98 1 Cor. 2:7 (see p. 321 with n. 67).
97Cf. Job 28:12-14, 21-22; Sir. 1:3; also Deut. 30:11-14, quoted in Rom. 10:6-8. Paul includes ὓψωμα and βάθος in a list of created forces in Rom. 8:38-39.
981 Cor. 2:7 (see p. 321 with n. 67).
99Cf. Phil. 3:12-16.
100Gk. ἵνα ἐξισξύσητε ϰαταλαβέσθαι σὺν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἀγιοις . . . (this is the only NT occurrence of the compound ἐξισξύω). The phrase “with all the saints” effectively excludes the notion of a revelation of higher truth for a privileged elite (cf. Col. 1:28, with the repeated πάντα ἄνθϱωπον).
101 “The ‘breadth, length, height and depth’ can . . . refer to nothing other than that which is above all the object of Christian knowledge—the whole divine plan of salvation, which forms the subject-matter of the apostle’s presentation up to this point” (E. Percy, Probleme, p. 310).
102M. Barth observes that the principle applies to the biblical commentator, who should not ignore what his predecessors have thought and said on the same texts (Ephesians, p. 395, n. 112).