‘)
248
I= yer. 20; τοῖς | ἐπουρανίοις "ἐνὶ χριστῷ, 4. καθὼς "' ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς " ἐν fi’ 10, vi αὐτῷ “πρὸ” “καταβολῆς κόσμου, " εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ " ἀμώμους
12 only;
Matt. xviii. 35; Dan. iv. 23. in Epp.); Deut. vii. 7.
ἀπό, Matt. xiii. 35 al.
ix. 24; 2 Kings xxii. 24.
1 Omit εν some cursives, ¢.g., 7.
m= Mark xiii. 20; John vi. 70 reff. (1 Cor. i. 27; James ii. 5 only n=Col. i. 16; see Acts xv. 7. p constr., Col. i. το, 22.
ο John xvii. 24; Ata ied q ch. v. 27; Col. i. 22 only in Paul; Heb.
2 After Χριστω insert Invov Γ5 ΕΚ 4, 46, 47, 76, 109, 115, Syr.-P., Eth., Theophyl.,
Victorin., ul. 8 For εν avtw, eavtw FG, Did., Athan.
only in the Middle (except, perhaps, in Luke ix. 35), is the LXX equivalent for
“WIA, and expresses the idea of selecting
for oneself out of a number. It is some- times alleged that we are not entitled to give it so definite a meaning in doctrinal paragraphs like the present, because there are passages in which it appears to ex- press nothing more than the general idea of a choice, without reference either to any special relation to the person choosing or to the leaving of others unchosen. (So, e.g., Abbott.) But the passages adduced in support of this are few in number and by no means bear out the contention. In Luke ix. 35, ¢.g., where ἐκλελεγμένος is said of the Son, the idea of a choice from among others is certainly not an alien idea (cf. Thayer-Grim., Lex., sub voc.) ; and in Acts iv. 5, xv. 22, 25, the point is a choice for oneself in the form of an appointment to a particular service or office. That the verb denotes the choice of one or more out of others is implied in its compound form, and is made abun- dantly clear by actual usage, ¢.g., in the case of the selection of the Twelve (John vi. 70, xiii, 18, xv. 16), the appointment of a successor to Judas (Acts i. 24, etc.). In not a few passages it is made more certain still by the addition of explanatory terms, e.g., ἀπό τινων (Luke vi. 13), ἐκ κόσμον (John xv. 19), ἔκ τινων (Acts i. 24), ἐν ἡμῖν (Acts xv. 7). That it means to choose out for oneself appears from such passages as Luke x. 42, xiv.7. The verb ἐκλέγεσθαι is specially used of God's election of some out of mankind gener- ally to be His own in a peculiar sense, the objects of His grace, destined for special privilege, special relations, special service ; cf. Acts xiii. 17 (of Israel) ; Mark xiii. 20; John xv. 19; Rom, ix. 11, xi. 5, 9, 203 <r Con..1.27 8: το s Pet, ii. g ff. The foundation of the state- ment is the great OT idea of Israel as a nation chosen by the Lord to be “a peculiar people unto Himself, above all
ἔπρος FG.
peoples that are upon the face of the earth” (Deut. xiv. 2; cf. Ps. xxxiii. 11, 12, cxxxv. 4; Isa. xli. 8, 9, xlii. 1). What is meant, therefore, is that the blessing which God bestowed on these Ephesians was not a thing of the time merely, but the issue of an election prior to their call or conversion, a blessing that came to them in accordance with a definite choice of them out of the mass of others by God for Himself.—év αὐτῷ: in Him; that is, in Christ, not “through Him” simply. But in what sense? It is true that Christ is the first “ Elect” of God, and that our election is contained in His. But His election is not the matter in hand here, and the point, therefore, is not that in electing Christ God also elected us (Calv., Βεηρ., etc.). Nor, again, is it that we are included in Him (Hofm.), for neither is this the point in view here, The im- mediate subject is not what we are or are made, but what God does—His election and how it proceeds. And the ideaisthat _ that election has its ground in Christ, in the sense that apart from Christ and with- out respect to His special relation to us, and His foreseen work, there would be no election of us. An extraordinary sense is attached to the ἐν αὐτῷ by Beys., who takes the point to be that the “ divinely conceived prototypes of perfected be- lievers are from eternity posited by God in the One Prototype of humanity accept- able unto Him” (Christ. d. N. T., p. 141). This is a philosophical notion wholly alien to Paul, on which see Meyer, in loc, The ἐν αὐτῷ might mean that God's election of us was in Christ in so far as Christ was” contemplated as having the relation of ‘head and representative of spiritual, as Adam was the representative of natural, humanity” (Ols., Ell.) But it is best taken as expressing again the broad idea that “in Christ lay for God the causa meri- toria of our election” (Μεγ.).---πρὸ κατα- βολῆς τοῦ κ. : before the foundation of the world. This is the only occurrence of this particular expression in the Pauline