Ephesians Commentary

Paul is taken up with the overwhelming goodness that God in Christ has showered on believers, and with his amazing plan to unite Gentiles with Jews in a new community—the church, the body of Christ. Here, Paul provides one of the finest descriptions of the Christian life in the entire New Testament. Though written from prison, this letter is full of joy, praise, and thanksgiving. It is a fitting reply to the wonder of God’s amazing grace in Christ, poured out in abundance on those chosen to know his love—Gentiles as well as Jews.

Setting

Paul’s third missionary journey (AD 53–57) centered on Ephesus, capital and port city of the Roman province of Asia on the western coast of what we now call Turkey. In Paul’s time, Ephesus was the fourth-largest city in the Roman empire, with a population of perhaps 500,000. Many people visited the city to see the famous temple of Artemis.

After an initial brief visit (see Acts 18:19-21), Paul returned to spend between two and three years in this large and flourishing city (see Acts 19:1–20:1). It was a difficult time for him: He encountered much opposition and suffered much abuse (see Acts 19:21-41; 1 Cor 15:32; 2 Cor 1:8-9; 11:23-27). But during this time, people all over the province heard the Good News of Christ for the first time, and many small groups of believers sprang up, meeting together in homes, in villages and towns across the province (the seven churches addressed in Revelation probably originated during this time). Some of these churches (at Colosse, for example) were begun by Paul’s converts and had no firsthand acquaintance with Paul.

It is not clear how accurate these churches’ understanding of the gospel was, but we know from Paul’s letter to the Colossians that some of them had encountered false teaching and distorted perceptions. In Ephesians, Paul is concerned with a perception that Gentile Christians were inferior to or distinct from Jewish Christians, and not fully part of God’s “new Israel.” What gave rise to this misunderstanding is not clear—discrimination by Jewish Christians? Gentile aversion to Jewish Christians?—but it reflects traditional ethnic tensions between Jews and Gentiles throughout the Roman world. Paul was also concerned with a lack of awareness that God’s people are to live in a distinctly different way from the surrounding world.

Paul writes a letter from prison that seems to be intended for several of these churches full of new converts. As their spiritual father, and as one commissioned by God to carry the Good News to the Gentiles, Paul was deeply concerned that these new believers have a correct understanding of all that God had given them in Christ and of the kind of life God wanted them to live in response.

Summary

With a heart full of praise for all that God has done, Paul beautifully summarizes the Good News of God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ—emphasizing that it is for Gentiles as well as for Jews (chs 1–3). He also gives practical instructions on how believers are to live in response, turning away from their former lives to become truly good and like Christ (chs 4–6).

Following a brief introduction (1:1-2), Paul praises God for the amazing grace that believers have received in Christ (1:3-14). In his sovereign love, God has chosen them, forgiven them, brought them into his family, made them his children, and promised them eternal blessings. In giving them his Spirit, he has marked them as his own so that they might praise his grace forever. Paul then prays that God will give them spiritual understanding to grasp the full depth of all that he has done for them (1:15-23). Though fully deserving of God’s wrath, they have been saved by God’s grace, not by anything they have done, but simply by being joined to Christ (2:1-10). As Gentiles, they were utterly alienated from God and his blessings, but in God’s mercy, through the reconciling work of Christ, they have now been made members of God’s family, fully equal to Jewish Christians. They are no longer outsiders (2:11-22).

Paul was the one commissioned by God to bring this wonderful Good News to them (3:1-13). His second prayer for them (3:14-21) is that God will give them spiritual power, strengthen them in their faith and love, enable them to understand Christ’s saving love fully, and fill them with the life and power of God himself.

In response, they are to live a life of humility, grace, and love—a life worthy of their calling, as they use their God-given gifts to build up the body of Christ (4:1-16). They are to turn from the darkness of their former sinful ways and live as children of light. Filled with kindness and love in the Holy Spirit, and following the example of Christ, their lives are to please God in all things (4:17–5:20).

All their relationships at home—between husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and slaves—are to be characterized by respect and love, as they live for Christ (5:21–6:9). Finally, they are warned to take on God’s armor to protect themselves from the devil (6:10-20). Paul closes with some personal words and a benediction (6:21-24).

