Ephesians 3:5

ὃ ἐν ἑτέραις γενεαῖς οὐκ ἐγνωρίσθη τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων : which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men. The TR inserts ἐν before ἑτέραις, as in Syr.-Phil. and Copt. But the insertion is due probably to the double dative, and the ἐν (which is not found in [219] [220] [221] [222] [223] [224] [225] [226], etc.) is rightly omitted by LTTrWHRV. The γενεαῖς, therefore, is the dat. of time; the term γενεά, like the OT דּו̇ר (of which it is the usual rendering in the LXX), meaning the period covered by a generation of men (Luke 1:20; Acts 14:16; Acts 15:21; Colossians 1:26) as well as the generation or race itself. By τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων are to be understood, not the OT prophets (Beng.) as contrasted with the “Apostles and prophets” of the next clause, but men generally and in the absolute sense, in conformity with the γενεαῖς. ὡς γῦν, ἀπεκαλύφθη τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀποστόλοις αὐτοῦ καὶ προφήταις ἐν πνεύματι : as now it was revealed to His holy Apostles and prophets in the Spirit. The ὡς has its proper comparative force. The fact of the revelation made in pre-Christian times to the fathers and the prophets is not questioned. The matter in view is the measure or manner of the revelation. The νῦν = “now,” in these Christian times, and the aor. ἀπεκαλύφθη defines the fuller revelation as made definitely at a former period in these times. The verb also has its proper force, as distinguished from the ἐγνωρίσθη and as describing the way, viz., by revelation, that the truth was made known. The prophets of the OT dispensation were designated ἅγιοι (2 Kings 4:9; Luke 1:20; 2 Peter 1:21). Those of these Christian times are in like manner designated ἅγιοι, as men separated and consecrated to the office and distinguished from the mass of the υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. They are further described as His (αὐτοῦ), i.e., God's Apostles and prophets, God being the subject implied in the ἐγνωρίσθη and the ἀπεκαλύφθη. The terms ἀποστόλοις and προφήταις have the same sense here as in Ephesians 2:20, viz., the Christian Apostles and prophets. The clause ἐν Πνεύματι defines the ἀπεκαλύφθη; not the προφήταις, as if = προφῆται θεόπνευστοι (Holzh., Koppe), for the προφῆται need no such definition. As in Ephesians 2:22 the πνεῦμα here is the Holy Spirit, and the ἐν would most naturally be taken in the same sense as these. Here, however, most understand it as the instrumental ἐν. It seems to combine the two ideas of agency and element or condition, and describes the revelation as having been made in and by the Spirit.

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

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

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

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

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

[224] 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.

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

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