7—8,
grace to abound towards us, or the gifts in which His abounding grace was to be seen, namely, those of insight and practical intelligence or discernment with regard to the deep things of His saving counsel. There is considerable difference of opinion, however, with respect to the connection of the clause, its application, and the precise import of its terms. By some (Theod., Griesb., etc.) the words are attached to the following γνωρίσας and taken to define the way in which God made known the ‘mystery of His will”. But the reason already given, drawn from Paul’s usage, for attaching the ἐν ἀγάπῃ (ver. 4) to the statement preceding it, holds good also here. Nota few (Rickert, De Wette, Alf., etc.) understand the clause to refer to God, and to express the thought that the supremacy of His wisdom was seen in the bestowal of His grace so abundantly on us, that it was ‘‘in His manifold wisdom and prudence, mani- fested in all ways possible for us, that He poured out His grace upon us” (Alf.). But it is difficult to adjust the terms to such a use. For it is doubtful whether φρόνησις in the sense which it bears here can be predicated of God. The instances which are cited (Prov. ili. 19; Jer. x. 12) are extremely few. They are also of doubtful relevancy, inasmuch as the φρόνησις in these passages represents a Hebrew word with a somewhat different idea, rendered by the RV ‘‘understand- ing”. Neither is the πολυποίκιλος σοφία τοῦ Θεοῦ (Eph. iii. 10) a valid analogy, the thought expressed there being that of the many and various ways in which the Divine wisdom is manifested and realised. The same must be said of the phrase φρόνησις θεοῦ in the narrative of Solomon’s decision (1 Kings iii. 28) ; for it expresses a prudence or intelligence given to Solomon by God or divine in quality. Even were it more certain than it is that there is biblical warrant for affirming φρόνησις of God, the πάσῃ puts that reference out of the question here; πᾶς being an extensive, not an in- tensive, definition, expressing not the highest wisdom and prudence, but all possible wisdom and prudence, every kind of such attributes (cf. Winer-Moult., p. 137). It is true that there are cases in classical Greek which might entitle us to take πᾶσα σοφία as equivalent to πᾶσα ἢ σοφία, “τς whole of wisdom,” ‘the sum of wisdom”? (cf. Kiihner, Gram., ii., ὃ 465; Anm., 8). But there dces not appear to be any certain example of that in NT Greek. Further, it is the grace of God that is magnified in the paragraph,