion in the heavenly sphere above all forces, good or evil, of the
spiritual world. Here he has in view the need of the same mighty
strength, in order that the Church may realise and consummate
that triumph. A comparison of the two passages will shew how
much of the earlier language is repeated in this final charge.
vi ii 'Put on the armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil '. The word ' whole ' which is inserted in the
Authorised Version is redundant, and tends to obscure the Apostle's
meaning. It is God's panoply, or armour, which must be put on.
The divineness, rather than the completeness, of the outfit is em-
vi 13 phasised : and this becomes clear when the phrase is repeated and
explained later on. The contrast here is between 'the armour of
_God-^and-^-the-wdles-of-the-devil-:-and-the^A;postle-is-led-by-this-
latter phrase to define more expressly the nature of the conflict 1 .
vi 12 'For we wrestle not against flesh and blood': literally, 'for to
us the wrestling is not against blood and flesh '. The emphasis falls
on the personal pronoun: l we have not to wrestle with a human
foe ' : not on the metaphor of wrestling, which is only introduced
by the way, and is not further alluded to.
'But against the principalities, against the powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly places'. We have seen already that
St Paul speaks in the language of his time when he describes the
world as subject to spiritual powers who have fallen from their
i 21 first estate and are in rebellion against God. In his first mention
of them he left it open to us to regard them as not necessarily evil
powers : his one point was that whatever they might be Christ
was exalted above them all in the" heavenly sphere. In a later
iii I0 passage he spoke of them again in neutral language, as watching
the development of God's eternal purpose for man, and learning
'through the Church the very-varied wisdom of God'. Similarly
Col. i 1 6 in the companion epistle he declares that they have all been
created in Christ; and some of them at least appear to be not
1 So Wiclif renders rightly, 'Clothe you with the armure of @od'; and
Tyndale, 'Put on the armour of God'.
VI 1214] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 133
irretrievably lost, but to be included in the reconciliation of 'things
in earth and things in heaven' . In a later passage indeed they Col. ii 15
appear as enemies over whom Christ has triumphed : and this is
in harmony with the words which we are now considering. For
here they are declared to be the dangerous foe which meets the
Church in that heavenly sphere, the invisible world, in which the
spiritual life is lived 1 .
' Wherefore take unto you the armour of God, that ye may beri 13
able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand 1 .
The Apostle returns to his original metaphor of warfare, which he
will now proceed to expand. The struggle is with a superhuman
foe, and necessitates a superhuman armour. Terrible as is the
foe, the Apostle never doubts for a moment of the issue of the
conflict. The battle has been already won by Christ Himself,
who on His cross stripped off and flung aside the principalities Col. ii 15
and the powers and put them to open shame. His triumph has
to be realised in His Body the Church. He was pictured by the
prophets as the Divine warrior who came forth clad in Divine
armour to battle with iniquity. In the same armour He goes
"forth again in the person of^His~~Church7~' conquering and~~to con- Apocrvi'cr
quer'. Hence the Apostle never contemplates the possibility of
defeat : he is but pointing the way to a victory which needs to
be consummated.
' Stand therefore, having your loins girt about zoith truth, and vi 14
having on the breastplate of righteousness '. The panoply, or suit
of armour, of the Roman heavy infantry is fully described for us
by Polybius, who enters into its minutest details 2 . St Paul in
this passage, as we have said, lays no stress on the completeness
of the outfit : indeed he omits two of its essential portions, the
greaves and the spear; while on the other hand he emphasises
the need of being girded and shod, requirements of all active
service, and by no means peculiar to the soldier. The fact is
that, as his language proves, he is thinking far less of the Roman
soldiers, who from time to time had guarded him, than of the
Divine warrior who was depicted more than once by the Old
Testament prophets.
Two passages of the Book of Isaiah were specially in his
mind. In one the prophet has described what was indeed 'an
evil day ' :
1 See above, pp. 20 fl., 49,80. On St Paul to contemporary thought',
the whole subject the reader may especially the chapter on The world
consult with advantage Mr H. St J. of spirits'.
Thackeray's essay on The relation of a Polybius vi 23.
134 EXPOSITION OF THE [VI 14
Isa. lix Judgment is turned away backward,
14 * And righteousness standeth afar off:
For truth is fallen in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.
Tea, truth is lacking;
And he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey:
And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was
no judgment.
Then the Divine warrior steps forth to do battle with iniquity :
He saw that there was no man,
And wondered that there was none to interpose:
Therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him;
And His righteousness, it upheld Him.
And He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
And an helmet of salvation upon His head;
And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
And was clad with zeal as a cloke.
An earlier prophecy had pictured the Divine King of the future
as anointed with the sevenfold Spirit, and going forth to make first
war, and then peace, in the earth :
Isa. xi 4f. He shall smite the earth with the word of His mouth 1 ;
And with the Spirit through His lips shall He slay the
wicked :
And He shall have His loins girt about with righteousness,
And His reins girdled with truth.
Wisd. v A notable passage in the Book of Wisdom shews how these
J 7 ff - descriptions of 'the armour of God' had impressed themselves on
the mind of another Jew besides St Paul :
He shall take His jealousy as a panoply,
And shall make the whole creation His weapons for vengeance
on His enemies :
He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate,
And shall array Himself with judgment unfeigned as with
a helmet;
He shall take holiness as an invincible shield,
And He shall sharpen stern wrath as a sword.
The Apostle does not hesitate, then, to take the words of
ancient prophecy and transfer them from God and the Divine
representative King to the New Man in Christ, whom he arms
1 So the Oreek Bible renders it.
VI 1417] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 135
for the same conflict with the very ' armour of God *. In so doing
he was in harmony with the spirit of the prophet of old. For the
voice which cried, * Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Isa. lip;
Lord', cried also, ' Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Sion '. I
'And your feet shod with the preparation (or, * readiness') of the vi 15
gospel of peace ' / prepared, as it were, from the outset to announce
peace as the outcome of victory. The readiness of the messenger
of peace is a thought derived from another passage of the Book
of Isaiah : ' How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him isa. lii 7
that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth
good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto
Zion, Thy God reigneth ! '
' Withal taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able tori i6f.
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one : and take the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the Spirit '. Girded, guarded, and
shod, with truth, with righteousness, and with readiness to publish
the good tidings of peace: while all that the foe can see is the
great oblong shield, the crested helm, and the pointed two-edged
blade the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword
-of-the-Spiritr
' The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God'. The
comparison of speech to a sword is frequent in the Old Testament :
'whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp PS. Ivii 4;
sword ' : ' who have whet their tongue like a sword, and shoot out ^ v 3
their arrows, even bitter words ' : ' He hath made my mouth like Isa. xlix 2
a sharp sword'. And in the Apocalypse Christ is represented asApoc.ii6;
having a sword proceeding out of His mouth. The passage which xix *5
is immediately in the Apostle's mind is one which we have already
quoted : ' He shall smite the earth with the word of His mouth, Isa. xi 4
and with the Spirit (or, breath) through His lips shall. He slay
the wicked '. St Paul gathers up these words into a new combina-
tion, 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the word (or, utterance)
of God'.
The word of God, as uttered through His prophets, is spoken
of as an instrument of vengeance : ' Therefore have I hewed them Hos. vi 5
by the prophets : I have slain them by the words of My mouth ';
But from such a thought as this the Apostle rapidly passed to the
mention of prayer as the natural utterance of Christian lips, and
the effective instrument of success in the conflict with evil. We
may note the repetition : 'the sword of the Spirit... pray ing in the
Spirit'. It is almost as though the Apostle had said, For the
Divine warrior the sword of the Spirit is His own utterance which
puts His enemies to flight : for you it is the utterance of prayer
136 EXPOSITION OF THE [VI 1720
in the Spirit. If this is not clearly expressed, yet it seems to be
implied by the close connexion which binds the whole passage to-
gether : ' Take. . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, with
all prayer and supplication praying always in the Spirit '. Prayer is
Bom. viii indeed the utterance of the Spirit in us, crying Abba, Father, and
1J >' . * making intercession for us according to the will of God.
' And watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all the saints'. If the military metaphor is not distinctly
carried on by the word * watching ', the injunction is at any rate
peculiarly appropriate at this point. God's warrior, fully armed,
must be wakeful and alert, or all his preparation will be vain.
vi 19 f. ' And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, in the
opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery
of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds ; that therein
I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak'. At this point the
Apostle's language again runs parallel with that which he uses
in the Epistle to the Colossians. For there the exhortation to
Col. iv 2 ff. slaves and their masters is followed at once by the words : ' Perse-
vere in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving, praying withal
for-us-alsorthat-God~wouldi>pen unto us a door of utterance, to
speak the mystery of the Christ, for which also I am in bonds,
that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak '. This parallel
determines the meaning of the phrase ' the opening of my mouth '.
It is not, as our Authorised Yersion renders it, ' that I may open
my mouth'; but rather 'that God may open my mouth*. He is
the giver of the utterance. The Apostle is His spokesman, His
ambassador, though, by a strange paradox, he wears a chain.
vizi 24 2I BuT that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do;
Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the
Lord, shall make known unto you all things: 22 whom I have
sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our
affairs, and that be might comfort your hearts.
a3 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God
the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
s *Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ
in incorruptibility.
The words which concern the mission of Tychicus are found also
Col. iv 7 in the Epistle to the Colossians, with hardly a difference, except
that there Onesimus is joined with him. Tychicus is mentioned
.Acts xx 4 ia the Acts together with Trophimus as a native of proconsular
VI 2i 24] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. I3J
Asia, who met St Paul at Troas on his return from Greece through
Macedonia in the year 58 A.D. This was the memorable journey
which issued in the Apostle's arrest in the temple at Jerusalem
and his imprisonment at Caesarea. It is probable that as a dele-
gate of the Colossian Church he went, as Trophimus did on behalf Actsxxisi
O 7 A
of the Ephesians, the whole of the way to Jerusalem. But at least
we may think of him as present when the Apostle preached and
broke bread at Troas, and when he addressed the Ephesian Elders
at Miletus. This was five years before the date of the present
epistle, which he carried from Borne to the several Asian Churches.
Five years later we find him again with St Paul, who speaks of Tit. iii 12
sending him or Artemas to visit Titus in Crete, and who actually * ^ m - * T
sent him not long afterwards to Ephesus. So by acts of service
extending over a period of ten years he justified his title of 'the
beloved brother' and the Apostles' 'faithful minister*.
' Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the vi 23
father and the Lord Je&us Christ'. In sharp contrast with the
full list of salutations addressed to individuals in the Colossian
Church stands this general greeting, which will serve alike for
each of the Churches to which the~~letter~is~brought;
* Grace be with all them that love ou/r Lord Jesus Christ in in- vi 24
corruptibility'. St Paul invariably closes his epistles by invoking
upon his readers the gift of that ' grace ' which holds so prominent
a place in all his thought. In one of his earliest epistles we read :
' The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand, which is the i Thess.
* o
token in every epistle: thus I write: The grace of our Lord Jesus 1U I 7 t -
Christ be with you all'. We may suppose then that after he had
dictated the general salutation which took the place of individual
greetings, he himself wrote with his own hand what he regarded
as his sign-manual. This final salutation is still general in its
terms, being couched in the third person contrary to his custom.
The words have in part a familiar ring. Again and again in the
Old Testament and the later Jewish writings mercy is promised Exod. xx
to or invoked upon ' them that love ' God. It comes naturally ^ etc<
therefore to the Apostle to invoke 'grace' upon 'all them that
love our Lord Jesus Christ'. But to this he adds a new phrase,
to which we have no parallel 'in incorruptibility'.
There is nothing in the immediate context which leads up to
or helps to explain this phrase. The word 'incorruptibility* has
not occurred in the epistle: but the Apostle uses it elsewhere
in the following passages: 'To them who by patient continuance Rom. ii 7
in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality'', 'It * 2 ' xv
is sown in corruption: it is raised in incorruption...i<x this cor- 53$.
138 EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [VI 24
2 Tim. i ro ruptible must put on interruption', <fec.; 'Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel'. It signifies that imperishableness
fy Whch is an attribute of God Himself, and which belongs to the
unchanging order of the eternal world. Imperishableness is the
characteristic of our new life in Christ and of our love to Him.
That life and that love are in truth immortal; they belong to a
region which is beyond the touch of decay and death.
So the epistle which opened with a bold glance into the eternal
past closes with the outlook of an immortal hope.
HPOS E^ESIOYS
"Qcnrep ta row <n/uaro? 6 irorijp eXaXei KOI laro, OVT<OS Kal irporepov
(lev Sta raw Trpofprfrcav, vvv 8e Sta TOW aTrooToXtov icat T<BJ> (Sa(TKaXa>i'. T)
fKK\r)cria yap VTnjpcTfi rfj TOV Kuplov cvepyeia. evdev KOI Tore avdpamov
dvehaftev tva 81 OVTOV vmjpeTijoTj rqi 6f\rnuvri TOV warpos, KOI iravrarc
avdpanrov 6 <pi\avdp<t)iros evbverai Qebs els TTJV avdpemtav traynjpiav, irporepov
TOVS Trpocpijras, vvv 8e TTJV enK\r](riav.
Even as through the body the Scmour used to speak and heal, so afore-
time through the prophets and now through the apostles and teachers.
For the Church subserves the mighty working of the Lord. Whence both
at that time He took upon Him man, that through him He might sub'
serve the father's will; and at all times in His love to man God clothes
Himself with man for the salvation of men, aforetime with the prophets,
now with the Church.
CLEMENT OP ALEXANDBIA, Eclog. Proph. 23.
HPOS E$ESIOYS.
nAYAOS d.7rda"ro\os Xpicrrou *lri<rov
/Jo ~ C / /> ? P >TT< Jv ' T '
ueov TOK ayioK TOK ov<riv \_ev iKpeo-wJ KCU
TTUTTOK ev \picrTc5 'ltj(rov' *X<*P K VIMV Kal eipijvt] anro
Beov TraTpos tjfjuSi/ KCU KVpiov 'Itja-ov X|0i<rToy.
i, 2. 'PAUL, an apostle of Christ an epithet in which the two senses of
Jesus by the will of God, to the irioris, 'belief and 'fidelity', appear
members of God's consecrated Peo- to be blended : see Lightfoot Gala-
pie who are [in EPHESUS,] faithful tiansp. 157.
believers in Christ Jesus. I give 2. ^a/us vp.lv ical clpjinj] The Greek
you the new watchword with the old salutation was x a W flv > which occurs
Grace and pj?ace_be^wjthjyotu from in the letter of the Apostles and
God our Father and from thlTLord Elders~torthe GentilesrActs-xv-23|-in
Jesus Christ'. that of Claudias Lysias, Acts xxiii 26,
i. rot? dyt'ots] For the transference and in the Epistle of St James. The
of the technical description of the oriental salutation was 'Peace': see
ancient People to the members of the Ezra iv 17 ('Peace, and at such a
Christian Church, see Lightfoot on time'), v 7, [vii 12], Dan. iv i, vi 25 ;
Col. i 2 and Phil, i i. and contrast the Greek recensions
ev 'E^eV^] See the note on the i Esdr.vi 7, viii 9, Esther xvii, where
various readings. The omission of we have x<u'pi>.
the words leaves us with two possible The present combination occurs in
interpretations: (i) 'to the saints all the Pauline epistles (except i and
which are ...... and the faithful in 2 Tim. and Titus [?], where eXeos
Christ Jesus', a space being left, to intervenes: comp. 2 John 3). It is
be filled in each case by the name of the also found in Apoc. i 4, and with
particular Church to which the letter ir\r)dvvdelij in i and z Peter. In Jude
was brought by Tychicus its bearer ; or we have eXeos , elp^vtj and ay am).
(2) 'to the saints which are also faith- Whether x^P ts was m ^7 Wa 7 ,
ful in Christ Je$w\ The former suggested by xaipeiv must remain i
interpretation is supported by the doubtful : a parallel may possibly be ;i
parallels in Rom. i 7 TOW ovo-tpeVPoj/*//, found in the emphatic introduction
and Phil, i i rots o&m/ ev *tXtWois. A of xapo in i John i 4. What is plain is
strong objection to the latter is the that St Paul prefixes to the character-
unusual stress which is thrown upon istic blessing of the Old Dispensation
leal Trio-row by the intervention of rois (comp. Numb, vi 26) the characteristic
ovviv unaccompanied by the mention blessing of the New. The combination
of a locality. is typical of his position as the Hebrew
Kal irurrois] The 'saints' are further Apostle to the Gentiles. See further
defined as 'faithful in Christ Jestts ', the detached note on
142 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [I 3, 4
3 Ev\oyriTOs 6 Oeos KM Trarrip TOV Kvpiov
XpicTToi/, 6 ei/Xoryijtras *;/uas ev TTCMT*/ evXoyia
rj ev TOIS eirovpaviots ev XpurTta, 4 Ka6cbs ee-
3 10. 'I begin by blessing God Here StrPaul combines the two signifi-
who has blessed us, not with an cations: EvXoyi/rof... 6 cvXayqo-as TJIMS.
earthly blessing of the basket and the o 6ebs KOI n-anjp] The first, as well
store, but with all spiritual blessing as the second of these titles, is to be
hi the heavenly region in Christ, taken with the following genitive. A
Such was the design of His eternal sufficient warrant for this is found in
selection of us to walk before Hun v. 17, o 0eos TOV Kupiov TJJMOV 'L/o-ov
in holiness and love. From the first Xpurrov, 6 irarfip TTJS Bogqs (comp. also
He marked us out to be made His John xx 17). Some early interpreters
sons by adoption through Jesus Christ, however take the genitive with irarqp
The good-pleasure of His will was the alone. Thus Theodore allows this
sole ground of this selection ; as the latter construction, and Theodoret
praise of the glory of His grace was its insists upon it. Moreover the Peshito
contemplated end. His grace, I say; renders: 'Blessed be God, the Father
forHehasshoweredgraceonusinHim of our Lord Jesus Christ'; and the
who is the Beloved, the Bringer of the earlier Syriac version, as witnessed to
great Emancipation, which is wrought by Ephraim's commentary (extant only
by His death and which delivers us in an Armenian translation), seems to
from sin : such is the wealth of His have had: 'Blessed be our Father,
grace. The abundance of grace too the Father of our Lord', etc. On
brings wisdom and practical under- the other hand B stands alone (for
standing: for He has allowed us to Hilary, in Ps. tovi, quotes only
know His secret, the hidden purpose Benedictus dens, qui benedixit nos,
which underlies all and interprets all. etc.) in omitting KM irar^p.
Long ago His good-pleasure was deter- ev iraaji evKayiq. irvevparucfj] 'with
mined: now, as the times are ripening, all spiritual blessing'. It might be
He is working out His plan. And the rendered 'with every spiritual bless-
issue of all is this the summing up, ing'; but it is better to regard
the focussing, the gathering into one, ev\oyta as abstract : compare v. 8 ev
of the whole Universe, heavenly things irao-g o-o^to.
and earthly things alike, in Christ'. ev rots eirovpavlots] The interpre-
3. EvXoyijros] This word is used tation of this phrase, which occurs
only of God in the New Testament, again in i 20, ii 6, in 10, vi 12, and
It recurs in the present phrase, 2 Cor. not elsewhere, is discussed at length
i 3 i Pet. is; and in the phrase in the exposition. The Latin rendering
5Xoy7TOs e ls rots al&vas, Bom. i 25, is l in cael&ttibus'. The Peshito has
ix 5, 2 Cor. xi 31. The only other ^ *"*-> (=*" avpavols) in all
instances are Mark xiv 61, Luke i 68. instances except the last. It is inte-
Of men, on the other hand, etiXoytj- resting to note that in i 20 B and a
ftevos is used, e.g. Matt, xxv 34, Luke few other authorities read ev TOW
i 42. EuAoyrjro? implies that blessing ovpavols.
is due ; efaoyrjpevos, that blessing has 4-' e'|eAe'aro] We may render this
been received. The blessing of man either 'He hath chosen' or 'He chose'',
by God confers material or spiritual and so with the aorists throughout
benefits : the blessing of God by man the passage. In Greek the aorist is
is a return of gratitude and praise, the natural tense to use ; but it does
I5>6 ] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 143
\ej~aTO fads iv avrtS Trpo KaTa(3o\fjs Koa-fAov, etvai ij
dyiovs kal cfy/wjuovs Karevwiriov avTOv ev dyctTry, %
opio-as >//>eas ek vloBea-lav &a 'lr}(rov Xpurrov 6is avrov,
Kara rf)V ei/So/aai/ TOV 0e\f/juaros avrov 9 6 ek evraivov
not of necessity confine our attention but offers no interpretation of 'in
to the moment of action. caritate' : Ambrosiaster has it, and
irpb Kara(io\Tjs Koir/tov] Here only explains the words of our love to God
in St Paul: but see John xvii 24, which produces holiness : Jerome also
i Pet. i 20. The phrase dirb Kara- has it, and gives as alternatives the
/SoXi}* Koayxov is several times used in connexion with what immediately
the New Testament, but not by St precedes, and Origen's view which
Paul. connects the words with irpoopivas.
dyiovs Kal dpoopovs] These adjec- The Vulgate rendering (found also in
tives are again combined in v 27 ; and, /) f in caritate qui praedestinauit'
with the addition of dveyK\r}Tos, in precludes the connexion with irpo-
CoL i 22. In the LXX a/iojuos is opivas.
almost exclusively found as a ren- The simplest interpretation is that
dering of D*DJ1, which occurs very which is indicated by the punctuation
frequently of sacrificial animals, in given in the text. It is supported by
the sense of 'without blemish'. But the rhythm of the sentence, and also
Qsnis-also freely used of moral by the frequent-recurrence-in this
rectitude, and has other renderings, epistle (iii 17, iv 2, 15, 16, v 2) of the
such as rcXctoff, a/iCfurro?, KaOapos, phrase eV dydirjj in reference to the
foams, oo-to?. Accordingly a sacri- love which Christians should have one
ficial metaphor is not necessarily to another.
implied in the use of the word in 5. els vlodea-iav] St Paul uses the
this place. word vlodea-ia five tunes; Bom. viii
ev dydirrj] This has been interpreted 15, 23, ix 4, GaL iv 5, and here. It is
(i) of God's love,' (2) of our love, found in no other Biblical writer.
whether (a) to God or (5) to each Although the word does not seem to
other. Origen adopts the first view ; occur in the earlier literary Greek, it
he connects eV dydirj] with irpoopia-as is frequent in inscriptions. In addi-
( c in love having foreordained us'): tion to the ordinary references, see
but he allows as a possible alternative Deissmann Neue Bibelstudien (1897)
the connexion with eeAe'|aro. This p. 66. He cites from pre-Christian
alternative (He hath chosen us.. .in inscriptions the formulae naff v'ia6f<riav
love) is the view taken by Ephraim and de and Kara tivyarpoirouav 5e, occurring
by Pelagius. The connexion with in contrast to KOTO yevemv.
however, is more usual : In Rom. ix 4 St Paul uses the term
it is accepted by Theodore and in enumerating the privileges of the
Chrysostom : the Peshito precludes ancient Israel, a>v 17 vlodea-la Kal 17 Soa
any other view by rendering ' and in <al al SiadfjKai K.T.\. Here therefore
love He ' &c. ; but Ephraim's comment it falls into line with the other expres-
shews that the conjunction cannot sions which he transfers to the New
have been present in the Old Syriac People : such as ayiot, an-oXurpoMnr,
Version. eKXi/pco^/ief, eVayyeXta, jrfparoir)<ris.
In Latin the rendering 'in caritate tvdoniav TOV titXyparos] Comp. v. 9;
praedestinans ' (d a g 3 ) left the question and for the emphatic reiteration comp.
open. Yictorinus has this rendering, v. n Kara rf}v fiovXrjv TOV
144 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [I 710
ev
ft> 6%0/iev T*)V diro^MTptocriv Sea TOIA
avroV) TJJV a<j>e<rtv TWV
TO 7T\Ol/TQS T^S ^CtjCMTOS Ctl/TOU, 8 JJS
ei/ TTacrf/ <ro<j>ia KCCI (frpovricrei 9 yv(api(ras tffuv TO
TOV J7/*CCTOS OVTOV, KCLTO, TY\V
avrov i)V vrpoeBeTO ev avrtS I0 ets oiKovojutiav TOV
avrov. Fritzsche (on Bom. x i) dis- pretations of the word in this place,
cusses evBoKflv and cvSoxia. He shews see the detached note on x"P">
that the verb is freely used by the The relative fc has been attracted
later Greek writers, and especially into the case of its antecedent. It is
Polybius, where earlier writers would simplest to regard it as standing for
bare said tSogcv and the like. The 9. N C D 2 G 3 KL, with the Latin version
noun appears to be Alexandrian. The (in qua), read evg: but this is probably
translators of the Greek Psalter, who the grammatical change of a scribe.
uniformly employ cvtSoicetv for H!tt, ev T& ^yairrjp4vo\ The reasons for
render |1S1 by evSo/'a r (7 times) and regarding o rfyairrjuevos as a current
byl9eXvJLia~(6~times); part~from-this Messianic-designation-are-given-in-a-
is found twice only, except in detached note. In the parallel passage,
Bcclesiasticus where it occurs 16 Col. i 13 f., St Paul writes : *<u
timea In Enoch i 8 We have KOI T^V tmja-ev els rrjv (3a<riXeiav TOV vlov TTJS
cv8oiciav dcotrei avrois KOI irdvras ewXo- dydirrjs auroS, ev <p e^ofiev K.r.X. In
yrffffi. Like )1^"l, it is used largely that passage the desire to emphasise
of the Divine 'good-pleasure' (comp. the Divine Sonship of Christ may
Ps. cxlix 4 on eu'SoKei Kvpios ev account for his paraphrase of the
Xa&> avfbv), but also of the 'good- title.
pleasure', satisfaction or happiness of 7. ev <j exppev TTJV diro\vrpa><rtv]
men. So in Col. i 14. For the meaning of
6. ^s e'xaptTcoo-ei'T/jaar] TheApostle aTroXirrpaxns see note on v. 14.
is emphasising his own word #ap. It 8. $s cirepio-o-eva-ev] Probably by
is instructive to compare certain other attraction for TJV eirfpio-o-evo-ev : comp.
phrases in which a substantive is 2 Cor. ix 8 dwarei 8e 6 fobs ira<rav
followed by its cognate verb : as in x&P tv "ffp^ffvo-at els vfias.
V. 19 KOTO. rt)v fvepyeiav...T)v evijpyrjKev, 9. TO /zvonfptov] Comp. iii 3, 4, 9,
ii 4 &a TJyv n-oXX^v dydmjv avrov rjv v 32, vi 19 : and see the detached
^ydirr/a-ev qi*as, iv I tys K^ffcreats %s note on pvorypiov.
eK\j0r}Te. The meaning is ' His grace vpoedero] l ffe hath purposed'.
wherewith He hath endued us with The preposition in this word has the
grace '; which is a more emphatic way signification not of time, but of place :
of saying ' His grace which He hath 'He set before Himself'. So we have
shewn toward us' or 'hath bestowed rep66ea-is, 'purpose', in v. u.
upon us'. So that the phrase does 10. els oiKovofilaii] The word ofco-
not greatly differ from that of v. 8 vopla means primarily either 'the office
'His grace which He hath made to of a steward' or 'household manage-
abound toward us'. For other uses ment'. The latter meaning however
of x a P lT vv> and f r the early inter- received a large extension, so that
j I0 ;j EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 145
ttaros TtSv Kaipwv, dvaK.e<pa\auo<ra<r6ai TO, iravra iv Tea
ymo-TW, ra CTTI rols ovpavoK K.OL TO. iirl rfc yfjs* ev
otKOVOpeiv and oiKOVopia were used in ava<e(f)a\atoa-a(r0ai] The Verb is
the most general sense of provision derived not directly from KecpaXrj, 'a
or arrangement. This wider use of head', but from /ce^aXaww, f a sum-
the words may be illustrated from mary' or * sum total' (comp. Heb. viii
Polybius. The verb occurs in Polyb. i). Accordingly it means 'to sum
iv 26 6 vircp T&V oXow otKovopfii' (the up* or 'present as a whole'; as in
Aetolians refuse to 'make arrange- Rom. xiii 9, where after naming
ments' with Philip previous to a various precepts St Paul declares that
general assembly); and in iv 67 9 they are 'summed up in this word,
ravra 8e OIKOI/O/MJO-OS (of appointing a Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy-
rendezvous), 'when he had made these self (eVrouro>r<p \6yto dvoKetpd^aiovrai).
dispositions ' (comp. 2 Mace, iii 14, 3 The Peshito has * -TB:toA-2tf
Macc.iii2). The noun is ^exceedingly ^^ ^ ut cuncta denuo
common : e.g. Polyb. 14 3 T^v6eKa6o\ov , J-B, i. ,
K al crvAX^v ol^opiav r5,v yeyorirw, nouarentur' ; and Ephraim's Commen-
where he is pleading for a broad tary shews that this was the Old
historical view of the general course Synac rendering. Similarly the Latin
of events : ii 47 10 ra^v Wpi5- version has ^nstaurare' or 'restau-
^ecurtvolKovoniavS to conceal this rare', though Tertullian and the
his actual policy' or 'line of action'; translator of Irenaeus seek to re-
v 40 3 rave frdrfan r^ Trpay/ta produce the Greek word more closely
'
, the project quickly by 'recapitularf. In both Synac
began to work itself out'; vi 9 10 and Latin versions the preposition
(in closing a discussion of the way ara has been interpreted of repetition.
in which one form of polity succeeds But its meaning here is rather that
to another) aZrrj KO^TMV ai/afc^Xoxm, which we find in such compounds as
a$TT} (j)v(Ta>5 olKovopia, K.T.X., i.e., 'SO ai/aXoyi'fcj-tfai, avapidpelv, avacntoirelv :
forms of government recur in a cycle, so that in usage the word ^oes not
so things naturally work themselves seriously differ from oyyKe^oXaioCv,
ou t> the slight shade of distinction being-
Both here and in iii 9, rls J? olno- that between 'to gather up' (with the
ro/i/a roO pvffrrjpiov K.r.X., the word is stress on the elements to be united)
used of the manner in which the and 'to gather together' (with the
purpose of God is being worked out stress on their ultimate union). See
in human history. At a later time Lightfoot ad loc. (Notes on Epistles
oiKovofiia acquired a more concrete ofSt Paul) and on Col. i 16.
meaning; so that, for example, the 1114- 'I n Christ, I repeat, h*
Christian, 'dispensation' came to be whom we have been chosen as the<
contrasted with the Mosaic 'dispen- Portion of God: for long ago He set,
sation'. As the rendering '/or the His choice upon us, in accordance,
(or a) dispensation of the fulness of with a purpose linked with almighty
the times' is not free from ambiguity, power and issuing in the fulfilment of
it is preferable to render '/or dispen- His sovereign will. We have thua
sation in the fulness of the times', been chosen to be to the praise of the
In any case TrX^poyiaros is a genitive glory of God we Jews ; for we have
of further definition. Compare with been the first to hope in Christ. But
the whole phrase Mark i 15 irfrr\ij- yet not we alone. You too, you Gen-
pcorat 6 Ktupos, and i Tim. ii 6 TO tiles, have heard the message of truth,
fj.aprvpi.ov Kaipois IBiois. the good news of a salvation which is
EPHES. 2 ' 10
146 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIAN& [I 1113
v
avr 9 "ev tp Kal eicXripajBripJiev TrpoopurBevres KCLTO. irpo-
Qecriv TOV TO. TrdvTa eveptyovvTos Kara Trjv (3ov\nv TOV
avTOv, "6*? TO eivai tjfjias els eiraivov
avTOV TOI)S TrporiXiriKOTas ev T<S xpurTia' 13 6i/
ctKOVcravTes TOV \oyov r^s d\rj6eias 9 TO evay-
yours as much as ours. You too have lot ' or ' the portion ' of God : as, e.g v
believed in Christ, and have been in Deut. ix 29 ovrot Xaos a-ov KM
sealed with the Spirit, the Holy K\fjp6g a-ov (comp. Esth. iv 17, an
Spirit promised to the holy People, addition in the LXX)/ The rendering
who is at once the pledge and the of the R.V., 'we were made a heri-
first instalment of our common heri- tage ', is more correct than that of the
tage; sealed, I say, for the full and A.V., but it introduces the idea of
final emancipation, that you, no less inheritance (K\r)povofj.ia), which is not
than we, may contribute to the praise necessarily implied by the word. We
of the glory of God'. might perhaps be content to render
II. ev <a Kal eK\r)p(odr)pev irpoopitr- eeXe|aro (. 5) and eK\ijp<adr)iJLfV by
Qevres] This is practically a restate- *eAos0'and 'chosen', as was done in
ment in the passive voice of e'eXe|aro the Geneva Bible of 1557 : an ancient
g/t5s...7r/sooprag >fcag (vv. 4, 5). So precedent for this is found in the
Chrysostom comments: debs yap 6 Peshito, which employs the same
cK\ega{j*vos KOI K\Tjpa>craiJievos. KX^- verb in both verses t ^ and
povv is 'to choose by lot' or 'to .-^vjk^x
appoint by lot'. In the passive it is ^ ^
'to be chosen (or 'appointed') by Tairavra tvepyovvrosY who icorJceth
lot '. But the image of the lot tends *& things ': see the detached note on
to disappear; so that the word means 'epyi.
'to assign', or (mid.) 'to assign to I2 - TOVS irporj\.mKaras] 'who have
oneself, 'to choose'; and in the been the first to hope*. For this use
passive 'to be assigned' or 'chosen', of vp in composition ('before an-
The passive, however, could be used other') compare I Cor. xi 21 IKGUTTO?
with a following accusative in the y&P TO tSiov fteiirvov irpoXapfiavei ev r$
sense of 'to be assigned a thing', and <payclv. So far as the word in itself
so 'to acquire as a portion'. Thus in is concerned it might be rendered
the Berlin Papyri (n 405) we read, 'who aforetime hoped': but the
in a contract of the year 348 A.D. : meaning thus given is questionable :
j; \l6ov a-iTOKoirrrjv Kal (rtTa\eriKJ)v see the exposition.
7rarp<5a ijp.v ovra, K\T]pa- 13. ev (a Kal vpels] It is Simplest
/e.r.X. This is the meaning to take v/ms as the nominative to
given in the present passage by the e<r<ppayio-0r)Tf, regarding the second
A. V. ('in whom also we have obtained ev <$ as picking up the sentence, which
an inheritance ') : but there appears to has been broken to insert the em-
be no justification for it, except when phatic phrase 'the good tidings of a
the accusative of the object assigned salvation which was yours as well as
is expressed. ours'. A somewhat similar repetition
Accordingly the meaning must be is found in ii u, 12 on TTOTC v/j.eis...
'we have been chosen as God's por- on ^TC K.T.\.
tion ' : and the word is perhaps se- TOV Xoyov T^? dXijdelas] The teach-
lected because Israel was called 'the ing which told you the truth of things
I I4 ] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIAN& 147
*ye\iov Ttjs (TcoTripias V/ULCOV, ev (p Kal 7rurTv(ravTs
e<rd>pa f yia'6r]Te T& TrvevfJLaTi T^S evrayyeXias TO>
14 o ea"Tiv dppa/3a>v TJ/S K\ripovojmias fjyuwj/, els
eis eiraivov T?S Sojjs aurou.
14. Ss <TTU>
(comp. iv 21), to wit, that yow were meaningless as a note on pignus:
included in the Divine purpose the thus his attention was drawn to the
good tidings of your salvation. In inadequacy of the Latin version : but
Col. i 5 we have the same thought : nevertheless in revising that version
'the hope laid up for you in the (if indeed to any serious extent he did
heavens, whereof ye heard aforetime revise it in the Epistles) he forgot, or
in the word of the truth of the gospel did not care, to insist on the proper
which came unto you', &o. Compare distinction.
also 2 Cor. vi 7 ev Xoya> aXrjGeias and With the whole context compare
James i 18 Xdy&> dXq&tas. . 2 Cor. i 21 f. o Se /3e/3at<5j/ jp,as <rvv
eo-<ppayi<T0riTe K.T.X.] Compare iv 30 vfiiv els Xpurrbv Kal xpt'eras "nv&s 0eos,
TO irvevfjLa TO ayiov TOV 6eov, tv 3> 6 Kal o-<ftpayurapevos rjfias KOI 8ovs rov
eo-cfrpayio-driTe els qpApav diro\w-p<oo-e<os t appaft&va TOV ^irve^fMTos ev Tais Kap-
and 2 Cor. i 21 f. (quoted below). bitus iJ/wSv (for the technical term
i4.-dppa/3j/]-Lightfoot-has-treated ^6
this word fully in the last of his notes pp. zooff. and Gradenwitz JSinfuhr-
on this epistle (Notes on Epp. p. 323). ung in die Papyruskunde, I9oo,p. 59).
It is the Hebrew word f12"iJJ (from Gradenwitz (ibid, pp. 81 ff.) shews
11V, ' to entwine', and so 'to pledge'), that the dppaftuv, as it appears in the
It is found in classical Greek writers ; papyri, was a large proportion of the
so that it was probably brought to payment : if the transaction was not
Greece by the Phoenician traders, completed the defaulter, if the seller,
and not by the Hebrews, who knew repaid the dppaftoav twofold with in-
little of the Greeks hi early days. It terest ; if the buyer, he lost the
came also into Lathi, and is found in appa$a>v.
a clipped form hi the law books as ypcov] Note the return to the first
arra. In usage it means strictly not person. It is 'our inheritance': we
* a pledge ' (evexvpov), but 'an earnest' and you are awK^.ripovop.oi t comp.
(though hi the only place in the LXX iijl 6.
where it occurs, Gen. xxxviii I7ff., it els dn-oXiJrpaxrti'] The verb Xvrpou-
has the former sense). That is to say, trdai is used of the redemption of Israel
it is a part given in advance as a from Egypt in Exod. vi 6, xv 13 (96M),
security that the whole will be paid and six times in Deuteronomy (mS).
hereafter a first instalment. In the Psalms it represents both
Jerome ad loc. points out that the Hebrew words ; in Isaiah generally
Latin version had pignus in this the first of them: and it is frequently
place instead of arrabo. Yet in his found in other parts of the Old Tes-
Vulgate he left pignus here and in tament. ThgJBLaieinptionj&'om Egypt
2 Cor. i 22, v 5. The explanation is the ground^ (Sr^BET^cSn^^to
probably is that in his Commentary tnT6|K6lirriind""*emancipatTon' is
he was practically translating from perliaps*lhe word which expresses the
Origen, and found a careful note on meaning most clearly. In English
v, which would have been the word* redemption' almost inevit-
10 2
148
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
[I. 14
ably suggests a price paid : but there
is no such necessary suggestion where
\vrpovo-dat is used of the People,
even if occasionally the primary sense
is felt and played upon. In an-oXv-
rpaxris (and even XvrpaMrtf in the
New Testament) the idea of emanci-
pation is dominant, and that of pay-
ment seems wholly to have disap-
peared. In the Old Testament the
form diroXvTpaxris is only found in
Dan. iv 30 (LXX), of Nebuchadnezzar's
recovery (o xP vos ifa aTroXwrpwo-eofe
pov). See further "Westcott Hebrews
pp. 295 ff., and T. K. Abbott Ephe-
sians pp. 1 1 ff.
rfjs irepiiroifi<rea>s\ The verb irepurot-
\eio-0ai is found in two senses in the
.Old Testament: (i) 'to preserve alive'
'^nearly always for nil"!), (2) 'to ac-
jquire'. Corresponding to the former
ense we have the noun Treparolrja-is,
preservation of life' fPnP in 2
'hron. xiv 13 (12) ; corresponding to
ie latter we have Mai. iii 17 eerowat
oc,...6tf yfjiepav TJV eyco TTOI>, els irepi-
oir}(riv (nW JK ">B>K d1?...^ 1V11
73D), 'they shall be to Me,... in the
day that I do make, a peculiar trea-
sure': these are the only places (exc.
Hag. ii 9, t/gy only) where the noun is
used.
In the New Testament the verb is
found, probably in the sense of 'pre-
serving alive', in Luke xvii 33 (irepi-
7roiq<ra(r0ai. EL ; but NA etc. have
crwcrat, and D <oaymn)trcu) f where in
the second member of the verse we
have fwoyow/o-ei. In the sense of
'acquiring' it is found in Acts xx 28
(TJV irepiGiroir)<r(xro 8ta rov
and in i Tim. iii 13
The noun is found in Heb.
X 39 els irepiiroirjo-iv fax^s, I Thess.
V 9 els treparolrjcriv (rayrrjpias, and
2 Thess. ii 14 els irepiiroirjtriv 86r)s : in
each of these places the meaning is
debated; see Lightfoot on the two
last (Notes on Epp. pp. 76, 121).
The passage in Malachi is specially
important for the determination of
TOV
the meaning in this place. With the
Hebrew we may compare Exod. xix 5
ffalD ^ nn w nl, which the LXX ren-
dered earetrde pot Xaos irfpiovo-ios, in-
serting Xaos from a recollection of
Deut. vii 6, xiv 2, xxvi 18. The peri-
phrasis eaovral juot els irepuroiij<nv is
Hebraistic; comp. Jer. xxxviii (xxxi)
33 eaovrai /not els \aovl although in
Malachi we have nbaD, not n^D7 (as
in Ps. CXXXV 4 ; els irtpiova-iaa-fiov
LXX). In i Pet. ii 9 we have Xaos els
Trepimirjanv, where the passage in
Exodus is chiefly in mind : and where
it would seem that Xaos is a reminis-
cence of the LXX of Exodus, and els
irepiTToirja-iv of the LXX of Malachi:
both passages were doubtless very
familiar. The view that ireparoir)<ris
had a recognised meaning in con-
nexion with Israel seems to be con-
firmed by Isa. xliii 21 'This people
-have-I-formed-for-MyselfVwhich-the-
LXX rendered XaoV /tow bv irepteTrotrjad-
P.TJV : comp. Acts xx 28 (quoted above).
Accordingly we may render the
whole phrase 'unto the redemption
of God's own possession ', understand-
ing by this 'the emancipation of God's
peculiar people'. The metaphor from
a mercantile transaction has by this
time been wholly dropped, and the
Apostle has returned to the phrase-
ology of the Old Testament.
The Old Latin rendering is l in
redemptionem adoptionis'', that of
the Vulgate f in redemptionem ac-
qmsitionis'. In i Pet. ii 9 both
forms of the version have 'populux
acquisitionis', though Augustine and.
Ambrose have 'in adoptionem', and
Hilary 'ad possidendum'. The Pe-
shito renders 'unto the redemption
of the saved' (lit. 'of them that live');
but Bphraim's commentary makes it
doubtful whether 'the redemption of
your possession' was not the render-
ing of the Old Syriac. Origen and
Theodore seem to have understood
TTfptnoiija-is in the sense of God's
claiming us as His own. The former
1 1518] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 149
* s Aia TOVTO Kdyto, dicovcras Trjv Ka& vjuees irifTTiv
ev Tip Kvpita 'If7<rou KCU Ttiv dydirriv els Trai/ras TOVS
virep v/u<v, fjveav TTOI-
oi/juei/os 67ri TWV TTjOOtrev^wi/ fjiov, * 7 'iva 6 Beos TOV Kvplov
'njjiwv 'Irjcrov XpurTOv, 6 TrctTrjp T^S So^s, Swrj V/ULIV
Trvev/uia a~o<pias Kai aTTOKaXv-^ea)^ ev eTTiyvcacrei avTOV,
TOUS 6<f)6a\fJLOVS
15. om &ydirrji>
(Cramer Catena p. 121) paraphrases, Col. i 4 ri;i jrt'emv v/i<3 eV
?^a a7ro\vTpa)6<a<Tt KCU rreparoaj6fatri TO 'lytrov. The same loose construction
&o>: the latter (ibid. p. 122), n)i> Trpos occurs immediately afterwards with
OUTOV oiKeioxriv \appdveiv. This is no TTJV ayaan)v. Other examples in this
doubt a possible alternative, and it is epistle are ii n TCL edvij ev o-apni, iv I
probably the meaning of the Old Lathi o Sco-fitos ev Kvpin: comp. also Phil, i
rendering. 5 * >7r ^ T fl Koivcovia vpav s TO evayye-
15 19. 'With all this in mind, the Atoi>, Col. i 8 ryv vp.<v dyamjv ev irvev-
tidings of your faith which believes part.
in the Lord Jesus, and your charity 16. pvelav iroiovpevos] The omis-
wrhich~loves-all-who-share-with-you sion-
the privilege of God's consecrating irtpl vftav has immediately preceded,
choice, cannot but stir me to per- has an exact parallel in i Thess. i 2 ev-
petual thanksgiving on your behalf. xaprrot)/zei>...n-epi irdvrcov vpwv, pveiav
And in my prayers I ask that the iroiovfj.evoi K.T.\. The meaning is not
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, His 'remembering' (which would be (IVTJ-
Pather and ours in the heavenly glory, ftovevovres, comp. i Thess. i 3), but
may give you His promised gift, the 'making remembrance' or 'mention',
Spirit of wisdom, who is also the and so ''interceding'. See the de-
Spirit of revelation, the Unveiler of tached note on current epistolary
the Mystery. I pray that your heart's phrases.
eyes may be filled with His light, 17. o 6ebs K.T.X.] These titles are a
that you may know God with a three- variation upon the titles of the dox-
fold knowledge that you may know ology in v. 3 o 0ebs KOI irar^p TOV Kvpiov
what a hope His calling brings ; that rjp&v 'Irja-ov Xpurrov. The fatherhood
you may know what a wealth of is widened and emphasised, as it is
glory is laid up in His inheritance again when the prayer is recurred to
in His consecrated People; that you and expanded in iii 14.
may know what an immensity charac- aTroKoAityeas] 'ATroKaXu^-t? is the
terises His power, which goes forth correlative of pv<nyptov: compare iii
to us who believe'. 3, 5.
15' TTJV Ka6' vfias 7rtoT*i] A peri- ev emyv<o(ret avTov] 'in the knoiJO-
phrasis for the more ordinary phrase ledge ofHim > ;-&ot *full' or 'advanced
TTJV maTiv vfiatv: see in the note on knowledge': see the detached note on
various readings, where the reading the meaning of eTriyvaxris.
aycarrjv is discussed. 1 8. ire^xaTia-fievovs rovs o(f)0a\p,ovs
ev T& Kvpiy 'IJJO-QU] A stricter con- TTJS KapSias vfi&v] literally 'being en-
struction would require the repetition lightened as to the eyes of your heart'.
of rr)v before this phrase. But comp. The construction is irregular ; for after
ISO EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [I 1921
TO eic'evai u/xas TUS COTTIV >J e\7T Trjs /cX^orews avrov 9
TK 6 irXovTOS 77/s 5o/s T>/S KXripovojUias avTOv ev TOK
, * 9 Kai TL TO virepfSaXXov /ueyeBos
OUTOV els ripcis TOI)S TTKTTevovTas, KCLTO. TY\V evepyeiav
TOV KpctTOVs Trjs i<r^(vo? ai/ToO, ao j}v evnpyriKev ev Tta
eyetpas avrov IK veicptSv, KCU KaBicras ev
avTov ev roZs evrovpavioK "vTrepdvco Tracrt/s
vp.lv we should have expected n-e<o>- ing. ..which JB0 hath wrought' f see
ria-ftevois : but the sense is plain. detached note on evepyelv and its cog-
There is an allusion to this passage nates.
in Clem. Rom. 36, Sta TO^TOV (sc. 'Ljo-ov TOV Kparovs rf}S Ivxyos avrov] The
Xpurrov) rjveco^a-av jj/za>i> ot o^daXfiol same combination is found in vi 10
rijs Kapdias- 8ta TOVTOV rj davveros Kal ev8vvap.ova-Qe ev Kvpi<o nal ev T^ Kparei
ecTKOToofMevr) biavoia T^fj.mv dvadc&Xet els rfjs iV^vo? avrov. Comp. also Col. i II
TO <j)a>s : the former of these sentences ev TTOO-J/ Swapei Swapovpevot Kara TO
confirms the reading zp6W in this Kparos TTJS 86gijs avrou. With perhaps
place; the latter recalls at once Bom. i but one exception (Heb. ii 14) the
21 and Eph. iv 18. __ word_Kparoy_in_the-New-Testament-is-
!9 23. * The measure of the might only used of the Divine might
of His strength you may see first of 20. ev rots eirovpaviois] On this ex-
all in what He has wrought in Christ pression see the note on 0. 3.
Himself. He has raised Him from 21. vrrepawo] 'above'. The only
the dead; He has seated Him at His other places in the New Testament
own right hand in the heavenly region ; in which the word occurs are iv 10 o
He has made Him supreme above avaftas virepdva* irdvrtov T&V ovpav&v,
all conceivable rivals, principalities, and Heb. ix 5 virepdvat 8e a^rrjs (sc. rljs
authorities, powers, lordships, be they Kt/3o>rov) Xepovfielv fid^s. The latter
what they may, in this world or the passage shews that the duplicated
next. And, thus supreme, He has form is not intensive; as neither is
made Him the Head of a Body the its counterpart viroKarm (compare
Church, which thus supplements and Heb. ii 8=Ps. viii 7 virona. T&V iro-
completes Him; that so the Christ SowavYoS -with v. 22 of this chapter).
may have no part lacking, but may We have a striking parallel to the
be wholly completed and fulfilled'. language of this passage in Philo de
19. TO V7repfid\\ov p,eye6os\ The SOmn. i 25 (M. p. 644): 'Ep}i/v Se TO
participle comes again in ii 7 TO vitep- ovap (Gen. xxviii 13) e'<m?ptyn*eW eVe
jSoXXov TrXovros, and in iii 19 ryv vnep- rfje K\ipaKos TOV ap^ayyeXoi* Kvpiov.
fta^ovo'avT^syvdta'eoisa.ydinjv. Other- vnepdva> yap <os apfuiTos ^vio^ov ff af
wise it is only found in 2 Cor. iii IO ve&s KvftepviJTrjv -vird\ijirreov la-raa-dat
(with 86^a), IX 14 (with xapw). We TO bv Art trtopdrtov, eirl tyvxa>v,...eir
have the adverb vVep^oXXowwr in dcpo?, eir' ovpavov, eV ala-dijTcov 8vvd-
2 Cor. xi 23. The noun wrepjSoXi; OC- p.eu>v, eir dopdrcav (pvo-etov, otrcmep
curs seven times in St Paul's epistles, Qeara KOI ddeara. TOV yap
but not elsewhere in the New Testa- cm-ami tyas cavrov nal
ment. T^V Toa-aimjv ijvioxel <pv<riv.
evepyeiav...rjv ev^pyrjKev\ l theiaork- Trderrjs dpxrjs K.T.X.] 'every
I 22]
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
151
eov<rias Kal Svi/a/uews Kal KvpioTrjTos Kal Travros ovo-
JUUITOS ovoiuLatyfJievov ov JJLOVOV ev alcovi TOVTW d\Xa
Kal ev TtS fJLeX\ovTf M KeaV TTANTA ynerASeN fad "rote TTO'AAC
polity', &c. The corresponding list
in Col. i 1 6, where the words are in
the plural (tire Qpovoi evre Kvpiorrfres
evre dpxal evre eou<ruu), shews that
these are concrete terms. Otherwise
we might render 'all rule' &c. "We
have the plurals apxai and egovo-itu
below in iii 10 and vi 12. On these
terms see Lightfoot Colossians, loc.
cit. Although the Apostle in writing
to the Oolossians treats them with
something like scorn, yet his refer-
ences to them in this epistle shew
that he regarded them as actually
existent and uitelhgent forces, if in
part at any rate opposed to the Divine
will. In the present passage, how-
-ever,~they are-mentioned~only to-em=
phasise the exaltation of Christ.
iravros ovopaTos ovofia&ntvov] For
Svofia in the sense of a 'title of rank'
or * dignity ', see Lightfoot on Phil, ii
9 : and compare i Clem. 43, T$ ev86ga)
ovofMTi (sc. rrjs iep<a<rivT]s) KeKoa-p.^-
pevrj, and 44, ol dn-ooroXot r)fi&v eyva>-
O-CIV...OTI epis earai eir\ rov ovoftaros
Trjs ema-Koirijs. Among the Oxyrhyn-
chus Papyri (Grenfell and Hunt,
pt i no. 58) is a complaint (A.D. 288)
of the needless multiplication of of-
ficials: n-oXXol j8ouXo/i>ot ras rafjuaKas
ova-ias KceretrQieiv ovofiara eavrois e|eu-
povres, ol (j&v x ei P l < rr <*> v ) ol 8e ypafipa-
retov, ol 8e (ppovTicrrcoVf K.T.X., closing
with, the order: TCI 8e \onra ovo^ara
In the New Testament HTil ? s
represented by 6 ala>v OVTOS again in
Luke xvi 8, xx 34, Rom. xii 2, i Cor.
i 20, ii 6, 8, iii 1 8, 2 Cor. iv 4; by d
ala>v 6 eVeorws in Gal. i 4 ; by o vvv
almv in the Pastoral Epistles, i Tim.
vi 17, 2 Tim. iv 10, Tit. ii 12: and
also by 6 Koa-pas OVTOS in i Cor. iii 19,
v 10, vii 31, and in the Johannine
writings, in which alvv only occurs in
the phrases els rbv al&va, c roO al&vos
(or in the plural, as in Apoc.). In
the same sense we often have o alcov
or , ^ jugt ^ ^ ^ f
L
ITflpTOf. We ma 7 compare also o
frnpos OVTOS, Mark x 30 (= Luke xviii
ii-^j-o-i'Si'-Kaipoy,- Rom
J ^j ^-'5 > an ^ 6 tempos 6 eW-
Heb. ix 9.
On * ne otner hand the words KO-
<7 7 iOS an< i xtupos cannot enter into the
ev TO> alS>vi .r.X.] The same con-
trast is found in Matt, xii 32 ofoe Iv
rouro) T<5 ala>vi ovre ev T& p,e\\ovri.
It is the familiar Rabbinic contrast
between ntn D?iy, the present age,
and Kin tkw, the age to come. Dal-
man, who fully discusses these terms
(Die Worte Jesu I I2on'.), declares
that there is no trace of them in pre-
Christian Jewish literature.
representation of N2PI Q>iy. For this
we have o alwv o pe\\a>v again in Heb.
vi 5 (Svvapeis re /ie'XAozros aloovos); 6
alaiv 6 epxopevos in Mark X 30 and the
parallel Luke xviii 30 ; d alatv eKeives in
Luke xx 35. We may note however
rfv oiKovpevrjv rrjv p\\ov(rav in Heb.
ii 5. .
We have below in this epistle the
remarkable phrases o al&v TOV Koa-fiov
TOVTOV in ii 2, and of al&ve s ol cirepxo-
fievoi in ii 7.
22. KOI TTO.VTO. /c.r.X.] An allusion
to Ps. viii 7 ^avra wrera^as viroKarta
r&v irodav avrov, which is quoted so
from the LXX in Heb. ii 8. A similar
allusion is made in I Cor. XV 27 iravra
yap vmragcv vrrb roi>s ir68as avrov.
With the whole context compare
i Pet. iii 22 8s ecmv ev 8egtq 0eov
iropevdeis els ovpavbv vsroraylvTatv avT$
a-yyeXeoj' Kal cov<rinv Kal 8vvdfie<ov,
which is plainly dependent on this
passage.
152 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [I 23 II i
AYTOY, Kai avTOV eScoicev ice(f>a\ijv virep TrdvTa Ttj e
<ria, * Z I^TK <TTIV TO arcafJLa OVTOV, TO TrXqpwfjia TOV
ev TTaariv 7T\f]pov]ULevov. II. x Ka upas OVTCLS
iravra] repeats the iravra of sense. St Paul does indeed speak of
the quotation, which itself points back Christ as ascending 'that He might
to ira<rr)s...iravros in v. 21. fill all things' ; but then he uses the
23. TO irKriptafia K.T.X.] ' the fid- active voice, Iva TrXj/paoT/ ra iravra
ness (or fulfilment) of Him who (iv 10). Had his meaning been the
att in all is being filled (or fid- same here, we can hardly doubt that
fitted} '. On the meaning of TrX^poyta, he would have said -irkrjpovvros.
see the detached note. The passive sense is supported by
TO iravra ev iraa-tv] The phrase is the early versions, (i) The Latin.
used adverbially. It is more emphatic Cod. Claromont. has supplementum
than the classical adverb iravraircunv, qui omnia et in omnibus impletur.
which does not occur in the New The usual Latin is plenitudo eius qui
Testament. It is found, though not omnia in omnibus adimpletur: so
adverbially, in i Cor. xii 6 o avrbs Victorinus, Ambrosiaster and the
&os, o evepy&v TO iravra ev iramv Vulgate. (2) The Syriac. The
(where however ev iraa-iv may mean Peshito indeed gives an active mean-
'in all men') ; and as a predicate in ing : but we have evidence that the
i_C_or._xy__28_tKa_p_o-&os-7rawa-/
iracriv, and with a slight variation in Peshito was a revision, took the word
CoL iii ii a\Xa iravra not ev ira<riv as passive; for it is so taken in
Xptorof. In each of the last two Ephraim's commentary, which is pre-
cases there is some evidence for served in an Armenian translation.
reading TO iravra : but the absence of (3) The Egyptian. Both the Bohairic
the article is natural in the predicate, and the Sahidic take the verb in the
This use of the phrase as applied to passive sense.
God and to Christ makes it the more Origen and Chrysostom gave a pas-
appropriate here. St Paul uses sive sense to the participle (see the
iravra adverbially in i Cor. ix 25, x 33 citations in the footnote to the expo-
(le&vra iraanv apeo-ao), xi 2, Phil, iv sition). So did Theodore, though his
13; and likewise TO, irwrra in this interpretation is involved: he says
epistle iv 15 ira...aOi70-jteieisai>Tw (Cramer Catena, p. 129) owe elirev on
TO, irdvra, an important parallel. TO iravra 7X17/301, aXX* OTI auros ev TfafTi
TrXi/pou/tei/ou] There is no justifica- ir^jpovraf Towetmv, ev irao-i irXqprjs
tion for the rendering 'fofit.fillPth all eariv K.T.X. The Latin commentators
injalllA,V.). The only ancient version had adimpletur, and could not give
which gives this interpretation is the any other than a passive meaning.
Syriac Vulgate. In English it ap- II. i, 2. ' Next, you may see that
pears first in Tyndale's translation power as it has been at work in your-
(1534). The chief instances cited for selves. You also it has raised from
irK-npovvQai as middle are those in the dead. For you were dead not
which a captain is said to man his with a physical death such as was the
ship (vavv 7r\Tipov<r0ai), i.e. ' to get it death of Christ, but dead in your sins.
filled'. But this idiomatic use of the Your former life was a death rather
middle (comp. iraida 8i8do-ite(rdai) than a life. You shaped your con-
affords no justification for taking it duct after the fashion of the present
here in what is really the active world, after the will of the power
II 2 ] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 153
rots 7rapa7TTwiJLa(riv Ka rais juiapTiaK
als TTore irepiCTraTiicrare Kara TOV auSva TOV KOO-JUIOV
that dominates it Satan and his un- writings another word takes its place,
seen satellites the inspiring force of namely iropfveo-dai a word also
those who refuse obedience to God'. used four times in this sense by St
i. vfKpovs roTsfl-apfwmo/LitMru'] 'You Luke (Luke i 6 ; viii 14, a noteworthy
were dead not indeed with a physi- place; Acts ix 31, xiv 16) : but
cal death; but yet really dead in neither St Paul nor St John em-
virtue of your trespasses and sins', ploys this word so.
The dative is not properly instru- This metaphor of 'walking' or
mental (if the meaning had been 'going' is not Greek, but Hebrew in
'put to death by', we should have its origin. It is in harmony with the
had veveKpapevovs), but is attached to fact that from the first Christianity
the adjective by way of definition, was proclaimed as a Way (Acts ix 2,
The dative in Col. ii 14, TO KO&' rjfi&v xviii 25, 26, &c.).
Xeipoypa^ov rois 8oy/ia<rti/,is somewhat There are two words which express
similar. In the parallel passage the same idea from the Greek point.
CoL ii 13, veKpovt ovras rois -irapcarrto- of view: (i) TroAireveo-tfat, a
fiaa-iv Kal rfj aKpoftvoTiq rfjs aapKos characteristically Greek expression:
vfji&v, it is clear that the uncircum- for conduct to a Greek was mainly a
ision~is"ni5t~thiB~instrument"of~deatlc questfon~~of"relation~to~the-State-rso-
We cannot render the dative better Acts' xxiii i ey<o vaxrg
than by the preposition e in\ dyadfi ireno\ireviMi T< 0e<p, and
2. TTcpieiraTqa-are] Hepiirarelv is Phil, i 27 povov dioos TOV evayyeXiov
used to express a manner of life only TOV Xpt orou ito\iTeveo-6e. (2) dvao-rpe-
once in the Synoptic Gospels, viz. in <peo-dat (once in 2 Cor.,Eph., i Tim. ;
Mark vii 5 ov nepuraTovo'cv...KaTa, TTJV twice in Heb.; once in i Pet., 2 Pet),
irapdBocriv T&V irpeo'pvTepa>v. It is with its noun dvaaTpo(p^ (once in Gal.,
similarly used once in the Acts (xxi Eph., i Tim., Heb., Jas. ; six times in
21, TOIS eOeo-iv irepiirareiv), and once in I Pet., twice in 2 Pet.).
the Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii 9, While we recognise the picturesque
/Spoyiacru', ev ols OVK co(pe\.^6r)(rav ol metaphor involved in the use of
irepnrarovvTfs). These three instances irepmaTeiv for moral conduct, we must
refer to the regulation of life in not suppose that it was consciously
accordance with certain external present to the Apostle's mind when-
ordinances. They do not refer to ever he used the word. Here, for
general moral conduct. This latter example, it is clearly synonymous
sense is found in the New Testament with ai>a<n-pe'$r&u, which he employs
only in the writings of St Paul and in the parallel phrase of v. 3.
St John. Thus it occurs twice in Kara TOV al&vd TOV noafiav rovrou]
St John's Gospel (the metaphor of This is a unique combination of two
'walking' being strongly felt), and phrases, each of which is frequently
ten times in his Epistles. It is found in St Paul's writings o almv
specially frequent in St Paul's OVTOS and o noa-pos OVTOS : see the note
writings, being found in every epistle, on i 21. The combination of syn-
if we except the Pastoral Epistles, onyms for the sake of emphasis
It occurs seven times in this epistle. may be illustrated by several phrases
It is not found in i Peter, 2 Peter, of this epistle : i 5 KOTO. TTJV
Jude or the Apocalypse : in these TOV df^fiaTos avroC, 1 1 KOTO.
154
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS,
[II 2
K.O.TO, TOV ap%ovTa Ttjs e^ovcrias TOV ae/flos, TOV
TOV vvv evepyovvTos ev TOK viols Ttjs cwret-
fiov\r)v TOV 6e\jpMTos avYov, 19 itarA of evil: c. 7, '"We ascended into the
rf/v evepyeuiv TOV Kpdrovs Ts fovos firmament... and there I beheld Sam-
avTovjVr 23 T< irvcviMTi TOV vobs vftov. mael[ who elsewhere (c. i) isidentified
KOTO. TOV apxovra] The Apostle with Malkira, 'the prince of evil']
takes term after term from the and his powers', &c. There can be
current phraseology, and adds them no doubt, however, that the air was
together to bring out his meaning, regarded by the Jews, as well as by
Compare with the whole of this others, as peopled by spirits, and
passage, both for style and for more especially by evil spirits. Corn-
subject matter, vi 12 npos TOS dpxds, pare Philo de gigant. 2 (Mangey,
?rpop TOS e|ovo-/ar, irpos TOVS KOfffto- x p. 263), ovs aXXot 0{XoVo</><
fcparopas TOU OTCOTOVS TOVTOW, irpbs TO ayyeXous M.O>VCTTJS euadev
irvev[j.aTiKa TTJS itovrfpias ev TO"IS eirov- i/a^at $* e ^~ t KOTO TOV depa
paviois. There he represents his and more especially in his exposition
readers as struggling against the of Jacob's Dream (de somn. i 22,
world-forces, in accordance with which p. 641): KX!/uz| rolwv ev pev T<5
their former life, as here described,
had been lived.
With the term 6 ap^anv K.T.X. com- dirb yap TTJS o~e\r}viaKr)s vfpaipas ...
pare Mark iii 22 (Matt. ix^M)-e-Tp yrjs
Ufjujvicav, and Matt, xii 24 OVTOS de eori tyvx&v do~a>pdTO>v OIKOS,
(Luke xi 15) ev T$ Beefe/SouX apxovri
8aip,ovia>v. also John xii 31 o
TOU Kocr/iov TovToUj xiv 30,
xvi ii. The plural 01 apxovre? TOV
al&vos TOVTOV is found in i Cor. ii 6, 8,
apparently in a similar sense. In
2 Cor. iv 4 we read of o 6ebs TOV oZdSi/os
o-upfto\iK&s Xeyerat 6 ai\p t ov
eWi 7^, Kopv<j>ff 8e ovpavos
K.T.X. For the Palestinian doctrine
of evil spirits reference may be made
to the instructive chapter Die Sunde
und die Damanen in Weber Altsyn.
Theol. pp. 242 ff. ; see also Thackeray,
as referred to in the note on p. 133
above. In a curious passage in
Athanasius, de incarn. 25, our Lord's
egova-las TOV depos] Compare crucifixion is regarded as purifying
Col. i 1 3 os epvVaTo ij/uis 6K TJ/y egovo-ias the air: povos yap ev T$ depi TIS
, and Acts xxvi 18 TOV
CTTO O~KOTOVS CIS <^fflff Kal
rijs eovcrias TOV ^arava eirl TOV deov :
also our Lord's words to those who
arrested Him, Luke xxii 53 oXX'
TOVTOV.
TOV
cariv vp&v fj Spa Kal q covo~ia
O-KOTOVS .
dirodvqo~Kei oravprn
8ib Kal fiicoT&s TOVTOV virepeivev 6
Kvpios' ovTto yap v^fcadels TOV fiev depa
eKadapiev diro TC lys 8iafto\iK^s nal
JTOOTJS TV 8cufj.6v<ov em^ovX^s, *c.r.X.
TOV irvevpaTos] We should have
expected rather TO irvevpa., hi apposi-
In the Testaments of the Twelve tion with TOJ apxovra. It may be
Patriarchs (Benj. 3) we have vrrb TOV that this was the Apostle's meaning-,
deploy irvcvfiMTos TOV BeXtqp : .but we and that the genitive is due to an un-
cannot be sure that this language is conscious assimilation to the genitives
independent of the present passage, which immediately precede. If this
The same must be said of the con- explanation be not accepted, we must
ception of the firmament in the regard TOV wvevfMTos as in apposition
Ascension of Isaiah, as a region with T^S fgowias and governed by
between the earth and the first TOV apxovra. In i Cor. ii 12 we find
heaven, filled with conteuding spirits TO irvevpa TOV KOO-/ZOV opposed to TO
II 3]
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
155
*ev ols Kat f/juas Wi/res di/60"Tpa<jN;/*e// TTOTB ev
K eiriBvfjiicus Trjs (rapicds tyjuoh/, TTOIOVVT&S TO. 6e\nfj.aTa
T/S (rapicos Kal Ttav Siavoiwv, Kal fifJieOa TeKva (pvarei
itvevfM rb e< rov 0eov. But we have
no parallel to the expression TQV
apXovra...Tov irvevfiaTos K.T.A.
TOW vvv evepyovvros] So 'this world'
is spoken of as 6 vvv alcov in i Tim. vi
17, 2 Tim. iv 10, Tit ii 12. The word
evcpyelv, like the word irvevpa, seems
purposely chosen in order to suggest
a rivalry with the Divine Spirit: see
the detached note on evepyelv.
3 7. 'Not that we Jews were in
any better case. We also lived in
sin, following the dictates of our
lower desires. We, no less than the
Gentiles, were objects in ourselves of
the Divine wrath. In ourselves, I
say: but the merciful God has not
"left us to ourselves; Dead as we
vened the neuter is more natural;
and that the word 7rapairr<op.ao-tv was
principally present to the Apostle's
mind is shown by the omission of Kal
Tats d/iaprtatff when the phrase is
repeated. The change from irepara-
Tfiv to dvaoTpetpeffdat (on these syno-
nyms see the note on v. 2) does not
help to justify the supposed change
in the meaning of the preposition : for
dva(rrpe(f)(rdai and dvaffTpofpr] are
frequently followed by ev to denote
condition or circumstances.
For the working out of the parallel,
were, Gentiles and Jews alike, He
has quickened us with Christ, Grace,
free grace, has saved you ! and raised
us with Him, and seated us with Him
in the heavenly sphere : and all this,
in Christ Jesus. For His purpose has
been to display to the ages that are
yet to come the surpassing wealth of
His grace, in the goodness shewn
toward us in Christ Jesus'.
3. ev ols Kal jjjttets] 'wherein we
also': so the Latin 'in quibus' as in
v. 2, not 'inter qws'. At first sight
it seems as though ev of? must be
rendered as ' among whom', i.e.
'among the sous of disobedience'.
But the parallel which the Apostle is
drawing is brought out more forcibly
by the rendering 'wherein'. Thus
We have (v. l) v^as ovras VCKpoiis TOIS
irapairrofia.a'iv Kal rats d/xaprtats vpuv,
ev als Trore 7repte7raT7/o-are...(0. 3) ev ols
Kal i/jueis Trdvres dveo~Tpd(f>T)p:ev wore...
(v. 5) /cal ovras ypHs veitpovs TOIS irapa-
irTcopao-iv. That the relative is in the
first instance in the feminine is merely
due to the proximity of d/tapnats.
After the sentence which has inter-
compare -.11,
ev a> Kal u/ms, and ii 21, 22 ev o> irao~a
oiKo8onij...v o> Kal vfjie'is owotKodo/x-
-firde. In~the~present~instance the
parallel is yet further developed by
the correspondence of ev TOIS viols TTJS
direidias (v. 2) and tfpeda reuva (pvo~ei
opyfis (ft 3).
ev TUIS emOvfitais] The preposition
here has the same sense as in the
phrase ev ols K.T.X.; so that the latter
of the two phrases is to be regarded
as an expansion of the former.
ra 6e\^fiara\ The plural is found
in Acts xiii 22, and as a variant in
Mark iii 35.
TV oWotuz'] 'our minds'. With
this and with TTJS a-apKos we must supply
qpv } which was used with TTJS a-apKos
at its first mention and therefore is
not repeated. For the rendering
'thoughts' no parallel is to be found
in the New Testament. In Luke 151
Siavoia KapSlas OVT&V means strictly
'the mind of their heart'; comp.
i Chron. xxix 18. In the LXX we
usually find napdia as the rendering
of 2? (33?) ; but 38 times we have
Stdvoia, which is only very exceptionally
used to represent any other word.
That the plural is used only in the
case of diavoi&v is due to the impos-
156 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [II 48
opyfjs Js Kal ol \oi7Toi' 4 6 Se 6eos irAotfcrcos tov ev eXeei,
Ttjv 7ro\\rlv drya,7rir\v avTov iji/ jfycwrtycrej/ tyjuas, 5 Kal
oi/ras qjjLCK veKpovs rots TrapaTTTcofAafrtv
l (rvveKaSurev ev rots eTrovpavioK ev Xpi<rTt3 'Itjcrov,
Sei^tjTai ev TOIS aiwtrw rots eTrep^ofJievoK TO
V7repj3d\\ov TT\OVTOS T^S j(dpiTO$ avTov ev xprja'TOTrjTi
e<f) qjuids ev XpicrTtS s \ri(rov. 8 Ty yap -^dpiTi ea~Te <re<ra)-
Sid TricrTew Kal TOVTO OVK e vfji&v, Beov TO
sibility of saying rSv aapn&v in such a although avv Xptcrrw is implied by the
context. preceding verbs: for & XpwrnS 'fycrov
TfKva...opyfis\ In Hebraistic phrases states the relation in the completest
of this kind TCKVU and viol are used form, and accordingly the Apostle
indifferently as representatives of *33 : repeats it again and again (w. 7, 10).
compare ii 2, v 8. 7. ev^ei^rai] 'shew forth 1 . The
j <v'o-] 'ty nature', in the sense of word is similarly used in Rom. ix 22
ffm ourselves'. Other examples of el 8e Qku>v 6 fobs evfteigao-dai TTJV
ihis adverbial use__are-JBoin.-ii 14 opyjv, where- it ^is-suggested
orav yap edw]...<j>v<rei TO. rov vofiov citation in v. 17 of Ex. ix 16 airos
' iroico<riv, Gal. ii 15 ijp-eis (pvtrei 'lov- ev8eiga>pai ev trol TTJV 8vvapiv p.ov.
80101, iv 8 rots <j)V(rei pf) ovariv Qeois. ^PJ/OTOTTTTI] 'Mndness', or t ffOod-
5. <rweaxmobi<rcv] The word oc- ness'. The word is used of the Divine
curs only here and in Col. ii 13, kindness in Rom. ii 4 rod IT\OVTOV rfjs
(rvvefaoTroiriarfV vftas vvv avrto. The xf n J" r rr l' ros OVTOV, and in Rom. XI 22,
thought there expressed makes it where it is contrasted with an-oro/ua :
plain that r<5 xP iarr V ^ s ^ e right also in Tit. iii 4, where it is linked
reading here, and not ev r<5 xP ltrr & with <j)i\avdpanria: compare also Luke
as is found in B and some other vi 35 on avrbs xP r )^ r os cvriv K.T.\.
authorities. The mistake has arisen 8 10. 'Grace, I say, free grace has
from a dittography of CN. saved you, grace responded to by
xaptrt] In pointed or proverbial faith. It is not from yourselves that
expressions the article is by preference this salvation comes : it is a gift, and
omitted. When the phrase, which is the gift is God's. Merit has no part
here suddenly interjected, is taken up in it : boasting is excluded. It is He
again and dwelt upon in v. 8, we have thathathmadeus,andnotweoufs"elves:
777 yap xapiri K.T.\. He has created us afresh in Christ
6. avvrfyeipev Kal ovveKadurevl i.e., Jesus, that we may do good works
' together with Christ', as in the case which He has made ready for our
of ovvewoiroir)(rev just before. So in doing. Not of works, but unto works,
Col. ii 12, (rvvrafyevres avT<p...<rvvriyep- is the Divine order of our salvation'.
Gyre. The compound verbs echo the 8. Kal TOVTO] 'and that\ as in
eyetpas and Ka6l<ras of i 20. Rom. xiti II neat TOVTO eifiores rov
ev rots eirovpavloif] Compare i 3, Kaipov. It is a resumptive expression,
20. This completes the parallel with independent of the construction. It
the exaltation of Christ. 'Ev Xpurr$ may be pleaded that, as 8ia irioreas
S is added, as ev Xpwrry in i 3, is an important element, added to the
II 9"] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 157
9 ovK e epytav, iva JJL^ TK Kav^tj(rtjTai. xo avrov
yap earjuev iroitijuia, KTicrOevTes ev XpurT<5 'Iqcrov eirl
epyois dya6oK oh TrporjToi/uuxrei/ 6 6eos 'Iva ev
"
AtO fJLVt]jULOj/eVT OTL 7TOT6 VJUieTs TO. eQw\ GV
phrase of v. 5 when that phrase is re- n 18. 'Remember what you
peated, KatToCro should be interpreted were: you, the Gentiles since we
as specially referring to iri<ms. The must speak of distinctions in the
difference of gender is not fatal to flesh the Uncircumcision as opposed
such a view: but the context demands to the Circumcision. Then, when
the wider reference ; more especially you were without Christ, you were
the phrase owe e| epycov shews that aliens and foreigners; you had no
the subject of the clause is not 'faith', share in the privileges of Israel ; you
but 'salvation by grace'., were in the world with no hope, no
deov TO daipov] Literally l God's is God. Now all is changed: for you
the gffi', deov being the predicate, are in Christ Jesus : and accordingly,
But this is somewhat harsh as a though you were far off, you are made
rendering; and the sense is sufficiently near by the covenant-blood of Christ.
given in our English version; 'it is For it is He who is our peace. He
ttie giffi~of~God,\ has made~"the~~two parts one whole
10. TroirjfjLo] The word occurs He has broken down the balustrade
again in the New Testament only in that was erected to keep us asunder :
Bom. i 20 TOIS iroiijp,aa-iv voovfteva He has ended in His own person the
Kadoparm. We have no single word hostility that it symbolised : He has
which quite suitably renders it: abrogated the legal code of separating
'workmanship' is a little unfortunate, ordinances. For His purpose was by
as suggesting a play upon 'works', a new creation to make the two men
which does not exist in the Greek. one man in Himself; and so not only
eirl epyoit aya6ois\ 'with a vieio to to make peace between the two, but
good works'. Compare i Thess. iv 7 to reconcile both in one body to God
oS yap eiai\eo-ev was 6 debs eirl ouiaBap- through the cross, by which He killed
o-t'a, and Gal. v 1 3 vpels yap eir eXevdepia, the old hostility. And He came with
eVeAT/^re. See also Wisd. ii 23 o 0ebs the Gospel of peace peace to far and
eKTurev rbv avdpatirov eV dtydapcrla, near alike : not only making the two
Ep. ad Diognet. 7 TOUT-OP irpbs OVTOVS near to each other, but giving them
dire(rri\ev ' apa ye, as dvdptoirav av ris both in one Spirit access to the
Xoyiomro, eirl rvpawiSt KOI $o/3<a nal Father'.
KOTaTrX^'lei; The interval between this n. vpeis TO eQvrf] The term 'Gen-
usage and the idiom by which em with tiles', which has been implied in vpeis
a dative gives the condition of a so often before, is now for the first
transaction is bridged by such a phrase time expressly used. In an instructive
as we find, for example, in Xenoph. article On some political terms em-
Memorab. 144 irpeirei pep TO eir' ployed in the New Testament (Class.
<o'<jeA'a yiyvofieva yvmprjs eivai epya. Rev. vol. i pp. 4 ff., 42 ff.) Canon E. L.
019 irpoijToifiaa-ev] by attraction for Hicks says (p. 42) : '"Edvos, the corre-
airporjToiiiaa-ev. The verb is found in lative of Xao? in the mouth of Hellen-
Rom. ix 23, eirl o-KevT) eXeovs, a irpo- istic Jews, was a word that never had
els 86av. any importance as a political term
158 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [II 12
ol Xeydftevoi aKpoftvo-Tia VTTO Ttjs \e.^ofj.evn^
ev crapKi ^etjOOTrowfrov, 12 orf fjre TtS Kaipia
XpuTTov a7Tf/AAoT|Otft)juei/oi Ttjs jrokjureias TOV
until after Alexander. It was when rrjs Xeyopevrjs] This is directly
Hellenism pushed on eastward, and suggested by ol\ey6pcvoi. The Apostle
the policy of Alexander and his sue- may have intended to suggest that
cessors founded cities as outposts of he himself repudiated both terms
trade and civilization, that the con- alike. In Rom. ii 28 f. he refuses to
trast was felt and expressed between recognise the mere outward sign of
TroXfty and Wvrj. Hellenic life found circumcision: ov8e r/ ev r<5 (pavepa ev
its normal type in the TroXts, and <rapKin-eptro/xi)'aXXoi...7reptro|ui^Kapdras
barbarians who lived Kara Kw/xar or in ev irvevpari, ov ypapiwri. He thus
some less organised form were edvij '. claims the word, as it were, for higher
He refers to Droysen Hettenismus uses; as he says of the Gentiles them-
iii i, pp. 31 f. for illustrations, and selves in Col. ii ii,7repierp,jdr)Teircpi-
mentions among others Polybius vii 9, TO/HJ axcipojroiqT<p...ev -ry ireptropfi rov
where ir6\fis and edmj are repeatedly xP l<rr V'
contrasted. The word fdvrj was thus x el P OJroil l TOV ] This is the only place
ready to hand when the LXX came to where this word occurs in St Paul's
express the invidious sense of D'lJ, epistles.
