Ephesians 3
LenskiCHAPTER III
Paul’s own Great Work
Ephesians 3:1
1The divine purpose going back to eternity.
Ephesians 3:2
2Formed in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Ephesians 3:3
3Standing veiled in all past ages yet standing nonetheless.
Ephesians 3:4
4Revealed in gospel preaching to all men including the Gentiles.
Ephesians 3:5
5Establishing the church of the New Testament with its wonderful universality.
Ephesians 3:6
6Unveiling even to the angels in heaven the wonderful wisdom of God contained in the divine purpose from its inception onward.
Ephesians 3:7
7Putting us believers into possession of the enjoyment of the highest earthly communion with our heavenly Father.
In this masterly way and with such a sweep of thought Paul presents the significance of his apostolic work among the Gentiles in the great purpose and plan of God.
Ephesians 3:8
8 The absence of a connective, the emphatic ἐμοί resuming μοι from v. 7, plus the repetition of the thought about grace, show that this sentence is appositional to the preceding. Write a colon or a dash (not a period): to me, the one less than the least of all saints, was given this grace to proclaim as good tidings to the Gentiles the untraceable riches of Christ and to enlighten all (on) what (is) the administration of the mystery, the one that has been hidden from the eons on in God, him who created all the things in order that there may be made known now to the principalities and the authorities in the heavenly places through the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the purpose of the eons which he formed in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whom we have the boldness and access in confidence by means of the (= our) faith in him.
Heaven and earth, time and eternity, the Creator of the universe and the work of grace are again woven together by means of Christ, the gospel, and faith as centered in the mystery now revealed in the Una Sancta which includes the Gentile believers as well as those converted from the Jews.
“The gift of the grace of God given to me” (v. 7) is resumed with the strongest emphasis on the pronoun: “to me, the one less than the least of all saints,” to me as such a one, “was given this grace.” “The gift”—“given”—and now “was given” glorify the Giver. Paul’s office was, indeed, absolutely a gift given; Paul never tired of saying so. With that goes “the grace,” his office itself, here (as in v. 2) called “this grace,” which was absolutely undeserved, bestowed by the wondrous favor Dei. What lies in these terms comes fully to view in the apposition to the dative: to me, “the one less than the least of all saints,” not “the least” but one even less than that. This is not false humility. To think that a man with a record like Paul’s, a violent persecutor of the church, should upon his conversion be made one of the chosen apostles!
Incredible but true. We should have relegated such a convert to the most obscure corner of the church, to stay where no one would note his presence; God elevated him to the highest position in the church, the apostolate. Grace, grace; gift, gift—unexampled, glorious.
The comparative formed from the superlative is quite regular, even the classics furnish a few examples, the Koine has still more. When it is used as a noun it is followed by the ablative genitive. Enough examples of πάντες without the added article occur to show that this, too, is regular.
The fact that “this grace” denotes Paul’s office or work, which is called so because God’s grace bestowed it, the epexegetical infinitives indicate: “to proclaim as good tidings to the Gentiles the untraceable riches of Christ,” etc. The emphasis is on the dative: to do this for the Gentiles, Paul to be their special apostle. Gospelizing is the divine channel for bestowing this wealth also on the benighted (2:12) Gentiles. Once more Paul emphasizes the fact that the gospel is intended also for them.
“The riches of Christ” = all the saving grace and gifts belonging to Christ, which as “riches” abound to the uttermost. Paul was the hand of God to dispense this wealth without money or without price especially to the Gentiles. The blessedness of this office is ever present to his mind. He, an abortion that as a vile thing should have been buried out of sight (1 Cor. 15:8), was made a great instrument of God. The aorist infinitive denotes effective evangelization. The most significant word is the adjective “untraceable” which is formed from ἴχνος, track or trace; the same word occurs in Rom. 11:33.
In all the universe there was no track or trace by following which men’s minds could ever have discovered these riches of Christ. Revelation brought them, revelation alone. “Untraceable” matches “mystery.”
Ephesians 3:9
9 A second infinitive clause is added in order to bring out more fully what the first states in a more general way: “and to enlighten all (on) what (is) the administration of the mystery, the one that has been hidden from the eons on in God.” The aorist is again effective. Πάντας is textually sound. The purpose of Paul’s preaching the gospel to the Gentiles was to enlighten all men and to show them what “the mystery” so long hidden in God really was. Preaching the untraceable riches of Christ to the Gentiles was like setting the deep mystery into the fullest light of day so that all men might see it. To be sure, not all of the Gentiles as also not all of the Jews would appropriate the mystery, but the sound and the light of the gospel would place the blessed wealth of Christ before them to hear and to see it. Take as an example the great province of Asia of which Ephesus was the capital and read the testimony of Demetrius in Acts 19:26, which is rather eloquent testimony to what Paul is here saying.
We again meet the question as to whether οἰκονομία is passive, “the dispensation” or arrangement made by God, or active, “the administration” Paul carries out in his office. Here the decision appears to be even easier than it was in v. 3. “The economy” of the grace of God given to Paul for the Gentiles (v. 3) is the administration of his office for the Gentiles; it is “the economy” of the mystery, the one that has been hidden, etc., i. e., Paul’s administration of this mystery. The active “administration” contains a complete idea; the passive “dispensation” (arrangement) would need something to complete the idea. The Ephesians heard about the administration of Paul’s office (v. 3) which spoke volumes. Paul operated in a way in which no rabbi had ever before operated. What these Ephesians heard (v. 3) enlightened not only them but all men in regard to the whole administration (whether it was in Paul’s or in any other true gospel preacher’s hands) of this mystery dealing with the Gentiles.
