B

According to good pleasure of His will.

C

To praise of glory of His grace.

D

Highly favoured in the Beloved.

Eph. 1:11,12.

A

Predestined as inheritance.

B

According to His purpose ... will.

C

To praise of His glory.

D

Who were in a state of prior hope in

Pro in composition may indicate place, time or preference.  Romans 3:9

provides an example of preference, `Are we better (proechomai) than they?'

Romans 12:10 will provide another, `In honour preferring (proegeomai) one

another'.  Yet again we read in 1 Timothy 5:21, `Without preferring (prokrima)

one before another'.

Guided by the structure which in its turn indicates the direction of the

argument, we see that the emphasis is placed upon the dignity and the greatness

of the position given to the church here.  We therefore reject the translation

`fore -hope' in favour of `prior -hope', but realize that this is still

ambiguous, as the word `prior' also can refer either to time, `a prior

engagement', as well as a position, `the Prior', or head of a religious house.

We repudiate completely the attempt to distinguish `we' from `you' that would

make them two companies or callings, and can find no justification for

interposing the hopes of either the Jews or of the Pentecostal Church into this

great Prison Epistle.  As we discover upon reading further, `hope' is

intimately associated with `calling' (Eph.  1:18).  The state of prior hope in

which these believers were found refers to the dignity of their calling `far

above all' where Christ sits at the right hand of God.  This is a `Prior Hope'

Fulfil (Pleroo).  This word is used very frequently in passages which speak of

the fulfilling of prophecy and other Scripture, such as `that it might be

fulfilled' (Matt. 1:22), `that the Scripture might be fulfilled' (John 17:12),

but this meaning is entirely foreign to the usage of pleroo in the Prison

Epistles, the only apparent exception being Colossians 1:25, which reads in the

A.V. `to fulfil the Word of God', making the apostle teach that the

dispensation of the Mystery, instead of being a secret hid in God and never

committed to writing in the earlier days, `fulfilled' the Word of God, in the

same way that the birth of Christ `fulfilled' the prophecy of Isaiah.  There

are fourteen occurrences of pleroo in the Prison Epistles, thirteen of them

being translated `fill', `complete', `supply' and `fulfil' in the sense of

completing, and once `supply'.  Let us see these references together.

Him that filleth all in all.

Might be filled with all the fulness of God.

That He might fill all things.

Be filled with the Spirit.

It is impossible to substitute `fulfil' in these passages without loss.

Phil. 1:11

Being filled with the fruits.

Fulfil ye my joy.

Phil. 4:18

I am full, having received.

Phil. 4:19

My God shall supply all your need.

Here the one occurrence `fulfil' is translated by Cunnington `fill up'.