The Letter to the Ephesians

Lynn H. Cohick

• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781467459464
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Studi biblici

The letter to the Ephesians provokes an array of interpretive questions regarding authorship, audience, date, occasion, purpose of writing, and the nature of its moral instruction—including its words addressed to slaves and masters. Interacting critically in an arena of intense debate, Lynn Cohick provides an exegetically astute analysis of the six chapters of Ephesians, offering an insightful account of the letter's theology and soteriology as she attends to its expansive prose and lofty vision of God's redemption.

Cohick analyzes everything from the letter's description of the church and its appeals for discipleship to the complex relationship between Jews and gentiles within the text and in the broader cultural context. Her extensive knowledge of the social realities of women and families in the ancient world is also evident throughout. Historically sensitive and theologically rich, Cohick's commentary will be an abundant resource for a new generation of scholars, pastors, and lay leaders.

Text and Commentary

I. PAUL’S OPENING GREETING (1:1–2)

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

²Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.¹

1 Paul begins this letter in his typical fashion, identifying himself as the sender.² This was the normal pattern for ancient letters and was followed by a greeting to the recipients.³ Paul identifies himself as an apostle, the nominative noun in apposition to the name “Paul” (see also Rom 1:1; 1 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:1). The term “apostle” carries the sense of being sent by another, and in this case, Paul declares he is sent by Christ Jesus.⁴ Paul adds that this sending is God’s will. The Greek phrase “Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” is mirrored exactly in 2 Cor 1:1; Col 1:1; and 2 Tim 1:1.⁵ Paul locates his apostleship in the will of God, and he will reflect deeply and broadly on God’s will throughout this letter.⁶ Paul is aware of other apostles, including the Twelve (1 Cor 15:7; Gal 1:17, 19).⁷ As he addresses the Ephesians, Paul uses the label “apostle” only here; elsewhere in the epistle he prefers terms that refer to his imprisoned status (Eph 3:1; 4:1; 6:20). When he uses “apostle” elsewhere in the letter, he speaks in general terms of those who provide foundational leadership within the churches (2:20; 3:5; 4:11).

Paul is identified as an apostle twice in Acts (14:4, 14) and calls himself an apostle who has seen Jesus our Lord (1 Cor 9:1). He distinguishes himself as the least of apostles because of his persecution of the church before his calling by God (15:8). Paul declares that he is sent to the gentiles (Gal 1:16; 2:7), and we find a similar emphasis on gentiles in Ephesians. The noun “apostle” is used primarily to identify those sent by God, but the term can also refer to those sent on a mission by a congregation (2 Cor 8:23; Phil 2:25). The author of Hebrews describes Jesus as an apostle (3:1). Paul portrays his apostleship as filled with trials and hardships (1 Cor 4:9–13; 2 Cor 1:8; 6:4–10; 11:23–28) and characterized by signs, wonders, and miracles (2 Cor 12:12).

The absence of a cosender in the salutation is unusual. We would expect to find Timothy’s name (2 Cor 1:1; Phil 1:1; Col 1:1; 1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:1; Phlm 1) or Silvanus/Silas’s (1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:1). In one case, Paul cosends with Sosthenes (1 Cor 1:1).⁸ To the Galatians, Paul mentions a group of brothers and sisters who are with him as he dispatches the letter (1:2). Only in Romans (and the Pastoral Epistles) does Paul’s name stand alone as the sender. Paul’s purpose in writing Romans is to introduce himself to the city, for he has not visited them, nor did he play a role in the church’s beginnings. This could explain why Paul did not include a cosender.⁹ Such circumstances do not fit Ephesians, however, for Paul has been to Ephesus and was involved in planting and growing the church there.¹⁰ Paul’s letter to the Galatians addresses an attack on his apostolic calling and authority, which may be why he does not name a specific cosender. Again, perhaps he mentions a group that joins him in the letter so as to further emphasize the reach of his ministry and authority. In the case of Ephesians, Paul’s authority with the congregation seems secure; it is his imprisonment that has created consternation and confusion (3:13). In the end, an argument from silence is precarious, and I venture to say only that I would expect Timothy’s name. As with Romans, so too Ephesians presents treatiselike qualities and a special focus on developing theological concepts. It may be that such emphases were factors in the decision to exclude cosenders.

Paul sends the letter to those he identifies as saints or holy ones and further describes them as faithful.¹¹ The two substantival adjectives share a single article, indicating they represent a single group.¹² The designation “saint” for a follower of Jesus is typical throughout Paul’s letters (Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:1, Phil 1:1; Col 1:2) and is repeated throughout Ephesians (1:15; 3:8, 18; 4:12; 6:18). Paul can inject a moral connotation to the designation, declaring that God in Christ chose believers to be holy (1:4; see also 5:26–27). Paul always uses the term in the plural and never as a title for an individual.¹³ Identifying God’s holy people as saints has deep roots in the history of the Israelites. The people of God are chosen by him to live in accordance with his holiness (Exod 22:31; Lev 11:45; Ps 34:9; Dan 7:18–27). The term carries the sense of being set apart for a sacred purpose, much as a temple space would be reserved for religious rituals, not profane or mundane activities (see Eph 2:21).

Paul greets the believers as “faithful” (see also Col 1:2). The emphasis is on the believers’ posture of belief, not on their character as trustworthy individuals. For an example of the latter, Paul praises Tychicus as faithful at the end of Ephesians (6:21). Here in the greeting Paul emphasizes their belief in Christ Jesus. Both Paul and the Ephesians share in Christ Jesus, and this theme of being “in Christ” reverberates throughout Paul’s Epistles and will shape his exhortations here as well. The elastic phrase sometimes carries the sense of incorporation into the community of faith and other times indicates the agency of salvation.¹⁴ Those who are part of the people of God, Christ’s body (1:22–23), are thereby equipped by being in Christ to do good works (2:10).