Everybody could hear and even see that this administration was vastly different from what the Jews and their rabbies were doing. The very word οἰκονομία suggests the οἰκονόμος, the steward, manager, or administrator operating his trust or stewardship (R. V. margin), and every man could thus hear and see what the stewardship was.
It was, indeed, “the administration of (nothing less than) the mystery” so long hidden in God. This is the same mystery as that mentioned in v. 3 which pertained to the Gentiles, was a part of “the mystery of Christ” (v. 4), a part of the entire New Testament gospel mystery. The fact that the Gentiles were to be what v. 6 states had been hidden in God during all the past ages. The Greek starts at the far end and counts forward to the present, hence “from the eons on”; the English mind prefers to count backward from the present time. “In God” means in his mind, counsel, or plan.
The Old Testament prophets, indeed, revealed this hidden mystery, but this revelation was confined to Israel, and, while this much of the revelation stated that hosts of Gentiles should come in, the fact that all these should come in, as v. 6 states, on a perfect equality with Israel’s believers, was still left veiled. Paul’s administration of the mystery, when this mystery was now made known by the New Testament revelation (v. 3), astonished the Jews and even aroused their most violent antagonism. What their own prophets had said should have prepared them for this fuller New Testament revelation, but they read even Moses with a thick veil over their eyes (2 Cor. 3:14). They read the whole Old Testament only as law and never saw the gospel at all, to say nothing of any part the Gentiles were to have in that gospel.
Many answers are given to the question as to why Paul adds “him who created all the things” when he speaks of the mystery having been hidden in God. Those who stress the sovereignty of God: “making what arrangements he pleased as to the concealment,” etc., speak as Calvinists would express themselves. The idea that his being the Creator intends to remove the wonder of the mystery is out of the line of thought. Other thoughts, such as making the mystery great because it lies in the Creator himself, or placing it in God’s eternal plan when he created the world, are true enough but seem inadequate. Its greatness is self-apparent, and “from the eons on” dates it in eternity. Τάπάντα, all the things that exist (definite), leads us to think of the Gentiles as also being God’s creatures (see Rom. 3:29) and also of the heavenly world to which the next clause refers. The Creator of all acted and acts with due reference to all his intelligent creatures.
Ephesians 3:10
10 The fact that his purpose takes in all men on earth (πάντας, v. 9) is obvious, for it deals with the work of salvation; the thought that it should extend also to the heavenly world comes as a surprise. Yet the expression “the Creator of all the things” prepares us for this thought. Paul’s is not the partial, one-sided view which sees only men, and it is not at all the old Jewish narrowness which looks only at Jews and brushes aside others as dogs. In 1:10 he sees the administration of Christ (note “administration”) taking in τὰπάντα (the same as in v. 9), “all the things, those in the heavens as well as those on the earth”; and in 1:21 Paul sees Christ exalted far above all rule and authority (these two terms are now again used) and power and lordship and title, yea, as the head of everything and as such given to the church.
Paul’s is an all-embracing view, not because of his own vast mind, but because of what revelation made know to him (v. 3). It is thus that now, when speaking of his Gentile world mission, of his gospel administration of the mystery which pertains to the Gentiles, he once more connects with the angelic world what God, the Creator, does here in the New Testament Una Sancta. The mystery now made known, which is full of such wondrous blessedness for the godless Gentile world (3:12), has a bearing also on the angels in heaven.
The fact that this should be so is really not strange. God’s creation is a grand unit. Rom. 8:19, etc., shows this as far as the earthly world of nature is concerned; Eph. 1:10 adds the heavenly world. The angels desire to look into the mysteries of our redemption (1 Pet. 1:12); the general assembly of the church is to come to their innumerable company (Heb. 12:22); they are ever employed as our ministering spirits (Heb. 1:14). It is in the light of this connection that Paul says that the divine purpose (ἵνα) of his preaching the gospel to the Gentiles and of his enlightening all men regarding his administration of the mystery now finally revealed is: “that there may be made known (effective aorist) now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenly places through the church the manifold wisdom of God,” etc. The clause depends on the two infinitives used in v. 8, 9 and not merely on one of the modifiers occurring in v. 9. The construction is plain when we note that this wisdom is to be imparted “through the church,” the product of Paul’s evangelizing and enlightening.
“Now” is in contrast with “from the eons on” and with the point of time marked by the aorist in “he created.” Yet the emphasis is on the verb which is placed forward, “that there may be made known,” of course, “now” that all those eons are past. “May be made known” is in contrast with “having been hidden,” and the agent who makes known is God. God’s great purpose is to make known the full measure of his wisdom to the very angels in heaven at this time when he made known to Paul by revelation the mystery (v. 4) regarding the Gentiles (v. 6), and when as God’s minister by his apostolic administration Paul made plain what this mystery contained.
The angels are called αἱἀρχαὶκαὶαἱἐξουσίαι, the abstract plurals for the concrete beings: those who have rule and authority. We cannot use the abstract plural “rules” and hence translate “principalities.” Here the question of ranks is again introduced (see 1:21). Differences are plainly indicated although we now have only two terms instead of four with an addition (1:21). The difference is not this that one angel has rule while another has authority, but that one has a certain rule or domain with the corresponding authority, another a different rule and authority. Of course, each has power, lordship, and title according (1:21). Paul does not write οἱἄγγελοι (“angels” = messengers) because this would designate office and work with regard to men, and here position in the heavenly world is referred to, hence the phrase “in the heavenlies” (loca, not bona).
