Ephesians 1:13

ἐν ᾧ καὶ ὑμεῖς : in whom ye also. The reading ἡμεῖς appears in certain manuscripts of importance ([68] [69] [70] [71] 3, e, f, g, etc.); but the weight of documenttary authority is greatly on the side of ὑμεῖς. Taking, therefore, the καὶ ὑμεῖς, as contrasted with the previous ἡμᾶς, to refer to the readers of the Epistle as Gentiles in distinction from the writer and those whom he couples with himself as having formerly been Jews, we have in this verse and the following a paragraph which gives first a description of the evangelical standing and experience of Gentile Christians such as these Ephesians were, and then a statement of the fact that, in their case as in that of the others, God's ultimate end in His gracious dealing with them was the praise of His glory. The opening clause, however, presents some difficulty. The sentence is left with something unexpressed, or its form is disturbed. How is it to be construed? It is natural to think first of explaining it by supplying some verb for the ὑμεῖς, and as the substantive verb is often left to be understood, some introduce ἐστέ here = “in whom ye also are,” “in whom ye also have a part” (Mey., Alf.). But the great Pauline formula ἐν Χριστῷ εἶναι can scarcely be dealt with thus, the εἶναι in it has too profound a sense to allow of its being dropped and left to be understood as is possible with the ordinary substantive verb. Others, therefore, look to the immediately preceding προηλπικότας for the word that is to be supplied (Erasm. Calv., Beza, Est., etc.; and so AV “in whom ye also trusted ”). But to make this applicable to Gentile believers requires us (unless the Second Advent is supposed to be the object of the hope) to supply only ἠλπίκατε not προηλπίκατε, and to give the verb the modified sense of trusting or believing. Much more may be said in favour of supplying the definite verb ἐκληρώθημεν which rules the larger sentence (Erasm. in his Paraphrase, Cornel, a Lap., Harl., Olsh., etc.) = “in whom ye also were made God's κλῆρος, or possession”. The comparative distance of the ἐν ᾧ καὶ ὑμεῖς from ἐκληρώθητε is no serious objection, especially in view of the fact that it is the definite verb, and not a qualifying participle, that is in view. There remains, however, yet another method of explanation, viz., to regard the sentence as an interrupted construction, in which the expression of the main thought, that of the ἐσφραγίσθητε, is delayed by other preliminary ideas, the second ἐν ᾦ being a resumption and continuation of the first (Theod. Mops., Jer., Beng., De Wette, Rück., Bleek, Bisp., Ell., Humphrey, Abb., Von Sod., Haupt). This solution of the difficulty appears on the whole to be the best, and it has been preferred by the majority of interpreters. It seems to be favoured by the Syr., Copt. and Eth. Versions, and is adopted by the RV “in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed”. The interruption of the regular construction in the statement of the fact of their having been “sealed” appears to be caused by the introduction of the idea of the primary Christian requirement of faith after the mention of the hearing. It is objected that the distance between the one ἐν ᾧ and the other is much less than is usual in such cases, and that in a resumption we should expect not ἐν ᾧ καί, but ἐν ᾧ καὶ ὑμεῖς. But anacoloutha are quite in Paul's way, and they are not all of one type or one extension (cf. Win.-Moul., p. 704), and the καί (minus the ὑμεῖς) is appropriate as giving an ascensive force to the πιστεύσαντες. This view of the construction has the advantage also of enabling us to retain substantially the same sense for the ἐν ᾧ in these three occurrences (Ephesians 1:11; Ephesians 1:13), and it makes the defining participles ἀκούσαντες (with its clause) and πιστεύσαντες important preparations for the statement of privilege in the ἐσφραγίσθητε, each contributing something proper in its own place to the order of ideas. Hence both the first ἐν ᾧ and the second are to be connected with the ἐσφραγίσηθητε = “in whom, on hearing and believing, ye were sealed”; it being in Christ, in virtue of our union with Him, that we receive the gift of the Spirit. ἀκούσαντες : having heard (or, on hearing). This comes in its proper order, the first in the series of things, preparing the way for the sealing of the Spirit. In the narratives of cases of reception into the Christian Church in the Book of Acts we discover this order of grace: hearing, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:37-38), or hearing, faith, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:6; Acts 8:12; Acts 8:17). Yet this is not an invariable order. Sometimes only hearing, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 19:5-6) are mentioned; and in such instances as those of Paul (Acts 9:17) and the men of Cæsarea (Acts 10:44-47), the gift of the Holy Ghost appears to have preceded the administration of baptism. On the importance of hearing, that is, access to the preached word, cf. Romans 10:13-17, where the πιστεύειν is declared to come by the ἀκούειν. τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας : the word of the truth. The λόγος here is evidently the word of preaching, and it is said to be “of the truth,” not with any particular reference, as Meyer justly observes, to the OT word as one that dealt with types and shadows rather than realities (Chrys.), or to the word of heathenism as the word of error (Corn. a Lap., etc.), but in the sense in which our Lord Himself spoke of the truth and the word (John 17:17; cf. Colossians 1:5; 2 Timothy 2:15; James 2:17). The gen. is not that of apposition (Harl.), but the gen. objecti, “the word concerning the truth;” or, as Ell. suggests, the gen. of ethical substance or ethical content, “the word of which the truth is the very essence, or content”. τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς σωτηρίας ὑμῶν : the gospel of your salvation. Further definition of “the word of the truth”. The preached word which has the truth for its essential content is that which brought you the good tidings of salvation. Here, again, the gen. is not that of appos. or identity (Harl., etc.), but most probably that of content or subject matter (Mey., Ell., etc.). Elsewhere we have the εὐαγγέλιον defined as that of the Kingdom (Matthew 9:35), of God (Romans 1:1), of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14), of