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are called according to His purpose ( toi'" kata; provqesin klhtoi'" ou\sin )’: and in 9:11 ‘that the purpose of God according to election ( hJ katj ejklogh;n provqesi" tou' qeou' ) might stand.’

Here in the Epistle to the Ephesians we have Eph. 1:9 ‘according to His good pleasure, which He purposed ( proevqeto ) in Him,’ i.e. in accordance with the gracious purpose which He set before Himself to accomplish in Him (sc. ejn tw'/ hjgaphmevnw/ ): then 1:11 ‘foreordained according to the purpose ( kata; provqesin ) of Him, Who worketh all things after the counsel of His will ( kata; t. boulh;n tou' qelhvmato" aujtou' ): and lastly 3:11 ‘according to a purpose of the ages ( kata; provqesin tw'n aijwvnwn ) which He accomplished in the Christ, even Jesus our Lord.’

The word boulhv is used of God in Luke 7:30, Acts 2:23, 13:36, 20:27, and in Heb. 6:17 to; ajmetavqeton th'" boulh'" aujtou' , as well as in the passage in Acts above quoted (Acts 4:28) where it occurs with the verb prowvrise , and in the verse of this Epistle just cited (Eph. 1:11) in connexion with provqesi" . The ‘counsel’ referred to in the Epistle to the Hebrews was that of bringing universal blessing to men through the seed of Abraham: and so in this Epistle it is through Israel in old time, and now through the Christian Church, a new Israel, that the counsel of God is wrought out for the world.

Bouvlesqai is used of the Divine purpose in 1 Cor. 12:11 pavnta de; tau'ta ejnergei' to; e}n kai; to; aujto; pneu'ma, diairou'n ijdiva/ eJkavstw/ kaqw;" bouvletai , Jas. 1:18, 2 Pet. 3:9, Matt. 11:27 (=Lk. 10:22), as well as in Heb. 6:17 perissovteron boulovmeno" oJ qeo;" ejpidei'xai k.t.l. ( v. supr. ), where, as elsewhere, it regards a purpose with respect to something else— God being minded to shew more abundantly to man's apprehension—and not (like qevlein ) a feeling in respect of the person ‘willing’ himself (cf. Col. 1:27 oi|" hjqevlhsen oJ qeo;" gnwrivsai, tiv to; plou'to" th'" dovxh" t. musthrivou touvtou ejn t. e[qnesin ). The verb ( bouvlesqai ) does not occur in the Ephesian Epistle.

The Will of God is not arbitrary, but guided by a settled counsel ( boulhv ). The revelation of this Divine counsel—or ‘mystery’—is thus the expression of His Will.

To the fulfilment of His counsel God prepared the way through all the changes of time unceasingly, and now at length the steps towards it can be seen.

By the coming of the Son of God an eternal purpose was fulfilled—a purpose eternally designed, if only lately disclosed.

With the Father purpose and work are one. Historically, the great counsel of God, interrupted by man's sin, was accomplished by the redemptive work of Christ.

Redemption.

The words connected with the idea of ‘redemption,’ found in the New Testament (for their use in the LXX. see Add. Note on Heb. 9:12, Hebrews , p. 295) are luvtron, ajntivlutron, lutrou'sqai, lutrwthv", luvtrwsi", ajpoluvtrwsi" .

Of these luvtron alone occurs in the Gospels, and only in Matt. 20:28 (=Mark 10:45) dou'nai th;n yuch;n aujtou' luvtron ajnti; pollw'n : while lutrwth;" is found only in Acts 7:35, of Moses.

With the exception of the single occurrence of luvtron in the Synoptic narrative, the whole group of words is confined to the Epistles of St Paul and writings (including 1 Peter) which are strongly coloured by his language. They are entirely


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