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GOD, not of works that no man should glory 10 For it is His workmanship we are, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which GOD afore prepared that in them we should walk.

22. St Paul suddenly changes the form of his writing. In the preceding verses he has set out the truths which the Ephesians were to master for themselves through the teaching of ‘the spirit of wisdom and revelation’: He now declares directly what GOD has done. The transition is prepared naturally by the reference to the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. These facts were not only events fitted to confirm the greatest hopes of Christians: they were the beginnings of a new order. Not only was Christ Himself exalted to the heavens: He is invested with universal sovereignty (comp. Matt. 28:18). He is even now Head of His Church on earth; and He has already exercised His sovereignty by the gift of His quickening grace.

The three points are distinctly marked and just as in the former section they are described with increasing fulness:
(1)
pavnta uJpevtaxen uJpo; tou;" povda" aujtou' .
(2)
aujto;n e[dwken kefalh;n uJpe;r pavnta th'/ ejkklhsiva/ , h{ti" ejstin to; sw'ma aujtou' ,
to; plhvrwma tou' ta; pavnta ejn pa'sin plhroumevnou .
(3)
uJma'" o[nta" nekrou;" toi'" paraptwvmasin kai; tai'" aJmartivai" uJmw'n ... ejn oi|" ªtoi'" uiJoi'" th'" ajpeiqiva"º kai; hJmei'" pavnte" ajnestravfhmevn pote ...

kai; o[nta" hJma'" nekrou;" toi'" paraptwvmasin sunezwopoivhsen ªejnº tw'/ cristw'/ ... i{na ejndeivxhtai ...
aujtou' gavr ejsmen poivhma ....
In the last section the construction is sacrificed to the crowding fulness of the thoughts.

22. kai; pavnta...aujtou' ] Ps. 8:6. The treatment of this passage in Heb. 2:5 ff. furnishes a commentary on the words here. Compare also 1 Cor. 15:27 ff.
kai; aujto;n e[dwken ...] The unusual order gives emphasis. ‘And He it was—none other—Whom GOD gave to be....’
kefalhvn ] The image occurs in a different yet cognate application in 1 Cor. 11:3 panto;" ajndro;" hJ kefalh; oJ cristov" ejstin, kefalh; de; gunaiko;" oJ ajnhvr, kefalh; de; tou' cristou' oJ qeov" . Comp. c. Eph. 5:23. The thought of sovereignty, already given, is now connected with that of vital union with a glorious organism which draws its life from Him (Eph. 4:15; Col. 2:19).
uJpe;r pavnta ] Sovereign over all the other elements included in it.
th'/ ejkklhsiva/ ] See App. [p. 172 ff.]
23.
h{ti" ejsti;n to; s. auj .] which is—seeing it is—His body. The qualitative relation has its full force.

For the development of the idea of the Church as the Body of Christ see Additional Note (in App.).
to; plhvrwma ...] the fulness of Him Who reaches His fulness through all things in all. Latt. qui omnia in omnibus adimpletur ( impletur ) : some adimplet.

The active sense which is generally given to plhroumevnou ( who filleth ) finds no support in the use of the word in the N.T. Both voices occur in this Epistle: cc. Eph. 3:19 i{na plhrwqh'te eij" (or i{na plhrwqh'/ ) pa'n to; plhvrwma tou' qeou' . 5:18 plhrou'sqe ejn pneuvmati and again 4:10 i{na plhrwvsh/ ta; pavnta .

Again even if the active sense were possible it does not appear to fall in with


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