-which-is-found-so-commonly hHDeu= 2~<3orrv~r~6/av
teronomy, the Psalms and the Pro- ev rois ovpavols, and in Col. ii n
phets. It is curious that, while St (quoted above). It serves to empha-
Paul freely employs edvr], he never sise the transience of the distinction,
uses the contrasted term Xaos, except though it casts no doubt on the validity
where he is directly referring to a of it while it lasted,
passage of the Old Testament. 12. x^P's] ' without', or ' apart
ev o-apKt] The addition of these from'. St Paul does not use oWv,
words suggests the external and tern- which is found only in Matt, x 29
porary nature of the distinction. For avev TOV irarpbs vpv, in an inter-
their position after ro edvrj see the polation into Mark xiii 2 avev x ft P& v )
note on i 15. Here it was perhaps and twice in i Peter, where x<ap!s is
unavoidable: for ra ev a-apKi edvrj or not used. It is usual to take xupl?
ra effvij TO. ev vapid would suggest the Xpiorov as a predicate and to place a
existence of another class of e6m\: comma after it. This is perfectly
whereas the meaning is 'those who permissible: but the parallel between
are the Gentiles according to a dis- ro> icaipm eKeivy ^copts XptoroC and vwl
tinction which is in the flesh'. Sinai- fieevXpiorS'Lyo-oi} makes it preferable
larly we have -njs \eyop,4vr]s irepiToprjs to regard the words as the condition
ev aapKi. which leads up to the predicates which
ol Xe-yo/xeyot] 'which are called', follow.
The phrase is not depreciatory, as dmfiXorpuoiievoi] The Apostle seems
'the so-called' would be in English. tohaveinmindPs.lxviii(lxix)9amjX-
The Jews called themselves ij irepi- \orpuofi*vos eyevjdrjv (*n^Pl It-ID) rots
TO/IT;, and called the Gentiles T; anpo- d8e\<f>ois /tov, Kal evos rots vlots rijt
jSvorto. St Paul does not here use p/rpos p.ov. This will account for his
the latter name, which 'was one of choice of a word which does not appear
contempt; but he cites it as used to be a term of Greek civic life. Its
by others. ordinary use is either of the alienation
II I3 ] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 159
*l<rparj\ Kal evoi Ttav ^LaBviKwv Ttjs ewcf/yeAices, e\7rioa
] e%ovTes Kal aOeoi ev T Kooyxo). I3 vvvi Se ev
of property, or of alienation of feeling : that I have no share in the aforesaid
the latter sense prevails in Col. i 21, ttal grinding-machine, but am a stranger
vpas wore ovras dm/XXorpuajucVovf Kal and alien therefrom (dXXa evov fie
cxjQpovs TV diavoiq ...... ajroicar>;AXaei>, eivai Kal aXXorpioy aur^y)'.
where estrangement from God is in row diafyxtiv] The plural is found
question. The participial sense is also in Bom. ix 4 <ui>...ai diadrjum.
not to be pressed : strictly speaking For the covenant with Abraham, see
the Gentiles could not have been alien- Gen. xvii 7; for the covenant with
ated from the sacred commonwealth the People under Moses, see Exod.
of which they had never been members, xxiv 8.
The word is used almost as a noun, TTJS eWyyeAi'a?] Comp. i 13 and
as may be seen from its construction Hi 6, where the Gentiles are declared
with ovres in iv 18 and in CoL i 21. to share in the Promise through
So too here we have 3 ?frc..,onrt}\- Christ.
Xorp(o/teVoi...KalcVo(. It thus scarcely \m8a pf] cxovrcs] The same phrase,
differs from dXXorpto? : comp. Clem, in a more restricted sense, occurs in
Bom. 7, of the Mlnevites, cXaftov o-owi/- i Thess. iv. 13 Kudos Kal ol Xonrol ol py
piav, Kaiirep dXXdrptot row 0eov owes. exovres e\iri8a. Christ as 'the hope*
TroXwems] * commonwealth ', or of the Gentiles was foretold by the
olity'-* In the-only-other-place prophets~(Isa. xi 10, xlii 4; comp.
where the word occurs in the New Bom. xv 12 and Matt, xii 21), and was
Testament, Acts xxii 28, it is used of the 'secret' or 'mystery' entrusted
the Boman citizenship. In later to St Paul (Col. i 27).
Greek it was commonly used for adcoi] The word does not occur
* manner of life': compare iroXtrev- elsewhere in the whole of the Greek
ccrdai, and see the note on itepmarflv Bible. It is used here not as a term
in ii 2. In this sense it is taken here of reproach, but as marking the
by the Latin version, which renders mournful climax of Gentile disability.
it by ' conuersatio'. But the contrast 'ev T$ Koa-fj.^] These words are not
in v. 19 (crvwroXmu) is decisive against to be taken as a separate item in the
this view. description: but yet they are not
gcvot] The use of givos with a otiose. They belong to the two pre-
.genitive is not common : Soph. Oed. ceding terms. The Gentiles were in
Rex 219 f. and Plato Apol. i (%vu>s the world without a hope and with no
eX etv ) are cited. Here the construe- God: in the world, that is, with no-
tion is no doubt suggested by the thing to lift them above its material-
genitive after aTn/XAorpioyieVoi. In ising influences.
Clem. Bom. i we have a dative, T?)S St Paul uses the word Koo-p-os with
re dXXorpt'as KM gtvqs row eVcXrois various shades of meaning. The fun-
ToO 0fov, fuapas Kal dvoo-iov crrdcreoos : damental conception is that of the
on which Lightfoot cites Clem. Horn. ojAwja^d_jer4eK.jof. r ,things^ .considered
vi 14 air d\r]0eias a\\orpiav ovvav Kal more especially in .^relation _^to jtnan,
.gfwiv. In the papyrus of 348 A.D., IFls rarely found without any moral
cited above on i n, the sister who reference, as in phrases of time, Bom.
has taken the \i6os o-iroKwrnjs as her i 20, Eph. i 4, or of place, Bom. i 8,
share of the inheritance declares that Col. i 6. But the moral reference is
she has no claim whatever on the often quite a general one, with no
'hereby I admit suggestion of evil: as in i Cor. vii 31
160
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
[II 14
v v/iels o'l TTOTC OVT&S M & K p & N eyw;0t/Te e r r Y c
TftJ aifJLClTl TOV %pl(rTOV.
TO.
TOV Koo-fiov, 2 Cor. i 12 aw-
trrpd(f)T)/ji.ev ev T& Ko'oyio), irepuro-orcptos
fie if pot vfias. In the phrase o Koo-fios
ovros there is however a suggestion
of opposition to the true order: see
the note on i 21. Again, aovpos is
used of the whole world of men in
contrast with the elect people of
Israel, Bom. iv 13, xi 12, 15. The
world, as in opposition to God, falls
under the Divine judgment, Rom. iii
6, 19, i Cor. xi 32: 'the saints shall
judge the world', i Cor. vi 2. Yet
the world finds reconciliation with
God in Christ, 2 Cor. v 19. In three
passages St Paul uses the remarkable
expression TO. crot^eTa TOU icocr/iov, of
-world-forces-which-held-men-in-bond
age until they were delivered by
Christ, Gal. IV 3, Col. ii 8, 2O. In
the last of these passages the expres-
sion is followed by a phrase which is
parallel to that of our text, ri <os
a>VTfs ev KOO-/L16) 8oypaTigeo-6e; Limi-
tation to the world was the hopeless
and godless lot of the Gentiles apart
from Christ.
13. naKpav...cyyvs\ These words,
and elprjvr) in the next verse, are from
Isa. Ivii 19 : see below, v. 17.
ev T& aifMTi] Compare Col. i 20
elprjvoTfoirj(ras fita TOU at/itaTor TOV craw-
pov avTov.
14. auVos] He, in His own person j
compare ev avrca, v. 15.
Below we have
dp^ov (9. 15), and
(. 16). Comp i Cor.
Ul 8 o <j>vTeva>v K ai o ITOTL&V ev elo-iv:
and, on the other hand, GaLJii 28
mW yap VI, el s M ev ^ory
V& At first the Apostle is con-
tent to speak of Jew and Gentile as
the two parts which are combined
into one whole : in the sequel he
prefers to regard them as two men,
&TTLV Y\ eipHNH
ev KCU TO neffOTOiov TOV
I4 tttm>S
made by a fresh act of creation into
one new man. ,
TO /xeo-drot^oi/] The only parallel to
this word appears to be o fj.ea-arot.xos
in a passage of Eratosthenes (apvd
Athen. vii 14, p. 281 D), in which he
says of Aristo the Stoic, 7817 fie TTOTC
*cal TOVTOV ire<p<opaKa TOV TTJS Tjoovfjs
al operas peo-oroixov fiiopwrrowa, KOI
dvcKpcuvopevov napa Tfj jftovfj.
TOU <payj*oC] ' the fence ', or ' the
partition'. The allusion is to the
fipw^awos or balustrade in the Temple,
which marked the limit to which a
Gentile might advance. Compare
Joseph. B. J. v 5 2 fita TOVTOV n-pot-
OVTCOV ert TO oevTepov lepbv dpvfpaKTOg
iraw fie ^aptc'ira? 8ifipyao-pevog'
OVT$ fie eio-Tijiceo-av e' urov
oriJAat TOV TI/P ayvelas irpo
vo\iov, al fiev 'E\\r}vi<ois at 8e '
ypdppao-iv, pydeva dX\6<f>v\oi> evrbs TOV
ayiov Trapievai- TO yap devrepov lepbv
ayiov eKoXeiTo. . One of these inscrip-
tions was discovered by M. Clermont
Ganneau in May 1871. Owing to the
troubles in Paris he announced his
discovery in a letter to the Athe~
naeum, and afterwards published a
full discussion, accompanied by a fac-
simile, in the Revue Archeologique
1872, vol. xxiii pp. 2i4ff., 2908;
The inscription, which is now at Con-
stantinople, runs as follows :
MHGENAAAAOrENHEISnO
PEYES0AI ENTOZTOYHE
PITOI EPONTPY*AKTOYKAI
KO AO Y
np n ATHM
El N0ANATON
Further references to this barrier
are found in Joseph. Antt. XT n 5
(epniov \iQivov opv^anTov ypa<j>fj /-
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
161
II is, 16]
(bpayiuov \v<ras, 15 *n/i/ e%6pav iv Ty (rapid avTOv, TOV
VOJJLOV TWV evTo\u>v ev ^oy/utcurtv KaTapyfaas, iW TOUS
SJo /cTn/ ev CLVTW els eva KCUVOV avBpwn'ov vroiiav eipij-
vqv, t6 Kal aTToicaTaAAa^ TOUS dfjifyoTepovs ev evi <ro>/>urri
\vov elo-ievat TOV d\\oedvrj 6ava.TiK.rls
dlTl\OVfJLVT}S TTJS ^TJfiiai), B- (7*. VI 2 4-
comp. Philo 2^. ad Caium 31 (M. n
577). Past this barrier it was sup-
posed that St Paul had brought
Trophimus the Ephesian (oi evo/ufov
STL els TO lepbv eiarjyayev 6 HavXos),
Acts xxi 29.
\vo-as] In the literal sense KaraXvfiv
is more common: but we have the
^simple verb in John ii 19 XiWre TOV
\vabv TOVTOV.
15. TTIV exdpav] If these words be
taken with \vo~as, a metaphorical sense
must be attributed to the participle, as
well-as-the-literal^-This-in-itself-is-
an objection, though not a fatal one,
to such a construction. It is in any
case simpler to take TT)V fydpav with
icaTapyijVas, although that verb is
chosen by an afterthought as speci-
ally applicable to TOV v6\ua> K.T.X. The
t sense remains the same whichever
construction is adopted. The barrier
in the Temple court, the hostility
between Jew and Gentile, and 'the
law of commandments' (limited as
the term is by the defining phrase ev
86ypao-iv) are parallel descriptions of
the separation which was done away
in Christ.
It has been suggested that T^V
e^dpav 4v TjJ o-apKi OUTOV ,18 closely
parallel to diroKreivas TT)V e^Bpav ev
avr& (sic) in v. 16; and that the
Apostle had intended to write
aTTOKTeivas in the former place, but
was led away into an explanatory
digression, and took up his phrase
later on by a repetition. This may
be a true explanation, so far as the
intention of the writer is concerned :
but as a matter of fact he has left TJ)V
at its earlier mention to be
EPHES. 8
governed by one of the other parti-
ciples, presumably by fcarapyqtras.
eV rfj vapid avrov] Compare Col.
i 21, 22 iwt Se diroKanj\\dyi}Te iv r$
o-co'/ian TJ/S a-apubs avrov 8ia TOV davd-
TOV [OUTOV].
TOV v6fiov\ In E>om. iii 31 the
Apostle refuses to use narapye'iv of
TOV vopw, although he is willing to say
Karjjpy^jj/tei* OTTO TOV i/o/tzov in Rom.
vii 6. Here however he twice limits
TOV vopov, and then employs the word
icarapyifo-af. It is as a code of mani-
fold precepts, expressed in definite
ordinances, that he declares it to have
been-annufledr-
ev tioypao-iv] The word is used of
imperial decrees, Luke ii i, Acts xvii
7 ; and of the ordinances decreed by
the Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem,
Acts xvi 4. Its use here is parallel
to that in CoL ii 14, ea\cfyas TO <a6*
-r\\i>v x et p6ypa(pov TOIS doypao-iv : see
Lightfoot's note on the meaning of
the word, and on the strange mis-
interpretation of the Greek commen-
tators, who took it in both passages
of the ' doctrines or precepts of the
Gospel' by which the law was abro-
gated. Comp. also Col. ii 20 (Soy-
/un-tc<r&).
KTIOTJ] Compare v. 10 mo-Sevres ev
Xpurnp 'Ljo-oO, and iv 24 TOJ KOIVOV-
avOpairov TOV Kara 6fov KTio-0cvra.
evavTqi] 'in Himself. The earlier-
MSS have &YTCO, the later for the
most part GAYTW. Whether we vmte^
O.VT$ or avr$, the sense is undoubtedly
reflexive. See Lightfoot's note oni
Col. i 20.
16. cnroKaTaXXa#] On the double
compound see Lightfoot's note on
CoL i 20.
162 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [II 1719
TtS Befit $ia TOV (rravpov, diroKreivas Tnv e%6pav ev
&UTO)* I7 Kai e\wv eyHrreAicATo eip^NHN Vfjuv TO?C
MAKpalN KAI eip^NHN ToTc ciTYC' l8 <m $i avrov
Trjv Trpoa'aycoyriv ol djj.(poTepoi ev evl Trvevjuuxri
TOV TraTepa. * 9 apa ovv OVKCTL ea~Te evoi Ka Trapoucoi,
ev aura] This may be rendered so in Rom. v 2, &' oS Kal TTJV irpotra-
either 'thereby', i.e. by the cross, or yaytiv evxtnapev [r wio-rei] els T^V
' in Himself . The latter is the inter- x<*P lv rmmfv : and, absolutely, in Eph.
pretation of the Latin, * in gemetipso '. iii 12 e'v o> exopev T V ^apprja-iav KOI
Jerome, who is probably following an vpoa-aycoyrjv h ircTroidfofi. The last
interpretation of Origen's, says (Val- passage is decisive against the alter-
lars. vii 581): 'In ea: non ut in native rendering * introduction', not-
Latinis codicibus habetur in semet- withstanding the parallel in i Pet. iii
ipso, propter Graeci pronominis am- 18 iva upas irpoo-ayayg T^ 6e&.
biguitatem: ev aura enim et in <-V evl irvcvpari] The close paral-
semetipso et in ea, id est cruce, lelism between TOWS a^oTepovs lv evl
intelligi potest, quia crux, id est <7-o>/<m ro> fan (v. 16) and ol apfyorepoi
oravpos, iuxta Graecos generis mas- ev evl irvevpan npos TOV irarepa shews
culiniest'. that the *v vvevjui is that which cor-
' thereby' would responds to the ev o-w/io, as in iv 4.
be impossible if, as some suppose, 8ta That the 'one spirit' is ultimately
TOV o-Tavpov is to be taken with OTTO- indistinguishable from the personal
KTeivas : but that this is not the Holy Spirit is true, just in the same
natural construction is shewn by the way that the 'one body' is indistin-
parallel in Col. i 22 wvl 8e dirottarak- guishable from the Body of Christ :
Xay7jT...Sia TOW 6a.va.rov [auro], comp. but we could not in either case sub-
Col. i 20. Either interpretation is stitute one term for the other with-
accordingly admissible. In favour of out obscuring the Apostle's meaning.
the second may be urged the avros of 19 22. ' You are, then, no longer
0. 14 and the ev O.VT$ of v. 15. On foreigners resident on sufferance only.
the suggested parallel with ev r# You are full citizens of the sacred
o-apKi atJroO see the note on . 15. commonwealth : you are God's own,
17. evrjyye\ia-aro *c.r.X.] The Apostle the sons of His house. Nay, you are
illustrates and enforces his argument constituent parts of the house that is
by selecting words from two prophetic in building, of which Christ's apostles
passages, to one of which he has and prophets are the foundation, and
already alluded in passing: Isa, Iii 7, Himself the predicted corner-stone.
cos wpa em r&v opecov, <os nodes evay- In Him all that is builded is fitted
ye\iofj.fi>ov aKof/v eipyvrjs, cos evayye\i- and morticed into unity, and is grow-
tfpeims ayadd : Ivii 19, elpjvtjv eV ing into a holy temple in the Lord.
flpijvrjv TOIS paicpav Kal rois eyyvs In Him you too are being builded in
ovo-iv. The first of these is quoted with us, to form a dwellingplace of
(somewhat differently) in Rom. x 15, God in the Spirit'.
and alluded to again in this epistle, 19. 7rapoi<oi} The technical distinc-
vi 15. The second is alluded to by tion between the gevos and the irdpoi-
St Peter on the day of Pentecost, KOS is that the latter has acquired by
Acts ii 39. the payment of a tax certain limited
1 8. TTJV irpo<ray<ayjv] ' our access ': rights. But both alike are non-citi-
II 20] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 163
a 6(TT (rvwroXiTat. Ttav dyiwv Kai oiKeloi TOV 6eov,
TO)
, OVTOS aKpoyioviaiov avTOv Xpi&Tod '
zens, which is St Paul's point here,
50 the Christians themselves, in
relation to the world, are spoken of in
iPetii 1 1, from Ps. xxxviii (xxxix)
13, as TTa.poiK.oi KCLL 7rape7ri'Si7/>i i and
this language was widely adopted,
seeLightfootonClem.Eom.j9re/. For
irapoiKos and its equivalent peTomos
see E. L. Hicks in Class. Rev. i 5 f.,
Deissmann Neue Bibelst. pp. 54?.
crvwoXirai] The word was objected
to by the Atticists : comp. Pollux iii
51 o yap tru/MToXiTj;? ov BoKipov, el KOI
Ei5prt'8?/s aura /w^pi/rat Iv 'HpaK\'-
fiats re KOI Qt]<Tf'i (Heracleid. 826, in
the speech of the depdn-cov). It is
-found-in- Josephus-^wWi xix 2-; 2),
and in inscriptions and papyri (Berl.
Pap. u 632, 9, and cent. A.D.).
r&v ayiatv] See the note on i i.
The thought here is specially, if not
exclusively, of the holy People whose
privileges they have come to share.
otKetoi] Oliceios is the formal oppo-
site of aXXorptos : ' one's own ' in con-
trast to 'another's': comp. Arist. Bhet.
i 5 7 TOV 8c olieeia wu ^ pj (Ps
eoTtv), OTO.V e^>' avrq g dira\\orpia<rcu.
The word has various meanings, all
derived from OLKOS in the sense of
'household' or 'family'. When used
of persons it means ' of one's family',
strictly of kinsmen, sometimes loose-
ly of familiar friends : then more
generally 'devoted to', or even 'ac-
quainted with', e.g. <piXotropia?. In
St Paul the word has a strong sense :
see GaL vi 10 ftaXcora 8e irpos TOVS
oiKtiovs TTJS wio-Tfcas, and i Tim. v 8
T&V I8ia>v KOI piXicmi oi\eiW (comp.
v. 4 TOV 1.01.0V OIKOV tvo-cfteiv).
20. firoiKo8ofja)6evres] The word o*-
KOS underlying otxeiot at once suggests
to the Apostle one of his favourite
metaphors. From the olnos, playing
on its double meaning, he passes to
the oucodofuf. Apart from this sug-
gestion the abruptness of the intro-
duction of the metaphor, which is
considerably elaborated, would be
very strange.
rl ro> &fieX/<] This corresponds
with the ri of the verb, which itself
signifies 'to build upon': compare
i Cor. iii 10 <as cro<pos apx<-reKra>v
fapcXiov ed^tta, a\\os Be ciroiKodopei.
In that passage Jesus Christ is said
to be the fapfXios. Here the meta-
phor is differently handled; and the
Christian teachers are not the build-
ers, but themselves the foundation of
the building.
Christian Church. There can be no
'doubt that this is the Apostle's mean-
ing. Not only does the order ' apostles
and prophets' point in this direction ;
but a few verses lower down (iii 5) the
phrase is repeated, and in iv 1 1 we
have roiis fixv aTrooroXovs, rows 8e
irpo<f)JTas, TOVS &e ei/cryyeXtcrray, K.T.X.,
where Old Testament prophets are
obviously out of the question. That
Origen and Chrysostom suppose that
the latter are here intended is a proof
o f the oblivion into which the activity
O f the prophets in the early Church
had already fallen.
aKpayavtaiov] The word is taken
from the LXX of Isa. xxviii 16, where
it comes in connexion with ^eXto.
The Hebrew of this passage is ID*
1D1D mp* J13S fro fcpN pK }1*S1
1D1D. 'I lay as a foundation in Sion
a stone, a stone of proof, a precious
corner stone of a founded foundation'.
The LXX rendering is 'l8ov eya> e/*-
^oXX< els TO 6ep.c\ta Setwv \idov
TroXvrcX^ c/cXe/crov diepoycavuuov evripov,
els TO. 0cpe\ia avTtjs. It is plain that
aKpoyatvuuov corresponds to 7132),
whether we regard it as masculine
II - 2
164 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [II 21
91 iv ft) iraa-a otKO^ofJitj trvvapfjioXoyovfJievti avjgei els vaov
), or as a neuter substantive; corner-stone') both here and in
see Hort's note on i Pet. ii 6, where i Pet. ii 6; though in Isa. xxviii 16 we
the passage is quoted. In Job have ' corner stone'. Neither the
xxxviii 6 X#o yowatos stands for Hebrew nor the Greek affords any
ma J3N: in Jer. xxviii (Ii) 26 XWos justification for the rendering 'chief
els yovlav for !"IJS? pK : and in Ps. corner-stone'. 'AKpoyataiof stands to
"CXVii (cxviii) 22 els Ke<pa\fjv ytovlas for yotvtalos as eV aicpas yaw'as stands to
rua B>n;>. In the last of these places ri yow'as : the first part of the com-
Symmachus had aKpoywiaios, as he pound merely heightens the second.
had also for mro, 'chapiter', in 21. vcuraolKobo^} t aM(ihe) 1 build-
2 Kings xxv 17. In Ps. cxliii (cxliv) ing^ not 'each several building'. The
12 Aquila had us eiriywia for fPItt, dGSfficulty which is presented by the
' as corners ' or ' corner-stones '. absence of the article (see the note
'Axpoytaviaios is not found again on various readings) is removed when
apart from allusions to the biblical we bear in mind that St Paul" is
passages. The Attic wordisyavwios, speaking not of the building as com-
which is found in a series of inscrip- pleted, ie. 'the edifice', but of the
tions containing contracts for stones building as still ' growing ' towards
for the temple buildings at Eleusis completion. The whole edifice could
(07.4 iv 10546 ff.): e.g. ai erepovs not be said to 'grow': but such an
(Xldovs) ycaviaiovs ef iro8[v] ir\avTa- expression is legitimate enough^jjf_
~ in an used of the work in process. This is
order for ra emupava T&V KIOVOV TCOV the proper sense of ofcoSo/ii/, which is !
els TO vpotrryov TO 'EXeuo-tw, it is in its earlier usage an abstract noun, |
stipulated that 12 are to be of certain but like other abstract nouns has a
dimensions, ra & ycwiaia 8vo are to tendency to become concrete, and is
be of the same height, but of greater sometimes found, as here, in a kind
length and breadth (comp. Herm. of transitional sense. Our own word
Sim. ix 2 3 KU'KX<B Se rrjs nv\i)s eemj- 'building* has just the same range of
Keio-av mpdevoi 8o8eKa' at o$v 8 at els meaning : and we might almost
ras ytovlas earrjitvicu evdogoTepai fiot render vaura oiKoSopr) as ' all building
eSoKovv eivai : they are spoken of in that is carried on '.
15. i as lo-xvpoTcpat). In Dion. Hal. The word is condemned by Phry-
iii 22 the Pila Horatia in the Forum nichus (Lobeck, p. 421; comp. pp.
is spoken of as 17 yaviaia orvXt'r. 487 ff.) as non- Attic : OI'KO&O/XT) O v
But, of course, in none Of these in- Xc'yeraf avr avnv 8e oucodo/iq/ua.
stances have we the comer-stone The second part of this judgment
proper, which is an Eastern concep- proves that by the middle of the
tion. That even for a late Christian second century A.D. olKoSow was
writer yomcuos was the more natural familiar in a concrete sense. The
word may be gathered from a com- earliest instances of its use are how-
ment of Theodore of Heraclea (Cor- ever abstract In the Tabulae Herod.
derius in Psalm, cxvii 22, p. 345), (GISI 645, i 146) we have es 8e ra
Kara TOV yavialov \i6ov TO eKorepov tiroiKia XPW OV v\ots es rav oueo-
ovyKporav TCIXOS. doftov. A Laconian proverb quoted
The earlier Latin rendering was by Suidas (s. v. "Iiriros) ran : OtKoSo^a
'angularis lapis' (d^ Ambrst., and at Xd^o, K.T.X., 'May you take to
so Jerome in some places) : the later, building' as one of the wasteful
1 summits angularis lapis\ which luxuries. In Aristot. Eth. Nic. v 14
has been followed in the A.V. (' chief (p. 1137 ft, 30) we have : dcnrep mi r^r
II 21]
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
165
o
Ac<r/3(W
where the variant olicotiopias gives
the sense, and witnesses to the rarity
of olKobofuj, which is not elsewhere
found in Aristotle. The concrete
sense seems to appear first in passages
where the plural is used, though even ,
in some of these the meaning is
rather ' building-operations' than
* edifices' (e.g. Plut. Lucidl. 39
olKodofMi TroXuTeXets). " In the LXX the
word occurs 17 times. With one or
two possible exceptions, where the
text is uncertain or the sense obscure,
it never means 'an edifice', but
always the operation of building.
In St Paul's epistles ot/coSo/ij? occurs
eleven times (apart from the present
.epistle). Nine times it is used in the
[abstract sense' of 'edification', a
I meaning which Lightfoot thinks owes
fits origin to the Apostle's metaphor
on Epp. p. 191). The two remaining
passages give a sense which is either
abstract or transitional, but not
strictly concrete. In i Cor. iii 9 the
words dew yetopyiov, deov oiKoBofi^
ea-re form the point of passage from
the metaphor from agriculture to the
metaphor from architecture. It can
hardly be questioned that yeapyiov
here means 'husbandry', and not 'a
field' (comp. Ecclus. xxvii 6 yedpyiov
uXov K(J3aivei 6 Kapiros avTov) :
similarly oZ/eofio/ii/ is not the house as
built, but the building regarded as in
process : we might almost say ' God's
architecture' or ' God's structure '.
The Latin rendering is clearly right :
dei agricultural del aedifieatio estis.
The language of the other passage,
2 Cor. v i, is remarkable : oiKoSo^
deov exopcv, olitiav dxeiporFolrjTov :
not ' an edifice coming from God ',
but 'a building proceeding from God
as builder'. The sense of operation
is strongly felt in the word : the
result of the operation is afterwards
expressed by olniav dxeipoTroirjTov.
In the present epistle the word comes
again three times (iv 12, 16, 29), each
time in the abstract sense. Apart
from St Paul it is found in the New
Testament only in Mark xiii i, 2
(Matt, xxiv i), where we have the
plural, of the buildings of the temple
(iepov). This is the only certain
instance of the concrete sense (of
finished buildings) to be found in
biblical Greek.
In the elaborate metaphor of
Ignatius, Ephes. 9, we have the
abstract use in Trpo^roi/iao-^eVoi els
oiKoSo^v faov irarpos, * prepared
aforetime for God to build with '. So
too in Hermas, again and again, of
the building of the Tower ( Vis. iii 2,
etc.) ; but the plural is concrete in
Sim. i i. In Barn. Ep. xvi i the
word is perhaps concrete, of the
fabric of the temple as contrasted
with God the builder of a spiritual
temple (els TTJV ooSo/*^ rjXma-av).
The_Latm_rendering_is_J_ojM&_
aedificatio' (or 'omnis structura'
Ambrst.), not *omne aedificium'.
The Greek commentators, who for
the most part read irao-a oiKobop.^ have
no conception that a plurality of
edifices was intended. They do in-
deed suggest that Jew and Gentile
are portions of the building which are
linked together (els piav otKoftofijv) by
Christ the corner-stone. If, however,
the Apostle had meant to convey this
idea, he would certainly not have
said ira<ra olitoltopq in the sense of
irao-ai at olitodofMi, but possibly a^6-
repai al oiVcoSo/aat, or something of the
kind.
The nearest representation in Eng-
lish would perhaps be ' all that is
builded', i.e. whatever building is
being done. But this is practically
the same as l att the building', which
may accordingly be retained, though
the words have the disadvantage of
being ambiguous if they are severed
from their context If we allow our-
selves a like freedom with St Paul in
the interweaving of his two metaphors,
we may construct an analogous
sentence thus : ev $ irao-a
166
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [II 22 III I
ayiov ev xvpito, M ev w Kat v/zels (TvvotKoSofJieTarBe ets
6eov
TOV
ev
III. *"TovTov X^P tv ty *
olKodopetTai els (r<2p,a
TeXetoi> ev Kvpiia : this would be
fairly rendered as 'in whom all the
growth is builded ; , etc. ; nor should
we expect -in such a case irao-a 77
TOV
i
III. i 7. 'All this impels me
afresh to pray for you. And who am I,
that I should so pray? Paul, the
prisoner of the Christ, His prisoner
for you you Gentiles, You must
have heard of my peculiar task, of the
dispensation of that grace of God
which has been given me to bring to
you. The Secret has been disclosed
to me by the great Revealer. I have
already said something of it enough
to let you see that I have knowledge
of the Secret of the Christ. Of old
men knew it not : now it has been
au|ai/> are Attic forms of the present, unveiled to the apostles and prophets
The intransitive use of the active is of the holy people. The Spirit has
not found before Aristotle. It pre- revealed to their spirit the new ex-
vails in the New Testament, though tension of privilege. The Gentiles are
we have the transitiy_e_use4n-i-Cori co-heirs,-concorporate, co-partakers of
o-vi>appo\oyovpfVT]] This compound
is not found again apart from St Paul
In IT 1 6 he applies it to the structure
of the body. There is some authority
in other writers for ap/wjXoyeiv. For
the meaning see the detached note.
au] Compare Col. ii 19 avgei
av^rjtriv TOV deov. Both avt-ca and
the Promise. This new position has
become theirs in Christ Jesus through
the Gospel which I was appointed to
serve, in accordance with the gift of
that grace, of which I have spoken,
which has been given to me in all the
iii 6 f., 2 Cor. ix 10.
22. KaToiKrjT^piov] In the New
Testament this word comes again
only in Apoc. xviii 2
Saipovicov (comp. Jer. ix 1 1 els
Trjpiov SpoKovreav). It is found in the
LXX, together with KOToiKta, icaroifojo-is fulness of God's power.'
and KcrnuKf via, for a habitation of any i. Tovrov x^P 1 "] The actual phrase
sort : but in a considerable group of occurs again only in . 14, where it
passages it is used of the Divine marks the resumption of this sentence,
dwelling-place, whether that is con- and in Tit. i 5. "We have ov x<*p*v in
ceived of as on earth or in heaven. Luke vii 47, and \apiv TWOS in i John
iii 12. In the Old Testament we
find TOVTOV (yap) xP lv * n Prov.
xvii 17, i Mace, xii 45, xiii 4.
eya> IlaOXos] For the emphatic
introduction of the personal name
compare i Thess. ii 18, 2 Cor. x i,
Col. i 23 ; and especially Gal. v 2. In
the first three instances other names
have been joined with St Paul's in
the opening salutation of the epistle :
but this is not the case in the Epistle
to the Galatians or in the present
epistle.
o deV/Aios TOV ^ptoroS 'IijtroS] In
Philem. i and 9 we have Seo-fwos
Xptorou 'I?7<rov, and in 2 Tim. i 8 TOV
Thus the phrase
o-ov comes in Exod. xv 17, and three
times in Solomon's prayer (i Kings
viii, 2 Chron. vi) : comp Ps. xxxii
(xxxiii) 14. These Old Testament
associations fitted it to stand as the
climax of the present passage.
ev irve6pa.Ti\ The Gentiles are builded
along with the Jews to form a dwell-
ing-place for God l in (the) Spirit'.
This stands in contrast with their
separation one from the other l ih
(the) flesh\ on which stress is laid at
the outset of this passage, v. n TO
edvt] ev (rapKi...Tfjs \cyofievrfs TrepiTo^s
ev (rapid.
Ill 24] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 1 67
'lrj(rov virep vju&v TWV eBvtfiv, a ei' ye ijKOvcraTe
oiKOVo/uLtav -n/s ^dpiTo^ rov Beov T^S SoBeicrris JJLOI
els i/yua?, z OTt KO.TCL aTTOKaXwifstv eyvwpia'Ori JULOI TO
ev d\to) 4 7To3s o $vva<r6e
avTov (sc. rov itvpiov T/p-eSz/). GaL ii 2, and the more striking
Below, in iv i, the expression is parallel in Bom. xvi 25 Kara 071-0x0-
different, eym 6 oeo-pios ev Kopito. \vfyiv p,v<rrr]piov K.T.\.
vnep vp&v T&V edv&v] So in ii ii, is the natural correlative
vpeis TO. e6vrj. The expression is on which see the detached note.
intentionally emphatic. His cham- eyvatplvBrf] Compare vv. 5, 10. The
pionship of the equal position of the word comes, in connexion with TO
Gentiles was the true cause of his /M/o-n/paw, in Horn, xvi 26, Eph. i 9,
imprisonment. Compare v. 13 ev vi 19, Cot i 27.
raw 6\fye<riv IJLOV virep U/LUBI/, ^ris fcrriv irpoe-ypatyd] This is the ' epistolary
86gavp.v. aorist', which in English is repre-
2. e? ye TjKova-are] The practical sented by the perfect. For the
eflfect of this clause is to throw new temporal force of the preposition in
emphasis on the words immediately this verb, compare Bom. xv 4 oo-a
preceding. 'It is on your behalf yap rrpoeypafa. Here, however, the
you must know, if indeed you have eypa^a : ' I have written already '
heard of my special mission to you (not ' aforetime '). The technical
(els vpas)'. We have a close parallel sense of Trpoypdfaiv found in GaL iii i
in iv 21 t ye adrov rfKov<rare K.T.X. does not seem suitable to this context.
The Apostle's language does not ev oX/y$>] 'in a few words': more
imply a doubt as to whether they had exactly, ' in brief compass ', or, as we
heard of his mission: it does imply say, 'in brief. The only other New
that some at least among them had Testament passage in which the
only heard, and had no personal phrase occurs is Acts xxvi 28 f. The
acquaintance with himself. phrase is perhaps most frequently
oueoi'ojtuai'] See the note on i 10; used of time; as in "Wisd. iv 13
and compare 77 oiKOW>/u'a row /M/OTT^pioi;, reAa>0ei? ev o\/ya> eVXijpaxre ^poi/ovs
below in v. 9. In Col. i 25 we have paitpovs. Aristotle, however, Rhet.
KOTO, rrjv olK.ovofi.lav rov Qeov TTJV 8o6el- iii II (p. 14126, 20), in discussing
a-dv p.oi els V[MS, n-XijpeSo-ai TOV \6yov pithy sayings, says that their virtue
TOU deov, TO pvcrnqpiov /c.r.X. In all consists in brevity and antithesis, and
these passages God is o olK.ovofj.03V : SO adds rj padrja-is 8ia fj.ev TO avriKelo-dai
that they are not parallel to i Cor. /*SXXoi>, 8ia Be TO ev oXrya Qarrov
ix 17 oiKovofiiav ireiriaTevpai, where yiveTai. A useful illustration is cited
the Apostle himself is the olnovojios by Wetstein from Eustathius in H.
(comp. I Cor. ZV I, 2), ii, p. 339, 18, ovrat ph rj 'O^pinf) ev
XapiTOs] For the use of this Word 6\iycp 8iao-eo-d<pr)Tai la-Topia- TO. 8e
in connexion with St Paul's mission Kara pepos avrfs TOUWTO.
to the Gentiles, and in particular for 4. irpos o] that is, ' looking to
the combination ?J x"P ts V oodelo-d pot which ', ' having regard whereunto ' ;
(i Cor. iii 10, Gal. ii 9, Bom. xii 3, and so 'judging whereby': but the
xv 1 5, Eph. iii 7), see the detached note expression is unusual. The force of the
on xpw. preposition receives some illustration
3. Kara atroKaXvfyiv] Compare from 2 Cor. V IO iva Kopio-rjTai eKaaros
168 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [Ill 5, 6
dvaytvuxTKovr&s voficrai TY\V trvveariv JULOV ev Tta juiva-Ttipia)
TOV xpurTov, S 6 Tpcus yeveois OVK lyvaapia-Bri TOR
Ttav dvBpttiTTtav tos vvv d7reKa\v(j)Ori rots dyiois
avTOv Kai TrpcHptiTctis ev TTi/evjucm, 6 elvcu
ra Sto TOV oxtyiaror irpos a eirpacv, rrjv trvveo~iv pov ev K.T.X.] A close
K.T.\. The participle dvayiv&vKovres parallel is found in i (3) Esdr. i 3 1 rijs
seems to be thrown in epexegetically. trvvia-e&s avrov ev r v6fj.w Kvpt'ov.
Judging by what he has already In the LXX avmivai ev is a frequent
written, they can, as they read, per- construction: but it is a mere repro-
ceive that he has a true grasp of duction of a Hebrew idiom, and we
the Divine purpose, and accordingly, need not look to it for the explana-
ns he hints, a true claim to inter- tion of our present phrase. For the
pret it. omission of the article before ev T&>
The Latin rendering 'prout potestis /twanjpuB, see the note on i 15.
legentes wtelligere', i.e. 'so far as ye 5. erepais ycvcals] 'in other gene-
are able... to understand', has much rations', the dative of time; compare
in its favour. This is also the inter- Rom. xvi 25 XP OVOIS ataviaw. Tevea
pretation of most, if not all, of the is used as a subdivision of alwv, and
Greek commentators : o-uptyu-rp^o-aro the two words are sometimes brought
TT)V 8i&a<ricd\iav irpos oirep ex&povv into combjnatipn_J:or_Jkhe_sake of-
^Seyenm,_caten.-ad-- locr). But~it emphasis, as in iii 21 and CoL i 26.
makes dvayiv&trKovTes somewhat more The rendering ' to other generations'
difficult, unless we press it to mean is excluded by the fact that eyvopia-6ij
'by reading only'. is followed by Tols viols TOV dvdp&irwv.
The suggestion that dvaywcoaKovrfs TOIS viols TV dvdptoircav] It is
may refer to the reading of the pro- remarkable that this well-known He-
phetic parts of the Old Testament in braism, frequent in the LXX, occurs
the light of (Trpos o) what the Apostle again but once in the New Testament,
has written (Hort, Romans and viz. in Mark iii 28 (in Matt, xii 31
Ephesians, pp. 150!) is beset with this becomes simply rots dvdpuTroi?).
difficulties : for (i) where dvaytva- The special and restricted use of the
o-Kfiv is used of the Old Testament phrase o vlos TOV dvOpairov may
scriptures, the reference is made clear account for the general avoidance of
by the context, and not left to be the idiom, which however is regularly
gathered from the word itself; i Tim. recalled by the Syriac versions in
iv. 13 irpoa-exfTT) avayvtifrti cannot be their rendering of avdponroi (Matt,
proved to refer solely to the public v. 19, et passim).
reading of the Old Testament: (2) row aytois tMrooroXot? *c.r.X.] In
the same verb is quite naturally used the parallel passage, Col. i 26, we
of the reading of Apostolic writings, have vvv be e<f>avepa6r) rot? ayiois
Acts XV 31, I Thess. V 27, Col. iv 16, avroD, ois ijdeXrja-ev 6 6ebs yvapia-tu,
Apoc. i 3 : (3) the close proximity of .r.X. The difference is in part at
irpoeypafya suggests that what they least accounted for by the prominent
are spoken of as reading is what he mention of ' apostles and prophets ' in
has written : (4) in the whole context ~ the immediately preceding section
Old Testament revelation falls for the (ii 20).
moment out of sight (see especially ev Trpcvfum] See ii 22, v 18 and vi
. 5), and the newness of the message 18, and the notes in these places,
is insisted on.
Ill 7 9] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 169
Ta eBvn crvvK\'ripov6fjLa KCLI (rvvtrw/uia KOI (rvvjULeTo^a Ttjs
s ev XpUTTto 'Iqarov Sia TOV evayyeXlov, ^ov
Sidicovos K.GLTOL TYJV Scopeav TV* xdpiTO? TOV
Beov T^S SoBeiarri? JULOI Kara TY\V evepyetav TJ/S cWa'yueoJS
avTOv 8 efj.ol TW eXa^KTTOTepto TrdvTwv arfiwv e$66rj
i] "%dpi<s avTrj TO?? eOvea~iv eva f y f ye\io'aa'6ai TO dve-
TT\OVTOS TOV io~Tov, 9 Kai (coTia-ai TK r\
6. ovvKfajpovofM K.T.A.] Of the eternal working, the Secret of the
three compounds two are rare (cruwcAij- Creator of the universe : that not
povoftos, Rom. viii 17, Heb. xi. 9, i man only, but all the potencies of the
Pet. iii 7, Philo : vvvperoxos, v. 7, unseen world might learn through the
Aristotle and Josephus). The third Church new lessons of the very varied
(<nW/ios) was perhaps formed by wisdom of God learn that one pur-
St Paul for this occasion. Aristotle's pose runs through the ages of eter-
<rvv<raffjMToiroiciv, if it implied an adjec- nity, a purpose which God has
tive at all, would imply arvva-eaparog formed in the Christ, even in Jesus
_(but_it_is_probably-a-compound-of pur-Lord,-in-whom-we-haveour-bold
<nij; and <ra>^aT07Toietv). In later Greek access to God. So lose not heart, I
ao-w/ios, eva-topos are found side by side pray you, because I suffer in so great
with ao-oj/zaros, W/iaros. a cause. My pain is your glory '.
7. eyejnjdrjv diaKovos] Compare 8. eXa^toroTep^)] Wetstein ad loc.
Col. i 23, 25, where however we have has collected examples of heightened
eyevowv, which is read by some MSS forms of the comparative and super-
hero. The two forms of the aorist lative. The most recent list is that
are interchangeable in the LXX and of Jannaris, Historical Greek Gram-
in the New Testament, as in the later mar, 506. For the most part they
Greek writers generally. are doubled comparatives or doubled
As the ministration spoken of in superlatives : but Jannaris cites
each of these passages is that special fieyiarorepos from Gr. Pap. Br. Mus.
ministration to the Gentiles which 134, 49 (cent, i n A.D.).
was committed to St Paul, and as the rots eBvevtv cvayye\i(rao-0ai] The
article is naturally omitted with the order of the words throws the
predicate, we may fairly render : emphasis on rots eQvtcrw. St Paul's
'whereof / was made minister' (or Gospel (TO evayyeXiov JMV, see especially
even 'the minister'). But it is not Eom. xvi 25) is the Gospel of God's
necessary to depart from the familiar grace to the Gentiles.
rendering ' a minister'. dvf^ix v ^ a<rrov ] Compare Rom. xi 33
XapiTos...cvepyciav] See the notes *Q /3a$of 7r\ovTov...avfgixviaa-roi ai
on v. 2 and i 19 respectively. oSol avVoS. The only parallels seem
8 13. * Yes, to me this grace has to be Job v 9, ix 10, xxxiv 24, where
been given to me, the meanest Ipn j^N is so rendered by the ixx,
member of the holy people that I who in that book employ ix^os for
should be the one to bring to the "ipn.
Gentiles the tidings of the inexplor- ir\ovros] Apart from i Tim. vi 17,
able wealth of the Christ : that I no instance of wXotn-os in the sense of
should publish the plan of God's material wealth is to be found in St
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
[Ill 10
OlKOVOfJLia TOV fJLV(TT11pioV TOV dTTOKeKpVfJLfJLeVOV
/ t </!** \ f t i
anavwv ev TW veto T<W TO. Travra KTUTOVTI, iva yvco-
purBrj vvv TCUS dp%cu$ Kol TaZs e^ovcriais ev rots e
<ro(f)ia TOV
Paul's writings. On the other hand,
his figurative use of the word has no
parallel in the rest of the Greek Bible.
Of fourteen instances of it, five occur
in this epistle. In the uses of the
derivates TrXovcrtos, ir\ovo~icos, TrXow-
Te'iv, ir\ovTigeiv, the same rule will be
found to hold, though there are some
interesting exceptions.
9. (patTio-ai ris 17 K.T.X.] ' to bring
to light what is the dispensation'.
Compare Ool. i 27 yvtapiaat ri TO
n-XoOroy /c.r.\., where the whole con-
text is parallel to the present passage.
*<BTie is a natural word for the
public disclosure of what has been
_kep_t_secret-: see-^ Polyb. xxx 8 1~
oreira Se r&v ypappareav ea\a>Kor<ov KOI
ire(})a)Turpeva>v : also Suidas $errieiw
alriariKg' els <pa>s Sytiv, e^ayyeXXetw,
followed by a quotation in which
OCCUr the Words <j>e>Tieiv TO KOTO, TTJV
CVTO\TJV anopprjTov. Compare i Cor.
IV 5 ^owiVet rot Kpvirra TOV O-K.OTOVS,
and 2 Tim. i IO tfxoTio-airos be farjv
Koi d(j)6aptriav (with the context).
There is considerable authority (see
the note on various readings) for the
addition of irairas after tfnaritrat.
The construction thus gained is like
that in Judg. xiii 8 (A text), (pomo-ora
T<5 iraidapico (JB has
But the sense given to
'to instruct' instead of 'to
publish' is less appropriate to the
present context ; moreover the inser-
tion of iravras lessens the force of the
emphatic TOW edveviv. The change was
probably a grammatical one, due to
the desire for an expressed accusative :
John i 9, TO <j)a>s...o (pcori^fi irdvra av-
Qpairov, is no true parallel, but it may
have influenced the reading here.
airo TV aliovtov] Compare Col. i 26
TO /LlVOTTJplOV TO a.TTOKKpVfJip.fVOV OTTO
10.
r
r&v alt&voov KOI airo r&v ycvcwv: Rom.
XVI 25 [warrjpiov XP OVOIS attavimt
o*eo~iyrifj.cvov : I Cor. ii 7 ^^ <ro<piav
fv pvcrnjp'ua, T^V airoKfKpvupivriV) rjv
irpooapurev 6 deity irpb TWV alcovtov. The
phrase OTTO TOV alwvwv is the converse
of the more frequent els TOVS al&vas :
cornp. an al&vos, Luke i 70, Acts
iii 21, xv 18 ; <nro TOV meows KOI els
TOV alava, Ps. xl (xli) 14, etc. The
meaning is that 'from eternity until
now' the mystery lias been hidden.
Krio-avTt] The addition in the later
MSS of 810 'ij/o-oC Xpta-Tov points to a
failure to understand the propriety of
the simple mention of creation in this
~context ThlTtrue text hints that the
purpose of God was involved in cre-
ation itself.
Iva yvo>pur0ff\ Compare i 9
qiiiv TO nvoTypiov, iii 3
pot, 5 erepcus yeveais OVK
eyva>pio-0ri, vi 19 ev irapprjatq yv&pitrai
TO pvfTTripiov. The rejection of the
gloss irdvras (see on V. 9) leaves us the
more free to take this clause closely
with (pario-at : i to publish what from
eternity has been hidden, in order
that now what has hitherto been
impossible of comprehension may be
made known throughout the widest
sphere.'
dpxais...eirovpaviois] See the notes
on i 21, and the exposition pp. 20 f.
8ia TJs eKK^rjtrias] Compare ev 777
eKK\j]o-ia below, V. 21.
n-oXvTroi'KiXos] The word is found
in Greek poetry in the literal sense of
'very-varied'; Eur. Iph. in Tour.
1 149, of robes j Eubulus ap. Athen.
xv 24, p. 6790? arefpavov 7ro\v7roiKi\ov
dvdeav: also, figuratively, in the
Orphic hymns vi n (reXer?}), Ixi 4
(Xdyos). In Iren. i iv i (Mass. p. 19)
W6 have irddovs ... TroXv/nepovs xal
Ill 11] EPISTLE TO THE EPEESIANS. 1 7 1
Beov, "Kara 7rp66e<nv TWV aiwviov nv eTfoitjcrev ev
virapxovTos* An echo of
the word is heard in I Pet. iv 10
jroiKiXrjs xapiros deov.
ii. Kara irpodco-iv] This expression
occurs adverbially in Rom. viii 28
Tole Kara -irpoQe&w jcAijrois ovariv. It
there signifies 'in accordance with
deliberate purpose', on the part, that
is, of Him who has called: the mean-
ing is made clear by the words which
follow (on ovs irpoeyva K.r.A.) and
by the subsequent phrase of ix n
q KO.T eK\oyijv irp66e<ris TOV deov, f the
purpose of God which works by elec-
tion'.
In Aristotle vpodea-is is a technical
term for the setting out of the topic
of a treatise or speech: thus we have
the four divisions (Rliet. iii 13, p.
14146, 8) irpooifuov, irpodetris, iritms,
-eTrtXoyos, prelude,-proposition,_proof,_
peroration '. In Polybius irpoQecrts is
of frequent occurrence in the sense of
a deliberate plan or scheme ; and this
sense is found in 2 and 3 Maccabees;
comp. Symm., Ps. ix 38 (x 17), In-
terpr. al., Ps. cxlv (cxlvi) 4. In Polyb.
xii ii 6 we have the actual adverbial
phrase, of lying 'deliberately', Kara
irp6deo~iv e\^ev<Tfj.ev(a. In no writer
previous to St Paul does it appear to
be used of the Divine purpose or plan.
T&V acauwp] The addition of the
defining genitive destroys only to a
certain extent the adverbial character
of the expression. The result is diffi-
cult to express in English: neither
'according to the purpose of the ages'
(which would strictly presuppose Kara
Tr)V irpodeffiv T&V aioavmv), nor 'acCOrd-
ing to a purpose of the ages', gives
the exact shade of meaning, which is
rather ' in accordance with deliberate
purpose, and that purpose not new,
but running through the whole of
eternity'. This construction is frequent
in St Paul's writings. Thus we have
Kar' Ivepyeiav (iv 1 6) and KO.T evepyeiav
TOV 'Sarava (2 Thess. ii 9), on which see
below in the detached note on evepyelv.
Again, we have icar* emray^v (l Cor.
vii 6, 2 Cor. viii 8) and Kar eiriray^v
TOV alatvlov deov (Bom. xvi 26) : also
Kar tK\ayjv (Rom. ix Ii) and *ar'
eK\oyr)jf ^aptros (Rom. xi 5). Compare
further Rom. ii 7, xvi 5, 25, Phil, iii
6: also in this epistle, i n irpoopi-
KOTO. irp66e<riv TOV TO, navra
riv ciroiri<rev] These words involve a
serious difficulty. If they are taken
as equivalent to ty irpoedero (comp. i
10), we suppose a breach of the rule
by which the resolution of such verbs
is made with iroieia-dai, not with
iroieiv. No other instance of this can
be found in St Paul, while we have
on the contrary in this epistle, for
example, iivelav iroiela-dai (i 1 6) and
av^qaiv noieivdai (iv 1 6). A phrase
_likeJ!eX>?fca iroieiv, which is sometimes
cited, is obviously not parallel, as it is
not a resolution of 0e'Xi/.
It was probably this difficulty, rather
than the omission of the article before
-irpodea-iv, that led early interpreters
to regard Kara Trpodecriv T&V alcovatv as
a semi-adverbial phrase parentheti-
cally introduced, and to take qv eVoi-
rjo-ev as referring to vocpia. Jerome
so interprets, though he mentions the
possibility of a reference either to
cKK\Tj(rlas or to irpodftriv. It is pro-
bable that here, as so often, he is
reproducing the view of Origen. But
the Old Latin version, which he
follows in the text, also interpreted
so: l secundum proposition seculorum,
quam fecit' : a rendering which rules
out the connexion irp66e(riv...^v. So
too the translator of Theodore (MSS,
non ed.\ but of Theodore's own view
we have no evidence. Theophylact
and Euthymius Zigabenus expressly
refer rfv to <ro<piav. Chrysostom's text
at this point is in some confusion:
but he suggests, if he did not actually
read, alo>va>v <Sv eirotqa-cv (coinp. Heb.
i 2 81' ov Kal vou\(rtv TOV 5 aluvas).
The Vulgate (so too Victorinus) sub-
172
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
S 'ltJ(TOV T<0 KVplO) *j
prj(rav
ev
"l/ ft)
[Ill 12
Trap-
statutes praefinitionem for proposi-
tum, and thus restores the ambiguity
of the original, which the simpler
change of quod for quam would have
avoided. It is noticeable that Jerome
had suggested propositio as an alter-
native rendering of irpoQems. The
absence of quam fecit from Ambrosi-
aster's text points to another attempt
to get rid of the difficulty.
This construction, however, is ex-
ceedingly harsh, audit presents uswith
the phrase <ro<j>lav irouiv, which seems
to have no parallel Another way
out of the difficulty has met with more
favour in recent times; namely, to
take noiT](rfv in the sense of 'wrought
out'. But it may be doubted whether
irpoBea-iv TToielv could bear such a
_meaning-: we-should-certainly-have"
expected a stronger verb such as
iriTe\lv or K7r\jjpovv, This view,
indeed, seems at first sight to be
favoured by the full title given to
Christ, and the relative clause which
follows it. But a closer examination
shews that the title itself is an almost
unique combination. In Bom. vi 23,
viii 39, i Cor. xv 31, (PhiL iii 8) we
have Xpurrof 'Ijycrovs o Kvpios q/uuop
(jtov), in itself an uncommon order:
but no article is prefixed to Xpioros.
Only in CoL ii 6 have we an exact
parallel, as aw irapc\dfteT( rov ^porov
^lijtrovv rov tevpiov, *c.r.X.; where Light-
foot punctuates after xptcrroi' and
renders 'the Christ, even Jesus the
Lord'. Accordingly, in the present
passage, even if we are unwilling to
press the distinction in an English
rendering, we may feel that an exact
observation of the Greek weakens the
force of the argument derived from
the fulness of the title, and leaves us
free to accept an interpretation which
regards tiroirja-ev as referring to the
formation of the eternal purpose in
the Christ.
On the whole it is preferable to
suppose that the Apostle is referring
to the original formation of the pur-
pose, and not to its subsequentworking
out in history. We may even doubt
whether here he would have used the
past tense, if he had been speaking of
its realisation.
Instances may be found in the
LXX and in New Testament writers
other than St Paul, in which iroutv is
used where we should expect
: comp. Isa. xxix 15, xxx i,
eiv, and see Blass N. T. Gram. 53,
3 and Jannaris Hist. Gr. Gram.
1484. Further, we may remember
that iroielv in biblical literature often
has a strong sense, derived from the
Hebrew, in reference to creative acts
~of'6od~"(compTli~To)i The~framing
of the Purpose in the Christ may be
regarded as the initial act of creation,
and the word eirofyarev may be not in-
appropriately applied to it. In other
words irpode&iv fTToiqaev is a stronger
form of expression than irpodetnv
cVoiifo-aTo, which is the mere equivalent
of irpoedero : and it suggests that 'the
purpose of the ages,' like the ages
themselves (Heb. i 2), has been called
into existence by a Divine creative
act
With this passage, and indeed with
the whole of this section, should be
compared 2 Tim. i 8 12, where there
are striking parallels of language and
of thought, which are the more notice-
able in the absence of any explicit
reference to the Gentiles.
12. T^I irapprj(ricut K.r.X.] Compare
ii 1 8. For the meanings of n-app^o-ta
see Lightfoot on Col. ii 1 5. Ordinarily
it is used of 'boldness* in relation to
men : here it is of the attitude of man
to God: there seems to be no other
example of this use in St Paul; but
see Heb. iii 6, iv 16, x 19, 35, i John
ii 28, iii 21, iv 17, v 14.
Ill 13, 14] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 1/3
ivK.aK.eiv iv ra?s 6\i-
fwv VTrep vfjL&v, %TK ecrriv Sofa
/cajUTTTw TO. yovard fjiov TT/OOS roV
irerroi6r)(rei\ The word is used six bable that it has been lost tyhomoeo-
times by St Paul, but is found nowhere teleuton, YM&C having fallen out
else in the New Testament, and but after the -Y/WAI of AITOYMAI : compare
once in the LXX. Gal iv 1 1, where in several MSS YM&C
CLVTOV] Compare Mark xi 22 e^ere has been dropped after (J>oBoy/v\Ai. I
ir'urnv 6eov, Rom. iii 22, 26, GaL ii 16, have accordingly inserted vpas pro-
iii 22, Phil, iii 9, in all of which cases visionally in the text.
however TTiWi? is without the article. cvKcuteiv] 'lose heart': from KOKOS
In James ii i, Apoc. ii 13, xiv 12 the in the sense of * cowardly'. On the
article is prefixed, but the meaning is form of this word, eynaKfiv (cW-) or
different. . Here rf/s may be regarded KKaiteiv, see Lightfoot on 2 Thess. iii
as parallel to T^V before irappqviav : so 13 (Notes on Epp. p. 132). It occurs
that the meaning would be 'our faith five times in St Paul's epistles: else-
in Him*. where in the New Testament it is
13. alrovfjuu pi) cvKaiceiv] Does found only in Luke xviii i. In 2 Cor.
this mean (i) 'I pray that I may not iv 16 it. is, as here, followed by a
lose heart', or (2) 'I pray that you reference to o eo-o> avtipairos in the
may not lose heart', or (3) 'I ask you immediate context. This connexion
of thought-confirms the view that~the
pretation is adopted, the omission of subject of fviuuteiv here is the readers
' the subject of emaKeiv is a serious of the epistle, for whom the Apostle
difficulty. Theodore gives the first goes on to pray that they may be
interpretation, which may plead in 'strengthened in the inward man'.
its favour that the subject of the 14 19. *A11 this, I repeat, im-
second verb is most naturally supplied pels me afresh to prayer. In the
from the first, and that, as the suffer- lowliest attitude of reverence I pros-
ings are St Paul's, it is he who needs trate myself before Him, to whom
to guard against discouragement But every knee shall bow before the
the absolute use of aiTovfuu, as 'I ask Father from whom all fatherhood
of God,' where prayer has not been everywhere derives its name. I ask
already spoken of, seems unjustifiable : the Father to give you, through the
and that the Apostle should here Spirit's working on your spiritual
interpose such a. prayer for himself nature, an inward might the very
is exceedingly improbable, especially indwelling of the Christ in your hearts,
when his language elsewhere with realised through faith, consummated
regard to sufferings is considered, e.g. in love. I pray that your roots may
in Col. i 24. Origen at first offers be struck deep, your foundations laid
this interpretation, but passes on to secure, that so you may have strength
plead for the second as more agree- enough to claim your share in the
able to the context. Jerome, who knowledge which belongs to the holy
read in his Latin 'peto ne deficiatis,' people: to comprehend the full mea-
points out that the Greek may mean sures of the Divine purpose; to know
'peto ne deficiam/ and then repro- though it is beyond all knowledge
duces the comments of Origen. the love of Christ; and so to attain
The third interpretation is by far to the Divine completeness, to be
the most satisfactory : but we sadly filled unto all the fulness of God'.
miss the accusative vpas. It is pro- 14. Tovrov xP tv ] ^ ne repetition
174 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [Ill 15
Trarepa, is e ov yraara irarpia ev ovpavots Kal errl
of this phrase marks the close con- version of the LXX. Patria is occa-
nexion of vv. i and 14, and shews that sionally so used, and is found also in
what has intervened is a digression. a quotation of our present passage
KdpnTo K.T.X.] The usual phrase for in the metrical treatise [Tert.] adv.
'kneeling' in the New Testament is Marcionem iv 35.
6e\s TO. yovara. The present phrase is Similarly the rendering of the
found again only in a quotation from p es hito ^orora^ J^a must
i Kings xix 18 in Bom. xi 4; in a , .. ., , ,, *
quotation from Isa, xlv 23, to *& me ^ a11 fa ^erhood': comp. *&**-
Kaptyei irav yaw, in Eom. xiv 1 1 ; and ^o\ara=M^ti 'the name of father-
in Phil, ii 10, iva ev raj ovopari 'Irjaov hood' in Aphrahat (Wright 472 f.).
irav yow Kafiflfa, an allusion to the The Latin and Syriac versions there-
same passage of Isaiah. fore warrant us in rendering the pas-
irarepa] The insertion after this sage in English as 'the Father of
word of TOW Kvpiov fowv 'ITJO-OV XpioroS whom all fatherhood. . .is named \
is a mischievous gloss, which obscures On the teaching of the passage it
the intimate connexion between the is worth while to compare Athanasms
absolute irarjp and irava irarpta. It Orat. contra Arian. i 23 ov yap 6 0tbs
is absent from N*ABCP. avdpamov /*t)itfTTat' aXXa p.a\\ov of
15. Trao-a irarpia\ Uarpid denotes avdpanroi 8ta TOV 0eov t nvpias KOI (tovov
a group of persons united by descent oXgftSg ovra
-from-a-common~father~or, more gene- oi5roi irarcpes <ovopd<rdr)<Tav TV i&i
rally, a common ancestor. It has thus TCMV* eg avrov yap ircura. irarpia ev
the narrower meaning of 'family' or ovpavois KOI eirl yfjs ovopdgerai: and
the wider meaning of 'tribe'. It is Severian od^oe. (Cramer Caten.vi 159)
exceedingly common in the genea- TO ovopa rov irarpbs OVK d<p' i^icSj/
logical passages Of the LXX, where it dvfj\6ev ava>, dXX* avadev rjXdev els qpas,
often stands in connexion with of/to? BTJ\OVOTI &s (pva-fi ov Kal OVK ovofian.
and 0^X77. St Paul plays on the deri- fwvov.
vation of the word: iraTpia is derived The difficulty supposed to exist in
fronnrarjjp: every n-arpta, in the visible St Paul's speaking of 'families' in
or the invisible world, is ultimately heaven may have led to the mistrans-
named from the one true Father (o lationj of the A.V. 'the whole family.'
, the source of all fatherhood. The same difficulty led Theodore to
The literal rendering is ' every adopt (perhaps to invent) the reading
family'; but the point of the passage tparpia. (so the Paris codex: the form
cannot be given in English without is found both in Inscrr. and MSS for
a paraphrase. The Latin rendering <f)paTpia,seel)ieterichjByzant.Archiv.
'omnis paternitas' seems to be a bold i 123), on the curious ground that this
effort in this direction ; for paterni- word denoted not a crvyyeveia but
tasy like 'fatherhood' in English, is merely a tnJon/jua. The insertion of
an abstract term and does not appear the gloss referred to above had pro-
to be used in the sense of 'a family', bably blinded him to the connexion,
It is true that Jerome (ad loc. and frarp6s...7rarptd, upon which the whole
adv. Helvid. 14), in order to bring sense depends.
out a parallel, renders irarpial of the The difficulty is not a serious one:
LXX by paternitates : but in his own for the addition ev ovpavois KOI errl
version (Numb, i 2, etc.) he does not yfjs, like the similar phrase in i 21,
introduce the word, nor does it occur ovopa&ufvov ov p.6vov ev T<*> altavi
as a rendering of irarpid in the Latin rovro> aXXa Kal V r<3 /uXXom, is
l6 /a
Ill 16, 17] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 175
vfjuv Kara TO 7rAoim>s TT/S 0^79
KpaTaicaOfjvai $ia TOV Trvev/ULctTOS avTOV
els TOV <T(*) avBpiairov, 1? KaToiKtjcrai TOV xpi&TOV Sia
7T/<TTft)S ev TctTs KapSicus v/uuSv iv ayctTTf/' eppifyo-
perhaps only made for the sake of
emphasis. We may, however, note the
Rabbinic use of K^DS (familia) 'the
family above and the family below':
see Taylor Sayings of Jewish Fathers
ed. 2, p. 125, and Thackeray St Paul
and Contemp. Jewish Thought p.
149.
ovou.aeTai\ 'is named', i.e. derives
its name: for the construction with
CK compare Soph. 0. T. 1036 o>or
tavoiMao-drjs en ri>x^s Tavrr)s 6s el (sc.
Oidiirovs'), and Xenoph. Memorab. iv
512 e(J>rj Be KOI TO dta\eyea6ai ovofut-
vdfjvat e< TOV K.T.\.
1 6. TOV 60-0) avtipatirov] This phrase
finds its full explanation in 2 Cor.
iv 1 6 bio OVK evKaKovpcv, d\\' el KOI
o ego rm&v av6pamos S
cXX' o ?o-co i//i<3v avatuuvovTfu
KM r^epa. ' Our outward man' is in
the Apostle's subsequent phrase 17
tiriyetos rjp&v aMa TOV <rtfi>o vs , which
is subject to dissolution : our inward
man ' is that part of our nature which
has fellowship with the eternal, which
looks 'not at the things which are
seen, but at the things which are not
seen.' There is no reason to seek for
a philosophical precedent for the
phrase : at any rate Plato Rep. sSgA,
which is persistently quoted, offers no
parallel ; for there o evrbs &v6pa>iros,
' the man who is within him ', is only
one of three contending constituents
(the others being a multiform beast
and a lion) which the Platonic parable
supposes to be united under what is
outwardly a human form.
In St Paul the phrase occurs again
inRom.vii22. And in i Pet. iii 3 f. we
have a contrast between 6 efadev...
IfMTtcav Koo-fws and o KpVTtrbs Trjs
Kapo'ia.s avdpanros ev T$ d<pddpT<p TOV
*i<nx.iov KOI Trpaewy irvevpaTos.
17. KaroiK^crai\ KaroiKelv is rare
in St Paul, who more frequently uses
f '*"" or evouteiv. It occurs again only
in Col. i 19, ii 9, and we have KOTOIK.^-
rfpiov in Eph. ii 22. When used in
contrast to itapouteiv the word implies
a permanent as opposed to a tem-
porary residence (see Lightfoot's note
on Clem. Rom. pref.}; where it occurs
by itself it suggests as much of
permanence as olneiv necessarily does,
but no more.
* dydirrj] Reasons for joining
these words with what precedes have
been given in the exposition. In
favour of this collocation it may also
be observed (i) that eV dycmrj forms
tfl e emphatic close of a sentence
several times in this epistle ; see i 4
and note, iv 2, 16 : and (2) that the
anacoluth&n which follows appears to
be more natural if the fresh start is
' mad e by the participles and not by an
adverbial phrase; compare, e.g., iv 2
dvexopevoi aX\7/X<ai ev dydirg and CoL
^ 2 o-w^ao-Bevres ev^dydirrj.
eppifw/ze'Mu] St Paul is fond of
passing suddenly to the nominative
of a participle, as in the two passages
last quoted, to which may be added
CoL iii 16 6 Xdyos...eVoiKetV<o <rV vp.lv...
SiMo-navres : see Lightfoot's note on
that passage. There is therefore no
reason for supposing that iva is be-
lated, as was suggested by Origen,
and as is implied in the rendering of
the A. V., ' that ye, being rooted ', &c.
On the contrary, Iva depends directly
on the participles which precede it.
For the metaphors compare (i)
Col. ii 7 eppifapevoi (coi jroiKo8opav-
fievoi ev OVT& nal |3q8<Mou/i><H T#
TTt'orct, and (2) Col. i 23 ei ye ei
irivrei rede/icXica/icvoi KOI e'S
tot
and I Pet. V IO, where 6e[i.e\i&<rci is
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
[Ill 1820
tr6ai (rvv TTcuriv TOIS dyiois TL TO wXaros teal /ufJKOS KCU
a0os, I9 yi/c5i/af re Ttjv v i jrepfid\\ovcrav TIJS
wydiriiv TOV xpicrTOv y iva ir\rip(a6f\Te eis irav
TOV 6eov. 90 T<0 Se
TO
7roi<rai vTTepeKTrepurcrov cov
found in NKLP, though not in AB.
For the combination of the metaphors
Wetstein cites Luciau de Saltat. 34
rives pi{ai Kai depeXia rrjs
rja-av.
1 8. elwxvoTjre] A late word, found
but once elsewhere in the Greek
Bible, Ecclus. vii 6 (B : but K AC
have the simple verb). It suggests
the difficulty of the task, which calls
for all their strength.
KaTaXafte<r6at] The middle is found
thrice (Acts iv 13, x 34, xxv 25), and,
-as here r in-the sense of-' to perceive';
ir\a.Tos K.T.X.] Theodore's comment
is admirable and sufficient : iva etiry
apiTos TO peyedos airb T&V trap
ovofwrtav. St Paul is not think-
ing of the measures of the ' holy
temple', as some of the moderns
suggest; nor of the shape of the cross,
as many of the ancients prettily
fancied. He is speaking in vague
terms of the magnitude of that which
it will take them all their strength
to apprehend the Divine mercy,
especially as now manifested in the
inclusion of the Gentiles, the Divine
secret, the Divine purpose for man-
kind in Christ. To supply TTJS ayan-ijs
TOV xpurrov out of the following
sentence is at once needless and
unjustifiable. With the intentional
vagueness of the phrase we may com-
pare JDidache c. 12 a-vvea-iv yap erre
dfgiav KOI apurrepav.
19. vjrep/SaXXovoW] 'Yirepf3d\\eiv is
used with either an accusative or a
genitive (Aesch. Plat. Arist.) of the
object surpassed. So too wrepc'xeu' :
comp. PhiL ii 3 virepexovras eavrow
withPhiLiv7 qvirepexovvairavravovv.
vTrep
r\ voovpev K.OTOL.
els K.T.X.] 'up to the measure of:
comp. iv 13 fls p*Tpov iJXtKi'af ToO
irXyptoparos TOV xpiorou. The Apostle's
prayer finds its climax in the request
that they may attain to the complete-
ness towards which God is working
and in which God will be all in all.
Ideally this position is theirs already
in Christ, as he says to the Colossians
(ii 9): ev OVT& KoroiKei irav TO ir\q-
ptajjia. TTJS BeoTifros trwfiaTiK&s, Kai core
ev OVT^ Trir\T)pu>fjievoi, K.T.\. Its reali-
sation is the Divine purpose and,
-accordingly,~~~the~^postle's Highest
prayer. On the sense of TO
TOV deov see the exposition. We may
usefully compare with the whole
phrase CoL ii 19, where St Paul
describes the intermediate stage of
the process, saying of the Body:
avgei TT)V avgyviv TOV 6eov.
The reading of B and a few cur-
sives, Iva ir\r)pa>6fl irav TO n-Xijpiop.a TOV
&oG, offers an easier construction, but
an inferior sense.
20, 21. 'Have I asked a hard
thing? I have asked it of Him who
can do far more than this ; who can
vastly transcend our petition, even
our imagining : of Him whose mighty
working is actually at work in us.
Glory be to Him! Glory in the
Church and in Christ Jesus glory in
the Body alike and in the Head
through all the ages of eternity'.
2O. TO> 8e 8wa/ixa] Compare the
doxology in Eom. XVi 25, Tip 8e 8wa-
pevtp v/uu on/pi^at, K.T.X.
vnepeiarepurvov] This word occurs
twice in St Paul's earliest epistle, but
not elsewhere : i Thess. iii 10 WKTOS
xal rjfitpas virepeKirepi<TO~ov beopcvoi, V
III. 21 IV 2] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 177
Tt]V Svvctfjuv TY\V evepyovfjLGvnv ev qfJiTv, ** avTtp n So^a ev
rfj eKK\r}cria Kai ev XptcrTtS 'lrj(rov els iracras TS yeveas
TOV aiwvos TtZv aicovcov d/uujv.
IV. ^TlapaKaXco ovv VJJLOS e*yo 6 Beer/^os ev Kvpico
7repi7raTfj<rai r^s K\n<rea>s fc e/cX^^re, *juera
ces Ta7reivo<ppO(rvvris teal TrpavTrjTOS, /iera ftaicpo-
13 qyel<rdai avrovs virepcKirepio-<rov ev alcavtov Kol OTTO T&V yeve&v ', and see
dydirrj. Here it is employed as a the note on v. 5 above.
preposition to govern v>v oirovpe&a'. IV. i 6. ' I have declared to you
so that the construction is, 'to Him the Divine purpose, and the calling
that is able to do more than all, far whereby you have been called to take
beyond what we ask '. The phrase your place in it. I have prayed that
vircp navTa, which was to have been you may know its uttermost meaning
followed by a atrov/ne&z, has thus for yourselves. Prisoner as I am, I
become isolated through the exuber- can do no more. But I plead with
ance with which the Apostle empha- you that you will respond to your
sises his meaning. calling. Make your conduct worthy
Compare PhiL iv 7^__of ypur_position. Eirst and-foremostj-
Tov~~6eov~fi virpej(ov(ra iravra cultivate the meek and lowly mind,
vow. , the patient forbearance, the charity,
TTJV evepyovpevriv] 'that worJceth' : a without which a common life is im-
sufficient rendering, though the force possible. For you must eagerly pre-
of the passive can only be given if we serve your spiritual oneness. Oneness
say 'that is made to work' : see the is characteristic of the Gospel. Con-
detached note on evepyeiv. Compare sider its present working and its pre-
Col. i 29 Kara TTJV ivepyeiav avrov TTJV destined issue: there is one Body,
evepyovfievTjv ev cpol ev Suz/a/x. animated by one Spirit, cherishing
21. ev rf) K.T.A.] 'in the church one Hope. Look back to its imme-
and in Christ Jesus'. The variants diate origin: there is one Lord, to
help to shew how striking is the true whom we are united by one Faith in
text. For (i) the order is reversed Him, by one Baptism in His name.
in D 2 Gr 3 ; and (2) nal is dropped in Rise to its ultimate source: there is
KLP etc., whence the rendering of one God, the Father of all, who is
the Authorised Version, 'in the over all, through all and in all '.
church by Christ Jesus'. With this i. IlapaKaXa ovv v/wis] The same
timidity we may contrast Jerome's words occur in Rom. xii i, after a
comment ad loc. : 'Ipsi itaque deo sit doxology which, as here, closes the
gloria : primum, in ecclesia, quae est preceding chapter.
pura, non habens maculam neque agios] Comp. CoL i 10 vepararfia-an.
rugam, et quae propterea gloriam agios rov nvptov, I Thess. ii 12 els ro.
dei recipere potest, quia corpus est irepmarfiv VIMS agios rov deov TOU>
Christi : deinde in Christo Jesu, quia Ka\ovvros vpas, Phil, i 27 povov aiW
in corpore assumpti hominis, cuius rovfvayye\iovTovxP t<rrovir ^ lTevecr O e *
sunt uniuersa membra credentium, For irepararflv and its synonyms see
omnis diuinitas inhabitet corpora- the note on ii 2.
liter'. 2. Taircivoffrpoovinjs] For the low
yeveds] Compare CoL i 26 dirb r&v sense of this word in other writers,
EPHBS. 2 12
178
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
[IV 36
ev
rrjv evoTtiTa TOV TTi/eujuaro? ev TO>
4 ei/ crwjjia Kai ev Trvevjua, KaBtos KCLL eK\i]6rjTe ev
a e\7ri$i Tfa KXr^crews VJJLWV 5 ei<s Kvpios, I
6 eh Beds KCU iraTrjp TrdvTtav 6 em
7ri<TTK 9 ev
and for the place of 'humility* in the
moral code of Christianity, see Light-
foot's note on PhiL ii 3: and for
jrpavTTjs and paKpodvpia, see his note
on Got iii 12.
dvexopevot] For the transition to
the nominative participle see the note
on iii 17.
3. cnrovo'dgovTes] 'giving dili-
gence': 'satis agenfes' Cypr., 'solli-
citi' Vulg. For the eagerness which
the word implies, see the exposition.
evoTTjTa] Considering that St Paul
-lays_ao- much stress on unity, it is
remarkable that he uses the abstract
word 'oneness' only here and in v.
13. In each case he quickly passes
to its concrete embodiment here ev
cr&pa, in V. 13 els av8pa reXetov. In
both places it is followed by defining
genitives TOV irvevpaTos and (v. 13)
TTJS irivretos ica! rffs ciriyvwretas TOV
viov TOV deov. It is possible to take
TOV ifvevfMTos here of the Holy Spirit,
as the producer and maintainer of
Unity : comp. / noivatvia TOV ayiov
irvevpaTos, 2 Cor. xiii 13 ; and 8O
perhaps Koivovia irvevfuiros, Phil, ii i.
But it is equally possible to regard
* the spirit ' as the ' one spirit ' of the
'one body' : see the next verse.
o-wdfo-pto] Peace is here the bond
of oneness. In Col. iii 14 f. Move'
is 'the bond of perfectness ', while
'peace' is the ruling consideration
which decides all such controversies
as might threaten the unity of the
Body : see Lightfoot's notes on that
passage.
4. ev a-Spa] Having already broken
his construction by the introduction
of the nominative participles, St Paul
adds a series of nominatives, of which
the first two may be regarded as in
apposition to the participles ' being,
as ye are, one body and one spirit'.
The others are then loosely attached
with no definite construction. In
translation, however, it is convenient
to prefix the words 'there is' to the
whole series.
ev irvevpa] For the 'one spirit',
which corresponds to the 'one body',
see the note on ii 18 ev evl irvevpari.
eXTTi'Si K.T.X.] Comp. i 1 8 17 eXirls
TTJS K\r/o-ea>s avTov. God's calling is
the general ground of hope: 'your
~caHing',~LeTHis~calling~of you^makes
you sharers in the one common hope.
5. els Kvpios] Comp. i Cor. viii 6
c * t A ^ * ' )>r\ f
rfpiv eis Geos o itanjp, eg ov TO iravra
Kal rjpeis els OVTOV, KOI els Kvpios 'liyrroGs
Xptaros, St' ov TO, itavra Kal rjpels Si
avrou : also I Tim. ii 5 els yap 6e6s$
els Kal pea-iTrjs K.r.X.
fiia TTIOTCS] One faith in the one
Lord united all believers: comp.
Bom. iii 30 els 6 deos, os 8tKauoo~ei
irepiToptiv K irurre&s Kal aKpoftvoriav
Via TTJS TTlOTfCDS.
ev ptarmo-pa] Baptism 'in the name
of the Lord Jesus' was the act which
gave definiteness to faith in Him. It
was at the same time, for all alike,
the instrument of embodiment in the
*one body': i Cor. xii 13 ical yap ev
evl irvevpaTt qpets irdvres els ev atopa
fj3airrlo~0ripev ) eire 'lovSatoi eire "EXXij-
ves, eire o~ov\ot eiTe eXevdepoi.
6. eirliravrvv /c.r.X.] Comp.Bom.ix5
6 eav eirl irdvreav debs evKoyrfrbs els TOVS
aluvas. Supreme over all, He moves
through all, and rests in all. With ev
irao-tv we may compare i Cor. xv 28
iva $ 6 6ebs irdvra, ev trao-iv, though
there the emphasis falls on
IV 7, 8] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 1/9
KOI
Kal iv Traoriv. 'ei/< $e eKflMrrw ;;ua>i>
*/ X<*P K Kara TO jmeTpov Ttjs Selects TOV %purTOV.
8 $10 \eyei
GIC <P OC IX M< * k ^ < ' iTe YCN AIXMAACOCI AN,
K.OLL I A CO K N A M AT <\ T O ? C A N 6 p <i> TT O I C.
The text of XABCP (eV iratriv) is the complete maturity of the fulfilled
undoubtedly right. D 2 G 3 KL, with the Christ'.
Syriac and Latin, add i/juv: and a 7- n x^P ts 1 BD 2 ^th some others
few cursives have vfuv, which is repre- omit the article: but it has probably
sented in the A.V. When we hare fallen out after e86di}.
restored the reading, we have to ask fierpov] Comp. Bom. xii 3 cKcurra
what is the gender of iravreov and cos 6 Beits epepurev perpov frtoreox. The
iratriv. The Lathi translators were word, which is found in only one other
compelled to face this question when passage of St Paul, 2 Cor. x 13,
rendering em iravrw and &o irwnav. occurs thrice in this context; see vv.
