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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780687056996 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 06/01/1997 |
| Series: | Abingdon New Testament Commentaries Series |
| Pages: | 240 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.04(w) x 9.14(h) x 0.48(d) |
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Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Ephesians
By Pheme Perkins
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 1997 Abingdon PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-687-05699-6
CHAPTER 1
Commentary
Greeting (1:1-2)
Ancient letters begin with a greeting that identifies the sender and recipients. Pauline letters expand the traditional formula with expressions of Christian faith or references to the divine origin of Paul's apostolic authority (1 Cor 1:1-3; Col 1:1-2). Some ancient manuscripts lack the words "in Ephesus." Without a concrete place reference, the greeting is grammatically awkward, since the designation "to the saints" is followed by the words "who are and faithful." The translation in the NRSV note, "to the saints who are also faithful," treats the "and" (Gk. kai) as "also" rather than as a conjunction. (On the grammatical problems of this translation see Lincoln 1990, 2.) Though there are no ancient examples, some commentators suggest that Ephesians was originally a circular letter into which the name of a particular church could be inserted. Since Ephesians reformulates sections from Colossians, one would expect the addressees to be designated "to the saints in Ephesus" (cf. Col 1:2). The "grace and peace" formula (v. 2) adds "and the Lord Jesus Christ" (see Rom 1:7) to Col 1:2. Conflation of Col 1:1-2 with Rom 1:7 may explain the dangling "who are" since Rom 1:7 has "to all those who are in Rome" (the NRSV changes the sentence structure).
* * *
1–2: Assuming that the author was a disciple of Paul who used Colossians and other Pauline letters to compose a letter of instruction explains the lack of precision about the addressees. Ephesians indicates that Paul was unknown to its audience (so 1:15; 3:2), but such personal distance would not be true of Ephesus, where the apostle spent considerable time (Acts 19:1-22) and from which he wrote to the Corinthians. Ephesus was probably the locus of the "mortal threat" mentioned in 2 Cor 1:8-11 (also 1 Cor 15:32), possibly the imprisonment of Phil 1 and 2. The ties between Paul and Ephesus explain how an ancient scribe attached "in Ephesus" to this text. The mention of Tychicus as the letter carrier in Eph 6:21 combined with the assertion that he was sent to Ephesus in 2 Tim 4:12 could also generate the address.
Expressions found in the greeting are central to the letter's depiction of the author and his audience. Surprisingly, the author never again speaks of himself as "apostle." Instead, the word "apostle" appears in lists of those whose past activities provide the foundation for the church (2:20; 3:5; 4:11). The letter's "Paul" speaks of himself as the imprisoned ambassador for a gospel that revealed God's saving plan for the Gentiles (3:1-13; 4:1; 6:19-20). The reference to the "will of God" introduces a theme that is echoed in the rest of the letter. The "will of God" lies behind the plan that the Gentiles would be included in salvation (1:5, 9, 11). The phrase appears in the hortatory material to highlight the orientation of Christian life (5:17; 6:6).
Of the two terms used to describe the addressees, "faithful" and "saints" ("holy ones"), the former never returns except in reference to Tychicus (6:21, from Col 4:7) but "saints" echoes throughout the letter. It is a standard designation for members of the Christian community (1:15, 18; 2:19; 3:8, 18; 4:12; 5:3; 6:18), but it also designates the moral purity to which Christians are called (1:4; 5:3, 27). A common self-designation among early Christians (see Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:1; Acts 9:13), the expression was taken from Old Testament references to Israel as a people set apart for the Lord (Lev 11:44; 19:2; 20:26). Its primary emphasis in the Old Testament is not moral perfection but the dedication of persons, places, or objects to the service of God (Exod 28:2; Pss 2:6; 24:3). These cultic connotations emerge in Ephesians when Christians are described as "a holy temple" (Eph 2:21).
