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Eph_3:7. Διάκονος ] Comp. Col_1:23; 2Co_3:6; also Luk_1:2. Paul became a servant of the gospel when he was enjoined by God through Christ (Gal_1:1; Gal_1:15 ff.; Act_9:22; Act_9:26) to devote his activity to the proclamation of the gospel. The distinction from ὑπηρέτης (used by Paul only at 1Co_4:1) is not, as Harless supposes, that διάκονος denotes the servant in his activity for the service, while ὑπηρέτης denotes him in his activity for the Master (see, in opposition to this, 1Co_12:3; Rom_13:4; 2Co_6:3; Col_1:7; Col_4:6); but both words indicate without distinction of reference the relation of service, and the difference lies only in this, that the two designations, in accordance with their etymology, are originally borrowed from different concrete relations of service ( διάκ ., runner; ὑπηρ ., rower; see the Lexicons, and on διάκονος , Buttm. Lexil. I. p. 218 ff.); in the usage, however, of the N.T., both words have retained merely the general notion of servant, as very frequently also with Greek writers. In opposition to Harless it may be also urged that not only is the expression διακονεῖν τινί τι used, but also in like manner ὑπηρετεῖν τινί τι (Xen. Anal, vii. 7. 46, Cyr. i. 6. 39; Soph. Phil. 1012). The gift, which was conferred upon Paul by the divine grace, and in consequence of which he became a servant of the gospel, is, agreeably to the context, the apostolic office (comp. Eph_3:2; Eph_3:8), not the donum linguarum (Grotius), nor yet the gift of the Holy Spirit (Flatt, after older expositors).
κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργ . τ . δυν . αὐτοῦ ] belongs to τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι . To the efficacious action of the power of God (comp. Eph_3:20, and on Eph_1:19) the bestowal of the gift of grace leads back the mind of the apostle, in the consciousness of what he had been before, Gal_1:13 ff. “Haec est potentiae ejus efficacia, ex nihilo grands aliquid efficere,” Calvin. By the bestowal, in fact, of that gift of the divine grace Saul had become changed into Paul; hence κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργ . τ . δυν . αὐτοῦ .