Ephesians 3:2. Confirmation of that which has just been said, ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν τῶν ἐθνῶν, by the recalling of what the readers have heard concerning his vocation. “For you, the Gentiles,” I say, upon the presupposition that, etc. This presupposition he expresses by εἴγε, i.e. turn certe si (Klotz, ad Devar. p. 308), it being implied in the connection (for of his church he could not presuppose anything else), not in the word itself, that he assumes this rightly. He might have written εἴπερ, if at all, provided that, or εἴπερ γε, provided namely (Xen. Mem. i. 4. 4, Anab. i. 7. 9; often in the tragedians), but he has conceived the presupposition under the form at least if, if namely, and so denotes it. Comp. on Galatians 3:4 and 2 Corinthians 5:3; wherever εἴγε is used and the assumption is a certain one (as also at Ephesians 4:21), the latter is to be gathered from the connection. From whom the readers had heard the matter in question, their own consciousness told them, namely, from Paul himself and other Pauline teachers, so that εἴγε ἠκούσατε κ.τ.λ. is a reminder of his preaching among them. Hence our passage is wrongly regarded as at variance with the superscription πρὸς Ἐφεσίους, and as pointing to readers to whom Paul was not personally known; whilst others, as Grotius (so also Rinck, Sendschr. der Korinth. p. 56, who, however, takes the correct view in the Stud. u. Krit. 1849, p. 954), have, without any ground in the context, assigned to the simple ἀκούειν the signification bene intelligere; Calvin, on the other hand, had recourse to the altogether unnatural hypothesis: “Credibile est, quum ageret Ephesi, eum tacuisse de his rebus;” and Böttger (Beitr. iii. p. 46 ff.) refers it to the hearing of this Epistle read, against which the very ἀναγινώσκοντες that follows in Ephesians 3:3 is decisive. Estius very correctly states that εἴγε is not “dubitantis, sed potius affirmantis; neque enim ignorare quod hic dicitur poterant Ephesii, quibus P. ipse evang. plusquam biennio praedicaverat.”[166] Paul might have expressed himself in the form of an assertion (ἠκούσατε γάρ, or ἐπεὶ ἠκούσατε), but the hypothetic form of expression constitutes a more delicate and suggestive way of recalling his preaching among them (as also the Attic writers, in place of ἐπεί γε, delicately use the hypothetic εἴγε; see Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 5. 1), without, however, containing an obliquam reprehensionem (Vitringa, comp. Holzhausen), of which the context affords no trace.

τὴν οἰκονομίαν τῆς χάριτος κ.τ.λ.] the arrangement (see on Ephesians 1:10) which has been made regarding the grace of God given to me with reference to you (τῆς χάριτος is the genitive objecti). The more precise explanation is then given by ὅτι κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν κ.τ.λ. The χάρις is here, in accordance with the context (τῆς δοθ. μοι εἰς ὑμᾶς), the divine bestowal of grace that took place in the entrusting him with the apostolic office. Comp. on Romans 12:3; Romans 15:15. Others, like Pelagius, Anselm, Erasmus, Grotius, Michaelis, Rosenmüller, et al., have explained οἰκον. τ. χάρ. as the office of administering evangelic grace; but against this it may be urged that not τῆς δοθείσης, but τὴν δοθεῖσαν, must have been afterwards used. This mistake is avoided by Wieseler, p. 446 f., where he takes it as: the office for which I have been qualified by the grace conferred upon me on your behalf. This office the readers had heard, inasmuch as they had heard the preaching of the apostle. But how are we to justify the expression “to hear the office,” instead of “to hear the official preaching”? The words would merely say: if ye have heard of the office, etc., Galatians 1:13; Colossians 1:4; Philemon 1:5.

[166] De Wette dogmatically lays it down that the readers had no need, if the apostle had already exercised his apostolic calling among them, now first to learn from himself that he had received it. But in so speaking he has not attended to the fact that the object of the ἠκούσατε is not the reception of the apostolic vocation in general, but the mode of this reception (namely, κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν, ver. 3). This account of the manner in which he had become their apostle he communicated to them when he was with them, and of this he reminds them now.