Author

Ephesians is traditionally ascribed to Paul, as are the other Prison Letters (Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon). However, on the basis of vocabulary, style, form, setting, purpose, and theological emphases, some have thought that Ephesians was written instead by a later disciple of Paul. Others see it as an original letter from Paul that has been reworked by a later editor.

However, the letter is not at all incompatible with Paul’s thought and style. The supposed differences with the undisputed letters of Paul can be explained by taking account of (1) variations in Paul’s own vocabulary and style; (2) the different content of this letter (for example, Eph 1–3 include extensive sections of blessing, praise, and prayer); (3) developments in Paul’s own thinking; (4) Paul’s use of secretaries (see Rom 16:22), who may have exercised some degree of freedom in putting his thoughts into their own words; and (5) the nature of Ephesians as a general letter sent to several churches, not just one. There is no compelling reason to deny that Paul authored it.

Recipients

Though traditionally understood to have been written to the church at Ephesus, this letter may have been written as a general letter to be circulated to a number of different churches in the Roman province of Asia. This opinion is based on (1) the omission of the introductory words in Ephesus (Eph 1:1) in many of the earliest manuscripts, and (2) the lack of personal greetings or references in Ephesians—a surprising omission if the letter was intended for the church in Ephesus, given Paul’s extended stay in the city and personal acquaintance with the church there (see Acts 19:10; 20:31).

Date and Place of Writing

Ephesians is one of the Prison Letters (along with Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon), traditionally understood to have been written from Rome in AD 60–62 or shortly before Paul was executed around AD 64~65. This would place the Prison Letters among the last of Paul’s writings. However, they might better be understood as having been written from prison in Ephesus. In 2 Corinthians, written shortly after Paul left Ephesus, he refers to the strong opposition he encountered in the area and mentions having been in prison many times; see 2 Cor 11:23-27. If the Prison Letters were written from Ephesus, it would place them earlier in Paul’s life, around AD 53~56.

Meaning and Message

Praise for God’s Grace. Perhaps more than any other book in the New Testament, Ephesians is filled with gratitude for the saving grace God has shown to those who believe in Jesus Christ. Solely by God’s grace, believers have been chosen, forgiven, called into his family, made his children, promised his eternal blessings, and given the gift of his Holy Spirit to mark them as belonging to him forever (Eph 1:3-14). Salvation can never be viewed as something that is earned; it is a sheer gift (Eph 2:8-9). As a result, believers know they are called to praise God forever for his amazing grace (Eph 1:6, 12, 14). They can do nothing less, for they owe him everything.

The Condemned State of Human Beings. The awareness of grace that pervades the first three chapters of Ephesians is heightened by Paul’s contrasting emphasis on sin and God’s judgment upon it. What is true of his readers is true of everyone, since all stand under God’s judgment (see Eph 2:1-3, 12). Every human being stands guilty and condemned before the eternal judgment of God, who cannot tolerate sin. This concept seems troublingly harsh to modern ways of thinking; behind it stands a much stronger view of human sin and of the utter holiness of God than most Westerners today are used to. Apart from Christ, human beings are driven by sin and subject to the devil. Evangelism is therefore urgent (see Mark 16:15-16; cp. Rom 9:1-3; 10:1).

The Unity of the Church. God’s amazing plan is to include Gentiles in his family (see Eph 2:11–3:6). Ethnic distinctions mean nothing to God and they should mean nothing to God’s people (cp. Gal 3:28). Because God has joined people from all ethnic backgrounds together in his church (see Eph 2:14-17; 3:6), believers should respond by warmly welcoming one another in humility, grace, and love, without consideration of ethnic differences (see Eph 4:1-6; Rom 15:5-7). In the church, one’s identity is defined only by one’s faith in Christ.

Living Like Christ. In Eph 4–6, Paul gives us a beautiful picture of the Christian life as it ought to be lived. Believers are to turn away from the darkness of their former lives and, filled with the Holy Spirit, to live as new people of light, seeking only what is “good and right and true” (Eph 5:9). They are to express gentleness, integrity, respect, kindness, and love to others. In relation to God, their lives are to be filled with purity, praise, and thanksgiving (see Eph 4:17–5:20). Believers are to become like Christ and to reflect him in all they do and say (see Eph 4:13, 15; Rom 8:29). In Christ, they have been created anew to be like God (see Eph 4:24; 5:1-2).