Paul regularly replaced the secular epistolary "greeting" with "grace and peace" (see Rom 1:7; Phil 1:2; Gal 1:3; 1 Cor 1:3). God is "father" both of the "Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph 1:3; see 2 Cor 1:3; Rom 15:6) and of believers, who are God's adopted children in Christ (Eph 1:5; see Gal 4:4-7; Rom 8:14-17). Their access to God as Father is possible through the Spirit (Eph 2:18; see Gal 4:6; Rom 8:16, 27). God as our common "Father" is the focus of both prayer (Eph 3:14; 5:20) and the unity of the church that God's activity has brought into being (Eph 4:6). However, there is a change in how Ephesians uses the language of God as "Father." Ephesians does not correlate it with references to either Jesus as "son" ("Son of God" only appears in 4:13) or believers as "sons." Instead, Christians attain their special relationship to God because they belong to the exalted, heavenly Christ who is head of the Body, a new creation of the perfect human. References to God as "Father" occur either in set formulae of blessing, prayer, or confession (1:2, 3, 17; 4:5; 6:23) or in references to prayer (2:18; 3:14; 5:20).
Another shift in imagery attaches to the theological use of the terms "grace" and "peace." "Grace" appears as a well-understood agent of salvation (2:5, 8); as an attribute of God that merits human praise (1:6-7; 2:7); as God's gift to Paul for the ministry he carries out (3:2-8); or as a gift to individual believers (4:7). "Peace" appears in a central image for the "mystery" of God's saving activity: the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile in one new human being (Eph 2:15-17). That image reshapes the exhortation to peace within the community (Eph 4:3).
* * *
Whether directed to an individual, a particular community, or—as appears to have been the case with Ephesians—to several churches, the Pauline letter was always a public event. Colossians 4:16 speaks of the reading and exchange of letters between churches in neighboring cities. The power of a whole letter, read out to an expectant community, is an important part of the event of communication. Ephesians uses the conventional greeting formulae to ready the audience for the reading that follows. Hearing the letter will remind them of how God and the Lord Jesus Christ have reshaped their lives. The ornate rhetorical style sweeps the audience up into the author's vision of membership in a cosmic church united with its exalted head.
Eulogy on Salvation (1:3-14)
Greek letters usually followed the greeting with a brief thanksgiving or wish for the health of recipients. Pauline letters have transformed that feature into a longer thanksgiving for their faith, which also telegraphs themes found in the body of the letter (see Rom 1:8-9, 10-15; Phil 1:3-11; Col 1:3-8). In 2 Cor 1:311 the opening takes the form of a Blessing (2 Cor 1:3a). Ephesians employs both the Blessing (1:3-14) and the Thanksgiving prayer report (1:15-23). Each consists of a single sentence, elaborately crafted from a sequence of subordinate participial and prepositional clauses. English translations break up these sentences into shorter sentences.
Unlike the undisputed Pauline letters, Ephesians does not refer in this section to the situation of its audience. Instead, the Blessing period evokes the liturgical origin of the blessing formula as found in the Psalms (LXX 66:20; 68:35). The liturgical sense of blessing (Gk. eulogein) God for deeds of salvation has been combined with the rhetorical understanding of "eulogy" as eloquence or fine speaking in praise of someone. Thus Ephesians telegraphs its intention to the audience. We are about to hear a fine speech in praise of "God [the] Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." True to the rhetorical conventions of such speech, Ephesians indicates that such praise is the appropriate response to benefits conferred. In the secular sphere, speech in praise of a benefactor might elicit future benefactions by cementing the relationship between a powerful individual and those who participate in his praise.
Ephesians takes up this tradition by repeatedly underlining the fact that the blessings that its audience has received come from a beneficent God who consistently intended to confer salvation. The passage is punctuated by references to election and divine will (vv. 4, 5, 9, 11). Another set of phrases refer to the praise that the recipients of salvation owe their divine benefactor (vv. 6, 12, 14). The conclusion treats the present experience of salvation as the guarantee of a future inheritance and ongoing praise of God's glory. Ephesians weaves the function of Christ as heavenly mediator into the praise of God as benefactor. A series of clauses beginning with "in whom" spell out the Christian promise of salvation (vv. 7-10, 11-12, 13-14). The NRSV has created sentences that focus our attention on the benefits of salvation received in Christ: God blessed us in Christ (vv. 3-4) and destined us for adoption in Christ (vv. 5-6); redemption is through the blood of Christ (vv. 7-8a); knowledge of God's will unites all things in Christ (vv. 8b-10); we are destined to praise God in Christ (vv. 11-12), and Gentiles [= "you"] are included in this inheritance through preaching the gospel (vv. 13-14). Verses 910 have a central place in the theological understanding of Ephesians. The exaltation of Christ in the heavens provides the foundation for bringing the entire creation into unity under Christ as head. Appropriately, the final words of verse 14 pick up the intent of the whole section, "to the praise of his [= God's] glory."