All possible variations are found, but 13, 16. This repetition of an un-
the most usual rendering seems to be accustomed word, when it has been
that of the Vulgate, l super omnes et once used, is illustrated by the re-
ictJ, jghich-also has good-early currence~ofei/ot?j, w. 3, 13.
authority. The fact that irarijp itwrwv 8. dib Xeyet] The exact phrase
precedes might suggest that the mas- recurs in r 14. "We find xal nakiv
culine is intended throughout: but Xey> following ycypcnrrai, in Rom.
em iravrtov at once admits of the xr 10 ; comp. also 2 Cor. vi 2, Gal iii
wider reference, see Rom. ix 5 quoted 16. We may supply 17 ypaxfrq, as in
above; and we shall probably be Bom. x n and elsewhere, if a nomi-
right in refusing to limit the Apostle's native is required.
meaning. mafias] In the ixx of Ps. Ixvii
7 13. 'Not indeed that this one- (Ixviii) 19 the words are: 'Avajias els
ness implies uniformity of endowment fyog tfx/uaXurcucra? alxna\<ocriav, e\a-
or of function. On the contrary, to /3 So/xara ev avdpwrois (av0pam-<p B* b ).
each individual in varying measures ' The Psalmist pictures to himself a
by the gift of Christ has been en- triumphal procession, winding up the
trusted the grace which I have already newly-conquered hill of Zion, the
spoken of as entrusted to me. The figure being that of a victor, taking
distribution of gifts is involved in the possession of the enemy's citadel, and
very fact of the Ascension. When with his train of captives and spoil
He ascended, we read, He gave following him in the triumph.... In the
gifts. He, the All-fulfiller, descended words following, Hast received gifts
to ascend : and He it is that gave among men, the Psalmist alludes to
apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors the tribute offered either by the van-
and teachers a rich variety, but all quished foes themselves, or by others
for unity : to fit the members of the who come forward spontaneously to
holy people to fulfil their appropriate own the victor, and secure his favour'
service, for the building of the body (Driver, Sermons on the O. T., 1892,
of the Christ, until we all reach the pp. 194 f.)-
goal of the consciously realised unity, St Paul makes two alterations in
which cannot be reached while any the text of the LXX : (i) he changes
are left behind the full-grown Man, the verbs from the second person to
12 2
i8o
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
[IV 9, 10
10 d
OTi KCU
/i \
IS TO.
O ^ ^ '*, ' '
9 ro oe ANEBH TL e&Tiv ei
KctTWTepa fjieprj TIJS 7*?s; 1
6 dvafids vTrepdvo) irdvTtav TWV ovpavayv, iva 7r\tip(a(rri
aimjs e<TTiv
9
the third, (2) he reads eSw/cf v 8o/*ara
rots avQptoirois for eXa/Sts So/iara eV
dvGpdirois. Accordingly of the two
words which he selects to comment
on, dvafias and cdconev, the second is
entirely absent from the original of
the text. The explanation is thus
given by Dr Driver (ibid. pp. 197 f.) :
'St Paul is not here following the
genuine text of the Psalm, but is in
all probability guided by an old
Jewish interpretation with which he
was familiar, and which, instead of
received gifts among men, para-
phrased gave gifts to men.... The
~Targum on the~~PsaIms renders -:-
"Thou ascendedst up to the firma-
ment, prophet Moses, thou tookest
captives captive, thou didst teach the
words of the law, thou gavest them as
gifts to the children of men"'. The
Peshito Syriac likewise has : ' Thou
didst ascend on high and lead capti-
vity captive, and didst give gifts to
the sons of men*. For other ex-
amples of the influence of traditional
Jewish interpretations in St Paul's
writings, see Dr Driver's art. in the
Expositor, 1889, vol. ix, pp. 20 ff.
9. KaTe/Sij] For the addition of
irparov, see the note on various read-
ings.
Karcorepa] So far as the Greek
alone is concerned, it might be allow-
able to explain this as meaning ' this
lower earth'. But the contrast wep-
ava> TOP ovpav&v is against such an
interpretation. And the phrase is
Hebraistic, and closely parallel to
that of Ps. Ixii (Ixiii) 10 cureXevcroprai
etsr TO Karcarara rijs yijs, ie. Sheol, or
Hades; and of Ps. cxxxviii (cxxxix)
1 5 fv rols Karororots (B Karararco) rrjs
yijs. Whether we interpret the phrase
as signifying ' the lower parts of the
earth 5 or 'the parts below the earth*
is a matter of indifference, as in
either case the underworld is the
region in question. The descent is to
the lowest, as the ascent is to the
highest, that nothing may remain un-
yisited.
IO. avros effTiv /e.r.A.] 'He it is
that also ascended': so in -v. n Kal
avrbs edaxev.
virepdvai] 'above', not 'far above' :
see the note on i 21.
iravr&v T&V ovpava>v\ 'all heavens' t
or 'all the heavens'. The plural ov-
pavoi, which, though not classical, is
frequent-in-the_JJ[ew Testament^js_
generally to be accounted for by the
fact that the Hebrewword for 'heaven'
is only used in the plural. But certain
passages, such as the present and
2 Cor. xii 2 ea>s rpirov ovpavov (comp.
also Heb. iv 14), imply the Jewish
doctrine of a seven-fold series of
heavens, rising one above the other.
For this doctrine, and for its history
in the Christian Church, see art.
' Heaven' by Dr S. D. F. Salmond in
Hastings' Bible Dictionary. The
descent and ascent of 'the Beloved'
through the Seven Heavens are de-
picted at length in the Ascension of
Isaiah (on which see my art. in the
same dictionary).
wXi/paMrfl] The context, which de-
scribes the descent to the lowest and
the ascent to the highest regions,
suggests the literal meaning of 'filling
the universe' with His presence:
comp. Jer. xxiii 24 ^ vx i r v ovpa-
vov Kal TTJV yfjv cy& irhrjpa>; Xcyct
Kvptos. But in view of the use of the
verb and its substantive in this epistle
in the sense of 'fulfilment', it would
be unwise to limit the meaning here.
He who is Himself 'all in all fulfilled"
IV ii, 12] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIAffS. l8l
<ra TrdvTa. "ical auros IAOOKSN row jutev cr7ro<rra\0i/s,
e 7rpo<ptJTas 9 TOI)S Se evayyeAtfrras, TOI)S e
KCM StSaencaAoi/s, M 7T|Oos roV KaTaprurfJiov
(i 23) is at the same time the fulfiller ei>ayye\urras\ The term ' evange-
of all things that are, whether in lists ' denotes those who are specially
Leaven or on earth. We may not lose engaged in the extension of the
sight of the Apostle's earlier words in Gospel to new regions. It is found
i 10 di>aK(pd\aua(ra<r0ai ra travra ev r& again Only in Acts Xxi 8, 2 Tim. IT 5.
Xpurrm, TCI eir\ rots ovpavois KOI TO. cirl iroipevas] Used only here of Christ-
TTJS yrjs. The local terminology of ian teachers, though it is applied to
descent, ascent, and omnipresence our Lord in Heb. xiii 20, i Pet. ii 25
thus gains its spiritual interpretation, and v 4 (dpxtiroiprjv)', comp. John x
ii. O.VTOS edaiKev K.T.X.] *1T0 it is ii, 14. Comp. also the use of iroipai-
that gave some for apostles 1 etc. veiv in John xxi 16, Acts xx 28,
Compare i Cor. xii 28 KOI ovs pw I Pet. v 2, Jude 12. It suggests the
o debs ev rf) eKK^aia irpwrov feeding, protection and rule of the
ouy, Bevrcpov TTpo^ifros, K.T.A. flock.
is here used, because the StSao-xoXow] 'Teachers' are joined
Apostle is commenting on the eftaxev with 'prophets' in Acts
The-So/uara they follow^hem'in~theTist~in i Cor.
of the ascended Christ are some of xii 28 ; but we have no other refer-
them apostles, some prophets, and so ence to them as a class, except in
forth. "With avrbs eScoKev compare Rom. xii 7 (o didao-Kcov, ev rfj 8i8aa-Ka-
avros ecmv KM 6 avafias in the pre- Xi'a). 'Prophets and teachers' are
ceding verse. also mentioned in the Didache c. 15
<BrooToXow...7rpo0i7Tasj 'Apostles (quoted in the exposition). The
and prophets' have already been ' pastors and teachers 'are here sepa-
spoken of as the foundation of the rated from the foregoing and linked
Divine house (ii 20), and as those together by the bond of a common
members of the holy people to whom article. It is probable that their
the mystery of the Christ is primarily sphere of activity was the settled
revealed (iii 5). congregation, whereas the apostles,
Under the term 'apostles' no prophets and evangelists had a wider
doubt the Twelve and St Paul are range.
chiefly referred to : but that the 12. KaTapTurpov] The verb Ktmip-
designation was not confined to them ri&iv is discussed by Lightfoot on
was shewn by Lightfoot (Gal. pp. 95 f.), i Thess. iii 10 (Notes on Epp. p. 47).
and has since been illustrated by the He illustrates its prominent idea of
mention of apostles in the Didache. 'fitting together' by its classical use
Prophets are referred to in Acts xi for reconciling political factions,
27 f. (Agabus and others), xiii i, xv and its use in surgery for setting
32 (Judas and Silas), xxi 9 (prophet- bones. In the New Testament it is
esses), 10; i Cor. xii 28, xiv 29 ff. used of bringing a thing into its
For the prominent place which they proper condition, whether for the
hold in the Didache, see the exposi- first time or, as more commonly, after
tion. For a discussion of both terms lapse. Thus we have (i) Heb. xi 3
I must refer to my articles * Apostle', ican/prtV^at TOUS al&vas pypari &eoZ r
'Prophet', in the Encyclopaedia, xiii 21 jearapr/o-at VIMS ev iravrl dyad<p
elf TO iroif]<rai TO deXrjfia avrov, I Pet.
1 82
EHSTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
[IV 13
dyiwv CK epyov
TOV
ets OIKO^OJUL^V TOV
v 10 Karapria-fi, onjpiget, <r0ev<r:
(2) literally, Mark i 19, of putting
nets hi order ; metaphorically, of
restoration of an offender, Gal. vi I
jcorapTtfere TOIOVTOV, and of the rectifi-
cation of short-comings, I Thess. iii 10
KarapTia-ai TO voTeprjfMra TIJS mareos
vfi&v. The sense of restoration prevails
in 2 Cor. xiii 9 roOro KOI e^xofteda, T^J/
Karapruriv, which is followed by
in v. 11: in i Cor. i 10
ev T$ O.VT& vot follows
the mention of a-^itrfMTa.
For the form see Clem. Strom, iv
26 (P. 638) T$ TOV o-wrffpos KarapTurpa
Te\eiovpevov : and comp. Aristeas,
Swete Introd. to LXX 544, irpbs
dyvrjv eiriaitefyiv Kol rpoTrav egaprurpov.
Jn_this_passage_ieaTgpjrHr/aog sug-
gests the bringing of the saints to a
condition of fitness for the discharge
of their functions in the Body, without
implying restoration from a disor-
dered state.
els epyov BtoKovias] The nearest
parallel is 2 Tim. iv 5 epyov iroirja-ov
evayye\itrrov (for epyov mareus in
2 Thess. i ii is 'activity inspired by
faith', comp. i Thess. i 3): but the
sense here is much more general than
if we had els epyov diaKovav.
AiaKovia is the action of a servant
(8iaKovos) who waits at table, etc.:
comp. Luke x 40, xvii 8, xxii 26 f.,
Acts vi if. But it has the same
extension as our word 'service', and
it was at once applied to all forms of
Christian ministration. Thus 17 8ta-
Kovia TOV Xoyoy is contrasted with 17
Ka6rifjiepivT) SIUKOVM in Acts vi i, 4.
And it is used with a wide range
extending from the work of the aposto-
late (Acts i 1 7, 25, Rom. xi 1 3) to the
informal 'service to the saints' to
which the household of Stephanas
had appointed themselves (els Stojco-
viav TOIS dyiois eragav eavrovs I Cor.
xvi 15). Here we may interpret it
OL 7Tai/TS CIS TtJV
of any service which the saints render
to one another, or to the Body of
which they are members, or (which is
the same thing) to the Lord who is
their Head.
The phrase els epyov Sianovias is
most naturally taken as dependent on
Karapno-pov. The change of preposi-
tions (n-poj...s) points in this direc-
tion, but is not in itself conclusive:
the absence of the definite articles
however, with the consequent com-
pactness of the phrase, is strongly
confirmatory of this view. Themean-
ing accordingly is : 'for the complete
equipment of the saints for the work
of service'.
oiKoSoftyv] l building ' rather than
' edification': for the picturesque"-
ness of the metaphor must be pre-
served. Comp. ii 21 Tracro otKodo/n/
...a#, and the note there. The
phrase els olKoSopfjit K.T.X. gives the
general result of all that has hitherto
been spoken of; as in . 16, where it
is repeated.
13. KOToim/VcD/iei/] This verb is used
nine times in the Acts, of travellers
reaching a place of destination. Other-
wise it is confined in the New Testa-
ment to St Paul. In i Cor. xiv 36 it
is contrasted with ege\0etv: rj d<p*
vft&v o Xoyoy TOV Qeov erj\0ev t rj elf
vpas fj.6vovs Ka.Ti]VTT}o-e v ; ('were you
its starting-point, or were you its only
destination ? ') : see also i Cor. x n
rip&v, els ovs TO re\r] TO>V alcovwv Ka-njv-
TrjKev, PhiL iii 1 1 et ira>s KaTatrnjo~<o els
TTJV e^avaoraa-iv K.T.\. Unity is our
journey's end, our destination.
ol TTowes] i.e. 'all of us together'.
As often in the phrase ra iravra,
when it means 'the universe of things',
the definite article gathers all the
particulars under one view: comp.
Rom. XI 32 avveK^eio-ev yap 6 6ebs
row TTOITOS els diteiQiav iva TOVS iravras
7, I Cor. X 17 6Vt els &pns t ev
IV 14]
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
183
TJJS Trtcrrews Kai TJ/S
TOV vlov TOV
Oeov, eK avSpa. TeXeiov, els juteTpov qXucias TOV
/tearos TOV 'XjpLcrTov* I4 iW p.riK6Ti wjmev vtfirtoi,
<r<5/Lta ol TroXXoi etr/xei/, o{ yap TraWes eic
TOV >os aprov peTexppev.
els. ..els. ..els] The three clauses are
co-ordinate. In accordance with the
general rule Ka.To.vrav is followed by els
to indicate destination.
evoTTjTa] See above, on v. 3.
TrtWecos] Comp. pia jn'orts, 0. 5.
Both iriffreats and eiriyv<oo~ea>s are to
be taken with the following genitive
TOV vlov TOV deov : comp. Gal. ii 20 ev
jriorei <3 TJ5 TOU vlov TOV deov. The
unity springs from a common faith in,
and a common knowledge of, Christ
as the Son of God.
emyvcoo-eas] 'knowledge', not 'full'
_or_further-knowledge^:-see-the-de--
tached note on eiriyvcoa'is.
TOV vlov TOV deov] St Paul's first
preaching at Damascus is thus de-
scribed in Acts ix 2O, etcypvo-o-ev TOV
*Ii}crovv OTI ovYds eaTiv 6 vlos TOV deov.
In his earliest epistle we have the
Divine sonship mentioned in con-
nexion with the resurrection: i
Thess. i IO dvapevciv TOV vlov avrov IK.
r&v ovpavav, ov tfyeipev e< T&V veicpoov,
'Irjcrovv, K.T.X.: and this connexion is
emphasised in Bom. i 3 TOV opurdev-
TOS vlov deov ev bwapei KOTO. irvevfM
dyuocrvvTjs e dvaoTacrews vexputv. On
the special point of the title in the
present context see the exposition.
avdpa] The new human unity is in
St Paul's language els naivbs avdpat-
iros (ii 15). Here, however, he uses
dvfjp TcXetof, because his point is the
maturity of the full-grown organism.
Man as distinguished from angels or
the lower animals is av6 punas. He is
dvTjp as distinguished either (a) from
woman, or (&) from boy. It is in view
of this last distinction that dvrjp is
here used, to signify 'a human being
grown to manhood'. Comp. i Cor.
xiii II ore tfpijv vijirtos...5Te yeyova
dvfo : so here, in the next verse, we
have by way of contrast tva
It is specially to be observed that
St Paul does not say els &v8pas TA-
ovs, though even Origen incidentally
so interprets him (Cramer Catena,
ad loc. y p. 171). Out of the imma-
turity of individualism (vjirtoi), we
are to reach the predestined unity of
the one full-grown Man (els &v8pa
T\OZ>).
/teVpoj/j 'the measure' in the sense
of *the full measure'; as in the
phrases juerpov tfftrjs Horn. H. xi 225,
<ro(f>iT)s peTpov, Solon iv 52. To fteTpov
T^y-i/Xt/Maf-is-quoted by Wetstein"
from Lucian Imag. 6 and Philostra-
tus, Vit. Soph, i 25, 26, p. 543.
iJXwaas] A stage of growth, whether
measured by age or stature. It is
used for maturity in the phrase
yXiKiav exeiv (John ix 21, as also in
classical Greek).
TrXjjpw/LiaTos] We cannot separate
'the fulness of the Christ' in this
passage from the statement in i 23
that the Christ is 'being fumlled'
and finds His fulness in the Church.
When all the saints have come to the
unity which is then* destined goal, or,
in other words, to the full-grown
Man, the Christ will have been ful-
filled. Thus they will have together
reached 'the full measure of the ma-
turity of the fulness of the Christ'.
14 1 6. ' So shall we be babes no
longer, like little boats tossed and
swung round by shifting winds, the
sport of clever and unscrupulous in-
structors; but we shall hold the truth
in love, and so grow up into the
Christ. He is the Head : from Him
the whole Body, an organic unity
articulated and compacted by all the
joints of its system, active in all the
184 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [IV 14
6pJievoi Kal TrepxfrepdfJievoi Train-} dvefJiw -rifc
ev Trj Kvfiia TWV dvBpcoTrtav ev iravovpyia irpos Trjv
functions of its several parts, grows Origen ad loc. uses the expression
with its proper growth and builds KvftevTiK&s 8i8do-Kei.v, for the meaning
itself in love*. of which we may compare c. Cels. iii
14. vijmoi] In addition to I Cor. 39 ov8ev vodov KOI KV^VTIKOV KOI ire-
xiii 1 1, quoted above, compare I Cor. ir\ao-pevov Kal iravovpyov ex. OVTa>v (of
iii if. OVK ij8vvqdt]v \a\TJo-ai vpuf us the Evangelists).
TTvevfiaTiKois aXX* tag (rapKivois, <os r&v dv6puma>v\ A. similar depre-
vqiriots ev Xptora yaXa Vfias eVoritra, ciatory use of of avdpanroi is found in
ov /3pc5/ia, ovira> yap e8vva<rde. OoL ii 8, 22, the latter of which
K\v8a>vi^6fievoi} Comp. Luke viii passages is based on Isa. xxix 13.
24 T<5 dvepco KOI TW K\v8a>vi TOV ufiaros, iravovpyia] In classical Greek irav-
James i 6 6 yap ftuntpivopcvos eoutev ovpyos, which originally means 'ready
K\v$a>vi 6a\a(T(n]s di>efii^ofj.evy Kal to do anything', has a better and a
pimopev<p, "When used metaphori- worse meaning, like our word 'cun-
cally K\68a>p is 'storm' rather than ning' in biblical English. The better
'wave': comp. Demosth. defals. leg. meaning is found e.g. in Plato Rep.
p. 44 2 K\v8cava KOI {jiaviav TO, Kade- 4090 iravovpyos re KOI <ro(j)6s. It
OTO irpaypara qyovitevav, Philo de prevails in the LXX, where the word is
K\v8tova TroXvv arro TOV crmjuaro; pos is another equivalent : comp.
Plut. Coriol. 32 Kadaarep Prov. xiii I vibs iravovpyos vinJKOos
ev x ei P**vi TToXXw Kal K\vSa>vi rfjs irarpi The only place where the ad-
TroXfcos. So we find the verb used hi jective occurs in the New Testament
Josephus Ant. ix 1 1 3, o Srjpos Topaa-- is 2 Cor. xii 16, where St Paul play-
o-opcvos Kal K\v8a>vi6[i,evos. fully uses it of himself, virdpxo>v irav-
ircpi<pep6[ivoi\ i.e. swung round. It ovpyos SoXo> vfj.as eXaftov. St Luke
occurs, but only as an ill-attested uses iravovpyia of the 'craftiness' of
variant for irapafycpea-dai 'to be carried our Lord's questioners in reference to
aside, out of course', both in Heb. xiii the tribute-money, thus hinting at the
9 (8i8axais fl-otKtXoi? Kal evais (if} irapa- cleverness with which the trap was
<pepe<rde), and hi Jude 12 (rc<>eXat laid, whereas St Mark and St Matthew
aw8poi VJTO dvefuav iropaffiepofievat). employ harsher words (vTToKpicris,
iravri dre'/xw] This is to be taken irovqpia). In his quotation from Job
with both participles : the K\v8a>v is v 13 in i Cor. iii 19 St Paul renders
due to the avepos, as in Luke Viii 23 f. DDTID by ev TQ iravovpyia avrav,
TTJS StSao-KoXtas] l of doctrine': the where the LXX has ev rfj (ppovfoei
article marks the abstract use of the avr&v. In 2 Cor. xi 3 he says o otpis
word. f^rjirdrrjtrev'EvavevTfj iravovpyia OVTOV,
KujSia] 'playing with dice'(Ki3/Sot), referring to Gen. iii i, where DVlJJ is
'gaming', and so, metaphorically, represented in the LXX by <pow/6ra-
' trickery'. 'Ev is instrumental: 'by ros. Lastly, we find the word in 2
the sleight Qf men '. KvjSevetp is used Cor. iv 2, py irepararovvres ev iravovp-
in the sense of 'to cheat' in Arrian yiq fti]8e 8o\ovvres TOV \6yov TOV 6eov.
Epictet. ii 19 28. Epiphanius Haer. There it is the context which deter-
xxxiv i describes Marcus as payings mines that a bad cleverness is meant.
virapxav nvfteias eyaretporaTos , and ibid. In our present passage Origen links
21 says that no KvfievriKtj eirlvoia can the word with evrpe^eia, another
jstand against the light of truth, word for 'cleverness'. But the clever-
IV is, 16] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 185
Slav Ttys 7T\dvtis 9 15 dXqdevovTes $e ev dytfiry av^(rtt)fJLi/
*s avTOV TO, TrdvTa, os iffTiv n K(j)a\tj, X|tM<rTOS, 1<5 e
ov TTCCV TO (TwfjLa <rvvap[jLO\oyoviJLevov teal (rvv/3i/3a6-
ness is condemned by its reference, found in the New Testament. The
irpos TT)v peQobiav rfjs irXdvqs. large meaning of dXjdeca in the Christ-
pe0o8iav] Comp. vi 1 1 ra$ pedodias ian vocabulary, and especially the
TOV 8ia/36Xov. Me0o8ta and peBobeveiv immediate contrast with ir\dvtj in this
come from pe0o8os, which is originally passage, may justify us in the render-
a way of search after something, and ing given above. The clause must
BO an inquiry (used e.g. by Plato not be limited to mean 'being true in
of a scientific investigation), and so your love', or 'dealing truly in love'.
ultimately 'method'. The verb pedo- evdydirp] For the frequent repeti-
Seveiv, however, came to have a bad tion of this phrase hi the epistle, see
sense, 'to scheme', 'to employ craft', the notes on i 4, iii 17. Truth and
Polyb. xxxviii 4 10. In the LXX it is love are here put forward as the twin
soused in 2 Sam. xix 27 pc6(o8evo*ev conditions of growth.
o doCXos o-ov. No other instance of ra iravra] 'in all things', in all
fj.s0o8ia is cited ; but for p.edo8os in the respects, wholly and entirely : corn-
bad sense see Plut. Moral. 176 A, Arte- pare the adverbial use of TO, irdvra ev
mid. Oneir. iii 25, Co.nc._Ancyr.-i -- 7r5omin-i-23.-
In all the passages where os e<mv] This introduces a new
it occurs in the New Testament jrXaw/ thought, by way of supplement : the
will bear the passive meaning, 'error/, position of els aurav before TO irdvra
though the active meaning, 'deceit', shews that the former sentence is
would sometimes be equally appro- in a sense complete. We feel the
priate. There is no reason therefore difference, if for the moment we
for departing from the first meaning transpose the phrases and read avgtj-
of the word, 'wandering from the a-atpev ra iravra els OVTOV, os eorw r\
way', and so, metaphorically, 'error', Ke^>aXj : such an arrangement would
as opposed to 'truth'. Here it stands practically give us the phrase au'if-
in sharp contrast with afaidevovrcs. a-topev els TTJV Keff>a\yv, which would
It seems best to take irpos TTJV almost defy explanation. Similarly
fjicdooiav TTJS 7T\dvr]s in close connexion in Col. ii 10 ev avry is separated by
with ev iravovpyia, which otherwise irerr\ijpa>pevoi from off eortv, which
would be strangely isolated. The pre- again introduces a new thought after
position irpos will then introduce the the sentence has been practically
standard of reference, somewhat as in completed.
GaL ii 14 OVK 6p6<nro8ova-iv irpbs TTJV 16. e o^] Compare the parallel
dXqdeiav TOV evayyeXiov. We may passage, Col. ii 19 ov Kpar&v TTfV
render, c lyy craftiness in accordance Ke(pa\jv, e| ou irav TO o-apa 8ta r&v
With the wiles of error'. d<f>&v KOI o-uvbeo-fuav eirij(opTjyovii.evov
15. dXrjdevovres] ' maintaining the KOI o-vv$i$aoi>.fvov aSgfi ryv avgrjo-iv
truth'. The Latin version renders, TOV 6eov. Here, however, the inser-
'ueritatem autem facientes*. The tion of xptoros in apposition to KG-
verb need not be restricted to truth- $0X17 gives us a smoother construc-
fulness in speech, though that is its tion.
obvious meaning in Gal. iv 16 wore o~vvapno\oyov^evov\ This word does
e\0pos vft&v yeyova afa)6eva>v vjuv; not occur in the parallel passage,
the only other place where it is Its presence here is doubtless due
1 86
Sia
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [IV 1 6
d<J)fi$ TTJS eTTixpptjyias KCLT evepyeiav ev
to its having been used in the'meta- and even of his gripping arms, Id.
phor of the building in ii 21. See Alcib. 2.
the detached note on <rvvappo\oyiv.
o-wpifiagoftevov] In CoL ii 2 <rw-
/Si/Sao-tfei/res probably means * instruct-
ed ', as it does in the LXX. But here
and in Col. ii 19 it means 'united',
In classical Greek it is commonly used
of * bringing together' or 'reconciling*
persons. It is possible that in its
present context it is a term borrowed
from the medical writers.
afpfjs] The word atpq has very
various meanings. Besides its com-
mon use (i) for 'touching', 'touch'
That 0^17 in the sense of a band or
ligament may have been a term of
ancient physiology is suggested by an
entry in Galen's lexicon of words used
by Hippocrates (GaL xix p. 87) : dtpds'
TO. a/i/un-a irapa TO at/rat, i.e. bands,
from the verb 'to bind'. At any rate
it seems clear that the word could be
used in the general sense of a band
or fastening (from an-ru), and that
we need not in our explanation of
St Paul's language start from dtpij in
the sense of 'touch'.
and 'a point of contact', from airmpcu, Lightfoot indeed, in his note on
it also signifies (2) 'kindling', from CoL ii 19, adopts the latter course,
arrroo in a special sense, (3) 'sand', as and seeks to bridge the gulf by means
a technical term of the arena (see my of certain passages of Aristotle. But
-note-on PassioPe^pet.io\~(^)~a. Aristotle-again_and_agaija_cmtrasts__
plague', often in the LXX None of d(j>ij 'contact* with o-ufwpvons 'cohe-
these senses suits the present context sion'; and in the most important of
or the parallel in Col. ii 19 irav TO the passages cited he is not speaking
era/la 8ia T&V dxp&v KOI <rvv8ca-p,c>>v of living bodies, but of certain dia-
emxoprjyovp.voi> nal <nv0tlSag6fi.evov. phanous substances, which some
For in both places the function suppose to be diaphanous by reason
assigned to the dxpai is that of hold- of certain pores ; de gen. et corr. i 8
ing the body together in the unity (p. 326) otfre yap Kara TUS d<pds (i.e.
which is necessary to growth. 'at the points of contact') eVScgerae
But the word has another sense Suevai 8ia T&V 8ia<pav&v } oure 8ia T&V
which connects it with an-Tfi), 'I fasten' iropatv. In fact in Aristotle aty
or 'tie'. The wrestler fastens on his appears to mean touching without
joining: hence e.g. in de caelo i 12
(p. 280) he argues that contact can
cease to be contact without tpdopd.
c A.<pr) then may be interpreted as a
evdidtotrtv avTDVf Dion, general term for a band or fastening,
which possibly may have been used
in the technical sense of a ligament,
and which in CoL ii 19 is elucidated
through being linked by the vinculum
of a common definite article with
a-Meo-fios, a recognised physiological
term.
cmxopqyias] The word occurs again
in PhiL i 19 8ta T^S vp&v
opponent with a a<^ atpvieros: comp.
Plut. Anton. 27 d<f>^v S* ^ev 17 <ruv-
a<pvKTov } moral. 86 r eZ |8Xa-
&v roXXa KOI
H. de Dem. 18 rots atfXjjraw TJ;S
vfjs Xeea>s Icrxvpas ras d(pas Trpoa-fivai
Set (eat OH^VKTOVS TCLS \aj3ds. The word,
together with some kindred wrest-
ling terms, was used of the union of
the Democritean atoms: Plut. Moral.
769 F rats icar' 'Eiriicavpov d<pdis Kal
TrepiTrXoKals, comp. Damoxenus ap.
A then. 102 E <al (rvpirXcKOfievTjs
d(frds. We find ap.p.a used emxoprjyias TOV irvevfMTos 'irjaov Xptcr-
in the same sense of the wrestler's TOV, 'through your prayer and the
grip, Plut. Fab. 23 a/u/iora Kal XajSdc, supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ'.
IV 16] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 187
Commentators are wont to explain it are the conditions of growth on which
as meaning 'an abundant supply', thus the Apostle is insisting.
differentiating it from xopTY'' ? ' a Aristotle, who does not employ the
supply'. But this interpretation of compound forms, frequently uses
the preposition in this word, as in x o Pny f ' v an( ^ XP7y i/a * n contrast with
firlyvoMrts, does not appear to be sub- itctftvulvat and (frva-is. In Pol. iv I
stantiated by usage. (p. 1288) he says that education has
The xopW supplied the means of two pre-requisites, natural gifts and
putting a play on the Athenian stage, fortunate circumstances, <pv<rw and
The verb xP r iy f i v soon came to mean xP17^ a Tv xnp^ ( a provision or equip-
' to furnish' or 'supply 'in the widest ment which depends -on fortune).
sense. A little later the compound The best physical training will be
verb cirixopriyciv was similarly used, that which is adapted to the body
There is a tendency in later Greek to best framed by nature and best pro-
prefer compound to simple verbs, vided or equipped (mzXXtara ire<j>vKort
probably for no other cause than the <ai Kexopyyriftevcp) : comp. iv n (p.
greater fulness of sound. The. force 1295). So again, vii 4 (p. 1325) ov
of the preposition, before it ceased to yap olov re iro\a-eiav yeveadai rrfv
be felt, was probably that of direction, dpiorjp Svea <rw/i/*erpov xP 1 iy' ia ^ *3
'to supply to': compare the Latin (p. 1331) deirai yap nal ^opi/ytas nvog
compounds with sub, such as sup- TO {fiv KaX<Ss, JEth. Nic. x 8 (p. 1178)
plere, submmistrare: and' see 2 Cor. S6fe 8' av [17 TOV vov apery] ieal rfjf
JX IP o 8f
crireipovTi, Gal. iii 5 o otiv eirtxofnjycav 8ei<rdai TTJS ^diK^s, 1 II (p. Iioi) TI ovv
vfiiv TO irvevfia. Even if ejrt^op^yjf/naro Ka>\vei \eyeiv evdaipova TOV jcar* aper^v
means ' additional allowances ' in TcXciav evepyovvra KOI rote euros dyadots
Athen. Deipnosoph. iv 8 (p. 140 o), this ucavms KcxopTrmpevov, K.T.X. ; and many
does not prove a corresponding use more instances might be quoted. The
for the other compounds : and in any limitation to a supply of food, where
case an 'additional supply 7 is some- it occurs, comes from the context, and
thing quite different from an 'abun- does not belong to the word itself,
dant supply'. which is almost synonymous with
The present passage must be read naTao-ieevij, and differs from it mainly
in close connexion with Col. ii 19, by suggesting that the provision or
where (rp.a...firtxopriyovii.cvov offers a equipment is afforded from outside
use of the passive (for the person and not self-originated.
' supplied ') which is also commonly This general meaning of provision
found with xopijyetcrdat. But in what or equipment is in place here. The
sense is the body 'supplied' by means body may properly be said to be
of its bands and ligaments? It is equipped or furnished, as well as held
usual to suppose that a supply of together, by means of its bands and
nutriment is intended, and the men- ligaments ; and accordingly we may
tion of 'growth' in the context appears speak of 'every band or ligament of
to bear this out. But we cannot its equipment or furniture'. The
imagine that the Greek physicians rendering of the Geneva Bible (1560),
held that nutriment was conveyed by if a little clumsy, gives the true
the bands and ligaments, whose func- sense: 'by euerie ioynt,for thefumi-
tion is to keep the limbs in position ture thereof. But as the word
and check the play of the muscles 'equip' does not belong to biblical
(Galen iv pp. 2 f.). Nor is there any English, we must perhaps be content
reference to nutriment in the context with the rendering, 'by every joint of
of either passage : order and unity its supply*. The Latin renders, 'per
1 88
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
[IV 17
eves eKaarTov /uepovs TY\V avfycriv TOV
els oiKO^o/ULrjv avTOV ev aycwn;.
I7 Toim> ovv \eya) Kai iJ.apTvpOfj.ai, ev icvpiq),
irepiwaTelv KaBdos Kai Ta eQvn TrepnraTei ev
omnem iuncturam [some O.L. autho-
rities hare tactum]stibministrationi8\
which adequately represents the ori-
ginal
KOT evepyciav] These words are to
be taken closely with ev /ierpw evos
eKcurrov pepovs. For the further de-
finition of an anarthrous substantive
by a prepositional clause, comp. v. 14
ev iravovpyiq irpos TTJV pedoftiav rfjs
ir\dvr}s. It is just possible that we
are here again in presence of a tech-
nical term of Greek physiology.
Galen (de facult. natural, i. 2, 4, 5)
distinguishes between epyov, 'work
done', 'result', and cWpycuz, 'the
working process', 'function': the
impulse that produces the evepyeia
being bvvaius. The meaning would
accordingly be 'in accordance with
function in the full measure of each
several part', 'as each part duly fulfils
its proper function*. At the same
time we must not lose sight of the
strong meaning of evepyeia in St Paul :
see the detached note on evepyelv and
its cognates.
TTJV av^triv K.T.X.] 'maketh the
increase of the "body\ The distance
of the nominative, irav TO o-oyta, is the
cause of the redundant TOV O-COIMTOS.
All that was required was a#|, but
the resolved phrase lends a further
impressiveness : comp. CoL ii 19 av
rfjv avr)<riv TOV Qeov.
tls oiKodo/ji^v OVTOV}* unto the build-
ing thereof. He recurs to the meta-
phor which he has already so used in
V. 12 (els oiKo8ofJiT}v TOV o-w^iaror), and
has again touched upon in o-wap/w
\oyovfj.cvov.
ev dycarrf} Once again this phrase
closes a sentence : see the notes on
i 4, iii 17.
1724. ' This then is my meaning
and my solemn protestation. Your
conduct must no longer be that of
the Gentile world. They drift without
a purpose in the darkness, strangers
to the Divine life; for they are igno-
rant, because their heart is blind and
dead: they have ceased to care what
they do, and so have surrendered
themselves to outrageous living, de-
filing their own bodies and wronging
others withal. How different is the
lesson you have learned: I mean, the
Christ : for is not He the message you
have listened to, the school of your
instruction ? In the pei'son of Jesus
you have truth embodied. And the
purport of your lesson is that you must
abandon the old life once and for all;
you must strip off the old man, that
outworn and perishing garment fouled
by the passions of deceit : you must
renew your youth in the spiritual
centre of your being; you must clothe
yourselves with the new man, God's
fresh creation in His own image,
fashioned in righteousness and holi-
ness which spring from truth '.
17. fMpTJpofuii] 'I testify 'or 'pro-
test'. See Lightfoot on Gal. v 3 and
i Thess. ii ii (Notes on Epp. p. 29).
MaprvpeTi/ 'to bear witness' and/*ap-
Tvpetffdat ' to be borne witness to ' are
to be distinguished in the New Testa-
ment, as in classical Greek, from pop-
Tvpeo-dai, which means first ' to call to
witness' and then absolutely 'to pro-
test' or 'asseverate'.
ev Kvplai] See the exposition on v. i.
vpas] emphatic, as vpcls in v. 20.
TreparaTetv] See the note on ii 2.
ra e6vrj\ The alternative reading,
Ta XotTra e0vrj, has but a weak attesta-
tion : see the note on various readings.
IV i8, 19]
OT1JTI TOV I/OOS CtVTWV,
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 189
18 ' ** ' V r >t
" " Trj oiavoia, OVTCS
avTcov
;s TOV 6eov, Sid Ttjv ayvoiov
ovarav ev CIVTOK Sid TY\V Trtapwcriv Trjs
es eavTOVs Trape^toKav
cureXyeict ets epycuriav dkaBaparias Trdarris ev
St Paul's usage varies: (i) they had
not ceased to be eBvrj as contrasted
With 'lovdatot, Bom. XI 13 vpiv Se Xeya>
Tots fdveo-iv, also xv i6 and Eph. ii
n ; yet (2) in a sense they were no
longer edvij, I Cor. xii 2 oiftare on ore
e&vrj fa JC.T.X. Here at any rate the
meaning is plain : 'there is a conduct
which characterises the Gentile world:
that you have done with '.
fiaraiorTjTi] St Paul uses the word
again only in Rom. viii 20, TTJ yap
liaraionjTt j; Kriaris virfToyrj. It suggests
ledge because their heart is incapable
of perception.
irwpaxriv] H<opa>o~ig rrjs Kapftias is to
be distinguished from o-K\r]po<ap8ia,
as 'obtuseness' from 'obstinacy'. See
the additional note on irc6p<o<ris.
19. OTnjXyqjcoTes] They are 'past
feeling' ; i.e. they have ceased to care.
'An-aXyew ('to cease to feel pain for',
Thuc. ii 61) comes to have two mean-
ings: (i) despair, as in Polyb. i 35 5
TO 8e irpod>av&s ireirraicbs aobnv iro\l-
it. i i
revfjia Kal TOS dirrjXyrjKvias
to attain any true purpose: comp.
Eccl. i 2, etc. naTaioTTjs fMTaiar^T<av.
We have similar language used of the
Gentile world in Rom. i 21, epa.Taua-
0T)<rav ev rots BiaXoyurfjoHg avrcov Kal
carKOTitrdij TI acrvveros avr&v KapBia.
1 8. ovres] to be taken with mn)\-
\oTpKafifvoi, as in Col. i 21 KOI VIMS
irore ovras dirr)\\OTpia>[icvivs K.T.X. To
join it with eo-Korcopevot would give us
a very unusual construction; whereas
djrr)\\oTpia>iJ.evoi is used almost as a
noun, see the note on ii 12. Accord-
ingly 'being alienated from the life of
God' does not imply that they had at
one time enjoyed that life : it means
simply being aliens from it.
rrjs ^ofjs TOV 6cov\ the Divine life
communicated to man: to this the
Gentiles were strangers, for they were
adeoi, ii 12. For the proclamation of
the Gospel as ' life' see Acts v 20
iravra ra prjpara rrjs ^ofjs Tavrrjs.
rf)v o'o-ai'] This is not to be taken
as emphatic, as it would have to be if
we punctuated after cV avrots. It
introduces the cause of the ignorance.
They have no life, because they have
no knowledge: and, again, no know-
and so elsewhere; (2) reck-
lessness, Polyb. XVi 12 7 TO yap (pda-Keiv
evia T&V <TQ>/iaf<oi> ev (pearl Tidepeva p,f)
itoielv (TKiav dirrj\yrjKvias earl ^fvx^js,
i.e. such a statement shews a perfectly
reckless mind. 'Desperation' and
'recklessness of most unclean living'
(misspelt 'wretchlessness' in Article
xvii) are moods which stand not far
apart. The Latin rendering 'despe-
rantes* does not necessarily imply the
variant ArrHArriKOTec (for ATTHA|-H-
Korec) which is found in D 2 (G 3 ).
da-eXyela] The meaning of dcreXycta
is, first, outrageous conduct of any
kind; then it comes to mean specially
a wanton violence; and then, in the
later writers, wantonness in the sense
of lewdness. See Lightfoot on Gal.
v 19: 'a man may be duddapros and
hide his sin; he does not become
da-e\yT)s until he shocks public de-
cency'.
epyaviav] From the early meaning
of epyov, 'work in the fields' (comp.
Hesiod's v Epya u ij/wpai) comes cpya-
TTJS 'a field-labourer', as in Matt, ix 37,
etc., and epyac<rd<u, which is properly
'to till the ground'. The verb is then
190 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [IV .20 22
oimos eidBeTC TOV OKTTOI/ ai ef
ev ra) 'lrj(rov, ^aTroBeorBai i5/>tas Kara TJ}I/ irporepav
widened to mean the producing of without further definition; and, as the
any,Tesult by means of labour. 'Epya- context does not fix a particular mo-
o-to is used in Acts xvi 16, 19, xix 24^ ment, they may be rendered in Eng-
in the sense of business or the gains lish either by the simple past tense
of business; and still more generally or, perhaps more naturally, by the
in Luke xii 58 dos epycurlav (=da perfect
operam) am)\\ax6M O.IF avTov. 21. ei ye avrbv ^Kov<rare] See the
In the New Testament epyae<r6ai, note on iii 2. Et ye does not imply
like epyov, is transferred to moral a doubt, but gives emphasis. It is
action (as cpydgecrdai TO dyadov Rom. closely connected with avrov, which
ii 10, KUKOV xiii 10). Here tls epyao-lav itself is in an emphatic position: 'if
irdo~T] s aKadapo-lat is a resolved expres- indeed it is He whom ye have heard'.
sion used for convenience of construe- ev avr] ' in Him ' as the sphere of
tion instead of cpyae<rdai irao-av ana- instruction; not 'by Him' (A. V.) as
dapo-iav. It means no more than the instructor.
'performance' or 'practice': c in opera- Kadtos K.T.A.] This clause is ex-
tionem omnis immunditiae'. __ planatory of the unfamiliar phrase-
greediness'^ or ology which has been used. For
'rapacity'; i.e. 'with entire disregard dXijdciav pavdavciv, duoveiv, ev Tfj d\rj-
of the rights of others', as. Lightfoot deta 8i8a<riteirdai, would present no
explains it in his note on Col. iii 5. difficulty. Truth is found in the per-
HXfovegia often means more than son of Jesus, who is the Christ : He
'covetousness': irXeoveKrelv is used is Himself the truth (John xiv 6):
in the sense of 'to defraud' in the hence we can be said to 'learn Him'.
special matter of adultery (eV ro> aXrjdeid] In the older MSS no dis-
TrpdypaTi) in i Thess. iv 6. Com- tinction was made between dX^deia
in'enting on ev ir\eove^ia Origen (Cra- and d\ijdeia: so that it is possible to
mer, adloc?) says p,era TOV ir\eoveKTfiv' read Kadas eoTtv d\T)0eia, ev TO> 'li/o-ov,
eKfivovs 8e (fors. Sri) <$v TOVS ydpovs 'as He is in truth, in Jesus'. Or re-
vodevo/jiev, and below anaBapaiav de ev taining the nominative aXij&uz, and
ir\eoveiq rfjv poixdav oioftai civcu. See still making 6 xpurrbs the subject, we
further the notes on v 3, 5 below. may render 'as He is truth in Jesus'.
20. e/Lia^ere] The expression pav- Of these two constructions the former
Qaveiv TOV xptoroi' has no exact paral- is preferable; but neither suits the
lei; for pavdaveiv is not used with an context so well as that which has been
accusative of the person who is the given above.
object of knowledge. But it may be 22. dirodea-dai] The clause intro-
compared with other Pauline expres- duced by the infinitive is epexegetical
sions, such as TOV xP t(TTOV rapoXa- of the general thought of the preced-
petv (Col.ii6), evSva-afftiai (GaLiii 27), ing sentence: 'this is the lesson that
yv&vai (PhiL iii 10), and indeed duoveiv ye have been taught that ye put off'
in the next verse, which does not etc. 'ATTO&V&U, standing in contrast
refer to hearing with the bodily ear. with c'vSvaaa-dai, is equivalent to the
The aorists at this point are not to drreKtivaraa-dai of the parallel passage,
be pressed to point to the moment of CoL iii 9 , direnSva-dfievoi TOV ira\aiov
conversion : they indicate the past av6punrov <rvv THIS irpdt-fo-iv avrov,
IV 23, 24] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIAN&
dvcurTpofynv TOV TToXaiov avBpwirov TOV <f)6eipofjivov
Kara ras 7T*0i///ias T^S cx7rctT>?s, * 3 dvavovo"6ai Se TO)
7rvevfj.aTi TOV i/oos vjjutiV) a4 Kc ev$v<raa'6ai TOV Kaivov
avBpajTrov TOV KOTO, 6eov KTi<r6evra ev SiKaiocrvvri icai
TTJS d\T]6eia<s.
TOV veov. The metaphor body of our Lord, Col. i 22, ii n.
is that of stripping off one garment 24. Kara 0eov] ' after God': God
to put on another. Compare also Himself is the TWOS after which the
Bom. xiii 12 dn-o&o/ietfa ovv TO. cpya new man is created. The allusion is to
TOV oxorovs, ev8v<rape6a Be TO oTrXo TOV Gen. i 27 *car' eueopa &o ciroirjircv
<JXOTOS. avTov, the language of which is more
dva<rrpo<pyv\ Comp. dvefrrpdfafiev closely followed in CoL iii 10 rov veov
jroTe in ii 3; and for awrrpe<e<r0at TOV dvcutaivovpevov els eiriyveaffiv KO.T
as a synonym of ireparareiv see the clitova TOV urio-avros OVTOV.
note on ii 2. ocnorqrt] For the usual distinction
TraXaiov av6pa>irov\ Comp. Rom. between 6<norjs and Siicaiotrvvi;, as
vi 6 o TTaXaios T)p.v Hvdpanrog awe- representing respectively duty towards
<rravpa>6rj. TLaXaiis stands in contrast God and duty towards men (Plato,
alike to KCUVOS(V. 24), new in the sense Philo), see Lightfoot's note on i Thess.
~of 7yW7i7^ard~to~WoF(Coiriii^o), new fi 10 oo-ias KOI dueaicts (Notes on Epp.
in the sense of young. The ( old man' p. 27 f.). The combination was a
is here spoken of as <j>deip6pevos, in familiar one ; comp. "Wisd. ix 3, Luke
process of decay, as well as morally i 75.
corrupt ; we need in exchange a per- d\t]6eias] to be taken with both the
petual renewal of youth (dvavcovo-diu), preceding substantives, 'in righteous-
as well as a fresh moral personality ness and holiness which are of the
(KOUVOS avQp&iros}. The interchange truth'; not as A. V. * in righteousness
of tenses deserves attention: airoQl- and true holiness'. There is an inv-
o~dai...<pdeipofievov...dvaveova6ai...ev8v- mediate contrast with 'the lusts Hf
vaa-dtu. Viewed as a change of gar- deceit', KOTO TOS ciridvpias T^S dirarijs
ments the process is momentary; v. 22; just as in v. 15 dXytievovTcs
viewed as an altered life it is con- stands in contrast with TT)S 7r\dvr}s.
tinuous. Truth as applied to conduct (see also
23. irvevpaTi TOV voos] The mind v. 21) is a leading thought of this
had been devoid of true purpose (cv section, and gives the starting-point
fumuonjrt TOW voos, v. 17), for the for the next.
heart had been dull and dead (fait TTJV 25 V. 2. *I have said that you
irtopamv TTJS Kapbias, v. 1 8). The spi- must strip off the, old and put on the
ritual principle of the mind must new, renounce the passions of deceit
acquire a new youth, susceptible of and live the life of truth. Begin
spiritual impressions. The addition then by putting away lying : it is con-
of TOV vobs vp&v indicates that the trary to the truth of the Body that
Apostle is speaking of the spirit in one limb should play another false.
the individual : in itself dvaveovo-dai See that anger lead not to sin ; if
TOJ irvcvftaTi would have been am- you harbour it, the devil will find a
biguous in meaning. We may com- place among you. Instead of steal-
pare his use of TO o-<Zpa TTJS a-apKos ing, let a man do honest work, that
v in speaking of the earthly he may have the means of giving to
192 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [IV 2527
95 Aio d'TToBejULevoL TO -^sevSos AAAeire
6KACTOC MTA TOY TTAHCION AyTOy, OTl
a6 d pn'zecee KAI Mi4 AMApr^Neje- 6
eirt TrapopyurfjLM vfjuSv, ^jujjSe didore TOTTOV
others. Corrupt talk must give way sin not' (but R. V. marg. has 'Be ye
to good words, which may build up angry'). The Hebrew means literally
your corporate life, words of grace in 'tremble': so Aquila (i&oveio-de) : but
the truest sense: otherwise you will it is also used of anger.
pain the Holy Spirit, the seal of your 6 rj\ios K.T.X.] Grotius and others
present unity and your future re- cite the remarkable parallel from
demption. The bitter temper must Plut. de amore fratr. 488 B elra
be exchanged for the sweet for kind- //zer$ai TOVS HvdayopiKovs, ot yevei
ness and tenderheartedness and for- pjdev irpooyKovres aXXo KOIVOV \ayov
givingness. God in Christ has for- pcrcxovres, f arore irpoax&eiev elf XoiSo-
given you all, and you must copy p[ a s wf opyrjs, irplv rj rbv ffaiov 8vvat
Him, for you are His children whom r as 8eias epfidXXavres dXX;Xois ral
He loves. In love you too must live, do-ircurapcvoi SieXvovro. For the form
such love as Christ's, which is the of the precept compare Deut. xxiv
love of sacrifice'. 15 avdypepbv djroBcoa-eis rov p.i(r6ov
25. a.7rodf[j,cvoi] repeated from air- avrov (sc. TOU irevrjTos), OVK eVtSutreTai
~~o0e<fdai t v. 22; b~ut~~the metaphor o~^Xtos~eff'~ai}r^ : a.nd~Uvanff. PetriT
of the garment is dropped, and the 2, 5, and the passages quoted by
sense is now more general, not 'put- Dr Swete ad loc.
ting off' but 'putting away\ So in irapopyurpu] The word does not
Col. iii 8 wvl 8e airo6ea-&e Kal vpels ra appear to be found outside biblical
irdvra, opyyv, ic.r.X., before the meta- Greek, although irapopyi^ofuu (pass.)
phor has been introduced by atrenbv- sometimes occurs. In the T/ra. it
trdpevoi (v. 9). We cannot with pro- always (with the exception of a
priety give the same rendering here variant hi A) has an active meaning,
and in v. 22, as 'putting away 'a gar- 'provocation', whereas irapogvo-pbs
meut does not in English signify put- is used in the passive sense, 'indigna-
ting it off. tion': irapopyietv and irapoj-vveiv are
TO ^reSSos] The word is suggested of common occurrence and often ren-
bydjs dXrideias in the preceding verse; der the same Hebrew words. Here
but it is used not in its more general irapopyurpbs is the state of feeling
sense of 'falsehood', but in the nar- provocation, 'wrath 1 , napopyigeiv oc-
rower sense of 'lying', as is shewn curs below, vi 4.
by the next words. Comp. John viii 27. St'SoreTojroi'JInRom.xiiipSare
44 orav XoXjJ TO i/reSSos, K.r.X. roirov rfj opyr/ the context ('Vengeance
XaXetTf K.T.X.] An exact quotation is Mine') shews that the meaning is
from Zech. viii 16, except that there 'make way for the Divine wrath'.
we have irpbs rbv for pera rov. In The phrase occurs in Ecclus. iv 5 pr)
Col. iii 9 the precept prj ifrevftetrde els 8s rfmov dvQpwirip Karapcuratr6aL (re,
dXXi/Xovs occurs, but without the xix 17 8bs rmrov vop<p 'Ytya-rov (give
reason here given, which is specially room for it to work), xxxviii 12 KOI
suggested by the thought of this larpy 86s roirov (allow him scope). It
epistle. is found in the later Greek writers,
26. opyl&ade K.T.\.] Ps. iv 4, Lxx. ; as in Plutarch, Moral. 462* 8el 8e
where we render 'Stand in awe and /tijre rrai&vras avrfj (sc. 1% opyjf) fit-
IV 28, 29]
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
193
dyaBds
Swat TOTTOC : but it is perhaps almost a
Latinism: comp. locum dare (Cic. al.).
&o/3dX<] There is no ground for
interpreting this with some of the
older commentators as meaning here
'a slanderer': for although the word
is not used by St Paul outside this
epistle and the Pastoral Epistles, its
sense is unmistakeable in vi. 1 1.
28. o K\ejrTa>v] The man who has
been given to stealing,as distinguished
from o jcXcTmjf, a common thief, and
also from o K\tyas, one who has stolen
on a particular occasion.
K.T.X.] "Compare i CorTTiv
a8 o
, /uta\\oi>
KOTTidrio epya^6fj.evoi rats ^epcriv TO dyaBov, \va
Tto xpeiav e^oim. a9 7ras \oyos (Tempos
K TOV CTTOfJLOTO^ VJJLWV jUJ/ eK7rOpV(rB(a, d\\O. 1 TK
%peias } 'Ivct S<w ^dpiv Tols
contrasted with the 'good' fish (TO
/caXa). In these places the word is
used in the sense of * worthless': and
the original meaning of 'corruptness'
has entirely disappeared. It does not
follow that the word as used by St
Paul means only 'idle* or 'worthless ',
like the pfjfM dpyov of Matt, xii 36.
The context requires a stronger sense;
the sin rebuked is on a level with
lying and stealing. If it does not go
so far as the al<rxpo\oyia of Col. iii 8,
it certainly includes the /teopoXoyia
and evrpaireXla which are appended
12 Kom&fiev epyagofjifiiot rais Ibicus
and i Thess. iv. n epyde<rdai
pav. On the other hand
we have in Bom. ii 10 and Gal. vi 10
the phrase epydfccrdai TO dyadov (which
is to be compared with epyae<r6ai TTJV
dvofiiav, frequent in the Psalms and
found in Matt, vii 23). Here the
combination of the two phrases gives
an effective contrast with K^em-eiv.
For the addition of Idiais see the note
on various readings.
29. Xoyos o-airpos] SaTrpos pri-
marily means 'rotten ' or ' corrupt ' :
but in a derived sense it signifies
'effete/ and so 'worthless.' It is
often joined with TraXatos, which it
approaches so nearly hi meaning that
it can even be used in a good sense of
'old and mellow' wines. Ordinarily,
however, it signifies 'old and worn
out' : see the passages collected by
Wetstein on Matt vii 18. In the
Gospels it stands as the antithesis of
dyados and Ka\6s: Matt, vii 17 f., xii
33, Luke vi 43, of the 'bad' as con-
trasted with the 'good' tree and
fruit; Matt, xiii 48 of the 'bad' as
EPHES. 2
el TIS ayaQos] For et TW, 'whatever',
comp. Phil. iv. 8. 'Ayadts is morally
good, in contrast to a-airpos, and not
merely 'good for a purpose,' which
would be expressed by evSerot. Corn-
pare Rom. xv 2 eicaoTof rm&v T<5
ir\r)(riov dpetriteTat els TO dyadbv irpbs
T^S XP f ' as ] Xp'o is (i) need, (2)
an occasion of need, (3) the matter in
hand. For the last sense compare
Acts vi 3 ovs KaracmriaoiKv cirl rfjs
xP c ' as TOVTTJS, and Tit. iii 14. Wetstein
quotes Plut. Pericl. 8 6 HepwcX^y irepl
rbv \6yov cv\a$r)s $v, COOT' del irpbs TO
jiadifav TJVX TO T ts 6*is f"}^
lirj^ev fKirea-etv anovros avrov irpbs-
TTJV irpoKcipevrjv xpeiav dvapfworov^
The meaning here is, 'for building
up as the matter may require', or-
'as need may be'.
The Old Latin had ad aedifica-
tionemjidei, and the bilingual MSS
D 2 *G 8 read iri<rrea>s for xptias. Jerome
substituted. 'opportunitatis' for Jidei'.
Further evidence is given in the note
on various readings.
For xP ts m respect of
13
194 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [IV 3032
3 Kal Mj \V7reiTe TO Trvevia TO
aKOVov(Tiv. Ka fMj V7reiTe TO Trvevfia TO arfiov TOV
6eov, iv w eo"<f)pa f yi(r6r]Te ets ijfjiepav caroXv
3X ircura TTiKpla xai QVJJLOS Kal opyri Kal Kpavyrj Kal
en)i/
speech compare Col. iv 66 \6yos aroXi5rpcoo-ij/ TTJS nepuroujtreats. The
vp&v irdvroTe ev xapvn, aXan ijpru/ios Spirit was the seal of the complete
(seasoned with the true 'salt' of incorporation of the Gentiles. Corn-
speech), and CoL, iii 16 <p8ais jrvevfM- pare further I Cor. xii 13 Kal yap ev
TIKOIS ev \apvri x.r.X. Compare also evl irvevpan facts irdvres els ev o-a>p.a
the contrast between evrpaire\ia and j3a7mV0i7/zej>, etre 'loi/Satot etWEXXjj-
fvxapurTia below in v 4 ; and see the ves, K.T.\.
detached note on xP ls - ^ e cannot 31. n-ttcp/a] The three other pas-
reproduce in English the play upon sages in which this word occurs
the two meanings of x^P ts m * tt ^ s borrow their phraseology directly or
passage. indirectly from the Old Testament
30. M \virelre] Compare Isa. Ixiii. (Acts viii 23, Rom. iii 14, Heb. xii 15).
10 irapeagwav TO irvevpa TO aytov avrov. Here the usage is genuinely Greek,
On our present passage is founded and may be compared with Col. iii 19
the remarkable injunction of the py mKpaivetrde irpbs auras. Aristotle
-Shepherd-of Hermas in regard to in-discussin^fTarious forms of anger
\vmj (Mand.x). The interpretation says (JEth. Nic. iv n): ot pev ovv
there given is capricious and purely opy/Xot T^DS pev opyigovrat, Kal d!$
individualistic : apov ovv ana o-eavrov ov Bel, KOI e<jf ois ov del, Kal fjLa\\ov rj
TTJV \vmjv Kal 1$ dXIfte TO irvevfM. TO Bel' iravovrai Se ra^ea>s...of de iriKpol
ayutv TO ev (rot KaToiKovv...TO yap BvcrdiaXvToi, Kal TTO\VV xpovov opyi^ov-
irvev/Jia TOV 0eov TO Bo&ev els Tqv crapKa TOI jeare^o wt yap TOV 6vp.6v. It
TavTTjv Xviryv ov% virocfrepei ovdl arevo- appears, then, that mitpia is an em-
X&piav, ev&vo~ai ovv TTJV fXapoTJjTo, bittered and resentful spirit which
K.T.X. To St Paul on the contrary the refuses reconciliation.
Spirit is the bond of the corporate dvpos K.T.X.] Compare Col. iii 8
life, and that 'grieves' Him which opyrjv, 0vp6v, naxiav, fj\ao-<pr}piav, al-
does not tend to the 'building-up' of o-xpoXoyuu', and see Lightfoot's notes
the Christian society. We may com- on these words. The Stoics distin-
pare Bom. xiv 15 yap 8ia fip&na guished between dw/uos, the outburst
6 dBe\^>6s <rov \vrreiTm, OVKCTI KOTO, of passion, and opyij, the settled feel-
ay&miv irepararels: and Jerome on ing of anger.
Ezek. xviii 7 (ValL v 207) : 'in euan- upavyj] 'outcry' : but, here only, in
gelio quod iuxta Hebraeos Nazaraei the bad sense of clamouring against
legere consueuerunt inter maxima another. Its meaning is defined by
ponitur crimina, qui fratris sui spi- its position after opyiy, and before
ritum contristatterit 1 '. That which j8Xaer^>?//*ta ('evil speaking' or 'slander-
tends not to build but to cast down, fog*)*
that which grieves the brother, grieves dp0j?r<o] Compare i Cor. v. 2 Iva
the Spirit which is alike in him and dp6ff e< pfoov vp&v o TO epyov TOVTO
in you. irpagas. St Paul uses the word again
etr<j>payurdi)Te'] The whole clause is only in I Cor. vi 15 and Col. ii
an echo of i 13 f. eo-<j>payio-dr]Te T$ 14.
ys eifoyye\ias T ayi(o..,fls KO.KIO\ 'malice', not 'wickedness' I
IV 32] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 195
eis dAAf/A.oi/5 xprj(TToi,
K fca&as Kal 6 Beos ev XpicrTa) e^apicraro vfuv.
comp. Tit. iii 3 ev KOKIGC *al (pdoiw it is so on account of the clause which
Stdyovres. follows : they among themselves must
32. xpjjorot K-T.X.'] The parallel do for themselves what God has done
passage, Col. iii 12, has: ev8vo-a<rde... for them.
o~7r\dyxva o(Knp/*ov, ^pj/oToriyra, TO- Origen, who noted the variation,
jreivo<ppocrvvt)v, wpatfriyra, [uucpodvfitav, was led by it to interpret ^apifd/tej'ot
dvexofievoi aXXifXrap, Kal x a P t l Jiev oi in the sense of 'giving' as God has
favrols, eav ns irpos nva e\fi /io/LpiJi' 'given' to us, as in Rom. viii 32 ircas
Kadas Kal 6 Kvptos exapia-aro vplv, oSrat ojj^i Kal avv aurra TO irdvra ijfj.lv xapi-
KOI vp.els. In our epistle the demand o-crai ; The kindness and tender-
for humility and forbearance has been heartedness which we shew els oXXq-
made before (iv 2); kindness, tender- Xous, he says, is in fact shewn rather
ness, forgivingness are now enforced. to ourselves, Sto TO wo-o-<opovs focis
vtnr\ayxvoi\ The word occurs eivai...Tavra fie eavrois ^apifo/ieda, otro
again only in i Pet. iii 8. It is not Kal 6 debs rjp.iv ev Xpto-Tw exapiVaro.
found in the LXX, but occurs in the But the parallel in CoL iii 13, where
Prayer of Manasses (v. 7) which is one eav ns irpos rtva exa paptpyv is added,
of the Canticles appended to the is hi itself decisive against this view.
Greek Psalter. It is also found, with The Latin rendering 'donantes...
its substantive evtrJrKayxvta, in the (l&nauit' \eudsTit no support, as may
Testam. xii patriarch. Hippocrates be seen at once from Col. ii 13 'do-
uses it in a literal sense of a healthy nantes tiobis omnia delicta\ a use of
condition of the oTr\ayx va > ^ ^ e s ^ so donare which is Ciceronian.
uses /nfyaXoo-7rXayx"oy of their enlarge- ev Xptora] 'in Christ', not 'for
ment by disease. Euripides, Rhes. Christ's sake ' as in A.V. Theexpres-
192, has ev<nr\ayxvia. metaphorically sion is intentionally brief and preg-
for 'a stout heart'. The use of the nant. Compare 2 Cor. v 19 0eos %v
word for tenderness of heart would & Xptora Koo-pov fcaroXXaVercuv nm3,
thus seem to be not classical, but where the omission of the definite
Jewish in origin, as Lightfoot suggests articles, frequent in pointed or pro-
in regard to (nr\a.yxvie<r6ai in his verbial sayings, has the effect of pre-
note on Phil, i 8. noXvtnrXayxi/os senting this as a concise summary of
occurs in Jas. v n, with a variant the truth (o Xoyos TTJS KaroXXayfJs).
iro\vev(nr\ayxvos : see Harnack's note In Col. iii 13 we have simply o Kvpios
on Herm. Vis. 132. (or 6 Xptords). Here however the
eavrois] For the variation of the mention of o 6e6s enables the Apostle
pronoun after the preceding els aXXjJ- to expand his precept and to say yi-
Xow see Lightfoot's note on Col. iii 13 vea-6e ovv fjufiijral TOV 6eov K.T.\.
dvexopevoi dXkqXav Kal xapi&fievoi eav- txapiVaro] ' hath forgiven '. ' For-
Tots. To the instances there cited gave' (Col. iii 13 A.V.) is an equally
should be added Luke xxiii 12 eye- permissible rendering. It is an error
VOVTO Be <pi\oi...p,er oXXjfXow irpov- to suppose that either is more faithful
Trfjpxov yap ev ^x^P a ovres irpos avrovs, than the other to the sense of the
where the change is made for variety's aorist, which, unless the context
sake (Blass Gram. N. T. 48, 9). decides otherwise, represents an in-
The same reason suffices to explain definite past.
the variation here. If eavrois is the vp.lv] On the variants here and in
more appropriate in the second place, v 2 see the note on various readings.
13 2
196 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [V i, z
V. *yiv<rOe ovv fJUfJLtjTat TOV Beov, ofs TCKVCC
*Kai 7rept7raTeiT ev dydTry, icaflws Kal 6 xpurTos
7rt}(rev i//xas KOI TrapeSioicev eavrov vvrep vjuuSv irpoc-
<J>OP<N KM eyci'&N Tft) 6&S eic OCMHN ey co A i AC.
V. i. /ii/ijjrai] Again and again ceedingly common. St Paul uses
we find in St Paul's epistles such <popd again only in speaking of 'the
expressions as pi^Tal rj^v (i Thess. offering of the Gentiles', Bom. xv. 16:
i 6), [uprjTai p.ov (i Cor. iv 16, xi i). 6v<ria he employs again four times
lufieio-dai JIMS (2 Thess. iii 7, 9). only (once of heathen sacrifices). It is
Here he boldly bids his readers therefore probable that here he bor-
* follow God's example', 'copy God', rows the words, half-consciously at
Comp. Ign. Eph. i /u/*i?ra( ovres 0eov, least, from the Psalm.
Troll. I evpeov vpus as eyvuv fupqTas els oa-fJ^v euwSi'as] 'Ocr/xt; is found
ovras Beov. in the literal sense in John xii 3.
TfKva dyamiTo} 'as His beloved ehil- Otherwise it occurs only in St Paul
dren\ The epithet leads the way to and in every case in connexion with
the further precept rat irepiirareiTe ev eva>8ia, which again is confined to his
ayatrr). epistles. The passages are 2 Cor. ii
2. n-apcSoMcey] The closest parallels 14 16 r^v oa-ftriv rfjs yvtoaeats avrov
are in % 25 Kadcts Kal o xpurros qya- <j)avepovvn 8f rjfiov ev rravri roirca' 8r
~7nj(rev'T^v~eKii^rfiriav Kai eavrov TrapeSca- JLpurrov cvadia eaftev T 0ea ev rolf
Kev virep avrrjs, and Gal. ii 2O rot) vlov <r(oofievois KOI ev TOIS airohXvftevots'
TOV faov rov ayair^a-avTos fte Kal irapa- ols fiev otr(ja) CK 6o.va.Tov K.T.X., and
Soyros eavrov virep e/iov. But WO may PhiL iv. l8 ireir\ypa>fi,(u 8fd/j,evos irapa
also compare Gal. i 4 rov Sovros eavrbv ''EiraCppoo'iTOv TO. Trap' v/iSv, oo-fiiyv evca-
virep T&V apapTi&v ypaJv, and in the bias, Ovtriav dexn/i/, evdpearov TOJ 0ew,
Pastoral Epistles o Sous eavrov dvri- where the wording is closely parallel
XuTpov virep irmrrwv (i Tim. ii 6), os to that of the present passage. The
e8a>Kev eavrbv virep ypv (Tit. ii 14). Apostle is still employing Old Testa-
In Rom. viii 32 the action is ascribed rnent language: ocr^ evadias, or els
to the Father, virep TJ/XCOV irdvrwv wapf- oa-prjv evv&ias, occurs about forty times
8<a<ev avrov, and in Bom. iv 25 we in the Pentateuch and four times in
have the verb in the passive, os irape- Ezekiel. The fact that he uses the
defy Sea TO. 7rapa7rra)/Ltara Tj/wSi/. In metaphor with equal freedom of the
the last two passages, as in the fre- preaching of the Gospel and of the
quent occurrences of the word in the gifts of the Philippians to himself
Gospels, there is probably a reference should warn us against pressing it too
to Isa. liii 9, 12. It is to be noted strongly to a doctrinal use in. the
that in none of these passages is any present passage,
allusion to the idea of sacrifice added, Jerome, doubtless reproducing Ori-
as there is in the present case. gen, comments as follows : ( Qui pro
vp&v] For the variant ty/uaw see the aliorum salute usque ad sanguinetn
note on various readings. contra peccatum dimicat, ita ut et
irpoo-<popav Kal 6vaiav\ These words animam suam tradat pro eis, iste
are found in combination in Ps. xxxix ambulat in caritate, imitans Christum
(xl) 7 dvo-iai> <al irpoo^opav OVK 17^X17- qui nos in tantum dilexit ut crucem
trat (quoted in Heb. x 5, 8). Upoo-- pro salute omnium sustineret. quo-
4>opa is very rare in the LXX (apart modo enim ille se tradidit pro nobis,
from Ecclus.), whereas Bvo-la is ex- sic et iste pro quibus potest libenter
V 3, 4] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 197
3 Ropveia $e Kat aKaBaptria tratra t) irXeove^ia
oi/o/iae<r0ft> ev vjuuv, KaBtas TrpeTrei dy'iois, 4 Kai a'u
Kat fjLWpoXoyia tj evrpaireXia, a oik dvfJKev, a\\a
occumbens imitabitur eum qui obla- dicadapo-ia irao-a. Neither is it a sy-
tionem et hostiam in odorem suaui- nonym for aitadapvia 7700-0 : for in
tatis se patri tradidit, et fiet etiam CoL iii 5 (quoted below on v. 5) it
ipse oblatio et hostia deo in odorem stands even more clearly apart at the
auauitatis'. So too Ohrysostom: 'Op^s close of the list, being introduced by
TO wrep ex0p3i> naQtiv art otrpr) J<o- Kat TJ/V, as here by the disjunctive if.
8ias eWt, 6v<ria evirp6<r8tK.Tos ; KOV 4. ala^porrjs] occurs here only in
aaroddvgs, rare e<rg 6v<ria' TOVTO pipy- the Greek bible ; but in Col. iii 8 we
cravQal cari TOV deov. have wv\ 8e dirodevde icai vpels ra
3 14. 'The gross sins of lust and Trairo, opyqv, dvpov, KOKIOV,
rapacity must not even be mentioned /u'ai>, ala-xpo\oyiav e TOV
^for are you not numbered with vpav.
saints? Nothing foul, nothing even p.a>po\oyta\ Comp. Pint. M or. 504 B
foolish must pass your lips: let the ovrats ov ^e'yerot TO iriveiv, el irpoo-enj
grace of wit be superseded by the Tip irivciv TO <naarav dXX' 77 p,a>po\oyia
truer grace of thanksgiving. You pedrjv iroiel r^v otvioa-iv.
know for certam that these black sins %] The disjunctive particle sepa-
exclude from the kingdom. Let no rates evTpan-e\ia from altrxponjs and
false subtilty impose upon you: it is /tapcXoyta, which are in themselves
these things which bring down God's obviously reprehensible. Moreover
wrath on the heathen world. With the isolation of etn-pcwreX/a prepares
that world you can have no fellowship the way for the play upon words in
now : you are light, and not darkness its contrast with cvxapurria.
as you were. As children of light evrpairekia] versatility nearly al-
you must walk, and find the fruit of ways of speech and so facetiousness
light in all that is good and true, and witty repartee. Aristotle regards
Darkness has no fruit : with its fruit- it as the virtuous mean between
less works you must have no partner- scurrility and boorishness : Eth. Nic.
ship: nay, you must let in the light ii 7 13 wep\ 8e TO rj8i> TO pev ev n-atStci,
and expose them those secrets of 6 per pea-os evTpdire\os nal 17 ftidtieo-is
unspeakable shame. Exposure by the euYpoTreX/a, ij 5e un-ep/SoX^ /3a>/ioXo^i'a
light is manifestation : darkness made KCH 6 e'x^v avrrjv /3ca/xoXo^o?, o 8' eXXet-
manifest is turned to light. So we iran> aypoinos TIS KOI q egis aypontia.
sing: Sleeper awake, rise from the In certain circumstances, however, na\
dead : the Christ shall dawn upon ol fttopoXoxoi fvTpdire\oi irpoa-ayopevov-
thee'. rat cos ^apt'ei/rcs (ibid, iv 14 4); this
3. T) irXeovegid] Comp. iv 19 els does not mean that evTpaTreXta be-
epycuriav aKadapcrias ircurrjs cv TrXco- comes a bad thing, but that the bad
vej-iq. It is clear that ir\eovei-ia has in thing (fiapoXoxia) puts itself forward
the Apostle's mind some connexion under the good name. Comp. Rhet.
with the class of sins which he twice ii 12 ad fin. r\ yap evrpaire\ia ireircu-
sums up under the term aita0ap<ria Sevpevrj vfipis eo-Ttv: this is not given
Tracra: yet it is not included, as some as a definition of the word: the point
have supposed, in this class : other- is that as youth affects vfipis, so evrpa-
wise we should have expected the TreXwz, which is a kind of 'insolence
order iropveia 8e KOI TrXeovegia KOI within bounds', is also a characteristic
198
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
[V 5
S TOVTO yap iarre yiviaaricovTes on
of youth. Although this quick-witted
raillery might easily be associated
with impropriety of conversation
and this danger is doubtless in the
Apostle's mind yet the word itself
appears to remain free from taint,
This may be seen, for example, by its
frequent association with xP ls an< ^
its derivatives : comp. Josephus^wfa'g.
xii 4 3 jjcr&ts 8e rl ry xapiri KOI
cvrpcnrfXtft rov veav'uriatv: Plutarch
Mor. 52 D (of Alcibiades) /tera evrpa-
<Sv KOI xdpiTos.
Comp. Col. iii 18 ws dvrjuev
ia, and see Lightfoot's note, in
which he illustrates the use of the
imperfect in this word and in irpooijKej>
and KaBfjuev (Acts xxii 22) by our own
past tense* ought '(=' owed').
evxapitrrid] St Jerome's exposition
deserves to be given in full, as it
with certain learned persons among
the Greeks, to use the word cvxapm'a
[the editions give evxapurrid] as dis-
tinguished from eucharistia, Le. to
distinguish between gratiosum esse
and agere gratias, I suppose that the
Apostle, a Hebrew of the Hebrews,
used ^ e current word and intended
to hint at his own meaning in the
signification of the other word : and
this the rather, because with the
Hebrews gratiosiis and gratias agens
are expressed, as they tell us, by one
and the same word. Hence in Pro-
verbs (xi 16) : yvvq evxdpurros eye/pet
dvdpl 86gav, mulier grata suscitat
uiro gloriam, where it stands for
gratiosa. We should appear to be
doing violence to the Scripture in
thus daring to interpret mulier
gratias agens as mulier
-throws~lightTK>t~6nly on thlTinterpre-
tation of the passage but also on the
history of biblical commentary. 'Up
to this point,' he says, 'the Apostle
seems to have introduced nothing
foreign to his purpose or alien to
the context. But in regard to what
follows, some one may raise the ques-
tion, What has "giving of thanks" to
do immediately after the prohibition
of fornication and uncleanness and
lasciviousness and shamefulness and
foolish speaking and jesting ? If he
was at liberty to name some one
virtue, he might have mentioned
"justice", Or "truth", or "love" : though
these also would have been somewhat
inconsequent at this point. Perhaps
then by "giving of thanks (gratiarum
actio)" is meant in this place not that
by which we give thanks to God, but
that on account of which we are called
grateful or ingratiating (grati sii/te
gratiosi) and witty (salsi) among men.
For a Christian must not be a foolish-
speaker and a jester : but his speech
must be seasoned with salt, that it
may have grace with them that hear
it. And since it is not usual, except
were it not that the other editions
agree with us: for Aquila and Theo-
dotion and Syinmachus have so ren-
dered it, viz. yvvrj x<*P lTOS > i^vlier
gratiosa, and not evxapurros, which
refers to the "giving of thanks".'
