The Ephesian Epistle
Rex Banks
Lesson 15
Authorship
Paul (1:1;
3:1). On Paul
the apostle, see
our Paul’s Epistles, Introducing
Paul (Book 4).
In typically
Pauline fashion, the author begins with a discussion of doctrine (chapters 1-3)
and then makes application based upon that teaching (chapters 4-6).
Structurally, the Ephesian letter is typically Pauline.
External evidence
(1)
External evidence for Pauline
authorship is early and abundant. For
example, on several occasions in his Against Heresies, Ireneaus
(ca 120-202 AD) quotes from the Ephesian epistle and attributes the words to
Paul:
“This also Paul declares in these words: ‘For whatsoever doth make manifest is light’” (1.8.5).
“Even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the Ephesians, that
‘we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones’” (5.2.3).
“But we do now receive a certain portion of His
Spirit, tending towards perfection, and preparing us for incorruption,
being little by little accustomed to receive and bear God; which also the
apostle terms “an earnest,” that is, a part of the honour which has been
promised us by God, where he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, ‘In which ye
also, having heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, believing
in which we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance’” (5.8.1
cf 5.14.3; 5.24.4).
Another early
witness, Clement of Alexandria (b mid 2nd century) has:
“Directly in point is the instance of the apostle, who says, writing the Corinthians: ‘For I have
espoused you to one man, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ,’ whether as children or saints, but to
the Lord alone. And writing to the Ephesians, he has unfolded in the
clearest manner the point in question, speaking to the following effect: ‘Till we
all attain to the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of God, to
a perfect man, to the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ: that
we be no longer children, tossed
to and fro by every wind of doctrine,
by the craft of men, by their cunning in stratagems of deceit; but, speaking the truth in love, may grow
up to Him in all things.”(The Instructor
1.5).
Although
Marcion thought that the letter was written to
In summary:
“Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Hermas, Clement of Alexandria,
Tertullian, Ireneaus, and Hippolytus give evidence of early and continued use
of the epistle” (Unger’s Bible Dictionary).
Thus
“there is no ground whatever for questioning the tradition that...Paul wrote
the letter which we know as the Epistle to the Ephesians” (Charles Smith, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia).
(2) Despite this, some modern scholars deny or question Pauline authorship. Unfortunately, many who argue that Ephesians is the product of another hand do not seem to appreciate the implications of their position. As J. D. G. Dunn explains in his discussion of Pseudepigraphy:
“By putting the emphasis on false attribution,
however, the term pseudepigraphy implies a negative value judgment as
to a document’s integrity and acceptability. This is clear from its earliest attested use in Christian circles,
where Serapion (second century AD) applies it to the Gospel
of Peter: “the writings that
falsely bear their names [Peter and the other apostles] we reject…knowing that
such were not handed down to us” (Eusebius Hist. Eccl.
6.12.3). It is this judgment of falseness, of intent to deceive and mislead,
particularly by passing off as apostolic what should not be so regarded, that
makes the issue of pseudepigraphy in the NT so sensitive…
In the light of the negative judgment implicit
in the term itself, the claimed presence of pseudepigraphy in the NT would seem
to pose a moral and theological problem for the notion of an authoritative
canon of Scripture. The uncomfortable
fact is, however, that a large consensus of NT scholarship maintains that
certain NT writings, particularly Ephesians, the Pastorals and 2 Peter, are
pseudepigraphic, the first two attributed to Paul, the last attributed to
Peter” (Dictionary of the Later New Testament and its
Development, Editors Ralph Martin and Peter Davids).
Quite simply, if the writer of
Ephesians was not Paul the apostle as claimed, the letter is a worthless fake,
and all the pious platitudes in the world cannot rescue the counterfeiter from
the charge of deception. In the introduction to his
commentary on Ephesians in the Word Biblical
Commentary, Andrew T. Lincoln explains why,
in his view, “the real author of Ephesians is not Paul himself but a follower
of his,” and he argues that pseudonymity was simply a “literary device” which
was a “widespread and accepted literary practice in both Jewish and Greco-Roman
cultures.” Widespread yes, accepted no!
