Ephesians 1:10

10. in the dispensation, &c.] Lit., in view of the stewardship of the fulness of the seasons. The word rendered “dispensation” is lit. “stewardship, house-management.” Its special meaning here seems to be that the eternal Son is the True Steward in the great House of the Father’s spiritual Church; and that into His hands is to be put the actual government of it as it stands complete in the “fulness, or, fulfilment, of the seasons” (cp. for the phrase Gal_4:4); i.e. in the great Age of the Gospel, in which the universality of the Church, long indicated and prepared for by successive “seasons,” or stages, of providence and revelation, is at length a patent fact. In other words, the Father “purposed” that His Son should be, in a supreme sense, the manifested Governor and Dispenser of the developed period of grace, of which “glory” is but the outburst and flower.

gather together in one all things in Christ] This clause explains the clause previous; the “stewardship” was to be, in fact, the actual and manifested Headship of Christ. The Gr. may be literally represented by “that He might head up all things in Christ.” The verb is only used elsewhere (in N. T.) Rom_13:9, where A. V. reads “it is briefly comprehended,” summed up. The element “head” in the compound verb need not appear in translation; as it does not in either A. V. or R. V. (which reads “sum up”). But the Lord is so markedly seen in this Epistle (Eph_1:22, Eph_4:15, Eph_5:23; and see 1Co_11:3; Col_1:18; Col_2:10; Col_2:19) as the Head of the Church that a special reference to the thought and word seems to us almost certain here. We render, accordingly, to sum up all things in Christ as Head.—“In Christ” will here import a vital and organic connexion; as so often.

both which are in heaven, &c.] Here, and in the close parallel, Col_1:20, the context favours the reference of “all things” to the subjects of spiritual redemption who are in view through the whole passage; not explicitly to the Universe, in the largest sense of that word. More precisely, regenerate men are specially intended by “the things on earth,” as distinguished from “the things in heaven,” the angelic race, which also is “made subject” to the glorified Christ (1Pe_3:22, and see Col_2:10). The meaning here will thus be that under the supreme Headship of the Son were to be gathered, with the “elect angels” (1Ti_5:21), all “the children of God scattered abroad” (Joh_11:52); the true members of the universal Church. So, nearly, St Chrysostom interprets the passage; making the meaning to be that “both to angels and to men the Father has appointed one Head, according to the flesh, that is Christ.” (He has previously explained the verb (see last note) to mean “sum up,” “gather together;” but here recognizes an additional reference to the Headship of Christ.)—See further Appendix A.

A. HEADSHIP OF CHRIST WITH RELATION TO THE UNIVERSE

In the Commentary, on ch. Eph_1:10, we have advocated the restriction of the reference of the Headship to the Lord’s connexion with the Church. This is by no means to ignore His connexion with the whole created Universe; a truth expressly taught in the Holy Scriptures (see esp. Joh_1:3, and Col_1:16, though the latter passage makes its main reference to personal existences, not to merely material things). The connexion of the Eternal and Incarnate Son with the created World is indicated to us, directly and indirectly, as a profound and manifold connexion. But on a careful view of the whole teaching of the Ephesian Epistle we think it will be seen that the Epistle does not, so to speak, look this way with its revelations and doctrines, but is occupied supremely with the Lord’s relations with His Church, and with other intelligent existences through it. And we doubt whether the imagery of the Head is anywhere (if not here) to be found used with reference to the Universe at large, material and immaterial alike.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_1:10

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ.

Heaven and earth united in Christ

Heaven and earth are to be restored to each other as well as to Him. The knowledge of God and the sanctity which have come to us in this world of conflict and sin are to flow into the great stream of pure angelic life; and the joy, the strength, the wisdom, and the security, alike of angels and of men, will be indefinitely augmented. As yet, we and they are like countries so remote or so estranged from each other that there has been no exchange of material or intellectual treasures. What the poverty of England would be if we had been always isolated from the rest of the human race we can hardly tell. It is by the free intercourse of trade, and the still freer intercourse of literature, that nations become rich and wise. Sunnier skies and more luxuriant soils give us more than half our material wealth, and we send in exchange the products of our mines and the works of our industry and skill. From sages who speculated on the universe and human life in the very morning of civilization, from poets whose genius was developed in the ancient commonwealths of Greece, our intellectual energy has received its most vigorous inspiration; and our religious faith is refreshed by streams which had their springs in the life of ancient Jewish saints and prophets, and of Christian apostles who lived eighteen centuries ago. What we hope for in the endless future is a still more complete participation in whatever knowledge and love of God, whatever righteousness, whatever joy, may exist in any province of the created universe. Race is no longer to be isolated from race, or world from world. A power, a wisdom, a holiness, a rapture, of which a solitary, soul, a solitary world, would be incapable, are to be ours through the gathering together of all things in Christ. We, for our part, shall contribute to the fulness of the universal life. To the principalities of heaven we shall be able to speak of Gods infinite mercy to a race which had revolted against His throne; of the kinship between the eternal Son of God and ourselves; of the mystery of His death and the power of His resurrection; of the consolation which came to us in sorrows which the happy angels never knew; of the tenderness of the Divine pity which was shown to us in pain and weariness and disappointment; of the strength of the Divine support which made inconstancy resolute in well doing, and changed weakness and fear into victorious heroism. And they will tell us of the ancient days when no sin had cast its shadow on the universe, and of all that they have learnt in the millenniums of blessedness and purity during which they have seen the face of God. The sanctity which is the fruit of penitence will have its own pathetic loveliness for righteous races that have never sinned; and we shall be thrilled with a new rapture by the vision of a perfect glory which has never suffered even temporary eclipse. Their joy in their own security will be heightened by their generous delight in our rescue from sin and eternal death, and our gratitude for our deliverance will deepen in intensity as we discover that our honour and blessedness are not inferior to theirs who have never broken the eternal law of righteousness. Our final glory will consist, not in the restoration of the solitary soul to solitary communion with God, but in the fellowship of all the blessed with the blessedness of the universe as well as with the blessedness of God. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

Timely gathering of all in Christ

I. God has set seasons in which He will accomplish all His will (Ecc_3:1; Ecc_3:17). As He brings things natural, spring, summer, autumn, winter, everything in season, so all the works He will do about His children, whether it be the punishing of wickedness for their sake, the delivering of His children from evil, the giving them benefits, He will bring them all forth in the fit appointed seasons.

1. To design times is His prerogative: as a master of a fatally has the right to fix the particular time at which this or that shall be done.

2. He only knows the fittest seasons for the accomplishment of His plans.

(1) Let this reprove our weakness in thinking God sometimes delays too long.

(2) Let us learn to wait on God. We would not in winter have midsummer weather, for it would not be seasonable; so in the winter of any trial with which we are visited we should not wish the sunshine of this or that blessing before God sees it may be seasonably bestowed, remembering that the man who believes does not make undue haste.

II. God, by opening the Gospel, brings us His Christ.

1. By nature we are severed

(1) from God: prodigal sons;

(2) from Christ, like sheep in the valleys of death, running after the wolf, and leaving the Shepherd of our souls;

(3) from one another, a man being by nature a wolf to his brother-man, his feet swift to shed blood.

2. The order in which we are gathered.

(1) The opening of the gospel gathers us into one faith.

(2) By faith, as a spiritual sinew or nerve, it unites us to Christ, making us one person with Him, as in law man and wife are one.

(3) It unites us with God, inasmuch as we are one with His Son.

(4) By being gathered to Christ, we are gathered to the whole Body of Christ, to all who exist under Him. What a wonderful power of union is there in the gospel!

III. All who shall be gathered to Christ are brought to Him by the Gospel. Only one gospel, and that gospel is for all.

II. Observe--who it is in whom we are gathered. In Christ, who--

1. Has abolished the enmity between God and us, and so removed that which divided us; and--

2. He calls us, and effectually draws us home in His time.

(1) Let us then, to preserve our union, walk with Christ, and keep by Him. Even as it is in drawing a circle with compass and lines from the circumference to the centre, so it is with us: the nearer they come to the centre, the more they unite, till they come to the same point; the further they go from the centre in which they are united, the more they run out one from the other. So when we keep to Christ, the nearer we come to Him, the more we unite; but when we run forth into our own lusts and private faction, then we are disjoined from the other.

(2) Since in Christ, our Head, we are joined as members of one and the same body, we mug act as members. The members of one and the same body have no mutual jealousies; they communicate with each other; the mouth takes meat, the stomach digests, the liver makes blood, the eye sees, the hand handles; they wilt not revenge themselves one against another, but mutually bear each others burdens, so that their affection each to other is not diminished. God, who is love itself, teaches us these things. (Paul Bayne.)

All things in Christ

Jesus Christ is the fulness of

(1) knowledge;

(2) time;

(3) law;

(4) nature;

(5) grace;

(6) man;

(7) God. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)

The plan of redemption

This is a disclosure of the magnificent and sublime design contemplated by God through means of the gospel. It is the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself. Our own individual salvation constitutes but a fragment of a vast and glorious scheme, which in due course shall be fully achieved. The influence of that atonement to which we owe our redemption is here seen extending itself far and wide in the universe of God, and forming the grand harmonizing and uniting bond among all the objects, however various, of His goodness, mercy, and love. Nay, we are perhaps here taught that its power is to be exerted and displayed in the final subjugation of all things without exception, including the reduction of sin and evil to their own place, as well as the ingathering of all that is good--under the universal sovereignty of God.

I. There is a general plan or scheme, promoted by the Gospel, and here called the dispensation or economy of the fulness of times. It is, with reference to a plan, or dispensation, or economy, which God has in view, that He has made known to us the mystery of redemption. Every intelligent householder has some plan, according to which he directs all his energies and Jays out all his arrangements. His house, his farm, his estate, are managed and controlled for some definite object, and all his operations are conformed to some view or idea which he has formed for his own guidance. Different seasons of the year and various times come round upon him, but he keeps intelligently and firmly to his ruling purpose, and is not satisfied until the result of his plan has been fully realized. So God Himself, in the government of His whole household--the universal Father and the Lord of all--is represented as having a certain plan or economy, in accordance with which He is pleased to work through successive times, until the result He contemplates be finally attained.

II. What, then, is this grand result contemplated by the dispensation of the fulness of times? It is to gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in Him. But what are we to understand by this? What is the import of to gather together in one? And what maybe the full scope of all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth? The word rendered to gather together in one occurs once again in Rom_13:9, where it is rendered briefly comprehended. If there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There its import is plain; for all the commandments are summed up, briefly comprehended, reduced to a head, gathered together in one in those two great commandments, love to God and love to man, of the last of which the apostle was giving instances. These two commandments are heads on which all the rest depend, from which they hang, in which they are summed up. This idea of summation, representation, headship, seems to belong essentially to the import of the word, and must not be lost sight of in the passage before us, where we read of the gathering up in one of all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. But as it is plain that all things do not naturally belong to Christ, but on account of sin the things on earth at least are in a state of alienation, separation, revulsion, we must here necessarily suppose that the word implies the idea of bringing back from that state and gathering up into the opposite state of union, harmony, love.

1. The angels may be included in this gathering together in one. Although the unfallen angels do not stand in need of redemption from sin or misery, yet they need to be preserved from the risk of falling, and may well be supposed to owe their security and infallibility in some way to Christ.

2. There is no question concerning the including, or gathering up in one, all the redeemed of mankind. Separated though they may have been in life--according to the times in which they have existed, the countries they have dwelt in, the names and outward distinctions they have borne--their union to Christ, and to each other, has been real. It will, at length, become visible.

3. But it seems intended in this passage, as it is in keeping with the representations of Scripture elsewhere, that the material creation is to share in the glorious ingathering of all things in Christ.

III. This gathering up of all things is is Christ, even in Him.

1. Consider the wondrous person of Christ as the God-man, joining mysteriously the Creator and the creation--the Maker and His work in one--by an indissoluble and eternal union.

2. But consider, secondly, that Christ, thus completely fitted to represent the creation of God, by the assumption of the human nature, has been actually constituted head of all things, with all-sufficient power to accomplish the whole plan of God. (W. Alves, M. A.)

All things to be gathered together in Christ

He will yet gather together again, in one, all things in Christ, filling them from His own fulness laid up in Him; gladdening them with His own joy; quickening them with His own life; beautifying them with His own glory; and sustaining them with His own power and resources. Great indeed must be our Lord, in whom and through whom such purposes are to be fulfilled! And divinely inspired must be the record in which they are revealed! Towards the fulfilment and manifestation in us of that purpose, all Gods past dispensations of grace have tended. Note their order.

1. By the Holy Ghost given us and through the gospel, He gathers His people into one faith and one baptism.

2. By faith, as by a spiritual nerve or sinew, He unites us with Christ, making us to become one flesh with Him, as it is written (Eph_5:29, No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth it and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church).

3. He doth so unite us with Christ as to make us sons-in-law and daughters-in-law; nay, He makes us so much nearer to Himself, by how much God and Christ are more nearly united, than any natural father and son can be. As it is written: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.

4. By our being thus gathered together in Christ, we are gathered into the whole body of Christ, and to all that exists under Him, and His angels become our ministering spirits; nay, more, we are gathered to all, who in Gods predestination belong to Christ, and all things are ours.

Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and goodness of our God! There is a climax in our text.

1. His grace in creating us, as Adam in innocency and angels before they fell.

2. His upholding grace, in preventing the fall of elect angels; and His long-suffering grace towards fallen sinners.

3. But beyond all, was that manifestation of the exceeding riches and glory of His redeeming grace, in the gift of His Son, and His revealed purpose to regather us again to Himself in Him, the purchase of His blood, and the partakers of His Divine nature. Creating grace has been surpassed by preventing grace; and preventing grace again by restoring and adopting grace; and thus God has made known unto us the mystery of His will, and His thoughts which are to usward. (M. Rainsford, B. A.)

