Ephesians 3:16

ἵνα δῴη ὑμῖν κατὰ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ : that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory. The ἵνα introduces the subject of the prayer, representing it, however, also as the thing which he had in view in praying and which made the purpose of his prayer (see under Ephesians 1:17 above). For the δῴη of the TR (with [327] [328] [329], etc.), the RV (with LTTrWH) gives δῷ as in [330] [331] [332] [333] [334], 17, etc. (see under Ephesians 1:17 above). For τὸν πλοῦτον (TR, with [335] 3 [336] [337], etc.) read again to τὸ πλοῦτος, with [338] [339] [340] [341] [342] [343], etc. The δόξα is the whole revealed perfections of God, not merely His grace or His power; and the clause belongs more fitly to the δῷ than to the following δυνάμει κραταιωθῆναι. The measure of the gift for which Paul prays on behalf of the Ephesians is nothing short of those perfections of God which are revealed now in their glorious fulness and inexhaustible wealth (cf. Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 1:18; Ephesians 2:4; Ephesians 2:7). δυνάμει κραταιωθῆναι διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ : to be strengthened by power through His Spirit. The δυνάμει is taken by some as the dat. of manner, or as an adverbial expression = mightily. But the former mention of the ἐγκακεῖν suggests that the power is regarded here as in the subjects rather than as put forth by God. Others make it the dat. of reference, or take it to denote the particular form in which the strengthening was to take effect, viz., in the form of power as contrasted with knowledge or other kinds of gifts. But there is nothing to suggest limitation to one special capacity. Such limitation indeed would be inconsistent with the comprehensive εἰς τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον. It is best understood as the dat. instrum. The strengthening was to take effect by means of power imparted or infused, and this impartation of power was to be made through the Spirit of God. εἰς τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον : into the inward man. The “inward man” is viewed here as the recipient, that into which the strengthening was to be poured, or the object towards which the gift was directed. The εἰς, therefore, has its full force of “into,” and is not to be reduced either to “in” (RV), or to “in regard of” (Mey.). The phrase ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος has certain parallels in classical Greek, e.g., ὁ ἐντὸς ἄνθρωπος (Plato, Rep., ix., p. 589), ὁ εἴσω ἄνθρωπος (Plotin., Enn., v., 1, 10); and it is conceivable that these philosophical expressions had become popularised in course of time, and had penetrated even into the common speech of Jews, or at least into the vocabulary of educated Jews. But the question is What is the force of the phrase in the NT itself? The two terms ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος, ὁ ἔξω ἄνθρωπος denote the two sides or aspects of the nature of man, soul and body, real and phenomenal, enduring and perishable (cf. the contrast in 2 Corinthians 4:16); as the terms ὁ παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος, ὁ καινὸς (νέος) ἄνθρωπος denote his twofold moral nature. The ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος itself occurs only thrice in the NT, and all three occurrences are in the Pauline Epistles (Romans 7:22; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Ephesians 3:16). It has different shades of meaning there, but the same general sense, viz., that of the personal subject, the rational, moral self, somewhat similar to the νοῦς in Romans 7:23, and the ὁ κρυπτὸς τῆς καρδίας ἄνθρωπος of 1 Peter 3:4. In this ἔσω ἄνθρωπος the goodness of the law of God can be recognised so that one can delight in that law. But there is another law that wars against it and brings it into subjection (Romans 7:19-23). Hence the ἔσω ἄνθρωπος has to be regenerated, and so becomes “the new man,” ὁ καινὸς ἄνθρωπος, that is created after God (ὁ κατὰ Θεὸν κτισθείς, Ephesians 4:24), or ὁ νέος ἄνθρωπος, that is renewed (ἀνακαινούμενος, Colossians 3:10). The strength, therefore, which was to be communicated by the impartation of new spiritual power through the Holy Spirit was a gift to enrich and invigorate the deepest and most central thing in them their whole conscious, personal being.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[334] Codex Augiensis (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Trinity College, Cambridge, edited by Scrivener in 1859. Its Greek text is almost identical with that of G, and it is therefore not cited save where it differs from that MS. Its Latin version, f, presents the Vulgate text with some modifications.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[343] Codex Augiensis (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Trinity College, Cambridge, edited by Scrivener in 1859. Its Greek text is almost identical with that of G, and it is therefore not cited save where it differs from that MS. Its Latin version, f, presents the Vulgate text with some modifications.