Thus far St Jerome. But whence
this subtle feeling for Greek, this apt
quotation from the Greek bible, this
appeal to various translators instead
of to the ' Hebrew verity' ? We have
the answer in an extract from Origen's
Commentary, happily preserved in
Cramer's Catena: OUK dvfjue Se roTs
ayiois ov8e avrq [sc. eurpcwreXi'a], aAXa
pa\\ov rj ev ira<n irpbs Beov evxapurria.'
rjyovv evxopurria naff fjv evxapivravs
*< .jfaptevras TWOS <frapev fia>po\ayov
per ofo KOI evrpdireXov ov Set elvai,
cvxapurrov Se KOI xapiWo. KOI en-el
davvrjdes eon TO eltreiv ' ciXXo }m\\ov
evxapiTia' (sic legendum: ed. evxapi-
ort'a), ra^a dvrl TotJrov e^P 1 ? " 07 " TS ""'
SXXou Keifievrj \tt-fi nal earev ' aXXa
/*aXXoi/ evxapurria'. ical /t^n-ore edo?
rijs evxapurrias nut
earl T<
TOV
TOW dirb
dvrl TT?S evx a P lT ' as
pun-las) KOI efyapiVou, K.T.X. He then
V 5] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 199
Trees irdpvos- n dtcdQapTOs $ TrXeoveKTijs, o ecrTiv etBu>\o-
, OVK e%ei K\npovop.iav ev Ty /BcuriXeia TOV
proceeds to cite the LXX and other vii 2, xii 17 f. In i Thess. iv 6 it is
versions of Prov. xi 16. St Jerome's used in connexion with the sin of
comment is thus fully accounted for, impurity, TO /w) virepfiaivetv Kal ir\eo-
and we are able to see how closely he vexreiv ev TO> n-poy/uart TOV d8e\<pbv
followed Origen, his indebtedness to avrov. Certain forms of impurity
whom he expresses in his preface, involve an offence against the rights
Since this note was written my friend of others ('thou shalt not covet thy
Mr J. A. F. Gregg has examined the neighbour's wife'). Accordingly jrXeo-
Paris MS of the Catena, and found vegut occurs in close proximity to sins
that in both places it gives the word of impurity in several passages. The
cvxaptTia. This word indeed appears context in such cases gives a colour
to have no substantial existence and to the word ; but it does not appear
to be a mere conjecture on the part that ir\eove^la can be independently
of Origen. used in the sense of fleshly concu-
"We cannot suppose that St Paul piscence. The chief passages, besides
meant anything but 'thanksgiving' by those which have been cited above,
evxapurria. But he was led to his are I Cor. v 9 ff. eypafya vftiv ev Tfj
choice of the word by the double eirurro\fj pr) o-uvavapiyvvo-dai iropvots,
meaning which certainly belongs to ov irdvras rots iropvois TOV Koa-pov
the adjective evxapurros (comp., for TOVTOV r) TOIS irXeoveKTcus Kai~apjfaiv~
example, Xenoph. Cyrop. ii 2 I ev- rj '8&>XoXarpais, rei cJ^eiXere apa en
XapurrdraToi \6yot). See the note on TOV Koa-fiov et-eXdelv. vvv 8e eypaijfa.
iv 29 iva 8$ x<*P lv TO ^ S OKOVOVO-IV. vfj.lv pr) o-vvavafiiywo-Qat eav TIS do'e\<pbs
5. tWe ywcoo-KovTes] This appears ovopa^oftevof ij iropvot r) irXeoveicnjs y
to be a Hebraism for 'ye know of a etSoXoXarpqs ?/ Xot'Sopos 7 pedva-os rj
surety'. The reduplication with the aptrag, T& Toiovra fitfe a-vveo-diew :
infinitive absolute (-line! Vhjand the vi 9 f. rj OVK oiSare OTI adiKoi deov
like) Occurs 14 times in the Old jScwtXetav ov KXripovofirja-ovo-iv ; pr} rrXa-
Testament. The LXX generally render vavde- OVTG iropvoi OVTS etSwXoXdrpat
it by yvovTes yvtoo-efrde, etc. Some- ovTe fiotxol OVTS /iaXcueo! OVTS dpa-evo-
times the reduplication is simply Kolrai OVTS KkeitTai ovTf ir\eoveK.Tai, ov
neglected. In I Sam. xx 3, however, pt6vo-oi, oti Xo/Sopot, ovx apirayes 0am-
we find yivcao-K<av oldev, and in Jer. \elav deov KXj/poTO/w/ovwow In the
xlix (xlii) 22 the actual phrase rre former passage ir\eovKrais comes in
ytviao-Kovres on occurs in several MSS somewhat suddenly when nopvois alone
sttb asterisco, being a Hexaplaric has been the starting-point of the
reading which in the margin of Codex discussion ; but the addition u ap-
Marchalianus is assigned to Symma- iraiv shews that the ground of the
chus. discussion is being extended. The
irXeoveKTrjs] See the notes on v. 3 latter passage recurs largely to the
and iv 19; and compare CoL iii. 5 language of the former. For a further
iropveiav, dicadapo-lav, irddos, emdvpiav investigation of ir\eovegta, and for its
KaK/jv, KOI TTJV -irXfovef-iuv TJTIS eovlv connexion with etSooXoXarpia, see
ei'SooXoXarpi'a. In the New Testament Lightfoot's notes on Col. iii 5.
the verb irKeovfUTelv is confined to TOV ^pwrroO KO.I deov] The article
two of St Paul's epistles: it regularly is sometimes prefixed to the first only
means 'to defraud', 2 Cor. ii. n (iva of a series of nearly related terms:
/ti) Tr\eoveKTT)6a)[j.ev virb TOV Saraffi), compare ii 2O eVt T^ 6ep,t\ica T&V
200 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [V 6r-ii
(TTOV Kcd Beov. 6 juriBeis vjutds cwraraTa) KBVOIS \dyots,
TavTa yap ep^eTai q opyrj TOV Bepv eni roi)s i/tovs
aTreiBias. 7 ju>} ovv yiveatie awftero^ot avTwv
7TOT6 <TfCOTOS, VVV $ (f>UJS 6V KVpllti' ftJS TGKVO,
* 9 6 yap Kapiros TOV (ptaTos ev Trdcrri dyaBo)-
caioaw7 Kal dXrideia" %0 o/)uabi/Ts T'I <TTW
TO. Kvpita* n Kal jmrj arvvKowwveiTe TOK epyoK
TOV encorovs, juaAAoi/ $e KO.I
a7rooTo\<a>/ Kal 7r po(j)T]Tcav t Hi 12 TTJV clearly out of place : I Cor. xir 24
irappTja-iav K.OI irpo<rayayqvy iii 1 8 Tt TO eav 8e rravres irpo(f>T]Tev<i>mv, elcreXdfl 84
jrXaros <al {J.TJKOS Kal vfyos /cat {3d0os. ns airurros 'rf IBuorrjs, Aey^crat virb
6. Kevois Xo'yois] The only parallel iravrmv, dvaKpiverai viro iravratv, ra
is a close one; CoL ii 8 dia.,.Kevrjs ttpvirrh TTJS Kapdias avrov (pavepa yive-
dirarys. Kews when used of speech rat, where the verb eXeyx" seems to
is practically equivalent to i/rev&fc : suggest the explanatory sentence TO
comp. Dldach 2 OVK carat o Xoyos upvarh... (fravepa yiverai. So in our
(TOV ^CD^JJS, ov Kevos, oXXa fiepea-Tat- present passage eXcyx Te ^ 8 i m ^edi-
P.CVOS 7rpaci : also Ariat. Eth. Nic. ii ately followed by ra yap Kpvfpfj yivo-
7 i Kcycorfpot__(Xoyot)-.as-opposed-to /*raj and~"subsequently we fiave TO
d\T)daKOTfpoi: Galen de diff. pills, iii 6 de n-owra e\ey\6fjieva viro TOV fpatrbs
(Kiihn viii 672) OVTCOS ativ nai rovs (pavepovrat. Accordhigly it is best to
Xo-yous e'w'ore -^ev8els ovopaov<ri nevovs. interpret the word in the sense of ' to
7. o-vK(j.Toxot] This compound and expose' ; a meaning which it likewise
trovKoivtoveire in v. ii may be con- has in John iii 20 fua-el TO (j>a>s ical
trusted with the three compounds oi5 ep^erai irpos TO ^>c5s, iva prj eXeyx&fj
(TW/cXiypoTO/ita, trvvcr&pa, on/fieTo^a, by TO epya avrov (contrast Iva (j)avepa>dji
which the Apostle emphasised their in the next verse). This signification
entry into the new fellowship (iii 6). is illustrated by Wetstein from Arte-
9. ayaQctovvrj] Comp. Rom. XV. 14, midorus ii 36 ^Xtos O.TTO dvo-6)s egava-
Gal. V 22, 2 Thess. ill. It repre- TeXXVTaKpvnT<WXeyxeiT<Si>XeXj70o/ai
sents the kindlier, as ontaiotrvvri repre- SOKOVVTOV, and also from the lexico-
sents the sterner element in the ideal graphers.
character: comp. Rom. v 7. With this interpretation we give
10. SoKiiM&vrf s K.T.X.] Comp. Rom. unity to the whole passage. The
xii 2 els TO doKipdgciv v(Ms TITO tifXqpa contrast throughout is between light
TOV feov, TO dyadbv Kal evdpeorov Kal and darkness. First we have, as the
re\eiov: and Col. iii 20 TOWO yap result of the light, that testing which
evapftrrov ea-Tiv ev Kvpim. For the use of issues in the approval of the good
fvdpeo-Tos and its adverb in inscriptions (fioiujuaf <=<); secondly, as the result
see Deissmann New Bibelst. p. 42. of the meeting of the light with the
1 1. eXtyxcTe] The ordinary mean- darkness, that testing which issues in
ing of eXcyxeiv in the New Testament the exposure of the evil (eXeyxeiv).
is 'to reprove', in the sense of 'to And then, since e\eyxf<r6at and <pave-
rebuke'. But in the only other pas- povo-Gai are appropriate respectively
sage in which the word occurs in to the evil and the good (as in John
St Paul's writings (apart from the iii 20, quoted above), the transforma-
Pastoral Epistles) reproof in words is tion of the one into the other is
V 1214]
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
2OI
yivofjieva VTT' avTtSv a'urxpov ZGTIV
jravra eXeJieva VTTO TOV >WTOS (j>av6-
yap K
\eyeiv 13 ra
povTat, irav yap TO tpavepovfjievov (fxus eVrrti/. 14 8io \eyei
''Eyeipe, 6 KaBevScw,
Kttt dvOLGTOL K TU>V V6Kp(*)V 9
Kal iri<f)ava't <roi 6
marked by the change of the verbs:
\eyxojJiva..,(pavfpoiiTai...Tb (pavepov-
pcvov <p&s cWtir.
12. ala-xpov etrrtv Kal \eyeiv] The
order of the sentence deserves atten-
tion : TO. yap xpv<f)fi yivopfva stands
closely connected with e\eyxere, and
forms a special interpretation of ra
epya TOV tTKorovs: whereas aiarxpw
tOTtv Kal \eyeiv means simply that
they are 'unspeakably shameful'.
13. TO. 8e 7rat>7;a] This might be
taken to mean * but all these things',
namely ra Kpv(pfj yivopfva VTT avr&v.
It seems however more in St Paul's
manner to interpret ra Trawa as 'all
things', and to regard the article as
linking together the individual ele-
ments (iravra) and presenting them as
a whole. The statement accordingly is
universal in its reference. All things
when they come to be tested by the
light cease to be obscure and become
manifest.
tpavepovpevov] ' Omne enim quod
manifestatur lumen est', Vulg. To
render with the Authorised Version
'for whatsoever doth make manifest is
light' is to do violence to the Greek
(for there is no example in the New
Testament of the middle voice of
tpavfpovv), and to offer a truism which
adds nothing to the meaning of the
passage. In St Paul's mind 'to be-
come manifest 'means to cease to be
darkness, and to be a partaker of the
very nature of light : ' for everything
that becomes manifest is light'. Thus
the Apostle has described a process
by which darkness itself is transformed
into light. The process had been
realised in those to whom he wrote:
$re yap irore <r*coros, vvv 8e <ps (v. 8).
14. dio Xe'y] Comp. iv. 8. Seve-
rian (Cramer's Catena ad loc.\ after
saying that the passage is not to be
found in the canonical writings, adds :
-^apur^a ^v rore Kal irpoa-evxfjs Kal
i/raX/ian/ wo/SaXXoyros rot) jrvevparos,
Kaffcos \eyet cv rfj irpbs Koptvfliovs'
"Erao-ros vfj.Sn> ^oX/io? exft, JTpoa-evx^v
?... 7X0? ofc on eV evl TOVT&V T>V
wvevpaTiKcav ^aX/xcSv froi jrpoereu^dSv
exetro ToSfo~o~cia>T)p6vev(rev. The~at^~
tempts to assign the quotation to an
apocryphal writing are probably mere
guesses.
errupavo-ei] For the variants en-c-
^auo-et and emtyavaeis see the note
on various readings.
15 33. ' Be very careful, then, of
your conduct. By a true wisdom you
may ransom the time from its evil
bondage. Cast away folly : under-
stand the Lord's will. Let drunken-
ness, and the moral ruin that it brings,
be exchanged for that true fulness
which is the Spirit's work, and which
finds glad expression in the spiritual
songs of a perpetual thanksgiving ; in
a life of enthusiastic gratitude to the
common Father, and yet a life of
solemn order, where each knows and
keeps his place under the restraining
awe of Christ. The wife, for example,
has her husband for her head, as the
Church has Christ, the Saviour of His
Body : she must accordingly obey her
protector. So too the husband's pat-
tern of love is Christ's love for the
Church, for which He gave up Him-
self: and wherefore? To hallow His
202 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [V 15, 16
I<5 B/Ye7reT ovv dicpifiiSs TTWS TrejOwrareZre, jUi) o>s
a<ro<j)oi d\\' tas crofyoi, 1<5 eayopaojU6j/oi TOV Kaipov y
Bride by a sacramental cleansing, to xiv 3 f. 'Egayopaetv is only used by
present her to Himself in the glory St Paid, and in the two other places
of a perfect beauty, with no spot of in which it occurs it has the meaning
disfigurement, no wrinkle of age. But of ' buying out ' or ' away from } : Gal
Christ's Bride is also Christ's Body : iii 13 Xpwrros 7/^3? e'^yopoow CK rrjs
and the husband must love his Wife Kardpas, iv. 5 Iva rovs vjrb vouov et-ayo-
as being his own body. Who hates pday, This meaning of 'ransoming,
his own flesh? Who does not feed redeeming 'is found in other writers.
and tend it 1 So is it with Christ and There seems to be no authority for
the Church : for we are the limbs of interpreting the word, like <rvvayopd-
His Body. Is it not written of i and <ruva>vtl<rdai, as *to buy up'
marriage, that the two shall be one (coemere). Polyb. iii 42 2 is cited as
flesh 1 Great is the hidden meaning an example, egrjyopao-e nap OVTCOV rd
of those words. I declare them to be re povogv\a jrXoZo irdvra (Hannibal
true of Christ and the Church: your bought all the boats of the natives in
part is to realise their truth in your order to cross the Rhone) ; but the
respective spheres : as the fear of sense of ' buying up ' is given by the
Christ is met by Christ's love, so let addition of irdvra, and the verb itself
the wife fear, and the husband love'. both there and in Plut._6fcggs.^2-need-
i-jj-s BX-7T] St~PauT~frequently mean no more than 'to buy'. In
uses @\ciriv in the sense of 'to take Mart. Polyc. 2 we have the middle
heed' : (i) with the accusative, as in voice as here, but in the sense of
Col. iv. 17 /SXeVe Tijv BiaKovlav (look to, * buying off' (comp. the use of eo>m-
consider), Phil, iii 2 roi/s KVVCLS K.T.X. <rdai and eWpiW&u), 8ta /Ss Spas
(beware of); (2) with iva or /?, fre- f*\v alaviov Ko\a<nv egayopa6p.evoi.
quently ; (3) with TTWS, here and in A close verbal parallel is Dan. ii 8
I Cor. iii 10 cuaaros be /SXcTrero irtSs oi8a on naipov v/ms eayopdeTe, ' I
fjrotKodopei. Here only we have the know of a certainty that ye would gain
addition of aKpi^&s^taJce careful the time' (Aram. ft3T }-in?K fcU^i; *fy.
heed'. On the variant irus aVpt/3o5s but this meaning is not applicable to
see the note on various readings. our passage. The Apostle appears to
Tj-eptTraTeWj The repetition of this be urging his readers to claim the
word takes us back to v. 8 <BS TCTO present for the best uses. It has got,
<PO>TOS irfparareiTe. The particle ovv so to speak, into wrong hands * the
is resumptive. The metaphor of dark- days are evil days' they must pur-
ness and light is dropped, and the chase it out of them for themselves.
contrast is now between qo-o^ot and Accordingly the most literal transla-
o-o^ot. tion would seem to be the best, 're-
16. ela-yopafo/iewu] Comp. Col. iv deeming the time'; but not in the
5 ev o-o(pici irepiirareiTG irpbs roi>s ?(, sense of making up for lost time, as
TOV Kaipbv egayopa6fj,vot. 'Ayopdgetv in the words ' Redeem thy misspent
is used of persons by St Paul only in time that's past'.
the phrase ifyopa^re Ti/wjy, i Cor. vi rbv icatpoi/] A distinction is often
20, vii 23, ha each case the metaphor to be clearly marked between \povos
being of purchase into servitude. So as 'time' generally, and itaipos 'the
we have in 2 Pet. ii i rov dyopdo-avra fitting period or moment for a par-
avrovs SecnroTTjv. It is used of the ticular action 7 . But Kaipos is by no
redeemed in the Apocalypse, v 9, means limited to this latter sense.
V 17, i8J EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS., 203
OTI ai yfjtepai irovnpai eurw. * 7 Bid TOVTO juj) yive<r8e
afypoves, d\\d crvviere TI TO BeXrjfjLa TOV Kvplov * 8 Kat
MH MeOfcKecee ofNcp, ev to <TTIV otcrwr/ a, d\\.d
Thus in St Paul we have 6 vvv Kaipos, assimilation to the text of our passage,
Bom. iii 26, viii 18 (ra n-ad^ara rov but that Origen confirms it (Tisch.
vvv Koipov), xi 5 : and o Kaipos alone, Not. Cod. Sin. p. 107). As the words
for the time that now is, or that still ev oivois occur in the preceding verse,
is left, Horn, xiii n etSoVec TOV umpov, the change in B is probably due to a
on Spa rfSr] VIMS e vnvov eyepdfjvai, desire for uniformity.
I Cor. vii 29 o Kaipos ovveoTa\pevos aaoma] Comp. Tit. i 6 reKva e%a>v
early. See also Gal. vi IO cos Katpbv jrtora, pfj ev KaTTjyopia ao-omct? TJ dv-
exofjiev, which Lightfoot takes to mean viroraKra, i Pet. iv 4 py (rvvrpexovrotv
'as we have opportunity'; but he vpj&v els rrjv avr^v TTJS da-arias dvdxya-tv.
allows that ' there is no objection to The adverb is used in Luke xv 13
rendering it "while we have time",' faevKopirurev TTJV ovaiav OVTOV >v
and compares Ignat. Smyrn. 9 cos eri do-toTcas (comp. v. 30 6 KaraQayav crov
Kcupbv e^o/zev, and [2 Clem.] 8, 9: TOV ftlov fiera iropvwv).
irovrjpai\ Compare vi 13 avrurrrivai ir\r)povcr8e ev irvevpart] The sequence
ev rfj ypepci TTJ irovypq, and GaL 14 of thought appears to be this: Be
fKTovcdvosT.ovfv.e(rT03Tos_irjojfTipoC. not drunk with wine, but find your
Though 'the days are evil', they are fulness through a higher instrument
capable in some degree at least of tality, or in a higher sphere. If the
transformation: the time may be preposition marks the instrumentality,
rescued. So Origen interprets the then irvevpa signifies the Holy Spirit :
whole passage: olovel eavTois TOV KOI- if it marks the sphere, irvevpa might
pov dvovnevoi, e^oi/ra as irpos TOV still mean the Holy Spirit, but it
avQpcomvov fiiov irovrjpas f/fiepas. ore would be more natural to explain it
v e'is n 8eov TOV naipov KaravaXiffKo- of spirit generally (as opposed to
fie v, (ovT)o~dfj.G0a avTov KOI dvrrjyopao'ap.ev flesh) or of the human spirit. In the
eavTois ojinrepct ireirpapcvov TQ T&V dv- three other places in which we find ev
0p<uira>v KaKici...gayopa{6pevoi 8e TOV irvevpari in this epistle there is a like
Kaipov ovra ev rj^epais novrjpcus, olovel ambiguity : ii 22 cruz>otKO&o/xeIcr$e ds
fj.eTcnroiovfj.fv TOS Trovr/pas fjiiepas fis KaToiKrjT^piov TOV 6eov ev irvevpaTi, iii 5
dya&ds, K.T.\. Severian's comment direKa\v<p0r) TOIS dyiots diro(rr6\ois av-
(also in Cramer's Catena) is similar : o TOV KO\ irpofpfrais ev Tjreu/um, vi 18
ei-ayopa.6fj,evos TOV dXXorptoi' 8ov\ov jrpoo~ev)(o[J-evoi ev iravrl KcupiS ev irvev-
egayopdgfTat ical KTarai O.VTOV. eirel ovv /nan. In every case it appears on the
o Kaipos 6 irapaiv dovXevei TOW irovrjpotSf whole best to interpret the phrase as
egayopdo~ao*de avrov, <$o~Te KaTo^piJo-a- referring to the Holy Spirit : and the
adai avT& irpbs evo-cfteiav. interpretation is confirmed when we
17. mviere K.T.\.~\ Comp. v. io observe the freedom with which the
8oKifidovres K.T.\. For the variant Apostle uses the preposition in in-
avvievTes see the note on various stances which are free from ambi-
readings. guity ; as i Cor. xii 3 ev nW/win deov
18. firi (iedvo~K0-0 o/o>] So Prov. XaXcov, 13 ev evl irvevpaTt e^airno-6rjfjLev }
xxiii 31 (LXX only), according to the Bom. xv 16 7rpoo-<popa...yyiao-iJ.evT) ev
reading of A. B has ev oivots, X oivois. irvevpari dyica : compare also Bom. xiv
We might hesitate to accept the 17, where there is a contrast some-
reading of A, regarding it as an what resembling that of our text, ov
204 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [V 19^22
povcrBe ev TrvevjuiaTi, * 9 \d\ovvTes eat/rots -^aXjuois tad
VJJLVOIS Kal wSats TTvevjuaTiKaTs, aSoi/res Kal T/raAAoj/res
Trj KapSia VJULWV TO> Kvpiw, * ev%api<rTOvvTs Trai/rore
uTrep TrdvTcov ev di/o/uart TOU icvpiov fjjuwi/ 'Itjcrou XpKTTOV
Bey KOL TraTpi, 9I v7roTacro'o/>tei/O aAA;Aots i/ <po(3ta
At yvvaiKes, rots Idiots dv$pd<rtv s
a *
eortv 9 /SaertXet'a rot) 0>S fip&vis Accordingly the defining epithet
icat jrocrt?, aXXa SiKaiocrvw) ical elpyvt) fiariKals is reserved for this last word
Kal xapa > irvevpan ayta). in both places. On the variants in
If then we adopt the interpretation, this verse see the note on various
'Let your fulness be that which comes readings.
through the Holy Spirit', how are we 20. evxapurrovvres K.T.X.] So in
to render the words in English ? The CoL iii 17 Kal itav o rt caw wot^re eV
familiar rendering ' Be filled with the Xoyo> ^ ci epyw, Trqvra ev 6v6fMri
/Spirit' suggests at first sight that the Kupiov 'Iijo-ov, evxapurrovvres T& 6e&
injunction means ' Become full of the irarpi bi avrov. Compare I Thess. V
Holy Spirit'. Such an injunction 16 TroWore ^at/sere, a8taX7rra)s irpoa-ev-
however has no parallel : had this xc<r&, ev iravri
been-the^postleVmeaning he would 22. At yvvaiK.es K.T.X.] As a matter
almost certainly have, used the geni- of construction this clause depends on
tive (comp. e.g. Acts ii 13 y\evKovs the preceding participle: 'submitting
pcpeoT&fjievoi eltriv) : and he would yourselves one to another in the fear
probably have cast his precept into of Christ : wives, unto your own hus-
the form of an exhortation to pray bands, as unto the Lord '. Af yvvatKcg
that such fulness might be granted, accordingly stands for the vocative,
Nevertheless this rendering, though as in Col. iii 18, at ywaines, viroTcur-
nbt strictly accurate, suffices to bring a-co-de rots dv8pd<riv, cos dv^Kev ev Kvpitp :
out the general sense of the passage, compare the vocatives ot avfyes, TO
inasmuch as it is difficult to distin- rewa, etc. lower down in the present
guish between the fulness which passage, vi i, 4 f., 9. When this
comes through the Spirit, and the section was read independently of the
fulness which consists in being full of preceding verses, it became necessary
the Spirit : the Holy Spirit being at to introduce a verb ; and this is
once the Inspirer and the Inspiration, probably the cause of the insertion
We may therefore retain it in view of i5jrorao-<rr0e or wraravo-eaQaHTov in
of the harshness of such substitutes most of the texts : see the note on
as ' Be filled in the Spirit' or 4 by the various readings.
Spirit'. tetms] The parallel in CoL iii 18
19. \a\ovvrcs K.T.X.] Comp. CoL iii shews that this word may be inserted
16 Bidda-Kovref Kal vovBerovvres favrovs or omitted with indifference where
, vfjivois, taSals irvevpariKdis ev the context makes the meaning clear.
ffiovres ev rais KopBiaig VJUCOP TO> So we find Idiais with xepviv in I Cor.
See Lightfoot's notes on that iv 12; but not according to the
passage : ' while the leading idea of best text, in Eph. iv 28, I Thess.
i/<-aA/Mor is a musical accompaniment, iv 1 1. It was often added by scribes,
and that of v^vos praise to God, 6>S?' in accordance with the later prefer-
is the general word for a song', ence for fulness of expression.
V 2326]
EPISTLE TO THE EPEtESIANS.
205
KCLI 6
ia), a3 on dvqp earTiv KG^>a\*} TT;S yvvaacos w
fce^>a\*7 Ttys efflcA^crtas, ai/Tos (rwTtjp TOV
TOS. 34 aAAa ols if KK\n<ria v7roTd<r<rTcu TW
oimos KCM < ^waiices TOM dvbpourw ev iravri.
avdpes, dyawdre TS yvvcuicas, /cantos KCM d
vyaTTtjO'ev TY\V eKK\*i<riav KCU eavTov TrapeScoicev virep
> ^ s6' j \ e / /3 / " -\ * *
avnjs, " ti/a avTqv ayicurri Kauapiaras TW AovTpw TOV
* 5 O1
23. <u"7p] The definite article (o) is
absent in the best text : 'a husband
is head of his wife', or, more idiom-
atically in English, 'the husband is
the head of the wife 9 . The article
with yvvaiKos defines its relation to
OM/P. So in i Cor. xi 3 Ke<pa\r] de
yvvaiKos 6 avrfp, ' a woman's head is
her husband', it defines the relation
of awjp to the preceding ywautos.
gyros o-can/p] On the variant icat
OVTOS eoriv cnoTijp see the note on
various readings. The true text in-
dicates the special reason why the
Apostle here speaks of Christ as the
Head. He will not however enlarge
on the subject, but returns, with oXXd,
to the matter in hand.
24. oXXa <&] In order to retain
for dXXo its full adversative force
many commentators interpret the
precedhlg words, aiJTos <ra)T^p TOV
(rafMTos,a& intended to enhance the
headship of Christ, as being vastly
superior to that of the husband : so
that the connexion would be, 'but
notwithstanding this difference', etc.
The interpretation adopted hi the
exposition saves us from the neces-
sity of putting this strain upon the
Apostle's language. As in several
Other places, aXXa is used to fix the
attention on the special point of
immediate interest : comp. i Cor. xii
24, 2 Cor. iii 14, viii 7^ Gal. iv 23, 29 :
if this is not strictly 'the resumptive
use 'of aXXa, it 18 akin to it The use
of ir\fiv at the end of this section
(. 33) is closely parallel
25. Ol Mpes K.T.X.] So in CoL iii
19 ol avSpes, dyairare ras yvvaiKas KOL
^ irutpaiveo-06 irpbs avrds.
26. ayiao-rj Kadapio-as] 'Cleanse and
sanctify' is the order of thought, as
in i Cor. vi n oXXa ajreAowra<r&,
oXXa ^yiao-^re : cleanse from the old y
and consecrate to the new. But in
time the two are coincident. It was
no doubt the desire to keep KaQapiaas
closely with r5 Xourpw K.T.X. that led
to the rendering of the Authorised
Version, 'sanctify and~cleanse'r~To~~
render Ko0apl<ras 'having cleansed'
would be to introduce a distinction
in point of time : we must therefore
say 'cleansing' (or 'by cleansing').
For the ritual sense of Kadapifa,
see Deissmann (Neue Sibelst. pp.
43 f.), who cites CIA in 74 nadapi-
C eOT6 > ( OT 'c) 5e diro tr(K)6p8a>v na\l xoi-
pea>v\ /ca[i yvvaiKos], \ov<rap,cvovs 8e
Karajce^aXa avdrjpepbv fi[cnropev]e<rdai.
raXovrp^j Three allied words must
be distinguished: (i) Xovrpov 'the
water for washing', or 'the washing'
itself ; (2) Xovrp^, 'the place of wash-
ng
'the vessel for wash-
ing', 'thelaver'. Each of these may
in English be designated as 'the bath'.
We may take as illustrations of (i)
and (2) Plutarch, vita Alexandri 23
JcaraXvcras de *cal TpfTTOfifvos irpbs Xov-
rpbv ?j aXeipua, and Sympos. p. 734 B,
where after speaking of i? mpl ra
Xowrpa TroXwra^cta he relates that
'A\eav8pos pev 6 fiao-iXevs ev TO>
Xourpaw irvperratv ficadcvftev. In the
LXX (i) and (3) are found: Xowi/p is
used for c a laver' 16 times : \ovrpov
represents n^O"D in Cant, iv 2, vi 6
206 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. ' [V 27
ef^> * * r ai*r i > \ t *>!*.$*
voaTO's ev prifjiaTi, *'tva TrapcurTticrri avTos eavTto evoo^ov
(of sheep coming up 'from the wash- when 'the word of God' comes to a
ing'), and occurs in Sir. xxxi (xxxiv) prophet, Luke iii 2 eyevero ftpa 6cov
30 /3airrt6pevos OTTO vfKpov Kal ira\iv eirl 'ladtnjv: comp. pfjp-a 6eov in this
airropevos avTOv, ri eo<f>e\ij<revTy \ovrpy epistle, VI 17. It IS also used more
OVTOV ; In Ps. lix (Ix) 10, cvii (cviii) specially (4) of the Christian teaching,
10 VI7D ">*P 'my washpot' is rendered as in i Pet i 25 (from Isa. xl 8) TO 8e
by Aquila \eftrjs \ovrpov fjtov (the LXX p?/*a Kvpiov (ifvet els TOV al&va- TOVTO
hsiB \cfirjs TrjseXirio'ospov). The Latin 8e e<mv TO prjpa TO evayye\io-Qev els
versions maintain the distinction by vp.as, and Heb. vi 5 KO\OV ycvo-apevovs
the use of labrum for 'laver' (in the 6tov p^o. The most remarkable
Pentateuch: olla, etc. elsewhere), and passage is Bom. x 8 ff., where, after
of lauacrum for 'washing' in Canticles, quoting Deut. xxx 14 eyyvs <rov TO
In Ps. lix (Ix) 10 Jerome's version has p^a eWw, ev T oropar/ o-ov Kal ev
olla lanacri: in Sirach Cyprian and T KapSia o-ov, the Apostle continues
the Vulgate have lauatio, but Au- TOVT eoTtv TO pwa T^S morccos o
gustine thrice gives lauacrum. Kqpvo-cropev. art eav 0/10X07^07/5 TO
For patristic references confirming PW a * v T $ orofiarl a-ov OTI KYPIO2
the meaning of ' washing' for \ovrp6v t IH2OY2, Kal mtrr&uo-ijs K.T.X. Here
see Clem. Alex. Paed. iii 9 46, Dion. TO mi** stands on the one hand for
Alex. ep. xiii ad fin., Bpiph. expos, the Christian teaching (comp. . 17
fid. 21, Dind. m 583 ; and contrast &a p^iua-os XptoroS), and on the other
-Hippol^^J-ed^-Bonwetsch-Achelis-i for the Christian confession which"
pt 2, p. 262 /zcra TTJV TTJS KoXvpfiijdpas leads to salvation. With this must
avayewrja-tv. be compared i Cor. xii. 3, where the
The only other passage in the New same confession appears as a kind of
Testament where XowpoV occurs is formula, and is sharply contrasted
Tit. iii 5 co-ao-ev ypas 8ia \ovrpov with a counter-formula ANA8EMA
ira\ivyeveo-ias Kal dvaicaivcoa-fcas irvev- IH2OY2. Compare, too, Phil. ii.II
fiaroy ayiov. Both there and here the irao-a y\aa-o~a cgoiw\oyqo'r)Tai OTI KY-
Authorised Version correctly renders PIO2 IH2OY2 XPI2TO2.
it 'the washing': 'the bath' would not In the present passage it is clear
be incorrect, though somewhat am- that the phrase cV pijfMTi indicates
biguous: 'the laver' is incorrect, some solemn utterance by the accom-
and has probably been suggested by paniment of which 'the washing of
the Latin ' lauacro', which has been water' is made to be no ordinary
misunderstood. bath, but the sacrament of baptism.
ev pjfcari] In the New Testament Comp. Aug. tract. 80 in Joan. 3 'De-
pripa represents the various uses of trahe uerbum, et quid est aqua nisi
the Hebrew "\^ (i) A spoken word aqua? accedit uerbum ad elementum,
of any kind, as in Matt, xii 36 pqpa et fit sacramentum ; etiani ipsum tam-
apyov. (2) A matter, as in Luke i 37 quam nisibile uerbum '.
OVK abwaT^o-ei irapa TOV 6eov irav pfjpa, "What then was this prjfia 1 Chry-
' nothing shall be too hard for God' sostom asks and answers the question
(where jrapa TOV reproduces a Hebrew thus: 'Ev pw*an, <^crc'* imltg; ev 6v6-
idiom, the passage being based on fwrt irarpos Kal vlov Kal ayiov irvev-
Gen. xviii 14 /*^ dBwanjo-ei irapa TOV pans : that is to say, the triple
0eov [the true reading, supported by formula of baptism. In the earliest
the old Latin, not irapa TO> &&>] time, however, baptism appears to
pfjaai), and Luke ii 15 TO pfjua TOVTO have been administered 'in the name
(3) In a solemn sense, as of Jesus Christ' (Acts ii 38, x 48,
V 28] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 207
TIJV eKK\t](riav, /#} exovcrav arvriXov rj pvTida tj TI r<v
TOIOVTOW, o\V wa rj dyia Kal a/zw/uo?. a8 oi/Ts 6(j>el~
camp, viii 12) or 'the Lord Jesus' presents no difficulty ; the meaning is
(Acts viii 16, xix 5); and on the use 'with a word which is appropriate
of the single formula St Paul's argu- to this washing', the pfj/j-a being
ment in i Cor. i 13 seems to be based sufficiently defined by the context.
(M Hav\os etrravpa>6rj vnep vp&v, rj els There appears to be no ground for
TO ovopa Iiav\ov ej3a7mo-0ip-e;). The supposing that the Apostle here makes
special prjiia above referred to points any allusion to a ceremonial bath
the same way. The confession on taken by the bride before marriage.
KYPIOS IH2OYS was the shortest and There is no evidence for such a rite
simplest statement of Christian faith in the Old Testament, the passages
(comp. Acts xvi 31 ff. iriorcvvov rt sometimes cited being quite irrelevant
TOV Kvpiov *lrjo-ovv Kal a-mdfav <ri> nai o (Ruth iii 3, Ezek. xxiii 40). In the
oticos <rov...Kai e^airritrOri avros KOI ol legend of 'Joseph and Asenath' there
avrov airavres irapaxprjpa). That some is no such ceremony, though it is true
confession was required before bap- that after her long fast Asenath
tism is seen from the early glosses washes her face and hands before she
upon the baptism of the eunuch, Acts puts on her bridal costume. Nor
viii 37, and that this soon took the does it appear as a Christian cere-
form of question and answer (rcpco- mony, though it probably would have
~ suggested~~by i Petr~iii~2i; -------
where the context contains phrases regarded as alluding to it here. St
which correspond with the second Paul's thought is of the hallowing of
division of the baptismal creed of the Church, and thus he is at once
the second century. Indeed the origin led to speak of the sacrament of
of the creed is probably to be traced, baptism.
not in the first instance to the triple 27. TrapcMmjo-i/] Comp. 2 Cor. xi 2
formula, but to the statement of the TJppo(rdp,T)v yap VJJMS evl dvftpl irapQlvov
main facts about 'the Lord Jesus' as dyvrjv Trapaorj/om T xP l<rr - Here
a prelude to baptism 'in His name'. Christ Himself (aurds, not avmjv, see
When under the influence of Matt, the note on various readings) presents
xxviii ig the triple formula soon the Church all-glorious to Himself.
came to be universally employed, the "EvSoloi/ is the predicate : the word
structure of the baptismal creed occurs again in i Cor. iv 10 vpeis
would receive a corresponding ela- /dooi, focls fie art/iot, and twice in
boration. St Luke's Gospel, vii 25 (of glorious
It is probable, then, that the p^/xa apparel), xiii 17 (of glorious works).
here referred to is the solemn mention omXcw ^ pun'Sa] ' spot of disfigure-
of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ment or wrinkle of age'. Neither
in connexion with the rite of baptism, word is found in the LXX. Comp.
either as the confession made by the 2 Pet. ii 13 cnnAoi /cal /-wS^ot : Plut.
candidate or as the formula employed Mor. 789 D ols 17 yeAa/tcw; ird\ia Kal
by the ministrant We may therefore pvrts cpireipias pap-ros eirKpaivcrai :
render the passage: 'that He might Diosc. i 39 (de oleo arnygdalino) mp
sanctify it,deansingitl>yt7ieiaa8hmg fie <cal <nrl\ovs Ve irpovdarw KO\ e'cpq'-
of water with the word'. Xets (freckles) KO\ pvrlBas.
For the use of the preposition dyia Kal a/iw/ios] Comp. i 4 elvai
we may compare vi 2 eV eVayyeXio. r^ias ayiovs Kal dpoapavs Karevwjriov
The absence of the definite article awrou eV ayairy, and see the note there.
208 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [V 29^-32
\ovariv Kai ol <w/fy>es dyairav TOS eavTtfiv yvvcuicas cos
TO. eavrtSv ariafjuxra* 6 dyair&v Ttjv eavrov yvvaiKa
dyaTra, ^ovSeis yap TTOTG Ttjv eavrov ardpKa
efjii<rr](rev, dX\d KTpe(j)ei KOI QdXvrei avTtjv, KaBcos Kai 6
XpiarTOs Trjv eKK\ticriav, 3 ort fA\n eoytei/ TOV crcJjuaTOS
avTOV. 3I ANTi TofToy KATAAeiyei ANGpconoc TO'N
TFAT^pA KA) TI^N MHT^pA KAI npOCKOAAH0f4cTAI
TTpdc ThiN TYNA?KA AyTOY, KA*I CCONTAI Ol A V O 6IC
CA'pKA Ml' AN. 3a TO (JLV(TTnplOV TOVTO jUeya O*T/I/,
28. otiroas] This is not to be taken 31. ami TOVTOV] Comp. avff mv,
as the antecedent to <as rot eavr&v 2 Thess. ii 10, and four times in St
o-ta/taro, which means 'as being their Luke's writings. It has been suggested
own bodies '. It refers to the general that dvrt here means ' instead of, the
drift of what has gone before: 'thus', contrast being with the idea of a
'in this same manner'. This is the man's hating his own flesh (v. 29);
meaning of ourcos in Matt, v 16 ovrof and the mention of a-apf- in both
Xaft^aro) TO <fxos vpuv, K.T.\.: that is verses is pleaded in favour of this
_to_say,_las_theJamp-shineth (?.-! 5); interpretation; In-the-few-passages
not 'in such a way... that they may in which St Paul uses am, however,
see' etc. it does not suggest opposition, but
29. o-apxa] The change from cr<S/*a correspondence : KUKOV dvrl KCIKOV,
to <rdpg gives a fresh emphasis to the Rom. xii 17, i Thess. v 15 ; KO/H; ami
thought, and at the same time pre- n-ept/SoXatou, i Cor. xi 15. This of
pares the way for the quotation in course is in no way decisive of his use
v. 31. of the word in the present passage :
eKTpefai Kai 6a\irei\ Each of these but it seems on the whole more
words is .once used by the Apostle natural to suppose that dvrl TOVTOV
elsewhere, but in reference to the is intended as equivalent to ev
nurture of children: below, vi 4 c- , , /. ,
' TOVTW which
1S
Kvpiov : i Thess. ii 7 as eav Tpo0os in the LXX of Gen. ii 24. Comp.
Ba\irrj ra eavTfjs Tfnva. Jerome ad loc.: 'apostolua pro eo
30. fiAij] The relation of the quod ibi habetur evenev TOVTOV, id est
parts to the whole is here empha- propter hoc, posuit dvrl rovrov, quod
sised, as is the relation of the parts latine aliis uerbis dici noa potest'.
of the whole to one another in iv 25 The only other variant from the LXX
Sri eo-fiev d\\j\a>v /aeXi/. With the in our text is the omission of mJroO
latter compare Bom. xii 5 of n-oXAot after irarepa and fujrepa : see, how-
ev tr&pa la-fiev ev Xptor^, TO S^ Kaff els ever, the note on various readings.
aXXifXcDp fie\Tj: with the former i Cor. 32. TO pvaTT)pu>v K.T.X.] The mean-
vi 115 TO a-cafurra vfiv p.e\T) XptoroO ing of fj-vcrnjpiov is discussed in a
<rriv, xii 27 vfifis 8e core trco^a XptaroO separate note. In St Paul's use of
icat [ie\t] CK fiepovs. the word we must distinguish (i) its
For the addition ex TTJS a-apubs avrov employment to designate the eternal
KOI CK To5v ooreo/ avrov see the note secret of God's purpose for mankind,
on various readings. bidden from the past but revealed in
V 333
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
209
\eyia els XpurTov Kal eis Ttjv eKK\ti(riav.
VfJLK Ol KO.& 61/a 6JOHTTOS TY\V 6OUTOV
cos eavrv
'
yvvri va
33
7rAi/j/
OVTWS
TOV
Christ; comp. in this epistle, i 9, iii 4,
9, vi 19; Col. i 26 f., ii 2, iv 3; Rom.
xvi 25; i Cor. ii i, 7: (2) a more
general use of the word in the plural,
1 Cor. iv i, xiii 2, xiv 2: (3) the use
of the singular for some particular
secret of the Divine economy or of
the future; as in Rom. xi 25 TO
{MMrrqptov TOVTO (of the partial blind-
ness of Israel, which has been figured
by the olive-tree), i Cor. xv 51 iSou
ILvaTJipiov vpu> \eya> (of the last
trump). The remarkable phrase in
2 Thess. ii 7 TO pvo-rypiov TJJS dvopias,
connected as it is with a thrice
repeated use of diroKa\.v<pdf}vcu, ap-
pears-to-form-part-ofLan Jntentiona
parallel between 'the man of sin' and
our Lord. The remaining examples
are in the Pastoral Epistles, i Tim.
iii 9 ro ftAxrrqpiov rfjs iriareas, iii l6
fieya eariv TO rfjs evtre-
The use of the word in our text is
not quite parallel to any of the above
uses. The union of husband and wife
as 'one flesh' is a [iv<rnfpiov, or con-
tains a pvcm^piov (according as we
interpret TO pvtmjpiov TOVTO as refer-
ring to the actual statement of Gen.
ii 24, or to the spiritual meaning of
that statement : the word fuja-njpiov
hovers between 'the symbol' and 'the
thing symbolised' in Apoc. i 20, xvii
5,7). This pvo-rypiov is of far-reaching
importance (peya): but all that the
Apostle will now add is that he is
speaking (or that he speaks it) con-
corning Christ and the Church.
The Latin rendering 'sacramentum
hoc magnum est' well represents the
Greek; for ' sacramentum ' combines
the ideas of the symbol and its mean-
ing. It is hardly necessary to point
out that it does not imply that St
EPHES. 2
Paul is here speaking of marriage as
a sacrament in the later sense.
eyude \eyto] The insertion of the
pronoun emphasises this teaching as
specially belonging to the Apostle. It
was his function in a peculiar sense
to declare the mystical relation of
Christ to the Church.
els] 'with reference to': comp. Acts
ii 25 AavclS yap Xey els avTov.
33. n\^v ital vpels] that is, Do you
at least grasp this, the practical lesson
of love on the one part and of rever-
ence on the other.
Iva (froftfjTai] This carries us back
to v. 21 ev <p6@tp Xpiarov. There
appears to be a double reference to
this in i Pet. iii i 6, which clearly
is not independent of our epistle:
'Ofiotoos yvvalties vTroTao-o-opevac rot?
tSiots dv8pd<riv...Trjv ev <o'/3o> ayvffv
dvaarpo^v vpav : and then as if to
guard against a false conception of
fear, pr) (pofiovufvai fujdepiav irrorjcnv
(where the actual phrase comes from
Prov. iii 25 KOI ov <pofir)6q<rfl m-mja-iv
eire\0ovcrav).
For the ellipse before Iva the near-
est parallel seems to be i Cor. vii 29
TO \oarov Iva <a\ ol e^ovres yvvatKaf cos
pr/ e^ovres mo-iv. For a change from
another construction to one with iva,
see above v. 27 faj ?xouo-ai/...aXX' Iva.
#..., and a nearer parallel in i Cor..
xiv 5 0e\a e irdvTas vpas \dhe1v-
yXtooxrats, pa\\ov 8e iva 7rpo<pr)TevT)Te. .
VI. i 9. 'These principles of rever
ence and love extend through the*
whole sphere of family life. Children
must obey: it is righteous: and the?
old precept still carries its special
promise. Fathers must insist on
obedience, and must not make dis-
cipline more difficult by a lack of
loving patience. Again, slaves must
14
210 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [VI I 4
VI. *Td TKi/a, VTTaKOveTe roZs yovevariv vjuuSv ev
KVpiw, TOVTO yap CCTTIV Shccuov a TiMA rdw TTAT^PA.
COY KAI TfJN MHTEpA, tfTK CCTTtV VTO\rj TTpWTtJ V
e7rayye\iaj 3 fN<\ ef coi reNHTAi KAI GCH
NIOC eni THC THC. 4 Kot* ol waTepes, /z)
obey: with a trembling fear and a He did not in His reply go to the
whole-hearted devotion, looking to Decalogue either for 'the first* or for
their masters as to Christ Himself, 'the second, like unto it' (Mark xii
They are Christ's slaves, doing God's 28 ff.).
will in their daily tasks ; not rendering It is possible to understand Trpcarrj
a superficial service to please an here, as in the Gospel, in the sense
earthly lord; but with their soul in of the first in rank v ; or, again, as the
their work, serving the Lord hi heaven, first to be enforced on a child: but
not men on earth: for the Lord neither interpretation gives a satis-
accepts and rewards all good work, factory meaning to the clause ev eiray-
whether of the slave or of the free. ye\ia, unless these words be separated
And the masters must catch the from irpwry and connected closely with
same spirit : the threatening tone what follows 'with a promise that it
must be heard no more: they and shall be well with thee', etc. This
their slaves have the same_heavenly however is-exceedingly-harsh^and~it -
Lord, before whom these earthly dis- breaks up the original construction
tinctions disappear'. of the quoted passage, where iva
1. Ta Tcicva] Comp. CoL iii 20 ra depends on Tipa. K.T.X.
TeK.va t viraKoveTe Tails yovevmv Kara 3. iva et> K.T.A.] The quotation
iravroy TOVTO yap evapearov eoriv ev does not correspond to the Hebrew
Kvpia. text either of Ex. xx 12, 'that thy
2. TJTIS etrriv K.T.X.] 'which is the days may be long upon the land
first commandment with promise', which the Lord thy God giveth thee',
The obvious interpretation of these or of Deut. v 16, 'that thy days may
words appears to be the best It be long, and that it may go well with
has been objected (i) that a kind of thee, upon the land which the Lord
promise is attached to the second thy God giveth thee '. St Paul quotes
commandment of .the Decalogue, and with freedom from one of the LXX
(2) that no other commandment has texts, which have themselves under-
a promise attached to it after the gone some change, due in part to
fifth. It may be replied (i) that the assimilation : Ex. xx 12 iva ev o~oi
appeal to the character of God in the yevrjrcu. (these four words are omitted
second commandment is not properly in A and obelised in the Syro-
speaking a promise at all, and (2) hexaplar) *cat iva iMucpoxovios yevrj eirl
that many commandments, not of the Tfjs yfjs TTJS dyadijs rjs ~K.vpi.os o deos
Decalogue, have promises attached to crov 8ioa>o-iv aoi: Deut. v 16 iva eS
them, so that the Apostle may be 0-01 yevqrai KOI Iva fiaKpoxpwios yevg
thought of as regarding these as the (A ; toy F ; -01 $re B ab sup. ras.) rt
subsequent commandments which his rfjs yfjs TJS JLvpios 6 6e6s trov Si'Swo-tV
expression implies. 'EiroAq is not of a-ot.
necessity to be confined to one of the cVl TTJS yfjs] The omission of the
'Ten Words'. When our Lord was words which follow in the LXX gives
asked noi'a eWlv eWoX^ irpoarr) iravrtiv ; a different turn to this phrase: so
VI 59]
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
211
that it may be rendered 'on the
earth' instead of 'in the land'.
4. of jrarcpes] Comp. Col. iii 21
of irarepes, fifj epcdi&TG TO Tm v/uraK,
?pa /i^ ddvfico<riv.
n-apopy'tfere] See the note on
irapopyurp&, IV 26.
iraideia] Comp. 2 Tim, iii 16
jrpos~SrSaovcaXt'av,
TO, TeKva vfJL(Sv f d\\a eKTpefpere aura ev nAiAei
N o Y e c i' A K Y p i o Y. s Of $ov\oi , VTrcucoveTe . TOIS Kourd
crdpKa KvpioK jwera <f)d@ov Kal Tpo/mov ev dirXoTriTi TI/S
Tip %pi<rT<d, 6 /7 KOT 6(j>6a\fjLo^ov\iav
dv6pa)7rdpe(TKOL d\\! ft>s $ov\oi XpurTov TTOIOVVTCS TO
TOV 6eov, CK ^f^i/s 'j^er' evvoias $ov\e Jot/re?,
al OVK dvOpOOTTOR, 8 tOTS OT efCCKTTOS,
dyaBov, TOVTO Kopfurerai irapa Kvpiov, eiVe
eire eXevBepos. 9 Kai ol Kvpioi, TO. aura iroieiTe
15 (of the reception of Titus), PhiL ii
12; and, for the corresponding verbs,
Mark V 33 <j>o^dei<ra Kai rpcpovoro.
The combination occurs several times
in the LXX.
an-Aonyrt] In I Chron. xxix 17 ev
aTrXonjrt KapBias renders *?5< ^%
F or this word and o(p0a\iJLo8ov\ia 'see
Eightfoof s notes on Col7iii 22.
6. dvdpanrdpeo-icoi] Comp. Ps. Iii
piifj 6 o Gets Sieo-nopmo-fv otrra dvffpat-
jrapnco>v, Ps. Sol iv 8 f. avdpohrav dv-
6pa>irapla-Ka>v..,dvdpayiFdpe<TKov \a\ovv-
ra fwvov /tera doXou. See also GaL i
10, i Thess. ii 4.
k faxes'] Comp. CoL iii 23 3
& v iroirjre, ^VXTJS cpyd&o-dc, <og r&
K vpi<o KOI OVK dv6pomois. The parallel
suggests that the phrase should here
also be taken with what follows, and
not, as in A.V., with what precedes.
Moreover the preceding sentence is
more forcible if 'doing the will of God'
stands by itself as the interpretation
of 'as servants of Christ'.
7. peTcvvolas] 'EKifrvxrjs is opposed
to listlessness : per evvoias suggests
the ready good- will, which does not
wait to be compelled.
8. el86res K.T.X.] Comp. Col. iii 24
elBores OTI dirb Kvpiov djro\fo\lreo-6e
-rffv dvrajr68oa-iv TTJS K\rjpovofilas r<p
Kvplta Xpto-r<5 SouXeuerc- o yap d8iKa>v
Kal OVK eoriv
v, irpos firavopQaxriv, irpbs iraideiav
eV StKaioo-wj/. The word is not
nsed elsewhere by St Paul, though he
Tised the verb irai8eva>, 'to discipline',
or in a severer sense 'to chastise',
Although the substantive may signify
simply education or training, yet
* nurture' (A.V.) is too weak a word
for it in this place. It is better to
render it 'discipline'. Comp. Heb.
xii 1 1 Trao-a nfv TraiBeia npos pev TO
irapbv ov 8o<ei x^pas etvat d\\a \vm)s.
vovdeo-iq] Comp. i Cor. xii, Tit.
iii 10. It is less wide in meaning
than muSet'a, and suggests a warning
admonition. With this injunction
compare Didache 4 OVK dpels TTJV
Xp orou aTro row ufou o~ov 17 dirb TTJS
Qvyarpos orou, dXXa ajro veonjros 8i8d-
gcis TOV 0ooi> TOV dcov.
5. Of SouXot] Comp. Col. iii 22
of SoOXoi, vjraKovere Kara irdvra TOIS
KOTO crdpKa Kvptois, /IT) ev 6<pda\-
/toSouXtats, cog dvdpamdpeo-Kot, dXX*
fv aTrXonyrt Kap8ias, <po{3ov[jifi>oi TOV
Kvpiov.
<pd(iov KOI Tpofiov] Comp. i Cor. ii
3 (of St Paul's preaching), 2 Cor. vii
KOfilo*eTai o
9. of Kvptoi] Comp. Col. iv. i
Kvpiot, TO 8iKaiov K al T^V tVon/Ta
142
f
212 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [VI 10, 11
irpos ai/rous, dvievres Tt}v ctTretXtji/, eiSores on KO.I avriov
vjuiidv 6 Kvpios earTiv ev ovpavois, Kal 7rpo<rto7ro-
OVK earTiv Trap ctim.
10 Tot/ Xotirov ev^vvafjtovfrBe ev Kvpita KOI ev rep
avTOv. ev$v(raar6e TY\V iravoTrXiav TOV Beov
e, el86res or* Kal vfifls and blood, but spirit ; and they wage
Kvpiov ev ovpavti. their conflict in the heavenly sphere.
ra aura] i.e. 'deal in like manner You must be armed therefore with
with them '. The phrase is not to be God's armour. Truth and righteous-
pressed too literally: it signifies in ness, as you know, are His girdle and
general, 'act by them, as they are breastplate; and in these His repre-
bound to act by you '. sentative must be clad. In the confi-
dvievrts] There is no parallel to dence of victory you must be shod
this use of the verb in the Greek with the readiness of the messenger
bible : but in classical Greek it is used of peace. With faith for your shield,
either with the genitive or with the the flaming arrows of Satan will not
accusative in the sense of 'giving up', discomfit you. Salvation is God's hel-
' desisting from'. met, and He smites with the sword
With this passage Wetstein com- of His lips. Your lips must breathe
j)are8Seneca_y%^.-6o7-iTos > quibus perpetual-prayer; Prayer-toopsjour-
rector mans atque terrae lus dedit watch, and it will test your endur-
magnum necis atque uitae, Ponite in- ance. Pray for the whole body of
flatos tumidosque uoltus. Quicquid a the saints : and pray for me, that my
uobis minor extimescit, Maior hoc mouth may be opened to give my
uobis dominus minatur. Omne sub own message boldly, prisoner though
regno grauiore regnum est '. I be '.
Kal avroav Kal vpaiv] See the note 10. Tov XotTrov] This is equivalent
on various readings. to TO XowroV, with which St Paul
B-poo-oMroXjjft^ta] Comp. Acts x 34. frequently introduces his concluding
See also Lightfoot's note on Col. iii injunctions: see Lightfoot's note on
25. With the whole passage compare Pm'L iii i. For the variant TO \oarov
Didache 4 OVK eVmilets fiouXw crov in this passage see the note on various
rj iraidiffKij, rots eVt TOV CIVTOV 6eov readings.
eXjri&vtriv, ev iriKpiq. crov fujirore ov evdvvapova-de] This verb is confined
M tf)o@T]dr)<rovTai TOV eV apfyorepois in the New Testament to the Pauline-
6eov ov yap ep^erai KOTO irpoo-unrov epistles aud one passage in the Acts,
KoXeom, oXX' <' ovs TO irvevpa qroi- SaOXos 8c fjt,a\\ov evedwapovTO (ix 22) :.
fjuurev vp&is de of 6\>vXoi viroTayijirea-Qe it appears in the LXX rarely, and never
TOW Kvplois vfji&v, tag ruTTip 0cov, ev without a, variant. 'Evdwapovv (from.
aivxvvy Kal (pofitp. evdvvdfjtos) is scarcely distinguishablev
10 20. 'My final injunction con- from dwa/iow (CoL in, Heb. xi 34),
cerns you all. You need power, and which is found as a variant in this,
you must find it in the Lord. You place.
need God's armour, if you are to u. n-aiwrXiai/] 'Armour', as con-
stand against the devil. We have to trasted with the several pieces of the
wrestle with no human foe, but with armour (6VXa). So it is rightly ren-
the powers which have the mastery of dered in Luke xi 22 T^V iravo7r\iav>
this dark world : they are not flesh auroS afpet ' $ rejro/0. Comp..
VI 12]
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
213
TO SvvacrBai i/juas (TTfjvai Trpos TOR /ULeBoSias TOV
Siaj36\OV **OTl OVK e(TTW ^{JLLV tf 'JToXr] TTjOOS CUfJUX, Kat
crapica, d\\d vrpos TS a^as, TT^OS ras e^ovcrias, irpos
Kocr/moKpctTOpas TOV CTKOTOV? TOVTOV, Trpos T
iravoTT\iav xP v rf v 'armour of gold',
2 Mace, xi 8 ; eirfyvucrav irpoireirra-
KOTO. NiKavopa ovv rfj iravoir\ia 'they
knew that Meaner lay dead in his har-
ness', ibid. xv. 28. It corresponds to
the Latin armatura(=omniaarma).
The rendering 'whole armour' (comp.
'complete harness' 2 Mace. iii. 25) is
redundant, and in the present pas-
sage it distracts attention from the
important epithet row deov. ' Put on
God's armour' is the Apostle's injunc-
tion. His meaning is presently made
clear by his quotations from the de-
scription of the Divine warrior in Old
Testament prophecy. For-further-
illustrations of iravoir\ia see the notes
on vv. 13 f.
pedodias] See the note on iv 14.
12. 770X17] This word is not used
by prose writers in the general sense
of struggle or conflict. It always re-
tains, except in a few poetical phrases,
its proper meaning of 'wrestling'.
Theodore ad loc. says : 'inconsequens
esse uidetur ut is qui de armis om-
nibus sumendis et bello disputauit
conluctationem memoretur: sed nihil
differre existimat, eo quod neque uera
ratione de conluctatione aut de militia
illi erat ratio ', etc.
alfta ical vapitd] Comp. Heb. ii 14
TO. TraiSta KfKoiv<avr)Kev ai/xaroy ical trap-
KOS. The more usual order, crapg KOI
alpa, is found in Matt, xvi 17, i Cor.
xv 50, Gal. i. 1 6. The expression occurs
in Ecclus. xiv 18 ovrats yevea <rapKos KOI
ai/AdTos, 77 fifv reXeurfi, erepa 8e yevvd-
rat, and xvii 31 (where it is paralleled
by yfi KCLI o-TToSos). J. Lightfoot, on
Matt, xvi 17, says : 'The Jewish writers
use this form of speech infinite times,
and by it oppose men to God'. He
cites especially the phrase 'a king of
flesh and blood'. In the Book of
Enoch (xx 4) the offspring of the
angels who sinned with the daughters
of man is described as ' flesh andblood'
in contrast with 'living spirits'.
dpxds K.T.X.] Comp. i 21, iii 10.
KocriMOKpaTopas] The word Koa-fWKpa-
r<op has two significations, (i) 'Ruler
of the whole world' : as in the Orphic
Hymns in Sol. n, in Pan. u, and
in a scholion on Aristoph. Nub. 397,
Secroy^oxrts d j3a<ri\ci>s ra>v Alyvirricw
Koa-fioKparaip yeyovas. In the Rab-
binical writings the word is trans-
literated and used in the same sense :
cratores, ruling from one end of the
world to the other: Nebuchadnezzar,
Evilmerodach, Belshazzar ' ; and of the
angel of death in Vajikra R., where
however Israel is excepted from his
otherwise universal rule. (2) 'Ruler
of this world ' : thus standing in con-
trast to iravroKparap, 'ruler of the
whole universe.' It corresponds to
d apxcov TOV Kooyzov (TOVTOV), John
xii 31, xiv 30, xvi n, and to the
Jewish title of Satan D^yn H&. Ac-
cordingly we find the Valentinians
applying it to the devil, Iren. (Mass.)
i 5 4> ov Kal KoarfioKpaTopa KoXovcrt.
In 2 Mace. God is spoken of as d TOV
Koa-pov /SacriAevff, vii 9, and d Kvptos TOV
Koo-fiov, xiii 1 4 ; and corresponding titles
occur in the late Jewish literature.
But no such expressions are used in
the New Testament, where the world
is commonly regarded as falsely as-
serting its independence of God. ' All
the kingdoms of the world and the
glory of them' are in the power of
Satan (Matt, iv 8, Luke iv 6) : only in
the apocalyptic vision do we find that
iyeveTQ rj /SaertXeta TOU KOO~[WV TOV KV-
214
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
[VI 13, H
d TOVTO
panted Ttfc Trovnpicts ev rots eTrovpavioK
dva\dfiere rfjv iravoiMav rov 6eov, iva
(rrfjvai ev Trj qfJiepa. rip Trovtjpa KCU diravra
p.evoL crTtjvai. * 4 <TTtJTe ovv TrepizcocAMeNoi THN 6 c <J> f N
vri-
piov T)fiv Kgl TOV xpurrov avrov ( ApOC,
xi 15). God, on the other hand, is
addressed as nvpic rov atipavov ital TTJS
yfjs (Matt xi 25, Luke x 21).
The second of the two meanings is
alone appropriate here. It is not of
world-wide rule, but of the rule of this
world, that the Apostle speaks; and
this is made clear by the addition of
TOV O-KOTOVS TOVTOV. The expression
as a whole is not easy to render into
another language. We find mundi-
tenens in Tert. adv. Marc, v 18, adv.
Valent. 22,defuga 12; and mundi-
potens in de anima 23, and in Hilary
in ps. cxviii. But the o_rdinary_Latin
vens', implying a variant virovpavtois.
The same rendering is found in 'the
Armenian version, so that it goes
back to the Old Syriac, as is further
shewn by its occurrence in Ephraim's
commentary. Theodore knew of this
interpretation (prob. from the Peshito),
but condemned it.
13. awzXa/3ere] Comp. Judith xiv 3
ai/aXa/3<Ws OVTOI ras iravoir\ias avraiv :
Joseph. Ant. iv 5 2 ras iravmrkias ava-
XaftovrfS evdeoas exapavv els TO cp-yov,
XX 5 3 KcAeua TO aTpdreupa irav ras
iravoTr\ias avakaftov qiceiv els r^v 'Awa>-
viav.
irovrjpq} Gomp.-V l6-
rendering is aduersus (huius) mundi irovrjpai elcriv : also Ps. xl (xli) i ev
rectores tenebrarum harum. The ' */.** hh*x .< _*..
Peshito boldly paraphrases: 'the
rulers of this dark world'. This
fairly represents the Apostle's mean-
ing : it is with the powers which rule
this world, their realm of darkness,
that we have to contend. In English
'the world-rulers of this darkness' is
hardly intelligible. The familiar ren-
dering (though suggested by a faulty
text, which added TOV alcoves) suffi-
ciently gives the sense : ' the rulers
of the darkness of this world*.
ra Tn/ev/iaTiKo] 'the spiritual hosts'
or 'forces '. The phrase ra
TTJS irovrjpias differs from ra
ra irovTjpd in laying more stress upon
the nature of the foe. The rendering
* hosts' is preferable to 'elements',
because it suggests personal adver-
saries: 'forces', in the biblical sense,
would be equally suitable, but to
modern ears it has the same imper-
sonal meaning as 'elements'.
ev TOIS eirovpaviois~\ Comp. i 20, ii 6,
iii 10. The Peshito has 'and with the
evil spirits which are beneath the hea-
qpepq. Trovr/pq pvo*frai avrov
6 KVplOS*
Karepyavdpevoi] This verb is very
frequently used by St Paul, and
always in the sense of ' producing' or
'accomplishing'. It occurs 18 times
in the Epistles to the Romans and the
Corinthians; but in the later epistles
only in Phil, ii 12 rf/v eavroav o-oyrrjpiav
Karepyd^etrSe. Here therefore it is
most naturally interpreted as 'having
accomplished all that your duty re-
quires'. There is no reason to desert
the ordinary usage of the New Testa-
ment for the rarer sense of 'over-
coming ', which occasionally occurs in
the classical writers. The Latin ren-
dering 'in omnibus perfecti' (om. in
amiat.), if not a corruption of 'omni-
bus perfectis', must be regarded as
a loose paraphrase: Jerome in his
commentary has 'uniuersa operati'.
14. irepifao-dpcvoi /c.T.X.] With
the description which follows com-
pare I Thess. V 8 ei/Suo-ajnevoi dapaxa
7rtoTfo)r Kal aycmrjs Kai ireptKe<pa\aiav
traiypias. Both passages are
VI J5-I7]
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
215
VfJLWV 6N AAHOeiA, KCtl 6NAyCAM6NOI T^N GtOpAKA THC
AiKAiocVwHC, * 5 Kai V7ro$tj<rdpjivoi T o y c TT d A A c ev ereu-
fjiacria TOY eyArreAiOY THC eipdNHc, l6 ev Trcuriv dva-
\a/3oi/res TOV Bvpeov TJ/S 7Ti<rTft)s, ev w di>M7<recr06 iravTa
TO. fie\n TOV TTovripov TO. TTewvptafjieva arfiea'ac * 7 Kai
based on Isa. lix 17 eVdv'craro ducai-
(MTVVTJV co? dtapaKa, KOI ireptedero vept-
Ke(pa\aiav <ra>TTipiov eirl TTJS Ke<j>a\rjs.
In our present passage the Apostle
has also drawn upon Isa. xi 4 irarajei
yrjv T& Xoyco TOV oro/xaros avrov, KOI ev
irvevftaTi Sio ^ftXetai' awXel ao-f/3^- KOI
carat SiKaiocrvvT) egaxrfievos T^V o<r<f>vv
avTov, KO.I dXr}0eia cl\r)fj.evos ras TrXet/-
pas. On these passages is also founded
the description of the Divine warrior
in Wisd. v 18: Xj^^eTai iravoirh.lav TOV
f)\ov avTov t KOI oir\o7roiTJ<rei TTJV Kr'urtv
els aftvvav exdp&v evftv<reTai dcapana
8iKaioarvvr)V, KOI irepidija-cTcu KopvBa
Kpicriv avviroitpiTOv \^fj,^erai dmrlda
15. erot/iao-ta] The word is used
in the LXX for a stand or hase: but
it is also found in the following pas-
sages, Ps. ix 38 (x 17) TTJV eToinaa-iav
Tys napbias avTtov 7rpotre<r^i' TO ovs
a-ov (Heb. 'Thou wilt prepare (or
establish) their heart, Thou wilt cause
Thine ear to hear'), Ixiv 10 (Ixv 9)
i/roi/Ltao-as TTJV Tpotpr/v avTaiv, OTI OVTIOS
17 erot/tao-ta <rov (comp. Wisd. xiii 12
els eTotfuuriav Tpocpfjs}, Na. ii 4 * v
fll*.epq iToipcurias avrov. The Apostle
means to express the readiness which
belongs to the bearer of good tidings.
He has in his mind Isa. Hi 7 irdpeifu
(os <opa eirl T&V opecov, ws Trades evay-
ye\iofj.evov CLKOT)V elpijvijs, which in
Bom. x 15 he quotes in a form nearer
to the Hebrew, o5s eopatoi ol iroftes T>V
1 6. ev Trao-iv] For the variant eirl
see the note on various readings.
l iraa-i occurs in the description of
the Roman armour by Polybius (vi 23),
eirl Se ira<ri TOVTOIS irpoa-eiriKoa-povvrai
irrcpiva ore(pdv<a K.r.X. The meaning
is, in any case, 'in addition to all':
comp. Luke xvi 26 KOI ev iraa-i TOVTOIS
peragv foav K.T.\., where there is the
same variant cVt.
6vpeov\ Comp. Polyb. vi 23 ?ort
S' 17 'Pto/jLoiKfj iravoirkia irpwrov fiev
dvpeos, ov TO fiev ir\aros earl TTJS nvp-
rfjs eirifpaveias irevff i7f7roSta', TO 5e
faJKOs iro8v Terrdpav 6 8e peifav, en
KOI TroXaummoff. The scutum con-
sisted, as he tells us, of two layers
of wood glued together and covered
first with linen and then with hide:
it was bound with iron above and
"below, and~had an iron~boss affixed"
to it. The amis, or clypeus, was a
round shield, smaller and lighter.
ireirvpa>iJieva o^eVat] Wetstein gives
many examples of the use of flaming
missiles: they were often employed
to destroy siege-works, as well as to
wound or discomfit individual soldiers.
Thuc. ii 75 TrpoKaXufi/iara ei^e Seppeis
KOI i<pdcpa<:, a>ore TOVS epyaop.evovs
KOI TO v\O. JLU/T6 TTVptftOpOlS OUTTols
j3a\\eo'dai ev d<r(pa\eiq TC eivai. Liv.
xxi 8 'Phalarica erat Saguntinis mis-
sile telum hastili abiegno et caetero
tereti praeterquam ad extremum
unde ferrum exstabat: id, sicut in
pilo, quadratum stuppa circumliga-
bant linebantque pice... id maxime,
etiamsi haesisset in scuto uec pene-
trasset in corpus, pauorem faciebat,
quod cum medium accensum mit-
teretur conceptumque ipso motu
multo maiorem ignem ferret, arma
omitti cogebat nudumque militem
ad insequentes ictus praebebat'. The
exact expression occurs in Apollodor.
BibL ii 5 de Hercule: T^V v8pav...
(3aX<av fteXefft TreTrvpoapevois qvdyitcurev
ege\0eiv. For the absence from some
216
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
[VI 1820
Kal
Ti4N nepiKecJ)AAAiANTOY
AN TOY TTN6YMATOC, O 4(TTIV p ft M A 960Y,
7rpo<rev%fjs KO.I Severe ws, Trpoffev^ofJievoi ev
ev Tri/evjuaTi, /c2 els ai/ro dypvTrvovvres ev vcury
Kal Severn Trejo* TTOLVTWV TWV dy'ivov,
T9 Kai vTrep efjiov, iva fjioi So6rj AG^OS ev dvoi^ei TOV CTTO-
fJLaTos yuoy, ev Trapprjcria yvwpia'ai TO jmv(TTijpiov TOV
> -\ I an t\ f /D ' J -v / / >
evayye\iov vtrep ov Trpearpevw ev aXvcrei, iva ev
cws SeF JULE
texts of the article before 7rc7rvpo>/tera
see the note on various readings.
17. 7repe<aAat'ai>K.r.\.]SeeiThess.
V 8 and Isa. lix 17, quoted above. To
o-arrypiov is found in Luke ii 30, iii 6,
and in St Paul's speech in Acts xxviii
28 : in each case it comes directly or
indirectly from the LXX.
equivalent to Aa-
jSere: comp. Luke ii 28, xvi 6 f., xxii 17
(Segdpevos iroTrjptov).
rr)v paxcupav TOV trvevftaros} The
phrase is accounted for by Isa. xi 4
(quoted above), though the actual
words do not there occur.
pfjfM deov] For prjjM see the note
on V 26. Comp. Isa. XI 4 TO Xdyo
TOV oropciTos avrov, and Heb. iv 12
ft>v yap o \6yos TOV deov Kal evepyrjs
KOI TopwTepos VTrep iravav uja.\<upav
Sifrtofwv, K.T.A.
1 8. Trpoa-evxijs] For the connexion
of this with the prjfia deov compare
I Tim. iv. 5 dyia^erai yap Sta \6yov
deov Kal eirevl-eas,
Sejjcreeas] This word is joined with
irpoo-evxj, for the sake of fulness of
expression : see Phil. iv. 6, i Tim. ii i,
v 5.
*v irvevu.ari\ e in the Spirit': seethe
note on V l8.
els OVTO] Comp. Rom. xiii 6 els
avro roCro irpocrKaprepovvTes,.
dypvjrvovvrcs] 'Aypvirveiv and ypq-
yopelv are both used in the LXX to
render "Ij?^, 'to keep awake', 'to
watch'. Oomp. Mark xiii 33 /3XreT6
dypwrrveire, 35 ypyyopelre ovv, xiv 38
ypr)yopem KOI Trpoo-eu^etr^e : Luke
xxi 36 dypvrrveiTe ev iravrl Kaip& 8eo-
fiei/ot : and the parallel passage Col.
IV 2 TTJ Trpoa-evxg wpoo-Kaprepetre, yprj-
yopovvres > av-rfj ev eu^apiort'a.
wpoo-Kaprcpyget] _ Ihe-verb-is-eom
mon, but no independent reference
for the noun is given.
19. teal virep eftov] The change
from irepi to virep helps to mark the
introduction of the special request:
but there is no real difference of
meaning, as may be seen from the
parallel, CoL iv 3, Trpoo-evxopevoi a/ui
Kal irepi rj^v, iva K.T.A.
Aoyos K.T.A. Comp. Col. iv 3 iva
o debs dvoir) tfiuv tivpav TOV \6yov,
and Ps. 1 (Ii) 17 fa x^ 7 ! P iOV dvoi-
|s, Kal TO aTopa pov dvayyeXei rr)v
a'ivea-iv (TOV.
u.var^piov] Comp. Col. iv 3 f. AoAiJ-
(rai TO /wvoTi}ptoi TOV xpioroC, Si' 6 Kal
Se'Se/xai, Iva (pavep<o~<o avro cos Sei u,e
AaA^o-at. For fiv(mjpu)v see i 9, and
the references there given. For the
absence from some texts of TOV evay-
-yeAt'ov see the note on various readings.
20. 7rpe<r/3euo>] Comp. 2 Cor. v 20
virep Xptoroi) ovv 7rpetr/3ti;o/io>.
ev d\vo-ei] Comp. Acts xxviii 20
eiveKev yap TTJS eXirio'os TOV 'lapai/X TTJV
a\vo-iv Tavnjv ircpiKeipai, 2 Tim. i. 16
ryv a\vcriv pov OVK eiraio-xvvdr].
21 24. 'Tychicus will tell you
VI 2124] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
3l/Y ^ S" \ t ~ \ 3 3. f f
a li/a 06 eiorire KCU vjuteis ret /car e/ue, TI
TrdvTa f yva)pi<rei VJMV TV%IKOS 6 dyctTrriTos d$
\5>/ 3 / nn t\ )f I \ t r*
TTUTTO'S OlCtKOVOS V KVplW, m ' OV eTrejUL^a TTjOOS UjUGtS K
CM/TO TOVTO 'iva yvwTe TO, jrepl fjfjLaiv Kal
vjuuav.
33 Eipqvri rots do"e\<j)ols Kal dyoTrri fiieTcc
airo Beov vraTpos Kal Kvplov 'Ir](rov \purTov* S4 'H
LCTa TrdvToov Ttav dyaTrcovTaw TOV Kvpiov i^/ULoSv
XpurTov ev d<p6ap<ria.
how I fare. I am sending him to TI Trpao-o-ta] 'how I fare' : as in
bring you information and encourage- the common phrase cu irparreiv. But
ment. I greet all the brethren with there is no parallel to this usage in
one greeting: peace be theirs, and the New Testament; for in Acts xv 29
lore joined with faith. Grace be ev npagere appears to be used in the
with all who love our Lord in the sense of KaXws irorfo-cTe.
immortal life in which He and they 23. rots aScX^ots] The term dS-A-
are one'. <o$ was taken over by Christianity
2 1 . "ivaTde K.r.X7J~Slmost~the same from Judaism. See Acts ii 29, 37
words occur in Col. iv 7 f. : TO KUT e/te iii 17, vii 2, etc., where it is addressed
iravra yvapio-ci vfiiv Tvxmos 6 dyairrjTos by a Jew to Jews. Similarly before his
a.8e\<f)bs teal irurrbs SIOKOVOS, Kal <rvv8ov- baptism Saul is addressed by Ananias
Xos ev Kvpicp, ov eirepAJfa Trpbs vp.as els as d8e\<j>6s, Acts ix 17. Here the
avrb TOVTO, Zva yv&Te TO. irepl r/fu&v KCLI general term takes the place of the
irapaKakea-ri TOS KapBias vp,v- On the special names which occur in most of
phrases common to both passages it is the epistles addressed to particular
sufficient to refer to Lightfoot's notes. Churches.
xat vfj-els] This may be taken in aymrrj peTa iriareas] Love accom-
two senses: (i) 'ye also', i.e. as well panied by faith. Faith and love the
as others to whom the Apostle is Apostle looked for and found among
sending a letter at the same time those to whom he writes : see i 15,
and by the same messenger : for and comp. Col. i 4. He prays that
although this meaning would not be they may together abide with them.
at once obvious to the recipients of 24. x"P ls ] The familiar tWacr/toy,
this letter, the words might naturally with which St Paul closes every
be used by the Apostle if he were epistle (see 2 Thess. iii 17 f.), takes
addressing a like statement to the here a more general form and is
Colossians : (2) 'ye on your part', with couched in the third person. This
an implied reference to the knowledge is in harmony with the circular na-
which the Apostle had gained of their ture of this epistle.
condition (i 15 duovo-as T^V nad' v^as ev d<pdap(ria] 'A<p6apo-ia signifies
ITLVTIV K.T.X.). The latter interpreta- indestructibility, incorruptibility, and
tion, however, is somewhat forced, so immortality. *&<j>6apros and a-
and the former is rendered the more <pdap<ria are used of the Deity ; e.g.
probable by the close similarity be- by Epicurus ap. Diog. Laert. x 123,
tween the parallel passages in the np&Tov per TOV 0ebv &ov atpdaprov
two epistles. Ka l funtdpiov vopifav (cos Jj Koivri TOV
218 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [VI 24
fleov v6r)<ris vireypatpi]) ftqdtv pyre TTJS tv opoieapaTt fiKovos <p6apTov avOpumov,
d(p0apcrias aXXoYptop pjrc TTJS fMKapto- I Tim. i 17 d<f)6dpT<p doparat /UOPO> 0e:
Tyros dvo'iKfiov aura irp6<rairrf irav and of the dead after resurrection,
8c ro $vXaTTj/ avTou Swaptvov rr^v I Cor. XV 52 eyepft/owrat acpdapnu.
pera drfrdapcriag funcapioTTfra iff pi avrov It is also used as an epithet of
doae : and Plutarch, Aristides 6, TO oretpavos (i Cor. ix 25), KXqpovofu'a
tfeibi' rprt SOKCI 8ia<pfpeiv, d<p0apcriq (i Pet. i 4), and triropa (ib. 23 ; Comp.
/cal bvvafj.fi KOI dperfj. They are like- iii 4). The substantive occurs in
wise used by the Stoics of the /cooler; I Cor. xv 42 virciperat iv (ptiopij.,
Chrysippus ap. Plut. Moral. 425 D, cyeipfrai ev d(j>0ap<riq, 50 ov$e ij (pdopa
ov\ TJKKTTO. rovrov (sc. the fifVof TOTTos Tr)v d<p6ap(riav K\r}povofj,ei, 53 ^" VP
in which the Kotr/nor is situated) trw- ro <p6aprbv TOVTO evSva-aa-Qcu. d(p0ap-
elpyetrdai trpos rr)v Btapovtiv <al diovti viav, KOI ro dtnjrov TOVTO evo'vo-acrdai
dcpdapviav : and by the Epicureans of aQavaviav. It occurs again in Rom.
their atoms. [Comp. the title of Philo's ii 7 TOIS p.ev icaff vnopovriv epyov dyadov
treatise, Uepl d(pdaptrias /cocr^ou.] dogav KOI rifi^v KOI d<pdap<riav gr)Tov(nv f
In the Greek Old Testament &- fayv alwviov, 2 Tim. i 10 Karapyyo-avTos
(pdapTos occurs twice: Wisd. Xli I TO p.ev TOV 0dvarov t (poTia-avros fie a>r)V
yap &tp6aprdv trov irvevfia. I<TTW eV KOI d(p0ap<rtav Sta TOV evayye\iov. (In
ira<riv, xviii 4 TO ci<p6apTov vopov <{>&s. Tit. ii 7 it has been interpolated after
The same writer in two notable pass- d(p0oplav, o-envvnjTa, having come
ages connects the d<p&ap<ria granted in probably as a marginal gloss on
to men with the dtfrdapo-ia of God's d(p0oplav.')
own nature:Ji^3_J|rt_ol0-os-iro<r' In alHhese passages there can be no
avdptoirov fir* d<pdap<riq, KCU elicova doubt as to the meaning of d<p0apcrta.
TTJS iMas IdtoTTjTos (v. I. didioTjTos) If ^ alavios is the life-principle
firolrjcrev OVTOV $6ov& 8e 8iafZ6\ov which is already at vrork,.d<p0apcria is
6a.va.Tos el(rfi\0ev els TOV jcoer/ioi', K.T.X., the condition of immortality which
vi 1 8 f. dydirrj fie n/pqoHs vofiatv ov-tys will crown it in the future.
