purpose of His will”; Rhem., “according to the purpose of His will” ; Tynd., “ ac- cording to the pleasure of His will’; Cran., Gen., AV, “according to the good pleasure of His will”. The noun εὐδοκία (Vulg.-Clem., beneplacitum) is a biblical term. It is not current in profane Greek,
but represents the ps of the OT (es-
pecially in the Psalms), and occurs a good many times in Sir. In the NT itis found thrice in the Gospels (Matt. xi. 26; Luke ii. 14, κ. 21), and six times in the Pauline Epistles (Rom. x. 1; Eph. i. 5, 9; Phil. i, 15, ii. 13; 2 Thess. i. rr), but nowhere else. It has the sense (a) of will (Matt. xi. 26; Luke x. 21), passing into that of desire (Rom. x. 1); and (δ) of good will (Luke ii. 14; Eph. i. 9; Phil. i. 15, ii. 13), passing into that of delight or satis- Here it is taken by most (Mey., De Wette, Stier., Alf., Ell., Abbott, etc.) in the sense of bene- placitum, purpose, sovereign counsel, as equivalent to κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θελή- ματος αὐτοῦ in ver. 11, Light., ¢.g., is of opinion that, while its central idea is ‘‘ satisfaction,” it will ‘only then mean ‘benevolence’ when the context points to some person towards whom the satis- faction is felt”. He refers to ἐν ᾧ εὐδό- κησα in Matt. iii. 17, and contends that without such indication of a personal object ‘‘the satisfaction is felt in the action itself, so that the word is used absolutely, and signifies ‘ good pleasure,’ in the sense of ‘desire,’ ' purpose,’ ‘ de- sign’"’ (Notes, ut sup., 314). But in the Pauline Epistles, when it is used of God, it is a term of grace, expressing “ good pleasure” as kind intent, gracious will, and even when used of man it conveys the same idea of goodness (Rom. x. 1; Phil. i. 15). Nor does the connotation appear to be different in the occurrences in the Gospels (Matt. xi. 26; Luke ii. 14; x. 21). In the present passage it is only in relation to the grace of His dealings with sinful men that reference is made to the will of God. The clause in question pre- sents that grace in the particular aspect of its sovereign, unmerited action. It adds the last note to the statement of the wonders of the Divine election by expressing the fact that that election and God's foreordination of us unto adoption are not due to any desert in us or any- thing outside God Himself, but are acts of His own pure goodness, originatin only and wholly x the freedom of His own thoughts and loving counsel.
Ver. 6. εἰς ἔπαινον δόξης τῆς χάριτοφ αὐτοῦ: to the praise of the glory of his
5-7.