Wednesday, February 22, 2023

E. K. Simpson & F. F. Bruce and Charles Hodge on Ephesians 3:5

 

 

Hebrew prophecy had not been silent respecting this divine secret (cf. Isa. 56:5); but it had remained an unwelcome topic to the Jewish mind, absorbed in the contemplation of its own peculiar privileges and construing any ultimate extension of their compass only as foreshadowing accessions of Gentile proselytes to the ranks of the theocracy. To us indeed, as we look back over nineteen centuries of the out-workings of Christianity, God’s wider purposes may sound almost a commonplace. To Paul, however, they stood out in relief above every other phenomenon in the annals of mankind, as the veriest clue of the ages, the disclosure of the divine program touching mankind. And that he should be deputed for its setting on foot sent a thrill through his inmost being, at once elating and blended with awe and wonder. (E. K. Simpson and F. F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians [The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1957], 72–73)

 

V. 5. God by revelation had made known to Paul a mystery, or purpose, which was not revealed as it now was to the apostles. That the Gentiles were to partake of the blessings of the Messiah’s reign, and to be united as one body with the Jews in his kingdom, is not only frequently predicted by the ancient prophets, but Paul himself repeatedly and at length quotes their declarations on this point to prove that what he taught was in accordance with the Old Testament; see Rom. 9:25–33. The emphasis must, therefore, be laid on the word as. This doctrine was not formerly revealed as, i. e. not so fully or so clearly as under the Gospel. (Charles Hodge, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians [New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1858], 162–163.)

 

Further Reading:


The Book of Mormon's Knowledge of Gentile Inclusion in the New Covenant: Does it Contradict the Bible?