Relation of the Atonement to the universe

The mediation of Christ is represented in Scripture as bringing the whole creation into union with the Church or people of God. In the dispensation of the fulness of times it is said that God would gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him. Again, it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell; and (having made peace through the blood of His cross) by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether things in earth, or things in heaven. The language here used supposes that the introduction of sin has effected a disunion between men and the other parts of Gods creation. It is natural to suppose it should be so. If a province of a great empire rise up in rebellion against the lawful government, all communication between the inhabitants of such a province and the faithful adherents to order and obedience must be at an end. A line of separation would be immediately drawn by the sovereign, and all intercourse between the one and the other prohibited. Nor would it less accord with the inclination than with the duty of all the friends of righteousness, to withdraw their connection from those who were in rebellion against the supreme authority and the general good. It must have been thus with regard to the holy angels, on mans apostasy. Those who at the creation of our world had sung together, and even shouted for joy, would now retire in disgust and holy indignation. But, through the mediation of Christ, a reunion is effected. By the blood of the cross we have peace with God; and being reconciled to Him, are united to all who love Him throughout the whole extent of creation. If Paul could address the Corinthians, concerning one of their excluded members, who had been brought to repentance, To whom ye forgive anything, I also; much more would the friends of righteousness say, in their addresses to the Great Supreme, concerning an excluded member from the moral system, To whom thou forgivest anything, we also! Hence angels acknowledge Christians as brethren, and become ministering spirits to them while inhabitants of the present world. (A. Fuller.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 1:10. Εἰς, in) Construe with γνωρίσας, having made known.—οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, the dispensation of the fulness of the times) Fulness τῶν καιρῶν, of the times,[10] is in some degree distinguished from the fulness ΤΟῦ ΧΡΌΝΟΥ, of the time, Gal 4:4, for it involves the fulness of the benefits themselves, and of men reaping these benefits, Mar 1:15. Still each fulness is in Christ, and there is a certain peculiar economy and dispensation of this fulness, Col 1:25. Paul very often uses the words πληρόω and ΠΛΉΡΩΜΑ in writing to the Ephesians and Colossians.—ἈΝΑΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΏΣΑΣΘΑΙ) that all might be brought under one head. All things had been under Christ; but they had been torn and rent from Him by sin: again they have been brought under His sway. Christ is the head of angels and of men: the former agree with Him in His invisible, the latter in His visible nature.—τὰ πάντα, all things [the whole range of things]) not only Jews and Gentiles, but also those things which are in heaven and upon the earth:—angels and men, and the latter including those who are alive as well as those long ago dead, Eph 3:15.—τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, in the heavens) in the plural.

[10] Seasons rather.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_1:10. Εἰς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώμ. τῶν καιρ.] Unto the dispensation of the fulfilling of the times, belongs not to γνωρίσας (Bengel), but to the immediately preceding ἣν προέθετο ἐν αὑτῷ, which is inserted solely with a view to attach to it εἰς οἰκον. κ.τ.λ.; and εἰς does not stand for ἐν (Vulgate and several Fathers, also Beza, Piscator, and others), but denotes what God in forming that purpose had in view, and is thus telic: with a design to. With the temporal rendering, usque ad (Erasmus, Calvin, Bucer, Estius, Er. Schmid, Michael., and others), we should have to take προέθετο in a pregnant sense, and to supply mentally: consilio secretum et abditum esse voluit (Erasmus, Paraphr.), which, however, with the former explanation is superfluous, and hence is arbitrary here, although it would in itself be admissible (Winer, p. 577 [E. T. 776]).

οἰκονομία] house-management (Luk_16:2), used also in the ethico-theocratic sense (1Ti_1:4), and specially of the functions of the apostolic office (1Co_9:17; Col_1:25), here signifies regulation, disposition, arrangement in general, in which case the conception of an οἰκονόμος has receded into the background. Comp. Eph_3:2; Xen. Cyr. v. 3. 25; Plut. Pomp. 50; frequently in Polyb. (see Schweighaeuser, Lex. Polyb. p. 402); comp. also 2Ma_3:14; 3Ma_3:2; Act. Thom. 57.

The πλήρωμα τῶν καιρῶν, id quo impleta sumt (comp. on Eph_3:19) tempora, is not in substance different from τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου, Gal_4:4; nevertheless, in our passage the pre-Messianic period running on from the beginning is conceived of not as unity, as at Gal. l.c., but according to its different sections of time marked off by different epochs, the last of which closes with the setting in of the Messianic work of redemption, and which thus with this setting in become full (like a measure), so that nothing more is lacking to make up the time as a whole, of which they are the parts. This πλήρωμα is consequently not, in general, tempus justum (Morus: at its time), but the fulness of the times, i.e. that point of time, by the setting in of which the pre-Messianic ages are made full,[99] that is, are closed as complete. Comp. Herod. iii. 22: ὀγδώκοντα δʼ ἔτεα ζόης πλήρωμα ἀνδρὶ μακρότατον προκέεσθαι (implementum vitae longissimum, i.e. longissimum tempus, quo impletur vita), and see on Gal_4:4; Wetstein on Mar_1:15. Fritzsche (in Thesauri quo sacrae N.T. glossae illustr. specim., Rostock 1839, p. 25, and ad Rom. II. p. 473) conceives it otherwise, holding that τὸ πλήρωμα is plenitas, the abstract of πλήρης, hence ΠΛ. Τ. Κ. plenum tempus, οἱ πλήρεις καιροί. But while ΠΛΉΡΩΜΑ doubtless signifies impletio, like πλήρωσις, in Eze_5:2; Dan_10:3; Soph. Track. 1203; Eurip. Tro. 824, it never denotes the being full.

Now, in what way is the genitive-relation οἰκονομία τοῦ πληρώματος to be understood? A genitive of the object (Menochius, Storr, Baumgarten-Crusius) τοῦ πληρώμ. cannot be, inasmuch as it may doubtless be said of the ΠΛΉΡΩΜΑ ΤῶΝ ΚΑΙΡ. as a point of time fixed by God: it comes (Gal_4:4), but not: it is arranged, οἰκονομεῖται. Harless takes the genitive as epexegetic. But a point of time (πλήρ. τ. καιρ.) cannot logically be an appositional more precise definition of a fact (οἰκονομία). The genitive is rightly taken as expressing the characteristic (temporal) peculiarity, as by Calovius: dispensatio propria plenitudini temporum. Comp. Rückert. Just as κρίσις μεγάλης ἡμέρας, Jud_1:6. Hence: with a view to the dispensation to be established at the setting in of the fulness of the times. For, ὅτε ἦλθε τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου, ἐξαπέστειλεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, Gal. l.c., and on His emergence πεπλήρωται ὁ καιρός, Mar_1:15. There was no need that the article should stand before οἰκον. just because of the complete definition contained in the following genitive. Comp. on ver: 6. It would only be required, if we should have mentally to supply to οἰκονομίαν a genitival definition, and thus to make it an independent idea, as is done by many (Wolf, Olshausen, and others), who explain it as administrationem gratiae,a view which is erroneous, just because a genitive already stands beside it, although οἰκονομία τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, taken together, is the Christian dispensation of grace. This genitival definition standing alongside of it also prevents us from taking, with Luther, εἰς οἰκονομίαν (sc. τοῦ μυστηρίου) as: that it should be preached; or from supplying, with Grotius and Estius (comp. Morus), τῆς εὐδοκίας αὐτοῦ with ΟἸΚΟΝ., in neither of which cases would there be left any explanation of the genitive sense applicable to ΤΟῦ ΠΛΗΡΏΜΑΤΟς Τ. Κ. Quite erroneous, lastly, is the view of Storr, Opusc. I. p. 155, who is followed by Meier, that οἰκονομία τοῦ πληρ. τ. κ. is administratio eorum quae restant temporum. For to take τ. πλήρ. τ. κ. in the sense of reliqua tempora, i.e. novi foederis, is in the light of Gal_4:4, Mar_1:15, decidedly to misapprehend it.

ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ] epexegetical infinitive, which gives information as to the actual contents of that οἰκονομία: (namely) again to gather up together, etc. Therein the arrangement designated by οἰκονομία τ. πλ. τ. κ. was to consist. This connection is that which naturally suggests itself, and is more in keeping with the simple mode followed in the context of annexing the new portions of the discourse to what immediately precedes, than the connection with ΠΡΟΈΘΕΤΟ (Zachariae, Flatt, and others), or with ΤῸ ΜΥΣΤΉΡ. ΤΟῦ ΘΕΛ. ΑὐΤΟῦ (Beza: Paul is explaining quid mysterii nomine significare voluerit; also Harless, comp. Olshausen, Schmid, bibl. Theol. II. p. 347, and others). We may add that Beza, Piscator, and others have taken εἰς οἰκον. τ. πλ. τ. κ. along with ἈΝΑΚΕΦΑΛ. as one idea; but in that case the preceding ἫΝ ΠΡΟΈΘΕΤΟ ἘΝ ΑὙΤῷ must appear quite superfluous and aimless, and ΕἸς ΟἸΚΟΝΟΜ. Κ.Τ.Λ., by being prefixed to ἈΝΑΚΕΦΑΛ., irrelevantly receives the main emphasis, which is not to be removed from ἈΝΑΚΕΦΑΛ.

ἈΝΑΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΏΣΑΣΘΑΙ] ΚΕΦΆΛΑΙΟΝ in the verb ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΌΩ means, as it does also in classical usage, chief thing, main point (see Wetstein, ad Rom_13:9); hence κεφαλαιόω: summatim, colligere, as in Thuc. iii. 67. 5, vi. 91. 6, viii. 53. 1; Quinctil. i. 6. Comp. συγκεφαλαιοῦσθαι, Xen. Cyr. viii. 1. 15; Polyb. iii. 3. 1, 7, iv. 1. 9. Consequently ἀνακεφαλαιόω: summatim recolligere, which is said in Rom_13:9 of that which has been previously expressed singulatim, in separate parts, but now is again gathered up in one main point, so that at Rom. l.c. ἐν τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ denotes that main point, in which the gathering, up is contained. And here this main point of gathering up again, unifying all the parts, lies in Christ; hence the gathering up is not verbal, as in Rom. l.c., but real, as is distinctly apparent from the objects gathered up together, τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς κ.τ.λ. It is to be observed withal, (1) that ἈΝΑΚΕΦΑΛ. does not designate Christ as κεφαλήalthough He really is so (Eph_1:22)so that it would be tantamount to ὑπὸ μίαν κεφαλὴν ἄγειν (Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Erasmus, Luther, Piscator, Calovius, Bengel, Michaelis, Zachariae, Koppe, Matthies, Meier, de Wette, and others), but as ΚΕΦΆΛΑΙΟΝ, which is evident from the etymology; (2) that we are not to bring in, with Grotius and Hammond, the conception of scattered warriors, or, with Camerarius, that of an arithmetical sum (ΚΕΦΆΛΑΙΟΝ, see Wetstein, l.c.), which must have been suggested by the context; (3) that the force of the middle is the less to be overlooked, inasmuch as an act of government on Gods part is denoted: sibi summatim recolligere; (4) that we may not give up the meaning of ἀνα, iterum (Winer, de verbor. cum praep. conj. in N.T. usu, III. p. 3 f.), which points back to a state in which no separation as yet existed (in opposition to Chrysostom, Castalio, and many others). This ἀνα has had its just force already recognised by the Peshito and Vulgate (instaurare), as well as by Tertull. de Monog. 5 (ad initium reciprocare),[100] although κεφαλαιόω is overlooked by the former, and wrongly apprehended by the latter. See the more detailed discussion below.

ΤᾺ ΠΆΝΤΑ] is referred by many (see below) merely to intelligent beings, or to men, which, according to a well-known use of the neuter, would be in itself admissible (Gal_3:22), but would need to be suggested by the context. It is quite general: all created things and beings. Comp. Eph_1:22-23.

τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς] that which is on the heavens and that which is on the earth. ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐραν. (see the critical remarks) is so conceived of that the heavens are the stations at which the things concerned are to be found. Comp. the well-known ἐπὶ χθονί (Hom. Il. iii. 195, al.); ἐπὶ πύλησιν (Il. iii. 149); ἐπὶ πύργῳ (Il. vi. 431). Even in the classical writers, we may add, prepositions occurring in close succession often vary their construction without any special design in it. See Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 1. 20. Comp. as to the local ἐπί with genitive and dative, e.g. Hom. Il. i. 486. As regards the real sense, τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐραν. is not to be arbitrarily limited either to the spirits in heaven generally (Rückert, Meier), or to the angels (Chrysostom, Calvin, Cameron, Balduin, Grotius, Estius, Calovius, Bengel, Michaelis, Zachariae, Bosenmiiller, Baumgarten-Crusius, and others), or to the blessed spirits of the pious men of the O. T. (Beza, Piscator, Boyd, Wolf, Moldenhauer, Flatt, and others), nor must we understand by it the Jews, and by τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς the Gentiles (Locke, Schoettgen, Baumgarten, Teller, Ernesti), as, indeed, Koppe was able to bring out of it all mankind by declaring heaven and earth to be a periphrasis for κόσμος; but, entirely without restriction, all things and beings existent in the heavens and upon earth are meant, so that the preceding τὰ πάντα is specialized in its two main divisions. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. iii. 18, quite arbitrarily thought of all events which should have come to pass on earth or in heaven, and which God gathers up, i.e. brings to their complete fulfilment, in Christ as in their goal. Comp. Chrys.: τὰ γὰρ διὰ μακροῦ χρόνου οἰκονομούμενα ἀνηκεφαλαιώσατο ἐν Χριστῷ, τουτέστι συνέτεμε.

