‏ Ephesians 3:8

 Unto me who am less than the least of all saints ( εμο τω ελαχιστοτερω παντων αγιων ). Dative case  εμο with  ελοθη. The peculiar form  ελαχιστοτερω (in apposition with  εμο ) is a comparative ( -τερος ) formed on the superlative  ελαχιστος. This sort of thing was already done in the older Greek like  εσχατοτερος in Xenophon. It became more common in the Koine. So the double comparative  μειζοτεραν in 3Jo 1:4. The case of  αγιων is ablative. This was not mock humility (15:19), for on occasion Paul stood up for his rights as an apostle (2Co 11:5).

 The unsearchable riches of Christ ( το ανεξιχνιαστον πλουτος του Χριστου ).  Ανεξιχνιαστος ( α privative and verbal of  εξιχνιαζω, to track out,  εξ and  ιχνος, track) appears first in Job 5:9; 9:10. Paul apparently got it from Job. Nowhere else in N.T. except Ro 11:33. In later Christian writers. Paul undertook to track out the untrackable in Christ.

Copyright information for RWP