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Eph_1:7. More precise elucidation, on the basis of experience ( ἔχομεν ), of what had just been said, ἐχαρίτ . ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἠγαπ .
ἐν ᾧ ] so that in Him our possession of the redemption has its ground. He it is, without whose person and work we should not have been redeemed; χωρὶς Χριστοῦ (Eph_2:12), no ἀπολύτρωσις . Comp. Rom_3:24. The relative has, as is often the case (see, generally, Stallbaum, ad Plat. Phil. p. 195 f.; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 371), argumentative significance. Comp. here especially Eph_3:12.
τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν ] the redemption, namely, from God’s wrath and penalties, which before our entrance into faith we had incurred through sin (Rom_1:18; Rom_3:23; Rom_5:5 ff; Rom_7:7 ff.; Eph_2:3; Eph_5:6, al.), as those who were under the dominion of the devil (Col_1:13; Act_26:18). The purchase-price (1Co_6:20; 1Co_7:23; Mat_20:28; Mar_10:45) through which Christ, in voluntary obedience towards God’s gracious counsel, accomplished this ἀπολύτρωσις , was His blood, which He shed as an ἱλαστήριον for the benefit of men (Rom_3:25; Rom_5:8-9; 2Co_5:21; Col_1:21; Col_2:13 f.). On ἀπολύτρωσις , as the effect of the atoning death, in which case the blood of Christ is always conceived of as the purchase-price, see Rom_3:24.
διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ ] by means of His blood, a more precise definition of the preceding ἐν ᾧ . Paul might have written ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ (Eph_2:13); but he in general prefers an interchange of prepositions (comp. 2Co_3:11; Rom_3:30; Gal_2:16; Phm_1:5), to which he was here specially led by his epexegetic purpose (comp. Eph_3:12; 1Th_3:7).
τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν παραπτωμάτων ] apposition to τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν , the essence of which is the forgiveness of sins obtained on account of the death of Christ. As to the distinction between πάρεσις (Rom_3:25) and ἄφεσις (used by Paul also in Col_1:14), see on Rom_3:25.
τῶν παραπτωμάτων denotes always the actual individual sins (Eph_2:1 ff.; and see on Rom_5:20); hence Paul has not mentally included a forgiveness of inborn sinfulness (Olshausen).
κατὰ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ] is not to be resolved into an adjective (“gratia liberalissima,” Koppe); but the riches, i.e. the great fulness (Codex 17 has τὸ πλῆθος ), of the divine grace is that, in consequence of which we have in Christ the redemption. It is to be noted that here, as well as in Eph_1:6, the reference to the divine grace serves to wind up one element of the discourse, and (by ἧς ) to annex another. As to πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος (Eph_2:7, Eph_3:16), see on Rom_2:4. We may add that Lachmann, Rückert, tischendorf have the form τὸ πλοῦτος , following A B D* E (?) à * min., to which also F G fall to be added with the transcriber’s error τοῦ πλοῦτος ; and rightly. See on 2Co_8:2, Remark; and see Winer, p. 64 [E. T. 76].