But how far has God gathered together again all things, things heavenly and things earthly, in Christ? Before the entrance of sin all created beings and things were undividedly united under Gods government; all things in the world were normally combined into organic unity for Gods ends and in His service. But through sin this original union and harmony was broken, first of all in heaven, where a part of the angels sinned and fell away from God;[101] these formed, under Satan, the kingdom antagonistic to God, and upon earth brought about the fall of man (2Co_11:3), extended their sway farther and farther, and were even worshipped in the heathen idols (1Co_10:20 f.). With the fall of man there came to an end also the normal state of the non-intelligent κτίσις (Rom_8:19 ff.); heaven and earth, which had become the scene of sin and of the demoniac kingdom (Eph_2:2, Eph_6:12), were destined by God to destruction, in order that one day a new heaven and a new earthin which not sin any more, but moral righteousness shall dwell, and God shall be the all-determining power in all (1Co_15:28)shall come imperishable (Rom_8:21) in its place (2Pe_3:13). The redeeming work of Jesus Christ (comp. Col_1:20) was designed to annul again this divided state in the universe, which had arisen through sin in heaven and upon earth, and to reestablish the unity of the kingdom of God in heaven and on earth; so that this gathering together again should rest on, and have its foundations in, Christ as the central point of union and support, without which it could not emerge. Before the Parousia, it is true, this ἀνακεφαλαίωσις is still but in course of development; for the devil is still with his demons ἘΝ ΤΟῖς ἘΠΟΥΡΑΝΊΟΙς (Eph_6:12), is still fighting against the kingdom of God and holding sway over many; many men reject Christ, and the ΚΤΊΣΙς longs after the renewal. But with the Parousia there sets in the full realization, which is the ἀποκατάστασις πάντων (Mat_19:28; Act_3:21; 2Pe_3:10 ff.); when all antichristian natures and powers shall be discarded out of heaven and earth, so that thereafter nothing in heaven or upon earth shall be excluded from this gathering together again. Comp. Photius in Oecumenius. Finally, the middle voice (sibi recolligere) has its warrant in the fact that God is the Sovereign (the head of Christ, 1Co_11:4; 1Co_3:23), who fulfils His will and aim by the gathering up again, etc.; so that, when the ἀνακεφαλαίωσις is completed by the victory over all antichristian powers, He resumes even the dominion committed to the Son, and then God is the sole ruling principle (1Co_15:24; 1Co_15:28). Our passage is accordingly so framed as to receive its historically adequate elucidation from the N.T., and especially from Paul himself; and there is no reason for seeking to explain it from a later system of ideas, as Baur does (p. 424), who traces it to the underlying Gnostic idea, that all spiritual life which has issued from the supreme God must return to its original unity, and in that view the affected expression ΕἸς ΟἸΚΟΝ. Τ. ΠΛΗΡ. Τ. ΚΑΙΡ. is held to convey a covert allusion to the Gnostic pleroma of aeons and its economy. See, on the other hand, Räbiger, Christol. Paulina, p. 55. The genuinely Catholic consciousness (Baur, Christenth. d. drei erst. Jahrh. p. 109) of the Epistle is just the genuinely apostolic one, necessarily rooted in Christs own word and work. The person of Christ is not presented under the point of view of the metaphysical necessity of the process of the self-realizing idea (Baur, neutest. Theol. p. 264), but under that of its actual history, as this was accomplished, in accordance with the counsel of the Father, by the free obedience of the Lord.

[99] The apostolic idea of the πλήρωμα τῶν καιρῶν excludes the conception of a series of worlds without beginning or end (Rothe). See Gess, v. d. Pers. Chr. p. 170 ff.

[100] Comp. Goth.: aftra usfulljan (again to fill up).

[101] For this falling away is the necessary presupposition for the Satanic seduction of our first parents, 1Jn_3:8-10; Joh_8:44, where an originally evil nature of the devil (Frommann, Hilgenfeld) is not to be thought of; see Hahn, Theol. d. N.T. I. p. 319 ff. On Jud_1:6 and 1Ti_3:6, in which passages a reference has been wrongly found to the first fall in the angelic world, see Huther.

REMARK 1.

The illustration which Chrysostom has given for τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς κ. τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, from the conception of a house repaired (ὡς ἂν περὶ οἰκίας τις εἴποι τὰ μὲν σαθρὰ τὰ δὲ ἰσχυρὰ ἐχούσης· ἀνῳκοδόμησε τὴν οἰκίαν … οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα πάντας ὑπὸ μίαν ἤγαγε κεφαλήν), has been again employed by Harless, whose view of the passage (approved by Schenkel) is that the apostle speaks thus, because the Lord and Creator of the whole body, of which heaven and earth are members, has in the restoration of the one member restored the whole body; and in this consists the greatest significance of the reconciliation, that it is not merely a restoration of the life of earth, but a bringing back of the harmony of the universe. But in this way the words of the apostle are made withal to suggest merely the doing away of the contrast between heaven and earth (or, according to Schenkels tortuous metaphor, between the heavenly glorified centre of creation and the earthly, sin-troubled circumference of creation), and there is conceded to the τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς merely an indirect participation in the ἀνακεφαλαίωσις, and the direct de facto operation of the Messianic οἰκονομία on the heavenly world is set asidewhich appears the less admissible, inasmuch as τὰ ἐπὶ τ. οὐρ. has the precedence. According to Paul, the heavenly world and the earthly world were to be affected, the former as immediately and properly as the latter, by the ἀνακεφαλαίωσις τῶν πάντων; for the Satanic kingdom, for the destruction of which Christ came, and whose destruction was the condition of the ἀνακεφαλαίωσις, has its seat in the regions of heaven (Eph_6:12; comp. Hahn, Theol. d. N.T. I. p. 343 ff.), and works in the υἱοῖ τῆς ἀπειθείας (Eph_2:2) upon earth, so that in heaven and upon earth there exists no unity under God.

REMARK 2.

The doctrine of Restoration, according to which those who have continued unbelieving and the demons shall still ultimately attain to salvation, altogether opposed as it is to the N.T., finds no support in our passage, where (in opposition to Origen, Samuel Crell, and others), on the contrary, in the ἀνακεφαλ. κ.τ.λ. there is obviously implied, from the general point of view occupied by Christian faith, the separation of unbelievers and of the demoniac powers, and their banishment into Gehenna; so that the ἀνακεφαλαίωσις is not meant of every single individual, but of the whole aggregate of heavenly and earthly things, which, after the antichristian individuals have been separated and consigned to hell, shall again in the renewed world be combined into unity under God, as once, before the entrance of sin, all things in heaven and on earth were combined into such unity. Hence Olshausen is wrongly of opinion that our passage (as well as Col_1:20) is to be brought into harmony with the general type of Scripture doctrine by laying stress in the infinitive ἀποκεφαλ. upon the design of God which, in the instituting of a redemption endowed with infinite efficacy, aims at the restoration of universal harmony, at the bringing back of all that is lost. Apart from the fact that ἀνακεφαλ. is only an epexegetical infinitive (see above), it is altogether opposed to Scripture to assume that the aim in redemption is the restoration of all that is lost, even of the devils. For those passages as to the universality of redemption, and sayings like 1Pe_4:6, Php_2:10 f., leave the constant teaching of the N.T. concerning everlasting perdition entirely untouched (comp. on Rom_5:18; Rom_11:32; Php_2:10); and as regards the devils, the design of God in the economy of redemption was to vanquish them (1Jn_3:8, and elsewhere; 1Co_15:24 f.), and to deliver them up to the penalties already prepared for them of everlasting pain in hell (Mat_25:41; Jud_1:6; 2Pe_2:4; Rev_20:1 f.; comp. Bertholdt, Christol. p. 223). The restoration of the devils, as an impossibility in the case of spirits radically opposed to God, is not in the whole N.T. so much as thought of. The prince of this world is only judged.

REMARK 3.

Those who understand τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρ. specially of the angels (see above) have been driveninasmuch as these pure spirits have no need of redemption in the proper senseto unbiblical shifts, such as the view of Calvin (comp. Boyd): that the angels before the redemption were not extra periculum, but had through Christ attained primum ut perfecte et solide adhaereant Deo, deinde ut perpetuum statum retineant (of all which the N.T. teaches nothing!); or that of Grotius: antea inter angelos factiones erant et studia pro populis (Dan_10:13!) … ea sustulit Christus, rex factus etiam angelorum, unum ex tot populis sibi populum colligens; or that of Augustine and Zeger, that the number of the angels, which had been diminished by the fall of some, was completed again by the elect from among men. Baur (comp. Zanchius), out of keeping with the notion of the ἀνακεφαλαίωσις, thought of the knowledge (Eph_3:10) and bliss (Luk_15:10) of the angels as heightened by redemption. Others again (Chrysostom on Col_1:20; Theophylact, Anselm, Cornelius a Lapide, Hunnius, Calovius, Bengel, et al.) have found the ἀνακεφαλαίωσις in the fact that the separation which sin had occasioned between the angels and sinful men was done away.[102] So also in substance Rückert: Originally and according to the will of God the whole world of spirits was to be one, … through like love and obedience towards the one God.… Sin did away with this relation, mankind became separated from God; hence also of necessity the bond was broken, which linked them to the higher world of spirits.… Christ … is to unite mankind to Himself by a sacred bond, and thereby to bring them back to God, and by that very act also … to do away with the breach; all is again to become one. Comp. Meier, as also Bähr on Col_1:20. But the apostle is in fact speaking of the reuniting not of the heavenly with the earthly, but of the heavenly and the earthly (comp. Remark 1); moreover, according to this explanation, the ἀνακεφαλαίωσις of the heavenly spirits with men would be the consequence of the expiation made for men by Christ, and thus Paul must logically have written: ΤᾺ ἘΠῚ Τῆς Γῆς Κ. ΤᾺ ἘΠῚ ΤΟῖς ΟὐΡΑΝΟῖς.