For those who are interested,
(3)
Typically, opponents of Pauline
authorship employ the following main arguments:
Personal references
·
If
this letter is indeed addressed to the church at Ephesus, the lack of personal
greetings at the end of the letter is inexplicable in light of the fact that
Paul had laboured for three years at Ephesus and had evidently enjoyed a very
warm relationship with the brethren there (Acts 20:36-38). Moreover, addressing these brethren, the
writer says that he has “heard of the faith of the Lord Jesus which exists
among (them)” (
We will have
more to say on this point under the heading Addressees but note the following points:
Ø Perhaps on this occasion Paul relied
on Tychicus, a personal and trusted friend to convey greetings in person.
Ø In Paul’s letter to Philemon, one of
his own converts, he speaks of hearing of his friend’s faith and love
(Phile 5) so clearly similar language in the Ephesian epistle does not
constitute proof that the writer did not know the recipients personally.
·
Some
are adamant that “3:1-13 in particular reads far more like the estimate of
Paul’s apostleship on the part of someone looking back than like Paul talking
about himself” (Lincoln).
In particular, it is suggested that Paul’s use of the term
“holy” (hagios)
to describe the
apostles (3:5) seems affected since he is included in the group but this is
unconvincing. If the writer can use the term
hagios (“saints”) of the recipients of this letter (1:1), his use of this term
in 3:5 is hardly pretentious! Allegedly too, “The humility of 3:8
‘the very least of all the saints’ is also exaggerated, lacking the spontaneity
of 1 Corinthians 15:9” (ibid). However,
what
Allegedly the
style and vocabulary of Ephesians betray its non-Pauline authorship
“The Greek
style has perplexed conservatives and radicals alike with the following
features: the inordinate length of the
sentences (eg 3:1-7; 4;11-16); many relatives and
participles; clauses introduced by hina; indirect questions; infinitives; tautological
genitives (Examples include: “the council of the will” [1:11]; “the working
of the power of strength” [1:19]; “the age of this world” [2:2]; “the spirit of
the mind” [4:23] - Rex);
abstract forms; etc” (G. Johnson, The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible).
It is
argued that the style is held to be less direct and more turgid than elsewhere.
Specifically
we are told that “Ephesians has almost a hundred non-Pauline words, of which
some forty are unique in the NT” (ibid).
(37 are unique to Paul if the pastorals are attributed to him). Those who deny Pauline authorship of
Ephesians attach particular importance to the fact that some of the words which
are unique to Ephesians denote concepts which are expressed by different terms
in the undisputed letters. For example,
because Paul uses “Satan” rather than “devil”
elsewhere Johnson concludes that “the word ‘devil’ (Eph
On the
other hand, words in the Ephesian letter which are typically Pauline are used
with different meanings from that in the undisputed letters. Examples include the word “mystery” (cp Eph
1:9; 3:3-6, 9 ff;
The
argument based upon style and vocabulary is a very weak argument. Among other
things, it fails to do credit to Paul’s versatility and it also fails to take
into account the fact that language and style are affected by the subjects
under consideration and the circumstances of composition. There is simply no justification for
concluding that when Paul uses terms like musterion
and oikonomia in letters other than Ephesians, he
intends to give exhaustive expression to their meaning. Ephesians is in many ways, a distinctive
epistle. Moreover, nine of the words unique to Ephesians occur in quotations
from the Old Testament. Besides, other
books accepted as Pauline by the critics actually have an even higher
percentage of words unique to them.
True, the Ephesian letter is more measured, solemn and formal than some
others but much of this is due to the fact Paul is not here engaged in
defending himself or attacking error.
Thus his style is more reflective and meditative, especially in the
first three chapters devoted to doctrinal exposition. H. J. Cadbury
poses
the question:
“Which is more likely -
that an imitator of Paul in the first century composed a writing ninety or
ninety-five per cent in accordance with Paul’s style or that Paul himself wrote
a letter diverging five or ten per cent from his usual style?” (New Testament Studies V).
