ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις κ.τ.λ.] ‘in the midst of, in the performance of your wicked works’; the same use of the preposition as e.g. ii. 23, iv. 2.
νυνί] Here, as frequently, νῦν (νυνί) admits an aorist, because it denotes not ‘at the present moment,’ but ‘in the present dispensation, the present order of things’: comp. e.g. ver. 26, Rom. v. 11, vii. 6, xi. 30, 31, xvi. 26, Ephes. ii. 13, iii. 5, 2 Tim. i. 10, 1 Pet. i. 12, ii. 10, 25. In all these passages there is a direct contrast between the old dispensation and the new, more especially as affecting the relation of the Gentiles to God. The aorist is found also in Classical writers, where a similar contrast is involved; e.g. Plato Symp. 193 A πρὸ τοῦ, ὥσπερ λέγω, ἓν ἦμεν· νυνὶ δὲ διὰ τὴν ἀδικίαν διῳκίσθημεν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, Isæus de Cleon. her. 20 τότε μὲν ... νυνὶ δὲ ... ἐβουλήθη.
ἀποκατηλλάγητε] The reasons for preferring this reading, though the direct authority for it is so slight, are given in the detached note on the various readings. But, whether ἀποκατηλλάγητε or ἀποκατήλλαξεν be preferred, the construction requires explanation. If ἀποκατήλλαξεν be adopted, it is perhaps best to treat δὲ as introducing the apodosis, the foregoing participial clause serving as the protasis: ‘And you, though ye were once estranged ... yet now hath he reconciled,’ in which case the first ὑμᾶς will be governed directly by ἀποκατήλλαξεν; see Winer Gramm. § liii. p. 553. If this construction be adopted, παραστῆσαι ὑμᾶς will describe the result of ἀποκατήλλαξεν, ‘so as to present you’; but ὁ Θεὸς will still be the nominative to ἀποκατήλλαξεν as in 2 Cor. v. 19. If on the other hand ἀποκατηλλάγητε be taken, it is best to regard νυνὶ δὲ ἀποκατηλλάγητε as a direct indicative clause substituted for the more regular participial form νυνὶ δὲ ἀποκαταλλαγέντας for the sake of greater emphasis: see the note on ver. 26 τὸ ἀποκεκρυμμένον ... νῦν δὲ ἐφανερώθη. In this case παραστῆσαι will be governed directly by εὐδόκησεν, and will itself govern ὑμας πότε ὄντας κ.τ.λ., the second ὑμᾶς being a repetition of the first; ‘And you who once were estranged ... but now ye have been reconciled ... to present you, I say, holy and without blemish.’ For the repetition of ὑμᾶς, which was needed to disentangle the construction, see the note on δι’ αὐτοῦ ver. 20.
22. τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ] It has been supposed that St Paul added these words, which are evidently emphatic, with a polemical aim either; (1) To combat docetism. Of this form of error however there is no direct evidence till a somewhat later date: or (2) To combat a false spiritualism which took offence at the doctrine of an atoning sacrifice. But for this purpose they would not have been adequate, because not explicit enough. It seems simpler therefore to suppose that they were added for the sake of greater clearness, to distinguish the natural body of Christ intended here from the mystical body mentioned just above ver. 18. Similarly in Ephes. ii. 14 ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ is used rather than ἐν τῷ σώματι αὐτοῦ, because σῶμα occurs in the context (ver. 16) of Christ’s mystical body. The same expression, τὸ σῶμα τῆς σαρκός, which we have here, occurs also below, ii. 11, but with a different emphasis and meaning. There the emphasis is on τὸ σῶμα, the contrast lying between the whole body and a single member (see the note); whereas here τῆς σαρκὸς is the emphatic part of the expression, the antithesis being between the material and the spiritual. Compare also Ecclus. xxiii. 16 ἄνθρωπος πόρνος ἐν σώματι σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ.
Marcion omitted τῆς σαρκὸς as inconsistent with his views, and explained ἐν τῷ σώματι to mean the Church. Hence the comment of Tertullian adv. Marc. v. 19, ‘utique in eo corpore, in quo mori potuit per carnem, mortuus est, non per ecclesiam sed propter ecclesiam, corpus commutando pro corpore, carnale pro spiritali.’
I. 23]
[← ] τοῦ θανάτου [αὐτοῦ], παραστῆσαι ὑμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους καὶ ἀνεγκλήτους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ, 23 εἴ γε ἐπιμένετε τῇ πίστει τεθεμελιωμένοι καὶ ἑδραῖοι καὶ μὴ μετακινούμενοι [ →]
παραστῆσαι] If the construction which I have adopted be correct, this is said of God Himself, as in 2 Cor. iv. 14 ὁ ἐγέιρας τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν καὶ ἡμᾶς σὺν Ἰησοῦ ἐγερεῖ καὶ παραστήσει σὺν ὑμῖν. This construction seems in all respects preferable to connecting παραστῆσαι directly with ἀποκατηλλάγητε and interpreting the words, ‘Ye have been reconciled so that ye should present yourselves (ὑμᾶς) ... before Him.’ This latter interpretation leaves the καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτὲ ὄντας κ.τ.λ. without a government, and it gives to the second ὑμᾶς a reflexive sense (as if ὑμᾶς αὐτοὺς or ἑαυτούς), which is at least harsh.
ἀμώμους] ‘without blemish’ rather than ‘without blame,’ in the language of the New Testament; see the noteon Ephes. i. 4. It is a sacrificial word, like τέλειος, ὀλόκληρος, etc. The verb παριστάναι also is used of presenting a sacrifice in Rom. xii. 1 παραστῆσαι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν θυσίαν ζῶσαν ἁγίαν κ.τ.λ., Lev. xvi. 7 (v. l.): comp. Luke ii. 22.