While the vocabulary of this clause is straightforward, the syntax and grammar are not, for we have a participle of the verb “to be,” which lacks a complement, as “in Ephesus” is missing in key early sources.¹⁵ The text in the earliest sources reads “to the saints who are and to believers in Christ Jesus.” If we assume that the location was not part of the original text, then it may read as follows: the saints who are “also” (kai) faithful.¹⁶ However, this makes the participle redundant and could imply that some saints are not faithful.¹⁷ Less likely is that a deliberate space was left in the original document to be filled in by the reader of the letter, Tychicus, for no extant manuscripts demonstrate a space.¹⁸ We will proceed with the presumption that the complement was the geographical location “in Ephesus” and was part of the original letter.¹⁹ This position accounts for most ancient manuscripts including “in Ephesus” in their texts, and all ancient authors indicated that the epistle was sent to the Ephesians.²⁰

2 Paul continues his greeting with his customary phrase extending “grace and peace” to the recipients (Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Phil 1:2; Col 1:2; 1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:2; Titus 1:4; Phlm 3).²¹ The nouns “grace” and “peace” replace the typical Hellenistic greeting that employs the cognate verb of the noun “grace.”²² Paul creates a play on words, as he speaks of grace (charis) rather than the expected verb form of greetings (chairein). Paul extends this grace and peace to all the Ephesians with the plural pronoun “to you,” and he highlights that it is God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who extend such grace and peace.²³

While “grace” and “peace” occur regularly in Paul’s greetings, these terms also play a significant role in the following chapters as Paul examines the redemption story of God.²⁴ In Greek, the term charis can mean grace, favor, or gift, and Paul speaks of salvation in Christ as God’s indescribable gift (2 Cor 8:9). Paul explains that God extended a specific grace to Paul as he established him as a messenger of the gospel (Eph 3:2, 7) and that Christ gives grace to each believer so that they would contribute to the overall health of the congregation (4:7, 29). Paul emphasizes that believers are saved by grace (2:5, 8) and that Christ is the believers’ peace (2:14). Paul’s message to gentiles, who made up a majority of the Ephesian congregation, was the good news that God in Christ has forgiven them by grace and has brought them into a new family, the body of Christ. The good news applies as well to the Jewish members of the congregation, and the new entity is now to grow together in unity and maturity in Christ.²⁵ Paul’s wish that believers receive God’s grace should not be understood as an implicit contrast with Judaism or Jewish religious practices or attitudes of alleged self-righteousness or works to merit salvation.²⁶ For Paul, grace is found in Christ’s redemptive work, extended to all people regardless of their social worth or ethnic background.²⁷

Paul develops the concept of peace to include a reference to Christ himself and his death and resurrection. In 2:14 Paul introduces Christ as “our peace” as Paul explains the creative power that makes a unity of that which was separate, namely, Jewish and gentile communities. Paul describes his message as the gospel of peace and a gospel that prepares believers for struggles of this life (6:15). The peace that is Christ is to be nurtured within the community (4:3). The epistle echoes Old Testament passages that speak of God’s Messiah bringing peace. From Isaiah we hear of the Prince of Peace (9:6 [= 9:5 LXX]), and the earliest believers drew on Zechariah’s description of the king who brings peace to the nations (Zech 9:9–10; Matt 21:4–5; John 12:14–16). The Jewish term shalom conveys a traditional wish for peace that may underpin Paul’s use, a peace that is more than absence of war, but that reflects God’s blessings.²⁸ The peace that Paul proclaims is a reconciling peace, for “the church is to embody peace and unity so as to reflect both the reality of the cosmic reconciliation accomplished by Christ and the possibility of what the world may become.”²⁹

Paul identifies the givers of grace and peace as “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (see also 6:23–24).³⁰ Paul prays to God as the father of all peoples (3:14–15) and speaks of God as the father of glory in his prayer for the Ephesians (1:17). Paul declares God is father over all things (4:6) and is the father of the community of faith (5:20). The term “father” carried a political overtone in Paul’s day, for the emperor was known as the father of the country (pater patriae).³¹ The emperor as father is nicely filled out by a story from the Roman historian Suetonius. In 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted, causing immense devastation to Pompeii and Herculaneum. Suetonius describes the Emperor Titus’s generous response: “In these many great calamities he showed not merely the concern of an emperor, but even a father’s surpassing love.”³² Paul’s message implicitly contrasts the benefaction of the Roman emperor with that of God our Father. God is also Father of the Lord Jesus Christ (1:3), who is designated as the son of God in 4:13. Paul speaks here of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the previous verse speaks of being an apostle of Christ Jesus. The Greek term Christos represents the Hebrew “anointed one” or “messiah.”³³

1. The printed text of Ephesians above, and elsewhere in the commentary, is from the NIV (2011 edition).

2. Paul is the Roman Latin cognomen or surname (Greek Paulos, Latin Paullus), and Saul is likely his supernomen or nickname; Saul is the Semitic name Shaul, transliterated into Greek as Saulos. See Stephen B. Chapman, “Saul/Paul: Onomastics, Typology, and Ch...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Excursuses
• General Editor’s Preface
• Author’s Preface
• Abbreviations
• Bibliography
• Introduction
• Text and Commentary