Ephesians 1:10

εἰς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, ‘with a view to a dispensation or stewardship appropriate to the fulness of the seasons.’ οἰκονομία, see Additional Note. The treasures to be dispensed are the treasures of wisdom and knowledge contained in the ‘secret’ which God has at last made known to His chosen. This treasure is committed to them to be imparted to others as they are able to bear it. The possession of it therefore constitutes a stewardship for the faithful, for a prudent exercise of which the Church as a whole and each member of it in his degree is responsible to God. If this view of οἰκονομία is rejected, the phrase will mean ‘with a view to bringing about in due course the fulness of the seasons.’ In St Paul’s view, however, the fulness of the seasons has already come. τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καίρων, cf. Mark 1:15; Galatians 4:4; 1 Timothy 2:6. This stewardship could not begin till the conditions were prepared for giving and receiving the revelation. These words are an assurance that there is a true Philosophy of History.

ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ χριστῷ, ‘to sum up the universe in the Christ.’ These words define the ultimate end of the Gracious Purpose, the ‘one far off Divine event to which the whole Creation moves.’ ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι, properly a word in Rhetoric, Lat. collectio, describing the rapid repetition and summarizing of an orator’s points previous to his practical conclusion. St Paul uses it (Romans 13:9) of the relation between the command ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’ and all the commandments of the Second Table. Strictly, therefore, the words mean “to bring together each separate element in Creation in such a way that ‘the Christ’ may be the fitting description of the whole.” This meaning helps to explain the presence of the article τῷ χριστῷ, ct. Ephesians 1:3, ἐν Χριστῷ. Otherwise it would be difficult not to believe that, however incorrectly in point of etymology, St Paul, in speaking ‘of bringing the universe together under one head,’ was thinking of Christ not as κεφάλαιον, but as κεφαλή, cf. Ephesians 1:22. A further development of the thought I owe to a note communicated by my friend Canon G. H. Whitaker: ‘Plutarch says ἡ πόλις οἴκων τι σύστημα καὶ κεφάλαιον οὖσα (Cat. maj. 454 A). Now a well-planned city explains the point of the several houses. It is an ordered whole. You see why the houses were placed as they were, when you see the city from a balloon. So, in a well-written article, you come not to a new summary but to a κεφάλαιον, a heading up of all the points, showing how they tell. Paragraphs that had seemed disconnected are felt now to have been all bearing one way. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” brings all the separate commandments to the unity of a great principle. Moses, Joshua, Aaron come to a point in Christ.’

τῷ χριστῷ. See Additional Note. The thought is that which we find in Colossians 1:16. The universe ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη and εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται. But between these points there is a period of discord and rebellion. In Colossians 1:20 we hear of the resolution of the discord, here of the ultimate harmony.

τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς κ.τ.λ. Cf. Colossians 1:16; Colossians 1:20. The phrase is obviously meant to be all-inclusive. Revelation 5:13 is fuller and more detailed but not wider in scope. τὰ πάντα of the whole created universe, as in Ephesians 3:9; Ephesians 4:10; Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 1 Corinthians 15:27; Philippians 3:21; Colossians 1:16-17; Colossians 1:20; 1 Timothy 6:13; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 2:8; Revelation 4:11; cf. Psalms 8:7.