* * *
The biblical tradition insists that praise is the appropriate human response to God's acts of salvation (Pss 96:1-4; 118:1). Without the appearance of Jesus, God's full plan for salvation would have remained hidden (vv. 9-10). The expression "every spiritual blessing" highlights the completeness of divine salvation. Unlike human benefactors, God has not conferred a partial blessing. Jewish roots for this expression lie in the blessing of Joseph by Jacob (Gen 49:25) and in the liturgical language of the Essenes, "May [my Lord] bless you [from his holy residence].... May he bestow upon you all the blessings [...] in the congregation of the holy ones," (1QSb 1:3-5). The reference to "the holy ones" assimilates the Essene congregation to the angels who are in the heavens with God.
Ephesians has modified this Jewish form by substituting the exalted Christ for the angelic hosts and using a peculiar plural form, "the heavenlies" (NRSV: "the heavenly places"), to refer to heaven. That expression only appears in Ephesians where it is used both for God's dwelling (1:3, 20; 2:6) and for a sphere in which hostile powers are active (3:10; 6:12). Descriptions of the universe in the first century CE assumed that the earth was in the center of a cosmos that stretched out to the sphere of the stars. The moon, sun, and planets (through Saturn) circled the earth. The region from the earth to the moon was one in which decay and death occurred. Earthy, heavy, watery, and dark substances tended toward the earth. Fire and air tended toward the heavens. In order to reach the realm of the divine, the soul would have had to ascend through all of these heavenly regions. Spiritual beings, sometimes depicted as demonic, could be associated with the planetary spheres and their power to dictate the fate of humans and nations.
This picture of the cosmos was replicated in Jewish apocalypses that described the ascent of a seer to a vision of the divine throne. By the first century CE most apocalypses assumed that the journey would require passing through multiple heavens (Himmelfarb 1993, 32; see T. Levi 2–3; 8; 2 Enoch 3–21; Apoc. Mos. 35:2; 2 Cor 12:1-3). Ordinarily the fear or awe felt by the visionary is mitigated by the protection of his angelic guide. Ephesians does not develop the details of multiple heavenly regions.
The explanation in verse 4 picks up the agency of Christ as the mediator of salvation and expands the description of God's plan of salvation in a temporal direction. God's plan to redeem humanity preexists the foundation of the world. The image of God's election of the righteous and condemnation of the wicked prior to creation appears in Essene texts (CD 2:7; 1QS 1:10-11). According to these texts God ordained the course of all the cosmic powers as well as those of humankind in his act of creation (1QH 9[= 1]:10-20; 1QS 3:15-17). Ephesians agrees with the Essene view that the elect follow the paths of holiness that God established for his creatures. The formulation in verse 4 does not imply the preexistence of the individual souls of the righteous. Nor does Ephesians spell out the connection between the Christ in whom the righteous are elect and God's creative activity. Its emphasis is on the experience of salvation. Those who come to believe in Christ find themselves participating in God's eternal plan.
The phrase "in love" at the conclusion of verse 4 appears so awkward that some have treated it as the motive for the divine "destined" (that is, "predestined") in verse 5. However, it matches the phrase, "in the Beloved," which concludes verse 6. Therefore, the expression appears to be a stylistic marker. It may be intended to refer to divine election in Christ rather than to human behavior.