The knowledge of the divine wisdom the angels are to obtain “through or by means of the church.” The existence and the development of the Una Sancta are to be the medium (διά) for making known this wisdom in heaven. God’s whole plan, hidden so long, now has the veil withdrawn as Christ’s redemption reaches its consummation in the New Testament Ecclesia. In the church as gathered from over all the world, one great spiritual household and body (2:16, 19: 3:6), God’s wisdom shines forth most wondrously. What God’s wisdom had in mind from creation onward is made plain to the angelic world only as the church now finally rises in its spiritual splendor and is actually realized through Christ and his universal gospel.
The verb is placed first, the subject last, both are thus emphatic. Σοφία is the divine attribute according to which God arranges his purposes and his plans, chooses his means, and brings forth the results, all of which is done in absolute perfection. The most wonderful domain in which this wisdom operates is our sinful race. The adjective means “many-colored.” M.-M. 527 calls its use here in the sense of multivaria or “manifold,” figurative. God’s wisdom is one, yet it can be termed “multifarious” because it weaves a thousand apparently tangled threads into one glorious pattern. So out of the most diverse elements, where the strongest opposites clashed, where men saw only impossibilities, God, coming with means which looked hopelessly inadequate to men, worked out results which no man would have dreamed, and no angel could have foreseen. By thus telling the Ephesians how God makes this wisdom of his appear to the angels in heaven Paul magnifies the church in the highest degree.
Let us as members of the church appreciate it. The entire description is exalted and without question deals only with the good angels and not with the evil either alone or in conjunction with the good.
Ephesians 3:11
11 This wisdom of his God intends to make known even to the angels “in accord with the purpose of the eons which he formed in connection with Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Paul uses the phrase κατὰπρόθεσιν several times. We have defined it in 1:11 (which see): “In harmony with his free determination, springing from his love and grace to effect salvation in accord with this love and grace.” The absence of the article stresses the quality of the word, yet the added genitive, plus the relative clause, make it quite definite. Our versions translate, “according to the eternal purpose,” and place “the eons” in eternity, prior to time; but in v. 9 “the eons” refer to those that begin with time and end with Christ. Hence it is best to take this plural in the same sense. The genitive is possessive: the purpose belonging to these eons, marking and distinguishing them. This “purpose” stood during their entire long extent.
“Purpose” is here not equal to “election.” Some suggest that instead of “which he formed in Christ Jesus” we should translate, “which he wrought out in Christ Jesus.” In support of this suggestion we are pointed to the historical name “Christ Jesus, our Lord” (not merely “Christ”); also to what is called a tautology: “hidden from the eons on—in order now to be made known—in accord with a purpose of the eons which he formed”—this being avoided by translating, “which he carried out,” etc. Πρόθεσινποιεῖν is said to be used like θέλημα or γνώμηνποιεῖν. This seems attractive at first glance, for this purpose of grace was carried out in Christ Jesus. But the linguistic factor is not assured except by surmise. Secondly, the name used is the full liturgical (not merely historical) one and is used because of the following clause: “in whom we have,” etc. Finally, the tautology is really a correspondence: “the mystery has been hidden from the eons on,” yet God’s blessed purpose belonged to these eons, governed and filled them nonetheless.
We have “our Lord Jesus Christ” already in 1:17 (office, personal name, relation to us believers). The fact that God’s purpose was carried out in him does not need to be stated, for it was “formed” in him (ἐν, in union with him), it would certainly not have been carried out in connection with another. But this possessive “our” is significant, merging, as it does, into the next clause with its “we have.” Paul has been addressing “you, the Gentiles,” (v. 1), saying what these Gentiles are (v. 6) how he is administering God’s grace (v. 2) and the mystery regarding them (v. 9) in his preaching to the Gentiles (v. 8). When he now writes “our” and “we have” he includes himself, a former Jew, and thus all the Ephesian Jewish believers. Gentile and Jewish believers alike form the Una Sancta, the church through which even the angels in heaven are having God’s wisdom made known to them (v. 10). That is the reason for the full name “Jesus Christ, our Lord.” God’s purpose, standing throughout all past ages, was formed in him. Already Abraham saw him and was glad, for before Abraham was he was (John 8:57–59).
Ephesians 3:12
12 “In whom we have,” etc., attaches to “Christ Jesus, our Lord,” with whom the entire saving purpose of the ages was connected, our present possession of all that this purpose contained. How our having this possession is “in him,” i. e., connected with him, “through faith in him” (objective genitive) states. Διά names faith as the subjective means, which implies the objective means, gospel preaching (v. 8), even as the object embraced by faith (αὐτοῦ, Christ) is brought to us by the gospel.
Instead of naming any of the intermediate gifts of gospel grace which we of the Una Sancta have Paul names the crowning gift: “we have the boldness and access in confidence” through faith in him. He restates 2:18 yet now names the object more fully. When the article used with the second noun would be the same as it was with the first, it is usually omitted. Yet here the two nouns convey one idea even as the phrase “in confidence” modifies them in conjunction: “the boldness and access in confidence” or assurance.
Παρρησία is not used, as M.-M. 497 state, with the meaning “confidence,” for this would create a tautology with πεποίθησις; it = the freedom of saying anything and everything, the absence of restraint or fear. We have no exact equivalent and use “boldness” when translating, which then calls for a proper explanation; Luther and the Germans say Freudigkeit, “joyfulness.” We see at once that this is the lesser or auxiliary term which amplifies “access” (active as in 2:18). We have free, unrestrained, confident access to the Father through faith in Christ. There is nothing to deter us from going to him in Christ’s name, nothing to disturb the confidence of our approach. In 2:18 “to the Father” is added: as children we freely go to him in our need with any prayer our faith may inspire and are sure of a paternal reception. This is the climax of our present standing in the Una Sancta, the fullest expression of our enjoyment of grace.