(sc. TTJS <ro<j>tas), Trpotro^^ 8e v6[uov The use of the word in the epistles
(3fj3aico(risd(pdapo-iaf,a(p0ap(riaSeyyijs of Ignatius deserves a special con-
eivcu iroKi faov. The only other ex- sideration, if only because we find in
amples are found in 4 Mace, (of men Rom. 7 the expression dy&nrj a<p0apTos.
who pass to an immortal life), ix 22 In Eph. 15 f. Ignatius is speaking of
Sa-irep ev irvpl p,era(rx' l ll Jiari ^l JLevos ^s false teaching and false living as de-
dfpdapcriav, xvil 12 ij0\o0erei yap Tore structive of the 'temples' of God, with
dper^ Si' vTTop,ovijs ooKifjid&va-a TO VIKOS an allusion to I Cor. iii 17 TIS rov
ev d<pdapa-ia ev (cog iro\vxpovl<a. Sym- vaov TOV 0eov <p0eipsi, K.T.X. He de-
machus used the word in the title of clares that of oiKo<p06poi, those who
Ps. Ixxiv (Ixxv), eirtviKioe irepl d<p0ap- violate God's house, forfeit the king-
orias yfra\fi6s (LXX pr) 8ia(p0iprjs). dom of God. If this be SO for the
So far then the meaning ofa<p0apTos bodily temple, still more does it hold
(d(pdaptria) is clear, and there is no of those who 'violate ((pdfipeiv) the
tendency to confuse it with &<f>0opos faith of God by evil teaching'. They
(d<p0opia). The latter adjective occurs and their hearers are defiled and shall
once in the LXX: Esther ii 2 ^ny^Va) go into the unquenchable fire. He
TW j8ao-iX Kopdtria a<j)0opa KaXa TW proceeds : Aid TOVTO pvpov eXaftev eirl
flBei (comp V. 3 copao-ta TrapdcviKa xaXa TTJS Kf<pa\rjs OVTOV 6 Kvpios, iva Trvey
Ty flBei). Tfl fKK\r)o-ia dxpQapariav. He is playing
In the New Testament we find upon the two senses of (pdeipeiv,
a<p0apros used of God, Bom. i 23 physical destruction and moral cor-
TT)V 86av TOV d<pdapTov 0eov ruption: but that the sense of in-
VI 24] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 219
corruptibility or immortality predomi- passage of Justin (Ap. i 15, comp.
nates when the word a<j>dap<ria is attunfrdopoi ibid. 18).
introduced is shewn by the contrasted Since, however, <pdcipeiv and $0opa
6W<oSi'a TTJS Bidaa-KoXlas of the devil, express the physical and moral ideas
who would carry us away 'from the which are negatived in d(pdapo-ia and
life which is the goal set before us' d<p0opia respectively, it was quite
(c TOV irpoK.eip.evov tfiv). The phrase possible that a<j>6ap<ria should come
has a noteworthy parallel in Ireu. iii to be regarded as denoting not only
1 1 8 iravrax60ev irveovras TTJV axfrdapcriav the indissolubility of eternal life, but
icat dvafrnvpovvras TOVS dv0ptoirovs (of also the purity which Christian thought
the four Gospels) : comp. 141 and i 6 1 ; necessarily connected with eternal life.
the metaphor being perhaps derived And this may explain the uncertainty
from the XptoroO eva8ia and the 007*7 which attends Origen's use of the
ex fays els tcsnjv of 2 Cor. ii 15 f. word in some passages. Thus in his
In Magn. 6 we have els -nmov KOI treatise on Prayer, 21, we read ra
dtSaxfjv d<p0apo-ias, but the context 8ie(p0app,4va epya fj \oyovs $ vofoaTa,
does not throw fresh light on the Taireiva rvyxavovra KOI eViXiynra, rfjs
meaning of the word. Philad. 9 TO d<f>0apo-ias d\\6rpia TOV Kvpiov. He
8e evayyeXiov dirdpno-pA eanv d<p0ap- seems again to play on two possible
o-las recalls 2 Tim. i 10. In Trail, n senses of d<p0apo-ia in c. Gels, iii 60,
%v av o nafnros OVT&V a(f>6apros stands where our present passage is referred
in contrast with napnov davarrjcpopov. to : eirel 8e wu rj xP ls T v @ f v e>OTt
In Rom. 7 we have ovy iffio/uu rpotpff Itera irdvTew T&ILJCI >
(pdopas followed by jrd^ia <9e'Aa> TO at/xa TO>V TOV 8i8curKa\ov r&VTffs ddavatrLas
OVTOV, 5 e<mv dydirrj a(p0apTos. In fiadtjfidrcav, 'Sorts dyvos' ov povov c dito
this passage we have a combination iravros pvo-ovs ' (the words of Celsus),
of the ideas which appear separately aXXa KOI TV e\arr6va>i> elvai vofu^o-
in Troll. 8 eV dyaar^, o ecrnv alpa 'Irja-ov fjxvav aftapn/fidrajv 0appwv /iueicr^o),
XptoroO, andjBjpA. 2o'aaproiKX<3vT, K.T.X. In his Commentary (on this
o eariv (pdppaKov ddavao-ias, dvr&oTos verse) Origen combats an extreme
TOV fiT) dirodavelv oXXa ijv ev 'Irio~ov view which interpreted d<j)6apo-ia as
XptoT^ Sta iravros. [Comp. Clem, implying strict virginity. He does
Alex. Paed. i 47 6 3pTos...els d(pdap- not reply, as he might have replied,
viav Tpe'<o>v.] Both the dOavavia and that in Scripture d(J>dapo-ia is always
the d(p6apo-ta of Ignatius are lifted used of immortality; but he suggests
out of the merely physical region by that <pdopd is predicable of any sin,
the new meaning given to 'life' by the so that d<p6apo~ia might be implying
Gospel: but the words retain their absolute freedom from sin of any
proper signification in the higher kind: wore rovs dycmavras rov Kvpiov
sphere, and still mean freedom from w&v 'tyo-ow Xpto-rov lv d<j>dapo-ig, elvai
death and from dissolution. ' KfyQapcria. TOVS irdo-ys dpaprias dnexofievovs. The
is not confused with d<p6opia or later Greek commentators also in-
d8ia<p6opia, so as to denote freedom terpret d^dapa-La in this place of
from moral corruptness. incorruptness of life. The Latin
I cannot point to any passage in commentators, who had in incorrup-
the writers of the second century in tione to interpret, sometimes preferred
which 8<p6apTos and d<f>0apo-ta are used to explain it of soundness of doctrine,
of moral incorruptness, though the but with equally little justification
words are common enough in the from the earlier literature.
usual sense of immortality (see Athe- How then are the words to be
nag. de Res. passim). On the other understood? It has been proposed
hand a^dopot occurs in a well-known to connect them with 17 x<W> so that
220 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [VI 24
the Apostle's final prayer should be &tal to this interpretation. It is
an invocation of X op & d<pdapo-i<h i.e. better to keep the words dd>0apiria
of grace together with that blessed closely with T&V aymrvvrw rov Kvpnv
immortality which is the crowning jp&v 'Irjvovv Xpurr6v, to render them
gift of grace. But this cannot be 'in incorruptibility', and to explain
regarded as a natural expansion of them as meaning 'in that endless
his accustomed formula, even if the and unbroken life in which love has
disposition of the sentence be not triumphedoverdeath and dissolution'.
ON XAPIZ AND XAPITOYN. 221
On the meanings of %a/w and
i. The word x*P ls nas a remarkable variety of meaning even in the Meanings
earliest Greek literature. It is used in classi-
cal litera-
(1) objectively, of that which causes a favorable regard, attractive- ture:
ness : especially (a) grace of form, gracefulness ; and (&) grace
of speech, graciousness : "
(2) subjectively, nf tha favorable regard felt towards a person,
acceptance or .favour :
(3) of a definite expression of such favorable regard, afavour (xapiv
Sovvat) :
(4) of the reciprocal feeling produced by a favour ; the sense of
favour bestowed, gratitude (xapiv dnoSovvai,
(5) adverbially as in the phrases \apw nvos, 'for the sake of a
person, or a thing' ; npos yapiv nvi n irpdrreiv, 'to do some-
thing to please another'.
Greek writers of all periods delight to play upon the various meanings Play on
of the word ; as in such sayings as i? xP ts X<*P lv <pep. meanings.
The Greek translators of the Old Testament used x a pis almost exclus- The Greek
ively as a rendering of the Hebrew |D, a word connected with 13PI 'to O.'T.
incline towards ', and so ' to favour '.
Thus in the Pentateuch we find the phrase evpetv x^piv (20 times, Penta-
besides ex*iv xP lv t f r tne sam e Hebrew, once) and the phrase dovvat teuch.
Xapiv (five times); each being regularly followed by a term expressive
of relation to the favouring person, evavriov TWOS, evmiriw TWOS or irapd TIVI.
In Buth and the books of Samuel we have evpeiv x dptv ev o<J>dc&nols Euth and
TWOS (12 times), where the same Hebrew phrase of relation is more Samuel.
literally translated 1 .
Up to this point we have no other use of the word at all. In Kings Kings and
and Chronicles however, besides 5pi> x<*P lv evavriov (once), we twice find Chroni-
X^ptv used as an adverb. cles.
In Esther, besides evpeiv x^piv (six times : once for TDH, and once for Esther.
this and jn together), we have *ap used for r6-1T3 in vi 3, riva. dogav jj
Xapiv eironjvapev K.T.\., 'What honour and dignity hath been done to
Mordecai for this ? ' (A.V.). In a Greek addition xv 14 (= v 2) we read TO
rov crow ^ap/row ficarov.
1 This rendering is found once in the Pentateuch, Gen. xxxiii 8.
222
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
Favor-
able esti-
mation
by a
superior.
Psalms:
extended
meaning.
Proverbs:
accepta-
bility with
God and
man.
Ecclesi-
astes.
In the
Prophets
almost
unused.
""Wisdom
literature :
joined
with
* mercy'.
Enoch :
with
'h'ght'and
'peace'.
The N. T.
writers
inherited
both
Greek
and He-
braistic
uses:
esp. ' the
blessing
conse-
quent on
Divine
favour'.
The distinctive meaning then of xapis as representing f ft in the historical
books of the Old Testament is the favour which an inferior finds in the eyes
of his superior. It is to be noted that bovvat x<*P tv is here correlative to
evpelv \apw. It does not mean 'to favour', but c to cause to be favoured'
by another. It thus differs altogether from the true Greek phrase
t 'to grant a favour'.
In the Psalms the word occurs twice only : xliv (xlv) 2
ev xctXttrtp crow, Ixxxiii (Ixxxiv) II \dpiv Kal dogav 6\<rei. In each Case
it renders JO, which has acquired a certain extension of meaning.
In Proverbs we find it 21 times, the plural being occasionally used.
Thrice it renders fltfl, which is commonly represented by cv6Wa. The
general meaning is favour or acceptance hi a wide sense, las the condition
of a happy and successful life. Such x"V ls is as a rule the accompaniment
of wealth and high station : but God gives it as a reward of humility, iii 34
raireivois Se 6 > t'8a><ni> \apiv\
In Ecclesiastes \apis is used twice for }H, and again the sense is wide.
It is remarkable that in Isaiah, Jeremiah and (with few exceptions)
the Prophets generally x<*P LS * s no * found at all. The exceptions are
three passages in Zechariah (always for fri), iv 7, vi 14 and xii 10 (eVc^ta...
irvevpa xaptros Kal oiKTip/tov) ; Ban. i 9 e6We...rt/xi)i' Kal X**P IV (&ff?) tvav-
Tiou...(Theodot....r eXeov Kal otKTctp/top evwriov,..); and Ezek. xii 24, the
adverbial phrase^-^os^^ggtv.
InTlfie^Wisdom books we find, as we might expect, a more extended
use of the word: and the sense which corresponds with fn appears side
by side with various Greek usages. It is specially noteworthy that twice
we have the combination x^P ls Ka ' <& e s [fv] rots exXeKrots avrov (Wisd.
iii 9, iv 1 5).
"With this last expression we may compare Enoch v 7, 8 Kal rots
Tots eorat ^><3s Kal X^P ts Ka ' elptfvtJ.Tore Sodfoerai TOIS
It appears from the foregoing investigation that the Hew Testament
writers inherited a wealth of meanings for the word xpts '
() the purely Greek significations, which were familiar to all who used
the Greek language, but which to some extent fell into the background, in
consequence of the appropriation of the word to a specially Christian use;
(&) the significations which the word had acquired through its use by
the Greek translators of the Old Testament to represent |D.
Of the latter significations the most important was that which we find
in the latest books, namely, the favour of God, or rather the blessed condi-
tion of human life which resulted from the Divine favour a sense in which
the word came, as we have seen, to range with such spiritual blessings as
cXeo?, <<$ and elpijvrj.
allowance must be made for the more
independent use of %</$ without a term
of relation in the later Old Testament
literature.
1 This phrase needs to be considered
in the light of what has been said of
Sovvat xdpiv tvavriov rwfa (see Gataker
Cinnus, ed. Lond. 1651, p. 90!); but
ON XAPIS AND XAPITOYN. 223
Turning now to the New Testament, we observe that the word is not Distribu-
found in the Gospels of St Matthew and St Mark ; but that it occurs in *j onin , the
every other book, with the exception of the First and Third Epistles of tament! 8 "
St John 1 . We may consider first those writers whose phraseology is in
general most remote from that of St Paul.
In St John's Gospel x^P K * s found only in the Prologue: i 14^X17/317$ St John's
Xapiros Kal d\r]6elas...l6 CK rov 7T\rjp(ofjiaTos avrov 17/16?? names eXajSo/iey Kat Gospel:
Xapiv av xP lTOS '" I 7 ^ xfy is KM V aXif&ta 8ut 'lyo-ov XpioroS eyei/ero. S, ? m
These verses are closely connected and offer a single emphatic presenta- r Ogue '
tion of x**P ls as a blessing brought to man by Jesus Christ. Grace and
truth together stand in contrast to the law as given through Moses.
A fulness of grace and truth pertains to 'the Word made flesh'. Out
of that fulness we all have received : we have received 'grace for grace'
that the gift in us may correspond with the source of the gift in Him.
The only other occurrences of the word in the Johannine writings do Other
not help us to interpret the words of the Prologue. In 2 John 3 we have Johannine
merely the greeting ^apts, e\eos, eipjwj (comp. the Pastoral Epistles). In ooJjs -
the Apocalypse we have the salutation x^P ts Ka * "P 7 ? 1 "? diro 6 a>p, JC.T.X., and
the closing benediction, 77 x&P ls T v Kfptov 'I^foO XptoroC /tera raw ayi'aw,
in each case Pauline phrases with a peculiar modification.
The Epistle of St James contains the word only (iv 6) in an allusion to St James.
and a quotation from Prov. iii 34 (see above)._
IlTJude 4 we read n)i rov 6eov ^optra peTandcvres els da-e\yeiav. This St Jude.
form of the accusative is not found elsewhere in the New Testament,
except in Acts xxiv 27. Xdpis does not occur in the opening salutation
of the epistle (eXeos vplv KOI dpijvr] Kal dydirt) iF\i)dvvdfirj). It is observable
that the whole of the phrase above quoted, with the exception of the word
dueXyeia, is absent from the parallel passage, 2 Pet. ii i ff. In 2 Peter, 2 St Peter.
however, we have the salutation x<*P ls "M"* * a * P'?'"7 irkrjdwdeir], and in
iii 1 8 the injunction avt-dvere 8e ev x^piTt Kal yvuxrei TOV Kvpiov qfiStv.
We now come to the Lucan books, in the latter of which at any rate St Luke's
we shall be prepared to find tokens of the direct influence of St Paul. In G s P e l :
Luke i 30 the angelic salutation Xmpc, Kf^pm^ew? is followed by evpes opening
yap xapiv napa r<5 6e a, a purely Hebraistic expression. In ii 40 we read ?^ te - r !'.
of the Child Jesus, x**P ls ^ e0 ^ ?" >7r ' O&TO : and in ii 52 'I^o-ot/s TrpoeKorrrev use
rfj 0-otpia Kal ^XtKta KCU ^aptrt irapa 0ey /cat dvdpcairois (comp. I Sam. ii 26
TO iraiftapiov Sa/iou^X eiropevero p.eydXvv6p,evov KCU. dyadov, Kal pera Kvpiov
Kal fj-era dvdpamvv). The phraseology of the first two chapters of St Luke's
Gospel is largely derived from the historical books of the Old Testament :
and these uses of x<zpi? are characteristically Old Testament uses. In iv 22,
cdavpafav ejrl rols \oyois TTJS x^P lTOS ) <- T -^-} w have another obvious Later on,
Hebraism. But the remaining examples of the word give us purely Greek
usages.
1 No account is here taken of ex- the Vulgate and the Bohairic. For a
amples of x&pu> used adverbially with confusion between the same words see
a genitive. In 3 John 4 /ietfor^pca' Tobit vii 17 xdpiv &vrl TIJS MTT^S ffov
Totruv oi>K fy X a P^ v t ^ seems im- TOI/TIJS [xap^ H], Ecelus. xxx
possible to accept the reading x^P l "
which is found in B, a few cursives,
224
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
Greek Usages: iroia vfiiv xP ls rriV; (vi 32, 33, 34): pf) e^ X<*P IV f$ 8ot5X&>
art eiroirjircv TO, Stara^^eWa , (xvii 9).
The Acts : In the Acts we find in the earlier chapters clear instances of the Old
Hebraistic Testament use of xP 15 ' " 47 *X OVTfs X?P IV n Ps o\ ov TOV XooV, vii 10
uses.
Greek
uses.
The new
Christian
meaning :
in con-
nexion
with the
reception
of the
Gentiles.
StPaul
developes
the term
to express
the free-
ness
and uni-
versality
of the
Gospel.
His
appropria-
tion of the
word in
connexion
with his
<5 x&P LV Ka ' <ro<piav fvavriov $apaa>, vii 46 evpev
TOV 0fov. Perhaps we should add to these iv 33 x**P LS Te peyo^n fa rl
iravras O.VTOVS, and vi 8 2re(pavos Se irXijprjs ^aptros xat ovvdpeag eVoiet
repara, K.r.X. ; but it is possible that we have here a distinctively Christian
use of the word. Of purely Greek usages we have x"P ira naraOevdai, ia
xxiv 27) and X"P IV KOTaQfo-dat in xxv 9; also alrovpevoi x"*P tv Kar> O&TOV in
xxv 3 (comp. the use of xapie<rdat in xxv n, 16).
But there is another class of passages in the Acts in which xP ls * 8
found in a new and Christian sense. The first of these is xi 23, where
we read of St Barnabas at Antioch, lB<oi> TT)V x^P lv r ^ v rov 6eov e^api/.
The emphatic form of the expression helps to mark the introduction of the
new phrase : and it may be observed that, wherever throughout the book
the word occurs in this sense, it is (with the single exception of xviii 27)
followed by a defining genitive. The passages are the following:
xiii 43 irpoffuAveiv Ty ^apiri TOV 5eoD,
XiV 3 TO) KVplCp Tip fJMpTVpOVVTl TU> Xoyop TT)S ^CptTOS OVTOV,
26 odev Jjo-av Trapadedoitevoi TTJ ^aptrt TOV 6eov,
XV II Sia TJJS xdpfros TOV Kvpiov 'Iijo-ow irurrevofiev q-cod^vat naff bv_
-Tporrov-KaKeivocj
40 TrapadoOeis TTJ ^aptrt TOV nvpiov,
xviii 27 ffui/e/SaXero TroXu TOIS ireirurTfVK6(nv Bta rijf ^aptros,
XX 24 o'lapapTvpaa-dai TO cwayycXto*' TTJS X^PITOS TOV Qtov,
32 ?rapart&/uu vfids T$ Kvpitp KOI rj> Xoya> tys x&P iros OVTOV.
It is noteworthy that this use of xP ls belongs to the narratives which
deal with the extension of the Gospel to the Gentiles : see especially xv u.
The surprising mercy of God, by which those who had been wholly outside
the privileged circle were now the recipients of the Divine favour, seems
to have called for a new and impressive name which might be the watch-
word of the larger dispensation.
Although it is not probable that the introduction of xP Lf into the
Christian vocabulary was due to St Paul, yet there can be little doubt
that the new and special use of it which we have just noted was closely
connected with his missionary efforts, and that he did more than any one
to develope the meaning of xps as a theological term. To him, for
example, we owe the emphasis on the freeness of the Divine favour
which is marked by the contrast of x<*P ls with oVpctXi/pxi, 'debt', and
with epyov in the sense of meritorious 'work'; and the emphasis on
the universality of the Divine favour, which included Gentiles as well as
Jews, in contrast to 'the law' which was the discipline of Israel
Moreover he seems in some sense to have appropriated the word, as
though he had a peculiar claim and title to its use. The first of his epistles
opens and closes with an invocation of XO/H? upon his readers : and every
subsequent epistle follows the precedent thus set. In 2 Thess. iii 17 f. he
declares that this may be regarded as his sign-manual, authenticating as it
ON XAPIZ AND XAPITOYN. 225
were his epistle : C O tunrturpbs ry tpfi ^pt IlauXou, o cartv OTjpetov ev TFCUTTJ special
gv OVT&S ypd<par % XP IS T v xvpiov qpcav 'irjtrov Xpurrov fiera iravrwv mission :
VflMV.
The following series of passages will serve to shew how closely he
connected the word with his own special mission to the Gentiles.
(a) In regard to himself as proclaimer of the universal Gospel. () in *
I Cor. ill IO na.ro. TT)V X<*P LV T v Qeov TT)V fio0erai> /tot, <as trocpbs apxi- }ji m g e lf
TCKTGW
1 Cor. XV lo xdpiTi 8e Beov dpi o elfju, KOI 17 \apis avrov T) els epe
ov nevrf eyevydrj, aXXa irepur<rarepov avratv iravrov eVcon-iao-a, owe cyco Se
dXXa 17 xP tf ro ^ ^w C 7 ?] ^ p e V ot '-
2 Cor. 1 12 OVK eV aorpia trapKutf) aXX' e ^apm deoi) dvetrrpcupijfjiev fv
TO Koa-fJLO), irepuram-epms 8e irpbs VJJMS.
2 Cor. iv 15 i*a yap Traira St' vjuaf, Iva. rf. ^apt; irXfovaoracra Sta rSar
irXfiovav TTJV evxaptoriav irepura-eva-ri els TTJV 86av row fleov.
Gal. i IJ f. o d(f>opi(ras (*e...Kal KaXea-as dia TTJS ^dptros avrov..Jva
vayye\ia>ii,ai avrbv ev rots edvecriv.
GaL ii 7 f* t^ovres on 7re7rioT6v/M ro evayyeXtoi' r^s aKpo/3v<rrias...Kai
yvovres rr)V X^P tv T ^ v ^oBeitrav p.oi.
Gal. ii 21 OUK aderra T^ X&pw TOV 0eov- el -yap &ta vopav /c.T.X.
Horn, i 5 &' ^ eXdftofiev \aptv icai CTrooroXi^y ftg waico^y iri<rrea>s ev
Rom. xii 3 Xeya> yap dta T^S ^aptros rrjs 8o0eiaTjs pot iravri ra> OVTI ev
: that is, with all the force of my special commission and authority,
to you to whom it gives me a right to speak. The phrase is taken up
again in v. 6.
Rom. XV 15 <s eiravaiufurriaKcav vpas, diet T^V XP IV T ') v ^oBela'av poi
OTTO TOW deov els TO etvai p,e \evrovpybv Xptorou 'Ijytrot) els ra edvrj.
Phil, i 7 ev re TOIS betrfiols p-ov teal ev TTJ aVoXoy/a icat /3c/3ata)Vet rov
euayyfX/ou (TVVKOIVCOVOVS fiov rfjs ^aptroj iravras vpas ovras. It Was for
the wider Gospel that St Paul was hound.
See also Eph. iii i 13, and the exposition.
(6) In regard to the Gentile recipients of the universal Gospel ( 6 ) * n re \
2 Thess. i 12. The persecution which the Thessalonians suffer is a Gentile
proof that 'the kingdom of God', for which they suffer, is truly for them, converts..
They as believers are equated with 'the saints': in them, no less than
in Israel (Isa. xlix 3), the Name is to be glorified 'the Name of the
Lord Jesus in you, and ye in Him 5 , Kara -rffv xdptv roO 6eov I^MBV KOI
Kvpiov 'Jija-ov Xpwrrov.
2 Thess. ii l6 o dyairfoas rj^as xal 8ovs irapaK^ijcrtv tumvtav <al eXiriSa
ayadfjv ev ^dptrt, TrapaKoXecrat vpav ras Kapdias. By grace 'the COnsola-
tion of Israel ' is widened to the consoling of the Gentiles. The thought
is: For us too it is through grace, which has extended it (and may
you realise it!) to you as well.
1 Cor. i 4 eVi IT/ xdptrt TOV 6eov Ty doOeioy vplv ev Xpt<rr<5 'Ij/trov.
You have been called into fellowship, v. 9.
2 Cor. vi I TrapaKaXoO/Lief firj els nevbv T^V \apiv rov 6eov Sc|aa > dcu vpas.
2 Cor. viii I yvopiopev Be vfjuv, d$e\<poi, TTJV X^P IV r v & f ov TTJV 8c8o-
ev TOIS enK\ij<rtais TTJS MaKeSovtat. The contribution to the Jewish
EPHES. 2 15
226 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
Christians was a signal witness to the fellowship into which the Gentiles
had been brought by grace. It was a proof that grace was being con-
tinually given to those who made this return of grace. St Paul plays
on the senses of the word with great delight in this connexion: ?. 4 TTJV
X&PW *ai fqv Koiva>viav Trfs Stanovlas rffs els rovs ayiovs : V. 6 eirireXecrj; els
Vftas Kal TTJV xP w TOUTTIV'. V. J ivo, ical ev TO.VTT) rfj \apiri irepurcrevrjre :
V. 9 yivnaa-Kere yap rffv X^P IV Tov Kvpiov ijp&v 'lijerov [Xptorov] : V. 1$ ev
1% x"P in Tawm Tfl SuntovovpevT] v<p* Tjpa>V. ix. 8 bwarei Se o deos iratrav
\o.pw irepur<revcrat els vpHs: V. 14 eirivodovvratv vfiay Bia rffv V7repjBa\-
\owrav x&pw TOV 6eov e<f> vptv. The play on words was a truly Greek
one: comp. Soph. Ajax 522 x&P ls X I *P IV y*P toriv rj r/xrovor' del.
Gal. i 6 perari0c(T0f airo TOV K.d\ltravros vpas ev ^aptrt Xptoroi) els
^ erepov edayye\tov.
Gal. y 4 icanjpyijdrjTe diro Xpiarov drives ev v6(iq> SiKcuova-de, rijs ^aptrot
e|e7reo-are. You have separated yourselves from that which was your
one ground of hope.
Col. i 6 d<f>* rjs rfpepas i} nova-are KOI eireyv&re rf]v x L P iV TQV & OV * v
aXrjQeia. This is again in connexion with the declaration of the uni-
versal scope and fruitfulness of the Gospel
See also Eph. ii 5 9, and the exposition.
The ad- A review of these passages makes it impossible to doubt that St Paul's
mission uge o f ^apis is dominated by_^e^hojight-of-the-admission-of"the~Gentiles~
to~the'pTivileges^which had been peculiar to Israel. Grace was given to
dominates *^ e Gentiles through his ministry: grace was given to him for his ministry
his use of to them. The flexibility of the word enables him to use it in this twofold
the word, manner. The Divine favour had included the Gentiles in the circle of
privilege: the Divine favour had commissioned him to be its herald for
the proclamation of that inclusion.
This is in This being so, we recognise the fitness with which St Luke, the corn-
harmony panion of St Paul and the historian of his mission, uses the new name
Litter urt ^^ P 600 ^^ reference to the proclamation and the reception of the
oftheActs. universal Gospel among the Gentiles.
Later ft * s unnecessary to follow the history of the word into the Pastoral
history of Epistles, where it is somewhat more widely used (comp. 2 Tim. ii i, Tit. iii 7),
the word, though its specially Pauline usage may be illustrated by Tit. ii ii; or
into the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the reference is quite general;
or into i Peter, which adopts so much of the phraseology of St Paul's
epistles. As the first great controversy of Christianity passed out of
sight, terminology which had been framed with peculiar reference to it
became widened and generalised; and the word 'grace' in particular lost
Orace its early association, while it remained in the new Christian vocabulary
versus an ^ waa destined, more especially in its Latin equivalent gratia, to be the
reew . wa ^ c i iwor( i o f a y erv different and scarcely less tremendous struggle.
Variously 2. Closely connected with St Paul's use of ^apis is his incidental use
explained, on one occasion only of the word x a P tTOVV (Eph. i 6). Its meaning both
there and in Luke i 28, the only other occurrence of the word in the New
Testament, has been variously explained.
ON XAPIS AND XAPITOYN. 22 7
The verb x a P iro ^ v properly signifies 'to endue with x&P ls ' : an< ^ its Its mean-
meaning accordingly varies with the meaning of x<*P ls ' Thus from xP 15 ^Qh^h 6 *
in the sense of * gracefulness of form 3 (compare Horn. Od. ii 12 fatnrfa-bjv of ^,5.
8* &pa T> ye x^P lv tarexevev 'Adjvrj), we have the meaning 'to endue (j ree t
with beauty': Niceph. Progymn. ii 2 (ed. Walz. I 429) Mvppav <f>v(ris pev usages:
exapiroMrev els poptpqv: comp. Ecclus. ix 8, in the form in which it is to endue
quoted by Clem. Alex. Paed. iii ii 83 mrovrpe-^ov 8e rbv o<p0a\pbv OTTO with ?
yvvaiKos iccxaptrcapci^s (Lxx. evpopfav). Again, from the sense of 'gra- be uty >
ciousness of manner' we have the meaning 'to endue with graciousness': ^Mfous-
Ecclus. xviii 17, ' Lo, is not a word better than a gift? And both are e ss >.
with a gracious man (irapa dvSpl K* xapmu/ieVw) : a fool will upbraid
ungraciously (a^aptora*)'.
The above are Greek usages. A Hebraistic use, ,of 'being caused to Hebraistic
find favour' in the eyes of men, is seen in Ps.-Aristeas Ep. ad PMlocr. use
(ed. Hody, Oxf. 1705, p. xxv; Swete's Introd. to LXX p. 558 L 4 ff.): in
answer to the question, How one may despise enemies 'How/fear irpbs
iravras avdp&irovs eSvoiav KOI Karepycurapevos <pi\ias, \6yov ovdevos av e^oiy
TO 8e K%apiTa)(r0at. irpbs iravras avdptoTrovs, not Ka\bv 8pov fth.T)<pevat irapa
Beov TOVT e<m Kpdriarov 1 .
In Luke i 28 the salutation Xalpe, Ke^aptrajuefi;, 6 nvpios pera trov St Luke :
gives rise to the unuttered inquiry iroratrbs etrj 6 donao-pos ovros ; and the
ajngel_proceeds :
Gen. vi 8). Thus Kexapa-toftevri is explained in an Old Testament sense as an 0. T.
37 evpovara x^P lv n&pb. r<p 6e&: and the meaning of ^aptToSv accordingly is ^; v i n ' e i v
'to endue with grace' in the sense of the Divine favour 2 . This was favoured',
doubtless the meaning intended to be conveyed by the Latin rendering
gratid plena, though it has proved as a matter of history to be somewhat
ambiguous 3 . Similarly the Peshito has *A\cvr^^ inAso. Unfortunately,
the Old Syriac (sin and cu) fails us at this point. Aphrahat (Wright 180, 2)
and Ephraim Comm. in Diatess. (Moes. 49) both omit the word in question,
and read 'Peace to thee, blessed among women' 4 .
1 A few further examples of -xaptrovv The Latin Version (practically the
may here be noted : same in both its forms) has: 'dedit
In Test, xii Patriarch. Joseph i, we eis in omni opere gratiam '.
Tiave tv faffereia ywv Kal 6 Ctywrros Epiphanius (Haer. Ixix 22): 6 5&
ireo-KtyaT6 yae- iv <j>v\axjj ^jj,t)v Kol 6 Mwuff^s trov&et K 0eov Kexa-pira-
a-wriip ^xapfo-wc-^ px. This is of course fitvos iip&ra. ov ravra, o\Xd Kal rb in
BU allusion to Matt, xxv 36, and %a/>- Afdirepov, K.T.\.
T<aare is probably borrowed directly a In the Apocalypse of the Virgin
from Eph. i 6; the word being used (James Apocr. Anecd. i, 115 ff.) the
simply in the sense of 'bestowed grace Blessed Virgin is constantly spoken of
upon me': it is paralleled in the con- and even addressed as ^ Kexapirujdvi).
text by j/ydirrjffe, ty6\ae, dvfoaye, 8 Ambiguity almost necessarily arose
JjhevOfyuffe, tpotfffrjffe, ditdpeif'e, TTO/JE- when gratia came to have as its pre-
JcdXeffe, l\we, o-vvi]y6pi]a-e, eppi5<raTo, dominant meaning a spiritual power
\f/<a<re, as well as by tirerictya.. of help towards right living,
Hennas Sim. ix 24 3 6 oSv Ki5pios * Not unconnected with this may
ilS&v -ri\v dir\6TijTa afc&v Kal vaoav be the confused reading of the Latin
vqirifa-qTa, ^ir\-^6vvev avTovs iv rots of Codex Bezae: 'habe benedicta dma
icdirots TWJ> x ei pwj> avT&v, xal tx a pl T<a ~ tecum j benedicta tu inter mulieres.'
<rei afirous iv irday irpdj-ei avr&v.
152
228
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
St Paul
is empha-
sising his
own word
'endued
us with
grace'.
Versions.
Peshito.
Latin.
A various
leading.
Chryso-
stom's in-
terpreta-
tion
plays
on the
various
senses of
Xdpis and
its deri-
vatives,
bat misses
St Paul's
meaning.
In interpreting St Paul's meaning in Eph. i 6, els evatvov
Xapa-os avrov f)s exapbaKrev t}pas ev ry rjyamjufvu, it is important to bear
in mind that he is emphasising his own word xP ls - And we must compare
certain other places in which a substantive is followed by its cognate verb:
Eph. i 19 Kara TTJV evepyeiav...T)v ev^pytjKev (where he is thus led to a some-
what unusual use of evepyeiv: see the detached note on that word): ii 4
8ia TTJV iro\\f)v ayairr)V avrov T)V qyamjarev TJUO.S : IV I rrjs JcXiJtretas tjs
cxXgdqrc: 2 Cor. i 4 Bta TTJS napaK\fi<rea>s TJS irapaKoXovftftia avToi. The
sense appears to be, ' His grace whereby He hath endued us with grace 9 .
This is a more emphatic way of saying, ' His grace which He hath bestowed
on us': it does not differ materially from the subsequent phrase of v. 8,
' His grace which He hath made to abound toward us '.
The Peshito version seems to recognise this meaning of the passage in
its rendering ^A*^ ^J&Z.^TI oco, ' which He poured on us '. The Latin
version, however, renders: 'gratiae suae in qua gratificauit nos'. The
verb 'gratifico' appears to have been coined for this occasion. The com-
ment of Pelagius on the verse gives the meaning which was probably
present to the translator's mind: 'In qua gratia gratos fecit nos sibi
in Christo'. The interpretation was perhaps the natural issue of the
corruption of T/S into ev #, which is found in D 2 G 3 and later authorities
and is probably a scribe's grammatical emendation. The relative qs is to
be explained by attraction to the case of its antecedent, as in 2 Cor, i 4,_
jjuoted-above. It-is simplest-to suppose"that"it~stMds~f6F^ : there appears
to be no warrant for a cognate accusative, r)v exapfavHrev.
Chrysostom's interpretation of exapi<rev quas is marked by a deter-
mination to compass every meaning of the word. In the first instance
he notes quite briefly (Field p. no p): OVKOVV el els TOVTO
eiraivov 86ijs TTJS \apiTos avrov, Kal iva 8eirj TTJV xP lv a ^
avTri. Here it would seem as though he took exaptToxrev rjfuis as simply
meaning 'endued us with grace'; in that grace, he urges, we ought
to abide. But presently it occurs to him (in B) to contrast
with exapia-aTo. Thus he says: OVK ciwev ( ?js ^a/weraro', dXX' ';
T)p,as'' TOVTCOTIV, ov \iovov afj.apTTjfj.aToav dirr)\\aev aXXa icat eirepdtrTOVs
eiroirjo-f. He gives as an illustration the restoration of an aged and
diseased beggar to youth, strength and beauty (the old Greek idea of
^aptf): otrrcos e^ffKijirev rjp&v Tr\v ^fvxn"t Ka * "aX^y xal vo6eivt)v Kal eire-
pao~rov iroir)<rev,.,ovT(ii)s rjfias eirixdptras eiroiijo'e Kal avrco irodeivovy.
He then quotes 'The king shall desire thy beauty* (Ps. xlv 12). He is
then led off by the phrase Kexapvrtoaeva prjuaTa to speak of the 'gracious-
ness of speech' which marks the Christian: ovxl x a P^ ft/ eKelvo TO Ttatblov
elvai tpauev, onep av uera TTJS TOV crtopaTos pas Kal n-oXX^f exg TTJV ev
rols pfjuao't x a P lv i ToiovToi eltriv ol iritrroi.,.Ti xapiecrTepov T$>V pi)ua-
Tov 8f a>v tmoTa<ro'6ue6a TIB 6to/3dXo), Si' av ovvrao'o~6(j,e0a ro> ^piorw;
TTJS 6uo\ayias 'w/c TT}S irpb TOV Xovrpov, TTJS peTa TO \owp6v; But
in all this he is wilfully going back from St Paul's use of X"*P 15 > an< ^
introducing the sense of charm of form or of speech which belonged to
vv in non-biblical writers.
es
THE BELOVED. 229
'The Beloved' as a Messianic title.
i. In the LXX 6 rfyairjipevos occurs several times as a name of the chosen i. Use in
people, as personified in a single representative. In the Blessing of Moses *^ ie r ^ r ^ t
it is used three times to translate Jeshurun t-'HK'? : Dent, xxxii 1 dire\d- lL
15
6 ^yamjfievog, xxxiii 5 KOI carat ev rig ifyainipcvcp a.px<av, 2,6 owe eortv
iaa-irep 6 debs roC jyainjpevov. It again represents Jeshurun in Isa. xliv 2
fir) (f)o@ov, Trais ftov 'laKtu/3, Km o rjyairrifievos 'itrptnjX ov eeXea/ijf : here
3 ltrpar)\ is an addition of the LXX (in the Targum it also occurs in this place,
but as a substitute for Jeshurun}.
It is also used to render T"JJ ' in the address to Benjamin (without the
article) Deut. xxxiii 12 ^yam)fj.evos virb Kvpiov (Hin* TH?)
fos '. and in Isa. V I &<ra> 8f} T< 7fyeMn^ei/G> 007101 TOV dyairrjTov
ainrek&vl [toy. a/nTrcXoav fyevqdr) r& rfyainjfJLfvy K.7-.X.
"We may note also its occurrence in_Bar.Jii_37IaK<<3-TM-n-atyt-avToi>
rip r)yairr)iifv& [vir] avrov: and in Ban. iii (35) 8ia *A/3/)oa/i
rbv yyaartfli.evov virb trov (comp. 2 Chron. XX J airfpnan 'Aftpaap TQ
<rov).
2. In the LXX we find two distinct meanings of 6 dyamjros. 2. Of &
(1) Like o ^yairrjij.evos, it is sometimes used for 1HJ 'beloved. 5 Thus <tyMnjr<5s.
we find it in Ps. xliv (xlv) tit. $8r, faep TOV dyam,: in Ps. lix (k) 5 ' Beloved> -
and Ps. CVJi (cviii) 6 OTTO? av pva-daanv ol dycnnjTol a-ov.
In Isa. v i, as we have already seen, where 6 ^yaTrrjfievos represents *in^
o dyamjTos is used for ifa, in order to make a distinction 1 .
(2) But we also find o oyamjros used, according to a Greek idiom, for 'Only'.
an only sou. In the story of the sacrifice of Isaac it occurs three times
where the Hebrew has TFP 'only': Gen. xxii 2 rbv vlov a-ov rbv dymrri-
TOV: comp. vo. 12, 16. Of Jephthah's daughter we read in Judg. xi 34
rn*D? K'C! pni\: for this the A text has nai avrrj [wvoyev^s avr$
(to which many cursives add irepi^KTos OVT$): B has ical Ijv avnj
y fin^s (et haec unica ei Aug locufc ). In Amos viii 10 and Jer. vi 26
is used as the equivalent of 'a mourning for an only child' 2 :
1 It also represents "Vj^ in Jer. . solitarium quam unigenitum sonat : si
sxxviii 20 (xxxi 20) vlits dyajnjrds el " m esse * dilectux siue amabilis, ut
'E^pafr, and 3HI in Zech. xiii 6 as LXX transtulerunt, IDE) poneretur.'
ftrfcfar *'V * ^ *>W [A rou Even Greeks at a late period seem to
AyamroOlnov. have found a difficulty in the use of
2 Jerome, writing on Jer. vi 26, S"""^! * * he ri ltt e ^7 *
shews that he failed to recognise the ?/ SSa v ? )e Dett ' F .' ? ^'/X m 5 -
idiom at this platse : 'ubi nos diximus m ^^ has ' as a cl * atlon of Gen - xxu
,
inHebraicoscribiturlAID.quodmagis 1r5 ' r<5 ''' Ti " f"> v y ev 3- Dr Hort P omts
230
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
COlnp. Zech. xii 10 KO^OVTM cif afobv nonerov cos eV dyamjT^
, Use in
.T.
'O dya-
?njT<5s in
the Gos-
pels.
Its mean-
ing.
Not an
epithet,
(i)
(2)
3. In the New Testament we find 6 yyamjpevos in Eph. i 6, the passage
which has given occasion for this investigation.
C O ayajnjros is used, both directly and indirectly, of our Lord in the
Gospels.
At the Baptism:
Mark ill Su el 6 vlos IMV 6 dyamjTos, ev trol evBoKijcra.
Matt, iii 17 OVTOS eartv 6 vlos pav o dycanjTos, ev $ evdoiajo-a.
Luke iii 22 as in St Mark, but with a notable 'Western*
variant 2 .
At the Transfiguration :
Mark ix 7 OVTOS mi 6 vlos p>ov 6 dyamjTos.
Matt, xvii 5 OVTOS COTIV o vlos ftov 6 dyamjTos, ev a evdoKT)<ra.
Luke ix 35 OVTOS eoriv 6 vlos futv 6 cXeXey/teros 3 .
Comp. 2 Pet. i 17 'O vlos ftov o dyamjTbs OVTOS ccmv.
(3) Indirectly, in the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen.
Mark xii 6 en era x', vlbv dycanjTov.
Luke XX 13 irefv^at TOV vlov ftov TOV dyamjTov.
St Matthew has no parallel to this clause.
If the third of these examples stood alone, it would be natural to
interpret it in accordance with the Greek Jdiom^eferred__to_aboy-e:-and-
_a_close_parallel-might--be-fouad^in~TobiOii 10 (N text), pia a-ot virfjpxcv
Bvyanjp dyairrjiy. But it is diflScult to separate its interpretation from
that of o vlos ftov 6 dyairrjTos, which is twice applied directly to our Lord.
Of this three renderings are possible :
(1) ' Thou art My only Son ',
(2) ' Thou art My beloved Son ',
(3) ' Thou art My Son, the beloved '.
The first of these renderings is vigorously championed by Daniel Heinsius,
Exerdtt. ad N. T. p. 94 (ed. Cantabr. 1640) on Mark i u. The second is
familiar to us in our English Bible, and in St Mark at least it suggests
out (Two Dissert, p. 49 n.) that from
his comment we can see that lie found
the word povoyevT) in his text.
The usage belongs to classical Greek
from the time of Homer: see Od. ii
365, iv 727, 817, and comp. II. vi
400 f. From prose writers we may
cite Demosth. Midias p. 567 01) ftty
"Ntic^paT&s y' offrwj 6 TOV TSiiciov 6 &ya-
mrros ircus, and Xenoph. Cyrop. iv
6 1 iBaipa. . . &pri yeveidffKOVTa, TOP HpiffTov
iraida Tbv &yairt]T&v, Aristotle shews
an interesting extension of the usage,
when in referring to the lex talionis
he points out (RJiet, i 7) that the
penalty of 'an eye for an eye' be-
comes unfair when a man has lost
one eye already; for then he is de-
prived of his only organ of vision
(&yairt]Tbv y&p d^fprjTtu).
1 "We may note that in Prov. iv 3
Tfl is represented by dyairdpevos.
This word is used of Christ in Just.
Dial. 93 &yye\ov iKeivov...rbv dyeurtb-
ftevov i>ir' UVTOV TOV Kvplov Kal 6eov'.
but there it stands for the more usual
<re (D abc...) : from Ps. ii 7.
3 This is the reading of KBL syr rin
arm sah boh a. It is undoubtedly to
be preferred to that of ACD syr "**"' 11
b c vg, which have 6 dyavijTos with St
Mark.
THE BELOVED. 231
itself as the most obvious translation. Yet there is some reason for sup-
posing that the third interpretation was that which presented itself to the
minds both of St Matthew and of St Luke.
St Matthew assimilates the utterances at the Baptism and the Trans- but a dis-
figuration, writing in each case OSros eariv 6 vlos ftov o dycwrijTos, ev a>
evBoKrja-a. It is possible that the right punctuation of this sentence is
that which is suggested in the margin of the text of Westcott and Hort
at Matt, iii 17: Ovros eariv 6 vlos pav, 6 dyairrfrbs ev o> evSoM/cra. For in
Matt, xii 1 8 we find a remarkable change introduced in a quotation from
Jsa. xlii i. The Hebrew and the ixx of this passage are as follows:
v^o \n
npy? Tfl3
'lcuca/3 o vais /nou, avriX^ofiat avrov'
'itrpaijX 6 eK\eKTos fiov, wpoo-eSe^aro avrov 17 J^ujpj /*ou.
But St Matthew has:
o irais (iov ov
6 dycmrjTos fiov ov ev8oKijo-ev 17
There is no justification for rendering ^TD? otherwise than as 'My
Elect' 1 . It would seem therefore that St Matthew, in substituting^My
repeated phrase of his Gospel
o dyairqTos ev <p evdoKrjo-a: and it follows that he regarded o dyajrr}Tos as
a distinct title and not as an epithet of o vlos /uou.
St Luke, by his substitution of o e/cXeXey/tci/oy for o ayemrjTos (ix 35), and to
appears likewise to indicate that the latter was regarded as a title by itself, St Luke :
for which the former was practically an equivalent.
It is worthy of note that the Old Syriac version, in every instance and in the
(except one) in which its testimony is preserved to us, renders o tuos pov Old Syriac
o dyairrjTos by >-> "?o ^Ti=a 'My Son and My Beloved': the conjunction veision
being inserted to make it clear that the titles are distinct 2 .
It is further to be urged on behalf of this interpretation that the words The two
Si et 6 vlos uov of the Voice at the Baptism according to St Mark directly allusions^
in Mark i
1 This passage, Isa. xlii i, is ex- mentators. Thus in Harnack's note ir "
plicitly referred to the Messiah in the on r$ yyairtifitvy in Ep. Barn, iii 6
Targum, which renders it thus: NH we read: 'Nomen erat Messiae apud
^nnan *"pni n*J'TlpK Kn^D 'HUP ludaeos ex les. 42, i repetitum', with
nonD ma 'BeholdMyservantMessiah; Deferences to Liicke, EinLin die Apok.
Iwillupholdhim: Mine elect, in whom ?* n P- 28 . r n l *> and Langen Da S
MyWordisweU-pleased'. Judenthum in PaJast. z. Z. Chnsti
Curiously enough the Latin trans- P- l6a ' 4 2 7- Hilgenfeld in his edition
lation of this which is given in the of ?g ? a ' * ? oia * he tradition.
Polyglots of Le Jay and Walton has ... 2 So Matt - 1U r 7 ( s ^ <), Luke
dilectusmeus as the rendering of n>H3. f 32 / sm: cu ***) Matt ; XVU .S
The mistake is perhaps due to a re- (J : Bin va ? at )> Luke 1X 35 (: sin
membrance of the Vulgate in Matt. **=X."to =& ^XeXey/^of). For
xii 18. However it may have origin- Mark i n we have no evidence. The
ated, it is time that it was corrected: one exception is Mark ix 7 (sin
for it has misled a series of com- "ii""ua *^=a : cu vacat).
232 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
reproduce the language of Ps. ii 7, 'The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art
My Son'. If therefore we may suppose that 'the Beloved' and 'the Elect*
were interchangeable titles in the religious phraseology of the time, we
have in the Voice a combination of Ps. ii 7 with Isa. xlii i, and 'the Son'
who is set as King upon the holy hill of Sion is identified with 'the Servant
of Jehovah'; so that in the Divine intimation of the Messiahship the ideas
of triumph and suffering are from the outset linked together.
4. Early 4. In the early Christian literature outside the New Testament we
Christian frequently find o qyamj^ei/os used absolutely of Christ ; and also o tfycan}-
'0 AyLnj- P* vos ""<"* a combination which recalls Isa. xliv 2. The former occurs
ftfros&b- thrice in the Epistle of Barnabas: iii'6 6 Xao? ov TjToifuurev ev T ^yainj-
eolutely: pevto avYov, iv 3 o ftfovrarqs trvvreriujKcv roiis Kaipovs KOI TO.S type pas, tva
raxvvjj o qycanjiicvos OVTOV nal ciri TTJV Khjpovopiav ffgrj, iv 8 trvvfrpl^T] avr<av
f) Stadq*)?, tva 77 TOV TJya.irrifj.evov *Ir]<rov fVKaTao~<ppayia~dfj els TTJV napdiav
rjpav. See also Ignat. Smyrn. inscr. cxicX^o-t? 6eov irarpbs Kai TOV rjyam)-
fievov 'irja-ov Xpurrot): Ada Theclae I iravra ra \oyta TOV K.vpiov...Ka\ TTJS
yevvr/a-eas Kal rfjs dvaoTcureas TOV rjyo,irr)p.evov ey\viecuvev avrovs, KOI TO,
pcyoXcta TOV ^ptorow K.T.X. 1 : Clem. Paedag. i 6 25 avrtKa yovv {3a3mop.4vfo
TO> Kvpiw air ovpav&v eir^ijtrei' {pavy pdprvs ^yairrnKVov flos pov el ail
dyainjTos, eyw OTjpepov yeyewtjKa tre.
similarly 'O ayarniTos is used throughout the apocryphal Ascension of Isaiah, as
6aya,iri}T6s. though it were a recognised appellation of the Messiah : and although it
t-not-m^
Jewish usage.
Combina- We find the combination o rjyainjuevos n-als in Clem. Rom. lix 2, 3: and
^^J^ o dyairrjTos natg in Ep. ad Diogn. 8, and, as a liturgical formula, hi Mart.
Polyc. 14, Acta Theclae 24. In Herm. Sim. ix 12 5 we have TOV vloi)
avrov TOV qyamjpevov VTT OVTOV : comp. Sim. V 2 6 TOV vlov OVTOV TOV
dyamjTov.
The Apos- A number of references to yyamipevof and dyamjTos in the Apostolic
tolie Con- Constitutions are brought together by Harnack in his note on Ep. Barn.
a itutions. y. Specially to be observed are v 19 (Lag. p. 152, L 14) Tore oifrovrai
Toy ayamiTov TOV Qeov, ov eeiteimjo'av, which shews that the dyaTrr/Tos of
Zech. xii 10 was interpreted of Christ: and v 20 (Lag. p. 153, L 24), where
the title of Ps. xliv (xlv) oJSq virep TOV dyamjTov is similarly explained
(comp. Jerome Commentarioli in Pss., Anecd. Mareds. u'i pt. i, and
Corderius Catena in Pss. ad loc.}.
Summary. The case then for regarding 'the Beloved' as a Messianic title in use
among the Jews in New Testament times may be stated thus.
i. 'The Beloved' (o qyamipevos LXX) is used in the Old Testament
as a title of Israel It is easy to suppose that, just as the titles 'the
Servant' and 'the Elect 'were transferred from Israel to the Messiah as
Israel's representative, so also the title 'the Beloved ' would become a title
of the Messiah.
1 In Iren. i 10 1 (Mass.) we read : Kd contain a reference to Eph. i 10
rip frffaptcov els TOUS otpavots dv&Xqifriv <w'a/ce0aXeu(i<rew0ai T4 irdvTa, it is pro-
TOU '^yamifJL^vov X/ucrroD 'lycrou TOV bable that 6 fiyavim&o* was directly
xvplov ijfuar : but, as the next words suggested by Eph. i 6.
THE BELOVED. 233
2. When the first and the third of our Gospels were written, 'the
Beloved' and 'the Elect' were practically interchangeable terms. For in
St Matthew we find o ayamyros pav in a citation of Isa. xlii i, where the
Hebrew has *Tfl? and the LXX renders literally o AcXc/cros pov. And,
conversely, St Luke substitutes o eVcXeXry/zeVos for 6 ayamjros in the words
spoken at the Transfiguration.
3. Each of these substitutions in a different way favours the view that
in St Mark's twice repeated phrase 6 vlos pav 6 dyampros a separate title is
given by 6 dyamjTos, and not a mere epithet of vlos.
4. The Old Syriac Version emphasises the distinctness of the title by
its rendering ' My Son and My Beloved'.
5. In Eph. i 9 St Paul uses eV r<5 ^yamjfievo as the equivalent of cv
T& xpurry, in a context in which he is designedly making use of terms
which had a special significance in Jewish phraseology.
6. In early Christian literature o ^yairr^evos is undoubtedly used as
a title of our Lord ; and it is difficult to suppose that its only source is this
one passage in St Paul
7. If the Messianic portions of the Ascension of Isaiah cannot be
regarded as pre-Christian, yet the persistent use hi them of 6 dyamjns as
the designation of Messiah suggests that the writer must have thought it
consistent with verisimilitude ^m_ajKorkjrefaich_affected_tO-be_a_Jewish
prophecy of Christ
234 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
On the meaning of fj,v<mjpi.ov in the New Testament.
History of The history of the word /jnxmjpiov is curious and instructive. Starting
the word, vsith a technical signification in pagan religion, the word passes through
a neutral phase in which the original metaphor has ceased to be felt, and
in the end is adopted as a technical term of the Christian religion. The
fact that it ends as it began in signifying a religious rite readily suggests
that it was borrowed by Christianity directly from paganism. With certain
limitations this may be true. That the Christian Sacraments of Baptism
and the Eucharist were called pvarfipia is probably due, in part at least,
to the fact that the word was in common use for rites to which these
Sacraments seemed to present some parallels. But, if so, it is certain
that the borrowing process was considerably facilitated by the use of
faMrnjpiov which is found in the New Testament; and_yhatjasej_as_jpe_
shall see,_has_no-direet-eonnexion-withrthe~^r1ginal technical sense of
the word.
i. Its deri- i. We find in the classical Greek writers a group of words pvea,
vation and jivonjs, {worry piov all of which are technical terms: 'to initiate', 'one
classical who is ini ti a t e d', 'that into which he is initiated'. Of the derivation of
pve<o nothing certain can be said. It has often been stated that the root
is to be found in pva>. But /xvo-as means 'with the eyes shut'; and though
the word is sometimes used by transference also of shutting the mouth,
it is always necessary that the word 'mouth' should be expressly added
in order to give this meaning. We cannot be certain therefore though
in itself it is not improbable that the first meaning of the word is one
of secrecy. We must be content to say that in usage pvarniptov signifies
a religious rite which it is profanity to reveal.
Later use. In later Greek the word was used metaphorically of that which may
not be revealed, a secret of any kind 1 . Thus we have a line of Menander
(incert. 168), fi.v<rnjpi6v <rov f4 Kareiirgs r <iA^>: 'tell not thy secret to
a friend'.
i. Usageof 2. The word is not used by the LXX in translating any Hebrew word of
the Greek the canonical books of the Old Testament. But in the Greek of Dan. ii,
where the original is Aramaic, it is used eight times 2 to render KH, a word
i? x PI borrowed from Persian and found in Syriac as ^1*^1. It is here used
in reference to Nebuchadnezzar's dream and its interpretation by Daniel:
1 In Plato Theaet. 156 A the word has (9), a passage which has fallen out of
not lost its original meaning at all, as the LXX by hamoeoteleuton, but is pre-
is shewn by apfajros in the context. served in Theodotion's version.
2 We may add to these Dan. iv 6
THE MEANING OF MYZTHPION. 2 35
the 'mystery' was revealed to Daniel by the God who alone reveals
'mysteries'. The word 'secret' seems fully to represent the meaning.
In the remaining books of the Greek Old Testament we have the O. T.
following examples of the use of the word 1 : Apocry-
Tobit xii 7 pvcmjpiov /Sao-tXe'cos neaXop upvifrai, ra 82 cpya TOV 6eov
aVaKaXiforetv j/8d|cos (repeated in v. 1 i).
Judith ii 2 edeTO /Lier' avr&v TO . fjLvcmjpiov rrjs j3ov\rjs avrov (when
Nebuchadnezzar summons his servants and chief men).
2 Mace, xiii 21 irpooyyyetXev Se ra /auon/pia (of Rhodocus, who 'dis-
closed the secrets' to the enemy).
Wisd. ii 22 Kai OVK <[yva><rav pvo-njpia tieov, ovde fiurdov rfarurav
wnoTijTos (of those who put the righteous to torture and death:
' their malice blinded them ').
Wisd, vi 22 TI 8e eari? (rcxfria KOI TTWS eyei/ero amjyyeXw,
KCLI OVK a7roKpvi/ra> vplv pvcrnqpta.
Wisd, xiv 15 pwrrypta ' KM re\erds (of heathen mysteries: comp.
fivo^ras 0ido-ov in xii 5)-
Wisd. xiv 23 17 yap T(KVO(f)6vovs reXeray r) Kpvffria fjLvonjpta (again of
heathen mysteries).
Ecclus. iii 1 8 irpaeo-iv mroKoXvirrei TO, fwo-njpia OVTOV [N ca : not in
Ecclus._xxii_22 _ fwamjpiovdiroKah.v\lt6Ci>g-Kai 7rXj?ys-5oXtaf-(of the
things which break friendship).
Ecclus. xxvii 16 o diroicah.virT<ov (j,v(TT^pia d7T<o\f<rev irioriv (and
similarly with the same verb in vv. 17, 21).
In the other Greek translators of the Old Testament we have occa- Other
sional examples of the use of the word.
Job xv 8 'Hast thou heard the secret of God?' So A.V.: Heb.
nwn.
R.V. ' Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God ? ' marg. Or,
' Dost thou hearken in the council ? '
LXX ^ ovvraypa Kvpiov any/coos ; Symm. Theod. /iuon/ptov.
Fs. xxiv (xxv) 14 LXX KpaTaiatfj-a Kvpios TV (poftovpevtov avrov.
Theod, Quint. /luoriyptov.
Prov. xi 13 'a talebearer revealeth secrets'; LXX
a7roKaXv7rr /SouXay ev (rvvedpiy. Symm. fi.vonjpi.ov.
Prov. xx 19 (not in LXX): the same words.
Isa. xxiv 1 6 bis (not in LXX): TO pvorijpiov ftow e/itot bis. A.V. 'My
leanness ! my leanness ! '
We see from these examples-(i) that the word (jLvarfoiov was the natural The word
word to use in speaking of any secret, whether of the secret plan of a cam- * s use< * ^
paign or of a secret between a man and his friend. It is but sparingly any seere '
used of a Divine secret : it may be that the earlier translators of the Old
Testament purposely avoided the word on account of its heathen associa- ^ tll ^
tions. We see moreover (2) that its natural counterpart is found in words K a\virr&.v.
1 Of cognate words we may note : /wi5(ms yap tynv TTJS TOV 6eoS
(ivffTiKus= l secretly,' 3 Mace, iii 10: 'she is privy to the mysteries of the
of Wisdom, in Wisd. viii 4 knowledge of God '.
236
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
like dn-ojcoXvirrcu' and
senses
i?, words which are equally applicable to all
3. Later
Apocry-
pha.
Enoch.
4. The
Gospels
and the
Apoca-
lypse.
Pauline
Epistles.
* The mys-
tery of
iniquity ',
3. An important link between the usage of the Greek Old Testament
and the usage of the New Testament is found in the later Jewish Apo-
cryphal literature. Thus, we may note the following examples from the
Book of Enoch :
viii 3 (apud Syncett.) of Azazel and his companions : irmrres OVTOI
tfpavro avaKa\vTTTfiv TO /Auanfpia rats yvvatgiv avrcov.
IX 6 (Gizeh fragm.) efij/Xtuo-ei/ ra pvarfjpia TOV alatvos T& ev TW
ovpavv: so in x 7, xvi 3 ter, of the same matters 1 .
4. In the New Testament, apart from the Pauline Epistles, the word is
only found in one passage of the Synoptic Gospels (with its parallels) and
four times in the Apocalypse.
Mark iv II vplv TO pvtmjptov 6V8orat TTJS (3cun\cias rov tfeow (Matt. Luke
vftiv dedorai yveavai TO. ft.v<rrrjpia rijs ficuriXeias TOV deov [Matt. TO>V ovpavoavj).
'The secret' of the kingdom was revealed to the disciples, while the
multitudes heard only the parables which contained but at the same time
concealed it
Apoc. i 2O TO fj.varripiov rS>v enrol aorepov ovs ei&es...
In this place the word pvoryptov follows immediately after the words
a /Lic'XXei ylvfo-dai pera TO.VTO. These words and fivtrrjpiov itself are printed
in small uncials in the text of Westcott and Hprt, with a reference to
-Dani-ii-29. Whether~a~direct^lluslon~to~the Book of Daniel was intended
by the writer may be doubted. The sense of \iv<rri\piov in Dan. ii appears
to be quite general ; whereas here we seem to have an instance of the
use of the word in a somewhat special sense, as either the meaning
underlying an external symbol, or even the symbol itself. See below on
Apoc. xvii 5, 7.
Apoc. X 7 Kai erc\c<T0T] r6 MyCTriplON TO? Oeofi ? evrjyye^urev TO'j'C
eAY T o? Aof Aoyc Tofc npo<J>rif&c.
"With this we must compare Amos iii 7 (ixx) eav
irpos TOVS 8ov\avs avrov TOUS irpo(p^Tas (HID 1173
pv<rrqptov, which apparently had been avoided by the LXX, has now become
the natural word for the Divine 'secret'.
Apoc. xvii 5> 7 Ka * ^i TO perwrov avr^s ovopa yeypafifj-evov, jj.v(mjpiov t
BABYAflN...ey< epw trot TO pvo~rrjpiov rijs yvvaiKos KOI TOV drjpiov. The
name Babylon is itself a /Ltuon?ptop, that is, a symbol containing a secret
meaning. In the second place the fj-vtrrr/piov is rather the meaning of the
symbol, as in i 20.
5. We now come to the Pauline Epistles. The earliest example we
meet with is an isolated one. The word is used in describing the opera-
tions of the Antichrist in 2 Thess. ii 7. The Man of Iniquity is to be
revealed (dn-oica\w0^, . 3). At present however there is TO KUTCXOV s
TO diroKakv(p6TJvai avrbv ev T<J> OVTOV temper TO yap ftvcrrrjpiov ^ffiij eWpyemu
1 The Greek fragments of the Book Aethiopic text, see Anrich Mysterien-
Here we find that
of Enoch are reprinted in the last
volume of Dr Swete's manual edition
of the Septuagint (ed. i, 1899). For
references to the word 'mystery' in the
wesen, p. 144, notes : it occurs several
times in connexion with 'the Tablets
of Heaven '.
THE MEANING OF MYSTHPION. 237
rfie dvopias' povov 6 KaT^x cav ^P rt * CK pevov yivrjroju Kai rort dirona-
\v(p6^o~eTai 6 avopos, K.T.X.
Here there can be little doubt that the word pvtmjpiov has been a secret to
suggested as being the natural counterpart to the aTro/coAt^ts already ^ * e "
spoken of. The Man of Iniquity is the embodiment of the principle of veae *
iniquity in a personality. The restraint which at present hinders him
from being 'revealed' is spoken of first as a principle of restraint (TO
Karexov), and then as a personal embodiment of that principle (o Kcn-e^ow).
While the restraint is effectual, the dvopia cannot be 'revealed' as o avo-
pos. But already it is at work, and it will be 'revealed' later on : till it
is 'revealed' it is a 'secret' TO pvorqpiov Tr)g dvopias. There is perhaps
an intentional parallel with the 'secret' of the Gospel, which waited to be
revealed in its proper time 1 .
In i Cor. ii i St Paul is reminding the Corinthians of the extreme ' The mys-
simplicity of his first preaching to them: Kayv IXdtov npbs vpas, d8e\<pot, **%?*
?jK6ov ov naff virepox^v Xoyou ^ (ro<pias KaTayytAXow vpiv TO pvoTqpiov 2 TOV
0eovj ov yap e<ptva TI eldevai ev vpiv el pr) 'Iqo-ovv 'Kpurrbv KOI TOVTOV etrrav-
papevov. Not with any superiority of 'wisdom' had he come to them; not
as a publisher of the Divine secret: nay rather as knowing nothing save
Jesus Christ, and Him as crucified (the message of the Cross being, as
he had already said in i 18, folly to the Greeks). But, although for the
moment he seems to disparage 'wisdom' and 'mysteries', he presently
u-6):nro0tai>-8^XaAo/^
to vtjirioig of iii i): and he continues in v. 7: aXXa \a\ovpev deov a-otplav
ev pvarripito, Tr}v diroKeiepvppevijv, fjv Trpoapurev 6 0ebs irpb TOV alwvcov fls
86gav rjp&v. This use of the word is the characteristically Pauline use.
It denotes the secret Purpose of God in His dealings with man. This
is par excellence the Mystery.
In i Cor. iv i the Apostle describes himself and his fellow-workers as The plural
vmjpfTas XptoroS KOI ol<ov6povs pvarripi<ov 0eov } ' entrusted for the sake of / iro
others with a knowledge of the Divine secrets'. The word is twice again
used in the plural : in i Cor. xiii 2 KO.V c^ca irpo(pT]Tciav KOI eidoo TO pvorjpia
iravra KOI iravav TTJV yvetaiv, where its connexion with prophecy is note-
worthy: and in i Cor. xiv 2 irvcvpari Be XoXe? pvorjpia, where it is connected
with speaking in a tongue which no one understands, in contrast with
such prophecy as is intelligible to the Church.
1 There is a merely verbal parallel Syriao Pesbito and the Bohairic. It
to T& pv<rr/ipun> TTJS avopias in the de- has also some Latin support. On the
scription which Josephus (B. J.i 24 i) other hand pa.pr6ptov is the reading of
gives of Antipater. In contrast with K C BD 2 G 3 LP, most cursives, the Latin
others who uttered their thoughts Vulgate, the Sahidic, Armenian and
freely, and were accused by him for Aethiopic; and it has the support of
their unguarded utterances, the taci- Chrysostom and some other patristic
turnity and secrecy of Antipater are writers. It may have come in from a
emphasised : TOV 'AvTiirdrpov filov otf/c recollection of TO pap-rfpiov TOV -xpiarov
Sv ijpapTev TIS eliriav Kaidas pvarfipwv. in i 6. The substitution destroys the
His life was a villainous secret. completeness of the contrast between
2 It is to be noted that here there is v. i and v. 7, and gives altogether a
a variation of reading : PMSTIJOIOV is weaker sense.
read by K*AC, some cursives, the
238
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
'A mys-
tery'.
This
mystery'.
' The mys-
tery' par
excellence.
Epistle to
Colos-
sians.
Epistle to
Ephe-
sians.
One more example is found in the same epistle (i Cor. xv 51), of the
change at the Second Coming: Ibov (tuonjpiov viuv Xryo>. This may
be compared with the use of the word in the latter part of the Book
of Enoch.
In Bom. xi 25 the problem of the unbelief of Israel, which accords
with ancient prophecy and in some strange way is bound up with ' mercy'
to the Gentiles, is spoken of as a Divine secret: ov yap Bf\a> vpas
dyvoelv, aeX<ot, TO fivarqpiov TOVTO,...OT ir<upa>(ris dirb pepovs T<p 'Itrpafjj\
yeyovev, K.T.\.
In Bom. xvi 25, 26 we hare again the characteristically Pauline use
of the word : KOTO mroKakvfyiv pvtmjpiov xpovois alcoviois creo-iyrjuevov,
cpavcptodevTos Be vvv, Sta re ypa(p<ov irpo$rfriK&v HOT eiriTayrjv TOV almviov
6eov els viraKorjv moreens els irdvra ra edvt) yvopurdevros. This is the
secret of secrete, the eternal secret now at last revealed in the Christian
Church.
This last passage shews that the use of the word which we find in the
Epistles to the Colossians and the Ephesians is no new one. The Mystery
par excellence has a special reference to the Gentiles. In fact it is nothing
less than the inclusion of the Gentiles as well as the Jews in a common
human hope in Christ. So in CoL i 26, 27 we read: TO (ivamjpiov TO
diroKeKpVfip.evov OTTO rcav aloavcav KOI dirb TV yevewv, vvv Se etpavepadr)
rots dyiois UVTOV, ois ^6e\rjaev 6 0eos yva>pi<rai ri TO TT\OVTOS TTJS
TOV fJMtrrrjpiov TOVTOV ev Tols eQveaLiv,_oi(mv Xpiorog ev-vfuv^-
Sot-Tjs. 'Christ in you Gentiles' that is the great surprise. None could
have foreseen or imagined it. It was God's secret. He has disclosed
it to us.
In Col. ii 2 the same thought is carried on in the words, els eiriyvaxriv
TOV pvorijpiov TOV 6eov, Xptorov, ev <p elo~lv iravres ol 0t)<ravpol rfjs o~o(pias
KOI yvcotrecos diroKpvtpoi. Here 'the mystery of God' is Christ as the
treasury of the hidden wisdom which it is granted them to know.
In Col. iv 3 the Apostle bids them pray that he may have opportunity
XaXTJcrai TO p.v(rr^piov TOV xpiarovf fit' o KOI deBepai, iva <pavep<aa-<n avTo fas
Sei p.e XaX^o-at.
In the Epistle to the Ephesians the word occurs five times in this same
sense. We need but cite the passages here.
i. 9, IO yvcoplaas T/JLUP TO fivarripiov TOV 6e\r](MTOs avToC, Kara TTJV evboKiav
avrov TJV irpoedero ev auro> els oiKovopiav TOV ir\t)ptofMTos T&V Koip&v, dvaK((pa-
\aiKxracrdai TO travra ev TO> xpurra.
iii 3 6 Kara diroKaXv^fiv fyv<upi<r0rj [tat TO /ivonjpiov, KaOws vpoeypa^fa
ev oXtyo), TTpos o 8vvao~6e dvayivcoa'KOVTes vofjvai TTJV o~vve<riv fiov ev roi
p,vo*rr)pi(p TOV xpurrov, o eTepais yeveats ov< eyvcapia-drj TOIS vlois T&V dv-
dpairiav as vvv direKa\v$>6ri TOIS dyiois aTrooroXots auToO KOI npo^Tais ev
irvcvp-an, etvai TO, e6vr) awtdajpovofta KOI o~uvo-a)fj.a KOI o~vvfj.eTo^a, TTJS eirayye-
\ias ev XptoTw 'Iija-ov Sta TOU evayyeXiov.
iii 9 * a * <^>BT/o~at TIS 17 oiKOVOfiia TOV fivo-njpiov TOV diroKeKpv(ip.evov dirb
Tcav aiavcw ev T 6e& T TO navra KTio-avrt.
VI 19 ev irappT)o~iQ yvatplo-at TO (JLvarrfpiov TOV evayyeXiov virep o$ npe-
afBevu* ev aXvo-fi.
The Mystery, then, on which St Paul delights to dwell is the unification
THE MEANING OF MYSTHPIOIM. 239
of humanity in the Christ, the new human hope, a hope for all men of all
conditions, a hope not for men only but even for the universe.
The word pvorfpiav occurs once more in the Epistle to the Ephesians, This
and in a sense somewhat different from any which we have hitherto mystery',
considered. In Eph. v 32 we read : TO pwrrfpiov TOVTO peya e'errt'v, eya>
fie Xeyca els Xpurrbv KOL els TT/V eKK\r)ariav. St Paul has cited the primaeval
ordinance of Marriage, which closes with the enigmatic words KOL eaovrat,
of Bvo els a-apita plav. This saying is true, he seems to say, of earthly .
marriage; but it has a yet higher signification. The ancient ordinance
is not merely a divinely constituted law of human life ; it has a secret
meaning. It is a fivanjpiov, and the p.v(mjpiov is a mighty one. I declare
it in reference to Christ and to the Church. I say no more of it now:
but I bid you see to it that in common life each one of you is true to its
first and plainest meaning, for the sake of the deeper meaning that lies
hid in Christ.
The sense in which the word here occurs may be illustrated from later A symbol,
writers. Justin Martyr, for example, uses it somewhat in the same way or its .
when he speaks for instance (Trypho 44) of certain commands of the meanm ^'
Mosaic law as being given els pvorjpiov TOV XpioroC : or, again, when he
says of the Paschal lamb (Trypho 40) TO fnxrr^piov ovv TOV irpoftarov...
TVJTOS yv TOV Xptorov. The Paschal rite contained a secret, not to be
revealed till Christ came. Thus TO fwo-Typtov is practically a symbol or
-a-tvpe,-wath-stress-laid-upon-the-secrecy-of-its-meaning-until-it-comes~to
be fulfilled.
We have still to consider two passages in the Pastoral Epistles. In ' The mys-
i Tim. iii 9 we read that a deacon is to hold TO pvo-rrjpiov TJJS mo-rcas * e ?y ? f ^
ev nadapa avveiB^a-et. It is not required of him, as of the bishop, that he '
should be StSatcrt/cos. Hence no secret lore can be meant : he is not the
depositary of a secret tradition, as the words might have seemed to imply
tad they been spoken of the bishop. The phrase in its context can only
refer to such elementary and fundamental knowledge as any servant of the
Church must necessarily have.
In the same chapter (v. 16) we read: K<U o/toXoyou/wwas peya ecrrlv TO 'Themys-
TT)S evo-e/3eias pvonqpiov. and the words are followed by what appears to* e ^j.^ ,
be a quotation from a Christian hymn. The epithet * great', which is here go ess *
applied to 'the mystery of godliness', is the same as in Eph. v 32. It
refers to the importance, not to the obscurity, of the mystery (see the note
on that passage). But the use of this epithet is the only point of contact
in the expression with the phraseology of St Paul : for the word ev<reficia
belongs to the peculiar vocabulary of these as compared with the other
Pauline epistles.
In both these instances the word pvcmjpiov appears to have a more A more
general meaning than it has elsewhere in St Paul's writings. The sum of general
the Christian faith seems to be referred to under this term. It is perhaps naeanm g'
a natural expansion of what we have seen to be the characteristically
Pauline use of the word, when the special thought of the inclusion of the
Gentile world in the Purpose of God has ceased to be a novel and en-
.grossing truth. But whether such an expansion can be thought of as
240 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS,
directly due to the Apostle himself is a part of the difficult problem of
the literary history of these epistles.
Conolu- We have found, then, no connexion between the "Sew Testament use
sion ' of the word 'mystery' and its popular religious signification as a sacred
rite, which the initiated are pledged to preserve inviolably secret. Not
until the word has passed into common parlance as 'a secret' of any kind
does it find a place in biblical phraseology. The New Testament writers
find the word in ordinary use in this colourless sense, and they start it
upon a new career by appropriating it to the great truths of the Christian
religion, which could not have become known to men except by Divine
disclosure or revelation. A mystery in this sense is not a thing which
must be kept secret. On the contrary, it is a secret which God wills to
make known and has charged His Apostles to declare to those who have
ears to hear it.
ENEPPEIN AND ITS COGNATES. 241
On evepyetv and its cognates.
The meaning of evepyeiv and the cognate words in St Paul's epistles has Limita
been so variously understood that it is desirable to attempt a some what
more complete investigation of them than has hitherto been made. That
the sense which they bear in the New Testament is in some respects
peculiar is in part due to a fact which it may be well to note at the
outset : namely, that, wherever its ultimate source is directly expressed,
the evepyeia is always attributed either to Divine or to Satanic agency.
The prevailing thought is that of a Divine evepyeia. In the two passages
in which the evil spirit is spoken of as exerting evepyeia, there is evidence
in the context of an intentional parallel with, or parody of, the methods of
Divine action : see above in the note on Eph. ii 2, and Lightfoot's notes
on 2 Thess. ii 3 n (Notes on Epp. pp. in ff.). This limitation lends
-a-certain-impressiveness-to-this-whole-series-of-words; Even^where
eiv is used of human action (Phil, ii 13) we are reminded that God
Himself is 6 evepymv TO evepyelv. And it is further in harmony with
this conception that wherever in St Paul's writings evepyeia is attri-
buted to things, as opposed to persons, the form of the verb used is
not evepyelv but evepyeia-dai.
I. At the base of all these words lies the adjective eWpyos, which i.
signifies 'at work': compare evapxos, 'in office', used in documents pre- adjectives
served in inscriptions and papyri. It is found in Herod, viii 26, of certain ^^ 5 \
deserters who came into the Persian camp /3iW re deopevoi KO.I evepyol ci aB8 i ca i
povXofievoi eivai. The word has various shades of meaning, as ' active ', writers.
' busy ', ' effective ' (of troops), 'under cultivation ' (of land), ' productive '
(of capital) ; and in most cases the opposite condition is described by apyos.
The later form is evepytfs (Aristotle has eVpyeWaros). In Polybius both
forms occur, and they are frequently interchanged in the manuscripts.
The LXX has evepyos once, Ezek. xlvi i, of the six 'working days'; but Biblical.
never cvepyjs. In the New Testament, on the contrary, evepyos is
only form 1 . We have it in i Cor. xvi 9, 6vpa yap fwi dveayev
not evepyrfs : that is, an ' effective ' opportunity of preaching : for the meta-
1 This form of the word lent itself Jerome, when he quotes the passage
readily to confusion with empy/js. In in commenting on Isa. Irvi 18, 19,
the two passages of St Paul in which has evidens, though elsewhere he has
it occurs the Latin rendering is evidens efficax. For farther examples of the
(or manifesto) which implies Ivap- confusion see the apparatus to my
in Greek MSS. In Heb. iv 2 edition of the Philocalia of Origen,
is actually found in B; and pp. 140, 141, 144.
EPHES. 2 1 6
242
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
2. The
substan-
tive
ivfpyeia.
Aristotle.
Galen.
Greek
O.T.
St Paul.
phor of the 'open door' compare 2 Cor. ii 12, Col. iv 3. In Philem. 6, Biros
if Koivavia TTJS TTiWetos crov evepyj)s yevrjTat, it means 'productive of due
result', 'effective': and in Heb. iv 12, <Sv yap o \6yos TOV Qeov KOI cvepyqs
icoi Tojiovrepoy virep irao-av fM^aipav SiWo/*oi', it again seems to mean ' effec-
tive ' ; but perhaps the word was chosen with a special reference to &v :
for evepyos and evepyeiv are used of activity as the characteristic sign of
life 1 'alive and active'.
2. The substantive evepyeia is employed by Aristotle in a technical
sense in his famous contrast between 'potentially' (Swa/iet) and 'actually'
(evepyeia). We have it too in the Nicomachean Ethics in the definition of
TO avQptoirivov ayadov, which is declared to be ijn>X*i s ^vepyeia HOT ape-njv
fv /3i'o> TcXeto) (i 6 15, p. 1098, i6 a ); and in this connexion a contrast is
drawn between evepyeia and e|.
It is interesting to compare with this the definition of the term in
physiology as given by Galen, de natural, facultt. i 2, 4, 5. He distin-
guishes carefully epyov 'result', evepyeia 'action productive of epyov', and
dvvapis, 'force productive of evepyeia'.
In the Greek Old Testament the word occurs only in "Wisdom and
in 2 and 3 Maccabees. It is used twice of the operations of nature,
Wisd. vii 17, xiii 4; once hi the phrase ovx oirKatv evepyeia, 'not by force
of arms' (xviii 22) ; and again in the notable description of Wisdom as the
eo~oirrpov aKTjXid&Tov TTJS TOV deov evepytias (vii 26). It IS used in 2 Mace, iii
_gQ_3_ Mace, iv 2i.ji^i2.-28^of-a-miraGulous-interpo8ition~of~Pivme~t)owerr
2 Thess. ii
9, ii.
The instances last quoted suggest that already the way was being
prepared for that limitation of the word to a superhuman activity which
we noted at the outset as characterising its use in the New Testament.
St Paul, who alone uses the word, has it five times expressly of the
exercise of Divine power (Eph. i 19, iii 7; Phil, iii 21; Col. i 29, ii 12).
In Eph. iv 1 6 it is used in the phrase naf evepyeiav, without an express
reference indeed to God, but of the building of the Body of the Christ j
so that this can hardly be regarded as an exception.