Verses 5-6 develop the previous reference to divine election in Christ by introducing the Pauline motif of adoption (Gal 4:4-7; Rom 8:15-23). A striking difference between the use of predestination language in Ephesians and similar expressions found at Qumran is the lack of any reference to the wicked. Ephesians knows such language, as later references to "those who are disobedient" indicate (2:2-3; 5:6). But in keeping with the author's vision of unity, God's gracious election could not be expressed as the sharp division of humankind into a righteous remnant, the holy elect, over against a majority who will never experience God's grace. Predestination also has this positive tenor in Paul's usage (see Rom 8:29-30; 1 Cor 2:7).
The description of election in Ephesians is consistently theocentric. God calls a people "for himself." Consequently, the Greek of verse 5a follows "adoption through Christ" with the prepositional phrase "in him" (Gk. eis auton), which refers to God rather than to the Son. This focus diverges from the Pauline formula in Rom 8:29, which treats the calling of the elect as necessary to provide brothers and sisters for Christ the firstborn. Verse 6 spells out the reason for the existence of the elect community: worship and praise of the one whose gracious benefits they have received through the Beloved [= Jesus Christ].
Traditional Christian formulae underlie the description in verses 7-8 of how believers receive grace through Christ: his death brings forgiveness of sins. Ephesians 1:7 adds "through his blood" and the conclusion "according to the riches of his [= God's] grace" to a formula from Col 1:14. The term "redemption" (also see Rom 3:24) can be used for freeing a slave (LXX Dan 4:34; Exod 21:8). God obtained Israel as a people for himself by liberating them from Egypt (Exod 15:16; Ps 74:2) or from captivity (Isa 51:11). Since it also came to refer to God's end-time action on Israel's behalf (Isa 59:29; Ps 130:7-8), early Christian usage points to Christ's death as effecting this salvation. The formula quoted in Rom 3:24-26 indicates that Christ's death was understood as the expiation for sin that makes redemption—God's free gift to believers—a reality.
The present tense of the verb "we have" (v. 7) suggests that Christ continues to be the source of deliverance from sin for believers. Verse 8 specifies the expression of God's graciousness as "wisdom and insight" bestowed on believers. In the Old Testament, insight and wisdom are characteristic of the pious who attend to God's revelation by living according to the Law (Prov 1:2-7; 2:2-10; Ps 37:30-31). The Dead Sea Scrolls speak of wisdom or understanding of God's way as a special gift to the teacher(s) of the sect (1QH 5[= 13]:7-9; 6[= 14]:8-9, 25-27). This revelation separates the sectaries from the rest of humanity who lack wisdom and understanding (1QS 11:5-6). Thus, understanding forms part of the imagery of election. Characteristic of its modification of such metaphors, Ephesians bypasses the dualistic framework in the Qumran texts.
The Essene examples include other virtues along with understanding: deeds of truth instead of sin, justice, loving what God loves, hatred of evil, love of God, wholehearted devotion to the quest for wisdom. The ethical section of Ephesians (4:1–6:20) takes up the concrete expression of such understanding in Christian life. Verse 9 with its reference to "mystery," continues to parallel the language of election found in the Essene writings. The Aramaic equivalent to "mystery," raz (Dan 2:18), appears in Essene interpretation of prophetic texts to refer to the secret plan of God's salvation that has been revealed to the sectaries (1QpHab 7:1-4, 13-14; 8:1-3). Paul uses "mystery" in this sense to refer to God's plan for the salvation of humanity in Christ. It has a future reference, that Jews who reject Christ will be included in salvation (Rom 11:25-32). Paul designates the presence of salvation unknown to the rulers of the cosmos when they crucified the Lord of glory "God's wisdom" (1 Cor 2:7). Like the teacher(s) of the Essene sect (1QH 12[= 4]:27), Paul can describe the apostles as persons who dispense these mysteries to others (1 Cor 4:1). Colossians 2:1-3 presents knowledge of the hidden mystery of God as part of the wisdom Christians attain through Paul's teaching. This mystery of salvation was hidden from prior ages but has been made manifest to the saints in Paul's preaching Christ among the Gentiles (Col 1:26-27).
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Ephesians by Pheme Perkins. Copyright © 1997 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword,List of Abbreviations,
Introduction,
Commentary,
Select Bibliography,
Index,