αὐτόν, εἰρηνοποιήσας διὰ τοῦ ἅιματος τοῦ σταυροῦ αὐτοῦ, δι’ αὐτοῦ ἔιτε
τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔιτε τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ^{21}καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτὲ ὄντας
ἀπήλλοτριωμένους καὶ >
εἰς αὐτόν] ‘_to Him_,’ i.e. ‘to Himself.’ The reconciliation is always
represented as made to the Father. The reconciler is sometimes the
Father Himself (2 Cor. v. 18, 19 ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ καταλλάξαντος ἡμᾶς
ἑαυτῷ διὰ Χριστοῦ ... Θεὸς ἐν Χριστῷ κόσμον καταλλάσσων ἑαυτῷ),
sometimes the Son (Ephes. ii. 16: comp. Rom. v. 10, 11). Excellent
reasons are given (Bleek _Hebr._ II. p. 69, A. Buttmann _Gramm._ p. 97)
for supposing that the reflexive pronoun ἑαυτοῦ etc. is never contracted
into αὐτοῦ etc. in the Greek Testament. But at the same time it is quite
clear that the oblique cases of the personal pronoun αὐτός are there
used very widely, and in cases where we should commonly find the
reflexive pronoun in classical authors: e.g. Ephes. i. 4, 5 ἐξελέξατο
ἡμᾶς ... εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον _αὐτοῦ_ ...
προορίσας ἡμᾶς εἰς ὑιοθεσίαν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς _αὐτόν_. See
also the instances given in A. Buttmann p. 98. It would seem indeed that
αὐτοῦ etc. may be used for ἑαυτοῦ etc. in almost every connexion, except
where it is the direct object of the verb.
εἰρηνοποιήσας] The word occurs in the LXX, Prov. x. 10, and in Hermes in
Stob. _Ecl. Phys._ xli. 45. The substantive εἰρηνοποιός (see Matt. v. 9)
is found several times in classical writers.
δι’ αὐτοῦ] The external authority for and against these words is nearly
evenly balanced: but there would obviously be a tendency to reject them
as superfluous. They are a resumption of the previous δι’ αὐτοῦ. For
other examples see ii. 13 ὑμᾶς, Rom. viii. 23 καὶ αὐτοὶ, Gal. ii. 15, 16
ἡμεῖς, Ephes. i. 13 ἐν ᾧ καί, iii. 1, 14 τούτου χάριν, where words are
similarly repeated for the sake of emphasis or distinctness. In 2 Cor.
xii. 7 there is a repetition of ἵνα μὴ ὑπεραίρωμαι, where again it is
omitted in several excellent authorities.
21–23. ‘And ye too—ye Gentiles—are included in the terms of this peace.
In times past ye had estranged yourselves from God. Your hearts were
hostile to Him, while ye lived on in your evil deeds. But now, in
Christ’s body, in Christ’s flesh which died on the Cross for your
atonement, ye are reconciled to Him again. He will present you a living
sacrifice, an acceptable offering unto Himself, free from blemish and
free even from censure, that ye may stand the piercing glance of Him
whose scrutiny no defect can escape. But this can only be, if ye remain
true to your old allegiance, if ye hold fast (as I trust ye are holding
fast) by the teaching of Epaphras, if the edifice of your faith is built
on solid foundations and not reared carelessly on the sands, if ye
suffer not yourselves to be shifted or shaken but rest firmly on the
hope which ye have found in the Gospel—the one universal unchangeable
Gospel, which was proclaimed to every creature under heaven, of which I
Paul, unworthy as I am, was called to be a minister.’
21. ἀπηλλοτριωμένους] ‘_estranged_,’ not ἀλλοτρίους, ‘_strangers_’;
comp. Ephes. ii. 12, iv. 18. See the note on ἀποκαταλλάξαι ver. 20.
------------------------------------------------------------------------