XL. The Knowledge of God In Ephesians it is remarkable how completely the glory and the inheritance of “the saints” is identified with knowledge. “Ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:4.) As Mr. Currie Martin says, “It seems natural and fitting that he should remind his readers how great an authority by the grace of God” he possesses; this authority is one to his comprehension of the mystery, i.e. to his knowledge. The verses that follow make the understanding of the mystery practically equivalent to the comprehension of the eternal purpose of God, and suggest that Paul regards it as the reason justifying his bold and confident access to Christ. Knowledge is power. The saying is trite, as applied to practical life, to business, or to science. The same saying, hackneyed in the modern application, is equally and perfectly suitable in regard to the doctrine of Paul: the knowledge of God is the power of God. That is the meaning of Colossians 1:9 f: “that ye may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthily . . . bearing fruit unto every good work, and increasing by the knowledge of God; (“By” not “in the knowledge of God”. The rendering “by” is given in the margin of the Revised Version (English).) strengthened with all power . . . unto all patience and long-suffering with joy”. The perception that this point of view is characteristic of the Ephesian Epistle is the chief basis for the opinion (widely spread among modern scholars for a time, but now gradually disappearing) that this Epistle is not the work of Paul, but of a successor. Our contention is that this “Ephesian” point of view is essentially and characteristically Pauline, but is more definitely and prominently expressed here than in any other letter. There is hardly any letter of his which does not give special and peculiar emphasis to some point in his teaching; but this gives no reason to deny the Pauline origin of the letter, if the doctrine is found to be expressed less prominently, or even merely suggested and implied, in his other letters.
It is urgently necessary for our purpose of clearly comprehending the nature of Paulinism, as always and in all matters the expression of the idea of growth towards God, as dynamic and not static, to study his conception of knowledge, the wisdom of God. We shall start best from an earlier Epistle, viz., from 1 Corinthians 13, and from Professor Harnack’s exposition of it, in which he takes a view differing in some respects from ours.
