q=ch. iii. ο, ὃ κτισθέντες ἐν χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ * ἐπὶ " ἔργοις " ἀγαθοῖς, " οἷς "προητοι- Col. i. τό, pacer ὁ θεὸς ἵνα ἡ ἐν αὐτοῖς * περιπατήσωμεν.
iii. τὸ
13; 1 ποι. ἦν. 7. 5 Acts ix. 36; Rom. ii. τς
only; Isa. xxviii. 24. v Rom. vi. 4; 2 τ w W. ὅτι, Paul only; Acts xx. 31; 2 Thess, ii. 5. y Rom. ii. 28 reff.
11. Διὸ “μνημονεύετε ὅτι] * ποτὲ ὑμεῖς τὰ ἔθνη 7 ἐν σαρκὶ, οἱ
ii. 3 al. fr. iv. 2, x. 3, ch. v. 2; Col. ii. 6, iv.5; 1 Johni. 6,7
t Attr., ii. 7 refi. u Rom. ix. 3
x=John ix. 13; Rom. vii. 9, xi. 30 al.
ἔδια τοντο μνημονενοντες up. οἱ wore... FG, Dial... Rec. up. wore °D®KLP, Syr.-P., Chr., Thdrt., etc. ; ποτε υμεις Ν΄ ΑΒΡΕ 17, 37, 73, 115, 116, ἃ, 6, f, Vulg.,
Dial., Diod., etc.
nature). Here, as the following clause shows, it expresses not appointment to something, but an actual making. The clause gives the reason for the statement that our salvation is not of works. We ourselves are a work, the handiwork of God, made anew by Him, and our salva- tion, therefore, is due to Him, not to ουτεεῖνες.-- κτισθέντες ἐν Χριστῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς: created in Christ Jesus for good works. Further defi- nition of the ποίημα αὐτοῦ. We are God's spiritual handiwork, in the sense that we were created by Him, made a new spiritual creature by Him when His grace made us Christians. This new creation was in Christ, so that except by union between Him and us it could not have taken place (Eph. ii. 15, iv. 24; 2 Cor. v. 17; Gal. vi. 15; Col. iii. το). Also it was with a view to good works, éwi being used here (much as in Gal. ν. 13; 1 Thess. iv. 7; 2 Tim. ii, 14) to express object; cf. Win.-Moult., p. 492. We ourselves then having been created anew by God, and good works being the object to which that new creation looked, not the cause that led to it, all must be of grace not of deeds (ἔργων), and there can be no room for boasting.—ols προητοίμα- σεν ὁ Θεὸς: which God afore prepared. The ols cannot with any propriety be con- strued as a masc., “ for whom He before appointed” (Erasm.); nor can it well be taken as the dat. of destination, ‘unto which God prepared us” (Luth., Schen- kel, etc.); for that would require the insertion of a ἡμᾶς. Nor, again, can it be taken in the intrans. sense, so as to give the idea “for which God made previous preparation” (Stier); for while ἑτοιμάζειν may be used intransitively (Luke ix. 52), the compound verb does not appear to be so used. It is best taken (with the Syr., Goth. and Vulg. Versions and the best exegetes) as a case of attraction—ols for ἅ, The προετοιμά- ζειν is not quite the same as προορίζειν. It means to prepare or place in readi-
ness before, not specifically to foreordain (Aug., Harl.). The προ- describes the preparation as prior to the creation (κτισ- θέντες). The subjects of the preparation also are the good works themselves, not the ways in which they are to be done, In relation to the question of human merit or glorying, therefore, good works are viewed in two distinct aspects. They are the goal to which God's new creation of us looked; they are also in God's eternal plan. Before He created us in Christ by our conversion He had destined these good works and made them ready for us in His purpose and decree. There is the unseen source from which they spring, and there is their final explanation.
—tva ἐν αὐτοῖς περιπατήσωμεν: that we od’s p
should walk in them. G in the place which He gave to works in His decree was that they should actu- ally and habitually be done by us. His