The writer of
the Ephesian letter is held to have been dependent upon Paul’s authentic letters
Especially
is this evident in the case of Colossians - the Ephesian writer having
virtually reproduced over 70 verses of this letter while employing a number of
terms in a different way. We are challenged
by these critics to compare for example, the use of such terms as “mystery,”
“fullness” and “body.” Hendriksen responds to this last point: “One and the same author must certainly be
allowed the privilege of using the same word both in its basic meaning and
also, in a different context, in a somewhat modified sense” (Ephesians). This is an excellent point in
view of the different emphases in the two epistles. A. Skevington Wood makes the very good point that “it
is when an author borrows from himself that he can take liberties with what is
after all his own material” (Ephesians: Expositors Bible Commentary). Wood later adds:
“Ephesians
represents the quintessence of Pauline theology. It supplies a reinterpreted summary of the
apostle’s previous teaching. Therefore
it should not be surprising to discover in it more reminiscences of other
Epistles than elsewhere in Paul’s writings” (ibid).
Allegedly the writer of Ephesians has a
different theological emphasis from that of the
“historical Paul”
·
The
following from
“The
historical Paul’s stress on the death of Christ and his
theology of the cross have faded into the background. The cross is only mentioned in
These fatuous
arguments hardly deserve comment. Difference in emphasis does not constitute contradiction, and the theological teachings of Ephesians and Romans (for example)
are easily harmonized.
Ø It is unwarranted to suggest that
because some theological teaching is not present in a particular document the
writer does not subscribe to that doctrine.
For example, the fact that the writer of the Ephesian letter does not
focus on the specifics of Christ’s second coming does not prove that he does
not hold to this teaching. (What’s more,
the entire letter looks towards the summation of all things in Christ). In similar vein, the fact that Ephesians
focuses upon the glorification of Christ and has less to say about
Christ’s death than certain other letters of Paul is not proof of different
authorship. After all, the contents of
the various NT documents are determined by circumstances
and intention,
and the theme of the Ephesian letter explains its emphasis. What’s more, the Ephesian writer does speak of
Christ’s shed blood (1:7;
Ø It is equally gratuitous to assume
that unless identical language is used in the discussion of some particular
subject a different hand is at work. For example, much has been made of the
fact that in such undisputed letters as Romans and Galatians, salvation is
unusually spoken of in terms of having been
justified or having been made righteous, whereas the Ephesian writer speaks of being saved (rather than justified) by grace (Eph 2:8). But
undoubtedly such differences are largely due to different subject matter.
·
In particular, the Ephesian writer’s use of the term “church” is allegedly
non-Pauline. For example, it is affirmed
by some that in the undisputed letters of Paul, “church” is typically used to
speak of some local fellowship, whereas in the Ephesian letter it
usually describes one universal body in which all Christians are united in an
organic whole. Moreover, in the Ephesian
letter, the establishment of the church is held to be the goal of Christ’s
work. However:
“The author who has (elsewhere) declared that
there is now neither Jew nor Greek but that all are one in Jesus
(Galatians 3:28); that in each Christian
the life of Christ is made manifest (Galatians
2:20; 2 Corinthians 4:11 sq.); that all are led by the
Spirit
of God and of Christ (Romans
8:9-14); that each one of the faithful has Christ for head (1
Corinthians 11:3), could, by combining these elements, easily come
to consider all Christians as forming but one body (Romans
12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:12, 27), animated by one spirit
(Ephesians
4:4), a single body having Christ for head. To this body the Gentiles belong by the same
right as the Jews” (Catholic Encyclopaedia).