On the other hand it occurs twice of an evil activity. In the descrip-
tion of the incarnation of iniquity, which is to parody the work of Christ
and to claim Divine honours, we have the expression, ov eoriv rj irapovo-ia
' evepyeiav TOV "Sarava. Already the Apostle has said, TO yap pvarripiov
evepyeiTai TTJS dvopias : and lower down he adds, of those who are to
be deceived by the signs and wonders of this false Christ (OTHJLCIOIS KOI
Tepao~iv ^cvfious), irepjirei avro'is 6 deos evepyeiav ir\avi]s els TO Triorevo-ai
This 'working of error', which makes men believe the
Wisd. xv ii we read
OTL ^yvArjaev Tbv irKaffavn
Kal Tbv epitvefoavTa, a&rtp
epyovvav
Kal ep,<f>va"Jj<ravTa irvevfj.a
The passage which underlies
of course, Gen. ii 7 eve^ffijm
vpbffwrov afrrov irvoty fw^s, Kal
b avtipwiros els
OVTOVS T<0
1 In Xenophon Memordb. i 4 4 we
have $2a tfjuppovd re Kal evepyd, in
contrast with the etSai\a a<ppot>d re Kal
ddvyTa of sculptors or painters. Com-
pare also Athan. de incarn. 30 el yap
Si; veKp&s TIS yei>6pei>os o6dev tvepyefo
5tiva.Ta.i /c.T.X. "rj TTWS, etirep O$K SVTIV
evepyuv [sc. b X/otorij], veKpov yap t8t&v
IffTi TOUTO, adrbs roij frepyovi/Tas Kal
TIJS evepyeias irafat, if.T.X. In
this is,
v els TO
lyevero
ENEPfEIN AND ITS COGITATES. 243
false pretender (who is 'the lie', as Christ is 'the truth'), is itself a
judgment of God. We may compare 'the lying spirit' sent forth from
God to deceive Ahab, i Kings xxii 21 23.
3. The verb cvepyelv, after the general analogy of denominatives in -, 3. The
means primarily 'to be at work', 'to work' (intrans.), and is accordingly
the opposite of dpyciv. So Aristotle freely employs the word in connexion
with his special sense of eVpyeta. Polybius, whose use of the word is for tive.
the most part somewhat peculiar, has this first and most natural meaning
in a passage in which he prophesies the filling up of inland seas : iv 40 4,
pevovoys ye 8) TTJS avrijf ra^etas irepi TOVS TCHTOVS, Kal T&V amW TTJS ey^co-
<res evepyovvrav KOTO. TO awexes. We may compare also Philo, de leg.
alleg. iii 28 (Mangey, p. 104) orav irapovo-a [sc. 77 X a P&\ Spaarripioos evcpyg.
But indeed the usage is too common to need illustration.
A further stage of meaning is used when the verb is followed by an Transi-
accusative which defines the result of the activity. Then from the in- ** ve -
transitive use of 'to work' we get a transitive use. There appears to be
no example of this in Aristotle: but instances are cited from Diodorus
Siculus and Plutarch, and it is common in later Greek. In Philo, de
uit. contempt. (M. p. 478), the meaning is scarcely different from that of
irpdrreiv: a yap vqfpovrcs ev orafii'ots enetvoi...vvKTa>p ev <ncoTp ficdvovres...
evepyova-iv: and this is often the case in other writers. So far as I am
aware, the accusative always expresses 'that which is worked', and never
~* that~whichris~made 7 'to work" 7 . That~~is to say, evepyew does not seem ever
to mean 'to render evepyw', in the sense of 'to bring into activity'.
Thus, though Polybius uses again and again such expressions as evepyrj Polybius.
iroiovftxvoi Tr)v f<po$ov (xi 23 2), and evepyea-Tepav diro(patvovo~i TTJV vav-
(xvi 14 5), he does not use cvepyeiv as equivalent to evepybv
In the one place where this might seem at first sight to be
his meaning (xxvii I 12 evepyeiv e7rera|ai> rots 2p^owo-t rqi> (ru/i/ia^iav)
this interpretation cannot be accepted in view of the strong meaning
('assiduous', 'energetic', 'vigorous') which cvepyos (-TJS) invariably has in
this writer. We must therefore render the words, 'to effect the alliance*.
We come now to the Greek Old Testament. In the intransitive sense Greek
cvt-pyeiv is found in Num. viii 24 in B, as the substitute for a somewhat - T<
troublesome phrase of the original, which AF attempt to represent by
\eiTovpyeiv \eirovpyiav ev epyots. It occurs again in Wisd, xv II (quoted
already) and xvi 17 ev TO> iravra (rftevvvvrt vSort TrXcTov evrjpyei TO irvp.
The transitive sense is found in Isa. xli 4, TIS eVij'pyqo-e KOI eVoiijo-e
in ProV. XXi 6 o cvepy&v 6rio~avpio-fiara y\mo-o-T] i^evSei, and XXXI 12
yap TG> dvdpl dyadd.
In the New Testament evepyelv comes, apart from St Paul's epistles, Gospels,
only in Mark vi 14 (Matt, xiv 2) 810: TOVTO evepyovo-iv at dwdfieis ev avTtp, Intransi-
where the connexion of the word with miraculous powers is to be noted. tlve *
In St Paul we find the intransitive use in three passages. The first St Paul.
is GaL ii 8, 6 yap evepyqa-as Ilerpa) els airoorroAijv rjys 7repiTo/?s evqpyijo'ev JJitwaMtt-
els TO, fdvr], 'He that wrought for Peter', etc. The connexion of *
with miraculous interpositions, which we have already observed,
and which will be further illustrated below, may justify us in interpreting
1 6 2
244
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.,
Transi-
tive.
Passive,
'to be
this passage, in which St Paul is defending his apostolic position, in the
light of 2 Cor. xii II f., ovBcv yap vo-Tepijo-a r<5i> virep\iav diro&ToXav, el
KCU ovdev etfu- TO p.ev orj/ieia TOV aTrooroXov KaTeipya<r0rj ev vfiiv ei> irao"g
vrroftovfi, arjpeiois [re] KOI Tepaviv KOI bvvap.ecru>. Compare also [Mark]
XVI 2O TOV Kupiov a-vvepyovvTos not TOV Xoyov flfpaiovvTos Bid T&V etrcaio-
\av6ovvrutv o-T)p.ela>v } Acts xiv 3, xv 12, Heb. ii 4. In any case we must
avoid the mistake of the Authorised Version, which renders 'He that
wrought effectually in Peter... the same was mighty in me'. We cannot
attribute to St Paul the construction evepyelv nvL in the sense of evep-
ye'iv ev TIVI, though it may have come in at a later period through a
confusion with evcpydgeo-dat, which is a compound verb 1 . In Eph. ii 2
we have the intransitive use again in TOW irvevfiaros rov vvv evepyovvros
tv rots viols TTJS direidias- In PhiL ii 13 we have TO 0e\eiv KO.I TO cvep-
yelv, where the word is exceptionally used of human activity, as we have
already noted, and is introduced as a kind of echo of the preceding o
evepyav.
The transitive sense occurs in the passage just cited, Phil, ii 13 o
evepy&v. . .TO 6e\tv K.T.X. ; also in Gal. iii 5 o evepyav dwdpeis ev Vfiiv, and
in a specially instructive passage, i Cor. xii 6 ii, &aipms eyepyi/^aroy
ettri'v, *cal o avrbs fads, 6 tvepy&v TO. irdvra ev 7racriv...a\\o) Be evepyijfJMTa
o"vvdfiea>v...irdvTa Be TO.VTO. evepyel TO ev KOI TO avro irvevfia. Here again.
the reference is to miraculous powers. In Eph. i ii we have Kara irpo-
decriv TOV TO ndvra evepyovvros KOTO T^y_j3o.vXi7y_ro-^eX^jLtaTos-aT;Toii T -where-
we must render 'who worketh all things': for we are not justified in
supposing that it can mean 'who setteth all things in operation': the
thought of 'moving the universe', expressed in Heb. i 3 by (pep<ov TO,
^S Swdpeats OUTOU, must not be introduced here. Simi-
Trvra
larly in Eph. i 19, KOTO TT)V evepyeiav TOV Kpdrovs TTJS lo~\vos OVTOV rjvt
evqpyrjKev ev TW xP ltrr $ eyeipas avrov K.T.X., we must render 'according to
the working... which He hath wrought '. If the original is more emphatic
than such a rendering may seem to imply, this is due chiefly to St Paul'a
general attribution of evepyelv and evepyeia. to Divine operation.
4. We now come to the point of chief difficulty, the use and meaning
of evepyela-dai.
Prom the meaning of evepyelv c. accus., 'to work, effect, do', we
readily get a passive use, evepyelvdat, 'to be wrought, effected, done',
wrought', rj, nus poiyjjfag uges it of a war * being waged': in i 13 5 he says that,
Polybius. contemporaneously with certain wars between the Romans and the
Carthaginians, irapa rots "EXX^o-tj/ o KXeo/i/wcos <a\ovfjievos evrjpyeiTO
TToXe/Ltos : comp. Joseph. Antt. xv 5 3. Again, in ix 12 3 he uses
ev Kotpw evfpyovfj.eva>v as a variant upon his previous phrase T&V /
86X0 v KCU crvv Kcupn irpaTTOfievaiv : and in ix 13 9 he lays stress on a
1 In Athenag. Supplic. 10 we have is adequately explained as dativus
an apparent, but perhaps only ap- commodi. A more doubtful looking
parent, instance of such a construction: instance is Clement. Horn, vii u Koi
KO.LTOI Kal avrb rb erepyovv TOIS ex- 5*4 TOUTO a/j-aprdvovvi vbffovs evepyeiv
^xavovffi irpofltiTiKus ayiov TrvevfJLO. dirop- S^arat.
potay elvai <pap.ej> TOV Oeov. The dative
EN EP FEIN AND ITS COGNATES. 245
general's choice of those 5V <$v /cat 'pel? av eVfpyqtfiJo-rrai TO npiBev, 'his
decision shall be executed', 'his plan shall be carried out'. This is the
sense which the form bears in the only passage of the Greek Old Testament
in which it occurs, I Esdr. ii 2O evfpyeiTai TO. Kara TOV vabv.
Although Aristotle does not use evepyeiv in a transitive sense, yet we Aristotle.
find a few instances of the passive evepyela-dai in his works.
Hep! $im3i> ii 7 (827, 33*). The sun irfytv iroiei (826, 37 b ): but the
moisture may be so great, Save /tj) 7rreuVrtfai : rare 17 vyporj]S aur?, els
yv OVK evrjpyqdr) Treats, K.T.X., ie. in which irtyis has not been wrought
or effected by the sun.
$ixr. uKpoda-. ii 3 (195, 28 b ). He has been classifying causes and
effects (aina KO\ mv atria). Causes are either Kara Bvvap.iv or evepyovvra :
they are Bwd^eis in respect of Swaro, and evepyovvra in respect of evep-
yovpeva : of the last an instance is ofie o oiKobofjuvv r<ode ro> ol<o$ofj,av[j.fva>.
Potential causes and possible results are contrasted with effective causes
and effected results.
Uepl-^x^ 5 iii 2 (4 2 7 7 a )- The text is uncertain; but there is a con-
trast between cWa/m and ro> etvai, followed by a further distinction:
ro> 8' eivai ov, dXXa r evepyeto-dai buuperov, 'in the being carried into
effect' or 'realised'.
Uepl Koo-p. 6 (400, 23 b ). God is to the universe what law is to the
state: 6 rrjs TrdXtwy vofws aKivijTos &v ev rcus T5v ~)(po>iJ.eva>v ^ry^ms_jrm>
In accordance with law one man goes to
the Prytaneum to be feasted, another to the court to be tried, another to
the prison to be put to death: yivovrai 5e KOL 8t}fio6oiviai v6p.ifj.oi...de<av
T 6v<riat Ka\ ypooatv depairf?ai...aX\a 8e a'XXots evepyovfjLeva KOTO, ptav irpocr-
ragiv TI vopipov eov<riav. Here the word is used in no philosophic sense,
but simply means ' carried out' or 'done' 1 .
It is interesting to note that in Xenophon we have two examples 'Apy<r0ai
of the passive of apyeiv. Cyrop. ii 3 2 ovdev yap avrois apyeirat T<Si> ^ n Xeno-
irpdrrco-dat 8eopcva>v, ' they leave nothing undone', 'let nothing lie apyov'. P hon<
Hiero 9 9, if it be made clear that any one who finds a new way of
enriching the state will be rewarded, ovSe av-nj av <i/ a-Ktyts apyoiro:
a few lines below we have this repeated in the form, TroXXovs av KO\ TOVTO
fopfir)a-eifv epyov itoifi(rdai TO (TKoireiv TI ayadov. The use of apyeiv 'to be
idle' (of persons) and dpyelo-Oai 'to be left idle' (of powers) may prepare
us for a corresponding use of evepyelv 'to be at work' (of persons) and
evepyela-dai ' to be set at work ' (of powers).
In the New Testament all the examples of cvepyeto-dai, with the'Evepyei-
notable exception of James v 16, belong to St Paul. The passages are ff<?cu in
the following: StPauL
(1) I Thess. ii 13 f. \6yov deov, os Kal evepyeiTai ev vfj.1v Tols iriarevovo'iv.
vfjxis yap fUfiijTai lyevrjQrjTf ...... on TO, avrci errddcre Kal vpeis K.T.\.
(2) 2 Thess. ii 7 TO yap fivtrr^piov rjftr} evepyeiTai TIJS avopias povov
6 Korexaj' apri, /e.T.X.
(3) 2 Cor. i 6 eiTe irapaKa\ovpe@a, virep -njs vn&v irapaK^ija-ecas TTJS
evfpyovfievrjt ev vTrofiovj] TO>V OUT&V iradrjfMTtav av Kal Tj/xets
This instance is not given in Bouitz's index.
246 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
(4) 2 Cor. iv 12 cSffTc o 6a.va.Tos ev yfuv cvepyeirat, ij 8e g ev vpiv.
(5) Gal V 6 aXXa IT'UTTIS Si dydmjs evepyovpevr].
(6) Rom. vii 5 f. ra iradyfiara r&v dpapriav TO, 8ih TOV j>6p.ov
ev rois fte\riv T)pa>v els TO Kapjro(f)opfjcrai r<5 Bavartf wvl &e
KaTTjpy^dr]fjiev K.r.X.
(7) CoL i 29 eis o KOI Kotrica dycavi^oftevos KOTO. TTJV evepyeiav OVTOV TrjV
evepyovfJLevTjv ev ep,ol ev dvvdpei.
(8) Eph. iii 2O Kara rrjv bvvap.iv TTJV evepyovfievijv ev rjfuv.
Not the In approaching the consideration of these passages we are met by the
middle dictum, which has received the sanction of Lightfoot 1 , that evepyeio-dai is
voice. always middle, 'never passive in St Paul'. It is difficult to reconcile this
judgment with the observed fact that evepye'ia-dai is never used by St Paul
of persons, while evepyelv is always so used. If the words be respectively
passive and active, this distinction is perfectly natural: but there seems
no reason why the middle should be specially applicable to things in
contrast to persons 2 . Moreover, so far as I am aware, there is no trace
of a middle in any other writer. The aorist where we find it is always
evripyr)6r)v. The one passage of Polybius which appeared to offer an
example to the contrary, ii 6 7 Karcnr\r){-iv KOL fyofiov evepyrja-afjievoi rots
ras TrapaXtW OIKOVO-I, is now emended with certainty by the substitution
of evepyaa-dfievoi, which at once restores the proper construction of the
dative and gives back a well recognised idiom.
-0?he-sense - If-then~we~decide that in St Paul as elsewhere evepyela-ffai is passive, we
of the h ave to as fc whether that sense of the passive of which we have already
passive: f oun( j examples, 'to be carried out, effected, done', will give a satisfactory
ttSngs to sense m * ne passages before us.
be done, The very first of them refuses this interpretation. The Divine message
but of ^ ^ e GrOSpel (o \6yos TOV Beov) evepyelTai ev TOIS iriarrevovo-iv. St Paul's
powers to meaning here appears to be 'is made operative', 'is made to produce its
be set in appropriate result ' : another writer would probably have given us evepyei,
operation. <j g O p era ti ve ' ; ^ut St Paul prefers the passive, the agent implied being
God o fvepy&v. The Gospel is not allowed to lie idle and unproductive :
it is transmuted into action : the Thessalonians share the sufferings which
are everywhere its characteristic accompaniment.
Similarly in (3), the TrapaKX^o-ts is made effective only by fellowship in
the sufferings of the Gospel: and the thought in (4) is closely allied.
In (2), whereas the evil spirit may be said hepyelv (Eph. ii 2), the
pvorryptov TTJS avofiias, the counterpart of the fjLvarrjpiov TOV xpurrow, is said
evepyeicrdai, ' to be set in operation '.
In (5) the sense appears to be : 'faith is made operative through love',
without which it fails of its action (apyei) 3 . With a like interpretation (6)
presents no special difficulty.
In (7) and (8), especially when compared with Eph. i 19 Kara T^V evep-
1 See his note on Gal. v 6. yovfi.fri) here as passive, though unlike
3 Compare Greg. Naz. Or. SIB (i St Paul he thinks of a human agency:
559 D) Kal el evepryeia., evepyvjffriffeTai Strom, i 4 (p. 318) irus o6n &fJ.<pu diro-
r
Sij\ov6Ti, otiK eveprfffffei, Kal oftov T$ SSKT^OI, evepyov T^P nrianv Sib. TTJS
frepyyBijiHU iratifferai.
8 Clement of Alexandria took
E N E P FE I N AND ITS COGNATES. 247
^v evijpyijKev *c.r.X., we again find the passive appropriately used.
St Paul says 77 evepyeia evepyfiTai, not evepyel, because he regards God
as o evepyvv.
It is to be observed that in actual meaning evepyciv and evepye'urdat
come nearly to the same thing. Only the passive serves to remind us that
the operation is not self-originated. The powers 'work' indeed ; but they
'are made to work*.
The passage in St James's Epistle (v 16 iro\i> l^xvet dfyw SIKMOV Jamea v
evepyovpevri) is notoriously difficult. We must not hastily transfer to this i<5.
writer a usage which so far as we know is peculiar to St Paul. Tet it
is at least possible that here too evepyovpevrj means 'set in operation' by
Divine agency.
In later times evepyeiv was used in the sense of 'to inspire', whether the Later use
inspiration was Divine or Satanic. But this usage has no direct bearing for . <in -
on the meaning of the word in the New Testament. epiration'.
248 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
On the meaning o
i. 'Bjrfyt- i. The word eiriyv<o<ris is not found in Greek writers before the time
oSssical 31 ^ -^ exan< kr *be ^eat. 'Emyivcoo-Keiv, however, is used occasionally by
authors, ahaost all writers. Thus in Homer, Od. xxiv 216 ff., when Odysseus
proposes to reveal himself to his father, he says :
aura/3 eya> irarpos Trctpijo-o/iat ip/ierepoto,
ai KC [i fmyvcag KOI ^patrtrerai o0daX/uot<rij/,
r)f Kev dyvotfja-i iro\vv xpovov dptpls covra.
If he discern me and read me with his eyes,
Or know me not, so long I am away.
Again, in Od. xviii 30 f., the beggar Irus challenges Odysseus to fight
him in the presence of the suitors :
( wv, "iva Trdvres emyvcoaxn KOI oi8e
dvBpl
* that these may know us, how we fight ' : that they may discern which is
the better man of the two.
In Aesch. Ag. 1 596 ff. it is used of Thyestes at the banquet :
/>> / NO*
avTiK ayvoiq. \apa>v
ecrdfi ftopav aftpa>Tov } <os opas, yevei.
emyvoiis epyov ov Karaitnov
Here, as in Od. xxiv 216 ff., it is used in contrast with ayvoia, 'not recog-
nising', 'not discerning'.
In Soph. Aj. 1 8 f. we have :
*cai vvv fireyvas ev p fir' dv8pl dva-fj-evel
ficuriv /cuKXoCiT'j AMVTI.- r<p 0aite(r<p6pq>.
'And now thou hast discerned aright that I am hunting to and fro on
the trail of a foeman' : so Jebb, who says in a note : "eWyww with partic.
(KVK^OVVT) of the act observed, as Xen. Cyr. 8. i. 33 eireyvws tf av...ov&eva
ovre opyi6(j,erov...ovTe xcupopra".
Soph. El. 1296 f. :
8' OTTO)?
' And look that our mother read not thy secret in thy radiant face' : Jebb,
with a note: " 'irtyvmo-erai, 'detect' : the dative is instrumental".
In Thucydides there are two distinct usages of the word. The first
is the same as that which we have already noticed : e.g. i 132 : irapmrotri-
irdfifvos <r<ppayi8a, Iva... fir) eVtyvw, Xuet Tas eViorXas: i.6. that the receiver
THE MEANING OF ETTiriSinCIC. 2 49
of the letter might not detect what he had done. The second corresponds
with a special meaning of ytiwo-Ka, 'to determine' or 'decide' (i 70, ii 65,
iii 57) : it does not directly concern us here. It is nearly synonymous with
eiriKpivftv.
If now we inquire what is the force of the preposition, or in other The force
words how does emyivaaa-Keiv differ from yivaaKeiv, we may note first of all * *?je P re "
that the simple verb would have given the meaning, intelligibly if less posi lon>
precisely, in all the cases which we have cited. There is no indication
that emyivvo-Kfiv conveys the idea of a fuller, more perfect, more advanced
knowledge.
We find a large number of compounds in eVi, in which the preposition It signifies
does not in the least signify addition, but rather perhaps direction. It n p* ad-
seems to fix the verb upon a definite object. Thus we have eVatvetv, Jjjre'riioii
firiSetKvvvai, emfaTelv, emKaXcw, emKr/pva'a-etv, emHpareiv, cirntpvirrcw, em-
HeXeffdcu, emfitfiv^a-Kea-dai, eirivoeiv (excogitare\ eirixoprjyeiv. , So also eiriKowos
means ' common to ' and is followed by a genitive or dative of the object.
In these cases we cannot say that the compound verb is stronger than the
simple verb. The preposition is not intensive, but directive (if the word
may be allowed). It prepares us to expect the limitation of the verb to
a particular object.
Thus ytvaxnteiv means 'to know' in the fullest sense that can be given A limita-
to the word 'knowledge' : eiriyivaxrueiv directs attention to some particular tiB sug-
point in regard to which 'knowledge' is affirmed. So that to perceive ge
a particular thing, or to perceive who a particular person is, may fitly be
expressed by eirtyivao-Ketv. There is no such limitation about the word
, though of course it may be so limited by its context.
2. We may now consider the usage of the LXX. In Hebrew the 2. The
ordinary word for 'to know' is J?T. But in the earlier books of the O.T. v , erb "*
th.6 LXX.
is used in the sense of discerning or recognising. Thus it is the word
employed when Jacob's sons say to him : 'Know now whether it be thy son's
coat or no. And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat' (Gen. xxxvii 32 f.).
So again in Gen. xlii 8, ' And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew
not him'. Here, as we might expect, the word is rendered by emyivao-
Throughout the historical books eiriyivcao-Keiv generally represents
though occasionally it is a rendering of JHJ. In the Prophets, how-
ever, *P3n is very rare, and emyivcaa-Keiv is used forty-five times to render
JH?. To shew to what an extent the two words were regarded as identical
in meaning, we may note that in Ezekiel the phrase 'they (ye) shall know
that I am the Lord' is rendered about thirty-five times by yixaa-ovrai (yv<o-
<rf(rdc), and about twenty-five times by emyvaxrovrai (eTriyixoo-eo'de) 1 .
In the later books of the LXX we come across the word eiriyvtoms, of The noun.
which hitherto we have said nothing. It occurs four times in books of
1 For the distribution of the render- the simple verb alone occurs (save as
ings between the two translators of a var. lect. of A) in chapters xsviii to
Ezekiel see Mr Thackeray's article in xxxis.
Jbwm. of TheoL Studies, Apr. 1903:
250; EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
which we have Hebrew originals. Three times eiriyv&tris ffeov represents
D*n?K nyn (Prov. ii 5, Hos. iv i, vi 6, the only places where this expres-
sion seems to occur). The fourth occurrence of the noun is again in Hosea
(iv 6), where in the same verse njPJ is rendered first by yv&<ris and then
by eiriyvoHrts*.
Besides these passages we have only 2 Mace, ix n, els eiriyvaHriv
c\0e?v &/9 /ttzo-nyt, 'to come to knowledge tinder the scourge of God'.
Symmachus used the word in Ps. Ixxii (Ixxiiij 1 1, * Is there knowledge in the
Most High?', where the Hebrew is nift, and the LXX have yv&ms.
It may be worth while to add that in Wisdom we have yv&a-ts Qeov
twice, but eirlyvoMns does not occur at all In Ecclesiasticus also we have
yvaxris Kvpi'ov, but eiriyvaxris is not found.
Thus we learn from the Greek O. T. nothing more than that the
word was coming into use, and that it was employed in a familiar passage
of Hosea, the first part of which is cited in the N. T. ; 'I desired mercy, and
not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings' (Hos.
vi6).
3. Verb 3. In Sehweighauser's index to Polybius emytvao-Keiv appears as
occurring eight times. It regularly means 'to discover' or 'discern':
once it is coupled with /jaQeiv (iii 32 8, eiriyv&vai *al /ia&u>); three times
it is strengthened by a-a^Ss. The noun eiriyvaxris occurs twice (iii 7 6,
31 4). In each case LtheJ^torian4s-defending-the-study~of~genefarKistory
as contrasted with mere narratives of particular wars. In the latter place
he speaks of 'the knowledge of past events', rrjv T&V irape\T]\vd6T<ov ri-
using in the context two parallel phrases, TTJV rS>v irpoyeyovarmv
and TTJS r&v irpoyeyovoT<ov U7ro/tw;erea>s. In iii 7 6 he says that
a statesman cannot dispense with 'knowledge' of this kind, rfc r&v irpoeiprj-
fjievtov firiyvmreos. There is no indication whatever that any strong meaning,
such as full or advanced knowledge, was attached to the word.
4 . The 4. We now come to the New Testament. In the Gospels and Acts
verb in the eVtyyajtr/eeiv is found in the sense of 'perceiving', 'discerning', 'recognising',
8 P e j us j; as j n c i asg i ca i authors. It is interesting to compare Matt, xi 27, ov&fc
rbv vlov t K.T.X., with the parallel in Luke X. 22, ovBels yiwoa-Kei ris
6 vlos, /c.r.X. In Luke i 4> "* liriyvtps irepl oov KaTijx^drjf \6ytav TTJV
v, we have the word used with good effect to indicate the discern-
ment of a particular point in regard to things already known.
and in St In St Paul's Epistles we find both the verb and the noun. In Rom. i 32
Paul. we nave: i T i VS TO 8iKaia>fia TOV 6eov firiyvovres, which is to be compared
with v. 21, fitort yvovrfs TOV deov. The difference, if there be one, is that
emyvovTfs is more naturally used of knowledge of a particular point. In
1 Cor. xiv 37 eiriyivcoa-Kerat a ypd<f>a> i5/ztv on Kvpiov early evroXij, and
2 Cor. xiii 5> 7 OWK emytvao-Kere eavroiis ort 'Irja-ovs Xpitrros ev vpw; it is
again used of discerning or recognising a special quality. It is used of
the recognition of persons in I Cor. xvi 18, eiriyivao-iteTe ovv TOVS roiewrour,
and in 2 Cor. vi 9, cos ayvoovpevot KM firtyivaxrKopfvoi (comp. the passages
1 In i Zings viii 4 tirlyvw<ns stands in Esther [xvi 6] it is a variant of K*
for hl?:f in AE, but B has yj>u<ris t and for etyv
THE MEANING OF ETTirNnCIC. 251
cited above, Horn. Od. xxiv 216 ff., Aesch. Ag. 1596 ff.). In CoL i 6 f., dtf %s
fjpepas i/Kouo-are KOI eireyvare. TTJV x^P LV TO " ^ eo ^ * v d\ri6fiq' na6a>s Ipa-
0ere /c.r.X., there may be a suggestion of discriminating and recognising
as true: we have yivwo-iteiv rf^v xP iV i n 2 ^ or - v^i 9 Gal- ii 9- So too in
I Tim. iv 3, eircyvaxom rrjv d\q6eiav.
There remain two remarkable passages in which St Paul plays on Plays on
yivaa-Kfiv and its compounds. 2 Cor. i 13, ov yap oXXa ypd(popev vfiiv *ke wor d
aXX' ^ a dvayivtoa-KCTe TJ /cat lifiyivaxruere, e\iria> fie ort ews reXous eVt-
y<rr0e, Kadtos KOI eireyvatre TJpas dirb pepovs, on /cai^/ia vfj.v etrpjev
KaQanep /cat vpeis ri^v. The last part of this is plain enough: 'ye have
recognised us, in part at any rate, as being a glory to you, as you are
to us'. "With the former part we may compare iii 2 'ye are our epistle,
yivuHTKopevr] KOI dvayiva><rKoiJ.evr)', the full-sounding word being placed
second. So here the sound of the words has no doubt influenced the
selection: ( ye read and recognise'. But we cannot say that riy'<B0-/cv
refers to a full knowledge of any kind, especially as it is subsequently
joined with OTTO pepovs.
In i Cor. xiii the Apostle compares yv&<ns, as a spiritual gift, with In com-
dydjrTj. Tvoa-is is after all in our present condition but partial ; e/c pepavs ^^ on /
yap yivdxrKOfjiev : the partial is transient, and disappears on the arrival of ffKea , ^ lvw ~
the perfect. So the child gives way to the man. We now see mirrored
images which suggest the truth of things: we shall then see 'face to
"faceT The words recalTlihe promise of~God~that He would speak
to Moses 'mouth to mouth' and not 81 almyfumov (Num. xii 8): also
Deut. xxxiv 10, Moxri?;, ov eyvat Kvpios avrbv irpo&mirov Kara Trpovamov '.
and Ex. xxxiii n, 'The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man
speaketh unto his friend '. St Paul continues : &pn ynxoovcw CK pepovs, rare
fie eiriyixocrofjiai Kaduts /cat eireyvtoa-dqv. The thought of fuller knowledge
which is here given is expressed, not by the change from ytwaovcco to its
compound, but by the contrast with & fiepovs and by the denning clause
introduced by Kadeas 1 . We see this at once if we try to cut the sentence
short, and read only: apri yivavita) e< fiepovs, Tore fie liri.yvKxrop.ai: this
would be unmeaning; for there is no ground for supposing that it could
mean by itself, 'then shall I fully know'. It is probable that emyvao-ofiat
is introduced because eirfyvtotrdrjv (of knowledge of a person) is to follow.
At the same time we may admit that the full-sounding word is purposely
chosen to heighten the effect at the close. That no higher kind of know-
ledge is implied in the compound word is seen when we compare Gal. iv 9,
yvoiTfs deov, /ioXXoi/ fie yvaxrdevres virb deov.
The only remaining instance of the verb in the N. T. is in 2 Pet. ii 21, In 2 Peter.
KpeiTTov yap rjv aurotp ftrf eireyvtoKevat rf/v 68bv TTJS diKaioavvrjf rj emyvovoriv
VTroa-rpe^ai /c.r.X.
The noun eiriyvcatris is freely used by St Paul. It is generally followed, 'Eirfy?<ns
as we might expect, by a genitive of the object: thus, dfiapTias, Rom. iii 20; in .S* I>aul s
of God or Christ, Eph. i 17, iv 13, Col. i 10 (cf. 2 Pet. i 2, 3, 8, ii 20); TOU itiveo^the
avrow, Col. i 9 ; TOV pvovriplov TOV 0eov, CoL ii 2 ; d\T)6eias, object;
1 So quite correctly Euthymius Ziga- afobv (so. rbv 0e6t>) irMof T& ykp '
benus ad Zoc. : 'rire Se liriytxixrofMi* Kal iireyvdxrOiip ' rb ir\4ov 8i)\ol.
252
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
without a
genitive.
5. The
view that
means
'further'
_or_ifuller-
kno-w-
ledge.' *
Grotius.
Lightfoot
cites
Justin
Martyr,
I Tim. ii 4, 2 Tim. ii 25, iii 7, Tit. i i (of. Heb. x 26) ; iravros
Philem. 6. We do indeed find yv&<ris similarly used of God and of Christ
(2 Cor. x 5, Phil, iii 8) ; but eiriyvauris had the advantage of avoiding the
ambiguity as to whether the following genitive was objective or subjective
(as in Rom. xi 33, pd0os...yv&<rea>s 6eov). Accordingly as a rule yv&<rts is
used where knowledge in the abstract is spoken of, but eiriyvvcris where the
special object of the knowledge is to be expressed.
Rom. i 28, OVK (SoKifKxrav TOV 6eov ex tv * v fifiyvotretj is no exception
to this rule. In Rom. X 2, ffi\ov deov f\ovo*iv, aXX* ou /car* eiriyma-iv, the
word may perhaps suggest the idea of discernment: as also in Phil, i 9, 'that
your love may abound more and more ev emyvao-ei KCU navy ato-Byo-ei,
els TO 8o</iai/ K.T.X.' : and in Col. iii 10 f., 'putting on the new man,
which is renewed eis eViyvwow KOT eluova TOV Kritravros UVTOV, OTTOV OVK
evi *EXXiji> K.T.X.', where there is no contrast with any imperfect knowledge,
but the knowledge referred to may perhaps be specially the discernment
and recognition of the abolition of the old distinctions of race and condi-
tion. But perhaps it is unnecessary to search for any particular subtilty
of meaning in the word.
5. This long investigation has been necessitated by the determination
of commentators to interpret eirtyvtocris as a fuller and more perfect kind
of yvcaa-is. Thus Grotius on Eph. i 17 says: 'emyv&ais proprie est maior
exactioirgue cognitio ', a remark which he repeats on G_o.I.-i_o. In-dealing-
-however with eiriyvaxris ajBoprtasHmnRomT iii 20 he is more cautious,
and says: ' eV/ywao-is idem quod yvavis, aut paulo amplius'. Among the
moderns Fritzsche (on Rom. i 28), Alford, Ellicott and Lightfoot take the
same view. Lightfoot comments on the word twice (Phil, i 9 and Col. i 9).
At the latter place he says : ' The compound eiriyvaxris is an advance upon
yvajo-is, denoting a larger and more thorough knowledge'. He cites in
favour of this view Justin Martyr Try ph. 3 (p. 221 A): en-urrjiuj TIS eoriv
T! Trape^ovcra avr&v r&v avQpwtsivwv na\ Tcav &eia>v yva)criv\ eirevra Tfjs TOVTCBV
QeioTrfTos KOI diKaiovvvrjs eirLyvaxnv ; The context of this passage requires to
be carefully considered. In the preceding sentences Justin has been dis-
cussing the nature of philosophy : it is, he says, 'the science of the existent
and the knowledge of the true' (eVion;/*;/ earl TOV ovros <al TOV dXrjdovs
eiriyvaxns). His interlocutor objects that eirio-rjfn] has different meanings :
it means one kind of thing when applied to generalship, seamanship or
medicine; another in regard to things human and divine. And then he
asks (in the words already cited): 'Is there an eirurr^fjaj which affords
a knowledge (yv&o-is) of the actual things human and divine, and after
that a knowledge (eirlyixaa-is) of the divineness and righteousness of
these same things?' Here the distinction (if we are to press for one)
is between a knowledge which reveals to us the things themselves, and
a knowledge which discerns certain qualities of those things.
1 Justin is here employing a current
definition of cro^a. See Philo de con-
gressu (Mangey i 530) <ro(f>ia
ILI\V Oeltav K<
aMtav, and the references given iu
Wendland's edition iii 88. Gomp.
also 4 Mace, i 16, ffotpla. Si) Tolvvv
yvuffis Oelwv Kal dpffpuirlvw vpa,y-
THE MEANING OF ETTirNflCIC. 253
Lightfoot also cites St Chrysostom on Col. i 9 : fywre, d\\a del n KOI Chryso-
v&vai. To do this passage justice we must look first at St Chrysostom's atom,
comment on the preceding words (v. 6), dfi $s rjp.fpas j/fcoware *eat eireyvooTe
\dpiv TOV deov ev dXrjdeia, Kadoas epdQere aVo 'E7ra0pa K.T.X. He says :
eSea<r&, apa eyvowe rfjv x<*P iV TOV Qeov. From this it does not appear
that he can have laid much stress on the preposition. So when he comes
to the phrase tva v\r]padffre TTJV firiyvmo~iv TOV dcXif/ucros avrou, it is on
ir\T)pa>df)Te that the stress of his comment falls: 'fva 7r\rjp<odfjTe', (pTjvlv,
ovx i va Xd/SijTe' e\a/3ov yap- aXXa TO \eiirov iva 7r\r)pa>dr)Te. Then below
he says : Tt Se e <rtw f Iva ir\T)pa>6rJT TTJV eiriyvato~tv TOV de\r){J.a.Tos OVTOV ';
8ia TOV vlov irpoaayecrdai rjfj.as avTta, OVKCTI 81 dyyeXcav. OTI [iev ovv Set
irpoo'dyca'dai, eyvatTS' \eiirei 8e vptv TO TOVTO padeiv, /cat 8ia Tt TOV vlov
eire^ev. Again no stress falls on rtyow There is indeed something
more to be learned, viz. TTJV eiriyva>o-iv TOV tfeXiJ/uoTos avrov : but it is not
a fuller knowledge of the will of God which is in question. So he
continues: 'KOI alrovpevoi', (prjtri' pera TroXX^s TTJS trirov^s- TOVTO yap
8eiKWo~iv, OTI cyvatTe, dXXa Set Tt (eat eiriyvavai. Here eyvotTe corresponds
to St Paul's ireyva>T TTJV x&P"' TOV & eov ' c You have learned something',
he says, 'but you must needs learn something more'. The 'something
more ' is conveyed by Tt *ai', not by the change of verb. If we are to
make a distinction it must be between general knowledge (eyvwre) and
particular knowledge (cmyv&vai). We cannot on the strength of this
_^_s_entence_alone_insist_on_a_new_sense of emyivoo*Keiv, viz. -to learn
further'. It is of course conceivable that a late writer might be led
by the analogy of some compounds with rt to play upon the words in
this particular way : but we have no proof of it at present ; and even if
it were true for the fourth century, it would be hazardous to carry such
a meaning back to St Paul.
Another passage cited by Lightfoot, Clem. Alex. Strom, i 17, p. 369, and
need not detain us. It is itself borrowed from Tatian ad Graecos 40; and Clement
the ov naT eiriyvaHriv which both passages contain is a mere reproduction anirhT"
of St Paul's words in Rom. x. 2.
Dr Hatch in his Essays on Biblical Greek (p. 8) refers to Const. Hatch
Apost. vii 39, with the remark that it makes firiyvato-is 'the second of the ites ,
three stages of perfect knowledge : yvoo-is, eiriyvtao-is, ir\T)po<popia'. Unfor- (jogtjt u _
tunately for his readers he does not quote the passage. The writer, who tions.
has been expanding precepts of the DidacM, says : 6 /ieXXo>i/ Ka-nj^eio'dat
TOV \oyov TTJS d\T)deias irai8evea-0a> irpo TOV fJajrria-paTos (cf. Did. 7) T^V
Trepi TOU dyevvrfTov yvcao'iv, TTJV irepl vlov povoyevovs emyvcoo'iv, TTJV nrpt TOV
dyiov irvevpaTos ir\rjpo<popiav. That is to say, a catechumen before Baptism
must be instructed in a knowledge of the Holy Trinity. The writer is in
want of synonyms : he may even fancy that he is working up to a climax,
and may have chosen emyvtoa-ts as a word of fuller sound than yvSxns. But
nothing is to be gained from verbiage of this kind for the strict definition
of words.
Two interesting examples of eiriyivao-Keiv and eiriyva>o~ts may here be Further
added. Clem. Alex. Q.D.S. 7 f. : OVKOVV TO pcyurrov KOI KopvfaioraTov illustra-
TWV irpbs TTJV fayv fiadrniara>v...yvcavai TOV 6cbv...6epv eort KTT]o~ao~dai &ia
KO\ KaTaX^6o)f...>7 [lev yap TOVTOV ayvoia ddvaros eorti, rj Se
254 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
firiyvaxris avrov Kal olKfiaxris Kal rj irpos avrbv ayanrj Kal f
fuan/i <OTJ. rovrov o$v irp&tov ciriyvaivai TW ^ijtroftevcp r^v ovruts
irapaKcXeuerqt, ov ov$e\s eirtyivcacTKei el fj.fj 6 vlbs Kal < av 6 vibe diroKa-
Aui^i;' eirfiTa TO fieyeQos rov trayrijpos /ACT' etteivov Kal TTJV Kaivorrjra rfjs
Xapiros paGf-lv. It is noticeable that liriyvaxns comes in for the first
time in contrast to ayvoia. The first requirement for the true life is
fmyv&vcu. It is quite clear therefore that eiriyvaxris here is not a fuller
or more advanced knowledge.
Eus. JET. E. vi ii 6, a passage in a letter of Alexander of Jerusalem to
the Antiochenes, which was brought to them by Clement of Alexandria.
Alexander speaks of Clement as avftpbs evaplrov Kal BoKip.ov, ov "are KOI
vfifis Kal emyv<a<readf. This is rendered by Rufinus uirum in omnibus
uirtutibus probatissimwm, quern, nostis etiam. uos et eo amplius cognos-
cetis\ This no doubt gives the general sense well enough. But the
contrast in the Greek is between eldevai and firiyivcoo-Kctv, and not, be it
noted, between yivua-Kciv and finyivao-Kfiv. The meaning appears to be
{ ye know him by name, and ye shall now get to know him in person': 'ye
have heard of him, and ye shall now make his acquaintance'. There is no
reason for supposing that the Antiochenes had ever seen Clement up to
this time: otherwise we might seek to explain eiriyvtoa-ea-d* as 'ye shall
recognise him as such as I have described him '.
Con- So far then as we are to distinguish between yv&vis __
elusion. we may_say_-tbat-yy^OTy-i8-the-wider-word~aii6!.~expresses * knowledge ' in
the fullest sense: eiriyvato-is is knowledge directed towards a particular
object, perceiving, discerning, recognising 2 : but it is not knowledge in the
abstract: that is yva><ris. It follows that the genitive after yv&ais may be
either subjective or objective: but the genitive after eVfywotw denotes the
object of the knowledge.
1 So Jerome (de uiris ill. 38) uirum did not suggest a fuller or further
ilhistrem et probatum, quern uos quoque knowledge: E y&p JKTJ rafcto ia-n
scitis et nunc pleniw recognoscetis. yi>&ffis 8eov Kal frrlyixaffis 0eov dXX' 6
2 Origen's comment on* Eph. i 17 iirtyivtJiitrKuv olovel &j>ayj>upl&i 6 ir\at
(Cramer, p. 130) presses the sense of elSws ^ire\4\ijffro, fooi *^ tiriytxixrei'
'recognition', in accordance with a ylvovTat 6eav ira\ai ySeffav avrbv Si-
favourite view of his. It is worth re- fare? * (ju>7i<rdri<rovTai Kal tiriaTpa^trovTai,
cording, if only as shewing that to vpbs Kfyiov iravra. ri v^para T^S 7^$'.
him at any rate the word
THE MEANING OF TTAHPHMA. 255
On the meaning of ir
The precise meaning of the word rr\^pa>iM has been a matter of much The
controversy among biblical critics. It was discussed at great length by
C. F. A. Fritzsche in his commentary on Romans (1839), voL ii pp. 469 f,
and to him subsequent writers are in the main indebted for their illustra-
tions from Greek literature. Fritzsche's long note was drawn from him
by the statement of Storr and writers who followed him, that irXifptD/ta
always has an active sense in the New Testament. He, on the contrary, nouns in
starts with the assertion that substantives in -/to have a passive sense. '^ a ** ave a
He admits a few cases in which irXnpoa^a has an active sense: such
Eurip. Troad. 823:
TTOl,
Zrjvos
, KaXXurrap Xarpeuu* 1
and Philo de Abr. 46 (Mangey, ii 39), where faith toward God is called
irapTjyopTjfjia ySi'ov, TrX^pojua xp r l (rr "> v eXffi&av. But he insists that in such
cases 7rX7pa>/ia means 'the filling' or ' fulfilling ', and not 'that which fills'
(complendi actionem, non id quod complet). He then proceeds to show
that the fundamental sense of TrXiJpoyui is a passive sense.
But we must note carefully what he means when he thus speaks of 'id quo
a 'passive sense'. In ordinary parlance we understand by the passive MS corn-
sense of 7rX77p</i, 'that which is filled' (id quod completum es); but of ^ e ia '
this Fritzsche has only one plausible example to offer, viz. wXjjpta/wra,
as used in naval warfare as an equivalent of 'ships' (to this we shall return
presently). He himself, however, uses the expression 'passive sense* to
cover instances in which ir\TJpa[j.a means 'that with which a thing is filled 5
(id quo res completur s. completa est). This extension of phraseology
enables him, with a little straining, to find an underlying passive significa-
tion in all instances of the use of TrX^'pw/ia, apart from those which he has
already noted as exceptions.
Lightfoot, in his commentary on Colossians (pp. 257 273), discusses Light-
the word TrXiypea/na afresh, and deals (i) with its fundamental significa- *? t .' s .
tion ; (2) with its use in the New Testament ; (3) with its employment cnticism
as a technical term by heretical sects. At the outset he recognises
the confusion which Fritzsche produced by his unjustifiable use of the
expression ' passive sense '. Thus he says : ' He apparently considers that
he has surmounted the difficulties involved in Storr's view, for he speaks
of this last [id quo res impletur] as a passive sense, though in fact it is
nothing more than id quod implet expressed in other words'.
256
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
and modi-
fication :
the result
of the
agency
of the
verb:
yet strictly
passive.
-Difficulty
of this
theory il-
lustrated.
The
passive
sense not
to be in-
sisted on.
Lightfoot, accordingly, starting with the same postulate of the passive
signification of all verbal substantives in -pa, undertakes to find a genuine
passive sense underlying those instances in which Fritzsche had interpreted
ir\T)pa>fj.a as id quo res impletur. ' Substantives in -/', he says, 'formed
from the perfect passive, appear always to have a passive sense. They
may denote an abstract notion or a concrete thing ; they may signify the
action itself regarded as complete, or the product of the action ; but in
any case they give the result of the agency involved in the corresponding;
verb'.
Lightfoot appears to have correctly diagnosed the formations in -/ia,
when he says, 'they give the result of the agency involved in the corre-
sponding verb'. It is, however, unfortunate that, in his desire to be loyal
to what he speaks of as a 'lexical rule', he insists that 'in all cases
the word is strictly passive'. For the maintenance of this position
involves again an extension of the term 'passive', not indeed so violent
as Fritzsche's, but yet unfamiliar and easily leading to misconceptions.
Thus, to take one instance, we may allow that naXvpa is in the first place
the result of 'hindering', i.e. 'hindrance'. But when the 'hindrance' is
thought of not merely as an abstract idea, but as a concrete thing, it has
come to mean 'that which hinders'; that is to say, it has acquired in
usage what we should naturally call an active signification. And yet the
theory in question demands that KcSiXvpa, the result of the agency of the
verb Ka>\va>, shall be 'strictly passive'.
-The-straits~to~which Lightfoot is put by this theory may be illustrated
from his interpretation of the word -irk^pa^a in Mark ii 21, the saying
about the new patch on the old garment. The true text of St Mark at
this point is somewhat rough, but not really obscure: No man seweth
a piece of new (or undressed) cloth on an old garment; 8e pj, aipet
TO TrXifpayia oaf avrov, TO K.O.IVOV rov TraXaioS. Our old translators rendered
TrXTjpoyta, 'the piece that filled it up'; taking 7rX7Jpca/i in the sense of
'the supplement'. It cannot be denied that this gives an admirable
meaning in this place. Perhaps a stricter writer would have said di/cwrX^-
pvpa, for dvajrXrjpovv seems to differ from irhqpovv in the same way as 'to
fill up' differs from 'to fill' : it suggests the supply of a deficiency, rather
than the filling of what is quite empty to start with. Apart from this,
which is perhaps somewhat of a refinement, we might render the words
literally : 'the supplement taketh therefrom, to wit, the new from the old'.
But Lightfoot boldly refuses the obvious explanation, and, insisting on his
theory, interprets TO irhqp&pa as ' the completeness which results from the
patch' : 'the completeness takes away from the garment, the new com-
pleteness of the old garment'. "We must hesitate long before we dissent
from the interpretations of so great an expositor: but we are sorely tempted
to ask if there is not a nearer way to the truth than this.
To return: if we are to have a theory to cover all these formations
in -pi, it seems wisest to abandon altogether the traditional rule 'that
substantives in -/*a have a passive sense ', and adopt in its place the wider
rule 'that they give the result of the agency of the corresponding verb'.
This result may be thought of as primarily an abstract idea. But it is
a common phenomenon in language that words denoting abstract ideas have
THE MEANING OF TTAHPHMA. 257
a tendency to fall into the concrete. The result of * mixing' is 'mixture'
(abstract); but, again, the result is 'a mixture' (concrete) 1 .
But before we discard a venerable tradition, let us try to do it some False
measure of justice. There must hare been some reason for a rule which analogy
has dominated us so long: and the reason appears to be this. There are f per fe c t
two familiar sets of substantives in Greek which are derived from verbs : passive '.
they are commonly spoken of as those ending in -tris and those ending
in -pa. When we compare them for such verbs as iroiea, npaao-w, S/Sca/tt,
fiiywfjii, we find that the one class (TTOIIJO-IS, irpagis, Boats, /u'f t?) expresses
the action of the verb 'making', 'doing', 'giving', 'mixing'; while the
other class (iroirma, irpayfia, dofia, /w'yfia) represents the result of that
action 'a thing made', 'a deed', 'a gift', 'a mixture'. Avast number
of similar examples can be cited, and at once it appears that we have
a simple distinction between the two classes : substantives in -era have
an active sense, substantives in -\M have a passive sense. Moreover we
observe an obvious similarity between the formations in -\ia and the perfect
passive of the verbs from which they are derived :
ireiroirjfuu, ireiroirjitevos, iroirjfia
TreirpayfjMi, ireirpaypevos, irpaypa
Sebopevos,
/ze/uy/te'z/Of,
It is probable that this 'false analogy' has had something to do with Forms in
propagating and maintaining the idea that these formations are specially -/MT-, not
connected with the passive. It would certainly conduce to clearness and m ~' ua>
accuracy if these formations were spoken of as formations in -par-, as their
oblique cases show them to be. The formative suffix is added directly
to the root or to the strengthened verbal stem: as p,iy-, fuy-fiar-; won/-,
iroiTj-paT-; whereas for the perfect passive the root is first reduplicated,
p.e-p.iy-[iai, ire-jroiTj-pai, The original meaning of the formative suffix -par-
is now altogether lost to our knowledge. It appears in Latin in a stronger
form as -mento-, and in a weaker form as -min-; cf. ' ornamentum ' (from
* ornare '), and ' fragmen, -minis ' (from ' frangere '). Side by side with these
Latin forms we have others in -tion-, as 'ornatio, -onis', and 'fractio, -onis',
which are parallel to the Greek derivatives in -o-i-.
The help that we gain from comparative grammar is thus of a negative Usage
kind ; but we may be grateful for it, as releasing us from bondage to the alo " e ani
old rule which connected these formations with the passive of the verb, ffoirsig-
We are now thrown back upon usage as our only guide to the discovery nification.
of a general signification which may serve as the starting-point of their
classification. It may be questioned whether we ought to demand such
a general signification; but if we do, then 'the result of the agency of
the corresponding verb' may serve us well enough. Thus irpayfia is the
result of 'doing', i.e. 'a deed'; Styia, the result of 'giving', 'a gift';
ornamentum, the result of 'adorning', 'an ornament'; frogmen, the
1 It happens that 'a mixture', when and is passive ; but 'a legislature' is
it ceases to be an abstract, is passive ; active and ' legislates '.
BO, too, 'a fixture' is 'a thing fixed',
17
EPHES. 8
.258 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
result of 'breaking', 'a fragment'. But it is quite possible that this
result should be followed by a substantive in the genitive case, so as to
express the same relation as would be expressed if the corresponding
verb were followed by that substantive in the accusative case. Thus
ornamentum domus would express the same relation as ornare domum :
and jea>Xu/ta TTJS emxfipy<rea>s, as K<a\veiv rrfv firixfiprj<riv. When this IS
the case, the word may fairly be said to have an active sense. In Latin
we have such instances as solamen, leuamen, nutrimen, momen (=moui-
meri), and many others; most of them having fuller forms, perhaps as a
rule later, in -mentum.
Classi- We may conveniently classify the Greek words of this formation in -/*or-
fication : under three heads :
neutral, (i) Where the verb is intransitive, and accordingly there is nothing
transitive about the corresponding substantive: as aytowoyxo, aJWy/ia,
dKafcovevfM, aX/ia, <tyiaprf)/za, /Stdrevjua, yeXaoyia, Kav^rjua.
passive, (2) Where the verb is transitive, and the substantive corresponds to
the object of the verb, and thus may rightly be said to have a passive
sense : as ayyeX^ta, dyopao-fia, ayvppa, atri?/Lta, aKova-p-a, dicpoapa, ye'wi^a.
and active. (3) Where the verb is transitive, and the substantive is no longer the
object of the verb, but the object can be expressed as a genitive following
the substantive : as ayXaioym, ayvurp,a, aypevpa, adpourpa, aiaprjpa, aXXottofia,
afj.Ha, apvyp-a, avcureuriia, evSety/jia, ^fdvcr/Lta, /u'/w/pxi, o^/tr/ia. Why should
not these be called active \
Usage It is important to notice that in distinguishing between classes (2) and
sometimes (3) usa g e j s our only guide: there is nothing whatever in the nature of the
formation which points us in one direction rather than in another. As
a matter of fact many words oscillate between the two meanings. "AyoX/uz,
for example, may be the object 'honoured' (as ayoX/nara 6e&v), or that
'which gives honour' to the object (as aya\p.a 86p#>v): /Spw^a may be the
food eaten' or the canker that eats: 00707/10, the cattle that are fed, or
the food that feeds them: but it is seldom that both meanings are thus
retained together.
Forms in If the forms in -/iar- perplex us by their apparent inconsistency, the
-<ri- also forms in -o-t- are scarcely less unsteady. They ought properly to remain
meaning *^ e abstract region to which they certainly belong; but they are very
unwilling in many cases to be so limited. They choose to descend into the
concrete, and in doing so they often coincide with the corresponding forms
in -par-. Thus in practice we find that TO| and ray/aa can both mean
'a rank'; irpais and irpdypa, '& deed'; evdetgis and evdeiypa, 'a proof;
epanja-is and eprarq/xa, 'a question'. The starting-points of the two sets
of words are different: the forms in -o-t- denote the action in process; the
forms in -/uzr-, the action in result. In the first instance always, in the
second sometimes, the primary meaning is an abstract one ; and so long as
the abstract meaning is retained the distinction between the two sets of
words is clear enough. When however the abstract gives way to the
concrete, the distinction often disappears.
The use of We have said enough on these two formations in general to clear
flj e wav f or a consideration of the word n\ijpa>p.a, which has suffered
hitherto from the loyalty of its expositors to a grammatical canon against
THE MEANING OF TTAHPflMA. 259
which it was determined to rebel. We may first examine some of the as a nau-
examples ordinarily cited. We begin with two nautical usages of the ticaltermj
word. NaSj* irXrjpovv, or 7rXi;poS<r0ai, is 'to man a ship', or 'to get it
manned'; and the result of such action in either case is TrXiJpca/aa, which
has the concrete meaning of 'a crew', that TrXijpayia sometimes means
' the ship', as being ' the thing filled ' with men, is not a strictly accurate
statement. For in the passages cited (Lucian, Ver. Hist, ii 37, 38, and
Polyb. i 49) the literal meaning is 'crews'; though 'to fight with two
crews' (OTTO 8vo 7r\ijpa>tJLdTtav paxevtiai) is only another way of saying, 'to
fight with two ships'. The other nautical use of 7r\ypa>pa for a ship's
'lading' or 'cargo' is again a perfectly natural use of the word when it
is concrete. To say that in these two instances TrXifpw/ta does not mean
'that with which the ship is filled' is to make a statement difficult to
maintain : and it is not easy to see what is gained by maintaining it
There is a whole class of instances in which the word n-Xi/pajua has as a ' full
a somewhat stronger sense, viz. that of 'the full complement'. Thus incomple-
Aristid. Or. xiv p. 353 (Dind.) we have pyre avrapKeis etrco-Qai TrXypeopa cvbs '
olicfiov (rrpaTevfjtaTos Trapaa-^eo-dai, i.e. enough to put it at full strength. So
ir\TJpa>pa Spanos (Eccles. iv 6) means 'a handful'; TrX^pcopa o-irvpltios, 'a
basketful' 1 . In these cases the 'fulness' spoken of is a 'complement' in
the sense of entirety: it is strictly a 'fulness' in exchange for 'emptiness'.
Another shade of meaning may be illustrated by the well-known passage as 'that
of Aristotle, in which he is criticising Plato's Republic (Arist. Pottt. iv 4).
The simplest conceivable form of a city, Socrates had said, must contain six
kinds of artisans or labourers weaver, husbandman, shoemaker, builder, incom-
smith, herdsman ; and in addition to these, to make up a city, you must plete'.
have a merchant and a retail dealer. ' These together ' to use Aristotle's
words 'form the pleroma of a city in its simplest stage': raCra mura
yivfrai TrXf/pw/na TJJS irpcoTrjs iroXeeay. If you have all these elements present,
then your extremely simple city is complete. They are its pleroma. With
them you can have a city, without them you cannot. Nothing less than
these can make a city, qud city, complete.
This last example is of special interest in view of St Paul's use of Eph. i 23.
ir\ijpa>(ta in Eph. i 23, where the Church is spoken of as that without
which in a certain sense the Christ Himself is incomplete. For the
theological import of the word, however, reference must be made to the
exposition, pp. 42 ff., 87 fi 7 ., 100 f. The present note is confined to its
philological signification.
1 Comp. Mark viii 20 : irtxruv <r<f>\ipL- we can but say that on no theory of
duvir\i]p&fjLaTaK\afffj.dTui>ypaTe; 'How the meaning of irX^/xiytara could it
many basketfuls of fragments took ye ever have been tolerable to a Greek
up?' 'Basketfuls' is a harsh plural; ear. If St Mark wrote it so, the
but St Mark's Greek is certainly not other Evangelists were fully justified
less harsh. As to Mark vi 43, Kttl rjpay in altering it, even though the later
copyists were not.
172
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
On the word
A meta-
phor from
building.
Details of
the con-
struction
of ancient
buildings.
Eleusis.
Lebadeia.
Specifi-
cations of
contract ;
fines;
payment;
testing
of work.
St Paul's
language
illustrated
hereby.
The history of this word is of sufficient interest to deserve a special
note ; and its investigation will incidentally throw some fresh light on
one of St Paul's favourite metaphors.
The materials for our knowledge of the methods of construction of
large public buildings in Greece have been greatly increased of late by
the publication of a series of inscriptions. The most important of these
are the contracts for the quarrying and preparing of stones for sacred
buildings at Eleusis in the fourth century B.O. (CIA iv 1054 b ff.), and the
contracts for the construction of an immense temple of Zeus at Lebadeia
in Boeotia, a work which was never brought to completion 1 . The latter
are printed in CICr, GS i 3073, and also with a most instructive commentary
in E. Fabricius de architect. Graeca (1881): they appear to belong to the
second century B.C. _
The Lebadean inscription opens with a direction to the contractor to
have the whole of the contract carved on tablets which were to be set up
in the sacred enclosure 2 . It proceeds to state that, if the contractor be
guilty of fraudulently putting in bad work (naKorexvov), or of any breach.
of the regulations, he shall be fined (^/ualtyrcrcu); and later on we find
a similar penalty attached to negligence on the part of the workmen. The
payment is to be made by instalments, a portion being reserved until the
work has been finally passed after careful examination by the vaoiroioi and
the ap^iTfKrwv: teal o-vvreke&as oXop TO epyop, orav SoKificurdf], xojtucracrdc*
ro fmSeKOTov TO wro\ei<p6ev.
We cannot fail to be reminded of St Paul's words in i Cor. iii 10 ff. : d>s
a-otpbs apxiTfKT&v 6eyx\iov edrjKa, aXXos Se eVoiKoSo/ifi. exaoroj 8e /8Xe-
7Tera> TrtSs ciroiitodofifi' @fif\tov yap aXXop ovSels 8vvaTai Beivat, irapa TOV
Kfip-evov, os eariv *lr]o~ovs Xpwrros' 8e TIS e7roiKo8op.et erri TOV 6ep.e\iov
%pvo~iov } dpyvptoV) \idovs npiovs, ^wXa, ^dprov, KoXa/ttJ/i/, caorov ro ep-yov
fpavepov yci^crerat, T) -yap ijp,epa 8rj\cao~ei' OTI ev irvpl anoKoXvnrerai, nai
exaorou ro epyov otrolov eoriv TO irvp avTo SoKipdo-et. ei TWOS TO epyov
o eiroiKo86iJn)O~i', pio~6bv Xi/fi^erac ft TWOS TO epyov
1 Compare Pausan. ix 39 4 TOVTOV
p.v Si] dik Tb fdyeBos TJ xal TUP iroX^u&w
TO dXXe7rdXXi;Xoi' &<f>elKa<rit> r^Lepyov.
2 Fabricius estimates that there
must have been at least 16 of these
tablets, and that they must have con-
tained altogether not less than 130,000
letters ; and these dealt only with a
small fraction of the whole building.
The payment was reckoned at the rate-
of a stater (=3 drachmas) and three
obols for the cutting of a thousand,
letters. This preliminary work was
to be done within ten days from the
first advance of money to the con-
tractor.
THE MEANING OF CYNAPMOAOPEIN. 261
The inscription has a further interest in connexion with this passage, Further
in that it records a contract for the continuation of work which has already iUustra-
advanced to a certain stage. Stones already in position are spoken of as
Keipevoi Kal reXop e\ovres I COmp. CIGr, IMA ii 1 1 o vuv Keipevos dtpeXtos*
The Apostle has combined with his metaphor the conception of the Day
of the Lord that tests by fire (Mai. iii in;), and this accounts for the
remainder of the remarkable phraseology of the passage. With the words
which follow (v. 17), ei TIS TOV vabv TOV deov (pdeipei, (pdepet TOVTOV 6 deos,
it may not be altogether irrelevant to compare (Ldb. 32 ff.) /cat eav TWO,
vyifj \L6ov 8ia<pdelpij...Tpov diroKaTaorqirei doKipov rots ISiois dva\&pao'iv,
ovdev ejrnt<a\vovTa TO epyov TOV de duupdapevra \idov edei e/e TOV lepov
fvros y/J.epa>v jreire, K.T.X.
We may pass now to the passage which has suggested this note, Eph. ii Eph. ii t\.
21 7rao~a oiKoSopr) o-wappoKoyovpfvr], and endeavour to find the exact sense
of the verb appdXoyeiv. We must begin by considering certain analogous
forms which occur in the phraseology of building.
AitfoXoyo? is a word frequently found in company with remap. The Builder's
one is a fitter of stones, as the other is a joiner of wood. For \i6o\6yoi * erm s.
Kal TeKToves see Thuc. vi. 44, vii 43, and other references given by Bliimner AiOo\6yos :
Technologie iii 5. The original meaning appears to have been 'a chooser at first 'a
of stones 5 ; and that this was still felt is seen from Plato Legg. ix 858 B,
naQcmcp rj \i6o\6yois rj icai TWOS eTepas dpj^ofievots o~vo*rao~e<os, irapa<popij-
a TO Tfpoatpopa TTJ
: and X 92 E, ov8e yap avev (TfUKpmv TOVS fieyaXovs <f>ao~lv ol \ido- afterwards
Xoyot \t0ovs ev Kelo-dai. But the word obtained a technical meaning in the 'a fitter
fitting of stone-work where every stone was cut to measure. Julius Pollux s * ne -
gives Xt0oXoyof and XitfoXoyeti' as synonyms of \i6ovpyos and \idovpyetv 1 :
moreover, as an equivalent of Xi0oorpa>roi>, he gives Xt&Xoyg/ta, which is
found in Xenoph. Cyrop. vi 3 25.,
In the earlier building, and probably always in certain classes of work, The pro-
stones were selected to fit, rather than cut according to prescribed mea- cess of
sures. But in the temple-building with which our inscriptions deal the |f ^i? 1 - 6 "
exact measures were defined in the contracts, and the stones had to be S '
hewn accordingly. No mortar was used, and the whole process of fitting
and laying the stones was a very elaborate one. It is fully described in the
contract for the paving of the styldbates in the Lebadean inscription.
There were two parts of the blocks (Karacrrpoar^pcs) which had to be Preparing
worked : the lower surface (/3a<m) and the sides (appal). In each case not the stones.
the whole of the surface was smoothed, but only a margin, the interior
part being cut in, so that there might be no projections to produce uneven-
ness when the stones were brought together. The margins were carefully
smoothed, first with a fine tool, and then by a rubbing process. The
smoothness was tested by the navuv, a straight bar of stone (\l0ivos
navtov) or, for the larger surfaces, of wood (v\ivos KOVCOV). The Kavvv
was covered with ruddle (ptXro?), and then passed over the surface:
wherever the surface did not take the ruddle, it was shewn to be still
uneven; and the work was continued, until the surface, when rubbed
1 Pollux vii 118 ff.: \i8ovpy6v, not tine MS, which at this point seems
Xi0ou\ic6j>, is the reading of the Pala- to present a better text.
262 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
with the KCUHOV, was uniformly red. With this compare Eurip. JS. F. 945
ftaBpa \ (poiviKt, navovi KOI TVKOIS jjppxja/ieva. The names given in the in-
The ter- scriptions to the processes of polishing and of testing respectively were
nunation T p twtaro x yeu> and /uXroXoyctv. These terms are not found in literature:
used wide- no doubt they were simply masons' words ; and it is possible that the
ly by false termination (-Xoyi>) was due to a false analogy with the familiar Xt0o-
analogy. Xoyeo'. It is clear at any rate that the original meaning of the termination
has completely disappeared in these compounds. Another word of the
same order is ^tpoXoyew/, of working in mosaic: see Tobit xiii 17 at
ir\a.Tciat 'lepovcraX^/x jSqpvXXcp icat avdpaKi jcat \idco IK Soucpcip ifatpoXo-
yqdijffovrai. If this were shewn to be an early word, we should incline
to give the termination its full meaning in the first instance, and then to
suppose the whole word transferred from the selecting of the pieces of
mosaic to their setting: but it may quite well be regarded as formed
merely by analogy, like Tpi/i/MwoXoyi> and /wXroXoytti'.
So in .Ap/to- it i s reasonable to believe that in appo\oyeiv we have yet another of
y etv ' these formations due to analogy : for the termination cannot in this case
have ever had its proper force. If this be so, the exact technical
meaning of appos ceases to be of moment for the understanding of the
Various verb. Probably appos meant first a 'fitting', then the joint or juncture
senses of wnere one stone was fitted to another, and then, in the sense in which
a/J/i s * we have already had it, the side of the stone which is worked so as to
fit-with-the-corresponding-side-of-another-stone;
appears to be the juncture of two drums of a column : for there each
appos is to have two epiroXta (dowel-holes) and one bronze n-oXos (dowel) :
so that it seems that the epiroXia must be one in the lower drum and
one in the upper. Compare Ecclus. xxvii 2 ava peo-ov dppav \L6a>v
Trayijtrerat TraoxraXos.
'Ap/>Xo- 'ApfjLo\oyeiv, then, represents the whole of the elaborate process by
notes the wmcn s t nes are fitted together: the preparation of the surfaces, in-
whole eluding the cutting, rubbing and testing; the preparation of the dowels
process, and dowel-holes, and finally the fixing of the dowels with molten lead.
The word is a rare one ; but the two examples of it which are cited are
Used by both of interest 1 . Sextus Empiricus, speaking of the weakness of divina-
Sextus tion from the signs of the Zodiac, says (M. v 78): TO Se irdvrw /euptwraroi/,
Jiiinpiri- v >&/> >> - i&> a * \ /
cug eitaaTov rtov Qatoitov ov trwe^es cart o-copxz, ovo axnrcp r)p (to \oyrjfjLevov
TIB irpb eavTov Kai /$' ai5ro (rvvfjTrrai, fjujBepias p.erav irarTovoTjs Staora-
and in an treats, *.r.X. The other example is a beautiful epigram of Philip of
epigram. Thessalonica in the Anthology (Anth. Pal. vii 554), on a monument raised
to a stonemason's boy by his own father's hands.
Aarwroy 'Ap^tTeXijs 'Ayadavopi ircuSi Qavovri
Xep&lv mfrpcus jJpp-oXoyj/o-f raqboi/.
atat irerpov eKeivov, ov OVK eKo\a^e a-i&rjpos,
aXX' fTCLKJ} TTVKIVOIS SaKptHTT TfyyOfJtfVOS.
<pev' ori/Xi; (pdi/jLevo) Kovfprj fteve, KCIVOS iv
"Ovrcos irarp(pT] xP eiredqite \l6ov.
x The word occurs, but perhaps not Comm. in Apocal. c. 65 au'ri/ 5f >] ir6\is
independently of St Paul, in Andreas t% &yl<av
THE MEANING OF CYNAPMOAOrEIN. 263
In dear remembrance of a son
A father cut and set this stone:
No chisel-mark the marble bears,
Its surface yielded to his tears.
Lie on him lightly, stone, and he
Will know his father's masonry.
The compound o-wappoXoyelv is not found apart from St Paul He The corn-
uses it both in this passage and in iv 16, where he applies it to theP onn ^
structure of the body. Such an application was easy, as dppos was also
used of the joints of the body (4 Mace, x 5, Hebr. iv 12): but the word
was probably only chosen because it had been previously used in its
proper sense, and because the Apostle delighted in combining the archi-
tectural and physiological metaphors, as when in the context he twice
speaks of 'the building of the body' (vv. 13, 16). In the parallel passage
in Colossians (ii 19) his language is different, as there has been no
employment of the metaphor of building.
264 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS,
On irwpoMTt,? and
n<6pwtrt$ In Eph. iv 18 the "word rrwpaxris has been uniformly interpreted as
rendered < blindness ' in the Latin, Syriac and Armenian versions, and, with perhaps
' blind- j^ one exce ption (Geneva 1557,' hardenes '), in the English versions, until
Ep S h. ivi8. *^e revis i n f J^Si, i n which it is rendered 'hardening'. The word and its
cognate verb irtapovv deserve a fuller investigation than they have hitherto
received, We shall consider (i) their derivation and history, (2) their use
in the New Testament, (3) their interpretation in early versions and com-
mentaries, (4) the confusion of irmpovv, ir<opu><ris with Trrjpovv, Tnjpajtrts, (5) the
use of nr\p6s and its derivates to denote ' blindness'.
i. Deriva- i. u&pos (in MSS frequently iropos) or \idos iraptvos (iropivos) is a kind
tion and o f mar kie, tophus. Theophrastus Lap. 7 thus describes it : iropos 6 \i6os,
OftOlOS TO) XpOBfJUlTI. KOI Tfl TTVKVOTTJTl T<p HaplCO, TrfV 8f KOV(pOTT)Ta \tOVOV
. Aristotle-speafcs-of-stalactites-as-oi~7rop)t~~oi~~j'~~Toip
(Meteor. 4, 10). In the medical writers irmpos is used for (a) a node or bony
in medical formation on the joints, (&) a callus, or ossification which serves as a mortar
writers. ^ Q un jte the portions of a fractured bone. But it is not used, apparently,
in the wider sense of the Latin callum or callus, for a callosity or hardening
of the flesh : that in Greek is TV\TJ. H&povv accordingly signifies (a) to
petrify; as in a quotation from Pisis in Suidas, ras t/e/iaSas irapovvra KOI
<r(j>iyyovTa \ida8ei rpoircp: (6) to cover with a callus; Diosc. i 112
v n vea pffi fa 86 TO dirapvTa natpol : in this technical sense ir&povv and rro>-
a technical ~ , .-, . -, . ,. ,, -,. -, .. ,,
pow and their derivatives are common in the medical writers : otherwise
'
vv is exceedingly rare.
Also of There is a further development of meaning (c), to deaden or dull, of
which I have only been able to find one independent example outside
biblical Greek. Athenaeus (xii 549) cites a passage of Nymphis of Heraclea,
in which ira>pova-6ai is used to express the insensibility of the flesh by
reason of excessive fat. Dionysius the tyrant of Heraclea virb Tpvfpfjs KOI
TTJS Kaff rjiiepav d8ri<payias eXadev virfpo-aptajo-as. He would fall into a coma-
tose condition, and his physicians could only rouse him by pricking him
with long needles : fJ-expi P*v ovv nvog VTTO rrjs ireira>pa>fj.evr]s eie rov orearoy
crapnos OVK cvciroiet rffv aio-drjmv el fie irpos TOV Ka&apbv roirov y f$e\6vr)
bte\6ov<ra ediye, TOTS Stijyet/aero. Aelian, V. H. ix 13, tells the same story,
paraphrasing as follows: %v V apa TOVTO eiripeXes crepois bpav, e<rr av O\T} 8ia
rfjs ireir<op<aiJ.evrjs nal rpoirov nvit dXXorpias avrov aapKos facipirev f/ ySfXowy,
aXX* cKflvos ye eneiro \L6ov buxpepw ovSev. It is clear that the likeness to a
stone, which Aelian introduces to explain what was probably an unfamiliar
use of irapoixrdai, refers not in the least to the hardness of the flesh for
the needle could pass through it but to its deadness or insensibility.
ON nnpncic AND rmpncic. 265
The word has thus travelled some distance from its original meaning, and of
and it was destined to go still further. The idea of insensibility could be obscura-
transferred from organs of feeling to the organ of sight: and accordingly in *jg t
the one place in which it occurs in the Greek Old Testament it is used of
the eyes : Job xvii 7 ireirmpavTai yap dirb opyfjs 01 o<pda\fioi fiov. We render
the Hebrew at this point, 'Mine eye is dim by reason of sorrow' 1 . The
verb nn3 is used of the eyes in Gen. xxvii i (of Jacob), where the LXX has
f)fj,^\vvBr]ffav\ Deut. xxxiv 7 (of Moses), LXX qpavpcofyaav: Zech. xi 17,
LXX eKTV(p\a>drj<reTai. The other Greek translators of Job used tjpavpto-
6r)o-av instead of Tren-wpamu. The word had thus come to be practically
equivalent to ireir^pcovrat, 'are blinded', which is found as a variant
in - a A.
Thus we see that irtopa><ris, losing its first sense of petrifaction or hard- Change of
ness, comes to denote the result of petrifaction as metaphorically applied to meanin g-
the organs of feeling, that is, insensibility, and more especially iu reference
to the organs of sight, obscuration or blindness.
2. ntopovv and ir<ap<oo-is occur eight times in the New Testament : four I- In the
times in St Paul, three times in St Mark, and once in St John. amlnt ^
(l) 2 Cor. iii 14 oXX* 7r<op<odt] TO. voypaTa avrStv. , p *,
'Moses put a vail on his face, that the children of Israel might not gaze 2 c or> yj
(arevia-ai) on (or unto) the end of that which was being done away'. But in 14.
_the_spiritual_sense_there_was_jnore_than_the_vail_on-Moses-face-that-pre
vented their seeing eVapcudi? rd vo^ftara avrav. 'For unto this day the
same vail at the reading of the Old Testament remains, not being lifted (or
unvailed) for in Christ it is done away but to this day whenever Moses
is read a vail lieth upon their heart . . . But all of us with unvailed face
etc. . . . But if our gospel is vailed, it is in them that are lost that it is
vailed, in whom the god of this world ervcpXaxrev TO. vo^ara T&V caria-Tatv,
els TO fj.rj avydcrai TOV <f)a>Tio~nbv TOV evayye\iov '.
The context has to do with seeing and not seeing. Not seeing is not
really due to the vailing of the object: it is the fault of the minds which
should be able to see : if vailing there still be, it is a vail upon the heart.
The minds of the Israelites eWpoJ^i; : the minds of unbelievers the god of
this world eTv(p\a>o-ev. Accordingly intellectual obtuseness or blindness is
the sense which is most appropriate to this context. Indeed to speak of a
mind or understanding as being 'hardened 3 appears to be an unparalleled
use of words.
(2, 3) Bom. xi 7, 25 6 eirifyrei 'LrpaJ/X, TOVTO OVK eVe'ru^ey jj 8e eVcXoyi) Eom. xi
firervxev oi 8c \oarol cira>pa>6r)<rav . . . Trmpaxris djrb p-epovs reS 'icrpai^X 7 2 5-
yeyovev.
The context speaks of the failure of a portion of Israel. Some, ' the
election', attained what they sought: the rest C7ra>p<6dr)o-av : 'as it is
written, God gave them a spirit of deep sleep (KaTavvgeas); eyes that
they should not see, and ears that they should not hear'. This is
followed by a quotation from Ps. Ixviii [Ixix], in which occur the words,
1 Jerome's translation of the Hexa- Hebrew he gives caligauit db indigna-
plar text has here obscurati sunt db tione oeulus meus.
ira oculi i>iei : in rendering from the
266 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
' Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see '. It is here to be noted
that the one thought which is common to the two passages used to illustrate
the TTto'poxrtr is the 'eyes that see not'. Thus again the meaning is, 'they
were rendered obtuse or intellectually blind': and 'they were blinded* is
a more appropriate translation than 'they were hardened'. In v. 25 the
context throws no light on the meaning. The irupaMris pepovs reproduces
the thought of v. 7: part of Israel suffers from it: 'the election' is again
referred to in v. 28.
Epn. iv 1 8. (4) Eph. IV 18 8ia rf/v irwpaxriv rfjs KopSias avrSv.
The Gentiles are described as 'darkened in their understanding (CO-KO-
TUfievoi TTJ Siavoia), being aliens from the life of God because of the
ignorance that is in them by reason of the zrwpoxn? of their heart', oa-ives
ainf\yr]KoTes eavrovs 7rapeS<oKav rfj d(re\yeia K.T.A. The whole thought of
the passage is parallel with that of Bom. i 21 ft, and there are several
coincidences of language. The ' darkening of the understanding' and the
'Trtapaxris of the heart' may be compared with the words ea-Koria-6rj 17
darvveros avr&v napbia. Here the deadness or insensibility of the heart
stands between the darkening of the understanding and the loss of feeling
or moral sense which produces despair or recklessness. Moral blindness,
not contumacy, is meant. 'Hardness' might perhaps be allowed as a
rendering, if we could secure that it should not be misunderstood in the
sense of o-jcX^pojcapfi/o, 'stubbornness'. 'Hardening' is a specially mis-
leading translation-: it is not the-process7~but the result, which is in
question intellectual obtuseness, not the steeling of the will.
St Mark. (5) Mark iii 5 <rvv\virovfj,fvos ri TTJ irapcotret rfjs KapSias avr&v,
Mark iii 5. Before healing the man with the withered hand, our Lord asks, ' Is it
lawful on the sabbath day to do good, or to do evil?' "When the Pharisees
were silent, ' He looked round on them with anger, being grieved at the
iTKiptaa-is of their heart '. The context is not decisive as between the mean-
ings moral obtuseness or blindness and wilful hardness. Nor do the
synoptic parallels help us: Luke (vi 10) simply drops the clause; Matt,
(xii 10) drops rather more, and inserts new matter.
Mark vi (6) Mark vi 52 aXX' fy 17 Kap&ia avrmv ireTrapajpevr].
5 2t "When our Lord had come to the disciples walking on the water, 'they
were exceedingly amazed in themselves; for they. understood not concern-
ing (or in the matter of) the loaves; but their heart was Treirfap&pevrj'.
Here the interpretation 'hardened' seems needlessly severe: the point is
that they could not understand. Luke omits the incident: Matt, (xiv 33)
substitutes 'And they that were in the boat .worshipped him saying, Truly
thou art the Son of God'.
Mark viii (7) Mark viii 17 7TrG>po>fiew7i' e^cre TTJV KapSiav vprnv;
J 7' "When the disciples had forgotten to take bread and misunderstood our
Lord's reference to the leaven, Jesus said, '"Why reason ye because ye have
no bread ? Do ye not yet perceive nor understand ? Have ye your heart
ireir&p&pevTjv ? Having eyes see ye not, and having ears hear ye not ? and
do ye not remember . . . ?' Here the close connexion with ' the unseeing
eye' favours the interpretation 'moral blindness'. Indeed 'hardness'
suggests a wilful obstinacy, which could scarcely be in place either here or
in vi 52. Luke has not the incident : Matt (xvi 9) drops the clause.
ON nnpncic AND nHpncic. 267
(8) John xii 40 TCTV(])\COKCV avr&v roiig 3(f>da\fjiovs KOI tircopaxrev avr&v St John.