[102] In connection with this view it was quite arbitrarily, and with a distinction at variance with Scripture, assumed that Christ was, as to His divine nature, the head of the angels, and as to His human nature, the head of men.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 1:10 . εἰς οἰκονομίαν : unto a dispensation . This expresses the end which God had in view in that which He purposed. Some (Erasm., Calv., etc.) give εἰς the temporal sense of usque ad. But the idea is rather the more definite one of design . God had His reason for the long delay in the revelation of the “mystery”. That reason lay in the fact that the world was not ripe for the dispensation of grace which formed the contents of the mystery. In classical Greek the word οἰκονομία had the two meanings of ( a ) administration , the management of a house or of property, and ( b ) the office of administrator or steward. It was used of such things as the arrangement of the parts of a building (Vitruv., i., 2), the disposition of the parts of a speech (Quint., Inst. , iii., 3), and more particularly of the financial administration of a city (Arist., Pol. , Eph 3:14 ; cf. Light., Notes, sub voc. ). It has the same twofold sense in the NT an arrangement or administration of things (in the passages in the present Epistle and in 1Ti 1:4 ), and the office of administrator in particular the stewardship with which Paul was entrusted by God (1Co 9:17 ; Col 1:25 ). The idea at the basis of the statement here, therefore, as also in the somewhat analogous passage in Gal 4:1-11 , is that of a great household of which God is the Master and which has a certain system of management wisely ordered by Him. Cf. the figure of the Church as the household of God (1Ti 3:15 ; Heb 3:2-6 ; 1Pe 4:17 ), and the parables which run in terms of God as οἰκοδεσπότης (Mat 13:27 ; Mat 20:1 ; Mat 20:11 ; Mat 21:33 ; Luk 13:25 ; Luk 14:21 ). τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν : of the fulness of the times . That is, a dispensation belonging to the fulness of the times. The gen. cannot be the gen. objecti (Storr, etc.), nor the epexegetic gen. (Harl.), but must be that of characteristic quality, “a dispensation proper to the fulness of the times” (Mey.), or it may express the relation of time , as in ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς (Rom 2:5 ), κρίσις μεγάλης ἡμέρας (Jud 1:6 ). In Gal 4:4 the phrase takes the more general form τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου ; here it has the more specific form τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν καιρῶν , the fulness of the seasons , or series of appointed, determinate times. The idea of the fitness of the times, it is probable, is also expressed by the καιρῶν as distinguished from χρόνων , the former being a qualitative term, the latter a quantitative (see Light., Notes , p. 70). Cf. Heb 1:1 , and especially the πεπλήρωται ὁ καιρός of Mar 1:15 . In classical Greek πλήρωμα appears to have both the passive sense, “that which is filled,” and the active, “that which fills”. The former is rare, the latter is sufficiently common. See Lidd. and Scott, Lex. , and Rost u. Palm., Worth., sub voce . In the NT likewise it seems to have both senses (though this is questioned); the passive being found in the great doctrinal passages in the Pauline Epistles (Eph 3:19 ; Eph 4:13 , etc.), the active occurring more frequently and in a variety of applications (Mat 9:16 ; Mar 2:21 ; Mar 6:43 ; Mar 8:20 ; Rom 11:12 ; 1Co 10:26 ). With reference to time it means “complement” the particular time that completes a long prior period or a previous series of seasons. The purport of the statement, therefore, appears to be this: God has His household, the kingdom of heaven, with its special disposition of affairs, its οἰκονόμος or steward (who is Christ), its own proper method of administration, and its gifts and privileges intended for its members. But these gifts and privileges could not be dispensed in their fulness while those for whom they were meant were under age (Gal 4:1-3 ) and unprepared for them. A period of waiting had to elapse, and when the process of training was finished and the time of maturity was reached the gifts could be bestowed in their completeness. God, the Master of the House, had this fit time in view as the hidden purpose of His grace. When that time came He disclosed His secret in the incarnation of Christ and introduced the new disposition of things which explained His former dealings with men and the long delay in the revelation of the complete purpose of His grace. So the Fathers came to speak of the incarnation as the οἰκονομία (Just., Dial. , 45, 120; Iren., i., 10; Orig., C. Cels. , ii., 9, etc.). This “œconomy of the fulness of the seasons,” therefore, is that stewardship of the Divine grace which was to be the trust of Christ, in other words, the dispensation of the Gospel, and that dispensation as fulfilling itself in the whole period from the first advent of Christ to the second. In this last respect the present passage differs from that in Gal 4:4 . In the latter “the fulness of the time” appears to refer definitely to the mission of Christ into the world and His work there. Here the context (especially the idea expressed by the next clause) extends the reference to the final completion of the work and the close of the dispensation at the Second Coming. ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι : to sum up . Or, having regard to the Middle Voice, “to sum up for Himself”. The sentence thus introduced is one of the select class of passages which refer to the cosmical relations of Christ’s Person or Work. It is one of great doctrinal importance. Its exact import, however, is very differently understood by different interpreters. Every word in it requires attention. There is first the question of its precise relation to the paragraph of which it forms part. The inf. is taken by most (Mey., Ell., etc.) to be the epexegetic inf., conveying something complementary to, or explanatory of, the preceding statement, and so = “namely (or to wit), to sum up”. It is that inf., however, in the particular aspect of consequence or contemplated result = “so as to sum up” (so Light.; cf. Win.-Moult., pp. 399, 400). But with what part of the paragraph is this complementary sentence immediately connected? The doctrinal significance of the sentence depends to a considerable extent on the answer to the question, and the answer takes different forms. Some understand the thing which is explained or complemented to be the whole idea contained in the statement from γνωρίσας onwards, “at once the content of the μυστήριον , the object of the εὐδοκία , and the object reserved for the οἰκ .” (Abb.). Others limit it to the μυστήριον (Bez., Harl., Kl [55] ), or to the προέθετο (Flatt, Hofm.). Others understand it to refer to the εὐδοκίαν in particular, the ἣν … καιρῶν clause being regarded as a parenthesis (Alf., Haupt); and others regard it as unfolding the meaning of the immediately preceding clause the οἰκονομίαν τ . π . τ . κ . (Mey., etc.). The last seems to be the simplest view, the others involving more or less remoteness of the explanatory sentence from the sentence to be explained. So the point would be that the œconomy , the new order of things which God in the purpose of His grace had in view for the fulness of the seasons, was one which had for its end or object a certain summing up of all things. But in what sense is this summing up to be understood? The precise meaning of this rare word ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι has to be looked at. In the classics it is used of repeating summarily the points of a speech, gathering its argument together in a summary form. So Quintilian explains the noun ἀνακεφαλαίωσις as rerum repetitio et congregatio (vi., 1), and Aristotle speaks of the ἔργον ῥητορικῆς as being ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι πρὸς ἀνάμνησιν ( Frag. , 123). In late Greek the verb means also to present in compendious form or to reproduce ( Protev. fac. , 13). The simple verb κεφαλαιοῦν in the classics denotes in like manner to state summarily , or bring under heads (Thuc. iii., 67, vi., 91, etc.), and the noun κεφάλαιον is used in the sense of the chief point (Plato, Laws , 643 D), the sum of the matter (Pind., P. , 4, 206), a head or topic in argument (Dionys. Hal., De Rhet. , x., 5), a recapitulation of an argument (Plato, Tim. , 26, etc.). In the NT the verb ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι occurs only twice, namely here and in Rom 13:9 ; in which latter passage it is used of the summing up of the various commandments in the one requirement of love to one’s neighbour. The simple verb κεφαλαιοῦν occurs only once, viz. , in Mar 12:4 , where it has the sense of wounding in the head ; but the text is uncertain there, TTrWH reading ἐκεφαλίωσαν with [56] [57] [58] , etc. The noun κεφάλαιον is found twice, viz. , in Act 22:28 , where it has the sense of a sum of money (as in Lev 6:5 ; Num 5:7 ; Num 31:26 ), and in Heb 8:1 , where it means the chief point in the things that the writer has been saying. The prevailing idea conveyed by these terms, therefore, appears to be that of a logical, rhetorical, or arithmetical summing up. The subsequent specification of the objects of the ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι , however, makes it plain that what is in view here is not a logical or rhetorical, but a real or objective summing up. Further, as the verb comes not from κεφαλή but from κεφάλαιον , it does not refer to the summing up of things under a head , and the point of view, therefore, is not that of the Headship of Christ which comes to distinct expression at the close of the chapter. On the other hand it does not seem necessary to limit the sense of the word (with Haupt) to the idea of a résumé or compendious presentation of things in a single person. The question remains as to the force of the prep. in the compound verb. The ἀνα is taken by many to add the idea of again , and to make the result or end in view the bringing things back to a unity which had once existed but had been lost. So it is understood by the Pesh., the Vulg., Tertull. ( e.g. , in his Adv. Marc. , v., 17, “affirmat omnia ad initium recolligi in Christo”; in the De Monog. , 5, “adeo in Christo omnia revocantur ad initium,” etc.), Mey., Alf., Abb., etc. On the other hand, Chrys. makes the compound verb equivalent to συνάψαι ; and the idea of a return to a former condition is negatived by many, the ἀνα being taken to have simply the sense which it has in ἀναγινώσκειν , ἀνακρίνειν , ἀνακυκᾶν , ἀναλογίζεσθαι , ἀναμάνθανειν , etc., and to express the idea of “ going over the separate elements for the purpose of uniting them” (Light., Notes , p. 322). Usage on the whole is on the side of the latter view, and accordingly the conclusion is drawn by some that this “summing up” is not the recovery of a broken pristine unity, but the gathering together of objects now apart and unrelated into a final, perfect unity. Nevertheless it may be said that the verb, if it does not itself definitely express the idea of the restoration of a lost unity, gets that idea from the context. For the whole statement, of which the ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι clause forms part, runs in terms of a redemption , and the cognate passage in Col 1:20 speaks of a final reconciliation of all things. τὰ πάντα : all things . An all-inclusive phrase, equivalent to the totality of creation; not things only, nor yet men or intelligent beings only (although the phrase might bear that sense, cf. Gal 3:22 ), but, as the context shows, all created objects, men and things. Cf. the universal expression in Col 1:20 . ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ : in Christ , or rather “in the Christ,” the introduction of the article indicating that the term has its official sense here. The same is clearly the case in Eph 1:12 , and, as Alford notices, the article does not seem to be attached to the term Χριστός after a prep. unless some special point is in view. The point of union in this gathering together of all things is the Christ of God. In Him they are to be unified. τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς : the things in the heavens. and the things upon the earth . Or, according to the better reading and as in RV marg., the things upon the heavens, and the things upon the earth . The reading of the TR, though supported by [59] [60] [61] , most cursives, Chrys., etc., must give place to τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς , which is adopted by LTTrWH on the basis of [62] [63] [64] [65] , etc. It is an unusual form for the compound phrase, the term ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς being ordinarily coupled with ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ( cf. Eph 3:15 ; also the parallel in Col 1:20 , where the ἐπί is poorly attested). The ἐπί in ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς , however, may have the force of at , which it has in such phrases as ἐπὶ πύλῃσιν ( Il. , iii., 149), ἐπὶ πύργῳ ( Il. , vi., 431), ἐπὶ τῇ προβατικῇ (Act 3:10-11 ), the heavens being regarded, as Meyer thinks, as “the stations at which the things concerned are to be found”. The phrase in its two contrasted parts defines the preceding τὰ πάντα , making the all-inclusive nature of its universality clear by naming its great divisions. It is not to be understood as referring in its first section to any particular class, spirits in heaven, departed saints of Old Testament times, angels (as even Chrys. and Calv. thought), Jews , and in its second section specifically to men or to Gentiles . It explains the universality expressed by τὰ πάντα as the widest possible and most comprehensive universality, including the sum total of created objects, wherever found, whether men or things. ἐν αὐτῷ : in him . Emphatic resumption of the ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ and transition to the following statement, solemnly re-affirming also, as Ell. suggests, where the true point of unity designed by God, or the sphere of its manifestation, is to be found.

[55] Klöpper.

[56] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[57] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[58] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[59] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[60] Codex Boernerianus (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthæi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis ( δ ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.

[61] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[62] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[63] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[64] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[65] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

The passage has been supposed (Orig., Crell., etc.) to teach the doctrine of a Universal Restoration. But interpreted as above it has nothing to do with any such doctrine, whether in the sense of a final salvation of all unrighteous and unbelieving men or in that of a final recovery of all evil beings, devils and men alike. Nor, again, does it refer particularly to the case of the individual . It speaks, as Meyer notices, of the “aggregate of heavenly and earthly things,” and of that as destined to make a true unity at last. Another view of the general import of the statement, which has been elaborated with much ability by Haupt, requires some notice. Pressing to its utmost the sense of a résumé or summary , which he regards as the idea essentially contained in the terms in question, he contends that the meaning of the statement is that in Christ, who belongs at once to humanity and to the heavenly world, should be seen the compendious presentation of all beings and things that in His person should be summarised the totality of created objects, both earthly and heavenly, so that outside Him nothing should exist. He looks for the proper parallel to this not in Col 1:20 , but in Col 1:16-17 , where it is said of Christ that “in Him were all things created” and that “in Him all things consist”. And he appeals in support of his view to the use of the kindred verb συγκεφαλαιοῦσθαι in Xen. ( Cyr. , viii., 1, 15, viii., 6, 14), where it expresses the organisation of a multitude of slaves under one representative, in whom they and their acts were so embodied that Cyrus could transact with all when dealing with the one. But the idea of Christ’s agency in the first creation and the continuous maintenance of things is not expressed in the passage in Ephesians, and while it is the pre-existent Christ that is in view in Col 1:16 , here it is the risen Christ. It remains, therefore, that the present passage belongs to the same class as Rom 8:20-22 ; Col 1:20 , etc., and expresses the truth that Christ is to be the point of union and reconciliation for all things, so that the whole creation shall be finally restored by Him to its normal condition of harmony and unity.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_1:10

This verse is beset with difficulties. The general sense seems to be this: The purpose spoken of in the preceding verse had reference to the scheme of redemption; the design of which is to unite all the subjects of redemption, as one harmonious body, under Jesus Christ.

Εἰς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, ἀνακεφαλαιώσασυαι, κτλ. The first question relates to the connection with what precedes. This is indicated by the preposition εἰς, which does not here mean in, as though the sense were, He purposed in, or during, the dispensation, etc.; much less until; but as to, in reference to. The purpose which God has revealed relates to the economy here spoken of. The second question is, what is here the meaning of the word οἰκονομία? The word has two general senses in the New Testament. When used in reference to one in authority, it means plan, scheme, or economy. When spoken of one under authority, it means an office, stewardship, or administration of such office. In this latter sense Paul speaks of an οἰκονομία as having been committed unto him. As the business of a steward is to administer, or dispense, so the apostle was a steward of the mysteries of God. It was his office to dispense to others the truths which God had revealed to him. Many take the word in the latter sense here. The meaning would then be: In reference to the administration of the fullness of times, i.e. the last times, or Messianic period; the times which yet remain. The former sense of the word however is much better suited to the context. The apostle is speaking of Gods purpose, of what He intended to do. It was a purpose having reference to a plan or economy of his own; an economy here designated as that of the fullness of times. This phrase does not indicate a protracted period the times which remain but the termination of the times; the end of the preceding and commencement of the new dispensation. The prophets being ignorant of the time of the Messiahs advent, predicted his coming when the time determined by God should be accomplished. Hence the expressions, end of the ages, 1Co_10:11; end of days, Heb_1:1; fullness of the time, Gal_4:4; and here, the fullness of times, are all used to designate the time of Christs advent. By the economy of the fullness of times is therefore to be understood, that economy which was to be clearly revealed and carried out when the fullness of time had come.

The infinitive ἀνακεφαλαιώσασυαι, to bring together in one, may be referred either to the immediately preceding clause: The plan of the fullness of times to bring together in one; or to the preceding verse: The purpose which he purposed (in reference to the economy of the fullness of times), to gather together in one. The sense is substantially the same. The verb κεφαλαιόω means summatim colligere, ἀνακεφαλαιόω, summatim recolligere. In the New Testament it means either:

1. To reduce to one sum, i.e. to sum up, to recapitulate. Rom_13:9 : All the commands are summed up in, or under, one precept.

2. To unite under one head; or,

3. To renew.

Many of the Fathers adopt the last signification in this place, and consider this passage as parallel with Rom_8:19-22. Through Christ God purposes to restore or renovate all things; to effect a παλιγγενεσία or regeneration of the universe, i.e. of the whole creation which now groans under the burden of corruption. This sense of the word however is remote. The first and second meanings just mentioned differ but little. They both include the idea expressed in our version, that of regathering together in one, the force of ἀνά, iterum being retained. Beza explains the word: partes disjectas et divulsas in unum corpus conjungere. The purpose of God, which he has been pleased to reveal, and which was hidden for ages is his intention to reunite all things as one harmonious whole under Jesus Christ.

The words τὰ παντά, all things, are explained by the following clause: τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. The totality here referred to includes every thing in heaven and on earth, which the nature of the subject spoken of admits of being comprehended. There is nothing to limit these comprehensive terms, but the nature of the union to which the apostle refers. As, therefore, the Scriptures speak of the whole universe, material and rational, as being placed under Jesus Christ; as they speak especially of all orders of intelligent creatures being subject to him; as they teach the union of the long dejected members of the human family, the Jews and Gentiles, in one body in Christ, of which union this epistle says so much and in such exalted strains; and as finally they speak of the union of the saints of all ages and nations, of those now in heaven and of those now on earth, in one great family above; the words, all things, are very variously explained.

1. Some understand them to include the whole creation, material and spiritual, and apply the passage to the final restoration of all things; or to that redemption of the creature from the bondage of corruption of which the apostle speaks in Rom_8:19-22.

2. Others restrict the all things to all intelligent creatures good and bad, angels and men fallen spirits and the finally impenitent. In this view the reduction to unity, here spoken of, is understood by the advocates of the restoration of all things to the favor of God, to refer to the destruction of all sin and the banishment of all misery from the universe. But those who believe that the Scriptures teach that the fallen angels and the finally impenitent among men, are not to be restored to holiness and happiness, and who give the phrase all things the wide sense just mentioned, understand the apostle to refer to the final triumph of Christ over all his enemies, of which he speaks in 1Co_15:23-28. All things in heaven above, in the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth, are to be made subject to Christ; but this subjection will be either voluntary or coerced. The good will joyfully acknowledge his supremacy; the evil he will restrain and confine, that they no longer trouble or pervert his people.

