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the phrase is a wish or an affirmation. The other instances in the N. T. give no clear decision. The examples in 2 Cor. 1:3 and 1 Pet. 1:3 are exactly parallel. Luke 1:68 suggests ‘ be ’ by the following o{ti . Rom. 9:5 is uncertain. The affirmative sense is definitely expressed in Rom. 1:25 ( o{" ejstin eujl. ), and 2 Cor. 11:31 ( oJ w]n eujl .). On the whole the rendering Blessed be ... seems to be the most natural. V. L. benedictus est.


oJ qeo;" kai; path;r t. k. hJm. jI. C. ] Both titles may be taken with the genitive:
the GOD and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ’ He Who is ‘our GOD and Father’ is also ‘the GOD and the Father’ of the Lord: John 20:17 pro;" to;n patevra mou kai; patevra uJmw'n kai; qeovn mou kai; qeo;n uJmw'n . The title ‘the GOD of our Lord Jesus Christ’ occurs Eph. 1:17 (compare Heb. 1:9; Matt. 27:46); but ‘the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ in Eph. 3:14 is a false reading.

On the other hand the corresponding phrase in Col. 1:3 tw'/ qew'/ patri; tou' k. hJ. jI. C. is unambiguous— GOD the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and the words here can be understood in this sense: GOD Who is also Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this case the article is taken with the whole compound phrase qeo;" kai; p. t.
k. jI. C.
: ‘He Who is GOD and is further revealed as Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ There is the same ambiguity in the other places where the phrase occurs: 2 Cor. 1:3; 11:31; Rom. 15:6; 1 Pet. 1:3. But in Apoc. 1:6 tw'/ qew'/ kai; patri; aujtou' (i.e. jI. C. ); 1 Cor. 15:24 o{tan paradidw'/ th;n bas. tw'/ qew'/ kai; patriv the sense appears to be clear.
oJ eujloghvsa" ...] Who blessed ..., not ‘who blesses’ or ‘who will bless.’ The work of GOD for us is potentially complete. Probably the time to which St Paul looks is the call of each believer when he was made partaker of the truth of the Incarnation.

The divine blessing is regarded under three co-ordinate aspects ( ejn, ejn, ejn ): ejn p. eujlogiva/ , the atmosphere, as it were, by which it encompasses us; ejn toi'" ejpouranivoi" , the order in which it is realised; ejn Cristw'/ , the living Person in Whom it is centred. A true personal sense of this blessing, which is a matter of experience and not of testimony, gives the right interpretation of life and duty and service.

For the use of the aorist in regard to the Divine work of redemption in different relations, compare Eph. 1:4 ejxelevxato , vs. 5 proorivsa" , vs. 6 ejcarivtwsen . 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 3:5.
hJma'" ] St Paul unites himself in this respect with his fellow-believers; compare 1 John 2:1 f. note. He assumes that his own experience is theirs. He is not teaching a new truth, but reminding them of one with which they were familiar. The repetition of hJmei'" throughout this section is to be noticed. Elsewhere the passage from the general thought of Christian privileges to the special grace shewn to the Gentiles is most suggestive: Eph. 1:12, 13; cc. 1:18-20; 3:8-10; 4:1, 7, 13, 20; 6:11-20. ejn pavsh/ eujl. pn .] in all spiritual blessing , in spiritual blessing of every form (vs. 8 ejn pavsh/ sofiva/ ; 4:2 meta; pavsh" tapeinofrosuvnh" note), blessing, that is, which quickens and finds its place in our highest life. All human powers can be spiritually affected. Compare 1 Cor. 1:30; Col. 2:9 f. ‘Spiritual’ is opposed to that which is earthly and sensuous (1 Cor. 15:44 ff.) in its source and form and object; compare 1 Pet. 2:5. With this exception the word pneumatikov" is found (more than twenty times) only in St Paul's Epistles. The temporal blessings of the Old Covenant are contrasted by implication with the spiritual blessings of the New. ejn toi'" ejpouranivoi" ] Vg. in caelestibus, in the heavenly order. The phrase ( ta; ejpouravnia ), as it is here used, is peculiar to this Epistle (not in Colossians). It describes the supramundane, supra-sensual, eternal order, or, as we should say,


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