Epistle to the Ephesians

EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO THE. This book of the New Testament, the most general of all the Pauline epistles and the one having least apparent reference to an immediate occasion, may be described as a solemn contemplation of the lofty privilege into which God's eternal purpose has brought believers in Christ, followed by an exhortation to conduct worthy of this high calling. Beneath this simple structure of the epistle and pervading the whole is the fully developed conception of Christ as central in the universe and in history. God's purpose from eternity was in the fulness of times to unite in Christ the Jews (to whom had been given the covenants of promise), and so to bring human history to its goal, the one New Man, the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Those who have believed in Christ, that is the Church, represent the result of this redemptive work; and a clear knowledge of the purpose itself, the secret of the ages, has now been revealed to men. The theme of the epistle has often, but not quite adequately, been described as the Unity and Divinity of the Church.

The writer's exposition of Christian privilege takes the form of a great expanded use of the conventional introductory paragraphs of congratulation and prayer seen in other epistles of Paul as also in the Greek letters of simple people. In it, packed full of thought as it is, the writer touches on many profound aspects of his great conception (i. 3–ii. Io), then (ii. 1I-111. 13) points out the significance of the readers' position as Gentile believers, with a long digression (iii. I-13) declaring his own (Paul's) corn mission by God's grace to preach to the Gentiles. This first half of the epistle closes with a renewed prayer for the strengthening of the readers in character and in the understanding of their great privilege (iii. 14-19) and with an ascription of eternal glory to almighty God (iii. 20-21).

In the second half the writer turns with a characteristic and impressive "therefore" to an exposition (iv.–vi.) of the responsi bilities which the privilege entails, especially the preservation within the Church of unity in peace, on which, in harmony with his underlying theme, he enlarges in a notable passage (iv. 3-16) Detailed warning against obvious vices (iv. 17–v. 14) merges in an exhortation to specific virtues (v. 15–vi. 9) ; and here in a series of paragraphs on the duties of wives, husbands, children, parents, slaves and masters Paul seems to be striving to find in the common relation of Christians to the Lord the principle of a new and specifically Christian (as distinguished from Jewish or Stoic) ethics. The power of moral achievement comes from God (vi. 1 o-18a) . With an entreaty that the readers will pray for other Christians and for Paul himself, and with a note re garding Tychicus, the bearer of the letter, and a farewell bene diction (vi. 18b-24) the epistle closes.

Title.

The title and opening verse of the epistle present a problem. Except for the edition of Marcion (c. A.D. 150), in which (possibly by an inference of identification from Col. iv. 16) it was entitled "To the Laodiceans," the epistle has in all periods (including the 2nd century) borne the title "To the Ephesians." But probably as early as the 2nd century, certainly in the 3rd and 4th centuries and subsequently, there were in cir culation excellent copies (including our Codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus of the 4th century) which omitted the words "in Ephesus" from the first verse. The most natural explanation is that these words were lacking in the original and were later added to the verse from the title which the epistle had received when the collection of Paul's epistles was adapted for church use. To this would correspond the absence of reference in the epistle to the members and conditions of any single Gentile church; and altogether the book is best understood as a circular letter in tended for a considerable group of churches, of which that at Ephesus may have been one. As a letter addressed to the church at Ephesus alone, where in a long period of years Paul had ac quired uncounted friendly connections and of which he must have had abundant knowledge, the epistle would be incompre hensible. That it is, however, "the letter (to be got) from Laodicea" mentioned in Col. iv. 16 is not improbable.

Resemblance to Colossians.

The relationship, both literary and theological, between the Epistle to the Ephesians and that to the Colossians (q.v.) is very close. Many of the prominent ideas of the two writings are the same, especially the developed view of the central position of Christ in the whole universe ; the conception of the Church as Christ's body, of which He is the head ; the thought of the great Mystery, once secret, now re vealed. There is further resemblance in the formal code of morals, similarly arranged by classes of persons and having much the same contents in the two epistles (Eph. v. 22–vi. 9; Col. iii. 18–iv. i) . In both cases Tychicus carries the letter, and in almost identical language the readers are told that he will by word of mouth give fuller information about the apostle's affairs (Eph. vi. 21-22; Col. iv. 7-8) . Moreover, in a great number of char acteristic phrases and even whole verses the two are alike. See, for instance, Eph. i. 7, Col. i. 14; Eph. i. so, Col. i. 20; Eph. i. 21, Col. i. 16; Eph. i. 22, 23, Col. i. 18, 19; Eph. ii. 5, Col. ii. 13; Eph. ii. I I, Col. ii. I I ; Eph. ii. 16, Col. i. 20; Eph. iii. 2, 3, Col. i. 25, 26, and many other parallels (very fully set forth in Mof fatt's Introduction, pp. Only a comparison in detail can give a true impression of the extraordinary degree of resem blance. Yet the two epistles do not follow the same course of thought, and their contents cannot be successfully exhibited in a common synoptical abstract. Each has its independent occa sion, purpose, character and method; but the two draw on a common store of thought and use common means of expression.