3. Others again understand the words under consideration, of all good angels and men. The inhabitants of heaven, or the angels, and the inhabitants of the earth, or the saints, are to be united as a harmonious whole under Jesus Christ.

4. The words are restricted to the members of the human family; and the distinction between those in heaven and those on earth, is supposed to refer to the Jews and Gentiles, who, having been so long separated, are under the Gospel and by the redemption of Christ, united in one body in him. The Jews are said to be in heaven because in the kingdom of heaven, or the theocracy; and the Gentiles are said to be on earth, or in the world as distinguished from the church.

5. The words may be confined to the people of God, the redeemed from among men, some of whom are now in heaven and others are still on earth. The whole body of the redeemed are to be gathered together in one, so that there shall be one fold and one shepherd. The form of expression is analogous to Eph_3:15, where the apostle speaks of the whole family in heaven and earth.

The decision which of these several interpretations is to be adopted, depends mainly on the nature of the union here spoken of, and on the means by which it is accomplished. If the union is merely union under a triumphant king, effected by his power converting some and coercing others, then of course we must understand the passage as referring to all intelligent creatures. But if the union spoken of be a union with God, involving conformity to his image and the enjoyment of his favor, and effected by the redemption of Christ, then the terms here employed must be restricted to the subjects of redemption. And then if the Scriptures teach that all men and even fallen angels are redeemed by Christ, and restored to the favor of God, they must be included in the all things in heaven and earth here spoken of. If the Scriptures teach that good angels are the subjects of redemption, then they must be comprehended in the scope of this passage.‹1› But if the doctrine of the Bible be, that only a certain portion of the human family are redeemed and saved by the blood of Christ, then to them alone can the passage be understood to refer. In order therefore to establish the correctness of the fifth interpretation mentioned above, all that is necessary is to prove, first, that the passage speaks of that union which is effected by the redemption of Christ; and secondly, that the church alone is the subject of redemption.

That the passage does speak of that union which is effected by redemption, may be argued

1. From the context. Paul, as we have seen, gives thanks first for the election of Gods people; secondly, for their actual redemption; thirdly, for the revelation of the gracious purpose of God relative to their redemption. It is of the redemption of the elect, therefore, that the whole context treats.

2. Secondly, the union here spoken of is a union in Christ. God has purposed to gather together all things in Christ. The things in heaven and the things on earth are to be united in Him. But believers alone, the members of his body, are ever said to be in Christ. It is not true that angels good or bad, or the whole mass of mankind are in Him in any scriptural sense of that expression.

3. The word here used expresses directly or indirectly the idea of the union of all things under Christ as their head. Christ is not the head of angels, nor of the material universe in the sense in which the context here demands. He is the head of his body, i.e. his church. It is therefore only of the redemption of the church of which this passage can be understood.

4. The obviously parallel passage in Col_1:20 seems decisive on this point. It is there said: It pleased the Father …. having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. From this passage it is plain that the union to be effected is a reconciliation, which implies previous alienation, and a reconciliation effected by the blood of the cross. It is, therefore, not a union of subjection merely to the same Lord, but it is one effected by the blood of Christ, and consequently the passage can be understood only of the subjects of redemption.

That the church or people of God, excluding angels good or bad, and the finally impenitent among men, are alone the subjects of redemption, is proved, as to evil angels and impenitent men, by the numerous passages of Scripture which speak of their final destruction; and as to good angels, by the entire silence of Scripture as to their being redeemed by Christ, and by the nature of the work itself. Redemption, in the scriptural sense, is deliverance from sin and misery, and therefore cannot be predicated of those angels who kept their first estate.

These considerations exclude all the interpretations above enumerated except the fourth and fifth. The fourth, which supposes the passage to refer to the union of the Jews and Gentiles, is excluded by its opposition to the uniform language of Scripture. The Jews are never designated as inhabitants of heaven. It is in violation of all usage, therefore, to suppose they are here indicated by that phrase. Nothing therefore remains but the assumption that the apostle refers to the union of all the people of God, i.e. of all the redeemed, in one body under Jesus Christ their head. They are to be constituted an everlasting kingdom; or, according to another symbol a living temple, of which Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The faithful are said to be gathered together in Christ, because they are joined together with him through faith, and become as it were one man.

The Father exhibiteth and gave Christ, who is the head of all the elect unto the world, at that time which was convenient, according as he most wisely disposed all times from everlasting. And Christ is he in whom all the elect from the beginning of the world, (otherwise wandering and separated from God) are gathered together: of which some were then in heaven when he came into the earth, (to wit, such as by faith in him to come, were gathered together) and others being found upon the earth, were gathered together of him, and the rest are daily gathered together.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Translate, "Unto the dispensation of the fulness of the times," that is, "which He purposed in Himself" (Eph 1:9) with a view to the economy of (the gracious administration belonging to) the fulness of the times (Greek, "fit times," "seasons"). More comprehensive than "the fulness of the time" (Gal 4:4). The whole of the Gospel times (plural) is meant, with the benefits to the Church dispensed in them severally and successively. Compare "the ages to come" (Eph 2:7). "The ends of the ages" (Greek, Co1 10:11); "the times (same Greek as here, 'the seasons,' or 'fitly appointed times') of the Gentiles" (Luk 21:24); "the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power" (Act 1:7); "the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the prophets since the world began" (Act 3:20-21). The coming of Jesus at the first advent, "in the fulness of time," was one of these "times." The descent of the Holy Ghost, "when Pentecost was fully come" (Act 2:1), was another. The testimony given by the apostles to Him "in due time" ("in its own seasons," Greek) (Ti1 2:6) was another. The conversion of the Jews "when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled," the second coming of Christ, the "restitution of all things," the millennial kingdom, the new heaven and earth, shall be severally instances of "the dispensation of the fulness of the times," that is, "the dispensation of" the Gospel events and benefits belonging to their respective "times," when severally filled up or completed. God the Father, according to His own good pleasure and purpose, is the Dispenser both of the Gospel benefits and of their several fitting times (Act 1:7).

gather together in one--Greek, "sum up under one head"; "recapitulate." The "good pleasure which He purposed," was "to sum up all things (Greek, 'THE whole range of things') in Christ (Greek, 'the Christ,' that is, His Christ)" [ALFORD]. God's purpose is to sum up the whole creation in Christ, the Head of angels, with whom He is linked by His invisible nature, and of men with whom He is linked by His humanity; of Jews and Gentiles; of the living and the dead (Eph 3:15); of animate and inanimate creation. Sin has disarranged the creature's relation of subordination to God. God means to gather up all together in Christ; or as Col 1:20 says, "By Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, whether things in earth or things in heaven." ALFORD well says, "The Church of which the apostle here mainly treats, is subordinated to Him in the highest degree of conscious and joyful union; those who are not His spiritually, in mere subjugation, yet consciously; the inferior tribes of creation unconsciously; but objectively, all are summed up in Him."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. In the dispensation of the fulness of times] εις οικονομιαν του πληρωματος των καιρων. The word οικονομια, which is the same as our word economy, signifies, as Dr. Macknight has well observed, "the plan which the master of a family, or his steward, has established for the management of the family;" it signifies, also, a plan for the management of any sort of business: and here it means the dispensation of the Gospel, that plan by which God has provided salvation for a lost world; and according to which he intends to gather all believers, both Jews and Gentiles, into one Church under Jesus Christ, their head and governor. See Clarke on Mt 24:45, where the word and the office are particularly explained.

The fulness of times-By this phrase we are to understand either the Gospel dispensation, which is the consummation of all preceding dispensations, and the last that shall be afforded to man; or that advanced state of the world which God saw to be the most proper for the full manifestation of those benevolent purposes which he had formed in himself relative to the salvation of the world by Jesus Christ.

That he might gather together in one] ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι, from ανα, again, and κεφαλαιοω, to reduce to one sum; to add up; to bring different sums together, and fractions of sums, so as to reduce them under one denomination; to recapitulate the principal matters contained in a discourse. Here it means the gathering together both Jews and Gentiles, who have believed in Christ, into one Church and flock. See the preceding note.

All things-which are in heaven, and which are on earth] This clause is variously understood: some think, by things in heaven the Jewish state is meant and by things on earth the Christian. The Jews had been long considered a Divine or heavenly people; their doctrine, their government, their constitution, both civil and ecclesiastical, were all Divine or heavenly: as the powers of the heavens, Mt 24:29, Lu 21:26, mean the Jewish rulers in Church and state, it is very possible that the things which are in heaven mean this same state; and as the Gentiles were considered to have nothing Divine or heavenly among them, they may be here intended by the earth, out of the corruption of which they are to be gathered by the preaching of the Gospel. But there are others who imagine that the things in heaven mean the angelical hosts; and the things on earth believers of all nations, who shall all be joined together at last in one assembly to worship God throughout eternity. And some think that the things in heaven mean the saints who died before Christ's advent, and who are not to be made perfect till the resurrection, when the full power and efficacy of Christ shall be seen in raising the bodies of believers and uniting them with their holy souls, to reign in his presence for ever. And some think that, as the Hebrew phrase שמים והארץ shamayim vehaarets, the heavens and the earth, signifies all creatures, the words in the text are to be understood as signifying all mankind, without discrimination of peoples, kindreds, or tongues; Jews, Greeks, or barbarians. All that are saved of all nations, (being saved in the same way, viz. by faith in Christ Jesus, without any distinction of nation or previous condition,) and all gathered into one Church or assembly.

I believe that the forming one Church out of both Jews and Gentiles is that to which the apostle refers. This agrees with what is said, Eph 2:14-17.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times. That no man may inquire, why one time rather than another was selected, the apostle anticipates such curiosity, by calling the appointed period the fullness of times, the fit and proper season, as he also did in a former epistle. (Galatians 4:4) Let human presumption restrain itself, and, in judging of the succession of events, let it bow to the providence of God. The same lesson is taught by the word dispensation, for by the judgment of God the lawful administration of all events is regulated.

That he might gather together in one. In the old translation it is rendered (instaurare) restore; to which Erasmus has added (summatim) comprehensively. I have chosen to abide closely by the meaning of the Greek word, ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι, because it is more agreeable to the context. The meaning appears to me to be, that out of Christ all things were disordered, and that through him they have been restored to order. And truly, out of Christ, what can we perceive in the world but mere ruins? We are alienated from God by sin, and how can we but present a broken and shattered aspect? The proper condition of creatures is to keep close to God. Such a gathering together (ἀνακεφαλαίωσις) as might bring us back to regular order, the apostle tells us, has been made in Christ. Formed into one body, we are united to God, and closely connected with each other. Without Christ, on the other hand, the whole world is a shapeless chaos and frightful confusion. We are brought into actual unity by Christ alone.

But why are heavenly beings included in the number? The angels were never separated from God, and cannot be said to have been scattered. Some explain it in this manner. Angels are said to be gathered together, because men have become members of the same society, are admitted equally with them to fellowship with God, and enjoy happiness in common with them by means of this blessed unity. The mode of expression is supposed to resemble one frequently used, when we speak of a whole building as repaired, many parts of which were ruinous or decayed, though some parts remained entire.

This is no doubt true; but what hinders us from saying that the angels also have been gathered together? Not that they were ever scattered, but their attachment to the service of God is now perfect, and their state is eternal. What comparison is there between a creature and the Creator, without the interposition of a Mediator? So far as they are creatures, had it not been for the benefit which they derived from Christ, they would have been liable to change and to sin, and consequently their happiness would not have been eternal. Who then will deny that both angels and men have been brought back to a fixed order by the grace of Christ? Men had been lost, and angels were not beyond the reach of danger. By gathering both into his own body, Christ hath united them to God the Father, and established actual harmony between heaven and earth.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(10) That in the dispensation of the fulness of times.—The connection marked in our version seems certainly erroneous. The words should be connected with the previous verse, and translated thus: which He purposed in Himself for administration (or disposal) of the fulness of the (appointed) seasons, to gather, &c. We note (1) that the word “dispensation” is usually applied to the action of the servants of God, as “dispensers of His mysteries.” (See Eph_3:2; 1Co_9:17; Col_1:25.) Here, however, and in Eph_3:10, it is applied to the disposal of all by God Himself, according to “the law which He has set Himself to do all things by.” Next (2) that the word “fulness,” or completeness, frequently used by St. Paul, is only found in connection with time in this passage, and in Gal_4:4 (“when the fulness of time was come”). There, however, the reference is to a point of time, marking the completion of the preparation for our Lord’s coming; here, apparently, to a series of “seasons,” “which the Father hath put in His own power” (Act_1:7) for the completion of the acts of the Mediatorial kingdom described in the words following. (Comp Mat_16:3; Luk_21:24; 1Th_5:1; 1Ti_2:6; 1Ti_4:1; 1Ti_6:15; Tit_1:3.)

That he might gather together in one all things in Christ.—In these words St. Paul strikes the great keynote of the whole Epistle, the UNITY OF ALL IN CHRIST. The expression “to gather together in one” is the same which is used in Rom_13:9 (where all commandments are said to be “briefly comprehended,” or summed up, “in the one saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”). Here, however, there is the additional idea that this gathering up is “for Himself.” The full meaning of this expression is “to gather again under one head” things which had been originally one, but had since been separated. The best comment upon the truth here briefly summed up is found in the full exposition of the Epistle to the Colossians (Col_1:16-20), “In Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth . . . all things were created by Him and for Him . . . and in Him all things consist. It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell, and . . . by Him to reconcile all things to Himself . . . whether things on earth or things in heaven.” In Christ, as the Word of God in the beginning, all created things are considered as gathered up, through Him actually made, and in Him continuing to exist. This unity, broken by sin, under the effect of which “all creation groans” (Rom_8:22), is restored in the Incarnation and Atonement of the Son of God. By this, therefore, all things are again summed up in Him, and again made one in Him with the Father. In both passages St. Paul uses expressions which extend beyond humanity itself—“things in heaven and things in earth,” “things visible and things invisible,” “thrones and principalities and powers.” In both he immediately proceeds from the grand outline of this wider unity, to draw out in detail the nearer, and to us more comprehensible, unity of all mankind in Christ. (Comp. Col_1:18; Col_1:21.) So also writes St. John (Joh_1:3-4; Joh_1:12), passing from the thought that “all things were made by Him,” first to the declaration, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men,” and next to the power given to those who believed on Him to become sons of God. The lesser part of this truth, setting forth the unity of all mankind in the Second Adam, forms the basis of the argument of 1 Corinthians 15, that “in Christ all shall be made alive,” in the course of which the existence of the Mediatorial kingdom of Christ is described, and its continuance till the final triumph, when it “shall be delivered up to God, even the Father,” “that God may be all in all” (1Co_15:24; 1Co_15:28). In virtue of it, those who are His are partakers of His death and resurrection, His ascension, even His judgment (Eph_2:6; Mat_19:28; Rom_6:3-10; 1Co_6:2-3; Col_3:1-3).

