Section 47
23Gk. ἐν 
σοφίᾳ ϰαὶ συνέσει πνευματιϰῇ, where ἐν may be taken as comitative (cf. n. 17 above) or as instrumental (“by means of all wisdom . . .”). It is possible that πνευματιϰῇ qualifies σοφίᾳ as well as συνέσει, but σοφία unqualified is used in the Pauline writings in the sense of divine wisdom (cf. v. 28 below). See p. 260, n. 68.
24Gk. μετά χαϱᾶς εὐχαϱιστοῦντες, but μετὰ χαϱᾶς could well go closely with the preceding ὐπομονήν ϰαὶ μαϰϱοθυμίαν, replacing ϰαί χαϱάν “in order to achieve variety of expression” (K. G. Kuhn, “The Epistle to the Ephesians in the Light of the Qumran Texts,” p. 119). Like ϰαϱποφοϱοῦντες, etc. (vv. 10-11), εὐχαϱιστοῦντες refers to the Colossians.
25Gk. ἱϰανώσαντι, for which a few authorities (mainly Western, but including the Sahidic, Armenian, and Ethiopic versions) have ϰαλέσαντι (“called”). B conflates the two readings, ϰαλέσαντι ϰαὶ ἱϰανώσαντι (“called and qualified”). ℵ and B, with a few other authorities, make the object ὑμᾶς (“you”), preferred by NA26and UBS3 on the ground that the majority reading ἡμᾶς (“us”) is probably an assimilation to v. 13. The preference for ὑμᾶς could be defended if the clause is to be read in the same sense as Eph. 2:19 (συμπολῖται τѽν ἀγίων); if it is so read, those addressed would be Gentile Christians as distinct from Jewish Christians (see p. 302).
26Many cursives add διά τοῦ αἳματος αὑτοῦ (“through his blood”), a borrowing from Eph. 1:7, which has been perpetuated by the TR and the KJV.
27For the knowledge of God’s will cf. Rom. 12:2 (also Acts 22:14). From Rom. 2:18 it might be inferred that to “know the will” (namely, of God) was a current expression in Hellenistic-Jewish terminology.