Gospel to the facts of experience.
Elsewhere in the N. T.
fwtivzein
has a direct object.
tou' ajpokekr....i{na gnwr
.] The truth had been hidden in order that it might be
made known at the right moment, in the fulness of time, Eph. 1:10. Comp. Rom. 16:25 f. See also Mark 4:22 (
i{na
).
ajpo; tw'n aij
.] from the beginning of time. Col. 1:26. Comp. Lk. 1:70; Acts 3:21; 15:18
ajpj aijw'no"
. John 9:32
ejk tou' aijw'no"
. Contrast
pro; tw'n aijwvnwn
(1 Cor. 2:7).
ejn tw'/ qew'/
] GOD, as the Creator of all things, includes in the one creative thought all the issues of finite things. Compare Apoc. 4:11
dia; to; qevlhmav sou h\san kai; ejktivsqhsan
, John 1:3 f.
o} gevgonen ejn aujtw'/ zwh; h\n
. See also Col. 3:3.
10. The personal ministration of the Apostle had a wider scope than the gaining individual converts. It subserved to the display of GOD'S wisdom before the intelligences of the heavenly order. This was the work of the Church gathered by apostolic teachings. In various ways the results of age-long discipline of the people and of the nations were made contributory to the universal society, and thus the Divine purpose was seen to be justified by its fruits. There can be no doubt that St Paul was conscious of the debt which he owed to the spectacle of the organisation of the Roman Empire in his later conception of the Catholic Church. And if he could not clearly anticipate how the tribute of other peoples would enrich Christendom, yet he recognises the principle of national service to the City of GOD (Apoc. 21:24). He foresaw that, as in the past, so in the future the history of the several families of mankind would vindicate
polumerw'" kai; polutrovpw"
GOD'S education of the world for Himself.
nu'n
] in the fulness of time: Eph. 1:10; Gal. 4:4.
tai'" ajrc. kai; t. ejx
.] The effect of the Gospel reaches through all being (Eph. 1:10; Col. 1:20), and we are allowed to seethough we are necessarily unable to give distinctness to the visionhow other rational creatures follow the course of its fulfilment. Compare 1 Pet. 1:12; Lk. 15:7, 10; Apoc. 5:13.
The allusions to different classes in the heavenly hierarchyThrones, dominations, virtues, princedoms, powersgive a vivid conception of fulness and ordered intercourse in the unseen life which we have no faculties to realise; but such indications, however indefinite, correct our natural tendency to narrow the range of rational existence. In this sense the Gospel anticipates and deals with the thoughts suggested by our present knowledge of the immensity of the universe. Comp. Eph. 1:21; Col. 1:16 (with Lightfoot's note).
dia; th'" ejkklh"
.] In the Church humanity advances towards its true unity, and at the same time the whole creation in man, who is its head. Comp. Rom. 8:18 ff.; James 1:18.
hJ polupoivk. sof
.] Latt.
multiformis sapientia.
This wisdom is seen in the adaptation of the manifold capacities of man and the complicated vicissitudes of human life to minister to the one end to which all creation moves.
11 f. This marvellous harmony of all the parts of creation and life, as tending to one end, now at last made manifest by the coming of the Son of GOD, answered to an eternal purpose which was thus fulfilled. The same Lord Who is the stay of our faith and hope is also the crown of the whole development of the world.
11. kata; provq. t. aij .] V. secundum praefinitionem (V. L. propositum ) saeculorum, according to an eternal purpose , a purpose to the accomplishment of which each age contributed in turn, and which bound all the ages together as ministrant to the one supreme issue. If this purpose has only lately been disclosed, it was eternally designed. Through all the changes of time GOD prepared the way to