(10, 11) Even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance.—We have here (in the repetition, “even in Him”) an emphatic transition to the truth most closely concerning the Apostle and his readers. The word “we” is not here emphatic, and the statement might be a general statement applicable to all Christians; but the succeeding verse seems to limit it to the original Jewish believers—the true Israel, who (like the whole of Israel in ancient days) have become “a people of inheritance” (Deu_4:20; Deu_9:29; Deu_32:9), so succeeding to the privileges (Rom_11:7) which their brethren in blindness rejected. Possibly this suggests the peculiar word here (and here only) used, meaning either “we were made partakers of a lot” in God’s kingdom (to which Col_1:12, “who has made us meet for a part of the lot of the saints,” closely corresponds), or “we were made His lot or inheritance;” which perhaps suits the Greek better, certainly accords better with the Old Testament idea, and gives a more emphatic sense. A third possible sense is “were chosen by lot.” This is adopted by the Vulgate, supported by the only use of the word in the Septuagint (1Sa_14:41), and explained by Chrysostom and Augustine as signifying the freedom of election without human merit, while by the succeeding words it is shown not to be really by chance, but by God’s secret will. But this seems quite foreign to the genius of the passage.

Being predestinated . . . that we should be to the praise of his glory.—This is an application of the general truth before declared (Eph_1:5-6) that the source of election is God’s predestination, and the object of it the manifestation of His glory.

After the counsel of his own will.—The expression evidently denotes not only the deliberate exercise of God’s will by “determinate counsel and foreknowledge” (Act_2:23), but also the guidance of that will by wisdom to the fulfilment of the Law Eternal of God’s righteous dispensation. Hooker, in a well-known passage (Eccl. Pol. i. 2), quotes it as excluding the notion of an arbitrary will of God, “They err, who think that of God’s will there is no reason except His will.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times,.... Or "according to the dispensation", &c. as the Alexandrian copy reads; the fulness of time appointed by God, and fixed in the prophets; after many times and seasons were elapsed, from the creation of the world; at the most suitable and convenient time, when a new economy or dispensation began, within which all this was to be effected, hereafter mentioned:

he might gather together in one all things in Christ; this supposes, that all things were once united together in one; angels and men were united to God by the ties of creation, and were under the same law of nature, and there were peace and friendship between them; and this union was in Christ, as the beginning of the creation of God, in whom all things consist: and it supposes a disunion and scattering of them; as of men from God, and from good angels, which was done by sin; and of Jews and Gentiles from one another; and of one man from another, everyone turning to his own way; and then a gathering of them together again: the word here used signifies to restore, renew, and reduce to a former state; and so the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions render it; and according to this sense, it may seem to have respect to the times of the restitution of all things, the restoration and renovation of the universe; when there will be new heavens and a new earth, and new inhabitants in them: the word is also used to recapitulate, or sum up the heads of a discourse; and according to this sense, it may intend the meeting together, and summing up of all things in Christ, that had been before; as of all the promises and blessings of the covenant; of all the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament; of all the types and shadows, and sacrifices of the former dispensation; yea, all the sins of Old Testament saints, and all the curses of the law, met on him: the word is likewise used for the collection of numbers into one sum total; and Christ is the sum total of elect angels and men; or the whole number of them is in him; God has chosen a certain number of persons unto salvation; these he has put into the hands of Christ, who has a particular and personal knowledge of them; and the exact number of them will be gathered and given by him: once more, it signifies to reduce, or bring under one head; and Christ is an head of eminence and of influence, both to angels and men: and there is a collection of these together in one, in Christ; by virtue of redemption by Christ, and grace from him, there is an entire friendship between elect angels and elect men; they are social worshippers now, and shall share in the same happiness of the vision of God and of Christ hereafter: hence it follows,

both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even

in him; by things in heaven are not meant the souls of saints in heaven; though it is true that the souls of departed saints are in heaven; and that the saints in heaven and on earth were gathered together in Christ, and represented by him, when he hung upon the cross; and that they all make up one body, of which Christ is the head; and that they will be all collected together one day; and that their souls which are in heaven, and their bodies which are in the earth, will come together and be reunited, and dwell with Christ for ever; but rather the angels are meant, whose origin is heaven; where they have their residence, and from whence they never fell; and whose employment is in heaven, and of an heavenly nature: and by things on earth, are not intended every creature on earth, animate and inanimate; nor all men, but all elect men, whether Jews or Gentiles, and some of all sorts, ranks, and degrees; whose origin is of the earth, and who are the inhabitants of it: all these angels in heaven, and elect men on earth, are brought together under one head, even in him, in Christ Jesus, and by him; and none but he was able to do it, and none so fit, who is the Creator of all, and is above all; and was typified by Jacob's ladder, which reached heaven and earth, and joined them together, and on which the angels of God ascended and descended.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

Ver. 10. That in the dispensation] God is the best economic; his house is exactly ordered for matter of good husbandry, οικονομια. "Dispensation of the fulness of time" is (by a metonmy {a} of the adjunct) put for "fulness of times," wisely dispensed. (Bain.)

Gather together in one] Gr. ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι, recapitulate, reduce all to a head, recollect, to restore all things, and bring them to their primitive perfection.

Both which are in heaven] The crowned saints, and perhaps the glorious angels, who (according to some divines) being in themselves changeable creatures (and therefore called Shinan, that is, mutable, Psa 68:17), receive confirmation by Christ, so that they cannot leave their first station, as did the apostate angels. Others think that the angels stand not by means of Christ’s mediation, but of God’s eternal election, and are therefore called the elect angels.

{a} A figure of speech which consists in substituting for the name of a thing the name of an attribute of it or of something closely related. ŒD

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That in the dispensation - The word rendered here as “dispensation,” οἰκονομία oikonomia, means properly “the management of household affairs.” Then it means stewardship or administration; a dispensation or arrangement of things: a scheme or plan. The meaning here is, that this plan was formed in order (εἰς eis) or “unto” this end, that in the full arrangement of times, or in the arrangements completing the filling up of the times, God might gather together in one all things. Tyndale renders it: “to have it declared when the time was full come,” etc.

The fulness of times - When the times were fully completed; when all the periods should have passed by which he had prescribed, or judged necessary to the completion of the object. The period referred to here is that when all things shall be gathered together in the Redeemer at the winding up of human affairs, or the consummation of all things. The arrangement was made with reference to that, and embraced all things which conduced to that. The plan stretched from before “the foundation of the world” to the period when all times should be completed; and of course all the events occurring in that intermediate period were embraced in the plan.

He might gather together in one - The word used here - ἀνακεφαλαιόω anakephalaioō - means literally, to sum up, to recapitulate, as an orator does at the close of his discourse. It is from κεφαλή kephalē, the head; or κεφάλαιον kephalaion, the sum, the chief thing, the main point. In the New Testament, the word means to collect under one head, or to comprehend several things under one; Rom 13:9. “It is briefly comprehended,” i. e., summed up under this one precept,” sc., “love.” In the passage before us, it means that God would sum up, or comprehend all things in heaven and earth through the Christian dispensation; he would make one empire, under one head, with common feelings, and under the same laws. The reference is to the unity which will hereafter exist in the kingdom of God, when all his friends on earth and in heaven shall be united, and all shall have a common head. Now there is alienation. The earth has been separated from other worlds by rebellion. It has gone off into apostasy and sin. It refuses to acknowledge the Great Head to which other worlds are subject, and the object is to restore it to its proper place, so that there shall be one great and united kingdom.

All things - τὰ παντά ta panta. It is remarkable that Paul has used here a word which is in the neuter gender. It is not all “persons,” all angels, or all human beings, or all the elect, but all “things.” Bloomfield and others suppose that “persons” are meant, and that the phrase is used for τοὺς πάντας tous pantas. But it seems to me that Paul did not use this word without design. All “things” are placed under Christ, Eph 1:22; Mat 28:18, and the design of God is to restore harmony in the universe. Sin has produced disorder not not only in “mind,” but in “matter.” The world is disarranged. The effects of transgression are seen everywhere; and the object of the plan of redemption is to put things on their pristine footing, and restore them as they were at first. Everything is, therefore, put under the Lord Jesus, and all things are to be brought under his control, so as to constitute one vast harmonious empire. The amount of the declaration here is, that there is hereafter to be one kingdom, in which there shall be no jar or alienation; that the now separated kingdoms of heaven and earth shall be united under one head, and that henceforward all shall be harmony and love. The things which are to be united in Christ, are those which are “in heaven and which are on earth.” Nothing is said of “hell.” Of course this passage cannot teach the doctrine of universal salvation, since there is one world which is not to have a part in this ultimate union.

In Christ - By means of Christ, or under him, as the great head and king. He is to be the great agent in effecting this, and he is to preside over this united kingdom. In accordance with this view the heavenly inhabitants, the angels as well as the redeemed, are uniformly represented as uniting in the same worship, and as acknowledging the Redeemer as their common head and king; Rev 5:9-12.

Both which are in heaven - Margin, as in Greek, “in the heavens.” Many different opinions have been formed of the meaning of this expression. Some suppose it to mean the saints in heaven, who died before the coming of the Saviour; and some that it refers to the Jews, designated as “the heavenly people,” in contradistinction from the Gentiles, as having nothing divine and heavenly in them, and as being of the “earth.” The more simple and obvious interpretation is, however, without doubt, the correct one, and this is to suppose that it refers to the holy inhabitants of other worlds. The object of the plan of salvation is to produce a harmony between them and the redeemed on earth, or to produce out of all, one great and united kingdom. In doing this, it is not necessary to suppose that any change is to be produced in the inhabitants of heaven. All the change is to occur among those on earth, and the object is to make out of all, one harmonious and glorious empire.

And which are on earth - The redeemed on earth. The object is to bring them into harmony with the inhabitants of heaven. This is the great object proposed by the plan of salvation. It is to found one glorious and eternal kingdom, that shall comprehend all holy beings on earth and all in heaven. There is now discord and disunion. Man is separated from God, and from all holy beings. Between him and every holy being there is by nature discord and alienation. Unrenewed man has no sympathy with the feelings and work of the angels; no love for their employment; no desire to be associated with them. Nothing can be more unlike than the customs, feelings, laws, and habits which prevail on earth, from those which prevail in heaven. But the object of the plan of salvation is to restore harmony to those alienated communities, and produce eternal concord and love. Hence, learn:

(1) The greatness and glory of the plan of salvation. It is no trifling undertaking to “reconcile worlds,” and of such discordant materials to found one great and glorious and eternal empire.

(2) The reason of the interest which angels feel in the plan of redemption; 1Pe 1:12. They are deeply concerned in the redemption of those who, with them, are to constitute that great kingdom which is to be eternal. Without envy at the happiness of others; without any feeling that the accession of others will diminish “their” felicity or glory, they wait to hail the coming of others, and rejoice to receive even one who comes to be united to their number.

(3) This plan was worthy of the efforts of the Son of God. To restore harmony in heaven and earth; to prevent the evils of alienation and discord; to rear one immense and glorious kingdom, was an object worthy the incarnation of the Son of God.

(4) The glory of the Redeemer. He is to be exalted as the Head of this united and ever-glorious kingdom, and all the redeemed on earth and the angelic hosts shall acknowledge him as their common Sovereign and Head.

(5) This is the greatest and most important enterprise on earth. It should engage every heart, and enlist the powers of every soul. It should be the earnest desire of all to swell the numbers of those who shall constitute this united and ever-glorious kingdom, and to bring as many as possible of the human race into union with the holy inhabitants of he other world.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In the dispensation of the fulness of times. It may perhaps be translated, at the appointed fulness of time, which is generally expounded to signify at the time decreed from eternity. --- To establish (or restore) all things in Christ.[3] The Greek is to recapitulate, or, as the Protestant translation, to gather together all things in Christ; which St. Jerome expounds, by a fulfilling at once in Christ all the ancient figures and prophecies of the former law. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Instaurare, Greek: anakephalaiosasthai, recapitulare. See St. Jerome, p. 330.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Some copies join the last clause of the former verse with this, leaving out the relative which, and concluding the sentence at good pleasure, and then read: He purposed in himself, that in the dispensation, & c.; but most read it as our translators have rendered it, only some understand an explicative particle, to wit, in the beginning of this verse, to wit, that in the dispensation, &c.; but either way the scope of the words is the same, viz. to give the sum of that mystery of God’s will, mentioned before.

In the dispensation; in that administration or distribution of the good things of God’s house; which he had determined should be in the fulness of time. It is a metaphor taken from a steward, who distributes and dispenseth according to his master’s order to those that are in the house, Luk 12:42. The church is the house of God, God himself the Master of the family, Christ the Steward that governs the house; those spiritual blessings, mentioned Eph 1:3, are the good things he gives out. These treasures of God’s grace had been opened but to a few, and dispensed sparingly under the Old Testament, the more full communication of them being reserved till the fulness of times, when they were to be dispensed by Christ.

The fulness of times; the time appointed of the Father for the appearance of Christ in the flesh, (according to former promises), the promulgation of the gospel, and thereby the gathering together in one all things in Christ. It is spoken in opposition to the times and ages before Christ’s coming, which God would have run out till the set time came which he had pitched upon, and believers expected: see Gal 4:2,4.

