Ver. 25. ἧς ἐγενόμην ἐγὼ διάκονος, With these words Paul returns to ver. 23, speaking of himself here, however, as a minister of the Church, there of the Gospel. Because he is a minister of the Church, it is a joy to suffer for its wel- fare. He proceeds to explain what his peculiar (ἐγὼ emphatic) ministry is.— κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν : cf. Eph. iii. 2. otk. is “‘ stewardship ” rather than ‘‘ dispensa- tion’ (cf. 1 Cor. ix. 17). τ. Θεοῦ indi- cates that this office is held in the house of God, or that it has been entrusted to him by God.—eis ὑμᾶς : to be taken with δοθ. as in Eph. iii. 2, not with πληρ. (as by Chrys. and Hofm.), It means towards you Gentiles, that is for your benefit. The context shows that the Gentiles are uppermost in his thought. --πληρῶσαι τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ: “to fulfil the word of God”. πλ. is taken by some of the completion by this letter of the teaching already given to the Colossians. But Paul is speaking of the function specially entrusted to him. Generally this is explained of the geo- graphical extension of the Gospel. Haupt thinks the geographical point of view is not present here. An essential characteristic of the Gospel is its universality. Paul’s special mission is to bring this to realisa-
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27. οἷς ἠθέλησεν ὁ Θεὸς γνωρίσαι τί τὸ πλοῦτος THs δόξης τοῦ μυστηρίου τούτου ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, 6! ἐστιν Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, ἡ ἐλπὶς
1 801.η., Tr., W.H., R.V. with ABFGP 17. ος: T., Ws. with CDEKL, by
attraction to gender of Χριστος.
tion. This he does by proclaiming the Gospel to the Gentiles, thus making clear the true nature ofthe Gospel. This suits the context better, for Paul proceeds to define the mystery entrusted to him as the universality of salvation, not the wide extension of the Gospel. Other interpretations may be seen in Meyer or Eadie.
Ver. 26. Partially parallel to Eph. iii. 9. How great the honour conferred on Paul is, appears from the fact that he is entrusted with the duty of declaring the long concealed secret which is the distinguishing mark of his Gospel.—ro μυστήριον. Lightfoot thinks that the term is borrowed by Paul from the Greek mysteries, and that it is intentionally chosen to point the contrast between those secret mysteries and the Gospel which is offered to all. But for the mysteries the plural wasemployed. And there would be more justification for this interpretation in Matt. xiii. 11 = Luke viii. το, where the disciples are told by Jesus that to them it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but not to others. But it will not be seriously supposed that Christ borrowed the term from the Greek mysteries. A mystery is a truth which man cannot know by his natural powers, so that if it is known it must be revealed.—rd ἀποκεκρυμμένον ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων καὶ τῶν γενεῶν. Usually ἀπὸ is taken as temporal, and this agrees with the fact that similar references in Paul are temporal (1 Cor. ii. 7, Rom. xvi. 25), and with the use of ἀπὸ as in ἀπ᾽ αἰῶνος and ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου (Matt. xxv. 34). ἀπὸ καταβολῆς occurs with κρύπτω (Matt. xiii. 35). But elsewhere ἀπὸ after κρύπτω or ἀποκρύ indicates those from whom a thing is concealed. In favour of this meaning here is the order, for if ἀπὸ τ. al. were tem- poral ἀπὸ τ. γεν. would be included as a matter of course. It has been so taken here, not by Klépper, who suggests it as possible, but does not accept it, but by Franke. He thinks both are terms for angels, and in itself such a reference is not improbable, for it is through the Church that the principalities and powers come to learn the manifold wisdom of God (Eph. iii. 9, where just before the