Genuineness.

The earliest evidence of use of Ephesians ( I Peter [not later than c. A.D.], Ignatius, Polycarp and Her mas), and of the general 2nd-century acceptance of its claim to be by Paul (Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Mura torian Canon), is as complete as the remains of early Christian literature reasonably permit; but on internal grounds objections to the genuineness of the epistle have been pressed since the early part of the i9th century. In recent years a certain, but by no means universal, tendency among critics to accept Ephesians as genuine has followed the somewhat stronger reaction in favour of Colossians. As a matter of fact the question of authorship is less important to the student of the history of Christian thought than in the case of other Pauline epistles, because of the lack in Ephesians of specific allusions to the situation. The place of its ideas in Christian history is not very different whether they were those of Paul in his later years or of an otherwise unknown great writer in profound sympathy with Paul's thought but living in the period following the apostle's death.

The objections to the genuineness of the epistle consist partly of literary observations and points of detail, and these have on the whole not proved convincing. (i.) The style has a slow and cumbrous movement ; but parallels can be found elsewhere in Paul (e.g., Rom. iii. 23-26), while many positive traits of Pauline style can be pointed out in Ephesians. (2.) The vocabulary is not more distinctive than, for instance, that of Galatians. (3.) Such phrases as "the devil" (iv. 27, vi. I1, as in the Pastoral epistles, instead of "Satan" as in Paul's other epistles), "his holy apostles and prophets" (iii. 5, cf. ii. 20), "mystery" (v. 32) in a sense not exactly the same as any of the other various meanings of the word in Paul, with other similar considerations often adduced, are not sufficient to prove that another than Paul was the author. (4.) The relation to Colossians is to some a ground of suspicion, but to others seems best explained by accepting a common Pauline authorship for both epistles. Holtzmann's in genious theory (18 7 2) that our Epistle to the Colossians, while based on a genuine shorter letter of Paul, is the product of ex pansion by the same later hand which created Ephesians has gained but limited support from recent scholars.

The more serious objections come from the advanced Christ ology and the terms of Alexandrian philosophy used in stating it, together with the developed conception of the Church as un divided and as the body of Christ. These ideas, however, do not seem to lie beyond the possibility of inclusion within Paul's horizon, and Colossians, if accepted as genuine, provides Pauline parallels for most of them. That the thought of the epistle im plies the atmosphere and situation of the 2nd century is a position which cannot be sustained.

On the other hand, Ephesians shows profound and subtle agreement with the distinctive modes of thought, ruling interests, and religious language of Paul. So full an understanding and complete a resemblance in thought on the part of another writer would be without a parallel in that period (even I Peter is far less close). Highly significant is the strong pride of Jewish race exhibited in Eph. ii. 1 1-2 2 combined with the writer's extreme satisfaction in the opening of salvation in Christ to the Gentiles to whom the epistle is addressed.

Date and Place.

If Ephesians was written by Paul, it was composed during the period of his imprisonment, either at Caes area or at Rome (iii. i.; iv. 1; vi. 20). The theory lately ad vanced of an imprisonment at some time during the three years' stay at Ephesus is improbable. At very nearly the same time he must have written Colossians and Philemon; all three were sent by Tychicus. There is no strong reason for supposing that the three were written from Caesarea. In favour of Rome are the greater probability of the metropolis as the place where a fugitive slave would hide himself, the impression given in Colossians of opportunity for active mission-work (Col. iv. 3, 4; cf. Acts xxviii. 30, 31), and the fact that Philippians, which in a measure belongs to the same group, was pretty certainly written from Rome. Ephesians is not intended merely for Gentile Christians at large, for Tychicus carries the letter to the readers, Paul has some gen eral knowledge of their circumstances (i. 15), and they are ex plicitly distinguished from "all the saints" (iii. 18, vi. 18) . We may most naturally think of them as the members of the churches of Asia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.—Besides general works on New Testament IntroducBibliography.—Besides general works on New Testament Introduc- tion, the Apostolic Age, and the Life of Paul, and the treatises on Paul's theology, see H. Holtzmann, Kritik der Epheser- and Kolosser-briefe (i872) ; F. J. A. Hort, Prolegomena to St. Paul's Epistles to the Romans and the Ephesians (1895). Commentaries. In English: H. A, W. Meyer (4th ed. 1867 ; Eng. trans. 188o) ; T. K. Abbott (Internat. Crit. Comm., 1897) ; J. Armitage Robinson (1903, end ed. 1904). In German: Hermann von Soden (Hand-Commentar zum N.T., 1890 ; M. Dibelius (Handbuch zum N.T., 2nd ed., 1927). (J. H. Rs.)