which they had experienced was to be considered so great, viz., because their faith was due to the same en- ergy that raised Christ from the dead. In either case the doctrinal import of the passage is the same. The considerations in favour of the latter mode of construc- tion are: 1. The position of the clauses. According to this interpretation they are taken just as they stand. ‘Us who believe in virtue of (xara) the working, &e.’ 2. The frequency with which the apostle uses the pre- position κατά in the sense thus given to it. In ch. 3, 7, he says, ‘his conversion and vocation were (cata) in virtue of the working of God’s power.’ See also 3, 20. 1 Cor. 12, 8. Phil. 3, 21. Christ will fashion our bodies (kara) ‘in virtue of the energy whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. Col. 1, 29. 9 Thess. 2, 9. To say, therefore, ‘we believe in virtue of, &c.,’ is in accordance with a usage familiar to this apostle. 3. The parallel passage in Col. 2, 12, ex- presses the same idea. There the phrase is πίστις τῆς ἐνεργείας, faith of the operation of God, i. e. which he operates; here it is πίστις κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν, faith in virtue of the operation. The analogy between the ex- pressions is so striking, that the one explains and au- thenticates the other.
The prayer recorded in these verses is a very com- prehensive one. In praying that the Ephesians might be enlightened with spiritual apprehensions of the truth, the apostle prays for their sanctification. In praying that they might have just conceptions of the inheritance to which they were called, he prayed that