We may summarize the great facts:
Ephesians 3:13
13The entire elaboration regarding Paul’s office is now concluded with a request to his readers: Wherefore I ask (you) not to be losing heart in my tribulations in your behalf, which is your glory.
This request should not be connected only with v. 12, since that itself is in closest connection with the preceding. Moreover, this request itself harks back to v. 1, the tribulations “in your behalf” which refer to Paul’s being a prisoner “in behalf of you, the Gentiles.” “Wherefore” reaches into the entire paragraph. “I ask” is the common word used to designate asking of men as well as of God. Paul asks the Ephesians not to lose heart on account of his imprisonment. If he were asking God, the word “God” should be expressed. If he were asking that he himself may not lose heart he should not have written “in my tribulations.” The omission of ὑμᾶς with the infinitive is natural, for “I ask” = “I ask you,” so that the infinitive carries this “you” with it. The omission of “you” lends the request a general tone: “I ask that there be no losing heart in regard to my tribulations in your behalf.”
Linguists still dispute as to whether the middle of αἰτέω has or has not a business flavor. B.-P. 38 thinks the middle is the same as the active; C.-K. 92 adheres to the reflexive idea in some instances; R. 805 goes still farther, and B.-D. 316, 2 states outright that the middle is used with reference to business transactions and is regularly so used in the New Testament. The old idea that the middle is used when one expects to make a return for what he asks is not apparent. Paul’s meaning is not merely, “I ask for myself” (reflexive), his personal interest and gain are not the point; but, “I ask in this my dealing with you,” being engaged in an apostolic transaction with you in this epistle. His asking is, of course, that the Ephesians do something, but the gain of it is to be for them.
The infinitive means, “not to grow κακός,” good for nothing. A soldier is thus when he is cowardly, a student when he fails to apply himself. So the verb comes to mean, “to grow fainthearted, discouraged, to lose heart” (2 Cor. 4:1, 16). We can scarcely say that the Ephesians had already become discouraged because of Paul’s long imprisonment, but there was such a danger. At least a few are always pessimists, ready to lower the flag after a long strain. The idea is not that they might give up their own faith, we have no such intimation; it is that they lose heart concerning the great cause of the Gentiles since Paul, the great apostle of the Gentiles, has been a prisoner now for nearly four years, his great work among the Gentiles being apparently stopped.
The very statement of what might induce discouragement removes this feature; these tribulations of Paul’s are “in your behalf,” for the benefit of the Ephesians. In what way they are this the relative clause indicates. After having said “our” and “we” in v. 11, 12, including all of the Ephesians, “your” still includes all of them and is not limited only to the Gentile membership.
The fact that ὅστις is generalizing, qualitative, and often has a causal note, and thus is not merely equal to ὅς, is apparent from many instances. B.-D. 293, 2. Here the sense is: “since this is such as to be your glory.” The feminine gender is due to the feminine predicate, the singular is likewise due to attraction. It is a striking statement that the apostle’s tribulations are the glory of the Ephesians, not something about which to be discouraged, but something in which to rejoice. But it is true: if Paul is willing to endure everything for his work’s sake, that work must be great and valuable indeed; if God permitted Paul to endure so much as the consequence of his work, this showed God’s own estimate of his work. Most prominent as the fruit of this work were the Ephesians among whom Paul had spent more than two years of most successful labor.
Paul’s Intercession for the Ephesians
Ephesians 3:14
14 With τούτουχάριν Paul repeats the phrase which he used in v. 1 and now concludes what he there began. On the structure and its meaning see the exposition in v. 2. In Paul’s intercession for the Ephesians he, the prisoner for the Gentiles, and his whole office in the Una Sancta are concerned. This is an intercession that is apostolic indeed, but apostolic in this manner. Paul’s suspended subject together with the suspended exceptional phrase tie v. 14–21 together with v. 2–13 in a most effective manner. For this cause I bow my knees to the Father from whom all the family in (the) heavens and on earth is named.
In v. 1 “for this cause” reaches back into 2:11–22: because of the unity in one body (v. 16) wrought by the blood and the cross of Christ (v. 13, 16). This phrase which is now repeated includes the contents of v. 2–13, Paul’s work among the Gentiles which has brought also the Gentiles into this blessed unity according to the original purpose of God and afforded boldness and access to God to believing Jews and believing Gentiles alike (v. 12). Christ made all of them one household, all being equally members of it (2:19), all fellow heirs, etc. (3:6), and Paul’s office and work have made this evident to all (v. 9) so that even the angels in heaven behold the manifold wisdom of God which wrought out the eternal purpose he formed in Christ Jesus, our Lord (v. 10, 11). From all this originates the great intercession of Paul for the Ephesian believers.
“I bow my knees” refers to actual kneeling in prayer now and again when Paul prays (present tense). The bodily attitude during prayer is important, for it reflects the soul’s attitude toward God. Kneeling expresses humiliation and lowly supplication. We kneel when we confess our sins, at a deathbed, or when some calamity presses us down. We stand with bowed head as in the presence of God, the bowed head expressing reverence. We fold our hands in any case, also during any church rite (sponsors, confirmands, communicants, those taking part in a marriage ceremony, etc.).
