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Eph_3:20-21. That which is strictly speaking the prayer, the petition, is at an end; but the confidence in the Almighty, who can still do far more, draws forth from the praying heart a right full and solemn ascription of praise, with the fulness of which that of Rom_16:25-27 is to be compared.
ὑπὲρ πάντα ποιῆσαι ] to be taken together. To he able to do beyond all, i.e. more than all, is a popular expression of the very highest active power; so that πάντα is quite unlimited, and it is not, with Grotius, arbitrarily to be limited by quae hactenus visa sunt. This ὑπὲρ πάντα does not belong to δυναμένῳ (Holzhausen), because otherwise ποιῆσαι would be superfluous; nor does ὑπέρ stand adverbially (2Co_11:23), as Bengel would have it, which could not occur to any reader on account of the πάντα standing beside it. There is nothing at which the action of God would have its limit; He can do still more.
ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ ὧν αἰτούμ . ἢ νοοῦμ .] a more precise definition to the universal and indefinite ὑπὲρ πάντα , specializing and at the same time enhancing the notion of ὑπέρ : above measure more than what we ask or understand. According to Rückert, ὧν αἰτούμ . has reference to πάντα : Paul namely, instead of adding ὧν αἰτούμ . immediately after πάντα , has first for the strengthening of the ὑπέρ introduced the additional ὑπερεκπερ ., and now must needs annex in the genitive what ought properly, as construed with πάντα , to follow in the accusative. A course in itself quite unnecessary; and if the apostle had been concerned only about a strengthening of the ὑπέρ , and he had, in using πάντα , already had ἃ αἰτούμ . in his mind, he must have written after ὑπερεκπερ .: πάντων ἃ αἰτούμ .; so that the sense would be: more than all (which we ask, etc.), exceeding more than all, which we ask, etc.
ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ ] is, with the exception of 1Th_3:10; 1Th_5:13 (Elz.), codd. at Dan_3:22, nowhere else preserved. Comp., however, ὑπερεκπερισσῶς , 1Th_5:13; Clem. Cor. I. 20; λίαν ἐκ περισσοῦ , Mar_6:51; ὑπερπερισσῶς , Mar_7:37; ὑπερπερισσεύω , Rom_5:20; 2Co_7:4. The frequent, and in part bold, compounds with ὑπέρ used by Paul are at such places in keeping with the intensity of his pious feeling, which struggles after adequate expression.
ὧν , for τούτων ἅ , is genitive of comparison. See Bernhardy, p. 139.
ἤ ] Whether our asking or our apprehending be regarded, the one as the other is infinitely surpassed by God’s active power. “Cogitatio latius patet quam preces; gradatio,” Bengel.
τὴν ἐνεργουμ .] not passive (Estius), but middle. See on Gal_5:6.
ἐν ἡμῖν ] in our minds, appeal to the consciousness of experience with regard to the divine power, which is at work in the continued enlightenment and whole Christian endowment of the inner man.[195] Michaelis arbitrarily refers it to the miraculous gifts, which in fact would be applicable only to individuals.
[195] Chrysostom aptly remarks that this, too, we should neither have asked nor hoped.