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of the glory of His grace. The grace of GOD is, as is explained in the next clause, the free and bounteous goodness with which He has visited us in His Son. The glory of this grace is the manifestation of its power as men are enabled to perceive it. Each fresh manifestation calls out a fresh acknowledgment of its surpassing excellence. Christians therefore in whom it is effective are set to reveal the perfections of Christ—the Son made known in the many sons— and by revealing them, to call out the thankful adoration of men. Compare Phil. 1:11.

For th'" cavrito" compare Eph. 1:7 to; plou'to" th'" cavrito" aujtou' , Eph. 2:7 to; uJperbavllon plou'to" t. car. aujtou' . So St Paul reckons his own apostolic commission ( hJ cavri" Eph. 3:2, 7, 8) and the endowment of each Christian ( hJ cavri" Eph. 4:7) as GOD'S bounteous gift.
h|" ejcarivtwsen hJm .] Latt. in qua gratificavit nos. Wherewith He highly favoured us, which He freely bestowed upon us. For h|" see Eph. 4:1; 2 Cor. 1:4. It may represent h{n ( cavrin caritou'n ) or h|/ , though the attraction of the dative is very much rarer. See Eph. 1:8. Caritou'n is to affect with cavri" , which may be taken either subjectively ‘to endue with grace,’ ‘to make gracious,’ or objectively ‘to visit with grace,’ ‘to treat graciously.’ The former sense is found in Ecclus. 18:17 para; ajndri; kecaritwmevnw/ and Ps. 17:26 (18:26) Symm. meta; tou' kecaritwmevnou caritwqhvsh/ , and is given by Chrysostom here: ouj movnon aJmarthmavtwn ajphvllaxen ajlla; kai; ejperavstou" ejpoivhsen . But it appears to be contrary to the context which dwells on the greatness of GOD'S gift. Nor does St Paul use cavri" of human grace, not Eph. 4:29, nor Col. 4:6 (yet see Lightfoot l. c.). On kecaritwmevnh in Lk. 1:28 Bengel remarks truly: non ut mater gratiae sed ut filia gratiae appellatur.

At the same time the working of GOD'S gracious gift by incorporating the believer in Christ makes him capable and meet for the presence of GOD. ejn tw'/ hjgap .] Latt. in dilecto filio suo: in the beloved. There is the same ambiguity in this translation as in blessed (Eph. 1:3). Two forms are thus rendered, the verbal ajgaphtov" (answering to eujloghtov" ) claiming love by its very nature; and hjgaphmevno" , which (like eujloghmevno" ) suggests in every case some special manifestation of love. jAgaphtov" is used of Christ by the heavenly Voice: Matt. 3:17 (Mk 1:11; Lk. 3:22); Matt. 17:5 (2 Pet. 1:17; Mk 9:7; not Lk. 9:35); and it is used of men frequently. This is the only place in which hjgaphmevno" is used of Christ in the N.
T., and it is evident that stress is laid upon the manifestation of GOD'S love to His Son which He had even then made in His exaltation to heaven. This was itself the pledge of man's exaltation (Eph. 2:6). For this reason a unique title is used in place of
ejn Cristw'/. jHgaphmevno" is used of men 1 Thess. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13 (LXX.); Rom. 9:25 (LXX.); Col. 3:12; and of Christ in Barn. ep. 3.6 (with the note of Gebhardt and Harnack); 4:3 (8).

(b) and realised in time in spite of man's fall (7-14).

So far the Apostle has described the eternal purpose and work of the Father, for with Him purpose and work are one. He now passes on to the historical fulfilment of the Divine counsel after sin entered the world, and shows that the redemption wrought by Christ through His blood (vs. 7) has been made known in its universal power (8-10), for which glorious consummation Israel had been prepared by a long discipline (11, 12) and in which the Gentiles by faith had found a place (13), receiving the Holy Spirit, the pledge of the final victory of GOD (14).

7. In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our


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