John xii
' For this cause they could not believe, because that Esaias saith again : 4 '
He hath blinded their eyes, and emvpaxrev their heart, that they may not
see with their eyes and perceive (vorjo-axriv) with their heart', etc. This is
a loose citation of Isa. vi 10, according neither with the ixx nor with the
Hebrew. LXX eVa^wftj yap q Kapbia TOV \aov TOVTOV, KCU rois mcrlv avr&v
fiapeas fficovarav, KOI TOIIS otpQaXpovs eKappvo-av, \tr\ irore idaxnv rols 6<j>da\pois
Kal Tois <o<rlv aKova-axriv KOI rfj KapSta <rvv(riv K.r.X. Heb. 'Make the heart
of this people fat ', etc. (JDlpn).
We must note the parallels :
rerv(p\ca<ev . . . Iva pr/ tiSoxrw'
eircapacrev . . . Iva fit) voqtraxriv
Hapovv here denotes the obscuration of the intellect as rv(p\ovv denotes
the obscuration of the sight. If eircapaxrev is intended hi any way to repro-
duce the verb 'to make fat', then 'dulness' or 'deadness' rather than
'hardness' is the idea which would be suggested, and we have a close
parallel with the passage quoted above from Nymphis ap. Athenaeum.
The above examination of the contexts in which napoo-is is spoken of Contexts
appears to shew that obtuseness, or a dulling of the faculty of perception suggest
equivalent to moral blindness, always gives an appropriate sense. On the ' ob * T jf se '
-other-hand-the-context-never-decisively-favours-the-meaning hardness-,-moral
and this meaning seems sometimes quite out of place. blindness.
3. We pass on to consider the meaning assigned by early translators 3. Versions
and commentators. an ^ com-
. . ... mentators.
(i) 2 Cor. m. 14.
T \- j u * () Ver-
Latm, sea ootusi sunt sensus eorum. sions.
Syriac (pesh.), _^/rf.^-i-^ > onoih.^\^ 'they were blinded in their
minds' 1 (the same verb renders eTv<p\(<rev in iv 4).
Armenian 2 , 'but their minds were blinded' (cf. iv 4).
So too Ephr., adding 'and they were not able to look upon the mysteries
which were in their law'.
(2) Rom. xi 7.
Latin, excaecati sunt.
Syriac (pesh.), coccsJh-*^ 'were blinded'.
Armenian, 'were blinded '. So Ephr. 'with blindness they were blinded
for a time ', etc.
(3) Horn, xi 25.
Latin, dbtusio Ambrst. Hilar.
caecitas clar vg Ambr. Aug.
Syriac (pesh.), t^=0v ^o^cc^. 'blindness of heart'.
Armenian, 'blindness'.
1 According to another reading Syriac (see Euthaliana, Texts and
(ed. Lee) 'their m nds were blinded' Studies, iii 3 72 98). For the same
(tom**Jx~n\. reason I refer to Ephraim's Commen-
2 I quote the Armenian version be- * ar y written in Syriac, but preserved
cause it often afford evidence of Old to us onl y "* Armenian.
268 EPISTLE TO THE EPKESIANS.
(4) Eph. iv 18.
Latin, caecitas.
Syriac (pesh.), .^ooaraA A\crt*oCh. 'blindness of their heart'.
Armenian, ' blindness ' (' of their heart ').
Ephr., 'blindness ' (' of their minds ').
(5) Mark iii 5.
Latin, caecitas a b e f q vg.
emortua . . . corda c (d) ffi r.
Syriac (sin.), ^qqaral ^\o&u=n ' deadness of their heart'.
(pesh. hier.), ^om=al &\cuzn ' hardness of their heart '.
Armenian, ' bh'ndness '.
(6) Mark vi 52.
Latin, dbcaecatum f vg.
dbtusum a b c d i r (ff contusum).
Syriac(sin.),-iG2fc. 'blind'.
(pesh.), V ~\^-T (used for eira^vvd^ Matt, xiii i & Acts xxviii 27)
'fattened', and so 'stupid'.
Armenian, ' stupefied ' as with deep sleep.
(7) Mark viii 17.
Latin, caecatum f vg.
obtusum (-a) a b c d ff i.
_ _ Syriac (sin.),-= CCS.SD blinded^ - -
(pesh.), vxn 'hard'.
Armenian, ' stupefied ' as with amazement.
(8) John xii 40.
Latin, indurauit a b e f ff q vg.
D TTv^)\ti>K.ev avTotv TIJV KapBiav ) omitting the inter-
d excaecauit eorum cor J vening words.
! hebetauit Vig. Taps.
Syriac (pesh.), CTSTM^ 'they have darkened' (=><rKoria> elsewhere).
(sin cu defective.)
Armenian, 'stupefied' as with amazement.
The mean- In the great majority of cases the Latin interpretation is either caecitas
^8 f , or obtusio. On the second of these words something needs to be said.
' . ofr tun( ji ere m eans to beat and so to blunt.(e.g. the edge of a sword). Then
it is applied metaphorically: 'aciem oculorum obtundit' Plin.; 'obtundit
auditum' Plin.; 'multa quae acuant mentem, multa quae obtundant' Cic.;
'obtundat eneruetque aegritudinem ' Cic. Obtmus is similarly used:
' mihi autem non modo ad sapientiam caeci uidemur, sed ad ea ipsa, quae
aliqua ex parte cerni uideantur, hebetes et obtusi' Cic.; so often of sight:
and also of hearing, 'obtusae aures': and of the mind, 'sensus oculorum
atque aurium hebetes, uigor animi obtusus '. So again the adverb : ' croco-
dili in aqua obtusius uident, in terra acutissime' Solin. Ambrosiaster's
comment on 2 Cor. iii 14 well illustrates the force of obtusi : 'quae obtusio
infideh'tatis causa obuenit : ideo conuersis ad fidem acuitur acies mentis, ut
uideant diuini luminis splendorem'. Obtusus is the opposite of acutus.
There is no idea of ' hardness ' in the word. Obtusio therefore was admir-
ON nnpncic AND nHpncic. 269
ably adapted to express the sense of moral obtnseness or blindness con-
veyed by ircapaxrig.
The remarkable rendering emortua corda in some Old Latin MSS of Excep-
Mark iii 5 corresponds to the variant veKpaxrei which appears only in Codex tionalren-
Bezae 1 . This variant has received unexpected support through the dis- <^g^ S "
covery of the Sinaitic Syriac. ness'j
In one passage only (John xii 40) does the Latin render by indurauit. 'hardness'.
Here it is to be noted that excaecauit could not be used, as it had occurred
just before to render rerv(j>\a>Kfv.' There appears to be no manuscript
authority for the rendering of Vigilius, hebetauit (de trim, xii p. 3i8) 2 .
The Peshito Syriac always interprets in the sense of 'blindness' in Syriac
St Paul: in St Mark it has 'hardness' twice, and 'fatness* once: inf en ^ er '
St John it has 'darkness'. The Sinaitic Syriac has 'blindness' twice in mg '
St Mark, and 'deadness' once, where however it is rendering veKpaxris. In
St John its reading is not preserved. The Ouretonian Syriac fails us at all
these points, as also does the Armenian version of Ephraim's Commentary
on the Diatessaron 3 .
Origen. In Matth. t. xi. c. 14 (Ru. iii 498), after having twice used {&) Com-
cTv<p\a>o-ev in reference to 2 Cor. iv 4, he speaks of those who are 'not the me . n tators..
planting of God, ciXXa TOV irapacravTos avrmv TTJV itapdiav KOI
emdevros avrj/'.
TTJv~$uu>oiav KOI
Sevres TOV Xoytoyiop OVK eftXeirov TO j3ov\r]/jLa T&V ayiav
In Joann. fragm. (Brooke ii 297 f.), dvcxpepco-tiai eirl TOV irovrjpdv . .
TV<p\<oaravra TIV&V TOVS 6<pda\povs KOI irrjpe6o~avTa \lege irtoptoa-avTa] avTtav
Kap8iav . . . a'XXos ovv 6 Tv(p\cov TOVS offrdaX/jiovs KOI ira>pv Tas Kapdt'av, KOI
aXXor o Icopevos K.T.X. Ibid. p. 301, rrjs SeairoTuajs KOL <ra>Ti)piov dtdacrKoX/a?
j/ dtTTpairfj Tv<p\ovs /cat 7rt7ra>pa>/i/our earrjXiTevo-e TOVS 'louSat'ous.
These are the only relevant passages which I have been able to find in
the Greek of Origen. They all suggest that he took irwpovv in the sense of
the destruction of moral or intellectual sight.
In Ep. ad Rom. L viii c. 8 (Ru. iv 631), *sed excaecati sunt spiritu
compunctionis ' ( = dXX' eirtapcodrjaav irvevpari Karavv^etas).
Ibid, 'et hie enim oculos et aures cordis, nou corporis, dicit, quibus
excaecati sunt et non audiunt'.
Ibid. c. 12 (Ru. iv 639), 'pro his qui caecitate decepti, id est, cordis
obtusione [=7ra>p<6o-ei] prolapsi sunt . . . cum uero . . . coepisset Israel
1 It is to be noted that in Tischen- cf. Matt, xxii 12, where 6 6e e<f>i[i.&0i]
dorfs note 'D' is omitted per incuriam is rendered, 'but he, his mouth was
after 'pe/e/xicret'. It would seem to be shut'. It is found also in Eph. ii 14
due to this that in Wordsworth and for <j>pay[j.6s. It renders rv<p\ovi> in
. White's Vulgate veKpticrei is said to be 2 Cor. iv 4, i John ii 1 1, and in John xii
found in no Greek MS. 40 'He hath shut (-e-WAi) their eyes
2 On this Book see below pp. 291 , 303. and He hath shut (e-ioM) their heart '.
8 In regard to the Coptic I owe to my A longer form, derived from the same
brother Forbes Eobinson the following root, is used in both dialects of shutting
information. The root used in all a door: but the simple form is not so
oases is -e-tojw. (Sah. TU>M), 'to shut' : used in the New Testament
2/0 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
discutere a semetipso caecitatem cordis, efc eleuatis oculis suis Christum
uerum lumen aspicere', etc.
In Gen. horn, vii 6 (Ru. ii 80), commenting on Gen. xxi 19, 'God
opened her eyes ', he quotes Bom. xi 25 and says, 'ista est ergo caecitas
[=7ra>po>o-is] in Agar, quae secundum carnem genuit : quae tamdiu in ea
permanet, donee uelamen literae auferatur per euangelium dei et uideat
aquam uiuam. nunc enim iacent ludaei circa ipsum puteum, sed oculi
eorum clausi sunt . . . aperti ergo sunt oculi nostri, et de litera legis
uelamen ablatum est'.
In Levit. horn, i i (Ru. ii 185), after quoting 2 Cor. iii 16, he says,
'ipse igitur nobis dominus, ipse sanctus spiritus deprecandus est, ut omnem
nebulam omnemque caliginem, quae peccatorum sordibus concreta uisum
nostri cordis obscurat, auferre dignetur', etc.
In all these passages it would seem that not only the translator, but
also Origen himself, interpreted Trapaxns in the sense of 'blindness'. I can
find but one passage that looks in another direction; but it does not
disprove our view of his ordinary use of the word.
In Exod. horn, vi 9 (Ru. ii 149 f.), commenting on Ex. xv. 16 mro\i6a>-
dyTaHrav, ea>s av irapeXdy 6 \a6s aou, he says (quoting Rom. xi 25) : 'coecitas
[=7r<Bp<B(m] enim ex parte contigit in Israel secuudum carnem, donee
plenitudo gentium, subintroiret : cum enim plenitudo gentium subintra-
uerit, tune etiam omnis Israel, qui per incredulitatis duritiam factus fderat
- sicut-lapisrsaluabitur ; ; -
This comment shows that Origen recognised the derivation of
from ircopos, a kind of stone, and that upon occasion he was prepared to
play upon it ; but it does not prove that he would ordinarily have taken it
to mean 'hardness'.
Chryso- Chrysostom. Cramer catena in Jo. xii 40 ot;^ 6 deos eirtapcao-ev avrv
stom. f}] V Kdpftlav . . . TOVS 8e fivarpoirovs ru<p\a>6evTas viro rov 5ia/3o\ov.
Som. vii in 2 COT. (ed. Ben. X 483 f.) ij yap Wpaxrts yvcaprjg earTiv
avaw&fiTOV na\ ayvtofiovos . eirei KOI ev r otyei Mcovo-ewg ov 8ia
cueiTo [sc. ro KaXv/ajua] tzXXa 8ta rqv TOVT<OV iraj(vn}Ta Kai vapKiKrjv yv<afj,rjv.
Horn, xiii in Ephes. (xi 96) O.TTO TOVTOV q iraptoms, diro TOVTOV r\
rfjs Siavoias. eort yap (patTos Xd/t^ravros fcntorifrBai, orav of otpdaXpol a
wow dordcvfis 8e yivovrai r) xyp&v eirtppofj irovijp&v 1} pev/juiros ir\r}fjifJivpa.
^ Kal evravda, orav 17 TroXX^ pvprj rStv /3ia>r<3i irpayfMTav TO HiopanKov
Mv eTTweXvcn/ TTJS fiiavoias, ev tmaTOMrei yiverat. Kal Kaddirep ev S8an Kara
ftddovs neip-fvoi rov qXiov OVK av 8vvr)6eir)fiev opav, &<rirfp TWOS o~ia(ppdypaTos
rov TroXXov avtodev emuetfievov vBaTos' OVTCH 817 Kal ev rots o(f)Qa\p,ol$ TTJS
Stavoias yiveTat -irwpwaris Kapblas y TOVTCOTIV dvaurdqaia, OTUV p.r)8els Trfv ^n>X^ v
Kartureir) <poj3os . . . TTtopcoo-ir Se ovbap.6dev yiverat aXX' TJ diro dvaur6rj(rias'
TOVTO Siacppdrrei TOVS wopovs orav yap pevpa ireinjyos els eva awayijrat TOTTOV,
vfKpov yiveTai TO pe\os KOI dvaio-dijTov.
Here he is trying to get at the meaning of a word which puzzles him.
He fancies that it is derived from n-opoc, and denotes an obstruction of
the pores, producing insensibility. We shall see in a moment that the
word was often written iropcao-ts : indeed in Cramer's Catena, which quotes
an earlier part of Chrysostom's comment at this place, it is so spelt.
ON nnpncic AND TTHPHCIC. 271
On the other hand it is to be noted that in commenting on Heb. iii 12
he says (xii 63 o): <MTO yap o-K\r)porr)Tos 17 dirurria ytverai' KOI KaQarrep r&
ireira>pa>p.eva r&v fraparav ical crK\r}pa OVK eiKei rais r5>v larpajv ^epa-tv, oSrot
/cat at -^rux"* 1 a * o-K\rjpwdei<rai OVK futov T> \oyto TOV 6eov.
Among later Greek commentators we find occasional references to Later
<TK\T]poKap8ia in connexion with the passages in which ircapaxris is men- common-
tioned : but the interpretation 'insensibility' or * moral blindness 9 is gene- a ors "
rally maintained.
4. Instead of irtopovv and Trapaxm we have the variants- irqpovv and 4-
o-tf in the following Mss 1 : ^ Q B a ion i
- i MSS
Mark in 5. 17.20.
viii 17. D (irein)pa>ij,evr) sic).
John xii 40. K n p* 5 *** (Did. de trin. i 19) [n had at first eVj/poJrjjo-ev] 2 .
63.122.259 (these three have Tre-nrfpconev).
Rom. xi 7. 66**.
This confusion maybe taken as corroborative evidence of the fact which
we have already learned from the versions, that ireapooo-ts was very com-
monly regarded as equivalent to ' blindness ', a meaning at which
also had arrived from a very different starting-point 3 .
5. Efypo's and jrenTjpmfifvos signify ' maimed ' or ' defective ' in some 5
-jnember~of'the~body, eye or ear, hand or foot. Frequently the member
is defined, as in the epigram, AnthoL Falat. ix n i m/poy o pev yviots, 6 8' <maimed':
1 > V
ap ofifiaffi.
But Trijpos and its derivatives, when used absolutely in the later Greek but used
literature, very frequently denote ' blindness '. This was fully recognised f
by the old lexicographers (e.g. Suidas injpos' o iravrcnraa-i ^ 6pv), but it
1 Forms in vop- or iropp- are also may be some connexion between this
iound : Mark iii 5 in T h harlecr ; vi 52 in variant and the more widespread one
X T al; viii 17 in T; Bom. xi 25 in L 4irelpa.ffev, tentauit : (2) at John xvi 6
alpauc; Eph. iv 18 in P 17 Cramer^'. (jj X^ TreirX-fipWKev {/(uav TT\V KapSlav)
So too in Job xvii 7 (referred to above), Tischendorf notes : ' go <ireir<apwKei>
while H e>B A have ireiriipuvTai, some (obduravit, ut xii 40)'. I owe to Dr
cursives have ireirbpuvTai. Skeat the following information : the
z In connexion with cod. tt it should Gothic in both places has gadaubida,
be noted that the Shepherd of Hennas 'hath deafened' (Goth. d<zw&-s=Eng.
ias two allusions to these Gospel 'deaf'); in Mark iii 5, viii 17 (vi 52
passages, Mand. iv i i, xii 4 4; in the vacat) the same root is used : 'the
former of these N reads irev^purai. for root-sense of " deaf" seems to be
TreirdptoTiu, at the latter it is not ex- ".stopped up " well expressed in Eng.
taut. [Of the Latin versions of the by dumb or dummy, and in Gk by
Shepherd the Yulgata or Old Latin ri/0X6s, which is radically the same
has obturatum est, the Palatine excae- word as deaf and dumb '.
catum cat, in Mand. iv 2 i; in Mand. 8 The two words are brought to-
xii 4 4 the Vulgata has obtuswm est, gether in the comment of Euthymius
while the Palatine is defective.] Zigabenus on Eph. iv 18 irdpuo-is 51
I insert at this point two curiosities: /cal dvaurOiiffla xapSlas T; ir^puffts roO
(i) in Acts V 3 K* reads Start iinjpuffev SiopariKov T^S ^nrxift,9 vijpoi iiripporj
4> varavfa -ri)v KapSlav aov ; and there vaduiv ical ir\-fiwvpa, ytiovlav.
27 2 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
appears to have somewhat fallen out of sight in recent times. It may be
well therefore to give some passages by way of establishing this usage.
Plutarch Timol. 37 #817 irpto-fivTepos &v airrj^vvBrj rrfV fytv, elra TeXeW
padr) per oXlyov (and, lower down, TTifpeoa-ts and Trem/payi/i/os).
Id. 7m 55 \cyovo-tv OTI TOV "Qpov vvv pev etrdrage vvv S' fe\tav Karliruv
v<pmv TOV o$0aX/ioi>, ra r<5 y\ita ird\iv direScone, irXrjy^v p.ev olwrropevot.
KOTO prjva pflataiv TTJS a-eXqvrjs, irypucriv 8e TTJV ei&ei^iv, K.T.\.
Philo de somniis i 5 ov iravrdirao-iv a)*/3Xets KOI irypol ycyovapev, dXX*
elireiv art K.T.X.
Lucian de domo 28, 2Q "HXtos . . . tarai TTJV jmpaxriv of Orion Who is
!_! T I H
blind.
Justin Martyr Tryph. 12 ert yap ra wra v^3j; irtypcutTai, of o0^aX/tol
jjpiaiTat, xal TreTra^wrat 17 KapSt'a.
33 T " ^ < " Ta v/*w" 7re(j>paKTai KOI at KapBiai TreirrjpavTai [in marg.
codicis
Id. Apol. i 22 gaXovr /cal TrapaXuTtKovs /cat CK yever^s
irciroiTjKcvcu avrov ttai veKpovs aveyelpcu. Here we must obviously read irrjpcvf
with the older editors. Compare Tryph. 69 TOWS yevcT^s xal KOTO, n^
o-apKo mjpovs, where the context requires the meaning 'blind'. So too we
have in the Clementine Homilies xix 22 n-epl TOV la yeverijs irrfpov
and in Apost. Const, v 7, 17 (Lagarde 137, n) T&
The expression comes ultimately from John ix i <pXo'i>
The ancient homily, called the Second Epistle of Clement, c. i, offers
an example of the same confusion between nypos and irovypos. Hi/pot Svres
TJ7 biavoia is the reading of cod. A, and is supported by the Syriac rendering
'blind': but cod. C has irovrjpoi. Lightfoot renders, 'maimed in our
understanding', and cites Arist. Eth. Nic. i 10 TOIS iii) 7rn7pa>/zeW? irpbs
dpeTTjv (where, however, ircmjpmpevos may quite well mean 'blinded'), and
Ptolemaeus ad Flor. (in Epiphan. Haer. xxxiii 3, p. 217) /zi) fiovov TO T!JS
^vx^js op,fj.a dXXa /cal TO TOV <rca/zaro? ircirTjpeofAevaov. The context, however,
in the Homily appears decisive in favour of 'blinded': for the next
Sentence proceeds : dpavpeoo-iv ovv TrepiKei{j.evoi KOI Totavrrjs dx^vos yefwvref
ev TTJ opdo-ei, dveftXtyafiev K.r.X. Compare Acts of SS. Nereus and
Achilles (Wirth, Leipsic, 1890) c. 21 TTT/POS &v bia Trpoo-evxijs TTJS Ao/ie-
rtXXa? dvefSXcil/ev.
Clem. Alex. Protrept. C. 10 124 o/z/zaYcoi; p.*v ovv ij irjpa>o-is Kal TTJS d/coifc
Celsus ap. Orig. C. Gels, iii 77 atriao-0at TOVS ogv P\eirovras as iremjpco-
pevovs.
Id. ibid. VI 66 Ko\dfcrdai TT/V otyiv Kal PXdirrco-dai Kal vop.ieiv irt)pov<r6ai.
Euseb. H. E. ix 8 i Kara r<5i> o<pda\p&i> o~ia<pep6vr<os cirl ir\eiarov yivopevov
(TO voo^jfia) pvpiovs oo-ovs avdpas a/za ywai^t /cal Trato-l trrjpovs aVpyaero :
ibid- ix IO 15 irrjpbv avTov d<f)irjariv.
Chrys. Horn, vi in Eph. (on Eph. iii 2 : of St Paul's conversion) ical TO
<5 <f)a>Ti eKeivtn rw
This Certain words or special usages of words are sometimes found in the
meaning ear i y literature of a language, and more particularly in its poetry, and are
ON nnpncic AND nHpncic. 273
then lost sight of only to reappear in its latest literature : meanwhile they as old as
have lived on in the talk of the people. Urjpos would seem to have a history Homer,
of this kind. For in Homer II. ii 599 we read of Thamyris, the minstrel
who challenged the Muses:
al de xoXo>crajUj/at Trrjpav Getrav, avrap aotSiji'
6ea"ire<rir]v a(pe\ovTO Kal eK\e\a0ov KiBapurrvv.
The simplest interpretation is that they made him Uind, and further
punished him by taking away the blind man's supreme solace. Aristarchus
says that injpos does not mean 'blind' here; but his reason is not con-
vincing: 'because', he says, 'Demodocus was blind and yet sang very
well'. This shows at any rate that Aristarchus knew that m)p6s could
mean 'blind': and indeed Euripides (quoted by Dr Leaf in toe.} so
took it.
We find then the following significations of irapaxris 1 : Summary.
(1) turning into ir&pos:
(2) more generally, the process of petrifaction:
(3) a concomitant of petrifaction, insensibility:
(4) with no reference to hardness at all, insensibility of flesh (due to
excessive fat):
(5) again with no reference to hardness, insensibility of the organs of
sight, and so obscuration of the eyes.
-At this-point-theword-has-practically-reached-the same-meaning as-had
been reached from quite another starting-point by irfpaHris. The two words
are confounded in MSS, and perhaps were not always distinguished by
authors at a still earlier period.
In the New Testament obtuseness or intellectual blindness is the
meaning indicated by the context ; and this meaning is as a rule assigned
by the ancient translators and commentators.
There seems to be no word in biblical English which quite corresponds Difficulty
to irwpooo-ts. The A.V. gives ' hardness ' in the Gospels, and ' blindness ' in of render-
the Epistles. 'Hardness' has the advantage of recalling the primary" 1 ?
. ./. .. - ji 1 T. j. J.U- J j. x 1. J T. ilT j. TTWp&WW in
signification of the word. But this advantage is outweighed by the mtro- English:
duction of a confusion with a wholly different series of words, viz. o-K\r}pv-
vetv, cncAqpdrjys, (rK\ijpoKap8ia. These words convey the idea of stiffness,
stubbornness, unyieldingness, obduracy; whereas Trcopaxris is numbness,
dullness or deadness of faculty. In a-K\t]poKap8ia the heart is regarded
as the seat of the will: in trcopaxris rrjs <ap8ias it is regarded as the seat
of the intellect. "We feel the difference at once if we contrast the passages
in which the heart of the disciples is said to be neirmptofi.^^ (Mark vi
52, viii 17) with the words in [Mark] xvi 14, aveiSttrev TTJV dmtrriav avraiv
Kal <TK\TjpoKap8iai>, ore TOLS deaarafievois CIVTOV eyrjyepfjLfVov en veKp&v OVK.
eiricrreva-av a stubborn refusal to accept the evidence of eye-witnesses'^
So in Rom. ii 5 obstinacy is denoted by o-ccX^poTijf : KOTO, 8e rrjv o-K\7/po-
1 I omit from this summary the irupta/j^vii, on the other hand, is nearer
technical usages of the medical writers to that of dvbrjToi /cot fipaSeis ry
referred to above. TOV iri<rre6eiv K.T.\. in Luke xxiv 25.
2 The idea conveyed by KapSLa, TTC-
EPHES. 2 1 8
274 '
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
'hardness'
is mis-
leading:
rrjra trov KOI dperavoyTov napbiav 0rj<ravpieis (reavTto opyijvt compare Acts
XIX 9 y 8e rives f(TK\.T)pvvovTo KOI jprtiffaw 1 .
If 'hardness' does not always suggest to an English ear unbendingness
or obstinacy, its other meaning of unfeelingness or cruelty (for we com-
monly regard the heart as the seat of the emotions 2 ) is equally removed
from the sense of ireapaxns.
For these reasons 'hardness' cannot, I think, be regarded as other than
a misleading rendering of irapaxris : and 'hardening' (B.Y.) is open to the
further objection that it lays a quite unnecessary stress on the process,
whereas the result is really in question.
'Blindness of heart' comes nearer to the meaning than 'hardness of
heart'; and 'their minds were blinded' is far more intelligible in its
context than 'their minds were hardened'. The objection to it is that
'blind-
ness' gives
the sense,
but varies it introduces an alien metaphor. 'Deadness', however, is open to a like
the meta-
phor.
Ancient
interpre-
tations
must not
be lightly
rejected.
objection; and 'dullness' is too weak. 'Numbness' and 'benumbed' are
not for us biblical words, nor would they quite suit some of the contexts,
but they might be useful marginal alternatives. On the whole, therefore,
it would seem best to adopt 'blindness' and 'blinded' as being the least
misleading renderings : and in John xii 40 to say, ' He hath blinded their
eyes and darkened their hearts'.
The length of this discussion may perhaps be justified by a reference
to the unproved statements which are found in Grimm's Lexicon (ed.
JThayer). such as t ir<apoa>_. (7r<3pos,-hard-skin,-a-hardenmg,-induration)'
to cover with a thick skin, to harden by covering with a callus', 'ir<o-
'peatns -rijs napMas [hardening of heart], of stubbornness, obduracy'. The
note in Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. 314, is more careful, but yet
contains the explanation that 'a covering has grown over the heart', and
throws doubt on the usage of Tnjpos to which I have called attention
('perhaps occasionally used of blindness'). My object has been to in-
vestigate a very rare word, the ancient interpretation of which appears to
me to have been too lightly thrown aside.
1 It is interesting to note in our
Litany the petitions for deliverance
(i) 'from all blindness of heart',
(j) 'from hardness of heart, and con-
tempt of thy word and command-
ment': the latter is shewn by the
context to represent <rK\i)poKapdta,
while the former doubtless corresponds
to iruputris rrjs xapSias.
2 Compare Burns's hues in his
'Epistle to a Young Friend':
I "waive the quantum of the sin,
' The hazard of concealin':
But och, it hardens a' within,
And petrifies the feelin'.
EPISTOLARY PHRASES. 275
On some current epistolary phrases.
During the last ten years immense accessions have been made to our J. c ^*_.
knowledge of the life and language of the Greek-speaking inhabitants o;
Egypt in the centuries immediately preceding and following the Christian
era. The publication of the Berlin series of papyri began in 1895 and has
been steadily continued ever since 1 . Simultaneously scholars in our own
country and elsewhere have been busy in discovery and transcription. Ko Private
part of this rich material has a greater human interest than the private
letters which passed between master and servant, parent and child, friend
and friend, in those far off daysi The dry soil of Egypt has preserved them
from the fate which everywhere else overtakes correspondence intended to
serve but a momentary purpose and wholly destitute of literary merit. To important
the historian who desires to give a picture of the life of a people these J. * .
simple documents are of unparalleled interest. To the palaeographer they , , '
offer specimens of handwriting, often precisely dated and generally assign- grapher,
able with certainty to a limited period, which bid fair to effect a revolution
in his study. To the student of the JNew Testament they open a new store- and the
house of illustrative material : they shew him to what an extent the writers Biblical
of 'the Epistles' stood half-way between the literary and non-literary styles
of their day; and, together with the mass of similar documents leases,
receipts, wills, petitions, and so forth which the great papyrus-finds have
placed at our disposal, they form an unexpected and most welcome source
from which he may draw illustrations of the biblical vocabulary 2 .
I have called attention in the exposition (pp. 37 f.) to a phrase which The illus-
frequently occurs in St Paul's letters and which receives illustration from !^* ion of
this epistolary correspondence; and, although the Epistle to the Ephesians p b rasea
from its exceptionally impersonal character offers few points of contact from
with the documents in question, I take this opportunity to draw together papyrus
some interesting phrases which they offer to us, in the hope that other * et ters.
workers may be induced to labour more systematically in a new and
fruitful field.
1 Aegyptische Urkunden aits den Grenfell and A. S. Hunt (1898-9);
Jconiglichen Museen zu Berlin, Grie- Fayum towns and their Papyri, edited
chische Urkunden (three volumes) : by Grenfell, Hunt and D. G. Hogarth
transcribed by Wilcken, Erebs, Viereck, (1900).
etc. These are cited below as B.P. (= 2 Professor G. Adolf Deissmann led
Berlin Papyri). The other collections the way in his Bibelstudien (1895) and
principally drawn upon are: Greek Neue Bibelstudien (1897): but new
Papyri chiefly Ptolemaic, edited by material is being rapidly added to the
B. P. Grenfell (1896) ; The Oxyrhynchus stores upon which he drew.
Papyri (two volumes), edited by B. P.
18 2
2/6
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
Typical
letters.
i. Apion
to Epi-
maehus.
A well
educated
writer.
2. Antoni-
us Maxi-
musto
Sabina.
The same
writer.
3. Tasu-
charion to
Nilus.
I shall begin by giving one or two specimens of letters, more or less
complete; and I shall then confine my attention to particular phrases.
'Airt<ov 'Eiripdxa T< irarpl KOI Kvpiea ir\eiara \alpeiv.
Upb per irdvT&v evxppai <re vyiaiveiv nal Bia iravrbs epupevov evTV\eiv
pera TTJS d8e\<pijs pov Kal rrjs Gvyarpos avrrjs KOI TOV dbe\<pov pov. ev^apurrca
TO> Kvpia ScpaTrtSi OTI pov Kivfivvevo-avros els 6a\a.(T(ra.v ecraxre. evdeoas ore
el<jrj\6ov els MTJOTJVOVS, eXajSa ftiariKov irapa Kaio-apos %pvo-ovs Tpeis, Kal-KoXcas
poi eoriv. epo>T& 0-e oSv, Kvpie fiov jrarijp, ypotyov p.oi lirurroXiov^ Trp&rov {lev
irepl TTJS <ro>TT]plas erou, fievrepov irepl TTJS rcav d8e\(f)aJv /tow, rpirov iva <rov
irpoaKuvr](ra> rtfv X*P av > Tt /** ciraiBevo-as Ka\cas t Kal e< TOVTOV
irpoKCHJrat r&v 6emv 6e\6vr<av. aaircurai Kaniratva TroXXa Kal TOVS d8e\<povs
KOI 2epr]i>[\\av KOI TOVS <pt\ovs pov. eirep^fd croi TO odoviv p.ov Sia
ecrri 8e JLIOU ovofia 'AwcSws Ma^i/xos. epp<rdai tre ev^o/iat.
Ksvrupia 'AdrfvoviKT].
There is a postscript written sideways to the left: 'AoTrafcrat are
o TOV 'Ayadav Aaifj.ovos--.Kal Tovp/Scov 6 TOV FaAXaWoi; Kal....
This is a letter to his father from a young soldier who has had a rough
passage 1 . It was written in the second century A.D., and is exceptionally
free from mistakes of grammar and spelling. The boy has had a good
education and is duly grateful to his father. He seems to have taken a
new name on entering upon military service. 'Avr&vis is an abbreviation
-for Amos r as-o&W-is-for-otfoMOK I~~have~read 7ro*cotrat 2 ~in place of
Viereck's irpoito(jjii)(rcu : the papyrus has nponoa-ai (probably intended for
irpoKoirorai). Compare Gal. i 14 irpoeKotrrov lv T<p 'Iov&arfia> vircp woXXovs
ev T<5 yevei /now: Luke ii 5 2 'lijtrovs irpoeKoirrei* TQ (rofpiq, Kal
is the epistolary aorist; 'I am sending'.
'Avravios Mat-ipos ^aftivr] Ttj d8e\<pfj irXelara \aipeiv.
Upb pev irdvrwv ev^opai o~e vyiaiveiv, Kal 'ya> yap OUTOS vyiaiva*, pviav
aov iroiovpevos irapa TOIS cvddfte deals 3 . eKopurdprjv ev eiriarokiov irapa
'AvTcaveivov TOV (rvwroXeiTov rjpav Kal emyvovs o~e eppcopevrjv \iav e%dpT)v' Kal
'yco Siot iraa~av d(poppriv ovx OKV& croi ypcfyai irepl TTJS o-caTrjpias pov Kal T&V
fp&v. atrTratrai Mia^t^oj' iro\\a Kal JLoirprjv TOV KVpiv pov. d<rirdeTai <re ij
o~vp{3i6s pov Av<pt8ia Kal Mdt-tpos epptaadai o~e eS^opai.
This is written by the same hand as the preceding*. The soldier boy
writes his new name. He has apparently married and settled down.
a -}(apeiv.
TLpb pev irdvTtov ev^ojuai crat vyiaiveiv, /cat TO Trpoo~Kvvt]pa crov TrotoS irapa
T& Kvplto ^apdirtdi. yivaxrKf OTI oVdatca IlToXe/^aiov KaXa^ccriTa d&ira\ia-paTa
Tfjs olKias els TO ArjprfTpiav. eS otiv iroiytrgs ypd^rov poi irepl TTJS oiKias OTI
TI e7rpa|as. KOI TOV dpaj3a>va TOV Sapairtcavos 'VapaicXor 1 SeSawfa avT&. Kal
yp&fyov poi irepl Tys diraypatprjs. el iroieis TT\V aTroypa^v epo KaXa>? iroteis
2 I have since found that Deissmann
has also suggested this reading.
8 Krebs begins the new sentence with.
and puts no stop after deoTs.
4 JB. P. 632.
1 . P. 423. I have omitted the
brackets by which the Berlin editors
indicate letters supplied where the
papyrus is illegible, and I have slightly
varied the punctuation.
EPISTOLARY PHRASES. 277
ei ...... ypd^fov fioi ev^ajftov, eiva airoi/uicra> KOI dvair\cvtra> rrpos <re. Kal irepl
T&V orraptW, (J.T) TTcaXet aura. doTrdofjLat TTJV d8f\<prjv fiov Taow&ppiv Kal r^v
dvyarepa BeXXaiov. do~irdeTat trot AtSu/io? Kal 'HXioSwpos. do-Traferat vp,as
HTO\f polos KOI Tifteplvos Kal SapajnW. do~irdouat Sapamcov 'luovdov Kal ra
OVTOV, Kal Sa/Lta Kal ra reVci/a avrov Kal 77 yvwj, Kal "Hpaw Kal Ta/3ovs Kal
do*irdeTai vuds SaropveTXos. eppKxrdai (re eZ^ofiai. denrdferai
He.iv Kal TO. reava avrrfs. 'EXew; do-7rderat T^V fj.rjrepav [tov TroXXa
Kal TOVS d8f\(povs. dtnrd^erai vuas Xaipijiia>i>...vos.
This is a second century letter from the Fayftm 1 . Tasucharion makes A less
mistakes in spelling and accidence. She has a large circle of friends, correct
I cannot explain KaXa^etrtra'. dcnraXia-nara : d<r<pd\urua is a pledge or "
security; comp. Trapao-^aXtV/iara in B. P. 246, 14. UapaK\os would appear
to stand for TrapaxaXw tre.
'A.(j,fjLQ)vovs T& yXuKtrrdra) srarpl ^aipcti'. 4. Ammo-
Ko/no-aftez/os a-ov TO eiriaroXiov Kal emyvava-a on $e<3i> ^eXovrwv SteGwdrjs, ? OTl T?
f^dpr/v TroXXd' Kal awT^s Spas dfpopftrjv evpav eypafya trot ravovra TO ypduuara
(Tirov8dgov(ra irpoa-Kvvfjo-e (rat. raxvTfpov TO eiriyovra epya (ppovri&Te. eav fj
fjiiKpa n wrj/, eare. fdv aot eVeKj/ KaXddiv 6 KOfu6p.evos (rot TO eVioroXeiov,
7re/i7ra>. da-rrd^ovre ere ol aw irdvras Kar ovofia. dairafere a-e KeXep Kal of
auroi) irdvras. epp(rde act e^op,at.
Another second century papyrus from the Fayum 2 . The false concords An -an-
arersurplising : KOfita-duevos, firiyvoyo-a, evpav, mrovSdgovifa. *JLirlyovra
cveKrj stand for eVeiyoira and eVeyKj/ : irdvras in each case is for irdvre s. wnter '
The phrase avrrjs mpas (comp. avrfjs (Spa in another letter on the same
papyrus) is found in Clem. Horn, xx 16 : comp. Evang. Petri 5, where it
must be read for auroy Spas. 'Eav 17 uiKpd n ftirrj, carat, 'whatever she asks
shall be done.'
Qeaav TvpoWfi) T& Tt/ztoararo) TrXetora ^aipeiv. ,~~ 5. Theon
'HpaK\fidr)s 6 aVoStSous o-ot rrpt jrurro\^v errriv fj.ov d8e\<poS! 810 TrapaKaXcS
o-e fJLfra irdays Swdpeas e\etv OVTOV (rvveaTafievov. qparrja-a Se Kal 'Epfuav
TOV d8e\<pbv 8td ypawTov dvrjyelardai trot irepl TOVTOV. ^aptto-ai 8e /lot TO.
fjilyiOTa fdv (TOV TTJS eirio-rjpao-las fiiXJI- wpo Se irdvraov vyiaiveiv ae ev\ofiai
dj3ao-KaiTa)s TO. aptora irparrav. eppaao.
This is a brief letter of introduction, written in the year 25 A.D. 3 A letter
Among the many interesting expressions contained in these few lines we of intro-
may particularly note the phrase ex af ovro v o-vveo*rapevov, Uterally have lon "
him recommended to you, which finds a parallel in the e^e pe Trapynj/jievov
of Luke xiv 18, 19.
I. Comuig now to details, we begin with the opening formulae. I. Opening
i. Xaipcu/, TroXXa ^atpi/ and 7rXora ^a/petv are all common. In the
New Testament we find x a ^P elv i u J ames i l ' a l so ni * wo letters in the Ip ess *
Acts (xv 23 and xxiii 26). In the Old Testament it occurs in letters
inserted by the Greek translators in i Esdr. vi 7, viii 9, and Esther viii 13
(xvi i). It is found many times in the Books of Maccabees, where also we
have TroXXa x a b eiv > 2 Macc - M J 9- The Ignatian Epistles give us as a rule
1 S. P. 601. a B. P. 615. 3 Ox. P. 292.
2/8
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
Another
form.
with various additions. St Paul has a modification of the
usual Hebrew formula : see the note on Eph. i i.
Another introductory form occasionally occurs, in which the imperative
is used. Thus in B.P. 435 we have: Xatpe, OuaXeptave, iraparov d8eX<po:
and in B.P. 821 : Xatpe, nvpie p,ov irarep 'UpdttrKos' tre doTfra^OfWU 1 . Compare
with these Origen's letter to Gregory, preserved in the Philo&dia (c. xiii),
Xaipe ev 6ey, icvptc fiov o-irovbaiarare KOI atoWt/uararc vie Tpijyopie, irapa
'Qptyevovs : and Ep. Barn. I Xcuperc, viol KCU Qvyarepes, ev oVoftarc Kvplov rov
ev eipqvrj z .
i. Opening 2. Three of the letters which we have given above begin after the
sentence, address with the words irpo fiev irdvrav efyppai ere vyuuveiv. With this we
may compare 3 John 2 ayamjre, irep\ iravrwv evxopai o~e evoSovffdai KOI
vyiatvctv, Ka&a>s evoBovrai (rov >/ fox 1 !' Although no variant is recorded, it is
difficult at first to resist the suspicion that rpo iravrav was what the writer
intended to say 3 : but on further examination of the passage it would seem
that wepl irdvrav is required to give the proper balance to the clause
introduced by Kados. We have here at any rate an example of the
appropriation of a well-known formula, with a particular modification of
it in a spiritual direction.
The commonest formula of this kind in the second and third centuries A.D.
runs as follows:
ev) navratv
The typi-
cal form.
ere
qpepav) irapa r$ Rvpico SapcwnSc: B.P. 333, 384, 6oi, 625, 7 J 4> 775>
843; and, with the addition Of pera TWV <r<ai/ iravr&v after vyiafaeiv, 276;
with the addition of itai rots ovwaols ^cots 4 , 385, 845. The first clause
stands alone in 602, 815 ; and, with pera r&v <ra>v Travrcov, in 814.
Other variations are: irpo travros erjxofial <re vyiaiveiv, K.r.X. in 38; xal
8ta 7ravra)[v] evxopai crai vyetaiveiv, K.T.X 5 in 846: wpo r>v o\<ov eppag-Qai <re
eu^o^tai fjLfra rutv <r>v ircnrrav KOI 8ta iravros <re evrv^eiv in 164.
Alterna- A different formula occurs in 811 (between 98 and 103 A.D.), Ilpca ph
tave forms, ^avratv avajKaiov 81 ewtcrroX^s ere d<nrci(recrdai KOI ra d/Socr/ccuTa Sovvat : and
in 824 (dated 55/5^ A - D - ^7 Zeretel), irpb fiev icavront dvayxauov q
dia eiri<rro\rjs <re d(Tird<ra(r0ai.
1 Add to these Faytim Pap. 129,
aZjoe, K&pie nfudrraret Ox. P. irz,
Xalpois, Kvpla pov "Zepyvla [..] vapa
TLeroffelpios.
2 Probably not independent of this
is the opening of the so-called 'Apos-
tolic Church Order' (the 'BrtTo^
Spew) : Xaipere, viol ical Bvyarepes, ev
dv6fta,Ti Kvplov "Lifffov XjotcrroD.
3 It is however to be noted that
in B. P. 885 Schubart restores the
text thus : 6&ucncrr[os 'Airo\(\wlq>)
T$ ^ifvrdry xalpeiv.] ILcpl irdi/T<a[v
eSxofMi ffe fryuttveuf.] He^ov. [ . . ]
This is a papyrus of cent n from the
Fayum. Now in nos. 884, 886 we
have letters from Theoctistus to the
same Apollonius (apparently) : but in
each the instructions begin imme-
diately after the word xa/>eu>. This is
the case also in B. P. 48 written to
Apollonius by Cylindrus and addressed
on the verso 'A.iro\\wj>iip 0eo/mVrov:
comp. letters written to him by
Chaeremon B. P. 248, 249, 531. It is
probable therefore that Schubart is not
justified in offering the supplement
ftixopal <re vyiaivew.
4 In B. P. 82 ^ we have rit irpoffntv-rini,
ffov irapck r<f Al T$ Kturitp : comp. 38
TrapA vSuri TOW fleow.
5 Perhaps Sid. iravrtis was intended.
EPISTOLARY PHRASES. 279
It is curious to find the phrase irpo pev irdvruv at the end of a letter 1 ,
as we do in Ox. P. 294: irpo ^/ irdvrav trtavrov eVtyteXou eti>* vyiaivgs.
cirio-Kotirov 2 ArjpTjTpovv Kal Aatpitova TOV irarepa. eppaxro. This letter is
dated 22 A.D. Similarly in Ox. P. 292 (A.D. 25) quoted above, irpb 8e
irdvruv vyialveiv <re fv^Ofiai dftaa-Kavroos TO apiora irpdrrcav. eppaxro.
As we go back to an earlier period we find a difference in formula. An earlier
Thus Grenfell gives us a letter of the second century B.O. from the Thebaid *yP e -
which opens thus: [el] eppcao-at epptopeda Be KOI avrol Kal Kal 'A$po6Wa Kal
frdvydrrjp KOI )/ iraioio-Kr) Kal 77 6vyarr)p avrf)s (Greek Papyri 43). A papyrus
of the Ptolemaic period published by Mahaffy has, ^apis TOW deals iroXXi) el
vyiaiveis vyiaivei 8e Kal ACOVIKOS: and another, Ka\a>s iroieis el vyiaiveis'
vyiaiva> KOI OVTOS. I assume that another which he cites as deciphered by
Mr Sayce is of the same date: here we read, /caX<Ss iroieis el epptoam KM TO.
\oara <rot KOTO, yv&wv evriv eppcofieda 8e Kai foels (Flinders Petrie Papyri,
Cunningham Memoirs of Roy. Irish Acad. viii pp. 78 80). So in a letter
cited by Deissmann (Bibelstutdien pp. 209, 210) from Lond. Pap. 42, dated
July 24, 172 B.C.: el eppa>nev&> roXXa Kara \6yov caravra^ e"i)V av cas rots deois
evxopevr) 8iare\a>. KOI avTrj S' vyiaiyov Kal TO iraibiov Kal ol ev O'IKCO Trdvres,
aov diairavTos pveiav iroiovpevoi.
3. This last formula, futeiav n-oieurOai, is of special interest, inasmuch as 3. 'Making
it occurs several times in St Paul's epistles. I have already cited an mentlon
-example-of-its-usejn_aJetter_ofLthe_second_century_A.j).,j^JienJt>y_an _
educated hand (B. P. 632). The passages in St Paul are as follows :
I Thess. i 2 ~Ev^apUTTOvp,ev r<p 6e& irdvroTe Trepl Trdvrcw vfJL&v pveiav i Thess.
iroiovpevoi eiii ra>v Trpoa~ev^cav jj/zc5i> dStaXe/Trros' fjairujLovevovres vpav TOV epyov l "*"
TT)S TTIOTCOP Kal TOV KO7TOU T^S dydlTT)S KOI TTJS WO/iOV^S T1)S e\TTl8oS TOV KVplOV
TJfiatv 'Irjo~ov Xptorou efjarpoo~Qev TOV 6eov Kal irarpbs JjfJtoav, eldores, K.T.X.
Lightfoot in commenting on this passage 3 (Notes on Epistles of St
Paul, pp. 9 f.) decides to punctuate after d8ta\eiirrcos : "Westcott and Hort
punctuate before it. Another uncertainty is the construction of epirpoa-dev
TOV deov K.T.X., which Lightfoot joins with the words immediately preceding
and not with p,vr)[wveuovTfs. It would seem that St Paul first used a phrase
which was familiar in epistolary correspondence, and that then out of
fiveiav iroioviAevoi, in its ordinary sense of ' making mention ' in prayer, grew
the fuller clause p,vrnjMvevovres...eiJ.irpo<r0ev TOV deov, whether this means
'remembering your work,' etc., or 'remembering before God your work/ etc.,
in the sense of making it the subject of direct intercession or thanksgiving.
Rom. i 9f. MapTVs yap ftoi eo-nv 6 0eos...<os aStaAewrreoff fiveiav vfiau' Bom. i 9 f.
TToiovpai irdvroTe eirl T&V irpoa-evx^ f*ov deopevos et irtos ^817 JTOTC evoScadr/a-opai
ev T$ dehrfuari TOV deov e\Betv irpbs VIMS.
Here again the punctuation is uncertain. Lightfoot places the stop
after iroiovpai, Westcott and Hort after pov. We may note the addition of
vfitav after fiveiav (comp. fjiveiav o-ov in Philem. 4) : it is added in the inferior
texts of i Thess. i 2 and Eph. i 16.
1 Comp. James v 12 irpb ir&vTtav tie, 3 To the few illustrations of
a8e\<t>ol fM>v, py o/tPiJere. trreiv collected by Lightfoot may now
2 Comp. Ox. P. 293 (A.D. 27), em- be added many others from the papyri:
(7K07roO 8^ {>fJ.S.3 Kal irdvTas TO^S ev otip. e.g. B.P. 423 (cited above).
280 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
Philem. 4f. Et^apumo r& Be& pov irdvrore pvciav <rov -noiov{j.evos eir\ r&v
irpotrevx&v /tot;, OKOV<OV <rov TJJV dyaTs-rjv...oiro>s jj KOtv&vta TTJS wtoreoas trov
evepyijs yevrjTai, K.r.X.
As Lightfoot points out, the 'mention' here 'involves the idea of
intercession on behalf of Philemon, and so introduces the Srras /e.rA/
Eph. i 1 6. Eph. i 16 Ov iravopat fv^apttrroii/ virep vfi&v jivetav irotovpevos eirl r&v
irpo<revx&v /<">v, iva 6 6e6s K.T\.
Phil, i 3. In Phil, i 3 the same phrase is in the Apostle's mind, but he varies his
expression : Ev^apiora) r<p 6e& jwv eirl irdtrrj ry pveia vpatv iravrore ev watrrf
5j<rei fiov virep iravr<ov V[j.a>v pera \apas rf)v $er)<riv Troiov/Jtevos K.r.X.
2 Tim. is. In 2 Tim. i 3 the variation of phraseology is very noteworthy : Xapiv
e^w TW ^tw, <u Xarpevo) ajro irpoyov&v ev Ka.6a.pa trvvi8^<ret, <os d8ia\iirr<as
e^a> rrjv irepl o-ov fiveiav ev rats derjtrea-iv fjiov, VVKTOS Kal i/fiepas emirodav <re
ISeiv, fiejanip-evos <rov T&V SaKpvav, K.T.X. The word y.veia meets US but once
more in the New Testament 1 : i Thess. iii 6 on ex ere f-veiav TJ^WV dyad^v
iravrore eirurodovvres TJp.as iftflv, Kaddirep Kal rjneis vfias.
Prayer of As no clear example appears to have been cited hitherto for the use of
Tantalus, ^ ve i av iroielo-Qcu in reference to prayer, it may be interesting to quote the
account of the prayer of Tantalus preserved in Athenaeus vii 14 (p. 281 J) :
*O yovv TTJV r&v 'ATpS(3i itovqcras Ka^oSoy a^iKOfievov avrov \eyei irpos rovs
&eovs Kal trvv&iaTpiftovTO. cov(rias rvxeiv rrapa TOV AIDS aiTjJo-aer&u OTOV
TOV Se, irpos ras djro\av<reis dirXytrrajs diaKeipevov, virep avrcbv re_
avrov rponov rois deois' e<p' ois
dyavaK.TT)<ravra TOV Ata TOV (j,ev evfflv aTroreXeo-ai Sia TTJV vTrotr^eo-ty, K.T.A.
n. Closing II. We pass now from the opening of the letter to its close.
i Saluta- * '* e most strikm & pa 1 "^ 61 with the Pauline epistles is found in the
tions. * exchange of salutations. There are three formulae : (i) (Wa^o/wii, ' I greet
A/; (2) do-irao-at, 'I ask you to greet A. on my behalf; (3) acnra&Tcu, 'B.
sends a greeting to A. through me '.
Of the first we have but a single example in the New Testament, and
this does not proceed from the author of the epistle, but from his
amanuensis. In Eom. xvi 21 in the midst of a series of salutations, of
which sixteen are introduced by atnrcuratrQe and four by tWa^n-ai
{-oirai), we read: "Acnrafoficw VIMS eyoi Tepnos 6 ypafyas TTJV eirtaroX^v ev
Kvptcp.
After the Epistle to the Romans the richest in salutations is the Epistle
to the Colossians : CoL iv. 10 f. 'A.<nraercu VIMS 'Apicrrapxos o trwai^/adXtoros
/zot;, KOI MapKos 6 dve^ios Bapva/3a, (irepl oil eXdftere eWoXds, eav eXdrj irpos
vfjtas oe^airde avTov^) KCU. 'Iijtrous 6 \tyopevos 'lovoTos...dtrirdgeTai vfMs 'lira(ppas
6 e vii&v...do~irdeTai vpHs Aovxas 6 larpbs o dyairyrbs KOI Ai;/u,as* d(nrd(ra<r0e
TOVS ev AaoSiKta doe\<povs Kal T3v(J.<f)av Kal TTJV KaT OLK.OV avTrjs KK\rjcriav.
Many parallels to this list might be offered from the papyri, but sufficient
have been already given in the letters above cited.
is found only in 2 Pet. 115 variant rats /we&us for rots xP ^ ais i n
<rtrov5affi>> Si Kal &c4<rrore #x et " "f^ 5 Bom. xii 13, see Sanday and Headlara
TJJV iufy e1-o$ov TIJV TOVTUV [wr/fjajv Romans, ad loc,
For the curious Western
EPISTOLARY PHRASES. 281
2. The name of an individual is often followed by a phrase which 2. The
includes his household. Thus, B. P. 385 /cal damtfopK rf}v prjTtpa /tow /cal
TOVS doVXipowr pov, Kal SepTrpcovit' Kal TOVS irap* avTovl 523 curiraa'ai TTJV
o-uvfiiov (7ov Kal TOVS evoiKovs iravTes 1 . The nearest parallel to this in the
New Testament is the greeting sent to the household of Onesiphorus,
apparently soon after his death, 2 Tim. iv 19 : "Acnratrat Hp'urnav /cat 'AjcuXov
Kal rbv 'Ovqcrupopov OIKOV (comp. i 1 6 f). It is possible that a further
parallel is to be traced in the Pauline phrase, rj /car' OIKOV avTfjs (O.VT&V, o-ov)
eKK\r}o*ia, which may be an expansion of the current phraseology, in the
sense of 'those of their household who are believers' : it has been perhaps
too readily assumed that the meaning is 'the church that assembles in their
house '.
3. Where several persons are included in a greeting, the phrase KOT 3. 'By
ovopa frequently occurs. B. P. 261 do-7rderai ae 'Hpols /cal ol ev oi/cp iravrfS name '
/car' QVOU.O.' 276 doTrrdgofiai -upas iravres tear ovofta, Kal 'Qpiye vr\s vpas aertra&Tcu
iravres'. 615 aoTraovre <re ol trot iravras /car' ovopa: 'Jl^da'Tra^ovTcu. vpas TO
TTGiBia iravras /car 1 ovo/jia, U.To\epaios, Ti/Sepit'oj, ^apamtavl comp. 449,815;
845, 923.
An exact parallel is found in 3 John 15 do-jragovrai <re of tpi\oi' dWdfov
TOVS ^iXous /car' ovo/na. But the phrase is not used by St Paul.
4. At the close of the Epistle to Titus we read: 'A.(nraovrai o-e ol per 4. Friends.
ep.ov iravres' acnraa-at TOVS ffiiXovvras rfaas ~ev Trtwret. To~thls~~several
interesting parallels may be offered : B.P. 625 oWdb/iai TJJV d8f\(pjv
TroXXd, /cal ra re/cva auri/s Kal [....] Kal TOVS (pi\ovvras rHias iravres: 814 aaira-
b/tuu y A.ira>\\ivaptov Kal OvaXepiov Kal Tefuvov [ ...... Kal TO~\VS (ptXovvros
yp.as iravTfs : comp. 332. Still more noteworthy are the following, from the
letters of Gemellus (A.D. 100 no): Fay. Pap. 118 do-jrdfou TOVS QiXovvres
ae iravres Trpoy a\T]6iav: 119 aa-ira^ov 'Hirayadbv Kal TOVS <f)i\ovvres Tjfta.s Trpbs
5. These letters almost always close with eppaxro (eppa>a-0e), or epp&adai 5. Fare-
o"e (VIMS) e$xp<U' This formula occurs but once hi the New Testament, ^ e &
namely at the close of the apostolic letter in Acts xv 29, "Eppa>o~6e. In
Acts xxiii so^Eppcao-o is a later addition.
In the Pauline epistles the place of this formula is taken by his
characteristic invocation of 'grace.' Jude and 2 Peter end with a doxology :
2 and 3 John break off after the salutations: I Peter closes with an
invocation of 'peace': James and I John with final admonitions, introduced
by 'A8e\<pot p.ov and Tc/cw'a respectively.
III. We may go on to observe certain phrases which constantly occur TTT. Con-
in the course of a letter, and which belong to the common stock of ordinary ventional
letter-writers. phrases.
i. Foremost among these is KO\O>S Troirjaeis introducing a command or i. Of in-
a request. Thus, B. P. 93 KaX&s iroija-ets dtairfp^as av-rfj T^V SeX/LtartK^w rjv direct re-
335 (Byzantine) KaXcoy ovv Trorfcris n-e/w/re ( = we//u) /tot curd: 814 " S '
cSf TTOITJCTIS, Kopurapevos pov TO eiricrroKiov, el Treats p>t 8iaKOcrias dpa^jud?
TL&vres and irdvras are often interchanged.
282 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
(the same phrase is repeated at the end of the letter). It occurs also in
B. P. 348, 596 (A.D. 84), 829 (A.D. 100), 830, 844 Us (A.D. 83), 848. The
construction with the participle is by far the most common.
In a similar sense eS irouja-ets is used: B. P. 248, 597 (A.D. 75), Ox, P.
113, 294 (A.D. 22); but this is less common.
We have an example of this formula in 3 John 6, ovs xaXa>s iroifacis
irpmrfittyas dgitos TOV deov. The past tense occurs to express gratitude in
* Phil, iv 14, irXi)i> KoXo>? ciroujtrare (rvvKoivtov^a-avres (un> rfi 6\tyeii comp. Acts
X 33 (TV re KO\O>S eiroirj&as irapayevoftevos.
2. Of di- 2. A similar formula is TrapcucaXw o-e, of which it may suffice to quote
rect re- ^ wo examples in which 816 precedes : B. P. 164 810 TrapoKoXa o$v o-e, <iXrare :
' Ox. P. 292 (c. A.P. 25) bio 7rapaKaXo> o-e /*era irdoTjs dwdpeas e%eiv avrbv
oweaTafievov. In B. P. 814 we have similarly OVTOS epo>r<S ire
prfrrjp, irefifllns irpos ejae K.T.\.: and in Ox. P. 294 (A.D. 22) epomo Se o-e
In 2 Cor. ii 8 we have: Bio 7rapaKaX<5 vpas Kvp&frai els avrov
comp. Acts xxvii 34 810 TrapajcaXw vfMs fj.eTa\a^el.v rpoffis. A glance at the
concordance will shew how common is the phrase irapandXa olv (8e~) vfias in
the epistles of the New Testament. 'Epcarav is also used, though less fre-
quently, in similar cases: e.g. 2 John 5 K<U vvv epa>Ta> o-e, Kvpla. Both verbs
occur in Phil. IV 2 f. ~Evo8lav TrapaxoXo /cat Swrvxyv TrapaxaXco TO avro
(ppoveiv ev Kvpi<a. val epcaTtS not
AYln^be papyri, we find sometimes the interjectional use of the
phrase, and sometimes the construction with the infinitive.
3. Litro- 3. Just as KO\&S iroirja-eis and jrapcucaXa) ere are circumlocutions which
ducing in- so ft e n the introduction of an order or help to urge a request 1 , so the way
formation. ^ p re p are <i f or a pi ece of news by the prefixes yivooo-Keiv ere 8e\a> or
ytv&a-Ke. The former is by far the more frequent. Its regular use is to open
a letter, after the introductory greeting: B. P. 261 TeivaxrKeiv <re 6e\a>, eya>
KOI OifoXepuz, eav 'Hpois TeKg, ev^o^eda e\delv irpos o-e (here it stands
outside the construction) : 385 Tetvcofriteiv <re 0eXo> on p.6vrj Ipl eyta : 602
TIVOHTKIV o-e 6e\co OTI eKrfkvBe Trpbs efte Sou^Ss, \eya>v OTI 'Ayopcurov p.ov TO
pepos TOV e\evos: 815 Teivoa-Kiv <re 0e\a>, rr\v emoro\T]v trow eXa/3a (again
outside the construction). In 822 it is curiously disconnected: TIVOO-KIV tre
6e\a>, pf) fie\Tj(rdTio <roi <irep\T&v O-ITIKWV evpov yeopyov^ K.T.X. For further
examples see B. P. 815, 816, 824, 827, 843, 844, 845, 846.
On the other hand, yivaxrite generally occurs in the body of the letter,
though sometimes it comes at the beginning, as in B. P. 625 Tei'i/worcce,
a&eX$e, eVcXqpoWijv els TO, jSouKoXia : and hi Ox. P. 295 (A.D. 35) TivaxrKe OTI
SeXevKos e'X^toi' tS8e iretpevye. We find it in the Ptolemaic period in the two
papyri published by Mahafly (Cunningham Memoirs viii pp. 78, 80):
yivaHnte fie nal OTI K.T.\., and (with a participle) yi'j/ao-Ke 8e p.e exovra
K.T.X. For further examples see B. P. 164, 814 bis, 845, Fay. P. 117 bis
(A.D. 108).
To the former phrase we have a parallel in PhiL 112, which practically
begins the letter, though a long thanksgiving precedes it: TWo-mi/ 8e v/*5s
1 In Modem Greek ous TrapafcaXw corresponds to our word 'please'.
EPISTOLARY PHRASES. 283
/3ouXo/u, dfieX<pot, on TO, KOT epe K.T.\. We may also compare Rom. i 13
ov 0e\a> fie vpas dyvoeiv, doe\<pol } OTI n-oXXoKiff irpoeOeprjV eXdetv irpbs vpas,
K.T.X.: this expression is a favourite with St Paul, and it opens, after a
doxology, his second letter to the Corinthians (i 8); comp. also 0eXo> Se
(yap) vpas clftevai in I Cor. xi 3, Col. ii I.
The latter phrase is well represented in Heb. xiii 23 iWoxere rbv
dde\(pbv jpv Tipo&eov oVoXeXv/teW. Other examples might be given,
but they are of a didactic character and not statements of ordinary
information.
4. Satisfaction finds expression in the terms cxdpyv and Xlav exprjv : 4. Bx-
as in B. P. 332 fXP1 v Kopurapemj ypdppaTa ort ccaXws dtetnodjjre : 632 (given pressing
above) u emyvovs a-e eppapevrjv \iav exdprjv. "We may also compare a?? s
fragment of a letter (2nd cent. B.O.) quoted by Deissmann (Bibelstudien
p. 212), Lond. P. 43 : Trvvdavopcvr) pavddvetv ere Alyvima ypdppara o~uvexdpr)v
(rot KO.L cfiavrfi OTI K.T.\.
In Phil iv 10 we read: 'E^op 1 ?" dc ev Kvpitp /teyoXcos ort ij8rj ITOTC
dvedakere TO virep e/xov (ppovelv. And we have the strengthened phrase in
2 John 4 ''Exaprjv \lav on eSprjKa SK TV renvav trov irepiirarovvrtav ev aXrjdeia,
and in 3 John 3 'E^ap^" yb-p \lav epxopevatv d8e\<pa)v Kal paprvpovvrav aou
Another form of expressing satisfaction is the use of the phrase 5. Ex-
ort X"*P IS To ' s ^ eo 'S lifafujv els 'A\edv8piav : Fay. P. 124 dXXa TOW Qeols eorlv nea ,,
oTt ovSffiia eariv irpoXrjp.'^ris fyeiv yeyevrjfievrj. A letter of the
Ptolemaic period (Cunningham Mem. viii p. 78) begins : xP TO
TroXX^ et vyuziveis. In Oo;. P. 113 we have : x^P tv *X m 6eols irao-iv yivtoo-Koav
OTI K.T.X.
Xttpi? r<0 ^effl is frequent in St Paul's letters : x"P'" ^X w T ? ^ e< ? ^ 8 found
only in 2 Tim. i 3 ; comp. i Tim. i 12 ^apw e^o> T evdwaftcoo-avri p.e Xpiar<S
'Irjo-ov.
IV. In conclusion, a few phrases may be noted, which, though not IV. Va-
specially connected with the epistolary style of writing, are of interest as nova N.T.
illustrating the language of the New Testament. fSated 1
I. Ta KO.T epe. Ox. P. 120 (4th century) &xpis &v yv& ir&s TO. KOT i. Ta /car'
ai/xal airoTidaiTcu, et infra TO, Kara o~e otoinrjcrov as irpeirov cariv, pr) reXeov
dvaTpair&fiev : GreVif. P. (Ptolemaic) 15 ra naff jj/tap 8tc|a[yayeij/].
Comp. Acts XXIV 22 8iayv<6o-0fuu ra ica^* vpJas, Eph. vi 1 1 iva fie eifi^re
KOI vpcis ra icar' e'fie, Phil, i 12 ra Kar' e'^te /iSXXor els irpOKoirrjv rou euayyeXiou
v, Col. IV 7 ra Kar' e'/ne Trawa yvcupia-ei v\uv
2. ^Hfii; Trore. J?. 2^. 164 fito Trapa/taXcS ovr ere, (piXrare, rjbr} ITOTE jreltrai 2.
awroi' rou eX^f iv : 4*7 cwraXXa^oi' o^y o'eauroi' OTTO Trawo? p-erecopov, Iva ^8rj
Trore dpepipvos yevy, Kal ra epa peTeutpioia ^817 Trore TVX^V o^j) : Oa?. ^*. 237
Vli II (a petition) emtrxeiv re avrov TJOTJ wore cirelovra pot, irporepov pev <as
dvopov Karoxfjs X^P tv > v ^ v $f irpo<pdcrt vopov ovdev avra irpocnJKovros 1 .
1 On the technical terms pertupos Grenfell and Hunt, Ox. P. iipp. iSoff.,
and Karox^i in these extracts gee 141 &..
284 EPISTLE TO THE EPEESIANS.
Comp. Bom. i IO deopevos ft na>s J}8rj wore euoSo^tjcro^at cv rep &Xqju,art
rot) deov e\0fiv Trpbs vp,as, Phil, iv IO e^dpijv dc ev Kvptai yLteyaXa? ort ^(817 TTOTC
aVtfaXere TO UTrcp 6/u.ov (ppoveiv, e(j) w Kal l<ppoveiT qiaupelfrde 8e.
3, Swa- 3. Swaipeti/ Xdyov. 5. .P. 775 ^XP"! 5 "" y^vofie fid KOI avvapapfv \oyov :
peiv Ktryov. Q Xt p^ II3 g,. t ?Sa)ieaf awr^ S^XaCT-oi/ /tot, ti/a truvapoftai avr$ \6yov : Fay. P.
109 ort (rvinjp/juii Xayov ra Trarpt cai XcXoMroypa<pi?Kc /* Ka
Comp. Matt, xviii 23 dvdpn7ra> ^ao-tXet os rjO&rjo-ev o~uvapcu Xoyov /ttra TJ
avTou- dp^afievov 51 avrov a~uvaipciv irpotnjxfli) eis ai5r^ 6(pt\rT]s
pvp'uav Tahavrcav, XXV 19 crvvaipei Xdyoj* /Lter* OUT&V.
4. KejLt^a>s e^ety. Pr. Pop. 18 KO^COS EX KOI TO vr\may fiov (cat
MeXas 1 . The same phrase is cited from Arrian JUpict. diss. iii 10 13, orav
o larpbs ciirg Koju^as e^ets (comp. ii 18 14).
Comp. John iv 5 2 firvdtro oSv TTJV Spav nap avrav Iv fl
NvKrits 5- NVKPOS KOI Tjfj.epas, JB. P. 246 (2/3 cent. A.D.) ort WKTOS /cal ij/j.fpas
-ijftepas, evTvyxavco rq 0ea virep vp.S>v z .
Comp. I Thess. iii 10 WKTOS Kal qpepas VTrepeKirepura'QV 8e6[tevoi els TO
iv vft,wv TO irpoffaarov, I Tim. V 5 Trpooyiewt rats 8e^a i fO'a> ndi rais
Kal ypepas, and many other passages.
1 The letter is given by Deissmann, fy' o& SiKcuov y&p a^jr^v \viri<r0<u, wept
Bibelst. p. 215, who has noted the o$$ev6r qitovffa. yap 8n XuwctTat. Comp.
parallel. He however cites it thus: i Cor. xvi 10 &v 5t ZKQ-g Tt^^eos,
Kal rbv tinrov (sic) pav. The emendation jSX&rere Si/a d^>6j8ws yvi)Tai irpbs i>/juis. . .
is fairly obvious. pf) ris ovv abrbv QovQevfiing. In PhiL
2 In the same letter we read : Kal ii 28 we have the word dXiwire/ws.
irepl 'EpfMtivys fneki)<rdTW i>fjSv TTUS
NOTE ON VARIOUS READINGS. 285
Note on Various Readings.
The Greek text printed in this edition may be briefly described as in
general representing the text of KB. Accordingly it is hardly to be dis- The pur-
tinguishedj except at a few points, from the texts printed by Tischendorf Pse of
(ed. viii) and by Westcott and Hort. The purpose of this note is to discuss this note>
certain .variants of special interest: but first it may be instructive to give
the divergences of our text from B and tf respectively, to observe the
main peculiarities of the Graeco-Latin codices D 2 and G 3 , and to indicate
the relation to one another of the various recensions of the Latin Version.
i. The divergences from B, apart from matters of orthography, are as
follows: i. Diver-
i i [eVE(eo-a>] ] om. B*: see the special note which follows. fromJB
3 Kal Trcmijp] om. B alone: see the commentary adloc.
5 'L/o-oS Xptoroii] xy W B : this deserves to be noted in connexion
with the similar variant in i 1.
1 3 ea^payiffd^T^ea^payiffd^B rbut-note-that-this-word-ends a line --
15 ayamjv] om. B: see the special note.
17 &?] So B.
1 8 vp>v\ om. B.
20 eirovpavioif] ovpovowB: supported by 71 213, some codices of the
Sahidic, Hil 1100 Victorin.
21 dpxfjs Kal eov<rias\ ef-av&ias KOI apxr/s B alone.
ii I TOIS irapmrr&fjicuriv Kal rats apapTiais] rots irapmrraifuicriv KOI rats em-
dvfiiats B alone.
5 TOIS irapcnrT(>iuuriv\ ev rots irapaiFTcafuunv KOI rats CTriQvfuais B alone:
the substitution of em6vp.iais in ?. i followed by its insertion in
this verse is remarkable.
o-wefaoiroirja-ev] + ev B : probably by dittography, but there is some
considerable support for the insertion.
13 roO xptorov] om. TOV B alone.
22 &ov] xv B alone.
iii 3 OTL] om. B.
5 ajTooroXoty] om. B Ambrst only.
9 <pa>ri(rai\ + iravras B : see the special note.
19 ir\ripa>df)Te els irav] ir\i}pa>dr) irav B VJ 73 Il6. [17 adds s vfuit
after TOV 6eov teste Tregett.]
iv 4 Ka&os teal] om. KOI B.
6 jcal ev irao-iv] om. KOI B 32 Victorin.
7 ijjLuSf] vpav B.
j X0fs] om. 17 B, with D 3 and other authorities; but it may have
fallen out after (86fy.
9 KaTfprf\ + Trpcorov B : see the special note.
286 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
IT 16 a&rov] eavrov, with considerable support.
23 T$ TTvevfjuxri] pr. ev B alonQ (except for the uncertain testimony of
a version).
24 evbva-aa-dai} evBvo~ao-0c B*, with K and some others; but probably
it is an itacism.
32 ylvfcrde fie] om. 8e B, with considerable support: moreover D 2 *G 3
read ow.
vp.lv] r}fuv B: see the special note,
v 17 rov Kvpiov] +ij(juav B alone.
19 i/rqX/tow] pr. cv B.
irvevfianiuus] om. B. On this and the preceding variant see the
special note.
20 'lr)<rov Xpiorov] j^u ItJ B alone.
23 eortv Ke<pa\Tji] KecpcX?; eariv B.
24 oXXa CDS] om. cos B.
31 rov rrarepa icat T^J; pjqrepd} irarepa KOI [up-epa B, with D 2 *G S .
32 els rrfv cK<\ijcriav\ om. ets B.
vi i eV KupiV] om. B, with r> 2 *G 3 .
2 ccrrtv] om. B, with 46.
7 av^pwTrots] avdpatiro> B, with slight support.
10 eySwa/ioSo-^e] ^wapjovcrde B, with 17 and Origen, cat. in com-
mentary.
l6 ra ireirvpu>p.evd\ om. ra B, with D S *G 3 .
19 row euayytXiou] om. B, with G 3 Victorin.
20 ev ayrw] avro B alone.
2. Diver- 2. The divergences from K are as follows :
gences j j XptoroO 'I^o-owi) tv ;ftJ K : see the special note.
[ev 'Etpearta] ] om. 85* : see special note.
3 TOV Kvplov TJpeHv] TOVKV KOI <ro>TTjpos T]fj,eav N* alone.
o evXayfoas yp-as] om. TJ/ZOS X alone.
7 e^o^ici'] (rxop.ev N*, with G 3 * and some support from versions.
14 o mi/J og etmv N, with D 2 etc.
r^f 5o|js] om. TJJS N, with 17 35.
15 d-yoTTTji/] om. K : see the special note.
l8 rijs dogrjs rfjs K\Tjpovop.las] TTJS K\T)povop,ias rr)S bo^rjs N alone.
20 fvrjpyrjKfv] (VT)pyT)(rev K, with most authorities against AB.
ii 4 ev \e] om. ev N* alone.
7 X* (alone) omits this verse through homoeoteleuton.
10 avrov] 65 K* alone.
18 81 avrov] +01 ap.<porepoi ev evi N* alone, per errorem, 5t* OVTOV
having ended the column and page. It would seem therefore
that the length of the line in the archetype is represented by
exoMeNTHNTTpocArtofHN, which was at first missed.
2O avrov Xpierrov 'liyow] rov J(v N*.
1U I rov Xpiarov 'Irjcrov] Om. Iijaow N*, with D 2 *G 8 etc.
9 fv r 6c$] ra 0tS N*. This was Marcion's reading (Tert. c. Marc.
v 18).
NOTE ON VARIOUS READINGS. 287
iii ii ev T& Xptorai 'LjtroS] om. r^> N*, with D a etc.
1 8 vij/os Kal ftddos] Patios KOI v^os M, with A etc.
iv i ev Kvpiqt] ev jo> K, with aeth.
8 <al eSvKfv] om. KOI K*, with many authorities.
24 evdva-aa-dai] cvSvo-aadc K, with B* and others.
SiKauHrvvfl Kal oo-tonjrt] ocrtor^n /cat dtKatocrvvrj N* alone : but
Ambrst has m ueritate et iustitia.
25 aX^etav exaoros] CKCUTTOS a\r)detav N* alone.
/tera TOU frXijtrtov] Trpo? TOI wXi7(rioi X* alone : Lucifer has adproxi-
mum.
28 x^P "'"] P r *Swus N*, with AD 2 G 3 etc. : see the special note.
exa\ fx^rat N* alone : comp. Clem 371 iva e^rf.
y 2 v/xwi'] Tjfuav K : see the special note.
irpo(r<j)opav Kal 6vviav\ 6v(nav KM irpoo-(j>opav N alone.
4 KOI ^opoAoyta] 17 p.a>po\oyut N*, with AD 2 *Gr 3 etc.
6 Sia raSra yap] om. yap N* alone.
17 5eXj;/Lia] <#>pov;/*a N* alone.
20 rou Kvpiav ^jLwSj/] om. T/^WV X alone.
22 at yuvatKes] + VTrorao-o-f vdaxrav N : see the special note.
23 avrbs o-o>r^p] avros o <ra>Trjp N*, with A 17 etc.
27 avros eavrqi] avros aura) N* alone.
if TI T&V TOIOVTCOV] om. rj TI N* alone.
om. /cat
reKi/a N* alone.
29 TJIV eavrov a-dpKo] TTJV crapKa avrov X* alone.
31 Trpos TT/V yvvdiKa aurou] 717 yvvaiKt N*: see the special note.
Ti 3 tra yrjs] bis scriptum N* alone.
5 CTrXori/rt T^S /capSias] om. rrjs N etc.
8 ort cKaarTos edv TI troiri&rj] on eav iroiqa-rj eKaoros N alone.
9 KOI auT<Si/] /cat eavTcov N* alone : see the special note.
ovpavois] ovpavoa N, with some others.
IO ev Kvpito] ev rat JMO N*, with 91.
19 Iva fiot Hodrj] iva dodrj poi N* alone.
20 ev avTto irappi?crcacr(i>/iat] irappr)<ria(r<o[JLai ev avra> K alone.
21 ei'fijjTe *cat v/^ets] KOI v/tew tSi/re N, with many others.
iriaros SiaKovos] om. SICIKOVOS N* alone.
3. If the combination KB represents a line of textual tradition which 3. The
is of great importance here as elsewhere in the New Testament, on the r ?- eco *
ground that its readings are usually justified by internal considerations, eo di ceg .
scarcely less interest attaches to another line of tradition commonly spoken
of as the ' Western text/ because it is mainly attested for us by two Graeco-
Latin codices D 3 and G 3 . D 2 is Codex Claromontanus (cent, vi), and is
thus indicated to distinguish it from D, Codex Bezae of the Gospels and
Acts. G 3 is Codex Boernerianus (cent, ix), and was once part of the same
codex as A (Sangallensis) of the Gospels 1 .
1 E a is a copy of D 2 , and F 2 is pro- text is concerned. Accordingly I have
bably a copy of G 3 so far as its Greek not cited the evidence of
288
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
Their
textual
history.
Latinisa-
tion.
Interpre-
tative
Variants'
of interest
inD 2 orG 8 .
At the beginning of the history of each of these codices a Greek text
and an Old Latin text have been brought together in the same volume, and
a process of assimilation has begun, partly of the Greek to the Latin and
partly also of the Latin to the Greek. If we had the immediate parent of
either of these codices we should probably find corrections of this nature
introduced in the margin or in the text itself. Thus it may have been in
the immediate ancestor of G 3 that in Eph. iv 15 ahjdevovres 8e was changed
into a\rj6eiav Se iroiovvres, because the corresponding Latin was tieritatem,
aitiem facientes. The like process had already been taking, place in the
codex from which D 2 and G 3 are ultimately descended. For most of the
obvious Latinisations are common to them both. Thus in ii n viro rrjs
\eyofj.evi)s irepirofiris ev (rapid xcipoirouiTov was rightly rendered db ea quae
dicitur circumcisio in came manufacta: but an ignorant scribe took
manufacta. as the ablative agreeing with carne, and accordingly we find in
D 2 G 3 the strange reading ev <rapKl ^POTTOM;'. Another example is ii 20,
where the true reading is dicpoya>viaiov. The Latin rendering for ' corner
stone' was angularis lapis (summits angularis lapis, Jerome): hence we
find in D 2 G 3 that \tdov is added after dicpoya>vialov.
Besides this process, by which the Greek texts of these codices have
been considerably affected in detail, we may distinguish another element of
modification which may be called the interpretative element. Thus in ii 5,
in the parenthetical sentence xqpn-t core o-eo-aMrpevoi, we find prefixed to
_xap_4wjthe_relativ-e-pronoun-0u,-wM^
main sentence : ov Tfi x^P lTl D 2 > *> x < *P tTl ^3- As cuius is found at this
point in the Old Latin, it is possible that the inserted pronoun is due to
the Latin translator, and has subsequently passed over to the Greek text.
The similar clause in ii 8, rfi yap x4p* n^ owoxr/twot, is changed in D 2
into 177 yap O.VTOV \dpiTt. (recroxr/tei/ot ecrpev. The change to the first person
is due to the e<* ij/tfis of the previous verse, and to the eo-ftey of . 10: the
c'| vfi&v of v. 8 had also passed into e rjpav, probably at an earlier stage,
for it has a wider attestation. Another interesting example is the comple-
tion of the broken sentence in iii i by the addition in D 2 of Trpar/Sevw after
r&v fdv&v: a small group of cursives add KenavxTjfMi from a similar motive.