This means that the hands, busy with a thousand things all day long, fold up and put all of them away, the whole heart and thought being directed to God. One may pray in any position, even with only a groan or in silence; but the positions noted have come to mean much in the church and for the individual. Careless, thoughtless attitudes of body are not good. Formalism is no more to be feared than the thoughtlessness of meaningless attitudes.
R. calls πρός the face-to-face preposition which is used in intimate personal relations. As a child of God, Paul prays “to the Father”; compare this phrase in 2:18.
Ephesians 3:15
15 The relative clause states in what sense Paul uses the word “Father”: “from whom all the family in (the) heavens and on earth is named.” We are convinced that this clause does not introduce a new definition of “the Father,” one that is to be understood by itself, abstractly, but that it describes “the Father” according to the entire previous context (2:11–3:13), in which we note 2:18. Now this entire context mentions “the Creator of all things” only incidentally (v. 9) and in 2:18 uses “the Father” soteriologically, only in relation to our having an approach to him. Already this rules out any fatherhood and any idea of a family that is due merely to creatorship. But 2:19 also speaks of the οἰκεῖοι of God, of those who constitute his household or family (the word follows “the Father” in 2:18). Paul describes these oikeioi, not as being a duality, but as ἑν, “one part” (2:14), “one body” (2:16), “in one spirit” (2:18), “the whole building” (a unit), the Gentile believers being “fellow heirs, fellow body members, fellow partakers” (3:6), a unit with the Jewish believers.
This rules out any fatherhood of two families (Jewish, Gentiles), the very idea of such a duality being removed in so many words in 2:14–17, etc. It rules out any multiplication of families such as ranks of angels, orders, communities, groups, congregations of men, for instance, “every group of beings united by a common descent or origin” (Westcott), jedes Geschlecht im Himmel und auf Erden (B.-P. 1018), plus other turns of this nature, “all classes of angels in heaven and all nations on earth” (Meyer).
The paronomasia in πατήρ and πᾶσαπατριά is unfortunately lost in our English rendering; it is more than a mere sound, it is really an annominatio that involves also the sense (R. 1201). The real issue is regarding πασᾶπατριά (without the article). Must this mean “every family” as the R. V. has it, and as so many take for granted? Then we are lost in pluralities, and it is only a question of the kind and the number the commentator is pleased to list. Some think that Paul is alluding to the rabbinical notion of angels and to certain Gnostic speculations.
The A. V. is correct, “the whole family,” or verbally better, “all the family” (all that is family). It is the same as the πασᾶοἰκοδομή (also without the article) in 2:21 (see the discussion). R. 772 states, “‘all the family’ is possible.” We say a little more: this is the meaning here, and it is grammatically perfectly correct with an abstract term in which the ideas “all” and “every” coalesce. There is only one patria, there are no patriai (plural); see “one—one—one” in 2:14–18.
Whether the addition: the Father “of our Lord Jesus Christ” (A. V.) is retained in v. 14 or not, the fatherhood here referred to is soteriological, and the view that ἐξοὗ contradicts this is untenable. C.-K. 851: ὀνομάζεσθαιἔκτινος is good Greek for being named after somebody. The passive does not make God the agent, for “from whom” forbids this. The name this great family bears always indicates its Father. This family is the Una Sancta.
A part of it is already in heaven, the other part is still on earth. Some think that the angels are included since the Old Testament calls them “the Sons of God.” One may debate that, it is immaterial; C.-K., although still holding to the plural πατριαί, urges that Paul is throughout speaking of the New Testament revelation, and that we need not bring in the Old Testament term and the angels. That seems satisfactory.
Ephesians 3:16
16 Non-final ἵνα with its subjunctive states the substance of Paul’s intercession: that he give to you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power by means of his Spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell through the faith in your hearts, in order that, having been rooted and founded in love, you may be strong to grasp with all the saints what (is) the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ exceeding this knowledge, in order that you may be filled with respect to all the fulness of God.
The aorist “that he give” is effective, it is an actual great gift. God’s δόξα is the sum of his attributes as these are displayed to the eyes and the hearts of men. The riches or wealth of this glory is all its greatness and its wonderfulness, and this is to be the norm the Father is asked to follow in his gift to the Ephesians. The giving here asked is that which comports with and matches all the attributes of God, his love and grace, his power and wisdom, his majesty and infinitude. As the Giver, so the gift to those in the Una Sancta. In connection with v. 12, 13 we have seen that all the Ephesians are now included.
Note “the glory of his grace” in 1:7; “the superabounding riches of his grace in goodness” in 2:7; “rich in mercy” in 2:4; “the Father of the glory” in 1:17. All these expressions belong together.
We regard Paul as asking for one gift which he then unfolds in all its richness in order to match the richness of the Father’s glory. “To be strengthened with power,” etc., is the object infinitive and not epexegetical (R. 1086); it names the gift. “With power” is the dative of means. We may note that Paul is here using three of the terms he employs in 1:19, 20: δύναμις, dynamic power; κράτος (in the verb), strength as exercised; then ἰσχύς (in the verb in v. 18), vis or virtus as possessed whether it is exercised or not. In 1:19, 20 these words are used with reference to God, here they constitute the gift bestowed on us.
The dative cannot state where the strengthening is to take place, for this is “in the inner man.” This strengthening is to come to us by the personal medium, “his Spirit” (διά, the preposition also used in connection with Christ), yet always when God employs the Spirit or Christ, never when we are the subject (Analogy of Scripture). We must also remember that the Spirit always operates with Word and Sacrament and never without these. It is incorrect to say that Paul is praying for a new Pentecost. Pentecost admits of no repetition; once poured out, the Spirit remains and by Word and Sacraments flows out into all the world and with ever-new power flows into the hearts of believers.
