SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:9
y de aclarar a todos cul sea la comunin del misterio escondido desde los siglos en Dios, que cre todas las cosas por Jess, el Cristo.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Ephesians 3:9
Verse 9. And to make all men see] kai fwtisai pantav? And to illuminate all; to give information both to Jews and Gentiles; to afford them a sufficiency of light, so that they might be able distinctly to discern the great objects exhibited in this Gospel. What is the fellowship of the mystery] The word koinwnia, which we properly translate fellowship, was used among the Greeks to signify their religious communities; here it may intimate the association of Jews and Gentiles in one Church or body, and their agreement in that glorious mystery which was now so fully opened relative to the salvation of both.
But instead of koinwnia, fellowship, oikonomia, dispensation or economy, is the reading of ABCDEFG, and more than fifty others; both the Syriac, Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Slavonian, Vulgate and Itala, with the chief of the Greek fathers. Some of the best printed editions of the Greek text have the same reading, and that in our common text has very little authority to support it. Dispensation or economy is far more congenial to the scope of the apostle's declaration in this place; he wished to show them the economy of that mystery of bringing Jews and Gentiles to salvation by faith in Christ Jesus, which God from the beginning of the world had kept hidden in his own infinite mind, and did not think proper to reveal even when he projected the creation of the world, which had respect to the economy of human redemption. And although the world was made by Jesus Christ, the great Redeemer, yet at that period this revelation of the power of God, the design of saving men, whose fall infinite wisdom had foreseen, was not then revealed. This reading Griesbach has received into the text.
Who created all things by Jesus Christ] Some very judicious critics are of opinion that this does not refer to the material creation; and that we should understand the whole as referring to the formation of all God's dispensations of grace, mercy, and truth, which have been planned, managed, and executed by Christ, from the foundation of the world to the present time. But the words dia ihsou cristou, by Jesus Christ, are wanting in ABCD*FG, and several others; also in the Syriac, Arabic of Erpen, Coptic, AEthiopic, Vulgate, and Itala; as also in several of the fathers. Griesbach has thrown the words out of the text; and Professor White says, "certissime delenda," they are indisputably spurious. The text, therefore, should be read: which from the beginning of the world had been hidden in God who created all things. No inferiority of Christ can be argued from a clause of whose spuriousness there is the strongest evidence.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 9. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery , &c.] Or the dispensation of the mystery as the Complutensian, and several copies, and the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions, read. The mystery is the Gospel; the fellowship of it is the communication of grace by it, a participation of the truths and doctrines of it, communion with Father, Son, and Spirit, which the Gospel calls and leads unto, and that equal concern and interest which both Jews and Gentiles have in the privileges of it. Now men are naturally in the dark about these things, and the ministry of the word is the means of enlightening them, and is indeed the grand design of it; and the ministers of the Gospel do instrumentally enlighten persons, though it is God only that does it efficiently; and for this, gifts of grace were bestowed upon the apostle, even for the enlightening of all men, not every individual person in the world, but some of all sorts, particularly Gentiles, as well as Jews. The word pantav , rendered all men, is left out in the Alexandrian copy. Which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God ; in the heart of God, in his counsel and covenant; which shows the original and source of the Gospel, and expresses the richness and valuableness of it, as well as its safety and secrecy: here it was hid in some measure from the elect angels, and from Old Testament saints, and altogether from natural men, and especially from the Gentiles, whose times of ignorance God winked at, or overlooked: and this was kept so from ages past, from the beginning of time, till now, and was laid up in the breast of God from all eternity; for it was ordained before the world for the glory, of his people. What the apostle says of the Gospel, the Jews say of the law, that it was hid and treasured up two thousand years before the world was created f36 ; yea, they say f37 , that many ages before the creation of the world it was written and left, hb'qh l wqyjb , in the bosom of God: and he is here described, as he who created all things by Jesus Christ ; not as an instrument, but as a coefficient cause: and this is to be understood, not of the new creation, but of the old, and of all things in it; for without Christ, was not anything made that is made. The phrase, by Jesus Christ, is left out in the Alexandrian and Claromontane copies, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 8-12 - Those whom God advances to honourable employments, he makes low in their own eyes; and where God gives grace to be humble, there he give all other needful grace. How highly he speaks of Jesus Christ; the unsearchable riches of Christ! Though many are not enriched with thes riches; yet how great a favour to have them preached among us, and to have an offer of them! And if we are not enriched with them it is ou own fault. The first creation, when God made all things out of nothing and the new creation, whereby sinners are made new creatures by converting grace, are of God by Jesus Christ. His riches are a unsearchable and as sure as ever, yet while angels adore the wisdom of God in the redemption of his church, the ignorance of self-wise an carnal men deems the whole to be foolishness.
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 φωτισαι 5461 5658 παντας 3956 τις 5101 η 3588 κοινωνια 2842 του 3588 μυστηριου 3466 του 3588 αποκεκρυμμενου 613 5772 απο 575 των 3588 αιωνων 165 εν 1722 τω 3588 θεω 2316 τω 3588 τα 3588 παντα 3956 κτισαντι 2936 5660 δια 1223 ιησου 2424 χριστου 5547
Vincent's NT Word Studies
9. To make all men see (fwtisai pantav). Lit., to enlighten. The mystery. The admission of the Gentiles into covenant privileges. From the beginning of the world (apo twn aiwnwn). Lit., from the ages. Rev., from all ages. See on Col. i. 26.
All things (ta panta). Collectively.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
3:9 {To make see} (fwtisai). First aorist active infinitive of fotizw, late verb, to turn the light on. With the eyes of the heart enlightened (#Eph 1:18) one can qen turn the light for others to see. See #Col 1:26.
