Ephesians Chapter 1
Originally posted Thursday August 21, 2008
General Comment: Ephesians presents a number of challenges to both reader and interpreter. Although Paul had worked in Ephesus for an extended period the recipients of this letter do not seem know him except through his writings. The author does not address any problems in the church nor does he address any issues with discipline or false teachings to be corrected. He seems to have little knowledge of its members other than their Gentile heritage. Many important early manuscripts of this letter do not have a recipient named. This would indicate that it was originally a generic letter written to a number of different churches in western Asia Minor with the name of the church filled in. In a number of the later collections of Paul's letters Ephesians served as a cover letter. The letter's polish, style and vocabulary as well as the absence of a number of major Pauline themes has placed its writing toward the end of the first century, approximately 90 CE or some twenty plus years after Paul's death in Rome. That being said, the author is a devoted disciple of Paul who knows his letters well, making extensive use of Paul's Gentile oriented Christology. Of interest is the degree to which this author distances the church from its connection with God's Israel, a central concern for Paul. It also has a more universal view of the larger church of a later time and its unity, the hallmark of a more organized "catholic" concept of Christendom.
Some readers may be concerned about the question of authorship. It was quite common in ancient times for the disciples of a great teacher to carry on their work. It was not considered a fraud or fiction to use the ideas of the master and apply them in a new generation. For example we see this in Isaiah in which a school of disciples extending over more than a century reapplied the great prophecies to new situations over a span of two centuries. Ephesians was accepted by the church fathers of the second century for inclusion in the Canon of the New Testament. By doing so they announced their opinion that Ephesians was in keeping with the apostolic tradition and was to be accepted by the Church as having the authority of scripture. We have no reason to decide otherwise and can receive it as speaking with authority to our Christian lives nineteen centuries later.
Ephesians Chapter 1:1-2 Salutation
Many of the early manuscripts address the letter to "the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus," with "Saints" used as the standard title for the collective members of any church. Grace is extended to the Saints and comes from both God as Father and Christ as Lord. Depending upon how late the letter was written and distributed the title "Lord" for Christ could have political implications. We know that during the latter period of the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian (after 89 CE) a requirement to honor the Emperor as a god by ritual sacrifices had been briefly imposed. Refusing to abide by the Imperial edict could cause severe persecution. It is generally held that the Book of Revelations was written in response to Domitian's cruelty.
Ephesians Chapter 1:3-14 Spiritual Blessings in Christ
The opening blessing and the following Thanksgiving (vss.15-23) both consist of single long sentences which have been divided by the translators for reading clarity.
The blessing (praising) of God by the readers is considered appropriate in view of God's abundant blessing of the Saints in Christ who are blessed "with every spiritual blessing." The blessings have been given "in the heavenly places" in which the Saints will abide with Christ in the presence of God. Thus the blessings are given in this life in anticipation of their fulfillment in eternal life.
God has chosen the Saints in Christ (when we believed through faith) "before the foundation of the world." This is not to be interpreted as predestination, but as setting of the standard for inclusion in eternal life. God has predetermined before time that those who believe in Christ through faith are destined to eternal life. Whether one Believes or not through faith is not predetermined but its outcome is. The agency of our free will is not compromised by God.
Included in God's predetermination and related to the "heavenly places" in which the chosen Saints will abide, is the imagery of their adoption as children of God, being presented "holy and blameless" before God through Christ (Rom. 8:29; Jn. 1:12). This is the fulfillment of Paul's important understanding of our being justified - forgiven and therefore made holy, by Christ. All of this is by the will and "glorious grace" of God working for the Saints in Christ who is our redemption through the cross (Rom. 3:24-25).
In Christ God has revealed the mystery of God's plan for the coming "fullness of time," the new age when God will "gather up all things in heaven...and on earth" to bring about God's Kingdom (the inheritance of the Saints). While those who were first to believe have (already?) "obtained an inheritance," those who came after and responded in faith to the preaching of the Gospel received the "seal" (of acceptance) of the Holy Spirit, the "pledge" or promise of their heritage of final redemption as children of God (2 Cor. 1:21; 5:5). Here we note in this section echoes of John's understanding of realized redemption of believers in the present time and the final redemption at the end of the age.
Ephesians Chapter 1:15-23 Prayer of Thanksgiving
Addressed to the various church communities, the author gives thanks for their faith in Christ and love of the Saints (of all the churches of Christ). He prays that God will give them a "spirit of wisdom and revelation" (discernment) so as they grow in faith. They will also grow in their assurance of the hope (resurrection and eternal life) that awaits them - the "riches of [God's] glorious inheritance" for all who have believed. Not only will they come to know the nature of this inheritance more clearly, they will see "with the eyes of [the] heart" the presence of God's power already working through them - that same power that was with Christ in his resurrection and ascension to the heavenly places. In the heavenly places Christ has been placed by God above all earthly and heavenly powers and above all names (other Lords) in the present as well as in the new age. God has put all power and dominion, rule and authority under Christ's authority for the sake of the Church which is Christ's own body (1 Cor. 12:27).
Note:
As we read through each of these extended passages and those that follow, we may be impressed with how much they read like small homilies tied together into a teaching format. If we understand the letter as addressed to the church in general and is meant to be read aloud to the community by its leader, we might understand its power. The soaring language of redemption, of the heavenly things and the saints being blessed may bring to mind the image of small gatherings of Christian's in house churches, hanging on every word with a hope in their hearts only they can feel. In our "cut to the chase" century we want more than soaring oratory. We want bullet points, concrete action statements and we want definitive answers. But what of inspiration! What of the lifting rhetoric that for a few moments can carry us beyond ourselves to another realm of possibility, to the "heavenly places?" The author of Ephesians, with skill and the vision of mystery, does just that. The listener is swept up into another reality to catch a glimpse - just a glimpse of the other and for a moment they are face to face. For a moment it is all so clear and the listener is never the same again.
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