Gather together in one; to recapitulate; either to sum up as men do several lesser numbers in one total sum, which is the foot of the account, but called by the Greeks the head of it, and set at the top; or as orators do the several parts of their speeches in fewer words; thus all former prophecies, promises, types, and shadows centred, and were fulfilled, and as it were summed up, in Christ: or rather, to unite unto, and gather together again under, one head things before divided and scattered.

All things; all intellectual beings, or all persons, as Gal 3:22.

In Christ; as their Head, under which they might be united to God, and to each other.

Which are in heaven; either saints departed, who have already obtained salvation by Christ, or rather the holy angels, that still keep their first station.

Which are on earth; the elect of God among men here upon earth in their several generations. The meaning of the whole seems to be, that whereas the order and harmony of God’s principal workmanship, intellectual creatures, angels and men, had been disturbed and broken by the entering of sin into the world; all mankind, and many of the angels, having apostatized from him, and the remnant of them being in their own nature labile and mutable; God would, in his appointed time, give Christ (the Heir of all things) the honour of being the repairer of this breach, by gathering together again the disjointed members of his creation in and under Christ as their Head and Governor, confirming the good angels in their good estate, and recovering his elect among men from their apostate condition. Though it be true, that not only believers under the Old Testament were saved, but the elect angels confirmed before Christ’s coming, yet both the one and the other was with a respect to Christ as their Head, and the foundation of their union with God; and out of whom, as the one, being lost, could not have been restored, so the fall of the other could not have been prevented, nor their happiness secured.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Εις οικονομιαν του πληρωματος των καιρων, a very difficult clause, being in the English translation in the dispensation of the fulness of times. There is no Greek for the that.

We can best attain an explanation by taking the last word first, and going backwards. Καιρων, times, signifies the ages, aeons, or time-periods, in each of which a system of events is completed, and from which transition is then made to the next. Πληρωματος is the filling full, or rounding out, the events of one given time-system: hence of the time-periods the fulfilling with events. Ellicott perplexes matters by rendering πληρωματος “that moment that completes, fills up,” the time-period; whereas it may be (see Rob. Greek Lex. N.T.) a verbal noun, (equivalent to πληρωσις,) and signify the process of fulfilling. Οικονομιαν, dispensation, is the management, administration, or control of the fulfilling of the time-periods, extending over the whole series. Most dubious of all is the εις, into, a preposition signifying motion to, or into, a place or thing, and impossible to be rendered simply in. The rendering of Erasmus, Calvin, and others, even to, Alford condemns justly as unintelligible. His own in order to, is, perhaps, just as unintelligible. So seems his entire rendering: “According to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself, in order to the economy of the fulfilment of the seasons to sum up all things in the Christ.” Ellicott’s rendering of the preposition, with a view to, for, is better, making it signify mental motion toward a thing.

We apprehend, however, that commentators have not noticed in this connexion the force of the preposition εις in the phrases εις αιωνας, unto, or into, ages; where εις signifies not only into, but throughout, or in the course of; the preposition running through the whole line of the ages, and so making forever. And so here the force of the preposition is, we think, fully expressed by in the course of. Our own rendering, then, would be: the beneficence which he purposed in himself (namely) in the course of the management of the filling up of the time-periods, to sum up together all things in the Messiah. So, as the final summing up of all is one in the series of the time-periods, the purpose runs through the whole series.

Gather together—The Greek a very full compound, re-gather-for-himself. Same as to reconcile in Col_1:20, where see notes. The two passages, written at the same time in epistles sent by the same messengers to the same region of country, must be held as strictly parallel, the clearer defining the less clear. This summing up, or gathering together, is unto the redemption of Eph_1:7, just as the reconcile of Col_1:20 is unto the redemption of Eph_1:14 of that chapter. The nature of the reconciliation in Colossians is made clear by the result of the peace made being by the cross; and so also the fact that you hath he reconciled, in Col_1:21, shows, by specimen, that it is reconciliation by conversion and pardon. This disproves the construction given by Meyer, Alford, and other commentators, that the gather together is compositely a reconciliation of the penitent, together with a subjection of the impenitent to a discordant unity under Christ, as in 1Co_15:28, where see note. Beyond all question, we think, a reconciliation by redemption to peace, through the blood of his cross, of all things in heaven and on earth, is what the apostle means.

Is, then, the doctrine of the actual final restoration of all men to holiness true?

Of all our commentators, Olshausen and Turner express, we think, the truth. Such a restoration is the full divine IDEA of God’s beneficence in the cross. Such is the complete fulness which it pleased the Father there should be in Christ. God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. And hence the apostle beseeches, in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled. Christ is officially the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world: the Saviour of all men; the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Thus the divine idea in Christ is a universal salvation through a universal reconciliation; a gathering together of all things in him.

Why is this ideal not realized? A large body of Scriptures lays the fault upon men. On the divine side the idea is sincere, the provisions are ample; on the human side the powers, natural and gracious, are ample; but the fulness of Christ is rejected. The ideal of God’s mercy is universal; but the eternal ideal of his holy choice, election, or predestination, is circumscribed by human perversity; since it can embrace only those who fully accord with it by consenting to be holy. “This is the condemnation, that… men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” And this is the reason why, in the foreknowledge of God, foreseeing men’s persistent evil, they cannot, in time, be elected to himself by a holy God; yet he, accepting the future facts as they appear to his prescience, nevertheless triumphantly so works all things after the counsel of his own will, as, perhaps, to bring out of this world even a higher result than could have accrued from a sinless world. This last fact may, perhaps, be the divine justification in the non-prevention of the responsible sin his wisdom foresees.

All things… in heaven… on earth—But not in hell. God and man, Christ and man, angels and man, but not God and devils, are brought to peace through the blood of his cross. The only obstacle was man’s enmity and sin, and the consequent holy opposition of all righteous beings to man. When man accepts the cross, the reconciliation becomes complete, and man comes into the happy number of the elect—of elect men with elect angels. The making heaven and earth signify Jews and Gentiles, adopted by some commentators, (Dr. Clarke included,) produces a meaning far below the grandeur of St. Paul’s language. Nothing but the fullest meaning of the terms is here admissible.

In him—Repeated in joyful emphasis; for Christ is the predominant topic ever since his naming as the Beloved in Eph_1:6.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With a view to the dispensation of the fullness of the times (or, seasons) (vers. 9 and 10 are one sentence, which should not be broken up). This seems to denote the times of the gospel generally; not, as ina, Gal_4:4, the particular time of Christ"s advent; the oijkonomi) or economy, of the gospel being that during which, in its successive periods, all God"s schemes are to ripen or come to maturity, and be fulfilled. To gather together under one head all things in Christ.

jAnakefalaiwsasqai is a word of some difficulty. It is true it is derived from kefalaion, not kefalh: therefore some have thought that it does not include the idea of headship; but the relation of kefalaion, to kefalh is as close that this can hardly be. The word expresses the Divine purpose what God proeqeto which was to restore in Christ a lost unity, to bring together disunited elements, viz. all things, whether they be things in heaven or things on earth. There is no hint here of a universal restoration. Such a notion would be in fiat contradiction to the doctrine of Divine election, which dominates the whole passage. God"s purpose is to form a united kingdom, consisting of the unfallen and the restored the unfallen in heaven, and the restored on earth, and to gather this whole body together under Christ as its Head. (see Eph_3:15) We cannot say that this purpose has been fully effected as yet; but things are moving towards it, and one day it will be wholly realized. "He that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new". (Rev_21:5)

Christ the Head of all.

gather together under one head all things in Christ." Unity a characteristic of God"s works. Unity of the solar system, the stars, the heavens. In the moral and spiritual world there are diverse orders of holy being. To us only two are known angels and men. But there may be many more. All these it is God"s purpose to form into one economy. Jesus Christ is the Center of this great plan. We have some glimpses of this in the Apocalypse. Besides countless angels, Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying," etc.. (Rev_5:13) This does not imply that there will be nothing outside this glorious host of holy beings; for the Apocalypse affirms the contrary.

I This subject gives us an exalted conception of the place of honor to be occupied by Christ in eternity. As was his humiliation, so will his glory be.

II It gives us also an exalted conception of the glory and dignity of all true believers. How glorious the fellowship of such an order of beings! How insignificant the honors of earth, for which men toil so hard!

The dispensation of the fullness of times.

This marks the period during which the summing up of all things is to be accomplished the period of the dispensation of grace.

I THE TERM SUGGESTS THE IDEA OF A PLAN OR SYSTEM, NOT CONSISTING OF MERE FRAGMENTARY AND UNRELATED PARTS, BUT A THOROUGHLY COMPACT AND ORGANIZED SYSTEM, IN WHICH THE INDIVIDUAL PARTS HAVE THEIR DUE PLACES IN THE WORKING OUT OF A DESTINED RESULT. Just as in creation there is a unity of plan with certain typical ideas and regulative numbers lying at its basis, so there is in God"s dispensation a certain succession of times and seasons working out the purposes of his will. "God is the Steward of all time." The God who has made of one blood all nations of men "hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation". (Act_17:26) Christianity marks a new era in history, dividing it into two unequal parts, the appearance of Christ marking the turning-point between them.

II THIS DISPENSATION DATES FROM THE FULLNESS OF TIMES, THAT IS, FROM THE PERIOD WHEN ALL THE TIMES DESTINED TO PRECEDE IT HAD RUN OUT. The pre-Christian ages have seen their end in Christ"s advent, which" becomes thenceforth "the fullness of times." It was a chronological as well as a moral fullness. The epoch in question is the best time in the Divine calendar; for it is God"s time, and he is the Lord of all time. The age that saw the advent of the Savior was ripe for the event. It was "the time appointed by the Father". (Gal_4:2) The Roman power had opened highways for the gospel in every land by its immense conquests and its large toleration, while Greece gave the world the richest of languages to become the vehicle for New Testament inspiration. Meanwhile religion had outlived itself, and skepticism mocked at the decaying superstitions of the people. "The world by wisdom knew not God." All Gentile experiments in living had been tried, but with the unvarying result of disappointment. Meanwhile there was at the heart of heathenism a mysterious longing for some change in the world"s destinies, and the eyes of men turned instinctively to the East. Whether this tendency sprang up among the dispersion of the Jews over the East and the West, or from some instinctive longing, it was God"s will that the Gentiles should, with a conscious need of redemption, feel after him for themselves, "if haply they might find him". (Act_17:27) Among the Jews, likewise, there was a significant "waiting for the consolation of Israel;" idolatry had totally disappeared; new and more liberal ideas prevailed, in spite of the bigotry of the sects; and many hearts were prepared to welcome the" Desire of all nations." "The full age had come," when the heir would enter on his inheritance. Thus the advent was in every sense "the fullness of times." It was "the due time" when Christ died for the ungodly. The world had waited long for it. The purpose of God had only to receive its fulfillment by the coming of Christ. Equally so still is there a longing in the heart of men for a Savior. Men may try experiments in life; they may taste of its pleasures; they may try to extract from it all the wisdom the world can give; but there is still a void which nothing can fill till he comes whose right it is to possess and subdue and save the soul for himself. T.C.

The summing up in one of all things in Christ.

This was the mystery of God hid for ages, but now revealed.

I IT IMPLIES A PRIOR SEPARATION OF THE THINGS RECOLLECTED OR REGATHERED TO GOD IS JESUS CHRIST AS CENTRE OR HEAD. Sin is the great divider. It separates man from God; it separates man from man; it causes a schism within man himself. Rebellion introduced disorder. There was a break of moral continuity between earth and heaven caused by the Fall. "Earth was morally severed from heaven and the worlds which retained their pristine integrity." The primary reference here may be to the separation or enmity which so long held apart the Jew and the Gentile, but it undoubtedly has a wider reference to the relations between heaven and earth which were so profoundly affected by the fall of man.

II THE OBJECTS OF THE REUNION.

1. Jews and Gentiles, so long apart, are now "made both one" through the blood of the cross. Men try in our day to bring about a union of humanity on a basis of moral rule, or of socialism, or of the creed of liberty, equality, and fraternity; but the cross is the only reconciler of man to man. It is only under Christianity that any approach has been made toward a juster view of human rights, and toward a more genuine interest in the welfare of individual men.

2. The whole Church of God in heaven and in earth is reunited in Christ. This includes the saints of all dispensations, who, whether they lived under the comparative twilight of the Jewish dispensation, or in the days of antichristian apostasy in our own dispensation, found their home at last in glory. There are those who imagine that the pre-Christian saints do not belong to the Church of God, because this Church, they affirm, first came into being on the day of Pentecost, and therefore they assign to the saints of Jewish times an inferior place of glory in heaven. The Church of God for which Christ died (Eph_5:2) must include the saints of all time. This is the Church which he hath purchased with his own blood, and, if the Old Testament saints are not in it, they are lost. There is no redemption apart from union with the person of the Redeemer; for the one sentence in the Corinthian Epistle covers the destinies of the whole human race: "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive". (1Co_15:22) And if we are Abraham"s seed, we must have union with Christ; for "they that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham". (Ga 3) Those, therefore, who are to be gathered together in Christ must include the saints of every dispensation.

3. The angels of heaven are probably included among "the things of heaven." When we consider that Jesus Christ is Head of angels as well as men, that the angels are ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation, that they had a profound interest in the work of redemption, that the Church itself was to be the means of instructing them in the wonders of God"s plan of salvation, (Eph_3:10) that the angels themselves may have been confirmed in their holy steadfastness by the Son of God, that our Divine Redeemer continues to wear in the sight of angels the human nature he wore on earth, it is no extravagant speculation that all the heavenly hosts are united under a new Head, and in a new bond in virtue of the grand transaction of Calvary.

4. There seems no just reason for believing that the passage sanctions the restoration of lost men and lost angels. The parallel passage in Col_1:20, which speaks of "things in heaven and things on earth that is, the redeemed saints of earth and heaven seems to exclude such an interpretation.