Too, there is simply no merit to the
suggestion that the writer of Ephesians contradicts Paul’s statement that
Christ is the foundation of the church (1 Cor
“As the foundation
sustains the building, so the word of God, declared by the apostles and
prophets, sustains the faith of all believers. God laid the foundation by them; but Christ
himself is the chief corner-stone of the foundation. Elsewhere he is termed the foundation itself,
1 Cor 3:11” (Explanatory Notes).
The claim by some that the words “having been
built on the foundation of the apostle and the prophets” (
In summing up:
“It
is certain that the early Church did not see in the features of the Epistle now adverted to any reason for doubting
that Paul was the author. As to the allegation that the style, tone, and
sentiment are in many respects not
Pauline, no weight is to be attached to it. To trace
salvation to grace as its
fountain; to magnify the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ; to proclaim the
freedom of the new dispensation; to
interlace doctrine and duty in the web of exhortation; to sound the military trumpet, as it were and stimulate
his readers to intrepid action in
the service of Christ; - what were more eminently Pauline objects than these? and where are they
more characteristically promoted
than in this very writing?” (W. G.
Blaikie, Ephesians Pulpit commentary).
Composition:
Date, Place and Circumstances
(1)
Paul
visited
(2)
Subsequently
Apollos “an eloquent man...mighty in the Scriptures” (Acts
(3)
Paul
returns to
(4)
As
a result of Paul’s success with the gospel, idol worship and occultic practices in the city are greatly affected. We read:
“Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and
disclosing their practices. And many of
those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them
in the sight of all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty
thousand pieces of silver. So the word
of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing” (
(5)
Incensed
at loss of revenue from the sale of religious items associated with pagan
worship, one Demetrius, a silversmith, stirs up fellow workmen who are in the
same situation and a riot ensues (Acts 19:23 ff). Paul leaves for
(6)
Luke’s
record in Acts ends with Paul’s two-year imprisonment at Rome (Acts 28:30-31)
sometime about 61-63 AD and Paul wrote the Ephesian epistle while a prisoner
(Eph 3:1; 4:1; 6:20). Although Paul
endured several imprisonments (2 Cor 6.5), it is likely that it was during this
two year confinement at Rome that Paul wrote the Ephesian epistle as well as
Philippians, Colossians and Philemon.
·
References
to the palace guard, the emperor’s household and to the fact that a sentence of
death is a possibility (Phil1:13; 19-26;
·
The
fact that Aristarchus and Luke are mentioned in Paul’s greetings in Colossians
(
·
From
Ephesians 6:21, Colossians 4:7, 9 and Philemon 10 it is evident that these
three letters are linked by the fact that Tychicus carried them to their
destinations. Paul’s comments on the
purpose of Tychicus’ visit to
There
is good reason then to believe that Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and
Philemon were all written during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment. Later we will have more to say about the
state of the church in the city of
(7)
The
city of
(8)
The
local religion was a compound of Eastern and Western superstitions. The
Addressees
There has been
a great deal of debate about the original destination of the Ephesian epistle
and discussion has centred upon two main points:
The text of
Ephesians 1:1
In our
English translations, the addressees are “the saints who are at
“There is a
problem posed by the fact that “in Ephesus” is absent from 1:1 in some of the
best manuscripts (eg p46 [the Chester Beatty papyrus and the earliest
extant manuscript of the Pauline Epistles - Rex], Siniaticus, Vaticanus, 424c, 1739), in Basil and Origen, apparently also
in Marcion (who called the letter ‘the epistle to the Laodiceans’),
and in Tertullian” (Carson et al).
On the
other hand, there is good evidence that from the very beginning members of the early
church believed this letter to have been sent to the Ephesians (even those like
Origen and Tertullian who did not read “at Ephesus” in 1:1).
