is expressed literally, when it is added, they are par- takers of his (God’s) promise. The promise is the pro- mise of redemption; the promise made to our first parents, repeated to Abraham, and which forms the burden of all the Old Testament predictions. Gal. 3, 14.19. 22, 29.
The only essential and indispensable condition of participation in the benefits of redemption is union with Christ. The Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and of the same body and partakers of the promise, says the apos- tle, in Christ, i. e. in virtue of their union with him. And this union is effected or brought about, by the Gospel. It is not by birth nor by any outward rite, nor by union with any external body, but by the Gos- pel, received and appropriated by faith, that we are united to Christ, and thus made heirs of God. This verse teaches therefore—1. The nature of the blessings of which the Gentiles are partakers, viz. the inheritance promised to the people of God. 2. The condition on which that participation is suspended, viz. union with Christ ; and 3. The means by which that union is ef- fected, viz. the Gospel. Hence the apostle enlarges on the dignity and importance of preaching the Gospel. This is the subject of the verses which follow.
V. 7. Of which (Gospel) Iwas made a minister ; a διάκονος, a runner, servant, minister. Minister of the Gospel, means one whose business it is to preach the Gospel. This is his service ; the work for which he is engaged, and to which he is bound to devote himself. There are two things which Paul here and in the verse
CHAP. Il. VER. 7. 8. 167
following says in reference to his introduction into the ministry ; first, it was a great favour; and secondly, it involved the exercise of divine power.
He was made a minister, κατὰ τὴν δωρεὰν τῆς χάρι- tos τοῦ Θεοῦ, according to the gift of the grace of God given to him. According to the common text (δωρεὰν--- δοθεῖσαν), the gift was gwen. “The gift of the grace of God,” may mean the gracious gift, i.e. the gift due to the grace of God; or, the gift which is the grace of God; so that the χάρις, grace, as Paul often calls his apostleship, is the thing given. In either way the gift referred to was his vocation to be an apostle. That he who was a persecutor and blasphemer should be called to be an apostle, was in his view a wonderful display of the grace of God.
The gift in question was given, κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, by the effectual working of his (God’s) power. Paul’s vocation as an apostle involved his conversion, and his conversion was the effect of the power of God. This refers to the nature of the work, and not to its mere circumstances. It was not the blinding light, nor the fearful voice, which he refers to the power of God, but the inward change, by which he, a malignant opposer of Christ, was instantly con- verted into an obedient servant. The regeneration of the soul is classed among the mighty works of God, due to the exceeding greatness of his power. See ch. 1,:19,
V. 8. Zo me, adds the apostle, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should