[B-Greek] Eph. 1:12 EIS TO EINAI hHMAS ...TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS EN TWiCRISTWi

Iver Larsen iver at larsen.dk
Thu May 18 04:41:29 EDT 2006


Part of this discussion touches on the inclusive versus exclusive "we" which is not explicitly marked in Greek, so it 
has to be understood from context. Because it is not explicitly marked, the writer may not always be clear about the 
distinction.

Let me re-focus on the text:

EIS TO EINAI hHMAS EIS EPAINON DOXHS AUTOU TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS EN TWi CRISTWi EN hWi KAI hUMEIS...

Since Paul was writing to the church in Ephesos (and environs?), which was mainly Gentile, at a time where there was 
still great controversy between Jews and Gentiles, as well as between those Jews who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah 
and those who had not, the dichotomy between we-Jews and you-Gentiles would be in the back of the minds of the believers 
in Ephesos as much as it is in the mind of Paul.

Because of the KAI hUMEIS, it is most likely that the "we" in the preceding sentence refers to the Jews (CEV translates 
by "we Jews" here). The "we" does not have to refer to the same entity throughout the section. The whole section from 
verses 3-14 is a praise of God's plan of salvation, which God had thought out even before the foundation of the world 
(v. 4), and that plan involved both Jews and Gentiles.

One of the problems seem to be the unclear understanding of PROELPIZW. The contemporary English word "hope" is far too 
vague in meaning and "trust" would be misleading. ELPIZW means "to wait for with expectancy", at least the way Paul is 
using the word in his letters. It is a bit like an "expectant mother" which is more than a "hoping mother". For ELPIZW 
Louw and Nida has: "to look forward with confidence to that which is good and beneficial," but they still use the 
somewhat misleading gloss "hope" at times. I am afraid the poor KJV translation of Eph 1:12 has mislead English Bible 
translation tradition. Louw and Nida is much better with their rendering of PROELPIZW: "to hope in a prior manner, 
either beforehand or prior to someone else." The PRO- prefix in this context means "prior" or "before(hand)", but not 
"first", and it must be seen in the context of PRO KATABOLHS KOSMOU  in verse 4, the PRO-ORIZW in v. 5, the PRO-TIQHMI 
in v. 9, and the PRO-ORIZW  and PRO-QESIS in v. 11.

Paul is reminding the Gentile believers, that their being saved through the grace of Christ is something God had planned 
long ago and had revealed to some degree to the Jews of former times (even though is was a mystery to them and only 
fully revealed now after the Messiah had come, was dead and resurrected). I think that is why he is using EINAI rather 
than ZWN. It was the plan of God that "we should be(come)". Note also the "chose us to be" EXELEXATO ... EINAI hHMAS in 
v. 4.

As Carl pointed out in his second thoughts, the noun phrase TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS EN TWi CRISTWi is probably an apposition 
to the hHMAS that is subject for the EINAI. But the description "we who beforehand were in the state of expecting (the 
coming of) the Messiah" refers to the Jews. Now, Paul represents those Jews who not only were in the state of looking 
forward to and eagerly expecting the coming of the Messiah, but also had come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. Then 
he continues: EVEN/ALSO you (Gentiles) have heard the message, have believed and have been sealed by the Holy Spirit to 
become his possession "for the praise of his glory" (end of v. 14.) - together with us, of course. "His glory" probably 
refers primarily to the glorious plan of salvation that Paul is talking about here. Often "glory" means "praise", but 
since we have another word for "praise" here, it must refer to the "greatness" of God, and the plan of salvation is a 
specific example of his greatness.

Iver Larsen
Bible Translation Consultant 




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