Εἰς is static (R. 593): “in the inner man,” although we may also translate: “with respect to the inner man.” “The inner man” is the counterpart to “the outer man” (2 Cor. 4:16). The inner man = the heart, mind, soul, spirit; the outer = our physical part, the body. This inner man has been regenerated, quickened (2:5), made spiritually alive and is thus given power and strength to assert himself in the fullest manner. Spiritual virility is what we all need. It comes from the Father through the Spirit in Word and Sacrament.
Ephesians 3:17
17 The infinitive is not coordinate and does not name a second gift; it is not epexegetical and specifying what “to be strengthened” signifies (R. 1086 and W. P.) but denotes contemplated result (R. 1090): “so that Christ dwells through the faith in your hearts.” Like the previous aorist infinitive, this one, too, is effective. It makes no difference whether we regard the verb as intransitive, “dwell,” or as transitive, “make dwelling”; we do not see how it could be made causative: the Father “to cause Christ to dwell in your hearts.” The fact that Christ is now the subject causes no jar since the subject of the previous infinitive is no longer “the Father” but “you” understood. The Spirit’s strengthening us in the inner man produces the result that Christ dwells in our hearts. The very order of these statements answers the objection that this indwelling is already the sine qua non of our Christianity; for here Paul speaks, not of the first entrance of Christ into our hearts, but of the further indwelling that is due to the strengthening we receive through the Spirit by Word and Sacrament. The unio mystica is progressive; Christ takes possession of us in ever-greater degree. The aorist denotes full possession.
Hence the subjective means (διά) is added: “through faith,” which is parallel to the objective means: “through his Spirit.” Christ comes by the Spirit and enters and dwells in us by means of the faith which embraces him; hence we also have the definite article. The heart is the center of our being, the seat of intellect, emotion, and will, especially of the latter. Christ will take complete possession of these as one uses the whole house in which one dwells. We are to be “a holy sanctuary in the Lord” (2:21).
The thought of v. 17 is complete; to attach to it the phrase “in love” (whether this be Christ’s love to us or our love to him) would confuse its clarity. We likewise do not make the two perfect participles exclamatory: “you, the people who in love have been rooted and founded!” Paul has not written “you.” The construction would be broken in a manner that is too strange. The objection to the emphasis that rests on these participles when they are construed with the ἵνα clause is not removed by making them independent and exclamatory; it is rather increased and made disproportionate. We have a number of examples which place some important modifier before ἵνα; to question all of them, as has been done, is unwarranted.
What disturbs some is the fact that the position of the participles stresses “love,” hence they seek to reduce this stress. Nevertheless, this remains; in fact, the use of two participles in place of one helps to make “love” prominent. Yet two points should be noted: “in love” has no modifier, and the participles are not finite verbs, are thus only auxiliary modifiers of the subject in the expression “you may be made strong or able.” “Love” is to be taken in its broad sense and, unless it is separated from the participles, means our love to the Father, the Spirit, and Christ, for the context has presented only these. Love to the brethren is naturally also involved in this love. On the meaning of ἀγάπη see 1:4.
The perfect participles have their present implication, once rooted and founded and remaining thus. The figures are allied: like a tree that has its roots spreading wide, deep, and strong in the soil of love; like a building that is founded and grounded on a strong foundation. Why the figurative meaning should not be accepted is hard to see. The passive connects this rooting and grounding with the passive in v. 16, “may be strengthened with power.” The power the Father bestows on us is to make us like a solidly rooted tree that is growing massive and strong, like a solidly founded building that is rising high and imposing.
Note the progression: the Holy Spirit (Word and Sacrament)—the faith in our hearts—now love in its full development.
Ephesians 3:18
18 By connecting love with the subordinate participial modifiers Paul combines it with knowledge and thus also makes this the knowledge of experience. It comes from the Spirit (Word) by faith when Christ dwells in us and in the love which embraces God. There is a γνῶσις which produces faith and love and is a part of them when they are first wrought (agape is always intelligent love); the knowledge here referred to is that which follows faith and love, is mediated by both, and cannot be attained without them; we call it the heart knowledge of full experience with God, the Spirit, Christ, and the Word. Faith and its accompaniment love usher us into a blessed world of knowledge that is absolutely closed to those lacking these prerequisites. We may also note Paul’s thesis that knowledge without love is only sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, 1 Cor. 13:1.
The thought itself prevents paralleling this ἵνα with the one occurring in v. 16. “That he may give” cannot be followed by “that you may be made strong” (a second object clause). This is a purpose clause: the purpose of Christ’s indwelling is this making us strong to grasp, etc. Since Christ’s indwelling is itself to be the result of the Father’s granting us to be strengthened with power, the purpose regarding knowledge reaches back also to this infinitive in the way indicated. The whole object of Paul’s intercession is thus one yet is spread out for us in 1:17, etc., Paul prays for knowledge for his readers. In fact, his entire epistle thus far aims to transmit the wonderful knowledge of “the mystery of Christ” (v. 4), especially as including the plan of God regarding the Gentiles and thus also regarding Paul’s office. The strengthening of faith and of love is to fill us with the knowledge of the divine reality on which all our faith and our love rest.