The absence of personal references
As we
said above, the absence of personal greetings, the absence of allusions to
Paul’s own past, the absence of special recommendations, expressions of
affection and the like in an epistle addressed to those with whom the apostle
had enjoyed a long and affectionate association, is not typical of Paul
(compared to for example, Thessalonians Galatians and Corinthians). Throughout, Paul’s tone is impersonal and he
speaks of having “heard of” their faith (
On the
other hand, the Ephesian letter is not simply a theological dissertation
intended for general audience in the first instance. Paul gives thanks for the faith of the
recipients (
Arguing that the contents of the letter “agree
perfectly with the hypothesis that it was addressed to the Laodiceans”
(
“For, first it will be asked, how came the
name of
On this view, Tychicus would have carried
several copies of it, differently superscribed, one
for
Many who take
this position suggest that the Epistle came to be called the
Ephesian letter because
Regardless of
whether we take the destination
Purpose, Theme and Characteristics
The church
The following
from John R. W. Stott is excellent:
“For Ephesians
is the gospel of the church.
It sets forth God’s eternal purpose to create through Jesus Christ a new
society which stands out in bright relief against the sombre background of the
old world. For God’s new society is
characterized by life in place of death, by unity and reconciliation in place
of division and alienation, by the wholesome standards of righteousness in
place of the corruption of wickedness, by love and peace in place of hatred and
strife, and by unremitting conflict with evil in place of a flabby compromise
with it” (The Message of Ephesians).
As we have
seen, the Ephesian letter is not an urgent call to arms against error, but
rather an elegant, detached and majestic exposition of one of the great themes
of scripture; namely the outworking of God’s eternal plan to bless and to unify
all mankind in the pre-eminent,
all-sufficient Christ, which is just another way of saying in the glorious church of Christ which is His body. Tenney points out that the book of
Ephesians “is the one writing in the New Testament in which the word ‘church’
means the church universal rather than the local group.” The first three chapters deal with the doctrine relating to God’s Great Society - the church, while the last three deal
with the duties of those who are members of this Society.
Blessings in the church
Paul opens the
body of his epistle by launching immediately into this great theme, and the first chapter naturally divides itself into two closely linked sections:
Verses 3-14
This
section has quite appropriately been called Paul’s “Hymn of Grace” and it takes
the form of an extended expression of thanksgiving to God for all the blessings
that He has provided. No other portion
of scripture surpasses it in majesty or splendour. The following points are of special note:
·
“Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
has blessed us...” (1:3, NIV). The
opening words of this verse introduce an important theme of the epistle: namely that God is deserving of all praise
because He is the source or origin of every spiritual blessing. The initiative is His. Again
and again Paul in this epistle speaks of the “riches of His (God’s) grace” (1:7 cf
·
Equally
important is the fact that “every spiritual blessing” in the “heavenly places”
(meaning of heavenly origin – cf
Verses 15-23
Paul
wants God’s chosen people to fully understand the greatness of God’s blessings
in Christ and this is the focus of section two (
·
Knowledge
of the hope to which God has called them.
·
Knowledge of “the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints” (meaning knowledge of all the rich blessings of
salvation bestowed by God upon the saints).
·
Knowledge
of “the surpassing greatness of His power” toward believers (a power which
enables God to deliver on His promises - vv 18-19).
Three
events demonstrate God’s power to keep His promises:
·
The
Father raised Jesus from the dead (v 20).
·
The Father seated Jesus at His right hand in
the “heavenlies” (v 20), the place of all authority
(v 21).
·
The Father gave or appointed Christ “as head
over all things to the church” (v 22).
We
note that Paul describes the church as “the fulness of Him who fills all in
all” (v 23) meaning (among other things) that the church is the place where we
find every spiritual blessing which God has to offer.
Thus Ephesians
is all about making God’s people aware of the
richness of God’s grace toward them (1:7 cf
The church as a place of
reconciliation, oneness and unity
Ephesians
chapter 2 tells us that God’s Great Society, the church, is the place of
reconciliation, oneness and unity.
Keep in mind
that the idea of oneness or unity was an important theme for stoic philosophers
and others of the first century. In many
cases orderliness was attributed to the cosmic
reason or “logos” that
unified all things. Wood
has:
“In Ephesians
Paul was able to demonstrate that this almost obsessive search for unity finds
its ultimate goal only in Christ. It is
he who represents the co-ordinating principle of all life. The ideal of world citizenship, cherished by
the philosophers, is realized in the universal church. Man can be liberated from bondage to the
principalities and powers that threaten his welfare only as he shares the triumph
Christ gained over them at the Cross (1:21; 2:2; 3;10,11; 6:12, 13; cf. Col 2.15).”
