its administration. The persons here spoken of are described as τοὺς προηλπικότας ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, those who first hoped rn Christ. That is, who hoped in him of old, or before his advent; or, who hoped in him before others, mentioned in y. 18, had heard of him. In either case it designates not the first converts to Christianity, but the Jews who, before the Gentiles, had the Messiah as the object of their hopes. The form of expression here used (ἐλπέζειν ἐν), does not mean simply zo expect, but to place one’s hope or con- fidence in any one. Comp. 1 Cor. 15,19. It is not, therefore, the Jews as such, but the believing Jews, who are here spoken of as in Christ the partakers of the inheritance which he has purchased.
The construction of these several clauses adopted in the foregoing exposition is that which takes them in their natural order, and gives a sense consistent with the usage of the words and agreeable to the analogy of Scripture. The first clause of this verse is made to depend upon the last clause of v. 11: ‘ Having pre- destinated us to be the praise of his glory ;’ and the last clause, ‘ Who first hoped in Christ,’ is merely explanatory of the class of persons spoken of. The whole then hangs naturally together: ‘ We have ob- tained an inheritance, having been predestinated to be the praise of his glory, we, who first hoped in Christ.’ There are, however, two other modes of construction possible. The one connects the beginning of v. 12 with the first clause of v. 11, and renders ἐκληρώθημεν, we have attained. The sense would then be, ‘We have