Verse 8
God has given abundant grace to us, not just the bare essential amount needed. This reference hints at many other benefits of Christ’s death that Paul did not enumerate here. Chafer discussed 33 riches of divine grace that become ours when we trust Christ as our Savior. [Note: Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 3:234-65.]
"Wisdom" (Gr. sophia) is what is highest and noblest, and "insight" or "understanding" (Gr. phronesei) is the means by which we perceive it. [Note: Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, pp. 263-67.] Again we have to decide whether the last part of this verse modifies the first part of Ephesians 1:8 or the first part of Ephesians 1:9 (cf. Ephesians 1:4). As I pointed out above, normally the modifying phrases follow the action words in this passage. Paul’s idea therefore seems to have been that God lavished His grace on us in His infinite wisdom knowing how we would respond to it. The wisdom and insight are God’s, not ours.
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