Ephesians 2:19

ἄρα οὖν οὐκέτι ἐστὲ ξένοι καὶ πάροικο : So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners. At this point Paul brings to their conclusion the statements made in Ephesians 2:14-18, and draws from them the natural, comforting inference. The conclusive ἄρα is one of Paul's favourable particles. In his writings and in the NT generally it is sometimes placed second in the sentence, and sometimes (contrary to classical use) first. The combination ἄρα οὖν is peculiar to Paul, and takes the first place in the sentence. In this form it has less of the ratiocinative force and more of the collective; cf. Buttm., Gram. of N. T. Greek, p. 371; Blass, Gram. of N. T. Greek, p. 273. ξένοι καὶ πάροικοι, a comprehensive expression, including “all who, whether by natural and territorial demarcation, or by the absence of civic privileges, were not citizens” (Ell.). The term πάροικος in ordinary Greek means a neighbour. In the LXX it represents תּוֹשָׁב (nine times) or גֵּר (eleven times). Here it stands for the classical μέτοικος, which never occurs in the NT, is found only once in the LXX (Jeremiah 20:3) and means one who comes from one country or city and settles in another, but does not rank as a πολίτης or ἀστός having the right of citizenship (cf. Acts 7:6; Acts 7:29; 1 Peter 2:11). There is no reference to proselytes in particular (Baumg.). ἀλλὰ συμπολῖται τῶν ἁγίων : but fellow-citizens with the saints. Most critical editors (LTTrWHRV) insert ἐστέ after ἀλλά, on the authority of [174] [175] [176] [177] [178], etc. The form συνπολῖται is preferred by Tisch., WH, Ell., Alf., etc. The word belongs mostly to late Greek. The ἁγίων is not to be restricted to Jews, the patriarchs, or OT believers, but is a comprehensive name for Christians, the whole community of believers in Christ without distinction of Jew and Gentile. The Jewish people were once “the saints” of God, and Gentiles stood outside having no part in their πολιτεία. Now all Gentile believers, like these Ephesians, form part of that greater “Israel of God (Galatians 6:16) which consists of all Christians, and share in all the rights of such. καὶ οἰκεῖοι τοῦ Θεοῦ : and of the household of God. So in Galatians 6:10, πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους τῆς πίστεως. In Greek writers of the later period οἰκεῖος is used frequently with the gens, of abstract nouns (οἰκεῖοι φιλοσοφίας, ὀλιγαρχίας, etc.) in the general sense of one closely connected with philosophy, etc., but without any specific reference either to the house of God, or to the οἰκεῖοι as forming one family. With the present case, however, it is different. The phrase οἰκεῖοι Θεοῦ naturally suggests the idea of members of God's household or family (Mey.); cf. 1 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 3:2; Hebrews 3:5-6; Hebrews 10:21; 1 Peter 4:17.

[174] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

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

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

[177] Codex Ephraemi (sæc. v.), the Paris palimpsest, edited by Tischendorf in 1843.

[178] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.