Christ, Jesus Christ, His Son, etc. (Romans 1:1; Romans 1:9; Romans 1:16; Mark 1:1), of peace (Ephesians 6:15), of the grace of God (Acts 20:24), of the glory of the blessed God (1 Timothy 1:11), of the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4). Nowhere in the NT is the word εὐαγγέλιον used so frequently and in such a variety of applications as in the Pauline Epistles. It is never used in Luke's Gospel, in John's Gospel or Epistles, in Hebrews, or in James; in Matthew's Gospel it occurs four times, in Mark eight times, in Acts twice, in Peter once, and in the Apocalypse once. The noun σωτηρία, which has so large a place in the rest of the Pauline writings, is of rare occurrence in these Epistles of the Captivity. It is found thrice in the Epistle to the Philippians, but only once in this profound Epistle to the Ephesians (in Ephesians 6:17 we have the other form τὸ σωτήριον), and not even once in the sister Epistle to the Colossians. ἐν ᾧ : in whom, I say. With the former ἐν ᾧ the writer turned from the case of those like himself who, having been Jews, had been made God's κλῆρος in Christ, to that of Gentiles like these Ephesians who also had been made partakers of God's grace in Christ, though in a different way, not as having had the hope of the Jews in a promised Messiah, but simply as having heard the word of Christian preaching. The particular gift of grace which it was in his mind to state as bestowed on these Gentile Christians was the sealing of the Spirit. With this second ἐν ᾧ, “ in whom, I say,” he takes up the statement which had been interrupted by the mention of the way in which they had come to receive the grace, and brings it (with a further reference to the antecedents to the sealing) to its intended conclusion. This ἐν ᾧ, therefore, is not to be dealt with differently from the former and made to relate to the εὐαγγέλιον, as if = “in which Gospel having also believed, ye were sealed” (Mey.). It simply continues the idea of the previous ἐν ᾧ, expressing the fact that the grace which came to the Gentile who heard the word of preaching, like the grace which came to the Jew who had the Messianic hope, was bestowed “in Christ,” and had its ground in Him. καὶ πιστεύσαντες : having also believed. The καί belongs not to an implied ὑμεῖς but to the πιστεύσαντες. It is the ascensive καί, adding to the first condition of hearing the second and higher of believing. The object of the πιστεύσαντες is the previous λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας, “having also believed that word of preaching;” not the ᾧ, “believing also in whom” (Calv., Bez., Mey.). In Biblical Greek the phrase πιστεύειν ἔν τινι is of very rare occurrence, especially in the sense of believing or confiding in a person (Psalms 78:22; Jeremiah 12:6). In Mark 1:1 it has τὸ εὐαγγέλιον as the object. In John 3:15 both the reading and the connection are uncertain; in John 16:30 the idea is “by this”. The πιστεύσαντες here expresses something prior to the fact conveyed by the definite verb, not contemporaneous with it (Harl.). The sealing was in Christ (ἐν ᾧ), and it followed on their πίστις. ἐσφραγίσθητε : ye were sealed. The verb σφραγίζειν (= חָתַס) in the NT expresses several distinct ideas, e.g., confirming or authenticating (John 3:32; John 6:27; cf. σφραγίς in Romans 4:11; 1 Corinthians 9:2); securing (Matthew 27:66; Revelation 20:3); keeping secret (Revelation 10:4; Revelation 22:10; cf. σφραγίς in Revelation 5:1-2; Revelation 5:5; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 6:1; Revelation 8:1, etc.); marking as one's possession or as destined for something (Revelation 8:3-8; cf. σφραγίς in 2 Timothy 3:4; Revelation 9:4). Here and in Ephesians 4:30 the idea seems to be either that of authenticating or certifying them to be of God's heritage, or that of marking them as such. The two ideas are near akin. The latter will be more applicable, if (with Theophyl., Chrys., Cornel. a Lap., Alf., etc.) we take the attestation to be the objective attestation to others, the evidence to our fellows that we are the chosen of God; the former, if (with Mey., Ell., etc.) we take it to be the attestation to our own consciousness. This hope or assurance which is given to ourselves seems rather in view here (cf. Romans 8:16). There is no reason to suppose that there is any allusion here to any peculiar use of the seal whether in Jewish custom or in heathen religious service. Nor is the rite of Baptism specially referred to. In ecclesiastical Greek, indeed, baptism came to be denoted by the term σφραγίς; but there is no instance of that in the NT. The terms σφραγίς, σφραγίζειν, are used in the Pauline Epistles of circumcision (Romans 4:11), of the contribution from Macedonia and Achaia (Romans 15:28), of the Corinthians as the witnesses to Paul's apostleship (1 Corinthians 9:2), of the inward certification of believers (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30), and of the destination or ownership of the Church or congregation of believers (2 Timothy 2:19). τῶ Πνεύματι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τῷ ἁγίῳ : with the Holy Spirit of promise. The Spirit is that by which (instrumental dative) the sealing is effected; and that Spirit is called the Spirit of promise, not in the active sense of bringing or confirming the promise (Calv., Bez., etc.), but in the passive sense of having been announced by the promise, or being the object or content of the promise in the OT. The τῷ ἁγίῳ, thrown emphatically to the end of the clause, designates the Spirit solemnly in respect of the essential personal quality of holiness. Taken together with the general tenor of the paragraph and with the fact that in the ὑμεῖς Gentile Christians as a whole are addressed, and not any select number or class, it is clear that what is in view here is not the extraordinary or miraculous gifts of the Spirit, but that bestowal of the Spirit in which all believers shared, which was the subject of the great OT prophecies (Joel 3:1-5; Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 36:26; Ezekiel 39:29; Zechariah 12:10), and of which a new heart, a new spirit, was to be the result.

[68] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[69] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[70] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[71] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.