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‘i.e. fellow-recipients, fellow students, of the mysteries, with Paul’! This was signally true of the Ephesians, among whom St Paul resided for an exceptionally long time (Acts 19:10 sq., 20:31), with whom he was on terms of the most affectionate intimacy,—and who were the chief, though probably not the sole, recipients of the most profound of all his epistles. The propriety of the language here is still further enhanced by the fact that St Paul, in the Epistle to the Ephesians more especially dwells on the Gospel dispensation as musthvrion (Eph. 1:9, 3:3, 4, 9, 5:32, 6:19). Elsewhere (Phil. 4:12) he speaks of himself as memuhmevno" (Lightfoot, ad loc. ).

c. 17. i{na pnevh/ th'/ ejkklhsiva/ ajf qarsivan . Eph. 6:24 ejn ajfqarsiva/ . But ajfqarsiva occurs also in Rom. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:42, 50, 53, 54; 2 Tim. 1:10, Tit. 2:7

c. 18. oJ ga;r qeo;" hJmw'n jI. oJ cr . ejkuoforhvqh uJpo; Mariva" katj oijkonomivan ejk spevrmato" me;n Dauei;d, pneuvmato" de; aJgivou . Eph. 1:10 eij" oijkonomivan tou' plhrwvmato" tw'n kairw'n, ajnakefalaiwvsasqai ta; pavnta ejn tw'/ crivstw/ [v. note ad loc. ].

‘The word oijkonomiva came to be applied more especially to the Incarnation (as here and below, § 20, h|" hjrxavmhn oijkonomiva" k.t.l. ) because this was par excellence the system or plan which God had ordained for the government of His household and the dispensation of His stores.’ (Lightfoot, ad loc. ) ‘The first step towards this special appropriation of oijkonomiva to the Incarnation is found in St Paul: e.g. Eph. 1:10 eij" oijkonomivan k.t.l. ’ (Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers , II. 2. p. 75.)

c. 19. kai; e[laqen to;n a[rconta tou' aijw'no" touvtou hJ parqeniva Mariva" kai; oJ toketo;" aujth'", oJmoivw" kai; oJ qavnato" tou' kurivou: triva musthvria kraugh'", a{tina ejn hJsuciva/ qeou' ejpravcqh. pw'" ou\n ejfanerwvqh toi'" aijw'sin ;

‘Here kraughv is the correlative to hJsuciva , as revelation is to mystery. “These mysteries” Ignatius would say “were preordained and prepared in silence by God, that they might be proclaimed aloud to a startled world.” It is an exaggerated expression of the truth stated in Rom. 16:25 to; khvrugma jIhsou' Cristou' kata; ajpokavluyin musthrivou crovnoi" aijwnivoi" sesighmevnou, fanerw qevnto" de; nu'n.... toi'"
aijw'sin
—‘to the ages,’ past and future, which are here personified. It seems probable that in St Paul's expression, musthvrion ajpokekrummevnon ajpo; tw'n aijwvnwn (Eph. 3:9, Col. 1:26), the preposition should be taken as temporal (see the note on the latter passage); but Ignatius may have understood it otherwise.’ (Lightfoot.) Eph. 3:9 tou' musthrivou tou' ajpokekrummevnou ajpo; tw'n aijwvnwnajpokekrummevnou ajpo; tw'n aijwvnwn ejn tw'/ qew'/...i{na gnwrisqh'/ nu'n tai'" ajrcai'" k. tai'" ejxousivai" ejn toi'" ejpouranivoi" . Col. 1:26 to; musthvrion to; ajpokekrummevnon ajpo; tw'n aijwvnwn kai; ajpo; tw'n genew'n, nu'n de; ejfanerwvqh toi'" aJgivoi" aujtou' .

c. 20. eij" to;n kaino;n a[nqrwpon jIhsou'n Cristovn, ejn th'/ aujtou' pivstei kai; ejn th'/ aujtou' ajgavph/ . ‘The kaino;" a[nqrwpo" of Ignatius is equivalent to the e[scato" jAdavm , the deuvtero" a[nqrwpo" of St Paul (1 Cor. 16:45, 47). The Apostle himself seems to use oJ kaino;" a[nqrwpo" in a different sense, Eph. 4:24’ (But see note there.) Eph. 4:24 k. ejnduvsasqai to;n kaino;n a[nqrwpon to;n kata; qeo;n ktisqevnta ejn dikaiosuvnh/
k. oJsiovthti t. ajlhqeiva"
[v. note ad loc. ].


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