Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Ephesians 1:3 - 1:3
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Eph_1:3. Εὐλογητός ] praised ( áÌÈøåÌêÀ ), sc. εἴη . Comp. Rom_9:5; 2Co_1:3; Luk_1:68; 1Pe_1:3; 1Ki_15:29. It is prefixed here, since, as in most doxologies (see on Rom_11:5), in keeping with the emotion of the heart which breaks forth in songs of praise, the emphasis lies on it. Where the stress in conformity with the context rests upon the person, this is prefixed, as at 1Ki_10:9; 2Ch_9:8; Job_1:21; Psa_68:20; Psa_112:1-2; Rom_9:5. The second Epistle to the Corinthians begins also with an ascription of praise to God, and the general character of that now before us cannot, in view of the general contents of the Epistle (comp. 1Pe_1:3 ff.) appear un-Pauline (in opposition to de Wette), especially as the thanksgiving which has reference to the readers comes in afterwards in Eph_1:15 f.
ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου κ . τ . λ .] God, who at the same time is the Father of Jesus Christ. See on Rom_15:6; 1Co_15:24; 2Co_11:31; Theodore of Mopsuestia in Cramer’s Catena. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylact, and others, including Michaelis, Koppe, Rückert, Olshausen, Schenkel, Bleek, have incorrectly attached τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν also to ὁ Θεός . It is true, indeed, that there is no objection to the idea “the God of Christ” in itself, and τέ before καί would not be at all necessary, as Harless thinks (see Eph_4:6; 1Pe_2:25, al.); but against it stands the fact that ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πατήρ , even without a genitive, was a stated Christian designation of God (comp. on Rom_15:6), in which case πατήρ only, and not Θεός , requires a complementary genitive (v. 20; 1Co_15:24; Jam_1:27; Jam_3:9). Moreover, the expression the God of Christ stands so isolated in the N.T. (see on Eph_1:17), that we may not attribute to it any such currency, as it must have had, if it were contained in the formula ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου κ . τ . λ .
ὁ εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς ] Aorist: by the work of redemption. Observe the ingenious correlation of the passive εὐλογητός and the active εὐλογήσας , as well as the dilogia, by which the former denotes the blessing in word, and the latter the blessing in deed (comp. Rom_15:29; 2Co_9:5 f.; Gal_3:8-9; Gal_3:14; Act_3:26). ἡμᾶς applies to the Christians generally, not to Paul (Koppe), against which view the unsuitableness of such a thanksgiving of the apostle for himself at the head of the Epistle, as well as the actual plurality of persons in the whole context (Eph_1:4; Eph_1:11-12), and κἀγώ , Eph_1:15, are decisive.
ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ ] instrumental: by His imparting to us every spiritual blessing (comp. Test. XII. Patr. p. 722: εὐλογ . ἐν ἀγαθοῖς ); none has He withheld from us. This, however, is not to be explained as blessing, which concerns our spirit (Erasmus, Michaelis, Morus, Rosenmüller; Koppe and Rückert are undecided), but: proceeding from the Holy Spirit, because the distinctively Christian benefits are meant, and these are χαρίσματα . Comp. Rom_1:11; Rom_15:29; 1Co_12:1 ff. This blessing is wrought by God from heaven through the communication of the Spirit (Eph_1:13; Gal_3:5; 1Co_12:6, and elsewhere), hence God is praised for it. We may add that a contrast to the earthly benefits promised to the Jews in the Old Testament (Grotius and others, including recently Holzhausen), or to the typical blessings of the Jews and the empty possessions of the Gentiles (Schöttgen), is foreign to the context. Paul denotes the matter in a purely positive form as it is, according to its characteristic nature; hence there is not in πάσῃ any contrast to merely sporadic blessings in the O. T. The εὐλογία consists in the most varied expressions, as in grace, truth, peace, joy, love, hope, consolation, patience, and all Christian virtues as the fruit of the Spirit (Gal_5:22; Rom_5:1 ff.). Compare πᾶν ἀγαθὸν τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν , Phm_1:6.
ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ] local: in the heavenly regions, in heaven. Comp. Eph_1:20; Eph_2:6; Eph_3:10; Eph_6:12. Against the instrumental rendering, according to which it is understood, as a more precise definition of the spiritual blessing, of the heavenly possessions[93] (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, Luther, Castalio, Piscator, Vorstius, Homberg, Michaelis, Zachariae, Morus, Flatt, Bleek, and others), we may urge, not the article (in opposition to Rückert, Harless, Olshausen),—which would very appropriately denote the category,—but the fact, that Paul has not added ἀγαθοῖς or ΧΑΡΊΣΜΑΣΙ , just because in our Epistle ἘΝ ΤΟῖς ἘΠΟΥΡΑΝΊΟΙς is constantly a designation of place.[94] The local ἘΝ ΤΟῖς ἘΠΟΥΡΑΝΊΟΙς is referred, either to God, so that heaven appears as the seat where the divine blessing is being prepared (Beza, Boyd),—but how idle and self-evident that would be! or to ἡμεῖς , so that heaven, as the seat of our ΠΟΛΊΤΕΥΜΑ (Php_3:20), would be the scene of the divine blessing. So Pelagius, Beza (who leaves a choice between the two views), Grotius (who says that the blessings place us et spe et jure in coelo), Baumgarten, Koppe, Rückert, and others. The aorist would not be at variance with this view, since the matter might be set forth proleptically in accordance with an ideal mode of looking at it (comp. Eph_2:6). But the whole explanation is far-fetched and opposed to the context; for πνευματικῇ shows that Paul has not thought of our having received this blessing in the heavenly ΠΟΛΊΤΕΥΜΑ , seeing that the Holy Spirit is received on earth as the present earnest of the heavenly heritage (Eph_1:13-14). Accordingly, the third reference remains the only correct one, under which ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις is attached as a local definition to ΕὐΛΟΓΊᾼ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙΚῇ : with every spiritual benefit in heaven, so that, because the Holy Spirit is in heaven, as is God Himself ὁ τὴν κατοικίαν ἐπουράνιον ἔχων (2Ma_3:39), the blessings also of the Spirit are regarded as to be found in heaven and brought down from thence to us. See Heb_6:4.
ἘΝ ΧΡΙΣΤῷ ] for in Christ lay the ground of that εὐλογεῖν accomplished in our case; not out of Christ, but in Him lay the cause that God blessed us with every spiritual blessing, since His act of redemption is the causa meritoria of this divine bestowal of blessing. Comp. Eph_1:4.
[93] These would not be possessions, which have reference to the heavenly life, but possessions which are to be found in heaven and are imparted to us. For ἐπουράνιος always means “to be found in heaven.” See Wetstein, I. p. 417; Bleek on Heb_3:1, p. 375. Comp. τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς , ver. 10.
[94] The expression ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις , which occurs five times in this Epistle and nowhere else in the N.T., is surprising. In the case of any writer, no doubt, a phrase not in current use with him at other times may be accidentally and temporarily suggested to him, the use of which he involuntarily appropriates and soon again as involuntarily abandons; yet it remains a surprising fact that the expression ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις is not also used in the Epistle to the Colossians written at the same time, where there was no lack of opportunity (Eph_1:5; Eph_1:16; Eph_1:20) for the use of the expression, although the two Epistles exhibit so much verbal affinity.