The life and work of St. Paul

640 THE LIFE AND WOBK OF ST. PAtTL.
calling of the Gentiles], as I previously wrote to you in brief, 1 in accordance with
which you can, as you read it, perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ
a mystery which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as
2
it is now revealed to His holy Apostles and prophets by the Spirit (namely) that
the Gentiles are 3 co-heirs, and concorporate, and comparticipant 4 of the promise in
Christ Jesus by the Gospel, of which I became a minister, according to the gift of
the grace of God given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the
less-than-least 5 of all saints, was given this grace, to preach among the Gentiles the
untrackable 6 wealth of Christ and to ; enlighten all on the nature of the dispensation
of the mystery that has been- hidden from the ages in God, who created all
things ; that, now to the principalities and the powers in the heavenlies may be made
known by the Church the richly-variegated wisdom of God, 7 according to the prearrangement
of the ages which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have
our confidence and our access by faith in Him : wherefore I entreat you not to lose
heart in my afflictions on your behalf, seeing that this is your glory. For this
cause, then" (and here he resumes the thread of the prayer broken in the first verse)
"
I bend my knees to the Father, 8 from whom every fatherhood 9 in heaven and on.
earth derives its name, that He would give you, according to the wealth of His
glory, to be 10
strengthened by power through His Spirit into spiritual manhood, that
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ye having been rooted and founded in
love, that ye may have strength to grasp mentally with all saints what is the length
and breadth and depth and height, and to know (spiritually) the knowledge-surpassing
love of Christ, that ye may be filled up to all the plenitude of God." n
" Now to Him that is able above all things to do superabundantly above la all that
we ask or think, according to the power [of the Holy Spirit] which worketh in us,
1 i. 9 scq. ; ii. 13 seq.
2 Serious objections have been made to this phrase, as proving that it could not have
been written by the pen that wrote Gal. ii. The objection is groundless. Assuming the
oyiots to be correct (though not found in every MS. ; cf. Col. i. 26) i. It is perfectly
generic, not individual ; cf . ver. 8 and ii. 20 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 15. ii. Apostles and prophets
are bracketed, and the
"
epithet "holy means
"
sanctified," a title which they share with
all " saints." iii. "Apostles" does not here necessarily bear its narrower sense.
3 Not "should be," as in A.V.
*
iii. 6, ovyKAijpdfOfia,