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Eph_1:21 is no parenthesis, since neither the construction nor the logical progress of the thought is interrupted.
ὑπεράνω expresses not the infinite exaltedness (the Greek Fathers, Beza, Estius), nor yet the dominion over (Bengel), although the latter is implied in the nature of the case, but simply: up above (Heb_9:5; Eze_1:26; Eze_8:2; Deu_28:1; Cant. tr. puer. 37; Tob_1:3; Ael. V. H. ix. 7; Polyb. xii. 24. 1). The opposite is ὑποκάτω , Mar_6:11; Heb_2:8.
πάσης ἀρχῆς … κυριότητος is neither to be understood, with Schoettgen, of the Jewish hierarchs, nor, with van Til (in Wolf), of the various grades of Gentile rulers, nor, with Morus, of human powers in general, nor, with Erasmus, Vorstius, Wolf, Zachariae, Eosenmüller, Flatt, Olshausen, and others, of quodcumque gloriae et dignitatis genus (comp. 1Co_15:24); but, as is shown by the immediate context ( ἐκάθισεν … ἐν τοῖς ἐπουραν .) and the analogous passages, Eph_3:10, Col_1:16, Rom_8:38 (comp. also 1Pe_3:22), of the angels, who are designated according to their classes of rank (abstracta pro concretis), and, in fact, of the good angels, since the apostle is not here speaking (as in 1Co_15:24) of the victory of Christ over opposing powers, but of His exaltation above the existing powers in heaven. See, moreover, on Rom_8:38. In opposition to Hofmann, who (Schriftbew. I. p. 347) would find in the different designations not any order of rank, but only various relations to God and the world, see Hahn, Theol. d. N.T. I. p. 291 ff. Comp. also Kahnis, Dogm. I. p. 558 f. Christ Himself already, Mat_18:10, assumes a diversity of rank among the angels; it is thus the more arbitrary, that expressions evidently in stated use, which in the case of two apostles and then in the Test. XII. Patr. correspond to this idea (even apart from the Jewish doctrine of classes of angels) should not be referred to it. More precise information, however, as to the relations and functions of the different grades of angels[116] is not to be given, since Paul does not himself enter into particulars on the point, and the Rabbinical theory of classes of angels, elaborated under the influence of Platonism, yet dissimilar (see Eisenmenger, Entdeckt. Judenth. II. p. 374; Bartolocci, Bibl. Rabb. I. p. 267 ff.; Gfrörer, Jahrh. d. Heils, I. p. 357 ff.), is not in keeping with the designations of the apostle (see Harless in loc.; Fritzsche, ad Rom. II. p. 226), and has evidently been elaborated at a later date. It is nevertheless probable that the order of succession is here arranged according to a descending climax; for (1) the apostle, in looking at the matter, proceeds most naturally from above downward, from the right hand of God to the heavenly beings which hold the next place beneath Him, and so on; (2) the ἀρχαί , ἐξουσίαι , and δυνάμεις are always mentioned in the same order (Eph_3:10; Col_1:16; Col_2:10; 1Pe_3:22); the ἐξουσίαι , however, with the θρόνοι (Col_1:16) are, Test. XII. Patr. p. 548, placed in the seventh heaven, and the δυνάμεις only in the third (p. 547), as, indeed, in Jamblichus, v. 21, p. 136, the δυνάμεις are placed far below the ἀρχαί . According to this, the θρόνοι and κυριότητες , Col_1:16, would be placed in juxtaposition as the two extremes of the angelic series. Another view is taken by Hahn, Theol. d. N.T. I. p. 297 f.
That Paul, moreover, sets forth Christ as exalted above the angel-world, with a polemic purpose in opposition to the θρησκεία ἀγγέλων of the Gnosis of Asia Minor (comp. Col_2:18) (Bucer, Estius, Hug, and others), is not to be assumed, since the form of the representation maintains purely a positive character, and the thing itself was so natural to the Christian consciousness generally (comp. Heb_1:4), and to the connection in the case of our passage in particular, as to need no polemic occasion in order to its being expressed, and expressed with such solemnity. Even a purpose of guarding against possible infection on the part of such a Gnosis (Schneckenburger, Olshausen) is at least not expressed or more specially-indicated; it may, however, have still been partially present to the mind of the apostle from the sphere of thought of the previously composed Epistle to the Colossians. Comp. Introd. § 4.
καὶ παντὸς ὀνόματος κ . τ . λ .] and, i.e. and generally (see Fritzsche, ad Matth. pp. 786, 870), above every name, which is named. Let any name be uttered, whatever it is, Christ is above it, is more exalted than that which the name so uttered affirms. Comp. Php_2:9. That ὄνομα is here dignitatis potentiaeve nomen (Erasmus, Calvin, Grotius, and others), as Hom. Od. xxiv. 93; Strabo, vi. p. 245 ( ἐν ὀνόματι εἶναι ), and the like (see Wolf, ad Dem. Lept. p. 346; Jacobs, ad Anthol. IX. p. 226), is not to be supposed on account of ὀνομαζομένου , since this makes the simple literal meaning name the only possible one (comp. Plato, Soph. p. 262 B); and, if Morus and Harless (comp. also Michaelis and Rückert) have supplied the notion underlying the preceding abstract nouns: “above every name, namely, of such character,” they have done so arbitrarily, as παντός stands without restrictive addition. πᾶν ὄνομα is quite general: any name whatever; from the heavenly powers, above which Christ is placed, the glance of the apostle stretches to every (created) thing generally, which may anyhow be named. Comp. πάντα , Eph_1:22.
οὐ μόνον κ . τ . λ .] cannot belong to ἐκάθισεν κ . τ . λ . (Morus, Koppe; comp. already Beza and Zanchius), since ἐκάθισεν is an act, which has taken place in the αἰὼν αὗτος , but it belongs to ὀνομαζομ .: which is named in the present world-period, before the Parousia, and in the future one, after the Parousia. As to αἰὼν οὗτος and αἰὼν μέλλων , see on Mat_12:32. “Natural and supernatural order of the world” (Schenkel), and similar conceptions, are not to be substituted for the historical idea.
[116] Ignatius, Trall. 5, calls them τὰς τοποθεσίας τὰς ἀγγελικάς . Comp. also Hermas, Past. i. 3, 4. But if the ἀρχαὶ κ . τ . λ . are angels, they are also conceived of as personal, not as “principles and potencies, powers, forces, ordinances, and laws” (Beyschlag, Christol. d. N.T. p. 244), consequently in an abstract sense. The abstract designation has its basis in the fact that classes or categories of personal beings are expressed, just as, e.g., ἐξουσία is said of human authorities, which consist of persons.