Instead of saying only, “in order that you may grasp,” Paul draws in the idea of our being strengthened to grasp: “in order that you may be made strong to grasp.” He thus harks back to v. 16 where he uses the two words “to be strengthened with power.” The two words match: it takes ἰσχύς, Staerkebesitz, to grasp or hold as our own (this is the idea of the middle), to comprehend the great reality Paul has in mind. “With (associative) all the saints” connects the Ephesians with all the other believers (see 1:1), for all of whom alike this comprehensive knowledge is the goal. Paul is not asking anything for the Ephesians apart from the other Christians.
Because of the lack of a genitive after “what (is) the breadth and length and height and depth” there is considerable difference of opinion regarding these dimensions. Some have thought of the Christian Church, the Sanctuary (2:21), on the plea that it alone has four dimensions (Rev. 21:16); others of the work of redemption, the mystery (v. 3, 4, 9), the wisdom (v. 10), etc. The ancients ran riot with their fancies. Estius saw the deity of Christ in the height, his humanity in the depth, his world-wide salvation in the length and the breadth. One article combines the four into a unit concept. Note also the close connective τε, which is a rare construction in Paul’s writings (not cumulative καί) and is intended at once to supply the omission of the genitive which is withheld only in order to introduce it the more emphatically as the object in the periphrastic infinitive clause.
Ephesians 3:19
19 This clause contains a striking oxymoron: “and to know the love of Christ exceeding this knowledge.” Astounding! The breadth, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ exceed all our knowledge (note the article), yet we are to know it in its boundless dimensions, and the aorist infinitive, like that used in v. 18, means effective, actual knowing. We are not to interpret the four different dimensions but only the vastness of this love. Although we know it by actual experience, it ever exceeds all our knowing. We need scarcely say that the genitive is subjective: Christ’s love for us. Note the correspondence: we, rooted and founded in love, i. e., our love to Christ, are to comprehend and know the infinitude of his love to us.
And now the ultimate purpose in this climax which goes from faith to love to knowledge: “that you may be filled with respect to the fulness of God.” “The fulness of God” is that which fills him. This is all the riches of his grace in Christ Jesus. The idea in εἰς is not, “filled with all the fulness of God” (A. V.), nor “unto,” i. e., up to the limit or measure of God’s fulness; but, “with respect or with regard to” all this fulness of God. Again the aorist is effective: we are to be filled to the brim. Our Father is again the agent who produces this fulness. Knowledge is the implied medium, the experimental, spiritual knowledge of faith plus love through the Spirit and Christ by way of Word and Sacrament. John 16:14.
Our fulness “with respect to” (εἰς) all the fulness of God avoids saying that all God’s fulness is to fill us, for who of us could contain it all? Paul has also just said that the love of Christ exceeds our knowledge. To be sure, as John 1:16 says, “of his (Christ’s) fulness have all we received, and grace for grace” (more and more grace). The fact that we are to be filled from God’s fulness is implied; “with respect to” all his fulness means that our being filled is to be done with regard to all this fulness of God until the limit of our capacity is reached.
Ephesians 3:20
20 Paul not only states the contents of the intercession he makes for the Ephesians, but also adds as a conclusion to the entire presentation of this first part of his epistle, the doxology: Now to him who is able beyond everything to do exceeding abundantly beyond what we ask or conceive, according to the power operating in us, to him the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all the generations of the eon of the eons! Amen.
Paul glorifies God for what he is able to do for us and is assured that he will do according to this ability. We find two modifiers: “able beyond everything”—“to do exceeding abundantly beyond what we ask or conceive.” Our versions contract the modifiers and attach this contraction to the infinitive alone; we leave the modifiers where Paul places them.
God’s ability is “beyond everything.” πάντα is indefinite and hence does not refer merely to all the things that exist but to “all things” in any sense whatever. His power has no limits, is not exhausted by anything he puts forth. It is literally infinite. Thus in his limitless ability he is able “to do (aorist, actuality) beyond what we ask or think” (present, at any time). The compound preposition may be written as one word or may be divided: “exceeding abundantly beyond.” Paul uses these vast superlatives more than does any other New Testament writer. The two verbs have the accusative relative ἅ which is changed into the genitive ὧν by being drawn into its antecedent after the preposition which requires the genitive.
God can do for us not only more than we ask in our petitions and intercessions but even more than we are able to think and conceive in our mind. This is the strongest kind of an encouragement for us to ask him. On the middle αἰτούμεθα compare v. 13.
Paul does not, however, leave these modifiers regarding the ability and the doing of God in the abstract; he makes them very concrete by adding: “according to the power operating in us,” which modifies the entire statement. We have in ourselves the norm (κατά) by which to judge as to what God is able to do; it is the power that now works in us. The view that this δύναμις is his omnipotence should be corrected according to Rom. 1:16. Paul has described the working of this power in us in 2:1, etc., and shown how it quickens the spiritually dead and fills them with spiritual life. This is the power of God’s love and grace (2:8) operating in the gospel (Rom. 1:16). Omnipotence does not work in the spiritual domain, which is a Calvinistic idea; love and grace operate in this domain. These have their own “power,” which is as great in their domain as omnipotence is in its domain.
Confusing the two because “power” is used with reference to the latter misunderstands the Scripture. Love, grace, and the gospel and their own power work their own results. They employ the omnipotence to work in its own field of providence, to aid the gospel work, to shield the believer and the church. Yet contrition and faith, regeneration, conversion, justification, the new life and its development, all the Christian virtues plus perseverance to the end are the operations of grace alone. Omnipotent providence opens the paths for the gospel, curbs the hostile forces, protects the gospel messengers, prevents the gates of hell from destroying the church, rules in the midst of the enemies even when they rage and ravage the church (Ps. 2:1–6). Omnipotence permits martyrdom, grace turns the blood of the martyrs into the seed of the church.