Earlier Paul described the
divine purpose as the establishment of “an administration (oikonomia) suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all
things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth” (1:10). Here Paul uses oikonomia to speak of the administration or
inauguration of God’s far-reaching redemptive plan. The plan is to restore under Christ’s
headship, a lost unity by bringing together “things in the heavens and things on the earth.” The lost unity of the universe is to be
re-established.
This purpose has not been
fully realized yet but all things are moving towards it and in chapter 2,
importance of the church as a place of reconciliation, oneness and unity is emphasised. Again, chapter
2 divides
neatly into 2 sections.
Verses 1-10
This
section tells us about how alienated man is reconciled to God in Christ. In v 1 Paul uses the pronoun “you,” likely
with reference to Gentiles, and in v 3 he uses “we,” likely with reference to
Jews. Anyway, all men
outside of Christ, Jew and Gentile were at one time “children of wrath” (v 3),
meaning that they were deserving of God’s righteous judgment because of their
“trespasses,” “sins” (v 1), “worldly walk” (v 2) and “fleshly lusts” (v
3). But out of mercy (v 4), grace (vv 5,
7-8) and kindness (v 7) God:
·
“made us alive together with Christ” (v.5).
·
“raised us up with Him” (v 6) out of sin to the “newness of
life” (Rom 6:4).
·
“seated us with Him in the heavenly places” (v 6), meaning
that Christ’s entrance into heaven secured in some measure, the benefits of
heavenly citizenship in the here and now.
Thus, in Christ, oneness with God is restored.
Verses 11-22
This tells us of how divided humanity is
reconciled in Christ.
William Barclay tells us:
“The Gentiles,
said the Jews, were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell. God, they said, loved
Paul
reminds us that the Gentiles had been “far off” and “far away” from God (vv 13,
17), having been “separate from Christ,” “excluded from the commonwealth of
Israel,” “strangers to the covenants of promise,” without “hope” and “without
God in the world” (v 12). In Christ however, the Gentiles are “near” to God (v 13), at peace with Him along with their Jewish brethren (vv 14-15) and reconciled to God in one body (the church) along with those Jewish
brethren (v
16). Jew and Gentile both have “access
in one Spirit to the Father” (v 18). No
longer “strangers and aliens” but “fellow citizens with the (Jewish) saints” the
Gentiles are “of God’s household,” the
In God’s Great
Society - the
God’s Eternal Plan
The key thought
in chapter 3 is that the fusion of the two groups just spoken of (2:11-22) and
their union in Christ on an equal footing was part of the eternal
plan of God. Hitherto this divine plan
had been a “mystery” (vv 3-4, 9) meaning a truth hitherto hidden from human
understanding, but Paul has a special ministry to the Gentiles (v 1) and
through him has come the divine revelation that Gentiles are, in Christ,
“fellow heirs”(with Jewish Christians), “fellow members of the body” (ie the church 1:23; 2:16; 4:4, 16) and “fellow partakers of
the promise “ (v 6). Paul had been
commissioned to preach the gospel (“the unfathomable riches of
Christ”) to the Gentiles (v 8), bringing to light the hitherto undisclosed plan
of God (the plan to unite Jew and Gentile in Christ on an equal footing, v 9).
The purpose of
all this is that by this means, the church, might display even to the angelic
world, God’s great wisdom (v 10). By its
existence, the church - God’s Great Society where Jew and Gentile are one -
displays God’s “manifold” (many coloured like a beautiful tapestry of different
threads, suggesting a diversity of backgrounds in harmony) wisdom. What’s more, making known God’s wisdom
through the church was the Father’s “eternal purpose” (v 11). The church was no after-thought but part of
God’s eternal purpose to reconcile humanity with God and to remove the wall
separating man from man.