Ephesians 3:2. εἴγε ἠκούσατε τὴν οἰκονομίαν τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς δοθείσης μοι εἰς ἡμᾶς: if so be that ye did hear of the dispensation of the grace of God that was given me to you-ward. The comp. particle εἴγε, or εἴ γε (according to LTrWH), makes a supposition which is taken for granted, = “if, indeed, as I may assume”. Whether the certainty of the assumption is in the particle itself or is derived from the context is still debated among grammarians. Some hold that in this case as in others the γέ simply strengthens the force of the simple particle, while others think that this is its significance, if not in every instance, at least in a considerable number of occurrences; cf. Mey. and Ell., in loc.; Win.-Moult., p. 561; Bâumlein, Partikeln, p. 64. Here it introduces a polite reminder of what these Ephesians certainly had heard—“a gentle appeal, expressed in a hypothetical form, and conveying the hope that his words had not been quite forgotten” (Ell.). On οἰκονομίαν, which means the dispensation, the arrangement made in the matter of something, not “the apostolic office” (Wiesel.), see under Ephesians 1:10. The τῆς χάριτος is the gen. objecti or that of “the point of view” (Ell.) = the arrangement or disposition in respect of the grace of God. The χάρις itself is not the apostolic office (Est.), but the gift of grace that selected Paul and qualified him for that office; and so it (not the οἰκονομία, but the χάρις) is described as δοθείσης, given. The εἰς ὑμᾶς, admirably rendered by the AV “to you-ward,” denotes the “ethical direction” (Ell.) of the gift of grace—the fact that it was bestowed on Paul not for his own sake, but with a view to their position.

2. If ye have heard of] Lit. if so be that ye heard of. This phrase occasions the question, Could this Epistle have been addressed to a Church familiar with St Paul? And it has thus seemed, to some extreme critics, an argument against the genuineness of the Epistle, a lapsus plumœ on the part of a fabricator; and, in very different quarters, an argument against the special destination to Ephesus (see Introduction, ch. 3). Not here to notice the anti-Pauline inference it is enough to say of the anti-Ephesian that it proves too much. What was known of Paul in the Ephesian Church would practically be known of him throughout the missions of Asia (see Acts 19:10; Acts 19:26), so that the phrase remains as difficult as before. The true account of it, surely, is that it is a phrase of almost irony, an allusion to well-known fact under the disguise of hypothesis. His Gentile commission was no new thing, and was widely known, when this clause was written; but a natural and beautiful rhetoric prefers to treat it as if possibly obscure or forgotten.—That St Paul had never been silent at Ephesus on the subject appears from Acts 19:8-9, where we see him withdrawing the converts from the synagogue.

the dispensation] The stewardship. For the figure, cp. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; 1 Corinthians 9:17; Colossians 1:25; 1 Peter 4:10.

the grace of God which is given me] Such is the grammatical connexion; not the “stewardship” but the “grace” is the thing given. And the “grace” is explained by Romans 1:5 (“grace and apostleship”) and below, Ephesians 3:7-8. It was the loving gift of commission and inspiration to preach Christ among the Gentiles.—For similar allusions to his life-work cp. Acts 22:21; Acts 26:17-18; Romans 1:5; Romans 11:13; Galatians 2:2; Galatians 2:9.

Ephesians 3:2. Εἴγε ἠκούσατε, since[39] indeed ye have heard) The things which they had heard concerning Paul (comp. note on Ephesians 1:1[40]) were a testimony that he, Ephesians 3:1, spoke the truth concerning himself.

[39] Or if: but the Indic. favours since.—ED.

[40] Viz. They bad heard of his bonds, and of his being persecuted by the Jews for his preaching to the Gentiles. This hearing was not restricted to the Ephesians; but applies to all, to whom, in the different churches, this encyclical letter was to be carried by Tychicus.—ED.

Verse 2. - If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God. Here begins the digression. The words, "if ye have heard," etc., do not denote an uncertainty, but are a delicate reminder. Doubtless they had heard of the matter when he was at Ephesus, and, as he remarks in ver. 3, he had already written briefly on it. Grace is here used in a more restricted sense than in Ephesians 1:2 - in the sense of Divine favor, honor, privilege - the same as in ver. 8, "To me... is this favor given." Which is given me to you-ward. The grace or favor meant is that whereby Paul was constituted the apostle of the Gentiles. Deeply though he felt his being sent away from preaching to his countrymen (Acts 22:18), he took kindly to the new sphere allotted to him, and magnified his office (Romans 11:13). Ephesians 3:2If ye have heard (εἴγε ἠκούσατε)

Here begins a long digression extending to Ephesians 3:14. If, Rev., if so be, means upon the supposition that; not implying the certainty of the assumption, though this shade of meaning is given by the context. The words are a reminder of his preaching among them.

Dispensation (οἰκονομίαν)

See on Ephesians 1:10; see on Colossians 1:25. The divine arrangement or disposition.

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