truths which God had revealed to him. Many take the word in the latter sense here. The meaning would then be: ‘In reference to the administration of the fulness of times, i. e. the last times, or Messianic period; the times which yet remain.’ The former sense of the word however is much better suited to the context. The apostle is speaking of God’s purpose, of what He intended to do. It was a purpose having reference to a plan or economy of his own; an economy here desig- nated as that of the fulness of times. ‘This phrase does not indicate a protracted period—the times which re- main—hbut the termination of the times; the end of the preceding and commencement of the new dispensation. The prophets being ignorant of the time of the Mes- siah’s advent, predicted his coming when the time determined by God should be accomplished. Hence the expressions, “end of the ages,” 1 Cor. 10, 11; “end of days,” Heb. 1,1; ‘ fulness of the time,” Gal. 4,4; and here, “ the fulness of times,” are all used to designate the time of Christ’s advent. By the economy of the fulness of times is therefore to be understood, that economy which was to be clearly revealed and carried out when the fulness of time had come.
The infinitive ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι, to bring together um one, may be referred either to the immediately pre- ceding clause: ‘The plan of the fulness of times to bring together in one;’ or to the preceding verse: ‘The purpose which he purposed (in reference to the economy of the fulness of times), to gather together in one.’ The sense is substantially the same. The verb