Respect and Love at Home. In Eph 5:21–6:9, Paul emphasizes the importance of showing respect and love to those with whom one lives. He maintains and honors the traditional cultural relationships (including those between husbands and wives, parents and children, and masters and slaves), while stressing that, in all relationships, believers’ attitudes are to be those of Christ.

Spiritual War. Ephesians 6:10-20 gives the fullest New Testament account of how believers are to protect themselves in their war against the devil. In this spiritual battle, believers cannot rely on their own resources, but must use the weapons the Lord supplies. Significantly, all of the weapons described—except the short-bladed sword—are defensive weapons. There is no picture here of Christians attacking the devil. Though the devil’s opposition is to be taken seriously, Paul’s view of the Christian life does not center on spiritual warfare in an aggressive or offensive sense.

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians

Some think that this epistle to the Ephesians was a circular letter sent to several churches, and that the copy directed to the Ephesians happened to be taken into the canon, and so it came to bear that particular inscription. And they have been induced the rather to think this because it is the only one of all Paul's epistles that has nothing in it peculiarly adapted to the state or case of that particular church; but it has much of common concernment to all Christians, and especially to all who, having been Gentiles in times past, were converted to Christianity. But then it may be observed, on the other hand, that the epistle is expressly inscribed (Eph 1:1) to the saints which are at Ephesus; and in the close of it he tells them that he had sent Tychicus unto them, whom, in Ti2 4:12, he says he had sent to Ephesus. It is an epistle that bears date out of a prison: and some have observed that what this apostle wrote when he was a prisoner had the greatest relish and savour in it of the things of God. When his tribulations did abound, his consolations and experiences did much more abound, whence we may observe that the afflictive exercises of God's people, and particularly of his ministers, often tend to the advantage of others as well as to their own. The apostle's design is to settle and establish the Ephesians in the truth, and further to acquaint them with the mystery of the gospel, in order to it. In the former part he represents the great privilege of the Ephesians, who, having been in time past idolatrous heathens, were now converted to Christianity and received into covenant with God, which he illustrates from a view of their deplorable state before their conversion, ch. 1-3. In the latter part (which we have in the Eph 4:1, Eph 5:1, and Eph 6:1 chapters) he instructs them in the principal duties of religion, both personal and relative, and exhorts and quickens them to the faithful discharge of them. Zanchy observes that we have here an epitome of the whole Christian doctrine, and of almost all the chief heads of divinity.

THE headings (Eph 1:1, and Eph 3:1, show that this Epistle claims to be that of Paul. This claim is confirmed by the testimonies of IRENÆUS, [Against Heresies, 5.2,3; 1.8,5]; CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, [Miscellanies, 4, P. 65, and The Instructor, 1.8]; ORIGEN, [Against Celsus, 4,211]. It is quoted by VALENTINUS, A.D. 120, namely, Eph 3:14-18, as we know from HIPPOLYTUS [The Refutation of All Heresies, p. 193]. POLYCARP [Epistle to the Philippians, 12], testifies to its canonicity. So TERTULLIAN [Against Marcion, 5,17]. IGNATIUS [Epistle to the Ephesians, 12], which alludes to the frequent and affectionate mention made by Paul of the Christian state, privileges, and persons of the Ephesians in his Epistle.

