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Eph_1:9. In that He has made known to us the mystery of His will. The aorist participle signifies an action coincident and completed at the same time with ἐπερίσσ . See on Eph_1:5.
ἡμῖν ] applies, as in the whole connection, to the Christians generally; but in this case the extraordinary kinds of making known, which individuals among them had experienced (such as Paul himself, who was instructed διʼ ἀποκαλύψεως , Eph_3:3; Gal_1:12), are left out of account.
τὸ μυστήρ . τοῦ θελήμ . αὐτοῦ ] τοῦ θελήμ . is genitive objecti. And the mystery that concerns the divine will is the counsel of redemption accomplished through Christ, not in so far as it is in itself incomprehensible for the understanding, but in so far as, while formed from eternity, it was until the announcement of the gospel hidden in God, and veiled and unknown to men. See Rom_16:25 f.; Eph_3:4 f., 9, Eph_6:19; Col_1:26. By the prophets the mystery was not unveiled, but the unveiling of it was merely predicted; here at the proclamation of the gospel the prophetic predictions became means of its unveiling, Rom_16:25 f.
κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκ . αὐτοῦ ] belongs not to τὸ μυστ . τοῦ θελ . αὐτ . (Bleek), in which case it would stand in a tautologic relation to τοῦ θελ . αὐτ ., but rather to γνωρίσας κ . τ . λ ., stating that God has accomplished the making known in pursuance of His free self-determination. Comp. on Eph_1:5.
ἣν προέθετο ἐν αὑτῷ ] would be in itself redundant, but serves for the attaching of that which follows; hence no comma is to be placed after αὑτῷ . It is not, however, to be written as αὐτῷ (as by Lachmann, Harless, Tischendorf), since here the αὐτός ? cannot appear as the third person, as would be the case if the text had run in some such form as κατὰ τὴν πρόθεσιν αὐτοῦ , and as was previously the case with the thrice occurring αὐτοῦ . If αὐτῷ were to be read, a subject different from God would be meant; as, indeed, Chrysostom and his successors, as well as Luther, Calovius, Bengel, and others, in reality understood it of Christ, although the latter only comes in again at Eph_1:10, and that by name.
προέθετο ] set before Himself (Rom_1:13), purposed (namely, to accomplish it) in Himself, i.e. in His heart (anthropopathic designation). This purpose, too ( πρόθεσις , Eph_1:11), is to be conceived as formed before the creation of the world; without this idea, however, being expressed by προ , which is not even to be taken temporally, but locally (to set before oneself), comp. on προχειρίζομαι , Act_3:20. There is incorrectness, for the very reason that ἐν αὐτῷ does not apply to Christ, in the translation of Luther (comp. Vulgate): “and has brought forth [herfürgebracht] the same by Him,” though προέθ . in itself might have this meaning. See on Rom_3:25.