Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Ephesians 2:5 - 2:5
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
5. συνεζωοποίησεν [ἐν] τῷ χριστῷ. The various readings here are of great interest and it is hard to decide between them. Either of them might quite easily have given rise to the other, though perhaps the accidental omission of εν after σεν would be slightly more probable than its accidental repetition. Intrinsically the difficulty of the phrase ἐν τῷ χριστῷ might have led to alteration. On the other hand it is possible, though not so likely, that the ἐν was inserted by assimilation to ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ in Eph 2:6. If ἐν is retained the συν must refer to the common quickening of all the members together in the Christ, and not to the fact of their sharing individually in His quickening. This sense of the compound seems to be required later in the phrase συνεκάθισεν ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ and inferentially in the συνήγειρεν that precedes it. It is therefore difficult to give the preposition a different meaning in συνεζωοποίησεν. No doubt elsewhere in St Paul similar compounds, συνζήσομεν (Rom 6:8; 2Ti 2:11), συμβασιλεύσομεν (2Ti 2:12), συνταφέντες (Rom 6:4; Col 2:12), as well as συνήγειρεν and συνεζωοποίησεν, in a closely similar context in Col 2:12, are used constantly of union with Christ. Yet St Paul uses both συνζῇν (2Co 7:3) and συμβασιλεύειν (1Co 4:8) in the other sense, and with συνκληρονόμα, σύνσωμα, συνμέτοχα to come in Eph 3:6 we cannot say that such a meaning is anything but natural in this epistle. It is better therefore to retain the ἐν. This has a further advantage as it helps to explain the change from τῷ χριστῷ to Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ in the next verse. See Additional Note on ὁ χριστός, p. 132.
χάριτί ἐστι σεσωσμένοι. A parenthetic clause to show that the blessings spoken of were already bestowed on Gentile believers in ideal completeness. Salvation (cf. on Eph 1:13) is here seen to include resurrection to new life and a share in the present sovereignty of Jesus Christ. The stress lies on the fact. By an act of Divine grace (independent of any works or merit or feelings on your part) you have already been brought into a state of salvation. In Eph 2:8 the stress lies on the method of the deliverance.