And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
And now, [brethren] (this bracketed word has hardly sufficient authority),
I commend you to God - as the Almighty Conservator of His people,
And to the word of his grace (see the note at Acts 20:24 ), which ('who`) is able to build you up, [the simple verb oikodomeesai (G3618) is preferable to the compound epoikodomeesai, which Tischendorf inconsistently approves],
And to give you an inheritance. Observe how salvation-not only in its initial stages of pardon and regeneration, but in all its subsequent stages of 'up-building,' even to its consummation in the final inheritance-is here ascribed to the 'ability' of God to bestow it, as in Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:20; particularly Jude 1:24
, and compare 2 Timothy 1:12
.tsirhC ot debircsa si gniht emas eht erehw ,
- Among all them which are sanctified. It is remarkable that the only other place wher is used is in the speech of our apostle before Agrippa ( Acts 26:18 ), confirming the impression which this whole address conveys to the reader, that it is here recorded as delivered. And if it should be said (as the Tubingen school scruple not to do) that this only proves that both speeches proceeded from one pen-not that they were the words of Paul-then another coincidence, quite as striking, will tend to fix the Pauline authorship of both addresses: in one only of our apostle's Epistles does a phrase precisely like this occur, and that is just in his Epistle to these same Ephesians (Acts 1:18 ), "That ye may know what is ... the riches of the glory of His inheritance among the saints" ( en ( G1722 ) tois (G3588 ) hagiois (G40)). It will be observed that sanctification is here viewed as the final character and condition of the heirs of glory, considered as one saved company.