Two theories, besides the ordinary one, have been held on the question, to whom the Epistle is addressed. GROTIUS, after the heretic Marcion, maintains that it was addressed to the Church at Laodicea, and that it is the Epistle to which Paul refers in Col 4:16. But the Epistle to the Colossians was probably written before that to the Ephesians, as appears from the parallel passages in Ephesians bearing marks of being expanded from those in Colossians; and Marcion seems to have drawn his notion, as to our Epistle, from Paul's allusion (Col 4:16) to an Epistle addressed by him to the Laodiceans. ORIGEN and CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, and even TERTULLIAN, who refers to Marcion, give no sanction to his notion. No single manuscript contains the heading, "to the saints that are at Laodicea." The very resemblance of the Epistle to the Ephesians, to that to the Colossians, is against the theory; for if the former were really the one addressed to Laodicea (Col 4:16), Paul would not have deemed it necessary that the churches of Colosse and Laodicea should interchange Epistles. The greetings, moreover (Col 4:15), which he sends through the Colossians to the Laodiceans, are quite incompatible with the idea that Paul wrote an Epistle to the Laodiceans at the same time, and by the same bearer, Tychicus (the bearer of our Epistle to the Ephesians, as well as of that to Colosse, Eph 6:21; Col 4:7); for who, under such circumstances, would not send the greetings directly in the letter to the party saluted? The letter to Laodicea was evidently written some time before that to Colosse, Archbishop USHER has advanced the second theory: That it was an encyclical letter headed, as in Manuscript B., "to the saints that are . . . and to the faithful," the name of each Church being inserted in the copy sent to it; and that its being sent to Ephesus first, occasioned its being entitled, as now, the Epistle to the Ephesians. ALFORD makes the following objections to this theory: (1) It is at variance with the spirit of the Epistle, which is clearly addressed to one set of persons throughout, co-existing in one place, and as one body, and under the same circumstances. (2) The improbability that the apostle, who in two of his Epistles (Second Corinthians and Galatians) has so plainly specified their encyclical character, should have here omitted such specification. (3) The still greater improbability that he should have, as on this hypothesis must be assumed, written a circular Epistle to a district, of which Ephesus was the commercial capital, addressed to various churches within that district, yet from its very contents (as by the opponents' hypothesis) not admitting of application to the Church of that metropolis, in which he had spent so long a time, and to which he was so affectionately bound. (4) The inconsistency of this hypothesis with the address of the Epistle, and the universal testimony of the ancient Church. The absence of personal greetings is not an argument for either of the two theories; for similarly there are none in Galatians, Philippians, First and Second Thessalonians, First Timothy. The better he knows the parties addressed, and the more general and solemn the subject, the less he seems to give of these individual notices. Writing, as he does in this Epistle, on the constitution and prospects of Christ's universal Church, he refers the Ephesians, as to personal matters, to the bearer of the Epistle, Tychicus (Eph 6:21-22). As to the omission of "which are at Ephesus" (Eph 1:1), in Manuscript B., so "in Rome" (Rom 1:7) is omitted in some old manuscripts: it was probably done by churches among whom it was read, in order to generalize the reference of its contents, and especially where the subject of the Epistle is catholic. The words are found in the margin of Manuscript B, from a first hand; and are found in all the oldest manuscripts and versions.

Paul's first visit to Ephesus (on the seacoast of Lydia, near the river Cayster) is related in Act 18:19-21. The work, begun by his disputations with the Jews in his short visit, was carried on by Apollos (Act 18:24-26), and Aquila and Priscilla (Act 18:26). At his second visit, after his journey to Jerusalem, and thence to the east regions of Asia Minor, he remained at Ephesus "three years" (Act 19:10, the "two years" in which verse are only part of the time, and Act 20:31); so that the founding and rearing of this Church occupied an unusually large portion of the apostle's time and care; whence his language in this Epistle shows a warmth of feeling, and a free outpouring of thought, and a union in spiritual privileges and hope between him and them (Eph 1:3, &c.), such as are natural from one so long and so intimately associated with those whom he addresses. On his last journey to Jerusalem, he sailed by Ephesus and summoned the elders of the Ephesian Church to meet him at Miletus, where he delivered his remarkable farewell charge (Acts 20:18-35).