More serious is the change in iii 21, where in the true text glory is ascribed
to God ev ry KK\Tj(rta KOI ev Xptor<p 'Iijo-oC. The words in this order appeared
so startling that in one group of MSB (KLP) ml was dropped, so as to give
the sense 'in the Church by Christ Jesus' (A.V.). In D 2 *G 3 the order is
boldly reversed (ev xy / /cat rfj eKKhrjo-ia); and they are supported by Am-
brosiaster and Victorinus. It is probable that to this class we should assign
the addition of ut<S avrov after ev ro> tfyairq/j.evto in i 6 : but it is to be noted
that this reading has a wide attestation and is undoubtedly very early
(D 2 *G 3 8*** vg 0044 Victorin Ambrst Pelag etc.: also Ephraim in his com-
mentary, preserved in Armenian, has 'in His Son').
Other interesting readings belonging to one or both of these codices are :
ii 15 /carapyrjo-ay] Karapruras D a * alone,
iii 12 ev ireiroi6ri<rei\ ev ro> f\ev6epa>Qr)vai D 2 * alone (not unconnected with
the rendering of irapprja-iav by libertatem Victorin Ambrst).
2O virep iravra Troifja-cu] om. wrep D 8 G 8 , with Vg Ambrst etc.
NOTE ON VARIOUS READINGS. 289
iv 16 HOT evepyeiav] om. G 8 , with d 2 Iren int (Mass. p. 270) Lucifer
(Hartel p. 200) Victorin Ambrst (cod).
19 airrjkyrjuores] can)\iriKOTS D a ,a<pr)\mKOTfs G 8 , with Vg (desperantes)
goth arm aeth etc.
29 Tiff xP' af ] ""1 s TTOS D 2 *G 3 : see the special note.
Y 14 em<pava-ct <roi 6 ^ptoros] emif/avo-cis rav %y D 2 * : see the special note.
In conclusion certain readings may be noted in which one or other of Variants
these codices has somewhat unexpected support from one of the great uncials, with unex-
i i XptoroS 'Irja-ov] D 2 , with B and a few other authorities. support.
7 exofifv] ea-xofiev D 2 *, with N* (comp. B in Col. i 14).
ii eK^jpadrjiiev] eK\r}drifiev D 2 G 3 , with A: not unconnected perhaps is
the rendering sorte uocati sumus of vg.
v 31 om. rov et TTIV D 2 *G 3 , with B only.
vi i om. fv avp'uf D 2 *G 3 , with B Clem Alex (P. 308) Tert (c. Marc. v 18)
Cyprian (Testim. iii 70) Ambrst (cod).
16 TO. irfirvpapevd] om. TO D a *G 3 , with B.
19 om. TOU evayyeXlov G 3 , with B Tert (c. Marc, v 18) Victorin.
It is clear from this list that B at any rate has admitted a ' Western'
element in this epistle as in others.
4. Parallel with the Latinisation of the Greek texts of D 2 and G 3 has 4. The
been the process of correctingJbhe-Latin-texts^-da-and-ga^to-conform-them ^ Latin;
to the Greek. In consequence of this correction we cannot entirely rely on " e
these texts as representing a definite stage of the Old Latin Version, unless
we can support their testimony from other quarters. Yet the remarkable
agreement between d 2 and the text of Lucifer in the passage examined
below is somewhat reassuring.
The history of the Old Latin of St Paul's Epistles needs a fuller invest!- History ot
gation than it has yet received. To what extent it was revised by St Jerome * ne Old
is still obscure. Some useful remarks upon it will be found in the article *-' atm -
in Hastings's Bible Dictionary (Latin Versions, the Old) by Dr H. A. A.
Kennedy; and also in Sanday and Headlam, Romans, Introd. 7 (2) and
notes on v 3 5, viii 36.
The relation of the chief Latin recensions may be judged to some extent Latiir
by a concrete example. For Eph. vi 12 flf. we are fortunate in having a con- * exts f
tinuous quotation in Cyprian Testim. iii 117 (comp. Ep. Iviii 8) and also in ^P~' ^
Lucifer of Cagliari (Hartel p. 296). I2 a '
CYPKIAK LUCIFEB COD. AMIATINUS
non est nobis conluc- non est uobis conluc- nou est nobis conluo-
tatio aduersus camera et tatio aduersus camera et tatio aduersus camera et
sanguinem,sedaduersus sanguinem, sed contra sanguinera, sed aduersus
potestates et principes potestates, contra huius principes et potestates,
huius mundi et harura mundi reetores tenebra- aduersus round! rectores
tenebrarum, aduersus rum harum, contra spiri- tenebrarum harura, con-
spiritalia nequitiae in talia neguitiae in cae- tra spiritalia nequitiae
caelestibus 1 . lestibus. in caelestibua.
1 I have followed the true text of uobis', but 'nobis' is found in the
Cyprian, which is to be found in Har- better Msa and in Ep. Iviii 8.
tel'a apparatus. Hartel's text gives
EPHES. 2
290 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
We may note at the outset that Lucifer's text at this point is found
word for word in Codex Claromontanus (da), the only difference being that
there we have the order 'sanguinem et carnem', which is probably the
result of correction by the Greek of the codex.
noUs. Cyprian and the Vulgate give the true reading. But * uobis ' is
read by g 3 m (the Speculum, a Spanish text), Priscillian and Ambrosiaster.
TertulUan, however, Hilary and Ambrose have 'nobis'. The Greek evi-
dence is remarkable from the fact that B deserts its usual company. 'H/uir
is found in KAD 2 C KLP 17 etc., supported by Clement and Origen and the
Greek writers generally : also by boh arm syr(hkl). c Y/uv is found in BD 2 *
G 8 and some cursives : besides the Latin support already cited, it is sup-
ported by the Gothic and the Aethiopic versions, and by the Syriac Peshito,
which doubtless gives us here the Old Syriac reading, as we gather from
Ephraim's Commentary.
It is quite possible that the variation has arisen independently in
different quarters, for in Greek it is among the commonest confusions. It
serves however admirably as an illustration of the grouping of our Latin
authorities.
Sed aduersus (or contra) potestates. A single clause seems in the oldest
Latin to have represented irpos ras apx^ ^P s e&n><rlas (or KOI egovo-ias)
of the Greek text. It may be that principes was being consciously reserved
to be used in the following clause (n-pos TOVS Koa-paKparopas): for there is no
^Greek-evidence-for-the-omission~of"~^os~~T r af~ap;fas: Yet d 2 m Lucif Hil
(ed. Vienn. p. 489) have the single clause although they use 'rectores' (Hil
mundi potentes) in the later clause. It is noteworthy that d 2 is not in this
case brought into conformity with the Greek (irpos ras dpxas na\ egovo-ias)
of D 2 .
On the renderings of Koa-ftoKparopas see further in the commentary ad
loc.
CYPRIAN LTJCIFBB COD. AMIATINUS
propter boo induite propterea accipite ar- propterea accipite ar-
tota, arma, ut possitis ma del, ut poesitis reals- ma dei, ut possitis resis-
resistere in die nequis- tere in die malo, in tere in die malo et omni-
simo, ut cum omnia per- omnibus perfect! stare, bus perfect! stare, state
feceritis stetis adcincti praecincti lumbos ues- ergo succincti lumbos
lumbos uestros in ueri- tros in ueritate. uestros in ueritate.
tate.
Lucifer agrees with d 2 , except that the latter has 'omnibus operis' in
place of ' in omnibus perfect! ', and ' stetis ' for ' stare '.
induite. So m ' induite uos '.
tota arma. The omission of ' dei' by the best MBS of the Testimonies
is confirmed by Ep. Iviii 8. It is interesting to note in connexion with
'tota arma' that Jerome ad loc. says ' omnia arma...: hoc enim sonat
Trai/oTrX/a, non ut in Latino simpliciter arma translata sunt'. Yet Cod.
Amiat. gives us 'arma', and the Clementine Vulgate 'armaturam'.
nequissimo. In v. 16 'nequissimi' retains its place in the later recen-
sions.
cum omnia perfeceritis. It is strange that this excellent rendering was
not maintained : see the commentary ad loc.
NOTE ON VAEIOUS READINGS. 291
ut.. Metis accincti. This corresponds to the reading of D 2 ^G 3 trr^re
for <rrijvaf or^re otiv. In m we find 'estote', or according to some MSS
* stare, estote '. The Vulgate shews correction by a better Greek text.
CYPRIAN LUCIFEB COD. AMIATINUS
induentes loricam ius- induentea loricam ius- et induti lorica ius-
iitiae et calciati pedes in iitiae et calciati pedes in titiae et calciati pedes in
praeparatione euangelii praeparatione euangelii praeparatione euangelii
pacis, in omnibus adsu- pacis, in omnibus adsu- pacis, in omnibus sumen-
mentes scutum fidei, in meutes scutum fidei, in , tes scutum fidei, in quo
quo possitis omnia ignita quo possitis omnia iacula possitia omnia tela ne-
iacula nequissimi extin- nequissimi candentia ex- quissimi ignea extiu-
guere, et galeam salutis stinguere, et galeam sa- guere; et galeam salntis
et gladium spiritus, qui lutis et gladium spiritus, adsumite et gladium spi-
est sermo dei. quod est uerbum dei. ritus, quod est uerbum
del.
Lucifer agrees with d 2 , except that the latter has ' salutaris' for 'salutis'
{comp. Tert. c. Marc, iii 14).
ignita. Tertullian in an allusion (ut supra) has ' omnia diaboli ignita
tela' : ' candentia' is found in m.
adsumite : supplied in the Vulgate, to correspond with 8eao-0e which
is omitted by D 2 *G 3 .
sermo : characteristic of the Cyprianic text : comp. Tert. ut supra.
The text of ViglliuTTapsensis^Alf ica, c. 484)~is~of ~sufficient~interest Tto
be given in full (de trin. xii, Chifflet, 1664, p. 313) :
'Propterea suscipite tota arma dei, ut possitis resistere in die maligno;
et cum omnia perfeceritis state cincti lumbos in ueritate, et calciate (? cal-
ciati) pedes in praeparatione euangelii pacis : super haec omnia accipientes
scutum fidei, et galeam salutaris accipite, et gladium spiritus, quod est
uerbum dei'.
Comp. c. Varimadum iii 24, p. 457 : 'In omnibus adsumentes scutum
fidei, in quo possitis omnia iacula nequissimi candentia exstinguere, et
galeam salutis et gladium spiritus, quod est uerbum dei '. This agrees with
Lucifer. The variety of text is worth noting in connexion with the ques-
tion of the authorship of these treatises 1 .
The following readings deserve attention either for their own importance Special
or as throwing light on the history of the text. The authorities cited are readings
selected as a rule from the apparatus of Tischendorf or Tregelles, and the of mterest -
citations have been to a large extent verified, and sometimes corrected and
amplified.
i I XP'CTOY iHCO?.
XpioroO *I?o-o5 BD 2 P 17 syr (hkl) boh vg (am) Or 01 * Ambrst Pel ood : i i Xoto-rO
3 Ir)<rov XptoroC NAG 3 KL etc. syr (pesh) arm vg (fu al) Eph (arm) Victorin.
1 On the authorship of the de trini- Athanasius extant only in this Latin
tate see Journ. of Th. St. i 126 ff., version'. See also the note on the
.592 ft.: it is suggested that 'Book xii text of vi 16, below, p. 303.
is probably a genuine work of St
19 2
292
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
It is not easy to decide between these readings. The full title 'our
Lord Jesus Christ' would help to stereotype the order 'Jesus Christ'. This
order in itself is perhaps the more natural, especially in Syriac, 'Jesus the
Messiah' : the Peshito has it even in the last words of this verse. A copyist
would be more likely to change Xptoros 'L/o-ov? into 'Irja-ovs XptoroV than
vice versd.
The testi- B persistently has XptoroO 'Ljo-oC in the openings of the Epistles: it is
monyof B. o ffce n deserted by N, and once by all uncials. This fact may suggest the
possibility of a revision on principle. In this particular place it appears as
if the scribe of B began to write TY XY> but corrected himself in time. Yet
the support which B here has makes it hazardous to depart from it. It
is otherwise in v. 5, where B stands alone in giving the same reversal
of order.
i i , roTc
"rote O?CIN [CN '
i i
The case for the omission of ev 'Ecpccr<g> has been so clearly stated by
recent critics 1 , that it will suffice to present the main evidence in the
briefest form, to call attention to a recent addition to it, and to set aside
some supposed evidence which breaks down upon examination.
i. Not in i. The words were not in the text used by Origen [f A.D. 253]. This is
Origen's conclusively shewn by his endeavour to explain rot? otio-iv as an independent
phrase. In~X>amer J 8~Catena ad'loc. we read :
'Qpiyevrjs Se <f>r)<ri' 'ETTI p.6va>v 'H(f>eo~ia>v evpofiev Kcipevov TO TOTc
_text._
Evidence
of Basil.
a. Evi-
dence of
MSS KB 67.
Fresh
evidence
from Mt
Athos.
TOTc O^CI- ical fitjTOVfiev, el JJ.T) irape\Ket irpo&Keipevov TC TOTc AfiOIC TOTC
ofci 2 , TL dvvarai aypaiveiv. Spa ovv el py, wovrep ev TW 'E|oSo) ovopa ^rjtriv
eavrov 6 xpj/jttaTt^iaj' Moxrei TO *QN, ovrcas ot p.eTe^ovres TOV OVTOS yivovrai
owes, KoXovfievoi olovel fK TOV fifj eivcu els TO eivat' K.T.X. 3
This comment is no doubt referred to by St Basil [f A.D. 379] in the
following extract, at the close of which he declares that the words ev
'E<prp were wanting in the older copies in his own day:
*AXXa /cat TOIS 'Ecfreo-iois eVtoreXXaj', cos yvtjo-l&s qvcofievois TB OVTI 81
ovras avToiis I8ia6vrcos tovofiacrev, eartov TOTc ipfoiC TOTc
KAt TTlCTOtc 6N XplCT<?) 'iHCOf. ovTto yap KOI of Trpo T)fJ.v Trapa-
Kai finely ev rois ircikaiois Toav dvnypa<p<ov evprjuanev (Basil, contra
Eunom. ii 19).
2. The words eV 'E<pecrq> were originally absent from K and B; and
they are marked for omission by the corrector of the cursive 67 in the
Imperial Library at- Vienna (cod. gr. theoL 302).
An interesting addition to the documentary evidence for the omission
has been made by E. von der Goltz, who has published an account of
1 See Lightfoot Biblical Essays
pp. 377 ff., Westcott and Hort Intro-
duction to N.T., ' Notes on select read-
ings' ad loo., Hort Prolegg. to Romans
and Ephesians pp. 86 ff., T. E. Abbott
Ephesians pp. i ff .
2 Perhaps we should read r< roTc
Tb rote of ci.
8 Origen's comment is reproduced
in an obscure way by St Jerome, who
probably was unaware of any omission
in the text, and therefore failed to
understand the drift of the explana-
tion.
NOTE ON VAEIOUS HEADINGS. 293
a remarkable cursive of the tenth or eleventh century in the Laura on
Mt Athos 1 . This MS (cod. 184) contains the Acts and Catholic Epistles, Cod. Laur.
as well as the Pauline Epistles, and once contained also the Apocalypse. l8 4-
The scribe declares that he copied it from a very old codex, the text of
which agreed so closely with that found in the commentaries or homilies
of Origen that he concluded that it was compiled out of those books. The
margin contains many quotations from works of Origen, which appear to
have stood in the margin of the ancient copy. At the end of the Epistle
to the Ephesians is the following note 2 : op airo rS>v ? rfjv irpbg
<epo/xe'vooi/ er}yr}nitv TOfteov avrawyveoow (leg. dvraveyv<&<r6r))
The scribe's error shews that this note was copied from an uncial original,
-ON having been read for -OH. This MS omits eV 'E$e'<ra>, and makes no
comment on the omission. Thus we have positive evidence to confirm the
conclusion that the words were absent from the text of Origen.
3. The only other trace of the omission of the words is found in the 3. Mar-
fact that Marcion included our epistle in his edition of the Pauline Epistles ci n -
under the title 'TO THE LAODICEANS '. This he could hardly have done if
the words eV 5 E$e<ro> had stood in the salutation.
4. None of the versions gives any support to the omission. The only 4. Yer-
two about which a doubt could be raised are the Old Syriac and the Latin,
i) The-Old-Syriac-can-often-be-conjecturally-restored-from-theeom G
mentary of Ephraim, which is preserved in an Armenian translation. It is Syriac :
true that Ephraim does not mention the words 'in Ephesus\ His brief
comment is: 'To the saints and the faithful; that is, to the baptized
and the catechumens'. But that no conclusion can be drawn from this no evi-
is at once seen when we compare with it the corresponding comment on deneefrom
Col. i i : 'To the saints, he says, and the faithful : the baptized he calls Eptoaim.
saints, and the catechumens he names faithful': yet no one would argue
from this that the words ' at Colossae ' were absent from his text.
(2) Lightfoot holds that there are indications in early Latin commen- Latin :
taries that the texts used by their writers either did not contain the word supposed
Ephesi, or contained it in an unusual position which suggests that it was evidence
a later interpolation, Hort makes no reference to evidence to be derived
from this source, and it may perhaps be assumed that he was not satisfied
that a valid argument could be constructed. But as Dr Abbott has recently
repeated Lightfoot's suggestions, it is necessary that the passages in question
should be examined in detail.
i. yicTOBiNUS, as printed in Mai Scriptorum veterum nova cottectio from
iii 87, has the following comment : ' Sed haec cum dicit sanctis qui sunt yictor-
jfidelibus JEphesi, quid adiungitur ? in Christo lesu'. I confess that I do lnua '
not understand how Lightfoot could render this, ' But when he says these
words " To the saints who are the faithful of Ephesus," what does he add ?
"In Christ Jesus' 5 .' For such a rendering would require Jideles, not fide-
libus 3 . If the text be sound, qui sunt can only be taken in Origen's
1 Sine textkritische Arbeit u. a. w. z l.c. p. 78.
Texte . Untersuch. neue Folge ii 4 3 We are warned that this essay is
(1899). 'printed from Lecture-Notes' (p. 376).
294
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
from
Ambrosi-
aster;
from
Seduliue
Scotus,
sense 'the saints who ABE,' and fidelibus must stand in apposition to
sanctis. But there is no trace of such an interpretation in Victorinus:
and as he himself explicitly cites the passage in the usual manner lower
down, we may well conclude that the words in this place have suffered in
the process of transcription. Even if we conjecturally substitute fideles
for fidelibus, and render, 'to the saints who are faithful in Ephesus', we
cannot say that Victorinus is giving us a direct citation as contrasted with
a mere allusion. For haec in the sentence before us does not refer to the
words sanctis, etc., but to the preceding phrase Paulus apostolus lesu
Christi per voluntatem dei, which Victorinus has just told us were also
used in the Second Epistle to the Corinthiana So that the passage runs :
'But when he says these (same) words to the saints who are faithful at
Ephesus, what is added ? In Christ Jews'. The position of Ephesi is thus
accounted for by the emphasis thrown upon it for the purpose of contrast
with the Corinthian Church. It seems clear then that no evidence of a
variation of reading can be drawn from Victorinus.
ii. Lightfoot suggests that AMBROSIASTER may not have had Ephesi in
his text: (i) because 'the commentary ignores the word Ephesi altogether' :
(2) because his note suggests that he, or an earlier writer whose note he
adopts, had in his mind rots dyiois TOIS o5<rtv /cat irurrois, which he regarded
as meaning 'the saints who are also faithful'.
But, in regard to (i), a similar omission of the locality occurs in the
-cor*espondmg-ttotes"on^he~Epistleto~th^Galatians and ~tb~fche Colossians :
and generally the author's comments on corresponding phrases are directed
to bringing out the meaning of the word 'saints' and its connexion with
4 Christ Jesus '. Moreover the text, as given in the Vetus Editio of Ambrose,
after citing v. i runs thus :
Solito more scribit: Apostolum enim ee esse Christi Jesu dei uoluntate
testator: Sanctis et fidelibus in Christo Jesu qui sunt Ephesi. Non solum
fidelibus scribit : Bed et sanctis : ut tune nere fideles sint si fuerint eancti in
Christo Jesu. Bona enim uita tune prodest ac creditor sancta si sub nomine
Christi habeatur: alioquin contaminatio erit: quia ad iniuriam proficit crea-
toris.
The Benedictine edition (and hence Migne, from which Lightfoot
quotes) omits the words Sanctis et fidelibus in Christo Jesu qui sunt
Ephesi. In the quoted text of v. i as given in both editions the
corresponding words are as follows: Sanctis omnibus qui sunt Ephesi)
et fidelibus in Christo Jesu. The variation is noteworthy. On internal
grounds it would seem to belong to the commentator ; but in that case he
does not ignore the word Ephesi.
With regard to (2), we should be more ready to admit the cogency
of the argument if the comment ran: non solum sanctis scribit, sed
et fidelibus.
iii. SEDULIUS SCOTUS, a compiler of the eighth or ninth century, writes
(Migne, P. L. eiii 795) :
Sanctis. Non omnibus Ephesus, sed his qui credunt in Christo. Et fidelibus.
Omnes sancti fideles sunt, Don omnes fideles sancti Qui sunt in Christo
lesu. Plurea fideles sunt, sed non in Christo, etc.
NOTE ON VAKIOUS READINGS. 295
Lightfoot lays no stress on the omission ofEphesi. 'But', he says, 'the
position of qui sunt is striking. It would seem as though some transcriber,
finding the reading sanctis qui sunt et fidelibus in Christo Jesu in his
copy and stumbling at the order, had transposed the words so as to read
sanctis et fidelibus qui sunt in Christo Jesu. This altered reading may
have been before Sedulius, or some earlier writer whom he copies '.
Fortunately we have some information as to the source which Sedulius A parallel
was drawing from at this point. The Commentary on the Pauline Epistles, *? 'Prima-
which is falsely attributed to Frimasius, may or may not be earlier than
the work of Sedulius. At any rate the following passage from it is worth
quoting as a parallel 1 :
Sanctis omnibus qui sunt Ephesi. Omuls sanctus fidelis, non omnis fidelis
sanctus. Baptizatis fidelibus slue fideliter seruantibus sanctitatem: eatechu-
menis qui habent fidem, quia credunt, sed non habeut sanctitatem. Et fidelibus
in Christo lesu. Qui licitis utuntur. Gratia etc.
The Commentary of Pelagius, printed in Vallarsi's edition of St Jerome The
(xi, pars iii), seems to lie behind both the preceding extracts. It runs source
thus: ' probably
is Pela-
Omnibus sanctis. Omnes sancti fideles, non omnes fidelea sancti. Quia gins
possunt etiam catechumen! ex eo quod Christo credunt fideles did : non tamen
sancti sunt, quia non per baptismum sanctificati. Siue sic intelligendum, quod
scribat fideliter seruantibus gratiam sanctitatis. Qui sunt Ephesi, et fidelibus who read
in Christo lesu. Non omnibus ESphesiis, sedThis qui credunt in Christo. Ephesi 7 .
Gratia etc.
i 15 K&1 T&N [AI-^TTHN] efc TTANTAC TO^C A
"We must consider this passage in connexion with the parallels to
be found in the two other epistles which were carried by the same
messenger.
i. Eph. i 15 aKova-as TTJV naff vpas irioriv ev r< Kvplc* 'liyo-oO Ka\ TT/V
]. els irdvras TOVS ayiovs.
ii. Col. i 4 aKOv&avrcs TTJV iritrTiv Vficov eV Xptorw 'irja-ov KOI rrjv dymrrjv
[rjv ?X CTC ] e ' s ifdvras roiis ayiovs.
iii. Philem. 5 aKovtav erov Tr/v ayanrjv <al TTJV moriv yv cx ty ^ s fa 1"
Trpos] TOV Kvptov 'IT)(TOVV Kal els irdvras TOVS ayiovs.
In (i) we have the following readings : Eph. i 15.
(1) jcal TT)v els Trdvras TOVS ayiovs N*ABP 17 Or'** 129 Cyr tritie()3 Aug
(depraed. ss. xix 39).
(2) KOI TTJv aydirTjv els IT. r. a. P 2 *G 3 .
(3) Kal Triv dydiniv TT)V els IT. T. a. K C D 2 C KL al pier Chrys Thdrt
Dam al.
The. Latin, Syriac, Bohairic and Gothic Versions may be claimed
. 333. ascribe it to a Gallic writer: it is
On this Commentary see Haussleiter closely related to the Commentary of
in Zahn's Forschungen zur Geschichte Bemigius.
d. NTliehenKanons iv 24 ff. He would
296 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
either for (2) or for (3) j and so also Victorin bia Ambrsfc Aug (Ep.
ccxvii 28) al.
(4) KOI ri)v els iravras TOVS dylovf dydirrjy 6 cursives, the Catena text
and
Col. i 4. In (ii) B stands alone in omitting TJV *x er "without giving any substitute.
It thus presents a reading difficult at first sight from the grammarian's
point of view, but quite in accord with Pauline usage. The position of ev
Xpiorxp 'Iqo-oii after ir'umv in the same verse is a parallel; and other
examples are given in the note on Eph. i 15. As the article was likely
to be inserted by scribes, we may claim the reading of D 2 C KL (TTJV dydmfv
rfpf} as indirectly supporting B; and the insertion of ty e^ere may be
regarded as another way of meeting the difficulty, and as perhaps suggested
by TJV e%is in iii.
Philem. 5. In (iii) scribes who took ty e%ets as exclusively referring to T^V iritrnv
found a difficulty in the phrase iriartv *\eiv els irdvras TOVS dyiavs, and
accordingly D 2 with many cursives, the Syriac, Armenian and Aethiopic
Versions, invert the order and read rr)v KIOTO/ KOI r^v dydmjv. But the
difficulty is really non-existent; for -njv aycanpi KOI r^v iriariv are alike
included in ip> e^eis, and the order oflers an example of the grammatical
figure called chiasmus : see Lightfoot ad loc.
Internal We now return to consider the readings of (i). If external authority be
evidence alQne-Considered,-we-cannot-refuse-to-accept~(r): But~internal~evidence is
favours strongly adverse to it. We cannot give n-itms the meaning of 'loyalty' or
^ " 'trustworthiness', in view of the parallels in the other epistles: and we
have no example of such an expression as 'faith towards all the saints';
for, as we have seen, Philem. 5 cannot be regarded as sich. Moreover
we expect from the two parallels that we should find a mention of ' love ' at
this point in the Epistle to the Ephesians.
The argu- It has been urged that the fact that St Paul writes TJ)I> na.6' vfias
ment from instead of T^V iriortv vfi&v prepares us for an unusual collocation ; and that
Kad' ^y. contrast involved is between r^v Kaff v^as and rfjv els iram-as TOVS
dyiovs (Hort). But Dr T. K. Abbott has shewn (ad loc.} that
in such a connexion is by no means unusual hi later Greek. He cites
Aelian, V. H* ii 12 ij KO.T OVTOV aperf, Diod. Sic. i 65 77 Kara -ri\v dpxfjv
airo6e<ns (laying down the government); and, in the New Testament,
Acts xvii 28 T<Si> naff vp,as TTOIIJTCOV, XVlii 15 vopav TOV na6* vftas, xxvi 3
T&V KCLTO. 'lovdaiovs e6a>v. Accordingly Tr)? Kaff vpas iri<mv ev T(p Kvpito
'Irja-ov is not appreciably different from T^V iriortv vpav ev T& Kvplat 'I^o-oO,
which would closely correspond with CoL i 4.
The con- If in spite of the authorities which support it we reject (i), there can
struction be no doubt that (2) must be the reading of our choice. For we then have
TV*} 7n7J> a close parallel to Col. i 4, when that passage has been purged of accre-
-changes. ^ ons - Moreover the same phrase has in each epistle given occasion for
the alterations of scribes; and (3) and (4) are seen to be alternative
methods of escaping from the construction TTJV dydmjv els irdvras TOVS
dyiovs. This construction is, however, as we have seen, frequent in
St Paul's writings. Accordingly we may claim the evidence of (3) and
(4) as practically supporting (2), of which they are obvious modifications:
NOTE ON VARIOUS HEADINGS. 297
go that we have the evidence of all the Versions, as well as N C D 2 C KL etc.,
to support D 2 *G 2 against N*ABP (0 unfortunately is missing from i I to
ii 18, and again from iv 17 to the end).
It is possible that the loss of the word in the chief MSS is due to Possible
homoeoteleuton. The resemblance between AITHN and &TTHN is so close, komoeo-
that aymniv may have been passed over in teleuton.
11 21 TTACA oiKOAOMH.
Haa-a 77 otKodopri is read by 8 a ACP, with many cursives and some ii 21
patristic evidence.
Origen (cat. 151) has been cited for this reading, but the article isOrigen's
absent from the only codex we possess. On the other hand the Athos MS reading,
described by von der Goltz ( Texte u. Unters. neue Folge ii 4, p. 75) has irao-a
q oiKoSp/t)/ written above as an alternative to iraa-a otKoSofu? : and the margin
contains the following note: TO psv pryrov TOV viro^vrnwros' ev fp irao~a OIKO-
5o/x?) Svev TOV apdpov. rj Se eqyr)<rts p-lav \eyova-a TTJV oiKoSo/t^j/ rldr/a-i Kal TO
apdpop. The reference may perhaps be to the words TTJ ircury oiKotiopfi, which
occur later in Origen's comment. It is interesting however to note that in
the supplement which Mr Turner (Journ. of Theol. Studies, April 1902,
pp. 407 f.) has conjecturally added to correspond with Jerome's Latin, the
words ircura q~6lKo8ojTi) are introduced. ThlTchange has apparently~l5een
made on the ground that Jerome here writes universa aedificatio, and not
omnis aedificatio as before: for I understand that Mr Turner had not seen
the evidence of von der Goltz's MS.
We cannot do otherwise than accept the reading of the principal author- The article
ities. The insertion of the article was probably a grammatical correction, inserted
intended to secure the sense at a time when otKo&o/wJ had come to be ^^^~
regarded almost exclusively as concrete in meaning. See the note in the grounds,
commentary ad loc.
ill 9 C|>60TIC<M Tfc H OiKONO/V\f&.
I have discussed the internal evidence for this reading in the common- iii 9
tary. The external evidence is conflicting. Qoyrlffu rls
Somom (without irdvTas') is read by K*A 67** Cyril (de recta fide ad * K
reg. ed. Aubert 1638, p. 123). To this Greek evidence we may add that of
Origen as gathered from Jerome's commentary. For though in the text
Vallarsi prints illuminare omnes, the word omnes is not found hi some
codices, and the subsequent comment indicates at two points that omnes
was not present to the commentator's mind.
$<orrtu iravras has the authority of NBCD 2 G 3 KLP etc., of various
Greek writers, and of all the versions, with the partial exceptions in Latin
of Hilary (in Ps. ix 3, ed. Vienna p. 76), Aug (de gen. ad lit. v. 38, ed.
Vienna p. 162).
It may be that the absence of B from its usual company is due here and
elsewhere in the epistle to Western contamination.
298 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
iii 18 ^yoc KA! B&Ooc.
iii 18 tifos The main evidence is as follows :
" ityos KOI /Satfos BCD 2 G S P 17 and other cursives, together with all
versions (exc. Syr).
fiddos Kal vtyos NAKL and many cursives, Orig Ens Chrys etc.
Old The exception of the Harklean Syriac is due to the correction by
Syriac. Greek MSS of the earlier Syriac reading. The Peshito had the curious
order fyos KOI pd6of KOI fjajKos KOI TrXoror, and Ephraim's commentary
attests this for the Old Syriac.
Origen's Origen in his commentary undoubtedly accepted the reading fiddos
evi ence. ^ ^ os ^ although incidentally he speaks of the Cross as having both
ityos and fiddos. We find also ftddos not (tyros in Horn, in Jerem. xviii 2
(Ru. iii 243). The text of von der Goltz's Athos MS has J3adog Kal vtyos.
But a note in the margin says that ttyos Kal fiados was read in the text of
the copy of Origen's commentary, though he himself in his comment had
o '/I \ ff i
paaos KCU uyos.
The result The interpretation of such evidence is uncertain. If, as in the reading
uncertain. i as t discussed, we suppose that B has admitted a "Western element, the
claim of the reading of KA Orig (fiaQos Kal fyos) is very strong. I have
however printed ttyos /cat @ddos in deference to the judgment of "Westcott
and Hort.
v 9
iv 9 This is the reading of N*AC*I> 2 G3 17 67**.
B u t np&Tov is added in N C BC KLP and most cursives. The versions
are divided : d 2 g 3 agree with their Greek, and there is no addition in sah
boh aeth. On the other hand irparov is attested by f vg (though not, appa-
rently, by the original scribe of Codex Amiatinus) : also by syr goth arm.
Ephraim's comment is a strange one, and it leaves us uncertain whether
the Old Syriac had the addition or hot : ' Now that which ascended what
is it (saith he) but the body, which descended by means of death into
Hades ? for that is the lower region of the earth '.
The Latin translator of Irenaeus has no addition (M. p. 331); but it
must be remembered that this is the case with the Latins generally with
the exception of Ambrosiaster.
Clement (exc. Theod., P. 979) has no addition. It is noteworthy that he
ends the sentence with KOTC^, and continues thus : 6 Karafias avros e<mv
elf TO. Ka.Tc6ra.Ta. TTJS yf}s Kal dvaftas virepdvco T&V ovpavwv.
Origeu, though he does not make this transposition, recognises the
same connexion of thought: inJoann. xix 21 KOI TO- Els ra KareoVara TTJS
yrjs o Kara/Say, ovros eart /cat acajSar: comp. xix 2O /cat yap els TO. KorooTepa
(sic) pepr) TTJS yijs 6 Karaftds, K.T.\. These passages throw no light on Origen's
reading in regard to irp&rov : nor does the passage cited from the Latin of
his commentary on Ezekiel (Ru. iii 358): nor again the incidental citation in
Catena p. 162. Jerome's commentary however in its text has no addition,
and this may perhaps be an indication of Origen's text at this point.
The strangest point about this reading is the company in which B
finds itself.
NOTE ON VABIOUS HEADINGS. 299
17 K&8&C K&t T& G6NH.
A small group of uncials with many cursives read <a6ms <al ri \oiira iv 17 ri
K'Dg^KLP): so also syr goth arm 5 but not the Old Syriac as^i?.
attested by Ephraim's commentary.
The addition is of an interpretative character.
f
iv 28 TATc xepclN r6 ^r A 9^ N
This is the reading of K C B. Other readings are: iv 28 TCUS
TO dyaQbv TOIS x*po~w ^> *nany cursives, and the text of the Catena
(?0rig).
TOIS lo-icus xepvlv TO dyadov K*AD 2 G 3 and some cursives.
TO dyadov TOIS Idiots ^epcnV K and some cursives.
T-O dyadov P 17 67** cod Laur 184 (v. der Goltz, p. 78). This is sup-
ported by m and by Clem. Alex. (P. 308, 371). The comment of Origen
would not require any other reading than this.
The versions do not give us much help in a reading of this kind.
iv 29 npdc olKoAo/wftN THC
We~find~the
Ad aedificationem fidei is the ahnost universal reading in Latin codices
and fathers. Jerome ad loc. says, ' Pro eo autem quod nos posuimus ad
aedificationem opportunitatis, hoc est quod dicitur Graece TTJS xP e ' as > m
Latinis codicibus propter euphoniam mutauit interpres et posuit ad aedifi-
cationem fidei'. Jerome's rendering is found in Codd. Amiatinus and
Puldensis (the latter having opportunitatis fidei), but it has not succeeded
in displacing the older Latin rendering in the ordinary Vulgate MSS.
The only Greek patristic evidence cited for 7riWos is Greg. JNyss. in Clement's
Eccl&dast. vii 6 (Migne p. 727), Basil Begg. pp. 432, 485, alibi. It is how- reading.
ever to be noted that, although in Clem. Alex. Strom, i 18 90 (P. 371)
we have irpbs olKodoptiv TTJS xP"' as > y 6 ^ m ^ ne opening sentence of the
Paedagogus we have the expression els olKo8op,^v TTIOTCG)?.
It has been suggested to me that the reading of D 2 * and Iren. Haer. Gomp.
(praef. ad init,) in i Tun. i 4 should be borne in mind in the consideration x Tim - * 4-
of this variant: /xaXXoi/ ^ oiKo8ofj.^v dcov T^V ev rriWet (D 2 C has
the true reading being olKovopiav).
v 32, v 2
The reading of B is e^api'traro ijp.lv... ^yamja-ev vpas ital irapedcoKf? eavrbv iv 32, y c
vjrep vn&v. N has vp.lv. . .vp.as (17/10? N c ). . .^v.
The reading in iv 32 may be considered by itself. B has the support of "'
D 2 (but not d 2 ) KL : but the same combination reads q/up also in the parallel
passage, Col. iii. 13, where B goes with the other uncials in reading V/MV.
The context would admit of jp.lv, but vfiiv is the more natural : and it is
supported by 8 AG 3 P (the cursives and the versions are divided).
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
The readings in v 2 must be considered together. We can hardly allow
a change of the pronoun in the two clauses coupled by nai The evidence
of the uncials is as follows:
as K*ABP, jfias KD 2 G 3 KL :
v B, jJ/wSv KAD 2 G 3 KLP.
The pro-
bv scribes
"
V 14
By change
of a letter,
Further
change,
TOV
XplffTOV.
In Modern Greek u/*r and focis are indistinguishable in sound, and
this was probably the case when our MSB were written, for the scribes
perpetually confuse them. The context usually settles the question : but
where either will make good sense, it is difficult to come to a decision. On
the whole we may be satisfied to read the pronoun of the second person
throughout this passage.
v 14 erri<f>&fcei coi 6 xpicroc.
By the change of a single letter we get the reading eVu/mvo-ei o-oi 6
xpurros. I have already given (p. 119) a passage from Jerome ad loc., in
which he tells of a preacher who quoted the text as follows: ' Surge Adam
qui dormis, et exsurge a mortuis, et non ut legimus eirufravo-ei o-ot Xptp-rds,
id est orietur tibi Christus, sed em^rawrei, id est continget te Christus\
There seems to be no Greek evidence to corroborate this. For though
Cramer's Catena ad loc., p. 196, L 31, has em^ava-ei o-ot o Xptoro?, this
_app_earjLtoJbeJbut_a_copyi^
and Field's apparatus (p. 279) shews that several scribes have written
emfyavo-ei for em^ava-ei. In Latin however we find continget te Christus in
the old Roman edition of Ambrosiaster ad loc., and in Augustine on Ps. iii
6 (ed. Ben. iviib).
If this reading is due to a mere mistake, there is another which involves
conscious alteration, viz. emtyavcreis TOV xpiorou. It is found in Cod. Claro-
montanus (D 2 ), the Latin side of which has continges Christum. It was
known to Chrysostom: indeed it probably stood in the MS which he was
using for his commentary. For though, according to Field's text and
apparatus, in the first place in which he quotes the verse he gives us
eVt$awo-et o-ot o xprros, yet a few lines lower down his comment runs thus :
Kat eTwIravtreis, (prjtri, TOV ^pioroC' ot Se <pao-iv 'ETTMpauo-et o-ot o ^pto-ros'
/i2XXoi> Be TOVTO eari. This comment is far more natural if the text of the
Catena be right, which gives in the first place ejri^avo-eLs TOV ^pto-roS.
Continges Christum is found in Victorinus ad loc., and in some MSS of
Ambrosiaster : also in the Latin translator of Origen (Ru. ii 400, iii 78).
Ruricius, epp. lib. ii 1 1, gives alternative readings : 'et continges Christum
siue inluminabit te Christus*. Moreover Paulinus of Kola, ep. xxxii 20,
has : 'Surge inquit qui dormis, et erigere a mortuis, et adtinges Christum' :
comp. ep. ix 2, 'quamuis iamdudum ei dixeritis: Erige te a mortuis, ut
adtingas Christum'.
V 15 dfcpi-
8ws irws.
v 15 BAerrere O?N KpiB>c n&c
This is the reading of N*B, 17 and other cursives, Or 08 *: and the order
is supported by the Bohairic version, which however reads aoVXoW after
NOTE ON VARIOUS READINGS.
have BXeVere ovf, a8e\<poi } 7r<5f aKpifia>s irepurartiTe, and this is
supported by the Vulgate and Pelagius o^ Joe. (as edited). D 2 G 3 KLP have
the same reading without the insertion of dSeX^oi : this is supported by
the Syriac and Armenian versions, and by Chrysostom, Lucifer, Victorinus
and Ambrosiaster. In d 2 axpt/StSy is not represented.
r 17
This is read by KABP 17 67**...syr arm. v 17
D 2 *G 3 have o-wiovres, and D 2 c KL...have wvtAvres which is supported <rwlere.
by Chrysostom and others.
The Latin rendering was Propterea nolite ejfici (fieri) imprudentes,
sed intellegentes, etc. It is quite possible that the participle came in by the
process of Latinisation. .
V 19 vp^AMOtC K<\t Y MN O |C K *t <pA&Tc TTNeYM&TlK&fC K.T.A.
The readings of this verse are compared with those of CoL iii 16 by v 19
Lightfoot, Colossians, pp. 247 f. Here it may suffice to note that B (i ) inserts
eV before ^a\p.ois, with P 17 67**: (2) omits irvevfiaTiKdis, with d 2 and some
MSS of Ambrosiaster: (3) reads rfj KapMq, with N*0r cat , against ev ry KapMq,
or lv rats Kapftiais. Of these variants (i) and (2) are probably errors, but
(3) may be accepted,
V 22 Af TYNATKGC, TOfC [AfoiC
The only MS which at present offers this reading is B. Clement of v 22 Ai
Alexandria however cites the passage thus (P. 592) where he quotes vv. 21
25, but where he begins his citation with v. 22 he inserts vnoraa-a-eadoxrav
(P. 308). Jerome says that the subditae sint of the Latin 'in Graecis
codicibus non habetur'; and he was probably guided by Origen here.
The other readings are :
(a) Ai yvvaiKcs, TOIS Idiots dvSpdcriv viroTd<r<rea-6e KL...syr ntr Chr
(5) At ywaiKes, VTroTd<r<re<rde rots Idiots dvdpeurw T)%Q S
(c) Ai yvvaiK.es rots ISlots avdpamv viroracr(rfcr6a>(ra.v KAP...vg COparm
Clem 308
(a) and (&) preserve the vocative construction, which is found below in
v. 25, vi i, 4, 5, 9, and in the parallel passages in Col iii 18 ff.
(&) gives vTroTao-oreo-^e in the same position as in CoL iii 18.
(c) departs from the true construction, and perhaps is not independent
of I Cor. XIV 34 dXXa viroraa-a-ecrdciarav.
It is to be noted that in the chapter numberings of Euthalius a new
capitulum e'*begins with this verse.
v 23 <\YTC>C ccorAp TOY ct*>M<vroc.
This is the reading of N*ABD 2 *G 3 latt., except that X*A prefix 6 to v 23
ND 2 b KLP read KOI avrbs eon wrr/p TOV crw^arof. The change was
doubtless intended to make the language more smooth, but it weakens the
sense.
302
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
v 27 TN<\
y 27 atfrds For avros we find auYJp in D 2 K and many cursives : also in Chrysostom.
But here again the sense is obviously weakened by the change.
V 30 OTI MeAH 6CM6N TOY CC&MATOC <\Y TO Y'
So the words stand without addition in N*AB 17 67** and in von der
Goltz's Athos MS. This last piece of evidence confirms the view that
Origen knew of no addition (Ru. iii 61). We have further evidence from
the Bohairic and Aethiopic versions, and from Methodius (Sympos. 54,
Jahn p. 17).
But the great mass of authorities add the words CK TT)S a-apKos OVTOV KOI
f< TO>V oareav avrov. Irenaeus read them and commented on them (Mass.
v. 2 3, p. 294). They are derived from Gen. ii 23, Tovro vvv GO-TOW TV
ooretw p,ov KOI arap en TTJS vapKos pov, the verse which immediately precedes
that which St Paul goes on to quote, * For this cause shall a man leave,' etc.
It is not impossible that St Paul should himself have made this adaptation
as a preliminary to his quotation : but the strength of the evidence against
the words justifies us in regarding them as an early gloss.
V 31 CT_p.dc_TAN_pY-NAT.KA-Af-T-O-Y.-
V 31 irpbs
ai>Tov.
Omission
of the
whole
clause.
In Gen. ii 24 the evidence for the LXX is as follows :
irpbs TTJV ywatKa avrov, Z>E and most cursives, supported by Origen in
his comment on Eph. v 31.
rfj ywaiKi avrov, A and some cursives.
Unfortunately the evidence of NB is wanting.'
The passage is thrice quoted in the New Testament.
In Matth. xix 5 the reading is rjj ywai<\ avrov in almost all authorities.
In Mark x 7 the whole clause KCU. wpoo"icoXX7jd^o"Tai npos rrjv ywalita avroO
is wanting in KB. For the MSS which have this clause the evidence is :
7T/30S TT)V yWCUKO, OVTOV, DXFII...
rfj yvvaiKi auToi), AGLNA...
In Eph. v 31 the main evidence is :
irpos rfjv yvvaiKa OVTOV, N C BD 2 C KL
T ff yvvaiKt avrov N* (om. avrov) AD 2 *G 3 17
Origen (Cat. ad loc.) expressly states that St Paul omitted the clause of
the LXX irpocTKO\\ijd^freTai irpbs TTJV yvvtuica UVTOV. In C. Gels, iv 49 he
quotes, as from St Paul, yeypairrai yhp on tveitev TOVTQV /caraX'^
av6pa>iros rov jrarepa KOI TIJV firjTepa /cat jrpoo-KoXXjj^o-crat irpos TTJV yvvaiKa
avrov, KOI eaovrai ol 8vo els traKpa fiiav. TO [ivcmjpiov rovro /xeya eWtV, /c.r.X.
Here however he is quoting loosely from memory, as is shewn by his giving
fvenev TOVTOV for St Paul's dvri rovrov. Again in Gomm. in Matth. t. xvii
c. 34 he first quotes, as it seems, from the LXX, and then adds St Paul's
words : but he does not give a continuous quotation from St Paul. These
two passages therefore are not really inconsistent with his statement as to
the omission of the clause by St Paul
NOTE ON VARIOUS READINGS. 3O3
It appears that from Marcion's text of the epistle the clause was also
absent. For Tertullian c. Marc, v 18 cites the passage thus: ' Fropter hanc
(v.l. hoc) relinquet homo pattern et matrem, et erunt duo in came una.
sacramentum hoc magnum est' ('hanc' would seem to refer to 'ecclesiam') :
comp. c. Marc, iii 5 'Suggerens Ephesiis quod in primordio de homine
praedicatum est relicturo patrem et matrem, et futuris duobus in unam
carnem, id se in Christum et ecclesiam agnoscere '. Epiphanius in a con-
fused note (c. haer. xlii, schol. 3 in Ephes., p. 373) corroborates this
evidence.
It is remarkable that the only evidence of Greek MSS for omission of
the clause is that which we have already noticed in Mark x 7.
vi 9
This is the best reading in itself, and it has the strongest authority, being vi 9 KO.I
supported by N* (eavr.) ABD 2 *P 17 vg. afl? Kal
The Latin of Clarom. (d 2 ) has et uestrum ipsorum, and in consequence
of this the second nal of the Greek is dropped by the corrector : so that we
get the reading Kal av-rw vp&v D 2 C , which is also found in G 3 .
Cyprian, Testim. iii 73, has et uestrum et ipsorum (om. et 2 cod. Monac.):
this Corresponds to /cat vu&v Kal O.VT&V X c (eavr.} L.
The reading of the Textus Receptus Kal vp&v avr&v has but very slight
support.
vi 10 TO? AoiTToy.
This is read by X*AB 17, and is supported by the true text of Cramer's vi 10
Catena ad loc., which at this point almost certainly represents Origen (see
Journ. of Th. St. iii 569).
As TO Aoroi, or \oiir6v alone, is frequent in St Paul's epistles, we are
not surprised to find the variant TO \oar6v hi N C D 2 G 3 and many other
authorities.
vi 16 CN
The preposition h is given by KBP 17... Cramer's Catena ad loc. supports vi 16
this reading in its text, although Chrysostom from whom it is quoting at
this point has r/. The Latin rendering is in omnibus, with the rarest e
exceptions.
On the other hand eVt watriv is found in AD 2 G 3 KL and many other
authorities. Ambrosiaster has super his omnibus. In Book xii of the
de trinitate, ascribed to Vigilius of Thapsus, we find the rendering super
haec omnia (Chifflet p. 313). This Book, however, according to a recent
theory is a Latin translation of a Greek treatise (see references in the note
on p. 291 above, see also p. 269 n.). In c. Varimad. iii 24 Vigilius has the
usual rendering in omnibus.
34 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIAKS.
vi 16 rA
n BD2 * G - The co ^ination is inter-
, ma / be merel y accidental Origen has the article in his
comment in the Catena, and in his comm. in Exod., Ru. ii 126. In his
common Joann. xxxii 2 (Ru. iv 406) the article is present, but a little
lower down (p. 407), though Delarue has it, Huet and Brooke omit it In
the passages cited by Tregelles (Ru, i 266 and in Pros. Mai 12) we have
only allusions from which no argument can be drawn.
vi 19 rd MYCTHRION TO?
r T J h0 r iS8i n f '--"yy^W by BG 3 is supported by Victorinus. In
rcO ay- ***-*X<** T we have the phrase comtantiam manifestandi sacra-
apertione oris, which points to the same omission.
INDEX OF GREEK WORDS.
'A.ya6(>s, ii 10, iv 28 f., vi 8
ayadufffoij, V 9
dyair&v, ii 4, V 2, 25, 28, 33, vi 24;
6 -^yairrjfji^vos, i 6
dydin], i 15, ii 4, iii 19, vi 23; <b
d-ydinj, i 4, iii 17, iv 2, 15, 16
s, V I, vi 21
', V 26
ol 7101, i i, 15, 18, ii 19, iii 18,
iv 12, vi 18; ayioi, iii 8, v 3; 'dyios
TJJS a\i)9elas, i 13; KaObs fffriv d
0a, iv 21
d\T)Beteiv, iv 15
vi 20
apaprdveiv, iv 26
d/tapr/a, ii I
dyn^, iii 21
a/*w/tos, i 4, V 27
dvapalveiv, iv 8 ff.
dvayivdiffKetv, iii 4
/cai afjLiaftos, 14, v 27 ; rd irvevpa. rb
iiyiov, i 13, iv 30; Ja6s 017105, ii 21;
ol aytot aTrooToXot, iii 5
ayvoia, iv 1 8
aypvirveiv, vi 1 8
^Seiv, V 19
dSe\<p&s, vi 21, 23
a^eos, ii 12
aT^ta- (roO x^trroO) i 7, ii 13; o^a icai
<ro/>, vi 12
a'ipeiv, iv 31
V 12
, V 4
iii 13, 20
y 6 aiaji* oSros, i 21; TOU
roi5rov, ii 2; ol aftSpes, iii 9, ii; ol
tTrepxAp-cvoi, ii 7 ; 6 aiwi TW^ al6i><av,
iii 21
dicaQapffla, iv 19, V 3
dtcdGapros, v 5
V II
<k/u/3ws, V 15
dicpopvffTla, ii II
dxpoywvicuos, ii 20
ta, iv 21, 24 f., V 9, vi 14; 6 X6yoy
EPHES. 2
10
dva\aft,pdveiv, vi 13, 1 6
dvaveoCffOtu, iv 23
drd(TTa, V 14
dva<TTpt<j>eff6ai, ii 3
dvaffrpoijyfi, iv 22
avepos (T^S St5a<r/caXias), iv 14
dvel-txi>ta<rTos, iii 8
i, iv 2
V 4
pa r\eiov, iv 13
s, vi 6
avOpwwos' ets ?va KCUV&V, ii 15 J
iii 1 6 ; 6 iraXai6s, iv 22 ; 6
iv 24 ; oi uZoi TWJ' divdpdrirwv, iii 5
dvi&ai, vi 9
fipoi&s, vi 19
drri TOI&TOV, V 31
vi 13
irepuraTeiv, iv I
iv 19
dir7i\\oTpi<afj^t>oi, ii 12, iv 18
dirarav, V 6
dirdri), iv 22
direlOta' ol viol rrjs, ii 2, V 6
vi 9
vi 5
2O
306
INDEX OF GREEK WORDS.
i 5
diroKoXvipis, i 17, iii 3
diroKaraXXdcrcreiv, ii 16
iii 9
fiveiv, ii 16
airo\fa-p(acris, i 7, 14, iv 30
<fo-6<rroXos, i i, ii 20, iii 5, iv ii
dirorideffBai, iv 22, 25
appap&v, i 14
j, i 21, iii 10, vi 12
v, ii 2
, iv 19
CKT000J, V 15
x, v i8
ii 21, iv 15
TIS, iv 1 6
(emph.), ii 14, iv iof., v 23, 27
&<j>e<ris, i 7
a<p-fl, iv 1 6
d<p6apata, vi 24
&(j>p<av, v 17
idos, iii 18
v, v 10
S6fj.ara, iv 8
86a, iii 13, 21 j els tircuvov (T^J)
i 6, 12, 14; 6 Trarfy) rrjs 56i)s, i 17;
rijs 56|i;s, i 18, iii 16
vi 7
SoOXos, vi 5 f., 8
Strapis, i 19, 21, iii 7, 16, 20
duped, iii 7, iv 7
Supov, ii 8
eyelpeiv, i 20, V 14
0Mj, T<, ii u, iii i, 6, 8, iv 17
et ye, iii 2, iv 21
elSca\o\dTpi)s, V 5
i 2, ii 17, iv 3, vi 15, 23; ^
, ii 14; TTotcti' elpjvi}v,
ii 15
KK\i](rla, i 22, iii 10, 21, v 23 S., 27,
29, 32
K\eyeff0ai, i 4
iv 29
V 29, vi 4
v5
flacriXela rod xpiffrov Kal ffeov, V 5
j&Xos, vi 1 6
P\aff<f>Ti[j.la, iv 31
fi\eireiv ffwj, v 15
in
i 5, 21
yvwplfriv, i 9, iii 3, 5, 10, vi 19, 21
TVWCTIJ, iii 19
ydvara Kaftirreiv, iii 14
yoveis, vi i
ris, vi 18
Sfoptos, iii i, iv i
d^xeffffat (ireptKe<pa\alca>), vi 17
&a/3o\os, iv 27, vi n
(T^J ^jrayyeXfaj), ii 12
, iv 12
iii 7, vi 21
dtdcota, ii 3, iv 18
diSaffKa\la, iv 14
i, iv ii
4v afo$), iv 21
s, vi i
iv 24, v 9, vi 14
6, ii n, iii 13, iv 8, 25, v 14
a, ii 15
e\axio'T6Tepos, iii 8
e\tyxw, v n, 13
?\eos, ii 4
s, vi 8
s, i 18, ii 12, iv 4
ii 7
v 27
i>dvpafi0v<r6cu, vi 10
evStiffaffBai, iv 24, vi ii, 14
evepyeia' KO.T& (rty), i 19, iii 7, iv 16
evepyelv, i n, 20, ii 2, iii 20
PKO.Keiv, iii 13
iv 3, 13
ii 15, vi 2
e%ayopdfea>, v 1 6
e^urxfaw, iii 1 8
el-ovffia, i 21, ii 2, iii 10, vi 12
eirayyeMa, i 13, ii 12, iii 6, vi 2
e'lrawos, v. S6^a
(alwves), ii 7
i 17, iv 13
feiv, iv 26
ii 3, iv 22
v 14
la, iv 16
eiroiKoSofteiffffai, ii 20
evovpavlois, ev rots, i 3, 20, ii 6, iii 10,
vi 12
INDEX OF GREEK WORDS.
307
t, iv 28
tpyaela, iv 19
Zpyov (SutKovlas), iv 1 2 ; tpya. ii 9 f., V 1 1
vi 15
vi 3
ii 17, iii 8
etayyt\ioi>, i 13, iii 6, vi 15, 19
iv n
V 10
evSoicia, i 5> 9
eXo7', i 3
fl}Xo7i;7-<5s, i 3
ei3Xo7^a, i 3
eft*ota, vi 7
, iv 32
V 4
eiv , i 1 6, V 20
V 4
V 2
ii 15 f.
(roC 0eoO), iv 18
iv 30 ;
3)\uda., iv 13
77X105, iv 26
fy^/>a ' a7ro
v 16, vi 13
daXireiv, V 29
dt\i}fJ.a (6eov, Kvplov), i I, 5, 9, n,
v 17, vi 6; T& OeX-fifnara, ii 3
^e^^Xtos, ii 20
0e/ieXtoC<r0at, iii 17
6"X^s, iii 13
0i//i($s, iv 31
6vpe6s, vi 1 6
0v<r/a, v 2
!;, vi 14
iv 21
?Sios, [iv 28], V 22
12
19? vi 10
v, V 26
Ka0fet', i 20
KO.IVOS AvSpuiros, ii I5> iv 24
Kaip6s, i 10, ii 12, v 16, vi 18
iv 31
iv I, 4
Kd.fj.irrt iv ri 76>>aTa, iii 14
KapSla, i 18, iii 17, iv 18, v 19, vi 5, 22
Kapirbs TOV fare's, V 9
i) Ka6' tfjuis iriffns, i 155 r& /for*
4, vi 21 ; ol Ko.6' iva, v 33
tv, iv 9 f .
K6fffwv, i 4
KaTa\a/jL^dvecr0ai, iii 1 8
/caraXe/Trew, V 31
KaTovrav, iv 13
KCLTapyeiv, ii 15
KaraprurfMS, iv 12
KCLTeVUTTlOV, 1 4
vi 13
iii 17
ii 22
fdpi, iv 9
/cau%a<r0at, ii 9
X67ot, v 6
f}, i 22, iv 15, v 23
v, iv 28
K\i}povofj.la, i 14, 18, v 5
K\7jpovff6ai, i ii
/cX^cris, i 18, iv i, 4
"ieXvSwj'fftffflai, iv 14
Kopl&iv, vi 8
Koirtav, iv 28
KOfffJWKpdropes, vi 12
KO&flOS, i 4, U 2, 12
KparaioSffOcu, iii 16
Kpdros (TIJS ftrxfos o^roO), i 19, vi IO
, iv 3 1
V 12
, ii 10, 15, iii 9, iv 24
iv 14
iv Kvpltf, ii 21, iv i, 17, v 8,
vi i, 10, 21 ; iv r$ Kvply 'Iijo-oO, i 15
i 21
X670S, vi 19; T^S dXij^eks, i 13; crairpbs,
iv 29 ; KCVOIS X67ots, v 6
XOITTOS' ol XoiTrof, ii 3; [ri XotTrA
iv 17]; ToO XoiTToO, vi 10
"\ovrpitv, v 26
Xi5eH, ii 14
\vTreiv, iv 30
fjLO.Kpo6vfj,la, iv 2
HaKpoxpbvios, vi 3
fiavddpeiv rbv xp^T^t iv 20
fiapripeaQa.!., iv 17
/j.aTau.6Tijs, iv 17
308
INDEX OF GEEEK WOEDS.
vi 17
(pvo-n/jpiov), v 32
i 19
fj.edodia, iv 14, vi ii
, V 18
iv 25, V 30
iv 16; T& Kcwtirepa /u^pij, iv 9
ii 14
fjxradiS6vai, iv 28
/t^rpov, iv 7, 13, 16
yu%os, iii 1 8
fu/j.Trn/js, v i
[Ufftiv, v 29
pvelav iroteicrOai, i 16
/j,v>l/j,oj>etieiv, ii ii
Hvvrfipiov, i 9, iii 3 f., 9, v 32, vi 19
fjuapo\oyla, V 4
pa<5s, ii 21
veicp6s, i 20, ii i, 5, v 14
J^TTIOS, iv 14
voeii>, iii 4, 20
v6fjLos (TUV ivTO\uv & ddypcuriv), ii 15
j>ov6e<rla, vi 4
iv 17, 23
Trapa,Ka\eii>, iv i, vi 22
irapairrdifMTa, i 7, ii I, 5
irapurravcu, V 27
irdpoiKos, ii 19
irapopyifeiv, vi 4
irapopyur/MS, iv 26
Trapprjffla,, iii 12, vi 19
irappil<ria,e<r6ai, vi 20
Traj* Trcwra oiKodofjir), ii 21; iraffa irarpia,
ill 15; ol TrdvTeSi 1V 13 ^"4 irdfra,
i 10 f., 23, iii 9, iv IO , 15, v 13;
iv ira<rii>, i 23, iv 6, vi 1 6
iraTijp ($eos), i 2 f., 17, ii 18, iii 14,
iv 6, v 20, vi 23
iraTpta, iii 15
Ilai/Xos, i i, iii i
:t, i 16
s, iii 12
irepi&t>vvff6ai, vi 14
jre/MK0aXaa, vi 17
Trepiirareiv, ii 2, 10, iv I, 17, v 2,
8, 15
&os, ii 12, 19
olicetb? (TOW 0eoG), ii 19
olKoSofjrf, ii 21, iv 12, 1 6, 29
olKovo/j-ia, i 10, iii 2, 9
olvoj, v 1 8
d\tyor &> 6\iyci>, iii 3
ovopa, i 2i, v 20
6vofi.dfE<r0at, i 21, iii 15, v 3
<5/>7i}, ii 3, iv 31, v 6
6pyle<r6ai, iv 26
6fft6rtis, iv 24
<5o7i'?7 6i5u5fas, V 2
<5<r0i5s, vi 14
oiipavol, i 10, iii 15, iv 10, vi 9
<50e\e', V 28
6tf>0a\[u>5ov\la, vi 6
d<p6a\fMl TTJS Kapdlas, i 18
iraideia, vi 4
?raXat6s dvffpuiros, iv 22
irdXi;, vi 12
Tra^oTrXfa, vi ii, 13
iravovpyla, iv 14
irapaSidbvai, iv 19, v 2, 25
v, i 8
, ii ii
, iv 14
iriicpfa, iv 31
i 13, 19
s, i 15, ii 8, iii 12, 17, iv 5, 13,
vi 16, 23
7TWTOS, i I, VI 21
TrXav^, iv 14
TrXdros, iii 18
V 5
/a, iv 19, V 3
v, i 23, iii 19, iv 10, v 18
i 10, 23, iii 19, iv 13
v, 6, iv 25
wXo&rtoj, ii 4
B-XoOros, i 7, 18, ii 7, iii 8, 16
irvevfJta' T^S ^0776X^05 TO ayiov, i 13 ;
TO a7tov roO ^eoO, iv 30; a^Tou (sc,
Beov), iii 16; <ro<plas Kal aT
i 17 ; ToO pods {ffjLuv, iv 23 ;
ii 18, iv 4; froriis rov
iv 3 ; ^ -irvetfjLaTi, ii 22, iii 5, v 18,
vi 18; [u&x&i-po. TOU irve&fjuiTos, vi 17;
Toi5 TrvetfiaTOS TOU yOy tvepyovvros iv
Tots vlots r^r a7ret0os, ii 2
irvevfumicis, i 3, V 19; T& nvevparticd,
vi 12
INDEX OF GREEK WORDS.
309
(irpo&effiv), iii u;
i 1 6 ; iroteurflot atf^aw, iv 16
ii 10
iv ii
ii 12
s, iii 10
irov-rjpia, vi 12
iroviipos, 6, vi 16; Wp<*> v 1 6, vi 13
iropvda, V 3
jro/wos, V 5
7TOUS, 1 22, Vi 15
Trpourffeiv, vi 21
irpavrijs, iv 2
irptireiv, V 3
irpefffiefeiv, vi 20
irpoypa<j>eiv, iii 3
i 12
', ii 10
oBea-iv, Kara, i u, iii n
irpoopleu>, i 5, ii
/i, ii 18, iii 12
i, i 16, vi 18
, vi~T8
irpo<m>XXa<r0cu, V 31 .
irpofffopd, V 2
irpoffuiro\i]fj.ij/la, vi 9
TrporiBecrOcu, i 9
<irpo<pi)Tai } ii 20, iii 5, iv w
i,, vi 16
TIJS KapSlas, iv 1 8
> v J 7
, iii 17
v 27
<rairpos, iv 29
<r<i^, 3 v 29, 31; & <rapK*, ii ii;
^ T^ ffa/wcl a^roC, ii 15 ; KarA <rapKa,
vi 5 ; 7rp6s aZ/ta /cal trap/at, vi 12
0-^evviiva.i, vi 16
(TKOTOS, V 8, II, VI 12
i, iv 18
a, i8, 17, iii 10
ffo<f>oi, V 15
v 27
iv 3
(rraupos, ii 16
iv 29, vi 19
i, ii 21, iv 16
i, iv 16
s, v 3
v, ii 6
s, iii 4
ffw(aoiroie~a>, ii 5
V 17
iv, ii 6
ffvvk\i]pov6fji,os, iii 6
ffWKOivaveiv, V ii
(TwjK^roxos, iii 6, v 7
ffvvoiKoSo/j.eiff6cu, ii 22
ii 19
s, iii 6
<r<f>pa.ylfcff6ai, i 13, iv 30
, ii 5, 8
iv 16, V 23, 28; (roO
i 23, iv 12, v 30 ; &> (TtDjua, ii 16, iv 4
<r tarty TOV <rt6/taros, V 23
, i 13
, r<5, vi 17
ii 3?
Taireivo<ppofffyii, iv 2
r&j'a, v i, vi i, 4;
v8
TAetos-(di'^p)r~iv 13
eiv, iv 3
Si56vai, iv 27
Tp6/tos, vi 5
s, vi 21
p, V 26
vloOeffla, i 5
s' roO 0eoO, iv 13 ; rrjs diredlas, ii 2,
v 6; rwy avOpdirwv, iii 5
V 19
v, vi i, 5
i 21, iv 10
{nreppd\\etv, i 19, ii 7, iii 19
virepeKirepiffffov, iii 20
i>irodeiff6ai, vi 15
biroTiiffffeiv, i 22, v 21, 24
flfos, iii 1 8, iv 8
<j>avepovff6at, v 13
<j>0elpeff6cu, iv 22
V 33
v 21, vi 5
(ppay/J.6s, ii 14
^piyj/tru, i 8
tpfoei, ii 3
0ws, V 8 1, 13
i 18, iii 9
INDEX OF GREEK WORDS.
iv 32 jfurr6i' iv Tip xp iff TVt i 10, .12, 20;
TOVTOVf 111 1 1 14 ip flf JOWT(3 "LllffOV Tl2 KVpiti} "}jLMV t
s, i a, 6f., ii 5, 7f., vi 24; (3o0era, iii ii ; iv Xpurr$, i 3, iv 32 ; iv
), iii 2, 7 f., iv 7 ; fret d$ x&P lv Xpiffr^'Iijaov, i i, ii 6f., 10, 13,
TOIS dKojJoww, iv 29 iii 6, 21 ; xw/oir Xpurrov, ii 12
XaptTovv, i 6
28 ^'dXXetj', v 19
ii ii . TJ/O,\/J,(>S, v 19
, iv 28 ; jr/)6j olKodofJLTjv TTJS xpcfai ipevdos, iv 25
^ v 2 9 ^^xA' i* faxfyi vi 6
XpyffTfo, iv 32
XPlffT&riis, ii 7 ^5iJ, v 19
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Adoption, 27 f., 143
agapae, 122
Ambrosiaster, 143, 172, 268, 301 ;
Eoman edition of, 294, 300
Anthology, epigram of Philip of Thes-
salonica, 262 f.
Antioch, Church in, 5, 55
aorist, meaning and rendering of, 142,
190, 195, 205 ; epistolary, 167, 217,
276
apostles and prophets, 69, 77 f., 97 f.,
163, 181
Aristotle, on a^i}, 186 ; xPW&v> 187 ;
efa-paire\la, 197 ; &pyeia, .242 ff. ;
irMipufjut, 259
Armenian version, evidence for Old
Syriac, 214, 267 n.
article : qualifying phrase added with-
out art., i 15 n., ii n, iii 4 n., iv i ;
anarthrous subst. with further defi-
nition, iii n n., iv 14, 16 n. ; art.
with first only of related terms,
v 5 n. ; art. with the second of two
nouns, v 23 n.
Ascension of Isaiah, on evil spirits,
154; seven heavens, 180; the Be-
loved, 232
Ascension of cur Lord, 24, 96, 179 f.
atonement : redemption through blood,
29 j blood of a covenant, 62 f. ;
reconciliation, 65 f.
Baptism, 178, 206 f . ; confession at,
125, 206 f. ; origin of baptismal
creed, 207 ; Voice at the Baptism,
230 f.
Beloved, the, 28 ; detached note on,
229 ff.
Body, of Christ, the Church, 41 ff.j
fulfilling Him, 43 f., 87 ff., too f.;
quotations from Clement, 140 j Origen
and Chrysostom, 45 ; one body, 65 f.,
93 f. ; fellow-members of ('concor-
porate'), 78; growth of, 102 ff., 131,
183, 188 ; building of, 99, 182, 188 ;
Christ the Head of, 41 ff., 103, 124!!;
the Saviour of, 124^; lying is a sin
against, no f. ; 'in a bodily way',
88 ; ' the15od
building, metaphor derived from, 67 ff.,
112 f. ; building and growth, 71, 99,
113, 182, 1 88; rooted and founded,
85 f. ; of Greek temples, 260 ff.
Calvary, legend of, 119 n.
Christ : the rendering of ' Messiah ', 6;
with and without the article, 22, 32 j
the titles 'Christ ' and ' Jesus', 23 f.,
107; 'Christ' and 'the Lord', 72,
90 ; * Christ' and ' the Son of God',
roo ; 'in Christ', 22 ff., 32 f., 57 f.;
'without Christ ', 56 f., 158 ; Christ
in us, 85 j to 'learn Christ ', 106,
190 ; the kingdom of, 117; the fear
of, 123, 127, 209; see also Body,
Fulness, Mystery
Church, the, 80, 89, 124^. ; its relation
to Christ, see Body, Fulness : the
household of God, 67 ; God's house,
68 f.; God's temple, 71 f. ; Christ's
ecclesia, 68 f.
Clement of Alexandria, on the Church,
140
Colossians, Epistle to, 136! ; passages
discussed, (i 24) 44, (i 26 f.) 238,
(ii- 9 ) 88, (ii J3 f.) 153
312
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Corinthians, First Epistle to : passages
discussed, (ii i ff.) 237, (ii 6, 8) 154,
(iii 9) 165, (iii 10 ff.) 260 f., (xii 6)
152, (xiii) 251. Second Epistle to,
122; its opening, 18 ; passages dis-
cussed, (i 13) 251, (i 21) 147, (iii 14)
265, (v i) 165, (v 19) 195, (viii i)
225!.
corner-stone, 68 f., 163 f.
Dative, of definition, ii in.; of time,
iii 5 n.
Didache', date and value of, 98 n. ; on
apostles and prophets, 98; list of
warnings, 112 n. ; parallels quoted
from, 176, 200, 2ii f.
dispensation, 32, 144 f.
Elect, the: see detached note on 'The
Beloved', 229 ff.
election: the principle of selection,
25 ff. ; the ultimate purpose of, 33 ff.
English versions; early, i ir, 23, iv
of Christ, 42 ff., 100 1 j of God, of
the Deity, 88 f. ; detached note on
, 255 ff.
16 ; 70, 132 n. , 264. A. V., in, 23,
ii 9, 20, iii 15, 21, iv 21, 24, 32,
v 13, 26, vi 4, 6; 57, 92, 99, 118,
120 n., 132, 136. E. V., i n; 76,
264
Ephesians, Epistle to : a circular
letter, n; omission of 'inEphesus',
ii f. and note on variants, 292 ff.;
absence of salutations, 12 ; analysis
of, 13 1 ; summary of, 130 f.
Ephraim Syrus, commentary preserved
in Armenian, 142 f., 145, 148, 152,
214, 267 n., 288, 290, 293, 298 f.
epistolary phrases, 37 f. ; opening salu-
tations, 141 ; detached note on,
275 ff.
Esdras, Second (Fourth) : parallels
quoted from, 39 n., 48
Fatherhood of God, 27 f., 38, 83 ff.,
93 t, 174
flesh: of Christ, 63 f. ; 'the body of
His flesh', 88, 161 ; 'in the flesh',
56, 72; 'one flesh', 126; 'blood
and flesh', 213
Fritzsche : notes on eidoicia, 144 ; iirt-
TVWCTIS, 252; irK-fipufi.a, 255
fulness, 87 ff.; of the times, 32, 3911.;
Galatians, Epistle to : passages dis-
cussed, (ii 7, 9) 75, (ii 20) 108, 183,
(ii 8) 243 f., (v 6) 246
Galen : see Medical -writers
Gentiles: use of the term, 157 f., 189;
problem of their inclusion, 5 f., 35 f.,
55 f. ; former condition of, 56 ff.,
60 f., 105 f.; new position of, 58, 62,
67, 78 f.
grace : opening salutation, 141 ; closing
formula, 137, 217 ; St Paul's use of
the term, 28, 51 f., 75 f., 95 ; to
'give grace', 113, 193 f.; grace of
speech, 116, 198 f.; detached note
on xd/jts, 221 f.
Hebraistic phrases : ' sons of ', 49, 156,
168 ; ' purpose of the ages ', 80 ;
' inheritance', 116 ; ' walking', 153 ;
'heavens', 180; 'know of a surety',
199
Hippocrates : see Medical writers
humility, a new virtue, 91
Inscriptions : temple-barrier, 60, 160 ;
on building, 164, 260 ff.
James, Epistle of : passages discussed,
(iv 6) 223, (v 12) 279 n., (v 16) 247
Jerome : his commentary on Ephesians
mainly from Origen, 143, 147, 162,
171 f., 173, 196, 198 f., 297 f. ; his
revision of the Vulgate, 147, 289;
various readings or renderings, 78
(concorporales), 147 (pignus), 164
and 288 (summus angularis lapis),
171 f. (propositum), 174 (paterni-
tates), 177 (in ecclesia), 193 and 299
(opportunitatis), 208 (propter hoc),
290 (tota anna) ; on a legend of
Calvary, 119 n. ; on bishops, 123;
on the Gospel ace. to the Hebrews,
194 ; on Clement, 254 n. ; on Jer.
vi 26 (&yairi]Tl>s), 229 n.; on Job
xvii 7 (ireirtbpwvTai), 265 n.
Jerusalem, conference at, 8 ; see
Temple
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
313
Jesus: see Christ
Jewish thought, contemporary, 41^ 49,
133 n -> i54 i7S 180,
Kneeling, in N.T., 82 f., 174
Latin versions, 289 f . : see Jerome
Lord, the : see Christ : ' in the Lord ',
72, 90, 118, 128
Man, Divine purpose for, 14, 130; not
changed by sin, 29 ; worked out by
election, 29, 33 ; through the Church,
44 f.; 'nature' of man, 50; new
making of man in Christ, 52 f., loij
'one new man', 65, 94; 'a perfect
man', 100 f. ; the individual and the
whole of humanity, 102 f.; 'the old
man ' and ' the new man ', 107 ff. :
see also Unity
Medical writers, illustrations from:
Hippocrates, 186, 195 ; Galen, 187,!,
200, 242 ; Dioscorides, 207, 264
Messiah^ the-hope-ofthe-Jewi-6-fV~
22 f. : see Christ
ministry, the Christian, 97 ff.
mystery: source of the word to St
Paul, 30 f. ; his use of it, 208 f . ;
the Divine 'secret', 39, 76 ff., 81 ;
the epithet 'great', 126; 'the mys-
tery of the gospel', 136, 216; de-
tached note on (MffTrjpiov, 234 ff.
Origen: his commentary on Ephesians,
quoted, 45, 143, 148 f., 152, 163,
!73 l8 3 f - JP ' I 95. i9 8 f - (^Xa-
piffTla), 203 (tt-ayopatftievoi), 219
(ttyOapffLa), 254 (^iriyvuffis), 269 f.
(irdipuffis), 292 (om. iv 'E06ry), 298,
302 ; text of Greek fragments, 199 ;
newly edited, 297, 303 ; notes in
von der Goltz's MS, 292 f., 297 ff. :
see Jerome
Papyri, illustrations from, 275 ff. :
further citations, 37, 146, 151, 159,
169
Pastoral Epistles, phraseology of, 209
and 239 f. (fj.vffT-fipi.ov), 141 (opening
salutation), 151 and 155 (6 vvv aldv),
153 (absence of irepiiraTeiv), 193
EPHES. 2
(StdjSoXos), 196 (Soyvcu eavrov), 200
), 226 (XC/HS), 251 f. (dirl-
\t]0elas), 283 (x&pw %x<a) ;
further passages noted in i Timothy,
(i 17) 218, (ii i) 216, (ii 5) 178,
(iii 13) 148, (iv 5) 216, (iv 13) 168,
(v 5) 284, (v 8) 163, (vi 17) 169;
in 2 Timothy, (i 3) 280, (i 8) i66f.,
(i 10) 170 and 218, (i 8 12) 172,
(i 16) 216, (iii 16) 211, (iv 5) 181 f.,
(iv 19) 281; in Titus, (i 5) 166,
(ii 7) 218, (iii 3) 195, (iii 4) I5 6,
(iii 5) 206, (iii 10) 211, (iii 14) 193,
(iii 15) 281
Paul, St : preparation for his mission,
5, 25, 61 j his sense of the problem
which faced him, 7, 75 f. ; his en-
deavours for reconciliation, 8 f., 55 ;
cause and effect of his imprisonment,
9 f., 74 ; his relations with Ephesus,
12 ; his style, 19, 47f.; his relation
to the life and words of the Lord,
23 f.
-PelagiuSj-commentary-ofT-295-
Peter, First Epistle of : dependent on
Ephesians, 151, 171, 175, 209; pas-
sages discussed, (ii 9) 148, (iii 21)
207
Primasius, commentary attributed to,
295
prophets, Christian: see Apostles
Eabbinic literature, 48, 151, 175, 213,
231 n.: see Jewish contemporary
thought
readings, various : see notes on i 6,
iii 9, 13 f., 21, iv 6, 19, 29, v 22;
and the detached note, 285 ff.
redemption, 29, 36, 147 f.
revelation, 39, 76 f. ; see Mystery
Bomans, Epistle to, passages discussed,
(i 9 f.) 279, (vi 6 ff.) 108, (viii 28)
171, (x 8 ff.) 206, (xi 7, 25) 265,
(xii 3) 225
Eome, St Paul at, i ; its influence on
his thought, 5, 10
Salutations, opening, 17!., 141, 277 f.;
closing, 137, 217 ff., 280 f.
slavery, 128 ff.
Spirit, the: the 'earnest of the in-
21
314
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
hejitance ', 35 f.'; meaning of, 38 f.,
49, 66, 72, 78, 92 f.; 'unity of the
Spirit ', 92" f. ; the Spirit and the
. corporate life, 113; 'filled with the
'. Spirit', 121 f.; 'the sword of the
"Spirit 1 , 135 f.; see irvev/M
spiritual powers, 41, 49, 132 f.
Stephen, teaching of St, 3 f.
Temple, description of the, 59 ; in-
scribed barrier in the, 60, 160;
substructures of the, 69 ; naos and
hieron, 71 ; building of Greek
temples, 260 f.
Testaments of the xii Patriarchs,
quoted, 154, 195, 227 n.
Thessalonians, First Epistle to : pas-
sages discussed, (i 2 f.) 279, (ii 13 f.)
246, Second Epistle to: passages
discussed, (i 11) 182, (i 12, ii 16)^25,
(ii 7) 209, (ii 7 ft.) 236!., 242,^246,
(iii 17) 137 :
Tychicus, it f., 136 f.
Unity, St Paul's efforts on behall of,
7 ., 55 ; ' the one ' and ' the many '
of Greek philosophy, 32 ; unity of .
mankind in Christ, 52 f., 65, 91,
94 ; abolition of distinction between
Gentile and Jew, 55 f., 59 ff-, 64;
' the unity of the Spirit ', 92 f. ; unity
in diversity, 95 f . ; the unity of the
faith ', 99 : see also Body, Man
Vigilius of Thapsus: authorship of de
trin. sii, 269, 291, 303
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