Richard J. Erickson - Commentary on Ephesians: From The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary

Richard J. Erickson

Introduction

Authorship

Ephesians claims unambiguously to come from Pauls hand, both in the very first word of the letter and in various other personal references. Yet doubts about this arise for several reasons. The authors obviously limited acquaintance with his readers (1:15; 3:2) is highly puzzling if Paul is writing to his friends in Ephesus, where he spent nearly three years. Likewise, the literary relationship between Ephesians and Colossians shows that if the same person did not write both letters at the same time, then one was modeled on the other. But the letters differ markedly in vocabulary and style, suggesting that the same person did not author both documents. Furthermore, the teaching of Ephesians appears in some cases to reflect situations in the early church that postdate Pauls death by several decades (see references to apostles and prophets in 2:20; 3:5). These factors add up to the possibility that Paul did not write Ephesians.

Still, if Paul did write Ephesians, it predates his death in Rome under Nero, around AD 65. References to chains and imprisonment would place composition in the early 60s, probably at Rome. But to whom was it written? Clearly, the author is not well acquainted with the intended readers, which would be strange if they were Pauls congregation at Ephesus. Oddly, certain important and early Greek manuscripts lack the words in Ephesus (1:1), suggesting that the document was never meant for that congregation, but for some other or others that Paul had never visited. Perhaps it was a circular letter sent to several churches in Roman Asia, including Ephesus. At any rate, the real destination (if not Ephesus) and the origin of the insertion in Ephesus remain conjectural.

Taken one by one, the separate pieces of evidence against Pauline authorship can perhaps be explained away. Their cumulative effect is what carries the greatest weight against authenticity. The evidence is not airtight either way. Objections to the inspired lie perpetrated by another authors calling himself Paul dismiss the idea that pseudepigraphy may have functioned in the first century like footnoting does today. We may then with good conscience treat Ephesians either as written by Paul or as written by one of his associates. Meanwhile, for simplicitys sake, we can refer to the author as Paul.

Content

Central to the message of Ephesians is Gods re-creation of the human family according to his originally intended design. This new creation shatters the Jewish communitys long-standing opinion that God accepts Jews and rejects non-Jews. The traditional criterion of distinction between the Jew and the non-Jew is obedience to the law, but this criterion, fostering pride and exclusivism, was abolished in Christs sacrificial death. Consequently, nothing hinders reuniting all humanity as the people of God, with Christ as the head. The fact that even within the church, let alone outside the church, this reunification is not fully in effect is the result of the advance arrival of the new age of Gods rule. Even now God endows his new family with the power of the Spirit, enabling them to live out here and now their future new life. Thus Ephesians focuses on Gods people united in Christ through the power of the Spirit.