u Hereonly. καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς" ΤΙ. ἐν αὐτῷ, ἐν ᾧ καὶ "ἐκληρώθημεν Ἱπροορισθέντες
1 Kings Xiv. 41.
"κατὰ " πρόθεσιν 2 τοῦ τὰ ὃ v Acts iv.
z=Acts ii. 23, iv. 28, xiii. 36; Heb. vi. 17.
πάντα * ἐνεργοῦντος κατὰ τὴν * βουλὴν
28; Rom. viii. 29, 30; 1 Cor. ii. 7; ver. 5 only ἐ, 11; ch. iii. 11; 2 Tim. i. 9; Acts xxvii. 13; 2 Macc. iii. 8.
w= Phil. ii. 3 reff. x= Rom. viii. 28, ix.
y 1 Cor. xii. 6, 11; Phil. ii. 13.
1 For εκληρ., εκληθηµεν (gloss) ADEFG, it., d, e, g; text ΒΝΚΙ.Ρ, al., d, e, f, g, Vig., Euseb., Euthal., Cyr., Chrys., Thdt., Dam., etc.
3 Before προθ. insert την D'FG, al. After προθ. insert τον Θεον DEFG το, 46,
71-3, 80, Copt., Eth., Slav., Ambrst.
3 Before παντα om. τα D'FG tog, Thdrt.
must give place to τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, which is adopted by LTTrWH on the basis of BAQDL, etc. It is an unusual form for the compound phrase, the term ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς being ordinarily coupled with ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (cf. iii. 15; also the parallel in Col. i. 20, where the ἐπί is poorly attested). The ἐπί in ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, however, may have the force of at, which it has in such phrases as ἐπὶ πύλῃσιν (Π1., iii., 149), ἐπὶ πύργῳ (11., vi., 431), ἐπὶ τῇ Ἦν δα «ολα. (Acts iii, 10, 11), the heavens being regarded, as Meyer thinks, as ‘‘the stations at which the things concerned are to be found”. The phrase in its two con- trasted parts defines the preceding ra πάντα, making the all-inclusive nature of its universality clear by naming its great divisions. It is not to be under- stood as referring in its first section to any particular class, spirits in heaven, departed saints of Old Testament times, angels (as even Chrys. and Calv. thought), Fews, and in its second section specifically to men or to Gentiles. It explains the uni- versality expressed by τὰ πάντα as the widest possible and most comprehensive universality, including the sum total of created objects, wherever found, whether men or things.—év αὐτῷ: in him. Em- phatic resumption of the ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ and transition to the following state- ment, solemnly re-affirming also, as Ell. suggests, where the true point of unity designed by God, or the sphere of its manifestation, is to be found.
The passage has been supposed (Orig., Crell., etc.) to teach the doctrine of a Universal Restoration. But interpreted as above it has nothing to do with any such doctrine, whether in the sense of a final salvation of all unrighteous and unbelieving men or in that of a final recovery of all evil beings, devils and men alike. Nor, again, does it refer particularly to the case of the indi- vidual. It speaks, as Meyer notices, of the ‘‘aggregate of heavenly and earthly
things,” and of that as destined to make a true unity at last. Another view of the general import of the statement, which has been elaborated with much ability by Haupt, requires some notice. Pressing to its utmost the sense of a ré- sumé or summary, which he regards as the idea essentially contained in the terms in question, he contends that the meaning of the statement is that in Christ, who belongs at once to humanity and to the heavenly world, should be seen the com- pendious presentation of all beings and things—that in His person should be summarised the totality of created ob- jects, both earthly and heavenly, so that outside Him nothing should exist. He looks for the proper parallel to this not in Col. i. 20, but in Col. i. 16, 17, where it is said of Christ that “‘in Him were all things created" and that “in Him all things consist”. And he appeals in support of his view to the use of the kindred verb σνγκεφαλαιοῦσθαι in Xen. (Cyr., viii., 1, 15, viii., 6, 14), where it expresses the organisation of a multitude of slaves under one representative, in whom they and their acts were so em- bodied that Cyrus could transact with all when dealing with the one. But the idea of Christ’s agency in the first creation and the continuous maintenance of things is not expressed in the passage in Ephesians, and while it is the pre- existent Christ that is in view in Col. i. 16, here it is the risen Christ.. It remains, therefore, that the present passage be- longs to the same class as Rom. viii. 20- 22; Col. i. 20, etc., and expresses the truth that Christ is to be the point of union and reconciliation for all things, so that the whole creation shall be finally restored by Him to its normal condition of harmony and unity.