The Scriptures are very clear regarding the two powers, their separate domains, their operations, their products. Both work together, yet the two are never the same.
What the power of love, grace, and the gospel is doing in us is for us the norm (κατά) regarding what God will yet do to bring his saving work in us to its glorious consummation.
Ephesians 3:21
21 Emphatic αὐτῷ resumes all that has been said about God our Father (v. 14) and to him as such ascribes “the glory,” the article signifying the glory that is due to him from us. We, of course, cannot augment his glory which is infinite and changeless; but we can recognize and acknowledge it, and that is what Paul does here and in every other doxology. The statement is an exclamation: “To him the glory!” We thus prefer to supply nothing; the grammars supply “is” or “be” (optative) and debate as to which is correct.
The text that has the reading καί has the better authority: “in the church and in Christ Jesus,” etc. The A. V. drops the “and.” Those who do this generally combine the two phrases; but the fact that the church is in Christ Jesus needs no solemn statement such as this would be. On “in Christ Jesus” and its interpretations see 1:1. “To him the glory in the church” is a complete thought. The great Una Sancta must ever ring with the glory-praise of God (1:6, 12, 14).
Secondly, “to him the glory in Christ Jesus for all the generations of the eon of the eons.” While both denote sphere, the two ἐν are yet diverse. “In the church” = in the hearts of all those who constitute the assembly of God here on earth. All the doxologies used in our worship continue the doxology Paul utters here. “In Christ Jesus” cannot mean: also in his heart. The meaning is that all the glory that is due to God the Father is connected solely and alone with Christ Jesus (office and person), and that to all eternity. Ἐν denotes sphere and union in this sense. Thus “in the church” is subjective (in our hearts), but “in Christ Jesus” is objective (connected with him), “and” joins the two.
When “and” is omitted, the interpretation is either that the church is in Christ Jesus forever, or that the glory may be in the church forever in Christ Jesus. In the case of both interpretations the phrase “for all the generations of the eon of the eons” causes difficulty. If Paul means only “to all eternity” he has several ways of saying this: “to the eon,” “to the eon of the eons,” “to the eons of the eons.” Why this statement about “all the generations” (so definite at that)? It is quite impossible to make “generations” a designation of time: periods of thirty or more years duration—especially “all the generations”—and then strangely add “of the eon of the eons.” This is what the A. V. attempts with its odd rendering: “throughout all ages, world without end” (omitting the article and making “all the generations” only “all ages”). By introducing “all the generations” with “the eon,” etc., Paul’s expression becomes quite exceptional, and it is certainly more than a phrase denoting time.
“The eon of the eons” is not difficult. Like “King of kings,” “Holy of Holies,” it means the supreme eon; the genitive plural produces the superlative idea (R. 660). This is not, however, only the New Testament eon. The expression is too grand for that; and besides, it is already covered by the phrase “in the church.” Paul means “in eternity,” “forever and ever” (R. V.), which also repeats the word in our English idiom. Even the Latin aeternus‚ from aevum‚ is a term denoting time although “eternal” is the opposite of time: without beginning, progress, or end, without past, present, and future, a simul tota‚ a fixum‚ not a fluxum‚ which is really inconceivable to the human mind.
We are compelled to use words denoting time to express what is not time at all, the Hebrew and the Greek must do likewise. Here the latter raises αἰών, a vast era or age that is marked by what transpires in it, to the superlative degree.
By prefixing “all the generations” the concept is made to refer, not to eternity as following the Parousia, but to eternity as generation after generation comes to leave this present eon at death and enters eternity, the superlative eon. God’s is all the glory “in the church” now in time and “in connection with Christ Jesus” for all the generations as each passes out of time and comes to be “of the eon of the eons,” of eternity. Thus also Paul does not lose the church in this addition; all these generations we take to be the generations of the saints, with whom alone the apostle is concerned.
He seals the doxology with “amen,” a word that has been taken over into other languages from the Hebrew. This Hebrew adverbial accusative means wahrlich, gewiss (Eduard Koenig, Woerterbuch); as in the Hebrew, so in the Greek, it was placed at the end of a statement in order to express strong confirmation: “Verity!” or “Verily!” In John’s writings it is doubled and placed at the head of great statements. It is senseless to add amen to a set of mere opinions or to anything that is doubtful. Then “Perhaps!” might be in place or just an interrogation point. In the Scriptures this word denotes more than intellectual assent. It always involves an energetic demand for faith since it seals something that pertains to Christ and salvation. “Christ covers the word, not the word him.” C.-K.
The divine will is behind it, which carries out what is connected with Christ. This Scriptural significance should be decisive for our present use of amen.
C.-K Biblisch-theologisches Woerterbuch der Neutestamentlichen Graezitaet von D. Dr. Hermann Cremer, zehnte, etc., Auflage, herausgegeben von D. Dr. Julius Koegel.
R A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, by A. T. Robertson, fourth edition.
M.-M. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, Illustrated from the Papyri and other Non-Literary Sources, by James Hope Moulton and George Milligan.
B.-P Griechisch-Deutsches Woerterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments, etc., von D. Walter Bauer, zweite, etc., Auflage zu Erwin Preuschens Vollstaendigem Griechisch-Deutschem Handwoerterbuch, etc.
B.-D Friedrich Blass’ Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch, vierte, voellig neu-gearbeitete Auflage besorgt von Albert Debrunner.