III THE CENTER OF REUNION IS CHRIST. The re-collecting or regathering is twice-told as in him. An ancient prophetic voice spoke of him as the One to whom "shall the gathering of the people be". (Gen_49:10) He is the Center of everything in the universe. He is the Center of nature, for not only were all things made by him, but in him they consist; he is the Center of providence, for he upholds all things by the word of his power; he is the Center of Christendom, just as he was the Center of the old theocracy; he is the Center of the Church invisible, for he is its Head and its Life; he is the Center of heaven, for it is the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne; he is the Center of the Godhead itself, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It is, therefore, in him that "all things in earth and all things in heaven" are re-collected or summed up, for the showing forth, with a luster before unknown, of the majesty and glory of God. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one". T.C. (Joh_17:23)

The consummation of all things.

We have in this bold, sweeping picture of the great onward movement of the universe a solution of the most ambitious questions of philosophy. What is the meaning of the ever-changing flux and rush of all things? and whither does it tend? It is, says St. Paul, a progress towards organic unity. Can any thought be more modern or more in accordance with strict science? St. Paul recognizes the all-important point, too often ignored in ancient philosophy, that we have to deal with organic conditions with living forces and their resultants. He discerns a purpose in the seeming confusion of forces. In spite of many indications of failure, he discovers a sure progress. And the end of this progress he declares to be union and harmony. Yet he is not merely philosophizing. His idea is theological; he sees God"s mind planning the whole, and God"s hand effecting it. It is also essentially Christian. The end is accomplished through Christ.

I GOD PURPOSES TO BRING ALL THINGS INTO ORGANIC UNION. This purpose is illustrated by the latest philosophy of evolution. Mr. Herbert Spencer has shown that evolution is a process of increasing integration, accompanied by increasing differentiation. Scattered nebulous matter concentrates into solid worlds. From existence in separate cells, life advances to the union of cells in organic creatures. Society progresses from individual separation, through tribal union, to the formation of great nations. St. Paul carries out the idea on a larger scale. Heaven and earth, things spiritual and things material, will ultimately integrate in one grand unity. Consider some of the wonderful results involved in such a process as it completes itself.

1. An approach of all things nearer together and a more ready intercommunication. The earthly will no longer be separated from the heavenly.

2. Mutual co-operation. Each will minister to the other.

3. The more effective work of higher organization.

4. The end of all discord, the overthrow of all evil, the subjection of the lower to the higher. Sin must then be cast out and God"s will done on earth as it is now only done in heaven.

5. No necessary uniformity. On the contrary, differentiation increases with integration. The most highly organized bodies have the greatest variety of parts. While we look for progress, therefore, we must not be surprised at seeing increasing differences of constitution, idea, method of action, etc., among Christians, but even expect this to accompany a growth in harmonious mutual helpfulness. We are not to see the uniformity of the blades of grass in a meadow; but the unity of the root, trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit of one great tree.

II THE UNION OF ALL THINGS WILL BE EFFECTED THROUGH CHRIST. We cannot measure the far-reaching effects of the life-work of Christ. But the character of all of them is peacemaking and progressive. Christ comes to quell the discord of life, to draw all into one, and to lead the whole on to a higher life. We may see, partly, by what means this is done.

1. The Incarnation. Thus heaven comes down to earth. The process begins here in one man, Jesus.

2. The sacrifice of Christ. This is a peace offering. By it the separation between man and God is done away.

3. The brotherhood of Christ. All Christians are brethren in Christ. Thus human differences are done away; Jew and Gentile, bond and free, barbarians and civilized; are one in Christ. In the end, the union of Christians in the Church should realize the cosmopolitan oneness which will banish war and mutual jealousies.

4. The headship of Christ. As Christ is recognized to be the Head by all, all become members of him, and so members one of another.

5. The final triumph of Christ over sin, death, and all evil things.

III THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE ORGANIC UNION OF ALL THINGS WILL COME WITH "THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULLNESS OF TIMES.

1. It is only possible in course of time. Evolution takes time; so do the Divine education of the race, the spread of the gospel, and the growth Of the Church in truth and grace.

2. It is not to be indefinitely postponed. There will be a fullness of times. The present confusion is only temporary. It may last long, but not forever. We may do something to hasten the consummation of all things. It will only come when the times are ripe for it; but as we do our part to aid the great Christian progress, we help on the ripening of the ages. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That in the dispensation of the fulness of the times - In this last administration of God's fullest grace, which took place when the time appointed was fully come. He might gather together into one in Christ - Might recapitulate, re-unite, and place in order again under Christ, their common Head. All things which are in heaven, and on earth - All angels and men, whether living or dead, in the Lord.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

dispensation of the fullness of times

The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. This, the seventh and last of the ordered ages which condition human life on the earth, is identical with the kingdom covenanted to David. 2Sa 7:8-17; Zec 12:8

Summary;

Luk 1:31-33; 1Co 15:24, and gathers into itself under Christ all past "times":

(1) The time of oppression and misrule ends by Christ taking His kingdom. Isa 11:3; Isa 11:4.

(2) The time of testimony and divine forbearance ends in judgment. Mat 25:31-46; Act 17:30; Act 17:31; Rev 20:7-15.

(3) The time of toil ends in rest and reward. 2Th 1:6; 2Th 1:7.

(4) The time of suffering ends in glory. Rom 8:17; Rom 8:18.

(5) The time of Israel’s blindness and chastisement ends in restoration and conversion. Rom 11:25-27; Eze 39:25-29.

(6) The times of the Gentiles end in the smiting of the image and the setting up of the kingdom of the heavens. Dan 2:34; Dan 2:35; Rev 19:15-21.

(7) The time of creation’s thraldom ends in deliverance at the manifestation of the sons of God. Gen 3:17; Isa 11:6-8; Rom 8:19-21.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

These words discover to us the end and design of God in making known the mystery of his will , that is, in revealing the gospel: it was to gather into one universal church both angels and men, Jews and Gentiles, under Christ their head, and by virtue of that union to become one with the Father, as he and Christ are one.

Here note, 1. That Christ is the Head both of angels and men; an head of confirmation to the angels, of redemption to fallen man: both angels and saints in heaven and on earth make up one family, of which Christ is the head; the angels are a part of the worshippers of Christ as well as we, they are apart of his family and household; the angels fill our churches as well as men, and are present in our congregations and assemblies,1Co 11:10.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ARGUMENT 2

ALL THINGS REHEADED IN CHRIST

10. “In the dispensation of the fullness of the seasons, to rehead all things in Christ, those things in the heavens and those things upon the earth.” Where the English says, “gather together,” the Greek is anakephalaiosasthai, from ana, again, and kephalaion, the head. Hence, it means to rehead all things in Christ, both in the heavens and upon the earth. When God created this world, he constituted Adam and Eve the united head. When the devil succeeded in their abduction, he cut the head off of the world, thus leaving the poor, fallen world without a head. In the glorious restitution, Christ is going to glorify humanity, and restore him back to the headship of the world. In the fall, Satan destroyed spiritual life in humanity, thus cutting man’s head off. All the senses are in the head. Hence man, without a head, has no eyes to see hell open before him, no ears to hear the hideous groans of the damned and the dismal drumbeat of his own perdition, no nose to smell the brimstone, no tongue to taste the devil’s filthy tobacco which would nauseate a dog, and no nerves to feel the awful trepidation inspired by an eternity of woe. This is the reason why the millions of this poor, lost world are rushing at racehorse speed into hell. In regeneration the Lord restores back your head, which you lost in the fall; in sanctification radically exterminating the counterfeit head, which the devil has put on all sinners. Christ will also, in due time, rehead this fallen world, restoring its Edenic glory, sanctifying by fire and transforming it into a heaven, committing it to the glorified saints and unfallen angels, to shine and shout through all eternity. The English word, heaven, is heavens in the Greek, corroborating astronomy in the infinite multiplicity of celestial worlds, all of which were more or less affected by the fall of this world. (Heb 9:23.) Hence, the work of Christ will not only restore this world to its perfect celestial loyalty, but so confirm all other worlds as to effectually fortify them against the liability of future apostasy.

11,12. Here, again, we have a beautiful allusion to the predestination of the saints in harmony with the sweet will of God, “who, beforehand, had hope in Christ.” This is a beautiful allusion to the glorious millennial harvest, of which the saints, in the gospel dispensation, are the first fruits.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. He now states the mystery which God had revealed. In the dispensation of the fulness of times. In the last dispensation which came in the fulness of time; when the times were full, or ripe. Fulness of time is often applied to the period of Christ's coming. See Gal. 4:4; Heb. 1:2; Heb. 9:10; 1 Peter 1:20. That he might gather together in one all things in Christ. That the scattered families and tribes of men, both Jews and Gentiles, should all be gathered and united under one head, Christ. Nay, not only men, but angels, all things in heaven and earth, all should be united under Christ as head, so that he should be “all and in all” See Rev. 5:13. Compare Matt. 28:18, and many other passages which are parallel in thought.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

10. εἰς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, ‘with a view to a dispensation or stewardship appropriate to the fulness of the seasons.’ οἰκονομία, see Additional Note. The treasures to be dispensed are the treasures of wisdom and knowledge contained in the ‘secret’ which God has at last made known to His chosen. This treasure is committed to them to be imparted to others as they are able to bear it. The possession of it therefore constitutes a stewardship for the faithful, for a prudent exercise of which the Church as a whole and each member of it in his degree is responsible to God. If this view of οἰκονομία is rejected, the phrase will mean ‘with a view to bringing about in due course the fulness of the seasons.’ In St Paul’s view, however, the fulness of the seasons has already come. τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καίρων, cf. Mar 1:15; Gal 4:4; 1Ti 2:6. This stewardship could not begin till the conditions were prepared for giving and receiving the revelation. These words are an assurance that there is a true Philosophy of History.

ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ χριστῷ, ‘to sum up the universe in the Christ.’ These words define the ultimate end of the Gracious Purpose, the ‘one far off Divine event to which the whole Creation moves.’ ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι, properly a word in Rhetoric, Lat. collectio, describing the rapid repetition and summarizing of an orator’s points previous to his practical conclusion. St Paul uses it (Rom 13:9) of the relation between the command ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’ and all the commandments of the Second Table. Strictly, therefore, the words mean “to bring together each separate element in Creation in such a way that ‘the Christ’ may be the fitting description of the whole.” This meaning helps to explain the presence of the article τῷ χριστῷ, ct. Eph 1:3, ἐν Χριστῷ. Otherwise it would be difficult not to believe that, however incorrectly in point of etymology, St Paul, in speaking ‘of bringing the universe together under one head,’ was thinking of Christ not as κεφάλαιον, but as κεφαλή, cf. Eph 1:22. A further development of the thought I owe to a note communicated by my friend Canon G. H. Whitaker: ‘Plutarch says ἡ πόλις οἴκων τι σύστημα καὶ κεφάλαιον οὖσα (Cat. maj. 454 A). Now a well-planned city explains the point of the several houses. It is an ordered whole. You see why the houses were placed as they were, when you see the city from a balloon. So, in a well-written article, you come not to a new summary but to a κεφάλαιον, a heading up of all the points, showing how they tell. Paragraphs that had seemed disconnected are felt now to have been all bearing one way. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” brings all the separate commandments to the unity of a great principle. Moses, Joshua, Aaron come to a point in Christ.’

τῷ χριστῷ. See Additional Note. The thought is that which we find in Col 1:16. The universe ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη and εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται. But between these points there is a period of discord and rebellion. In Col 1:20 we hear of the resolution of the discord, here of the ultimate harmony.

τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς κ.τ.λ. Cf. Col 1:16; Col 1:20. The phrase is obviously meant to be all-inclusive. Rev 5:13 is fuller and more detailed but not wider in scope. τὰ πάντα of the whole created universe, as in Eph 3:9, Eph 4:10; Rom 11:36; 1Co 8:6; 1Co 15:27; Php 3:21; Col 1:16-17; Col 1:20; 1Ti 6:13; Heb 1:3; Heb 2:8; Rev 4:11; cf. Psa 8:7.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That in the dispensation, etc. [εις οικονομιαν] . The A. V. is faulty and clumsy. EiJv does not mean in, but unto, with a view to. Dispensation has no article. The clause is directly connected with the preceding : the mystery which He purposed in Himself unto a dispensation. For oijkonomia dispensation see on Col 1:25. Here and ch. 3 2, of the divine regulation, disposition, economy of things.

Of the fullness of times [του πληρωματος των καιρων] . For fullness, see on Rom 11:12; Joh 1:16; Col 1:19. For times, compare Gal 4:4, " fullness of the time [του χρονου] , where the time before Christ is conceived as a unit. Here the conception is of a series of epochs. The fullness of the times is the moment when the successive ages of the gospel dispensation are completed. The meaning of the whole phrase, then, is : a dispensation characterized : by the fullness of the times : set forth when the times are full.

To sum up all things in Christ [ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι] . Explanatory of the preceding phrase; showing in what the dispensation consists. For the word, see on Rom 13:9. It means to bring back to and gather round the main point [κεφαλαιον] , not the head [κεφαλη] ; so that, in itself, it does not indicate Christ (the Read) as the central point of regathering, though He is so in fact. That is expressed by the following in Christ. The compounded preposition ajna signifies again, pointing back to a previous condition where no separation existed. All things. All created beings and things; not limited to intelligent beings. Compare Rom 8:21; 1Co 14:28.

The connection of the whole is as follows : God made known the mystery of His will, the plan of redemption, according to His own good pleasure, in order to bring to pass an economy peculiar to that point of time when the ages of the christian dispensation should be fulfilled - an economy which should be characterized by the regathering of all things round one point, Christ.

God contemplates a regathering, a restoration to that former condition when all things were in perfect unity, and normally combined to serve God 's ends. This unity was broken by the introduction of sin. Man's fall involved the unintelligent creation (Rom 8:20). The mystery of God 's will includes the restoration of this unity in and through Christ; one kingdom on earth and in heaven - a new heaven and a new earth in which shall dwell righteousness, and "the creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God."

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.