Christians to be united and
holy
In chapters
1-3, God’s eternal purpose has been unfolded.
In Chapters 4:1-6:20 Paul turns to practical matters, setting forth the
new standards which God expects from His new society - the
Christians are to be united (4:1-16)
God’s
people must strive to preserve the “unity of the Spirit” (the unity bestowed by
the Spirit) within the church, in the “bond of peace (meaning the bond which is peace). In order to do so, they must
have a disposition characterized by “humility,” “gentleness,” “patience,”
“forbearance” and “love” (4:1-3).
Ephesians 4:4-6 tells us that such unity is important because there is
one body ie the church (made up of Jew and Gentile -
2:11-22), one Holy Spirit, one hope (based upon having been called by the
gospel), one Lord (Christ, head of the church - 1:22-23), one faith, one
baptism (into Christ - Rom 6:3; Gal 3:27), and one God - not many
gods as in paganism (1 Cor 8:5). Christ
has given a diversity of gifts to the church which will help her to achieve
this maturity and unity (4:7-16).
Christians are to be holy (4:17-5:21)
In
4:17-24 Paul reminds his readers that the lives of Gentile pagans were
characterized by futility, moral
darkness, ignorance, hardness of heart, sensuality and suchlike, but that having learned Christ and having “put on the new self” they no longer live like this. Therefore he can urge them to be truthful
(4:25), to avoid unrighteous anger (4:26-27), to deal honestly with others
(4:28), to guard their speech (4:29-30), to replace bitterness, anger and
suchlike with kindness (4:31-32) and to turn away from all immorality (5:3).
This is appropriate because members of Christ’s body have been called to holiness.
Incentives
to holy living include:
·
The
reality of the judgment (5:5-7).
·
The
fact that children of the light are to live in harmony with their new natures
(5:8-14).
·
The fact that “wise” men value holiness
(5:15-17).
·
The fact that holiness is appropriate for
those filled by the Holy Spirit (5:18-21).
Thus citizens
of God’s Great Society - the church - are to pursue both unity and
holiness. “God
chose us in Him (Christ)...that we should be holy
and blameless
before Him...” (1:4).
Relationships
Those who are
“in Christ” are to practice mutual submission “in the fear of Christ” (5:21)
and this has a bearing upon all their relationships.
Marriage (5:22-33)
Husbands
and wives are to observe the principle of headship established at creation, and
to be bound together in mutual love and respect. Verse 32 adds that Gen 2:24 contains an even
more profound truth (a “mystery” or truth hitherto unrevealed),
ie the truth that the marriage relationship is a
beautiful model of the union of Christ and His church.
Parents and children (6:1-4)
Natural
law and revealed truth combine to teach that children are to obey parents,
while parents are warned not to goad children into resentment by unreasonable
demands.
Employment (6:5-9)
Genuine,
honest service on the part of the Christian servant/slave is to be matched by
the master’s applying the golden rule (“Do the same things to them” -
Matt.7:12; cf Phile 15-17). Masters too have a Master. (Christianity did not attempt to destroy the
evil system of slavery by social reform or revolution but instead set forth
principles which in time resulted in its demise.)
Those who are
“in Christ” are to be submissive and considerate in all relationships.
The Full Armour
of God and the Adversary
Three times in
the Ephesian letter the Adversary is mentioned (2:2;
God’s glory
Central to
scripture is the notion that man is created for God’s glory (Isa 43:7) and thus
we read in Ephesians that all the blessings and gifts which God lovingly gives
to those “in Christ” have an ultimate purpose - namely
the securing of praise for God because of the grace
which He gives to man. Man’s salvation has as its
primary goal “the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in
the Beloved” (1:6 cf
“Before all
time God the Creator predestined a salvation that should win men by His love
and fashion a universe agreeable to his will (1:5), and now that Christ has
inaugurated the age of redemption, we Christians adore God as the all-glorious
father, gracious and loving, the father of Jesus the Messiah”. (Johnson)