.
Ιησοῦ 1 καὶ τὴν “ ἀγάπην thy? “ εἰς πάντας τοὺς " ἁγίους, 16. οὐ
Ρ constr., Acts xvii. 28, xviii. 15, xxvi. 3; πίστ. ἐν, Gal. ol. i. 4; 1 Tim. iii. 13; 2 Tim. iii.15; Paul only.
q Rom. v. 8; Col. i. 4; 1 Pet. iv. 8
1 Insert Χριστω DEFG, d, e, g, Goth., Syr.-P., Eth., Victorin. 3 αγαπην την om. (home@otel.) SAB 17, al., Cyr., Jer., Aug.: την om. D'FG also,
becomes plainer if we understand the idea to be rather that of God’s posses- sion in us, the περιποίησις being taken
as the equivalent of the OT a0, ony 3 προς, by which Israel
is designated as the possession acquired by the Lord for Himself (Exod. xix. 5; cf. Deut. vii. 6, xiv. 2, xxvi. 18; Ps. cxxxv. 4). It is true that the LXX
rendering of bap is usually περιού- σιος. But that is not the only form that is adopted. In Ps. cxxxv. 4 the phrase is εἰς περιουσιασμὸν ἑαντῷ; and in Mal. iii. 17, where Aquila has περιούσιος, the LXX has εἰς περιποίησιν. Further, in Isa. xliii, 21 the same idea is expressed by the corresponding verb—Aaév pov ὃν περιεποιησάμην (cf. Acts xx. 28, τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἣν περιεποιήσατο). So, too, Peter, with this passage in view, describes the spiritual Israel of the NT as λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν (1 Pet. ii. 9); while in Titus, ii, 14, again, we have λαὸν περιούσιον. This interpretation is that of the Syriac, Erasm., Calvin, etc., and it is preferred by most recent com- mentators, including Harless, Meyer, Ell., Alf., etc. It is adopted also by the RV, which renders it “‘God’s own possession”, Wycliffe, however, gives “ purchasynge”’; the Genevan, “ that we might be fully re- stored to liberty”; the Rhemish, “ the redemption of acquisition”; the AV, Tyndall and Cranmer give “the pur- chased possession”.—els ἔπαινον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ: unto the praise of his glory. The second end of the sealing, or rather the second aspect of the ulti- mate purpose of God in the sealing. The final end on our side of that great act of grace is the consummation of the re- demption of those who have been made God's own people. On God's side the final end of the same grace is ‘ the praise of His glory ’—the adoring confession of the glories of the Divine Nature and Mind so revealed to men. The αὐτοῦ refers to the main subject here, not Christ in whom we obtain the grace, but
God by whom it is willed—the Eternal eo of all.
v. 15-23. SeEcoND SECTION OF THE EpisTLe: in which the writer expresses his own feelings and desires towards the Ephesians, and in doing so leads them to the highest conception both of Christ's own supremacy and of thegrandeur of that Church of His of which they had been made members. The wonders of the grace thus shown them give him occasion, he tells them, for increasing thanksgiving. But his thanksgiving also prompts him to prayer on their behalf. Seeing to what they had already attained in the Christian life into which that marvellous grace had brought them, especially in faith and in brotherly love, his prayer is that they may increase in these yet more and more, and in particular that they may have an enlarging insight into the hope that springs from their calling, the inheritance which is reserved for them, and the present power of Christ which is the guarantee for all that they have and look for.
Ver. 15. Διὰ τοῦτο κἀγώ; For this cause I too. διὰ τοῦτο might cover the contents of the entire preceding para- graph, pointing back to ver. 3 and in- dicating that in his thanksgiving to God, in behalf of these Ephesians, the Apostle had in his mind the whole counsel and eternal choice of God of which he first made mention, and the whole operation of grace in the lives of the Ephesians in the several particulars afterwards in- stanced. In view, however, of the tran- sition from the more general “‘us”’ to the more definite “' ye also” in ver. 13 it is probably more accordant with the tenor of thought to take the διὰ τοῦτο to re- fer to the signal manifestation of God's grace in the sealing of these believers, who had been taken from the dark pagan world, with the Spirit which was both assurance and foretaste of απ΄ inheri- tance undreamt of in their heathenism. The κἀγώ is best explained by the same καὶ ὑμεῖς. It means simply ‘“‘I on my side,” and does not imply as some, in- cluding, even Meyer, suppose, that the writer was thinking of a co-operation be-