253
αὐτοῦ, 6. εἰς “ ἔπαινον " δόξης 1 τῆς 2 χάριτος αὐτοῦ, 7 ἧς 5 * ἐχαρί- w See Phil.
τωσεν ἡμᾶς " ἐν τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ, 7. "ἢ ἐν ᾧ ἔχομεν 4 τὴν " ἀπολύτρωσιν Pet. i. 7.
23; Col. i. 27. y attr., Acts i. 1 reff. a Vv. 3, 4 reff. b Col. i. 14; 1 Cor. i. 30. Heb. ix. 15, xi. 35; Dan. iv. 32, Chis. Ms
lens δοξης DE.
x= Rom. iii.
z Luke i. 28 only +; Sir. xviii. 17; Ps, xvii. 25 Symm. c Luke xxi. 28; Rom. iii. 24; 1 Cor. i. 30; Col. i. 14; .; see Ps. Ixviii. 18; Isa. Ixiii. 4.
2ens om. Dam.
δεν η, with S°DEF (om. η) GKL, most MSS., Syr.-P., Bas., Chr. (hoc loco), Thdrt., Dam., Victorin., Ambrstr.; text AB 6, 17, 231, 47, 57, al., Orig. Chr.; η Thi. ; και 1. After ηγαπ. insert νιω αὐτου DIEFG, syr.*, d,e, f, g, vg., Syr.-P., Goth., etc.
4 exxopev SD, Copt. (accepimus), Eth.} Iren.*!°; text S8AB!D* SEFGKLP, ἆ, e, f, g, Vulg., Syr.utr., Arm., Goth., Iren.”, Or., Cyr., Thdt., Victorin., Jer.
grace. Twice again in the same context we have the phrase “ to the praise of his glory” (vv. 12, 14). Here it is the glory specifically of God’s grace, and the praise of that is now stated to be the ultimate end of God’s foreordination of us unto adoption, as our adoption itself has been declared to be the object of the fore- ordination. God’s final purpose in His eternal determinations, and the supreme end to which all that He wills regarding us looks, are the manifestation and adoring recognition of His grace in its glorious- ness. So Chrys. puts it briefly ἵνα 4 τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ δόξα δειχθῇ. The phrase means more than “the praise of his glorious grace’’. It expresses the setting forth on God’s part, and the joyful confession on man’s part, of what the Divine grace in these eternal counsels is in the quality of its splendour, its magnificence. That this is the idea is shown by the subsequent mention of the “riches” of the same grace (ver. 7).—év ᾗ ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς: with which he freely gifted us ; literally, with which he graced us. The AV follows Beza’s in qua nos acceptos sibi effecit in rendering it ‘‘wherein he made us ac- cepted”. The RV, which gives “ where- with he endued us ” in the margin, deals better with it in the text, ‘‘which he freely bestowed on us’. The reading ἐν ἡ of the TR, supported by such MSS. as DEGL, the mass of the cursives, the Vulg., etc., must give place to ἧς, which is given by ΒΑ, Eth., Syr., etc., and is adopted by LT (eighth ed.) TrWHRV. The ἧς is by attraction for ἣν (cf. similar genitives by attraction in iv. 1; 2 Cor. i. 4), the explanation being found in the influence of such usages as μάχην μάχεσ- θαι, ὕβριν ὑβρίζειν, κλῆσιν καλεῖν, χάριν χαριτοῦν. See Win.-Moult., Gram., p. 203; Buttm., Gram., p. 289. The verb χαριτόω, following the analogy of other verbs in -ow, means gratia aliquem affi- cere. But this may have two senses (cf.
Harl., Ell.), either to make one agree- able, possessed of grace (Sir. xviii. 17; Ps. xvii. 26 (Symmachus), Clem. Alex., Paed., iii., 11), or to bestow grace on one, to compass one with favour (Test. xii Patr., Jos. i.). The verb is of rare occur- rence, whether within or without the NT. It is commonest in ecclesiastical and Byzantine Greek, In the NT it is found only twice, here and in Luke i. 28. In both instances some would give it the former sense. In the present passage, e.g., Chrys. makes it ἐπεραστοὺς ἐποίησε, and so substantially Cornel. a Lapide, Bisping, and various RC interpreters. The latter sense, however, is rightly preferred by Beng., Ell., Alf., Light., Mey., Haupt, etc., as more in harmony with the general sense of χάρις in the Pauline Epistles, and with the fact that the main idea in the context is what God in His gratuitous goodness does for us.— ἐν τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ: ἐπ the Beloved. The doubtful explanatory term υἱῷ αὐτοῦ is added by some ancient authorities (DEFG, Vulg., Goth., Jer., etc.). Again it is not “ through him,” but “in him”’, The grace is bestowed in and with Christ Himself. It is in the gift of the Son that the gift of grace becomes ours and that the splendour of the grace is seen. The designation ὃ ἠγαπημένος as applied to Christ is peculiar to this one passage so far as the NT is concerned. In the NT its nearest equivalent is the title τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ in the some- what similar passage in Col. i. 13. Cf. also 6 vids μου ὁ ἀγαπητός (Matt. iii. 17, Kvil. 5; Mk: 1 21, 1x. 7, Luke in. 22; ix. 35), 6 ἀγαπητός pov (Matt. xii. 18); and in the OT Ps. xxvii. 6 (LXX); Is. v. I. Outside the NT the term ὁ ἠγαπη- μένος αὐτοῦ is used of Christ in the Ef. of Barn. (3, 4). Light. points also to similar designations in Ignatius, Clem. Rom., and the Ascensio Isaiae (Notes, ut sup., 316).