This Epistle was addressed to the Ephesians during the early part of his imprisonment at Rome, immediately after that to the Colossians, to which it bears a close resemblance in many passages, the apostle having in his mind generally the same great truths in writing both. It is an undesigned proof of genuineness that the two Epistles, written about the same date, and under the same circumstances, bear a closer mutual resemblance than those written at distant dates and on different occasions. Compare Eph 1:7 with Col 1:14; Eph 1:10 with Col 1:20; Eph 3:2 with Col 1:25; Eph 5:19 with Col 3:16; Eph 6:22 with Col 4:8; Eph 1:19; Eph 2:5 with Col 2:12-13; Eph 4:2-4 with Col 3:12-15; Eph 4:16 with Col 2:19; Eph 4:32 with Col 3:13; Eph 4:22-24 with Col 3:9-10; Eph 5:6-8 with Col 3:6-8; Eph 5:15-16 with Col 4:5; Eph 6:19-20 with Col 4:3-4; Eph 5:22-33; Eph 6:1-9 with Col 3:18; Eph 4:24-25 with Col 3:9; Eph 5:20-22 with Col 3:17-18. Tychicus and Onesimus were being sent to Colosse, the former bearing the two Epistles to the two churches respectively, the latter furnished with a letter of recommendation to Philemon, his former master, residing at Colosse. The date was probably about four years after his parting with the Ephesian elders at Miletus (Acts 20:6-38), about A.D. 62, before his imprisonment had become of the more severe kind, which appears in his Epistle to the Philippians. From Eph 6:19-20 it is plain he had at the time, though a prisoner, some degree of freedom in preaching, which accords with Act 28:23, Act 28:30-31, where he is represented as receiving at his lodgings all inquirers. His imprisonment began in February A.D. 61 and lasted "two whole years" (Act 28:30) at least, and perhaps longer.

The Church of Ephesus was made up of converts partly from the Jews and partly from the Gentiles (Act 19:8-10). Accordingly, the Epistle so addresses a Church constituted (Eph 2:14-22). Ephesus was famed for its idol temple of Artemis or Diana, which, after its having been burnt down by Herostratus on the night that Alexander the Great was born (355 B.C.), was rebuilt at enormous cost and was one of the wonders of the world. Hence, perhaps, have arisen his images in this Epistle drawn from a beautiful temple: the Church being in true inner beauty that which the temple of the idol tried to realize in outward show (Eph 2:19-22). The Epistle (Eph 4:17; Eph 5:1-13) implies the profligacy for which the Ephesian heathen were notorious. Many of the same expressions occur in the Epistle as in Paul's address to the Ephesian elders. Compare Eph 1:6-7; Eph 2:7, as to "grace," with Act 20:24, Act 20:32 : this may well be called "the Epistle of the grace of God" [ALFORD]. Also, as to his "bonds," Eph 3:1, and Eph 4:1 with Act 20:22-23. Also Eph 1:11, as to "the counsel of God," with Act 20:27. Also Eph 1:14, as to "the redemption of the purchased possession," with Act 20:28. Also Eph 1:14, Eph 1:18; Eph 2:20; Eph 5:5, as to "building up" the "inheritance," with Act 20:32.

The object of the Epistle is "to set forth the ground, the course, and the aim and end of THE CHURCH OF THE FAITHFUL IN CHRIST. He speaks to the Ephesians as a type or sample of the Church universal" [ALFORD]. Hence, "the Church" throughout the Epistle is spoken of in the singular, not in the plural, "churches." The Church's foundation, its course, and its end, are his theme alike in the larger and smaller divisions of the whole Epistle. "Everywhere the foundation of the Church is in the will of the Father; the course of the Church is by the satisfaction of the Son; the end of the Church is the life in the Holy Spirit" [ALFORD]. Compare respectively Eph 1:11; Eph 2:5; Eph 3:16. This having been laid down as a matter of doctrine (this part closing with a sublime doxology, Eph 3:14-21), is then made the ground of practical exhortations. In these latter also (from Eph 4:1, onward), the same threefold division prevails, for the Church is represented as founded on the counsel of "God the Father, who is above all, through all, and in all," reared by the "one Lord," Jesus Christ, through the "one Spirit" (Eph 4:4-6, &c.), who give their respective graces to the several members. These last are therefore to exercise all these graces in the several relations of life, as husbands, wives, servants, children, &c. The conclusion is that we must put on "the whole armor of God" (Eph 6:13).

The sublimity of the STYLE and LANGUAGE corresponds to the sublimity of the subjects and exceeds almost that of any part of his Epistles. It is appropriate that those to whom he so wrote were Christians long grounded in the faith. The very sublimity is the cause of the difficulty of the style, and of the presence of peculiar expressions occurring, not found elsewhere.

Next: Ephesians Chapter 1