That it may be fashioned like (els To yevéoIar aio cvp- popgov). The words that it may be, or become, are omitted from the correct Greek text, so that the strict rendering is the body of our humiliation conformed, etc. The words are, how- ever, properly inserted in A. V. and Rev. for the sake of perspicuity. Rev., correctly, conformed for fashioned lke. Fashion belongs to the preceding verb. See on shall change. The adjective conformed is compounded with popdy form (see
454 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. IV.
on ch. ii. 6, and made conformable, ch. iii. 10). As the body of Christ’s glory is a spiritual body, this word is appropriate to describe a conformation to what is more essential, permanent, and characteristic. See 1 Cor. xv. 35-53.
His glorious body (7@ cwparte ths 50&ns avdtov). Wrong. Rev., correctly, the body of His glory. The body in which He appears in His present glorified state. See on Col. ii. 9.
The working whereby He is able (rv évépyevay tod Sivac9a1). Lit., the energy of His being able. Avvacdat ex- presses ability, faculty, natural ability, not necessarily mani- fest. “Evépyesa is power in exercise, used only of superhuman power. See on John i. 12; 2 Pet. ii. 11. Hence, as Calvin remarks, ‘‘ Paul notes not only the power of God as it resides in Him, but the power as it puts itself into act.” See Eph. i. 19, where four of the six words for power are used.
Subdue (t7ord£ar). Rev., subject. See on Jas. iv. 7. It is more than merely subdue. It is to bring all things within His divine economy; to marshal them all under Himself in the new heaven and the new earth in which shall dwell righteousness. Hence the perfected heavenly state as depicted by John is thrown into the figure of a city, an organized commonwealth. The verb is thus in harmony with ver. 20. The work of God _ in Christ is therefore not only to transform, but to subject, and that not only the body, but all things. See 1 Cor. xv. 25-27 ; Rom. viii. 19, 20; Eph. i. 10, 21, 22; iv. 10.